In Tracen, He Excelled at Doing Time

I only heard the sound drawing closer. When I turned around, I saw a pink, unidentified creature charging toward us.

However, she did not crash into either of us. Instead, she ran between Zhou Yuang and Silence Suzuka.

At the moment she stopped, Zhou Yuang could still see dust billowing beneath her feet.

What powerful legs!

"Huh?"

Silence Suzuka was startled by Daiichi Ruby and quickly backed away with both hands covering her chest.

This pink-haired girl's sudden intrusion between them, both in behavior and voice, left Silence Suzuka utterly stunned.

Is this girl... an Uma Musume?

Standing before them was a petite girl.

Her long pink hair reached her waist, with a small braid tied on each side of her head.

A red bow hair clip sat squarely atop the center of her head.

Unlike the other Uma Musume, whose ears stood straight up, her fluffy ears remained flattened like those of a cat or dog.

"Phew... police response! Don't move!"

The Uma Musume planted her hands on her hips and turned toward Zhou Yuang.

Although her face was expressionless, Zhou Yuang had already begun vomiting internally.

She responded to the call as quickly as Air Groove. No wonder she's the DD leader who wanted to challenge me to an offline fight in the chat.

The Uma Musume before him was quite the heavyweight.

Agnes Digital.

She had twelve wins in thirty-two races, making her a seasoned veteran.

She might not have looked like much, but her total earnings had reached 730.92 million yen.

Now, for a rundown of her record.

In 2000, a racer known as the Overlord of the End of the Century fought against challengers who sought his throne.

Meanwhile, a frail little horse struggled through the dirt and turf tracks as a newcomer.

That horse was Agnes Digital.

After losing her Debut Race and then suffering a string of unfavorable results, many people thought the frail little horse would turn out to be nothing special.

But on the final stretch of the Turf Mile Cup G1 after that, her terrifying Last Spurt revealed the first glimpse of her legend.

After resting for seven months because of sesamoiditis and poor condition, she returned to racing and won the Japan TV Cup, a dirt G3 race.

She then planned to enter the dirt G1 Southern Mile Cup. However, the team discovered that she was eligible for the turf G1 held twenty days later—the Tenno Sho Autumn—and fell into deep thought.

After a difficult deliberation, the mature team chose to take everything.

She first won the Southern Mile Cup, then entered the Tenno Sho Autumn.

That Tenno Sho featured three heavyweight Uma Musume.

The Overlord of the End of the Century from 2000: T.M. Opera O.

The Unyielding Challenger: Meisho Doto.

And the Lake Akan who cared nothing for the race and only cared about biting other racers, later giving birth to the famous racer Gold Ship: Stay Gold.

Agnes Digital was an imported horse, and the Tenno Sho limited the number of foreign horses to two.

The other was the second-favorite Meisho Doto.

As for the popular gray-coated champion Kurofune, Agnes Digital took her slot instead.

Because of that, some people voiced their dissatisfaction.

Perhaps to oppose those comments, the team deliberately abandoned the inside lane from the start and had Agnes Digital run on the outside, closer to the spectators.

On the outside lane, Agnes Digital unleashed a terrifying Last Spurt and overtook all three heavyweights ranked first, second, and third in popularity.

That said, T.M. Opera O was no longer in peak condition at the time.

As an intelligent horse, T.M. Opera O, like Rudolf, would slow down whenever she was certain she had won.

Some people said that Agnes Digital knew T.M. Opera O would slow down once she thought she had won, so she deliberately ran on the outside to avoid being noticed and make T.M. Opera O lower her guard.

But there was nothing shameful about punishing someone for opening champagne halfway through the race.

Agnes Digital had indeed accomplished the feat of competing in three races within a little over a month and winning them all.

Two years later, when everyone thought Agnes Digital had left the stage for good, she won the G1 Yasuda Kinen in record-breaking fashion.

From dirt to turf, dry tracks to wet tracks, and domestic races to foreign ones, she had delivered dazzling performances everywhere.

She was regarded as an all-around horse, and JRA even praised her as a brave racer who never chose her venue.

The Turf-and-Dirt Specialist, capable of fighting on every kind of track, completely overturned the stereotype that most horses had narrow adaptability.

She was given the title of "pervert," and as an Uma Musume, she became the image of a lecherous DD leader.

According to the Uma Musume characterization, she excelled at various venues because that made it convenient for her to observe all kinds of Uma Musume.

She could be a little overwhelming, but her character and behavior were still quite adorable.

The DD leader stood before Zhou Yuang and extended a hand toward him.

"Don't move!"

She pointed at Zhou Yuang with a stern expression, her finger seemingly a gun.

"Uh, could you explain what you're doing?"

Looking at the petite pink-haired girl, who stood only about 143 centimeters tall, Zhou Yuang put on a bewildered expression.

"Do I really need to explain? Obviously, I'm responding to a call! For the sake of all those adorable Uma Musume, I have to respond!"

Agnes Digital clenched her hand into a fist, as if taking an oath.

She stared unblinkingly at Zhou Yuang, seemingly assuming that he was AT.

"What are you talking about? I don't understand."

To be fair, isn't there something wrong with the way you're putting this?

You like those adorable Uma Musume, and I like those adorable Uma Musume, so we should be comrades!

It's just that you only like watching them, while I intend to marry one and bring her home.

"I'm asking whether you're Mysterious Trainer A."

After saying that, Agnes Digital involuntarily began explaining.

"On the livestream, you said that you'd propose to Silence Suzuka if you met her, and that you'd never abandon her or anything like that. So without a doubt, anyone who comes near Silence Suzuka must be AT!"

At that moment, Zhou Yuang wanted to check his daily diamond collection screen.

If she subjectively believes I'm AT, does that count as her discovering my identity?

"Livestream? Proposal? AT? What are you talking about?"

Playing dumb was both an art and a means of survival.

Facing this DD leader, Zhou Yuang wore an utterly puzzled expression.

"And who's Silence Suzuka?"

"Um, I'm Silence Suzuka."

Silence Suzuka thought for a moment, then raised her hand. Judging from her words, this pink-haired Uma Musume was definitely one of the viewers.

She also looked like an Uma Musume who had come to expose AT and reveal his identity.

Having been called by name, she naturally stepped forward.

Agnes Digital noticed the movement beside her.

Her fluffy pink ears suddenly stood up. Then she turned around and looked at Silence Suzuka behind her.

"Cute... solo fan... Silence Suzuka... She's the real, living Silence Suzuka!"

Just like Special Week suddenly appearing in the story, Agnes Digital was incredibly excited to see Silence Suzuka.

She clenched both fists, then suddenly pressed her palms together and revealed an intoxicated expression.

"What? What?"

Seeing that Agnes Digital's reaction was even more extreme than Special Week's, the entire Carrot Sprite felt awful.

What is wrong with this girl?

And with her talking like this, hasn't she completely ruined my plan to test her?

"Of course I'm alive."

Silence Suzuka asked Agnes Digital, somewhat confused.

"Who are you? What are you talking about?"

"Who am I? Oh, I'm an Uma Musume Fan... Ahem, my name is Agnes Digital, and I'm an Uma Musume Fan."

Agnes Digital immediately blew her own cover. Now even Silence Suzuka knew who she was.

She was the Uma Musume Fan who frequently appeared in the chat and had even planned to confront AT.

"I came here for you, Silence Suzuka—and you too, Mysterious Trainer A!"

As expected, Silence Suzuka was incredibly cute, but now was not the time to get lost in her cuteness.

Agnes Digital turned toward Zhou Yuang, seemingly about to say something.

But Zhou Yuang remained unmoved.

"Um, my name is Zhou Yuang. I'm not some Mysterious Trainer... No, wait, what kind of name sounds like it was made with someone's feet?"

Waving his hand like a Kansai native making a retort, Zhou Yuang pretended to be baffled by Agnes Digital's statement.

"Huh? Wasn't that what you wanted?"

So you refuse to admit it? You're pretending you don't know anything?

The moment Agnes Digital heard Zhou Yuang's words, she decided he was arguing sophistically.

"Only AT would take the initiative to seek out Silence Suzuka. And you still claim you aren't him?"

"But if she's Silence Suzuka, then she was the one who approached me first. I didn't seek her out."

"...Huh?"

The Twenty-Fourth Chapter: A Change of Plans

"...Huh?"

Hearing Zhou Yuang's words, Agnes Digital turned to Silence Suzuka.

"Literacy-kaa-san, you were the one who sought him out?"

"That's right. I had some questions to ask..."

Silence Suzuka's teacherly response made it clear that she had only wanted to ask some questions. However, before she could finish, Agnes Digital placed both hands on her head.

"What? If Silence Suzuka approached him first, then he might not be AT. But if he isn't AT, then Silence Suzuka taking the initiative to seek him out... Calm down. Maybe she only wanted to ask a question... What did you want to ask?"

She reined in her wildly imaginative mind. The livestream had affected her quite a bit.

As a result, she was now somewhat neurotic.

Her gaze carried a pleading quality. Silence Suzuka did not know why she was looking at her that way, but she still answered honestly.

"I saw a trainer here. I was running just now, so I wanted to ask him about running."

"About running? Oh, right. I know a very outstanding trainer—though he does have some minor flaws in certain areas. Of course, I'm not saying he's bad. I'm only saying that there are some problems with his dream."

As Agnes Digital spoke, she secretly glanced at Zhou Yuang.

What? Were you betting that I'd immediately confront you face-to-face?