“Echo.” “Yeah?” Mr C.B started the conversation while the whole css and some seniors were at the starting line; they even got teacher Rei to be the referee.

  “You’re really fast; you can run at a speed that your body is not capable of.” She hummed, she fought against G1 racers and seniors from previous generations and even from abroad, so she knows how much one's body can affect one's abilities during the race. Although Echo Eclipse’s body is perfect for running, she still hasn’t trained her body up to the point where G1 racers are. Plus, her 2nd blooms still haven’t arrived yet, indicating that she is a te bloomer.

  “Plus, you can enter the [Flow] state at will. Everything about you is not normal, but that’s expected from you, I guess.” Mr C.B chuckled as she rolled her shoulders, pressing her fingers against the floor. Everyone is excited to race against Mr C.B and the potential Triple Crown winner of this year, Symboli Rudolf. They wanted to evaluate themselves against the current triple-crowner winner, themselves, and Symboli Rudolf.

  Gold Way arrived and sat on the stairs, watching. She isn’t going to join the race; rather, she collects data on everyone's strengths, including Echo Eclipse.

  “Do you know why I wanted to race you?”

  “Nope.”

  “Heh, thought so.” Mr C.B lets out a small chuckle before a whistle is heard from Sensei Rei. At that instant, everyone left the starting line at the max speed they could go; they at least wanted to be ahead of Mr C.B or Symboli Rudolf. As for Echo Eclipse, she soon realised the difference between the G1 racer and herself.

  “Whoa…” She lets out a breathy exhale as her eyes widen; the atmosphere and tension on the track are way different from what she is used to. Mr C.B easily kept in the lead, with Symboli Rudolf in 2nd pce. Suzu Mach, Onward Cameroun, Bizen Nishiki and more, are fighting for 3rd pce. The high oppressive aura from the lead and 2nd pce made them forget about one girl.

  Her lips widen up in excitement before the sensation of her legs dissipates, just like a cloud gliding along the nd, or the wind dancing between each bde of grass.

  Mr C.B was the first to realise that someone had disappeared from her senses; their presence is now non-existent. Symboli Rudolf shortly had a sneaking bad feeling, rising from her spine. Letting out a grin as she immediately knows why this phenomenon appeared, making her the second to realise something amiss.

  However…

  “Ehhh?!” Echo Eclipse excimed in shock as she tried to run past everyone to reach Symboli Rudolf and Mr C.B, but she found herself boxed in, and the girls around her did it without prior thinking! Echo Eclipse never once learned how to escape or navigate through such tactics; she would already be in the lead when the gate opens, so leaving such a strategy to use against her would be null.

  So this is her first time experiencing something like this.

  “Nggghh…” Echo Eclipse has finally used her brain for the first time during the race, trying to figure out how to slip by.

  In the end, she just gave up thinking and slowed down to be more behind and slipped to the outer pane. She leaned down and glided by her friends like the wind. This is her first glimpse of experiencing a mock-G1 race, as she realised that the racers are closely kitted together, to ensure nobody from behind can duel their position and steal it.

  ‘Restraining… How annoying…’ She huffed before she sped up. Bizen Nishiki is in 3rd pce now, 1 length before Symboli Rudolf. They’re faster than me, they have more stamina than me. So what?

  None of that ever stopped me before.

  She started accelerating to the speed that her body isn’t capable of producing, and she starts to feel the strain on her legs.

  “Tsk… That girl is really dangerous…” Gold Way clicked her tongue in annoyance if it were anybody else doing the same thing as Echo Eclipse. Their body would immediately give out and proceed to destroy their own legs, and yet she remains perfectly normal with barely any consequences afterwards.

  “This is only a mock race… Good thing that all of their official races aren’t due until next month or September…” She lets out a sigh of relief; she wouldn’t want to deal with the consequences if any of them hurt themselves during this mock race. Too time-consuming for her.

  …

  ..

  .

  They are now entering the st corner and approaching the final stretch of the mock-race. Symboli Rudolf took a sharp exhale before her final spurt of speed appeared. She knew that her physique wasn’t up to par for Mr C.B, but give her time, and she will surpass Mr C.B without trying hard.

  “Dear me, you’re quite competitive, aren’t you?” Mr C.B chuckles with a nonchant grin. She is now slowly increasing the length of each stride she makes.

  “There’s one thing you must know about me, no matter how-”

  “Free spirited you look, you’re always stubborn.” Mr C.B.'s grin widened when Symboli Rudolf finished her sentence off. “Aww~ See? We truly are best of friends.”

  “Shut up, the wind is approaching.”

  “Hm?”

  And just as if her word was a self-fulfilling prophecy, everyone felt the wind brushing their skin from behind.

  Symboli Rudolf, who has seen all the races Echo Eclipse ran, noticed an interesting detail whenever Echo Eclipse isn’t leading. The wind would arrive before she did, as a sign that she is approaching. Bizen Nishiki, although a bit te, started her st spurt. She also seen Echo Eclipse races, so even though she hasn’t analysed closely, there is still an instinctual warning telling her to speed up. Leading to a chain reaction, causing the girls behind her to also speed up as they want to keep up.

  “Hehe, like I thought… You’re very lucky, Symboli Rudolf. I wish I could have had someone like Echo Eclipse in the same year when I first enrolled here.”

  “...” Rudolf the Reindeer doesn’t respond, as she focuses on the st stretch.

  Echo Eclipse is steadily approaching, passing by her friends and arriving at 4th pce, and soon approaching Nishiki. In terms of stats, her speed is D and will barely reach C before her second bloom. But whenever her unique skill fred up, the restriction on her stat disappeared as it slowly climbed up temporarily during the race. At this point during the race, her speed is now at C, slowly approaching C+.

  Now she overtook Bizen Nishiki's position, just a head behind Symboli Rudolf and 1 length from Mr C.B. The finish line is right there, and her speed has reached B-rank! Letting her run faster than Symboli Rudolf, however…

  “Keuk…” Echo Eclipse, who had momentarily taken 1st pce, suddenly coughed and slowed down for a second. But that was enough for Mr C.B to regain her 1st lead and Echo Eclipse to fall back to 3rd pce when they crossed the line.

  After slowing down, she colpsed on the ground, throwing a coughing fit as she clenched her chest. Her skin is sweltering with an intense amount of sweat as she breathes heavily. Her sight is dimming as she see intense amount of stars, she feels extremely airy and heavy.

  This doesn’t go unnoticed by others, especially Sensei Rei and Symboli Rudolf, who immediately ran to her side, very concerned. Mr C.B, who was breathing heavily, gnced at the trembling Echo Eclipse and let out a long exhale.

  “I thought this would happen… This is the reason why I wanted to race you, that ability you have, to be able to accelerate beyond what your body is capable of… is a double-edged sword.” She mumbled under her breath; she wanted Echo Eclipse to experience the consequence in a mock race, not in an official race where she could’ve severely injured herself. So Echo Eclipse can prepare herself when the next time happened.

  Echo Eclipse whimpered and yelped as she breathed more deeply and erratically, her lungs felt like it is being squeezed, her blood was rushing so fast that it felt like she was being pricked by needles nonstop. Her throat feels like a desert, dry and crumbly. The tips of her fingers went numb, not realising that Symboli Rudolf brought her to the infirmary by princess carrying.

  She can’t faint, or rather, she is unable to. It feels like hell, and Rudolf can see this. So she caressed and held Echo Eclipse's hand firmly with a determined gaze; she knew that Echo Eclipse wasn’t destined to fall here.

  She will return to normal and run like she always does!

  …

  Right?