Uma Musume Girl, I'll tell you about my Santa Hat special move too?

She said she wouldn't leave the house because of that match, but that was just a ploy to trick me into this awkward situation. She even looked so heartbroken back then... That old lady was so cunning!

Stardust Illusion stood at the room door, gritting his teeth, wishing he could just leave, but Megumi McQueen wasn't really going to leave without any explanation—

Damn it, was this all part of your plan, Lady Megumi!

After waiting at the door for a while, McQueen changed her clothes and reappeared before the Stardust illusion. Her face was slightly flushed, but her expression had returned to calm.

She led Stardust Illusion back into the room. Looking at the racehorse girl who had beaten her just a few days ago, McQueen took a deep breath and said, "So, what exactly happened just now? Why are you here, Stardust Illusion?"

Stardust Illusion scratched his head sheepishly and gave McQueen a brief explanation of the whole story.

"Sigh..." Megumi McQueen sighed deeply, covering his face with his hands. "So it really was Grandma's doing. This is truly..."

"Okay, anyway, I'm very grateful that you're willing to come and comfort me, but I, Megumi McQueen, am not so fragile that I would be so depressed that I can't even leave the house after losing a simulation match. Now that you see me like this, you're relieved, right?"

"..." Stardust Illusion looked at the girl in front of it and did not reply for a moment.

"Hmm? Is there anything else?" McQueen asked, puzzled.

Seeing the stardust illusion staring at her, she involuntarily swallowed, feeling inexplicably nervous.

His ears twitched repeatedly, and McQueen clutched his chest in panic, shouting:

"Wait, could it be... I'm telling you, don't take Grandma's words seriously! Marrying into her family is impossible! I'll desperately beg Sister Gaofeng to help me refuse!"

Chapter Sixty-Five: Don't you know I'm the Man of the Promise?

"I wasn't thinking about that."

Stardust Illusion interrupted, half-laughing and half-crying, "But McQueen, are you really not bothered by what happened in the previous competition, as you said?"

"What? Of course I won't let something like this affect my mood. Who do you think I am, Mukuro McQueen?"

McQueen rolled his eyes and casually tossed his still slightly damp long hair as he spoke.

“But your expression is written all over your face.” Stardust Illusion looked at the young lady in front of her.

At this moment, McQueen was frowning, and there was still a hint of confusion in his eyes.

Clearly, she wasn't completely oblivious to what had happened, as she claimed.

"While it's certainly not as serious as Lady Meguro described, are you really not bothered by the results of the previous matches?"

“If it really had no impact on you, I think Ryan wouldn’t have brought me here to accompany Madam Mejiro in her nonsense.”

"Stardust Illusion said earnestly."

After all, although Lady Mejiro's personality seems a bit nasty and she would make such jokes, Mejiro Ryan, the runner, doesn't seem like the type to really go along with her nonsense.

She'll cooperate by bringing herself here, which means Ryan also hopes she can do something to help McQueen.

Consider this payment for the meal...

Stardust Illusion thought so.

Upon hearing the Stardust Illusion, McQueen immediately stood up from his seat and loudly retorted:

"Don't try to guess what I'm thinking! I didn't care... It was just a short-distance race, so what if I lost?!"

"My goal has never changed: to be a champion in the world of high-stakes races! It's a middle- and long-distance race! I'm not confused, and I don't need anyone to tell me what to do!"

Stardust Illusion looked calmly at McQueen, without backing down: "Shouldn't you be aware of your own thoughts to respond so fiercely?"

"..."

McQueen stared wide-eyed at the stardust illusion before him, anger burning within him, yet for a moment he was at a loss for words.

She herself realized this; indeed, as Stardust Illusion had said, she didn't care about losing a match, but...

Before the competition ended, McQueen was completely disqualified from winning due to her lack of experience, which was what she was most unwilling to accept.

why?

Why did I fall into other people's rhythm like that?

If I had stayed true to myself and not been influenced by other runners, would the outcome have been completely different?

McQueen knew perfectly well that she was no weaker than anyone else, yet she still lost, even before the competition ended... She had been agonizing over this for the past few days.

"You're right, I'm not reconciled."

McQueen lowered her head and muttered to herself, her voice seemingly coming from the bottom of a deep well: "I am not reconciled to losing so easily... The Mejiro family bloodline clearly gave me such powerful abilities, yet I am disgraced because of my misjudgment."

"I'm aiming to achieve a three-generation reign for the Mejiro family's Amatsukasa clan! But in a place like this... how can the honor of the Mejiro family allow such a thing to happen?!"

"The Mejiro family has always been..." Stardust Illusion looked at the agitated McQueen, but remained calm. "That's not what I want to hear. What does McQueen himself think?"

"Varied--"

McQueen's anger froze instantly at the words of Stardust Illusion; she opened her mouth, but found herself speechless.

She hadn't thought about such a thing yet. From the moment she started training, McQueen was lauded by all the media and audiences. Everyone was happy to link her extraordinary long-distance talent with the Mejiro family bloodline and honors.

[If he's a rising star from the Mejiro family, then it's only natural that he'd dominate long-distance running, right?]

They often say things like this.

But what do I really think?

What am I running for?

"As for me, I want to win." Stardust Illusion looked at Megumi McQueen, who seemed confused, and took the initiative to speak about himself.

"At first, I just thought I could run a race and earn some money. After all, my family is from the countryside, and my family members are sick, so I thought I could earn the prize money this way."

"However, all of these thoughts changed after I stepped onto the field. Donghai Diwang... she showed me through her actions what running really means to me, and what victory in a race truly means."

"...Cheers! I want to bask in the cheers of the entire crowd! I want to win! I don't want anyone to reach the finish line before me!"

If an ordinary person heard what Stardust Illusion was saying, they would probably just laugh at her arrogance.

But McQueen, seeing the look in her eyes, understood that she didn't mean that...

One horse leads the way, while all others fall silent.

This was the proverb that Rudolph gave McQueen when she first met him.

Stardust Illusion must have grasped the true meaning of this sentence, which is why it craves every victory so much.

It is precisely because of her thirst for knowledge that victory responds to her, and that she continues to break through her own limits in each competition.

And what about yourself?

McQueen suddenly realized that she couldn't even think of any other merits she possessed.

"I really envy you, Stardust Illusion..."

Thinking of this, McQueen felt as if his heart was encased in a thick layer of ice, cold, hard, and solid. "Unlike you, I have nothing to boast about except for the Mejiro family bloodline... Only long distance, only long distance is my only battlefield."

Stardust Illusion, watching McQueen begin to wallow in self-pity, took a deep breath and then slowly spoke:

"So what?"

"Huh?"

"I'm asking you, so what if you're only good at long distances?" Stardust Illusion proactively pointed out his weakness. "Everyone has things they're not good at, right? Like me, I just can't seem to get the cornering technique right. My training partners, Eagle and Bourbon, are getting tired of training with me."

"Race, McQueen, do you like running?"

"……like."

Recalling himself racing on long-distance tracks, enjoying the feeling of squeezing every bit of power from his body to defeat all his opponents, McQueen had to admit that he did indeed enjoy that feeling.

"If you like it, then go for it."

"It's not as easy as you make it sound! Victory is my absolute must!"

“Then victory is assured.” Stardust Illusion said matter-of-factly:

"If you really feel that you have to win, then go and win—running is that simple."

"What if it fails?!" McQueen asked loudly.

"Ah, I knew you'd ask that." Stardust Illusion said, hands on hips, beaming.

She wasn't surprised by the question at all; in fact, she had asked someone else the same question before, and this was the person's response.

"McQueen is such a fool. What kind of racehorse girl thinks about losing before the race even starts?"

Stardust Illusion grinned and repeated the words that Rokuhei Ginjiro had given him.

“Fool?! But…” McQueen stared wide-eyed in shock at Stardust Illusion, who had called him a fool. He was about to retort when Stardust Illusion interrupted him again:

"Oh, even this can't convince you? So I said I'm not good at this... Let's try a different approach."

Stardust Illusion scratched the back of her head as she spoke, then stretched out her right hand, pointing a finger directly at McQueen's forehead:

"McQueen is also participating in this exchange program, right? How about we make a promise?"

"An agreement?" McQueen tilted his head and asked in confusion.

"Ah, it's a promise. Trainer Toyama has already scheduled a mock match during the exchange and learning process, to see who's better than the French players."

"Then we'll see who wins. If I win, then McQueen needs to pull himself together and stop thinking about all this nonsense!"

"Are you crazy?! Saying you want to compete against a French athlete—isn't that like challenging a prestigious family?!"

“Ah.” Stardust Illusion spoke of the Noble Clan without any fear in his eyes. “The Noble Clan is very powerful, and there’s also Zhuo Fu… or rather, every single French exchange student makes me feel like I can’t defeat them.”

"But so what? As long as I'm on the field... I have a chance to win!"

"So, McQueen, are you going to make this deal with me?"

As the Stardust illusion's right hand, which had been pointing at his brow, turned into a fist, Eye White McQueen froze on the spot, then burst out laughing:

"What kind of inexplicable confidence is this? I think you're the one who looks like a fool..."

“But…” She extended her right fist, meeting it against the stardust illusion, and said with a resolute expression:

"Since it's a competition, I won't lose!"

Chapter Sixty-Six: Stardust Illusion, Let Me See Your Limits!