Gotham Song let out a huge yawn.
It wasn't that she hadn't slept enough. It was more like she'd slept too long—so long her whole body felt battered and exhausted, like she'd taken a beating.
No helping it. Or rather, this happened every rest-day morning. The important part was that Gotham Song loved it.
How to put it…?
Anyone who's never heard the nightmare whispers of a life with no days off is doomed—doomed to never understand the resentment of being on the clock all year round.
In any case, even if it meant "taking a beating," Gotham Song would still grin and swallow down the little misery that came with a rest day.
Rest days were, in fact, special for all of Mejiro Manor. On the one hand, the staff actually had the right to take time off—only those who wanted to earn several times their usual pay stayed on duty. On the other hand, on rest days, the Umamusume of Mejiro Manor—aside from the active kids—slipped into a leisurely rhythm.
Even Mejiro Bright, who was usually at the academy, had come back. When Gotham Song came downstairs, Bright was having a tea gathering with Ardan-neesan, chatting about topics they hadn't touched in ages.
And when Gotham Song saw Mejiro Bright again after so long, she happily joined in.
She didn't stay long, though. Gentildonna and Vernal Equinox were still in training mode, after all.
But right before she left the tea gathering, Gotham Song finally asked the question she'd been holding onto.
Where had the other two sisters gone?
Mejiro Palmer and Mejiro Ryan were hard to catch lately. Sure, they were always enthusiastic whenever they did show up, but Gotham Song was still curious.
And the answer she got from her two sisters left her laughing without knowing whether to cry.
Mejiro Palmer and her best friend, Daitaku Helios, were out every day doing whatever they felt like.
As for Mejiro Ryan…
She was practically becoming a natural-born muscle monster—yet she still wasn't satisfied, and kept living in the gym!
Gotham Song didn't understand, but she was deeply shocked. It was only then that she forcefully remembered: oh, right. That's how it's supposed to be.
Every time she saw Palmer-neesan and Ryan-neesan, there was always something subtly different. Palmer-neesan still carried that full-on rich-young-lady vibe in every gesture… but the things she said were becoming harder and harder to understand by the day.
To be fair, Gotham Song's comprehension—and her internet-baked tendency to go off the rails—were already pretty strong.
But when she talked with Mejiro Palmer, she was starting to lose the rhythm anyway.
That gyaru talk was seriously outside her specialty…
It wasn't like Gotham Song was going to become a gyaru, right?!
As for Ryan's changes…
Ryan's changes were hard to notice—until you hugged her or got close. Under those clothes was iron muscle that could absolutely punch three Gotham Songs to death in one go.
Mejiro Ryan: Mejiro Manor's physical powerhouse. A walking "muscles are justice" trait. Drifting further and further down the path of not being an Umamusume at all…
Still, the sense of security was real. Even with all that muscle, her sister was always soft—always the kind you could cuddle and feel comfortable with.
Gotham Song believed that with her whole heart.
After she left the tea gathering, Gotham Song's steps stayed light.
But since she'd just been thinking about her sisters… shouldn't she think about her little sisters next?
Ah, speaking of little sisters…
Recently, Mejiro McQueen—apparently realizing her weight was about to become a huge problem—had thrown herself into self-improvement. Not only had her training volume shot up, she'd even shown impressive willpower in restraining her diet.
And Gotham Song declared this completely unacceptable.
Still, watching McQueen's weight drop like a runner accelerating down the track, Gotham Song couldn't help feeling happy when she came back to herself.
Because her little sister wasn't just going to step onto the track.
She was going to step onto the Dream Cup track.
And then…
She and Gotham Song would once again settle it—fully resolved, all-in.
In a way, it wasn't only McQueen versus Gotham Song.
It was also Phantom Ruka versus Gotham Song—at the moment they'd promised to decide who stood higher.
By every measure, that kid had every reason to strive and chase it.
A younger sister wanting to beat her older sister… interesting.
If you can do it, then come at me, McQueen. I'll take all of it—and I'll tell you properly… why the older sister is the older sister.
But there was another little sister, too.
Mejiro Dober's debut race should be coming up soon, right?
Gotham Song remembered it clearly. She was a famous Trainer now; she'd considered bringing her little sister into her own team.
What surprised her was the answer she got:
A refusal.
Mejiro Dober didn't want to join Eternal Beat?!
And when Gotham Song asked why, the answer was so ridiculous she didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
Dober's real reason was that Eternal Beat's competition intensity was too terrifying. If she had to live that kind of daily routine, she felt she'd be worked to death.
That was what Dober said.
But when Mejiro Ardan, Mejiro Ramonu, and Gotham Song put their heads together and decoded it, the real meaning was easy to taste.
"Too intense, too tiring" was only a small part.
The real reason was that Dober felt her talent wasn't as strong as Vernal Equinox's and Gentildonna's—she'd be swept aside effortlessly—so she started backing down.
…Yeah.
The three of them could only fall silent in helpless resignation.
How were you supposed to avoid something like that?
Their little sister really did have a gap in talent. She couldn't stand toe-to-toe with the top-tier racing Umamusume.
That was the brutal, frustrating truth.
So what choice did they have?
In the end, Gotham Song stopped pushing Dober to join her team.
But—
Not joining Eternal Beat didn't mean Dober couldn't receive coaching, right?
As Mejiro Dober's older sister, Gotham Song had been teaching her how to become an outstanding racing Umamusume from the very day she returned. Sure, her little sister still lacked confidence, but in truth…
Everyone knew that among classic-year Umamusume, so long as Dober didn't run into monsters on the level of Almond Eye, Gentildonna, or Vernal Equinox, she was absolutely competitive.
And somehow—maybe Gotham Song's guidance and companionship triggered something—after all this time, Mejiro Dober seemed to have stepped a little out of her mental shadow. She even began joining Eternal Beat's Umamusume for training now and then.
Because she was a racing Umamusume, too. Competitive spirit worked like that: precisely because you knew the other person was stronger—because you refused to accept that reality—you went to challenge them, and then the fire only grew.
Gotham Song was genuinely pleased.
With time, her little sister would probably pull herself together bit by bit—and become an Umamusume who could stand on her own.
When Gotham Song reached the field, she could already see several Umamusume running.
Gentildonna. Vernal Equinox. Dober. McQueen.
And here was something pretty interesting:
McQueen might have been the most experienced among them—debuted the longest ago, the deepest seniority—but when Gotham Song wasn't around, the one doing support work, including offering opinions during tactical lessons, was actually Gentildonna.
This kid was still in her classic year, but her rate of evolution far exceeded even Gotham Song's expectations.
In fact, Gentildonna was a pretty legendary template as an Umamusume.
Why?
Because even though her talent was extremely strong, compared to a super-ultimate freak like Vernal Equinox, she was still just a hair short.
In other fields, that "tiny bit" might not matter. But in the world of racing Umamusume, a gap in talent is a gap in talent—it creates a very real distance in performance on the track.
And yet, while Gentildonna's talent was slightly lacking, her tactical thinking and ideas made up for it.
To put it bluntly, even Gotham Song—when she occasionally ran into tactical questions she couldn't untangle—would go ask Gentildonna.
This kid had grown to the point where she could practically steal her Trainer's job.
What would she do next? Gotham Song didn't even dare imagine it!!!
Still, Gentildonna really was reliable.
Reliable enough that Gotham Song had to specifically remind herself not to lean too hard on her own Umamusume.
Yeah…
If Gentildonna trained her into a useless Trainer, that would be humiliating beyond words.
Honestly, how did a type like this even exist—someone who seemed passionate about "raising the Trainer into a useless person"?
How did she really exist?
And how did Gotham Song end up meeting one?
Gotham Song knew Gentildonna didn't actually think like that.
But—
Even if Gentildonna didn't, as long as she still saw herself as Gotham Song's support Umamusume, that "demon" wouldn't go away.
The reason was probably simple:
Gentildonna's understanding of what a "support Umamusume" should do had… expanded into something a little extreme.
In Gentildonna's eyes, the highest honor of a support Umamusume was to make sure the Umamusume she served could care about nothing except running.
Gotham Song was absolutely convinced: if she asked Gentildonna to wear a maid outfit in daily life, that stubborn, strong-willed girl wouldn't hesitate for even a second.
That was… unsolvable, in every sense.
As for "graduating" Gentildonna from the support role—sure, it was something she could consider.
But it wasn't really possible.
If Gotham Song forced Gentildonna to change her status, it would work.
But the problem was—
Gentildonna wouldn't resist in the slightest… and she would absolutely wear the expression of a puppy that had been rejected.
Gotham Song's intuition told her so.
The biggest reason Gentildonna had stayed by Gotham Song's side all this time was because she wanted to witness the limits of strength. To do that, she needed a reasonable identity that kept her close. Even if she stepped away from "support Umamusume" and still had the identity of "team Umamusume," that one-of-a-kind bond she'd forged with Gotham Song would be gone.
So Gentildonna would be hurt.
Ahh. What an unbearably annoying problem.
That was what Gotham Song used to think.
But now—especially now…
Forget it. Forget it.
If things were already like this, and Gentildonna was used to it and happy—and she herself didn't seem dissatisfied—
Then what right did Gotham Song, the one being cared for, have to say no?
At most, she just needed to be more careful not to let herself degenerate into a total waste of a person.
Gotham Song sighed deeply in resignation.
Stepping onto the field, she watched the Umamusume in the distance tear through the wind, their running carving out screaming lines of air.
This time, Gotham Song didn't hurry to join them.
She sat down by the edge of the track, gathered her silver hair, drew her legs together and hugged her knees, and looked out at the Umamusume running in the distance.
Come to think of it… what was the real reason everyone in her team had gathered together?
Wasn't it to challenge Gotham Song?
Whether it was Vernal Equinox, Flightline, and Gentildonna—who joined in name—or Flightline and Almond Eye—who were, in truth, part of the team as well…
They were all standing together for that same unspoken thought.
For any other racing Umamusume team, that would've been almost unimaginable.
Because most teams' Trainers were humans—humans who couldn't step onto the track at all.
Eternal Beat was an outlier among outliers.
Still… there was nothing bad about it, was there?
This peaceful everyday life—so calm it almost felt endless.
In the usual "reincarnation stories," why did so many people want to return to their original world?
Because they didn't fit in. Because they were uncomfortable. Because they had attachments—things tying them back.
But me…
I don't think I need to seek any of that.
Gotham Song looked up at the sky and told herself clearly:
In this world—this world where everyone, in their own way, pays attention to her… it feels far more like home than the place where she was truly born—where she came into being, where her spirit grew up.
She didn't want to go back.
This place was happier.
---
T/N: just realized phantom ruka vs twilight song vs gotham song jeeeez