Chapter Text
Every six months, Tracen Academy holds special tryout races, so that students can show off their skills to trainers and potentially get scouted. As a rookie trainer myself, I’ve been showing up to as many as I can in the hope of finding a promising trainee to scout, but so far I haven’t had any luck. The competition between trainers is fierce, especially for the most promising runners, and my relative lack of experience doesn’t exactly work in my favour.
Today, I’ve come to the practice track to watch a 1,600-meter turf race. The mile is a good benchmark of an Umamusume’s overall ability; it’s short enough that they can go all-out for most of it, but long enough for stamina to still be a factor. It’s a distance that almost any Umamusume can excel at.
There are meant to be sixteen runners taking part, but as they line up in the starting gate I only count fifteen. Whoever was meant to have been starting in the outermost gate is absent. I take a look at the entry list to see who it is that’s missing. “'Viva Genesis'…?”
She’s not a student I’m familiar with, but an older trainer standing next to me seems to know her, for he promptly speaks up. “This isn’t the first time she’s pulled a stunt like this. If she keeps this up, she can forget about even staying at the academy, let alone getting scouted.” I’m left stunned by this remark. Is Viva Genesis really that much of a troublemaker?
“It’s a shame,” the older trainer continues, shaking his head. “She’s clearly talented, but if she can’t even be bothered to show up to such an important race on time, then what’s the point?”
The organizers delay proceedings for a few minutes while they try to figure out Viva Genesis’ whereabouts, but it seems they can’t get hold of her, and in the end, the race begins without her. I carefully survey the runners as they make their way across the track. They all have great form, and they’re not exactly slow, but… none of them really stand out from all the racers I’ve seen in the previous tryouts.
As I watch them round the third corner and into the fourth, I suddenly hear footsteps approaching rapidly from behind, and I turn just in time to see an Umamusume pull up into the bleachers just to my left. Judging from her laboured breathing and slightly flushed face, she must have run all the way across campus to the track without stopping. She stands there for a moment, both hands gripping the railing so tightly her knuckles turn white, staring down at the other runners with a mixture of frustration and horror. I’m about to ask who she is and what she’s doing here when—
CLANG.
She slams a fist down onto the railing hard enough to rattle it, then turns and dashes away as quickly as she came. It may be wrong of me to think this, considering how upset she looked, but her acceleration is breathtaking. She’s gone before I can even fully process what happened. If she'd been competing in the tryout race, she would have been a contender for sure.
Wait… suddenly it all clicks into place. “Was that… Viva Genesis?”
The older trainer nods. He’s also looking in the direction that Viva Genesis just fled in, instead of at the race which, from the sounds of things, has just concluded. The sound of her hitting the railing must have caught his attention. “You see what I mean? Her acceleration is peerless, but her attitude…” He sighs and shakes his head. “What a waste of talent.” With that final remark, the man departs. I guess none of the other runners caught his eye, either.
I head back to the academy myself soon afterwards, but I find that I can’t stop thinking about Viva Genesis – both her incredible dash away from the practice track, and that older trainer’s harsh assessment of her. ‘A waste of talent’… is that really all she’s destined to be? Surely, as trainers, it’s our job to help our trainees overcome whatever issues they may have, so they can make the most of their talent? Maybe I’m just being naïve, but… I don’t think Viva Genesis is beyond help. With the right trainer, she could definitely become a force to be reckoned with in the Twinkle Series.
But could I really be that trainer…?