Fujiwara Chiya was pulled out of the crowd.
When he saw the familiar yellow leather jacket, Chiya immediately recognized the person who had come.
It was the uma musume he had met by chance at the Louvre.
Byerley.
She said to the others, "Sorry, but I brought this man here. I'm his superior."
With those words, she tactfully helped Chiya escape from the group around him.
"Are you all right?" Byerley asked after those girls reluctantly left.
"I'm fine."
Chiya felt this scene was oddly familiar.
But why was he the one being rescued?
Was he the heroine?
So uma musume were the male leads, and he was the heroine!
"You came to watch the race too?"
"Mm. I'm quite interested in this year's Arc, so I decided to stay a little longer before going back. I saw you were in trouble just now, so I stepped in without asking. I hope you don't mind."
"I don't mind. If anything, I'm grateful."
Byerley carried a military-like air. Her upright posture made people instinctively want to rely on her. The last person who gave Chiya that feeling had been Symboli Rudolf.
"Uma musume should also observe discipline. Those girls were too excited. They should wait until the trainer has finished dealing with the people around him before taking their turn."
As she spoke, Byerley adjusted her hat out of habit.
"?"
What did she mean by "their turn"?
"I watched your race just now. You've been developing your body seriously, Trainer."
"Developing… Under normal circumstances, shouldn't you find me strange? I mean, I can race against uma musume."
"True. But compared to that, I'm more interested in your potential. You still have room to grow. If you could race properly, your genes would become even better."
The word "genes" made Chiya's body twitch.
Darley had said it so often that he was practically developing PTSD. And now Byerley was bringing it up too?
It was starting to feel like the whole world was after his lower half.
"I only raced today to earn… cough, cough. To repay the racecourse staff for taking care of me. Normally, I don't race."
After hearing that, Byerley shook her head.
"You're wasting your body. It's rare to have such an excellent foundation. Your mother is an uma musume, so you already carry the genes of an outstanding uma musume. They simply couldn't show themselves because you were male. But now that you've broken that shackle, you should develop yourself properly."
"I already have uma musume. There's no need for me to race myself. Also, how do you know my mother is an uma musume?"
"I heard about you from a friend."
"What a coincidence…"
"Trainer, uma musume have always been evolving. Their instincts tell them to create even more outstanding descendants. It's like humans. When parents are highly intelligent, their children are often intelligent too. The same applies to uma musume."
Outstanding mothers raised outstanding children, and those children would then step onto the racecourse and make themselves even more outstanding.
That was how uma musume had prospered from generation to generation.
"You really are knowledgeable. But I'm just a trainer. This shouldn't have much to do with me, right?"
"It does. It has a great deal to do with you."
Byerley looked at him seriously.
"Genes are not fixed. They evolve with every generation. And the key to changing that evolution lies with trainers. Trainers help uma musume draw out their potential. It can be said that uma musume could not have developed to this point without the help of trainers. They are also the only humans the Three Goddesses take special care of."
The Three Goddesses were not selfless deities who blessed everyone equally.
They only cared about two kinds of beings.
One was the race they had personally created: uma musume.
The other was the kind of human who helped uma musume evolve: trainers.
As for everyone else, unless they were unbelievably lucky, happened to catch the Goddesses' eye, or the Goddesses were in a good mood, the Three Goddesses were too lazy to bother.
"And you, Trainer, bear an important duty while also possessing an excellent foundation. That is extremely rare. If your heart is with uma musume, then do not bury your own value."
"You're making this sound way too noble, as if I can decide the fate of all uma musume…"
"In some countries, the racing industry remained lukewarm for a long time until one particular uma musume appeared. It is no exaggeration to say that an uma musume can change the entire world on her own."
Just like that earliest genius born into the world.
"You mean I have that kind of potential too?"
"No."
"…"
"If you continue to be lazy, then of course you do not. But once you recognize your own value and begin to act on it, you will possess that qualification."
"By act, you mean I should train every day like an uma musume, then race?"
"Exactly. Uma musume are the children of the Three Goddesses. If you help them become better, faster, and stronger, the Three Goddesses will also favour you."
She had brought up the Three Goddesses directly.
Still, improving himself for the sake of producing better descendants sounded more and more like the nonsense Darley had once said was slowly becoming reality.
Chiya felt as if some invisible force was pushing him forward.
But he could not refuse.
The debt he owed the Three Goddesses weighed so heavily on him that he could not open his mouth.
They had granted him a wish beyond common sense.
That aside, even if he did not think about potential development or anything like that, Chiya was already training regularly. Byerley's suggestion was not something he could not accept.
"But I can't enter races. This time was an exhibition, and the staff let me participate. They won't allow it in official races."
"That's fine. You don't need official races. You only need to run faster. If nothing else, have your own uma musume become your opponents and race them."
"Race against my own uma musume?"
"Isn't that good? You can improve them and yourself at the same time. Of course, you can also choose to race me and chase after my footsteps."
Hearing this, Chiya looked Byerley over seriously.
She looked around his age, but she should have long passed her prime period of growth.
"Oh? What's that look? Do you think I'm weak?"
Noticing Chiya's gaze, Byerley's lips curved subtly.
"No, I didn't say that."
"I haven't raced in a long time either, and I'd like to move my body a little. There are still races later, right? I can show you my strength."
"Sure."
Chiya nodded.
There was pride as an uma musume inside him too. He wanted to know just how strong she was, to say something like "chase after my footsteps."
…
"A huge margin! A huge margin has appeared!"
The announcer's mouth fell open into an O shape as he watched an uma musume in a yellow leather jacket pull far ahead of the rest.
Eighteen lengths, nineteen, twenty…
"She crosses the line!"
The entire venue fell silent.
At Longchamp Racecourse, over a two-thousand-metre course, the uma musume in the yellow jacket crossed the finish line with an overwhelming lead of twenty-two lengths.
Byerley stood at the finish line and calmed her slightly quickened breathing.
Then she gave Fujiwara Chiya a thumbs-up.
The man silently knelt on the ground.
Forgive my earlier rudeness.
I never imagined you were Eclipse reborn.