Uma Musume, do I have to tell you that I know how to use the Santa Hat special move?

She was not weaker than anyone else, McQueen knew that very well, but she lost on this basis, even before the end of the game... She had been struggling with this matter for the past few days.

"You're right. I won't accept that."

McQueen lowered her head and muttered to herself. Her voice seemed to come from the bottom of a deep well: "I can't accept that I would lose so easily... The bloodline of the Mejiro family clearly gave me such powerful abilities, but I was humiliated because of my misjudgment."

"I want to complete the three consecutive generations of the Mejiro family's Tenchun! But, in a place like this... How can the honor of the Mejiro family allow such a thing to happen!!!"

"The Mejiro family, the Mejiro family..." Stardust Illusion looked at the excited McQueen with a very calm attitude, "That's not what I want to hear. What does McQueen think?"

"Varied--"

The anger in McQueen's chest solidified instantly at the words of the Stardust Illusion. She opened her mouth, but found that she had nothing to say.

She had never thought about such a thing. Ever since she started training, McQueen had been praised by all the media and audiences. Everyone was happy to link her extraordinary long-distance talent with the Mejiro family bloodline and honor.

[If he is a rookie of the Mejiro family, then it is only natural that he can dominate the long distance, right? ]

They often say things like this.

But, what do you think?

What are you running for?

"As for me, I want to win." Stardust Illusion looked at the confused Mebai McQueen in front of him and took the initiative to talk about his own affairs.

"At first, I just wanted to earn some money by running a race. After all, my family is from the countryside, and my family was sick, so I wanted to earn some bounty this way."

"But all these thoughts changed after I stepped onto the field. The Emperor of the East China Sea...she used her actions to tell me what running really means to me and what victory in a competition really means."

"...Cheers, I want to enjoy the cheers of the audience, I want to win! I don't want anyone to reach the finish line before me!"

If ordinary people heard what Stardust Illusion said, they would probably just laugh at her arrogance, right?

But Mebai McQueen saw the look in her eyes and understood that she didn't mean that...

When one horse takes the lead, all other horses become silent.

This was the motto that Rudolph gave McQueen when she first saw him.

I guess Stardust Illusion has understood the true meaning of this sentence, which is why he is so eager for victory every time?

It is precisely because of her desire that victory will respond to her and allow her to constantly break through herself in every competition.

And what about yourself?

McQueen suddenly realized that she couldn't even think of any other good things about herself.

"I really envy you, Stardust Illusion..."

Thinking of this, McQueen felt as if his heart was wrapped in a thick layer of ice, cold and solid. "Unlike you, I have nothing to commend except my bloodline of the Mejiro family... Only long distance, only long distance is my only battlefield."

Stardust Illusion looked at McQueen who was beginning to feel sorry for himself, took a deep breath, and then spoke slowly:

"so what?"

"Eh?"

"I'm asking you, what if you're only good at long distances?" Stardust Illusion took the initiative to talk about his own weaknesses. "Everyone has something they're not good at, right? Just like me, I can't master the running method on the curves, and Condor and Bourbon are getting tired of my training."

"Race, McQueen, do you like running?"

"……like."

Recalling himself racing on the long-distance racetrack, enjoying squeezing every bit of strength from his body to defeat all his opponents, McQueen had to admit that he did enjoy that feeling.

"If you like it, run on."

"It's not as easy as you say! I have to win!"

"Then we win." Stardust Illusion said as a matter of course:

“If you really feel like you have to win, then go get it—running is that simple.”

"What if it fails?!" McQueen asked loudly.

"Ah, as you would expect, you would ask that." Stardust Illusion put his hands on his hips and smiled.

She was not surprised by this question at all. It was even more surprising that even if she had asked someone else the same question before, what was the other person's answer at that time?

"McQueen is such a fool, how can a horse girl consider failure before even starting the race?"

The Stardust Illusion grinned and said the words that Rokuhei Ginjiro had given him.

"Fool?! But..." McQueen's eyes widened in shock. He looked at the Stardust Illusion who directly called him a fool. He was about to refute, but was interrupted by the Stardust Illusion:

"Ah, this doesn't convince you? So I'll just say I'm not good at this... Let's try another method."

Stardust Illusion touched the back of her head and said so. Then she stretched out her right hand and pointed a finger directly at McQueen's forehead:

"McQueen will also participate in this exchange study, right? How about making a promise with me?"

"Promise?" McQueen asked, tilting his head.

"Ah, it's a promise. Trainer Toyama has scheduled a mock match during the exchange study, to see who's better with the French players."

"Then let's see who wins, right? If I win, then McQueen has to cheer up and stop thinking about these messed up things!"

"Are you crazy?! If you say you want to compete with French players - doesn't that mean you're competing with the aristocrats?!"

"Ah." Stardust Illusion spoke of the Noble Family without any fear in his eyes. "The Noble Family is very powerful, and there is Zhuo Fu... or rather, each of the French exchange students makes me feel difficult to defeat."

"But, so what? As long as I can stand on the field... I have a chance to win!"

"——How about it, McQueen, do you want to make this promise with me?"

Seeing the right hand of the Stardust Illusion pointing at his forehead turn into a clenched fist, Mubai McQueen stood there in a daze, and then laughed out loud:

"What? Such inexplicable self-confidence? I think you are the fool..."

"But..." She stretched out her right fist, touched it with the stardust illusion, and said with a firm expression:

"Since this is a competition, I won't lose!"

Chapter 66: Stardust Illusion, Let Me See Your Limits!

The next day, at the Draco team training ground.

Early in the morning, Stardust Illusion arrived here as usual and started today's slope training with Miura Bourbon.

Next to the training ground, Rudolph and Qi Cao were standing there, communicating with Toyama Hikari who was recording data.

"Tomorrow we will officially start the exchange study with the French exchange student team. The prominent family has brought them to Neon, and they should be visiting the Mejiro family now." Qi Cao explained the precautions to Toyama Feihong:

"You must not do anything out of line when the time comes, Trainer Toyama. Let Trainer Tojo handle the exchange student team."

To be honest, Qi Cao really didn't want this messy guy in front of him to be responsible for the exchange student team. Fortunately, she proposed a compromise strategy:

Let the two trainers, Tojo Hana and Nishizaki Ryu, bring the active players from their teams to temporarily join her team.

This way, even if Toyama Scarlet wants to do something out of line, there will be two reliable trainers to help stop her, right?

Qicao felt a little more at ease thinking about this.

"Tsk, I don't want to do something so troublesome. If Ahua wants to connect, just leave it to her." Toyama Feihong curled his lips, his eyes still fixed on the two people running on the slope, and answered casually.

“However, I also have my own bottom line - I must organize at least one training race to let my runners experience world-class performance.”

“Are they really okay? A noble family… an opponent of that level, coupled with a domain-level demonic nature and a preemptive running method, can be said to be the most difficult opponent for the leading Uma Musume to face.”

The gas tank hesitated and turned to look at the Rudolph symbol.

She felt uneasy when she thought about the two runners who were focusing on training facing such an enemy on the track.

Can they really deal with the aristocratic family, the tyrant who destroyed the Arc de Triomphe dream of the Japanese horse racing girl world?

"Don't worry, they are not such fragile runners." Rudolph answered with his arms folded across his chest, while also looking at the two runners running on the track.

"Miura Bourbon, when this runner first started training, most trainers were not optimistic about her - she was small, especially with a weak waist. In addition, her parents' bloodlines were not outstanding, so everyone thought that she could only barely participate in some third-rate competitions as a short-distance runner."

"But, trainer Toyama selected this Bourbon and trained her to this level with devilish training... Is Bourbon now able to adapt to tracks over 2000 meters?"

Having said that, Rudolf symbolically turned his head to look in the direction of Toyama Hiruzen, asking for her opinion.

"Humph, Bourbon is determined to achieve good results and shine in future competitions. How could it be possible that it would aim at short-distance competitions from the beginning? The Classic Triple Crown, Spring and Autumn Triple Crown, and middle- and long-distance G1 competitions will be as many as possible—"

"——For this purpose, she is so desperate to follow my every order... Bourbon has been practicing on the slope four times a day for three months. A 4m track? If she performs well, she can even run the 3m Arima Kinen as well!"

Talking about her favorite runner, Toyama Crimson couldn't help but smile proudly with a mouthful of shark teeth and said, "For the runners who train under me, there is no option to lag behind in physical fitness, Rudolph."

“Hehe, but that kind of training method is indeed harmful to horse girls, right?” Rudolph chuckled and shook his head.

She didn't say it, but Toyama Feihong understood what Rudolph meant, and her face suddenly darkened:

"…Are you trying to talk about Ennis's incident? Was it caused by the training I arranged?"

"Of course not." Rudolph shook his head. "I am also an ordinary runner who has run in the stadium. How could I doubt the feelings of Ennis the Wind God? But JRA... forget it, I am not qualified to point fingers at other people's training methods."

"When one horse takes the lead, all others become silent. This is the school motto established by the chairman of our school. Perhaps what you are doing is right?"

"Tsk, you don't need to tell me that." Toyama Feihong exclaimed.

“Then there’s Stardust Illusion, the runner who debuted with the Emperor.” Qi Cao also turned his gaze towards the brown-haired horse girl who had already started her fourth slope practice in the field, and all the information about her since her debut flashed through his mind.

"In short, the title of Oguruma II is really suitable for him, both in terms of running style and his persistence in winning," she commented.

"Really? I think the Stardust Illusion is just a Stardust Illusion." Toyama Scarlet refuted the statement of the gas tank, "Compared with that Ash Hair Phantom, her running style now seems to be exactly the same, but the inner workings are completely different."

“Is it fundamentally different inside?”

"It's about the feeling of running." Rudolph explained the energy tank. "Oguruma's running is a first-come, first-served running method that puts everything on the last three waves of the race. During the race, her last kicks are like waves, smashing all opponents one after another."

"But Stardust Illusion focuses on leading the race, which is completely different from the first-lag running method. Why do people think she is similar to Ogurume? That's because this runner has completely learned Ogurume's last-foot burst - but this is where her real potential lies."

Rudolph looked at the girl on the ramp and said with some emotion: "Why is it that the leading horse girl can learn the last step of Oguruma? I haven't figured it out yet, but what I know is... the truly terrifying thing about this horse girl is her extraordinary learning ability."

"Do you remember her running in her first debut match, Chi Tan? How did she compare to that time in every match since then?"

As someone who studies every video of every game, she recalled every detail she had seen before, and then suddenly it dawned on her:

"...Ah! It seems that the player Stardust Illusion's level is higher every time he competes! There is not even the slightest fluctuation in his various data. It was only when he was overtaken by the three leaders that he showed some convergence in the middle of the game--"

Usually for runners, this kind of straight-up data curve will only appear during the initial learning period. Once you have completed the introductory stage, the only way to improve is to persist in training and learning.

Accumulate changes little by little to approach the limit of your body, and then break through it. Only by completing this cycle can you improve your condition.

However, because everyone's condition will fluctuate, even a skilled running method will change slightly due to various reasons, so it is often the case that some runners break the record in training games, but are unable to do so in the competition venue.

Stardust Illusion was completely different. This runner's improvement seemed to have no end in sight. With each race and each day of training, she steadily improved her physical fitness and running skills. In addition to the last race and the fighting spirit she had begun to master...

Thinking of this, Rudolf nodded. "The thing that makes me most curious about her right now is this - Stardust Illusion. What is the upper limit of this runner? I want to see her limit."

"By the way, I will take you to meet the prominent family at noon today, don't forget." Having said that, Rudolph waved to Toyama Feihong, turned around and left with Qi Cao.

“You came to me and talked for so long just for this? Do I need you to point out the advantages of my runner? This guy Rudolph…”

Toyama Feihong waved her hand unhappily as a farewell, then turned around and walked towards the two runners who had completed their training.

"Come on!" She yelled at the two of them, "Don't stop, Stardust Illusion. Walking slowly is already a rest! Next is the cornering training. The Condor will be here soon. Go and prepare to stand!!!"

Chapter 67 It doesn’t matter, I will take action

After the morning, the sky gradually became overcast and drizzle began to fall from the sky.

In front of Zhuo Fu and Cai Zhigao, there was a huge copper pot.

The soup in the pot is bubbling with an attractive golden color, boiling like lava and emitting a rich aroma.

The pot was filled with various ingredients, bubbling up like a small mountain, including pork, beef, mushrooms, vegetables, tofu, etc.

Zhuo Fu put her face close to the pot, sniffing the aroma intoxicatedly, her face full of curiosity:

"Hey, what is this called? Album Lives?"

"Is it Sumo Chanko?" Cai Zhigao took a sip from his glass and answered uncertainly, "It should be a special kind of hot pot eaten by sumo wrestlers, a sport unique to Japan?"

"Hey..." Zhuo Fu looked at the various meats and vegetables in the pot, her mouth watering with greed, "Did the noble family bring us here to eat this because it's delicious?"

"No, it seems that the people from Neon are here, right? But it has nothing to do with us. The noble family and the Rudolph symbol here and other senior executives will go to the box to talk alone - come to Zhuofu, try a piece of meat."