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After she retired, Sunday Silence came to live in Japan, a prosperous and safe country with tons of natural beauties. She had more than enough money to live on her own, but she was quickly approached by the matriarch of an influential Uma family: Mejiro Asama. She offered to let Sunday into their house and live as one of their own, with an understanding that Sunday would one day wed a member of the Mejiro family.
She stayed for only a year and a half and never wed anyone, though she did ended up having a child with Mejiro Ramonu. It meant nothing to either of them; if anything, Ramonu only did it to make Rudolf jealous. She always was a capricious woman— apparently, they were still on and off even all these decades later. Sunday Silence is happy about this, to be clear; Rudolf is a woman she deeply respects, and probably the only person in the world capable of handling Mejiro Ramonu.
Though there was one Mejiro girl that never left her mind. All these decades, and she never forgot the beautiful, proper and strong Mejiro McQueen. If she had gone through with the deal, she probably would have chosen her as a wife.
But she couldn't stay still in one place; she just had to keep running. The Sunday Silence we see here is a direct result of this selfish, impulsive nature. Sunday Silence had a complicated relationship with her children; she acknowledged that. She had no illusions that the others would be as understanding and accepting as Stay Gold and Marvelous Sunday, and when it came to her grandchildren, things became blurrier.
In the first place, she didn't even know most of their names, much less personalities. At most she heard of their race records: Orfevre was a triple crown winner, Espoir City and Almond Eye were the first 9 G1 winners in dirt and turf respectively, Gentildonna became a Triple Tiara winner. Gold Ship, though...
Gold Ship was an especially complicated case.
"Its been a while, Sunday Silence." The one to say it was a Uma with a short stature, beautiful straight purple hair, and a refined air about her. Umas didn't age once they reached maturity; Sunday Silence knew that. But to see McQueen again, as beautiful as the last time she saw it all those decades ago… She almost fell in love all over again.
"Yo, Grandma! Nice to meet ya!"
The moment was quickly ruined by a much taller Uma with gray-white hair. Her, or rather, their granddaughter: Gold Ship. The result of Stay Gold and Point Flag's complicated relationship.
She was supposedly a grown woman, and her daughter had just won the Takarazuka Kinen earlier that year, yet she sounded and acted much like a 12 year-old. She gave off that selfish and impulsive smell of youth— if Sunday Silence was the grown tree, Gold Ship was the sapling.
"Hello, Gold Ship. You sure are tall, huh? Stay Gold's genes must have gotten lost along the way," Sunday Silence said with a contained laugh.
"I'm surprised. I thought Stego's mother would be super tiny, but you're just regular tiny." Or rather, it was Gold Ship who was too tall. It was just a 2 inch difference, not anything worth bragging about, yet she bragged anyway.
"Gold Ship, could you excuse us for just a second? Your grandmas need some alone time." A small vein was growing on Sunday Silence’s forehead. For some reason, this girl was especially annoying to her.
"No can do. Point Flag said if I let you two alone you will start making your moves on McQueen again."
Sunday Silence got even madder, but she stopped for a second, noticing something. She understood calling Stay Gold by her name, but she even called Point Flag by her full name.
This kid...
"Its okay, Gold Ship. You can leave us for a while; go play and have some fun," McQueen said, pointing to the child's park close by.
"Okay!" Gold Ship said, smiling brightly and running through the grass.
"… She seems— lively," Sunday said, trying not to use harsher words.
"She is, but don't underestimate her. She is actually way smarter than you at that age," McQueen said, sitting on the bench by Sunday's side.
"I wasn't that annoying and childish, right?" she said with that smile, that confident and prideful smile she always showed in her youth.
"True, you were actually way worse," McQueen said in a calm and collected tone, looking ahead and away from Sunday.
"If you say so... So, how are things?"
"...Normal, I suppose. Point Flag and Oriental Art come for tea on the weekend, we held a party for Meisho Tabaru's win in the Takarazuka Kinen… and Stay Gold finally paid me for the window she broke when I caught her and Oriental Art."
"Pffft." Sunday Silence couldn't hold it in and ended up laughing. "Hahah! It reminds me of the time I snuck into your room at night. Ryan would stay up and keep watch for us," she said in between laughs.
"Hmm, I suppose it does..." McQueen maintained that neutral expression of hers. In her old age, it seems she finally became the ideal Mejiro: not a sign of weakness. Emotionless, flawless perfection.
"… Are you mad at me?" Sunday Silence asked, leaning forward to get a look at McQueen's face.
"Me? Why would I be mad? It’s not like you left me without any warning one day, and then I find out you had countless children with other women who you never paid a single visit to. Why would I be mad?" Right, that was the normal reaction, she should have expected it.
"I'm not going to justify what I did, but... I am trying to change, even if little by little..." Sunday Silence truly believed what she said, but whether McQueen believed her or not...
"Heh, isn't that nice? You got to live your whole life not caring about anyone else, but when you become an old woman, you came back. You’ve enjoyed your youth, and now you are ready to settle down." She could see a tear forming, a singular tear. "I am done with being your second option."
Just as she was about to get up, Sunday held her hand.
"Please, don't go, please just let me tal—"
"Why didn't you take me with you?" She faced Sunday Silence, anger in her eyes— anger that had been boiling up for decades now coming to the surface.
"...!" She wanted to speak, but no words came out.
"Every night, I laid awake, thinking you would come back for me, that you would bring me along and take me away from that mansion. I would have gone with you! No matter the place, I would have been happy if I was with you…”
Sunday couldn't speak. McQueen was crying— That beautiful, proper, and strong McQueen was crying.
"I..."
What words could she say? What words could fix this? Did those words even exist?
"...I still love you," was all that came out.
"...Well, I don't love you anymore." And it just wasn't enough.
McQueen left, and Sunday stayed there in that bench in silence. There she stayed until someone else came by to see her.
"You really are an idiot, huh?" The one to say that was none other than Gold Ship. Being called an idiot by her of all people especially hurt.
"You seriously don't live up to the stories you know?" Now that Gold Ship was sitting by her side, she seemed so mature and calm. Sunday knew she definitely didn't inherit this from her at least.
"Did Stay Gold tell stories?" Sunday Silence asked, looking up at nowhere in particular.
"Nope. Stay Gold told a lot of stories when he did his occasional visit, but she never mentioned you, and Point Flag... well she wasn't much for words" Gold Ship said, looking up too alongside Sunday.
"Then who?"
"Grandma."
"...You're such a bad liar. McQueen didn't tell any stories about me."
"Not by name, at least."
"What do you mean?"
Gold Ship then smiled, like an adult talking to a child, like the roles of grandparent and grandchild were reversed. Sunday Silence was the sapling and Gold Ship the grown tree.
"Grandma would tell stories about this wandering prince, and how he one day came into the magical kingdom, and the Queen offered a hand of any of her children in marriage. She talked about how the prince became close to this one princess, how he would play pranks on her, how he would tell scary stories, how he would wander into the woods and bring her alone, how he was this incredible, fearless. and charismatic prince."
Gold Ship came closer, picking up Sunday Silence by the cheeks and forcing her to look at Gold Ship, locking her eyes onto Sunday Silence's and maintaining that calm yet mischievous smile.
"I always wanted to be like that prince, but looking at him now, I guess those stories were really just stories, all i see is a pathetic pauper"
So cruel. Her words cut and stabbed at Sunday's broken heart. What a heartless grandchild she was. And that was exactly what she deserved.
"But, lucky for you, I, the Great Gold Ship, am here to rescue you!" she said, standing up and stretching her hand towards Sunday Silence.
"So let's go, oh charmless pauper; your princess is waiting!"
What a stupid kid she was, and Sunday was even stupider for somehow believing in her words, grabbing that outstretched hand.
—
"....Uh?" When McQueen opened her eyes, she saw an unfamiliar ceiling. It wasn't her room's ceiling, and it wasn't a ceiling you would find in a house. It was a car ceiling.
"Huuuuh!?" McQueen got up from the backseat of the unfamiliar car, and, looking ahead, who did she see but Sunday Silence driving.
"Oh hey, you're awak—" she almost finished the sentence before McQueen started kicking the back of her seat. Even if there was a carseat between, them it still hurt to be kicked by an Uma.
"Hey, hey, hey! Stop it! You're going to break it! They don't make these seats anymore!" Sunday sounded more worried about the seat than the fact that she had just kidnapped the matriarch of one of Japan's most influential families.
"What is wrong with you?! You're over 70 years old! Stop acting like a brat and let me out!" McQueen screamed as loud as she could. For a second, Sunday wondered if the glass would start to shatter, and then Sunday started smiling.
"What’s so funny?!" McQueen said, kicking the car seat one more time.
"Hahahah!! So this’s the matriarch of the Mejiro family? Glad to see you can still make those sounds, McQueen." And with that comment, she got another kick, and this time, something definitely broke on the carseat.
"How did you even get into my home?!" She kept screaming louder.
"Gold Ship had a spare key."
"What? I took away her key!" And another kick came her way.
"Guess she had another then."
"You...!" McQueen then covered Sunday's eyes not letting her see the road ahead.
"W-what are you doing?! We're going to crash!"
"I said stop the car!!" And this time she obliged.
McQueen quickly opened the door and started walking in the opposite direction, back to the mansion, but soon enough, Sunday Silence came running after her.
"Wait, wait, let me explain!" she said grabbing on McQueen's shoulder, only for McQueen to turn around and face her.
"Please. Please explain to me what possible explanation do you have for kidnapping me!" Even as she screamed and rage filled her face, Sunday couldn't stop thinking one thing.
"...You're beautiful." She said it out loud.
"W-Wha—"
"Ever since I left the Mejiro mansion, no matter where I traveled, no matter who I met or raced, you would always appear in my mind. I could be living the high life in France or drunk in a random alley in the U.S., but I always ended up thinking of you. No matter the place or the time, or who I was with I, I..."
Suddenly the words seemed to escape her, and as she looked at McQueen, that tall intimidating woman seemed so pathetic, so desperate, like she was a teenager once again.
"I love you, McQueen. I wanna spend the rest of my life with you."
"... We're not kids anymore."
"That doesn't matter. I... I made so many mistakes in my life: I abandoned my family, I abandoned my children, I abandoned you... but I don't wanna live like that anymore, so please let me make things right."
"And do what? Become girlfriends? Go on dates? We're not young anymore. We... We made our choices, we lived our lives, and we had our families. It’s too late... It’s just too late." McQueen wasn't sure who she was saying this to: Sunday, or perhaps to herself.
"If you think we're too old for that then…" And then, Sunday Silence, that prideful arrogant brat she once knew, knelt in front of her.
"What are you doing?"
"Mejiro McQueen, will you marry me?"
"… Ha.
“Hahah.
“Ahahahahahah.
“Hahahahahahhahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahhaahhahahhahahahahhahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahhaahhahahhahahahahhahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahhaahhahahhahahahahhahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahhaahhahahhahahahahhahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahhaahhahahhahahahahhahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahhaahhahahhahahahahhahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahhaahhahahhahahahahhahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahhaahhahahhahahahahhahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahhaahhahahhahahahahhahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahhaahhahahhahahahahhahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahhaahhahahhahahahahhahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahhaahhahahhahahahahhahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahhaahhahahhahahahahhahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahhaahhahahhah!"
She laughed for what felt like an eternity. When was the last time she laughed that hard? She didn't know, but it was far too long. Far, far too long.
Even as she laughed, Sunday kept looking at her, smiling. She didn't mind if she was treated as a joke; she didn't mind one bit if it meant she got to see McQueen laugh again.
"Hahah, hahah, aaah… You're an idiot."
"I am."
"You're impulsive."
"I am."
"You're arrogant, stubborn, absent minded, petty, annoying, and worst of all, you're selfish."
"Yes, all of that is true."
"But..."
"But?"
"… I never in my life imagined you'd be idiot enough to ask an old lady like me that question."
"I meant every word."
"I know you did."
"So, what is your answer?"
McQueen looked up, at the night sky. The sky just like that night before Sunday left. If she asked McQueen to run with her, to leave everything behind, would she have done it?
No, she wouldn't.
She knows that, she knows the answer very well, she always knew.
But still, she wished Sunday had asked.
Things still haven't changed even now; the answer is still the same all these years later.
"No, I'm not gonna marry you," McQueen said, smiling at Sunday Silence.
"...I see." The woman looked down. A part of her expected that answer.
"But I won't say no to a coffee date."
"Huh?"
"I have the afternoon free tomorrow, so come pick me up by 2 pm."
"Ah... McQueen!" And she jumped straight into hugging her. She hugged her so strongly McQueen thought her ribs would break.
Sunday Silence was selfish, arrogant, stubborn, and annoying. She was an idiot who never grew up, an eternal child, but today, she made the first step towards adulthood.