The glory of her Arc victory still felt as vivid as yesterday to Sea the Stars.
For her, it was a moment she would never forget for as long as she lived.
Her mother had still been lying in the ICU, gravely ill, while she stood beneath the gaze of the entire world on that grand stage. Under the burning eyes of countless fans, her own heart had been cold as ice.
It was only when she realized she was being targeted and boxed in from every side that all the emotions she had suppressed finally found an outlet. She poured every last bit of that negativity onto every horse girl on the track. Suffocation and cold became the only two sensations left on Longchamp's final straight—two fatal conditions for a runner's state, both imposed by Sea the Stars alone.
"Sea-Star~ could you bring in the package by the door for me?" her mother, Sea the Stars, called from the kitchen, awkwardly chopping vegetables while peering at a recipe.
Sea the Stars had been sitting blankly at the table in the living room. Called back to herself by her mother's voice, she replied, "Yeah, right away."
This house, tucked away in the countryside, had been bought by Sea the Stars from a nobleman before her retirement. It was meant to be a perfect place for Sea the Stars to recover.
She just had not expected her mother to wait so many years before finally leaving that other place behind.
She did not know what exactly her mother had ordered, but before she opened the front door, she noticed a shadow standing outside. At first she thought it was a trick of the light. But when she pulled the door open, she found a chestnut-haired horse girl in glasses just about to ring the bell.
Sea the Stars could swear she had never met her—not once since she first chose to become a horse girl—and yet something about the girl felt strangely familiar.
"Oh…"
Dyna had not expected the person inside to notice her the instant she arrived. Then again, she had no way of knowing Sea the Stars had simply come to collect a delivery.
The real Sea the Stars now stood before her.
And somehow, that made her nervous.
Compared to the Sea the Stars who lived inside her mind as a horse-soul, the woman before her carried far more of the aura of someone who had gone out into society. She no longer had that pure pressure she'd wielded over other horse girls on the track.
After bending down to pick up the package by the door, Sea the Stars looked at her and asked, "Can I help you?"
If this was one of those tedious cases—someone hunting her down for an autograph or some other trivial nonsense—then Sea the Stars had every intention of sending her away on the spot. These days, all she wanted was to stay quietly by her mother's side. She did not want to leave her for even a moment.
"Um… I came to see Miss Sea the Stars."
Faced with the abrupt coldness in Sea the Stars' tone, Dyna—so used to being treated kindly—really was startled. She had never run into anyone who just wore their hostility openly like that.
Has she gone through something terrible lately? Is that why she's become like this?
In her heart, Dyna asked, Sea the Stars… do you know why you've become like this?
But while she was thinking that, her gaze slipped past the doorway and into the house, where she saw the other Sea the Stars—the one in her mind—wandering aimlessly around, poking here and there before replying:
"I think I get it now. Mother must have stayed in the hospital for a very long time. I thought it would only be a few months… maybe a year. Looks like it lasted much longer than I expected."
She had already spotted the figure moving around in the kitchen. Sea the Stars was shorter than Sea the Stars, and seeing her now stirred a powerful sense of nostalgia in the soul within Dyna's mind.
Outwardly, Dyna's expression did not change, but inwardly she was frantically trying to figure out how to deal with the real Sea the Stars.
Relying on the Sea the Stars in her head clearly was not going to work here.
But this meeting had been the whole point, hadn't it? To let the two Sea the Stars somehow cross paths.
So she absolutely could not lose her nerve now.
The real Sea the Stars looked her over again and suddenly narrowed her eyes slightly. "You… you're the horse girl who won the Marcel Boussac last year, aren't you? I remember your hair. And your eyes. Exactly the same."
Back when her mother was still in the hospital, Sea the Stars had watched every race on Arc day with her.
And the reason she remembered Dyna so clearly—even though she'd only been in a juvenile restricted race—was because Sea the Stars had looked at her then and said:
That's a very interesting horse girl. Just like when I left Japan and raced abroad. Surrounded by doubt, yet bound to produce a result that surprises everyone.
"Yes! Hello! I've admired you for a very long time, Miss Sea the Stars! Coming to Europe for summer training was partly because I wanted the chance to meet you!"
Unexpectedly, the fact that Sea the Stars remembered her made things easier. If she already had that kind of opening, then she had to make the most of it.
So she deliberately raised her voice—loud enough for the words to carry through the open door into the kitchen, where Sea the Stars could easily hear them.
"Hm? Is there a guest?" Sea the Stars set down her recipe, looked over—and the moment she saw Dyna, her face lit up. "Oh my… Miss Glorious Dyna."
Seeing her mother react like that, Sea the Stars—without even waiting to be told—stepped aside and invited Dyna inside. No matter what she herself thought of this girl, anyone her mother liked deserved proper treatment. She had no intention of disappointing her.
After thanking her with a bow, Dyna stepped into the house.
The whole place still held the faint scent of fresh timber furniture. It was obvious that no one had lived here for very long. Sea the Stars had still been wearing an apron a moment ago, probably preparing lunch or something similar—though for the time of day, it seemed a little early. Still, as an outsider, Dyna did not feel she had the right to judge another household's routines.
Sea the Stars, for her part, completely abandoned all thoughts of practicing her cooking the moment Dyna entered. She took off her apron, hung it neatly on the rack, and sat down with Dyna like they were old friends.
Sea the Stars made tea in silence, digging out the good leaves and boiling water, then stood behind her mother without saying a word, staring at Dyna so intently that it made her skin crawl.
Being stared at by a beautiful woman usually counted as a plus.
But when the gaze in question was hollow and full of unreadable meaning, it became genuinely terrifying.
Sea the Stars coughed lightly. "Ahem. Sea-Star, don't stare at Miss Glorious Dyna like that I like her very, very much, you know. Just as much as I like little Frankel"
"Mm… yes, Mother. I understand," Sea the Stars replied with a shade too much indifference. "I'm just curious what exactly it is you like about her."
At that point, Dyna was too intimidated to move, let alone speak.
Seeing how stiff she was sitting there, Sea the Stars laughed gently and patted Dyna's shoulder. "No need to be nervous. My daughter and I may both be Arc winners, but I think you've got the potential to do the same someday, too. Since Sea-Star here doesn't believe me… why don't you just tell her what races you've won so far?"
Sea the Stars had stopped following the horse racing world closely after retiring, except for the biggest G1 events.
Sea the Stars, on the other hand, kept track of both her own family's horse girls and the wider racing world. Naturally, she knew all about the Japanese classics.
She knew perfectly well what Dyna had accomplished—but if she said it, it would not hit Sea the Stars nearly hard enough. It needed to come from Dyna herself.
"Huh? Me…? Right. I'm six-for-six so far. Three G1 wins in total. My current goal is to complete an undefeated Japanese Triple Crown."
The moment the topic shifted to something she could actually boast about, Dyna instinctively straightened up. Her chest lifted and her voice grew firm, full of confidence.
Six starts, six wins.
Undefeated.
One classic already in hand.
For Sea the Stars, those words immediately caught her attention.
The greatest regret of her own career was that loss in her debut. Even though she later put together an undefeated run, it had all been built on top of that one defeat. Nine starts, eight wins—that fact could never be erased.
That was why she was always drawn to girls who managed to stay undefeated. They were rare, truly rare. Since retiring, she had not spent much energy keeping up with such things.
And now this unassuming girl sitting in front of her was apparently undefeated, just like Frankel, with three G1 wins already to her name?
In all honesty, Sea the Stars was interested now.
"See? Compared to how you were back then, this girl's record is even better Don't judge a book by its cover" Sea the Stars teased, lifting a finger to poke lightly at the exposed skin of Sea the Stars' midriff beneath her cropped top.
Back when she first saw Sea the Stars' tattoos, she really had lost her temper and given her daughter a fierce scolding.
Later, though, she'd reflected on it and apologized. After all, Sea the Stars had not even attended Tracen Academy. If she wanted to express herself that way, it was her freedom. In hindsight, Sea the Stars had realized she'd lashed out too hard from the perspective of an older generation.
And now, looking back, those tattoos had become part of Sea the Stars' charm. Paired with her race outfit, they were perfect. The first time Sea the Stars had seen her daughter standing on the track in that outfit, she'd cheered louder than the entire stadium.
"Mother…! I only lost one debut race!" Sea the Stars protested. Dyna, watching the exchange, found the whole mother-daughter dynamic strangely adorable.
"All right, all right, I'm done teasing. Our Sea-Star is the best. Better than Galileo, even~ That girl vanishes for weeks at a time. She really worries me."
The instant Sea the Stars brought up Galileo, she let out a weary sigh. It wasn't that she was disappointed in Galileo's accomplishments as a horse girl.
She was worried for her safety.
The way Galileo kept chasing other horse girls, one of these days it was bound to get her into serious trouble. Sea the Stars could not protect her forever. What if one day no one noticed until Galileo wound up chopped to pieces?
…Well, perhaps not into that many pieces.
In any case, Sea the Stars very much hoped Galileo would eventually settle down with someone. At least then there would be a little more security in her future.
Praised like that, Sea the Stars lifted her chin slightly, clearly a little pleased. Meanwhile, Dyna at last began to relax. The three of them chatted for a while, until at last the subject turned to the most dazzling horse girl in Europe at present—
Frankel.
"Oh, little Frankel~ She's a total live wire. You can never tell what's going through her head. She's always acting on impulse. But as a horse girl? She's flawless. No fancy tactics, no tricks—she overwhelms the entire field on sheer ability alone. That much is famous all across Europe," Sea the Stars said proudly. After all, Frankel was family.
Sea the Stars, too, spoke highly of her. "As much as I hate to admit it, she'll probably end up breaking the legend I only just managed to establish. She learned a lot of bad habits from Galileo and some of her friends, but fortunately she doesn't actually know how to use most of them. Otherwise she'd probably have ended up locked in some basement by another horse girl long before now. As for racing… I think her undefeated run will probably last right through retirement."
All the while, Dyna offered quiet nods of agreement. But then Sea the Stars, with perfect timing, asked for her impression of Frankel—and Dyna's mind instantly blanked.
What she had to say next was… rather awkward.
"My impression of Miss Frankel is…" Dyna began, summoning up every compliment she could think of all at once. "She's incredibly strong over a mile. Flawless. Truly powerful. And she's a very good person too. We've actually already met. The European training ground I'm using was arranged through her."
Then, after piling up all that praise, she lowered her voice to almost nothing and finally added the one thing that really mattered:
"The only thing I don't really understand is… she confessed to me the first time we met."
Silence fell over the room.
A very strange silence.
A chill ran down Dyna's spine so sharply that goosebumps rose all over her skin.
"Miss Glorious Dyna…" Sea the Stars said at last, and her voice was no longer soft and warm. It was glacial. "Could you repeat what you just said?"
"Uh… Miss Frankel… confessed to me the first time we met…"
I'm sorry, Frankel, Dyna thought. But for the sake of your mental well-being, I have to do this.
Sea the Stars suddenly smiled.
The problem was, Dyna had absolutely no confidence that the smile meant anything good.
Join here to read ahead.
In Star Rail, Ultra-Beast Armored — Have I Caught "Equilibrium"? l (Chapter 80)
Uma Musume, But I Only Have Five Years Left to Live (Chapter 178)
Zenless Zone Zero: I'm a Doctor, Not a Bangboo (Chapter 147)
Ben Tennyson Wants to Join the Justice League ( 126 )
TYPE-MOON: Redemption Beginning with the Holy Grail War (Chapter110)
Yu-Gi-Oh! — Transmigrated into the White Dragon Girl (Chapter185)
"Is this chat group even serious?" (Chapter105)
I, Lord Ravager, Utterly Loyal! (Chapter215)
Can Playing Games Save the World? 65
Crossover Anime Multiverse: The Demon Hunter of an Unnatural World 77
From Junkman to Wasteland 66
Weekly Refresh of Overpowered 31
I'm Grinding Proficiency Like 46
From Kiana, Lord Ravager, Onwa 185
Honkai: Is This Still the Prev 42
Elf: My Starter Pokémon Is Inc 65
Warhammer: My Primarch Is Remi 170
From Demon Slayer to Grand Ass Volume2/1
The Way the Umamusume Look at 68
Uma Musume, but My Cheat Power 206
Naruto: Weaving the Future, Be 65
Zenless Zone Zero, but Kamen R 76
Multiverse Crossover: The Perf 66
My Cyberpsycho Girlfriend 65
Uma Musume: The Dark Trainer 190
Uma Musume: A Calamity Born fr 154
I, a Reincarnation-Loop Player Volume4/23
The Violent Girl Group Is Beat 106
Uma Musume: The Horse Girl Who 67
Uma Musume: From Beginner 125
Becoming a Horse Girl, I Will 85
Uma Musume: I Want All 105
I Can Copy Unique Skills 90
Summoning an Evil God, but the 70
Supernatural Multiverse 90
My Harem Is Indescribable 80
Jujutsu Kaisen: Heroic Spirit 86
"I'm just a Valkyrie passing through." 68
Uma Musume: Today Is Another Romantic Battlefield 81
Still playing traditional Honk 65
The Most Filial Son Under Heav 65
What Should I Do After Switchi - Volume2/3
Reincarnated as a Demon, Skill 57
Hell-Difficulty Dungeon? 45
Transmigrated as Sukuna 59
Checking In in Demon Slayer 59
The Reincarnating Trainer of Tracen Academy 73
I Refuse to Become a Heroic 45
My Best Friend Into a Slime? 36
A Saiyan Stands Above Marvel 40
What Do You Mean by Using a Lab Mod to Be the Hero? 60
Tanya Starts from Re:Zero 30
Why did they assign me to Uma 35
MYGO Beauties 43
DanMachi: Emiya the Giant Hero 30
The Gacha Merchant Who Started 31
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