Agnes Digital was furious.
Since her main account was a moderator for several sections of Tracen Academy's forum, it was far too recognizable, so she usually browsed anonymously with alt accounts, frequently changing names to avoid detection.
Her latest alias was originally going to be "Kitahara x Eclipse Forever," but after careful consideration, she thought that was inappropriate. After all, Kitahara had mentioned he didn't mind people knowing about his relationship with Eclipse, but if the story spread and caused unwanted trouble, it could disrupt their private lives. So, she'd settled for the safer alternative—"Tokai Teio Number One Fan."
Yesterday, while browsing the anonymous section, she'd spotted a thread about Trainer Kitahara. She clicked into it, but barely read a few lines before her brow furrowed in displeasure.
It wasn't that she couldn't accept criticism of Kitahara; after all, aside from trolling, the anonymous section's primary function was precisely to criticize trainers, serving as a reference for Uma Musume without teams.
But criticizing was one thing—spreading falsehoods was another.
Despite not having interacted with Kitahara very long, Agnes Digital was certain the thread's claims were inaccurate.
As the Uma Musume renowned for being "versatile," Digital had achievements across nearly every horse-girl-related field. While she often modestly claimed to only understand the basics, her actual proficiency was quite high. Among her many areas of expertise, her observational insight into trainers ranked especially high.
Though she'd never formally studied as a trainer herself, she'd been in countless teams. Sure, her reasons for transferring usually involved specific Uma Musume crushes, but the reality was, trainers and their Uma Musume were inseparable pairs. And given Digital's obsession with trainer–Uma Musume relationships, she'd spent plenty of time blissfully observing their interactions, picking up a wealth of practical trainer knowledge along the way.
If Agnes Tachyon was purely theory-oriented, Digital was purely experience-driven. She might lack formal training, but her real-world experience observing various teams far exceeded most trainers at Tracen.
After all, trainers rarely closely watched rival teams, and even if they did, teams would always conceal their methods. No matter how friendly their relations, they were still rivals.
But Digital was different. She was an Uma Musume—a harmless student, albeit a notorious pervert. Her lips were sealed, and she was utterly trustworthy. Coupled with the special unlimited team-transfer privilege personally granted by the Chairwoman, Digital had unrestricted access to all Tracen teams, freely observing every type of training and results.
Although she hadn't explicitly said it, she actually knew far better than anyone else on Kitahara's team—aside from Eclipse herself—how absurdly talented Kitahara truly was. She simply refrained from mentioning it since Kitahara didn't seem keen on discussing it.
Yes, Trainer Kitahara rarely interacted or guided his Uma Musume actively, but that was based entirely on his exceptional skill. Even without direct involvement, his training outcomes already surpassed those of all other teams she'd visited.
As for being irresponsible—that was simply impossible.
He might be unusual compared to other trainers, but Agnes Digital had seen clearly that he was just not good at initiating contact. If any of his Uma Musume ever approached him for help or faced difficulties they couldn't handle alone, he'd immediately put down his phone, solve the issue swiftly and efficiently, then seamlessly resume his usual routine as if nothing had happened.
After hearing Kitahara and Eclipse's story, Digital's already-positive opinion of him had soared even higher. Thus, seeing this thread naturally irritated her.
Of course, she could easily use her moderator privileges to lock or delete the thread outright. But the reason she'd remained moderator for so long was precisely because she'd never abused her authority.
Still, while she wouldn't delete it, she could at least use the simplest, oldest method to clear Kitahara's name:
Arguing back.
From last night to now, she'd posted at least a hundred replies single-handedly, reversing the tide of public opinion and pushing the thread's popularity back up. Just as she was on the brink of successfully restoring Kitahara's reputation, that long-silent account, "Anon Reply B," suddenly returned with a fresh wave of attacks.
[Anon Reply B]:Anyone can say nice things. Who knows if he's just using "respecting Uma Musume's choices" as an excuse to slack off?
[Anon Reply B]:Judging by your name, you're a Tokai Teio fan, right? Fan bias isn't exactly credible.
Reading these two messages, Digital's brows knitted together sharply.
Just two lines and they'd shifted the momentum back, simultaneously casting doubt on her identity. Now some neutral onlookers started questioning her motives…
This person is annoyingly good.
Despite her irritation, she didn't pause, quickly firing off her next response:
[Tokai Teio Number One Fan]:Whether it's "nice talk" or not isn't up to you or me. What matters is how his tantou actually feel about him.
[Tokai Teio Number One Fan]:If he really were irresponsible, even without dissolving their contracts, negative feedback would surely surface. But I haven't heard anything negative from his tantou so far.
[Tokai Teio Number One Fan]:I admit I'm a Tokai Teio fan, but suggesting I'm blinded by association is unnecessary. And speaking of identities, isn't an anonymous poster like you even less credible?
[Anon Reply B]:Absence of negative feedback means nothing. First, it's still early; his Uma Musume might not realize there's a problem yet. Second, who knows if he's tricking them?
[Anon Reply B]:Regarding anonymity, isn't that exactly what this anonymous forum is for? If you're so open, why not just post under your real name?
Keyboards became machine guns, and the thread became a battlefield. The two traded blow after blow, filling pages rapidly in heated confrontation.
But mid-battle, Digital paused, sensing something wasn't quite right.
Wait, something feels off.
This poster didn't seem interested in genuine discussion—they seemed purely intent on smearing Trainer Kitahara.
While disliking someone and casually disparaging them online was common enough, this was the Tracen internal forum. Such malicious attempts weren't unheard of, but they were definitely rare.
More importantly, Kitahara's last smear campaign had been orchestrated by the Black Forest organization, and soon after, he'd suffered an attack.
Kitahara hadn't mentioned it openly, but Digital knew through her own channels he'd been attacked again just yesterday. Coupling that with this poster's behavior made their identity suspicious.
Digital wasn't usually someone who held grudges. She'd had her share of keyboard-warrior defeats, occasionally curled up under her covers, tearfully hugging Uma Musume memorabilia after losing an argument. But she'd never resorted to abusing her moderator privileges.
Yet, if this involved Black Forest, that changed everything.
People always labeled her a "harmless pervert" or a "good-hearted weirdo," but beyond those labels, Digital held another rarely-mentioned title:
Hero.
Earlier, during Kitahara's conversation with Chairwoman Yayoi, they'd mentioned someone else had noticed anomalies within the academy. Indeed, it was thanks to this individual's quiet efforts that Black Forest hadn't yet caused major incidents at Tracen.
That individual was Agnes Digital herself.
Fan club operator, multi-board moderator, Uma Musume superfan—
With her extensive network of information, she was the first to detect Black Forest's existence and the first to actively oppose them. In fact, she'd previously suspected Black Forest might target Kitahara, even attempting surveillance, though she'd almost gotten caught and reluctantly abandoned the effort.
But now…
The more Digital studied "Anon Reply B," the more convinced she became that this account resembled previous Black Forest agitators. Her gaze hardened in suspicion.
Deciding quickly, Digital continued typing one-handedly while pulling out another phone, logging into her moderator account and opening a specialized moderator-only function.
IP tracking and location.
Tracen Common Sense #3: While Tracen's forum allows anonymous posting, certain privileged individuals have ways of accessing hidden user information.
She was precisely one of those privileged few.
Of course, she'd never abused this privilege before. If this individual turned out to be just another ordinary Tracen insider, she'd forget the whole thing. But if this was connected to Black Forest…
Well, she wouldn't handle it herself.
Digital was talented in many things—tracking, escaping, even taking hits—but fighting wasn't her forte. If she found anything suspicious, she'd just pass it straight to Symboli Rudolf and leave the rest to the President.
After a few taps, she quickly pinpointed "Anon Reply B's" location.
Then she enlarged the map and froze.
Wait… why is it showing my own position?
No, hold on... zoom out further…
They were right behind her?!
She stiffened, then instinctively spun around.
At that exact moment, the person behind noticed Digital's odd behavior and turned, confused, intending to ask if something was wrong. Neither had anticipated the other's swift reaction.
Bam!
The physically weaker human stumbled backward, dropping their phone.
The stronger Uma Musume stood firm, but startled by the sudden collision, also lost grip on her phone.
Both quickly moved to pick up their devices, intending to hand them back—but the instant they saw the screens clearly, their bodies froze mid-motion.
Two usernames shone clearly on the fallen phones:
[Tokai Teio Number One Fan]
[Anon Reply B]
As they stared blankly at each other's screen names and furious postings, the bustling training grounds around them descended into a surreal, awkward silence.