"Huuwaaa~"
After lugging a big pile of luggage into her dorm room and doing a quick clean-up, it was already afternoon. Kagura sprawled comfortably onto her own bed, stretching lazily after having spent most of the day busying about.
This dorm was a double room, but Kagura hadn't seen her roommate yet. She wasn't sure whether she just didn't have one for now, or if the roommate simply hadn't returned in ages. The other bed had neatly folded bedding—but it was covered in a thin layer of dust.
Tracen's dorms weren't particularly spacious. Each room basically had two desks, two beds, a long cabinet in between, and a bathroom. Small but elegantly furnished. Kagura wondered if regular maintenance was even being done; probably not, since she had to clean up quite a bit of dust before she could even lie down.
"…"
Looking at the dusty bed across from hers, Kagura felt a slight flare-up of her OCD.
She lay there briefly, but soon enough she couldn't stand it any longer and bounced up off the bed, preparing for a thorough cleaning of the entire dorm room. Thankfully, she'd brought cleaning supplies from the Symboli estate. Even though the other half of the room wasn't technically her area, it was still part of her room, and she hated seeing such a large patch of dust.
With her practiced housework skills and proper cleaning tools on hand, Kagura made quick work of tidying the small room. She nodded with satisfaction upon seeing the now spotless room, then lay back on her bed and took out her phone.
[Kagura, have you settled in yet?]
As soon as she unlocked her phone, Kagura saw an unread message. Since she currently had exactly one friend added, she instantly knew who it was, even without a contact label.
[All done. Finished cleaning the dorm too. Got any plans, Nature?]
[Not really. I'm kinda hungry though. I heard the cafeteria's open now, wanna check it out together?]
[Sure.]
The two quickly agreed to go eat first.
Tracen's cafeteria looked enormous from the outside, and the fragrance of food wafted out from a distance. Today was Kagura's first time stepping into this building she'd long anticipated. As soon as they walked in, a wave of rich aromas instantly filled her senses, causing Nature's already hungry stomach to immediately protest loudly.
The cafeteria had a wide variety of dishes, colorful and delicious-looking, all free and buffet-style. Although Kagura personally thought it couldn't compare to her own cooking, considering it cost nothing, this kind of quality was already top-tier—far beyond anything she'd experienced at her university's cafeteria in her previous life.
Nature, accompanying her, was utterly lost amidst the sea of food. It was her first time seeing such a spectacular sight, and she wandered around holding her tray, entirely overwhelmed by choice, looking like Granny Liu stepping into the Grand View Garden.
Meanwhile, Kagura chatted casually with the friendly cafeteria aunties and uncles at the counters as she took her portions. If she were to rate them, she'd definitely give them full marks for always being generous with servings.
From chatting with the aunties and uncles, Kagura learned that the kitchen here could actually be borrowed by students. If someone wanted to show off their cooking skills to classmates, this was the perfect place to do it.
How wonderful… maybe I could come here to experiment with dishes whenever I'm free?
Remembering the kitchen's availability, Kagura pondered that there were certain dishes the cafeteria probably wouldn't normally make.
After picking out her food, Kagura turned to look for Nature, only to discover that Nature's tray was still empty, the girl herself looking deeply distressed.
"Uwah! Kagura, there's too much yummy stuff! I don't even know what to eat first!!"
"Don't go overboard, Nature. Your appetite isn't very big, after all. It's not good to waste food. From a nutritional standpoint, I'd recommend these…"
Seeing Nature completely unable to decide where to start, Kagura offered some recommendations based on what she'd learned. Although she wasn't sure if they'd suit Nature's taste, at least they'd be balanced nutritionally.
Fortunately, Nature was an obedient girl who wasn't picky about food. She basically ate whatever Kagura recommended.
"Even though Tracen's food tastes good, I still miss your cooking, Kagura…"
"There'll be chances. I'll cook a few meals here for you sometime, so you just focus on studying, Nature."
Seeing that Nature was still nostalgic for her cooking, Kagura could only smile helplessly.
Looks like I'll probably need to borrow this kitchen pretty frequently in the future…
Quietly memorizing the borrowing procedures, Kagura made up her mind.
…
Originally, Nature planned to come over to Kagura's dorm and hang out after dinner, but it seemed like Rudolf had some documents that Nature still needed to process, so in the end, Kagura returned to her room alone.
Even though it was already nighttime, Kagura still hadn't seen her roommate come back. She figured it was unlikely she'd meet this roommate during the summer break at this rate.
Hopefully it's not some difficult weirdo…
Kagura didn't have high expectations for her roommate. As long as the other person wasn't someone impossible to communicate with, it'd be fine.
With no work assignments at the moment and already exhausted from her busy day, Kagura didn't want to create unnecessary chores for herself, so she just lay there scrolling on her phone.
Apart from funny meme videos, Kagura's favorite were cooking videos—though these often appeared on her feed in the dead of night, making her both love and hate them intensely.
Of course, in this world's video platforms, there weren't just humans; there were Uma Musume too. Kagura randomly came across videos from an Uma named Curren Chan, who seemed to have quite a significant fanbase and was widely praised. This sparked some inspiration in Kagura, who had been worrying about what to do next.
"Right… school life will be pretty easygoing, and my job probably won't be too demanding either. Maybe I could try becoming a content creator myself?"
Quietly adding another entry to her future plans, Kagura hadn't quite decided what direction she'd take. The idol route Curren Chan was pursuing obviously didn't suit her at all, so she'd need to think about it carefully—but at least it was a goal.