"El Condor Pasa?"
Hishi Amazon stared in surprise at the Umamusume straddling Mizuno and recognized her immediately.
After all, they were both members of Team Rigil. The energetic younger teammate who went around in a luchador mask every day had made a particularly strong impression on Hishi Amazon.
Although Hishi Amazon hadn't spent much time with El Condor Pasa, she still thought highly of the younger girl, who trained hard and had such a passionate, carefree personality.
But ever since she had been affected by Uma Mint, Hishi Amazon had been on an extended leave of absence at Trainer Hana Toujou's orders because of her physical condition. She had spent nearly every day holed up in her room, depressed and completely cut off from what was happening outside. Naturally, she knew even less about what had been going on with El Condor Pasa, a junior she was only casually acquainted with.
And now, when she finally saw her teammate again after all this time, she found the girl sitting directly on top of another trainer and talking about "having a wedding"?
Earlier, this guy had mentioned an Umamusume who wasn't even on his team but came to see him every single day... Had he been talking about El Condor Pasa?!
"Hm? Amazon-senpai?" El Condor Pasa finally noticed Hishi Amazon beside them and looked just as surprised.
Why was Amazon-senpai, who was wanted throughout the academy by the Student Council, here?
Although Symboli Rudolf had ordered every Umamusume in the academy to hunt down the two dorm supervisors on charges of kidnapping a trainer, she had kept the abducted trainer's identity secret.
As a result, aside from the Student Council members who had taken part in the rescue operation and Rice Shower, nobody knew that Mizuno was the trainer who had been kidnapped. Everyone simply assumed he was away on business again and still hadn't returned.
"Could you explain what you mean by 'having a wedding'?" Hishi Amazon asked with a smile that didn't reach her eyes. A vein bulged on her forehead as she fixed Mizuno with a murderous glare.
What was this supposed to mean? It had only been a few months since she'd last seen her adorable junior from Team Rigil, and now the girl was already about to marry the guy Hishi Amazon considered a scumbag?
There was no way Hishi Amazon would believe there was nothing suspicious going on here.
So Mizuno's next answer would determine whether she passed judgment on the spot and dealt with him as a kidnapper of minors.
"Uh... well... this..." Cold sweat poured down Mizuno's forehead.
Crap! How did I forget about that?!
Back then, in order to trick El Condor Pasa's father into teaching him his secret technique, Mizuno had accidentally entered into an engagement with El Condor Pasa under a false identity. Ever since, she had been pestering him from time to time to honor their agreement, and he simply couldn't shake her off.
Although the engagement had been an accident, and Mizuno could never actually marry El Condor Pasa, there was no way he could explain away the agreement he and her father had signed in black and white.
He could hardly tell Hishi Amazon, "It wasn't me—it was Hideki Gou!"
If he actually tried that excuse, not only would Hishi Amazon immediately brand him a scumbag, but El Condor Pasa herself probably wouldn't be pleased either.
Faced with Hishi Amazon's deadly question, Mizuno had no idea how to answer. El Condor Pasa, by contrast, looked delighted.
"Oh, that's what you mean, senpai~" El Condor Pasa looked down at Mizuno beneath her. Remembering everything they had been through together, she shyly covered her burning cheeks.
"Actually... Gou and I are engaged..."
"Gou?" Hishi Amazon raised an eyebrow in confusion.
Wasn't this guy called Mizuno? Why was El Condor Pasa calling him something else?
Unless the two of them were childhood friends with some intimate nickname for each other, there was only one other possibility...
"Don't tell me... you've been deceiving people with a fake identity?" Hishi Amazon clenched one hand into a fist, her gaze on Mizuno growing even fiercer.
"Guh!" Mizuno instantly broke out in a cold sweat. He shook his head furiously and hurried to defend himself.
"It's a misunderstanding! This is all a misunderstanding!"
"What part of it is a misunderstanding?" Hishi Amazon demanded.
"Uh..." Mizuno was suddenly at a loss for words.
The main problem was that he really had deceived people using false identities before. More than once, in fact. He was a habitual offender. There was no disputing that.
But if Tracen weren't crawling with man-eating mares who could dig up his past and come chasing after him the moment he used his real identity, who would willingly go around deceiving people under fake names?!
"Guh..." Mizuno watched Hishi Amazon's expression grow colder and colder, his whole body shaking uncontrollably.
How was he supposed to explain himself to Hishi Amazon in a way she would understand?
"Huh?" El Condor Pasa picked up on Mizuno's fear as he lay beneath her and gave Hishi Amazon a curious look.
"Are you and Gou close too, Amazon-senpai?"
"We are not." Hishi Amazon shook her head and folded her arms. "Quite the opposite. I think he's a despicable guy who goes around flirting with women. I have absolutely no interest in being friendly with him!"
"The reason I came back to Tracen today was to ask those of you who know him what kind of person he really is."
"I see..." El Condor Pasa nodded thoughtfully.
She rested her chin on one hand and pondered for a moment before suddenly coming up with a wonderful idea. Turning toward Mizuno, she winked at him.
"Gou, if you admit that we're engaged, how about I put in a good word for you?"
"No deal!" Mizuno rejected the proposal without the slightest hesitation.
If he acknowledged the engagement just to improve Hishi Amazon's opinion of him, he would be walking straight into El Condor Pasa's trap. She would then have every reason she needed to take him home with her.
So no matter what happened, Mizuno absolutely could not give in.
"I see..." El Condor Pasa lowered her head in disappointment.
She had made it this obvious, and Trainer Mizuno still refused to honor their agreement. What was she supposed to do?
El Condor Pasa let out a helpless sigh, the corners of her mouth drooping pitifully. She wiped nonexistent tears from the corners of her eyes, then turned to Hishi Amazon and began complaining tearfully.
"Amazon-senpai, you're right. He really is the kind of man who goes around flirting. Not long ago, he was even sleeping with several Umamusume in his arms at the same time..."
As she spoke, El Condor Pasa lowered herself onto Mizuno's chest, recreating the position she had slept in beside him that night in the tent at the Flowerbeds.
"Oh?" Hishi Amazon's eyes narrowed dangerously.
"Gah! Don't make things up!" Mizuno's scalp went numb at El Condor Pasa's actions, and he hurriedly raised both hands to proclaim his innocence.
"I'm not making anything up! I have proof!" El Condor Pasa pulled out her phone and opened her private album, bringing up the photos she had secretly taken with Mizuno late at night, when everything was quiet.
"Oh?" Hishi Amazon leaned over to look at the screen.
To her astonishment, the photos showed El Condor Pasa wearing nothing but underwear, Mizuno lying dead to the world in the middle, and other Umamusume hugging him close from different sides.
More importantly, the Umamusume sleeping beside him weren't even the same in every photo. There were never more than four at once, but every night featured a different combination!
And among this group, most of whom were from the Junior Division, Hishi Amazon even spotted one pink-haired little Umamusume who looked as though she might have only just graduated from elementary school.
"Gah! You actually took secret photos?!" Mizuno's breath caught. He stiffly turned his head, only to meet Hishi Amazon's terrifying gaze, as though she wanted to strap him into an electric chair and throw the switch herself.
"Do you have anything left to say for yourself?"
"..." Feeling Hishi Amazon's icy gaze on him, Mizuno closed his eyes in despair.
"I have nothing more to say. Please... get on with it..."
---
T/N: We went from "I always come back" to "It's so over"
T/N2: hello i am back from japan, and i am sick heres some chapters i remembered you guys exist
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