[The Goddess] flipped through the storybook.
A new chapter slowly began to unfold.
...
A new world.
In a clinic in Hokkaido.
Along with the cry of a newborn, a baby was born into this world.
Her name was Special Week.
Special Week's mother died of illness not long after giving birth to her. After that, her mother's close friend adopted Special Week.
Time passed.
Special Week grew up healthily under her adoptive mother's care. From childhood, she was unusually sensible, showing a maturity different from children her age. Whether it was housework or self-management, she could do everything perfectly.
When others praised and admired her, Special Week would always fall silent, because she believed that doing this much was only natural. After all, inside, she was actually a transmigrator.
Although as a transmigrator she was no different from ordinary people, with no supernatural abilities and no system, a transmigrator was still a transmigrator. Possessing the mind of an adult, she could not accept wasting this second childhood the same way she had wasted her previous life through ignorance.
The innocence of children was sweet poison. The ignorance of parents was an invisible dagger.
The world was cruel. The rules of strength trampled all weaklings equally. Biological evolution, the history passed down by civilization, all of these told the same truth.
I will absolutely not continue living as a weakling. Even if I am smashed to pieces, I will become strong! I will make the world remember my arrival. I will leave my legend in time. My life should be a grand adventure and campaign!
Having been fortunate enough to start over, Special Week absolutely refused to be content with mediocrity.
So, from the very beginning of her life, she went all out.
This was who she was.
Once human.
Now, the umamusume Special Week.
And umamusume were lives born to prove their own worth. No matter what beautiful words were used to decorate their existence, they were beasts born to trample the weak. The essence of those races was to seize the opponents' light and become the one and only star.
The first time Special Week saw an umamusume race on television, she was completely shaken. Unlike watching animation in her previous life, in that moment, she felt as if she had seen a battlefield. The participating umamusume were warriors facing a deathmatch on that battlefield. Only the one who survived could prove the value of her existence.
So you are moved by races after all?
Her adoptive mother watched Special Week reveal that look for the first time in her life and did not find it strange at all. Because that was what umamusume were like. Special Week's mother had once longed for that place too, only to fail in the end to enter that world. But now, the Special Week she had left behind could.
So she asked:
"Spe-chan, do you want to attend Tracen Academy?"
"..."
"Mm!"
Special Week's bangs hid her current expression. Although she had long known "her own" destiny, when the moment was about to arrive, she still could not face it calmly.
Her soul trembled in that instant. Her blood boiled, her heartbeat sounded like a drum, and her whole body became excited.
So this is what it feels like to have a goal?
Not bad!
I'm already starting to burn.
"I see. Then you'll need to work hard, because Tracen Academy's exam is very difficult. You'll also need to begin the training necessary to become an umamusume."
It was only after this that Special Week learned that her mother had once attended Tracen Academy, and that she still maintained connections with the academy. Their farm's biggest client was Tracen Academy.
Under her mother's guidance, Special Week began the special training necessary to enter Tracen Academy. Of course, her goal was not merely to enter Tracen Academy. If she was going to do it, she would do it best.
She would become the strongest.
Time flew.
A figure descended the mountain like lightning. She quickly came down from the summit to the foot of the mountain, then began running toward home. Her starting speed erupted white streams of air visible to the naked eye, and she was even a little faster than cars driving through the city.
This figure was naturally Special Week, who had just finished her morning training. Because the countryside had limited conditions, her special training over the years had all been done in natural environments.
Fortunately, the countryside lacked no natural training grounds. Rock climbing and mountain climbing were both very effective forms of training. On weekends, she would also go to the town pool with her mother for swimming practice. By now, both her explosive power and stamina had risen to a terrifying level.
Back home.
Special Week glanced at the clock on the wall. It was seven in the morning. She had returned home in exactly one hour. Mom would wake up around eight. For now, she would take a shower, then start preparing today's breakfast.
After showering, changing into clean clothes, and putting on an apron, Special Week's body drew a graceful curve. The current Special Week had already grown from a little girl into a slim, elegant young lady. The genes she had inherited from her birth mother had begun to show their charm.
When Special Week's adoptive mother woke early today and walked into the living room, she saw Special Week's back in the kitchen and, for a moment, saw an illusion of someone from the past.
You really are looking more and more like her.
"Spe-chan, is your hair getting a little long? Do you need me to cut it for you? Or when we go into town later, should we find a salon and get you a new hairstyle?"
"No need. I don't find it in the way as it is now."
She had already grown completely used to it and no longer asked her mother to cut her hair because she was unused to long hair, as she had when she was little.
"All right."
Her mother turned on the television in the living room.
A certain program was showing footage from an old umamusume race. The protagonist of the footage was the umamusume now hailed as the strongest in Japan, Symboli Rudolf. She held the title of [Emperor] and was the creator of history's first undefeated Triple Crown legend.
"You're going to take the exam today. How do you feel? Are you confident?"
Her mother asked curiously. Special Week looked the same as usual, making her almost think she had remembered the date wrong. Wasn't today an important day? How could Spe-chan be this calm?
Special Week brought breakfast to the table and answered without any emotional fluctuation:
"I've done everything I can. Next, I just need to face the exam with everything I have. I believe I'll pass."
As for the possibility of failing?
She said that possibility did not exist.
"As long as you have confidence."
Her adoptive mother thought that in this area, Special Week was truly nothing like that person.
If it were that person, she would definitely be causing trouble today because of nerves.
The two finished breakfast with the television program playing in the background. As for the contents of the program, because they had watched it so many times, neither of them had any intention of paying attention.
After washing the dishes, Special Week got into her mother's small truck and prepared to head into town. Although the countryside roads were a little bumpy, when she opened the window, the wind blowing in from the fields carried the scent of green grass. It felt very comfortable. She liked this experience.
Half an hour later.
They arrived at the town's train station.
From here, Special Week would take the train to Tokyo by herself. Special Week herself was not nervous, but her adoptive mother became worried at the end and wanted to go to Tokyo with her. Special Week refused in the end, using the fact that her mother still had work today as the reason.
"It's fine. I'm just going to take the exam. It's not like I'm enrolling today. I'll be back this afternoon."
Special Week instead comforted her mother. Only when the train arrived did she enter the carriage under her mother's reluctant gaze.
The carriage was empty at this time. Special Week chose a seat facing the platform through the window and waved goodbye to her mother.
As the train began moving, the journey afterward was very quiet. The carriage, originally empty, gradually became crowded. By the time they reached Tokyo, Special Week saw that many passengers no longer had seats.
The passenger beside her was a woman with a child, holding the child on her lap. The child kept looking at Special Week, curiously watching the pair of ears on her head that occasionally moved.
The female passenger noticed her child's burning gaze and looked at Special Week with some embarrassment before starting a conversation.
"Um... are you an umamusume?"
"Not yet."
"Then are you going to Tracen Academy now?"
"Mm."
"I see. Then good luck on the exam!"
"...Thank you."
They had barely exchanged a few words before it was time for Special Week to get off. The woman looked at her with an expression that said, I'll be supporting you, making Special Week, who was already somewhat introverted, feel embarrassed.
The people here were so warm.
After leaving the station, Special Week opened her messages and sent her mother a note saying she had arrived in Tokyo. The other side replied instantly with a sticker.
Special Week could not help laughing softly.
Putting away her phone, she found Tracen Academy's location on a nearby map sign. It was still some distance from here. She looked at the road sign that said "umamusume-only road," then took her bag and rushed over, jumping over the railing.
As expected of Central, she sighed inwardly. Umamusume-only roads were actually properly in use here. In the town near her home, only a few specific areas had dedicated umamusume roads.
"This way, then."
After glancing at the road sign to confirm again, Special Week took a starting stance. She drew a deep breath, then began advancing at full speed.
A driver stuck in traffic on the road beside her watched the figure rush past the window and could not help sighing. How enviable. If he were an umamusume too, he would not have to worry about being late for work.
After Special Week began accelerating, she suddenly felt a sense of discomfort different from usual. Compared to the countryside ground, it was somewhat difficult to exert force on concrete. If she pushed too hard, her ankles faintly hurt.
Looks like it isn't that simple. I wonder what running on a racecourse feels like. Although there were occasionally some races back home, those were all dirt races. In Central, turf races were generally the mainstream.
In Special Week's sparse memories from her previous life, "she" should have had turf aptitude. That self, on the contrary, was not good at dirt races. But in reality, aside from a certain natural talent, aptitude seemed to be formed more through acquired running habits.
And right now, compared to turf, which she had never run on, she was clearly better at running on dirt. This was truly outside her expectations.
Faced with this sudden accident, Special Week felt pressure. But she was not too nervous. After all, she had already understood where the problem lay. Improving her turf aptitude simply meant practicing more. This was not a major issue.
She believed she had talent for turf tracks as well. Rather, she should have been more suited to turf tracks to begin with. In that case, she should adapt quickly afterward.
This was the confidence of having information.
9:32 a.m.
Special Week arrived at Tracen Academy.
The start time was 10:30.
There was still plenty of time.
She looked at the academy before her, which resembled a noble castle. Behind the gate, directly ahead, was an extremely wide road. Farther ahead stood a building filled with the smell of money. Trees lined both sides of the road, and in front of the building was a very beautiful fountain.
Although she had known through her previous life's memories that Central Tracen Academy was very large, seeing it with her own eyes was on a completely different level from seeing it in an anime. This was Special Week's first time across both lives seeing such a luxurious and imposing school. It was far larger than the aristocratic academies in idol dramas.
So this was the sacred ground of all Japanese umamusume. As expected of the strongest school.
Because today was the day outside-school students came for the exam, the academy had generously opened the main gate so everyone could enter and look around. Examinees and ordinary visitors could almost be distinguished at a glance, because nearly all the examinees showed some nervousness.
Special Week also saw quite a few reporters holding cameras near the gate. These reporters had probably come to observe the examinees.
Special Week did not know how that "self" from the anime in her previous life had passed the exam. Surely she had not used her mother's connections to get in through the back door, right? Otherwise, Special Week truly could not imagine that country bumpkin entering this place to study. If things were really that simple, Tracen Academy's pass rate would not be as low as it currently was.
The exam was divided into a written test and a mock race. The written test in front was no different from an ordinary student's exam, consisting of middle school and high school material. Special Week was applying for the high school division, so her written test would be the high school entrance exam. She was confident in that area.
The only subject she was somewhat weak in was history, because this world's history was different from that of her previous life. Although there were some similarities, in this subject, she could not use the information and experience from her previous life.
Special Week saw students in uniform acting as reception staff near the gate. One held up a sign reading, "Examinees taking the exam, please gather here." She saw that quite a few umamusume had already gathered there. Even so, she still felt the number of examinees was smaller than she had imagined.
In other words, the vast majority of examinees had already been eliminated in the first local test?
Special Week recalled that test. It had been entirely practical, with no written section at all. It had only recorded race times and physical examinations.
She remembered that when she went to take the test, there had been quite a few examinees. The testing period had lasted until the third day. Yet now, she saw fewer than twenty examinees here. Perhaps some had not yet arrived, but even so, this number was far too small.
And there was still a second exam.
In other words...
Even among the people here now, some would fail the second exam.
The difficulty really is high.
Thinking that, Special Week became somewhat excited. In this life, she had truly changed. In her previous life, she could never have come to a place like this. She might even have given up on the first test, because she simply would not have had the confidence to pass.
But the person she was now could confidently say:
"I will absolutely pass!"
She arrived at the gathering point.
She did not recognize the student before her.
But since the other party was a Tracen Academy student, that meant she was strong, right?
Special Week subconsciously ignored certain students who had entered Tracen Academy for special reasons. After all, such special cases were rare, and under normal circumstances, Central Tracen Academy...
"Everyone is here. Follow me. I'll take you to the exam room."
Special Week had not expected that she was actually the last to arrive. But when she saw the small groups among the examinees beside her, she understood. They were probably all living near Tokyo, so they had arrived earlier than she had.
Seventeen examinees silently followed the senior toward the exam room. Special Week quietly mixed among them. She had no intention of greeting strangers. Leaving aside the fact that she was not the type who liked making friends, no one knew how many of these people would remain after the second exam.
They arrived at an empty classroom.
"Come over and take your exam number tags."
The senior took out a cardboard box from somewhere and began calling names.
Special Week received the number eleven. She saw numbers on the desks in the classroom, and sure enough, the senior then said:
"If you all have your number tags, then the desk marked with the same number will be your seat for the exam. There is still some time before the first test. You can relax, or go to the bathroom. I'll be leaving first. Good luck."
The bathroom? Special Week thought. Perhaps that really was a good choice.
Then, under the incredulous gazes of the others, she began moving toward the restroom they had passed earlier. She had traveled a long way from home and did indeed need to go.
"That person actually went to the bathroom."
"Interesting."
"At first glance she looks like a country bumpkin, but on closer look, she seems like an opponent who can't be underestimated."
The examinees sized one another up. Aside from friends who had already known each other, they showed guarded hostility toward every other examinee.
Correct.
In this place, aside from trusted companions, every other examinee was an enemy.
"The one who stays at Tracen Academy will be me!"
Almost every examinee's eyes revealed that same will.
By the time Special Week returned from the bathroom, she found that all the examinees had already sat in their seats. Some were reading textbooks and others were looking at their phones. The tense atmosphere made her think for a moment that she had walked into the wrong place.
But she quickly adapted.
"I see. So this is the true subject of this exam."
It was competition after all.
This was Tracen Academy's essence.
Special Week sat in her seat. Her white bangs hid her expression, and beneath that shadow, a bloodthirsty smile slowly spread.
The battle had already begun.
...
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