This was bad.
The moment Sakuraba finished giving Fujimasa March the full treatment, he knew something had gone wrong.
Seriously wrong.
I was pressing that hard, so why do you still look like you enjoyed it?
Is something wrong with you, or is something wrong with me?
No, no, no—there's definitely nothing wrong with my technique...
Then the problem has to be with this Umamusume in front of me!
Damn it. She looks so proper and serious, so why is she actually a Masochist?!
While Sakuraba grumbled to himself, Fujimasa March looked positively refreshed.
Sakuraba's technique had truly caught her off guard...
She had actually been prepared to swallow the loss and endure it.
But she really hadn't expected his service to be this on point.
It was as though he knew exactly where she was uncomfortable—wherever something hurt, that was exactly where he pressed... especially that spot just now...
Remembering how she had lost control a moment ago, Fujimasa March's cheeks flushed faintly.
It was the first time she had ever realized she could make a sound like that...
It felt strangely new...
"Um... should I pay something after all?"
Fujimasa March turned to Sakuraba and said that.
At once, Sakuraba's expression changed.
"No, no, no. I, Sakuraba Ryo, am not the kind of man who goes back on his word. If I said I'd treat you for free, then it's free. How could I charge you?"
"I see..."
Since Sakuraba insisted on not taking her money, Fujimasa March had no intention of forcing the matter. She simply made a mental note of the favor, thinking that once she started earning prize money from races later, she would come support this shop a few more times.
After chatting briefly, Sakuraba led Fujimasa March back out to the lobby.
Norn Ace, who had been waiting there forever, saw the constipated look on Sakuraba's face and couldn't help teasing him.
"Hehe, my dear boss, what's this? Didn't do too well? It's okay—if you messed it up, just say so. Mini and the others won't laugh at you~"
"Oh, get lost."
Sakuraba rolled his eyes.
"That's not it. Sakuraba-san's technique is amazing. It really is worth the price."
Off to the side, Fujimasa March took the initiative to defend him.
"Huh? Seriously?"
Norn Ace looked stunned. She gave Fujimasa March a careful once-over and found that her skin really did seem a little more moisturized and smooth than before.
Was the effect really that good?
If even March was saying that, then Sakuraba's skills had to be the real deal...
"No wonder, Boss—you didn't hire any other staff because you had this in reserve all along."
"It's not like I was hiding it. You just didn't believe me."
Listening to Norn Ace praise him, Sakuraba felt uncomfortable all over.
At this point, there was no way he could admit that he'd just been randomly mashing at her.
"Oh right, where's Oguri Cap? She's not here?" Fujimasa March asked curiously.
"Oguri? She's over at the training grounds practicing with Kitahara."
"What do you want with her?"
"Nothing... I was just a little curious about her, that's all."
Fujimasa March shook her head with a smile.
"In any case, thank you for the hospitality today. If I get the chance, I'll come again."
"N-Next time?"
No, don't, please.
If you come again, won't that mean I'll have to make money?!
Damn it, that service really did mess things up!
Ugh, ugh, ugh—Sakuraba, move that super brain of yours and think of something!
Unfortunately, by the time Fujimasa March left, Sakuraba still hadn't come up with any good excuse to stop her from coming back.
Sigh. This one's on me...
...
Time flowed on, and the rest of the month passed in the blink of an eye.
During that time, Sakuraba crammed a bunch of knowledge about the world of Umamusume into his head.
By now, he had more or less figured out what Kitahara had meant back then about gray-haired Umamusume not being able to run fast.
That saying itself wasn't exactly false. There really weren't many gray-haired Umamusume who had ever produced notable results...
A gray-haired Umamusume like Oguri Cap, who could show such outstanding ability even in the academy's practice races, was extremely rare.
If not one in ten thousand, then at least one in a thousand.
Sakuraba had no idea whether to call himself lucky or unlucky. He had picked a gray-haired Umamusume at random, and she just so happened to be this exceptional.
But a choice was a choice. At this point, complaining about it was useless.
With the time left in the month, Sakuraba also took Oguri Cap around the restaurants on the shopping street and swept through them one by one.
She emptied out the ingredients in people's kitchens several times over. If Sakuraba hadn't called a halt to it, Oguri Cap really might have eaten one of those restaurants into collapse.
Thanks to Oguri Cap's monstrously powerful appetite, Sakuraba managed to clear half of the remaining two million yen on his loss quota for the month.
As for the final one million yen of that loss quota, he paid it out to Norn Ace and the others as wages.
Originally, Norn Ace and the others had only planned to work at the foot-massage parlor for a week. But after actually experiencing the working environment, they found it unexpectedly decent and all decided they wanted to renew.
Naturally, Sakuraba wasn't going to let such a perfect chance to burn through his loss quota slip away, so he signed them all on.
That said, a few irritating things had still happened during this period.
The biggest one was Fujimasa March.
Sakuraba didn't think he'd done anything weird, did he?
But that girl had somehow acquired a taste for it—she kept dropping by every so often just to get a massage from him.
What, are my massage skills addictive?
No, seriously, one trip to the foot-massage parlor costs a hundred thousand yen!
Are you really that rich?
Damn it. Curse those rich people.
And thanks to Fujimasa March, Sakuraba's foot-massage parlor had turned a profit of 200,000 yen, which meant he had to figure out a way to lose that money all over again.
It was infuriating.
Sakuraba felt like he had to give Fujimasa March an ugly nickname.
It's decided!
From now on, you're Ooooooo~~~~ Fairy Number One!
If you push me too far one day, I'll secretly record that oooooo~~~~ noise of yours and use it to threaten you!
"Fujimasa-san, you wouldn't want other people hearing your oooooo voice, would you?"
"So next time, don't come back!"
Well, those were all just things Sakuraba thought about in his head.
He still wouldn't actually do it.
At the end of the day, she was a paying customer who hadn't actually done anything wrong.
It was just really, reallyaggravating!
In any case, after finding a way to spend another 200,000 yen on extra food for Oguri Cap, Sakuraba finally completed his loss quota successfully by the end of the month.
[DETECTED! HOST HAS COMPLETED THIS MONTH'S TASK OF LOSING 5,000,000 YEN. ADDITIONAL REWARDS WILL NOW BE ISSUED.]
[PHYSICAL ABILITY INCREASED!]
[ATTRACTIVENESS TO UMAMUSUME INCREASED!]
[NEXT-STAGE TASK: LOSE 8,000,000 YEN WITHIN THIS MONTH.]
[LOSS FUNDS HAVE BEEN TRANSFERRED TO YOUR ACCOUNT. PLEASE CHECK AND CONFIRM.]
"Well, that's an unexpected bonus."
Sakuraba's eyes lit up as he looked at the extra rewards the system had given him.
Losing money can raise my physical ability too? There's something this good?
But what does increased attractiveness to Umamusume even mean...
Is it supposed to make it easier for me to invest in new Umamusume?
If that's what it means, then that's actually a pretty nice reward.
---
T/N: wait... WAITTTTTT ATTRACTIVENESS TO UMAMUSUME....?
could it be....? no i must be overthinking... NO yes... im overthinking it...
yes im overthinking it.... its prob just for attracting new investments....