Umamusume's days are numbered

A sobbing sound emanated from the throat of the new universe. It was the sound of an entire universe—no, of thousands upon thousands of universes—that had been suppressed.

That was the sound of a new universe.

"Woooo..."

New Universe's nostrils twitched, and his lips were pressed tightly into a line. Although his face remained expressionless, Platinum felt as if magma was churning beneath the earth's surface.

Finally—a tear fell onto the carpet. Then came a second.

The weeping of the new universe is silent, as quiet as the explosion of a universe at its very beginning—before chemistry and physics, there is no sound. The birth of the universe is always this silent.

Shin-Universe staggered and trembled as he approached Platinum, bumping his calf on a sofa and falling to his knees. Platinum rushed to help him up, but Shin-Universe's arms, as strong as iron clamps, pulled him into a tight embrace.

Cornflower...

The new universe opened her lips. Then came a series of incomprehensible, obscure sounds. What language was that? English? Chinese? Latin? A minor language from there? Or perhaps a language created by the new universe itself? Or maybe not even the language of this world?

“??????”゜nθ––——…???＠·······”

Platinum couldn't understand it at all, nor could she comprehend it. But the emotions that seemed to be expressed endlessly were understandable.

Going back thousands of years, when the first human tentatively uttered the first complex syllable with the throat created by the Creator, language was born. When the first language was born, no one considered what language family it belonged to, how to speak it, how to communicate with others, or how to write it down—

Because language was created to convey emotions.

No one knows how long the new universe has been suppressed. To live alone in a world where no one can understand what you are saying means that no one can feel your emotions, and that no one can understand you.

The New Universe had always believed that this kind of life was the right one—until Platinum knocked on the door of the New Universe's lounge with that dictionary in hand.

After a long while, the unknown language of the new universe finally came to an end. The new universe sniffed, clearly sobbing uncontrollably, yet its face remained expressionless.

But Platinum could sense that something was different about the new universe.

Shin-Universe gazed at Platinum's face, then hugged her tightly. Shin-Universe hugged her so tightly, as if he wanted to meld Platinum into his own body.

This time, the new universe whispered words in Platinum's ear.

"Cornflower, New Universe".

The sound was intermittent, like Morse code.

"I love you."

Cornflower.

Centaurea.

Cintelia.

Its flower language is encounter and happiness, symbolizing pure love.

Episode 259 Lost in the New Universe

"The second straight! A flat 350-meter straight with no slope, the perfect opportunity to pursue!"

"Da Tuo Helios is still maintaining a significant lead. Can they keep this momentum going until the end?"

"Platinum closely following Meguro Zenshin is a very wise choice."

"The new universe and platinum are still about five horse lengths apart."

My legs started spasming uncontrollably again.

The new universe senses that these legs have reached their end. Continuing any further will lead to unpredictable consequences.

But she didn't care. Because she had repeated the same scenes, the same experiences, countless times—

Yayoi Appreciation.

Satsuki Appreciation.

NHK Mile Cup.

Japanese derby.

The final Takarazuka memorial.

The fastest shortcut was found through countless trials and errors and repeated summaries.

If we were to draw an analogy, the new universe is like a player constantly trying to speedrun the game, trying to shorten the completion time by even a little bit—but there are still slight differences.

Even the most dedicated speedrunners have the right to quit a game, but not in the new universe.

The first time brings感动 (a feeling of being moved); the second time brings joy from discovering details missed the first time. The third, fourth, fifth time...

It went on and on and on and on. Patience was worn down, passion was waning, and it became repetitive work. Until finally, it became a mechanical, conditioned reflex.

Then it became a form of torture.

—In the lounge, Platinum and New Universe sat facing each other. Platinum held a dictionary unique to New Universe in his hand, and New Universe laid everything bare to Platinum.

The New Universe never intended to hide anything. It's just that no one could understand what she was saying. Now, she has an audience.

The universe is a point, a seed.

Seeds take root and sprout, then grow. They grow branches, then a trunk. From the trunk grow forks, and from those forks grow more forks, and from those forks grow even more forks—and from these forks of forks grow countless leaves. These leaves are our world.

A leaf contains countless cells, and these cells are us. But among these many cells—more than the stars in the sky—there is one that is exceptionally different—that is the new universe.

Although they should be parallel in spacetime, in the memory of the new universe, it must have been a very, very long time ago, so long ago that the new universe was still the first leaf—when she unconsciously looked up at the starry sky one day, her gaze met that of herself on another leaf, separated by a vast space that transcended time and space and could only be described.

It's difficult to describe the feeling precisely; no human vocabulary can fully capture that sensation... Human language is used to describe things that humans can understand. Language only arises when humans understand something.

The new universe revealed far too much, far exceeding the limits of imagination; it was as if a whole leaf had been stuffed into my mind...

The new universe discovered that it was different. It had become able to see.

She saw countless versions of herself.

On the same day, the new universe could no longer speak normally. She became unable to accept her former language. To make her speak as before was like trying to put an elephant in a refrigerator. She understood far too many things that humans had not created, things for which there was no suitable word in any existing language, so the new universe could only describe them in her own way.

At that time, New Universe didn't feel pain. Everything felt new and exciting; she felt a slight sense of pride in being different. New Universe had an exceptionally talented trainer, a middle-aged man from Italy, exuding the unique romance and allure of the Mediterranean. He was also the only listener who could understand New Universe's language.

"Language is created to express emotions. I cannot understand your obscure language, but I can understand the emotions contained in your language."

These were the trainer's words. Now, New Universe can no longer recall what the trainer's face looked like, but these words remain firmly etched in his memory.

Everything was proceeding normally until the day the Takarazuka Memorial ended.

Having won the Satsuki Prize and the Japanese Derby, Shin-Universe underestimated its own strength and launched an attack on the Takarazuka Memorial in the Year of the Horse. The result was, naturally, a crushing defeat.

Shin-Universe was unconvinced. He thought, "If only I hadn't run like that... if only I had prepared more before the race... if only the schedules of the Japanese derby and Takarazuka Kinen weren't so tight..."

This is nothing but the frustration of a loser; after all, there's no going back in life.

...Really not?

The new universe looked up at the starry sky, yet it wasn't looking at the starry sky. Her gaze transcended time and dimensions, looking at the different leaves on different branches. Each leaf had itself, and as it looked up, countless other versions of itself on the leaves also looked up at it.

There are subtle differences between the leaves. Among the countless leaves, there is the version of yourself that won the Takarazuka Memorial, the version that lost, the version that didn't even participate in the Takarazuka Memorial, and the version that is about to take the stage at the Takarazuka Memorial.

The new universe touched the self that was about to take the stage. The new universe became the new universe. A tiny flying insect leaped from one leaf to another.

Naturally, Neo-Cosmos won her second appearance at the Takarazuka Memorial. Just as she was basking in the joy of victory, she saw her trainer come to congratulate her.

A young Japanese man, shy and introverted.

He wasn't her own trainer; he was merely the trainer of the new universe. He couldn't understand the new universe's language. The new universe suddenly felt an indescribable panic. She desperately looked up at the starry sky, wanting to return to her original world—

In fact, the new universe can do it. She can fly from one leaf to another, so naturally she also has the ability to fly back.

However, there was a fatal problem—she could no longer distinguish which leaf was her original leaf.

She couldn't pinpoint a single leaf. Looking around, there were countless leaves—more than the stars in the sky. And this was just the total number of leaves on the branches of a single branch.

A new universe, lost in a new universe.

Episode 260 You in a Different World

Keep running.

"The new universe has surpassed Ueno Kenjiro! It's unbelievable that the new universe has unleashed such an undeniable momentum!"

Keep running.

"Despite the continuous battles, the new universe can still display such outstanding strength. Legs that are as strong as iron, I can't describe my feelings with any other words but awe."

The scene keeps repeating, and they keep running.

A leaf.

Another leaf.

Another leaf.

Countless leaves, countless runs.

Gradually, we've almost forgotten even the way humans think.

Gradually, it seems that people no longer believe that every world is real or vibrant.

I want to go back to the world that started out. But I can't go back, maybe never.

I am a traveler from another world, a drifter.

In the end, even the interest in settling down almost disappeared. Each time it landed on a leaf, it would only glance at it briefly to see if it was the world it wanted, and then immediately set off for the next world.

If things continue like this, the existence called the new universe will one day completely collapse and become nothing more than dust in the universe.

Until that moment arrives.

In the new universe, I saw colors that did not exist before.

"Ugh, seriously, why did you follow me here?!"

After the Yayoi Appreciation, I couldn't help but be drawn to that touch of white.

Strange, was this figure supposed to exist originally? When did it begin? In which world did it begin? When did she start standing there?

The figure ahead quickened its pace, and so the new universe involuntarily quickened its pace as well.

Even the most beautiful, picturesque scenery, after being seen thousands of times, becomes tiresome and even repulsive. There are countless worlds, and even new universes have abandoned the path of Uma Musume Pretty Derby.

Until this time, she saw a completely new existence, an existence she had never encountered before.

"I told you not to follow me, don't you understand?"

A figure in white turned around angrily, cursed, and started jogging with its head down. New Universe ignored him, its legs involuntarily quickening—the two had just finished one match, and immediately began another.

So beautiful...so enchanting...like a silver butterfly...

I want to touch it...

One after the other, the two weaved through the crowd, the sound of horses' hooves echoing incessantly. They chased each other from the main street to the park, and from the park to the alleyways.

"What's wrong with you? Why are you chasing me? You're not a staff member at the arena. All I did was run into the arena without registering. I didn't ask for your bounty. Is it really necessary?" The white figure in front of him was panting heavily and looked quite disheveled.

New Universe was also struggling to keep up, sweat pouring down his body. The two of them were panting heavily as they slowly ran forward at an unsustainable pace.

Finally, the match ended with the white figure squatting on the ground coughing. New Universe gasped for breath; she hadn't felt this exhausted in a very long time.

"Don't come any closer—cough cough!"

A heart-wrenching cough echoed before the new universe. The white figure collapsed to the ground, staggering away from the new universe.

"Don't come any closer! I have an infectious disease! Yes, I have tuberculosis!"

The white figure, fearing the new universe wouldn't believe it, showed it the hand it had just covered its mouth with. It was a terrifying dark red bloodstain.

"I admit it was wrong of me to run onto the track without permission, it was wrong of me to disturb your race, and I shouldn't be standing with you while I have an infectious disease... But what could I do? I was wrong, okay? I give up!" The white figure panted and raised his hands. "So please don't come any closer. I'll just not do it again, okay?"

"Really... I have my own reasons too..."

What the person in front of her couldn't understand was that, despite having heard the warning, New Universe still stepped towards her step by step, finally squatting down and holding her hand.

Countless universes and countless years have passed—the new universe has finally come to understand human perception once again, and can consider problems from a human perspective and live in a human way.

Because she was finally able to communicate in a human way once again.

"So warm..."