The next afternoon, Zero heard that Silent Suzuka had indeed been scouted, so she prepared a welcome cake in advance at the cafeteria during lunchtime (the house she wanted to buy hasn't been bought yet), then took the cake to the team room after class.
"Special Week, why are you here?"
"Ah, good evening, Senior!" Special Week was sitting in her seat, enjoying being fed carrot essence... by Suzuka, with a look of pure bliss.
"So... what happened?" Zero was also completely bewildered.
"Ah~ To put it simply, Special Week has also decided to join our team!" Okino had a smug face, holding his signature lollipop in his mouth.
"So why exactly..." Just as she was about to continue asking, Zero suddenly remembered the method used by the other members to make herself join the team.
At that time, she was a somewhat shy child who had just arrived at school.
After politely declining Trainer Tojou Hana's invitation to join Rigil, mostly because the Trainer looked too serious and it made Zero, who was a bit socially anxious at the time, feel scared, so at the end. She could only walk back to her dormitory alone in the sunset.
Then, distracted, she bumped into a tall, white haired Uma Musume wearing sunglasses and a mask.
"Um... Is there something I can help you with?" After timidly asking, the other party directly pulled out a large sack, threw it over her, hoisted her up, and sprinted for a hundred meters.
After finishing her recollection, Zero's gaze towards Trainer Okino became quire fierce.
"I say, could it be that she also...?"
Trainer Okino, being stared at, did a fake cough and then quickly explained the situation.
"No, no, no, although the means of bringing her over were a bit forceful, I didn't force her to join the team! She saw that Suzuka has joined our team and also wanted to join!"
"Really?" Zero looked at Special Week with a gaze fitting the situation. After receiving a nod from the other party, Zero's gaze returned to its previous state.
"So, how long do you plan to continue this team-joining tradition? By the way, Gold Ship, did you join the team that way too?"
"No, no, no, I found this guy interesting and sought him out myself, and you were the second team member." The Uma Musume named Gold Ship was the one who had tied her up and brought her over at the time.
"As expected, you were the one who started it all =_="
"Though that's what I say, when I proposed this idea, Trainer also agreed with a look of pleasant surprise, didn't he?"
Good heavens, so it was with your consent after all!
Too infuriating, she prepared to glare with her eyes.
"Alright, alright, by the way, what are you holding?"
"Oh right, Suzuka, isn't it? This is a cake I brought to celebrate your joining the team, but I didn't expect Special Week to be here too, so it might not be enough."
"Ah, thank you, Senior." Suzuka also bowed to Zero; she was a very polite child, seeming a little out of place with the lively atmosphere of the team.
"Oh! Did Senior make it herself!?" Daiwa and Vodka, who were arguing, also stopped and gathered around the table.
"Yes, but the main characters are Suzuka and Special Week, so don't eat all the cake... Gold Ship! What are you trying to do!?" Zero quickly moved the cake box away when she saw Gold Ship stealthily crawling towards her on the floor.
"Oh, I just wanted to see what kind of cake it was~" Gold Ship put away the fruit knife she was holding. It seemed she had intended to make a hole in the bottom of the box to take out the cake.
"It's not like there isn't any for you. Aren't you afraid the cake will spill or I'll kick you?" Zero rolled her eyes at the other party and placed the cake on the table to avoid any further complications.
The moment the box was opened, a sweet aroma instantly filled the entire training room.
"This! this smell!" Spoke Gold Ship, who suddenly started making funny faces.
"Could it be!? the legendary Sweet Carrot, which has only a single-digit annual yield and is sold in slices at auctions, known as the world's sweetest Carrots!?" Exclaimed Vodka, utterly baffled.
"How much of it was used for such a big cake!?" Spoken by Daiwa Scarlet, even her genius mind couldn't keep up with the numbers for how much it would cost.
"Senior, this is... A bit too extravagant." Spoke Silent Suzuka, both wide eyed and looking at Zero with a sweat drop expression.
"...drooling." while Special Week could only look at the cake as if she was a starved animal.
"Eh? Didn't I tell you?"
What?" x4
"The mountain forest where I live is one of the rare few areas in the world that produces Sweet Carrots, you know?"
"Eh!? !?"
"By the way, the yield of this stuff isn't that low; it's just mostly for internal consumption, so not much flows out, which is why it's so expensive. Well, at least I'm not short of it anytime soon. You can ask me anytime if you want to eat some though."
"Yay!!!" x4
"Then what about me?" Trainer Okino pointed to the lollipop in his mouth.
Since all his lollipops were confiscated yesterday, his lollipop distribution has been completely controlled by Zero. Especially now that his salary was heavily deducted, just maintaining his life was difficult, let alone buying such small snacks.
"Well, today is a good day, so I'll give you an extra one."
"Yay!!" Such humble satisfaction, Trainer Okino.
Watching everyone happily sharing the cake, Zero's lips curved slightly.
"Oh, right, this cake is a bit special, you know?"
"Eh?"
"As you know, Sweet Carrots have plenty of sugar and calories, and well, I processed them in a slightly special way, so..."
"So...?" Everyone's curiosity was piqued.
"After eating it, if you don't exercise and properly digest that energy, it will cause a series of side effects like obesity and insomnia."
"!!!" Obesity... insomnia...
"Of course, despite the downsides, the benefit is that subsequent training will produce better results, and it only takes an hour of training to burn it off."
"Senior, you're just playing with us!" Daiwa first breathed a sigh of relief, then complained.
"Exactly! You scared us!" Vodka also temporarily forgot her antagonism with Daiwa and stood on her side
Only Special Week, who was eating nonstop, and Silent Suzuka and Gold Ship, who saw through everything, were unaffected.
Or rather, Zero said it in such a way primarily to scare the bickering pair.
"Alright, keep eating. I'm going to do my evening training now. Remember to clean up after you're done."
"Eh? Senior, aren't you going to eat?" Special Week also looked up, hearing Zero was leaving.
"Ah, well, I've eaten a lot of this myself. Since you haven't had much, eat more. Remember to run for a while afterwards."
"Okay!"
With that, Zero dragged Okino out.
"At this rate, it's probably going to turn into a tea party. You're a big man, so go have a drink with Hana-nee."
"Hey, hey, hey, why are you suddenly trying to set us up like this!?"
"whike you two aren't in such a hurry, but those of us watching from the sidelines are! Why don't you get drunk on some hard liquor, man up and just confess already!"
"Impossible! Until I've thoroughly beaten her in training methods, I will never confess!"
The next day, Zero received news that Okino had apparently gotten drunk and cornered Tojou Hana against a wall, but because he was so intoxicated, he vomited all over her just as he was about to say something.
Enraged, Tojo Hana immediately demonstrated a set of joint locks on him.
Can these two really be saved? Zero, listening to the gossip with the other members of the Student Council, who also belonged to Rigil (Tojou Hana's team), couldn't help but sigh.
Why are Three-Star Factors so hard to get? (Cries).
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I'm a newbie translator and wanted to add more uma fics for more people to read. if there are any errors, multiple of the same text or sentence, let me know.
The credits and orginal story is: 传奇马娘想好好谈恋爱 and belongs to: 起始之零