After confirming the performance time and location, Satono Diamond escorted the Kitakami father and daughter by car to a hotel the Chairman had reserved in advance. Needless to say, the hotel Chairman Satomi had arranged was absolutely top-tier in terms of prestige.
Though they'd only met once, Kitasan Black could already tell that oily uncle was a terrible person who cared greatly about vanity.
"Well, Papa needs to go change clothes. You go to the hall with the secretary and Miss Satomi first."
"Got it."
Leaving the old man behind, Kitasan Black followed the Chairman's secretary to the hall.
Though the evening party hadn't started yet, there were already quite a few people there.
These people were all holding wine glasses, looking for conversation partners.
The premium ingredients on the tables went completely untouched—these people hadn't come to the party to eat.
"Miss, Miss Kitakami, here is your juice."
A server approached with several glasses of juice.
Kitasan Black saw Satono Diamond choose a glass of carrot juice. She could smell hints of honey's fragrant scent mixed in, thinking this might be a drink Teio-senpai would like. She then chose the same beverage. Though uma musume taste buds were similar to humans', their preferences were closer to actual horses—like enjoying carrots.
Choosing juice was a small matter.
But because of the pull of fate, Satono Diamond couldn't help but pay extra attention to this black-haired girl dressed like a boy. Then she saw that after Kitasan Black eagerly took a sip of the carrot juice, her face showed a strange expression. She wondered if something was wrong with the juice.
Satono Diamond took a sip from her own glass and found the taste was normal.
So she couldn't help but look at Kitasan Black's glass, curious about why the other girl had made that expression after drinking.
(So sweet...)
Who did this? The culprit who put extra-concentrated honey in my carrot juice!
If she didn't know Teio-senpai couldn't possibly be here, Kitasan Black would have suspected this was a drink made by Teio-senpai.
After all, Teio-senpai's love for sweets was genuinely intense.
"Is there something wrong with the carrot juice?" Satono Diamond's voice came from beside her.
Kitasan Black shook her head in reply: "No."
Though the sweetness was indeed excessive, she suddenly discovered this taste was actually quite nice. While drinking the beverage, her eyes kept wandering toward the small cakes on the nearby table.
She really wanted to disregard her image and go grab some food, but the various gazes occasionally glancing her way made her hesitate.
Though those people were basically looking at the two beside her.
"Do you want to eat cake?"
Satono Diamond noticed Kitasan Black's little thoughts.
Kitasan Black looked at the young lady and quietly asked: "That food is all okay to eat, right?"
She was worried the food wasn't meant to be eaten. If it was okay to eat, why wasn't anyone eating?
She refused to believe that there wasn't a single person here like her, who'd come to this party with the intention of eating.
"...It should be fine." Satono Diamond looked into Kitasan Black's big eyes and answered somewhat hesitantly.
Though there was nothing wrong with the food itself, this was the first time she'd seen someone actually eat at an occasion like this.
The food's fine? Then there's no problem!
Having gotten her answer, Kitasan Black immediately took action.
Under the Chairman's secretary's astonished gaze, she went straight to the table and grabbed a plate to load up with food. She acted as if this were some kind of buffet restaurant.
Quite a few people around also watched Kitasan Black's behavior in bewilderment.
However, since Kitasan Black was still a child, most people just laughed it off. Only a few self-important individuals shook their heads in disbelief.
Kitasan Black had a good appetite. Though it didn't quite reach super-competitive-eater levels, she could modestly call herself a big eater.
Rather, most strong-bodied uma musume had eaten their way to that strength, with digestive systems far superior to ordinary uma musume.
That demonic behavior of McQueen-senpai constantly suppressing her appetite—if not for the system, McQueen-senpai would have self-disciplined herself to death long ago.
Kitasan Black only wanted to be an ordinary uma musume. She had no drive for self-improvement. If she could enjoy something, why not?
Not enjoying would be disrespecting her own life!
Soon, Kitasan Black felt using one plate was too slow, so she borrowed a service cart from a server.
Though the server was a bit troubled when first hearing this request, after the Chairman's secretary nodded in approval behind her, he complied.
The Chairman's secretary was getting a headache now.
Kitasan Black was the daughter of the Chairman's friend, and Madam had specifically instructed her to take good care of the guests today.
After thanking the helpful server, Kitasan Black began her selection of food.
Golden egg fried rice, strawberry shortcakes... these were staples and small desserts.
Lobster, king crab, bluefin tuna... these were dishes to go with the rice.
Soon, Kitasan Black had filled up an entire cart.
She wandered off to an empty corner table and sat down by herself.
It wasn't that she didn't want to invite Satono Diamond and the secretary lady—she'd just noticed those two clearly had reservations about joining her.
Sigh, if that's the case, then understanding as she was, she'd just have to enjoy this alone.
(Too bad the craftsmanship doesn't seem as good as Teio-senpai's.)
Though Teio-senpai was just an amateur cook, who knew why she had such superb culinary skills?
Even with Teio-senpai's memories and experience, Kitasan Black could only replicate about eighty percent of it. As for McQueen-senpai's cooking, she could perfectly replicate that.
But McQueen-senpai's cooking... that completely unappetizing, nutrition-and-health-focused cooking style—even if she could perfectly replicate it, she wouldn't be happy about it.
Besides, did she, Kitasan Black, look like the kind of woman who would cook? Impossible. She would forever be the one sitting and waiting for meals to be served!
Though the chef's skill hadn't reached the pinnacle, the premium ingredients made up for the shortcomings.
Kitasan Black thoroughly enjoyed this meal.
On the other side of the hall, a girl with a side ponytail following behind a butler watched Kitasan Black feasting alone in the corner and couldn't help but ask the butler: "Who is that girl? Why have I never seen her at occasions like this before?"
"..."
The butler glanced at Kitasan Black, his brain working rapidly, quickly finding the answer in the guest list he'd memorized.
First time attending, still a child—in the guest list, there was only one candidate.
"Young Miss, she should be the daughter of tonight's enka singer."
"Mm."
"Young Miss, would you like to go over and get acquainted?"
"No, let's not disturb her right now. By the way, what's her name?"
"..."
The butler fell silent again, finally digging out the girl's name from his memorized list after a while.
"Kitasan Black."
"I'll remember it."
The young miss gazed thoughtfully at that figure.
A sense of fate—she'd felt something like that just now.
Though this experience was certainly mysterious, such things weren't strange in this world. Many uma musume encountered this kind of situation, and this feeling seemed to be quite accurate.
She had a feeling that she would face this girl in races in the future. This would be her fated rival!
Kitasan Black, in the middle of eating, felt a peculiar gaze. This caused her eating motions to pause for an instant, but she had absolutely no intention of turning around to see who was looking at her.
Because this feeling was fate's gravity again.
No, this could already be called gravitational force!
Which of the Three Goddesses was in charge of fate again?
Please, I'm begging you, rein in your divine powers. Or at least just block my perception. This experience of suddenly getting hit with something like a blocking skill was really terrible.
Soon, more and more people filled the venue. Kitasan Black was still eating, though she'd significantly slowed her pace—she was actually already full.
But now she realized she seemed to be isolated from everyone at this gathering. Even Satono Diamond had formed her own circle over there.
If she went over to mingle, Satono Diamond would probably accept her, but doing so would be a bit too shameless. Besides, she didn't know what topics she could discuss with the young lady. They had nothing in common.
Satono Diamond was a diamond, a sparkling genuine uma musume. She was just a fake uma musume who wanted to coast through life.
She wasn't the original energetic [Kita-chan].
Sigh...
Kitasan Black slumped on the table. Having eaten too much, she suddenly felt sleepy.
But the memories inherited from McQueen-senpai told her that sleeping right after eating was very harmful to the body.
While watching the people in the venue, Kitasan Black spotted another Satomi young lady.
Seeing the young lady with the side ponytail hairstyle, Kitasan Black had a sudden realization.
(Oh, so that was Crown Princess looking at me earlier. No wonder.)
Though [Kita-chan] had a closer relationship with Satono Diamond—they hadn't even known this Crown Princess before entering Tracen Academy—the two of them were indeed rivals. At least among [Kita-chan's] opponents for the Classic Triple Crown was this young lady. Moreover, [Kita-chan] had lost to this young lady once in a race, so it was normal for there to be gravitational pull between them.
But Crown Princess hadn't gone abroad yet at this point?
Whatever, none of my business.
She couldn't even be bothered to interact with Satono Diamond, [Kita-chan's] original destined partner. A Crown Princess who wasn't even a childhood friend in the original setting—she cared even less.
After all, she was herself, [Kita-chan] was [Kita-chan]. They couldn't be conflated. She didn't need to play the role of [Kita-chan].
Just as Kitasan Black was spacing out alone, the party had reached its climax. The old man, as the performer, took the stage to sing.
Kitasan Black yawned.
Sorry, she really had no feelings for this old-fashioned music.
After singing for quite a while, the old man decided to bring out his ultimate technique at the end.
Seeing the lights suddenly dim, Kitasan Black knew the old man was about to deploy his Domain.
With Domain, forget just lighting effects—even the performer's costume could change. She'd even heard from the old man that legendary opera masters could create real scenery within their Domain. That was truly exaggerated. But performers of that level were legends in history; no successors had been able to achieve that yet.
This wasn't Kitasan Black's first time seeing such a performance, but she was still moved.
However, while Domain Expansion was indeed the ultimate visual feast and the mark of a top-tier artist, this ability wasn't so easy to use. Generally, when a performer deployed their Domain, one song was the limit. So this kind of performance was basically always saved for the final piece. This was actually similar to uma musume ZONE—just a type of skill.
Moreover, compared to ZONE which truly enhanced power, an artist's Domain Expansion was closer to illusion, with no physical interference capability. Even current electronic equipment couldn't record it—you could only experience it by being there in person. It was completely illusory, which was precisely why live performances held such significance.
How could uma musume racing compare to this kind of performance? Kitasan Black simply couldn't understand the appeal of uma musume racing. What she obviously didn't realize was that for ordinary spectators, seeing those naturally beautiful uma musume running and glowing on the track in their racing outfits was an extraordinary experience.
She could only say that because she was positioned within this domain, and standing at quite a high level, she couldn't be moved by the races she currently witnessed.
Moreover, she was an uma musume, not a spectator. Because of this different identity, she couldn't understand the spectators' feelings. If she'd obtained that sense of wonder along with the senpais' memories, perhaps she could understand. After all, Rice Shower had originally been a spectator captivated by uma musume racing.
But unfortunately, what new characters inherited upon birth were only memories and skills. Without having those feelings yourself, you couldn't resonate with them.
Actually, Kitasan Black's mindset was somewhat like the Demon King's back then. But the Demon King had chosen madness when facing that loneliness, while Kitasan Black chose to go with the flow.
Of course, her situation was quite different from the Demon King's back then, since the Demon King hadn't awakened her memories this early.
After the old man's performance ended, it wasn't long before he changed back into his regular clothes and came to find Kitasan Black.
Seeing the plates and dishes on the table, the old man couldn't help but smile wryly as he went to wake up the dozing Kitasan Black.
"Tired? Then let's pack up and head home. Also, do you want to pack some extra to take back as a midnight snack?"
Obviously, the old man didn't think there was anything wrong with his daughter's behavior.
After all, they were just workers invited to perform. Not eating when there was food would be stupid.
Having risen from the bottom to where he was now, the old man didn't care about such superficialities. He knew that as long as he had real skill, there was no need to put on airs.
Kitasan Black hesitated for a moment and asked: "We can really pack food to go?"
"You actually dare to think about it!"
"You're the one who brought it up. I don't care, I'm packing food to take home!"
"Alright, alright, alright."
Just when Kitasan Black thought it was a joke, the old man actually called over a server to help pack things up. Kitasan Black was completely won over by her old man's boldness.
(As expected of my real dad!)
Though surprised that the old man would disregard face like this, Kitasan Black really did dare to pack food, and she specifically picked the expensive stuff.
The guests who had been surrounding the Satomi family members, trying to build connections, watched this father-daughter pair, too shocked to say anything.
This was a gathering of high society! Not some countryside banquet. How dare you?
However, when Chairman Satomi saw the Kitakami father and daughter doing this, not only was he not angry, he was actually beaming. Because he and the old man were old classmates, and the old man was truly talented, so in his view, the old man doing this was actually giving him face.
Satono Diamond and Satono Crown, watching Kitasan Black directing her father to help pack food, momentarily felt envious of her carefree manner.
...
Get 20+ chapters ahead on - P.a.t.r.e.o.n "RoseWhisky"