"Oguri Cap, is something the matter?"
Faced with Kitahara Sato's question, Oguri Cap blinked in confusion.
Because she herself didn't know why she'd approached him.
Due to her nature, Oguri Cap wasn't good at expressing herself, rarely spoke within the team, and most of her words were related to food anyway. She was an exceptionally pure foodie.
She seldom worried about anything except eating. Her greatest concern was getting blacklisted by almost every all-you-can-eat restaurant nearby. The most serious issue she'd contemplated was whether to disguise herself as her roommate, so she could use her name to continue dining at buffets.
But recently, she'd started worrying about something unrelated to food.
Well, maybe not entirely unrelated. Because it genuinely affected her eating habits. Despite clearly being full, she still felt hungry at times, and occasionally, her appetite would inexplicably wane.
The source of all this confusion was sitting right in front of her now.
Kitahara Sato.
Now that she thought about it, this wasn't the first time it had happened.
Back when he first disappeared, Oguri Cap had experienced similar symptoms: feeling hungry even after eating plenty, food losing its flavor, and even spacing out during meals…
These feelings had persisted for a long time. Though they gradually weakened with time, traces still lingered when she first arrived at Tracen Academy's main campus.
Even though the cafeteria at the main campus was objectively superior, to her, the food tasted worse than her old regional Tracen cafeteria.
Or rather, it tasted worse than when he had still been there.
Yet the moment Kitahara Sato reappeared, those feelings vanished completely—even reversed themselves.
That strange, lingering hunger disappeared. Now, even when she felt genuinely hungry, it somehow wasn't unpleasant. Meals became more delicious than they'd ever been.
She didn't understand why, but she was faintly aware it was related to him.
He was like the ultimate seasoning. As long as he was around, food tasted better, hunger felt satisfying, and even running felt more solid under her feet.
She'd enjoyed this strange sense of fulfillment for nearly two weeks—until she heard Kitahara's story last Friday.
Then things quietly changed again.
That peculiar hunger reemerged, though slightly different this time.
Food didn't lose its taste; instead, it grew even more delicious.
Oguri Cap couldn't figure out why, becoming increasingly troubled and perplexed. Lost in thought, she'd somehow ended up standing in front of Kitahara before she realized it.
"I…"
Faced with Kitahara's question, she hesitated slightly, then spoke with uncertainty:
"I… feel a bit hungry."
Kitahara: "..."
Didn't you just eat lunch? And you even ate more than usual!
Although inwardly surprised, Kitahara wasn't actually too shocked. Oguri Cap was known for her endless appetite. Without restraint, this girl could probably eat all day. He trusted her completely in matters of food.
He glanced at his phone. Given the current time, the cafeteria should still have some leftovers.
"You can still go grab a bite right now if you want," he offered.
But Oguri Cap shook her head, declining.
Because she wasn't actually hungry in the normal sense.
Moreover, strangely enough, just being near Kitahara significantly eased that mysterious hunger.
Under Kitahara's puzzled gaze, Oguri Cap calmly took a seat beside him, blinking slowly.
"If I eat now, training might feel uncomfortable later. I'll just rest here for a bit."
Her expression was calm, betraying no abnormality.
Then why'd you come find me? Couldn't you have just rested at your own seat?
Kitahara mentally complained but didn't doubt her much. Oguri Cap was naturally a bit of an airhead, especially regarding food. She often did things others found puzzling, so even the other team members were used to it.
In short, he concluded that this silly girl must've approached him thinking about getting food, then remembered she still had training afterward, so she decided not to eat.
"All right then. Just be careful during afternoon training. If you're really hungry, cutting back your routine a little is fine. Your health comes first. If you need help adjusting, just let me know."
"Mm." Oguri Cap nodded obediently.
Seeing she had no other concerns, Kitahara returned to fiddling with his phone, resuming his usual slacking off.
What he didn't notice, however, was that though Oguri Cap appeared to be browsing through food pictures as usual, she wasn't actually paying much attention to her screen. Her nose subtly twitched as if sniffing out the aroma of the dishes displayed on her phone.
To anyone observing, this aligned perfectly with her character and habits, making her look adorable in a silly way.
But was this really what was happening?
Oguri Cap herself wasn't sure.
All she knew was she was indeed savoring a certain aroma, and it was helping ease the strange hunger within her.
As for whether this aroma really came from the images on her screen—she didn't particularly care.
After all, she was never picky.
Time passed quickly.
After handling interactions with the team members, afternoon training proceeded as usual, without incident.
Oguri Cap didn't reduce her training load at all. In fact, her condition seemed even better than usual. Watching her closely out of concern, Kitahara felt slightly baffled. Could she actually perform better when slightly hungry?
Overall, the afternoon training concluded peacefully.
After training finished, Kitahara didn't forget his promise to Tokai Teio. Reluctantly, he went to buy her favorite cold honey drink.
But considering this action could easily raise Teio's affection levels, he quickly decided to buy something for everyone else too.
This way, even though he'd gotten Teio's drink, no one would feel special or develop possessiveness issues. It'd also prevent accusations of favoritism within the team.
Two birds, one stone. Perfect.
Tokai Teio didn't openly complain. Although she had some minor internal feelings about it, after two weeks of knowing Kitahara, she wasn't surprised by his behavior at all. In fact, she was beginning to grow accustomed to it…
Wait, no! Why should she even care about that? She didn't have special feelings for her Trainer-san. Wasn't it perfectly normal for a trainer to buy things for the whole team?
Even though she thought this, the grip around her honey drink inexplicably tightened slightly.
The rest didn't think much of it. Who wouldn't enjoy a refreshing drink after rigorous training?
But despite their happiness, everyone cast astonished glances toward Kitahara.
Did the sun rise in the west today? Since when had he started proactively bringing them drinks?
Kitahara clearly read the meaning behind their gazes and rolled his eyes.
"What are you all staring at me for? Can't I occasionally show a little kindness?"
"Nope," Agnes Tachyon answered bluntly. She definitely didn't believe Kitahara capable of such kindness.
The others didn't openly say anything, but their gazes clearly sided with Tachyon.
Under their unified scrutiny, Kitahara couldn't pretend anymore, coughing awkwardly.
"All right, fine, I admit it. Teio lectured me at lunch, nagged endlessly about my duties as a trainer. Eventually, I couldn't take it anymore and just gave in... Satisfied now?"
He certainly couldn't admit that Teio had nearly broken him down earlier with her monetary offer. Thus, he quickly made up an explanation based on their earlier conversation.
"Is that true, Teio-san?" Agnes Digital asked curiously, prompting everyone's gazes toward Tokai Teio.
Teio froze briefly, then inexplicably loosened her grip on the honey drink slightly. After two seconds, she proudly raised her head, tail wagging cheerfully behind her.
"Yep, exactly like that—Now you see the greatness of the Invincible Teio-sama, right, Trainer-san?"
"Yeah, yeah, whatever."
Kitahara couldn't be bothered to argue, casually brushing her off before leading them to dinner and then toward the clubroom afterward, as usual.
However, before they reached the clubroom, Kitahara's phone suddenly vibrated.
It was a message from the Chairwoman, urgently summoning all available trainers currently on campus to the meeting room. Apparently, there was an extremely important matter to discuss.
Recalling earlier mentions among trainers that the Chairwoman had been waiting for someone's return to take action…
"You all head to the clubroom first. The Chairwoman summoned trainers for something important; I need to head over there."
Saying that, he handed them a key and hurried off.
Given it was the Chairwoman's summons, none of the Uma Musume found it strange, simply letting him go without questions.
But upon arriving at the clubroom, the atmosphere suddenly turned peculiar.
Because when they tried to unlock the door, they found the key didn't fit at all—completely mismatched with the clubroom door's lock.
If it were just being locked out, it wouldn't be a problem; they could easily play outside instead.
What truly piqued their curiosity was something else entirely.
If this key wasn't for the clubroom…
Then whose door exactly did it open?
As they silently exchanged glances, an unusual gleam appeared in each Uma Musume's eyes.