Stopping in front of the seafood shop, Barbatos felt she really shouldn't be here. Her eyes instinctively drifted to the bucket in the other's hand.
Walking away pretending not to see would probably be even more awkward.
She couldn't help muttering under her breath, "Sure enough, Anglers never go Air Force."
As the saying goes, going home empty-handed is just not an option.
If you can't catch a snakehead, you catch a grass carp; if you can't catch a grass carp, you go for a crucian carp.
If there's absolutely nothing biting, then you might resort to, well, 'borrowing' a chicken, 'pet-sitting' a dog, or chasing after a goose… and if even that fails, you'd just pick some cucumbers, tomatoes, or pumpkins…
And if, in the end, there was truly nothing to be had, an angler would still take a sip of the river water before leaving.
Of course, that's just a literary exaggeration—the part about 'borrowing' and 'chasing' sounds a bit too 'law-abiding,' if you catch my drift. Actually doing that would surely add some 'sentencing' to one's life.
What this angler here was doing—buying a fish from the seafood shop—was perfectly normal.
Not wanting to dance through a minefield, she decided not to bring up the seafood shop or the fish. "What a coincidence. Heading back to the academy together?"
"Mhm, let's go back together."
The angler, carrying her small bucket with a fish and her fishing rod, walked alongside her.
Barbatos could feel the other girl's occasional glances. She couldn't possibly be planning to silence the witness, could she?!
Just as her mind was wandering, the angler spoke up. "What does 'Air Force' mean?"
"Uh..."
Barbatos's mouth twitched. So her earlier muttering had been overheard, but thankfully, the other girl didn't know what it meant.
This was encrypted communication among Chinese anglers, something only an Uma Musume like her, with a deep love for China, could understand.
But since the other had asked so sincerely, she might as well be generous and explain.
"'Air Force' is actually a common way of communication among Chinese anglers, a unique greeting among themselves."
"Just like asking 'Have you eaten yet?' when you meet someone."
"So, in China, if you meet someone returning from fishing and want to greet them warmly, you'd say, 'Air Force?' The person asked would definitely be very pleased."
"It's a phrase used specifically to show friendliness and warmth towards anglers."
She finished her entirely serious explanation without worrying about being exposed. There probably weren't any Chinese Uma Musume at Tracen Academy anyway.
"Oh? Really?" The angler's eyes held a trace of doubt.
Barbatos puffed out her chest confidently. "Of course. No one here understands China better than I do."
"Are you an Uma Musume from China?"
"No."
"But my love for China is no less than any Chinese Uma Musume."
"Then I'll trust you for now."
The angler didn't press further about 'Air Force,' though she still felt it wasn't really a greeting. "Anglers never go Air Force"... I'll look it up online when I have time.
"By the way, what are you planning to do with that fish? You're not going to release it into the river, are you?"
"The academy has a cafeteria. Want to eat it together?"
Looking at the fish in the small bucket, Barbatos shook her head. "I have plans with a friend tonight."
Even if she hadn't made plans to eat with Urara, she wouldn't have wanted to eat Japanese fish. In the three months since arriving here, she'd barely eaten anything that swam.
She was worried the water was toxic...
There'd been no shortage of reports about that in her previous life. Who knew if eating something from the water could cause a gene mutation, making her grow four legs and turn into a real horse girl or something.
Avoiding it entirely was impossible, but she tried not to eat it if she could help it. Eating a little probably wouldn't be a big issue.
She should remind Urara to eat less too, though she wasn't sure if her [Heal] could fix something like that.
As for the angler? If an angler doesn't eat the fish they catch, why even go fishing?
They walked side-by-side until a fork in the academy path. "I go this way, straight back to the dorm," Barbatos said, figuring the other would head directly to the cafeteria to deal with her fish.
"I'm going back to the dorm first too."
The angler waved her fishing rod, indicating she needed to drop it off at the dorm first.
Tracen Academy wasn't that big, probably quite a bit smaller than a Chinese university, and it didn't have clusters of dormitory buildings.
After all, there were only so many Uma Musume who could join Central Tracen Academy.
The largest area by far was undoubtedly the grounds for the horse girls to run and train. Rumor had it the academy's chairwoman, wanting to provide better training, even paid out of her own pocket for a massive road roller called the "Dirt Maintenance Mecha No. 3"—a machine so coveted that even Dio, all the way in Egypt, cried tears of envy.
It could maintain the dirt tracks in an instant, giving the horse girls the best possible track experience.
Even though the semester hadn't started yet, you could already see the figures of horse girls running on the track. After their debut race, there really weren't any true holidays left for them.
"Watching them run makes me want to go down for a lap too."
No matter their talent, the essence of a horse girl is to yearn for the feeling of running.
"Not slacking off anymore?" The angler's words made Barbatos choke.
"What I, Barbatos, do can't be called slacking off!"
After exchanging a few more idle words, they reached the dormitory building.
They ran into Fuji Kiseki, who was just handing a key to another Uma Musume. Fuji Kiseki saw them too.
"Getting along well already, little fillies?"
"Just moved into the same dorm and already went fishing together. But you can't keep fish in the dorm, you know."
"Wasn't planning to. She's taking it to the cafeteria to eat," Barbatos shrugged, explaining on her behalf.
Besides, who keeps that kind of fish in a dorm? Shouldn't it be a goldfish?
"Wait!"
"Kiseki-senpai, you're saying she's my roommate?"
"You didn't know?"
How could anyone know that!
The two looked at each other, both falling silent with expressions of sheer disbelief. It seemed their future dorm life might be a tad awkward.
One knew the other was planning to slack off with Canopus, and the other knew she'd bought a fish from a shop just to avoid going home empty-handed.
If only she could have been roommates with Urara. My Urara!
"B-chan! Is this your roommate?"
Speak of the devil, Urara arrived, along with El Condor Pasa from the photo earlier and two unfamiliar Uma Musume.
"...Yeah."
"Wow!" Urara cheerfully introduced herself to the angler. "Hello, I'm Haru Urara!"
She then introduced the horse girls she'd just met. "This is El Condor Pasa."
"And this is King Halo and Grass Wonder. They're both horse girls from our year. We might even be in the same class later."
Barbatos memorized the names, impressed by Urara's formidable social skills.
Her gaze lingered on Grass Wonder for a moment, finding the name and face somewhat familiar.
"Hello everyone, I'm Barbatos."
Following Urara's lead, she started to introduce the angler beside her. "This is..."
Wait, what was this angler's name again? She realized she didn't actually know her roommate's name.
"I'm Seiun Sky. Pleased to meet you."
--+--
T/N: While I am an inexperienced Translator, I have a Patreon! While it may seem empty as of now, webnovel will get 1 Chapter 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.