Initially, when I'd given out my suggestion to head off to Texas for some BBQ, I did so expecting that trip to happen tomorrow—or maybe a couple days later if Secretariat's schedule happened to be busier than normal. It'd be a statistical anomaly, considering the woman barely did any actual work, but the possibility wasn't zero.
But,
「Oh? Some good ol' Texan BBQ, eh?」Secretariat grinned widely as she chomped down on her massive carrot.「Hell yeah, let's go then!」
I paused, my fork stopping inches from my mouth.「Eh? Right now?」
「Of course! When else?」
I opened my mouth, and then closed it with a small sigh. I could try and make an argument, but I knew Secretariat would just ignore it. Not out of some malicious intent or anything; she was just that stubborn. Once she got an idea in her head, she'd act on it, no matter what other plans she previously already had. It was why the American Racing Association never bothered trying to recruit her—she was a bulldozer through and through.
Suddenly, I felt someone tugging on the sleeve of my tracksuit. It turned out to be Oguri, her eyes adorably scrunched as she tried parsing the heavily accented English Secretariat had spoken in. "What did she say?" Oguri asked. I quickly explained what Secretariat had said, and Oguri's eyes shined. "We're going today!?"
I held back a sigh. Yeah, that wasn't surprising.
I smiled wryly as I turned to the person sitting on the other side of the table. "What do you think, Musaka-san?"
Musaka hummed as he raised an eyebrow, before he snorted. "Yeah, sure. Why not." He said lazily, before he immediately returned to reading the newspaper.
I held back a snort at his disinterest.
And it really was disinterest. Despite this trip being mostly for Oguri and I, the one who'd arguably changed the most was Musaka. I didn't know when it began exactly, but most of the tension he held had melted away at some point, and these days, he truly looked like a trainer who was years into his retirement. Hell, he was even wearing a bathrobe as he read his newspaper!
Of course, I knew the real reason why he was acting so nonchalant as of late. But since he wasn't willing to share his future with the rest of the team just yet, all I could do was give him a silent nod.
I then turned to the last two members of Team Kitahara to ask for their thoughts. "So, up for some Texas BBQ?"
Belno Light blinked as she took a sip of her coffee. "Texas BBQ?"
Kitahara raised an eyebrow, pausing just moments from devouring another beef sausage. "BBQ? You mean like yakiniku?"
"Not…quite." I said. "It's basically a giant platter of meat. Like, a lot of meat. Enough to drop you into a food coma if you ate it too quickly." I smiled wryly. "And this is compared to other American meals. So you can imagine just how much food that'll be."
Belno stared, before she smiled weakly. "Well, I can't really say no if Oguri's that enthusiastic about it, can I?"
Kitahara chuckled. "Yeah, same here." His expression then turned a little awkward. "It's just-, uh, we can bring it home for takeout, right? Just in case we don't finish it?" I flashed him a thumbs up, and he sighed in relief. "If that's the case, then sure." He grinned. "I mean, it's not like we have much to do today."
I nodded.
And so, with everyone's cooperation gathered, today's lunch had officially been set as Texas BBQ. Of course, since we were in the state of Virginia right now, we'd have to take a direct flight if we wanted to get there on the same day.
Thankfully, Secretariat just happened to have an entire array of private jets lounging in her backyard, so we were set in that regard.
…
Alas, once we'd flown to Texas in one of Secretariat's many private jets, my relief quickly died.
「Yeehaw~!」Secretariat cheered, her grin stretching ear to ear as she drove the jeep forward with utter disregard for any traffic laws.「Man, these new models just keep gettin' better 'n better, don't they~?」
I rasped weakly, my body squished back into my seat from the sheer speed the jeep was moving at.「C-Can't fight ya' on thAT-!?」My words broke into a terrified scream as we hit a speed bump, causing the wheels to lift off the ground for a good few seconds before we slammed back down onto the road.
I glanced at her, and with a pale face, I could only grit my teeth. I deeply wanted to beg for her to slow down, but I knew my words would fall on deaf ears. Getting Secretariat to listen wasn't all that difficult, but asking her to slow down? Now that was practically an impossible task.
For the thousandth time, I silently regretted accepting Secretariat's offer to make me her Apprentice. Being trained by a world-recognized umamusume was an incredible honor, but I would've had second thoughts had I known what I was getting into.
And to make it even worse, I was the only one suffering. The rest of Team Kitahara was riding in a damned limousine! Sure, they were far behind us due to how fast Secretariat was driving, but at least their stomachs didn't feel like they were about to burst open!
But the past couldn't be changed, and so I could only grit my teeth and silently hold back my tears as we continued speeding down the road.
The next few minutes passed in an agonizing fashion, but we eventually arrived in the city of Lockhart—the capital of Texas BBQ. And thankfully, Secretariat significantly slowed down once we entered, her driving becoming far more normal to avoid any unwanted collisions.
I silently heaved a sigh of relief, mostly because I'd somehow managed to keep myself from vomiting.
I coughed weakly as I glared at her.「I ain't ever ridin' with you ever again.」I said, and scowled when Secretariat laughed out loud.
「Oh, com' on now. That ain't the worst o' it.」She grinned like a sharp.「And don'cha worry. Ya'll get used to the wheelie spirit eventually~!」
I shuddered.
I slouched into my seat as my body was finally allowed to relax, letting the rest of the world melt into an indistinct blur. I could hear a few people seemingly shouting in surprise as we drove forward—maybe because they recognized the manwoman who was driving this damned jeep? But I didn't have the energy to really care about that right now.
After some time, I felt the jeep slowing down, and I finally reopened my eyes. And I nearly collapsed in absolute relief when I saw that we'd finally stopped at a parking lot, with our destination just a few minutes away.
「Oh, we're here.」I said listlessly, before a weak smile came onto my lips.「Yay.」
Secretariat laughed as she patted me on the back. And by 'patting on the back', I meant slamming my back so hard that it almost felt like she'd dislodged a few of my ribs from my chest.「Come on now. Show some excitement!」
「Woo.」
She snorted at my lifeless replies, though she then asked,「So, what'cha wanna do now? Your folks're still a bit behind.」She jabbed a thumb to the left.「Wanna go explorin' first? Been a while since I was last here myself, but I kno' some pretty interesting places here n' there.」
I groaned.「Please, just…let me stay here for a lil' bit.」
She smirked for a moment before she shrugged.「Alrighty' then~」
I hissed softly as I stared emptily at the blue skies above.
As much as I wished it was, this wasn't the first time I'd been driven around by Secretariat. During the first week of Team Kitahara's arrival in America, Secretariat had offered to drive me around her home state of Virginia, and like a complete fool, I had agreed.
This wasn't even the second time either. Secretariat loved all things involving speed, which meant that she was pretty big into things like the F1. She loved driving, and ever since I foolishly accepted her offer, I became an unwilling passenger whenever she got the urge to drive around.
And even more terrifyingly, I genuinely was getting used to her driving. The first few outings we'd done, I stumbled out of the car like a living corpse and vomited out everything I had.
But now? I could actually resist. The urge to puke out my guts wasn't as overwhelming, and my body throbbed with disgust at the realization that I genuinely would get accustomed to the so-called 'wheelie spirit' Secretariat loved talking about.
What a horrifying future that was.
Secretariat giggled after seeing my horrified look, before her expression became slightly more serious.「So, what's the plan for ye'r Debut Race?」
I blinked at the sudden question, before I frowned slightly.「Eh. It's a toss up between the [Beholder Mile Stakes] and the [Santa Anita Handicap], really.」
Secretariat whistled as she heard my choices.「Damn~. A G1 for your Debut? Now that's bold.」
I raised an eyebrow.「As if you'd let me attempt anything else.」
Secretariat blinked at the call out, before she grinned with teeth.「Well, ya ain't wrong with that!」Her grin sharpened, and for a moment, I could feel a powerful pressure pressing down onto me.「No Apprentice o' mine's ever going to settle for anythin' less.」She said with absolute confidence.
I smiled ruefully as I shrugged.「Thanks for the confidence, I guess.」
The [Beholder Mile Stakes] was, as its name implied, a Mile-length G1 race on Dirt. On the other hand, the [Santa Anita Handicap] was a Medium-length G1 race, also on Dirt. Both of the races were held at the same track in the state of California.
I didn't pick those two races just because they were G1 races. The thing is, the [Osaka Hai] was approaching—both Oguri and Belno would soon need to fly back to Japan to adapt back to Japan's Turf tracks. Meanwhile, I'd be staying here for a month longer, since my [Spring Tenno Sho] would be held in late April.
Which meant that those two races were the only G1 races I could feasibly run before my two teammates would have to fly back to Japan. It might not really matter in the grand scheme of things, but I wanted them to watch my first American race in person.
「And?」Secretariat then asked.「What're ya leaning towards right now?」
My eyes narrowed as I hummed.「The [Santa Anita Handicap], obviously.」I shrugged.「I don't mind running down a Mile, but I'm more suited to longer races.」
Secretariat rubbed her chin as she considered my words, before she grinned.「Well, the [Santa Anita Handicap] it is!」She said, as if my inclusion in that race was already a given.
I opened my mouth, and then closed it with a small sigh. Sure, there was less than a week before the race would be held, and trying to register in such a short time would normally be rather difficult. But seeing as Secretariat was backing me, I doubted I wouldn't get in.
The only thing I could do was pray that I hadn't accidentally booted some poor umamusume out of the roster.
…
Yeah, I probably just did that, didn't I?
I sighed deeply as I dropped my face into my hands.
Secretariat raised an eyebrow.「What's up?」
I just sighed again.