‘Hello, I am Orfevre.’
In the moonlit dormitory, the masked horse girl curled up at the foot of her bed, stared at the glowing screen of her smartphone, and tapped the send button.
A moment later, the avatar on the other end showed “Read” and “Typing…”
Within seconds, a string of words packed with various symbols and emojis popped up on the interface.
‘OK!
(๑•̀ㅂ•́)و✧ Received!~ You can call me Deep or Deep Impact, whichever is fine~ ☆’
‘Alright, Deep Impact.’
Staring at the string of text and emojis, the little goldsmith scratched her head and typed very formally:
‘I spent the day thinking about what we discussed this morning.
What do you think?
The two of us forming a temporary training alliance.’
‘I’m down!
I couldn’t find anyone to run with at the academy anyway.
Everyone just keeps talking about heavy stuff like “hope” and “the future,” and it all feels so far away from me.
I just felt really lonely.
I won’t lie to you—I get lonely really easily and I’m super clingy, you know?
I’m a pretty troublesome Uma Musume.’
‘I see.’
‘Besides, I’m actually pretty interested in that Janitor-san of yours.’
‘…’
(No, I can’t use my strength.
Otherwise, my phone will break again.)
Hearing a sickening crack, the goldsmith instinctively let go, but faint spiderweb cracks were already visible across the phone’s glass screen.
This was the third smartphone she had gone through this month.
Even phones specially reinforced for Uma Musume couldn’t withstand much when placed in her hands.
With a heavy sigh, she slowly typed a reply on the cracked screen.
(Well, Ojisan is a proper adult who follows the rules, so I should reply calmly.)
The little goldsmith took a deep breath and calmly typed her response into the app.
‘I don’t mind letting you take the lead, but if you get in his way, I will kill you.’
‘Ahaha☆ Then what else am I supposed to do?
Just kidding!~’
“…”
After spending a few minutes transferring her data and downloading her apps, she saw a new message from Deep Impact asking why she had disconnected.
Orfevre simply replied, ‘A young maiden made a little mistake,’ and left it at that.
Deep Impact was genuinely a good natured horse girl, completely different from Orfevre.
She was full of enthusiasm, cheerful, and loved making jokes and saying weird things.
She was clearly the type who loved clinging to others in a crowd.
Yet, because of this very personality, she had ended up totally isolated at school.
Just like Orfevre.
They were both completely out of place.
Perhaps it was only when she was with that clueless Ojisan that she could truly show the personality she wanted to show.
Because Ojisan really didn’t know anything.
There was a massive, three layered gap between Janitors, Trainers, and Uma Musume.
Trainers only knew about training times, official mock races, and their sporadic progress.
The janitors naturally had no way of knowing the internal rumors among the horse girls, and even the instructors only knew vague details.
Especially in this current era—the very first year of the new Trainer system—there was still a significant barrier between Trainers and Uma Musume.
Right now, the horse girls couldn’t fully trust the Trainers, nor could they tell them every little detail of their school lives.
And the Trainers wouldn’t dare interfere in the personal disputes between students.
After all, since it was the inaugural year of the system, everyone was acting with extreme caution and formal respect.
Orfevre was actually glad it was like this.
Because only in this environment could she confidently stand before Ojisan in the future and declare that she was his responsibility, and that she was an Uma Musume running solely for him.
“I wonder what Ojisan is doing right now…
Yep, he can definitely become a Trainer.
I have to work hard too.”
Staring at the final text message on her screen, Orfevre sighed and looked up at the mirror in her dormitory.
In the empty dorm room, the little goldsmith was the only one curled up in the corner.
Her reflection in the large mirror only made the room feel even more hollow and lonely.
She still remembered that she originally hadn’t lived alone.
This was a two person room.
Her former roommate was a tall, incredibly confident racehorse girl who constantly talked about making the world recognize her charm and strength.
That girl had specifically bought this large mirror and hung it on the opposite wall.
She had happily told Orfevre that she should consider herself lucky to be the one who got to see her charm up close.
Someday, the whole world would get to witness her brilliance, just like Orfevre did.
But that incredibly confident horse girl had dropped out of Tracen Academy half a month ago.
She remembered how the girl had grabbed her shoulders and screamed in anger:
‘How can an empty shell like you, who has nothing, just run around without a care in the world?!
Meanwhile, my beautiful dreams have to end here!
Answer me!’
‘Probably because you’re too weak,’ Orfevre had replied.
‘The weak get eaten here, and the strong run wild.
This is Rudolf’s rule.
Did I say something wrong?’
‘…Hehe, I guess that’s true.
I’m sorry.’
In the end, her once-confident roommate didn’t say anything else.
She just left the mirror behind and walked away.
It seemed that Tracen Academy no longer had a place for horse girls like her, and Orfevre was left without a single Uma Musume she could normally talk to.
“Bottom tier horse girls” referred to those who hadn’t debuted, had no expectations for prize money, supposedly lacked ability, and were extremely withdrawn.
But those were just descriptions, not the absolute truth.
She was strong.
The goldsmith knew that herself.
But for the longest time, she simply hadn’t understood the meaning of running.
And on that rainy day, as she was hiding in the woods blaming herself, the little goldsmith finally found her reason to run.
To her, it felt like a calling from fate itself.
“I will run for Ojisan…
Ojisan, won’t you become a Trainer for me?”
Staring at her masked reflection huddled in the corner of the mirror, the goldsmith blinked, wrapped herself tightly in her quilt, and gazed out at the bright moon.
That bright moonlight carried the young girl’s intense yearning, stretching three kilometers away, and sent a sudden, chilling shiver down a certain someone’s spine.
______________
“Umm…
you two, if there’s nothing else you need from me, I’ll be leaving now, haha…”
“Don’t move!” x2
“Guh!”
Feeling the crushing, heavy pressure slamming down on both of his shoulders, Kato Akira realized a profound truth:
A human being absolutely cannot resist the physical strength of an Uma Musume.
(TL:Sensei from blue archive: first time?)