[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.
McQueen herself never kept track, but there was very clearly an increase in the frequency with which she visited Teio's apartment.
Teio had lived alone. All alone, in fact, with no familiar faces around her—much unlike her and Dictus or Vodka and Scarlet, who had stayed flatmates years after graduation, Teio's chosen place was chosen more because of Teio's own habit. She needed a place to run, much like many of the other horse girls who'd had a career on the turf, and she was apparently trying to keep her legs in shape.
"Breaking them three times really opened my eyes," she said one day, when she took McQueen to the park near her apartment. Apparently Teio frequented this park as part of her morning jogging routine, and she did come to know many of the people who'd come to use the park as well. "I want to keep them healthy, at least. I don't want to lose the feeling of the wind in my face ever again."
The craving to run was something very basal and instinctive, and McQueen knew that it was some sort of a common sense specifically among horse girls. Humans could never understand the shared feeling—of something very ancient, very primitive, and almost otherworldly, to take over every fiber of their beings with just one command: run. However, it was also often the case that horse girls failed to build a particular career on the track. Many succeeded, of course, and tore their names onto history. But their victories were built atop the failures of others, and McQueen had seen countless horse girls suffer these defeats.
For these horse girls, they usually built their careers on other fronts. There were, after all, many ways to bring the dreams of people into reality. Entertainment, for example. Some horse girls were much better on the stage than on the turf, and occasionally, they would land jobs for exactly that. Sometimes they act. Sometimes they become celebrities.
Others also made their careers using their superhuman strength as couriers. Others helped doctors across borders with search and rescue.
In fact, for virtually all horse girls, their real careers often only began after their graduation, when they no longer ran on the track—they had to find other fields to run in, and more often than not, these fields were figurative. These fields would be their jobs, their careers, or their aspirations, and they would drain all the energy from the horse girls who ran there, taking up the space in their hearts that was left empty after they no longer had to race.
Teio was not one of those horse girls. She needed a physical space to run, and it was her first consideration in finding her place. Add that on top of the fact that her apartment's only bedroom was actually separate from the living room, and she found herself a perfectly livable place to live in for a good deal of time.
Teio's place was by no means near to where McQueen lived, but McQueen made a habit of coming over once every month or so. They usually caught up nearly every week through the phone and all, but sometimes, McQueen just wanted to see her. Maybe catch a waft of how her hair smelled, which hadn't changed at all since they were in school. Maybe see her smile in person, hear her stories directly while noticing the little hints of tiredness from work in her voice. Sometimes they just basked in a comfortable silence, simply enjoying each other's company without uttering a single word.
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Her visits, although they could be surmised as approximately monthly, were by no means regular. Sometimes, not even a week had passed until McQueen came over again. When it happened, she was usually just there to voice complaints—occasionally about work, sometimes about her workmates, but also sometimes about herself.
"It has always been nice being with you, Teio," McQueen said one day over a can of alcohol. "I sometimes could not help but wonder how it would have been like had we moved in together."
Teio smiled as she took her own gulp. "Hey, you'll break Ikuno-san's heart like that."
McQueen was very tempted to reply with something along the lines of, "And that is fine with me," but she knew it would be dishonest. She would, in fact, mind it if she'd hurt Dictus, even if unintentionally. So she kept her silence as she took another gulp.
"I still would run for you, you know," she mumbled. Teio gave her head a soft pat.
"Me too," she said.
It was not the first time they brought up moving in. The topic would come up suddenly, and promptly, every once in a while—sometimes even over the phone. However, they usually mentioned it as something of a half-joke: if either one of them took it seriously, the other would as well; but in the end, nobody did. Their replies also usually revolved around the same things, with McQueen bringing up Teio's already-shaped habits and Teio bringing up Dictus, which would then kill the talk.
There was a reason why their replies were consistent, and that was because it was true. McQueen could not say much about Teio's comfort with her habits, but she did seem rather fond of the people and the environment she was around for the past few years she lived there. McQueen, on the other hand, personally felt the need of a tether to keep her mind in track, and that sense of stability was exactly what Dictus provided, both as her former roommate and as her deathly punctual flatmate. Their respective living arrangements were simply comfortable enough as they were, and frankly speaking, McQueen herself was not really sure she was up to take a leap of faith and shake it all up all over again with something as big as moving away and in with Teio.
She said none of this out loud, though, because Teio always seemed to have a knowing look whenever the topic was brought up, and McQueen was inclined to think that Teio was of the same opinion as her. It was why Teio's message came as such a surprise for her.
McQueen ended up leaving that message on Read for the next few hours simply because she had no idea how to respond. Come lunch, she finally decided to reply with congratulations, followed by asking when they were moving in and where. Teio's reply was prompt, and she said both she and Nature had finished moving their things, and would be spending their next week unpacking everything.
The address Teio gave was near where Teio worked. As McQueen recalled, there was a small dedicated jogging track around a local sports park, so she probably had that angle covered. She also didn't have to wake so early to prepare anymore, as she could simply commute to work by foot. McQueen had no idea why Nature would agree to that location, but she could think of a few reasons—who knows, maybe Nature's workplace was nearby as well. It would seem reasonable for both of them to live in that area, no?
The question was how they came to agree to move in in the first place. But, McQueen thought, first things first. She would have to tell Dictus later about her former teammate moving in with Teio, and maybe set her mind straight after that. Not that she knew what she had to set straight.
It would probably be nice if she could talk with Teio soon.
