The race was over.
Thunderous cheers erupted throughout the venue.
Rice bowed to the audience, a gentle smile spreading across her face.
She'd won. She hadn't let everyone down—she'd claimed victory!
From now on, she would continue winning!
The joy was impossible to suppress. Rice felt she'd drawn a little closer to where her sisters stood.
Rice could definitely become one too—a hero!
Up in the stands, in that silent section, Mihono Bourbon's fans stood frozen in place.
"She lost..."
They couldn't describe the feeling of watching Rice—who had been blocked in the back—explode forward with terrifying power, closing the gap bit by bit until she overtook Mihono Bourbon.
It had seemed like such a winnable race, but the final result was still a loss.
In that moment, they felt tremendous shock.
Rice's appearance was just that of a frail young girl, so why did she display such a terrifying form during races?
Her strength was simply unbelievable.
This race, Mihono Bourbon had lost to the Black Assassin by just one length.
This second defeat forced them to acknowledge a fact.
Mihono Bourbon's loss at Satsuki Sho wasn't just a fluke or a tactical error.
The reason for defeat had become crystal clear.
Insufficient strength—that was why Mihono Bourbon lost to Rice!
Luck?
Tactics?
Before overwhelming power, the outcome of defeat had been sealed from the moment the race began.
Mihono Bourbon paid no attention to her fans' silence.
She walked toward the competitor tunnel with a composed expression. To say she felt no frustration would be a lie, but she'd anticipated this defeat from the start. This loss had made her fully realize one thing: she wasn't strong enough yet. So Mihono Bourbon wasn't feeling too devastated right now. All she could think about was how to catch up.
And to catch up to Rice, she needed to become even stronger!
The Japan Derby was over.
Rice's name once again made headlines.
And not long after.
News came that Mihono Bourbon would skip the Kikka Sho.
This news didn't cause much of a stir online.
Because Mihono Bourbon's fans were already numb to it.
Having lost to the Black Assassin twice—at both Satsuki Sho and the Japan Derby—it was clear that Mihono Bourbon and Rice were separated by an insurmountable gap in strength.
Even if she forced herself to compete in the Kikka Sho, she probably couldn't beat the Black Assassin anyway.
Besides, the Kikka Sho's track distance posed a huge challenge for Mihono Bourbon herself. Forcing participation might risk injury.
Avoiding the race.
Though it was embarrassing to say out loud, it was the right decision.
Meanwhile, Rice's popularity continued to soar.
Many believed that the upcoming Kikka Sho would pose no challenge for Rice.
With Mihono Bourbon already withdrawn, Rice's strength among her peers was overwhelmingly dominant!
Tracen Academy, training grounds.
Mihono Bourbon and Trainer Kuronuma were still maintaining their grueling training regimen.
Though the intensity seemed to have decreased somewhat from before, even so, the training load was still terrifying to witness.
Nearby, Rice and P were also training.
After signing the contract, Rice had been freed from various administrative tasks.
Things like applying for training grounds and equipment could now be handled by the trainer.
Combined with Rice's current results, even though P was just a junior trainer, the training resources he could secure were quite abundant.
Moreover, he actually already had the qualifications to advance.
He was confident he could pass the trainer advancement exam.
After all, unlike his mentor who struggled with exams, P himself was a genius at studying.
He just hadn't previously been eligible to apply for the advancement exam. The trainer advancement exam wasn't something you could pass just by having enough theoretical knowledge—you also needed actual results.
But as a junior trainer, obtaining results was obviously very difficult.
At this Central Tracen Academy, high-level trainers weren't rare. Debuting competitors basically all chose to sign with high-level trainers.
The only way for junior trainers to gain results was to join a high-level trainer's team and train the competitors with mediocre results.
If those competitors later achieved good results, that record would count toward the junior trainer's credentials.
P had originally planned to climb up from the bottom step by step through this method.
But now, after signing Rice, he realized that the high-level trainer certification that once seemed so distant was actually within reach.
His mentor must have been in a similar situation back then.
Unfortunately, though his mentor had discovered Oguri Cap—an incredibly powerful horse girl—his mentor had still failed the subsequent exam.
P could also sense the hostile gazes from senior trainers lately.
He was almost certain that if he failed the upcoming exam, he would be questioned as unsuitable to be Rice's exclusive trainer.
Even if those seniors doing this wouldn't win Rice's favor, jealousy was just that terrifying.
Moreover, he currently hadn't demonstrated much ability—he was just "lucky" to have signed Rice.
Rice had already been a highly anticipated superstar before signing with him.
Given all this, it was only natural he'd be suspected of just being a lucky guy.
But no matter. He would not let down Rice's expectations of him!
Facing the upcoming trainer advancement exam, P was quite confident.
And he had reasons he couldn't afford to fail.
With that in mind, he refocused on the training at hand.
Looking at Rice's lap times, he had to agree with what people were saying online.
Indeed, at this level, winning the Kikka Sho shouldn't be a problem.
Among her peers, few could compete with Rice.
The only threatening opponent had voluntarily withdrawn.
P glanced at Mihono Bourbon running on the other side.
Though everyone was saying Mihono Bourbon could never beat Rice.
But that wasn't actually true.
In terms of speed, Mihono Bourbon was still faster.
As for stamina issues, Trainer Kuronuma's training plan wasn't simple either.
Though he didn't quite agree with Kuronuma's philosophy, he had to admit Kuronuma was a truly capable senior.
Speed is innate, but stamina can be developed through training?
He agreed with the idea that effort could compensate for lack of talent.
But he didn't approve of excessive training.
He could sense that if Mihono Bourbon continued her previous training intensity, her body would eventually break down.
He had no concrete evidence for this feeling—it was purely his intuition as a trainer. But he had always trusted such intuitive feelings completely.
Because this was the special technique his mentor had taught him.
The application of perception!
Though his mentor had terrible theoretical knowledge and often took him to colleagues' teams for guidance, his mentor possessed one unique skill.
That was perception.
His mentor could analyze a horse girl's condition and potential through their aura.
P could do the same.
In fact, it was precisely because he had this talent that his mentor had taken him as a disciple and taught him without reservation, eventually sending him to Central Tracen Academy.
P was a trainer who possessed that powerful perception talent AND complete theoretical knowledge—surpassing his mentor.
That was why he could recognize Rice's extraordinariness before anyone else, and why he could sense that Mihono Bourbon would run into problems if she continued her perfect remodeling training.
Stamina could indeed be improved through training, but there were limits to such improvement.
Not to mention trying to raise a horse girl's stamina to that level in a short period.
Even if Mihono Bourbon's willpower could endure it, her body would enter an extremely dangerous state.
Choosing to withdraw from the Kikka Sho—he thought Trainer Kuronuma's decision was quite wise.
But this also meant Mihono Bourbon remained a huge threat.
Setting aside this year's races.
Next year's Mihono Bourbon would definitely be even stronger.
As I thought, skill training is still necessary.
Rice's physical stats were already very strong.
And through previous training, Rice had overcome her balance weakness.
To continue improving from here, the only path was skill training.
But knowledge about that was only accessible to high-level trainers.
He needed to pass the trainer advancement exam as soon as possible, then acquire that knowledge.
Because Rice's opponents next year wouldn't just be Mihono Bourbon.
Thinking this, P looked toward Team Spica training in the distance.
Tokai Teio and Mejiro McQueen were also doing special training at the grounds.
Their recent training volume was no small matter either.
Tokai Teio was doing stamina training.
Mejiro McQueen was doing speed training.
The reason they were so serious was because of an upcoming race.
Tenno Sho (Spring)!
This was the race they would be competing in.
And this race held another layer of significance for them personally.
It was a showdown with their rival!
Who was truly the strongest—they would settle it definitively in this race!
The current consensus was that Tokai Teio, who had won the undefeated Triple Crown, was the strongest.
But this claim wasn't entirely accurate.
Because Mejiro McQueen was also an undefeated horse girl.
The reason she hadn't won the Classic Triple Crown was that illness had forced her to miss the Satsuki Sho.
But in the Japan Derby and Kikka Sho that followed, she had won both with overwhelming strength, demonstrating terrifying ability.
And currently in long-distance races, Mejiro McQueen's dominance remained unbroken!
Though Tokai Teio was the undefeated Triple Crown champion.
Whether she could challenge the "strongest" Mejiro McQueen in long-distance racing—before the race results came in, no one could be certain.
This was true for both of them as well.
Both felt tremendous pressure about this race.
Tokai Teio wanted to defeat Mejiro McQueen at her specialty distance.
To prove that she was this era's strongest!
Mejiro McQueen wanted to defend the honor she held!
With these thoughts driving them, their training intensity had reached an extraordinary level.
This was the first time either of them had shown such serious, tense attitudes.
You could tell that both Teio and McQueen were actually quite nervous.
They couldn't be certain they would win this race, because their opponent this time was just that strong.
Unlike the anime storyline where Tokai Teio returned from fractures.
This world's Tokai Teio had overcome the side effects of the Teio Step and was an even stronger horse girl.
Even if her stamina couldn't match Mejiro McQueen's, she was still a powerhouse who had won the Kikka Sho.
Facing such a challenge from Tokai Teio, the pressure Mejiro McQueen felt was tremendous.
But Tokai Teio felt the same way. Mejiro McQueen wasn't just strong in stamina—her training speeds weren't much slower than Teio's either.
Precisely because her opponent was so formidable, she wanted to defeat her all the more!
Two powerful auras clashed at the training grounds.
Though they were training in separate areas, their presences seemed to intertwine.
P observed the two closely.
These are the opponents we'll face next year.
As expected of competitors called the current strongest.
Even just from what they showed in training, you could feel their power.
Neither their speed nor stamina was inferior to Rice and Mihono Bourbon.
And what was even more impressive was the number of skills those two had mastered, plus their ZONE effects.
If Rice challenged them with her current strength, she couldn't win.
It wasn't that she had zero chance.
But the odds were too low.
However, this didn't mean Rice's potential was inferior to theirs.
Quite the opposite, actually.
He could sense that Rice's body still harbored tremendous hidden power.
As long as he, as her trainer, could help Rice master that power, Rice would absolutely not lose to those two. He was confident of this!
"Even though there's still plenty of time before the race, those two have already completely entered competition mode."
The horse girls nearby were all watching those two train with utmost seriousness.
Those were the two strongest competitors right now.
You could imagine that this Tenno Sho would attract even more attention than the Classic Triple Crown's Kikka Sho.
After all, this was a fierce battle between the two strongest active competitors.
Compared to the Kikka Sho where the outcome was basically predetermined, of course this race was more intriguing.
...
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