Down on the track, Winning Ticket's white Zone-enhanced speed launched her forward. The gap to Hayahide started closing.
Fifty meters to the finish line.
Four uma musume, all in Zone state, all pushing past every conceivable limit.
Narita Taishin led with her blue mist swirling, eyes white and lost in crystalline clarity. Every fiber of her being screamed THIS IS MINE!
King Halo ran beside her, golden light blazing as Call Me King combined with her own focus to create something beyond normal racing. Nine losses in the simulation race in the beginning fuel every stride to Halo King.
RECOGNIZE ME AS KING!
Biwa Hayahide charged up behind them, red mist streaming from her body like flames. The monster's older sister refuses to be left behind. I WON'T LOSE!
And Winning Ticket, white mist flickering unstably around her incomplete Zone, pushing through sheer force of will. WE PROMISED!
"THEY'RE ALL NECK AND NECK! FORTY-FIVE METERS TO GO!"
Taishin's blue Zone pulsed with her heartbeat. She could see everything, every micro-movement, every opportunity. But her body was at its limit, muscles screaming.
King Halo's golden aura intensified. Her vision tunneled to that finish line. Nothing else existed. Just victory. Just proof.
Hayahide's red mist flared brighter. She pulled alongside King Halo, matching her stride for stride. "I'm not done yet!"
"Neither am I!" Ticket's white Zone flickered dangerously, but she held it together through sheer desperation, pulling up on the outside.
Four uma musume. Four Zones. All running shoulder to shoulder.
Forty meters.
"GET AWAY FROM ME!" Taishin screamed, her voice raw. "FIRST PLACE IS MINE!"
"Like HELL it is!" Hayahide roared back, red mist exploding outward.
"We'll see about that!" King Halo's golden light blazed even brighter.
"None of you is leaving me behind!" Ticket's white Zone pulsed with desperate energy.
Thirty-five meters.
The blue mist around Taishin intensified, solidifying. Her Zone was the most complete, the most stable. Her speed surged.
King Halo matched her with golden fury, Call Me King burning at maximum intensity.
Hayahide's red Zone flickered, less stable than Taishin's but fueled by pure stubborn pride. She held a position.
Ticket's white mist was the most unstable, wavering like a candle in the wind. But she held it, refused to let it collapse.
Thirty meters.
"THEY'RE DEAD EVEN! ALL FOUR! I CAN'T TELL WHO'S AHEAD!"
In the audience, Narita Brian was screaming herself hoarse. "BIG SIS! TAISHIN! TICKET! GO!"
Air Groove stood frozen, eyes wide. "This is... this is impossible. Four simultaneous Zones?"
Tōjō Hana's analytical mind had completely shut down. "I've never seen anything like this."
Twenty-five meters.
Taishin's blue Zone pulsed violently. The Nemesis power combining with Zone clarity, allowed her to see the path to victory in perfect detail.
King Halo's eyes blazed gold. Nine losses or nine failures in the simulation race for the beginning, all condensing into this single moment.
I AM THE KING!
Hayahide's red mist flared like wildfire. Monster's older sister. BNW. Pride incarnate. I REFUSE TO LOSE!
Winning Ticket's white Zone flickered dangerously, threatening to collapse. But every time it wavered, she forced it back through sheer willpower. WE PROMISED TOGETHER!
Twenty meters.
They were perfectly matched. Four uma musume running in perfect synchronization, none giving a single inch.
"THIS IS THE MOST INSANE FINISH IN RACING HISTORY!"
Fifteen meters.
Taishin threw everything into one more surge. Blue mist exploded outward.
King Halo matched her with golden fire. Her dress streamed behind her like a conquering banner.
Biwa Hayahide's red Zone blazed brighter, pushing through pain that should have dropped her.
Winning Ticket's white mist pulsed with each heartbeat, unstable but present.
Ten meters.
The finish line approached like judgment.
All four of them screamed at once—raw, primal sounds of absolute determination.
Five meters.
Narita Taishin's blue mist. King Halo's golden light. Biwa Hayahide's red flames. Winning Ticket's white flicker.
All blazing in perfect, impossible harmony.
"WHO'S GOT IT?! I CAN'T TELL! THEY'RE ALL—"
One meter.
The world seemed to freeze.
Four uma musume. Four Zones. Four dreams colliding at the finish line.
Then they crossed all together.
Reality snapped back, and all four stumbled past the line, their Zones collapsing simultaneously in waves of dispersing mist blue, gold, red, white, all fading into nothing. Their bodies finally gave out, legs shaking so violently they could barely stay upright, lungs heaving as they'd nearly drowned.
The crowd went absolutely insane. The noise transcended sound, it became a physical force, a wall of pure energy that seemed to shake the entire venue to its foundations.
"PHOTO FINISH! ALL FOUR! WE NEED THE PHOTO! THIS IS—WE'VE NEVER SEEN ANYTHING LIKE THIS!"
Hayato stared at the screen in the judge's booth, his hands actually trembling as he worked the replay controls. Four uma musume crossing in what looked like the exact same instant. Four trails of colored mist are dispersing at the finish line.
Frame by frame. Pixel by pixel.
Hayato rewound it once. Twice. Three times. Each viewing showed the same impossible result, four bodies crossing so close together you couldn't slip a piece of paper between them.
The judges huddled around their own screens, voices hushed and shocked. Measurements were taken. Angles compared. Every camera view is analyzed in painful detail.
"This is..." One judge shook his head slowly. "I've been doing this for twenty years. I've never seen four uma musume finish this close."
Four simultaneous Zones. Four uma musume at the absolute peak of their abilities. Four dreams crossing the line together in a blaze of colored light.
Who won?
The silence in the booth stretched, tense and suffocating, while the crowd roared below.
Hayato's eyes tracked across the frozen frame one more time. King Halo on the outside, her nose just barely—
Hayato held his breath.
The head judge made the final measurement, then nodded slowly. The decision was made.
Hayato grabbed the microphone, his voice barely steady.
"THE DETERMINATION IS IN!"
The crowd went silent so fast it felt like someone had cut the sound. Thousands of people holding their breath at once, the tension so thick you could cut it with a knife.
Hayato's hand tightened on the mic. "This was the closest finish in Satsuki Sho history. Four uma musume, all entering Zone state simultaneously, all giving absolutely everything they had."
The pause felt eternal.
--
Btw, the illustration will be on the comment.