After eating what she could at the cafeteria for breakfast and having realized that they no longer had any more food, somehow, she went to class, had lunch and then the time had come.
She would be doing her first practice session!
Sure she probably wouldn't even have an idea of what she was supposed to do and would probably make a fool of herself, but that was to be expected.
She was sure.
She was sure!
That she would be fine.
After all what was the worst that could happen?
…
The training started rather normally, group stretching, casual conversation and a couple laps around the track to get their bodies warmed up.
Then, they practiced long jumps for whatever reason as well as high jumps, which… she didn't have the most success with…
I mean, it's not like she was basically pulled away from the thing by Gold Ship so that she didn't spend the entirety of the day trying and failing to do a high jump.
Alas, her roommate said it was for an entirely different reason, something like making sure she didn't end up in too many basements?
"What do you mean by that Gold Ship-san?"
"Well… Hope, when an uma likes somebody a lot, they will sometimes go out of their way to keep that person all to themselves."
"But… why the basement?"
"I dunno, don't worry about it. It's not that big of a deal."
"I see… say just out of curiosity who normally gets targeted?"
"Generally trainers, but, sometimes in extravagant circumstances, it could also be an uma, but that is very unlikely."
"Oh! Thanks for the information! Gold Ship-san!"
"No problem."
Once they were done with the basement talk, they continued with training.
Team jogging, pulling giant tires, punching in a log of wood and worst of all …swimming.
She hated swimming.
No.
Hate was far too weak a word.
She despised swimming.
Every movement, irritated her!
Every instant! Where she was in the water grated on her to no end!
The worst part of it all is that it got everywhere! In her ears, in her mouth, in her eyes even!
HATE!
SHE HATED SWIMMING!
but… for whatever reason, what they did the most during the entire practice was swimming… and so even if she despised it, she accepted her fate…
but what a cruel fate it was.
"Stop sulking," her trainer said, his voice was annoyed, and slightly irritated.
"Don't wanna."
"Are you kidding me? You just swam for five minutes!"
Five minutes?
no…
no no no no no no, that was impossible!
How… how could that… that… that hell!
Have only lasted five minutes…
"You have another 10 to do so go in there, you can have a paddle board if you hate it that much."
"Torena… please… something else… please, torena!"
He looked at her, he merely looked, his gaze was detached and it scared her, it scared her to no end.
She could feel the gazes of the other umas looking at her in barely restrained pity.
"Get back in the water, you have gate practice after this."
"Torena-san… torena-san…." She said as she slowly accepted her fate.
She would enter that hell once more… she would survive that hell, which lasted an eternity, even if… it only lasted for a few minutes…
After enduring the hell that was swimming, which she promised to herself she would never do for longer than 15 minutes no matter the circumstance, they had a new exercise to do all as a group.
Which she sadly joined in a bit late for as she sulked in the changing rooms with a sympathetic McQueen patting her back.
"It's fine, the swimming pool can't hurt you anymore, desuwa."
It's not like she could barely hold back her tears… no nothing like that…
"McQueen…" it's not like she rubbed her face in McQueen's shoulder and cried… no nothing like that.
Either way, it was her first time seeing a gate.
Now normally her first time would have been when she was being timed for her time in a simple mile race before being admitted to the school, but… well, those were exceedingly odd circumstances…
Never mind that, basically it was her first time seeing a gate for the first time, and well… it was kind of… well, odd?
"Well, here we are."
Everybody had already entered the gate except for her as she stood infront of it confused on what to do.
Seeing her confusion her trainer merely sighed and explained that during races she had to enter the gate and once it opened she simply had to run the race.
She nodded her head and entered the gate.
She looked to her left and saw that everybody was already ready to run the race, it would be a rather simple 2000 meter friendly race which was done partly to test Hope for Tomorrow distance aptitude and mostly done to end the day's training.
So… she calmed herself.
All disappeared in her mind except for her, the gate and the track.
Everything, her opponents, the gate surrounding her, and even the howling wind itself disappeared.
It was a state that she was able to enter after having practiced Kyodo with her old man back before she came to Tracen academy.
She had often used it as a way to meditate and calm her mind.
To become one with the world, and have the world become one with her.
She breathed in…
The gate started to fly open.
She breathed out…
She exploded outwards the moment it opened enough to let her.
Ah… she was flying once more, that feeling of the wind in her hair, it was amazing, the freedom of it all, she loved it.
It was a beautiful feeling.
This freedom.
Ah, it was intoxicating, truly intoxicating, the beauty of its taste was one such thing that no matter how many times she tasted she wanted more. And more.
She yearned to drink from this deep well, to taste the joy of running that she had for so long scorned and disdained all for what?
She entered the curve and accelerated as she all but let her lingering momentum make her clear it easily.
The race had reached halfway now.
So, she accelerated.
Why? Why did she hide from this beautiful feeling?
Was this not what she yearned for, did she not yearn for a utopia? And was running on the track not the clearest way she had to reach its gate?
She entered the last curve and accelerated once more, she could feel somebody coming up from behind her.
She didn't know who it was, nor did it matter, the view from the lead was hers and hers alone, nobody else could have it.
This utopia, this paradise? It was hers.
But truly, why did she scorn it s—
She remembered.
"Ah."
A gas valve.
"Ah."
Turned.
"Ah…"
She slowed down as they entered the final straight.
Her overwhelming lead lost in the matters of seconds as she suddenly remembered, why.
Why she was so scared for so long.
She crossed the finish line in dead last.
Not even panting, just staring off into space.
Her mind elsewhere.
Valve.
Turned.
She could feel the others staring at her.
Wondering if she was fine.
Wanting to say something yet they couldn't.
Or maybe they were.
She didn't know.
Couldn't know.
Her mind consumed by two words.
Valve.
Turned.
"I'm sorry…"
She whispered.
Did she?
She didn't know.
She didn't know.
Valve.
Turned.
"It's my fault, I'm sorry…"
Did she say that out loud, she could hear some voices try to talk to her. She could barely hear them.
She couldn't hear them.
No.
She didn't want to.
She could have sworn she heard a shocked gasps from some people on the team
She didn't know.
Her knees felt weak, like they might collapse any second.
She fell forward right then, only to be caught in somebodies hands.
They… felt warm, comforting and surprisingly calming to her senses.
Her mind overcome by a state of turmoil calmed itself as she was held in the persons grasp, they didn't say anything, they merely kept her close, her head on their chest as she softly rubbed their head.
She felt herself growing tired oddly enough, her mind which didn't feel tired suddenly felt so so tired.
As she slowly closed her eyes and surrendered to morbius' embrace she couldn't help but whisper a name.
One single name, from her past.
"Orfy…"
And then, she fell asleep.
…
"Rest well… my beloved."
—————-
Authors note
decided not to write Orfevre's perspective at the end of the chapter, probably won't because it could just be described as shocked gasps and what is the tyrant doing here, shouldn't you be at your teams training ground?
So I decided not to write it.
I want it to be pretty clear and evident that the past has really big effects on the performance of hope for tomorrow.
If it isn't affecting her she could, thanks to her almost constant acceleration and pretty high velocity, keep the lead for the entirety of the race.
Like a certain great escape idiot who burned themselves to ash.
On another note, I will make the next chapter for every 50 powerstones.
And yes, Orfevre will keep on trying to rizz up Hope.
GreekAntrielos, signing off.