Chapter Text
Agnes Digital first took notice of her trainer’s secret in the autumn of her 4th year of racing, the October before her own retirement race.
They were in his office, sitting on his couch and watching the Shuka Sho live on his TV. Digital and her trainer watched a lot of races together. They try to catch every graded stakes they can, and hell, Digitan sometimes even drags her trainer to watch the occasional non-graded race. It didn’t matter the prestige, the prize pool or the size of the audience - the two of them just loved to watch umamusume run. And G1 races? They make it an all-day event, and even if they can’t catch the race in person, you can bet that Digitan is going to treat it like a movie night and go all-out on snacks.
“The autumn summit for Classic-year queens, the Shuka Sho… will it be the first Triple Tiara in many years, only the 2nd in history?”
But her trainer was a bit… different this time. He was just as attentive as ever, of course, but his eyes were glued to the screen with an intensity she hadn't seen before. His trainer had made himself known within racers’ and trainers’ circles for his quirk of constantly writing down his observations of racers, taking down every detail to analyze (and, Digital knew, to fanboy over) later. It was for this reason that she and her trainer were known as the “Freak Duo” - Digital for her ability to run on both dirt and turf, her trainer for his encyclopedic knowledge of every graded racer.
Even as the race started, he didn’t touch his notebook once. The pages still lay bare in front of him.
“From the far outside, Still in Love! And responding to that, Admire Groove! It’s these two as expected! Still in Love, Admire Groove!”
There was the same awe and admiration in his eyes as ever, at least. And as the race reached its climax, he finally made a sound; a gasp, as he realized he was about to watch history being made.
“Still in Love has won! The second ever Triple Tiara in history has been achieved! A great roar in Kyoto Racecourse!”
Her trainer remained rooted in place. Digital, however, couldn’t contain her excitement. She practically screamed as she stood up suddenly, the bowl of popcorn that was sitting on her lap being thrown and spilling its contents everywhere.
“Ohmygoooooooosh! Trainer, trainer, I can’t believe it! Still-chan is so pretty and scary and cool and and and… And did you see the way Admire Groove glared at her?!… trainer-san?”
Digital trailed off, noticing that her trainer was still unusually quiet.
His eyes were still locked onto the screen, watching Still in Love putting on an air of grace as she accepted the Shuka Sho winner’s sash. Eventually, Digital noticed tears forming at the edges of his eyelids.
“Trainer?! What’s wrong??”
Digital got in the way between him and the TV and shook his shoulders, which finally snapped him out of his daze. Blinking, he shook his head as he wiped away his tears. “Ah… sorry. I, um, just got emotional because… we’ve just watched history being made, you know? The first Triple Tiara since Mejiro Ramonu.”
Digital frowned. She’s known her trainer long enough to know that he’s lying. But, not wanting to pry, she accepted the answer at face value. “Oh yeah! Gosh, I love every umamusume race but there’s just something so special about seeing a Triple Crown being made! It really makes me want to go and run my heart out!”
Apparently, that was the wrong thing to say. His eyes became downcast for a moment, then he turned his head, looking far off into the distance through the window of his office. “Yeah… it really makes you want to run. Like them.”
Digital blinked. She was about to ask what he meant, but her trainer stood up and started cleaning, sighing at the mess she’s made. Embarrassed, she helped him clean up the office.
Still, she would never forget this incident, marking it as the first piece of the puzzle.
It was spring the next year, soon after Digital’s official retirement from the Twinkle Series. While she would still occasionally race as part of the Dream Trophy League, it still meant that racing and training was no longer at the top of her priorities, and it left her with a lot of free time. Free time that she used to observe her beloved umamusume… and her trainer.
The incident the previous autumn made Digitan realize, with some distress, that she didn’t really know much about her trainer, all things considered. To her credit, she had spent years getting him to open up about his love for umamusume - she always knew him as her mega simp trainer, but it took time for him to reveal to her the depths of his knowledge and dedication to her fellow racers. So she knew about his oshis, his volumes of notepads about graded racers, and how he won’t let people visit his apartment because it’s filled with merch.
She even knew he was a huge fan of Princess Fighter! Somehow, he was even more reluctant to admit he enjoyed magical girl anime than he was to admit he was an umamusume simp. She remembered how red his face got when she gifted him a box of PriFight blu-rays at the Tracen Christmas party. And his quiet but sincere thanks afterwards.
But. How about his dreams? His life before becoming a trainer? His hobbies beyond simping? Digital felt ashamed that she never thought of asking. She was just so caught up with finding someone who shared her interests she never thought of his life beyond them.
So, now with a lot more free time on her hands, Digitan started to use her patented Hidden Observation Technique™ (some would say ‘stalking’) to trail her partner. That was how she found him in the school gardens talking to Air Groove.
Her trainer was, she noticed, wearing neither the sports jersey nor the trainer’s suit that she associated him with. He was wearing overalls, a farmer’s hat, and gloves, and he looked more like one of the school’s groundskeepers than anything.
Air Groove had a softness to her face that Digital rarely saw. “Trainer Hanamura. Thank you for taking care of my plot while I was away.”
Her trainer shook his head, smiling slightly. “It’s really no problem. It’s something I enjoy doing, and it’s not work if you have fun doing it. Your flowers are right next to my own, anyhow.”
Digital widened her eyes. She noticed his office always had fresh flowers, of course, but she never considered he was the one who grew them!
The vice president hummed. She could hardly object to his reasoning, when gardening was her own favoured pastime. Instead, she moved on to the next topic. “The manager for my gardening club is retiring soon. Seeing as you have more spare time now that your trainee is out of the Twinkle Series, might you consider joining?”
Digital watched her trainer widening his eyes before looking downcast. “...I’m sorry. I’d rather not be seen as part of that.”
Air Groove tilted her head slightly. “Oh? And why is that?” she asked, before her face suddenly gained that coldness most students associate her with. Her voice becoming sharp. “...Hmph. Don’t want to be seen pursuing ‘feminine’ interests, is that it?”
Her trainer immediately perked up, turning his eyes to look into Air Groove’s. A challenging glare. “You’re right. But don’t get me wrong. I… personally, I wouldn’t mind if others knew I liked gardening. Or my other interests.” His glare softened as he closed his eyes. “But my family strongly objected to it in the past. I’d rather not deal with that again.”
Air Groove’s glare soon softened too. “...I see. I don’t fully agree with that reasoning, but out of respect, I’ll drop the issue.” Turning around, she started to step away. “I still want to thank you for taking care of my flowers. I’ll leave a basket in your office. I won’t let you refuse.”
Digital giggled as her trainer and the vice president proceeded to get into a (polite) exchange of rejecting thanks and insisting on it. She never knew this side of him, or that he was friends with Air Groove, but they were kinda cute about it!
…Huh. Digitan has never felt this way observing humans and umamusume, only between umamusumes. And yet, here she was feeling giddy like when she sees two rivals exchange challenges.
She filed away this moment as another piece of the puzzle.
“Oi, Hanamura. Don’t you think it’s time you scouted another trainee?”
Digital perked up from her seat at the school cafeteria. Here she was, barely touching her food while she peeked at the usual daily argument between Vodka and Scarlet, when she noticed a conversation involving her trainer at the faculty side of the cafeteria. Her trainer was seated across another man, an older trainer she knew he looked up to as a mentor and senior.
Her trainer raised an eyebrow as he stabbed into a piece of chicken. “Jou-senpai, Digital is still racing. You know I prefer to focus on one trainee rather than manage a team.”
The older man, Kitahara Jou, scoffed. “Yeah, in the Dream Trophy League. That means she races, what, once or twice a year? And with much less prize money to boot. I’m worried about your finances, buddy. Even here in Central, trainers are paid like shit, and you know the URA expects us to supplement it with winnings.”
“The cafeteria is free. I don’t really have anything to spend my salary on, anyways.” Except umamusume and PriFight merch, Digital thought. “And push comes to shove, I really have no problem living off of cup ramen.”
Kitahara sighed. “It’s not like you don’t have horsegirls who would be interested in joining you. There’s plenty out there who’d like to be under the wing of the ‘freak’ - complimentary - who raised a 6-time G1 winner on both turf and dirt. And as someone who took you under my wing, I know you have a lot of more potential as well.”
Digital shifted in her seat awkwardly. Even now, she had trouble processing that people looked up to her as an idol in her own right.
Trainer Hanamura crossed his arms. “And that’s exactly why I won’t take another trainee. I still believe Digital has more to grow. I believe in her potential, and I’ll see it through to the end.”
Kitahara clicked his tongue, clearly disagreeing but also respecting his junior’s conviction. The conversation continued, but Digital didn’t hear the rest. She slumped in her seat, her lunch entirely forgotten.
Was she holding her trainer back? Trainer Kitahara was right, her trainer had a lot of potential as a trainer that she was possibly squandering by unintentionally monopolizing him. She might even be doing a disservice to her beloved umamusume, by denying them the chance of achieving their dreams with a star trainer! And most of all, she hated the idea that by helping her achieve her own dream, her trainer was denying himself his own.
…Wait. What if, his dream didn't have anything to do with being a trainer?
“Yeah… it really makes you want to run. Like them.”
Digital felt like she was struck by lightning. She turned to the two trainers’ conversation again, another thought coming to mind. The two were close enough that Trainer Hanamura could refer to his senior with his given name, yet Trainer Kitahara referred to the other with his surname, without an honorific to boot. That might seem rather rude, but Digital remembered that her trainer often asked people to refer to him by his surname where possible.
His surname, Hanamura, was androgynous - maybe even a little feminine due to the floral theming. His given name, Takeshi, was decidedly masculine.
The puzzle pieces finally locked in place, and Agnes Digital saw the full picture for it was.
And she…
“GWAAAAAAAASDJASJDUZF THAT’S SO TRAGIC! I HAVE TO WRITE ABOUT THIS!” she cried out in despair, clutching her head, frightening every umamusume in every table next to her and then some. Even her trainer and his mentor’s conversation came to an abrupt stop as they turned to look at the cause of the disturbance, before Trainer Hanamura sighed and just filed it away as ‘typical Digital moment’. Not without a small smile on his face, of course.
Mejiro Dober looked at Digital with controlled calm on her face. “So, you want my help in drawing you a manga… about your trainer. Being turned into a horsegirl?”
Dober had taken up art after retiring from the Twinkle Series, albeit with ‘traditional’ art as her official vocation. The Mejiro umamusume still not quite ready to be open about being a mangaka. But it meant that she obtained her own small private studio on campus, which is where they were at now.
Digital nodded excitedly.
Dober’s face remained calm as she closed her eyes, but she rubbed her temples. “Question. Why, and why me?”
“Oh! Um, well, as I explained, I think he… she? They’ve harbored dreams of becoming not just a girl, but an umamusume, for a really long time. And I want to show this manga to them once it’s done! It’s like the fanzine we made for King Halo, you know, back in my classics year? I’m hoping it’ll inspire them to come out, and maybe, once Tachyon-san is back, we can get her help in finding a way to achieve their dreams?”
Digital shuddered. The thought of asking Dober and Tachyon, two of her beloved oshis, for help for something so personal broke every rule on boundaries she placed on herself as a fangirl, but she had to do it. For Trainer-san!... or would they prefer Trainer-chan? Much to think about.
Dober looked at her with mild horror. “Digital. Please do not subject your trainer to medical experimentation against their will.”
“Of course! Consent and permission are the ironclad rules of fanworks!”
“That’s not my point.” Dober sighed. “You haven’t answered my question. Why do you need my help?”
Digital laughed sheepishly. “Err, well, I’d need to draw my Trainer in their… current form, at first right? And I… only have experience drawing women.”
Dober blinked. Then lightly laughed, which made Digital’s face heat up. “I don’t know what I expected.” she said, then looked out of the window, lost in thought.
“...The way you described it. It kind of reminds me of how Palmer grew up not wanting to be a Mejiro. Of my countless other relatives who broke under the pressure and ran away. How me and Bright took on dreams not completely our own. Completely different context and scale from Trainer Hanamura, of course, but.”
Dober sighed. “Fine, I’ll help. I owe you for helping me with Comiket every year.”
“Thank you so much, Dober-sensei!!”
They got to work soon after that. For the most part, the process was no different from every other manga the both of them worked on. Brainstorming, drafting, sketching. But it was different when it came to creating her trainer’s new form.
There was no deliberation. There was no need to brainstorm. The moment Digital asked herself, ‘what would my trainer look like as an umamusume?’ a single, extremely vivid image came to mind immediately.
Digital shook, struggling to contain such a detailed image in her mind, and immediately started to translate it into paper. Dober frowned, but didn’t stop her. Digital continued drawing until she got every detail, every ingredient.
Once she was done, Digital slumped back in her seat in exhaustion. Simping was hard work, whether it’s for real umas or her trainer’s hypothetical uma form! Dober leaned over to peek at the result, and widened her eyes.
“She’s beautiful.” she breathed. And seeing that it came from someone Digital thought was as pretty as the setting sun, she knew the praise was legit! Then Dober narrowed her eyes at one particular feature of the design. The chest area.
Dober looked at Digital suspiciously. “You know, the way King Halo said it, I thought your preferences were more towards women’s back area…”
Digitan stuttered. “T-That has nothing to do with my preferences, I promise! It’s just what came to mind when I thought of my trainer’s uma form! It fits them! I think!”
She vainly tried to defend herself further, to no avail. Dober would occasionally look at her with suspicion for several more days while also peering down with a frown. Whatever that means.
At least the rest of the manga slowly, gradually came together.
Leaning against his balcony, Takeshi Hanamura looked up at the clouds before finishing the rest of his beer. Crumpling up the can, he threw it aside back into his room. Of course, he was careful to aim it away from his shelves of PriFight figurines and Umamusume plushies.
Jou-senpai was right, of course. By not taking any more trainees in these crucial early years, Hanamura was stumping his own career for no real reason.
But that was fine. He could never accomplish his true desire anyways. He loved umamusume, and he wanted to run alongside them. But it was impossible, like trying to make twilight last forever.
He was wasting his career, but wasn’t he wasting everything in his life? What was the point of worrying about the future when he can’t live the present the way he really wanted?
He can’t run alongside umamusume. But Digital can. Her dream was the same as his. That was enough. Helping Digital made him happy. Gardening made him happy. Watching umamusume and anime made him happy.
It should’ve been enough.
Hanamura’s eyes turned towards campus. He thought of one place in particular. The fountain of the Three Goddesses. Closing his eyes, he made a silent prayer. He hadn’t prayed to them since he was 12, when his parents scolded him on New Years. ‘Only umamusume pray to the Three Goddesses’.
Only umamusume.
Opening his eyes, Hanamura went back to his room, already accepting the futility of it all.
Digital let out a breath as she closed the draft. After many months, the manga was nearly done. There was just the cover and some final touches left. Then, hopefully, she can present it to her trainer on Christmas.
She hoped it was enough. She wanted it to be enough. Deep down, she knew that a manga couldn’t fix her trainer’s problems. She knew she was betting far too much on a hypothetical solution made by her mad scientist roommate, and said roommate wasn’t even on campus at the moment!
Digital sighed, and blinked as she realized she had walked over to the Three Goddesses fountain without thinking. Huh. It’s like that feeling she had once or twice in her career… like the goddesses were calling out to her…
The pink-haired horsegirl walked over to the statue and put her hands together in prayer… with the manga draft in-between her hands. In this unorthodox stance, she made her plea.
“Three Goddesses! You are all looking as amazing as ever! Not even my merch shrine can beat the beauty of your statues! I like to think I’ve built up a lot of good karma this past couple of months so… I’d like to cash in it all this time, and NOT for a raffle for once! Please! Help me make my trainer live their best life!”
Her prayer done, Digital released her stance… and the manga draft promptly fell into the water.
She cried in dismay, and immediately dipped her arms in to grab it and try to salvage what she could, but… her hands felt nothing but cold liquid.
“Eh?”
Despite getting most of her upper body wet in the process, no matter how much she fished the not-that-big bowl of water below the statues, she could feel the touch of nothing but coins.
“Eh? Wha? Huh?”
In disbelief, she kept trying, unable to accept that the draft just… disappeared. Into thin air. Or rather, into clear water. The only possible explanation was the Goddesses just… took it.
“GODDESSES! I’M HONORED YOU LOVE MY WORK BUT PLEASE WAIT TILL I PRINT COPIES NEXT TIME!” she wailed in despair, getting her hair wet as she clutched her head.
Panic started to set in. But wait. She drew some practice pages and kept them under her bed! Only some of the pages, but she had to clutch onto something. She couldn’t accept that all her and Dober’s hard work was gone.
Staff and students alike would report they saw a pink flash zoom across campus back to Ritto dorm.
Digital was desperately fishing papers out from under her bed when she heard a knock at the door.
She paused. Tachyon-san? No, she’d have a key.
KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK
They were frantic enough to make Digital forget her quest and stand up in shock. Oh no. What if it was Air Groove, here to yell at her for going past the campus speed limit?
A lighter knock. An even softer voice. “Digital, please…”
She widened her eyes. She didn’t recognize that voice. And yet…
Digital opened the door, and immediately took a step back.
First of all, she had to crane her head up to meet the umamusume’s eyes, because the girl was significantly taller than the admittedly-tiny Digital. Her hair was long, messy and unstyled, reaching all the way to her hips. It was black, yet had a purplish hue just faint enough to see, except for a white streak that covered the entirety of her middle bang. Her eyes, looking at Digital with panic and confusion, were golden. A cute pair of horse ears poked out at the top of her head, moving wildly, as if every sensation was new. The same went for her black purplish tail, swaying erratically. The umamusume was wearing a worryingly-familiar suit that struggled to contain her new proportions.
This was the first time Agnes Digital had seen her, but at the same time, all too familiar. Her name came to mind immediately.
“Twilight Blossom.” she breathed.