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

But upon closer inspection, she realized that Shi and Jiu were merely putting on a brave face, and her shy expression wasn't much better.

Main character: Chapter 363 I Like You (Third Update)

However, instead of coldly refuting her usual behavior, Ai-hime stubbornly relied on poetry and wine to greedily absorb the other's warmth.

"Have you... seen her?"

"I love Orihime," she asked softly, her tone cautious yet hopeful.

"I saw it."

Poetry and wine did not hesitate, but gave their answer with certainty.

"A girl with a radiant smile and a speed like the wind. She gave you all her happiness."

Ai Mu's breath hitched slightly. Then, she gently released her grip on Shi and Sake's shoulders and instead held Shi and Sake's fingers tightly together.

The two held hands and turned their gaze back to the vast starry sky.

At this moment, in the otherwise deep night sky, a star is shining with an unprecedented, pure and bright light.

"Darby's track, do you want to win?"

Poetry and Wine looked at the star and asked softly.

"think."

He answered without hesitation, expressing his admiration for Orihime.

She gazed at the sea of ​​stars, her deep purple eyes no longer filled with the previous bewilderment and desolation, but instead burning with a flame of intense desire for victory.

"Not just for her."

Ai Mu Shi tightened her grip on the poetry and wine, feeling the warmth emanating from her palm.

"I also yearn to win that victory that belongs to me. I want to use these legs to feel the joy of crossing the finish line."

"Hmm, that's more like it."

A contented smile touched the corners of Shi Yujiu's lips. She gently squeezed the hand of the woman who admired Orihime.

"It's getting late. We have to go down the mountain tomorrow. Let's get some rest."

"……it is good."

In the early summer mountain breeze, the two took one last deep look at the dazzling star, then turned and walked in unison toward the tent that was lit by warm light.

Only after they had crawled into their respective sleeping bags, through the thick moisture-proof layer of the bags, did Aimu, in the darkness, reluctantly and little by little, loosen her grip on the hand that she had held tightly with Shi and Jiu all night.

The moment her fingertips separated, she felt a pang of loneliness, but her heart was filled with an unprecedented peace.

Goodnight, poetry and wine.

Goodnight, Orihime.

The heavy burden of guilt lifted. Warmth filled her eyes as she closed them, her breathing quickly becoming long and even.

She finally crossed the muddy path and entered a quiet, warm, and star-filled dream.

However, on the other side of the tent.

Poetry and wine, however, did not bring me to sleep.

She lay quietly in her sleeping bag, her gaze, tinged with melancholy and complex emotions, fixed on the sleeping profile of her beloved Orihime through the dim light.

Deep in her mind, a conversation whose full details were unknown to the beloved Orihime was faintly echoing.

……

Thank you.

Amidst the dazzling sea of ​​stars, a vibrant young woman, whose face bore an uncanny resemblance to the beloved Orihime, walked briskly around the Poetry and Wine Pavilion with her hands behind her back, her face beaming with immense joy.

"Thanks to you, you completely took away the heavy and bad fate that was on my sister's shoulders."

Poetry and Wine stood still, looking at this pure soul, their expressions surprisingly calm, even tinged with bitterness.

She gently shook her head.

"No need to thank me. Anyway... I'm about to leave this world. Since I'm destined to leave, it's only right that I take away the cause and effect of her suffering before I go."

Upon hearing this, the girl, who had just been smiling broadly, paused in her actions.

She leaned closer to the poetry and wine, looking them up and down with a look of suspicion and disbelief in her eyes.

"Hey, you bastard..."

The girl squinted, as if she had seen through some incredible script.

"You're not planning to pull off some cliché story like 'Daby wins the championship in Japan, or mysteriously disappears after leaving the deepest impression,' are you?"

Poetry and wine fell silent. Her eyelids lowered slightly, avoiding the girl's sharp gaze.

"...I guessed right?!"

The girl exaggeratedly covered her mouth.

"No."

Poetry and Wine turned his head to one side somewhat unnaturally, his tone revealing a clear sense of guilt, and his previously composed demeanor instantly crumbled by half.

"She has to choose between her sister and the competition."

"So you just tricked her into choosing a competition?!"

The girl's eyes widened, her hands on her hips, her cheeks puffed out in anger, and she stared at the poetry and wine with great resentment and dissatisfaction.

"You're a truly wicked woman!"

"You helped her resolve her inner conflict, finally giving her someone to rely on, and now you're just going to walk away? Don't you have any conscience after doing this to my sister? I regret giving my sister's hand to you in the illusion just now!"

Faced with the girl's barrage of accusations, Poetry and Wine were like a little black cat whose tail had been stepped on, instantly bristling and hissing in rebuttal.

Do you think I wanted this?

"How can you blame it all on me! Don't you know how serious your sister's mental health issues are?"

"Eh--"

Seeing Shi Yu Jiu's exasperated yet speechless state, the girl's previously sullen expression suddenly melted away.

She let out a long sigh.

The originally solid, translucent shape began to blur and dissipate like a dandelion in the wind.

"I know you're also in pain inside, right?"

The girl completely suppressed the feigned, aggressive expression of displeasure she had just displayed.

She floated to the poetry and wine, her eyes softening with tenderness, and she offered her purest tolerance to the black-haired horse before her.

"Although I don't know what curse or destiny you're carrying, but... since you're trying so hard to save her..."

The girl stretched out her gradually transparent finger and lightly touched Poetry and Wine's forehead from a distance, then winked mischievously.

"In exchange, I'll generously share half of my absolute favorite sister with you!"

"No matter where you go in the future, even if you leave this world, please spend the rest of your time happily with her. But—"

The girl changed the subject abruptly, deliberately revealing a fierce little expression.

"If you end up hurting my sister and making her cry again, be careful you won't get your comeuppance!"

"...I won't suffer any retribution."

Poetry and wine gaze steadily at the soul that is about to dissipate before them.

The stubbornness that was always on her lips melted away little by little in the starlight, eventually turning into an extremely gentle smile.

"Goodbye."

"Goodbye, you bad woman. Please make sure Darby wins on the field."

The girl nodded vigorously, then smiled brightly, her figure transforming into countless starlight, disappearing completely into the depths of her consciousness of poetry and wine.

……

Consciousness receded like the tide.

When I came to my senses, the poetry and wine were still lying in the cramped single sleeping bag.

Occasionally, an animal's cry could be heard outside the tent.

She poked half her head out of her sleeping bag, looking somewhat bewildered, and took a deep breath of the cool air, which carried the fresh scent of grass and trees. Then she reached for her phone and glanced at it.

"It's already... 1:30 a.m.

Poetry and Wine raised his hand with a slight headache, rubbing his temples vigorously to forcefully suppress the melancholy in his mind.

I can't stay up late anymore.

She turned her head and glanced at her beloved Orihime, who was sleeping soundly beside her, with a faint smile on her lips.

"I'll just give you the victory. I can't take the trophy with me anyway, as long as I surpass Good Opera and Narita Road."

Poetry and wine silently said this to herself, then she retreated back into the warmth of her sleeping bag and closed her eyes.

P.S.: Actually, the title of chapter 362 is "I Like You", and chapter 363 is "Teacher Da Jiu", but I switched them in order to lure more people into reading it.

Main character: Chapter 364 And then?

In the early morning forest, poetry and wine are awakened by the clear chirping of birds.

Morning dew slid down the tent flap and dripped onto the grass. The first rays of sunlight pierced the canopy, dispelling the darkness left over from the night of the new moon.

Inside the tent, accompanied by the rustling sound of a sleeping bag zipper being pulled open, Shi Yu Jiu and Ai Mu Zhi Ji opened their eyes almost simultaneously.

Last night's conversation unconsciously came to mind for both of them.

Under the sunlight, nothing could be hidden, and both of them could clearly see each other's faces.

So much so that the moment their eyes met, an awkward, suffocating atmosphere filled the air.

Ai Musashi quickly turned her face away, her dark brown horse ears stiffening. She sat up expressionlessly and spoke in a deliberately indifferent tone.

"morning."

"morning."

Poetry and wine reacted equally quickly. With a composed expression, she reached up and smoothed her bangs, concealing her somewhat shy eyes.

"The mountain wind was too strong last night, so I didn't sleep well and probably talked incoherently in my sleep."

"Me too."

Ai Mu Shiri neatly packed away the moisture-proof mat while coldly replying.

"It was just some boring hallucinations."

"That would be best."

"I think so too."

The two of them chatted back and forth, trying to make the atmosphere less humorous again.

However, just as Shi and Jiu were packing up the tent frame, Shi reached out to pull the aluminum alloy pole at the bottom corner, and Ai Mu Zhi Ji's hand also reached out at the same time.

Their cool fingertips touched accidentally, and an electric shock-like reaction occurred instantly.

Ai Mushi abruptly pulled her hand back, the force almost knocking over the small square table next to her.

She bit her lower lip hard, her deep purple eyes looking away in a panic. Two suspicious blushes appeared on her previously indifferent cheeks.

Even the horse's drooping ears were trembling uncontrollably due to the intense emotional turmoil.

"cough……"

Poetry and wine weren't much better.

The black-haired girl suddenly turned around, covered her lips with the back of her hand, and coughed deliberately.

Although her face still appeared calm, the trembling of her ear tips amidst her black and white hair completely betrayed her inner thoughts.

"...I'm going to wash my face over there."