"My boy, you should understand. At this stage... there is no cure for this disease." "Continuing treatment will only increase your suffering. You're still young. Lying in a hospital bed is pointless. Why not try and do the things you've always wanted to do?"
The things I want to do? In the limited time I had, I wanted my life to have meaning. I wanted to become someone who could leave a lasting impression on the memories of others. That was my greatest wish.
And now, have I achieved it? Have I changed their fates and made my own life more meaningful?
"Trainer-san, I am the freest of all horse girls. Do you have the resolve to command me, the freest of winds?" "Thank you, Trainer-san... Whether at a local track or here in the central league, you are the only one I can rely on." "It's alright, Trainer-san... Think of me as your legs and eyes. I will witness it for you—the view from the front in the Tennō Shō (Autumn)."
As these familiar voices and figures surfaced in his mind, a faint smile appeared on his face.
Perhaps... I did it. They acknowledged my efforts, and just as I promised myself, I used my knowledge to help them reach greater heights.
So now... I want to do something for myself. To completely escape this predicament, I should probably cast aside some of my past timidity... and excessive consideration for others, right?
But just as that thought flashed through his mind, a female voice—starkly different from the gentle ones before—barged into his thoughts without warning.
"Kitano! Wake up, we're at our stop!"
Suddenly, the warm, harmonious scene was brutally interrupted by the image of a horse girl, shattering the beautiful dream like glass.
In a daze, Kitano Ryuichi finally jolted awake on the train. His body trembled slightly, and his eyes darted around in a panic before finally landing on the horse girl beside him, who was now staring at him with her characteristic "sanpaku eyes."
This horse girl wasn't particularly tall. She wore a beige knit cap, from which two long, chestnut-colored horse ears poked out. A lollipop was always in her mouth as she watched Kitano with a listless expression. But beneath that lazy gaze, a deeply hidden fighting spirit proved she was different.
"Festa... if you're going to wake me up, you don't have to shout like that. It's not worth it if you scare me to death."
"I shouted so loud because I was afraid you were dead. It's a good thing you reacted. I get scared whenever you fall asleep."
There was a hint of complaint in Kitano's tone, but mostly it was the helplessness of knowing she would never change. His face was pale, but it clearly wasn't from the shock; all of his exposed skin had the same unhealthy, sickly white pallor.
Not far from the seat of the horse girl he called "Festa," a wheelchair stood silently, a clear indicator of Kitano's grave physical condition.
This was him, Kitano Ryuichi. An unlucky soul who had died young from a congenital disease in his original world, only to be reborn into the world of Uma Musume unable to escape the torment of his illness.
And Nakayama Festa, who stood beside him, was undoubtedly Kitano's contracted horse girl.
Or, to be more precise, his contracted horse girl in this timeline.
In reality, this wasn't Kitano's first time in the world of Uma Musume. He hadn't told his horse girls this, but when he first arrived, it was in a much earlier era.
So why was he here in this era now? The reason was tied to his incurable disease.
"In my original world, I could only live to be 21. Even after crossing over, my lifespan was theoretically the same." "Fortunately, the Three Goddesses gave me a little help. They didn't just throw me into this world to fend for myself."
His illness had indeed carried over, but Kitano was given a chance to change his fate. While the Three Goddesses hadn't given him some heaven-defying cheat system, they did grant him a useful ability.
He could extend his own life by winning races.
Of course, this didn't mean Kitano himself would transform into a horse girl and run. As long as the horse girls he trained won their races, his lifespan would be extended. The higher the grade of the race and the more formidable the opponents, the more his life would increase.
Although it couldn't change the reality of his suffering, extending his life did alleviate his condition. The more remaining life he had, the less his illness tormented him.
Hearing this, you might think the ability is incredible, right? Theoretically, he could even achieve immortality.
Well, Kitano would be the first to tell you that while this power might be strong in the hands of a healthy person, you mustn't forget that his base lifespan was only 21 years.
Thinking of this, Kitano silently glanced at his arm. There, a clear line of numbers recorded his remaining time: 30 days, 16 hours, 23 minutes.
That's right. In one more month, Kitano would reach his 21st birthday and embrace death. He had yet to have a single horse girl win a single race, and his lifespan hadn't increased by a single second.
To be precise, Kitano hadn't even managed to become a trainer. He didn't have a central trainer's license, not even a local one. The "contracted horse girl" designation was determined by the signing of a formal contract, so it was impossible for him to extend his life through his ability.
However, Kitano would argue this had nothing to do with his effort or his professional knowledge. It was simply because you had to be 20 years old to even apply for a trainer's license. In the world of Uma Musume, there were no legends of genius high school students training horse girls; a trainer had to be an adult.
And more importantly, the central trainer's license had a physical fitness requirement.
"I didn't know about that at first. In my first playthrough, I spent twenty years just trying to get that license... I finally passed the written exam, only to be told there was a physical..."
The memory of that first, fruitless life, where he had achieved nothing, still made Kitano's teeth ache with shame for his own foolishness.
Thankfully, the Three Goddesses gave him more than one chance. Even if he died in one playthrough, he would be reborn in the next, albeit a bit further down the timeline. At least it gave him a chance for trial and error.
Kitano was grateful the Goddesses were willing to help him. Otherwise, he might have become the most disgraceful member of the transmigrator community. If he died and his predecessors asked what he did after being reborn, he'd have to awkwardly admit he did nothing and just died when his time was up.
At this point, a fellow transmigrator might wonder, "Wait a minute. You have infinite rebirths, an ability comparable to the protagonist of Re:Zero. Why do you still seem so miserable?"
If someone were to ask him that, Kitano would likely respond with the same "sanpaku eyes" as Nakayama Festa. Is the ability good? It's great, but it depends on the circumstances.
One major reason it wasn't so useful for Kitano was himself. Though he had died many times, unlike protagonists in novels who grow numb to it, Kitano always feared the pain of death. Because he wasn't killed; he always died of his illness.
The feeling of being killed is different from dying of sickness. The terror of feeling your life slip away, the struggle from your body's primal instinct to survive, the torment of wanting to die but being unable to... it made it impossible for Kitano to ever get used to the process.
But that wasn't the biggest reason he didn't want to die. The most important thing was—
"Why does everyone else get to respawn at a checkpoint, but I have to start over from being a baby?! I have to go through the first twenty years of my life and attend school all over again!"
Thinking of this, even the good-tempered Kitano couldn't help but show an indignant expression, expressing his extreme dissatisfaction with the rebirth ability the Goddesses had given him.
School was painful enough in his original world. But in Japan, even in the world of Uma Musume, the notoriously distorted "class society," the unavoidable "school bullying," and the immense pressure to get into higher education made Kitano want to end it all. But he couldn't. Even if he died, he'd have to experience it all over again.
Therefore, despite having this ability, Kitano absolutely did not want to die again. His mind and body couldn't take the social torment. His only way out was to be with the pure and wonderful horse girls.
Fortunately, his luck was better in this timeline. He had managed to connect with the horse girls he admired several years in advance and had earned their recognition. Now, he was their designated trainer.
Although, this particular family of horse girls was a bit more than he could handle...
The Gold Family. A family that was explosive even by the standards of the entire Japanese horse girl world. A family of freaks and oddballs, where every member had a wildly different personality, yet each was a heavyweight in their own right.
And to Kitano's dismay, Nakayama Festa was a member of the Gold Family.
The silver lining was that among the oddballs of the Gold Family, Nakayama Festa was one of the more normal ones. Kitano still had a chance. Perhaps in this playthrough, he could rely on her to take the first step towards survival... probably.
"But... thank you for believing in me, Festa."
"Hm? Why are you suddenly saying that?"
Faced with Kitano's abrupt thanks, Nakayama Festa seemed to understand his meaning. She simply pulled her knit cap down a bit and said nonchalantly, "Didn't I tell you? I'm not doing this out of pity. I just think someone like you... might be a more suitable trainer for me."
"You're an all-or-nothing person, just like me. With a trainer like you, I feel that even if I race in the future, you'll be able to maximize my potential."
"So... don't you dare die on me now. A trainer like you is hard to find. You better live a few more days."
Although, besides me, there probably aren't many other normal horse girls who would choose a trainer with one foot in the grave.
Nakayama Festa kept this last thought to herself. She was well aware of Kitano's condition. But it was precisely because of this that, after careful consideration, she had designated him as her trainer. There were many reasons, but she didn't want to elaborate.
She only knew that Kitano was a good fit for her. This wasn't just her opinion; it was an opinion endorsed by the "matriarch" of the Gold Family.
That guy probably doesn't know yet... The day 'Big Sis' 'picked him up' and brought him to the Gold Family, she recommended him to me.
At least, I don't hate the guy. Staring at Kitano's pale profile, Nakayama Festa's usually lazy eyes flickered with a hint of sadness, but more than that, there was relief. At least at Tracen Academy, there shouldn't be too many abnormal horse girls fighting me for the position of his trainer, right?
As she thought this, her expression relaxed slightly. Her gaze drifted involuntarily to her own legs. Unseen by anyone, Nakayama Festa, who always appeared lazy and indifferent, for the first time revealed a trace of anxiety and... a lack of confidence.
The "curse" of the Gold Family... could she really break it? Could she truly, like Big Sis, unleash her own potential?