[Bewitching Dark Bay]: Phew... [Motherly Demon]: I'm getting fired up too.
The Uma Musume's passion for racing burst like fireworks across the sky, blooming in the darkness and filling the empty spaces with a brilliance that drew every eye.
"Rice Shower... I'll catch up to you!"
Watching the cyber horse bathed in light, Rice Shower clenched her fists and looked at Bourbon with utter determination.
She was making a promise about the coming Kikka-sho. She would not chase Bourbon's shadow, but the Uma Musume who shone like the sun.
"I won't lose to you. Never."
"..."
Hearing Rice Shower declare that she would crush her dream, Bourbon said nothing. She merely smiled.
Those display-screen eyes revealed a fire hotter than her finishing kick.
[Blue Rose Quality Inspector]: This is...
"This is what it means to be an Uma Musume."
Zhou Yuang folded his arms and watched the figure before him, who barely resembled a cyber horse anymore. A relieved smile spread across his face.
He had meant to look up at the fireworks, but Bourbon hurried back instead.
Her sudden dash nearly made Zhou Yuang laugh.
"What is it?"
"Master, I thought of something."
Bourbon walked up to Zhou Yuang and looked up at him.
"I think I've found my next goal."
Her first dream had slowly left her feeling hollow. Now, as she neared it and found nothing waiting beyond, light shone in the eyes of the Uma Musume who had almost reached the end of that road.
"...A goal? What goal?"
Now that's something worth celebrating.
Zhou Yuang asked, and Bourbon answered as though she had planned it all along, speaking slowly and deliberately.
"I want to make thirty friends."
"Is that your dream?"
"Yes. Twenty-nine plus one. That makes thirty."
Bourbon