"Huff... huff..."
"She's sleeping so soundly. This is the first time I've seen her sleep so well."
After the Tennō Shō (Autumn) ended, he and his group also successfully returned to Tracen Academy for a rest. Although they would have to set off again in two days to go to the Kyoto Racecourse for the Kikuka Sho, but this time, after a major victory, she, who had almost burned everything she had, he felt that he could not leave her alone in the academy. He had to take care of her personally.
And on the way back, she, who had broken through her own limits and had consumed a great deal, had already fallen asleep leaning on his shoulder in the car. And he naturally did not disturb this hero who had given him an extra four years of life. He let her lean on him the whole way. Even when they arrived at the dormitory, he had carried her back all the way.
And this time, the only one who had come to his dormitory with him was Stay Gold. This big sister saw her sleeping so soundly, and I wonder if it was out of a bit of jealousy, she said with a slightly sarcastic tone, "Usually, if you touch her, she'll be nervous for a long time, and even say she's not used to being in contact with others... but when you touch her head, she has no resistance at all. Now that you're carrying her back, she doesn't wake up at all. On the contrary, she's sleeping even more soundly."
"This girl, could it be that she's fishing for you? Is she pretending to be asleep?"
"—Journey, Festa is already very tired. Let's not disturb her."
And now, he, who had walked out of the kitchen, had already prepared a glass of hot water for her, as well as a bento that was still exuding heat. He placed it on the bedside table, and placed a note he had already written under the water glass. Only then had he finally made all the preparations.
Because he didn't know when she would wake up from this sleep, and he still had to go and check on the condition of Gold Ship, who would be participating in the Kikuka Sho in two days. Therefore, before leaving, he had also prepared a bento for her, who would wake up at any time. The note on it also said that if she woke up and found no one around, and the bento was cold, she should put it in the microwave to heat it up.
"Journey, let's go to the training ground to see Gold Ship. By the way, there's something I want to ask you."
"...Okay."
At his signal, she, who had been staring at her with suspicious eyes the whole time, as if wanting to see some flaw in her, finally chose to give up after a few minutes and immediately followed his footsteps and left the dormitory.
And just as she had closed the dormitory door and turned off the lights, and a full few minutes had passed, in the dark dormitory, there was finally a movement from within her bedding...
The her, who had been lying peacefully on the bed, suddenly turned over and buried her whole person in the quilt. Then, a small wail, as if water was boiling, echoed in the silent room—all of this was enough to prove that her suspicion before was correct.
She was awake. She had already woken up on the way back to the dormitory when he was carrying her. But even she herself did not know why she had not reacted. The first reaction her brain had given her at that time was to pretend to be asleep.
Her brain was telling her that this was one of the very few times she could enjoy his gentleness and thoughtfulness alone without having to find an excuse. At this time, his eyes would not have anyone else. And only at this time was she not needing to pretend, and could not, for her own dignity, do any reluctant resistance.
And the next time would probably be half a year, or even a year later... to wait so long for such a concern from him, to enjoy it well was what she should be doing.
"Who needs his concern! I don't have any feelings for this guy!"
And the moment such a thought appeared in her mind, her reason once again gained the upper hand. At once, she suddenly raised her head in the quilt, as if she was refuting her own spring-fevered, emotional love brain, and said to herself in a loud voice.
However, in the silence, there was no one who could affirm her remarks. The self-defeating her fell back onto his soft bed. After a long silence, with her unable to help but take a deep breath, all of his scent on the bed was inhaled into her nasal cavity.
"...Speaking of which, I don't think I've noticed before. This guy's scent seems to be a little nice." Her whole face was buried in his pillow, and her nasal cavity was also full of his rich scent. She, who had not had intimate contact with him for a long time, also couldn't help but murmur to herself.
Since she had started training with Oguri, her and his "walk + massage" that had made her blush and her heart beat fast, but also a little expectant, before the Japanese Derby had been cancelled. She, who had spent all her thoughts on how to win against Mejiro McQueen, had basically fallen asleep as soon as she had finished her special training and taken a shower every day.
And in these few months, this was also the first time she had felt his scent in a long time. I wonder if it was because it had been too long. This time, the scent she smelled was much richer than any time before.
"I thought his body would be full of the smell of medicine and disinfectant. He was usually so sickly. After his body got better, his smell is actually quite masculine—hiss—"
And at this moment, suddenly, she couldn't help but suck in a breath of cold air. Her originally lazy body also tensed up in an instant. Her palm couldn't help but caress her abdomen. There, she felt a burning hot current...
This feeling was very familiar to her. Since a certain day, in the process of receiving his "itch-relieving massage," she had felt this strange burning sensation in her abdomen... at first, she was also worried if this was her illness, so she had consulted the doctors at the academy, but the answer she got had surprised her a little.
This burning sensation... was a manifestation of a horse girl's "complete development." This indicated that all of her organs and secondary sexual characteristics had fully developed. And with her higher body temperature than an ordinary woman, and the greater production of estrogen, this stimulation would naturally be stronger than an ordinary person...
To put it simply, her current situation was a state of "arousal."
A horse girl in this state was often the most easily swallowed by the instinct of desire. To find a suitable object for release, a horse girl who had lost her reason would often try every means to ask the object she had a good impression of (of course, it could also be a person of the same sex) to help her suppress this situation—this was also a major reason why the incident of a horse girl attacking her trainer occurred frequently.
Because the time when each horse girl entered the "complete development" stage was different. A precocious horse girl might start before her classic year. A late-maturing horse girl might not have a similar feeling until she retired. But without exception, it was extremely difficult for a horse girl to suppress this feeling on her own. Once it arose, it was difficult to contain.
And what made her hard to say was... although there was no object for comparison, she felt that her desire was of a relatively high type among her peers. Who knows how much time she had to spend every day to contain this situation.
"At this time—but why is it his scent of all things!"
Her face flushed red, and I don't know if it was a curse or shame. The panting her, without knowing it, had once again inhaled a large amount of his scent on the bed. And the more she inhaled, the more she felt this impulse become stronger. She had fallen into a vicious cycle.
Her legs were still weak, and her overdrawn body had clearly not recovered to a state where she could stand. After a strong ideological struggle, the little angel of reason was finally beaten to a pulp by the devil of desire...
Her originally rapid breathing, in the dark room, began to become heavier... the horse girl who was tightly covering her mouth and had even bitten her own fingers until they bled, but she did not care about the pain in her body...
She could only pray that this unknown and shameful scene could completely end before the person she cared about returned. Her heart could not yet predict what kind of extreme behavior she would make if such a scene was discovered...
...
"Journey, what you said before, that Festa's [Domain] will burn her life force, is it all true?"
And outside the dormitory, he, who had been walking towards the training ground for a while, after confirming that there were no familiar people around, finally asked her beside him this question that he was most concerned about without changing his expression.
From the time he had heard about the special nature of her [Domain], this dangerous question had been echoing in his mind. Because he realized that this ability that this [Domain] possessed, from the moment it was said, had probably become one of her hidden "trump cards."
He knew her too well. Her heart would definitely not think that she could use this ability. But at a critical moment, once she got carried away and did not care about anything, this dangerous ability might really be used by her—even if the life force burned each time was not much, but if she participated in many races, the accumulated life force consumed would also be very dangerous.
Besides, what she liked was that kind of exciting and dangerous race. In this Tennō Shō (Autumn), even if she did not know about her [Domain] ability at all, she had still gone on the field to gamble with the risk of falling, being injured, and having a fracture. She was really the kind of horse girl who dared to bet her own life...
And faced with his question, she, after a moment of silence, finally answered him in a low voice, "I think we'd better prepare for the worst. On the issue of her, you should know more than me."
"Kitano, tell me. As a person chosen by the Three Goddesses, in your impression, after she, whom you called a one-shot wonder, had created a miracle, did she seem to have exhausted all her abilities and could no longer be ignited? If so, we should prepare for her [Domain] to burn away her life force."
However, the moment her words fell, what responded to her was his long silence. And this also quietly verified the worst result in her heart...
Of course, he remembered very clearly that the historical her, after winning the Takarazuka Kinen, had immediately switched to the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe. And she, who had only had one G1 victory in Japan, had actually achieved a second-place finish in the Arc, directly matching the Japanese horse with the highest overall rating, El Condor Pasa, in this record! This could not but be called a "miracle."
And after that, she had collapsed... and in the world of horse girls, it was impossible for him not to suspect that burning her life force might be the only possibility for her to create a miracle.
"Then I would rather she didn't go to the race. I would rather she live like an ordinary horse girl, and not consume her own life for mine..."
"Do you think you can persuade her? Don't get her angry. Otherwise, the things she does will not be much better than what I did to you back then." She also smiled and shook her head, whispering a warning to him. His face changed slightly and he also fell into a silence.
How had she treated him in the last playthrough? Of course, he knew very well. That "coercive life extension" operation of tying him to a chair and only untying him after she had finished her race was something he did not want to experience a second time in his life.
"You can also rest assured. As long as you're not competing with a world-ranked horse king, and she recuperates well, her potential is enough for her [Domain] to burn. There is no need to consume her life force."
"Of course, the best situation is like today, with extremely strong beliefs and negative emotions that can be supplied to her as fuel. Our Gold Family horse girls, once they have an obsession to win and fall into a frenzy, can often burst out with extraordinary potential."
"...Is Gold Ship the same?"
Without realizing it, the two had already quietly come to the training ground. And he and her looked down at the only ash-haired figure on the training ground. She, who was preparing for the battle on the training ground, after noticing their figures, also happily waved to them.
Even from a distance, he could not see her full face clearly, but he could still imagine her mischievous and happy smile when she faced him... he really couldn't imagine that she, who was always as impeccable as a comedy character, both in front of him and in his stereotype, would have such strong negative emotions as her.
In the end, he had not noticed at all what obsession she had. Even in the strange fanfiction before he had transmigrated, she could be said to be the savior of the strange fanfiction. What negative emotions did she have?
"...Well, who knows? Maybe she is not just a comedy character as you think."
She, after looking at his face for a long time, was sure that his current appearance clearly had not noticed her strangeness... he had not yet recognized the true face of the her who was only obedient to him alone.
But in the future, I believe that he will know one day... she is the safest chess piece I have inserted by his side. I believe that when all of this is revealed one day, he will forever become a member of the Gold Family, and from then on, we will never be separated...
But can she really get her wish?
On the training ground, she, who was waving to him and her, after showing an incomparably happy smile, slowly closed her eyes—her one red and one blue bicolored eyes behind her eyelids, on the contrary, reflected the completely different thoughts and feelings of the horse girl named "Gold Ship" for him...
But the two souls of her had an unknown thought that was completely the same... they, like any other person who tried to monopolize him, were absolutely not willing to share the position by his side with a second person.
Even if that person was their "sister," even if that person was... once they resisted, it might make one of them disappear completely... Stay Gold.
They would absolutely not give him up, absolutely not.
....
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