In an instant, Kitasan Black's wind-flattened ears twitched, and a violent shiver ran down her back as though someone had poured ice water over her.
The commentator's cries and the eruption of noise from the stands blurred into background sound. What truly pierced through that wall of noise and instantly set her nerves taut was the rhythm of footsteps coming from behind her to the right—utterly different from every other opponent's.
California... Spangle.
The instant that name surfaced in her mind, the declaration of challenge delivered with a brilliant smile at yesterday's URA Dinner Party replayed uncontrollably in her ears:
"Tomorrow's race, I won't lose to you. Are you ready?"
The soaring Fighting Spirit and frankness in that voice had now become tangible pressure, carrying a thread of heart-stopping dread as it coiled around her.
It wasn't as if she had never faced this friend and rival in training races, nor was it as if she had never seen her training during the preparations.
But only now, on this track leading to Japan Cup glory, did she truly realize what California Spangle giving her full effort really meant.
Heavier. More explosive. More threatening.
Every step was like a tightening rope, looping around her neck again and again.
So this feeling... is this suffocating, Shine-chan.
A bead of cold sweat slid down her temple. Kitasan Black could not help clenching her teeth, yet the corner of her mouth rose uncontrollably, almost instinctively, into a sharp curve.
But this alone... was nowhere near enough!
Against an attack like yours, we... prepared for it long ago!
Almost at the exact moment she sensed the threat and her heart stirred, the contingency plan that Anjing Zhen and Agnes Tachyon had repeatedly simulated before the race surfaced in Kitasan Black's mind.
She did not panic