Masaru’s ears swivel around wildly as she crouch-walks amongst the road, a rectangular box tucked snug under her armpits. The floodlights around the track had long since shut off, leaving the silhouettes of both plunged into darkness. Normcore, though, brushes Masaru’s anxiety aside with a flick of the ears before she flips over the railing.
“As I thought. Dirt’s comparatively looser than Turf.”
She slowly brushes her fingers over the track, then gives the ground a firm stamp. The dirt sinks beneath her feet rather than rebounding like the rubbery sensation of turf.
“Masaru. The Dirt shoes.”
Normcore gestures out with her hands before lowering herself and undoing her sneakers, followed by the crinkling of paper as Masaru tosses her a pair of red ones fresh from the box. Without hesitation she slips them on, then hops a few times, followed by a quick jog on the spot.
“Well, it’s not really like running on turf, but I’ll take it. More grip’s always welcome.”
She lowers her stance slightly and takes off, her footsteps echoing on the track. A frown slowly crosses her face as she slows to a halt before she comes back to the railing. She kicks her legs up as her fingers press towards the front of the shoes.
“Saru, are you sure you got the same horseshoes? These feel a lot more sluggish than my track cleats.”
“Nope, should be the same.” Masaru pulls out her phone and flashes a light on the box. “I think it’s just the Dirt. It absorbs a lot of the force you exert on it simply because of how soft it is.”
“I see the issue.” Normcore puts her hand to her chin. “If I run like I’m on Turf, the top layer of dirt catches behind my horseshoes, and I take the entire thing with me. The friction on the rubber and grass normally catches the bottom of my sneakers, which allows me to put all my strength into pushing forward… but here, I’ll just lose traction and slip.”
She squats down, her brow furrowed.
“So, instead of hitting the floor with the ball of my foot and simply pushing forward… The correct running technique would be to plant my foot down, pack the Dirt firm, and kick off the cluster. Easier said than done, of course, but I’ve got a rough idea of how it works.”
She stands. Masaru watches with concern as Normcore puffs her chest out, then, with a deep breath, she slams her foot down and kicks off… on a glorious journey of one step before faceplanting into the dirt.
“Norm!”
“Ack- omph...” She rolls onto her back, winded by the impact of the fall. “Dirt’s a lot firmer than I thought it’d be.”
She slings herself into sitting upright before thrusting a stopwatch at Masaru.
“Okay. For real this time. Time me.”
Thumpf. Small chunks of dirt fly off the path as Norm takes off again. Her footsteps echo as her silhouette round the first and second corner, then slowly fades into silence. Only the backdrop of her body could be seen in the faint moonlight, her hair rippling in the wind as she comes back around.
She comes round the final corner with an extremely sloppy spurt, veering way too wide from the railing. Her acceleration on the straight was no better, sputtering out like a dying car engine before she could reach maximum speed.
“L-Look. I know it’s bad. Just tell me the-”
“Three minutes.” Masaru lights up the surface of the stopwatch. Norm scratches the back of her head with an awkward chuckle, thanking the three goddesses for moonlight not being bright enough to illuminate her bright red face.
“On a practice track?” Norm shuddered. “Nevermind the time then. I gotta get used to the technique first.”
And so it was decided. Masaru slowly swung side to side on the hilltops as Normcore ran in the dark, occasionally coming to a stop before refueling on water and snacks. The sound of footsteps slowly drifts into ambience as her head began to droop against the backdrop of night, until-
“Saru. Let’s head back.” Someone pats her on the shoulder.
“Eh?” She snaps awake on the grass, drool trickling down the corner of her lips. She wipes away what little remained before scurrying after her and packing up the sneakers into the box. The nightly summer breeze brushes softly over her, causing her to shiver.
“How long was I asleep?”
“No clue. But it’s almost three.”
Masaru checks her phone- Norm was right. They had headed out around ten, meaning she had been solo training for almost five hours in the dark.
“I’ve got a good idea of how Dirt running’s supposed to work.” Normcore nods. “I’ve only got to drill in the technique now.”
Her head and body softly glistens in sweat as she moves. Specks, chunks, and streaks of mud stuck to the pants and back of her tracksuit, ones that had flown off the track and migrated with the help of a new host. The underside of her silvery tail practically filled itself with dry mud specks, and her eyes remained forward despite a lack of objects to observe. Slowly, she runs a hand across her chin as if deep in thought.
“Uh, Norm?” Masaru’s concerned tone immediately snaps her out of her stupor. “The door’s locked…”
She yanks on the gate to the dormitories. The door rattles in its frame. A hushed silence falls over the two, staring at the card reader that had a red dot on it.
“We don’t have an access card, do we?”
The two collectively shoot a look towards the lit office by the door. They would definitely be logged by the security guard if they asked for the door to be opened.
“Let’s head around. See if there’s any windows left open.”
The two scurry along the first floor, feeling up windowsills that were long since overgrown with plants. Most of them were shut tight and bolted from the inside.
“No good. Even if we get inside, we’ll be in someone’s room…”
“There.” Normcore spots a window open by the second floor. “Isn’t that the supply closet?”
“Yeah. We can get back inside through there.”
The two frantically look around.
“Drainage pipe. I’ll try and scale it.”
The shoebox goes through the window after a few tries. Masaru hops and grabs onto the rusty pipe. The metal groans softly under her hands as she pushes off the notches, slowly pulling herself up.
“Uwaa! It’s all rusty and… crumbly…”
She shudders slightly, her ears plastered to her head. Normcore follows her to the base of the pipe, watching her ascend. Once there she reaches out for the windowsill, but can’t quite reach it. She leans sideways a bit, straining, stretching.
Crack.
The sound makes both their ears fly up. Normcore’s blood runs cold. She rushes towards the pipe as a second crack is heard, the rusty pipe suddenly snapping clean in half from Masaru’s weight-
“AAAAAA!”
She feels the shift beneath her as the pipe tilts, columns of bolts and screws giving away like a series of buttons popping off. Her body seizes up as she braces for impact, the world shifting and turning as she awaits the inevitable painful crash… but it doesn’t come. The pipe halts in midair as if suspended.
“Ghhh… Go! Masaru!”
She stares down. Normcore was straining against the base with all she had, teeth clenched, trying to pull the pipe back towards her like a gigantic lever.
“Grab the window! Hurry!”
Masaru looks up. The windowsill is right in her reach. She grasps onto it with a firm handle, kicking herself up and over not a second too soon. The base snaps, giving complete where Normcore had held it, one part falling towards her and the rest crashing against the overgrown grass behind the courtyard.
“Haaah.. Haaff…”
Cold sweat covers both girls as they come down against the floor, panting, lethargic from the crash of adrenaline. Masaru’s ears then shoot up as she peeks over the window, realizing that Norm was now alone on the ground floor. Unpurturbed, she throws a thumbs up in response and lies back down on the grass.
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“Norm! Hold on, I’ll figure something out-”
Brooms. Buckets. Mops. Nothing here could help unless she tossed stuff down to build a tower. But that would be too obvious. Her eyes fly towards the fire hose- but she wanted to avoid breaking the glass if possible.
“I’m alright! I’ll stay here till tomm-”
“No can do! I’m getting you up!”
She doesn’t even hesitate to respond and yet regrets it almost immediately. She frantically throws her hands over the storage closet in the dark, feeling around for anything- a maintenance ladder, perhaps?
“Why don’t you make your way down to the front and open the door?”
“Are you crazy? The security guard’s gonna see us!”
“Oh. Right…” Masaru could practically see the ears droop from 2 stories up. Masaru grits her teeth and grabs a broom, fully intent on swinging it at the glass cover-
“Throw me a blanket! I’ll sleep on the grass!” Normcore yells through the window.
“Blanket- Blankets!” Masaru pauses, her eyes landing on a box of fresh, unopened linen. “Norm! You’re a genius! Hold on!”
She joins the fabric together with knots, pulling them sturdy at the ends before slowly lowering the rope down towards the first floor. She begins to pull as Normcore begins to climb, until finally-
“Umph!” Normcore collapses onto the floor with a triumphant gasp. For a while, nothing is said, the two catching their breath with ragged breaths on the cold concrete, surrounded by linen that was now both slightly torn and dirty. The darkness is all consuming.
“I really thought I was gonna spend a night down there…”
“Let’s move. We can rest when we get back inside.”
“You’re a lifesaver, Saru.” Normcore stands with a smile on her face, softly massaging her now screaming muscles.
“Don’t be, I owe you one too…”
The two make their way back inside without trouble, crouching beneath the windowsills to not cast shadows in the hallway. The sleep comes with zero issues, both of them passing out the second their head hits the pillow.
Laughter. Footsteps. Normcore finds herself running upon a countryside path.
“Catch up, Norm! You’re gonna get left behind!”
“Slow down, sis! I’m not as fast as you!”
The words felt foreign to her. The place felt foreign to her. Everything felt wrong, and yet there was a sensation of familiarity so warm it belied all her senses. She was laughing. Her chest seized up with each breath, but she was elated. The wind ruffled through the hair as she chased behind a silver-haired figure before her.
“It’s okay. Here.”
She extends a hand, the bright sunlight covering her face as the figure turns. It was as if the memory of her face had been washed clear like words written on sand, and all she could remember was the smell of the sea breeze where she wrote them.
Their fingers lock together tightly. Her hand is warm, toasty, like a lit fireplace on a cold winter evening. The world was bright and fuzzy. Everything gleamed and glittered with light, her eyes drinking in the sensation until she was filled to the brim with nostalgia. She was floating through the landscape, warping slowly through the winding path until they came to a stop by a mountainside clearing.
“Don’t go. I’d miss you.”
“I have to go, Norm.” The figure replies with a soft chuckle. “Everything has to come to an end. It’s better to enjoy the warmth while it lasts.”
“Where are you going?”
“Tracen.” She replies. “I’ll be running in the Twinkle Series.”
“At the Fukushima Racecourse?”
“Not just Fukushima, Norm. I’ll be racing over all of Japan.”
“The Nakayama racecourse too?”
“Of course. Nakayama, Tokyo, Sapporo, Kyoto…”
She sounded happy, yet there was a wistful note in her voice. She places a soft hand on Normcore’s head, rustling her ears with a soft pat.
“But of course, it wouldn’t be the same without you.”
“Can I come with you then?” She blurts out a question. Too fast. Too naive. One that makes her sister chuckle.
“Only if you can keep up. Tracen only takes the best of the best.”
“I will! I’m not stopping till I catch up!” Norm lets out a small pout, puffing her chest out like she had been personally challenged by the notion.
“Norm! Chrono! Where are you?”
Her sister’s response is cut short by an abrupt voice calling in the distance. The two of them turn in unison. “Mother’s getting restless. Let’s head back.”
Without warning, she takes off.
“Last one home is the loser!”
“Huh? No fair!” Normcore spins around equally as fast, racing behind her sister with all she can muster. It’s no use. Chrono’s figure disappears into the sunlight, growing brighter by the second until-
“Ngh…” Normcore shuffles around in her bunk. Sunlight bleeds through the curtains, a strip directly landing on her face. She finds herself sprawled out unceremoniously upon the bedsheets, the blanket only covering half of her body.
One name lingers on her mind, like echoes of a past forgotten.
“Chrono… Chrono…” She mutters to herself. “Who..?”
She sits up, nearly hitting her head in the process. The will to sleep had dissipated completely, despite Masaru still sound asleep in the top bunk. She runs a hand through her hair, squeezing out a tired groan as she climbs out of bed.
She blinks. The clock read seven twenty-eight. Somehow, the two of them had managed to doze through the blaring noise of the alarm. Forget breakfast- they were almost late for first period training.
“Saru! Saru!” She shakes her awake aggressively.
“Huh..? Wha?”
“It’s seven thirty! We gotta go!”
“It’s s- se-” The words don’t register in her head for a full five seconds. Then her ears shoot up into the air, followed by the puffing of her tail. “It’s what?!”
The door flings open, two figures tumbling out comedically, careening past the doorway and scrambling to gain traction on the floor as they throw on their sneakers.
“Yabai! Yabai! Fatty’s gonna kill us!”
They practically sprint to the training field where the session was scheduled, only to find it empty. Masaru leans down, hands on her knees, trying to catch her breath.
“By the three- goddesses- I think- we- just- barely made it…”
“Where’s our trainer?” Norm shields her eyes, looking around, yet there wasn’t even a shadow of his pudgy belly on display. The man normally would’ve been present long ago, primed to holler at his trainees for daring to be a second late.
“Guess he’s not here yet. Let’s warm up.”
Five minutes turned into ten, then became half an hour, and there was still no sign of Kentaro. Normcore didn’t mind the freedom, she just enjoyed running on the track and testing her time.
“Huff… Huff…”
“You’re a bit slower than usual, Norm. Is it all the dirt running you did last night?”
“Has to be. It’s messing up my rhythm.”
She slowly wipes her forehead and stands upright. She wasn’t going to improve by simply running, and there was no use switching to the tracks. Her mind wanders back to her last race… and a lightbulb goes off.
“Hey, Saru. I wanna test something. Can you go grab the cones?”
“Cones?” Masaru confusedly retrieves a stack of training cones. “What are you..?
“Lay them out in whichever way you want. Around the track.” Normcore says as she begins to tie a bandana over her eyes.
“Are you blindfolding yourself?”
“Yeah. I wanna test something.”
The silver thread. She had spotted a path through the thick of the pack back then.
It was something that happened in the heat of the decision, but she was going to see if she could replicate it in a controlled environment. She lowers her body and primes herself for the run. She lifts the blindfold once, taking in the position of each cone for a split second… then takes off.
Thump. Her sneakers slam against turf as she rapidly approaches the first curve, barreling forward with seemingly no regard for the railing.
“Norm! Watch-”
Normcore was moving before Masaru’s warning even hit the air. She evades the first cone placed at the corner with a well timed sidestep, and then perfectly rounds the inside lane. Not a single step was misplaced. She hops, weaves, her figure switching in and out of a sea of orange plastic.
Masaru’s jaw practically hits the floor.
“Yes! Just like I thought!” A triumphant cheer leaves Norm as she rounds the first corner. “It’s like I can see everything at once!”
“That’s amazing! How are you- Norm! Heads up!”
“Eh?” Normcore falters for a split second. Her brain, in all its ecstacy, had completely forgotten to turn the second corner. “Gyah! Ghnnf-” She connects with the railing with a hard clang, sending her flying head first over the guardrail and faceplanting into the grass with a groan.
“Owwwww…”
“What the heck was that?” By the time the world stopped spinning, Masaru had made her way over with a concerned look on her face. “You were doing so well.. And then you ran into the guardrail like you didn’t know how tracks worked.”
“E-Ehehe...” Norm sheepishly scratches the back of her head, lifting her blindfold. “I got too excited and lost focus.”
“Still. That isn’t normal. Were you… running off instinct?”
“Not quite.” She gets up. “The first part was pure memory. I took a look and memorized the positions of the cones. Then, I visualized myself as a part of the track, mapping out each individual opponent’s location accordingly from what I could remember.”
“What if you… thought wrong?”
“Well, these blindfolds don’t completely blind me. I could still see out of the corners of my eye. By counting the number of support beams I had passed on the railing, I could pinpoint how far I had travelled on the track.”
She points towards the railing.
“Practice tracks like these are usually 1600 meter tracks. Because it’s a multiple of 400, the track is considered standard distance. The JRA has a strict regulation on the construction of standard distance tracks- they mostly follow the same blueprint, meaning the number of railings on the stretch and corners are usually the same.”
Masaru turns, stares at the railings, and then looks back at Normcore with a baffled look.
“You… since when did you..?”
“Ah.” Her tail spikes up in panic. Her gaze conveniently darts in the other direction. “...Photographic memory. I have a tendency to remember stuff like that.”
Masaru doesn’t look very convinced. But she doesn’t press.
“So… That means you can see the track from a third person view then?”
“Not quite. In a real race, my opponents would be moving. Trying to keep track of multiple targets on the move would fry my brain.” She puts her hand to her chin. “I gotta figure out a more efficient way to do this.”
A loud roar from the other end of the track sends both of them flinching.
“You two! What the hell is all this?!”
“Eep!”
“Goofing off, are we? Clean it all up! Right now!”
On a lighter note, here's a documentation of my intrusive thoughts while writing this chapter.
She joins the fabric together with knots, pulling them sturdy at the ends before slowly lowering the rope down towards the first floor. She begins to pull as Normcore begins to climb, until finally-
“Umph!” Normcore collapses onto the floor with a triumphant gasp. For a while, nothing is said, the two catching their breath with ragged breaths on the cold concrete, surrounded by linen that was now both slightly torn and dirty. The darkness is all consuming.
This contributed to Normcore's growth!
Power went up by 10.
Guts went up by 5.
Friendship with Masaru Seaside increased by 7.