Uma Musume: To The Top!! Chapter 153 - 265

"…"

No one understood better than Kuroha what the sight before him ant for an Uma Musu.

This was the brutal reality that awaited when an Uma Musu's "peak period" ca to an end.

The blessings of the Three Goddesses… had run out.

But why?

Why had Super Creek, who should have been able to hold on for at least three more months, reached the end of her pri so far ahead of schedule?

A powerful emotional shock?

Overstraining her body in order to compete with soone?

Or had she been forced through so utterly unreasonable racing schedule?

…

His thoughts spun quickly.

In just a single instant, Kuroha could think of several different scenarios that would lead to this situation.

Going back over Super Creek's experiences over the past year, a faint answer ford in his mind.

Shock? Competition?

So this all cos back to… Inari?

"If that's really the case, then I might actually share part of the responsibility for what's happened to Creek…"

He let out a quiet sigh in his heart.

But nothing odd showed on his face. Only the usual smile at his lips smoothed slightly, becoming calr and more reliable.

"Long ti no see, Creek."

Kuroha pulled out the chair opposite his desk and spoke gently.

"Don't just stand there. Sit down first."

"Ah… yes."

Super Creek blinked in surprise, but obediently chose a chair and sat.

She folded her hands on her knees and lowered her head a little, as if searching for the right words.

Kuroha didn't rush her. He simply put a kettle on to boil, getting ready to make tea.

"Why are you alone? Where's Fumino?"

At his question, Creek's head dipped a little further.

"After morning training, I… ca by myself. Trainer went ho."

"Didn't want her to worry?" Kuroha asked quietly.

As soon as those words left his mouth, the chestnut-haired girl suddenly lifted her head. In her confused eyes, a flicker of hope appeared.

"You… can see it?"

Kuroha nodded.

"In Central, I'm probably the only one who can."

"…I see."

At that, her shoulders seed to loosen just a fraction.

"You haven't been racing at all lately. Has this been going on for a while?"

"Recently…"

Her voice ca out hoarse.

"I… I don't really know what's wrong. Lately, my body just feels… off."

"Mm. Tell . I'm listening."

His tone stayed even and steady.

Encouraged, Super Creek took a deep breath and began to explain what had been happening to her.

"I guess… it started not long after New Year's."

"At first, I just felt like I was getting tired a bit more easily than before in training. I thought it was because I'd relaxed too much over the holiday and hadn't adjusted my condition yet, so I didn't take it seriously."

"But…"

Her voice started to tremble.

"But things just kept getting worse."

"By last month, the training nus that used to be nothing to had dripping in sweat. After a run, I'd feel like my head wasn't clear. All hazy, like… like I couldn't think about anything properly…"

Kuroha listened in silence.

He knew these signs well.

This was what happened when an Uma Musu's peak period ended and her physical abilities began to decline, no longer able to support high-intensity training.

Even worse, in Creek's case, the clearest warning was sowhere else entirely.

Her greatest strength, the thing her elaborate mind-gas and in-race tactics relied on more than anything else… that brain which had always stayed calm and keen, no matter what…

Was starting to cloud over.

"And during all this… Fumino didn't notice anything in training?" he asked.

At the ntion of her trainer, Creek's eyes dimd.

"She kind of did… and kind of didn't…"

A bitter smile tugged at her lips.

"I'm still finishing all the training nus like before. Trainer says I'm doing great, that my condition is holding steady."

"But I think she sensed sothing anyway. She just hasn't let enter any races."

"So I didn't want to make her worry… She's already done so much for my dream. I can't… I can't keep burdening her because of ."

The more she said, the lower her head drooped, and a faint tremor crept into her voice.

"But this morning…"

Creek raised her head again to look at Kuroha. Her clear blue eyes were now completely clouded with confusion.

"This morning, when I was doing solo training… I couldn't use my Domain."

"No matter how hard I focused, no matter how I tried to call it out… nothing happened. That power… it felt like… like it had just vanished."

That was the last straw that broke her back.

A Domain.

The power that arose when an Uma Musu's physical technique was honed to the utmost and she crystallized her goal… a force with the potential to shape an era.

Its very existence carried all the persistence and dreams that Uma Musu held, from now into the future.

Oguri Cap's Domain, for example, had changed dramatically just from a shift in her feelings in that year-end Arima Kinen.

But change and disappearance were fundantally different things.

A Domain changing simply ant that an Uma Musu's goal, her dreams and persistence, had shifted.

A Domain disappearing, however… could an that Uma Musu's dream itself had started its final countdown.

"I don't know what's happening to …"

"Trainer can't help , and I'm too scared to tell her."

The usual calm and gentleness were gone from Creek's face.

All that remained were thick, clinging layers of helplessness and confusion.

"…I see."

Watching the girl in front of him, already lost and floundering, Kuroha let out a quiet sigh.

This Super Creek was not the sa as the one from the original worldline.

In that tiline, when her peak period quietly ca to an end, that Super Creek had felt loss and regret as well, but she accepted the end of that fate with a kind of peace.

As one of the "Eternal Big Three," she had already given everything she had on the track, running the kind of races worthy of her na.

Her dream had its regrets, but it was not left completely unfulfilled.

But the girl sitting in front of him now was different.

Because of Inari and the rise of the other Chasing Light girls, much of the glory she should have claid for herself had been stripped away.

Her confusion and despair did not co only from the sudden decline of her body or the loss of her power.

They ca just as much from that fierce unwillingness to let go, from knowing there were higher stages and farther goals she hadn't yet reached.

This Super Creek did not have the sa solid honors and monunts to rest her heart on as her counterpart in the original tiline.

"So then… you hid this from Fumino and ca to because…?"

Even though he already knew the answer, Kuroha still asked softly.

"Trainer Kuroha…"

Super Creek rose to her feet and bowed deeply to him, her voice shaded with pleading.

"I thought and thought… and you're the only one I could ask for help."

"Please… please help ."

"At the very least… I want to hold out until I've run the Tenno Sho (Spring)."

The office fell silent.

All that remained was the sound of the girl's strained breathing.

Kuroha looked at her, at those eyes overflowing with fear and confusion, and at the shattered, rainbow light of her being, steadily being eaten away by blackness.

"…I understand."

He spoke at last, his voice not loud, but rock steady.

No detours, no pointless follow-up questions.

Kuroha knew perfectly well how hard it had been for soone as gentle and considerate as Creek to reach this decision.

At his words, her bowed shoulders trembled.

"However, there's no need to hide this from Fumino. She's still your trainer. We'll go see her together in a bit and lay everything out."

"…Okay."

Creek's reply ca out small and weak. Her horse ears drooped listlessly, without even the strength to twitch.

(End of Chapter)

[Get 30 Extra Chapters On — P@tr3on "Zaelum"]

[Every 300 Power Stones = 1 Bonus Chapter Drop]

[Thanks for Reading!]