On the next morning, Imanami, as usual, woke up very early.
However, unlike usual, at their team's designated meeting point, Imanami and Tokai Teio were waiting for McQueen and Gold Ship to show up.
"...Are they busy with something?" Imanami looked at his watch and felt that something was off today; both McQueen and Gold Ship were late, which was very rare.
If it was Gold Ship back then, then it wouldn't be very surprising, but ever since she became Imanami's Uma Musume, she was almost always the first one to arrive, followed by McQueen. But this time, both of them were late together, which inevitably made Imanami a little worried.
"Hm... McQueen's late, huh? That's rare," Tokai Teio said with a hint of surprise when she saw this.
However, she didn't seem worried at all, probably because she had complete faith in Tracen Academy's security team as well as the fact the entire school was filled with Uma Musume.
"Don't worry, Trainer, McQueen must've overslept for once, and Gold Ship probably coincidentally overslept on the same day just like McQueen. I mean, they aren't the invincible Tokai Teio, after all; it's normal for them to have a few bad days after training so hard, right?"
"Peeeeerfect~, since McQueen overslept, let's start my training first, 'kay? It's already been ten minutes, which is enough for me to run several laps already!"
Teio clearly wasn't worried about McQueen's condition. If something had really happened to McQueen, Dictus would've definitely noticed and the news would have spread throughout Tracen Academy within minutes. Therefore, Teio was completely certain that McQueen was doing fine.
Just as Tokai Teio finished speaking, Gold Ship finally appeared not far away. However, she was running unusually fast with her expression conveying that of panic, which made both the originally confident Teio and Imanami slightly worried.
"Old man—something bad has happened! Something really really bad has happened!" Gold Ship gasped for breath as she screeched to a halt in front of them.
She didn't even take a moment to rest, immediately looking up at Imanami and saying, "Old man! It's real bad! McQueen, she—"
"Calm down, Gold Ship, tell me, what happened to McQueen?" Imanami frowned slightly, seeing that Gold Ship was actually serious and not just pulling another one of her usual pranks. And since the matter concerned McQueen, he naturally needed to pay close attention.
Gold Ship quickly looked up and said with a very panicked expression, "McQueen, she—she's gone mad! She's in the cafeteria right now; I'll take you there, old man, you must save McQueen!"
"...Cafeteria?" However, Gold Ship's words made both the originally tense Imanami and Teio slightly stunned. Only Imanami, after a brief moment of daze, seemed to deduce the likely scenario that had occurred in that location...
Some time later, when Imanami and the others arrived at the cafeteria, they quickly found the most conspicuous table, which was being sat by McQueen.
The reason this scene was conspicuous was mainly because they couldn't even tell that there was a table there from how many things were on it. The table was completely filled with desserts and sweets; on the right were those that were about to be devoured, while on the left were plates or cups that had their contents long since lost into the oblivion that is McQueen's stomach, with traces of cream or chocolate visible, making one's blood sugar levels rise just by looking at them.
"—MElOn pARfaIt! TwO moRE, PLEase!"
"McQueen! Stop eating! If you eat any more, you'll get fat again! Wake up, McQueen!"
"That's right! McQueen! Please stop! Grandmother will be very unhappy if you continue!"
At this moment, beside the embodiment of gluttony, McQueen, Mejiro Ryan and Ardan were coaxing McQueen to stop, each holding one of McQueen's hands as if they were her parents.
They were doing their utmost best to prevent their younger sister from falling into the fatty abyss that she had just crawled out of a few months earlier. And at this moment, Mejiro McQueen, who seemed to be not in a sound mind, became strangely captivated by the table full of desserts, so much so that she didn't even notice Imanami's arrival.
"doN'T hOLd mE BAck!!!!! I hAvEN't hAD A SingLe onE In mONths! JuST oNE mOrE scOOp, jUSt A teENy TinY sCooP!!!!" (T/N: Girl is a La Manchaland Bloodfiend but for sweets)
"JuST lET ME eaT onE MOre, PLeaSe!!!!"
"...What's going on??????" Imanami and Teio were both flabbergasted by this hidden side of McQueen, turning to look at Gold Ship, asking.
Needless to say, Imanami was certain that McQueen, such a disciplined young lady, wouldn't become like this without an external stimulus, feeling that Gold Ship was definitely one of the main culprits behind this.
"I- I just let McQueen have like, one or two desserts last night, I really didn't do anything else."
However, Gold Ship, facing Imanami's question, unusually showed some timidity, her gaze drifting to the side, her hands nervously fidgeting as she replied:
"Really! I just let her have a little bit. But McQueen suddenly seemed to have a switch flipped; because after that, she couldn't stop herself from cleaning my entire refrigerator! All that pudding I've been saving up... sniff... all gone..."
"And even after that, she didn't stop! I came to the cafeteria earlier just now to get some breakfast but McQueen was already there, eating an ungodly amount of sweets! I immediately ran to call Ryan, Ardan, and you two! Old man! You have to believe me! I really didn't do this on purpose!"
At this moment, Gold Ship, feeling that the situation had long since spiraled out of control, immediately raised her hands to indicate that this was really an accident. She also hadn't expected that McQueen had been suppressing her desires so severely to the point a single bite could make her rebound like this.
"U- u- uh... Trainer! We need to stop McQueen quickly!" Tokai Teio also tugged at Imanami's sleeve, saying uneasily, "If she continues, she'll gain weight again! Once she snaps out of it, she'll become very sad once it hits!"
"..." Imanami closed his eyes, a sigh escaping his newly formed frown as he walked straight up to McQueen, who was barely being held back by Ryan and Ardan, and said:
"Mejiro McQueen." (T/N: You know you're fucked when your parents call you by your full name)
"—T- t- trainer?!" As soon as she realized Imanami's presence, it seemed to have reset McQueen's brain as her reasoning returned.
Suddenly, McQueen, with cream still smeared on the corners of her mouth and being held by Ryan and Ardan, stiffened all over. She slowly looked up at Imanami's face only to see a face completely devoid of his usual gentle grandfatherly look.
This instantly made McQueen realize just how deep the hole she had just dug was. She silently pulled her arms out of Ryan and Ardan's grasp, stood up straight again, but her Uma Musume ears were already drooping, indicating that she had realized her mistake.
"Th-this, Trainer... it's truly shameful of me to let you see me like this... I- if you must punish me, please do not hold back. As an Uma Musume of the Mejiro Family, for me to do something so utterly shameful, I am willing to accept any punishment."
With that, McQueen covered her face with her hands, bowing her head as if she didn't have the heart to face anyone. Ryan and Ardan, seeing McQueen return to normal, also breathed a sigh of relief, but looked worriedly at the now serious Imanami.
'Man, McQueen seriously fucked up this time...'
The two girls thought so at this moment, and now, all the Uma Musume around who were watching already knew what would happen next. An Uma Musume ignoring her Trainer's advice and starting to eat whatever she wanted in unhealthy quantities—any Trainer would be reasonably angry about such a thing.
For a moment, everyone's eyes at McQueen were filled with sympathy, and also some amusement, some watching the spectacle or unable to bear to continue watching, but without exception, everyone felt that McQueen was going to get severely punished this time. Even Tokai Teio felt this way. In fact, she was even prepared to shield McQueen if she couldn't take the scolding anymore and ask Imanami to let McQueen off, or at least punish her too.
"...Sigh."
However, after a long moment of silence, Imanami's gaze scrutinized the number of empty dessert plates McQueen had obliterated on the table, and he showed a rather troubled expression.
That expression was like someone who wanted to be angry at their child's misbehaving but couldn't because the child was truly sorry for what they had done, making all the surrounding Uma Musume pause.
"This'll be a headache. The bill must be considerable." Imanami said this, then looked at McQueen, who had slightly raised her head, and then smiled,
"McQueen, I'm just a Trainer, and a certain other Trainer has borrowed quite a bit from me, so I can't pay for you here. Please use your own card. After all, today is our day off, and you went here to eat sweets all by yourself. We didn't get a single bite, so we don't need to pay, okay?"
"...Huh?" However, Imanami's words made McQueen slightly stunned.
But before McQueen could react, Imanami patted Gold Ship on the shoulder and said with a smile, "Gold Ship, did you find the restaurant I asked you to find? Is there a good place for everyone to have small talk?"
"—Hehe, of course I found it. It's not far from school; I'll take you there now." Gold Ship also responded immediately, pretending as if everything was arranged, her eyes sparkling with a hint of brilliance as she said, "Everyone can trust Golshi-sama's taste."
"Alright, then let's go out and have some fun now." Imanami also nodded, very satisfied with Gold Ship's reaction, then looked at Tokai Teio next to him and asked with a smile, "Teio? Do you want to come play with us too?"
"Yay! Let's go play together!" Tokai Teio wasn't slow on the uptake and quickly realized that her Trainer was giving McQueen a way out, protecting McQueen's dignity in front of everyone. She immediately nodded and agreed. At this moment, Tokai Teio's opinion of Imanami also changed again; she only felt that her Trainer was truly a good person who thought of others.
As for McQueen, after realizing that Imanami had helped her out, her face had long turned crimson with shame, and she was lowering her head, almost ready to run away on the spot.
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Gold Ship: You may only have one spoonful.
McQueen: [Takes out a comically large spoon]
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If you spot any errors, feel free to comment about it and I will fix it as soon as I can.