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“The results have come in – it's official! Kasamatsu's Star wins the gold again! She's on a total roll, is there anyone out there who can beat this racer?!” The box TV in her room played the excited cheers of the crowd. The stadium that day was packed full of people and fans. Fan interviews, one after another, played but she didn't care about that. She wanted to see the winner, the star, Kasamatsu's star.
Her star.
“Oguri…” Norn Ace muttered. Her arms tightened around the giant Oguri Cap Cutie she bought the last time she went online shopping. She was leaning forward in a completely unhealthy way but she couldn't care less.
She hadn't seen her roommate, ex-roommate now, ever since Oguri transferred to that fancy shmancy Tracen Academy place. Sure, she was happy for her and all but anyone would be salty if their best friend, and somewhat idol, moved away from them!
At last, at long last, the program continued to the interviews. There she was, that ashen hair, those gray eyes… Even the official merch plushies of the Umas couldn't even come close to the real deal.
Norn almost squealed when she saw her. Oguri had grown a lot since she left their small town of Kasamatsu. Ever since she started running in the nationals, her muscles, especially her legs, had gotten more toned over the past few months. Her dancing in concerts had also gotten better and Norn was proud – she was the one who trained her first after all. So what if she had every single one of Oguri's concerts saved and recorded, that was so she could still give her pointers over text!
Speaking of text, she brought her phone out and took a photo of a frame where Oguri was being interviewed. Norn missed seeing that face everyday but seeing her on TV was the next best thing.
After saving the photo she admired it for a minute before opening Umastagram and posting it on her private story.
@Ace_Norn: MY roommate with an unbroken winning streak btw
Not even a few minutes later, she got a notification from Rudy and Mini.
@THELadyMini: program isn't even halfway finished bro
@RudeLemon: holy glaze
@Ace_Norn: blocked.
She couldn't believe these two sometimes. They acted like they weren't as big of an Oguri Cap fan as she was! Well… of course they weren't, Norn was THE number one Oguri Cap fan and there was no way she'd allow that title to slip.
She scrolled down the reels. Recently, it has been full of Oguri. She had taken the entire racing world by storm after all, it wasn't often a racer from nowhere gets an unbroken winning streak in graded races just a month after she gets into Tracen. It was almost unheard of and Norn was proud. She was very proud that Oguri had managed to get to such summits and that she was Oguri's day one fan (maybe not day one one but it was close enough.)
Her doomscrolling halted when she stumbled across a reel she was about to like by muscle memory. Said reel had the absolute worst take she had seen in… well… ever. She immediately stood up from her bed when she read the whole thing.
“Hot take but Ogumid is just a Tamamo wannabe lmao? Her winning streak is barely impressive compared to THE White Lightning like who even is that nobody??”
Oh hell no. Oh. Hell. No.
She was not going to let that slide lest her number one Oguri Cap fan title slipped. Without thinking, she opened the comments section. Don't worry Oguri, Norn wasn't about to let any slander slide for her favorite
@Ace_Norn: This is such an L take. How do you even call yourself a racing fan if you call THE Oguri Cap a nobody lmao
She hits the send button and blocks the person before they could respond. She felt good defending her best girl like that. But then, an unsettling feeling began to form in her stomach. Just how many people were hating on Oguri online? Considering how many people she beat after going national, a lot, probably. She hated the thought.
Sure, a lot of Uma's had their dreams shattered by the Beast but that was the whole point of racing. Competitions always had winners and losers and it wasn't Oguri's fault that she won and their favorites lost.
A sort of defensive feeling replaced that unsettling one in her gut. She kept scrolling on her account. School tomorrow be damned, she'd defend Oguri to the ends of the Earth if she had to! She wouldn't let people like these ruin Oguri's image online, not even over her dead body – she'd come back to life as a ghost to defend her.
@Ace_Norn: why are yall so salty over Oguri's win lmao, you'd think that being a racing fan would teach you to not be salty as shit when your faves lose
@Ace_Norn: you're a grown man getting mad over highschoolers racing, get a JOB
@Ace_Norn: Tamamo already had a career AND a streak long before Oguri started hers and Oguri STILL caught up with her and yall are still comparing them like they started at the same time, bffr
@Ace_Norn: ik you didn't just say that Tamamo has a better career history than Oguri… did you even bother to research before posting this
@Ace_Norn: embarrassingly bad take, please delete this
@Ace_Norn: do you have a job or do you get paid for hating on Umas who win fair and square
@Ace_Norn: aren't you a fresh graduate? go get a secure income before you ruin your chances with these shit takes and even shittier footprint
@Ace_Norn: why are YOU blaming Oguri for winning when YOU'RE the one who decided to bet the rest of YOUR money?? buddy nobody forced you to bet all of your money, go touch grass ffs
@Ace_Norn: genuine question, have you seen the sun in the past month? do you know what fresh air smells like?
Was she being a bit of a hypocrite? Yes, but at least she still ran laps. Was she also glazing the fuck out of Oguri right now? Absolutely. Her girl deserved it! She had every reason to glaze the racer she saw rise to the top. The racer who beat Fujimasa March who was a prodigy in her own right. The racer who brought fame to her hometown. The racer who… who…
Norn's fingers slowed down on the keypad. She looked back at the program that was now playing a commercial break as they prepared for the winning concert. She could almost feel her heart jumping out of her chest. Her fingers were shaking just from the sheer adrenaline spike she just had. A DM then caught her attention and she paused her relentless defense of one of her best friends.
Her inbox was already full of angry comments as usual. She'd reply to them later. Right now, she was frantically scrolling through her chats. Her phone screen lagged for a few seconds from how much she was using it. That didn't matter, she immediately clicked on the contact.
@Oguri: I won
It was short, just two words but goddesses it made her entire keyboard warrior montage feel so worth it. She could imagine that smile and that starry-eyed expression. Oguri only ever opened the Umastagram account Norn made to message her after a race. It was something she held over Rudy and Mini's heads.
@Ace_Norn: I saw
@Ace_Norn: You ran so well again, keep running queen I'm soso proud of you
@Oguri: :)
@Oguri: Thanks
Oh yes, all of that keyboard warrioring was so, so worth it. If it meant keeping Oguri innocent of the internet's sweaty degenerates,, she'd fight a hundred of them all just for her. This was her way of supporting Oguri's career after all. She wouldn't let some strangers who thought they knew Oguri bully her off her career. That would be hypocrisy against her title.
She smiled gently to herself. Oguri was the Star of Kasamatsu. Oguri was her star. She wasn't going to let that light snuffed out.
@Oguri: Concert is about to start
@Oguri: I still remember the techniques you taught me
@Oguri: Are you going to watch?
Norn was kicking her feet in joy at that. A few of her pillows fell off her bed in the process but she couldn't care less. Oguri remembered the techniques she taught her! She remembered Norn's teachings even after going to Tracen! She was so happy she could explode.
@Ace_Norn: ofc!!
@Ace_Norn: wouldn't miss it for the world
@Oguri: :)
Seeing Oguri's message she smiled and put her phone on DND. She turned her attention back to her TV a few minutes before Oguri came on stage. All of the backlash and hate comments she was about to receive were pushed to the back of the mind. She leaned forward, hugging her Oguri plush closer as the real one began the concert on screen. She would do anything to preserve that smile and those bright eyes, even if it meant fighting off basement dwellers from the darkest corners of the internet. That was her job after all.
It was her job as Oguri's number one fan.