[A/N: I started using Grammarly to check my grammar now, and I’m also revising the prior chapters to fix any bad grammar. Also, Mock exams. Fewer chapters will be posted a week.]

  “Don’t think about my surroundings… Don’t focus on my opponents…” Her heart raced as she started changing into her form-fitting racer’s blouse of pale blue, accented by three crisp white horizontal hoops across the chest that mirrored the cssic ‘Suzu’ family racing silks.

  The sleeves were tapered and finished with a delicate red ribbon at the wrists, a sharp contrast to the soft white pleated racing skirt, which features a subtle blue gradient hem.

  As she fastened her sprinting white boots with their signature red ces, she took another deep breath before repeating the same sentences over and over, like a chant. “Just run. No need to focus on anything else…” She adjusted the silk red bow tied firmly to her tail, a gift from her mother, to ground her spirit against her stage fright on the track.

  “Fuh… I can do this… Nee-san is watching… Mother is watching…” She steps out of her changing room and enters the tunnel. She can hear the commentator's echo and the audience's.

  “Welcome to the pinnacle of the Cssic season here at Tokyo Racecourse. Today, we will witness the 1984 Tokyo Yushun! These 21 runners are prepared to stake their very souls on the most coveted title. The weather is a glorious, clear blue, the track is 2400m of firm turf.”

  The commentator introduced the race to the audience.

  “The runners are now entering the paddock. The air is thick with tension and rivalry here, folks. You can see the intensity! The racers will be running against the first crown winner, Symboli Rudolf!”

  “First one coming is Suzu Mach!”

  Loud cheers reverberated throughout the stage as she walked out of the tunnel. Her breathing gets harder as she is being oversimuted by the stares and noises from the audience.

  ‘No… I can’t… I-I…” She started to shrink down as she attempted to calm down, but to no avail.

  “Too many eyes…” Her ears fttened as she started panting. “No…”

  In her view, everything starte spiraling around her and the noises started jumbling up, seizing her heart and making her gasp for air.

  However…

  She spots someone standing in front of her, and she doesn’t know who, as she continues staring down at the ground, but she can hear them clearly. Very clearly.

  “Have you forgotten what ground you are standing on?” They said, and Mach froze. She knows this voice very well, but how? She shouldn’t be here, she’s in her junior year!

  “Why aren’t you answering me?” The girl chuckles with a wide grin as she pces her hands on her waist.

  “T-The grass…”

  “Yes. Exactly! So why are you focusing on your surroundings?”

  “I…” Suzh Mach lifted her chin to look at the girl, but she wasn’t there anymore, or more like she wasn’t even there to start with.

  Her eyes widen in shock for a moment before noticing the racers she is racing up against.

  “Oh.” She said softly and gently, she can see them clearly. The cheers and speech from the commentator aren’t triggering her stage fright, and what she feels right now is eerily simir to how she felt when she ran beside Echo Eclipse.

  “We are blessed to run. So why are you letting your surrounding chains you down?” Echo Eclipse voice chuckles right beside her, making her suddenly turn her head to check if Echo Eclipse is truly there. But all she found was nothing. No footprint, nothing.

  Just like a-

  “Echo…” She murmured, her heart was beating as if she had never started having stage fright.

  “Number 4 Symboli Rudolf is entering their gate.”

  The commentator's voice woke Mach out of her trance, and she peered at the gate.

  Without any hesitation, she walked to her gate, as if nothing around her could restrict her. She feels free.

  She chuckles softly as she smiles. She’s going to buy carrot-fvoured sweets for Echo Eclipse as thanks.

  ‘I only ran against her once, and she had this profound effect on me, what a monster.’ She chuckles again, feeling light and free.

  “All racers in their gates!”

  Suzu Parade watches with a stoic expression; anybody near her can feel her intellectual aura emitting from her. Gold Way and Bizen Nishiki are sitting beside her.

  “Did… something happen to my little Mach?” She frowns slightly, she knows about her stage fright and how difficult it is for her to run professionally under the stares of others. This is still a good development for her, nonetheless.

  Bizen Nishiki lets out a proud smirk.

  “I know what happened.”

  Suzu Parade turned her head to Nishiki and pushed up her gsses.

  “Expin.”

  “Echo Eclipse.”

  “... What?”

  Gold Way nodded. “I can support that cim.”

  Suzu Parade looked at them in shock, not believing that a girl in her junior year could cause the change in her little sister.

  “She’s a monster, just like Symboli Rudolf. If you ignore Echo Eclipse's aloof and forgetful personality outside of racing.”

  “Just one mock race. That's all it took for Mach to be changed.” Gold Way added her words ontop of Nishiki.

  “... Hm… Looks like I’ll have to give her my thanks ter.” Suzu Parade leaned back into her seat with a proud smile, proud of her sister being able to challenge her stage fright.

  “1”

  “Go!”

  At that instance, everybody left the gate at the same time. Suzu Mach is running moderately at the start, hanging around 7th and 9th pce.

  She feels free. She doesn’t recognise the stares and talking from the audience or the commentator. She is running, isn’t that right? Echo?

  “Symboli Rudolf is in the lead! Will anybody take the spot or fail?” The commentator hypes up the arena as he comments on other racers. However, nobody tries to surpass Rudolf just yet; they have just started racing. Wasting your stamina at the beginning would lead to them having a terrible performance.

  Luckily, Symboli Rudolf hasn’t run and forcefully increased the pace of the race.

  Sluuuuuuurrp.

  Echo Eclipse pop her lips away from the straw as she watches the race with a smile. “Mh… Delish…”

  Her tail swayed delightedly as she continued drinking her carrot-fvoured drink, she can hear the audience cheer for their favourites.

  Kazuo stared without blinking at the race, observing any mistakes or improvements that Symboli Rudolf should’ve done better; at least Rudolf hadn’t made any mistakes, but there were improvements to be made.

  “Echo.”

  “Yesh?” She responded while drinking.

  “Who do you think will rival Rudolf in this race?”

  “Nobody.” She gulped down before pulling away from the straw; her ears twitched.

  His brows raised at that before chuckling, he tugged down the hem of his hat a bit as he continued watching the race.

  “How about anybody who might be able to rival Rudolf, then?”

  “Mach.”

  “Suzu Mach?”

  “Mh.” She nodded, her eyes locked onto Suzu Mach.

  “Will she beat Rudolf?”

  “Impossible.”

  “I thought so.” He chuckles.

  “But Mach has already entered that pce.”

  “Pce?”

  Echo Eclipse tilted her head a bit.

  “Not a zone… But like a zone?” She tilted her head, she knows what it is, but there is no word for it.

  “...”

  “...”

  “How shocking.” He huffs before crossing his arms.

  “But that won’t be enough for her to win against Rudolf; Rudolf still hasn’t entered the zone yet, and she hasn’t run with all her strength yet.” Echo started humming with a wide smile.

  “They are now approaching the 2nd corner! Symboli Rudolf is still in the lead! Will anybody catch up or fail?”

  ‘I don’t remember when she appeared, but Echo Eclipse is now running beside me. Her presence is a balm to my worries; her way of running makes me feel like nothing is wrong. Just keep running.’ Suzu Mach thought while slowly increasing her speed, overtaking the 7th pce easily before approaching the 6th and 5th pce.

  ‘An echo…’ She thought while breathing heavily before hearing a faint giggling beside her. She knows it came from Echo Eclipse.

  “They are now approaching the final corner and entering the st stretch!” The commentator hypes up the race, as the audience cheers loudly. You could hear chanting of “Symboli Rudol” or other racers name, but Suzu Mach doesn’t hear them.

  “Are you free?” Echo Eclipse said with a grin.

  “No, but while racing. Yes.”

  “Go run. Surprise Rudolf while you’re at it, too.” Her giggle has a mischievous tone before slowly dispersing like a smoke blown away by the wind.

  Suzu Mach stomps down on the ground before accelerating at a high speed, surpassing 5th pce easily and approaching 4th and 3rd pce. They noticed the final spurt of the girl behind them, and they stepped up their gas to ensure Suzu Mach didn’t surpass them.

  But it was too te, Suzu Mach surpassed two of them. Sweat trickled down her skin as she panted.

  “Suzu Mach is making her st dash! Will she be able to take 2nd pce?”

  “They are now approaching the final stretch! Will Rudolf keep the spot as 1st pce?”

  Her body is tired, but the finish line is right there. Giving up will do injustice to that echo of Echo Eclipse. ‘Come on, I haven’t drained all my energy just yet.’

  “Suzu Mach has taken 2nd pce and is now steadily approaching Symboli Rudol!”

  4 length. 3 Length. 2 Length. She is steadily approaching Symboli Rudolf, but she doesn’t desire the recognition from Symboli Rudolf. She just doesn’t want to let Echo Eclipse and her friends and family down.

  “So you see her too,” Rudolf spoke calmly, as if she wasn’t tired at all, but Mach could see sweat and heavy breathing from her thanks to the 2400m length of the race. “Echo Eclipse is born to race. And from her presence, an echo is formed.” She slightly lowered her upper body while increasing the gap between her strides.

  “But you can’t reach me, you aren’t the only one Echo Eclipse had affected.” Her arrogant, dominant tone has returned as she increases her speed; the tense, suffocating, domineering atmosphere intensifies, subtly slowing the racer’s pace.

  “Symboli Rudolf is accelerating! She won’t let Suzu Mach take her pce!”

  “Only Echo Eclipse is allowed to reach and surpass me, not you or anybody else.” Mach can hear her voice loud and clear, despite the cmours and noises around them.

  “3 lengths! 4 Lengths! The finish line is right there, folks! She cements herself as the Emperor once again! The Emperor has come to cim her throne!”

  Suzu Mach watches the back of Symboli Rudolf moving further and further away from her, how beautiful…

  “She crosses the line, folks! She won the second crown! Are we seeing a future Triple Crown Winner?”

  “Ah… Ah… Ah…” Suzu Mach, as she panted, had only reached second pce. But she doesn’t feel sad or angry about it. She lifted her head at the winner, who was doing her signature winning pose. Symboli Rudolf had never looked back at her opponents; they weren’t worthy enough to.

  “Ahhh… I want to see my sister…” She chuckles. “I might never win against you, Rudolf… But at least I showed the world who I am. Not because of my stage fright, but what I could do.” She whispered beneath her breath, but Rudolf still heard it.

  “...” She shrugged before leaving toward the podium, getting ready to be interviewed and for the winning concert.

  …

  ..

  .