Umamusume: Full of Flavor! [1] & Synopsis

Haruto Akiyama had the misfortune of being trampled to death by a horse, only to reincarnate into the world of Umamusume. He thought his second life would finally have nothing to do with creatures like that—only to be attacked by a “horse” again… though in a very different sense of the word.

That was when Haruto realized that in this world, where women were strong and men were weak, any man who wanted control over his own fate had to master the art of handling an “Uma”!

And so, Haruto entered Tracen Academy and became a proud Umamusume Trainer, beginning his legendary career of training Umamusume…

What do you mean all the Umamusume he trained want their Trainer all to themselves? Possessiveness became a UNIQUE SKILL?? And what exactly does “heavy track” mean???

[CONGRATULATIONS ON BECOMING A SPECIALLY APPOINTED TRAINER AT CENTRAL TRACEN ACADEMY!]

—Director of Central Tracen Academy

—Yayoi Akikawa

…

“So it’s finally here…”

Haruto Akiyama looked down at the appointment letter in his hands, stamped in gold foil, and the Trainer badge gleaming with the same light. At last, the day had come.

Twenty-two years had passed since he reincarnated into this world. All that hard work had finally paid off, and Haruto had obtained his Trainer license.

This world had no animals known as horses. In their place existed beings called “Umamusume.” They were said to be special individuals born under the blessing of the Three Goddesses, appearing only among women, with physical abilities far beyond ordinary humans, as well as the traits of animal-eared girls.

And around them had arisen the most popular sport in the world: “racing”—which, to put it bluntly, was footracing. Trainers were professionals who supported them in training and helped them achieve Victory.

Haruto had a rough understanding of that setting. It came from a mobile game in his previous life called Umamusume.

In his previous life, Haruto had never played the game himself, but one of his roommates played it every day. The guy was also a hardcore racing culture enthusiast who could talk about it endlessly, so Haruto had picked up some knowledge through sheer exposure.

Just when he had started to take a little interest in Umamusume and was wondering whether he should try getting into it, an accident happened that completely changed his life.

Haruto had gone traveling to the grasslands with that Umamusume-loving roommate to try horseback riding. The horse beneath him ran too fast, and Haruto accidentally lost his grip on the reins and was thrown from its back. Then one of the horses charging up from behind stomped directly onto his chest, and then… he died on the spot.

Perhaps even the heavens felt that such a way to die was far too absurd for modern society, so they had specifically reincarnated him into a world where “horses” did not exist.

At first, after reincarnating into this world, Haruto wanted nothing more to do with the “horses” that had killed him—in other words, with Umamusume. Unfortunately, he had also obtained a “system.” Add to that a certain “accident” from his childhood, and he felt he really ought to make good use of this reincarnation bonus.

As for that childhood accident, it happened when Haruto was still in elementary school. On the way home from school with his childhood friend, he was suddenly kidnapped.

The culprit was an Umamusume. She picked Haruto up and took off running, and no one could catch up to her… even though she was a bottom-tier Umamusume who did not even count as third-rate.

On top of that, an Umamusume’s physical abilities far surpassed a human’s. If an ordinary person was attacked by an Umamusume, they had no ability to resist at all, let alone Haruto, who was still an elementary schooler.

Then he was kidnapped into a dark little room, and when Haruto came back to his senses, what he saw was…

A horse?!

There were clearly no horses in this world, right?!

Oh. So it wasn’t a horse. Just an Umamusume with a “horse face”…

Fuck! What kind of joke was this?! Wasn’t that even more terrifying?! Stop coming closer and whinnying at me! And don’t lick my face either—Gyaaaaaah!

Weren’t Umamusume supposed to all be beautiful girls?! Why did some bizarre creature with absolutely zero beautiful-girl elements even exist?! At this point, shouldn’t she be called an “Uma auntie”?!

Thinking about it carefully, of course the mobile game would only have beautiful girls. But this world had thousands upon thousands of Umamusume, so there were bound to be a few freaks with especially obvious “atavistic traits.”

That horse-faced auntie’s reason for kidnapping Haruto seemed to be that she wanted to take him back and make him her sex slave.

Although Haruto was successfully rescued right before he nearly “got ridden by an Uma,” that experience left an indelible psychological scar on him, and also taught him one truth.

Umamusume were terrifying.

And… if he did not want to get ridden by an Uma, then he had to become someone who could ride Uma himse—pah, someone who could control Umamusume!

In other words, he had to become a Trainer!

Because all Umamusume respected Trainers, they would never think of inva… offending a Trainer. Trainers themselves were also highly respected in society, true members of the upper class. Some Master Trainers were even more famous than Umamusume.

Surely, if he became a Trainer, he would never again be kidnapped by a horse-faced auntie and locked up in a dark little room.

And so, Haruto poured his heart and soul into studying. After ten years of bitter effort, he finally achieved success, graduated from Trainer school with excellent grades, and obtained his Trainer license.

However, the license Haruto had obtained was only a junior Trainer license. Strictly speaking, he could only work as a Trainer at a local academy and was not qualified to enter Central Tracen Academy as a Trainer.

Central Tracen’s Trainer license was extremely difficult to obtain, with an outrageously low pass rate. Over the past ten years, only twenty people had received licenses, and among them, only two were foreigners.

Haruto had only submitted his blank, utterly unimpressive résumé to Central Tracen with the mentality of “might as well try,” never expecting that he would actually be hired.

At that moment, a beautiful mature woman with smiling eyes and long wavy hair walked over to Haruto. Resting a hand against her cheek, she smiled and asked, “Oh my, Haruto, is that an appointment letter from Tracen?”

“Yes, Mother. I’m supposed to report in tomorrow.”

This was Haruto’s mother in this world, and she was also an Umamusume. He had heard that she had been a legendary Umamusume when she was young, but Haruto had no idea exactly how powerful she had been. His mother always just smiled and said those things were all old stories, not worth bringing up.

Haruto was the child this Umamusume had carried for ten months and given birth to. But he had no father—not because his father had passed away early or anything like that, but because “there had never been one from the beginning.”

Just like a certain savior nailed to a cross, Haruto was a child born of a virgin birth.

In this world, that was apparently not especially rare. It was said that many Umamusume also came from single-parent families, with only a mother at home and no father.

This seemed to be what they called the “blessing of the Three Goddesses”… those bizarre goddesses who casually got Umamusume pregnant.

Since reincarnation had already happened, and goddesses really did exist, there was no point in digging too deeply into physiology in a fantastical worldview like this.

Besides, Haruto’s mother knew that Haruto came from another world. Apparently, the Three Goddesses had told her, which was why Haruto had been able to keep his name from his previous life.

Haruto was still very grateful to his mother in this life. Even knowing that he was from another world, she had cared for him in every possible way and raised him into adulthood.

“Still, I didn’t expect the very first appointment letter to come from Central Tracen… Mother, you didn’t pull strings for me, did you?”

“Hehehe. I may be an old veteran, but I retired many years ago. I don’t have the right to interfere with Central Tracen’s hiring decisions. So this is a qualification you earned through your own hard work, Haruto.”

“I hope so…”

Haruto looked at the appointment letter in his hands, somehow feeling there was more to it. After all, the words “specially appointed” were written on it, which meant his hiring had not gone through normal channels.

“Have you packed your luggage? Shall I have Auntie Ran take you to Tracen?”

“Yes, everything’s packed. As for Auntie Ran… I’m just a nameless rookie Trainer right now. There’s no need to make such a big production of it. I’ll take the bus.”

Auntie Ran was Mother’s best friend and personal driver. He had heard that when she was young, she had also been a very powerful Umamusume.

The two of them had been childhood friends and had belonged to the same Team, and that bond had continued to this day.

“I see. Then please say hello to Yayoi-tan and Tazuna-chan for me. Perhaps I’ll visit Tracen from time to time in the future to see our Haruto too. Hehehe.”

“Sure… Yayoi-tan?”

She meant the person who had signed the appointment letter, Yayoi Akikawa—the current Director, right?

Haruto had seen this loli ha—Director on television before. Supposedly, she had been Director for many years already.

Mother called the Director “Yayoi-tan,” a way of referring to someone younger, which meant she was even older than the Director. Just how old was Mother?

As if she had guessed what Haruto was thinking, Mother continued smiling, yet approached him with terrifying pressure in her voice.

“Hehehe, Haruto, prying into a lady’s age is very rude, you know? Remember this: in the world of Umamusume, age and weight are abso~lute taboo topics that must never be touched, all right?”

S-So much… pressure.

“…Yes. I will remember your teachings.”

It had been the same in his original world. A woman’s age and weight were often landmine topics, and Umamusume cared about them even more, so he really could not ask carelessly.

Haruto did not want to go through another terrifying experience like being kidnapped by a horse-faced auntie.

Until he obtained enough ability to protect himself, he should avoid angering Umamusume as much as possible.

In any case, now that he had successfully become a Trainer at Tracen Academy, surely the system he had been longing for would finally open up, right?

Hopefully, it would be a system that could strengthen his body… He absolutely could not be treated like a mount by an Umamusume again!

…

Haruto, dressed in formal clothes and carrying his luggage, got off the bus. Before him stood the gates of Central Tracen Academy.

As expected of Japan’s number one Umamusume academy… Even the gates alone were as luxurious as those of a school for nobility. This place must be the dream destination of all Umamusume.

It was already July and summer break had begun, while new Umamusume usually had their Debut Race in the fourth week of June. That meant most newly enrolled Umamusume had already completed their Debut Race, and Haruto had actually missed the best time to recruit an assigned Umamusume.

In other words, if things had followed the normal hiring process, a rookie Trainer like Haruto should have entered the academy together with the newly enrolled Umamusume in March. Instead, it had been dragged all the way to July, which was enough to show that Tracen’s higher-ups had hesitated for a long time over whether or not to hire him.

Moreover, during that period, no other local academy had sent Haruto any job offers either. That was strange. Haruto had clearly obtained his Trainer license through the official examination, so plenty of local academies should have been inviting him.

Because of that, Haruto had spent nearly five months shut up at home, feeling extremely anxious and afraid that some accident might occur. Fortunately, in the end, he still successfully received Central Tracen Academy’s appointment letter.

As soon as he got off the bus, Haruto’s eyes met those of a beautiful woman dressed entirely in emerald green.

She walked toward Haruto with a smile and greeted him gently.

“Hello, new Trainer. I am the Director’s Secretary, Tazuna Hayakawa.”

“Ah, hello… I’m Haruto Akiyama, a rookie Trainer.”

“I know about you. Director Akikawa has already mentioned you to me, our ‘special Trainer.’”

So this was the “Tazuna-chan” Mother had mentioned. It seemed she was also Mother’s junior.

She was really beautiful. The two low ponytails hanging behind her swayed in the wind, and at a glance, she looked like an excellent older-sister type with a calm, composed air.

See, this was what a normal Umamusume’s looks were supposed to be! Horse-faced aunties and the like could stay gone forever!

Come to think of it, when Haruto watched his roommate play the game in his previous life, he had seen this Director’s Secretary, nicknamed the “Green Devil,” many times. Apparently, she was also a legendary Umamusume, but Haruto knew nothing about that hidden setting, and his Uma-loving roommate had never talked about it either.

However, Hayakawa-san seemed to be hiding the fact that she was an Umamusume. She always wore a hat to conceal her ears. But where was she hiding that large Umamusume tail? Surely she hadn’t cut it off, right?

As if noticing Haruto’s glance toward the area around her hips, Tazuna Hayakawa raised a finger to her lips and said with a smile, “It seems my senior has mentioned me to you… However, please help me keep it a secret, all right? Here at Tracen Academy, I am merely the Director’s Secretary, someone who wants to provide the students with a comfortable school life.”

“Yes…”

She was clearly smiling, but that heavy pressure… It was exactly the same as when Mother was angry!

As expected of Mother’s junior. They were cut from the same cloth.

“In any case, welcome to Tracen Academy, Akiyama-san. To help you settle into your work environment as quickly as possible, I will be providing you with advice and assistance.”

“Yes. I’ll be in your care, Hayakawa-san.”

“There’s no need to be so formal. You may simply call me Tazuna. The students all affectionately call me ‘Tazuna-chan.’”

“All right, Hayakawa-san. But you mentioned just now that I’m a ‘special Trainer.’ May I ask what that means? Does it have something to do with my special appointment?”

Hayakawa-san narrowed her eyes, and a faint wry smile appeared on her face, but she quickly composed herself.

“Yes. As a Trainer, you would normally need to recruit an exclusive Umamusume partner on your own… Unfortunately, Akiyama-san, you yourself are also an extremely unusual existence as a Trainer, so the academy will be assigning you Umamusume who require your instruction and training.”

“I see. So not being allowed to choose my own Umamusume is the condition attached to my special appointment.”

Still, Haruto did not understand why he alone was being treated specially. Was it because of Mother after all? Since his mother had once been a legendary Umamusume, that meant Haruto could be considered to come from a distinguished family.

“Yes. However, please rest assured. The Umamusume you will be responsible for have all completed their Debut Race. There will be no situation where you are held accountable because your assigned Umamusume failed to complete their Debut Race.”

“There are Umamusume who can’t complete their Debut Race?”

Haruto had assumed that any Umamusume who entered Central Tracen Academy had bright futures ahead of them. Even if they did not become legendary Umamusume who left their names in history, at the very least, they would be able to compete on a first-class stage. He had never expected that some Umamusume could not even complete their Debut Race.

“Yes. Central Tracen Academy enrolls roughly two thousand students every year…”

“Two thousand?! That many?”

Central Tracen was the highest institution in the racing world. Any Umamusume who could enter Central Tracen was either from a prestigious lineage, extraordinarily talented, or had transferred to Central after achieving results at a local racecourse.

For example, the legendary racer Oguri Cap had transferred to Central only after dominating everyone at Kasamatsu Racecourse… Come to think of it, he wondered whether Oguri Cap had enrolled in this world yet… judging by the era, she had probably already retired after achieving great success.

But the timeline in the Umamusume game was already extremely chaotic to begin with, gathering famous Umamusume from different eras all in one place, so maybe Oguri Cap had not enrolled yet.

Still, Haruto had thought Tracen’s new Umamusume each year would number two hundred at most. He had not expected there to be a full two thousand… That was way too many!

Then again, there were two thousand new Umamusume every year, while Central only produced an average of two new Trainers per year. From that perspective, becoming a Trainer was still harder.

But that was probably because simply becoming an Umamusume already meant one was “chosen,” while Trainer was a profession anyone could theoretically pursue, so the threshold was different.

Averaged out, one Trainer had to be responsible for ten Umamusume… and that was only counting new students, not the upperclassmen.

He had heard that thirty years ago, there had been roughly seven hundred active Trainers. But as some famous Trainers retired and Central’s exams grew increasingly difficult, the number of active Trainers had already fallen to only two hundred.

Actually, what was difficult was the Trainer exam for direct entry into Central. If a Trainer with experience handling assigned Umamusume at a local academy wanted to transfer to Central, it was not that hard—of course, they still had to have reached the top level locally.

So in reality, there were too many Umamusume and too few Trainers. No wonder most Umamusume respected Trainers so much.

Many Umamusume might never be favored by any Trainer before graduation.

No… some might not even be able to graduate successfully. After all, if they could not complete their Debut Race no matter what, the academy would advise them to withdraw.

Either they returned to the local circuit, or… retired on the spot and went back to being ordinary people.

“Yes. The overwhelming majority of students here are elites among elites, girls who came to this place after overcoming countless trials while dreaming of reaching the summit…”

Hayakawa-san gave a soft sigh.

“But sometimes, things simply do not go as one wishes… Whether because of fierce competition, injuries and illness, or plain bad luck… for all sorts of reasons, fewer than ten percent of Umamusume are able to successfully complete an OP race.”

“So only around two hundred Umamusume remain in the end…”

That matched Haruto’s expectations, and it also aligned with the number of Trainers.

Still, thinking about it, it was truly cruel. To give an analogy, it was like finally passing an entrance exam on hell difficulty, getting into Peking University or Tsinghua, only to discover that the next hellish exam was already waiting, and failing it meant expulsion.

This was the kind of detail the game would never mention.

Haruto once again clearly realized that this was not some dreamlike fairy-tale world that sang praises of Victory, hard work, and friendship. This was the cruel world of “competitive sports.”

Hayakawa-san turned to Haruto, her expression serious, and advised him solemnly.

“As a Trainer, you cannot enter the racecourse in place of your Umamusume. That is why, in everything outside the racecourse, you must support your assigned Umamusume with all your strength.”

“Whether it is physical and mental conditioning or race training, as they run toward their dreams, they need the guidance and assistance of an adult known as a ‘Trainer.’”

“So please be fully aware of the responsibility you are about to shoulder.”

Haruto felt the weight of that responsibility as well. He nodded seriously and said, “Yes. I am prepared.”

“Very good. Then I will first show you around the academy facilities.”

However, just as Haruto, carrying that solemn and dignified mood, followed Hayakawa-san and stepped into Tracen Academy, he broke character in the very next second.

Because the instant he entered Tracen Academy’s gates, Haruto received a system notification.

[CONGRATULATIONS ON SUCCESSFULLY JOINING TRACEN ACADEMY!]

[THE “UMA COINS” FUNCTION HAS BEEN UNLOCKED!]

[PLEASE WORK HARD WITH YOUR ASSIGNED UMAMUSUME TO WIN RACES AND EARN MORE UMA COINS!]

Uma Coins?!

T/N: OKAY UMMM THIS IS OOUGHHH THE PSYCHIC DAMAGE I TAKE IS CRAZY! BUT IF THIS IS WHAT GETS VIEWS I WILL BEAR THIS BURDEN! okiee uhh dw if its not ur cup of tea remember vote after 5 chapters!

This is a fan translation of 赛马娘，味真足 by 夜幕下的鬼 Rights to the original work belong to the creator. Please support them by exploring their original work or sharing it with others if you can. Thank you for reading and supporting my efforts to bring this story to a wider audience!