The first time Kitano Ryuichi met Symboli Rudolf was a very, very long time ago.
It had probably been his first loop.
Back then, he hadn’t even known he could “restart” yet.
He was just an ordinary guy who’d been tossed into the world of Uma Musume and thought, Well, I’m already here.
If I don’t become a trainer, wasn’t this whole trip a waste?
So he threw himself into studying for the Central trainer license.
And kept throwing himself at it.
From the age of twenty all the way to forty-five.
Only then, through a special exception, did Kitano finally become a trainer at Central Tracen Academy.
Yes.
An exception.
Central had a special clause for local trainers.
If a local trainer had an excellent record but kept failing the exam, the academy could consider admitting them on a case-by-case basis.
But even then, the baseline was clear: their theory scores might be weak, but they had to have worked diligently in the local circuit for around twenty years.
And the Uma Musume they had trained needed to stand out locally, even if they weren’t strong enough for open-class races.
At the time, Kitano met almost none of those requirements.
He had only been a local trainer for fifteen years.
His theory scores were still a disaster.
And most of the local Uma Musume he’d handled had been, well… Average.
Painfully average.
A trainer who had been average even in the local circuit should never have become a Central trainer.
Special clause or not.
For Kitano, the turning point of his first loop came when the former student council president, an Uma Musume named Shinzan, happened to inspect the local circuit.
For the record, Kitano had not known she was that Shinzan.
The current student council president of Tracen Academy at that time.
Sure, he was a horse racing maniac.
Before being transported here, he had even trained every single Uma Musume in the mobile game.
But he genuinely didn’t know much about Shinzan.
She didn’t even have official game art, for crying out loud.
He had only ended up talking with Shinzan and her group by coincidence.
Then, half-jokingly, Shinzan asked him a question.
Among the new generation, who did he think had the greatest chance of becoming the strongest Uma Musume?
Kitano had been following Central’s news obsessively at the time.
So the answer left his mouth almost before he could think.
“Symboli Rudolf.
No question.
She’ll become the first undefeated Triple Crown Uma Musume.” Back then, Symboli Rudolf was a rookie who had barely won a single debut race.
Shinzan hadn’t taken his answer seriously.
Not at first.
It was only after Symboli Rudolf swept through the Satsuki Sho with overwhelming force that Shinzan finally started paying attention to what Kitano had said.
And that was how, with Shinzan’s help, Kitano entered Central Tracen Academy.
More than that, with Shinzan’s recommendation, he became Symboli Rudolf’s trainer.
Strange, right?
A forty-five-year-old trainer with no real achievements, barely smuggled into Central from the local circuit through connections, somehow became the trainer of a genius Uma Musume who had already claimed the first jewel of the Classic Triple Crown without a single loss.
Granted, Rudolf’s trainer position had been vacant.
But still.
It was hard not to question it.
“You were the first trainer to tell me that Symboli Rudolf could become the first undefeated Triple Crown Uma Musume.
And now, that prediction has already been half-proven.
I believe there is more to you than your modest appearance suggests.” Shinzan had spoken to Kitano first, then turned toward Rudolf.
“Rudolf, perhaps you have doubts as well.
But trust me.
A trainer who could believe in your undefeated Triple Crown before ever meeting you in person must possess something.
Even if it truly was luck, that luck may prove useful to you, especially now that the Japanese Derby is approaching.” She smiled.
“The two of you should get to know each other.
Work well together, all right?” Kitano still remembered that moment clearly.
He and Rudolf had simply looked at each other.
In the young, proud, sharp-eyed Rudolf’s gaze, Kitano saw it.
Disdain.
Then, after a few quiet seconds, that disdain faded into something calm and unreadable.
Kitano’s heart nearly gave out on the spot.
After a long, painfully stiff silence, he finally managed to speak to the “Emperor.” “Nice to meet you, Symboli Rudolf.
I’m not sure how much help I can actually be to you, but… I believe you’ll become the first undefeated Triple Crown Uma Musume.” “…Yes.” Rudolf gave a small nod.
“I look forward to working with you, Trainer.” After that, everything played out like a movie.
Kitano watched Symboli Rudolf win the Japanese Derby.
Then the Kikuka Sho.
She became Japan’s first undefeated Triple Crown Uma Musume.
Then came the overseas expedition.
The defeat.
The return.
And even after all of it, she never lost the dignity of the “Emperor.” Everything unfolded so naturally.
So perfectly.
As if fate had written the script long before he ever arrived.
As if it would have happened exactly the same way whether he was there or not.
Because Kitano already knew Symboli Rudolf’s life story far too well, that feeling hit him harder than it should have.
And honestly?
During the years he served as Rudolf’s trainer, it wasn’t as if people only whispered it once or twice.
“The Emperor’s useless mediocre trainer.” “The Emperor’s accessory.” Things like that.
As for what happened later—the end of their trainer contract, and watching Rudolf return to the Symboli family at the height of her glory… That was another story.
One Kitano did not particularly want to talk about.
But there was something Symboli Rudolf had said to him back then.
Something he still remembered, even now.
“The Symboli family will not allow their designated next head to remain forever at the side of an ordinary trainer.” “So, Trainer…” Rudolf had looked straight at him.
“When the day comes that you return to find me, I hope the person standing before me will be someone accomplished.
Someone proud.
Someone brilliant.” Her voice had been calm.
But it struck deeper than any accusation.
“I hope you will not disgrace the name of Symboli Rudolf’s trainer.” And then— Even after who knew how many loops, Kitano still could not bring himself to meet Symboli Rudolf on his own.
Because he still had not become what Rudolf had hoped for.
He had still not become someone worthy of the title: “Symboli Rudolf’s trainer.” He had never reached the standard Rudolf had once placed upon him.
That was why, across so many loops, aside from the first one where he had actually served as Symboli Rudolf’s trainer, Kitano avoided her whenever he returned to Tracen Academy.
Other than the day he reported for duty, he did everything he could to keep their paths from crossing.
He simply did not have the face to see her.
Of course, Kitano knew perfectly well that after a new loop began, Rudolf would not remember anything from the past.
But that did nothing to stop the shame twisting in his chest.