Chihaya Yui cautiously edged closer to Daiwa Scarlet and whispered, "Who is she?"
She was only a humble local trainer and did not know much about Central affairs. Running through the list of active, prominent Central horse girls in her mind got her nowhere—none of them matched the girl standing before them. Could she be from a prestigious family, but still waiting to make her debut?
That would certainly make things awkward. Ordinary people could only learn about horse girls through newspapers, radio, or television. If someone had not debuted yet, then unless you happened to know one of her classmates, most people would naturally draw a blank and wonder, Who on earth is this?
Daiwa Scarlet, being a student at Central Tracen, happened to know this famous classmate. Lowering her voice, she explained, "That's Buena Vista. How do I put this… anyway, she's a very formidable horse girl."
Chihaya Yui was nearly dizzy from how unhelpful that was. That explained nothing. Very formidable? How formidable was that supposed to mean?
Still, this was not really Scarlet's fault. Buena Vista had not debuted yet. Until she formally entered races and won honors, anything outsiders said about her meant very little. For horse girls, actual race results were what mattered, along with how many outstanding juniors they eventually produced.
At nearly the same time, the tall girl introduced herself to Xingyun Liuge.
"I am Buena Vista. It's an honor to have this opportunity to observe Miss Xingyun's races in person and learn from them. You may call me Donna."
"Ah, pleased to meet you."
Xingyun shook her hand, then immediately felt a little uncomfortable.
Donna's gaze was too intent—so intent that Xingyun got the distinct impression that if left alone, this girl might end up walking straight into a railing or a pillar.
Xingyun could feel Donna's yearning for strength, her pursuit of it, and she knew horse girls were born to chase exactly those things. The problem was… why was she looking at her with such burning intensity?
Of course Xingyun knew she was extraordinary. She had been the top favorite for quite a while now, and she knew perfectly well that she would be catnip to anyone obsessed with power scaling. But Miss Donna's eyes were a little too hot, were they not?
There was not the slightest trace of lust in her gaze. It was pure, unadulterated admiration for strength. So at the very least, Xingyun could rule out the usual sequence of love at first sight, she's cute, instant oshi, let's get married. Donna's feelings were probably more like: strong… instant oshi.
Could it be she wanted to hire her as a trainer?
So that was why Rudolf had arranged for Donna to come, was it?
Xingyun mercilessly complained to herself: Lady Rudolf, Lady Maruzensky, enjoying cryptic nonsense is truly a terrible hobby.
By contrast, Daiwa Scarlet's constant, unwavering admiration—and Agnes Tachyon's transparent progression of first impression: interesting, pursuit of the extreme, food, wow I'm in love—both counted as refreshingly easy to understand.
Well, not that Xingyun actually found Tachyon easy to understand. The girl's train of thought leapt all over the place and left people bewildered.
After dinner, Xingyun went to Maruzensky on her own, intending to hear Rudolf's true purpose directly from her.
Maruzensky clearly felt Xingyun was not the sort of horse girl who would act rashly on emotion, so she opened with a small joke.
"I imagine little Rudolf wants little Xingyun and little Donna to go on a blind date?"
Her smile was dazzling, the kind that made others want to smile right along with her.
To be fair, Donna's looks and figure were impeccable. She was ideal wife material. If one ignored the complete absence of desire in her eyes, they could just skip straight to horseplay. After all, there was such a thing as love growing over time. Stay together long enough, and feelings would come naturally.
But the thought of sharing a bed while dreaming different dreams sounded miserable.
So Xingyun folded her arms and sighed.
"I thought Lady Rudolf wanted me to help straighten out Miss Donna's one-track mind. To teach her to enjoy racing itself, instead of only pursuing strength and victory."
After all, there could only be one winner in any race. A mindset fixated solely on strength was not especially healthy. In the beginning, you might be able to win with superior raw ability and hard training, but once people began studying you specifically—or you ran into a distance or weather condition that did not suit you—you could very well lose. And when that happened, that kind of mentality could easily wound both the horse girl herself and the people close to her.
If Xingyun were writing a novel, she would adore that setup:
Because Donna cared about nothing but strength and victory, she would gradually drift away from a close friend. That heartbroken friend would happen to meet another horse girl, be drawn in by her bright, positive passion, and become her trainer. The two of them would work together, and with the narrowest of margins, defeat the mighty Donna. Donna would throw herself into training and eventually take her revenge in a major race—only to turn around and see her former friend tenderly comforting the very horse girl she had just defeated.
In that instant, Donna would finally realize that what she had truly wanted was never mere strength at all, but the invincible version of herself that had once existed under her friend's guidance.
But by then, that friend would already belong to someone else.
The moment that little scenario formed in Xingyun's mind, the corners of her lips began to lift uncontrollably. She loved watching women cry.
And then a senior figure could appear beside Donna and borrow a famous line:
"Donna, if you win a race, will that really make you happy?"
Then proud Donna would have no choice but to act tough, only to secretly hide under her blanket at night and cry tiny pearls into the dark.
That thought delighted Xingyun even more. She could practically see the short story writing itself.
"Um… little Xingyun?"
For some reason, seeing Xingyun smile like that made Maruzensky's hair stand on end, as though she were looking at someone in the middle of concocting a truly wicked plan.
But Xingyun Liuge was a pure-hearted horse girl. She yearned for glory on the racetrack. Surely she would not actually do anything bad… right?
With a bright, easy tone, Xingyun replied, "Mm, I'm here. If Lady Maruzensky has something to say, please just say it. But if you want me to help with anything, then please wait until after the Epsom Derby. There are only four days left before the race now, and I want to devote as much time as possible to training."
Although Xingyun intended to run in the King George after the Epsom Derby, that race was in July, which left her at least half a month to prepare. Compared to now, that was much more generous.
After a moment's thought, Maruzensky said nothing more. She merely smiled and answered,
"Yes. That's exactly what I was thinking too. I'll be cheering for you, little Xingyun."
In truth, Nijinsky had a message she wanted passed on to Xingyun. But since Xingyun had already said as much, it would have to wait. Nijinsky was not in any hurry. If she heard Xingyun's answer with her own ears, she would probably be delighted.
Because, as horse girls, they absolutely could not allow things outside the race to affect the race itself.
Join here to read ahead.
In Star Rail, Ultra-Beast Armored — Have I Caught "Equilibrium"? l (Chapter 80)
Uma Musume, But I Only Have Five Years Left to Live (Chapter 178)
Zenless Zone Zero: I'm a Doctor, Not a Bangboo (Chapter 165)
Ben Tennyson Wants to Join the Justice League ( 126 )
TYPE-MOON: Redemption Beginning with the Holy Grail War (Chapter110)
Yu-Gi-Oh! — Transmigrated into the White Dragon Girl (Chapter220)
"Is this chat group even serious?" (Chapter125)
I, Lord Ravager, Utterly Loyal! (Chapter250)
Can Playing Games Save the World? 65
Crossover Anime Multiverse: The Demon Hunter of an Unnatural World 77
From Junkman to Wasteland 66
Weekly Refresh of Overpowered 31
I'm Grinding Proficiency Like 46
From Kiana, Lord Ravager, Onwa 220
Honkai: Is This Still the Prev 42
Elf: My Starter Pokémon Is Inc 65
Warhammer: My Primarch Is Remi 185
From Demon Slayer to Grand Ass Volume2/20
The Way the Umamusume Look at 68
Uma Musume, but My Cheat Power 248
Naruto: Weaving the Future, Be 65
Zenless Zone Zero, but Kamen R 76
Multiverse Crossover: The Perf 66
My Cyberpsycho Girlfriend 65
Uma Musume: The Dark Trainer 230
Uma Musume: A Calamity Born fr 154
I, a Reincarnation-Loop Player Volume4/40
The Violent Girl Group Is Beat 125
Uma Musume: The Horse Girl Who 67
Uma Musume: From Beginner 145
Becoming a Horse Girl, I Will 85
Uma Musume: I Want All 120
I Can Copy Unique Skills 115
Summoning an Evil God, but the 75
Supernatural Multiverse 110
My Harem Is Indescribable 100
Jujutsu Kaisen: Heroic Spirit 105
"I'm just a Valkyrie passing through." 67
Uma Musume: Today Is Another Romantic Battlefield 105
Still playing traditional Honk 80
The Most Filial Son Under Heav 85
What Should I Do After Switchi - Volume2/3
Reincarnated as a Demon, Skill 78
Hell-Difficulty Dungeon? 55
Transmigrated as Sukuna 80
Checking In in Demon Slayer 85
The Reincarnating Trainer of Tracen Academy 100
I Refuse to Become a Heroic 85
My Best Friend Into a Slime? 80
A Saiyan Stands Above Marvel 90
What Do You Mean by Using a Lab Mod to Be the Hero? 75
Tanya Starts from Re:Zero 80
Why did they assign me to Uma 75
MYGO Beauties 70
DanMachi: Emiya the Giant Hero 70
The Gacha Merchant Who Started 80
Honkai's Otherworld? Wait—Who Are You People?! 80
Emiya Shirou, Determined to Slay Every Curse and Evil Spirit 57
The Uma Musume Who Became 55
I'm Definitely Not the King of 60
After Maxing Out Every Class 45
Naruto: I'm Konoha's Local Men 35
Honkai: World Modulation Mode 34
I, the Elden Sword Saint 27
Dio Brando Is Challenging FGO 24
No One Knows Pokémon Better 18
I, Sakazuki, Won't Go Down Tha 20
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