The Trainer With Little Time Left Just Wants to Live [1] & Synopsis

Ryuichi Kitano was a Trainer, but he had no interest in heavy going, romantic minefields, or anything of the sort. He had a much more urgent problem—he did not have long to live.

Before he crossed over, Kitano had died young of a congenital illness. Even after finding himself in the world of Umamusume, he could only live until that same age before dying in unbearable agony, tortured by the disease until the very end.

But Kitano simply would not stay dead. Not only that, but every time he died, he would be reborn in the next era of Umamusume and repeat another twenty-odd years of pain.

Gwah! You can’t do this to me! After agony upon agony, Kitano knew he had to find a way out of this endless cycle of suffering.

And the only way for Kitano, sickly as he was, to change his fate was to keep sending the Umamusume in his care out to race. The more races they won, the longer Kitano could live—and the greater his hope of changing his constitution and becoming healthy.

However, after who knew how many loops, Kitano looked at the Umamusume under his care, each one wearing [DOMINATOR] over her head, their eyes dull as they glared at one another with open hostility, and felt his heart wither.

Please, I’m begging you. Stop turning everything into some heavy-going romantic minefield and go run your races. Your Trainer just wants to live!

“Child, you should understand by now. At this stage, this illness… there’s no possibility of curing it.”

“Continuing treatment like this will only add to your pain. You’re still young. Lying here in the hospital won’t change anything, so why not try doing what you truly want to do?”

…What I truly want to do? Then, with the limited time I have, I want to make my life mean more. I want to become someone who leaves deeper traces in other people’s memories. That wish is what I want most.

And now, have I done it? Have I changed their fates and made my own life more meaningful?

“Trainer-san, I’m the freest Umamusume there is. Do you have the confidence—the resolve—to drive this freest wind?”

“Thank you, Trainer-san… Whether it was locally or at Tokyo, you were the only one I could rely on.”

“It’s all right… Trainer-san, just think of me as your legs and your eyes. I’ll go see it in your place—that view at the front. At the Tenno Sho (Autumn).”

As those familiar voices echoed and familiar figures surfaced before his eyes one after another, a faint smile found its way onto his face before he knew it.

Maybe… I really did it. I did what little I could, and they acknowledged it. Just as I promised myself, I used the advantages I had to help them reach greater heights.

Then now… I want to do something for myself too. If I’m going to break free of this situation once and for all, maybe it’s time I let go of some of my old cowardice… and of being far too considerate.

But just as that thought flickered through his mind, a woman’s voice barged into his head without warning. Unlike every voice before it, it was not gentle in the slightest.

“Kitano! Wake up already. We’re here!”

All at once, the figure of an Umamusume forced her way into the warm, harmonious scene before him, shattering that beautiful dream worth looking back on like glass.

In a daze, Ryuichi Kitano finally jolted awake on the train, his whole body trembling slightly. His eyes darted around in panic before finally settling on the Umamusume beside him, who was staring at him with her unmistakable sanpaku eyes.

She was not particularly tall. She wore a hemp-colored knit cap, with a pair of long chestnut horse ears poking out through two openings in it. There was always a lollipop in her mouth, and she watched Kitano with a listless expression, but the fighting spirit hidden deep beneath that lazy gaze proved that there was something different about this Umamusume.

“Festa… If you’re going to wake me up, you don’t have to shout like that. It’d be a pretty bad deal if you scared me to death.”

“I yelled that loud because I was afraid you were dead. Good thing you reacted. I’m scared of you falling asleep now.”

Kitano’s tone carried a little complaint, but more than that, it held the helplessness of someone who knew perfectly well she would never change. His face was very pale, though clearly not from fright, because every bit of exposed skin on his body had that same unhealthy, sickly whiteness.

And not far from the seat of the Umamusume he had called “Festa,” the wheelchair placed off to the side made it clear that Kitano’s physical condition was anything but promising.

That was Ryuichi Kitano. A poor bastard born with a congenital illness, who had died young in his original world, only to cross over into the world of Umamusume and still fail to escape the torment of disease.

And the one beside him, Nakayama Festa, was without a doubt the Umamusume in Kitano’s care.

Or more precisely, she was the Umamusume in his care in this timeline.

In truth, this was not Kitano’s first time in the world of Umamusume. He had not told the two Umamusume in his care about that. The first time he crossed into this world, the era he landed in was far older than the present one.

So why had Kitano come to this era as well? The reason had to do with his incurable illness.

In my original world, I could only live to twenty-one. Even after crossing into the world of Umamusume, in theory, I only have that long to live.

Fortunately, the Three Goddesses did help me a little. They didn’t just throw me into this world and leave me to fend for myself.

After he crossed over, Kitano’s sickly body had indeed come with him. Still, he had a chance to change his fate. Though the Three Goddesses had not given him some heaven-defying cheat like something out of a certain webnovel site—not even a humiliating little system from a certain cat-themed one—they had at least given Kitano an ability that could be considered useful.

He could extend his life by winning races.

Of course, that did not mean Kitano himself transformed into an Umamusume and ran. Rather, as long as the Umamusume in his care won races, Kitano’s lifespan would be extended. The higher the grade of the race she won, and the more strong opponents there were in that race, the more lifespan Kitano would gain.

It did not change the reality of being tormented by illness, but as long as Kitano’s lifespan could be extended, it would, in a roundabout way, ease his condition. The more lifespan Kitano had remaining, the less his illness would torment him.

Hearing that, did this ability sound powerful? In theory, could it even lead to eternal life?

Then Kitano would have to tell everyone that if this ability fell into the hands of a healthy person, it might indeed be strong. But do not forget—Kitano himself only had twenty-one years to live!

At that thought, Kitano silently glanced at his arm. On it was a clear row of numbers, recording how much time he had left to live—30 days, 16 hours, and 23 minutes.

Yes. In one more month, Kitano would reach the age of twenty-one and embrace death. Yet not a single Umamusume of his had won even one race, so his lifespan had not increased by so much as a second.

Strictly speaking, Kitano had not been able to become a Trainer at all. He did not have a Central Trainer license, not even a Regional Trainer license. And the judgment of “Umamusume in his care” was determined by the signing of a formal contract, so naturally, Kitano could not use his ability to increase his lifespan.

That said, Kitano had to emphasize that this had nothing to do with whether he worked hard, nor with his professional knowledge or ability. It was simply because one had to be twenty or older to take the Trainer licensing exam. In the world of Umamusume, there was no legend of some genius high schooler training Umamusume. A Trainer had to be an adult.

More importantly, the Central Trainer license had physical requirements.

Back then, I didn’t even know about that. In my first loop, I spent twenty years just trying to get a Central Trainer license… I finally passed the written exam, and only then did they tell me there was a physical exam too…

Whenever he thought about that, Kitano—who had accomplished absolutely nothing when he first arrived in the world of Umamusume and ended up drawing water with a bamboo basket—still felt his teeth itch. He was ashamed of how stupid he had been in his first loop.

Thankfully, the Three Goddesses had given him more than one chance. Even if he died in one loop, he could still come back to life in the next. The timeline would move forward a little, but at least it gave Kitano room for trial and error.

Kitano felt incredibly grateful that the Three Goddesses were still willing to give him a hand. Otherwise, he would probably have become the most embarrassing member among all his transmigrators… When he died someday and the others asked what he had done after crossing over, Kitano would have to bite the bullet and say he had done absolutely nothing, then died when his lifespan ran out. What a humiliating life story.

At this point, perhaps some transmigrator would find it strange. “Wait, doesn’t infinite rebirth mean you can keep trying forever, like the protagonist of Re:Zero? Why do you still seem so miserable?”

If someone asked Kitano that, he would probably answer with the same sanpaku-eyed look as Nakayama Festa. Was this ability good? It really was. But that depended on the situation.

One major reason this ability was not easy for Kitano to use also lay with Kitano himself. Although he had experienced death many times, unlike those novel protagonists who became numb after dying often enough, Kitano remained afraid of the pain death brought. Because Kitano was not killed. He died of illness every time.

They were both death, but dying of illness and being killed felt completely different. The fear of feeling his life drain away little by little, the struggle born from the body’s instinctive desire to live, the torment of wanting to die and yet being unable to die… In the end, Kitano could never get used to the process of death.

But that was not the greatest reason Kitano did not want to die. The most important thing of all was…

Why does everyone else get reborn at a fixed point in time, while I have to start over as a baby?! Every single time, I have to relive the first twenty years of my life and go through school all over again!

At that thought, even someone as mild-tempered as Kitano could not help showing an indignant expression, expressing his immense dissatisfaction with the rebirth ability the Three Goddesses had given him.

In his original world, school had already been painful enough. And after coming to Japan—even if it was the world of Umamusume—Japan’s world-famous, twisted “class society,” its unavoidable “cold violence on campus,” and its even greater pressure to get into higher schools had made Kitano want to kill himself. But he could not even die if he wanted to. Even if he died, he would have to experience it all over again.

Therefore, even with such an ability, Kitano absolutely did not want to die again. His mind and body could no longer endure the devastation of society. Being with pure and beautiful Umamusume was his only way out!

Fortunately, he had been quite lucky in this timeline. Several years ahead of schedule, he had actually come into contact with the Umamusume he had longed for, and over the years, he had earned their acknowledgment. Now, he had even become the Trainer they personally designated.

Though this family of Umamusume was, to Kitano, somewhat more than he could handle…

The Gold Family. Even across Japan’s entire Umamusume world, they were an explosive family. A family of Umamusume made up of weirdos and oddballs, all of them with wildly different personalities, yet each and every one of them a true heavyweight.

And to Kitano’s regret, Nakayama Festa was one member of the Gold Family.

Thankfully, among the Gold Family’s collection of oddities, Nakayama Festa counted as one of the relatively normal ones… Kitano still had a chance. In the future, by relying on Nakayama Festa, he could take the first step toward continuing to survive in this loop… probably.

“But… thank you for believing in me, Festa.”

“Hm? What’s with that all of a sudden?”

Faced with Kitano’s rather sudden thanks, Nakayama Festa understood what he meant perfectly. She only pulled her knit cap lower and said with unconcern, “Didn’t I tell you already? I’m not doing this because I pity you. I just think someone like you… might be more suited to being my Trainer.”

“You’re all-in, just like me. With a Trainer like you, I feel that even once I start entering races, you’ll definitely be able to bring out the full extent of my potential.”

“So… don’t you dare die on me now. A Trainer like you isn’t easy to find, so live a few more days for me, all right?”

Though, aside from me, there probably aren’t many normal Umamusume who’d choose someone with one foot in the grave as their Trainer.

Nakayama Festa silently kept that last sentence in her heart and chose not to say it. Naturally, she understood Kitano’s physical condition very well, but it was precisely because of that that she had carefully considered everything before designating Kitano as her Trainer… There were many reasons behind it, but Nakayama Festa did not want to say much.

All she knew was that Kitano suited her. And she was not the only one who thought so; the Gold Family’s long-standing “head of the household” had acknowledged it too.

That guy Kitano probably still doesn’t know… Back when the Aneki “picked him up” and brought him back to the Gold Family, she recommended him to me.

At the very least, she did not hate the guy. As Nakayama Festa gazed at Kitano’s slightly pale profile, something dim flickered in those lazy eyes of hers—but even more than that, there was relief. At least at Tracen Academy, there probably weren’t many abnormal Umamusume who would fight her for the position of being in his care, right?

As Nakayama Festa thought this, her expression unconsciously relaxed a little. Her gaze drifted to her own legs despite herself. Somewhere no one noticed, Nakayama Festa, who had always given off an air of laziness and indifference, showed for the first time a hint of unease… and a lack of confidence.

Could she really break the Gold Family’s “karma”? Could she really bring out her own potential, the way the Aneki had?

T/N: new tllllllll, someone requested me to pick this up soooooooo here we go! also damn nakayama……… licking on the lollipop like its my cl

also RUNEA already has 167 chaps tled!, i wanted to read this too but i….. cant bring myself to read anything except when im tling it so yeah

AND JUST IN CASE, i absolutely have NO BEEF with RuneA, absolutely none i respect the hustle :sob:

anywa ymore images

This is a fan translation of 时日无多的训练员只想活下去 by 许氏子谦 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!