Horse Girl, Your Friend is Fighting Her Way Out of the Horse Racing Track

"I will never be satisfied if I cannot win back the game fairly and squarely in the best possible condition."

Poetry and Wine stared intently at the hand, then her gaze slowly moved upwards, meeting Naritaji's clear, unclouded purple-gold eyes.

There was no condescending pity in the blonde girl's eyes, only respect for her as an equal, and boundless anticipation for the future.

'Is that so…'

She is not just a one-time sacrifice; she belongs to this track and to every race to come.

The black-haired girl grasped some of the meaning of the competition, though not entirely, but it was a good... start?

The tension that had been building up between poetry and wine suddenly began to ease.

She didn't laugh, but her feigned indifference gradually melted away without her realizing it.

The black-haired girl reached out her slightly sore hand and grasped Naritaji's hand in return.

Two hands, both trembling slightly from exhaustion, clasped tightly together in the empty underground corridor.

"it is good."

Their eyes met.

"I won't run away."

……

On the evening of the third day after the Yayoi Prize ended, at Treson Academy.

The last rays of the setting sun had been completely swallowed by the night, and the early spring breeze swept through the tree-lined paths on both sides of the school, bringing a cool evening breeze.

One by one, the streetlights lit up, casting dappled shadows of trees onto the smooth stone pavement.

Poetry and wine strolled slowly along the path of the academy.

The agitation from the competition had long since vanished, replaced by an unusually heavy muscle soreness.

Especially in my right calf and knee, every step I take feels like a faint protest coming from deep within the joint.

Although the school doctor has confirmed that there is no actual strain, the body has indeed been pushed to its limit by that extremely reckless 2,000-meter race.

Poetry and Wine stopped by a quiet bench. Not wanting to drag their legs back to the dormitory, they bent down slightly and rubbed their sore calves.

My mind is still a mess.

Although she won the Yayoi Prize and gained priority access to the Satsuki Prize, Shi and Shu knew that if she used this aggressive running style again at the Satsuki Prize a month later, all her efforts to recover her health would be in vain.

Narita is working hard, while his other rivals of the same generation are also gathering strength.

'If it were the original body, Narita wouldn't stand a chance against me...'

The promise I made to the other party, "I won't run away," still weighed heavily on my heart.

Having promised to keep the appointment in top condition and with dignity, she also wanted to try to find a way to maintain her speed without ruining her body.

But there's no such thing as a free lunch.

"If you press down with that much force again, be careful that you don't get an infection there tomorrow."

A cold, clear voice suddenly came from the shadows not far away.

Poetry and Wine paused in rubbing his leg, then looked up in confusion.

A dark brown figure stood a few steps away from the bench, by the lakeside railing.

He admired Orihime, his arms crossed, and turned his head to look at her.

The place where she was standing was dark, with only a faint ray of streetlight shining on her shoulder.

If she hadn't spoken up, Poetry and Wine wouldn't have noticed that there was someone else standing there.

"Sister... loves Sang."

Poetry and Wine straightened up.

Ai Mu Zhi Ji didn't reply immediately. She shifted her gaze from Shi Yu Jiu's trembling right leg and looked back at the night sky above, which was reddened by the city lights and had few stars in sight.

"I watched the broadcast of the Yayoi Prize."

After a moment, she spoke softly.

"A very ugly match."

If anyone else heard such a comment, they would probably immediately refute it or get angry, but Shiyu knew that given her admiration for Orihime, she would most likely not say such things carelessly.

So the black-haired girl looked at her calmly.

"I know."

Poetry and Wine leaned back on the bench, speaking in a very frank tone.

"The techniques used in the second half, from the uphill section to the mid-range sprint, were very average."

Ai Mu turned around, her purple eyes appearing exceptionally deep in the dim light.

She seemed surprised by the Poetry and Wine Party's response.

"I admire Orihime," she said softly.

"How could I mean your posture when I said it was ugly..."

Ai Mu was somewhat helpless; she herself didn't realize that her voice had become a little stern.

Why work so hard?

"You didn't plan to leave yourself any tomorrow, did you?"

Poetry and wine fell silent.

Main character: Chapter 341 What I Know

The evening breeze rustled through the leaves of the trees lining the road, creating a soft, rustling sound.

"...If I didn't run like that, I wouldn't be able to catch up with her."

Poetry and Wine lowered their heads, looking at the tips of their shoes, which were covered with a bit of grass.

She didn't know why she felt a little guilty in front of Orihime, whom she admired.

'Does that guy really see me as his older sister...?'

The poet and the wine were thinking about it with a hint of resentment, but when the words reached their lips, they inexplicably became more honest.

"I didn't think that much at the time. I... well, whether my legs would still be able to move after the run was something I needed to think about later."

"madness."

"I admire Orihime," he said mercilessly.

She frowned, seemingly extremely displeased with the answer, but beneath the brown-haired girl's displeasure lay a subtle irritation born of empathy.

Why do I still find myself involuntarily regarding her as my younger sister...?

"The Satsuki Sho is also a 2,000-meter race, but there will be more participants and the pace will be even more suffocating. If you still run with the mindset of 'it doesn't matter if I die after finishing the race,' you won't even be able to climb the steep slope before the finish line."

He admired Orihime and stared at her intently.

"The track that boasts the classic triple crown is not a place for self-gratification or self-destruction. If you just want to find a place to exhaust yourself, don't go and ruin that honor."

His words about admiring Orihime were rather harsh, almost like they were barbed.

Poetry and Wine looked at Orihime's taut face, and she could hear a clear concern beneath her coldness and sternness.

But poetry and wine still got angry.

Why do you think I will fail?

The black-haired girl's eyes turned cold, and she stood up with some dissatisfaction.

“I am more deserving of this achievement than anyone else.”

"Even if it's for the sake of some so-called honor, you're not much better than me, are you?"

The air seemed to freeze at that moment.

The early spring evening breeze stirred up a few dry fallen leaves, making a very faint rustling sound on the smooth road between the two people.

Poetry and wine, with their sharp defensiveness and defiant retaliation, precisely cut through the cold pretense of love for Orihime, revealing without reservation the similar psychological flaws of the two women.

To the surprise of Poetry and Wine, Orihime, who admired him, was not angry.

After finishing his conversation about poetry and wine, not a trace of anger, even when he admired Orihime's purple eyes, appeared.

She stood quietly at the edge of the dim streetlamp, watching the black-haired girl in front of her, who looked like a spiky hedgehog because of excessive defensiveness.

A moment later, Orihime's eyelashes drooped slightly, and her shoulders beneath her uniform relaxed a little.

"you're right."

Ai Mu Shi gave a self-deprecating laugh.

"what."

"On this track, I am indeed a terrible guy burdened with delusions. In that respect, I am no better than you."

Poetry and wine were stunned.

She had prepared herself for an even colder rebuttal, but she never expected that the sharp spikes she had erected all over her body would pierce through the other party's armor so easily.

The anger that had been forced out of guilt instantly lost its ignition source.

In the brief moment she was stunned, her right calf, which had been overly tense due to her sudden standing up in her emotional state, finally erupted in protest.

A sharp spasm suddenly twitched through his muscles.

Poetry and Wine's face instantly turned pale with pain. She bit her lower lip and let out a muffled groan as her right knee buckled uncontrollably.

Almost at the same instant that Poetry and Wine swayed, Orihime, who had been standing a few steps away, suddenly changed her expression.

She instinctively took a quick half-step forward, instantly releasing her arms from her chest-crossing posture, and reached out with both hands, wanting to immediately support Shi Yujiu's body as she was about to fall.

But poetry and wine stubbornly clung to the wooden slats of the bench back behind them.

She managed to support herself with the strength of her arms, preventing herself from falling to the ground in a disheveled state.

The black-haired girl, suppressing the cold sweat beading on her forehead, slowly sat back down on the bench.

The half-step that Ai Musashi had taken was abruptly frozen in place.

She looked at the black-haired girl pressing her calf muscles tightly, trembling slightly from the pain, yet remaining stubbornly silent, and a pang of heartache flashed in her eyes.

In the end, she slowly withdrew her hand, which was halfway outstretched, and placed it back at her side.

Instead of crossing his arms again, his hands, which he admired, unconsciously clenched into fists.

"You can't prove anything by acting like this."

Ai Mu Shiri retreated most of her body back into the shadows of the night, her tone returning to calm.

She slowed her speech slightly.

"If you have to grit your teeth and struggle just to stand up, what's the point of risking your life for the next match?"

This sentence precisely extinguished the last trace of restlessness that had arisen in Poetry and Wine's hearts due to stress.

Suddenly, without warning, the image of Naritaji's clear, unclouded purple-gold eyes flashed through the girl's mind as she sat on the bench in the underground passage.

'I will never be satisfied unless I win fair and square, in my best condition.'

Poetry and wine were on his calves, and a few blue veins bulged slightly on the back of his hand.

Then, her strength gradually and slowly relaxed.

The black-haired girl's last remaining defenses completely vanished in the cool night breeze, leaving only exhaustion from physical depletion.

"I won't."

Poetry and wine speak softly.

"I promised Narita that I would compete against her in the best possible condition next time. If I get sick, I won't be able to keep my promise."

Upon hearing the word "promise," Orihime's gaze paused slightly.

The emotions in her eyes vanished silently in an instant, and her entire demeanor became melancholic.

"……Yeah."