Umamusume: Full of Flavor! [15]

In the quiet training room, a Trainer and an Umamusume were engaged in a special kind of training.

Akiyama Haruto’s fingertip traced across Silence Suzuka’s back.

Her back was soft without being loose or flabby, supple skin stretched taut over muscle.

When the pad of his finger pressed down, he could feel the faintest resistance beneath her skin.

Afternoon sunlight spilled across her sukumizu. Through the fabric, he could feel the warmth radiating from her skin, like water that had only just cooled to a gentle warmth.

Whenever his fingernail grazed her as he changed direction midstroke, Suzuka’s ears twitched gently. Her back straightened, her shoulder blades drew inward, and the shallow groove along her spine deepened as her muscles tensed.

Surrounded by darkness, Silence Suzuka focused all her attention on her back.

She particularly enjoyed this kind of wordless exchange, carefully following the touch as it gradually grew familiar, as though listening with her back.

True to her name…

Silence Suzuka.

When he completed the final stroke, Suzuka slowly released the breath she had been holding, and her back relaxed with it.

“Phew…”

“What did I write?”

“It was… your name, Trainer, written in kanji.”

“Correct.”

Haruto glanced at the mission panel and saw that the required count had been reached. The mission was now marked complete.

“Good. Your accuracy was one hundred percent today. It seems you can now focus all your attention on a single point, Suzuka.”

“Yes… I can feel that my concentration has improved too.”

Suzuka felt her cheeks growing hot, but embarrassment was not the only reason. More than that, it was the strange sensation of her Trainer’s fingertip.

At first, it had tickled a little. Later, however, it had felt more like…

A searing warmth.

Wherever his fingertip passed, her skin first felt cool, then quickly grew hot. She could no longer tell whether the heat came from her own body or from her Trainer’s finger.

It was as though their warmth had reached a shifting balance and begun to blend.

“That brings this exercise to an end.”

Haruto nodded in satisfaction. He was in a good mood; everything was progressing according to plan.

Suzuka had only just removed her blindfold when she heard him say the exercise was over—and from the sound of it, they would not need to do it again. A sudden sense of loss rose in her heart.

“Huh?”

It was over?

They would never do this kind of training again?

Her disappointment showed in the way her tail drooped.

She still wanted more. She wanted to continue this special training and keep feeling her Trainer’s warmth.

But… of course…

This was training, not a flirtatious game between lovers.

Noticing Suzuka’s disappointment, Haruto smiled and reassured her.

“When the opportunity arises, we’ll do an advanced version of this exercise.”

After all, the mission was not meant to teach her something new, but to make an existing skill permanent. Haruto had also discovered that it could evolve one step further into Suzuka’s Unique Skill.

That was why he had spared no expense, spending a full thirty Uma Coins to make it permanent.

“Yes!”

Wonderful! They would be able to do it again…

What would the advanced version be like?

Would her ears be blocked? Would her hands and feet be tied? Or perhaps…

Would he touch somewhere else?

Suzuka’s cheeks reddened once more at the exciting possibilities filling her imagination.

A lovestruck girl simply could not resist such suggestive, intimate interaction…

Or rather, training.

“So, Suzuka, what would you like me to do for you?”

Haruto had naturally not forgotten his promise. He now asked what reward she wanted.

Suzuka hadn’t forgotten either. She touched her fingertips together, lowered her gaze, and shyly made her request.

“Um, well… may I call you by your name from now on?”

“That’s all?”

Haruto could not help laughing. He had never expected Suzuka’s request to be nothing more than a change in how she addressed him. That was hardly a request at all.

“Y-Yes! I’ve already been training under you for a month, but I still call you Trainer-san. It feels a little distant… So I thought I could use this opportunity to start calling you by your name…”

In truth, the main reason was that Suzuka had felt a little jealous when Special Week so casually called him Haruto-san.

Special Week surely had no ulterior motive. She had addressed Haruto by name simply because she was naturally warm and outgoing. Shy Suzuka, however, could not do the same without some kind of opportunity to prompt her.

He was her Trainer, yet she could only call him “Trainer-san”…

It made the distance between their hearts feel greater.

There were so many Trainers at Tracen that if someone shouted “Trainer!” on the training grounds, at least eight or ten people would turn around. Suzuka wanted to distinguish him from all the others.

She wanted to call out only to the Trainer who belonged to her.

Afraid that Haruto might refuse, Suzuka cautiously studied his expression and asked again with a pleading look.

“…May I not?”

“Heh. Of course you may. In fact, I’ve wanted you to call me by name for a while now. My mother even calls me ‘Haru’ at home.”

With permission granted, Suzuka immediately brightened. Summoning her courage, she finally addressed Haruto by name for the first time.

“Then… Haru… Haruto-kun!”

“Huh?”

Not Haruto-san, but Haruto-kun?

It somehow made him feel younger…

Haruto scratched his head, feeling a little embarrassed himself.

As far as he remembered, the only person who had ever called him Haruto-kun was his childhood friend when they were young.

But after he decided to become a Trainer, his mother and Aunt Lan had brought him to Tokyo, the country’s largest city. He had transferred to the best Trainer training school in the nation and lost contact with his childhood friend.

Now that he had become a Trainer at Central Tracen Academy, he wondered how she was doing…

Seeing Haruto’s surprised expression, Suzuka hurriedly waved her hands and explained.

“Um! You’re still very young, Trainer, so I thought I could use -kun instead of -san. I wasn’t looking down on you or trying to be disrespectful…! I truly didn’t mean it that way!”

The suffix -san was the most common and universally applicable honorific. It could be used to show politeness and respect regardless of the other person’s age, gender, or status.

-kun, meanwhile, was generally used by an elder or senior toward a younger male. Teachers at school, for example, often addressed male students with -kun to convey both respect and familiarity.

It could also be used between peers who were sufficiently close.

But Haruto and Suzuka were a Trainer and his assigned Umamusume, and he was the senior in their relationship, so the honorific was somewhat inappropriate.

“Even if I only call you that in private… may I?”

The tip of Suzuka’s nose had reddened slightly. Her ears twitched anxiously, and she caught her lower lip lightly between her teeth until it deepened to a faint pink.

But her blue-green eyes were the hardest to resist.

Moisture shimmered in them, and her gaze was filled with hope and pleading.

That expression was simply unfair!

Who could refuse a request from such a painfully adorable Umamusume?

“It doesn’t have to be only in private. I’m still just a rookie Trainer, so I’m in no position to put on airs. Call me whatever feels most comfortable to you, Suzuka.”

“Yes…! Haruto-kun… Haruto-kun!”

Suzuka beamed, clasping her hands before her chest as though in prayer and repeating his name over and over. Watching her, Haruto felt that the bond between him and his assigned Umamusume had grown remarkably close.

At first, he had only coveted her stats. But now that he had personally devoted himself to developing Suzuka, Haruto had begun to feel a Trainer’s pride in her.

He did not want her to get hurt.

He did not want to see her lose a race.

And he certainly did not want to see her sad.

He would see her training through to the end and make Suzuka a top Umamusume whose name would go down in history!

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!