The following day, before dawn.
Black clouds blanketed the sky, hiding both moon and stars.
One glance was enough to tell that rain would come the next day.
Toulouse Grand Estate, France.
It had been another wonderfully invigorating night.
Kuroha held the warm, soft body in his arms. After being kept busy for most of the night, she had only just fallen asleep. As he stared at the ceiling, he sank into thought.
Come to think of it... he no longer needed to sleep at all.
After ascending to godhood, perhaps the most obvious change was that sleep was no longer a necessity.
Feeling the seemingly boundless energy coursing through him, Kuroha could not help finding the sensation rather novel.
He had pulled all-nighters for their occasional "group battles" before.
He had even achieved the glorious feat of defeating every last member of his Umamusume ensemble.
Yet he had never experienced anything like this. He felt as though he could keep fighting for another three days and nights, perhaps even ten, without losing an ounce of enthusiasm.
He turned his head slightly, and a strand of purple hair gently brushed across his eyelids.
The gray-haired girl wore a contented smile upon her exquisite face as she slept soundly against his chest.
Her warm breath tickled his ear.
After a brief silence, Kuroha's expression softened. He turned his gaze away and slowly closed his eyes again.
"I'll stay with McQueen a little longer..."
Silence returned to the room.
Only two hours later did his eyes slowly open once more.
After confirming that the girl beside him was deeply asleep, Kuroha's figure shimmered and briefly became indistinct.
It was as though he had stepped out of nothingness itself. When his body solidified again, he had suddenly moved from the bed to its side, already fully dressed.
"Sweet dreams, McQueen~"
Kuroha leaned down and kissed his Umamusume on the cheek before carefully pulling the covers over her.
Only after confirming that McQueen was thoroughly exhausted and unlikely to awaken anytime soon did he silently vanish.
The scene shifted.
Kuroha appeared inside an elegantly decorated room within the villa.
A faint, pleasant fragrance still lingered in the air.
It was clearly the bedroom of a lovely young woman.
Kuroha turned toward the center of the room.
On the bed, a wriggling lump had wrapped itself tightly inside the blankets and was snoring away.
"..."
Even after becoming a god, Kuroha could only stare helplessly at the sight.
Rubbing his brow, he walked to the head of the bed.
"Godolphin?"
"Mmm!~~?"
The blue-haired goddess mumbled sleepily from beneath the blankets and wrapped them even tighter around herself.
"...Godolphin?"
"Mmm!~~"
"..."
"Godolphin!"
"Mmph!"
Her soft cheek was suddenly pinched, instantly jolting Godolphin awake. Still half asleep, she slurred an indignant protest.
"Ahhh, I'm awake! I'm awake! Stop pinching me."
The drowsy goddess rubbed her eyes and unsteadily sat up.
Her loose silk nightgown slipped from one shoulder, revealing smooth, fair skin and a generous glimpse beneath.
Her breathtakingly beautiful face carried the lazy, innocent charm of someone who had only just awakened.
Her long, ocean-blue hair, as soft and fluid as rolling waves, fell in slight disarray across her jade-white collarbones.
Beneath her long eyelashes, the eyes that seemed to contain both the stars and the sea were misty with sleep.
Completely unguarded, the girl presented an extraordinarily captivating sight.
Godolphin herself did not care in the slightest. After all, they already knew each other inside and out.
"What is it, Kuro-kun? It's still dark outside. Can't it wait until tomorrow?"
She yawned, then seemed to remember something. Her eyes abruptly widened.
"...Wait! Could it be that little McQueen couldn't satisfy you, so you came looking for me?!"
Bonk!
Before she could finish, she clutched her head as tears gathered in her eyes.
"What are you imagining now?"
Kuroha withdrew his hand and sighed.
"Weren't you the one who told me to go up there if I had time tonight? Did you forget?"
Godolphin finally remembered after Kuroha's reminder.
Before McQueen had received the reward of having her trainer's bedroom all to herself for winning the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe, Godolphin had specifically told Kuroha to return to the otherworld inhabited by the Three Goddesses if he had time.
After all, she knew Kuroha well.
Even if that little McQueen was currently the strongest Umamusume in the world, she would probably last only about an hour before collapsing.
He should have had plenty of time tonight.
Godolphin had originally planned to eavesdrop for a while and then wait for Kuroha to arrive.
Instead, she had fallen asleep first.
"Oh! You mean that."
With her memory restored, Godolphin suddenly lunged forward and wrapped her arms around Kuroha's waist.
"I was feeling a little tired~"
The goddess had begun acting spoiled.
"As far as I know, you don't need to sleep."
Kuroha helplessly sat down beside the bed and allowed Godolphin to cuddle against him.
"Hehe~ That just proves you're still a novice god, Kuro-kun."
Godolphin playfully wagged a slender finger and giggled.
"Once you've lived for several hundred years like us, you'll understand the benefits of sleeping."
"Yes, yes, of course."
Kuroha nodded absentmindedly before pointing overhead.
"Shall we go up there now?"
"Mhm! Go ahead."
Godolphin smiled and nodded. She then released him and flopped back beneath the blankets.
Kuroha raised an eyebrow.
"Aren't you coming with me?"
Godolphin blinked.
"Did you forget, Kuro-kun? Right now, I'm only sleeping up there~"
Kuroha fell silent.
He had almost genuinely forgotten. The Godolphin before him had been created from his divine power. Her true body was still sleeping in the world above.
"...All right. I'll be back soon."
Only after Godolphin pulled the blanket over herself again, concealing all that exposed skin, did Kuroha rise to his feet.
"Mhm, hurry back~"
Kuroha took a single step forward. Light flashed, and his figure vanished from the room.
Once he was gone, Godolphin pulled the blanket over her delicate nose, hiding her rather wicked smile.
"Hurry back? Oh, that simply won't do~"
The blue-haired goddess hummed a cheerful tune and closed her eyes, temporarily directing most of her consciousness into her true body high above.
"Tonight, I'm going to make up for all these months of only having an avatar, with interest!"
...
Light and shadow twisted as all color drained from the world.
When Kuroha's foot finally touched down, the surrounding space had already undergone a complete transformation.
It felt as though he had crossed the barriers of space and time themselves.
The view before him abruptly opened into a strange realm suspended beneath a dim and distant sky.
The boundless sea of stars seemed close enough to touch. Brilliant rivers of starlight became flowing ribbons that intertwined across the heavens, forming a dreamlike aurora.
At the center of this vast otherworld stood a magnificent and sacred floating island.
"So this is... the otherworld where Godolphin and the others live?"
In the past, Kuroha had only ever viewed it from afar.
This was his first time coming directly before it.
"...It feels rather strange."
Kuroha hovered in midair, sensing this realm gently responding to him, its newly ascended god.
With a single thought, he clearly perceived three immense yet familiar presences intertwined within the strange world ahead.
They were quietly awaiting his arrival.
One belonged to the blue-haired goddess who had been teasing him in the mortal world only moments ago.
The other two naturally belonged to the remaining masters of this realm.
Two of the Three Goddesses, Darley and Byerley!
Kuroha contemplated the situation for a moment, his eyes glimmering as he looked toward the floating island high above.
At its edge stood an extremely familiar figure.
She appeared to be waiting for something.
"...She really is guarding the entrance?"
Seeing this, Kuroha recalled what Darley had once told him, and the corner of his mouth twitched.
After hesitating for a moment, however, his body moved.
Transforming into a brilliant streak of light, he shot toward the sacred otherworld.
(End of Chapter)
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