“The nearest race is tomorrow…” Little Kangbai-chan swaggered out of the Racing Association, drawing curious looks from passing trainers and Umamusume alike.
“Ah, so what are we doing about tonight for this template?” Little Light Ball flew beside Little Kangbai-chan, sounding very worried—after all, Little Kangbai-chan was currently the not-very-wealthy type.
Though this was 2D, some basic rules still applied, and the rule that “no money means nothing” held true in most places.
“Maybe you should go pray in front of the Three Goddesses statue? Who knows, maybe the Three Goddesses will help you?”
Little Kangbai-chan considered whether to try the Three Goddesses statue but quickly rejected the idea: “…I’m basically an illegal resident here. You think I’m stupid enough to go beg the big bosses directly?”
“True…” Little Light Ball’s floating height lowered slightly, as if it also found the idea foolish—an outsider bringing another outsider to see the local bosses was practically asking for death.
“Forget it, don’t think so much.” Perhaps genuinely influenced by the template, Little Kangbai-chan’s thinking was quite direct and optimistic now.
“Worst case, I get discovered and forced to do some stuff. We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it~”
“For now, let’s find somewhere to eat, then pick a clean bench in a park to make do.”
Walking with small steps, Little Kangbai-chan searched the streets for parks and cheap restaurants while scanning TV posters for information.
“Hmm… Silence Suzuka?” On some posters was an Umamusume with long orange hair and a charming smile.
The name read Silence Suzuka—apparently a rising star.
“Hmm… someone on a poster like this is either a protagonist or someone the protagonist meets along the way.” Based on the tropes from urban novels and competitive anime she’d seen before, Little Kangbai-chan immediately figured such a figure would play some role on the protagonist’s path.
Either she was a protagonist, or the protagonist’s close friend, or someone the protagonist would face-slap on their journey.
Considering this was 2D, any possibility was likely.
“But high looks usually mean higher chances of being a good guy, so maybe a close friend?” Studying Silence Suzuka’s face on the poster, Little Kangbai-chan thought this Umamusume was somewhat good-looking.
But nowhere near Redstone Wyvern!
Redstone Wyvern is the coolest!
No Umamusume is cooler than Redstone Wyvern!
—So I’ve said all that, when are you coming out of the banner, Redstone Wyvern?
“If she might be connected to the protagonist, I need to be careful!” After firmly etching Silence Suzuka’s appearance into her mind and raising her to Level One alert, Little Kangbai-chan finally set off.
Though she didn’t know Silence Suzuka’s exact strength, if she was on a poster, she had to be very strong!
Maybe a UR-tier powerhouse with a bunch of SS stats.
Yeah, an existence like that would be deadly for a mediocre SR like Little Kangbai-chan.
If she couldn’t even keep up from the start, they couldn’t be friends, and naturally she’d never beat her later.
She could only hope for a strong Umamusume who liked running from behind or closing in races—then she could make “friends” with her and let her carry her along.
“Hmm… let’s pick this place.” Soon, Little Kangbai-chan found her target—a ramen shop that looked decent.
She’d probably had some not-very-authentic Lanzhou ramen once, but ultimately found it inferior to the small noodles at her local eatery.
Without caring about the ramen shop’s name, with the invisible Little Light Ball in tow, Little Kangbai-chan pushed open the glass door.
After confirming there weren’t many people inside, she picked a random seat and prepared to sit down.
“Heave-ho! Heave-ho!” With both hands on the high stool, she struggled for several tries.
Little Kangbai-chan climbed with great effort—once again suffering from her height.
So tragic!
Excluding her ears, Little Kangbai-chan was only about 1.25 meters tall—a head shorter than 99% of normal Umamusume in this world, more elementary-schooler than actual elementary schoolers.
Now anything height-related was a struggle.
‘From now on, if I ever pull another short Umamusume and use her—I’m a dog!’ Little Kangbai-chan grumbled inwardly while climbing, wondering if she could get Little Light Ball to pull her up.
Just as she was about to call for help, she suddenly felt someone grab the back of her collar, and then her whole body slowly rose into the air.
…She felt like a little doll being picked up by a claw machine.
Then, the lifted Little Kangbai-chan was slowly placed on the chair, successfully fulfilling her wish to climb up.
Little Kangbai-chan turned her head and immediately saw an Umamusume with long white hair and a cold face like the Black Knight, staring at her seriously.
“Uh… thanks.” Though the other looked cold like the Black Knight, upon closer inspection, Little Kangbai-chan felt this Umamusume’s coldness… was somehow off.
“You’re welcome.” The expressionless Umamusume looked at Little Kangbai-chan, hesitated, then reached out and patted her head.
“Where are your guardians?”
“…Ah no, I don’t have—no, I mean, I’m not a child anymore!” Little Kangbai-chan shook her head, knocking the hand away, and looked up at her unhappily.
“…But you’re clearly…” The Umamusume compared Little Kangbai-chan’s seated height, wanting to say more, but under Little Kangbai-chan’s glare, finally gave up on the topic.
Then, the Umamusume sat down next to Little Kangbai-chan, extended a hand, and introduced herself: “My name is Oguri Cap. And you?”
“Little Kangbai-chan.” Little Kangbai-chan extended her hand too, but it was entirely engulfed by Oguri Cap’s palm—the size difference was incomparable.
“Boss, one extra-large ramen please.” After the introductions, neither continued with small talk.
Oguri Cap directly ordered the largest ramen in the shop.
“I’ll have an extra-large too.” Though Little Kangbai-chan didn’t know what extra-large meant, the word “extra” made it clear this was no ordinary ramen.
Considering this was 2D, this portion could probably fatten a pig to death—perfect for filling Little Kangbai-chan’s stomach!
—Hm?
Did that metaphor get weird at the end? Find the original chapter at g.com.
“You too?” Hearing Little Kangbai-chan also order extra-large, Oguri Cap’s usually expressionless face suddenly showed shock—did this kid not know what extra-large was?
Or was she trying to compete?
“Don’t judge by appearances—I can eat a lot!” Little Kangbai-chan puffed out her completely flat chest proudly.
Joke’s on you, I have the [Big Full Meal] skill!
I can eat super much!
“I see.” Oguri Cap accepted Little Kangbai-chan’s claim almost without thinking, as if in her eyes, someone else being able to eat as much as her was perfectly acceptable.
“…” Little Kangbai-chan suddenly realized why this person’s coldness felt different from the Black Knight’s—because she wasn’t really cold at all, just simply… dense.
Soon, two bowls of ramen piled as high as mountains were served.
Perhaps in ordinary people’s and Umamusume’s eyes, this much ramen was lethal, but in Oguri Cap’s and Little Kangbai-chan’s eyes…
It was just a regular meal.
“Mmm mmm…” Holding chopsticks, Oguri Cap maintained a fairly refined manner while vacuuming the noodles into her mouth at high speed like a powerful pump.
Little Kangbai-chan, on the other hand, had no such reservations—whether bean sprouts on top or noodles inside, she ate however she pleased, her mouth glistening with oil, and her speed was not one bit slower than Oguri Cap’s.
“Mmm~ pretty good.” Like a famine refugee, Little Kangbai-chan’s eating style was to stuff every available mouthful, with no gentleness in her movements.
But because she was so cute, it didn’t look much worse than Oguri Cap’s eating—in fact, it created a nice contrast with the ladylike Oguri Cap beside her.
“…So this is an Umamusume’s appetite.” Watching Oguri Cap, whose belly was slightly bulging, and Little Kangbai-chan, who was already tilting her bowl to gulp the soup but still had no belly bulge at all, the ramen shop owner felt her strange knowledge increasing again.
Who knew that besides Oguri Cap, this city had another kid even more exaggerated in certain aspects…
—Below is non-story text—
Little Kangbai-chan’s [Big Full Meal] starts probability checks when stamina drops below 30%, meaning it can essentially be considered 100% trigger—just the timing is uncertain.
But in reality, it means once she feels her stamina failing, she can trigger it immediately just by thinking about it.
Hmm… actually, the specific effect of [Big Full Meal] should be: you watch Little Kangbai-chan pull out a massive portion of food, then eat it within 15 seconds.
Because she’s eating, her speed drops, but after finishing, she feels full, has energy, and can run faster.
And [Big Full Meal] can directly clear all non-buff statuses—besides stat decreases, there’s hunger, fear, anxiety, and various other effects.
As long as the status isn’t a buff, [Big Full Meal] can remove it, unless silenced.
In a sense, a broken leg is also a non-buff status.
As long as Little Kangbai-chan successfully triggers [Big Full Meal], even a broken leg can recover, and she can get up and keep running—scary?
Yes, very scary.