Forget being clingy and flirting.
Garden Gale was probably sick.
Even her eyes and brows seemed tinged with melancholy.
It made her already gloomy atmosphere even gloomier, even more depressive. Right now, her whole body was exuding an aura of stay the hell away. Actually, just looking at this iceberg of a face was enough to explain why Garden Gale's classmates avoided her.
She was too cold.
Cold as a blade dipped in icy water.
And right now, this blade in icy water arrived at the training track, determined to fight for a nearly impossible outcome in these final seven days. Even though she had an OP cheat system she couldn't use it... because her social anxiety was just too extreme! She couldn't bring herself to cling to anyone else.
Forget being clingy and flirting.
So, instead...
Maybe she could just work insanely hard and boost her speed?
By the way, the socially-anxious Garden Gale had already scoped out several other training tracks, ultimately settling on one with just two Umamusume.
This was the emptiest spot she could find.
Entering, she forced herself to remain calm. Ignoring the two Umamusume not far away, she stood there quietly, took a deep breath, and thought, Even the sun seems beautiful today, the gentle breeze feels wonderful... It's a perfect day for training. With these thoughts, her eyes slowly ignited, a grand ambition sprouting in her heart.
In Garden Gale's heart—
It suddenly felt… not that hard anymore?
It might sound sudden, but maybe it was because today's weather was just so good that it gave her a tiny desire to live well.
Seven days! Give Garden Gale seven days, and she'll repay you with an impossible miracle! Come, then! Let her sprint forward at full speed!
After all—she was a transmigrator capable of anything.
Smiling softly, she began warming up. Letting her muscle memory guide her, her body gradually heated up, entering the ideal condition.
The best state for running.
Once her heartbeat rose slightly, Garden Gale stood at the starting line, her eyes fixed on the distant track and the glorious future ahead—she felt her body rise and fall rhythmically with her breathing, precisely controlling every bit of power. This feels great, truly amazing. Next, she'd open the era that belonged to Garden Gale!
She could even hear, even smell—
Her future filled with glory, not too far away, just three years later.
So...
Time to start running now.
She gritted her teeth tightly, as if biting down on her future itself... gripping the future the MONSTER had dreamed of, refusing to let go.
She'd crush that future completely.
Thinking so, her ambition burned fiercely within her chest. Garden Gale prepared herself, ready to get into a running stance and then launch herself forward at an unstoppable speed, flying through the air.
Except—
...Eh, wait a second!
What's the proper running stance for Umamusume again!? Surely it's not the human track-and-field stances from my past life...? Wait, speaking of that, what's my aptitude? What's my running style? What about my transmigrator memory-fusion!? Why won't my memory provide me this crucial info!? How am I supposed to play this game?
And besides that...
From the corner of her eye, she noticed the two Umamusume staring directly at her, their gazes piercing her body. All that ambition she'd mustered instantly evaporated. Garden Gale visibly wilted, no longer filled with motivation. Like the original owner, being stared at like this made her nervous. Never mind that her current level was absolute trash—once she started running, she'd instantly expose herself. Just imagining this made her scalp crawl.
Forget it, forget it.
Might as well watch how these girls trained first.
And secretly learn something.
...
"Tch…" The hoodie-wearing girl wiped the sweat from her face, scowling unhappily. Her visible shark-like teeth clenched tight as she snapped, "Who the hell is that chick? She from team LOCK or something? What's she doing training on our team's private track?"
Next to her, a gentle-looking girl, her expression as soft as a spring breeze, quietly tied up her ponytail. Even the flower ornament she used had a scent reminiscent of Ireland's lush plains.
"Don't be so harsh, Shakur. Maybe she's just borrowing the track for a bit. Besides… doesn't she look kind of familiar?"
The speaker now was Fine Motion.
Air Shakur shrugged. "Whatever. Let's just ignore her for now—as long as she doesn't mess with our training."
The gentle Umamusume named Fine Motion and the delinquent-looking girl, Air Shakur, had just started today's training session, planning to grab ramen together afterward. They didn't expect a random stranger would suddenly pop up midway.
Technically, the reason this training track had so few people was because—it was team-exclusive.
This track belonged to Umamusume from Team LOCK.
There were some things… genuinely unsuitable for public eyes. Normal training might be fine, but what about tactics, trump cards, and special techniques? If openly revealed, wouldn't others just steal them immediately? That's why it was so critical to have separate team-exclusive and public training tracks at Tracen Academy.
Garden Gale didn't know any of these rules.
Worse, since she had no clue how to train, she naturally fixed her gaze directly on Fine Motion and Air Shakur, intently watching how they practiced.
She was trying to learn.
However…
After enduring nearly twenty minutes of intense staring, Air Shakur caught Garden Gale's gaze once again from the corner of her eye. Finally unable to bear it, Air Shakur stood up abruptly, shark teeth grinding together, looking every bit like a delinquent itching for a fight. Pulling down her hood, hands in her pockets, she strode directly toward Garden Gale.
Fine Motion watched her friend's retreating figure she opened her mouth, but said nothing.
Actually, she was pretty curious too about what the girl was doing here. So, she quietly followed behind Air Shakur.
…
Garden Gale suddenly realized she might've gotten herself into trouble.
She glanced at the sky, the ground, butterflies, and cherry blossoms—then casually pretended to glance around and immediately saw Air Shakur approaching her directly. Their eyes briefly met, and she instantly averted her gaze, coming just short of copying Bocchi's guilty whistle-blowing act, pretending it was all just an accident.
…But this girl really was coming straight towards her!!!
CRISIS!
No, no, no.
Maybe it's just a coincidence? If she turned around and ran, it'd immediately make her look suspicious. Besides, it wasn't that big a deal, right? She'd only glanced at her once or twice.
…For twenty whole minutes straight.
Garden Gale quickly struck a warm-up pose, pretending she was just innocently warming up to escape Air Shakur's attention.
But—
It didn't help. Not one bit.
"Hey! You there! Coming to this great one's training track was bad enough—but staring at me nonstop? Don't tell me you're here to steal our training data?!"
Air Shakur confronted her aggressively, closing in like a wild beast, lacking even the slightest politeness.
+GARDEN GALE HAS ASCENDED TO HEAVEN+.
It felt like her soul had completely drifted out of her body, soaring into the sky.
Garden Gale froze stupidly, opening her mouth to speak but unable to make any sound come out.
She couldn't speak, nor did she know what she should say.
"Don't be so rude, Shakur." Fortunately, the gentler Umamusume approached, slightly saving Garden Gale. But before she could feel relieved, that gentle girl also stared directly into her eyes, softly continuing:
"However, I'm also curious. Why did you come to our track and keep staring at us? Were you perhaps really here to collect racing data, just as Air Shakur suggested?"
Having finished, Fine Motion raised an eyebrow… and suddenly felt the Umamusume before her looked oddly familiar?
She frantically searched her memory until finally recognizing the figure. Interested now, she asked curiously, "Eh? Wait, aren't you… Garden Gale?"
Holy crap, am I really this famous?!
---
T/N: uheuheuhuehueueh air shakur and fine motion I CANT BELIEVE THEY DIDNT MAKE HER IRISH ROYALTY :sob: HOW DARE YOU IRELAND now she's just royalty who moved to ireland sigh oh (its because uhhhh something something history of ireland and monarchy)
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