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Oguri sat in the waiting room. She was about to race in just a few minutes. Well, a bit more than a few, there was still the paddock to get a nice light warm up jog and see the fans but the important part was she was going to race soon and she was excited. But first…
“Since this is a clockwise track, we’re going to reinforce your right ankle like we did in training.” Belno Light held a piece of bright pink tape in her hands. She gave it a slight twist and pull in the middle to tear the backing and then applied the strip of tape to Oguri’s ankle, giving it a few secure wraps and rubbed it securely. “You always kick off your final spurt with the same foot that’s closest to the rail. Some racers tend to favor one side over the other but you’ve always adjusted according to what direction the race is.”
“It feels more natural that way. When I’m running to the right- I push right.” Oguri answered while watching her hometown friend apply a blue strip of tape around her heel. She liked the color of that one.
Belno nodded and smiled up at Oguri, “Exactly! Running with what feels natural is key! Alright, I think that’ll do it for the tape. Oguri, how does it feel? Not too tight? Can you show me your full range of motion?” She rubbed her fingers along the colorful lines of the athletic tape, making sure that there were no wrinkles in the strips.
“Hmm…” Oguri rolled her colorfully taped ankle a bit, then moved her foot up and then pointed downwards, “Feels good. Not stiff.”
“That’s good!” Belno reached to her side to grab Oguri’s large racing boots and long black racing stockings. The stockings slid on easily, next were the boots. The thin layer of tape might as well not have existed with the sheer sturdiness of her signature footwear. Yet for a racer like Oguri, even boots like this only lasted a short while from how hard she ran and the amount of power she drove into her strides. This was the second pair in this style. A few wrinkles were starting to form in the joints of the material, yet still had a few more races left. Oguri helped pull up the fur lined top of her boots securely over her muscular calves. “Do you remember what I told you about the tape wrapping?”
Oguri pressed her right foot against the floor, flexing her ankle a bit, “It’s for my final spurt, right?”
“Yes. It’ll give you extra support to push yourself harder when you step down and push. It’s much lighter than normal tape wrap so you don’t lose any flexibly but it’ll also increase blood flow to keep you light on your feet to prevent fatigue. Feel free to dig in as hard as you want and let go!”
They gray haired umamusume smiled, looking forward to hitting that key moment of her race. Where everything slowed down, where she felt the turf push against her foot, where the real thrill of the race started. “Thank you, Belno.”
After a quick double check of the latches of Oguri’s boot, Belno rose back to her feet with a sheepish smile, “It’s the least I can do to help out as a junior trainer!”
“No, you do so much for me.” Oguri caught her close friend in a sudden hug who gave a surprised yelp. It was firm and strong, as all her hugs were. “I really appreciate it. You’re always working so hard to make sure I race at my best.”
Belno let out an embarrassed chuckle as she was trapped in one of Oguri’s infamous hugs. Not that she’d want to escape, even at the risk of feeling her bones start to pop when it got too intense. “Y-you’re welcome! I… I just want to see you win, Oguri!”
Oguri gave one more squeeze before finally letting Belno go. She answered with a firm nod and determined smile, “I will.”
“Yeah!” Belno shared in the nod but tightened her lips as if she wanted to say something else. She drew in a breath and took a step forward. She lifted her hands to hold Oguri’s cheeks that made her large gray ears perk up in curiosity. Then finally Belno leaned in, stretching on her tiptoes to place a quick firm kiss on her friend’s lips. As quickly as it happened, she stepped back to instantly reply, “F-for good luck!!”
Oguri blinked slowly, dumbfounded at what just happened. She reached up to touch at her slightly parted lips, where she felt such a gentle warmth she couldn’t name. Yet she didn’t need a name for it. Her hands dropped to her sides, fingers clenching into fists. A tingle ran up her spine and Oguri began a slight shiver, then broke into a full body shake. She stamped her feet in a wide stance, lifting her arms in a half flex, elbows close to her body. She was filled with overwhelming power and determination as her tail flicked in excitement.
“There’s no way I’ll lose!” Oguri boldly announced and quickly left the waiting room, wanting to hit the turf immediately.
Belno watched Oguri make her sudden departure, cheeks flushed from what she just did. Did she really do that? Did she really just kiss Oguri Cap? Why did she do that? Why-
A light weight upon Belno’s shoulder interrupted her racing thoughts, “Good pep talk, kid.”
“H-heii!” she jumped in surprise and spun around to find the old grinning face of Musaka looking up at her.
“I wouldn’t have done the kiss myself but whatever works best between you umamusume.” The old man gave a single chuckle at the young girl turning deeper shades of red.
“Y-you were here the whole time?? Why didn’t you say anything!” Belno buried her heated face in her hands and wailed, “Th-this is so embarrassing!!”
“I’m her trainer.” He said flatly as if that answered all of Belno’s rapid fire questions, “C’mon, let's go to the stands to see if your advice helped. Oguri looked like she was in great condition.” Musaka walked out of the waiting room with a flustered Belno in tow.