“So, you’re from Tracen Academy and came here to relax?” Drinking the beverage the man had bought from a vending machine, Little Kangbai-chan began recalling what kind of existence Tracen Academy was.
She seemed to have seen it from the tree in Black Knight’s memories—the biggest, strongest academy in the Central District.
Its Umamusume were all top-tier, like the undefeated Triple Crown winner mentioned in the book.
An academy like that—just looking at it, she knew it had to be connected to the protagonist.
After all, protagonists are either big or expensive.
Look for buildings or industries matching those two traits, and you’ll definitely find the protagonist.
And among them, either the strongest or the weakest group was the protagonist’s inevitable choice—because only that gives the protagonist enough stage.
In that case, either the protagonist pulls off an amazing feat and becomes the new leader of the strongest team, or the protagonist leads a ragtag group skyrocketing to the top.
Having read tons of urban novels and survived countless trashy works, Little Kangbai-chan felt this analysis confirmed Tracen Academy’s connection to the protagonist.
Immediately, Little Kangbai-chan thought of her infiltration plan.
Wasn’t this the perfect opportunity?
If she could get in, she could gather information, prepare countermeasures against the protagonist’s team, and get free food!
“Hey, Ojisan, is Tracen Academy still accepting students?” Little Kangbai-chan tugged the trainer’s sleeve, hoping to use this as a breakthrough.
She might not be the best, but an SR should be able to get in, right?
At least as a background character?
“Of course, Tracen Academy always welcomes new students.” The trainer nodded, then looked down at Little Kangbai-chan.
“What? You want to enter Tracen when you grow up? That’s a good dream. Hold onto it.”
“No, Ojisan! I mean I want to enroll in Tracen Academy now!” Little Kangbai-chan tugged harder on his sleeve.
“Hey, hey, stop pulling—and how old are you? Someone this small can’t enter Tracen Academy.” The trainer pulled his sleeve free and compared her height again.
Someone this small, a head shorter than every Umamusume in the academy—obviously elementary school age.
Tracen wouldn’t accept her.
“I can enroll! Look!” Little Kangbai-chan got annoyed again.
This height problem was so frustrating!
How did she even pull such a small Umamusume?!
She pulled out her documents from her backpack again.
The trainer bent down slightly, took the papers, and read carefully.
Soon, his expression mirrored the Racing Association counter girl’s shock.
“Uh, ahem… according to this, you can indeed join Tracen Academy. But I’ll need some time to input your information.”
The trainer coughed twice, barely accepting this strange knowledge, and confirmed Little Kangbai-chan was eligible.
“It’s very late today. Even if I go back now, I can’t input your info right away, so it’ll have to wait until tomorrow.”
“That’s fine, I don’t mind—but my debut race is also tomorrow. Will enrolling interfere?”
“That won’t be a problem. You can report tomorrow night after the race—by the way, where are you staying? Not here, right?”
After all that, the trainer finally remembered the situation he’d found Little Kangbai-chan in—was this girl living in the park, sleeping on benches?
“Uh, well, I’m a bit short on funds…” Little Kangbai-chan scratched her head awkwardly.
She didn’t want to, but she was desperate.
She wasn’t anyone to this world’s Three Goddesses—she couldn’t just go beg at their door.
This was the alt-account system, not some neighboring silly Iroha.
“Ha… I see.” The trainer sighed helplessly.
This was his first time meeting such a troublesome Umamusume.
Though he was a bit short on money himself, he was still richer than a child, so—”Come with me.
I’ll take you to a nearby inn.”
“Eh? An inn! Ojisan, you’re a good person!” Hearing about an inn, Little Kangbai-chan instantly cheered up.
She quickly shouldered her backpack and followed the trainer on his bicycle.
As for whether he was a bad person—this was 2D!
With goddesses’ protection!
Even if not, her body’s headbutt should be too much for an ordinary person, unless he was a Kantai Collection admiral—the non-normal type.
“By the way, by the way, Ojisan, I’m Little Kangbai-chan. What about you? What’s your name?”
“Just call me Okino.” The trainer pedaled hard on his bicycle, but his eyes weren’t on the road ahead—they kept glancing at Little Kangbai-chan beside him.
“And I’m not an Ojisan! I’m still single! How did I become an Ojisan?”
Though her legs were short, her steps were rapid, like two little engine pistons—one step immediately followed by the next.
Even if each step was short, the quantity was immense.
This running style was extremely rare outside, and using it while running happily was even rarer.
Short legs, but powerful and full of energy—a good seedling!
Okino immediately reached this conclusion and began thinking about recruiting her into his team once she entered school.
Amid Little Kangbai-chan’s shout and because her arms were too short, he failed to brake in time and plunged straight into the park lake…
……
“Incredible.” On the other side, the Sukegahara Academy director and Miss Feiyuan-sensei were gathered, watching the running footage Feiyuan-sensei had recorded of Black Knight.
In the video, Black Knight ran like a blade drawn from its sheath, a flash of cold light, racing at unimaginable speed.
Even the old trainer Sukegahara found such terrifying speed hard to believe.
Such speed should only appear in top-tier Umamusume who had undergone extensive training.
Even more astonishing was how Black Knight weaved smoothly through countless obstacles like a slippery loach, never slowing, as if the obstacles didn’t exist.
Afterward, she used a strange, low-body cornering technique Sukegahara had never seen.
Black Knight not only used it proficiently but actually sped up noticeably through the turns.
“If the data didn’t show she hasn’t even run a debut race, I’d suspect she was already a heavily trained elite Umamusume.” Feiyuan-sensei nodded.
This was even better than she’d been in her prime.
What was with this child?
The data showed an ordinary orphan, yet at school she was absurdly strong.
She was practically ready for a debut race immediately, maybe even skyrocketing to G3 or G2.
“Have the qualifications of kids outside changed this much over the years?” Sukegahara took a cigarette from his pocket and slowly lit it.
Though he didn’t usually smoke and Feiyuan-sensei disliked it, seeing Black Knight’s abilities, the old man needed nicotine to ease his melancholy.
He felt a sense of loss—once glorious, but now realizing everything he knew was outdated—and a hint of revelation.
—So outside young Umamusume have already reached this level.
No wonder his school had no students.
They couldn’t keep up.
“Sigh… looks like our teaching methods need innovation.” Sukegahara sighed, admitting he was too slow for the times.
“Then about Black Knight.”
“Prepare a debut race for her as soon as possible. That was our agreement. Though we may not be able to strengthen her much, basic training continues.”
“The nearest race? Local or Central?”
“…Central.” The old director took a deep drag.
“Her talent can’t be buried in a small place like this.”
—Below is non-story text—
Since I never knew the anime trainer’s name, I used the voice actor’s name instead.