"I'm... okay!"
Twin Turbo struggled to raise her hand, signaling that she was fine.
When Uma Musume take a fall at high speeds, it's never a minor incident. Even just fracturing a bone could be considered lucky under the circumstances.
Fortunately, Twin Turbo had already slowed down considerably after crossing the finish line.
Pushing herself up from the ground with her hands, she brushed the dust off her clothes before turning her gaze toward Barbatos.
Panting heavily, she insisted, "I hadn't even activated the afterburners yet! Let's race again!"
Afterburners? What did she mean by that?
Barbatos couldn't help but glance at Twin Turbo's flat stomach, suddenly reminded of a certain type of food from her past life that could turn people into 'jet-powered warriors.'
She wondered if there was a chain restaurant for that here in Japan. If Twin Turbo really wanted to experience some... propulsion, she could recommend it.
At least the food tasted pretty good before the, uh, 'effect' kicked in. Though once it did, you were pretty much done for.
But now wasn't the time for such thoughts. "Hold off on the jet propulsion for now. Your flying shoe hit someone. We should go check on them quickly."
Minamizaka and the others had already rushed over. Horseshoes weren't light—getting hit by one could be serious. She hoped the person was okay.
"H-hit someone?!"
Twin Turbo looked toward where Minamizaka was and tried to move, but with one shoe missing, walking was awkward.
"Here, let me help you."
Barbatos reached out to support the one-shoed Twin Turbo.
The simplest solution would probably be to carry Twin Turbo over. Twin Turbo wasn't heavy, so that wouldn't be an issue, but they'd only just met today and weren't exactly close yet.
If Nice Nature or Ikuno Dictus did the carrying, it would probably be more appropriate.
"This is taking too long."
Ikuno Dictus stepped forward directly and grabbed Twin Turbo.
Just as Barbatos had expected, Ikuno Dictus came to help carry Twin Turbo. The members of Team Canopus really got along well, huh?!
"Flying Tackle!"
"Wah!"
Twin Turbo let out a pained cry as Dictus hoisted her over a shoulder in a fireman's carry, heading toward the spot where the shoe had struck someone.
Barbatos's eyebrow twitched. She had imagined the Canopus members were close, but not to this extent. Maybe she should try to keep some distance from Ikuno...
If they became too friendly, she might end up on the receiving end of a 'Flying Tackle' herself, and that would be... hard to handle.
"Don't worry, Ikuno isn't usually like this."
Perhaps sensing Barbatos's concern, Nice Nature explained, "Carrying her over like this is like 'apologizing with a birch rod'."
"Let's go over too. I hope Twin Turbo's shoe didn't cause any serious trouble."
--+--
Twin Turbo's shoe lay off to the side.
"How are you feeling? Any strange sensations, or feeling uncoordinated?"
As the trainer, Minamizaka stepped forward to ask. The Uma Musume who'd taken the horseshoe to the face seemed fine for now, but a hit like that could potentially cause nerve-related issues.
"I'm okay."
The Uma Musume who'd been struck by the 'flying shoe from the heavens' seemed dazed, but the very real pain made her eyes well up with tears.
She'd just been passing by the training field, stopped to watch the race on the turf track... and then suddenly, a shoe smacked her right in the face.
A trickle of blood ran slowly from her nose—clearly the work of Twin Turbo's shoe.
"Here, tissues."
Urara quickly handed over some tissues so she could stop the nosebleed.
She accepted them and pressed them to her bleeding nose with both hands.
"Make way, make way! The culprit is here!"
Ikuno Dictus arrived, presenting Twin Turbo—who was still slung over her shoulder in the 'Flying Tackle'—as a form of apology. She set Twin Turbo down, making her face the consequences of her actions.
Twin Turbo flustered, looking at the nosebleeding Uma Musume, spinning in place, seemingly at a loss for words.
She didn't even think to put her shoe back on.
In the end, Twin Turbo opted for a deep bow. "I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to!"
The other Uma Musume quickly moved to stop her bowing. "It's really fine, it's just a little nosebleed."
Seeing the other girl say 'it's fine' through teary eyes, Twin Turbo's own eyes instantly welled up too.
"Sniff... I'm Twin Turbo. Let me treat you to some sweets as an apology!"
"I'm Matikanetannhauser. You really don't need to go to the trouble for sweets."
"It's no trouble! Our team gets free dessert vouchers as a welfare bonus, so the sweets are on the house!"
"...Free dessert vouchers?"
"Matikanetannhauser is such a long name. How about we shorten it to 'Matikane'?"
Barbatos had to admit, the world of Uma Musume was truly straightforward. If this weren't Tracen Academy, someone who got hit like that might just lie on the ground and refuse to get up.
Barbatos felt the urge to complain at how quickly the conversation had shifted from apologizing to nicknames and sweets.
Compared to them, she felt a bit out of place.
So she offered her own out-of-place suggestion: "'Matikane' is clearly a family name, right? If we're shortening it, it should be 'Tannhauser'."
Like how Urara called her 'B-chan', but her full name was Barbatos—'B-chan' wasn't a surname, but part of her given name.
Not that she even had a surname.
"'Tannhauser' is nice too, but what about 'Hauser'?"
"'Kanetan' is also good."
What should have been a serious flying-shoe incident concluded peacefully, thanks to Matikanetannhauser's own cheerful and easy-going nature.
"Machitan, are you part of a team yet? Do you want to join our Canopus? We not only have free dessert vouchers, but also trips to Hawaii!"
"So what happened to the naming we just decided on?"
Barbatos, with her relatively mature soul, couldn't help but complain internally.
Whatever the outcome, she was just glad Machitan wasn't seriously hurt by Twin Turbo's shoe. As for whether Machitan would join Canopus... she could take it or leave it.
At least from what she could see, Machitan seemed like an easy-going Uma Musume—certainly more so than Ikuno Dictus. She really didn't want to be on the receiving end of a Dictus 'Flying Tackle'!
If she had extra Blue Essence, maybe she could consider buying Sett.
Then, if she ever became close enough with the others that 'Flying Tackles' were exchanged freely, she could reciprocate with a 'Facebreaker'—a proper tit for tat.
--+--
Team Canopus dormitory.
"A toast to celebrate Barbatos, Seiun Sky, Urara, and Matikanetannhauser joining the team! Cheers!"
An assortment of cakes, sweets, and other foods covered the meeting table. The whiteboard behind them read "Welcome Party" in bold letters. Glasses filled with carrot juice clinked together, filling the room with a cheerful atmosphere.
"And a toast to Barbatos, who's about to run her debut race! She'll be the first Uma Musume from Canopus to debut!"
"Hey hey, these names are getting too long. Let's shorten it—from now on, she's 'Barb'."
Barbatos: "...I'd rather you just call me 'B-chan'."
--+--
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.