Kitasan Black—Kita, to her friends.
Satono Diamond’s best friend and fiercest rival.
Her family’s business situation was, to put it charitably, complicated.
But as an umamusume, Kitasan Black had always been excellent, and she was an equally good person.
That was precisely why Diamond felt comfortable introducing her to the socially anxious Toujou Kaisoku.
Kitasan Black had always possessed a mysterious gift for dissolving barriers.
Diamond attributed this mainly to the fact that the girl was genuinely impossible to refuse—or rather, she radiated the kind of warmth that overwhelmed your defenses before your social anxiety even had time to fire.
Kaisoku shoveled rice into her mouth while Diamond handled introductions from both sides.
When they reached the part about Kaisoku being orphaned—no parents, no siblings, no property, surviving on student loans—Kitasan Black’s tears didn’t just fall.
They erupted.
Honestly, it was Kaisoku’s first time witnessing a real-life example of “tears gushing like a fountain.” Whether Kita simply had overactive tear ducts or was genuinely that empathetic, the sad story had hit her hard.
Kaisoku herself didn’t feel particularly emotional about it—I’m just a squatter who took over someone else’s body, after all—
She sighed internally.
The original Toujou Kaisoku had been a girl who couldn’t even cry for help.
She couldn’t so much as tell the roommate she lived with how she felt.
It was the textbook setup for a tragedy.
And the interloper who’d borrowed her body had no idea how to handle the sympathy being directed at a life she hadn’t actually lived.
“Kita, you’re going to scare her.
She just worked up the nerve to come out of her shell—are you trying to chase her back in?” Diamond intervened.
“B-but—!”
“No buts!” Diamond watched in alarm as Kitasan Black practically glued herself to Kaisoku’s side.
This was a social anxiety patient, for heaven’s sake—getting that close would trigger a fight-or-flight response.
It was like grabbing a rabbit by the ears.
The dead look in Kaisoku’s eyes right now was probably the thousand-yard stare of someone who’d already mentally checked out.
“…I’m actually fine.” Kaisoku had just been lost in thought, so she spoke up to clarify.
“But Kitasan Black-san, there’s really no need to imagine my life as some kind of sob story.
If things had actually gotten bad enough that I couldn’t eat, Diamond-san would never have just stood by.
So all I really have is a rough backstory.
That’s it.”
“Exactly—I’m her roommate!” Diamond emphasized.
“If Toujou Kaisoku couldn’t afford to eat, how could I possibly look the other way?”
“Oh, that’s true!” Kitasan Black clapped her hands together in a way that was not entirely convincing on the intelligence front.
Though Kaisoku spent most of the meal with her head down, mechanically working through her food, neither Diamond nor Kita let that slow down their campaign to feed her.
And the girl, starved as she was, refused nothing.
“Kaisoku!
This cake—”
“Ahhh—”
“Toujou Kaisoku, I’ve got ice cream over here.”
“Ahhh—”
After several rounds of this, Diamond and Kita seemed to discover a new hobby.
Partly because Kaisoku accepting food hand-to-mouth was pitiful in the most adorable way imaginable—you couldn’t stop after just once.
Especially when she puffed out her cheeks like a hamster, still chewing, while they loaded up the next offering.
On a scale of one to ten, the cuteness scored a solid ten—maybe even nine.
“Come to think of it, Dia—why are you only introducing Kaisoku to me now?” Kitasan Black tilted her head.
“I don’t think you’ve ever mentioned her before, and you’ve been living together for ages.”
“The old Toujou Kaisoku-san barely spoke to me.” Diamond explained.
“She was like a stray kitten—saw a person and bolted.
Even when I tried to get closer, she’d back away.
It was like she’d been hurt so many times she’d developed a reflex to keep everyone at arm’s length.
I didn’t want to push and make her uncomfortable, so I just… watched from a distance.”
“…I see.” Kitasan Black rubbed her chin.
“So Toujou Kaisoku is a shut-in!”
“Kita!” Diamond sensed her childhood friend’s complete lack of tact hurtling toward collateral damage and moved to intervene.
Kita’s bluntness was usually endearing, but occasionally it landed with the precision of a cruise missile aimed at someone’s deepest insecurities.
“—I haven’t eaten this well in forever.” Kaisoku, meanwhile, had transcended caring.
For the first time in either of her lives, she felt genuinely content.
Compared to instant noodles and starch sausages, a meal where she could eat her fill of real food was a gift from the heavens.
She had no idea when the next opportunity like this would come, so right now, with her hands resting on her slightly rounded belly, she had exactly zero interest in taking offense at anything.
“Actually… I could bring you here again sometime.” Diamond said quietly.
“I have a black card membership here.
And Toujou Kaisoku-san, your grades are really quite good.
I’m sure you’ll have no trouble getting into Tracen Academy.”
“Hm?
I’m not planning to go to Tracen Academy.” Kaisoku scratched her head, puzzled.
“I want to go to a regular prep school.”
“…?” This time it wasn’t just Diamond—even Kitasan Black was stunned.
“But without Tracen Academy, you can’t get top-level training.
Regular high schools have trainers too, but still…” Kitasan Black trailed off, confused.
“Wouldn’t Tracen be the better choice no matter how you look at it?”
“Nah… I just figure, for an umamusume at my level, instead of trying to make it as a racer, I’d have better odds getting into Tōdai.” Kaisoku shook her head.
“I’m not going to be a racing umamusume!
I’m going to be a Tōdai umamusume!”
“…Tōdai?
You mean Tokyo University?” Satono Diamond went quiet for a long moment before asking.
Kaisoku nodded.
In Japan, the one university that could single-handedly catapult you across class lines was probably Tokyo University.
Compared to the cutthroat Tracen Academy meat grinder, she figured she had better odds cramming her way into Tōdai.
With the test-taking prowess drilled into her by China’s rote-learning education system, she might actually stand a chance.
Tōdai was Tōdai.
Graduate from there and everyone would be fighting over you.
Cruise into a comfortable career, achieve peak slacker status, never worry about the future again.
Compared to gambling everything on a footrace, wasn’t that infinitely better?
“Toujou Kaisoku-san…” Satono Diamond paused again, then stated a fact.
“Tokyo University has never admitted an umamusume.”