Kagura had assumed Maruzensky would make her answer something awkward, or do something weird. In the end, though, Maruzensky's demand was so simple it caught her off guard—she just had Kagura strike a magical-girl pose and take a photo.
After that, maybe because Kagura had "caught" her, Maruzensky started dealing noticeably more normally. Kagura didn't get the joker again, either. And Bizen Nishiki—who's such a serious kid—really didn't plot or hide anything when she played. If you told her to do something, she did it. She was even more straightforward than Nice Nature beside her, to the point Kagura felt too embarrassed to ask any bizarre questions or make her do any bizarre things.
"Whoa… I heard a huge commotion over here. What are you all up to?"
After the last round of cards, the Umamusume who were heading downstairs to get ready for dinner filed out of the room as well. Maruzensky, who'd picked "dare," had Kagura sitting on her shoulders. She carried her out into the hallway—and ran right into Rudolf, who looked like she'd just woken up.
Rudolf looked them over carefully: Maruzensky, Kagura, Bizen Nishiki, Nice Nature… At least at Tracen, it was hard to imagine these people all showing up together, moving as a group. Their personalities were just too different. They didn't seem like the kind who'd naturally click.
"Playing games with the little ones. I wanted to invite you too, but you flopped in your room and slept like a pig, so we had to start without you~"
"Haha… I figured there was nothing to do, so I'd take a quick nap. I didn't expect so many classmates to be here. Oh—when I woke up in the middle, I think I heard Ardan and the Mejiro Trainer's voices. Was I imagining that?"
"Did someone call us?"
Rudolf had barely finished speaking when the door of the room directly across from hers suddenly opened, and Mejiro Ardan and Mejiro Ramonu stepped out.
"Hm? You two are here too?"
Seeing them appear, Rudolf couldn't help but feel puzzled. Sure, the place was all single rooms, but she'd guessed their rooms were somewhere along this hallway too. Still… at school, she'd never seen these groups act so unified and close-knit. How did it happen that this training camp's room bookings ended up clustering everyone together like this?
"Ah… you…"
Ardan froze a beat when she saw the crowd standing in the hallway. She'd heard Mejiro Iris say Kagura's group would be doing their training camp here, and that Iris had the trainer change the camp location to come here. Before arriving, Ardan had assumed it would only be Kagura's group. But looking at it now, the headcount felt… off.
Way off.
Mejiro Ramonu glanced at the mass of people and instinctively frowned—not out of any dissatisfaction with her classmates, but as Iris's strategic supporter, seeing this many people here made her uneasy. She couldn't help stealing a worried look at Ardan beside her, who still wore that guileless expression.
This is… getting complicated.
She'd thought the only ones she'd have to deal with were Rudolf and Maruzensky. That would've been manageable—at least she knew those two well. But the two classmates who'd come along this time… she recognized them. Bizen Nishiki and Nice Nature, if she remembered right. She'd only heard their names because they were part of Kagura's social circle. Beyond that, she didn't know what the situation was.
Wait. With this many people… don't tell me there are more who haven't shown up yet.
Seeing the crowd gathered here, Mejiro Ramonu felt her heart drop.
...
[Mejiro Ramonu]:Iris-sama, the situation has changed. I feel like our plan may not be able to proceed as originally arranged.
[Mejiro Iris]:Explain.
[Mejiro Ramonu]:There are… more people than we expected. Not just Rudolf and Maruzensky—Bizen Nishiki and Nice Nature are here too.
[Mejiro Iris]:Huh?
[Mejiro Iris]:Then we'll have to adjust. Assess the situation first; contact me again later.
...
"Phew… It really is a high-end hotel. The food here is amazing~ Anything you want to eat, Eclipse-san?"
——It's making my eyes spin. Just eat what you like. You know my situation—better to go with what you recommend.
It was Eclipse's first time at something like a buffet. Faced with the dazzling spread all around, she didn't quite know what to do. Everything looked good, and she wanted to try everything, but she had no idea what to pick. In the end, she simply tossed the decision to Kagura, whose tastes were reliably solid.
"Though, Eclipse-san… back when you were in the royal palace, you must've had plenty of food too, right?"
——There was a lot, yes. But a spread on this scale? Many of these things could only be seen in the palace back then. Actually… even the palace might not have been this varied. They have dishes from all kinds of countries here. Some of these I've never even seen.
"Then let's try them together~"
With the goal of tasting as many things as possible, Kagura kept her portions conservative, taking only a little of each.
Back at her seat, she speared a piece of pan-seared salmon and was about to put it in her mouth when she spotted Bizen Nishiki walking by nearby with a small plate. Seeing Kagura, Bizen Nishiki's ears perked up happily, and she trotted over. It felt a bit rude to think it, but Kagura honestly felt like Bizen Nishiki was a friend's pet dog—spotting its owner coming home and rushing over to greet her.
"Kagura! Want to eat together?"
For some reason, Kagura felt like Bizen Nishiki had been a lot more proactive lately—especially today.
"Sure~"
"Hehe~"
Humming under her breath, Bizen Nishiki sat down beside Kagura, then looked at what Kagura had on her plate.
"Whoa, Kagura, you got such a variety…"
"Yeah, I want to try a bit of everything… and then go back and recreate it—wait, Bizen Nishiki, what's with… that?"
Mid-sentence, Kagura glanced over at what Bizen Nishiki had taken—and saw a heaping plate piled high with fried rice. Nothing else. Just fried rice.
Wow… kid… the owner must be thrilled with you…
A few black lines practically slid down over Kagura's head. People could eat whatever they wanted, sure, but this still caught her off guard.
——This… shouldn't you pick the expensive stuff? This kid's way too honest.
Even Eclipse couldn't hold it together. She really hadn't expected someone to come here and just absolutely demolish fried rice.
"What?" Bizen Nishiki tilted her head, puzzled, staring at Kagura in confusion.
"N-no, it's nothing. Um… is the seafood fried rice that good? You took so much…"
"I think it's great! Kagura, want a taste?"
As she spoke, Bizen Nishiki picked up her spoon, scooped a spoonful of fried rice, and brought it toward Kagura's mouth.
Kagura really was curious what kind of flavor could make Bizen Nishiki load up a plate like that, so she didn't refuse. She opened her mouth a little and gently bit down on the spoon.
Ah… Kagura… so cute…
Watching Kagura carefully take the bite, Bizen Nishiki felt her heart flutter. That adorable little manner melted her on the spot.
"Yeah… it really is good… fresh, fragrant…"
The taste was indeed nice, but looking at the mountain of rice on Bizen Nishiki's plate, Kagura felt pretty confident that amount was beyond her.
"Kagura, want more?"
"Nope. Want to try something from mine?"
As she spoke, Kagura speared a piece of pan-seared salmon and held it up toward Bizen Nishiki. Bizen Nishiki immediately nodded, opened her mouth, and bit down on the fish. Her eyes narrowed, and she made a blissfully satisfied face.
After successfully feeding Kagura and getting something delicious herself, Bizen Nishiki felt even more motivated. Smiling, she turned back to keep eating her fried rice.
"Uh…"
As she ate, something suddenly hit her a beat late.
Wait… my spoon, and Kagura's fork… neither of them got washed, right? Then doesn't that mean this turned into an indirect…
Under Kagura's confused gaze, Bizen Nishiki let out a strange, miserable little yelp—and then, for reasons nobody could explain, she flushed bright red and crashed into a complete shutdown.
---
T/N: is everyone here a... anyway!!! i would also just have the seafood fried rice and nothing else :sob: ima order it today mmmm fried rice and uhhhh idk