"Mm... so that's what happened. Interesting."
And in stark contrast to the strange atmosphere between the sisters at the Mejiro home, in the Gold Family's home now, the head of the family, Stay Gold, had also learned about the events at the banquet from the returned Gold Ship and Nakayama Festa. Her face was as usual, her tone just a little faint, her emotions unreadable. "So that means even the Mejiro family's horse girls are planning to compete with us for this trainer?"
"And they're even going to use Mejiro Ardan and another, the youngest child of the family? What a painstaking effort."
"But isn't that against the rules?!" And on the side, Orfevre, who had been listening to his遭遇 at the Mejiro home with Stay Gold, became restless after hearing that he had clearly shown affection for Ardan. She said with some panic, "Clearly, Big Sis had already publicly stated that he is our family's exclusive trainer!"
"Their Mejiro family is so big. Why are they snatching a trainer from a small family like ours? He was brought back by Big Sis first!"
"—It's simple, little Orfevre. The Mejiro family is so big and powerful, they've never taken a small family like ours seriously."
And after learning about his and Ardan's affair, Stay Gold's expression was exceptionally calm, not moved at all. This head of the Gold Family, who would turn into a "Shura" that would terrify countless horse girls on the racetrack, was surprisingly not so crazy in her daily life. On the contrary, she seemed a bit quiet, as if she didn't care much about anything.
But in fact, from the performance of the fearless Gold Family horse girls around her, who dared not to act presumptuously in front of Stay Gold, it was clear that a quiet family head could not hold down so many oddballs just by seniority. Her absolute status in the family was definitely related to her "violent means" that could suppress everyone present at necessary moments...
Of course, more importantly, she knew too well how to mobilize the emotions of this group of sisters, and... she was always fighting for the "benefits" that everyone in the family wanted to obtain.
"Honestly, they're looking down on us." And on the other side, Dream Journey, who was also from the Gold Family, also nodded indignantly. Then, she immediately turned her gaze to Nakayama Festa and Gold Ship, who had already taken off their makeup and changed back into their home clothes, and immediately clenched her fists and shouted:
"Festa, Golshi, our family is counting on you now! In the future races, you must find a chance to completely crush these Mejiro family girls!"
As she spoke, Dream Journey was still indignant. The irritable and hot-tempered personality of the Gold Family was fully displayed in her. She grabbed her hair in frustration and said angrily, "Aaargh! So annoying! If only Orfevre and I could develop sooner! Then we could go on the field and compete with these Mejiro horse girls. He clearly said we are both very strong, but why are we developing so slowly!"
"Now we can only rely on you to protect him. Especially you, Festa! You're his first charge. Give me some face and win against these guys on the track!"
"...Oh."
However, Nakayama Festa, who had been singled out by her sister, was in surprisingly low spirits at this moment... At this moment, the scenes that had happened at the Mejiro home kept replaying in her mind. She thought of his and Ardan's tacit understanding, and... the strength of her opponents.
She had already seen the strong enemies of the Mejiro family that she would face in the future at the banquet today. And even, she had taken the initiative to let him help one of them named Mejiro Zenshin, and he had, as she had instructed, taught her everything he could give—and had even done it a little too well.
Mejiro Zenshin's great benefit would undoubtedly become a threat to her in the future. And McQueen and Dober, two strong enemies, she had also seen their races and knew even more that they could be said to be the leaders of this era, their talent and strength were above her own... and she still had a Tokai Teio waiting for her.
She knew that he had truly given her his all, but what made her feel lost was that he was by her side at all times, but her own talent and ability could never respond to his expectations... and the horse girls he casually pointed out, even those who were not as good as her, could immediately grasp the essence of what he said.
Am I... really that bad?
"Splash."
"Phew... so comfortable. Everyone, I heard you guys talking about the Mejiro family just now. It seems to be related to a race?"
And with the bathroom door slowly opening, at this moment, Kitano, who had changed his clothes, also slowly walked out of the bathroom. However, just as he was about to join the topic, he saw Stay Gold take the initiative to stand up, press down on his shoulders, and say calmly:
"It's nothing, just casual chat. It's getting late now, let's all go back to rest early."
"Huh? So early?" And he, who was being pushed by her, also vaguely felt that everyone was hiding something from him. But she didn't even give him time to react and, while pushing him, continued to answer:
"I'll tell you when we get back to the room... I'm tired today. You don't want me to rest badly and torture you with my snoring in the middle of the night, right?"
He had lived in the Gold Family's home for several years. However, from the day he was taken in by her, he, who was treated like family by everyone, also fully understood that this family never joked and never treated him as an outsider.
Although the Gold Family's home looked very big, in fact, as a horse girl family, aside from the training track that took up most of the area, all the food, clothing, and housing were in a single-story mansion. And with so many sisters, just having one room for each person was already very difficult, and there were no extra guest rooms.
Therefore, from the day he successfully moved into the Gold Family's home, his residence was set in the room of the head of the family, Stay Gold. For this, he had tried to protest at first, but in the end, he could not resist the strong her.
"Our few younger sisters, no matter which two live in the same room, our whole family won't be able to sleep well. Although my sleeping posture is not very good, I won't disturb others. So this is the best choice."
—This reason, he had heard her say in the previous playthrough when he was still her trainer. And as someone who had, in a way, watched these few sisters of the Gold Family grow up, he also had to admit that she was right... the two of them living together was definitely the quietest double room in the family.
And more importantly, there were some things... that only he and she, these two "parents" who were responsible for all the horse girls of the Gold Family, could discuss internally and were not suitable for other members to hear.
...
Late at night, in this time when even the Gold Family had fallen into a silence, he, who had been busy all night today, had also fallen into a deep sleep in her room. And this also made him not notice that the figure on the other tatami mat, about a meter away from him, had disappeared at some point.
"Mmm?"
Suddenly, perhaps because he felt a hint of coolness from under him, he, whose sleep was already very light due to his illness, was immediately awakened by this small movement.
And a moment later, just as he was still thinking about what was climbing up his body, in the darkness, he only saw a dark head poke out from under his blanket with a weight on his chest.
"Kitano, we can talk now." Stay Gold supported her body with both hands and pressed down on his body in a "kabedon" manner, but not so as to put too much burden on him. And he, who was obviously used to all of this, after a brief silence, still couldn't help but ask:
"...Can't we just talk in a different posture? I'm always worried that if they see us like this, they might misunderstand something."
"Don't worry, at this point, even Gold Ship has to be asleep." And Stay Gold, who had crawled into his quilt, did not feel ashamed at all. This way of talking, which had continued from the previous playthrough to the present, she had never shown the slightest shyness.
"Besides, they wouldn't dare to say anything even if they saw us. With us talking so closely, even a horse girl's hearing can't hear what we're talking about."
Saying this, she finally turned over and lay down on her side in the spot next to him. And he, understanding, also took the initiative to maintain a face-to-face relationship with her. Faced with this charge of his, whom he did not see much of now but was his most trustworthy horse girl, he also asked very directly:
"So, what do you want to ask?"
"—How much longer can you live now? Can you still make it to the time when Festa and Golshi win races for you?"
And she directly asked about his deepest secret. If this conversation between the two of them was heard by Suzuka and C.B., they would probably all suspect that she had awakened her past memories just like them.
But in fact, he knew very well that she had not recovered her past memories at all. All the information she knew about him was what she had guessed from the limited information she had. And she did not hide these thoughts at all, but took advantage of the fact that she was in the same room with him and asked him directly.
He also admitted it. All of this was... exactly the same as in his previous playthrough with her.
In that playthrough, she had also vaguely guessed the special nature of his constitution after a few races. And the most special thing about her was that she never hid her thoughts, always facing him frankly.
And this time, she would, as before, guess his secret in her own way. And he, with the experience of the last playthrough, was not at all surprised that she could guess his secret, so he generously admitted it.
And for the requests of "don't tell the other kids about his affairs" and "don't force them to push themselves," she had also complied. From beginning to end, she had never told a second person his secret. She had thus inherited his affection for her from the last playthrough and had become one of the very few beings he could be frank with.
"There are more than two years left. To be honest, although there is enough time, it's still a bit risky."
"Then do you think Festa and Golshi can really win against Tokai Teio?" And hearing that he still had enough time, a hint of brightness appeared in her eyes, and she then continued to ask.
And faced with this question, he, who had always been full of confidence in front of his charge, after now shedding all his disguises, also rarely and frankly stated his thoughts, saying softly:
"Golshi might have some hope... as for Festa... before I'm about to die, if she wants to win against Teio, I'm afraid it will be very, very difficult."
"—As long as you don't use that ability, I think you can definitely survive." And she also suddenly looked straight into his eyes and said, word by word, "Festa and Golshi don't need you to use that ability, but you'd better not spend your life force on anything other than yourself."
"Don't worry, I won't." And he also smiled faintly and nodded. He understood that what Nakayama Festa had said was his last "ability," an ability he had discovered by accident in a certain playthrough.
His life force could, through accelerated flow, burst out to a level beyond that of a horse girl in a short period of time, but the price was that his life force would be easily exhausted. So far, he had only used it once to save Suzuka.
And the other ability... was also related to his life force. The digitized life force he possessed could be increased, and naturally... it could also be transferred to others.
Transferring his life force to an injured or seriously ill horse girl, by consuming his own life force, to accelerate their recovery—this was an absolute life-for-life ability for him, but so far, he had used it quite a few times.
This was also why she completely forbade him from using this ability. She had a premonition... that the horse girl in this world who needed him to save her with his life... might be appearing soon.
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