Italy.
Danedream was in her room, using the smartphone she had only recently bought, scrolling through news she had never really seen before. Information moved far faster on Twitter than it did in the newspapers she read every morning, and it reached her with much greater immediacy. The only thing she had to do herself was judge whether any of it was true.
"The Japanese Derby is about to begin... and Dyna, winner of the Prix Marcel Boussac, has unquestionably taken up the title of the strongest active horse girl in Japan today..."
Danedream held her phone in both hands, staring at the photo on the screen. It was one taken at the press conference not long ago.
Dyna was leaning slightly forward, her gaze locked on Golden Master below the stage. Her entire being radiated an indescribable charm, magnetism, and overwhelming presence.
With one hand free, Danedream twined a lock of her brown hair around her fingers.
Compared to Dyna, she felt utterly unremarkable. Her looks were plain, her hair color ordinary, her figure disappointingly flat. When she ran, she felt soft and weak—anyone could shove her out of position.
That beautiful chestnut hair. Those silky twin-tails. That enviable figure. Those gentle, watery eyes.
That was the Dyna Danedream saw.
Perfect in every way.
And on the racetrack, that gentle water turned into a tsunami that swallowed every other horse girl whole.
"And she was so soft, too... Miss Dyna."
Danedream murmured to herself.
During the Prix Marcel Boussac, Dyna had brushed past her and forced her slightly off her line. Of course, it had only been the usual kind of bodily contact that happened when two racers contested the same position. There had been no deliberate pressure, nothing that actually harmed Danedream's body.
Otherwise, the French Racing Association would have dragged Dyna out after the race and publicly condemned her before voiding her result.
It was simply that Danedream had been physically weaker back then—less developed, less sturdy than Dyna. She still remembered it clearly: the soft thing that had pressed against her arm had been Dyna's chest. That was why she had suddenly felt herself being nudged inward. Only when she replayed it afterward did she understand that it had been that softness that had edged her aside.
It was different from the blunt bodily contact they described in the training manuals.
Still, even if Dyna had never taken her line, Danedream would not have won that race.
There had been four or five horse girls stronger than her in that field. No matter how she looked at it, victory had never been within reach.
And yet, because of Dyna, a dream had taken root in her heart.
"This year... I'm definitely going to run in the Japan Cup."
She fell back onto the bed, then climbed over to the edge and grabbed a pen. Flipping her calendar to November 27, she circled the date in black ink and wrote a line beneath it in katakana:
Japan C
She wanted to see Dyna again.
No—not just see her.
She wanted to run beside her. To race against her.
There was a very high chance Dyna would stay in Japan all year, racing domestically. If Dyna would not come abroad, then Danedream would go to her.
Japan had favorable entry policies for foreign horse girls. As long as Danedream won a stakes race before the Japan Cup this year, she could secure a place through the foreign horse girl priority entry system.
That was right. It did not even have to be a major one. As long as it was an international graded race, it would do.
Danedream's eyes suddenly lit up.
The Japan Cup never even filled all of those foreign entry slots every year. Even if she only managed to win a single G3 beforehand, she would still be able to start in the Japan Cup with room to spare.
"All I need... is one stakes win. Even a G3 is enough."
But after whispering that to herself, she sank back into gloom.
She lay flat on the bed, staring up at the ceiling of the rented room, where a spiderweb sagged in one corner. A heavier weight settled in her chest.
Once again, the last words of the trainer who had recently terminated their contract echoed in her ears.
"Seven starts, one win. You still can't even win a Listed-level open race. I sincerely suggest you win at least one open before you start talking about stakes races. The horse girls at that level are on an entirely different plane."
That had been the last thing he said to her before leaving.
At the time, she had just lost the Premio Seregno—a completely ordinary open race with only eight runners. Danedream had finished fourth.
"Maybe... he was right..."
She felt no resentment toward her former trainer. Over the year and more they had worked together, he had fulfilled every responsibility he had toward her. More often than not, after every defeat, he had stayed up all night reviewing the race and explaining exactly why she had lost.
And then, in the next race, they repeated the same cycle.
Every single race, Danedream somehow found a different way to lose.
No matter how patient a trainer was, it was only natural for them to grow disappointed in a horse girl who went seven starts for one win.
Danedream had been enrolled in the elite division of the German Tracen Academy. To enter that academy at all meant aiming for graded stakes as a baseline. If she had been at a provincial academy instead, maybe her trainer would have been proud of her record, encouraging her to keep running no matter what.
But this was an elite academy.
Left on her own in April, Danedream had entered the Italian Derby by herself.
A G2.
And she had lost there, too.
Third place at least earned her a share of prize money, enough to keep her fed and housed. But she still could not bring herself to return to the open ranks.
So she gave herself no rest.
She immediately entered this month's Italian Oaks, another G2.
She did not know whether her body could recover in time, but... she had to force it.
If ordinary training wasn't producing the right answers on the racetrack, then she would abandon training altogether.
She would race instead. Use racing itself as training.
So what if she lost?
Then she would just keep racing.
Eventually there had to be one graded stakes field weak enough for her to win.
May would be two G2 races. Fine.
June, July, August, September—she would race in all of them if she had to.
Surely there would be one she could win.
If she won even one, then she could go to the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe in October.
As long as her name appeared on the Arc entry list, Dyna would definitely see it too, wouldn't she?
Even if she was sixteenth favorite, that would still be a chance.
"That Japanese horse girl who nearly won the Arc last year will definitely be back too, right? Dyna came with her, so she'll definitely be watching Nakayama Festa's race..."
Danedream felt ridiculous for thinking so much about it.
But she couldn't stop worrying.
She lived inside the anxiety of not being able to win.
Now she was completely alone.
No trainer. No guidance.
Everything from here on out depended on her alone.
Danedream closed her eyes.
"I'm so lonely. Here in Italy... it's just me."
Suddenly, she missed home.
Her parents were probably still sitting in front of the television for every one of her races, weren't they?
Even when she entered obscure little races in the middle of nowhere, they would still find a way to watch the broadcast, still sit there hoping she might win.
A part of her wanted to go back to Germany.
But if she went back now...
Wouldn't that just be running away?
To go home in such a sorry state and beg her parents for comfort...
"That's pathetic... way too pathetic! I promised Mom and Dad I'd only come back after winning a G1! If I run back now, the neighbors will laugh at me!"
She pinched herself hard. A bead of blood welled up under her skin. The sting cleared her head.
Danedream made up her mind.
After the Italian Oaks, she would go back to Germany.
She would race in German stakes events.
And besides... the Italian Oaks would be on May 29.
The same day Dyna would run in the Japanese Derby.
Accounting for the time difference, it would still only be May 28 where Danedream was—but that was not important.
She could watch Dyna win the Japanese Derby, and then go run in the Oaks herself.
Knock knock knock.
Someone rapped on the door.
Lost in her own thoughts, Danedream jerked upright.
Who would knock on her door?
She had rented this little guesthouse room for a month. She had no friends in Italy.
Could it be some criminal ring that trafficked horse girls?
The knocking grew faster, louder, more impatient.
Danedream decided to answer it. But even with her hand already on the knob, she still took a mask from the small table by the door and put it on first.
The lock clicked open.
"Oh. So someone is in."
The middle-aged man outside had been on the verge of leaving, but paused when the door opened.
So this is the horse girl? he thought.
She really did look ordinary. Her bare ankles in her slippers looked slender. Her hair, under the sunlight, seemed dry and brittle. She did not look like a healthy horse girl at all.
"May I ask... who are you?" Danedream asked.
She thought she vaguely recognized him. During the Prix Marcel Boussac in France, he had been seated on the trainers' side. Back then, he had worn a wildly exaggerated hat, which was probably why she remembered him so clearly.
The man in black took out his wallet and slid a business card between his fingers, offering it to her.
"Andrasch Starke. Just call me Starke. I'm a German trainer. I heard about your situation, and I watched your run in the Boussac before this. You caught my interest, so... I thought I'd see whether you might be interested in meeting me."
Danedream froze.
A trainer from Germany.
Coming all the way to Italy.
Digging her out of some out-of-the-way place like this.
How were those words even supposed to fit together?
And Andrasch Starke... she was pretty sure she had heard that name before.
A very famous trainer, wasn't he?
"Me? Trainer? You know I'm only seven starts for one win, right?"
She deliberately emphasized the record.
Starke looked her up and down with a somewhat cavalier air.
He could tell she hadn't finished developing. Whether that was because she matured late or because she was malnourished remained to be seen. But judging from her results, she had finished in the top five of G2s and below often enough to show she had the potential to win at that level.
An ordinary trainer lasting six defeats straight with a horse girl in the elite German Tracen Academy could already be called patient. Starke understood that much.
So instead of answering directly, he pulled a badge from his pocket and tossed it at her.
"You don't have the right to refuse. This is a compulsory requisition order from Tracen Academy. I'm allowed to pick any currently enrolled horse girl without a trainer and assign her to my team. I think you've got potential, so you're going to prove me right. Understood?"
The badge hit her chest and nearly slipped from her grasp.
Danedream stared at the silver emblem, then back up at Starke's casual face, completely lost.
It was all happening too suddenly. Her brain had stopped working.
Because this—losing one trainer only to immediately be found by another experienced one—was the sort of thing that only happened in the novels she read.
"Won't you invite me in?"
"Ah? Oh! Yes—please come in, Mr. Starke... I mean, Trainer."
As impossible as it all seemed, Danedream still accepted the reality that Starke was now her trainer.
Because a horse girl on her own would always have a much harder time than one with a trainer. Even a rookie trainer would still be a tremendous help.
As Danedream fumbled around, trying to decide what to offer him, Starke's eyes landed on the calendar in the room.
He had noticed the date circled in black.
November 27.
At once, he thought of the biggest G1 of that season:
The Japan Cup.
"So, you want to run in this year's Japan Cup?" Starke asked.
The moment he said it, Danedream froze again.
There it was—her dream, exposed.
Then she gave a silent nod.
"You only ran in the Boussac before, right? And the winner there was Dyna. Hmm... in that case, I suppose I'll arrange for the two of you to meet again on the track. I'm not confident I can make you beat her... but I do expect you to beat every other horse girl besides her."
Starke extended a hand.
It was a promise, trainer and horse girl to each other.
Danedream grabbed his hand with both of hers and shook it up and down.
"I promise, Mr. Starke! As long as you can get me onto the same track as Dyna, I'll do anything it takes! Anything!"
Only then did Starke finally smile.
Looks like I've stumbled onto something pretty interesting here, he thought.
With his free hand, he tapped lightly on the tabletop.
Danedream's potential needed to be drawn out. The Italian Oaks were fast approaching. What he needed to do next was make her win that race.
If he had not come, she might well have lost.
But now that he had come, he intended to make sure she won.
Starke would not permit a horse girl under his care to be laughed at after a race.
And the Italian Oaks would be Danedream's first race under him.
"Dyna... we'll meet again in the future. You're even more intriguing than I expected."
That was Starke's verdict on her.
A horse girl whose limits could not be seen.
A horse girl whose true ceiling no one could predict.
No wonder Danedream was so fixated on her.
The Prix Marcel Boussac must have left a deeper mark on Danedream than anyone had realized.
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
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