"Name?"
"...Centaurea, I guess? Just call me Platinum."
Hayakawa Tazuna blinked, looking at the girl sitting across from her.
...You guess?
"Well then, Miss Platinum… you don't seem to be from this country, do you?"
"Hmm… do I look like I'm from here?"
Listening to the other girl's halting, broken Japanese, Hayakawa Tazuna carefully thought for two seconds, then shook her head. "I don't think you are."
"Yeah, figures…" The girl let out a sigh. "I didn't think so either. If I had to name a nationality… probably Polish? Though I don't speak a word of Polish."
Hayakawa Tazuna's hand, holding the pen, trembled slightly.
...Probably?
"Ahem…" Hayakawa Tazuna cleared her throat, her smile looking a little strained. "Well then, Miss Platinum…"
"Are you sure… you want to register for the debut race that's about to start today? At this hour?"
The girl rolled her eyes and stared up at the ceiling.
If she had a choice, she wouldn't be doing this either.
It all started three hours ago.
The girl stood in front of a department store mirror, pinching her own cheeks, watching her reflection do the same.
She gave her face a few pats—not gentle ones—and immediately saw her reflection's cheeks turn bright red.
"Hmm…" The girl pondered, then reached up and pinched her own ears—not the ones at the sides of her head like a normal person's, but the diamond-shaped white ones on top of her head.
"Ow." She let go immediately. Not only were the ears real, they were pretty sensitive too.
As if sensing its owner's attention, the pair of ears on her head twitched fittingly.
Rubbing her eyes, the girl studied her reflection.
A face that still held a touch of childishness but was already showing hints of charm, a slender waist that one could almost wrap their hands around, and below, the subtle curves of a body just beginning to develop—like a flower bud about to bloom, full of youthful promise.
Most striking were her slender legs. Set off by open-toed sandals, they seemed as delicate and translucent as glass, dazzlingly pale under the sunlight.
It wasn't just her legs that were fair.
Apart from her rosy lips, dark layered eyes like black holes, and pink nail beds, almost everything about the girl was white—including the briskly swishing ponytail behind her and the waist-length hair. She looked like a freshly carved statue.
That said, the body proportions were really something… She didn't look particularly tall, but those legs were definitely eye-catching.
The girl turned a circle in front of the mirror, and the legs obediently showed off in the reflection as well.
After admiring her perfect body in the mirror, the girl nodded, arms crossed.
—Yeah, no matter how you looked at it, this wasn't her.
Seriously, did they think just because she'd been stuck in a hospital, her brain had turned to mush?
If anything, it was precisely because she'd spent all her time lying in bed that she'd passed the days scrolling endlessly on her phone…
She looked younger, her eye color was different—but shouldn't the Kuranta named Platinum be safely back in Terra?
Or had she, to escape the endless overtime, rolled a critical success and escaped to another dimension…?
What kind of joke was this?
She still remembered not long ago, lying in a hospital bed, vicious bacteria raging inside her, every drop of blood in every vessel mutating, even breathing becoming a luxury—
A classic incurable disease, a terminal illness with no treatment.
A mutated strain that had run rampant since the 2030s, more terrifying than any previous epidemic, a catastrophe that swept the world.
Those infected first coughed up blood, then gradually lost their senses, their bodily systems thrown into chaos, left lying in bed like corpses until the invasion reached the brain, distorting their perception of the outside world, as if their mind was trying to escape their body…
Why did she know all this so well? Because she'd lived through it, of course.
Losing her legs at ten after a brave act had been tragic enough.
Not only could she never play basketball again, she couldn't even run on the playground like before, couldn't even attend a normal school. And then to end up lying in bed for no clear reason, unable to even sit up…
So what? Was this her final moments?
The girl turned in front of the mirror again.
Maybe she was already breathing her last, and her brain was creating this heavenly vision to comfort her, to send her off peacefully?
…But that didn't make sense either. If this was a dream, she'd desperately wanted a body free of pain, healthy, strong legs, and maybe a cute girlfriend for a sweet romance… but looking like this, how was she supposed to get a girlfriend?
Had her brain just lumped all her wishes together? You're even less reliable than the Holy Grail in Fuyuki!
That said… The girl stretched her arms, pulled at her chest, then bent over.
Her flexible waist folded easily, and she touched her toes without effort.
If this was a dream, it felt way too real. Or were near-death dreams always like this?
And… even the sensation in her legs was perfectly reproduced. The girl ran her hands over her smooth, freshly polished-looking legs.
It had been so long since she'd last felt anything with them that she hadn't even known how to walk at first.
"Daddy! Look at that Uma Musume sister over there, she's so weird!" A little girl holding her father's hand pointed straight at the girl striking a difficult pose, her childish voice loud and unfiltered.
Huh, such a familiar language… one she'd often heard through screens… The girl straightened up, staring blankly at the child pointing at her.
Something's wrong. Something's very wrong.
"Don't bother others… remember what I taught you…" The father spoke in the same language, quietly scolding the child, then shot the girl an apologetic smile before quickly leading the little one away.
The girl stared blankly as the father and daughter walked off, then scanned her surroundings. A tall department store—at least six floors—with a transparent glass ceiling letting sunlight pour directly into the first-floor hall. The crowd was bustling, shoulder to shoulder, voices rising and falling. It seemed her strange behavior and unusual appearance were drawing extra attention from passersby.
But that wasn't the main point. The store signs, the banners along the streets, the commercials playing on the TV screens…
Why was it all in Japanese?
As if waking from a deep dream, the girl shakily covered her face and slowly crouched down. Even then, the blush spreading to her temples was impossible to hide.
"No way…" she squeezed out through gritted teeth, her voice as faint as a mosquito's buzz.
"…Anyway, let me sort this out." Still crouching, the girl shuffled over to a nearby bench, trying to blend in like an ordinary mushroom and escape everyone's notice.
If she wasn't watching her life flash before her eyes—could it be that she'd really left her old body behind and come to a brand new world?
If that were true… it seemed too good to be true, and she never expected a second chance to land on someone as unlucky as her—but through the gaps between her fingers, the girl's eyes began to sparkle.
She could have a sound body and start a new life?
If that were really possible, she'd sell her soul to the devil!
To stand up again, to run again… it was something she hadn't even dared to dream of before.
Okay, if fate had truly smiled on her and given her a chance to start over—this time, she would live her life with no regrets!
The girl raised her arms, excitedly waving them in the air.
Alright, first step: find a place to stay.
She patted herself down—not to grope herself—but then froze, as if doused with cold water, her expression turning awkward.
ID, wallet, keys… forgetting those was one thing, but she didn't even have a phone on her.
Penniless. Aside from the thin clothes on her back, she had absolutely nothing.
No identification. A stranger in a strange land, she could barely communicate, let alone write, and she had no documents to prove who she was…
No money, no ID. There was a clearer term for this: refugee.
She was like a refugee dropped right in the middle of a big city. At this rate, forget living a full new life—she'd soon be drinking tap water, scavenging through trash, and sleeping under bridges, joining the ranks of the homeless.
She didn't want that! Becoming a vagrant was something for at least ten years after she died!
The girl covered her mouth, letting out a silent scream.
She didn't want to actually use those wilderness survival tips she'd read about bored in the urban jungle! If this kept up, she'd go down as the lamest transmigrator in history!
Maybe she could… work at a construction site? She looked weak, but she was actually really strong—she could work hard, be a top laborer… A drop of cold sweat trickled down the girl's face.
At the very least, she had to keep her stomach from going empty.
"…And so, in the recently concluded Takarazuka Kinen, Mejiro McQueen narrowly lost to Mejiro Ryan."
"What a shame, her winning streak was broken. But facing Mejiro Ryan, who'd changed her running style, it was truly a fierce battle with no room for doubt."
"We hope Mejiro McQueen can rally from this and regain her momentum…"
The voices of two commentators from a nearby TV drifted into the girl's ears. Her diamond-shaped ears twitched, and she looked up at the screen.
On TV, race footage was playing—on an emerald-green turf track, a group of girls flew past the camera, their pounding steps making the camera shake.
Among them, the most dazzling were the two leading—Mejiro McQueen and Mejiro Ryan, their hair flowing, leaving the girls behind them no chance to catch up even as they clung desperately.
The girl stared, stunned—not because of the two Mejiro girls' beauty (she hadn't even finished admiring herself yet).
On the screen, without a doubt, those running weren't racehorses… but girls with flowing ponytails and diamond-shaped ears on their heads.
"You've got to be kidding me…" The girl stared blankly at the TV, unconsciously standing up and nearly pressing her face against the screen, even though the footage had long since ended.
She understood now. She knew why no one found it strange that she was swaggering around with horse ears and a tail.
Because it wasn't strange. This world was just like this.
Girls born like spirits from the goddess, carrying their dreams onto the turf, trading sweat for glory—that was just how this world worked.
The girl's eyes lit up again.
Faced with a choice between laying bricks and sleeping under bridges or taking a crazy gamble… which would she pick?
Back to the present. The girl calling herself Platinum felt nothing but regret.
Seriously, rushing to the nearest race track to sign up for a debut race just because she saw a TV program was beyond ridiculous.
Sure, she'd lucked out and stumbled upon one… but all these undeveloped Uma Musume were from Tracen Academy!
In other words, they'd all undergone solid training, earned some recognition, and gained the confidence to debut before setting foot on this track.
What did she have to compete with?
But that wasn't even the biggest issue… Had she lost her mind? No ID meant she couldn't get a job, couldn't find a place to stay—so how could she possibly race?
She felt like laughing at her own stupidity. Hey, are you kidding me? Did hunger mess with your head?
At this point, our Miss Platinum, with the initial rush of excitement faded, was starting to panic, looking for a chance to slip away quietly.
But that wasn't the most urgent problem either.
The girl sneakily glanced at the troubled Hayakawa Tazuna sitting across from her.
That expression clearly wasn't debating "whether to let her race" but "whether to call the police"!
If the police came and found a foreign-looking girl with no money, unable to speak the language, no ID…
A refugee. A straight-up stowaway refugee!
She'd probably be invited for a meal—of the prison variety!
What to do, what to do, what to do? Miss Platinum broke out in a cold sweat.
--+--
T/N: While I am an inexperienced Translator, I have a Patreon! While it may seem empty as of now, webnovel will get 3 Chapters Every Day, and advanced chapters will be uploaded on Patreon.
It may not seem worth it now, but maybe in the future. Who knows!
[email protected]/AspenTL
If you guys wanna check it out.