Chapter Text
~~~~~ 1 ~~~~~
- Okay kids! That's all for today! - Haru Urara, the teacher in the local town’s kindergarten, said as the clock showed 2pm - Make sure you don't forget your backpacks, see you all tomorrow!
- Bye Ms. Haru! - Every kid said the same thing at once, they really liked their teacher, she was always kind to them and understood what they struggled with without getting angry.
Haru herself didn't think she was as good as others thought, she didn't doubt her skills at talking with children, but she would have never said she's something more. - It's Monday, the week has just started so we didn't study much today, I hope we'll make more progress in the next few days - It was an important time for her class, Haru had to teach them the basics of math. They were really smart for their age but for most of them math just didn't click. Most of the teachers would just move on without overthinking what will happen after they go to actual school, but Haru wasn't like that. She cared a lot and hoped they would achieve success in their future lives. She always tried to give them at least a bit of advice that someone their age would understand, she didn't want them to make mistakes she did in the past.
Before leaving the building she had a short conversation with the other teacher, Haru got few compliments however, as always, she nicely rejected them saying it’s an exaggeration. Her way back home wasn’t really long, it was around 20 minutes. That’s why she often took different longer paths to make it more unique and interesting, it was one of few ways she could make her daily life less monotonous, also she just really liked to appreciate local scenery, after all she was raised here and felt attached to it and this place was it’s one of the few things that never fully left her. The view of the local forest was really nice, she was glad people don’t leave trash like in bigger towns and cities, but even if someone left something there, the locals would clean it quickly, they too care for the local environment.
She finally came back home. Haru was living alone in a small apartment. Maybe it wasn't really big, but for her it was enough. She had all the space she needed for her books and items from her past. She also had a TV and a desk with an old laptop she used for studying but also watching shows she enjoyed. It wasn't a lot, you could call her a minimalist.
The first thing she did after entering her room was jumping on her bed really quickly. Why? She didn't know it herself. She had a habit of randomly doing something really energetic for seemingly no reason. As a child and even a teenager she was way more chaotic and impulsive, she learned to be more collected but some parts of that childish side never left and probably never will.
She was slowly falling asleep, but then…
- OH GOD, I FORGOT TO CLOSE THE APARTMENT DOOR - She screamed to herself and ran to close them, because what if someone broke in and stole her precious albums? That would be a fate worse than death.
These were really important to her, she cherished her past memories more than anything else, she didn’t want to forget them and albums or old items were a good way to preserve them or at least keep her from thoughts that her past will never come back…
Now that the doors were closed, she could finally take a nap. There were still a lot of things to do but she had enough time and sometimes a short nap after work can help to focus later on.
Haru went back to her bed, she didn't have much issues with sleeping so she fell asleep rather quickly. Then… she opened her eyes, she was on a racing track…? She didn't overthink it much, like it's something completely normal. Next she heard a loud voice from the speakers.
- And last, in 16th place, comes Haru Urara! It was rather expected, although we wish her and her trainer more luck in the future.
- Wait… who won? - Haru thought to herself, for some reason her losing was the only thing she heard, although it's not anything weird as she heard it hundreds of times. Then she heard a few familiar voices.
– 5th place… not bad, I need to do better next time though… I can't disappoint my trainer. - Said a girl with brown twintails and red ears.
– 3rd place… YIPPEEE, it was so close. M̶a̵k̶i̶t̴a̸n̵e̶t̴a̴n̵h̸a̵u̸s̷e̶r̷ will surely win next time!
– It was… it was so close… it was a matter for seconds, why…? It's because of her. - said a long silver haired girl, her voice was emanating with disappointment but even more with anger and jealousy. She seemed like she was really close to victory, but someone was just a bit better than her.
– I… I won…? - that voice… a voice she didn't hear in years, yet she still remembered it well. - I… I won… I… I… R̶̗͚̈́̈́̚͠i̶͖̣̞̳͕̫̇c̶̞͐̄e̶̲̹̰̺̍͒̃̍ won… - the girl started crying, crying from happiness, she achieved a huge victory that will make her known among thousands of people.
Haru wanted to congratulate her, after all she fully deserved it. She tried to run over to her, however R̶̗͚̈́̈́̚͠i̶͖̣̞̳͕̫̇c̶̞͐̄e̶̲̹̰̺̍͒̃̍ started running away. Why? Haru tried to reach her, but R̶̗͚̈́̈́̚͠i̶͖̣̞̳͕̫̇c̶̞͐̄e̶̲̹̰̺̍͒̃̍ was just faster, a speed Haru won't ever achieve.
Then everything stopped, for some reason Haru couldn't move, her body couldn't move even a bit. R̶̗͚̈́̈́̚͠i̶͖̣̞̳͕̫̇c̶̞͐̄e̶̲̹̰̺̍͒̃̍ stopped running too, however she still stood with her back to Haru. She slowly turned around, but when Haru could finally see her face… it was covered, Haru just couldn't see it, she wasn't even able to remind herself of it, like she forgot it. She left helpless, tears started falling from her eyes. It seemed like R̶̗͚̈́̈́̚͠i̶͖̣̞̳͕̫̇c̶̞͐̄e̶̲̹̰̺̍͒̃̍ was still looking at her, however her face was still covered… but it seemed like she gave a small smile. Why did she smile…? There was no way to tell the overall expression. Then R̶̗͚̈́̈́̚͠i̶͖̣̞̳͕̫̇c̶̞͐̄e̶̲̹̰̺̍͒̃̍ turned around and started slowly walking away. Haru wanted to chase her… she had a feeling like she wanted to tell her something, anything, but she just couldn't move no matter what. She wanted to scream, but she couldn't. While still crying, everything started fading to black, including her and R̶̗͚̈́̈́̚͠i̶͖̣̞̳͕̫̇c̶̞͐̄e̶̲̹̰̺̍͒̃̍.
Haru woke up sweating. She still didn't fully comprehend what's going on and what's real or not. She tried to calm herself down, breath in, breath out.
– I guess I just had a nightmare - she said to herself, still stressed. - It seemed like her brain was tired of going back to people she used to know when she was younger, however it seems like she couldn't remind herself of their names or faces in that dream, or her brain was just too afraid of thinking about them… - Who was that girl? - She thought to herself, it seemed that the whole dream was centered around her. - Wait… Haru you dumbass, of course it was Rice… I haven't heard that name in a long time, huh?
Rice Shower was Haru’s closest friend ever. At some point in her life they were spending most of their time together every single day, they were inseparable, they never expected that they would become distant. However fame comes at a cost, Rice achieved huge victories, one after another, she started to be known among people throughout Japan. Haru never achieved any of that, she stayed in one place, without victories. The two slowly started talking less and less, they both wanted to be there for each other, but with each day Rice was getting invited for more and more races, concerts and even meetings with famous Umas or other people. And one day they both got news, Rice and her trainer had to move out from Tokyo, she just wasn't able to manage everything from where she lived at the time, she didn't have the choice. They both were sad, Haru’s last physical conversation with Rice was their farewell and a promise… promise that they will meet again someday and go back to how things used to be. Unfortunately the reality was too cruel for that, with each month they grew distant and at some point they stopped talking at all. Rice was too busy and Haru felt more and more left out.
Haru decided to go drink some water and calm down, telling herself that it was just a dream. However now she just couldn't stop thinking about it… about her. - I wonder how she's doing…? - she asked herself. It's been some time since hearing anything about her. Haru knew Rice got more into the showbusiness industry after her slowly retiring from racing actively, starting to participate in for example idol concerts or even in theatre plays as an actress which was her dream years ago. - Well, I'm glad it came true. - Haru said, giving off a small shrug.
The Uma took her phone and opened Umastagram, a social media app for all Umas to share their photos and videos. It was pretty popular and in recent years became the main platform for Uma-celebrities to share things about themselves. Then she searched the name “Rice Shower” in the search bar. Somehow there were even more fake accounts than before, it was another proof of the fame she had.
Actually, it wasn't Rice’s first account. When both girls were younger they used to have accounts with more creative names, instead of just their names. Haru still uses hers to this day, her nickname was IHatePickles12, because well, she hated them a lot. On the other hand Rice’s BlueRose06 was inactive for years now, she had to create more “official” one as a slowly growing celebrity.
Rice had around 2 million followers, which was actually a lot compared to other Umadols with similar levels of success. The biggest one in Japan, Smart Falcon, had around 5 million, this shows that Rice isn't just someone ordinary, she's still one of the brightest stars in the industry. No, not just a star, she was the Blue Rose she always wanted to be, when it finally bloomed, it was more beautiful than Rice had ever dreamed of. Haru was happy that Rice's dreams had come true, however the cost of it was that she left… but hating her for it would be selfish, she had to accept that she's gone, or maybe…
Maybe they can meet again…
Haru decided to look at Rice's recent posts, most of them were just simple photos with, for example, food. Surprisingly there weren’t as many brand advertisements as for a lot of other Umadols’ profiles.
And then she found it, a regional tour… AROUND HOKKAIDO? AND FIRST CONCERT WILL TAKE PLACE ONLY 100KM AWAY FROM WHERE SHE IS NOW? It will take place exactly on Friday in the afternoon, around the time Haru finishes work.
- Shit… - Haru thought to herself, she will definitely miss it if she’ll go to work normally. What about just not going to work that day…? But how? It's not really possible. - It's just one day though… - She was a grown adult, she couldn't just not come to work like a teenager avoiding school, there would be consequences.
Haru was thinking about what to do. On one hand, she could just give up and continue her daily life normally, but on the other hand, she could find a way to go to the concert and see Rice… - Wait… - Her urge was just too big, even though she was an adult, she couldn't give up like a child wanting something. Then she got an idea, what if she'll just simply lie about having a cold, a small one, being worried about kids’ health. In that way avoiding only one day of work will be simple enough to make others believe her. Lying wasn't really something she was happy about, but as a kid she had a small tendency to do it… but always in a way to not hurt anyone.
Her ultimate choice was to do exactly that, it was impulsive but her mind was too obsessed with seeing Rice after so much time to even consider if it's a mature and responsible decision. Now the only thing remaining is to just wait… and see what fate will have in store for them two.
The next day was pretty calm, nothing groundbreaking happened. However Haru was still really excited, a few times she zoned out while talking with others thinking and imagining talking with Rice and the two being happy about seeing each other again.
Wednesday was really the same, however Haru started feeling a bit of anxiety. Because the first wave of excitement is slowly passing, she started considering the less childish and more realistic things that could happen, but that won't stop her.
Thursday came in and anxiety only grew, few of Haru’s coworkers asked if she's okay but she brushed it off saying that maybe she just caught a cold, however even for them it was clear it's more than that. She still felt bad about lying, it was still something that she doesn't really do, maybe it was just guilt that got to her. Another weird thing was that she rarely focused her thoughts on one thing and obsessed over it like she did now. Why? Maybe she was just overthinking it, or it might have been deeper than that.
She came back home as usual, tomorrow was the day, the day they will meet again. She started feeling a light euphoria, but she needed to calm down. She isn't a child anymore. Rice's image in Haru's head was idealized to say the least, same with everything from her past but in the last few days it was Rice specifically. Some could say it's growing to an obsession. But Haru said to herself that it will be fine, when they'll see each other again, everything will come back to how it used to be and they'll get along as much as before. She'll make sure it will happen.
~~~~~ 2 ~~~~~
In a small backstage area in one of Hokkaido’s cities, Rice Shower, one of more known Umadols in Japan who gained popularity after her huge success in racing, was preparing for her next concert. She was supposed to perform the song “Girls' Legend U”, it was well known for years and Rice knew it all with both the lyrics and dance choreography perfectly memorized.
It was the first concert in her local tour around the region, the main point of it was to gain more fans and to give people who already know her living there a way to see her in person. It was mostly planned by Rice’s agency, not really something that was her idea, but she was completely okay with it.
- The concert will start in 5 minutes, are you sure you're ready? - one of the people managing the tour asked her, making sure everything will go as planned, however it seemed it was the only reason, not really because he was worried about her.
- Yeah… I’m ready! - Rice said and nodded with a smile on her face, she was still nervous though, even after lots of experience with concerts like this one. Maybe because she never performed here and doesn't want to disappoint her fans and wants to make a good first impression for new ones. For her, making others smile was her main priority, not things like making money or anything like that. Unfortunately, people working with her didn't really share her views, however Rice isn't the type of person to argue, she just mostly obeys to what the managers and other people say.
Then right before getting up and slowly making her way to the main scene she got a thought. Someone she knew lives or at least lived around here.
- Haru… - She whispered to herself, she still remembered her friend. Because of Rice’s circumstances, they slowly started distancing and at some point stopped talking completely. Her career, first as a race Uma and later as an Umadol made her really busy, especially because of people’s expectations. But no matter what, she didn't forget and never will forget her best friend. Rice wondered if Haru remembers her too, or maybe even follows her. Where is she now? What if… this tour will lead to some way of a reunion after years of distance.
There was no way for Rice to answer any of these questions herself, only time will tell if she will even find an answer at all. For now, it was the time to start the concert. And with that, Rice walked on the scene with a smile. Fans started cheering loudly and it made her really happy, but deep inside her head she was thinking about something else. The person she decided to dedicate this concert to was Haru Urara, but Rice is and will be the only person who’ll ever know it.