The Owner's Halloween Eve

Halloween Eve in Louisville.

The closer one got to downtown, the higher the proportion of pedestrians dressed in bizarre costumes.

There were werewolves in smoky makeup and Gothic outfits, as well as classic horror movie characters wearing red-and-green sweaters and metal claw gloves.

What had initially seemed like an ordinary cowboy turned out, after joining his companions, to be a classic Toy Story character.

Though what a children's movie had to do with Halloween Eve was anyone's guess.

From that morning onward, Broadway Avenue had been occupied by grand parade floats, while after nightfall, the central district was completely dyed orange by the lights.

Strictly speaking, "the eve of Halloween" meant that Halloween Eve was the night before the holiday.

Even so, the celebrations began on this very day.

Rather than digging into the origins of customs like this, they preferred to throw themselves into this sea of orange light.

Leave that sort of research to the scholars.

After rushing from watching the races in Niigata to the United States without pause, several days of dizzying busyness had finally given way to a brief moment of rest.

They naturally did not attend the festivities being held on Broadway Avenue and in Paristown.

Several days earlier, Reed had invited them to a small gathering at the Mercury Equestrian Center.

Because of the holiday, it took a little longer than usual to reach the outskirts of Lexington.

A faintly glowing skeleton stood at the entrance to the equestrian center, with several pumpkins at its feet casting orange light outward.

Yoshida and stablehand Ikeda had arrived earlier that evening and quietly chatted about Baozuo's recent condition in front of the stables until the celebration began.

After meeting with the stable staff, they exchanged brief holiday greetings before quickly moving on to horse racing.