Next Round: Team Suzuka vs. Team '94
Over at Team Spica's bench, Special Week was dutifully covering her eyes, peek-a-boo style, as she watched Fuji Kiseki and the other seniors deal with the aftermath of their vegetable juice penalty.
Just one look at that concoction told you everything: it tasted like absolute misery.
The moment Toujou Hana announced the start of the next round, Tokai Teio skipped back to the Spica sidelines.
"Whoa, Teio! That playstyle of yours was incredible!"
"Teio, you traitor! You went and joined Rigil without saying a word!"
"And you actually played a set with Symboli Rudolf?!"
The Spica camp descended into instant chaos. Gold Ship, who had been busy hawking drinks and sunflower seeds to the crowd, immediately put Teio in a lock, refusing to let her wiggle free.
In the distance, Symboli Rudolf caught sight of the commotion and shook her head with a soft smile. "It looks like Teio is getting along quite well with Gold Ship and the others."
If they weren't close, Gold Ship wouldn't be acting with such reckless affection.
"Yeah, the atmosphere in Spica is actually pretty great," Narita Brian added.
Having barely escaped the "Vegetable Juice Incident" with her dignity intact, she stretched her limbs, her joints popping. "Well, it's our turn now."
"Right. We can't afford to lose this time, no matter what!"
Hishi Amazon rolled up the non-existent sleeves of her swimsuit, her eyes burning with determination.
Since the Summer Dream Cup was an internal Rigil event, it followed a rigorous tournament format.
Every duo would face off against every other duo, and the pair with the most wins would be crowned the Dream Cup champions.
This meant, theoretically, a single person could end up drinking that vegetable juice six times. It was a literal gauntlet of culinary torture.
"I feel a bit bad for Suzuka and the others, but I am not drinking that juice a second time!"
"Keep your guard up," Narita Brian warned. "Suzuka isn't on the same level she was last year. We can't underestimate them."
"Don't worry!"
With both sides ready and Toujou Hana giving the signal, the competitors stepped onto the sand.
"I honestly think King Halo should just host a vegetable juice drinking contest to see who can down the most in one go," Barbatos remarked, watching Special Week take her position.
She couldn't help but poke a little fun at the situation.
After all, when it came to eating challenges—like the small-bowl noodle contests—Special Week and Oguri Cap were monsters who could put away hundreds or even thousands of servings.
Seiun Sky tilted her head thoughtfully. "If a contest like that actually happened, Grass Wonder would probably be the winner."
"Uh... true."
Grass Wonder seemed strangely well-suited to the taste of vegetable juice.
If even Oguri Cap couldn't stomach the flavor, she wouldn't be able to finish it, no matter how big her appetite was.
For these girls, eating was supposed to be a joy and a ritual, not a test of endurance against something truly foul.
"Wait, was that a Snake Shot?"
Barbatos watched the court in genuine admiration.
As expected of legendary Uma Musume, whether it was the Eagle Trick Shot Fuji Kiseki unleashed earlier or the Snake Shot Hishi Amazon just pulled off, they only needed to see her do it once to mas—
"Wait, what?"
Her train of thought snapped. Barbatos felt something was off. That last "Snake Shot" hadn't come from Hishi Amazon.
"Team Spica scores! 1-0! They take an early lead of one length!"
Did Special Week master the curveball technique before the match even started?
No, that couldn't be right. Special Week had been buried in remedial lessons right up until the Dream Cup. She hadn't had a wink of time to practice volleyball.
In fact, when she first stepped onto the court, her movements were clumsy and green.
In the previous match, Fuji Kiseki had pulled off an Eagle Trick Shot against the President, but that was largely because Fuji already possessed the fundamental mechanics for "curving shots."
And yet, here was Special Week, a total novice, pulling it off perfectly?!
"Is this really Spe's first time playing volleyball?" Barbatos asked, sounding unsure.
She and Seiun Sky had at least practiced together before the tournament.
Barbatos had only mastered the Snake Shot during her match against Hishi Amazon by activating her Zone at full power—using her heightened perception and reaction speed to mimic the technique on the fly.
"I think so," Seiun Sky recalled their past races. "Spe's learning curve has always been terrifyingly steep."
"That's... very true." Barbatos nodded.
Back when she first entered Tracen and met Special Week, she had the feeling that the girl was destined to be the "Final Boss" of the growth-type protagonists—the kind whose "copy-cat" ability was maxed out.
Later, she observed that Special Week could indeed learn various skills and running styles just by glancing at them.
However, as Barbatos improved her own standing and watched Seiun Sky consistently beat Special Week in the Classics, Barbatos began focusing more on El Condor Pasa, Silence Suzuka, and the legends.
Her sights were set on Symboli Rudolf. She had pushed her awareness of Special Week's talent to the back of her mind.
But this? This was like a Pro Max version of her own Zone. In other areas, Spe might lag behind, but in terms of pure observation and technical mimicry, she was in a league of her own.
In contrast, Suzuka—Special's partner—was playing a much more standard, textbook game.
"Seriously, with a learning ability that high, it's a crime that she's still failing her written exams," Barbatos muttered.
Over on the Rigil side, T.M. Opera O—still reeling from the vegetable juice—had a look of pure shock on her face.
"That move... that was mine..."
During their match against Maruzensky, it had seemed like T.M. Opera O and Grass Wonder were playing a plain, "standard" game without any fancy tricks like the Snake Shot.
In reality, Opera O's techniques were simply being neutralized by Maruzensky's sheer dominance, making them invisible to the casual observer.
It wasn't that she didn't have tricks; she just couldn't make them land. And yet, she was seeing the shadow of those very techniques in Special Week's movements.
"Is everyone in this generation a literal monster?"
--+--
"Team Spica leads 3-0!"
Special Week sent another ball back over the net. She was genuinely having fun, thinking to herself how amazing everyone else was and how cool their techniques were.
She seemed completely oblivious to the fact that her own "learning" was what was dominating the court.
"A lob?"
"Suzuka-chan, I've got it!"
Special Week tracked the ball's trajectory. Given the typical weight of an Uma Musume, she couldn't jump incredibly high, so she needed to find the perfect positioning to return it.
Right there!
Her slightly clumsy silhouette leaped into the air. She prepared to unleash a game-changing spike, just like she'd seen the others do.
But the moment her palm was about to make contact, the ball behaved erratically. It defied its own momentum, swerving away from her hand.
"Wait, whaaa—?!"
If Fuji Kiseki could use the Eagle Trick Shot after seeing it once, Hishi Amazon certainly could too. She had just been biding her time, waiting for the right moment to strike.
While Special Week had incredible mimicry, her raw observation skills weren't yet on par with Barbatos. She couldn't tell at the moment of impact whether a ball was a "Snake" variant or not.
"In this situation... if it were Teio!"
Her body twisted in mid-air at a bizarre, physics-defying angle. She attempted to replicate Tokai Teio's signature Acrobatic Shot to return the Eagle Trick Shot.
Thump!
"Team '94 fights back! They've closed the gap by one length!"
Special Week landed heavily, her body stiff. "Ugh... why didn't I rotate? That's exactly how Teio does it!"
--+--
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.