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—START—
Third place, a much better attempt than most of the others.
Her pace in the race had gone well, a good break out of the gate leading her to secure a good position for herself, nobody blocked focusing on their own race.
Then she saw it, on the third curve the perfect opportunity to break out of the pack was given to her, so she took it.
At the same time she laughed, enjoying the feeling of the wind on her face and the way her muscles gave their all with each stride, running with everyone around her.
Going from ninth to fourth.
Reaching the final corner she bent slightly more forward, prepping her form until she was ready to accelerate. (…Wait for it…) The markers on the side of the track would tell her when to begin her sprint. (Now!) Stomping hard on the dirt and using every bit of racing knowledge her trainer had imparted on her she pushed forward.
The cheering of the crowds erupted once someone crossed the finish.
Sweat covered her entire body, her legs trembling by the effort while she attempted to slow her breaths into a normal rate. (I lost again) Seeing her name on the scoreboard was a novel experience however, never having made it in until today. “Hehe, I’m getting better!!”
Eventually her legs would give up under her fatigue, a common occurrence for her, leaving her in the dirt. The satisfaction of having given her all and finally placing in the podium were bigger than the pain.
Two years of racing with 49 starts, all of that leading to this singular moment. A smile began to form, carrying a contagious happiness that every single spectator basked in while the girl laughed happily.
Victory might not be hers yet, that did not mean she was going to give up on it. As her popularity grew faster than her own strength she would do her best to keep up going forward.
All for her dream, to shine in a way that even her presence would turn the smallest of frowns into a smile, having fun running in the process.
From the crowd a shout called for her. “Haru!” Her trainer, an old man wearing a white shirt and jeans with short black hair waved his hand in her direction.
Haru Urara answered in kind, moving her hand from the floor with the same smile she always had, cheers going off at her gesture.
She caught footsteps approaching, the winner Kitano Harmony standing over her. “You look way too happy to have gotten third” She was tall, with lengthy blonde hair.
Her appearance wasn’t as exhausted as Haru’s, still able to keep herself upright well, looking like she was trying to understand the one in front of her.
Another girl nearby just laughed at her, as if it was the funniest thing in the world.
“That’s Haru Urara kid, two years your senior” It was someone who’d met up with Haru on various races before, this was the first time she’d finish above her in competition. “Nobody can take that smile from her and much less now” Despite not placing well her spirits also weren’t low by any means. “congrats on your first third place Senpai” Giving a small gesture of goodbye the Uma began to leave without waiting for an answer.
“Thank you!!” The way her sakura eyes shone were without equal, even to the point that Harmony felt her own victory was not as brilliant as this runner. “You were really good in the track too!! Both of you!”
(If that smile wasn’t so genuine I’d doubt you were happy with this) Her tail and ears were static, they didn’t even seem to be moving, although that might be the emotion and adrenaline running through her.
Harmony stared at this strange senior of hers, even if they’d met today she knew that energy she carried was affecting her too. “You were great too” Despite whispering she knew any Uma close enough would have been able to hear her speaking.
Yet Haru’s expression did not change, whether she wasn’t paying attention, kept quite to not give out that she had heard or had accepted the compliment was unknow to her.
Whatever it was didn’t really matter, Harmony also said her goodbyes and went on to prepare for her winning concert.
Slowly the stands would begin emptying as well, runners and spectators alike leaving even if there were still races to be had afterwards.
They had come to see someone after all, and that Uma had already run.
From the floor Haru began to stretch, bending her joints and body, allowing herself to recover after a while, running 1200 meters was really miraculous, specially doing it as fast as she did with her ‘condition’.
Only getting up when she was sure no falling wasn’t in her immediate future.
Her hears still rang from the effort, relentlessly her heart beat without signs of stopping, the sole of her feet burned. (I should go find Trainer!) All of it gave her such a nice feeling, making her efforts truly seem like reality.
Haru walked without any haste, few of the remaining people greeted her and told her many nice things that filled her desire to run another race more, up until she made it to the room assigned to her.
“Buah! Trainer I did it! I made it to third” The door was pushed open and the old man was already moving in her direction, towel in hand while pushing her towards a seat. “It was so hard too, everyone was giving their and wanted to win!”
Proud was little to describe the feeling the old man had at seeing it happen, softly looking at the girl while wiping the sweat of her forehead.
“You did incredibly Haru” He got her sitting on a chair while complimenting her, his hand was almost about to pet her head but he stopped himself before contact was made. “Does your leg hurt? Anything feels strange” Instead he crouched slowly, his age working against him, and began to feel around her legs.
“None at all!” Still she let him test, her legs might be different from the norm but it was nothing that could stop her from running. “I could even go again!”
Performing a normal checkup the trainer still found himself weirded out by this girls bodily structure and it’s weirdness.
He’d find nothing there. “No you can’t” Not with the astronomically small amount of stamina she had that made even a sprint monumentally hard for her to overcome. “Resting is the most important thing you do right now if you want to be ready for your next race”
A schedule most would call insane ahead of them, by the end of this year Haru would be reaching 70 starts total with more coming the next year.
Sometimes he hoped something went off plan and he could cut the number of races but this girl’s insatiable spirit and a need to run were feelings he could not contest again.
Trainer stopped, having found nothing wrong beyond the girl’s usual strange physique. “You’re as good as ever” Haru helped him get up again, doing an adorable smile that attempted to be smug.
Unfortunately for her, there is not a single mean bone in that body. “Told you I was great!” So all she did was look cute.
Their stay didn’t last much longer, with other races taking place that day in this racecourse and the trip back to Tracen taking a good amount of time the two of them set off.
One car drive of many hours later the duo arrived at Tracen dorm’s gates. Her Trainer made sure she had gone in while reminding her of not running tomorrow as well as their next training hours beyond that.
Sending off the Trainer Haru entered the building, exchanging pleasantries with everyone who she came across.
Few of her yearmates were around, leading her to waste no time getting to her dorm.
Using the key to open her door while humming happily Haru near screamed while entering. “King!! I’m back” Stumbling tiredly inside while taking her shoes off with nobody answering her.
Going further into the room Haru found that her roommate was not here, racking her brain eventually led her to the answer. (Right king was going home today) Then she stopped.
King had gone home and wouldn’t come here until tomorrow at the very least.
She would be alone until tomorrow.
“…” Haru one deep breath, her gaze fixed at the bed of her friend, slowly realizing what this meant.
For a moment the excitement of her achievement dimmed. “Nobody…will be here” It was a strange moment, she was alone and would continue to be alone for hours unless she chooses to leave the room.
Turning around she went for her own bed, diving right under it and taking out a pink box with a numerical lock. Quickly Haru stepped into the bathroom, still carrying it.
1-9-9-8 was inserted as the combination, revealing that inside the box were a holder of some kind, a charger with an unusual port and a bottle of hair dye.
Haru took the holder and the charger out of it before setting the box aside on the floor while grabbing her stool, using it to reach and look herself in the mirror.
It was her, staring right into the mirror Haru could only see herself, the ideal version of herself. One that did not give up, one that fought against her nature and shortcomings with a smile, one who did not mind if she lost as long as another chance was still there.
The Haru Urara that everyone loved, the one that shone and made people happy. Pink hair, sakura petal in her eyes and two ears sticking out of her head.
Her hand slowly moved towards her eye, the calm and experienced of someone who’d done something like this many times before. “Just for a while” She muttered to herself before going right for the eyeball…
…or rather, the contact lens that was over it.
Hidden under the precious pink was the most normal looking brown eyes anyone could see, a contrast over the way they normally looked that would make head turn if they saw it. The holder she had previously taken out of the box was their container.
A sort of relief spread through her face when she took them off, too long had those things spent on her face regularly.
Now, staring into the mirror was Haru, it was still her clearly, but something was amiss when looking at her face.
Was it really her?
She spent a good moment admiring the normalcy on them before continuing, grabbing a comb from the cabinet, using the thin side of it to dig into her hair carefully.
Right until something clicked.
A small metal band fell from the back of her head, a dual hook piece that held a structure together under her hair that no longer held stability.
Before they could fall, Haru grabbed and took off the ears. Reals as they might have looked now their true nature was revealed to be nothing more than a mechanical prop, a falsehood meant to hide something else.
A device that would move in accordance to the pitch of her voice to replicate the way Uma ears did in relation to their emotions.
Two pieces the same color of her skin fell to the sides as well, pieces with no other purpose that keeping concealed her real ears.
Her human ears.
Staring right at the mirror once again, Haru Urara was…no longer there. Pink hair that fell down without form, brown eyes, and no Uma ears.
The person in front of the mirror was a human, Haru Urara wasn’t a human, therefor this could not be Haru Urara. “…” Even longer than before she watched herself.
One girl with dreams that believed that effort could close any gap admired herself in the mirror, her blank expression made a smile.
It looked alien compared to the radiance Haru produced, incomparable the two of them. (This…is not me anymore) No sadness came from admitting that.
For the Umamusume she became was the person she had always wished to be, the person she is.
That made the one looking into the mirror right now a fake, someone that had no name anymore.
One last piece needed to be removed, no need to look at the old her remained. Much quicker than all others Haru lifted her shirt slightly, another piece of her skin color tied there to hold another device.
Her tail.
With all of her Umamusume removed from her she made sure to put everything back into its proper place, taking the chargers and plugging them into the appendage-like tech to charge.
Her nighttime routine didn’t change much after that, showering and getting herself into pajama didn’t take much time and eventually she found herself her bed.
Tomorrow she’d go back to being Haru Urara, but for the remainder of this day and night the unnamed human needed to exist.
Sighing softly she still, despite stripping herself of what made her the Haru Urara that everyone loved, smiled. “I’ll continue my beautiful lie” Slowly she closed her eyes, falling asleep. “Until it becomes my truth”
Little snores began to sound no long afterwards.
—END—
—Mystic—
