“Hee hee, don’t look so surprised, everyone. From here on out, you’d better keep your eyes on me, Gold Ship-sama! My strength is the real main event—the thing that’s going to shock you all!”
After her brief appearance in the paddock, Gold Ship—who had abruptly shown up in this debut race—naturally became the focus of every Tracen Umamusume present. Compared with her older sister, Nakayama Festa, Gold Ship, now surrounded behind the scenes by a crowd of Umamusume, did not look anything like the least popular entrant.
And this situation was clearly Gold Ship’s own doing. She had registered for the race so late that there had been no pre-race popularity tally for her at all. Aside from Rudolf, whose help had been necessary, no one in all of Tracen had known about Gold Ship’s debut race. Otherwise, with her “connections” at the academy, this debut race would absolutely have been packed so tightly with Tracen Umamusume that not even water could get through.
The reason was simple: Gold Ship was far too famous at Tracen Academy. After Mr. C.B., she had made the title of “freest Umamusume” her own exclusive label. Within the academy, Gold Ship could be said to have “committed every evil imaginable,” and her “crimes” were too numerous to list. Everyone knew about them.
Because of that, whether it was the disciplinary committee or other Umamusume who wanted to catch Gold Ship, everyone at Tracen Academy had once yearned for this lawless Umamusume to receive the discipline she deserved. But no matter how many people they mobilized or what reasonable methods they exhausted, none of them could so much as touch Gold Ship.
As an Umamusume, Gold Ship had an extraordinarily sturdy physique even among her own kind. Though it did not really show on the surface, she could absolutely be called one of Tracen’s top “heavyweight” Umamusume. There were very few Umamusume who could overpower Golshi one-sidedly.
More importantly, although Golshi disliked training, that did not mean she neglected it. She had simply integrated training into her everyday life. Every Umamusume who chased her and tried to catch her was one of Golshi’s usual “training partners.”
And the fact that drove the Umamusume attempting to arrest Golshi into despair was that, in the end, they discovered not only could all of them together not outrun her, they could not even outmuscle her. Against a “monster” with both power and speed, they had no way to deal with her at all.
That was why, even though Gold Ship did whatever she wanted at Tracen Academy, she remained extremely popular. Everyone believed that once Gold Ship debuted, she would absolutely become the rising star of an era. And now, that rising star had finally, miraculously debuted. Wouldn’t it be a shame not to witness that?
“I really never thought I’d see the day you debuted, Gold Ship.” Tokai Teio, who was also on good terms with Gold Ship, was clearly paying more attention to Gold Ship—whose talent obviously did not lose to hers—than to Nakayama Festa. Her brows drew sharp with focus, making it clear just how seriously she regarded Gold Ship, and she spoke with fighting spirit blazing.
“But I, Teio-sama, will absolutely not lose to you! In the future, whether it’s you or McQueen, if we meet on the track, I definitely won’t hold back!”
“Quite right.” Beside her, Mejiro McQueen also stepped forward with a smile. She raised her head to look at Gold Ship, who was much taller than her yet always seemed like an unreliable child, and a gratified look appeared in her eyes.
“It feels so strange… Well then, give it your best this time. I’m looking forward to your performance, Gold Ship.”
“Oh! I definitely won’t let you down, McQueen!” Gold Ship replied with a grin, raising a thumb as she accepted everyone’s expectations. But just then, a figure slowly approached from behind her and reached out a hand…
“Ow ow ow ow!! Nakayama-nee! Nakayama-nee! Don’t pull my ear!”
“Come with me for a second.” With an unreadable expression, Nakayama Festa grabbed Gold Ship and dragged her off to the side. Gold Ship bent at an unbelievable angle as she shouted to McQueen, Teio, and the others:
“Everyone! Hurry back to the stands! I’m going off with my little sister first—ow! Nakayama-nee! That hurts!”
And so, Festa dragged Gold Ship by the ear all the way to an empty corner before finally lowering the hand that had not actually been using any force. She looked up at this younger sister, who was much taller than her, and at last a slight ripple entered her voice.
“So, what’s your deal? You knew today was my debut race, and you still decided to surprise me? Are you here to cause trouble, or are you here to help?”
“If it’s the former, I’m not going to hold back. If it’s the latter… then I don’t need your help. This is my race. I can run it myself. I don’t need anyone drawing fire for me.”
Festa was not angry because of Gold Ship’s appearance. As her older sister, she understood Golshi too well. Golshi always had a line she would not cross when joking around. The things she decided to do might give people a headache, but they would never truly make someone angry. Because of that, Festa was certain that Gold Ship had a proper reason of her own for appearing here.
However, just as Festa was thinking this, Gold Ship broke into the same cheeky grin as always. Yet the words she spoke in the next moment immediately froze Festa’s slightly relaxed expression stiff.
“Because now, just like Nakayama-nee, I’m Kitano-chan’s trainee Umamusume too! I really, really want to compete with Nakayama-nee as well! So after I submitted my application this time, I immediately signed up for the same race as you!”
“…Hah?”
Golshi’s answer made Festa freeze for a moment. Festa, whose expression had originally been quite relaxed, even lowered her arms from where they had been crossed before her chest. Alongside the faint shock on her face was the dangerous glint that flashed in her eyes.
Gold Ship had also become Kitano’s trainee? Since when? For a moment, Festa could not quite believe Gold Ship’s words. She forced herself to calm down and said coldly:
“Trying to trick me? Even if you are, don’t drag Kitano out as your shield. That guy wouldn’t betray me.”
“I didn’t say Kitano-chan betrayed you, Nakayama-nee. But I really am Kitano-chan’s trainee now—look, I even have the agreement right here!”
Gold Ship seemed not to notice that Festa’s emotions were on the verge of erupting like a volcano. She even took the agreement Rudolf had stamped yesterday out of her tracksuit pocket. On it, Kitano’s and Gold Ship’s fingerprints were clearly pressed.
“I’ve already been Kitano-chan’s trainee for more than ten hours, Nakayama-nee!”
“…What exactly are you getting at?” At this point, after Festa glanced at the agreement in Gold Ship’s hand, her voice began to turn even sharper. For the first time, her gaze fixed on Gold Ship with genuine aggression.
Facing that look from her older sister, Gold Ship still did not seem to care in the slightest. In fact, she did not care at all what her older sister thought. She kept grinning cheekily, and in a cheerful tone, said the words that would provoke Festa the most.
“Nothing much. I’m just saying—Golshi-chan likes Kitano-chan a whole lot too, but only you got to become his trainee, Nakayama-nee. Golshi-chan is very unhappy about that!”
“So why don’t we use this chance to settle it, Nakayama-nee? Whoever wins will be Kitano-chan’s number one trainee! The loser will be number two forever, and the number one’s underling forever. What do you think?”
“You’d better be careful, Nakayama-nee. Golshi-chan is really serious this time, and I really will give it everything I’ve got, okay? If you lose, Kitano-chan will belong to me alone~”
With that, as if afraid Festa would beat her up, Gold Ship left without looking back, heading toward the tunnel. A long while later, Festa, who had kept her head lowered in silence for some time, uncharacteristically let out a scoffing smile. As she also walked toward the tunnel, she murmured to herself:
“Trying to provoke me, huh? Golshi-chan, if that’s what this is, your acting is way too clumsy.”
In truth, the moment Festa saw the red fingerprint seals on the agreement Gold Ship had taken out, she understood what was going on. She knew Gold Ship could lie. Although she never lied about important matters, everything she was doing now pointed to one reason: Kitano.
Gold Ship was afraid Festa would mess up in her debut race, so yesterday she had used that method to trick Kitano into pressing his fingerprint seal. Today, she had deliberately come to Festa’s debut race to provoke her, deliberately anger her, and put pressure on her so that Festa would bring out every last bit of her strength.
As for Gold Ship’s talk about “liking Kitano” and being “unhappy that Festa was his only trainee,” those were nothing more than excuses meant to provoke her. Gold Ship would never deliberately touch Festa’s sore spot like that. Festa was certain of it.
“THE UMAMUSUME ARE ENTERING THE TRACK ONE AFTER ANOTHER! TODAY’S TRACK CONDITIONS ARE LESS THAN IDEAL. BECAUSE OF YESTERDAY’S HEAVY RAIN, THE GOING HAS REACHED HEAVY. FOR THE UMAMUSUME PARTICIPATING IN THIS DEBUT RACE, THAT WILL BE QUITE A CHALLENGE.”
“WE CAN SEE NUMBER SEVEN, NAKAYAMA FESTA, AND NUMBER EIGHT, GOLD SHIP, WHO HAS BEEN ASSIGNED THE OUTERMOST LANE, ENTERING THE STARTING GATE ONE AFTER ANOTHER. SPECTATORS, PLEASE BE QUIET. THE RACE IS ABOUT TO BEGIN!”
…But, Gold Ship, there are some lies that still make people angry even after you’ve seen through them.
Inside the starting gate, Festa finally raised the head she had kept lowered. At that moment, for the first time, her wine-red eyes gave off a chilling scarlet glow. After she spat the remaining lollipop stick from her mouth to the side, every muscle in her body tensed, ready to unleash force at any moment.
“Then… in Kitano’s words—let me show all of you who looked down on me.”
“Perfect. I was just worried this race would be lukewarm and have no challenge. Gold Ship… let’s see how much excitement you can bring me.”
“…” However, Festa’s murmuring did not affect Gold Ship in the gate beside her. Right now, not even the focused Festa had noticed that Gold Ship, inside her own gate, was staring fixedly at the gate in front of her with an unprecedented level of concentration. Her usual cheeky grin had already vanished completely, replaced by a confident sneer extremely similar to the one she wore when racing against the family’s Aneki.
Only Gold Ship herself knew that she had not been joking from beginning to end. In this race, she would absolutely go all out. She absolutely could not lose!
If even I lose, then Nakayama-nee… and Kitano… I can’t afford to lose. That’s why I absolutely can’t lose!
I’ll save you, Kitano. No matter what!
CLANG!
“THE GATES ARE OPEN! EVERY UMAMUSUME GETS AWAY CLEANLY!”
“WE CAN SEE NUMBER TWO, NAKAYAMA FESTA, QUICKLY TAKING A POSITION TOWARD THE INSIDE LANE, RUNNING AT THE FRONT OF THE PACE CHASER GROUP! SHE LOOKS FULL OF FIGHTING SPIRIT!”
“AND NUMBER EIGHT, GOLD SHIP, WHO STARTED FROM THE OUTERMOST LANE, HAS FALLEN TO THE VERY BACK OF THE PACK. IT SEEMS SHE IS USING END CLOSER TACTICS. BUT IN AN 1,800-METER MILE RACE, WILL GOLD SHIP, RUNNING AS AN END CLOSER, REALLY HAVE ENOUGH TIME TO SPRINT?”
End Closer? No, that guy is…
At this moment, as the commentator’s voice rang out, Festa—who was running with all her strength at the front of the Pace Chaser group, just behind one Front Runner—immediately understood what Gold Ship meant when she heard that Gold Ship’s chosen tactic in an 1,800-meter race was End Closer.
That guy… really isn’t joking. This time, she actually does plan to go all out.
Festa knew very well that Gold Ship was not falling behind to conserve her strength like other End Closers. On the contrary, Gold Ship was accelerating. Right now, she was “warming up” so she could push her speed to the absolute maximum.
But… Festa would not lose. Since Gold Ship had gotten serious, then it was necessary for her to show Gold Ship exactly why Kitano had staked all his hopes on her.
“Kitano—I absolutely won’t lose. Just watch me!”
At this moment, Festa, who was galloping across the track, did not know that with the help of a black Umamusume, Kitano had already quietly arrived at the racecourse. Right now, Nakayama’s only thought was to respond to his expectations openly and proudly, under the television broadcast and before Kitano’s eyes!
In this race, only she could win! No one else could win in her place!
T/N: oooooooooh sister fight
This is a fan translation of 时日无多的训练员只想活下去 by 许氏子谦 Rights to the original work belong to the creator. Please support them by exploring their original work or sharing it with others if you can. Thank you for reading and supporting my efforts to bring this story to a wider audience!
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