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Silence Suzuka had been out for a while. Her roommate, Special Week, had been training extra hard as of late. Seeing her dedication, she decided to return the favor and get a nice meal for them to enjoy. She opened the door to their dorm, with a smile.
“Spe? I’ve seen you were really taking your training seriously, so I thought… huh?” She noticed their dorm was empty. Strange, usually Special Week would have finished her training right now. Maybe she decided to stay some extra time? The orange haired horse started decorating the table while she waited for her friend to return.
However, Special Week seemed to be taking her time. Minutes passed, and Suzuka started getting increasingly worried. Did something happen to her? She had to go check! She sprinted out of her dorm, running for the training site in hope Special Week was still there.
On her way, she found Gold Ship and Mejiro McQueen, walking towards her. Gold Ship, upon noticing Suzuka, suddenly grabbed her, effortlessly spun her on the air and put her back on the ground.
“Careful, you might just trip running around aimlessly like that.” she joked, and Suzuka snapped back to reality.
“Aimlessly? I guess I was a little distraught…” Suzuka admitted. The thought of Spe being in danger brought her a lot of worry, and at this point she’d watched her legs act first, her brain acting second. “...speaking of… have any of you seen Special Week?”
“We were actually looking for you regarding her,” said McQueen. “She’s been training the whole day and doesn’t show any signs of stopping. And she doesn’t look well.”
“What?!” Suzuka’s calm demeanor faltered, worry plastering across her face. “She doesn’t look well? Is she sick?!”
“She just looks really exhausted, I’d suggested she stopped for a breather but she did not listen,” the lavender haired concluded.
“She said something about needing to get to your level, heh,” Gold Ship added. “Suzuka this, Suzuka that, she would not stop talking about you,” the tall horse would make silly little gestures, pretending to be Special Week. “You’re a big deal for her, you know?”
“Oh, do I know…” Suzuka replied, her voice shaking. Special Week had been exhausting herself for her sake? Guilt started forming up. She needed to find her, fast.
“We won’t hold you any longer,” said McQueen. “She’s running laps right there, you should be able to catch up to her,” she pointed to the track where, sure enough, you could see a horse in trackwear running to the best of her ability.
“You mean she definitely CAN catch up. Spe’s going rather slow right now,” Golshi corrected. Mejiro gave her a glare.
“I’ll go talk to her… thank you,” Suzuka sincerely nodded and went over to her roommate.
Upon arriving, she saw Special Week was severely out of her element. Though she was really tired, it didn’t look like she had plans of stopping any time soon.
“Spe!” Silence Suzuka reached her, making Special stop on her tracks. “Are you okay?”
“Suzuka? You’re here! I-” she stumbled on her words, panting. “I’m… I’m fine! I was… training while you were out…”
“I can see that…! But you don’t look fine at all!” Suzuka gave her some support so she wouldn’t fall over. “Have you been training since I left earlier today?”
“I…” Spe started, but then looked away. That was the confirmation needed. “It’s okay, though… as long as I can be as talented as you are… it’ll all be worth it…”
“But I don’t want you to destroy your health over me!” Suzuka blurted out, her voice tone coming a bit louder than she intended. “I could never live with myself if you… if you…” she trailed off, incapable of finishing her sentence. Some tears started rolling down her face.
“What…?” Seeing her friend’s reaction to her strict training, Special Week had realized how much she put herself into. “No, no no! Suzuka, you didn’t do anything wrong at all! It was me…! I’m the stupid one who had this idea in the first place! Please don’t cry…”
“...don’t say that… you’re not stupid…” the orange haired girl looked down. “...sorry, I got really worried, I didn’t mean to lose it…”
“It’s okay, Suzuka, I’m the one who should be apologizing,” Special Week said, wiping her friend’s tears. “I was looking forward to being like you so much that I didn’t think about my own wellbeing, and how that would worry you.”
For a moment, they just stood there, looking at each other’s eyes. After calming down, Silence Suzuka made the first move and hugged Special Week.
“I’m flattered you always think so highly of me. I really am. I just want you to do this with more moderation,” she said, softly in Spe’s ear. “I want you to be yourself, too. The Special Week I admire so much.”
“Suzuka, I…” Special was taken aback, and then hugged her back. “I’ll make sure to do so. I won’t overdo it, I promise,” she said, smiling warmly. Despite them not seeing each other’s faces, Suzuka could just tell.
“You know…” Silence Suzuka broke the hug, putting her hands on Special Week’s shoulders. “If you want, I could give you some heads-ups for your training. We could make a training routine together. Would that make you happy?”
“Are you kidding? That’d be awesome!” Special Week grinned. “But now that you stopped me I’ve just noticed… I’m so tired right now…” she slumped onto Suzuka’s arms.
“I’ll take you back to our dorm,” Suzuka said, crouching down. “Climb on.”
Special Week did so, and Suzuka started walking, giving her a piggyback ride back to the dorm.
“You know, when I was out, I got something for you to celebrate your dedication for training. Your favorite food…” the girl winked, and Special gasped in response.
“Carrot Salisbury steak?! Suzukaaaa, you shouldn’t!” Spe replied, barely containing her smile. “I don’t deserve you, I really don’t…”
“Of course you do. Now let’s go, it’s waiting for you.” Suzuka smiling as well, taking her friend for a meal they would not forget any time soon.