Chapter 4: Run! Your First Practice Race

It’s hard to believe, but three months have already passed since I enrolled in Tracen Academy. Outside, the brutal summer heat makes going out feel like torture, so for me, it’s rapidly becoming the perfect season to stay home and play games.

Life during these past months has been surprisingly peaceful.

My training still consists of a single lap around the turf course, and when that’s done, I follow my usual routine and head to the trainer’s room for a massage.

Lately, though, my trainer has been making me hold certain postures during the massage. I’m not a fan—my abs and back get tired—but when they say it’s to ease fatigue and prevent injuries, I can’t really argue.

In moments like that, I just crush my trainer in the games I’m good at afterward.

My current favorite is the one where a certain plumber and his friends race around in cars. It’s a long-running, legendary series, but my trainer barely has any experience. Every item I throw hits perfectly and knocks them right off the track. At this point, it’s practically tradition.

They’ve been improving little by little, but since they never take shortcuts due to safety concerns, it’ll be a while before they can actually beat me.

Going out with my trainer has also been unexpectedly beneficial.

One day, my trainer invited me to go shopping on our day off. As usual, we visited the nearby game shop and bookstore.

After doing that a few times, my trainer completely memorized my tastes. Now they buy whatever I request while I browse the shops. Thanks to that, I can lounge around at home with a weekly magazine without ever stepping out into the heat.

King Halo—King-chan—and I have also gotten much closer.

At first, her attitude was a bit difficult to handle, but it turns out she’s a natural caretaker. Because I didn’t pay much attention in class, I often forgot homework and assignments, and once we ended up in the same class, she gradually started looking after me.

Whatever advantage I gained from my second life ran out back in elementary school, so my academics are already drifting dangerously low. The racing-related classes are especially confusing. Why does everything have to be so complicated? I’ll just leave all that to my trainer for now.

Thanks to King-chan’s connections, my circle of acquaintances has expanded.

Recently, the two of us have been having lunch about once a week with Special Week—Spe-chan—from the class next door.

Apparently, Spe-chan ran an impressive practice race recently and was declared a rival because of it.

Something about her gave me déjà vu, so I dug through my blurry memories. If I recall correctly, she used to be popular online in my previous life—some kind of greedy horse girl who refused to give anything to anyone. An “I won’t give this up” type. Watching her in the cafeteria now, she gives off an energy that’s almost madness, but normally she’s cheerful, friendly, and honestly a very good girl. She’s fun to watch.

The three of us usually end up talking about races. Since I’m not very talkative, I mostly listen.

Recently, the big topics have been the Tenno Sho—where Mayano Top Gun clashed with Marvelous Sunday and Sakura Laurel, winning with a time nearly three seconds faster than the previous record—and the Oaks, where the Empress herself, Air Groove, made up for not running in the Oka Sho. Thanks to those discussions, I feel like I’m slowly beginning to understand racing.

Spe-chan recently got a trainer, too, and she’s been trying different training routines. She often talks about that. Today, as part of her program, she’s on a restricted diet, so her usual mountain of white rice has vanished, replaced by a large bowl—still big, but not the towering summit she normally demolishes.

After explaining her current training, Spe-chan suddenly says:

“I just realized—I don’t think I’ve ever seen you training, Wee-chan. Where do you usually train?”

She asks with an innocent smile.

There’s no way I can throw something weird into the bright, pure smile of this adorable girl. I hesitate, but King-chan quickly comes to the rescue.

“You looked lively when I saw you running the other day, but are your legs still not in good shape?”

Of course—King Mama notices everything and redirects the question for me.

“Uh—yeah. My trainer stops me after one lap so I don’t get too tired or strain anything. After that, I get massages in the trainer’s room. They loosen up my legs, so thanks to that, I can still run every day.”

“What? Wee-chan, are your legs hurt?”

Spe-chan’s face fills with worry. Ugh. The guilt hits hard.

“No, I’m not injured. I just… want to avoid long distances or heavy training.”

This time, King-chan cuts in.

“Even if your training is limited, you still have to race. And I need to defeat you completely to prove that this King isn’t just first-class, but top-class!”

“W-wait, King-chan? Where did that come from?”

Spe-chan looks bewildered—she’s only ever seen the caretaker version of King-chan. But King-chan ignores her reaction and continues.

“To be honest, I’m not worried at all. Even without training, it’s obvious you’re a formidable opponent. You’re a rival I, King, have acknowledged. Something like this won’t stop you. And… Spe-san, the one you aim to become—the number one horse girl in Japan? Your biggest obstacle is her. I hope you understand that.”

“Eh?”

“Stop it, King-chan!”

I try to cut her off, but once she switches into that mode, she doesn’t stop.

“You too, Wee-san. With the way you intimidate everyone with your running every day, don’t you dare claim you’re not planning to fight. Today’s training will be a mock race between me, Spe-san, and you! One lap is enough, right? I’ll grant you the honor of running with the King.”

Still, I had my pride—enough not to be crushed by King-chan’s pressure.

“Alright. But I have one condition.”

“A condition? Hmph. If it’s something the King can grant, I don’t mind.”

“Help me with the history and literature assignments.”

History is too different from what I remember—so many horse girls show up in it that it makes no sense. And literature… well, that one’s just difficult.

“‘……’”

When I told my trainer that I wanted to do a mock race, he looked surprised—and then immediately started patting my head with this bright, beaming smile. I let him handle all the course setup while I took my time walking toward the track. But as I did, I felt a strange gaze on my back.

When I turned around, I spotted a suspicious man peeking at us from behind a nearby bench. I instinctively followed his line of sight and—

My thighs. And between my legs.

…Gross.

Having been a man in my previous life, I knew exactly what it meant when a guy stared fixedly at a girl’s crotch.

Right now, I had the appearance of a genuinely cute girl—and a body type certain enthusiasts would definitely appreciate.

He was absolutely thinking about doing those things, and maybe even those other things. I was just about to yell at him when—

“Huh? Trainer, Wee-chan!”

—Spe-chan’s voice rang out as she approached with another horse girl beside her.

I quickly slipped away from my trainer—who was loudly insisting, “It’s a misunderstanding! I was only checking her legs!” while rambling in detail about the condition of said legs—and joined Spe-chan. She then introduced me to the girl beside her.

“Nice to meet you, I’m Silence Suzuka. I’m Spe-chan’s roommate, and we share the same trainer, so I came to watch today.”

And then I caught myself staring at a certain… beautifully streamlined part of Suzuka-san’s figure.

No, it’s a misunderstanding. I just remembered a warning I once saw about Suzuka-san on social media… There is absolutely no ulterior motive.

Probably.

Suzuka-san had apparently been practicing her gate starts recently, and since she borrowed a gate today, we figured we might as well use it for our mock race.

Spe-chan looked a little baffled and said, “The gate is narrower than I expected…” But tight, dark spaces were where I excelled. A gate that blocked out the sun was nothing but a blessing for me.

Clang!

The gate burst open, and the race began.

—or it should have, but Spe-chan completely botched the start. King-chan, startled by her, reacted a beat too late as well, so I naturally ended up taking the lead.

For someone like me—who, back in elementary school, always ran behind someone else—being at the front in a race was honestly a first. Still, it was the same course I always used for training, so I at least had a rough idea of how to run it.

But while I was focusing on that first straight, what struck me from behind wasn’t the lively thundering of hooves—it was the murderous summer sun stabbing right into my back.

This practice track had nothing that cast shade except those weird poles with numbers on them—the furlong markers, or whatever they’re called. Nothing else at all.

The brutal sunlight pressed down on me, and heat rose from the turf like steam from the ground. There was nowhere for the heat building up inside me to escape.

Lately, I’d only been allowed to train around sunset, so I had completely lost my tolerance for the midday sun.

By the time I entered the first curve, I couldn’t even tell what pace I usually ran at. Not that I ever paid attention to pace in the first place—and you don’t run a race at your usual training pace anyway. And without another horse girl in front of me to use as a reference, I had no idea how to control my speed at all.

By the time I finished the curve, I’d hit my limit. My brain was full of nonsense like: maybe they could put a roof over the practice course? Or install sprinklers? I want a water station like marathon runners have. Completely chaotic thoughts.

All I could focus on was finishing the race. With that single thought filling my mind, I burst down the final straight.