Chapter 22: Aftermath
Having just finished the race, Stardust Mirage was currently in her personal rest room, making a phone call:
"Stardust, I've already heard. You won the championship, right? Congratulations!"
The voice of her older sister on the other end of the phone was filled with joy and relief.
It was clear that, unlike what she had said before, she hadn't completely believed that Stardust Mirage could get first place; she just didn't want her worries to affect Stardust's performance.
"This is nothing to be proud of," Stardust Mirage said into the phone, her expression serious. "It took me two attempts just to debut. I'm already far behind her."
"Her?" The sister on the phone was momentarily stunned, then understood what Stardust Mirage meant, replying with some surprise:
"You mean Tokai Teio?"
"Yes, Teio."
"This—"
The sister on the phone was momentarily at a loss for words. These past few days, she had also learned some basic knowledge about horse girls and roughly understood the tiers among them.
Of course, she also understood the vast gap between her sister and Tokai Teio, a star horse girl genius revered as the "Second Coming of the Emperor."
But as an older sister, she couldn't possibly crush Stardust Mirage's confidence and could only cheer her on:
"It's okay, Stardust. Both you and her have one win now, so the gap isn't that big. As long as you keep running, your sister will definitely support you in surpassing Tokai Teio!"
"With my sister cheering me on, I'm sure I can keep winning until I defeat Teio."
Stardust Mirage held great respect for this older sister. After all, when she first crossed over, it was her sister who took care of her when she just wanted to slack off.
However, the older sister sitting on the hospital bed on the other end of the phone felt even more awkward.
How could she say something like that so calmly? Did she really think she could beat that big star?
How should I comfort her if she loses later...
To prevent her encouragement from giving Stardust too high expectations, the older sister immediately changed the subject:
"By the way, Stardust, you mentioned last time that you plan to study at Central Trecen Academy, right? When are you leaving? And have you thought about your next race?"
"I can enroll at the beginning of next year. As for the next race, I'm already preparing for the G3-level Kyoto Himba Stake on January 27th next year," Stardust Mirage replied.
"Huh? You can directly participate in a G3-level race?" the older sister asked in surprise.
"My registration will be transferred to Central Trecen Academy this year, so next year I can participate in classic-level races directly as a central horse girl," Stardust Mirage answered honestly. This was a method she discovered after studying the race rules these past few days, allowing her to skip some OP-level races and start directly from G3.
"So that means you have about a month left? Then you need to work hard! Starting with a classic G3 race right away—the opponents there won't be as simple as in your previous races." The older sister quickly seized the opportunity to try to dispel Stardust Mirage's arrogance, which seemed to disregard even Tokai Teio.
However, at that moment, Stardust Mirage recalled the roaring cheers from the spectators when she reached the finish line earlier.
The sight of everyone celebrating her victory... once she tasted it, she never wanted to lose it again.
Thinking this, Stardust Mirage said to the phone:
"Don't worry, sister. I'll make a promise with you."
"I, Stardust Mirage, will never underestimate any opponent. No matter what race, I will run with all my strength, and then... continue to seize victory just like today!"
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Stardust Mirage and the other participants in the race had no idea that the impact of this race was already spreading.
This year's final Maiden Race at Chukyo Racecourse was won by a front-runner!
Within a short time after the race ended, the news had spread throughout the horse girl enthusiast circles in the Nagoya metropolitan area.
"Hey, Sato, you didn't come to watch the race today? A front-runner victory—today's first place was your favorite type of race!"
"Such high-quality maiden-level races are really rare. We've had two exciting races in a row this month. Is Chukyo Racecourse really about to become popular?"
"Wasn't it her last time too? She just lost to Tokai Teio by half a length in the final stretch."
"She only lost to that Tokai Teio by half a length? That's really... Stardust Mirage is a local horse girl, right? How can she be so strong?"
"A local horse girl, combined with such strong control over the race—it reminds me of that monster who's about to have her retirement race."
In Japan, many racecourses are qualified to host races. The races held are divided into local and central races based on scale and prize money.
Among them, the largest central racecourses are [Tokyo Racecourse], [Kyoto Racecourse], [Hanshin Racecourse], and [Nakayama Racecourse].
It can be said that almost all classic G1-level races are currently monopolized by these four major racecourses.
Chukyo Racecourse, spanning Nagoya and Toyoake, is in a uniquely awkward position, stuck between local and central status.
It allows both local and central horse girls to participate, barely falling into the central category.
However, due to its consistently lukewarm popularity, it has never been able to secure the right to host G1-level races.
Only people from the two cities, supporting their hometown, come to fill the seats whenever possible, which has surprisingly nurtured many horse girl enthusiasts.
This situation is truly awkward, so everyone dreams of finding ways to boost the popularity to a new level.
The hope that the racecourse can advance further and gain enough popularity to host G1-level races has almost become an obsession for all horse girl enthusiasts in the two cities...
To achieve this, the manager even faced great pressure to meet that "Emperor"—
Did he not know he was disturbing her?
But there was no other way. To climb up, sometimes you need to be tactless.
His previous attempt to build momentum for Tokai Teio's debut race was one such effort, and the results were decent, attracting many new spectators to Chukyo Racecourse in December.
But Tokai Teio ultimately belongs to Central Trecen Academy's horse girls and couldn't truly cooperate with much promotion for Chukyo. She was like a rare, randomly appearing elite monster.
If not for the hope brought by the popularity from Tokai Teio's debut race, under normal circumstances, a mere year-end maiden-level race wouldn't deserve such attention from them.
This time, the appearance of a horse girl who led from start to finish—an extremely rare occurrence—meant Stardust Mirage's name was spread far and wide.
After all, this is a world blessed by the Three Goddesses, where almost all ordinary people follow horse girl races, let alone the hardcore enthusiasts within the circle.
Everyone knows that winning a horse girl race might involve luck, but leading from start to finish and winning by a large margin is never a coincidence.
In other words, Stardust Mirage's raw strength completely overwhelmed all other participants!
Soon after, in the Chukyo Racecourse network center.
Employees responsible for maintaining the official website and synchronizing race recordings were discussing the recently uploaded race footage.
"That Stardust Mirage is definitely something else. Even The Giant lost to her."
An employee slurping instant noodles nearby chimed in:
"Yeah, I heard The Giant—Daitai Tendo—always crushed other horse girls in local training. There were even rumors she might be recruited to Central Academy... Who would have thought she'd only managed to keep up with Stardust Mirage for a few seconds at the start before being completely left behind?"
"She's really amazing. When Stardust Mirage runs, it's like a gust of wind, blowing everyone else away."
"With that kind of strength, I think it's a sure thing that she'll make a splash in classic races in the future. Great! Now our Chukyo horse girls will have another star!"
"Isn't she a student from Chukyo Horse Girl Academy? I think she's from the countryside..."
"So what? She's a local horse girl who debuted at Chukyo. Who would object if we say she's from Chukyo?"
"Hey, I remember in her debut race, she only lost to Tokai Teio by half a length. Plus, this time she led the entire race and won by 10 lengths. With two such exciting races, isn't our racecourse about to get another wave of popularity?"
Before the employee finished speaking, everyone seemed to have a sudden realization and hurriedly checked the video data on the website.
Online popularity is a major part of a race's popularity. With the increasing development of the internet, this part has even begun to play a pivotal role. If they could make a breakthrough here, it would also have a huge impact on Chukyo Racecourse.
And this race recording... might just trigger a wave of popularity.
"It's rising! The number of views has increased a lot!"
The employee in front of the computer immediately moved aside to show the backend panel to the others.
"It really increased... It's only been half an hour, and already thousands of people have watched this race recording?
Even the playback of her previous race with Tokai Teio increased by over a thousand!"
The network center supervisor exclaimed, then immediately ran out to the manager's office.
He knew how long the beer-bellied manager had been worrying about boosting the racecourse's popularity!
Note: I'm new to translating so please be kind and tell me any mistakes you all find, I will try to release a chapter a day but don't expect much
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