After ordering their als, the trio found an empty spot and sat down.
But just as they sat down, Tokai Teio and Mizuno noticed sothing wrong.
"Air Groove-senpai, is that really all you're going to eat?" Tokai Teio couldn't help but ask, staring at the food on Air Groove's tray.
"No appetite," Air Groove replied.
"But you're eating even less than ..." Mizuno frowned, pointing at the few slices of barley bread on Air Groove's tray.
Everyone knew that, to maintain their extraordinary physical capabilities, Uma needed to eat several tis what humans ate. Otherwise, their health would suffer—possibly permanently.
Yet, the serious problem right now was that Air Groove's tray held less than half of what Mizuno himself was eating...
"I said I have no appetite..." Ignoring Mizuno's questioning, Air Groove picked up a slice of bread and directly stuffed it into her mouth, cramming her cheeks full.
"Hffy...wffnsh...an go bagh… (Hurry...finish...and go back…)" With her mouth full of bread, Air Groove's speech beca unclear.
Only then did Mizuno realize—Air Groove was deliberately eating less to hurry back and start growing the sunflower sooner.
His worry, though, was that perhaps she usually ate this little, explaining why she always seed so drained.
"That won't do..." Mizuno stood up, pushing his untouched tray in front of Air Groove.
"If you don't eat properly, I won't go back."
"M- neither!" Tokai Teio also stood up, pushing her tray toward Air Groove.
"Ugh..." Seeing the pile of food before her, Air Groove leaned back unhappily. She had no desire to waste ti eating this much food; to her, eating was just about filling the stomach enough to get by. Rather than wasting ti eating, she wanted to hurry back and plant flowers...
Yet seeing the resolute expressions on Mizuno and Tokai Teio's faces, she realized the miserable reality—finishing ant reward; not finishing ant punishnt.
The reward was getting to plant flowers sooner, while the punishnt was staying here until she finished it all...
"Guh..." Air Groove reluctantly pulled the tray closer, picking up the knife and fork, prepared to quickly finish the food.
"No gobbling," Mizuno warned.
"..." Air Groove froze mid-motion, mouth open, steak hovering, about to shove the entire piece in. After a speechless glare at Mizuno, she silently placed the steak back on the plate, cut it into small pieces, and chewed slowly and deliberately.
"That's better." Mizuno sat back down in satisfaction, watching Air Groove eat with the deanor of a proud old father.
Young people needed to eat properly—especially these young Uma girls, who were still growing.
Even though Mizuno wasn't much older than Air Groove, as a Tracen Academy trainer, supervising every Uma's dietary health was his responsibility.
"Trainer Mizuno, I'll go get two more servings," Tokai Teio told Mizuno.
Since both their als were given to Air Groove, Tokai Teio planned to bring back another portion for herself and Mizuno.
"Alright, thanks." Mizuno needed to stay here to ensure Air Groove ate properly, so he let Tokai Teio go alone.
"..." Realizing Mizuno was leaving her no room to slack off, Air Groove felt a bit irritated, not understanding why this trainer—whom she'd only known for one day—insisted on ddling so much in her business...
"We're practically strangers..." Air Groove muttered quietly.
Originally, seeing how quickly he learned to listen to the flowers, she had considered him a smart person...
But now his ddling had significantly lowered her opinion of him. He was practically an idiot who cared nothing about other people's feelings...
And yet, despite this, Air Groove felt her heart—which had frozen over since that day—now faintly burning hot again, whether from anger or sothing else, she couldn't quite tell...
Mizuno: "Focus on eating, don't get distracted."
Air Groove: "Guh..."
He's definitely an idiot!
...
Ten minutes later.
The trainer and two Uma finally finished all their als.
"I'm done." Air Groove pushed her empty plate toward the center of the table, showing Mizuno impatiently. "Can we finally go back now?"
Mizuno glanced at her plate, indeed completely empty—Air Groove had perfectly t his requirent of eating properly.
However...
"No rush." Mizuno didn't stand up, instead casually pulling two bottles of honey drink from his pocket, handing one to Tokai Teio and keeping the other for himself, leisurely taking a sip. "Let's sit here for a while longer."
"Why?!" Air Groove slamd the table, visibly agitated.
Didn't we agree to leave right after finishing? Now you're breaking your promise?!
Air Groove decided—if Mizuno didn't explain himself clearly, she'd drag him back by force if necessary.
"..." Facing Air Groove's questioning, Mizuno calmly pointed at the sliver of sun still visible outside the window. "Look, it's still not fully dark yet."
"..." Air Groove frowned, staring out at the setting sun.
She recalled Mizuno ntioning earlier that the experint required full darkness, free of sunlight. Going back now wouldn't accomplish much...
Thus, Air Groove unwillingly sat back down, irritably nibbling on her thumb.
"Want so?" Mizuno took out another honey drink, passing it toward Air Groove.
"..." Air Groove glanced at the honey drink offered by Mizuno. Though it looked tasty, she genuinely wasn't in the mood, shaking her head, "No."
"Just drink a little, maybe it'll be dark before you know it?" Mizuno persisted.
"..." Air Groove glanced again at the drink, then at Mizuno himself.
Though Trainer Mizuno seed to be just pushing his honey drink, Air Groove had a subtle feeling that his eyes—hidden beneath the hood—had actually been watching her thumb-biting habit all along...
"No." Air Groove still refused.
But she lowered her hand, no longer biting her thumb. Mizuno also fell silent, ceasing to insist further.
Just as the three were quietly waiting for darkness, soone completely unexpected appeared.
"Um..." Oguri Cap approached Mizuno's table, carrying a pile of food taller than herself. She stopped beside him, turning her head to scrutinize Mizuno closely, finding the man in black oddly familiar.
Rather than his appearance, it was his scent that was familiar...
After careful thought, Oguri Cap finally rembered who this mysterious hooded figure was.
"Aren't you the one who was distributing honey drinks everywhere in the cafeteria that day—"
"Shhh—!" Mizuno stood up in panic, hurriedly pulling out a bottle of honey drink to plug Oguri Cap's mouth before she exposed him.
But Oguri Cap needed only one second to finish the bottle completely.
"You're the honey-drink guy from that—"
"Drink!" Mizuno quickly produced several more bottles, shoving them into Oguri Cap's mouth.
"Gulp gulp… You're—"
But Oguri Cap was eating too quickly—just as she was about to finish again, Mizuno desperately pulled all the honey drinks from his storage space, assembling a super jumbo-sized honey drink, inserting a straw, and firmly placing it in her mouth.
"Gulpgulpgulp—" Now Oguri Cap couldn't speak until she finished this enormous bucket.
"Trainer? What's going on?" Tokai Teio watched in shock as Mizuno frantically stuffed honey drink into Oguri Cap's mouth. She'd never seen Mizuno make honey drinks this fast before—as though his hands were surpassing lightspeed just to survive.
"It's fine, it's fine... Oguri Cap-san here is just a big fan of my honey drinks…" Mizuno explained awkwardly.
"Oh? Alright, then." Tokai Teio easily accepted Mizuno's explanation without suspicion. Mizuno's honey drink really was delicious, so it was entirely reasonable that Oguri Cap—Tracen's legendary glutton—would love it too.
"..." But Air Groove didn't buy it.
"Trainer Mizuno seems a bit afraid of Oguri Cap... No, it's more like he's afraid of Oguri Cap revealing so specific information she knows..." Air Groove concluded silently.
I'll have to ask Oguri Cap about it when I have the chance later...
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