"Platinum, who broke from the gate late and began accelerating from last place, has overtaken the mid-runners and the leaders!"
"The only rival standing between her and victory is the frontrunner, the favorite to win, Daiwa Scarlet!"
"Without a doubt, this is the most competitive debut race of the year... perhaps of the last several years! Please watch closely until the very end, because you may never see another debut race this intense!"
At the start, everyone had thought there was no suspense at all—that the only question was how many lengths Daiwa Scarlet would win by. But now... at last, suspense had arrived!
—Suspense!!
6. A Debut Race for the History Books! An Absolute Victory!
At the fourth turn!
"At last—!"
Daiwa Scarlet had cleared the final turn. All that remained ahead was the straightaway to the finish.
"Teio-senpai and Vodka are both watching from the stands. I have to win in style!"
Daiwa Scarlet was brimming with fighting spirit. She always demanded the same thing of herself: win the race and take first place. And she had the potential to do just that.
With her rivals watching, and with this being a relatively easy debut race, Daiwa Scarlet was convinced she had to win big! By at least two or three lengths!
Daiwa Scarlet wanted to win beautifully. She wanted to become an Uma Musume worthy of recognition from that invincible senior, Agnes Tachyon!
But the spirited girl had no idea—
Behind her, the leading pack was being overtaken in an instant by Platinum, charging along the far outside. Daiwa Scarlet, in the lead, had no inkling of the shock Platinum's acceleration was sending through the entire field!
"Once I've won, I'll go see Tachyon-senpai..."
"—Huh? Wait!!"
The next moment, Daiwa Scarlet seemed to spot something unbelievable. Her face filled with astonishment.
In the corner of her vision, she saw Platinum—the girl who had even fumbled her start, and looked so delicate and sweet that she hardly seemed like an Uma Musume at all!
For a frontrunner leading the race, being able to see another Uma Musume meant the gap between them had become very small.
The situation... had grown far more dangerous than expected! Daiwa Scarlet's heart leapt into her throat.
How could an Uma Musume who had started so late, and was stuck on the unfavorable outside, catch up to her so quickly—right on the home straight?
Only someone with terrifying explosive power and excellent stamina could catch up this fast! The sole wildcard... had arrived!
The commentator's excited voice rang across the venue!
"Daiwa Scarlet and Platinum have both reached the latter half of the home straight. The other Uma Musume are still more than three lengths behind."
"This race has become a duel between the two of them!!"
The only Uma Musume standing in Platinum's way was... Daiwa Scarlet!
That was the reality before Platinum, and she couldn't have asked for anything better.
The home straight was already in its final stretch, with less than two hundred meters to go. And Daiwa Scarlet, who wanted to run all the way to the ends of the earth, was right beside her!
An unbelievable sight unfolded: the Escape Horse who had led from the start and the Late-runner who had begun in last place were neck and neck! The two were fighting it out in a final showdown!
The Kulantta girl was no longer languid. In her first head-to-head match since transforming and entering the race, she had once again fulfilled her duty as an assassin.
With Daiwa Scarlet the undisputed favorite to win, with even Japan's greatest Uma Musume in history, Symboli Rudolf, watching—and with most of the other competitors having lost their fighting spirit...
Platinum, an unwelcome intruder, had become the assassin and overturned the entire expected outcome!
How could the entire crowd—and Daiwa Scarlet herself—not be shaken by that?
The silver streak showed no sign of slowing down. If anything... its astonishing speed kept increasing!
For Platinum, the Kulantta girl, Uma Musume races were anything but boring.
If she were stuck being some boring assassin on the Terra Continent, Miss Platinum would probably just want to give up and do nothing.
If she were on the Terra Continent...
Then perhaps Platinum would say something like, "I've never enjoyed being an assassin..."
But things were different now. Being an assassin in an Uma Musume race, overtaking and hunting down one astonished opponent after another, was far more entertaining!
Besides, a race took just a few short minutes from start to finish. She could compete against these Uma Musume, and a big prize purse would be deposited afterward.
Risk-free, easy money for a day's work. Who wouldn't like that?
Then, after taking in Daiwa Scarlet's curvy figure beside her, Platinum stopped looking at her rival and shifted her gaze to the finish line ahead.
"That was an easy, exhilarating mission, but... it's getting a little boring."
"Let's wrap this up—!"
The fire in the languid girl Platinum's once-calm eyes had been kindled.
She'd started to take an interest in the race, but she still wanted to finish it quickly—to defeat Daiwa Scarlet as soon as possible.
Platinum was already considering the opponents she might face in the next race!
The languid assassin's words, spoken without much regard for Daiwa Scarlet, quickly reached the girl running beside her.
Even as she raced at full speed with the wind roaring around her, Daiwa Scarlet's ears twitched. She thought she'd heard something unbelievable.
"Huh??"
This Late-runner who had started late... didn't she even consider Daiwa Scarlet an opponent?!
Daiwa Scarlet was good enough to place in the top two in any race, and she wouldn't accept losing to an unknown Uma Musume who seemed barely trained!
Unwilling to lose, Daiwa Scarlet clenched her teeth. She drove her powerful legs into the firm ground, doing everything she could to maintain her momentum.
Yet, unbelievably, she was struggling even to stay level with Platinum as they raced side by side. As an Escape Horse, she had already spent too much energy maintaining her lead!
"No, I can't lose..."
The next second, a scene that shook the entire venue unfolded! The situation of the frontrunner and the assassin who had surged up from behind running side by side changed dramatically.
Daiwa Scarlet's view shifted from Platinum's face beside her to... her back in the distance!
Platinum, the assassin, had turned the tables and surged past Daiwa Scarlet!
On the last few dozen meters before the finish line, the speed she had built up showed no sign of fading.
One length... two lengths... three lengths...
And she didn't stop there. To the astonished gazes of Tokai Teio, Vodka, and the crowd, she accelerated wildly, stretching her lead!
Four lengths!
Beneath countless astonished stares, the silver streak finally reached the finish line first, with a full five lengths between her and the others!
As she crossed the line, the commentator voiced one last cry of astonishment.
"Platinum! Platinum crosses the line first and takes the win!!"
"Etch this into your minds! This is a debut race destined to go down in the history of Japanese racing!"
"The silver assassin flashed like a radiant streak, winning that head-to-head battle fair and square by an incredible five lengths!"
"Without a doubt, she'll be a generation-defining champion who dominates the Triple Crown races, just like Agnes Tachyon! Look forward to seeing her face off against her senior, Agnes Tachyon, in the future!"
Behind Daiwa Scarlet, who finished second, the unknown Uma Musume in third had already fallen six lengths behind!
And Platinum had started late, losing a lot of ground right from the beginning.
In other words, without Daiwa Scarlet, the assassin girl might have achieved an overwhelming victory by an extraordinarily rare margin!
In an instant, the entire venue erupted!!
"Platinum! Platinum! She's so cute! I've decided—I'm her fan now!"
"How did she do that? She's that talented, yet she still started late?"
"What an incredible genius! Will she challenge the Classic Triple Crown or the Fillies' Triple Crown next year?"
"That Final Burst was terrifying—she's like a second Agnes Tachyon!"
"An Uma Musume that cute is sure to put on a great show at the winners' stage!"
"Platinum!! Platinum!!"
(Preview: She won't skip the winners' stage. It'll be brief.)
7. The Winners' Stage—Should She Go On?
(PS: She won't skip the winners' stage.)
Even though the spectators who had come to watch Daiwa Scarlet hadn't seen the honor student cross the line first and win...
They felt no regret or disappointment at all. Most of them were instead filled with shock and delight!
"Platinum!! Platinum!!"
"If she stays healthy, she'll definitely win a GI in the Classic races."
"An Uma Musume that cute is sure to put on a great show at the winners' stage, right?!"
As the many conversations rang out one after another...
On the racetrack, the Uma Musume behind them crossed the finish line one after another.
The other Uma Musume who had lost and failed to make successful debuts wore faces full of regret and dejection. Platinum, who had crossed the finish line first, was the most composed of them all.
In the assassin girl's mind, her thoughts drifted pleasantly toward what came next.
(That's that—I've made a successful debut.)
(Now I can properly prepare for the Triple Crown of Transformation.)
Platinum knew that Daiwa Scarlet was the only truly formidable opponent worth mentioning in this debut race.
But no matter how talented Daiwa Scarlet was, she was still very young. She wouldn't challenge the Triple Crown races until next year, and she hadn't fully matured yet.
If an Uma Musume challenging the Classic races was considered young, and one a year older competing in the Older Horses division was in her prime, then a little one like Daiwa Scarlet, still hovering around the time of her debut, wasn't much different from a child.
Her opponents in the Triple Crown of Transformation might not be more talented than Daiwa Scarlet, but their overall ability and strength would definitely be far greater. She would have to take them more seriously.
(When the time comes, I can try out some other running styles, too.)
After experiencing the Late-runner style, Platinum didn't think she had to limit herself to that one tactic.
As she saw it—
An assassin's virtue was simply to hunt down her opponents. She would never be bound to just one approach; she'd use whatever gave her the best chance of winning.
An Uma Musume only needed to pour her heart into the race and run with all her might. But Platinum, the assassin behind the scenes, had a lot more to think about...
While Platinum continued thinking about the race, the red-haired girl Daiwa Scarlet came walking over, her body trembling slightly.
The famous honor student was biting her lip, her eyes full of disbelief.
Daiwa Scarlet's desire to win was well-known even at Tracen Academy. How could she accept her defeat right away?
And on top of that, she'd lost by a full five lengths! It wasn't even a narrow defeat by half a length!
"Congratulations... You won beautifully."
Daiwa Scarlet, the honor student, still maintained her manners and offered her congratulations to Platinum, the winner.
At Daiwa Scarlet's words, Platinum gave a slight nod and replied.
"You did great, too. You made the race really enjoyable for me!" This was Platinum's sincere praise.
Before you continue