Several months later.
Inside a grand racecourse.
Tens of thousands of spectators packed the stands. This was clearly no mere debut race or low-grade stakes event; the atmosphere was far too solemn and intense for that.
[GII Yayoi Sho, turf 2000 meters]
[First favorite: No. 1, Air Groove]
[Fifth favorite: No. 7, Manhattan Cafe]
The introduction of the runners flashed across the giant screen, then switched straight into the countdown.
On the track, a dozen or so horse girls burst from the gates in unison and shot forward.
In the stands, a handsome black-haired young man watched the middle of the pack with a faint, hooked smile.
His name was Toru Mochizuki, and the horse girl he was in charge of, Air Groove, was running right there among them.
"Just one more race to go."
At this moment, Air Groove already had a record of two races and two wins. The Yayoi Sho was the last race she needed to unlock his third profession.
Aside from her debut, Air Groove had only won a single graded stakes race, so her total number of wins wasn't exactly impressive.
But that one win was enough. It had come in last year's Hopeful Stakes, a race that gathered other formidable up-and-coming stars like Forest Treasure and Kurofune.
With that one race alone, Air Groove had established herself as the "peak of her generation," and now, in the GII Yayoi Sho, a race second only to GI, she was the overwhelming favorite for the win.
"Go for it, Groove."
Mochizuki watched his one and only horse girl partner, Air Groove, hoping she would once again display that extraordinary power of hers.
[The horse girls have strung themselves out into a single line. The top favorite, Air Groove, is sitting just off the leader, biding her time.]
[When will she make her move?]
In these races, popularity and strength tended to go hand in hand.
Naturally, the commentator's focus tilted toward Air Groove, the most popular runner in the field.
Out near the front, Air Groove paid no attention to the other horse girls around her. The chestnut-haired girl's crimson eyes looked straight past the runners at her sides and locked onto the empty grass stretching out ahead.
In Air Groove's mind, the only "same kind" as herself in Tracen Academy was the person watching from the stands.
Racing, after all, was an indispensable proving ground for practical research.
Losing would be detrimental to the experiment. Therefore, she had to go all out and seize victory.
"This is a race for experimentation. I will hone my legs and reach my limit."
"To the far side… beyond the limit!"
…
The tension in the air grew thicker as the pack of horse girls swept through yet another turn.
The very next moment, Air Groove kicked into a full sprint.
In an instant, her stride sharpened, her legs spinning faster than the rest of the field as she lunged toward the finish line.
[Air Groove surges to the front as they enter the home stretch! Her speed spikes sharply!]
That brisk, high-speed form of hers left the other dozen horse girls trailing in her wake almost effortlessly.
Amid the shocked and excited gazes of the crowd, under Mochizuki's focused stare, the finish line drew closer and closer.
And then, in the next instant… she flashed past the line!
[Speed on an entirely different level!]
[Air Groove has just shown us her overwhelming power!]
As the commentator's voice rose in a passionate shout, a wave of exclamations burst out from the audience.
As her trainer, Mochizuki could only smile and let out a quiet sigh.
"Air Groove… you really are a monster."
"In all the decades of Japanese racing, there have only been two 'fully automatic' horse girls like this, right?"
The first: the strongest horse girl in history, the Emperor, Symboli Rudolf.
Symboli Rudolf's partner back then had been a rookie trainer who frankly wasn't that capable.
There were even stories about Rudolf coaching her own trainer, the horse girl giving the trainer orders on how things should be done.
The second: the strongest active horse girl, T.M. Opera O.
Yes, the second fully automatic horse girl was still very much a force in the current era.
Opera O's trainer was also a rookie and even dragged her down with bad race plans at times.
But when, over the course of last year, that trainer stopped trying to direct her and simply let Opera O run as she pleased, the result was…
A complete sweep.
Opera O ran eight races in a single year and won all eight, including a streak of five GI victories. With an undefeated season, she earned the title of "Overlord of the End of the Century."
In Mochizuki's eyes, Air Groove had the potential to become a new fully automatic horse girl.
Her talent was outstanding, she was born with explosive late speed, and she could design her own training regimen and race tactics. As her trainer, all he really had to do was sit back and appreciate her performance.
"As long as she keeps this up, as long as she stays healthy…"
"Challenging the Emperor and the Overlord might not be impossible."
Mochizuki murmured to himself.
In his previous life, he had read novels and watched anime. But he had only seen the two main seasons everyone talked about, plus the story of the gray Cinderella; that was it.
As for the gacha hell of the mobile game, he had never gone anywhere near it.
Yet now he was actually in the world of Uma Musume. This strange twist of fate made him feel very curious about what the future held.
"Well… the mission is finally done."
A translucent task window popped up in front of Mochizuki.
[2. Have the horse girls in your team reach three total wins]
[Progress: 3/3]
[Mission reward: Unlock third-profession selection]
The display flickered, and the contents changed.
[Please choose one of the following options]
[Horse Girl or Magical Girl]
[Note: selecting either option will trigger template roulette]
"???"
When he saw the choices laid out on the screen, the usually easygoing expression on Mochizuki's face froze.
"?"
He stared at the window in stunned silence.
The first time, his choices had been "mangaka" or "novelist."
The second time, "trainer" or "beast tamer."
And now, the third time, he was being told to pick between becoming a horse girl or a magical girl.
"I enjoy watching the circus, but I don't want to be the clown."
Once his brain caught up, Mochizuki's gaze settled on the "Horse Girl" option.
Having Horse Girl as his third profession would synergize with his current second job as a trainer. Even if he rolled some no-name minor racehorse, he could just pretend nothing had happened.
But if he picked Magical Girl and ended up with a template from some grimdark world like Puella Magi Madoka Magica, that would be the end of him.
Not to mention, this was the world of Uma Musume. Becoming a magical girl here wouldn't even be useful.
After thinking it through rationally, he made his choice.
"I'll go with Horse Girl."
The moment Mochizuki confirmed his selection…
[Host has chosen Horse Girl. Beginning template roulette…]
Countless images of real-world racehorses spun across the panel like a slot machine, until finally the carousel stopped on a powerful, imposing chestnut.
Then the image of that spirited racehorse blurred and reshaped into a human figure in the style of a horse girl.
A tall, cool-looking girl appeared. Her long wine-red hair spilled freely down her back, and her amber eyes glinted with tiny blue stars, a touch of cuteness only accentuating the intimidating force in her gaze.
She stood proud, long limbs relaxed yet coiled with strength. Just by standing there, she radiated both power and grace.
Elegant yet unyielding, laid-back yet razor-sharp.
As he took in that striking appearance, the first words that came to Mochizuki's mind were… "A solitary king"?
The name written under the illustration of the wine-red-haired girl was:
[Van Gaul]
Mochizuki's expression twisted into something very complicated.
Of all the things he had imagined his golden finger might unlock as a new profession… he had never once considered turning into a horse girl himself.
"Van Gaul?"
He didn't remember hearing that name in any of the Uma Musume anime.
No idea whether she was any good.
Her design looked incredible, but as a trainer he knew better than anyone that appearance did not equal strength.
Take Tamamo Cross, for instance. That gray horse girl who once reigned at the top of Japan had the plain, petite body of a total loli.
In Uma Musume, the gap in level could be enormous. At one end stood Symboli Rudolf, the undefeated triple-crown Emperor; at the other, Haru Urara, who lost every single time she ran.
Where on that spectrum "Van Gaul" fell could only be determined once she'd actually run a debut race.
But a debut race usually had around ten horse girls, and only the one who crossed the line first was considered to have officially debuted.
Eight or nine out of ten got eliminated right at the starting point of their careers.
For now, the most important thing was to evaluate Van Gaul's strength and hope she wasn't the type who struggled for a single win like Haru Urara.
His current goal was simple:
If his horse girl debut could end in victory, that would be enough.
Winning his debut race would already be a huge success.
As for the future… he could worry about that when it came.
Elsewhere.
On one of Tracen Academy's training tracks, a girl with a white streak dyed into her bangs, her hair tied back in a single ponytail, had just finished a workout and was standing hands on hips, breathing hard.
Vodka, a genius girl already well known around Tracen.
A fierce competitor by nature, she was ready to make her debut.
"Now that Daiwa Scarlet's made her debut and won, there's no way I'm falling behind."
Just a few days ago, she and her rival Daiwa Scarlet had made a wager.
Whoever lost in something as "trivial" as her debut race would have to take an ice-bucket challenge as punishment.
Now that Daiwa Scarlet had won, it was her turn to win as well.
"All right then… time to sign up!"
No matter who her opponents were, she was going to tear them all apart.
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N/T: Hi everyone, I'm Zuru, an inexperienced translator and non-native English speaker, so if you notice any mistakes in the text, please let me know in the comments so I can fix them. By the way, I have a Patreon. There isn't much there yet, but it would really help me if you could consider joining.
[email protected]/ZuruZ