Chapter 50 – My Stomach Hurts
Nakayama Racecourse in April was supposedly beautiful, with Somei Yoshino cherry blossoms drifting through the air.
I say supposedly because I was in no condition to notice.
“My stomach hurts.”
I wanted to punch my past self for piling curry onto my plate at the hotel breakfast buffet because, “There’s a battle ahead, so I should eat properly.”
That curry felt very heavy now.
“Do try to calm down.”
The voice beside me carried the effortless tone of someone completely accustomed to this situation.
Kanemochi.
He truly fit in at places like this.
What was it about him? The more formal the setting, the more respectable he appeared.
“Don’t ask the impossible. I still can’t quite believe this is happening.”
Incredibly, I was sitting in the owners’ section at Nakayama Racecourse, dressed in neat clothing.
And I really did look presentable.
When I consulted Tenzan-san, he told me, “At the very least, wear a jacket.”
Kanemochi warned me, “Whatever you do, don’t arrive in rubber boots.”
The result, under Yayoi-chan’s supervision, was an outfit far more respectable than anything I usually wore.
Kanemochi smiled faintly, as though acknowledging the obvious.
“Fair enough. Not long ago, nobody would have believed a horse from Sakurai Ranch could arrive at the Satsuki Sho with four victories from four starts.”
“Exactly.”
Yes.
Today was the Satsuki Sho.
The first leg of the three-year-old colts’ Classics.
The first true contest for the horses aiming at the summit.
A race where genuinely exceptional horses gathered to decide which three-year-old was the fastest.
And Rudolf was among them.
Our Rudolf.
That Rudolf.
The ridiculously selfish emperor who called the other foals slow, insulted Yayoi-chan for being weak, clicked his tongue at me, and yet sulked whenever Grandpa disappeared from sight.
“Of course…”
Kanemochi turned his attention toward the course.
“By the time the race ends, your Rudolf will have lost to our Golden Beer, and I shall be forced to console you!!”
Give this man one opening and he immediately gets carried away.
Golden Beer.
Gold Farm’s three-year-old colt had won all five of his races.
He was also the two-year-old champion after winning the Asahi Hai, making him unquestionably one of the best of his generation.
But—
“Rudolf will win.”
“Where does that confidence come from?”
“The horse.”
Rudolf had also won every race so far: four starts, four victories.
That was why newspapers and websites kept describing the Satsuki Sho as a “battle of two champions” or a “two-horse race.”
Favorite: Golden Beer.
Second favorite: Sakurai Rudolf.
The ace of Gold Farm against the emperor who had emerged from a tiny ranch.
What was this, a manga?
“As an owner, your confidence is beautiful. As your friend, I find it irritating.”
“We’re friends?”
“I am willing to let us call it that.”
“How generous of you.”
Still, simply having someone beside me with whom I could exchange this kind of banter helped enormously.
If I’d been alone, I would have been much more restless by now.
An elderly owner seated nearby smiled wryly as we bickered.
Oh, no.
We looked like two idiots fighting in the owners’ section.
“…Sorry for the noise.”
I gave him a small bow, and he chuckled.
Thank goodness.
“Don’t worry about it. Everyone is like that before their first Grade I.”
“Thank you…”
“I once got such a stomachache before the start that I fled to the restroom.”
Honestly, I wanted to flee too.
Another person nearby laughed and joined in.
“I’m looking forward to your horse, Sakurai-san.”
“Thank you.”
“Two undefeated horses meeting is always exciting.”
I’m sorry. Half of me was delighted by those expectations, but the other half felt crushed beneath them.
Kanemochi’s oddly self-satisfied expression beside me was irritating too.
“…Hey.”
I spoke quietly.
“Hm?”
“I still can’t quite believe it.”
“Believe what?”
“That the horse who was crying ‘Apple!’ just the other day is about to run in the Satsuki Sho.”
Saying it aloud made it feel incredible all over again.
Kanemochi did not laugh.
“Of course.”
“You can believe it?”
“I…”
Kanemochi raised his chin slightly.
“I am in this world because I want to witness things like that.”
It was an infuriatingly cool answer.
I exhaled deeply.
Then I adjusted my grip on the binoculars.
There was little I could do now.
All I could do was watch.
Nothing more.
“Let me tell you one thing.”
“What?”
“No matter how badly your stomach hurts, the race is about to begin.”
“That’s brutally practical.”
“This is horse racing.”
True.
Stomachaches, hopes, and prayers alike—the race waited for none of them.
The fanfare began to play throughout the racecourse.
The long, magnificent sound of a Grade I, grand enough to make reality feel just a little less real.
The atmosphere changed instantly.
The people who had been chatting quietly moments ago no longer said anything unnecessary.
I was scared.
But…
Chloe-san was surely wearing her confident smile, and Okabe-san probably had the expression of a man who had done everything possible.
And Rudolf was definitely wearing a face that said, “Naturally, I shall win.”
In that case…
Perhaps an owner’s job was to wear the same expression.
Even if I was only acting in one’s place.