"That's why I hate going to the academic building... I've probably taught a good portion of the Uma Musume at Tracen, and I either ruined them or it was like I never taught them at all. How am I supposed to face them?"
"Should I say, it's a good thing this is a new loop and they can't possibly recognize me? Otherwise, I'd probably get beaten up by a mob of them."
After washing his face at the Three Goddesses' fountain, Kitano Ryuichi sat down on a wooden bench with a wry smile, looking completely dejected. He felt like he was the most disgraceful existence to ever dishonor the legacy of isekai protagonists.
But what could he do? He really didn't have any great talent. From elementary school to university, his grades were always in the bottom ten of his class. He was extremely bad at studying, but it wasn't for lack of effort. He did his homework, attended evening study sessions, never skipped class, and never talked back to teachers. If it weren't for his poor academic performance, with his character, why couldn't he have been chosen as a model student?
He simply had poor comprehension and low aptitude for learning.
It was the same after being transported to the world of Uma Musume. He dared to say that if you picked anyone to replace him with the same ability, they would undoubtedly do a better job. Starting from scratch, they might struggle in the first few loops, but after countless trials and errors, they would surely do better than him.
Even a long illness can turn a patient into a good doctor. But after so many loops, he was still a mediocre trainer. Thinking about this made him even more ashamed to face Rudolf, Opera O, and the many other Uma Musume he had failed and ruined.
Ryuichi thought about what would happen if he didn't have the "restart" ability... he would have probably offended half of Tracen Academy by now. The ones he had ruined, the ones who couldn't achieve greater heights because of him, and the ones who had high hopes for him that he could never meet—what would they do to him?
If that were the case, Ryuichi estimated his fate would be to first get beaten half to death by the Uma Musume he had ruined, then be physically carved up by the ones whose dreams he had held back, and then they would play rock-paper-scissors to decide who got which piece of his flesh...
As for Rudolf and Opera O... they probably wouldn't even plead for him. After all, a guy like him who once boasted, "I will definitely hold my head high when I see you again," but was still the same even now, would probably just bring them shame.
"...Forget it, what's the use of thinking about these things? They don't recognize me now anyway. I should just live my own life."
However, Ryuichi's sadness and guilt came and went quickly. He rarely got stuck in a rut. Otherwise, if he were always such a self-pitying person, living in guilt and sorrow, he would probably be stuck in an endless cycle of suicide and restarting.
Optimism is a quality that an insecure and dejected person should have, and Ryuichi was no exception. After mulling over his past incompetence and foolishness for a while, he slapped his cheeks, shook his head, and psyched himself up, muttering to himself:
"Instead of wasting time on this, I should go find a Uma Musume. I've made so many mistakes. This time, let's just live a full life. No more restarting immediately after a failure... It's gotten to the point where I've hardly ever lived to see the second half of my life."
"So, let me think carefully. Are there any Uma Musume I'm familiar with who would be a good fit for me..."
To be honest, over his many loops, Ryuichi had gotten along with all sorts of Uma Musume. While he hadn't grown significantly as a trainer, when it came to simply interacting with them, he could say he was an expert.
Tsundere types, airheaded types, gentle types, sporty types, ojou-sama types, baku-baku-desuwa types... he had taught them all. Although he didn't get along with many of them at first, he eventually found a good way to interact with them.
Ryuichi preferred to get along with others without conflict, so he was always considerate of their personalities. Coupled with his multi-loop experience, the current Ryuichi could be considered a master of socializing with Uma Musume.
He often wondered if their endings would have been different if he could have interacted with them like this from the very beginning... but that was all just hypothetical.
"...Maybe I should try a different approach? If I failed the first time, and this time I try training the same Uma Musume again, with my past experience, maybe the result will be different?"
A thought he never had before suddenly occurred to him. The main reason he switched his assigned Uma Musume after every restart was that he couldn't get over the intense feeling of guilt from training the same girl again. After all, this wasn't a mobile game where you could raise a character in an hour. Ryuichi spent every day and night with these girls. How could it not be deeply engraved in his memory?
So, to prevent his emotions from clouding his judgment, he never sought out his past charges after a restart. But now, having let go of many of those emotions, he began to consider that with his current experience, perhaps he could help them improve more quickly.
...Should I go back and find King Halo? Thinking this, Ryuichi felt it was quite feasible. But just as he was contemplating this, a Uma Musume in casual clothes, dragging her luggage, approached him step by step.
The Uma Musume with long, reddish-brown hair and a cool, expressionless face, upon seeing Kitano Ryuichi pacing back and forth in front of the Three Goddesses statue, opened her cherry-pink lips slightly. However, after a slight tremor in her throat, she slowly closed her mouth again.
Then, she slowly walked forward, trying to get his attention with her presence. After a good while, she finally spoke:
"—Hello. I am a new student. May I ask, which way is the registration area? Please specify."
"Hm?" Kitano Ryuichi was pulled from his thoughts at that moment. When he looked up at the Uma Musume in casual clothes before him, he showed a rare, dazed expression.
There was no other reason. He knew this Uma Musume, and knew her very well.
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