Chapter 440: 552

Horse girls were a race born to run.

Competition and victory were symbols engraved into the deepest reaches of their blood.

But did that mean victory was the only source of meaning in their lives?

Obviously not.

Tap, tap, tap!

Bang!

Hurried footsteps approached from the distance before the gym doors were flung open, causing the girls training inside to raise their heads.

"Ryan, could you try acting a little more gracefully?"

Once Mill realized it was only Ryan, she immediately lost interest.

She rolled her eyes, complained, then resumed bench-pressing a terrifying amount of weight.

Fujin, who was nearby, waved in a much friendlier manner.

"Ryan! You came to train even during the vacation?"

"Mill, Fujin!"

Ryan loudly greeted her two companions before turning toward Fujin.

"How could I possibly slack off when both of you came to train?"

"Come to think of it, Fujin, I haven't seen you delivering food in ages."

Fujin scratched her head in embarrassment and pulled the brim of her hat slightly lower.

"The prize money I earned from racing this year was much higher than what I made from my part-time jobs."

"Besides, I'm not really short on money anymore."

Only then did Ryan remember.

"Oh, right. You won a G1 during the first half of the year. Of course you're not short on money."

As she spoke, Ryan walked toward one of the exercise machines and casually removed her jacket.

Her tight athletic top accentuated the smooth, powerful lines of her muscles.

She had broad shoulders, a firm waist, and long legs packed with explosive power. Every inch of her body possessed the resilient strength of a female panther.

"All right! Muscles, muscles!"

After shouting that inexplicable slogan several times, Ryan enthusiastically threw herself into an intense strength-training session.

With three of Central's top active racers gathered together and none of their trainers nearby, it was only natural for them to start talking.

"I thought the next one to arrive... would be Bright..."

Mill continued bench-pressing as she breathed evenly, punctuating her words with soft laughter.

"I don't know where Bright went, but I saw Taisei on my way here."

Fujin was jogging lightly on a treadmill as she turned toward them with a smile.

"Where did she go?"

Ryan and Mill stopped simultaneously and looked back at her.

"Public Training Ground Seven."

Fujin grinned.

"I also saw several seniors from her team. It looked like they were helping her with some specialized practice runs."

"Many of them raced during the era of Inari-senpai and March-senpai, so they should be familiar with McQueen's Chasing Light-style racing."

"Hmm... At the very least, that sounds more useful than training aimlessly like us."

"Those people?"

Mill sneered disdainfully.

"They were nothing more than stepping stones during the Chasing Light era!"

"If Creek and Tamamo were helping her train, that would be different. What use are a bunch of nameless nobodies?"

"They're familiar with Chasing Light's racing style?"

"Every one of them was left hopelessly behind in the final stretch. What could they possibly have learned from that?"

Fujin and Ryan showed no reaction to Mill's venomous remarks.

They were already accustomed to them.

The horse girl insulting others while bench-pressing was merely a stubborn, theatrical edgelord.

Several years ago, she had even dared to question and provoke Chasing Light's terrifyingly accomplished veterans.

Moreover, her insults were often deliberate psychological attacks against her opponents rather than careless remarks.

Compared with her usual behavior, this barely counted as warming up.

"McQueen has left us hopelessly behind plenty of times too..."

Fujin muttered quietly.

"..."

Mill did not argue this time.

After a moment of silence, she stopped exercising and sat up on the machine, tilting her head back with a sigh.

"McQueen..."

"I haven't dared to see her lately. I didn't even have the courage to enter the Japan Cup."

"I must look completely pathetic in her eyes."

Ryan smiled.

"McQueen wouldn't care about something like that. Don't worry."

"If I'm so insignificant that she doesn't even notice me, that's even worse!"

Mill rolled her eyes.

Fujin continued jogging as she spoke in a relaxed tone.

"McQueen-san really is incredibly strong."

"Before she left last year, I already thought she was powerful, but at least I still felt motivated to catch her."

"But now..."

Fujin fell silent.

Mill quietly finished her thought.

"She's become so distant that I'm almost losing the courage to chase her."

The gym remained silent for only a few seconds before Ryan's booming laughter shattered the stillness.

"So what if we can't catch her? Does that mean we should stop running?"

"I don't run because I want to catch someone."

"I run because I love running!"

"McQueen has simply made this road more interesting."

Fujin and Mill froze, then turned toward her simultaneously.

The Mejiro girl standing before them showed no trace of gloom.

Instead, a clear, radiant smile illuminated her face.

She stood tall and brimming with confidence. Within her eyes, fierce ghostly flames burned with a resolve as unyielding as iron.

A heroic spirit surged from her body, flowing through every limb and reverberating freely throughout the room.

"Besides, if McQueen someday runs so far ahead that none of us can see her anymore, then that's all the more reason for us to keep running!"

"Because..."

Ryan winked at them.

"The better we run, the more impressive her strength will look, right?"

"That's the only way to prove to future generations that this era had us too."

"We weren't a collection of third-rate stepping stones that could be casually dismissed in a single sentence."

"..."

Fujin opened her mouth as though she wanted to say something.

In the end, she silently turned back toward the front.

However, a new determination had entered her running form.

Mill clenched her teeth and pushed the machine so violently that its frame began creaking, as though she desperately wanted to prove something.

Ryan had spoken casually, as though discussing something entirely ordinary.

Yet both horse girls understood how much weight her words carried.

Meanwhile, elsewhere at Central Tracen Academy, at Public Training Ground Seven...

"Taisei!"

A bottle of water flew through the air and was caught by a slender hand.

The girl who caught it was a gray-haired horse girl.

She was drenched in sweat and breathing heavily. After twisting open the cap, she poured several mouthfuls down her throat.

"You're in excellent condition, Taisei!"

Four other horse girls stood or sat nearby, all of them equally drenched in sweat as they smiled at her.

"Make sure you achieve a good result in this year's Arima Kinen, Tai!"

Taisei's lips curled into a faint smile.

"Only a good result? Not victory?"

"Uh..."

The four senior horse girls exchanged glances and laughed awkwardly.

Defeating Chasing Light...

After being swept aside time and time again by that silver-white storm during their own active careers, they no longer even dared to imagine such a thing.

"I see... Even my senpai think that way..."

After a moment of silence, Taisei smiled with a trace of relief.

"It's all right. I think the same thing."

"...Taisei."

Concern appeared on the faces of the other horse girls.

Taisei merely shook her head and turned toward the distance.

Bright Rock was there, running alongside the veterans of her own team and desperately working to improve herself before the approaching Arima Kinen.

Whether they won or lost did not matter...

Taisei slowly lowered her eyes, her expression perfectly calm.

I'm not running this race to defeat her.

I only want to prove that we are not the worthless remnants of this era.

That is all!

Hum...

Invisible gray-white streams of light emerged from the void.

They brushed past the bewildered gazes of her senpai, flowed around their bodies, then silently disappeared.

Cause and fate intertwined without leaving a trace.