"Nishiki! Nishiki! How are you feeling?" Echo asked nervously as she bounced in one place, being held back by Symboli Rudolf. Gold Way just stood there with her arms crossed, frowning. Wanting to say something to her stubborn roommate.
"I'm doing fine, Echo." Nishiki lets out an embarrassed, bright smile, and to an outsider. It genuinely looks like she is up and running, but the people closest to her can tell that something is missing behind her smile.
Her mother went silent at her daughter's 'smile' before adopting the same stance as Gold Way, crossing her arms.
"A-Ahem… Gold Way… Mom… Why are you acting like that-" And before she could even continue her sentence, her mom immediately tugged on her ear.
"Why are you pretending! When did you learn that hiding your real feelings is good? You foolish girl!" Bizen Ruby immediately started berating and scolding her injured daughter. Gold Way nodded to Ruby's way of reprimanding her daughter.
Echo Eclipse and Symboli Rudolf just watch in shock and awe; they are immediately acting like this just after Nishiki's surgery!
As for Onward Cameroun and the Suzu's sisters? They just vanish from the room. Suzu Parade already had a premonition that something like this would happen and had already alerted Mach and Cameroun to leave.
They'll give a get-well gift to Bizen Nishiki if she manages to survive.
Of course, they wanted to bring Symboli Rudolf and Echo Eclipse along, but was rejected by Rudolf. Why? Well, Rudolf got to watch a whole 10-minute scolding of a girl who kept persisting after her and self-proclaiming herself as her rival.
At the 5-minute mark, Dandy Lute returned from her conversation with the surgeons and stood beside Echo and Rudolf, staring at the whole situation with a deadpan expression. You could tell that she had experienced the same scolding before.
They watched as in real time, Bizen Nishiki slowly melted into a dejected liquid from the scolding. Echo wonders if her mother would ever have acted the same way; she never remembered her parents being strict or controlling of how she should act. As long as Echo is having fun and is content, that's all they care about.
And once Ruby finished her lecture, like a tag team, Gold Way stepped forward with the same frown without letting Nishiki have a break.
"You idiot! Once you got injured, you shouldn't have moved! Why did you keep crawling and making your injury worse?!" Gold Way continues ranting and scolding the already melted Bizen Nishiki, and after a certain point, Symboli Rudolf just covered Echo Eclipse's ears as Gold Way started using curses that she doesn't know existed, all because she is upset and angry at Bizen Nishiki for being stubborn.
Echo can see Ruby nod with a proud expression toward Gold Way, as if she acknowledged Gold Way as a daughter-in-law.
Then, she stops ranting at Nishiki, prompting Rudolf to remove her hands.
"You idiot, why do you keep being stubborn even if it means ruining your future as a runner…" Tears started pouring down Gold Way's face, the same tears Gold Way had held back during the drive to the hospital because Echo was crying.
"Think about your family, think about your friends… Think about me…" The calm, intellectual tone of her voice started breaking down, her ears twitched before flattening. She knows that it's inappropriate to be like this in this scenario, but she can't help it.
Bizen Nishiki is her closest friend. Or maybe it's something deeper…
'It's not the time to acknowledge it right now, Nishiki is still resting.' Gold Way held back her quivering throat and took a shaky, deep breath. Before Bizen Ruby pulls her out of the room so she can calm down.
Nishiki wanted to apologise and say something back to Gold Way and her mom, but nothing came out. All she felt was emptiness.
The same emptiness that Way and Ruby noticed behind her smile caused the whole event. So she simply drooped her head down.
She felt guilty for making her close friends and family worried about her, and she felt bad. She wants to cheer them up by stating, "I'll be up and running in no time!"
But she knows that she would be lying.
The Swan Stakes was the last race that the Bizen Nishiki ran to her fullest.
She already had a feeling about her future. Was it a prophecy of an historical event that already happened in another world? An acknowledgement that it is simply destined?
She wants to refute this kind of feeling she has, but she can't.
Because she doesn't feel it anymore.
That fire.
The same fire that led her to keep running and challenge Symboli Rudolf.
She wants to continue running! She wants to make her words true! She wants to show Rudolf that she can escape her shadow, not as her rival, but as Bizen Nishiki!
But the fire is already gone.
Along with her future that is simply never meant to be.
…
..
.
Seeing the dejected, silent Nishiki, Echo wanted to say something. But she felt like she shouldn't.
Rudolf noticed this and took her out of the operating room, leaving Bizen Nishiki and her mother alone together.
They stayed silent for some time before Dandy Lute opened her mouth.
"Do you regret racing?"
Just 4 words, and Nishiki lifted her head slightly toward her mother.
She opens her mouth to say something, but her throat starts quivering as if it were being clenched by molten iron. She wants to say something to affirm that it isn't her mother's fault for letting her race. But all she could say was one word.
"Never…"
Dandy Lute stared at her daughter before showing a rare smile on her face, shocking her daughter. She doesn't understand why her mother is smiling.
Dandy Lute doesn't say anything anymore before grabbing a seat and sitting beside Nishiki's patient bed.
"You know, one of the worst things to ever happen to racers like us is when they start to hate racing, when they hate the reason why they run."
Nishiki's mother tilted her head up and glanced at the ceiling, closing her eyes as she continued talking.
"Your mom and I don't care how bright your career is; we don't care if you retire early, either. All we care about is that you run without any regret."
Dandy Lute thought back to her old friend; they were obsessed with winning to the point that they had forgotten the reason they even ran. In the end, they hung from the ceiling in emptiness after a series of losses. Her wife was a close friend of hers, too. And it was the same emptiness they saw behind Nishiki's smile.
"I…"
"I'm not done yet. Nobody will be mad if you retire early. So, don't worry about us. We may be sad, but that's how life is."
Bizen Nishiki gulped as she gripped her blanket; she wanted to refute. She wants to say that she will continue racing, but the same ominous emotion is still arising in her.
"Nishiki."
"..."
"I am proud of you."
That line wrecks Nishiki from the inside; she feels the waterfall rising behind her eyes. She wants to continue running, continue racing. However…
It may be time for her to stop being stubborn. Just, not right now.
"I… still refuse that I'll retire early. Just… a few more weeks, please. I still want to run."
"Mhm."
"I-I want to beat Symboli Rudolf, I-I want to be an idol for future runners."
"Mhm."
"I-I-I…" Tears started escaping her eyes as it pours down her cheeks. She hopes that a miracle could happen, so she can continue running. So the prophecy which originate from that ominous feeling doesn't come true.
She wants to recover the same fire she once had.
Even if it's just a small ember.
"Mother…"
"Yes?"
"Was I an amazing racer?"
"Always."
"Keuk…"