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

Gotham Carol smiled faintly as she looked away from Mubai McQueen, who dared not continue to look at her. Then she let go of the person in her arms and picked up her scepter.

The horse girl in the military uniform finally adjusted her collar and shawl, straightened her small hat, and then said what she really wanted to tell Mejiro McQueen as she walked forward.

"Since you're both equally nervous, then it's me, the older sister, who should take the lead, McQueen. Don't worry, just catch up with me later—"

"We agreed to run together, didn't we?"

Gotham Carol didn't wait for a response. She gave Mejiro McQueen a thumbs-up and walked out of the hotel first, leaving behind McQueen who was pinching the hem of his skirt and still savoring the unfamiliar mixture of nervousness and equally unfamiliar shyness in his heart.

Let my sister take the lead?

If you, as a sister, can't take a step forward.

Going out and walking down the stairs, although Gotham Carol's steps were steady and powerful, her heartbeat was indeed suddenly accelerating.

No matter what, she was unwilling to lie to Megumi McQueen, and the sound of her heartbeat was so loud that even the owner of the body could hear it clearly. Obviously, this body that was born to ravage the field and was full of sweat and hard work was looking forward to something it had done many times.

The playing field and everything else are just pitiful toys under my feet. Everyone should remember this deeply, right?

Such content is engraved by repeated failures.

There were still a lot of people welcoming the Gotham Anthem, so many that they were even more numerous than the previous Japan Cup.

Gotham Carol is only the fourth most popular song——?

But in fact, the fact that she is the fourth most popular person doesn’t mean that she has a small fan base.

There are actually three reasons why Gotham Carol became the fourth most popular singer. One is that it got the priority to leave early on without having to vote.

The second reason is that the other horse girls are too dramatic, so they have subtle extra points in terms of popularity.

And the third one...

It's probably because the fans of Gotham Carol who overlap with those of other pony girls think that others will give more votes to Gotham Carol, and might as well give more to other, poor pony girls.

Even these people were surprised by one thing: "Ode to the Devil" was actually the fourth most popular song.

However, none of this matters. Gotham Carol even maliciously hopes that not even one person votes for her. After crushing the Japan Cup, she will be able to use the highest priority qualification to enter this competition in Japan, which is not the most prestigious but the most special one.

However, after all, the people who would come to greet her near the hotel at this time were those who supported and loved her. Gotham Carol was not too cold after all. She looked at everyone carefully and kept moving forward without stopping.

However, the audience's welcome this time seemed a little unexpected to her.

One of them is a tall horse girl with long flaxen hair, who looks familiar yet somewhat unfamiliar.

Gotham Carol always felt that the other person was quite familiar, as if they had passed each other somewhere, but for some other inexplicable reason that she herself could not explain, she seemed to have left a deep impression on him.

Why is that?

Gotham Carol was so lost in thought that she even subconsciously slowed down a bit to look at the horse girl on the roadside.

The two people looked at each other tightly, as if warm sparks were intertwined in the air.

What beautiful eyes... Eyes? Oh, yes, I remember now.

It was the horse girl I saw in Ura last time. She was so beautiful and distinctive, with eyes full of broken stars and a big X.

Gotham Carol nodded to the horse girl and received a faint smile in response.

However, in the end, Gotham Carol still couldn't remember the other person's name. Perhaps she had never heard it before. Thinking of this, Gotham Carol took another step forward without thinking any further.

Then, there was a rather funny-looking horse girl with long pink hair, her hands raised high above her head, even excited to the point of crying tears of gratitude.

"Goddesses, it's truly an honor to witness the Demon King's Anthem's departure ceremony in person!!!"

"The Three Goddesses' kindness is not over yet!!!"

I shed a lot of tears...and I cried so hard, eh?

The corner of Gotham Carol's mouth almost twitched, and he almost couldn't control his expression.

If I show a speechless and funny expression here, then my days as a cold-faced devil will be over, right? I definitely don't want to be a comedian!

what can we do about it?

Ah, close your eyes and quicken your pace to cover it up!

Gotham Carol slightly increased its speed, leaving the embarrassing pink-haired girl far behind.

After all, as a well-known horse girl, Miss Digital Elly, you should be aware of your image in front of the public, right?

Gotham Carol knew the other party's name. She was one of the strong contenders for Ura's Horse Girl of the Year and had won several G1 victories in overseas expeditions.

Although I knew that this horse girl was quite important in many ways, it was only after I actually met her that I deeply understood what kind of emotion the name "Aili Digital" actually represented.

Apart from anything else, the intensity of Miss Digital Ellie's crying really makes people wonder if she might faint at any time.

Hey, Li Digital, Ai Li Digital.

Gotham Carol continued to move forward, but she saw quite a few ponies looking at her with a strange and fanatical enthusiasm.

Why can you tell at first glance that it is a foal?

Because the oldest among these groups seems to have not yet completely completed the transformation, and the youngest should not even have started to transform -!

Gotham Carol was able to confirm this at a glance, and being able to see this made her completely at a loss for words.

Brave Dancer had actually warned her that as a powerful horse girl of legendary rank, once her trainer identity was truly revealed, she would definitely encounter something that would leave her completely speechless and helpless.

what is it then?

It’s those horse girls who want to be part of the guiding team for Gotham Anthem, those who haven’t debuted yet, or maybe just debuted and haven’t finished the Year of the Horse yet, her ardent fans!

All I can say is that at first glance, these horse girls are obviously quite a few. Gotham Carol even saw a few figures in the distance who were probably new trainers - as if to prove their professional identity, they put their trainer certificates in their chest pockets, revealing a large corner of them.

Those people were talking in a low voice at the moment, writing something down in a notebook, and looking over at him at the same time.

What is this doing...

Could it be that they are looking for potential foals that can be used as a help to these newcomers, help them become famous, and achieve excellent results?

Gotham Carol was almost dead, she could only look ahead——

It is of course impossible to recruit all of her fan ponies as members of the team, just like it is impossible for her to take on the position of president of the Central Student Union. Gotham Carol knows that she cannot bear such a heavy responsibility, so she will not give them any chances in the beginning.

After all, she knew that she could not be responsible for any of the horse girls who wanted to come, so she could only choose to say sorry to these strange children and then refuse to accept anyone.

If you think about it carefully, it's actually a good thing for those new trainees to come here. If they can really form a good relationship here and even achieve mutual success, then Gotham Carol will even be happy for them. If necessary, it wouldn't be a problem for them to be witnesses if they really can get together.

In short, she cannot bear such responsibility after all, so she can only look forward and do what she should do as a horse girl.

But then again, we should be catching up, right?

After all, if you don’t catch up, you’ll be left behind by me again, right?

Just as Gotham Carol was still moving forward, a louder commotion suddenly erupted from behind her. Knowing what was about to happen, Gotham Carol stopped in her tracks. She stood there, her hands resting on her scepter, eyes closed, waiting until she heard the distinct sound of footsteps beside her...

"Look, even if you're nervous, it won't be that difficult if you just face it, right McQueen?"

"Yes, yes... I'm not nervous. No, that's not right. I won't let nervousness slow me down, sis. I want to prove it to you!"

Prove it to me... Ah, it suddenly occurred to me, a long, long time ago, right here, in Zhongshan, right? After the Gaoyue Festival ended...

"McQueen."

"yes…?"

Gotham Carol smiled lightly and glanced sideways at her sister beside her. She stretched out her hand and held hers. Amidst the noise of the whole world, they seemed to hear nothing and only moved forward quietly with each other.

"Actually, I've watched as many of your competitions as possible since your debut, okay?"

"But, in the end, I still didn't make it to the debut competition..."

There was a lot of regret in Gotham Carol's tone, but she suddenly spoke up, blocking the words of comfort that Mebiro McQueen was anxious to say.

"Nothing, I just wanted to say, do you remember the agreement we made in Zhongshan?"

"Yes, was it during the Gaoyue Award Ceremony...?"

It was during the Gaoyue Sho... That promise that was destined to be broken. But, it was delayed too long back then so it couldn't be fulfilled. So, this time...

"So, as a token of my forgiveness, McQueen, could you please join me on the track and have a thorough, if agreed, race?"

Gotham Carol winked at Mejiro McQueen, and after a brief silence...

The light purple-haired horse girl took a deep breath and gave her answer with a solemn expression.

"This is our agreement, Sister Songge, please watch it."

“It’s my growth.”

The glory belongs only to Mejiro McQueen... But this time, even if it means risking everything, I will give my all.

For this opportunity that I finally got again, to fulfill my promise.

Chapter 143: The Power Unique to Mejiro McQueen

The opening ceremony of the Arima Kinen was quite special.

Generally speaking, in traditional Uma Musume racing events, each horse girl would walk onto the stage one by one, but Arima Kinen did the exact opposite.

Arima Kinen was a performance where the horse girls walked out from the contestant channel one by one, passed in front of the audience stand, and came to the edge of the stage, and then stood on it together to complete the appearance.

Even the one who will stand on the stage the longest is the one at the beginning, who is also the least popular horse girl.

However, Gotham Anthem soon stopped paying attention to the constant appearance of horse girls outside.

The reason was very simple. In this competition, the horse girl she cared about was not just Mejiro McQueen, but also another one——

That is the ninth most popular restaurant, Manchester City Tea House, which also participated in the Arima Kinen, but just arrived from school this morning.

In fact, when walking into the contestant channel just now, Gotham Carol saw her sister clearly, as well as the Chestnut Hats who had been waiting here for a long time, staring eagerly at each other.

But what was strange was that Manchester City Tea House did not come to Gotham Carol as usual, but leaned against the wall, taking a deep breath as if he was adjusting his state.

Instead, the old thing, Sunday No. 1, who had been quiet for a long time, floated out quietly. She blinked and shrugged at the Gotham Ode, then made a very powerful gesture, and said everything about the Manchester Tea House in silence.

In order to assert her sister's authority, she was truly focused.

Manchester City Tea House did not use words or actions to force Gotham Carol to obey, but instead worked harder to prove itself in the area where the real gap between the two people lay, that is, in the direction of Gotham Carol's desperate strength.

Maybe it was because of the mood of Manchester City Tea House, or maybe it was because of many more things, or maybe it was an agreement with others, or maybe it was just because they didn't want to disappoint those who came from far away to watch their games, Gotham Carol became more serious.

This game is one where we cannot be lax or passive...!

Perhaps feeling this kind of mood, Ning Jing showed a strange smile on Sunday. She seemed to have made up her mind and quietly returned to the Manchester City Tea House to continue preparing the strength she would need later.

Instead, Phantom Liuge, who could even be considered suppressed by Sunday's tranquil existence, finally dared to show up and directly revealed his body.

She looked at Mebai McQueen, who was standing behind Gotham Carol, clutching the hem of his skirt, as if to cheer himself up and suppress the nervousness in his heart. Then she looked at Gotham Carol, who showed no signs of nervousness at all and whose breathing was steady, and remained silent for a while.

What should she say at this time?

In other words, what can she say at this time?

Phantom Liuge's invisible but burning gaze pierced Gotham Carol from behind, but the person being gazed at did not react much. She even pulled the still nervous Mubai McQueen aside in front of Phantom Liuge, and then signaled her sister to lower her head during the sixteenth popular person's entry parade.

Gotham Carol covered Mebai McQueen's ears with her palms, and then she whispered quietly...

"By the way, McQueen, this competition isn't just about our ranking, okay?"

"Also, Phantom also wants to participate in our competition, so McQueen, just treat it as a request from your sister and run harder. Show your strength to your sister..."

"Also let her see your growth and your strength."

The power that is unique to Mejiro Maku——!

Mejiro McQueen hadn't thought of this at all. In fact, it was only at this moment that she really realized something...

It seems that after Sister Songge came back, I forgot about this guy called Phantom?

Mubai McQueen thought so and looked behind him following his sister's finger, but he only found the phantom of Liuge floating in the air and looking at him with such resentment.

However, that deep and burning gaze was not directed at Mejiro McQueen, but the light purple-haired horsegirl could clearly sense it when she looked over.

Who is Phantom Liuge really looking at, or who is occupying her entire mind right now?

She’s my own sister.

So, you want to compete with me for Sister Songge?

So, you are the enemy?

Mebiro McQueen was still feeling a little guilty at first, but that was just now. Now she suddenly understood something.

It seems that not only did she not call out to Phantom Liuge, but in just one month, Phantom Liuge did not appear in front of her for even a single second...!