Back to the cottage.
"If you don't eat a bit more, how can you ever run fast?"
King Halo, trained to maintain a young lady's composure no matter the situation, was currently pressing her hand firmly over her mouth to keep from laughing out loud.
The smile on Grass Wonder's usually placid face had curved up just a little bit more.
"Huh?" Special Week was confused for a split second before bursting into unrestrained laughter.
"Pfft, hahaha! Someone actually told B-chan and Seiun Sky they can't run fast?"
It wasn't that they were mocking the old lady who'd given them the coconut jelly cakes. It was just that pairing the words 'can't run fast' with Seiun Sky and Barbatos was, for some reason, hilarious.
At that moment, the sound of someone cackling like a hyena came from Grass Wonder's phone, as if they'd just discovered the most amusing thing.
Far away in France, El Condor Pasa was joining the summer training camp in her own way.
"So, did you guys end up telling that grandma later?"
Even Grass Wonder couldn't resist asking, mostly curious about what the old lady's reaction would be if she knew Barbatos was "Japan's Number One."
"What for?"
Barbatos sat on the floor and shrugged. "I think, to that grandma, Japan's Number One and an ordinary Uma Musume are probably the same."
She and Seiun Sky weren't exactly skinny or weak, after all, Canopus still had Twin Turbo, and Grass Wonder's frame was even smaller than theirs.
But it depended on who you were comparing them to.
Like Taiki Shuttle, who'd just had a huge meal in the village earlier, or Senior Maruzensky.
Compared to them, there really was a gap between her and Seiun Sky.
Seiun Sky was sipping coconut juice through a straw. "Maybe in grandma's eyes, we really don't run that fast?"
Even being Japan's Number One or a Classic Double Crown winner only meant you were strong in your generation. Looking back across all of history, those titles were just 'one of' the greats.
Given the old lady's age, she might have even witnessed the era of Symboli Rudolf.
"Maybe the grandma herself is a pro?" King Halo chimed in thoughtfully.
Barbatos dismissed the idea. "Nah, grandma's human, not an Uma Musume, right? And she doesn't match any of the historical Central trainers either."
"Humans can run pretty fast too, right?"
Special Week scratched her head, recalling something from before.
"I remember one day I overslept. I was running to class because I was almost late for school."
"But then Tazuna-san caught up to me, told me my textbook had fallen, and handed it to me."
"?"
Caught up to Special Week? Barbatos blinked in confusion.
Special Week's speed was no joke; even if she wasn't running at full final-straight race pace while heading to class, she was still way faster than a car on the road.
Actually catching up to Special Week? Was that something a human could do?!!
"Tazuna-san is actually an Uma Musume, you know."
Grass Wonder explained helpfully. "Tazuna-san's ears are hidden under her hat, so usually she just looks human, not like an Uma Musume."
"Ah, I see."
Listening to Special Week's story, Barbatos had briefly wondered if this world, besides having Uma Musume, also had things like superheroes or failures in spandex.
"Well, let's go shower first. We should probably get ready for bed after."
Barbatos finished the last of her coconut jelly cake. Honestly, the cake the old lady gave them was really good, better than the ones from those chain stores, and the fresh coconut juice was perfectly mixed.
It didn't have that cloying feeling you get from drinking milk tea.
She looked at Seiun Sky, and after a silent question about who would shower first, Seiun Sky got up and took out her pajamas from her suitcase.
Watching Seiun Sky head into the bathroom, Barbatos pulled out a Ludo board game from the beetle-catching gear they'd bought. With five people counting El Condor Pasa, Ludo would be just right.
Well, El Condor Pasa was only present via video call.
They'd bought the Ludo game when they saw it in the village. Shower time definitely wasn't long enough for a full game, but when Seiun Sky came out, they could just tag-team.
They played for a while.
At first, everyone played fair and square, letting luck of the dice decide who was winning. But the moment Barbatos resorted to her shameless, hit-anyone-in-sight tactics, the game got intense.
The match devolved into King Halo's planes getting sent back to base multiple times just for passing by Barbatos's home turf. Special Week had decent luck, but just as she completed a lap and was a few steps from the goal, she got caught by a flying Grass Wonder.
El Condor Pasa's long-distance commentary from France rang out constantly.
Anyway, getting your own plane to the finish line was one thing, but way more important was making sure you sent everyone else's planes flying!
"King, just take off already! You think camping at your home base is gonna let you hit me?"
"Geez!!! How did you roll a 6 and a 1?!"
"Hey! Hey! Hey! Grass-chan, stay away from me!"
"I sacrifice the trainer's love life for a year, please let me roll a 6!"
"Quick! Who's this color? Someone hit them in the air! Don't let B-chan reach the goal so fast!"
At first, they were a bit restrained, but gradually, even King Halo, who usually kept up her young lady image, and Grass Wonder, with her perpetual professional smile, started pulling all sorts of shenanigans.
They were all giggling without a care for their images.
Even El Condor Pasa on the sidelines was itching to join in and send those planes flying herself!
A full fifteen minutes passed. If they'd played normally, half the planes would have probably reached the goal by now. But not a single one of theirs had made it; they'd all been outsmarted and outmaneuvered.
Well, Special Week probably didn't have any malicious intent, she was just lucky, but Grass Wonder always managed to catch her.
The bathroom door opened.
When Seiun Sky, hair already dried, came out in her pajamas, she saw all five of them going at it as if they were in a final race, putting in full effort.
If Zones actually helped in Ludo, someone probably would have activated theirs by now.
"Huh?"
Seeing Seiun Sky, the others playing the game were a bit stunned.
That cute little dinosaur pajama set? This was the kind of style Seiun Sky wore?
Normally, Seiun Sky's casual clothes were pretty androgynous. Not exactly cool or sharp, but with that particular handsome quality of a tomboy, it was quite different from little dinosaur pajamas.
"All yours now."
Barbatos tagged in with Seiun Sky, grabbed her own dinosaur pajamas, and headed into the bathroom.
When she finished drying her hair and came out to check on the Ludo situation, pushing open the bathroom door, she was greeted by a flash of white.
"Whoa!"
Completely defenseless, Barbatos took a pillow right to the face!
--+--
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.