...

After the Japan Derby, next up were Uralala's debut race and Silent Suzuka's Takarazuka Kinen.

On a Friday evening, as the race schedule drew near, everyone sat in a row on the lawn after training, enjoying the splendid sunset.

The beautiful, serene time flowed like a gentle stream, and before night fell, everyone wished time would slow down a little more.

"Uralala, what's your dream after your debut race?" Lu Jue's hand rested on Uralala's head beside him.

"After that, huh...?" Uralala tucked her bent legs together and rested her head on her knees, "I want to stand on the victory stage once. Does that count?"

Dream and goal are only one character apart in Chinese, but in reality, they are worlds apart. If she were younger, she might have simply shouted "Japanese Number One."

But now she had grown up.

"Yes, of course it counts. But instead of calling it a dream, wouldn't it be more practical to call it a goal?"

"Okay, then that's Uralala's goal!"

Sometimes, a single sentence from Lu Jue could suddenly fill Uralala with confidence.

"What about Silence Suzuka? What's your next goal?"

Silence Suzuka already had her plans, and after a moment's thought, she listed them out: "After the Takarazuka Kinen is the Mainichi Okan, then the Tenno Sho this autumn, and if all goes well after that..."

She paused there, "It's a secret."

Lu Jue's heart tightened, but he continued her sentence: "After that... of course it will go smoothly, and if you have any ideas after that, I'll fully support you."

Will everything destined to happen truly come to pass? Lu Jue wished so much that Silent Suzuka would continue listing future races, whether it was the Arima Kinen or overseas races, anything would be fine.

(During the Autumn Tenno Sho race, Silent Suzuka suffered a comminuted fracture of her left foreleg cannon bone and was euthanized that same day, at only 4 years old.)

Lu Jue was probably more nervous than she was about Silent Suzuka's upcoming race.

"What about Xiao Te? 'Japanese Number One' needs concrete evidence, otherwise, it's too vague."

"I will take every upcoming graded race seriously! I will strive for victory!" As if remembering her failure in the Satsuki Sho, Special Week's hand beneath her tightened around the green grass.

"So cool, Xiao Te is so cool!" Uralala's eyes sparkled. Special Week was indeed an idol in her heart.

"Seiun." Finally, Lu Jue turned his gaze to Seiun Sky.

He was truly amazed. Seiun Sky had Silent Suzuka between them, yet she could still reach around and poke him.

"Setting goals, hmm... feels so tiring~ I don't really have any particularly noteworthy goals for now."

"You better be." Lu Jue chuckled, scolding her. She was such a tease.

Seiun Sky playfully stuck out her tongue and retorted, "Trainer, what's your goal? Or what's your dream?"

The others' gazes also converged on Lu Jue.

Lu Jue was momentarily stunned. He had never thought about that.

His initial motivation for becoming a Trainer was not self-driven, so how could he talk about dreams?

"None."

"Is it that you don't want to say, or that you don't have one?"

"You guess?"

"If you won't say, then don't say. Making people guess, I'm not interested in knowing." Seiun Sky turned her small face away.

"Lu Jue-jun should become the most amazing Trainer, right?" Silent Suzuka also started guessing; she was very interested in everything about Lu Jue.

"That's not impossible." Lu Jue chuckled, not because he didn't want to answer, but because he couldn't.

Silent Suzuka also straightened her small face and immediately ignored Lu Jue.

"Alright, it's getting late." Lu Jue stood up casually, patting his pants, "Let's go, I'll treat everyone to a big meal."

...

Days flowed by like water, one after another.

Soon, the Takarazuka Kinen arrived.

Before the race, Lu Jue was in the waiting room making the final checks for Silent Suzuka.

As he tied her shoelaces, Lu Jue's hands trembled quite a bit, so much so that he didn't even notice Silent Suzuka was wearing the pair he had given her.

"Lu Jue-jun, did you not sleep well last night?"

"Ah?" Lu Jue sighed, letting out a breath, "I did have some insomnia."

"Did you stack things up and do them again?"

"You guessed right." Lu Jue didn't explain much. Last night, he had actually been thinking about Silent Suzuka all along.

"You can't always be like this." Silent Suzuka chided him.

After Lu Jue finished tying her shoelaces, Silent Suzuka stood up and took two steps to adjust. "Do you have any tactical guidance for this time?"

"No, your running style is simple and direct, specializing in dealing with flashy tactics. I have faith in you."

Hearing Lu Jue's praise, Silent Suzuka showed a serene smile.

"Silence Suzuka..." Lu Jue pursed his lips unnaturally, wanting to say something, but his throat lit up with a red light, forbidding passage.

He couldn't possibly ask her to hold back in a G1 race, could he? He couldn't... ask her not to participate in any future races, could he?

But Lu Jue had thought about all of this last night. He couldn't be that selfish.

"Lu Jue-jun, what's wrong? Do you have something to tell me?"

Lu Jue shook his head, swallowing those words back down, "Nothing. I wish you success. I'll go to the stands now."

Silent Suzuka still felt a bit strange, but she responded, "Okay."

...

"Silent Suzuka, the leader is still Silent Suzuka!"

"The gap between her and the second-place Uma Musume is nearly twelve lengths!"

"If the Uma Musume behind don't speed up, it's unlikely they'll be able to overtake Silent Suzuka!"

The excited voice of the announcer stirred the emotions of the live audience.

But only Lu Jue was an exception...

Before the race, Uralala went to buy ice cream and distributed it to Lu Jue and the others.

"T-Trainer! Your ice cream is melting!"

"Oh, no."

Lu Jue quickly inverted the ice cream.

He didn't know if he was out of his mind, but he actually bit off a large chunk. The roof of his mouth instantly felt like it was pressed against a block of ice, stinging his nerves.

"Trainer..." Uralala compared it to the large half of ice cream she still had left after licking it for a long time, "Are you perhaps not good at eating ice cream? Do you want Uralala to teach you?"

Lu Jue slowly recovered, swallowing the cold liquid in his mouth. "No need, as long as you can eat it, that's fine."

As he spoke, he also reached out to wipe a white spot from the corner of Uralala's mouth.

"Trainer, were you too engrossed in watching the race just now?"

Seiun Sky's voice came from behind him.

Lu Jue turned around and saw that she was even more exaggerated; a whole section of her upper lip had ice cream marks, like a white mustache.

He was about to remind her, but he noticed her slightly pouted lips and immediately understood what Seiun Sky meant.

"I was a bit engrossed."

He said engrossed, but in reality, he was a bit overly nervous, to the point of neglecting what was in his hand.

Lu Jue said, taking out a tissue and gently wiping Seiun Sky's upper lip.

Her lips were thin, but exquisitely shaped, and the curves of her mouth were very graceful.

Moreover, even without lipstick, they were rosy, like delicate cherries, adding a few touches of playfulness and cuteness.

Lu Jue didn't know that while he was inadvertently observing Seiun Sky, she was also watching him.

Seiun Sky suddenly felt that the condition she had proposed wasn't as appealing.

Lips should seek another half, and not always be confined to the cheeks. The lips so close to her were a flutter in Seiun Sky's heart, and a great temptation.

So, what exactly did kissing feel like?

The seed of "wanting to kiss" was thus planted.

...

"Trainer-san, Silence Suzuka is about to win!" Special Week reminded him.

Silence Suzuka's chances of winning were very high; Lu Jue had analyzed it for everyone before the race. What he was worried about wasn't this particular race.

But compared to that...

"Xiao Te, how do you eat ice cream? Can you show me?" Lu Jue looked at Special Week's entire "dirty" mouth, asking in confusion.

Uralala was accidental, Seiun Sky was intentional... Special Week couldn't be intentionally accidental, could she? She was so clueless, so slow-witted.

"What's wrong, Trainer-san? What do you mean?" Special Week blinked, looking puzzled, asking blankly.

"Nothing, just wipe it." He happened to have one tissue left, so Lu Jue simply wiped Special Week's mouth as well.

"Oh... I didn't notice for a moment, thank you, Trainer-san."

It was actually Arigato Meiyangyang-san.

She actually... wasn't shy?

But Lu Jue didn't think much of it, his gaze returning to the race track.

...