The way Uma Musume looks at me is so scary!

Kentaro Sugiki could no longer deceive himself; the racehorse girl he once loved had left the track not because she had retired, but because she had been dragged away from the track by some crueler fate.

Seeing his trembling voice, the voice on the other end of the phone calmed down and said helplessly.

"I shouldn't have said this; it's a secret even within the Mejiro family."

"When did you know that?"

"It was after I became the head doctor of the Meguro family that I became aware of this matter, and it was because of a certain job."

Kentaro Sugiki was in a bit of a daze, and he could barely keep standing by leaning against the wall.

He received so much information today that he could barely stay rational.

"What exactly does the Mejiro family want to do..."

"Does Northern Star Dream know what you're about to do...?"

The man on the other end of the phone sighed and said in a low voice.

"This is a decision made by the head of the family, and neither you nor I can change it."

Kentaro Sugiki was silent for a while, and then he said one last thing amidst his heavy breathing.

“I will tell her about this; you can’t keep it a secret for long!”

The man on the other end of the phone did not respond, but silently hung up.

Chapter 179 Debate Section

April 23, cloudy, Kyoto Racecourse.

Fujino Mark, thanking the stage, and the three racehorse girls, Starlight, sat together in the audience, watching the race with some nervousness. In the past few months from last year to this year, they have participated in some races, but they have not been able to step onto the same stage with Narita Shirahito again.

However, they did not give up. They encouraged each other and watched the entire competition in which Narita Shirahito participated.

Today was no different; they even entered the venue half an hour before the competition started, when there were still very few spectators.

"I didn't expect Narita Shirahito to participate in the Emperor's Spring Appreciation before the registration deadline. Didn't she just win the Hanshin Grand Prix?"

Fujino Mark said somewhat solemnly that not long ago Narita Shirahito won the Hanshin Grand Prix with a huge advantage of seven horse lengths.

Seeing the gap between herself and Narita Shirahito widening, Fujino Marko devoted all her energy to training after the Hanshin Grand Prix. If it weren't for the other two pulling her along, she probably wouldn't have even come.

"Didn't you know? It's said that Hokuho Seimu also signed up for the Emperor's Spring Appreciation, so Narita Shirahito came over."

The person on the thank-you stage next to her looked at her companion in surprise. She knew that the other person had been training during this time, but she did not expect that she had not even heard about such important news.

"Northern Star Dream, huh..."

"She was indeed stronger than Narita Shirahito in the Chrysanthemum Sho race, but Narita Shirahito has also grown over the years. She must be much stronger now than she was back then, having won the Arima Kinen and Hanshin Grand Prix consecutively amidst the fierce competition from previous generations of racehorses."

"As for Beifang Xingmeng, she hasn't stepped onto the competition field since the Chrysanthemum Appreciation. With a gap of nearly half a year from last November to this April, can she regain her form on the field?"

Fujino Mark recalled, following his teammate's words, that unlike Narita Shirahito, who was on a winning streak, Hidehoshi Meng had not appeared on the field for a long time.

For these racehorse girls, participating in competitions is the best way to maintain their competitive edge. After such a long hiatus from official competitions, how much of their former glory can Hideyuki still retain?

What's worse for her is that Narita Shirahito, riding high on his winning streak, has caught up with her, and there's a clear difference in their momentum between them.

"However... there seems to be some news recently that Narita Shirahito was injured. Her trainer originally didn't intend for her to participate in the Emperor's Spring Appreciation, but she insisted on signing up herself."

"If the news is true, then it's hard to say who will win or lose."

While he said this to thank the stage, his expression revealed a hint of worry.

Although their generation of racehorse girls has always been suppressed by Narita Shirahito, as racehorse girls themselves, no one understands the pain of injuries better than them.

"Are you injured...?"

Fujino Mark Wang stroked his chin and pondered for a while.

"I don't believe the blindfolded monster could get injured. How could someone of her skill level get injured on the field? As for her usual training... that's even more impossible."

She shook her head, deciding to ignore the rumors and stick to her own judgment.

"But neither of them can be said to be at their peak, right? Northern Star Dream hasn't stepped onto the court for half a year, and there are rumors of Narita Shirahito getting injured during his match."

The thank-you speech paused for a moment, and after glancing at the contestants' passage in the distance, he slowly began to speak.

"There are other strong contenders for the title of Emperor's Spring Appreciation Contest. If they are not in good form, they may all become the background for that senior."

Upon hearing her words, Fujino Mark Wang paused for a moment before asking somewhat blankly.

"Who?"

She glanced helplessly at her friend on the thank-you stage; she hadn't expected that her friend would come over without even looking at the list of contestants.

Faced with her speechless gaze, Fujino Mark King puffed out his chest nonchalantly, as if to say that he was the one who was dragged here by them in the first place.

The stage manager sighed, just about to explain the situation of the Emperor's Spring Appreciation performance, when Starlight Knight, who had been silent until now, suddenly spoke up first.

"It's Senior Rice Bath!"

Ignoring the surprised looks from the two, Starlight Knight snorted smugly and continued.

"I won the Chrysanthemum Appreciation Championship once and the Emperor's Spring Appreciation Championship once. My youth was spent with Senior Rice Bath."

As she spoke, she tugged at her shirt, which featured a rice pattern, to show it to her companions.

"Mi Yu debuted a few years earlier than us, how come she has already passed her youth?"

The stage pattered, and looking at the rice print on Starlight Man's chest, he said speechlessly.

"I don't care, I grew up watching Mi Yu's matches!"

Starman didn't care about any of that, and the things he said became increasingly nonsensical.

"Mi... Yu? I remember she was third in the Arima Kinen competition last year, right? Is she that good?"

Fujino Mark Wang didn't correct Starlight Man's distorted timeline; she just stared at him curiously and asked.

When Fujino Marko debuted, his goal was the thank-you stage next to him. In his classic year, his goal was Narita Shirahito. Apart from her, Fujino Marko only knew two other horse girls, Starlight and Embroidered Dream.

During the Arima Memorial, she focused almost all her attention on the first-place finisher, Narita Shirahito, and didn't notice what was going on with the rice bath at the time. She only remembered that the other person had lost to Narita Shirahito at the Arima Memorial.

Upon hearing this, Starlight Hero's eyes lit up. As a loyal fan of Mi Yu, she was always happy to tell others about her idol's legendary story, especially when someone asked her about it.

"The Arima Kinen race is 2,500 meters long, which is a somewhat tight distance for Yonezu-senpai. She is really good at long-distance races!"

"And the Emperor's spring outing is the perfect stage for her!"

Before Fujino Mark could even process the information, Starlight Man couldn't wait to start talking again.

"And what's more, she won both of her G1 matches by defeating incredibly strong opponents!"

"Miss Rice Bath defeated Miura Bourbon, who was undefeated and held two titles at the time, in the Chrysanthemum Sho competition, and defeated Mejiro McQueen, who was the winner of the Emperor Sho Spring and Autumn competitions!"

After finishing his speech, Starman puffed out his chest and hummed, as if his idol's honor was his own.

At this moment, the person on the thank-you stage asked with some confusion.

"Megumi McQueen won the Spring and Autumn Season again? I remember she was disqualified for a foul and dropped to eighteenth place in the Emperor's Autumn Appreciation Competition, wasn't she?"

Starman returned a strange look.

"Isn't that a classic joke? Everyone was saying she was just a little bit away from fouling. If it were another world, maybe it would have been a foul."

"If she hadn't won the Emperor's Award for the second consecutive year of the Spring and Autumn Period, how could the Mejiro family have become so powerful?"

Chapter 180 Welcome to the Spring Imperial Appreciation

"That's true. After all, she was the first horse girl in the Mejiro family to win the Emperor's Prize for two consecutive years, fulfilling the Mejiro family's long-cherished wish."

He nodded in thanks, realizing he must have been out of his mind to say such a stupid thing.

"However, speaking of the Meguro family, I suddenly remembered a recent rumor."

During the thank-you speech, he raised one finger and earnestly addressed the two friends beside him.

"I heard that the Mejiro family has fulfilled their long-cherished wish, achieving three generations of imperial slam domination and consecutive imperial slam domination in spring and autumn. Now their ambitions have grown even greater, and they are said to want to achieve consecutive imperial slam domination in spring and autumn!"

But after hearing her words, the two people beside her gave her strange looks.

"Xiao Wu...you should listen to less of these kinds of rumors in the future."

Fujino Mark patted her on the shoulder and said to her with a serious expression.

"How could a consecutive championship by the Emperor possibly happen? If such a thing were to happen, I might as well say I beat Narita Shirahito in the Kyoto Shimbun Cup!"

Starman shrugged, seemingly wondering why the thank-you stage could say such strange things, perhaps because he had heard too many rumors and could no longer distinguish between truth and falsehood.

Looking at the stage where the students were puffing out their cheeks and their faces were red with anger, Fujino Mark put his arm around her shoulder and said with a smile.

"It's alright, what kind of gossip is it if it's not wrong? Let's focus more on the game at hand."

"Northern Star Dream, Narita Shirohito, and Yone Yu—each of them seems to have a chance to win. This Emperor's Spring Appreciation match is sure to be an extremely exciting one, so let's not think too much about it and just watch the game."

Starlight Knight chimed in.

"Let's watch the game!"

While they were playing around, Xingyun Tiankong, who happened to be sitting in the back and had heard everything, pursed his lips and nervously looked at the Kyoto Racecourse under the overcast sky.

She recognized the three racehorse girls in front of her.

They are all veterans who have stepped onto the G1 stage, and their opinions on the game are absolutely trustworthy. This situation of the Emperor enjoying spring will most likely be a three-way battle for supremacy.

"Keep it up, Miss Hoshino..."

Thinking of this, Nebula Sky couldn't help but clench her fists. She had finally seen her favorite racehorse girl participate in the competition again, and she didn't want to see Embroidered Star Dream suffer defeat.

Especially in this public opinion environment, in the past few months, due to the avoidance of Arima Kinen and Narita Shirahito's winning streak, the outside world's doubts about Hideyoshi Dream have become increasingly louder.

As her fan, Xingyun Tiankong is powerless to reverse the tide of public opinion on her own. She only hopes that Xiuxingmeng's performance today can weaken the doubts.

No one would want their favorite racehorse girl to be criticized like this every day.

Everyone in the audience had their own thoughts. Some of them, as fans of Narita Shirahito, wanted to use today's victory to set an unquestionable tone for public opinion.

Some were fans of the rice bath, hoping to see this black assassin recapture his past glory at today's Emperor's Spring Festival celebration.

Some, however, simply wanted to witness a thrilling three-way battle for supremacy.

Meanwhile, Kentaro Sugiki, who was hesitating in front of the players' tunnel, was naturally unaware of the thoughts flowing in the audience, or rather, even if he knew, he wouldn't care, as he had more important things to do right now.

As the guest commentator for this match, Kentaro Sugiki should be sitting in the commentary room now, partnering with the new commentator Rin Akasaka to introduce the game.

However, he apologized to the young girl in advance and let her lead the team alone for a while, as he had more important things to do than commentating on the game.

That's right, it's about telling Xiuxingyu what the Mejiro family did.

Xiuxing Yume had been living at Mejiro's house, and Sugimoto Kentaro didn't have the means to get in, so he could only have the chance to see her today when the competition started.

But just as he was ready, having his partner warm up the crowd for a while, and when he arrived at the contestant passage to find Xiu Xingmeng, Sugimoto Kentaro suddenly stopped.

At this final moment, he hesitated.

It's important to tell Xiuxingmeng what you know, but isn't this competition and the Emperor's Spring Festival celebration important too?

From last year's Chrysanthemum Appreciation to now, Xiu Xingmeng has been honing her skills for several months in preparation for this Emperor's Spring Appreciation. If I tell her about this now, will it affect her mentality? Will it cast a shadow over her chance to win the championship?

Every race is crucial for Uma Musume, especially a G1 race like the Emperor's Spring Festival. Wouldn't it be a shame to lose glory because of your own words and lose your composure?

Kentaro Sugiki paced back and forth in front of the entrance to the players' tunnel, each thud of his footsteps representing the turmoil in his mind.

Just as he hesitated, a hurried footstep suddenly came from afar. Before Kentaro Sugimoto could react, the footsteps, carrying words, rushed up to him.

"Mr. Sugimoto! The contestant introductions are about to begin, we have to go to the commentary room!"

Kentaro Sugiki glanced at the sweaty, flustered staff in front of him, then looked back at the entrance to the contestants' passage. Finally, he sighed and chose to leave.

There was no time for him to hesitate. As a veteran commentator, it was already a dereliction of duty for him to leave during the warm-up segment. It would have been even more inappropriate if he hadn't been there when the players were being introduced.

"Let's wait...we'll go find her after the match is over."

Kentaro Sugimoto jogged backstage with the staff guiding him, sighing to himself.

Regardless of the outcome of the competition, he would tell Xiu Xingmeng everything he knew.

It is her freedom to make whatever choice she makes, but Kentaro Sugimoto will never allow the Mejiro family to arrange her life on their own without informing Seisei Yume.

He was just a lowly commentator, and even with his seniority, he couldn't withstand the Mejiro family, who had reached their peak in recent years. But Kentaro Sugimoto wasn't afraid; he was prepared to bear the consequences if the Mejiro family became enraged.

He had long been prepared for this.

Following the staff, Kentaro Sugiki jogged into the commentary room, nodded to his new partner, smoothly put on his equipment, glanced at the information one last time, and then pointed the microphone at his mouth.

After taking a deep breath, he nodded to the staff member next to him, indicating that he was ready.