"Is that the Emperor's trainer? He really doesn't look talented at all. Such an excellent horsegirl paired with such a mediocre trainer."
"What? The End-of-Century Overlord? You mean T.M Opera O? She truly is exceptional… it's just a pity that her trainer is a total nobody. I thought someone capable of raising such a powerful horsegirl would be impressive, but he turned out to be a talentless hack who just got lucky."
"Oni-sama… I'm sorry, Rice shower is such a useless child… but Rice shower will definitely prove that Oni-sama is not a failure, at the next Takarazuka Kinen."
Sorry?
No, the one who should really be apologizing… is me.
I'm truly sorry. I wasted your talents.
I couldn't add even one extra brick to the brilliance of the stories you were meant to write.
In the end, I could only become your burden.
But maybe that's just the kind of person I am—
someone with no talent,
just like everyone says…
a failure.
It's time to accept reality.
I don't deserve to be the trainer of such outstanding umamusume
You all deserve better lives.
Our meeting—
from the very beginning, it must have been a mistake.
…
"…Ngh."
On the train, Kitano Ryuuichi woke up from his daze.
He realized he'd just had a dream—
a dream about his past.
But now, he had no reason to cling to those old regrets anymore.
"Fell asleep, huh…? It's rare for me to dream about the past.
But remembering that stuff now… really isn't great for me."
"Come on, get it together, Kitano Ryuuichi.
Face reality.
Prepare yourself to live an ordinary life properly this time."
Kitano Ryuuichi—
just an average, ordinary person.
Yes, everything about him was ordinary.
Aside from his face—a pretty decent one, which was his only advantage in social situations—
everything else in his life was painfully plain.
Since grade school, his scores were always in the bottom ten of the class.
He never once ranked in the upper half of the entire school.
Bad at studying, quiet and reserved, gentle inside but rarely understood.
Instead, he was always bullied.
Only after transferring to a new city in high school did he finally escape his tragic first sixteen years.
But even then, nothing much changed.
No more social disasters, sure—
but still no girlfriend, zero experience with the opposite sex,
no academic achievements,
and eventually, he naturally became an ordinary office worker after college.
But at that point… a twist came.
He transmigrated—
into the world of Uma Musume.
He had to admit, he was grateful it was Uma Musume.
If he had ended up in Dark Souls, Monster Hunter, Goblin Slayer, or any world hostile to transmigrators,
his several lives wouldn't have been enough.
And when he thought his mediocre life would finally turn around—
that he might shine like the other transmigrator legends—
he discovered that the "golden finger" he received…
well, you couldn't call it divine intervention.
It was more like… optional.
Oh, it did have some use.
For example, he could restart.
Yes—literally restart.
Whenever Kitano fell into utter despair, to the point of wanting to end his life,
he would restart, and the world would reset to the beginning.
Everything he had done would vanish as if it never happened.
It gave him countless chances to try again.
At first, he was very satisfied with this ability.
And he knew exactly what he wanted to do in this new world—
enter the legendary Tracen Academy
and become the trainer he'd always dreamed of being.
—And then, in his first run, he reached age 40 and still hadn't passed the exam for a Central Trainer license.
Yes.
Even transmigrating couldn't change the fact that Kitano was an unremarkable failure.
Those who became Central Trainers were one-in-ten-thousand talents.
How could a talentless guy like him pass instantly?
And so, in his first run, Kitano spent nearly half his life just trying to get certified.
He watched senior students enter before him, junior students enter after him,
while he repeated the same year over and over again…
Until eventually, through a special Central rule,
he finally became the most ordinary of the ordinary trainers at Tracen Academy.
But that was all in his first life.
Now, Kitano had no idea how many restarts he had gone through.
After so many resets, both his mind and heart had been tempered like steel.
And of course, after so many runs, he had improved—
a little.
—For example, now he could enter Central Tracen Academy at age 21,
a speedrun-level achievement.
But this had nothing to do with talent.
Anyone who took the same exam thousands of times—
even if the questions changed, the question bank didn't.
Just by brute-force memorization, even Kitano could pass.
But this time, Kitano was nothing like his passionate first-run self.
After experiencing countless restarts and raising countless horsegirls,
he learned one truth:
—Enough is enough.
These horsegirls are all good girls.
A mediocre guy like him shouldn't ruin their lives.
They would succeed with or without him.
So he shouldn't drag them down.
Thus, he returned to Tracen Academy again.
He didn't give up being a trainer,
but he had abandoned the dreams, the arrogance, the idea that he was some "chosen one."
Once you accept your weakness… you become invincible.
Kitano Ryuuichi believed this fully.
Yes—
even after transmigrating, he reluctantly accepted that he was a failure.
After so many restarts, after experiencing so many unforgettable horsegirls' lives and regrets,
he felt proud just for not giving up yet.
But this time, Kitano had no intention of restarting again.
He wanted a more relaxed life—
one without burdens of glory or responsibility,
one without jealousy, accusations, or guilt.
"Tokyo, Tracen Academy Station. Passengers who are disembarking, please take your belongings."
"Here we are again… Tracen Academy."
With the crowd, Kitano passed through a station he had walked through countless times
and stood once more before the familiar palace-like gates.
"Alright… I'm not even sure what point in the timeline this restart put me at.
The more I restart, the further forward the timeline seems to shift…
Though Uma Musume's timeline is a mess anyway."
…But it doesn't matter anymore, does it?
Kitano Ryuuichi—no longer planning to take on exceptionally talented girls,
so he wouldn't ruin their lives—
entered Tracen with a completely different mindset.
After calming himself, he took a deep breath
and stepped through the gates.
Many umamusume were running inside.
Though Tracen was a full-boarding school,
plenty of students stayed outside for various reasons.
Whether those reasons were "proper"… Kitano didn't know.
He'd seen enough to know it was simply part of Tracen's corporate culture.
Strangely, even after so many lifetimes,
he'd never once experienced that culture himself.
It made him suspect he was some kind of romance-repellent.
No love life in his previous world,
none in this one either.
Even though he got along well with his assigned horsegirls each run…
why did he never get any opportunity?
And at the gate, a familiar green figure stood there.
Though he had seen her many times across many lives,
his experience allowed him to act flawlessly,
as if this were the very first meeting.
"Good morning, Ms. Tazuna."
"Good morning."
"Good morning, Ms. Tazuna!"
"Good morning."
After several uma passed, Kitano seized the right moment,
walked up politely like any new student would, and said:
"...Hello, nice to meet you. I'm Kita—"
"Ah, good morning, Trainer Kitano."
Before he could finish, Tazuna Haruka reflexively greeted him by name—
and both froze.
Huh? Why does Ms. Tazuna know my name? Didn't I restart?
Huh…? Why do I know this person's name? This is the first time I've ever seen him…