Warm.
Why was it so warm?
I grunted as I slowly peeled my eyes open. The ceiling of my dorm room greeted me, colored by a streak of afternoon sunlight that peered through the small slit of my window blinds. I stared dully as I forced my mind to wake, and once I felt lucid enough, I began looking for why I felt so warm.
I didn't have to look for long.
I blinked as I saw one Oguri Cap snuggling up to me, drooling onto my pajamas as she'd somehow neatly tucked herself under the blanket.
I scrunched my eyebrows as I tried to remember how Oguri even entered, considering only I had the key to this room. Since our team had an odd number of members, I decided to let Belno and Oguri take a room together while I remained alone. A good thing, really; I wouldn't want to disturb my roommate with how early I liked to wake up.
After retracing through my memories though, I eventually remembered why Oguri was here in the first place, and a rueful smile came onto my lips.
It'd only been a day since my victory at the [Oka Sho]. Yesterday night, all of Team Kitahara had gone out to an expensive yakiniku restaurant to celebrate Oguri and my victories. We returned back to Tracen fairly late into the night, but I didn't feel all that tired just yet. And since I'd just run a race, I couldn't do my late-night runs.
So I picked one of the many empty race tracks, laid down on the turf, and just watched the starry skies above to pass the time. Later on, Oguri somehow noticed that I hadn't gone to sleep, found me down at the race track, and decided to join me.
Simply put, since it was so late and Belno was probably already asleep, neither Oguri nor I wanted to disturb her. So I brought Oguri to my room instead, offered the empty bed, and went to sleep.
I guess she just decided to snuggle up to me some time after I fell asleep.
I didn't mind all that much, though. This wasn't the first time we'd slept together, though that usually happened whenever we took a nap in the clubroom, sleeping together on one of the couches.
Still, we probably should wake up now. It's already afternoon.
Grinning slightly, I gave Oguri's ears a playful poke. Oguri's face scrunched up as her ears flicked, as if to try and swat my finger away. Seeing the resistance, I decided to go all out and gently rubbed her fluffy ears, causing Oguri's eyes to shoot wide open, her cheeks slightly red as she backed away.
I smirked. "Finally awake, Cinderella?"
Oguri blinked when she realized that I was the one who'd woken her up, though she then tilted her head. "Cinderella? Who's that?"
I sighed. Typical Oguri. "Doesn't matter." I smiled. "Good afternoon, Oguri."
"Ah, good afternoon, Star."
I did a quick stretch before I pulled the window blinds away, narrowing my eyes to protect myself from the sunlight. It was still early afternoon, and I could see a few umamusume running at the race track that neighbored the dorm building I'd been assigned to.
I turned to Oguri with a grin. "Wanna go to the cafeteria? I'm feeling a little peckish."
The mention of the cafeteria caused Oguri's eyes to light up, and whatever grogginess she had vanished in mere moments. "Eat together?" She asked, her tail wagging in excitement.
I chuckled as I patted her head. "Sure. Let's go."
"Mm!"
We quickly changed to our Tracen Central uniform, and then we were off. Oguri was more than eager to eat something after sleeping until the afternoon, but I made sure to hold her back. I'm pretty sure Tracen's earthquake warnings would trigger if I let Oguri charge forward.
Naturally, we attracted eyes as we walked. There was no helping it—Oguri's dominant victory was still in everyone's mind, and my victory over the [Oka Sho] had literally happened yesterday. We were definitely the talk around Tracen-, no, around Japan right now.
Thankfully, Oguri was entirely unaffected, her mind filled by only her desire for food. As for me,
I just cherished the fact that she was still so carefree. I knew she hadn't yet understood what it meant to embark on this journey, but she will soon.
The weight of the Triple Crown wasn't one easily held.
Soon enough, we made it to the cafeteria. The whole place fell quiet as they noticed us entering, though whispers soon followed as Oguri immediately went up to the counter and asked for her usual orders. I leisurely followed behind her, my ears flicking as I caught bits and pieces of the whispers around us.
"-so cool! She looked like-"
"W-Wow, Oguri's eating so much-"
"-Oguri or Star? I think-"
"-completely different! She's so nice, but out there-"
I hummed as I stopped listening. It didn't seem like anything negative was being spread around. That was good. Because if that happened--
Well.
"What's your order, girl?" The feisty cafeteria lady asked me once she finished piling up a massive tower of tempura for Oguri.
I smiled casually. "Just the usual." I said, and then paused before adding, "And maybe an extra carrot? Feeling a bit hungrier this time."
The cafeteria lady bit into her lollipop and smirked. "Loud and clear." She said, and with the grace of a professional, she prepared a tray filled with an assortment of food in just a few seconds. "Here ya go." She said. "Don't be shy if you want more. We're more than ready for more!"
I chuckled softly. "I will."
Once we both got our food, we sat down at an empty table and began eating. As usual, Oguri wolfed down her food, cleaning plate after plate in record time. Meanwhile, I ate at my usual speed, leisurely taking bites here and there. I didn't feel any pressure eat faster—I was still on my mandatory break, after all.
Oguri soon finished all the food she'd been provided, but instead of immediately heading back to get more, she instead turned to stare at me. I raised an eyebrow at her. "Hmm? What's up, Oguri?" I asked just as I took a bite from my carrot.
"Star." She spoke with uncharacteristic gravity.
My eyes sharpened. "What is it?"
The sudden shift in atmosphere was immediately felt by everyone else. They turned towards us, but few managed to maintain more than a few seconds before they were forced to look away, their hearts beating loudly in their chests. The pressure we exuded was just too intense!
Not that either of us noticed.
Oguri looked down for a moment, before her eyes met mine once more. "You were amazing yesterday." She said.
"And so were you." I returned easily. "You left some of the strongest of our year completely in the dust."
She hummed. "Thank you." She said, making no attempts at being humble. "That was what Musaka wanted me to do."
She then went quiet, seemingly trying to think of the exact words to say. I waited patiently for her to speak, wondering just what exactly Oguri was thinking about to make her so serious.
Eventually, she spoke, eyes gleaming like knives.
"I want to race against you."
Immediately, everyone's eyes turned to us. It wasn't really anything too strange—we might be in a team together, but that didn't stop us from running against one another as rivals. Rather, what truly caught everyone's attention was the fact that it was Oguri who had issued the challenge.
Even I couldn't help but widen my eyes in surprise, though I quickly recovered. "A race, huh?" I whispered, rubbing my chin as I considered the options.
If Oguri wanted to race, there really were only two options. The [Japan Cup], or the [Arima Kinen]. The two were G1 races that were either Medium or Long races. They would be the races where we could both race at our peaks.
There were…issues, of course.
Racing in the [Arima Kinen] would pit us straight against Tamamo Cross—undoubtedly currently this generation's strongest umamusume. And running together in the [Japan Cup] would pit us against some incredibly powerful foreign umamusume, with Obey Your Master being the most dangerous.
Still, the potential challenge didn't deter me. And besides, it'd be a shame not to race against Tamamo Cross at least once. This was practically her last year as an active racer, after all.
So, with that in mind-
"Either the [Japan Cup] or the [Arima Kinen]." I said plainly, smiling slightly as I saw the excitement that brewed behind those beastly blue eyes. "It'll depend on our schedules, but those two would be the best stage." I grinned as I leaned towards her, extending my pinky. "What do you say?"
Oguri took a small breath, her body shaking from excitement. "Sounds fun." She whispered, though she then looked at my pinky in confusion.
I rolled my eyes and told her to pull out her own pinky. She blinked but complied, and I soon wrapped out pinkies together. "There ya go." I winked. "Now it's a promise."
"Ooh." Oguri looked at our linked pinkies and smiled. "Un. It's a promise."
…
Neither of us really remembered that we were still in a public space when we talked, nor did we consider what might follow.