Home. As the scenery fshes by each second, reminding me of the increasing distances from the pce I had known as my home.

  While sitting, my legs bounce up and down, feeling the itch of the need to move and run.

  “Ugggh… I want to move around so bad.” Echo’s tail swished around in annoyance as she proceeded to lie down on the seat.

  “Central Tracen Academy. I wonder how much my life will change.”

  She started humming to pass the time.

  1 hour and 30 minutes went by, and she finally arrived at Fuchu train station.

  “If I’m right… The main gate of the Tracen Academy should be 20 minutes away from the station for Umas.”

  She murmurs as she steps out of the train, catching the attention of the bustling people.

  She used the ticket to exit the station and breathe in the air of Tokyo.

  “Lots of people.”

  She frowns slightly, but she has to get used to it. This will be her life from now on.

  “Fuh.” She started jogging on the designated path for umamusume.

  …

  ..

  .

  “To the right, then left around the corner. Keep going straight, and you will find the Main gate for the Tracen Academy.” A taxi driver happily answered Echo's questions for directions to the Tracen Academy, who is bobbing up and down while jogging.

  “Thank you!”

  “What’s your name!”

  “Echo Eclipse!”

  “I hope you will have a wonderful debut!”

  “Haha! Thank you!” She ughs before jogging away.

  She followed the direction and eventually found herself jogging to the side of a rge, wide reinforced brick wall.

  “Large! I should be getting near the gate.” She mutters as she jogs, not even sweating from the jog.

  And so she did, standing in front of the main gate. Not noticing a certain dy wearing a green uniform with a green hat.

  “Hello.”

  “Eeek!”

  Echo jumped in shock. Isn’t she being scared very often now?!

  “Hehe. My name is Tazuna”

  Tazuna smiled politely and gently as Echo Eclipse became confused about how she didn’t notice her.

  “A-Ah. Hello. I’m Echo Eclipse…”

  “Ah, you’re that recommended kid from Hokkaido, am I right?”

  “Mh.” Echo nodded

  Echo Eclipse takes a closer look at the dy, and for some reason, her instinct tells her that Tazuna is a powerful, really powerful uma. But she’s clearly a human, no?

  “You'd better hurry~ It is almost 6 AM.”

  “Ah! Where do I know?”

  “Your home css should be… 1A I believe.” Tazuna smiled.

  “Really? But don’t I need to go to the reception hall first?”

  “There was a change in the rules of the Tracen Academy”

  “Eh?”

  “Newcomers will go to their home cssroom first, where they will do a mandatory roll call, and then test their aptitude on the track. After that, you can go to the reception hall to receive your uniform for training, basic health check-up and your student ID and dorm key.”

  “O-Oh…” Echo nodded while trying to remember what Tazuna had said to her.

  “Don’t worry about it, go to css.”

  “Kay~! Thank you, Miss. Tazuna~!”

  Echoes runs into the main building, not realising how big it is compared to Hokkaido Tracen Academy.

  “...”

  “This year should be interesting.” Tazuna chuckles as she looks at the main building.

  “First from Mr C. B st year. Now Symboli Rudolf and Echo Eclipse this year… I reckon Director Akikawa would be happy to hear about this.”

  …

  ..

  .

  “Ahem. Good morning, css. I will be your homeroom sensei, Rei. From today onward, you are now proud students of Central Tracen Academy.”

  She stood behind the podium, gncing at each uma in silence for a few seconds to let the room settle down.

  “Some of you came here through recommendation. Some were scouted, and some of you are still wondering whether you truly belong here.”

  The teacher can see some uma feeling nervous.

  “Let me be clear about one thing: you were not brought here because of luck.”

  She slowly raises her voice louder.

  “You are here because we saw the potential in the way you run.”

  She picked up a chalk and started writing on the bckboard.

  “At Central Tracen, running is not treated as a hobby, but it is also not something we intend on taking away from you.”

  On the bckboard, there are tiers of racer: Maiden, Open Css, G3, G2, G1, and Triple Crown. Maiden is at the bottom of the pyramid, and the triple crown is at the top.

  “You will be trained. You will be tested, and sometimes, you will lose.”

  She is speaking strictly, but with a gentle tone

  “But if there is one thing we value above results, it is this.”

  She takes a deep breath.

  “That you continue to run for your desire. Be it if you love running, want to win and more.”

  She wrote “You are Here!” on the bckboard, circled it and linked it with an arrow to Maiden tier.

  “Those who forget why they run… Never made it far in their career.”

  “This academy exists to help you find the kind of runner you are simply meant to be. Not to force you into someone else’s stride.”

  She cpped with a grin.

  “Starting today, you will learn your limits, and you will learn how far beyond them you can go.”

  “Welcome to Central Tracen Academy.”

  She cps her hands again.

  “Now, let's do a roll call.

  “Bizen Nishiki?”

  “Here!”

  “Gold Way?”

  “Here~”

  “Symobli Rudolf?”

  “Here.”

  “Ahem. Echo Eclipse?”

  The cssroom suddenly became silent as Rudolf raised her brows at Echo Eclipse's name.

  “Here!” She said excitedly, the speech the teacher made is quite literally heart-pumping.

  “Suzu Mach?”

  “Here!”

  “Comin…”

  …

  ..

  .

  “Now go to the Reception hall to receive your tracksuit and return to the tracks outside within 30 minutes.”

  It went without any accident to the reception hall. Echo has received and put on her tracksuit before going to the track, where they are going to make the uma race with each other.

  While Echo was stretching, someone came up to her.

  “Hey.”

  Echo looked up, wondering who was trying to talk to her.

  It’s a uma who has light brown hair that reaches her waist; her hair is darker on the front. She has a long streak of white hair swept to the left along with the bangs. Wearing a silver earring with a thin jade on her right ear. Staring at Echo with a magnet that is fixed with a soft gre.

  “Hello?”

  She is wondering why such a polite and proper Uma wants to talk to her about.

  “Don’t tarnish the legacy of that name you carry.”

  She said calmly and straight to the point before walking away to stretch her body.

  “???”

  Echo tilted in confusion, she thought she would be the most eccentric, but looked like not. (Her judgement.)

  Finally, it is time to race.

  “3!”

  “2!”

  “1!”

  “Go!”

  Echo stomped on the ground and sent herself flying forward, but to her shock. She isn’t in the lead.

  The same girl who had talked to her while stretching easily flew forward with such a calm expression, as if the speed and pace she was running was just jogging to her.

  Seeing this, Echo started to grin as she began to rapidly accelerate her speed to catch up to her.

  Hearing someone getting closer to her from behind with her ear, Symboli Rudolf shows a slight smirk before accelerating up.

  ‘She can go faster? So can I!” Echo ughed as she leaned her body down horizontally to the ground, and she kicked the ground. Creating a burst of sudden speed, catching Rudolf off guard, once she noticed that Echo Eclipse was not even a half-length behind her.

  At that moment, Rudolf felt her heart rush with dominance; she mustn’t. She needs to act as a proper dy of the Symboli House. However…. She needs to teach this uma their pce.

  Symboli Rudolf started increasing the gap between her strides and finally went serious about running.

  1 Length.

  ‘What?!” Echo's eyes widen slightly as she attempts to continue speeding up to catch up to her, but all she can do is catch her shadow.

  2 Length.

  ‘Faster! Faster! Faster!”

  Echo’s hooves crushed the ground as every single distraction in her eyes disappeared.

  [Flow]

  Faster.

  The trainer and teacher who were watching the race widened their eyes in shock. This was supposed to be a simple aptitude test, not a full race!

  Echo Eclipse sped up, reaching up to Rudolf with a wide, ecstatic grin.

  But it was too te; they had crossed the finish line. Echo almost beat Symboli Rudolf by the nose.

  They slow their pace and speed down until standing still.

  Both umas are sweating and breathing heavily as they gnce at each other.

  The supervisors watch in awe; there isn’t one monster this year. But two.

  “So…”

  Echo spoke first with a heavy breath.

  “Did I live up to the legacy of my name?”

  “As long as you don’t lose to anyone else besides me.”

  “Why?” Echo takes in a deep breath.

  “Because I’m Symboli Rudolf.”

  Echo Eclipse lets out a wide grin as she stares at Rudolf in the eyes, her white pupils glimmering with determination.

  “And I’m Echo Eclipse.”

  “...”

  “...”

  Symboli Rudolf walked away before she did so. She said something to the teacher first, making the teacher freeze at what Rudolf said.

  “B-But…”

  “The dorm roommate isn’t finalised.”

  “... I’ll go and talk with the student president and the director…”

  “Mh.” She nodded before walking away.

  Echo is watching her back with a wide grin.

  “That old dy was right, there are really umas who can run beside me…”