Tales from the Sohoku Road Racing Club: Our First Training Camp

by Die Einzelganger

Yowamushi Pedal AU where instead of joining Hakone Academy, Arakita Yasutomo enrolled in Sohoku High School, where he turned the lives of everyone around him upside down - for better or for worse. Depends on who you ask and at what time, really, and it just so happens that Onoda Sakamichi decided to ask Makishima Yuusuke. (Originally posted on Ao3.) Part 2 of this AU.

1. I

"Makishima-san..!"

"Ah, Onoda!" Yuusuke glanced back. "Are you getting used to your handicap?"

"Yes!" Onoda pulled up beside him. "Um, I mean..! I don't know how I'll manage one thousand kilometers, but your advice made climbing easier.. Thank you…"

"Don't mention it. Literally, don't," laughed Yuusuke. "Kinjou wanted you to figure it out on your own, but I just had to be meddlesome, sho."

Onoda giggled, then fell silent, pensive.

"Um.. Makishima-san?"

"What is it?"

"When you were a first-year, was it this hard for you, too?"

Yuusuke's expression sombered. He shifted two gears.

"Ask me again in the evening."

---

Tadokoro: 280 km

Kinjou: 250 km

Arakita: 250 km

Makishima: 245 km

Aoyagi: 230 km

Teshima: 220 km

Naruko: 200 km

Sugimoto: 200 km

Onoda: 165 km

The results should have been disheartening. Really. And yet, faced with such proof of everyone's greatness, Onoda's heart soared to the evening sky. His progress might have looked like one small step to his incredible seniors, but felt like a giant leap to him.

And besides… all Onoda could think about right now were the amazing stories Makishima-san would tell, once Arakita-san rubbed him down in the bath, and washed his emerald hair.

---

"Makishima… can you tell me what they are doing here?" Tadokoro pointed to the first-years perched on Yuusuke's futon, staring intently. The culprit scratched his cheek.

"I uh, I kinda promised Onoda I'd tell him about our first training camp, sho…"

Kinjou twitched, then lowered his glasses, eyes bleak. Tadokoro swallowed.

"Tch. You can't say no to Onoda-chan, can you, Yuusuke," Yasutomo shook his head. Behind him, Onoda rubbed the back of his head, positively beaming.

"What's wrong?" blinked Sugimoto. "Was your training camp worse than this one?"

The seniors stared back speechless… but their faces? Now those spoke volumes.

---

"Seriously?" cried Naruko wide-eyed. "How bad was it?!"

"We uh… we kinda failed the menu," mumbled Tadokoro.

"I had never known greater shame until our second-year Inter-high," groaned Kinjou.

"I actually don't remember like, half of camp," owned Yasutomo.

"I wish I could forget all of it, sho," sighed Yuusuke.

"Suure you do..!" Tadokoro squinted, grinning. "I still remember how you decided to drop out so you could stay with Arakita. You had a really bad crush on him."

Yasutomo chortled. "Awww, Yuusuke, you had a crush on me..?Now that's embarrassing!"

"We're together, sho," Yuusuke quirked his brow.

"Still..!"