This was rushed due to exams, sorry for any problems that can be found. Mostly the track problems or distance issues.
Hope you enjoy.
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"It is packed compared to the racecourse back at home!" The sound of an old voice ranged out from the pack crowd. Beside him, a young man was having trouble keeping close to him due to the amount of people.
"Of course it is dad, this is a central race track, ours is a regional one." The young voice explained, his voice tired from the constant walking.
The old man annoyed by the young one's words, picking up his pace. After a while they finally found a place to sit down, deciding to sit near the back. They looked down at the field, excitement pouring from the young man's eyes.
"So North is going to race today, right?" The young man asked as he searched the field for a certain black and white Uma.
"He is." the old man answered.
"Do you think he is going to win?"
"From when we saw him race last time, he was the strongest on the field, if he had been training then he should be stronger by a fair bit." the old man explained.
The young man nodded along with his explanation before being distracted by the Umas coming out. The voice of the announcer sounded out as they listed the names of the racers for the race.
"Look, there's North!" The young man said rather loudly, slightly annoying the person beside him.
"Oh!" The old man's voice rose as he saw Hayate come out. The strength of Hayate has noticeably increased by a surprising amount.
The young man seemed to notice this as well, the excitement on his face growing. He looked at the other Umas that had come out, each one having their own flair yet none of them seem to be that threatening
"It seems like he has a fair chance."
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"As you know, this is a Maiden race." Trainer Ego started, "The competition here will be fierce as the racers are Umas that want to move up after facing a loss during their races."
In the prepping room, I was tying my shoes as my trainer was explaining the plan for today's race. He had a paper sheet in his hands as he was dressed in his usual outfit, he was pointing at a white board that was filled with information about this race.
"There are a total of 12 Umas that are racing today," he said as he used magnets to attach 12 papers to the board, "these are the racers, with these-" he circles 3 pieces of paper, "being the biggest threats."
"We are going for a Pace strategy, try to keep your preferred position unless something happens." he continued.
Getting up from the seat, I started stretching my legs and waist before doing a few high knee jumps. "Am I allowed to run how I trained?" I asked as I did the high knee jumps.
"You are."
"Alright." Landing on the ground, I stood up and started to leave the room. "I'll trust you this time."
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"Today, at the Hanshin course, the-" the voice of the announcer entered my ears, the familiarity of races finally coming back, it was the same voice as when I first ran. The excitement of his voice could be heard from the speakers, the air was heavy by the sounds of chatter and excitement.
'Lucky number 7, huh.' Looking at the red vest that they had given me, I let the noise of the crowd pass through my ears to focus more on the people I am facing today, focusing on the 3 Uma's that Trainer had pointed out.
'Weekday Fun, 3rd favorite. She came third when we raced last time.' The sight of a uma with reddish brown hair entered my eyes as she stretched her legs, the muscles that became prominent just from her stretching showed that she had trained a lot. 'She is an impressive forward, able to keep check of her stamina and has the guts to keep going.'
'Lucky Grass, 7th favorite. Despite the low ranking, she seems to be rather strong for her stature and her muscles seemed to be built for late running.' A small brown haired uma was doing small stretches. Her ears twitching with anticipation. 'She has high speed and power, she also seems to have a good perception of the field.'
'The favorite of today is Spring Wind, a front runner. She is a strong uma, having an abnormally large stamina pool which she would probably use to keep up a high speed to force everyone else to get tired.' A somewhat tall, black haired uma was looking around, her eyes analyzing the others. It wasn't long before our eyes came in contact. 'She has been losing by being blocked by the people in front of her whenever she is racing but still shows amazing promise.'
She nodded, I nodded back.
Soon, we started getting into the gates, some needing help, as the sounds of instruments started playing. The announcer's voice started to blare out from the speakers.
"All the racers are now in the gates…."
Breathing in, I looked around one more time, absorbing the information of the people around me.
Breathing out, I looked forward to the long straight, a strange feeling stirring inside me.
"The gates are now open!"
With the sound of the gate mechanism moving entering my ear, I left the gate at a near perfect moment. Entering the field, I quickly entered my preferred position with someone following behind me. Keeping my eyes forward, I saw Weekday in second place as Spring took the placement from her as she ran forward with no care for her speed.
"Spring Wind is trying to escape from the rest of the group!"
The beginning of the race had a long straight before we went into a corner, this was a time for us racers to get into our positions. This also meant that Spring was able to create a large gap between the group and her before going into the first corner.
This was the exact thing that happened, using the opportunity to create a large gap at the beginning of the race. Spring had run forward, not caring of her speed that was draining her stamina, and created a sizable gap before she reached the first corner.
Entering the first corner, I looked at the changing positions of the runners in front of me before hearing the sound of something approaching me. Looking to the left behind me, I saw as a uma came from nowhere as she accelerated with the corner.
The look in her eyes screaming that she didn't want to lose.
She soon passed me, running till she reached the 3rd position where she slowed down a bit and bunkering herself down in the position. She was the first to be flustered by Spring Winds escape.
Leaving the 1st corner, there was a small straight where I picked up my speed a little. I saw as Spring still ran with a fever as Weekday stayed in her position but was also slightly speeding up to not be too far from her.
The sound of the footsteps behind me were also starting to sound more panicked from what was happening at the front, yet they stayed in their position still.
I sped up a little more, reaching the uma that was in front of me. They glanced at me before moving away from me slightly, letting their position be taken.
Taking back the 6th position, I entered the 2nd corner while using a slipstream of a runner in front of me. Using the corner, I accelerated slightly as I used the corner to look behind me. I saw as the person I passed was over taken by the uma that was behind me earlier. Their gaze was locked onto me for some reason.
I turned my gaze back to the front, seeing that Spring Wind had slowed at this point with a 5 length lead from Weekday Fun who was 2 lengths from the person in third.
'I'm in 6th position, Spring is about 12 lengths ahead of me. There is about 300-500ish meters left of the race. With the gap, I would need to start moving up soon.'
It seemed that I wasn't the only person to think this as the Uma behind me picked up her speed. She wasn't the only one, as the sound of multiple footsteps picking up their speed quickly entered my ears.
"It seems that everyone is picking up their speed! They're trying to close the gap between them and first place Spring Wind!"
Seeing that there wasn't another choice, I started to quickly pick up my pace as I pushed myself forward. Using the things that I learned with the new style, I quickly launched myself past 5th place and caught up to forth. I looked at Spring Wind who was speeding up once more but I was quick to notice that she wasn't speeding up by much.
"IT SEEMS THAT SPRING WIND IS RUNNING OUT OF STEAM AND WITH WEEKDAY FUN QUICKLY CATCHING UP WILL SHE BE ABLE TO TAKE HOME THIS WIN!"
I ignored the sound of the people starting to enter my ears, I launched myself forward once more and got past both 4th and 3rd. They were surprised by me getting past them as they slightly stumbled before catching themselves, they tried to catch up but I was still speeding up. The distance between Weekday and me was about 4 lengths with 200 meters before Spring reached the finish line.
The distance was large but it was something that I could roughly do, after racing with that kid a couple of times I was able to learn how to accelerate much faster. With my top speed, I would be able to catch up to them.
"HAYATE NORTH IS QUICKLY CATCHING UP WITH THE 2 AND LUCKY GRASS IS ALSO FOLLOWING SUIT!!"
I could feel my lungs with each breath, it wasn't telling me to stop like it usually does at this point, it felt like I could continue on without worry. It was liberating to say the least. The feeling of the ground being compressed under my foot was a relaxing feeling, the sight of Weekday Fun being surprised by my appearance was enjoyable, especially the sight of her worry. I don't understand why it feels nice to see it but I'll put it in the back of my head for now.
I quickly left Weekday behind as I rushed forward, trying to reach my top speed. The feeling of the wind going against my face as I ran as fast as I could, eventually reaching my top speed and quickly destroying the gap between me and Spring was simple. It wasn't over complicated or anything like that, it was just me running as fast as I could with joy and fever.
"HAYATE NORTH HAS QUICKLY PASSED SPRING WIND WITH AN ASTOUNDING FINAL SPRUT FINISHING THE RACE IN 1:09 MINUTES WITH A HEAD LEAD IN FRONT OF SPRING WIND!!"
Slowing down, I looked up to the sky, seeing the clouds drift by peacefully. It brought a certain sense of joy and calmness to the race. I looked at the crowd, seeing them cheer from excitement before giving them a bow for letting me run here.
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I am starting to get back to writing, I am also planning to try to upload every Wednesday, if not than on Thursday if I am behind or Tuesday if I am early
Take this with a grain of salt though
Either way, hoped you enjoyed this part.