In the monitoring room, Gold Ship watched as Tokai Teio had already cleared the sixth challenge, but Rice Shower had been lingering before a dead-end wall in the third-floor maze for over ten minutes. Gold Ship frowned.
"What's going on? Why is Rice Shower staying in that spot? Did she discover something?"
Gold Ship sprang to her feet, staring at the monitors, not daring to relax—afraid Rice Shower might suddenly kick down the wall in front of her.
Just as she'd said before, Gold Ship hadn't built Mizuno's holding room at the bottom level of the basement. To confuse outsiders, she'd put it right here, in the third-floor maze!
Because unlike "4," which means death and misfortune, "3" stands for good fortune. Locking Mizuno up here was supposed to lure out the Goddess of Fortune, to take her place as his patron. But who would've thought—it worked, the Goddess of Fortune showed up, Teio got tricked into heading deeper, but Rice Shower… it was like she had a GPS, circling closer and closer to the wall right by the room!
Almost as if… someone was guiding her on purpose?!
"Is this your doing?!" Gold Ship glared at Fortune, who was lying beside Mizuno and poking at his face with her finger.
"O~" Caught red-handed, Fortune quickly averted her eyes, whistling innocently.
"You said you wouldn't help him!"
"I only said, I don't have enough energy right now—sending out a signal to the outside world is my limit, anything else I really can't help with. I never said I wouldn't help at all." Fortune shrugged, then proudly pointed at herself.
"Guiding Rice Shower, who has the Fortune sachet, to this spot? That's the kind of help I provide my patron~"
"Well done, Fortune! Not letting me down!" Mizuno gave a thumbs up from his chair.
"Heehee~" Fortune covered her mouth, laughing softly.
"Dammit!" Gold Ship gritted her teeth at the sight of these two looking so smug.
Now she finally understood why the Goddess of Fortune insisted on picking Mizuno as her chosen one—because both of them were born liars, tricking people without even blinking, two birds of a feather! "If that's how it is, then there's no other way."
With that, Gold Ship steeled herself, crouched down, and reached for Mizuno's pants.
"Broshi?! What are you doing?!" Mizuno yelped in terror.
"What do you think? Before Rice Shower can break in, I'm going to make sure the rice is cooked and served!" Gold Ship yanked off her panties, dropped down astride Mizuno, and the chair groaned under the weight of both.
"Gah! Broshi, you promised you'd decide my fate after testing if Teio and the others were worthy!"
"I changed my mind!" Gold Ship shoved Mizuno's face into her chest, a wild, stubborn glint in her eyes.
"I don't care if anyone else is more qualified to protect you. You're always going to be mine!"
"Guh!" Mizuno struggled to breathe, his nose flooded with Gold Ship's signature body wash scent.
"Hurry up and get excited for me!" Gold Ship growled, annoyed by Mizuno's resistance.
Honestly, even at his current size, he didn't have to go all out for her to enjoy herself. But if he didn't match her, get just as fired up, how could they show the world theirs was the best relationship?!
"Broshi, you're asking too much!" Mizuno managed to wrench his face free, shouting in pain.
"First off, my body's so weakened by Misfortune's corrosion, I can barely walk—never mind do that with you right now…"
"..."
"How am I supposed to get excited for Broshi?! I don't want people doubting my sexual orientation!"
"Tch! Are you still seeing me as a man?!" Gold Ship snapped, pinching Mizuno's cheeks.
"Neither man nor woman…" Mizuno looked Gold Ship in the eye, answering seriously, "Broshi's gender… is just Broshi."
"What the hell are you saying?!" Gold Ship got even more irritated, and her hand moved somewhere less innocent.
"If you've never taken me seriously, I'll just stimulate you until you are!"
"No! Stop!" Mizuno squeezed his eyes shut, trying to fight Gold Ship's teasing with sheer willpower. But with Gold Ship's persistence, it took only seconds before his body… "flagged up" in anger.
"Heh, see, you're excited already~" Gold Ship grinned wickedly.
"Gah!" Mizuno stared in horror, hating his own biology more than ever.
He'd always said, whoever gets aroused by Gold Ship, he'd laugh at them for life…
And now, he'd become the world's biggest clown himself?!
"No way!" Mizuno grit his teeth, refusing to let things end here.
He'd never forgotten his promise with Gold Ship—if she wanted to Uma Pyoi him, he wouldn't fight back. But he knew this time, Gold Ship only wanted it because she was still affected by Uma Mint. It wasn't her real desire!
Just like what had happened with Air Groove and El Condor Pasa, what Gold Ship really craved was something beyond what "brothers" should share, something deeper and real.
But right now, Mizuno's frail body couldn't stop Gold Ship's Uma Musume strength, and Fortune—watching from the sidelines—was utterly useless.
The only one left who might stop everything… was the girl still standing on the other side of that wall, lost in confusion at a dead end—Rice Shower.
So in his desperation, Mizuno could only cry for help at the top of his lungs:
"Rice Shower! Save me!"
---
T/N: "Mm. If you've read this far, I suppose you're at least a little invested."
"If you want to support the translator, there's a Patreon here: patreon.com/wisetl. It's optional—think of it as tossing a few extra coins on the counter. Early chapters are just a bonus side-effect of that support."
"This place also has its own strange currency… Powerstones. For every 100 Powerstones the story gets, you'll receive 1 bonus chapter. 100ps = 1 chp, 200ps = 2 chp, 300ps = 3 chp… you can do the math."
"If you'd rather talk than throw money or stones, there's a Discord: discord.gg/wisetl. Go there if you want to complain, theorize, or poke the translator for more updates. Just don't expect me to mediate your arguments."
Say thank you to Maomao guys though for this fic and this fic only im limiting bonus chapters to 5... so yeah