"Super Creek and Oguri Cap are accelerating together! Both of them launch on the fourth turn—closing on Mejiro Ardan!"
The commentator screamed himself hoarse.
"Ardan and Sakura Chiyono O are accelerating too—how do they still have that much left?! They've shaken off the pursuers in a heartbeat! Are they going to challenge Fujimasa March for the lead—"
His voice hitched, as if he'd just seen something unbelievable.
Then he sprang up from his seat, both palms slamming the desk:
"Obey Your Master and Inari One are charging too—so, so, so fast! No one can stop their steps!!!"
Behind, a pitch-black starry river and a crimson fire-fox carved like spearpoints through the pack, side by side, knifing for the very front.
Rrrrrumble—!!!
The earth trembled. The leaden ceiling of cloud tore open, spears of lightning raked the sky and lit the whole course.
Five—
No, seven!
Seven Domains—each different, each so strong it crushed hope—swelled on the final bend like a volcanic detonation.
Seven colors like seven blazing comets drew gorgeous arcs through the rain, running at a speed beyond reason toward the single finish line!
Every runner!
Every spectator!
Every announcer!
—in that instant, had only one thought:
The monsters… are here!!!
After a silence at the knife's edge came a boiling roar.
"Go!!!"
"Incredible! This is a myth come to life!"
On the track, seven streams of light became seven heaven-splitting blades, ripping the rain apart and lunging for the line.
Only—the grey-blue glow among them had clearly dimmed. It couldn't cut the gap to the three ahead, and was even being gapped by the two behind!
Behind.
Two figures, trailed by world-cleaving tails of light, shredded the air like unstoppable blades.
In their eyes the pack around them, though still running, seemed almost frozen—passed and dropped in an instant.
"So you're launching already at the third turn? That's just like you, Inari."
Obey Your Master glanced over with a small laugh at the figure beside her, wreathed in gold-red flame-like aura.
"…Figures I don't mesh with you intel-playing types."
Inari's mouth curled into a lazy, wild grin. The gold in her eyes burned hotter, and instead of easing, her speed rose.
They were locked in a ferocious chase, yet the smiles on their faces were pure—genuine joy.
"Let's run down Fujimasa!"
"We can't let her open it up any farther!"
Without speaking it aloud, the familiarity between comrades settled the same decision in both hearts.
As they reeled the front in, meter by meter, Inari's gaze flicked to Super Creek.
A rival she'd fought twice already.
Sorry, Creek.
Not this time. I'm done playing tactics with you all.
"Now it's Chasing Light—full power, no holds barred!"
THOOM!
A brutal footfall exploded by Creek's ear.
That black star-river and that golden flame—along with two unrestrained, satisfied grins—howled past her flank.
Sweat—or rain—slid off Creek's brow. The pressure rolling off Obey Your Master and Inari was terrifying.
She clenched her teeth and tried to add again—but the body had reached its limit. Even with a scrap left, there was no more speed to find.
Oguri was the same.
Her lungs burned; her body screamed. She could no longer catch the five ahead. Yet in those dimmed eyes, a sliver of puzzlement flashed.
Watching those two gleaming figures sprint side by side, laughing as they went, a question rose in her heart:
Why… are they smiling like that?
She could feel it clearly—the pure joy of running and competing. It filled them completely.
That joy felt familiar. As if long ago, she too had owned it.
Did I… forget something?
…
Far away at Central Tracen Academy, a small figure clenched her fists in front of a TV.
"Oguri! You idiot—what are you even lost about?!"
Tamamo Cross snarled, her blue eyes a storm of worry.
On the screen the grey figure lagged the first group, her expression clouded with confusion, and Tamamo's heart pounded.
"You knew it back then! You beat me—how can you fall here!"
"Run, Oguri Cap! Run like a real monster!"
Her shout seemed to punch through the screen, through the rain, straight to Oguri's ears.
…
"Da-da-da—!"
Five figures became five floods of light and, right before the final straight, slammed together!
Here!
Right here!
Everyone—let's race this out!
Smiles tugged at the corners of the girls' mouths.
"Onto the final straight! Super Creek and Oguri Cap have been dropped! In the end—it's Chasing Light versus Chasing Light!"
Crack!
Five Domains smashed together in the air with a voiceless thunder.
No frills. No hesitation.
Only the purest speed, the most savage impact, and the most absolute clash of will!
The five of Chasing Light, in this moment—for the single victory, to prove themselves, and to answer each other's resolve—
poured everything out!
Thoom— thoom— thoom—!!!
To the line—three hundred meters!
And the instant they launched for the tape—
Fujimasa March, Obey Your Master, and Inari One shoved open the third door of their Domains.
Even with only a hairline crack—
the nearly tangible heartscapes they unleashed crushed the Domains of Mejiro Ardan and Sakura Chiyono O!
In a blink, the first echelon split into two—front and rear.
Chiyono O stared at the three in front, then let a relieved smile soften her face.
This is good…
Even if I lose—getting to race together like this at the end is the best.
BOOM—!
Heroic hoofbeats rattled the ground.
From overhead, the three had blurred into pure light—three streaks tearing down the track.
"You won't catch me!"
Fujimasa's low cry rode the storm; a wind phoenix spun at speed around her.
They raged down the final straight, but the advantage of the lead now unfurled in full.
If Fujimasa's stamina held—
unless someone had a closing kick that overwhelmed her, no one would step across this lightning line.
And the gap between Obey Your Master's pair and Fujimasa—a full 1.5 lengths.
At two hundred-some meters, that margin is deadly.
Obey Your Master's breathing hitched. For the first time, a clear anxiety creased that calm face.
Too late on the trigger?
No—the position? Too far back?
Damn it… can't catch!
Inari's burst is stronger than mine, but even she can't erase 1.5 lengths in two hundred meters.
What now?
As calculations spun and died, the sunset-gold of Inari's aura flared brighter.
"…"
Inari stared straight ahead, without a hint of panic. Only the same wildness and resolve as ever.
Lose? That character isn't in my dictionary.
I can win.
I always will.
Mr. C.B.'s words seemed to ring again in her ear:
You are the one-and-only protagonist of your world!
Before the Domain gate that bridges worlds, on the lake of her heart—
the flame-red girl kicked.
Suddenly—the light broke open.
(End of Chapter)
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