Tokai Teio's training session ended, and it was now lunchtime.
Glancing at the time on his phone, Shinji Kitahara stood up, gave a quick greeting to the resting Tokai Teio nearby, and went to find Eclipse, who had just finished her classes.
"How was your morning?" he asked Eclipse.
"Average," Eclipse replied flatly.
"If you have any trouble with your studies, I can find some time to help you. You know, I don't have much to do right now. I'm very free."
"Okay."
"Oh, right."
After walking into the Tracen cafeteria, Shinji suddenly remembered something.
"Where are you planning to stay tonight?"
Upon enrolling at Tracen, Eclipse had been assigned a dormitory room, and the environment was said to be excellent. However, Tracen didn't require students to live on campus. Many students rented apartments off-campus, and as for the reasons... it was best not to delve too deeply.
"I'll stay in the dorm."
Eclipse gave her answer without any hesitation.
Shinji nodded. "That makes sense. That apartment really is a bit of a dump. Since you won't be living there anymore, I'll move into the trainer's dormitory as well."
It wasn't just for the horse girls. At Tracen, trainers were also assigned private dorm rooms upon employment. The conditions were quite good, much better than the small, rundown apartment Shinji was currently living in.
And it saved money.
Chatting as they walked, the two arrived at the food counter.
A few seconds later, they became the center of attention.
Looking at the stack of plates in Eclipse's hands, piled almost half her height, Shinji was still utterly shocked every time he saw it, even though he had witnessed it countless times. He simply could not comprehend how her small frame could fit so much food—and her stomach never even bulged.
If even Shinji, who was familiar with her, reacted this way, it was needless to say how others felt.
Especially after they sat down and began to eat. The astonishing speed at which the 'mountain of food' disappeared left the surrounding horse girls and trainers in awe. The cafeteria chefs stared with sharp eyes, as if facing a great enemy.
Among these gazes, two with a special meaning were drawn to Eclipse.
A moment later, as if beckoned by some unseen force, they picked up their own trays of food, stood up, and walked over to Eclipse's side.
One was a purple-eyed horse girl with a large patch of white in the front of her brown hair. The other was a gray-haired horse girl with an indifferent expression.
The two were quite different, the only thing they had in common being the mountains of food they held in their hands.
Special Week (Chubby Version) and Oguri Cap.
These two were known as the two great nightmares of the Tracen cafeteria.
The reason was that after they enrolled, Tracen Academy, which had previously had ample food reserves, once faced a food shortage crisis. The surrounding all-you-can-eat buffets were completely wiped out, and all of them put up signs banning the two from entering.
In the end, to satisfy the needs of these two, the Chairwoman had to spend a fortune to expand the cafeteria and hire more chefs, which barely allowed the supply to keep up with their appetites.
And today, if nothing unexpected happened, the two nightmares of the Tracen cafeteria were about to become three.
"Can I sit here?" they asked Eclipse.
A certain blonde vampire once said that there is a gravity between people. It was clear that, due to their mass, the gravity between gluttons was definitely stronger than that between normal people.
Hearing their question, Eclipse looked up. Seeing the food in their hands, a flicker of interest appeared in her eyes, and she nodded.
With the thud of two heavy trays landing, the table groaned under the weight, seeming as if it might collapse at any moment. The two sat down and began to eat in silence.
What they didn't notice, however, was that after they arrived, in one corner of the four-person table, a certain trainer with only a normal person's portion of food in front of him had been keeping his head down, trying his best to minimize his presence.
Oh crap, what are they doing here?
Special Week was a girl from the countryside, and Oguri Cap was a horse girl who had come up from a local Tracen academy.
Because he used to wander around everywhere scrounging for food, he had been to Special Week's hometown and had also helped Oguri Cap with a problem. He had even briefly been in charge of their training. They were acquaintances he was on good terms with.
But Shinji Kitahara did not want to acknowledge them. He even had the urge to turn and run.
On one hand, when he had dealt with these two in the past, like with everyone else, he had simply disappeared without a word after finishing the job. It would be awkward if they asked about it.
On the other hand, he was afraid of attracting trouble.
Oguri Cap was fine. With her quiet personality and lack of interest in anything besides food, she probably wouldn't cause any trouble, though she might accidentally reveal his identity.
But Special Week was different.
It wasn't that she herself was dangerous. On the contrary, the kid was a simpleton who could be made happy with just a few carrots. She was one of the safer types of horse girls.
The problem was, she had a friend named Grass Wonder.
That one was a heavyweight on par with Tokai Teio. If possible, he wanted to avoid having any form of interaction with her for the rest of his life.
In short, while he was happy to see old acquaintances, Shinji did not want to acknowledge them. Whether it was being questioned about his disappearance, having his identity exposed, or attracting the attention of Grass Wonder, none of these were good things for him.
The only thing he could be thankful for was that when he had interacted with these two, Eclipse was still in school, so the three of them didn't know each other. This prevented his identity from being exposed right from the start and gave him a chance to maneuver.
Just eat quickly. Eat and run.
With this thought in mind, Shinji Kitahara sped up his eating.
And so, in a corner of the Tracen cafeteria, a miraculous scene unfolded.
Three horse girls and one trainer, four people in total, were eating with their heads down as if they were in some kind of competition, without saying a word. Their speed was so fast that it almost created afterimages, and the air around them was thick with the terrifying aura of wild beasts fighting.
Before long, a winner was decided.
Eclipse was the first to place her empty plate on the table, her gaze sweeping coolly over her two opponents, who wore expressions of unwillingness to concede.
She didn't say anything. She just stood up, took her plate, and walked back to the food counter.
Wait, could it be...
The other two widened their eyes, watching as Eclipse got another serving of food, roughly the same size as the first, and slowly walked back.
Then, as she passed by Shinji Kitahara, the ponytail behind her back swung gently, 'accidentally' brushing against the trainer's name badge on his chest.
Clink—
The metal name badge fell to the floor.
Because he was so focused on shoveling food into his mouth, Shinji's reaction was a beat slow. By the time he was about to bend down to pick it up, a hand was already holding the name badge out to him.
"Excuse me, Trainer-san, your name ba—dge?"
Special Week, holding the name badge, froze for a moment when her eyes fell on the words written on it.
"Kitahara... Shinji?... Are you Shinji-san?"
Nearby, Oguri Cap, who was about to resume eating, also heard Special Week's words. Her horse ears twitched, and she stopped eating, turning her gaze to Shinji Kitahara and blinking.
"Trainer Kitahara?"
As her words fell, Shinji Kitahara's body instantly froze.
After a moment's pause, he mechanically lifted his head, looked at the two of them, and squeezed out a strained smile, making a final, desperate struggle.
"Um, you might have the wrong person. My name is Nobita Nobi. I don't know anyone named Shinji Kitahara."
"Yep, that tone. It's definitely Shinji-san (Trainer Kitahara)."
...
For Special Week and Oguri Cap, it was a delightful reunion.
They hadn't spent much time with Shinji Kitahara, but he had left a deep impression on them.
There were two reasons for this.
One was that he had appeared when they needed help, solving many of their problems and even temporarily guiding their training. While they didn't have deep feelings for him, they considered him a good friend.
The other reason was his sudden disappearance. They had so many words of gratitude they wanted to say, and they had gotten along well, but one day, he just vanished, and they could never find him again, no matter how hard they looked.
Normally, memories fade with the passage of time. But in some cases, certain memories, like fine wine, only ferment and grow stronger over time.
"Shinji-san, why did you move away without saying a word? Mom and I looked for you for a long time," Special Week said, crossing her arms and puffing out her cheeks like a blowfish.
"Trainer Kitahara, thank you very much for your help back then. I wanted to give you a gift in return, but when I went to look for you, you were already gone..." Oguri Cap's expression didn't change much, but there was curiosity in her eyes.
Faced with their questioning, Shinji Kitahara apologized with a bitter smile and repeated the same explanation he had given to the other trainers.
"I see..."
Special Week and Oguri Cap looked at Eclipse, who had already finished her second round of food. Any competitive spirit they had was completely gone, replaced by a deep understanding and sympathy for Shinji Kitahara.
They were both horse girls with huge appetites, so they understood better than anyone else how hard it was to support a horse girl like that. Not to mention, judging by Eclipse's performance, her appetite was even bigger than both of theirs combined...
It must be tough, Kitahara-san.
After hearing Shinji's explanation, Special Week immediately forgave him for leaving without a word. Then, as if remembering something, her gaze fell on the trainer's name badge on his chest.
"Shinji-san, are you a trainer at Tracen now?"
A bad feeling rose in his heart again. Shinji managed to maintain a calm facade and nodded.
"Yes, I just started this semester."
"I see."
She nodded and then began to ask, "Do you have a charge right now..."
"I do."
Shinji didn't dare let her continue and cut her off directly. "And I already have two. I have no plans to add any more at the moment."
But to his surprise, hearing his answer, Special Week didn't look disappointed. Instead, her eyes lit up.
"Eh? Two charges? Does that mean you've already formed a team?"
...What's going on?
Shinji looked at Special Week's face, suddenly realizing he might have misjudged her intentions.
And in the next second, his premonition came true.
"It's like this. My full-fledged development has just begun, and I don't plan to make my debut yet. I was thinking of joining a team to train first, and I've been worrying about it recently..."
Special Week looked at him with an expectant expression.
Shinji Kitahara: "..."
Why do I have to talk so much!
Fortunately, although he already had two charges under his name, Shinji hadn't formed a team. As a rule, a rookie trainer who had just scraped by would probably have their team application rejected by the Chairwoman anyway. He didn't even have to pretend to be a slacker; he could just tell her the truth.
But just as he finished explaining his situation to Special Week, telling her he didn't have a team and couldn't let her join, Eclipse, who had been silent for a long time, suddenly spoke up in a low voice.
"Although you haven't formed a team yet, I think you could try submitting an application. Maybe it'll get approved?"
Shinji froze for a moment, then turned his head to look at her.
"Eclipse, you—"
However, before he could finish his sentence, Oguri Cap, who had also been silent for a long time, raised her hand.
"Um, Trainer Kitahara, I'm also planning to debut next year and I'm looking for a team to join. If it's possible, could I also apply to join your team?"
-------
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