Chapter Text
Air Groove had once overheard a peculiar statement from a younger student by the name of Stay Gold: all students at Tracen Academy have a destiny. Not one that shackles them to its path, but… a shadow, a suggestion that inevitably guides the path of their life. More specifically, which races they’re meant to win, and which they’re meant to lose.
In her time as Vice President of Tracen’s Student Council, Air Groove has seen too many strange occurrences to dismiss the notion purely on the basis of the supernatural. It was still a school full of excitable young girls, meaning for every true rumor there were about a dozen that were beyond false, but the true rumors did exist nonetheless.
And with her lungs burning, her legs dragging like they never had, the very air around Air Groove congealing into something that stopped her from running her best? Air Groove had to admit there might be merit to Stay Gold’s musings. If there are races that she is meant to lose, then clearly fate would see to it that she would lose the Shuka Sho. Badly.
Despite it all, Air Groove found the breath in her failing lungs to scoff.
It mattered not which forces, precisely, conspired for her defeat, for it was her duty to trample over and through each and every one. Watching the racers in the pack around her start their last spurts, feeling the shackles of 10th place lock down tightly around her… Air Groove’s thoughts turned to what she ran for. The image of her mother, a once-distant legacy she had already surpassed. The students of Tracen which required her help and oversight, a gentle hand and a firm gaze to ensure they flourished. Her Trainer, a man who unlike so many others, which sought to tie her down and control her growth to their own ends, instead decided to pluck the weeds that held her down and allow her to blossom into her own best self.
Air Groove breathed. The shackles were gone, replaced with heat. Blue flames danced around her, illuminating not a race track, but a grand hall of gold and royal blue, a ballroom upon which none dared to take a step before the Empress had taken the first dance. Outside, wildflowers bloomed in myriad colors and shapes, each one made more beautiful than the last as gardeners guided them to grow further and further. But in here?
Nobody could hold her down here. The Empress would not allow it.
“It’s Air Groove from the back of the pack, cutting straight through it with the grace and presence we’ve come to expect; the other racers are practically scrambling to get out of the way of that blazing speed! Air Groove passes King’s Rainbow, she’s coming up on Rose-Tinted– and she passes her too! Air Groove already taking the lead on the final stretch, she’s widening the gap! Will anyone reach for the Empress’ claim on the throne…?”
“AIR GROOVE! AIR GROOVE DANCES PAST THE FINISH LINE WITHOUT EVEN LOOKING TIRED! SHE TAKES THE SHUKA SHO AND WITH IT, THE TRIPLE TIARA! YOU ARE WATCHING HISTORY BEING MADE HERE TODAY, FOLKS!”
As the world fades back from palace to racecourse, Air Groove blocks out the announcer’s blabbering, ignores the wild roars and cheers of the crowd. Her gaze hones into the upper stands, where she can see a man standing beside Rudolf and Brian, her fellow members of the Student Council. Only they manage to contain themselves and remain presentable.
Her Trainer mouths the words to her, and she can see it even from her place in the Winner’s Circle. ‘You did it.’
Air Groove scoffs, but a smile plays at her lips as well. As if there was ever any doubt.
After all the celebration and festivities, after all the interviews and congratulations, after the heartfelt performance of Brilliant Phantasia that Air Groove could only hope would help bolster the dreams of all future umamusume… she finds herself alone. Still in her racewear, she stands under the orange sunset sky, before the fountain of the Three Goddesses, and hopes that in disproving one superstition today, she hasn’t accidentally undone another.
There is, after all, much less substance to this rumor. A general legend that shifts with every telling, but with a core too solid to really be altered.
‘Should an umamusume win the Triple Crown or the Triple Tiara, the Goddesses will grant them a single wish.’
So simple and cliché as to be dismissed without a thought… normally. And yet…
Air Groove does not have a wish. There is nothing left in this world for her to want that she does not wish to take with her own hands. The Empress does not rely on blessings to win her future races, and there is a joy in guiding future generations that she will not sully with divine interference. She is a woman who could want for nothing… but she beseeches the Goddesses anyway.
“...my wish, should you grant it, is that you grant my Trainer’s wish.” She breathes, her soft voice accompanied only by the whistling of the wind and the burbling fountain. “The loyal, unbelievably kind man who has been beside me for these past years. He who sought to understand my struggle and helped me carry my burden, rather than beg me to set it down. I can tell he is not… fulfilled. Even on what should be our greatest victory, something he shall surely remember for the rest of his days… there is yearning in him. A hollowness needing to be filled. I see it. I can see it so easily, more with each passing day…” Air Groove’s hands tighten into fists. She does not cry, it is beneath an Empress to do so. And yet… if there was ever a time she might have allowed herself to…
No. Air Groove raises her head, stares into the eyes of each statue in turn. “See it done. I demand it.” A breath. A sigh. “Please.”
Time passes, seconds turning into a minute. Nothing happens, besides the Academy grounds slowly growing darker as the sun continues to set. Air Groove scoffs. What is she doing…? Talking to statues, that’s what. Nothing more. With one final defiant gaze at the Goddesses likenesses, she turns on her heel and leaves.
This chapter of her story is done, but the Empress marches on. Her work never ends.
She would have it no other way.
Time off training after her victory simply means Air Groove has more time to dedicate to her Student Council duties. The day-to-day of Tracen Academy slows for no-one, and there are precious few competent people ensuring the school does not fall apart under the weight of its mission.
This is doubly true after a major race such as the Shuka Sho; it is a time that lights the fire of inspiration under trainers and trainees alike, and permission slips to schedule training at specific tracks or secure permission for special training outings litter Air Groove’s desk. Unique for today is the other pile of things on her desk, though.
Gifts.
For her.
Chocolates, letters, packages… all thoroughly vetted by Tracen to ensure they didn’t contain anything dangerous, of course, a necessary and appreciated measure. There were also, of course, many many flowers, some loose, others in complete bouquets and arrangements. Air Groove made no special secret of her love of flowers and her knowledge of flower language… which made the amount of red roses, tulips and carnations particularly worrying. It was too much to simply come down to coincidence.
Really, Groove hadn’t ever given much thought to these offers from strangers, but… with her greatest goal achieved, perhaps she should start looking for something in the field of romance? Not among these far too attached fans, of course, but… in general. She was still a young woman at heart, she wasn’t blind to her own wants. She just had… exacting standards, perhaps.
Ugh. Thoughts for another time. Now… where was her trainer? He was usually here after race days to help her sort through all this mail, and this pile seemed particularly large…
She turned to the President, loathe to interrupt her work but too worried to stop herself. “I don’t suppose you’ve heard anything from Trainer Sho, Rudolf?”
The woman didn’t look up, simply lifting one ear to listen while staying focused on her reading. She knew Air Groove wouldn’t be offended; they worked well in that way. “I can’t say I have… though it’s entirely possible he’s been caught up in something again.”
Groove hummed, not disagreeing. Trainers were particularly likely to be roped into the ‘shenanigans’ of the student body, eager as they tended to be to help any and all umamusume. Still, he should know how much she values these small routines of theirs by now… shouldn’t he?
KNOCK-KNOCK-KNOCK!
Air Groove flicked an ear in something only faintly approaching annoyance. She’d barely gotten started on all her work, so she had no issues getting up to get the door. What issues would be placed before the Student Council now…
The sight before her as the door swung open was an odd one. An unfamiliar umamusume (itself a rarity for Air Groove within Tracen’s walls, she made a point of knowing nearly every student on campus), standing at around Groove’s own height. Dark hair slicked back down to her shoulders, with untamed fly-aways that extended to the coarse fur of her conspicuously unadorned ears. Her eyes were a deep, almost familiar blue… and she was smiling just a touch too widely. A bushy tail wagged furiously behind her. She wore Tracen’s usual tracksuit, but it seemed loose at the chest, not quite the right fit.
To make matters stranger, the moment she made eye contact with Air Groove, her eyes widened, and then she dropped on both knees, head and hands bowed toward the floor in a perfect dogeza. Or it would be, if her tail would stop wagging. “Your Majesty.”
Air Groove only lost a few moments to this strangeness. She scoffed, a scowl pulling at her lips. “Up. The floors are not so dusty you need to sweep them with your tail.” As if just now noticing how much her tail was moving, the uma forced it to still, moving herself from a full bow to being on one knee, head still bowed. Annoying, but if she insisted on grovelling then so be it. “State your name and business.”
The woman’s grin could be seen even with her head still bowed, so wide it was. “This one has been blessed with a Samurai Heart, and a name befitting of such, your Majesty. And I have come to renew mine vows of allegiance to your success and your cause.”
Air Groove raised an eyebrow, unimpressed. Rare is an uma that commits so well and truly to acting as her name would imply. But there were more important parts of that speech to address. “‘Renew’? A strange choice of words, when I have never met you.”
The girl faltered for a moment, her ears drooping low. “A-Ah, we… we have indeed met, your Majesty, although under a different name and a different form. Before today, before the blessing that the Goddesses granted me on your behalf, I was… erm…” She coughed. With a dash of red across her cheeks, she looked up and made eye contact with Groove once more. “I have been by your side for the past three years, your Majesty. A-And after this boon… I would hope for many more.”
Air Groove furrowed her brows. Surely this woman did not mean to imply…? But no, it had to be. Nobody had followed Groove to the fountain the previous day, she had made exceedingly sure of that, given she’d be engaging in such a childish rumor. Or… well, one she believed childish, at least. “...Trainer Sho…?”
The girl winced, as if struck. Her smile faltered. “Samurai Heart, your Majesty. Please.” A moment of silence prompted her to continue. “Th-That name you speak of… I don’t believe it was ever truly mine.”
…pieces were beginning to click into place for Air Groove, and she did not like the picture they formed. But that was not something to inflict upon her… upon Samurai Heart, she supposed. “Stand then, Samurai Heart. Come and sit. It seems we have matters to discuss.”
The girl stood finally, tail wagging incessantly once more, and stepped into the student council room… before going stiff and bending at the waist upon seeing Symboli Rudolf. “Ah, the Emperor! I-I did not realize…!”
Rudolf was already standing, a small stack of paperwork under her arm. “Don’t mind me, Miss Heart.” She spoke warmly, and Heart’s tail resumed its wagging. “I will give you two the privacy you need. Just know… if you ever run into any trouble, I hope you know you can count on the Student Council as you always have.” With her message of support delivered, she moved past them… but not without stopping at the door. “And I must say, it is most heartening to see you smile this much.”
She left, as Air Groove groaned in disgust. Really? Now, of all times?!
…a barely stifled giggle to her side prompted Groove to shoot her Trainer a look of utter betrayal. The girl refused to meet her eyes. Ugh… more important matters!
They sat across from each other in the center of the room, a small coffee table between them. “...you’ll forgive me if I still find this somewhat unbelievable, I hope. Could you…?” Air Groove found the somewhat unfamiliar instinct to handle this situation gently taking root within her.
Samurai Heart smiled, a thing made somewhat brittle by Groove’s lack of faith, surely. “We met shortly after the dismissal of your previous vassal, one who overstepped and sought to control you. You tasked me with compiling a regimen to bolster your training, as a test. I don’t recall if I even slept that night.” That was all accurate, including the last part, which Groove could very much believe. But it could all still be research and guesswork. Heart knew this too, and kept going. “After you lost your debut, I sought out the Emperor for advice, and she showed me the reason behind your convictions, the care you show to your kingdom and subjects. It was what prompted me to care for them in turn, so your burden would not weigh so heavily upon your shoulders.”
Groove… had not known that Rudolf was involved in that, though in retrospect it was obvious. Her friend had been justifiably worried about the rate at which Groove hired and dismissed new trainers. “I… see. That is… enough.” She fell silent, needing a moment to process all this.
The girl across from her – her Trainer – fidgeted in her seat. “...the Goddesses spoke to me this morning. They came to me in a dream. They said that… that they were granting me a boon, the wish I selfishly held buried in my heart of hearts, because you had decided to relinquish your own right at a wish for my sake.” ‘Was that true?’ The question needed not be asked aloud.
Air Groove nodded. “That… yes. I’d seen how… discomforted you felt. I always knew you yearned for something beyond being my Trainer and watching me race, but…” She pursed her lips. “This was your wish, then? You… you’ve wanted this?”
“Yes.” She spoke with such conviction it almost had physical force. “More than anything, it’s all I’ve ever… no, that is to say. I always wanted to stand by your side, you and all those I could be lucky enough to call my trainees. But there was always a… selfish aspect to those wants.” She sighed, ears drooping, like a child who had not yet learned to control their most emotive parts (which, Air Groove realized, she hadn’t). “After seeing you win the Shuka Sho, I promised myself I would at least set out onto a lesser path. I… looked into medical solutions. To become a woman at least, if not an uma. I would have told you today, if not for, ah…”
Groove nodded in understanding. But in her mind, she could not help but recall… odd moments. Seemingly random memories, but under this new light…
Her Trainer approached Groove as she sat on a bench in one of Tracen’s inner courtyards, head leaning back against the seat. “Groove. Is everything alright?”
“...I am listening to the sounds of the school. I find them soothing.”
“...I can’t hear anything, though…?”
“Not with human ears,” she said, too sharply.
“Ah. Of course.” There was hurt there, which she foolishly ascribed to her tone and not her words. She didn’t apologize regardless; they were not nearly so close, then.
…
Her Trainer huffed, setting down the last box of carrots into the delivery truck. The two had been at work in the school’s private vegetable patch for the better part of two hours. “Whew, that’s that…”
Groove scoffed. “Do not look so tired when you barely did a fifth of the work.” She was annoyed that day, by something too trivial to recall now.
She didn’t see her Trainer flinch, but she can imagine it now, just as she can only hear the envy in his – her – voice in retrospect. “Yeah… can’t really carry four boxes at a time like you, sorry.”
“Hmph.”
…
They sat alone in her Trainer’s office, after a long discussion with the dorm leaders about the pros and cons of various tail care products. How did Groove not notice that the sheer extent of her Trainer’s knowledge on the subject was so odd…?
Instead, she opened her mouth to say: “It’s strange to think about. Having a tail is so ordinary to us, but for you… it’s something you’ve never known.”
“...yeah.” Did she sound so choked up back then, or was Air Groove’s flawed memory warping the scene?
…
Air Groove and her Trainer watch as the students they’ve been helping, those without trainers of their own, run along the track. This is their second scrimmage as a group, and they’d improved by leaps and bounds over the first.
Her Trainer’s legs bounced as she leaned over the railing, a small smile on her face. To her, now, it was clear what she felt. The same thing Groove did: the desire to jump over the railing and join the run. Could she blame her Trainer for being worse at hiding it…?
Apparently she could, as in the moment she simply shot the woman a withering glare. “Stop hopping in place like some kind of overeager rabbit, Trainer. It’s unseemly.”
“Oh.” She stopped, then, looking down. “Y-Yeah, I guess it’s weird, huh? Sorry.”
Air Groove returned to the present, only to find she was now standing. She didn’t know exactly how long she stood there for, and Samurai Heart’s shocked gaze gave no concrete answers. All those times, all the signs she failed to notice…
…no more. Not for the Trainer who’d done so much for her, who never thought to ask of anything in return.
She took the seat beside Samurai Heart and enveloped the girl in a hug.
“Y-Your Majesty?!” Her voice squeaked, her limbs froze up… but her tail wagged so hard it thumped into the couch at a consistent rhythm, a sound to match the thumping of the heartbeat Groove could feel against her own chest.
“Heart… Samurai Heart. I am… so, so sorry.” She heard the girl’s breath hitch. “That’s only one of many apologies I am terribly overdue in giving you. You’ve done so much for me and I… I failed to see…”
“No!” The girl’s voice was forceful, her own arms now falling around Groove to comfort her in turn. “Y-You gave me this chance! Even if you didn’t know, I wouldn’t… I’d never get to be me if you weren’t such a selfless and wonderful person, Groove. Nobody’s perfect, but you… you try so, so hard. I just… I can’t ever repay you, but… I want to be there for you, to pick you up when you stumble. I…” She takes a breath, and suddenly she’s ‘in-character’ once more. “This Samurai Heart pledges her bow and blade to the Empress, to be her ally and protector forevermore.”
…she really was so insanely lucky to have met this woman, wasn’t she? Groove squeezed her further, the kind of hug one couldn’t give a human without risking injury. “There’s nobody I’d rather have at my side, my Heart.”
The girl… choked. Did she squeeze too much? Or… Groove pulled away to see Samurai Heart’s face entirely covered in crimson. Then, she replayed her own words in her head, and felt the heat rush to her cheeks in turn. Ah. That… that was very forward of her, oh my.
The hug broke, awkwardly. Groove… would file these thoughts to be analyzed later. Clearly, she needed to show more care and consideration for Heart’s own feelings. And… she had a lot to make up to her, as well. A lot about being a woman and an uma both that Heart had missed.
Groove smiled. There was really only one place to begin. She stood, and pulled Heart up by the hand. “Hm. I suppose our schedule for the day has changed. Accompany me to the track, Trainer.”
Heart frowned, though with her softer features it was much more of a pout now. “You’re meant to be resting, Groove. You’ve never been the type to go against orders on that.”
Air Groove simply raised an eyebrow. It took a moment, but Heart’s ears perked up and her eyes widened. Groove couldn’t help her smile at the sight. “It is not for me, Trainer. Today… today is the day you get to run.”