Today, Ling woke up from another strange dream.
In her dream, she was running on a strange racetrack, and next to her was a strange person riding a strange motorcycle, playing some kind of card game while riding.
Then, the other person suddenly shouted, "Accel Synchro!!!" A small monster next to her turned into several green circles, and she uncontrollably ran into them. When she emerged from the circles, she had turned into a white dragon.
"???"
It scared her awake. What the hell was that!?
After confirming several times that she hadn't transmigrated into the Yu-Gi-Oh! world, she began her usual day.
That being said... it seemed like there wasn't much to do today... Another day off, no training plans, no outing plans, no invitations.
She wanted to spend the day playing games as usual, but it felt like something was missing.
Perhaps she had gotten used to having people around these past few months and was now unaccustomed to being alone?
Perhaps, but even so, she didn't know what to do.
Lying on the bed, suddenly losing all ambition like a 'salted fish'—I'm sure many of you have experienced that, right? That's exactly Ling's situation now.
Occasionally, she would have these moments, and her way of dealing with it was naturally the same as everyone else's... ignore it.
After all, her entire being was in 'salted fish' mode; she was too lazy to care about anything.
While she was in a daze, not knowing how long this state would last, the doorbell rang again.
Hmm? Who could it be so early?
She looked at the clock; it was just a little past five in the morning, and it was a day off. Most Uma Musume were probably still asleep at this hour, right?
But since someone was here, she couldn't leave them hanging.
She instantly snapped out of her 'salted fish' state, tidied herself up, and then padded barefoot to the entrance. She checked the visitor through the camera.
Hmm? Suzuka?
She immediately recognized the distinctive green ear muffs and carrot-colored hair.
Click.
"Suzuka? What's wrong?" She peeked her head out and asked.
"Ah, Z-chan, good morning. You're awake, as expected." Suzuka, who had been a bit uneasy, seemed to relax when the door opened.
"What's wrong?" She opened the door and stepped aside, motioning for Suzuka to come in and sit.
After Suzuka entered, she took off her shoes in the entryway, put on the slippers Ling had prepared, and then went inside the house.
Sitting on the sofa, she watched curiously as Ling, looking somewhat languid in her pajamas, brewed tea.
"So, is there something you need by coming here?" she asked while boiling water.
Strong tea wasn't suitable for early morning, and few people liked it anyway, so Ling prepared to brew a light tea with her own tea bags.
If it were Suko and Chaza, she wouldn't mind making them a cup of black tea and an Americano, but Suzuka might not appreciate it.
"Um... how should I put it... I'm planning to run in the Takarazuka Kinen..." she whispered.
"...I see..." She was silent for a moment, her hands not stopping their movements.
"Mm, so Z-chan, I hope you can show your full strength then."
"Hah... So you came here early this morning just to challenge me?" She helplessly carried two cups of brewed tea, placing one in front of Suzuka and holding the other herself.
She had a sensitive tongue and couldn't eat hot things. She usually waited for tea to cool down considerably before drinking it.
"No... no, that's not what I meant!" Suzuka shook her head, looking slightly flustered.
"So... have you ever considered that we might not be able to meet?"
"Eh? Z-chan, aren't you running anymore?"
"No, no, no. So you only pay attention to running and nothing else, right? = ="
"Eh?"
"You're a Classic-grade Uma Musume, right?"
"Mm." She cupped the tea, blew on it, and took a sip. It was unexpectedly delicious; even she, an amateur when it came to tea, could tell it tasted good.
"And I'm a Senior-grade Uma Musume. Although both are the Takarazuka Kinen, two Uma Musume of different grades won't appear in the same race = ="
"Eh? Then I..."
"Yes, you completely misunderstood."
"Ah..." Suzuka covered her face.
She had come with such great determination, only for it all to be a misunderstanding. How embarrassing!
"www" And a certain scoundrel at this moment watched the shy Suzuka with interest.
After a while, Suzuka finally calmed down.
"Sorry, Z-chan, it's all my fault for not understanding properly before coming to tell you..."
"It's fine. At least, being solely immersed in running is part of your charm, you know?"
"Charm, you say..." Suzuka didn't quite understand, but as Ling knew, Tracen Academy's back channels had a "Best Scenery" ranking.
This "scenery" naturally didn't refer to natural landscapes, but rather the view seen when following behind an Uma Musume during a race.
And among them, Silent Suzuka ranked second, only behind Maruzensky, who had full mature charm. The reason for her ranking was her black tights and the unobstructed view when she ran, lowering her body as much as possible, even her safety shorts weren't a deduction.
Hmm? Ling?
A little radish head less than 1.5 meters tall, no matter how low she crouched, you basically couldn't see anything from behind~
Moreover, her winning uniform also had an extra skirt as an accessory, so the view from behind was not as good as the view from the front.
But that being said, her side profile when running seemed to be quite popular?
It didn't matter. Since Suzuka had come, Ling felt that her day's agenda had found a purpose.
"Does Suzuka have any plans today?"
"Eh? If I had to say... I don't seem to have any plans?" If she had nothing to do, she usually quietly read books indoors.
"That's perfect. Do you have time to accompany me to school?" Ling suddenly became interested.
"Does the school have any arrangements?"
"No, it's to watch the excitement."
"Eh?" Watch the excitement? What excitement? There aren't any events today, are there?
"You should know that Little Special failed, right? Today is her retake exam." She didn't know why, but Special Week, who could usually answer questions when asked, would forget everything during exams, only to remember after the exam was over, but it was already too late.
Also taking the retake exam with her were Grass Wonder, who was absent due to illness, and El Condor Pasa, who, as a returnee, wasn't good at Japanese and spent too much time on comprehension, resulting in not finishing the exam.
Speaking of which, it's quite absurd that these three, as friends, even failed at the same time.
"Mm, Little Special seemed to have studied until very late last night. I don't know when she slept; she was still sleeping when I left earlier." Suzuka also explained Special Week's situation, but her voice grew softer as she spoke.
And Ling also thought of something. Their eyes met, and they spoke at the same time.
""Will Little Special wake up in time for the exam?""
Realizing something was amiss, Ling quickly urged Suzuka to go, while she herself quickly changed clothes and then started making rice balls.
Rice balls don't take long to make and are filling. Special Week couldn't take the exam on an empty stomach. She was already quite clumsy; if she got hungry, she might end up having to take remedial classes alone at school while everyone else was at the training camp.
Finally, after locking all the doors and windows and contacting Alice Digital to tell her not to come today, he quickly grabbed his backpack and left.
Inside the backpack was a freshly made, super-sized rice ball, probably a bit larger than the head of a certain Uma Musume named Biwa Hayahide.
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