Unlike last time when I watched the Satsuki Sho at the club room with Aoi and Flashy, this time I'm in the cafeteria alongside Mambo and many other uma musume who were curious about who would win the Japanese Derby.
"I bet everything on Orfevre!" Said one feisty uma musume.
"Are you kidding me!? That arrogant brat just won by pure luck last time, I think Win Variation will claim her revenge now~" A smug uma said, placing her arms behind her head.
"Hee... I also think Orfevre will win, tho she is very... straight forward with the rest of us..."
"How can you all be on the side of that... that tyrant!?" The smug uma seemed disappointed in the rest for thinking that Orfevre would claim victory once again.
"But she is the favourite in this race." The first uma that spoke just dropped the fact.
"Uuuuughhh..."
"I hope Orfevre loses!!" Someone shouts loudly.
"See!! Someone also sees reason!" The smug uma said, coming back to life, then realized, "Eh!? Ah... It's just Gold Ship; her opinion doesn't count."
"EH!? WHY!?" Goldshi was frustrated at this comment.
I sat beside Gold Ship and invited Tannhauser to sit with me.
"But... Goldshi, ain't Orfvre your sister?"
"Don't care!" She said, throwing a tantrum, "She can't become more popular than me!"
"Meek-san.. who do you think will win?" Mambo asked me, looking puzzled.
"Well... It's either Win Variation or Orfevre."
"Guuuuh..." Goldshi sobbed and looked at me with tears in her eyes, "Little sis, you traitor..."
"Hey, let's see... maybe Orfevre-san gets a bad start?" Trying to make Goldshi feel better by giving her some pats on her back.
...
...
...
The hypodrome was full, it was so full that people were standing because there wasn't enough space to sit down. People were cheering the names of their favourite uma, among them the most sung were Orfevre and Win Variation. But, this is the Derby, and so many external factors come to play... as they say, only the luckiest uma win this race... who would be the luckiest among them? One of the favourites? An underdog?
"It's starting," One of the uma musume at the cafeteria said.
The entire room fell to silence. The doors opened, and the 18 umas fighting for the crown started their race. Among them, the favourite Orfevre had a clean start, which made Goldshi grind her teeth.
'She really wants her sister to lose?' I smiled a little bit, confused; almost everyone in the room was completely focused on the TV.
The pace of the race was neither very fast nor slow. At the front, Win Variation fought with Nakayama Knight; all of them were elite uma musume. This was a good moment, trying to practice what I learned with Goldshi, I placed all my focus on the race. At the beginning, it was hard, but eventually I placed myself among them; mentally, I was there, running behind them all.
'!'
In my mind, the pressure was immense... It's hard to imagine how much pressure is on Orfevre's shoulders, having already won one crown... so many people are expecting her to win them all, to have another triple crown uma in Japan, but that's very hard, almost never happens.
'I would let them have two lengths of advantage... I wouldn't want to be right behind the late runners... conserving power for a desperate surge at the end...'
Among them, Orfevre smiled full of confidence; she had claimed she would take the triple crown home, and it seemed as if she had full confidence it was hers... and oddly motivated at the same time.
A little ahead, the assassins chased after the two leaders, waiting for the perfect moment to make their move.
In my mental battle as they passed the 1200 meters, I saw my chance.
'!'
'Now! Now would be my chance on the outside!'
I could see myself gaining momentum, slowly, step by step, more confidence building, starting to pass the late runners before they get a chance to make their move, but still not fully powered... I should have enough stamina to make an escape.
600 meters...
They soon passed the 2000 meters... the homestretch! With only 400 meters left, all the umas began to intensify their march; the front runners seemed to still have stamina to spare, and they were fighting with the pace chasers who were trying to pass them.
'Now! It's now or never!'
Without me noticing, I began to stand up I was damn too immersed in my imagination training.
'!!!'
Among the late runners, Orfevre surged like a thunder, with so much power. Even if it were just my imagination, I couldn't pass her... and before I could think in other thing her image changed to Flashy...
'What?'
But my imagination was broken by a stabbing pain in my ribs, the pain and the impression of not being able to win was enough to send me jolting back to reality, and for some reason, I was falling.
"Whoops! Gotcha!" Goldshi caught me. "Are you okay?"
"Y-Yes..." I said, blushing red as a tomato for being careless.
"Orfevre! Orfrevre!" The commentator shouted, "Orfevre takes the lead! Win Variation and Nakayama Knight tried to get back the first place, but there wasn't enough time. "It's over, my friends! Orfevre takes the second crown!!"
In the end, she won by 1 length and 3/4 over Win Variation, and 2 lengths over Nakayama Knight, who took third place.
"Nooooooooo!" Goldshi screamed, her tail standing proud in fury.
The people at Tokyo Racecourse were cheering Orfevre's name, and the media was going crazy. On the live stream, the comments flowed like a furious river. The main topic was obvious... will she win the Triple Crown? Maybe she can even win the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe?
As the reporter ran to the victorious Orfevre, she took the camera, now with her face focused on it, and she sent a powerful message.
"Eat that Gold Ship! You are paying for the lunches this whole month! Hahahaha!"
Goldshi stood up and began throwing a tantrum, stomping on the ground.
"Damn you, Orfevreeee!" She screamed, I finally understood why she wanted her to lose... "Damn youuuu!" Then Goldshi seemed to faint.
My ribs still hurt, but some other umas rushed to help the fallen comrade. I couldn't help but laugh at the absurdity of it all. Makitanetannhauser was panicking, trying to wake up Gold Ship; she still wasn't used to her randomness.
But for a moment I wondered...
'Why in my mind was Orfevre replaced with Flashy?' My heart pounded in my chest. 'I'm afraid of running against her?'
We had only raced against each other on that mock race... I haven't thought about it seriously, even when I mock of I crushing her on our promised Arima Kinnen, but she was already becoming a monster, she won a G1 race, and now she was on hard training with Aoi at the mountains, reason for them not being here. And I on the other side...
'I'm being left behind?'
That thought weighed heavily upon me. And without anyone noticing because they were hyped by the race or helping Goldshi, my inner struggle suddenly became heavier.
'Hehe... maybe I'm just overthinking stuff?' I laughed at my own silliness and stood up.
"Hey Goldshi, let's go play outside~" I said.
And as if it were a miracle, she rose from the dead.
"Let's play!"
Leaving behind many stunned umas, and a very confused Mambo who ran behind us shouting for us to wait.