Uma Musume Pretty Derby: To The Basement [185]

The nights at Tracen Academy were always quiet. Aside from staff on night shifts, nocturnal gamers, and some trainers still being uma-pyoi’d by their Uma, most people were already snug in their warm beds, deep in dreamland.

Mizuno took out his phone to check the time—it was already past two in the morning, with roughly three or four hours left until sunrise.

The sunflower before him had successfully made it past the seedling stage. Its previously centimeter-long stem had now grown over ten centimeters tall, and atop the stem appeared a small flower bud, marking its official entry into the budding stage.

This was the sunflower’s most vigorous period of growth, requiring massive amounts of nutrients—approximately 40% to 50% of its total lifetime demand—for both vegetative and reproductive growth simultaneously.

Normally, a sunflower would need about twenty days from budding to bloom. But thanks to the stimulation from the Plant Growth Potion, it might now bloom in just two hours—barely enough to blossom before sunrise.

For these next two hours, Mizuno had to remain extremely cautious. No mistakes allowed—because if it failed now, there wouldn’t be enough time left tonight to grow another one.

Of course, even if tonight ended in failure, nothing serious would happen. They could simply try again tomorrow night. But still, if success could come tonight, nothing would be better.

“Um...” Air Groove suddenly spoke up hesitantly, looking a bit awkward as she glanced toward Mizuno. “Didn’t I already surrender? Why are you still staring at me?”

“?” Mizuno twitched in surprise, feeling confused and shocked by her accusation.

Indeed, beneath his hood, Mizuno’s eyes occasionally glanced toward Air Groove—secretly observing her micro-expressions to indirectly gauge the sunflower’s condition...

But outwardly, Mizuno was clearly facing the sunflower the whole time. From any external perspective, no one would suspect him of anything—they would only see a trainer carefully observing a plant.

How did Air Groove know he was sneaking glances?

“...” Mizuno remained silent, continuing to stare directly at the sunflower, assuming Air Groove was merely bluffing. Surely she didn’t actually know.

But Air Groove genuinely seemed to sense Mizuno’s gaze. Seeing that Mizuno not only refused to admit it but also continued playing innocent, her frustration grew.

“Trainer Mizuno...” Air Groove narrowed her eyes dangerously, her aura darkening. “You’re peeking at me, aren’t you?”

“...” Mizuno still didn’t say a word. On the surface, he appeared calm, but beneath the hood, cold sweat poured down his forehead.

This is bad. How on earth did she notice? Is the gap in my hood too wide? Did she manage to catch sight of my eyes?

Mizuno quickly reached up, tugging down the brim of his hood slightly.

“Hmmm—” But Air Groove continued staring suspiciously, convinced Mizuno was secretly watching her.

“Tch...” Mizuno hadn’t anticipated karmic retribution would come so swiftly. Just moments ago, he had been relentlessly staring at Air Groove, pressuring her into admitting defeat. Now, fate had reversed, and the pressure was entirely on him...

And now, another major problem had appeared!

Earlier, Mizuno’s gaze on Air Groove had no negative effect on the cultivation, as observing her micro-expressions allowed him to indirectly determine the sunflower’s condition.

But now Air Groove was staring at Mizuno, rendering this tactic utterly useless!

If Air Groove wasn’t looking at the sunflower, Mizuno couldn’t deduce its condition either—meaning the entire experiment could fail immediately!

So, for the sake of the sunflower’s successful cultivation, Mizuno couldn’t let this second Mizuno-Air Groove cold war drag on any longer. He had to quickly think of a reasonable excuse to address Air Groove’s deadly question.

In typical school romance dramas, when caught secretly staring at a girl, the best response was usually a direct confession: “Actually, I’ve always liked you, but I couldn’t bring myself to confess, so I could only watch secretly from afar...”

Though potentially embarrassing, at least it wouldn’t brand one as a creepy stalker. If the other person reciprocated, it might even blossom into romance…

But Mizuno’s current target was an Uma!

Confessing to an Uma?! Did he have a death wish?!

Even though Mizuno’s current outward gender was set as female, it was well-known that female trainers at Tracen Academy weren’t immune to being uma-pyoi’d by Uma. And it happened quite often!

In such circumstances, the only realistic option for Mizuno was to simply tell the truth…

“Sorry, Air Groove-sensei. I lied to you...” Mizuno awkwardly scratched his face.

“Actually, I never learned how to listen to the flowers’ voices at all.”

“Hah?!” Air Groove tilted her head, frozen in shock.

Hadn’t she just asked this Trainer Mizuno why he was peeking at her?

Air Groove had mentally prepared herself for Mizuno’s confession—though she wouldn’t have accepted it, given he was currently identified as a female, and the traditionally-minded Air Groove wasn’t quite ready for a same-sex relationship.

Yet, completely outside Air Groove’s expectations, Trainer Mizuno didn’t follow the script at all?! He suddenly revealed he couldn’t actually listen to the flowers! Air Groove’s mind short-circuited, completely unable to process this information.

Even after recovering from her shock, Air Groove found herself even more confused.

If Trainer Mizuno couldn’t listen to the flowers’ voices, then how had he been accurately determining the sunflower’s condition until now?

“Um...” Seeing Air Groove’s evident confusion, Mizuno quickly explained:

“Though I couldn’t master the flowers’ voices, I found another simpler, rougher method...”

Mizuno then described, in full detail, how he’d deduced the plant’s condition by carefully analyzing Air Groove’s micro-expressions.

Yet Mizuno’s explanation, instead of clarifying things, caused Air Groove’s already overloaded mind to fully short-circuit.

“Reading... my mind?” Air Groove pointed stiffly at herself, frozen like a computer desperately loading, a tiny spinning circle practically visible above her forehead.

Reading minds through micro-expressions—what kind of insane idea was that?! It might sound crude and rough, sure, but it definitely wasn’t simple at all!

“Trainer Mizuno, you—” Air Groove started to question further, but Mizuno interrupted urgently:

“Sensei, now’s not the time to ask questions! If you don’t resume listening to the sunflower immediately, it might die the very next second...!”

“!” Startled by Mizuno’s warning, Air Groove snapped her attention back to the sunflower—and indeed felt something seriously wrong with it!

“Trainer Mizuno!” she called out anxiously.

“Right!” Mizuno moved at once.

Fortunately, this time Air Groove had reacted quickly enough. After Mizuno confirmed the sunflower’s condition through Air Groove, he swiftly took the vial she passed, mixing the correct nutrients in mere seconds, pouring the solution over the sunflower just before it could wither away.

The sunflower quickly stabilized again, continuing onward toward blooming.

“Phew...” Air Groove and Mizuno both exhaled simultaneously in relief.

Unknowingly, the tacit understanding between trainer and Uma seemed to have reached a new and surprising height…

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This is a fan translation of 赛马娘，从入门到地下室 by EEEEE然后亮标 All rights to the original work belong to the creator. Please support them by exploring their original work or sharing it with others if you can. Thank you for reading and supporting my efforts to bring this story to a wider audience!