A few days later.
Sakuraba's foot-massage parlor plan was progressing steadily, while on Kitahara's side, Oguri Cap and Belno Light were also continuing their training step by step.
Half the month had already passed, and Sakuraba still had around two million yen left to clear on his loss goal.
But honestly, he wasn't worried at all. There was still half a month left—more than enough time to lose those two million.
Right now, the most important thing on Sakuraba's plate was getting the foot-massage parlor plan fully in place.
He had already dealt with all the issues surrounding the shop itself. The only thing left now was staffing.
If it was going to be a foot-massage parlor, then naturally it would need attendants—and a manager.
Sakuraba wasn't too worried about the attendants. He could just hire a few clueless Umamusume to work there part-time.
As for whether they'd actually be any good at it...
Heh. Who cared how good their foot-massage skills were? He wasn't opening this place to make money anyway. If anything, wasn't it a good thing if the attendants were bad at their jobs?
If the shop's reputation tanked, then no customers would come, right?
And that meant employee wages... shop rent... and all sorts of other miscellaneous expenses could all be counted toward his loss quota!
The attendants' actual skill didn't matter. What mattered was simply having attendants.
That said...
Aside from attendants, Sakuraba really did need to recruit a manager to handle the day-to-day operation of the foot-massage parlor.
As a professional money-losing investor, once he got this project set up, he was obviously going to shift his focus to other ventures.
When that happened, this foot-massage parlor would need to function as a stable, ongoing loss-generating project for him. But by then, he wouldn't be able to personally juggle too many things at once.
So he needed someone to manage it for him.
And as for who that someone should be...
Sakuraba already had someone in mind.
"Belno-san, I've got a difficult mission I want to entrust to you!"
"Eh?"
Belno Light let out a startled little cry, like a rabbit caught off guard, at being addressed so suddenly by Sakuraba.
"W-what mission, Sakuraba-san?"
Although Belno Light had joined Sakuraba's team, she still wasn't all that familiar with him.
Toward this investor who had boldly chosen to invest in Oguri Cap, she still felt a certain degree of awe.
Even though Sakuraba didn't actually look that much older than she was, why did she always feel like he belonged to an entirely older generation?
Mmm...
Maybe that was just the difference in life experience...
"To be honest with you, I actually have other investment projects under my care too... but I've been struggling because I don't have enough people to help me manage things."
Sakuraba put on a troubled expression as he made his request to Belno Light.
"If you helped me, Belno-san, I'm sure it'd be fine! You seem especially good at humanities, so if it's you, I know you can handle it!"
Fun fact! Being good at humanities had absolutely nothing to do with being able to manage a shop. That was a completely baseless theory Sakuraba had just made up.
His goal was simple: he just needed a manager who could help him calculate how much money the place could lose each month.
If anything, just like the attendants, his foot-massage parlor specifically did not need someone with exceptional management ability.
The whole point was to lose money. If someone genuinely competent took over, the foot-massage parlor might actually start looking like a proper business, and that was the exact opposite of what Sakuraba wanted.
What he needed was an Umamusume with zero experience in this sort of thing to manage it. That was perfect.
And just look—wasn't a plain, ordinary-looking girl like Belno Light the ideal choice?
"If it's me... you really think I can do it?"
Belno Light had never expected Sakuraba to say something like that to her.
"No way! I-I-I... how could I possibly be qualified for such an important position?!"
She hurriedly waved her hands in protest.
Sure, back in her hometown she had helped out a little with running her family's shop...
But that was her own family's business!
Managing your own family's place and managing someone else's business were two completely different things.
She had no confidence in herself at all—!
The moment Sakuraba saw how shaken she was, he knew he had a chance.
This girl in front of him was just lacking confidence. All he had to do was give her a little push from behind!
"Oh dear, but Belno-san is the person I think is best suited for this position."
Sakuraba deliberately put on a distressed look, making himself seem especially helpless and vulnerable.
"It's just that my money didn't come blowing in on the wind either. If I can't solve the staffing issue for this position, it'll probably end up affecting my investment in Oguri... Well, if you really don't want to help, then I guess I'll just have to find someone else..."
"Ah... I really did want to help Oguri-san..."
Perfect!
A flawless little guilt-trip performance from Sakuraba!
All he had to do was use Oguri as bait and hook the part of Belno-san that wanted to help her friend!
Sorry about this, Belno-san. For the sake of my grand money-losing enterprise, let me make a tiny bit of use of that heart of yours that wants to help your friend!
Just as Sakuraba expected, the moment he said he was doing all this for Oguri Cap's sake, Belno Light wavered even more.
"Mmm... this really is a good chance to help Oguri...!"
Belno Light was a simple, honest girl. She knew very clearly what she could do and what she couldn't.
She knew perfectly well that, as an Umamusume, her talent on the racetrack could only be called ordinary.
If she wanted to stand on the same racetrack as Oguri Cap as a competitor, that dream was nothing short of fantasy.
But as Oguri Cap's friend, she still wanted to stay by her side.
So if becoming a racer who could stand alongside her wasn't possible, then she would just have to help in another way!
She wanted to be of use to Oguri Cap.
So...
"Sakuraba-san, please leave this position to me!"
The short-curled-haired girl patted her chest seriously as she spoke.
"I'll definitely achieve something that can help Oguri-san!"
Hoho, what a conviction-filled line. Ah, youth~
The corners of Sakuraba's mouth curled up, like an old hunter watching prey walk right into the trap.
"Then I'm counting on you, Belno-san! This position is yours!"
Patting Belno Light on the shoulder, Sakuraba said it with a smile.
Excellent!
Full of spirit!
From today onward, Miss Belno Light, you are my number two star in my great enterprise of losing money!
Heh heh heh. The future was looking bright indeed!
When Belno Light saw the satisfied smile on Sakuraba's face, something in her heart stirred.
Sakuraba-san really was such a good person. He trusted her abilities this much...
Belno Light, you've got to do your best!
The girl cheered herself on in her heart.
---
T/N: yes yes more stars huehuehuehue oh uh heres belno light oh and theres no way someone from the boonies working her familys rinky dink shop can manage even a regional shop heh
YOU MIGHT BE ASKING WHY IS THERE ANOTHER UPDATE OF UMA MONEY ALREADY? well im trying to catch up to the webnovel amount of chapters rune has or something idk, or mayube i just like it, honestly no reason so dont expect anything from me unless money heuheuheuhe
ignore above message since thats patreon related