Volume 6. Chapter 2. Our Own Clubroom
The next day, Shuta An woke up early, washed up, stuffed a piece of bread into his mouth, and hurried toward the garage, clearly preparing to rush off to work.
"So enthusiastic," Silence Suzuka remarked softly from behind him. "It's almost like there's someone at the Academy he's especially eager to see."
"Who knows?" Oguri Cap narrowed her eyes slightly, her tone carrying obvious implication. "Maybe there really is?"
For an instant, Mejiro Dober's name flashed through Silence Suzuka's mind, but she did not say it aloud. Although she knew Oguri Cap and Berno Light likely understood the situation as well, in her view, this matter should naturally be brought up by the Gray Uma Musume first.
"If Oguri-senpai doesn't say anything, then it really isn't appropriate for me to raise the topic first—" Thinking this, Silence Suzuka felt another faint wave of annoyance rise within her. "As for Ann, he should be the one proactively bringing it up himself."
—
Meanwhile, Shuta An, humming quietly to himself while driving toward Central Tracen Academy to collect the clubroom keys, had absolutely no idea what the three Uma Musume at home were currently thinking about.
At this moment, his mind was completely occupied by anticipation toward Team Sadalsuud's future clubroom.
"I hope it's large enough," the young man secretly mused to himself. "Preferably divided into several rooms too. Then I can arrange the usage of each room separately. It would be even better if one of them could become a gathering place for me and Kitahara-san."
In any case, Shuta An had already prepared himself mentally to spend a considerable amount of money renovating the assigned clubroom afterward. Budget was completely irrelevant to him. As long as the Uma Musume of Team Sadalsuud—and he himself—could use it comfortably, then that would be enough.
"Miss Rudolf probably wouldn't exaggerate something like this." Shuta An tapped the steering wheel lightly. "After seeing the interior later, I'll ask whether renovations are allowed."
After arriving at Central Tracen Academy and parking the car, the young man immediately headed toward the Student Council office, clearly intending to obtain the keys from Symboli Rudolf as quickly as possible.
Just as he expected, Symboli Rudolf had already started working earlier than him.
Knock knock.
After receiving permission, Shuta An pushed open the office door and walked inside.
"It seems Shuta-kun is rather impatient today." Symboli Rudolf smiled lightly.
"The clubroom prepared for Team Sadalsuud is already ready for use. It's a clubroom that hasn't belonged to any qualified team for several years now. In terms of size, it's no smaller than Team Rigil's clubroom. Its location is also quite convenient—situated along the route between the courtyard and the first training ground."
The "Emperor" folded her hands together atop the desk. "I'll personally lead Shuta-kun there in a moment."
"Then I'll trouble Miss Rudolf." Shuta An bowed slightly. "I truly have been looking forward to finally having a proper place to rest inside the Academy."
"Well~" Symboli Rudolf casually twirled the fountain pen between her fingers. "It seems my prediction was correct after all. Let's go now. I believe Shuta-kun will genuinely like this clubroom."
—
Following behind Symboli Rudolf, Shuta An soon arrived together with her at the clubroom assigned to Team Sadalsuud.
"Oh—"
Standing a short distance away, the young man carefully examined the building from top to bottom.
"So this place was actually a clubroom?" Shuta An blinked. "Every time I passed by before, I thought it was just some small storage building the Academy used to pile miscellaneous things."
"Storage buildings usually don't have that many windows." Symboli Rudolf rolled her eyes at him helplessly. "Anyway, come inside first. I hope Shuta-kun will be satisfied."
The "Emperor" took out the key and unlocked the door. The young man followed closely behind her into the clubroom that had remained sealed and unused for quite a long time.
The moment he stepped inside, a long corridor immediately entered his field of view.
"This activity room is divided into several separate rooms." Symboli Rudolf walked ahead while explaining calmly. "Within the Academy, this is one of only two clubrooms designed with multiple internal rooms. The other one belongs to Team Rigil."
"We'll start from the innermost room first."
"Okay." Shuta An nodded while glancing around curiously.
"The largest room at the far end is the changing room." Symboli Rudolf glanced meaningfully toward the young man behind her. "Strictly speaking, this should also be Shuta-kun's most legitimate excuse to enter."
"After all, it's where the Uma Musume change into their training clothes."
"That's true." Shuta An nodded in agreement without hesitation. "Normally speaking, it really would be difficult for me to enter here."
However, after looking around for a moment, the young man frowned slightly.
"Aren't these lockers a little too old?" He reached out and lightly tapped one of them. "Can I replace them with new ones at my own expense?"
"If Shuta-kun is willing to pay for it himself, then naturally there's no problem." Symboli Rudolf hesitated briefly before giving permission.
After leaving the changing room, Symboli Rudolf pointed toward the adjacent connected room.
"As Shuta-kun can see, this is the shower room. Four shower stalls are currently functional." She paused briefly. "You may also replace these facilities if you wish."
"Then let's replace those too." After taking a glance inside, Shuta An estimated that the facilities were probably older than half his own age and immediately made his decision.
Walking back several steps, Symboli Rudolf stopped in front of another smaller room.
"This is the lounge." She opened the door casually. "Shuta-kun may use it for naps, or the Uma Musume can use it as well."
At this point, Symboli Rudolf suddenly narrowed her eyes and turned her head toward him.
"However, it's best not to use it simultaneously, okay?"
"If we place two beds inside and hang opaque mosquito nets between them, simultaneous use should technically still be possible, right?" Shuta An shrugged calmly after answering.
"Though realistically speaking, the Uma Musume can simply return to their dormitories to rest. I'll probably end up being the only regular user."
"That's…true." Symboli Rudolf carefully thought about it and immediately realized her previous warning had indeed been somewhat unnecessary.
The "Emperor" coughed awkwardly once before continuing onward with him.
Finally, she brought him to the last room.
"This is the central room of the activity area."
The room itself was only slightly smaller than the changing room and was clearly the second largest room in the entire clubroom.
"This can serve both as Shuta-kun's office and as a reception room."
"It's right beside the entrance too. That really is convenient." Shuta An nodded with visible satisfaction.
However, in the young man's heart, he had already silently decided that all the furniture inside would need replacing as well.
"How does it feel?" Symboli Rudolf turned around, her expression full of confidence. "It should satisfy Shuta-kun's requirements, correct?"
"It really does." The young man admitted honestly. "After replacing the furniture and equipment and doing a thorough cleanup, it should become perfectly usable."
"For the cleaning, the Academy can arrange cleaners to help." Symboli Rudolf proactively offered. "Otherwise, it would probably take quite a while for Team Sadalsuud to clean everything themselves."
"Then I won't decline the offer." Shuta An bowed slightly once more.
By the time Shuta An had finished tidying up the activity room, it was already January 5th. The Uma Musume's holiday had ended, and today also marked the first race day of this year's URA Association Central Twinkle Series.
Since none of Team Sadalsuud's Uma Musume were scheduled to race, Shuta An could devote all of his attention to organizing the activity room during this period. After everything was finally prepared, the young man officially announced in the Line group that Team Sadalsuud's activity room was now available for use.
"Wow! Too bad I won't be able to return to the academy for another half month to see the activity room," Tokai Teio was the first to respond.
Kurofune and Rice Shower, meanwhile, immediately sprang into action. Only a few minutes after Shuta An sent the message, the two Uma Musume arrived outside the activity room and knocked on the door.
"This way, we'll save a lot of time every day," Kurofune said happily after noticing the changing room and shower room. "After morning training, we won't have to return to the dorms all sticky just to use the public showers."
"That's right." Rice Shower crossed her arms lightly. "But the soundproofing here should be fine, right? It won't disturb Trainer, will it?"
"I paid to have the walls redone with proper soundproofing, and all the facilities were replaced with new ones too. You don't need to worry about that," the young man interjected while sitting in his office chair.
"Rice Shower can test it with Kurofune if you want."
"That won't be necessary." Kurofune immediately shook her head. "I can already tell the soundproofing material was installed very thoroughly."
In short, Shuta An had indeed invested considerable effort into the soundproofing of the activity room. After all, if the lounge had poor sound insulation, it would definitely become a major source of trouble for him in the future.
"I also don't want to hear rustling noises from the shower room and changing room while I'm trying to sleep," Shuta An grumbled inwardly.
That evening, considering he would need to arrive at the academy early the next morning, Shuta An said goodbye to Oguri Cap and the others before choosing to stay overnight in an apartment near the academy.
—
Tonight in the Dream World, he would be riding Vega's Maiden Race.
As a Uma Musume trained at the Kansai Ritto Training Center, Vega naturally chose Kyoto Racecourse as the venue for her debut. Because Shuta An had focused so much of his energy on preparing for Vega's debut race, he had nearly ended up without a mount for the day's feature race at Kyoto Racecourse, the Gold Cup (West). In the end, thanks to Assistant Trainer Ikee's connections, he barely managed to secure a mount on a Uma Musume named Lucky Guerlai from Ikee Tairo's stable.
Although Lucky Guerlai had not won a single race in the past two years, her main achievement was still the Grade 1 Hanshin Juvenile Fillies title, making her a legitimate G1-winning horse. However, ever since winning an OP race two years ago, she had failed to claim another victory and, strictly speaking, had not even managed a top-five finish since then.
When entrusting this Uma Musume to Shuta An, Ikee Tairo looked visibly embarrassed.
"It's a rare opportunity to collaborate with Shuta-kun, yet I can only provide this sort of racehorse. I'm truly ashamed."
"It's nothing. Having the opportunity to race is already enough for me." Shuta An waved his hand dismissively. "I'll ensure Lucky Guerlai's safety first and foremost, and on that basis, strive for a satisfactory placing."
Because of this, Shuta An's true objective tonight in the Dream World was simply to ride Vega's debut race properly. As for the Gold Cup (West), he already considered a top-five finish with Lucky Guerlai to be an excellent outcome. He had no intention of devoting excessive thought to that race.
Tonight, Shuta An only had four rides at Kyoto Racecourse: Kyoto 1R, 3R, 7R, and 11R.
Vega's debut race was Kyoto 7R, an 1800-meter turf Maiden Race. A total of eighteen racehorse had entered the race, making it an unusually large-field Maiden event. Such races demanded extremely high composure and adaptability from inexperienced racehorse; those lacking sufficient race sense could easily lose their positioning within the pack and fail to display their true ability.
For the time being, however, Shuta An wasn't concerned about that. Although Vega's debut race mattered most to him today, he still needed to properly handle the first two races beforehand.
In Kyoto 1R, a 1400-meter dirt Maiden Race, Shuta An partnered with Hokuto Pollux, owned by Kanamorimori Shōji, and successfully executed a start-to-finish victory. Through clever pace manipulation, he completely threw the pursuing opponents into confusion.
Then, in Kyoto 3R, an 1800-meter dirt Maiden Race, the young man rode Northern Musashi, owned by legendary enka singer Saburo Kitajima, once again controlling the race from the front before winning by a full eight lengths over the second-place Uma Musume. The result delighted Saburo Kitajima immensely.
"I hope Shuta-kun can continue guiding my racehorse in the future."
Naturally, the singer wished every one of his racehorse could be partnered with Shuta An. Unfortunately, considering the overall quality of Saburo Kitajima's stable, frequent collaborations between them were unlikely.
Still, the young man did not make that reality explicit. He merely smiled and nodded.
Two starts, two victories.
Shuta An's excellent form today immediately filled Vega's Trainer, Matsuda Hiroshi, with confidence.
"I hope Vega can also deliver such a dominant victory."
Shuta An himself, however, was completely unaware of Trainer Matsuda Hiroshi's expectations. After returning to the jockey waiting room, he had already shifted his focus toward researching what to eat for lunch.
Because Vega's Maiden Race carried a riding weight of 53 kilograms, Shuta An consciously controlled his noon meal, only consuming a light liquid lunch.
When the waiting period for Kyoto 7R finally arrived, the young man strode out of the jockey waiting room, eager to meet his partner.
"Damn it!"
Yutaka Take, who had originally intended to chat with his friend for a while, stared at Shuta An's departing back.
"That Maiden Race racehorse is the one Ann-san praised beforehand, right? But I heard her legs weren't good when she was younger. I really don't know what Ann-san saw in her to already declare she'll shock everyone before even running a single race."
—
Shuta An naturally had no idea that his friend was muttering behind him.
With the assistance of Vega's Groom, Mr. Yamaguchi, the young man smoothly settled into the saddle.
Holding the reins, he lowered his head and examined Vega's neck carefully. To be honest, if one ignored her face, Vega was actually rather cute. Unfortunately, that star-shaped blaze resembling scattered freckles truly ruined her appearance.
"But whether she's ugly or not doesn't matter," Shuta An thought calmly. "As long as she can win the Classic races with me."