Chapter 170: "Guilty" ,"Confiscation"

It hardly needs to be said at this point.

A Uma Musume’s job isn’t just racing.

For Uma Musume—who possess both the qualities of athletes and idols—there is another kind of “main event.”

The Winning Live, centered around the girl who won the race, where they deliver their gratitude to the fans.

This, too, is one of the important duties of a racing Uma Musume.

In fact, as Wilm continued to grow as a racing Uma Musume… or rather, ever since last year’s Takarazuka Kinen, she started showing genuine enthusiasm for these Winning Lives.

As a trainer who primarily focuses on the racing side of things, it’s a little hard for me to fully grasp the feeling, but I suppose this isn’t some bonus activity—it’s part of the real job.

And, of course, this also goes without saying.

In a Winning Live, it’s not enough to simply dance.

Because of the strong idol aspect, a Uma Musume must sing while dancing—putting on the kind of performance you’d expect from an idol live show.

…And during that performance, the song is generally sung in the native language of the country where the race is held.

Which means that for the Winning Lives of the Prix Foy and the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe, both held in France—

you have to sing in French.

"Isn’t that impossible?"

Three months ago, right after I brought it up.

Wilm—whose usual overflowing confidence had vanished somewhere—drooped her brows and ears, wearing a pitiful expression as she said that.

"You know this already, but I’m barely scraping by in English as it is, right? My vocabulary and grammar are both completely hopeless.

And now you’re saying I should start studying French from scratch and train it up to performance level? That’s impossible of impossible, isn’t it?"

"I’m well aware. I never expected you to study in the first place."

"That’s so mean."

It isn’t mean. It’s a perfectly fair and accurate evaluation.

Both humans and Uma Musume have their strengths and weaknesses.

In Wilm’s case, running is something she’s good at on a number-one-in-the-world—no, number-one-in-the-universe—level.

On the other hand, her academic ability is pretty disastrous.

Without support from me, Masa, and Nature, she’d fail every time. Even when she tries her absolute hardest, she barely manages scores in the 60–70 range.

Meanwhile, if I really put in the effort, I can get perfect scores.

Maybe I’m reverse-gifted from the recoil of not being able to run.

As her trainer, there’s no way I wouldn’t understand weaknesses like that.

And of course, there’s no way I hadn’t already prepared a countermeasure.

"You don’t need to understand the grammar. I’ll provide pronunciation examples as many times as necessary, so just copy them exactly by ear. You’re good at that sort of thing."

"Ah, I see. If it’s just copying by ear, sure. But then I won’t be able to put emotion into it."

"I’ll teach you the meaning as well. Not in a way that turns it into studying—I’ll explain the feelings and intent behind the lyrics."

"And what about singing technique? Like vocal training?"

"I’m not a specialist, but I can teach you the basics."

"There’s no way you can do that!?"

"Why not?"

Wilm stared at me as if to say, Are you serious right now!?

Then she said something completely ridiculous.

"Because you’re super tone-deaf, aren’t you!? How could you possibly teach singing like that!"

"Huh? I’m not tone-deaf."

"Where does that confidence even come from!? Don’t you remember when we went to karaoke the other day? Your pitch was so off the scoring system practically showed you pity! Ugh… the memory’s coming back… an entire hour of passionate practice and your score only went up by two points…!"

"That’s just because I’m not used to karaoke songs. I’ve studied opera to a degree."

"You’re not going to sing opera at a Winning Live! …Right? Wait—you’re not, right?"

In the end, we asked a voice trainer in Japan—someone who always helps us—to give Wilm remote lessons.

We’d been introduced through Horino, and thankfully they were fluent in several languages.

They were also quite knowledgeable about singing in French, and as a result, Wilm’s singing reached a level that sounded perfectly solid even to me.

And from the beginning, dancing, facial expressions, and fan service were already Wilm’s strong suits.

…Actually, this girl can basically handle anything competently.

Everything except studying and pure luck-based situations tends to fall into her “strong suit” category.

With that, by the time the Prix Foy arrived, all aspects of the performance were fully polished.

And as a result—

during the Winning Live for the Prix Foy, Wilm delivered a performance that could only be described as magnificent.

Her movements were dignified and gallant, yet her supple body still conveyed the delicate grace of a young girl.

Her gaze could be sharp enough to pierce straight through you one moment, then soften in the next, wrapping the audience in warmth.

Just one month earlier, she hadn’t even been able to say je in French—and yet now she sang passionately, flawlessly.

She truly looked like the center of the world.

Or perhaps its pinnacle.

For a moment, she even seemed like the ultimate Uma Musume who possessed everything.

Even I—someone raised in a prestigious family and confident in my eye for beauty—could find nothing to criticize.

A performance scoring 150 out of 100 points.

As a trainer, it was a perfect live.

…However.

"Ayumu! Uh—well—yes, the live is over!"

"I see. Good work. Change back into your casual clothes in the dressing room, then we’ll return to base."

Normally, this would be the moment to praise and comfort my trainee.

But instead, I deliberately sent Wilm a somewhat cold look, turned around, and began walking away.

"U-Um, Ayumu…?"

"There will be no training or strategy meetings today. Rest and prepare for tomorrow."

"Ah… you’re still… mad, aren’t you?"

"Oh, I nearly forgot to mention. From now on, self-training is completely prohibited for the next quarter."

"You don’t have to get that angry about it!!"

Suddenly, something wrapped around my stomach—no, more like clung to it.

Uma Musume are incredibly strong. She obviously wasn’t squeezing with full force, but her grip was firm enough that I couldn’t move from the spot.

"At least! At least make it three days—no, that’s not the point! At least give me a ‘Welcome back!’!"

"I don’t give ‘welcome backs’ to girls who throw away the safety-first rule we agreed on. Also, no reward privileges."

"That’s so cruel! At least listen to my excuse!"

…In today’s Prix Foy, Wilm accomplished something extraordinary.

She deployed two Domains simultaneously.

To be honest—

I was speechless when I saw it.

At that moment, she had stepped far beyond common sense.

The intensity of her spirit reached all the way into the stands.

A feverish heat that bordered on madness—an almost murderous fighting instinct.

In the Dream Trophy League it might be one thing, but in the Twinkle Series I had never seen anything like it.

A finishing kick faster than any closer-type Uma Musume.

Anyone who witnessed that race in person—anyone at all—would have been convinced that this girl is the strongest in the world.

…but honestly, that part doesn’t really matter.

No—okay, saying it doesn’t matter at all would be going too far.

I’m a trainer, after all. I do have thoughts about simultaneous Domain deployment.

Though most of them boil down to this: yeah, this girl really is broken.

I already knew my girl was the strongest.

To be honest, using two Domains at once came earlier than expected—only two months—but I had always assumed she’d eventually achieve it.

If someone said, "She’s the strongest in the world!!"

My reaction would basically be: Huh??? Yeah??? Obviously??? Why are you only realizing that now???

So overall, my feeling was simply this—

my girl really is the strongest.

Impressive, yes.

But not surprising.

What surprised me—

what matters now—

is something else.

The safety-first policy we promised after the Osaka Hai.

She promised to thoroughly share information with me and follow the training plan.

No reckless or sudden actions.

And today—

she broke that promise.

"I’m telling you, it’s not like that! Well—okay, maybe it is—but I really thought it’d be fine this time!!"

Still tightly locking my lower body in place, Wilm rubbed her face insistently against my waist as she pleaded.

She was so ridiculously cute that for a moment I nearly caved and switched into infinite-spoiling mode.

But don’t underestimate me.

I used to be Horino’s trainer.

If there’s one thing I’m confident in, it’s my self-control.

…Well, this girl doesn’t really have much self-control to begin with.

"When we get back, I have paperwork and a meeting with Bourbon. Go to sleep first."

"Huh!? What about sleeping together!?"

"Use your common sense. There’s no way a trainer sleeps with his trainee Uma Musume."

"Noooooooo!! That’s not what I meant! That’s not it at all! I know it must look like a terrible betrayal from your perspective, but I really thought it would be fine this time! I told you beforehand I could handle the mental load, and deploying the Domain felt completely natural—I just knew I could do it! I had absolute confidence deep in my soul!"

"No miso soup starting tomorrow."

"Honestly that’s not even that bad. All the other food you cook is delicious too. The lunchbox today was great."

"Maybe we should start living separately, Wilm."

"GYAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!?!?"

Ah. The arms wrapped around my stomach tightened.

Apparently that suggestion hit harder than I expected.

Coincidentally, it was hitting me pretty hard too. If she squeezed just a little harder, my ribs might’ve snapped.

But that’s not the point.

We were still in the underground horse path of Longchamp Racecourse.

There were no civilians around, but plenty of race staff.

Was it really appropriate for the world’s strongest Uma Musume to be bawling with tears and snot everywhere like this?

Look—even Witch Evening just walked past us with a very strange expression.

…Though I guess I can’t talk.

After all, I’m the one who made her like this.

"Sigh… anyway, let’s talk once we get back."

"Don’t abandon meeeeee!! I’ll fix whatever I did wrong, I promise!!"

"And yet here we are—because you didn’t."

I let out a sigh and waited until she finally stopped crying. Then I carried the wilted Wilm in a princess carry and loaded her into the car.

…Now then.

Was that enough to properly teach her a lesson?

Reward and punishment are the way of the world.

If someone does something admirable, you praise them to your heart’s content. And if they do something wrong, you scold them properly so they can reflect on it.

Especially since I’m acting as this girl’s guardian.

And not just someone casually calling himself that—I was formally entrusted with the role.

Even if it was indirect… even if I couldn’t hear those words myself and they were relayed to me through Masa.

Before we left Japan, they entrusted her to me.

"Please take care of our daughter."

Those were the words—from her parents.

I’ll take responsibility.

As a child, as a Uma Musume… and if I’m allowed, even as a woman.

In every sense of the word.

That’s exactly why I have to loosen things when they can be loosened, and tighten things where they must be tightened.

"At least! At least the ‘aaah’ feeding thing! Please! I’ll compromise on the sleeping together part!! Come on, please, Ayumu!!"

…But whenever I see Wilm like this, I start to worry a little about whether my educational policy is actually correct.

Maybe I should add another lecture when we get home after all.

---

Several hours after returning home.

After a serious "discussion," in which I mobilized every conversational and persuasion technique I had learned under Horino—

"I’M SORRY… I WON’T DO IT AGAIN… I WILL BE A GOOD GIRL WHO FOLLOWS COMMON SENSE…"

In the living room of our local base of operations, there sat Wilm—completely drained… or rather, someone who had thoroughly accepted my persuasion.

"From next time onward, you will not unleash more power in an actual race than what we planned without reporting it to me first."

"I WON’T."

"If you feel like you might be able to do something new, or if there’s something you want to try, report it first."

"I WILL REPORT."

"Don’t judge whether something is safe on your own. Listen to other people’s opinions before deciding."

"I WILL DECIDE."

"And while we’re at it, stop clinging to me in public."

"I WILL CLING."

"Impossible… my persuasion didn’t work…!?"

Horino’s interrogation and persuasion techniques have a long history, refined over time. Against anyone with ordinary mental fortitude, they should have been enough to persuade them easily. Definitely persuade them.

But for some reason, they just don’t work very well on Wilm.

Maybe it was a mistake to give her a break every thirty minutes because I started feeling bad for her. Or maybe it was the snacks I brought as refreshments? Or the fact that when she looked like she was suffering, I stopped midway and patted her head to comfort her?

…Thinking about it calmly now, am I being a little too soft on Wilm?

"Still… I really am sorry. I got carried away in the heat of the race, and I trusted that vague feeling that it would probably be fine… but now that I’ve calmed down, I realize it was reckless."

"It’s difficult to deny the mysterious instincts Uma Musume sometimes feel. Being compelled to follow that instinct isn’t unusual for a Uma Musume.

But you’re someone whose instincts are quite weak in that regard—extremely weak, in fact. If you truly wanted to ignore it, you should have been able to."

"Gah."

"So it was just that, huh. You simply lost to your own desire…"

…Well, yeah.

On the other hand, that means if things ever truly enter a dangerous zone, she’ll stop herself—probably.

That’s far, far better than being completely controlled by instinct with no room to resist.

Still… why does it leave me with such a faint sense of disappointment?

---

Anyway, Wilm seems to be genuinely reflecting on what she did, so it’s probably time to wrap up the lecture.

As her contracted trainer as a racing Uma Musume, I returned to my main duty.

In other words—supporting her, analyzing what happened, and proposing plans going forward.

"Alright… let’s begin again.

About the simultaneous use of Domains… we’ll postpone proper data collection until later, but for now let’s start with a hearing and some analysis.

Wilm, how’s your condition? Any fatigue or sleepiness? I’d prefer to do this sooner if possible, but depending on your state, we could switch it with the victory party scheduled for later."

"I’m not that tired at all, so I’m totally fine! Honestly, please let me do this much. I feel guilty about what happened."

…Not that tired, huh.

On the very day she ran a race like that.

Well, it was 2400 meters on turf—even if it’s European turf, that’s not enough to completely exhaust Wilm.

But considering the spurt she showed near the end… it still feels a little abnormal.

For Uma Musume, the faster their speed increases, the more their stamina consumption rises exponentially. That top speed she displayed should have devoured her stamina.

It’s not that she’s forgetting the fatigue because of race-induced brain chemicals either.

Enough time has already passed for those to wear off.

If that’s the case… could it be the effect of the Domains?

From what I’ve heard from Wilm and Bourbon before, the world inside a Domain seems to be the place where a Uma Musume can run most comfortably and freely… or perhaps a world adjusted to allow that.

And because there were two of them at once…

maybe she had been released from the normal laws of reason.

Domains were mysterious from the start.

While inside them, a Uma Musume can perform far beyond what should be possible.

This isn’t something like skills or techniques.

Those are things anyone can replicate if they recreate the conditions.

In extreme terms, even Wilm’s Three-Step Leap could theoretically be copied by someone with excellent physical ability and a similar running style.

But Domains are different.

No one can reproduce them.

Being "similar" isn’t enough. It has to be completely identical—in other words, something only that specific Uma Musume can use.

How they are opened.

How they are reproduced.

How they function, and how they operate.

Everything about Domains remains unknown… and they blatantly ignore the laws of physics.

To put it bluntly, the acceleration and recovery they produce are phenomena that shouldn’t even be possible.

If two such Domains overlapped, then perhaps instead of their transcendence simply adding together, it multiplied.

And that might be what produced that otherworldly—

no, at that point it might as well be called mythological acceleration.

…But putting those speculations aside.

Right now, I need to begin by hearing her own impressions first.

I pulled the keyboard closer and rested my right hand on it. As I began setting up a rough note format, I glanced over at Wilm.

"Alright. Then let’s hear it.

First, describe in words what it felt like when you realized you could open two Domains."

"Wow… no matter how many times I see it, I still can’t believe you’re typing that fast with just one hand…

Hmm, let’s see… the moment I clearly thought, ‘Yeah, I can do this,’ was actually when Witch Evening-chan was chasing me down. Around the middle of the false straight?"

"Hmm."

Well, that makes sense.

Even with a normal Domain, runners usually only become certain they can open it during the race itself. If that’s the case, figuring out how to overlap them might also be something that can only be grasped in the middle of a race.

"As for the feeling… how should I put it… my… worldview? My emotions? Something like that just clicked together.

Like a fish bone that had been stuck in my throat for ages finally came out, and suddenly everything made sense all at once."

"Yeah… I think I get that feeling."

The so-called “Eureka” moment.

Something you’ve been thinking about for ages without understanding suddenly snaps into place because of some small trigger, and suddenly the gears start turning smoothly.

That sensation when everything connects and you feel like shouting, “I get it! I get it!”—the kind of omnipotent rush that makes your brain feel like it might explode.

I’ve experienced that before while studying or doing research.

…Actually, being someone without exceptional talent, those moments where all the context connects instantly are pretty rare for me. Because of that, I might have experienced that kind of moment more often than the average person.

As my right hand tapped away at the keyboard and I nodded, Wilm spoke with a strangely delicate expression.

"Ah, well… this is kind of hard to explain… but I have two worlds inside me."

"Hmm? What do you mean?"

"Before and after. I had a bit of a… strange experience, you could say, so my worldview is split cleanly into two."

By “strange experience,” she might be referring to her brutal childhood…

…That would normally be the assumption.

But that’s probably not it.

The future stretches forward from the present, and the present flows from the past.

Past, present, and future form a continuous line.

So no matter how shocking an experience someone goes through, the fact that the self continues from moment to moment doesn’t simply disappear.

If there were one thing that could truly split someone’s worldview in two…

…it would probably be reincarnation.

Because I myself am a reincarnated person, I understand that.

When someone is reborn, they change dramatically.

Of course, there are things that carry over from a previous life…

…but the me now and the me from my previous life are still different people.

A completely different world. A completely different environment.

Those things turn us—once we’re reset to infancy—into entirely different individuals, for better or worse.

Maybe Wilm was the same.

I don’t know what kind of life she lived in her previous life, but perhaps the painful experiences and the happy moments she’s had in this life have built a new worldview for her.

…But if that’s the case, then maybe—

The first Domain might belong to the version of her connected to her previous life… and the second Domain might belong purely to the Wilm of this life.

Well, that’s just a thought that occurred to me. It might be completely wrong.

Anyway. Back to her explanation.

"So since I’ve got two worlds, I wondered if maybe I could line them up… overlap them? Combine them? Something like that. I’d actually been thinking about it for a while.

But I couldn’t figure out how to do it intuitively… and then suddenly it clicked right before the final straight.

When I saw Witch Evening-chan flying toward me from behind at insane speed, the moment I thought, ‘I’ll crush her!!’—that’s when it hit me."

Scary.

Instead of thinking “I won’t lose!” or “I’ll win!” when a rival is chasing her, she’s thinking “I’ll crush her!!”

That’s practically the mindset of some tragic combat machine…

Well, that side of her is part of her charm too.

It’s the classic gap appeal. …Though come to think of it, people hardly say “moe” anymore these days. Maybe it’s already a dead term.

"So like… I sort out the worlds inside me, clearly decide, ‘From here on, this side!’ and then I basically command each world like, ‘Alright, open the Domain!’

Then they both open up nicely… or something like that. Hmm, I’m not sure how to describe it.

It’s like… running through the small overlapping area between two Domains that opened right next to each other. Something like that. That’s how I can deploy both at once. Well… that’s how I did it."

"I see…"

Most of her explanation is very intuitive, so it’s difficult to build a theory based on this alone.

But I think I more or less understand the image she’s trying to convey.

Still, it’s a bit like Columbus’s egg—an outsider’s perspective.

Once someone says it, it sounds like something that might be possible. But the reason she can divide her world so decisively is probably because she has experienced a “break in the world”… in other words, death itself.

That’s why Wilm can do it.

And that’s why other Uma Musume—likely the vast majority who aren’t reincarnated—can’t.

…Wait. Hold on.

Uma Musume are originally horses reborn as girls… wouldn’t that make them pseudo-reincarnated beings to begin with?

If that’s the case, then maybe the reason they can’t deploy two Domains simultaneously is because they only possess a “horse soul.”

Conversely, Wilm possesses both a “horse soul” and a “human soul” as a reincarnated person, which allows her to do it…?

Then again, there’s also the matter of the brain’s capacity required to deploy a Domain in the first place.

Perhaps the accurate answer is that someone must meet certain soul-related conditions, and on top of that possess the kind of cheat-level cognitive processing power Wilm has.

If that’s true, the requirements are absurdly strict.

Almost impossible.

…No, this isn’t good.

There’s far too little evidence. A hypothesis based purely on imagination like this isn’t worth keeping.

What matters right now is the effect of using both Domains simultaneously.

"As for the effects… from what I saw from the outside, you displayed an impossible, almost mythological level of acceleration."

"Mythological acceleration…! I like the sound of that! It’s cool!"

"Right?"

Boys love cool things.

Some girls love cool things too.

…Anyway.

"How did it feel from your perspective?"

"Let’s see. It felt super easy to run, and I was running really fast and it felt amazing.

Basically… it was like the comfort of being inside a Domain hit me twice."

"Did the effect weaken compared to opening them individually?"

"I don’t think so. If anything, it actually felt faster than simply using two separately."

Then perhaps she really was receiving the pure benefits of both Domains.

Simply because she had “grasped” it, the blessing of a Domain—which had once been beyond reach—had doubled… no, perhaps even more.

…Hmm.

Is it overthinking to feel like something must be hiding behind a phenomenon like this?

"I’m worried about potential drawbacks. Any discomfort in your legs? Anything that feels different when running—or even now? Unusual thirst, hunger, anything like that?"

"I’ve been paying attention, but… I don’t think there’s anything unusual."

"I see…"

…For now, we’ll have to keep her physical condition under observation.

No self-training for the rest of today—complete rest. Tomorrow we’ll do some light movement to check for issues.

Palpation, a medical examination… actually, to be safe, we should probably run a CT scan as well to check for any abnormalities.

Still, if deploying two Domains really has no drawbacks…

Then Wilm’s late-race strategy has effectively doubled.

One option uses her “enhanced thinking ability”—what appears to be a reincarnation cheat.

With the “Heavenly Star Spurt,” which optimizes her running form, she can sprint in the final stretch while greatly reducing stamina consumption.

Up until now, that technique has supported her time and time again.

Considering its versatility and adaptability, I’m sure we’ll continue using it in the future.

The other option uses her increased cognitive ability to deploy two Domains simultaneously.

It probably won’t suppress stamina consumption as much as the first method, but the second Domain—referred to in the App Reincarnation notation as “Blue Flame Kurikara”—apparently has a stamina recovery effect, so it should still help.

More importantly, it creates a mythological spurt that almost certainly no one besides Wilm could ever reproduce.

A terrifying card capable of tearing away from any opponent, regardless of raw physical specs.

…Let’s ignore the question of how many Uma Musume actually surpass Wilm in physical specs at this point.

Gaining one more trump card is no small advantage.

No—not “no small.” It’s a massive advantage that no other Uma Musume could possibly possess.

"...Well. Your recklessness was a problem, but it’s also true that it gave us a powerful new option."

"Grounds for amnesty! Definitely grounds for amnesty! My contribution cancels out my crime!"

Wilm continued pestering me, thumping lightly against my waist, and I couldn’t help but smile wryly.

Well, at least this much is probably fine to say.

"Alright… very well. Welcome back, Wilm."

"Hehehe… I’m home, Ayumu!"

Honestly. Just hearing such a simple greeting is enough to make her beam with joy.

For the strongest Uma Musume in history, that’s remarkably cost-effective happiness.

"That said, sleeping together is banned for a while."

"Whaaaaat!? Whyyyyyyyyyy!!!"