Uma Musume: Become a Legendary Trainer

Chapter 343: Monopolizing This Thought
The noise in the hall was concentrated at the table in the corner, where Kitahara and Maruzenski were sitting.

"President Maruzen! I'm your loyal fan! I've watched every one of your games!"

"Me too! Me too! I have all your peripherals! Please allow me to perform on stage with you once!"

"Can I come along? I'm also a fan of yours, President Maruzen!"

After a round of performances just ended, the host drew lots again and "happened" to draw the table number of Kitahara and Maruzenski.

This was of course by design, stemming from the backroom manipulation symbolized by Ludo.

While making an appointment to meet Noguchi Kenpei and his group at a restaurant, I also discussed the so-called music event with the restaurant manager.

From the perspective of both parties, they felt that this was something that had been confirmed in advance, but they did not know that it was a sudden idea of ​​the student union president of Tresen College.

With Lu Duo's many years of work experience, handling this step is a piece of cake for him.

Many tasks cannot be arranged according to the so-called conventional process, otherwise many things will take up a considerable amount of time and energy just on the process.

It can be considered a small case of acting first and reporting later.

The same operation applies to "the table number that happens to be drawn".

While asking Representative Chiaki to pass a note to Maruzen, he directly told the host that he wanted to do something behind the scenes.

The latter's statement is almost the same as what was written on the note.

Just "draw" that table number and don't worry about the rest.

Each side thought the other side had made advance arrangements.

In fact, there was no arrangement.

So, the host "drew" the number and continued the previous excitement, saying that he hoped the customers at this table could perform some shows, and even had some ambiguous scenes. But then he discovered that the person sitting at this table was a Umamusume star like Maruzenski, and fans naturally found it difficult to contain their anticipation and joy.

Kitahara was the one who was neglected.

It’s not that he isn’t famous now. When the fans gathered around the table recognized Maruzenski, they also recognized him as the trainer who has been in the limelight recently.

But compared to the horse racing girls who are idols, the trainers are more like agents behind the scenes.

Fans will pay attention, be grateful, look up to and admire her, but when it comes to performing together, they definitely prefer to be with Umamusume.

Kitahara himself also thinks so.

Apart from scaring the enthusiastic fans around him at the beginning, he felt helpless and also felt a little sympathetic towards Maruzenski.

He could understand such enthusiasm, but he couldn't deal with it. If he were to deal with it, he would probably want to turn around and leave the restaurant.

I am also a little worried that Maruzenski is feeling troubled.

But on second thought, I felt that this legendary horse racing girl had been famous for a long time and must have seen many similar scenes, so there was no need to worry about it.

So, maybe we can look forward to it and enjoy the performance of this horse girl up close.

However, he didn't expect that when his mind turned a few times and he looked at Maruzenski with a smile, he saw a hand reaching out to him.

Her fingers were white and tender, with the unique flexibility of a horse girl. As if due to nervousness or excitement, a thin layer of sweat misted the edge of one side of her fingers.

Illuminated by the goose-yellow light of the restaurant, the plate-like mist glowed with a faint yellow light, making the slender and powerful hands look like carefully crafted warm jade, with a strange warmth and warmth.

"...Ah?" Kitahara was a little dazed.

"that is……"

With his hand stretched out straight, Maruzenski's blue eyes looked aside for a moment before turning back to smile.

“I invite you to perform on stage with me.

"Why, is it not possible?" she asked with a smile.

"That's not..."

He wanted to scratch his head, but he also felt that it was a bit rude to ask others to stretch out their hands dryly, so Kitahara curled the corner of his mouth.

He stood up and gently squeezed the fingertips of that warm jade-like hand.

Then leave at the touch of a button.

This is also a kind of courtesy.

I don’t know if it was an illusion, but the knuckles I held on to trembled as if in a knee-jerk reaction, and then retracted in an instant.

In a flash, they started to struggle with the idea of ​​performing on stage together.

It's not surprising that Maruzenski would take the initiative to invite me.

This is a generous and straightforward horse girl who does whatever she thinks of.

The reason he wanted to invite me at this moment was probably because he was in a good mood.

Nothing surprising.

The performance is a bit troublesome, which is something I am not good at.

As for songs, I learned the basic music theory from Oguruma and the others, and when I took them shopping, I also made a fool of myself in karaoke a few times.

It should be considered as a shameful performance. Compared with the natural and beautiful voices of the jockey girls, his singing is just acceptable and not out of tune.

It has nothing to do with sounding good or pleasant.

If the purpose is to cooperate with Maruzenski, the best way is to play and avoid singing as much as possible.

Or you can be responsible for the singing part like reciting lines, so that you can hide your shortcomings.

If I want to play, I don’t know how to play any instrument.

To be more specific, playing a stringed instrument is probably at the level of sawing wood, and playing a plucked instrument is probably at the level of fluffing cotton.

So what to do about this...

Maruzenski invited Kitahara, and Kitahara stood up and accepted. The fans around him naturally felt sorry for missing the opportunity to perform on the same stage with their idol.

But it's not that surprising.

Although there is no precedent for horse girls and trainers to perform together on the winner's stage, there are many such performances in small events or artist programs.

Some comedy shows will deliberately choose trainers who are tone-deaf, and tell the horse girls separately in advance that they will sing together. The official show will give the trainers a shock or surprise, and the effect of this kind of show is quite good.

So after expressing their regret, the fans and customers further away became curious about Kitahara's next performance.

"Invite Mr. Kitahara to join us... Although it's a pity, it's actually very good to hear President Maruzen's singing. I just don't know how Mr. Kitahara's singing voice is."

"It should be very impressive. After all, Mr. Kitahara's abilities are obvious to all. With such a high level of training, his singing must be very good, right?"

"That's not necessarily true... I've seen some prank shows before, and some trainers' voices... well, they have a lot of room for improvement."

"Maybe as an accompaniment? That's fine too. Many trainers can play some instruments, so they can better teach Uma Musume the winning stage."

"But I don't think I've heard that Kitahara-san can play an instrument before, at least not in the interview... But it may be that he didn't show it, I also feel that Kitahara-san is very good."

These whispers were not deliberately concealed, and Kitahara could hear them roughly, and Maruzenski, as a horse girl, could hear them even more clearly.

...This is troublesome. Although I don’t really care about the evaluation of music, but in this situation, it seems like I need to show something...?
Kitahara became embarrassed, then took a deep breath.

Maybe, try to copy a song for emergency? If I just keep the beat, I think I can handle this kind of situation, but I don't know if Maruzen can understand how to sing it after watching it once...

Maruzenski didn't think so much.

Inviting Kitahara was something I just did as I thought of it.

After Kitahara stood up, she was surprised that he accepted her invitation so easily.

I couldn't help but feel secretly delighted.

In the past, when Kitahara took Oguruma and the others out to play, she had gone along a few times.

I have also been to karaoke, which is after all the most popular entertainment nowadays and is also loved by many young people.

Kitahara doesn't sing much. She usually stands below with a metronome, smiling as she and Oguruma sing their favorite songs, dance their favorite dances, and beat the beat very seriously.

Only then did she realize that Kitahara might not like singing or performing.

Since he was willing to accept my invitation, I couldn't help but feel secretly happy.

I was secretly happy for a while, but then I felt a little regretful. If he didn't really like this kind of thing, inviting him to join me... seemed a bit too much of a burden for him?

Stunned for a moment, she couldn't help but look up at the circular seats above.

She didn't know where Luduo and her friends were sitting. She glanced around quickly and didn't see any familiar outfits. Then she remembered that they said they would disguise themselves before coming to Nagoya.

But they must be here, otherwise why would the note say "leave it to them"?

So, the so-called leaving it to them...why aren't they coming out yet?

And that host...why didn't he say anything?

I looked at the host again and found that he was just handing the microphone to me enthusiastically without any hint.

He caught the microphone and tightened his fingers unconsciously. He watched the host turn around and tell the band on the stage to get ready, then glanced at the second floor.

There were several tables sitting at the edge of the table, and at first glance some of the women looked very similar to Luduo and his friends in terms of figure, but he wasn't sure.

A few middle-aged men looked familiar, but in a hurry, I couldn't remember who they were.

and so……

Could it be that Lu Duo organized this event just by giving notice to both parties?
As friends and colleagues for many years, she knew that Luduo would often act first and report later.

Especially some temporary arrangements.

She was certain that she liked Kitahara, especially today's date, which made her understand more clearly what kind of special pleasure this trainer could bring to her.

To monopolize this special kind of pleasure is what one naturally wants to do.

But before that, this liking cannot be said to be a spur-of-the-moment decision.

Especially the love committee of close friends, which was established less than a day ago.

and so……

Lu Duo really didn't prepare for the sequel...

The fingers that were holding the topic couldn't help but tighten. Originally only a few beads of sweat were oozing out of the edges of the fingers, but now the palms also became moist.

On the spine, there is a feeling of warm liquid gathering and flowing along the spine.

No, no, if that's the case, it's fine for me to just sing a song on stage, but if Kitahara... he'd be too embarrassed...

Gotta find a way...

In a moment of anxiety, she looked at Beiyuan unconsciously, "That..."

"Maruzen, I was thinking..."

After saying this in unison, Maruzenski and Kitahara were both stunned. Kitahara reacted first and smiled.

"Nothing, just tell me." He whispered.

"I……"

He glanced around unconsciously and saw that the fans' expectant gazes were basically focused on him, and Maruzenski couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.

In this case, I can go on stage by myself...

"I suddenly remembered that Beiyuan doesn't seem to like singing, right?"

Having made up his mind, but feeling a little disappointed for some reason, Maruzenski smiled and said, "Then you can help me beat the rhythm, or if you don't want to go on stage, you can just sit over there."

She pointed to the dining table in the corner and said, "In this way, I should be able to perform more freely~
"how to say……

"Oh, by the way, maybe we can do a fan dance or something, I'm pretty good at that~"

Smiling, Maruzenski waved the microphone as if it were a bright pink fan.

……ah?

That old-time disco version of the fan dance…?
No, Maruzen...

Forget about that...

Suddenly recalling the "fan dance" performed by Maruzenski in the game plot, Kitahara felt like he couldn't bear to watch it.

It’s not that he doesn’t look good or anything. After all, Maruzenski’s looks can enhance any scene.

It’s just that that kind of dance was probably popular in the 1970s, and even in today’s timeline, it’s too outdated.

When I watched that dance in the past, it really felt like an old-age square dance.

Especially when dancing with "Umamusu veterans" like Representative Chiaki and Symbol Luduo.

So instead of that kind of performance, why not try this song I copied? Especially Maruzen, don’t you always say you want to keep up with the trend?

After complaining inwardly for a while, Kitahara finally made a decision.

"I'm pretty good at keeping the beat, but..."

He recalled the lyrics and smiled, "On the Shinkansen, didn't I say that coming to a music restaurant like this, maybe I'd get some inspiration and write some Eurobeat-style songs?
“Now I have some ideas, maybe I can give it a try.

"I just don't know if it would be a bit..."

"I can!"

The sound was so loud that it scared him a little. He saw Kitahara was speechless and heard the voices of discussion around him suddenly drop. Maruzenski hurriedly covered his chest.

She remembered a lot of what she heard on the Shinkansen.

Although what impressed her most were the words that made her depressed, such as writing songs, she also remembered them.

I thought it was just a joke and didn't take it seriously.

But in my impression, such a rigid and serious person like Kitahara seemed to find such a joke very funny, so my memory of it is much clearer.

Now let’s see…

No joke?

She doesn't care about shoddy workmanship.

Perhaps it can be said that we do not expect any outstanding or qualified works.

Writing songs is something I look forward to.

I couldn't help but recall the many TV dramas I watched deliberately in order to fit in with my new classmates, and the topics I talked about with my new friends.

It is inevitable to fall in love, and the person you like writes songs for you. This has appeared in TV dramas and has also been seen in real life.

Most of them are immature songs with extremely straightforward lyrics and poor music scores.

But maybe that's what love is like.

Maruzen thought that perhaps, compared to writing songs about love, he might be more suitable for a more British-style love like sonnets?

But over the years, not to mention the elegant British-style sonnets, there have been no immature, straightforward and clumsy Japanese songs.

Now it seems to be happening.

Even if he didn't know what he was feeling at the moment.

But it doesn't seem to prevent me from fantasizing about it. Is it written just for myself?
The thought of monopolizing this idea suddenly emerged, just like the weeds on an untended grass track, sprouting wildly and growing luxuriantly in an instant.

Think about it, even if it is crudely made, even if it is done on impulse, even if it is done in a hurry...

But it was also the first time he did this?

If it is really love, then it would be hard to control the desire for exclusivity...

So, peak, that’s how it feels now, right?

She couldn't help but curl the corners of her mouth, and placed the hand that was holding the topic like a fan on top of the hand that was covering her chest, and she bit her lower lip.

"I mean, just write it. I can do it."

She looked directly into Kitahara's eyes and spoke softly.

(End of this chapter)