The Upper-Class Training Ground.
Three Uma Musume—King Halo, Mejiro McQueen, and Fine Motion—had gathered here.
"It seems you're really concerned about racing against Barbatos. Leave the training run to us," Mejiro McQueen said with a gentle smile.
If she hadn't been held back by the lack of a suitable team, she would have loved to debut already and race against both Barbatos and El Condor Pasa.
But neither Barbatos nor El Condor Pasa seemed like long-distance runners.
And forming a team… well, it wasn't exactly a walk in the park.
"After the run, let's all go get some ramen," Fine Motion suggested. For her, aside from running and the "Empress," ramen was probably her greatest passion.
"McQueen, Fine Motion, I'll be counting on you both today."
Though it had only been two months since the school term began, King Halo felt she'd grown much stronger since her first day.
It must be the intensity of Tracen Academy—even someone like her felt tremendous pressure here, as though the slightest lapse would leave her lost in the crowd.
This time, at the Tokyo Sports Hai Junior Stakes, she was determined to show her true strength in the race against Barbatos.
Lately, aside from team practice, she'd often trained together with Urara.
But this time, she'd called upon friends from a different circle.
She wanted to test her current limits. Though not yet debuted, Mejiro McQueen possessed impressive speed and stamina, and Fine Motion had once even defeated the legendary Uma Musume, the "Empress" Air Groove.
(T/N: IRL, this never happened, but this was how it's translated. Might be talking about her IRL brother, Pilsudski)
The three figures ran across the private training field—one lap, two laps, three.
Huff…
Huff… huff…
Fine Motion and Mejiro McQueen panted elegantly, resolutely keeping pace with King Halo. Aside from the newly debuted King Halo, neither of the other two were at their peak.
They couldn't help but exchange a glance. "Just how intense has King Halo's training been?"
As fellow young ladies from the same social circle, they'd trained together before, but back then, King Halo hadn't been this fast or this enduring.
And even so, she still sought them out for this training run.
Barbatos must have left quite an impression on her—though that was hardly surprising. Even they had heard the name Barbatos often enough.
Their families had taken note as well, each in their own way.
They'd made it clear: if they ever faced Barbatos in a race, she was an opponent that demanded their absolute best.
They lost count of the laps.
Mejiro McQueen finally had to stop to rest, barely maintaining her ladylike composure.
She glanced somewhat helplessly at Fine Motion beside her.
Even when completely exhausted, Fine Motion could still uphold that perfect young lady image—something Mejiro McQueen still needed to learn.
King Halo kept running…
Mejiro McQueen was baffled. Weren't she and Fine Motion supposed to have better stamina among the three?
Just what kind of unbelievable training had King Halo gone through to build such endurance?
For the glory of the McQueen family! She had to get up and run with King Halo—she couldn't just collapse here!
But…
Her body felt so heavy. If only she could have a sweet right now.
She hadn't eaten much that morning, after all, to keep her weight in check.
Just then, a piping-hot taiyaki appeared right before her eyes.
Her gaze drifted upward.
She recognized the face—it was that Uma Musume who'd been pestering her lately, Gold Ship. But what was she doing here?
Though she had no idea how Gold Ship had gotten in, right now, with that taiyaki in front of her…
She'd just accept it gratefully and eat.
Despite some past unpleasantness with Gold Ship, the sight of a sweet treat when she was this hungry made McQueen Duto drop all her defenses instantly.
Those past grievances suddenly seemed trivial. She reached out and took the taiyaki from Gold Ship's hands.
She opened her mouth and took a small bite.
Nearby, Fine Motion gave a slight nod to Gold Ship—the two were on good terms.
Gold Ship had once given her excellent eating advice.
That was: "Wear white and eat curry udon with ferocious intensity." Only a true noodle lover would eat that way, and it had indeed left a strong impression on Fine Motion.
In her eyes, though Gold Ship's reputation wasn't the best, she was definitely a good person.
She just hadn't realized Gold Ship and Mejiro McQueen were this close—to the point of specially bringing her sweets.
And then…
Cough, cough, cough—!
Mejiro McQueen covered her mouth, coughing violently. Her other hand, still holding the taiyaki, squeezed involuntarily from the force of her coughing, sending a bit of the filling flying out.
Beside her, Gold Ship—who'd been just about to smirk at Mejiro McQueen's reaction—suddenly froze, her pupils shrinking.
A glob of filling had shot straight into her left eye.
"Wasabi!!!"
"It's wasabi!!!"
Compared to Mejiro McQueen's coughing fit, Gold Ship was now rolling on the ground in agony. She'd only meant to play a little prank by adding wasabi to the treat—she never expected to become the victim herself.
Her pranks usually went smoothly; even when they failed, she never ended up suffering like this.
But ever since she'd met Mejiro McQueen, Gold Ship couldn't shake the feeling that she was losing far more than she gained.
No way! This can't be how the great Gold Ship is known!
'If I can't successfully prank Mejiro McQueen after two more tries, I'll just have Tokai Teio invite her to join Team Spica,' she thought. 'Can't let someone this strong stay outside the team.'
But… her eye stung so badly!!!
King Halo, having finished another lap, came to a stop. "What's wrong with Gold Ship?"
"Some wasabi accidentally got in her eye," Fine Motion explained, kindly offering water to both Mejiro McQueen and Gold Ship.
--+--
Half an hour later…
At a curry udon shop.
Mejiro McQueen's eyebrow twitched slightly as she glanced at Gold Ship out of the corner of her eye.
'Nothing good ever happens when Gold Ship's around.'
In front of her, King Halo and Fine Motion had both changed into white tops, ready to devour their curry udon with "ferocious intensity."
As one of the group, how could she just sit back and watch?
She'd have to join in.
The thing was, even eating curry udon slowly could lead to splatters.
Now they were wearing white and planning to eat with "ferocious intensity"? And Fine Motion was enthusiastically recommending it, while King Halo was determined to prove her "royal" noodle-slurping style.
So all four Uma Musume, dressed in white, launched a full-on assault on their bowls of curry udon.
Mejiro McQueen took a fierce, determined bite.
Just as expected, curry went flying—splattering across her white top and right into Gold Ship's other eye.
"Aaaah!!!"
Gold Ship writhed on the floor in pain.
Determination to recruit Mejiro McQueen into Spica: [2/3].
--+--
T/N: While I am an inexperienced Translator, I have a Patreon! While it may seem empty as of now, 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.