On a Pale Horse (Umamusume/Youjo Senki)

---

True to her expectations, Shirogane's family had been quite excited to hear that she was now officially on the same team as Symboli Rudolf, though apparently the rest of the team was also quite well known.

"Ehh?! Toujou-san didn't mention she trained Fuji Kiseki and Hishi Amazon too!" There was Grandfather.

"Don't forget she trained Narita Brian as well! Make sure you learn from your seniors, Shiro-chan, maybe you could even win the Triple Crown that way!" That was Father. And that achievement seemed very unlikely.

"Stop focusing so much on her teammates!" And there was Mother. "Don't forget why we're here in the first place!"

As it turns out, winning one of her tryouts was enough for her family to drop what they were doing and hurry over to visit, again crowding her apartment with familiar noise as they cooked a celebratory meal.

"It wasn't that impressive," Shirogane demurred, only partially paying attention as she chopped away at some onions. "I didn't beat anyone ranked that high, and half of them started late." To some degree she had just gotten lucky.

"Shush!" Mother tapped her on the head with a spoon. "You won after only two months training! That's good enough for me!" Shirogane chose not to dispute this further.

"It's a great start, Shiro-chan!" Father followed suit and patted her on the head, which was more comforting than it really ought to be. "And now you'll have great mentors to train with!"

"They are going to be quite busy with the student government duties, so in all likelihood I will spend my time training with others." Not to mention that she did not have the same physical talents they did, so while their tactical advice was bound to be useful, practice running against them wouldn't necessarily help her all that much, aside from estimating the standard she would need to shoot for.

"Tsk! That won't matter if she doesn't take care of herself." Grandmother had been mildly displeased at the dwindling contents of her refrigerator. "You need to eat more, Shiro-chan! If I find out you have been skipping out on meals…I will be very displeased."

"I haven't. The cafeteria has a lot of food options so I don't have to cook as much." Perhaps it was simply acclimating to her training, but Shirogane had noticed her appetite increasing slightly. It wasn't comparable to some of her classmates, but it was noticeable.

"Well, that's good then," Grandmother huffed, deflating slightly. "It hurts my pride to say it, but Tracen does have good cooks."

"They aren't as good at making bigos though." Not that it was a surprise for the mostly Japanese staff to be unfamiliar with Polish food.

"That's what we're here to fix!" Mother laughed, taking the chopped onions from Shirogane and throwing them into the steaming pot. "Can't let you shrivel up eating just rice and rice-related things."

"Tsk! She'd get fat if she ate more of your western food!"

It was a familiar noise, poking fun at the difference between Japanese and Polish food, but given that a significant part of what kept their shop open was the relative novelty of Polish food to Japanese people as well as its rarity here, this was clearly all in good fun.

"For the record, the Tracen cafeteria offers quite a bit of less traditional food," Shirogane interjected, diverting the direction of the conversation. "Steak with a carrot stabbed into it is particularly popular." It was a bit strange to see, as from what she remembered horses were herbivores, but she supposed it made sense that in a more human form they would become omnivorous. Though from what she had observed, most umamusume tended to prefer more vegetables compared to the average human, with active athletes being a bit of an exception.

"I can understand the presentation, but that always looks weird to me," her mother chuckled absently, mostly focused on stirring the steaming pot.

"It makes more sense when you consider how umamusume will eat the green part of the carrot too. Sometimes all in one go." There were some people at Tracen who had truly monstrous consumption rates.

"Makes sense, you gals need to build more muscle if you want to race," Father nodded consideringly. "Though I'm a bit scared to think about how much it costs to run the cafeteria."

"It likely contributes substantially to the tuition costs. Most of the students eat more than me." And she already ate a lot by human standards.

Sometimes Shirogane wondered if racing success was a matter of avoiding starvation for the more gluttonous ones.

"That means you need to eat more!"

Oh here they went again.

"Here, my little winner gets first dibs on the stew!"

…Your bribe was acceptable, Mother.

---

In many ways, being more officially on a trainer's team did not change things for Shirogane.

She still attended classes as she had previously, ate at the cafeteria, her apartment, or at the stump, and she still continued her morning warm ups with Suzuka-san, though that was less due to any explicit decision on either of their part, and more just falling into a habit once they crossed paths several times.

While Shirogane kept to a consistent schedule and usually arrived at the overlook near the waterway they had decided as their meeting point around the same time each day, Silence Suzuka apparently kept to a less rigid timeframe, and Shirogane was never quite sure when she would show up, though she usually did if it wasn't raining.

This morning, for whatever reason, the auburn-haired uma had evidently been there for a while, as Shirogane found her compatriot pacing in a counterclockwise circle, brow furrowed in concentration and largely blind to anything else save for whatever was eating at her mind.

Shirogane jogged in place for a few minutes, waiting to see if her teammate would find her missing thought, but Suzuka-san showed no sign of noticing her.

"Something on your mind, Suzuka-senpai?" Eventually, it became clear that she had to interject.

"Huh?!" Suzuka-san flinched slightly, ceasing her counterclockwise pacing momentarily and returning to earth. "Oh, good morning Shirogane-san. When did you get here?"

"Not too long ago," Shirogane replied, still jogging in place. "You should pace in figure eights so you balance out the strain."

"Huh?" Suzuka-san blinked, before belatedly realizing she had been pacing. "Oh, I wasn't really training, just thinking."

"About classwork? You were thinking very hard."

"No, not exactly," she sighed, ears drooping slightly. "Just thinking about my debut race."

"Oh, is that coming up soon?" Shirogane hadn't really kept track of her schoolmates' racing history until recently, but it surprised her a little that Suzuka hadn't been in an official race already. "From what I can tell you'd likely do rather well."

"Do you think so?" Her ears perked back up, and she turned to properly look at Shirogane with curious eyes.

Was she serious? "You are one of the fastest runners I've seen on campus, so I would not be surprised if you had some success." Though didn't Tracen students usually debut around the beginning of their second year, or towards the end of their first year?

"Hmm…I guess that might be true." Suzuka glanced up at the sky again. "I like the view of the track when running on it."

"Err…what's there to see? Most tracks have some kind of barrier to block the view out of them, and other than that it's just an oval track with stands full of people."

"Yeah…that's why I like running off campus."

"Are you…concerned that the lack of view on the track will hamper your performance?" From their usually brief interactions, Shirogane had come to realize her teammate was a bit of an air head, but she didn't think it would extend this far.

"Umm…not really," her tail swished back and forth as she tried to find the words for it. "I feel like I do better when other runners aren't blocking my view."

"So you prefer running towards the front." She had the speed for it, and enough stamina to keep it up for some distance. "Is that a problem?"

"No? But I sprained my leg a couple times in practice, which is why my debut is later than most of my classmates," Suzuka slumped, her ears flattening against her head. "Trainer-san told me to try holding back a little and not running so far out front, but that doesn't feel right."

Ironically, that was opposite to the advice Toujou-san had offered to Shirogane. Which, given her differing abilities, did actually make some sense.

"I can understand that feeling somewhat, though I won't be debuting that soon." She was hoping to start competing in races with actual prize pools as early as possible, but trying that before she was at least competitive was counterproductive. "Toujou-san suggested I try running out front as fast as I can since my top speed is slower, which has some merit, since I can run for longer than most of you, but it feels a bit wrong to be taking the lead."

The vanguard was a respected position because it was a dangerous one. And while there was no real danger of bodily harm when leading the pack in a simple race, it did have its own risks, as it made you more of a target for the following runners and required more effort due to the air resistance compared to following after another runner.

"Ehhh?! Why is that?"

Shirogane shrugged. "Can you put into words your preference to run ahead?" For herself, any verbalization of her sentiment would make her look insane.

"…Not really…" Suzuka-san looked down, holding her left hand with her right as she frowned. "But I'm not sure I can do my best if I don't run ahead."

"Well you can't do that either if you hurt your leg," Shirogane pointed out. "I'm not sure I'll do that well running ahead myself, but I can understand Toujou-san's reasoning, so it's worth testing at least once, I think."

"Maybe…" her teammate didn't seem entirely convinced, her ears flicking questioningly. "I just like running."

"Then you should make sure you don't overstrain your body and break a leg."

---

While Shirogane felt things weren't much different for her, the same could not be said for everyone else.

The mood in the academy halls was split, with a smaller portion of the students moving about with renewed energy, ranging from simple excitement to strutting about with likely unwarranted arrogance, while the greater part of the student body had more muted moods, ranging from disappointed to crushed.

It was a bit strange to see this disparity in moods after a few months of frenetic energy, and Shirogane was curious to see if it would recover or whether it would continue to strain as dreams were dashed by reality.

Her class was not as affected, since they generally performed better, but even they were not immune. Grass and Sky didn't preen over their success, but did seem to be in better spirits. As usual, El Condor Pasa was loud, somewhat more than usual since she had been picked up by a trainer and joined a team. To hear her say it, she had wrestled with her teammate and came out on top, proving her worth, which was probably an exaggeration.

King Halo's mood had dipped for a few days after the tryouts, as even though she did find a trainer, he was a newly minted one and thus not particularly prestigious, which likely hurt the normally confident uma's self image. Still, Shirogane got the sense that Halo's poor mood had more to do with other issues, since she didn't make any complaints about her trainer, and it seemed unlikely she would agree to a trainer's offer if she didn't see any benefit in the arrangement.

Tsurumaru Tsuyoshi, however, was quite crushed. Her performance wasn't terrible, objectively speaking, coming in second behind Pasa in one medium heat and third behind King Halo in another one. Theoretically, that would have been enough to grab the attention of some trainers, but for whatever reason, that had not happened. Perhaps expectations for their class were simply higher, or the trainers had access to information Shirogane wasn't privy to.

Whatever the case, it didn't seem to keep the sandy haired uma down for good, and she had thrown herself back into training with renewed enthusiasm, but it still clearly bothered her to see her classmates training with their teams or trainers while she remained with their homeroom teacher.

Shirogane, however, gradually found her time being filled with interruptions from other umas, as if her performance in the tryouts and being recruited to a team had reversed whatever was causing many of them to overlook her.

"Shiro! Let's eat!"

This particular day she found herself being wrangled by Taiki Shuttle, who had taken their shared team status to mean that they should spend time together. Shirogane chose not to resist, because it was lunchtime, and as overly energetic as she could be, the American was pretty good at picking out when the cafeteria had good meats.

"Taiki-san, you don't have to pull her around, she's not going to skip lunch." As usual, Mejiro Dober looked quite done with her roommate's antics, but seemed resigned to them nevertheless.

"But sometimes she eats by herself!"

"Why is that a problem?" Shirogane grunted.

"I'm not going to let my teammate be lonely by herself!"

She hadn't been lonely, but it looked like there was no convincing her energetic teammate.

Shirogane exchanged a longsuffering look with Mejiro Dober, the other more serious girl flicking her ears sympathetically, but also avoiding any further attempt to dissuade Taiki Shuttle.

"Grass! Hey!" And then the sandy haired American saw their other teammate and rushed over to greet her, dragging Shirogane along.

And that, naturally, resulted in her ending up at a large table in the cafeteria, sitting with a mix of Team Rigil and Taiki Shuttle's wide circle of friends.

"So how are you settling into Team Rigil, Shirogane-san?" Mejiro Dober asked as they ate, looking like she was doing her best to ignore the antics of her roommate and Seeking the Pearl, the two of them doing…something involving a loaf of bread.

"I heard they're all scary and intimidating," Mejiro Bright chimed in, sticking her head around her sister to look at Shirogane. "Is that true?"

"Bright…Taiki Shuttle is on Team Rigil."

"Oh…so it's true?"

Dober sighed. "No, not all of Team Rigil are scary." Her ears twitched. "Though all of them are at least decent runners."

"They are indeed," Shirogane confirmed, grimacing slightly. "I have far to go before I can be competitive with them."

"You still have time," Dober returned reassuringly. "I saw your tryouts, and you ran well, so with some more experience, I think you will perform admirably on the circuit."

"I appreciate the confidence." Though it may be overly optimistic. "Congratulations on your success in your debut, Dober-san."

She flushed slightly, coughing into her hand to cover her face momentarily. "Oh, thank you."

"It was exciting!" Taiki Shuttle cheered, swiveling her body sharply the instant she heard mention of Dober's race. "Dober-chan was soo cool!"

"It wasn't that impressive, and it's just a debut race."

Unsurprisingly, the Mejiro family had high expectations for its scions. It made sense, as from what Shirogane had read about their part in racing history, the Mejiro family were very focused on racing, while the other big name families had their wealth spread out in a more diverse set of assets.

"May it be just the first of many," Shirogane said, raising her glass of milk in a mock, but largely serious toast.

Dober-san shot her an appreciative, yet unimpressed look, quickly distracted by her sister's guileless cheer.

Shirogane wasn't certain if their family business plan was wise, in the long run, but she did not have all the details, and they had remained relevant for quite some time. Not to mention it was both rude and pointless to bring it up here.

"Yes! Good luck!"

It was rather fascinating to see how easily some of the runners offered adulation to their classmates, even if they were functionally rivals. Wishing for a classmate to win could very well mean wishing for yourself to lose, and while Shirogane was not delusional enough to expect victory in each race, sometimes she looked at her classmates and saw enemies.

"Taiki, stop! Let me finish my lunch! We'll have to go back to class soon."

"Okay!"

Then they did something silly, and she was back in school again.

What a strange feeling.

---

"I think it's time for you to consider some options for your debut race."

Shirogane blinked, not having expected this topic to come up so early with her trainer. "Wouldn't that be slightly premature? I am still not incredibly experienced with the racing format."

"While that is true," Toujou-san conceded, tapping a stack of papers to align them before setting them down on her desk, "but experience can only be simulated so far, and even with your comparative inexperience, you have breezed through many of the points that often hamper an aspiring runner."

"Really? I haven't done much training aside from sprints and race simulations."

"That is because, barring the first time, you have no issues with the starting gate," her trainer held up one finger, then raising more as she continued, "you have an excellent academic record, so those requirements were a non-issue, and most importantly, in my opinion, you have a clear sense of your physical capabilities, as well as the mental wherewithal to make adjustments according to those capabilities."

She retracted her fingers, adjusting her glasses slightly before continuing. "Although, to some degree you might have too good of a grasp on your abilities, so you are more hesitant to push beyond them."

"Do you view that as a positive, negative, or a tradeoff?"

"An acceptable tradeoff, mostly." Toujou-san smoothed down her suit, taking a sip of her tea before returning to the topic at hand. "So far during your time at Tracen, you have not injured yourself in any way, something none of your classmates have managed to avoid, even if, thankfully, all incidents have been minor so far." That probably had more to do with her lack of participation in her classmates' tomfoolery. "It might make it more difficult to find your true limit, but we're getting away from the point."

Pushing herself too far would be problematic if she wanted this whole endeavor to be profitable.

"You do need more race experience, but from what I have seen, the best way to accumulate this would be to get started as early as possible." She tapped the stack of papers. "These are informationals about all the relevant race courses. I have some thoughts about which would likely be best fit for you, but I want you to consider it yourself before you hear my advice."

At her prompting, Shirogane took the stack of papers and examined them. As Toujou-san had said, they depicted diagrams of various racecourses in Japan, detailing the track shapes, starting positions for varying distances, and including a graph depicting the undulation along the track.

"Most debut races are eighteen-hundred meters or two kilometers, no? That already puts me at a disadvantage compared to my opponents."

"That is true," Toujou-san agreed, "which is why picking a course that will better suit your talents will be key. Though if you can manage another performance like your tryouts, you need not be so worried."

If her competition was not that impressive, perhaps that would be possible.

Putting that out of her mind for the moment, Shirogane flipped through the informationals, focusing on the length of the home stretch and the degree of undulation. Her top speed being deficient as it was, she would have a better chance if the end stretch was shorter, and the more elevation changes through the track, the more tiring the run would be, which would reduce the ability of most of her competitors to spurt at the end.

The track among the pile with the shortest homestretch was Hakodate, which also had relatively significant undulation, with a brief downslope after the start followed by a gradual slope upwards until the homestretch, where it went downhill again. This would work decently, but while the stretch was short, the incline wasn't too steep, and the downslope on the last segment would aid those with better closing speeds, so it was not ideal.

Sapporo racetrack had the next shortest stretch, but the course was almost entirely flat, so was quickly ruled out.

Fukushima and Kokura were not as flat, but did not have significant inclines, so Shirogane filed them under 'less than ideal' as well.

Nakayama had a longer homestretch than the previous four she had looked at, but the last segment of the race had a fairly steep incline, which would make it harder for those trying to close at the end, and there was also sometimes an incline towards the beginning of the race as well, depending on the length. For the relatively inexperienced runners she would be going against in a newcomer race, there were more potential points of failure here, while Shirogane was fairly confident that she could handle this kind of undulation better than her competitors.

The Kyoto tracks had the next shortest stretch, but at this point it was long enough that it wouldn't give much of an advantage, and while there was a significant hill towards the middle of the track, the homestretch was quite flat.

The Tokyo homestretch was very long, roughly double that of Hakodate, so would likely not be a good choice, but Shirogane still examined the information because of the number of notable races that were held there. It was not a track that favored a runner of her limitations, but there was a good chance that she would run a race on this track at some point of her career.

The middle leg of the Classic Triple Crown was in Tokyo, after all. Assuming she even got that far.

"I would say Nakayama or Hakodate would better suit my abilities." She declared, setting aside those two informationals. "Kyoto and Tokyo would be more difficult for me to win, especially Tokyo, but those are courses where many different races are held, so it wouldn't be unwise to become accustomed to them."

"Not Sapporo?" Toujou-san raised an eyebrow.

"The course is too flat," Shirogane returned, "so while the homestretch is short, it will be less draining on my opponents' stamina, leaving them more energy to overtake me."

"Hanshin also has an inclined homestretch."

"True, and I see the last stretch is shorter than Nakayama, but the undulation is not as significant over the rest of the course."

"Nakayama and Hanshin also have trial races for the Satsuki Sho. Placing in the Yayoi Sho, Spring Stakes or Wakaba Stakes would grant you a spot in the first leg of the Classic Triple Crown, so debuting at either one will give you experience on that course."

Shirogane frowned, examining her trainer, who returned her gaze with an even expression, before she tilted her head questioningly. "You were aware of this, then?"

"Yes, it was covered in class," Shirogane replied automatically, before tilting her head questioningly. "Do you think I should pursue the Classic Triple Crown? It seems rather out of my grasp."

"With how strong your year is, whether anyone can achieve the Classic Triple Crown is very much up in the air." That essentially told her that no, Toujou-san was not expecting her to win.

"However…" she continued, "the races making up the Triple Crown have among the largest prize pools, and there is a bonus if one manages to win every leg. This also means that placing in any of them grants enough prize points that you will clear most restrictions for entering other races."

That hit one of her main concerns, but this seemed a bit…too small of an expectation when her trainer had put forth an inordinate amount of effort to get her here. "If you don't expect me to aim to win the major races, is your plan for me to serve as a spoiler of sorts? To challenge other runners into burning stamina so Grass Wonder can overtake us all on the homestretch?"

"It does not matter to me which of my trainees win, if the two of you were to compete in the same race." Her answer was smooth, and Toujou-san nodded slightly, a calculating gleam in her eye, looking oddly pleased by this accusation. "Though I will admit that one of my hopes is that the two of your running styles could synergize, giving you both a better chance at winning."

"I see…" Shirogane could see some of the logic, as Grass tended to win by surging down the homestretch. "Which race course does Grass Wonder intend to debut at?"

"I have not actually brought up this matter with her yet."

What.

Toujou-san adjusted her glasses again, before folding her arms across her chest. "I have not been her trainer for very long, and while from what I can see, she is among the more race-ready members of your class, we are still in an adjustment period, so to speak."

So she was telling the truth? Shirogane had expected to play more second fiddle to her more talented teammate, which she assumed would mean she debuted later, so more of the attention would theoretically fall on Grass.

"Then which of the race courses do you suggest I debut at?" Was she misreading how the teams worked? Weren't they aiming to achieve better results for the team as a whole?

"I believe Nakayama would be the best option, for the same reasons you listed earlier, as well as it being where the Satsuki Sho takes place. "

"Then I will train for that course."

Conveniently, Nakayama was not extraordinarily far, so her family could come watch her debut if they wanted to.

---

Pfffffff–

Hooooooopf

Pffffff–

Hooooooopf

Shirogane's lungs burned as her feet pounded up the steep slope of the riverbank, her breathing hampered by the training mask covering her nose and mouth. Her body screamed for oxygen, but she ignored the pain signals, making an immediate about face when she reached the top and dashing straight back down the slope, trying to find the right rhythm to maintain her pace even while descending sharply.

It was a lot more difficult when it was harder to breathe, but with the incline on the homestretch of the Nakayama course, simulating exhaustion would help prepare her for that final segment.

She hit the riverside path and dug her heels in to skid to a stop close to the drop, before turning around and scaling the hill again.

While she had seen the graph of the undulation on the Nakayama course, she wouldn't know what it truly was like until she tested the track for herself. She had used the incline function of a treadmill in an attempt to simulate the topography, but this had only been partially effective since the treadmills available did not allow for a simulation of a downward slope, not to mention the belt being far removed from the terrain of a turf track.

Down.

Of course, the grass on this embankment was unlikely to be similar to the turf at Nakayama, but the feel of the ground would likely be closer.

Up.

Her legs felt heavy, her flesh deprived of oxygen.

Then down.

Her muscles ached as she arrested her downward velocity, straining to stop before she took a dive into the river, something that was feeling a bit more tempting now she was feeling fatigured.

And up again–

"Uwaah!"

Shirogane blinked, shaken out of her training fugue as something pink jumped up in front of her, turning into a pink haired uma waving her arms frantically as she landed unsteadily.

"A ninja?!"

What?

"No." The flat rebuttal slipped out before she could formulate a better response, her mask distorting the sound and making it sound more sinister than she was expecting.

"A villain!" The vaguely familiar uma waved poorly clenched fists in Shirogane's direction, face screwed up in a serious expression for a child. "Urara will stop you!"

"Why?" Shirogane pulled her training mask down, sucking in an unrestricted breath of air, suddenly feeling the fatigue as oxygen flooded into her deprived body. "I was just…running."

"Huh? A Tracen student?" The pink haired uma was dressed in denim overalls over a pink shirt, and now was tilting her head in confusion.

Ah. "You are King Halo's roommate, right?"

"Eh?" The so-called Urara blinked, looking up at Shirogane with curiosity, any hint of aggression gone, though her hands were still held up in sloppy fists. "You know King?!"

"She is my classmate. I wouldn't say we are close, but we are well acquainted."

"King's classmate?! How come Urara never saw her?!" The pink haired girl rubbed her temples with her fists worriedly, her mood changing rather dramatically.

"I am usually quiet." Right, her name was Haru Urara, and from what Shirogane observed, King Halo's exasperated concerns for her roommate were fairly justified. The smaller uma was…unfocused to say the least.

"Ooh, so you are like a ninja! Nin, nin!" She put her hands together into a cartoonish hand sign, eyes now bright with excitement.

"...You could say that, I suppose." Shirogane shrugged. Urara-san was not in her class, even if she remembered the pink haired uma hanging around their classroom occasionally. Mostly talking with King Halo or El Condor Pasa. "Though I am not a ninja."

"Then how did you appear out of nowhere?" Urara-san bobbed up and down like an excited puppy. "Can you teach me?"

"I climbed the embankment from below, that is why you didn't see me until I reached the top." Shirogane gestured down towards the waterway.

"Why did you climb up this way?" the pink uma asked, leaning over the edge of the embankment curiously. "There are stairs over there!" She pointed to the side, where there was indeed a staircase leading down to the riverside path.

"Training." Wasn't it obvious? Then again, the stairs would work fine if she was training for elevation as opposed to running up a hill. "Some race courses have inclines on the homestretch, so I was practicing for that."

"Oooh! Urara understands now!" Pink tail swishing back and forth happily, Urara-san examined the slope with sudden curiosity. "Can Urara try?"

"Yes?" It wasn't as if she needed permission to do so.

"Hmm!" Filled with excitement, Haru Urara bounced over to the stairway and ran down to the riverside path, before running over to below where Shirogane was standing and beginning to clamber her way up.

"Wah!" Her foot slipped, but she caught herself with her hands and managed to clamber all the way up after a few seconds. "This was harder than Urara thought!" She seemed pleased with herself as she stood back up, largely unaffected by her near tumble.

"It wouldn't be very useful training if it were so easy." Shirogane hadn't seen Urara-san train, but surely she understood this concept too?

"But it was fun, and if it's fun, it can't be that hard!" Pink ears twitched in satisfaction at the conclusion, and Shirogane was beginning to understand King Halo's behavior more.

"Having fun does make a task more manageable," she conceded. "Though it does not truly change the physical nature of the task."

"I wanna do it again!"

"You…don't have to wait for my permission."

"Ok!" The pink uma ran over to descend the stairs again, before dashing over to the slope and clambering her way back up. "Yay!"

Had Shirogane not gotten used to the wide range of uma behavior, she might have concluded that Urara-san might have some arrested mental development, but it might just be how she was.

As she watched the cheerful uma run a circuit, it occurred to her that while the stairs would be somewhat detrimental to her goal, running a circuit instead of going up and down the same slope could be beneficial for simulating a track, since there weren't any courses that required a hard stop and u-turn.

Deciding that her impromptu break was over with, she downed some water from her pack and pulled her mask back up, before running down the slope, this time angling herself to turn down the waterside path, passing a waving Urara-san going the other way, before rushing up the slope at a point closer to the stairs, but still running on the grassy part opposed to the concrete.

Hmm…having to switch between running on a flat surface to a decline or incline did feel different than going up and down a slope.

"Whoaa! How did you do that?!"

Urara-san hopped over excitedly, her eyes wide.

"How did I do what?" As far as Shirogane could tell, she hadn't done anything unusual.

"Wah! You sound scary with that mask on!"

Shirogane pulled down her mask again. "What part were you asking about?" The training mask really hadn't been designed for talking through.

"You went down the hill and didn't fall over!"

"That isn't particularly difficult, you simply need to keep your center of gravity balanced." She had gone down the stairs just fine, why was she acting as if running down a hill was something completely different?

"Ooh, I get it!" Shirogane wasn't so sure that was true. "Can I try?"

"I'm not your trainer," she pointed out to her pink schoolmate, "and this is a public area so I can't stop you."

"Ok! Then Urara will try it!"

Without hesitation, she ran down the slope.

"Be careful not to–"

"Waah–!" Boompf!

"-fall into the water…"

Fortunately, the water wasn't too deep, so Urara-san managed to pull herself out without too much trouble.

"Are you alright?" Shirogane called down, just to make sure.

"Urara is fine, hehehe!" the pink haired uma laughed, waving up at her, before shaking herself to throw some of the water off. "Going down means you go faster! It was like Urara was flying! Then I fell into the water."

"I would not recommend falling into the water again."

"Ah…my clothes got all dirty!"

"Then you shouldn't fall into the water."

"Hmm…okay!"

Shirogane considered calling King Halo to come collect her roommate, but then Urara-san ran off down the river path chasing a butterfly, and she was more convinced that the shorter uma had some manner of attention deficiency.

Even so…it was true that going downhill allowed you to build up speed. Here she had been practicing stopping short, focusing on just training for the incline, but perhaps it wasn't the best spot. She wasn't running steeplechase, so she wouldn't have to worry about obstacles aside from the other runners, and if she used the descent like a dive to increase momentum instead of fighting to keep control of her pace, she might be able to temporarily surpass her top speed.

She would have to find a different slope to practice on.

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AN. A little bit less exciting than the last couple of chapters, but not every one is going to be a race. It was rather interesting looking up how different some of the race courses could be, especially in regards to slopes. I had mostly thought they'd make them flat like for human running, but no, only some of them are flat. And somewhat contrary to many other runners, Shirogane is going to want to run on the more difficult tracks so her opponents get more tired.

The next update will likely take longer than this one, since work is going to start getting more busy for me, but it should be hitting around the starting point of the Season 1 anime, with however weird the timeline is.