Work Text:
Time: 7 fucking AM
Location: Trainer-Chan’s shitty little apartment
I woke up as I usually did after a weekend of allowing myself to actually fucking relax instead of spending all my days brainstorming new ways to help my cute little trainees: hungover as hell and half hanging off my bed.
Say whatever the hell you want about Aoi Kiryuin, the woman could outdrink even the three goddesses. Anything she puts her focus towards she does 100%.
Still, just because I felt like shit didn’t give me enough of an excuse to miss my mandatory monday morning team meeting, so I quickly rolled out of bed, fumbled through getting dressed in something respectable enough for a trainer of tracen academy, walked out to my little apartments living area, and nearly had a fucking heart attack when I realized someone must have broken into my home.
I jumped the second my little living room came into view, it taking a second for my brain to catch up to the physical reaction, as I realized that my couch had been tilted at a diagonal angle, and the little reclining chair had been turned towards it, almost like how she used to move it when she sat-
Wait…when who used to sit there?
I…realized I couldn’t recall who I knew that always moved my furniture around, or who used to sit in my little reclining chair. I mean, it wasn’t that big a deal, right? But it still bothered me.
Maybe it was Vodka? No, she always sat on the floor with Scarlet…couldn’t have been Digitan, she always insists upon standing awkwardly in the corner so the other umas don’t have to breathe her ‘disgusting fangirl cringe air’ as she puts it…
I was sure it wasn’t any of those three, and it couldn’t have been Taishin either, because the little tsundere refused to come hang out in her trainer’s room.
Well, that settles it then. Couldn’t have been one of my trainees, I mean, that’s all five of them accounted for.
I nodded to myself, making my way towards the chair, before the problem of that statement hit me.
“Four.” I said outloud, saying it slowly, sounding out the word as I did. “I have four trainees. Four of them. Right?”
I suddenly felt an almost overwhelming urge to make sure my words had conviction.
Digital, Scarlet, Vodka, Taishin, that’s all five-
No, four. Four trainees. I do not have five trainees.
Still, there was the matter of my apartment being broken into…just for someone to move furniture? I quickly turned and ran around the place, making sure nothing had been taken, and made sure that my lock wasn’t broken.
I started making my way back towards the re-arranged furniture, shaking my head and chastising myself as I did.
Dummy. I mean sure, I’m like 900% sure me and Kiryu-chan hung out at an actual bar last night, but that like. Cannot be true, right? We obviously just drank at my place, that’s why shit got moved.
I was almost content with that explanation as I started to move the chair back, before I noticed something had gotten stuck in the cushion, reaching down and pulling at a long looped string, revealing at the end of it a tape recorder.
Okay. Well. That certainly isn’t mine.
I turned it all over, noticing two things:
- On the side, a small label had been placed saying ‘If found, please return to-’ followed by the rest of it having been ripped off, so that was profoundly unhelpful.
- There was a tape still inside it.
Without hesitation I clicked down the rewind until I was sure it was playable, and then clicked play, turning up the volume all the way.
Recording 01: At a Party
At first the recording just had the sounds of far away yelling, and I was able to pick up Scarlet and Vodka having their usual fight, along with what sounded like the slamming of pots and pans, so it was probably one of the times I had them collaborate on a meal to learn teamwork.
Then I heard my voice, that same annoying boyish tone that always bothers me when I hear it on recordings, yet every girl I’ve been with insists is adorable:
“Oh, are you recording another one of your memos sweetie? I swear it's like you're addicted to that recorder.”
Oh, great, I was drunk here. Wait, with my trainees around? Fuck, I really needed to start being more responsible.
That thought instantly shot away as I heard a voice, a cutesy little tone that I felt I somehow recognized, but couldn’t quite place.
“Yep, just a small one, Trainer-chan. I like to make sure people remember I was here, you know? I want to be the super mascot for the whole world, so please don’t forget As-”
Whatever she was going to say was cut off as somewhere in the background a glass broke, the recording stopping dead as it did.
Okay.
What the fuck.
Apparently, against all common sense, that other girl in the recording was also my trainee, and that most certainly wasn’t Taishin. Despite my insisting, she has said several times over she’d rather die than actually call me Trainer-chan.
She also had some dream to be a super mascot, whatever that meant, but despite every flaw I might have-
I’d NEVER forget the dream of one of my precious little trainees.
I had to sort this out. I had to figure out where this recorder had come from, and who the hell was on the other end of that tape. I moved my furniture back just how I liked it, becoming more convinced by the moment that I did know the person who always sat there, the precious girl with her cute voice and amazing dream. I could almost make out her appearance, maybe she had…blond hair? No, brown. I was sure of that.
I just couldn’t remember her, despite her asking me not to forget.
I felt fucking horrible.
Whoever you are, hang in there, alright? I’ll figure this out, for both of us.
Time: 8 fucking 15 AM
Place: Team Sprouts Meeting Room/Trainer-Chans office
I was so caught up in trying to solve this new mystery, including going through all the file folders I had haphazardly shoved into a closet in my apartment, that I ended up fifteen minutes late to my own meeting.
If you’re wondering, no, the files didn’t magically include a fifth umamusume that I had been training this entire time, but they did feel light. Suspiciously light, because god knows I wrote a lot of notes for my precious little trainees, and I’m almost certain those things should have been way closer to bursting than they were. So, no easy answer there, but I was at least becoming more convinced that something was off.
Either that, or I was finally going insane. At Tracen academy, anything was possible.
Still, I threw open the door to my office, palm already out to catch the face of and push back Scarlet as she attempted to open her mouth to yell at me, my well practiced hand shushing her and pushing her back into Vodka, causing them both to tumble onto the nearby couch and start arguing with each other instead of yelling at me.
I walked over to my desk, giving Digital a pat on the head as I went by when she began to fangirl over ‘THE DAIWA SCARLET and THE VODKA fighting LIVE AND IN PERSON!’, her squeals registering at a tone that I’m fairly certain could crack glass, and despite the coffee I had chugged, it nearly made me fall over from the resulting assault to my hangover headache, slumping into my desk chair as the final team member-
No, as my fourth team member of five.
As Taishin glared at me from where she was sitting atop the right side of my desk, as one foot kicked out to catch me in the knee. “Where the hell have you been? You’re late.”
I rolled my eyes at this familiar expression of hers. More foolish trainers would think this was an expression of anger towards them, on account of the offending foot, but I knew it was simply her way of showing a deep, loving concern for her precious trainer-chan, the same kind of expression of frustration a devoted wife gives when her partner is home slightly later than expected.
I gave her my best bright smile as her tsundere energy cleared my headache, watered my crops, cleaned my skin, and made my day all at once. “I had a problem to take care of…hey, where’s our fifth?” I asked, keeping my voice as calm as I could, a casual tone making it clear I knew exactly what I was talking about.
That made the room go silent, the other three trainees turning towards me as Taishin tilted her head, confusion clear on her face as her ears wiggled. “Fuck you talking about? You scouted a fifth member without telling anyone?”
Digitan began her usual meltdown at the idea of another uma appearing, especially a sudden unexpected guest star, as she began to keysmash in real life and foam at the mouth, while Vodka took the initiative, hopping up and rushing over to slam her hands on my desk before shouting: “We’re getting a new member? Who are they, trainer-san? Are they cool? You better not have scouted anyone like Miss Priss over there.”
Scarlet immediately jumped in, bumping Vodka out the way with her chest before leaning over the desk, pointing her finger right in my face and giving her own dime minus 8 pennies: “Ignore that delinquent! Whoever you brought in without telling us better be someone of proper class and status, not some moronic ruffian.”
Okay, clearly they’re under the same delusion I was earlier. No problem, I got the fix for this.
Without speaking, I just pulled out the tape recorder, hitting play and holding it up for them all to hear, having rewound and listened to it several times now.
But to my surprise, while the recording did play, just as it had before, not a single member of the four reacted. Instead, all their faces just went blank, and they all stood or sat there staring at me the whole time. It was like they were in a fog.
I was too stunned to say anything until it ended, after which I gestured to the tape recording and said. “Uh, everyone? You all heard it right girls?”
It was Taishin who spoke first, face no longer confused, instead returning to her usual pissed cat like expression. “Heard what? You got a fancy new recorder, okay. Doesn’t surprise me a note obsessed weirdo like you is gonna record our meetings, but what’s this about a fifth member? Who’d you scout, stop playing around, it's pissing me off.”
Well motherfucker. It seems I’m on my own.
I looked at the clock and was relieved to see I’d be saved by my own late tendencies. “We’ll talk about it later, there’s still proper paperwork to be done anyways, so maybe I should save the surprise. I promise you’ll all be pleased though, but for now, you should all get to class. It's almost eight thirty.”
Taishin gave me a little hiss of annoyance as she hopped off my desk and jogged out first, Vodka and Scarlet following after and pushing each other to be second out the door, leaving me all alone with a strangely calm Digital left staring at me.
“Yeah? Something up Digitan? Need anything else?” I asked, watching the pink haired girl slowly frown before shaking her head, backing out of the room and never taking her eyes off me until she closed the door.
Okay. Sure. Now the recording has broken Digital’s brain too. One problem at a time.
What the hell to do now. I opened my desk drawer, trying to see if maybe I had left any notes inside it, when I spotted something atop my schedule planner.
Another tape.
Well, that’s both convenient and creepy.
Are they following me, or am I following them?
I suppose I have nothing left to do but play it.
Into the recorder it went, making sure to keep the first tape safe in my jacket pocket, before I turned it back and pressed play.
Recording 02: At The Track
It started with that same voice, both familiar and completely foreign, but this time it had a sad tone to it.
“Hiyo~ It’s me again, not that I need to introduce myself to you, re-cor-der-chan.”
There were a few moments of silence, broken only by the far off sounds of umamusume running on the track, yelling as they attempted to pass each other.
“Eh…what’s even the point? It's all ending soon right? The girl in black told us that our time is almost up, and Vodka acted like we had never met before this morning. Scarlet nearly ran me off when I tried to go in for a hug, and even Digitan acts like I’m some new uma to fangirl over.”
I could hear…crying? Yeah, definitely crying, as the sounds of sobs from whoever it was suddenly got louder and louder.
“I don’t want to disappear, I don’t want you to forget me, please trainer-chan, please if the Three Goddesses have any mercy, please don’t forget Aston-”
The rest of her words were drowned out by a loud yell of victory that I recognized to be my own voice, most likely cheering on one of my precious trainees for winning whatever practice race they were doing.
Holy fuck I’m going to go back in time and kick my own ass.
WHY DID YOU YELL YOU STUPID WHORE!!!
Once again I was just left with more questions. I had a name, probably a family name, Aston. Where there any Astons at the academy?
I quickly opened the trainee database on my computer, thanking Air Groove mentally for having organized this all, but the moment I tried to search that name, the damn thing immediately forced a shut down.
Okay. Sure. Seems about right for the umashit going on today.
I was at a loss. I mean yeah, anything can happen at Tracen, I learned that after all the hell I heard about from Manhattan Cafe’s trainer, apparently that poor girl dealt with supernatural bullshit all the time-
Manhattan Cafe.
I rewound the tape, playing it one more time, stopping it midway as I cheered. “There! Girl in black! That’s gotta be Cafe, she’s the only gloomster around.” I did a happy little dance in my chair before standing up, smoothing out my clothes.
Gloomster?
I shrugged, content to be cringe but free behind closed doors, before I set out to go about my day, making sure to schedule being around where Cafe’s class would be when lunch came around, suddenly thankful for Digitan’s ramblings about uma schedules so she could follow them around better.
Time: 11:30 AM
Place: Random Tracen Hallway
I leaned against the wall outside the classroom containing the uma I was here to see, only for her to step out first and make her way directly towards me, her bug-like eyes staring me dead in my soul as she stopped just a little too close to me, wordlessly holding her hand out and opening it to reveal a tape.
Before I could even speak, she cut me off: “My friend told me to give this to you, trainer-san. She said that you have someone you need to catch up to, so you’d best go quickly.”
I took the tape, looking it over before glancing back only to see Manhattan Cafe had completely disappeared, and I do mean like magic. I would have heard her run off, and it's not like she jumped out the second story window.
Every time I have to interact with her I wonder if I’d rather have a freak like Digital or a freak like her on my team…I mean, she’s really cute. So is Digitan, though. Now I kinda want both, maybe I can convince her trainer to give her up after I sort out my problem?
I shook my head, deciding to just pop the tape in right there in the hallway, after all, it seemed to have some kind of magic effect on others earlier, so no problem if I just blast it outloud.
Recording 03: The Super Mascot
This time the background noise was that of a race track, if I had to guess, after a debut race. I could hear people chatting and music playing in the far distance.
“Not just an ordinary mascot, a super mascot who goes around the whole world! That’s who I want to be, trainer-san.”
That same voice, but a lot happier this time, the voice of an uma sharing her dream with pride.
“If that’s what you want, then no matter what it takes, no matter what I have to do, I swear to you and to everyone that’ll hear, I’ll get it done. Please, little miss, be my trainee!”
There goes my voice again, and god I sounded desperate. I must have really seen something in her.
“Oh, but one last thing, okay. Call me trainer-chan, not trainer-san, it makes me feel old as hell.”
The girl laughed, a sweet high pitched thing that sparked joy in all who heard it, before the sounds of rustling could be heard, followed by the same voice coming out a little higher pitched, as if she was imitating herself for some reason.
“Okay~! I’ll call you train-er-chan~! This is my special doll, okay? Don’t forget about her, and don’t forget about me.”
The voice suddenly turned somber, the background noises of people shouting and music blaring falling away.
“Please Trainer. Please. Don’t forget. You promised you’d always remember. Please remember me. I don’t want to fade away. You need to always remember Aston-”
I felt a chill go through me at the sudden shift, and then let out a shout as the recorder suddenly sparked right near the end, the damn thing shocking me as I dropped it in surprise, and then watched in slow motion as the worlds most thick headed girl BAKUSHINED directly over it, her foot crushing it to dust in her path as she disappeared down the hall, not even noticing what she had done.
Oh you fucking MORON-
I managed to stop my explosion as I ran off myself, racing through the halls as my mind raced along with me, trying desperately to remember, to remember, who the hell was she?
I didn’t even realize until my shin hit the stone and I crashed back onto my ass that I had ended up before the statue of the Three Goddesses, the courtyard it resided in somehow being completely empty, just me and some discarded piece of old trash sitting near the fountain.
“Please, Three Goddesses, give me a sign. Give me something, anything, there’s someone missing and it feels like I might be the last person to remember her.”
I prayed, hands clasped, waiting for that divine spark of inspiration or clarity.
But it never came.
I must have sat there for thirty minutes, eyes closed, straining as I wished with all my might, but nothing came.
I sighed, resolving that all the stories I had heard from my trainees about the fountain must just be fake tales, before my foot caught on the discarded garbage right as I went to walk off, finally deciding to give it a proper look as I lifted it off the ground.
Only to come face to face with a doll.
It wasn’t just any old doll either, it was some umamusume I had never met. A brown haired girl, with two hearts on her left ear, a really adorable dress that reminded me of some kind of princess, and a crown on her head oddly enough.
Huh. This is really well made. Looks like actual merchandise, but feels more hand crafted, damn, I bet whoever dropped it must be pissed they lost it.
I stared at it for a long while, trying to recall who the hell had a doll like this, I mean, even if they weren’t my trainees, I knew most of the umas at Tracen just through the osmosis of training Agnes Digital, especially with how often I had to accompany her on her ‘research’ trips to stalk the other cuties around here.
Is it someone’s little sister maybe? Or big sister? I don’t think this is any registered racer, or I’d certainly know it…reminds me of a mascot, kind of.
I shrugged, deciding to take it back to my dorm and figure it out later, and that’s when the lightning bolt struck me.
Literally, a bolt of lightning struck me. In broad daylight. On a clear sky.
Only, it wasn’t anything painful, and it didn’t even shock me, it was more like some kind of divine message.
Mascot. Uma with brown hair. The crown. It's distinct too, so unique, something I’d never forget, the super mascot that wants to take the world by storm.
It was so simple that I could only laugh. It was like a weight I didn’t even fully realize just disappeared.
Why, that’s my cute little Aston Machan, of course.
Just like that, the doll suddenly was taken out of my arms, and as I looked to my left, I saw her standing there like she had been following me around all day, giving me her same cute little smile with her bright green eyes shining as she puppeted the doll to wave at me.
“Hiya train-er-chan~! Sorry for missing the meeting earlier, but you didn’t forget me right? Please treat Aston Machan well.”
Without hesitation I grabbed her up in a hug, both her and the Mini-Machan, laughing as I did.
“No, sweetie, your trainer-chan would never forget you. You’re my super mascot that’s gonna take the world by storm, after all. Now come along, Machan, your trainer will buy you lunch, my treat.”