A/N: So when I opened the draft yesterday, I couldn't help but mutter. "Whose shitty idea was this? Why is a racing fic turning into this mess?! Oh, it's me from 3 days ago."
Anyways, daily check-ins...
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Silver Tear walked on alone, the track already behind her by only a handful of meters in this narrow tunnel.
The noise of the stadium faded into a dull echo, and even the curses from those bettors were long gone.
Surprisingly, she found that the matter of who had crossed the finish line first no longer carried any meaning.
Silver Tear let out a slow breath.
"I won." She murmured, the words slipping out almost unconsciously.
The sound of her own voice reached her a beat later. The hollow of those words struck like a sudden jolt, snapping her back to herself.
In her chest, the truth settled with an undeniable certainty.
She had crossed the line first.
The record would stand, the officials would agree, and the outcome would never be disputed.
But she knew.
She had lost.
Not to speed, nor to power, stamina, or strategy.
No, no. In contrast, she had overwhelmed everyone on the track, even the Monster, Oguri Cap.
But she had lost the moment she chose to flee from the crowd.
Silver Tear continued toward the exit at an unhurried pace, letting these thoughts spiral in her mind.
After a while, the tunnel narrowed behind her, the last stretch of concrete giving way to harsher lighting that forced her to shield her eyes with the back of her hand.
Just beyond the shadowed threshold, familiar faces came into focus as she drew closer.
Dante stood at the front with his hands tucked into his coat pockets. A faint smile lingered at the corner of his mouth, an unspoken pride surfacing despite his usual restraint.
Agnes hovered a step behind him, making no real attempt to contain her excitement.
She waved her excessively oversized lab coat in broad, frantic motions to signal their presence, even though her focus had already shifted toward the data she had obtained.
What Silver Tear had shown on the track went far beyond anything Agnes Tachyon had managed to see until now.
The strategic judgment, the on-the-spot responses to shifting conditions, especially… the speed Silver Tear showcased at the end.
Part of her was already itching to drag this senpai away and begin experimenting on her immediately.
"Please don't do that." Dante said, intercepting her without raising his voice, holding back the mad scientist who was already half a step from drooling.
Meanwhile, Gold Ship made little effort to hide her usual chaotic grin, the expression stretched wide.
Grani lingered nearby, quieter than the others, but she had noticed Silver Tear seemed a little odd.
Silver Tear stopped in front of them. She nodded once, a minimal acknowledgment, as if confirming a fact rather than basking in the victory.
For a moment, no one spoke.
Agnes was the first to break, leaning forward just a little, eyes already scanning Silver Tear as if she were a living data set.
"Senpai, are you feeling unwell? Your heart rate should have stabilized by now, but your posture suggests otherwise." Her excitement dulled, replaced by a sharp, clinical concern.
Grani stepped closer, her voice low. "You don't look fine."
Gold Ship tilted her head, her grin faltering. "Oi, oi. Don't tell me you're about to collapse after winning. That'd be boring."
They were all concerned about Silver Tear, the unease between them only deepened. Even Gold Ship refrained from joking, and the silence stretched on.
"It's them, right?"
The voice cut cleanly through the deafening silence. It was calm and restrained, and yet, everyone could hear the chilling tone beneath the calm surface.
They all turned toward the source of that voice.
Dante.
His relaxed posture vanished as he stepped fully into the tunnel, adjusting his tie. Whatever calm and relaxation he had been showing a moment ago cracked, and the bubbling fury surfaced in its place.
His jaw tightened, disgust flickering across his expression as his eyes darkened, fixed on the other side of the tunnel.
Silver Tear flinched before she could stop herself.
Dante didn't wait for an answer.
His hand curled slowly in his coat pocket, knuckles whitening, like he was already picturing the cause of her current mood, where the bettors still were.
"Tch."
He clicked his tongue, irritation bleeding through his clenched teeth.
"Running their mouths from the stands, acting like it's their right."
Agnes stiffened. Grani instinctively shifted closer to Silver Tear. Gold Ship's grin sharpened, sensing the shift.
Dante took a step past Silver Tear, placing himself squarely in front of her. It wasn't a protective gesture so much as a territorial one.
"No one–" He said, eyes burning.
"Absolutely no one gets to talk trash about an Uma Musume on my team."
The air around him felt volatile, like it might ignite if someone pushed just a little further.
"Wait! Dante!!"
She rushed forward and wrapped her arms around him from behind, locking them around his waist and digging her heels into the concrete as she tried to pull him back. It barely slowed him down.
"…You're strong. I should expect this from an Uma Musume, but that is not enough!!" Dante noted flatly, still staring down the tunnel.
"Help me!!" Silver Tear hissed, glancing back over her shoulder.
Grani stood close enough to intervene. She looked down at Silver Tear's arms, then at Dante's rigid stance. After a brief pause, she shook her head.
"He's right." She said calmly.
Silver Tear's eye twitched.
"Agnes-chan? My cute junior?" Silver Tear tried again, voice strained as Dante leaned forward another inch.
Agnes Tachyon waved her oversized lab coat, completely unbothered. "From an observational standpoint, this is extremely valuable data."
"Please continue restraining him."
'Not even bother to pretend now, huh!! I shall remember this, Agnes!!' Silver Tear screamed inwardly.
"That's not helping!"
Gold Ship had already produced a speaker from absolutely nowhere and started blasting cheers, her grin stretched impossibly wide. "Wooo! Full-on restraining hug! Didn't know you had it in you!"
She shouted harder. "Go for it, Dante-san!!"
Dante took another step forward. Silver Tear was dragged along with him, her boots scraping against the concrete.
"Stop cheering and help me!!" Silver Tear protested, tightening her arms as she clung to him even harder, forearms locked like a vice around his waist.
"And why are you so strong as a human!?" She added, voice straining.
"I go to the gym." Dante replied flatly, as if stating a basic fact of life.
"That's not even scientific at all!!"
Dante finally glanced down at her, irritation slicing cleanly through his lingering fury. "You're the one holding me back."
He said evenly. "If you let go–"
"No!! Danteh~ is gonna do something reckless."
Silver Tear laughed softly as she said it, arms still wrapped around him. The turmoil that had weighed on her chest moments ago was now gone.
Somewhere along the way, it had settled, eased by a simple certainty that no matter how far she ran, there was always someone watching her back.
For someone like Silver Tear, someone who didn't open her heart easily, that realization felt almost miraculous.
She loosened her hold, resting her chin lightly on his shoulder instead of restraining him.
"I was sad. Danteh~ but not because of the bettors." She continued, quieter now, honest in a way she rarely allowed herself to be.
"But because I didn't know what I was running for."
Dante frowned, the fury in him faltering, caught off guard by the shift in Silver Tear's tone.
He turned his head slightly. "What do you mean?"
Silver Tear finally let go and stepped back, meeting his gaze. There was no bitterness left in her expression, no doubt, only a strange, steady light.
"But now I do." She said.
A beat passed.
"I'm gonna chase the 'Star'."
The words landed oddly in the narrow tunnel. Agnes froze mid-thought. Grani stared, unreadable.
"Did she just go full protagonist mode?" Gold Ship muttered, but no one was paying her attention anymore.
Dante blinked.
"…The star? What do you mean by that?" Dante repeated, disbelief threading through his voice.
"Yes. The Star." Silver Tear fidgeted with her hair, then lifted a finger and pointed upward, as if the sky itself were waiting just beyond the tunnel ceiling.
"Like Oguri Cap."
Dante frowned. "But didn't you just beat Oguri Cap?"
"No, no. Not completely." She shook her head at once.
"Oguri-chan was shining too brightly for that. Didn't you see it?" Her voice grew animated, quickening with each word.
"That unyielding spirit against the impossible. The way she just keeps running forward without hesitation." She laughed, light and breathless.
"Even if you put me in the same situation 100 times over, I can't do that."
Silver Tear turned back to Dante, eyes bright, smile edged with something almost manic.
"That's why this is a gamble, Danteh~" She said, spreading her hands as if presenting a daring wager.
"A gamble of an ordinary against the Star."
The tunnel felt smaller around them from the sheer force of the resolve she was radiating.
"I'm going to find the path that reaches the 'Stars' themselves."
The others exchanged looks.
Then Gold Ship burst out laughing. "Hah! Listen to her. The Star! That's way too dramatic!"
Agnes followed, covering her mouth but failing to suppress a giggle. "It sounds absurd."
She admitted, eyes still shining with interest. "Statistically speaking, the odds are terrible."
Even Grani let out a small, surprised laugh, shaking her head. "You really say things like that out loud."
Silver Tear stiffened, heat rushing to her face.
"H-Hey, don't laugh!" She protested, suddenly aware of how grand it sounded.
But none of them were mocking her.
Dante chuckled under his breath, rubbing his temple.
"It's ridiculous." He said. Then his smile faded just enough to turn serious.
The laughter softened. No one spoke it aloud, but they all felt it. The resolve in her words wasn't a joke.
It was reckless and unrealistic, yet undeniably real enough to raise goosebumps all the same. Still, none of them voiced it.
Silver Tear looked away, embarrassed, cheeks warm. "…I know it sounds stupid."
"It does." Gold Ship agreed cheerfully. "But I kinda like it."
For a while, the air around them settled into something almost harmonious.
"But if I hear even a word more out of those bastards. I swear I'll make them regret ever opening their mouths." Dante said, the anger still simmering from what had been hurled at Silver Tear.
"Yeah, yeah." Gold Ship cut in at once, waving a hand as if casually brushing the threat aside. "Let's go eat. GorShi-chan knows this one restaurant."
She turned and started walking without waiting for approval, her momentum dragging the group along with her. "They serve portions big enough to count as emotional recovery."
Agnes blinked, then visibly brightened. "Food does help stabilize post-race cognitive fluctuations."
She said, nodding to herself as she fell into step. "And I can continue my observations over dinner."
Grani fell in beside Silver Tear. "Let's go, Silver-chan."
Dante exhaled, the last of his anger dissipating into something manageable. He turned and started after them, hands slipping back into his coat pockets.
Silver Tear paused for only a heartbeat before following. The tunnel opened out ahead, concrete giving way to open space. Her steps felt lighter now, her gaze no longer drawn to what lay behind, but fixed on something farther on.
Unbeknownst to her, the system issued a prompt.
[Conditions Met.]
[Skill Unlocked: Navigator of the Stars]
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A/N: Dante gets a little bit of aura farm