Ahead of King Halo, Erimo Dandy—running in fourth or fifth—slightly turned her head tocheck King Halo's position.
The development of this race had surprised her a little. King Halo had abandoned the forward-running style she had consistently used before and had instead settled much farther back. Because of that, Erimo Dandy had been unable to find a good opportunity in the first half of the race to disrupt her rhythm.
She knew very well that her greatest opponent in this mock race was King Halo.
And now, seeing that King Halo still showed no sign of accelerating and was simply following steadily at the rear of the pack, a flash of insight passed through Erimo Dandy's eyes.
She had noticed the front four runners beginning to crowd together.
She could not help recalling yesterday's blessing ceremony before the Three Goddesses' statue. In that hazy moment, she had sensed a shadowy figure, and now she could feel the surging power within her body.
This would be the divine favor that would help her defeat King Halo.
Taking a deep breath, Erimo Dandy accelerated again.
King Halo's expression was not looking good.
She was starting to lose her grasp on when exactly she should speed up. She still remembered everything Shinji had told her before the race, and she had memorized all the materials he had given her as well.
But those opponents, whose styles and habits had been laid out so clearly in those notes, were not actually putting much pressure on her.
At this moment, King Halo's greatest enemy was herself—her uncertain sense of timing.
The hesitation in her eyes translated directly into the slightest disruption in her stride frequency, and Shinji's brow furrowed at once.
He had said it before: on the track, a racer's first instinct was often her most correct choice. The body could carry out that first instinct with a precision no later decision could match.
At Shinji's side, Tazuna's expression changed as well. She had noticed King Halo's hesitation too. The pack was growing faster and faster, and the faster the pace became, the harder it would be to find the right moment to make her move.
Tazuna did not hide her worry in the slightest.
Nor the growing certainty that things were not looking good.
The runners were now sweeping along the third and fourth turns toward the finish.
The front-runner, golden hair swaying, was a strikingly beautiful horse girl—but Shinji could already tell she was running out of stamina. Among the eight participants in this mock race, she ranked near the bottom in strength.
His gaze followed the order of the field and returned to King Halo.
Of course, Shinji could shout advice from the sidelines, but once he did, King Halo would lose her ability to find that sense of timing for herself.
The sweat on her cheeks gleamed as it ran down the elegant lines of her face. She glanced outside—and met the eyes of someone who had been watching her for a long time.
It was Erimo Dandy's gaze.
King Halo knew exactly who she was. In the notes Shinji had given her before the race, her habits were there. Her style was there. King Halo knew what Erimo Dandy excelled at, and she knew how to counter her.
But in one moment of hesitation, she had done nothing at all.
She had been standing still in the middle of a race, daydreaming—and in the process, she had walked right into a trap.
Shinji slapped the railing hard.
He truly had not expected that, in a mock race with only eight runners, King Halo would still manage to run straight into a box another horse girl had deliberately left open for her.
He had told her before the race. He had made it clear. And yet she had still hesitated, missed every opening, and brought this on herself.
At this point, with the entire pack accelerating, King Halo followed that acceleration and slipped neatly into the gap Erimo Dandy had opened on the inside as she gradually drifted off the rail.
It was a complete self-entrapment.
The runners behind had already closed in. Shinji could see it plainly—Erimo Dandy had no intention of moving farther out. She had waited the entire time for King Halo to come in there. Only now, once Halo was trapped, did she turn her attention back to the four runners fanned out ahead.
The bend ended. The field stormed into the home stretch.
Beside Shinji, Tazuna seemed to let out a sigh, though he did not hear it clearly. His eyes were fixed entirely on King Halo—on the panic finally beginning to show across his girl's face.
Only now had she realized something was wrong with her position.
A mistake in timing could still, at least in theory, be salvaged with sheer ability or a strong finishing burst.
But a catastrophic error in positioning had cost King Halo all her chances.
She was like someone gripping the rope from one extreme and then the other. Once, she had been too rash, too impulsive, too quick to act. But in this race, that had flipped into the opposite: crippling hesitation, an inability to decide.
On the track, King Halo's face was wet with sweat. Those translucent drops slid down the lovely curve of her cheeks. She looked outside again.
Erimo Dandy was still there, matching pace, never letting her leave.
Ahead, the four runners battling each other were already launching into their final drive. King Halo clenched her teeth and tried to force her way through the pair in front, just as Offside Trap had done in the Arima Kinen, to save herself from her earlier mistake.
But the two in front were locked together in fierce competition. Their bodies were pressed so tightly side by side that they left no opening at all—not even enough room for King Halo to wedge in a leg.
A look of despair gradually entered her eyes.
The impulse to give up began to rise again. Cold sweat broke out over her skin, and she fought to suppress the flood of emotions in her chest.
She had no choice but to look outside once more.
But Erimo Dandy held her rhythm without wavering, simply refusing to let King Halo out.
At her side, the crooked little marker they had set up yesterday to indicate the final hundred meters slid past.
It seemed to mock her—as if even now she still thought she might do something.
King Halo's eyes reddened.
Then, at last, Erimo Dandy moved. She angled toward the slanted gap ahead—the very opening she had been leaving for herself all along.
King Halo lunged to the outside.
In an instant she blew past the four runners who had been fighting at the front. Such was the difference in strength between them. Even after being boxed in for the entire length of the home stretch, the moment she was given even a little room and a little distance, overtaking them took no effort at all.
But the figure ahead of her—those brilliant tail hairs, that horse girl standing in for the finish line—had already brought down the flag in her hand.
King Halo crossed the line in second place again.
And this time, she had personally thrown away her own victory.
Her pace slowed.
She watched as the horse girl in front gradually turned around. A faint, happy smile curved her lips. Her laughter was clear and sweet—the exact opposite of the cold detachment she usually wore.
To King Halo, it felt like plunging into an icy abyss.
That smile seemed full of mockery.
The wetness at the corners of her eyes—she could no longer tell whether it was sweat or tears. But with her vision blurring more and more, she did not dare look toward the stands.
At the front of that stand was her trainer.
She had come into this race full of hope, wanting him to see all the effort she had made, all the work she had put in.
She had truly taken every word Shinji said to heart. Every training session. Every correction.
She had wanted him to know.
She, too, could become a horse girl he could be proud of.
She, too, could become his ace.
The winning girl finally turned fully around. There was no ceremony for victory in a mere mock race. Yet even through her blurred vision, King Halo saw it clearly:
A hand had appeared above Erimo Dandy's head.
Its glow slowly seeped into the girl's body, like a blessing—or a reward.
King Halo bit down on her lip. The stab of pain came, and then she realized her opponent—the winner of this mock race—had stopped right in front of her.
Erimo Dandy noticed the trace of blood at the corner of King Halo's mouth. The girl must have bitten too hard without noticing. So she slowly opened her mouth as if to speak—and raised a hand as well.
But the figure before her suddenly lowered her head and vanished from sight.
Startled, Erimo Dandy still completed the gesture, extending her hand into empty air. Only then did she finally turn.
She saw the girl throw an arm across her eyes, pivot, and disappear out of the training grounds.
Emotion finally stirred in Erimo Dandy's eyes.
She slowly lowered her hand.
A horse girl who had thrown away her own victory with her own hands was not a tragic figure.
There was no reason to pity her.
Her gaze shifted to the stands.
The man there had closed his eyes. Beside him, the secretary looked at him with concern. Erimo Dandy pressed her lips together.
Around her, the murmurs began to rise.
She murmured softly herself:
"King Halo…"
"So in the end…"
"…you really are just willful."
Join here to read ahead.
In Star Rail, Ultra-Beast Armored — Have I Caught "Equilibrium"? l (Chapter 80)
Uma Musume, But I Only Have Five Years Left to Live (Chapter 178)
Zenless Zone Zero: I'm a Doctor, Not a Bangboo (Chapter 142)
Ben Tennyson Wants to Join the Justice League ( 126 )
TYPE-MOON: Redemption Beginning with the Holy Grail War (Chapter110)
Yu-Gi-Oh! — Transmigrated into the White Dragon Girl (Chapter181)
"Is this chat group even serious?" (Chapter103)
I, Lord Ravager, Utterly Loyal! (Chapter192)
Can Playing Games Save the World? 65
Crossover Anime Multiverse: The Demon Hunter of an Unnatural World 77
From Junkman to Wasteland 66
Weekly Refresh of Overpowered 31
I'm Grinding Proficiency Like 46
From Kiana, Lord Ravager, Onwa 173
Honkai: Is This Still the Prev 42
Elf: My Starter Pokémon Is Inc 65
Warhammer: My Primarch Is Remi 166
From Demon Slayer to Grand Ass 110
The Way the Umamusume Look at 68
Uma Musume, but My Cheat Power 190
Naruto: Weaving the Future, Be 65
Zenless Zone Zero, but Kamen R 76
Multiverse Crossover: The Perf 66
My Cyberpsycho Girlfriend 65
Uma Musume: The Dark Trainer 165
Uma Musume: A Calamity Born fr 156
I, a Reincarnation-Loop Player 81
The Violent Girl Group Is Beat 102
Uma Musume: The Horse Girl Who 66
Uma Musume: From Beginner 120
Becoming a Horse Girl, I Will 80
Uma Musume: I Want All 95
I Can Copy Unique Skills 84
Summoning an Evil God, but the 66
Supernatural Multiverse 83
My Harem Is Indescribable 75
Jujutsu Kaisen: Heroic Spirit 81
"I'm just a Valkyrie passing through." 67
Uma Musume: Today Is Another Romantic Battlefield 75
Still playing traditional Honk 55
The Most Filial Son Under Heav 60
What Should I Do After Switchi - Volume2/3
Reincarnated as a Demon, Skill 57
Hell-Difficulty Dungeon? 45
Transmigrated as Sukuna 55
Checking In in Demon Slayer 60
The Reincarnating Trainer of Tracen Academy 65
I Refuse to Become a Heroic 35
My Best Friend Into a Slime? 35
A Saiyan Stands Above Marvel 39
What Do You Mean by Using a Lab Mod to Be the Hero? 58
Tanya Starts from Re:Zero 30
Why did they assign me to Uma 35
MYGO Beauties 42
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