The curtain finally rose on the URA Finals, and the opening act was a high-voltage clash: the Turf Sprint. Horse girls who had staked their reputations on being the fastest sprinters in the land threw themselves into the fray. Among them, the girl currently explosive out of the gate surged toward the first curve—only to veer violently toward the outside. By the time she hit the bend, she was practically grinding her shoulder against the outer rail.
"Wh-what on earth?! The leader, Rabbit Parabellum, is drifting wide—she's heading straight for the outer fence! Can she even make this turn?! Is she making the turn?!"
"Rabbit! Turn, damn it! Tuuuuurn!" Saito screamed into his mic.
"She's turning! Somehow, she's clawed her way around the bend! Rabbit Parabellum stays in the race! But I've never seen a line like that in my life! You have to say it—for better or worse, her 'territory' is strictly the straightaway!"
Rabbit Parabellum, the pride of the Kochi Training Center, was known as the "Queen of the Straightaway." Her straight-line speed was peerless, but her data showed a staggering 99% failure rate when it came to cornering. Her "solution" was a desperate, brutal maneuver: slamming herself against the outer rail and using the friction to force a change in direction. It was less of a turn and more of a controlled collision, leaving the audience divided between genuine concern and stunned laughter.
"But in stark contrast to Rabbit's chaotic line, look at this masterful cornering! It's Canter Tourmaline from the Urawa Training Center! She's taken the lead—no, wait! Rabbit Parabellum is coming back with a vengeance! Despite that massive loss of momentum, despite practically shaving layers off her own skin on that rail, she's already closed the gap to two lengths! Are you seeing this?!"
"That acceleration is monstrous!" Saito shouted. "She's a pure straight-line demon! Those rumors about her holding an unofficial 1200m world record? I'm starting to believe every word!"
While girls from general schools were in the mix, the battle at the front was a duel between two regional Training Center stars. Their strides seemed to scream a single message to the world: We aren't just here to participate. We're here to show you what we're made of.
"There's the wire! We're in the final stretch of this lightning-fast six-furlong deathmatch! Who will claim the glory of the first-ever URA Finals victory?! Rabbit Parabellum is charging, charging! But here comes the cavalry! Sakura Cyclone is surging from the back! Breaker Chain is finding her second wind! And wait—here comes a dark horse! Yamato Sweetie! Yamato Sweetie is making her move! She's slicing right through the center of the pack!"
"Now that is a move! Is that the girl who achieved back-to-back perfect victories on the athletic show TEKIRO?! She's bringing that raw explosiveness to the turf!"
"Can she catch the leaders?! She's closing in—she's neck-and-neck! Is the regional duo flagging?! Here they come! Is it Rabbit?! Is it Tourmaline?! Or will Yamato Sweetie fulfill the dream of every general-school girl in Japan?! The Rabbit, the Jewel, or the Yamato?! They're at the wire! GOAL! It's a photo finish, but Rabbit Parabellum looked to have the edge!"
"It's close, but to my eyes, Rabbit's nose was just ahead... Wait, the results are in! We have a confirmation, Akasaka-san!"
"There it is! The first champion of the URA Finals, Short Distance Division, is—the Queen of the Straightaway from Kochi, Rabbit Parabellum! She took the scenic route via the outer rail, but her finishing speed is truly one of a kind! In second place, a stunning performance from Yokohama's own Yamato Sweetie, who just managed to leapfrog Canter Tourmaline! Tourmaline takes third. What a start! The general-school entries are proving they can go toe-to-toe with the best!"
"I did it—! Everyone back in Kochi, I did it! Urara-chan, were you watching?!"
Despite the brutal friction she'd endured on the rail, Rabbit looked perfectly fine. She hopped up and down, radiating energy as she celebrated. Watching her, you had to wonder what kind of indestructible physiology she possessed. Canter Tourmaline walked over, offering a hand.
"I really thought I had that one!" Canter said, her voice a mix of frustration and awe. "It stings to lose, but that was incredible. I won't lose next time!"
"I had so much fun I want to do it all over again!" Rabbit chirped. "I'm definitely entering next year too!"
"Racing really is the best, isn't it?!" Yamato Sweetie chimed in, grinning despite her narrow defeat. "Man, I was so close!"
"You were honestly terrifying," Rabbit admitted. "I really thought you were gonna blow right past me!"
"Talk about brute-forcing a win..."
Rampage, watching from the sidelines, let out a wry, complicated laugh. He was half-exasperated and half-impressed. Rabbit's style was the definition of 'extreme'—completely abandoning her weaknesses to maximize her one overwhelming strength. It was almost refreshing.
"A time of 1:08.3... That's dangerously close to Bakushin-o's record at the Sprinters Stakes," Rampage mused.
Earlier this year, Sakura Bakushin O—the undisputed sovereign of the sprint—had clocked in at 1:07.9. For a regional girl to come that close to a Central G1 legend's time was nothing short of extraordinary. If she hadn't wasted all that energy drifting to the outer rail, what kind of time would she have posted? Rampage thought. Bakushin O had mentioned retiring or moving to overseas G1s next year; maybe he'd drop her a line about this.
"And the general-school girl almost ate the pros alive... I guess the difference was just raw race experience."
Yamato Sweetie had been magnificent, but her lack of tactical seasoning meant her final kick was just a fraction of a second too late to catch Rabbit. With more experience, that girl's ceiling was limitless. The thought that there were still more "unpolished gems" like this out there made a shiver of excitement run down Rampage's spine.
"So, our first champion is Rabbit Parabellum. Next up: the Mile. I wonder what kind of madness we'll see there..."
Rampage glanced at his phone. Messages were already pouring in from Minamisaka and Kamimizaru. The Central trainers in the stands were looking pale. Most of them were speechless, stunned that such power existed in the regional circuits—and even more baffled that a general-school girl could run like that.
The message was clear: being "Regional" or "General" didn't mean they were "Diet Central." If anything, there were monsters lurking in the shadows of the countryside that could devour the elite whole.
"The momentum is only going to build from here," Rampage whispered. "This is what the Finals are all about."
First URA Finals
Short Distance Champion: Rabbit Parabellum
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