Multiversal: The Shop

Well I’ll get straight to the point, I want stone. Gimme.

But I’ll give you guys a bargain to exchange for it.

100 Power stones 1 extra Chapter.

200 Power stones 2 extra Chapter.

If I ever achieved this somehow, I’ll upload the Chapters necessary by morning as I’m probably as asleep by the time this Chapter gets uploaded.

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Soon enough, the students around her crowded in on Haru Urara, making her feel very overwhelmed. Although she’s impossibly optimistic all the time, it wasn’t omnipotence; she was naturally overwhelmed as everyone started asking her questions.

Lots of questions, and as much as she wanted to answer them all, she couldn’t because answering one question led to another, not to mention the frequent interruptions.

Feeling her ’mother’ couldn’t look at this anymore and shouted in the cafeteria halls. "Guys! Stop already! Can’t you see Haru is overwhelmed?!"

Thankfully, most of them had some sense left to them, which made them look apologetic at Haru.

And as for why ’most’ not ’all ’, well, there’s an exception to everything.

"Hey! I still have questions she hasn’t answered yet!" A white-haired Uma (you- know-who) didn’t look apologetic at all.

King Halo glared at the oddball of the Gold Family, even by Gold bloodline standards, Gold Ship.

However, Gold Ship wasn’t a bit intimidated by this and only gave her a grin. "So will you answer my question, Haru-chan~?"

Haru, having some breathing space, didn’t mind and replied with the same sunny smile. "What is it?"

"What kind of magic did you use to disappear like that?!"

Hearing this nonsensical question, everyone rolled their eyes, as expected of Gold Ship, but then again, why were they expecting something normal from the certified weirdo?

"Well..!"

And from the looks of it, Haru was seriously trying to answer such a question!

But before she could answer Gold Ship, suddenly the school PA system rang.

"Ms. Haru Urara and Ms. King Halo, please come to the student council office."

With that said, everyone made way for both of them. Although they were curious about the real reason why Haru suddenly disappeared, they believed that the student council would clarify that reason later.

Gold Ship was the one who was disappointed the most, because she was about to get an answer but was interrupted by the council.

With that, she thought for herself. ’As expected, the school authorities are truly corrupt!’

And she was very convinced of this; just for fun, she decided to try and run for the student council next year.

...

..

.

At the student council office,

The council president, Symboli Rodulf, and vice president, Air Groove, were waiting for Haru Urara and King Halo’s arrival.

Alongside the school chairwoman, Yayoi Akikawa, and staff member Tazuna Hayakawa.

They all wanted to know how Haru Urara vanished and where she was all this time.

Although they looked calm on the surface, they were secretly impatient, and if they didn’t care about their image, they would have probably gone ahead and looked for the culprit themselves.

With elbows resting at the mahogany table beneath and both hands interlocking with each other, exactly like Gendo Ikari’s iconic pose.

Symboli Rodulf was waiting, wondering when Haru Urara would arrive.

Finally, after feeling like she had waited for several hours, someone started knocking outside the door.

It could only be them. Although her face was stoic and stern, her tail was more honest; it was the conduit of her emotions.

If this were any other time, the people around would surely notice this; however, the people around her were feeling the same as her and couldn’t be bothered to pay attention to the surroundings aside from the door in front of them.

"Come in." Calming her emotions, Rudolf finally spoke.

Then, finally, the protagonist of the day arrived at the council office. An uma with a short structure and that unforgettable pink hair opened the door and greeted them with a familiar smile on her face. "Good morning, everyone!"

For a moment, everyone’s mood lightened from that pure smile.

Even the strict council president broke a slight smile at her greeting, which only a few people managed to do, Haru Urara being one of them, and the other was Teio.

"Good morning to you too, Haru. Please take a seat, and you, Ms. King Halo." Finally letting go of her interlocked fingers, she pointed at the empty couch nearby.

After taking a seat, everyone’s attention was on Haru Urara, which King Halo didn’t fail to see. She knew exactly what they would ask her best friend, which everyone, including her, wants to know.

"I’d be blunt with you: for the past 3 days you’ve gone missing, we couldn’t find you no matter where we searched; it’s like you just vanished from the face of the earth. Haru Urara, where exactly have you been?" Normally, she wouldn’t be this blunt and would make small questions unrelated to the event to make the other party comfortable; however, this was way too important, and she desired to hear the truth.

After all, this particular event made her lose sleep and many others for the past few days.

As it remained a mystery, no matter how much they thought about how she suddenly vanished without prior explanation of how exactly it happened.

They saw the footage, but even then it’s still unknown how she disappeared like that.

No matter how much they try to justify that event with logic, it doesn’t make sense.

A person couldn’t just disappear like that, unless of course you add the supernatural element to it.

But as people from the modern world, believing in such an unreliable theory is simply harder to accept than the Uma Musume evolved from an ancient four-legged creature.

"Ehh..?! I was missing for a few days?!" This was the first time Haru Urara heard about this; however, considering what she experienced in that place, if she really thinks about it.

It wasn’t that surprising at all; unlike other people who tend to overthink, she quickly accepted that fact and moved on like it was nothing. If there’s one thing that she’s good at, it’s being quick to adapt no matter what the situation is.

"That’s terrible! You must be concerned about why I suddenly left King-chan?!" She looked at her best friend with her bright pink eyes.

She smiled bitterly and replied. "Concerned? Worried more like, if it wasn’t for others trying to convince me that you’re fine, you wouldn’t see me as calm as I am now."

"Oh! I’m sorry, King-chan! I didn’t mean to leave without saying a word!" Haru feels genuinely sorry for what she caused her friend.

King Halo only smiled at her and said. "It doesn’t matter, as long as you’re safe and sound."

As she said, Haru’s safety was more important than the apology she gave her, as she knew that Haru wasn’t the type of person who suddenly disappeared without saying goodbye.

The fact that she disappeared without prior warning is essentially due to the unforeseen circumstance and not because Haru wanted to leave herself.

Then Symboli Rodulf coughed a few times to gain their attention. "Please, if you mind answering my prior question, as we need to know, it’s not that I’m belittling the importance of your friend’s worries, but we’d like to know the reason why you disappeared like that.

King Halo didn’t really mind, as the president said it’s important to know the reason why she disappeared that day.

And then Haru Urara started explaining what happened that day in her own way; it wasn’t the most professional way of explaining, but then again they weren’t expecting a professional level of explanation from a student, not to mention it’s Haru Urara who is infamous for being an airhead.

Regardless, they understood the message of what she’s trying to say.

A door that connects to an otherworldly shop?

A place where you can buy anything as long as you have enough points?

The entire office fell into a strange silence at Haru’s explanation, double-checking if they heard it right.

But after thinking it through, no matter how they think about it, what they did was pure nonsense.

From what they heard, that shop that Haru mentioned came straight out of a fantasy novel.

No, even that isn’t quite the word, as even novels have to follow some sort of logic behind those mambo jumbo concepts.

The shop she mentioned is basically like someone’s wishful fulfillment fantasy, where there is no logical explanation of how it works, just straight up ’it is what it is’.

From what they could understand, the place is basically just a god-forsaken wish-granting establishment!

They can’t even properly give a fair price for their products; at this point, it might as well be free.

And after a few minutes of contemplation, Rodulf finally spoke. "Forgive me if I sound rude, but are you sure that it’s a real place and not simply something you created from your imagination?"

Before Haru Urara could even reply, her best friend answered the president first, very much offended by the president’s words.

"President! Are you trying to imply that Haru-chan is lying?! She’s not that kind of person! I know what my best friend is like; she’s someone who doesn’t have the imagination to create a fantastical place like that!" She said that with such a righteous face.

Hearing that, they couldn’t help but look at her strangely and thought to themselves. ’Are you trying to defend her or insult her?’

But looking back at it, even though none of them are as familiar with King Halo as Haru Urara, they know enough about Haru Urara; she’s famous enough to be on their radar, not because she’s a top-tier uma musume but because of her reputation of always losing.

While they may have minimal interaction with the pink-haired uma, they know her nature very well; it wasn’t that hard considering she’s so transparent.

Thinking back, they had to admit that King Halo’s words make sense because Haru Urara is someone who doesn’t really have a broad imagination.

Her not-so-good test scores are a testament to that.

Perhaps it was true; however, they still have doubts considering what she just explained was truly something unbelievable.

But there’s a way to prove that it’s true; one is to go to the shop she mentioned, which would prove its existence, but if it’s true, then none of them wanted to try going in without assurance; who knows, it might as well be a trap, even if it sounded ridiculous to them.

And the second one is...

"According to your explanation, you bought something from that shop which helps you with racing, correct?" Symboli Rodulf said.

Haru Urara nodded. "That’s right! But I don’t know how it works!"

After a moment of silence, Rodulf decided. "Then, there’s only one way to find out, since it aids you in racing; let’s race."

Everything was silent for a moment before a shout of surprise echoed through the room!

"EHHHHHH!!"

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A/N: It’s been a long, long time. Now, how would Symboli Rodulf be the strongest version of Haru Urara?