Only One Year Left—I'll Become a Legendary Uma Musume!

The Kyodo News Hai—a race that's honestly not all that famous.

At least, not one that holds any particular sentiment or memorable stories. Not for Twilight Song, anyway.

Yet, it was the next race Twilight Song needed to conquer.

The newbie tutorial lady had thoughtfully set things up. Twilight Song had transmigrated to this world near the end of December, meaning after her debut and the passing of the New Year, she smoothly entered the new racing season—making her eligible for the classic races starting next year.

And among those, the Triple Crown was the most prestigious.

How to put it? The Triple Crown was like the World-Championship of League, the TI of Dota, or the Majors in CS.

Simply put, it was the ultimate honor most Uma Musume chased after their entire lives.

Of course, this meant winning all three races, a goal Twilight Song had firmly set for herself.

Thus, the Kyodo News Hai was the first stepping stone.

After all, as a newly debuted Uma Musume—even with the backing of a prestigious family—it was absurd to think she'd instantly leap into a Triple Crown prelim in just her second race.

It sounded way too far-fetched, so after careful deliberation and her sisters' advice, Twilight Song settled on the Kyodo News Hai.

A beautiful victory here would give her enough popularity to comfortably enter the Triple Crown preliminaries.

There was no exaggeration in this at all. Despite being freshly debuted, Twilight Song's popularity was bizarrely high.

Even though the first half of her debut race performance was terrible?

Was it something else? Maybe... her looks?

But, when it came to beauty, weren't all Uma Musume hard to distinguish between, anyway?!

Standing before the full-length mirror, Twilight Song studied herself curiously. She wore something like a simple, elegant dress today—though she wore something similar almost every day.

The filly in the mirror tilted her head curiously. Even now, she still couldn't quite get used to the pretty girl who followed her every move, matching her silly expressions. But anyway…

Lightly tapping her foot, she relaxed her body and gracefully spun around before coming to a gentle stop, holding her skirt and curtsying slightly.

Her white hair spread gracefully like silk before gently settling down again.

Hmm, not bad?

Well, let's just assume her popularity really was due to her appearance—looks always mattered, in any world. Even so, that alone shouldn't justify this crazy popularity spike.

Usually, an Uma Musume needed at least two or three races to build substantial popularity. Yet, apparently, Twilight Song had already achieved that with just one dramatic victory.

Unable to puzzle out an answer, the filly gave up, flopping onto her bed and picking up the newspaper beside her.

The era she'd transmigrated into was actually much earlier than the one most people were familiar with. To put it simply, Tokai Teio was probably still a little kid—and Mejiro McQueen was a soft, cuddly filly herself.

If Twilight Song had to pinpoint a moment in time, it would probably be around when she found a local news report of an Uma Musume earnestly singing folk songs on the winner's podium.

That, clearly, was Oguri Cap.

She was firmly set within the era of the Heisei Big Three.

Who'd have thought she'd arrive during Cinderella Gray's era…

Twilight Song sighed briefly, and that was it.

The newspaper had a surprisingly extensive section dedicated to Uma Musume—two whole pages of a four-page spread.

And right there, the headline read:

[Miraculous Late-Stage Sprint! Prestigious Family's Twilight Song Announces Participation in the Kyodo News Hai!]

Below that were specifics about her participation and some reasonable speculation about her motives—like fighting for a slot in the Triple Crown preliminaries.

She had to admit, journalism in this world still carried a refreshing air of sincerity. They reported actual news with only reasonable speculation, not polluted by sensationalism.

Though, that "miraculous late-stage sprint" was simply referring to how horribly she'd performed during the first half of her debut race, only to activate her [Skill] and surge ahead at the last second for victory.

Was her popularity partly due to this striking contrast? That felt odd. Didn't anyone notice she'd been genuinely struggling?

But of all the odd things written there, something else caught her attention—a trend she grudgingly acknowledged as plausible.

What was with this obsession of pairing every Uma Musume with a "rival"?

Twilight Song read the next section, her brow furrowing in mild exasperation.

[Indeed, Twilight Song from the prestigious family is a strong contender. As one of this year's prominent Triple Crown hopefuls, who might emerge as her greatest rivals?]

[Will it be the prodigious Yaeno Muteki, renowned for her outstanding strength and potential?]

[Or perhaps another lesser-known Uma Musume, quietly awaiting her time to shine?]

[Ah, indeed—the Sakura stable also has new talents entering the Triple Crown races this year.]

The Sakura stable and Tamamo Cross were indeed tough opponents, not to mention the legendary figures of the Heisei Big Three...

Feeling discouraged, Twilight Song dropped the newspaper, burying her pale face beneath its pages.

But that aside…

It seemed the word "rival" in the Uma Musume universe always carried some strange, ambiguous implications.

Take Rudolf's rivals—Symboli Rudolf had Chiyono O and Sirius Symboli.

Oguri Cap… probably Tamamo Cross.

Tokai Teio and Mejiro McQueen were famously rivals, and even Kitasan Black and Satono Diamond were childhood rivals, easily shipped together in fandom and even official media.

See? Rivals, sure—but in fan content (and official anime!), these "rivals" often turned into… couples?!

More than that—something she'd learned only after transmigrating here—just as many Uma Musume married their trainers, a significant number actually chose to marry their teammates. And among these pairings, the highest likelihood of marriage was between rivals.

In other words, for an Uma Musume, rivalry was the most common precursor to becoming spouses…?

No way—absolutely no way! A rival was an enemy, not someone to become your wife! Twilight Song absolutely refused to accept such a situation—her rival, becoming her wife? Ridiculous!

Holding that irritated thought in her mind, she reconsidered the newspaper's article from this perspective.

Wasn't this basically… matchmaking for her future wife?

How weird…