"No.3, Blossom Star has finished first! With a lead of 9 lengths!"
"An undefeated streak of 6 victories! The Comet continues to soar forward!"
The crowd's cheer rang all across the stadium, but it all mostly blurred together into indistinct noise in my ears. My vision was blurry as I rested my hands on my knees, gasping out weak breaths.
Still, though my legs felt like burning coals and my waist as heavy as a block of lead, I forced myself to stand upright, faced the cheering crowd, and gave them my best grin as I raised a fist to the air. The crowd cheered even louder at my declaration, and I let myself bask in the recognition.
Here's the thing;
In the manga, Oguri Cap had raced 12 races before her eventual transfer to Tracen Central, winning 10 out of them. Over half of these 12 races were glossed over, and there was no mention on how long Oguri took to run those 12 races.
But that wasn't enough for us. To ensure Team Kitahara's transfer to Central was as smooth as possible, we'd likely have to surpass that already incredible record.
And it was only recently that it dawned on me just what it was I'd gotten myself into.
As it turned out, doing all these races back-to-back was insanely draining. It certainly didn't help that two of my recent races were Mile-length races, forcing me to use the Great Escape to compensate for my fairly weak final spurt.
Which was where my newest Skill came in.
{Front Runner Savvy ◎}
Greatly increases WIT when running as a Front Runner
[Cost: 168 SP (30% Discount)]
The Skill was as basic as it could get. It didn't sound like much at first, but higher Wit translates to more efficient running, which results in both better running and reduced strain on my body.
I was lucky, really. That 30% discount came from the special training Kitahara had put me on, and if it wasn't for that, I wouldn't have been able to purchase the Skill so early on during all this.
But enough of this. I still had the Winning Concert to do, and I had to do it well. Gotta at least get C Rank if I wanted to maximize the amount of SP from the rewards.
So I did just that. Honestly, most of the Winning Concert was a blur to me, but my System told me I did well enough. Once that was over, I bid farewell to the staff and immediately booked it onto the earliest bus heading back to Kasamatsu Tracen.
By the time I reached there, it was late afternoon, and I yawned weakly as I slowly made my way to our team's communal room. Once I did, I gently pushed the door open, and I smiled wryly as I saw the scene inside.
The other members of Team Kitahara was inside, but none of them greeted me as I went on; none of them could. Kitahara's gaze was listless as he planted his face into the desk, with towers of paper stacked onto his desk. Belno was muttering nonsensically as she scribbled something into her notebook, the bags under her eyes faintly hidden beneath some makeup. And Oguri was lying flat down on the couch, the usually energetic umamusume fully asleep despite it still being in the afternoon.
I gently closed the door, ambled onto one of the free chairs, and promptly collapsed onto it. The sudden noise attracted Belno's attention, and she blinked slowly. "Y-You're back, Star-san…?"
I managed a smile. "Yeah." I said.
"Aah…" Belno nodded slowly before her attention returned to whatever plan she was making in her notebook.
I snickered softly. The fact that Belno barely reacted to my victory just showed how tired the poor girl was.
Not physically, per se. Kitahara ensured we would run at most 2 races every month, to give us enough time to train and rest in-between our races. Going over that was just overkill, and I found no reason to refuse. After all, speeding up was one thing, but our long-term future couldn't be sacrificed for it.
Rather, it was our minds that were being taxed.
Belno was hit the hardest. Her whole strategy relied on her building plans around each race—adopting tactics to contend with each new possible scenario she faced. It was no easy work, and I often found her awake even after midnight. Combine this with the fact that she still trained extra hard to catch up to Oguri and I, and the result was the way Belno looked like she was ready to collapse if the wind blew in her direction.
I faced something similar, though not quite as intense. While I now had the {Front Runner Savvy ◎} Skill to somewhat compensate for my lacking instincts, it wasn't enough to fully replace it. My specialized training continued, though now it extended to watching other umamusume races and recording of past races Kitahara could find in the school's storage. My training remained just as intense throughout it all, which always left me quite drained once night rolled around.
Not even Kitahara was spared. He might be joining us when we left for Central, but that didn't mean he could slack off. Only the best of the best remained in Central, and if he couldn't show that he deserved to stay, not even Musaka could stop the JRA from casting him out. For the usually slothful man, this much effort was no different than torture to him.
The only one spared was Oguri Cap, and that was mostly because her life revolved around four things: training, racing, eating, and sleeping. She was probably just having an afternoon nap right now.
And honestly, an afternoon nap was sounding rather pleasant right now.
I glanced at the couch Oguri was sleeping on. The Gray Beast had taken full residence of the fairly sized couch, but there was still some space there. Just enough for me to make use of.
So, yawning loudly, she walked over and laid down on the couch as well. Oguri grunted slightly as I slid into what space remained, but she quickly made herself comfortable by slinging her arm over me.
The warmth quickly pulled me into a deep sleep.
…
It was evening by the time I woke back up. The light of the setting sun streamed through the window blinds, casting our room with a deep shade of burnt orange. Belno was still sitting by the table, though her head had fallen onto the table as she snored lightly. Both Kitahara and Oguri were missing, though they were probably just training right now.
I blinked slowly, yawning as I waded through the post-nap haze. I did a quick little stretch as I sat up, and as I did, I found my eyes pulled to the massive stack of papers Kitahara had been dealing with.
I walked over to his desk and gave a few of them a look, and smiled wryly as I saw their contents. "Rough…" I whispered, thankful that I likely would never become a trainer myself. Knowledge on umamusume physiology, Medical procedures, URA rules, and all sorts of fairly advanced materials that a Central trainer would need.
No wonder Kitahara always looked so happy whenever we went out training together. Supervising us was practically a vacation from that hell.
As I began putting his study material back, I caught sight of a particular slip of paper torn from a notebook, filled with somewhat frantic writing by Belno and Kitahara. It was our updated race schedule, one we created after our plan to advance to Central had gotten leaked by the media.
I hummed as I noticed the words that'd been crossed out; a tangible show of progress towards completion.
It'd been two months since then. Each of us had run in at least 4 races each, and our grind would continue until practically the end of December. Once the new year arrived, we'd send a request to the URA officials, and if everything went well, Central would become Team Kitahara's next venture.
I smiled slightly. Honestly, it hadn't been that long since I began seriously racing, but it already felt like a lifetime ago when the most I did was deliver food all around town. If I couldn't feel the burn in my legs after every race, I could've convinced myself that this was all a dream.
But it wasn't. I really was here, racing along the dirt tracks, my gaze aimed towards the prestigious gates of Central.
I truly am blessed.
I eventually turned away from Kitahara's desk, and I chuckled softly as I saw the silly smile Belno had as she slept. It seemed she was dreaming of something, and it'd be rude of me to wake her up now. So I gently draped a spare blanket over her, and as softly as I could, I opened the door and left the room.
The halls of Kasamatsu Tracen were painted in warm tones by the evening skies, bordering on twilight. The halls were quiet, with most students having either returned to their dorms or went out to explore the town.
I glanced out towards the school's dirt track, and I found it similarly empty. I initially thought that those two might be down there, but it seemed not. "Guess they're outside." I mumbled as I took another glance at the empty track.
My lips twitched slightly. "A quick jog shouldn't hurt." I whispered, grinning slightly.
I'm sure Kitahara wouldn't mind.
With a spring to my steps, I leisurely made my way down towards the dirt track.