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A brown-haired umamusume adjusted the hat sitting over her right ear. It had gotten slightly askew during the race and she needed to make sure she looked perfect for the cameras. She took a second to dust off her outfit and straightened out the tie around her neck. Satisfied that she was looking presentable again, she turned to the stands of the Del Mar Fairgrounds. From behind tinted lenses, her eyes began searching for someone amongst the roaring crowd. A crowd that cheered her name as the commentator announced the results. “In first place by half a length is the Japanese runner, Forever Young! She claims the Breeders’ Cup Classic after winning the Saudi Cup earlier this year!”
Finally she found the face that she was looking for: a plain-looking man with glasses who was currently weeping tears of joy. He always got so emotional after her races, regardless of if she lost or won. She smiled at the goofball and gave him a wave, then headed for the winner’s circle, steeling herself for the torrent of interviews she’d need to deal with over the next few hours.
That evening, she was seated across from the same man at an upscale steakhouse near the racecourse. Young had put away two ribeyes already and was currently working on a third. As she ate, she watched her trainer staring longingly out towards the track. Young had seen him cry a total of seven times today by the time her winning live had ended, and could only assume he’d been doing just as much out of view. She hadn’t wanted to pry in the past, but after three years together she could no longer restrain her curiosity. And tonight might be her only chance to get the information out of him.
Most people just knew him as an overly serious, talented young trainer who didn’t talk much. But the trainer that Young knew was a passionate man who gave his everything to help her succeed. Custom training schedules, race strategies, diet planning, if she asked about any of these things he could talk for hours. But any personal questions were dismissed as unimportant or redirected into a conversation about training. When she’d asked his colleagues about him, they’d said that he was a reliable friend, but never really talked about himself. This hadn’t been nearly enough for her, so she’d resorted to ‘less conventional’ means to get information on him. She recalled the file she’d been sent upon calling in some favors.
Character Profile: Tsukasa Takahashi
Birthday: May 4
Height: 180cm
Voice Actor: [REDACTED]
BIOGRAPHY
A brilliant young man who passed the URA trainer exams right out of high school. As a child, he often watched races with his umamusume mother and acquired a lifelong love for racing. He serves as the trainer for Forever Young.
RELATIONSHIPS
Forever Young - Trainee. He met Forever Young at a selection race shortly after passing the trainer exams. She was intrigued by his insistence that her running was best suited for dirt rather than turf and found that he was a kindred spirit with a love for innovation. Together the two have made it their goal to revolutionize the world of Umamusume!
Call to Adventure - Mother. A former regional racer who raised Tsukasa on her own. While they were very close when he was younger, Tsukasa became more distant when puberty started, and the current relationship between the two is awkward. However, they still both care for each other very much.
TRIVIA
He is likely based on [REDACTED]
With the addition of this information, Young had managed to construct a working theory to explain her trainer’s emotional state after races. She intended to confirm the validity of this theory tonight. Usually she would expect to just be stonewalled if she asked, but her trainer was doing something tonight that he had never done around her before. He was drinking.
Despite being 21 Tsukasa could have easily passed for 16 and had been IDed when he tried to order a bottle of wine. He was on his third glass of wine now and clearly feeling it based on his flushed cheeks. A more morally rigorous umamusume wouldn’t have considered taking advantage of his inebriation to extract information. But Young had already breached the constraints of their reality for her curiosity, and she was not about to let this opportunity pass.
“Soooo, Trainer. How about we have a little girl talk!” She noticed his already flushed cheeks redden even further, giving her even greater confidence that her theory was on target.
“You know I’m always available to talk, Young. What’s up?”
She playfully clicked her tongue when hearing her name. “Tsk-tsk Trainer. You promised to change how you called me if I won the Breeders’ Cup.” Young stared him in the eye with a devious expression on her face, and Tsukasa looked away in embarrassment.
“Sorry. Yanko, what’s up?”
Upon saying her nickname, he was greeted with an absolutely blinding smile. “Now that’s more like it! I was wondering, Trainer, what was up with all the waterworks today lol? Was someone cutting onions up there in the stands?” She felt a bit guilty about being intentionally abrasive, but this wasn’t the time for half measures.
“Oh uhhh…I mean I’m just really passionate about your career You- I mean Yanko. Winning the Breeders’ Cup Classic is a huge deal…it’s just like a dream come true.” There were stars in his eyes as he said the last part with a yearning expression.
“Whose dream, Trainer?” The cheerful gyaru had suddenly been replaced by the cutthroat businesswoman. Tsukasa choked on his wine as he was hit with the barbed question. Young silently cheered for herself upon so squarely hitting the mark.
The trainer took his time wiping up the spilled ruby liquid before answering. “Both of our dreams, I guess. My mom was a dirt runner and always loved watching the American races with me. I think she was enchanted by the idea of a place where dirt racing got the same attention that turf does back home. So when I was little, I promised I’d win one of the big American dirt races for her.” Some tears fell from his eyes as he reminisced. “...Today wasn’t exactly what I meant then, but it’s the closest I’ll get.” He quickly downed the remaining wine before gazing at the empty glass.
Young internally congratulated herself on being an absolute genius. But she wasn’t done pushing yet. “Is that why you and your mother had a falling out Trainer? Because you realized you wouldn’t be able to run in the race the same way she did?”
Tsukasa’s face dropped to stare at his lap in shame. “Yeah. I know it wasn’t fair to her. It still isn’t. But every time I see her I’m reminded of what I don’t have. It’s like…” Suddenly he looked up at his trainee. “Wait a second. How the heck do you even know about that, Yanko?”
Young grimaced. He, no probably she had caught on faster than her trainee had expected. Perhaps Tsukasa wasn’t as much of a lightweight as Young thought. But she’d gone too far to stop here, she needed a full confirmation before she made her next move. She abruptly stood up from her seat and walked around the table, putting both of her hands on Tsukasa’s shoulders as she stared into her eyes.
“Trainer, I need you to answer me truthfully here. If you had the chance, right now, to run in those races yourself, would you take it?”
The trainer’s eyes did their best to avoid her trainee’s. “I mean, I’d need to be an uma to do that, Yanko.”
“That’s right, Trainer. You’d be running in those races as an uma. Now what’s your answer? Would you take the chance to fulfill your dream? Or would you choose to stay a human?”
Despite being in a crowded restaurant, there was an air of silence surrounding the two of them. Young simply waited patiently, she knew if she pushed any harder Tsukasa might break. The trainer was quiet for a full minute before answering in a whisper. “I want to run.”
The tense air surrounding them shattered and the sound of other customers filled the room once again. Tsukasa finally looked Young in the eyes again to find her famous bright smile. “You’ve been such a good girl, haven’t you Trainer? Big sis Yanko will need to make sure you get what you deserve.”
The trainer blushed at the praise and covered her face with her hands. “What the heck, Yanko! You can’t just say stuff like that!”
“That’s where you’re wrong, Trainer. I can do whatever I want, just give me a week or two. But it’s getting late, let’s get out of here.” Young quickly paid the bill before helping her intoxicated trainer stand up and walk back to the hotel. After ensuring Tsukasa made it into bed safely, she went outside and made a call. “Heyo, it’s me again. Tell daddy that his daughter is very unhappy right now…”
A week after returning to Tracen, Tsukasa woke up in his bed, feeling even groggier than usual. He’d dreamt about some conversation with Young that he could no longer remember. Whatever, it wasn’t important anyways. He had to get out of bed and get ready for their morning practice.
He swung his legs over the side of the bed and dropped to the floor, but something wasn’t right. He’d fallen farther than usual and nearly lost his balance as he hit the ground. Luckily something counterbalanced him from behind as his body tilted forward. But what? He looked behind him and saw a bubblegum pink tail sticking out from his pajama pants.
“Huh?” He reached out and gave the tail a solid yank, too tired to predict the obvious result of the doing so. “Ow, what the fuck!” As he doubled over in pain, the voice that came out was not his own, but a far more melodious, feminine one. He started to panic and ran to the mirror. The reflection that looked back at him was not his own. Instead, he saw a very distressed looking umamusume.
She had short, bubblegum pink hair with a small strip of black bangs on the left side of her head. Her eyes were also pink with somehow star-shaped pupils. On second thought, that was actually far from the most unusual pupils she had seen on an uma. She poked at the ears on top of her head and was surprised at how fluffy they felt. Her formerly masculine face had become cute and almost bratty-looking. Her shoulders and waist had substantially narrowed, perhaps to make room for a very significant increase in the chest and hip areas. Overall, she had likely lost 20cm, but somehow her pajamas still fit flawlessly, even obtaining a tail hole since last night somehow. She hesitated for a second before reaching down to check between her legs, confirming that thing was lost as well.
“What the hell do I do now?” For years, the trainer had dreamed of being an umamusume, but now that it had actually happened, she was just confused. How had this even happened? How would she explain it to her coworkers? To Forever Young? To her mother? “Wait. That dream. Yanko said something about giving me what I deserve. Is this what she meant? But…how?” It made no sense at all, Young may have been a revolutionary racer, but she couldn’t transform someone into an uma. Could she?
“Fuck it, I’ve got nothing else to go off of and we have training this morning anyways. I may as well ask her.” She walked into the bathroom to shower and was shocked at the sheer number of products that had appeared overnight. Her all-in-one shampoo and body wash had been replaced by three types of shampoo (hair, ears, and tail), three types of conditioner (the same areas), a body wash, a facial cleanser, a facial scrub, and several different scented moisturizing lotions. Her simple comb was now an assortment of brushes intended for umamusume hair and tails, and a full makeup kit sat open next to the sink. The strangest thing of all was that she knew how to use all of it, watching in amazement as her body almost unconsciously went through her morning routine. “This is so weird.”
After washing up, she went to her closet praying that she could find something that fit her new body. Only to be greeted by a completely different wardrobe than the one she expected to find. Tsukasa had only ever owned several of the same suits, along with two sets of very plain casual wear. She’d always found shopping for men’s clothing depressing, and decided it was easier just to dress professionally all of the time. But now, her closet was a colorful bouquet of outfits, all perfectly sized for her new body. She stared at them, stunned by pure euphoria, before shaking herself out of it and grabbing something. She decided to go with a mid-length black skirt and a red button-up top. She was tempted to wear something off the shoulder but decided it was probably too chilly.
Tsukasa started gathering up her things before freezing in place. “What do I do if someone sees me. Won’t they wonder who the hell this strange uma is? Do I just show them my ID…” She trailed off as she realized she hadn’t seen her wallet since waking up. “Oh shit!” She dashed around the room checking everywhere. “Please don’t be in my office, please don’t be in my office, please dont…FUCK! IT’S IN MY OFFICE!”
Tsukasa was torn between whether she should walk to avoid drawing attention or run to get to her destination as fast as possible. She ended up speed walking which may have been the worst of both worlds as she saw Tazuna rapidly approaching her as she walked towards the trainer building. She cursed under her breath before putting on a smile for the Tracen secretary.
“Good morning Miss Hayakawa, how can I help you?” Surely just pretending she should be there would work.
“Good morning Trainer Retro, congratulations again on the Breeders’ Cup win. Apologies, but Gold Ship was apparently spotted with a crate full of fireworks, so I’ve got to find her. Good luck with training today.” The secretary hurried off without saying a word about her new appearance.
“Who the hell is Retro?”
Several other people had greeted ‘Retro’ by the time the trainer made it to her office. She’d tried asking a few of them if they knew where Trainer Tsukasa was, just to get blank stares in return. While she was still very confused, it was obvious by now that to everyone else, she had always been an uma named Retro. She was beginning to think that she might have just hallucinated the rest of her life before this, and she really had been an uma all along. But she hoped she wasn’t quite that mentally unsound. Her last hope was waiting for her in her office.
Retro opened up the door to find Forever Young lounging on the couch. Unlike the others before, there was no recognition in her trainee’s eyes as she looked at the pink-haired uma. “Uhh, can I help you? Trainer Tsukasa isn’t in yet today.”
“Oh thank the Goddesses, I’m not going insane.” Young looked at her like an insane person despite the statement.
“Listen, I don’t know who you are, but you can’t barge into someone’s office like this. It’s omega rude ya know! So like…” She suddenly stopped mid-rebuke as she saw Retro begin to cry happy tears. “...Trainer? Is that you?”
Retro only grew more emotional as her trainee recognized her. She nodded through the tears and began to sob. She closed her eyes and felt arms wrap around her.
“Hey now, don’t cry, it’s okay Trainer. I’m so sorry I didn’t recognize you. You’re like mega beautiful now ya know. They did an even better job than I expected.”
The tears suddenly stopped as Retro processed what her trainee had said. “...Yanko. Who are ‘they’? What did you do to make this happen?” She opened her eyes again to look at the now taller uma hugging her.
Young answered her with her signature smile. “I just had daddy fire your writer and hire a new one! Can you believe the old one thought it was okay to give you a dream you’d never be able to fulfill? What a dickhead right?”
“...Are you saying your father can get people to rewrite reality?”
“Mmmm, sort of yeah!”
A pit suddenly formed in Retro’s stomach. A certain term had popped in her head at the mention of rewriting history and it wouldn’t go away. “Yanko, have you seen my wallet?”
“For sure, it’s over on your desk!” She let go of Retro, and the trainer walked over to the desk. She picked up her wallet and took a deep breath before opening it and taking out the ID. The picture had been updated along with all of the identifying information. But she only saw a single line. Name: Retroactive Continuity.
“Yanko…did you have them name me Retcon?”
“Yep! Isn’t it perfect?”
Retro refused to talk about anything except training with Young for the rest of the day.