Ling woke up the next day in Alice Digital's room.
What happened after she turned into a child and was carried back by Rice Shower yesterday, she absolutely didn't want to remember now. She only remembered that halfway through, she finally managed to control her body properly and then, while everyone wasn't paying attention, secretly snuck over to Alice Digital's place.
Don't let Alice Digital's usual behavior fool you; even a physical touch with other Uma Musume would make her "die of respect" from over-excitement, but she had the resolve of a true DD (dedicated fan).
"When observing cute and pure Uma Musume, I must never let myself contaminate them." With this thought, every time she "D'd" (observed) other Uma Musume, she would try her best not to affect them, only watching from a distance. When they needed help, she would go over to assist and then quickly run away before they could even thank her.
Tsk tsk, look at how others fangirl.
It was precisely because of this that while Alice Digital was a celebrity in the academy, everyone only teased her good-naturedly. After all, aside from Alice Digital occasionally "dying of respect," she was a genuinely good child. Therefore, when everyone else had ulterior motives for Little Zero, whose height had gone from around 140 cm to about 80 cm, Alice Digital's place was ironically the safest.
Although at first, it also made Alice Digital "die of respect" several times in bewilderment, she eventually calmed down. After sending out a message declaring that no one should come to her secret room at home, she comfortably slacked off there.
Of course, occupying someone's room meant she couldn't do nothing, but the problem was… "No! Letting such a cute child help me with such dirty work will definitely incur divine wrath! Absolutely not!"
Alice Digital strongly stopped her.
Even when it came to sleeping that day, Alice Digital initially wanted to go back to her dorm, but she was worried that Ling, who had turned into a child, might get into trouble (she imagined many scenarios), so she slept on the floor. Ling, of course, suggested going to her room or sleeping together, but Alice Digital immediately "died of respect," so Ling could only give up.
Having said all that, Ling still hadn't gotten out of bed.
When she was little, she had an abnormal tendency to oversleep. She finally cured it through high-intensity training, but now that she had suddenly reverted, she started oversleeping again. The specific situation was… open eyes, oh, five o'clock… sleep a bit more.
Open eyes again, oh, five-thirty, no problem, can sleep more.
Finally open eyes, darn, how is it eight o'clock!?
It was roughly this kind of situation; she was probably in the second stage now.
Anyway, her body was so weak that exercising wouldn't yield any good results, so today she would take a rare break… With this thought, Ling's consciousness once again fell into chaos.
Then she had a long and bizarre dream, in which she became a real horse.
When she came to, she was a weaned foal, but for some reason, she was alone in the mountains. There were no Three Goddesses, no Uma Musume, and she couldn't see her parents.
But even so, she had to survive, so she chose to live in the mountains. Anyway, it didn't seem like there were any predators.
As she was eating and running in the mountains, she saw a very familiar slope.
A strong desire overcame her reason, and she once again began her familiar training.
Climbing hills, descending hills, accelerating, falling… these were all things she had experienced before, but this time she didn't have the Three Goddesses to help her. So, when she got injured, she could only rely on the knowledge she had learned to find herbs herself, then chew them up and apply them with her tongue. For wounds on her body, she could only put the medicine on the ground and roll around to get it on herself.
Day after day, during her training, she met someone.
The other party was surprised to see her, and then actually tried to communicate with her, which she found somewhat amusing.
She was a horse now, an animal that couldn't even understand human language in other people's eyes. Was that guy out of his mind to try and communicate with her?
However, driven by curiosity and a desire for communication, she followed the other party, much to their surprise.
Of course, as they were about to leave the mountainous area, she remained very cautious and didn't leave until she confirmed that the other party wasn't some kind of lawbreaker.
Afterward, she was sent to a ranch, where she lived with other horses, but unfortunately, those horses couldn't communicate with her. Instead, that person often came to chat with her, and she just listened quietly.
One day, that person brought someone who looked very rich just by their clothes to inspect the ranch, and upon seeing her, he pointed at her and said he wanted to buy her.
That person refused many times, but in the end, he still agreed, succumbing to the power of money.
She was very sad, so when someone came to take her away, she violently resisted, even injuring the person who had found her, but in the end, she stopped because she couldn't bring herself to hurt him.
However, the other person then blocked the horse whip aimed at her in front of everyone, and then explained that she was very clingy and smart, and only acted that way because she didn't want to leave him. He also hoped that if possible, they would care for her like a child, as agreed.
She didn't understand why he would do this, even after selling her.
Later, she entered a new ranch, and after a few days of physical examinations, when she stepped onto the familiar training ground, she understood: this was a training facility for racehorses.
The person who had found her often came to visit her, but she still acted a little sulky. Then, when he tried to leave, she subtly tried to keep him, which greatly surprised the stable staff.
Finally, she accepted reality. Since she had to run no matter what, she naturally had to do her best, so she... rebelled.
She ignored the Trainer's arrangements and trained on her own, raising his blood pressure and leaving him helpless, especially when he saw her body gradually becoming stronger, even making him wonder if his brain was inferior to a horse's.
Days of training passed, and she finally had her debut race.
The Uma Musume hitting the starting gate was vivid in her memory, so she chose to be cautious.
Her jockey's name seemed to be Take Yutaka. The first time she saw him, his expression was a bit downcast, and when he was assigned to bond with her, he talked to himself.
"I've always thought that a jockey's job is just to stay steady and let the horses run freely, that's the best riding style, but is that really right...?"
"I regret it very much. Maybe you don't understand, but I hope you can act like you dislike me. I can't do anything anymore..."
"Perhaps, I should go back to my Hometown and just find some ordinary job and live in a daze..."
Although she didn't understand what he was grieving about, his self-deprecating appearance annoyed her greatly.
So she chose to bite his collar and then tossed him onto her back.
"!?!?"
Then, after he instinctively steadied himself, she ran with him.
Running with a load wasn't difficult, and it was much easier than carrying those sandbags.
Since then, she became famous as "a horse that understands human nature and is intelligent," and that jockey later had an epiphany after being scolded by another jockey and began to actively communicate with her.
On the day of the debut race, nothing went wrong with the starting gate, resulting in a severe late start, and even so, the jockey never wielded the whip in his hand.
"I know you understand what I'm saying. I believe that if it's you, this level is absolutely no problem, right?"
"I won't be lost anymore, so run as much as you can, in the way you want. I'll stay steady, don't worry about me."
After hearing those words, she bolted out. At this point, she was at least eight horse lengths behind the last horse.
But she knew that none of these horses would be her opponent.
She accelerated all the way, without any pause, just like her second debut race. However, the difference was that in the world of Uma Musume, she chose to lead by a large margin, while this time, she chose to catch up from a large margin.
When she overtook the leading horse, both the crowd and the commentators erupted.
The distance continued to widen, constantly widening, and by the final straight, no other hoofbeats could be heard.
When she crossed the finish line, her jockey was smiling very happily, repeatedly saying things like "Thank you."
"Absolute Zero! Despite such a severe starting gate error, she still achieved an absolute victory with her absolute strength! A brilliant morning star has appeared on the racetrack!"
No matter when, no matter where, whether as an Uma Musume or a horse, she would always be herself.
Absolute Zero, the absolute king.
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