About half an hour after the Winning Live, Imanami and Gold Ship predictably conducted a post-race interview.
In fact, the reason behind why Gold Ship pursued such an overwhelming victory was because of this exact interview.
"Miss Gold Ship, do you have any thoughts about successfully debuting in a GIII and becoming a Winning Uma Musume?"
"Hm? Business as usual, I guess. I'm a member of Team Miracle, so winning like this is only natural."
Gold Ship, without a hint of modesty, spoke matter-of-factly.
"Trainer Imanami! What kind of Uma Musume is Gold Ship to you?"
The next reporter who was chosen pointed their microphone at Imanami.
"Gold Ship is a very intelligent and talented Uma Musume. With her being an Uma Musume of the Gold Family, she is an amazing all-rounder in both physical ability and skill."
Imanami, facing the reporters, spoke very professionally,
"Some people might misunderstand Gold Ship and have criticisms about her personality, however, her talent and strength as an Uma Musume is undeniable."
"Therefore, I'm honoured to be her Trainer."
"Eh...? That line... didn't Trainer say something similar about you back then?"
Meanwhile, in the hospital room, Mejiro McQueen and the others, after watching the intense race, continued on with the post-race interview.
And hearing Imanami's familiar lines, Tokai Teio couldn't help but turn to look at McQueen.
"...Maybe it's Trainer's standard line."
McQueen coughed slightly at Teio's remark as she calmly retorted back,
"You know, Teio, once you debut in the future, Trainer might say the exact same thing."
"Hey! No way!"
Tokai Teio let out a small wail in annoyance, but, seeing McQueen's brows unfurrow and her expression relax, she felt relieved.
It's just... even though McQueen seemed much livelier, why did she feel like she was a little unhappy?
Teio, who was still a novice regarding the matters of the heart, didn't know that her unintentional remark had planted a thorn in McQueen's currently sensitive heart.
Although Imanami's speech was not exactly identical, it was largely similar to what he had said during her own debut post-race interview.
In fact, McQueen's own comment of Imanami having 'standard lines' was the thing that made her feel uncomfortable.
Hearing those familiar words from Imanami, McQueen began to truly fear that Imanami's lines that day had been prepared a long time ago.
Of course, there was nothing wrong with that; preparing what to say in advance during an interview was a perfectly fine approach.
However... for some reason, the thought that Imanami's words were something he had prepared in advance rather than from genuine emotions irked McQueen a little.
"Trainer Imanami, was this race intended as a comeback for Mejiro McQueen's foul at the Hanshin Daishoten, which led to her demotion to eighteenth place?"
Here it came, the crucial question.
But before Imanami could even speak, Gold Ship immediately grabbed a microphone and answered the question with a boisterous tone,
"Yeah! That's right! We're here to avenge McQueen!"
"McQueen literally neg-diffed everyone in the Hanshin Daishoten by six lengths! She definitely would've won if she didn't accidentally foul!" (T/N: Neg-diff means winning with negative difficulty)
"Although McQueen isn't here right now, I'm sure she must be watching!"
As Gold Ship spoke, she turned towards the camera and pointed at it.
Then, though thousands of miles apart, Mejiro McQueen's and Gold Ship's eyes connected, as she said without a single shred of hesitation,
"Yo, McQueen! Thanks for being my friend! It was you who made me want to race!"
"You also gave me a push during the race! I definitely couldn't have won without you!"
"...That idiot."
Watching Gold Ship get illuminated by the flashing lights of cameras, McQueen merely shook her head with a faint smile and murmured,
"I didn't do anything at all... even without me, you still could have done it... I never even gave you anything like a push, even if you really wanted to cheer me up, couldn't you have tried something else—?"
Just then, Imanami's voice quickly followed after Gold Ship's,
"We aren't just here for something like payback or to prove our team's dominance."
"Rather, we wanted to show you that even a small setback like this can inspire an Uma Musume to step onto the tracks. So think of just what you can do when you're running on the tracks."
"Mejiro McQueen, I want to see you continue to run, I want to see if you can win more victories, I want to see more Uma Musume be inspired to run because of you."
At that moment, Imanami stood with Gold Ship and they both smiled at McQueen on the other side of the screen.
"You're the backbone of our team, right~? So..."
"You're my first Uma Musume, right? So..."
"We'll be waiting for you here, McQueen."
...
As Mejiro McQueen turned off the TV, she remained silent for a long time without responding.
When everyone also wordlessly focused on McQueen, Tokai Teio was the first to cautiously break the silence.
"Um... McQueen? Are you good?"
"...It's nothing. I just suddenly feel a little silly."
Surprisingly, McQueen answered relatively quickly.
With a rustle, like a gentle breeze, McQueen suddenly threw off her blanket, causing it to cover the heads of Ryan and Palmer.
However, McQueen couldn't care less about it right now.
"Eh?! McQueen?!"
Watching McQueen standing barefooted on the hospital bed, Teio could not help herself but cry out in confusion.
"Seriously, what am I doing?! Trainer still needs me, Gold Ship still needs me, everyone still needs me to be the backbone!"
"Without me, how much effort would Trainer have to waste cleaning up after Gold Ship?!"
With that declaration, McQueen, still in her hospital gown, dropped down from the bed, putting on her shoes as she chattered.
"Everyone is waiting for me to continue running! If I don't pull myself together, wouldn't I soon be the only one who hasn't won a GI?!"
"We don't have much time to waste— Teio! Let's go to Trainer right now!"
"W- wait! McQueen! You haven't changed your clothes yet!"
Teio reached out to Mejiro McQueen, who had already run off.
But soon enough, Teio understood: McQueen was back!
"Wait for me! We still have to ask the doctors to discharge you!!!"
Teio quickly grabbed the suitcase she had packed long ago and immediately chased after McQueen.
Meanwhile, the three sisters who had come to visit their ill sister were left alone in a patientless room, exchanging bewildered glances.
For a moment, they even wondered if they accomplished anything by coming here.
...
After the interview, Imanami and Gold Ship still didn't know if their words had succeeded in motivating Mejiro McQueen.
However, the sight of Stay Gold walking towards them made both of them stop in their tracks.
"Hello, Trainer Imanami. Heyo, little Gold Ship, nice to see you so energetic."
Stay Gold calmly greeted Imanami while giving Gold Ship a more quirky greeting.
"Oldest Sister..."
Gold Ship opened her mouth, but Stay Gold quickly held up a hand to stop her, saying calmly,
"I'll be leaving soon. I just wanna have a quick chat with Trainer Imanami over here."
"You go celebrate with the rest of your sisters. I've already met them."
"And as per tradition, I, Stay Gold, The Head of the Gold Family, hereby appoint you as the Acting Head of the Gold Family. Now tata outta here."
"Oh... alright."
Gold Ship, for all her mischief, was still very respectful towards Stay Gold.
On one hand, she didn't dare to provoke the Oldest Sister; although Stay Gold might be weaker than her physically, Gold Ship was sure she would at least go bald by the end.
On the other hand, she was genuinely grateful for what Stay Gold had done for them all these years.
Thus, looking back every few steps, Gold Ship slowly left.
It wasn't until Gold Ship was far enough away that Stay Gold finally turned to Imanami, her tone gentle.
"This should be our second time meeting, right, Trainer Imanami?"
"This time, I mainly want to hear what you think about that child, Gold Ship. She holds quite a unique position in our family, so I'm quite curious what her Trainer thinks about her."
Imanami internally sighed when he heard the somewhat familiar speech.
As Stay Gold spoke, Imanami couldn't help but recall just how similar this situation was to when the Mejiro Family Head had entrusted Mejiro McQueen to him.
However, facing Stay Gold, Imanami wasn't worried about her offering something like 'becoming the Gold Family's exclusive Trainer.'
Firstly, he would certainly not accept it, and if Stay Gold really insisted, he could always just betray his good old pal Ikezoe and let him accept this huge 'thanks' from the Gold Family.
Moreover, from his impressions of Stay Gold, Imanami didn't think that she was here to try and recruit him as an exclusive Trainer.
Regardless, from how much respect Gold Ship has for her oldest sister, Imanami understood that Stay Gold was someone that truly loved every single one of her sisters from the bottom of her heart.
Thus, Imanami thought carefully before quickly replying,
"Gold Ship... means a lot to me. If I had to give an example, she's like what Orfevre is to Trainer Ikezoe, and what T.M. Opera O is to Trainer Wada."
"She holds an irreplaceable place in my heart, so don't worry, Miss Stay Gold. Gold Ship will never be unappreciated in our team."
-----+-----
A Trainer walked up to a Gold Family stand, and he said to the Uma, running the stand:
"Hey!"
Bwam bwam bwam
"Got any Mejiros?"
The Uma said:
"Yes, we actually do, here you go young man, now off you go!"
And he got drop kicked away~
Bam~ bam~
And he got drop kicked away~
Bam~ bam~
And he got drop kicked away~
Bam~ bam~
To the hospital the very next day.
-----+-----
If you spot any errors, feel free to comment about it and I will fix it as soon as I can.