Fair warning for this chapter, characters will feel out of character but there is a reason, also the style of words and writing has changed for this chapter.
This was going to end up longer, about 4000 words, but I shortened it to 2800 words so sorry if it feels weird in some parts.
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"Who are you?" The ashen gray haired Uma asked, the confusion on their face showing that they truly didn't know.
"Huh…" The black and white haired Uma stared at them, the face of the Uma showing the surprise they were feeling. The large ears of the Uma had become stiff while the tail had fallen limp. They opened their mouths to speak but weren't able to say anything, their mind stumbling with words to say.
The people walking around ignored the black and white Uma in favor of looking at the ashen gray Uma instead. The whispering of the people around them made it clear that no one knew who the black and white Uma was.
The ashen gray Uma just stared at them for a while before silently leaving the black and white Uma who was just staring at them as they left. Their mouth gaped open to say something but yet the only thing to come out was silent air.
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The sound of feet pounding against the ground entered the ears of Ego. Standing at the fences, soda and scope in his hands, he was watching North who was rapidly approaching the first place racer, quickly passing second and third. The First place runner could hear the sound of North's footsteps quickly encroaching on him, the panic caused him to quicken his strides in a desperate attempt to reach the finish line.
His breath became ragged, desperately taking in breaths of air. The sound of his heart beat pounded against his ears and head, his teeth grinded against each other as he desperately pushed himself to the fullest. His hope of winning was soon destroyed as the footsteps of North could be heard beside him.
Turning his gaze, he saw as North was now beside him. His breaths calm and his face focused, compared to his own, it was a stark contrast that brought despair to his heart.
'HOW IS HE NOT TIRED!!'
The desperate thought repeated in his head, he had hoped that there was a chance that North was possibly tired or that he was also running on steam but yet here was North with a straight, relaxed face, that seemed to be just enjoying the feeling of the wind.
'I'm not even a priority in his mind….'
"HAYATE NORTH PULLS AHEAD AND FINISHES WITH A LENGTH!! IN SECOND--"
The noise of the announcer's voice buzzed into his ears, confirming the reality of what just happened. He had gotten second place, he should be happy, he had gotten a placement bonus that could be used for his family but yet here he was. He didn't understand why he was feeling like this, he helped his family. That should bring joy, right?
North was breathing in, controlling his breath before he noticed Ego motioned him to come over. North slightly tilted his head before walking over, not noticing the expression of the Uma he had passed at the end.
"You are either a winner or a loser when it comes to sports North and both come with a heavy burden." Ego spoke out, talking to North who was silently catching his breath. "Especially for Umas."
"Why do you say that?" North asked, turning his gaze back to Ego who was leaning against the fence of the stadium.
"Uma's are extremely emotional, it is easy to see that. They get pleased rather easily if you know what they want, which can be a good thing but just as they can be happy, they can be sad. They are more susceptible to emotions of sadness and despair than to normal humans, especially when you consider racing."
Taking a deep breath, Ego pointed over to the Uma that was being comforted by his trainer. "He lost, simple as that. In sports, emotions and reactions are heightened to levels that wouldn't be normal for the average person, this is why there are humans that cry after losing, you see it all the time, now take this and the fact that Uma's are born to run and they have great emotions attached to it then-" Ego motioned to the Uma that was calmed down.
"It is one of the reasons the profession of trainers even exists, because Umas are more emotionally vulnerable." Ego finished.
"Then what is the burden of winning?" North asked, his head and ears tilting to the side.
"North… How does it feel to win." Ego started, taking a sip from the soda he bought earlier. "You probably feel good right, a sense of liberation as you run past the competition, leaving them in your dust, the adrenaline boost making you feel slightly elated. It feels great, then you come to your senses."
"During the maiden race that you won, your emotions were at an all time high, so you probably didn't notice. If you were to look around during that time then you would have noticed the look on their faces. Despair, distraught, anger, depression, all these negative emotions culminate in this single place just because you won, and they lost. Some of those Uma's that you raced, do you know what they did soon after that race."
North looked at Ego, a sense of dread and something else seeping into his gut. "No."
With this answer, Ego looked at North and gave a wide grin that gave an uncanny feeling. "They Quit. Simple as that really, they gave up on their dreams, living with the fact that they wouldn't ever be able to do anything more than lose. All because you won, their dreams had been crushed."
North looked around, seeing the different emotions on the faces of the racers. Some were distraught while others looked like they were trying their best to keep their composure and keep the hope that they would win the next one, and the ones that had come last, their faces could only spell out the words of despair.
The different scenes of flesh moving in different directions to dictate how one looked were the only things that North was seeing at the moment. How the fleshed moved to show anger, how it rippled and twitched as they tried to keep their composure.
This was the cost of winning, destroying the dreams and hopes of others in the hope of reaching the top.
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A Day Later
Waving at the receptionist, North left the dorm building with plain clothing on. A simple black long-sleeve shirt covered by a dark blue jacket and dark blue pants.
The sight of the outside entered his eyes, patterns of different colored clothes and hair created a mismatched symphony that painted the scene. Students walked together with their friends, happily chattering with each other as they walked in the cold air of December. A few had their faces filled with the despair of not finding the right present.
The trees had lost their leaves by this time of year and the faint snowflakes that fell from the cloudy sky gave it a different coating. Snowflakes that fell, peacefully with no care of time, had created a peaceful and joyful atmosphere in the school campus.
North entered the walking crowd, peacefully joining with the crowd and only leaving the crowd to part ways to the school entrance.
The crowds weren't that dense which left enough space for the students' tails to swish around. Yet it was enough to hear the chatter of conversations, conversations that North could hear.
North ears would twitch from time to time, his excellent hearing being a burden at the moment. Conversations of dreams, family, friends, hope, it all felt so out of place for him, a dissonance that couldn't be fixed. The information that he had gotten yesterday was causing a weird disbalance as the clash of his memories and his sight contradicted each other.
The words of Ego constantly echoing in his head, the knowledge of what he has done, it all felt so different to what he was seeing. There was also this feeling in his gut that had been born from that day, he didn't know what it was, maybe it was something like a guilty conscience but he highly doubted that, or it could be something else.
As Hayate was stuck in his mind, he eventually walked past an Uma who seemed to remember him. A faint smile appeared on their face before quickly stopping as they opened their mouth.
"Hello Hayate." A voice called out, snapping North out of his thoughts. Looking in the direction of the voice, he saw a silver haired Uma sitting on one of the benches nearby. She had hair that was only slightly past her shoulders with a red and white silk ribbon tied to her ear, she was wearing a blue jacket with winter black pants, the heterochromic eyes of hers were looking at him with some faint joy.
"Fujimasa?" North spoke, looking at the Uma named Fujimasa March with faint confusion. His black eyes stared at her, wondering if he was seeing correctly.
"It's been a while." March spoke, her breath becoming visible in the cold. The red and yellow colored eyes of hers looked him up and down, taking in the sight of the changes. "You've gotten taller."
North nodded his head, analyzing her as well. "It indeed has." North let the information of the past start to enter his mind. The faint memories of conversations, silent acknowledgement, and the few times they had raced against each other.
"You cut your hair?" North asked her, moving the conversation forward. March nodded her head, softly grabbing her hair.
"Yeah…..it was an experience." She softly smiled as she reminisced on something from the past.
North looked to the side, feeling awkward from March who was in her memories. March, who wasn't noticing the awkward look of Hayate, continued softly rubbing the free strands of hair before coming out of her stupor. March let out an awkward cough as she finally noticed the look of North.
"Sorry about that." She faintly said, a faint blush appearing on her face.
"heh, don't worry about it." North let out a small laugh at the contrast of the present March compared to the one from the past. March slightly glared at him before softly laughing as well.
March looked around the place, seeing that the crowd had thinned. "Do you want to catch up?" She asked as she got up from the bench, rubbing out the snow that had collected onto her lap.
North thought about it for a moment, seeing if he had anything to do, before agreeing. "Sure."
"Still the same as always." March said, a small curt smile on her face as she started walking. "Want to go walking in the city?"
"I just like getting to the point, and also sure." North said, moving to walk beside her, as he gave a slight playful glare at March.
March playfully looked away, letting out a small laugh. North just looked at her, his eyes judging her and the tail that was swishing.
The two walked towards the exit of campus as they talked with each other, catching up with what had happened during the time they hadn't seen each other. March spoke of her time coming to Central and how she was scouted by the trainer of Oguri's due to Oguri's begging, her winning the second race she had here and the few races she had with Oguri. North silently listened to her before talking about his own time here, the struggles of daily life and the new things he had experienced here.
They would soon leave the campus, their sights now filled with the view of a city that was filled with snow. The soft lights of the open stores and cars that were hurrying to different places, bounced off the white snowflakes falling from the sky, it gave a faint fantasy feeling to the world.
They visited the different stores of the city, sports stores being something that they often visited due to them being racers and food stores due to a certain North who got distracted by the scent which caused March to follow him as there was no stopping his gluttony. The actions of North made them find different places that had interesting food, which they, March, often bought.
March would often make fun of North whenever they found something that he didn't understand, which he would return whenever March starts going into tangents of Oguri, making fun of her slight obsession with the ashen gray Uma.
Their outing would take the time of the sun, with it eventually starting to fall from the sky. 5 hours had passed since they had started talking, now being 7, they started to walk back to the school.
The 2 were walking side by side, watching as the cars below them entered and exited the bridge shadow. The snow of the sky had started to become more prevalent, with trees now becoming armored with white and the bridge they walked on having patches of snow.
"The daifuku is getting hard to eat." March said as she bit into the cold strawberry daifuku.
North, who was eating another serving of daifuku, looked at March with a glint in his eyes that screamed 'I'm superior'. "Try biting harder." North said, biting into a beanpaste daifuku.
March just glanced at North, a faint reluctance appearing in her heterochromic eyes before hardening. March turned her body to look at North, fully stopping, North didn't notice at first but only took a couple of steps to notice and turned around as well.
"Hayate, if you don't mind me asking, was there something on your mind earlier today?" March asked, her voice turning into visible air as it left her body. Her voice was stern as she questioned North, with her eyes looking at his face to find any changes of emotion.
North, while surprised with the question, simply sighed, his eyes closing for a moment as if to ponder before opening them and looking back into March's eyes. "It was nothing important Fujimasa." He shook his, trying to convey that it was of no importance.
March squinted her eyes before shaking her head. "Was it about Oguri?"
It was a simple name really, Oguri Cap, but it felt as if it was the bane of North's existence. It was a constant reminder of his failures, he had changed, sure, but the name of the Uma was something that he despised even after all this time. To assume that he had moved on from that race was wrong, it was the thing that he used to continue moving forward, to push past his limits, not something that he would simply just move on from, it was not something that he would causally just think about.
March looked at North, who was clenching his fist and grating his teeth against each other, a sigh escaped her mouth. The memories of that race still present in her mind, and the face of North who had been passed by Oguri at the end of the race. The utter despair and anguish surpassing anything she had ever seen from him, even since they were young.
And for her to see her friend who was still being affected by that race after all this time, it brought a sense of hate in her, a hate for being able to be there for him, a hate for her rival for affecting him like this, but the thing she hated the most was North not moving on, him being stuck in the past.
She had seen how it affected him whenever she got into her little tangents of talking about Oguri, the faint squints of his eyes, clenching of his fist, or grating of his teeth and his tail becoming deadly still whenever she brought the name up. She had hoped that she was just seeing things, that North wasn't affected by that day and had simply moved on, but now, she could see that he was stuck in that day.
"Fujimasa, I can assure you that it isn't about Oguri." North simply said, hiding his anger with a smile on his face, if it wasn't for his smile being a little too large than maybe March would have believed him.
March just stared at him, before nodding her head. "If you say so." She said with a curt smile on her face before continuing walking.
North just smiled before talking about something else, not noticing the looks of worry that March was glancing with.
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Hope that the style wasn't too off putting as this is a style I use to write more detailed things and for horror stories, if that got through then sorry.
Anyhow, I hope you enjoyed this part.