"Sink your qi into your dantian, focus…"
In front of Dyna was a stack of bricks as tall as the one she had seen the very first time she encountered this absurd "brick-breaking training." Her palms were wrapped in bandages. Lowering her center of gravity and bending her knees, she planted herself firmly, drew in a deep breath, and brought her hand down in a clean, vertical chop.
The bricks split neatly down the middle.
"Woooow—you broke them clean through! Congrats, Dyna!" Kiryū Jun clapped enthusiastically from the side.
The results of this week's training had been obvious. Dyna had definitely suffered for it, but now that the effort had finally borne fruit, it all felt worth it.
At last, she let out a long breath. Shaking her hand, still numb and tingling, she dropped onto the grass. Turning her head, she could see the pile of broken brick and tile fragments they had built up over the past few days. In a little while, they'd have to clean all of it away and make room for the next horse girl who wanted to use the training space.
"So I finally did it… Man, that took forever." Pulling up her sleeve, Dyna flexed her arm.
What had once been slender and soft now tightened obediently under her will, the muscle hardening beneath her skin. It wasn't like touching iron or anything ridiculous like that, but it was undeniably full, firm, and strong.
Not far away, Lady stood near the track, working a strength trainer made of thick, tightly packed springs. Every time she pulled it apart, the thing let out a metallic squeal. Each spring was as thick as two fingers laid side by side. Just looking at it made your scalp prickle.
From Lady's perspective, Dyna's strength gains had been remarkably fast. That only made her more uncertain about what kind of growth-type horse girl Dyna really was.
Normally, horse girls were classified into a few broad developmental types: ultra-early bloomer, early bloom and early fade, early bloom and late fade, standard, slightly late, late bloomer, and ultra-late bloomer.
But none of them seemed to fit Dyna.
If she were the early-blooming type, that would explain how she'd won a French G1 as a new horse girl. But her body was still developing even after the Satsuki Sho, which clearly meant she hadn't yet reached her limit, so she couldn't be truly early-maturing.
And yet if she were normal or late-blooming, then that French G1 win made no sense either. Most late bloomers Lady had seen had miserable records in the early part of their careers. Usually, they didn't really begin to shine until their four- or even five-year-old seasons.
Lady's gaze drifted to Dyna's hand.
Dyna was unwrapping her bandages. The bruises and abrasions she'd had from the first few days of training were already gone. That, too, had surprised Lady: Dyna's recovery rate was exceptional, even among horse girls.
Some local racers could run once every two weeks, sure—but that only worked because they were running at much lower intensities. Most local horse girls, after all, raced to support their families. Any dreams they had about running were things they carried on the side, little sparks of fantasy to brighten an otherwise exhausting and repetitive life.
Of course, plenty of local girls dreamed of making it to Central.
But most of them never dared to truly try.
Even if they did get the chance to enter a Central race, most would shrink back. They knew they would lose, and lose badly.
Except for rare cases, a local horse girl could race forty or fifty times before retirement and still win fewer than six races. And that was only in local-level graded divisions—Group A, Group B, Group C. Those races didn't even qualify to lace the shoes of Central new-horse races.
There had always been a gulf between local and Central racing.
Oguri Cap and Inari One were rare anomalies. The fact that only a few such "golden phoenixes" had emerged over decades was proof enough.
Finding one in the local scene was difficult—but not impossible.
In a sense, Dyna could also be considered a horse girl from "outside Central." She hadn't joined Tracen Academy, and at the time of her debut she'd had even less experience than the average local racer. More than anything, she was proof that horse girl racing was brutally, mercilessly competitive.
And the capital you fought with in that competition was something decided before you were even born:
Talent.
A wall no horse girl could truly break through.
After another half hour or so, Dyna and Kiryū Jun finished cleaning up the shattered remains of the training pile. Then they invited Lady to go eat lunch with them.
It was only a little after ten, but after completing a major stage of training, Dyna wanted to celebrate a little. Lady set down her spring trainer and nodded.
Her debut race date had already been decided: a 1600-meter maiden in late June.
As for why it was a maiden and not something easier or more carefully staged, that had been Lady's own request. She said she wanted to start accumulating experience in real head-to-head competition as soon as possible.
At the Tracen cafeteria, Dyna pressed her hands together before the mountain of food piled in front of her.
"I'm digging in."
Then she immediately buried herself in the meal.
Around her, other students kept sneaking glances.
"Did Oguri Cap-senpai come back from retirement or something? Is she training for a comeback? I swear she used to eat a little less than that…"
"But Oguri Cap isn't chestnut-haired, is she? And that girl eats so neatly. She doesn't feel like the Oguri Cap-senpai I remember… Maybe she's a freshman too?"
"Whoa… That's terrifying. There's a saying, right? At Central Tracen, the more a horse girl eats, the faster she runs!"
The freshmen gossiping nearby weren't being especially quiet. With her sharper hearing, Dyna caught everything.
Still, she didn't turn around until she had finished the entire meal and wiped her mouth clean.
The moment she did, the girls froze.
One of them looked ready to squeal in shock, but the ash-gray-haired horse girl beside her immediately clapped a hand over her mouth and swallowed the noise before it got out.
Then the gray-haired girl bowed apologetically.
"We're so sorry! We really didn't mean to gossip out loud!"
"Hm? It's fine~" Dyna smiled. "So you know who I am. Just… don't make too much of a fuss, okay?"
She had honestly expected someone to scream and announce to the entire cafeteria that Light Dyna was eating here.
Thankfully, the gray-haired girl was sensible. After apologizing, the group quickly left.
Lady, who had been calmly lifting a piece of broccoli with her chopsticks, watched them go and asked, "Is there really anyone at this academy who doesn't know you're training here?"
You'd think that after showing up around campus so often, everyone would know already.
"What I meant wasn't that," Dyna said helplessly, spreading her hands. "What I don't want spreading around is how much I eat. The fewer people who know that, the better."
Tonight, after all, there was still the pre–Japanese Derby press conference.
As one of the headline favorites, she had to attend.
And flashing cameras and reporters were exactly the sort of thing she handled worst.
That evening, at the main gate of Central Tracen Academy, Dyna kept glancing down at her clothes, somehow feeling like something about them was off.
A pale yellow dress, simple and elegant. The hem fell all the way to her ankles, only just allowing a glimpse of the light-colored heels beneath it when she moved. Her long hair, usually tied back, was loose over her shoulders today. It didn't fluff up much, thanks to her hair texture, but it still gave her a softer look.
"Thanks for coming. You've still got a press conference tonight," Wada called out. Kiryū Jun stood beside him, ready to help support Dyna if needed.
Dyna smiled faintly, unbothered. "It's fine. I'm actually kind of looking forward to it. I want to hear, through the reporters, what the fans are expecting from me."
Seeing that she was in decent spirits, Wada didn't say more. He only added, "By the way, everyone entered in the Japanese Derby was invited. Gold Master's on the list too. Whether she'll actually show up or not, though—I don't know."
"That's fine. I'm not concerned about her," Dyna said lightly.
With Kiryū Jun helping her, she stepped into the auditorium.
She had heard a long time ago that Gold Master had disappeared from Central for a month. She could guess that the girl had gone off for special training. How much that training had changed her, though—that would only become clear once they met again.
"Then from here on out, Dyna, you're on your own~ Good luck."
Kiryū Jun took a seat beside Wada. Opera O had gone off to find Admire Top Road and Taiki Shuttle; apparently she'd been sticking with the two of them a lot lately. Opera O had actually been feeling a little lonely.
The event hadn't started yet. The reporters in the back rows were still adjusting their equipment. Dyna sat in the front row, her back attracting no small amount of attention.
She took out her phone from the pocket hidden in her skirt, found an angle she could tolerate, and snapped a selfie. Then she sent it to Troph.
Troph had been keeping up with all of her races lately. When it came to this sort of thing, Dyna always thought of her first.
Though over in France, Troph was busy playing an endless cat-and-mouse game with Frankel. Their messages weren't as instantaneous as they used to be.
Frankel, after learning she had a "younger sister," had practically gone mad with excitement. Unless she had a race, she was staying in France now. Even when she did race, she hurried back as soon as she could.
She had picked up functional French in just a week, which had completely stunned Troph.
On top of that, Frankel had insisted on moving into the room next door, forcing Troph to wake early every day and keep her room spotless, terrified that Frankel would suddenly barge in and see her usual mess.
That was only the tiny fraction of the situation Troph had admitted to Dyna.
If Dyna had actually been in France to witness it for herself, the truth would have been even more ridiculous.
No sooner had Dyna put her phone away than someone dropped into the seat beside her.
A girl in the student council uniform, with a crescent-shaped white blaze on her forehead.
Dyna nearly jumped out of her skin.
"Good evening, Light Dyna."
Rudolf Symboli leaned back against the soft seat, nodding toward her.
Even though she was seated, Dyna instinctively inclined her upper body in greeting.
"Good evening, President Rudolf…"
She absolutely arranged this seating on purpose, Dyna thought.
But before she could say more, a glittering figure passed in front of them, trailing a faintly cold, needle-sharp aura that brushed across Dyna's skin.
"…Gold Master?"
There was no mistaking her: the orange hair, the unmistakable silhouette.
But there was something different now.
The eyes that used to blaze with challenge and hostility held only a cold stillness. Her gaze rested on Dyna for a single moment, then moved away as if she didn't care at all.
"She's changed a great deal," Rudolf said softly, also looking toward the girl. "I don't know what method the Gold family or Trainer Ikesoe used, but there's a new force in her now—something capable of altering the outcome of a race."
"And you," Rudolf added, glancing at Dyna, "have become a kind of catalyst for her emotions."
"Me…? Well. That makes sense, I guess."
Dyna watched Gold Master take a seat all the way at the opposite end of the row and let out a quiet breath. This seating, too, had clearly been Rudolf's handiwork. At least if Dyna had to go on stage later, she wouldn't need to walk right past Gold Master.
Rudolf was, in truth, deeply interested in the pair of them.
Most horse girls transformed on the racetrack. A few, like Rice Shower once had, changed through intense training or events outside the races themselves.
Gold Master, now, resembled the latter case.
Without question, she had changed outside the race itself.
And according to Rudolf, what now existed inside Gold Master was something unusual: a type of pressure, almost a proto–battle aura, that surfaced only in response to a very specific target.
Rice Shower's had only appeared in long-distance races.
Gold Master's, Rudolf suspected, would awaken whenever Light Dyna was present.
"Have you thought about how you're going to run the Derby?" Rudolf asked.
"The Derby…" Dyna smiled bitterly. "Not really. I drew the outside gate again. It's giving me a headache."
The Japanese Derby gate draw had come out recently.
She was in eighteen again.
Gold Master had drawn gate five.
And Triumph Ballet—fresh off her first graded win in the G2 Aoba Sho—had drawn gate one as the tenth favorite.
"Maybe I'll just use the same strategy as in the Satsuki Sho?" Dyna offered.
"Stay back, then sweep in one go from the outside? That will be difficult," Rudolf said, shaking her head. "For a race like the Derby, the greatest stage of this generation, that kind of simplistic plan is far too crude."
Every girl in that field would be running with the resolve to burn herself out.
There was no one in the Derby who wasn't prepared to throw away everything for the sake of victory.
"Then I guess I'll just adapt on the fly?" Dyna replied. But the truth was, the outside gate still gave her a headache. From that position, chasing from behind was the only real option she had.
Rudolf turned her eyes back toward the stage and said nothing more.
The Satsuki Sho crowned the fastest horse girl.
The Derby could only be won by the luckiest one.
And the Kikuka Sho would decide the strongest.
Still, Rudolf had a feeling.
Perhaps the strongest horse girl of the future… would not choose the Kikuka Sho route at all.
Perhaps the strongest horse girl to come would be born in the middle-distance ranks.
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 139)
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 (Chapter171)
"Is this chat group even serious?" (Chapter100)
I, Lord Ravager, Utterly Loyal! (Chapter184)
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 168
Honkai: Is This Still the Prev 42
Elf: My Starter Pokémon Is Inc 65
Warhammer: My Primarch Is Remi 156
From Demon Slayer to Grand Ass 105
The Way the Umamusume Look at 68
Uma Musume, but My Cheat Power 185
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 160
Uma Musume: A Calamity Born fr 150
I, a Reincarnation-Loop Player 76
The Violent Girl Group Is Beat 97
Uma Musume: The Horse Girl Who 66
Uma Musume: From Beginner 116
Becoming a Horse Girl, I Will 75
Uma Musume: I Want All 93
I Can Copy Unique Skills 79
Summoning an Evil God, but the 55
Supernatural Multiverse 75
My Harem Is Indescribable 68
Jujutsu Kaisen: Heroic Spirit 70
"I'm just a Valkyrie passing through." 66
Uma Musume: Today Is Another Romantic Battlefield 69
Still playing traditional Honk 49
The Most Filial Son Under Heav 53
What Should I Do After Switchi 42
Reincarnated as a Demon, Skill 50
Hell-Difficulty Dungeon? 38
Transmigrated as Sukuna 35
Checking In in Demon Slayer 40
The Reincarnating Trainer of Tracen Academy 55
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