Nia Soars

That one time I took part in a relay race and won

The stadium starts brimming with people after lunch, sitting themselves on the vacant seats while entering in two different lines from two entrances on the north and south. The capacity is not as mammoth as its only a national level event, yet enough to make the competitors nervous, chills sprinting across their bones. 

The player’s benches are surrounded by the players, occupied in warmups before their turn is announced through the in-built speakers. The sheen of precipitation and anxiousness paint their forehead in minimal fashion as they try to release the tension from their muscles, priming themselves from any mishap which might find them in the rigorous sports. 

Nia isn’t an exception in this case. She pries on her ponytail to tighten the hair band on her head before letting out a deep sigh. She goes back to warming up, folding knees and counting to five before doing it in repetition. Her three other teammates warm up in their own way, her anxiety shared by them in reticence. 

“Nia,” Mei, one of her teammates calls her, before Nia stops and looks at her, and finds reassurance gazing back at her. 

“We will do well,” Mei says, “We’ve won against every school in our area. Please don’t worry,” tenderness in her tone, and Nia nods at her back, trying to inject Mei’s optimism in herself.

Nia’s aptitude at sports is very admirable ever since her young age, and her grandfather, who was a sportsman himself saw that in his eldest granddaughter. Nia’s parents showed no disapproval on their part as her grandfather in her childhood days, trained her in sprinting, and high jump. Nia’s interest grew in these two forms of sports and honed her skills ever since. Her reputation as one of the fastest sprinters at school spread like wildfire and defeated every single sprinter from other schools in her town of Kyoto, in the span of preceding years of her life. Her teammates Mei, Hikari and Aoi were selected by their school to partake alongside her in the relay race ever since Nia wanted to compete in this format. 

Several tournaments and extremely tireless practices later, they have qualified for the national level finals. As much excitement Nia showed for the opportunity, she also feels nervousness sinking in her mind. 

The whole stadium is filled up, and Nia sees her parents waving to her from the crowd, their sitting arrangement right behind the place where the players’ benches are put. She heaves a sigh after turning her back on them. 

Hikari and Aoi pats her head to make her feel alright, and Mei grasps one of her hands and squeezes. The announcement to file in four different lines resounds through the speakers, and the players ready themselves for the sprint. 

“Say Inazuma at the count of three,” Mei says as Nia Hikari and Aoi place their hand over hers.

“One, two, three,” Mei finishes as the four say, “Inazuma!” before filing into a single line, Mei at front. 

“Greetings Tokyo!” The commentator cheerfully voices as he pauses for a few seconds, “Welcome back to 12th National Sports Championship!”

The stadium resounds in roars and claps before they fall silent. 

“The second sport of the day is the relay race, and we’re excited to see how it goes,” The commentator chirps, “Aren’t we folks?”

More claps, more hollering. 

“As finalists, we have Team Inazuma, Team Inumaki, Team Taiyo, and Team Senshi,” The cameras pan towards them, as they are shown on the big screen, “Let’s give it up for them!”

The tenacity of claps increases, and Nia feels as if static noise is sounding in her ears. 

“The players are requested to take their positions, and the first players shall receive their batons.”

“Good luck to us,” Aoi voices before she receives the baton and stands in the starting line, Hikari, Mei and Nia being the second, third and final player. 

“On the whistle,” The commentator says as the referee stands by the starting line, views the four players as she brings the whistle to her mouth.

Nia feels her soul nearly leaving her body as she views the screen from her rear view, camera panning to the referee. 

The whistle blows a few seconds later. 

The first four players sprint at the mighty velocity, as Aoi manages to outrun the other three in a blink of an eye, before nearly shoving the baton properly to Hikari. 

Hikari doesn’t look anywhere save for the front, running in her highest speed before she sees the player from Team Taiyo going ahead of her. She hands the baton to Mei a few seconds after the player, and Mei runs with all her might to bridge the gap between her and the third player, the other two players behind her by a huge margin. Mei sprints like a flash, and manages to hand the baton to Nia at the same time as Team Taiyo, and the last players sprint in desperation and determination.

Nia nearly views everything hazy from her running, except feeling the pressure of another player running at her speed and tries to keep up with her. The finishing line nears them both and everything slows down for Nia.

Her hair flying in the air. The sound of footsteps coming from the other player. The audience viewing in anticipation. The commentary blurring in the background, building suspense to a disappointing feeling of probable loss. 

Nia feels a tug of the ribbon on her bodice as she skips past the finishing line before ceasing to move as she drinks all of it in, deep breaths escaping her mouth, hair sticking to her head, the ponytail slightly loosened.

Her teammates scream in glee and tackle her to a hug. 

Her parents scream her name which she quite hears faintly.

Her consciousness forms an image of a smile from her late grandfather, whom she thanks the most. 

The four girls tumble to the ground as they laugh, and Nia’s heart soars to the sky.