Umamusume: Full of Flavor! [14]

After seeing Special Week off, Silence Suzuka closed the door and walked back into the training room, a faint shadow still lingering over her expression.

Holding one arm with the other hand, she watched Akiyama Haruto retrieve the next piece of training equipment and an air pump from a cabinet.

“Trainer-san… um, do you really want Spe-chan to become one of your assigned Umamusume?”

Haruto did not turn around, so he failed to notice the worry on Suzuka’s face—the look of someone terrified that her beloved doll might be taken away. He merely voiced the perfectly natural excitement any Trainer would feel upon discovering promising talent.

“Given the chance, of course I’d like to train her myself. Spe-chan looks like an Umamusume with a great deal of potential.”

“So… that’s how it is…”

Suzuka lowered her head dejectedly.

She had done something wrong. As an Umamusume, she had no right to interfere with her Trainer’s recruitment decisions.

If Trainer truly wanted to coach Spe-chan, then even though it would hurt, she would help persuade her.

Perhaps that would ease the guilt in her heart.

Besides, if it was Spe-chan, Suzuka felt she could just barely accept it.

They were roommates and extremely close. Special Week was almost like Suzuka’s little follower, always thinking of her.

With that in mind, Suzuka made up her mind. She would agree to let Special Week join the team after all.

“Um, Trainer-san—”

“But she already has a Trainer, so it has nothing to do with me.”

Still working the air pump, Haruto turned to Suzuka with a smile.

“Besides, my circumstances don’t allow me to recruit Umamusume on my own. So for now, I’m still your ‘personal Trainer,’ Suzuka. All I want is to train you well and help you win every race ahead of you. For the time being, I’m not considering anything else.”

Haruto meant every word. Special Week’s stats were certainly tempting, but his current circumstances did not allow him to take on a second trainee.

After all, every horse coin provided by his initial mission had already been invested in Silence Suzuka.

Even if he somehow persuaded Special Week’s Trainer and obtained the academy’s approval for her transfer, Haruto had no spare resources with which to train her.

“…!”

[SILENCE SUZUKA]: MOOD ↑↑—GREAT!

“Yes! I’ll train as hard as I can and bring you victory, Trainer!”

As though to demonstrate her enthusiasm, Suzuka immediately pulled down her zipper and removed her tracksuit.

She had learned to suppress her embarrassment in front of Haruto and could now undress quickly and decisively.

Of course, beneath the tracksuit, she was not wearing a girl’s sports bra but a school swimsuit—the garment commonly known as a sukumizu.

An actual high school girl in a sukumizu truly radiated youthful energy.

The swimsuit’s tight material also gave Suzuka’s normally airfield-flat chest a faint, attractive curve, lending her a strangely alluring quality.

Yes. Sukumizu truly was one of humanity’s treasures.

Suzuka had not dressed this way because Haruto had let his fetishes run wild, however. He had made no special request regarding her clothing. Suzuka herself had suggested that the outfit would be more suitable for the training that followed.

Watching her, Haruto thought it was fortunate that Special Week had barged in during the basic exercises. Had she witnessed what came afterward, it really would have been difficult to explain.

“Then it’s time to begin the real training. You completed the pen-spinning assignment I gave you, right?”

“Yes. I finished it last night. At that moment, I felt as though I’d grasped something…”

So there really had been a change.

Haruto already knew that Suzuka had completed the first mission he had issued at a cost of ten Uma Coins.

[DIFFICULTY F]:
USING THE LEFT HAND, SPIN A PEN CLOCKWISE 1,000 TIMES. (COMPLETED)

Haruto had not designed the mission himself. The system had generated it automatically.

By using Uma Coins on Silence Suzuka, he had learned exactly how the currency worked.

First, he had to filter the complete skill list to show only the skills Suzuka was currently capable of learning. After selecting the relevant skill, the required number of Uma Coins and the mission difficulty would appear.

Once he confirmed and issued the mission, the system deducted the Uma Coins and automatically generated its contents. Haruto’s role was to present those contents to Suzuka as guidance from her Trainer and tell her what to do.

Although missions had no time limit, they could not be canceled or altered after being issued. They simply had to be completed. There was no option to back out.

That meant Haruto had to consider every choice carefully. He not only needed to select the skills most useful to Suzuka in her current state, but also account for mission difficulty and use his limited Uma Coins to create the most reasonable skill setup possible.

This was not some cheat that let him make Suzuka stronger without thinking. The results still depended on Haruto’s choices.

After careful consideration, he had ultimately spent every horse coin he possessed, selected three skills, and issued three missions to Suzuka. Over the past month, he had been helping her complete them.

Then, just yesterday, Suzuka had finally completed one and acquired a new skill.

Provided everything went smoothly, the remaining missions should also be finished today.

Once all the missions were complete, it would be time for Haruto to register Suzuka for her next race.

After that came the positive cycle of run, win, earn!

“Good. Remember that feeling and bring it out again during your races.”

“Yes!”

Suzuka had successfully completed the first mission, but the remaining two were not so simple. Nor were they missions she could complete by herself.

[DIFFICULTY E]:
WHILE BLINDFOLDED, CORRECTLY IDENTIFY CHARACTERS WRITTEN ON YOUR BACK THIRTY TIMES. (CURRENT PROGRESS: 25/30)

Hmm…

It felt like some kind of erotic roleplay, but this was already one of the easier missions.

Issuing it had also cost a full thirty Uma Coins. Whether Suzuka could win her next race practically depended on it.

The reason Suzuka wore a school swimsuit was that, at first, her clothing had made it difficult to tell what Haruto was writing. Progress had been poor, so she had decided to wear something that allowed her to feel the path of his finger more clearly.

After considering the options, the school swimsuit was the only real choice. She could hardly strip down to her underwear.

The amount of exposed skin might not differ much between the two, but to a girl, a swimsuit was something people were allowed to see, while underwear was not.

“Are you ready, Suzuka? It’s time to begin.”

“Y-Yes…!”

They had already done this many times, but the thought of what the next exercise involved still made Suzuka nervous.

She sat stiffly in the chair, then put on the blindfold Haruto handed her.

Looking at the beautiful Umamusume sitting upright in a school swimsuit and wearing a blindfold, Haruto thought the scene looked like something out of a dirty doujinshi…

Yes, all it was missing was a rope.

Unable to see anything, Suzuka found her other senses becoming especially sensitive. She could hear Haruto’s breathing and her own heartbeat, which pounded so loudly that she feared Trainer might hear it.

Calm down…! Trainer said this exercise is meant to improve my concentration… I mustn’t let my thoughts wander!

Suzuka tried to steady herself, but she could not clear the distracting thoughts from her mind. In the end, she could no longer keep her small request to herself.

“Um… Trainer, if I manage to guess every character correctly during this session… may I make one small request?”

“Oh? Of course.”

Haruto agreed without hesitation. Suzuka could not see the mission panel, so she had no idea what she would gain after completing these strange exercises.

Haruto felt that Suzuka, who always cooperated and completed her training so earnestly, deserved some kind of reward.

As long as she was not asking for money or anything material, Haruto could grant it.

“All right…! I’ll definitely work hard and finish today’s training!”

With Haruto’s agreement, Suzuka felt filled with motivation. She swept her long orange hair from behind her back to the front, leaving the nape of her neck and her back fully exposed.

The shape of Suzuka’s shoulder blades was clearly visible, protruding slightly whenever she moved. A shallow groove ran along her spine. Her waist was slender, and the school swimsuit pressed two curved lines into her sides before angling down where her raised bottom met her thighs.

Against the dark blue swimsuit, the exposed skin of her limbs looked snow-white, almost luminous.

Faced with the defenseless Umamusume, Haruto also had to work to steady his mind.

This is only to complete the mission. Stop imagining things.

Haruto pulled over another chair and sat behind Suzuka, then placed his index finger in the groove along her spine…

“Ahh~”

“…”

Seriously, stop making breathy noises that could be so easily misunderstood!

This is a fan translation of 赛马娘，味真足 by 夜幕下的鬼 Rights to the original work belong to the creator. Please support them by exploring their original work or sharing it with others if you can. Thank you for reading and supporting my efforts to bring this story to a wider audience!