The race result surprised me because I was almost sure Cannon had overtaken her rival. While I watched Grand Ekinoks, I realized that something had happened to cause Cannon to finish second.
As I was wondering what could have happened, the commentator unexpectedly gave me an answer.
"Just a moment, viewers, it seems Cannon is injured because she's clutching her foot in pain! Grand Ekinoks is right beside her."
If you ask umamusume what their greatest nightmare is, the most obvious answer would be getting injured in their very first race. An injury that an umamusume who can reach speeds of up to 70 km/h would suffer is far more serious than for a normal athlete. In fact, some injuries are even referred to as "race-killer."
Because of injuries, this is a critical issue, and when an Umamusume returns to racing after an injury, she never quite returns to how she was before.
Although injuries are rare, there are always a few rooms for such cases. In these rooms they confirm the injury status.
As they carried Cannon away on a stretcher to prevent further harm, I saw Grand Ekinoks drifting away into the distance. Every umamusume wants to win in their first race, but she couldn't achieve that. On top of that, she saw her friend get injured.
So I decided that going to her room before her was the right move. About five minutes after me, Grand Ekinoks had entered the room and was looking at me with a tearful expression. Then she removed her hooded cape and I had the chance to see the hair at her shoulder level.
Without even trying to fix her hair, she knelt down by her knees and tears began to fall from her eyes.
"I… I didn't succeed, trainer…"
The words she uttered were hard to understand amid the sobs, but I understood what she meant. If she had finished last, I don't think she would have cried so much because she truly believed she would win first. I knew she was angry at herself and at the slight hump on her back for not meeting this expectation.
"Um… I really don't know what to say. Actually I know why I didn't win and I feel guilty. If I hadn't wanted you to run as you wished, maybe I could have been first."
What I needed to do was to redirect that disappointment somewhere else. Yet it was obvious that I was directing this disappointment toward myself, and Grand Ekinoks had noticed this too.
"Stupid… Liar trainer…"
I guess I needed to completely dispel the disappointment and find another topic to talk about. Moreover, I had to adjust what I would say so that it would fit with the previous sentence.
"I'm serious about this. In the final meters her footwork changed. It was a risky move, and you could have been injured like Cannon."
"Cannon…"
"Are you thinking about her right now, aren't you?"
"She told me on the track that her condition wasn't bad."
"Most umamusume say that, but because of the adrenaline and serotonin they produce while running, they barely feel the pain."
"Do you have to call her bad? She only twisted her ankle!"
I think I need to work more on comforting a losing Umamusume, because Grand Ekinoks left the room with another exclamation, slamming the door. It seemed she already looked for an excuse to be angry at something.
I stood in the room for a few minutes, not knowing what to do. Then I took Grand Ekinoks's hooded cloak and left the room. I needed to apologize to her for making her angry and promise her that she would win the next race.