"Ugh…"
"Have to work again…"
Inside his own foot-massage parlor, Sakuraba Ryo let out one long sigh after another.
"You say that like it's someone else's job. This is your store, isn't it? Aren't you supposed to be working?"
Norn Ace looked at him with speechless disbelief.
"Besides, weren't you the one who told Belno you didn't want any other attendants? If you're not here, this place literally can't run properly."
"Norn, you don't get it. There are times when a person just wants to slack off! It's called a lazy phase! It's human nature!"
Sprawled across the table like a dead fish, Sakuraba Ryo flopped dramatically.
"What lazy phase? You're just lazy."
Norn Ace walked over, reached out with her pale fingers, and lightly pinched his cheek.
"You wouldn't understand. You'll get it when you're older—ow!"
"What kind of line is that? Don't talk to me like I'm a kid! I'm not little!"
The girl's pinch turned into a proper twist, and Sakuraba Ryo's cheek began to throb.
Ah. With that impressive pair bouncing right in front of his face, he had no chance of winning this one.
"Right, right. You're not little. Not little at all."
"You gave in so easily..."
While the two of them were idly bantering, the bell over the shop door rang.
An Umamusume wearing a white cap and sunglasses pushed the door open and stepped inside.
"Hello, this is the place people have been talking about, right…?"
"Yes, this is the rumored foot-massage parlor~"
Norn Ace slipped into work mode in an instant, her face switching to a polished customer-service smile.
"Huh… ma'am… have we met somewhere before?"
"Ah, it's probably just your imagination. I think this is the first time you and I have met~?"
The sunglasses-wearing Umamusume paused almost imperceptibly before giving that answer.
"Is that so…?"
Norn Ace looked at the cap-and-sunglasses-wearing Umamusume in front of her, still feeling like she had seen her somewhere before.
"Anyway, may I go in now?"
"Oh—of course." Norn Ace hurriedly led the girl inside.
"By the way, how should I address you?"
"..."
The mysterious guest lowered her head and thought for a moment before answering.
"Luna. You can just call me Luna."
"Luna… got it! This way, Luna-san!"
...
When Sakuraba Ryo led the self-proclaimed "Luna" into one of the quieter private service rooms and gestured for her to sit in the comfortable massage chair, Luna did not take her seat immediately.
She looked around the room, which had been arranged with remarkable professionalism—almost elegance—and finally let her gaze settle on Sakuraba Ryo just as he was about to fetch some hot water.
"Sakuraba-san, right?"
Luna spoke up. Even through those sunglasses, her voice carried the faintest trace of scrutiny.
"I'm a little curious. As the owner of a shop with such a... distinctive style, why did you choose to open it in a place like Kasamatsu?"
She tilted her head slightly. Beneath the brim of her cap, her gaze seemed locked onto him with uncanny precision.
"The spending power here is probably nowhere near what you'd find in the city where Tracen Academy is. And from what I've heard, your promotional focus seems to be more on... Tracen Academy?"
Huh?
When did I ever promote this place at Tracen Academy?
Wait...
Did somebody help advertise the shop for me?
No wonder so many Umamusume from Tokyo have been showing up lately...
Holy hell!
Some bastard is making me work overtime!
Who was it?!
Luna sharply sensed the pressure around Sakuraba Ryo's back drop all at once. A strange atmosphere—confusion, sudden realization, and finally a powerful grudge—began to spread soundlessly through the room.
He hadn't made a sound. He hadn't made any exaggerated movement either. And yet Luna could practically see a dark cloud of low pressure forming over his head.
"…?"
One of Luna's brows twitched faintly behind her sunglasses.
Was it her imagination?
A thread of doubt rose in her mind.
Why had this shop owner reacted so... strangely the moment she mentioned promotion at Tracen Academy?
That was not the reaction of someone surprised that his business strategy had been seen through. If anything, it looked more like... the bone-deep resentment of an overworked employee discovering he'd been saddled with a pile of extra work for no good reason.
"Ahem." Sakuraba Ryo finally turned around, forcing a service smile onto his face—professional enough, technically speaking, though no matter how one looked at it, it was a little strained, with even the corner of his mouth twitching almost imperceptibly. "Luna-san, I think you may have misunderstood. This shop... does not currently have such lofty promotional plans."
His tone was steady, but with her keen powers of observation, Luna still caught the fleeting trace buried underneath it—something that sounded suspiciously like gritted teeth.
Sakuraba Ryo gently set the wooden bucket full of hot water beside Luna's feet, his face wearing an impeccable, almost warm professional smile.
"Luna-san, please relax. I'll provide you with the best service."
His tone was mild. His movements were textbook-perfect. Everything about him looked thoroughly professional.
And yet, looking at that excessively "kind" smile, Luna found herself blinking behind her sunglasses. An inexplicable sense of unease stirred in her chest.
There was technically nothing wrong with that smile. But it somehow felt like a flawless mask laid over something else, enough to set off a quiet warning deep in her instincts.
Was it just her imagination? Perhaps this shop owner simply had exceptionally good service manners?
After hesitating for a moment, she ultimately chose to behave as a proper customer should. She gave a soft "Mm," then obediently lowered her feet into the pleasantly heated water.
Warm water wrapped around her feet, bringing with it a soothing sense of relaxation that temporarily suppressed that vague, hard-to-name suspicion.
She watched as Sakuraba Ryo rolled up his sleeves, crouched down in front of her, and made the final preparations before beginning the massage.
Maybe... I really am overthinking this?
Luna told herself that silently and decided to simply enjoy the supposedly extraordinary service.
As everyone knew, Sakuraba Ryo was a fine young man who never stewed in his own frustration.
Whenever something like this came up, he chose to vent it immediately instead.
My apologies, Luna-san.
Please accept my sincerest service!
Without another word, Sakuraba Ryo plunged both hands into the warm water and precisely seized Luna's pale feet.
There was a faint impatience in his movements. Rather than serving a customer, he looked more like a man trying to finish an urgent task as quickly as possible.
His fingertips pressed down hard, almost roughly, onto the pressure points on the soles of her feet.
"Mm...!"
The sudden, intense stimulation forced a short, muffled sound from Luna's throat. Instinctively, she tried to pull her feet back, but Sakuraba Ryo held them firmly in place, leaving her unable to move.
There was an uncompromising force in his grip, and the places he pressed were brutal in their precision. Soreness, swelling, numbness—every sensation shot through her in an instant like an electric current, making her whole body tense uncontrollably.
This technique... is way too rough!
And yet, in the midst of that near-torment, something strange began to spread.
That forceful pressure seemed to pierce straight through flesh and strike every knot of fatigue and stiffness that had built up through her daily work.
The aching, overwhelming soreness that had been unbearable at first began, bizarrely, to transform into a deeper sense of release. It was as if blocked passages were being forcibly cleared, as if muscles stretched taut to their limit were finally—after the pain—being allowed a level of relaxation they had never known before.
An indescribable comfort began to bloom from within that rough technique, flowing slowly through every limb like warm water.
A flush spread uncontrollably across Luna's cheeks. This time, it was not embarrassment, but the body's most honest response.
She bit down hard on her lower lip, trying to hold back whatever strange sounds might spill out. Behind her sunglasses, her eyes grew faintly moist and unfocused from the sheer complexity and intensity of the sensation.
Th-this feeling... what is this...?
I...
I'm not going to be able to hold it in...
"OooOOOooooOOOooo~~~~~!"
And so, the shop gained its second fairy lady.
---
T/N: this luna person is my side piece