I only have one year to live, so I must become a legendary horse girl!

But after all, he is Chunfen's family. As a responsible trainer, I naturally have to agree to such a request. It is completely reasonable.

Although it is hard to imagine, Gotham Carol feels that if he really becomes the parent of a foal one day, he will definitely have special requirements when facing such an important person in his life, right?

So Gotham Carol naturally had no reason to refuse. She agreed on a time with Chunqiufen's family, and then boarded the train the day before the Arima Memorial Day began.

Even at noon the day before.

And who is the horse girl who can set out with Carol to participate in the Arima Kinen on this day?

There is only one Mejiro McQueen.

In fact, this year's Arima Memorial popularity vote was very interesting because there were quite a few surprising situations.

Before the Arima Kinen begins every year, there are always many people who come to predict what the final result of this year's popularity vote will be, and many times people are able to make the predictions and the actual results not much different.

Even if there are some discrepancies, it is just that the positions of one or two people on the list have been swapped.

In this year's predictions, except for Oguruma, which is ranked first as usual, the other rankings are completely different from the actual situation.

So, who is the second place in the popularity vote?

Is it Gotham Anthem? But that was the predicted second place, a completely different, completely unrealistic second place. The name above that position is—

Mejiro McQueen, who fought hard but was defeated in the Japan Cup, was even hugged by the Gotham Carol while playing around the field together!

Of course, many people expressed that they couldn’t understand such a thing at all, because no matter how you look at it, Gotham Anthem, which crushed Japan’s ura for a whole year, should be here, right?

Even if we ignore the absolutes of Ogurume, who shouldn't be included in the discussion, and whose popularity is monstrous, then Gotham Carol is actually the most popular song this year, right?!

Many people expressed their opinions, but soon more people came out to express their own ideas. Obviously, they were the ones who supported Mejiro McQueen and sent her to the second place in popularity rankings.

That demon king is so close to our favorite horse girl in the arena, what kind of things is he doing in private that we dare not even imagine?

If we can't see any more content, then we can only look forward to one thing, right?

We want to see Miss Mejiro McQueen, who was hugged by the waist last time, completely defeat that devil in a head-on competition!

You have to watch Gotham Carol kneeling down and begging for mercy, and then being forced to stick obediently to Mubai McQueen's arms, appearing in front of everyone with lifeless eyes!

whee.

In short, all the onlookers present were shocked, and then silent. They didn't know how to respond for a moment. Then, without anyone knowing and without being able to see each other, humans reached a consensus at a terrifying, even crazy, speed, as if it were spreading through the Internet.

Hehehe, if we could see something like that, it would be worth the price of admission even if we died in the audience!

In short, it was something so abstract and weird that Gotham Ode on the Time Internet didn't know what to think for a moment after seeing it.

How to say it?

Audiences like you...if I let you see what you want to see, wouldn't it be a waste of my trip this time?

whee.

I will make you regret it for the rest of your life!

That's the idea behind Gotham Carol.

Then who is the third place in the popularity vote... Is it Gotham Carol?

It’s a flying eagle!

Condor, who failed twice at the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe and even publicly broke with Ura, unexpectedly achieved astonishing popularity in the Arima Kinen, even surpassing Gotham Anthem, which was in fourth place, by a wide margin?!

The reason behind this is actually very simple. Since Anthem of Demon King is confirmed to be released in Arima Kinen, wouldn’t it be nice to support other horse girls we like?

And the Condor has a lot of supporters, really a lot, really a lot, how many are there?

So many that Ura finally issued an embarrassing apology to Condor, promising to improve the support system for any expedition horsegirls.

This is an achievement that even Gotham Carol has not achieved——

Of course, it is not known whether this is because after the Japan Cup was broken, a wild dad that Ura could really see landed in the sky.

Anyway, next up should be Gotham Carol, right?

Hey, not really.

Next up is Miss Emperor of the East China Sea, who announced that she could not participate in the competition.

The scene of the team losing on the court after an undefeated double championship was too shocking for Japanese netizens, especially when coupled with the legendary "double escape" of Gotham Anthem.

In short, Emperor of the East China Sea even took advantage of the traffic in this way, completely ascended to the position at the back, and even surpassed Gotham Carol by a certain distance in popularity.

Anyway, it makes Gotham Carol, the real protagonist, speechless. Why does it always feel like the reasons for the promotion of these people, except for Ogurus, are all related to me, and they are always weird?

However, the list that follows is not that good. At least there are not many horse girls who know Gotham Carol. Apart from myself and Tea House Sister, there are really a bunch of unfamiliar names.

However, what surprised Gotham Anthem a little was that Miss Digital Elly, who had achieved quite good results in the overseas expedition, was not selected for the Arima Kinen—?

This kind of thing is so strange.

Gotham Carol couldn't figure it out, so she finally asked the Secretariat, but the answer she got made her even more confused about how to react.

"Do you think that for Japanese people, those overseas G1 matches are the ones they will pay attention to?"

What a concise and powerful answer that makes people feel extremely helpless.

So, in the end, not knowing how to react and feeling quite helpless about this matter, Gotham Carol simply gave up thinking and lay on the big bed in the room, looking at the ceiling and thinking about tomorrow's game.

In fact, according to her original habit, she should have come to the stadium long before the game started to adapt to the grass. After all, the Arima Kinen is not a good track for the Great Escape Horse Girl, and Gotham Carol has not been here many times.

When was the last time she ran on the grasslands of Zhongshan?

It was the morning when she climbed over the wall in New York, USA, boarded a plane, and then got into a taxi after leaving the airport. It was the Gaoyue Award when she was still called Bo Mu Liu Ge!

However, even though the original plan was like this, it was ultimately delayed by various things.

So when I came to my senses, it was actually yesterday afternoon.

It was the Brave Dancer who stopped Gotham Carol, who was about to leave in a hurry in the evening, and told her that there was no need to be so anxious.

reason?

The reason was that Gotham Carol felt that she would be at a disadvantage if she did not go to the stadium to adapt to the grass field in advance, but she had never thought about another more terrible thing.

That is, there are not many Japanese horse girls who would adapt to the pasture long in advance!

Unlike in foreign countries, especially in Europe and the United States, where horse girls generally train on the field, Japanese horse girls will concentrate on training on the training ground. Foreign horse girls generally do things like scouting the venue in advance to familiarize themselves with the environment.

Or it could be said that a large part of them actually conduct daily training on the field. Gotham Carol, or Dusk Flow Song, actually started her career in New York, so she also developed this habit.

However, the brave dancer who is more knowledgeable and knows more about Japan revealed a surprising fact.

Japanese horse girls will only go to the competition venue in advance when they are on an overseas expedition. At that time, they will go to the competition venue about a week in advance because they are not familiar with the environment.

But in Japan——!

Japanese horse girls don’t have this habit. Not every horse girl would do it even three days in advance, let alone a week in advance!

What's more, for Gotham Anthem, the Arima Memorial is actually an outing to give back to fans. There is no need to be so serious, at least there is no need to be so anxious because of not being able to familiarize yourself with the stadium.

"If you really feel like that, why not think about having another winner's stage?"

This is what the brave dancer said. Gotham Carol actually refused to have another chance to be on the winner's stage, because when she saw so many people going crazy after watching the video of her singing, even someone as big-hearted as her would have her neck turn pink with shyness, which was rare.

When Gotham Carol thought about the second video being enthusiastically followed by so many people, she felt so ashamed that she wanted to crawl into Sister Aldan's arms and forget about the world!

So thanks to what Brave Dancer said, Gotham Carol was not so anxious in the end. She still came to the vicinity of the stadium the day before the game started. After getting familiar with it a little, she returned to her resting place and lay on the bed to recuperate.

However, before she fell asleep, she heard the sounds of knocking and opening the door.

Gotham Carol propped herself up, only to see Mebiru McQueen quietly approaching...

"Mejiro McQueen" walked over quietly.

"Phantom... ahem, Liuge, can't you sleep?"

"You should just call me Phantom...!"

Gotham Carol was glared at fiercely, then she smiled dotingly, and without saying anything, she grabbed Mejiro McQueen's hand and pulled him to sit next to her.

Oh no, it should be that she is not so obedient, the good daughter of "Phantom Liuge" who wants to breathe.

"So, you can't sleep? If you come to me this late, a bad boy like you might get eaten alive."

"Don't say such weird things... Tomorrow, I will challenge you again. I will defeat you, absolutely, absolutely, even if it's just once!"

He is really stubborn - compared to McQueen, he is not the same type.

Actually, Gotham Carol didn't have much contact with Phantom Flow Song after the end of the Japan Cup. The kid seemed to be sulking and didn't want to come out at all. He only poked his head out now when the game was about to start.

"Hey, is it the Arima Memorial tomorrow? If you want to challenge me, you're always welcome. But how about this, Phantom, how about we make a bet?"

"what?"

A smile appeared on the corner of Gotham Carol's mouth. She had thought of a good way to make Phantom Liuge obey her on the head even if he breathed.

Since this kid wants to challenge me so much, how can I let you do so happily?

And not only do I want to beat you, but as a fool who has completely emerged from the cocoon by swallowing McQueen's emotions, I certainly don't have enough peripheral vision to pay attention to Mejiro who is actually behind you the whole time, right?

"Tomorrow, let's try a different format. It's just a short race. You should be able to completely break away from McQueen and run endlessly, right?"

"You mean…?"

Gotham Carol moved closer and grabbed Phantom Liuge's cheek. She rubbed her sister's delicate skin, as if she had really caught this cunning ghost and prevented her from escaping from her palm.

In fact, Phantom Liuge didn't want to escape at this moment, because she saw indulgence, pampering and teasing in the eyes of the person in front of her, but she did not see the sense of urgency that should come from being challenged.

Such things made her furious, so there was no possibility of escape at all——

I will defeat you fairly, Gotham Carol, and let you know the price of not taking me seriously...!

"I mean, it's not just the two of us who are going to run and fight for victory tomorrow."

"And Mejiro McQueen."

Chapter 142: Our Promise

Question: What should a horse racing girl feel like when she is about to step onto the racing track?

In fact, Mejiro McQueen has never cared about such things. After all, she has no habit of interacting with other audiences.

She is even arrogant in every sense before and after the game!

But that was before.

But that was when there was actually something more important than running, and that was the situation when Mejiro McQueen couldn't go back and didn't want to go back.

At that time, she was not running for herself, nor for her fans. Not to mention being arrogant, she didn't even have herself in her eyes.

She was running so hard in order to catch up with the shadow that had disappeared in the past, and she was destined not to expect anyone's response.

But that was before!

Mubai McQueen looked at her lovely sister who was standing with her at the entrance of the hall, or even hiding behind the only window, looking at the surging crowd outside through the glass. Although she was petite, she always stood straight, as if she was determined to block the whole world and any attacks.

"Even when facing so many people, Sister Songge doesn't seem nervous at all...?"

Could she say she was feeling envious? It didn't seem like it, but then again, wasn't it? Perhaps a little bit. In short, Mebai McQueen's emotions were a complex mix, and she didn't know how to judge them.

In short, Sister Songge is able to remain so calm and strong even when facing such a situation. She is really amazing.

"It's not that I'm not nervous, McQueen. Or rather, are you the one who's nervous right now?"

Gotham Carol was clearly aware of Mejiro McQueen's feelings. After the Japan Cup ended, or to be more precise, after she really returned to her sister, her originally cold and hard exterior gradually dissipated at an astonishing speed.

Or perhaps, the original existence of such an appearance is just to maintain the softness within?

But Gotham Carol knows one thing clearly and reminds itself all the time.

Even if she is gradually becoming more delicious, my good sister will never return to her original strong and lovely appearance, right?

Now, beneath McQueen's resolute expression, one can actually clearly reveal a delicate and sensitive fragility, a fragility that can be easily and completely broken by a name.

This is your responsibility, Gotham Carol, so as a sister, you have to take responsibility.

No matter what, don't run away and don't give up...!

"But being nervous is normal. It's probably because of this crowd that McQueen, who wasn't nervous before, is the one who's worrying, isn't he?"

"Actually, being nervous is often the right thing to do. Someone who doesn't look nervous is probably just not saying it out loud. Actually, their heartbeat might actually be accelerating."

As Gotham Carol said this, she held up Mejiro McQueen's hand and held it against her body so that she could feel the clear and powerful beating.

This is what you call the heartbeat of a person who is not nervous at this moment. Do you understand? Even I, who seem so strong in your eyes, am actually nervous and excited.