The Cold Wind of Tropical Night

The post-Arima Memorial celebration was held at an Italian restaurant called "Tropical Night," which Majima and Sasagawa often visited.

The storefront, tucked away in an alley, was rather inconspicuous. With all sorts of greenery arranged by the entrance, it was hard to imagine it was a restaurant if the trainer and jockey had not been leading the way.

After ordering, Sasagawa pushed open the restaurant's back door and headed toward what looked like an open-air bar counter.

"One Akaboshi."

"Same for me!"

Majima plopped down onto the booth sofa and waved at Sasagawa through the window.

So it really was a bar. It was called an Italian restaurant, but in reality, it felt more like a combination of Saizeriya and a bar.

Taking the drink called "Orion" from the jockey, they toasted before the food arrived.

Hearing that they had won an important race, the DJ, who knew absolutely nothing about horse racing, did not hesitate to play a rearranged version of "Drinking Song."

The other customers in the restaurant also began keeping time with the music, raising their glasses one after another as they came over to offer congratulations.

By the end of the celebration, the heat radiating from their faces was already plainly noticeable.

The moment the glass door opened, the sharp howl of the wind made him instinctively hunch his neck, while the cold crept quietly upward from beneath his feet.

It was not snowing, but it was still late December. By this point in the evening, the temperature had clearly dropped.

After seeing off the trainer and jockey pair as they staggered along while supporting each other, he patted his head, which had sobered up a little in the cold wind.

There was still a second gathering to attend.

When he first saw the Hong Kong