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Sunday, the 27th of May, 2007. Daiwa Scarlet sits in the preparation room - breathe in, breathe out. She's been filled with doubt the days before, but the number one uma musume isn't allowed to be nervous on the day of a race.
She's got this.
She opens her eyes as someone knocks on the door. Her trainer looks at her with an amount of worry that makes Scarlet huff.
"Just let them in, whoever it is, I'm not gonna fall apart! Stop looking at me like I could break at any moment!"
"Well that's certainly a gusto that could win even the Japanese Derby." The newcomer laughs, entering the room. "And here I was, worried about your mental state, switching races seemingly out of nowhere. Seems I shouldn't have."
"Dad!" Scarlet jumps up, pushing her trainer to the side to hug the wheelchair-bound uma. "You're supposed to be next to the racecourse already, how will you-"
"Scarlet, Scarlet, worry less about me and more about the race!" Agnes Tachyon grins, the sleeve of her ever-present lab robe fluttering as she reaches up to pet her daughter's head. "Cafe and Pokke-kun saved space for me at the front, I'll be fine~ What is much more interesting is you giving up on the Triple Tiara."
Scarlet's ears flop down, her stomach churning once again. Tachyon's analyzing gaze feels like its clawing through her very being, pushing away everything to wrench out the truth.
"People don't change their goals without a large enough emotional or physical motivational factor." The older uma hums, tilting her head. "What is it that affected you this much?"
"...I'll tell you after the Derby, okay?" Scarlet promises, her tail swishing nervously. "It's embarassing, dad, please..."
"Fine, fine." Tachyon sighs. "I shall ask you after the race then. Until then, I am curious what insights Pokke-kun can give and what details she can remember, six years after her own race - what has turned to false memory and what stayed true..."
Scarlet watches her dad leave the room, then nods to her trainer.
"I'm ready."
Time to win this.
☆☆☆
"Vodka, Daiwa, Vodka, Daiwa, Daiwa Daiwa Daiwa - Daiwa Scarlet wins the Japanese Derby! She bears the title of strongest umamusume of her generation!"
The crowd roars as Scarlet slows down, her chest heaving with exertion. She did it. She showed them all that she's number one, no matter the race. She proved to Vodka that she's the better runner. She...
Her gaze lifts to the viewing stands - her trainer, her friends, her family... her dad. Tachyon looks pleased; proud. Scarlet's tail swishes with excitement.
She did it.
The time until the award ceremony and the winning interviews passes in a blur, and soon enough Scarlet is standing in front the green-white URA background, the trophy in her hand, a camera focused on her face. There are much fewer people around, only the reporters and her friends and family.
"Daiwa Scarlet!" Miss Otonashi steps close, pen hovering above her ever-present notebook. "After taking the first Tiara, you suddenly decided to change plans and ran in the second race of the Triple Crown instead of the Oaks. Was the reason to follow your fellow Oka Sho competitor, Vodka, and how do you feel about missing out on the Triple Tiara?"
Scarlet's ear twitches as she organizes her thoughts, making sure she'll be able to give an answer worthy of being televised in front of thousands.
"Although I do find it important to remind Vodka that I'm the number one and not her," she starts, ignoring Vodka's offended sputtering from where she stands to the side, "it would not have been enough to convince me to stray from the Triple Tiara. There is another reason why I'm here."
She takes a deep breath. This is it.
"The Derby means a lot to many people, both trainers and umamusume alike. It is a one-in-a-lifetime chance for us to run and show our strength, and I was lucky enough to get a chance to prove to the world just what I'm capable of. What... the daughter of Agnes Tachyon is capable of."
She sees her dad's ear twitch in confusion. They both know Scarlet isn't one to glaze others for her own achievements.
"Agnes Tachyon, yes." Miss Otonashi nods. "If I remember correctly, she retired after winning the Satsuki Sho due to an injury."
"Exactly. I have heard many people call my dad a phantom Triple Crown umamusume, and... I know that there are no what ifs and second chances in racing, but I'm certain that she would have won if given the opportunity, and it was this certainty that pushed me to run in the Derby and win."
She steps away from the green-white background, approaching her sitting dad, whose expression took up the careful neutrality and aloofness she only does when she can't figure out what she's feeling about the situation. Scarlet can hear the reporters' confused murmuring, can see Cafe-senpai and Pokke-senpai standing on either side of Tachyon, but her focus is on the one uma she did all of this for. She stops in front of Tachyon, holding out the trophy.
"This... belongs to you."
"...nonsense, what are you talking about?" Tachyon looks confused, her eyes glancing to the side, to Scarlet's face, away again, her feet twitching. "This is the trophy for your victory. The one for my generation belongs to Pokke-kun. I don't-"
"I remember you watching Pokke-senpai's Derby run many times when I was little." Scarlet murmurs, quiet so that the reporters' mics won't pick it up, but loud enough for her dad to hear it. She can feel her voice cracking as her emotions overwhelm her, but she pushes through - she needs to say this. "You're the one who gave me the strength, the legs, the heart to race, and so... I wanted to be able to give you something of my own. I wanted to give you the title of Derby Umamusume."
She can only watch as tears gather in Tachyon's eyes, the older uma lifting her hands to hide her face behind the sleeves of her coat.
"You- you really couldn't pinpoint a worse time to make me cry? Now, in front of the cameras?" Scarlet's dad laughs through the tears, pulling back her sleeves and reaching out to touch the trophy, her hands shaking. "You..."
Scarlet moves behind Tachyon to place her hands on her dad's shoulders, pointing towards the cameras even as she can feel her own tears fall.
"Agnes Tachyon has the ability to win the Japanese Derby! Don't you forget it!" She shouts with a smile, feeling her dad's body shake with sobs as she hides her face again.
She can hear Pokke-senpai and Cafe-senpai murmuring to comfort her dad, Vodka step up to the reporters to direct them away from Scarlet and her family, but all she focuses on is hugging Tachyon as tight as the can, holding the frail body of her father and idol in her arms.
Tomorrow, she'll start training for the Shuka Sho. Tomorrow, she'll return to being Daiwa Scarlet, number one umamusume, the shining star of her generation.
Today... she is Scarlet, Agnes Tachyon's daughter. The one who reclaimed the Derby title that belonged to her dad all along.