Work Text:
Time: 7 fucking AM
Place: Tracen Academy Bus, currently in Tokyo.
The thing about promising your trainee’s whatever their heart most desires if they win a certain number of races in a row is that sometimes you’re a fucking moron and you don’t comprehend the devil’s bargain you’ve made until it’s too damn late.
After scouting the cute little thing, I decided that in a bid to increase her confidence in her decision to run both dirt and turf, and to try to hype her up to become a generational umamusume herself when she felt ‘unworthy to defeat her beloved oshis’, that I would promise her for every three races she won in a row we could go out on an umamusume themed date. This mostly meant me following her along on her trips to stalk other umas along with buying her a nice dinner and fangirling over some cuties with her.
The huge fucking problem is that once she became motivated by the promise and her desire to really and truly run along side her beloved oshis, even if it meant defeating them, that the girl became a racing machine.
I can only figure she must be blessed by the three goddesses to never need a real rest period, because the girl was going undefeated constantly, even going out of her way to join minor races just to get more dates out of me, becoming a fucking terror on both dirt and turf as she did.
Seriously I’ve heard of girls PRAYING in front of the statue that they didn’t learn Digitan was joining their races, both for her usual reason of being a little weird and because they actually wanted to win for once.
It's not that I’m not incredibly charmed by her dedicated to her dream, no, that part of her is extra adorable. Plus, it's not like I mind going on a date with such a cute little trainee, or the extra long hugs and occasional cheek kisses I get out of it.
Hell, even the money wasn’t a concern. All my girls were genuine stars and the percentage I got of their race money was enough to make sure I'd probably live the rest of my life comfortably, but even if it wasn’t I would happily spend until I was homeless if it was for my precious little trainees.
Literally ANYTHING for my precious girls, no matter how big or expensive!
No, it was that my dedication to keeping my promises meant that I now had to accompany Agnes Digital on a date to the International Spring Umamusume Expo, a new event created in combination with Tracen Academy and several local and international brands, with the idea to use the Tokyo Racecourse as a type of large convention center to host an event for umamusume the world over to come and display themselves, their talents, and meet with fans and fellow racers.
Essentially it was the Tracen Fan Festival but kicked up to eleven. Which is saying something considering so far every year I had seen at least three uma related injuries per Fanfest. Honestly I can’t understand how Tazuna’s poor heart hasn’t given out yet with all the yelling she has to do year by year.
Now all this wouldn’t be problematic really if it weren’t for one simple little detail. One insignificant little snafu in all this. Each team had to assign at least one Uma to attend the expo as a representative of Tracen, and since I let my girls all play rock, paper, scissors over it, the one I ended up choosing three months ago was Digitan herself.
I’m so fucked man, its so fucking umaover.
So I now had the unenviable position of having to fulfill both my promise to let Agnes Digital have the date I've promised her where I follow her along fangirling over all the international cuties (and local too, Digitan does NOT discriminate when it comes to her love of umas, except for maybe having a slight bias towards Mejiro Dober or King Halo’s huge ass), and my duty as a ‘professional trainer’ to get my Digitan to act as a representative of Tracen/Team Sprout.
How I was going to get her to attend multiple panels she was required to and also all the panels she wanted to was going to become my own personal hell to figure out.
You know I have always wondered if Tazuna would get mad enough to use that crop she carries around on me. Today might be the day I finally find out. Now there’s an image…Tazuna looming over me, crop in hand…
I shook my head to dispel that particular fantasy, deciding to keep it for a more personal time later, as our bus finally arrived, the stern but helpful woman I had just been fantasizing about standing up from the driver's seat and turning back towards the collection of trainers and trainees, crop slapping against her palm to get everyone to quiet down.
“Mwehehe! Trainer-chaaan, we gotta check out the visiting American umas first! They make me go all like asdhsakjsdlda!!!111!!! OOOOOh, or maybe we start with the french umas that make me go like oohlala-” The pink haired girl in her flashy racewear seemed to be the only one unaware of the impending doom that would keep coming if she didn’t stop talking, so I invoked my usual method to shut her up of shoving an Umapop (now in TopGun Orange flavor!) into her mouth to silence her, and Digitan immediately squealed around the candy as I pushed her a little lower in her seat, giving Tazuna my best smile in answer to the glare she was shooting towards us.
Okay so maybe my crop beating is coming sooner than I might be ready for.
Seeing the interruption had been dealt with, Tazuna gave us all another once over before giving her best smile and gesturing towards the bus door. “Okay everyone, please exit in an orderly fashion and proceed to your first assignments for the day. Don’t forget you are acting as representatives of the Tracen Academy, so you’re expected to be on your best behavior. The doors will open to the public in just one hour, so for all the trainers present, make sure your representative understands their schedule and is where they should be by then-” She paused a moment to glare directly at me and Digitan, the pinkette too preoccupied by her excitement of seeing so many oshis at once to notice, but I at least gave her my most charming smile to assure her. “-Okay, off you go. I’ll be waiting for the director to arrive in her own personal transportation, and helping take care of any problems in the meantime, but don’t hesitate to call me if you really need it.”
Having been well practiced by now, I grabbed Digitan by a pigtail before she could try to run off first, the girl letting out a noise of surprise and slight pain as I pulled her back down, before giving her a flick on the forehead. “Bad girl. Be more respectful of our oshis and let them exit first, then exit in an orderly and calm manner so as not to upstage them.”
Digitan’s eyes widened at this, the pain of my actions already forgotten as her eyes began to shine, giving me a determined nod as she finally bit through the last of the Umapop, swallowing before giving me a serious salute. “Right you are my partner in simping! I forgot how dedicated you can get when you actually show your freak side Trainer-chan, it’s like your whole demeanor changes and you become a total weirdo like me! Er, not that that’s a…bad thing…” She poked her fingers together, blushing a bit as she worried about offending a fellow fan.
Honestly, she means well at least. Plus she’s a total cutie, so she can say anything she wants to me really.
I made sure to give her a little reassuring pat on the back before sticking my tongue out at her, my head shaking and sending my green hair bouncing as I did. “First of all cutie, you haven’t ever actually seen your Trainer-chan's freak side, trust me, and I’m pretty sure you’re only a little bit into trainer x uma anyways-” I resisted the urge to laugh as she turned red and steam began to leak from her ears. “-but you know how this goes by now, I never go back on a promise, so yeah, I’m your partner in simping for today! Now come on, let’s at least figure out our assignments okay? With any luck, you’ll be paired with some visiting umas anyways.” I finished by grabbing her hand and pulling her off the bus with me, still laughing internally as she began to froth at the mouth at my suggestion.
Alright, well she didn’t immediately demand we ignore assignments, so she’s at least a little aware that she has things that aren’t optional today.
I made sure to give Tazuna one last wink before we left to fill her with confidence in my training expertise, to which she responded by slapping the crop against her palm again before closing the bus door after us and rolling away.
Thankfully my plans played out well enough as we all lined up and made our way to the entrance reserved for representatives and trainers. I knew if I managed to convince Digitan to follow her oshis I could slow down her excitement, because we happened to be right behind King Halo and her trainer, so Agnes Digital was now thoroughly distracted and walking almost in a daze as her eyes were firmly locked a little lower than was polite.
While she pervs out, better make sure…
I opened my phone and quickly navigated to my contacts, checking the top to make sure, yep, Aston Machan’s name was still up there. I had set a picture of the two of us together at dinner as my phone background just to make absolutely sure I wouldn’t have a repeat of the previous incident. Plus her newest handmade plush that I kept on my bedside table (and only occasionally held as I slept) made sure she stayed in my mind.
I will NEVER forget Aston Machan.
Before closing my phone I made sure to send a message to my ‘Cute Lil Trainees’ group chat to remind the rest of them to be on their best behavior while Trainer-chan was gone, and maybe to get together and practice dancing or singing in the meantime. I giggled like a little fool as I received my usual middle finger emoji from my cute little tsundere Taishin, followed by muting the chat as the usual Scarlet/Vodka argument over the smallest things in the world began.
That important errand finished, I entered the racetrack turned convention center alongside Digitan, quickly grabbing her hand in mind and laughing as I got another squeal out of her, pulling her off to where we needed to actually be before she ended up following King Halo in a daze.
“Oh my GODDESSES is that Obey Your Master??!?!? ASDJAasdjkasdhh I’ve gotta gotta gotta get a picture!!11! AHHHHHHHHHH!!!” Digitan roared in my fucking ear as we passed by a group of American umas, the older blonde in question jumping at the yells from Agnes Digital but giving her a grateful wave at being recognized, Obey’s own trainer having to pull her a bit and direct her towards her actual duties so she didn’t come greet the little fangirl.
Why is that umamusume are all a bit…well, I wouldn’t say dumb, perhaps, lacking in wits? Even the smartest ones are a little foolish sometimes, but maybe that’s just because I mostly interact with schoolgirls and whatever the hell Maruzensky has going on.
No matter what she says, that girl is NOT 18. She is a fifty-two year old woman at the very least.
With only a few more pauses as we passed by umas from france and england for Digital to squeal and beg me to remind her to make sure she got everyone’s autographs later (and hey, nothing was gonna stop ME from getting one from Moonlight Lunacy, she’s a cutie), we finally got to the little booth that had been decorated just for us, a soft pink table adorned various merchandise of Digitan, including several small comics about her, a big bag of plushies to sell, and other generic Tracen Academy branded things. I noticed Digitan fell silent as she usually did when remembering that she too is one of those “beloved oshis” she cares so much for.
No baby girl, we are not doing that today.
I quickly picked up a Digitan plushie and gave it a soft kiss on the head, before turning and giving the real thing her own quick headkiss, nodding to myself as I held the plushie under one arm and walked around the table to sit in one of the soft chairs provided. “Yep, the real thing is MUCH cuter.” I said with assurance.
Actual steam began to pour from her ears again (I’m still not sure how Umamusume do that) as she coughed on her own spit trying to give me a response, but she stopped slouching and started to wave her arms animatedly so I called that a win, gesturing for her to sit next to me as I picked up her list of tasks.
Alright with any luck these will all just be simple stuff and I won’t have to worry about anything.
I read through the list as Digitan tried to lean up in her chair to do the same, but considering I had a foot and four inches on her, she couldn’t quite get a look, whining as she tried to pull me down “Trainer-chaaan, let me see already, I gotta grab my gear and get to simpin’ while the gettings good!”
Dear goddesses, I just want to pause here to give you a big fuck you.
I knew instantly there was going to be an annoying problem. Most of her duties were pretty simple, things I knew she would have a problem with, but as I handed her the list I knew something would be painful. “Now sweetheart, I’ll remind you you’re here to represent Tracen itself, so-“
She cut me off as she finished reading, head snapping up to stare at me with her sapphire eyes, a rare flat look on her face and pretty fierce defiance in her voice. “Trainer-chan, I won’t do it.” She pointed to herself as I opened my mouth. “My date. My choice what we do. There’s nothing you can do that’ll get me to do that.”
Yeah, I was afraid of that.
The task list was fine in theory. She had to spend some time at her own booth handing out merch, talking with fans, and generally trying to give good public relations for Tracen. I knew she’d be okay with that part because there were other umas setting up similar booths for schools or organizations in this row, so she could simp and work at the same time.
There were also other things like being the end of an Uma parade (they even got her an ‘end of the line’ sign), a singing contest, and a recreation of a princess fighter episode where she’d get to play an evil villainess and get defeated via headbutt, something I’m sure my little freak (affectionate) would enjoy even if Kawakami Princess gave her a concussion.
But the problem task came in her final duty for the day: a question and answer segment with the uma press corps, a solo segment in a partitioned off part completely away from other umas. Now, digitan had done these kinds of things after races before, but to ask her to not only do one during something dedicated to all things Umamusume but to ask her to do it for an hour alone?
Especially on a day she considers as part of our arrangement…
I sighed, head landing on her head and giving her a pet between the ears, gently scratching behind her left one and watching her tension dissolve as she leaned into my hand.
Sometimes Umamusume are more like cats than anything else.
“Alright baby girl, you don’t have to do anything you don’t want to. I’ll figure something out, so for now, how about we get to it? I think I saw Rigantona setting up at the end booth, and we’ve got a bit so-“
I didn’t even get to finish speaking before Digitan reminded me just how strong Umas are as she grabbed my wrist and pulled me down the aisle like a speeding missile, babbling a mile a minute: “AHSGDHDHG RIGANTOOOONA IM YOUR BIGGEST SIMP LIKE EVER!!”
The best part of it was that she wasn’t even the only person saying that, as the girl in question was being downright swarmed by other adoring Umamusume before we even got there.
But I wasn’t focused on any of that despite how cool it was to see Rigantona in real life (she certainly lived up to her reputation). No, I was focused on how I could avoid the ass beating of a lifetime if I actually let Digitan ignore her final assignment.
Considering how important respecting the press is, I might even get fined.
I knew I wouldn’t be fired, or even suspended, because me and Director Akikawa had a very special understanding based on me bribing her with a frankly irresponsible amount of candy behind Tazuna’s back.
Not like I’m paying her dentist bills.
Still, as hot as Tazuna is, I don’t actually want that crop used on me, nor do I want to deal with the headache the scolding will cause, so I needed to figure this out.
The obvious solution was to put my foot down as her trainer, which even with her words before I knew should work, but it would violate the terms of our agreement and make her lose trust in me, something I absolutely would not allow.
So it was time to get creative. After all, I always had some cards to play, and I knew just the particular face card that could turn this around.
For now though I decided to just let myself be dragged along with my cute little trainee, throwing myself into the pit beside her and getting Rigantona to sign an autograph both in my precious book just for the cutest umas and my arm, so that made me quite pleased.
After that it kind of became a blur, joining Agnes Digital in her simping adventures all around and freaking out quite a few of the foreign trainers and Umamusume that weren’t used to someone as intense as Digitan. By the time it was time for the public to come in I was grateful to be able to sit down finally.
Digitan immediately took to running her little booth like a maestro conducting a concert, effortlessly handling multiple fans at once, with only a little bit of blushing and stuttering when confronted with anyone who freaked out at meeting their oshi Agnes Digital.
After that came the Uma parade, which went off without any hitches except Digitan nearly tripping once or twice due to her excitement. It was followed by the singing contest and that’s when I decided to make my move, finding the exact contestant I needed.
Thankfully, the value of making sure to be a helpful person is that people are usually willing to help you in return.
It does help of course to make sure to tell everyone they explicitly owe you and you expect a return.
Call me scum if you want, but doing things out of the kindness of your heart is for suckers.
I asked for my favor. I got an unusually enthusiastic confirmation.
I made sure to get back out to the crowd and cheer my heart out for my little trainee, nearly losing my voice and causing several others in the crowd to complain at my volume.
Fuck em, that’s my sweetie pie singing, of course I’m gonna lose it.
Time passed and eventually it was time for lunch, which was spent privately at the little nursing station they had set up, on account of the nasty bruise now adorning Digitan's forehead after Kawakami Princess predictably got a little too into her performance, defeating the forces of evil with a jumping headbutt.
Who could have ever predicted that?
Thankfully my little pink girl wasn’t actually concussed so I didn’t have to kick anyone’s ass, just some like bruising and a bit of dizzyness. As we ate the lunch of rice and karaage, I paused to scoot a little closer to Digitan on the little bench we occupied, casually wrapping an arm around her waist and pulling her in.
“So sweetheart, after lunch there’s just one more thing on the agenda, and then we’ve got three hours after to simp and cheer on our oshi all we desire.” I said, smugness creeping into my tone since I had my trump card ready.
She stiffened and went bright red as I pulled her close, thankfully not choking on the chicken in her mouth as she swallowed and turned to me, a burning defiance causing her eyes to shine as she spoke in a measured, flat tone. “Yes, trainer, I suppose someone does have something to do after this, but as far as I’m concerned, our day is free.”
She reached up to gently bop her knuckles against my nose. “So we shouldn’t talk about silly things like that, let’s talk about the route we’re gonna take to watch all the race events and cheer all those beautiful umas on!” Her excited tome returned at the end of her statement, a small amount of drool finding its way onto her race outfit as she overloaded from all the simping she had planned.
I reached up with a napkin to wipe away her drool, leaning in as I did to give her a quick peck on the cheek. During the resulting squeal she gave, I giggled and prepared to show her my full house to her flush. “Alright Digitan it's about time I be straight with you for perhaps the first time in a while-“ I gently booped her nose as she started to speak. “-yeah yeah yeah I don’t do anything straight we’ve all made the joke. Anyway, I need you to do this press thing. You don’t want to, and I don’t want to break our little agreement. So I’ve decided to resort to the most powerful tactic in my arsenal: straightforward bribery.”
She was already starting to get a defiant look again before she heard the end of my sentence, before she perked up and gave a bright smile. Digitan had seen just how generous I could be with bribery or favors before as a result of being my oldest trainee. “Trainer-chan, you never do something like that so…outright. Still, there’s nothing you can offer me that worth more than more time cheering on my precious oshis so you might as well give up-“
Aren’t you getting a bit arrogant there, Agnes Digital?
I couldn’t contain myself anymore, grabbing her chin and forcing her closer, our noses almost touching as I stared down into her eyes, cutting her off. “King Halo owes me. Big time. I’m not going into details, because a woman never serves royalty and tells-“ I could already see the yuri gears in her mind going into maximum overdrive from my intentionally provocative statement. “-but she has agreed that if you be a very good little trainee and enthusiastically perform your duty as a member of Tracen academy, she will take you out on a full date night. You and her. Alone.”
And now for the knock out blow.
“She was even quite eager about it. In fact, she agreed so fast I suspect the one and only first rate Umamusume King Halo has been perhaps thinking about her biggest fan in that way for a while.”
Genuinely it did surprise me how interested she was in the idea, it was way more than just owing me. I mean I had heard rumors about the one and only King-sama perhaps having some hidden feelings, but I wasn’t fully aware.
Digitan.exe predictably encountered an immediate error and had to restart several times, babbling incoherently and becoming a red sweating mess both from the closeness to her trainer and at the very thought that someone like King Halo could want someone like her.
I let her go and gently leaned her back, waiting patiently to see what kind of Digitan would emerge from the resulting clash of feelings, going back to eating my chicken for a minute or two.
Until suddenly my blood ran cold, the little medical tent began to shake, and even the sun darkened just slightly.
Oh fuck.
I got my breathing under control as I realized I was shaking, turning back to see that a pale blue aura had overtaken my trainee, streaks of blue light slowly rolling off her eyes as she stared intensely at me. I had seen this several times in my career as a trainer. It wasn’t the Zone phenomenon, the enhanced state umas get into during races, this was a much more terrifying one. I had my own name for it.
The aura of a Monster.
I had usually only seen it on umas who were so determined to defeat another it was like they became a primeval beast, able to tap into some ancient power that released a monster inside them.
Key word being usually because…
Digitan grabbed me by my tie, bringing me down to her level before leaning in, our noses fully touching as she spoke, a lower raspy voice full of command and power. “Trainer-chan. Lunch is over. Take me to the press conference now.”
Ah okay, this I can work with.
She hadn’t become a Monster, this was just the most pure unrestrained version of Agnes Digital. This was what happened whenever she got far too into things and didn’t have common sense or me to restrain her, the Digitan unbound by rules of fandom and acting on pure himejoshi instinct.
The Yuri Warrior.
I relaxed, starting to open my mouth before Digitan snarled, her command clearly being one that didn’t require me speaking, so I just nodded, one handedly stuffed as much fried chicken as I could possibly carry in my mouth, and grabbed her hand in mine, hopping down and pulling her along, stifling my own giggle when we walked out and others felt the strength of her aura, people scrambling out of our way as we went over to the partitioned off area for the press, stepping through the curtain and onto the stage.
Look upon my Yuri Warrior ye mighty and despair.
Even the reporters, normally immediate chatter boxes, all stiffened and quieted deferentially as Digitan stepped up to the podium.
I reached up to lower the mic for her as she leaned in, the aura suddenly leaving her as she struck a pose with her hands up in a heart. “Hello everyone! My name is Agnes Digital, representing Tracen Academy! For the next hour, I’m all here for you, so who's up first?” Her voice had returned to her cute little high pitch, and her pose and tone made everyone relax, reporters already starting to shout questions over each other.
I sighed with relief as she did her job, joking and telling stories about races and academy life with the reporters, mostly about her precious oshis.
Everything after that was easy enough, we went around and watched some exhibition races, she had a full breakdown about being unworthy to date King-sama (easily solved by me reminding her about King being fully excited about it, which almost returned her to the Yuri Warrior state before she calmed), and we ended the day returning to Tracen via bus.
I did feel a bit disappointed that upon getting on, King Halo did immediately make Digitan sit with her instead, extensively going over what demands she had for their upcoming outing. I didn’t particularly mind being in the chair as it was, but I wanted at least some praise for handling the day well.
Once we returned to the academy and I walked Digitan back to her dorm however, she surprised me pretty well.
To think she’d be so bold…
I was left stunned as my trainee ran off hard enough to kick up a dirt cloud, hand pressed against my lips.
I wonder if she thinks she’s the first trainee to do that?
I laughed, making my way back towards my dorm and wondering if Kiryuin was around. She had to hear this.