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Triangular Theory of Love

A theory developed by Robert Stenberg, an American psychologist from 1949. His Theory suggested that there are three main components to love; intimacy, passion, and commitment. The three components create a triangle, one used to categorize different types of love depending on the availability of each component.

And how do these components may help with one's training?

“Research log 1. Current observation shall focus on the interrelationship between emotional and psychological stimulus gained from training with another individual with the increase of their motivation and self improvement,” long sleeves held up the recorder as the owner of the voice, Agnes Tachyon, continued to narrate her report. “Hypothesis includes an increase of one's ability to train and perform through ‘Friendship Training’, outcome is expected to be positive,” she ended, clicking the button on the recorder before turning on her 4K Webcam that had been connected to her laptop. Tachyon's ears perked up when the school bell rang, signifying that it was training hours now for the rest of her schoolmates.

Tachyon watched from afar as two umas jogged into the field after a few minutes, she wouldn't need to recognize the two from the few footages she had recorded with her camera, for they both had their own infamous reputations.

“Sample one: Haru Urara and Rice Shower, the Black Assassin.”

The two have made a close bond with each other over the months, with Urara's cheerful and refreshing personality, it wasn't hard for her to befriend anyone she wants. Rice Shower the complete opposite, timid and closed off, you'd think these two wouldn't get along well but both of them had proven everyone wrong. Tachyon's smile widened as she typed in her report.

‘Intimacy, a component usually found in friendship and familial relationship, had been observed.’

Tachyon hummed as she continued to observe the two umas train, and it seemed like they decided to work on their speed, running side by side for a couple of laps as other Umas began to flock the track field and began their respective training. Yet Tachyon still focused on the two umas, noting how Rice slowed down when Urara failed to catch up and the pink maned smiling brightly when she did so as they slowly began increasing their speed.

“Minor improvement in motivation,” Tachyon typed in her laptop, her feet tapping on the bleacher, inching for a run, but she resisted. Today was not a good day for her leg, better rest it than being restless and risk an injury.

Tachyon's ears flicked as she could already imagine a certain bay maned uma insisting to run despite the risk and then calming down when she was scolded. Tachyon doesn't know why, but it made her chest feel warm. She will have to look into that later, but for now, her attention is all on her fellow schoolmates that had spread out all across the tracks.

Speaking of bay maned, Tachyon turned her attention to a Silver Collector, Meisho Doto. Of course, how could she not? Being a constant challenger of the Conqueror, T.M. Opera O and having multiple footage of her running in Arima Kinen, she is an uma that is quite hard to forget.

Tachyon watched as Opera O strutted in and began to flaunt herself with the shy Doto often getting flustered as Opera's mouth continued to move, perhaps showering her with encouragement and pretty words. Tachyon's tail twitched however, something was missing, this wasn't pure intimacy. Tachyon continued observing as they began training, with Doto constantly glancing at Opera who was oblivious to her gaze.

Tachyon noticed something, the improvement of her training is still minor, she noticed it was a much stronger boost for her compared to when Urara was with Rice.

A stronger sense of intimacy? No, this is not mere platonic feelings, this is—

“Good day, Tachyon-san! What are you doing this time?” A voice caught Tachyon's attention. The scientist turned around, and the first thing she noticed was the pink mane and large red bow belonging to the owner of said voice, Agnes Digital. “Oh, OpeDoto! Didn't know you shipped those two as well.”

Ignoring the nonsense that came out of Digitan's mouth, Tachyon returned her attention to her laptop. “I am merely observing the relationship of our fellow peers,” Tachyon explained before something clicked in her brain. “Say, Digital-kun. Surely you have some information to tell me regarding the umas you salivate to everyday, don't you?”

“I do not drool that much!” Digitan firstly defended herself, Tachyon decided not to argue against that. Who knows if it'll fuel her fangirl side instead and steers them away from the current objective. “But yes, I do know a lot of information. I'm the number one wiki contributor you know!” She proudly declared as she sat down beside Tachyon, who still had no idea what she's talking about. “So who do you wanna know about? Opera-san? Spe-san? Ooh, maybe something spicy about McQueen-san?”

Tachyon shook her head, “rather than their individuality, I would like to be informed regarding their relationship with each other,” she told the Otaku, who upon hearing that sentence, beamed up brightly as she was trying to restraint from exploding in front of the scientist.

“We're talking about shipping?! I didn't know you liked that too Tachyon!” Again, the scientist still had no idea what that meant, but it seemed like Digitan would talk if she indulged her. “Ooh, is that why you were observing OpeDoto, just now? Don't worry! I can tell you everything about them!” She trembled excitedly as Tachyon gestured with her sleeves, asking Digitan to proceed with her explanation. “Well for starters, Doto really admires Opera. She aspires to be like her, bright and confident, since she's quite the opposite as you can observe.”

“That description lined up with my observation so far, yes,” Tachyon agreed as she watches from afar how Doto seems to look at Opera in awe as she begins to theatrically flaunt herself to her. “However, I detected that Meisho Doto-kun's facial and body language suggested that she's experiencing a much stronger emotional stimulus.”

“So you too!?” Digitan suddenly exclaimed with glee, “I knew it! It's so obvious in her eyes! Thank Goddesses you confirmed it!” Digitan giggled, rapidly kicking her legs as she continued. “My ship is canon! Ahhh, I can die happy now— no wait, I still have to wait for their marriage first!”

Tachyon wondered whether she had made the right decision to ask Digitan regarding her knowledge of other umas, however, there is no one else that would be as knowledgeable as her when it comes to this topic. “Would you like to elaborate on that?” Tachyon asked the younger uma, who was eager to ramble even more.

“Of course!” Digitan squealed, “you see, Doto always had this look whenever she's side by side with Opera, most people would say it's admiration or awe but my eyes are trained to specifically be able to identify that look!” She boasted before putting both of her hands on her cheeks. “She's got a massive crush on Opera ya know? I can't believe lots of people are so blind to that fact! Perhaps they were blinded by Opera's brightness but not for me! Ohh, don't get me started whenever Opera won a race! The tenderness in her eyes, the joy on her face, the way she says her name, those are the signs of a maiden in love for sure!”

Tachyon's ears perked up at the word. “Love?” She questioned, tilting her head, her usually crazed smile faltered into one of curiosity.

Could that have explained Doto's boosted improvement?

“Yes!” Digitan sharply faced the scientist, her eyes gleaming with excitement. “Goddesses I love it when the introvert falls for the extrovert first and then they fall in love harder, it's such a great trope no matter how overrated it is!”

“From your sentencing, you believe that T.M. Opera O-kun reciprocated Meisho Doto-kun's feelings?”

“Of course! Opera O treats Doto in a specific way she wouldn't with other umas! Ahh, they're so in love I can't believe they've not confessed to each other yet! Ah, don't tell me this is another trope where the more confident one waits for the confession of the—”

Tachyon checked the footage she had recorded when observing Doto and Opera as she continued to ramble; if Digitan was biased in her opinion, then her data would prove her wrong. But so far it seems to have some sort of correlation with her current research, however…

One pair wouldn't be enough, she would need to observe more before being able to draw a conclusion.

“—Goddesses, I have so many ideas for my doujins but I am shackled with the curse of art b—”

“Digital-kun,” Tachyon interrupted Digitan's rambling, her crazed smile returning with her curiosity. “Do you want to observe other pairs with me?”

As the words left Tachyon's lips, Digitan's body shook as if she was about to explode… and she did, letting out a loud squeal of joy before beginning to ramble once more as she proceeded to drag Tachyon everywhere across the academy until curfew hours. Too spent with the amount of energy Digitan managed to drain, Tachyon decided to review her data the next day, as excited as she is, her brain would be as good as a rock if she wasn't well rested for it. 

Entering her lab the next day, her tail swished eagerly. “Well then,” Tachyon smiled as she set her laptop on her work desk, turning it on to be bombarded with a desktop full of new files of all kinds of pairs across the entire academy. “Let's see if listening to Digital-kun was worth my time and energy.”

Sample 2: Tokai Teio and Mejiro McQueen.

“Log 2, Intimacy has been observed between the two, however, Digital-kun reported the existence of passion. Whether or not she is biased in her view will be filtered through the data,” Tachyon reported through her recorder. “Subjects are known to be rivals and are part of the same team, therefore it is expected the data gathered shall reflect on those relationships,” she continued. “Despite both subjects’ histories regarding their legs, it shall not matter for the focus of this observation, end log.” she ended as she began to watch the multiple footage she had gathered and ran it in a program she had asked Air Shakur to code the other day.

“Oh?” Tachyon's ears perked up, “interesting, looks like Digital-kun's words are more trustworthy that I gave credit for.”

A high boost in motivation and improvement between Teio and McQueen was analyzed from the program, one stronger than Opera O's and Doto's data. Perhaps the two umas are closer than what was shown to the world, Digitan did mention that there had been rumors going around that the two had become lovers sometimes after Teio's Arima Kinen win, although both umas had neither confirmed or denied the allegations.

That would make sense, for the theory explained that the combination of intimacy and passion would be romance. Tachyon nodded her head in satisfaction as she connected the dots. “Well, it's not my business to expose them with this conclusion I’ve drawn, is it now?” She sneered as she continued typing the report before moving onto the next subjects.

Sample 3: the entirety of Team Canopus (-Satono Diamond).

“Log 3, none of the subjects in this group is known to have ever won any G1 races minus a member of theirs that was not present at the time of the recording. However, achievement does not matter for this focus topic,” Tachyon recorded as she watched the footage. “I have perceived the subjects have a close bond with each other, therefore I speculated they have strong intimacy and commitment. No argument was given from Digital-kun.”

Tachyon watched how the team trained. Although most of the time the members got scattered all over the place during practice, in the short time they were together, the program detected a massive boost of improvement. It wasn't as strong as Teio and McQueen's, but it was at least stronger than Opera O's and Doto's data. Tachyon gleamed at the new discovery, her fingers rapidly typing on her laptop to record the information.

“Log 4, speculated that the more members there are during ‘Friendship Training’ sessions, the stronger the effects are,” Tachyon spoke into the recorder, her tail swishing around behind her. “Unfortunately, this is the only observation of multiple subjects in a group form I have recorded, future observations may focus on group training instead of pairs. Nevertheless, the data gathered is still valuable for the current hypothesis.”

Sample 4: Kitasan Black and Satono Diamond.

“Log 5, both subjects are childhood friends, rivals, as well as roommates, expected components found would be intimacy and commitment as I have observed and history between two subjects. However, Digital-kun argued that passion is present,” Tachyon recorded once more as she was ready to run the program. “Therefore expected outcome of the training would be bigger than Subject 2—”

Tachyon stopped in her tracks when she heard the sound of her lab door sliding open. She didn't need to even look at who was entering the room, knowing there could only be one person who would've entered her lab at this current hour. “Yo, Cafe-kun, I'm assuming you're here for the usual business?” She greeted with a wave of her sleeves as she turned her head to find Manhattan Cafe already brewing some coffee in her corner.

The black maned uma simply swished her tail as her ears folded to the back. “I'm not in the mood for your concoctions today,” Cafe informed Tachyon with a grouchy look. “So no funny business.”

“Fine, fine,” Tachyon raised her sleeves as a peace offering, knowing it is better to respect her boundaries than risk getting her data mysteriously wiped (which she had learnt the hard way) when the Uma behaved this way. Tachyon spun her chair to continue analyzing her gathered data.

“Are those videos of our juniors?” Cafe squinted her eyes as she drank her coffee, “did your roommate rub something onto you?” She asked with a scowl on her face.

“No, no! Worry not, while I did ask for her eyes in this observation, this is merely for my research!” Tachyon reassured her. Although Cafe didn't look as convinced, she knew Tachyon wouldn't lie about this sort of thing.

“What are you even observing— actually no, don't answer that, I don't want to know.”

“Speaking of which, Cafe-kun, I have a question for you,” Tachyon began, although her face feigned ignorance, the fact her ears turned to face Tachyon tells her that she's listening. “What's your relationship with this ‘friend’ of yours?”

That gained Cafe's attention, “why do you want to know that?”

“Part of my research.”

Cafe stared at Tachyon for a few moments before taking another sip of her coffee. “My friend has been beside me as far as I could remember,” she began with a gentle sway of her tail, “she never left my side, except when a race is happening. She'll always be on the field, racing everyone,” she frowned when the memory of Tachyon nearly catching up to her friend came to mind. “Back to your question, while I call her my friend, our bond feels… something more. Familial, if you would say.”

Tachyon's ears perked up, “oh?”

“I can't explain it, it just felt like that since the start. Of course I have my family, but she always felt more of a parent to me,” Cafe explained with another sip. “That's all I can tell you.”

Tachyon opened her mouth for another question, “how does your friend being by your side help your improvement when training?”

“Don't know, she never left my side so I never felt a difference.”

“A shame, I thought I would've found a new discovery,” Tachyon sighed as she turned around to her laptop, no longer interested in Cafe and her ‘friend’. “Now where did I leave it at?” Tachyon muttered as she returned to analyze the data she had received the day prior, filling the room with the sounds of clicking keyboards as Cafe communicated with her ‘friend’. 

Their peaceful routine wouldn't stay peaceful of course, not when a bay maned uma slammed the door open with the same fire Tachyon had observed from her since the first time she had raced her. “Tachyon!” She boomed, her tail wagging with glee. “Come on, it's time to race!”

Tachyon raised a sleeve, “not now Jungle Baguette, as you can see I am currently—” she stopped herself, realizing something as she typed.

Wouldn't it be the best for her research if she could get footage between herself and Pokke training in the tracks for comparison?

Tachyon tapped her leg, making sure that it was in an acceptable condition. “—Actually,” the scientist stood up, “sure, I need some data from you again.”

“Don't you have enough?” Pokke asked with a raised eyebrow, yet she shrugged. “Ah, whatever, as long as I get to race you!”

“Cafe-kun?”

“Pass.”

“Alright then, it's just the two of us for today, Pokke-kun,” Tachyon said as her crazed smile went wider. “I hope you could entertain me with a new discovery today, one that shall make a breakthrough for my research.”

“Happy to help!” Pokke grinned brightly.

Thump!

Tachyon's smile faltered for a second when she felt her heart begin beating faster followed by the warm feeling she had felt the day before, nonetheless she decided to shrug it off at the back of her head at the moment, wanting to at least finish this data gathering session before moving on to another research. But when Pokke grabbed her arm and dragged her out of her lab and her heart proceeded to beat faster as the feeling spread all over her body, she realized that she would have to research this feeling alongside her current research.

It's counterproductive, and there is no way for her to be able to collect data accurately when she is distracted with the other one. And yet, for Pokke, she decided to ignore all those standards she had followed for all these years.

‘It's fine,’ Tachyon thought to herself as they both changed into their tracksuits. ‘I'll recalculate the data if the calculation feels off.’

She propped a camera up on the bleachers, pointing it at the track they would be racing on before walking into the field where Pokke had already finished stretching. “You better not hold back!” She told the scientist.

“I know, I know,” Tachyon smiled, “I'll make sure this experience feels worthwhile for you until our next session.”

When they started, it played out as usual. Tachyon was positioned behind Pokke as she chased after her tail, keeping up her pace up till the final corner, where she prepared to kick the turf underneath as hard as her legs could to propel her forward with a burst of speed. It's the same cycle everyday, she would win, Pokke would be pissed at first but cheered her afterwards, and then they would retreat back to the lab where Pokke would not leave her alone as she researched and experimented until curfew hours.

But this time, when Tachyon sped up, she realized that she couldn't catch up to Pokke in the usual expected time frame. Has she become rusty from being holed up all the time? No, that's not it, Pokke has become faster.

This is the first time Tachyon felt the threat of defeat.

When they crossed the goal, Tachyon winning against Pokke for the umpteenth time. The uma didn't let out her usual frustrated ‘damn it!’ but rather, she only smirked at her. “You felt it right?” Pokke asked as she heaved. 

Tachyon let out a satisfied hum. “You truly are an amazing guinea pig, Pokke-kun,” she commented, a proud feeling welled up in her chest. Remembering how just a few weeks ago, Tachyon could catch up to Pokke just fine, to have such improvement in such a short time is quite the achievement.

Tachyon stopped for a moment. Proud? She was feeling proud of Pokke?

Pokke soaked up all the compliments, “of course!” She exclaimed, stopping Tachyon's train of thoughts, “I knew dragging you to train with me would help!”

Tachyon's eyes flickered, remembering her research. “How so?” She feigned confusion, expecting a clear reply from the uma.

Except, Pokke seemed flustered at the question, “dunno– just having you by my side seemed to help me train better,” she answered, fidgeting her fingers. “Like, I just feel really motivated to run and that I always want you beside me all the time,” she elaborated, her tail flicking behind her, “I've been feeling like this for a while and Dantsu only gave me this weird smile when I told her, and Top Road is even worse! She teases me about it!”

Tachyon's ears perked up, both from Pokke's answer and behavior. Something seemed to click in her head, if her data were as accurate as it could be with the other pairs of that category—

“Pokke-kun, I didn't know you're into me that way!” Tachyon exclaimed in a half joking manner. While they both had built up a positive relationship after Tachyon returned back to racing, surely it couldn't be—

Pokke stared at her with a look of realization, “... probably?” Pokke admitted sheepishly.

That took Tachyon off guard, while she was aware of her data's accuracy, it hasn't been proven yet! And there it is, the proof of Tachyon’s hypothesis existing right in front of her eyes.

“Wha-” Tachyon could feel her face heating up, “well that's… flattering,” she replied as equally bashful as her rival.

Truthfully, flattering was an understatement, Tachyon was elated.

Wait, elated? Why? This isn't the first time she'd been confessed to, mostly by some random uma she didn't even know was part of the school until they talked to her and then immediately asked her to go out with them (to which Digitan always looked annoyed whenever Tachyon told her about it). Tachyon would of course reject the offer, or scare them away with an offer of their concoction to which none had ever returned to talk to her so far, and Digitan commented how they only asked her out because she has an ‘ikemen’ face.

But with Pokke it's different, it feels different. Her tail wagging behind her as her heart thumped loudly in her chest, with her stomach feeling funny as Pokke's confession was being repeated over and over again in her mind— wait, these symptoms— she'd examined it before with Scarlet the other day—

“I have romantic feelings on Pokke-kun…?” She asked herself, not noticing she had said it out loud for said uma of interest to hear. Only realizing it when she felt Pokke's gaze burning deeply into her figure.

“For real…?” Pokke asked, her voice as low as a whisper, not believing what she had heard.

Tachyon's tail shot tall as her face reddened, not only was this an unexpected outcome, this was going too fast. “Well—” her usually clear mind was now a jumbled up mess, unable to think of a reply in such a short moment. “Wait just a minute, this is–” she pleaded as she hid her face behind her sleeves, embarrassed at the sudden nature of both of their confessions.

“Didn't know you could make that kinda expression,” Pokke commented, a surprised look on her face. “It's kinda… adorable.”

“Wait a moment, Jungle Pocket-kun—” Tachyon shoved her sleeves to Pokke’s face, covering her mouth. “Don't say anything else for now.”

Tachyon may be a mad scientist capable of making concoctions of any desired effects she wants, but despite that, she is still just a girl to the core. A girl who will get flustered when her crush confessed to her and called her cute, it doesn't matter how ‘insane’ others perceive her, she's still just a maiden in love.

“None of this… was considered to be part of the calculation,” Tachyon began to ramble, half of it to calm herself, the other half to try to distract herself. “I should… go back to my lab and continue my research—”

“You can’t just leave like that!” Pokke grabbed her by the sleeves, “I mean, we just—”

“Pokke-kun, please,” Tachyon began, too flustered to look at the uma in the eyes. “I need some time alone with my… founding, but trust me when I say I'm elated.”

“Then,” Pokke let go of Tachyon’s sleeves, “how about we go out on Sunday?”

“For what?”

“For a date,” Pokke answered, “only if you want to, I mean this is fast for me too but at the same time, I want this to be settled as soon as possible.”

When Tachyon didn't answer her immediately, Pokke's ears began to droop, fearing that she had been rejected until Tachyon nodded at her.

“Sunday,” Tachyon agreed, her tail swishing behind her, both from embarrassment and joy. “What time?”

“9 A.M. in front of our dorms,” Pokke said, her own tail swishing. “Dantsu showed me this place she found on Umastagram, I think you'd like it.”

“I'll see you Sunday then,” Tachyon muttered.

“Yeah.”

As both umas parted ways, Tachyon quickly sprinted back to her dorm, camera in hand that she tucked carefully in a drawer as she let out an uncharacteristic scream into her pillow, startling Digitan who was drawing a doujin on her tablet.

“Whoa, what happened?”

“Pokke-kun confessed to me.”

“SHE WHAT!?!? AND I WASN'T THERE TO WITNESS IT!?!?!”

Something tells Tachyon she wasn't about to get any kind of rest until Digitan could milk every last bit of information out of her.