"March, Sakuraba-san, you two took forever..."
By the time Sakuraba Ryo brought Fujimasa March into the room, everyone was already lining up to start.
"March, why's your face so red?"
Mini the Lady walked up to the two of them and pointed it out when she noticed the faint flush still on Fujimasa March's cheeks.
"Ah?"
"M-maybe I just got cold~ Ahaha..."
It was rare to see Fujimasa March look so visibly flustered.
"Ah, Sakuraba-san, hurry up and eat something! If you don't, Oguri's going to finish everything by herself!"
Belno Light called out to him in a panic. Beside her, Oguri Cap had already transformed into a merciless eating machine.
The food on the table was disappearing at an astonishing rate.
The gray Umamusume had become a black hole for food.
"Oh, Belno, don't worry. There's as much food as we need!"
Norn Ace patted her ample chest with a grin and tried to reassure Belno Light.
"I spent all the wages I'd saved up lately on food! There's definitely enough to fill Oguri up!"
"Is there really...?"
Belno Light quietly wiped the cold sweat from her forehead.
With Norn Ace energetically running the show, the Christmas party quickly settled into a lively, cheerful rhythm.
The room was decorated with streamers and little Christmas ornaments, and warm yellow light wrapped around all the laughter and chatter.
Everyone shared food and talked about races and funny things from training. Even Fujimasa March, who had been a little awkward at first, gradually relaxed as the warm atmosphere smoothed away the blush on her face, and before long she was laughing along with everyone else.
Halfway through the party came the part everyone had been waiting for most—the opening of the Christmas presents.
The gifts everyone had prepared were piled up in one corner of the room, all wrapped beautifully and giving off an air of mystery and surprise.
"All right, all right! Now it's time for Santa to hand out the presents!"
Rudy Lemono swung an arm grandly and made the announcement with a bright smile.
But just then—
"...?"
Crouched beside the pile of gifts, Belno Light was holding an elegant gift box that had clearly already been torn open at one corner. The anticipation on her face instantly turned to shock and panic.
"Th-this is the liqueur chocolate I prepared! The expensive kind! Why is the wrapping... already open?"
Since everyone else was underage, she had actually prepared the liqueur chocolates for Sakuraba Ryo.
She had heard that successful men liked liqueur chocolates, so that was what she had chosen...
But she had never expected someone else to eat them.
Then again, the wrapping looked just like ordinary chocolate, so it was not that strange for someone to take them by mistake...
She hurriedly opened the box all the way. Inside the velvet-lined case, the round chocolates wrapped in shiny foil—meant to be arranged neatly in rows—were missing nearly half of them.
And they were gone without a trace, leaving behind only a faint dusting that looked like powdered sugar and a subtle sweet alcoholic scent lingering in the air.
"The chocolates inside... are gone?!"
Belno Light's voice jumped an octave as she stared around wide-eyed.
"Who was it? Who opened them and ate them ahead of time?"
The laughter in the room stopped cold.
Everyone's eyes went first to the pitiful gift box in Belno Light's hands, then to one another.
The atmosphere in the room turned strange in an instant.
Almost by reflex, every eye turned toward Oguri Cap.
Under everyone's gaze, the gray Umamusume stopped chewing. Her cheeks still seemed a little puffed out. She blinked those slightly vacant-looking big eyes, wearing a blankly innocent expression.
Then she very seriously, and very slowly, shook her head.
Oguri Cap did not lie.
That was an accepted fact among all of them. Those clear eyes of hers and that frank shake of the head practically cleared her of any suspicion on the spot.
"Huh? It wasn't Oguri?"
Belno Light only looked more confused, her brows knitting tight.
"Then who could it have been? They had liquor in them..."
Just as everyone stood there looking at each other and trying to guess who it might be—
"Uwaaaahhh!!!"
A sudden male scream burst out from the other side of the room, instantly drawing everyone's attention.
Sakuraba Ryo, who had been standing near the food table, was currently being "wrapped around" by Norn Ace in a truly astonishing way.
Norn Ace's face was bright red, her eyes unfocused. The energetic, cheerful smile she usually wore had turned into a dazed, silly grin, and she was clinging to Sakuraba Ryo's arm and half his body like an octopus.
"Hehe... Sakuraba-san... Boss is so soft..."
She mumbled thickly, rubbing her cheek against his shoulder. With the way she was pressed so tightly against him, her impressive figure stood out even more, almost entirely squashed against his body.
Her breathing was a little heavy, tinged with a faint, sweet alcoholic scent.
"Norn?! Wh-what's wrong with you?!"
Sakuraba Ryo tried to break free, but Norn Ace was holding on with shocking strength, leaving him in a miserable state.
"Wait... this smell... alcohol?!"
Alcohol?
Everyone froze for a beat, and then their eyes snapped back to the pitiful gift box in Belno Light's hands—the one that was missing nearly half its liqueur chocolates.
The answer seemed to have revealed itself in the most absurdly comical way possible.
"N-Norn?!"
Seeing the dependable, lively girl normally known as Norn Ace now looking so drunkenly adorable, Belno Light nearly dropped the gift box from her hands.
The scene in front of her made Fujimasa March snap out of it at once, some hard-to-name surge of emotion rising in her chest—whether alarm or something else.
"N-Norn! Let go of Sakuraba-san!"
She hurried over and tried to pull Norn Ace off Sakuraba Ryo, where she was hanging onto him like a koala.
But in her drunken state, Norn Ace was astonishingly strong, and she seemed to have developed a certain stubbornness too.
Sensing that someone was trying to pull her away from her "soft" support, she not only refused to let go but let out a muffled whine and clung even tighter. She even shifted instinctively, dragging Sakuraba Ryo's head further into her chest.
"Mmgh...!"
Sakuraba Ryo's vision went dark. In an instant, his face and nose were swallowed up by an indescribable softness.
Norn Ace's warmth, carrying a faint sweet scent mixed with a trace of alcohol, completely enveloped him.
The sensation was far too vivid and springy. His brain buzzed and went blank on the spot, and he forgot even to struggle. His whole face turned red at a speed visible to the naked eye.
"W-wait, March... stop pulling...!"
His muffled, embarrassed voice came from within that "abyss," but it was already too late.
Fujimasa March froze too. Looking at Sakuraba Ryo with nearly his entire head "buried," her hand, which had been gripping Norn Ace's arm, stalled in midair. A fresh flush flew to her cheeks, even deeper than before.
"S-sorry, Sakuraba-san! I didn't mean to!"
She let go in a panic and stood there helplessly, her golden eyes full of fluster and a subtle emotion even she herself had not noticed.
Mini the Lady covered her mouth, her eyes wide and round.
Rudy Lemono let out an, "Oh my?"
Belno Light had gone completely rigid, and the gift box in her hands finally hit the floor with a plop.
As for Oguri Cap...
Oguri Cap simply tilted her head and blinked, still seeming to work hard to understand the complicated situation in front of her. Then she silently reached out, picked up another snack from the table, and started nibbling on it.
Everyone gets along so well, she thought.
---
T/N: IT SHOULD HAVE BEEEN MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE