Heroine once believed the wind blowing against her would change her life.
When she was a filly, she used to race in a debut race, but she never won. She spend most of her time on running, training; on the streets, inside Tracen, and elsewhere. Eventually, she realizes she cannot win the debut race. She became more timid and slow. Her trainer and her parents gave up on her. She was... abandoned, and she became what she had to be; a working single mother.
After her husband died on an accident, she raised Haru Urara alone.
One evening, while she was cleaning the kitchen after a long shift, she heard her daughter Urara talking excitedly in the living room.
"I want to be the best Umamusume," Urara said to a friend over the phone. "A real one."
Heroine froze for a moment. The words felt strangely familiar.
Urara has potential--far more of what Heroine had ever been. She knew her daughter will be greater than what she imagined to be. But, she is also too bouncy and friendly for her own good. She stayed out late with her classmates and her friends, participating mock races that she always wins, and returns home dead tired.
Between school, friends, and mock runs, her grades are slipping away.
One night, Urara went home very early and defeated. She's rather unusually quiet.
"My grades are dumped. I'm doomed," Urara told her mother. "My teacher and the school principal scolded me if I don't improve my grades, I will be kicked out!"
Heroine said nothing. She knew her daughter is bad already in school. Well, Urara is a smart girl, Urara do excels in math, science, everything, but her smartiness went all into her bounciness the moment there's friends, expecting she would spend more time in them than her grades.
Heroine once saw Urara being miserable for being smart. Some look at her with admiration and most hated her, Urara understands the intentions. And she can't be too mad at Urara for being so bouncy and friendly, it was intended to be.
But if her daughter is kicked out, the only way for her to finish education is through private schools like Japan Tracen Academy. Money is tight already. Economy in Japan are brimmed. All of the money she earned disappeared into rent, food, and expenses. Tracen Academy--or even a regular schools, felt like a dream.
Then she saw an ad, it was from Kochi Racecourse. They needed volunteers for a race and staffs for managing umamusume recruitments and fundraising for the racecourse.
The age of requirements for Umamusumes to run in a racecourse is 16 years old. Her daughter, Haru Urara fit in that description.
And if the racecourse recovers, they promised that she can receive more money to win.
Heroine initially hesitated, but she needed the money and she can't simply slip the opportunity for her daughter.
Heroine knows Urara's potential, she cannot gave away the opportunity for her to grow as an umamusume.
Although it was just a volunteer position, Urara accepted it without thinking twice. She has the chance to run in a racecourse, not in the mock race.
And years passed...Nothing much changed.
Urara suffers with emotional damage of losing, Heroine is exhausted. They're both tired and hurt, they can't take it anymore.
The hours were long. The pay barely seemed to exist after "company deductions," and recorded it for "transparency". Urara came home exhausted every night, but strangely, people at the racecourse loved her. She made the fans and staffs laugh, lifted their spirits, and kept the atmosphere alive even when everyone else felt drained.
But Heroine could see it clearly. They were being used by her own employers. She can't just prove it.
Their work filled the pocket of so called "saving the racetrack" that they never signed for. Urara also knew she was used.
But the racetrack do improves, but there's something going on that nobody even Heroine herself and staffs won't able to know.
When Urara's "113th race" was announced, Urara--without her mother's knowledge--made a deal to a woman that can get her out of the racetrack. Heroine doesn't know about the details, but she felt the woman isn't to be trusted.
She told Urara about the dangers, Urara only smiled.
"It's my only way to make my trainer, my caretaker, my friends, and other staffs won't feel betrayed. I don't care if she will use me, I want to get out of here. I hate losing. This is too much. I don't want to feel like a trash. People do love me, but they never truly see what I really feel," muttering those words while her tears pouring down in her face.
Heroine was hurt, she doesn't want Urara to suffer anymore.
And to make it worse, all people around the world gathered to see the symbol of hope for the losers.
Heroine can't stand it. She filed her resignation papers and left work. The staff contacted her for assistance, but they later saw the paper signed by HR stating that her resignation was effective immediately.
And the news spread fast that Haru Urara lost her 113th race. It was intentional. Winning would have meant losing her identity, and she couldn't simply destroy the version of herself that people believed in.
The planned "final race" of Haru Urara was announced, but she just disappeared. She already left the racecourse for good.
Not long after, Heroine found a job at a more decent company, the Sakura Commerce Co. Ltd.
For the first time in years, life felt stable.
But stability didn't last.
The company made a financial mistake and she was laid off along with few others. One of the managers recommended her for work in a rural town--in Shadai Dormitories and Sanctuary Hotel, but with decent pay.
Heroine accepted as she has no other choice.
Unbeknownst to her, it was a decent place for a highly regarded Umamusumes to retreat and relax, a long-term silent life, away from the prying eyes of journalists and the others.
Shocked at first, eventually she gets used to it.
Life there was quiet.
Days turned into months, and months turned into years. She never heard from Urara again. Letters stopped. Calls never came.
But every night before sleeping, Heroine whispered the same hope:
"I hope she feels winning once."
Then one afternoon, years later, someone knocked on her door.
Heroine opened it slowly.
Standing there was Urara.
Bolder. Calmer. Her eyes carried a maturity that hadn't been there before, a Sakura-like eyelids, a symbol for wabi-sabi.
They sat together for a long time before Urara finally spoke.
"I made it to the top," she said quietly. "But not with my real name."
She had become one of the most talked-about Umamusume in certain circles, working under an alias. Her wins were praised everywhere. Critics admired but some perceives her negatively.
But the higher she climbed, the colder it felt. She felt the same feeling when she was in Kochi Racecourse, but she is very hated by fans.
"I thought being the best meant people would love what I do." "But they don't love me. They only love the name."
She looked at her mother.
"I'm tired of being someone else. I felt sorry for my friend who I've used her name."
Heroine flicked her fingers into Urara's forehead.
"You dummy kid. Be grateful for her."
Heroine noticed the small bag Urara had brought, basically taken nothing but essentials.
"I left everything," Urara continued softly. "My false identity. My career. All of it. I want to go back for who I was. A friend reminded me."
Heroine didn't ask why.
She simply stood up and hugged her daughter tightly.
Outside, the sun was setting over the quiet fields.
She wished Urara for one more thing.
"I want you to run beside me, Urara."
Heroine gently placed her old race shoes in the ground. It was old and tattered.
Urara looked at her mother, eyes widened, then she smiled softly.
She hesitated a bit, but she took the courage.
Heroine said quietly, "I've always wished to run with you, my daughter." She added, "May the fast Umamusume wins."
For the first time in years, Urara saw her mother lively again.
And together, in the quiet fields, they began to run.