(1/2) 25: Chapter Nineteen: Rice Shower Wants to Join the Selection Race?
(1/2) For Rice Shower, it had started as a perfectly ordinary day.
Which, for Rice, meant bad luck.
Bad luck clinging to her as usual, curling around her ankles, and, as usual, trying its very best to drag innocent people down with her.
Not long ago, Rice had gone home to visit her parents.
Today, she took the train back to Tokyo.
The moment she stepped off, an announcement rang out behind her.
The trains had stopped running.
Rice froze on the platform.
Was that… because of Rice?
The thought came almost automatically.
After that, she transferred to a coach heading toward school.
Halfway there, one of the tires suddenly blew out, forcing everyone off the vehicle and onto the roadside.
While the passengers stood around in confusion, Rice noticed another Uma Musume dragging an enormous suitcase and sprinting off in one direction.
Rice slowed her down too… didn’t she?
Rice clasped her hands together and prayed quietly.
Please… please let that Uma Musume-san reach wherever she needs to go safely.
In the end, Rice never found out whether that prayer reached anyone.
But if there was one good thing about today, it was probably the sudden uproar on Tracen Academy’s forums.
The whole forum had exploded with news about a trainer named Kitano Ryuuichi.
The first thing that caught Rice’s attention was his name.
Kitano Ryuuichi.
For some reason, that name made something stir in her chest.
It did not hurt.
It was not frightening either.
It just felt… familiar.
As the Uma Musume in the group chat kept chattering about him, Rice hesitated for a long, long time before nervously typing a single line.
“Um… Rice feels like… maybe she knows that name…” The instant she sent it, Rice regretted everything.
Because she did not actually know any trainer named Kitano Ryuuichi.
She only felt like she had seen the name somewhere before.
Like, a very long time ago, she had heard it again and again.
But it was not an especially rare name.
There were probably plenty of people in Japan called Kitano Ryuuichi.
Rice had only felt the faintest sense of familiarity.
She had never met this rumored genius trainer in person.
And sure enough, before Rice could even delete the message, private messages came pouring in.
One after another.
Her screen was practically buried alive.
Every single one came from Tracen Academy’s Uma Musume, girls whose third favorite thing after uma-pyon and winning races was gossip.
“Rice, you know that genius trainer?!” “How did you meet him?
Are you two close?
Are you going to become his assigned Uma Musume?” “Rice, can you help me become Trainer Kitano’s Uma Musume too?
I really want a handsome and talented trainer!” The messages flew in so quickly that Rice, who had always been used to keeping to herself, could barely keep up.
She wanted to explain.
She really did.
She wanted to tell everyone she did not know Kitano Ryuuichi at all.
His name only felt familiar for some strange reason.
But for some reason… As Rice looked at those messages, at the envy everyone directed toward her for “knowing” Kitano Ryuuichi, and at the praise and admiration they showered on his talent, her heart began to feel warm.
Sweet.
Like eating her favorite cake.
It was strange.
None of that praise was meant for Rice.
It was for someone she did not even know.
And yet, Rice still felt something like pride blooming in her chest.
Those words of approval gave her a sweetness almost close to happiness.
Even if that happiness came from a misunderstanding.
Even if it was fake.
Rice could not help feeling glad.
But she knew it could not last.
Once a lie was exposed, it would only cause more trouble for everyone.
So after savoring that tiny bit of happiness for just a moment, Rice decided to send another message in the group chat and clear everything up.
That was when she ran straight into Kitano Ryuuichi.
The very person everyone had mistakenly believed she knew.
The rumored genius trainer himself.
“Huh?
Huhhh?!” “Y-You’re that, um, Kitano Ryuuichi-sen—ngh!
I-I bit my tongue… S-Sorry!” Rice had seen Kitano Ryuuichi’s photo on the forum.
From the moment Kitano became famous at Tracen Academy, some of his personal information had been destined to spread.
Of course, it was only basic information.
Nothing beyond what was already written on the Central-approved Tracen Academy nameplate pinned to his chest.
His photo.
His age.
His gender.
That sort of thing.
So it was only natural that Rice recognized him immediately.
“You don’t need to apologize, Rice-san,” Kitano said, brushing himself off.
“I wasn’t watching where I was going either.” True, he had been knocked clean onto the ground by an Uma Musume.
But Kitano was not so fragile that a little collision would send him resetting into the next loop.
He patted the dust from his clothes, stood back up, and looked again at the girl in front of him, who was still bowing over and over in a panic.
Rice Shower.
From the looks of it, Rice was still Rice.
Bourbon, King Halo, and T.M.
Opera O all seemed a little different from how he remembered them.
But Rice Shower, at least, was still the Uma Musume he understood best.
After all… Who would not understand his own “little sister”?
Kitano still found himself missing those days when Rice had chased after him, calling him “Onii-sama.” If he had to name the assigned Uma Musume he had gotten along with best across all those loops, his answer would be Rice Shower.
The reason was simple.
In many ways, Rice was a lot like him.
They both carried an inferiority complex for their own reasons.
They both encouraged others with everything they had.
And they both worked desperately to live up to the expectations placed on them, even when their efforts did not immediately bear fruit.
Some people could snap you out of your lowest moments by scolding you awake.
Maybe that made them your best partner.
But most of the time, that was not what people needed.
Most of the time, what people truly wanted was someone who could stand beside them and encourage them back.
For Kitano, Rice Shower was exactly that kind of person.
No.
More than that.
Rice Shower had been his salvation.