He did not awake as early today.
His body ached in ways he had never truly experienced before. He groggily rose from his bed, finding no relief even upright. He looked out the window at the sun, already high in the sky.
This was quite the surprise, actually; he was not used to waking up when the sun was already up. He shook it off and donned his gym uniform once again.
He felt no rush to leave today so he spent some time brushing his hair and tail. It was relaxing to run his hands through the soft hair of his tail.
Opening his phone, he decided to poke around Umastagram again. It recommended people for him to follow. Following wasn't something he really understood yet, but he remembered Curren asking him to do it, so he found her profile and followed it.
He then discovered lots of pictures of Curren doing all sorts of things; they had lots of likes and comments.
Maybe if Northerly did that, people would have one less reason to question him; he could seem normal.
He opened the create post feature and took a picture of his freshly brushed tail. It prompted him for a caption, so he wrote something about it being a lovely morning.
He hoped he wrote it right; his writing was not as good as his speaking.
With that out of the way, he wrapped his scarf around his head and once more departed the dorms for Tracen.
The bitter cold woke him up and did no favours to his pained muscles, yet he still ran. Following the path straight to Tracen's racetracks.
There were already quite several Uma's here, but most weren't training; they were watching. Northerly moved to the top of the stands to stay out of the way of the small crowd.
A lavender-haired Umamusume flew past the stands and began her next lap of the long turf track. Northerly recognised that hair.
Mejiro McQueen
Ryan had said she was debuting this year as well. Northerly didn't know much about running, but he did hear the stories about the Mejiros and their impressive racing lineage. He even watched some of their predecessors' races, and they were certainly a force to be reckoned with.
Northerly shivered, sitting still was not ideal; he was not built for this kind of weather.
As much as he didn't want to draw attention to himself, he really needed to run, or he was certain he would freeze.
He stepped down from the stands and quickly pushed through the crowd to find the entrance to the track. He waited for McQueen to pass before dashing across to the medium distance track. He could run here without bothering McQueen.
So, he began to jog, it was a slower pace, just to keep moving, nothing crazy.
At some point, he noticed McQueen wasn't running anymore. Not that it bothered him too much, he was just cold.
Winter was a season he hadn't really experienced until he arrived in Japan, and it certainly wasn't a good experience either. The cold made his muscles seize up, and his ears hurt from the wind chill. Running wasn't so hard in the cold once he got started; he was cool the whole time, so he didn't tire as quickly, which was nice.
"Hey, North! You done yet!" A voice caught his attention from the side of the track.
It broke his focus, and his brain caught up to his body; he slowed significantly, stopping to catch his breath on the side rails. He tried to suck in air, but his scarf made it hard, just like in the gym.
He sank down, to sit on the icy ground.
Hishiama approached him.
"You've been running a while, the girls in the stands say you've been here since before McQueen left." She sounded both concerned and impressed.
"I- I noticed she was gone earlier, do not know when exactly" He struggled to even get that sentence out.
"It's been hours, North; I'm impressed, but after hearing Ryan yap about your gym session yesterday, I thought I'd best come check on ya. It seems I was right, too."
She was right, Northerly could feel his whole body slowly giving up on him as they spoke, the only thing keeping him awake was the freezing cold.
"I may have pushed myself a little too far." He heaved out his words; he was starting to realise even his Umamusume body had its limits.
"I'll help you back to the dorms, Fuji-San will look after you there, how's that sound?" She sounded like his mother telling him to rest, but right now, he saw no issue with her request.
She helped him up, and they began the short but arduous walk back to the dorms.
"You have to watch yourself when you train, you know?" She was scolding him.
"Sorry, I have never used a track before." It was still difficult to get his words out.
She let out a sigh.
"If you want, I often train in the evening. If you need help, I'll be around until you get yourself a trainer; that might be a good option."
He had run out of energy to respond, instead nodding weakly as they arrived at Ritto dorm.
She opened it with her key and helped him upstairs to the third floor's common area, where she sat him in a soft chair and stood back for a moment just observing his condition.
"If I catch you like this again, I am going to be much less nice than I was this time, alright?" She scolded him once more.
"Now I have to get back to Miho. She turned to the others in the common room, you three, make sure she recovers, ok?" She surveyed the room and picked out three Uma's that were nearby.
Two of them were Umas that Northerly recognised, McQueen and Curren. The last one was new.
She had bubble-gum coloured hir which reached halfway down her back, and two pigtails that extended from her ears outward, curling at their ends. Her ears sat flatter than most Uma's ears, pointing either side of her head instead of up, and between them a large red bow with white polka dots.
"You had quite the run today; you stole away my crowd." McQueen sat down next to him and offered a bottle of water. He took it and placed it in his lap.
"I was surprised too. Imagine my shock when I found out McQueen had a potential rival!" Curren excitedly extended her phone out for him to see.
A video of Curren with Northerly running in the background was playing.
"I don't know if she knows it yet, but it looks like McQueen has a rival! Keep watching Cute-Curren for updates!" Curren made the announcement like some sort of reporter.
The video was short and not heavily edited, but Northerly could see the large number of likes.
"Digitan let me know about you before she told Hishiama, you have her to thank that you're ok" Curren turned to the bubble-gum-haired Uma.
"I'm Agnes Digital," she performed a small bow, "I was watching McQueen when I noticed you running, it was so cool to see someone with the guts to train near her that I couldn't help but stick around for a while." She sounded quite ecstatic, explaining how she had managed to notice his overexertion.
"Sorry for all their speaking, its probably hard for you to understand everything right now. You're very tired, and whilst I would love to talk more, I fear you may not have the energy for it." McQueen stepped into the conversation and attempted to put an end to it. She could see how tired he was.
Northerly weakly nodded.
She was right, Northerly's body was beginning to fail him, and all he could focus on now was getting to his room.
They tried to talk more, but his brain was too tired to fully understand what they were saying. He was so exhausted he couldn't understand Japanese anymore.
He used what remained of his energy to push himself from the chair to his room, doing his best to mumble that he was sorry for brushing them off.
He had barely locked his door before he collapsed onto his bed, falling asleep almost instantly.
The next morning, he knew he wasn't doing anything that day the moment he opened his eyes.
He felt worse than yesterday morning, but he swung his legs off the bed, making it just uncomfortable enough that he had to get up.
He found his normal uniform and grabbed his toiletries. He made his way to the showers, groggily sipping on the now lukewarm water that McQueen had given him the night before.
He stood in the shower stall and stared into the mirror for a short while. Thinking about his eventful but short time at Tracen.
He had managed to find a gym partner for better training. A track training partner who wanted to train in the evenings. He found out that he could potentially rival McQueen, and he had at least two Umas who wanted to spread the word to get him some fans.
Who knew so much could happen in such a short time? He had hoped to avoid the media's attention, but it would seem that the support from those around him would be the hardest to ignore.
He hoped that they wouldn't figure anything weird about him yet, despite his anxiety over being exposed, he couldn't help but think maybe he should embrace the attention a little.
He finished his shower and collected his things. However, as soon as he left the showe,r someone was waiting for him.
"How are you this morning?" McQueen greeted Northerly with a calm, elegant manor bowing slightly with her introduction.
"I hurt quite a lot, but otherwise I am alright"
She chuckled at his response, covering her mouth with one hand as she did.
"I thought it best to meet you properly after your performance yesterday, and since Fuji-San wouldn't allow me wake you up, I waited here" Her ears twitched a little. Was she mad at him?
"I am sorry for ruining your training. I was cold and wanted to try the tracks." Maybe she wouldn't be mad if he explained himself.
"You didn't ruin anything; in fact, you've proven to be quite the delight. I didn't expect the media to latch onto the McQueen rival story so soon."
His ears fell flat almost immediately; he did his best to correct them, but that was easier said than done.
"You alright? It's quite the honour for the media to think so highly of you without a race record." She raised her hands to comfort him.
"I am alright, I just didn't know that the media picked these things up so quickly."
"Ahh, yes, they're quite quick, aren't they, but don't worry, there's no need to put too much pressure on yourself." She was trying to be comforting without fully understanding his problem. But it wasn't such a bad thing; kind words, no matter how unhelpful they may be, are still kind.
"Yes, that is right. I will try to be less hard on myself," He guessed this was likely the response she wanted.
"That's wonderful, save the pressure for the turf, we can't have a good race if you're stressed out." Even behind her elegant façade, Northerly could see she was just as eager to race as he was.
"I am sure we will meet on the track one day, but not today. I am tired." He began towards his room, ready to spend his day doing nothing.
"I look forward to it," McQueen called out as he departed. It would seem he truly had acquired a rival. Unfortunately, a noteworthy one, he would have to be careful.
He spent the rest of his day alone in his room brushing his tail and combing his hair. He also figured out how to use the new TV and made another Umastagram post, which gained many more likes than he expected.
People already had their eyes on him, and no matter how it turned out, he was excited for what might happen next.