Kitahara felt a surge of excitement, but Oguri Cap didn't notice at all.
She only tilted her head slightly, her fluffy silver-gray ears twitching, and opened her mouth.
"Ah… so you're a trainer, huh? Mm, got it."
With an expression that seemed to say, "I don't really understand what that means, but it sounds important," Oguri Cap nodded absentmindedly. Then, abruptly, she changed the topic:
"So… do you want to eat together?"
This question left the slightly excited Kitahara momentarily stunned. Oguri Cap, however, didn't wait for his reaction and turned to her mother:
"Mom, if the trainer eats with us, will there be enough food? I can go buy more ingredients."
As she spoke, a hint of concern finally appeared on her otherwise blank face. She instinctively placed her hands over her stomach.
At that moment, a clear "gurgle" sound echoed through the living room.
"Oh, there's no need to worry. I made curry rice today. There's plenty of topping, and I steamed a whole large pot of rice," Shinpo replied. She looked at Oguri Cap with a gentle smile and reassured her: "Don't worry about going hungry, Oguri Cap."
Then she turned to Kitahara. "I almost forgot to ask—Kitahara-san, thank you for coming all the way here. If it's not too much trouble, would you like to stay and have dinner with us?"
By now, Kitahara had regained his composure and was no longer overly excited.
After all, in this world, no one knew what incredible achievements Oguri Cap would eventually accomplish. Not even her mother did. His excitement was something no one here could understand.
Observing carefully, he realized that besides not knowing her own potential, Oguri Cap was completely unaware of trainers, races, and such, which explained her earlier puzzled expression.
It seemed that even if Oguri Cap joined a team, there was still a lot of work ahead.
Thinking quietly, Kitahara decided he could stay a bit longer.
"Then I will gratefully accept," he said, clasping his hands and bowing slightly to Shinpo, smiling softly. "As long as it's not too much trouble."
"You mustn't say that. It's no trouble at all. Our family usually cooks in large quantities, so don't worry about not having enough," Shinpo quickly explained.
Kitahara couldn't help but chuckle inwardly.
Of course—Oguri Cap, in both the other world's reality and the game, was famously a big eater. If they didn't cook plenty, they wouldn't be able to satisfy her appetite.
In fact, the real-life Oguri Cap was also a notorious big eater.
At her childhood ranch, conditions were poor, so to eat enough, she would eat even weeds and grass. Later, doctors discovered she had an extremely rare digestive enzyme capable of breaking down wood fibers. This made her diet extremely versatile.
Simply put: anything other horses could eat, she could eat; anything other horses couldn't digest, she could still eat.
Some even jokingly said that Oguri Cap "ate her way" from the local tracks to the central racetracks.
In the game and anime, Oguri Cap was depicted as a voracious eater, a "gluttonous beauty." Officially, she could consume ten servings of rice with toppings in one meal, often clearing all the ingredients in the academy cafeteria. She even won various eating contests, once consuming 1,000 servings of Iwate's specialty "Wanko soba."
Before crossing over, Kitahara found this super-eater trait amusing. Now, seeing the Uma Musume in front of him, he wanted to witness just how much this famous eater could actually consume.
And soon enough, he did.
"Kitahara-san? Kitahara-san?"
Two calls brought Kitahara out of his daze.
After agreeing to stay for dinner, Shinpo quickly brought out two huge containers of food.
Truly enormous containers—about half a person tall, cafeteria-style.
One was filled to the brim with curry, the other piled high with steaming rice.
They were placed beside Oguri Cap. She paid no attention to the guest and picked up a large bowl from the kitchen, eating one serving after another.
Kitahara was stunned because in just a few blinks, she finished an entire bowl of curry rice. Then, without pause, she went to serve herself another bowl.
"…Ah, uh, Shinpo-san… what did you just say?" Kitahara quickly looked at her.
Shinpo smiled sheepishly. "Sorry for letting you see that, Oguri Cap has always been like this. Uh… her appetite is rather large…"
…Uh, "rather large" doesn't begin to cover it—it's enormous…
Kitahara noticed that by the time Shinpo finished speaking, Oguri Cap had already finished her fifth, maybe sixth bowl, and was reaching for another. Both containers were already a third empty.
He grimly smiled but also felt somewhat encouraged.
Being able to eat that much was a good sign.
Although this world's laws differed from the other, energy still had to be conserved. If Oguri Cap could eat this much, she was surely, just like in the other world, an exceptionally talented Uma Musume.
Feeling encouraged, Kitahara shook his head and smiled at Shinpo.
"Please don't say that—I haven't been laughing at anything."
"Or rather, seeing Oguri Cap's appetite strengthens my resolve even more to invite her to join my team."
Oguri Cap, focused solely on eating, barely reacted, just tilted her head slightly and glanced at Kitahara before returning to her meal.
Shinpo, however, froze.
"Kitahara-san… you really value Oguri Cap that much?" Her face showed a mix of hesitation and emotion.
Kitahara understood—most people in this world couldn't imagine the incredible potential Oguri Cap would have, even her mother. Yet, precisely because she was her mother, even knowing her daughter's "talent isn't great," she still hoped for a bright future. So hearing Kitahara's genuine recognition of Oguri Cap naturally moved her.
Kitahara didn't say much more, just smiled:
"I've heard a saying: 'A horse of a thousand miles can consume a full measure of grain.' Oguri Cap can eat that much—perhaps she truly has the potential to become a horse of a thousand miles."
He thought this would reassure Shinpo, but she looked puzzled.
"Eh? There's such a saying?"
Kitahara, knowing this world had no Horse Treatise, simply smiled and nodded. "At least, that's what I believe."
[The "Horse Treatise" (馬說, Mǎ Shuō) is a famous short essay written by the Chinese scholar Han Yu (韓愈) during the Tang dynasty]
After a long silence, Shinpo seemed to make a decision. She took a deep breath.
"Although I haven't heard that saying before, I can feel how much you truly value Oguri Cap."
"Thank you very much. Later tonight, I will explain about joining the team to Oguri Cap. Please rest assured and wait, Kitahara-san."