"Sorry! Kagura, have you been waiting long?"
That afternoon, with about twenty minutes still left before their agreed time, Nice Nature, acting on the principle that she absolutely could not keep Kagura waiting, changed into her casual clothes early and headed out.
Only when she arrived at their meeting place did Nice Nature discover that Kagura had already been waiting there for some time. Kagura, who had arrived early, was sitting on a stone bench. Today, she had not gone out in the outfit from before that made her look like a young lady. Since the weather had grown colder recently, Kagura had changed into winter clothes and wrapped a scarf around herself, giving off a warm impression even from a distance.
A moment ago, Kagura seemed to have been spacing out. Only after Nice Nature called out to her did Kagura turn around and stand up. The expression on her face looked a little dazed and adorable, giving people the urge to reach out and pet her a couple times.
"Ah, I haven't been waiting long. I only just got here."
After processing what Nice Nature had just said, Kagura quickly shook her head, then gave her a gentle smile.
"Have you thought about where you want to go?"
When Kagura came out, she had not actually decided on a destination. She only had a simple goal—find somewhere to buy apples. As for everything else, they could just play with whatever they came across on the way.
"I haven't really thought of anything either… Didn't you say you wanted to buy apples, Kagura? Then how about we browse the nearby shopping street first?"
"Sure~"
After thinking about it, Kagura did not have any particular destination for now anyway, and wandering around aimlessly with Nice Nature sounded rather nice, so she agreed to Nice Nature's spur-of-the-moment suggestion.
After saying goodbye to the lady in the green hat at the school gate, Kagura and Nice Nature walked out of Tracen's gates. The weather that afternoon was fairly nice. There were clouds in the sky, so they did not need an umbrella, and the sunlight was not too strong. It was the perfect weather for going shopping.
"Speaking of which, I didn't see you anywhere this morning, Nice Nature. When I went to bring you food, your roommate came out to get it."
Walking along the small path by the river not far from Tracen, Kagura remembered how she had not seen Nice Nature when she went to look for her that morning, so she asked curiously.
"Ah… I went out training this morning. Maybe… our timing just happened to miss each other?"
"Eh~ Even without your trainer around, you're still keeping up with training? That's great~"
"I mean, I still have to do some preparation…"
After receiving Kagura's praise, Nice Nature smiled happily, and a faint blush rose on her fair cheeks.
Ah, the thank-you thing…
Nice Nature remembered what she had still been worrying about before leaving. Right now, the timing was perfect. Because it was break, there was no one else on this little path. Only she and Kagura were strolling along it, which made it a good environment for conversation.
Come on, come on… Don't overthink it. Just say it normally…
Encouraging herself in her heart, Nice Nature turned her gaze toward Kagura beside her, took a deep breath, and opened her mouth.
"Um, Kagura, it's…"
"Mm?"
Hearing Nice Nature call her, Kagura smiled and turned her head to look at Nice Nature, waiting for her to speak.
But once Kagura looked over like that, the words that had already reached Nice Nature's mouth got stuck again. She did not know why. She had clearly already prepared the syllables, but no matter what, she could not make any sound come out.
I can't… say it… What is wrong with me…
It was clearly just an ordinary word of thanks. As a friend, thanking another friend for the meticulous care she had shown her over the past year was obviously a perfectly normal thing to do. And yet Nice Nature could not make the sound come out no matter what.
"Um… um… it's just…"
"What is it?"
Seeing Nice Nature stammer without managing to say anything, Kagura curiously leaned closer to look at her.
Nice Nature was startled and quickly retreated several steps. Kagura tilted her head in confusion, not understanding why Nice Nature had suddenly panicked.
"It-it-it… it's just…"
"Pfft… Nice Nature, have you noticed? Right now, you look so nervous it's like you're confessing to someone."
Hearing Nice Nature stutter so badly she was practically turning into a looping electronic sound, Kagura could not help laughing. Although she did not know what Nice Nature was trying to say, seeing her like this was very amusing.
"C-con… con-con-confessing!?"
If Kagura had some kind of special vision, she would have been able to see white steam rising from Nice Nature's head. Nice Nature's little brain had already been running under heavy load, and after Kagura poked at her like that, it crashed outright like a computer with a memory overflow.
"That's right. You're as nervous as a boy who doesn't know what to do. What exactly is so hard to say? Try telling me. Maybe I can help you with something."
To be honest, Kagura could not think of many topics that would trouble Nice Nature this much. Surely this child had not failed a final exam and needed to take a makeup test, and was hesitating over whether to tell Kagura her score, right?
"Ah… it's… ah! N-nothing!! Kagura, look! Isn't that cart up ahead the one that sells drinks by the park? Let's go buy something to drink together!"
Seeing that they were already approaching the park, Nice Nature seemed to have found her savior and quickly pointed toward the distant drink stand.
Kagura felt somewhat confused, but since Nice Nature said she wanted to buy drinks, she might as well go take a look with her. It had indeed been quite a while since she last bought something to drink here, and the honey drink here had left a fairly deep impression on her.
Not because the taste was astonishingly good, but because one day, after her morning run, she bought a special honey drink here and ran into Tokai Teio, who had also come to buy a drink. Hearing Tokai Teio add a whole pile of requests, Kagura had been curious enough to wait nearby for a while to see what Tokai Teio's special version looked like. In the end, she watched as the shopkeeper drew a huge amount of honey directly from the drink machine and handed it to Tokai Teio.
It's really hard to imagine what that would taste like…
That day, seeing Tokai Teio chug down that drink—which should have been called "honey" rather than a "special honey drink"—still made Kagura feel as if the sweetness would burn her throat whenever she remembered it. She subconsciously glanced at Nice Nature. Compared to that, Nice Nature's taste was much more normal. At the very least, what she drank was still a version mixed with water and various ingredients. That was relatively much easier to accept, and Kagura liked it too.
"Oh my~ Nice Nature, and Kagura too? It's so rare to see the two of you out together."
After finishing Nice Nature's drink, the shopkeeper came back and only then saw Kagura, who had arrived at the shopfront a little behind her.
"Long time no see, Shopkeeper-san. Since the Arima Kinen ended recently, this year's races have basically come to a close, and everyone has some free time~ So we thought we'd come out and see if we could buy anything we might need for Christmas."
"I see~ Then I recommend taking a look at that shopping street over there. I've seen it decorated with quite a Christmas atmosphere lately. If you two students want to walk around during Christmas, that should be a good place to go."
"Got it~ Thank you for the suggestion, Shopkeeper-san. We'll go take a look later~ Please make me my usual special honey drink!"
"Coming right up!"
The shopkeeper answered energetically, then turned and went in to make Kagura's drink.
Nice Nature, her little face bright red, silently sipped her special honey drink from the side, stealing glances at Kagura beside her from time to time while letting out a long sigh in her heart.
Again… I couldn't say it again… Aah, what am I even doing!!
...
——Kiddo, have you ever counted how many trainer knowledge lectures you've listened to?
Probably only two or three? I didn't have that much time to listen to them, after all. What's wrong? Why ask that all of a sudden?
——No reason. I just think your fundamentals are truly quite solid. If you become a trainer in the future, you will absolutely be the best trainer at Tracen, the kind countless Umamusume would fight over.
I'm happy to be praised by you, Eclipse-san… but why did you suddenly start praising me about that?
——Who knows~ Just treat it as a sudden thought of mine~
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