Chapter Text
“You say you wanna move on, and
You say I’m falling behind.
Can you read my mind?”
Smirking, Vodka watched as the girl across the table from her stewed in her seat, looking absolutely anywhere but straight ahead to avoid her gaze. “Is there an issue?”
“Nope!”
Her grin only grew as Daiwa Scarlet crossed her arms in protest, clearly fuming despite her best efforts to play it cool. Behind her, in an oddly poetic framing, their Trainer stood on a chair as he carefully pinned a green sash to the wall, with Sapporo Junior Stakes fashioned across the front in gold text - Vodka's latest victory, increasing her seasonal tally to four, with all four sashes now hanging from the wall together.
Ironically, it had been Scarlet's idea at the beginning of the season. After getting off to a hot start by being the first team member to bring home a victory, the hot-headed Scarlet had insisted that the victory sashes that each of the Team Spica members won that year should be displayed in the team’s club room. Her hubris had got one over on her, though, and now her measly two sashes were dwarfed by Vodka's four - which, admittedly, were dwarfed by Silence Suzuka’s seven American competition sashes, the mock paper replicas that Special Week had made for her overseas rival beginning to run out of space for more.
“It's a little crooked!” Vodka called out, reclining back in the plastic chair as she closed one eye, taking in its leveling. The coach fiddled with it slightly before Vodka shot him a thumbs-up, the man stepping down as he dusted off his hands.
“You girls keep this up, and we'll run out of wallspace by the New Year.”
His comment made each Team Spica member smile - save for Scarlet, who was still fuming. The perfect time to strike.
“There's still plenty of space in Scarlet's row-”
The auburn-haired girl shot up from her seat, slamming both hands down on the table as she towered over Vodka. “You only won because they set up the camera wrong!”
The Sapporo Junior Stakes had come down to a photo finish, the judges decreeing that Vodka had inched Scarlet out by a literal nose - which had left the sore loser demanding a protest be lodged, quickly coming up with an array of conspiracy theories to justify her claims of victory, all of which were denied. She held tight to her claims that the photo-finish camera was faulty in some form, though, but had yet to exactly explain how or why, just that it was. Whenever one of her teammates teasingly pressed her about it to ask for proof, Scarlet had begun to declare that the time for argument was now past, and that if they could not see it, then that was their fault and not hers.
Waving her hand in front of her face to dismiss her rival and roommate, Vodka met Scarlet's gaze with her best rage-inducing smirk. “Should've leaned forward more, princess.”
Her barb found its mark, and Scarlet’s rage morphed into annoyance, the horsegirl collapsing in a huff back into her chair with a deflated sigh. “Ugh.”
“Alright, alright… That's enough you two.” Their Trainer bravely interjected, stepping up to the table at the center of the room. Beside her, Vodka could sense both Special Week and Gold Ship trying to stifle their laughter, though McQueen seemed stereotypically nonplussed by the back-and-forth between the rivals, fiddling with her phone instead. “We're here for a team meeting, not a fight.”
“I dunno, a fight sounds more fun to me, Trainer.” Gold Ship interjected with her typical lack of restraint, always finding a way to fan the flames no matter who the spat was between.
“No, no fighting…” Special Week weakly attempted to agree with her Trainer, the smile on her face betraying her true preference. For as innocent and clueless as she liked to portray herself, Spe had a special knack for lighting the fuse between the two roommates-turned-rivals.
“Can we just get on with it?” Called out Tokai Teio from her position slumped across the lone couch in the clubroom. “My legs are killing me from training, I’ve gotta go rest up.”
Resigning himself to his trainees’ hatred for his team meetings, the Trainer crossed his arms and took up his best authoritative stance, glancing between the girls. “Has everyone finished putting together their entry lists for the season?” He asked, slightly uncomfortable with having to play the role of a hard-ass.
With a variety of responses ranging from indifference to exasperation, each of the six horsegirls made for their bags - save for Teio, who in her plight from the couch, pointed her Trainer towards her backpack rather than fetching it herself. “It's in there, somewhere…”
Shaking his head, the Trainer fished out the partially crumpled and torn piece of paper as the rest of the team members placed theirs on the table, the older man quickly leafing through them. Before the start of the season, he had entered each of the girls in some preliminary races to ease them into their seasons, ranging from open races to GIII’s - but rather than unilaterally decreeing the full season schedules for each trainee (and to save himself a bit of time), he had tasked them with drafting their own preferred entries for the race season for him to sort through and compile their entries for.
A quick glance revealed all to more or less be in order for each of them, but he paused as he came to Vodka's and Scarlet's back to back, flipping between the two a few times. “So which of you two stole the other's list, huh?” He asked, glancing between the girls with a look of bemusement on his face.
“...Huh?”
“...Wuh?”
Feigning ignorance, the two roommates bore expressions of confusion at their Trainer's quip. “Your lists are nearly identical, you've each put down the exact same G1 and G2 races.” He explained, waving the two sheets in a hand. “So who copied the other?”
In an instant, both girls shot up from their seats and bowled over their chairs, snatching the papers from his grasp. Her hair frazzled, Scarlet clenched Vodka's list tightly as she scanned line-by-line, her eyes bulging at the sight. Similarly, Vodka's mouth dropped open as she took in Scarlet's sheet, her rival’s proposed races nearly one-to-one with her own for the season.
“What do you think you're doing?!”
“What the hell is this?!”
“Did you steal my damn paper off my desk?!”
“You're trying to snipe me, you idiot!”
“You're obsessed with me!”
“Girls.”
“What makes you think you can even keep up with me, huh?!”
On the sidelines, each of the other Team Spica members were beside themselves at the two rivals going at it yet again, their Trainer powerless to prevent the spat - even the stoic McQueen had broken out in a smile, her shoulders shaking as she laughed politely into her hand.
“Ah, these two going at it will never get old…” Gold Ship remarked with a grin, leaning over to Special Week and elbowing her in the ribs.
Giggling, Spe placed a hand against her cheek. “They're like an old married couple~” She spoke - a touch too loudly.
“WHAT?!”
Together, Vodka and Scarlet turned to a deer-in-the-headlights Special Week, Gold Ship quickly pedalling her chair backwards and out of the way to disassociate herself from her teammate's comment. “I-I-I meant, uhm-” Waving her hands in front of her face in a panic, Spe stood, slowly backing up towards the window as the enraged Vodka and Scarlet approached her, still clutching one another's lists. “I-I meant th-that you're, uhm, r-really good rivals! Yeah!”
Shaking his head and rubbing his brow in frustration, the Trainer let out a sigh before shooting McQueen a silent look that said ‘Please help.’
With a smile, the demure horsegirl stood and bravely entered the fray to calm the two incensed rivals down, the Trainer turning back to the other lists as Teio and Gold Ship took in the late afternoon entertainment.
Her hands in her pockets, Vodka ruminated as she glanced at Scarlet from out of the corner of her eye, the two roommates making their way towards the campus dormitories. She felt bad about it, honestly - not about beating Scarlet, don’t be ridiculous, but rather about how their teammates had jumped in on teasing her about Vodka’s victory. It was one thing for her to tease Scarlet - they were rivals, through and through - but for the others to chime in, well, it left a bitter taste in her mouth.
“Sorry about all that.” Vodka murmured aloud, almost having to force it out despite her internal guilt.
“Hm? About what?” Aloof as usual, the auburn-haired horsegirl turned her gaze towards Vodka, sipping away at her water bottle.
That put Vodka on the backfoot, not having expected for Scarlet to be so non-plussed. “Uh, well, y’know, all that back at the clubroom.” She was floundering, blush rising to her cheeks as she gestured with her hands. “It felt a little overboard to me.”
Her roommate let out a laugh, causing Vodka to cringe slightly. “Ha! Are you suddenly feeling bad about all of this?”
“What? No! I mean, about the others piling on you about your loss.” She tried to explain, her apology having been misconstrued. “It was lame.”
A shrug from Scarlet, the horsegirl slipping her water bottle back into her saddlebag. “It’s whatever, honestly. Just motivates me to beat you next time!”
“Hmph, sure.”
“I mean it!” Scarlet asserted, the pair coming around a bend in the path to join up with the main walkway through the dorms. “Plus, it sounds like somebody’s jealous about the others.”
Vodka scoffed, trying to play it cool. No way she could let her get one over on her. “What’re you on about this time?”
The grin on Scarlet’s lips nearly infuriated Vodka, her rival clearly delighting in whatever assumption she was making. “You don’t need to worry about me so much, Vodka. I can handle it.”
“I wasn’t worrying about you.”
“Are you sure?”
“Positive. ”
Scarlet hummed, crossing her arms as she walked, the pair approaching the main entrance to the building. Gritting her teeth, Vodka opened the door and held it for her prissy roommate to saunter inside, carrying herself with a frustrating smugness. Up a few flights of stairs and down the hallway nearly to the end of the building, the two roommates made their way to their shared room, Vodka tossing herself face-first onto the bed while Scarlet busied herself with a hairbrush, letting down her trademark twintails.
“I was gonna take a nap and then hit up the caf in a bit, if you wanna join.” Vodka remarked, her voice muffled by the pillow, extending an invitation to her rival.
“Dinner sounds nice, but I think your bed is a little small for the two of us~” Scarlet replied, throwing a slight jab at her weary roommate, thankful that Vodka couldn’t see her blush at the thought of it.
“Pfft, don’t flatter yourself.” Vodka somehow managed to keep her cool at the joke, unaware of her roommate’s expression and similarly thankful that Scarlet couldn’t see her rosy cheeks. “Wake me up in thirty.”
Turning back to the mirror mounted on the wall, Scarlet ran her fingers through her auburn locks, unable to stop herself from stealing another glance at Vodka. Clearly tired out from their busy training schedule, the horsegirl’s tail idly flicked to-and-fro as she seemed to pass out just about instantly, the room falling quiet. What a pain. Scarlet thought to herself, ruminating over her roommate. She’ll realize it one day…
“You know, if you keep eating like that-”
“I’ve earned it.”
“Have you?”
Vodka took a big gulp of her drink, before diving back into her second helping of donburi. “I need all the energy I can get for these!” She exclaimed, smacking a hand against one of her muscular thighs. “Besides, not all of us have to watch what we eat…”
“What’re you trying to imply, huh?” Scarlet protested, slamming a fist on the table.
Watching the scene unfold at the next table over, Seiun Sky smirked to herself, polishing off the last bit of her own dinner. It pays well to be a wallflower sometimes , she mused to herself, the “conversation” between Vodka and Scarlet being far better entertainment than the soap operas that her roommate would frequently put on their t.v.
“Do you really think I don’t understand?”
“What’s there to understand?”
“Oh, so now you’re playing aloof.”
“You should watch your temper, Scarlet - it’s not good for you.”
Watching as Scarlet reached across the table to snatch away Vodka’s bowl of food, Seiun Sky had to stifle her laughter with a hand, finally ripping her gaze away from everyone’s favourite rivalry on campus. “Have those two ever had a normal conversation?” She remarked aloud to her classmates - Grass Wonder, El Condor Pasa, Haru Urara, and Special Week, the latter of them speaking up in response, her cheeks stuffed with food.
“Sometimes! I think they’re both super heated lately because of their last race, though.” The bright-eyed horsegirl explained in-between bites of her meal. “They’ve been fighting a bunch recently, but they usually make-up during the training sessions our Trainer makes them do together to make them cut it out.”
“Just make-up, huh?” Seiun Sky quipped, sharing a look with Grass Wonder, who laughed into her hand at the implication.
“Wuh? What’s that mean?” Special Week asked, Urara sharing a similarly confused expression.
“Nothing, nothing, just a bad joke.” Waving a hand, Seiun Sky glanced at El Condor Pasa, who had turned back to dousing her bowl of rice with yet more hot sauce with a knowing smirk.
Pouting at being left out of the joke, Special Week shrugged. “Honestly, I’m sort of jealous of them…”
“How so?” Grass Wonder asked, wearing her trademark soft smile.
“Because I miss my rival! I totally get why Vodka and Scarlet are always so fired up, running with Suzuka always pushed me to give it my all!” Special Week’s sincerity was endearing, the horsegirl from the countryside sometimes a little too aloof for her own good, given what she was unintentionally implying.
“I can be your rival!” Urara interjected just as Grass Wonder was about to speak up, the pink-haired sprinter excitedly drumming her hands on the table.
“Hmm, but you’re a sprinter, Urara…” Seiun Sky remarked, tapping a finger against her cheek.
“So?”
Seiun Sky glanced over at Grass Wonder, silently asking her with a look for help to let Urara down gently. “Urara, dear… Rivals need to be able to go head-to-head in races. Spe runs long races, not sprints like you do.”
“So? I’m gonna run in the Arima Kinen this year, anyways!”
All eyes instantly turned towards Urara, the girl’s smile not faltering. “...You are?” Seiun Sky asked, incredulous.
“Mhm! I’m already planning on how to get all the votes I need to enter! I’ve just gotta win some races this year and I’ll be all set!” Urara’s energy was infectious, causing the other girls to break out in smiles at her bold claim.
“That’ll be something…” El Condor Pasa muttered to herself, before taking a direct swig from her bottle of hot sauce, Special Week’s eyes widening at the sight.
Watching as Grass Wonder scooted closer to Urara to try to gently talk some sense into her, Seiun Sky’s gaze and attention slowly began to wander away like it tended to, the laid-back horsegirl’s eyes once again settling on the duo at the next table over, who had suspiciously gone quiet, refusing to look at one another. Scarlet sat with both of her arms crossed, pouting with a deep blush on her cheeks - meanwhile, Vodka sported a nearly identical expression, blush and all, as she half-heartedly ate from her reclaimed bowl of food, the two roommates no longer arguing.
With a dopey smile, Seiun Sky’s head tilted to the side as she took in the sight, something clearly having happened while she had been distracted. Those two are totally hopeless…