The way Uma Musume looks at me is so scary!

As the person closest to Xiu Xingmeng, she naturally bears the greatest pressure.

Even without activating her domain, Xiu Xingmeng's naturally awe-inspiring aura was enough to make the local horse racing girls feel extremely uncomfortable.

This is the aura honed on the top-tier central racing circuit. The racehorses that once rivaled this aura were Naritaji, Orihime Aoi, and Kogeki. They were all top-tier racehorses who had undergone rigorous training, and each of them had the ability to win G1.

Now, this is the kind of pressure that Oguri Roman has to withstand.

She was just a racehorse girl who had only participated in one local race. Even though Kitahara believed she had a bright future, she hadn't actually experienced many races.

Under such overwhelming pressure, her mind was already in complete disarray. Forget about calculating tactics, the fact that she could maintain full speed was already a testament to Oguri Roman's exceptional talent.

In the midst of extreme chaos, she even saw a phantom figure before her eyes.

That figure in the reed hat had appeared countless times in Oguri Roman's dreams; it was the figure of Oguri Hat that she longed to be close to.

Oguri Roman has watched the Youth Championship Cup match where the two first met countless times, and can even recall in his mind how many seconds and how many meters Oguri ran.

Even with her thoughts in disarray, she could still perfectly simulate the distance to that figure.

What made Oguri Roman's pupils shrink was that there was actually a figure in front of Oguri Hat. In the hazy world of sand and dust, that dancing red color burned into Oguri Roman's eyes like a blazing flame.

"How can it be?!"

Oguri Roman's body began to tremble uncontrollably. Was the record she had admired Oguri Roman had set at the Youth Champions Cup about to be surpassed today?!

To be honest, at that time, Oguri Hat had not yet grown to its full form, so it was normal for her to be surpassed by Hideki Hoshino, who had the advantage of attributes and used the escape tactic.

But Oguri Roman was no longer able to think; the Oguri hat she regarded as her guiding star, the one she admired, had been surpassed by someone else.

Oguri Roman, who had been so careful in chasing after Oguri Hat, suddenly became disoriented. Whether it was because his stamina had finally run out or because of the excessive mental pressure, his body went limp and he slowed down.

From then on, no female racehorse dared to compete for the championship on the track.

They could only watch helplessly as the red streak of light swept across the finish line with unstoppable momentum, like spectators on the sidelines.

After watching Xiu Xingmeng cross the finish line for a long time, Akasaka Rin finally came to her senses. Suppressing her wildly beating heart and trembling voice, she announced into the microphone.

"The champion of this year's Youth Championship is—"

"Embroidered Star Dream!"

Chapter Sixty-Nine: Operation Little Golden Boat

When was the last time I saw a scene like this in Kasamatsu?

Kitahara Yutaka stared somewhat dazedly at the lively crowd. In his eyes, the Kasamatsu Racecourse, which had been somewhat empty, was now filled with one phantom after another from the past. He felt as if he had returned to that generation full of hope.

"A charismatic...rising star who can meet any expectation?"

Watching Embroidered Star Dream waving a red ribbon on the track, Kitahara Yutaka seemed to see the shadow of another racehorse girl in her.

"I see. So that's why Oguri Roman was so afraid."

"So she mistook you for Little Chestnut Hat."

Kitahara Yutaka had only heard of the Embroidered Star Dream from Oguri Roman's descriptions before, and he couldn't fully understand the significance of the three words "Embroidered Star Dream" before watching this match.

At that time, Kitahara Yutaka thought she was just an ordinary horse girl with outstanding abilities. The reason she was able to surpass her opponents by such a long distance was largely due to their weakness and their initiative to give up after seeing the huge gap.

But after witnessing the Junior Crown Cup firsthand, Kitahara Yutaka abandoned this ridiculous idea.

Hideyuki is no ordinary racehorse girl; she possesses a special charisma that makes those around her and the audience feel her brilliance.

With such talent and extraordinary abilities, she is destined to become a star.

Looking at the bright red characters on the notice board, and seeing the record that Oguri Hat had once set broken today, Kitahara Yutaka thought to himself.

Unconsciously, he began to fantasize that if Xiuxingmeng could achieve or even surpass Xiaolimao's achievements, the region might have a chance to revive.

As Kasamatsu's former trainer, Kitahara Yutaka was incredibly excited about it.

However, he quickly abandoned his fantasies about the future. Now he was Oguri Roman's trainer, and what he needed to do was not to indulge in dry daydreams.

but……

Oguri Roman, already under immense pressure, might fall into an even more depressed state after being defeated by Xiuxing Meng, which would inevitably affect her future career. Kitahara Yutaka, who was pondering how to help Oguri Roman overcome her inner conflict, began to have a headache.

Meanwhile, on the stands diagonally above Kitahara Minoru, Golden Journey excitedly shook Golden Ship's shoulder and said...

"I knew it! I knew it! Travel can bring unexpected surprises like this!"

She put her arm around the golden boat's shoulder and said with a grin.

"So? Have you started to appreciate the charm of travel yet?"

"Don't worry, if you follow me from now on, there will definitely be more surprises!"

After saying that, Golden Journey patted her chest and said with a proud look that she believed what she had seen and heard today would definitely arouse Golden Ship's curiosity about the journey.

The prospect of developing the Golden Ship into a travel companion adds an exciting element to the Golden Journey.

But what she didn't expect was that Golden Ship, who had been staring at the arena, suddenly said something.

"Sister Traveler, I want to stay here."

"what?!"

Golden Journey stared at her sister in shock. She knew that Golden Ship often said things that were hard to understand, but usually it was just a joke and would be laughed off. But now, Golden Ship's tone didn't sound like a joke at all!

In that instant, Golden Journey thought about many things, such as why Golden Ship wanted to stay in Kasamatsu, who would take care of her after she stayed in Kasamatsu, and whether she should be invited to have tea if she let a racehorse girl who hadn't yet become a proper racehorse run around.

But she quickly calmed down and summarized the questions in her mind into three simple words.

"why?"

"do not know."

Hearing this answer, Golden Journey breathed a sigh of relief. It seemed to be a sudden whim unique to children, which gave him a legitimate reason to refuse.

"No, this isn't something that can be done in a short time..."

But before she could finish speaking, she was interrupted by the Golden Ship, who stared blankly at the red ribbon fluttering on the field, its pink eyes shining like jewels in the sunlight.

"I don't know, but I just want to stay in Kasamatsu."

Golden Journey had never seen Golden Ship like this before. In her eyes, Golden Ship had always been a rather noisy and playful child. She had never seen Golden Ship show such a look in its eyes, nor had she ever seen Golden Ship speak in such a dazed tone.

Every racehorse girl has something she wants to pursue, like her own journey. The master's desire for victory and glory, perhaps the golden ship found what she wanted to pursue at the Kasamatsu racetrack.

As the older sister and as a racehorse girl, there's no reason to stop the Golden Journey.

In the end, she could only smile helplessly and stroke the head of the golden ship.

"Then we need to agree on three rules."

"Three hundred chapters is fine too."

"Even if you don't follow my rules, I still can't make up three hundred chapters."

Golden Journey tugged at her horse's ear, signaling Golden Ship to listen to her and not interrupt.

"First, don't tell others that you are a member of the Golden Family."

The Golden Family is, after all, a prestigious family in the horse racing world, and also the most eye-catching one during this period. Preventing Golden Boat from revealing her identity is also out of consideration for her safety.

"Secondly, I will have a few bodyguards hired by the family watch over you. Don't try to shake them off."

This is also for the protection of Golden Ship. After all, as a racehorse girl, she is not a traditional racehorse, so she is small in stature but very agile. If Golden Ship is allowed to act recklessly, she will definitely shake off her bodyguards and go free.

"Third, I will regularly send you living expenses, so please don't spend them all in the blink of an eye like before."

Now that the decision has been made to let the Golden Ship operate on its own, the Golden Journey can take this opportunity to cultivate her independence and self-reliance, and also to shape a good concept of money.

Although the Golden Family is not short of money, Golden Journey believes that cultivating a good money mindset is also part of cultivating virtues.

As he spoke, Golden Journey pulled out a bank card from somewhere and dangled it in front of Golden Ship's palm.

"It's a promise."

A word once spoken cannot be taken back.

After agreeing, Golden Ship took the bank card from Golden Journey and ran off the stands, looking like he was about to strike up a conversation with someone.

Seeing this, the Golden Journey behind her was both amused and exasperated. She shouted at the Golden Ship that was silently fleeing.

"What's the rush! We still need to go back to the hotel to pack our luggage! Besides, I have to wait for the bodyguards to arrive in Kasamatsu before I can hand you over to them!"

As they talked, they chased after the golden ship and ran into the passageway of the stands.

Chapter Seventy: Shadows of Espionage

[Main objective: To gain audience approval.]

Current approval rating: (5/100)

[Evaluation: A local racehorse girl showing early potential]

After finishing the Youth Crown Cup, Xiu Xingmeng cleaned her dormitory while checking the stats for the main quest.

The five percent progress is just the beginning. Haibara Chizuru is already arranging the next match for Hideyuki, and she believes that this number will definitely increase significantly after sweeping Kasamatsu's big reward.

Just as Xiu Xingmeng was humming an unknown tune while wiping the windows along the dormitory corridor, she suddenly caught a glimpse of several figures sneaking towards the dormitory entrance out of the corner of her eye.

Turning around, I found that it was Minamino Sumire and her group, including even the saddler Suzune, whom I hadn't gotten along with before.

Upon realizing they had been discovered, the racehorse girls made some very distinctive moves. Kobayashi Kaze, taking advantage of her petite stature, hid directly behind Nishimoto Muko, while Nishimoto Muko, blocked in front, could only scratch the back of her head and grin foolishly at Xiuxingmeng.

Standing in front of them, Minamino Sumire crossed her arms and gave Xiu Xingmeng a coquettish snort, as if to say, "Is there a problem with me being here?"

As for the saddler Suzune, she screamed and crouched down the moment she was discovered. Did she think that crouching meant she wasn't being seen?

Looking at the chaotic scene of the horse racing girls, Xiu Xingmeng gave a wry smile.

Judging from their actions, I could tell these guys were definitely hiding something from me.

"W-What did you do?!"

Standing at the front, Minamino Sumire spoke first. She curled her hair and tried to appear nonchalant, but the unnaturalness in her tone betrayed her.

"Nothing, I was just curious about what you're going to do."

"We...we want to go..."

Minamino Sumire hesitated, searching for a reason. Just as she was hesitating, she suddenly noticed the faded ends of her hair in her hand and immediately puffed out her chest confidently.

"We're going to get our hair dyed! Any objections?"

As she spoke, she pulled Xiaolin Feng out, ruffled her pink hair, and said to Xiu Xingmeng with a provocative smile.

"And you brought Saddler Lingyin along too?"

"Goo-"

The excuse of being hastily put together was shattered by a single sentence, so Minamino Sumire simply swapped the head in her hand for that of the saddler Suzune, and said in a desperate, "What's the use of this?"

"So what if he is? Watch me dye this guy's hair green!"

"Eh!"

Upon hearing this, the saddler Suzune, who had been captured, gasped in surprise, like some kind of small animal that had been frightened into a daze.

Knowing they were just making excuses, Xiu Xingmeng chuckled and didn't bother with them anymore. After a month of training, the relationship between the racehorse girls had become much more harmonious. After all, they had all sweated and struggled together on the track with Xiu Xingmeng.

"Just don't dye it gold, it looks silly."

Seeing that Xiu Xingmeng was no longer asking questions, the group breathed a sigh of relief and prepared to leave. Only Nan Yejin was still shouting in dissatisfaction before leaving.

"Did I offend you by being smart?!"

Watching them noisily drag Minamino Sumire away, Xiu Xingmeng shrugged and decided to continue cleaning.

Before she could finish cleaning, two figures suddenly walked out of the window. One of them, a short and stout man, was none other than Principal Haibara Koutarou, while the other, a young man wearing a training cap, was someone she did not recognize.

Just as she was wondering why Principal Haibara would invite others to stroll around Kasamatsu Tressen, their conversation reached Hideyuki's ears.

"It's been so long since I've been back. I didn't expect things to have changed so much. I knew things were tough in Tereson, but I never imagined it would get to this point. There are only a few racehorse girls in each year of students."

"Then you should come back and visit more often. All I see are the money you send, but I haven't seen you in person."

From their conversation, Xiu Xingmeng learned that the young man wearing the training hat must have some connection with Kasamatsu Tressen, otherwise he wouldn't have been sponsoring and supporting the place all this time.

"We've been so busy. After Oguri Hat retired, the central government has been trying to find a racehorse girl who can represent the region like her to improve the local situation. To find such a racehorse girl, we trainers have been traveling all over the country."

"Return to Kasamatsu at the end?"

"No one expected that Kasamatsu would still have the energy to produce new stars after Oguri Hat appeared. It can only be said that everyone was blind to what was right under their noses."

Upon hearing this, Xiu Xingmeng's heart tightened. Could it be that this trainer from the central government had already approached her?