What even is this...
When he woke up again, Kitahara stared at the familiar ceiling, then lowered his head and looked at the little black rice dumpling still fast asleep in his arms. He couldn't help letting out a long sigh.
So you really did just want to catch up on sleep...
Then again, that was exactly how Eclipse operated. The day she ever started thinking and acting like a normal person was the day something was truly wrong.
A little while later, perhaps disturbed by Kitahara moving after waking up, the little black rice dumpling in his arms squirmed a bit and slowly opened her eyes as well.
"...Good morning."
"Good morning—good my ass."
Kitahara reached out and ruthlessly rubbed the little black rice dumpling's face in his arms, only stopping once her cheeks had turned a little red.
Forget it. There's no point getting hung up on this kind of nonsense with her. Better get up and get to work...
He carried the little black rice dumpling off to one side, got up, washed up, changed clothes, and headed to the cafeteria for breakfast. After that, he went to the training grounds as usual.
But when Kitahara arrived, he found the training grounds completely empty. After having Eclipse open his phone for him, he saw that almost everyone on his team had taken the day off.
What is going on?
Kitahara froze.
Was today some special day? Or were the little troublemakers plotting something? Why had they all suddenly asked for leave at the same time?
Fortunately, he didn't have to wonder for long. Before long, someone in the Trainers' group chat asked a similar question, saying the Umamusume on their team had all taken the day off today and asking if anyone knew why.
[Nishiguchi]:What else could it be? Did you forget what tomorrow is? At this hour, those little girls are probably all lined up outside the cooking room.
[Aoi Kiryuin]:Why are they lining up outside the cooking room?
[Karai Risa]: Obviously to make chocolate to give out tomorrow for Valentine's Day.
[Karai Risa]:Luckily I've got some lab equipment in my dorm for experiments, so I can use that to make chocolate instead of squeezing in over there... Anyone want to use it?
[Nishiguchi]:Then lend it to me for a bit. I'm planning to make my chubby uma pure dark chocolate. She's been eating too many sweets lately. Time to let her taste some bitterness...
Making chocolate...
Looking at the messages on his phone, Kitahara fell silent.
Because he'd spent most of the past wandering all over the place, he'd never had the time or energy for holidays. He had heard that people gave chocolate on Valentine's Day, but he'd never actually experienced it himself.
After all, the places he used to pass through were mostly rural areas. People there didn't care that much about Valentine's Day to begin with.
And in the countryside, chocolate and molds for making it weren't always easy to get. Add in the fact that he was constantly running around and disappearing whenever the time came, and the result was that, even now, he had never once received chocolate on Valentine's Day.
But this year, things should probably be different...
Compared to past years, he had settled down at Tracen for quite a while now. Not only had he gotten to know a lot of people, he'd also built up a fairly sizable team under him.
Just out of courtesy alone, he ought to get at least a few friendship chocolates.
As for romantic chocolates...
He would've liked to say there was no way he'd get anything like that, but judging by how Neicha had been acting, he was probably getting one from her. Agnes Digital might hand him one too...
The only comforting thing was that, among Umamusume, those two were both basically on the safer side. Even if they had confessed their feelings to him, they probably wouldn't do anything too outrageous, so there wasn't much to worry about.
With that thought, Kitahara put away his phone and looked around. Once he confirmed his girls had all likely run off to make chocolate and there was nothing for him to do here, he didn't linger and simply left the training grounds.
Originally, after leaving, Kitahara had planned to go find Kudou-san and see whether he could pry some information about Eclipse out of him. Failing that, he could at least chat with him about the Black Market.
But before he even got halfway there, he ran into someone he knew.
Karai Risa.
"Ah, Trainer Kitahara, good morning."
The moment she spotted him from a distance, Karai Risa waved and jogged over.
"Good morning, Trainer Karai."
Kitahara nodded, then remembered something and asked in confusion,
"I just saw in the group chat that you were looking for people to come to your dorm to make chocolate. Why are you out here now?"
"Oh, there are a lot of people over there right now, so after I explained how to use the machine and handed them my dorm key, I came out by myself."
After a pause, for some reason, Karai Risa added,
"Oh, right. Hayakawa-san and Trainer Komata went over too."
Kitahara paid no attention to that last bit. What caught his attention instead was the part about her handing over the key to her dorm.
This girl really has a lot of nerve...
He sighed inwardly, then chatted with Karai Risa a little longer before preparing to leave.
But just as he was about to go, a certain thought flashed through his mind, and the foot he had just been about to step with stopped in midair.
Wait. If he remembered right, Karai Risa used to be the star ace of the Umamusume Research Institute—and not just any ace, but the kind who crushed everyone else single-handedly...
As the highest research authority on Umamusume-related matters, there was no way those people didn't understand the essence of Umamusume. Kitahara refused to believe otherwise.
And while the Umamusume Research Institute did publish weekly reports to the public, announcing some of their recent findings—anyone with eyes could tell that was nowhere near everything they knew. If anything, it was just the tip of the iceberg.
Too much valuable information, or information too inconvenient to make public, was buried inside. Only insiders were qualified to access it.
And as the former ace of the Umamusume Research Institute, Kitahara had every reason to suspect Karai Risa possessed a great deal of information the outside world didn't know—including him.
Some of it might even help solve his current predicament—or at least provide something useful to reference.
After all, even if he didn't think that pure-white Umamusume meant him harm, there was no way he could rely on only one side of the story. That was basic caution.
He had to find a way to talk to her. At the very least, he needed to feel out some related information...
Looking at Karai Risa in front of him, Kitahara sank into thought.
But how was he supposed to approach it? Karai Risa always seemed pretty interested in him.
Yet for a variety of reasons, he still hadn't had much real contact with her up to now.
There was no way he could just abruptly start asking questions. At the very least, he needed to find a topic first, get closer to her, and only after they'd become more familiar look for a chance to ask about the more sensitive matters...
"Oh, right, Trainer Karai—I heard you found two more Umamusume recently who want to join your team?"
"Yes. They're both very cute girls."
Then she added,
"Oh, right, I forgot to tell you, Kitahara-senpai. A big part of why I was able to bring those two girls onto the team is thanks to you..."
"Thanks to me?"
"Mhm."
Karai Risa nodded seriously.
"Didn't you teach me some ways to get along with Umamusume before? I tried them, and then I became friends with one of the girls. Her name is Mihono Bourbon. She's a very quiet child..."
"And the other one pretty much came to me on her own because she saw me talking to you before and thought I was your friend. Her name is Rice Shower. She's a very cute girl."
"...Who?"
Hearing that familiar name, Kitahara blinked.
"Rice Shower."
Karai Risa repeated the name, then asked,
"Kitahara-senpai, do you know her?"
"...You could say that."
Kitahara let out a sigh. As old memories resurfaced, a dull ache started throbbing in his temples.
That one was every bit as troublesome as Doto. And because of certain circumstances, by the time he left, her situation had actually been even harder to deal with than Doto's...
While Kitahara was lost in those memories, Karai Risa's eyes shifted, and then she spoke with a note of anticipation.
"In that case, Trainer Kitahara, I was just about to head over to the training grounds to find them. If you're free, would you like to come with me?"
"...Would that be okay?"
"Of course. After all, I only managed to find those girls thanks to you. I actually wanted to invite you earlier, but you've seemed pretty busy lately, and I was worried about bothering you, so I didn't dare ask out of nowhere..."
In truth, it wasn't only Kitahara who wanted to get closer to Karai Risa. Karai Risa had wanted to talk more with Kitahara for a long time too.
Ever since she'd started working here, she had been trying again and again to join Kitahara's team. Only after failing had she started building one of her own.
And now that she finally had a topic she could actually talk with Kitahara about—one that he even seemed to care about—Karai Risa naturally intended to strike while the iron was hot and use the chance to get closer to him.
Seeing how proactive she was, and with a few thoughts of his own on the matter, Kitahara considered it for a moment before nodding and accepting her invitation.
"All right. Let's go take a look together. It's been a long time since I last saw Rice Shower. I just hope it won't be too awkward..."
That was what Kitahara said.
"It won't be. She really likes you. She's been talking to me about you the whole time..."
As they walked, Karai Risa started talking about all the things Rice Shower had said about Kitahara over the past few days.
Kitahara kept nodding with a smile, but there was worry in his eyes he couldn't hide.
He wasn't that worried about Rice Shower herself. That child's personality was a bit Little Ancestors-ish, sure, but in terms of sheer destructive potential, she wasn't even in the same league as Meisho Doto. And comparatively speaking, she was easier to coax too...
The problem was that maybe others didn't know, but Kitahara did. Inside that child, apart from Rice Shower herself, there was something else he had personally brought into being—something so bizarre and absurd that even now, after seeing all kinds of strange Umamusume, every time he thought back on it, he still found it deeply uncanny.
And so, on the way to the training grounds, Kitahara couldn't help muttering to himself inwardly.
He just didn't know whether, after all these years, that child was still there...
---
T/N: RICE SHOWAAAAAAAAAAAA