"So amazing…"
Below the stage, the horse girls and trainers of Kasamatsu Tracen were deeply shaken by the fervent scene before their eyes.
They had seen plenty of winners' stages before—small local ones in Kasamatsu, big graded-race performances on television, all kinds of them.
But never anything quite so… so distinctive.
Horse girls occupied a rather special position. They were athletes, but also idols who responded to their fans' expectations. They had to juggle racing, training, singing, and dancing.
And yet Xingyun Liuge had actually brought instruments onto the stage.
Was that not a little ridiculous?
Did this girl intend not only to widen the gap between herself and her rivals on the racetrack, but also crush her "competition" in the idol business too?
Norn Ace was crying her eyes out. She felt that this was the most beautiful winners' stage she had seen in all her life. A conspicuous blush spread across her cheeks as she muttered,
"I might never forget this for the rest of my life…"
She had originally prepared a free trial ticket for her family's dance studio.
In Norn Ace's eyes, Xingyun Liuge had once been wheelchair-bound, and had also spent a long time shut up in the dorm at first, so she might not be well suited for the winners' stage. Norn had wanted to help her improve her singing and dancing skills.
But she had never expected the performance to turn out this stunning.
There was absolutely no way she could give that free trial ticket away now.
She had even been planning to say something like, "Well, if you really want it, I guess I could teach you… maybe."
Now she could not possibly bring herself to say it.
Xingyun Liuge was that amazing—why would she need Norn's guidance? If anything, the girl would probably end up teaching her instead.
Norn Ace's two friends were also dumbfounded. They felt that that gyaru Norn was no longer quite the same as before.
Had she become… just a little too maidenly?
Minami Kaku had already cried her heart out after the race, but after watching Xingyun Liuge's performance, she burst into tears all over again—this time because she was moved. In that instant, she felt herself brimming with motivation.
The winner of the debut race worked so hard, and was still so bright and optimistic.
How could she allow herself to fall behind?
Next time, she absolutely had to debut successfully!
Fujimasa March, too, was visibly moved. She could not help thinking:
"Once you make a wish, you have to make it come true," huh…
From afar, she reached a hand toward the girl on stage, as if doing so might allow her to touch that radiance.
Yet at the same time, it was almost as if that very radiance had dazzled her eyes, and she needed that gesture just to steady herself.
Oguri Cap's expression returned to calm, her deep blue eyes reflecting Xingyun Liuge's figure on stage.
No one knew what she was thinking.
The winners' stage came to an end.
But the public buzz it created had only just begun.
News of Xingyun Liuge's debut, along with the excellence of her winners' stage performance, made it directly into that evening's paper. Some ordinary townspeople had already started talking about her.
By the next morning, most ordinary people who had a habit of reading the morning paper before breakfast already knew Xingyun Liuge's name.
Xingyun Liuge had defeated Kasamatsu's "big star" Fujimasa March and the rising talent Oguri Cap head-on, bursting into view as a true dark horse. That alone was enough to seize people's attention.
And on top of that, when she first enrolled at Kasamatsu Tracen, she had been such a frail child that she needed a wheelchair to get around.
A weak person defeating the strong through relentless effort—
that was exactly the kind of inspiring, classic success story ordinary people loved most.
So the name Gray-Haired Cinderella spread rapidly throughout Gifu Prefecture, where Kasamatsu was located, then began to spread further into neighboring cities and counties. Given enough time, Xingyun Liuge would surely cast off her Cinderella status and become a true shining star of the stage.
But before that, she chose to immerse herself in training.
And, along the way, keep signing up for races.
She was a woman who wanted to race little fillies into tears—how could she stop just because of one fleeting victory?
She had to keep moving forward.
Forward, forward, and ever forward!
As long as she kept pressing ahead, the road would keep extending before her.
So—
don't stop!
And so, in the short span of just two weeks, Xingyun Liuge entered three more minor races.
In one 800-meter dirt race and one 1400-meter dirt race, she beat second place by a full ten lengths in both—literal blowouts, more than enough to make any spirited horse girl burst into tears.
And yet, strangely, no one cried.
Instead, everyone acted as though it were only natural.
Xingyun Liuge found this deeply puzzling.
So she decided to get a tiny bit more serious.
In the next 800-meter dirt race, Xingyun Liuge opened up a ten-length gap on second place almost right from the start. As the race went on, that lead stretched to twenty lengths, all the way through the finish. The cameras had to switch to wide-angle shots just so viewers watching on television would not be left utterly baffled by the one-girl show.
Just like that, after debuting, Xingyun Liuge racked up three consecutive wins in a very short period of time. The name Cinderella echoed throughout the entire Tokai region, and nearly everyone believed she was the next star of tomorrow.
A great many people began speculating:
The only ones who might possibly have a chance of shaking her supremacy were perhaps Fujimasa March and Oguri Cap—two girls from the same Kasamatsu Tracen as her.
Although both had lost to Xingyun Liuge in the debut race, the two of them went on to win their respective maiden races, then each beat second place by three lengths in an 800-meter dirt race, almost as if they had planned it together.
The old stereotype that gray horse girls could not run fast was being trampled underfoot by the three of them.
There was even a saying going around the Tokai region now:
The winner of the Junior Crown Cup would probably come from among those three.
But even more people thought otherwise:
Impossible. Unless Xingyun Liuge had no aptitude for turf, she would absolutely win the Tokai Derby and complete her domination of the entire Tokai region.
Some people were already starting to daydream about her marching on the capital.
This Gray-Haired Cinderella from the Tokai region would absolutely give the Central establishment a little gray-hair shock!
While the news media worked hard to stir up public opinion and drive the hype forward, what was Xingyun Liuge herself doing?
She kept up her normal training and, quite seriously, reflected on one of her mistakes:
Beating horse girls who lacked the desire to win was not very meaningful. Only horse girls who truly wanted victory would cry after defeat.
So she turned her attention toward Fujimasa March and Oguri Cap.
The former had once been Kasamatsu's great star, and was now still training hard, clearly intent on defeating both Xingyun Liuge and Oguri Cap. A horse girl like that had real potential to cry—that made her worth beating into tears.
As for the latter…
Xingyun Liuge felt that Oguri Cap was basically an airhead. Ordinary defeat probably would not be enough to make her cry. If anything, it might only ignite her competitive spirit even more.
"But that's interesting too. Under the pressure I'm putting on her, could Oguri Cap possibly surpass that peak phantom from my simulations?"
Xingyun Liuge's gaze fell upon the calendar, and she began to look forward to Oguri Cap's growth.
She murmured to herself,
"Let's use the Junior Crown Cup to test how much the two of them have grown What kind of scene will it turn into? I'm really looking forward to it"
But before that—
her reroll dice were already capped out.
It was time to do another pull.
Join here to read ahead.
In Star Rail, Ultra-Beast Armored — Have I Caught "Equilibrium"? l (Chapter 80)
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Zenless Zone Zero: I'm a Doctor, Not a Bangboo (Chapter 115)
Ben Tennyson Wants to Join the Justice League (Chapter 110)
TYPE-MOON: Redemption Beginning with the Holy Grail War (Chapter105)
Yu-Gi-Oh! — Transmigrated into the White Dragon Girl (Chapter100)
"Is this chat group even serious?" (Chapter69)
I, Lord Ravager, Utterly Loyal! (Chapter100)
Can Playing Games Save the World? 65
Crossover Anime Multiverse: The Demon Hunter of an Unnatural World 70
From Junkman to Wasteland 60
Weekly Refresh of Overpowered 31
I'm Grinding Proficiency Like 40
From Kiana, Lord Ravager, Onwa 60
Honkai: Is This Still the Prev 42
Elf: My Starter Pokémon Is Inc 50
Warhammer: My Primarch Is Remi 50
From Demon Slayer to Grand Ass 50
The Way the Umamusume Look at 31
Uma Musume, but My Cheat Power 26
Naruto: Weaving the Future, Be 26
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