Chapter Text
“And time! You’re improving, Fenomeno. Two laps more than the last.” Trainer Hatoshi looked at his stopwatch, paused and recorded the exact time to finish his Trainee’s stamina training. Fenomeno, sweating bullets and breathing heavily after an intense training, approached him with a slow and steady walk and wiping off the sweat building up on her face, wearing her tracksuit outfit which was now drenched in sweat from dedicated effort to grow and improve.
“Huff… Thank you, Bossu…! Huff… Huff…” She attempted to straighten her posture and deeply bowed to him as a way to be grateful for his effort to train her as Hatoshi nodded and scratched his stubbles with his mouth using the tongue to consume a lollipop. Offering a fresh cold bottle of water for her and a dry towel to Fenomeno.
He wasn’t so sure on why Fenomeno felt so enthusiastic and eager for today’s training but hey, it did save the bother of trying to find his Trainee of the week in his schedule. He watched as the Umamusume first took the bottle of water and drank half of it without hesitation, then the towel and wiped her face off her sweat and looked at her Trainer with her tail visibly swaying in a constant, steady rhythm and with a stoic face, not a frown, not a smile, just a face that looked like she’s ready to serve and act with a strong sense of justice. She is in the Public Disciplinary Committee after all.
“Alright Fenomeno, you can go change and take a rest now. If you ever need somewhere else to hang around and rest, my office is always welcome.” He reminds her as he finishes writing notes on his clipboard titled “Fenomeno, the Jet-Black Monster”, her name and her title bestowed upon her by her fans and filled with columns and rows of progress during his time as her trainer. He watched her bow down again and walked away with her tail stopping its constant sway and fixed her hat, clear signs that she did enjoy his presence but she doesn’t want to publicly admit it. He lets out a hum in amusement, always getting surprised and learning new things about his Trainees every single moment he spends with them.
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Fenomeno wandered around the corridors of the Academy, keeping her firm and stern appearance and looks of a person who can track down criminals and deliver true justice against them. Of course, this did earn her uneasy and scared looks from other Umamusumes, mainly the juniors and new trainers. With each step, a pair of eyes pointed towards her and didn’t hesitate to quiver from her intense and intimidating presence. With each glance she gives to scan her surroundings, they look away and become hesitant to look at her direction.
She disliked it. She disliked it a lot. She wanted the younger Umamusumes to look at her and admire her and not be mistaken as a scary, intimidating Umamusume who could crush their dreams as a top racer. She took a turn and kept walking until she slowed down and stopped at a certain door with a sign that says: “Hatoshi Fujiseki” and hesitantly turned the door knob to see it reveal a somewhat messy room yet messy in a way that it’s still organized to some eyes. Piles of paperwork scattered around the desk of the Trainer she was trained under.
She closed the door and slowly walked to the large couch that was stationed next to a cabinet and a display shelf full of his achievements, a well detailed and high quality doll of an Umamusume who has a messy brown hair, dons a crown on the right ear and having a bright smile and a couple gold and silver trophies from his previous and current Trainee’s races. Even silly ones like a plastic gold trophy with a picture attached to it and signed by Director Akikawa and, surprisingly, Tokino Mino- Tazuna Hayakawa for winning a ridiculous drinking contest between the Trainers of the Tracen Academy that took place at a large bar after an Arima Kinen race event that had top Umamusume racers from different countries and nations run along the track. Fenomeno sat down on the couch with a frown plastered on her face and took off her shoes, setting aside neatly on the floor as she curled up. Sulking with her eyes threatening to close and her heart beating slow and depressed, thinking about how her fellow Umamusume’s reaction with her presence, thinking about how the general audience, mostly the younger portion, of the public viewed her as a “scary” person and most of the time cried when Fenomeno tried to offer them pieces of candies, and now, conscious and felt insecure of how her Bossu thinks about her. Not just as an Umamusume, but as a woman.
She didn’t know when but, she caught feelings for Hatoshi back when she was starting out as a Junior at Tracen Academy and right after Hatoshi finished a 3-year contract of a Trainee’s career as a famous Umamusume racer straight out of Tracen. Since the day of when she was scouted by Hatoshi (and the other Umas that was scouted by him), every time she saw him, her tail would constantly sway despite wanting to hide that fact that she was always looking forward to see him, even if she has to make it look like it was a coincidence. Her days immediately brighten up the moment he talks to her, even if it’s for training purposes. Her rivalry with Gentildonna, who was scouted by the same Trainer as she, always ended up on hold whenever Hatoshi walked up on them to ask why they were fighting for the 5th time in a week. Acting all friendly as if their blood wasn’t boiling with pure competitive spirit. She does notice that Gentildonna keeps a high respect and fondness over Hatoshi, almost like she, too, has caught feelings for him.
For reasons that she wouldn’t admit it publicly, she feels her chest squeezing her heart tightly and makes her heart beat twice out of envy. Even now, she still feels her chest crushing her own heart out of jealousy and envy from Gentildonna’s advances towards her Bossu.
The same could be said for her friend Eishin Flash. Not too long ago, she saw her give Hatoshi fresh and homemade Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte with healthier alternatives as he requested for them to be. Fenomeno still sees her as a good friend and classmate. Even so, she still feels jealousy from her. Just not to the extent she has for Gentildonna.
Of course, Fenomeno can’t exactly date her own Trainer as it does raise some complications. She highly doubts the Director lets Trainees date their Trainers, though, with the sole exception of Still in Love’s trainer. Tazuna made sure that none of it happens and yet, she sees Tazuna make small, sincere yet powerful moves on Hatoshi thanks to her status as the Secretary of Tracen Academy. Having the ability to ask out the Bossu for a drink whenever their day offs or their schedule aligns with each other. Having to be able to say his name so casually, it envied her so badly but she had to keep up with her appearance as one of the Public Discipline Committee of Tracen Academy.
“...Bossu…” Fenomeno whines and whimpers for her trainer. “Please… Don’t be scared of me…” She whispers, using her imagination of her trainer confessing that he was secretly scared of her despite Hatoshi’s scarier looks. Tears start building up and threaten to drop from her eyes down to her knees. “I don’t want to scare you away… I don’t want to scare you… I don’t want to… I don’t… I…” She stuttered as she pleaded to no one. Voice cracking and breaking down into a weak and ugly tone before she started to sniff and lower her head down to her knees. Soft sobs echoed through the room.
She’s scared. And by the three Goddesses, she knows why but is too scared to say it let alone think of it for even a single moment.
She’s scared and she hates it. So insecure and she hates it. She feels jealous and envious and she hates it. She knows why she’s feeling like this and she hates that acknowledgement within herself. She-
The door opens, her soft and quiet sobs paused as she saw Hatoshi groaning out of annoyance and grumbling that he forgot to submit a written file to the Tazuna. He sighed and closed the door and took a good look at what was in his office.
His body immediately moved on its own to Fenomeno as soon as he saw her tears dropping down to her cheeks and hitting her knees. Cupping her cheeks and looking at her face to check any injuries or any harm done to her, immediately into his “caring” side as Fenomeno witnesses the not-so-well-known side of her Bossu and had her face flaring in a bright, red blush. Taking the extra step to look at her closely and checking every spot of her face and wiping off her tears with his thumb so gently and carefully with it. Almost like this wasn’t the first time he saw someone he cared deeply about cried under his sight.
“Fenomeno, are you alright? Did someone say something awful to you? Are you injured?” Hatoshi asks as his heart suddenly starts racing at an alarming rate. Worried for his Trainee so much that he didn’t care about the distance between their faces, which made Fenomeno’s face blush brighter.
“I… I-I…” Fenomeno stuttered as she started shaking, overwhelmed by the current situation.
“Stay with me, Fenomeno. You can tell me anything.”
“A-Anything, Bossu…?”
“Anything.”
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“Bossu… You’re so close… Are you scared of me? You’re so… So… Kind… Even getting this close to my face…! I want you to see me as a woman, not as a Trainee…! E-Even if there’s better options for you…! I… I…!
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“...ve you…”
“...? Can you repeat that for me?”
“Lo… L-Lo…!” Fenomeno hesitates, her body shaking out of fear yet pushing through.
Fenomeno teared up a little more, her body trembling further as Hatoshi was very concerned but he still lended an ear to hear her troubles.
“B-Bossu! I- No, Tore- H-Hatoshi-san, I…! I-I! I-”
“I’m heeerrrreeeeee!!!!” The door suddenly burst open as both of them immediately looked at the door to see Gold Ship’s sudden arrival with a powerful kick to the now busted down door, announcing her presence as she was holding a large bag full of questionable items that could lead to trouble.
“Oh Mamechin! Perfect timing actually!!! I got-” Gold Ship was then met with an aura so powerful she stopped whatever she was about to say and sealed her own mouth tight as she saw the “Jet-Black Monster” Hatoshi himself trained personally slowly approach her with a face covered by the shadows of the brim of her hat, two pair of eyes that resembled a true apex predator that kills the predator of a prey, veins on her temple and down on her jaw pulsating visibly, pumping enough blood to keep her from passing out by sheer anger.
“H-Hey, Mamechin, we can talk about t-”
Gold Ship couldn’t say another word as her face was grabbed firmly and with a grip so strong you could say that her hand was coated in gorilla super glue and, without hesitation, was spun around as if she was a metal ball with a steel wire in a competitive match of Hammer Throw as Fenomeno performed with a majestic form that would put other competitors in shame before she threw Gold Ship outside with a tremendous force, crashing head first into the window that broke on impact and breaking a sound barrier, launching her towards the vast blue sky with Goldship screaming at the top of her lungs as if Fenomeno threw a missile by her bare hands and still functioned properly as one without igniting its thruster. A star flashing for a single moment after Gold Ship wasn’t visible in the sky anymore, Fenomeno letting out a scream completely inhumane and demonic even for Umamusume standards. Frustrated beyond words.
Hatoshi watched what happened before he got up and pats her shoulder, worried if this was the right move before he saw Fenomeno slowly turn to him as she catches her breath. They both didn’t move for a couple of moments before her face lit up bright red like a tomato and immediately ran away as fast as she could, shouting “I’M SORRY BOSSUUUU!!!” every 1.5 seconds and not letting Hatoshi try to catch up. He sighed, though he saw a new side of her and was slightly intimidated, he knew that it wasn’t towards him and he thanked the Three Goddesses that it wasn’t towards him.
…
“That was kinda hot though”, he thought. To be honest? Yeah he’s valid for that.
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[Two weeks later, right after Eishin Flash’s week to be trained by him]
Monday, XX, 20XX
15:00/3:00 PM, approximately 3 hours into training after her classes of the day were done at 12 noon
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“Rest up, Fenomeno! You’re overheating!” Hatoshi shouts at her after witnessing her push through her previous training record with 5 laps finished under the time limit he set for her, further than her last. Though impressed and proud, he saw signs of overheating and pushing herself too far and immediately got concerned as he opened up the portable cooler he brought along packed with cold water and a cool, damp towel for her forehead.
Fenomeno had her ears perked up high as she heard his voice before she jogged towards him after passing the imaginary finish line and immediately threw herself in front of him with her back on the grass, panting heavily as Hatoshi knelt down, took off her hat to let the air circulate through her head and popped the bottle cap open and poured water onto her mouth. Fenomeno opened her mouth and let the cold water fall into her mouth and drank it despite some splashing all over her mouth and a little on Hatoshi’s legs. Hatoshi placed the cool towel on her forehead to prevent her from passing out from the body heat building up internally from today’s training.
Hatoshi took his time to also think about what happened between them 2 weeks ago before he decided to bring it back up.
“...So, “Mamechin”, huh?”
That was enough to earn him a direct, threatening stare from her, alert and putting all pressure against him, reawakening the “Jet-Black Monster” he saw that day before she stopped and immediately blushed from remembering that memory.
“B-Bossuuu…!! Please forget that time I-”
“I thought that nickname was adorable, y'know?"
The moment he said that, Fenomeno kept her mouth open out of shock that he found it adorable. The small smile and faint blush on his face proved that he did, in fact, found it pretty adorable. That did leave Fenomeno unresponsive and her body not knowing how to react to it with a bright blush that increased its density by the second
“...Meno? Are you alright? Earth to Mamechiiiinnn…~” He saw the opportunity to tease her and took it without hesitation, seeing how this is the very first time he saw Fenomeno turn from a stern and intense Umamusume into a flustered and blushing mess
“Bo… B-Bossu, please don’t tease me like t-that!” She covered her face, wanting to bury herself 6 feet under but she didn’t hate it. Instead, her mood went higher than “Great”, it became “Extraordinary”.
What Hatoshi didn’t know is that: Her love for him deepened furthermore but she knows she will tell him one day or let him find out about it in the not so distant future, which sounded interesting to her.
We’ll see one day, just not now, of course.
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[Bonus]
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“Bossu! I brought two bento boxes with me! I accidentally made an extra, do you want to eat with me?!” Fenomeno barged into his office with a bento box, boldly announcing her intentions to have lunch with her trainer. The man in question was about to sneakily take a swig of his alcohol flask during his lunch time.
“...Meno, you do not have to shout that loudly in my office, I can hear you perfectly fine. Please come in.” He was staggered from the sheer volume of her voice, dead sure he’s getting an earful by Tazuna later about how to control his trainee.
“S-Sorry Bossu, I got too excited!” She apologised as she entered the room with a blush on her face, embarrassed but thankful that he still let her enter his room. She let herself sit down in front of Hatoshi as she gave him a bento box she made specifically for him. He opened it to see a well organised packed meal, mostly packed in protein since she knows he’s more of a carnivore than a herbivore.
“I made sure I put lots of meat in there! And different assortments of vegetables to balance the nutritional di-”
“Mamechin, how do you know I specifically like fried chicken with sweet and sour sauce drizzled all over it? I have NEVER told anyone this.”
…
“...I-I don’t know what you’re talking abou-”
“I have not told anyone my favourite food except for my own parents. So how do you know this, Meno?”
“...T-Tazuna told me. She told me that you liked that as you were rambling to her at a bar one day while you were 5 beer mugs deep.”
“...Haaaahhhhh… I’ll speak to her later.” He grumbled before he clapped his hands together to thank for the meal Fenomeno gave him and started digging into the meal she made with his mouth and chopsticks as Fenomeno did the same, she did watch him eat the food at a calmer pace than his which was quite a sight to see for herself.
Tazuna Hayakawa signed the last bit of paperwork she needed to do for today as she stretched her own body, letting out a loud moan and relaxed herself on her chair as she suddenly sneezed loudly and out of the blue. Luckily for her, no one was in where she was at the moment.
“Hoo… Did someone perhaps talk about me? Hmm… I doubt it…”
...
"...Fufu~ Unless it was Hatoshi-san that talked about me…~" She thought with a finger on her chin, biting her lower lip, now that she was thinking about him, she hasn’t seen him for a little while now, maybe she should take him out on a date this weekend at the same bar they usually go to… For business purposes, of course. Nothing unusual about taking a handsome, capable and reliable young man out on a date with a Legendary Umamusu- Ahem, with a human staff from Tracen Academy, after all.