Seeing the tears glimmering in the girl's eyes, Xingyun Liuge felt just a tiny bit happy.
Only a tiny bit, of course. She was merely a horse girl whose heart went doki doki whenever she saw someone cry—what bad intentions could she possibly have?
She even wanted to rise onto her toes and gently pat Fujimasa March on the head, to comfort this girl who had, quite unintentionally, let her true feelings show.
What if Fujimasa March cried herself out and retired on the spot?
Xingyun Liuge understood that distinction perfectly clearly: was it better to enjoy oneself once, or to enjoy oneself many times?
Though Xingyun Liuge did not really understand the principles behind full maturation, she genuinely found the words not yet matured rather hard on the eyes.
Apparently, once a horse girl fully matured, her physical abilities would explode upward. So surely, after that, she too would become a tall, elegant beauty with a graceful figure and a splendidly well-armored front, right?
Which was exactly why now was not the time to stand on tiptoe.
It would be way too embarrassing.
"Even if it may not mean much coming from me," Xingyun Liuge began, "March, this world is vast. Even if there were no Xingyun Liuge and no Oguri Cap, there would still be many powerful horse girls in Tokai, then the elite girls of Central Tracen, and beyond that, great rivals overseas."
"If you think giving up would be easier, then choosing to let go would not necessarily be the wrong decision. In the faraway place I come from, there's an old saying: A wise man yields to circumstance."
Fujimasa March had thought Xingyun Liuge had come to comfort her, but instead she found herself listening to words like these.
Was this her way of telling a mediocrity like her to give up?
Xingyun Liuge did not look at Fujimasa March. Instead, she looked toward the setting sun sinking beneath the horizon.
It was the first time she had ever tried to comfort a horse girl whose mindset was wavering, and for a while she honestly had no idea what to say. So she simply said whatever came to mind.
The important thing was presence!
Things like A few lines of names in the histories, countless nameless graves on Mang Mountain… or If you never try, you'll never understand how utterly hopeless reality can be… or The title of local genius is merely the knocking brick that lets you approach the Central stage; in the end, there will always be a few people—or perhaps a single person—who crush the dreams of everyone else and build their throne from their screams and tears…
In short, none of it sounded remotely like comforting words.
Putting everything else aside, in Japan alone, a tiny country like this, nearly seven thousand horse girls were born in a single year. Yet among them, fewer than ten would ever rise to the top during their Classic year and achieve true glory.
If you were beaten by injury, that was almost the better outcome. More often, a local prodigy would march boldly toward the capital with a heart full of fire, only to discover that the genius of the provinces was no more than an anonymous extra in the Central scene. In the end, all they could do was slink away in defeat.
That was why so many horse girls who performed brilliantly in the regions chose, of their own accord, to abandon any hope of going further.
Could passion fill your stomach?
Once you accepted your own weakness, did not everything suddenly become easier to understand?
"But," Xingyun Liuge continued, "I don't think having dreams is a bad thing. Not at any time, and not under any circumstances. Yes, climbing the mountain is difficult. At any moment you might even be dashed to pieces. But to live at all is to row against the current, isn't it?"
"March, let me ask you this—when you stand upon the winners' stage, what do you see?"
You saw the support and passion of the crowd.
You saw the tears they shed because a dream had come true.
You saw their cheering, their joy, their smiles from the heart.
And then—
you saw your own smile reflected in their eyes.
Because standing on the winners' stage was something profoundly joyful.
It was proof that you had moved forward step by step.
It was proof that one day, you really could make your dream come true.
It was also a promise you made to your own future.
Surely, in life, one ought to have something one longed for.
Wasn't that so?
"So what is that expression supposed to mean? What are those tears supposed to mean? Will those tears get you onto the winners' stage?"
Xingyun Liuge's voice suddenly rose.
"Answer me, Fujimasa March! What is your goal?!"
Startled by the sudden surge in Xingyun Liuge's presence, Fujimasa March blurted out instinctively,
"T-Tokai Derby."
"Can't hear you. I can't hear a thing."
A crimson, almost ferocious glint seemed to flash through Xingyun Liuge's eyes as she shouted,
"That little voice and you think you're going to run the Tokai Derby? There's no spirit in it! Again!!!"
Fujimasa March was completely dazed, but she was utterly overwhelmed by Xingyun Liuge's pressure. Instinctively, she shouted back,
"Yes! My goal is the Tokai Derby!"
"Good! That's the spirit!"
Arms folded across her chest, Xingyun Liuge declared with immense confidence,
"Starting tomorrow, I'm going to train you properly!"
For a moment, Fujimasa March completely forgot her despair.
She was left utterly bewildered, not even sure what she had just said.
…Had this counted as comfort?
It was such a strange way of doing it.
Still, the effect was undeniable.
Fujimasa March had truly thought she was about to burst into tears and say I'm too weak, but Xingyun Liuge's shouting had swept her up in its force and somehow shoved the tears right back where they came from.
Wiping away the moisture at the corners of her eyes, Fujimasa March already felt much better.
But by the next day, after morning training ended, all that gratitude had vanished.
Because what she saw on the track was a jeep driving where no jeep had any business being.
Even the supposedly worldly Kitahara Jones was so shocked he swore on the spot.
"What the hell—why?! Oguri, get back here!!!"
What kind of training was Don't be scared, run straight at the jeep for me?
Was this really how horse girls were supposed to train?
Could it be Xingyun Liuge had ended up in a wheelchair because of nonsense like this?!
At the very same time, inside the chairman's office at Kasamatsu Tracen—
the chairman stood there stiff and trembling, barely daring to breathe.
Because the person currently standing by the window, that seemingly gentle girl in a Central Tracen uniform, was that person.
The unprecedented seven-crown queen.
The holder of the undefeated Triple Crown record.
The student council president of Central Tracen.
And every one of those brilliant titles represented only a fraction of her glory.
Someone had once praised her in these words:
There is no such thing as the absolute in this world—except for her.
Her name was:
Symboli Rudolf.
Symboli Rudolf's tone was exceptionally friendly. Watching the utter chaos unfolding on the training grounds, she merely laughed softly and said,
"Your school's educational philosophy is truly… imaginative. Even I feel I have gained something from seeing it. I have always believed that Central Tracen ought to humbly learn a little from the local circuits. The one driving that vehicle—that's Xingyun Liuge, correct?"
"Y-Yes! Yes!"
The chairman could only nod frantically, then awkwardly began listing Xingyun Liuge's dazzling record since debut:
Five races, five wins, all first place.
Her worst result had been beating Oguri Cap by seven lengths, after which every margin had ranged from ten lengths to twenty. By now, almost no local horse girl dared race against her anymore.
And if one counted those races where the rest of the field had all withdrawn—
then it was eight races, eight wins.
In truth, Xingyun Liuge's record could have looked even more extravagant.
But after discovering that one-person races did not reduce the cooldown on her reroll dice, she instantly lost interest.
No one knew that little secret.
At this moment, the chairman found herself thinking:
What exactly do you mean by imaginative? What exactly do you mean by having gained something? And what is this business about humbly learning? Also, isn't that last turn in the conversation just a little abrupt? Did you perhaps forget to add water when cooking your rice?
"So everyone believes she is certain to win the Tokai Derby?" Symboli Rudolf murmured softly, then asked, "Chairwoman, do you not feel that, for her, this heaven and earth is simply far too small? So small that she cannot even stretch her wings freely?"
She smiled. She sighed lightly.
And in that moment, her true purpose in coming here became perfectly clear.
She was not merely here to hand over research materials.
She had come for something else.
"…"
The chairman wiped the cold sweat from her brow and thought to herself:
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 172)
Zenless Zone Zero: I'm a Doctor, Not a Bangboo (Chapter 115)
Ben Tennyson Wants to Join the Justice League (Chapter 116)
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! (Chapter119)
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 66
Honkai: Is This Still the Prev 42
Elf: My Starter Pokémon Is Inc 50
Warhammer: My Primarch Is Remi 52
From Demon Slayer to Grand Ass 55
The Way the Umamusume Look at 42
Uma Musume, but My Cheat Power 40
Naruto: Weaving the Future, Be 36
Zenless Zone Zero, but Kamen R 30
Multiverse Crossover: The Perf 26
My Cyberpsycho Girlfriend 26
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