Chapter 67: The Deadline Is Short—Train Hard, Maiden

My date—no, outing—with Ayumu-san came to a pleasant end.

I think the “Let’s get to know Ayumu-san when he’s not a trainer” plan can be considered a tentative success.

Truth be told, I barely know Ayumu-san outside of his role as a trainer. For better or worse, he’s extremely devoted to his job. If left to his own devices, I wouldn’t be surprised if he spent twenty-four hours a day, three hundred sixty-five days a year being a trainer.

In that state, there’s no way I could really get to know him. That’s why I forcibly dragged him away from his trainer duties and made him spend an entire day with me, but…

I never imagined that Ayumu-san, when he isn’t being a trainer, would be… well… like that.

Then again, there’s no such thing as a perfect superhuman in any world. If he’s outstanding at his job as a trainer, it’s only natural—inevitable, even—that there are areas he’s completely clueless about.

Still, even so… an enamel-shiny purple shirt with a silver dragon on it…

At the bowling alley, the ball veered wildly left and right, and at karaoke his tone-deafness was nothing short of spectacular.

All in all, Ayumu-san has… well… absolutely no sense of style.

They really do exist—people with that little sense. I mean, statistically, someone like that has to exist somewhere, but I never thought they’d be this close to me… or that the person I like would be so catastrophically lacking in taste.

Up until now, I’d only ever seen him in a suit. If I’d suddenly seen him wearing clothes he picked out himself… yeah, without any mental preparation, I might’ve been a little shocked.

I might’ve even taken to my bed. That outfit is not something a handsome guy should be wearing.

But, well… yeah.

That part of him, too… somehow… it’s kind of cute.

Like a crack in the armor of a normally invincible, perfect guy—one that only shows in front of me. Something like that.

Okay, fine, realistically speaking, I’m sure other people have seen it too.

But still, thinking that it’s a side of him you only get to see once you’re fairly close to him—doesn’t that make you a little happy?

Of course, I don’t really know how much trust he actually places in me.

Even so, I think he feels at least something more than what he’d feel for just any assigned runner.

And if that’s the case, then if we deepen that feeling together a bit more… maybe we could do, you know… some things… right?

…Well, I seriously doubt that earnest, by-the-book trainer would allow any kind of relationship progress while we’re still in a “runner and trainer” dynamic.

…And so.

Once that fun break from reality ended, everyday life came rushing back as if nothing had happened.

As Uma Musume, we each threw ourselves back into training.

Those of us in the Classic class and above were preparing for the year-end main event, the Arima Kinen.

The junior-class girls, like Bourbon-chan and the others, were undergoing special training for the four year-end G1 races.

In December, even the teachers run around busy. It’s not just adults who get swamped.

Of course, the adult trainers seem extremely busy too.

Masa-san in particular has looked unsteady lately, swaying as he walks—it’s honestly worrying. He seems completely exhausted.

Apparently, he’s been handling work that the main trainer can’t get through, but the volume far exceeds what a second-year sub-trainer should reasonably be expected to handle.

…Though maybe what’s stranger is that a trainer only in their second year can process most of the paperwork related to two Uma Musume, myself included.

Anyway, I’m getting off track.

Back to our training.

Lately, I haven’t been training together with Bourbon-chan.

The reason is simple: the load of my training has increased beyond what Bourbon-chan can keep up with.

More precisely, even if she can keep up momentarily, the cost-performance ratio—how much stamina she expends versus how much her ability improves—is apparently terrible. That’s what the trainer said.

What Bourbon-chan needs right now is to raise her basic specs—and above all, to get used to the presence of other front-running Uma Musume.

To do that, she needs training situations that recreate being surrounded by other front-runners.

If I can’t take on that role, then we need cooperation from another front-running Uma Musume.

And the one chosen was…

"Souri-san, we’d like to request your cooperation."

"E–Eh!? Me!?"

Souri-chan—better known as Pink-chan.

Pink-chan is one of the junior-class underclassmen who looks up to me.

True to her nickname, she has beautiful pink hair—well, there are plenty of pink-haired girls out there, but none among the underclassmen I regularly interact with.

Pink-chan is a front-runner. When she tried the style after imitating me, it apparently suited her legs better than expected, so she’s made it the core of her strategy ever since.

On top of that, since she’s also junior class, the gap in stats between her and Bourbon-chan isn’t nearly as wide as it is with me.

In other words, she’s a perfect, precisely matched training partner.

Well, it seems she still hasn’t run in an official race since her debut.

If I remember correctly, her next scheduled run I heard about recently was… a pre-open race in the middle of this month.

"N–No way! I’m not a G1-class Uma Musume like Bourbon-chan! I’m not even running a year-end G1—why me of all people!?"

"It was recommended by Wilm-senpai."

"H–Hey, senpai!"

Pink-chan glared at me with watery eyes. Cute.

"Was that no good? I thought it might be good training for you too, Pink-chan."

"Well, I mean, training alongside Bourbon-chan would be super educational, but…!"

"Then isn’t that fine?"

"I–It’s more like… the atmosphere, you know?"

"Bourbon-chan asked, so it should be fine. If anything, you can just say you were forced into some brutal training—then you’ll be able to take the victim’s position."

"Th–Then Bourbon-chan’s position would be…"

"There is no issue. This is, to begin with, a measure intended to strengthen me. If only I receive criticism, I consider that within acceptable limits."

"U–Um… still… the trainer might oppose it…"

Overwhelmed by the unexpected turn of events, Pink-chan buried her head in her hands.

Bourbon-chan and I exchanged a look and nodded. Then I pulled my phone out of my pocket.

"Actually, we’ve already spoken with your team trainer and received permission, Souri-chan."

"Your actions are way too fast! Now I really have no excuse to run away!"

"There is no need. You may simply flee together with me."

"That’s not the kind of ‘run away’ I meant!"

In the end, kind-hearted Pink-chan finally nodded after some continued persuasion from Bourbon-chan and me.

Right now, a sub-trainer from Pink-chan’s team should be overseeing their training.

When I glanced over earlier, Pink-chan was panting heavily, shoulders heaving for breath, right next to an unbothered Bourbon-chan… I wonder if she’s really okay.

As for my other friends and rivals, aside from Bourbon-chan…

Well, first up is Teio, of course.

Her injury healed completely some time ago, and lately she’s been throwing herself into comeback training for the Arima Kinen.

The Arima Kinen, along with the Takarazuka Kinen, is known as one of the two major Grand Prix races.

Unlike other races, entry requires votes from the fans.

Because she couldn’t race for half a year—and perhaps because of my presence—it seems the public had started to forget about her a little, which is honestly pretty rude, considering how strong she is.

So, likely as a form of appeal, Team Teio has been holding public training sessions quite frequently.

"You’re working hard, Teio."

"Of course I am! This time, I’m the one who’s gonna win!!"

From how she sounded the last time we talked, her motivation is sky-high.

I’m sure she’ll put on a run worthy of her name at the Arima Kinen.

…Unfortunately, though, the trainer rates her threat level one notch below Nature’s.

Probably because of the handicap from missing half a year of training, she apparently looks just a little weaker compared to the rest of this year’s Arima Kinen lineup.

Even so, she never stops moving forward.

No matter how grueling the training becomes, and even with so much media attention on her, Teio keeps running.

During my own comeback period, it was only four months, and even that was incredibly tough. For her, being sidelined for over half a year, it must be far harsher than what I went through.

And yet she tackles it all with a smile. Her brightness really is remarkable… or, thinking about Teio in the anime, maybe she’s just putting on a brave face. Who knows?

Still…

She doesn’t lament her bad luck or curse the timing. She just keeps moving straight ahead, giving it everything she has.

I really do think Teio is amazing.

Meanwhile, as for Nature and McQueen-san… unfortunately, I don’t know as much about them.

Or rather, it’s simply rare for someone to hold open training sessions as aggressively as Teio does.

Normally, with few exceptions, training isn’t made public. After all, revealing it would be like giving away your strategy for the next race.

Of course, there’s a limit to how much you can hide, and it’s not like everything needs to be kept completely secret.

Trainers who pay attention probably know what’s going on—but I didn’t.

Still, from the few times we’ve spoken, it’s clear that they’re diligently putting in the work.

Especially McQueen-san. Her level of intensity is impressive. It seems she’s aiming to avenge her loss at the Japan Cup.

Yeah, I’m really looking forward to it.

It’s bound to be an incredibly tough battle…

A summit clash with so many rivals.

As an Uma Musume, there’s nothing I could look forward to more.

Now then, that’s how things stood for the other Uma Musume. As for me—

For the past several days, following my trainer’s policy, I’d been repeating leg presses and squats at the gym.

The Uma Musume who would likely form the core of this year’s Arima Kinen were Special Week-chan and Silence Suzuka-san. Between those two and myself, there was a difference in specs so large it could honestly be called fatal. …Well, they had the advantage of a full extra year of full-scale development, so in that sense, it was only natural.

If I was going to compete with them, it seemed better to focus on strengthening my physical abilities before polishing any fancy techniques. At least, that was what my trainer said—and since he was incredibly competent as a trainer, despite certain other flaws, he was probably right.

By placing this kind of load on my legs and increasing my muscle strength, it would lead to improvements in both top speed and acceleration.

For me, this year’s Arima Kinen could be divided into two phases.

The first half was the battle against the front-running escape specialists. My objective there was to overtake my mentor and Suzuka-san and seize the lead.

The second half would be the battle against the chasing pack. If I could successfully hold them off, victory would be mine.

Especially when I thought about that first half—about fighting Suzuka-san head-on—I couldn’t afford to stay as I was now.

According to my trainer, Suzuka-san’s starting technique was on par with mine. If that was the case, then which of us took the lead would be decided purely by acceleration. And if Suzuka-san got ahead first, then with inferior top speed and acceleration, I wouldn’t be able to overtake her.

In short, since we were both fighting with the same extreme front-running style, if I couldn’t at least compete with her to some degree in top speed and power, the race wouldn’t even become a contest. …Normally, you might hope the opponent would eventually fade, but this was Suzuka-san, with her near-infinite stamina.

The spec gap between Suzuka-san and me, according to the materials I was shown the other day… if I remembered correctly, her top speed was just under 300 higher, and her acceleration was just over 300 higher. How much of that gap I could close would be the key to surviving the first half of the race.

“…That said, fortunately—or perhaps I should say thankfully—you don’t need to worry that much about speed.”

During a break between training sessions meant to shake off short-term fatigue, I was sitting in a chair, wiping sweat away with a towel, feeling the heaviness in my legs and the pounding of my heart. My trainer, who came to check on me after about an hour, handed me a sports drink as he spoke.

"Silence Suzuka doesn’t have aptitude for long distances. …Well, no—‘didn’t have’ would be more accurate."

"What do you mean by that?"

"If my memory’s correct, when she debuted, her long-distance aptitude was… E."

"Um, according to the data I saw last time… wasn’t it B? That would mean, uh… D, then C, then B, right?"

"She raised her long-distance aptitude by three ranks."

That was… incredible.

My trainer had once explained to me how aptitude ranks worked. According to him, only C or higher could truly be called ‘having aptitude.’ And when it came to G1 races specifically, it was extremely difficult to win unless you were at least B.

You might think, then, that you could simply raise your aptitude—but it wasn’t that easy.

As a rule, an Uma Musume’s abilities depended heavily on her bloodline. To put it bluntly—cruel as it sounded—your birth determined most of your potential. Improving that foundation through effort wasn’t impossible, my trainer said, but it was extraordinarily difficult. In some cases, even raising aptitude by a single rank could require years of intense training.

When my trainer first evaluated Suzuka-san, her long-distance aptitude had been E—a level fatally low for competing in G1 races.

And yet, through her own effort, she’d raised it by three ranks, all the way to B, where it could compete at the G1 level.

She was already in her fourth year as a senior and had a very long career—six full years—as a racing Uma Musume. Time-wise, it was possible.

But continuing to challenge a distance that didn’t suit her body, one she couldn’t run cleanly, over and over again… that had to be an incredibly harsh path.

Was it due to sheer strength of will? Or perhaps the aggressiveness toward running that people often spoke of when it came to her? …Either way, it made her a threat.

Through that effort alone, she had turned the long-distance demands of the Arima Kinen from an impossible challenge into a possible one.

"But even so, fortunately—or perhaps unfortunately—she hasn’t raised it all the way to A. That means she still hasn’t fully grasped pacing at long distances, nor does she completely understand how to bring out her maximum speed. Meanwhile, all of your aptitudes exceed A and are ranked S. Taking aptitude correction into account… your top speed would be around 900, and your acceleration just under 800. Silence Suzuka’s top speed would be around 950, and her acceleration just over 1000. That’s probably the most accurate evaluation for this race."

Oh—that closed the gap quite a bit.

…But even with a two-rank aptitude difference, it still couldn’t fully erase a gap of 300. Numbers really were absolute power.

As I mulled this over, a hand was placed lightly on my head and gave me a gentle pat.

Whoa—surprise head pat…!

"It’s okay. Don’t make such an anxious face. Aside from aptitude, there’s one more advantage in your favor: Silence Suzuka has already finished her full-scale development. You’re still in yours, which means you can continue to grow. She’s already capped. The gap may shrink, but it won’t widen."

"Ah… right. You’re right."

An Uma Musume’s physical abilities grow explosively during the three years of full-scale development. Outside of that period, growth is extremely gradual.

Suzuka-san had already passed that phase, so her stats wouldn’t rise dramatically anymore.

Meanwhile, even if only for a short time, I could still push mine higher.

The gap could be closed—at least a little.

The harder I worked, the more the difference between Suzuka-san and me would shrink.

Thinking that way, it felt like I could finally see a faint ray of hope.

…No, but still. That’s not the only frightening thing about this Arima Kinen.

"Trainer."

"Hm?"

"Does the ‘domain’ of a racing Uma Musume… ever change?"

That question had been bothering me for a while now.

The domain I’d seen from McQueen-san near the end of the Tenno Sho (Autumn). Compared to what I’d witnessed at the Takarazuka Kinen, it wasn’t drastically different—but it had undeniably changed.

At the Takarazuka Kinen, I’d seen a vision of her enjoying an elegant tea time in a garden, before suddenly breaking into a run. But at the Tenno Sho (Autumn), it was different. In what was likely the same garden, McQueen-san was running through pouring rain, eventually reaching a clear blue sky. …That was the image I saw.

The two were similar, yet different. And the latter… somehow, it was far more overwhelming.

When I brought this up with my trainer, he rested a hand on his chin and murmured, "Hmm."

"…To answer your question—‘can a domain change?’—you can assume the answer is almost certainly yes. However, in my view, there are two different ways it can ‘change.’"

"Your view…?"

"I’ve said this before, but domains are something only Uma Musume can perceive. To us humans, all we can observe is that you suddenly get faster. On top of that, every attempt to scientifically prove their existence has failed. With current technology, it seems we simply can’t unravel the secrets of Uma Musume. …Which is why anything about domains is ultimately speculation, based on what I’ve heard directly from you Uma Musume. What I’m about to say is the result of connecting those accounts with historical records from Horino. So please understand—it’s nothing more than my own hypothesis."

So, in the end, it really was a story without solid logical grounding.

My trainer disliked speaking about unconfirmed information. He probably wanted to make it clear from the outset that there was a chance he could be wrong.

…Still, if this was a story grounded in decades—no, centuries—of history, then at the very least, the broad outline was probably reliable.

As I took a sip of my sports drink and settled in to listen, my trainer began explaining.

"There’s a theory that an Uma Musume’s domain is the act of materializing her inner mental landscape. One piece of evidence lending this theory some weight is that when an Uma Musume dons a new race outfit or stands before a major race—causing a drastic shift in her mindset or mental state—the domain can apparently take on a completely different form. …That brings us to the first case: when a domain becomes something entirely different. Since it’s still at the hypothesis stage and may not even exist for certain, there’s no fixed terminology, but people sometimes call it domain alteration, transmutation, or reconfiguration."

Something… entirely different?

"That’s, um—"

"If the conditions for activating the domain change, then the Uma Musume’s way of running—meaning the benefits and effects of the domain—also change. Naturally, the scenery visible within the domain becomes something completely different as well."

"Ah—then McQueen-san’s wasn’t that, I guess…"

McQueen-senpai’s domain probably hadn’t changed directionally. It felt more like it had simply… been refined. Elevated.

"The other case is what people call evolution or sublimation."

His words matched exactly what I’d been thinking. I instinctively looked at him, and after meeting my eyes briefly, he turned forward again and continued.

"Rather than becoming something entirely different, the domain takes a step forward. The scenery becomes more oriented toward running, and the effects granted to the Uma Musume become far more intense. Without changing direction, the vector stretches farther—or like a color deepening without changing hue—the domain enters its next stage. That’s the second case. Judging from the circumstances, Mejiro McQueen’s change likely falls into this category."

"So it’s like the domain gets polished?"

"No… hmm. I think that’s slightly off. Let me put it in a way you’d understand—how about a Pokémon analogy? Polishing would be like leveling up a domain. Sublimation would be more like a domain evolving."

Domains already produced outrageous effects. I’d heard they could push an Uma Musume beyond her natural limits, and in some cases even ignore physical laws.

And that becoming even stronger—not just a level-up, but an evolution…

That was terrifying—and at the same time, the shortest path to strength.

"How does that… sublimation happen?"

"No idea."

"…No idea?"

Wow. He said that with impressive decisiveness.

…Well, he had said from the beginning that this whole topic lacked firm logical grounding, so I supposed “unknown” was the only honest answer.

"To begin with, even within a single generation, fewer than ten Uma Musume can open a domain at all. On top of that, those who manage to sublimate it—two in a generation would already be a lot, and it’s not unusual for there to be none at all. Frankly, there just isn’t enough data to narrow down the conditions."

"I see…"

"If I had to guess, it might require an extremely sharpened mind and body, just like acquiring a domain in the first place… possibly. But unfortunately, that isn’t confirmed information. Trying to aim for it within the next half month would be far too risky."

Hmm. That was a little disappointing.

If I could strengthen my domain, it would surely be a huge advantage at the Arima Kinen.

But… I suppose that made sense. I’d already been lucky enough to open a domain at all, and only a tiny handful ever went on to sublimate it. …More than anything, I probably still lacked precision with my domain. Going back to the Pokémon analogy, it felt like I hadn’t reached the level required for evolution yet.

Then how did you increase domain precision? …That, too, was frustratingly unclear.

What happened to Nature’s domain at the Kikuka Sho was probably an increase in precision—a level-up. The scenery changed a little, but it didn’t suddenly become overwhelming the way McQueen-senpai’s had.

If that was the case… maybe overlapping domains with other Uma Musume? Or even without overlapping, receiving stimulation from them? Or perhaps accumulating more race experience—more life experience?

…Either way, none of that was something I could accomplish immediately.

In the end, there was no shortcut.

All I could do was keep training steadily. …Well, I didn’t mind that.

Training—no, running itself—I liked it. Watching my own specs visibly increase didn’t feel bad at all.

I wanted to be stronger. I wanted to be faster. And I wanted to run the most fun race imaginable.

That craving, bubbling up from deep in my chest, was what drove me forward.

"I see. Then I’ll get back to training. Thank you for the towel and the sports drink."

"Mm. I’ll check back in an hour. If any problems come up, don’t hesitate to contact me."

"Honestly, how many times have you said that? I know."

With that, I parted ways with my trainer and headed back into the gym.

There wasn’t much time left now—until Bourbon-chan’s Asahi Hai, and my own Arima Kinen.

I needed to do everything I could and make it a race I wouldn’t regret—a race I could truly enjoy.

In the midst of all that, something suddenly came back to me.

The old memory my trainer had mentioned that day—about spending a whole day playing with an unfamiliar girl when he was a child.

That… bothered me a little.

In both my past life and this one, I’d never had an experience like that. In my previous life, I’d disliked people to begin with, so I never played with strangers. I didn’t really know—but maybe… or rather, probably… wasn’t that the sort of thing where you started developing romantic feelings?

Could it be that girl was my trainer’s first love!?

If so, wasn’t that extremely important information? Shouldn’t I ask about her traits and put that knowledge to use going forward!?

Thinking that, I casually asked my trainer about that memory.

"…Huh? Playing with a girl when I was a kid…? Did I say something like that? I don’t remember it at all. Aren’t you mistaken?"

For some reason, my trainer had completely lost that memory—along with any memory of ever talking about it in the first place.