Only two days remaining for the Tokyo Rising Star Stakes, today I was told to just rest, but that had proven to be really hard. Surprisingly, I wasn't feeling that nervous; it was more an anxiety. It was surprising, I wanted to go out and run, I wanted to test the fruits of the hard work.
"Tsk... If I only knew running was so much fun earlier..."
I used to think running was something out of my reach back then. Running and anything that required putting in any physical effort, I never felt "good" as some people called it after doing any exercise; on the contrary, I always felt my body in shambles, so I abandoned any hope of doing anything like that. And to be honest, to the present day, I still don't feel good after doing any exercise, not something I could feel in my body at least, but... it feels rewarding, working towards something, having goals to complete.
As I roamed around Tracen, by happenstance, I found Gold Ship in the backyard. She was hiding behind some bushes, and she was changing the contents of a mayonnaise flask for hot mustard. For a moment, I looked at her. She noticed me, and a moment of silence reigned between us.
"Huh..." I didn't really know what to say, so I bowed "Good morning" And began to move on.
"Wait!" She said, reaching towards me.
"I haven't seen anything," I said, looking in another direction.
...
...
...
In the end, I was caught in her mayhem.
We infiltrated the kitchen and managed to replace the mayonnaise used by the trainers for the one with spicy mustard. I must admit, it was thrilling. But then we got discovered and we were scolded by the director herself, until trainer-san saved us, he managed to pull both of us out of trouble, probably being used to dealing with Goldshi being Goldshi. Everything was so random that I felt a little confused, but I was as much of a culprit as her for not stopping her.
"Haaaa... and I thought having to deal with one Gold Ship was enough..."
'I'm sorry, trainer-san!' I vowed in silence.
"Come on! None fell for it! It's totally okay!" Gold Ship says, laughing and slapping his back a couple of times.
'It's not okay...' I kept my silence as I looked around.
"Just please, Gold Ship, don't get her into trouble before her race."
In the end, we ended up in front of the racing tracks, sitting as we looked at the rest of the team, Spica training, why she wasn't training with them was beyond my understanding. I guess she was just acting normally by not doing so.
"Say Goldshi..."
"Mmmm? What?" She looked at me with a smile.
"How was your first race?"
For a moment, she looked immersed in memories, a shadow crossed over her eyes, and then she sighed.
"I didn't want to come here, you know?"
That was a very surprising thing to hear.
"Don't get me wrong, running is fun, but at the beginning, I didn't want to race, but let's say my family is a little complicated."
'That's an understanding,' I thought, but I didn't want to interrupt her, so I just nodded.
"So when it was my time to start competing, I really didn't want to do it; I intended to lose on purpose just for the sake of seeing their faces."
"Huh?"
"Surprised?" Gold Ship took out her Rubik's Cube and started playing with it. For a moment, she didn't speak. I was about to inquire more, but then she continued, "Then I saw those girls, each of them full of dreams, they wanted to win, and there was I, behind all the group, the face of my trainer was invaluable, he really thought I would lead the pack, and then..." She smiled and, without me realizing, she solved the entire cube "then I crushed them, something inside me told me to run, and if I didn't do it I knew that I would be forced to train... and that is boring~"
I crossed my arms, trying to imagine that race. Gold Ship is some kind of prodigy on her own terms. If I remember correctly, in my world, when he retired, he was in peak form; he never put all his work into it. The uma before me was this force of nature; she didn't want to be forced to compete, but still, she could win her races easily.
"That sounds like you," I said, smiling, "In the end, you are just too good to even bother training."
"I do train, but I choose when and how," She said, beaming. She was very confident in herself.
Then she placed a hand on my shoulder and pointed toward her team on the track.
"What would you do if you were competing against them?" She suddenly asked, "I noticed your running style is similar to mine, so maybe this could help a little, no? Try to imagine yourself competing against them."
Is this a mental projection of some sort? After her words, I looked at the pack. Susuka was in front, being followed by Special Week and Tokai Teio, a little behind Vodka and Daiwa; the difference was minimal, but there was little room between them to try any kind of maneuver. If I were chasing after that pack... how could I pass them? Trying to force my way in?
"That's not it!" She said, ruining my mental projection, but maybe she knew what I was trying to think?
"Huh!?" I was confused.
Gold Ship smiled and threw her Rubik's Cube to the sky before catching it midair. "The battle is in your mind! In a real race is no difference, take a deep breath and look calmly at your choices! Would you really just slam against the others and be trapped inside the group? Of course, you could push one, two, three, maybe four girls out of your way, but with each collision you lose momentum, sacrifice a couple of meters and find the best spot to overcome the most of them at once!"
She was telling me to wait and see my options. It sounded easy, but... with each passing moment, the other competitors would be closer to victory, and I would be at the bottom, closer to defeat.
"Your biggest enemy on the track is yourself!" She said, pointing toward my head, "So don't let yourself win against you."
(Skill: "I can see right through you" acquired!)
Then out of nowhere, she sneaked into McQueen's bento and put some chilli into her sauce. She looked at me and winked.