Never in her wildest dreams did she imagine that the "Kitahara Jones" dark history meme from her past life would become reality. Hakki could only conclude that this world was just that bizarre. But looking on the bright side... Kitahara was now a soft and cute horse girl?
With this thought in mind, Hakki, who had already slept the entire day, fell into a deep sleep once more, without even brushing her teeth.
After finishing her team application, Deep Impact saw Hakki's extremely strange sleeping posture. She hadn't even taken off her jacket or shoes. After a moment's hesitation, Deep Impact decided to help her, taking off her jacket and shoes and pulling the covers over her before going to wash up for bed herself.
However, the next morning, Deep Impact was awakened by the clattering sound of a keyboard.
Click-clack-click-clack
The penetrating sound was impossible to block, even with her ears pressed flat against her head. Drowsily, she lifted her head and saw Hakki with her laptop propped up on her knees, furiously typing.
"The f*ck you say to me? You talk like that, your family tree must be from a wholesale market," Hakki muttered, spewing a stream of words that left Deep Impact utterly stunned. Her fingers were moving so fast across the keyboard they left afterimages.
Her ears slowly peeled away from her scalp. Seeing Hakki like this, Deep Impact's heart filled with even more pity for her roommate... What kind of hardships must she have faced in life to develop this kind of emotional state...
"Um, Hakki-san...?" she called out softly. Hakki's movements froze. She turned her head stiffly, then snapped her laptop shut.
"If anything is bothering you... you can tell me, okay...? You don't have to put so much pressure on yourself... okay?" Deep Impact saw that Hakki's eyes were completely hollow, the kind of emptiness that came from having lost all hope in life.
Hakki placed the laptop on her nightstand, then... sullenly retreated back under the covers and started squirming.
She saw me... and she heard me. There's no way I can live at Central anymore! Would they even allow a little horse with such a foul mouth to stay here?! No way... but I was using a burner account to fight with trolls... that should be fine, right?
As she squirmed gloomily, Hakki suddenly felt a tug on her blanket. Deep Impact's voice came through. "Hakki-san? It's really okay... you can tell me anything."
Emergency! An unprecedented crisis! The very survival of Hakki Byakku at Tracen Academy was at stake!
Her mind was blank! Completely crashed! She couldn't organize a single believable excuse!
Hakki's trembling hands clutched the blanket, trying to prevent Deep Impact from pulling it away. After a final,糾結-filled moment, she... she gave up resisting. Sometimes a person... no, a horse girl living in this world had to believe in a certain famous saying.
Abandon personal dignity, enjoy a life without morals. Refuse mental anguish, respond to problems by going crazy.
Once she embraced this, everything... everything became clear.
"It's nothing! Deep Impact-san!" Hakki threw off the covers and sat up, looking refreshed and full of spirit. The stark contrast made Deep Impact's heart pound. Oh no, this little horse hasn't even been at Central for a day and she's already... already... broken, hasn't she?!
"I just saw some trashy troll online badmouthing my idol, so I was fighting back. I'm actually a very cheerful person, so you don't have to worry, Deep Impact-san."
"Wait... but..."
"He called Rudolf a deadbeat mom who abandoned her family." I'm sorry, Mr. Fictional Character, but I need you to take the fall for this. To be fair, Hakki was telling the truth... even if it was about something from another world.
"Huh?" As Deep Impact stared, Hakki put on her shoes, grabbed her phone and student ID, and fled. She had to go see Secretary Tazuna to finish her enrollment procedures anyway, so it was a good excuse to escape early.
"President Rudolf... abandoned her family? But... she isn't even married, is she?" For the first time, Deep Impact felt like her brain wasn't big enough.
But it seemed the Three Goddesses were not looking favorably upon Hakki. When she stepped outside the dorm, she saw two figures standing in the sunlight, one with ash-grey hair and the other in a red jacket, both painfully bright.
Hakki froze on the spot. Oguri Cap turned around, also a little surprised. "Ah, it's CuckooBird_official. Good morning."
"I told you, my name is Hakki Byakku... whatever, call me what you want... It looks like I can't run this time. Oguri Cap, what were you going to do with that burlap sack yesterday...?" Hakki finally resigned herself to her fate, giving up the desire to flee.
"Because I want CuckooBird to join Kitahara's team. Kitahara is struggling to recruit a new horse girl right now."
"Why me...? Did you see that I have potential as a runner?" Hakki said it, but even she didn't believe it. The after-effects of being frozen when she first crossed over were probably enough to keep her from running properly.
"Because the other horse girls aren't as easy to talk to as CuckooBird. Also, Kitahara's reputation as a trainer at Central isn't very high," Oguri Cap replied, looking at Hakki with sincere, puppy-dog eyes.
Being stared at like that, Hakki let out a sigh. Although her own mental state was questionable, she was terrible at dealing with situations where someone looked at her with such earnestness.
"So, to put it simply, even though Kitahara made it to Central, she doesn't have any results here, so other horse girls aren't considering her, right?"
It was a simple reason, but also the most difficult problem to solve. Without a horse girl to sign, you can't build a reputation. Without a reputation, no horse girl will sign. A vicious cycle.
"Yes. Kitahara's team also has Zennin Gloria as support staff right now... so... please consider it, CuckooBird. Kitahara is very skilled now!"
"Sigh, I know, I know... Kitahara's team... It's not that it's bad, I'm just worried... I'll drag her down." What Hakki truly feared was that her own performance would bring criticism upon her trainer. All the tests she had taken before had shown, without exception, terrible results.
"It's okay! I believe CuckooBird can run very fast. And then... then you can compete for the Triple Crown in the classic year! So... CuckooBird..."
"I get it... Kitahara's team does seem like a good fit for me... Um... have all the other new horse girls found trainers already?" Hakki wasn't clear on this point. Did all horse girls choose a trainer, or did some train in groups?
"Yeah, pretty much. The new students have been here for a while. CuckooBird's late enrollment meant you missed the freshman trial race," Oguri answered truthfully. This made Hakki feel a wave of relief that she had missed it. Being lapped by the second-to-last place finisher would have been far too embarrassing. Then no trainer would have wanted her, and she might have even been expelled...
"Alright! Let's go find Kitahara now! Before I change my mind or something..." As Hakki said this, she kept one thing to herself. She had no intention of competing for the classic year's Triple Crown.
Whoever wanted to run against a monster like Deep Impact could go right ahead. She wasn't going to.
Wouldn't it be much better to go rake in prize money from other races?
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