Chapter 417: Uma Musume Pretty Derby: To The Basement [417]
"A misunderstanding... How is that possible..."
Hishi Amazon stared at Mizuno, who was being protected behind Tazuna, her pupils trembling. She truly did not want to accept that explanation.
The man she had branded as a scumbag in her heart was actually a good person?!
"Could it be..." Amazon’s gaze snapped toward Fuji Kiseki beside her, and she instantly recalled the message her friend had been trying to get across all this time.
"Amazon, he’s a good person!" Fuji Kiseki had said that whenever Hishi Amazon let go of her mouth.
At first, Amazon had thought Fuji had been bewitched by Mizuno and turned into a minion of evil, which was why she kept twisting right and wrong to speak up for a scumbag.
Otherwise, why hadn’t Fuji said from the very beginning that Mizuno was a good person? Why had she told Amazon about that guy’s "glorious achievements" instead, then joined forces with her to capture him and bring him here?
Could it be that Fuji had actually lied to her? That capturing Mizuno had really been so she could keep him for herself?
But how could her best friend hide this from her and sneak a bite in secret? That was obviously impossible.
As a rival and fellow dorm leader, Amazon still trusted Fuji Kiseki very much.
That was why Amazon had stubbornly clung to her view, insisting that Mizuno was a bad person, punishing him and vowing to help other Umamusume avoid being harmed by this scumbag.
But now, even Hayakawa-san, the person with the greatest authority at Tracen and the one most respected by the Umamusume, had said this. Amazon had no choice but to consider whether her own thinking had really been right...
Hayakawa-san was an elder who cared deeply about the academy’s Umamusume. She looked after everyone like a mother, so there was no way anything she said to them could be even half false.
If she really had misunderstood him, then what did that make her imprisonment of this guy over the past few days? Wasn’t that bullying a good person?!
"How could this be..." Amazon pressed a hand to her forehead. Her vision gradually blurred, and her mind felt dazed.
She had clearly captured Mizuno to become a hero who punished evil and upheld justice, yet in the end, she had become a perpetrator who misunderstood a good person and bullied the weak?!
"Maybe... Hayakawa-san was bewitched too?" Amazon bit her lip hard, her fierce pride automatically coming up with an excuse for herself.
But the sense of justice in her heart told her that if the truth really was as Tazuna said, and she could not even bring herself to admit her mistake, instead stubbornly continuing down the wrong path, then what right did she have to call herself a hero who protected the weak?
"Who exactly is right?" Amazon fell into confusion for a moment, not knowing whether she should believe Mizuno was a good person now, or continue treating him as a bad person.
Seeing Amazon’s indecision, Tazuna withdrew the hand she had been using to stroke Mizuno’s head and walked over instead, gently placing it on Amazon’s head.
"If you can’t judge whether someone is good or bad, then go ask other people for their opinions."
"Other people?" Amazon lifted her eyes to look at Tazuna in front of her.
"That’s right. For example, the people involved..." Tazuna smiled. "Didn’t you say President Rudolf and the others were also harmed by Trainer Mizuno? Then go ask them. To them, does Trainer Mizuno really count as a scumbag?"
"But they’ve already been bewitched..." Amazon had only just started to say something when Tazuna interrupted her.
"Then go ask even more people," Tazuna continued. "His trainees, his coworkers, and everyone who knows him. Find out what they think of him, and you’ll know what kind of person he is."
"Mm, exactly." Fuji Kiseki, off to the side, nodded in agreement.
"Uh..." Amazon looked at Fuji speechlessly, very much wanting to retort at her best friend right then and there.
Wasn’t the whole reason she had treated this guy as a scumbag because Fuji had spent the past few days constantly saying bad things about him?!
"..." Amazon fell silent for a while, then asked Tazuna, "If his nature really is rotten, and he’s just very good at pretending, so no one else knows his true face, would he still count as a good person?"
"Hehe, of course he would." Tazuna smiled gently.
"As they say, judge deeds, not hearts. If he’s acting, and he acts for a lifetime, then he’s a good person for a lifetime, isn’t he?"
"Guh..." Amazon wanted very badly to argue, but she did not know what to say, because Tazuna was right.
Her understanding of Mizuno only came from that brief glimpse in front of the Three Goddesses’ statue, as well as Fuji Kiseki’s descriptions of him. In truth, she did not actually know what kind of image Mizuno had in other people’s eyes.
On top of that, Symboli Rudolf and the others, desperate to find Mizuno, had put two kidnappers on the academy’s wanted list. Since Amazon could not return to Tracen, she had even less chance to learn the truth.
If the facts really are as Hayakawa-san says, will I be able to accept it? Amazon pressed a hand to her chest, and a faint thought of retreating rose in her heart despite herself.
If she, who claimed to stand for justice, was truly a persecutor who bullied a good person without distinguishing right from wrong, then for Amazon, who carried the ideal of protecting the weak, it would undoubtedly be a tremendous blow, one that struck deep into her soul.
However, Amazon’s urge to retreat vanished in an instant, and the more she thought about it, the angrier she became.
On one hand, she felt ashamed of her own cowardice for not daring to face her mistake. On the other, she was actually afraid to accept a challenge!
That was right. This was also a challenge, one that tested her ability to judge people and her pride!
As long as it was a challenge, she had no reason to refuse!
Who was right and who was wrong? Only practice could test the truth!
"Fine! Then I’ll ask!" Amazon gritted her teeth, her expression determined, and confidently thumped her own chest.
"If I really was wrong, then I’ll admit it! I absolutely won’t run away!"
"Very good." Seeing that Amazon was willing to verify it herself, Tazuna clapped her hands in satisfaction.
"How are we going to ask? Are we going back to Tracen to ask them?" Hearing that, Fuji Kiseki lowered her head guiltily, nervously fiddling with her fingers. "Why don’t we just call and ask from here? Going back would waste too much time..."
"No, we can’t do that." Tazuna shook her head, seeing through Fuji’s little scheme at a glance.
Tazuna had served at Tracen for many years, so she understood this Ritto Dorm leader quite well.
Although Fuji and Amazon were both Umamusume who looked after their juniors and were gentle and kind, once Fuji Kiseki came across something she liked, she could not help wanting to use trickery, like magic, to hide away the thing she loved.
The reason Trainer Mizuno had been kidnapped and brought here was probably Fuji Kiseki’s plan.
And now, Fuji’s refusal to go back was also because she wanted to keep Trainer Mizuno hidden here, so that she could enjoy the fun brought by the person she liked anytime, anywhere.
But Tazuna was a little puzzled. Although Fuji Kiseki usually liked putting on little magic tricks and fooling younger girls for a bit of fun, she should not have gone so far as to trick her best friend of many years, then imprison the person she liked so she could enjoy him alone, right?
Could this be the intense possessiveness caused by Trainer Mizuno’s Uma Mint constitution?
Tazuna still had no way of knowing that...
Still, Tazuna personally felt that Mizuno’s Uma Mint was not actually as terrifying as people imagined. At least, she herself had not been affected much.
She had simply suddenly started wanting very much to have a baby Umamusume with Trainer Mizuno, that was all. A perfectly normal need...
If I help Trainer Mizuno solve this problem, will Trainer Mizuno be very moved and give me a little reward that I want? As Tazuna thought about it, the tail hidden beneath her skirt could not help standing straight up, lifting part of the skirt with it.
Tazuna wiped away her drool and looked at Fuji Kiseki with a beaming smile.
"Fuji Kiseki, you’re worried President Rudolf will hold you accountable after we go back, aren’t you? Don’t worry. If this really is a misunderstanding, I’ll make sure President Rudolf and the others won’t hold you responsible."
"This... Fine..." Seeing that her little scheme had been seen through, Fuji Kiseki could only sigh in disappointment.
If only she could beat Hayakawa-san, or outrun her...
Unfortunately, with Hayakawa-san’s strength, even if she let Fuji Kiseki run a few hundred meters first, Fuji Kiseki still would not be able to escape. It seemed she could only obediently follow them back to Tracen...
"Hehe~" Seeing that Fuji Kiseki had also agreed, Tazuna nodded in satisfaction.
Then Tazuna came to Mizuno’s side and naturally linked her arm around his.
"Come on, Trainer Mizuno. Let’s go back now. With me here, you’re very safe."
"Am... Am I?" The corner of Mizuno’s mouth twitched as he lowered his head and stared at his arm, which was being held tightly. At that moment, it was already deeply buried in those soft peaks of hers.
Was he really safe? Why did it feel like he had been targeted by an even more dangerous giant beast?
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T/N: you’re sooooooooooooooooooooo safe
BASEMENT AUTHOR PLEASE POST!!!!!!!!!!! THEY HAVENT POSTED IN LIKE 3 WEEKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! OUGH
