There were no horses in this world.
Only horse girls.
Legend held that horse girls had first appeared on this land countless ages ago.
They raced across the plains.
They scattered sweat beneath the open sky.
They sang of youth and composed their own melodies upon the grasslands.
Compared with humans, they possessed an overwhelming passion for running.
Running was both their undeniable joy and their natural strength.
Horse girls once carried messages and transported supplies, breathing vitality into human civilization.
When machines replaced those roles, the heavens granted them another path.
Racing.
Through their running, they brought passion and happiness to the world.
They made people happy simply by watching them race.
For some horse girls, running seemed to be the entire meaning of life.
Silence Suzuka was one of them.
She possessed smooth orange hair, emerald eyes, and a slender, elegant figure.
No matter how one looked at her, she resembled a quiet and gentle girl.
Yet she was a horse girl who loved running.
Ever since she had been a tiny sprout, still far below an adult’s height, she had adored it.
Every time she stepped onto grass, an impulse surged through her.
It was like a racing driver touching a steering wheel, an angler finding a new lure, or a model-building enthusiast opening a fresh kit.
The moment she reached a field, she instinctively wanted to run.
She loved racing across fragrant, soft grass, feeling the speed of the wind and watching the scenery retreat around her.
That sensation of speed enchanted Silence Suzuka.
Given the choice, she felt she could run for an entire day.
Her love of running, combined with the fact that she was a horse girl, had brought her to Tracen Academy.
She intended to become an Uma Musume and continue running upon the racecourse.
Recently, however, she had encountered a problem.
She had joined Tracen, a specialized school for racehorses reborn as girls, because of her passion.
Yet viewed from another angle, Tracen was a vocational academy.
Being an Uma Musume was a profession.
Once a hobby became work, it could no longer remain effortless.
She studied ways to run faster, but Tracen’s endless theories and technical knowledge made her vision go dark.
The material was not particularly difficult.
She was among the academy’s stronger students.
Memorizing the contents of a textbook was easy.
Applying that knowledge was not.
Before an Uma Musume could debut, she had to be discovered by a Trainer and sign a contract under that Trainer’s guidance.
Tracen was relatively permissive.
Aside from severe problem students, it did not force anyone to find a Trainer.
Nevertheless, Tracen was an academy for developing racehorses reborn as girls.
Students without Trainers received basic guidance from instructors responsible for teaching theory.
One such instructor explained that the foundation of racing was not blindly charging ahead and sprinting all the way to the finish.
A runner had to control her pace, conserve strength, and unleash it during the final stretch.
Different horse girls possessed different talents.
Discovering the best running style for each horse girl was a Trainer’s responsibility.
An ordinary teacher could only offer the safest, most conventional advice.
The instructor had not been harsh.
But for someone like Silence Suzuka, who loved lowering her head and sprinting as hard as possible, the lesson was deeply frustrating.
Suzuka was obedient and mild-mannered.
After receiving instruction, she had attempted to use the most conventional running style.
Yet she felt as though the passion she once experienced while running had disappeared.
Worse, she kept losing mock races against the other horse girls.
Sometimes she worried that she possessed no talent for racing.
Perhaps she did not belong at Tracen.
Being considerate, she buried that anxiety within her heart and continued living peacefully as always.
Today, she arrived in the classroom, took her seat, and prepared to wait for class.
Then she suddenly noticed that every horse girl around her had stopped moving.
“Huh?”
Suzuka looked around in confusion.
Her classmates had frozen like statues.
Some sat.
Some stood.
Others had been speaking with friends, their hands still suspended mid-gesture.
“Could this be some sort of prank?”
Silence Suzuka, who possessed a surprisingly sharp instinct for commentary, spoke without thinking.
She remembered that elaborate surprise pranks were popular in Japan, and some could be rather excessive.
Her emerald eyes scanned the room, searching for hidden cameras.
The moment she turned her head, however, a floating holographic screen appeared before her like something from a science-fiction film.
“What is this?”
Nothing else appeared unusual.
Only the screen seemed suspicious.
Suzuka instinctively reached out and poked it.
The interface resembled a video-streaming website.
The left side contained a video window.
The right displayed scrolling viewer comments.
It looked exactly like…
“A livestream.”
A chibi, two-dimensional figure appeared inside the video window.
It possessed no facial features.
Instead, a large letter A covered its face.
What was this supposed to be?
Suzuka remembered scenes from certain animated shows where an unknown figure hijacked a broadcast network to issue a public message.
“Good morning, everyone.”
Using his talent for voice acting, Zhou Yu’ang produced an especially shameless-sounding voice.
He could not use his naturally bright voice or the gentle tone from his relationship radio program.
He had to be careful.
Some horse girl might recognize him by voice alone and dox him.
He intended to remain a mysterious Trainer, demonstrate the art of serving time at Tracen, and complete the Three Goddesses’ mission.
The three of them merely wanted entertainment.
He could amuse himself along the way.
“I’m sure everyone watching feels rather confused, so allow me to explain.”
Zhou Yu’ang controlled the paper Trainer avatar and waved toward the audience.
“Please remain calm.
This is not a terrorist attack.”
Although he could not rule out the possibility that the streamer would eventually become a social terrorist.
What streamer did not create chaotic content?
Anyone claiming otherwise was merely pretending.
Once his viewers became bored, he would produce content so cursed that their vision turned black.
“This broadcast resembles the online streams you’re familiar with, but it isn’t a promotional feature for any website.
Instead, it is a broadcast aimed specifically at horse girls, created with the approval of the Three Goddesses.”
Zhou Yu’ang suspected the Three Goddesses had become bored, discovered online streamers, and decided to make him perform.
The system could broadcast the Uma Musume mobile game, as well as other anime and games centered around horse girls.
Should the Three Goddesses become inspired, they could even create entirely new games featuring horse girls as protagonists for him to stream.
However, the system could not broadcast the famous French masterpiece Rainbow Six Siege.
When Zhou Yu’ang asked about it, Byerley had broken composure and pointed at him while shouting, “You brat!”
During a broadcast, time for the streamer and viewers would be separated from reality.
Once the stream began, everyone and everything outside the streamer and audience would be paused.
Naturally, the Three Goddesses would protect their bodies.
They would not age faster than others or suffer similar problems.
The broadcast also had one further restriction.
Only horse girls could receive it.
Ordinary humans in this world could not become viewers.
Zhou Yu’ang patiently explained all this to the several dozen horse girls currently online.
Most horse girls were innocent, but many were highly intelligent.
They quickly understood that the broadcast resembled the blessing which allowed Uma Musume to ignore air resistance and unleash their full strength while wearing racing outfits.
This was a recreational benefit granted by the Three Goddesses.
Shouldn’t they thank the goddesses properly?
Some horse girls treated it like an ordinary online stream and began posting comments.
Some sent only punctuation.
Others remarked on how novel the experience felt.
Once they heard that the Three Goddesses approved, the horse girls—who viewed themselves as the goddesses’ descendants—relaxed.
Slandering the Three Goddesses was one of the greatest taboos in this world.
The goddesses would personally crush anyone who went too far.
Every viewer had automatically received a nickname-like account ID upon entering.
They could customize the color, size, and position of their messages.
Everything found on an ordinary streaming platform was present, including paid highlighted messages.
Watching comment after comment scroll past, Zhou Yu’ang decided it was time to begin.
Then a pink message caught both his and Silence Suzuka’s attention.
[Horse Girl Enthusiast]: Streamer, streamer!
Your model looks like a Trainer, so are you a horse girl or a human?
The ID and phrasing made it obvious this was an experienced internet user.
Yet she had begun by investigating his identity?
Since she wanted to know, he would give her far more than she asked for.
“Am I a horse girl or a human?
Excellent question.
I suppose it’s time for a formal introduction.”
Zhou Yu’ang cleared his throat.
The paper Trainer bowed toward the screen.
“My name is Mysterious Trainer A.
I am a Trainer selected by the Three Goddesses.
My species is neither horse girl nor human…”
“I am a Trainer!”
He had originally planned to call himself Mysterious Trainer Z.
However, using the initial from his surname would make him easier to identify.
Instead, he selected A, the initial of the final syllable in his given name.
[Invincible Seaside-sama]: Huh?
You didn’t explain anything.
That makes no sense.
[White-Eyed H-Manga Sensei]: I understand.
It’s like characters in certain stories whose gender is listed as “Hideyoshi,” right?
[Unbreakable Glass]: He’s being deliberately vague, which means it’s confidential.
Everyone has secrets.
That’s perfectly normal.
Zhou Yu’ang glanced at several usernames.
From the horse girls’ perspective, IDs were easy to miss unless they stared directly at the comment feed.
Zhou Yu’ang, however, could see every one clearly.
As a Trainer with extremely high devotion to the franchise, he identified several viewers from their usernames alone.
He could casually speak with horse girls he had always wanted to meet?
Wonderful.
Unfortunately, the streamer’s protected identity stood between them, and the Three Goddesses advised him against revealing too much.
As long as no one doxed him, the goddesses would deposit two thousand jewels into his account every day.
Every horse girl who caught him offline would cost him fifty jewels.
Two full pity funds every month.
Could those bastards at Cygames ever manage such generosity?
For the sake of collecting two thousand jewels every day, Zhou Yu’ang would hide inside layer after layer of protective boxes.
This little box was his eternal home.
Barring an accident, no horse girl would successfully capture him offline.
As long as he remained clever, the daily tribute of two thousand jewels would never stop.
Surely he would not become so miserable that he lost jewels every day.
[Perfect Red Goddess-sama]: Trainer, is that truly all you’re willing to tell us?
How boring.
“Boring?”
Did she expect an explosive confession?
When one shameless goddess personally entered the stream to stir trouble, Zhou Yu’ang remained calm.
“Then let’s discuss dreams.”
“Dreams?”
It was a distant word.
Silence Suzuka, sitting before the screen, had intended to post a few messages and join the fun.
But hearing that word made her pause.
She stared at the paper avatar on the screen.
She remembered a relationship-radio program she had recently followed.
The host always spoke gently about dreams.
His words stirred the blood and made the future feel worth chasing.
But whenever he announced the end of the day’s program, she found it difficult to fall asleep.
She often wished he would host a bedtime edition as well.
She wanted to hear that voice every night before sleeping, letting it carry her into dreams like a lullaby.
That was beside the point.
Whenever Suzuka heard the word “dream,” she remembered running as a child and wishing that she could continue racing freely and happily forever.
Unfortunately, she now doubted whether she could even make her debut.
What right did she have to speak of dreams?
“Some people dream of becoming the brightest star.
Some want wealth.
Others want power.
But I am different from all of them.”
Those dreams were far too materialistic.
Watching expectant comments fill the screen, Zhou Yu’ang slapped the table, raised one finger toward the heavens, and shouted a declaration that made every horse girl’s vision go dark.
“I’m going to marry thirty horse girls, Tama-dammit!”
As a broadly loving admirer of horse girls, wanting thirty rather than three hundred was extremely conservative.
The instant Zhou Yu’ang issued his declaration, rows of question marks flooded the screen.
Thank you to the streamer for personally creating his own question-mark storm.
“Huh?
What kind of declaration was that?”
Suzuka’s eyes widened.
She nervously placed a hand over her perfectly upright chest.
Was this Trainer remotely respectable?
Would any horse girl willingly approach him and become his wife?
Suzuka found it impossible to believe.
[Horse Girl Enthusiast]: What terrifying ambition… No, that was a direct threat against horse girls!
Are you trying to become the public enemy of our entire species?
I’m going to Tama-damn scatter your ashes!
[Hates Flashbulbs and Lunatics]: How vulgar!
You bastard!
Where is the report button?
This was no ordinary Trainer.
He required immediate and overwhelming correction.
The negative influence such a Trainer could have upon both horse girls and other Trainers was incalculable.
Yet the stern and earnest horse girl discovered there was no report button anywhere on the interface.
“There is one.
You merely have to find it.”
Report him?
To whom?
The highest authorities in the world—the Three Goddesses—were sitting beside him and watching the entertainment.
If he truly attempted something unacceptable, they would stop him directly.
Zhou Yu’ang did not know whether that horse girl would search every corner of the interface for a report button.
He still had to continue streaming.
Besides, acting deranged was relatively harmless.
First, he had his protective box.
Second, horse girls could not leave the stream until he ended it.
Still, Zhou Yu’ang possessed an extremely flexible—adaptable—unyielding, no, meticulous moral bottom line.
In ordinary language, he possessed shame.
Surely he would not become as abstract and politely deranged as a wheelchair-bound streamer or a corpse.
He could not.
He genuinely could not.
“Everyone, please pretend that never happened.
I won’t target individual viewers with my lunacy.
I’m a respectable person.”
[Dutiful Female Officer]: Respectable people don’t make declarations like that.
What exactly do you plan to broadcast?
If you only intend to act deranged, spare us.
Zhou Yu’ang glanced toward the yellow goddess beside him.
After receiving a glare, he obediently moved on.
“Very well.
Now that the introduction is complete, we’ll begin the gaming portion of the stream.
I will dutifully provide everyone with a relaxing and enjoyable experience.”
As he spoke, Zhou Yu’ang opened the mobile-game icon featuring Special Week, protagonist of the anime’s first season.
Uma Musume—launch!
“Today, I’ll be streaming a game called… Uma Musume: Pretty Derby.”
Thank you so much for reading until the end.
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Great.
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[Ss2 63 Chapter ]
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