On the turf at the finish line, the Horse Girl arrived one after another, with Funabashi, as expected, being the last.
She was thoroughly battered by Polaris Glare, and by the time she reached the final straight, she was already on the verge of losing speed.
Her stamina exhausted, she couldn't unleash her full leg power, and was even more than ten horse lengths behind the second-to-last Horse Girl.
Even now, she was still panting heavily, not yet free from the shadow of that bone-chilling cold.
"Are you alright?"
Suddenly, a figure walked over, her tone neither warm nor cold.
Unconsciously looking up, Funabashi immediately turned her face away with a look of displeasure:
"What do you want? Did you come here specifically to mock me?"
The newcomer was naturally Polaris Glacier, who had come to resolve her doubts:
"Mockery? I'm afraid I don't have the inclination for that."
She paused for a moment.
"Funabashi, how did you manage to get all the Horse Girl to break out of the gates quickly at the same time?"
At the beginning of the race, the other party had clearly said she could easily overcome the extreme cold at the gate break.
She was very curious and wanted to know how it was done.
"Huh? Do you think I'd tell you? You condescending jerk!"
Hearing this, Funabashi immediately took a step back, crossed her arms over her chest, and wore an expression that said, 'What are you thinking?'
"You don't want to say?"
Polaris Glacier frowned slightly, then suddenly closed her eyes and turned around a moment later:
"Then never mind."
She didn't absolutely have to know; after all, such a special situation wouldn't occur every time.
"Wait!"
Unexpectedly, just as she turned around, before she even took a step, Funabashi herself blurted out:
"It was perception confusion! I used my aura to confuse the Horse Girl' perception when we broke from the gates!"
"If your aura interference at the gate break requires strong willpower to resist..."
"Then couldn't I just confuse the Horse Girl' perception, making each of them think their willpower is very strong?"
She had originally just been trying it out, and unexpectedly, it actually worked.
She was so excited at the time that after running ahead of Polaris Glacier, she couldn't wait to taunt her.
As for the pre-race provocation, wasn't that perfectly normal?
Once on the track, who's going to joke around with you? Everyone is thinking about how to create more advantages for themselves, even if it means using words to affect an opponent's mood and mindset.
As long as it's not too excessive, it's fine, right? When she raced in America, everyone basically did that.
"Perception confusion?"
Polaris Glacier stood with her back turned, a thoughtful expression on her face:
"I see, that really is a surprise."
Turning her head slightly, she said with a smile:
"Thank you, this is a very good reference. I'll remember it."
"If possible, could you also tell me why you knew my aura interference would be related to willpower?"
Hearing this, Funabashi raised an eyebrow slightly and said naturally:
"Of course, by watching replays. If you put your mind to studying it, after a few viewings, you can pretty much guess, right?"
As she spoke, as if thinking of something, the other party added:
"Oh, by the way, it's not just me; many racers and Trainers have started studying your races."
"The price of being too famous is like this: once you step onto the track, almost every opponent will tacitly coordinate to target you."
"Polaris Glare... no, Polaris Glacier, you wouldn't not know this, would you?"
"......"
Being comfortable at the top for too long can lead to unconsciously overlooking threats from below.
A famous and strong Horse Girl is naturally bound to be collectively targeted by other opponents in the same race.
However, her races had always gone too smoothly, to the point where Polaris Glacier had completely overlooked this.
Now that Funabashi brought it up, it served as a reminder for her.
A smile appeared at the corner of her lips, and she said with a disdainful look:
"It doesn't matter. My racing style has always been to crush all opponents and win decisively."
"As for targeting, they can bring as much as they want."
Hearing this, Funabashi also shrugged her shoulders, a smile on her lips, and walked towards her Trainer:
"Suit yourself. That's all I have to say. Bye now."
Barring any unforeseen circumstances, they likely wouldn't have any more conversations.
Watching the other party walk towards someone waiting inside the railing, Polaris Glacier also didn't linger and chose to walk towards the Head Maid and the others as originally planned.
By the time the winner's stage performance was over, it was already past eight in the evening.
Returning to the manor, she first took a bath, then purposefully walked to the full-length mirror.
If her feeling wasn't wrong, some new things should appear.
Sure enough, after concentrating, a new piece of text appeared on the mirror:
"【Inherent Skill: Hypothermia Lv.3】"
"【Description: In the early stages of the race, if a Horse Girl runs ahead of you, targeted speed consumption will occur.】"
"(Hidden: If three or more Horse Girl run ahead of you, your speed will slightly increase.)"
A brand new aura interference, manifesting as platinum flames sweeping out.
The first Horse Girl to experience it was, of course, Funabashi in the morning race.
Without a doubt, Polaris Glacier had become stronger and more well-rounded.
"Not bad, another way to ensure leading the race."
Nodding, and having briefly expressed her thoughts, Polaris Glacier didn't look any further.
She had long adapted to her unique traits over the past year.
Yes, a year had passed since she first encountered Horse Girl' races.
That was early June of '84, and now it was June 5th, '85, a full year.
"Speaking of which, the first race replay I watched back then was Rudolf's. It's quite nostalgic..."
Polaris Glacier walked to the bed, jumped up, and landed on the duvet.
Picking up her phone, she opened the Jun Yu Circle for the first time in a while, intending to browse topics and pass the time.
However, as soon as she opened the topic circle, the very first headline that caught her eye made her unconsciously frown:
"【Emperor Rudolph Symboli Unable to Race Due to Injury, Misses Takarazuka Kinen.】"
Unable to race due to injury? Emperor Rudolph Symboli...?
"?!"
Suddenly, she widened her eyes, her face uncontrollably showing surprise and doubt.
"Rudolf... injured? When?"
She was perfectly fine when she saw her off at the airport, so how could she suddenly...?
"【Calm down!】"
The voice in her mind rang out, and Polaris Glacier snapped back to reality, closing her eyes and taking several deep breaths.
She scrolled through her message interface with Rudolf and found no new additions.
"【No message, so she doesn't want me to know about this?】
Was she afraid it would affect her race performance? Or for other reasons?
After a moment of thought, Polaris Glacier realized that directly talking to the other party might not be a good idea.
"【Should I try Maruzensky? If it's her, she should know the details.】"
Thinking this, Polaris Glacier prepared to make a call.
However, the next moment she remembered the time difference; it was night in London, but still early morning in Tokyo!
So she changed to sending a message, hoping that by the time she woke up tomorrow morning, Maruzensky would have replied.