Reincarnator? Grand Starfall?!
You probably got sat on and squashed to death while watching Grand Starfall, didn't you?
Barbatos wasn't about to claim that reincarnators definitely didn't exist in this world—after all, she herself was a case of a transmigrated soul taking over a body. But to see someone dropping a "Grand Starfall" reference during the Dream Cup? That was just meme-ing.
If she ever dared to unleash Grand Starfall, she'd probably be hauled off for experimentation. Who knows, maybe humanity wouldn't allow such power to exist and would have her 'humanely eliminated.'
Muttering these thoughts internally, she pulled out her phone, found the trending post, and gave that comment a like.
Grand Starfall? Not happening. She could never pull off Grand Starfall in this lifetime. She was stuck getting by with skills that kept her firmly on the ground.
After all, Grand Starfall was just two words—clearly not enough.
"Grand Starfall? What's that?" Twin Turbo asked, puzzled. It was her first time hearing the term.
Ikuno Dictus and Matikanetannhauser looked just as clueless. They didn't even recall Barbatos ever saying that "flying is faster than running." How could an Uma Musume possibly fly?
Curious, they all turned their eyes toward Barbatos.
"I've been streaming League of Legends, right? Grand Starfall is one champion's ability—lets you leap straight to the finish line."
"So that comment was from a Chinese friend?"
Maybe she'd spent too much time with Twin Turbo, because Matikanetannhauser raised her hand and chimed in too.
Barbatos thought it over.
Knowing her fellow countrymen, they probably wouldn't bother with a VPN just to check out trending topics here—they had more important things to do, and anyway, they couldn't read Japanese trends.
Even if they used translation software to figure it out, they'd most likely comment using pinyin.
So she concluded, "This is probably a local League player who saw that one video and sought us out."
"But when did you ever say 'flying is faster than running,' B-chan?" Urara asked. Not only did Matikanetannhauser and the others not know, even she was in the dark.
"That wasn't me—it was Barbatos who said it."
"???"
The room was suddenly full of little question marks hovering over everyone's heads.
Minamizaka cleared his throat. "The Barbatos that Barbatos is referring to isn't herself—it's a game character who shares her name."
Are you doing tongue twisters now?!
Barbatos followed Minamizaka's lead, weaving through the explanation before briefly clarifying that she shared a name and bore a strong resemblance to the character Venti in the game.
People can end up wearing the same clothes; it's not strange for a person and a game character to share a look. Games draw from life, after all.
Of course, she was different from that Barbatos from Mondstadt. That one slacked off, while she trained hard every day in League of Legends, pushing herself to grow stronger!
She casually opened a new box of takoyaki.
Even though it was still faintly warm in the lingering autumn heat, these takoyaki had been out for over three hours and were no longer steaming hot.
"At least I won't burn my mouth," she thought, the idea flashing through her mind. Then she immediately felt something was off.
Why was she worried about burning herself? Even freshly made takoyaki, she could basically eat straight away.
She glanced at Seiun Sky, still asleep in the corner, and curled her lip. Why did she suddenly think of Seiun Sky? Weird.
Maybe she'd been single too long—even Seiun Sky was starting to look charming.
Women would only slow down my sword drawing speed… wait no, women would only slow down my Ranked games and my running speed!
Nonchalantly, she picked up a takoyaki ball and ate it, propping her cheek with one hand as she watched Urara chatting with Twin Turbo and the others. It reminded her of that time in Osaka when Seiun Sky had fed her.
Maybe she could get Urara to feed her a takoyaki too, just to see.
She still remembered that racing heartbeat from back then. Probably if Urara fed her, she'd feel something similar.
"Here, B-chan, try this one."
Since the takoyaki flavors were random, Urara had found a particularly good one and skewered it, holding it out to Barbatos. "This one's delicious."
Barbatos stared.
She opened her mouth and ate the takoyaki Urara offered in one bite.
She couldn't even taste what flavor it was, her face just twisted a little.
Now that she thought about it, Urara had fed her a few times before, but she hadn't paid much attention then, had she? Was the lack of a racing heartbeat because they were too close?
It was like the difference between your mom feeding you when you're sick, and a pretty girl you've only known for a week feeding you.
But the problem was—this was weird!
Why was Urara suddenly feeding her takoyaki?
In her predecessor's memories, when she'd gone out with Urara, they'd fed each other before, but that was mostly just swapping food to taste what the other had—like she'd done with Seiun Sky earlier.
As for the feelings in those memories, her predecessor was a purebred Uma Musume, so it was just a normal friendship.
So her relationship with Urara was essentially a continuation of the one her predecessor had with her.
But the issue earlier was… something felt off. Today's Urara was different.
It felt strange. Feeding her once could be chalked up to being close, but feeding her multiple times? Wasn't that almost like a mother-daughter dynamic? Urara wasn't usually like this.
By the time everyone had eaten their fill, only about a third of the takoyaki remained, which they divided among themselves.
Urara picked up King Halo's portion and prepared to say goodbye to Barbatos and head back to the dorm.
"Wait, something felt off today. Why were you feeding me takoyaki the whole time?" Barbatos asked bluntly, wanting to get to the bottom of it.
"Oh, that? It's because of Sei-chan," Urara blinked.
"?"
Barbatos was utterly confused. What did Seiun Sky have to do with this?
"She told me you've been under a lot of pressure preparing for the Winter Dream Cup, and that you needed motherly comfort."
"So Sei-chan said that if I fed you takoyaki like a mother would, it would definitely help you relax."
"I thought it was a little weird too, but if it helps you feel less stressed, then it's worth it!"
"???"
A row of question marks hanging over her head, Barbatos insisted she wasn't stressed anymore, thanked Urara, and said goodbye.
Alone in the room with only Seiun Sky left, her fists involuntarily clenched.
What the hell was Seiun Sky trying to do?!
Could it be that after feeding her, Seiun felt embarrassed and got Urara to do it too, just to prove it was a normal thing between friends?
--+--
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.