One-shot inspired by episode 7 of Grande Road. Originally posted in November 2014.

"Makishima-senpai?"

Makishima sighed softly to himself as he made his way slowly down the stairs, biting his lip as the movement pulled at overtaxed muscles. Why was Imaizumi calling for him at this hour? Usually the other first year brought his questions – not that he had many – to Kinjou.

Finally reaching the bottom of the stairs, he looked up, the query ready on his lips – only to spot a completely unexpected visitor at the front door. His eyes widened involuntarily.

"Toudou, what are you doing here?" Almost as a reflex, his hand went to the phone in his pocket, tugging it out to double-check that there were no missing calls or emails. Come to think of it, there hadn't been a single mail from Toudou for the past few hours. He had assumed that the other boy had been in the bath and thought nothing of it, but one look at Toudou's face made it clear that that wasn't the case.

"I need to speak to Maki-chan," Hakogaku's ace climber said, oddly subdued.

Makishima blew out a long breath, crossing to the middle of the foyer. So much for hoping he could have a quiet night with a gravure magazine. "Let him in, Imaizumi."

The other third year walked in quietly, sombrely, with none of his usual flamboyant confidence. Something in his demeanour set Makishima's teeth on edge, though he couldn't put a finger on exactly what. He had seen Toudou serious before, plenty of times (fifteen, a voice in the back of his mind whispered, seven wins and eight losses), but this was different. Something was wrong. "What is it?"

Toudou stayed stubbornly, distantly silent, instead moving towards Makishima without a single whisper against the wooden floor to signify his passage. If he hadn't been staring right at the other boy, he wouldn't even have known there was someone walking towards him. Makishima frowned, increasingly confused - and, dare he say, concerned – about the completely uncharacteristic behaviour. Sleeping Climb, outside a race?

The moment Toudou was in range, he lunged, too fast to dodge, and snatched up both of Makishima's hands with his own. Too surprised to pull away for a moment, Makishima could only let his hands dangle in the grip, his frown deepening down at the bowed head. They were almost the same height, but the way Toudou was determinedly staring downwards made him look smaller, somehow.

Black hair shifted in his vision, and Makishima had a split second to feel relieved that he would be getting some answers after all – before dark violet eyes – wait a minute weren't they usually blue? – were staring right at him and he nearly physically reeled back at the blast of sakki right in his face; would have done so if Toudou hadn't still been clutching his hands. He could almost visualise the demonic crimson aura that enveloped Toudou in their races, taste the burnt ozone lingering in the air as they jockeyed for the finish line. Almost without thought, his own aura began rising in response, cloaking him protectively, whipping his long hair back.

For a moment the world was down to just the two of them, Toudou staring blankly at him with dead violet eyes, and Makishima struggling to make some sense of the entire situation. Toudou wasn't about to attack him, he didn't think – he didn't even think the sakki was directed at him, to be honest, not that anyone else could probably tell.

A blink, and then life was slowly seeping back into those large eyes, bright blue bleeding into violet irises. "Se, no –" Toudou's aura was folding back into him, and it was all Makishima could do to let himself be pulled along, until the green haze vanished from his vision and the rest of the world came into focus.

He spared a concerned glance around the foyer. The first years – and when had everyone shown up? – were collectively cowering in a corner, eyes huge in their faces. Onoda made a sound that might be called a whimper when they made eye contact, pressing himself further against the wall. Makishima winced. So much for trying to keep his rookie climber relaxed throughout the Inter-High.

Then again, it might not entirely be his fault. His gaze skipped over to Tadokoro and Kinjou, hovering in the doorway. The former was leaking so much tension that a knife could have cut it – no, no, keep a hold of yourself, Tadokorocchi, think of the first years – while the latter had his arms folded, stern gaze behind those shades trained on them – or rather, on Toudou in particular.

Not good. His eyes swept over to the front door – still open, thank goodness for small mercies – and he felt himself slip sideways into the headspace that he usually reserved for super slopes, rapidly calculating interception trajectories that would get the other climber out should either of his fellow third years lose control. What was Toudou thinking, invading Sohoku's sanctuary on the eve of the final day of the most important competition of the year? And throwing off sakki on top of it, as if tensions weren't already running high between their schools? He'd better have a really good explanation, and fast, or Makishima was going to throw him out himself and save Kinjou the trouble.

"Three seconds."

His attention snapped back to the black-haired boy. "Hah?"

"It took Maki-chan three seconds to respond, even with us touching and with your familiarity with my aura." Toudou's gaze was closed-off, turned inwards. He nodded slowly to himself, as if coming to some conclusion. "Kyofushi's Midousuji – he took less than a second."

"To respond?" He had to ask. He had to. Because the alternative –

Toudou shook his head once, sharply. "No, to trigger my response."

Makishima blinked twice, rapidly. To forcibly trigger someone's aura without their conscious thought…

"Not just mine," the black-haired climber amended, not that it made it any better. "My entire team's. Even Fuku, who's normally absolutely unflappable, and our first year climber, who's so flighty and absent-minded that we've mostly given up on him."

Usually third years were the best at picking up subtle changes in aura, after so many years of practice – for even a first year to be able to do it, either he was naturally more sensitive, or Midousuji's sakki was too intense to be ignored. With what Toudou had been saying, Makishima wouldn't lay bets on which was the case.

Toudou gave a small sigh, eyes drifting downwards. "Ah! Why didn't Maki-chan say anything?" Without giving Makishima a chance to respond to his sudden outburst, the black-haired boy stared around wildly until he spotted what he was looking for, and determinedly dragged Makishima by the hand over to the nearest couch, plopping both of them down on it with a gesture of finality that suggested he just dared Makishima to stand up.

"Stop reading my condition, Toudou," groused Makishima without heat, tuning out Toudou's more familiar nonstop chatter about take better care of yourself, Maki-chan and should have told him with long-suffering practice. His eyes flickered over to his fellow third years, who were looking vaguely less murderous now, and glanced over pointedly at the trio of first years.

Kinjou unfolded his arms and gave him a single nod, moving to usher the rookies down the hall. They seemed to be still in shock, judging by the way not even Naruko made a peep of protest.

"Maki-chan? Maki-chan, are you still listening to me?"

He refocused to Toudou pumping his arm up and down vigorously, clearly having noticed his attention wandering. "Sho," he muttered. "What were you saying about Midousuji?"

It was like a switch had been flipped in the other boy, the way he stilled immediately. "Midousuji – there's no mistake, he's an ace climber." To an outsider, Toudou might have sounded nonchalant, but the crushing grip he had on Makishima's hands told a different story altogether.

The vague unease that had been hovering in the pit of his stomach throughout the whole of dinner was rapidly solidifying into cold dread in his gut. "Are you sure?"

Toudou's lip twisted. "I got a face-full of his aura no less than four times over the past two days," he shot back sardonically. "Just today, I practically handed the red number tag to him on a silver platter. Am I sure?" He worked one hand free, pointing at Makishima accusingly, which, okay, was fair given that Makishima had just dealt him a serious insult by implying he couldn't even identify a climber when faced with the full force of his sakki. "And you could have felt it too. Why didn't you join me on the stage yesterday?"

That gave him pause. Toudou had wanted him onstage to feel Midousuji's aura for himself? That… actually made sense. "How was I supposed to know when you're joking and when you're being serious?"

Toudou shot him a nonplussed look. "I'm always serious about you, Maki-chan."

Makishima did what he always did when faced with something he had no idea how to respond to; which was, to ignore it. "So you came here to warn me to be careful about Midousuji?"

The black-haired boy just stared at him. "If I wanted to do that, I'd have called you."

He frowned, trying to parse together what Toudou wasn't telling him. Despite his general personality, Hakogaku's ace climber wasn't prone to flights of fancy. If, even after all that, he was sure Midousuji wasn't the main threat, then –

They'd never talked about it.

Yesterday, just before he turned in for the night, his screen had lit up with a single mail.

From: Toudou Jinpachi, 21:36

Subject: –

Message: The sky was blue, the crowd was spilling onto the road, and I was riding alone.

Makishima had to read it twice before he understood what Toudou had been obliquely referring to.

He'd never admit it aloud, but when Toudou called him an unprecedented eight times in the week leading up to the Inter-High to ask about his condition, he spent a frantic afternoon at Kanzaki Cycle just to make sure his bicycle was in perfect working order. Of course, it turned out that it wasn't his condition that nearly cost them the chance to race after all, and there was nothing he could have done.

If Makishima's bad feelings had a habit of coming true, then Toudou's warnings might as well be prophecies.

"What did you see, Jinpachi?"

Toudou's gaze shuttered and he looked to the side, at the scroll that decorated the wall. They'd never mentioned it out loud – after all, what would be the point? They both understood what the other really meant.

"Midousuji and Manami dancing, neck to neck, Megane-kun right behind them."

Whatever he had been expecting, it hadn't been this. Midousuji, who was starting three minutes ahead of them, racing with Onoda and Hakogaku's first year climber? Both of whom should be pulling the sprinters up the slope to the finish line? He didn't understand any of it.

Toudou's gaze swung back, locking Makishima in place with the sheer intensity behind it. "I don't understand this! Why are our first years racing alone for the finish line? Where are we, Maki-chan? It's the final day of the In-High, on a super slope! The only reason I can think of why we aren't there, battling for the top, is if either of us was dead!"

"Or forced to retire." He couldn't help it. "Like with two flat tyres."

Toudou froze.

"Is this one of Maki-chan's bad feelings?" The question was forced out of thinned lips, in an almost broken whisper, as though Toudou didn't want – no, was afraid – to hear the answer.

He pressed a hand to his forehead, giving an almost helpless, "Sho." Was this a genuine bad feeling or just a thought that popped into his mind after hearing Toudou's words? He couldn't tell. His bad feelings were usually just that – feelings. Nothing as concrete as the sort of premonitions Toudou seemed to get.

"Hakogaku's plan for tomorrow was for me to take the last stretch." Toudou sighed, rubbing tiredly at his eyes with one hand. "But I told Manami afterwards that hypothetically, if he has to ride to the finish line alone, then he should forget about the team and ride free."

"Toudou –" but he didn't know how to finish this sentence. What could he say, beyond a few meaningless platitudes like I'll do my best? Unlike with Hakogaku's first year climber, Makishima could tell that any attempt to warn Sohoku's own rookie climber would only result in disaster. Onoda was nervous enough as it was, putting the extra burden on his shoulders would just have the opposite effect.

"Probably not a good idea to tell Megane-kun." Toudou was evidently on the same page as him. "When I tried to warn him yesterday I think I only succeeded in scaring him out of his wits." He pointed at Makishima, fingertip nearly poking Makishima in the nose. "Don't let it be said that I never did anything for you, Maki-chan!"

"I never said that!" Makishima retorted on autopilot. Warn Onoda? About what? When did that happen?

He was about to open his mouth, when Toudou, as usual, read his mind with disturbing ease. "Ah yes, you ran out of the tent with your phone pressed to your ear so you missed it – I told Megane-kun that if he wasn't feeling well, he ought to go to sleep and get some rest."

Toudou had known Onoda wouldn't be feeling well? But wait, it was Tadokoro who hadn't been feeling well. Onoda was fine… better than fine, even, given that he pulled Tadokoro 70 kilometres on his own for most of the race and then the whole of Team Sohoku up a slope… up until they had caught up with Team Hakogaku and Kyofushi. Yeah, he'd almost collapsed then; would have done so if not for Naruko and Imaizumi. That must have been what Toudou had seen.

"I thought he'd gotten heat stroke or over-paced himself or something. How was I supposed to guess that the little climber was exhausted from drafting for a sprinter across flats of all things?" complained Toudou. "I'm not psychic!"

Kuha, the irony.

A small cough from the doorway broke into their reverie. Makishima's eyes darted to the side, finding Kinjou once again next to Tadokoro. He must have returned from sending the rookies to their room.

"Makishima, do you have any feelings about tomorrow?"

And there it was. No disbelieving exclamations, no disparaging remarks. If Makishima believed Toudou, then it was good enough for Kinjou. After a lifetime of being told he was "weird" and "wrong", it was downright bewildering for someone to treat his opinion like it meant something.

"Toudou's right," he began, ignoring Toudou's small huff of of course I'm right, I'm always right, "Midousuji will be a problem tomorrow, but he wouldn't be the only one."

Kinjou's gaze behind those shades were inscrutable before he gave one final nod. "Toudou." Being addressed directly for the first time, the Hakogaku cyclist turned his head, though miraculously he remained quiet for once. "How would your captain feel about our schools cooperating for the first stretch tomorrow?"

The stretch before they caught up to the aces, in other words.

"I could sell it to him," Toudou replied thoughtfully, striking a pose and narrowly missing Makishima's eye. "I, Hakogaku's star beauty climber –"

"Like I said, nobody calls you that."

"– I call myself that, shut up Maki-chan – can sell a mountain to a sprinter!"

"That doesn't even make sense, Toudou!" Makishima gave in to the urge to palm his forehead, staring up at the ceiling. "At least say it's a common practice in road racing or something!"

"Ahahaha! Is Maki-chan worried about me?" Toudou stood and grinned down at him, winking exaggeratedly. It was exhausting just looking at him, so Makishima opted to continue pretending the ceiling of the inn was the most interesting thing he had ever seen. After another fruitless moment of trying to gain his attention, there was the sound of footsteps in the direction of the front door.

"Don't miss me too much when I'm gone, Maki-chan!"

Makishima snorted when Toudou was safely out of hearing range, and wasn't the slightest bit surprised when his phone buzzed almost immediately afterwards.

From: Toudou Jinpachi, 19:04

Subject: –

Message: Don't give me that 'kuha', Maki-chan! It's rude!

His smirk faded at the message that succeeded it, however.

From: Toudou Jinpachi, 19:05

Subject: Tomorrow

Message: Our first year Manami will probably be the first to notice.

"Manami-kun, there's really something weird, isn't it. There's so much tension in the air."

Safely out of Onoda's sight, Makishima winced slightly. Were they so on edge that even a rookie could pick up on it?

"Um, what's wrong?"

There was a pause, and then –

"Sakamichi-kun. Can you feel it?"

Toudou slid smoothly, silently forward until he was riding next to Makishima instead of slightly behind him. The rest of Manami's words were lost in the wind, but the gist of his words was clear. He had felt something.

Then Manami raised his voice again. "Arakita-san, they're coming." Despite the lightness of his tone, Makishima – and Toudou beside him – tensed.

"Hah? What is?" Arakita twisted around, glaring at Manami impatiently.

"Whoosh," called back Manami cheerfully.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw that Toudou's knuckles had gone white on the grip of his handlebars. Something's coming up behind them… that could only mean – he risked a glance sideways, to see serious blue eyes staring back at him.

So, Midousuji really wasn't the only problem after all – the other thing that had them both so uneasy last night was, apparently, Hiroshima Kureminami's Machimiya? How the world did he manage to gather the entire rear pack – and it must be every single one of them, for how else could they have travelled so fast? Had everyone behind them, even Kyofushi's cyclists, already been swallowed?

"Oy, Makishima."

"What?"

"This doesn't look too good."

Makishima snorted at Tadokoro's understatement, holding a hand to his forehead. "Honestly – I didn't expect this." He spread his arms out, and as though that had been a signal, all eight of them spread out in a horizontal line. "Che."

"The pack's catching up!" shrieked Izumida.

"I know! Maki-chan!"

Makishima's head snapped back at Toudou's urgent tone, and his eyes zeroed in onto Machimiya's triumphant form, sitting proudly in the middle of the pack. Sometimes, he really hated being right.

"Izumida! Take Toudou with you!"

"What about you, Arakita-san?"

"I'll control the pack and slow it down. You guys catch up to Fuku-chan by any means necessary!"

A moment later, Makishima could almost fancy that he could hear the jaws of the hungry pack close over Hakogaku's ace assistant.

"Arakita-san!"

"Arakita!"

He closed his eyes in sympathy at Toudou's pained wail, falling into line behind Tadokoro's furiously pedalling form.

"Onoda-kun!"

Makishima's head whipped around at Naruko's cry, just in time to see Onoda disappearing into the depths of the pack.

"Move up, Naruko," he ordered, getting off his seat in preparation for dancing. So that was how it was going to be, then. No wonder he couldn't pin down a single bad feeling yesterday – everything was going wrong.

"But Onoda-kun got swallowed by the pack!"

"I'm telling you to pull!" Makishima yelled back at him, causing Naruko to snap his head back in stunned silence. "We're going to catch up to Kinjou!" They were now the only ones standing between the pack and their aces, and if they were also swallowed, Kinjou alone wouldn't stand a chance.

"Old man! You wouldn't abandon him, old man! Onoda-kun pulled you with all his strength yesterday!"

Didn't Naruko understand? Did he think that they wanted to abandon Onoda?

"Naruko, don't look back. Once you look back, Sohoku's race is over. We're leaving Onoda behind!"

"We're riding to win." They had to get to Kinjou, had to warn him, somehow!

"Damn it!" Naruko screamed, but he obediently fell into position ahead of Tadokoro.

A few moments of furious dancing was all they needed to pull up alongside the Hakogaku duo.

"Five is faster," declared Makishima brusquely.

Toudou didn't bother responding to the implied invitation, sliding into place between Tadokoro and Makishima. "Izumida! Rotate with the Sohoku sprinters, pull us as fast as you can!"

"Ride like your life depends on it!" roared Tadokoro, once more at the front. "This is the famous Sohoku –" He sucked in a huge gulp of air. "– rampaging human bullet train!"

Then there was no more breath to be wasted talking to each other – Makishima was already slow enough on flats, even with a team of sprinters dedicated to drafting for him. Toudou was faring slightly better, but the fact remained that neither of them was the best on flat ground. Slopes, please, come sooner.

Slowly, almost unnoticeably, the suffocating pressure chasing after them eased off. Makishima sucked in huge gulps of air, taking the temporary break in almost non-stop dancing to practically inhale his water.

Toudou's front wheel knocked gently against his back wheel, the other climber clearly too exhausted to manage his usual shrieks of Maki-chan for the moment. Makishima obligingly looked over.

"Can you feel that?"

Makishima took an extra moment just to be sure. "There's no mistake, that's Machimiya's aura." It buzzed insistently against him like an insect, agitating the restlessness hovering just under his skin, and he had to glance backwards just to make sure the Kureminami rider wasn't within visual distance. He felt so near, unlike the stifling presence of the pack, which was – falling away? Hadn't the pack been much faster just now? "He's separated from the pack and sped up!" Even as he spoke the words he knew them to be true, and he shot Toudou a panicked look. All three of their sprinters were already exhausted from their mad dash to escape from the pack, while Machimiya's team had no doubt been coasting along in the middle of the pack, where air resistance was practically non-existent.

If Kureminami caught up to their aces, it would be a six-on-two. Fukutomi and Kinjou were good, but even they couldn't outrun a completely fresh team, one that had totally blindsided them.

Toudou cursed. "It can't be helped." He waved a hand imperiously behind him. "Go on, Maki-chan."

Makishima's eyes widened. Toudou couldn't be suggesting what he was thinking, could he? Was he?

"Izumida!" Toudou was already barking out instructions. "We're out of time. Work with Sohoku and catch up to us as soon as you can!"

Apparently, he could and he was.

Clearly Sohoku was a very bad influence, thought Makishima wildly, as Toudou inhaled deeply and leaned forwards, aura sharpening crisply as his legs blurred in his signature Sleeping Climb move – was it still a Sleeping Climb if they weren't climbing? Sleeping Sprint, maybe?

"Planning to change your name to God of the Plains?" He couldn't resist a jibe, falling in line behind the other climber as they peeled away from the sprinters.

Toudou huffed out a disgusted noise, but didn't reply with one of his characteristic rants. So his much-touted ability to talk and climb at the same time evidently didn't apply to flats. Makishima would tease him about that, he really would, but it was all he could do to keep pace with Toudou's near-frantic pedalling, Machimiya's aura hanging over their heads like a guillotine.

Have to get to Kinjou. Have to warn Kinjou.

Toudou was dropping back, and without conscious thought Makishima leaned sharply to the left, his bike teetering with a shriek of metal. A tug in the other direction, and he was throwing his entire weight into the force of the pedals with the ease of familiarity, even if the terrain wasn't the least bit familiar. This would probably have to be renamed the Spider Sprint too, wouldn't it.

Have… to… to…

His next swerve wasn't as sharp as before, and he knew it – Kinjou. Kinjou! – even as he cursed and tried to correct his posture – this would never have happened on a mountain – he was slowing down, not good, not good –

It was suddenly easier to work his pedals, and he raised his head, already knowing what he would see. The familiar blue-and-white cycling pants, always a few seconds ahead or behind him, swayed in his vision. And beyond that white jersey – was it his imagination, or was there really someone in front of them?

Kinjou?

No, no, wait, that's a Kyofushi jersey. Oh yes, there had been someone else ahead of them, hadn't there? That Kyofushi third year, who had been Midousuji's assistant yesterday; what was his name again? Something about stone, like Kinjou's nickname.

"Ishigaki!"

Startled, the Kyoto Fushimi cyclist looked back. His eyes grew round as he spotted them. Makishima could imagine his utter confusion at seeing two exhausted climbers riding alone on flat ground. "What –" he began, but Toudou cut across him.

"Run! There's a fresh team of six right behind us! Warn the aces!"

Ishigaki's mouth snapped shut. He rose from his seat, then paused. Looked back at them.

"At this rate, they'll catch up to you in two minutes," interjected Makishima. The Kyofushi third year seemed to be struggling with something, but he had no clue what. Didn't he understand what was at stake here? Somebody had to reach the front, and an all-rounder had a much better chance than they did.

His words seemed to have the opposite effect, however, as Ishigaki seemed to sink into a reverie. After a moment, he blinked, seemingly come to a conclusion. "Come on, I'll draft for you."

"Hah?" Who would actually offer to pull for their opponents? He'd have thought it took Toudou's special brand of crazy – but now Kyofushi too? Was there something in the water?

"I'm not good at sensing auras. You'll have to tell me how far away they are." Ishigaki looked sombre for a moment, then determined. "Though, if you can't keep up, I'll leave you behind!"

Toudou laughed, loud and obnoxious, though Makishima could hear the undercurrent of relief. "I'm Hakogaku's beautiful ace! There's nothing I can't do!" He struck a pose. "And Maki-chan here regularly keeps up with the human bullet train! Don't worry about us, just pull!"

Ishigaki looked as though he was resisting the urge to roll his eyes, which Makishima completely sympathised with. This time, when the third year rose from the saddle, he didn't hesitate. Toudou glided forwards into place between them, leaving Makishima to take up the rear.

He had no idea how long had passed, the scenery passing in a blur, hearing but registering the confused cheers of the spectators at the bizarre sight of three rival schools seemingly working together. Left. Right. The bulk of his attention was focused behind them, on the patiently coiled tension that he had come to associate with Machimiya.

Then, finally –

"Our sprinters are coming!" Even as Toudou shouted it, Makishima felt Naruko's aura flare up like a shooting star, followed closely by Tadokoro's reassuringly solid bulk. Then that last one, finely honed and poised, must be Hakogaku's Izumida.

"Toudou-san, Kureminami's right behind us!"

"I know! Maki-chan?"

He frowned, mentally going over the distance between them and their respective velocities. "Less than a minute!" Although – he cast his senses forwards, this time. Yes, there was no mistake. Like running headfirst into an impregnable wall, that was definitely Kinjou up ahead. "We've nearly caught up!"

As though his words had been a signal, everyone sped up even further, if it was even possible. Makishima swung from side to side, and he could no longer tell if it was his bike swaying or the world in general. He slammed a hand down on his thigh, clenching his fist so tightly he could feel the glove creak. Limits, what were limits? They were so close! He wasn't going to give up now!

And then they were whizzing past the final bend – maybe there was something wrong with his ears, he could have sworn he heard a shrill abs abs abs before the wind whipped it away – and the sun was glinting off yellow and white in the far distance.

They had caught up.

Even from this distance, he could see Kinjou's satisfied grin melt off his face. Imaizumi snapped his head around wildly, clearly looking – and not finding – the person he had been expecting to see in the group. Fukutomi looked as unreadable as ever, but what did he know of the other captain? By contrast, the horrified look on Shinkai's face said all.

Midousuji, unsurprisingly, was the first to respond. "Small fry!" he shrieked. "What are you doing?" The fraternising with the enemy was left unsaid, but so heavily implied that it might as well have been stated out loud.

"Midousuji-kun," Ishigaki greeted seriously. "We were being chased."

A haughty sniff. "By whom?"

"Six members from Kureminami."

His ace scoffed out loud to express his disdain for the idea. "Did you see them?" he demanded.

The ace assistant paused, infinitesimally. "No," he finally admitted.

There was a moment where Midousuji was apparently too overcome by incredulity to speak. "So you just believed what you were told? Are you retarded? You are, aren't you?"

To his credit, Ishigaki didn't give any ground. "I doubt Sohoku and Hakogaku would exhaust their ace climbers on flats for a joke."

Everyone's gaze snapped to the two of them. Makishima cringed slightly at the combined stares – and that was definitely a glare from Kyofushi's ace.

"Kureminami's Machimiya somehow rallied the entire rear pack and caught up with us. Manami was the first to be swallowed, and Arakita sacrificed himself to slow the pack down," reported Toudou, clearly addressing Fukutomi although everyone was listening in avidly, and he was briefly grateful for the way the laser gazes switched focus to the Hakogaku climber.

"They later broke away from the pack with a completely fresh team of six," added Makishima. There was no need to state the obvious – surely Kinjou could already tell that that was also how they had lost Onoda. "We had to warn you."

Kinjou inclined his head, not in approval, but not in disapproval either, and one large hand clamped down on his shoulder. "Good work, Makishima."

"What about Onoda?" demanded Naruko. "Are we really going to abandon him, Captain? Hotshot?"

Nobody could tell, but Makishima was sure that Kinjou was looking at him behind those shades. For a scant moment, doubt gnawed at his stomach. What if Toudou had been wrong? What if Onoda wouldn't catch up after all? He couldn't see how Onoda would, when he was lost to the pack.

A set of handlebars bumped gently against his.

"They will come. After all –" Fukutomi sat up straighter on his bicycle, increasing his speed. "We are strong."

We? Oh yes, Hakogaku had lost two members, hadn't they? They'd have to catch up too. So maybe – maybe Onoda didn't have to do it alone. Didn't Toudou say that Manami would be together with Onoda in the end? Although he couldn't see how two climbers could outrun a team over flat ground. By the time the mountains started, the gap would have been decisive.

But we did, hissed a little voice that sounded oddly like Toudou's in his head. Him and Toudou, they had done so – with the help of Kyofushi's ace assistant.

Ace assistant.

Hakogaku's Arakita was an ace assistant.

His eyes widened involuntarily and he bent his head forwards, letting his long hair cover the sudden hope blossoming across his face. If anyone could persuade a member of another team to draft for them, Onoda – you never cease to surprise and delight, do you, rookie climber – could.

Makishima faced forwards and began pedalling. He had done all he could.

The rest was up to them.

Go for it, Onoda.

Toudou and Makishima have shown precognitive abilities multiple times throughout the show (for details, look at the notes section for this fic on AO3) and I thought it would be interesting to expand upon this.