Work Text:
Haru Urara runs in the Arima Kinen, and places 16th out of 16.
What happens then?
Haru Urara keeps racing.
She runs in races big, and races small, races broadcast the nation over and races in the furthest rural areas with only ten spectators. She runs in rain and shine and snow, with G1 winners and with the local deliverypeople, she runs on tracks well kept and tracks overtaken with untrimmed grass.
She runs a hundred and thirteen races, and loses every one.
And yet-
And yet she is beloved.
A japanese salaryman bets ten thousand yen on her "to give her good luck".
An american cowboy cheers for her at nearly midnight, single coffee mug still steaming as he whacks the tv to get the static out.
A nigerian entrepreneur donates three tons worth of resources to "the horse that never gives up".
A hundred thousand fans in canada crowdfund the same.
A british uma hand-writes a letter thanking Urara for inspiring her students, for teaching them that even if you don't win you can still keep trying.
Three brothers in Brazil paint their street walls a mural of her, and the local gangs set aside their differences and all protect it.
A bartender in Perth names the signature drink after her; sweet, and pink, and floaty. A small butterfly is printed on the glass.
An italian sculptor spends five years carving a statue of her; they install it in the Rome International School of Umamusume. Children run their chubby hands over her marble ones for luck.
A scientist, watching old recordings, scratches her face into a door in Antarctica; a reminder to never give up.
On the twenty-fifth anniversary of her last Twinkle Series race, the Kentucky Derby holds her a small celebration.
They call her the "Shining Star of Losers everywhere". She nearly falls down the steps blushing and stammering.
She is beloved the world over.
And she continues to live, to find joy.
She lives a long life, lives to be a grandmother's age herself. She watches the children of King Halo and Rice Shower and Vodka graduate their own Twinkle Series.
She visits Tracen sometimes too, to reminisce, to walk along that dirt track.
She wins her very first trophy in a race for elderly umamusume at the age of eighty-four.
Creaky knees, no stakes whatsoever, a race that any of her classmates oh so long ago could have won in the blink of an eye; but she clutches the trophy like it was the Arima Kinen's winning sash.
"Did you see! I won! I really won!"
When the news gets out, people in every city cheer alongside her, from the youngest umamusume to the oldest humans.
Wonder Acute and Grass Wonder visit to bring her congratulations in person. (So few of her generation are left now, but that only makes every visit even more precious).
She finds companionship (Urara hopes Ami-chan won't miss her too much), and Family; A small group of seven that she holds dear to her heart.
She teaches the neighborhood's children how to run, and how to get back up from scrapes. She gets into the mud with them when her joints allow it, and waves from the sidelines when she can't.
She still chases butterflies.
She lives and passes peacefully. Her soul is a child's, filled with joy, to the very last.
And when she leaves that world and comes to this one?
When she wakes up young again, in a field of grass and dandelions; What now? What now that she finds them? Goddesses, maybe; but definitely more grandmother than goddess.
How does she react? what does she ask them?
Do they ask her how she lived?
What do they say to her, besides asking her the most important question?
"Maa, well. Did you have fun?"
"I had the MOST fun."
"Then that's what matters."
She can hear some familiar voices, just beyond the crest of the hill.
King Halo. Grass. Condor. Spe-chan. Rice.
She can hear Vodka and Scarlet arguing about something or other again, as they had done for so long (She remembers them doing it even at their wedding.) She can all but hear Gold Ship's cackle as she prepares some stunt or another.
She CAN hear Digital squee-ing about the rest of them. She can hear Opera's fancy tones reading something out to them, can hear the happy tinkle of Mayano Top Gun's laugh, can just barely make out the top of Akebono's head. She can hear Nice Nature (her fellow "loser")'s sigh over the chaos.
She missed them.
She can't wait to run with them again.
Even she doesn't notice the beaming smile on her own face as she calls out "Guys, wait for me!"
She is gone in a wave of butterflies.
What happens after?
Life happens. And Haru Urara continues to run.
Fin.