"Damn it…"
Gold City curses at the paper in her hands. Her frustration seeps out through her fingers as they crumple the paper. It was a piece of paper that revealed her stats, and it showed her biggest fear. Her time hasn't improved yet. She was still as slow as ever. No doubt, any Uma Musume would be frustrated if they were in her shoes.
"Don't listen to a piece of paper too hard, Gold City! I'm sure you've improved in some places that can't be measured!"
Gold City's roommate, Bamboo Memory try to cheer her up. Bamboo Memory is an Uma with primarily short brown hair with a white blaze running through the middle of her bangs. Her sharp blue eyes are blazing with fighting spirit even though they're about to go to sleep. But that blazing fighting spirit is why she is the current disciplinary committee chairwoman.
"Sigh… I hope so…"
Gold City crumpled the paper into a ball and then threw it into the bin. She crashed her body onto her bed in frustration and stared at the roof.
"I'll… turn off the light, okay?"
"Sure…"
Bamboo Memory wasn't sure what she could do to help her roommate. Being an Uma Musume, Bamboo Memory understands Gold City well. Bamboo Memory debuted during the same era as Oguri Cap, the gray beast from Kasamatsu. The frustration that you're not improving at the same rate as your peers is something overshadowed uma musumes would understand very well.
*Click*
"..."
Gold City turns around in her bed, trying to get her mind off the situation she is in. It somehow got under her skin more than usual.
"Haah…"
She sat up, knowing full well she wouldn't get any sleep soon, not until she cleared her mind. Her roommate had already fallen asleep. Bamboo Memory's personal rule is 'Early bird gets the worm' after all, so it's not a surprise to see her sleep early.
"Mmhh…"
When an Uma Musume gets frustrated, a few things could heal their mind. Umapyoi, and also running. Thankfully for Gold City, she doesn't have anyone to Umapyoi with, so her mind went to running immediately. Sadly for her, it's curfew time, so she can't waltz out of the front door. But luckily for her, she's not exactly the rule-abiding citizen even when she sleeps in the same room as the disciplinary committee chairwoman.
Gold City grabs her running shoes and silently opens the window to their room. She pops her head out to scan the surroundings, and when she doesn't see anyone patrolling, she quickly scales down the dorm and makes her dash toward the tree lines.
"Fuuuuh… Haaaah… Yosh…"
The blonde supermodel properly wears her shoes first before sprinting toward the running track. The atmosphere of Tracen Academy at night feels alien. The only sound around comes from nature, like the ruffling leaves, falling branches, and the flapping of night birds, and not a single man-made noise can be heard. It was that silent outside.
"Fuuuh… Haaaah… Haaaah…"
Gold City reaches the running track soon enough. The scene of an empty running track is damning. Tracen Academy is an academy that focuses on training Uma Musume to run and compete in central races, so the training track is seldom empty. There are always some Umas who use it, except for now. Gold City is the only intelligent being in the vicinity.
"Fuuuh… Haaaaaah… Mh!"
It's now or never!
Gold City starts the stopwatch on her phone before she starts making laps around the running track. One after another, lap after lap, session after session, Gold City clocks in the same time over and over again.
"Pant! Pant! Pant! Damn it!! Pant!!"
Running is a therapy session for Uma Musume, but instead of calming down, Gold City is getting more frustrated. She wants to see her time getting shorter and shorter, but instead, it's stagnated.
"Pant! Pant!! Gah!! Damn it all!! Pant!! Why…? Pant… Pant…"
"Excuse me, it's curfew time. Can you go back to your dream?"
"!!"
Gold City wasn't expecting anyone around her, so hearing a voice beside her caused her to jump away. She quickly looked at who it was and how she could bribe them. To her surprise, she comes face to face with a familiar pair of crimson eyes and spiky red hair.
"Trainer… Igo Heita…"
"Yes, I'm Igo. Please return to your dorm room."
He was standing there with a shovel leaning against his shoulder. It's clear that he has been somewhere digging or burying something with the dirt on the shovel and on his shoes.
"What are you doing here?"
"Ma'am, I'm the one who should be asking you that. I'm an adult, our curfew is more of a suggestion than a rule."
"I am… just want to run…"
"And now that you have your fill, go back."
"I don't feel like it yet…"
"I understand that Uma Musume has a desire to run, but you can do it in the day, no? You can just ask your trainer for a more free-ranging running session for tomorrow's training."
"...what's the point?"
"Hmm? Just a piece of advice, don't scroll through social media before you go to sleep. All of them are just a cesspool of shits."
"I know that… This is not about that…"
Why am I opening up to him? He is just an acquaintance.
"It's about something else…"
"I see… Then my advice changed. Sleep on it and then think about it in the morning. You might change your stances on it."
"..."
Gold City always had an easy time convincing people to help her. Being blessed by beauty that only comes once in a thousand years, it's not hard to soften people's hearts. Hell, even if she does as little as frown, people would swarm her and offer their help. That's true except for this young man. He acts like he wants nothing to do with Gold City at all. If she had slipped on a puddle, everyone would come to help her, while the young man would laugh out loud. That's the image Gold City has of him now.
Weren't you the one who said that you wanted me to be a good fight for your trainees? Then help me be one!
"It has persisted for some time now… My lap time… It's not improving."
"Oh… Then go talk with your trainer about that. You're not going to improve just with random running."
"It's insulting that you think I haven't done that."
"Then why are you not improving? What's the point of a trainer if he doesn't help you improve?"
"..."
"...sorry. I'll leave then."
The young man wasn't stupid. He knows very well why Gold City has not improved. He knows the gap between him and her trainer in terms of being a trainer. He is even confident that, even though her trainer is a year older in the profession, he is superior compared to him. It's a public secret about Gold City's trainer that he is picked not for his ability to train, but for his looks. The fact that his face is the literal poster boy Tracen uses to attract new trainers speaks for the rumor.
"Please…"
"Hmm?"
Gold City grabs the young man's arm before he can retreat. She pulled herself to him, hugged his body, and planted her face onto his chest.
"Please help me!"