Tanabata was a day full of romantic tension.
It had originally grown out of ancient star worship, and later gave rise to the love story of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl meeting across the heavens. It was a romantic night when young women offered prayers to the star deities and wished for clever hands and skill.
In modern times, Tanabata had gradually taken on a meaning similar to Valentine's Day. On that day, couples would meet up, pour out how much they had missed each other, and then spend a wonderful evening together.
Some single girls would even invite the person they liked, put on yukata, and go watch the fireworks together. If the other person agreed, then things were basically as good as done.
And on the day before Tanabata, Mizuno's phone started blowing up with messages, chiming nonstop in his pocket.
When he pulled it out and checked, he found that every single one was an invitation to go out with someone on Tanabata.
Some wanted to go shopping with him. Some wanted to go to the amusement park. One certain chubby Umamusume was still stubbornly, tirelessly inviting him to visit the Mejiro estate.
But no matter who asked, Mizuno turned them all down.
After all, he was going to race with Maruzensky that night. He didn't have time to go anywhere else.
So to every Umamusume who invited him out, Mizuno sent the same refusal: "Sorry, I've got official business that day with the old school bus driver, so I need to head out of town."
Naturally, there was no way Mizuno could tell them the truth.
He couldn't exactly tell those girls that on Tanabata night, he was going off to do something exciting with another girl—namely, race.
So he had no choice but to phrase it differently and say he was going out with Fujiwara-san instead.
Which, to be fair, wasn't actually wrong. Fujiwara-san really would be going with them that day.
So after learning that Mizuno was busy that day, and that the person accompanying him was not some cute girl around their age, most of the Umamusume felt relieved and reluctantly accepted that he wouldn't be spending Tanabata with them.
But not every Umamusume believed his excuse.
For example, the two from the student council—Symboli Rudolf and Air Groove—didn't buy it for a second.
After all, every trainer's business trip had to be reviewed by the student council first. Only after they looked it over, found no problems, and stamped it could it count as an official trip.
If Mizuno were really going out of town on business during Tanabata, how could they not know about it?
And besides, what kind of official business could a trainer in charge of managing Umamusume possibly have with the old man who drove the school bus? Were they going out to discuss which girl at the academy was the prettiest or something?
So not long after Mizuno finished replying to everyone, Symboli Rudolf called.
Seeing her name on the screen, Mizuno swallowed nervously. He looked like a husband about to go fool around outside, only to suddenly get a call from his wife at home. Then, with trembling fingers, he answered.
The moment the call connected, that familiar, unquestionable voice came through from the other end.
"Talk. Where exactly are you going that day?"
Mizuno froze for a second. Before he had even figured out what lie to tell, another, somewhat colder female voice came from the other end.
"Are you really just going out with the old school bus driver? There isn't some other woman involved?"
If you listened closely, it sounded like Air Groove was speaking beside Symboli Rudolf.
Mizuno was speechless.
How were those two so sharp? They had seen through his lie almost instantly.
And the questions were so viciously precise that if he answered even a little bit wrong, the two of them would probably come after him with a whole crowd of Umamusume demanding an explanation.
So, in order to prevent any unnecessary misunderstanding, Mizuno hesitated for a while before ultimately deciding to tell them the truth.
"You're teaming up with Maruzensky for a race?"
Maybe they were judging whether he was telling the truth this time. Maybe they were already pulling strings to verify whether such a thing really existed. Either way, Symboli Rudolf and Air Groove were silent for a very long time.
About five minutes later, the phone finally made noise again.
"But isn't it a couple-themed race that day? Does that mean you and Maruzen are entering as a couple?" Symboli Rudolf demanded, her tone forced low, like an irritated lion warning Mizuno to choose his next words carefully.
"..."
Crack.
A sharp sound rang out, as if something had just been crushed in someone's hand. Then the line went dead.
Mizuno was still wondering what had happened when Air Groove called.
He answered, only to hear Symboli Rudolf's voice again.
"So while I wasn't around, the two of you have already advanced to that kind of relationship?!" Symboli Rudolf sounded so agitated it was as if she were about to reach through the phone and throttle him.
"No, no, no!" Mizuno hurriedly denied it and explained the reason to them.
For example, only couples were allowed to enter the race, and his relationship with Maruzensky was completely innocent. In short, he and Maruzensky were only pretending to be a couple to fool the race organizers, not anything like what they were imagining.
"Idiot!" Air Groove snapped irritably at that point.
"Maruzen didn't specifically say she had to enter with you, did she? In that case, why didn't you pick one of us instead? We're clearly more familiar with you than she is."
"Uh..." Mizuno's mouth twitched.
Why didn't I team up with either of you? Shouldn't you have some idea yourselves? Because I'm afraid one of you would stop pretending halfway through and jump me for real! And if I actually picked one of you, are you sure the other one wouldn't get mad?
Obviously, that was impossible.
"Mm..." Mizuno thought for a moment, then answered, "Sorry. I did consider it, but aren't you two usually busy handling academy affairs? I was worried I'd be bothering you, so I didn't ask..."
"And besides, the entrant list has already been submitted. The racers for that day are already locked in, so even if we wanted to change it now, we couldn't, so..."
"Next time for sure!"
"Uh..." After hearing Mizuno's explanation, Symboli Rudolf and Air Groove—currently in the student council office—looked at each other and both showed helpless expressions.
They knew full well that this was just an excuse Mizuno had made up to placate them, but the facts really were exactly as he said...
The academy had been especially overloaded with work these past few days. Compared with usual, the number of reports about trainers falling victim to their own Umamusume had been rising more and more frequently as Tanabata approached, leaving Symboli Rudolf and Air Groove overwhelmed.
If Mizuno really had invited them out, they certainly would have agreed, but it would inevitably have delayed official matters for several days, forcing those abducted trainers to "enjoy" a few extra days of one-on-one time with their beloved Umamusume.
That obviously did not fit the responsibilities they were supposed to uphold as members of Tracen Academy's student council.
Besides, with how terrified Mizuno usually looked whenever he saw an Umamusume—as if he'd just seen a ghost—there was no way he would ever boldly take the initiative to become a couple with one.
On that point, everyone felt pretty reassured.
"Fine, then." Symboli Rudolf let out a sigh and finally relented.
"However..." Her tone suddenly shifted.
"On Tanabata night, Air Groove and I will be going there to watch the race."
---
bonus chaps
200 stones -> 1 chapter
400 stones -> 2 chapters
600 stones -> 3 chapters
and so on
discord.gg/wisetl
patreon.com/wisetl