The next morning.
Although the first half of the racing season was over, Barbatos hadn't skipped her morning training, nor did she have any intention of easing up on the workload.
King Halo had given her a word of caution back in the infirmary about managing her training volume.
It was genuinely useful advice, sure, but for Barbatos, it was kind of neither here nor there.
After finishing morning training with Seiun Sky and grabbing breakfast in the cafeteria, she headed back to the dorm room.
This time should have been for more training, but she had something else on the plate: holing up in her room to properly digest the study notes that Fuji-senpai had passed on.
Then, at ten, she'd head to the cram session Fuji-senpai and the others were running.
The goal was to scrape by on the exams, sure, but also to make sure her scores weren't a total disaster compared to last year.
Just then, though.
Barbatos glanced at her phone and remembered: last night, El Condor Pasa had sent her a voice message.
After she'd shot back a "Sleeping, don't disturb," El hadn't messaged again.
But it was probably better to call her back now.
Thinking that, she reached for her phone and, right in front of Seiun Sky, dialed El on LINE.
A simple, no-frills default ringtone echoed in the room.
For a while, no one picked up on the other end.
"Could El still be training?" Barbatos wondered, puzzled.
She figured if the call went unanswered, she'd just send a message and wait for a reply when El Condor saw it.
Seiun Sky, lounging nearby, glanced at the time on Barbatos's phone. She pressed her lips together to hold back a grin, deciding to wait before answering B-chan's unspoken question.
It was around eight or nine in the morning in Japan.
El Condor, though, was in France. The time difference there was close to eight hours behind Japan, meaning it was roughly one in the morning.
There was no way El Condor would just instantly pick up at that hour.
A bit more time passed.
Just as the LINE call was about to go to voicemail——
It connected.
"'Lo~"
"Something up?"
The voice on the other end was a bit fuzzy, catching Barbatos off guard and making her feel a little awkward.
Hearing that sleepy tone, she suddenly clicked about the time difference between Japan and France.
But that wasn't what had her dumbfounded.
The thing was, El Condor had a girl over!!!
Even though the timbre of the voice was pretty close to El Condor's, that soft, sweet lilt was definitely not the real El Condor.
She must have met some kindred spirit Uma Musume in France, fallen head over heels, and they'd ended up sleeping together.
And this girl answering the phone was that same Uma Musume who was in bed with El Condor.
Damn, El Condor moved fast!
It took her ten months of knowing Seiun Sky, and six months of actually going out, before they finally shared a bed. El Condor had only been in France for, what, a few days?
Right as Barbatos was fumbling for what to say,
Seiun Sky leaned in with interest. "Are you El's girlfriend?"
Now that was a killer question.
Originally, she just wanted to ask what El Condor had wanted last night, but suddenly, she was buzzing with the thrill of potential gossip.
"Huh? Girlfriend? What girlfriend???"
"B-chan, what are you guys talking about?"
The voice, so similar to El Condor's yet weirdly soft and sweet, continued.
"Huh? You know me?"
Barbatos was lost. Even Seiun Sky, usually sharper than Barbatos, couldn't quite figure out what was going on.
Even if El Condor had told this girl about Barbatos, why would she answer a call and immediately call her 'B-chan'?
And the way she said it sounded familiar, like they were already chummy.
She didn't sound like some French Uma Musume at all. More like someone who'd known Barbatos for ages.
"What are you talking about?"
"It's me, El. Why are you calling so late?"
"?"
Both Barbatos and Seiun Sky mentally conjured a giant question mark. They were completely lost now.
That soft tone didn't sound like lying. Could it be that this was just how French Uma Musume rolled?
Had El Condor just gone overseas for a campaign and turned into a total softie?
It didn't make sense! And it definitely wasn't racing!
"Uh, El-chan, do you... do you realize your voice sounds a bit weird?"
Barbatos was kind of forcing herself to accept the reality of Softie El Condor, and added a bit sheepishly, "Also, you called me last night, so I was just calling back. Totally forgot about the time difference."
"Voice?"
"Ah~ my sleep mask slipped off while I was sleeping~"
On the other end of the line, there was the sound of rummaging.
Barbatos didn't get why the sleep mask suddenly came into it. She'd never actually seen El Condor without it; the Warrior never took off her mask.
"Found it! Yo?"
When El Condor's voice came through the line again.
The soft, sweet El Condor was gone. It was that familiar, confident voice again.
What the hell!
Was that sleep mask some kind of voice modifier? No, the timbre itself hadn't really changed, it was more like a complete personality switch.
The real El Condor was the mask!
Barbatos didn't entertain the thought that El Condor might have gotten a French friend with a similar voice to prank her – that just wasn't El Condor's style.
Meaning the difference before and after really did boil down to just a mask.
"Yo?"
"You still there?"
"Yeah, yeah."
"I'm totally calling you in the middle of the night Japan time sometime!"
Clearly, El Condor was a bit miffed about being woken up by a phone call in the dead of night.
Barbatos wasn't bothered. "Thanks for the heads-up. I'll definitely turn my phone off before bed from now on."
"Anyway, I was gonna congratulate you yesterday. Becoming Japan's number one Uma Musume and all."
"Yep, congrats received."
Barbatos teased, "Heh, pretty cool, right? When you're racing in France, you can just tell 'em you've only lost once in Japan, and losing to Japan's number one is no big deal."
"The Takarazuka Kinen might be one of the best races in Japan, but on the world stage, the Japan Cup is Japan's premier race."
"And the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe is the best race in the whole world."
"Once I win the Arc and become the world's number one, that'll be way more impressive than being Japan's number one, y'know."
El Condor didn't seem bothered by Barbatos becoming Japan's number one first; her sights had always been set globally.
"Man, now that you mention it, the future world number one has lost to me. The Arc is the world's best race, a little loss in Japan means nothing."
"You lost to me."
"When I win the Arc and come back to Japan, I'm definitely gonna beat you!"
"You lost to me."
El Condor huffed lightly. "Fine, can't win against you. Since I'm awake now, I'm gonna go train."
"Wait."
Barbatos spoke up. "You know King Halo got hurt at the Takarazuka, right?"
El Condor hummed softly in acknowledgement.
Barbatos continued, "It was from overtraining. Take it easy too, alright?"
"I'm going back to sleep."
"And next time you call me in the middle of the night, when I get back to Japan, you're practicing sumo with me!"
--+--
T/N: I have a Patreon! 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.