Before this, when she had first heard Xingyun Liuge say she was preparing for an overseas campaign, the principal had been ecstatic and immediately declared that she was willing to provide every bit of support she possibly could.
After all, Xingyun Liuge was the greatest horse girl Kasamatsu Tracen had seen since the day it was founded. If they did not support her, then who would?
To that end, the principal had even gone so far as to submit a report to the Tokai Regional Racing Association. Only after that did she manage to provide Xingyun Liuge with accurate international racing intelligence. The information about the Hong Kong Gold Cup had come through exactly that channel.
Then Rudolf Symboli appeared, and the principal had turned gray with despair. Yet now the situation had taken another dramatic turn: Xingyun Liuge still intended to race overseas, and this time as a regional horse girl.
Could there possibly be a closer relative in all the world than Xingyun Liuge?
When the Tokai Regional Racing Association heard the news, they were practically in tears. They nearly felt like kneeling down and kissing Xingyun Liuge's shoes.
How could there be a horse girl who turned down Central's invitation and focused solely on bringing glory to the regions? Was Xingyun Liuge the reincarnation of the Virgin Mary or something?
In short, they had only one thing to say:
Whatever she needed, they would provide. If she needed people, they would send people. If she needed money, they would give money.
They absolutely could not let such a great benefactor feel slighted. For the honor of the entire Tokai region, they were willing to put their faith in Xingyun Liuge this once. After all, she was the rising star personally named by the Emperor herself.
By the time Kitahara Jones and Chihaya Yui learned the news, both of them were so stunned they were nearly speechless.
How could there be a horse girl who took matters this far? This was no longer just "having a strong sense of self-management." She could practically serve as her own trainer!
The pressure on Chihaya Yui, as an actual trainer, instantly shot through the roof. She immediately started sweating buckets.
But for the sake of Xingyun Liuge's dream of the Triple Crown, she resolved to work even harder!
Seeing how tense she was, Xingyun Liuge took the initiative to reassure her.
"To avoid Lunar New Year, the Hong Kong Gold Cup is basically always scheduled for the last Sunday of February. This year that happens to be the twenty-eighth, the twelfth day of the first lunar month."
The festive New Year atmosphere would still be lingering by then, which meant the two of them could enjoy the traditional holiday mood before and after the race.
Though speaking of proper New Year atmosphere, they would obviously have to cross over into Guangdong rather than stay cooped up in tiny Hong Kong.
Anyway, the first order of business was to smash that tired stereotype of qipaos and bun hairstyles!
"..."
Chihaya Yui awkwardly scratched her cheek. It was good to be confident and all, but was it really okay to treat this like a publicly funded vacation?
Unexpectedly, before the two of them even set out, the principal entrusted Chihaya Yui with a very important mission: even though they would be in an unfamiliar place, she absolutely must not let either of them suffer. Eating well and sleeping well came first. If something could be solved with money, then it was no problem at all.
This was 1988. Japan had not yet entered its so-called lost decades. Even the principal of Kasamatsu Tracen could say with complete confidence:
Spend as much as you need. The Tokai Regional Racing Association is behind you all the way.
And because of that backing, Xingyun Liuge's accumulated prize money easily cleared the entry threshold for the Hong Kong Gold Cup, making her one of the fourteen entrants.
Chihaya Yui could only laugh helplessly. This would be Xingyun Liuge's first race overseas, and the result was still uncertain. Was it really all right to be this confident? What if something unexpected happened?
Everyone knew that horse girls were weak against transportation. Seasick, airsick, you name it.
And as it turned out, Chihaya Yui's worries were the kind of prudent concerns born of genuine statesmanship.
She got airsick.
That was right. Xingyun Liuge was perfectly fine. Chihaya Yui was the one who went down.
"Urgh!"
It was her first time ever flying, and Chihaya Yui had prepared for everything—everything except the possibility that she herself might get airsick.
The one good thing was that motion-sickness medicine worked the same either way. The medicine she had prepared for Xingyun Liuge could be used on her instead.
"This is just..."
Leaning weakly against Xingyun Liuge's shoulder, Chihaya Yui felt too embarrassed to face anyone. What kind of trainer dragged down her own horse girl?
Xingyun Liuge, however, did not care in the slightest. She carried Chihaya Yui on her back, feeling the softness pressing against her from behind, and walked along with exceptionally light steps.
"I already knew this place was a big international city, but I didn't expect there to be so many Western horse girls on the streets. Looks like this race is going to be fierce."
Then again, most of them were probably there more for the festive atmosphere of a mysterious Eastern nation's traditional holiday than for the race itself.
After dropping off their luggage at the hotel, Xingyun Liuge took Chihaya Yui straight to Sha Tin Racecourse.
At first Liuge had wanted Chihaya Yui to get some proper rest, even saying she would be fine on her own, but Chihaya insisted she was already feeling much better and absolutely wanted to come along.
Since her complexion did look a lot better, Xingyun Liuge agreed.
After being integrated into the global racing circuit, the Hong Kong Gold Cup had been upgraded to an international Grade 1 race. The distance had been extended from its former 1800 meters to 2000 meters, while one of its original rules remained unchanged:
There was no age restriction.
In other words, Classic-year horse girls had to face the merciless pressure of older horse girls. It was a brutally unforgiving setup. On the other hand, if an older horse girl lost to a Classic-year runner, that would be humiliating beyond measure.
Xingyun Liuge's verdict on the matter was simple.
"Yui, races like this are pretty interesting too, right?"
But Chihaya Yui had no time to think about that. She was too busy studying the track.
Over the course of the Hong Kong Gold Cup, runners would have to navigate three turns. The first was already sharp enough to be dangerous, but the second was even more treacherous, with centrifugal force exerting a major influence on the horse girls.
In addition, the course was not flat. It rose and fell noticeably from start to finish. That made both front-running and come-from-behind tactics particularly disadvantageous. And since the track itself was not very wide, once a horse girl got boxed into the pack, breaking free would be extremely difficult. From every angle, the best tactical choice was to run as a stalker.
That was the conclusion Chihaya Yui had reached after studying years of race footage and conducting an on-site inspection herself.
At the same time, she noticed that the starting point was extremely close to the stands. The spectators' passionate cheering could very easily affect the horse girls' break from the gate. That was another factor they would need to keep in mind.
After that, the only real question left was whether Xingyun Liuge could adapt to the turf here.
Japanese turf was known as high-speed turf. Compared with the turf in Europe and America, it was much firmer, and if anything, Japan only seemed to be hardening it further with each passing year...
If Chihaya Yui were asked for her honest opinion, she could only say she was not optimistic about that policy at all.
Wasn't every horse girl's ultimate goal the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe? If so, what was the point of the JRA making domestic turf harder and harder? It was no different from saddling every horse girl headed abroad with a debuff called must re-adapt to turf from scratch.
Meanwhile, after completing a lap, Xingyun Liuge spotted someone who caught her interest.
It was a half-grown horse girl with shoulder-length pale green hair.
At that moment, she was clinging to the railing, staring longingly at the track.
Join here to read ahead.
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