"You're saying... the thing attached to McQueen, something related to me, has now reconnected with me?"
Gotham Song found it rather difficult to imagine. Honestly, she had always thought the world of Uma Musume didn't have many supernatural elements aside from the Three Goddesses.
Until she'd encountered Neo Universe and Sunday Silence, that is. Hmm, how to put it…?
Actually, by the time she learned about "Phantom Ruka," she was hardly surprised. Compared to ghosts and parallel universes, wasn't this sort of thing relatively simple?
But what truly shocked her now was everything she was seeing right before her eyes.
"Wait a minute. If we're inside that being's memories right now, won't we get noticed?"
"Oh? It's understandable you'd think that, but actually, there's a condition," Sunday Silence replied casually.
Clearly, Sunday Silence understood this sort of thing much better—being a ghost herself, she easily grasped the true nature of "Phantom Ruka."
And then, she proceeded to mercilessly educate Gotham Song.
Generally speaking, ghosts were similar in existence to humans—except they had no physical bodies.
However! First, one needed to fully become a ghost, completely detached from the living, to freely wander the world.
But Phantom Ruka's condition? Clearly, she couldn't move independently at all. She could only exist by clinging onto Mejiro McQueen, influencing the world through McQueen's actions.
At this point, Gotham Song cautiously asked Sunday Silence: wasn't she herself constantly attached to her cousin, Manhattan Cafe?
And in return, Gotham Song promptly received a heavy smack to the forehead.
"Who said I can't leave your dear cousin? I'm simply amused staying by her side. Got it?"
"Oh! Y-yes, understood!"
Gotham Song quickly nodded.
"In short, that little one's condition proves something—she's a ghost who's incomplete, or rather, missing something crucial," Sunday Silence continued.
Huh? An incomplete ghost?
Gotham Song was stunned, overwhelmed by confusion about how to react.
In other words, Phantom Ruka was a ghost with something missing…? But why? No, wait—that aside, how was this connected to their current situation?
"The connection? Pay close attention, and you'll understand—"
Sunday Silence smiled cryptically, gripping Gotham Song's shoulders and turning her around to face the unfolding scene behind her.
Time flowed onward rapidly. Gotham Song saw everyone returning to Mejiro Manor after the funeral, then saw Mejiro McQueen, who first encountered Phantom Ruka during a rigorous training session.
The scenes fast-forwarded again until… once more, it was that rainy night.
What was happening? Hadn't they already watched this once?
Gotham Song observed her past self collapse on the track and attempted to look up in shock.
But Sunday Silence simply rested her chin on top of Gotham Song's head, restricting her movement.
"Listen closely. If everything matches exactly what I suspect, you should hear it clearly—the heartbeat within that roar."
A heartbeat within the roar? What did she mean? Wait—Sunday Silence wouldn't say meaningless things, would she?
Who exactly was involved here? First, herself and... the true owner of this "dream," Phantom Ruka?
Gotham Song's heart suddenly jolted. She shut her eyes tightly, focusing intently, searching for that sound she knew she could find.
Then, amidst the deafening cheers and pouring rain, as her past self rose defiantly, she heard it clearly—not earth-shaking, but vibrant and vigorous, like that of a newborn child.
"Oh my, looks like you've figured it out, little one. Doesn't that scene seem familiar? At the moment your life reached its end, a new force emerged powerfully. So, what exactly was awakened or rather, first revealed at that moment?"
"It's—"
It's—
Hehe, as expected, there's never a dull moment around you, Gotham Song. So this was it? Your [Zone] can blaze so fiercely that even after death, ashes remain, ready to reignite into flames?
You truly captivate me, Gotham Song.
"What is it?" Sunday Silence prompted softly.
"It's... my [Zone]?"
It was Gotham Song's true [Zone]—a miracle of wishes truly awakened by her running, genuinely capable of transcending physical laws and surpassing the limitations of the world, achieving miracles beyond comprehension!
"Yes. It's your [Zone]—a grand, extraordinary miracle even acknowledged by the Three Goddesses themselves at that moment," Sunday Silence whispered slyly, her tone reminiscent of a serpent tempting someone in Eden.
"Honestly, before seeing it with my own eyes—I mean, before experiencing it directly like this—I never imagined a single Uma Musume's [Zone] could expand to such a scale."
Was it because no Uma Musume truly faced death before retirement?
As the only exception, Gotham Song… no, Twilight Song's emotions mixed together—her survival instinct, her regrets, her obsession, and countless other feelings. Delicious… utterly delectable.
Sunday Silence was grateful Gotham Song couldn't see her face right now—because the black phantom knew just how twisted her own expression had become.
Ah, how I long to tear apart the you who can produce such powerful feelings again—or perhaps be torn apart by you instead.
"Anyway, you know that an Uma Musume's [Zone] is essentially the embodiment of wish-fulfillment, right? So, the more explosive the emotions, the greater the miracle, the more reality gets warped. And for you, whose miracle even moved the goddesses, how brilliantly must your [Zone] have erupted?"
"So brilliantly that even after you, who conquered death and time itself, were gone—even your residual ashes bloomed into new life… forming a completely new entity, or rather, an embryo."
Sunday Silence laughed softly at this thought.
"In a sense, doesn't that mean Phantom Ruka is practically the child of you and McQueen? After all, you provided the embryo, and the confused yet stubborn will devoured Mejiro McQueen's obsession with you, finally taking a human shape the moment she began acting independently."
McQueen's… and my… um, child? No, no! Sunday Silence, that's not what you meant, is it? You mean... offspring?
Gotham Song couldn't fully grasp it. She was utterly shocked.
Meanwhile, the distant race and flame finally reached its end.
However, after realizing this newborn heartbeat, Gotham Song's eyes captured something new.
A phantom surrounded Twilight Song's fallen form, curiously observing this rainy world.
What were her feelings? Joy, curiosity, a yearning to share—or rather, a craving?
In that instant, Gotham Song sensed an emotional bridge forming. She clearly understood Phantom Ruka's thoughts.
What was she feeling…? It was delight at clearly seeing this world for the first time, happiness, and the earnest desire for warmth and acceptance from the one who'd given birth to her.
But it seemed like that acceptance never came.
Yet, it didn't matter. The phantom was a patient child.
She waited for a long, long, unbearably long time.
Gotham Song watched her wait from that rainy night until the funeral was about to start—
Then, her hope gradually eroded over time, turning into confusion, anxiety, and sadness.
Was she abandoned? Rejected? Hated? Denied?
No… no, no, no, no, please no!
Brought into this world, but for what purpose? What was she meant to do? Who could answer her questions?
No one answered her.
Though people bustled around, who could see or contact a phantom in their ordinary lives?
And so, when the funeral ended, Phantom Ruka tearfully said goodbye to the cold, silent figure who brought her into existence, latching onto another to start a new journey.
Yet, astonishingly, at the journey's outset, she encountered a delicious obsession.
The phantom eagerly devoured it.
And then… as soon as she could reveal herself to someone whose fixation on her "creator" ran just as deep, the phantom's emotions changed once more.
It became… an obsession so powerful it was frightening. But why?
"Simple, isn't it? She glimpsed your resurrection. And her fervent obsession—"
"Who exactly is she attached to, little one?"
Attached to… McQueen? Meaning the emotions consumed to maturity were—
—Mejiro McQueen's deep obsession and fervor toward Twilight Song?
Wasn't that too bizarre? This couldn't be right…!
"Nothing strange here. [Zones] are extraordinary and abstract by nature. Frankly, isn't my existence as a ghost already weird enough? And also—"
"Thanks for the meal."
With those words, Sunday Silence concluded. The rest had no greater importance.
Gotham Song merely witnessed the phantom and McQueen becoming ever more consumed by obsession, right up until the present.
"So, perhaps you're here precisely because she originated from you. Maybe if you reclaim your former [Zone] and devour her, McQueen might return to normal?"
"Will you do it?"
Sunday Silence eagerly awaited Gotham Song's response. But Gotham Song only felt malice in those words and punched Sunday Silence's chest in response.
"No way! That'd be stealing another life, wouldn't it?"
Gotham Song wouldn't deny Phantom Ruka's existence. Doing that would be irresponsible.
"Then what will you do?" Sunday Silence asked, smiling approvingly.
What to do? Gotham Song realized clearly—
Her "child," Phantom Ruka, wanted recognition, competition, attention.
This would be easy, wouldn't it?
"I recall McQueen plans to enter the Japan Cup?"
"So... you've decided?"
"Yes," Gotham Song said firmly. "I never run away."
Sunday Silence laughed softly as she faded away.
"And that's exactly why I find you so amusing."
After all, cowards were dreadfully boring.