Make Debut was, as the name implied, a debut for us Umamusume to enter the Twinkle Series. You had to win the race, of course. After that, you could officially enter graded races. But as usual, only one could win. The others who did not win had to race again in a Maiden Race. If they lost again, they had to keep running in the Maiden Races until they finally won. That was what stood in front of me right now.
With a contracted trainer, I had officially entered my Junior Year. And true to the grueling nature of the racing world in the central circuit, this year marked a mass filter for the best runners in the country. It was a process designed to separate the ordinary from the best.
Along with it, a mass exodus of the ordinaries often followed. Symboli Rudolf, the Emperor, had a dream to make every Umamusume happy, but that dream was still difficult to realize. Because, as I had concluded, in the racing world, only the best got the spotlight. Others could only be frustrated, and at worst, broken under the despair.
The selection races and contracting with a trainer were actually just the first wave. The main wave came with the Make Debut season. The statistics for retirement and transfer were the highest during this period. Just think about it. The URA could only hold so many races before the runners reached their second year, the Classic year. With the Make Debut season starting in late June of our first year and ending in August of our second, not many girls were willing to run in Maiden Races repeatedly until they were nearly Classics. That was why some, whose hope and spirit had been unwillingly broken, decided to retire or transfer to the local circuits. Those were the true, cold numbers speaking.
Well, to tackle that, Chief and I had already planned out our actions yesterday. Right after we signed the contract, we, or rather just me, sat on a flatly cut tree trunk in the Academy's park. Chief strolled here and there, proposing his plans while I interjected and added my opinions. Shortly, we had sorted out our short-term plan. We communicated well. Though Chief was always on the lead, I was sure we did it well. As for why I called Trainer Kitahara "Chief," well, "Trainer," "Kitahara," "Commander," and "Instructor" were all too much of a mouthful. So, I opted to use this simple word as a means to efficient communication. He had agreed with a wry smile, but he also started calling me "Ko-kun." Two syllables, not bad, especially as the comparison was the four syllables of "Copenhagen."
We would start training this afternoon. Though I said training, we were not doing anything big today. He would only introduce me to his other trainee, my senior. To think a newly transferred Trainer already had a senior runner under his wings, who was he actually?
Anyhow, that was for the afternoon. For now, in this first break period, I had arranged to meet a pint-sized witch senpai at the park. I had something for her. After all she had done, it was my duty to at least give her something in return.
"What's this?" she questioned me, her enormous hat tilted at a suspicious angle.
"Grilled corn," I said flatly, holding out the paper-wrapped offering.
"You called me to meet just to show me this? I know what grilled corn is!" she grumbled, poking at the wrapping with a single, accusatory finger.
She was as grumpy as ever, huh.
"Well, you might treat this measly dish as my gratitude," I said concisely, trying to sound sincere. "I, at last, contracted to a trainer. I thought I would share my gratefulness with you, one of the few friends I have in this academy."
"Me? So you thought of me as your friend, huh?" Her voice was haughty, but I could hear a pleased note underneath it. "Then this friendly and benevolent witch will indulge you in her friendliness from now on!" As a great witch with lots of friends, this would be usual for her, right?
"Very well. Please treat me gently from now on, senpai," I said as I passed the grilled corn to her.
We chatted a bit while she eagerly nibbled at the corn. Most of the conversation was about her recent breakthroughs in "racing magic," like her new "cornering magic" and "acceleration magic." Were those not just bonafide techniques? They did not sound magical at all. But it seemed she sincerely believed that if she won races, she would be able to master true magic and these 'techniques' were part of the racing magic branch. Her conviction was so absolute that it was almost admirable.
Time passed quickly, and soon the bell that ended the break period rang out across the campus. Sweep-senpai, whose class was on the opposite far end of the park, panicked. With a muffled cry of "I'm late for my next experiment!", she scrambled to her feet and ran, the half-eaten grilled corn clutched tightly in her hand.
She was undoubtedly fast. Her footsteps were light and erratic, yet they carried a strange, flowing rhythm, almost as if she were gliding just above the grass. It had a feeling of magic to it… wait, was I being influenced by her nonsense?
Her diminutive size got even smaller as she got farther away. Then, in her haste, her foot caught on an exposed tree root, and she stumbled, tumbling head over heels onto the soft grass. Her package of corn seemed fine, but I was about to go check on her when a senior Umamusume approached. The senior gently lifted the small witch from the ground, much like a mother would lift her baby, dusting off her comically large hat.
That senior looked familiar… oh, I remembered. She was the leader of Ritto Dormitory, the other student dormitory in the Academy.
I guessed Sweep-senpai really did have lots of friends after all. I smiled to myself and turned to head to my own class.
---
After the class ended, I went back to my room and changed into the signature red and white Tracen tracksuit. The academy provided some options for the lower fit: bloomers, shorts, and full-length track pants. I chose the shorts and the full-lengths. Do not ask me why. It was just like, I felt I must choose the short instead of the bloomer. Well, other than that, I did feel more secure with shorts. But for now, I wore the full-length. There was no heavy training scheduled anyway.
I checked myself in the mirror. And affirmative, the tracksuit looked good on me. I tidied up my ear ornament, which had been adorned with my golden cross ever since my first selection race. I also prepared my academy-issued running shoes. Though they could not compare to professional, heavy-duty racing shoes, they were still far better than any shoes I had ever owned.
Central Tracen Academy provided all of these conveniences free of charge. It was not like I had come in on a scholarship program, but all of the Umamusume enrolled here also received these benefits, and they also did not pay any tuition to the academy.
The system here was that students did not need to pay tuition, but once you raced, the academy would receive a cut of your prize money. The number was around sixty percent for the Academy, thirty percent for the Umamusume, and the last ten percent for the trainer, after tax of course. With prize money as high as hundreds of millions of yen and the legends this academy produced, the sheer size of the campus and the quality of the facilities were actually quite fitting.
Uhum, as a freshman, this new information was still stuck in my head, as it was so shocking for my upbringing. The money circulated in this industry was so massive I could not wrap my head around it.
I patted my tracksuit energetically and went to the rendezvous point we had set yesterday. It was one of the dirt tracks. I wondered why we were meeting here, but Chief had said he would introduce me to my senior there. He had also mentioned an aptitude test, so I guessed he would ask me to run on dirt to test mine. I was curious about my dirt aptitude. I had always raced on turf. I had only ever run on dirt during my delivery runs, so I was not sure. The senior was also intriguing. I would be her teammate once Chief formally formed a team later, so we would often train together.
As I was stuck in my swirling thoughts, I did not notice I had arrived at the meeting point. There, Chief and a white-haired Umamusume were talking about which one was tastier between chicken thighs and chicken breasts. Wait. Was my senior, her? That her!?
"Oooi Ko-kun, you've arrived. Let me intro—" Chief's voice muted as my mind went blank.
I retreated back into my thinking space to reorganize the information I had gathered. If what I assumed was true, then my senior was her. The "Monster." The legendary Umamusume. The Idol Umamusume. The first time I had watched her race was when she won the Mainichi Okan, and from there she had continued to fight in the top flight of the Twinkle Series. She had succeeded in winning the Mile Championship, the Yasuda Kinen, and the Arima Kinen twice. Impressively, she had won her first Arima Kinen in her first year after she transferred. She was truly an idol for us Umamusume. Her humble background, her heroic rise, and the grueling path she passed to reach the glory she had now…
Today was not the first time I had met her, though maybe she would not remember me. But on the morning after I arrived at the academy, I had crossed paths with her in the canteen. I had kept my decorum in front of such a living legend. I had heard from somewhere that striking up a conversation with an idol in their leisure time was frowned upon, so I had just treated her as a fellow student, with respect and courtesy.
Though to be honest, her appetite had been truly shocking for me at that time, but thanks to her, I had gradually improved my own nutritional intake. Truly a perfect idol indeed. Even in her daily life, she could still positively influence her surroundings.
Without me noticing, Chief had already stood in front of me and was snapping his fingers repeatedly.
Snap. Snap.
"Oooi, Ko-kun, are you there? Did you get possessed by something and haven't come back yet? Hey Oguri, don't just touch her ear ornament like that. It's not the same as chocolate coins, it's real gold."
"Hmmm, have you ever tasted gold, Kitahara?"
"No, don't. It's expensive. My meager savings won't even let me live comfortably in Tokyo. If I had to compensate for a gold ornament now, you might as well just kill me."
Oh, speaking of the Chief, did he not say he came from Kasamatsu? Oguri-san was also transferred from Kasamatsu, was she not? Did that mean they were both acquaintances? But why was Oguri-san with him? Trainer Musaka had retired last year, I understood that, but why Chief? Why him? Hmm… as suspected, he was not just your usual trainer after all. My luck was good to be chosen by him. Gratitude to the Three Goddesses. Three huzzahs for the Three Goddesses! Huzzah! Huzzah! Huzzah!
Unknowingly, I had put my right hand to my chin and was nodding along with every conclusion I gathered. I see, I see… I got it now. And soon I returned to the real world, only to see Chief already focused on his stopwatch and Oguri-san was already running an entire lap around the track.
"Oh, you're back. Good, good. What was possessing you earlier? Was it a bird, a mouse, or a cat?"
"What? Do you think of me as a kind of witch or something?" I asked back at his nonsense.
"Oh, you're not? I thought you were an apprentice witch, as I once saw you together with a small witch."
Ugh, it was her again. Even when she was not physically present, she still managed to mess with me.
"No, no. Let's get this straight. Is that Oguri-san my senior?"
"Oh, you really did not listen, huh. Well, warm up now while I explain the circumstances to you."
"Sir, yes, sir!"
And so, my first training with Chief started. And lo and behold, all of my conclusions were mostly correct, though I did not expect him to be the one who had found Oguri-san and polished her before her transfer. My respect towards my trainer increased significantly that day.
Oh, and it seemed I also had a great aptitude on dirt. Let alone the Chief, there were still many things I did not know about myself.