She made her way into class unable to hold a large almost giddy smile on her face as she realized that not only had she managed to find Orfy, but that she was also going on a date with her.
Luckily her cheeks had lost their pink, almost red luster after she had kissed her beloved on the cheek, alas that didn't mean that she was completely calm and steadfast as she would have preferred to be during class.
Though if you asked some of her classmates, if she was ever calm and steadfast they'd give you a look almost as if questioning your sanity.
As in their eyes, Hope for Tomorrow was easily the most air headed person in the class, she barely paid attention to class lectures almost always daydreaming and looking longingly at the track almost as if she'd rather be there, than in class (not that any of her classmates could blame her).
Her general attitude gave a great many headaches to three other girls in her class, each of whom just like her had grand aspirations when it came to winning the triple tiara, even if they were all still just in the junior year and hadn't yet entered the classics.
To be honest all three of them were rather tired of her carefree attitude, she didn't study, she did her homework the day before, she ignored the teacher in class and worst of all she still got good grades.
It irked all three of them, for this random country bumpkin to appear out of nowhere and get almost perfect grades, by what?
Doing nothing?
It was an insult to all three of them, at least in their opinion, and the worst part of it all was that in a weird way, they couldn't do anything about it.
One of them had failed to debut two times and had a third time coming up, another one of them had a debut scheduled, but hadn't yet run in it and the third who had run in and won her debut by a length and a half still couldn't compare to her almost despair inducing 15 length gap between her and second place.
The last uma that they all knew of that even managed to do something similar was the first triple tiara uma in japan, Mejiro Ramonu.
Who was to say the least an absolute monster who won her debut race in 10 lengths.
So… wouldn't that mean that Hope for Tomorrow who managed to win by 15 is even stronger than the first triple tiara winner?
But that didn't make sense!
How could a country bumpkin! Match the same level of performance of an uma who was trained from birth to be the best?!
It was impossible!
At least in their mind, that that was the case, it just didn't make sense that Hope for Tomorrow could be that strong.
But… the facts didn't lie, in their heart of hearts they knew that Hope for Tomorrow was basically unmatched, a prodigy hidden in the mountains, taught by a man who not only trained the Silver Collector but also the Black Beast and that one uma who was forced to wear a muzzle.
They knew that all the facts matched up, that it made sense for her to be so strong, it just was…
"Hehe, I got a date with Orfy! Hehehehe…" they paused in their collective thoughts as all three of them and the entirety of the class looked at her with a deadpan face as she interrupted the class for the third time.
… That she was a bit too unserious.
They could excuse her not paying attention in class and doing the homework last minute, as she was just that smart.
But what they couldn't accept was for her to be capable of doing all that and acting like that.
They could accept her 'airheadness' as being par for the course as legendary racers had also been airheads.
Especially if they were gray haired or even white, which just so happened to be Hope for Tomorrow hair colour as well.
There was precedence there it wasn't unheard of for gray haired umas to be air headed and or extremely chaotic.
But for a white haired uma to be so giddy?
For no reason?
That was unheard of.
Well… at least for them.
They all sighed in unison together as they looked questioningly at the enigma (at least in their minds) that was Hope for Tomorrow.
"MARCELLINA! ERIN COURT! AVENTURA!"
All three of them froze almost instantly at the teacher screaming their names in an almost blind rage.
They didn't know why the teacher was angry and how it concerned them, but it did.
So, they tried their best to explain themselves to the teacher as class came to an end.
…
Her beloved had found her.
Well, not really found more like finally realized that both the her in her memory and the her of the present were the same person.
But that didn't matter much, only one thing did and that was that she was happy, it was a different kind of joy than the one that she would normally encounter from the antics with her family, from the joy of winning a race and the joy that existed in simply interacting with Haru.
It was different from all of those, in ways that while minute did make big differences because in a sense she could just be herself with her beloved.
Hope didn't care for any grand performance or spectacle she simply enjoyed being in her presence and it was the same for her.
She felt happy just by being close to her.
Even managing steal a glance at the god given beauty that was her beloved was a joy she relished and one she would never dare share with anybody.
The joy of being able to see her smile, of hearing her laugh, of listening to her voice, of brushing and stroking her soft hair, of smelling her sweet soft scent…
They were all things that belonged to her and only her.
Her beloveds love, belonged only to her.
Her beloveds form, belonged only to her.
All that encompassed her beloved, belonged to her.
If the crowns that she was destined to win at the track were considered to be her treasures.
If the accolades and titles were considered to be her treasures as well.
Then what was Hope for Tomorrow?
Well, it was a simple answer really.
Hope for Tomorrow was the most valuable treasure of them all.
"Oru."
"Hmm, yes older sister?"
"Why are you smiling so wide?"
Was she smiling?
She hurriedly touched her lips to see if she was indeed smiling, only to hear a soft chuckle.
"Don't worry, Oru, I was just curious, it doesn't really make that big of a difference to me."
"I see, well then, if you must know I was simply happy."
"Happy? Did something good happen?"
She nodded her head, now clearly feeling the smile build on her face, "I managed to get a date set up with my beloved."
"I see Oru, that is a moment worthy of celebration, do you wish me to inform the trainer of your inaccessibility for a day?"
"Yes, I would like that, thank you older sister."
Dream Journey simply smiled, "It's my pleasure."
————
Author Notes
Late chapter, sorry about that, it was bound to be just that bit of a longer wait because I actually had to do research for this chapter.
During which I searched, read and analyzed the records for the horses who ran in the triple tiara races during Orfevre's year, took the winners of the races and had to try and make them passable as characters, so sorry if they feel out of place, I kind of had to put them in or else Hope wouldn't have any rivals during her, well let's just say, rise, before she falls flat on her face, metaphorically of course, not to say that I wouldn't make her fall on her face during a race of course.
So I am very sorry for the late chapter, I have no one to blame but myself, I just hope you all enjoyed the different perspective.
On another note, I'll just say one last thing before ending the chapter, yes, all the information that has to do with hope is on the forums, who leaked it?
That's for you all to guess.
Anyways this is Greek Antrielos, Signing off.