Back in the pack, Narita Taishin had been waiting for this exact moment with a predator's patience, with the stillness of a coiled spring.
She'd been trapped on the inside too long, boxed by uma musume bodies on all sides, suffocating in the middle of the pack like drowning in a crowd. Every breath felt restricted, every stride limited.
But as Winning Ticket and Biwa Hayahide carved through the field ahead, as they disrupted the pack's rhythm, they'd created chaos in their wake.
Created openings that hadn't existed seconds before, gaps where there had only been walls of bodies.
Narita Taishin saw her chance like a door opening in a dark room, and she seized it with both hands.
"Finally!" The word came out like a battle cry, fierce and desperate and triumphant all at once.
She broke hard to the outside, muscles exploding with force that had been compressed and waiting.
Each stride covered massive ground, her form perfect despite the explosive pace, despite the desperate urgency. The inside position that had been a cage, a prison, became momentum for the breakout, became the catapult launching her forward.
"YES! I'M FREE!"
She accelerated with frightening speed, closing distance in huge chunks that didn't seem physically possible. Twelfth became eleventh in two strides. Eleventh became tenth in three more.
And she was just getting started, just beginning to unleash everything she'd been holding back.
"Here she comes! Narita Taishin is making her charge from the back of the pack! Look at that power!"
The announcer's voice was frantic now, trying to keep up with three different battles happening simultaneously.
Her golden amber glow began forming around her body, faint at first, then growing stronger. Feeding off her desire to catch the friends who'd left her behind, the ones she'd been chasing this entire race, watching from her cage as they pulled away.
She blew past mid-pack runners like they were frozen in time. Ninth became eighth became seventh, that amber glow intensifying with each stride, growing brighter and denser, wrapping around her legs like liquid gold.
"I'M COMING! WAIT FOR ME!"
Her voice carried across the track, raw and fierce, cutting through the thunder of hooves and the roar of the crowd.
An uma musume saw her coming, tried to block her path, moving to cut her off.
Narita Taishin was already past her before she could even shift position, already hunting the next target, already looking ahead at the backs she needed to catch.
Sixth became fifth, and her eyes locked onto Galeon and Biwa Heidi struggling ahead, both of them completely spent from their earlier battles.
Galeon and Biwa Heidi, completely exhausted from trying to keep up with the front two, from giving everything they had, heard that voice behind them and glanced back with dread.
Their eyes widened at the golden amber glow bearing down on them like a freight train, like destiny itself made manifest.
"Not again..." Galeon's voice was barely a whisper, hoarse and defeated.
She barely had time to process what was coming, barely had time to think, before Narita Taishin was on them.
That golden amber glow hit like a physical force, like being slammed by a wall of solid power. Galeon felt her legs lock up for just a second, just long enough that her rhythm broke completely.
Just long enough.
Narita Taishin rocketed past with overwhelming power, with a force that made everything Galeon had done feel insignificant, claiming fourth position like it was owed to her.
Galeon could only watch, mouth open in shock, as those powerful strides carried Taishin forward, unstoppable as gravity.
"She's in fourth! Narita Taishin's charging through!"
Then Biwa Heidi, the great escape runner who'd led for so long, who'd suffered and bled for every meter of that lead, felt Narita Taishin's presence closing in from behind.
She tried to respond, jaw clenching with desperate determination. Tried to find another gear, something, anything.
The cost of the early pace had settled deep into her body like poison, like debt come due. Every muscle screamed. Her lungs felt shredded.
There was nothing left. The tank was empty, bone dry.
Narita Taishin passed her cleanly, powerfully, with the casual ease of someone still fresh, claiming third position with authority that couldn't be denied.
"Narita Taishin's broken into the top three! She's charging after the leaders!"
That golden amber energy flared to full power now, swirling around her like molten light, like liquid gold made solid. Dense and heavy, the glow of singular obsession frozen into pure power, into determination given physical form.
Right now, watching Biwa Hayahide and Winning Ticket battle ahead of her, neck and neck, shoulder to shoulder, that desire burned with absolute purpose, with singular focus.
Hahaha, I would win this Japan Derby!
Narita Taishin's golden amber energy burned at full intensity, crackling around her like lightning, like fire that wouldn't go out. She'd broken free from her prison, fought her way into the top three through sheer power and determination, through refusing to give up.
Now she could see them clearly ahead!
Winning Ticket and Biwa Hayahide, locked in their private war, are battling for first position.
"Third position secured, and suddenly Narita Taishin was closing the gap with terrifying speed, eating up the distance in huge bites!"
Up ahead, Winning Ticket and Biwa Hayahide were giving everything, burning every last reserve they had.
"This is my moment, Tickezo!" The words tore from her throat, fierce and desperate. "I won't hand it over!"
Winning Ticket's smile was radiant despite the pain radiating through her body, despite everything. "Hayahide! You're amazing! This is what I wanted! All of us, giving everything!"
Her joy was genuine, infectious even in the middle of this brutal battle.
"Save the compliments for after I beat you!"
"They're hitting the final slope now. The last climb before the finish! This isn't about speed anymore. It's about what they still have left! Who still has strength? Who's just holding on?"
Both knew what would happen there. The slope would separate those who'd conserved stamina from those who'd burned too much too soon, would be the judge that couldn't be argued with.
"Here we go!" Winning Ticket called out, presence flaring brighter, red-blue flames intensifying.
She pulled alongside Biwa Hayahide as they hit the slope, and the incline hit them both like a hammer. Legs that were already burning suddenly had to work twice as hard, had to fight gravity itself.
Then Winning Ticket edged ahead with methodical precision, with the inevitability of a stronger engine. One length, then two lengths, the gap opening steadily.
"No!" Biwa Hayahide pushed harder, body protesting every fiber, every cell screaming at her to stop. "I won't...!"
Sweat poured down her face, mixing with tears she didn't remember starting to cry.
Then a shadow fell across both of them, blocking out the sun.
Narita Taishin had arrived like a force of nature, like a storm that had been building.
"Sorry for the wait!" Taishin's voice was breathless but strong, carrying triumph and desperation mixed together as she pulled level, golden amber light blazing around her like a corona. "Hope I'm not too late!"
"THE BNW TRIO ARE LOCKED TOGETHER! THIS IS SATSUKI SHO ALL OVER AGAIN! ANY OF THEM COULD TAKE IT!"
The three of them crested the slope together in a three-way battle that made the crowd go absolutely insane, made fifty thousand people scream as one voice.
Biwa Hayahide on the inside, fighting with everything she had left, form breaking down, but will remain unbroken. Winning Ticket in the middle, red-blue presence blazing like twin suns, smile still on her face. Narita Taishin on the outside, her late charge carrying devastating momentum wrapped in golden amber obsession.
Winning Ticket pulled slightly ahead coming off the slope, her sustained acceleration finally starting to tell, her deeper reserves giving her the edge. But Narita Taishin's late charge kept her in contact, golden-amber light pulsing with her heartbeat, and Biwa Hayahide refused to fade, clinging to their pace through sheer willpower, refusing to accept defeat.
"CAN ALL THREE OF THEM KEEP IT TOGETHER FOR WHAT'S COMING NEXT?!"
Meanwhile, back in fifth position, King Halo had been watching all of this unfold.
Watching them pull further and further ahead. Watching the gap grow. Watching her chance slip away.
Her eyes intensified like gemstones catching fire, emerald-gold pupils beginning to glow with inner light. Something was building inside, pressure mounting like water behind a dam, power coiling like a spring compressed to absolute limit.
She sensed it clearly now, couldn't ignore it anymore. That unusual aura emanating from the trio BNW ahead, that felt fundamentally different from anything else she'd experienced.
---
Illustration
I took my time with this chapter for a major turning point in King Halo's fate, and the role she will carry as an Uma Musume from here on. Besides, ever since Hayato came into this world, the world's fate, which was supposed to be 'fixed race,' has become uncertain because of the game skill system. This is the future king's halo on the race. It fits her skill as a prideful king three-star, since it only kicks in during the last 200 meters.