"Hey, you still alive?" I asked, poking the unmoving pile of flesh with a stick I picked up nearby. "Hello? Anyone home? Do I need to call Musaka-san over?"
The pile of flesh groaned. "Why are you like this?"
I grinned as I gave his cheek another poke. "Then stop tripping on your own foot."
Said pile of flesh was, of course, one downcast Kitahara Jo who'd recently tripped on a woody root and tumbled straight onto the dirt like he was trying to eat it. He'd been doing his best to chase Belno and Oguri to keep an eye on them when he tripped, and even I nearly missed him, only catching his pained groan moments before I ran past.
He grumbled as he slowly pushed himself up, wiping his face from any dirt and grass before turning over to lay on his back. "Ah, so tired…" He whispered, face covered with sweat after nearly an hour of constantly running up and down the forested mountain.
I chuckled, before I laid on the ground next to him. He stared at me in confusion, and I smiled back. "You don't mind, do you?"
He chuckled tiredly. "Nah, it's fine."
We laid there in silence for quite a while. The canopy of leaves above us swayed and fluttered with the passing winds, letting bits of the sun's light pass through the gaps between the leaves. The smell of mosses and trees mingled with the oily scent of the dirt they laid on; a perfect distillation of the smell of summer.
I closed my eyes and took it all in.
Even having lived two different lives, this was the first time I'd genuinely gone to a summer camp. Back in that previous world, summers had always been somewhat of an inconvenience—blistering heat, long days, and all wasted on summer jobs to keep myself afloat.
Even after having been reborn into this world, I scarcely did much during summer. Maybe I'd go to the summer festival then and there, and maybe I'd go fishing with my grandfather whenever he felt like it, but other than that, summer had never been a special time for me.
So to spend this summer with people I now considered family, training and preparing for the last race I'd need to achieve the Undefeated Triple Tiara—it was quite special.
That, and it certainly helped that the director was more than willing to burn through her own pockets for this.
…
"Hey, Kitahara?"
He glanced at me. "What is it?"
I was silent for a moment, before I turned to him. "Once we all enter our Senior years, what do you think we should do?"
His brows furrowed. "What do you mean?"
I raised my hand up towards the canopy of leaves, letting bits of sunlight pass between my fingers. "Team Kitahara will take over the world; that is how our story began." I smiled slightly. "Once we're done with our Classic races, are you willing to take the next step?"
The words I didn't say were clear to hear, and Kitahara's eyes shot wide open. "That's…" He paused for a moment, his eyes murky with conflict. "Are you sure?"
I huffed. "Wow, I can feel the confidence." I joked, before my expression became serious. "But yeah. I was already preparing for that possibility from the moment we became a team." I sighed as I brought my hand back down. "It's why I suggested Oguri and I run in the [Japan Cup]. It'll be a nice way to sample some of the best the rest of the world has to offer."
Hearing my words, whatever doubts he had vanished, and Kitahara grinned at me with a daring determination that most Japanese trainers had lost. "Yeah, you're right." He clenched his fist as he raised it to the sky. "We'll make this world our own!"
I smiled fondly. "Yeah, we will." And then I grinned. "But first things first, we should probably catch up to Oguri and Belno now."
Reminded of his task, Kitahara groaned as he slowly pushed himself up. I chuckled as I stood up as well, and after quickly stretching my legs, I gave him a playful salute. "Alright then. I gotta catch up to those two~!"
"Wait-!"
Before he could even finish his words, I charged forward through the forest trail. Kitahara watched the small dust cloud I left behind in disbelief, before he slumped.
With a disheartened look, Kitahara began running up the forest trail.
Meanwhile, after running at nearly full speed for several minutes, I eventually caught up to Oguri and Belno. Belno blinked as she saw me suddenly appear, before she apologized. "Sorry about leaving you behind, Star-san!"
I waved her apology away. "It's fine, it's fine~" I quickly slowed down to match their jogging speed. "You should save the apology for Kitahara instead." I smirked. "Poor guy's getting the workout of his life out here. Wouldn't be surprised if he started running races like we do."
"Kitahara…running with us?" Oguri whispered, her eyes glittering with awe.
Belno giggled. "Well, I don't think he'll ever do that, Oguri-chan."
Belno's answer caused her ears to droop in disappointment, and I could only chuckle as I patted her head. Oguri's disappointment quickly evaporated after that.
We continued to jog at our usual pace for a while, heading for the highest point of this forest trail we were running on. It wasn't actually the highest point of this forested mountain, but it'd be too dangerous to continue going any further up, especially since there'd be no obvious path we could follow.
As we jogged, I couldn't help but ask Belno, "By the way, how's your outfit coming along?"
Belno smiled brightly. "I just received it yesterday!" She giggled. "I've tried it on, and it fits perfectly."
Oguri blinked. "Eh? You have a new outfit, Belno?"
Belno nodded. "I'll show you when we get back, Oguri-chan!"
Of course, the outfit Belno was talking about was her G1 outfit. Since the [Japanese Dirt Derby]—Belno's first G1 race—was just a few weeks away, there was no better time than now for her to get used to her new outfit.
I didn't actually know what her outfit looked like. All I knew was that, like I did, Belno had drawn the outfit herself.
And honestly, I was quite excited to see it myself. In the manga, Belno had never raced in a G1 race before, and so she'd never gotten a dedicated G1 outfit like Oguri did. The fact that she now had her own G1 outfit just showed how much her fate in this world had diverged from the original.
Soon enough, we reached the end point of the forest trail we'd been following. With our 'lap' done for the time being, I decided to sit down next to a tree, using the canopy above the shield myself from the sunlight. Seeing me rest, Oguri quickly joined me, and Belno also joined in soon after.
We sat there for some time, just basking in the atmosphere of this forested mountain. There was little to interrupt us up here—left with nothing but the occasional whistles of the passing winds.
So it didn't take long before Oguri's eyes began to droop. This wasn't the first time we'd raced up the forested mountain, and the exhaustion was clearly getting to her.
Seeing that, I gently pulled Oguri over and laid her head on my lap. Oguri mumbled a soft thank you as she made herself comfortable, and seconds later, Oguri fell asleep. Belno giggled softly as she saw the droopy expression Oguri had as she slept, before she too yawned.
I smiled at her. "Getting tired?"
Belno hummed, smiling slightly. "A little."
"An afternoon nap wouldn't hurt, right?" I grinned as I patted my shoulder. "Here. You can rest on me if you need to."
She nodded, and then smiled fondly as she glanced at the sleeping Oguri. "So I can only get your shoulder, Star-san?"
I shrugged. "What can I do? The Beast requires much care to keep satiated, after all."
She giggled. "That's true!"
She then laid her head on my shoulder, and I smiled as I patted her head. Had this been the Belno from months ago, she would've no doubt combusted on the spot. But we've been through a lot together and it wasn't rare to find us sleeping together here and then. Hell, our couch in our clubroom had become an unofficial cuddling spot by this point.
Belno smiled as she enjoyed the headpat, and before long, her eyes closed as she fell asleep.
Seeing my two friends now asleep, I took a small breath as I made myself comfortable. I didn't feel quite tired enough to fall asleep like the two of them, but a little rest wouldn't hurt.
…
Some time later, Kitahara was gasping for air as he reached the end of the forest trail. But just as he was about to scream in victory, he caught sight of the three of us sitting by the three, with Oguri and Belno deeply asleep. I gave the man a wink as I placed a finger on my lips, and he gave a thumbs up as he kept himself quiet.
"Congratulations, Kitahara." I whispered. "Maybe we should get you a race outfit too."
He chuckled wryly as he walked over and sat down next to a nearby tree. "Never." He scowled playfully. "I'd sooner get myself thrown into the dumpster than that."
I frowned sadly. "But I wanna see you do a Winning Concert~"
"Hell no."
I chuckled. "Ah, too bad." I glanced at him for a moment, and seeing his pale face, I decided to be a little kind. "Why don't we take a quick rest here?" I suggested.
He frowned slightly. "Roppei-san's still waiting for us at the bottom, you know?"
"It's fine~" I grinned lazily. "A little rest won't hurt, will it?"
He grinned back. "That's true."
So we decided to rest there for quite some time, letting Oguri and Belno nap while the day slowly passed by.