Yo, it's been a while.
I was honestly thinking about taking another month off since the arc I was working on during the first month didn't go how I'd expected, so I had decided to restart. But since it's been so long, I decided to just give up on stockpiling chapters and just start uploading again. I still feel like I gain something from this break since I do have a better idea on how I want this story to go.
This next arc will be all about the Hopeful Stakes, and I'm planning for it to be around 8-12 chapters, depending on how I feel.
As for my upload schedule, with school, my goal is to upload 2-3 chapters a week, with 2 being like the bare minimum if I'm not having much inspiration to write. I don't really plan on going on another break like this for a while.
That's all I wanted to say, I want to keep it short and sweet.
Here's the next chapter! Enjoy!
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Friday, December 1st, 2000.
The cool breeze of autumn's end swept through the air. Most of the trees have already lost many of their leaves, leaving them looking completely barren. Occasionally when the wind began picking up, a few leaves would fall off the trees, flowing across the air for a while before dropping down to the dirt track.
—WHAM! WHAM! WHAM!
The sounds of powerful strides could be heard as two figures could be seen darting down the track. The wind force generated from their running picking up the fallen leaves on the tracks and sending them elsewhere.
"Dammit. I'm still not gaining any ground…" The ashened-haired Umamusuko with bright blue eyes muttered to himself as he trailed behind the shorter, but clearly much faster Umamusume.
Around a dozen seconds later, the two Uma's cross the designated finish line, with Okino pausing his stopwatch once Kurofune crosses the line around four lengths behind Teio.
"1:34:66!" Okino announced the time to the out-of-breath Umamusuko. "That was by far your fastest time yet."
—Thud!
Kurofune collapsed to the ground.
"About *pant* time," Kurofune looked up to the sky. "I'm *pant* finally making improvements."
Teio happily skipped over to him, handing Kurofune a water bottle, which he promptly accepted.
"Good job!" Teio congratulated him as she began drinking from a water bottle of her own.
"Thanks," Kurofune replied as began taking sips from his water bottle as well. "I couldn't have gotten this far without your help."
"Hey, you don't have to say that. Without you working so hard, none of our help would've mattered in the end."
Kurofune's eyes widened a bit from her words, a small smile creeping up on his face.
"I never thought about it like that. I'll try and keep it in mind."
Kurofune spent the rest of the session doing basic training, taking it easy after expending most of his energy on the mock race, as instructed by Okino. After today's training was done, Kurofune was allowed to head back to his apartment. After arriving and washing up, he was about to call it a night when his smartphone began ringing.
(Don't ask me how a Smartphone exists in the year 2000. It's just more convenient since stuff like Umastagram exist. Don't think too much about it.)
—Ring! Ring! Ring!
—Ring! Ring! Ring!
He picked it up.
"Hello?" Kurofune asked as he answered the call.
[Sorry about calling you this late, Kuro-chan.] Agnes Digital briefly apologized. [There was just something that I really needed to ask you.]
'This nickname again…' Kurofune inwardly sighed.
"What's up?"
[I heard that you had met my roommate a bit ago and that she had extended an invite for you to go watch her debut race tommorrow.] She explained. [Since I was already planning on going to watch, I was wondering if you wanted to go watch the race together?]
"Your roommate? Oh right, Tachyon-san did mention that you were her roommate." Kurofune remembered. "She also mentioned that you were the one who spilled the beans about me participating in the Hopeful Stakes."
[Was that supposed to be a secret?] Agnes Digital asked in a concerned tone.
"Not really, but you didn't have to go out of your way to tell her about it."
[She was the one who approached me first asking questions…and it sort of just slipped out of my mouth.]
Kurofune sighed.
"Whatever," he decided to change the subject. "Back to what you were asking before, I'm down. It'll definitely be more enjoyable if we watched the race together."
[Great! Let's meet up at the race center tomorrow then!]
"Sounds good," Kurofune agreed. "Good night."
[Good night, Kuro-chan!]
"Please stop calling me that."
—Beep. Beep. Beep.
The call had ended.
—Sigh!
Kurofune just tossed himself into his bed.
'This is my life now I guess.' Kurofune thought. 'Best not to think too much about it.'
He simply closed his eyes, letting himself drift off into sleep.
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The next day…
Kurofune arrived at the Hanshin Racecourse, the location where Agnes Tachyon would be running her debut race, early. He wasn't exactly sure why he had come way before his and Agnes Digital's meetup time, but here he was. Since he had nothing to do for the next few hours, he decided to just enter the stadium early and watch some of the other debut races going on.
A few hours went by this way. Nothing too notable happened in these races, but he still enjoyed the experience. He had always loved watching races ever since he was young, and after becoming a racer himself, he honestly found them even more enjoyable to watch.
—Ring! Ring! Ring!
The ringing of Kurofune's smartphone broke him out of his immersion. After answering the call, Agnes Digital had told him that she was waiting out at the front of the stadium.
Kurofune went out to meet her, the two chatting a bit with each other before making their way back into the stadium. After watching a few other scheduled debut races, the reason they had come here in the first place had finally shown themselves.
"There she is…" Kurofune's eyes locked onto his target. "...Agnes Tachyon."
"Ahh! She looks so cool!" Agnes Digital began fangirling. "Even with all these people watching her, she keeps such a calm look! It's just…argh!"
Kurofune looked at his classmate with concern as he noticed her beginning to nosebleed.
'They really are two peas in a pod. Two "quirky" individuals make perfect roommates.'
But she's also right. Agnes Tachyon seems way too calm. As if she already knows how this race will go down. As for whether this confidence is warranted or not, only time will tell.
After the trumpets play the fanfare and all of the Umamusume get into the starting gates, a moment of intense silence washed over the arena as the suspense for the start of the race grew.
…
—Thunk!
"Start!" The announcer shouted as the Umamusume began darting down the track.
The race developed as one would expect. The front runners took the lead and began setting the pace for the race. Agnes Tachyon decided to pace herself at first, staying in the middle of the pack as she stalked behind an Umamusume named Born King, who was the favorite to win this race.
The state of the race remained the same for a majority of the race, with nothing notable happening.
However, that all changed on the final straight.
—Fwoosh!
Agnes Tachyon suddenly began accelerating at a speed that Kurofune could barely comprehend. All of a sudden, she had completely broken away from the pack. The crowd began erupting into cheers as Agnes Tachyon widened her lead.
"And the winner by a margin of 3 and a half lengths is Agnes Tachyon!" The announcer exclaimed. "What a dominating display!"
The crowd erupted into cheer upon the declaration of the winner. Kurofune was left completely stunned as he just watched the still calm Agnes Tachyon casually stand around like she hadn't just raced a minute ago.
'It was like she wasn't even trying.' Kurofune thought. 'She doesn't even look tired at all.'
To his surprise, Agnes Tachyon turned to his direction. After noticing him in the crowd, a small smile formed on her face as she mouthed something to him that he couldn't quite hear.
"So, this is my competition…"
"Huh?" Agnes Digital, who was in the middle of one of her fangirling episodes, was brought back into reality by his words.
If he were to be honest, it scared him. Like a lot.
From basing it off just what he saw alone, he already wondered if he would win if he had raced against her today. And it was clear to him that this wasn't her best. Not even close.
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After splitting off with Agnes Digital, Kurofune decided to go on a jog to clear his head. After all, it wouldn't be good for him if his mind was clouded with doubtful thoughts, especially when his next race was tomorrow.
But clearly, it wasn't going so well.
His running felt sluggish, as if a giant weight had been placed on him. For once, he wasn't having fun while going on one of his runs. Once the feeling began to get unbearable, he decided to just stop.
'This is not working.' Kurofune thought.
If running couldn't help him, what else could he do?
Just as he wondered that, a tasty aroma suddenly reached his nose. When he turned to the source, he noticed a food truck parked nearby. He instinctively reached his pocket, which was filled with a solid amount of yen.
"Stress eating it is then!"