“So this is exactly why I hate going anywhere near the classroom building…” Kitano Ryuichi slumped onto a wooden bench by the Three Goddesses fountain after splashing water over his face.
“Half the Uma Musume at Tracen have probably been trained by me at some point.
And every time, I either ruined them or contributed absolutely nothing.
How am I supposed to face them like that?” He let out a dry little laugh.
“Well… I guess I should be grateful this is a new loop.
None of them know me now.
Otherwise, I’d probably get mobbed and beaten half to death.” Honestly, he felt like he might be the most embarrassing otherworlder in history.
But what was he supposed to do?
He really didn’t have any grand talent.
Back in school, he had always been in the bottom ten of his class.
Not because he slacked off.
He did his homework, attended evening study sessions, never skipped class, never talked back to teachers.
If grades weren’t part of the equation, his attitude alone probably could have earned him some “model student” award.
Unfortunately, effort and talent were two very different things.
He was just bad at learning.
And after getting thrown into the world of Uma Musume, nothing magically changed.
Kitano was painfully aware that if almost anyone else had been given his reset ability, they would have done better.
Maybe their first few loops would have been messy, sure.
But after countless attempts, they would have learned.
Improved.
Become someone remarkable.
Even a long-term patient could pick up enough knowledge to become a half-decent doctor.
Yet after all these loops, Kitano was still just a mediocre Trainer.
A Trainer who had no face left to show Symboli Rudolf, T.M.
Opera O, or all the girls he had failed.
Girls he had let down.
Girls whose potential he had wasted.
The thought made his shoulders sag.
If I didn’t have this reset ability… He would have made enemies of half of Tracen by now.
The girls he had “trained” into dead ends.
The girls whose dreams had fallen short because he dragged them down.
The girls who had placed their hopes in him, only for him to never live up to them.
What would they do if they remembered?
First, the ones he ruined would probably beat him within an inch of his life.
Then the ones whose dreams he had held back would physically carve him up.
After that, they would play rock-paper-scissors to decide who got which piece of him.
As for Rudolf and T.M.
Opera O… Yeah.
They probably wouldn’t even defend him.
After all, he had once run his mouth and promised them, “One day, I’ll stand tall and face you with pride.” And look at him now.
Still like this.
Still a disgrace.
“…Okay, enough.
What’s the point of thinking about all that?” Kitano slapped both cheeks with his palms.
The gloom had come quickly, but it left quickly too.
He had never been the type to spiral for long.
If he were the sort of person who drowned himself in guilt all day, he would have spent every loop doing nothing but dying and resetting over and over.
For someone as self-deprecating and insecure as him, optimism was practically a survival skill.
After giving himself a few moments to wallow in how incompetent and ridiculous his past self had been, Kitano shook his head and forced his mood back into shape.
“I’d be better off using this time to find an Uma Musume.
I’ve already done enough trial and error.
This time, I’m going to live one full life properly.
No more resetting the second I fail.” He paused.
“…Now that I think about it, I’ve barely ever reached the second half of my own life.” That was a depressing realization.
“Anyway.
Let’s think.
Is there any Uma Musume I know well who’d be a good fit for me?” Over all those loops, Kitano had worked with all kinds of Uma Musume.
His growth as a Trainer had been… questionable.
But when it came to getting along with Uma Musume?
That was a different story.
Tsundere types.
Airheaded types.
Gentle types.
Athletic types.
Ojou-sama types.
Bakushin-bakushin-desu-wa types.
He had trained every flavor imaginable.
Some of them had clashed with him hard at first, but eventually, Kitano had always found some way to communicate.
He hated conflict, so he tended to adjust himself to match the other person’s personality.
Add in multiple loops of experience, and at this point, he was practically a specialist in Uma Musume social survival.
Sometimes, he wondered.
If I’d known how to talk to them like this from the very beginning… would things have ended differently?
But that was just another useless “what if.” “…Maybe I should change my approach.” The thought came to him suddenly.
“What if, after failing once, I tried training the same Uma Musume again?
With my first experience as reference, wouldn’t the result change?” Until now, whenever he reset, Kitano had always chosen a different trainee.
The reason was simple.
Back then, he hadn’t been able to face the same girl again.
Training an Uma Musume wasn’t like some mobile game where you finished a run in an hour.
He had spent day after day with them.
Shared routines, setbacks, races, hopes, arguments, little victories.
Of course they stayed with him.
Of course it hurt.
So, to keep his emotions from clouding his judgment, Kitano had never gone back to the same trainee immediately after a reset.
But now, after finally putting some distance between himself and those feelings, he could look at the idea more calmly.
What if he used everything he knew now to guide a girl he had failed before?
Maybe this time, he could help her improve faster.
Maybe this time, he could actually do something right.
“…Should I go back and try King Halo?” The idea was surprisingly realistic.
While Kitano stood near the Three Goddesses statue, pacing in thought, an Uma Musume in casual clothes slowly approached with a suitcase in tow.
She had long reddish-brown hair and a cool, expressionless face.
When she noticed Kitano lingering by the fountain, her sakura-colored lips parted slightly.
For a moment, she seemed about to speak.
Then her throat moved faintly.
She closed her mouth again.
Instead, she stepped forward and positioned herself in his line of sight, apparently trying to draw his attention through presence alone.
Several seconds passed.
Finally, she spoke.
“Hello.
I am a newly enrolled student.
Please identify the route to the registration area.” “Hm?” Kitano blinked himself out of his thoughts.
Then he looked up at the casually dressed Uma Musume standing in front of him.
For once, his face went completely blank.
There was a very simple reason.
He knew her.
In fact, he knew her extremely well.