'Huu...'
Waking up, Mejiro McQueen looked at the familiar ceiling, knowing she had returned from the other world. By analyzing the calendar and time, she determined that only one night had passed here. Did that mean she had crossed into another world in her sleep and lived there for nearly a full day? The conditions for triggering it and ending it were still unclear. Or perhaps... was it really just a dream?
'No, it probably wasn't a dream.'
If it was a dream, her skill proficiency shouldn't have increased. But the fact was, she now had a feeling that she could enter that state again at any time. And at the end of the race, in that wondrous special state, she seemed to see an abyssal space and a stone gate standing in the center. At that time, she had a feeling that the gate seemed to move, inviting her to enter.
'A pity that at that time, I had no extra energy to care about that gate. I feel like I missed something...' Mejiro McQueen didn't know yet that she had just brushed past the awakening of ZONE. After all, no one had ever explained these things to her.
'I can't sleep. I'll go to the training grounds to warm up. It's a good chance to test that skill.' It was a pity she couldn't see the system panel in 'Story Mode', otherwise she could have confirmed it through the panel.
The training grounds at 6 AM were still dim and gray. And the fog today was a bit heavy; even the track was hard to see clearly. Normally, no one would be at the training grounds at this time, but Mejiro McQueen heard footsteps. She followed the sound and saw that figure from her memories on the track.
'Is that Mihono Bourbon? She's already enrolled?' Mejiro McQueen didn't know when she had arrived. In the other world, she had just been thinking about Mihono Bourbon and Rice Shower, and now she'd run into her right after coming back.
Mihono Bourbon was a Two-Crown horse girl in the other world line. But in the third crown, the Kikuka Sho, she encountered Rice Shower, who seemed to have entered ZONE, and was then defeated by that "Black Assassin." This might be the most certain chance to witness ZONE.
After all, she wasn't sure if Oguri Cap-senpai would use ZONE in a race against her. The horse girls here in Japan seemed to be very wary of this power, perhaps because there had been too many accidents in the past.
But she was curious.
Furthermore, even the system panel described ZONE as an "ultimate move," so of course she wanted to learn it. In fact, if she knew how to end 'Story Mode', she would want to go back and run 'Training Mode' again to develop her body to its limit. Her current stats were definitely not her limit!
Mejiro McQueen just quietly watched Mihono Bourbon train for a while before leaving. She could only say that this potential Two-Crown horse girl's strength didn't catch her attention. Mihono Bourbon's strength was only at the normal level for an average horse girl. She showed no signs of entering a ZONE stage or using a skill; her body was just relatively strong.
This horse girl's greatest talent was being a "stat monster" type. But the problem was, in reality, the gap in stats was far smaller than in the game. And even in the game, high-stat horse girls could still lose. So, in Mejiro McQueen's eyes, this was the most boring talent.
Afterward, she tried using "Aura". The previous experience really wasn't a dream. After that race in the other world, she had indeed mastered this move. She guessed the reason it was so hard to learn before was probably because she was too strong. To truly master this move, one needed to exhaust their stamina to the absolute limit in an official race. And her own body was just too strong. If it weren't for this "fortuitous encounter," it probably would have taken her much longer to discover this.
Training over, Mejiro McQueen went to the cafeteria for breakfast. Oguri Cap was already halfway through her meal. Oguri Cap's training schedule seemed to start at 4 AM, so by 6:30, she was already eating. And Oguri Cap's mealtime took at least an hour. Mejiro McQueen saw the cafeteria staff, who looked like soldiers in a war, with serious expressions as they began the next round of cooking.
"Sorry, we're out at the moment. Could you please wait a moment, McQueen-san?"
Mejiro McQueen nodded. "Alright."
No wonder Oguri Cap-senpai usually comes to the cafeteria earlier than other students. So that's why. Speaking of which, if Oguri Cap-senpai alone was this terrifying, if Special Week and those other big eaters showed up together, she wondered what the cafeteria would look like.
She glanced curiously at the staff, completely unaware of what a terrifying hell her thoughts represented to them.
"..."
Oguri Cap sensed someone, looked up for a second, and then went back to burying her head in her food. In fact, if she hadn't sensed a familiar aura, she probably wouldn't have even bothered to look up. For her, eating was one of the most important things.
Mejiro McQueen didn't go over to bother Oguri Cap. Even if the other girl didn't mind, she still felt a bit of reverence for that small mountain of food.
'Mm, I'll have a can of coffee first.'
She left too early today and forgot to drink her coffee.
As for tea?
If she wasn't at home, she wouldn't drink tea.
And brewing tea and washing the tea set was too much trouble. Besides, the taste wasn't as good as black coffee. She just liked this kind of strong flavor.
Five minutes later.
The meal Mejiro McQueen ordered arrived.
A simple carrot and egg fried rice, with carrot and tofu soup.
It was alright. One plate and she was about half-full.
The taste was neither good nor bad. She wasn't picky about food. Or rather, she was more accustomed to eating foods she neither liked nor disliked. This was because she had learned her lesson from binge-eating in the past. Back in 'Training Mode', she had enjoyed all kinds of delicacies without restraint to relax, and the end result was that dieting later was extremely painful. She also suspected that the major physical problems she had in the later stages were influenced by her early binge-eating.
Therefore, the current Mejiro McQueen was extremely cautious. And because of this, her current body was extremely healthy, without any minor ailments. She didn't know if it was because of her healthy diet or if the system had "fixed" her body's condition, but since the system hadn't given any prompts, it must be the result of her own self-control.
The other world's 'McQueen's' poor health was probably caused by eating sweets.
After breakfast was class time.
Although Tracen's classes weren't mandatory, Mejiro McQueen had no intention of skipping yet.
Part of the academy's curriculum was for human students, and the other part was knowledge about horse racing. The students' favorite part of the curriculum was probably watching old race videos, but this was the most boring part for Mejiro McQueen.
So far, she hadn't seen any of the really heavyweight race videos. It seemed the higher-ups deliberately hid all race videos related to ZONE. And based on the intensity of the races in the videos they did show, forget the Emperor; even the champion of the Arc de Triomphe seemed mediocre to her.
'If you have the guts, release those videos.' Mejiro McQueen idly spun a pen on her desk. The students around her were excited. Speaking of which, her race videos also seemed to be very popular, but she had never seen them in class. It was probably an intentional omission by the teacher.
'But won't they despair from watching my race videos?' she wondered. Putting herself in their shoes, if she were an ordinary horse girl and saw a race video with such a huge gap, she would definitely be terrified of racing. Because she couldn't imagine how she could possibly win. And if she was guaranteed to lose, she wouldn't want to participate in such a race at all.
But she found that she seemed to be the only one with this way of thinking.
'As expected, even though I was reincarnated as a horse girl in another world line, I'm still not a native horse girl. I can't understand their passion for running, just as they can't understand my obsession with victory.' Mejiro McQueen didn't dwell on it. It wasn't important. She just had to be herself and do what she wanted to do.
Life was that simple. At least, a horse girl's life was. As for human life, Mejiro McQueen had almost forgotten her time as a human. The intensity of emotions was completely different. Her human self hadn't had much expectation for "living" anyway, otherwise she wouldn't have accepted becoming a horse girl so easily. And in the ten-plus years since reincarnating, she had long since accepted her current identity.
The last bit of spirit left from her time as a human was the need to win. It wasn't a specific goal, but because her past life was too much of a failure, she just didn't want to lose anymore. This obsession was truly inherited by Mejiro McQueen. Therefore, Mejiro McQueen would never accept losing. She would keep winning, because that was her meaning in life.
Happy just to be able to race?
No. For Mejiro McQueen, if you can't win, there is no meaning!
'What a pity.'
If she could see the videos, Mejiro McQueen felt she could probably grasp ZONE just through her own comprehension.
But the problem was that this world's race videos were strictly controlled by the officials. They weren't things that could be casually released. Especially videos of races featuring ZONE clashes; you couldn't find a single one. In comparison, you could even find videos of the Arc de Triomphe.
Because for world-class horse girls, they didn't need to use ZONE in races. Using it would hurt their bodies and still not guarantee a win, so what was the point? In their eyes, ZONE was more like a weapon for the weak. This was because there were generally two conditions for opening ZONE.
One was a true, powerful talent—a monster who could open ZONE without even trying. The other type was a horse girl who wasn't strong enough, but happened to have a little bit of talent. It was often this type of horse girl who would use ZONE's power without restraint. Because the former could win even without ZONE. And if they met an opponent they couldn't beat, then using ZONE probably wouldn't let them win either.
...
[Get 20 chapters ahead on - P.a.t.r.e.o.n "RoseWhisky"]