Alice gets off the bus and heads towards the Akinabalu circuit. She makes her way to the garage area and notices Sugimoto who is also making his way to the Akinabalu Garage. Alice ran up to him and greeted him.
"Morning Senpai!" Alice cheerfully said.
"Morning kid, seems like somebody's excited." Sugimoto said.
"Yep! I can't wait to drive the cars, it's been a while." Alice told him.
"You sure love the adrenaline huh?" Sugimoto said to her.
As they reached the garage, Alice stopped for a bit. Sugimoto noticed her stopping and decided to ask her.
"Yo kid, you're not going in?" Sugimoto asked.
"Ah, yeah in a bit, you go ahead." Alice told him.
"Alright then." Sugimoto casually said.
Sugimoto went inside the Akinabalu garage whilst Alice stood outside. She felt like something was missing but she couldn't put a finger on what it was.
"What is this feeling? It feels like discontent but I still don't understand." Alice thought to herself.
Alice shrugs and gets it out of her head. She enters the garage and greets the crews there. Alice entered the break room and saw the usual Sugimoto lying on the sofa. Alice chuckles slightly seeing the sight of him.
"You really miss that thing huh?" Alice teased him.
"I couldn't live without it. This is probably the best thing the circuit has to offer." Sugimoto told her.
Alice placed her stuff on the table and noticed the break room door opened slightly, Alice didn't see anyone come in until she looked down and saw the orange tabby from the other day.
"Hey, it's the cat from before!" Alice pointed it out.
Sugimoto looked over to it and began clicking his tongue. The cat heard the clicking and ran towards him. The cat got on the sofa and got on top of him. Sugimoto began stroking it's body and it curled on his chest.
"Aww, she really likes you huh?" Alice said to her.
"Yep, I guess it really loves my pets." Sugimoto said to her.
Alice stood there and suddenly dropped her bag. She suddenly realized that was the thing she was missing. Alice began frailing as she began thinking of such a thing.
"S-Senpai's pets? Wait why the heck am I missing that? That's simply impossible, It's annoying!" Alice argued with herself in her thoughts.
Sugimoto looked at her with a confused look on his face.
"You okay kid? You seem distracted." Sugimoto asked her.
Alice notices that she is flailing around and decides to stop. Alice brought her stuff and took it to the changing room. Sugimoto looks on as she exits the break room without a word, he then continues playing with the cat.
Alice was in the changing room and began contemplating why she felt that way.
"Alright Alice, think. Why are you just having this feeling out of the blue? When was the last time he did that?" Alice muttered to herself.
Alice began reminiscing back to the day Sugimoto last petted her. She traced back to the day she got her paycheck. She scratches her head just remembering that day.
"Jeez, why am I even thinking about this? It's so cringy! But more importantly, why did he stop?" Alice muttered.
Alice began thinking if she ever wronged him anyway, fearing that he might secretly hate her. She remembers the time she pulled a Judoka move on him, making Raani run into him, and the most recent one where he almost smashed his skull with a dumbbell.
