Only One Year Left—I'll Become a Legendary Uma Musume!-Chapter 281: Only One Year Left—I’ll Become a Legendary Uma Musume! 2 [225]
The whole race had turned into an Eternal Beat civil war—though really, whether you were in it or watching from the stands, everyone knew that from the start. The only reason those girls from the other teams had managed to run up front at all was because Gentildonna had chosen to come from behind and given them the chance.
Otherwise, the moment Gentildonna actually put her foot down, Eternal Beat would’ve long since slid into the rhythm of fighting for first, wouldn’t they?
Cruel as it sounded, it was something everyone understood. So when Gentildonna abruptly shifted gears and surged up in an outpouring of endless brilliance, the three Umamusume ahead of her—each from a different team—tried to block her.
Their attempt collapsed at the first touch.
With almost no resistance—no, as if she casually crushed any resistance without even meaning to—Gentildonna punched straight through the halfhearted net and took off like she’d sprouted wings.
Up ahead, Almond Eye sensed it immediately from the crowd’s reaction: Gentildonna had broken through that flimsy "blockade" and was already about to close in.
But how do you even describe it?
Almond Eye didn’t really have the spare attention to care.
The reason was simple. Before the race, she’d thought about who her biggest threat would be.
Could those unfamiliar Umamusume from the unfamiliar team suddenly break out?
Maybe. But not very likely. At least, Almond Eye didn’t think she’d be caught by girls that weak.
So that meant Gentildonna?
After all, she was the Umamusume who’d beaten Almond Eye twice in two different ways. Gentildonna’s sheer running power was overwhelmingly strong. By experience alone, shouldn’t Gentildonna be her greatest rival?
But once the training race actually started, Almond Eye realized something.
She’d been wrong—laughably, absurdly wrong.
The real threat wasn’t the one behind her who still hadn’t even fully accelerated.
It was right beside her... right in front of her.
That pitch-black, long straight hair—those eyes fixed forward, never once looking back.
Vernal Equinox.
This girl hadn’t even debuted, and she was this strong?!
Almond Eye admitted it: she’d been caught flat-footed. No—this unexpected situation forced her to change her tempo, to ignite earlier than planned. What was supposed to be nothing more than a test run at setting the pace turned into a full-blown Runaway.
Normally, when you face a Runaway, you don’t panic. The number of runners who can actually hold that kind of all-out breakaway for the entire distance is tiny. So what’s the standard response?
Don’t let the gap get too large. Don’t let it mess with your head. Sit behind them, keep your rhythm as much as possible, and see whether they even have the stamina to make it to the end at that speed—then decide what to do.
So in general, if you see a Runaway on the track... unless it’s the small silver-haired long-straight type, you don’t worry. Ninety percent of Runaway types are idiots. They’ll hit some moment where they simply can’t hold it and fall off a cliff.
In Japan, the most famous—and most beloved, so popular she’s always near the top of the charts—would be Twin Turbo, who’s still active to this day.
Anyway!
Almond Eye had originally intended to follow the usual playbook and observe Vernal Equinox first. She knew nothing about Vernal Equinox’s Runaway style. Accelerating to match her right away would be risky, yes—but for safety’s sake, wouldn’t it be better to wait and kick later?
She’d even sketched out a plan along those lines.
Then the instinct she’d honed through countless races threw up a red flag.
Was Vernal Equinox really the kind of flimsy runner who couldn’t sustain it?
Almost on reflex, Almond Eye chased her down from the very start. And no matter how violently Vernal Equinox exploded in speed and momentum, Almond Eye didn’t yield an inch. The senior dogged her heels, biting down hard and refusing to give ground.
Almond Eye couldn’t explain it—she just had this feeling: if she let Vernal Equinox do whatever she wanted here, there would be no catching her later. None.
A Runaway is absolutely a technique that demands a lot from the runner. Most who try it can’t hold it for the full distance.
But—
But you have to look at who the runner is.
This is Vernal Equinox.
Eternal Beat’s Vernal Equinox.
Vernal Equinox, from Eternal Beat—the team coached by Gotham Song. Gotham Song’s trainee, Vernal Equinox.
In a team like that, you think a girl uses a Runaway on a whim?
Even if she didn’t have the ability. Even if it really was a flash of impulse.
Who would dare not treat it seriously?
Once that clicked, Almond Eye flipped the script and pressed harder, accelerating to apply constant pressure on Vernal Equinox. And it was under that exact pressure-cooker scene that Gentildonna, behind them, suddenly erupted in the first half of the race.
Because the duel at the front had already reached a fever pitch. If Gentildonna kept the original unhurried pace, the gap really would become too large to close.
That was Eternal Beat.
Or rather—this was the intimidation Gotham Song brought simply by existing, even without racing.
Would you really bet that a girl on that team can’t do it?
Even if "burning the field with a Runaway right from the start to drain everyone else" sounded insane in the Umamusume world...
If your opponent truly meant it, what right did you have to refuse the challenge?
Terrifying. Something like that could become a kill move later—a threat no one could verify as real or bluff. And with Miss Gentildonna already demonstrating such high tactical literacy, even a "mere probe" like this started to feel frighteningly plausible.
But that was for later.
Right now, there was only one thing Almond Eye could be sure of.
Vernal Equinox might choose a Runaway to make everyone pay more for less—
But that would be a choice, not her only option.
It was simple. Once the first five hundred meters were behind them and Almond Eye and Vernal Equinox entered the first bend shoulder to shoulder, Almond Eye realized—shocked—that Vernal Equinox’s condition didn’t look any worse than hers.
If anything, she looked better.
When Almond Eye ran privately at Tokyo Racecourse, she’d started to lose speed just short of 2400 meters. But where she collapsed was already near the finish—certainly not with four hundred meters still to go.
Meaning: on a 2000-meter training race on this course, Almond Eye herself had the stamina and conditions to Runaway all the way to the line.
So if she measured by her own state, she could roughly judge whether Vernal Equinox had that same capacity.
And when she watched Vernal Equinox’s profile and confirmed that her stamina showed no real strain—enough to support this entire race—Almond Eye was so stunned she couldn’t speak.
How did it feel?
It was the kind of fear that left you gaping.
This was a filly who hadn’t even debuted.
And she could handle a training race at this speed, looking composed—like she could finish the whole thing with room to spare?
That was... something that made your blood sing.
Almond Eye bared her teeth. Her smile was vicious, almost frightening. In that instant, she was overwhelmingly glad she’d accepted Gotham Song’s invitation. To meet a Umamusume like Vernal Equinox was—
How could you not get excited?
I’m going to tear you apart. Both of you.
Without hesitation, Almond Eye lit her flames. The kindling of her hunger for victory—piled endlessly within her—caught and roared into a blazing fire.
I’m going to win!!!
Almond Eye struck first, igniting her Zone.
But behind them, Gentildonna came surging in with an even fiercer, glittering radiance, cutting toward the summit—
And yet.
Vernal Equinox wasn’t about to let herself be carved up.
Almond Eye igniting her Zone right beside her...
Wasn’t that a provocation?
As if she’d been stung, Vernal Equinox’s stride turned savage. In truth, she didn’t just have the stamina to Runaway to the finish—she had a second acceleration, and the feral resolve to use it.
If you want to beat me, then at least for now, I’m not letting you have it, Almond Eye... and Donna-chan, too.
Trainer... is watching me.
The race ahead had entered its fiercest phase. Everyone on the track was an Umamusume—except that single human Trainer—and even the kids in the stands could clearly see it: three colors tangled together, crossing and twisting so violently you couldn’t tell who was stronger, who was weaker.
At the key viewing spot, watching the three runners blast past the halfway point—three girls who, in every sense, had all become Runaway—
Gotham Song fell a little silent.
Why did it feel like she’d raised her kids into every imaginable flavor of Runaway idiot...?
Was that just her imagination?
Vernal Equinox might have the aptitude and stamina for a Runaway, but she hadn’t actually had that much exposure to it before.
Gentildonna was even more obvious. Back in the Oka Sho, her girl had basically debuted her Front Runner run there. So pulling out a Runaway now... honestly, it wasn’t even surprising.
Almond Eye was the real zero-frame startup. That one was harder to see coming.
To be honest, Gotham Song truly hadn’t realized—hadn’t expected—to witness a scene like this.
Almond Eye secretly imitating her running style? That sounded downright horrifying.
But once Gotham Song actually saw Almond Eye using that style to chase victory, the strange discomfort she’d felt before faded away.
Maybe... it wasn’t a bad thing?
The kid really did have talent for it. If she could control it, then letting her run wild might be fine... probably?
Gotham Song was already planning how Almond Eye should run the Shuka Sho.
What, Gentildonna was entering the Shuka Sho too?
Yeah. So what? What conflict was there between Gotham Song setting tactics for Almond Eye and Gentildonna running the same race?
The part that might baffle people was this: ever since Eternal Beat gained a second Umamusume, Gotham Song had never resisted one thing.
If her team grew larger in the future, Gotham Song wasn’t going to deliberately keep her girls from entering the same races.
The reason was simple. She didn’t care about the Trainer’s cut of her team’s prize money. So she could arrange schedules from a much purer angle—one completely free of utilitarian motives.
For an Umamusume, beating unknown opponents certainly had value. But the most challenging kind of victory?
Was beating someone you knew well, right there on the track.
Most friendships between Umamusume were born through companionship and refined on the racecourse. And for Gotham Song, she was more than happy to let her girls have a good, clean, all-out run against each other.
As for whether it was unfair to Gentildonna...
Gotham Song sighed. If it were Flightline, that airhead... no, Flightline wouldn’t care about something like this in the first place. She’d just fold her arms, snort, and go, Even with Trainer’s help, I’ll elbow Almond Eye right off the track.
Ahem.
Anyway, as for Gentildonna—
In a situation like this, if Gotham Song didn’t help Almond Eye with tactics... wouldn’t Gentildonna be the one who got unhappy?
The reason was simple: Gentildonna’s obsession with defeating opponents was far stronger than Gotham Song’s.
Or rather, for Gotham Song, most of her running had always been driven by various reasons. Even now, she still didn’t feel she truly loved running, not in the pure sense.
Gentildonna, a true Umamusume through and through, was the exact opposite.
Her thirst for victory was fervent and stubborn. Her fixation on conquering her rivals was powerful, almost fanatical. No matter how strong the opponent, Gentildonna didn’t feel that deep, heavy fear.
If anything...
For a Umamusume like Gentildonna, there was only one thing she’d ever regret.
That her opponent wasn’t strong enough.
So in a case like this, if Gotham Song—the one guiding Almond Eye—didn’t put her whole mind into helping Almond Eye, that would actually be a slight against Gentildonna...
...What a weird Umamusume psychology, huh?
But it wasn’t unpleasant.
Gotham Song watched the three girls running abreast, propped her chin in her hand, and started thinking about something else.
Next month or so...
Should she arrange Vernal Equinox’s debut?
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T/N: ITS BACCCCCCCCCCCCCK only one Chapter for now to ease myself into translating this again
