[The main character's visual is listed under "About This Work"; you can also imagine it yourself.]
Japan, Toyoake City, Aichi Prefecture.
At dawn, on a main road just coming to life, a white-clad figure was squatting by the curb, tearing a loaf of bread into strips to feed a little white stray cat.
"At least I made it here by this morning. This way I won't miss registering for my debut race just because I had to buy running shoes."
Chen Xing watched the grimy stray cat gulp down what had been his own breakfast and muttered to himself.
He—or rather, she—was a transmigrator.
Originally, Chen Xing had been a carefree, goofy college student who, outside of class, lived for mobile games. Then one day he woke up to find he had become an Uma Musume, born into this world and raised in an ordinary family.
And today was the day of her official debut race.
"I have to earn prize money. No matter what."
She set her resolve silently.
Before today, Chen Xing had trained seriously for not even a month. She did run newspapers around for work, so she had some exercise, but that was nothing compared to professional racing.
As a transmigrator who had originally been male, Chen Xing was a thousand times unwilling to enter so-called Uma Musume races. In her view, once she competed, it meant abandoning her male psychological identity and admitting she was a female Uma Musume.
But her family's situation had deteriorated. Her only relative—her older sister—was lying in a hospital bed, waiting for money to continue treatment. She no longer had the luxury of being willful.
Because of the intervention of the Three Goddesses, this world had diverged drastically from the original one; none of the knowledge Chen Xing had brought over could be used to make money. The only way left to obtain a large sum in a short time was this:
Prize money.
In this world, almost all Uma Musume races award prize money to the top five, and finishing in the top two lets you bank prize money to your own account so you can enter higher-class races. In her memories of the original world, there were even cases where an Uma Musume never won a single race but still amassed enough by consistently finishing in the top five.
In other words, as long as she cleared her debut, Chen Xing could earn money by racing even without taking first place—enough at least to keep paying her sister's medical bills.
To passersby, the Uma Musume crouching roadside was striking.
She wore an old, worn training outfit; even her shoes were in tatters, and her pant legs were smudged with mud from running. Yet the girl's slender legs, pretty features, and the pair of white-tipped, red-based ears atop her head were easy on the eyes.
"That's the plan, but first I need to change shoes… I have to make the top five—ideally the top two."
She set the last piece of bread before the kitten, then looked down at her shredded running shoes with a helpless sigh.
Ahead lay a bustling shopping street—the spot she'd scouted for a specialty sporting-goods shop for Uma Musume.
Uma Musume need specially made shoes to run; they're equivalent to horseshoes in the original world. It's said those custom shoes carry the Three Goddesses' blessing and don't wear out easily.
"I remember it was called… Teiai Sporting Goods? I'd better pick a good pair so nothing goes wrong in today's race."
Chen Xing stood, pulled from her pocket a little slip of paper soaked with sweat, and struggled to read its blurred contents.
"Are you also here to run the Chukyo debut race today?"
A lively, playful voice behind her broke her train of thought. She turned—and found herself facing someone very familiar… or rather, a very familiar Uma Musume.
A petite frame, slender limbs, two lively ears flicking lightly; a brown-blond ponytail with a tuft of white bangs in the center; a smile bright as sunshine—
"Tokai Teio?!" Chen Xing blurted the girl's name.
Even after living in this world for years, he hadn't forgotten his past life's memories—especially the Uma Musume parts—and the girl before her was one of the franchise's most popular figures: Tokai Teio, the undefeated genius, the indomitable Emperor!
She'd just said… "You're also running your debut"?
"Oh, oh! Hi! I'm Tokai Teio! I just saw you feeding the kitty and wanted to come say hi~"
The petite girl bounced in place, cheerfully introducing herself first.
"Ah—hello! I'm—"
Chen Xing had just begun to answer when a shout split the air.
"Ah! Robbery! Someone's robbing us!!!"
With that piercing cry, the orderly shopping street plunged into chaos.
Before the two could react, a middle-aged man roared out from deeper in the street astride a motorcycle, brushing past the two Uma Musume and gunning for the distance.
In that split second, Chen Xing saw a woman's handbag clutched in his right hand. An apron-clad woman pushed out of the crowd, face taut with panic, pointing after the fleeing man and crying:
"That man's a thief! Please, someone stop him… that's our payment for half a month's goods!"
"Interesting…"
Tokai Teio's eyes lit with interest. She tugged the black glove on her left hand and turned to Chen Xing, her look saying it all:
"Chase him together?"
The fighting spirit burning in those eyes made Chen Xing instinctively avert her gaze.
But even as she looked away, a tremor surged up inside her.
The white ears atop her head sprang upright, and before she could even think about how to give chase, her body moved on its own.
Bang!
From standing still to full sprint—in almost an instant.
A bolt of lightning tore across the scene. In a heartbeat, Chen Xing became a gale, arrowing after the purse-snatcher on the motorcycle!
Tokai Teio, giving chase behind her, stared in surprise at the figure blasting off ahead. Even in training she seldom saw a launch that explosive. Could this Uma Musume be a breakaway front-runner?
It looked like today's race might be interesting. With that thought, her speed was already climbing.
Unlike a breakaway who excels at seizing the lead off the line, Tokai Teio's forte was pressing and closing. Her start might be a step behind this newcomer's, but when it came to acceleration… she wouldn't lose to anyone!
If Chen Xing still had that pathetically out-of-shape college-student body, she'd have collapsed by now.
But now was different. This Uma Musume body seemed made for running; every muscle cooperated in perfect harmony as she stretched her stride.
Even blasting to a speed comparable to a sports car, she felt no sign of overload. Her breathing only quickened a touch, and the wind peeling away in front of her face felt… exhilarating—
No. Wait!
Heat suddenly scorched across Chen Xing's back. A petite figure was reeling her in—one black and one white gloved hand pumping, legs turning over with unrivaled drive, eating up the gap inch by inch!
Under the sun, Tokai Teio seemed to blaze with a fiery red radiance, seizing every gaze along the street.
No matter how Chen Xing accelerated, she couldn't open even a sliver more distance; she could only watch the gap shrink and shrink!
[20 meters…]
This is…
[10 meters…]
the Central's…
[5 meters…]
legend…
[0 m!]
Is this the legend of the Central?!
As that thought flashed through her mind, the petite figure swept past from behind, then continued to widen the gap.
Watching that receding back, a thought pressed into Chen Xing's mind: Even if I choose to race as an Uma Musume, is it all just wishful thinking…?
The speed she'd thought was her one redeeming asset amounted to only this much. How was she supposed to pay for her sister's treatment by racing?
At that moment, an untimely voice rang out in Chen Xing's head:
[Detected: Host is engaged in Uma Musume competition. "Shine! Uma Musume System" binding in progress!]
[Binding progress 10%, 25%… 57%… 99%… 100%!]
[Binding complete. A novice gift pack has been granted to the Host!]
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Note Before Reading: This story runs on two main timeline axes:
The anime timeline from the end of Season 1 to just before Season 2 begins, i.e., around the time of Tokai Teio's debut in the anime.
The real-world racing timeline covering Tokai Teio's debut season and rivals—that is, Japan's 1991 racing calendar.
Using the anime timeline as the primary baseline and 1991 as the secondary, plus a lot of my own secondary settings (mainly so the horses I want can appear), I've created a unique timeline.
Conflicts caused by mismatched schedules and dates will be blurred where possible, but inevitably some runners' honors will be overwritten—for example, Narita Brian's Triple Crown…
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