Chapter 32: Cyborg, Deploy!
To be honest, before coming to Central, Stardust Mirage already had some understanding of Tracen Academy. This included memories from her previous life—details from games, anime, and manga—as well as bits and pieces of information she had searched for online in this life (though in principle, disclosing information about Central Trecen Academy privately was not allowed).
In her imagination, Central Tracen Academy should be a school comparable to a top-tier university from her previous life. However, upon entering through the main gate, she realized her understanding of its scale was completely off:
"This isn't just a school anymore—it's practically a small town!"
Stardust Mirage stared in disbelief as an intra-campus bus whizzed past her and couldn't help exclaiming.
"Indeed, our academy aims to build a comprehensive institution where all Central horse girls can live healthy lives," Rudolf Symbol, leading the group ahead, turned back to explain. "And for horse girls like yourselves, if the grounds aren't sufficiently large, it would be difficult to properly allocate environments for activities like running training."
By now, everyone except Hayakawa Tazuna and old man Musaka had changed into the academy's dedicated athletic wear. According to Air Groove, this would help them blend in and attract less attention.
"That may be true…" Stardust Mirage finally managed to close her gaping mouth but still murmured incredulously, "But this is in central Tokyo. This is practically a city within a city—it's just too extravagant."
From what she had observed along the way, without even crossing half of the academy grounds, she had already spotted at least eight different types of simulated racecourses, along with various training facilities, fields, and living areas. It truly formed its own self-contained world.
"That's why we say the student council president is the Emperor herself," old man Musaka chuckled teasingly.
"That's a misunderstanding," Rudolf Symbol replied gracefully, not showing any pride at being called the Emperor. She turned around and gave a slight bow before explaining, "I'm called the Emperor only because of my performances on the racetrack. If we joke about such matters and the URA hears about it, it could be troublesome, old man Musaka."
"Ah! Is that a race over there?!" Sakura Chiyono-o, who had been looking around with her hands behind her head, suddenly pointed toward a grassy simulated racecourse not far away and shouted.
Following her gaze, Stardust Mirage saw a dozen or so horse girls in athletic wear warming up on the course. At the edge of the course, several ordinary humans who appeared to be trainers were each speaking to different horse girls. It seemed like a race was indeed being prepared.
"Ah, that's likely a training race," Hayakawa Tazuna suggested with a smile. "Some students are about to participate in competitions, or they need to maintain their condition through competition. So, teams under different trainers within the academy often organize training races like this. Would you like to go take a look?"
"We're going, we're going! Bakushin-o wants to see!!!"
Broad-foreheaded Sakura Bakushin-o vigorously raised her right hand, her body buzzing with excitement, and her ponytail wagged energetically behind her.
"Then let's all go take a look. The tour is pretty much covered anyway," Rudolf Symbol readily agreed, leading everyone toward the race site.
Arriving at the edge of the course, Stardust Mirage observed the warming-up participants with inner astonishment. There were many horse girls she recognized:
Daitaku Helios, T.M Opera O, Mihono Bourbon, Hishi Amazon…
Each was a famous powerhouse from G1 races in her past life, every one with unique strengths and special techniques. Their fighting spirit and endurance would shine brightly on future racetracks.
As expected of Central Tracen Academy, right? Even a casual training race could reveal so many top talents.
Stardust Mirage inwardly marveled at the impressive lineup of this training race.
However, she wasn't actually feeling too stirred up inside. After all, even if she wanted to defeat Teio, it didn't mean she felt the urge to race against every fast runner she saw—that would truly turn her into some weirdo who accosts horse girls in the middle of the night asking, "You like running?"
"Ah! Everyone looks so fired up! I want to burst into a sprint too!!!"
A loud shout beside her snapped Stardust Mirage out of her thoughts. Turning, she saw Sakura Bakushin-o already spinning excitedly in place.
Musaka Ginjirou also cast an inquiring glance her way, seemingly asking if Stardust Mirage wanted to join the training race.
Of course not.
Sensing his intent, Stardust Mirage decisively shook her head.
Her system's main functions, aside from earning PT through races to learn some skills, were to stabilize training effects. In other words, as long as she trained, there were guaranteed returns. Wouldn't it be better to use the time for a training race to work on endurance, speed, or strength? Or, at the very least, she could read rulebooks to improve her intelligence.
"You can join if you'd like. This training race is probably organized by Trainer Toyama Hikaru over there. I can take you to ask her," Hayakawa Tazuna also noticed Stardust Mirage's refusal but didn't push. Instead, she pointed gently toward a mature woman wrapped in thick athletic wear not far away. The female trainer was currently giving serious instructions to Mihono Bourbon with a focused expression.
Just as Stardust Mirage watched the green-hatted secretary lead Bakushin-o toward the trainer, inwardly sighing in relief, she failed to notice old man Musaka behind her revealing a meaningful smile—
After speaking briefly with Hayakawa Tazuna and Sakura Chiyono-o, the trainer turned her gaze toward Stardust Mirage. Her sharp eyes swept over the group before suddenly pointing directly at Stardust Mirage and calling out:
"Bourbon, bring her here."
"Yes, Master."
Expressionless, Mihono Bourbon turned her head, then explosively accelerated into a sprint toward them!
Thud!
A light footfall sounded. Watching Mihono Bourbon charge toward her, Stardust Mirage couldn't help but recall the Shinkansen bullet train she had taken that morning—though her speed couldn't match the Shinkansen, her precise, mechanical running rhythm was almost identical, with no wasted movement and seemingly devoid of personal flair.
Or perhaps, this machinelike standardization was her personal flair.
This was Mihono Bourbon, known as the Cyborg!
"You think you can catch me just like—"
Before she could finish her sentence, Stardust Mirage flashed a smile, abruptly lowered her posture… and sprinted away at full speed!
"—That's wishful thinking!"
She didn't know exactly what had been said to the trainer to cause this, but since someone was chasing her, running away was the obvious choice.
After all, she was a front-runner.
That's about it for now. If there are any other issues later, I'll mention them when I think of them.
(OG Authors Note: Alright, I know I'm being long-winded, don't scold me (.
Mainly, regarding some plot points within the chapter, I see quite a few people asking, so I'll briefly explain:
Is a horse girl's value related to gambling?
Actually, it's not related. Value represents the total prize money a horse girl has won through victories. Higher value means more wins in classic-grade races, which also indicates greater strength.
Of course, you could say that in reality, prize money does come from gambling. But this is the world of the Three Goddesses; it has nothing to do with that. Don't question why there's so much money—just understand that the world's foundation is running competitions, okay? (.
Mihono Bourbon's trainer, Toyama Hikaru—isn't that that muscular guy?
Indeed, in the anime, Bourbon's trainer is the muscular guy Kurozumi. But he has very little screen time.
However, I intend for this trainer to become the protagonist's trainer, so I've created a female trainer based on the real-world Trainer Toyama as a template.
After all, for the sports story I want to write, the athlete and coach should have a close, inseparable relationship, like Oguri Cap and Kitahara, or Rokuhara Ginjiro. So, I made her female. On one hand, an original character is easier to shape in terms of personality and plot. On the other hand, it avoids the possibility of the trainer developing too close a relationship with the protagonist leading to a gender-bending romance scenario… I definitely won't write that, so I changed it directly.
Escaping the Winner's Stage
I'm really sorry about this. Looking at other horse girl stories, it seems popular to have the protagonist escape the Winner's Stage, so I didn't think much and wrote it that way, treating it purely as a joke or running gag.
But indeed, the readers' feedback is valid. Escaping the Winner's Stage after giving your all in a race would be awkward for others. So, from now on, for any race with a Winner's Stage, the protagonist won't escape. She'll fully embrace it and wear a skirt to dance a little dance, I guess.)
Note: I'm new to translating so please be kind and tell me any mistakes you all find, I will try to release a chapter a day but don't expect much
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