Chapter 83: The Pink Legend — The Uma Musume Who Dreams

"Hmm..."

As I run, I let my thoughts drift.

Uma Musume really are strange beings, aren’t they?

They look almost exactly like humans—aside from the horse ears and tails, their bodies are basically human. And yet, compared to humans, their stamina and muscle strength are on an entirely different level.

Even now, running beneath this cold sky, I don’t feel tired at all. Sure, what I’m doing is slower than a low-pace jog, and I am an athlete—someone who’s trained her body relentlessly up to this point—so not getting worn out is natural in that sense.

Even so, it still feels surreal. I’ve probably been running for over twenty minutes by now, and my breathing hasn’t fallen out of rhythm even once.

This sense of wrongness is probably because I’m a reincarnated Uma Musume.

Memories from my previous life feel so distant they might as well belong to someone else. Back then, I was just an ordinary high school girl, suffering miserably through the once-a-year marathon event. A typical otaku who never exercised—running three or four kilometers was absolute hell. Honestly, it’s embarrassing to admit, but I remember feeling like I was about to throw up once it was over.

Man, if I could go back to those days with my current physical abilities, I’d breeze to the finish line ahead of everyone else. Three kilometers? I could probably clear that in about three minutes. Well… letting an Uma Musume compete in human sports would be pretty unfair, though.

And besides, it wouldn’t be any fun if I were the only one going back. I’d want Ayumu to come with me too—or else, no deal.

…Oops. I’ve gone off on a tangent.

Getting back on track: because I know that heart-crushing pain of pushing yourself to the limit, I can truly appreciate just how abnormal an Uma Musume’s heart—no, her entire body—actually is. Leg strength is one thing, but to sustain this kind of performance, their respiratory systems must be exceptional too. Probably. I’m no expert on either human or Uma Musume anatomy, so I can’t say that with absolute confidence.

The other day, while chatting with my trainer, he mentioned that, from a theoretical standpoint, Uma Musume shouldn’t be capable of this level of physical performance at all. According to conventional evolutionary theory, a creature with this kind of strength should either be much larger or much heavier—or something along those lines.

Honestly, my memory’s fuzzy, so I can’t swear that’s accurate. On top of that, he said it was something he’d heard from his older brother—basically a “there are theories like this” sort of story. Secondhand and half-remembered makes the credibility questionable at best. You’d be right to treat it as little more than a tall tale.

Still, one thing’s certain: an Uma Musume’s physical ability is abnormal. We’re not supposed to have this much strength in bodies of this size. And yet, in reality, Uma Musume possess bodies nearly identical to humans while wielding far superior physical capabilities.

As for why we Uma Musume have such mysterious power… frankly, no one knows. Research into Uma Musume is active all over the world, but even so, there are countless black boxes. How we can have children with humans despite being a different species is a mystery. How those children are neatly divided into either Uma Musume or humans is another mystery. And the fact that there are only females—yet another mystery. Everything about us is riddled with unanswered questions.

Wow… even thinking about myself, Uma Musume really are bizarre lifeforms. Back in my previous life, I accepted it without question because they were anime characters—but viewed realistically, it’s incredibly strange.

If there’s one saving grace, it’s that the humans in this world tend to be kind. Even if we’re few in number, we’re beings with overwhelmingly superior physical abilities and an unknown power source. In my old world, that would’ve guaranteed discrimination, segregation, human experimentation, conflict, and war.

The fact that people here can think, “We don’t really understand this other species, but they’re similar to us, friendly, and we can coexist as neighbors,” just proves how gentle they are.

And before I realized it, I’d grown fond of this world.

Well, of course I did. A trainer who does his best for my sake. Masa-san, who keeps pushing forward without breaking or bending. Bourbon-chan, so straightforward and earnest. And all the fans who cheer with everything they have as we run.

Surrounded by so much warmth, how could I not come to love it?

…As I’m running along, lost in these idle thoughts—

"Willm-senpai… Souri-san—"

I hear Bourbon-chan’s voice, slightly out of breath. When I turn around, I notice that one of the two Uma Musume who were supposed to be keeping pace with me is missing.

"Huh? Where’s Pink-chan?"

"Behind us… sixty-three meters."

I look past Bourbon-chan, who’s breathing hard—and there she is. Pink-chan is down on all fours. She’s got guts, so this isn’t just ordinary fatigue. Looks like she’s finally hit her limit.

"Pink-chaaaan, are you okay?"

When I call out to her, she staggers to her feet—nope, never mind, she can’t stand properly. She’s wobbling and leaning against the inner rail.

"…She really doesn’t look okay."

I recognize that state all too well.

Before I ever met my trainer, back when I was running recklessly—thinking I had to get faster no matter what—I just kept moving my legs nonstop. But of course, there’s always a physical limit. Once you pass it, your body simply can’t keep up with your will anymore.

A few years ago, I ended up like that all the time… but seeing it from the outside now, it looks pretty painful.

…Pink-chan’s really been pushing herself too hard. As her senior, I should stop her before it’s too late.

"Bourbon-chan, let’s suspend training for now. We’ll take a short break. Sorry, but can you go explain things to the sub trainer over there?"

"Understood. Please take care of Souri-san."

Bourbon-chan gives a small bow. My adorable junior really is perceptive and quick to act in situations like this—it helps a lot.

We split up and move into action. Bourbon-chan heads toward Pink-chan’s team’s sub trainer, who’s been watching us with concern. I run over to Pink-chan, who’s still trying to stand.

"Pink-chan, you don’t need to get up. Just sit there."

"Sen… pai… I can… still go."

"You can’t. Look at your legs—they’re shaking. There’s no way you can keep going like that."

I lift Pink-chan up despite her unsteady state and start an emergency carry. She resists a little, but I’m a five-crown Uma Musume—there’s no way I’m losing in raw strength to a junior.

"S-Senpai…!"

"Nope. Absolutely not. Honestly, you’re pushing yourself way too hard. Didn’t my trainer tell you? If today feels rough, you rest. Once your breathing settles, you run again—that’s how you’re supposed to do it."

"But I need to… try harder…"

"Hmm…"

Normally, Pink-chan would nod right away.

Since the New Year—or maybe earlier, and I just didn’t notice—probably since mid-December, after she lost that official race… Pink-chan has seemed unusually troubled.

I can guess what’s on her mind. Still, it’s better to hear it directly from her.

"What’s wrong, Pink-chan? You’re not panicking a little, are you?"

I feel her hesitate slightly on my back.

And then—

"...You wouldn’t understand, senpai."

She says it in a faintly sulky tone.

Oh dear. Hearing something like that from Pink-chan, who’s usually so honest and adorable—could this be her rebellious phase?

…Yeah, right.

It’s true that if I were just an ordinary five-crown Uma Musume—an elite who’d never known setbacks, like Teio up through the Japan Derby in my previous-life anime—then maybe I wouldn’t have understood her feelings.

But I’m a reincarnated Uma Musume who stumbled plenty in my previous life, and even in this one, I come from a perfectly ordinary family. On top of that… I carry a past that’s not exactly light.

That’s precisely why—

I understand all too well the jealousy born from circumstances alone, from seeing things you never had and could never obtain.

"Is this about Bourbon-chan?"

"...!"

"Well, Bourbon-chan really is exceptional, even within her generation. Running together, it’s hard not to start thinking, ‘Compared to her, I’m just…’"

When I say that, the arms wrapped around my neck tense for just a moment—then go slack.

…Yeah. That might’ve been a bit too blunt.

It was my idea to ask Pink-chan to train with Bourbon-chan. I thought it would be good for Bourbon-chan to compete with someone her own age and running style, and for Pink-chan, it would be a chance to run against someone stronger. Even now, I don’t think that judgment itself was wrong.

But lately, I’ve been reminded of something.

Pink-chan is… normal. A genuinely well-adjusted kid.

The people around me tend to be a little abnormal mentally—myself included. Ayumu-san, who pours everything he has into being a trainer. Bourbon-chan, who looks like she’d keep running forever if it meant a Triple Crown. Masa-san too, who can push herself to absurd lengths through sheer seriousness and competitiveness alone.

When hardship stands in their way, they overcome it by force. Pain, anguish—everything gets crushed under raw willpower.

I’ve lived surrounded by people like that for so long… and I was that kind of person myself.

At some point, my sense of what’s “normal” dulled.

If I’d stopped and thought from Pink-chan’s perspective, I should’ve realized immediately. Anyone would feel crushed when faced again and again with a talent they simply don’t possess.

If it were me she was being compared to, that might still be fine. Hoshino Willm is probably an existence beyond reason from her point of view. They say admiration is the emotion farthest from understanding—and when someone becomes an object of admiration, the sheer distance makes it easier to give up.

But someone of the same generation, with the same running style—someone who utterly outclasses you.

Seeing that reality over and over during training…

Yeah. Anyone would feel deflated. Twisted up. It makes sense.

I speak again to the Uma Musume on my back.

"I’m sorry. I didn’t think things through enough. Thank you for pushing yourself this far, Pink-chan. Running has to be fun. If this training’s too painful, I’ll talk to everyone about it."

During my Classic season, running alongside Ayumu-san, I learned something important.

Uma Musume have to enjoy running. For us racing Uma Musume, that’s probably the single most important thing of all.

I’m the one who dragged Pink-chan into this environment. I’m the one who made running start to feel heavy and grim for her.

No matter how this ends, I need to take responsibility to the very end.

That was what I meant to say, anyway—but…

"...U-ugh."

"Hm? Pink-chan?"

"Nngh—! Enough already!!"

Pink-chan suddenly raises her voice like she’s throwing a tantrum and starts smacking my shoulder repeatedly. It’s cute—but also a little dangerous. Thank goodness I’ve trained my core.

"Don’t be so nice to me!! You’re making me sound like some huge crybaby!!"

"Uh… but you’re in middle school. You are a kid. And that’s fine, isn’t it?"

"That’s not what I meant! …Honestly, senpai, you’re really—"

"I’m really what?"

"N-Nothing!"

She puffs with anger at first, but after a while—once she’s burned it all off—she hugs me tightly.

"...Senpai, could you listen to me later?"

She whispers it softly.

For me, Pink-chan is an important junior.

Of course, it’s not as though I favor her to the same extent as Bourbon-chan. As much as I hate to admit it, prioritizing her over Bourbon-chan—who’s in the same camp as me—wouldn’t really be fair.

And she’s not on the same level as Rice-chan, who belongs to the same camp as Nature. This part is entirely my personal bias, but having seen Rice-chan’s hardships in my previous-life anime, I can’t help but want to cheer for her just a little bit more.

…But if you flip that around—

That means Pink-chan is the junior I favor most, right after those two.

It’s not like there’s some grand reason behind it.

Among the kind juniors who are close to me, I end up interacting with her a lot… and more than anything, she’s simply the Uma Musume I personally want to root for the most.

Racing Uma Musume are athletes, and the Twinkle Series is an extremely unforgiving world.

Even within a single generation, there are over four hundred competitors. Across Central as a whole, there are nearly two thousand. In a sport of that scale, there are seventeen losers for every single winner.

And as sad as it is, that inevitably means there are girls whose hearts break after too many losses—and girls who accept defeat so completely that losing becomes second nature.

To be blunt, quite a few of the juniors I used to spend time with ended up that way.

In the beginning, it wasn’t like that.

They all came to Tracen Academy chasing victory. Every junior I met back then burned with ambition, convinced she would make her mark in the Twinkle Series.

But around last autumn, that spirit was broken.

Central Tracen gathers Uma Musume with exceptional legs from all across the country. Many of the girls who come from the regions were undefeated back home, or had posted outstanding results. I was one of them too. In fact, you only get into Central Tracen because you’ve already achieved that level of success.

And so, the Uma Musume who enroll with confidence in their own ability are confronted head-on with the true brutality of this crucible—the sheer level of Central. That sudden gap snaps their hearts in two.

Every year, at the entrance ceremony, the Chairwoman warns them: “Prepare yourselves! This place is nothing like the battlegrounds you’ve raced on before! Face your training and races with resolve!”

But how much weight do those words really carry for middle school girls still riding the high of uninterrupted success?

In fact, there are girls right here who never imagined they could lose—only to have their spirits shattered in their very first mock race.

…And in that sense, I’m really not one to talk.

Thankfully, because I’m a reincarnated Uma Musume, I had plenty of innate talent. And I was lucky enough to meet the best trainer imaginable—Horino Ayumu.

That’s how I became a five-crown Uma Musume.

But if either of those things had been missing…

No. I don’t want to think about it. It probably would’ve ended badly.

And so—

Most of my juniors ended up sinking into that same quagmire.

Some had their hearts break and transferred to regional Tracen academies.

Some couldn’t accept defeat, running through tears just to win a maiden race.

Some finally grasped victory with both hands—only to be crushed again by the very next loss.

Honestly, even watching scenes like that is painful. Seeing someone who worked honestly and earnestly have her heart broken is unbearably heavy.

When they say, “Why can’t I be like you, senpai…?” it hits harder than you’d think.

…Sorry. That probably sounded like I was trying to scare you.

What I’ve described are just extreme cases.

Yes, many Uma Musume get caught in the quagmire of their own limits. But not all of them stop there. Plenty recognize that swamp for what it is—and still fight their way forward.

And standing at the forefront of that group was Pink-chan.

She often calls herself “just a normal, forgettable mob Uma Musume.”

…And truthfully, it’s hard to say she possesses extraordinary talent like Bourbon-chan or Rice-chan.

She did manage to win her Make Debut race, but in the pre-open race she ran in mid-December, she tried to move up from the middle of the pack and couldn’t finish the push, ending in eighth place.

She doesn’t have the overwhelming specs Bourbon-chan does—the kind that let her win even after a massive late start and being forced into a running style that doesn’t suit her.

In that sense, Pink-chan really might be “a normal, ordinary Uma Musume.”

There’s no guaranteed victory waiting for her. She pours everything into every race, and even then, her win rate doesn’t rise easily.

…And yet.

"I’m sorry, senpai. I was really rude earlier.

"I lost that last race, and seeing the gap between me and Bourbon-chan made me panic. I just kept thinking I had to run—had to get faster, no matter what…

"But your words snapped me out of it. Honestly, I felt so pathetic that it cleared my head instead. Thank you."

Sitting together in a café we’d gone to talk things out, Pink-chan says this and bows deeply.

Seeing that fills me with a gentle, warm feeling.

…She really is such a good kid.

Pink-chan is mentally very grounded—for better and worse. She gets discouraged by shocks, agonizes over hardships, and frowns when something hurts her.

Even though she trains hard herself, watching the gap between her and Bourbon-chan widen and widen must have cast a dark shadow over her heart.

But at the same time, she’s grounded in the best possible way.

No matter how much pain she feels, no matter how cornered she gets, she isn’t the kind of girl who can ignore someone else’s kindness.

She feels awkward when confronted with my concern, calms herself down, reflects on her own behavior—and then, without clinging to pride, bows her head and apologizes right away.

That’s the kind of junior she is.

"...I really thought I was stronger.

"I won my Make Debut on the first try… I even thought I might be able to compete in G1 races."

"But reality proved otherwise. The difference between me and a G1 Uma Musume like Bourbon-chan was obvious. I even lost the pre-open race… and that made me realize I really am just an ordinary Uma Musume.

"So I thought I had to get stronger. That I had to catch up to Bourbon-chan…"

"Yeah. You might not believe it, but I understand how you feel."

"...No, I do believe you. Senpai, you look genuinely pained when you say that.

I think I was rushing myself too much. I mean… I kept trying to forcibly match my stride to yours and Bourbon-chan’s.

Even though I knew it. I knew that I’m just a normal Uma Musume—that I can only run in a normal way."

As she says that, Pink-chan lets her shoulders slump.

…Normal, huh.

If she asked whether she’s really “normal,” I honestly don’t think that’s true.

The average Uma Musume affiliated with the Central Training Center can’t even qualify for graded races. And if you ask whether Pink-chan falls into that category—she clearly doesn’t.

She may not be on the same level as me or Bourbon-chan, but I think she has more than enough raw talent to compete in graded races.

So I don’t think she needs to be this discouraged…

But after being utterly crushed in the pre-open race, and then feeling the overwhelming, undeniable gap between herself and Bourbon-chan, she’s probably started doubting her own potential.

That kind of doubt isn’t something I can erase just by saying the right words.

The only way she can truly dispel it is by testing herself through racing—by proving it to herself.

So at the very least, what I can say is…

"...You know, I had a friend who used to say the exact same thing."

"A friend…?"

"Yeah. She said she had no talent, that she wasn’t an Uma Musume worthy of training alongside me… alongside Hoshino Willm.

She almost gave up because of it. And yet—she never truly quit. Even now, she keeps running, always aiming for victory.

...Her name is Nice Nature."

"Nature… Senpai’s?"

Pink-chan’s eyes widen in disbelief.

…Yeah. From the Nature she knows now, it’s hard to imagine, isn’t it?

Nice Nature.

An Uma Musume of my generation—a schemer often called one of the “three third-magnitude stars.”

Twelve starts, eight wins. She hasn’t claimed a G1 victory yet, but she’s won every one of the three graded races she’s entered. A bona fide top-class runner.

Her results might not always stand out at first glance, but she lost the Kikuka Sho to me by just a single length. And at that Arima Kinen, she even beat seniors like McQueen-senpai and Suzuka-san to secure third place. Her strength is something no one questions.

And to me personally, she’s my first—and greatest—rival. One I can never afford to let my guard down against.

That someone like her was once so hesitant, so ready to retreat… I doubt the younger girls know that.

"Nature was insecure too. She was the kind of girl who’d freeze up just from seeing me.

And yet, she pushed me to the brink at the Kikuka Sho.

Honestly, what part of that says ‘no talent’? If anything, it screams ‘outstanding talent.’

...Well, maybe it’s because she was so keenly aware of what she lacked that she learned to use everything beyond raw speed to win. That’s the kind of fighter Nature is.

But I think that’s exactly what her talent is—being able to wield so many different strengths."

In a way, that was one form of success.

Trapped in the mud, fully aware that there were things she could never make up for—

…And yet she never gave up. When her legs were stuck, she used her hands to grab the vines around her. She used her voice to cooperate with others. She used tools to pull herself free from the swamp.

That struggle gave birth to the racer Nice Nature is today.

By refusing to give up and continuing to fight in her own way, she found her own style of running—her own star to follow.

"Of course, Nature’s way of racing might not suit you, Pink-chan. At this point, that approach is practically a talent in and of itself.

But… if you keep running without giving up, I’m sure you’ll find it too. Your own way of running. Your own way of resisting."

When I say that, Pink-chan nods.

"I see… Yeah. I see now."

She lifts her face.

The shadow is gone from her expression. In its place, a strong light fills her eyes as she looks toward the future.

"Senpai, I’m declaring this right here.

My dream used to be winning a G2 race and qualifying for a G1.

But I’m changing it—right now!"

She clenches her fist tightly and proclaims her future with conviction.

"I’ll polish myself until the Kikuka Sho! I’ll enter the Kikuka Sho… and I’ll beat Bourbon-chan!!"

…That dream.

Just how much hardship would that path demand?

For Pink-chan—who’s considered a graded-race-level Uma Musume at best—simply qualifying for the Kikuka Sho would already be brutally difficult. Winning it would be even more so.

On top of that, this year’s Kikuka Sho is expected to feature a fierce clash between Bourbon-chan and Rice-chan. It’s hard to say whether there’ll even be room for her to intervene.

…and to top it all off, Bourbon-chan’s trainer is Ayumu-san. Someone with overwhelming training ability, likely unmatched anywhere in this Training Center.

So realistically, her new dream will probably never come true.

This year’s Kikuka Sho winner will almost certainly be either Bourbon-chan or Rice-chan.

…But.

At least cheering for her should be allowed, right?

I am her senpai, after all.

"Yeah. Do your best… Souriklos-chan. I’ll be watching you."

"Y-Yes!!"

With that, she gives me a bright, radiant smile—one that truly shines.