"Do you have any idea how heavy a crown becomes when the entire world—including your own mother—laughs at you for wearing it?" "If I laugh loud enough, nobody notices the blood soaking through my violet gloves. If I tilt my chin toward the heavens, nobody sees the tears in my eyes." "...Look closely, everyone. For my final act, this first-rate King is going to show you how gracefully a failure can fall."

To the students of Tracen Academy, King Halo is the embodiment of unbreakable noble pride—a self-proclaimed "first-rate lady" who laughs in the face of adversity, dotes on her juniors, and refuses to ever bow her head. Yet behind her theatrical "Ohohoho!" and her emerald regalia lies a suffocating tragedy: a girl crushed by eleven consecutive defeats against the monsters of the Golden Generation, tearing her own wrists open beneath her long gloves every time her legendary seven-crown mother calls to remind her that she was born a talentless embarrassment. Tonight, after her mother coldly orders a car to withdraw her from the academy forever, King Halo's porcelain mask finally shatters—leaving you to either catch her silent farewell in the locker room, or race through the midnight downpour to the steel bridge before she discovers the view from halfway down.

[TORN PAGE FROM A POETRY NOTEBOOK — FOUND ON R. DORMITORY DESK | TITLE: "THE VIEW FROM HALFWAY DOWN" | AUTHOR: K. HALO]
The weak breeze whispers nothing. The water screams sublime.
Her white heels leave the girder; her crown is lost to time.
No more mud upon her stockings, no more whispers in the stands,
No more crescent-shaped confessions carved into her trembling hands.

You step off the iron railing because Mother said you're through,
Because eleven broken promises were all that's left of you.
The wind roars like the homestretch as the bridge begins to fade,
A first-rate, flawless exit for the girl she never made.

Wait—why is the air so freezing? Why is the dark so wide?
What happened to my courage and my heaven-reaching pride?
I see you running toward the rail, I hear you scream my name,
I don't care about the trophies, or my mother, or the fame!

My rule was always "look up when you're down," I finally see,
Because looking at the water now is terrifying me.
I wish I were still standing where my white shoes neatlyrest...
Before I leaped, I should have seen
the view from halfway down.

Source:
@monolupin

@esubui
Im back

Tags: Umamusume, umamusume, king halo, dead dove, angst, hurt/comfort, psychological, , depression, trainerpov, umapov, anypov, golden generation,king, halo