As this was going on, at the Kyoto Racecourse, Mejiro McQueen was currently running in the Tenno Sho (Spring) against her older sister, Mejiro Ryan, the top favourite, White Stone, and a plethora of other Uma Musume.
McQueen managed to get an advantageous position from the start despite her unfavourable gate, trailing only behind White Stone, who was the only one running as a Runaway, making her the one in the lead.
Mejiro Ryan also chose to run as a Front Runner in this race; however, after McQueen consolidated her strength, she was no longer the same Uma Musume as before.
Having entered her Senior Year, Mejiro McQueen's full stregnth was finally starting to solidify, transforming her into an infinitely more formidable foe than during her Classic Year.
Though the current Mejiro McQueen was still far from her peak— she had grown strong enough.
"It's time... to win."
Having found an opportune moment, Mejiro McQueen struck.
Whether in reality or in her mind, Mejiro McQueen had practiced for this exact race hundreds, to even thousands of times.
How to manage stamina in a 3200-meter race, where the turns were in the Kyoto Racecourse, what countermeasures to take for various situations— both Imanami and McQueen had considered all of this and more, to the point she knew everything about this Tenno Sho like the back of her hand.
Therefore, after understanding how advantageous her situation was, Mejiro McQueen began to gradually accelerate.
As an Uma Musume of the Mejiro Family, her enormous stamina began to show its advantage, while the Aura emitting from Mejiro McQueen slowly started to coalesce alongside her acceleration.
Mejiro McQueen indeed did not possess a Final Spurt as powerful as T.M. Opera O, nor could she maintain her Final Spurt for as long as Gold Ship.
However, compared to Gold Ship's method of a slow, long distance acceleration to gradually reach top speed— Mejiro McQueen was much superior at it.
In fact, from her perspective, Gold Ship's skill was merely just a clumsy imitation of her own.
With it, McQueen was absolutely determined today.
She was going to win her first GI; the Spring Tenno Sho would be the place for her to prove both her and her Trainer's strength!
Her devastating failure in the Hanshin Daishoten had allowed McQueen to truly grow and transform as a person and an Uma Musume; her determination and drive had become stronger than ever before.
Yet, she would not be consumed by her determination like last time; she had already learned her lesson— now, Mejiro McQueen was in full control!
"Mejiro McQueen is making her move! Mejiro McQueen is accelerating! She's closing in on White Stone!"
...
"Rice Shower is closing in! Special Week is rapidly slowing down! Rice Shower has almost caught up to Special Week!"
"Cough, cough, what's happening to me?!"
Special Week couldn't, for the life of her, understand why her stamina was being drained.
...No, rather than her stamina disappearing into the ether, it was more like having it, but being unable to tap into it, as if this black smoke was forcibly sealing it away.
Special Week, without sufficient understanding of supernatural abilities like Zone, failed to understand the true reason behind her critical condition.
Still, Special Week understood that she should try her best to get rid of this dark haze clinging to her.
Unfortunately, Special Week was currently unable to exert her strength, feeling extremely uncomfortable and helpless.
Right behind her, Rice Shower's eyes glowed with an eerie blue fire; now that she had gained a good grasp over her Zone, it was almost as if she had trapped Special Week inside her web.
Bang!
"AND SHE HAS OVERTAKEN! Rice Shower has overtaken Special Week!"
"Special Week! (Spe-chan!)"
In the stands, Okino and Silence Suzuka cried out in worry.
With all their preparations and cautiousness against Mihono Bourbon and Orfevre, they had never expected a 'dark horse' to appear, let alone that 'dark horse' being Rice Shower, the inconspicuous Uma Musume who finished sixth in the Yayoi Sho!
It couldn't even be considered their fault either; even if they had, for some unknown reason, paid attention to Rice Shower, they couldn't have imagined in their wildest dreams for Rice Shower to have undergone such a drastic transformation in just a measly month.
"Woahh!!! It's magic! That Rice Shower senior can do it too!"
Sweep Tosho, seeing this familiar ability, immediately cheered, clapping her hands and exclaiming in excitement.
"Is- isn't that... wassit called...? Ah yeah! Zone! The magic even Big Sis Orfevre can't do!"
"Zone...? Rice Shower can use a Zone?!"
Sweep Tosho's words immediately alarmed Silence Suzuka and Okino.
Having been both an Uma Musume and a Trainer for a decently long time now, the two of them naturally knew about Aura and Zone, though they didn't know too much about it due to a lack of firsthand experience.
After all, even Silence Suzuka, their current strongest, had yet to gain access to these abilities.
Despite how the journey of our three protagonists might make these two abilities seem common, there was a reason why knowledge about these abilities wasn't widespread.
A solid 90% of Uma Musume would never have either of them, and if one managed to awaken either one of these abilities, it would generally create a significant gap between them and those who don't have these powers— even if their physical strength and speed were inferior.
This was also why Team Miracle was considered a top tier team that made other Trainers wary just by their presence.
As mentioned before, Aura and Zone required the 'right moment,' which was essentially luck.
But even so, almost all the Uma Musume in Team Miracle, except for the newly joined Sweep Tosho and the still growing Tokai Teio, had awakened their Aura.
Such a lineup was completely absurd, and it was no wonder why Deep Impact had once thought Team Miracle had some sort of special method to awaken an Uma Musume's Aura.
Regardless, upon hearing that Rice Shower had Zone, both Okino and Silence Suzuka immediately understood the reason for Rice Shower's sudden surge in strength.
Kuro Numa, who had also heard Sweep Tosho, realized the seriousness of the situation too, warily watching Rice Shower relentlessly closing in on Mihono Bourbon, a look of genuine concern appearing on his face for the first time.
If this is truly a fully fledged Zone... then Mihono Bourbon is in danger.
...
Rice Shower had done extensive testing on her Zone.
Firstly, and most importantly, it could only truly affect one person at a time, with the target requiring to be in front of her; the most impact she could inflict onto non-targets with her Zone was just some psychological pressure.
Still, the limitation of only being able to target a single person came with an extremely powerful effect.
Rice Shower believed that once caught in her Zone, even the likes of Orfevre would be affected and forced to slow down.
However, alongside being single target, her Zone also had quite a limited range, needing Rice Shower to get extremely up close to her target for her Zone to take effect— luckily, contrasting her small stature, her stamina and strength were very abundant.
"As long as I overtake Bourbon-san... Rice Shower can finally compete with Orfevre..."
The moment Rice Shower imagined her formerly unremarkable self becoming so strong she could directly confront the 'Golden Tyrant,' potentially making herself more loved and dispelling some of her bad luck... her stride became even more powerful.
Mihono Bourbon, in response, also sensed Rice Shower's rapid approach— that eerie feeling was hard to ignore, after all.
Gritting her teeth, Mihono Bourbon forced herself to run faster despite the sense of crisis entering her increasingly beating heart.
'...Miscalculation. Reassessing Rice Shower, danger: highest priority.'
'The probability of winning this race... has decreased to hopeless levels...'
'—Mission: Classic Triple Crown... fail...'
...
"Huh? Did these three completely forget about me and are just duking it out with each other?"
Meanwhile, Orfevre in the Late Surger pack still hadn't made her move.
Originally, she planned to wait casually until the very end where she'll speed up and then win easily.
However, the situation ahead was no longer ignorable.
...As in threatening her? Hell no.
"Woowie, what a great bargain! I guess I'll just take the win now, I suppose."
"Yeah, that's what I'm going to do!"
Never expecting such a good opportunity to land on her lap, Orfevre did not hesitate to take the easiest path to victory. I mean, why wouldn't she take it?
Making her decision, Orfevre very naturally took off her mask, her eyes instantly turning blood red as the Aura around her began to boil.
In that instant, while everyone was entangled with each other, the Golden Tyrant burst into the stalemate with her wild strength!
-----+-----
Orfevre: I LOVE THE TASTE OF IRON!!!
-----+-----
If you spot any errors, feel free to comment about it and I will fix it as soon as I can.