---
Yukari stretched her limbs as soon as she unmounted the van at Hakone's Finish Line for the first half. The trip took longer than expected and Kiyose needed to rest himself for the ride home, so they decided to head back after sunset.
Musa, who had brought his camera with him decided to take a bunch of pictures at the sight, some of them being the members and the actual scenery itself. Finally, he took a picture of the sun that had began to sink into the lake, What a sight.
"Beautiful. . ." Musa awed, amazed at the amazin scenery he witnessed at the moment. He was glad to capture this once in a lifetime moment.
"The air at the Aotake doesn't compare to this." Nico, beside Musa smiled.
"Isn't that mostly your fault?" Yuki questioned, raising his eyebrow at his statement.
"I wonder what it'll be like on the day of the race." Shindo asked King, sitting on a bench not far from the three.
"There will be screaming crowds, right?" King questioned.
"Guys!" Prince ran up to them, he took a few seconds to catch his breath as the other glanced at him curiously. "In the parking lot." He frowned.
--
"You're so eager. You're even previewing the course!" Sakaki smirked. Joji, Jota, and Kiyose watched as he eyed Kakeru in front of him. "I'm sorry I called you plebs once."
"Should you be slacking off around here?" Kiyose questioned the redhead.
"I'm waiting for Group B to arrive, I'm in group A." Sakaki answered.
"He's a regular now?" Jota questioned his twin. "Guess so." Joji replied.
"Oh, yeah. That qualifier." Sakaki started, "It's amazing that you were neck and neck with Iwanki. I bet you could run the real thing right now!" He mused, directing his eyes towards Kakeru.
"That's... not true." Kakeru replied, unsure of how to reply to the redhead.
"So modest." Sakaki smirked.
"What are you guys doing?" The rest of the team, who were alerted by Prince gathered at the comotion.
"We were just talking about what I'd do if I were a Kansei runner." Sakaki shurgged. "I mean, no matter how much you practice, you only have ten runners. If even one of you caught a cold..." He swiped his hand across his neck with an evil grin.
"And even if you run like crazy and finish in the top ten... Your oldest runners are graduating, right?"
"There's no point in earning a seed for next year if you don't have enough runners. Don't you wonder what you're running for? It must be hard to stay motivated."
"Who said that we don't have any new members waiting to run with us next year?" Yukari questioned behind Sakaki, sticking the fresh can of cold coke which she got from the vending machine across the road on the back of his neck. Sakaki reflectedly jumped to the side after feeling the sudden touch.
"I get what you're doing here, your trying to mess up our mentality before the race." Yukari nodded, crossing her hands across her chest.
"What are you talking about? I'm only trying to have a friendly chat with my fellow competito--"
"Friendly chat my ass, you think you can mess up our thoughts, huh? Is that it?" Yukari threw her hand around Sakaki's shoulder, while her other hand pulled his ear jokingly. "You better stop for now before I tell Ayame about this!" She threatened in a hushed tone, not wanting anybody else to hear what she was saying but Sakaki.
". . . You're insane." Sakaki twitched his eyebrow.
"Now off you go! Your teammates are waiting, see?" Yukari grabbed his head, turning it around so he could see his group of friends from across the street.
"Sakaki! Group B is here!" One of them shouted his way.
"Alright, alright!" Sakaki grabbed Yukari's hands from his face and held her hands to keep them away from his face. "Got it!" Sakaki shouted back to his friends, rubbing his red ear which Yukari pulled earlier. Yukari giggled softly at his expression, the redness from his ear seemed to spread across his face for unknown reasons; it reminded her of a chameleon.
"Here, take this." Yukari handed over the cold can she used surprise him earlier, it was a can of cold fresh lemon water. Sakaki grabbed the can from her hand, muttering something unaudible for Yukari to hear.
"Thanks." Sakaki thanked her with a small voice, before walking off. Yukari blinked a few times, Sakaki actually thanked her? "See you somewhere on the court." Sakaki turned his head, before walking off.
"In some ways, he's diligent" Kiyose mused. "Don't mind him, consider it progress that no one responded." Kiyose praised the boys with glum looks, glancing towards Yukari. "Glad you didn't give him a black eye this time."
Yukari frowned, "It was a bad day to mess with me, I was on a sensitive day okay?" She flushed in embarrassment as Kiyose walked past her.
"I can't!" Joji protested, "I am bothered! Why didn't you talk back to him?" Jota nodded, "Tell us why you run!"
"I told you, I'm searching for that answer right now." Kiyose answer, keeping his back turned away from them.
There was a moment of silence between them, and the atmosphere was tense. Kiyose was able to read the situation, so he sighed as he turned around. "Let's go somewhere else."The group moved over by the lake, where the sun was still setting.
"Sakaki was probably trying to say, that improving yourself by competing against strong runners from strong teams is how an athletes should be and is a reason to run." Kiyose explained, "But is he right? Can you say what were doing is wrong?"
"It's true that we need every one of us, there's no arguing about that. I don't know what will happen next year, or the next year after that." Kiyose faced himself towards the setting sun. "I'm sure those who emphatize with us will follow. All I can do is believe in that and run as hard as I can right now." He smiled, "So there's no need to respond to him. All we can do is acknowledge his point and move forward." He turned around to face the twins.
"Does that answer your question?"
"I don't know." Joji answered, and Jota continued. "But. . . We like what you have to say."
"Like, huh?" Nico-chan hummed.
"That feels like enough to me." Prince blinked, putting his hand on his chin.
"Don't be swayed by your emotions. Debate until you're satisfied." Yuki urged.
"The twins aren't theorists like you." King replied to Yuki, lifting the mood.
---
As the group reached The Aotake, the members were to have the rest of the day off. Kiyose and Yukari headed off to the hospital for a check up on his knee with Megumi's father.
As Kakeru and Musa handled the shopping for dinner that night, they met Fujioka on the way, who was on his way to meet the Haiji siblings before going to train in China.
Soon after, Yukari had signed them up to join a marathon in Ageo city, so they could have some sort of experience running on a road. Joji and Jota reconciled with Kiyose after a small push from Hana, they also reconciled with Yukari promising that they would wash the dishes for three months.
Everything suddenly went well, until a certain photographer approached Kiyose on the day of the marathon.
"Sendai J High School track coach claims incident with KK is 'in the past' and refuses to speak?" King read the headline annoyed. "If you weren't going to talk, don't accept an interview in the first place!" He complained.
"J and KK? They're identifying them!" Joji protested.
"Don't let it bother you." Musa kindly assured Kakeru. At that very moment, Kiyose, Yukari, Shindo, and Coach Tazaki were apologizing to the University's chairmen.
A few moments later, Kakeru was dialed by his parents, who scolded him about the article. It sure was a lon process for him, but as soon as he finished everthing. Luckily there wasn't a big commotion about the article, so The Aotake residents took their mind off of it and decided to celebrate the holidays together.
That night, they celebrated Christmas together by getting drunk. Nico-chan, as the oldest fourth year was chosen to cut the cake that Yuki brought earlier. But the cake was destroyed, the santa which was supposed to be in the middle had shifted to the side, the reindeer beside it was now upside down inside the cake. Yukari laughed her ass off.
Drunk Shindo was furious about what had happened, but luckily Musa held him back from beating the shit out of Nico-chan. Yuki gave the twins storytime about his experience with on of the girls he met at the club, the twins were speechless with flushed faces afterwards. Meanwhile, Prince was lecturing Kakeru about a scene in a romance manga at this time of the year.
Yukari found herself staring at the dark sky from the small porch in front's of their dorm. Even though Hakone was only a few days away, there was a lot of things that clouded her head until that day. Words from the doctor on Kiyose's last checkup seemed to repeat in her head over and over.
"Yukari-san?"
The hair on the back of Yukari's neck rose, she was caught off-guard by Kakeru's sudden appearance that night. She almost dropped her phone onto the cold ground, but her quick reflexes saved her phone from adding another crack to her screen.
"Sorry, did I scare you?" Kakeru asked, confused. He walked over to Yukari and stood beside her.
"D-don't worry about it." Yukari gave him a small smile, checking the time on her lockscreen. It was apparently 2 o'clock in the morning, she was surprised how Kakeru was still awake after the party.
"You shouldn't be sleeping late." He reminded, "You must be tired, helping us prepare for Hakone and all."
"Don't worry, this fine for me actually." Yukari assured. She took a deep breath as she glanced back at the moon in the sky. "You're the one who should be sleeping right now, actually."
"Yukari-san." Kakeru called, grabbing her attention. Yukari glanced at him curiously, watching as he grabbed a tiny box from his pocket. "I couldn't find the right time to give it to you before, but here it is."
"A-ah, A Christmas present?" Yukari accepted the package from Kakeru's hand. Kakeru waited patiently as Yukari unwrapped the gift to see her reaction. Yukari's lips tugged upwards and her eyes twinkled brightly, inside waiting for her was a sky blue flower hairpin. "This is beautiful. . ."
"H-here, I'll help you put it on." He stuttered, slowly grabbing the hairpin from her hand. His hands moved gently, softly tucking loose hair behind her ear. He paused suddenly feeling embarrassed by his own actions, making eye-contact with Yukari made both of them explode into a blushing mess.
"Thanks." Yukari smiled shyly, touching the hairpin Kakeru put into her hair. "Oh! I also prepared something for you actually. Wait here!"
Kakeru watched Yukari run into the dorm to get whatever she prepared for him. He took a deep sigh, reflectively glancing at something random as he collected himself. "C-cute. . ."
As soon as the door slid open, Kakeru tried his best to keep himself together and act like nothing happened (even though his heart said otherwise, it was beating so loud almost like there was a concert down there).
"Here's yours." Yukari bowed, handing over the packet to Kakeru. Kakeru thanked her, accepting the light package a bit shakily. He carefully unwrapped the package, eager to see what Yukari got for him.
"I spotted that necklace at the store and I thought it suited you." Yukari scratched the back of her neck nervously, glancing at the moon necklace in Kakeru's grasp. "The thing is, it was actually a pair with the one I have here." She confessed, pulling out a sun necklace that she was wearing around her neck.
"If you feel embarrassed you don't have to wear--" Before Yukari could finish her sentence, Kakeru had already equipped it around his neck. "A-ahh. . ."
"I don't mind at all, Yukari-san." Kakeru replied with a straight face, "Thank you, I appreciate it very much." He thanked stiffly, giving her a weird robotic smile. Yukari giggled softly at his actions.
"We should probably get some rest." Yukari stretched her arms, yawning a bit.
"Yeah." Kakeru agreed. The two made their way inside and stayed silent until they reached in front of their respective rooms.
"See you in the morning." She waved at him, sending a closed eye-smile towards him as she slid her door open quietly making sure to not wake her brother.
"A-ano, Yukari-san." Kakeru called her name before she could head inside.
"Hm?"
"The hairpin suits you. You look very pretty." He blurted, his face growing hotter by the second.
"R-r-really? Ahahaha! UH." Yukari instinctively reacted by touching the hairpin he mentioned. "Thanks, I'll wear it often then."
"You don't have to wear it if you don't want to. You look beautiful even without it." Kakeru confessed straightforwardly.
"TH- THA- " Words couldn't seem to come out of Yukari's mouth, "THANK YOU AND GOOD NIGHT!" She panicked, running inside her room and shutting the door behind her harder than expected. Surprisingly, Kiyose didn't wake up because of the noise, probably because he was really drunk the night before.
Kakeru seemed calm about this, but as soon as he shut the door behind him as he entered his room, he experienced a mental crisis. His heart couldn't seem to calm down.
Both of them slid their backs on the door behind them, slowly falling to their butts.
"I- can't take this! Why does he make my heart beat so fast! I'M GONNA DIE!"
"She makes my heart beat so fast. I think I'm gonna die."
--
For the next few days, Practice continued as usual. They would run every morning and cool down at the Tsuru-no-Yu bathhouse, then Yukari would prepare dinner for them as usual. Time flied, and it was finally New Years. The Aotake residents visited the local shrine and sent their prayers, hoping the best for what was to come.
Kiyose slid the door to the twins' room open, he smiled taking a deep breath as he eyed the familiar faces had gathered into the room. He was finally one step away from making his dream come true.
"Nii-chan, what took you so long?" Yukari huffed at her brother, who had sat down beside her.
"Cmon Haiji-san, we're really curious!" Joji complained, "That's right, that's right!" Jota agreed.
"Well, A man needs to take his time when pissing." King shrugged.
"Alright, quiet down." Kiyose smiled at them, chuckling at their enthusiasm.
"I'll now tell all of you who I've signed up for each section."
=×=×=×=
A/N : HIIIIIIIIIIIII IT'S BEEN SO LONG SINCE I'VE UPDATED AHHHHHHH
SO ANYWAYS, I actually have a few things to announce. I will be going on a hiatus, so either i update really slow or not at all. but maybe for this book i'll try to update but it's gonna be really slow </333
if you're wondering why i'm taking a hiatus, long story short i'm in my last year of highschool and i have to focus for my tests and study a lot! meaning that i will rarely have any time to write again!
i really wanted to finish this book before i go on this hiatus because it's almost done!!! ( 2-4 chapters to go ) ;))) but i'm really struggling to keep up with online classes and the homework they give us sjhsjhsjhsjhsj
but hopefully i can write little by little and finish this book while i'm at it, i really don't wanna make u guys wait ahhhh!!!!
ALSO, WE'VE REACHED 10K VIEWS ON THIS BOOK!!!! i was literally screaming when i noticed that we reached 10K, i never thought i'd make it this far! i wouldn't have done it without u guys uwu. i've actually prepared some special chapters beforehand so make sure to check em out even though they have nothing to do with the main story!!!
anyways, while you'll still reading this (if you've read this far, thank you for reaching this far omg) i'm here to remind to take care of your health! don't sleep to late! and make sure to eat on time!!!!! also stay hydrated!!! don't forget to smile today, even though you're going through hard times i guarantee you can get through it! if you need anyone to talk to, my dms are open! you can contact me on my other social media too! (you can check on my profile) so don't hesitate to talk to me!
tysm for staying with me until now! ILY ALL SO MUCH!!!!!!!!!!!! I'M SENDING HUGS AND KISSES FROM HERE UWUWUWUWUWU!!!!!!!!! I HOPE YOU CAN FEEL IT!
xoxo, rin