[A/N: The World Cup was wild. My apartment ended up not having any electricity due to celebrations for the entire day yesterday and today. Sorry for being unable to post a chapter.
Also, strangely enough. I dreamt of a new Umamusume fanfic. An MC was born as a twin sister to Gold Ship. The MC and Gold Ship became the twin agents of chaos to everybody around them. Maybe I'll write another Uma fanfic after my Genshin fanfic, just an idea so far.]
"Dasher!"
"Dancer!"
"Prancer!"
"Vixen!"
"Comet!"
"Cupid!"
"Donner!"
"Blitzen!"
"And Rudolf!"
Symboli Rudolf stared dumbfounded at herself, then at the girls in the row to the right of her and behind her. They all strangely had a determined gaze.
"Hohohohoho! Let's deliver presents to all the obedient children in the world!" Rudolf turned her head back toward the voice. On the red, grand sledge, there was the speaker.
It was Echo Eclipse wearing like Santa Claus, and she was even wearing a fake beard!
Symboli Rudolf became even more dumbfounded at the absurdity of this situation.
"Hip hip!" Echo tugged on the leash while pointing forward; Rudolf's legs automatically ran forward.
"W-Wha?!" Rudolf's eyes widened as they approached the cliff, strangely being able to run at high speed while carrying the massive sledge with a sack of gifts in it.
In all her life, she had never experienced such absurdity! How did she get into this situation?!
Suddenly, her nose started to emit red lights with each stride, and they were about to run off the cliff and into the sky.
Rudolf woke up.
She stared dazedly at the ceiling before sitting up, exhaling a sigh of relief. "It was just a dream..."
Even with her tolerance and support toward Echo Eclipse, she wouldn't do something embarrassing such as carrying a sledge with other girls. It would be unbefitting of the emperor!
A flash of memory surged back into her mind as she sighed. If Echo ever used her puppy eyes on her again, she doubted she would refuse Echo Eclipse's request to do such things.
She turned her head toward Echo Eclipse, who was sleeping on her bed beside her. Somehow, Echo was sleeping upside down, her legs entangled in blankets and her arms curled up into themselves.
Almost like an octopus, Echo Eclipse's body was extremely flexible, even without stretching or warming up her muscles. For any other Umas, this would harm or make their bodies sore when they woke up. But Echo wasn't your typical Uma; she never felt such a thing even when waking up in bizarre poses.
'As expected of my rival,'
Rudolf nodded before getting up and checking the clock. It was 8 in the morning.
She tiptoed out of Echo's bedroom and entered the living room. Spotting breakfast on the table, Echo's mom was reading today's morning magazine.
She lifted her head and noticed Rudolf; she then smiled warmly at her.
"Ah, morning, Rudolf dear. Are you hungry?" Echo's mom said, and Rudolf nodded politely. Echo's mom signalled her to take any seat and eat.
Rudolf sat down and ate reservedly; Echo's mom chuckled and put down her magazine, gazing at Rudolf.
This action made it harder for Rudolf to ignore the gaze while eating; she glanced up, confused by Echo's mom gazing.
Echo's mom chuckled before speaking, "You're in love with my lovely daughter, aren't you?"
"Pfh-," Rudolf managed not to spew out the miso soup from her mouth, tilting her head to the ceiling to gulp down the soup before taking a deep breath. She lowered her head and stared back in shock at Echo's mother.
"Fufu, it was quite obvious. Even my husband, as dense as he may be, could tell." She lifted her cup of tea with both hands, savouring the heat emitting toward the porcelain cup. She gazed back at Symboli Rudolf; the ears and tail of Umas are quite transparent with their emotions.
No matter where Echo Eclipse was, Rudolf's tail would subconsciously sway in Echo's direction. Her ears would always face Echo whenever she was talking, even leaning her body to be closer to Echo.
With all the hints in front of her, it was obvious that Symboli Rudolf was in love with her oblivious daughter.
'What a generous and polite girl...' Echo's mom thought while staring at Rudolf's shocked expression. The Rudolf she had seen on TV during her race, and the Rudolf in front of her were two different people.
She could tell that Rudolf is a prideful person. Through what she saw, Rudolf would impose her dominance over others if it meant she could win a race. But outside of racing, she is actually quite considerate.
For Echo's parents, for two strangers Rudolf had never known, she willingly lowered her pride and arrogance.
All because she loves Echo Eclipse.
"Don't worry, you must be wondering if Echo figured it out as well, right?" She chuckled as Rudolf's tail twitched worriedly, despite Rudolf's attempt to stay poker-faced. Any subject regarding Echo Eclipse could easily shake her.
"She doesn't know yet; my husband and I won't interfere with yours and Echo's lives."
"Eh?"
"Now, now, could you wake Echo up? She must be excited to open her gifts." As quickly as the conversation went, Echo's mom smoothly changed the subject while picking back up her magazine. Humming a joyful melody.
Symboli Rudolf can only stare in even more confusion; it hadn't even been a full 5 seconds since Echo's mom spurted out that she and Echo's father knew she was in love with Echo!
She began to understand how Echo Eclipse's personality was formed; Echo's mom quite literally goes with the flow and at her own pace!
Rudolf swiftly devours her breakfast and leaves the living room. Who knows what Echo's mom would say or do in the next few seconds!
.
.
.
Echo was watching excitedly; Rudolf was opening her gift.
Rudolf unwrapped the gift and checked the contents of the gift; it was a pun book. A dad pun. Her right ear twitched at this, while staring bizarrely. She was planning to learn puns when they returned to the academy, but maybe she should learn early.
'What's different from Umas and Humans? Well, nothing really. Just they stride differently...' Rudolf read mentally, her tail swaying in an attempt not to chuckle. She never knew she enjoyed puns before meeting Echo's dad.
After Rudolf opened her gift and read through the book, Echo opened her own gifts, one from Rudolf and one from her mother. Her dad was still sleeping in and had bought no gifts; he rushed back home to celebrate Christmas from overseas after all.
Echo got a new black-and-white striped scarf, which was knitted by her mom. She happily put on her scarf, fitting perfectly with her appearance.
She then opened her gift from Rudolf; she got a new accessory for her ear. Along with the accessory, there was a personal letter from Rudolf.
Echo turned her head toward Rudolf, but only to find Rudolf missing. She tilted her head, confused, thinking that Rudolf might've gone to the bathroom. Not because Rudolf ran away, so she wouldn't be embarrassed when Echo read the letter.
The letter was three pages long, but to summarise it. Rudolf noticed that the state of Echo's usual ear accessory was deteriorating due to cheap silver metal casting, and so she wanted to gift Echo a new ear accessory.
Still the same crescent moon-shaped accessory, but this time it is made from pure amethyst; the outline of the shape was platinum, supporting the accessory's structure.
Echo stared at the beautiful reflection of the gem in the sunlight before removing her old ear accessory from her left ear.
Her heart beat slightly faster and stronger as all the sound from her surroundings disappeared. She gently picked up the new accessory.
Admiring it in her hand before putting it on her left ear.
Echo's tail swayed subconsciously in contentment, even though Echo didn't consciously think of it. Her subconscious thought that she was finally marked by Symboli Rudolf, even if Echo didn't truly recognise it yet.
When Rudolf returned to the living room, her tail swayed left and right at the sight of her new accessory being worn by Echo Eclipse.
'Only if Echo is in love with me,' Rudolf could only sigh inwardly, somehow dense and blind to the fact that the girl in front of her is also in love with them.
Too bad that both lovebirds think that neither of them is in love with the other yet, even though they are.
Echo's mom could only smile ruefully and shake her head at this; only time will give one of them the courage to confess to the other. Only then will they realise they are in love with each other.
"Ah... youth," she murmured while sipping her tea.
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Hello, this is Author Extinct.
During the power outage, I had a lot to think about and decided that I will not be putting my Ko-fi account here as a sponsor or link to donate to me.
This story is just for fun. I'll figure out another way to make money.