Why was I assigned to be a horse girl?

He recalled the "polite words" that Kotobuki Toru had taught him to say and the "promotional actions" that attracted fans.

"Hello everyone... I'm current racehorse girl Hibiko Amber desu. It's freezing cold, so I hope my song 'Light and Fleeting Time' can warm your hearts, Kira~"

After speaking, Hitotsu Amber even made a cute peace sign at everyone in the audience, which instantly sparked a discussion among them.

"It would be better if the expressions were more varied... like making a peace sign with a straight face or something."

"You don't understand. What we're looking for is this innocent and shy feeling. The best idols are those who are silly and clumsy, with only one facial or body muscle moving!"

"So cute, I'm a fan!"

--------------

Chapter 100 The Inferiority Complex of Hibari Amber

"This child is so cute~, and the contrast is huge. She looks like she's about to burst into flames, but she's actually very cute. She's the type who gets so nervous when she sings that she forgets the lyrics."

"Baby, you are a strawberry-filled gummy candy~ I really want to peel off the wrapper and put it in my mouth."

"Look, this is a foodie! But in terms of singing, I think there is still a lot of room for improvement. I think his tongue needs more practice, it is not dexterous enough, and his pronunciation is not clear enough."

From the moment Hitotsu Amber began singing, the surrounding crowd erupted in enthusiastic and loving comments, with much of the discussion praising and complimenting the young woman.

From a normal appreciation perspective, Hitoko Amber's singing voice doesn't reach the level of heavenly sound. However, after so much training, coupled with the girl's naturally soft and charming voice, the whole song sounds quite good and pleasant.

At least, she has reached the entry level of a teenage idol.

After all, being an idol isn't like being a singer, where everything is based on singing ability. If someone who calls themselves a singer sings badly or performs a terrible song, they'll be attacked by fans. But if an idol sings, people are much more tolerant... Of course, if they sing really badly, they'll be put on the barbecue grill.

As a complete bystander, the shop manager of the flower shop offered a fair and dignified comment: "It sounds good, but the main problem is that our store's 200,000 yen sound system lowered Ms. Hito's singing level. Of course, I think if Ms. Hito Kohaku could continue to practice and improve, she would definitely receive a better evaluation."

It can only be said that after becoming the store manager, Miss Floral Dress has even developed the art of speaking, and her emotional intelligence is very high.

However, Kotobuki has been in a band and is also a noble lady with high taste, so her requirements for her voice are naturally not ordinary. "From breath control, pitch stability control, breathing rhythm, and chest resonance, I need to practice for a long time to become an excellent idol."

"At the same time, training behind closed doors has very limited effect, and our evaluation cannot represent the evaluation of the general public." Although Kotobuki Toru did not voluntarily join his older sister's band, as a sub-vocalist, he has relatively rich experience. "Hito Kohaku needs to hear more evaluations from the audience in order to correctly and objectively recognize its shortcomings."

But where can we find so many spectators?

Kotobuki? It didn't matter. Taking advantage of the fact that Hitobuki wasn't paying attention to them, they pointed to an empty space in the hall and said, "How about this place? It's about a hundred square meters, and the ceiling is high, which is perfect for hanging spotlights and sound equipment... I suggest building a bronze sparrow terrace or something here, so that people can practice singing every day. Venus also has a large number of visitors."

"No way..." Upon hearing Kotobuki's whimsical idea, the shop manager of the floral dress could no longer remain silent or raise her hand in agreement. After all, this was Venus's shop. If Hitobuki held a live performance here once or twice, she could easily use the excuse that a random horse racer girl was "flash mobbing" here to increase the store's activity to get away with it.

But what sense does it make to build a stage in the most spacious part of a store?

Kotobuki? The florist would certainly not dare to disobey her, but the quick-witted florist could choose a "roundabout way"—asking Kotobuki to put in a good word for her.

"Your Highness, you mustn't! Spectacular sights can ruin a nation!" The shopkeeper of the flower-patterned clothes pleaded earnestly. "King Zhou of the past lost his kingdom because he built the Deer Terrace and the Star-Picking Terrace for Daji... Of course, although Miss Fei Tu is very alluring, I never said that Miss Fei Tu is a bad woman or anything like that..."

Kotobuki looked embarrassed, afraid that the shop manager's blunt advice would attract unnecessary attention from others present: "No, no, the store should focus on business. Letting Kohaku sing every day, not to mention whether it will affect sales, Kohaku will start to suspect our identities... She is a racehorse girl who thinks occasionally, and her intuition is very accurate."

Kotobuki turned back to look at her younger brother with a somewhat incredulous expression, her eyes asking, "Hey, TouTou, are you serious?"

Kotobuki Toru nodded, returning her older sister's affirmative look: "If possible, I still want to reach the pinnacle of the Uma Musume world with Hitoko Amber as Kotobuki Trainer, rather than as Young Master Kotobuki or CEO Kotobuki..."

"Hey, that sounds a bit rebellious."

Kotobuki twirled the end of her hair, spinning the tip between her fingers, her smile enigmatic: "Rebelling against my stubborn father? You're old enough to have adolescence? I didn't see you making a move on little Amber during your adolescence, did I?"

"Um, sis, can you please stop making these kinds of jokes..." If this wasn't her own older sister, Kotobuki Toru would have blocked her long ago. "I'm not that kind of kid anymore. Falling out with Dad is only part of the reason."

"Then why aren't you going home?"

"Going home to go on blind dates with a bunch of racehorse girls who want to kill me, huh?"

"Sigh... Dad is the same. He always has pure, one-on-one relationships on his end, and he's never cheated on anyone in all these years. How come he's thinking about giving you a harem when it comes to you..."

Kotobuki laughed: "So this is a matter of principle. Dad doesn't understand me, and I don't want to understand him. Let time solve everything. Humans are just creatures that can't understand each other."

Kotobuki sighed and patted her younger brother's head. She had done her best to be a mediator, and her father couldn't say anything when he got back. "You said this was only part of it, but what about the other part?"

"There's another part." Kotobuki Toru looked at Hisako, who was holding the microphone and singing passionately, with a deep gaze: "I want Hisako to have more confidence, and I want her to have more love for life after she graduates and is separated from us."

Kotobuki was stunned, never expecting his younger brother to say such a thing.

“Fei Tu Hu Po is different from us. She has never had any choice since she was a child. Living is the only path she can take. She has never known what it feels like to be willful. When communicating with others, she will subconsciously put herself in a humble position.”

When others encounter opportunities, their first thought is how to seize them, but Hitoko Amber's first thought is, "Am I worthy?"

"She's excellent now, but she's also insecure... She's stubborn and insecure from the bottom of her heart... Maybe that's why she's such a crybaby. She's clearly very fragile and wants to cry, but she always forcibly suppresses her true feelings, and then she can't hold back her tears at the slightest emotional fluctuation..."

Kotobuki Toru clenched his fist.

"So I want to make her personally experience through these years of hard work that she is an excellent racehorse girl, and her strength is genuine!"

----------

Chapter 101 We Need More Low-Quality, Abstract Audiences

"Wow, I didn't expect you to think that way. I'm really impressed."

"Indeed...very handsome."

Qinchui and the shop owner of the floral dress stood aside, full of admiration.

At this moment, Qin Chuitou raised his delicate eyebrows high, his eyes radiating a spirited light. Coupled with the fact that his noble speech just now was still echoing in everyone's ears, it was simply deafening.

In that instant, even Gao Shangjunyi, who always considered himself a passerby and had a low profile, felt a little envious and jealous of Hitoko Amber... In fact, Gao Shangjunyi herself was also very insecure and lacked confidence, with symptoms even more severe than Hitoko Amber's, but she had never encountered a trainer like Kotobuki Toru who was genuinely good to her.

Life is short, and you can count the number of people who are truly good to you on one hand. The greatest wealth of Hito Kohaku in her life must be that she exchanged her sincerity for Koto's sincerity.

What a lucky racehorse girl... But thinking about it from another angle, since Kotobuki Toru is by Hitsukoha's side and her main goal is to help Hitsukoha grow into an excellent and confident racehorse girl, then if I spend more time learning and training with Hitsukoha, even if I don't have someone as excellent as Kotobuki Toru by my side, I should be able to learn how to be confident and how to face my own strength without any influence.

So, Gao Shangjunyi pressed down his peaked hat and began to think about how to join the family of Fei Tu Hu Po... how to join Fei Tu Hu Po's team!

After the grand pronouncements and casual conversation, everyone remembered the important matter they had just discussed—Hito Amber's singing voice needs to be heard by more people, and Hito Amber also needs to hear more comments from everyone. Only in this way can Hito Amber's singing skills improve.

At this moment, Hitotsu Amber's song "Light and Floating Time" also came to an end. This song is a sweet pop song, and the rhythm and lyrics are not difficult. Hitotsu Amber's voice is also the kind that is as sweet as honey and poison. Overall, it can be said that she performed steadily.

That's why, even as Hitotsu Amber finished singing and was still panting, the Venus customers watching nearby had already begun to applaud her.

"It sounds so sweet, it's almost too sweet for my throat."

"Even though we're both racehorse girls, your singing voice is enough to make me doki doki!"

"There's still a lot of room for improvement. I hope to see an even better you next time."

However, upon hearing everyone's praise, Kotobuki Toru shook his head slightly, "Performing here really isn't very good..."

"Is that not okay?" The florist was puzzled by everyone's praise. She was a seasoned veteran who could easily tell whether the praise was genuine or insincere. But there was no doubt that although there was an element of politeness and encouragement in everyone's tone, their appreciation was very sincere. "Aren't you all very kind people?"

"But you don't need that many gentle people when you're looking for flaws."

After thinking for a moment, Qin Fukuto gave an analogy: "Among the various learning methods in school, the fastest way to improve is to record the questions you get wrong in a mistake notebook and then further categorize and summarize them... Find your weaknesses and then work on them. This is the most efficient way to develop your abilities."

If there is only encouragement and no criticism, it will eventually produce idols who can answer any question, are clueless when singing, and perform poorly on stage.

Moreover, it's not just idols who need to accept criticism and reflect on their weaknesses; the daily training of Uma Musume Girls also requires this. The Lady's weakness is her stamina, which is quite befitting of a noble lady, while the weakness that has been discovered for Hitoko Amber so far is her strange way of using her feet to exert force...

Moreover, in the distant East, China, history textbooks are essentially thick collections of wrong answers. Achievements and victories are glossed over, while the rest are records of defeats and losses. The more bitter the losses, the more detailed the accounts.

This is the essence of the saying "shame leads to courage".

Therefore, Kotobuki Toru directly expressed his opinion: "Everyone's manners are still too high..."

The manager of the floral clothing store was quite proud: "Doesn't this prove that our store has established a strong presence in Oubei? We're surrounded by learned people and no ordinary folks come and go... In accordance with headquarters' requirements for high-quality development and high-caliber stores, we've truly succeeded!"

Those who have the courage to walk into Venus's store to look at the merchandise are either the horse girls who are naturally very beautiful, or human beauties who are very confident in their looks and figures and are not afraid of being outshone by the horse girls... This in itself is a huge filter, sifting out most of the customers who are dark-hearted and not very confident. In addition, the various equipment and clothes sold by Venus are not cheap, which makes most people hesitate.

In general, while the shopkeeper can't guarantee that 100% of the people shopping at Venus stores are good people, she is confident that 80% are well-mannered and have high emotional intelligence.

These people have high emotional intelligence. Unless there's a conflict of interest, they generally won't get into any trouble with others unless absolutely necessary. Even if Hitoko Amber sings quite well now and everyone gives her positive reviews, even if Hitoko Amber were tone-deaf and sang like Gian from Doraemon, capable of making people faint from her singing, no one would say anything too harsh. At most, they'd just laugh it off with a comment like, "What a powerful performance!"

Such an audience member would be highly sought after by any concert organizer, but in today's context, it wouldn't quite meet Kotobuki Toru's expectations.

"With such low offensive power, even when she's cursing, I think she's praising me... It would be strange if Amber's little brain could categorize her shortcomings from the audience's reactions!"

Kotobuki Toru bit her chapped lips and muttered to herself, "In this world... is there a stage where there are many audience members who are enthusiastic about interacting with the singer, and where everyone is of poor manners and likes to criticize the singer?"

"How could that be..." The shop manager of the flower shop felt that Kotobuki Toru's thinking was a bit too far-fetched... In this world, how could there be a contestant who both likes their idol and likes to criticize their own idol?

But the next second, Kotobuki Toru slapped his palm in delight, answering his own question: "Isn't this the kind of person... just like the netizens on the internet?"

------

Chapter 101 should have a thousand fans, eight hundred isn't out of the question...

"When you say 'online,' do you mean the internet?"

Kotobuki nodded: "Yes, the internet these days is full of all sorts of people and things..."

At this point, Hitotsu Amber finished interacting with the audience in the store, and the muscles on her pretty face were aching from smiling so much...

After seeing off the last enthusiastic audience member, Hitoko naturally sat down next to Kotobuki Toru, tilting her head and asking, "What are you talking about?"

Kotobuki Toru reached out and picked up the teapot on the small tea table, poured a cup of tea for Hitoko Amber, and handed it to the girl's palm. Then he continued, "I'm thinking about whether to suggest you sing online. You can sing anonymously. Even if you sing badly, there won't be any problems. At worst, you can just delete your account and run away."

"Conversely, if you sing well and have good popularity, you can directly reveal your identity and attract attention to yourself."

Kotobuki Toru spoke eloquently, displaying the air of a strategist with a feather fan and turban, "If that's the case, it's killing two birds with one stone. You can practice and also attract fans and viewers at the same time. After all, in addition to meeting the hard requirement of having sufficient strength, you also need enough popularity and a large number of fans to participate in higher-level competitions..."

"Hey, that's right!"

Upon hearing Qin Chuitou's mention of it, Fei Tu Hu Po immediately remembered that during the horse-drawn carriage competition, everyone's entry order was based on the number of fans. She had even made a bold statement in the dressing room, saying that she would never be a zero again...

Now that I've managed to recruit Kotobuki Toru as my trainer, I've finally achieved a breakthrough and gained my first fan...

And so much time has passed since the last competition, so his number of fans should have increased quite a bit by now, right?

There must be at least several thousand people, right?

With that in mind, Fei Tu Hu Po became expectant and immediately raised her hand to ask, "By the way, how does everyone calculate their popularity and number of fans?"

"Of course, the statistics are from social media accounts. You should be able to see them when you log in to your account."

The noblewoman was also curious about how many fans Hitsu Amber had gained from her unique horse-drawn carriage race, so she came to Hitsu Amber's side and began to guide her step by step on how to check her own information.

Fei Tu Hu Po didn't have much trouble using a mobile phone. With just a few taps, she logged into her account.

But as soon as she logged into her account, her face immediately fell.

Then, Fei Tu Hu Po vigorously wiped her phone screen, pressed the cracks back together, and squinted to carefully check the numbers on the phone again.

My initial thought was simple: I wish I could attract 1000 followers. Of course, 800 would be quite a respectable number...

As she started entering the password, Fei Tu Hu Po comforted herself, telling herself not to have too high expectations; four or five hundred people wasn't impossible.

"But what's going on with these 99 people?! Isn't that less than a hundred people?"

Fei Tu Hu Po let out an incredulous wail, even reaching out her little hand to touch her cheek: "I thought my face wasn't that bad... Is it already out of line with everyone's aesthetic standards?"

The lady watched with satisfaction, the girls' little competitive spirit fulfilled. Even after she was satisfied, she didn't forget to add insult to injury: "I know you're in a hurry, but you should know that the first fan of a Uma Musume fan is usually their own trainer, followed by automatic followers from a series of official organizations such as the Uma Musume Association, the Uma Musume Racing Association, and the Uma Musume Student Registration Association... So if you want to count the actual fan data, you might have to subtract a dozen or twenty more..."

"Oh no!" Fei Tu Hu Po covered her face. "I remember everyone was shouting quite enthusiastically on stage back then, wasn't that right?"

The lady smiled and responded to Fei Tu Hu Po's naivety: "That was just because the atmosphere was right and everyone shouted. If you want everyone to take out their phones to follow you, you don't need to do that much..."

Fei Tu Hu Po retorted, "I did everything I could! I pounded the rice cakes really hard that night!"

"But Amber, you've never actually managed your social media accounts, have you?"

At this moment, Gao Shangjunyi, wearing a small hat, also came over and handed his phone to Fei Tu Hu Po. "Look, your account hasn't done anything since it was created. Not even a selfie or a greeting. To strangers, it looks like a robot account..."

Fei Tu Hu Po looked down at Gao Shang Jun Yi's phone. The social media platform Gao Shang Jun Yi had opened was the world's most popular social media platform, with over a billion active users every day. Tens of thousands of likes and comments on this platform were considered minor news...

Meanwhile, Gao Shangjunyi's phone had already completed the user search, and the search results page prominently displayed the nickname "[Himeko Musume - Hitoko Amber]". Next to the nickname, there was even a somewhat comical photo of Hitoko Amber.

Like most people's ID photos, although they look clear and pretty, they always seem a bit silly...

Fei Tu Hu Po herself was the most unwilling: "No, who would use their own headshot as their profile picture, especially when they're registering their real name online... Besides, I don't even know this account!"

"Everyone does it this way. After the debut race, the official Uma Musume account will be re-registered for Uma Musume, just like your account."

The lady leaned closer and pointed to the gold certification mark in the corner of Hitotsu Amber's "ID photo" profile picture. "Look, this is the certification mark. However, many racehorse girls will immediately change their profile picture after their debut race and then post a greeting and self-introduction status."

As she spoke, the lady opened the social media page on her elegant and refined phone. There was only one lonely message: "[I have become the 1145140000th member to officially become a member, and I scored 60 points in the member qualification quiz challenge.]"

Below this automatically sent message, there were even quite a few comments.

Wow, I saw this person's horse-drawn carriage race today... They're full of energy! I'm following them and looking forward to the next race!