It was early morning.
A wave of coldness washed over him, like an icy blade against his skin. Hyuuga Sakikawa shivered and slowly opened his eyes.
The ceiling wasn't the familiar one he knew.
No, this was heaven.
The sky was a canvas of pale blue, dotted with a few wispy white clouds. A cool breeze carried the scent of grass and earth, a refreshing change from the stale smell of cigarette smoke and takeout boxes he was used to.
"Tch."
Hyuuga Sakikawa grunted with an unreadable expression and pushed himself up from the park bench.
"Who am I... I can't believe I'd even think a cliché line like that."
His mind was a jumbled mess of fragmented memories that belonged to the body he now inhabited. As for his own story... well, Hyuuga Sakikawa was originally the lead programmer for a popular game called "Galloping Heroines." The abstract art style, the iconic characters, the抽奖 system—that was all him. One morning, he'd fallen face-first into a large pot of rice porridge and drowned. That's how his glorious life ended.
He had no grand ambitions for this new life. All he wanted was to be a "salary thief"—to do the bare minimum, slack off, and collect a paycheck.
But the world had other plans. In his inherited memories, he was a fresh graduate from the Tracen Academy trainer program, now working as a bottom-rung contract employee at a small, broken-down school.
His name in this world? Hyuuga Sakikawa. Same name, different life.
He was in the world of Uma Musume.
"Racehorse Girls..."
Sakikawa held his head, a pained expression on his face. He knew everything about these girls who possessed the ears and tails of horses and ran with superhuman speed. He knew about the passionate bonds they formed with their trainers, the blood and tears shed on the racetrack.
But did he have to be a part of it?
He'd much rather just lie flat. For him, a life of leisurely sipping tea, reading the paper, and occasionally watching the horse girls run their hearts out while getting paid to do nothing was the dream.
He stood up, ready to head toward the academy's staff building to find his assigned post. To become a proper slacker.
The first step was to get hired.
Just then, a cold, emotionless, mechanical voice echoed in his mind.
[Detected compatible host. Binding... Binding complete.]
[Welcome to the Uma Musume Tech Farming System.]
A frigid shock, devoid of any warmth, exploded in his head.
"Here it comes," he knew. "As expected."
Hyuuga Sakikawa wasn't surprised. He calmly accepted his fate. "My life's work," he muttered sarcastically. As a transmigrator, getting a cheat system was practically a rite of passage.
[Detecting host status and integrating memory... Requirements met.]
[Uma Musume Tech Farming System is now officially activated.]
[This system is dedicated to combining cutting-edge technology with horse girl training to create an era-defining Diva and dominate the Twinkle Series.]
"Forget the Twinkle Series," Sakikawa scoffed. "My dream is to be the king of slackers." He had no energy to reply out loud.
[Newbie Mission: Embark on the Journey.]
[Objective: Within 24 hours, sign an official trainer contract with any horse girl.]
"No."
Hyuuga Sakikawa didn't even think about it. Signing a horse girl? Didn't that take time and effort? It went completely against his life goals.
The system went silent for three seconds.
[Mission reward calculation in progress...]
[Mission Success Reward: Unlock the advanced tech module—"Eleven Dragons." ]
"Eleven Dragons?" The name was certainly intimidating, but Sakikawa wasn't moved in the slightest. All he wanted was to be left alone; even a mountain of gold wouldn't interest him.
[Mission failure penalty calculation in progress...]
[Analyzing host's physical condition... Penalty determined as—Irreversible Pelvic Osteoporosis.]
[...]
The world went silent.
Hyuuga Sakikawa's unchanging expression finally showed a crack of color.
He repeated the words one by one, the characters practically falling from his lips.
"Pel...vis... Osteo... porosis?"
"Are you fucking kidding me?!"
This childishly absurd combination of words carried with it a terrifyingly real dread. It meant that for the rest of his life, he would have to walk by holding onto a wall. A single sneeze could trigger a comminuted hip fracture. His later years would be a nightmare of wheelchairs and bedpans.
The thought of this future sent a shiver down his spine.
"This is a hell of a choice you've given me!" Sakikawa roared in his mind, feeling utterly played. "Are you a system designed to create failures? Do you get a kick out of this? Why don't you just strike me down with lightning? Don't you want your damn face?!"
The system ignored his tirade and a countdown timer appeared in his vision.
[Mission accepted by default. Countdown initiated: 23 hours, 59 minutes, 47 seconds.]
The system's voice was a flat monotone, devoid of any emotion. Sakikawa's smirk vanished from his lips.
He was at Tracen Academy.
The place was teeming with horse girls. Just a few deep breaths and he could already feel the youthful energy in the air. That should have been a good thing, but right now, all it did was fuel his anxiety. He just needed one girl—any girl—to sign a contract with him, but his gaze swept over the bustling campus and he saw no one.
He walked aimlessly until he found himself beside a dirt track.
Just then, the rhythmic sound of hoofbeats, heavy and labored, reached him from the track nearby. It wasn't the light-footed prancing of a horse girl; it was the unique, heavy thud of running on a dirt course.
Sakikawa stopped in his tracks and looked over.
A silver figure was running alone on the vast track.
She was a horse girl.
A gust of wind blew her long, silver hair back. Her tracksuit was already soaked with sweat, clinging to her back and revealing the slender, fluid lines of her body. Her small horse ears trembled with every labored breath she took, catching beads of sweat in the air.
She had a lifeless expression on her face, her eyes vacant and staring blankly at the finish line ahead, as if her entire being was focused on that single point.
She took another breath, exhaling a cloud of hot air. Every stride she took, every swing of her arms, seemed to drain the last ounce of strength from her body.
This was a run fueled by nothing but sheer, desperate willpower.
It was beautiful.
But in Sakikawa's eyes, it wasn't good enough.
[Analysis module activated.]
The system's voice echoed again, completely unbidden. A semi-transparent data screen appeared in his vision, breaking down the girl's every movement into quantifiable data.
[Running Method Analysis: Currently using the 'Late-Stage Spurt' running technique from the 'Imitation Oguri Cap' style.]
[Synchronization Rate: 59.3%]
[Body Load Analysis: Pulse pressure exceeds safety limits, joint torque risk is increasing, cardiopulmonary function has reached its maximum threshold... Overall Assessment: Dangerous.]
Sakikawa's eyes narrowed slightly.
He understood now.
The girl was imitating the legendary Oguri Cap—her posture, her rhythm, that desperate, all-or-nothing fighting style. But it was just that: an imitation. A shoddy one.
Her body simply couldn't handle that kind of running.
This wasn't training; it was self-destruction. She was burning through her own athletic lifespan with every step.
"A complete maniac," he muttered.
And then, his eyes met hers.
Sakikawa froze. Through the system's data stream, he could see the brilliant light shining in her eyes. He could hear the roar of her silent, screaming dream.
It was a top-tier, SSR-grade dream, but it had been dropped into the body of a low-tier R-grade horse girl.
She's... perfect raw material.
A countdown timer in his mind reminded him of the looming shadow of "pelvic osteoporosis," a threat that followed him like a curse. This desperate, silver-haired girl running before him was his one and only lifeline.
A slight curve, one that couldn't quite be called a smile, appeared on his lips.
"Well, screw me..."
He let out a low sigh, a sound that could have been acceptance or resignation.
"I guess... my fate is sealed."
-------
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