Asuka could be seen leaping through piles of snow, traveling over the top layer like a ninja. She was moving elegantly but she had her mind on something else completely.
While her body moved in auto pilot across the snowy land she thought deeply about the force that the old man displayed before.
'Everyone expects me to fail because I'm just a girl…I'll show them! I promise I won't fail on my promise father...'
*A year before the Weepnest Race*
Asuka's father was visibly angry, holding a long stick as he stood before Asuka who lied on the ground out of breath. They were training intensely for the race and were on their final piece of training before she could be considered a ready.
They stood beside a tall tree where many craters and crash marks could be seen, it was clear that they had been at it for quite a while now. Mister Miyamoto covered his stomach with his free hand and gripped it gently.
"Fall- fall, fall and fall! That's all you manage to do, I suppose women can't keep up with this kind of training after all. Why not go back home and do some knitting huh?!" He shouted.
After shouting harshly a drop of blood shot out his mouth accidently and landed on the ground beside her. This was the late stages to his condition, a sort of sickness that he picked up mysteriously in his youth but still hadn't fully explained it to Asuka.
Asuka drove her fist into the ground over and over in anger, crying heavily with her face lowered. After beating the ground repeatedly she stood up and walked towards the tree with no words.
She scaled up the tree with acrobatic movements, moving from one branch to the other with ease.
When at the top she looked down to the ground, three stories in the air. A thin cable stretched out from under her feet that had been tied to one of the branches, it connected to a tree quite a distance away.
She stepped forward on the cable and struggled for a moment before adjusting her balance. "It's so- wiggly!" She panicked.
Her father remained on the ground and raised the stick like a sword in his hand; it resembled the way children would practice sword fighting amongst each other.
He swiftly swung it down and created a slash of wind in the air that struck her on the cable. At this point Asuka was balancing at the half way point of the cable with barely any stability, when suddenly the burst of wind crashed against her.
She stumbled in place with her hands extended out and her body shifting frantically. She glanced down in a panic and focused on the floor that appeared to be getting further away. Her muscles clenched up and slowly felt as if she couldn't control her actions anymore.
"Oh no- I'm gonna fall again!" She screamed out.
As her gaze shifted, it ran past her father who didn't have his usual angry grin. At this point in time he was disappointed; it was the face of someone genuinely in despair.
'He doesn't believe in me…how could he when I can't even do this much? Why did dad have to get sick- why does someone like me get to live a healthy life when I'm this weak…?'
The tears in her eyes stocked up and raced down her cheeks; she gave in and started to fall over to the side and off the cable.
She noticed the scenery of the trees in the distance turning on its side; the house they were staying in followed and began to rotate as she fell over. Suddenly everything stopped and the scenery was frozen in place.
"What the- what happened?" She wondered.
Her upper half leaned over the edge but her legs were clinging onto the rope for dear life. Her right leg pressed down over the top of the cable while the other hooked under it. She was frozen in place and glanced down at the massive grin overtaking her father's face.
It was an expression she had never seen from him before and could barely understand it herself. "What's with my legs, I didn't do that?! It's like it moved by itself without me knowing-"
Asuka wiped away the tears and let out a hearty chuckle as she corrected herself on the cable.
'So that's it huh? Absolute…zero.' She thought.
Mister Miyamoto began to swing his stick again, letting a barrage of currents crash against her but this time Asuka smiled as it happened.
The rope shifted heavily and her legs remained still, she looked like a leaf in the wind that would shift along with the current. Her body remained completely centered as her legs bent to the direction of the wind.
"Well that's all I can give, looks like there's no knocking yer ass down!" He shouted.
Asuka flipped backwards from the cable and landed against the tree, where she slid down with cat like accuracy.
"You did well Asuka, you have finally mastered the Miyamoto style! No matter what people may say, even if you are a girl- you will be able to succeed as long as you don't stop! Trust your body and it will do as you wish." He stated while placing his hands on her shoulders.
Asuka wiped away one more tear from her eye and let out a huge pearly smile. "I promise dad!"
*The morning of the Weepnest Mountain Race*
Asuka emerged from the forests clutches with her body flying out from the snow. She landed on solid ground and cheered out with a gleeful smile as she kissed the ground beneath her.
"Thank goodness I finally reached land! No more soft snow and running, I can finally eat some food again!!"
As Asuka rubbed her face along the ground a set of unfamiliar high-heels walked up to her and stopped in front of her.
"Uhm- are you by any chance miss Miyamoto?" A woman asked gently.
It was a precious beauty wearing formal dress clothes that a member of some high-end company would wear. She had jet black hair tied up behind her head and had a formal black and white theme to her clothing.
"Yeah that's me, something I can do for ya?" Asuka asked casually while still on the floor.
"My name is Ringo Hashiran and I'm supposed to act as your guide for the day, it's a pleasure to meet you…" Ringo dropped her jaw with awe as Asuka bent forward to embrace the ground, which revealed the outline of her butt.
A firm butt wrapped in a thin material stuck out into the air while moving slightly from side to side as she rested on her hands and knees. She casually continued to crawl along the floor like a child but began to attract some attention from passing men and people.
"Miss…m-miss Miyamoto y-y-you're tights are…" Ringo muttered nervously.
Her face was stained red across her face and could barely manage another word so all her sentences slurred together.
Asuka stood up without any inkling to what had happened. "What is it Ringo, does your stomach hurt or something? You went all red!"
"Nothing, huff~ the association behind the Weepnest Race has supplied each foreigner of the race with a guide and proper accommodation, so today I'll show you around." She sighed.
"No thanks, you don't seem very fast so I don't wanna be slowed down." Asuka bolted to the street lamp and scaled it within a few seconds.
She barely used any movements besides grabbing hold of the post and then running her feet along its axis. If Ringo hadn't seen it with her own eyes then she would never had believed that it was possible.
"Miss Miyamoto you have to come down from there, please! People aren't supposed to be climbing things in the town, it isn't safe!!" She called out pedantically.
"Woah!!!!!" Asuka screamed out in thrill as she observed the scenery around her.
Large buildings comprised of brick and wooden beams lined up in the streets as houses, with many modern touches on an otherwise rustic themed town.
Most of the houses had slanted tiled roofs with both a balcony and chimney, something that was very familiar to Asuka. She lived closer to the mountain side so she was quite used to the rustic lifestyle but had never been to a town with such modern advancements.
The buildings and shops were built from brick and metal but most if not all of them were taller than she had seen before. It was impossible to make out from a distance because of the overgrown trees she had to pass through but up close it was truly daunting.
The streets were laced in bricks and concrete with dirt trails for bikes and other sort of walking trails. One of the many home-feels added to the wonderful village of Cyan.
Asuka couldn't hold her excitement to explore and leapt from the pole over to one of the closest houses. Even though it was the closest it was certainly not an easy jump, they had to be about 13 meters apart but she did it none the less.
Ringo nearly buckled in place with widened eyes and a dropped jaw, it had been the first time she had ever seen such an abnormal person. "I don't get paid enough for this." She moaned.
Asuka ran from one roof to the next, stepping over the red rooftop tiles. As she crossed over a house she occasionally let a tile slip or fall out of place from trampling over it accidentally.
The people in the streets called out to her with angry scorns but she didn't seem to notice what they were saying so she paid them a cheery wave in return.
"This is so cool; I can't believe such an amazing place exists beyond that snowy forest! Where should I go first, maybe to a hot spring or some- THERE!"
A sweet aroma flooded her nose while racing across the roof and caused her to change direction and bolt even faster towards the divine scent. Asuka jumped towards a lamp post and used it as a foothold in order to burst towards a street vender on the ground.
When in sight she managed to see that it was a small table with plates of Dango drenched in a golden sauce that caused her to drool on the spot. Asuka had miniature images of the Dango over her eyes as she had a waterfall of drool escape her mouth.
She dropped her concentration for a moment and suddenly slipped from the pole, falling down vertically onto the street. A large crash followed by a cloud of dust enveloped the area instantly causing many passing eyes to focus on her.
A young man with thick brown hair rushed over to where she had fallen and leaned over her with an arm extended out. "Hey- are you alright?!"
Asuka gripped the back of her head for a moment and regained her senses, when she looked up and saw him she suddenly felt a twinge of heat overcome her. Her mouth became dry and her face had turned extremely red.
"Uhm…hello? Do you speak English, you might be concussed?" He asked with a soft voice.
The young man seemed a little hesitant in his voice but he was around the same age as her. Asuka stared blankly at him without saying anything until she noticed the amount of people rushing in and staring at her.
Without saying anything Asuka bolted up in place and flipped back on to her feet. The sudden motion pushed the boy back and he fell back in fright. Asuka leaned forward and grabbed hold of his hand before he could fall back completely and locked eyes with him.
"Sorry for scaring you, you made the awesome food right?" She said suddenly.
The usual dark blue colour of her hair had been dirtied by a thick layer of dust and splints, along with the rest of her outfit as well.
"Y-yeah that was my food that I had prepared for the upcoming contestants…"
Asuka's eyes lit up again with a hardened fire and leaned in closer to his face without leaving any room between. Her nose slammed into his and knocked him down on to the floor.
"Really, then this is my lucky day! I'll take as much as I can have please!"
"No way, seriously you're participating in the race?" The guy said gingerly.
Asuka let out a small groan of frustration and let go of his wrist. "Yeah I am- is there something wrong with that?" She asked loudly.
"Not at all- hahaha! I'm actually relieved that there's someone so cheery in that race. To be honest most of the contestants that I had run into seemed very serious and mean…I'll be rooting for you~"
Asuka dropped a couple Dango into her mouth with a gluttonous munch while paying full attention to what he was saying.
"Thanks, and I'll be sure to root for this amazing food! Keep doing what you're doing, it is really good." She said with a childish grin.
He really seemed to be taken back by how much she enjoyed his food; he started to blush and averted his eyes.
Asuka frowned slightly and leaned in close again with a serious expression. "Wait but there's no way we can root for each other!"
"Why not!" He replied hastily.
The young man stepped back with a red face and felt extremely embarrassed from how loudly he had responded. Without realising it he had become highly invested into the conversation and was speaking honestly.
"We can't root for each other without knowing what our names are. I'm Asuka Miyamoto; I'm going to conquer the Weepnest mountain race!" Asuka stated with her arm extended out to shake his.
"Asuka- that's a good name. Mine's Miden…Miden Uroff!" He responded loudly.
"Is that it, what about your dream?"
"My dream, I don't think I really have one…" Miden replied before looking down embarrassed.
Asuka grabbed his hands and gripped it with a subtle squeeze that snapped him out of his shyness, for some reason Miden felt very confident in that moment.
He looked her straight in the eyes and responded to her with a glare of light radiating off his eye. "My names Miden and I'll make the best dish in the world!"
Asuka let off her pearly smile again and let go of his hands, with a huge leap she reached the top of the lamppost again and signalled a goodbye wave. "Thanks for the yummy treat Miden, so be sure to keep making me food!"
As Asuka headed along the lines and rooftops she swiftly existed out of Miden's view. A faint voice began to scream from down the street as a tired woman frantically stumbled along the sidewalk towards Miden.
It was Ringo waving her arms in the air with an exhausted expression; she looked as if she would collapse at any moment. "Where did that brat go?"
She grabbed hold of Miden and sunk her talon like nails into his shoulders which erased all of his confidence and restored him to a nervous state. "That way…" he said with a finger shaking towards where Asuka had left.