Uma Musume: To The Top!!

"Thump!"

A dull crashing sound came from the corridor.

It was the sound of horseshoes kissing wood.

"Trainer, let's go already~"

At the desk, Kuroha let out a sigh, turned around helplessly, and caught the ponytailed girl who had thrown herself at him.

"Hehe, it's almost time. We should get going, Trainer~"

In his arms, Teio rubbed her little face against Kuroha's chest, her voice as crisp as a wind chime.

"...Teio, the Yayoi Sho is in the afternoon. There's still plenty of time. If we go too early, we'll just be waiting around."

"Nope, nope. I already promised Nature and the others we'd go early."

The moment she heard that, Teio immediately started acting spoiled. Then she patted her only slightly raised chest and said seriously,

"And I'm in absolutely perfect condition. I'm definitely, absolutely going to win the Yayoi Sho!"

"It's not that I'm saying you can't win the Yayoi Sho..."

Looking at those sparkling blue eyes in his arms, Kuroha could only give in in the end.

"Fine, fine. Then let's head out."

He reached out and rubbed the girl's adorable little head.

"Yay!"

After her spoiled-brat tactic on her trainer ended in total success, Teio bounced in place twice, then ran outside.

Her ponytail traced a cheerful arc through the air.

"Then I'll go pack my luggage, Trainer. Wait for me!"

"Teio, wait-"

Kuroha only had time to stick a hand out before this rather restless Umamusume vanished from sight.

"...What luggage do you even need to pack?"

Helplessly withdrawing his hand, Kuroha shook his head with a laugh, turned back around, and reached out to save the files on the computer he had just been organizing.

On the monitor, the document was paused on a photo of an Umamusume.

She was a cute girl with reddish-brown twin tails cut to shoulder length.

Green ribbons were tied to her ears, and there was a trace of steadiness and gentleness in her eyes that most girls her age did not yet possess.

She was one of Teio's classmates, and another future Umamusume destined to leave a major mark on Central.

Her name was Nice Nature.

On the file, the results of her latest race were written clearly:

Wakakoma Stakes - first place!

"Nature... first place, huh..."

Looking at those words, Kuroha's expression turned a little strange.

If he remembered correctly, in the original course of events, this Umamusume, who would later often get joked about by fans as "friendship first, race second, third place for Nature," should have been defeated by Teio in this race and taken the first third-place finish of her life.

But now, she had actually won the Wakakoma Stakes.

"Does this count as... changing the future?"

Kuroha could not help recalling the brief analysis he had once made of this race.

First of all.

Nice Nature herself was already an Umamusume with heavyweight, Classic-winner-level ability.

Even more unusually, she possessed an extremely rare trait: bewitching talent.

To put it simply, she could use debuff skills, the so-called "red skills," to interfere with the condition of other Umamusume in a race.

She could make others restless, or leave them dispirited.

It was a top-tier spiritual and mental talent.

The last time Kuroha had seen an Umamusume with that sort of ability had been two years ago.

Back when Inari One and Super Creek were fighting over the Tenno Sho (Spring), there had been an Umamusume named Passing Through.

She had used debuff skills several times and almost provoked Inari into losing her temper...

That had also been the first time Kuroha had seen a second heavyweight troublemaker besides Rudolf.

And now, a third had appeared.

Second, and more directly, the biggest reason Nice Nature had taken first in the Wakakoma Stakes was Teio's schedule adjustment.

Teio, who should originally have run in the Wakakoma Stakes, had been moved by Kuroha to the Yayoi Sho instead.

Without Teio in the field, Nice Nature no longer wasted her bewitching talent in a futile struggle against her.

Instead, she poured it all onto the girl who had originally finished second.

She forcibly dragged the original winner down into second on the final straight.

And just like that, first place was hers.

Not only that, Teio's absence had also brought the twin-tailed girl three unexpected benefits.

In the original timeline, because Teio had entered the Wakakoma Stakes, she had directly raised the difficulty and intensity of that race all the way up to G2 or even G1 level.

As a result, after that race, the just-debuted Nice Nature had nearly been run into the ground by Teio. A leg issue was discovered afterward, and it took her half a year of treatment to recover.

But now...

Nice Nature was completely fine, and in excellent condition.

It was said that her trainer was already considering entering her in either the Spring Stakes or the Wakaba Stakes at the end of March.

To fight for priority entry into the Satsuki Sho.

"The world really is strange."

Kuroha murmured in quiet amazement and shut down the computer.

Mejiro training grounds, parking lot.

Teio was already sitting obediently in the front passenger seat, her seatbelt fastened neatly, both hands resting on her knees, looking like the very picture of a well-behaved girl.

But those sparkling eyes of hers were full of uncontrollable excitement.

After all, this was only a G2 race, so Teio's trip this time had Kuroha alone accompanying her.

"Trainer, let's go, let's go!"

The moment she saw Kuroha open the car door, she immediately began urging him on.

"Okay, okay. We're going."

Kuroha smiled helplessly and started the car.

The engine let out a low growl, and the black sedan drove out of the Mejiro training grounds and merged into Tokyo traffic.

...

Nakayama Racecourse was inside Tokyo, less than a twenty-minute drive from the Mejiro training grounds.

But today seemed a little different.

As the trial race for the first leg of the Classic Triple Crown, the Yayoi Sho had attracted a huge crowd.

A great many people believed that today's racecourse would surely produce one of the top Umamusume of the future.

And on top of that, one of the entrants, Teio, was carrying the Chasing Light name.

Which led directly to one thing.

A traffic jam.

What should have been less than a twenty-minute trip ended up taking Kuroha a full three hours.

By the time they reached the parking lot at Nakayama Racecourse, there were still more than two hours left before the Yayoi Sho began.

The time margin was so generous it could not have been more generous.

"Yay, perfect timing!"

Teio checked the time, nodded in satisfaction, and then, like a little grown-up, pulled out her phone.

"Hang on, Trainer. I'll ask Nature and the others where they are."

She skillfully dialed the number.

"Nature~ Have you all gotten here yet?"

"Ohhh, okay. Then Trainer and I will head over right now!"

"Hm? There's nothing to prepare. Trainer's not some kind of demon. He's actually really nice and really handsome!"

Listening to Teio praise him without the slightest embarrassment, the corner of Kuroha's mouth twitched.

He could more or less guess what Teio and Nice Nature were saying on the other end of the line.

"Okay, let's go, Trainer!"

After hanging up, Teio naturally took Kuroha's hand and happily ran toward the racecourse interior.

Kuroha did not refuse. He simply let that soft little hand pull him along as he followed behind her.

...

The sheer grandeur and breadth of Nakayama Racecourse was impressive no matter how many times one visited.

Above them, the stands rose layer upon layer, spiraling upward.

A sea of dark heads shifted restlessly, and the countless overlapping voices blended into a droning ocean of sound.

The announcer's fiery voice boomed through the speakers across the entire venue, mixing together with the cheers of the crowd.

"Over there, over there!"

Teio pulled Kuroha through the aisles of the spectator stands, nimble as a little cat.

Very soon, she found the target in a corner section.

Several girls were sitting there quietly in their seats.

The moment they saw Teio appear, delight flashed through their eyes.

But when their gazes fell on Kuroha behind her, the few little figures all sat up straighter at the same time.

Twin Turbo, Yamanin Zephyr, K.S. Miracle.

And one more.

A reddish-brown twin-tailed girl with green ribbons tied to her ears.

Nice Nature.

The last time Teio had made her debut, except for Nice Nature, the other three little Umamusume had already met Kuroha once.

This made it their second meeting.

When Kuroha and Teio walked up to them, the four adorable girls all sprang to their feet at once.

"...Trainer Kuroha!"

Their voices were uneven, but all of them were clearly nervous.

Looking at the little girls in front of him, all trying so hard to stand up straight even as their eyes darted uncertainly about, Kuroha felt a bit helpless.

It had been like this last time, and it was still like this now.

Because of the weight of his status and fame, it seemed that he had developed a rather unfortunate sort of distance from these new-generation young Umamusume.

(End of Chapter)

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