"Phew…"
After finishing her morning self-training, Nice Nature returned to her dorm.
She had not reached the point where she needed to debut yet, but she had never let up on training. Even when Trainer Minamizaka was not around, she would still go to the track and practice a little on her own to maintain a basic level of training intensity.
"Yo, Nice Nature. You went out training by yourself again? Classes are already over, but you're still keeping at it. You're so diligent. I wish I had your self-discipline…"
Her roommate, who was lying on her bed playing with her phone, propped herself up slightly and looked toward Nice Nature as she came in, raising a hand in greeting while she was at it.
"It's nothing much… I just feel bad doing nothing when I have free time. Right, Sunday, did you sleep until now before getting up?"
"Not so late that I only got up after noon. I woke up earlier and already went to the Cafeteria to eat. Oh, right, that friend of yours—the school celebrity—came by just now to deliver your lunch."
As she spoke, Nice Nature's roommate, Marvelous Sunday, sat up on her bed and pointed to the bento box sitting on the low cabinet in the middle of the room. Nice Nature leaned over and touched it. It was still warm. It looked like Kagura had probably just brought it over from the Cafeteria, and it was probably something she had made fresh herself.
"I'm so jealous of you, having a friend like that. Just sitting there, that bento box smells marvelous. One sniff and you can tell it definitely wasn't made by the Cafeteria. As expected of Tracen's best Support Umamusume!"
Marvelous Sunday sounded deeply envious.
Counting it up, Marvelous Sunday could actually be considered one of the people who had benefited from Kagura's usual tutoring. During the previous stage exams, Kagura had photocopied some of her own notes and handed them out to the class so everyone could review. At the time, their classmates had rated Kagura's notes very highly, and Marvelous Sunday was no exception. Back then, she had even used a phrase that carried considerable weight coming from her to describe Kagura's notes: "Notes even I can understand well enough to raise my score above the passing line!" That alone was proof enough of how valuable those notes were.
After all, this roommate of hers had once achieved the glorious feat of scoring single digits in every subject except English, where she had gotten full marks. Yet with Kagura's help, she had actually managed to climb above the passing line in all her other subjects too. Now she could truly be said to live up to the "Marvelous!" she always kept on her lips.
When Nice Nature opened the bento box, the fragrance sealed inside seemed to be released all at once, instantly filling the entire dorm room. Marvelous Sunday, who had already eaten her fill at the Cafeteria, suddenly felt as if her stomach had room again, and could not help swallowing from her bed.
That smell… Luobo Gao (radish cake), and taro too… It smells so good!
Nice Nature's nose twitched, and she immediately identified what delicious things were in the bento. Clearly, Kagura had not made food today according to the strict nutritional meal standards she usually used during training. Instead, she had specially made an entire box of things Nice Nature liked.
"Sunday, do you want some?"
Seeing that her roommate's eyes seemed to have gone fixed for an instant, Nice Nature noticed her desire for the bento and smiled as she asked.
"N-no… That's your lunch, after all. I… I'm already full."
Although Marvelous Sunday's bodily instincts very much wanted her to accept Nice Nature's offer, she felt she already received plenty of care from her roommate in daily life, and constantly troubling Nice Nature like this did not seem very good. In order to stop herself from paying attention to the food over there, Marvelous Sunday chose to turn away and face the wall, putting on an "out of sight, out of mind" posture.
"It's fine. Want a piece of Luobo Gao~?"
"Guh…"
Feeling Nice Nature gently poke her from behind with a finger, Marvelous Sunday finally could not resist the call of her bodily instincts. She turned back and ate the piece of fried Luobo Gao that Nice Nature brought over with her chopsticks.
"It's over… Now I'm hungry again. My water cup… Where's my water cup…"
After eating it, Marvelous Sunday regretted it immediately. With one bite of Luobo Gao, she instantly understood what "whetting the appetite" meant. But she had just eaten her fill. If she went and ate another meal, certain things would happen that would make her trainer's blood pressure spike. Which meant there was only one thing she could do now—if she was hungry, she would drink water.
Watching her roommate chug water from her cup, Nice Nature, sitting by the desk and eating her bento, could not quite hold back the urge to laugh. Then she suddenly remembered that she had plans with Kagura this afternoon.
"Ugh… My stomach is so bloated… This is all your fault, Nice Nature. You stuffed that sinful Luobo Gao into my mouth…"
Marvelous Sunday hugged her slightly rounded belly at the edge of her bed and looked at Nice Nature with a face full of resentment.
Nice Nature, meanwhile, lowered her head and kept eating her lunch. As she ate, Marvelous Sunday got the feeling that her roommate seemed somewhat lost in thought, and could not help feeling puzzled and curious.
"Hey, Sunday. Do you know any way to… Well, I want to thank Kagura for always taking such good care of me, but no matter what, I can't get the words out. Like… wanting to thank Kagura and all that…"
"Eh? For something like thanks, can't you just say it directly?"
Marvelous Sunday tilted her little head, as if several question marks had floated above it.
"No… I can say it so naturally to my mom and dad, but every time I want to say something similar to Kagura, I always feel like the words get stuck right before I can say them."
Nice Nature truly was troubled by this. She was going out with Kagura today, and she wanted to do something for Kagura in return for all the care and concern Kagura had shown her. But what exactly should she do? To be honest, Nice Nature still had no confidence at all.
"?"
Marvelous Sunday pressed a finger to her chin and thought for a while. Then, as if she had triggered some earth-shattering wisdom, she clapped her hands. Nice Nature could practically see a light bulb turn on above Marvelous Sunday's head.
"I've got it! Since you can't say what you want to say to Kagura, Nice Nature, but you can say it to your parents, why don't you try treating Kagura like your mom? Wouldn't that make you able to say it?"
"Pff!!"
Nice Nature, who had thought her roommate was about to offer some earth-shattering insight, nearly spat out her food.
I shouldn't have expected a child who hasn't reached honkaku to give me advice on this kind of thing…
Treat Kagura like her mom? What a joke. Nice Nature was very clearly aware that this was not the kind of feeling she had toward a parent.
Is it because I care too much… that I overthink it, and that's why I can't say it?
Nice Nature, having given up on getting any useful advice from her roommate, thought about it in distress.
...
Phew~ The morning stream wrapped up nicely too. It felt pretty good!
——Indeed. There were unexpectedly many people concerned about your race schedule. That person called Tsunade and the Astronomer Watching Starfish even tipped you just to ask about it, several hundred at a time! So rich!
Yeah… They're not minors or something, are they? Spending that much just to ask a few questions that don't really matter? I'm kind of scared… honestly.
——Ah! I completely forgot about that possibility… Now that you mention it, I'm starting to panic too.
---
T/N: wimp womp wimp womp wimp womp
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