Stuck in Tracen, Good at Doing Time

Was this the special storyline the Three Goddesses had mentioned?

After that, Zhou Yuang found himself back at the game screen. Silence Suzuka was still standing there, but when he opened the training menu, she was no longer alone at the facility. Another Uma Musume had appeared behind her: Special Week.

Just like in the later Aoharu Cup scenario, she stood behind Silence Suzuka, warming up.

A glance at the row of training assistants showed that Special Week's portrait had been added, complete with a bond gauge.

"Speed Special Week again?"

Zhou Yuang knew that card all too well.

It had been an event reward card from the game's early days.

Back then, collecting all the event rewards had taken a tremendous amount of work. It was nothing like later events, where players could clear the rewards in a day.

Anyone who wanted a fully maxed-out copy of that card probably had to grind until their hair fell out.

"We've set it up so that, during each training run, an Uma Musume connected to the one you're training will appear as support. You bring five cards, borrow one, and we give you another."

Zhou Yuang turned toward the Three Goddesses behind him and saw Darley looking rather pleased with herself.

Her expression seemed to say, Well? Aren't you going to thank your goddess?

You're letting me train with seven cards?

We're so back!

"Looks like the goddesses have done an excellent job improving the game experience. The benevolent Three Goddesses really are something else."

Zhou Yuang knew when to flatter them. It would be even better if he didn't have to grind for event cards.

"See? Having a teammate to help with training makes things much easier."

Zhou Yuang showed the Uma Musume what an extra companion could do.

Another support meant a higher ceiling, though the Uma Musume probably cared more about what they could see.

No matter which training option he chose, alongside the support cards he had brought, an adorably earnest Uma Musume appeared in the background to train with Silence Suzuka.

The horses represented by the support cards should have been the ones helping her train, but they had all been replaced by Special Week.

Special Week was cute, though, and she listened well.

The earnest way she trained with Silence Suzuka, and the way she occasionally waved toward the trainer on the other side of the screen, got quite a few Uma Musume excited.

Especially a certain pink-haired one.

[Uma Musume Fan]: An Uma Musume who's strong, cute, and won't NTR Silence Suzuka? She's the best!

"Are you still hung up on that?"

Stop bringing up NTR when it has no business being here!

Zhou Yuang almost wanted to reach through the screen and wash a certain Uma Musume's brain out.

"A training partner?"

Silence Suzuka found herself wondering whether Special Week in the game was getting proper training too.

She watched intently as Special Week appeared around the edges of the screen.

The game focused on training Suzuka, but there was something about this eager junior that caught her attention.

She'd make a wonderful little sister.

Come to think of it, I might have an admirer like her in real life, too.

"Then I won't be lonely on my morning and evening runs anymore. But..."

Watching the two of them run together on-screen, one ahead of the other, Silence Suzuka grew serious.

"I'm definitely faster!"

Unfortunately, Zhou Yuang couldn't hear Silence Suzuka's declaration, which sounded like something an elementary school boy would say. He was still doing time in the Uma Musume game.

No Doxxing ### He kept clicking and training.

After a few more clicks, the year was nearly over.

Then another story scene began.

On the vast training field, the two Uma Musume were still practicing.

This time, though, they were running a mock race.

"Trainer, were you watching me properly just now?"

As soon as the mock race ended, Silence Suzuka rushed over to Zhou Yuang's side.

She rested a hand on her chest and waited for his assessment.

"I watched you closely. You're still running as a front-runner, Silence Suzuka."

"Yes! I won my previous race by taking the lead, so right now I feel absolutely great!"

Light seemed to shine in Silence Suzuka's eyes as she spoke animatedly to Zhou Yuang about her running style.

She looked like someone timid who had finally discovered her own strength and realized just how good she could be.

If the real Silence Suzuka is watching the stream, she'll probably head straight to the track after this training run and try running from the front herself.

Zhou Yuang thought it over, then looked at the Silence Suzuka before him.

He remembered that the stream had a replay feature. If the real Silence Suzuka came by, she would definitely see it.

"So if Suzuka keeps running from the front, will she win that beautifully every time?"

Standing nearby, Special Week gazed up at the idol who had dazzled her, her eyes full of admiration.

"Well..."

At those words, Silence Suzuka's confidence suddenly faltered.

She turned to Zhou Yuang, as if seeking the opinion of the trainer who had promised to do everything he could for her.

"Trainer, that's right... isn't it?"

"Suzuka, how far did you and Special Week run?"

Zhou Yuang folded his arms. Instead of answering immediately, he asked a question of his own.

The Three Goddesses had said this game was no different from reality. If that was true, Silence Suzuka's body wasn't some model that could do anything without consequence.

"Um... 2,200 meters. I went out with a huge lead."

As Silence Suzuka described the distance and how she had run with Special Week, she noticed Zhou Yuang looking down at her legs.

She couldn't help looking down at them herself.

She wore Tracen's classic red-and-white training uniform, with long red track pants covering her slender legs.

There was no way to tell anything by looking unless he lifted her pant legs.

Or simply checked them with his hands.

"Suzuka, do you feel tired right now?"

Zhou Yuang's question didn't seem strange to Silence Suzuka.

"No!"

She answered earnestly. She loved running so much that she never felt tired, no matter how long she ran.

Her mind might not feel tired, but what about her body?

"Really?"

As he asked, Zhou Yuang walked up to Silence Suzuka, crouched down, and prodded her ankle.

It was only a game, but the instant he touched her, he felt how soft her skin was, along with its remarkably real warmth and moisture.

Zhou Yuang could even smell a lingering scent.

He couldn't tell whether the Three Goddesses had done that deliberately.

The moment he prodded her, Silence Suzuka let out a sharp, breathy cry.

"Ah~"

Silence Suzuka naturally spoke in a soft, gentle voice. Caught completely off guard by Zhou Yuang's touch, she let out a delicate sound that was impossible to ignore.

It wasn't just Silence Suzuka watching the screen. Even the other Uma Musume froze when they heard it.

[Uma Musume Fan]: Uh, does that... count as sexual harassment?

[Skipping Genius Girl]: Isn't he just doing a normal examination?

[Tracen Cold-Joke Master]: If he only prods her once and doesn't touch her inappropriately, it counts as an examination. But from Suzuka's reaction, maybe her body's worn out?

Running was in an Uma Musume's nature. It was what they did.

And running depended on their legs and feet, so those were parts of the body every Uma Musume took very seriously.

[Motherly Demon]: So Silence Suzuka's legs are actually fragile?

"Are my legs fragile?"

Outside the screen, Silence Suzuka felt her legs. They felt perfectly fine under her hands, and no matter how she checked, she couldn't sense anything wrong with them.

"Fragile? It's not that her legs are naturally fragile. Her running style puts them at risk."

Seeing how worried the comments were, Zhou Yuang began to explain.

Silence Suzuka had been euthanized because of a fracture. The fracture had happened because the real horse's body couldn't withstand the strain of running with such an extreme lead.

Not many front-runners made a name for themselves, and the ones who did were tough as nails. The main reason was that the running style took a heavy toll on a horse's body.

Take Biwa Hayahide from the anime's second season, or Kitasan Black, the protagonist of its third. As front-runners, their bodies were exceptionally sturdy and able to withstand hard training.

The strategy Silence Suzuka's camp had devised, with its enormous early lead, was even more demanding on her body.

Without that extreme front-running style, Silence Suzuka would not have suffered a comminuted fracture.

But without that style, the weapon that suited her so well, Silence Suzuka would have faded into the pack.

The style had made her, and she had made the style. But her heartbreaking end only made the Japanese, with their fondness for geniuses who died young, cherish Silence Suzuka all the more.

"She has to pull away from the pack right from the start, and that explosive acceleration puts a lot of strain on her body. Closers and late chargers, by contrast, start more gradually. They can use the time coming out of the gate to warm up and gather strength. They even have time to watch their opponents and see how the race develops, which helps them adjust later."

The body had inertia.

Starting or stopping suddenly could cause problems if it had no time to adapt to the change.

That was why people warmed up before exercise and didn't stop abruptly after strenuous activity.

"Silence Suzuka, you could spend more time studying how to use front-running tactics. In your last race, you didn't just charge ahead without thinking."

Going flat out for an enormous lead without a plan was one of the worst ways to run.

Zhou Yuang remembered quite a few runners who had done exactly that.

For example, the popular Tokai Teio had faced two runners who went out with huge leads in the Autumn Tenno Sho.

Mejiro Palmer and Daitaku Helios.

Those two had run far out in front, forcing the pace faster and faster until Tokai Teio fell short.

But both front-runners had collapsed too. Neither had even finished in the top five; they had ended up near the back.

Then there was another popular character, Twin Turbo. In the anime's second season, she had shown Teio what it meant to never give up, inspiring her to keep racing.

Silence Suzuka was different, though.

Supposedly, her jockey, Yutaka Take—the biggest Silence Suzuka fan in real life—had once said as much.

Her style of running with a huge lead was unusual. She didn't just charge ahead blindly; it was almost like she was chasing from the front.

She surged to the lead early, then set the pace while conserving her strength before sprinting down the final straight.

Whether Yutaka Take, who practically worshipped Silence Suzuka, had simply been talking her up was another matter.

But if Silence Suzuka really did charge ahead without thinking, her chances of getting hurt would certainly be higher than anyone imagined.

People who kept careful track of their daily spending were bound to have an easier time than those who blew through every paycheck.