SPE-CHAN'S BIRTHDAY DINNER

Maruzensky looked up at her calendar. A glossy red racecar was pictured above, matching the pen Maruzen held in her hand.
May 2nd.
That date was the date she circled with her pen, the date that she woke up with a beaming grin on her face.
That was today's date.

With wind blowing through her voluminous hair and her foot slamming the acceleration pedal, she hurled towards Tracen Academy to catch a certain purple Umamusume.
The engine roared. The exhaust heaved. The wheels on Tata spun exceptionally fast, accompanied by The Rolling Stones blasting from the already rowdy car.
Maruzensky was feeling as great as ever, as such she ended up almost missing the turn off to Tracen Academy.
Slamming the door behind her, she walked towards the lofty building and steered straight past Tazuna at the front gates to hopefully catch her favourite junior. Tazuna gave her a warm smile that was laced with sarcasm, either from the fact Maruzen had not even greeted her or from the pair of orange, retro sunglasses sitting atop her head.

“Spe! There you are!”
Special week had gotten up earlier that morning and was just finishing up her stretches with Silence Suzuka, with Grass Wonder and El Condor Pasa chatting nearby. All 4 of the juniors paused and turned their heads to see a charging Maruzensky coming towards them.
“Eh?” Special Week's face lit up after a moment of confusion.
“Spe! Happy Birthday, girl!” Maruzen came to a halt and opened her arms, welcoming an embrace with Spe. She let out a small giggle as she was pulled closer by Maruzen, being almost fully engulfed by her. The others stiffly watched the events play out with a nervous smile on their faces.
“Maruzensky... Thank you!” Spe pulled away from the tight embrace. “Don't you have a day off today? What are you doing at the academy?”

Maruzen chuckled. “I'm here to invite you to a gnarly birthday dinner after training! Have you been to the Chinese restaurant around the corner? It's like, super funky-fresh!”
Spe's face turned from a gentle smile to one filled with excitement and anticipation. “No! But I'm willing to try!” She said, thrilled. “Although I've heard it's really expensive...”
“Oh, that's what you're worried about? Leave it to me, I'll pay~” Maruzen stopped to greet the other juniors, who were all stifling their giggles.
“Spe, why don't your mates come along too?” Grass wonder looked back at El Condor Pasa, who was already dreaming of what the food would taste like.
“Thank you... Maruzensky. That works.” Suzuka held her hands up to her chest. The other's facial expressions said all that Maruzen needed to know.

“Awesome! It's sorted then! Catch you on the flip side!” Maruzen eagerly waved back at the juniors, who politely waved back with a sunny expression.
As fast as it had happened, Maruzensky was back in the front seat of Tata, shredding tyres and hooning down roads without a care in the world.

“WOW! That's an amazing time Suzuka!” Special week's voice boasted across the field. Suzuka used her knees to rebalance herself and catch her breath, beads of sweat dripping into the grass. Spe handed her a towel which she had clutched with the stopwatch, which Suzuka used to wipe across her soaked forehead.
“You've worked so hard today...” Spe's eyes sparkled as she gazed back at Suzuka. Grass followed behind, coming to a halt near the two and El Condor Pasa caught up.
“Hey, what's the time?” El said, caught between deep breaths. “I'm excited to eat some spicy food!”

Spe glanced at her wrist, reading the time. It was 7:05, time had flown by for the juniors.
“It's about time to start getting ready for dinner!” Special week declared. A sly grin spread across El's face. The 4 walked back towards the academy, wiping sweat off their faces.
“Hey, El, maybe you could go a bit softer on the chilli tonight? Remember what occurred last time...” A concerned Grass Wonder turned to face El, whose smirk had not faulted.
“Spe, do you have anything to wear?” Suzuka spoke. “You can always borrow an outfit from me if you need.”
The 4 chattered away, enthusiastic about that night.

The walk around the corner to the restaurant took no more than 10 minutes, making it there right on time to meet Maruzensky. They could spot Tata waiting in the carpark, and not too long after Maruzen was waiting outside. Her striking outfit stood out; a maroon 80s style dress accompanied by the same retro sunglasses she had been wearing that morning. She strolled towards the juniors to greet them, her red heels clicking against the concrete.

“Wow! You guys are decked out!”
Spe walked towards the curiously dressed senior with the others following close behind.
“Shall we get rolling?” Maruzen held her hand up to her face. “Let me show you to our table~”
Special week really appreciated the time Maruzensky took to organise this all, and the others looked just as grateful. They made their way to a large table, decorated with an elegant vase at the center of the table next to floral candles and a stylish table runner patterned with foliage. A vintage chandelier sat atop the table, illuminating the bustling corner. Smooth jazz music flowed throughout the restaurant from the gramophone sitting on the front counter.

“Far out!” Maruzensky exclaimed, pulling chairs for the juniors to sit. All of them knew it would be fancy, but not this fancy.
All of them, including Maruzen, stopped in awe to take in the setting once they sat down.
“Once again, thank you for this Maruzensky.” Silence Suzuka cracked a small smile, gazing up at Maruzen.
“No problemo!” Maruzensky exclaimed. “The trolley is coming around soon, I'm hyped to see what they have here~”
El Condor Pasa had already spotted the table with condiments and gotten out of her seat, helping herself to a side of chilli with Grass Wonder staring intently as if to scold her. Grass let out a long sigh.
“I apologise for El's rude behaviour...” Grass said, with El's head whipping around as she said that. Maruzen said nothing but laughed as she stood up to get some sauces of her own.
“This is a really, really fancy place! I would've never even dreamed of going somewhere like this in Hokkaido!” Spe's cheeks started to hurt from smiling.
“I agree.” Suzuka added, brushing out her black dress. “Grass, have you been to a place as fancy as this?”
Grass thought for a moment. “Maybe a few times.” El came up behind her and sat back in her seat next to Grass.
“I would've expected nothing less from you, amiga!” She placed her mix of different spicy sauces down on the table and immodestly hit the back of Grass's shoulder. Her face went red from second-hand embarrassment and El's improper behaviour at such a fancy restaurant.

Maruzen returned to the table, with nowhere near as much spice as El had come back with. As she sat back down, a waiter with a trolley full of fresh steaming food came to the table. She started telling the table the current selection on the table.
“Hmm...” Maruzen looked around to the others. “Lets get... some pork buns, spicy squid...” El's face perked up as if she didn't have enough spice on the side. “And let's get some BBQ pork, thank you!”
The waiter nodded and placed 5 round bamboo steamers onto the table and pulled out a small card, stamping on it accordingly. She left the small card on the table and rolled the trolley away, leaving the hungry and eager Umamusume with their food.
“Let's dig in!” Maruzensky announced with Special Week already creeping towards the food. They all grabbed what they wanted, placed it on their plate and started eating. The three that had not yet gotten condiments got up to get some after tasting the food, leaving Maruzen and El to drench their food in sauce. “Está delicioso!” El thundered between flame-filled bites. She poured herself a glass of water and chugged it down while Maruzen was still chewing on her first bite.
Special Week sat back down at the table first and started shoveling her food into her mouth at the same speed as El Condor Pasa. Spe gleamed, her eyes shining. The food was just as good as the decor.
The other two came back with their sides to see Spe and El's food-stuffed faces. They both elegantly sat down and politely started eating.

“This is like, the bomb!” Maruzensky let out some enthusiasm, not as enthusiastic as the two Umamusume who were scoffing their food. “Grass, Suzuka, are you enjoying your food?” Maruzen didn't need to ask the others. They both replied with a small, mannerly nod.
“It's amazing!” Said Grass. By now, everyone had slowed down their eating so Maruzen decided to try and start a conversation.
“So, what races are you girls running in?” Special week perked up, her face littered with grains of rice.
“Well, my next race is going to be the Mermaid Stakes,” Spe lowered her chopsticks down to the table. “But my trainer is thinking about putting me into the Takarazuka Kinen instead. I'm still thinking about it though.” Maruzen put her hands together.
“I reckon you should have a whirl at the Takarazuka Kinen! There's not much to lose,” her gentle facial expression stiffened to a more dedicated one. “You were in the stands when I ran in that one last year, right?” Spe's face softened.
“Yeah...” She smiled coyly. “And you were amazing! I hope to be just as good as you one day!”
“Hehe~ I'll make sure to be in the stands when you win, Spe! make sure to get an outta-sight win, I know you can!”
Maruzen's encouraging words showed through in Spe's rice-covered face.

Grass politely interrupted the conversation. “Maruzensky, I don't mean to be rude but when's the next trolley coming around?” Maruzen looked at the table and Grass, El and Special Week had all cleared their plates.
“Soon, I'd assume...” She replied. “Why don't we chat more in the meantime?”
It can't go too badly, can it?
“What do Umamusume your age do in your own time?” Maruzensky hit the four juniors with the burning question. As hot as El's palate that couldn't be cleansed by the copious amounts of water she was drinking.
“Well...”
“Do you guys still use Umabook? or is it, uh, UmaTok you use...”
The juniors looked around the table at each other.
“Uh, I do use UmaTok every now and then... and I know some others prefer Umastagram...”
Spe’s face melted as she saw Maruzen’s face do the opposite.
“Awesome! I’ve been studying the hip new trends on UmaTok lately!” She looked around hoping for validation from the juniors, and in return got a crowd of tense smiles.
“That's great, Maruzensky...” Grass Wonder piped up despite not having UmaTok or Umastagram.

A crafty grin spread across Maruzensky’s face.
“So, how much aura do you have?”
Silence.
Special Week put all her strength into trying not to laugh while the rest stared nervously. The tension could be cut with their chopsticks alone.
“What about your Skibidi Rizz?” Maruzensky shot another shot in the dark.
The most active movement on the table was the flame from the candle flickering.

What felt like a millennium had passed until signs of life re-appeared.
“Sorry?” Silence Suzuka, despite her name, couldn’t take the silence anymore. Maruzensky doubled down.
“You guys clearly haven’t been... uh... mewing in Ohio...” The tension was starting to get to Maruzen, who was scanning the table. Everyone’s ears had turned back in response to the words being shared at the table. The only one oblivious enough to not turn bright red or deathly pale was El Condor Pasa.
“Hey, when I was in America a year ago I heard people say that!” El had managed to end the tortuous wait.
“Bummer, that was years ago already? Why didn’t you say so?” Special Week finally managed to take a breather from trying not to laugh or cry. All of the juniors wondered how she didn’t get the memo.

Their goddess, the waiter, had returned to their table to drop off some more food. It’s rude to talk with your mouth full, after all. Maruzensky asked for some more assortments of dumplings, pork and duck dishes and round 2 of trying to get food before Special Week ate it or El Condor Pasa drenching it in spice began.
The atmosphere had been successfully shifted from a poison gas-like silence to a more pleasant one, everyone eating some more amazing food.
“Hey, El, did you eat much Chinese food overseas?” Suzuka added to the table in hopes that some small conversations would start. Luckily, it worked.
“Hmm, None as good as this! The spice here is perfecta!” Small splashes of El’s chilli-concoction contaminated Grass’s plate.
“El...” This was not the first time Grass had fallen victim to El’s tastes.

Small, normal conversations between them all formed and the initial excitement they had all felt eating their first plates of food had been restored. The trolley returned a few more times, eventually filling up the table with more and more bamboo steamers. Each uma’s plate filled up with more and more food before being polished off.

By the time the last trolley came around, Special Week and Maruzensky were the only ones still eating, albeit at a much slower pace than before. The other three had ordered some non-alcoholic fizzy drinks to wash down their meal with, talking about general things with each other. Grass Wonder glanced up at the sleek clock hanging up in the restaurant.
“Oh I’m very sorry Maruzensky and Spe, but I believe our curfew is coming up.” Special Week quickly finished the rest of the food on her plate.

“Oh, we have a curfew tonight?”
Suzuka peered over at Spe and chuckled.
“Tazuna reminded us at the front gates as we were leaving...”
“Dang...” Maruzensky’s facial expression saddened. “I hope the dinner was bussin’!”
The juniors hesitantly got out of their seats, turning away from Maruzen waving back at them.
“Please... stick to the already outdated slang you already know...” Special Week muttered underneath her breath.
“What was that, Spe?”
“N-nothing! I had an amazing time, thank you Maruzensky!”
Special Week stiffly waved back and started walking with the others outside, passing Tata in the carpark.
“As awkward as that was, I really enjoyed that. Maruzensky is really nice to you, Special Week.” Grass smiled, reminiscing the likeable parts of the dinner. “That was a really thoughtful present...”
Suzuka’s ears perked up.
“Speaking of... Spe, I have a present for you back at our dorm.”
“Me and Grass have one for you too!”

The four continued walking back to Tracen Academy, replaying the evening in their heads and congratulating Special Week. A familiar red car honked at them as it drove past, frightening the juniors before erupting into laughter.

Special Week carried on enjoying her birthday after the dinner, opening presents with her friends and basking in all the love. Other Umas she passed at Tracen handed Spe presents and praised her, and by the time she had made it back to her dorm she had a lofty pile of presents.

“Spe..? Why are you crying, you had a good birthday did you not?”

“Suzuka, I’m so grateful for everything that happened today. Thank you for making my birthday amazing!”
Spe collapsed in Suzuka’s arms, her tears soaking Suzuka’s intricate, black dress that she had worn to dinner earlier that night. Suzuka brought her closer, nestling her head on Spe’s shoulder and absorbing Spe’s radiant smile.
“Tell that to Maruzensky and everyone else, not me...”
The night’s stars shone through the window. Special Week’s birthday had quietly come to an end, with Spe and Suzuka blanketed in darkness in the confinement of their dorm.

“Spe, let’s get ready for bed...”