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

……

Late at night, in the dormitory of Orihime, who admires her.

This is a standard double room, with two beds on either side of the room, separated by a narrow aisle.

The bed near the mirror is pink, while the bed near the door is blue, with several plush toys on it.

The night outside the window was utterly still. A thin orange beam of light shone through the crack in the door from the emergency light at the end of the corridor, and the occasional sound of footsteps could be heard in the distance.

Zhenjiling, wearing a pink nightgown, was sitting on her bed, carefully combing her tail with a wooden comb.

The girl's fluffy tail was wrapped around her from behind to the front, its fur gleaming with a soft, light gray sheen under the warm light of the desk lamp.

She carefully and slowly combed through the hair, patiently untangling each knotted strand with her fingertips and then smoothing it out again.

"Loves weaving mulberry leaves".

She spoke softly.

"Ah."

A response came from across the bed from Makoto.

Ai Musou was still wearing her red and white training uniform, squatting by the bed tying her shoelaces.

She threaded the shoelace through the last hole, tied a knot, and tucked the excess thread under the tongue.

"It's so late, are you still going?"

Zhenjiling put down the comb, hugged her freshly combed tail, and looked at her roommate across from her.

Her eyes held a hint of worry, but more so, a sense of acceptance. This wasn't the first time this had happened.

"Ah."

Ai Mu straightened up, responding casually as she reached for her coat draped over the back of the chair.

"I'll only run one kilometer and then come back; I have a race tomorrow."

She spoke casually, after all, a one-kilometer night run was just an ordinary thing for her.

"Ai-san has been working harder and harder lately."

Zhenjiling gently tucked the tail in her arms with both hands, her voice soft.

“You’re not here when I wake up every morning, and you only come back after I fall asleep at night… I can hardly remember what you look like in the dorm during the day.”

Ai Mu Shi put on her coat, zipped it up, and paused at the door.

She turned around and glanced at Zhen Jiling.

The light from the desk lamp shone from the side, bathing half of her face in a warm yellow halo, while the other half remained hidden in shadow.

The brown-haired girl's deep purple eyes revealed no strong emotions; they were quiet and still, like a calm lake.

"Because I absolutely cannot lose."

The tone of Ai Musashi's voice was no different from usual, but Makoto inexplicably felt a sense of unease.

Zhenjiling tightened her grip on the tail slightly.

"Then come back soon."

Her voice was a little softer than before.

"I'll go to the stands tomorrow to cheer you on."

Ai Mu did not answer; she turned around and reached out to grasp the doorknob.

"Click".

The door lock was turned open.

"Go to sleep first."

After saying this, Ai Muyu pushed open the door and went out.

"crunch-"

The door closed slowly behind me, cutting off the light in the narrow corridor. A silence returned to the room.

真机伶坐在床上，抱着自己的尾巴，看着那扇已经关好了的门。

Her expression was somewhat complicated; she felt a mix of heartache and helplessness at her roommate's infatuation with Orihime Maki.

She lowered her head, rested her chin on the fluffiest tuft of fur at the tip of her tail, and stayed quietly for a while.

Then she picked up her phone, which was next to her pillow, and glanced at the time in the upper right corner of the screen.

8:17 PM.

There's less than half a day left until tomorrow's Satsuki Sho.

“Loves mulberry trees…”

Zhenjiling put the phone back on the pillow, picked up the comb again, but didn't continue combing her tail.

She held the comb in her hand, lowered her head, and seemed lost in thought.

Meanwhile, on the dark road outside the dormitory building, Aimo Orihime was making her final preparations before running.

She folded the towel she had brought and placed it on a bench by the roadside. Dressed in a red and white training uniform, she did some simple stretching in the cool breeze of the early spring night.

A familiar soreness came from my calf muscles; the high-intensity training during the day was still having some effect.

Ai Musou didn't rush to start running. She raised her head and looked up at the night sky.

The moon was very bright tonight, almost cloudless, illuminating the outline of Treson Academy clearly.

Main character: Chapter 345 is not good.

There weren't many stars, just a few scattered ones. The night wind was damp and cool, creeping in through my collar and cuffs.

However, Orihime, who admires him, saw the twin stars.

'First Magnitude Star...'

Ai Musou closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

My lungs were filled with the crisp night air, carrying the scent of grass and earth.

She couldn't help but think about tomorrow.

On the 2,000-meter track of Zhongshan Racecourse, they will face Narita Road and Poetry & Wine, as well as all other ambitious rivals of the same generation.

Then she opened her eyes and began running on the night road.

Footsteps echoed lightly and rhythmically on the empty night road, and the breath of the woman who loved Orihime condensed into a faint white mist in the cold air, dissipating into the darkness behind her.

Behind her, in the dormitory building, a window was dimly lit.

That was the dormitory where Ai-chan and Makoto were staying. Light peeked out from the gap in the curtains, quietly waiting for the lonely figure to return from the track.

……

The next morning at 6:30, in the dormitory corridor.

Poetry and Wine pushed open the door to their room, holding a backpack that had already been packed.

The bag was lighter than usual, and it contained only the most basic items.

A spare horseshoe, a small bottle of sports drink, a towel, various identification documents, and a neatly folded dark coat.

She no longer has a trainer or team to help her with her belongings.

However, this is not uncommon in the academy.

A very small number of exceptionally capable female horses will choose to compete independently, managing their own training plans, nutritional meals, and pre-race adjustments.

Poetry and Wine did have opportunities to be assigned trainers, but she declined, stating that she "didn't want anyone to endorse my decision."

The student union didn't try to persuade them to stay; they just made a note in the system and then there was no further communication.

So from the Singapore-Malaysia race until now, she has gone to every race alone.

The corridor was quiet in the early morning.

Most of the mare's rooms were still closed, and occasionally a slight turning over or a dreamlike whisper could be heard from behind one of the doors.

Poetry and Wine descended the stairs quietly. As she passed the lobby on the first floor, the early-rising dormitory head, Fujikishi, greeted her.

Poetry and Wine nodded in response, then, without disturbing anyone, she pushed open the door and stepped into the cold morning air.

It was not yet fully light.

The eastern horizon was just beginning to lighten with a pale orange-pink hue, and the three goddesses applied a thin layer of watercolor to the edge of the gray-blue sky.

Looking overhead and to the west, large swaths of gray clouds were slowly pressing in from a distance.

Poetry and Wine looked up and saw that the clouds were thicker than she had expected.

She had already checked today's weather on her phone.

She checked it once before going to bed last night, and then checked it again when she woke up this morning. She can now recite the contents of the page.

[Tokyo Area Weather Forecast - Nakayama Racecourse Area]

Today during the day: Cloudy turning to light rain, with the rain intensifying in the afternoon and gradually weakening before evening.

Poetry and Wine, somewhat dejected, put his phone screen-down in his pocket and didn't look at it a second time.

She is still afraid of rain.

If it's just a regular rainy day, it's fine. You can just use an umbrella or wear a raincoat, or if all else fails, just stay in your dorm room.

But today she has to compete, and on the track, she has neither an umbrella nor a raincoat, only a flesh and blood body and a two-kilometer track.

Furthermore, races of Uma Musume are almost never canceled due to light rain, unless it is a torrential downpour that could endanger the track; otherwise, the race time is rarely changed.

She couldn't help but recall the scenes from the previous rainy days, which all seemed to end badly, except for the one time she spent with her beloved Orihime at night.

Poetry and Wine abruptly shook their heads, forcibly cutting those images from their minds.

'Not now.'

She took a deep breath and started walking towards the school gate.

It takes about forty minutes to get from Treson Academy to Zhongshan Racecourse.

To maintain their form, Poetry and Wine did not choose to go directly to the racetrack.

She simply hailed a taxi and went there.

After signing autographs for the driver who supported her, Shi Yujiu sat down by the window, hugged her bag, and quietly looked out the window.

The scenery outside the window kept receding as the vehicle moved forward.

It gradually transitioned from a school district to the suburbs, and then slowly became the edge of the city, interspersed with low-rise houses and storage facilities.

The sky was getting grayer and grayer.

She silently calculated the time in her mind.

At the usual pace, it takes about fifteen minutes to walk from the racetrack entrance to the lounge.

After changing into the final outfit and warming up, you should be just in time for your appearance in the ring.

She had gone through the process countless times; she could do it with her eyes closed.

More important than that is how to deal with Shigemachi today.

Poetry and wine quickly ran through the key points of the rainy day track in my mind.

Landing will be more slippery, so you need to lower your center of gravity. Your vision will be affected, so pay attention to changes in the footsteps ahead.

Increased grass moisture content creates additional resistance, so be prepared for a decline in physical fitness in the second half of the race...

She knew all of this. In theory, she was no stranger to fighting in the rain, and could even be said to be quite well prepared mentally.

After all, she possesses the skills of the [Shigebaba Demon].

But "knowing" and "not being afraid" are never the same thing.

Just as she knew her body was fine and she was ready, Narita and Orihime would definitely be waiting for her on that track today.

But the black-haired girl's chest began to feel heavy, and she felt her chest tightening, squeezing her breath little by little.