*This is an after story of Prince of Stride Alternative. The story of how a girl from a respectable family STRIDES to become the first professional female stride runner.

*This prologue takes place when Kyosuke Kuga was in middle school.

The Princess of Stride

Prologue

I never had a place where I can really say I belong. Being from a well-respected family, I was always expected to behave like the perfect little lady, in order to fetch a suitable husband in the future as a debutante. The schools and classes I attended were all for girls only, from academics to ballet.

Manners I can handle, but my stature was another issue. I was always the tallest girl in my class, boys were more attached to the petite kind. Another issue is that since being close with my older brother and all, I had more tomboy like interests and pursues. I always loved to run, the faster the better and climb and jump about stuff, the higher and farther the better. My mother didn't approve at all, although she accept my grades in my physical education classes. I was starting to wonder if my life was going to be about following my family's instructions and wishes, without any real aim myself.

Then, in the last summer of my elementary school days, it happened. I had a fight with my ballet instructor about my future, the one planned for me by others, and ran out of the building. I ran and ran without no real aim, just like my life as always been, until I tripped and skidded along the sidewalk. I was sobbing my eyes out in frustration, like a baby.

Then I heard cheering from my right. I looked and saw a whole wall of people, cheering for something that was happening in the street. I crawled under the legs of the crowd and found a place where I can take a look.

That's when I saw it for the first time, on the big screen on a building were two teams of boys running the streets, jumping over, under, and through obstacles, making daring leaps of faith at declining routes, and clapping another person running at top speeds. "Excuse me, Mister, what are those men doing?" I asked a random man, not taking my eyes off the screen. "Oh those boys are completing in a stride race." he answered, heated from the excitement of the race. "Stride?" I asked myself as I was getting even more excited than at Christmas time.

"It's like a marathon, a relay, a splint race, and a parkour obstacle course all rolled into one. See, those two teams are made up of five runners and one relationer." the man explained. "Relationer?" I asked. Then he pointed to two people in a booth as he explained further. "Relationers, observe the runners on the course and give instructions to when the next runner needs to start running, take a certain path, or when to slow down or speed up. The runners run the track course, going through the obstacles along the way. The track is divided into five different parts with one runner from each team running it. When it's time for the next runner to run, the relationer tells them when, and they have to clap their teammate's hand within the takeover zone to hand off the run to them. The first runner who crosses the finish line wins for the team." My eyes got bigger as he explained this to me, pointing to the finish line.

"The fourth runner's approaching the takeover zone!" the man's friend exclaimed. "Alright right for the Anchors to run to the finish line!" he whooped. My eyes remained glued to the screen. Out of a blind corner, the teammates for the runners shown up out of nowhere accelerated in front of their teammates. I had my sights set on the team with the blue jerseys and marveled at how they did a perfect high five at top speeds.

The new runner for the final leg of the race, the anchor, reminded me of a snow spirit in Japanese mythology with long snow white hair pulled into a high ponytail. He ran as if he was the wind himself, and effortlessly maneuvered the obstacles as if he were flying. Then the cries of the crowd, grew louder. The runners were approaching!

They leapt over a large drop and landed on their feet as if they were cats. They charged right into a splint as the finish line was right in front of them. Refill with a new stamina, I broke from the crowd and ran along the borders of the course, running alongside the wind runner. It was hard to run in my ballet flats, but I didn't stop running until he crossed the finish line, the same time I cross it on the other side, winning the race.

I stayed there until the winning team relieved their awards. Then the winning runner noticed me as I was bouncing on the balls of my feet in excitement. He walked up to me and kneeled down at my eye level. "Enjoyed the race?" he asked with a gentle smile. "Yeah! I wish I can run in a race like that!" I exclaimed in pure honesty and determination.

With an amused smile on his lips, he took the winged shoe pendant from around his neck, and put it around my neck. "With the way you flew across the sidewalk alongside me. I have a feeling you will fly in one someday." he said as he patted my head in encouragement. Then he left with his teammates, giving me a wink as he walked away.

Then my ballet instructor found me, she was clearly mad. "YOUNG LADY! WHAT DO YOU HAVE TO SAY FOR YOURSELF?!" she scolded. The only thing could say was… "How do I become a Stride runner?"