"Mm..."
Kagura groggily opened her eyes, and what came into view was a ceiling she knew well—yet somehow felt a little unfamiliar too.
Still not quite awake, she stared at it for a while, trying to piece things together, before finally remembering.
After they got back from Kyoto Racecourse last night, Rudolf had hauled her back here. As for what happened after that, Kagura's memory was hazy. She vaguely recalled someone bathing her and changing her clothes before putting her to bed. Looking down at herself, she saw that, just as she remembered, she had indeed been changed into pajamas. Rubbing her eyes, she sat up in bed.
The morning sun filtered through the curtains and fell across her face, making it hard to keep her eyes open.
Feels like it's been quite a while since I last came back here...
As far as Kagura remembered, the last time she had returned here was around New Year's. And now that she thought about it, ever since leaving the Symboli Household, every time she came back, it was because someone had dragged her in and forced her to rest.
That realization startled her a little.
Was she really the workaholic type?
Jumping down from the bed, she slipped her small feet into her slippers and pushed open the door to her room.
"What are you doing, heading downstairs the moment you wake up? I trust you're not sneaking off to the kitchen to steal food, Kagura?"
Kagura had only just reached the top of the stairs, instinctively heading toward the kitchen, when someone caught her from behind. Turning around, she found Rudolf standing there with a bright smile on her face.
"G-Good morning, Rudolf-ojousama..."
Truth be told, Kagura had not been planning to cook or anything. She had only been walking that way on instinct. But having been caught red-handed by Rudolf, she still felt weirdly guilty.
"I had a feeling you'd be up around this time. If I slept in today, by the time I got up, you'd probably already have breakfast made."
"N-no, not at all. I just wanted to find something to eat..."
"Oh? So that means you're hungry?"
Kagura hurriedly nodded along with Rudolf's lead. Strictly speaking, she was not ravenous, but it was around breakfast time already.
Rudolf smiled, then raised a hand and snapped her fingers.
Instantly, as if two squads of hidden assassins had just sprung out at the Hongmen Banquet, two lines of maids appeared from who-knew-where beside the staircase. Kagura froze on the spot. Before she could even react, the maids charged forward and hoisted her up.
"Huh!? W-what is this!?"
Suspended in midair by a whole group of people, Kagura let out a panicked cry.
"Kagura-chan says she's hungry, so it's your time to shine~"
"Yes, milady!"
"Aah! Senpai, put me down—!"
This turned out to be the fullest breakfast Kagura had ever eaten in her life.
Apparently, "going to Grandma's house for New Year's" was not an event restricted to the New Year season, nor was it necessarily limited to actual grandmothers. At least, while being fed by Rudolf and that entire army of maids this morning, Kagura could practically see Speed's shadow looming over all those older girls.
As an aside, Speed apparently had gotten so excited last night over Rudolf successfully taking the Triple Crown that she had still not gone to bed at three or four in the morning. According to the head maid, she had been bragging to Mejiro Iris over the phone or doing something of that sort, and only finally went to sleep when her phone died. The end result was that even at ten-thirty in the morning, there was still no sign of Her Ladyship emerging.
By now, the entire Symboli Household had reached a consensus:
If Kagura came home, then under absolutely no circumstances was she to be allowed near any housework whatsoever.
Which left Kagura with absolutely nothing to do in the house. She took out her phone, intending to play a game for a bit, only to discover that the grind-monster Eclipse had already logged in the moment the game reset at dawn and cleared all the daily stamina tasks for her. Eclipse had even left a message saying a new banner was coming soon and asking whether she could apply for some funds to roll on it.
With nothing left to play, Kagura had no desire to spend the whole day sprawled around at home doomscrolling videos, and on top of that, her stomach was still too full. So she decided to head out for a walk and let herself digest a little. At first, she had asked Rudolf if she wanted to come too, but Rudolf had been on the phone ever since breakfast, and from the sound of it, she was discussing something with Air Groove.
Kagura did wish Rudolf could rest properly too, the way she was being made to—but Rudolf had responsibilities on her shoulders. Without her, the student council really did grind to a halt.
Kagura could only sigh helplessly about that.
Hopefully the student council can recruit more people in the future and take some of the burden off Rudolf...
That was what she found herself thinking as she stepped out through the Symboli Household gates.
This time, Kagura had not set any real destination for her walk. She simply wandered aimlessly through the streets, strolling along while thinking about her upcoming race. As for where she was going, she was only following the route her body knew best, walking as far as felt natural. Of course, if she happened to find a nice place where she could lie down and bask comfortably in the sun, that would be even better.
By the time Kagura came back to herself, she realized she had somehow wandered all the way to the park she often visited.
It was still early in the day, a little past ten in the morning. There were no Tracen students around, since this was still theory class time, and there were hardly any other people in the park either, because most ordinary people were still at work. Even the owner of the little drinks stand in the park was dozing in a chair inside the shop.
"I've walked far enough. The sun's nice here too, so I might as well sit for a while..."
Kagura lay down on a patch of grass beside the park path, beneath the shade of a tree, enjoying the warmth of the sunlight.
——Really, this was what proper rest should look like. Finding a place to lie down and bask in the sun.
Eclipse gave her own approving assessment as well.
In the quiet park, lying there on the grass with her eyes closed, Kagura could hear nothing but the occasional breeze brushing past her ears, the rustling of leaves in the wind, and from time to time, the faint sound of a horn from the road in the distance.
"Hm?"
In the middle of all that stillness, Kagura suddenly noticed a discordant sound.
It was still some distance away, but from the noise, it was clearly footsteps—and fast ones at that. Maybe an Umamusume was out here training or something. Curious, Kagura sat up to see who might be making that sound.
After waiting a moment, she saw a black-haired Umamusume come dashing over at full tilt. She had a cluster of red spherical ornaments hanging from her head, along with a small streak of white at the front of her bangs. The whole impression she gave off was distinctly boyish. Judging by the outfit she wore, it was Tracen Academy training gear, which meant she was probably a student there.
Wow... she's fast. Maybe she's a Front Runner?
The moment Kagura saw an Umamusume running, she could not help instinctively analyzing her speed and likely tactics. Of course, speed alone was not enough to tell whether someone was a Front Runner—there were Pace Chasers who were absurdly fast too.
"Good, ACE. You're in excellent form today! Want to take a break?"
Kagura heard a male voice call out from farther off. Looking in the direction it came from, she saw a fairly young man holding a stopwatch and a tablet. He looked like a trainer, so Kagura guessed he must be the trainer of the Umamusume currently running.
"No need, Trainer! I can still keep going a while longer!"
"Just make sure you don't overdo it. Your race isn't far off, and if you run yourself ragged, it'll affect your performance."
"Hah! I'm ACE! This kind of distance is nothing to me!"
Huh—ACE? That's a pretty unusual name... She feels like the passionate, hot-blooded type. Special training here because her race is coming up, maybe? Then again, the only reason a student would be out training during morning theory class is probably that a race is right around the corner.
Watching the black-haired Umamusume as she ran, Kagura thought just that to herself.
---
T/N: A-A-A-A-ACE?!
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