"…NEXT TO ENTER: NUMBER 8, INARI KAGURA, FROM CENTRAL TRACEN ACADEMY'S SUPPORT DIVISION!"
As the announcer read out Kagura's name, Kagura stepped out of the entry tunnel and onto the track.
To be honest, newcomer races usually didn't draw many fans. Most spectators came out of politeness and offered a bit of applause—after all, these were still unknown racers. Someone like Rudolf, who brought a massive following just by appearing, was the exception. Kagura wasn't born into any famous family. Outside the academy, she had no name to speak of. So her entrance, like everyone else's, was unremarkable—she looked like an ordinary Support Umamusume.
Not all the Umamusume in a debut race came from Central Tracen Academy, either. At the very least, Kagura didn't see many familiar faces here. Most of the racers were strangers to her, and she didn't see Central Tracen's crest on them.
"INARI KAGURA IS THE YOUNGEST COMPETITOR IN RECENT RACES—AND ALSO THE FIRST SUPPORT UMAMUSUME SINCE CENTRAL TRACEN ACADEMY'S FOUNDING TO STEP ONTO THE TRACK WITHOUT HAVING REACHED HONKAKU."
"What…?" "Whoa!!" "No way…"
The stands, which had been quiet, rippled with shocked reactions at the announcement. Murmurs spread through the crowd.
"Yo, a Support Umamusume? From Central? That's rare. You can actually see support staff on the track? From what they said… you're not simple, are you?"
The other Umamusume who'd already entered stared at the little racer in a black-and-white tracksuit with open curiosity. The announcer had specifically highlighted what made this kid different. Forget the spectators—even the racers on the track had never heard of a debut runner carrying so many "tags" at once.
"Well… I'm just an ordinary Support Umamusume. It's an honor to compete on the same track as all of you senpai."
"Aw~ You've got a way with words, kid. But don't think we'll go easy on you out there!"
"Hehe. Same here. No holding back—give it everything you've got!"
Kagura smiled, shook hands with the curious racers, then walked into her own starting gate.
...
"Oh dear. Bad news. It rained yesterday—today's track is going to be rough."
Symboli Speed had been keeping an eye on the weather these past few days, but of course the rain came yesterday, out of nowhere. She couldn't help wonder whether Kagura had any aptitude for heavy ground.
"It rained yesterday? We didn't even notice over there…"
Bizen Nishiki stared worriedly at the track, which did look pretty awful. Heavy ground could have a huge impact on a debut race—many debut runners had never trained for conditions like this.
"TURF, 1600 METERS, TRACK CONDITION: HEAVY. IN GATE ONE IS…"
The announcer's voice echoing through the venue lightly tugged at the racers' nerves.
Kagura heard the report too, and it did catch her off guard. She hadn't seen any rain on her side and assumed there wouldn't be an issue, so she hadn't come to scout the track the day before. She hadn't expected that one oversight to get answered with a downpour.
Heavy ground, huh… didn't see that coming.
So far, Kagura hadn't really run on heavy ground. She'd tried it once or twice in dreams with Eclipse, but one or two runs didn't mean much—at least, the effect hadn't been obvious.
The commentary paused. Kagura knew the gates were about to open. She didn't dare let her focus drift anymore. Like an archer sighting the target, she fixed her eyes on the gate and gathered herself.
CLACK!
With the crisp snap of the gates opening, Kagura shot out like an arrow loosed from a bow. Following the plan she'd already decided on, she surged forward at blistering speed, seized the very front in an instant, and claimed the lead without suspense.
"ALL RACERS BREAK CLEANLY—NUMBER 8, INARI KAGURA, IS IN FRONT! SHE'S FAST! SHE'S TAKEN THE LEAD IMMEDIATELY!"
"SHE'S NOT SHOWING ANY SIGN OF EASING UP—SHE MIGHT BE OVERCOOKING IT. HOPEFULLY SHE'LL FIND A CHANCE TO SETTLE."
Along with the announcer, the commentator's voice carried clearly into Kagura's ears.
Kagura, now in front, began to steadily increase her pace. Her original plan had been to feel out the surface first, figure out the conditions, and then decide whether to push. But the moment her feet hit the turf, she felt something strange: the ground under her wasn't nearly as hard to run on as she'd expected. She found a stride that matched the surface with ease. Her accelerating steps didn't feel hindered at all—almost as if she'd run on conditions like this before, countless times.
Track aptitude?
A possibility flashed through Kagura's mind. She'd seen the term in her Trainer's materials. She'd even thought about testing her own aptitudes, but some "samples" were hard to come by—there were parts of her adaptability she simply couldn't test. From the way things looked today, she seemed to have some kind of affinity for heavy ground.
Since her rhythm felt good and it was just a matter of adjusting her form, she didn't need to hold back anymore. A 1600-meter race wasn't anywhere near the limit of her stamina.
"THE LEADER, INARI KAGURA, ACCELERATES AGAIN!! SHE'S WIDENING THE GAP ON THE PACE CHASERS BEHIND HER! THEY HAVEN'T EVEN REACHED THE FIRST TURN!! WHAT IS SHE DOING!?"
"DON'T TELL ME… THIS CAN'T BE… A RUNAWAY?!"
The announcer and commentator both sounded incredulous. In a 1600-meter debut race, a Runaway was almost unheard of. Most rookies didn't have the stamina to pull off an all-out early breakaway over this distance. Yet today, this kid who hadn't even reached honkaku—on top of being a Support Umamusume—was trying to do the impossible on heavy ground?!
"NO MISTAKE—THIS IS A RUNAWAY!! INARI KAGURA IS STILL ACCELERATING!! IS INARI KAGURA, WHO HASN'T REACHED HONKAKU, TRYING A RUNAWAY ON HEAVY GROUND!? THIS IS INSANE!!"
The commentator's shock mirrored the crowd's. Everyone had expected a plain, uneventful newcomer race—only for the fifth race of the day to explode into something this wild!
...
"This kid… she has aptitud for heavy ground?!"
From the stands, Symboli Speed and Mejiro Iris could see Kagura's situation clearly. They'd been worried the bad track would disrupt Kagura's stride, but now it looked like it wasn't affecting her much at all. If anything, it was holding the other racers back from accelerating.
"S-she's way too strong, isn't she?! Kagura is still running that fast on such awful ground?!"
Bizen Nishiki had been worried before, but now only shock remained. Kagura showed no sign of slowing down—her speed looked almost the same as when Kagura had run a friendly match with her. Bizen Nishiki didn't even want to imagine how ugly it would look if she ran into Kagura on a track like this.
"This kid really is… surprisingly gifted."
Hearing the crowd start to buzz—some people were even beginning to shout cheers for Inari Kagura—Maruzensky thought to herself.
"CAMERA! GET A SHOT ON INARI KAGURA!! SHE'S FAR TOO FAST!! SHE'S ALREADY OUTSIDE THE CAMERA'S FRAME!"
"UNBELIEVABLE!! INARI KAGURA IS BLASTING THROUGH THE THIRD TURN AT THIS SPEED! BEHIND HER IS NOTHING BUT EMPTY SPACE—NO ONE CAN GET NEAR HER!!"
Even the commentator, reluctant as they were to believe it, had to acknowledge reality. They were starting to hope Kagura could actually complete this dazzling Runaway on heavy ground.
"That Support Umamusume up front… she's a monster!! How can she still run that fast on this garbage track!?"
Unlike the roaring, exhilarated crowd and the hyped announcers, the Umamusume chasing Kagura were realizing something was very wrong. There had been a reason the announcer piled so many prefixes onto Inari Kagura in the introduction. That runner in front wasn't some "youngest, not-yet-honkaku, support-division rookie." She was a bottomless stamina monster.
The pace of the race had been dragged to a bizarre, brutally high speed. Some racers had already blown themselves up and lost speed from pushing too hard. But even those who'd tried to sprint recklessly couldn't close the distance to that Support Umamusume leading up front—the gap was still widening little by little!
"Central Tracen calls that monster a Support Umamusume?! Then what the hell are their non-support racers, monsters of monsters?! That 'Support Umamusume' has got to be wrong!!"
"You still don't get it?! She's the monster that walked out of the support division!!"
Despair. Powerlessness. A distance that felt eternal—forever out of reach. The racers still on the track felt fear sink deep into their bones. They remembered this rookie with all her "tags." They already knew winning was impossible today. All they could do was avoid running into this little demon again in the future.
"SO FAST, SO FAST!! INARI KAGURA'S STRIDE STILL SHOWS NO FATIGUE! SHE'S INTO THE FINAL STRAIGHT!!"
"A RUNAWAY VICTORY!! NO ONE BEHIND INARI KAGURA HAS THE ABILITY TO APPROACH HER ANYMORE!! INARI KAGURA IS SPRINTING FOR THE FINISH LINE!!"
"SHE—CROSSES!! INARI KAGURA SHOWS OVERWHELMING STRENGTH, HITTING THE LINE WITH A MASSIVE GAP!!"
After the announcer's voice fell, it took a while before the second-place Umamusume finally came in. Then third and fourth followed. The scoreboard displayed Inari Kagura's time, and there was no doubt about it—just by eye, the announcer could tell Kagura's lead was far beyond ten lengths.
"SHOCKING!! TO THINK A COMPETITOR AS YOUNG AS INARI KAGURA—AND ONE WHO HASN'T EVEN REACHED HONKAKU—COULD PULL OFF SUCH A BRILLIANT RUNAWAY ON HEAVY GROUND!! THIS IS AN UNPRECEDENTED MIRACLE!! TODAY'S NEWCOMER RACE IS DESTINED FOR THE HISTORY BOOKS!"
...
"More than thirty lengths… This kid… she's terrifying."
Symboli Speed estimated the distance. She didn't have professional equipment, but the time gaps at the finish made it easy enough to infer.
The last debut racer to leave others behind by dozens of lengths had been Mejiro Ramonu. Mejiro Iris had thought her own Mejiro Ramonu was already outrageous—only for Kagura, this little monster, to put up something even more frightening.
"What a pair of legs… I'm jealous…"
"Kagura really doesn't hold back at all. With a gap like that… the ones behind her are going to have a rough time…"
Watching Kagura cross the line, Bizen Nishiki finally let out a breath. She was thrilled—and at the same time, she offered a moment of silent condolence to the unfortunate rookies behind Kagura.
Maruzensky had been recording on her phone the whole time. She didn't say much, but her shock was no less than anyone else's.
This overwhelming power… Kagura-chan can absolutely become a monster like Rudolf—no… surpass Rudolf…
---
T/N: hey, your uma has a problem! (title drop)