The walk from the subway station to Central Tracen was a path Dream Weaver had taken many times, but walking side-by-side with her mother was a first.
Just a few months ago, she could hardly have imagined such a scene unfolding.
"Seems this street hasn't changed much from back in the day either," her mother mused.
Gazing at the shops lining the road, Northern Starlight—as if suddenly remembering something—tugged lightly at the back of Dream Weaver's collar.
"Let's buy some sweets here to take back as gifts!"
Dream Weaver followed her mother's pointing finger to a traditional Japanese confectionery shop, its decor quaint and even a little worn.
"Gifts?"
She voiced her confusion, but Northern Starlight offered no explanation, smoothly guiding Dream Weaver inside as if it were the most natural thing.
"Welcome—"
An elderly woman minding the shop greeted them with a warm smile.
Watching Northern Starlight expertly peruse the dessert case, then glancing at Dream Weaver in her Tracen Academy uniform, she remarked with feeling,
"My, both mother and daughter are students of Tracen, how lovely."
Northern Starlight, busy selecting sweets, looked up in surprise and pointed to herself.
"You actually remember me?"
Though weight could affect racing performance, the students at Tracen were all young girls—loving sweets was perfectly normal.
In Northern Starlight's day, a whole crowd of Uma Musume would flood into this shop after school, risking their trainer's wrath over their weight.
Northern Starlight had just been one among them, hence her surprise.
"Well, remembering everyone individually would be quite impossible~"
The old lady chuckled at her stunned expression and continued.
"It's just that all you girls who used to rush in for sweets moved exactly the same way. Seeing you now, with your daughter dressed like that, it wasn't hard to guess."
"Young girls these days don't care much for these old-fashioned sweets anymore. The ones who still come are usually those Uma Musume who graduated from Tracen years back."
She couldn't resist adding, "Especially during parent-teacher conferences, business gets particularly good."
Realizing she was being teased, Northern Starlight's mouth twitched. Even after all these years, this old lady still enjoyed pulling people's legs.
While the two conversed, Dream Weaver wandered curiously around the shop. The place was small, made even narrower by the packed dessert cases, leaving only a slim aisle for customers.
Dream Weaver felt that if she weren't careful, she might knock over these seemingly rickety wooden cabinets.
It was hard to imagine how Northern Starlight and her peers had once charged in here, fighting for sweets.
Navigating a crowded scramble like that would have been a serious test of strength, stamina, and agility.
Dream Weaver suddenly felt she understood why the trainers back then hadn't cracked down too harshly on them.
"What's got you so lost in thought? We've got our things, time to go."
Noticing her daughter standing there dazed, Northern Starlight poked her cheek with two boxes of sweets in hand.
"Mom... how good were you back then at snagging sweets?"
Though unsure why her daughter brought this up, Northern Starlight proudly placed her hands on her hips, tilting her head back as she reminisced about glorious days past.
"Your mother was known as the Demon Queen of the Sweet Shop, the fiercest rival of every snack-loving Uma Musume!"
Hearing this, Dream Weaver nodded. She'd never asked before, but if Northern Starlight's claim was true, her past racing record probably wasn't bad at all.
"But dear, I don't really have much memory of that."
The shopkeeper chose that moment to playfully undercut Northern Starlight's boasting, adding before she could get properly flustered,
"The one I remember most vividly from back then was an Uma Musume with deep brown, long hair. She was the one who truly deserved the title 'Demon Queen of the Sweet Shop.' If I recall, her name was Shin—"
Before she could finish, the wooden door of the shop creaked open.
Standing in the doorway was indeed an Uma Musume with long, deep brown hair.
Tall and slender, she wore a crisp shirt and trousers, looking to be in her late twenties—more like a trainer than an active racer.
Her gaze swept the shop, lingering for a moment when it fell upon Dream Weaver.
Before Dream Weaver could speak, Northern Starlight exclaimed in surprise, "It's Shinzan!"
As if worried her daughter wouldn't know, she patted Dream Weaver's head and explained.
"For you younger Uma Musume, the Triple Crown racer who leaves the biggest impression at school is probably Symboli Rudolf. But for my generation, that racer was Shinzan."
"She's one of Tracen's most outstanding graduates, the first Japanese Uma Musume to win the triple crown. She even came back to give a speech as a distinguished alumna at the gymnasium earlier!"
"You should learn from her. Maybe strive to be a distinguished graduate speaker yourself someday."
Truthfully, Northern Starlight's introduction was unnecessary.
In Dream Weaver's last scripted world, her final opponent had been Shinzan. She had already deeply felt the pressure that name carried on the track.
An Uma Musume even the gods would praise—here in the real world, she was finally free from the constraints between Europe and Japan, able to truly become herself.
In response to Northern Starlight's praise, Shinzan simply offered a light smile and shook her head.
"Please don't flatter me, senior. When you were dominating the tracks, I hadn't even debuted yet. At most, I was only somewhat known in the junior high division."
Clearly polite modesty. An Uma Musume like Shinzan would have been a dazzling prodigy even in junior high, more so than Tokai Teio before her debut.
Hearing this, Dream Weaver was surprised—not that Shinzan would offer such politeness, but that she actually knew her mother.
Had Northern Starlight been more impressive at Tracen than Dream Weaver had imagined?
Even more astonished was Northern Starlight herself. She had only meant to set an example for her daughter, never expecting Shinzan to respond. She stood frozen for a moment.
"Though we never formally met, you were quite a famous Uma Musume at the school back then, senior. Everyone said you carried the bloodlines of both Mejiro and Northern, the perfect young lady worthy of emulation."
"Many of my classmates in junior high admired you greatly."
Hearing Shinzan praise her so, Northern Starlight grinned, her eyes crinkling as she rubbed the back of her head.
"Hehehe, a young lady, huh? So that's how everyone saw me."
Dream Weaver glanced at her mother, thought about her usual behavior, and concluded that Shinzan must have been misled by some rumors.
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T/N: I have a Patreon! Webnovel will get 2 Chapters Every Day, and advanced chapters will be uploaded on Patreon.
It may not seem worth it now, but maybe in the future. Who knows!
[email protected]/AspenTL
If you guys wanna check it out.