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This chapter is short and features the mother's perspective.

Interlude 1

My daughter, Witlum Pedes, is an undeniable genius.

Even before she entered elementary school, I had suspected her physical abilities were high during her toddler years. However, I attributed this to the fact that I was comparing her to humans rather than other Uma Musume. I was also aware of my own bias as a proud parent.

What made me think something was truly strange was when she was six years old. When we returned from shopping, I found my daughter carrying my husband on her back and running around.

My husband seemed to think that this was just what Uma Musume were like, but compared to my childhood, it was clearly abnormal. She possessed a terrifying core strength and muscle power.

The decisive factor was the elementary school sports day. Since it is dangerous for Uma Musume to compete physically with humans, a short-distance race specifically for Uma Musume is held as a sports day event once they reach a certain age.

Watching my daughter on the starting line with an expression that clearly said, "This is so troublesome," I worried she wouldn't run seriously. However, she betrayed my expectations in the best possible way.

The moment the race started, she left everyone behind with a form as beautiful as those in the Twinkle Series and explosive acceleration. The amount of dirt she kicked up revealed a power level that was unbelievable given her usual laziness, and the fact that her breathing remained steady after the race suggested incredible stamina as well.

The people around me simply thought she was "fast," but having attended Tracen Academy myself, I understood the truth. She had been gifted with an extraordinary talent.

Yet, in stark contrast to that talent, my daughter was completely lethargic.

In my active days, I had trained so hard that I damaged my legs, barely making it to the Open races. Watching her, I felt incredibly frustrated. Of course, I retired due to leg injuries from that intense training, so I don't claim that "hard training" is the only correct path, but still...

My daughter showed absolutely no interest in running despite my expectations, while her father, who didn't understand her talent, simply praised her out of parental bias. After much deliberation, I concluded that the best approach was to lure her with entertainment. I believe this conclusion stemmed from the depth of my worries at the time.

It seemed my daughter had no particular interest in running with her own legs, but since she enjoyed playing fighting games with her father on weekends, I reasoned that she didn't dislike competition itself.

I thought that if she participated in tournaments and experienced winning and losing, she would come to understand the joy of the racing world. If that was the case, offering her a small allowance for racing initially would ultimately be a good thing for her.

She hadn't trained at a local club, which would be a prerequisite for aiming for Tracen Academy. She wasn't from a prestigious family, nor did she have a dedicated coach. To put it bluntly, she was in a state where one could only say she was being underestimated. However, I certainly felt that this daughter would somehow make it work.

However, when the lid was lifted, it was a total massacre.

The distance of the race, the opponents, the weather, the course conditions—none of it mattered. My daughter won everything. She won everything.

She would follow the leader until the final stretch, then overtake them in the last 100 meters and leave them in the dust in the blink of an eye. She repeated this for every race. She easily brushed aside challenges from daughters regarded as promising in the region, those who had built their strength at prestigious clubs, and even daughters from racing families whose names I knew. No, my daughter certainly didn't have such awareness.

To my daughter, racing must have been not a game of winning or losing, but merely a chore. I occasionally tried to bring up the topic of racing; she would remember names after running together a few times, but she never seemed to have any deeper impressions or feelings.

I held my head in my hands. And as usual, she wouldn't even consider entering a tournament unless I prepared the "bait" (rewards).

Before I knew it, she had learned to buy weekly shonen magazines with the bookstore gift cards she won from tournament victories.

I later discovered that the medals and certificates that came with them were all being stored together in a cardboard box. I subsequently took them and displayed them in my bedroom. By the way, the reason they were "enclosed" in the mail was that my daughter, who lacked a sense of social cues, left during the tournament and didn't stay for the awards ceremony, so they were mailed to us later.

When no new games were released and she had nothing she wanted, she would stay home and refuse to enter any tournaments. Because of this, there was a rumor at one point that my daughter might be sickly. When I heard that, it was a struggle to hold back my laughter.

As the time for entering Tracen Academy approached, the atmosphere around our home suddenly became noisy.

At first, it was just that she was a "famous Uma Musume in the region." But as she piled up victories, completely shutting down even other promising prospects, her level of attention kept rising. Once her tournament results secured her a recommendation for Tracen Academy, trainers from Tracen Academy themselves even came to observe the tournaments.

As for my daughter, whether she was a big shot or simply insensitive, she showed no sign of caring. Her face appeared in the featured articles about top Uma Musume sold next to the weekly shonen magazines she always bought, yet did she not even notice?

She was depicted as a powerful figure with a listless expression who defeated any opponent, a lone genius, with explosive finishing kicks right before the goal. The final sprint, where it seemed the other Uma Musume were blocked by an invisible glass wall, was accompanied by numerous photos adorning the pages.

Naturally, everyone assumed she would advance to the Central Tracen Academy in Fuchu. I wished that as well.

Even more surprisingly, it seemed my daughter herself felt the same way. Did she actually enjoy racing despite her appearance...? It didn't really seem like that from her usual behavior... But since she was able to convey her will firmly to the President, I want to believe she's fine.

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