Clunk. Clunk. Clunk.
The sound of a hammer ironing out a piece of metal echoed throughout the dressing room. Its tan walls rested silently as this sound bounced around the enclosed area. At the table, sitting just before the mirror, was a girl with long, silky black hair. She slid a boot onto her left foot, easily sliding it on top of her velvety black socks. She stood up from her seat, tapping her left foot against the floor, attempting to slightly tighten the grip the boot had around her foot. Her hair extended down to the very bottom of her spine, its wavy texture making it seem as if it had great thickness, even though it was fairly thin compared to lots of long haired individuals.
She was not short, though she was not necessarily tall, either. She stood at around 5'5 (166 cm). She was thin, but there was mass to her muscles from what was visible. She possessed an extremely athletically lean physique. Her desaturated magenta eyes had significant weight behind them, and a flame ever so slightly burning within the darkest winter night imaginable. Her ears were shorter than other Uma Musume and were thin and pointy rather than round. They were just as black as her hair. Her tail was also less puffy than most and shared the same color as her hair and ears.
Her outfit was dark. An unzipped black coat that stretched down to her knees, the chest flaps opened outwards with a grey lining being shown, two black clips of leather holding them open. The collar was slightly larger than average, and the sleeves were slightly longer than her arms as the coat was just a size too large for her. The sleeves had horizontal silver straps lining them from just below the shoulder down to just above the wrist. From the forearm down, the sleeve was intentionally ripped open to showcase the grey lining, the jacket's second layer. Below the final silver strap on each sleeve was a black strap similar to the ones on the chest flaps. However, they were larger than the chest's straps, wrapping entirely around the area of the wrist.
Below the coat, she wore an untucked white collared shirt that had all of its buttons done, and a white tie wrapped around the collar. Her black pants were made from the same material as her jacket, covering from slightly above her waist all the way down to just above her ankles, the rest of her skin being covered by her black boots that stretched slightly upwards into the pant legs.
As for accessories, it would seem she kept these to a minimum. Wearing a silver watch that was only noticeable when she readjusted her sleeves and sports glasses with rectangle lenses that had rounded corners with the band wrapped under her hair, attempting to hide it as much as possible.
"Deep breaths…"
She took an extensive inhale before holding that breath for a few moments, releasing it calmly and slowly. She pushed open the door to the dressing room and stepped outside into the long hallway that led to the tunnel for participants, which then led out into the race track.
Just outside of the dressing room door stood a marginally shorter girl who likely stood around 4'5 (135 cm). She had long, velvet colored hair done in a pony tail with a pink hair band keeping her bangs straight and separated from the rest of her hair. Her eyes were a bright blue. Looking into her eyes felt like looking at a clear, open sky. She was wearing the standard Tracen Academy uniform, a dark and light purple top that required a white bowtie to be worn. The bottom of the uniform was a simple striped skirt, being mostly light purple with a dark purple stripe around the very bottom, with a white stripe just above it. Other than the color choice, it was a normal school uniform regarding its white socks and brown loafer shoes.
"R- Rose…!" The dark palette girl spoke first, her tone slightly surprised, though still void of most emotions.
"So even you can get nervous, huh, Solar?" The short girl, Rose, chuckled before reaching up and patting Solar on the head, giving her a warm, encouraging smile, "Go out there and get them good!"
Solar's eyes drifted upwards, looking at Rose's hand patting her head. She took another deep breath before starting to walk towards the exit tunnel, leaving Rose's hand hanging in the air.
"I'll definitely win. This time… I'll definitely beat her."
UMA MUSUME: MIDNIGHT GODDESS - R1
Yawwwnnn…
Solar stretched her hands upwards as far as she could, her blue t-shirt sliding ever so slightly upwards to expose her stomach. Her eyes reluctantly opened, as if she still wanted to sleep just a small while longer. Her facial expression was practically screaming '5 more minutes, please…'
She slowly removed her blanket to reveal she was wearing baggy, grey sweatpants as pajamas, her legs sliding over to hang off the edge of the bed, allowing herself to sit straight up. Her arms once again reached into the air to stretch more before she finally decided to stand up.
Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed her roommate's bed was already nicely done and that her roommate was missing. She didn't hear the bathroom faucet or the shower running, so she assumed she'd already left to get moving with her day.
"Always up so early… How does she do it?" Solar squinted at the empty bed before turning around and fixing up her own to make it neat, making sure that her side of the room didn't look like a complete mess. Her dorm room in general was very clean. Both her and her roommate, Rose Kingdom, preferred to keep the room as neat as they possibly could as they felt it would keep their minds clear of any brain fog.
Solar waddled over to the bathroom door before pushing it open and stepping in front of the sink, reaching to grab both her toothbrush and toothpaste. After brushing her teeth, she cleaned her face and walked back into the main room to grab her uniform and a towel in preparation for her morning shower.
On the way back to the bathroom, she saw the clock read 7:00 AM. She could take her sweet time in the shower and still be able to arrive at class on time. Learning this made her let out a slight sigh of relief. Solar hated rushing to get ready in the morning.
Her morning shower usually lasted as long as it did simply because she loved the feeling of hot water on her skin. She liked to stand in the shower for roughly 15-20 minutes before actually washing her hair and body. After her morning shower, she slipped into her uniform and grabbed a slightly oversized jacket from a coat rack by the door. Solar's body temperature was typically on the colder side, so she preferred to wear a jacket to warm herself up to some degree.
Solar snatched her bag from her desk and put on her school's uniform shoes before stepping out into the dorm's hallways. She swiftly made her way to the cafeteria before grabbing a semi-large breakfast. Solar believed that eating a large breakfast, medium lunch, and small dinner was the optimal meal plan. Not only was it drilled into her from a very young age, but she noticed that it made sense. Food supplies the body with energy, so it makes the most sense if you eat your larger meals earlier to supply your body with the energy necessary for powering through each day.
Her breakfast this morning consisted of two omelets with some sausages on the side, all complimented by a large bowl of rice and a refreshing glass of ice cold water. By the time Solar finished her food, the clock had struck just around 8:30 AM. She had 15 minutes until class started, so she decided to quicken her pace when walking towards the academy. One of Solar's most hated things was being late. She couldn't stand showing up late to class or an event. She absolutely had to be on time. Another habit drilled into her by her loving mother.
Arriving at her classroom, Solar walked in and dropped her bag beside her desk before slumping into her chair. Sure, she hated being late, but was not a morning person by any means. Her seat was in the back left corner of the classroom, just by the window. She sat in the second to last seat. The seat behind her was occupied by her 'acquaintance', Almond Eye. The seat in front of her was occupied by her good friend and roommate, Rose Kingdom.
She finally sat up in her chair and grabbed the necessary materials for class from her bag, a notebook and a pencil. While Solar was not paying attention, Almond Eye slipped into the classroom and was now seated and prepared for class to begin. She tapped Solar on the shoulder.
"You woke up late today," Almond had a light smirk on her face. Almond Eye would usually meet Solar for breakfast, but today she hadn't been there. She was more energetic and outgoing than Solar, so she enjoyed teasing her in an attempt to get a good reaction from her.
Solar jolted a tiny bit, she had not noticed that Almond Eye even entered the classroom earlier, so she was surprised by her sudden shoulder tap, "...Or you just woke up extra early."
"Hmm… Maybe, maybe not," a minor giggle escaped Almond Eye's mouth.
"Solar, good morning!" An upbeat voice echoed from across the classroom.
Looking up from her notes, Solar saw Rose Kingdom, a good friend of hers. To Solar, Rose was her only friend, and anyone else she interacted with was more of an acquaintance. Solar raised her hand a modest amount before giving Rose a small wave.
"Rose, good morning," Solar's deadpan voice barely made it to Rose on the other side of the classroom, but she knew Rose had heard her as she perked up with a large smile on her face. It was fifty-fifty if Solar would actually return Rose's morning greetings. Half the time, she would simply wave without a word before diving right back into examining her notes from the previous day. The other half was when she actually worded her 'good morning' back to Rose, which made Rose very happy.
Rose rushed over to her seat before effectively tossing her back into her chair, "You said it! Today, you said it!" Rose started violently shaking Solar's hand.
"Y- yeah… I said it," although this occurred almost every time she actually returned Rose's morning greetings, she still wasn't used to the violent hand shaking.
The teacher walked into the classroom and exclaimed for everyone to settle down, mostly staring daggers at Rose. Rose slumped into her seat worse than Solar typically would and very, very reluctantly prepared her class materials.
Morning classes felt slow at first for Solar. The first class and first half of the second class always felt unbearably dragged out, but around the second half of her second class, she had usually woken up enough for the time to start passing by much quicker. Before she knew it, the bell rang for lunch hour.
Her lunch meal was moderately sized, nothing huge but not a small portion size either. Today for lunch, she wanted to switch up her usual picks. Every day, she'd gun for the vegetable curry and get beef on the side instead. Complemented by a decently large bowl of rice, of course. However, this afternoon she was in the mood for chicken rather than beef, so she picked up a side plate of chicken katsu instead.
Rose, being the outgoing extrovert of the duo, did have other friends that were not in their class. She typically spent her lunch eating with her other friends, so Solar would eat alone and review today's notes during her lunch time.
"Pick a team, huh…" Solar gave a hefty sigh before shoving another chicken cutlet into her mouth. In class today, the teacher explained the race system, yet again. This time, however, she included the fact that the girls would have to pick a team to join.
Solar obviously was not a social butterfly, so she didn't want to pick a team with a large number of members. She wanted to aim for a team with little to no members, but with a trainer that can still help her flourish. A trainer that can bring her great triumphs, so that she can bring her family to glory.
After finishing up her lunch, she made her way to the training tracks. Rose often was still with her friends as of right now, so Solar would train alone before Rose would arrive and help her out. While stopping by the dorms to drop off her bag and change clothing, she bumped into Almond Eye leaving her dorm room. She was now wearing the signature Tracen Academy red and white track suit.
"Headed out to the track, Solar? Is today the day you'll finally indulge in my offer to train together?" Almond Eye knew how Solar would respond already, however that didn't stop her from teasing her about it. Almond had offered time and time again for Solar to train with her, but the answer was always…
"I'll pass. As much as I appreciate the offer, I'll be training with Rose today," Solar opened the door to her own dorm room, ready to step inside and prepare for her afternoon training.
"Awh… I'll see you out there, regardless!" Almond Eye started walking down the dorm halls, towards the exit.
Solar sighed and stepped into their dorm room, shutting the door softly behind her before leaning back against the wall, "Why would such an enthusiastic Uma Musume want to train with me anyway… I'm lucky enough that Rose trains with me. I doubt Almond Eye would enjoy running alongside me."
Solar pushed herself off the door and tossed her bag back onto her desk before getting dressed in the same tracksuit that Almond Eye had been wearing when they bumped into each other moments ago. She switched from her school shoes into her racing boots and tapped the toe parts against the floor a couple times, making sure they were on as tight as she could get them to be.
She began walking to the race track, but on the way there, she bumped into someone. Physically.
"Ah, sorry," Solar looked to her right and was slightly taken aback. What she saw was not another Uma Musume, but a young man. She looked at the floor and saw a small piece of plastic, bending down to pick it up and hand it back to him as she assumed it belonged to him. It was a trainer's license.
"Th- thank you!" The young man swiped the license from Solar's hands and ran off. She was dumbfounded for a moment. She'd never seen him around before or seen a team with his name marked down as the team leader.
"Jackson Kohaku..," she shrugged it off and continued walking to the practice tracks.
Upon arriving, she walked to the practice track area furthest from the school building. It was usually empty, giving herself some space to think and warm up in peace while waiting for Rose to arrive. Her warmups were simple. A short, 10-15 minute stretch routine followed by a few exercises that were more physically demanding. She would spend a minute or two simply jumping up and down in place, as high as she could. This was an exercise to get her legs warmed up slightly more. These jumps were followed by two short distance sprints, which were used to get her legs warmed up to running in general. Afterwards she would warm up her mind by doing a light jog to the nearby convenience store and back. It was a "killing two birds with one stone" idea. She would go to the store and pick up water and drinks for Rose and herself, keep her legs moving so she doesn't get too used to lazing around while waiting, and it was all in mostly silence except for the city's ambience. I suppose it was killing three birds with one stone rather than two birds.
By the time she returned to the practice track, Rose was there. She was stretching, assumingly something to pass time while waiting for Solar.
Solar walked up to Rose and held out a bag from the convenience store, "Drinks."
Rose looked at Solar and smiled before standing up and taking the bag from her. She raised her hand and pat Solar on the head once or twice, "You're always so thoughtful, Solar. I really owe you for always getting us these. I promise to make it up to you one day!"
"No, it's okay, really. I need to get them for myself anyway. It would feel rude to not get them for you too, since I'm already there…"
Rose reached up one more time and gave Solar another few pats, "That's exactly why you're thoughtful. Be more kind to yourself!" Rose stumbled back slightly before reaching her hand out for Solar to take, "Let's get to today's training. I've been itching to run all day!"
Solar went to take Rose's hand, and once she did Rose started running, dragging Solar along. It caused her footing to give out for a moment, but Rose held on until Solar regained her footing. Once she did, she let go of her hand and gave her space to run on her own.
Solar was fast. Really fast. It was fairly widely known she had excessive amounts of potential as an Uma Musume. It was always a shock to hear that Solar had yet to have her debut race. This speed at a pre-debut level was… fascinating, to say the least. Nobody knows where this potential came from, either. There's no history of a Solar or a Nyx legendary family name, and looking at her family tree feels like looking at a normal human's. Nothing special.
What Solar lacked, however, was acceleration power. She herself knew this as well, that her acceleration was below average. It didn't matter how high her velocity could peak. If she couldn't reach that top velocity in a reasonable amount of time, it would be rendered useless. Solar spent a lot of time training her endurance in an attempt to cancel out her long start-up time. Because of this constant stamina training, she was able to often run longer distances. Longer distances also gave her more time to make a decision regarding when to begin her sprint. Her hopes were to run in medium and long distance races for most of her career, avoiding short and mile distances.
By the end of their "warm up" run, Solar was already slightly tired. Rose just kept going, and going, and going, and going, and… For an Uma Musume that specialized in mile distances, she sure could run for a while.
"Solar, have you decided on a team yet?" Rose walked over to Solar and patted her on the back, handing her a bottle of water at the same time.
Solar gently took the water bottle and opened it, taking a decently large sip, "No… Have you?"
"I have, actually! I joined the same team as Almond Eye. It seemed to be a really nice team…"
The team Almond Eye was on was one of Tracen's more elite teams. It emphasized on training their Uma Musume to run in the way the horse girl has the most enjoyment in. It was a popular team as well, so it was never short of applicants. It was a difficult team to get into these days. Apparently, just a few years prior, the team was barely alive, with only three or four members to its name. As of recently, it has nearly 20 members and has become much more difficult to get into. The fact that Rose made it in was a massive achievement in itself.
"You made it in…?" Solar's eyes widened a small bit.
"Yeah! I was really proud of myself. They said they were looking for shorter distance horses this year, so maybe my chances were a little better than others…"
Solar struggled with comforting others, but she felt obligated to at least try for Rose, "...Don't sell yourself short. You're a strong Uma Musume. You deserve that spot on the team just as much as the others there."
A massive smile grew on Rose's face, "Solar!"
She jumped onto Solar, effectively tackling her into a hug, "You're so kind! I love you! I love you a lot!"
Solar was extremely taken aback by the sudden tackle, even though it wasn't necessarily… uncommon between the two.
"Y- yeah…" Solar had learned to just accept Rose's words and gestures. No questions asked.
"Ah! It's getting sort of late into the afternoon… It's almost evening! I have to go train with my team!" Rose jumped off of Solar and started running back towards the school building, where a fairly large gathering of students were waiting just at the entrance of the practice track area.
Solar sat up in the grass and leaned back against the track railings, taking another sip of her water,
"What to do…"
A few moments passed by, and she heard footsteps to her left. She didn't bother to check, assuming it was Uma Musume passing by her.
"Uhm… Solar, was it?" A familiar young man's voice spoke up. Solar opened one of her eyes and looked to the side. There he was. The young trainer from earlier, Jackson Kohaku. He was the average height for a young man, just a smidgen taller than Solar, likely standing at around 5'9 (175 cm). He had short, ruffled brown hair and emerald green eyes that were glowing like real gemstones. His clothing was simple. A white collared shirt with a black tie and black dress pants. He wore the same shoes that Tracen required for the horse girl students, brown loafers.
"Solar Nyx," she stood up from sitting and turned to face Jackson, leaving her water bottle in the grass, "I bumped into you earlier on accident. I apologize."
"It's okay! Really, no worries. Thank you for picking up my license… I just got my central training license for this year, so I'm still figuring out where to go and what to do… Ah! Not the point. I came to talk to you because I saw you running earlier, and I noticed that you seemed to really struggle with starting up your sprint. Do you have a major problem with your acceleration?"
Solar was slightly shocked by his bluntness. He came off as a very shy person, so she was surprised to know that he can be so straight forward. She hung her head slightly, in disappointment with herself.
"Sorry! I didn't mean to-"
"Yeah, I have a problem with my acceleration. It feels like no matter what I do, I can't get it to improve. I'm stuck being forced to begin my sprint much earlier in the race. I decided to give up on improving my acceleration and just improve my stamina to compensate."
"...Do you ever feel really light when you run?"
Solar looked back up at Jackson, surprised by this statement. He was right. Whenever she ran, she felt light. Very light. Almost as if she was gliding across the turf rather than running on it.
"I know it's such a simple solution but… I think you should try stepping into the ground harder. More force to push off of. Like I said, a really simple solution, I'm sorry if you already tried it and it didn't work out!"
Solar never tried that before. A cloud formed over her head and it began to rain. She barraged herself with self insults to her own intelligence. Quite possibly the most simple solution there could have been, and it's still one that she had never bothered to even think about, let alone attempt.
"I'll give it a go," Solar stepped to the side slightly, lining herself up for a very short sprint, "Do you have a timer with you?"
Jackson fumbled in his pockets for a moment, "Right here!"
"I'll run normally first. I'll try applying pressure in a second run on the way back," Solar took a race preparation stance, glancing over to Jackson, "Tell me when."
"Ah- Er… 3, 2, 1… Go!"
Solar took her first step forward, her foot hardly planting into the ground before she took off. Her speed kept increasing the further she ran. She thought to run until she reached her top speed, then to hold that peak for 3 seconds before calling Jackson to stop the timer.
Viewing from the sidelines, Jackson couldn't help but feel that Solar's running felt… dull. There was no emotion behind it, almost as she was a racing machine rather than an Uma Musume. It felt like she was running because she had to, that there was an external force requiring her to do so. She wasn't running for fun, she wasn't running for fame, she wasn't running just because she could. No, it was none of that. She was running out of obligation.
"Stop!" Solar called out from several meters away. Jackson clicked the pause button on his timer. 23.59 seconds to reach top speed and hold it for roughly 3 seconds.
"23.59 seconds!" Jackson called back. Solar clicked her tongue and readied herself to run back. Jackson raised his hand and swiftly swiped it downwards, signaling for Solar to start running back. This time, her foot stomped into the turf, creating a sound of impact that even Jackson could hear from where he was standing. His eyes widened in shock, "T- this amount of power is…"
In just a few seconds, Solar was already pushing towards her top speed at a significantly faster pace. She could feel it as well, her acceleration was much better than it was just moments ago.
"It was this easy all along, huh…" Solar was hit with a memory in that same moment. A memory she repressed, a memory hidden deep within her psyche. She wasn't always a slow accelerator. She purposely adopted a poor running style to prevent herself from accelerating. Due to her severe burn out, running at her top speed became just as exhaustive on her mind as it did her body. Because of this, she decided to force herself to accelerate slower, easing the burden on her mind as well as her body, while sacrificing her ability to perform at a higher level. Jackson thought he saw a few sparks of a flame appear.
"Stop!" Solar called out from a short distance away. Jackson stopped the timer, but Solar kept running. As she surged past him, it felt as if her face was glowing. Her sweat glistened in the light from the sunset just over the hills. After a few more seconds passed by, she slowed herself down and eventually came to a stop. She was panting heavily. Very heavily. Sweat was dripping from her forehead and into the grass as she hunched over, supporting herself by resting her hands on her bent knees. Her body was no longer used to that level of running.
"15.46 seconds!" Jackson called out from behind her. Solar wiped her face with the back of her hand before standing up and slowly trudging back to Jackson. The two stood in silence for a moment. Solar leaned over and picked her water bottle up from the grass, immediately beginning to chug it until it was completely empty. She closed the water bottle back up and took a few deep breaths before looking Jackson dead in the eyes.
"Do you have a team?"
"N- no… Well, yes! I do. Just not a team name, or anything… It's just me right now. I don't have any-"
"I'll join."
"...Huh?"
"I said I'll join. I want you to train me."
"Okay! I'll do it!" Jackson's body stiffened up and he reached out his hand, offering Solar a hand shake. She reached out her hand and returned it, gripping his hand tightly, yet somehow elegantly. After just a moment, they let go of each other's hands.
"See you tomorrow, Trainer," Solar began walking in the opposite direction, headed back to the dorms for a good night's reset to prepare for the next day of training. Her first day of proper, real training under an actual trainer.