"That was a beautiful win. A few times, I really thought you were going to come screaming down the far outside. But now it looks like I was the shallow one after all."
Inside the lounge, Opera O was mixing a sports drink for Dyna, while Wada sat nearby replaying the final three furlongs over and over again.
In the footage, Light Dyna had already launched her acceleration the moment she came out of the turn. That meant the nearly five-hundred-meter stretch had served entirely to build her speed. Even if Orfevre hadn't been bottled up in mid-pack at the end, she still would never have caught her.
Inside the dressing room, Dyna stood clutching her stage costume in both arms. Even though no one could see her, a shy smile still crept across her face.
"It wasn't that impressive… On the track, I really just did whatever felt right in the moment. I didn't have time to think through the consequences of those choices. If I'd lost because of it, then I'd just have had to accept that."
"Doesn't that just prove your instincts are excellent? Most horse girls wouldn't dare cut into the inner pack on the bend and still find a path back out," Opera O said, laying the praise on thick.
Wada found that a little surprising. He had never seen her so eloquent when complimenting a junior horse girl.
"Oh, right," Opera O added. "What song do you want for the winner's stage? Just tell me the title and I'll submit it for you. You've still got an hour or two to get familiar with the stage and the routine. Judging by your history, you've never gone on stage after any of your previous three races, have you?"
Dyna froze mid-change, her mouth twitching in helpless embarrassment.
"As for the song… I'll use…"
Several titles flashed through her mind in quick succession. One by one, she rejected them until only a single choice remained.
The winner's stage was surprisingly flexible about music selection. Any officially released song in the world was fair game. If a horse girl could even write an original piece, the venue staff could pull together a live backing arrangement for it within two hours.
Dyna, of course, had no such talent.
So in the end, she chose a song called "Unripe Fruit."
Horse girls were as sensitive to music as they were to running. Even an unfamiliar song could be memorized and sung within half an hour.
Opera O jotted the title down on a slip of paper and placed it in Wada's line of sight, where he was still focused on the tablet.
"Not bad, right?"
"Yeah… it suits her," Wada said. "I've never heard it before, but it's probably the song that fits Dyna best. Go submit it. They're already rushing us. I still want to go over the odd things Orfevre did in this race."
He shooed Opera O out of the lounge and drained his cup of cooled boiled water in one gulp.
With Dyna's Spring Stakes victory secured, the next major target was now the Satsuki Sho at the end of April, relocated to Tokyo Racecourse.
For Dyna, that was actually good news. Her explosive finishing leg would be perfectly suited to Tokyo's course. If the race had remained at Nakayama, Wada would have had a real headache figuring out how she was supposed to overcome that short stretch and brutal slope.
"…And from the Satsuki Sho, we use Tokyo as a springboard," he muttered, chewing on the end of his pen as he scrolled through notes on the tablet. "That'll prepare her for the Derby, the real main event. For a horse girl originally suited to the later legs of the Triple Crown to suddenly contend for the full set… that's difficulty stacked on difficulty. The unknowns are still her adaptability at 2400 meters and 3000 meters. That much, we still can't see yet…"
Now, as Dyna's unofficial trainer operating outside the formal system, the pressure on him was immense.
Fully changed, Dyna tugged awkwardly at the front of her performance outfit.
The stage costume's design bared enough of her chest to expose the upper curve of her bust, which was simply too daring for someone as conservative as Dyna—especially a girl who usually dressed as carefully and modestly as she did.
It was her first time wearing something like this. All she could feel was a cool draft across the upper swell of her chest. Every time she looked down, she could see the deep, bottomless valley between her breasts, which only made her more reluctant to let anyone see her in it.
Her side waist was completely exposed as well, making it obvious just how narrow her waist was beneath her full chest and shapely hips. The costume's design had clearly been made with that exact contrast in mind. Even the tension in her flat stomach was visible, tightening and loosening as her nerves rose and fell.
"Um… Mr. Wada," Dyna said at last, covering her face with both hands in front of the mirror. "Do I really have to wear something like this on stage? Couldn't I just change into normal clothes?"
Her brown shorts were clipped to long stockings by garter straps, and the high-heeled boots made walking feel impossible. Her toes kept poking uncertainly at the floor.
From outside, Wada answered, "You do. I know that style of costume can be… a little embarrassing for some horse girls, but that's something you'll have to get used to. It's the rule everywhere. For non-G1 races, stage costumes are standardized. Only in G1 races do you get to wear your own victory dress on stage."
"Ugh…"
Dyna let out a tiny cry of despair and stared at the scarlet-faced girl in the mirror. Even after all that, she still couldn't bring herself to step out of the changing stall.
"But you look lovely in it, don't you?"
A pair of slightly cool hands suddenly covered her sensitive waist from behind.
Dyna jolted like she'd been electrocuted. The soft ears atop her head shot upright like antennae. Her whole body lurched forward on instinct, and she slammed straight through the dressing stall door—
then promptly crashed face-first to the floor outside.
"Eek?!"
Wada nearly jumped out of his skin.
Seeing Dyna sprawled on the floor outside the stall, he hurried over and helped her up. Thankfully, she hadn't actually bruised herself. If she'd gotten hurt backstage after surviving the race itself unscathed, the reports would have become a laughingstock.
"S-Sorry! It's just my first time wearing high heels, so I'm not used to them yet…"
"Take it slow, then. I've heard from other horse girls that you just get used to it eventually," Wada said, though as a man who had never worn anything of the sort, that was about the best comfort he could offer.
Hovering beside them, Cody's Wish tapped a finger thoughtfully against her lips and quietly stored away a new observation:
Dyna's waist is extremely sensitive. Just brushing it lightly makes her make incredibly cute noises.
That would probably be useful information for any future roommate.
Still, for now, an apology was in order.
"Sorry. I genuinely had no idea your waist was that sensitive," Cody's Wish said, sitting beside Dyna and gently stroking the base of one ear.
After living together this long, Cody's Wish already knew exactly which parts of Dyna she could touch—and how far she could go before Dyna stopped resisting entirely.
"C-Cody's Wish…"
Dyna wanted to complain, but under Cody's Wish's practiced ear-rubbing, her brain rapidly ceased to function. The tingling pleasure traveled from the base of her ear straight into her head. It felt so good she simply couldn't think anymore.
No matter how she touched her own ears, she could never make herself feel like this.
A tiny sound escaped her throat.
Cody's Wish caught it immediately.
Apparently Dyna's evolution had taken a strange turn… how exactly had she drifted in the direction of a cat?
Leaning against Cody's Wish's shoulder, Dyna remained that way until the announcement came that it was time to go onstage. The rhythm and lyrics of "Unripe Fruit" had already been engraved into her mind.
All she had to do now was stand in the center position and, through improvised dance, convey the emotion of the song to the tens of thousands waiting out there.
"Tens of thousands?!"
"Exactly—tens of thousands," the smiling stage coordinator told her. "This race actually broke the attendance record for a non-G1 event. Miss Light Dyna, please do your best."
With that, the woman hurried Dyna onto the stage. All the backup dancers had already taken their places behind the curtain.
Only Dyna was missing.
The arrow was on the string. There was no turning back.
Taking a deep breath, Light Dyna stepped onto the stage.
The very instant she did, every spotlight in the venue shifted to a soft blue-green, scattering across the hall like diffuse moonlight—until the moment her figure reached center stage, when all of them converged on her at once.
The opening note struck.
As the first phrase of the song began, Dyna's mind emptied completely. Lyrics took over her head, and she sang the first line.
During the intro pause, acting on some impulse even she didn't understand, Dyna jogged right to the very edge of the stage and called out:
"Everyone! Are you having a good night?!"
Down below, Wada blinked in surprise. Neither he nor Opera O had ever taught her how to work a crowd like that.
Still—it was a good sign.
He and Opera O had both intended to respond somehow, but the audience beat them to it by a mile.
"YEAH! OHHH! MISS LIGHT!"
Yellow penlights rippled across the entire venue in time with the guitar, while the crowd's voices rose and fell along with the rhythm.
Dyna steadied the earpiece microphone with one hand.
And she smiled.
A moment ago, she had felt nothing but shame and dread about going on stage. But now, she only wanted to sing this song all the way through. As for how well she sang it—
at a place like this, no one cared.
The horse girls dancing behind her were like faint starlight, accenting the brilliance of Light Dyna at center stage, shining there like a sun.
There was, admittedly, one dancer in the back whose hair color was bright enough to draw the eye whenever a light swept across her and reflected off the vivid orange sheen.
But the stage was too dark for anyone to make out her expression. Most only noticed that among the backup dancers, her movements were a little stiffer than the rest.
With naked desire, give it everything you've got!
O unripe fruit, not yet sweet…
Close your eyes and gently hold that tiny seed…
If I set out now, maybe this feeling will reach you…
As the song reached its climax, the swelling music collided with a burst of pyrotechnics overhead.
Dyna's movements on stage had no real choreography to speak of. It was more accurate to say that every gesture she made was driven purely by emotion. Since she had never had dance training of any kind, she could only move by instinct in time with the beat—yet somehow, nothing about it looked awkward on the stage.
As the second chorus hit, her movements grew bolder and more uninhibited.
"Will you give me more strength?"
"Don't stop just because you're the one chasing!"
"Let this feeling ride the wind and reach you!"
At the end of the song, the final burst of stage flames erupted together with the last guitar note.
As center stage, Dyna was closest to the heat. After several full minutes under those lights and effects, sweat ran down her face in streams.
She froze in the final pose, pointing toward the audience. Sweat gathered along the curve of her jaw, then dripped to the floor.
"Thank you—so much!"
Dyna bowed deeply to the tens of thousands gathered before her. Then she straightened up and waved both hands, wearing a sun-bright smile utterly unlike the mortified girl from earlier.
Behind her, Orfevre was also soaked in sweat.
Staring at Light Dyna standing under the full blaze of the lights, Orfevre felt the heat swelling hotter and hotter inside her chest, an irritation she could not release.
Each sweep of the stage lighting caught on her vivid orange hair, throwing it back in blinding flashes.
What an irritating kind of light… she thought.
She had lost to Light Dyna again.
And this time, she had been beaten so thoroughly there was not even room to argue.
If Orfevre had not fouled in Dyna's debut race… then perhaps that stain would never have clung to her name. Even losing now would not carry nearly the same weight.
But that was all useless hindsight.
From this point until she defeated Light Dyna, people would continue to remember her as "Light Dyna's defeated rival."
Orfevre hated that.
That was why the dazzling brilliance Dyna displayed on stage now felt so unbearably harsh to her eyes.
When the performance and crowd interaction ended, it marked the complete close of the day's major event at Hanshin Racecourse.
All participating horse girls and their support staff had been arranged to stay at a nearby hotel.
Light Dyna alone had been given a suite.
The moment she stepped into her room, she all but tore off the performance outfit and changed into pajamas. Relief flooded her instantly.
"It really was a shame. You looked adorable in that costume," Cody's Wish sighed, still unwilling to let the matter go. "I should have touched you a bit more while I had the chance. That outfit felt very nice…"
Dyna carefully folded the stage costume and set it on top of the cabinet.
"Cody's Wish… please stop thinking about things like that!"
"But why? It was very cute. Why dislike it so much?" Cody's Wish tilted her head.
That said, Dyna also looked lovely in pajamas. If anything, Dyna looked good in absolutely anything.
Dyna covered her face with both hands in helplessness and switched on the television in the room.
Apparently the previous guest had been a horse-girl racing fan, because the TV came on directly to the racing channel.
And what was playing now—
was Dubai World Cup Day.
The race currently showing had already reached the final stretch, and the winner who surged through first was…
Victoire Pisa.
"The winner is Japan's Victoire Pisa! A new queen of the dirt in the Dubai World Cup—heaven's gift to Japan, Victoire Pisa!"
"Today, Victoire Pisa and Light Dyna together have swept away the shadow of the Eastern Japan Earthquake disaster!"
On the screen, the horse girl looked filthy and dust-streaked, yet she still raised her fist high toward the overflowing grandstand.
Dyna stared, somewhat dazed.
There had been a G1 overseas today too?
The Dubai World Cup…
That sounded like an incredible race.
Maybe something on the level of the Japan Cup?
For a Japanese horse girl to win it must be a huge deal, then?
"Dyna? Dyna?"
"Huh? Cody's Wish… what is it?"
By the time she snapped back to herself, the Dubai race program had ended. The World Cup had been the final race of the day.
Cody's Wish reached out and poked Dyna in the cheek.
"You were spacing out."
"Ah… it's nothing, really. I just got stuck thinking after seeing the Dubai World Cup. I had no idea there were overseas races today too."
Dyna gently pushed Cody's Wish's hand away and flopped backward onto the bed.
Heaven's gift to Japan—Victoire Pisa.
For some reason, those words kept echoing in her head, impossibly loud.
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 132)
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 (Chapter140)
"Is this chat group even serious?" (Chapter95)
I, Lord Ravager, Utterly Loyal! (Chapter165)
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 145
Honkai: Is This Still the Prev 42
Elf: My Starter Pokémon Is Inc 65
Warhammer: My Primarch Is Remi 135
From Demon Slayer to Grand Ass 95
The Way the Umamusume Look at 68
Uma Musume, but My Cheat Power 155
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 125
Uma Musume: A Calamity Born fr 105
I, a Reincarnation-Loop Player 62
The Violent Girl Group Is Beat 80
Uma Musume: The Horse Girl Who 66
Uma Musume: From Beginner 80
Becoming a Horse Girl, I Will 62
Uma Musume: I Want All 65
I Can Copy Unique Skills 53
Summoning an Evil God, but the 41
Supernatural Multiverse 45
My Harem Is Indescribable 35
Jujutsu Kaisen: Heroic Spirit 46
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