After winning the Satsuki Sho came the full victor's package: the winner's parade, interacting with fans, interviews, photography.
Dyna ended up experiencing the whole set, naturally.
But when night fell and it came time for the grandest part of all—the Satsuki Sho winner's stage—no one could find Orfevre anywhere.
Which meant the principal backup dancer was missing.
Even as the scheduled time approached, there was still no sign of her, so the stage formation had to be changed on the fly. The fourth-place finisher was moved up to fill in. There was no room for mistakes at a performance this important.
Tokyo Dome was the venue for the winner's stage this time. Even with extra seats added at the last minute, it was still packed with people. In the darkness, the fans' whispers never really stopped.
In a much dimmer corner, far from the spotlight, an orange-haired girl had already changed into a black coat and trousers. Arms folded, she leaned against the wall and stared at the darkened stage.
I hate how I lost.
That thought kept echoing through Orfevre's mind.
This time too, she had seen that faint layer of gold over Dyna's hair. She was certain it had not been a hallucination. That meant that even back at Dyna's debut race, some mysterious force had made Orfevre mistake her hair for that hateful shade of red.
She was supposed to be up there on the winner's stage.
But the stubbornness buried deep inside her had planted her down here, below it.
She did not want to be the darkness behind someone else's brilliant light. That was the place no one looked at. Orfevre wanted to be the focal point. She wanted to be seen.
The more that thought churned through her, the more agitated she became. Her hands gripped her arms harder and harder, to the point where it should have hurt, but she did not care.
"I found you."
A familiar voice came from behind her, carrying a note of relief. Orfevre turned and saw Gold Journey. In her hand was an unwrapped chocolate bar, clearly meant for Orfevre.
"Journey Sis? How did you know I was here?"
At last Orfevre loosened her grip on her own arms and accepted the candy. Since the race, she had had nothing but some water. She had skipped dinner too. The sweet food in her empty stomach steadied her mood a little.
Gold Journey leaned against the wall beside her. Though she was the eldest sister, she was actually only a little taller than Dream Journey; standing next to Orfevre, she almost looked like the younger one who ought to be protected. But the ease and confidence that clung to her at all times made it very clear she was not someone to be underestimated.
For a while, she said nothing. Her gaze stayed fixed on the stage that had not yet begun.
At last, she clicked her tongue lightly and shook her head.
"You're still exactly the same as when you were little. Whenever you want to hide, you go for the darkest place you can find. This is the darkest spot anywhere near the stage. The easiest place to disappear. So I knew you'd be here."
Orfevre had no answer to that.
Gold Journey knew the Golden sisters better than anyone. Which also meant she never softened her words to spare their feelings.
"You really haven't grown up at all. Mentally, you're still just a child who wants to run away the moment she loses. Orfevre, think about it. Since the debut race, how many times have you run from Dyna?"
Her hand rose and gently stroked Orfevre's head.
Like a reflex left over from childhood, Orfevre lowered herself and let the top of her head rest beneath her sister's hand. Gold Journey knew exactly how to soothe her.
Still, Orfevre said nothing.
Which, in its own way, was an admission.
For all the fine-sounding words she said, in the end she really was just a child desperate to avoid things. In daily life, she avoided everything connected to Dyna.
And yet whenever they met, she could never suppress the urge to approach—only to be smacked down again.
"You didn't actually lose to Dyna because she was faster. Have you looked at the data they post on the NetKeiba site after every race?"
After retirement, Gold Journey had stumbled across that site while killing time online. It turned out to be remarkably useful. With that kind of public data, even a horse girl on her own could get a much clearer grasp of where she really stood.
"Even if you haven't won much lately, your finishing speed has been excellent in every race. What you're missing right now isn't speed. It's race judgment, and emotional control."
Gold Journey could clearly see what Dyna excelled at: gradually building from the rear, then using the acceleration she had banked to make one decisive burst through the final bend. Against runners who had not yet launched their closing kick, that burst was devastating.
Different closers needed different amounts of distance to fully spool up. But against Dyna—who arrived already carrying speed—that difference barely mattered. By the time those sharp-finishing late runners were fully in gear, Dyna had already broken clear. All they could do was chase her silhouette helplessly.
Orfevre kept her head bowed. The bitterness of the Satsuki Sho still lingered in her violet eyes. Her fists were clenched so hard the veins stood out, her knuckles pale. If she squeezed any harder, her nails would draw blood.
Gold Journey simply took one of her hands, pried the fingers open, then let it relax again.
"You were never really losing to her speed. I still don't know what, exactly, you thought Dyna was back in that debut race. But I trusted your instincts that day. You felt you were going to lose to her, didn't you?"
For a moment, the noise of the crowd within the Dome faded, and their conversation paused.
Lights began coming on across the stage one by one.
As Dyna, dressed in her race outfit, stepped into them, they glittered—and under that lighting, her chestnut hair once again looked fully golden.
Seeing that color, Orfevre's fingers twitched at her side.
Gold Journey smiled faintly and shook her head.
"Want to watch the performance?"
She had assumed Orfevre would refuse.
Even so, it was still a little surprising when Orfevre turned away entirely and showed the stage only her back.
"No. Sis, let's go talk outside."
She walked ahead, following the faint green glow of the emergency exit signs as they left the Dome.
The April night air outside was still pleasantly cool.
Orfevre sat down on the steps. Gold Journey returned from a nearby stall carrying something that looked like a folded crepe stuffed with all manner of fillings and handed one over.
"They called it a jianbing guozi. A foreign specialty. Want to try it?"
Orfevre glanced at it. It looked like Gold Journey had asked them to put every topping they had inside it. But it smelled good, so in the end she bit into it.
"…It's good."
That was all she said before falling into determined silence and devouring it.
Gold Journey sat beside her, eating in small bites, watching her all the while.
Only after Orfevre had finished did she finally ask, "What's your plan between now and the Derby?"
Originally, Iketoe had wanted to arrange some additional things for Orfevre outside of normal training. Gold Journey had stopped him.
The problem sitting inside Orfevre's chest was one only the Golden family itself could solve.
That was why, as the eldest sister, Gold Journey had shoved aside everything else and come here herself.
"Orfevre, have you noticed something?"
"Hm? If this is about Dyna, then no."
That answer brought an amused, helpless smile to Gold Journey's face.
"Dyna's running is purer than yours."
"Maybe back in your debut race, yours was just as pure. But because of everything that happened, you lost to her—and ever since then, you've changed. Now all you want is to beat her."
Orfevre went rigid.
"The Fuyo Stakes. The Yayoi Sho. Didn't you choose those races because you wanted another shot at facing Dyna on the same stage and beating her? And then you lost. In the Spring Stakes, you deliberately avoided her gaze, because deep down you already knew her running was purer than yours. In the Satsuki Sho, you fought with everything you had and still fell behind, because 'beat Dyna' had become your only goal. You forgot why you were running in the first place."
Those words were like a gentle key, slowly prying open the heart Orfevre had kept tightly shut.
Once the pressure inside found even the slightest crack, everything she had kept compressed erupted all at once.
The "tyrant" from her debut race surfaced again—but now she was only a tyrant in frustration.
"I just didn't want to lose to her! Dyna has no background, no pedigree, nothing! She's just some second-rate social horse girl who never even had proper formal training, so why does she keep ending up ahead of me?!"
Her fist slammed into the railing in front of her. The metal bent inward at once, leaving the impression of her knuckles in it.
At the same time, her own knuckles turned red, then split enough for blood to bead at the edges.
"Because she has never run for the sake of 'beating someone,'" Gold Journey said, tapping Orfevre lightly on the forehead. "Look at her on the track. Every step she takes is for the people who believe in Dyna, for the promises she still hasn't fulfilled. Meanwhile, you kept turning her into an enemy. And forgot that your real opponent was yourself."
Even out here, the singing and applause from inside the Dome came through clearly. It filled Orfevre's ears. Her fingers opened, then clenched again.
The Satsuki Sho. Becoming a G1 horse girl. The dream she had once held was gone. The tyrant's Triple Crown was no more.
But she could still stake everything on the most important race of her life—
The Japan Derby.
Gold Journey knew exactly how hard this wall was for Orfevre to climb. That was precisely why Orfevre needed someone to guide her through it. And no one was more qualified than Gold Journey, because no one understood the taste of defeat better than she did.
"Orfevre, winning is only one part of running. It isn't everything. You've been so fixated on losing to Dyna that you forgot this: you and she are alike in one crucial way. You both once had a completely pure desire to run. Try finding that original desire again, can you?"
Gold Journey took Orfevre's hand and wiped the blood from her knuckles with a tissue.
Wanting revenge was normal.
But she could never let revenge blind her.
Right now, Orfevre still had no firm grasp of her own weaknesses, nor of how to control her emotions. Gold Journey would need to give her some special training.
Training for her style.
Training specifically against—
Dyna.
"Think carefully about what your running means. Is it for the Golden family's honor? To prove you're the strongest turf runner of your generation? Or to stand on the same course as a worthy rival and settle it properly?"
Gold Journey was leading her, little by little, toward a road that actually had an exit—rather than letting her keep slamming herself into a brick wall until she bled out there.
Perhaps Orfevre really did find something.
A tiny flame kindled in her chest.
What kind of flame it was did not really matter.
Whether it was the desire to truly beat Dyna, or the desire to repay every bit of humiliation she felt Dyna had forced on her—
Either way, it was enough.
"I want to keep racing against Dyna. Not to win back anything. I just want to keep standing on the same course as her and settle it by speed alone. I want her to know that Orfevre's running has never just been about domination. It's also about a stubbornness that loses to no one."
She drew in a deep breath, and then the delayed pain from her bruised hand finally hit, making the corner of her mouth twitch.
Her adrenaline had only carried her this far.
"She'll wait for you," Gold Journey said with a faint, knowing smile. "A horse girl like her would never refuse a proper head-to-head. All you have to do is throw off the shackles in your heart and stand before her with the purest fighting spirit you can muster."
Then she paused, and added, "Of course, I'll help you too. I think I've already figured out the right tactical answer against Dyna."
Orfevre bowed deeply toward her.
"Then please, Sis. Help me."
Gold Journey said nothing. But the grin tugging at her lips said everything.
Fortunately, Orfevre hadn't sunk too deep into the mire yet. If she had gone further down the path of obsession, even Gold Journey would have been at a loss.
Lovin' you,
Keep running forward, because every answer is already in your heart without a shred of doubt.
Lovin' me,
Don't give up, if it means finding the light…
By the time the song reached its final stretch, Dyna's voice had turned hoarse from singing so intensely.
Part of the reason she had chosen "Lovin' You Lovin' Me" was precisely because of Orfevre.
Whatever else she was, Orfevre was still a horse girl.
And Dyna simply couldn't bear to watch her keep sinking like this.
People always said the winner's stage was the perfect place to move both horse girls and ordinary people alike.
That was why Dyna had picked this song.
Even if Orfevre had not come on stage…
If she could hear it, maybe it would help her rethink where she stood.
"I'll walk on my own!"
With the final lyric sung, Dyna raised her voice over the fading instrumental and called out:
"Thank you all so much for your support! We'll meet again on stages like this—again, and again, and again!"
Colored confetti poured down through the air.
As the curtain slowly descended, the performance ended.
And with it, Dyna had, without question, become a national idol of Japan.
Her personal charisma, her strength on the track, her reputation as a person—every one of them stood at the top of this generation.
And from here, her goal would become the same goal every Japanese horse girl dreamed of.
The one honor a runner could only ever chase once in her life—
The Japan Derby.
Join here to read ahead.
In Star Rail, Ultra-Beast Armored — Have I Caught "Equilibrium"? l (Chapter 80)
Uma Musume, But I Only Have Five Years Left to Live (Chapter 178)
Zenless Zone Zero: I'm a Doctor, Not a Bangboo (Chapter 138)
Ben Tennyson Wants to Join the Justice League ( 126 )
TYPE-MOON: Redemption Beginning with the Holy Grail War (Chapter110)
Yu-Gi-Oh! — Transmigrated into the White Dragon Girl (Chapter160)
"Is this chat group even serious?" (Chapter98)
I, Lord Ravager, Utterly Loyal! (Chapter175)
Can Playing Games Save the World? 65
Crossover Anime Multiverse: The Demon Hunter of an Unnatural World 77
From Junkman to Wasteland 66
Weekly Refresh of Overpowered 31
I'm Grinding Proficiency Like 46
From Kiana, Lord Ravager, Onwa 163
Honkai: Is This Still the Prev 42
Elf: My Starter Pokémon Is Inc 65
Warhammer: My Primarch Is Remi 150
From Demon Slayer to Grand Ass 100
The Way the Umamusume Look at 68
Uma Musume, but My Cheat Power 170
Naruto: Weaving the Future, Be 65
Zenless Zone Zero, but Kamen R 76
Multiverse Crossover: The Perf 66
My Cyberpsycho Girlfriend 65
Uma Musume: The Dark Trainer 145
Uma Musume: A Calamity Born fr 125
I, a Reincarnation-Loop Player 69
The Violent Girl Group Is Beat 90
Uma Musume: The Horse Girl Who 66
Uma Musume: From Beginner 100
Becoming a Horse Girl, I Will 70
Uma Musume: I Want All 90
I Can Copy Unique Skills 65
Summoning an Evil God, but the 52
Supernatural Multiverse 65
My Harem Is Indescribable 55
Jujutsu Kaisen: Heroic Spirit 55
"I'm just a Valkyrie passing through." 66
Uma Musume: Today Is Another Romantic Battlefield 55
Still playing traditional Honk 35
The Most Filial Son Under Heav 35
What Should I Do After Switchi 24
Reincarnated as a Demon, Skill 35
My patreon : patreon.com/queen_sin