[Uma Musume: Pretty Derby fan fiction]
All grown up, just as Mejiro McQueen thought things would settle into something stable, Tokai Teio brought up changes neither of them expected, with long-reaching consequences.
She was typically punctual, but if anyone could wake even earlier than her, it would be her even stricter roommate.
Not that the strictness was ever forced onto her. In fact, said roommate was probably the most understanding person she'd ever met, with a lot of space for tolerance. But not for herself, of course. To her, punctuality is a matter of discipline; and discipline, in turn, is a matter of mastering one's own self. She simply built discipline, and punctuality naturally follows. Or so she said, at least. No telling how much of that is true.
What was true, however, was that her early waking gave Mejiro McQueen a much-needed wake-up call, because her phone alarm had failed to rouse her from under her pillow. How did it get there, anyway?
"I've prepared breakfast," the roommate whispered kindly. "Wake up. You'll be late."
"Mmm."
McQueen could barely manage to vocalize any other sound, but she woke up quickly otherwise. She felt like she'd just dreamt of something embarrassing, so thankfully, waking up gave her a chance to forget. She did not miss it for the world.
The nice aroma of toast wafted its way throughout their three-room apartment, and McQueen finally left the bed to wash up. The last shreds of her sleepiness wore off with every step she took, and she realized just then how much her roommate had prepared for her before she woke.
It was probably imprecise for McQueen to refer to Ikuno Dictus as her roommate, as they no longer were. Sure, they shared a dorm room back when they were in Training Center Academy, but that was years ago. McQueen herself hadn't kept count. How long ago was that, six years? Seven? She should probably check her calendar later to be sure.
When McQueen finished dressing up, Dictus had just about finished her own breakfast. "Early day today," she said promptly before flashing a small smile. "Early home as well, hopefully."
"May it be so, then," McQueen replied as she took her breakfast. "Thank you, Ikuno-san."
"And good morning to you too."
With that, Dictus left for work. McQueen checked her watch. There's still time. There's no need to rush.
Apart from the early wake-up, it was a rather silent morning, and Mejiro McQueen took her time with her little breakfast.
*
The thing about being the pride of the Mejiros was that no one really dared getting in McQueen's way, especially at work. McQueen was well aware of this privilege, and she had no complaints. Quite the contrary, in fact—she embraced it, and she decided to make full use of what her family had given her.
With one brilliant star after another, the Mejiro family actually had more than enough money to keep McQueen alive and satisfied until it was her time to go. The earnings from back when she ran on the turf were more than enough to guarantee her life and then some for many, many years to come. It was McQueen herself, however, who insisted to go to work.
"No matter how you look at it, I am still a citizen," she explained before her Grandmother. "And I have a duty to give back to the people who had given me. I no longer race, Grandmother, so I will give back through another way."
The least her family could do was ensure that she would live the rest of her life swimmingly, and McQueen settled with at least as much. They also decided to let her keep her earnings. She would need it more than they do, they said.
Said earnings, however, mostly collected dust in her account save for a few exceptions, because McQueen quickly realized that the first order of business with living alone was to find a sustainable way to make money, and that is—clearly—what a job is for. So a job was what she went for, and a job was what she got.
Surprising even to her, she was quickly placed on the important role of liaising with other companies—or, at least, as a junior staff on the team. She was to quickly learn the ropes herself, and according to the director, if things went smoothly, she would be landing her own projects in around a year or two, maybe even less.
Her work today, however, was mainly to continue writing up a detailed report on the discussions she had yesterday to hand over to the corpdev team analysts. So after the usual greetings, her first order of business was to boot her computer up and take out her notes. All writeups are better while fresh in the memory, after all.
It was then that her phone rang a soft two-tone, telling her a personal message had arrived. A personal message from one very particular person, in fact, that McQueen couldn't help but check at once.
TOKAI TEIO I'm not sure how to say this, but I think I should let you know
McQueen raised her eyebrows, thought for a while, and typed in.
MEJIRO MCQUEEN What is it, so early in the morning?
It was immediately marked as Read, but the reply did not come right away. McQueen tapped on the side of her phone a few times, a little anxiously, before deciding to put her phone down and continue her work. Teio didn't usually use such a serious tone, or even contacted her so early. It was like a habit: as soon as lunch break came, Teio would message her first, and she would reply as soon as she was unoccupied by all the socializing she had to do when liaising. Teio was never in a rush for a reply, and McQueen always made sure to reply as soon as she could. The pace was nice and comfortable, so seeing Teio break the pattern nudged McQueen in a way she couldn't really shake off. Did something wrong happen?
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
It was only after around fifteen minutes of working on her report, and a few talks with her superior to confirm a few things, that Teio's reply finally dinged the bell on McQueen's phone. Her anxiety spiked up almost right away, so she took her time to sit down and take a deep breath. Alright, then. Here goes nothing.
She checked her phone, quickly skipping the notification, and went straight to Teio's chatroom.
TOKAI TEIO I'm moving in with Nei-chan.
Silently, McQueen put her phone down, making sure she didn't give a straight reply without thinking it through. The screen should not be touched. She knew that if she did, she would come to regret it, although she herself didn't know how, why, or in what manner.
Alright, then. Teio is moving in with Nice Nature. Since when? Why? She was a nice girl, but it's not like a lot of their friends kept in touch to begin with. How did this happen? Why is she telling me?
McQueen sighed, and instead of replying, she realized that her best option was to continue tapping away into her computer and finish her work.
Alright, then. Teio is moving in with Nice Nature. Now how do I process this….
