[Special Edition] 2. Admiration
Planet Race has various sponsor companies that invest in different ways, both in the overall race and in individual teams.
As a reward, members of the Planet Race industry and teams are sometimes used as image characters for these companies’ commercials and posters.
I’ve been chosen a few times in the past, and this time, [Sylphide Gospel], a comprehensive beauty products manufacturer selling cosmetics, skincare, and hair care products, was launching a beauty support project for women. This project would include beauty salons, boutiques, and sports gyms, integrating various technologies. They chose about 20 female Planet Racers, including me and Aero, as image characters for their commercials and posters.
The shoot was scheduled to take a whole day. They wanted to capture our usual selves first, so a mock race was to be held on the planet Kewatt Raid, only about 85.46 million km away from the capital, the closest planet. Each team would have their own filming crew to capture the race.
Planet Kewatt Raid, the venue for the mock race, has a hard rocky surface with no seas. Its red surface, rich in iron oxide rust, spans across the planet with a radius of about 20,000 km. The planet has extreme differences between its rugged and flat areas, making it a basic course for Planet Racing. New racers usually start here.
The atmosphere is mostly methane gas, unfortunately unsuitable for habitation.
We were now heading to the changing room inside the floating board base platform, hovering 10,000 km above Kewatt Raid’s surface.
“I’m so excited!”
“What are you excited about?”
“You know, Schoona, [Sylphide Gospel] is a super-famous cosmetics brand that offers everything from luxury to affordable cosmetics, skincare, haircare, and nail care. They’ve even recently developed medical drugs and supplements. They’re said to have everything related to women’s beauty! Getting a job from them is nothing but lucky!”
Aero was walking in front of me, her eyes sparkling.
“Yes, yes. I get it. Let’s hurry and change so we can get to the pit garage.”
“Okay~”
As we arrived at the changing room and started putting on our pilot suits, Aero and I sensed a tense atmosphere.
It felt just like a real race.
We quickly changed and headed to our pit garage.
“Even though it’s a mock race and our usual battles are prohibited, everyone seems pretty fired up…”
“We must look odd being so relaxed.”
From the time we gathered before the shoot and listened to the [Sylphide Gospel] PR person, everyone except Aero and I was on edge.
Even though it’s a mock race, no one wants to lose.
By the way, our conversation is being filmed by a floating, round camera droid about 10 cm in diameter.
Apparently, it’s to avoid humans entering the pit garage, which might be obstructive or make us nervous.
“I guess someone’s watching this footage somewhere else?”
“Probably.”
“Then…”
Aero grabbed the camera droid and pressed it against my chest.
“I wonder if this counts as treasure footage?”
and pressed it against my chest.
“Whoa! What are you doing!?”
I instinctively grabbed Aero’s arm and the camera droid, pulled them off, and threw the droid towards Aero.
Aero dodged the thrown droid, and…
“You two, it’s almost time for the race, so get ready– Eek!”
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It hit the chest of a young female manager who happened to come by.
Of course, the manager got angry at us, and we went to apologize to the filming crew with the motionless camera droid. It turned out the droid had just stopped due to its safety function.
Instead, they thanked us for the “great footage.”
Incidentally, this incident seemed to relieve the tension, and in the mock race, I finished first and Aero second, achieving a one-two finish.
Right after the mock race, we moved to the capital planet Hine, where [Sylphide Gospel]’s headquarters is located.
Upon arriving at Hine, we had lunch in the multipurpose hall inside [Sylphide Gospel]’s headquarters.
“Today, we’re also holding a tasting session for diet and low-calorie foods developed for our new sports gym business. As motorsport athletes, I’m sure you all have your own diet and low-calorie foods. We’d be grateful if our products could join your repertoire. It’s a buffet-style meal, so please help yourselves. And if you have any opinions, please don’t hesitate to share them.”
After the PR person’s explanation, everyone went to get the dishes they were interested in and sat at their preferred tables to eat.
“Usually, these things don’t taste great, but this is delicious!”
I chose a white stew with chunky vegetables, a roll, grilled sausage, and a green salad.
“Can’t believe they have meatloaf as diet food!”
Aero brought a large serving of meatloaf with demi-glace sauce, an egg sandwich, and corn potage.
Since it was daytime, there was no alcohol.
“My, my. The commoners seem to be having quite a bit of fun.”
The one who spoke to us in a snarky tone while we were enjoying our meal was Prisselisel Arilaus Faliner, the ace of team [Violet Dragon] and a countess.
“Hello, Faliner-san. The race earlier was quite intense, wasn’t it?”
I greeted her with a forced smile, mixing in a bit of payback.
“Well, it was just a mock race after all. The real thing won’t go like this. Oh, mind if I sit here?”
For some reason, Faliner-san sat right next to me.
“You’re as unnecessarily haughty as ever, you drill-less ojou-sama!”
“There’s no law saying ojou-samas must have drill hair!”
“Eh? But ojou-samas are supposed to have drill hair!”
When Aero provoked Faliner-san, she fired back heatedly.
These two always seem to be at odds, but strangely, they also appear to get along well.
“But it can’t be helped~ Pri-chan doesn’t look good with either drill or side-swept hair~”
“Lilin-san! Whose side are you on?! And what’s side-swept hair?!”
The one who appeared behind Faliner-san was Lilin Frettline, her teammate.
Despite her bright and frank attitude, she’s known for her solid racing style.
“Now, now. Don’t worry about it. Come on, let’s eat.”
Frettline-san also sat down and started eating.
“I usually leave it to first-class chefs and nutritionists, so it’s interesting to have this kind of meal occasionally. I’m surprised that [Sylphide Gospel] is so well-versed in this field, not just in cosmetics and skincare products.”
Faliner-san, who said this, was eating omurice, fried shrimp, and potato salad.
As for Frettline-san, she had a chocolate cake, pudding, fruit jelly, cookies, pear tart, yogurt mousse, ice cream, and cola – a dessert feast.
She was eating with great relish, but Aero, Faliner-san, and I were slightly taken aback.
After lunch, the next shoot took place in [Sylphide Gospel]’s headquarters building, in their direct store spanning the first and second floors with an open ceiling. We were to browse and shop for cosmetics, skincare, and hair care products while being filmed by several camera droids.
Apparently, the 3rd, 4th, and 5th floors, which were previously offices, had been renovated for this project into dedicated photo studios, boutiques, beauty salons, hair salons, nail salons, and a sports gym.
The 6th to the top 30th floors remained offices, and they had built new warehouses and parking lots in the basement.
“We have the headquarters’ direct store all to ourselves! This is so exciting!”
Aero was getting excited again, looking around curiously.
“Well, there are no other customers besides us 20 people.”
“Indeed, this is probably the first time anyone other than the current Emperor has had this place to themselves.”
“It’s not like Pri-chan rented it out herself, you know.”
For some reason, Faliner-san and Frettline-san were moving around with us.
“I always use this place, but it’s your first time, isn’t it?”
Faliner-san was trying to one-up us for some reason, but honestly, with our income as Planet Racers, we could afford most things here, and I could afford even more with my race prize money.
That said, some items are insanely expensive, and it’s not wrong to be taken aback by them.
Thinking about this, I happened to look at the price of a beauty serum in one of the 30 bottles displayed in a showcase. It was marked at 350,000 credits.
I couldn’t help but think about how many [Stardust Burgers] I could buy with that money, like I used to in my student days.
I realized that even if you have money, feeling intimidated by such things shows the difference in upbringing.
“But everyone’s just wandering around and looking at things. Can they really make a commercial like this?”
Confused by the seemingly un-commercial-like situation, Aero started poking at the floating camera droids around us.
“Of course. The purpose is to film everyone shopping naturally and show it to other customers to stimulate their desire to buy,” said the woman who approached us.
She was wearing a well-tailored brand-name suit and had long emerald green hair tied in a single ponytail. She looked about the same age as us.
TLNOTE : If you enjoyed this novel and want to read more, I’ve started translating another work by the same author titled: “[Snail] – The Cargo-Passenger Ship Operations Log.” Please check it out!
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