"Blossom Star finishes first!"
"An incredible showing! She comes 1st with a staggering lead of 27 lengths…!"
Folkqueen bit her lips as she sat in front of the television, the colors on the bright screen reflected in her eyes. There were no other lights in the room except the glow of the flickering television screen, and though her eyes burnt with pain from all the time she'd spent staring at the screen, she found comfort in it.
She took a small breath as she ejected the cassette tape from the television, before she promptly entered another one.
"Oguri Cap crosses the finish line first! Her undefeated streak continues!"
Her finger endlessly tapped onto her thigh, her mind whirring as she rewatched this recording she'd seen a dozen times over. She could see the way Oguri Cap surged forward with ease, each of her steps no weaker to miniature explosions. Her moniker as the Grey Monster was a fitting one, and though her victory in the [Osaka Hai] wasn't overly impressive, it was the ease at which she did so that was truly terrifying.
She ejected the recording. Entered another one.
Play.
"Oguri Cap and Blossom Star accelerate once more!"
"Oguri Cap-! No, Blossom Star-! No-!"
"Oguri Cap-, Blossom Star-, Oguri Cap-, Blossom Star-!"
…Damn it.
She bit down on her lips with enough force to draw blood, but she didn't care. The announcer's cheers during the [Takarazuka Kinen] made it seem like a head-on clash between two of the greatest umamusume Japan had ever produced, but Folkqueen wasn't blind.
She could tell that neither of them were at their most serious. Neither Oguri or Star were exhausted by the time they passed the finish line. Neither of them had gone all out. For the Goddesses' sake, Star had reached a higher maximum speed during the final stretch of the [Spring Tenno Sho]!
Neither of them were running at their strongest. Neither of them could run at their best. The Japanese Turf provided during those previous races just weren't suitable for their strength.
But she could see it; neither of them cared. There was no frustration in Star's eyes as she lost. There was no jealousy as the scoreboard lit up and showed that Star had lost once more. Instead, Star had looked at Oguri with love, as if Oguri could hold up the sun if she was ever given the chance.
It wasn't fair.
Oguri smiled, eyes soft and smile fond. "I had weak legs when I was young, so I'm blessed to still be able to run. And now I have someone I want to run with forever."
It wasn't fair.
"Now I have someone I want to run with forever." Oguri closed her eyes. "That's enough. I don't need to listen to anyone else."
It wAsN'T fAIr.
She clutched her head as she resisted the urge to scream. This apartment room she'd rented wasn't without neighbors, and she didn't need to cause a ruckus. And so she bit down onto her already bleeding lip as she pushed against the sides of her head, trying all she could to force down the acrid fire burning in the back of her skull.
She didn't notice the way her yellow eye slowly bled to a crimson red.
She wouldn't have cared even if she noticed.
IT waSn't faIR. How could one be so blessed? How could one be so free?
It wasn't arrogance; Oguri Cap didn't see herself as above others. It wasn't ignorance; Oguri Cap understood that she was an important figure that'd helped propel the current Japanese era into what it was today.
No, it was choice. Oguri Cap chose not to care of the opinion of others, knowing that there was already someone who would follow her to the ends of the Earth, and she knew that she would do the exact same.
Oguri Cap and Blossom Star.
The hungering Earth and the soaring Star.
The Moon and the Sun.
"I hate you." She whispered. Her tongue tasted of iron. "I hate you."
Why couldn't I have been like you?
In the end, her words were nothing but hot air. She knew this hate she felt was misplaced. No-, it was worse than that. It was undeserved. Oguri Cap wasn't someone she deserved to hate, nor did she even deserve to hold such feelings for someone who didn't deserve it.
This acrid taste in the back of her tongue—it was jealousy. Jealousy for a life that'd begun so similarly, yet had diverged so much just from the inclusion of a single person.
But the heart was never something she could ever control, and so she uttered those damnable words she would forever regret:
"I'll win." She said, both eyes bleeding red, her smile wide and unnatural and in pain.
Unnoticed, the shadows she cast behind her stretched unnaturally, and something began emerging from it. A body made of twisting shadows, coiling and coiling and coiling. A million hands reached out, and they cradled Folkqueen like a glassware destined to shatter.
"And eVerYThiNG will bE nORmaL aGaiN."
.... . .-.. .--. -- .
Slowly, she pulled her hands away. The recording she'd recently entered had finished playing. The television had gone quiet again, with only the faint sound of static filling the silence. A trail of blood fell down her lips, staining her shorts with haphazard circles of red. The taste of iron lingered on her tongue.
She took a small breath.
She reached out to eject the cassette tape. The television whirred for a moment, and she soon pulled the cassette tape out of the television. She dropped the tape onto her temporary bed, and she quietly messaged her eyes as she fought back the raging headache she felt.
The headaches were getting worse; she couldn't remember what happened in the past minute. Nothing but a faint feeling of pain.
The worst part was that no one could find out why. The doctors told her she was fine. The headache medication she tried taking didn't do anything. And these headaches never seemed to appear whenever she was racing. They always seemed to form during the moment when she did nothing.
…enough pondering. She'd wasted enough time trying to gather information that didn't exist.
The matter was simple: No matter how much she tried, she knew she couldn't gauge the true depth of Star and Oguri's abilities. They were essentially black boxes, and what few recordings she had of them would only serve as red herrings. For now, the best thing she could do was simply assume they were much stronger than what she'd seen in their recordings.
She'd be going in blind, which meant the only thing she could do was prepare herself for the unknown.
She took a deep breath, and after wearing her favorite jacket, she grabbed her keys and left the apartment room.
The room immediately descended back into an eerie stillness.
…
3 Days before the [Japan Cup].