1984, May 8th.

  Heavy thumping is heard from the turf track as Echo Eclipse jogs, wearing the heavy cleats in her running boots as she runs with a rge stride.

  “No… Too heavy… It needs to be more fluffy… More airy…” She murmurs as sweats pour down her body. She had been running around the track for around 20 minutes, trying to soften her steps that were too heavy. Trainer Kazuo watches from a distance, temporarily taking his eyes away from Symboli Rudolf, who is sprinting up and down the stairs.

  He sighed with a slight regret; he knew that he was unable to teach Echo Eclipse because she thrives on instincts. Adding loads of information onto her might actually harm her in the long term.

  “Maybe… Forward…” Echo whispered to nobody except the empty air around her. She leaned her posture forward while jogging, using the very tip of her shoes to run.

  “No… Too sharp…” She frowned as the tip of her shoes created a small gouge in the track while jogging. “Airy… Airy…” She mutters like a chant with each stride she makes, using her entire muscles in her legs to decrease the heaviness of her cleats and to soften the impact when her foot touches the ground.

  “Like how the blue-haired goddess runs…” She whispered once again, remembering the time before reincarnating her. In her dream, she ran alongside the three goddesses, and surprisingly, it wasn’t vague at all, as if someone intentionally made it that way. She remembered every single detail, including how they ran when they were far ahead of her.

  “Like a cloud…” And for a split moment, there was no dent or gouge in the track as she moved forward with a greater speed and power than expected, leaving no footprint. Just like a ghost. Her eyes widened in excitement before her right foot created another dent in the track.

  “Awwww…” She whined as she panted, slowing down and stopping. Sweat pours down as she breathes heavily.

  Her heart was beating rapidly, not from exhaustion. But of excitement, as if she is closer to her goal, which she doesn’t know exists. She closed her eyes and reflected on how she managed to do it at that moment.

  “Cloud… Air… Weightless… Oh. Harmony…” She opens her eyes in enlightenment, before noticing a certain uma in front of her. Making her jump like a startled cat!

  “Waah!”

  “Hahahahaha!” Bizen Nishiki snickers as she rests her hands on her hip, leading Echo Eclipse to frown.

  “What was that for!”

  Nishiki snorted and smirked. “You were standing there for the past 7 minutes. How could I refuse such temptation~”

  “...”

  “...”

  “You r-” Before Echo Eclipse could say anything, Nishiki pced a carrot-fvoured candy into her mouth, making her tail sway happily, and her ears twitch. This is clearly not the first rodeo Bizen Nishiki did to Echo Eclipse.

  “Nom nom nom…”

  Nishiki smirked at this. Echo Eclipse is always the css mascot.

  “So wha’cha been doing for the st half an hour?”

  “Trying to run fluffy,” Echo spoke while eating, making her sound very endearing and muffled.

  “Eh?”

  “Mh?”

  Both of them tilted their heads at each other, confused about what they meant. The former was confused by the cryptic sentence, and the tter was confused about why she reacted like that. Bizen Nishiki realised that this must be one of those things only a genius could understand.

  “Nevermind that! Suzu Mach wants to have a mock race with you.” She smiled widely, and the eyes of Echo brightened at that mention. Of course, anything that involves running or racing will brighten her up.

  “Let's go then!” Echo smiled brightly as she bopped up and down, excited to run with others.

  “You don’t wanna rest first?”

  “Mh? Why would I?”

  “...”

  “...”

  “Are you even tired?”

  “Mostly.”

  “...”

  “...”

  “And you want to race after exercising?”

  “Mhm.”

  “...”

  “...”

  “You sure?”

  “Yeah?”

  “But…” Bizen’s tail swayed, worried that Echo Eclipse might be pushing herself too far, not realising that Echo Eclipse's stamina is now (D) Rank, far beyond what most juniors are supposed to reach in their junior year.

  “What are we waiting for? Let’s go!”

  “...”

  Echo Eclipse proceeded to go in the wrong direction.

  “…”

  Bizen Nishiki softly smiled at this before tugging Echo in the right direction.

  …

  ..

  .

  “Um… Thank you for accepting to run with me…” Suzu Mach said shyly as they were at the starting line. Her long silver hair shifted slightly as she got into her running position.

  “Don’t worry! I like running! But please tell me, why do you want to race against me?” Echo spoke bluntly as she bobbed up and down excitedly, ready to dash.

  “Mh… Uh… You know… I’m also racing in Tokyo Yushun.” Echo Eclipse's ears perked at that mention, so she is having a mock race against someone who is pnning to run against Symboli Rudolf?

  “Oh! So why me?” She spoke her mind once again, startling the poor stage fright Suzu Mach. “I’m still in my junior year.” Her tail swayed curiously as she gnced at Suzu Mach’s green eyes.

  “Well… Um…” She looked down and fidgeted with her fingers, trying to calm herself down. “I saw you race on your debut… And you weren’t afraid of the audience or of the other racers…” A slight blush started forming on her cheeks as she confessed.

  “So I want to… learn how to ignore the… stares and talking by other racers and audience…”

  “...”

  “That’s why I wanted to race against you, even if it's a mock race.”

  “I see! But here’s something I don’t get!” Echo Eclipse smiled brightly as she got into her running position.

  “Why are you so focused on others?”

  “What?”

  “You’re the one running on the tracks, not the audience. So why are you focused on them when the grass is beneath your feet, and the finish line is there?”

  “...”

  “Focus on yourself. Erase all distractions… And simply go with the flow…” Echo Eclipse muttered, and Bizen Nishiki finally blew the whistle, both of the girls flying forward at the same time. And this time, Suzu Mach is shocked. She just instinctively ran without thinking.

  “We are blessed to run, so don’t let the stares or words chain you down. Just run! Simple as that!” Echo Eclipse looked behind her at Mach with a bright beaming smile, as if she was having the time of her life running with her.

  “...” Suzu Mach couldn’t say anything when she saw that face of hers, and without noticing. All distractions faded away from Mach's sight and hearing; only Echo Eclipse is in her sight. No audience, no words.

  Just her and Echo Eclipse running.

  The corner of her smile started to lift up as pure unadulterated joy filled her heart. Now the restraint is gone, her body started moving to its fullest capacity and in an instant. Echo saw a blur go by her before she started ughing. She wondered if the goddesses felt like this when they reincarnated her.

  Suzu Mach crossed the line with Echo Eclipse behind by 2 lengths. This is due to the weight of her boots and her prior exhaustion from her training. But that doesn’t matter; what matters is that they both had fun running on the track and racing.

  “Echo…” Mach panted with a wide grin.

  “Thank you.” She meant it from the bottom of her heart. Initially, she only wanted to race against Echo Eclipse to get the grasp of her ability against a monster like Echo and Rudolf. She also wanted to see how she could get over her stage fright and anxiety on the field from Echo, and so she did.

  It was that simple, and she felt stupid for not realising it from the beginning.

  “Thank you…” She mutters once again in gratitude, which Echo responds with a wide, pure, toothy grin.

  “Hehe!”

  …

  ,,

  .