On a Pale Horse (Umamusume/Youjo Senki)

[swarm]

Now will Tanya be singing Los Los Los jingo jungle or some other sort of dark or violent song

 

[Cshipsandco]

This is pretty great I hope it continues for a while

 

[rx915]

Thought about it but with Gold City as an example who does modelling as well as Uma Racing, I think Shirogane's previous incarnations would make her get an advantage in sports shooting.

One random foray into shooting prizes and a random passerby who has links to sports shooting can get her into another career path either in a failed route or successful one.

Then you get some variation of this:

View: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/8YM9OTTrZQU

Not sure if Shirogane would ever dress fancy in some getup or do it casual. Probably casual as it's not wartime anymore and she just wants to enjoy herself.

I like the idea of Shirogane singing a Victor Tsoi song, but that seems a bit hard to justify. Maybe her dad likes the band? It's about the right timeframe and he knows some Russian.

Click to shrink...

No opinion but whatever works.

 

[xgodxsendx]

Spoiler: Shirogane running

Hopefully this works, gonna finish this one sometime since it was fun to draw.

Click to shrink...

Hmmm… kinda want to see her with a Tanya smile or Agnes tachyon smile. For the lols

 

[xgodxsendx]

Also saw the recent omake and all I can imagine is the other umas trying to convince her to stay and it turns into a huge argument words are said and one of the more headstrong uma insults her parents saying something like "this why humans should not raise uma's because if a uma turns out like you shirogane they become broken just like your FAILURE pair of parents made you." And then Shirogane stills as she is walking away to leave slowly turns to look over her shoulder and in full Tanya mode goes "WHAT…DID…YOU…JUST…SAY?" She says in a low dangerous tone like a bullet being chambered and prepared to fire.
Or something there of

 

[```]

​

Was this Haru-san one of those umas who were very skilled on the track but rather dim elsewhere? She presumably would have some modicum of talent if she managed to attend Tracen. Perhaps she just had to take remedial lessons, which was probably necessary, given what Shirogane could see.

Click to shrink...

Plus 10 energy every time she appears.

That's why she was admitted to Tracen; because the directors are true metagolems minmaxing their umas with the most busted mechanic of all: the power of friendship.

 

[WrandmWaffles]

You can Take a Horse to Water​

---

Despite its status and prestige, Tracen Academy was still a school, at the end of the day, so Shirogane found her routine to be rather similar to what it had been previously, with the most noticeable difference, aside from the new location, being the lack of work and the absence of her family.

With her mother being who she was, it wasn't as if she had no contact with them, with regular phone calls where she was interrogated about her life at Tracen, but it was still an adjustment, after having had years to get used to a residence that had several people living in it.

On one hand, it was peaceful, and once she became accustomed to the ambient noise her apartment became a welcome quiet place away from the often raucous campus.

The coursework was still fairly simple, overall, but gradually increased in difficulty in unexpected ways which made her appreciate the faculty's creativeness.

Their training time had also become more structured, their homeroom teacher demonstrating that she had earned her trainer's license, even if she was not serving in quite that role.

That class was a bit of a strange one for Shirogane, because while she remained towards the lower end in the class in race performance, she almost inevitably ended up winning towards the end of the session, to the point that Nakashima-sensei seemed to have started using that point as an indicator that the rest of the class was hitting their limit for the day.

And yet, the class she had the most trouble with was dance class.

Not only was it very different from what she was used to, the metrics her instructor kept harping on her for were not quantifiable.

She understood that PR was quite important for the marketability of a racer, and that they were expected to perform in concerts as a closing for their races, and she could learn the moves just fine, but what exactly was she supposed to do to add more expressiveness? She had already tried smiling and that had almost given the instructor a stroke.

While the Salaryman had not been an avid fan of horse races, it had been prevalent enough in the culture that he had been tangentially aware of it, and from what Shirogane retained from him this sort of idol hybridization had not existed. Human idols existed too, from her brief investigations, and apparently that had eventually made its way into uma racing.

The fact that all the racers were required to participate in the performance was a frankly bizarre thing. One would think losing a race would be painful enough without having to serve up as a backup performer to the winner. And what would happen if runners were injured during the race? Were they going to be hoisted up on stage in wheelchairs and on stretchers? Did they have replacement backup dancers on standby in case of that possibility? Or did those performances just go on missing a few of the intended numbers?

To complicate matters further, the instructor also found fault with her attempts at singing. She could match the tune and frequencies well enough, but it never seemed right, according to their instructor, who started twitching violently after her other attempts. That might have been also in part due to several of her classmates not being particularly good at it either, aside from King Halo and Grass Wonder, with Pasa's pronunciation drifting towards incomprehensibility as she got riled up, while Seiun Sky lacked enthusiasm, apparently. With all these problems, the instructor had not had much to say about Tsurumaru.

As frustrating as those classes were, the instructors at least seemed to know what they were doing, and while their advice on the 'expression' aspect was difficult to put into practice, their technical critiques were quite helpful.

Shirogane consumed her breakfast, her thoughts shifting to the other looming matter.

Tryouts.

While she did not have the pressure of finding a trainer, given the nature of her attendance at the academy to begin with, that did not mean she could slack off. Toujou-san had already invested a significant amount of effort getting her here, not to mention her helpful advice in adjusting her diet and training practices, so if Shirogane failed to perform well, that would reflect poorly on her trainer.

And given she was also eyeing other candidates, Shirogane's position on the team wasn't necessarily certain in the longer term.

At the very least, she would have to beat the chaff.

From what she had observed, Tracen did categorize different students based on their potential, which meant that there were actually quite a lot of students that were essentially there to serve as gate fillers to a certain degree, and these were the people Shirogane would have to distinguish herself from.

With that in mind, she finished her breakfast, cleaned her plate and utensils, glancing at the clock in the meantime.

5:13. Still early, and the sun had not crept over the horizon just yet, a good time for a morning run. She put on her tracksuit, slipping on her old running shoes and exiting her apartment, breathing in the cool morning air, fairly clean for where she was, even with the faint scent of exhaust and other pollutants.

It was a bit strange. When she was running deliveries, she probably regularly ran further than what she was doing now while actively training for a race, and while she was primarily doing sprint training, based on Toujou-san's recommendations, in some ways it wasn't as tiring as deliveries.

She took off down the street, moving at a steady jog, again feeling the contrast with her previous routine.

On one hand, constantly pushing herself to run as fast as she could was more taxing on her musculature than matching the pace of traffic, on the other, the uma racing track had far fewer things she needed to keep track of. No traffic signs, signals, and no serious need to keep track of landmarks or really navigate at all, since she was just running in a circle, essentially. While she had yet to run a race against a full set, at most she would have to keep track of seventeen other objects in motion, and the same set of them as well, all going in the same direction.

All in all, this meant that training on the turf courses was much less mentally taxing, to the point that it was almost reaching the point of making her twitchy. There had been a sort of satisfaction in charting an efficient path through Fujisawa to arrive at her destination in a timely fashion that was completely absent in trying to improve a number on a stopwatch.

After all, there was only so much she could do to improve pathing efficiency on a largely featureless circle.

As much her body needed physical exertion lest she become too twitchy, sometimes running on a racetrack felt almost too boring, which was part of why she continued her morning runs, with the other main aim being to familiarize herself with the area surrounding Tracen. And while the academy's immediate surroundings weren't too dense, it was still in Tokyo, so she didn't have to go far to find crowded spaces, packed with a large assortment of shops, primarily some kind of food vendors (they smelled quite good, but she couldn't afford that kind of expense at the moment), as well as a variety of services largely targeted towards umamusume runners.

Which seemed only natural, given the ready supply of customers, many of whom had a degree of disposable income and significant appetites. It wouldn't surprise Shirogane if some of these shops occasionally did catering for some events at the academy. She was less certain if the various grocery stores were suppliers for the cafeteria, due to the demand required by a small horde of umamusume with very active lives, but they were clearly doing well enough to stock high quality ingredients, something she made a mental note of checking over if there was a sale.

At this early hour, there weren't that many people about, though there were enough shopkeepers and their workers getting ready for the day that Shirogane received several friendly greetings as she went on her run. Most of it came from people she did not recognize, who seemed to just react positively to her Tracen tracksuit, though there were a few that she had actually become personally acquainted with, such as Jun-san, the owner of a shoe store who'd gifted her a pair of running shoes after she'd gone to his business in search of glue.

Despite spending most of her life in a similarly friendly environment, it still caught her off guard. Had it been like this for the Salaryman and he just never really noticed it? Or was this world just a kinder one in general?

Its history has been no less violent, from what Shirogane had read, and she was the only umamusume in her family for a reason. But it was probably best not to think too much about such things.

Over the past few weeks, she had mapped out the area around Tracen, though she most certainly still had plenty of pathways to discover, the city being what it was. Today, she decided to take a route that would pass by a waterway. It wasn't like back home, exactly, but vaguely reminded her of it, so she took this route more frequently than most others.

Today, though, she spotted another figure in a Tracen tracksuit, which surprised her a bit, as while there were a few of her fellows who rose this early, most tended to prefer exercise on campus, given the superior facilities there.

Somewhat unusually, for a Tracen student, this one was not running around, instead staring up into the sky from the comparatively open area around the waterway. Though given Shirogane knew this particular classmate was quite the runner, and since she was wearing a tracksuit, this was likely a temporary stillness.

Over the course of her brief tenure at Tracen so fair, Shirogane had observed that many of her classmates seemed not to notice her for no clear reason. She hadn't been intentionally sneaking around, but there were too many cases where her classmates had been surprised at her presence for it to be a coincidence.

It was a bit odd, since she didn't remember this phenomenon happening that much beforehand, and some of the incidents with motor vehicles probably had more to do with her height than any unusual sneaking ability.

Either way, Shirogane decided to make the best of her apparent lack of object permanence in her classmates' minds and continue running, not wanting to disturb the auburn-haired umamusume from her usual reverie.

But for whatever reason, this time that did not happen, and her approach snapped her classmate out of her trance, ears and tail twitching in surprise while blue eyes snapped to her red ones in a startled expression.

Now it would be rude to ignore her, so Shirogane waved in greeting. "Good morning, Silence Suzuka-senpai." At least she didn't spook and jump into the river somehow.

"Eeeeh? Sorry, do I know you?"

The absurdity of the question almost made Shirogane trip, and she slid to a halt just slightly past her evidently airheaded classmate.

"Apparently not," she huffed, turning to face the confused looking Suzuka. "Even though I've been in several of your classes for about a month now."

"Huh? Are you a transfer student?" Did she really not pay attention to class at all?

"No, I'm a first year student, though I managed to get placed into several second year courses."

"Oh…so you must be pretty smart then."

"I'd like to think so."

"Um…sorry I didn't notice you," Suzuka apologized bashfully, hugging her left arm against her side and looking down. "I just thought that since it's my second year I would have the same classmates as last year."

"No need to apologize. Me being in a mix of first and second year courses has confused a number of my yearmates as well." Primarily Pasa. "And even beyond that, people seem to overlook me around campus. Maybe I'm just less noisy in comparison to most students there." That could track with how Suzuka-san seemed to have heard her in the relative quiet of early morning.

"Umm…I don't pay as much attention in class as I probably should," the auburn-haired Uma admitted, ears drooping in some degree of shame. "Sometimes the weather is just too nice for me to think about anything but running."

"I can understand that urge, to some degree," Shirogane returned with a nod. She did feel twitchy after not moving for some time. "No hard feelings."

"Mmm…that's good then…" Suzuka-san trailed off, looking unsure of what to say next.

"Do you run in the mornings often?" Shirogane found herself in the unusual position of being the more vocal one this time.

"Yes!" Suzuka's ears perked back up, her eyes shining. "It's quieter, and there's less people so I can see the scenery."

"Scenery? It's mostly buildings and infrastructure." And people.

"Well…the sky looks quite different in the morning, and there aren't as many people out and about, so I can look at it without worrying too much about bumping into them."

"...You still have to be aware enough not to crash into other things, no?"

"Mmm…yeah…" Suzuka-san sighed, looking down mournfully. "I like it here at Tracen, but there isn't as much open space to run here."

What was she on about? There was a shockingly large amount of open space at the academy. "I see…so you're out here running for training then?"

"Umm…sort of…" the auburn haired uma brought her hands together and looked to the side, her tail swishing back and forth anxiously. "I just like running."

"Don't we all?" Shirogane snorted. "I rather doubt that anyone could gain admission to Tracen Academy while disliking running." As a racer, at least. Presumably it was possible for a trainer to exist who disliked running themselves. "Though I haven't seen that many of our schoolmates out running at this hour."

"Hmm…I guess it's too early for them?" Suzuka-san's ears twitched as if she had thought of something funny. "I know some of them don't like getting up too early."

"To each their own." Though it likely wouldn't help with their development.

"Um…" Her senior trailed off, looking at her curiously, but seemingly hesitant to continue.

"Am I bothering you?" If she wanted her solitude, Shirogane had no issue with it.

"Oh! No, not really, it's just…" Suzuka-san trailed off again, before resolving herself and speaking again. "Is it true that Trainer-san recruited you?"

Shirogane blinked. "Which trainer are you referring to?"

"Ah…Hana-san."

"Yes, she was the one who helped me achieve admission into Tracen."

"So we're on the same team?"

"If you are on Team Rigil, then we will be. Toujou-san thought it best not to introduce us until tryouts are over, to avoid confusing things." It also implied to her that she needed to perform at least respectably, and not to get too comfortable just because she had an easier recruiting process.

"Oh…well I guess I am your senpai then."

She and many others. "I'll be in your care."

"R-Right…do you want to go running?"

"That was my intention coming out here, yes."

"Ok then!"

A few minutes later Shirogane was partially regretting her decision to interact with her spacey classmate, as Suzuka was very fast, but would occasionally stop to look at something, almost resulting in a collision several times.

If this was what a year of training could do…then she would have to work even harder.

---

"Yeeaah!"

Pasa, as usual, reacted overenthusiastically to their teacher explaining the incoming onset of try outs.

Sensei did not comment on her outburst, either allowing her the moment of excitement or giving up on her as a lost cause.

Plus, it wasn't as if the rest of the class wasn't likewise excited, with even the outwardly lackadaisical Seiun Sky perking up at attention, and the normally controlled Grass Wonder and King Halo shifted excitedly in their seats.

"As laid out by the schedules, tryouts will start next week," Nakashima-sensei continued, as if she had not just been interrupted by loud noises. "And by now you all should have some idea of which ones you will participate in."

The signup had been open since the beginning of the month, and Shirogane had, with the advice from Toujou-san, put herself down for medium and long try outs, distances that would allow her more opportunity to demonstrate her superior stamina, while the shorter distances would likely just highlight her inferior speed.

"Obviously everyone's gonna go for the medium length ones, right?" Pasa burst out, vibrating in her seat. "Cause that's what the Triple Crown races are gonna be."

Likely all who could, and also some who were not best suited for them either.

That crowding was the potential downside. Against her classmates, Shirogane would not look particularly impressive. Not in a singular race. Though it was quite possible that her classmates might also try the long race, given that Grass Wonder and Seiun Sky had better stamina than the others.

"Of course! What else would you expect from a first rate umamusume?"

"Yeah! Gotta show 'em what we can do!"

"The last leg of the triple crown is a longer race, El." And there was Grass Wonder, pretty much confirming to Shirogane that she would be competition for the long race. Assuming they didn't break up the classes into different heats for display purposes.

"Then I'll sign up for that too!"

"That's probably not that smart," Seiun Sky drawled, tucking her hands behind her head. "The try outs are all gonna be on the same day, so if you run too many you're gonna wear yourself out."

"There will be time in between races, so there should be sufficient time to get a breather in between."

"Says you, Shiro!" Sky laughed, leaning back in her chair as she looked over at Shirogane. "I bet you could run all of them without breaking a sweat!"

"That is a rather severe exaggeration." Though she probably could manage that, even if her performance on the shorter races wouldn't be much to write home about.

"Are you really going to try running all four tryout races?"

"Not currently. I've only signed up for two of them."

"Wait! They already started?!"

Perhaps that wasn't the wisest thing to say, as her classmates suddenly started making much more noise, apparently none of them having realized that sign ups were already open.

"I was about to get to that," Nakashima-sensei sighed, looking resigned to a few more moments of chaos as much of the class continued yelling at each other, forgetting her, and Shirogane in the meantime.

Personally, Shirogane was a bit perplexed as to how her classmates had missed this, as it was posted on the various announcement boards, but perhaps having a trainer lined up already helped quite a bit, giving her a direct point of contact regarding it.

Eventually, her classmates calmed down enough for their teacher to explain the procedure to them, and after the bell rang the other umas bolted out of the classroom as if it was a starting gate. To some extent, their haste made sense, as there were a limited number of spots in any particular race, but given this was tryouts, in all likelihood they would create multiple heats if there was an excess in applicants. Students were only allowed to attempt each distance once, but the wording of the documentation suggested that they were encouraged to try different lengths.

"How did you find out about the sign up, Shirogane-chan?" Nakashima-sensei asked, looking both perturbed and mildly relieved after seeing most of her class dash out of the room.

"...I saw the announcement email, posters, and asked Trainer Toujou about it." Was that truly so surprising?

Her homeroom teacher blinked, before letting out a brief, amused huff. "Those notices are mostly for the trainers' benefits, since most first years get signed up once we announce them in class."

"Was I not supposed to read them?"

"I…don't think you were supposed to get those emails, but there's nothing stopping you from looking at those posters…" Sensei paused for a moment. "But I don't remember them being posted on the main announcement boards."

Now that she mentioned it…Shirogane had seen the information on a board that was near the office section of the academy when she had gone to ask Toujou-san a few questions. "Ah…it was near the trainer offices." It really had not occurred to her that this hadn't been something that students were supposed to see. "Was that not something I was supposed to be aware of?"

"Not exactly…more that trainers need to know about the tryout schedules earlier so they can make plans. It wouldn't look good for them if their trainees are the ones that find out before them, after all." Nakashima-sensei smiled wryly, before leaning in conspiratorily. "We also found at one point that tryouts are very distracting for first year students, so it was decided not to announce them too early, before the newcomers could really adjust to the academy. Though you don't appear to have any issues with that so far."

"Nothing actionable, at least."

"Hah, I can see why Toujou-san picked you up," Nakashima-sensei adjusted her glasses slightly, her eyes alight with amusement. "You two really are quite similar in personality."

"I will take that as a compliment."

"Haha, feel free to. It has certainly been interesting watching you adjust to Tracen Academy, and I look forward to seeing how you progress."

You and a host of other well-wishers, it seems. Many of them probably cared because her success would make them look good, but the number of family and friends, and even casual acquaintances who seemed genuinely excited for her success was surprisingly high.

It made it more difficult to stomach her inferior talent.

"I will make sure not to disappoint you."

---

With the incoming tryouts, the school race tracks were fully booked, and the training facilities were likewise crowded, populated by an agitated crowd primarily composed of first years, though their excitement and nerves spread somewhat to the older students who tried to share a space with them.

Pretty much every piece of equipment had a set of eager students waiting to use them, impatiently milling about as the current operator tried to follow through their exercise regimen with an unwanted audience, often resulting in mistakes that slowed down their regimen, to the dismay and agitation of those waiting.

The ruckus did not bother Shirogane all that much, accustomed as she was to being in a crowded diner during peak dining hours, or in traffic during rush hour. Her schoolmates seemed more likely to actually try and fight her compared to irritated drivers but most seemed to leave her alone.

In fact, Shirogane did not have a line after her, probably in large part because she was on one of many treadmills, and thus those waiting would move to the next available one, while Shirogane herself continued operating the exercise machine methodically.

It was not a proper substitute for running sprints on the race track, but worked well enough when things were so hectic.

Her feet pounded the belt as the treadmill revved up to 55 kilometers per hour, her legs straining to keep up with the rushing incline. She struggled to keep her breathing even as she pushed forwards, trying to push for a faster sprint speed even as she felt her flesh and bones protesting.

The pain was nothing, to the point she felt somewhat ashamed at how much it took to overcome it, and even more frustratingly, she remained unable to break past her upper limit.

The motor revved down, returning to a more comfortable jogging pace, and Shirogane popped open another small ziploc bag and shoved it between her teeth, sucking down the electrolyte gel to keep herself hydrated, but holding herself back from gulping it down to make it less likely to develop hiccups. It tasted like nothing, but the Soldier would have killed for something like this.

With a beep, the treadmill accelerated again, and so she grit her teeth and pumped her legs to keep up, feet pounding on the belt as it spun. It was nice to have such durable equipment available, something like this had never really been financially feasible personally.

Her breaths came with difficulty, while her nerves protested the increase in speed. She ignored them, knowing they could hold on for longer, and sure enough, thirty seconds into the sprint, the ache started to lessen as the pain sharpened her mind, steadying her gait and smoothing out her breathing as she ran in place.

She finished this sprint, the belt decelerating so she could catch her breath, which she used to mutter a curse. Maybe she should try extending the sprint time so she could maintain that point of focus for longer?

No, a minute was about all it took for a sprint, and even the longest races only generally lasted three to four minutes, so she would not have the luxury of time as she did on her delivery runs, though the lack of load made things quite a bit easier.

Again, the speed increased, and again she accelerated, glancing at the clock on the wall briefly. She had time for perhaps…ten more of these before she would be cutting in a bit too close to the cafeteria's closing time.

She sprinted on the treadmill for another minute–

"Whoa there, pony-chan! Don't push yourself too hard!"

Shirogane blinked, turning her head to look at the person interrupting her. Short cropped, messy dark hair with a white lock in the middle, blue eyes, what looked like a necklace hanging over her right ear (wouldn't that fall off easily?), and an easy grin that was probably supposed to make interlocutors more comfortable…she had no idea who this was.

"Is that not the point of training? To push your limits until they expand, or choke you into failure?"

The smile faltered slightly on the other uma's face, but she kept up her demeanor even as she shook her head. "That wasn't really what I meant, pony-chan. You've been doing these high intensity intervals for like an hour and a half, isn't it about time to start winding down, at least?"

"Well, yes, I was planning on stopping in about fifteen minutes." The treadmill sped up again and so did Shirogane, this time having to down her electrolyte gel mid sprint since her rest period had been interrupted.

"Is that a ziploc bag?" the other uma muttered in what sounded vaguely like horror.

What was the problem with that? What else would she put her gel mixtures in? It wasn't like it was worth the effort to make her own packaging for it.

"Is…something the matter?" Shirogane asked as the treadmill slowed, glancing at the intruder who was still there for some reason. There was another machine currently not being used.

"Damn, you're really not all that out of breath, are you?"

"No? Should I be? And if you need one of the treadmills there's an open one over there."

"Nah, I…you don't know who I am, do you?"

"Am I supposed to? You aren't in my year, or the one above me, as far as I know."

"...Oh! Right! You're not living in the dorms!" the other uma exclaimed, snapping her fingers in realization. "You're the one Air Groove was talking about, Shirogane-chan, right?"

"That is my name, yes. Are you on the student council as well?"

"Me?" she laughed, as if that thought was ridiculous. "Nah, I'm the dorm leader for Ritto, and I've been keeping an eye on things in here, 'cause a lot of you first years are getting antsy about tryouts. Had a few almost hurt themselves pushing too hard."

Ah, that would make her…Fuji Kiseki, wasn't it?

"And you thought I was similar?"

"I did…not so sure anymore…" she blinked, before smiling brightly. "I'm Fuji Kiseki, by the way."

"Nice to meet you, Fuiji-senpai." Shirogane sped up to match the treadmill. "A-Apologies for the disrespect." But she had been rather occupied, and as she wasn't in a dorm, technically the dorm monitor had no real authority over her.

"No worries, pony-chan! We were never introduced, and I guess I'm kinda interrupting, aren't I?"

"Wasn't that…your explicit intention? To stop me since…you believed…I was pushing myself too hard?"

"Heh, not going to let go of that?" The dorm monitor chuffed, raising a hand in a placating gesture. "Really I should have checked on you a lot earlier, but there were a lot of other ponies getting into tussles around here so I had to keep that from going bad, and before I knew it, you'd been at this for more than an hour!"

That was understandable, more pressing matters took precedence, not that what Shirogane was doing should qualify for a matter of concern. "Is there a time limit for machine operation? I don't remember there being a sign up sheet." Given the frenzy caused just by tryouts, the question of what would happen before a proper competitive race, like the Arima Kinen, struck her with morbid curiosity.

"We tried that once," Fuji Kiseki sighed, shaking her head with a grimace. "It really didn't work as well as hoped, and kinda made things worse, with more than a few ponies getting hurt 'cause they were rushing too much."

"I can see how that would be a negative side effect."

"Geez, pony-chan, you don't really have to keep talking while doing sprints."

"Would you prefer I ignore you, Fuji-senpai?"

"Err…no…that's not really the point."

"I do appreciate your dedication to your job, but as you can see, I am doing just fine." The treadmill began to speed up again, just as some raised voices rang out in another part of the gym. "I believe…something else calls…for your attention."

"Right…just don't hurt yourself, pony-chan," the dorm monitor mumbled, already looking in the direction of the shouting. "Don't want Air Groove getting on my case for being too easygoing again."

It was, Shirogane mused, quite a good sign that Tracen's staff and student leadership seemed so responsible. She downed the last of her electrolyte gel as the machine revved down to a walk, regulating her breathing to cool down from her workout, feeling a prickling sensation in her legs as stressed flesh tried to knit together.

About two months of training, and she was only a little bit faster. Perhaps this was really her physical limit…or perhaps her expectations were a bit skewed. She remembered the Soldier seeing her comrades turn into deadly killers from nervous recruits in a far shorter time, but most of the change had happened after real combat experience.

Simulated stress could only take one so far…so maybe she would have to experience a more proper race, one with more stakes, before she could break through.

If it was possible at all.

---

AN. To some degree, this is a bit of a filler chapter, though it has Shirogane interacting with a few more umas, if still demonstrating how she's mostly keeping them at arms' length. It also demonstrates how Shirogane is a little bit psycho with how she trains, and how she doesn't really recognize that. Her being kind of a lone horse for a species that is very social also makes things rather awkward for some of the other umas interacting with her. While this is certainly in character, it also helps me, because juggling so many different personalities is not a simple task.

 

[SiegfriedisPower]

was this world just a kinder one in general?

Its history has been no less violent, from what Shirogane had read, and she was the only umamusume in her family for a reason.

Click to shrink...

The Three Goddesses(Cygames) decided to intervene this Era. For some reason(Gacha).

Her being kind of a lone horse for a species that is very social also makes things rather awkward for some of the other umas interacting with her.

Click to shrink...

Red Skill - Sad Orphan Horse Vibes.

 

[Phrux]

I love ghost pony

 

[Lyrista]

Shirogane has received four levels of skill hint for Lone Wolf

 

[Jubjub3000]

Thank you for this, shiro really is a stamina monster isnt she haha! I wonder if any horse will try stick her in a hamster wheel connected to a generator and power a grill to sell street food. Sounds like something goldship would do haha

 

[TheFabulousCustodes]

She had already tried smiling and that had almost given the instructor a stroke.

Click to shrink...

Ah, yes, the good old magic murder smile!

Thanks for the chapter.

 

[Dr.Degenerate]

Thank you for this, shiro really is a stamina monster isnt she haha! I wonder if any horse will try stick her in a hamster wheel connected to a generator and power a grill to sell street food. Sounds like something goldship would do haha

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Shiro would even go along with it so long as she got a cut of the profits.

 

[lothspell]

Lil Shiro's biggest weakness is the race format itself. She's just waiting for some eccentric billionaire to announce a no rules cross-continent marathon for an absurd prize. Then we see who the real champion is.

 

[Wild Transient]

She understood that PR was quite important for the marketability of a racer, and that they were expected to perform in concerts as a closing for their races, and she could learn the moves just fine, but what exactly was she supposed to do to add more expressiveness?

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Ah...she has the same problem as Mihono Bourbon.

She had already tried smiling and that had almost given the instructor a stroke.

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The Tanya Smile, guaranteed to give you nightmares.

While the Salaryman had not been an avid fan of horse races, it had been prevalent enough in the culture that he had been tangentially aware of it, and from what Shirogane retained from him this sort of idol hybridization had not existed. Human idols existed too, from her brief investigations, and apparently that had eventually made its way into uma racing.

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In Japan,all roads eventually lead to Idols.

Or did those performances just go on missing a few of the intended numbers?

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This i think.

To complicate matters further, the instructor also found fault with her attempts at singing. She could match the tune and frequencies well enough, but it never seemed right, according to their instructor, who started twitching violently after her other attempts.

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She just needs the right song.

Now it would be rude to ignore her, so Shirogane waved in greeting. "Good morning, Silence Suzuka-senpai." At least she didn't spook and jump into the river somehow

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Silence Suzuka getto!

A few minutes later Shirogane was partially regretting her decision to interact with her spacey classmate, as Suzuka was very fast, but would occasionally stop to look at something, almost resulting in a collision several times.

If this was what a year of training could do…then she would have to work even harder.

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Silence Suzuka as her new early morning running buddy is a go!

Hah, I can see why Toujou-san picked you up," Nakashima-sensei adjusted her glasses slightly, her eyes alight with amusement. "You two really are quite similar in personality."

"I will take that as a compliment."

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It really is a compliment for her.

Her feet pounded the belt as the treadmill revved up to 55 kilometers per hour, her legs straining to keep up with the rushing incline. She struggled to keep her breathing even as she pushed forwards, trying to push for a faster sprint speed even as she felt her flesh and bones protesting.

The pain was nothing, to the point she felt somewhat ashamed at how much it took to overcome it, and even more frustratingly, she remained unable to break past her upper limit.

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Shes training up both stamina and guts. Not only is she gonna be a stamina monster but she'll be a guts nightmare. Tazuna approves of this.

Me?" she laughed, as if that thought was ridiculous. "Nah, I'm the dorm leader for Ritto, and I've been keeping an eye on things in here, 'cause a lot of you first years are getting antsy about tryouts. Had a few almost hurt themselves pushing too hard."

Ah, that would make her…Fuji Kiseki, wasn't it?

"And you thought I was similar?"

"I did…not so sure anymore…" she blinked, before smiling brightly. "I'm Fuji Kiseki, by the way."

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Networking protocols activate!

About two months of training, and she was only a little bit faster. Perhaps this was really her physical limit…or perhaps her expectations were a bit skewed. She remembered the Soldier seeing her comrades turn into deadly killers from nervous recruits in a far shorter time, but most of the change had happened after real combat experience.

Simulated stress could only take one so far…so maybe she would have to experience a more proper race, one with more stakes, before she could break through.

If it was possible at all.

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Oh it most certainly is possible Shirogane. I can hardly wait for her first official race.

 

[GarfRed]

I think Tanya in terms of expressiveness of the face, the songs that would fit would be more orchestral if she's not smiling and a rock concert for when she smiles

 

[Czlyydwr Llrngwl]

Lil Shiro's biggest weakness is the race format itself. She's just waiting for some eccentric billionaire to announce a no rules cross-continent marathon for an absurd prize. Then we see who the real champion is.

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Cannonball Run but with actual running instead of cars? I'd read it.