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Chapter Text

Mottled dark grey wisps floated about, and beneath them on the surface where Rice Shower walked along the path before her, there were other humid waters, thick and clingy, kept at bay for now by the occasional breeze and her light sundress. Stay the course. There was no real rush and it was peaceful. By the time she got back for dinner, it would probably start to gently rain, and then if she were lucky, it would continue to patter down as the night wound down. She would wake up to a pleasant heat drying off the turf, with the air cooled off and the animals mulling about, not yet disturbed by all the midday activities, commutes, labors, and misfortunes unknown.

Rarely does Rice get to ask if it would be okay to be so lucky. Misfortune is most like gravity. Her friends try to get closer to her, and she cannot help but want the same. Yet misfortune is not a force for good, nor does it care about evil. If you spend enough time with someone, you will have to try to make memories out of the bad things too. You will have to remember the careless things you say and the embarrassment of it. You will have to have unlucky days and feel frustration and pain over something out of your control. What Rice wanted were those moments where you could sit next to someone on a bench and look out at nothing in particular and enjoy the world passing you by. Yes, in between running and unconsciousness, there is watching the world run by. Yet when Rice had those moments and could share them with someone, she got an unusual and uneasy feeling in the pit of her stomach that things were too peaceful.

All of these thoughts were nothing really. Her imagined evening of solitude at Tracen Academy would quickly dissipate and give way to a most unusual fate for her and her friends.

“Oi, Grain Rain senpai! Golshi’s got you all figured out.”
Oh no.
“It’s useless to run away! I’ve learned the secret of your...misfortune. Rice! Come face me!”
Rice didn’t stop walking, but she turned to give a reserved look at her friend. Usually she would feel a bit sheepish about it, but now, it was most important to avoid any confrontation, whether out of friendship or otherwise. To accomplish this goal required resolve, which gave her a steely gaze.

“Rice does not want anybody to get hurt. Golshi...do not pursue me.”
Gold Ship simply laughed as if Rice was making a playful remark back. “We can’t tell you about everything without getting closer.”
“W-We?” Rice didn’t break stride. Stay the course. Gold Ship is pursuing you. Where are the others?
“Rice! Stay where you are! We’re here to help you break your curse!”
Whipping around to where the voice came from, Rice saw three more obstacles appear to block her path. She bolstered herself again.

“T-Teio. Rice doesn’t know what you are all planning, but, ah look! It is going to rain soon isn’t it? Let us go back to the dorms in peace. Rice will go by herself for an errand. Mhm! There’s no need to wait then.” Tokai Teio did not seem to be moved by her modest plea.
“You’re on an errand?” Meijiro McQueen inquired. “But then without an umbrella, you’ll get drenched on the way back.” She pulled one out from behind her and in one swift motion slung it over her shoulder. “Wouldn’t you give us the pleasure of your noble company Rice? We would be glad to walk with you.”
“McQueen. R-Rice does not want to be any trouble to any of you all.”

“Huoooooh! Not to worry! I’ve already read your fortune, and the Divine Shiraoki’s predictions are 100% accurate! Something great is going to happen here today!” The other uma flanking Tokai Teio was Matikanefukukitaru. Rice didn’t usually interact with her and didn’t know her well. She would be the most dangerous obstacle. Stay the course.
Fuku struck a pose and pointed at Rice. “Your next line is, ‘Rice is serious! She is going to leave here in peace, and you will not pursue her!’”
“Rice is serious! She is going to leave here in peace, and you will not pursue her! Fueh!”

Slowly but surely, the four opponents were making careful steps, moving forward so they could speak a little more clearly to her, or disguising their moves as lazy swaying and shifting around from one foot to the other. Rice can deal with four opponents and not hurt anyone. It was back at the Kikua Sho when no one paid Rice much mind that she slipped through to steal away the gold. It was at the Tenno Sho where she was underestimated again, and she triumphed again. Rice’s friends were strong and fast, but she could outlast them all.

Can Fuku see what Rice is going to say? Then, when she says it, is it fated? Can Fuku also predict what Rice will do? If she can, then she needs a few seconds to say it out loud so that the other three can know what to do about it. Even two or three seconds is enough. It isn’t raining yet, so Teio is not a threat. McQueen’s ability is no good for pursuing. Gold Ship is the most unpredictable one here, but she is behind Rice. Then…

Suddenly out of the corner of her eye, she spotted a faint group of silhouettes that fell out from behind a tree. When the overlapping chattering noises traveled over, Gold Ship stopped talking and all four of Rice’s friends turned to look in that direction. Rice knew it then when she scanned their reactions. There were nine or ten adversaries? There were more? Then, it must be now!

“Uohohhhh!” It was Fuku who reacted first. “She’s going to take out a whole lot of knives!” That’s what she wanted to say, but an emerging picture continued to flood her mind, as Rice closed the distance in a blink and a half, pushing her off of the street into the grass before she could process all the gleaming daggers seeming to levitate in the air, reflecting the automatic LED streetlights’ distorted glow into her eyes, as Fuku seemed to be falling over forever without end, frozen in place and unable to move. “T-t-t-t-this can’t be my fate! Rice wouldn’t—Feng Shui, I need to find the lucky spot! What happens to Teio and McQueen? Can they help me? I-I have to say something!”

“She’s going to take out a—”

Before Fuku even knew what happened, she was lying in the grass with her backpack pinned down like tent stakes were stuck in them. She twisted her neck to see her crystal ball rolling down the hill.
“WAAHHHHHHH” Fuku wriggled her pack off and chased after her crystal ball. “I avoided the worst of it, but without my crystal ball, I won’t be so lucky again!”
“Urk! McQueen, I’ll continue to follow her, help Gold Ship back up!”
“Teio, wait!” McQueen got back up to her feet to see Rice was already 9, maybe 10 lengths away beyond where Gold Ship was lying down.
“Uwahhhh, no more food please…” Gold Ship mumbled to herself in a daze.

“Is this what Teio really meant when she chased after Rice with Bourbon that one time? That Rice really does have the ability to stop time?” McQueen tried to take stock of the situation. Behind her, the umas who blew their cover were finally clambering off of each other to make their way over. Rice Shower was now running in the opposite direction she was traveling. What could she be planning? “Teio! Be careful!”

-----

“Excuse me, would you please operate this phone for me and select the top option?”
Symboli Rudolf turned around and let out a smile when she saw who it was. She took the phone and obliged, but not without betraying a confused look on her face.

     “Would you like a ketchup packet, or a seesaw?”
     > Ketchup packet
     > Seesaw

“Oh, are you playing some sort of a game?”
“Negative. I will need one of these items later, and the ketchup packet will be more ideal for carrying around without creating problems.”
Rudolf handed the phone back to her. “Is there a reason you are requesting a ketchup packet then?”
As soon as she asked this, Oguri Cap came walking by with a comically large tower of french fries. “Oh, good evening.” She saw Rudolf and Bourbon both craning their necks upwards. “Oh, would any of you like some?”
“I’m feeling peckish, but no thanks.” Rudolf politely declined.
“I am in need of one of those ketchup packets.”
“Of course.” Oguri Cap took one off of her dinner tray and offered it to Bourbon.

“Thank you. I feel a strong need. I must find Rice Shower.” Bourbon was about to turn to leave for the nearest exit.
“Oho, so that’s what it is. You’re trying to ketch-up to her are you?” Rudolf smirked to herself.
Inside of the dormitory, Air Groove felt a strange menacing aura as she was ironing her laundry.

⇐ TO BE CONTINUED...

Chapter Text

If Rice just had to outrun Teio, then there would be no problem. Alas. As if to say the flow of misfortune had started, it started to drizzle. Just a little bit of water was enough for Teio.

“Rice! Come back! We need to talk to you!” Teio called out, but Rice did not look back. This was what she was hoping for.
Small drops froze in place, allowing Teio to step on them like stairs. She started running like she were going uphill on the Nakayama Racecourse’s final 400 meters. “If I can find a way to trick Rice and get above her without her knowing, then I can separate my arms from my body using the rain, and then grab her with my arms! I may be able to run faster in the rain, but with this little water, who knows if she can still outrun me. If this pursuit lasts too long, she might even have enough energy to stop time again!”

As Teio went higher and higher into the air, five meters, then six meters above the ground, unbeknownst to her, the wind was carrying up some plastic garbage. To most people, this would mean nothing. To Teio, who could fuse with the water to avoid projectiles entirely, this should have been doubly true. Misfortune makes no distinction for what “ought” to be the reasonable outcome. To an uma musume running beyond top speeds, propagated by the force of a stand, any obstacles that could tangle the legs—

Teio blinked and Rice was gone.
“Rice stopped time already?!” A variety of bushes, trees, and miscellaneous structures were all possible hiding places, but what was close enough for her to go for? What was her limit after running all this way?
Then there was a clatter behind her. Teio looked down and the first thing that caught her eye was a large chain of awkward, gangly, discarded grocery bags, tied together at the handles somehow. The only thing keeping them in place? In the glow of the streetlight, the glint of a knife could be seen. Teio came to a halt and patted herself down. The top, the arms, the back, the skirt, the legs…

It was her left boot. A large unmistakable cut tore through right at the ankle line, but there was no blood.
“Rice! H-how could she?! If that knife was a few inches to her left, I would have…my leg...”
“Rice! Come out here right now!” Teio could tell the rain was going to pick up. It was still just a drizzle, but a little flash of light in the distance...three seconds...four seconds...thunder. The drizzle would become rain proper, if she could buy enough time. How long did she need? Fifty seconds? A minute?

“Teio, I know the flow of misfortune...if I stopped time sooner...oh, Rice didn’t mean to hurt you!” Rice shuddered by the sewer grate she was at. “Rice is going to run away down here. No one will follow her, and then Rice will not have to hurt anyone else…” There wasn’t any time to cry. Still out of breath and needing to move quickly, Rice took a deep breath, ready to move quickly, before opening up the heavy sewer grate next to where she was hiding.

VRRRROOOOOOM

Out of the sewer came a large motorcycle, driving straight up into the air, eye level with Teio.
Vodka dramatically pointed at Rice. “You know, I thought it was going to be fun chasing you!” Her motorcycle pivoted in the air and pointed downwards. “But what the hell were you trying to do to Fuku and Teio?!” She revved the engines and started to make a wide arc revolving around Rice.
“Fueh!!” The vapor coming out of Vodka’s motorcycle engine billowed over to the sewer and froze in an instant, shutting Rice’s exit.

Teio made sure to keep her distance. “Vodka! Freeze the path around her so she can’t run away!”
Vodka finished her circle around Rice, freezing the asphalt, grass, pavement, and other surfaces.
“V-Vodka! Please stop!! The ice is very dangerous!” Rice got up, but quickly found her heels, then her feet frozen to the ground. “Y-You don’t understand! Please!!”

People continue to act. Their nature causes them to do what they are destined to do. It was her upbringing and her path that made Vodka relentless. Neither her nor Teio noticed that as the motorcycle continued to ride circles around Rice, the freezing was working too well, and the vapors plumed around everywhere. At first, it didn’t mean anything. Normally, a car that gets cold simply cannot start its engine properly. But suppose that a sudden enough flash freezing created a drastic change the air pressure within an enclosed space. Suppose that the gas in a gas tank suddenly compressed so rapidly that it created intense heat via adiabatic heating, requiring no outside heat. What if that heat were to ignite the gasoline, creating a massive explosion?

Are the laws of thermodynamics actually consistent with a situation where massively cooling an area could actually cause a fiery explosion? Yet misfortune does not care about what is outrageous or what is improbable. If a catastrophe can happen, even if the possibility is ever so marginal, then isn’t there someone in the wrong place and the wrong time who at some point in history, could fall victim to such an outlandish accident? A car parked in the road, strained, then bent, then collapsed.

KABOOOOOOOOOOM

-----

Agnes Tachyon and Air Shakur stopped arguing and turned to look outside their window.
“An explosion! My, my, that could be dangerous! Perhaps we should go and take a closer look!” Her interest piqued, Tachyon stretched her neck around to try and see around the building blocking her view.
“Tch! Asshole! We’re not going to collect data! We should go and see if someone got hurt!”
“We? Would you like to join me?” Tachyon opened up the window, grabbed a laptop and video camera, and hopped out into the not-quite-a-drizzle, before taking off in a mad sprint.
“Hey, what the hell?!”

-----

“Rice!” Bourbon turned to look at where she heard the noise. There was a small plume of light, but she could just make it out. “New mission priority. Urgent.” Immediately, she jolted around and walked towards a bush.
“Eek! How did you know I was here?” Agnes Digital popped out in surrender.
“You have been interested in my mission. It concerns the well-being of my friend. Please make a selection on this device for me.”

     “Would you like a 12 oz. container of shoe polish, or a 12 oz. honeypot?”
     > Shoe polish
     > Honeypot

“Eh? What is this, some sort of a game?”
“Digital, please make a selection for me. Any choice will be useful to me. I am not sure how, but it will be.”
“Ohh! T-then…well then, I guess I’ll pick…”

-----

“Vodka!” Teio, her eyes still a little dazed from the light of the explosion, ran over and positioned herself directly above Vodka as best as she could, letting the rain move her hands, arms, mouth, and ears down towards her friend. “Vodka, can you hear me?! Are you okay?!” Her gaze landed squarely on the broken piece of handlebar that was stabbing through Vodka’s riding jacket. No response.

Rice was flat on her back. The ice Vodka had made was dissipating about as quickly as it was made, but her legs were still stuck. Rice looked up and saw the rain was already increasing to a trickle. In her were a thousand small wounds, like needles piercing all throughout, from the rain that had frozen and fallen on her from Vodka’s attack. Did Rice stop everything in time? She looked up at Teio above. She must be very angry at Rice...

⇐ TO BE CONTINUED...

Chapter Text

Symboli Rudolf was barely out the office when Air Groove dropped the stack of papers she was holding and started running right behind her.
“President! Should we get the others?”
“They’ll have heard it too! Just follow me!”
A jolt of lightning lit up in the distance as the pair threw open the doors to the outside. Just for a moment, they could see a few other umas running in the same direction they were heading.
“Hopefully Gold Ship is heading here as well.” Rudolf spoke in between her strides.
Air Groove thought for a moment. “Come to think of it...she said she was going to meet Rice Shower!”
“Rice Shower? Bourbon was headed towards her as well...does this have to do with the gravity of our stands?” Rudolf kept this thought to herself.

-----

“Ugh...what happened?” Vodka quickly came back to her senses.
“Vodka! Are you okay?! Don’t get up! The handlebar…” Teio couldn’t see any blood.
“D-don’t worry. It just went through some magazines…” Vodka looked more annoyed than anything, as though she had an evening planned after this excursion to fully take in her reading.
Teio looked back up and saw that the ice was gone. “Rice! Stop where you—” Her plea was interrupted by the rushing of footsteps past her. As the figure ran under a streetlight, she could make out the flowing orange hair that could only belong to one uma.
“Vodka! I’m following after them! The others should be here soon!”
Teio was about to sprint off. “Wait! Take this with you!” Vodka took out of her jacket a spare ballpoint pen with a fancy looking cap. “Once I regroup with everyone, when you’re ready to get us all together, uncap the pen!”
“Got it!” Teio snatched the pen like a baton in a relay race and started ascending quickly.

Rice was running completely away from the campus at this point. “Rice needs to get away from here! She’s going to attract more of her friends trying to help!”
As she came up to the traffic signal, she saw a no crossing signal. Teio was quickly catching up with her, and if it continued to rain like this, there’d be no hope in losing her. The adjacent facing traffic light flicked back to yellow. Perfect. There were 200 meters left. Red light. 100 meters. Just beyond her was a clearing with many trees and bushes where she could lose line of sight with Teio. Rice looked to her sides and saw all the cars perfectly still.

The crossing signal flicked. There was no happy walking uma. Instead, the kanji for “WHOOSH!” was illuminated in a sickly pale green.
“Fueh?!” An outrageous large gust of wind blew Rice Shower to a standstill, then backwards onto the concrete, stinging all the points on her back again, as the crossing signal popped in a spray of sparks.
“It’s Silence Suzuka’s ability! She must be pursuing me too!” Rice stumbled back up to her feet and looked around. Standing on the rain, far above a lamppost where she wouldn’t be seen, Tokai Teio clenched her fists. “Rice! Your power is really formidable, but with Suzuka here, I’ve got a perfect attack to stop you! Prez is definitely on her way over here already, but I’m going to finish this before she gets here, and then she’ll ‘shower’ me with lots of praise!”

Rice Shower wiped the rain from her eyes, but the sight in front of her did not change. The drops were combining with the puddles on the ground into large clusters that started to surround her. “Teio can move this much water at a time?” A flash of lightning gave her just a second long enough to read the kanji that was shimmering through the bubbles. “WHOMP!”
“Suzuka, she’s teaming up with Teio! I can’t stop time again yet!” Rice brought her arms up to protect herself.
“Seeing you so defenseless like this, I feel so sorry.” Suzuka was hiding behind a large public mailbox, watching Rice Shower from afar. “But while you haven’t figured out where I am, Teio and I have to stop you before you try hurting anyone else!”
There was no muay thai fighter on the quiet corner of the road. There was only the pelting of water into the thighs, calves, and the knees of Rice, as her legs buckled and she fell back to the ground yelping in pain.

“Suzuka...her range is so long.” Rice tried to right herself up on her arms. “How can Rice stop her misfortune? It’s not fair! It’s—”
At the fringes of Tracen Academy, the task of landscaping, maintenance, and public walkways were often freely distributed between the metropolitan government and the academy staff. Periodically, various pieces of vandalism, propaganda, or shady advertising would be removed from the big red postal boxes. The work was efficient, quick, and easy, as long as it was arranged. Nonetheless, no matter how much you try and silence others, the need to express oneself always come creeping back up. What wants to be said, right or wrong, is always said. It may take years for what is in the heart to be groaned out, but it eventually is always said. What is said out loud is eventually manifested, and the manifestation will always come out in the universal language of violence. The fist may take years to come out or the sword will become the bayonet and the arrow become the bullet, but the dark heart eventually speaks through the fist or the blade or another invention of the heart, crafted through the hands of the destroyer.

She saw the words on a bright white sticker. “DEATH.” It was English, but Rice understood. Suzuka’s ability was still active around her, but this attack was not from Suzuka. It was placed there for this moment, to be peeled off from the rain and wind.
“R-Rice Power!”
It was still cold and wet. On the fringes of her dress, there were more kanji. “DRAG! HEAVY!” She cut the edges off before they could move further up. Rice’s legs were battered. How was she going to run away after this? She walked anyway. Two more knives. Each letter was clear. Rice had to get closer. How could she leave Suzuka to her fate?

-----

“The lightning…” Mihono Bourbon flinched and looked up at the sky, clutching her tail.
Agnes Digital stopped running and came back to her. “Bourbon, the item you got from that weird game somehow! You can eat it! I’ve studied umas very extensively! When we chew gum or eat something, it tricks the brain into feeling safer than usual! I think it’s an evolutionary instinct somehow, because usually we only eat when we are out of danger!”
“I will implement your directive.” Bourbon took out the can of shoe polish and dipped her finger in.
“A-Ahh! Hey! I meant the ketchup packet you got earlier! Not the shoe polish!” Bourbon didn’t hear Digital over the low rumbling of thunder, the whistling winds, and the munching of shoe polish. “Digital is very unusual. She was following me even when I was with Rudolf. Also, this shoe polish is not very nutritious…”

-----

A large sticker landed on Suzuka’s face, torn off at the sides. “—EAT—” As Suzuka finally got the sticker off of her face, her stomach growled contentiously. “What? I didn’t make this attack.” As Suzuka peeked behind the mailbox, her eyes widened. “No way! How could she have figured out where I was?”
“Suzuka!” Rice shouted from where she stood. “Please! Where is Teio? She’s in a lot of danger right now!”
As Suzuka flattened her back to the mailbox, she saw that behind where she was hiding, a knife was stuck in a tree and another knife was on the ground.
“No way!! She knows to counter my stand by coming into close range! How did she attack me?! How did she use my stand against me with that sticker?!”

Teio looked for Rice who had disappeared from the corner. She saw Suzuka, then the knives, then Rice. “Rice is going after Suzuka! She’s not good at close range! But neither am I.” Teio’s heart thudded loudly in her ears.
“Suzuka, you have to tell Rice where Teio is.” Under the mess of hair, rain, and maybe a little blood, Suzuka shouldn’t have been able to see Rice’s eye. There it was though, glinting from where exactly? The setting sun was hidden away behind dark clouds and a red sky. The stars and moon were suffocated. Rice had stepped out of the streetlight, but there that fire in her eye remained.

Before Suzuka could respond, an arm descended from above, grabbing Rice by the ankle, before a second arm came out and punched Rice square in the jaw. Her body should have fallen over, toppling her against the brick wall to her right.
“She kept her footing even when I stopped her from moving her foot properly! Did I accidentally keep her up?!” Teio shook the thought from her head. “Suzuka! Pin her down with your attack! She can’t stop time yet!” Teio shouted over, trying not to sound panicked.
“Rice doesn’t have time to cry...She got you to reveal yourself Teio!” Rice shook her head and fought not to blink. There was the flash of lightning again. High above the rest of the rooftops, Teio’s figure was unmistakable.
“Teio! Behind you! Don’t move!” Rice’s lungs hurt as she howled back at her, twisting her hips as best as she could. “Teio, keeping my foot planted like this with your arm is going to give me the power to make this throw!”

Children love to play with large sticks. They seem so majestic and imposing when we are young. Then when we grow older, we see true force majeuere. We see a glimpse of how the canyons were carved out of water when a dam breaks, or a tsunami crushes. We see wildfires take out swathes of friends, foes, and foliage with no distinction. The air lifts and uproots the foundations of trees and homes alike. These conditions are not rare or even avoidable. We convince ourselves of our modernity and resistances and regulations and all sorts of vain things.

On a branch, there lay a word. “HEAVY.”

⇐ TO BE CONTINUED...