Chapter 318: Only One Year Left—I’ll Become a Legendary Uma Musume! 2 [261]

Gotham Song rolled off Satono Diamond and onto the floor.

So how had things ended up like this?

To begin with, in Gotham Song’s mind, pillow fights were not supposed to be all that dangerous. At the very least, they were not supposed to escalate to the point of knocking someone to the floor and then walloping them over the head with a pillow.

And yet last night, her girls had really done exactly that.

Granted, it had only happened toward the very end of the whole pillow fight, and since they were using pillows—and everyone involved was an Umamusume with superhuman physical ability—it hadn’t actually turned into anything genuinely dangerous.

Even so, Gotham Song had nearly lost it over the whole thing.

Come on, stop! This isn’t a pillow fight anymore!!

If you’re going to go at each other like that, you all belong in an octagon!!!

That was more or less what Gotham Song had been roaring inside her head.

In any case, after joining the pillow fight and wearing herself out completely, Gotham Song realized she had entered a soft, squishy, easy-to-bully state. So she decisively burrowed into the blankets and made it very clear that she was withdrawing from the battlefield.

And then, if anything, everyone started beating each other with pillows even more happily, as though some outcome they all desperately wanted could only be decided that way.

But amid all that noise and chaos, there was one girl—one Umamusume—who quietly crept over to Gotham Song’s side and, before any of the others could react, slipped right into the neighboring quilt.

You girls keep fighting. Me?

I’m stealing the objective, hehe.

And truly, Gotham Song could feel the entire room freeze as if someone had hit pause on it.

And after that?

After that came a round of strange, razor-sharp staring... and then an even fiercer war.

Only, from Satono Diamond’s point of view, there had been rather more to it than that.

She had planned this from the start...!

Competing with the other Umamusume over two spots—how could something like that possibly be settled by such a simple, crude method?

Obviously, the more direct approach was the better one. Like going straight to Song-nee’s side, for instance.

And after that?

After that, the others absolutely would not drag Satono Diamond out in front of Song-nee. But since one of the two spots would now be objectively gone, the struggle over the remaining one was bound to become even more extreme and ruthless.

And not only would they have to fight over it, they would also have to guard against the last remaining Umamusume trying to steal the objective too...

Hehe. So who would be the one laughing at the end?

That was how things had developed.

As for the final outcome, it actually was not all that surprising.

The Umamusume who ended up sleeping on Gotham Song’s other side was...

Kitasan Black!

Was that because Kitasan Black was a complete muscle monster, the kind of girl who was utterly invincible when it came to raw physical ability?

Not exactly.

Or rather, not entirely.

In every sense, Kitasan Black was indeed the very picture of robust health even among Umamusume, but...

In this particular contest, she had won more by coasting than anything else.

To begin with, Kitasan Black had no overwhelming advantage in terms of physical ability here. At least not in this struggle.

Because Gentildonna was every bit as absurd a stamina monster.

Especially tonight.

Tonight, Gentildonna looked even more like a battle goddess than usual.

Because she had been fighting Almond Eye and Verxina at the same time!

The three of them had become so locked onto one another that they were going at it furiously not just on the racetrack, not just in everyday training, but even over the right to sleep beside Gotham Song.

That said, at first, Gentildonna had been absolutely crushing the other two.

So when did things turn around?

The moment Verxina and Almond Eye started unconsciously working together and managed to pin Gentildonna down.

After all, two pillows were always stronger than one, weren’t they?

And just like that, the tables turned!

Once they got a taste for it, Verxina and Almond Eye’s coordination only grew more and more natural.

No matter how you looked at it, two against one put the advantage on their side.

And so the three Umamusume who battled fiercely on the track had also launched a grand, full-scale war against each other off the track.

But even then, it did not change all that much.

Because Gentildonna was still Gentildonna. In a harmless game like this, having that much stamina was still a tremendous advantage. Even with Verxina and Almond Eye working together, they still could not stop her from advancing.

It was obvious.

And the two-person team had no way to turn things around.

So then, if the two of us can’t win...

Gentildonna, then you don’t get to win either!

And so Gentildonna was locked down and hard-pressed all the way to the very last moment, until, like the tolling of a victory bell, Kitasan Black slipped into the quilt on Gotham Song’s other side.

In other words, the whole thing ended in a mutually destructive mess, and Kitasan Black—who had done absolutely nothing—walked away with a position that every other Umamusume there had only hoped to win through victory.

A truly heartwarming outcome.

Gotham Song honestly found the whole thing pretty funny too.

In the end, however, she did not comment on it at all.

Instead, she issued the highest order of the evening.

Sleep—!

Sleep, huh.

So... did that mean her chance had come?

Satono Diamond knew this much: Gotham Song slept very, very soundly, and her sleeping habits were excellent.

As for how Satono Diamond knew that... well, let’s just say the Satono family had its own special intelligence channels.

In any case, once she had confirmed that Gotham Song was fast asleep, Satono Diamond simply reached out in the darkness and, with practiced ease, joined their two quilts together, then gathered into her arms the body she had wanted for so long.

Warm and cozy...

Should she do anything more?

No. There was no real need.

So Satono Diamond simply fell asleep holding her.

And that was why Gotham Song woke up the next morning on top of Satono Diamond.

To be precise, Gotham Song was the one with the excellent sleeping habits.

Satono Diamond, on the other hand, seemed to be the sort whose sleeping posture got rather bad when she was holding someone in her sleep...?

In any case, when Satono Diamond woke up, what she saw was Gotham Song staring at her with an awkward, apologetic look in her eyes.

"Um... sorry, Diamond?"

"Uh... are you talking to me?"

Well now.

This seemed to have produced a very interesting little misunderstanding.

Apparently, Song-nee thought that she herself had rolled over, hugged Satono Diamond in her sleep, and even ended up pinning her underneath?

That was certainly an unexpected development.

Honestly, Satono Diamond had not been uncomfortable at all. Gotham Song felt wonderful in her arms—soft, warm, practically the perfect experience. If possible, Satono Diamond truly would have liked to enjoy that treatment every single day.

She had even been mentally prepared to get scolded by Song-nee the next morning.

And yet instead of a thunderous punishment for her deliberate crime, what she got was a soft, squishy apology?

Hehe. In that case, I might as well take the inch and—

"Trainer-sama..."

Just as Satono Diamond’s thoughts were threatening to run further and further away with her, a cool voice rang out without warning, with a faint edge of suppressed anger in it.

It was Gentildonna.

Gentildonna, who was always the earliest to wake...!

This Umamusume, who was usually so cool and composed, so effortlessly in control, was clearly no longer carrying herself with her usual measured ease. The figure that normally always appeared before Gotham Song fully and impeccably dressed was now shockingly scant.

Plainly, Gentildonna had come straight out from under the covers without even taking the time to put on her clothes. Large stretches of snowy skin and the toned lines of muscle beneath it were exposed to the open air without the slightest defense.

And yet her expression was more frightening than it had ever been before, full of anger that was no longer concealed in the least.

Satono Diamond, I am going to show you exactly how you die...!!!

"Uh, Gentildonna? Um... good morning?"

Gotham Song could clearly tell just how foul Gentildonna’s mood was right now. Feeling a strange sort of shame, like she had been caught red-handed in the act, she pushed herself up off Satono Diamond.

Only, with the quilt slipping away, her posture was exposed completely.

She was sitting astride the waist of the girl beneath her.

And Satono Diamond had not resisted at all...!

Gentildonna’s expression darkened further.

Gotham Song did not hesitate any longer. She hurriedly climbed out of the warm embrace she had been leaning against a moment ago, then reached out and lightly poked her own girl in the cheek.

"All right, Gentildonna... anyway, let’s go eat breakfast first, okay?"

Gentildonna took a long, measured breath. Meanwhile, Satono Diamond—who was the one being silently condemned—showed not the slightest trace of regret. She merely looked up at Gotham Song’s jaw from below with interest, then narrowed her eyes, her gaze going hazy as though she were remembering something.

What was there to remember, exactly...?

Trainer-sama, you really are far, far too easy for someone to lure away...

Looking at the Gotham Song standing in front of her, obviously tense and awkward, Gentildonna fell silent.

And after remaining silent for a long time, she could only let out a helpless breath.

"I understand, Trainer-sama. Please allow me to help you get dressed."

"Th-that’s not really necessary, is it...?"

Gentildonna avoided Gotham Song’s gaze, shot a glance toward Satono Diamond—who was still casting dark little looks their way—then finally turned back to Gotham Song with a smile.

"Please let me do this, Trainer-sama."

Gotham Song fell silent.

Then a faint blush rose to her face.

Ahh... this feels absurdly embarrassing. Gentildonna, you’re supposed to be a support Umamusume. Since when did support Umamusume double as maid Umamusume?!

Wait, do maid Umamusume really exist...?!

...Actually, now that I think about it, they probably do... ahh, forget it. In a situation like this, do I even have any other answer?

Gotham Song was certain of it: if she refused, Gentildonna would end up genuinely hurt.

And once that was the case, there was no room left to maneuver at all...!

"O-okay then. I’ll leave it to you, Gentildonna."

"My honor. It is only part of my duty, Trainer-sama."

Gentildonna curled her lips into a smile, then helped Gotham Song put on her little undershirt and her shorts.

She even half-lifted Gotham Song through the whole process, then leaned against her from behind to fasten the final straps into place...!

Just judging from the posture alone, the whole thing looked so intimate it was mortifying.

For a while, Gotham Song genuinely could not tell whether the reason she was so embarrassed was the act of being helped, or something else entirely.

In any case, after she had put on her outer layer and fixed her hair, the flush on her face only started to fade a little because Gotham Song seized the chance to flee into the washroom like she was escaping while Gentildonna dressed herself.

Meaning, of course, the pinkish color that she simply could not hide at all.

Only after Gentildonna had also finished washing up did Gotham Song finally leave the sleeping area with the Umamusume at her side.

...

The schedule during summer training camp was actually not all that rigid.

Or rather, to be more exact, daytime training during summer camp did not even begin until nine o’clock. But for Umamusume who were still students, that already counted as a serious extra workload.

After all, schoolgirls had academic classes in the morning.

At Central Tracen, students in school attended academic classes in the mornings, and only those who were about to race could be temporarily exempted so they could devote themselves fully to training.

Naturally, during summer training camp, there was no such concern. They could train all day and also deepen their bonds with one another.

The entire walk to breakfast, Gotham Song and Gentildonna remained silent.

Gotham Song kept sneaking glances at Gentildonna’s face, and in the end, unable to suppress her worry any longer, she lightly squeezed the girl’s hand.

"Gentildonna... if I always sleep that badly, do you think I should come up with some way to fix it?"

"Do you really sleep that badly, Trainer-sama? Though even if you don’t fix it, I don’t think it matters."

After all, there were plenty of people who would only make Trainer-sama’s sleeping habits worse.

For some reason, that thought came to Gentildonna completely naturally.

Even she did not understand why she was thinking it, but somehow, that was simply the conclusion she arrived at.

"No, it really is a problem—waking up in another girl’s arms out of nowhere and all that. Even if she doesn’t mind, I mind!"

"Is that so? Then I do happen to have a very good way to solve that dilemma. Would Trainer-sama like to hear it?"

Gotham Song blinked, then hopped around in front of Gentildonna and nodded hard, waiting eagerly to hear what sort of brilliant plan her Umamusume had come up with.

Gentildonna did not answer immediately.

She first considered what sort of thoughts Satono Diamond was probably having at that very moment, then let the smallest hint of a smile touch her lips.

"If Trainer-sama thinks it is strange to wake up in the arms of someone with whom your relationship is not all that close, then all we need to do is change the condition."

"Wouldn’t it be fine if you woke up in the arms of someone familiar instead?"

Gentildonna’s smile was warm.

And yet Gotham Song somehow saw a sliver of something bizarre and fanatical hidden inside it.

"In that case, then please spend every night of summer training camp in my arms, Trainer-sama."

"After all, we are the only pair here with a clearly defined relationship, aren’t we?"