Yowamushi Pedal/弱虫ペダル The Troubles of a Genius

Prologue: The Souhoku Cycling Club

* * *

The tall girl grimaced at the shots of continuous pain in her legs as she pedaled her bike. Nevertheless, she continued even if she knew the pain after this would be much worse than what she felt this moment. It has happened many times, after all. Sometimes, she took five minutes just to get up from her bed the next morning. Sometimes, she could barely stand after getting off her bike.

_Honestly..._

She panted, brushing away her black bangs away from her sweaty face as she neared the finishing line; that is, her destination. Her short, black hair rarely even flowed in the wind, but with her numb limbs, it was one of the things that she could feel at the moment.

_When did I ever like cycling this much?_

* * *

_**"Miss Kyoko Sunadori!" The said girl with long black hair's head shot up in shock from the loud, booming voice that reverberated in the silent room.**_

_**"Huh? What's happening?" Kyoko sleepily looked around the classroom back and forth, her eyes still heavy with sleep.**_

_**Now that made the teacher mad; it made him red with anger that boiled up inside of him because of that one student who fell asleep before, during, and after his classes. On the other hand, it just made students amused because of how mad the teacher was or annoyed at the girl for wasting their time.**_

_**Kyoko Sunadori, the teacher's worst enemy, yet one of the best students they've ever had in terms of grades.**_

_**The teacher sighed, and let his anger slip aside since he knew he's wasted too much of class time. "Get your science test." He held up the test for just a second, allowing the students to see just a bit of the back of her paper.**_

_**Whispers exchanged in the quiet schedule as Kyoko head over to receive her test from the teacher, making her feel small once again.**_

_**"What do you think she got?"**_

_**"Isn't it obvious at this point? Everyone knows that she got an A."**_

_**"But she never even tries! Smartass."**_

_**The said girl got her paper and looked at the score as she walked back to her seat. Setting the paper on her desk, she glanced at it again. She cringed at the sight of it, crumpling the paper even more when she simply shoved the paper in her bag without a care in the world.**_

_**She just hated things that just weren't perfect in her eyes.**_

_**What could she do about it? Yeah, she can just skip right in front of her annoyed teacher and flaunt the paper in front of his face, saying "You forgot to put the plus after the A! My answers were top-notch, why do I get half the points for this question?"**_

_**No way that's going to happen, that's for sure.**_

_**The bell suddenly rang, signaling the end of class. Every student shot up from their seats and packed their things as fast as they could, because of their excitement for their clubs.**_

_**Clubs. It left her a bit of a nostalgic feeling as she thought more deeply about it. She remembered how every student in elementary school in a club looked so proud because of their team's win in a sports game. She even remembered walking past a few houses as she walked home, only to see children hold up a trophy or a piece of art they created in their clubs to their proud parents.**_

_**At those times, she only had thoughts of how much better it would be if she could be like that. If she could only earn a trophy or create a simple piece of art to make her parents proud.**_

_**Maybe it was now the time for that.**_

_**"A club, huh..." Kyoko leaned against the wall of the classroom with her things, waiting for everyone in the room to dismiss. She preferred to not get stuck in the sea of students. It was always like a tsunami or a flood whenever the bell rang, so after a few minutes, the storm would die down and she could finally go home in peace.**_

_**No, now that she thought about it, maybe it would never be time for a club.**_

_**Clubs were just another nuisance to her. She already works super hard in the academic and athletic fields, why need another that only brings more work to her?**_

_**"Um, excuse me?" A male student sauntered up to her and asked cooly, giving a small smile. "You're Kyoko Sunadori, right?"**_

_**"Correct, but feel free to call me Kyo if it's to your preference." She answered him, slightly shocked that someone that didn't even know her would bother to talk to her. After all, she had quite the reputation, given the fact that she was apparently scary, cold, and a bored genius.  
**_

_**"She has the piercing glare of Medusa, the heartlessness of a cold blooded killer, and the smarts of a rocket scientist!" A student had once described her to a new student, obviously exaggerating on how she really was. That student seemed to avoid her at all costs now, frightened by the description given to him.**_

_**"Alright then Kyo," He then gave a smug smirk, making her suspicious. "How would you like to join the cycling club?" ****  
**_

_**Kyoko's heard many things about him, some good, some bad. She knew his name was Hayato Yomohiro, he had a bit of a fan base in the school because people think he's good looking and cool, and he can be a playboy yet a gentleman, according to what she heard from the girls. Those girls that she heard from were probably not even a reliable source anyway.**_

_**"Why me?" She asked, confused on why they would ask her, of all people. He didn't know anything about her besides what everyone else said about her since he was two years older than her, herself being a 7th grader while he was in 9th grade.**_

_**"We need more people in our cycling team. Our captain checked out all grades and thought that you had the potential, since you're athletic enough. He also said it was because you had the ambition and guts, the kind that could help us this year." He explained, giving an excited looking grin as he patted her shoulder. She just might be the one. The one that can help them in competitions. Would she be a fast sprinter, or a strong climber? He honestly couldn't wait.**_

_**"Well, I don't know how to ride a bike, sorry." She bluntly replied, waving her hand as if dismissing the topic forever while she tried to walk away from him. Hayato's eyes widened at her unexpected reply, but he still wanted to convince her somehow.**_

_**"O-Oi, wait a minute!" He panicked, nearly tripping over his own feet as he tried to stop her from leaving. "I can teach you! It's really fun I promise you!"**_

_**She narrowed her eyes into slits at this promise, not exactly sure if she could trust him. They both had a reputation in the school. She never exactly knew him, nor did he know her. She just knew that he was apparently very popular and the playboy of the school.**_

_**"Promise?" Kyoko gave him a menacing glare which told him straight to the point that she would kill him if he dared to lie.**_

_**"Yeah, promise!"**_

* * *

_**Kyoko grit her teeth in frustration, untangling the leaves and twigs out of her spiky hair roughly. Well, more like pulling at her hair, since she wasn't making an attempt to actually untangle it. "Ow!" She scowled at the feeling of hair being tugged and by the fact that Hayato was laughing at her.**_

_**Yes, laughing. Any stranger at her middle school would think they would die if they would laugh at her when she was in this angry state!**_

_**She was actually starting to like this Hayato. He was different.**_

_**"Here, let me help." After he got over his laughter, he smiled and helped her pull the leaves and twigs out of her hair gently.**_

_**"Considering your hair style, I bet you actually know how to deal with these kinds of stuff." She commented, nearly sniggering at her own comment, glancing at his curly, dark brown hair again. His hands flew to his hair in defense, fixing it to make sure it wasn't a mess.**_

_**"Hey, taking care of your hair is important! And my curly hair is rather stylish, if I say so myself." He pouted, pushing up his black rimmed glasses as he continued to help her until her hair was almost back to its old self.**_

_**Kyoko sighed, glancing at her bruises, scratches, and scrapes on her exposed knees and arms. Maybe it wasn't a good idea to wear cargo shorts and a regular t-shirt on a road racer when you had no idea how to ride a regular bike...**_

_**Hayato opened his mouth to say something to her, but his eyes followed her own gaze to her arms and legs. He frowned; all this time, he was so focused on helping her ride the bike that he never noticed her injuries, despite her falling down all the time. It must have been her ambitious and tough attitude that made him not notice. She never flinched when she fell, and always made an attempt to stop herself from falling down.**_

_**"We should get those injuries disinfected first, before we go on. Some of them actually look a bit deep. I'll take you to my place" He told her in a serious tone, unlike his usual playful and teasing personality. He stood up, holding out a hand to help her up. Kyoko looked at the hand confusedly, then at her wounds. Looks like he was right after all, some did look deep.**_

_**She took him up on the offer and grabbed his hand, getting up. Both of them grabbed their bikes and walked along the sidewalk.**_

_**Kyoko held up her hand, opening and closing it to see a few cuts and scrapes on them.**_

_**"I wonder how long its been since I've worked this hard for something I actually..." She paused mid-sentence, trying to look for the correct word for it. Her eyes flew to her palm, staring at is as if the correct word was somewhere on it.**_

_**Of course she worked hard, she always did, but no one ever knew. She worked hard for school and also in sports she would play everyday, and even lost hours of sleep for it. But it was sickening her to the stomach on how everyday was practically the same thing over and over again, that she almost completely lost the enjoyment of it.**_

_**Wait, that was it!**_

_**"Enjoy. I genuinely enjoy this."**_

* * *

_It's been two years ever since that happened to me._ Kyoko gave a small smile at the memory that played in her head, feeling nostalgic all over again. That was when she was in 7th grade, where she attended a different school. Now, she was going to attend high school. A whole new year, starting all over again from square one.

"I'll make a good impression this time, hopefully." She said to herself, humming as small tune to herself as she got off her bike and parked it in the bike rack. "Shoot, it's almost time for class! Gotta hurry!" Kyoko yelped as she saw the time on her watch, running inside the school then to the girls bathroom with her backpack.

Her legs still ached badly from how much she trained that morning, making her trip a few times and bump into a few students rushing to get to the class early enough to spare a few minutes of peace. She still had ten minutes left until class started, but if she took too much time, then she'd be late for sure.

She arrived in the girls restroom and locked herself in a stall, quickly changing into her school uniform all while doing things that will help her with her first impression, in terms of appearance.

After she changed, she still had nine minutes to spare. Sighing in relief, she let herself walk at her own pace to her classroom so she could just take a seat, relax, sleep... No, she can't sleep! That would give a bad first impression.

Kyoko still had her habits from middle school, she even studied every subject the previous week just so she could be prepared. Like everyone says, old habits die hard.

_Well, I'll just see how this goes._ She thought, determined to make sure she wouldn't make a repeat of her whole middle school life.

* * *

Kyoko slumped against her desk and closed her eyes, ready to fall asleep any moment. She just resisted the urge to close her eyes and drift off to a nice sleep during all of her classes, even during lunch time. Her face would've been in her bento if it weren't for her efforts to stay awake for all of her classes.

"Cycling..." She mumbled to herself, suddenly remembering her aching legs. Becoming almost completely awake, she shot up from her seat and took her things with her, rushing out of the classroom.

"I almost forgot! I want to see if the bicycle club is co-ed like last year, even though its unlikely." Kyoko said out loud to herself, running downstairs despite the pain in her legs. She paused mid step and looked around the still unfamiliar school. "Wait, where am I even going?" She laughed at her own foolishness and excitement. She loved cycling so much that she forgot that she had no idea where the cycling club was. She never even got a form to join yet.

She wandered in the halls, looking for anyone that was in the cycling club the previous year. In the inter-high, she watched it with her teammates and saw the second years of that team, that would be third years today. After what seemed like forever due to her impatience, she spotted one that looked really familiar to her. After all, who could forget how well he competed in the inter high?

"Um, excuse me!" She called out, running up to the tall third year with a shaved style haircut. "Are you in the cycling club?"

He didn't seem fazed at all that she asked that, answering, "Yes. Why?"

She smirked, crossing her arms as she introduced herself proudly. "My name is Sunadori Kyoko, and I would like to join the Souhoku cycling club!"


End file.

Yowamushi Pedal/弱虫ペダル, Friendship