After their discussion wrapped up, Nearl and Kitahara went their separate ways for the time being.
Kitahara intended to chart Nearl's race schedule himself. In his own words, it was a matter of preserving what little dignity he had left.
"Such a strange point of pride," Nearl remarked without much emotion.
Now she needed to figure out what to do next.
"First, the dorm. I asked Ms. Hayakawa to have my luggage sent to the dorm entrance. I heard there's a dorm manager—I should go introduce myself."
"Then I'll find my room and unpack. It's still morning, so surely no one's in the dorm right now. I'll have to wait until evening to meet my roommate."
"By the time I finish unpacking, it'll probably be noon. I'm sure Oguri and the others will be at the cafeteria. I can catch up with them properly then."
"But the afternoon… What should I do in the afternoon?"
At that, Nearl fell into thought. It had been a long time since she'd had such open, unplanned time to herself.
"I just enrolled, so I still need to pick up things like my Student ID and uniform. My trainer's busy working on my schedule too. It probably isn't the best time to start training this afternoon."
After turning it over for a bit, she shook off her thoughts.
'No sense worrying too much right now. I'll cross that bridge when I come to it. Better to just focus on getting settled in first.'
With that decided, she headed straight for the school gates.
Yes—the Uma Musume dorms at Central Tracen were located off-campus. So during the day, it was almost impossible to find any students still hanging around inside.
As spirits of running, keeping them cooped up and resting only made them restless. Being stuck all day in a cramped dorm room was even more unthinkable.
So Nearl naturally assumed she'd be the only one there. Maybe the dorm manager would be waiting for her, but this time, it seemed she might have miscalculated.
But we'll get to that soon enough. For now, Nearl had just reached the dorm entrance, where she spotted a vaguely familiar figure dressed in red.
"Hallo~ Has little Nearl-chan missed her big sis?"
That painfully dated greeting hit Nearl like a brick, making her falter mid-step.
"So it's you, Maruzensky-senpai. What brings you here?"
Yes, standing by the glass dorm doors, swaying to the music from a giant boombox, was none other than the one they called the "Sportscar"—Maruzensky.
"What else would it be? I'm here waiting for a cute little lost lamb like you~"
Rather than toning it down when Nearl arrived, Maruzensky amped up her hip-swaying, arm-swinging dance moves even more.
"So, what do you think? Pretty good, right? This is a world-famous golden oldie! Paired with these trendy moves, I'm bound to turn heads, aren't I?"
"…"
Nearl was at a loss for words.
She watched Maruzensky's moves, which resembled something from a public square dance, paired with the unmistakably Showa-era tune blasting from the cassette player. Her ears were already drooping slightly.
"Mesmerized by my dancing, are you? How about joining your senpai for a dance?"
When Nearl didn't react for a while, Maruzensky blew a kiss, closed her right eye, tilted her head, and threw in a 'Kira' pose.
"Uh…"
To be honest, a cold shiver ran down Nearl's spine.
All of this was a bit too much for her to take in.
"Maruzensky-senpai, are you really into these golden oldies and dances?"
Struggling to keep her composure, Nearl forced a calm expression as she spoke.
"Of course! This is a world-famous classic! It's the height of trendiness! See, so many people know this song—it's ranked so high! That means it's super popular. I must be the trendiest woman around right now!"
With that, Maruzensky danced even more enthusiastically.
To be fair, Maruzensky herself was undeniably a stunning beauty.
Her flawless, delicate face and those voluminous brown waves were gorgeous. And her figure? No need to even mention—her curvaceous body was the very definition of a "gifted physique."
There was just one tiny issue: her severely outdated taste and her… unique understanding of what counted as "trendy."
It really put a dent in her overall appeal.
Ahem. "Maruzensky-senpai, I'm in a bit of a hurry to get inside and unpack. Could you please tell me where to find the dorm manager?"
Nearl couldn't take the awkwardness any longer. She cut straight to the point.
Right now, she was growing increasingly anxious, terrified that Maruzensky would invite her to join in that antiquated dance.
"Nearl-chan, are you maybe a little slow?"
Finally, Maruzensky decided to stop swaying her hips. She turned and hit the pause button on her boombox, then smoothed down her slightly damp hair.
Placing her hands on her hips, she tilted her head and looked at Nearl with a hint of pity.
"If I'm here waiting for you at a time like this, shouldn't it be obvious what my role is?"
The return to a relatively normal scene helped Nearl calm down. Her usual sharp observation and judgment quickly returned.
"I see. So you're the dorm manager here, Maruzensky-senpai?"
"Bingo! You got it!"
Maruzensky formed a finger gun with her right hand, "shooting" it playfully in Nearl's direction, a bright smile on her face. She pulled a key from her red jacket and unlocked the dorm door.
"Go on in, Nearl-chan. But try to be quick, alright? Your senpai really doesn't want to stand around bored out here."
That was her instruction before Nearl stepped inside.
"Understood, Maruzensky-senpai."
With that reply, Nearl pushed open the door to the Ritto Dorm. Behind her, Maruzensky waved enthusiastically.
"My room… is on the third floor, right?"
Clutching the key Maruzensky had given her, Nearl strode forward and soon reached her door.
She didn't need to check the number—a large pile of luggage was stacked in front of one door. That had to be hers.
She pushed the door open and quickly scanned the interior. As expected, it was a cozy, well-kept space.
Even though it was a shared dorm, her roommate had meticulously cleaned the entire room—even the parts that weren't her responsibility—and left them spotless.
What's more, her luggage and personal items hadn't encroached an inch into Nearl's half of the room.
'Seems like a serious, self-disciplined Uma Musume,' Nearl concluded, feeling a sense of relief.
If her roommate had been the type full of wild, unpredictable antics, she would've had a real headache.
'Alright, time to unpack. Thanks to my roommate, I don't have to clean—just unpack. This should go quickly.'
Nearl clapped her hands together lightly and opened her suitcase. But it seemed her movements had disturbed someone.
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T/N: Maybe bc during oguri's time fuji kiseki hasn't raced yet, so its maruzensky rn
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T/N: I have a Patreon! Webnovel will get 3 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.