The next morning arrived.
Barbatos dragged herself out of bed, relying entirely on her internal biological clock while sporting a pair of heavy dark circles under her eyes.
She'd made a tactical error. After finishing her rendition of the "Nine-Turn Large Intestine" story, she hadn't had a single chance to sleep.
Girls' night chat? More like a mental marathon.
Grass Wonder, King Halo, and the others had basically unearthed every horror story in their repertoires to bombard her.
Even though Barbatos considered herself a strictly materialist Uma Musume, the ghost stories they spun were on an entirely different level compared to Special Week's.
Recalling them now made her body shudder, jolting her fully awake.
After a quick wash and changing into her morning training gear, she saw that everyone—except Special Week—was already up.
As for Special Week... well, it wasn't that her internal clock was broken; she was likely just the last one to fall asleep.
Last night's horror stories had dragged on until nearly 1:00 AM, almost as if the girls were determined to compete with her "Nine-Turn Large Intestine."
By the time Barbatos finally managed to stop picturing ghosts and drifted off, it was nearly 2:00 AM, leaving her with only four hours of shut-eye.
Grass Wonder and King Halo were probably in the same boat.
Regardless, Special Week was still tossing and turning when Barbatos fell asleep.
The poor girl had likely been so spooked she only drifted off into a hazy slumber around 4:00 or 5:00 AM.
Consequently, everyone moved with feather-light steps, letting her sleep a bit longer. After all, she still had classes to attend later.
Quite what it would feel like to spend the day facedown on a desk at the beach remained to be seen.
Barbatos and Seiun Sky grabbed their beetle-catching gear and slipped out of the cabin, while Grass Wonder headed off for her scheduled morning practice with Team Rigil.
Then there was King Halo.
They had briefly considered bringing her along, but if she came, their "morning training" would effectively be flushed down the drain.
Besides, the woods where the rhinoceros beetles lived were rumored to be home to hornets.
If they ran into trouble, Barbatos was confident she and Seiun Sky could outrun a few bugs.
But King Halo? She was still recovering from an injury. What was she supposed to do—perform a one-legged "Hop" to escape a swarm?
The beach air was still nippingly cold, but after a quick warm-up, the chill didn't matter much.
She and Seiun Sky began a light jog from the shore, heading toward the road that led to the village.
Their plan was a steady three-lap jog to wrap up the morning session. Given their current stamina, such a distance would be absurdly long for a race, but for a post-training jog, it was just right.
Along the way, they crossed paths with other Uma Musume like Tokai Teio and Mejiro McQueen.
Barbatos and Seiun Sky's bug-catching tools drew more than a few curious glances; from a distance, passersby might have mistaken the gear for some sort of specialized weight-training equipment.
As they finished their third lap, they doubled back toward the woods, letting their heart rates settle.
"Oh, right. I should start a livestream," Barbatos mused.
"I didn't get a chance to go live after the Takarazuka Kinen. I'll show off the summer camp scenery."
Barbatos pulled out her phone and began fiddling with the stream settings. Most of her broadcasts were dedicated to League of Legends, so this was a rare, genuine "outdoor" stream.
After a quick "@" mention to her fan group, she pointed the camera forward and hit start, inviting her viewers to experience the scenery and the upcoming beetle hunt alongside her.
A flurry of familiar IDs began popping up on the screen as viewers flooded in.
"Holy crap, the missing streamer has returned!"
"Look what I found! It's Japan's number one Uma Musume!"
"It's over. I've stayed up so late I'm hallucinating. Pulling an all-nighter actually let me see the streamer my grandpa followed go live."
"Wait, no League of Legends? Where are we?"
"Upstairs, look at the title. It says 'Drunkard at Summer Camp.' Is this the beach? Wait, why can't I see the ocean?"
"Seriously, where is this camera pointing? It's so shaky! Where's our Drunkard?"
A relentless stream of comments scrolled past.
Despite her light notification, people were pouring in. Though many joked about her being a "missing person" since she streamed far less than last year, her fans followed her racing career closely.
In fact, a huge chunk of the 1.1 million votes she received for the Takarazuka Kinen came from this very community.
Seeing the wall of "Where are you?" comments, she gave a playful grin and flipped the camera to selfie mode, bringing both herself and Seiun Sky into the frame.
"Heh, morning everyone!"
Barbatos greeted them, introducing the area in fluent English. "This is our summer camp spot, though we've wandered a bit away from the main camp."
She waved the catching gear in her other hand at the lens. "Next, we're heading into these woods to catch some rhinoceros beetles."
"It's my first time trying this. I wonder if any of you watching have ever caught one?"
"League of Legends?" she read from the chat. "Yeah, I'll find time for that. Maybe one day when I can't run anymore, you guys will have to watch me play League every single day until you're sick of it."
She talked as she walked. Since she didn't have a selfie stick or a head-mounted rig, she had to hold the phone by hand.
However, the footage remained remarkably stable; with her high degree of physical control, even walking or running didn't cause excessive camera shake.
As they stepped into the woods, the light began to dim. "This vibe reminds me of a show I watched once," she noted.
"I think it went something like this..."
"Whether we like it or not, life is always nudging us forward."
"People pack their bags, set out, trek across the land, and settle down. Wherever they stop, a hearth is lit."
"From the migration of individuals to the transport of ingredients, from the evolution of cooking to the shifting tides of fate, the hurried footsteps of humans and food never truly cease."
"Today, we bring you on a quest for that legendary, delicious ingredient—the Rhinoceros Beetle!"
Barbatos quickly added a disclaimer, worried that some younger viewers might lack judgment.
"Um, just to be clear, I'm not actually going to eat it. Unless you have a specific local custom of eating beetles, please don't try it at home."
--+--
T/N: I have a Patreon! 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.