"Ready?! —GO!"
The moment T.M. Opera O gave the word, Orfevre and Maruzensky's entire presence chanwged dramatically.
Before anyone could react, the two Uma Musume bursted from the starting line almost simultaneously, charging forward with astonishing speeds!
"It seems they're intending to go all out from the start! Putting aside Senior Maruzensky for a moment, it's truly rare to see Orfevre not having a late start for once."
"Perhaps it's because there are no starting gates. Without the gates, getting the timing for a perfect start is indeed much more easier."
Wada and T.M. Opera O took turns commentating on the situation of the race.
Since there were only two runners in this race, the commentary wasn't very extensive.
However, it was clear that Wada and T.M. Opera O made pretty good commentators.
"...Continuing on, this course is a medium-distance 2000-meter turf track! Maruzensky and Orfevre have immediately unleashed their full power!"
"It seems that because there are no other Uma Musume to block them, they have both decided to run as Runaways."
Wada held a microphone, feeling no nervousness despite this being his first time acting as a commentator.
He simply acted as usual, stating his analysis and judgments on the race.
And because he was an experienced Jockey, his assessment of the race was, of course, top-notch.
Not only that, due to him possessing the ability to perceive an Uma Musume's Aura despite being human, he was doubly sure Orfevre and Maruzensky were not holding anything back from the start.
After all, that powerful, undeniable Aura simply couldn't be faked.
"Eh~? Orfevre Aneki is running as a Runaway?"
Tokai Teio, alongside the rest of the Uma Musume in the stands, were surprised.
"Runaway? Orfevre sure is motivated this time."
Nakayama Festa was also surprised by Orfevre's choice, murmuring to herself.
"Runaway? Ugh... I hate that running style!"
The suspicious black haired woman beside Nakayama Festa also said with slight annoyance.
"The first time I heard about this girl, I thought she was a professional gate troublemaker, just like me! I didn't expect her to be a traitor!"
"Nah, nah. Your original assumption was right. It's just that for some reason, she changed her tune today."
Nakayama Festa said calmly, glancing at the black-clad woman beside her.
"She's probably just showing off... Orfevre gets strangely invested on establishing her dominance when she feels like someone isn't respecting her."
While Nakayama Festa might have just thrown out that assumption casually, she had actually hit the nail on the head.
The reason behind all of Orfevre's actions so far was because she felt disrespected, and to right that, she ran with extra effort today.
She only had one goal: to clash with Maruzensky head-on and completely crush her right in front of Ikezoe.
Orfevre disliked how Ikezoe always treated other Uma Musume with kindness and respect, even towards those who had wronged him for no apparent reason.
Although Orfevre wasn't sure what her feelings towards Ikezoe were yet, she still wouldn't allow others to 'taint' Ikezoe, especially not if that person was an Uma Musume who surpassed her in every 'aspect.'
And since she was surpassed in every 'aspect,' she'll completely crush Maruzensky in her strongest area, racing!
'Come on, you decrepit old hag! Let me show you how formidable I, Orfevre, am!'
Orfevre thought to herself as the speed of her legs increased, though she was the one who was trailing, behind by around one length.
However, when she wanted to accelerate and overtake Maruzensky, a sense of urgency came from the reins— Ikezoe was telling her to slow down.
'Slow down? WHY SLOW DOWN?! That Ikezoe... this is clearly the best time to overtake her!'
Orfevre couldn't understand why Ikezoe would issue this command, thus; she ignored him, the power in her legs continuing to increase.
Seeing Orfevre's actions, Ikezoe continuously tried to make Orfevre slow down, even starting to shout,
"ORFEVRE, THIS ISN'T THE TIME TO SPRINT! SLOW DOWN!"
"WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?! I WANT TO BEAT HER! IKEZOE, DON'T INTERFERE!"
Unlike her earlier cooperativeness, Orfevre became extremely hot-headed, shaking her head to make Ikezoe stop bothering her.
—In fact, this was the first time she had shown such resistance to Ikezoe's words.
"Umm... Maruzensky-senpai, things seem a bit off on the other side."
Just then, Maruzensky's 'hanger-on,' Sakura Chiyono O, informed her of the situation that was going on with Orfevre and Ikezoe.
Although Sakura Chiyono O was an excellent Uma Musume, active around the same time as Oguri Cap, she did not have the capabilities to become a Jockey.
However, Maruzensky never placed such expectations on her; she just thought Chiyono O was cute, and they got along surprisingly well too, so she found her to be her 'Jockey.'
Chiyono O, however, took her request super seriously, wishing to help her Senior as much as possible.
Thus, though she didn't relay any commands, focusing more on moving and balancing herself on Maruzensky's shoulder so that she did not fall off, Chiyono O still relayed everything she saw over to her Senior.
"They seem to be arguing, Maruzensky-senpai! Maybe we can use this opportunity to widen the gap!"
"Right, Chiyono O! In that case, I'll put in a little more effort~"
Maruzensky smiled, yet the Aura around her did not increase whatsoever.
Instead, a swift, gust-like circle of energy suddenly enveloped the area around Maruzensky!
"...Is Senior Maruzensky seriously going to use her Zone on an Uma Musume who barely entered her Classic Year?"
Air Groove was shocked by how seriously Maruzensky was taking this mock race.
After all, all those in the know knew that Maruzensky just wanted to find an excuse to give away those two Winning Outfits.
When Air Groove and Symboli Rudolf initially realized this, they simply assumed that Maruzensky just wanted to teach Orfevre a little lesson on the side; she wouldn't make it overly difficult for Orfevre, and the Winning Outfits would still be given.
But seeing Maruzensky's activation of her Zone, the two immediately felt something was amiss.
Maruzensky wasn't playing around anymore... Is she actually intending on going all out?
"What is she thinking?! Using a Zone on her level against an Uma Musume of Orfevre's caliber, does she want to utterly crush Orfevre?"
"I don't know... but Maruzensky is not the type to lose herself like this. Right now, we can only trust her."
Symboli Rudolf could only watch on in worry, wondering what was going on inside Maruzensky's mind.
However, in a spot not too far away, Sweep Tosho's massive hat quietly peeked out, her eyes shining as she watched the mock race unfold.
"—Magic! Grandmother really didn't lie to me! Uma Musumes really can use magic!"
"I must learn it! ...But Senior Maruzensky told me to join that Ikezoe guy's team first."
"Not only that, that bully doesn't seem as strong as she looks."
Sweep Tosho became conflicted as she saw the ever-widening gap between Orfevre and Maruzensky, feeling very confused.
Why did Maruzensky want her to join Ikezoe's team when she was clearly the stronger and more adept magic user?
Although Maruzensky had already explained back then, Sweep Tosho really didn't want to join Ikezoe's team.
There was no way she would want a person as ugly as Ikezoe as her Trainer; she'd also have to interact with that bully daily too.
"—If Senior Maruzensky wins this time, I'll try again. I must make her be my teacher."
"But if that Ikezoe guy and the bully win... Grh... guess I'll listen to Senior Maruzensky and start from the bottom."
Thinking this, Sweep Tosho was very satisfied by her own ingenious way of thinking and nodded secretly.
After all, in her opinion, the conclusion was already set in stone.
There was a four length gap between Maruzensky and Orfevre, and this gap was constantly widening.
The outcome of Maruzensky winning by a landslide was all but certain.
Though Sweep Tosho hadn't had time to prepare last time because Maruzensky's appearance was too sudden, this time around, she had prepared a 'discipleship gift.'
This time, Sweep Tosho was absolutely confident that she would succeed in becoming Maruzensky's disciple!
But just as Sweep Tosho was dreaming about her glorious, magic-filled days, the mock race seemed to have taken an unexpected turn.
"Huh...? Maruzensky... is slowing down?"
A soft murmur from Wada suddenly caused the entire training ground to freeze.
Sweep Tosho too, looked up in utter disbelief, only to find that Maruzensky had indeed slowed her pace.
"No way?!"
Sweep Tosho gasped instinctively.
At this moment, Symboli Rudolf and Air Groove, among others, instinctively shot up from their seats.
After all, they were aware of the reason why Maruzensky had retired in the first place.
They were worried that Maruzensky's body, having not raced for so long, might've become weaker, causing her illness to flare up again.
Luckily, contrary to their worries, no such thing happened to her.
Maruzensky was just calmly decelerating, slowing down her steps until she was evenly matched with Orfevre.
Then with a casual smirk, she softly spoke to Orfevre, whose eyes were starting to become bloodshot,
"Winning like this is too boring, don't you agree? How about we start over~?"
"!!!"
Maruzensky's casual tone reverberated in Orfevre's brain; her teasing smile that even held a slight contempt to it entered Orfevre's reddening vision.
Almost instantly, Orfevre clenched her fists, her entire being falling into a state where she was too angry to even show it.
This fucking hag— how dare she humiliate her like this?!
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Genuine rage bait queen, never failed a single rage bait ever.
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If you spot any errors, feel free to comment about it and I will fix it as soon as I can.