"Huh—?!"
Silence Suzuka wore an expression of pure bewilderment.
Performing a magic trick...?
Copying my running style?
Honestly, Silence Suzuka recognized every word individually. Yet, when Garden Gale strung them together with such unwavering confidence, she found herself completely lost. It wasn't as though they hadn't discussed this before, numerous times even.
Yet, here she was.
Hearing it all again.
From the neon-lit tracks of Japan to the distant courses of Europe, from ancient history down to this very moment—not once, not ever, had there been an Umamusume capable of copying another's running style. Such an ability was something straight out of a magic show: mysterious, dazzling, and utterly impossible.
—And more importantly.
Being able to mimic a running style wasn't necessarily a good thing.
With her vast racing experience, Silence Suzuka instantly saw the flaws in this idea.
Even if the running style could be copied perfectly…
Could physical ability be copied too? Without equal strength, a copied running style wouldn't necessarily reach its full potential. It was common knowledge among the elite—Mr. C.B. and Symboli Rudolf, for instance, had already recognized this glaring limitation. The insight was so well-known that repeating it almost felt tedious.
Her turquoise eyes flickered.
Silence Suzuka quickly composed herself, asking in genuine surprise, "Really?"
Come to think of it, she'd never witnessed an Umamusume actually copy someone else's running style. Her curiosity was truly piqued.
"Of course."
Garden Gale replied, smiling broadly.
Confidence radiated from her, flooding out like a rising tide.
This was the first time Admire Vega had seen her rival look so openly bold.
Her eyelids twitched slightly.
Last time, hadn't Garden Gale suddenly adopted an explosively powerful running style to snatch the victory away from her?
Honestly, being rivals with Garden Gale was incredibly stressful, and Admire Vega felt this deeply. You never knew how many cards Garden Gale was holding, how many hidden strategies could form the perfect hand. All you could do was push yourself to the absolute limit and aim for the top.
And now, yet another card had appeared...
Admire Vega felt tension rising inside her once more.
She needed to try even harder—to chase her down, to win the Satsuki Sho.
Her fists tightened.
She hadn't consciously placed her rival on a pedestal, yet she did it anyway. Even so, Admire Vega still believed she could win—she had a reason she absolutely couldn't lose: for the sake of that star in the heavens!
Silence Suzuka stepped onto the training course.
"What should I do? How exactly are you going to copy my running style?" she asked calmly.
She genuinely wanted to see if Garden Gale could really mimic her style perfectly.
Curren Chan immediately recalled how Garden Gale had touched her all over last time, making her feel mildly uncomfortable. Every muscle on her body seemed to have been meticulously inspected.
So… would there be more touching now?
Garden Gale replied promptly, "Just run a bit for me. That'll be enough."
Huh?
Curren Chan tilted her head in confusion.
Didn't Garden Gale previously need to touch her to learn? Why didn't she need to do that now?
Questions swirled in her mind.
The conversation ended there.
Silence Suzuka nodded without further discussion, assuming her starting stance.
In the next instant...
She erupted forward like a meteor, a sports car in full throttle!
Her running style was the Runaway.
What was "Runaway"?
It was the simplest, most unreasonable style of them all, requiring zero thought—just running faster and faster, relentlessly, until victory was inevitable! With enough speed, one could dominate any race, running from start to finish without ever being caught!
A pure test of raw speed.
It was simplicity at its most sublime.
Sure, you might calculate stamina and distances and all those complicated factors—but such calculations were for weaker escape runners who worried about outcomes. True strength never bothered with such trivialities!
It simply accelerated like a Ferrari!
Exactly as was happening right now.
On the track raced a Ferrari—!
Admire Vega wasn't exaggerating in the slightest.
She truly believed it, watching Silence Suzuka launch from standstill into an explosive burst of acceleration—a gift from heaven itself, powerful enough that you could almost hear muscles roaring like an engine. This Umamusume had experienced peaks, valleys, and countless challenges that had honed her to perfection. Right now, she was unquestionably at the strongest point of her career.
In another instant, she would vanish like a passing comet.
She was simply too powerful.
All Admire Vega could feel was awe.
Garden Gale, watching Suzuka's racing figure, abandoned the mischievous idea she'd briefly entertained about seeking easy solutions by getting closer to Suzuka. Now, all she felt was a raw, genuine awe at Silence Suzuka—and a heartfelt yearning for the "Runaway" running style itself.
Initially, she'd planned merely to exploit the versatility of mimicry to guarantee a trump card against Opera O.
But now—Garden Gale truly wanted to outrun everything.
The seed of ambition had taken root.
…
"Was that enough?"
Silence Suzuka slowed to a stop, breaking out of her focused stance, and turned to ask.
Garden Gale wiped the drool from the corner of her lips and smiled, replying, "—Yeah, that's enough."
Without hesitation, she stepped forward.
Straight onto the track—!
This time, Garden Gale made no attempt to quickly increase intimacy to steal Suzuka's skills. Instead, she simply walked onto the course. Yet in just those brief seconds, every detail of Suzuka's movements had burned into her mind, replaying vividly.
As [Chameleon]'s unsealing continued to advance, so too did her comprehension of the Selas System.
Details uniquely belonging to Suzuka became utterly clear to Garden Gale.
This was the advantage of increasing strength.
She had gained control over every facet, able to grasp even the smallest nuances.
Suzuka's running style wasn't particularly complex.
Therefore...
She believed.
She could copy and learn it even without relying on the Selas System!
This was a daring experiment.
If successful, the horizons opening before the chameleon would be limitless.
Yet, undeniably, this was an extremely risky gamble.
Garden Gale's eyes sharpened.
She took a deep breath, mind clear and focused. Then, she assumed the exact same starting posture Silence Suzuka had displayed—causing Suzuka's eyes to immediately brighten.
Could she really mimic it perfectly?
Suzuka's anticipation for the coming events skyrocketed.
Curren Chan, meanwhile, scratched her head.
Hold on a second…
Why didn't she need to touch her anymore? Why didn't she need to examine the power application patterns of her body?
Thinking back to her own experience, Curren Chan's eyebrows furrowed.
Oh no.
Did Garden Gale do all that intentionally before? No wonder it had felt so suspicious at the time.
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T/N: heh yep she really just wanted to cuck Teio, by touching you intimately in front of her
I LOVE NTR!!!