Uma Musume: Rising From the Countryside to Legend!!

Standing tall on the track, Inari One raised her hand high to declare victory.

Thunderous cheers echoed throughout Oi Racecourse as the crowd roared her name with passionate excitement.

Inari One slowly lowered her hand. Her chest rose and fell as she caught her breath.

She clenched and opened her hand a few times in front of her chest, and finally, clenched it tightly.

The shimmering gleam of True Self Mode still hadn't faded from her eyes. The overwhelming power that surged within her was still howling in her body.

No race in the past had ever felt as... simple as this one.

Yes—simple.

It was a strange sense of certainty.

Inari One knew clearly—right from the start—that she was going to win!

"All thanks to Trainer..."

A certain figure flashed in her mind—Kuroha.

Even though that guy often smacked her head with his notebook...

"Hehe..."

Inari One scratched her head and giggled.

"Guess I should stop grumbling behind Trainer's back from now on."

She wiped the mix of sweat and rain from her brow, waved at the rivals who had also become classmates, then trotted back into the athlete's tunnel.

Kuroha was already waiting at the entrance.

"Trainer~ I won!"

Waving and running toward him, Inari One bounced over excitedly and—quite naturally—lowered her head.

"You, seriously..."

Kuroha gave a helpless smile as Inari One nearly slammed her soaking-wet head into his chest.

He draped a towel over her head, gently drying her hair, then gave her soft cheeks a light squeeze.

"Alright, go take a shower and get changed. We've still gotta watch your victory live performance."

Wrapped in her towel, Inari One peeked out with a bright grin. "Don't worry, Trainer. I'm really good at dancing!"

"Well then, I'll be looking forward to it."

...

The Winner's Stage exploded with cheers.

Inari One's crisp voice rang out with the music, echoing through the entire venue.

Up on the stage, the petite and adorable girl danced with boundless energy to the beat, her youthful charm captivating everyone.

Down in the audience, Kuroha and Fujimasa March waved glowsticks in sync with Inari One, cheering her on.

The lively, heartwarming performance soon ended—but Kuroha's real joy came afterward, when he stepped out of the host office.

15 million yen!

Even after 20% went to Inari One's account, and taxes were deducted, there was still nearly ten million yen left!

"Once March's Haneda Cup wraps up at the end of the month, I probably won't have to stress over money again."

"Tracen Academy's about to go on break. For summer training camp, if I don't go with the school's plan and arrange it myself, I'll need a car."

"I also need to prepare equipment and athletic gear for the camp. If we've got the funds, the training location should be somewhere really nice, too."

"As for lodging..."

Kuroha paused for a moment, slipped his phone into his pocket, and walked toward the two approaching girls—Fujimasa March and Inari One.

Man... those horse girls only need to run. But the trainer behind them? We've got a lot to think about.

...

It had been a while since the Tennōshō (Spring) race.

After experiencing firsthand the effectiveness of Kuroha's training, Inari One had cut down on her slacking quite a bit.

With the support of her True Self Mode, she could complete training plans pretty effectively even without Kuroha watching over her directly.

Now, both horse girls in the team had become self-disciplined.

Which meant—Kuroha could finally breathe a little and focus on reviewing for the Central Trainer License Exam.

At the moment, two adorable little girls were in front of him, doing single-leg hop training.

"Teiō, don't try to jump farther or faster. This training is meant to strengthen lower body coordination and landing control. It's not about speed!"

Kuroha didn't even look up. Just from his peripheral vision, he could gauge how they were doing.

"McQueen, give Teiō a little smack on the butt for me."

"Eh? No, I don't want to... Kyaa!"

Slap!

A crisp sound rang out as Teiō, holding her backside, looked at her friend with a betrayed pout.

Mejiro McQueen just turned away and giggled before calmly continuing her assigned training.

Without having entered True Blooming yet, they couldn't handle anything too intense or complicated.

So just like Kuroha had said earlier, their training remained focused on cultivating fundamental physical abilities.

About an hour or so each day—just enough to cover the time between the end of school and sunset for both Teiō and McQueen.

Kuroha exhaled and closed his notebook full of scrawled formulas and notes.

If the exam this year didn't differ too much from previous years, he had the confidence to pass.

But Kuroha wasn't the type to rely on luck.

Anything unfamiliar? Review it over and over. Drill it until it's second nature.

Past exams, mock exams—he did them all.

Recent news about Uma Musume? Memorize it.

Relevant policies? Memorize those too.

Everything—jammed straight into his skull.

That was the confidence born from surviving the brutal gauntlet of Japan's standardized exam system in not one, but two lifetimes.

Now that today's study session was over, Kuroha turned his gaze back to the two little girls diligently following his training program.

Well, except for the hyperactive Teiō...

Without going through True Blooming and proper training, it was hard to notice the terrifying potential within this little girl.

Teiō was born with incredible flexibility.

That talent not only let her keep the Central Tracen Academy record for seated forward bend stretches—it also gave rise to her explosively powerful "Teiō Step" finishing bursts.

As long as she had the stamina to unleash it, almost no one could catch her in the final leg of a race!

But when one door opens, another closes.

Her flexibility gave her unmatched speed at the end—but also meant she had to endure far greater recoil forces than other Uma Musume.

As mentioned before, most injuries in horse girls come from their own bodies.

Each all-out race placed a massive burden on Teiō's legs.

Add in the fact that her Central Tracen trainer was... well, third-rate...

With no proper post-race recovery plans, it was only natural that Teiō kept suffering fractures, one after another.

Her miraculous comeback as "Tokai Teiō, the Miracle Revival" was pulled off entirely by her own natural talent.

But hey—don't ask why she needed a miracle in the first place.

Now that Kuroha recalled what Obey Your Master had said before... that all the grass tracks in this island nation were "high-speed racecourses."

Thinking back on it now—they really ought to rename them "high-speed horse-killing tracks."

(End of Chapter)

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