"So you were buying gifts?" I said, taking a bite from my chicken burger.
Belno nodded enthusiastically as she took another handful of fries. "It would've been a shame if we didn't bring back a few gifts." She said.
"Mhm." I raised an eyebrow. "And why was I not informed?"
Belno chuckled weakly. "Well, you were-, um…quite busy?" She said, clearly lying out of her teeth.
"I wanted to buy something for you." Oguri said truthfully as she moved to grab another drumstick from the bucket of fried chicken. "Didn't want you to know what I was buying."
Belno smiled wryly. "Wasn't that supposed to be a secret, Oguri-chan?"
Oguri just shrugged.
Heh. Classic Oguri.
"Aiya~, now I feel like I'm falling behind." I rolled my eyes as I took another bite. "Can't be the only one coming back without gifts, after all." Sure, that meant that I'd need to cut tomorrow's training short, but there wasn't much I could do about that. Better to get things sorted out, considering we didn't have much time left.
We'd be doing the same thing we did last year; we;d be heading out a couple weeks before the summer camp officially ended, and we'd use those two weeks to make a pitstop back to Kasamatsu to see how everyone was doing.
"Can I go too?" Oguri immediately asked.
I raised an eyebrow. "You wanna go again?" I smiled wryly. "It'll be boring, y'know? You'll be going to the same places again."
Oguri smiled. "It's never boring with you."
…Ah, geez. I couldn't ever win against that, could I?
"If you say so~" I playfully said, knowing that my ears were making it abundantly clear how happy her words made me. "How about you, Belno? Got anything planned for tomorrow?"
Belno hummed as she snacked on a few more fries. "I don't know." She admitted. "Maybe go to Emerald Beach for a swim? I haven't really explored all that much."
"Sounds good." I took another quick bite from my burger. "Maybe ask Kitahara to accompany you. Ain't like he has anything else to do while we're gone." I then added, "Oh, and bring March as well. I know she'll probably try to refuse—say something about how she needs to train, but that girl needs a break."
Belno pursed her lips slightly. "Speaking of, aren't you pushing her too hard?"
I raised an eyebrow. "Hey, she's the one asking for it. I'm not forcing her to do anything." smiled wryly. "Besides, I'm still sticking to the bare minimum. She'll be dead for an entire day if she tries our usual training."
Belno giggled awkwardly. "That's true."
Of course, I could stop training March if I wanted to, but by this point I had a feeling she'd just continue on even if I wasn't there to watch over her. She'd improved greatly over the past month, and I doubted she wanted that momentum to stop now of all times.
But I'd probably keep training March until the day we'd make our early leave. Not just to supervise March in case she attempted anything, but also because I now had Inari One consistently joining in, even if her trainer had to profusely apologize every time Inari came barging in like a cannon ball.
Now that I'd refuse her. She'd proudly called herself a fan after all, and it'd be remiss of me to push her away.
…
"Star?" Oguri asked, her half-eaten drumstick temporarily forgotten as she frowned in concern.
I smiled. "It's nothing." I sighed softly as I leaned back into my chair. "It's just-, there's been a lot of new faces. A lot of new juniors I haven't had the time to meet." I huffed. "So many umamusume who joined up because of us. Knowing that we've become the inspirations for many others is…satisfying, I guess." I went silent for a moment, before I shrugged. "In other words, I'm just feeling a little old."
Belno smiled fondly. "That was the reason you started running, right?"
"...Yeah." I said, and it made me feel warm to realize that the first goal I'd set out for myself had been completed.
Following Oguri throughout the story of Cinderella Gray, watching Mejiro Ramonu's run in the [Queen Elizabeth II Cup], Kitahara's promise to make us into legends—from the very beginning, I was molded by them all. It was them that had inspired me to become who I am today, and though it was the System that wanted me to become a Hero, that desire soon became my own; a way of paying back to this world that'd saved me regardless of who I am.
"Well, I'm not done just yet." I smirked as I took a bite. "We haven't taken over the world just yet, so there's no stopping until then."
"Nn." Oguri nodded as she finally resumed munching through her bucket of fried chicken.
…
Time moved along after that.
As planned, I cut training off early the next day, and March thankfully accepted my suggestion to join Belno and Kitahara on their trip to Emerald Beach. Their destination was a little ways away from the private area the Director had rented for the summer camp, so Kitahara rented a small van to make the trip easier.
And meanwhile, Oguri and I went and explored the capital city of Naha, going through all the souvenir stores to find gifts to bring back. Wasn't a particularly difficult thing to do; my list of recipients wasn't that long, mostly consisting of our parents and a few close acquaintances I'd made during my time in Kasamatsu.
…looking back, it was a little sad, really. I'd been in Central for over two years now, and yet I knew more people here than I did back in Kasamatsu. Which wasn't a surprise, considering I was far more social here compared to how I was back then. But still a discomforting fact to think about.
For my mother, I bought a pair of earrings shaped like snake charms. She wouldn't actually wear it—her ears weren't pierced—but she liked collecting earrings for the love of the game.
For my father, I just bought some snake wine. He was more of a beer person, but he drank some wine here and there.
For Kitahara, I purchased another cap for him to wear. He needed another cap to wear, especially since that cap of his was becoming quite famous these days.
For Belno, I got her a new notebook. I made sure the one I bought was especially thick, knowing she could easily fill an entire notebook in a week if she got invested enough.
And for Oguri-, well, I'd keep that one a secret. I even made sure to send Oguri away momentarily to make sure she wouldn't get a sneak peek.
Once that was done with, we spent the rest of the day just exploring the city. Naha was completely different compared to Tokyo. The atmosphere was much more relaxed here; though Okinawa as a whole was far more chill compared to the rest of Japan—likely a product of the tropical weather that remained constantly warm throughout the whole year.
Thankfully, not many people recognized us, with those that do either being tourists or other students from Tracen Central. It was probably because this year's summer camp had been especially discreet compared to last year's, and also because we were technically outside of Japan.
Alas, that anonymity didn't last once dinner came. The moment evening fell, we went to a high-end buffet for some dinner, and I once more bore witness to the awakening of the Grey Monster as she proceeded to devour so much food that the kitchen staff began struggling to keep up. And by that point, some of the natives began putting two and two together.
And through it all, I watched with a fond smile, just happy to spend another day with the girl I loved.