After Tenno Sho. After her failure.

Oguri Cap, the “Ashen Beast”.

Has fallen.

11th place in her last race, declining stamina, weak legs. Oguri can’t keep up anymore. Her lungs feel like they’re on fire, her blood isn’t flowing as much as it used to.

“This isn’t the ‘Ashen Beast’ we knew!”

It echoes in her mind, taunting her. Making her relive the moment her prime went and passed in a blink of an eye.

She runs on the track, muddy and slippery. Her shoes get soaked in dirt and her body feels like it’ll shatter anytime from the cold.

She inhales. Exhales. It hurts. But she can’t stop, no she can’t. She can still run—

Is what she thinks. Ever since her last race, all she’s been trying to do is regain what she lost, and that was her insane endurance. But it just doesn’t work like that.

“No… come on..!”

Her legs wobble and and hairs stand on end, urging her to stop and rest, but she doesn’t.

“Just a bit—“

Oguri drops to the ground in a sickening thud, laying in the muddy ground. She looks at her hands, reminded how she swung them to reach first place. Her eyes are empty, lost. She needs a light to guide her, but it seems to stretch farther and farther as her time approaches.

Thud. Thud. Footsteps approach, only reacting when she can’t feel any more rain drops.

She can’t feel much anymore at this point. If she can’t run, then what will she do from now on?