Chapter Text
“200 metres left! Tokai Teio is barely in the lead! Nice Nature and Biwa Hiyahide are fighting for second place, but they can’t- Tokai Teio! They can’t touch her! She’s pulling away from them both! Tokai Teio! What a return race!”
“Haah, look at her go. What a run, huh?” Nice Nature flopped her head over her chair, looking behind her at her trainer, Masahiro, as he tidied up the pre-race locker room. The replay of the race continued to drone on in the TV, Biwa Hayahide coming in a second after with Nature one (normal-sized) head behind her – yet another third place.
The chair groaned as Nature hung herself limply over its back, embodying the weary atmosphere that permeated the small room. The TV’s tinny replay, the creak of the cheap portable board as Masahiro wiped it down - every sound seemed to choke the already full room even further, expanding the hollow feeling in Masahiro’s stomach.
“Said as if you weren’t just a length behind her.” Masahiro replied, barely looking away from the whiteboard as he continued to wipe off Nature’s race planning.
“They’re already calling it the ‘Miracle Run’ on Umatter. Real main character stuff.” She continued, her response more to herself than to Masahiro.
“Mhm. Figures. It was pretty impressive. You and Biwa were slated to be head-to-head for first, after all.”
Masahiro continued to shuffle around, the board long-since cleaned, still facing away from Nature. Surreptitiously, he threw a glance over his shoulder – Nature still hadn’t noticed, ears pinned to her head. The silence hung thick, weighing on his shoulders like a weight that would topple if he so much as twitched to turn around. There was a subtle shuffling of the chair and clothes as Nature sat back up, facing away from him… still silent. Contemplating? Choosing her words? Perhaps he should say som-
“I just… I just throught this was it, y’know?” And finally, Nature’s voice – calm, in that way that felt too controlled, too level – cut through the silence.
There it is.
“I swept the Chunichi Shimbun Hai by 5 lengths – I mean, sure, it was a G3, but still – I felt ready, for once. Sure.” She continued to stare into the middle distance, not moving, but Masahiro could feel the tension building behind him.
“But I still… I still came up short. Even though I made all that big talk about winning this race, about not backing down…” Her steady voice wobbled, and Masahiro could bear it no longer; he turned around, arms outstretched for a hug-
“Nature. C’mere.”
She looked up from the ground, still lost in her thoughts, before shuffling forward into his embrace as if by reflex.
“I know you didn’t win today, but today… today was the most excited I’ve ever seen you be for a race. You finally ran… as someone who truly belonged in that limelight. I saw it, and I’m sure your fans saw it too. You were great on the turf today.”
Nature remained silent, head buried in his shirt, but her grip on him tightened even more.
“You’re not a background extra, Nature. No one doubts the name Nice Nature anymore. But even top competitors don’t win every race, y’know?”
Nature finally looked up, un-burying her head from his chest, but to Masahiro’s surprise her gaze was clear, even if her eyes glistened with unshed tears. The memory of her breakdown while training for this very race was still clear in his head - but this Nature was different. More sure, less scared - but still just as lost.
“I… I know it wasn’t guaranteed. Heck, not just Teio - there was Biwa, and Machi-tan. It’s the Arima Kinen, after all. It’s chock-full of big names, and I’m right there with them.” She hesitated a little to blink back her tears, before continuing. “”I’m happy I’m here, that you all supported me even when I thought I was no-one.”
She paused again, eyebrows furrowed, and Masahiro could almost see the gears turning in her head as some revelation danced just out of her grasp.
“So then… why am I still disappointed? Why do I feel like… something is missing?”
Now this; this, Masahiro wasn’t prepared for. He’d seen Nature frustrated, scared, aloof - but never this pensive. This lost in her thoughts. Except… when she won the Arima Kinen last year, without Teio in the running…
All of a sudden, a certain hunch hit Masahiro.
“Is it… to do with Teio?” A reach, for anyone else - but he was sure about it. He didn’t do everything he did - spend three years by Nature’s side, support her when she was down, give her paper trophies when she doubted herself - he didn’t do it all for nothing.
And as if something had clicked in her head, Nice Nature’s eyes lit up, her confusion giving way to a slow realisation.
“That view… of Teio, bathed in the spotlight… the admiration I felt as she stood there, the proud victor, despite all her challenges, and that smile she gave me… I want Teio to see that.”
Masahiro opened his mouth, ready to say something like “So that’s why we’ll win the next one”, but Nature cut him off.
“I want her to see it… because she’s the one who inspired me the most as well! I want her to feel the same way I did at that moment! And now… my last chance just came and went! Even Teio isn’t crazy enough to race in the Dream Trophy League after three fractures!”
Oh.
Oh. That’s… new.
Or maybe not new, per se. Just… maybe she’d never even begun to process this feeling until recently.
Because extras don’t get a shot to impress the main character, right?
And, just as he expected, the moment she processed what she’d said, Nature’s face flushed red. He could almost see the steam pouring out of her ears as her mind caught up with her heart and she jumped backwards, tearing herself out of the embrace.
“I-I mean! Not that I’m as grand as she is, or that she’d look at me as someone important even if I won… or at all, I… uh… Forget I said anything!”
She waved her hands as if to dispel the very notion that she could be that important, that brilliant in Teio’s eyes - but Masahiro had cut through this song and dance a thousand times already.
“Nature.” He placed his hand between her ears, and she stilled, the nervous energy coming to a screeching halt.
“Don’t put yourself down like that. It’s not just races - I think you’ll find you’re quite important to a lot of people in other ways too, Teio amongst them.”
In fact, if he wasn’t mistaken…
“But… she’s so… Teio, and I’m just…”
He’d be proven right any moment now-
“NATIEEEEE!!!” The door to Nature’s locker room nearly burst right off its hinges as a five-foot bundle of energy by the name of Tokai Teio barrelled right through it as if it didn’t exist.
“Oh, hello Teio.” “HYAAAH!” In sharp contrast to Masahiro’s composed reaction, Nature damn near jumped across the entire room in pure shock.
“Nature, check it out! Akikawa-” Teio paused as she finally took a moment to process what she’d just seen. “Did I… interrupt something?”
“N-Not at all! Absolutely not!” Nature’s feigned innocence was so bad Masahiro couldn’t help but cringe, and this clearly didn’t escape Teio, who stared at her suspiciously.
“Are you sure~? Because you and Trainer sure wer-”
“Nope, nope, absolutely not! And how many times have I told you, it’s Nature! NA-TURE!”
Somehow, this didn’t count as a suspiciously fast topic change for Teio, who continued with what she’d barged in for:
“Anyway, Akikawa released the roster for the URA Finale! We’re both top contenders, so apparently we’re seeded to face off in the finals!”
It wasn’t visible to Nature, but from the side, Masahiro could see Teio’s tail flick back and forth excitedly. He hadn’t missed how that had only stopped when she’d noticed how close he and Nature were, either, but chose to keep his silence regardless.
“I see… So, who else is seeded high up?” Nature replied, hastily putting together the pieces of her composure as she caught up to the conversation.
“No clue! I saw your name and I came right here! I’m so excited I get to race you again!”
Teio gave a smile that could cleanse even the darkest of souls - and just like that, Masahiro saw said carefully-reconstructed composure fall apart in real time.
“I… uh, ahaha…” Nice Nature looked away, her mind blank of everything but Teio’s smile as she searched for something to say, the smug expression on her trainer’s face not helping matters.
Thankfully, at that moment, fortune throw her a line - Teio's trainer called for Teio, causing Teio to look away from Nice Nature’s increasingly accurate impression of a stop sign.
“Oops, I left my trainer behind - I’ll go tell her I’m fine!” Teio started towards the door, before hesitating, and suddenly turning around. “And… there’s something else I wanna tell you, but that can wait until the finals!”
“TEIO! Where are you?!”
“Welp, gotta go! See ya, Natie~”
And on that cryptic note, Teio left, and the room descended into silence once more.
“So-” Masahiro’s smirk widened into a full, shit-eating grin.
“Don’t. Even. Say it.”
“Teio, huh?”
“Auugh! Why… why must the universe tease me sooooo!” Nature buried her face in her hands, ears pinned downwards once again - but in embarrassment this time.
“She probably likes you too, or at least looks upon you favourably. She certainly thinks of you enough to find you first amongst all her competitors.” Not to mention how that was… the least subtle foreshadowing of a confession he’d ever seen, but some things were better left to marinate quietly.
‘Yeah… but what if it’s not actually… y’know…”
Masahiro could see the old insecurities coming back - the what-ifs, the questioning about whether she was even important enough to grab the Teio’s attention like that, but before he could voice anything in opposition, Nature’s ears flicked up in that manner he’d come to recognise as a revelation.
“I’ll… wait, I get to race her again, right? I almost didn’t realise that… there’s a URA Finale too, now, huh?” Her eyebrows were once again furrowed, but in earnest contemplation, rather than the lost expression she had just a few minutes ago.
“Yeah, I was going to tell you after everything, but… you’re seeded 8th for the medium URA Finale, so if you win everything you’ll face her in the finals.” Masahiro replied, a sense of ill-ease coming upon him at her contemplative tone.
“I’ll… I’ll just show her what she means to me there, then! I’ll show her that same view I saw of her today! I might not have the courage to talk to her straight-up… but I can show how I feel like that!”
Of course. It could never be easy, huh? Not with Nature.
Internally, Masahiro mused whether there truly was any umamusume completely right in the head. There was no way that was easier than just walking up to Teio and talking to her about it. Maybe offer to take her out shopping? Or do something Teio would enjoy? No, let’s go win a race instead. A race against the top medium-length runners of this generation. And to think Nature was (according to his colleagues) the most normal of these girls…
Nice Nature must’ve seen his thoughts flit across his face, because almost immediately, the confidence drained from her face. “Yeah, you’re right, that’s super corny - I’ll just talk to her normally-”
“Nope. You said it. We’re winning that Finale.”
“Eh?”
What was the purpose of a trainer, if not to realise their trainee’s dreams? If it was within her capability, who was he to deny her? Her goal was clear - it was time to make her the first-ever victor of the URA Finale.
“Either way, we should probably leave before they lock us in here, so…”