Chapter 29. Unexpected Move
By the time work ended, Shuta An drove the Uma Musume of Team Sadalsuud back home.
"Do you need our help later?" Kurofune, sitting in the passenger seat, asked.
"I've seen your home economics grades." Shuta An pursed his lips. "If all of you enter the kitchen, I'd be more worried about whether I'll need to hire someone to renovate it tomorrow."
Kurofune laughed awkwardly and immediately tried to defend herself. "It's not that I can't cook. The Academy's kitchen equipment is just too difficult to use. I've actually baked desserts successfully in the dorm oven before!"
"But Amazon-senpai said high-power appliances like ovens aren't supposed to be used in the dorms—" Rice Shower whispered softly.
"Kurofune, move the oven to the activity room tomorrow." Shuta An glanced at her from the corner of his eye and calmly "instructed," "Those appliances can be used there. If you want to bake desserts, do it in the activity room."
"Okay!" Kurofune nodded repeatedly, her mood instantly recovering.
Tokai Teio, meanwhile, had no intention of denying her own "defect" of having fairly average cooking skills. Among all the subjects at Central Tracen Academy, home economics was the one she invested the least effort into. Failing cultural courses would affect race participation and vacation schedules, so she naturally studied hard for those. Home economics, however, carried far less consequence.
As a result, Tokai Teio usually slacked off during those classes. If there was a group assignment, she would simply let Natie take charge while she assisted from the side.
"But speaking of it, why didn't Dober-senpai come with us?" Tokai Teio sat in the back seat and turned to look out the car window, quietly muttering to herself without actually asking aloud.
However, she quickly arrived at a perfectly reasonable explanation.
"Dober-senpai probably went home to rest yesterday, then had her family driver bring her directly to the celebration party today. That's normal."
Once she convinced herself of that logic, Tokai Teio stopped dwelling on the matter entirely.
Beside Rice Shower sat a shopping bag containing the gift she had prepared for Mejiro Dober—a silhouette sketch of Dober crossing the finish line during the Queen Elizabeth Stakes. Ever since learning painting from Mejiro Dober, Rice Shower felt her artistic skill had improved considerably, so she had decided to prepare such a present.
As for Tokai Teio, Rice Shower had already treated her to a special honey drink the previous night, which had delighted Tokai Teio so much that her tail had practically wagged toward the sky.
After returning home, Shuta An went upstairs alone to change clothes, leaving the Uma Musume gathered in the living room and dining area.
Mejiro Dober originally volunteered to help in the kitchen, but after sacrificing two plates, Berno decisively chased her out and ordered her to sit obediently on the sofa with Oguri Cap.
As a result, only Berno, Suzuka, and Rice Shower—who had earned Berno Light's approval—remained busy in the kitchen.
Meanwhile, after changing into casual loungewear in his room, Shuta An checked the time.
"After the celebration party, I still need to finalize last week's local Twinkle Series ratings and cross-reference the scores with the others."
Afraid he might forget later, he first stopped by the study before heading downstairs. Turning on the computer, he opened the document interface and left it displayed on the desktop so he would immediately remember tonight's remaining workload.
When Shuta An finally arrived downstairs, he walked straight past the living room and directly into the kitchen.
"I'm here to help too."
"Okay, okay." Berno didn't even look up as she continued processing the fish in her hands.
"Rice, you can go rest in the living room." The moment he entered the kitchen, Shuta An smoothly took over the ingredient preparation work from her. "Go watch TV or chat with Teio and the others."
"I want to help." Rice Shower replied with difficulty, her expression almost aggrieved to the point of tears. "It feels like I'm some martial arts master whose scars are being looked down on—"
Shuta An's movements paused for only a brief instant. Then he silently nodded and said nothing more.
Since this was Rice Shower's own wish, there was no reason for him to stop her.
After finishing one batch of ingredient preparation, the young man turned toward Silence Suzuka and Berno Light, who were currently peering into the oven, and spoke.
"Later, I need to discuss something with you two and Oguri Cap. Today at work, Miss Rudolph and I talked about matters related to the Dream Trophy Series. Berno, you may need to rearrange Oguri Cap and Suzuka's future schedules. If those races are successfully established, neither of them should miss them."
"Eh?" Berno Light immediately turned around. "New Dream Trophy Series races are being created?"
"It was an idea I came up with while in Australia. But after bringing it back to Japan, it couldn't really be implemented within the Twinkle Series structure."
Shuta An briefly explained, "So today, Miss Rudolph suddenly proposed discussing it directly with the Dream Cup Association instead. It'll probably be held at Tokyo Racecourse. Anyway, the prize money should be extremely high."
"And it's different from normal races. I'll explain the details to everyone during the party later."
"Whether the prize money is high or not doesn't matter much." Silence Suzuka's ears perked up slightly. "I just want to race strong opponents."
"If the prize pool is large enough, strong Uma Musume will naturally gather there." Shuta An paused slightly before continuing, "And Miss Rudolph's group will most likely participate too."
"Oh~" Berno Light's eyes immediately lit up. "That sounds amazing! Oguri and Suzuka definitely can't miss that kind of race! Ann, you have to tell us everything later!"
Although Shuta An had fully intended to explain the details of the new Dream Trophy Series race after the celebration party began, reality quickly proved that he could not concentrate at all.
The culprit was naturally Mejiro Dober, who sat directly opposite him.
On the surface, the young lady of the Mejiro Family was chatting normally with Tokai Teio beside her, discussing Australia, sharing stories about the expedition, and even encouraging Tokai Teio to attempt an overseas campaign next year.
But Shuta An was absolutely certain that Mejiro Dober's attention was nowhere near Tokai Teio.
Because shortly after the celebration party officially started, she quietly slipped off one of her cotton slippers beneath the table.
Then she slowly extended her leg forward.
The instant her foot brushed against him, the young man's entire body stiffened.
He raised his eyes toward Mejiro Dober.
Yet the Mejiro heiress merely smiled elegantly while continuing her conversation with Tokai Teio, her expression perfectly composed, as if nothing unusual had happened at all.
Meanwhile, beneath the table, her bare foot lightly rubbed back and forth against him in deliberate mischief.
"Which one of you three taught her this?" Shuta An's gaze swept across Oguri and the others as he silently muttered to himself, desperately maintaining his composure.