As It Is, If It Were

Four / Mejiro McQueen

McQueen was fairly sure that she'd looked her best, but somehow Dictus still managed to find a stray strand of hair on her dress.

"There," Dictus said as she picked the strand away. "Now you look perfect."

"Thank you," McQueen replied as she took one last turn in front of her mirror, observing her own deep emerald satin dress. "I hope this is enough."

"Oh, it's plenty. You're gorgeous, don't worry."

"You look stunning yourself, Ikuno-san."

Dictus had opted for her usual formal meet dress—crimson, with a little rose accent on the hip, and figure-hugging from the waist down. She braided her hair and kept it over her shoulder, again with another rose accent on her hair tie. She smiled at McQueen's compliment.

"Thank you very much. I would like my former teammates to see me at my best, after all."

Just for this occasion, McQueen had arranged for the Mejiro family chauffeur to take them to the venue—there's the concern about keeping the sharpness of their looks along the way, of course, but McQueen liked the atmosphere they had as they prepared, and she would like to keep it in that manner all the way to the event. Comfort was a rather important matter in such a thing, and McQueen knew she could expect the best from her own family.

It was the first Tracen grand reunion, inviting virtually all students who had attended the Academy, and also the first reunion they'd have had in four years. The girls from Spica mostly kept in constant contact with each other except when they were swamped with work, and McQueen occasionally heard about the Canopus girls from Dictus if they did come in touch, but apart from that, McQueen rarely heard from the other girls. To say that McQueen was looking forward to it would be an understatement.

The venue turned out to be a very large hall in one of the largest hotels near the Academy, reserved in its entirety for the night. The week had just ended, so McQueen had hoped that most of the girls could attend—if nothing else, Tazuna-san seemed to be fairly confident of the attendance rate this time.

"It's nostalgic," she said when McQueen and Dictus arrived. "It has been so long since I've greeted you girls by the gates. You are all women now, but see you all arrive and calling your names out as you come like this is rather…."

She wiped a tear as McQueen and Dictus handed their invitations. After exchanging their greetings once more with Tazuna-san, they entered the hall.
McQueen had expected to describe the hall as lavishly decorated, but—although that was indeed the case—the hall turned out to feel much friendlier, much warmer than the usual formal events. There were still clothed round tables everywhere, adorned with sweets and confectioneries, while waiters and attendants seemed to walk on and about with beverages and bottles of alcohol. But there was also a large board on one side of the wall, plastered with photographs. McQueen had seen similar displays before in events celebrating her races, but unlike those events, the pictures were not of the victory trophies or the girls during their runs. Not entirely, at least. One corner was dedicated to some really memorable wins—the moment Symboli Rudolf's officially snatched the Triple Crown title, Special Week's legendary Japan Cup, Rice Shower's Kikuka-shou, Tokai Teio's miraculous Arima Kinen comeback, and even McQueen's own second Spring Tennou-shou—but the rest of the board was instead full of mundane pictures of the girls during their dorm stay in Tracen.

There was King Halo treating Haru Urara's wound. There was Oguri Cap attempting to take Tamamo Cross' portion of rice. There was Air Groove bringing documents over to Symboli Rudolf. There was Seiun Sky flirting with Nishino Flower. Those were just the few ones McQueen's eyes could follow before she felt a tap on her shoulder.