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Oguri Cap was not the kind of person to care about the finer details of her physical appearance. Anyone who knew her back at Kasamatsu Tracen Academy was fully aware of this fact; not a day went by where the other students saw her in anything but a tracksuit, often splattered with dirt from training. If you attempted to ask her about something like a skincare routine, she’d look at you with such a blank stare that you’d wonder if she spoke the same language. For the ashen-haired Umamusume, not much else mattered as long as she could run as freely as she wanted, and no amount of callouses or cracks could get in the way of that.
That is, until she encounters quite the formidable foe during her next meal.
When Oguri enters Musaka’s office with droopy ears and a noticeably dejected look, Belno Light is understandably worried. It hadn’t been that long since the shorter girl last saw her friend, but for the first time in a while, she didn’t eat with Oguri in the dining hall today. Oguri’s next race, the Mainichi Okan, was not far off, so Belno wanted to take some time to review her training regimen. However, seeing the taller girl’s current expression made her start to regret that. What could’ve possibly happened while she was gone?
“O-Oguri-chan…? What’s wrong?” Belno asks, trying not to consider the worst possible scenarios. At her inquiry, Oguri looks at her with a pout before she responds.
“My mouth… It hurts. I can’t enjoy eating.”
A beat of silence passes before the brunette lets a “huh?” tumble from her lips. Upon further elaboration, it turns out that whenever Oguri opens her mouth just a bit too wide, the corners of her lips start to sting. This is definitely devastating for her, considering the beast’s typical eating habits.
Once she learns what the issue is, Belno gives a sigh of relief. She’s glad that it’s nothing worse than a bit of mouth pain, but she still wants to try and help her friend however she can. Tapping her chin in thought for a moment, she eventually comes to the most reasonable conclusion for the cause of the problem. “Could I take a look, Oguri-chan?”
The gray-haired girl simply nods and slightly leans down for the sake of ease. Trying not to get distracted by the big blue orbs staring at her, Belno takes one second to glance at Oguri’s lips before comically wincing.
“Wow, um…” She doesn’t know how to word this politely, so she just goes for it. “Your lips are really chapped. Do you have any lip balm?”
The silent tilt of Oguri’s head answers her question. Honestly, she can’t be surprised.
“Well, it seems like that’ll be the solution to your problem!” Belno says, simultaneously preparing to write a note for their trainer to come back to. She’s hoping that Musaka doesn’t mind the two going on a small trip to the nearby general store. “Lip balm is meant to keep your lips from drying out, and it protects them from cracking to the point of pain. Come on, we can go buy some together!”
Ears finally perking up, Oguri’s spirit lifts at the thought of both going on another shopping trip with Belno and being able to eat like she usually does again. “Got it. Let’s go right away.” She grabs the shorter girl’s hand with a little too much force, ready to drag her out of the room right as she dots the last sentence on the note she’s writing. “We can get a snack afterwards too, right?”
When faced wiith an expectant stare, a wagging tail, and a near-death grip on her hand, Belno truly did not have it in her to say no.
—
A whole new dimension might as well have opened up for Oguri once she was greeted with a wide array of Chapstick tubes.
“You didn’t tell me they have flavors…”
Belno sweatdropped, cautiously watching her ash-haired companion’s amazed expression. “Ah, y-yeah! They’re not for us to eat, though… Please don’t forget that.”
After explaining that the flavors are just meant to suit people’s personal tastes, Belno invites Oguri to browse the options and see which one she likes the most. There were mostly fruit flavors, like cherry, green apple, banana, and watermelon; but there were also some flavors based on desserts, like birthday cake and ice cream. With all of the choices sounding so appealing, Oguri was almost as entranced as a little kid in a candy store.
“Do you think they could make a curry flavor? Or a takoyaki flavor… or maybe even–”
“Oguri-chan, focus on picking from one of these first!”
“Right, sorry…”
A few indecisive minutes pass before Oguri settles on a vanilla flavored tube of lip balm. She figures it’d be best to keep it simple for now, and Belno seems to agree. Once they check out and leave the store, they opt to rest on a nearby bench for a bit before heading back to the academy.
“Belno, did you not get any for yourself?” The taller girl inquires, realizing they had only purchased one tube. In response, Belno gives a reassuring smile and starts to dig through her bag. “Don’t worry,” she says, taking out a strawberry-flavored balm. “I already have one of my own!”
Upon noticing the different flavor, the blue eyes looking towards the brunette start sparkling. “Can I taste some of yours, too?!”
“It’s not for eating! And at least use some of your own Chapstick first…”
Belno sighs before popping the cap off of her tube. “Here, I can show you how to apply some of it. It’s easy! You just move it across your lip like this…”
She gently glides the lip balm over her lips, moving it back and forth to add an extra layer or two, before smacking her lips together to make sure it spreads evenly across them. Belno then turns to Oguri to flash her a sweet smile, but instead is caught off guard by the intensity of the other girl’s stare. The way Oguri is looking at her feels very similar to how she looks when she’s hungry, so Belno initially thinks that tasting the Chapstick is still on her mind, but…
“Um, Oguri-chan? Are you oka–”
A pale hand suddenly finds itself lifting her chin, and a slightly calloused thumb swipes at the edge of her lip before disappearing as fast as it came.
“...Huh?”
Without a word, Oguri brings her thumb up to her mouth and drags her tongue across it. A small blush starts to form on her face, but her actual expression is much more contemplative as she seems to savor the taste. Eventually, a look of satisfaction lands on the gray-haired Umamusume’s countenance.
“Wow, it really does taste a bit like strawberry… Lip balm is amazing.”
Unfortunately, the ashen-haired beast’s awe leaves her oblivious to the fact that Belno Light is dying.
Belno is left gaping at her friend in disbelief, confusion, and especially embarrassment. Her face is nearly as red as the ribbon tied around one of her ears, and for a good few seconds all she can manage to get out of her mouth is broken syllables. The incomprehensible string of noises coming from the shorter Umamusume is what finally catches Oguri’s attention, making her look at the girl with genuine concern. “Belno? What happened?”
Does she seriously not know what’s wrong?! Belno’s shock only becomes more apparent, but she manages to take a deep (albeit shaky) breath before attempting to speak actual words. “O-Oguri-chan, why did you…?” The original question dies on her tongue, and she can’t maintain eye contact for long. “Wouldn’t it have been easier to just take some from my tube?”
“Hmm.” Oguri ponders the question for a moment before she bluntly replies. “I can’t explain it, but I just thought it looked better on your lips.”
At this point, steam might as well have spewed out of Belno’s ears. Where on Earth did she learn to say that?! That’s just way too cool!
Making a mental note to call Norn and ask what shows she’s been recommending to Oguri later, Belno lightly fans her face as she tries to calm herself down. She tells herself that this is Oguri Cap we’re talking about, and that there’s no way she means anything deeper by it. It’s probably just because they’re close friends, right? She has plenty of other good friends too, so if they were in Belno’s place instead, then…
Somehow, that train of thought makes her feel a bit worse.
Noticing the worry splayed across her friend’s face from the corner of her eye, Belno suddenly slaps her hands against her cheeks, startling Oguri in the process. Immediately after, she awkwardly smiles at the gray-haired girl and remembers why the two of them were here in the first place. Ultimately, we came here for her. I just have to keep supporting her no matter what.
“Well, you should probably open your own Chapstick. You still wanted to get a snack before heading back to Tracen, right? Hopefully, it should feel a bit more bearable to eat after you apply the lip balm!”
However, despite the brunette’s attempt to sound relatively unbothered, the concern on Oguri’s face does not subside. “Should I not have done that?” She asks, guilt showing itself in her tone. “I’m sorry, Belno...”
A pang went straight through the shorter girl’s heart upon hearing the remorse in Oguri’s voice. “No no, it’s okay! As long as you don’t just touch anyone’s lips like that…” Waving her hand, she quickly adds, “It might make them uncomfortable.”
“Did it make you uncomfortable?”
“Ah– No, not really, but it was definitely surprising.”
“I see… I’m glad.” A relieved smile forms on Oguri’s face, and Belno also visibly relaxes. Or at least she started to relax, until Oguri opens her mouth to speak again.
“Then it’ll be fine if I ask you before doing that next time, right?”
…
“Next time?”
Belno makes another mental note to write her will sometime soon, because she truly thinks this girl will be the death of her one way or another.
—
A few days have passed since then, and a certain Umamusume is back to downing an average of 3 full-course meals per lunchtime. She hasn’t complained about any pain when eating, and overall she seems just a bit happier than usual. If asked about it, the girl would say that she’s simply happy to eat like normal again (normal by her standards, at least). However, there’s one person who would cite another possible reason for her chipper mood.
Ginjirou Musaka, a veteran trainer, has seen many methods of getting Umamusume back on their feet after a tough bout of training. Sometimes they’ll take a quick nap, while other times all they’ll need is a few sips of water or a breathing exercise. Every racer is different, and thus they each have different needs to be addressed. This should be no surprise to him by now, but every now and then he remembers that he’s also learning new things from his trainees from time to time.
Today was one of those times.
Recently, one of his trainees, Oguri Cap, has been in top form. Her racing skills are already on a different level from many of the other students at Central Tracen Academy, but her lap times have been noticeably improving as of late. Belno also seems to notice the improvement, and considering how close she is to Oguri, Musaka decides to ask during training if she knows what could’ve prompted this development.
“Ah, well,” Belno stutters a bit, with her eyes still focused on the ashen-haired girl running across the turf before she clears her throat. “I think I know why, but it’s pretty, uh… embarrassing? For me, at least.”
“Embarrassing for you?” The old man repeats her words with a confused tone. Now he knows that Belno has something to do with it, but he has no idea what the answer could be. After a moment, though, he shrugs and decides to let it go. “Whatever it is, it can’t be that bad as long as it makes her perform this well. Keep up the good work.”
“I mean, sure, but–”
A call of Belno’s name from a ways away interrupts their conversation. As they both look towards the source of the voice, they spot Oguri jogging over from the track to where they are behind the rails. Musaka waves and is about to tell her “good job today” before rapidfire protests come from the girl standing next to him. “Wait wait wait, Oguri-chan, don’t–!”
It only took a few seconds for a very enlightening scene to unfold before the man.
Despite her previous cries, Oguri almost immediately traps Belno in an extremely close embrace. With one arm wrapping around the shorter girl’s waist, she uses her free hand to hold Belno’s chin while she leans down closer to her face, and most notably, Oguri rests her thumb on the her bottom lip. It’s almost as if she’s going in for a kiss…?!
Except once her thumb swipes across Belno’s lips, Oguri pulls away just enough to lick the pad of her thumb like she’s performing a taste test. With her tail wagging and her ears perked up, she now seems to be very content as she releases Belno from her grasp. Soon, however, a look of sudden realization crosses the ash-haired girl’s face.
“Oh, I forgot to ask first. Sorry.” Shortly after apologizing though, Oguri smiles softly. “Your lip balm tastes good as always, Belno. Thank you.”
She jogs back over to the racetrack to run another lap, seemingly energized, and Musaka could do nothing but watch as the scene unfolded. As soon as his monstrous trainee is a bit farther away, he turns to Belno, who has fallen to her knees with her head in her hands. Sensing his gaze, all she could say was a very muffled “I told you it was embarrassing.”
The old man was very, very tempted to question how the hell this even began, but when he hears the tomato-faced brunette mutter to herself that she isn’t even wearing lip balm right now, he figures that he can always ask another time. Truly, some Umamusume work in ways that Musaka will never understand.
—
bonus:
“Oguri-chan, you know that there’s better ways for you to taste the lip balm I use, right?” Belno asks. She’s considering buying another tube of her strawberry Chapstick just for Oguri since she likes the flavor so much. It will also be much less of a threat to her average heart rate, but she doesn’t voice that.
Meanwhile, Oguri thinks to herself on what other ways there could be. She genuinely ponders her potential options very hard, but before Belno can extend her offer, her cheeks are suddenly grabbed by the taller girl. “Wha–?!”
A wet sensation is shortly felt on her lips, and Oguri looks at Belno with her tongue sticking out of her mouth like a dog.
“Hmm… Is this better?”
No, this is actually much worse. I really might die if you do that again.
To her utmost misfortune, Belno is unable to voice these thoughts in any capacity due to her body being sent into overdrive.