I'm in Teresin, dedicated to playing badly

One hundred and eighty-four horse lengths—even if you search through the entire history of Racer Girls, you probably won't find a single record that can compare to it.

After all, the Satsuki Sho is only a mid-distance race, with a total length of two thousand meters, which is equivalent to about eight hundred horse lengths. The distance of one hundred and eighty-four horse lengths is almost a quarter of the entire race.

This achievement is unprecedented, not to mention the Satsuki Prize, even in competitions where top-tier female equestrians go to fish ponds to fry fish.

Even the automatic electronic scoreboard in the race has a preset maximum lead of only double digits, and the highest it can reach is 99 horse lengths. This is why, when Eclipse crossed the finish line, the judges did not immediately announce Eclipse's result, but instead went to the machine, printed a copy on the spot, and then announced it.

This was a resounding victory, an undeniable one.

After that, without even using any of the backup plans prepared by Akikawa Yayoi, the discussions about Kitahara Shinji and the eclipse quickly disappeared.

There's no need to argue. Faced with absolute strength, the doubts outsiders have about Shinji Kitahara seem ridiculously weak. In fact, a few days after the match, a wave of people deleting their accounts and quitting the internet swept the internet and even trended on social media.

Moreover, it wasn't just the doubts that were refuted; after the wave of criticism against Shinji Kitahara subsided, those who supported him finally had a chance to speak out, and as time went on, the voices grew stronger, and his past actions were gradually unearthed and revealed.

Almost overnight after the match, Shinji Kitahara's reputation underwent a dramatic reversal, transforming him into a highly sought-after national figure. Countless praises and invitations poured in, and reporters eager to interview him and Eclipse surrounded Treson in layers.

But just when everything seemed to be going well outside, the atmosphere in Tressen was becoming more relaxed, the investigation by the black market members was progressing rapidly, and the moment of closing in was drawing ever closer, Shinji Kitahara, who was in his dormitory, looked melancholy, showing no sign of relief or joy whatsoever.

"It's difficult..."

Sitting in his dormitory chair, Shinji Kitahara sighed deeply.

Although the eclipse was a brilliant victory, not only reversing his public image but also providing him with assistance in various aspects, he should have been happy at this time.

But he can't be happy at all right now.

It wasn't because he was worried that he had attracted the attention of the Ma Niang family and might have to move into the basement in the future—although that was indeed part of the reason.

But compared to things like the basement, Shinji Kitahara is more worried and troubled about the state of some of the horse girls under his name, and even those not under his name.

While Eclipse's resounding victory did solve many problems, it also brought many new ones. The most significant of these was the impact of her demonstrated strength and achievements on other horse girls.

Historically, there have been many powerful female horses, as well as super horses that single-handedly dominated an entire era.

Even without mentioning anything else, just take Rudolph as an example. As an undefeated three-time champion, she basically dominated her generation of Mario Girls. To this day, her fame and prestige remain terrifying.

Even with her formidable strength, Rudolph's existence remained within the 'normal range' of public perception. She never achieved any outrageous results, such as leading the second-place team by nearly a quarter of a match in top-level competitions. Moreover, she did lose a few matches after her decline.

But Eclipse is different. Her strength has exceeded everyone's understanding of the horse girl, and by a great extent.

The gap was so large that it made people lose all desire to compete with it. Instead, it felt like facing an insurmountable mountain, leaving them with a deep sense of powerlessness and even despair. This was enough to make many female horse lovers who loved running question the meaning of their own existence.

But their situation is not the most serious.

Those most severely impacted by the solar eclipse were undoubtedly the horse girls who participated in the Satsuki Sho.

They were not only crushed into pieces by the Eclipse's terrifying power on the field, receiving the most severe impact at the closest distance, but also suffered passive and malicious interference from the Eclipse during the competition.

Although after several days of discussion, URA decided not to demote or ban them (if they lost too badly in the competition, their competition level might be lowered or they might even be banned).

Even if URA doesn't suspend them, after this incident, let alone stepping back onto the field, it's questionable whether they can even live out the rest of their lives without suffering severe psychological trauma.

Leaving aside others, there are currently three direct victims of the solar eclipse within Shinji Kitahara's team.

It's important to know that, excluding the East Sea Emperor, thanks to the training and care of Shinji Kitahara, Alice and Manchester Tea House were already top-tier racehorses in their generation. As long as they didn't act arrogantly, they could basically win any race they wanted, and by a significant margin.

This time, despite their best efforts and even extraordinary performance in linking their domains together to fight the eclipse, they still suffered a crushing defeat.

Moreover, compared to each other, the two of them were in a better situation. After returning to the lounge, they were able to force a smile and congratulate Eclipse, and prepare for the next winner's stage.

Many of the other horse girls simply became withdrawn after leaving the arena, which indirectly led to the cancellation of the winner's stage.

After returning to the academy, Alice, unusually, did not tease Shinji Kitahara, but instead prepared to go back to the laboratory alone. Meanwhile, Manchester Tea House was dazed, occasionally muttering something.

Given their mental state, although it felt inappropriate to let them stay with the Eclipse, for safety reasons, Shinji Kitahara took them back to his dormitory, carefully looking after and comforting them, even resorting to some unconventional methods of reassurance to barely stabilize their condition.

Even so, this matter is far from over.

Although their mental state has been stabilized to some extent, the shock they suffered and the lingering shadows in their hearts still remain and require further resolution.

Moreover, even if the problem is solved further, the current situation of the solar eclipse is still a problem.

Having achieved such a terrifying result, it seems a bit inappropriate to tell her not to continue competing, but if we let her continue, it will definitely continue to cast a psychological shadow on others.

Even Shinji Kitahara suspected that, given Eclipse's current fame and demonstrated abilities, if she were to actually sign up for any competition, it would be questionable whether other participants would even dare to participate.

Based on this, and with the encouragement of three amused individuals, Eclipse also put forward a suggestion that sounded somewhat outrageous, but was actually quite outrageous.

What do you think of the reason for having to withdraw from the competition due to pregnancy?

"not so good."

Shinji Kitahara gave her a disapproving sidelong glance.

Just kidding, without mentioning her status as a racehorse girl and her current fame, Eclipse is still in school, how could Kitahara Shinji possibly agree to something like that?

Moreover, besides the issues with the duo and the eclipse, Shinji Kitahara himself is also facing some problems.

During his previous conversation with Shanish, he not only discussed the black market and the solar eclipse, but also had an in-depth discussion with Shanish about the strange power within him, and then learned some astonishing news.

"Attracting horse girls? Arousing desire? No, no, no, that's just a slight manifestation of the power within you before it matures. Only after it fully grows and even strengthens will it reveal its true form..."

"Shinji Kitahara, what do you think is the essence of your power?"

"It is emotion, or to be more precise, the cohesion of positive emotions."

"Or rather, goodwill."

"Yes, you're right. I admit that this force is related to me, but as for more details and its source, I'm not at liberty to tell you yet. I can only tell you about its development."

"I believe you have already felt it. Since that power appeared in your body, it has been constantly developing and growing, and at an increasingly faster pace. Now, it is no longer something that you, as a human body, can contain. You need to establish connections with others to help you share the burden."

"Don't be nervous. I'm not saying this power is harmful. On the contrary, it is quite beneficial to both humans and horse girls. It not only brings various benefits, but also has a rather special effect that I call 'bridge'."

“A bridge, simply put, is the ability to establish an emotional connection between two different beings—humans, horse girls, or even any other benevolent creature—allowing them to share things such as spirit, thoughts, or even physical abilities, strength, and lifespan. This is also the principle behind your sharing of that power.”

"Of course, there are certain methods to building connections. Expressing goodwill, especially intimate acts with good intentions, can strengthen the bridge of connection, while the opposite will weaken it. This should be easy to understand."

"However, although this power itself does not have any harmful properties, and can even heal the wounds in others' hearts and soothe their dark psychology, there is a saying that goes too far."

"If we were to use this power to influence those crazy, psychologically dark beings, we could probably turn them into normal people, or even people who are more kind."

"But if the people affected by this force are inherently positive and kind, then after reaching a certain level, excessive kindness or love may lead to distortion."

"And this is what is happening in this world."

......

Shanish said a lot of things that sounded very sophisticated, but they were actually not complicated.

To put it simply, the existence of various horse farms and black markets is not the dark side of the world, but rather a product of excessive and distorted love.

Or perhaps, strange books.

If Shinji Kitahara were to share his power, while that power itself wouldn't be harmful, excessive goodwill might affect the horse girls who were helping him share the burden.

Shigebaba, or perhaps all that remains in her mind is the thought of loving him, and she thinks of nothing else—this is the distortion that excessive love can bring.

But Shanish didn't just raise questions; she also provided solutions for Kitahara Shinji.

"To build a harem, and the bigger the better."

Amidst Shinji Kitahara's shocked expression, Shanish calmly offered her explanation.

"Since it is difficult for a single person to bear the burden, we should establish more connections. The more containers there are, the less power can be distributed and the less impact will be received."

"Your power is still in the early stages of development and is not growing very fast, but after a while, it will probably start to increase exponentially."

"But I don't recommend you dine with those horse girls who haven't finished their orthodoxy phase yet, because horse girls in the orthodoxy phase are more susceptible to that force than others."

"Other intimate behaviors are fine, but if it goes to the last step, the 'bridge' between you might become too solid, causing them to receive too much kindness and increasing the possibility of accidents."

Shinji Kitahara wholeheartedly agrees with the idea that one cannot dance with horses before they are fully orthodox.

But opening a harem...

"Don't think you can take responsibility all by yourself. First of all, this is not your responsibility alone. After all, you didn't create this power. Even if you wanted to take responsibility, it's probably not possible."

"When goodwill exceeds the limits that your body can contain, it will naturally spread out. Even if you hide in the deep mountains and forests, or even commit suicide, it will not disappear. It will always spread out, and without your control, it may only cause greater destruction."

Shanish's words blocked all of Kitahara Shinji's escape routes. Although he felt that this matter sounded a bit outrageous, after thinking carefully about his past since his transmigration, he felt that this matter seemed to make a sliver of sense.

"...Let me think about it."

Ultimately, faced with Shanish's suggestion, Shinji Kitahara could only give this answer, and while comforting Manchester City Tea House and Alice, he took the time to think about this headache-inducing problem.

Starting a harem? Although he now admits that a few female horsemen do like him, putting aside whether they can accept him having a harem, even if they did, according to Shanish's theory, a single-digit number of women in the harem probably wouldn't be enough to suppress that excessive goodwill, and might even harm them...

Moreover, during this period, besides the Manchester tea house, Elizabeth, Eclipse, and his own problems, he had an even more troublesome issue that was causing him to sigh even further.

The Emperor of the East Sea bestows a reward upon Gaoyue.

Four moves.

This is what Shinji Kitahara is most worried about right now.

Chapter 286: The Midnight Bell

To be honest, Kitahara Shinji wasn't very surprised that the Emperor of the East Sea, Satsuki, had bestowed four pieces upon him.

Moreover, this isn't just a question of whether he will train the East Sea Emperor or not. Although if he were to intervene and create a special training plan for the East Sea Emperor like he would for others, it would certainly improve her current strength to some extent, but not by too much.

Although the East Sea Emperor was not officially part of her team, after they gradually became familiar with each other, she enjoyed all the team's benefits, such as nursing care, medicine, and customized final outfits, except for things like creating individual training plans.

Moreover, the training plan she devised was based on the experience of others. Although the results were definitely not as good as those given by Shinji Kitahara, it was enough for her daily training.

Even if Kitahara Shinji gave her a plan, and even if her strength increased significantly, Kitahara Shinji was certain that she would still only win the Satsuki Prize this time.

The biggest problem with the Emperor of the East Sea is not his strength, but his mindset.

Unlike Alice and Manchester Tea House, these two are well-known eccentrics in the academy and have a high tolerance for pressure.

Furthermore, before meeting Shinji Kitahara, these two could only be described as top-tier horse racing girls, possessing a certain ability to accept defeat, and also having some other hobbies besides horse racing.

Therefore, even though they were hit by the eclipse on the field, they were still able to maintain basic rationality, and after the match, Shinji Kitahara could also take other approaches to alleviate their situation.

But the emperor of the East Sea was different.

As a pure racehorse girl, Tokai Teio came to Treisen with the goal of becoming a top racehorse girl.

Moreover, after arriving in Teresa, everything went smoothly for her.

Born into a prominent family, she has a cheerful personality, excellent grades, and outstanding talent in horse racing. Before officially entering the professional racing arena, she already had a considerable amount of attention. Later, she gained Rudolf's appreciation and was basically groomed to be the next student council president...

It can be said that, apart from his feelings for Kitahara Shinji, the Emperor of the East Sea has hardly experienced any setbacks, let alone defeat.

Even up until the Satsuki Sho, although through multiple extra training sessions within the team she had vaguely sensed that Alice and Manchester Tea House might have surpassed her in strength, she still did not believe she would lose and wanted to prove something to Kitahara Shinji through this match.

But the result... can only be said to have exceeded everyone's expectations.

It's not that the East Sea Emperor is weak; on the contrary, she is extremely strong. If we exclude the extraneous factor of the solar eclipse, she is fully capable of competing for first place.

Moreover, her will is not weak. Those horse girls with truly weak wills, under the corrosive influence of the eclipse's black mist, might not only give up running, but also abandon the race or even their lives on the spot.

But the East Sea Emperor didn't give up. After regaining her senses, she activated her domain under the stimulation of the eclipse's black mist, forming the first line of defense against the eclipse together with the other two.

If this is considered mentally fragile, then there are probably very few horse girls who can be considered to have a strong will.

But it is precisely because of this unwavering will that the problem of the Emperor of the East Sea is particularly thorny.

If something is too rigid, it will easily break. The stronger something is, the more difficult it is to repair once it is damaged.

When their alliance was once again crushed by the eclipse, and after that, no matter how much they struggled, they could only watch the gap between them widen.

Watching the black figure gradually disappear into the distance, the East Sea Emperor felt as if something inside her was quietly collapsing, and her steps slowed down, ultimately leading to her four-point score.

Her long history of smooth sailing not only forged the East Sea Emperor's unwavering will but also bound her life to this path.

For others, even if they lose on the field or never achieve anything on the field in their lifetime, there are always other ways out.

But for the Emperor of the East Sea, the profession of horse racer, even if not the entirety of her life, at least accounted for 80%.

It goes without saying that Alice is dedicated to experiments. In private, she has a deep understanding of hand-drip coffee and even plans to become an actress after retiring from professional life.

From the very beginning, Necha had planned to be a housewife, and all her skills were geared towards becoming a virtuous wife. As for Oguri Hat and Special Zhou, after losing, they would have a big meal and that would be enough. If that didn't work, they would have a good cry to vent their frustrations. In a couple of days, they would definitely be able to return to the training ground in a better state.

But the emperor of the East Sea is not an option.

After the Satsuki Appreciation ended, staring at the despairing gap, the Emperor of the East Sea's mind went blank.

Afterwards, despite Shinji Kitahara's repeated attempts to persuade her to stay, she refused his invitation and quietly returned to her dormitory alone. Even when Rudolf came to visit her, she did not respond at all.

Her efforts, her pride, her faith, even her life goals and the meaning of her existence, all seemed to shatter like bubbles under the difference of 184 horse lengths.

In this situation, recalling the scenes she had seen in the surveillance footage, the two people who should have been her support at this time became, in every memory, sharp blades piercing her heart.