Chapter 121: Eclipse first, the rest nowhere
After explaining, and seeing Kitasan Black and the others still in a daze, Duramente waited a few seconds, then nodded and turned around.
"Excuse me, then. Kitasan, Crown—good luck to you both."
Only after the sound of Duramente's footsteps faded away for a good while did Satono Crown take a deep breath.
"Duramente… she really is working hard, huh? All right—!"
She lifted her tray and stood up as well.
"I'm going to the counseling room too!"
The sudden motion startled Kitasan Black a little.
At first, she thought her friend was heading off to train as well, but the next sentence caught her by surprise.
"The counseling room…? Crow-chan, are you troubled by something?" she asked, standing up too, concern written all over her face.
"Me? Oh no, not me."
Satono Crown waved her hand with a smile. "It's for Cheval Grand."
"Cheval-san?"
Kitasan Black blinked, then asked with genuine concern, "Did something happen to her?"
Knowing how kind her friend could be, Satono Crown didn't hide anything and explained.
She and Kitasan Black were classmates—Crown was the class representative, while Cheval Grand was one of their classmates.
Tracen Academy grouped students by academic and athletic performance, so anyone who made it into the same class already had excellent records.
2nd, 1st, 3rd, 3rd—Cheval Grand's debut and the next three races had all been remarkable. But during training before her fifth race, the Wakagoma Stakes, she got injured and had to withdraw.
By the sixth race, the Daily Cup, her most recent appearance, her performance had slipped—perhaps due to lingering effects from the injury—and she only placed fifth.
From that Wakagoma race up until now, Cheval had often seemed distracted in class, and her training focus had dropped noticeably.
After consulting with the teachers, they concluded her mindset might have been shaken by the injury and loss.
As class representative, Satono Crown naturally took it upon herself to help.
"So that's how it is…"
Kitasan Black nodded in understanding, falling silent.
She hadn't experienced what Cheval Grand was going through, but she could faintly sense the weight of that pressure.
Before her own debut, she had felt something similar.
Every new student, upon entering the academy, would be personally interviewed by the Student Council President—Tokai Teio.
Having known the idol-like senpai even before enrollment, Kitasan Black had already heard what was usually said during those interviews.
"Eclipse first, the rest nowhere."
That was the motto of Central Tracen Academy—an unrelenting standard set for every Umamusume.
Each year, around ten thousand talented Umamusumes earned the right to step onto the racetrack. But only about twenty percent of them would ever make it into Central Tracen.
Of those two thousand, not all would succeed in debuting.
Some couldn't handle the pressure of competition. Some were undone by injury. Others fell for different reasons.
Every single day, someone dropped out.
No matter how bright their hopes once shone, their dreams would fade away all the same.
And even debuting didn't mean one had "made it."
There were only about five hundred graded stakes races each year—meaning only about five hundred champions.
As for G1 races, they were far rarer—barely more than twenty.
Winning one or two G1s still didn't amount to "Eclipse first, the rest nowhere."
Even if you kept winning, that didn't always earn the world's acceptance.
But a single loss could bring more doubt than anyone expected.
"Sounds cruel, doesn't it, Kita-chan?"
Back then, her senpai—whose appearance carried a mix of youthful charm and calm maturity, eyes glinting with an emotion she couldn't quite read—had said this:
"But that's the reality."
"Maybe you can't truly understand it yet, but I want you to know it now."
"To lose a race—to be forced off the track… that's what's normal for us."
"Winning a race, a graded stakes, or even a G1… those are nothing more than rare strokes of luck."
"What you'll have to do in the future is to keep running down that road of luck, again and again."
"I hope you can do that—and I believe you can."
Lost briefly in that memory, Kitasan Black turned toward Satono Crown with a serious look.
"Then I'll help too. I might not be able to fully understand how Cheval-san feels… but if someone shows her they care, I'm sure that alone will make her happy."
"My trainer's at a meeting anyway, and I don't have any training scheduled tonight."
"You're as kind as ever, Kita-chan. In that case—"
Crown started to smile and nod, but then her brows furrowed slightly. After a pause, she slowly shook her head.
"No… this time, maybe it's better if you don't go."
"…Why?" Kitasan Black asked quickly.
"Because…"
Crown pressed her lips together, her eyes flickering with something complicated before she let out a sigh.
"You won the Satsuki Sho.
"I didn't mention it before, but Cheval also registered for the Classic Triple Crown. But after her withdrawal from the Wakagoma Stakes and her loss at the Daily Cup, her fan count dropped too low—she had to forfeit her entry."
"Her next race will be the G3 Kyoto Shimbun Hai."
"I know it sounds harsh, but showing up with a laurel crown to comfort someone who failed before even stepping on the track… is like wearing an evening gown to a funeral."
Silence spread over the table for a long time.
Then, all of a sudden, Kitasan Black smiled—her expression the same confident one she wore at the starting gate of the Satsuki Sho.
"Even if it turns out just like you said, Crow-chan… I've decided I'm going to see Cheval-san anyway."
"…Kita-chan?" Satono Crown blinked, frowning in confusion.
"Because—even if I don't know her that well, I just think…"
Lifting her tray, Kitasan Black said firmly:
"She's not the kind of Umamusume who's fragile."
"Or rather—none of us are that fragile."
…
When Satono Crown finally agreed to let Kitasan Black come along, meanwhile, in the Student Council Office—
Sitting behind her desk, Tokai Teio was holding a slice of apple pie. In front of her were several open folders, one of which bore the heading "Dubai Turf Invitational."
At the far corner of the room stood another, longer desk. Normally, that was where Mejiro McQueen sat, always busy at work.
But McQueen wasn't there today.
Instead, another Umamusume occupied that seat, quietly reviewing documents with her head bowed. Her posture—calm, focused, and poised—was like a master sword sheathed in ice.
The evening sun poured through the window, glazing her smooth, dark-golden hair in a cold, metallic sheen. The nameplate before her—"Deep Impact"—gleamed sharply under the light.
Crunch, crunch. The crisp sound of Teio biting into the pie reached across the office. The pen tip in Deep Impact's hand twitched slightly at the noise—her lips parted just a bit, and the chill in her expression softened.
"…President, haven't you already had dinner? A snack at this hour isn't exactly ideal for weight management."
Licking a trace of jam off her finger, Tokai Teio grinned.
"Weight? That's no problem. It's not like I'm McQueen—I don't gain weight, you know."
"…Tomorrow, I'll be inspecting the drainage system at Tokyo Racecourse with McQueen-senpai," Deep Impact replied after a quiet sigh, her tone carrying a hint of unspoken warning.
She stood, gathering the stack of documents she had just reviewed, and walked over to Teio's desk.
"This is the preliminary review of the second-quarter overseas partnership contracts. I hope you can finish signing them by 19:30."
"Got it. Thanks for the hard work."
Wiping her hands clean with a napkin, Tokai Teio's joking air vanished completely, replaced by sharp focus.
"Oh, right—don't head out just yet. About that practice race we discussed the other day—have you thought it over?"
<+>
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