"I'm counting on you, Wada and Imanami-senpai. Please look after Orfevre and Curren Chan for me today. I have some really urgent business to attend to. It's regarding Maruzensky, she..."
"...Alright. I was going to ask for more, but since it's actually serious business, I'll help out."
After receiving the call and request from Ikezoe, Wada already felt that things were going to go south real soon. But as a good-natured person, he simply couldn't refuse Ikezoe's sincere plea for help. He could only bite the bullet and agree, saying:
"But Ikezoe-kun, I'm sure you know how Orfevre and Curren Chan are... I can help keep an eye on them for you, but there's no way I can promise you that I can restrain them completely. At most, I can buy you some time, and there's no guarantee they won't find you either."
"That's enough! Thank you, Wada-kun! After this is done, drinks at the Izakaya are on me tonight!"
Ikezoe was overjoyed. He knew that his best bro would never disappoint him! He really expected Wada to be a bit more hesitant, but after he honestly explained the entire situation, Wada quickly agreed to help him out. Now, the next step was simple. There was no need for him to come up with some elaborate lie for Orfevre and Curren Chan; all he had to do was leave a sticky note stating that he had urgent business to attend to and that Wada would be taking over their training for today, and it'll suffice.
With that thought, Ikezoe quickly pulled out a sticky note and placed it on his desk. Then, with a clear conscience, he headed to the school gate, waiting for Maruzensky's appearance...
"Hoo—!"
Ikezoe waited for several minutes before he finally heard the distant sound of a car engine approaching from the road at Tracen Academy's main gate. Before Ikezoe could even react, that distant sound quickly became "not so distant" as he saw a dazzling red supercar suddenly arrive in front of him at most certainly unsafe speeds. Despite the high speeds, the car managed to stop smoothly without any collision or accidents.
"Hi, Trainer Ikezoe. Hurry and get in before anyone follows us~"
In the driver's seat, Maruzensky, wearing sunglasses, waved familiarly at Ikezoe. Then she patted the passenger seat beside her and said to Ikezoe: "Hurry up, I don't want to get surrounded by reporters or the kids."
Maruzensky's easygoing way of interacting made it seem like she could get along with anyone. Anyone who had seen how the two interacted would never have known that it was only their second time meeting. And though Ikezoe felt uncomfortable, since he was the one who initiated the call, he obediently sat in the passenger seat.
"Hehe, buckle up and prepare yourself. People used to call me the Drift King back then, you know~?" Seeing that Ikezoe had already fastened his seatbelt, Maruzensky's lips curved into a smile. Then her eyes focused intently on the road ahead.
"It's fine, I like driving fast." Ikezoe wasn't too alarmed by her words. After all, he had ridden in sports cars before. Even sports cars driven in cities like Tokyo generally weren't very fast, as the traffic was extremely congested, which made supercars basically neutered.
"What I want to know more now, Miss Maruzensky, is where are we going? Why exactly did you want to meet—"
"VROOOMM!!!"
As Maruzensky stepped on the gas pedal, the car's engine roared to life. And poor old Ikezoe suddenly felt the forces of gravity working against him as his entire body was forced into the back of the seat! The next moment, only the sound of a supercar and the sound of fast winds could be heard!
"—MEEEEEEE????!!!!"
Ikezoe couldn't even react before his facial expression contorted. He had only managed to finish his sentence in time, but even his sound was carried away by the whistling wind, disappearing somewhere unknown...
"Huh? What did you say? I didn't hear you clearly just now."
Maruzensky, however, didn't care at all. Her beautiful hair fluttered in the wind, looking quite dashing, and her sunglasses, made of some unknown material, weren't blown away despite their position and the intense wind pressure. Ikezoe didn't respond at the moment as he was too shocked by the speeds they were going at. He gripped everything he could for his dear life before regaining his cool and shouted against the wind pressure:
"Everything—why are we driving so fast?! Can we slow down? And where exactly are we going?!"
"Oh, that, Trainer Ikezoe, didn't you say you like driving fast? I'm even going slightly faster than I usually drive to add some spice to the journey." Maruzensky said excitedly, without any trace of guilt:
"I looove~ driving fast, but even Rudolf and Air Groove don't want to ride in my car anymore... You're the first person in a long time to tell me I can drive fast!"
"As for why so fast—if we don't go this fast, we can't shake off those pesky reporters. Uma Musume don't just have a single profession, you know? There are many Uma Musume journalists out there. If we don't drive faster than them, how can we shake them off? As for where we're going, of course, it's to a place where people won't disturb us. Don't worry, Big sis here knows this place very well. There will definitely not be a third party to eavesdrop on us when we talk~"
Saying this, Maruzensky pressed the accelerator even harder, as if she didn't need to worry about the engine blowing up. Her supercar was also quite cooperative, driving forward at an even faster speed. As for Ikezoe... at this point, it felt as if no one in the universe cared for his feelings at all. In the end, he was the one that voluntarily chose to walk into hell, so he would inevitably have to bear the punishment...
"...Hoo."
"Alright, we're here." Maruzensky seemed to have finally had her fill of speeding. She let out a comfortable sigh, then turned to look at Ikezoe, who was stumbling out of the car with extreme difficulty. She couldn't help but tease him, asking: "How is it, Trainer Ikezoe? You like to go fast, right?"
"Yeah... just a little stomach discomfort..."
Ikezoe also forced himself to endure the nausea and leaned by the roadside for a while. His complexion looked very poor, as if his body had been hollowed out. Fortunately, he could still hold on. Thanks to his enhanced physique after transmigrating, Ikezoe's endurance in all aspects had become stronger. If he had been put through this before, with his body full of hidden injuries from his racehorse career, he would have probably thrown up long ago.
"Is it even legal for a car to go that fast in Tokyo? Why wasn't there a single other car on the road? Is today some kind of World Car-Free Day? And where did the traffic police go? Aren't they supposed to pull over speeders and fine them?"
At this moment, Ikezoe's heart was filled with all sorts of questions. He felt this seemingly similar world grow extremely alien at this moment. Tokyo with such little traffic seemed wrong no matter how he looked at it...
"Alright, alright, take a motion sickness medicine. It'll help a lot."
Seeing this, Maruzensky stopped teasing Ikezoe. She took out a motion sickness medicine she had prepared earlier and gave it to Ikezoe. Then she pushed open the door of the building she parked in and immediately said:
"Miss Fujin? Is Ines Fujin here? —Ah, yes, I booked private room number one. We're not expecting any additional guests, so please don't let anyone else disturb us."
Maruzensky called over an Uma Musume that seemed to be working part-time here. After quickly arranging everything, Ikezoe, who had taken the motion sickness medicine, felt much better and entered the building. And when that Uma Musume saw Ikezoe, she was slightly surprised and immediately turned to Maruzensky, asking:
"Senpai, isn't this that one famous Trainer from our Academy?! Ikezoe—"
"Shh~ Little Fujin, don't spread this matter outside. I just want to have a little chat with Trainer Ikezoe here, that's all."
Maruzensky quickly covered the mouth of this Uma Musume named "Fujin." Fujin also nodded, indicating that she understood.
"Fujin? Ines Fujin?" However, Ikezoe immediately recognized the Uma Musume in front of him. A racehorse named "Ines" was not common, and the only racehorse that came to his mind was the racehorse called Ines Fujin.
"Oh, Trainer Ikezoe knows me? Hehe~" Ines Fujin also secretly rejoiced upon hearing this. An Uma Musume like her could actually be remembered by such an excellent Trainer. "I work here part-time. This is a place Maruzensky-senpai often comes to. It's soundproofed incredibly well, and the owner here was also once an Uma Musume. So many Uma Musume and their Trainers secretly frequent this place. Ah, the private room is ready. Please go upstairs, both of you. I'll bring up the refreshments."
Ines Fujin quickly ushered Maruzensky and Ikezoe upstairs. Maruzensky didn't react at all to her words. Instead, it was Ikezoe who widened his eyes. Even Ikezoe, who would sink to the bottom of a kiddy pool because of how dense he is, felt something was off when he heard Ines Fujin's words just now...
A place where many Uma Musume and their Trainers secretly frequent. Why secretly? Ikezoe didn't quite understand, but he began to feel that something might be off about this establishment. Those who came here didn't seem to have pure intentions, no matter how he looked at it.
-----+-----
Evil ass umapyoi building.
-----+-----
If you spot any errors, feel free to comment about it and I will fix it as soon as I can.