Chapter 5: And so… a legend began?

If signing with a Trainer is considered the first trial for a Uma Musume, then this would be the second.

Her debut race. Or, as they call it, her “Make Debut.”

A Uma Musume must take first place either here or—if she loses—later in a maiden race. Without at least one win, she cannot register for any official races beyond that.

First place.
Not just running, not just finishing… first place.

Fortunately, debut races typically have fewer than ten competitors. Compared to an eighteen-runner full gate, the odds of taking first are at least somewhat better.
Even so, if a Uma Musume can’t rise to the top of those ten, she cannot even reach the starting line of her dream.

Since coming to this world, I’ve learned how unforgiving competition is.
A Uma Musume blessed with talent can reach the starting line easily in her Make Debut.
A Uma Musume with duller talent can claw her way through a maiden race and still make it onto the stage of competition.
…But a Uma Musume with no talent at all—

…………
It’s cruel.

Yet that is competition. As long as winners and losers exist, as long as a top must be decided, a decisive wall will always form between them.

Cheers and glory go to the winner…
The loser falls quietly, without even being known.

That is the world of the Uma Musume. That is the Twinkle Series.

I heard this cruelty many times—over and over—as my father lectured me.

“A single drop of sweat from the victor, and an ocean of tears from the defeated. From that contrast, the Twinkle Series shines.”

Dad.
Today, I finally understand what you meant.

“New talents gather here at Hanshin Racecourse! On turf, 2000 meters! Track condition: slightly heavy. Despite being the rainy season, the sky has opened up as if to bless their big debut! Among these rising newcomers, who will take their first step onto the Twinkle stage!?”

“The Uma Musume have lined up on the turf!”

“And of course, the overwhelming favorite—none other than her! The runaway specialist who stunned everyone in the selection race: Hoshino Wilm!”

“Ever since switching from a closing strategy to a front-runner, she hasn’t slowed down at all. Her condition is impeccable, and today she’s keeping that same calm poker face.”

As the Uma Musume prepared on the turf, the race commentary echoed through the air.

The first to step forward was my Uma Musume, Hoshino Wilm.

Her expression showed no sign of nerves. As always, she wore a blank look, entered the gate without emotion, without hesitation…

The moment the gate slammed shut behind her—clack.

Her face changed.

It was small—so small only someone who’d spent a long time with her would notice.

Her usual blankness didn’t disappear, but its color drained even further…
Revealing a colder, sharper expression—Hoshino Wilm’s other face.

The face she shows only during a race—or more precisely, only when she is competing in speed against someone.

“Hoshino Wilm…”

I didn’t clasp my hands in prayer or grip the railing.
I simply curled my lips.

I first noticed it when we had a fellow Trainer’s front-runner run beside her during practice.

The mock race was meant to help her develop racing sense—but it produced no useful results.

Because Hoshino Wilm ignored our instructions entirely.

The instant the starting flag swung down—she exploded forward.

“…I did say to ‘pull away early,’ but still…”

“Haha… well, it’s her first time running this strategy. It’s not unusual to lose your pace and get carried away.”

Her speed was overwhelming—fast enough to hold her own in a Classic-grade race—pulling far ahead of the other chestnut Uma Musume.

But that wasn’t a sign of her committing to her strategy. She was simply running wild.

That, at least, was how the good-natured fellow Trainer interpreted it.

…But I knew better.

High, mid, low—if you divide pace into three categories, she was currently running at mid-pace.

However, her “mid” was other pre-debut Uma Musume’s “high.”
Her normal was everyone else’s abnormal.

A merciless display of difference in raw ability.

“A full-on runaway, huh… Still, I’m shocked she hasn’t dropped her speed. Is she planning to specialize in long-distance?”

“No—middle to long distance. …Her base ability is simply too high.”

The faster you run, the faster your stamina drains. It becomes harder to get oxygen, harder to keep your balance, harder to think clearly.

A Uma Musume has limits. Exceed your optimal max speed, and all you get is inefficiency—slowing the overall race time. That’s what they call “overrunning.”

Which is why Uma Musume must consider everything—max speed, stamina, pack position, distance sense, track condition, and the race’s overall pacing.

As that Trainer said, Hoshino Wilm’s running style is classified as a “super-runaway.”
A strategy where you create a massive gap early and ride that overwhelming lead to the finish—essentially the opposite of a closer.

…but if you push too hard at the start, your oxygen intake drops, making pacing impossible. And because you’re far from the pack, you can’t read the race at all.

That’s why the runaway strategy is difficult. It is not the royal road to victory.

…Yet that weakness is completely nullified by Hoshino Wilm’s monstrous stamina and lung capacity.

Her flowing chestnut coat never slows. She doesn’t spare a glance for the girls she’s left behind, and on the straights she keeps a perfectly even pace.

Normally, sustaining high speed makes your legs feel like lead, your thoughts dull—forcing Uma Musume to ease their pace and conserve strength.

But she overturns that logic.

If anything, her run resembles Mihono Bourbon’s—an unwavering, steady-paced dash.

A technique only geniuses can perform—and only after grueling training.

And yet she’s doing it… in February of the Junior class, where such things should be impossible.

“…What kind of training have you been doing with her? She slows a bit on corners but regains full speed on the straights. Is her stamina endless?”

“No idea. Even I still haven’t seen her limits.”

“Born a natural stayer, then?”

“Born a re…incarnate?”

“Hm? Something wrong?”

“Ah—no, sorry. …Ahem. Yes, truly a talent granted from the heavens.”

No, seriously.
I honestly still don’t understand why she’s this strong.

Talent is definitely part of it. But that alone isn’t enough.

A Uma Musume who hasn’t even entered her peak shouldn’t be able to raise her physical abilities this much. That’s exactly why “the first three years” are considered so important.

And yet she started out already at Classic-class… no, her stamina and guts are practically Senior-level.

As for a possible reason… maybe it’s one of her conditions—“Life-or-Death.”
I still don’t know the exact nature of that condition.

But if I had to guess…

During this past month of training, her stat growth has been… high. Very high.
Honestly, I don’t even remember how much they grew when I trained solo back in the app version.

So I formed one hypothesis.
Maybe “Life-or-Death” increases the effectiveness of training.
And instead of multiplying the gains, it adds a fixed amount on top.

If that were true, it would explain why she became strong before she should’ve entered her true development period.
It would make sense—except…

Such a condition would be way too strong.

If it’s called “Life-or-Death,” and it has an effect this powerful… then imagining some kind of drawback isn’t hard.

So what is it…?

"Hey! She’s speeding up again!? Is she okay!?"

My colleague’s voice snaps me out of my thoughts. I refocus on the race I had been watching absentmindedly.

Hoshino Wilm kicks into an even higher gear in the final 200 meters.

A genuine high pace—Classic-class finishing speed.

"You idiot…!"

I told you not to use that! I told you today’s training comes after this so keep it at mid-pace! Also, I told you to run alongside the other girl! I didn’t tell you to leave her in the dust!

I almost stand up, then force myself to sit back down.

Stopping her is impossible. Even if I shouted, a Uma Musume who’s already ignored orders to sprint like this wouldn’t stop.

“…Does she have a temperament problem?”

“You could say that… honestly, it’s becoming a real issue.”

My colleague speaks sympathetically while watching his own trainee.
He’s a good guy. Even though my girl ruined his uma’s joint-run session, he doesn’t get angry and even worries about us.

I’m lucky. To have someone so respectable this close…
Hoshino’s Trainer keeps getting better every day. I’ll learn a lot from being around him.

…That said.

The chestnut-colored idiot who finally slows down after crossing the finish line—right in front of us—probably won’t be allowed to join any more joint-run sessions for a while.

“Hoshino Wilm.”

I hop over the outer rail and hurry toward her.
She doesn’t react to my voice, her shoulders rising and falling heavily.

Sweat pours down her body, and her legs tremble slightly with small spasms.

…Training is canceled for today. And probably banned for several days after, depending on how her legs look.

I did tell her.

Today’s run was to get used to the feeling of competing alongside another Uma Musume. It wasn’t a race but a joint-run—meaning you mostly stay side by side.
Sure, picking up the pace a little was fine. But don’t break away; stay beside her for the full 2000 meters.

I didn’t want to say it, but the other girl is probably slower than you. Even so, you have to hold back and match her.

Are you listening? We have training later. Don’t waste all your stamina.

And absolutely do not go into high pace. You hear me? Absolutely not!

…Is what I thought I made clear.

“Hoshino Wilm. Hey, can you hear me?”

I place a hand on her shoulder. She finally turns toward me.

And then—

"—"

The hostility in her eyes makes me instinctively pull my hand back.

This isn’t the faintly trusting gaze she’s shown me over the past month.

It’s razor-sharp coldness—single-minded obsession with competition and victory, treating anything that interferes as an enemy. A frigid, needle-point focus.

These eyes… I’ve seen them before.

During the mock race, when she was stretching afterward.
Her eyes burned with fierce determination.

Now they’re even sharper—almost murderous.
There’s no mistaking it.

It’s the same side of her I haven’t seen in a month.

"Hoshino Wilm, you—"

But then, slowly…

With each blink, each breath, that icy distance begins to melt away.

Little by little, she returns to the Hoshino Wilm I know.

"…I’m sorry, Trainer. I got… a little carried away."

"……A little? Because of you, the other girl we borrowed today lost her session, and you’ve wasted several days of your own training time going forward."

"…I apologize."

She bows deeply. By the time she lifts her head again, not a trace remains.
Her face is back to normal—her usual expressionless self.

"…The person you should apologize to isn’t me. It’s him and his trainee. Come on."

At that moment, I became certain.

Hoshino Wilm has two faces.

The first is the one I know well: a serious, awkward girl who relentlessly chases victory and her ideals—though she can be difficult to read at times.

She handles training with total sincerity and even asks for permission to do extra self-training afterward.

Sometimes she overdoes it, gives herself a mild inflammation, and then apologizes with that same expressionless face that somehow looks unmistakably dejected.

Once, I left after telling her to do a set of squats. When I came back, she was still at it—drenched in cold sweat—and had apparently been doing them for hours.

Even when I tell her to rest for a full day, she quietly slips off to do muscle training anyway.

When I try to talk to her and ask about anything that happened recently, she freezes up and stops moving entirely.

When we went to karaoke for vocal practice, she got embarrassed about singing in front of me and her cheeks turned just a little pink.

And sometimes—only sometimes—she lets out a small, restrained giggle at moments I never expect.

Strict, awkward, but ultimately a normal teenage girl underneath.
That is Hoshino Wilm’s main face.

But once she enters a race—official or not—once she’s running alongside another Uma Musume and a battle of speed begins… her other face surfaces.

After watching her run with others several times, I finally noticed it.

She’s usually expressionless, so if you’re not paying close attention, you might miss the shift…

Her downward gaze sharpens, her eyes opening and fixing ahead with a cold, pale intensity.

Her center of gravity tilts forward, her strides widen.

The already tiny fluctuations in her expression vanish completely. Nothing can shake her focus.

And above all, she pours every last drop of herself into winning.

If her everyday face is “heat”—the burning desire for victory—then the one she shows in a race is “cold,” a machine-like expression driving her straight toward the finish line.

And then—

『Gate loading complete. All runners are ready.』

『…Start!』

The “cold” Hoshino Wilm has no affinity with the word “defeat.”

『A clean start from all runners! And taking the lead, just as expected, is Hoshino Wilm! Pulling away from the pack with unbelievable strength for a Junior-class girl!』

『It’s a frighteningly fast pace, but what’s scarier is that she doesn’t even seem to be overextending.』

Having played the app and studied Wilm’s running data and racing history in this world, I understand the conditions under which a front-runner loses.

The most common is running out of stamina or mismanaging pace. If a girl fails to distribute her stamina properly, she can’t maintain the lead and sinks back.

Then there’s pressure from behind. Despite appearances, Uma Musume are sensitive creatures. Being chased puts stress on them—enough to cause some to burn themselves out or crumble mentally.

And finally, weak late acceleration and insufficient top speed. If a chaser has a stronger finishing burst, they can eat through the lead head-on.

In short: if a runaway girl has more than enough stamina, a mind unshaken by pressure, and top speed that rivals anyone… then, theoretically, she cannot lose.

『Amazing—absolutely amazing! Hoshino Wilm charges through the 1000-meter mark without slowing down, ignoring the uphill slope! Gimme One Love is trying to cling on, but can’t close the gap! Just how many lengths apart are they now!?』

『Some girls are conserving energy in the back. You never know until the end.』

No, this time we do know.

The pace has been dragged too high. These Junior-class girls—at least those in my line of sight—won’t have the stamina left to launch a finishing burst.

Cruelly enough, the race ended before it even began.

The still-immature Junior-class runners have no way to stop Wilm’s opening dash, pressure her, exhaust her, or even catch up.

Once they loaded into the gate—no, the moment they registered for the debut race—their first challenge was already doomed.

『400 meters to go! The final stretch begins! Code of Heart bursts out of the pack and gives chase!』

『But Hoshino Wilm in front shows no sign of slowing! Can they close the distance!?』

Even though my trainee is about to claim an overwhelming victory, I can’t bring myself to celebrate.

I’ve been told countless times how cruel this world can be, but seeing it firsthand hits differently.

The moment overwhelming strength crushes young talent.

“Impossible,” their faces say. Several have already given up mid-race.
The clear difference in class has snapped their fighting spirit at the root.

After this race… how many will stand back up?
How many will fall into despair?

For one Uma Musume to win, six others have their hearts broken. Whether they recover is something no one can predict.

『A winner’s single drop of sweat… and the ocean of tears shed by the defeated. The Twinkle Series shines upon both.』

Yeah, Dad. You were exactly right.

『200 meters remaining! Hoshino Wilm begins her final burst! She flies up the last hill—fast, fast, an absolute runaway! What drives her to run like this!? Her victory is certain! The view at the front belongs to Hoshino Wilm—she crosses the line in first place!』

『First place: Hoshino Wilm! A decisive victory with an unbridgeable gap to second! A new hope of a new era has just been born!』

Thunderous cheers and awed murmurs.

The crowd—who thought such a performance impossible but secretly hoped for it anyway—remember their dreams and erupt into joyous applause.

"An escapee from another dimension…"

Someone whispers nearby.

Yeah… I get it. Of course they’d remember.

They’re recalling the fastest runaway Uma Musume—the one who disappeared from the Twinkle Series two years ago.

The Otherworldly Escapee, Silence Suzuka.

After switching to front-running, she won as naturally as breathing.
She fractured a bone in the Tennōshō (Autumn), but after recovering, she’s apparently been destroying the turf overseas.

She’s in her third Senior year now and still hasn’t stopped winning. I wonder how long she'll keep running at the top.

…Considering what happened to her in my world, I almost want her to keep going forever.

Silence Suzuka’s strategy was the classic extreme runaway—an overwhelming pace that no one could follow.

Except she barely slowed down even in the final stretch. Depending on her condition, she’d sometimes accelerate. She was practically a living legend.

The run Hoshino Wilm showed today reminded everyone of that very same speed that once captivated all of Japan.

Every fan who once mourned Suzuka’s disappearance now sees her shadow overlapping with Wilm’s.

It’s true that the runaway style Wilm displayed—or rather, the style she’s starting to settle into—resembles Silence Suzuka’s.

But it only looks that way.

In reality, her running still hasn’t reached Silence Suzuka’s level.

Just look at the lap times. Every number is inferior.

Right now, if she were thrown into a Senior-class field, she’d be swallowed up immediately. Her top speed simply isn’t at that tier yet.

This race looked overwhelming only because it was a Junior-class Make Debut. What you saw was merely Wilm’s current maximum output.

Which means that, in the end, she’s nothing more than a lower-grade lookalike.

…And yet, those who once longed for the legendary escape runner can’t help but project her onto Hoshino Wilm.

"…Haah."

Surrounded by a full-on standing ovation, I hold my head in my hands.

This… has turned into something huge.