Whirlwind in the Rain

Aichi Prefecture, Toyoake City, nearing four in the afternoon on March 25, 2029.

"It doesn't look like it's going to stop."

Mr. Ogawa hunched his broad frame and sneezed.

Every corner of Chukyo Racecourse had been dyed by the rain. The downpour, like gas spreading from Maikawa to the shore in the morning, blurred the scenery before their eyes.

The sound of rain seemed to have become the only sound in the world.

"If that's the case, then this is a seriously unfavorable development—"

Kanna, standing behind Mr. Ogawa, let out a soft sigh.

Though both Pegasus and Noah were running, it was clearly too much to expect the former, only ninth in popularity among the eighteen entrants, to replace Noah as the main contender in this Takamatsunomiya Memorial.

Even so, they had agreed to Kazuo's proposal that he replace the increasingly restless Noah, who had been agitated since last night.

Meanwhile, Pegasus, whose condition was relatively better, had been entrusted to Takeshi, who had been in excellent form in graded races lately.

Of course, it was hard to say how much difference such an adjustment would make. Unlike Noah, who had started from gate two on the inside, Pegasus had unfortunately drawn the outermost gate, eighteen.

—If there had truly been another domestic graded sprint available to enter recently, they would probably have announced their withdrawal the moment the gate draw came out.

"But it isn't all that bad... if we can be a little smarter than Ferrari's pit crew at the 2022 Monaco Grand Prix."

At the very least, that should have been an easy goal. But now that the race had become a rain battle on a yielding track, the only thing left was to believe in Pegasus, Noah, and the abilities of their respective jockeys.

Just