Chapter 128: Goodwood Is Non-Negotiable (Part 2)

――This is bad. I screwed up.

I thought I wouldn’t slip because the ground was firm. I thought that with 3200 meters, if I didn’t push the limits, I wouldn’t beat Kayf Tara’s closing sprint. And since the lineup isn’t stable enough for consistent wins, I figured I had to go with an even more extreme rocket start than usual――

That’s why I slipped.

I pushed off with too much force, and my legs lagged behind by about two steps.

In a high-speed race, falling behind by two steps right out of the gate is fatal. The view ahead, usually wide open for me, was now blocked by the backs of the other horse girls. My usual lead felt miles away.

Screams echoed across the Goodwood racetrack. The inevitable roar of fifty thousand fans crashed down on my back, and I broke out in a cold sweat that had nothing to do with stamina loss.

(This is bad――really bad!! Why now, of all times!? I have to recover fast!!)

My vision narrowed, and the energy of the venue began to swallow me. The suffocating pressure of being the top favorite. I couldn’t even comprehend the words the commentator was shouting. I felt like I was going to be sick.

What do I do? What should I do? Somebody help me. Trainer, what do I do in moments like this?

It’s over. My Stayers Million is going to end here. The dream that Tomio and I shared will vanish. I don’t want that. I have to break through somehow.

…But how?

Goosebumps ran down my spine, and just as I felt like I might pass out――

『Kayf Tara clears the first 400 meters and is pulling further and further ahead! She’s running at a pace like a runaway dash—could she have lost control this early!?』

The commentator’s voice reached my ears, and it snapped me back to reality.

(A runaway dash pace!? Kayf Tara’s tearing off like she’s sprinting from the start!? Why!?)

Kayf Tara broke into a lead. As I tried to understand the meaning behind those words, my mind started to regain some clarity. I shook my head and scanned around—the other horse girls were visibly shaken. Everyone’s focus was shattered; none of us were even racing anymore.

And most of all――Kayf Tara wasn’t anywhere near me. Not in front, not behind. She was really in the lead. She glanced back at me—me, who had stumbled—and extended the closing sprint she was supposed to save for the end into a long, drawn-out breakaway.

『The current top favorite, Apollo Rainbow, is holding steady in 7th place in the middle of the pack! The crowd’s uproar shows no signs of calming, and spurred on by their cries, Kayf Tara continues to stretch the lead!』

(It looked like she planned that dash from the start, but――)

When something abnormal happens, we tend to panic. But if it’s so far outside our expectations, sometimes it loops back around and forces you into a strange sort of calm.

That’s where I was now. What pulled me back to reality was seeing my greatest rival, Kayf Tara, launch an unexpected breakaway.

As I chased, I tried to piece together her reasoning.

…Could it be that my failure and her strategy aligned? That must be it. She switched to a breakaway to crush me—and by sheer chance, my late start and her surprise move overlapped to create a race that no one could have predicted.

Kayf Tara was in front, and I was in 7th. 600 meters had passed since the start, but everyone was still too shaken to even think about shaping the pace.

Jet Bicycle, who likely had her eyes on Kayf Tara, was stuck somewhere between Kayf Tara and me, unable to commit to either. The rest of the horse girls were scattered, their positions a complete mess. No one was in place to stop Kayf Tara's charge.

(This is… the feeling of reversal! The pressure of a breakaway! I have to stop her fast or I’ll lose!!)

Kayf Tara blazed ahead, radiating an overwhelming pressure. She poured all her stamina and burst power, which should have been saved for the closing, into the opening dash, and now she was leading at a pace on par with one of my own breakaways.

She must’ve practiced this relentlessly. She’ll do anything to win. That resolve—it’s coming through loud and clear.

I’ve always won by tearing away from the pack in a breakaway. In training sessions, I can handle being a frontrunner or a closer decently enough—but there’s one big gap in my experience.

――I’ve never faced another breakaway horse girl besides Silence Suzuka.

On top of that, I’ve never raced as a frontrunner against a breakaway. I did run alongside Silence Suzuka during summer training camp, but even then, it was only in mock races between breakaways. I’ve never gone up against her while running mid-pack.

That lack of experience feeds into a loss of confidence. Kayf Tara and I lock eyes as she breaks away. A chill runs through me. It’s like she’s saying, Come at me. I swear I can feel it.

――The Satsuki Sho with Seiun Sky flashes through my mind.

She outplayed me completely, had me dancing in the palm of her hand, and I lost. That nightmare is surfacing again. The situation’s different this time, but just like back then, I’m clearly at a disadvantage.

A breakaway is something only the one who dares gets to win. If you pull off a perfect breakaway, no one from behind can catch you. As long as your stamina holds, you keep up the high pace and shut everyone down. A flawless breakaway is the peak of unfairness.

And that’s exactly what I’ve been doing. Forcing that unfairness on others. Crushing them with raw power. And now, it’s being thrown right back in my face.

The Kayf Tara leading this race――won’t stop unless someone stops her. And I know that better than anyone else in the world.

(Damn it… I can’t tell if I’m lucky or cursed…!)

I’m not particularly skilled as a frontrunner. That’s why I want someone else to step up and rein Kayf Tara in—but there’s no one. Not a single horse girl is making a move to do it. And if we just slow down thoughtlessly to save energy for the end, we’ll be letting Kayf Tara run away with the whole thing.

Now I’m learning the true cruelty of a breakaway for myself. Kayf Tara’s back is terrifying. The gap between us keeps widening. Her stamina seems limitless. The odds of her pulling this off may be low, but when she’s strong, she’s really strong――

The image of Kayf Tara pulling farther and farther away burns into my mind, and fear threatens to swallow me whole even in the middle of the group. My heart pounds violently, my throat goes dry. At the edge of my vision are the faces of rivals—each likely feeling the same way I do.

Even those who made it through the Gold Cup are now suffering under a whole different kind of pressure.

Think about it for a moment. Can you imagine me, the frontrunner known for going all-out from the start, getting a slow break and ending up mid-pack while Kayf Tara, the number one closer, pulls off a surprise all-out lead?

And on top of that, can you think of any horse girl here who’d actually try to stop Kayf Tara from carrying out such a bold plan?

――The answer is no. There’s no one who can stop her once she commits to that kind of all-out escape. She holds the overwhelming psychological advantage.

If someone had actually predicted Kayf Tara would go for a bold breakaway like this from the start, that would be one thing—but there’s no horse girl alive who’d gamble on such a one-in-a-million possibility. If someone could predict this, they wouldn’t be human—they’d be a monster.

(I want someone to go catch her... but there’s no way they can! We got baited into a false read, and now the markers are all misaligned—!)

The horse girls who were supposed to catch me are frozen in confusion up ahead, and the ones who planned to crush Kayf Tara are stunned behind me. What exactly do you expect me to do in a situation like this?

『We've passed the 1200-meter mark, and Kayf Tara is on a solo flight! No one is able to stop her! Apollo Rainbow has climbed up to fifth place, but the gap with Kayf Tara is still a full fourteen lengths!!』

1200 meters down, 2000 meters remaining. We’ve already passed through the section with more than ten meters of elevation difference—the rest is flat.

This is around the time we should be starting to panic, watching Kayf Tara’s back pulling farther and farther away. Sure enough, the pack behind her is growing more frantic, more hesitant, stealing glances forward more and more often.

――Now I finally understand what it feels like to be the one watching someone else run away with the race.

No one can go put the bell on her now.

We’ve all been dragged into a fast pace we weren’t ready for, and we just don’t have the energy left to seize the lead.

――Then I’ll do it. I’ll be the one to go.

Kayf Tara’s breakaway looks clean. But even so, it’s not as polished as mine or Silence Suzuka’s. There’s an opening—there has to be.

No matter what, I’m going to win. I will catch her. Pushing past the hesitation of a single moment, I surge forward—toward Kayf Tara, waiting far ahead.

The race has shifted. The 500,000 spectators rise in a roar, a wave of sound washing over the stadium. As if in response, Kayf Tara glances back at me.

Her eyes gleam like blades. Her gaze, too, screams of a hunger for victory.

Come get me, Apollo Rainbow. If you think you can. That was the look in her eyes—provoking, daring me forward. And so, the final 1600-meter dead heat began.

『Only 1600 meters left in the race! Kayf Tara is fleeing like a bat out of hell, a devilish high pace no one can match! And chasing with everything she’s got is Apollo Rainbow!! Which one will the goddess of victory smile upon!?』

(I’ll sink my teeth in—!!)

(I will outrun her!!)

An overwhelming reversal of racing styles. It’s because we know each other’s strengths inside and out that we instinctively understand exactly what will frustrate the other most.

I grit my molars to dust, stoking a fire that burns more like fury than anything else. Kayf Tara’s doing the same—only the emotion she hurls at me is darker than rage, raw and unfiltered.

Any average horse girl would be crushed by that pressure. Just being exposed to it could sap your stamina and your will to fight—yet we hurl ourselves into this drawn-out dead heat with all that heat burning in our veins.

1000 meters left. The gap with Kayf Tara is seven lengths. Still a wide margin as we enter the final corner.

We’ve been battling it out on the long-distance route since Dubai—now our duel sparks like a wildfire. Pride against pride. A grueling brawl of wills. Kayf Tara maintains her soul-breaking pace as we charge into the final stretch.

With wings of an invisible fairy spread wide, we gallop on—shattering our hearts in the process.

This is no longer the pace of long-distance runners. We are clearly beyond the physical limits of our bodies, tearing through the air at a speed where you can see the destruction of muscle tissue.

『600 meters to go! Apollo Rainbow is closing in on Kayf Tara!!』

There’s no such thing as an unbreakable body. We’re just disguising the damage, burning the last of our time before destruction on this race.

The unfamiliar pace is chewing away at our racing lifespans. Even so, we want to win. We can’t lose to the rival beside us—that’s why we’re still running, with every last flicker of life we have.

The pressure radiating from Kayf Tara beside me—the obsession with victory etched into her very soul—the pride she pours into this race… Through this ultimate conversation, we’ve both surpassed our limits.

With each step I run, the end of my ability to race draws closer.

I’m burning up. My fairy wings—are singeing.

Pushing past my limits with raw grit alone, dragging this broken body forward, running on nothing but sheer will—how many more times will I be able to do this?

Even as I feel those fairy wings scorching and falling away, I keep running. Outside the activation range of either of our "Unknown Zone" abilities, we bet everything on a last desperate sprint.

『400 meters to go!! The genius stayer can’t shake the pursuit of the ash-gray fairy!! They’re side by side at last!! Chest out, back arched—they’re straining to get even a centimeter, a millimeter ahead!!』

――I can feel it. The end of my racing career is drawing near.

It’s a fate that was always going to come. There's still a little time left, but eternity has never been part of the deal.

Still—if by racing for my dream, if by etching my name into history I can get even a little closer to something eternal—then I have no regrets about dedicating my life to the track.

Putting my life on the line, legs pumping, pushing ahead of my rivals. Even if this is where it all ends, if I fall while chasing my dream, then that’s all I could ever ask for.

『200 meters to go!! Apollo Rainbow breaks away here!! After a fierce back-and-forth, Apollo Rainbow snatches a narrow lead!! Meanwhile, Kayf Tara’s legs are slowing down!! That explosive start at the beginning may be coming back to haunt her!!』

"AaaaAAAAaaaaaaahhh!!"

"OooooOOOOooooooohhh!!"

Only 200 left.

I didn’t look to the side, or behind me.

Accelerating through a world of white, I tore apart the world Kayf Tara had built—without mercy.

If burning my life wins the race, I’ll burn it again and again.

Even if I’m falling apart, I’ll hang on and bite back.

If it’s for my dream, I’ll do whatever it takes.

The length of my career doesn’t matter anymore.

For me, for everyone—I’ll chase that eternal dream.

『Apollo Rainbow in the lead!! Apollo Rainbow is in the lead!! And now—』

I leave behind the nightmare of the Satsuki Sho.

I thrust my chest forward, aiming for the finish line.

『—Apollo Rainbow has overcome the odds and passes the winning post at Goodwood!! Kayf Tara takes second!! The ash-gray fairy who shook off the genius stayer’s ambush has once again painted a rainbow across the skies of Britain!!』

――The Goodwood Cup. Once a prestigious race, now said to have fallen far from its former glory.

But in this moment—Goodwood shone with the cruel beauty of a dream. A girl horse racing with everything she had, gambling on a dream far beyond her reach. The golden era of stayers I once yearned for so desperately… had returned.

The world erupted in ecstasy, and the cheers of 500,000 rained down on me like a storm.

Waving to the stands, I began to slow down, little by little.

I had poured out everything. I was nothing but a hollow shell now. Maybe it was because I’d pushed myself differently than usual this race, but I could feel something in me had been carved away, deep in my core.

(...Even so, I won. I really… won!)

I raised a fist to the sky and let out a victorious cry. The hand I lifted felt faint, almost weightless—but supported by the cheers of half a million, that small fist radiated a presence no one could ignore.