It was Kitano’s first day at Hikari High School, and he wasn’t very familiar with the campus yet.
As he was looking for the teaching building, at a corner of a less crowded corridor, he saw a young girl with long brown hair, wearing a brand-new Tracen Academy uniform, standing there at a loss, with stationery and books scattered all over the floor around her.
In front of her, another Uma Musume was aggressively scolding her, accusing her of bumping into someone without apologizing, then trying to sneak away.
The young girl—Rice Shower, who had just entered Tracen and was filled with fear and unease about everything—was pale, her eyes red-rimmed, her lips trembling as she tried to explain.
But due to extreme nervousness and shyness, she couldn’t utter a single word, only bowing repeatedly, looking as pathetic as a kitten drenched in a downpour with nowhere to go.
Kitano originally didn’t want to meddle, but seeing Rice Shower looking like she was about to faint, he sighed and walked over.
“Student, what’s going on?” He tried to make his tone sound as gentle as possible.
It turned out that it would have been better if he hadn’t asked; as soon as he spoke, Rice Shower recoiled sharply like a startled rabbit, almost falling, her eyes full of an instinctive fear of unfamiliar males, which made Kitano freeze on the spot.
“Do I really look that much like a bad guy?!”
It took some effort for him to figure out it was a misunderstanding—the Uma Musume who was scolding Rice Shower had accidentally bumped into Rice Shower herself, and then blamed her instead.
Kitano, using his rather excellent and logically clear eloquence, plus a little white lie of “I saw with my own eyes that you bumped into her,” even though he hadn’t actually seen the beginning, helped Rice Shower out of the predicament.
The matter was resolved, but the subsequent development made Kitano both laugh and cry.
He wanted to comfort Rice Shower, who was clearly still trembling, and had just said, “Are you okay?”
Rice Shower immediately bowed deeply, her voice choked with tears.
“Th-thank you very, very much!
I-I’m sorry!
I’ve caused you trouble!”
Then she ran off as if fleeing for her life, leaving Kitano standing there in disarray.
“This girl…
is she a real-life Bocchi?
Late-stage social anxiety?”
At that moment, he had a hallucination of a pink-haired guitarist from an anime in his previous life.
However, fate is strange.
Afterward, they met a few more times on campus, and each time Rice Shower would hastily lower her head like a startled fawn, then quickly run away.
Kitano gradually got used to it, only thinking that she was a particularly shy junior…
The real turning point came from the internet.
One time, Kitano accidentally saw a discussion about Rice Shower on a forum.
The reason was her upset victory over Mihono Bourbon, who was then at the peak of her popularity and aiming for the Triple Crown, in the Kikuka Sho.
Although Mihono Bourbon herself expressed recognition and encouragement to her after the race, many spectators and gamblers who couldn’t accept the result poured their anger over the loss onto Rice Shower, giving her malicious titles such as “Assassin” and “Ominous Black Meteor,” and subjecting her to rampant cyberbullying…
He couldn’t stand it anymore, so he registered a burner account and joined the fray.
Relying on the sharp rhetoric and logic honed during the internet flame wars of his previous life, he refuted those brainless haters one by one, without a single swear word, yet every word was incisive, leaving the trolls speechless, and even guiding many passersby to start rationally viewing Rice Shower’s strength and pressure.
When someone dug up some of his past remarks about not being interested in Uma Musume and questioned him, “Didn’t you say you don’t like Uma Musume?
Why are you pretending to be an objective bystander here?” Kitano directly retorted:
“Oh?
To defend a friend who’s being cyberbullied, do I first have to submit a pledge of allegiance to you fandom police and swear how much I love Uma Musume?
I don’t understand that kind of fanaticism, just as I don’t understand why some people treat the internet as a moral wasteland, freely venting their frustrations from reality.
You call this maintaining the purity of the circle?
Don’t defile the word love; this is clearly the most despicable form of collective bullying.”
This debate lasted for several days, and Kitano became famous overnight, although his account was eventually banned for half a year due to multiple reports of inciting conflict.
But his image as a logic genius and sharp-tongued friend protector, as well as his core point of opposing cyberbullying, not Uma Musume, unexpectedly changed many people’s views on Rice Shower, and he was even hailed as a guiding light by some of Rice Shower’s fans.
Somehow, Rice Shower found out about this incident.
She had never imagined that Kitano-kun, who seemed ordinary and a little intimidating, would argue with so many people in the unknown world of the internet for an inconspicuous person like her.
She mustered her courage and, with trembling hands, sent Kitano her first long message of thanks.
From then on, their relationship truly began.
Rice Shower started to be willing to talk to him, although she was still shy, at least she wouldn’t run away anymore.
He didn’t understand running, but he understood how to comfort an uneasy friend.
He would say, “Running is your own business.
Others’ failures are due to their own lack of strength or luck; what does that have to do with you?
Don’t always take all the blame on yourself.”
And what truly elevated their friendship to the level of closest friends was an even more serious incident that happened later.
One time, Kitano and Rice Shower accidentally met on the street and walked together for a while.
As a result, they were recognized by a few extremely fanatical gambling-addict fans.
They held a grudge because Rice Shower had ruined their dreams in the Kikuka Sho, and immediately surrounded Rice Shower, verbally abusing her with extremely foul language, calling her a damn assassin and an unlucky jinx.
Some even became agitated and tried to push her.
Under those malicious curses and accusations of being ominous, Rice Shower’s face turned ashen, and her body trembled violently, as if she had returned to that moment when she was drowned in boos from the entire venue.
Immense inferiority, grievance, and fear gripped her, making her even forget the strength she possessed as an Uma Musume.
She was just like an ordinary girl, so fragile that she seemed like she would shatter at any second.
Just as Rice Shower was trembling with fear and almost on the verge of collapsing, Kitano stepped in front of her.
His usual indifferent expression disappeared, and his eyes were as cold as ice.
He grabbed the wrist of the person who tried to lay hands on her, seemingly without much force, yet it made the other person grimace in pain and unable to move.
“Watch your mouth,” Kitano’s voice wasn’t loud, but it carried a terrifying sense of oppression.
“If you can’t handle losing, don’t gamble.
Venting your impotent rage on a girl—is that all you’re capable of?”
He looked around at the stunned individuals, the disdain and mockery in his tone almost palpable:
“I don’t understand your fanaticism about the sanctification of Uma Musume competitions, but at least I know that true support isn’t like this.
Blaming others for being ominous when you lose?
Attributing the outcome of a competition to some baseless luck?
Ridiculous!
I think you are the ones defiling this sport!”
His powerful physique, though not used to its full extent, and his words, as precise as a surgeon’s scalpel, stripped away their hypocritical facades and completely defeated those people.
They could neither contend physically nor refute his arguments, leaving them utterly defeated.
In the end, they could only grumble and slink away.
As Kitano stood in front of her, repelling those people with his icy words, Rice Shower, in extreme panic and dependence, instinctively clutched the corner of his clothes behind him, and with a tearful, almost inaudible voice, she tremblingly called out:
“Brother…”
At that moment, Kitano’s body stiffened almost imperceptibly, and his heart felt as if something had gently bumped into it.
“Bro…
Brother?”
He had not expected this at all and was at a loss for a moment.
And that entire day, the still-shaken Rice Shower was unusually dependent on him, like a fledgling seeking shelter, staying close to him until he safely escorted her back to Tracen Academy.
The next day, when Rice Shower recovered from her extreme emotions and recalled that she had actually called him “Brother,” she was immediately mortified.
For several weeks afterward, whenever she saw Kitano from afar, she would instantly flee the scene at full Uma Musume speed, leaving only an afterimage behind.
Although Kitano also felt a bit awkward, he tacitly never brought it up, giving her enough space to process her embarrassment.
This incident later spread on a small scale online, and Kitano’s image as a friend-protecting maniac and clear-headed individual became even more deeply ingrained in people’s hearts.
Rice Shower’s fans were almost overjoyed, unanimously hailing Kitano as the Honorary Leader and Strongest Protector.
Even Tracen Academy officials and some Uma Musume who admired Rice Shower privately expressed their gratitude to Kitano and sent some thank-you gifts.
Kitano looked at those gifts, feeling very subtle—he just wanted to live a quiet life, but inexplicably became a well-known figure in the Uma Musume community.
Recalling this, Kitano couldn’t help but smile and said to Rice Shower, “Thinking about it now, it really was…
quite lively back then.”
Rice Shower’s face was flushed, but this time not from nervousness, but from gratitude and a touch of warmth.
She nodded vigorously.
“Mmm…
The two walked in silence for a short distance.
As they neared a fork in the road, Rice Shower seemed to have made up her mind and spoke softly again, her voice carrying a hint of imperceptible longing and apprehension:
“Kitano-kun…
Soon, it will be the Tenno Sho (Spring).”
“Yes, I heard,” Kitano replied.
Of course, he knew that this major event was the center of all recent discussions, and even he, an outsider, was forced to know about it.
“Rice Shower…
is also participating.” She paused, her voice lower, carrying a complex emotion.
“Mejiro McQueen-san…
will also be competing.
She is a very, very powerful opponent, a universally recognized champion…
She is Rice Shower’s…
admired goal and target to challenge.”
She looked up and quickly glanced at Kitano, her deep purple eyes intertwined with a strong desire to win, a fear of her own ominous identity, and…
an expectation, which she herself might not fully grasp, to gain more affirmation from the person in front of her.
“Rice Shower…
really, really wants to win.
She wants to prove…
that Rice Shower’s running is not…
not just bringing misfortune…”
Kitano keenly caught the heaviness in her words that transcended the race itself, as well as that subtle dependence.
He stopped, turned around, and faced Rice Shower, his tone uncharacteristically serious and gentle:
“Listen, Rice Shower.”
“Running is your own business.
When you stand on the track, the only thing you should think about is how to do your best and rush to the finish line.
Mejiro McQueen is strong, but that doesn’t mean you don’t have a chance to win.
Other people’s opinions, those boring titles, should all be cast aside the moment you start running.”
He looked at Rice Shower’s slightly widened eyes and continued, his voice carrying his unique, calm power that seemed to cut through confusion:
“You don’t need to prove to anyone whether you are ominous or not.
You only need to prove to yourself how much you crave that turf, how much you crave the light of victory.
Focus on the running itself; that’s enough.”
These words flowed like clear spring water into Rice Shower’s anxious heart.
The gloom that had lingered in her mind seemed to be dispelled somewhat by these calm yet firm words.
A warm current and strength quietly surged within her.
She felt her cheeks flush, not only because her thoughts had been spoken aloud, but also because of the unreserved trust and support in Kitano’s words.
Rice Shower’s inner thoughts: Kitano-kun believes in me…
This feeling of being trusted is so good…
She nodded vigorously, a smile appearing on her face that, though still shy, was much brighter than before:
“Yes!
Rice Shower…
understands!
I will run with all my might!”
It really helps the fic grow!