Kitano finally chose a fried chicken cutlet bento from the refrigerated display and grabbed a bottle of oolong tea, then walked to the cashier to pay.
Just as he pushed open the convenience store’s glass door and the cool night breeze swept over him, several figures blocked his path with a swish.
Leading them was a very agitated young girl.
She stood with her hands on her hips, radiating a fierce aura.
Her Uma Musume ears were erect with excitement, and her tail swung restlessly behind her—Narita Brian.
Standing beside her was a lively young girl—Marvelous Sunday.
She was staring at Kitano without blinking, as if he were a blank canvas for her next rainbow-colored graffiti.
Slightly behind them was an Uma Musume with a determined expression—Seeking the Pearl.
She seemed to have been dragged along, but her eyes also showed a desire to uncover the truth.
This peculiar combination drew curious glances from passersby.
A loud voice boomed, “Hey—!
You!
We heard everything!
What do you mean you don’t understand the meaning of our running?!
What a joke—!”
Marvelous Sunday stepped forward, her eyes twinkling as she squinted with a smile.
“I see, I see ☆ You have a rather~ unique perspective on the existence of Uma Musume!
Could you please explain it to us in detail?
We’re super interested right now!”
She stretched out the word “interested,” making it sparkle.
Seeking the Pearl also clenched her small fists, adding in a quiet but clear voice, “Y-yes!
Running is the most, most important thing to us!
It’s not something that can be casually compared like that!”
Kitano looked at the three names before him, all future stars of the racecourse, now blocking the convenience store entrance like little foals whose tails had been stepped on, demanding an explanation from him.
He felt a wave of speechlessness.
The bento he had just heated was still warm in his hands, reminding him that his dinner had been interrupted.
“…I knew it wouldn’t be that easy.
But isn’t this lineup a bit too luxurious?”
He sighed, his face still wearing that indifferent expression, even with a hint of exasperation from being disturbed.
“Students, if this is about my slip of the tongue just now, I’ve already apologized to Vice President Air Groove.
That was just my personal rambling under specific circumstances, and it doesn’t represent any objective evaluation, nor was it intended to offend your dreams and efforts.”
He tried to get by with official rhetoric.
“Rambling?
No way ☆!”
Marvelous Sunday clapped her hands together, her starry eyes right in front of his nose.
“To be able to state such super precise speed numbers for our running, that’s not something rambling can accomplish, is it?
Hey, tell me, tell me—the truth will definitely be more Marvelous, right ★!”
Her intuition was terrifyingly accurate.
Narita Brian nodded vigorously.
“Exactly!
Explain yourself!
How do you really see our running?
In your eyes, what exactly are we?”
Her question was direct and central, carrying the unique purity and persistence of an Uma Musume.
Seeking the Pearl also nodded forcefully, her eyes fixed on Kitano, awaiting his answer.
The convenience store’s lights cast long shadows of the group, and the atmosphere was somewhat tense.
Kitano looked at the bento in his hand, which was getting colder, and knew that he wouldn’t be able to eat in peace today unless he gave them an explanation they could somewhat understand.
He sighed again, this time with a hint of resignation.
“Alright,” he said, raising his eyes, his gaze sweeping over the young, belief-filled faces of the three future stars.
“I do…
see some things.
For example, your stride frequency, the efficiency of your muscle output, the effect of air resistance…
In my eyes, running is more like a set of quantifiable data and physical phenomena.”
He paused, choosing a relatively gentle way of speaking.
“As for what you ask me—what you are in my eyes…” Kitano’s tone remained calm, yet carried a strange penetrative power.
“What I see is a group of individuals who push their innate talent and acquired effort to the extreme, pursuing faster and stronger performances on the racecourse.
Athletes.
Nothing more.”
He didn’t say miracles.
He didn’t say blessed by the Goddesses.
And he certainly didn’t say beings carrying dreams.
Merely—athletes.
This answer was so plain, so objective, and yet so…
different.
It was like a stone thrown into a lake, stirring up layer after layer of ripples in the hearts of the Uma Musume.
They were athletes?
Merely…
athletes?
Watching their expressions fall into contemplation, Kitano shook the bento box in his hand.
“Well then, esteemed future top athletes, may I go eat my dinner now?
My bento is getting cold.”
“Athletes…?”
The word was so common, so common that Narita Brian was momentarily stunned.
She had anticipated many kinds of answers—perhaps contemptuous mockery, perhaps insincere flattery—but she had never expected such an unadorned, even somewhat “that’s it?” kind of word.
“…”
Marvelous Sunday was uncharacteristically quiet for 0.1 seconds, then her displeasure came through in her high-pitched, rising intonation.
“If you strip away all the halos, we’re no different from ordinary runners?
I refuse to accept that assumption ★!”
“From the perspective of exercise biomechanics and energy metabolism, the core principles indeed have no essential difference.” Kitano nodded, his tone as calm as if stating a law of physics.
“It’s all muscle contraction driving skeletal levers, overcoming gravity and resistance to achieve displacement.
The difference lies in your muscle fiber types, cardiopulmonary efficiency, and energy conversion rates far exceeding those of ordinary humans, which allows you to reach higher limits.”
He paused, then added, “Of course, you also have phenomena like Zone and Inheritance, which I cannot fully explain with existing science.
I reserve judgment on those parts.”
Seeking the Pearl retorted, “But…
what we carry when we run is not just our own bodies!
There are also the fans’ expectations, the team’s glory, and…
and the promises with our companions!”
Her eyes sparkled with genuine emotion.
Kitano looked at them, his gaze still calm, with a clear sense of boundary—he understood the meaning of the words, but could not empathize.
“I understand.” He nodded, his tone not refuting, only stating.
“You have your reasons.
Very pure, and very heavy.”
His gaze swept over the three Uma Musume before him, finally returning to the bento in his hand, his voice carrying a hint of pure confusion.
“But this is what I’ve always struggled to understand.
In my perception, any top athlete carries similar burdens.
But why…”
He paused, seemingly searching for the right words.
“Why is it only here that this heaviness transforms into an almost burning fervor?
I can’t understand this emotion, just as I can’t understand why you can pour everything into it.”
His words were like a cold scalpel, precisely cutting open the fervent outer layer wrapped around Uma Musume culture, revealing a perhaps more complex, even somewhat cruel core within.
Marvelous Sunday fell silent.
She had to admit that Kitano’s words, though jarring, pointed in a direction they rarely considered.
They had been taught the glory of running since childhood, surrounded by the love of fans, and had long been accustomed to this specialness.
But if all of that were stripped away, what was their core?
Were they really just…
athletes?
Narita Brian opened her mouth.
She wanted to refute, to say that running wasn’t such a cold thing, to say that the wind while running, the encouragement of companions, and the joy of crossing the finish line were all real.
But looking into Kitano’s calm eyes, she was momentarily at a loss for words.
Kitano looked at the three who had fallen silent again, feeling that the time was right.
“I’m done talking.” He shook the bento in his hand.
“That’s my view.
It might make you uncomfortable, but that’s what I believe.
If there’s nothing else…”
He made to leave.
“Wait, wait a minute!” Narita Brian instinctively called out.
Kitano stopped, turning back with an inquiring gaze.
Narita Brian’s face flushed red, and finally, as if using all her strength, she loudly declared, “Even…
even if you think it’s just sports!
We will keep running!
We will prove, in our own way, that our running is valuable!
That it can make everyone happy!”
This was not a refutation, but more like a declaration, a pure struggle based on her own beliefs.
Kitano looked at the three girls before him—Narita Brian’s unyielding stubbornness, the glimmer in Marvelous Sunday’s eyes that had not been extinguished by his words, and Seeking the Pearl’s firm courage.
They were like three different forms of sparks, burning stubbornly in the night, trying to warm him, this outsider.
His usual calm expression seemed to soften a little under that light.
He sighed softly, but in that sigh, there was less helplessness and a little more…
perhaps, a touch of emotion.
“Although I still can’t fully understand everything you run for.” He spoke, his voice slightly gentler than before, his gaze calmly meeting their eyes.
“But I can see that you are serious.”
He paused, as if weighing his words.
“Since this is the path you have chosen, then…
keep running.
Not for anyone’s expectations, but only for what you yourselves believe in.”
He raised the slightly cooling bento in his hand, as if making a simple farewell.
“I wish you all happy running.”
After saying that, he no longer lingered, turning to blend into the night.
It really helps the fic grow!