"The favorite of today's race is Weekday Fun! She will surely give us a show!" I heard the announcer shout from the mic. I was standing in the field watching the other Uma's that were going to race here.
There were about 13 total Umas, me included, that were running today. Some of them didn't look like a problem but a few had this faint sense of danger that was coming from them. Most noticeable coming from the top 3 favorites.
I looked over to the one called Weekday Fun, she was the favorite to win due to her outgoing appearance and her strong looking body. Just by looking at her legs while she was stretching showed that she had a lot of strength going into them. Her purple hair was contrasted by faint white on some parts of her tail and ears.
The next favorite was Never Late, 'Who names their child that?', he was rather tall and had long legs compared to a good amount of Umas here. He had a lot of power and guts just by looking at him. He was probably the second favorite due to this and his handsome appearance, black hair all around.
The third favorite was Stern Love, she was a rather tall Uma as she was the tallest Uma here. She was extremely flexible as well as I saw as she was doing sitting stretches and was touching the ground. She had a stern look on her face, 'maybe that is why she was given that name.', that screamed that she wasn't messing around. Her brown hair had a small flick of white on it while her tail and ears faded into white.
"And finally, we have a newcomer Uma from the same hometown of the popular Oguri Cap. Hayate North, hopefully we will see a good performance from him."
I felt a few gazes looking at me with curiosity.
Eventually, a URA employee started guiding me to the starting gates. When I entered a slightly outer gate, I closed my eyes as I let a large deep breath hold it before letting it out. The nerves in my body were slightly fading away as I opened my eyes. I could see the stands from where I was, a sea of people were there as I waited for the gates to open.
The race I was running was a mile race, coming to be a 1400m, the turf was well kept so I don't believe there will be any problems when it comes to that.
"I want you to run differently than you usually do." Those were the words of trainer Ego. I didn't understand why he wanted me to run differently than my usual style but I reluctantly listened to him. The entire time I was being trained by him, I could tell that he was extremely talented and knew what he was doing.
My ears twitched as I heard the sound of a mechanism going off.
"They're all in their starting gates.....And they're off!"
My body launched like that of an arrow, I wasn't paying attention to the race but my body recognized the sound of the gates. I looked around to see the rest of the Umas had a good start, no late starts had happened.
The beginning of this race was a straight with a slight down hill at the end into a corner. The pack was a mess at the beginning with us fighting over our preferred position, I was fighting the 2nd favorite, Never Late, over the 5th place position.
He used his slightly taller frame to hold onto the position, leaving me no chance to get past him. I scowled as I let myself fall into a pace fit for my position. I heard the faint footsteps of someone about 3 lengths behind me. It was a heavier sound than most of the umas here.
It was most definitely Stern Love, given her bigger frame compared to everyone here. The sound of her steeps was loud compared to the rest of the racers, even Never Late, who was 1 length in front, is slightly less heavy sounding than hers.
She was giving off a feeling of a giant coming down to crush me. That was the feeling she was giving off despite being 3 lengths from me.
I was holding my 6th place position before eventually turning into the first corner. The turns of the umas were undoubtedly better than mine from when I came here, but the training and the teaching of Ego were starting to come into my mind.
Since I was on the outside, I was able to slightly keep my speed up, making sure to not collide with Never Late. Corner recovery was something that I learned to do with Ego, it was something that I could already do but Ego had helped me with getting better at it adding onto me the ability to corner accelerate.
Entering the second corner, I was able to accelerate with the corner and passed Never but he was able to quickly catch on and accelerated as well, taking back the position.
Behind me, the heavy footsteps of Stern love was seeming to be coming closer. She was now 1 length behind me.
At the front, Weekday was holding the front position since the beginning of the race. In fact, she didn't even look that tired compared to the people behind her. The sound of her breath was kept steady with only slight tremors.
"Weekday Fun is the first one to enter the final straight with Lucky Break a close second!" The sound of the announcer was now a lot louder now that we were closer to the stands.
The sound of cheers were entering my ears as I soon entered the final straight as well. The straight is about 360-400m from the corner. It was just about the range where I am the best at.
I placed my foot onto the ground, the feeling of my muscles tensing up before releasing like a bow string. I launched forward, quickly passing Never Late was about to start their spurt as well.
"And Hayate North is beginning their spurt along with Never Late!"
The sound of rapid footsteps were entering my ears, the footsteps of those at front were starting to slow down.
Except for Weekday, who was starting to speed up.
"WEEKDAY IS STARTING TO BREAK FREE FROM THE REST!"
Seeing that she was speeding up, I quickened my pace but I was uncomfortable. The feeling of not being able to run the way I usually do was annoying me, the feeling of restraint on my feet as I ran.
This isn't to say that I ain't capable of catching up to Weekday.
------
"HAYATE NORTH CATCHES UP TO WEEKDAY, THEIR NECK AND NECK! WHO IS GOING TO WIN!"
"WAIT, WHAT'S THIS, STERN LOVE HAS CAUGHT UP TO THEM AND PASSED THEM!!"
"SHE NOW HAS A 5 LENGTH LEAD COMPARED TO WEEKDAY AND HAYATE!!!"
"HAYATE IS NOW SPEEDING UP ONCE MORE TRYING TO CATCH UP TO STERN LOVE BUT WEEKDAY IS SPEEDING ALONG WITH HIM!!"
"LESS THAN 100M IS LEFT, WILL THEY BE ABLE TO CATCH UP TO HER!"
----------------
My legs were burning, I hated the fact that I was forced to change my style, the feeling of my legs being held down by a stupid force was irritating me.
I was able to speed up to my max speed with this style, but, if I didn't change into my normal style, I wouldn't be able to go faster.
Passing the 100m mark, I watched the stands. The sight of the people screaming was entering my mind, people standing up while yelling with all their might, hoping for the racer they were cheering for to win.
I saw Ego, who was standing at the front. My eyes were able to find him rather easily compared to the people around him.
"go." Those were the words he mouthed.
------
"HAYATE NORTH HAS SPEED UP ONCE MORE."
"HE HAS SEEMED TO CHANGE THE WAY HE WAS RUNNING BUT WILL THIS BE ENOUGH!!?!"
----
I quickly caught up to Stern Love, I was sure that I was about to pass her when I heard something.
"Do you believe that something that is half baked will beat me." She said, her voice being cold as she sped up once more, quickly catching up to me before passing me and passed the finish that was right in front of me, taking the win out of my grasp.
"AND STERN IN LOVE WON TODAY'S RACE WITH AN AMAZING FINISH!!" The sounds of the announcer excitement buzzing into my ears.
'How the hell was she able to speed up again? She didn't do anything different, she just sped up.'
"What the hell is she?"
I looked up from the ground to the board. The words confirming what I believed to be fake into reality.
——-
Hope you enjoyed this part as it was slightly rushed,