“Like a cloud…” She murmurs as she continues jogging with the same heavy cleats in her boots. She takes a sharp inhale before a quick exhale. Closing her eyes for a moment before opening them with a sharp, focused gaze, she feels the sensation of the wind on her skin slipping away. Her consciousness is slowly fading away, yet her mind is clear and sharp.
The first step. The weight of her left leg vanished at the moment she nded her left foot on the turf. Her right leg swung in a stride onward.
The second step. The weight of her right leg vanished as well. She is still jogging when she feels a sudden surge in speed. As if the air friction had disappeared and her very essence shifted to something else.
The Third step. She has become the wind. There is no footprint from her shoes; there is no presence felt, like an echo. A girl who runs to escape the restraints of the ws of the universe.
The fourth step. She had failed to maintain her condition and tumbled onto the ground with no injuries. Dirt and grass stuck to her body and gym clothes.
“Fuh… Fuh… Fuh… Fuh…”
“Three times…” Echo Eclipse's lips curved up as she fisted her hands upward in excitement. She’s finally managed to do the baby steps to be able to run just like those goddesses. It had taken her a month to manage to maintain her condition for three steps.
She hasn’t noticed that she was sweating buckets, and her breathing is rough and shaky.
[System Alert.]
[Ding! Your Unique Skill “Run till the chain breaks” has levelled up to 2.]
June 2nd, 1984. Echo Eclipse’s Unique skill has levelled up, and something innate about her has changed.
Symboli Rudolf entered the clubroom to take a break, taking a deep breath and rubbing her nose bridge once she noticed the pile of sweets on the table. She just cleaned the st pile, too.
“I’m going to have to talk with Suzu Mach about this…” She turned around and froze; she hadn’t seen Echo Eclipse sleeping on the sofa. Her senses haven’t even recognised her nor sensed her, how could that be?
‘Second bloom?’ She thought while she tilted her head, but she didn’t spot any changes in her body, no increase in height either. She thought that it might be that echo version of Echo Eclipse that sometimes appears with her, but she isn’t on the track or running.
“Intriguing… As expected of someone I acknowledged as my rival.” She smiled proudly of her decision and for Echo Eclipse, before waking her up.
“Make some space for me.”
“Nghhh…”
“Don’t ‘Nghh’ me.”
“...”
Echo Eclipse reluctantly folded her body and continued napping, making space for Rudolf to sit on. Symboli Rudolf doesn’t realise that Echo Eclipse's limbs and muscles are in pain, since she had done something she wasn’t meant to do at her level.
“I thought you would still be running out there. Why are you sleeping here?”
“...”
“...”
“...”
“Is she asleep already?” Her brow raised before chuckling to herself, her tail wrapped around the ankle of Echo Eclipse as she leaned back and stretched.
“Ah. Right, the design for her racing silk should be arriving today… Better thanks to your fans, Tracen Academy and my family.” She ruffles Echo Eclipse’s hair, making Echo make an involuntary groan.
…
..
.
“So I just need to give my comments on the design?”
Kazuo nodded as he id out several concept art of what her racing silk should look like. There are many versions of the racing silk, too.
“Kaay~” Echo Eclipse hummed as she looked over the designs.
There are design of which her racing silk has a royal element, such as a tiara, and another design that has steampunk elements. None of them really stuck out for her until she reached the st design.
“This one.” She pointed at it with no hesitation. This racing silk shows who she really is. She gnces at the notes left behind by the designer, of what type of material it is, what it should feel like, etc.
She gnced at the title given to this design. “The Unbounded Wind.”
“That’s what… the commentator called me when I won my first debut race, right?” Her hand turned into a fist as her heart started thumping, as if fate was tempting her to pick this design and wear it once she is racing. And she happily took the temptation.
The trainer chuckles; it didn’t surprise him one bit that Echo Eclipse picked this design. When he and Rudolf first saw it, they initially thought that this was Echo Eclipse's main design. But it wasn’t.
The racing silk is the opposite of how Symboli Rudolf racing silk looks; it doesn’t dominate. It doesn’t conquer. Echo Eclipse’s racing silk is simply… who she is. A free spirit.
She jumps up with extra motivation, she wants to continue training so she can live up to the racing silk. “I’m going out to run!” She shouted before running off. 10 steps, she wants to be able to run up to 10 steps before her first G3 race in a month. Then she wants to run 100 steps before the year ends. The Unbounded Wind, she likes how that rolls off her tongue.
“I’ll be the Unbounded Wind from now on…”
***
She barged into the cssroom with an excited and proud look, her tail swaying happily as everyone noticed that their mascot was wearing a… Racing silk?!
They noticed her midnight-bck cotton velvet bodice, a deep silver colour, the shape of an eclipse, was cinched by a silver brocade sash featuring an intricate crescent moon pattern.
The white Habotai silk bolero jacket rested over her shoulders with wide, unbuttoned "bishop" sleeves, designed to catch the air and billow into infted white sails that trailed like visible gusts of wind. This ethereal top flowed into tiered coattails of stiffened white organdy, which snapped and crackled with every stride to leave a jagged, translucent white wake behind her powerful form.
As she taps the floor with her hand-crafted bck leather racing boots, topped with frothy ruffles of white Chantilly ce that fred like low-hanging clouds, she adjusted the oversized white satin bow at the nape of her neck, letting its three-foot ribbons dance freely as a literal wind-vane for the "Unbounded Wind."
[Here’s the art of how she looks in her racing silk. And yes, I drew it.]
Art
[colpse]
“How does it look?” She spun around, letting the white habotai silk flutter around in front of her cssmates, and she received a round of appuse. Making her feel happy.
It is July 20th now, two days before her first G3 race.
“Damn, Echo~ You might be the first junior year racer to receive a racing silk.” Bizen Nishiki let out a whistle while leaning into Gold Way’s arm, making Gold Way frown as she attempts to study, but is unable to, thanks to her roommate.
“Unfortunately, Nishiki is right. You had gained over 8000 fans from your debut race, leading Central Academy.” Gold Way let out a long exhale before surrendering to her fate.
“Really? That much?” Echo tilted her head, and everyone in the css nodded, excluding Symboli Rudolf, who was called to the current student president to help with the paperwork.
“Anyways! I like wearing this! It’s very light too!” She spun around once again, and the white habotai silk fluttered when she waved her arms in satisfaction.
‘And I feel more freer than usual… Is it thanks to this racing silk?’ She wondered before shrugging, and she tasted a carrot in her mouth. Realising that she was caught up in her thoughts, they were petting her and feeding her sweets.
“Mh… Delish…”
…
..
.
