Chapter Text
After she transferred to Tracen for the sports science program, it became all the more apparent to Belno Light why this kind of studying was more suitable to her than racing; she simply couldn’t get her head out of a good book.
Most of the time, she read about umamusume anatomy. Or the history of the URA or the many biographies of umamusume from long ago, of which there were many housed in Tracen Academy’s vast library. It did feel kind of odd reading books about Symboli Rudolf knowing that the student council president was somewhere on campus, but that hadn’t stopped her fascination. Whenever she wasn’t walking Oguri to classes, walking Oguri to her dorm, watching Oguri practice, or helping Musaka draft race and training plans, she was usually in the library, studying away.
And, very occasionally, reading for pleasure. No, she did not count reading Symboli Rudolf’s biography as pleasure-reading. Even though the prose’s overwhelming focus on how beautiful Symboli Rudolf was made gleaning valuable information from it difficult.
Instead, reading for pleasure meant reading something that had nothing to do with umamusume or racing. Norn kept persuading her to watch some dramas in her spare, inviting her to watch parties, but Belno couldn’t help it; she just liked reading. There was something about curling up in a nook in Tracen’s large library, cradling a book in her lap, that felt satisfying.
Many hours of studying in the library for her exams made Belno familiar with the layout. With a breath of relief, she passed by the long, wide desk in which some other umamusume sat, head dipped deep into thick textbooks. That was not what she was here for today. Instead, by the tall windows, there was a line of sofas. She picked the one tucked into a corner, hidden by a forest of tall bookshelves, isolated from everyone else.
Then there was the matter of a book. Belno never told anyone about her reading tastes, mostly because no one ever asked about it. They had seen Belno read books about umamusume enough times for it to be assumed that those were where her reading preferences lay. That wasn’t totally true, though.
After a few minutes of looking, Belno settled down in her reading nook with a thick book about birds. Before opening the tome, she briefly looked out onto the track. It was a field day for the umamusume in the racing program, and surely enough, she could see the blurred, ant-sized forms of umamusume racing along the tracks. A small pack formed in the practice race she witnessed, all the umamusume smoothly keeping to the inner rail as they rounded a corner.
Was Oguri with them? Belno had her schedule down to the minute. No, she wasn’t. She had already raced there earlier in the morning. Now was her free period. The other track was unclaimed, so she was most likely there. Warming up, stretching, before blitzing down the turf track. For some reason, the thought of it made her smile.
“Belno.”
Belno let out an undignified yell that most definitely broke the library’s quiet rules, fumbling the book in her hands. It landed awkwardly on her lap. “Ah, Oguri…! What are you doing here?”
Oguri looked…out of place in the library. Mostly because she was in a visibly dirty tracksuit that made Belno immediately think that she should be in a locker room rather than an academic building. “I was looking for you.”
“Looking for me?” And you didn’t get lost? Belno held her tongue before that exclamation could come out. “Did you want me to come to practice with you?” Occasionally, Oguri would drag Belno along to her practices, usually to time her or to ask from an outside eye on her form. Not that Belno minded. It was a good way to exercise her studies in a practical manner.
But Oguri settled heavily on the cushioned seat across from her, letting out a sigh. “Musaka found out.”
“About what?”
“About me running during my free period,” she mumbled. “The cafeteria’s closed, and I can’t run anymore. He says I need to rest.”
Belno frowned. “Rest is very important for athletes. He has a point.” She could go into all the scientific reasons why, but she knew Oguri wouldn’t understand any of them. She was one-track minded, in that sense.
Oguri leaned forward instead. Her knees bumped awkwardly into the low table between them. “What are you studying?” she asked.
“Oh, I’m not studying,” Belno said, setting her book between them. “I’m just reading for fun. It’s a reward considering exams are finally over.” For now, at least.
Oguri tilted her head, trying to read the words on the cover. Belno helpfully turned the book around for her. “Shouldn’t you also take a break?”
Belno blinked. “What do you mean? This is my break.”
Oguri looked up from the book, her gaze solemn. “I heard your eyes fall out if you read too much.”
A pause. Quiet enough that in the far distance, Belno thought she heard the whispers of other students between the bookshelves. “Um, where did you hear this…?”
“Kitahara.”
“What?” There was no way he would parrot that as fact. “When? How?”
“Remember when he called us?” Belno nodded. “He said he was looking at textbooks and practice exams for so long that his eyes were going to fall out if he didn’t take a break.”
…Oh. Oh, of course. Belno resisted the urge to laugh, covering her mouth just in case. “Oguri…that’s a figure of speech. Your eyes won’t literally fall out if you read too much.”
“It won’t?” Oguri breathed a sigh of relief. “That’s good. I was worried about you.”
The urge to laugh faded, but Belno’s hand still covered her mouth. Or perhaps she was trying to make it cover her face. “You were worried?”
“Uh-huh,” Oguri nodded. “If your eyes fall out, you won’t be able to see. Then I would get lost all the time. And you wouldn’t be able to give me good racing tips. And you wouldn’t be able to read…” Her ears drooped in dejection at these prospects. “And you like reading.”
This time, she couldn’t help the giggle that bubbled out of her. “It’s okay, Oguri,” she said, reaching over and patting her hand. “Reading for fun won’t kill me.”
Oguri’s gaze flitted back up to her. “Can I read with you?”
That was…an odd question. One she had never really expected her to ask. “Uh, sure.”
Oguri got up from her seat as Belno grabbed the book, opening it to the first page. It wasn’t until she felt an insistent squeeze at her shoulder that she realized that Oguri hadn’t just gotten up for no reason; her leg was resting on the arm of the sofa, and she was giving her an expectant blue-eyed stare.
Wordlessly, Belno scooted to the side. Inwardly, she winced a little at Oguri’s scuffed tracksuit pressed against her clean academy uniform, but Oguri was warm. The contact helped with Belno’s cold legs.
Oguri leaned forward, her chin an inch away from Belno’s shoulder. She wondered if it was too boring for her, to be sitting in a library and reading about birds in silence. But as she flipped through the pages, the ashen-haired umamusume didn’t say a word.
“You like blue birds a lot.”
It was stated simply over their dinner, in the customary, slightly muffled voice that came with talking while gulping down a mouthful of food. Most of the time, when Oguri ate dinner, it would be in silence while Belno rambled quietly about her studies. She never knew if the umamusume was truly interested, but on quieter days, she thought Oguri would stare at her expectantly. For her to speak while eating meant that there was something on her mind, and she wanted to get it out into the world before the next mouthful of food would make her forget.
“Huh? Oh, I guess I do,” Belno said, picking at her plate. She wasn’t nearly as hungry as Oguri was. “It’s a very pretty coloration. Actually, I think it’s interesting precisely because blue birds aren’t actually blue.”
Oguri didn’t say anything in response, but she tilted her head inquisitively. Belno took that as a sign to continue.
“A lot of blue birds are actually brown,” Belno explained. “There’s no blue pigment on their feathers. It’s actually an effect of the light that leads us to see their wings as blue; it’s called light scattering. Blue birds will have these little pockets of air in their feathers that can absorb all colors except for blue. So then blue gets reflected instead, which is what we end up seeing.”
Oguri swallowed five slices of tonkatsu. “Whoa,” she murmured. “Are my eyes also an illusion?”
“Uh…I don’t really know how eye coloration works with umamusume,” Belno admitted.
“Mm.” Another five slices of tonkatsu went down her throat. “Birds are so colorful. I’m jealous.”
“Why’s that?”
The question, to Belno’s shock, made Oguri set her bowl back down on the table. She took a few seconds to chew, before saying, “Colorful birds attract attention. Like how you like looking at them.”
Belno didn’t know what to say to that for a moment. “I mean…they are nice to look at,” she said, awkwardly reaching up to toy with her hairclip. “Male birds have to do so to attract female birds.”
Oguri’s gaze was distant. “Do umamusume have to be colorful to attract other umamusume?”
“...Well, no? We don’t have the same kind of complex courtship rituals like some birds do,” Belno said. “What the best action would be would depend on the individual umamusume you would want to attract.”
“Do you like colorful umamusume?”
The directness of the question caught her off guard. “Huh? Me?” She nearly wilted under the weight of Oguri’s stare. “Um, uh…I don’t know. I’ve never thought about it before.”
“But you like colorful birds.” Oguri wasn’t eating. The fact that she wasn’t, and that she was speaking so much to Belno during dinner, felt like some sort of emergency. “What was your favorite bird? In the book today.”
“Uh…” Belno looked up in thought, mostly to jog her memory but also to avoid the intensity of Oguri’s gaze. “I like colorful birds with complex behaviors. A lot of their complexity tends to shine during courtship rituals, like with greater sage-grouses and their lek mating arenas. But…” Her mind lingered on a particular violet bird. “I think I like satin bowerbirds the most.” The photos of male satin bowerbirds standing amongst a cluttered hodgepodge of blue items felt vaguely endearing to watch.
Oguri nodded slowly. “That makes sense,” she said. “You like blue.”
“I guess so.” Belno had never thought about her favorite color all that much. But when she looked back at Oguri, she thought, dimly, that her blue eyes were rather beautiful.