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Hmm. Maybe one more hour blocked out for gym time. I bet I could fit it in on Wednesdays, move the training there to a slightly early start time. Aaaand done!
I had Agnes Digital's weekly training regimen laid out before me. With this, she'll have perfectly walked the tightrope between dirt and turf running. With this, she could do the Autumn Tenno Sho, the Hong Kong Cup, and the February Stakes. Hell yea. I knew I could make it.
I'm so goddamn good at my job.
The door slammed open and I jumped. Digital was wheezing, standing in the entrance. "Digital! No running in the halls!"
"I just…wheeze… I just…gasp" This was going nowhere.
"Take a breath!" Digital heaved in.
"Ijustrealizedsomethingterrible!!!" I was almost thrown off my feet with the force of her yell. "I'm not the biggest uma simp. I can't be. I thought I was… but then it hit me. If you're only a simp for 99.9% of uma's you will be dethroned by the true simp that can do all of them."
I just stared at her. Her energy was at a twelve out of ten when I was barely at a four. I had worked all night on training schedules and she wanted just to… increase her simp status? "And this is a bad thing because…"
"UGH! Trainer, I thought you would get where I'm going with this. I can't simp for myself! I hate watching my running." It's true, whenever I tried to show her something she did in video, she immediately focused on the other runners. I didn't understand it. She was amazing on the track. She could track every other runner with perfect precision and controlled the course with devastating accuracy. She always knew exactly when to accelerate and had the power to back up her running style of passing and re passing runners. "A true simp should be invisible. And I just can't watch myself. UNTIL TODAY!"
She pulled out two slips of paper and some tape. The paper had writing on one side, but she was hiding it. "Digital. What are you planning?"
"Can you trust me for a minute? I have a plan. Just… come sit on the floor with me." Digital cleared out a space in my office so that when we both sat on our knees (ouch), we were barely a foot from each other. "Okay trainer. This is perfectly safe. Cafe made them for me. All you need to do is put this on your forehead." I let the girl do what she wanted. This wasn't the oddest thing I've seen her do. At least not yet. But now my vision was blocked by a piece of paper. "And I'll do the same." She put a paper on too? Good, now we both looked like idiots. I silently wished for someone to walk in on us. Maybe Dober, her art partner. That'd be funny. It would probably embarrass the hell out of her.
"Okay. Ready?" Ready for—
"CHANGE!"
Everything went black.
When I woke up. I immediately knew something was wrong.
First, I could feel an extra body part. A tail, sticking out of my lower back. It was fully rigid, in shock.
Second, when I groaned my voice came out much higher than I ever thought possible. With these two data points, I ripped off the paper Digital put on my face to see—
My body. Sitting across from me. I was over there. But I was me, and me was here, and what was happening.
WHAT. Trainer's body stirred. Wait no, not trainer.
My body. Oh, it hurt to think. I could feel a low buzzing in my brain.
My old body stirred. I could see the word on piece of paper covering my face. Body swap. What had Digital doneeeeee. "Heh, eheheh." Was Digital… laughing?
"Muwuhahahaha." Oh she was. "AH HAHAHA!!!!! NOW I CAN SIMP FOR MYSELF!" She stood, pulled out my ponytail and let my black hair go wild.
"Trainer— Digital. How many more pictures are you going to takeeee?" I felt ridiculous. But the skirt was really cute… I could make it go spinny. Heh. Digital had forced me to wear her G1 outfit in exchange for switching back. The buzzing in my brain was only growing.
"Just gotta get a few more pictures here. And obviously some in motion."
"Digital!"
"What??? I have an opportunity to watch the super uma simp on the track and I'm not going to take it? Plus the schedule says we need to get down to the dirt track right now. I don't want you wasting time, we've got to work extra hard to get you ready for your big races." She covered her mouth, like that last part slipped out. "Eep!"
"Digi! You can't keep me like this that long!!!!" I sighed. "But you're right. You do need more practice. Let's go."
As soon as I stepped on the dirt track, I felt different. What was a slight buzzing in the back of my brain became a loud crackle of electricity, and I took off running. I stopped after only a hundred meters but still. Holy shit. That felt amazing! "NOOOO!"
I turned to see my trainer Digital crying out. "I MISSED YOUR FIRST RUN!!!!" She looked distraught. I ran up to the edge of the track where Digi was standing, camera in hand.
"Oh, sorry Digi. I just felt this sudden bolt of—"
"Yea yea, urge to run. I know. Blugh. I thought I could get you to stretch first… you know how important that is." I suddenly felt very embarrassed. If I did anything to hurt my oshi's body, I would be devastated. I sat down and stretched. I took my time, making sure I was patient and methodical,
Buzz
and slow,
and getting…
BUZZ
every…
crackle
little…
SHOCK
bit…
ROAR
"Gaaaah! I gotta run!!!" I took off on the dirt track. How did Digital stand it?? I was going to explode if I didn't take off right then.
Oh my goddesses oh my GODDESSES. I was running. The earth gave to my will and the wind pushed me onward. I could feel as I tore into the ground how to get more power from my stride. I slammed into the ground, tearing up massive chunks of dirt. It returned the favor, rocketing my foot forward.
I had finished the lap before I even realized it. "Wow. So that's what I look like." She had her camera lowered. Just staring. She wasn't even timing me!!!
"Trainerrrrr! What was my time?" A smile bloomed on both our faces.
"YOU WERE SO FAST!!! Oh my gosh the way you had this determined face, you looked so cool! The gap moe! It was perfect. And you have to see some of the shots I got. I want to put your face all over my walls! Why doesn't my office have more Digital merch? I need at least three walls covered in these pics." That was officially insane. I'm pretty sure I had the largest Agnes Digital collection in Japan, and she wanted to add more? I did have first dibs to all her merch as her trainer. I kept it all in a display case in my office, but i suspected that if Digi got her way, the case wouldn't be able to contain her plans. Wait, did she say 'my office'?
"Digital, when are we going to switch back!" She just put her hand on her chin and looked up at the clouds, suspiciously not making eye contact. She still hadn't gotten any closer to the track, staying right at the edge.
"Oh! Uh soon! But don't you want to try turf now?" More running? Oh hell yea. I was already making my way to the next track.
This time I was not alone. There was already a trio of runners stretching, getting ready to run together. Mejiro Dober, Bright, and Ryan, three members of the Mejiro clan and intimidating runners. Bright looked over with half lidded eyes and gave a gentle wave, she was so calm and confident on the track. Ryan was stretching her arms, and I could see the effort she put in to maintain them perfectly. Her midriff was showing, she knew her abs were the pinnacle of uma physique. I was sure that Ryan could crush my head with her thighs if she wanted to.
You should ask if she will.
No I will NOT! Dober noticed me blushing and walked right up. Dober had such a refined elegance, and she was always pleasant with Digital and me.
"Ah! Digital! I didn't know you were running today, you said you had plans." Oh Dober was so close! It was almost like—
Chu~
Oh. Oh! AH!! AHSHRMENDOEOEPEL
She kissed me on the cheek! I looked back at Trainer Digi, and she was furiously sketching out the scene, nose bleeding. That's my blood! Stay in there, momma needs you!
"Wait wait wait wait! I'm not Digital! I'm her trainer! Ahhh, we swapped bodies for the day!"
Dober giggled. "You always act so funny when I kiss you."
Chu~ Chu~
One on each cheek. I was melting. Trainer had passed out.
"Can we run now." I said in a shaky voice.
"Of course! Your trainer is acting funny today too."
"Oooooh. Ooooo" I couldn't think of much.
Then a lightning bolt struck me.
Or it didn't but the electricity of running was back. The other three had taken off and my instincts had kicked my ass for not starting with them. I did my best to play it off as a late start but that was more than a second delay. At least it wasn't a real race— uwaaaa what's this pressure. I looked to my right and I had caught up with Bright, but she was already work on cutting to the outside to get by Ryan and Dober. She bolted past me and I felt like I was watching someone running through a spring meadow, not the track. It was so beautiful. This is where I wanted to be, seeing the world and beauty up close. Why did Digital want to swap? I don't know, I don't think I could ever understand it fully. To not be like this… Maybe I could ask to stay a little longer.
I lost, of course. But I found something so brilliant that I asked to race again. I spent the day doing that, while Trainer watched from the sides, happily sketching away. She never touched the track, only reaching over the edge to hand me water and towels.
By the end of it, I was a sweaty mess but I flopped onto the turf. Happy. Trainer, no, Digital, stared at me from the sidelines. It was like Digital's brain was trying to influence my thoughts. "Hey." I weakly waved to her. She was trying to beckon me to her. "Uh uh. You come here. I'm tired."
Hesitantly, she took a step onto the track. She looked like she was looking out for landmines. Nothing happened, of course nothing happened. She looked at me and smiled, the biggest one I'd ever seen on my face.
"It's gone! It's gone!" She did a little dance. She had good control of my body. It was not peak athletic form, but I maintained it well enough. I heard HRT could make you weaker so I was determined to fight that the best I could. I still liked being able to lift big boxes and open pickle jars, even if I wasn't a guy.
Trainer flopped next to me and smelled the turf. "Hehehe. This is so much nicer…"
"Digital, what's going on?" She stopped rolling and faced me.
"This is a little embarrassing to say. But I think you might understand it the most right now. You know that spark you feel, the crackle on the track?" I nodded. I could feel it even now. Even though I had spent all day running and was exhausted, my body was telling me I should go again. It was amazing. "I can't stand it. It makes me feel like something's wrong with me. And I don't know why. No other uma I've met feels like this. When I told Tachyon, my roommate, she just wanted to measure my discomfort. She called it dysphoria. Born in the wrong body. I'd much rather be like this, and not have these urges." She gestured at my… no, her human body.
"But your ears, your tail! The races! I can see the world so vividly now!"
"Whenever I see someone's zone on the track it just gets in the way of simping!! Plus it gives me vertigo like hell, it doesn't for you?" She was feeling that bad? All those races? She didn't show it.
"…no"
"The ears and tail, I could take 'em or leave 'em. But it's not worth it. Digital… I mean… trainer, do you want to stay like this?" She said my name was Digital. It felt right.
"I do. And Digital is fine. If it's okay with you. Trainer." Her eyes filled with the sun. They suited her just fine.
"Oh. Ohhhh. Yes, YES! Me too." She hugged me. I hugged her back.
"Okay, but you have to clear up with Dober what is happening. I don't want any more surprise kisses. Or at least redirect them back to you."
"Ehehe, I'll do my best, but that won't stop everyone." I slowly turned, considering the implications.
"Digital… how many people are you involved with? I thought your oshi code would have prevented this???" She flopped on the ground and yelled to the heavens.
"I CAN'T SAY NO TO THEMMMMM!!!"