Surveying the venue took Kagura nearly the entire morning. She recorded her observations while chatting intermittently with Miss Eclipse. Once she finished noting down the basic information, Kagura thanked the racecourse staff and left.
Kagura had taken the whole day off because she thought it would take a long time, so she still had plenty of time left. She wondered whether she should head back now and catch lunch, but when she checked the time, it was already afternoon. Even if she went back, she would have missed lunchtime.
Maybe I'll just wander around outside?
--How about having lunch at that shop over there? It looks delicious.
Just as this thought surfaced in Kagura's mind, she saw Miss Eclipse's message on the screen.
Kagura glanced around. There was only one shop nearby, so this had to be the one Miss Eclipse meant. Still, Miss Eclipse had never brought up recommending food before, which made Kagura feel a little strange.
Why did Miss Eclipse suddenly recommend food? Come to think of it, was there something in there she wanted?
--I don't know what you modern people call it. Look at the third item from the left on the second row of the display window.
Isn't that a muffin? Let me see...
Kagura was indeed a little hungry now. The strong aroma of baked goods drifting out of the shop made her hunger even more obvious, but she still didn't understand why Miss Eclipse had recommended that she come eat.
Although she didn't understand, Kagura followed Miss Eclipse's request and sat down inside the bakery. She ordered the muffin Miss Eclipse had mentioned. To be honest, for someone usually as frugal as Kagura, paying for it still made her wince a little.
Have you eaten muffins before, Miss Eclipse? Why did you suddenly recommend this?
--I ate them when I was alive. They were often served at afternoon tea at home... It's been so long since I tasted one. I'm feeling a little nostalgic.
Oh... So you wanted to eat one, which is why you had me come here? But what good does me eating it do?
--You just eat yours. I have my own way.
After Miss Eclipse finished speaking, Kagura felt a cool sensation slowly coil around the area from her neck to her chin. It felt as if Miss Eclipse had gently embraced her from behind.
Although she didn't quite understand what Miss Eclipse meant, Kagura obediently did as she was told. She picked up a freshly baked muffin and opened her small mouth to take a gentle bite. Its rich, toasted aroma and milky fragrance burst across her tongue with a crisp sound, mingling with the taste of honey on top and making her feel her energy rise!
--The heat was just right. Golden and crisp, rich in fragrance, and sweet. How nostalgic.
Kagura quickly saw Miss Eclipse's message on her phone. Miss Eclipse seemed to be in a rather good mood too. Only then did Kagura understand that Miss Eclipse had recommended this because she was craving it—and that she was somehow sharing Kagura's senses through her.
Do you like muffins, Miss Eclipse? I could learn how to make them for you.
--It's just been so long that I couldn't help feeling nostalgic. This is a dessert, though. Bake it too much, add too much oil, and it'll make you gain weight. Having one or two occasionally is fine, but what if eating this all the time makes you fat? Never mind, never mind.
Miss Eclipse very sensibly restrained her own desires. Clearly, whenever she wanted to eat something she liked, she had to experience it through Kagura's mouth. She also had to worry about her physical condition, with one inconvenience after another. It was rather pitiful.
Then... could you recommend some other foods, Miss Eclipse?
--Forget the others. Apart from afternoon tea desserts, there's nothing else I'd be embarrassed to recommend.
Kagura sensed a hint of helplessness between the lines of Miss Eclipse's words.
With Miss Eclipse, Kagura enjoyed a leisurely afternoon tea that she had not experienced in a long time. The delicious food put Kagura in a good mood as well, and judging from Miss Eclipse's messages, she seemed happy too.
To make it easier to prepare in the future, Kagura also asked the owner how to make the muffins. The young shopkeeper didn't seem to have any reservations and explained everything enthusiastically. With Kagura's solid cooking foundation, she soon understood the exact method.
"By the way, cute little miss... I've been curious for a while now. Are you Inari Kagura?"
While chatting after finishing her lesson, Kagura suddenly heard the shopkeeper call out her online name. A few traces of surprise appeared in her eyes as she looked at the owner. She remembered that she had never shown her face in her videos.
"I've always followed your food channel. I only recognized you after I saw Machikane's post just now... Ehehe~ I didn't expect you to be such a cute girl too. Could I take a picture with you?"
I almost forgot about Machikane... Then that explains it.
Kagura immediately understood what had happened. It seemed Machikane's influence was even greater than she had thought. She also hadn't expected to encounter one of her own fans here. Kagura remembered that she only had forty or fifty thousand followers, many of them from the Heavenly Dynasty. Running into one here really made her feel that the Land of the Rising Sun was a small place.
As for the picture, Kagura didn't mind taking one, so she agreed. After taking a photo with the enthusiastic young shopkeeper, Kagura said goodbye and left the shop.
--Well, I never would have guessed you were so famous. Posting videos online really can earn you fans, huh?
Miss Eclipse, what kind of thing is that to say...? If it couldn't earn me fans, why would I post videos?
Kagura took out her phone and checked the time. It was nearly time to head back, so she planned a route to the nearest station and glanced at her Umastagram account again.
She had originally wanted to see what the shopkeeper had posted, but when she saw that her follower count had doubled and broken through one hundred thousand, Kagura couldn't help wondering whether the app had malfunctioned.
"Huh?"
36. Abstract Netizens Are Your Forever Little Home!
Once she got on the train, Kagura—who felt that nine-tenths of the situation was definitely wrong—opened Umastagram to see what had happened.
Naturally, she logged in and went straight to the post Machikane had made earlier. Kagura hadn't even uploaded a video today, so the only reason she could think of for suddenly gaining so many followers was that Machikane had sent them her way that morning.
I was curious after watching Teacher Kagura's videos before. The teacher's hands are so small, like a child's, but I didn't expect her to really be a child! They're both so cute!
Double-fan ecstasy!
Is Teacher Kagura really that good at cooking despite being so young? Everyone, I want to do something terribly greedy!
The person above! What an embarrassing creep!
Thank you for the meal! This is bliss!
The moment she entered the comments, Kagura saw a huge variety of colorful posts. A few comments in Chinese were mixed in among them. She also saw Machikane replying to some comments she could understand, but some of the unhinged posts were so abstract that Machikane probably couldn't understand them even after running them through a translation app.
Ah, the taste of home!
After scrolling past the relatively normal popular comments at the top, Kagura instantly felt as if she had returned to another world when she saw the incomprehensibly abstract comments below.
Hehe... Teacher Kagura and little sister Machikane... So small, so soft, so fragrant...
Don't carry the barber shop!
Oh no, I've gained two masters in one day. What do I do if my neck isn't long enough?
I really want little sister Machikane to step on me several times with her bare feet, looking utterly disgusted, then have me dive into Teacher Kagura's arms for comfort, only to be pushed away with the same disgust before being stepped on a few more times—aaahhhhh!
Little sister Machikane and Teacher Kagura are both illegal! Arrest everyone above and give each of them a pound of peanuts!
--Uh, you modern people... Er... I mean, people from your place... Do you all play this intensely?
After wandering through the Chinese comments for a while, Miss Eclipse was barely holding herself together. It was impossible to tell how long she had struggled before squeezing that sentence out onto the screen. Kagura was surprised that Miss Eclipse could understand Chinese, but she felt that being surprised was not the urgent matter. The urgent matter was clearing up her misunderstanding of the Heavenly Dynasty's netizens.
Please don't misunderstand our people, I'm begging you! Don't lump these Hammurabis in with modern people!
Kagura, her face covered in metaphorical black lines, quickly distanced herself from them. She had expected to see absurd comments, but she had still underestimated how overwhelming it would feel. Reading them as a bystander and being the target of the unhinged behavior were completely different experiences. Even with more than a decade of internet experience, she was about to lose her composure halfway through.
You have one private message!
Feeling like she was reaching her limit, Kagura was just about to leave the post's comment section when a private-message notification suddenly appeared on her Umastagram.
Curious, Kagura still opened the private-message menu to see what kind of person had contacted her directly.
The user was from the Land of the Rising Sun, with the ID "My Favorite Uma Musume." Kagura had just seen her among the popular comments. She was the netizen who had written, "Thank you for the meal! This is bliss!"
Teacher Kagura! I've followed you for ages! Could you tell me where your shop is? Everything you make looks so delicious. I want to visit!
Thank you for your support~ But I don't have a shop. I record my videos during my daily work.
Huh! Is Teacher Kagura's daily work cooking Heavenly Dynasty food? Where can I find the shop where you work?
I don't work in a shop. I provide logistical support on campus, so I'm sorry, but I can't give you a shop address.
Aw... What a shame...
Although Kagura could see how disappointed the fan was, she really had no intention of revealing where she worked for the time being. Machikane had also said she would keep it secret. Perhaps a Tracen Academy student familiar with the academy's kitchen could identify her from certain details in the videos, but that would definitely be a minority. If someone really managed to find Tracen Academy and came looking for her, Kagura wouldn't mind inviting them to a dessert she made herself.
After replying to a few comments beneath her videos from people seriously asking about the technical details, and confirming that nobody had sent her a private message, Kagura finally closed Umastagram and let out a long breath.
Having her follower count increase so dramatically was certainly something to be happy about. She hadn't expected to be so lucky—to run into the major influencer Machikane while scouting a venue, have the other girl happen to be her fan, and have her happen to want a picture together.
Kagura felt that she should find time to make something impressive for her fans. She had always been obsessed with one extremely difficult dish. Even in her previous life, she had succeeded only once. The dish was called Buddha Jumps Over the Wall. When Kagura had gone out to look for ingredients before, she had also considered preparing to make it, but after searching everywhere, she hadn't found several of the most important ingredients—especially the alcohol. The dish required a specialty liquor from the Heavenly Dynasty. Kagura had no way to obtain it now. Whether it was even sold in the Land of the Rising Sun aside, as a minor, she couldn't buy alcohol here.
--I keep sensing that you want to make this dish. Is it really that delicious?
Sensing that Kagura was thinking about making that dish again, Miss Eclipse—who had already detected the same thought several times—couldn't help growing curious.
Of course! I guarantee it'll be a flavor you'll never forget after one bite, Miss Eclipse! It's the ultimate delicacy said to be so delicious that even the gods would climb over a wall to eat it!
--Is it really that amazing...? I'm jealous that your homeland has so many delicious foods. I'd be embarrassed to introduce the food from mine.
Different regions having different cultures is normal~ Next time, you can come try it with me while I'm eating.
Although Miss Eclipse had never said which country she was from, Kagura could more or less guess now. A place where people were only comfortable introducing afternoon tea desserts, and where afternoon tea culture flourished, wasn't very common in the world. A place whose only presentable food besides afternoon tea was even rarer.
Compared with the food desert where Miss Eclipse came from, Kagura could proudly say that, when it came to Heavenly Dynasty cuisine, she could cook three different meals a day for an entire year without repeating a dish. She could absolutely satisfy Miss Eclipse's tastes and preferences.
--All right, then I'll try it with you next time! Just don't give me some kind of dark cuisine that'll hurt me!
Don't worry~ You'll only taste it after I've tried it first. I wouldn't do that to myself.
As they chatted back and forth, Kagura returned to Tracen Station without realizing it.
The picture that should have been in the previous few chapters
37. Rudolph Symbol Attempts to Struggle
The first thing Kagura did after returning was naturally head straight to Tracen Academy's cafeteria. She could just make it in time for dinner, though she didn't know whether Rudolph Symbol and the others had already finished work and gone to rest.
As she entered the cafeteria, Kagura saw Akikawa Yayoi and Maruzensky before she had even reached the dining area. Nice Nature was sitting a little farther away. The others were seated on the right, apparently waiting for food, but judging from their expressions, they didn't seem to be in particularly high spirits.
"Hi, good evening. You all..."
"That voice... It's Kagura! Kagura's back!"
Nice Nature, whose hearing was excellent and who was sitting closer to the outside, immediately pricked up her ears and looked over. When she saw Kagura walking toward them, the others still in their seats all revealed delighted expressions, as if they had seen their savior. Kagura, who had just returned and had no idea what was going on, was left completely confused.
"Can someone explain what happened here? Why do you all look like that?"
"The kitchen! Little miss, look at the kitchen! You're the only one who can stop her!"
Akikawa Yayoi got to her feet and pointed toward the kitchen Kagura often borrowed. Kagura followed her finger and saw someone inside who surprised her greatly.
"Huh? Lady Rudolph?"
Kagura didn't know whether to call it a contrast or something else. Either way, seeing Rudolph Symbol cooking while wearing an apron gave her an indescribably strange feeling.
"You don't know how strange Rudolph has been today! When I went to the office this morning, I heard her muttering, 'Rudolph, Rudolph, you can't keep wasting away like this. You can definitely do it even without Kagura! You can do it better than Kagura!' I thought she was just talking, but guess what? At lunchtime, she practically dragged big sister to the cafeteria to taste her cooking!"
"Th... Then what happened?"
"I was so stupid. I knew Rudolph had received elite education in the past, so her cooking skills should have been passable, but I forgot that she hadn't set foot in a kitchen for several years..."
Maruzensky's face was filled with helplessness and regret, and she looked utterly lifeless. Nice Nature beside her wore a helpless, bitter smile as well.
"The president's cooking really isn't that bad... It's just that compared with Kagura's, it's..."
Rudolph Symbol's cooking was honestly not that bad. The dishes already prepared and arranged in the kitchen looked decent. That was only by ordinary standards, however. If Kagura was the benchmark, then the things Rudolph Symbol had made really weren't anything worth showing off.
"Lady Rudolph! Please sit down! I'll handle this..."
"No! I have to regain that feeling! I can definitely make a good meal even when Kagura isn't here!"
It seemed Rudolph Symbol was determined to see this through today. Kagura felt that she wouldn't be able to pull her out by force alone.
An hour later, Akikawa Yayoi and the others finally received the meal Rudolph Symbol had made herself. Rudolph Symbol sat to one side, looking bitter and dejected as she stared at the knife and fork in her hands and questioned her life choices over the food in front of her.
Just as Nice Nature had said, Rudolph Symbol's cooking was not quite bad enough to be inedible. But as for being good, it was certainly nowhere near that level. It probably couldn't even compare to the cafeteria staff's cooking. Maruzensky and the others had already been spoiled by Kagura's food these past few days, so going back to Rudolph Symbol's cooking left them more than a little unaccustomed.
"This taste... What is this supposed to be...? How could I...? My cooking skills..."
"Lady Rudolph, being able to cook for yourself is worth praising, but now that you have me by your side, let me handle this from now on."
Kagura tasted Rudolph Symbol's cooking. In truth, there weren't any major problems. The seasoning just wasn't well controlled, the heat wasn't well controlled, and her stir-frying technique probably wasn't well controlled either...
--Isn't that basically a problem with everything?! (angry)
Miss Eclipse's words flashed across Kagura's phone screen. Clearly, while sharing Kagura's tasting experience, Miss Eclipse had also gotten curious and tried the food herself—only to suffer a shock to her sense of taste.
"No! Tomorrow, I absolutely have to try again..."
"Lady Rudolph! Sit down!" "Rudolph! Sit down!"
Before you continue