“Hurry up and deliver this box of ingredients to the cafeteria!”
“Thirteen more boxes!
Don’t mix up the potatoes and onions!
The kitchen doesn’t have time to sort them out over there!”
“Who’s supposed to be driving the forklift?!”
“…”
Wiping his sweat, Kato Akira operated the forklift, moving heavy boxes of ingredients onto the cafeteria’s conveyor belt.
In places the Uma Musume never see, dozens or even hundreds of academy staff are constantly running around to support their brilliant lives.
Horse girls possess a free spirited and wild nature, and Tracen Academy is the place where they unleash that true nature.
That means there is an endless amount of physical exertion and an incredibly high demand for food and resources to sustain them.
In a normal school, a janitor’s job might be relatively relaxed.
But at Tracen Academy, the janitors are constantly exhausted, breaking their backs for barely any pay.
Before the recent reforms, there was no official Trainer system, and Tracen was managed very differently.
Back then, the school’s staff unions often asked Uma Musume for autographs to sell on the side—a sort of unspoken, hidden perk.
But now, after the reforms, a strict hierarchy between school staff, Trainers, and racing Uma Musume has been established.
Stripped of their perks and faced with low wages and heavy labor, many of the old school staff rushed to resign.
It was precisely because of this chaotic transition and severe staff shortage that an outsider with no connections like Kato Akira managed to slip in through a simple verbal interview.
Tracen Academy was currently short staffed and short on funds, so management turned a blind eye to minor discrepancies.
And judging from the current situation, Akira was actually a very responsible janitor.
He knew his background was questionable, and he came to Tracen Academy purely hoping to use the janitor position as a stepping stone.
Since he made a very good impression on the surface and caused no trouble, he passed his probation and signed a formal contract.
As for his dream of becoming a Trainer, Tracen Academy didn’t actively restrict him.
After all, the Trainer system had just been established, and there were no specialized Trainer academies yet.
Many current Trainers were simply former members of the old Uma Musume support system who had been transferred over.
For the higher-ups, they just wanted results—the more people trying and taking the exam, the better.
However, there was one thing Akira found truly unbearable.
And that was the so called “guidance of the elders.”
Tracen Academy’s upper management and the Student Council didn’t oppose him studying, but the veteran staff members loved making cynical remarks.
After a heavy shift, the janitors usually got a dedicated one-hour break.
Some went outside to smoke, but most sat in the lounge chairs to recharge and gossip.
During these times, the so-called “kind hearted” senior staff would come over, acting like wise experts, and give Akira unsolicited advice, hoping he would just give up and become one of the countless lazy janitors like them. You are reading on novelping.com, the official source.
“Kato, come on, sit down.
You’ve been here a while now, you still haven’t given up on that unrealistic idea?”
“Look, I’m not trying to discourage you, but you know how heavy the workload is here at Tracen, and the Trainer exam is notoriously brutal.
If you chase two rabbits, you’ll catch neither.
You finally got a full-time position; don’t push your luck and lose your job entirely.”
“Look at you, you’ve already got dark circles under your eyes.
If you keep pushing yourself like this, even a young body won’t be able to handle it.
It’s not a bad thing to recognize your own limits early on…”
“I appreciate everyone’s kindness, but I still want to try,” Akira replied.
Countless whispers and sighs of mockery followed.
These men had lost their drive and their hope for the future.
They mocked the ambition of others and believed the world was static and unchanging.
To them, giving up was just common sense.
But no matter what, Akira couldn’t accept that reality.
He knew very well that he wasn’t particularly talented or smart.
If anything, his only advantage was his foresight.
He knew he was a reincarnator.
He knew this was a chaotic, transitional era where even the training methods were still uncertain.
So why should he just blend into the crowd of Tracen Academy’s janitors, when he could seize the moment, become a Trainer, and reach the peak of his life?
“Try?
If you try, you’ll just study yourself to death.
There’s no cure for that.”
Feeling that Akira was being too stubborn, the senior staff shook their heads, wondering why he was so obsessed.
“You have to understand, Kato, who among the older staff here wasn’t part of the old Tracen system?
Before we were reduced to just ‘school janitors,’ we were all members of the auxiliary support teams.
Back then, there wasn’t even a clear distinction.
We all understood a bit about training.”
“But that Symboli Rudolf—tch, what an ungrateful Emperor.
She decided the old system was too bloated and forcefully disbanded all the old teams, systems, and departments.
And the Central administration just went along with it, letting a young girl cause all this trouble! Get faster updates on g.com.
In this situation, who do you think actually gets to be a Trainer?”
“Don’t even mention the Emperor’s ‘three defeats.’ We’re all school staff, we know what really happened.
That Symboli Rudolf is just seeking revenge on us for the past.
Look at the new Trainers—most of them are young outsiders.
Bluntly speaking, she just wants us old folks to get lost.”
“You’re a janitor, so you’re one of us.
Don’t be fooled by those horse girls.
The promotional posters are just propaganda, the truth is the truth.
You’ll never become a Trainer in this environment.”
“…I don’t think Symboli Rudolf is that kind of Uma Musume,” Akira said softly.
“And regardless, I still want to try.
Giving up without even trying isn’t my style.”
Nodding politely to the laughing and scoffing staff members, Akira grabbed his Trainer study guide from his locker and left the lounge.
“Sorry, please excuse me.”
Akira walked straight out of the room.
At the very least, they had basic decency.
They didn’t actively sabotage him or subject him to workplace bullying, after having their laugh, they just left him alone.
Listening to the laughter echoing from inside, Akira glanced at his phone, set an alarm, and found a spot in the shade.
He flipped open his Trainer textbook, determined to squeeze in some study time.
Maybe what they said made sense to them.
Maybe some of these people had even been members of the Emperor’s old support team.
But Akira knew he absolutely could not become like them.
As a reincarnator who knew the future plot and the true potential of these legendary figures, how could he not at least try?
“Damn it, as long as I don’t die, I’ll study until I drop!”
Staring at the complex data and charts, Akira gritted his teeth and continued memorizing the material.
Meanwhile, inside the small cabin in the woods, Orfevre and Deep Impact, who had been waiting for a long time, frowned as they saw a figure approaching.
“Ah, hello everyone~”
The free spirited, blue eyed horse girl smiled warmly at the two of them and waved her hand.
She had something she wanted to say.