“Ahahaha!” Bizen Nishiki hung her arm around Echo Eclipse’s neck with a wide smirk. Tugging Echo along into the festivities that started in her css to celebrate her first G3 victory.
“I was expecting you to walk off the stage as you did on your first debut! Aw, what a shame, but nice winning concert though.” She winked at Echo with a proud smirk before spinning her around.
Symboli Rudolf is talking calmly and softly to her cssmate as if they were her juniors. She is commanding them around to make the homemade party even grander.
“Ah! I’m going to call over our seniors!” Nishiki shouted out before leaving in the blink of an eye. Echo Eclipse was left there dizzy from the spin.
“Ngh… Nom… Nom…” She negates the dizziness with sweets. And no sooner after Nishiki left to get the seniors, she returned with several other seniors, including Mr C.B. Rudolf, who gazes at Symboli Rudolf. She proceeded to grin with a wink toward Rudolf before going to Echo Eclipse.
“Heeey!” She cps both of her hands on Echo Eclipse's shoulder from behind with a glint in her eyes, making Echo jump from the sudden action.
“E-Eh?!”
“This is our first time talking to each other, right?” Mr C.B. took off her small white hat, embellished with the C.B. Logo, and made a small, polite bow with it to her chest. Echo remembers her being the st year triple crown winner, but…
An annoyed exhale is heard clearly in the chaotic cssroom. And the owner of the exhale? Symboli Rudolf, of course.
“Why are you here?”
“Why wouldn’t I be here? It’s our dear Echo Eclipse celebration of cours-”
“She doesn’t belong to you.”
“...”
“...”
Mr C.B proceed to have a wide, teasing grin. Her tail swayed mischievously.
“Do you mean that she belongs to you then~” By now, the cssroom is silent. Watching the show with snacks, Bizen Nishiki somehow have a bucket of popcorn and watches with great amusement.
“No.”
“Oh? But you were talking like she i-”
“She doesn’t belong to anybody.”
“...”
“...”
“...”
“Heh.” Mr C.B patted Echo Eclipse’s head before moving away to lean her arm on Symboli Rudolf’s shoulder.
“How feisty, but will you be able to take away my crown this year?”
“Of course I can.”
“Hm…” Her tail started brushing against the skin of Symboli Rudolf’s leg with a wide grin. Then Symboli Rudolf proceeds to push her away in annoyance; her personal space is being invaded.
“Are you guys good friends?” Echo Eclipse asked in a soft, innocent voice.
“...”
“Heh, of course we are! We’re the bestest of frie-”
“Don’t listen to her, she hit her head and is delusional.”
“How rude!” Mr C.B said with a mock frown before shortly ughing afterwards.
Rudolf walked away and sat beside Echo Eclipse, crossing her legs with a frown. Mr C.B looked around the cssroom and spotted Gold Way. She grinned for a second.
“... I’m leaving.” Gold Way spoke and swiftly made her escape, leaving behind Bizen Nishiki in a daze. Mr C.B then locked on her next target, Bizen Nishiki.
“Hey~” She said in the same chair Gold Way was sitting in, she hooked her arm over Nishiki's neck. The sudden movement from her free-spirited and yet rebellious senior made her shake for a moment before staring back at her expression. She wonders what she wants; she is just here for the party.
“How have you been?” Mr C.B chuckles as she leans her head back, admiring the students here and how many of them are training to defeat their goal, Symboli Rudolf.
The smile on Bizen Nishiki went stiff for a moment before ughing off. “Same as always, why?”
“You got a disappointing 14th pce in Tokyo Yushun after all.” She said with the same smiling expression, but her eyes told a different story.
“Don’t bother running in the Kikuka Sho.” Her words were sudden and harsh. Nishiki gripped the hems of her skirt, enraged.
“Who are yo-” “You got 14th pce in a race that is only 2400m long. If you ran for Kikuka SHo, which is 3000m long. You will just embarrass and humiliate yourself.” Bizen Nishiki bit her lower lip; her neck was strained from trying not to sh out, wanting to prove to her that she is the rival of Symboli Rudolf. But Mr C.B.'s words doused the cold water onto her, making her see reality.
“Just take this as advice from a senior who doesn’t want to see her junior suffer.”
“...”
Mr C.B pats Nishiki’s shoulder and leaves to chat with Echo Eclipse. Bizen Nishiki is left there, sitting in silence. Her rage long dissipated as she gnced at her hands. Fisting them and rexing them.
“I…”
…
..
.
“Echo~” Mr C.B said with a tone as if she were reuniting with a best friend. It feels very warm around her. Fun too.
“Yes?” Echo tilted her head toward the direction of the voice. Symboli Rudolf lets out a ‘tsk’ sound before looking away, staring out of the windows. She already knew what Mr C.B wanted to ask.
“How do you feel when you run?” She sat on the otherside of Echo Eclipse, leaning her arms on Echo’s shoulder, a habit she seems to bear whenever she is around people she likes.
“Mh? Nothing.”
“Eh?” Both Symboli Rudolf and Mr C.B turned her head at her, in shock, and in confusion too. Something doesn’t make sense.
“But didn’t you say in an interview that you run because it is fun, and you felt free?”
“Mhm.” Echo Eclipse nodded, not finding it weird or strange.
“...”
“...”
This time, Symboli Rudolf talked to her.
“So why did you say you felt nothing when running?”
“Isn’t that the same thing as I said in the interview?”
“??”
“??”
This time, Symboli Rudolf realised that there was something she didn’t understand about Echo Eclipse. Mr C.B took her arm away from Echo’s shoulder and leaned forward, curious about what Echo Eclipse meant.
“Running is indeed fun, but without anybody to run with. All I feel is nothing, but I become immersed in the sensation of running so much that I forget what I am feeling.” Echo Eclipse let out a wry smile as she closed her eyes, remembering her G3 race and the faces of her opponents.
‘There was nobody who was able to run with me in that race. But I ran because I was in that world, and the shadows of the goddesses were there. In the end, I forgot that I was even racing and there were opponents…’ She thought for a moment before reopening her eyes; the lights in her eyes dimmed.
“That’s why they’re the same thing to me, I feel nothing when I run, but I become immersed in running and the sensation that I forget what I originally felt.”
Symboli Rudolf stares at Echo Eclipse with a sharp look, for some reason. She felt as if Echo Eclipse was standing far away from her, inching closer to a cliff. She opened her mouth to say something, but someone beat her to the punch.
“Want to race?”
“Eh?”
“As I said, want to race?” Mr C.B repeated her words; her tone is now serious.
“Okay.” Echo Eclipse nodded without hesitation. She isn’t the type of girl who would reject a racing invitation, even if it's a mock one.
“Let’s go.” She tugged Echo Eclipse and Symboli Rudolf along.
“I didn’t agree to race.”
“Too bad.” Mr C.B turned to face the crowd in the css, who were cmouring and having fun.
“Me, Echo Eclipse and Symboli Rudolf will be having a mock race! 1200m long! Who wants to join in!” Her energetic and free-spirited tone has returned.
Everyone joined in, with the exception of Gold Way, who escaped the cssroom when Mr C.B locked eyes with her.
…
..
.
(A/N: I think the stats for Symboli Rudolf at this time are mostly D and some C. By September, her stats will all be C-grade, with very few stats barely reaching B. And Mr C.B stats will have all B with some C, it becomes very difficult for umamusume to increase the rank of their stat when it is B-rank.
For example, you need at least 400 to reach a C rank, and 500 to reach a C+ rank. 600 to reach the B rank, and 700 to reach the B+ rank.
G, F, E, and D don’t have the + system, so they are as they are.
Don’t forget that it will become much more difficult to increase your stat points with each training, so you will need to adjust your training each time the rank changes, to get the maximum amount of stat.)
