Rice shower

”Mihono bourbon’s triple crown remains incomplete! The winning horse of the Kikuka-Shō is Rice shower!”

Rice was heaving in air with each breath after the 3000m race. She did it…she defeated Bourbon…fair and square. All that training paid off. She took a big breath and turned to the crowd looking for happy faces and smiles.

”This is…kinda disappointing.”

”We almost got to see an undefeated triple crown!”

More and more comments like that, and even more boo’s. Only harsh cold stares…and the words growing harsher by each syllable. She could hear them. Her smile was wiped from her face, and her big horse ears drooped forward sadly. She stopped looking for you in the stands to avoid the harsh looks. She’ll just find you in the break room…

She politely bowed toward the crowd despite their foul reaction, silently thanking them for watching the race, and proceeded to walk off the turf. Her shoulders were wracking slightly…she promised herself she wouldn’t be a crybaby anymore, even as she sniffled slightly. Using her sleeves and hands to wipe the threatening tears away to be presentable to her trainer. You could tell from her slightly red eyes and unusual demeanor that the crowds reaction bothered her.

She races to be a hero…to make people smile with her racing. There wasn’t a single smile in that crowd…not a single word of praise. She refused to race in the spring Tenno Sho, where Mejiro McQueen would have her third spring Tenno Sho win in a row, she didn’t want to ruin it and make people sad.

You couldn’t blame her…no one wanted her to win. And no one deserves to be boo’d after a fair and square win. Despite her more down than usual mood she was still doing the training you assigned her for the next few months, entering in and losing most races. Then she was nominated through a fan voting to enter a race, in fact, she was the favorite to win it.

It was the first time in while you saw her smile. She still had fans out there, enough fans to put her at the top of a nomination poll for a race. It wasn’t a choice…she HAD to win this one.

Takarazuka Kinen.

The turf was good. The sky cloudy. A soft breeze swept by Rice Shower’s face as she lightly slapped both of her cheeks as she prepared to step into the gate.

A deep breath in. A deep breath out.

“You can do it, Rice… You can do it…”

She told herself. Finally stepping into the gate.

”And they’re off!!”

The enthusiastic announcer exclaimed as each horse girl had a great start. Each falling naturally into their running styles.

In the middle of the third corner, approaching the fourth, Rice was planning her move to overtake the runners ahead.

“Now!”

She shouted in her head as she made a particular dent in the turf with her left foot- before she felt a sharp pain shoot through her left leg.

Her body tumbled forward as it slowed to a stop. Her purple hat crushed under her tumbling. She didn’t even know what happened…pushing herself up on her hands. Her head spinned, her blood dripped from her nose onto the turf, her ears ringing…she couldn’t hear anything. She swears her left leg was in pain but the adrenaline numbed everything.

She looked back at her left leg and-… it looked horrific.

She gasped, tears prickling at her eyes as she averted gaze to the girls far ahead…and then the crowd. Her ears were back to their senses…and all she heard were cheers. Not for the runners ahead, they were looking at her. Smiling at her. Cheering for her. Happy, for her misfortune.*

She took a deep breath as a last ditch effort to suppress the inevitable, before she slowly started sobbing uncontrollably as the pain in her left leg settled in harshly, worse than any fracture. Loud enough to match the crowd as tears poured down her face.

Faster than the medics who were on their way, you leaped over the railing and sprinted to your trainee. But realistically…what could you do? The blue rose from her hat laid crumpled beside her…

“T-trainer!! My foot! It-…it hurts! Everything-…hurts…!”

This…might be the end of her entire racing career.