Chapter Text
Event Going Wrong
Fly High, Smart Falcon! (I)
Lost Item Dejection
Advertising, even the best Umadol needed it! And Smart Falcon was doing nothing if not aiming to be the best Umadol. The days after her debut were long behind her! No longer could she rely on mere word of mouth to gather her fans, and attract new ones. All Tokyo needed to be made aware of the rising star among the racing Umamusume of Japan. To that end, Falcon had been hard at work creating flyers to advertise her live performances. She prided herself on knowing what caught the eye, the types of cuteness that might attract a passerby’s attention!
Or so she thought.
Falcon had a trainer now, and it had been his tireless efforts that helped her get this far in her career. After all, what kind of Umadol was not also a top-class racer? There were times when Trainer was unfair and pushed her hard, but he always sought to make her the best. Who better to lend a critical eye, and heap praises upon, Falcon’s work?
Trainer’s frown was telling. Falcon sat across from him at his desk, nervously kicking her feet as she waited. Her heart was pounding like the final moments of a race. Waiting for the words of her Trainer shouldn’t be so intense!
“So…?” Falcon asked in a leading tone, hoping for good news. However, she felt she would not like the answer. Trainer, who had been so vocal at her performances and in heaping praise on her when she was victorious, being silent was itself a warning.
“Well…” Trainer said slowly, eyes glued to the page. His voice was hesitant, another warning sign. But an Umadol did not shy away from the challenge! If there were improvements that could be made, then Smart Falcon would strive to make them!
“Don’t be shy, Trainer! A good Umadol always knows how to take criticism!” Falcon announced with a nod, arms crossed over her chest as Trainer met her gaze. That seemed to open the floodgates of his mind. Trainer set the flyer down and pointed out his issues with it.
“Well, there’s this…”
Doom. Falcon’s heart dropped.
“And this…”
Doom.
“And the colours don’t contrast right here…”
Doom.
It was all too much, her hard work torn apart before her eyes! How could one man be so cruel to an Umadol of her caliber and his darling trainee? Smart Falcon had tried using a digital art program. This was an unfamiliar arena for her. She knew she should have made the flyers by hand, but she was enamored with it! After all, shouldn’t an Umadol stay with the times?!
“Trainer~” Smart Falcon whined, sinking deeper in her seat with each mark against her hard work as her chin set into her chest. Reflexively, her hands had been released from their crossing to come up and grab her twin tails, nervously pulling them in. Her ears, normally standing proud and attentive, had now flattened against her skull. Trainer looked up, seeming at last to realize the conundrum his trainee was in. On one hand, Smart Falcon appreciated all the work Trainer put in. On the other hand, her hard work~
“Don’t worry, Falco!” Trainer said, giving her a thumbs up while using her nickname. “What’s a trainer for if not helping his trainee? Shoot me the file, we can work on this together.”
Together.
Two minds were better than one, and it was clear Trainer might have a better eye for these sorts of things. Falcon was not so prideful as to deny help! Her mood switched on a dime, and she stood up - fists planted on her hips as she nodded resolutely at the man.
“Of course!” She agreed as Trainer smirked.
Falcon quickly returned to her dorm, forwarding the file she made for the flyers. Side-by-side behind his desk, the pair worked well into the night - Trainer adjusting parts of the flyer while still taking the suggestions and desires of Smart Falcon into consideration.
As always, Trainer seemed to strive to make Smart Falcon look better - be it as a runner, or as a performer. His hard work would not go unrewarded. Trainer would have front-row seats to tomorrow’s performance where he could see the outcome of his efforts!
Falcon set out early the next morning, a stack of flyers in her bag as she went. She hummed merrily under her breath, a mix of a half-dozen different songs she had prepared for concerts and performances. Today’s performance was really a test bed, somewhere to experiment with some of the new songs and dances she cooked up. These ones were extra secret - not even Trainer knew about them!
Falcon smiled widely, happy with the knowledge that she would catch him and all her adoring fans off guard with an electric performance.
Falcoooo! They would cry, stunned!
Falcon wandered through the prefecture beyond Tracen. She handed off flyers, giving them to anyone that would take them. Success was variable, but an Umadol knew the hard work that came with being a top level performer. If one person did not want a flyer, then she would need to work just as hard to find another.
The hours ticked by, chasing the morning away into the afternoon. Yet, even the hardest working performer needed a little break now and again. A sweet drink from Smart Falcon’s favourite coffee place? Yum! And maybe a bit of browsing, all those cute outfits gave her fresh ideas. It was an hour at most before she decided to return to work, only Falcon realized a problem.
She’d lost the flyers.
“Oh no. I wonder where I left them?” She bemoaned, looking around the department store where she was looking at new sweaters. The stack was nowhere to be seen, and there were still so many to hand out! Almost no one would come to her performance at this rate, and then there would be no one to dazzle with her newest performance. Falcon returned to the front counter, desperation growing.
“Excuse me, miss!” She asked the attendant who had been helping her look at outfits mere moments before. “I made a lot of flyers for a street performance today. Did I leave them here?”
The woman shook her head apologetically, though she did offer help in looking for them in the store. They checked everywhere, every place Falcon might have left the stack of flyers. The changing rooms, the shelves, the restroom - nothing. Falcon thanked the woman all the same and fled, retracing her steps back. Another store, but the attendant claimed there was nothing there either. Even scouring the store did not turn the flyers back up. So on Smart Falcon went, another location, another failure. Just how many stores had she visited in that short hour?!
Falcon prided herself on her efficiency in looking through clothing and making outfits. However, the efficiency with which she moved through so many stores boggled the mind! The noon fled, and with it the hopes of Smart Falcon in finding those flyers and finishing handing them out. The last place she checked, the coffee shop, had been busy. Even then, the employee at the counter told her the flyers had not been there. Had someone taken all of them? No! Falcon was everyone’s Umadol, one flyer per person!
Yet, the longer she considered it, the more Falcon suspected she had merely misplaced the flyers.
Falcon stepped outside and fell into a bench, slumping over with a morose feeling in her heart. If her fans saw her now, they would be struck by how listless she seemed - but the young Umamusume could not help it! She had wanted to dazzle her fans with a performance, yet now none of them would know where she was holding it! What kind of Umadol did something like this?
Smart Falcon’s fingers dug into her skirt, wrinkling the outfit she had so painstakingly concocted before heading out. When what few fans she had contacted showed up, they would see her makeshift stage all but empty. And Trainer, who had worked for hours with her to perfect the flyers, would come along and be disappointed at how few people came out to see her… Falcon didn’t know what was worse: telling him the truth and disappointing Trainer that she had lost his hard work, or lying and seeing him sad that she had so few fans.
It’s my fault, Trainer! Please don’t cry for Falco! She cried to that imagined Trainer.
Smart Falcon sniffed, feeling her eyes stinging. She was imagining how upset her trainer would be, but it was her tears she felt trying to escape. She worked so hard, yet threw away their shared efforts with a single careless mistake.
“Falcooo.” A familiar voice made Falcon’s ears twitch, rousing her from her morose thoughts. For a moment, she thought the voice had been part of her imagined gloom, but the speaker was her trainer - in the flesh. He was dressed casually and carrying a coffee in one hand, the other dug into his pocket. It was a far cry from the usual cheap suits he wore at Tracen, or the tracksuits he wore when it was training time. Sometimes, Falcon forgot that he was a regular man rather than the guiding hand of her racing career.
Falcon quickly sniffed and wiped her eyes, before giving the man one of her dazzling smiles. She did not like crying in front of her fans or Trainer. Falcon always wanted to showcase her best side - even her sad Umadol looks were part of the performance!
“Hello, Trainer! What’re you doing here?” Falcon asked, though her voice sounded too happy even to her ears. Trainer must have sensed something wrong as well, as he cocked his head to one side and considered her. The man would sometimes miss her feelings, yet it was only at the most inconvenient moments he managed to notice!
“Did you already hand out all the flyers?” Trainer got to the heart of the issue in a few words.
Falcon agonised with her answer for a few moments, harkening back to her previous fear about lying or telling the truth. Lying would place her in a situation of few attendees at her performance, with Trainer not understanding why! On the other hand, telling the truth would be to admit to losing all of the flyers she and Trainer worked so hard on - not an attractive idea, either!
Yet, looking at Trainer, with that firm but understanding face… It forced Falcon into a more truthful direction.
“Um… No,” She admitted. “I… Lost the flyers, Trainer.”
Admitting that made her eyes sting again, Falcon’s hands came up to firmly rub them. She did not want to see Trainer’s disappointed look. Trainer always worked so hard to help and guide her, and had done so again with these flyers.
“I see.” Trainer’s tone was unreadable, and Falcon could not force herself to look up and see his expression. So his next words came as a shock. “Then we are running out of time!”
She looked up immediately at that, finding the man throwing the last of his coffee away. He turned again to face Falcon, his expression resolute and certain. He offered her his hand to pull her up, but Falcon could only stare at it.
“What?” She asked uncertainly.
“We need to print more flyers and start handing them out!” He announced, urging her with a waving hand. Falcon still did not take it, looking up into the sky at the sun moving inexorably toward the horizon.
“But… It’s already the afternoon.”
“Then we’re burning daylight before the performance. Come on, Falcon! An Umadol doesn’t give up!”
That lit the fire in her heart. Smart Falcon wiped her eyes one more time then put on a resolute face. She took Trainer’s hand and let him pull her to her feet. He was soft and warm, and a bit sweaty - she let him go after a moment to pat down her skirt.
“You’re right! The best Umadol doesn’t just mope around, come on!” With that, she took off for Tracen once again - counting the seconds until the advertised start of her performance.
“Falcooo- Wait for me!” Trainer called as Falcon hopped the fence and landed on the Umamusume section of the road. His words were too late, she was already gone.
Falcon had already printed the flyers by the time Trainer managed to catch up, panting and sweaty. Sunset was fast approaching, so Trainer offered to take some of the flyers and hand them out while Falcon did the rest. As a regular human, Trainer would be far slower than her - but every last flyer helped! So, with that plan set, they took off in opposite directions. If Falcon had been fast before, then she was downright a blur. A true Umadol racer, she likely dazzled even more people with her moves than with just the flyer - but if that meant just a few more people would attend, then she would weave through entire crowds! She wanted Trainer to arrive at the performance and find a crowd, to show his and her hard work had all been worth it!
Falcon burned through flyers quickly, the last one leaving her hands just as the sun began to set. She checked her watch, a stylish one that matched her outfit yet was set askew by her running. Time was running out. She had not seen or heard from Trainer since they both set out, so she had to hope he would make it in time. Falcon raced back to Tracen, making her way to the Ritto Dormitory. Fuji Kiseki, the Dormitory Leader, gave her one of those rare scolding for sprinting through the building before Falcon reached her dorm.
Eishin Flash - Falcon’s roommate - was already there, reading at her desk. She turned to look at the incoming ball of nervous energy that was Smart Falcon. The black-haired Umamusume oozed an effortless elegance, even as she looked at her disheveled roommate.
“Flash~ Help!” Falcon cried, the minutes ticking down in her head. The German girl gave a resolute nod without a single question, and the pair set about getting Falcon ready for her performance. Never had Falcon dressed, done her makeup, and gotten out the door in such time. What speed! Eishin Flash truly lived up to her name! Though Flash had no great care for artistry, she did have a mind for recreating it - like Smart Falcon’s stylish look!
In her racing outfit, Smart Falcon was nearly sprinting to the meeting place for her performance. That sun had long since set, but she made it to the overpass just in time. A crowd had gathered, and Falcon knew exactly what they were there for when the first person saw her.
“Look, it's Falco!”
“Falcoooo!”
“Falco, you’re so pretty!”
“Sing us a song, Falco!”
“WOOO, FALCO!”
Smart Falcon laughed, relief flooding her veins as she waved at her fans. She greeted them warmly, moving through the crowd with effortless experience. As Falcon found her makeshift stage, she realized how many people had come. Well over a hundred, maybe even two hundred. Not shabby for how quickly this whole plan was thrown together…
Oh, who was Falcon kidding? Her heart was bursting with joy at just how many of her darling fans were attending. Falcon waved at them all with a wide smile, microphone in her hands. She turned it on and brought it close, speaking out to them.
“Thank you all for coming!” Falcon cried, and was met by the roar of their approval.
Falcon’s eyes scouted the faces, looking for one in particular. There he was: Trainer. Where else would he be but in the front row? He always strove to be there, to be the loudest among her adoring fans. Somehow, Falcon doubted that enthusiasm would be the same this time around. That was not to say his efforts went unappreciated!
Trainer looked worse for wear, the man must have sprinted his way here as well. Without the benefit of an Umamusume’s physicality, he had to be exhausted. Sweat strained his jacket, he looked tired and drawn, yet smiled when Falcon met his gaze. Smart Falcon felt her smile widen. Even if he wasn’t the loudest she was still glad he was here. Glad he jumped in when she had lost hope and run herself ragged.
Ba-Dump. Her heart fluttered, and Falcon forced herself to look away.
Falcon considered her fans and spoke again, her nerves entirely attributed to the crowd.
“Are you ready?!” She cried, letting their roar answer her once more. Falcon began her performance without any further ado. She sang and she danced her heart out, watching her fans - new and old - lose their minds at her new songs. They screamed her name, yet one voice remained loudest of them all.
“FALCOOO!” Trainer cried, seemingly reinvigorated now that the performance started. He waved two glowsticks and cried her name, his face alight with joy at seeing her perform. Even after all the work he put into helping her with the flyers, even after having to run around the city to help spread them around, he found the energy to cheer her on with her fans… No, with the rest of her fans, because Trainer had always been her first fan.
Ba-Dump.
Smart Falcon winked at the crowd when her song called for it before blowing them a kiss. They went wild; they didn’t need to know that it was meant for Trainer. He cheered loudly all the same.
The performance was a smash hit. Umastagram and UmaTok were alight with videos and pictures of Smart Falcon, at least for a little while. Smart Falcon had still not hit her popularity stride, but every new video and photo made her heart race. Watching herself perform, seeing the comments and interactions made all the headache worth it.
With the performance over, trainer and trainee made way for Tracen once again. They separated at the entrance, Trainer going for his office while Smart Falcon returned to the Dormitory. The man looked battered and exhausted, but he gave her a heartfelt farewell all the same. Truly, Trainer was one-of-a-kind.
It was only when Falcon reached her and Flash’s room did she realize she had forgotten to take a post-performance selfie! She nearly slapped herself upside the head for forgetting that all of her problems had been due to her mismanagement of advertising. She nearly missed the most important part once again. Smart Falcon took up her phone and got ready to take a picture, only to pause. She was still dressed to perform, but found the location inadequate. The dorm was a private place, and it lacked the energy she wanted for the selfie. Besides, after all the hard work Trainer put in, she wanted to make sure he was rewarded! How better than a selfie with the top Umadol Smart Falcon?
With a smile, she dashed from the dorm once more and back toward the main academy. It was familiar ground, the trek to Trainer’s office. She did not even bother knocking to be let in. Trainer would complain about such overt friendliness, but he did not tell her to stop. The interior was still illuminated, but Trainer was not working diligently behind his desk and planning Falcon’s next steps. Trainer’s head was down on the desk’s surface, resting on his arms as he slept.
Falcon paused, then let a fond smile cross her lips. Naturally, after running himself to exhaustion, he would be tired. Especially after how loudly he cheered and danced around at her performance. It only stood to reason. Falcon put her arms behind her back and crept over, sneakers stepping lightly on the tiled floor as she reached the man. There was neither the firm expression when training or the electric joy when Falcon was performing, just the innocent calmness of sleep.
“Trainer, you’re drooling~” Smart Falcon teased the sleeping man lightly as she stared down at his face. He had put in all that work for her, he deserved a rest. Falcon pulled out her phone and turned, leaning back toward the man while bringing the phone up. She adjusted the picture for a selfie - framing herself and the slumbering Trainer. Peace sign, kissy face, and Falcon took the picture. She spun around once more, smiling down at it and typing out a caption.
Tired after a great performance! XOXO
Her finger hovered over the send button, but Falcon hesitated. She looked at the picture of Trainer’s sleeping face and wondered how many people had seen the stalwart man look so defenseless and… and… And what? Falcon clamped down on that train of thought and let her thumbs work.
Tired after a great performance! XOXO Thank you, Trainer!
She edited the message, yet still did not post it. There was a slight heat in Falcon’s chest at the thought… Maybe she wanted to keep the picture of Trainer’s sleeping face just for herself?
Ba-Dump
“Waa!” She exclaimed quietly, hands coming up to pat her burning cheeks. What was Falcon thinking?! Falcon turned her phone screen off before turning away from Trainer, hands still on her cheeks as her head burned. After a few moments, she calmed and turned back - looking down at him once more. Trainer grunted and shifted, but still did not wake. Falcon sighed before smiling fondly once more, stepping over to Trainer and leaning down. It wouldn’t be right to post a picture of him while he was sleeping, at least not without his permission. She could find something else.
“Thank you for your hard work, Trainer.” Falcon whispered to his ear, making the man mumble to himself.
“Falcooo~” Trainer said lightly, still asleep. Falcon leaned back, still smiling - until it registered what she did. She fled the scene just as swiftly as she arrived, though not before turning out the light.
The picture Smart Falcon did end up posting was taken at the gates of the Academy, an image of her softly slumbering trainer forever stored on her phone.
Mood Up!