After finishing the report, Zhou Tai'an looked at the time. It was already past 10 PM. He decided to take another bath and then go to bed.
He smoothly entered the dream world. Today, he was to ride Oguri Cap in another race.
Unlike in the real world, the dream world's Oguri Cap was still obediently staying at Kasamatsu, fighting it out with her generational rivals—or rather, with Zhou Tai'an's riding, it was more like Oguri Cap unilaterally "bullying" her rivals.
Today was no different. This time, Oguri Cap was participating in an ordinary race for debut-year horses at Kasamatsu Racecourse.
For Zhou Tai'an, he had this kind of race figured out—enter the gate properly, break well, grab a good forward position, be patient on the turn, accelerate forward while drifting slightly wide, take the lead by the time you hit the final straight, and then put the race to bed.
He figured today would be much the same.
"Fujimasa March is here today too," Zhou Tai'an thought, not surprised to see Hara Takao and his partner, Fujimasa March, as he waited in the paddock with Oguri Cap.
"I haven't seen them in the last two races. I thought they were avoiding me and Oguri Cap for good," he muttered to himself. "But now that we've met again, he'll definitely be on guard against my outside attack, right?"
So today, Zhou Tai'an decided to try a different approach.
…
After a smooth break, Hara Takao focused a great deal of his attention on Zhou Tai'an and Oguri Cap. The confrontation in their debut race had taught him a profound lesson. He was determined not to repeat the same mistake.
But this time, Zhou Tai'an didn't follow behind Fujimasa March. Instead, he chose to run neck and neck with her.
"Oguri Cap is a lot sturdier than Fujimasa March. If we collide during the run, it's definitely not my side that will lose out." This time, Zhou Tai'an was specifically looking for a confrontation for Oguri Cap.
Hara Takao also noticed the uncharacteristic behavior of Zhou Tai'an and Oguri Cap.
He braced himself. "Heaven knows what kind of trick this bad boy from Huaguo (China) is planning. I can't get tangled up with him."
With this thought, Hara Takao gave Fujimasa March an early whip, wanting to immediately create distance between them and Oguri Cap.
Seeing this, Zhou Tai'an had no intention of letting his opponent get away. He prepared to give a tap of the whip himself, urging Oguri Cap to go with him.
But at the moment Zhou Tai'an raised his whip, a prompt flashed in his mind—
[Use Head-to-Head Showdown?]
He was stunned for a moment, then a smile spread across his face. "Aren't Oguri Cap and I in a showdown with Hara Takao and Fujimasa March right now?"
With this thought, Zhou Tai'an's whip fell, and he mentally confirmed the use of the skill.
With just one strike of the whip, Oguri Cap's speed suddenly surged. Any of the other regular jockeys at Kasamatsu would have been thrown off by this sudden change in speed. Only Zhou Tai'an had the strength to maintain his balance in the saddle.
Affected by "Head-to-Head Showdown," Oguri Cap glanced at Fujimasa March beside her, then focused on striding forward, mercilessly overtaking her fellow gray-coated rival.
"From now on, I won't give you a single chance!" As they entered the turn, Zhou Tai'an glanced back at Hara Takao and Fujimasa March, who were two lengths behind, and muttered to himself.
Kasamatsu Tracen Academy, Horse Girl Dorms.
Oguri Cap was very obedient this time. After being dropped off at the academy by her trainer, she first went to the cafeteria for a late dinner to fill her stomach, rested for a while, took a bath, and then stayed in her dorm, sharing her race experience with Northan Ace.
Around 10 PM, following her usual routine, Oguri Cap habitually lay down in bed, said goodnight to Northan Ace, who wasn't ready to sleep and was going to continue watching the Japanese drama she had missed today, and then closed her eyes.
As she drifted off to sleep, Oguri Cap realized she was in a dream.
"What is going on?" This was Oguri Cap's first time experiencing a lucid dream, and she was very puzzled.
Soon, she realized her posture was not right. "Why am I crawling?"
This posture, which went against all of Oguri Cap's common sense, felt incredibly natural to her at this moment.
"What on earth is happening?!" Oguri Cap couldn't understand at all.
But a voice in her subconscious told her that this was a race. She had to partner with the one on her back and win.
Oguri Cap glanced back in a very awkward position and found that the "partner" riding on her back looked just like her trainer—no, they were practically carved from the same mold.
"Go, Zhou-kun and Oguri!" The cheers of the spectators on the sidelines carried on the wind to Oguri Cap's ears.
"Don't tell me this guy has the same name as Trainer?" The guess flashed through her mind.
…
Although this guess couldn't be confirmed, the race was about to start, and Oguri Cap's personality dictated that she would only focus when faced with a race.
Although running on all fours was very unnatural for her, this body seemed quite accustomed to it, so Oguri Cap was somewhat relieved. "At least I won't mess up on this part."
The Kasamatsu track was not unfamiliar to her. And just as they were about to enter the turn, the alternate-world counterpart of her trainer on her back gave her a lash on the rump.
"Ouch!" Oguri Cap almost winced in pain, but another voice appeared in her mind—
[Use Head-to-Head Showdown?]
Not knowing what this was, Oguri Cap confirmed it without a second thought.
The next second, she felt a new wave of power surge through this body, pushing her limbs to move faster, her speed becoming even more ferocious.
"This is 'Head-to-Head Showdown'?" Oguri Cap thought, confirming the effect of the skill as she relied on her body's instincts to race around the Kasamatsu track.
"Using it in the front half of the pack increases acceleration?" Oguri Cap was very surprised. "What is this?!"
"I can't believe there's something this incredible in this world... I wonder if there's something similar in our world?" She frowned, deciding to bury this question in her heart for now. She was too embarrassed to explain to her trainer where she had gotten this idea.
After all, that whip from "Zhou-kun" just now had left a stinging pain "down there."
"I wonder if my trainer also wants to give me a smack 'down there' sometimes?" she thought.
-------
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