Chapter 103.
Shaking off her momentary confusion, Mejiro McQueen's eyes hardened into polished amethyst. As the field carved into the final straight before the roaring grandstands, she initiated a brutal, late surge, her stride eating up the turf until she pulled dead even with Mejiro Dober.
Kurofune gripped the VIP balcony railing, her knuckles turning white.
"Is this okay? She's completely caught up to Dober-senpai—Her final kick doesn't look sharp enough today!"
—
"I told you McQueen would be fine!" Gold Ship bellowed, her voice booming over the stadium noise. "She closed the gap! Turbo is dying up front! McQueen is going to wash away last year's curse right here, right now!"
Even Trainer Nishizaki Ryu, usually the voice of cautious pessimism, felt his breath catch. Looking at McQueen's undeniably superior momentum, a rare spark of hope ignited in his chest.
She really might do it.
Yet, standing nearby, Shuta An remained terrifyingly still. Not a muscle in his face twitched.
Dober is intentionally micro-adjusting her stride, the young man analyzed silently. Because she triggered her Zone early to secure position, she's currently coiling her muscles, hoarding every last drop of her sprint stamina for the final 400 meters.
He didn't voice this conclusion out loud.
Left in the dark, Kurofune and Admire Vega were spiraling into anxiety. Kurofune looked as though she wanted to leap onto the track and physically transfer her own stamina to Dober.
Admire Vega remained silent, but her breathing had grown shallow and erratic, her hand tightly gripping the collar of her blouse. If she pulled any harder, the fabric would tear—though Shuta was far too fixated on the jumbo-tron to notice anything else.
—
Across the VIP section, Trainer Minamizaka wasn't watching the duel between the Mejiro prodigies.
His eyes were locked on the peripheries of the race. At the absolute front, Twin Turbo was violently decelerating, her desperate Great Escape collapsing into exhaustion. At the very back, Ikuno Dictus was hopelessly boxed in, struggling in vain to find a passing lane through the trailing pack.
Still no good—
Minamizaka closed his eyes, a heavy, suffocating sigh escaping his lips.
The absolute intensity of this race—it was simply too high for them.
His mind was already frantically drafting the words he would use to comfort his broken girls in the locker room.
Beside him, Matikanetannhauser's ears drooped flat against her head. There was no room left for stubborn optimism. All three of her teammates were currently being abandoned by the Goddess of Victory. She gripped the railing so hard her hands shook, biting her lower lip until it nearly bled to keep the tears from falling.
Why? her body trembled. Are we just not working as hard as the other teams? We bleed in training, we give absolutely everything on the track—If the Three Goddesses are watching, why won't they look our way just once? It doesn't even have to be me. Necha, Dictus, Turbo... any of them. Please. I just want the G1 crown so badly!
Seeing Tannhauser's silent, crushing despair, Minamizaka's heart ached. Since Team Canopus was founded, not a single one of his Uma Musumes had ever touched a G1 trophy. He remembered a Tracen administrator jokingly suggesting the name was cursed—Canopus, the star that sits so low on the southern horizon it can barely be seen, never reaching the zenith.
Is the name truly a curse? he frowned deeply.
He knew his training acumen couldn't match the elite prodigies, but he had poured his soul into these girls. Yet today, just like every G1 before it, would end in familiar heartbreak.
—
Down on the turf, the 400-meter pole flashed by.
I can do it!
Mejiro McQueen realized, her heart pounding fiercely against her ribs. She was only ten lengths behind the fading Twin Turbo, and Dober was three lengths behind her.
I can wash away the humiliation our family suffered on this track last year! I can rewrite the regrets I left behind! I can stand as a proud, undisputed victor in front of Teio, and earn the right to challenge her again!
The two-time Spring Tenno Sho queen unleashed her full, terrifying power. Burning her remaining stamina, she tore through the autumn wind, every thundering footfall carrying her closer to the crown.
"Such incredible fighting spirit!"
Up in the stands, the girls of Team Spica were electrified by the blinding aura radiating from their ace.
"Go for it!" Special Week screamed. "McQueen! Take it all!"
"She's got this!" Daiwa Scarlet, an expert in senko tactics, analyzed the flow with burning excitement. "McQueen's condition is absolute perfection right now! She's going to shake them all off!"
Vodka opened her mouth to echo the sentiment, but her instincts forcibly dragged her eyes away from McQueen and onto the shadow lurking just behind her.
If she hadn't looked, she would have cheered alongside Scarlet. But she did look.
"What... what is that?"
Vodka whispered, her voice trembling as genuine fear bled into her expression.
"Is that... is that really the aura of an Uma Musume?"
Nishizaki Ryu, who had been swept up in the Spica frenzy, heard Vodka's whisper. His gaze instantly snapped back to Mejiro Dober.
His excitement evaporated in a heartbeat, replaced by an involuntary, bone-deep shiver.
He wasn't the only one. Special Week, Daiwa Scarlet, and Gold Ship all froze, their cheers dying in their throats as they stared at the dark, suffocating gravity well trailing right behind McQueen.
—
I can feel it. Your surging, desperate fighting spirit.
Dober thought, her eyes locked onto McQueen's back like a predator.
But I have my own reasons to win. And today, I absolutely will not let you escape my sight!
Exactly 0.4 seconds after Mejiro McQueen passed the 400-meter marker, Mejiro Dober crossed it.
And then, she uncoiled.
Dober unleashed every single ounce of the lethal leg strength she had been hoarding, detonating it without a shred of reservation.
Rosehill. York. Santa Anita Park. Goodwood. Sha Tin.
I have traveled across the oceans. I have conquered the world. Yet, I have not earned the true, undeniable respect of my own homeland.
How could Mejiro Dober possibly remain calm with that raging fire burning in her chest?
McQueen.
You could never understand this complex, agonizing hunger. So right now, I will show you the sheer weight of everything I have learned across the globe!
Dober shifted into her absolute maximum gear. In a matter of dozens of meters, the gap McQueen had bled to create was completely, violently annihilated.
The two proud daughters of the Mejiro house ran shoulder-to-shoulder, the turf tearing beneath their hooves.
Dober slowly turned her head. Her eyes met McQueen's shocked gaze, and in that fleeting fraction of a second, a singular, crushing will was transmitted.
McQueen. You must look at how vast the world truly is.
Without a single ounce of mercy, Mejiro Dober blew past her.
"MEJIRO DOBER! MEJIRO DOBER! MEJIRO DOBER!"
The live commentator screamed, his voice cracking under the sheer hysteria of the moment.
"THE FINAL 200 METERS! THE UNDEFEATED TRIPLE TIARA QUEEN HAS SEIZED THE ABSOLUTE FRONT OF THE PACK! MEJIRO MCQUEEN'S FRONT DREAM HAS BEEN RUTHLESSLY, VIOLENTLY SHATTERED! SIX LENGTHS BACK IN THIRD IS SEKITEI RYU O, BUT IT DOESN'T EVEN MATTER WHO IS BEHIND HER! MEJIRO DOBER IS ONLY ACCELERATING! HER LEG STRENGTH IS COMPLETELY BOTTOMLESS!"
—
"YES!!!" Kurofune exploded, throwing her arms into the air. "DOBER-SENPAI! GO FOR IT!"
Beside her, Admire Vega finally released her death grip on her collar, a profound, breathless relief washing over her face.
Shuta simply let out a quiet exhale, leaning back against the sofa. The moment Dober had pulled the trigger, the victor had been decided.
The commentator's passionate roar echoed across the Fuchu skies.
"THERE ARE ABSOLUTELY NO RIVALS ON THIS TURF TODAY! MEJIRO DOBER TRANSFORMS INTO A CATASTROPHIC WHIRLWIND, SWEEPING THROUGH FUCHU AND SCATTERING THE ELITE TO THE WIND!"
"SHE CROSSES THE WIRE! 1 MINUTE, 58.1 SECONDS! MEJIRO DOBER'S PRE-RACE VOW HAS BEEN ETCHED INTO HISTORY! TRUE STRENGTH TRANSCENDS ALL BOUNDARIES! MEJIRO MCQUEEN IS A DISTANT SECOND! SEKITEI RYU O TAKES THIRD! AN UNBELIEVABLE FINAL 3-FURLONG TIME OF 35.1 SECONDS!"