His hearing slowly came back.
Color seeped into the world again.
Fujiwara Chiya clutched his head and slowly pushed himself up from the ground.
When Shirayuki entered that hyper-focused state of the Zone, his consciousness had been forcibly pulled over to her side. His own body had lost balance and gone down hard.
To think she had ended up using the Zone against Rice Shower when she had not even needed it against Treve.
This was the first time Shirayuki had used it since returning to Japan. She had not even activated it during the Japan Cup.
What a girl. She really knew how to surprise him.
Fujiwara Chiya could not help but marvel at how much Rice Shower had grown.
At the same time, Shirayuki finally came to a stop.
"Across the line!! The final winner of the GI Osaka Hai is the Empress, Snow Dancer!!"
""OOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHH——!!!""
Bathed in the roaring cheers of the crowd, Shirayuki raised her fist high.
Until she defeated Treve, Shirayuki would never allow herself to lose again.
Chiya was going to become the greatest trainer.
And she was going to become the strongest uma musume.
That was not just her own wish. It was the wish of everyone who supported her.
The cheers rolled like thunder. The ground trembled beneath them.
And yet, there was one person who seemed cut off from the rest of the world, isolated from that tidal wave of joy.
Rice Shower stood there in a daze, staring at that radiant white figure.
She lost…
Rice lost?
After all that hellish training, Rice Shower had still lost to Shirayuki.
The decisive strike she had been so sure of had been escaped.
Thud.
Rice Shower dropped to her knees.
Her nose stung.
It hurt.
It hurt so much she wanted to cry.
Even the last meaning she had found for her existence had been stolen away by Shirayuki.
Rice Shower could no longer find any value in herself. Everything she had was only a degraded reflection of something Shirayuki already possessed. In front of that dazzling girl, she was nothing more than a firefly's glow.
There or not, it made no difference.
As expected of Onii-sama.
So brilliant. So outstanding. So blindingly bright.
Congratulations, Onii-sama.
The villain… should leave the stage here.
Wiping her tears, Rice Shower prepared to stand up and say goodbye to the audience that had never cared much about her in the first place.
But just then, a pair of soft arms lifted her up.
Startled, Rice Shower curled in on herself. Then, when she saw who had come, she relaxed.
"Onii-sama?"
A smile bloomed on that sweat-damp, pure-white face.
"Are you tired, Rice Shower?"
Held in Shirayuki's arms, Rice Shower murmured, "A little… Why did Onii-sama come over? The audience… they're waiting for you."
"I saw you sitting on the ground. Of course I had to come. I'm glad you're okay."
"Onii-sama…" Rice Shower's eyes shimmered. "In this race, Rice deliberately targeted Onii-sama. Rice… Rice is a bad girl."
"Don't say that, Rice Shower. The two of us promised we would both go all out. You kept that promise. You used everything you had against me."
Shirayuki looked down at the girl in her arms, whose eyes were red at the corners.
"You were amazing. It was my first time seeing you run like that. Honestly, you scared me."
Then she said softly,
"I'm proud of you."
The moment she heard those words, Rice Shower could not hold back anymore.
Tears spilled over.
"Rice… can't compare to Onii-sama in anything. Rice is bad at housework. Rice has a bad personality. Even in races, Rice can't match Onii-sama at all. Rice is just a burden!"
"How could you be a burden? Rice Shower is sweet, well-behaved, and adorable. And back then, if you hadn't been there, I honestly don't know what I would've done."
Shirayuki's voice softened.
"Actually, there's something I've always wanted to tell you. No matter when it is, I'm really, really glad you stayed by my side."
Rice Shower stared through her blurry eyes at the white girl holding her.
She sniffled twice.
Then she reached out and wrapped her arms tightly around Shirayuki's neck.
"Uwaaah… Onii-sama! Onii-sama…!"
The staff hurried over and asked what had happened.
Shirayuki waved them off.
"This girl is my little sister."
"Lady Empress's…"
"Little sister?"
They looked at one another.
"Sorry for troubling you. Please continue."
The staff quickly ran back.
Then the announcer's voice rang out again.
"It seems we have a special situation here! This race was actually a sister showdown! The two sisters have claimed first and second place together!"
The audience, hearing those words, immediately perked up and looked toward the tiny uma musume in the Empress's arms.
Then, with a boom, the entire racecourse exploded all over again.
…
"What a disaster, Trainer."
After the race ended, Gold Ship ran over to Fujiwara Chiya's side, grinning like she was having the time of her life.
After Shirayuki revealed that Rice Shower was her little sister, a massive swarm of reporters had immediately descended on them.
Were the two actually sisters? Adoptive sisters? How did they live together at school? What did they think of this "sister race"?
Even Fujiwara Chiya had been dragged into the crossfire.
After surviving the reporters' relentless bombardment, they were finally released from the racecourse. By that time, Hayakawa Tazuna, Gold Ship, and the others had already been waiting outside for nearly an hour.
"I'm used to it by now."
"By the way, when did Rice Shower become Shirayuki's little sister?" Gold Ship's eyes curved into crescents. "Could it be…"
"What?"
"Not only did you make Shirayuki kill her, you made Shirayuki destroy her heart too? Trainer, how can you be so cruel?!"
"What are you even talking about?"
"If Trainer is Rice Shower's Onii-sama, and Shirayuki is Rice Shower's Onee-sama, then isn't that basically admitting Shirayuki's relationship with you? She's got one male and one female above her now. Where's Rice Shower supposed to fit in? You automatically demoted her by one rank!"
"That is not what happened. Shirayuki called Rice Shower her little sister because… there are very deep reasons."
"Deep, huh? How deep? Should I bring a measuring tape?"
"That's enough from you…"
While they were talking, Rice Shower leaned against Shirayuki, hugging her arm and humming happily.
Losing the race had definitely hurt.
But the race had not been meaningless.
Rice Shower had finally received her answer from Shirayuki.
Shirayuki would not replace her.
Shirayuki could not replace her.
Rice Shower was Rice Shower.
She was Onii-sama's one and only Rice Shower.
Onii-sama would not abandon her just because Shirayuki existed.
Once she understood that, Rice Shower completely relaxed.
She and Shirayuki were not rivals. They could exist side by side.
That meant she no longer needed to keep comparing herself to Shirayuki. She could shamelessly cling to both of them as much as she wanted.
Even if they treated her like a little sister, or even like a spoiled child, that was fine too.
When she did not need to be anything more, she could be the little sister.
When she needed to be closer, she could become something else.
Rice Shower could flexibly switch roles whenever she wanted.
And thinking about it carefully, being doted on like a child did not sound bad at all.
She could enjoy their care without holding back.
She could also get away with doing things only a child could do.
For example…
Rice Shower looked at Shirayuki's chest.
She could bury herself in Onii-sama's warmth without shame!
At that thought, Rice Shower swallowed.
All at once, she realized something.
Shirayuki was not an obstacle at all.
She might actually unlock even more ways for Rice Shower to be spoiled.