Sunlight trickles its way through the only window in the room, lighting up dust lazily drifting about. Katsura Oscar stood on one end of the room, her nose held high as ever, whilst her trainer and a suited man sat face to face by the table at the other.

  “Mr. Goutarou. We must emphasize again that what has happened is absolutely unacceptable.”

  “Yes, yes, I understand.”

  Goutarou’s expression was unreadable beneath the shadow of his hat. He sat upright in his chair, his back stiff as wood, one arm on the table with the other tightly clenching his clipboard.

  Katsura had not one shred of remorse or shame in her face, though neither did she harbor a smile or smirk. Her expression was all but robotic.

  “If Tracen is to accept her as a student, this behavior absolutely cannot continue.” The suited man slowly adjusts his tie.

  “It will not happen again.” Goutarou replies, a split second too hasty. “I will make sure of it.”

  “Very well. Then the invitation to the Saudi Arabia R.C. shall stand, on the condition that she issues a formal apology to her competitor.”

  Katsura’s ears twitch.

  “Huh? Are you out of your-” She turns sharply, her entire body stiffening as her eyes widen with indignance.

  “Katsura.” Goutarou’s voice comes through the room with a firm echo, an edge scraping at the ends of his tone that threatens to snap. He doesn’t raise his voice, he doesn’t yell- yet she falls silent, feeling a chill run down her spine.

  “Yes… trainer.” She falters for a split second before deflating, her ears drooping to the side of her head. She shuffles back towards the wall, hands tucked away between her legs, her nails digging into the palms of her hands.

  “Rest assured, I will see this situation resolved.” Goutarou replies, a string of anger in his voice that made her shudder. “Thank you for your generosity.”

  He makes his way out the door, gesturing silently for Katsura to follow. She obeys, following suit without looking back.

  “Am I… underwater?”

  Normcore feels herself slowly sinking against darkness. Bubbles rise up beneath her and towards the surface, streaks of light softly shimmering alongside the rippling waves.

  “Chains?”

  She reaches out towards the surface, her fingers grasping at air. She finds shackles instead- metallic cuffs wrapped tightly around her ankles and wrists, chaining her to the abyss by slips of paper.

  “I can’t shake them loose… why?”

  She tries lifting her leg. No use, she’s being pulled deeper by the second now. A panicked gasp rips from her throat, bubbles rising to the surface as she begins to toss and thrash.

  Only now was the sensation of water rippling through her lungs, pain shooting up her body as she violently convulses in the water. She coughs, gasping for breath, the world starting to go dark once more-

  “It’s okay, Normcore. I’m here.”

  A glowing figure floats through the darkness. She wraps her arms around Normcore, her silvery hair floating around her like a blanket.

  She recognized her, yet she couldn’t quite figure where. Her face was serene like a spring breeze, flooding her body with calmness. Normcore stares into the figure’s soft gaze, who lets out a smile warmer than sunlight.

  “Follow me. You’re going to be okay.”

  The two ascend towards the surface. The light blinds her alongside the sensation of fresh breath…

  “Gah!”

  “Aaaaah!”

  She shudders awake, flailing upright with a pounding pain in the back of her head and covered in cold sweat. She slowly shifts her head around, finding herself in the dressing room once more, staring into the face of a very startled Masaru.

  “Norm!” She practically flings herself over, her face burning with concern. “Are you okay? Is anything broken?”

  Normcore shuffles upright in her seat. Stiffly inspecting herself, she finds a dozen gauze and bandages slapped onto her, parts of her body still stinging with pain.

  “Norm? Norm? Say something!”

  Masaru waves her hand in front of Normcore’s eyes. Normcore lets out a slow blink.

  “I’m fine.”

  “Thank goodness.” Masaru scurries across the room and pulls out a water bottle. “You gave us all a good scare. Talk about a heart-stopping last stretch…”

  Normcore uncorks the bottle and slowly takes a sip. The pain subsides alongside her headache, her body visibly relaxing with each gulp. Yes, she was covered in cuts, but she figured things couldn’t be too bad, or she’d wake up in the hospital instead.

  “That witch- ugh! I always knew she might play dirty, but I didn’t realize she’d be bold enough to pull something like that.” Masaru’s expression turns to disgust. “Thank god she got disqualified… What a sore loser.”

  The bottle crunches in Normcore’s hands.

  Disqualification. The word almost feels insulting to Normcore. She should be feeling relieved. Happy. Perhaps even a little vindictive. Instead, she felt.. hollow. The victory wasn’t a proof of her strength, it was a proof of Katsura’s cruelty.

  “B-But you’re fine, at least.” Masaru quickly interjects, seeing the expression on Normcore’s face. “They almost wheeled you out on a stretcher. Then it turned out you were pretty stable save for a bunch of cuts, so they decided against it.”

  “I see.” Normcore lets out a sigh. “Huh? What’s this?”

  She spots a letter on the table, reaching over and lifting it- Her heart skips two beats as she spots Tracen’s seal on the envelope.

  “No way!” She lets out a laugh.

  “Some dude in a suit dropped it off earlier.” Masaru says. “Kentaro was not happy. He was in a pretty bad mood already, but you should’ve seen him after the guy left. Threatened to tear up the letter and all.”

  “Sucks to suck. I’m off to Tracen.”

  Normcore rips open the envelope, two tickets flutter to the ground, curbing her enthusiasm with confusion. She picks up the letter and begins to skim.

  “Congratulations for your stellar performance today, condolences for not being able to deliver this in person, blah blah blah…” she reads down. “As such, Tracen is happy to invite you to attend-”

  Her ears shoot upright, followed by a dramatic droop.

  “-the upcoming Unicorn Stakes. Should you place yourself fifth or higher, the academy would be happy to process your enrollment.”

  She sighs and pushes off the armrests.

  “So even that wasn’t enough to convince Tracen- gah!” Her body crashes to the floor with a loud thud, her knees buckling in an instant. She groans. The risk she took during the race had spectacularly backfired.

  “Norm! What’s wrong?!”

  She couldn’t feel her legs.

  “My legs fell asleep…”

  Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.

  Everything from the waist down was numb with static, the rest moved like wet noodles. She slowly pulls herself back up with Masaru’s help, kicking her legs around to see if she could get them to wake up.

  “Wait. Do you hear that?”

  Both of them freeze on the spot. Their ears shoot up into the air- the sound of footsteps. Heavy, angry footsteps.

  “What do you mean it doesn’t count? Katsura finished first! It counts! It one hundred percent counts-”

  BAM. Both of them flinch, the door flying open alongside the sound of splintering wood- Kentaro had arrived. “Get the cash back. I don’t care what it takes.”

  He huffs and hangs up his call, his stomach heaving aggressively. His face puffs up with a bright red color as he turns to Normcore.

  “What the hell was that, you? That- that-”

  His phone crinkles in his grip. A vein was bulging from his forehead, droplets of spit flying from his lips as his teeth audibly grind against one another. He looks like he wants to say something, yet all he could manage was incoherent sputtering.

  “Don’t think for a second you’re hot shit! You got lucky!” He eventually slams his hand on the table. “I’m the one in charge here! Me! Don’t you ever pull a stunt like that again, or I’m gonna beat you black and gre-”

  Goutarou appears at the doorway with a somber expression. Masaru and Normcore, frozen like deer in headlight, slowly let out a sigh of relief.

  “Hmph. It’s you, Shinji.” Kentaro turns towards the door. “What do you want?”

  The man turns, gesturing at the corridor. Katsura shuffles into the doorway, looking like she had swallowed a dead rat. A deathly aura of barely-controlled anger burns around her, slowly seeping into the room like smoke.

  “I would like to apologize.”

  She closes her eyes and grits her teeth before giving the stiffest bow Normcore had ever seen.

  “What I have done is unacceptable. I will make sure it never happens again.”

  Her voice is cold. Robotic. Strained- like fragments of glass being dragged across pavement. She doesn’t even spare a glance at Normcore as she grinds out each word, the sound muffled like they had been spoken through cotton.

  No one says a word- Normcore knew the apology was more hollow than an eggshell. She shuffles uncomfortably, still half clinging to the tabletop with her arms like a floater. The room plunges into silence, only for Kentaro to speak up with a tone she had never thought he could muster.

  “You know how it is. Girls get catty, claws come out. Nothing worth all this noise.” He waves her off. “It’s all water under the bridge now. ”

  Normcore shoots Masaru a bewildered glance, whose ears were starting to rise up-

  “Trainer! That’s for Normcore to decide!”

  “Quiet! This doesn’t concern you!”

  Masaru tosses back a frustrated glance, biting back on her tongue. Her tail swings around agitatedly, though she decides to help Normcore up instead.

  “Now. You’ll be a good girl and accept her apology, won’t you?” Kentaro asks. His voice dipped into something syrupy, but the edges were jagged. It was the kind of sweetness that left cuts in your mouth, sounding like a mouthful of fangs. A shudder runs down Normcore’s spine- she would’ve preferred it if Kentaro had shouted.

  “You’re above clinging onto petty things like these, aren’t you?”

  Petty things? Normcore blinks- she could’ve died. The apology was hollow, but she wasn’t getting anything else out of Katsura even if she pressed the situation.

  “Apology accepted.” She replies back in an equally dry tone.

  “If that is the case, then we shall take our leave.” Goutarou’s eyes pierce through the tension, looking like he wishes to say something more- before turning and beginning to leave.

  Kentaro’s smile lasted exactly till Goutarou’s figure disappeared down the hall.

  “You.” He snarls, storming over and jabbing a pudgy finger into Normcore’s forehead. “You have no idea how much trouble you’re in. And don’t think for a second I’m letting you run in the Unicorn Stakes.”

  Something hot bubbles up inside Normcore. Before she can catch herself, she bites back.

  “You can’t stop me. That’s my decision to make.”

  “Is it, now, you little shit?” Kentaro yanks her forward by the collar, his face so close she could smell the garlic on his breath. “You think you belong in Tracen? You think you’re worth more than the dirt you race on?”

  His bloodshot eyes bear into her own.

  “They don’t want you at Tracen. If they did, they’d have enrolled you. This invitation? It’s a formality to weed out the weak. Face it. You belong in the dirt right where Katsura sent you.”

  He forcefully pushes her away, sending her stumbling wildly. A sharp pain shoots up the back of her head as she slams into the wall with a loud thud. Masaru lets out a terrible shriek as Normcore crumples to the floor, clutching her head with her ears pinned flat.

  “Now get out of my sight.” He throws his hand up in the air before storming out the door.

  Her head throbbed, tears pricking at the corners of her eyes. Anger bubbles up her throat alongside her ragged gasps, fierce and hot, yet she forces herself to inhale slowly, letting it coiled and simmer instead of exploding outwards.

  “Oh, my god. Oh, my god.” Masaru scrambles over, her ears plastered back. Her voice strained like she was about to cry. “Are you okay? Norm?”

  Normcore lets out a long breath like she was deflating, her head slowly lowering.

  “No. Not really.”

  “You can’t let him get to you. You have to run there no matter what.” Masaru walks over and picks up the tickets. “Don’t let Kentaro win. You have to prove him wrong.”

  She throws herself under Normcore’s left arm and tries to lift her up.

  “Run your way to Tracen. You do belong. You’ve done nothing wrong, so don’t go beating yourself up thinking he’s got a point… he doesn’t!”

  There’s a knock at the door. Both of them freeze, ears shooting upright. Their eyes dart towards each other, then forward, tails anxiously swinging.

  Creak. the door opens.

  “Excuse me…” a fresh-faced looking worker peeks his head in. “Miss Normcore? Practice for the Concert is starting and the others are already in place. I was wondering when you’d be..?”

  “Eh? Concert?” Her eyes blankly stare back.

  “Ah! The concert!” Masaru shrieks. “Norm, you’re the winner! You’re center stage tonight!”

  Cold sweat starts to cover her. She didn’t even remember which song they were performing, much less any of the choreography. Her legs felt like gelatin.

  “Is it too late for them to wheel me out on a stretcher, Saru? I-I uh- I’ve got a headache…”

  Her half-baked excuse did not bail her out of concert duty.

  They patched makeup and little band-aids on her to cover up the scratches. She did a few routine practices- which she completely bombed- causing one of the coordinators to lead her into a separate room and drill her on dance moves nonstop for two hours.

  She felt dead before she even stepped on stage.

  Surprisingly, however, the performance didn’t implode in spectacular fashion. Her heart was pounding as she lined up beside the others, yet the nerves vanished the second the curtain lifted. She let out a small chuckle, spotting Masaru wildly waving a pair of glowsticks, somehow having wormed her way to the front row.

  The music starts. Her body began to move on its own, the singing and dancing not as unpleasant as she imagined it would be. It felt good to sing her heart out, even if she had to rely on muscle memory for half the lyrics. The dancing sent a pleasant sensation rustling through her veins, almost as pleasant as running.

  Well… The adrenaline crash that came after was anything but.

  She practically deforms into a blob backstage, slithering out of her stage dress and slipping her tracksuit back on. By the time she'd snapped out of her nap and mustered the energy to stumble outside, the sky was pitch black, and the only figure waiting outside was Masaru. Kentaro had long since returned to the hotel.

  She lets out a long sigh, some part of her feeling vaguely empty. It wasn’t exactly the race that bothered her, she knew she won that fair and square. Knowing Kentaro, vile and untrustworthy as he was, had chosen to leave rather than watch her, felt like a rejection of not just her value as a racer but also of the victory she had worked so hard to clinch.

  “Don’t be so down. You did really well.”

  The two slowly stroll under the golden hue of flickering streetlights, the only commotion being the cars which seldom zipped by. Normcore feels a breeze rush over her face, causing her to yank her collar tighter.

  “I know. But some part wishes fatty was here to see.”

  “Wha- him? He’d be on his phone the whole time. Why would you even want his approval anyway? You hit your head too hard?”

  The two come to stop at an intersection.

  “Well, it’s not like I wanted his approval. More like… I mean, he’s my trainer and all.” Normcore scratches the back of her head and sighs. “I kind of expected him to show up. Then again, I guess I just needed someone to watch me dance, someone who was supposed to be there.”

  “Are you serious, Norm? There were like, a thousand people watching you dance.”

  “Yeah, but I don’t know any of them. What if they weren’t here for me?”

  “Don’t be dumb. If they weren’t, they wouldn’t have stayed.” Masaru elbows her in the arm. “You need to be more confident in yourself, girl, I could see the hesitation in your eyes when you were on stage.”

  “R-R-Really?” Her tail spikes out as she practically jumps on the spot. “I didn’t think it showed…”

  “Geez, girl. You sound like a trainer who thinks the world’s ending because his horse lost one race.” Masaru yawns. “It’s not that deep. The dance is for your fans anyway.”

  “Ah. Ahaha.” A memory bubbles up inside her. Normcore slowly pushes it back down, avoiding Masaru’s gaze in the process. “Yeah, you’re right…”

  The light turns yellow. A hasty driver runs the light before it turns red, a gust of wind rushing over both of them.

  “Why were you so skittish? You think you didn’t deserve the win?”

  “Where’d that come from?” Normcore blinks. “I won, didn’t I?”

  The words felt hollow in her mouth. She didn’t sound sure.

  She was less looking for an answer from Masaru and more searching for one within herself. She tries to look like it didn’t bother her, yet her tail starts to swing in an agitated haste. Being handed the win on a technicality felt… frustrating. It felt less like a victory and more like a consolation prize, a patronizing pat on the head for the girl who got knocked down.

  "Yeah, you did. And there's always the next one, so don't beat yourself up."

  “I guess…”

  The light changes. Masaru begins to cross the street. Normcore, lost in thought, snaps awake as the crosswalk begins to flash with “DON’T CROSS”.

  “W-Whoa! Wait up! Don’t leave me here, Masaru!”