October 2 — France — Longchamp Racecourse.
The Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe.
2400 meters, turf, good going.
Standing on the track, Danon Dream stared at her gate and felt as though she were still dreaming. At the start of the year, she had never imagined she would one day stand on the stage of the world's greatest turf race.
Gate 2. Classic-age allowance. Both were advantages she could wield against the seasoned veterans around her. As a weight-for-age race, the Arc allowed Danon Dream to enjoy the classic fillies' allowance; unlike the older mares, she did not have to shoulder extra weight.
"Whatever happens… I have to win," she murmured to herself. "Even if no one believes in me."
Before the race, she was only eleventh in the betting. But popularity had nothing to do with how she would run at Longchamp. Only confidence could create victory.
The call to load rang out.
Danon Dream patted her cheeks, drew a deep breath, and steadied herself.
This race mattered more than anything.
Even if she lost, she would not lose her priority entry for the Japan Cup. But if she was going to see the horse girl who lived in her heart, then she had to make herself look as extraordinary as possible, did she not?
And what title could suit that better than winner of the Arc?
In Japan—
"Yaaawn… I'm sleepy."
Dyna covered her mouth, trying not to yawn too openly. It was nearly midnight, but the shop was brightly lit. Oguri Cap had stayed behind tonight to watch the Arc broadcast with her. Seeing Nakayama Festa's grave expression on the screen, Dyna honestly did not feel very hopeful.
Because she could not clearly remember how Festa had done in her second Arc attempt.
The only thing Dyna knew for certain was that it had gone badly. But who had won? That part she could not recall.
The Longchamp turf was firm tonight—good ground, rare enough in itself. That should have favored most runners. But from the way the field was loading, something about the race felt strange. Of course, until it was over, no one could say who the winner would be.
"Boss, have one of these."
Oguri handed her a coffee milk candy. Dyna accepted it, popped it into her mouth, and chewed.
She had always thought those candies were just sugary snacks, all sweetness and no actual effect. Maybe that had just been her own prejudice, because now, strangely enough, she did feel a little more awake.
The two of them sat close to the television. The cookies they had laid out had already been reduced by half thanks to Oguri, but once the race began, Dyna had no interest in getting up for more.
From the sectional times through the first thousand meters, it was obvious that this year's Arc—run on good ground—was unfolding at a fast pace. Even well into the false straight, the field remained tightly packed. The crowd and commentators were all focused on the top three favorites, wondering which of them would decide the outcome—
—and then, from a perfect position in the second lane, Danon Dream came out.
She launched from around the 300-meter mark, almost 400. With every stride, she drew on the pride she carried as a German horse girl. She was no worse than anyone else. And the fact that she was now fighting at the very front of the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe was proof enough of that.
Danon Dream exhaled the stale air trapped in her lungs. The next inhalation burned, but that burning fed her body with a new surge of life. She could feel the pressure of the horse girls behind her—their auras, their domains pressing down on her.
Every girl who could stand on the Arc stage was a genius shaped by talent, sweat, and effort. For them, domains and pressure might have become as natural as breathing. But for Danon Dream, this was the first time she had ever touched such a state.
As her feet crossed the 300-meter marker, she felt something inside her snap.
It was like the breaking of chains—chains that had bound some hidden creature inside her, chains shattered at last under unbearable pressure.
Her heart pounded hotter blood through her limbs. The world around her turned transparent. It felt as if she were running through empty space, with nothing at all around her.
"So this is what my trainer meant… by a domain?"
Time itself seemed to slow. She even had the luxury to glance sideways.
There was nothing there.
Every horse girl's domain reflected her nature. Some were vast as thunder, some deep as the stars. Some were like a spring breeze.
Danon Dream's domain was emptiness.
A pure blankness. A sheet of untouched paper waiting for someone to paint upon it. And now her footsteps became the first brushstrokes across that white expanse—specks of green light spreading, shaping themselves into the landscape of Longchamp.
Breathing is easier. Even my finishing kick feels lighter…
I can win, can't I?
Color flooded back into her vision, filling the blank canvas. Sound returned too—the pounding hooves behind her, growing louder. But in front of her, and beside her, there was no one.
The view from the front had always seemed beautiful to Danon Dream.
How much more beautiful, then, was the view from the front of the Arc?
I can win.
This was Danon Dream's domain:
Empty Mountain, Dreaming — Fading Shadows, Flowing Light.
Like a phantom streaking through the world, she widened the gap over the final two hundred meters. No matter how the others chased, none of them could draw any closer. One length, two lengths, three…
By the final fifty meters, the picture in her domain was complete. All it lacked was the finishing stroke.
And that stroke was the moment she crossed the line.
"Whoa…"
Dyna had gone completely still.
"Danon Dream… won the Arc by five lengths…?"
It was hard to believe. Just one year ago, she had nearly sunk without a trace in the Marcel Boussac. After all the failures in the first half of the year, could she really bloom so brilliantly?
And then the electronic board flashed the time in bright red.
2:24.49.
A new race record for the Arc.
"A record…?"
Dyna stared, a bitten cookie still forgotten in her hand.
At the corner of the screen, unnoticed by most, Nakayama Festa finished in eleventh. Mud-streaked and exhausted, she wiped her face as she slowed. Drawn wide in gate sixteen, she had spent far too much just getting into the race. And now, more than anything else, she could feel it:
Her body was no longer in racing condition.
It was time to think about retirement.
On the victory gallop, Danon Dream waved her sash high as the crowd roared. Germany had finally produced another Arc champion. Ten years? Twenty? However long it had been, it no longer mattered.
To Danon Dream, it still felt unreal.
"Ah… so this is what it feels like," she whispered. "When a dream comes true."
Her brown-and-blue racing dress fluttered around her. Her skirt was filthy. So what? That no longer mattered.
When the heavy trophy was finally placed in her hands—and in her trainer's—she knew she had proven herself. She had proved herself against every horse girl in the world.
And perhaps most of all, against the trainer who had once let her go.
Rationally, she could understand why he had done it. Emotionally, though, a thorn had always remained in her heart.
But now… even that no longer mattered.
When reporters asked her what came next—whether she would target the Breeders' Cup Turf or the Hong Kong Vase—Danon Dream raised a single finger and answered without hesitation:
"The Japan Cup. I'm going to the Japan Cup next."
The cookie fell from Dyna's fingers and shattered on the floor.
The Japan Cup? Right after the Arc?
Was Danon Dream made of iron? Dyna could not understand it. She remembered clearly how fragile the German girl had seemed back in the Marcel Boussac. And now… now she was planning an Arc-to-Japan Cup turnaround?
Danon Dream smiled into the cameras.
"The Japan Cup is another magnificent stage. If I've won the Arc, then I want to shine there too. More importantly…" She paused, and the sincerity in her face deepened. "There is a horse girl in Japan I've wanted to see again ever since last year. If it weren't for her, I might never have made it this far."
Dyna did not even dare look at the subtitles anymore.
The reporters pressed for details.
Danon Dream only smiled and shook her head. "Last year's Marcel Boussac winner. I can't say more than that. If you're curious, you can look into it yourselves. We were only in contact for a very short time, but she changed something in my heart. Something very important."
Oguri's ears twitched. She turned and looked at Dyna strangely.
Ever since her trip to Europe, the boss's life seemed to have become tangled up with far too many complicated connections. Japan had already been enough of a mess. Apparently Europe had been no better.
Of course, if Oguri knew about the full cast over there—Galileo, Van Gogh, Trophée, and the rest—then heaven only knew what expression she would wear. Old-fashioned as she was, it might have been a sight to behold.
On the television, Danon Dream held the trophy close and gave her final answer:
"Maybe it's impossible. But I'd like to meet her again in the Japan Cup. And if I can… I want to race her there."
"Boss," Oguri asked, "is that a challenge?"
Dyna let out a soft breath and scratched behind one ear.
"You could say that. I never thought she'd remember me for this long. Still… maybe that's a good thing. If I could inspire her to win the Arc…" She laughed faintly. "I never imagined I had that kind of influence."
Then she straightened, the excitement in her rising again.
So be it.
She still had three races left this year.
The Kikuka Sho. The Japan Cup. The Arima Kinen.
And now the Japan Cup had gotten even more interesting.
"If Danon Dream wants a duel, then let's do it," Dyna said quietly. "Will I become the stepping stone on her path to greatness? Or will she become one more piece of my backdrop?"
Her body was already reacting—the instinctive thrill of a horse girl faced with a worthy rival.
As for why she had never felt this way toward Orfevre…
Well.
That was probably because Orfevre just was not strong enough yet. At least, not strong enough to give Dyna that sensation.
Maybe the Kikuka Sho would finally bring a surprise.
Oguri, meanwhile, found herself thinking back to her own Japan Cup.
Anything over 2000 meters had been a total disaster for her. Just remembering it made her shiver. Sprinting and the mile had always felt easier; middle and long distance races demanded far too much thinking.
She had run seven G1s over intermediate distances.
Won none.
And yet somehow she had won the Arima Kinen.
Oguri Cap was a mystery even to herself.
Still, Dyna would not suffer that kind of strange inconsistency. So far her range comfortably covered 1600 to 2400 meters, and the Kikuka Sho would be the longest race of her career.
As for the Tenno Sho (Spring)…
Unless a horse girl specialized in staying races, it was rarely the first target anyone chose.
On the French side of the screen, Danon Dream had already returned to the winner's enclosure.
"Hehe… hehe… I won. Mom! You saw it, right?"
She had not even showered yet. The very first thing she did after reaching the resting room was call her parents to brag.
"We saw, we saw," her mother said, voice trembling. "We watched it with the neighbors. Everyone in town knows you won the Arc now. Your father and I nearly cried in front of them."
Her mother's eyes were red; she must have already cried. When Danon Dream asked where her father was, her mother told her he was outside the house smoking—too unwilling to let his daughter see him crying.
"Mmph. Mom, keep an eye on him. Don't let him smoke too much." Danon Dream hugged the trophy tighter. "I'm going to Japan next. After the Japan Cup… I'm coming home."
"All right," her mother said softly. "Just take care of yourself over there. Don't go eating random things and upset your stomach…"
A family's worries were always the heaviest kind.
But at least now—
at least now Danon Dream had given them something to be proud of.
She was no longer just some country girl from nowhere.
And in Japan, with the television still on and the cookie crumbs still on the floor, Glory Dyna smiled slowly to herself.
The end of the year had just become much more fun.
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 150)
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 (Chapter190)
"Is this chat group even serious?" (Chapter105)
I, Lord Ravager, Utterly Loyal! (Chapter225)
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 195
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 Volume2/5
The Way the Umamusume Look at 68
Uma Musume, but My Cheat Power 225
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 210
Uma Musume: A Calamity Born fr 154
I, a Reincarnation-Loop Player Volume4/30
The Violent Girl Group Is Beat 115
Uma Musume: The Horse Girl Who 67
Uma Musume: From Beginner 130
Becoming a Horse Girl, I Will 85
Uma Musume: I Want All 105
I Can Copy Unique Skills 100
Summoning an Evil God, but the 70
Supernatural Multiverse 90
My Harem Is Indescribable 85
Jujutsu Kaisen: Heroic Spirit 90
"I'm just a Valkyrie passing through." 68
Uma Musume: Today Is Another Romantic Battlefield 100
Still playing traditional Honk 69
The Most Filial Son Under Heav 75
What Should I Do After Switchi - Volume2/3
Reincarnated as a Demon, Skill 60
Hell-Difficulty Dungeon? 55
Transmigrated as Sukuna 71
Checking In in Demon Slayer 75
The Reincarnating Trainer of Tracen Academy 80
I Refuse to Become a Heroic 66
My Best Friend Into a Slime? 58
A Saiyan Stands Above Marvel 65
What Do You Mean by Using a Lab Mod to Be the Hero? 63
Tanya Starts from Re:Zero 59
Why did they assign me to Uma 55
MYGO Beauties 56
DanMachi: Emiya the Giant Hero 45
The Gacha Merchant Who Started 49
Honkai's Otherworld? Wait—Who Are You People?! 36
Emiya Shirou, Determined to Slay Every Curse and Evil Spirit 35
The Uma Musume Who Became 30
I'm Definitely Not the King of 35
After Maxing Out Every Class 35
My patreon : patreon.com/queen_sin
My patreon : patreon.com/queen_sin