Two days after Yuusuke's birthday, Onoda and Naruko were somewhat cordially invited to his house after school to watch the Hakone Road Relay. Jin had taped the race back in January with the Inter-high's first stage in mind, and now the time had come to study the course with the qualifying first-years, who discovered to their surprise that Yasutomo and Kinjou were completely absent from the screening. Once they retired, or rather were banished to Yuusuke's room, it was just the four of them, and a large, ominous black plastic packet on the table, resting alongside a razor-sharp utility knife.
"Makishima-san..?" mumbled Onoda, eyes large. "Is that—"
"The secret hidden behind the clubroom poster?" offered Yuusuke. "It is, sho."
"I don't know what that thing is, but it gives me the creeps, Onoda-kun," Naruko grimaced at the packet. "I bet it's something super gross!"
"Well, I guess it's kind of gross, sho," shrugged Yuusuke. Naruko's hair bristled.
"Um.. may I ask you something?" Onoda raised his hand. "Why aren't Arakita-san and Kinjou-san here today? Shouldn't they watch the tape, too?"
"They've already memorized it," replied Jin.
"But more importantly," Yuusuke tapped the packet, "what's in here pertains to them, sho."
Yuusuke proceeded to slash the packet open, from whence he first produced a frame holding two green tags with the number 74 on them.
"What're these?" Naruko received it with reverent looks.
"The envy of all sprinters," smirked Jin. "Every Inter-high stage has a sprinter checkpoint, and whoever passes it first is awarded green sprinter tags."
Naruko whistled. "Did you win these, old man?"
Jin shook his head.
"Nope. Arakita won them."
"You're kidding! But never mind that! If these things really are awards, then why would you hide them?!"
"Because Yasutomo threw them in the trash, sho," sighed Yuusuke.
"Why?!" pleaded Naruko as Yuusuke reached inside the packet again and pulled out two vacuum-sealed Sohoku jerseys, handing them to his juniors. At first glance, they merely looked weather-beaten, but on closer inspection, both were blotched a sickly rust-brown, and one jersey's sleeves had been completely mangled.
"The one with the ruined sleeves was Yasutomo's, and the other was Kinjou's, sho," pointed Yuusuke.
Onoda's hands trembled over the former. "A-Arakita-san's.. but, why?"
Naruko tore his eyes away from the bloodstain on Kinjou's jersey, face blanched.
"What the… just what happened at last year's Inter-high..?"
Yuusuke and Jin exchanged weary glances.
END NOTE:
To make sure Yasutomo and Kinjou would be absent, Yuusuke told Sugimoto to distract the former with requests for joint practice on the short-distance course, while Jin asked Koga to talk to Kinjou about his plans and desired road racer specs. Sugimoto's legs were ready to fall off by the time he was done, and when he complained that he did very well and deserved to be called "-chan" for his efforts, Yasutomo laughed so hard he nearly fell off his Bianche.
He might have let himself be bribed with a Bepsi and might have called his plucky junior Sugi-chan. There were no witnesses to confirm this, but Sugimoto insists it happened, and it was amazing.