The warm light of the setting sun painted the graveyard in soft oranges. The flowers around them were in full-bloom, giving color to this place of eternal rest. Dozens of gravestones were erected with care and respect, each carved with a name remembered only by those who were left behind.
And there Jones was, down on one knee as he placed a gentle hand on the gravestone belonging to Blossom Star. There was clear grief in his eyes, but he approached the grave as if he'd known it all along, as if he was greeting an old friend.
Meanwhile, Kitahara could only watch from behind, left as nothing more than a hindrance. Jones wasn't even from this world, and yet, at this moment, it felt like he was the intruder.
Once again, his eyes caught the date of Star's passing, and he felt another wave of grief in his chest. Blossom Star had been so young—she could've easily been another umamusume he occasionally interacted with in Kasamatsu Tracen. But the Goddesses have taken her from this world, and all that was left was a shadow of who she once was.
He wasn't quite sure how long they remained there. Jones sat in front of the gravestone for what felt like hours, simply staring at the name etched into the stone. Even the winds had stalled, as if the entire world itself was grieving for a legend that had passed too early.
But eventually, Jones let out a soft sigh. "What a day." He ran a hand through his hair as he stood up. "Finding out that one of my trainees is dead was the last thing I was expecting." He gave Kitahara a wry smile. "Guess I have you to thank for that, huh?"
Kitahara winced. "Hey, it wasn't like I was planning for that either."
Jones snorted. "I know, I know." He smirked. "I guess it's just the Goddesses' whim."
He blinked. "The Three Goddesses—you believe they're real?"
Jones shrugged. "Who knows?" He smiled slightly. "I guess I've just been converted. Historical studies is something we covered in Tracen Central Academy."
His eyes bulged. "W-W-Wait, you're saying you're-!?" But before Kitahara could say anymore, Jones moved with immense speed and immediately tackled him into a strangle, stopping him from shouting. "O-Oi, my neck…!" He gasped out, trying to free himself from Jones' strangely unbreakable grip.
"Try not shouting in a graveyard then." He said simply, his stare more than unimpressed.
"A-Ah, right."
Once Jones seemed sure that Kitahara wasn't about to disturb the dead, he finally let go of Kitahara's neck. He coughed a few times as he held his throat, wincing at the lingering pain. "What the hell, man? Why's your-, agh, your grip feels like a gorilla."
He shrugged. "Physical Education. Another part of our curriculum." And when Kitahara returned a confused stare, Jones just smiled. "You're in charge of a teenager with the power to punch holes through walls. Some level of physical ability is practically required if you want to stay alive."
Kitahara gulped. He thought Roppei-san had been playing things up when he dumped all that reading material on him, but it seemed he was wrong. Which meant that he'd probably need to go through everything again.
"Anyway, let's get out of here." Jones said.
"Y-Yeah." Kitahara nodded, trying to keep his despair from showing.
So out they went. Kitahara entered the graveyard alone, and he left with a version of himself from another universe. Summarizing it made him sound like he had 9th-grade syndrome or something, but the fact that Jones was still walking next to him made him question everything he'd known in his life.
And for a while, neither of them spoke. Jones was clearly content with just exploring Kasamatsu—revisiting places he hadn't been to ever since he apparently left Japan.
It was…interesting. There were some places Jones gravitated to that Kitahara often visited himself, but there were others that were completely alien. Like a grassy slope just by the riverside, or the local park, or an izakaya that'd been closed down a couple months back.
Jones spent a particularly long time at that last one.
Kitahara didn't ask why. He didn't need to.
Eventually, sunset melted into twilight, and the skies darkened as the night fell across Kasamatsu. The air grew even colder, and though Jones looked fine, Kitahara had only worn his usual clothes—nothing to ward the coldness of Spring.
So,
Jones whistled as he entered the room, squinting slightly as the lights turned on. "Wow, haven't seen this dump in a while."
Kitahara's eyes twitched at the clear insult, but he didn't disagree. His home was a dump—there was no denying it. Notebooks were scattered all over the floor, research papers were haphazardly stacked in no discernable order, and a pile of empty cup noodles had been shoved into the corner.
"As if you're not like this yourself." Kitahara shot back.
Jones chuckled. "Can't deny that. The number of times Belno had to clean up for me is downright embarrassing." He smiled fondly. "Still, it's nice to see this place again. Never thought I'd be back here after I sold the place."
Kitahara blinked. "You…left the apartments?"
Jones shrugged. "Not like I needed it. Tracen Central provides dormitories for trainers too."
He clicked his tongue. "Lucky bastard."
Jones raised an eyebrow. "I still need to pay for it, dumbass."
His eyes twitched. "But you have the money to pay for it."
Jones smirked. "So poor~"
"You-!" He tried kicking the bastard's kneecap, but Jones danced around his attack with ease, before he spun behind Kitahara and delivered a powerful slap to the back. Kitahara gagged as he bent forward, his eyes bulging as his back burnt from the pain. "A-Agh, my back…!"
Jones grinned without remorse. "Roppei-san taught me well." And then, more quietly he whispered, "Man, this feels good. No wonder Roppei-san's such an ass all the time."
"W-What?"
"Nothing~"
While Kitahara continued nursing his aching back, Jones waltzed up to his mini-fridge and began rummaging through it like he owned the place. He was humming as he looked through the clutter inside the fridge, before he smiled as he pulled out two unopened cans of beer. "These look good."
Kitahara weakly groaned. "For what-?" He yelped when Jones suddenly threw one of those cans to him, and Kitahara scrambled to grab it before it dropped onto the floor. He succeeded thankfully, though his back was hurting again from the sudden movement. "Can't you be a little more careful!?"
"Ah, sorry." He smirked lazily as he dropped onto the one bean bag in his room. "I'm just a little agitated, that's all."
Kitahara opened his mouth, and then closed it. He supposed he couldn't blame Jones for feeling a little antsy. The fact that he wasn't freaking out over the fact that he'd been pulled into another universe was already amazing enough.
So Kitahara just sighed and sat down by the wall, glaring at Jones for sitting on the small bean bag he usually sat on. He cracked open his can of beer as he glanced back at him. "So, what now?"
Jones hummed as he popped open his own can, but he didn't move after that. He stared at his can of beer for some time, clearly deep in thought, before he leaned back into the bean bag. "I wanna tell a story."
Kitahara blinked. "A story?"
Jones hummed as he took a sip. "The Blossom Star of this world has passed away. That won't change." He smiled faintly as he held out his can towards Kitahara. "But she's not gone yet. As long as she's still remembered, as long as her name is still spoken—she won't disappear." His eyes narrowed. "I won't let her."
Kitahara looked down at his own can. That stretch of silence where Jones had just sat in front of Star's gravestone—that was probably an image he wouldn't forget for a long time. And while he didn't know what Star was like, the fact that Jones clearly cared so much about her was enough.
"Tell me about her." He said.
Jones smiled fondly as he began his story.
Blossom Star. An umamusume born from two human parents. Loved by others but incapable of loving herself. Desperately trying to live with a mind that wanted nothing more than to die. She was saved one day when Oguri Cap found her, and at that moment, the gears of fate began to turn.
Together, they arrived at Kasamatsu Tracen. Jones scouted them, promising that he would take over the world with them. Star and Oguri agreed easily, but when Star noticed that no one had chosen to scout Belno Light, she pointed Jones' attention at her, and he was more than happy to take Light along as well.
So was born Team Kitahara.
From there, the entire world was shaken. A trio of legendary umamusume, all hailing from the backwaters of Kasamatsu. Oguri the Undefeated Triple Crown champion. Star, the holder of the Undefeated Triple Tiara. And Belno, the newly crowned Undefeated Dirt Triple Crown. Jones told a wondrous story of struggles and victory, of losing and getting back up, of fighting and never leaving anyone behind.
And through it all, Star showed again and again why it was destined that she would play the part of a Hero.
Because it was her that refused to leave anyone behind. When the Emperor wanted to bring Team Kitahara to Central, Star refused to do it by her terms, knowing that doing so would leave Jones behind. And so she created a plan that would force the URA to curry her favor instead, and in doing so, Jones headed to Central together with them.
Because it was her that refused to let rules tie her down. When she realized that the URA would bar Obey Your Master from fully running in Japan, she enacted a scheme that spanned a dizzying number of people, and she proceeded to bring the URA down in the span of a week.
Because, through it all,
It was Blossom Star that had saved them all, just like how she'd been saved in the past.
And hearing it all, Kitahara felt…a lot of things. Jealous that another version of him had gone through such an amazing journey, amazement that Team Kitahara was so legendary, shocked at all the twists and turns that had gone on in that other universe.
But more than anything, he was happy to know that there existed a world where such an amazing umamusume had found love, and then chose to return that love to the people who had saved her.
…Yeah. That was enough.
After that, Jones' story continued long into the night, with the occasional diversion whenever something particularly about Jones' story cropped up.