Chapter Text
—START—
King Halo stirred in her sleep, the ticking of the alarm clock beside her counting down the seconds before she had to wake up.
Feeling the heat change within her space the little shards of consciousness in her person finally activated. Haru - once more- had moved in her sleep, settling on top of her.
(Seriously) Her thoughts were warm, this little mole on her bed was now a recurring event that she looked forward, even if she'd never admit as such out loud.
The girl was wearing her sleeping mask -a pink abomination in King's mind- as she pressed her cheek against the mattress which her abdomen was under.
"Haru, wake up" 5 minutes away from the alarm sounding she decided that she had waited enough day simply laying on bed. "The time to get up is near and I will not have you getting up late again"
The pink haired girl grumbled, pressing her head against the mattress, her ears flopping forward and her tail lazily falling off the bed.
King did not give her more time to laze in bed, untying her hands from her waist and shifting her weight to get off the bed.
Standing straight she saw how Haru's head plopped on the bed without her to act as a support underneath. "Morning king" She called against the sheets drowsy and cheery.
"Morning to you Urara" Answered her roommate while she took both of their uniforms out of their shared closet. "Do shake off your sleepiness quick, we have a whole day of training ahead of us today"
"Okay!!" Haru jumped from bed like a spring, her body stumbling still from shaking off the tiredness as she went to grab the uniform. "I'll take the bad first"
Halo watched her move clumsily inside the adjacent room as she did every day, taking this time to change herself into her own clothes and fix herself with the mirror on her desk.
Haru emerged changed, disheveled I'm every way but her hair. "I'm ready for today King" she cheered with a smile, pumping her fist at her.
Of course the first-rate Umamusume would not let her roommate leave like that, taking 15 minutes to fix her up properly for school.
The two exited the dorms together, one with their steps measured and graceful as the other skipped happily on her way to school.
Increasingly more Umas began to exit and walk nearby to Tracen near them, some waved at Haru, others greeted King.
Soon they would arrive at the street where the gates stood, the grand sight of the academy still impressive despite being here running for three years now.
"Is everything alright Haru?" Asked King at some point in their walk towards the entrance, her eyes following that despite her demeanor her friends tail dropped low.
"Hm? Why do you ask?" Unaware she asked chirpily, the smile as dazingly as usual. "I'm 100% after almost winning my race yesterday!!"
There was energy in her words, heart that was undeniably true for anyone watching, a shine impossible to fake.
It was pure and honest, Haru had no reason to fake with her friends nearby.
"Nothing" So King dismissed it as her just seeing things were there wasn't anything. "It simply-"
"Oh Ho Ho~" Interrupted by a characteristic laugh both Umas turned to look at the approaching girl. "Oh subjects, your Overlord has arrived!"
TM Opera O met them at the gate making her hair and skirt flutter as she struck a pose towards them. "It is a marvelous morning today that I wish for the two of you!"
Immediately Haru bounced towards her, tackling Opera with a hug. "Ope!! Good morning" Her ears twitched the moment her voice hit a high.
"Greetings to you too Opera O" Much more measured said King. "Albeit this King is no subject of anyone oh, oh ,oh~"
"Ah but of course" Returning the hug with vigor the Overlord grins towards Halo. "What could my conquest be if everyone was already under my radiance"
"Hehe" In the middle the pink haired girl just enjoyed the interaction as she stepped away a bit from Opera's personal space. "Say, say Ope, did you hear I almost won my race yesterday!?"
She made a two with her fingers proudly smiling.
"Truly? Oh, what a wondrous occasion we must celebrate!" Dramatically posing Opera O faced Haru directly. "This calls for a celebration, everyone must be called to toast"
Neither mentioned how King had finally achieved her first G1 victory relatively little ago while Opera O had been dominating the G1 scenery lately.
Achievements that under normal circumstances would have eclipsed completely a nongraded second place easily.
They knew well that in terms of racing their scale was completely unbalanced, that what Haru was achieving was relatively little compared to what Tracen was as an institution.
But they were happy for her, because approaching that victory meant more to Haru than the race rank ever did.
Because as someone King had seen evolve from how she ran in the beginning to today, who she had experienced every time she returned to their room after 100 loses without losing heart or drive, she could not be prouder.
Haru was not an impressive Umamusume due to her speed or strength but it was her relentless drive and determination that had made her a senior many of the juniors at Tracen looked up to.
A true Umamusume racer in a lot of people's eyes, themselves Included.
Still, as King Halo wanted to agree with Opera's idea she refrained and pulled the theatrical girl down to the earth.
"While it is grand what Haru did" This time it was King who Interrupted Opera's larger than life ideas. "Do not start shouting this from the roof, it was embarrassing enough last time"
"Ah, but how would we let others know then of the occasion?" Pondered Opera.
"Ope! How about we just get all our friends together instead!?" It was a much more appealing proposition to Haru herself, rather than everyone's attention she'd rather celebrate along her friends. “Like a birthday party but without the birthday!!”
Haru didn’t need anyone other than herself and those she cared for to see, nobody else. Finally, they had reached the halls of their classroom floor, unbothered by the stares they gathered by some of the nearby Umamusume.
“Hmph, if you want it like that” King easily accepted, behind her words was so much warmth. “I shall gather them after class”
“So will I!” Exclaimed Opera as they reached her door. “My subjects shall make an act of presence for such a grandiose celebration” Sliding the door open behind her as she bowed theatrically. “Now I bid you adieu, for my conquest is never over and this evening in lectures will not be different”
Their paths split off right then as they heard the Overlord’s laughter echo greeting all who were inside the room.
“Hehe Ope seemed happy this morning” Pointing that out was meant to mean nothing but King stayed a bit behind step, her eyes focusing on Haru for a split second — her tail specifically — but she said nothing.
Upon reaching the classroom they were received by their contemporaries and friends. Special week was one of the first to greet them with a smile before returning to her conversation with Seiun Sky.
Grass Wonder and Tsurumaru Tsuyoshi were chatting amongst themselves on their seats about their other friend El Condor Pasa who was still abroad on France.
Haru sat on her desk, slightly away from her friends but she still talked with her other classmates. They were friendly and kind towards her and she appreciated that.
Still she watched as King joined Spe and Seiun in their conversation, she watched Tsu and Grass talking, she answered the little words of her classmates around and then.
Nothing.
Just murmurs of the other conversation happening, just her sitting like an isolated island in a sea of sound.
Even as class started and the teacher made everyone keep quiet the invisible line that was seemingly drawn and only she could see stayed.
Haru hated it, because she knew it was none other than herself who drew this line, it was her mind that which made this imaginary barrier.
People interacted in class, they answered the questions and participated in it. Haru just couldn’t bring herself too.
In most people’s eyes she was a bad student, a kid who just didn’t get studying well and got bad grades as a result, someone who just couldn’t sit still and learn properly.
Some of that was true, Haru was not a fan of memorization and exams, but her failing was not due to that, Haru always tried no matter what she did and her academic endeavours weren’t less.
But when it came down to answering things on the spot, to sit in front of a paper and write answers for a test her mind would always end up drawing blanks even if she later realized she knew it.
All due to a distraction that always ate at her mind while she sat surrounded by Umamusume in class, when lessons were boring enough that her imagination wandered.
They are not like you and you are not like them.
(Fake)
It was the truth, she was in all aspects an impostor here.
Nobody needed to tell her, nobody needed to know for it to be true.
With a tiny shake of his head Haru attempted to return her attention to class. She really hated how quickly her thoughts wandered this far her mind was left alone to do what it wanted.
The smile never faded from her face however, it never did.
Class made itself painfully slow.
“Haru!” She hadn’t even realized class had finished until Tsuyoshi set both hands on her desk with a smile. “We’re going all to the cafeteria together, are you coming too?”
The way her body froze for a moment was imperceptible, her tail remained unmoving even still. “Oh totally!” It was a split second what she took to process the words and then another second to answer her.
Yet that split second was like a switch had been flipped, her focus solely changed from herself and that made a worlds difference. Slowly that tormenting cascade of thoughts dimmed, slowly fading into a background as she began to chat with Tsuyoshi.
Bouncing off her seat she packed her stuff back into her bag, marching right after her friend to join the group. “Hi everyone!!” Her hands waving enthusiastically the moment they caught up with them on the hallway.
Twisting her torso to look behind her Seiun Sky held a sleepy grin towards them. “Hey” Her shifting of attention got the others to glance and greet them as well as Haru and Tsuyoshi integrated smoothly on the conversation they had been having moments ago.
Walking between King Halo and Special Week just talking cheerfully made Haru feel warm, welcomed and all those chasing thoughts that took too much attention from her in class didn’t matter here.
She was one of them, Haru Urara belonged here.
She too hated this dichotomy of herself, this dichotomy of thought that could switch up so fast. (Maybe Miss Tazuna knows what I can do to stop this from happening)
Outwardly this conflict was not apparent, her smile and step kept up with the others as they crossed the cafeteria doors.
Grass grabbed a table for everyone while they got the plates, she wasn’t a picky eater and would accept whatever her friends got her from the kitchen.
As usual Special Week’s plate was the fullest of them all with a towering amount of rice and protein that would make most other Uma’s feel a need to puke.
As usual Haru Urara’s plate was underwhelming compared to all others, looking at it beside the rest of them it was negligible how little there was, so much so that from the outside it might have looked like she was consciously eating less.
The amount of food was still beyond human consumption, just that the gap between that an Uma calory intake was still a considerable number.
Haru could feel Spe’s — now very usual — stare of concern about her eating habits. Nobody mentioned it anymore, nobody would comment on her half-eaten food at the end of the meal either.
It was just another of Haru Urara’s quirks at this point.
There were so many of those in their eyes that Grass Wonder had begun to keep a list with each and every one they felt was significant.
Mentioning it was off the table too, their friend would get nervous whenever any of those things would get said out loud.
They theorized insecurity on some of those things, maybe a deep fear or something.
Never did they get close to an actual truth.
“Do eat some more Haru” King insisted with all the care a close friend could have. “It is imperative for a first-rate performance in training to have eaten well prior to it”
While King too had let some things slide and accepted some of the anomalies Haru showed there were matters her principles did not allow her to drop.
“But King, I can’t eat more” With her mouth full Haru answered, her stomach was already beyond full as she felt her insides twisting at the thought of ingesting more. “I’m full”
“It cannot be enough Haru” King stayed firm on her stand, this discussion happened near daily and even if she always ended up relenting the sprinter would always try the next day. “You barely touched your plate”
“Let the girl eat how she wants King” Waving her arm between them drowsily Seiun stopped another endless cycle talk. “We never see that it does her ill to eat this little”
(Maybe if she ate properly she’d get strong enough to run in proper races) King ate the next comment she was going to make before her mouth was lousy enough to voice it.
It would have been cruel, a horrible thing to say for one she loved so much.
“We can always get her something later if she gets hungry” Spe added from the sidelines where she’s been sharing a conversation with Tsuyoshi and Grass.
King accepted that, internally ashamed of what she was about to say. “Very well, however this must not lower your performance on training today” King added directly to the pink haired girl. “With a victory so close to your hands it would be ill advised to decline now”
Haru didn’t need to say much else, her smile softened a little once the tension of that argument was over. (They care so much) She knew it was all for the sake of her well-being, all for her.
It made her so happy, and at the same time it hurt.
(And yet you can’t come to tell them the truth about yourself) The traitorous thought surfaced for an instant. (No, there is no other truth than me being Haru Urara, an Umamusume)
Haru found it somewhat ironic, that the same split her own self held was applied to every aspect of her life, how she was born conditioned her in ways she couldn’t control and that slowly bled into other aspects of her life
Still, As long as she believed that she could make it a reality and she never stopped trying she was sure one day that peace with herself could be reached.
“Of course King!! I’ll always do my best!” Haru gave it her best smile, her heart had been set since she was little, no wavering and giving up was allowed anymore.
Lets everything she did to get her be in vain.
—END—
—Mystic—