The next day, the first official day of school.
For this wonderful first day, Barbatos had set an early alarm.
Before sunlight could even touch her face through the window, the usually heart-stopping sound of her phone's alarm rang out.
But before it could ring a second time, a small hand crept up and pressed the "Stop" button on the screen.
Even though the alarm was off, Barbatos clung to her phone and drifted back to sleep.
For someone who chronically relied on phone alarms to wake up, it was possible to be roused from a dream, turn off the alarm, and then seamlessly continue the dream. Or rather, turning off the alarm didn't require conscious thought at all; it was just a bodily instinct.
Last night, she'd been tearing up the Rift with "Piao Lao Shi" and the "Top Bro of a Certain Video Site" in their souped-up rides—not even the traffic cops could stop them. She didn't log off until well past midnight.
(T/N: Piao Lao Shi is a famous Chinese league streamer)
It wasn't that she lacked self-control when gaming; it was mainly because she was just short of the Blue Essence needed to buy "Kassadin." All of this was to better adapt to turf tracks, all her efforts were for the sake of running.
That was also why she was struggling to get up on the first day of school.
Under normal circumstances, she'd probably set seven or eight alarms, but now she was in the dorm. Seven or eight alarms would definitely wake her roommate.
Plus, Seiun Sky was in her class; she should call out to her when leaving. Even if she didn't, Urara would probably contact her to go together when she left the dorm.
After all, they'd all agreed to go to the academic building together tomorrow. This was a double safety net, so she only set one alarm on her phone.
Half an hour later.
Finished washing up and already dressed in her Tracen Academy uniform, Seiun Sky stood by the bed, looking at Barbatos sleeping like a log. "Time to go, we'll be late."
She said it twice, but the Barbatos on the bed gave no reaction whatsoever.
Seiun Sky moved closer, climbed onto the bed, and could see Barbatos breathing evenly with a tiny bit of drool at the corner of her mouth, seemingly in a deep sleep.
Seeing this, she reached out a finger and gently poked the sleeping face. The slumbering Barbatos showed no response.
This made a light sparkle in Seiun Sky's eyes, and she carefully leaned in.
A little while later.
Outside the dormitory building, Seiun Sky met up with Urara and the others.
"Where's B-chan? Why hasn't she come down yet?" Urara asked, puzzled.
"She told us to go ahead. She was still doing her makeup when I left."
"Makeup?"
El Condor Pasa found this somewhat unbelievable for an Uma Musume.
"Mhmm, so let's just go to the classroom and wait for her."
Seiun Sky blinked her jade-green eyes, everything she said seeming completely genuine.
Along the way, the four of them chatted about yesterday's incident with the one who called herself "not a suspicious horse," thinking she must be a pretty interesting Uma Musume. They also talked about the various strange rumors surrounding Tracen Academy.
For example, the green-hat-wearing secretary of the academy. According to campus legend, she even had the nickname "Green-Hatted Demon," but usually she treated everyone extremely well, making it hard to understand how such a legend started.
By the time the group reached the classroom, Seiun Sky took out her phone and called Barbatos.
The ringtone sounded for a long time; she was probably trying to swipe it away like an alarm, but the method for dismissing an alarm and a call are different.
"Helloooo~"
A voice that had clearly just woken up came through.
"Hurry up and get to the classroom, or you'll be late."
"Mkay."
"Mkay?! What time is it now!!!"
Noisy sounds of someone scrambling into clothes came from the other end of the phone.
The current time was still perfectly sufficient for an Uma Musume to run from the dormitory to the academic building, with time to spare.
Seiun Sky had no real need to mess with Barbatos, to make her late on the first day of school.
This was just reciprocating a favor. After all, someone who could use "going Air Force" to trick her... if she hadn't looked it up, she would've fallen for it. This little payback was to make sure Barbatos didn't dare try to deceive her again.
Barbatos sat bolt upright in bed as soon as she answered the call.
There was no time to think about why Seiun Sky hadn't woken her earlier, or why Urara hadn't come to get her. It was entirely possible she'd sleepily said something like, "Got it, you guys go ahead," while asleep.
She quickly splashed cold water on her face in the bathroom, didn't even have time to look in the mirror, grabbed a carrot, and rushed toward the academic building.
The reason she'd set an early alarm was because she wanted to go to the training field before class started today to test whether "ignoring unit collision" would really allow her to go all out on a turf track.
If it didn't work, spending 3150 Blue Essence on Kassadin straight away would be a total waste; she originally wanted to save some Blue Essence for emergencies.
In League of Legends, it wasn't just Kassadin's passive that had the "ignore unit collision" effect; Fizz's passive had a similar effect. Besides that, the summoner spell [Ghost] she currently possessed also allowed her to "ignore unit collision" while active.
Yesterday, she felt that using [Ghost] wouldn't have been enough to catch up, and accelerating for a few seconds only to slow down again would seem strange, so she didn't use it.
Today, she could try using [Ghost] in advance. If she wasn't affected by the turf track while [Ghost] was active, then she could go ahead and buy Kassadin directly.
"Fizz" also offered the "ignore unit collision" effect. One cost 3150 Essence, the other 6300 Essence. The choice of which to buy required no thought.
But testing [Ghost] would have to wait until afternoon.
When she reached the classroom door, there were still about five or six minutes left before class started.
She opened the classroom door. The sound made all the Uma Musume in the classroom look toward the entrance. Barbatos casually greeted them, "Hello everyone, I'm Barbatos."
She didn't feel nervous at all around these new classmates. After all, she wasn't socially anxious, and thanks to Urara, she already had her own little circle.
She walked towards where Urara was; Grass Wonder, El Condor Pasa, and Seiun Sky were all there.
She noticed El Condor Pasa seemed to be... hissing in a sharp breath?
Truly El Condor Pasa, able to perfectly replicate such a difficult maneuver. It was a shame she wasn't an actress.
But gradually, Barbatos sensed something was wrong.
Why were the other classmates still staring at her?
Sure, she was a beauty, but which Uma Musume wasn't?
Just then, Urara, her eyes sparkling, stepped forward. "B-chan, the eyebrows you drew look so cool!"
Eyebrows? What drawn eyebrows?!
Suddenly, she turned to look at Seiun Sky, who was typing on her phone with her head down. A wave of dread washed over her.
Noticing her gaze, Seiun Sky looked up and met her eyes. A mischievous glint shone in her jade-green eyes as she gestured for Barbatos to look at her phone.
The black screen reflected her delicate face, but the eyebrows, thick and straight like Rock Lee's, looked comical.
Then her phone screen lit up. A message from Seiun Sky on LINE:
'Did you go Air Force today?'
--+--
T/N: While I am an inexperienced Translator, I have a Patreon! While it may seem empty as of now, 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.