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[Yu-Gi-Oh!: Undefeated/Ultra-Meta!]
Hearing Super Creek's question, Kuroha didn't show the slightest surprise. Instead, a faint, intrigued smile surfaced on his face. He casually took the empty cup from Super Creek, then leaned forward a little. His deep eyes met the girl's—calm, penetrating, almost seeing straight through her.
"You're right—you are a rival. And a rival who deserves serious respect."
Kuroha admitted it without hesitation, his tone flat and steady.
"Your stamina, your will—among Mile specialists, they're absolutely top-tier."
"A you who returns to full form—perhaps even stronger—will unquestionably become a huge problem for Inari One, for Fujimasa March, and for the rest of my team."
Those words didn't put Super Creek at ease; if anything, they only made her more puzzled and tense.
Since that's how he sees it… then why—
As if he had read her thoughts, Kuroha chuckled and asked in return:
"Creek, do you know what it takes to make a race that truly goes down in history?"
"...A—A mighty winner?" she ventured.
"A winner is only the end result—not the whole."
Kuroha shook his head. "A true legendary race needs the brightest stage—and a lineup of 'monsters' who each stand at the pinnacle of their field."
His voice wasn't loud, yet it carried a strange gravity that seemed to still the air in the office.
"Imagine it. A G1 final that the whole world is watching—yet for whatever reason, not just one, but several of the strongest don't show up…"
"In that case, even if you lift the trophy, the gold content of that victory plummets in people's hearts. That isn't triumph—that's a hand-me-down."
So, that's why I'll help you. I won't let an easy win happen.
He didn't say that last line aloud. Instead, Kuroha stood, walked to the window, and gazed out over the grounds of Central Tracen.
At some point, he had picked up the same habit as Rudolf—taking a quiet moment to look over this academy.
"My goal is to put my girls on the summit of their era."
"And to stand on that summit, they must defeat every powerhouse of their time. Not you, when injury has dulled your edge. Not opponents so discouraged they can only be seen on a TV screen."
"Inari One, Fujimasa March, Obey Your Master, Sakura Chiyono O, Mejiro Ardan, Oguri Cap—"
He read one name after another, and finally, his gaze settled on the brown-haired girl before him, who looked a little lost.
"And you—Super Creek."
"You are all forgers of this age—belonging to it, creating it."
"And so, the legend of this age should be written by all of you together. Only then can it be—complete."
"Complete." Those two syllables struck Super Creek's heart like a boulder hurled into a still lake, sending towering waves across her mind.
She froze in place, blank with shock.
Forgers… creators… authors of legend…
These words felt too vast, too distant for her.
All this time, her reason for running had been simple: not to disappoint Fumino's training; to feel that unfiltered joy of tearing down the track.
She wanted to win.
But she had never considered that her wins and losses could be burdened with the weighty name of "an era."
Kuroha's words flung open a door. Through it, she glimpsed a world of sweeping grandeur she had never imagined.
In that world, the course was no longer just a course; it was the stage where legends were born.
And they—those girls clashing upon that stage—were no longer merely competitors, but co-authors etching history with hooves and sweat.
Once she understood that, the last smudge of doubt and anxiety in Super Creek's heart evaporated.
In its place surged an unprecedented thrill at being recognized—and a blazing fire from the depths of her soul: a flame called "resolve."
Inari One, Fujimasa March, Oguri Cap…
They shone so dazzlingly—so dazzlingly.
And now she—recognized by a Trainer who stood atop so many elites—was named among them…
How could she fall silent because of a single injury? How could she betray such weighty recognition?
Unlike the original timeline, the Super Creek who would become one of the "Eternal Big Three" wasn't only the Kikuka Sho winner. She defeated Oguri Cap head-on in the Tenno Sho (Autumn), then struck down Inari One again in the next year's Tenno Sho (Spring). In her final race before retirement, she seized a G2 victory to declare her dominion to the world. Framed by the brilliance of her contemporaries and buoyed by countless fans, only then did she don the crown of the Eternal Big Three—becoming one of those who shouldered the age.
But the Super Creek of the present, who—aside from the Kikuka Sho—had been crushed by Inari One in two G1s, had never once thought like that.
Only now, after Kuroha's words, did she truly, fully awaken.
She—Super Creek—was already an indispensable piece of the dazzling era about to be born!
Her breathing steadied, then gathered power. She rose from the sofa, bowed deeply to Kuroha's back.
"Sensei, I understand."
When she lifted her head again, the gentleness and modest shyness were gone from those usually serene eyes. What remained was the blaze of fighting spirit, and a sea-deep determination.
"I will appear in the Arima Kinen."
Her voice was no longer soft; it rang with strength and confidence.
"And I will challenge every powerhouse of this era—in my strongest form!"
Hearing this declaration, Kuroha turned around slowly, satisfaction on his face.
"Good."
Then, with a teasing tilt of his head, he added, "You're nothing like the girl who just hid under a blanket from embarrassment a moment ago, huh?"
With a single line, he popped the solemn mood—and sent Creek to the bottom of the sea.
"...Muu. Sensei—you're mean."
…
With Super Creek's matter settled, the outside world continued to buzz over Inari One's spring-and-autumn Tenno Sho double—until her next target was confirmed as the year-end Arima Kinen. Only then did the noise slowly ebb.
And immediately, a fiercer tide began surging through the racing world—
A G1 festival set to ignite the winter course: the Mile Championship—
was about to begin!
This race carried sky-high expectations, as it would decide the rightful "Strongest Mile Queen" of this era.
The hottest spotlight, of course, fell on two girls whose brilliance already roared in their own domains.
First was the "Grey Monster"—Oguri Cap.
The miracle from Kasamatsu had already conquered course after course with her irresistible late kick and astonishing adaptability. And after she defeated the former "current strongest," Tamamo Cross, in last year's Arima Kinen, she herself was hailed as the new "current strongest." Now, "Oguri Cap" had become a phenomenon. Every time she appears, the grandstands erupt like a tidal wave.
The other was the "Osaka Hai Empress"—Fujimasa March.
Another of the Kasamatsu Miracles, her legend matches Oguri Cap's step for step—from Kasamatsu, to Oi, and on to Central. The first South Kanto Triple Crown winner in history, and in her very first year in Central, she already wears three G1 crowns! Osaka Hai, Teio Sho, Sprinters Stakes—be it Mile, Short, or Medium, turf or dirt—she has shown a rule-breaking dominance.
Reporters even dug up that, back in their Kasamatsu days, Oguri Cap and Fujimasa March were already fated rivals.
That complicated, drama-laden relationship yanked everyone's minds away from the shock of Inari One's double Tenno Sho and poured them all—completely—into the anticipation for the Mile Championship.
The curtain was rising.
(End of Chapter)
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