Only One Year Left—I’ll Become a Legendary Uma Musume! 2 [77]

“You’re saying you want to go with me to France?”

“Yep.”

Dancing Brave was honestly baffled. She hadn’t even gone far before Gotham Song had chased her down to discuss traveling abroad—tonight, if possible.

Sure, for Uma Musume of their caliber, plane tickets weren’t exactly an issue, but to leave the country so abruptly?

What in the world had happened to trigger such urgency?

Dancing Brave couldn’t help but feel a strong curiosity.

“Going to Paris… to stay for a while?”

“Yes, exactly!”

This didn’t match Gotham Song’s personality at all. Could it be she’d been possessed by some weird spirit?

Although Dancing Brave didn’t claim deep familiarity with Gotham Song—or rather, Twilight Song—even she knew neither the legendary predecessor nor the younger junior before her would normally act so impulsively.

There must be a special reason.

So, what was it?

Dancing Brave said nothing, merely staring silently at Gotham Song, clearly prompting an explanation with her gaze.

So, what’s your answer going to be?

Just what kind of amusing incident happened here?

Gotham Song stayed quiet briefly, then chose to confess honestly.

There was nothing to hide, right? Well, not exactly. Or rather, why should Gotham Song feel guilty? She hadn’t done anything wrong.

But!

But still, saying it out loud felt embarrassingly pathetic. Someone was coming all the way here just to confront her face-to-face, so she chose…

A strategic retreat!

Exactly—a retreat. It wasn’t cowardly or weak, she was simply making a strategic withdrawal to foreign soil. That was all.

Dancing Brave raised an eyebrow, glanced at Gotham Song’s phone screen, and then openly broke into uncontrollable laughter.

Bluntly and mercilessly teasing.

Oh my, and here I thought something serious had happened. Turns out, Astronomer has locked onto you?

Gotham Song, you still dare to deny being a black hole?

If I’m Galileo, then you’re definitely a supermassive celestial body.

Hmm, that analogy might not have been perfect, but it certainly fit. After all, if someone like Astronomer targeted you, fleeing was perfectly understandable.

In Europe, the name “Astronomer” carried quite a peculiar reputation.

On one hand, she was undoubtedly the most accomplished European Uma Musume of her generation, and on the other…

Her private life was downright absurdly chaotic.

Even notoriously complicated individuals like Sunday Silence seemed tame compared to Astronomer.

Others merely had many admirers. Astronomer?

She’d never turn anyone down, and occasionally went hunting in the wild.

Just like now, apparently.

Turns out Gotham Song is her current prey, huh.

In truth, for most Uma Musume fans, it wasn’t necessarily a bad thing if their favorite racer found a partner of impressive strength, even if that partner was notoriously promiscuous.

But the real reason many disliked Astronomer wasn’t her reputation—it was…

Ah.

The Astronomer had explicitly flirted with Dancing Brave.

Not just hinted at, either—Astronomer had openly expressed interest in her more than once, despite Brave having become legendary years ago.

How could she put it?

In short…

This was a favor Dancing Brave was very happy to grant.

“I see… Then leaving Japan is absolutely necessary. Let’s go—we’ll head to the airport right now.”

“Huh? But what about luggage… um…”

Dancing Brave cast Gotham Song a peculiar glance before calmly hailing a taxi outside the campus gates.

“Luggage? Just stay at my place—you don’t need to bring anything. If you need clothes, text me your sizes and I’ll order them now.”

Should Gotham Song marvel at the decisiveness of a legendary Uma Musume? Before she even fully registered the situation, Dancing Brave had already arranged everything. Truly worthy of her status as the queen of pacing—even in everyday life, she was flawlessly efficient.

“And besides, rather than worrying about luggage, shouldn’t you be doing something more important right now?”

More important…? Ah, right.

Important things like… explaining the situation clearly to those close to her and temporarily bidding farewell.

After drafting a message explaining everything, Gotham Song hesitated before removing several people from her recipient list, then sent it out.

So, what happened afterward?

Did Gotham Song and Dancing Brave smoothly arrive at the airport and board a plane directly bound for Paris?

Or was there some dramatic encounter with Astronomer at the airport?

Thankfully, real life wasn’t that melodramatic. After several paranoid glances, Gotham Song finally convinced herself she lived in a reality without the unseen hands of plot manipulating every step.

Otherwise, considering how often she’d previously broken the fourth wall, wouldn’t she have long since been force-fed a handful of knives?

So, fortunately, nothing that bad happened.

But to say everything went perfectly was also impossible.

As Gotham Song settled into her airplane seat, she let out a helpless sigh.

Across the aisle sat Dancing Brave and, um…

Neo Universe.

And here next to Gotham Song herself was Daiichi Ruby, who had barely managed to catch the flight at the last minute.

Yes, just after Gotham Song sent out the message, Daiichi Ruby had responded practically instantaneously—”Let’s go to Paris together!”

As for Neo Universe?

She had evidently been waiting at the boarding gate long before Gotham Song and Dancing Brave even arrived.

Isn’t the action-speed of you guys and Dancing Brave way too terrifying?!

All Gotham Song could do was sigh in resignation.

Fortunately, Dancing Brave tactfully refrained from mentioning the earlier events with Tokai Teio. Perhaps Brave really had been simply guessing earlier?

Gotham Song couldn’t be sure. But if Brave had uncovered something suspicious, how exactly had she discovered it?

They hadn’t interacted much—could Brave really discern so much from such limited clues?

Given Brave’s later casual behavior, it seemed impossible. Would someone really show zero curiosity after uncovering a major secret?

If Gotham Song assumed Brave knew nothing, then everything made sense again.

So, for now, Gotham Song cautiously decided this was the safer assumption, even though internally she kept warning herself:

Be careful around Dancing Brave!

Meanwhile, the legendary Uma Musume being carefully watched seemed entirely unconcerned.

Truthfully, when Gotham Song had first rushed to find her earlier, Brave genuinely thought it was related to their earlier cryptic conversation.

She had barely convinced herself not to expose Gotham Song prematurely—if the girl had suddenly confessed everything right afterward, Brave wasn’t sure she could handle it.

But in the end, Gotham Song had approached her for something entirely unrelated.

This made Brave feel much more at ease.

When she initially heard Gotham Song wanted to accompany her to Paris, Brave had genuinely suspected the junior horse girl was using it as an excuse to ship her off, planning to run off somewhere else herself afterward.

After all, Twilight Song had previously recorded such stunts in her private diary—yes, Dancing Brave had thoroughly studied that unofficial “historical record.”

But now it seemed her fears were unfounded.

Hehe, Twilight Song-san, you really have no idea how popular you are in France, do you?

Smiling enigmatically, Dancing Brave caught Neo Universe twitching her ears curiously beside her.

I hope you won’t be too shocked by who’s there to welcome you… Heh.

The transoceanic flight felt lengthy and drowsy, but the experienced Gotham Song naturally…

Didn’t sleep a wink.

She wasn’t bored, though. Beyond the modern entertainment provided by the internet, Gotham Song was currently busy playing cat’s cradle with Daiichi Ruby.

Well, um…

Having suggested the game herself, Gotham Song soon found herself utterly outplayed by Ruby.

Wah, this girl effortlessly crushed me! She’s probably set on conquering the entire Uma Musume world next!

Actually, none of that happened—Gotham Song quickly noticed Daiichi Ruby’s eyelids drooping heavily.

“Feeling sleepy? Don’t push yourself. Let’s nap together.”

Daiichi Ruby, clearly exhausted, soon fell asleep leaning elegantly on Gotham Song’s shoulder, her cute cheeks temptingly close.

Yet Gotham Song didn’t spare another glance. Quietly switching her phone to night mode, she opened the novels she’d downloaded earlier for entertainment.

Only, she miscalculated greatly.

Question: How would you feel seeing your own name in a novel?

Embarrassed? Curious? Amused? Probably indifferent if you were just an extra character.

But what if your name was exactly the same as the protagonist’s?

Or worse—

If you were the protagonist of that very story?

[Reborn: My Legendary Uma Musume Transformations!]

[Chapter 2: Drawing Transformation Card… UR! Twilight Song!]

Gah?! Wait, is this even reasonable?!

Since when did I become a character powerful enough to appear as a cheat in novels?!

Bewildered, Gotham Song quickly skimmed through other downloaded novels and discovered Twilight Song was featured as a cheat, a strong support, even a system guide, and occasionally even the heroine—

Ah, Twilight Song’s fictional life sure is exciting.

Utterly speechless, Gotham Song numbly switched off her phone and sank back into her seat, dazed into silence.

Across the aisle, Dancing Brave—who’d quietly observed everything—once again failed to hold back laughter.

“Hehe… Gotham Song, you’re too amusing.”

Eventually, numbness and confusion gave way to relief as the plane finally touched down.

Eagerly anticipating arrival, Gotham Song dashed out ahead of her companions, vanishing into the crowded airport terminal.

It was only after she completely disappeared that Dancing Brave burst into quiet laughter.

“Hm? It’s nothing,” she explained to a curious Daiichi Ruby. “Just remembered something funny.”

Hehe… Twilight Song-san, ready for a real surprise?

But what was Gotham Song’s mood right now?

Answer: Utter confusion and disbelief.

“Huh?”

Because standing clearly ahead, taking photos with passing fans, was…

A nearly identical, mature version of herself.

Black dress, white hair, and… a black tail?

Who… who are you?

Give back my name and face!

—

This is a fan translation of 只能活一年了才更要成为传奇赛马娘! by 大渚教 All 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!