Boom!
Oguri Cap raced across the finish line, her final step powerful enough to plunge several inches into the dirt track. And just a few seconds later, I stepped over the finish line myself, signifying that I'd gotten 2nd in our little practice race.
I groaned playfully as I slowed to a stop. "Aiya~,it just isn't possible, is it~?" I said, smirking lazily as I lazily stretched my legs. "I mean, I guess it isn't that surprising, is it? You're Oguri Cap, after all."
Oguri tilted her head slightly, confused at what 'being Oguri' had to do with anything. Though her eyes then sharpened when she realized the self-deprecating tone I'd taken. "But you're strong too, Star." She then said, her eyes piercing. "If the track was longer, I would've never reached you."
I smiled wryly.
I mean, she wasn't wrong per se. The issue was the fact that our definition of 'Long' had changed quite substantially ever since we began training under Secretariat. Before, the [Kikuka Sho] was the absolute limit of her stamina, and even then she'd began her acceleration later on during the race.
Now? We'd probably have to race in the [Stayers' Stakes] if we wanted that same concept to still apply. Oguri could easily run over 3000 meters and not exhaust herself completely like she did previously.
Of course, that was assuming no outside interference was present. If Belno was running together with us, the top limit of our stamina would've been severely reduced due to her Domain.
Still, I could tell that Oguri genuinely meant those words, and my chest felt slightly warm as I smiled back. "Aw, thanks for that." I said, my tail swaying slightly.
Oguri blinked, though she then smiled when she noticed how happy I was at that little compliment. She mentally noted it down, doing her best to remind herself that she should say more compliments in the future.
Then, perhaps due to the topic, Oguri remembered a topic she'd forgotten to talk about yesterday. "Star." She called, her expression turning serious. "Are you really not going to run in the [Osaka Hai]?"
I blinked as I tilted my head towards her. "The [Osaka Hai], huh?" I repeated, humming as I turned to gaze at the track we'd just raced across.
I smiled slightly.
"Yeah, no."
Oguri pursed her lips at my words. "Why?"
"Oguri, this isn't a race for us two this time. Not just because it's too short—though that plays a part in it." I said to her. "This is a competition between you and Belno." My smile deepened. "For the first time, Belno actually challenged you to a race. And I don't want to sully that."
Oguri went silent for a moment, before she slowly nodded. "...I see." She eventually said, her tone regretful. It seemed she'd genuinely forgotten about that, and she now felt shame over it.
I just huffed as I patted her head. "Belno's determined not to fall behind." I smirked. "So you gotta be careful. Who knows how many new plans she's made up to deal with you."
"...can you help?"
I smiled peacefully. "Nope."
Her ears drooped down. "Oh."
I chuckled as I continued patting her head. It wasn't that I didn't want to help her—I just couldn't. The [Osaka Hai] was held in late March, and it was already nearing the end of February. We'd be flying back to Japan in a week or so to give Oguri and Belno ample time to adapt back to Japan's Turf.
Since that was the case, neither of us had really trained with Belno as of late. Most of the time, Belno had worked together with Kitahara, who acted as another voice she could share her ideas with.
It also didn't help that Secretariat's training left us with barely enough brainpower to bring us back to bed, much less to try and dig into Belno's future tactics.
"Anyway, it won't be long before we'll return to Japan." I then said as I pulled my hand back. "Anywhere else you wanna go to? It'll be a while until we come back."
"Food?" Oguri immediately offered.
My lips twitched, though I genuinely considered her offer. Over the months we'd spent here, Oguri had torn through restaurants like a typhoon, leaving none unexplored. Even if she couldn't speak English all that much, Oguri had become quite famous due to her seemingly unending appetite.
Of course, that only applied here in Virginia. We hadn't really gone out to explore the rest of the United States—partly because we were busy training with Secretariat, and partly because we were both technically still recuperating from our injuries. But now that we only had a week left in America, I was pretty sure Secretariat would be more than happy to let us explore the rest of America.
And since we're talking about food here--
"How about we take a trip down to Texas?" I asked, smirking slightly. "I've heard that Texas BBQ is quite the delicacy here."
Oguri's ears immediately perked up. "BBQ?"
"It ain't like the ones back in Japan." I said, humming as I tried to remember what American BBQ looked like. "It's basically a platter of meat and a bunch of sides. Beef brisket, pork ribs, sausage-"
"I wanna go!" She shouted, her tail wagging as her eyes sparkled.
I chuckled. "Well, I guess I shouldn't be surprised." I winked. "Though we should probably talk with the others first."
She nodded. "I know." She said. Though her excitement hadn't gone down at all, as if she was confident that the rest of Team Kitahara would agree regardless.
And to be fair, she wasn't wrong. It was practically a secret rule in our team that whenever Oguri made a demand for some kind of food, that demand had to be fulfilled. Failing to fulfil it would incite a great disaster—specifically through the awakening of the monster known as Ogurizilla.
But before all that,
"We should probably head back." I said, smiling softly as I booped her nose. "Our breakfast's probably done by this point."
"Ah." Oguri said, finally remembering. And the moment she did, a sense of urgency rose within her as she quickly grasped my hand and began pulling me back towards the mansion. "We need to go, Star! Before the food gets cold!"
"Yes, yes~" I said lazily, easily keeping up with her speed as we ran back towards the mansion.
And through it all, Oguri kept holding onto my hand. I could easily feel the warmth of her skin, and with how close we ran, her tail would occasionally brush against my legs, causing a jolt of electricity to run through my body.
I blushed as I continued facing forward. Geez, I couldn't help but feel like some pervert whenever I began focusing on things like this.
Regardless, I staunchly did my best to not think about how soft Oguri's hands were, or how soft Oguri's tail was, or the faint scent of vanilla I could smell from Oguri's hair--
Damn it.
…
Meanwhile, completely distracted by my perverse thoughts, I didn't notice the subtle gleam in Oguri's eyes, nor the way she would momentarily smile whenever she looked back and noticed the raging blush spreading across my cheeks.
She still didn't quite understand what Kitahara meant by me being a 'Glass Cannon', but whatever the case, she liked seeing me be so shy. Something inside her made her want to hug me close and never let go whenever she saw me like this.
And so, unknowing of Oguri's devilish scheme, we continued racing back towards Secretariat's mansion.