Doodle Champion Island Journeys!

25.

Morgan and Vanille had made their way upstairs to visit more facilities - Lucky had discovered, so she decided to let them have their time and go search for Daichi alone.

She knew the Noodle Bar only too well. It was run by an octopus who was a skilled multitasker and had a heavenly delicious recipe for ramen. Lucky still had a coupon of 39 free bowls left after Morgan devoured almost 10 this morning. She remembered the only one there who ate more than the badger was a fat white cat miserably in some gym clothes, and suspected him to be Daichi. He was eating an awful lot of noodles, so she was hoping that wasn't really the trainee she was looking for, but alas, her gut was right.

As soon as her sense of smell was greeted by the sweet scent of noodle soup, the chubby feline was still there, munching on forever. Lucky wondered if he even left that seat at all because it looked like the same picture from before, with him slurping until the last drop of each bowl and stacking them on his side, and the octopus using three of his tentacles to clean the bowls and serve more meals continuously.

"That cat is always in here eating noodles..." a hare sitting near the door mumbled, irritation showed on her very face.

Lucky came to the other cat at the end of the bar, who was still eating without a care about the world, and lifted herself up a nearby seat so she could reach his shoulder:

"Hey, are you Daichi?"

He seemed to freeze in his spot, but then quickly relaxed and went back to eating while replying half-heartedly, not bothering to spare a glance at the smaller cat:

"...who wants to know?"

Lucky took his reaction as a 'yes' and said:

"You're supposed to be at your workout!"

"Oh no, did Coach send you?" he gulped down one chopsticks full of noodles and spoke in an exaggerated manner: "She is relentless..."

"She's waiting for you while you sit here and relax!" Lucky crossed her arms and huffed at his attitude. He made it sound like a bad thing while the bull was just concerned about his being!

The smaller cat's eyes stared at Daichi accusingly, as of trying to pierce his very soul. The latter flinched at the look:

"Hey! It's not like that!" he defended himself, "I'd LOVE to go work out, but I... uh..." he paused, trying to think of a plausible excuse, "I forgot my running shoes! Can't work out without proper shoes!"

Upon hearing that, Lucky's frown turned into the expression of shock and worry:

"Oh no! Where did you leave them?" she asked, wide-eyed, well-aware of how it would hurt the feet without running shoes on while doing exercise. In her case, she just grew used to going barefooted. Besides, she was small and light, while Daichi definitely needed support on his feet in order to prance like the trainees she saw at the gym because of him being overweight. Anyone could tell by looking.

She looked at him, this time with care in her eyes. It made Daichi almost feel guilty for not answering. Almost, but he spoke, thinking of the farthest place possible to send the other cat away from meddling with his outstretched meal:

"Uhm...all the way over in the Marathon Beach! Way too far for anyone to get them!"

He did throw his running shoes there, by the end of the beach and forgot them, then he felt too lazy to carry his body there again. Marathon, as well as other sports, felt like torturing to him. Why would they expect him to run as long as a beach? Why working him up over something unprofitable? Dangos weren't even half as good and flavorful as ramen. Saying that, emphasizing how hard it was to go to the Marathon Beach, let alone find some object, Daichi prayed that this cat just let it slide for him already. Unfortunately, she gave him a bright smile: