At Tracen, I'm Good at Doing Time

Unfortunately, as long as Zhou Yuang didn't give away too many clues, nobody would come after him.

"Unmask me? Sorry, not happening!"

With that, Zhou Yuang prepared to deliver his Closing Line.

"Anyway, that's it for today's stream. I'm Mysterious Trainer A, but you can call me AT. See you in three days~"

A casual click ended the stream.

The screen went completely black.

The Three Goddesses' Approval?

As Zhou Yuang ended the stream, time around him began moving again.

The Livestream Panels before the Uma Musume now displayed options to minimize or close them.

Many Uma Musume kept watching the screen, reading comments or chatting, while others promptly closed it and went back to their lives.

Silence Suzuka stared at the screen before her, her feelings a tangled mess.

For the first time, she knew how she should run. For the first time, she had met a trainer she longed for.

Those two things should have made her endlessly happy, so why... did she feel this way?

The good news: she was the first Uma Musume.

The bad news: she wouldn't be the last.

"My head's such a mess I can't sort anything out... Maybe I should run a few laps?!"

Looking at the screen, Silence Suzuka had meant to type something, but when she saw that the streamer had ended the broadcast, she worried Zhou Yuang might have simply left.

Would he still see what she wrote?

Forget it. She couldn't figure it out.

Rather than dwell on it, Silence Suzuka figured she'd feel better after a run.

Okay, following the plan AT gave me, I'll run two thousand meters!

Silence Suzuka sprang to her feet and hurried toward the door.

But she stopped before she reached it.

Her teacher was approaching with textbooks in her arms.

"Silence Suzuka, where are you going? Class is about to start."

Was something urgent going on?

The teacher looked puzzled. Realizing class was about to begin, Silence Suzuka blushed.

"Sorry. It's nothing."

After a flustered bow, Silence Suzuka trotted back to her seat.

The other Uma Musume laughed at her absentminded dash for the door.

Their laughter made Silence Suzuka lower her head, her face burning red.

She really was a running fanatic.

As Tracen's Class Bell rang, all the students settled in for class.

But the Uma Musume who had watched the stream kept thinking back to how fascinating it had been.

That didn't mean they wouldn't pay attention in class.

They still remembered what Zhou Yuang had told them while coaching Silence Suzuka on the stream:

"Cause and effect are at work every moment in this world. Working hard won't necessarily get you what you want, but if you don't work hard, you definitely won't get the result you're after."

"If you want to win, you have to put in the effort. If you want to win races, train hard and pay attention in class."

"Even if you don't start winning races easily, you'll improve. And that'll make it easier to find a good trainer."

The relationship between Zhou Yuang and Silence Suzuka on the stream had made many Uma Musume envious.

They wanted something like it for themselves, or even something better.

His words stayed with them. With an example right before their eyes, these Uma Musume, already dreaming of their futures, felt stirred to action.

They wanted to work harder so an excellent trainer might notice them someday.

It was like coming across an inspiring quote and immediately deciding to turn your life around.

One by one, they fixed their eyes on the blackboard and the teacher.

Of course, most people only stuck to that sort of motivational advice for a few days before slipping back into their old habits.

How long these Uma Musume would keep it up was up to them.

One thing was certain, though: once class ended, they wouldn't sit quietly.

Tracen was bound to be buzzing with rumors that day.

And at the center of those rumors, Zhou Yuang stretched.

His stream for the day was over.

He had finished his stint behind bars for today, but some Uma Musume still didn't know the game was a prison.

Now the Uma Musume would be doing time too. Some of them would learn just how much their little-princess behavior drove trainers up the wall... Oh, right.

"When you give the Uma Musume the game, don't do it during class. Give it to them at lunch break or when school's about to let out."

He was worried about what would happen to their studies.

Zhou Yuang turned toward the Three Goddesses behind him. He had barely opened his mouth when a box the size of an oversized brick came flying at him.

Quick as a flash, Zhou Yuang caught it. It had nearly hit him in the face.

"Hey! I'm only human, you know. You could've broken my nose!"

Hefting the long rectangular box, Zhou Yuang looked at the Three Goddesses.

Darley blinked and answered his complaint with a cheeky grin.

"We calculated the force, and you're not that fragile."

"I might be healthy by human standards, but I'm no match for an Uma Musume."

As Zhou Yuang bantered with the Three Goddesses, he weighed the box in his hands.

It wasn't particularly heavy, and nothing rattled when he shook it.

Was he going to open it and find something sealed in a plastic blister pack?

"What is this?"

"Open it and see."

Baye gestured for him to open it, and Zhou Yuang did so without a second thought.

The moment he lifted the lid, the sight nearly blinded him.

Inside was a whole box of neatly arranged rings, their silver bands gleaming brilliantly.

There was no mistaking it. These rings looked expensive.

"Five times six... Thirty rings???"

Zhou Yuang counted them, and his scalp prickled.

Holy shit, you three just gave me thirty rings?

He looked up at the Three Goddesses. As the highest authorities in this world, their word carried more weight than that of any leader on the planet.

"Isn't marrying thirty Uma Musume your dream? If you can actually follow through, it's only natural for us, the Three Goddesses who wish for Uma Musume's happiness, to grant you our blessing, isn't it?"

Darley waved a hand, signaling him to accept the rings.

The Three Goddesses had decided: Zhou Yuang would be Tracen's Number One Ring King.

"Exactly. What, were you planning to buy them yourself? Then we could put the rings in the Support Card Gacha Pool..."

Godolphin narrowed her eyes and rested a hand against her cheek, saying something that made Zhou Yuang's scalp tingle.

She was not a woman to be trifled with.

"No, thank you. I'm grateful to the Three Goddesses for approving my dream."

All right, all right. What did it mean that the Three Goddesses had given me thirty rings?

They'd agreed to let me marry thirty Uma Musume. If even the goddesses approved, who'd dare complain now?

Of course, some of the girls he hoped to win over were possessive enough to object.

"Now that you have the rings, go propose to Silence Suzuka!"

Darley planted her hands on her hips, then swept one arm forward, urging Zhou Yuang to charge ahead.

The three of them couldn't wait to see the drama.

"I'll give a ring to the Uma Musume I'm currently contracted with first."

The Three Goddesses might have approved of the idea, but that didn't mean he could start waving rings around and going wild. That would be stupid.

They had approved, not ordered it. The Uma Musume still had to agree.

Besides, there was something else: a proposal deserved to be taken seriously.

After thinking it over, Zhou Yuang knew he couldn't propose to Silence Suzuka right away.

She didn't even know him yet, and Tracen's rumor mill was not to be underestimated.

To an Uma Musume, Tracen wasn't all that vast.

Tracen was big, certainly, but only big by school standards. For an Uma Musume, that was nothing.

After all, racehorse owners in the real world were wealthy.

In regional racing, all you needed was somewhere to keep a horse and enough money to buy one.

But central racing was different. First, you needed to have over a hundred million in your account and have paid over a million in taxes each year for three consecutive years before you could become an owner.

It wasn't as simple as getting certified, as Oguri Cap's first owner in the real world had said. Horse racing was a rich person's game.

Some wealthy owners—like that stubborn old fossil who withheld licensing rights and whom Uma Musume game players hated, the one with a name that sounded like "Silver Dummy"—worked in IT and paid tens of millions in taxes every year. Once he realized he qualified, he got into central racing too.

By that logic, most Uma Musume in central racing's equivalent in this world came from rich families.

Zhou Yuang wasn't exaggerating: throw a brick at a Student Council meeting in Tracen, and you'd hit someone whose family could send a whole platoon of gangster lookalikes after you.

But he was getting off track.

Tracen was an elite school, and the academy was huge. But with young ladies whose family estates were as big as Tracen Academy and Uma Musume who could run at over seventy kilometers an hour, news traveled fast.

And Uma Musume were girls. There would be no shortage of gossip.

The moment he proposed to Silence Suzuka, word might start spreading.

Then the Uma Musume who had watched the stream would rush over to see who was proposing to her.

If they caught him in person, he would probably lose his chance to have thirty Uma Musume wives.

He might as well propose to Oguri Cap first.

"So your next stream is three days from now? I was going to have you stream again tomorrow."

Darley saw that Zhou Yuang wasn't foolish enough to rush in, but she didn't mind.

After all, clever people could outsmart themselves. Plenty had fallen for the Empty Fort Strategy, and even smart people could slip up.

If Zhou Yuang intended to marry thirty Uma Musume, wouldn't things turn into a bloodbath once he had found three or four?

The show would start sooner or later. They had to make sure the fun would last.

And even if it never did, it would still be tremendously entertaining for the Three Goddesses.

After all, like a certain die-hard fan of every Uma Musume, their happiness came from seeing Uma Musume happy.

As for the Uma Musume ending up in a harem?

They didn't mind.