The sports festival.
This was a common event at every school.
It was held in May and October each year.
Uma Musume Development Elementary School was naturally no exception.
However, unlike regular school sports festivals with multiple competitive events, the events at Uma Musume Development Elementary focused almost entirely on one core element: racing. While there were other events, their attention paled in comparison to racing.
The racing events included: long-distance, middle-distance, short-distance, steeplechase, and dirt mile races. The track lengths were: 1,200m for short-distance, 2,000m for middle-distance, 2,500m for long-distance, 1,000m for steeplechase, and 1,600m for the dirt mile. For human elementary schoolers, these distances would be inhumanly difficult, but for young uma musume, it was different.
"When choosing your event, pay attention to whether it suits you. While we teachers will offer guidance, the final decision is yours. Whether to follow the teacher's advice or challenge yourself with a distance you want to run—these are things you need to consider carefully. There are still two weeks until the sports festival begins, so please be sure to submit your registration forms by next Friday."
"Class dismissed."
The teacher anticipated the end-of-class time and finished before the bell rang, showing no intention of running overtime.
The intense course schedule wasn't just tiring for students—teachers were exhausted too.
But unlike certain students who complained about being tired, the teachers all felt they were doing something deeply meaningful. The passion in their hearts was enough to overcome mental fatigue.
Unable to leave a glorious mark in history, unable to become trainers, yet unwilling to simply leave the track—most uma musume who retired this way chose to become elementary school teachers. They transformed their past regrets into hope for the new generation, helping and supporting these newcomers toward the track.
But running overtime was unnecessary.
Students needed rest breaks, and teachers had the same need.
"Diamond, you're definitely registering for that distance, right?"
Satono Crown came to Satono Diamond's seat to ask.
Satono Diamond and Kitasan Black were seatmates, positioned at the back of the class by the window.
Satono Crown's seat was in the second row at the front—actually quite far from the two of them.
Kitasan Black was currently spacing out, staring at the leaves outside the window.
Satono Diamond said to Satono Crown, "Crown, you're probably the same."
"That's right. 2,000m middle-distance—that's the race I'm registering for."
"Then we'll be rivals."
Satono Diamond's choice was unsurprising—also the 2,000m middle-distance race.
Although the teacher's advice was that long-distance would better showcase her abilities, since she could choose for herself, any uma musume with dreams would probably choose the prestigious middle-distance race.
"Let's both do our best."
"Yes, but I don't plan on losing to you, Crown."
"I won't lose to you either, Diamond."
It wasn't just Satono Diamond and Satono Crown discussing this in class—other students were also finding friends to talk about the sports festival. Unlike typical students who would mostly want to avoid participating in sports festivals, the students here were filled with enthusiasm and anticipation for its arrival.
"Miss Kitakami, may I ask what event you're planning to register for?"
Hearing Satono Crown's straightforward question while she was spacing out, Kitasan Black internally sighed that she hadn't managed to escape this, then took out her registration form.
It showed the guidance counselor's recommendation: short-distance. That was the teacher's advice for her.
Because during normal training, she had only managed to barely keep up with the main group. Given her apparent stamina issues, the teacher believed short-distance gave her the best chance of winning.
But she knew her own situation. If she wanted to win, there would basically be no suspense.
But if she wanted to lose...
Just thinking that her old man might bring the whole family to watch made her head hurt.
If she lost too badly, that wasn't the outcome she wanted either.
Short-distance wouldn't work—too hard to control the pacing. One slip and she wouldn't be able to lose.
Steeplechase—no good, equally difficult to control her ability. Next.
Dirt mile—tiring and dirty. She'd be covered in mud after finishing. Next.
Middle-distance—worth considering.
Long-distance—no good. After finishing, the teacher might realize she'd been slacking during regular training.
Well, the decision was made.
Kitasan Black didn't verbally answer Satono Crown's question, but she had already checked off her event on the registration form. 2,000m middle-distance—the moment Satono Crown saw Kitasan Black make this choice, her expression instantly became serious, her eyes fixed intently on Kitasan Black.
"Crown? Crown-chan?"
Satono Diamond called out to the spacing-out Satono Crown, finding her sister's behavior just now somewhat strange.
"I'm sorry, that was rude of me. But Miss Kitakami, it looks like we'll be rivals this time."
She had originally thought they wouldn't meet until later, but she hadn't expected to face her this soon. Miss Kitakami—at this moment, Satono Crown felt she could hardly wait.
She wanted to outrun Miss Kitakami.
A voice inside was telling her this: as long as she could outrun Miss Kitakami, her and the Satomi family's long-cherished wish could be fulfilled. And this voice was so intense!
So I will outrun you at this sports festival, Kitasan Black!
Even though this premonition had no scientific basis, Satono Crown still chose to follow her inner voice.
She wanted to win!
"Ah, um."
Kitasan Black felt her scalp tingle under Crown's burning gaze.
No way—didn't you have barely any scenes with "Kita-chan" in the anime? I even avoided Diamond-ojousama, so how did I get entangled with you?
"Huh? Miss Kitakami is also registering for the middle-distance race?"
Satono Diamond's expression was somewhat peculiar.
Although no one else believed what she said, she knew very well what Miss Kitakami was really like in private. Hardworking? Studious? Ambitious? Give me a break. She mostly spaced out and daydreamed during class, and back in the dorm she never studied—basically either reading manga or playing mobile games.
She couldn't see even a hint of ambition in Miss Kitakami.
As for being cool—well, she was rather cool.
Even when she tried to chat and get closer, she usually only got one-word responses.
And such a Miss Kitakami was registering for the prestigious middle-distance race?
Was it herd mentality, or did Miss Kitakami actually have goals?
Satono Diamond's curiosity about Kitasan Black was piqued once again.
"Mm."
Meeting the gazes of these two, Kitasan Black felt completely uncomfortable. Their attention was completely unreasonable—she hadn't done anything at all, and had even actively distanced herself from them. Yet they always noticed her over the smallest things.
Was she really that attention-grabbing?
In an academy full of ojou-samas, the only one with a boyish demeanor who was also quite handsome—Miss Kitakami—had zero self-awareness.
The little episode during break quickly passed.
In the following days, Satono Crown didn't come looking for her again, and Kitasan Black's guard relaxed accordingly.
However, Satono Diamond, who originally hadn't been paying much attention to her, had recently been initiating conversations more often in the dorm. Sensing danger, she consistently responded with coldly dismissive attitudes.
Actually, Kitasan Black's original personality wasn't this cold.
But Satono Diamond was too dangerous. She had to cut off the route to becoming good friends with Satono Diamond.
She didn't know where this feeling came from, but she just felt Satono Diamond was dangerous.
As if the moment she got close, her dream of lying flat would immediately shatter.
If Satono Crown was a random boss that occasionally jumped out from the roadside, then Satono Diamond was a known final boss deep in the palace. Right now, Kitasan Black just hoped no hidden boss would appear—that would be the end. Dealing with these two sisters already made her feel like she was reaching her limits.
If not for McQueen-senpai's memories, she would have already slipped up.
(Damn it, I will definitely protect the future I want!)
While Kitasan Black was fending off Satono Diamond's advances, the school's sports festival began as scheduled.
Kitasan Black had originally planned to meet her old man at the school gates. But when she saw the group of burly men following behind him and her mother, she just wanted to turn and run. Old man, what made you think to bring all the senior disciples here? And did you all rent a bus to get here?!
"Kita-chan!"
Just as she was about to run, Kitasan Black heard her mother's delighted call.
Damn it, why can't I move? Move already!
As if a binding spell had been cast on her, Kitasan Black's escape was declared a failure.
Her mother ran up and embraced Kitasan Black.
"Kita-chan, have you gained weight again?"
"Absolutely not—this is muscle weight!"
Kitasan Black had originally wondered why her mother would pick her up in public, but she hadn't expected her mother's opening line to be so unexpected.
But she would not admit to gaining weight.
After all, there was no visible fat—how could just an increase in weight be called gaining weight?
Besides, she hadn't even reached Maturity yet. This might be a sign of that!
Yes, exactly.
She definitely had NOT been binge-eating at the school cafeteria!
"Little junior sister, we came to watch your race today! Good luck!"
The senior disciples pulled out custom-made cheering fans.
Kitasan Black's eyes died in that moment.
Sure enough, the moment she saw these people, she should have known today would be her tribulation.
There are two kinds of death in a person's life.
One is physical death, and the other is social death.
And now, Kitasan Black had experienced social death.
"Alright, you guys don't need to crowd around here."
The one who stepped up at this moment was both Kitasan Black's savior and the true culprit of her social death—her old man.
"Seriously, after these guys found out you registered for the sports festival, they insisted on coming to cheer for you. Couldn't stop them." Her old man's opening line immediately shifted all responsibility away from himself.
But Kitasan Black had already seen through everything.
You old fart—if you hadn't allowed it, how would they dare come?!
If she weren't in her mother's embrace right now, Kitasan Black might have gone over to whack her old man's knees.
Seeing Kita-chan's murderous glare, her old man carefully stood beside his wife and asked with feigned seriousness, "Kita-chan, are you confident about today's race? The teacher said your recent performance has been pretty good."
"Confident? I'm confident about losing."
Kitasan Black indicated: Dream on.
Did he really think a mere school sports festival would make her risk exposing her abilities to win?
Not a chance!
At most she wouldn't lose too badly—top five at most, no more. Until she entered Tracen Academy, until she had a say in the decisions about her own life, Kitasan Black would absolutely not reveal her true strength.
After all, if she did, wouldn't this damn old man become insufferably smug and then push her even harder?
And even if she said she didn't actually need training and could win GI races in the future, she probably wouldn't be believed anyway. So it wasn't that she wanted to hide her abilities—the world was forcing her to do so.
For her, this childhood period was the greatest challenge of her life.
Her old man had no idea this was how Kita-chan saw him. After all, he was always teasing Kita-chan and never hiding his wish to see her become a GI uma musume. But in Kita-chan's eyes, this wish was the old fart's ambition.
This bias made Kita-chan unable to fully trust her father.
You could say the biggest reason Kitasan Black hid herself was to guard against her old man. After all, who told him to keep saying every day that he wanted her to become a GI uma musume? She had to be on guard.
Before she could live independently, parents were both her protective umbrella and her biggest enemies. She could trust their love for her, but she couldn't completely trust their love for her.
"It's fine. Kita-chan, just enjoy the race."
Her mother decisively chose to support Kita-chan.
Because she was also an uma musume, she understood how difficult it was to win a race.
Her husband's desire to support their daughter's race was well-intentioned, but after all, he wasn't an uma musume.
Having originally wanted to tease Kita-chan a bit, her old man immediately nodded in agreement after hearing his wife speak.
"Mm, that's right. Kita-chan, just enjoy the event. Winning or losing doesn't matter."
"..."
Kitasan Black saw her mother's concerned eyes and her old man's eyes that clearly didn't expect her to win either. This should have been the result she wanted, but for some reason, her heart suddenly felt a bit uncomfortable.
But she quickly adjusted, deciding it was just the uma musume body's instinct.
"That's what you said, old man. If I lose, you're not allowed to laugh at me."
"Hahaha, this old man would never laugh at someone who worked hard. Go run with your own style, Kita-chan!"
"It's just a school sports festival. You're making it sound too grand."
Ah—looking at her old man and mother like this, what was this sudden feeling of guilt?
This is my race, my life. Shouldn't I be the one to decide whether I win or lose?
But...
So annoying. What was this restless feeling?
...
Get 20+ chapters ahead on - P.a.t.r.e.o.n "RoseWhisky"