Damn!
Barbatos found it absolutely ridiculous. How could she get a bite the moment the bet was made? That made no sense.
Then how did she end up with an empty creel last time? Could it be that the mental flag she'd just raised actually took effect? Do mental flags even count?
Even so, she wasn't flustered. This was nothing but a coincidence.
The fishing contest had only just begun. A one-fish lead meant nothing. The true outcome would only be revealed at the very last moment!
Just like in a League of Legends match, even with a ten-thousand-gold lead, a comeback was always possible. You never knew until the final second. So she stayed perfectly calm.
She casually started a conversation.
"Don't you think El Condor Pasa has been acting a bit odd lately? Something feels off."
"Mhm, the way she looks at Urara is different."
"?"
Since when did your observation skills get so sharp? Wait, El Condor Pasa is looking at Urara differently?
No way! It's like Ah Zhen falling for Ah Qiang! Could it be that El Condor Pasa, with her straightforward demeanor, was planning to swoop in and steal the show?
As she was lost in thought, she noticed Seiun Sky's ears twitch, a mischievous grin spreading across her face. "What's so funny?"
"What are you imagining? It's not that kind of 'different.'"
"It's fighting spirit. The kind of look you'd give a rival."
"?"
Barbatos slowly conjured a question mark in her mind.
Then a guess began to form. "So that day during practice, El Condor Pasa and the others must have run on the dirt track and lost to Urara, and now they see Urara as their rival?"
That was the only explanation she could think of.
Urara must have used El Condor Pasa's discomfort with dirt tracks to pull off a win.
How well El Condor Pasa handled dirt was unknown, but generally, Uma Musume who excelled on turf weren't great on dirt—unless they had something like her own "ignores unit collision."
"Could be."
As Seiun Sky voiced her agreement, a soft splash followed—another fish was lifted from the water by Seiun Sky's rod.
The current score: 0–2.
Contestant No. 2, Seiun Sky, was temporarily leading.
Contestant No. 1, Barbatos, was still biding her time. Her calm expression showed not a trace of panic, clearly confident in her strategy.
After all, her usual tactic was to come from behind, applying immense pressure in the final stretch and overtaking all rivals with a terrifying burst of speed.
--+--
Maintaining her composure, Barbatos remained utterly unruffled.
Truthfully, she wanted to ask about Seiun Sky's debut race. She herself slacked off because she could cheat—getting stronger just by playing games. But if Seiun Sky slacked off like this, wasn't she afraid of messing up?
Yet, as a fellow slacking roommate, she didn't really have the right to say anything. To others, playing games probably looked like slacking off too.
Seiun Sky's debut race was the Furlong Championship at Nakayama Racecourse, a 2000-meter turf race. It was in 13 days—the weekend after her own debut.
Right now, Seiun Sky really didn't seem to be training seriously, just as she'd said when they first met: she'd just take it easy and finish the race.
Compared to Urara or El Condor Pasa, Seiun Sky was truly hard to figure out.
As she pondered, another fish was pulled from the river. The score was now 0–3.
Barbatos: "…"
Don't panic. Fishing is all about state of mind. Keep calm, and the fish will come. Maybe she should start a livestream to settle her nerves.
"I'm going to start a livestream in a bit and show my face. I'll make sure the camera doesn't catch you."
"Livestream… fishing?"
Seiun Sky tilted her head. Being on camera didn't really bother her. The main thing was… She glanced at Barbatos's bobber floating on the water. "Before you go live, check if your bait is still there."
"My bait? I didn't feel any bites."
She said it, but she checked anyway. Lifting the rod, she saw the exquisite hook—completely bare.
Where was the bait?
My bait! My big, fat piece of bait—where did it go?!
She'd definitely put bait on earlier, and she hadn't felt any nibbles. Were the fish here really that clever?
"You probably flung the rod too hard earlier and sent the bait flying with it."
Seiun Sky analyzed, barely holding back a laugh.
Barbatos was utterly defeated. Honestly, Seiun Sky could've told her after they finished fishing. But maybe she spoke up because Barbatos was about to go live, to save her the embarrassment of an empty creel on stream.
Then again, maybe Seiun Sky had only just noticed and decided to warn her.
Well, even if she won this bet and caught more fish, she'd still go cheer at Nakayama for Seiun Sky's debut race.
She re-baited the hook and cast it properly into the river.
Then she opened the Penguin app on her phone and sent an @everyone notification in the livestream group before launching the streaming app.
The moment her face appeared on stream, chaos erupted.
Since it was a day off, and she'd teased the face reveal earlier, viewer numbers skyrocketed.
Even fans of streamers she'd collabed with before flooded into the room.
A wave of "Ehe~" spam filled the chat.
Then…
--+-
"Damn! The streamer isn't human!"
"Whoa, the ears in her profile pic are real?!"
"My roommate asked why I'm watching this on my knees!"
"The streamer I follow is actually a Japanese Uma Musume? I'm a fan now!"
--+--
Countless comments scrolled by, and the stream instantly shot to No. 1 on the site, landing on the front page.
After chatting with a few familiar viewers, she got to the main point.
"Ehe, I have a favor to ask. My debut race is next week. If you can, could you vote for me on the official site?"
"The URL is [website link]. You don't need a VPN to access it. I just need to make the top three in popularity, nothing too crazy."
The stream went smoothly, with many in chat promising to vote—though the actual number might be lower.
Unused to showing her face, she ended the stream after less than half an hour.
In that half hour, she'd managed to catch a fish the size of her palm. She felt a glimmer of hope that she could catch up to Seiun Sky.
--+--
Two hours later, the contest was over!
Seiun Sky had already fallen asleep under the shade of a tree mid-"race."
In this tortoise-and-hare scenario, Contestant No. 1, Barbatos, proudly secured 2nd place—just seven lengths behind!
Seiun Sky took 1st!
Final score: 3–10.
--+--
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.