Note: This chapter has very little MidoSaka, but it has a lot of... everyone else. Also, beware of dicks. Some TouMaki naughtiness happens too.
"So, Miki-san isn't coming," Onoda wondered with a sprinkle of disappointment. She was sitting in a van next to Kanzaki Tooji, brother of her schoolmate and friend, Kanzaki Miki.
They were currently on their way to Kanagawa prefecture, the city of Hakone to be more specific. Kanzaki, who had been supporting Souhoku's bicycle club ever since he graduated from high school, offered to take everyone's luggage all the way to Toudou's family historical inn, one of the pieces of luggage being Onoda Sakamichi. Or at least that's how she felt, because everyone else went on their bikes.
"She is coming back from Italy this evening. She might or might not come to Hakone tomorrow," Kanzaki replied.
"Italy? She was in Italy?" Onoda blinked in confusion.
"Yeah, visiting her boyfriend," he laughed, sending a peculiar smirk Sakamichi's way. He knew the two girls were friends and there Sakamichi was, sitting in his car all boyfriendless despite of having friends mostly among hot, bicycle-racing guys.
"M-Miki-san has a boyfriend?" Sakamichi gasped. Italy. A boyfriend. Wait, the one who went to Italy after high school was...
"Yeah, she got together with Sugimoto near the end of their last year of high school. Didn't you know?" Kanzaki looked at her.
"N-No, I had no clue!" she stuttered and blushed. It was cute imagining them together! The thought of her two friends dating, however, triggered a chain of anxious feelings about her own situation.
Not much happened during the past two weeks. Midousuji came to work and acted like usual, arguing with Naruko and mocking both Imaizumi and customers and not paying much attention to Sakamichi unless they were completely alone, in which case he laughed at her and commented on how gross whatever she was doing at the moment was.
The girl, however, found herself staring at the boy more and more often, still unable to find him attractive whatsoever – he was too bizarre for that. Nevertheless, she discovered the part of herself that thought the boy was actually rather cute.
Ah, it would make the whole "what if I love him" business much easier to figure out, if he was acting nice to her. On the other hand, maybe it was his usual nasty treatment that made his sweeter, kind moments shine brighter. It could be what made Onoda so intrigued.
She'd been so lost in thoughts about the boy all the way from Chiba and it was so hard to break free from them that she hardly paid any attention to the scenery the van was passing. She had no idea when a bunch of skyscrapers, the sign they were reaching Tokyo, materialised from the thin air. Sakamichi watched the sparkly grey and blue metallic teeth biting at the clear, cerulean sky. This must be the first time in her life when she didn't get all thrilled about Akihabara when she saw the typical silhouette of the capital.
Actually, there was another thing on her mind that could caused her anxiety even thoughts of Akihabara couldn't kill. Midousuji learned about the trip quite early and didn't seem really interested. It wasn't until three days ago when Makishima approached Onoda and informed her that Toudou invited Midousuji to go as well, and while the green haired boss was totally against the idea, it was Toudou's decision and there was nothing he could do. It was entirely up to Midousuji if he decided to go or not.
And he did. The van passed the trio about twenty minutes ago. Midousuji, Naruko and Imaizumi were riding as if they were competing for the victory on the Champs-Élysées during the last stage of the Tour de France.
All three of them seemed to go at their full throttle. Imaizumi was riding in his usual, polished way. He hardly made any wasteful movements, effectively changing each joule of his energy into speed, and although he was gasping for air and his body was covered with droplets of sweat, he still looked incredibly cool. Sakamichi was pretty sure she would think the very same thing even if she was a guy, because, in her humble opinion, everyone should consider Imaizumi cool.
Much like Imaizumi, Naruko was giving it his all. Sakamichi had no clear idea what the big deal was, but the redhead pulled his racing pants all the way over his jersey as far as they could reach and tried to keep his limbs as close to the frame as possible, giving his body much more compact form to reduce wind resistance to minimum. Sakamichi knew there was a special discipline in bicycle racing called individual time trial, and racers participating in such races looked pretty much the same, except their bikes were specially modified for speed while Naruko was trying to simulate the conditions of a time trial with what he had at hand.
And Midousuji... Just one look at him and Sakamichi felt goose bumps appearing all over her body, even on those parts she had no idea they even existed. It wasn't thanks to her possible feelings to him, no. It was because this was probably the first time she saw him go all out while riding a bicycle. He was leaning forward so much it almost contradicted laws of physics and the expression in his face was utterly scary. He was set on victory and willing to do anything for it.
Yes, he gave Sakamichi creeps when he looked like that, but luckily she had no time to dwell on it as Kanzaki expressed his worries about their health when he saw them riding so fast, forcing her into another dialogue.
"They should pace themselves, or they'll drop dead before even reaching Hakone," he sighed and looked at them in the rear view mirror when the vehicle passed them.
"Y-You mean they are trying to keep this pace up all the way to Hakone?" Sakamichi looked at him in horror, hoisting her body up in the seat and looking out of the opened window on her side.
"No way, it's impossible," Kanzaki shook his head. "They are all quite competitive. I guess they just decided on various checkpoints on the route to Hakone and they are closing in on one of them. Still, if they do this often, they will totally wear themselves out."
Sakamichi agreed, but there was nothing she could do. She was wondering for what purpose Toudou would invite the Oosaka boy to join them in his family's hot springs resort in Hakone. Judging from what she had heard from Naruko and Imaizumi, he was miles away from popular when it came to both Souhoku and Hakogaku teams.
All the thoughts exhausted her and before she knew it, she dozed off. When she woke up due to the car stopping, she found herself in front of a really old looking but absolutely lovely inn surrounded by forests.
"Knock knock, Sleeping Beauty says hello to a sleeping beauty!" she heard through the car's window. Someone was knocking on it and she recognized the voice. It was Toudou! The girl in the car smiled, wondering if he really called her "a sleeping beauty" just now. She unfastened her seat belt and slowly got out of the van.
"Long time no see, Toudou-san!" she bowed her head politely. He laughed and gave her a friendly pat on her hair, messing them up.
He started discussing something with Kanzaki, giving the girl some time to look around. The place was really so nice and soothing! She might have some worries about going there alone with all the guys, but now she was extremely glad she did.
"Onoda, wanna help me get the luggage inside?" Kanzaki asked her.
"Eh, sure!" she agreed. She was a girl and the luggage might be heavy, but at least she would feel useful that way.
But it was tedious. Everything was much heavier than she expected! The tiny female struggled with all the suitcases, considering the option her seemingly male friends had been secretly girls all along and their suitcases were full of clothes and shoes and makeup and other girly stuff.
Well, her trunk was the heaviest of them all as about half of her so called "things she absolutely could not leave home for more than a day" was comics. How Onoda Sakamichi-like.
Sakamichi dragged her trunk through a narrow corridor of the Japanese style inn towards the room Toudou told her about. She was cursing her decision to take her mom's old suitcase instead of her new one with wheels.
Carrying it in her hands was a stupid idea too. Her fingers were dying from the weight and she eventually dropped it. She was really lucky it didn't fall right on her feet nor opened due to the impact, revealing the insides to anyone who would pass this way.
"Let me."
All of a sudden she heard a very low voice just above her head as she tried to pick the suitcase up.
"Uh?" she raised her face and stared at a tall blonde guy with really significant eyebrows. He picked up her suitcase as if it was light as a feather and looked at her.
"Where should I put it?"
"U-Uh... The room at the very end... T-Thanks...," she blurted out.
"Don't mention it. After all, I'm strong," he said and carried the suitcase for her. Sakamichi followed him nervously, thanking him again and watching him disappear in the room across hers when his business was done.
"W-What a strong guy," she sighed dreamily and closed her sliding door. She decided to get a bit familiar with the place where she was supposed to sleep for the next few nights.
And what a nice, small room it was! Its space was four and a half tatami and it had a tiny but elegant table and lacquered, expensive-looking shelves. It was probably the most luxury-looking hotel room she slept in, ever.
Sakamichi opened her suitcase and put her clothes into the one of built-in wardrobes. When she was at it, she changed her clothes too.
"Little glasses?" Toudou knocked on the door when she slipped into shorts reaching just above her knees.
"Y-Yes?"
Toudou opened the door and smiled brightly at her.
"Getting comfortable?"
"Yes! It's such a lovely hotel!" she nodded.
"I'm sorry to give you such a small room. The others are staying in much bigger and nicer rooms, but I didn't want to put you in one with all the boys, it could be pretty stressing for a girl like you and stress is bad for your skin, you know," he explained. "This room is the smallest and the least pretty we have, to be honest..."
" N-Not at all! I love this room a lot! Thank you for being so considerate, Toudou-san!" she bowed again. Toudou grinned at her.
"I'm glad you feel this way! By the way, Maki-chan just called me! They are about to reach Hakone! They should be arriving any minute now. From what he said, it looks like your friends are racing each other. Wanna meet them at the finish line?" he winked.
Sakamichi stared at him as if she couldn't understand the language he was using. Then, she felt a great wave of excitement swell in her.
"Y-Yes!" she nodded.
Toudou took her outside right away.
"The fuck, Toudou, I didn't know you had a sister in elementary school!" a wild looking guy yelled at the handsome man as soon as Toudou and Sakamichi joined a pair of young men in front of the hotel. Both of them were already dressed in biking jerseys.
Sakamichi's face turned red. She was bad with people, especially good-looking ones, ESPECIALLY when they paid attention to her. And good-looking they were.
"Arakita! She's not my sister. She's actually my and Maki-chan's adoptive daughter! Wahaha!" Toudou laughed and Sakamichi shrank to a half of her original height.
"Two guys can't adopt in Japan, that's illegal! Stop bullshitting me! Do you think I'm stupid?"
Sakamichi slowly moved behind Toudou's back.
"What a nasty habit, Jinpachi. You shouldn't make things up like that," another guy, a brown-haired one, scolded Toudou in a very mild voice.
"Calm down, it was just a joke!" Toudou waved his hand. "Anyway! This is Onoda Sakamichi, she's an ex-classmate of Naruko and Imaizumi and the last year she was a manager of Souhoku bicycle racing club!" he announced somehow proudly, as if she was indeed his adoptive daughter. Then, he started introducing the two guys.
"N-Nice to meet you," Onoda stuttered.
"So you used to be a manager of Souhoku! You don't look too manager-like though," Arakita stared at her. His eyes were scary.
"W-What do you mean?" she asked.
"Well, for starters, you have no boobs," he replied.
"I... I have them," she mumbled reluctantly, but wanted to run away from him. There was something predator-like about him, it made her really uncomfortable.
"Behave, Arakita," someone said in a deep voice Sakamichi heard before. On top of that, in a way as if he was talking to a misbehaved dog. Turning her head, she found out it was the blond guy with peculiar eyebrows.
"It's the strong person," she thought for herself and felt some kind of relief. After all, he helped her with the suitcase a while ago.
"Hey hey, Fuku-chan," the guy whined, but somehow he seemed less harmful than before.
"Fuku-chan... This strong person...?" Sakamichi's lips trembled when she tried to hold them from forming a smile. Was this nickname cute or what? Toudou introduced the strong person to Onoda as well. It turned out he used to be Hakogaku's captain three years ago.
"Where is Izumida?" Fukutomi asked his former teammates after saying hi to Onoda.
"He went ahead with Kinjou and Tadokoro," Shinkai replied.
Kinjou... Tadokoro... Both names rang the bell. Sakamichi had heard Makishima and others mentioning the names before. ("Hey, Hotshot, the other day, the old man Tadokoro came for a visit and ordered literally the whole menu...")
"Well, we should fuck off as well otherwise Izumida will be full of himself," Arakita frowned.
"Aren't you glad he's gone? You didn't enjoy when he did the thing where he talks to Andy and Frank," Shinkai smiled, pulled an energy bar from the back of his jersey and started chomping on it. If Onoda didn't know that jerseys had pockets on their back, she'd though he pulled it out of his bum.
"No shit! If there's one thing I didn't miss at all, it must be his stupid talking to his imaginary friends," Arakita roared.
"That's nasty, Yasutomo! Don't talk about your underclassman like that," Shinkai smiled.
Imaginary friends? Andy and Frank? Those were foreign names. Did this Izumida person have foreign friends that were imaginary? Did he... talk to them in some foreign language and Arakita was pissed off that he couldn't understand what they were saying? Wait, imaginary? Like, they were not real people? She would ask, but it would be probably rude? She just met these young men after all.
Sakamichi's confusion was clearly showing on her face, because Toudou laughed and explained:
"Izumida is a guy a year younger than us and he is really muscular and proud of his body. So proud, he called his pectorals Andy and Frank."
"A-And he talks to them?" Onoda stared in disbelief. She sort of imagined this Izumida as one of those bodybuilders from competitions, riding his bike in tiny thongs, his oiled muscles sparkling in sunlight.
"Oh yes! But he's a good guy, don't worry," Shinkai tried to calm her down. It wasn't very effective. And she had thought Souhoku's bicycle racing team was full of weirdoes...
"I'm going, what about you?" Fukutomi asked the others, putting his helmet on.
"Count me in," Shinkai nodded.
"Wherever you go, Fuku-chan," Arakita replied half-seriously.
"What about you, Toudou?" Fukutomi looked at the handsome guy with a headband.
"Nah, I want to give Maki-chan a welcome kiss," Toudou pouted.
"This, I didn't miss at all either. You and your Maki-chan bullshit," Arakita gave out a really exhausted sigh, grabbed his bike parked near them and left. Shinkai and Fukutomi followed him.
"Toudou-san, can I ask something?" Sakamichi started shyly.
"Um! What is it?" he nodded with this "ask everything you want, I can teach you anything!" aura going on.
"Others are alright about you and Makishima-san? Didn't they make fun of you? Y-You're both guys and...,"she looked to the ground.
"Not at all! I didn't let them. If you are confident enough about things you do, people will respect you. That goes for love as well," he preached.
"I-I see," Sakamichi said quietly, considering asking more since Toudou seemed so knowledgeable in this area.
Unfortunately, there was no time to ask questions. They heard Naruko's yelling echoing in the forest surrounding the hotel.
"Oh, here they are!" Toudou said, not even bothering to hide his excitement.
Sakamichi tried to listen carefully. The sound of spinning wheels was getting really distinct.
"Who do you think will win?" she wondered.
"Who knows? All of them must be extremely tired after such a long journey and we are halfway on the top of the hill. You could call it a mountain stage with a finish line at the end! I have a small hunch...," Toudou smirked mysteriously.
Sakamichi didn't know what he meant, but then the front appeared. It was Makishima! The girl stared in disbelief as he rode in the first place, his bike wavering from side to side as if he was about to crash any moment.
"There! That's my beloved Maki-chan!" Toudou started hopping on the spot like an over-excited bunny. Sakamichi noticed an annoyed flinch in Makishima's face.
Yeah, Toudou was a bit embarrassing, but she could understand his thrill. Makishima's riding was really impressive. She'd never though her boss was capable of that.
He was so fast the interval between his appearance at the curve and his crossing of the finish line felt shorter than a blink of an eye.
"Ah! That's it, Maki-chan, you're the King of the Mountains!" Toudou squealed and jumped at Makishima as soon as he got off his bike.
"Leave me alone, Toudou! I need to catch a breath!" Makishima tried to push him away, but wasn't very successful.
"What about the others?" Sakamichi asked.
"They're coming," Makishima nodded. As if they didn't know. Well, Naruko's scream from before sounded a bit like Midousuji pushed him off a bridge into the river or something.
"A-And who's winning?" Sakamichi stuttered, starting to worry a little.
"How should I know? But we got a little visitor, so who knows who will be the second to cross the finish line," Makishima replied, eyes fixed on the corner of the inn where would the boys come from.
All of a sudden, a large gust of wind hit Sakamichi's petite form with such force it nearly knocked her back. One of the men with her commented something, but she had no idea what it was. She was too taken with the situation to pay attention to anything else.
She knew they were about to appear any moment now. Her heart rate skyrocketed. It felt so much like the last summer's Inter-High! Hurry, where were they? The anticipation was impossible to bear.
Finally! Finally she got a glimpse of the colourful jerseys from behind the trees. Imaizumi, Naruko and Midousuji were riding side by side, climbing the small slope leading to the inn steadily, but quite fast. They were clearly giving it their all and they nearly collided a few times.
"Eh?" Sakamichi let out a small shriek of surprise when she noticed yet another person climbing the hill a few meters behind them. However the person was catching up with the trio really fast. Almost as if they were riding the gust of wind!
As Sakamichi squinted her eyes to find out who the last man was, Midousuji sped up, turning his pedals like crazy, and got ahead of her two friends from Souhoku by more than ten feet.
"Fuck!" Naruko cursed. Both he and Imaizumi were on the verge of collapsing. The last pursuing guy took the chance and passed them with ease, quickly closing the distance between himself and Midousuji as well. Midousuji nervously looked behind him.
Sakamichi got caught totally off-guard as the unfamiliar bicyclist passed right next to her, leaving the three boys including Midousuji behind. He won the race.
What the hell did just happen? How did he manage to speed up so instantly? Could it be the wind after all?
The sole female spectator's chest started to hurt. She realised she completely forgot to breathe while watching them, holding her breath all this time. The race was really intense.
Naruko and Imaizumi managed to catch up with Midousuji, but still it wasn't enough to get past him, thus ending in the third and fourth place, fourth and fifth if you count Makishima as well.
Sakamichi got into a very uneasy position. All three losing boys seemed upset, but whom she should run after first? Her personality urged her to go cheer the losers up, but whom to choose?
Naruko and Imaizumi were prideful as a pair of young lions. Words of pity would only hurt their egos even more. And Midousuji... She didn't know this side of his, she never saw him in a race, and even if she did see him in the last year's Inter High, she paid absolutely no attention to him, thus she was quite unsure of how he could feel right now. However, judging from the rest of his personality, she presumed he was really dangerous to talk to right now.
Still, something inside her head couldn't leave him alone. She took a few hesitant steps towards him, but she couldn't make it.
"Sakamichi-chan!" someone called her name. Her eyes followed the voice and she saw an extremely handsome, blue-eyed boy waving at her. The boy who won the race.
With a bright smile, he took a few long steps towards her and when he got within her reach, he hugged her abruptly.
"Ugh," Sakamichi let out a choked gasp as he pressed her against his chest. Her cheeks turned into a pair of red tomatoes. She had no idea who he was... At least for the very first moment.
Then, she remembered his scent, fresh like mountain breeze. It was the boy she met last year on the Inter High!
"M-Manami-kun?!" she moaned, looked at him and pushed her glasses up her nose.
"So you remember me, Sakamichi-chan!" he beamed happily and let her go, but only slowly and somehow reluctantly.
Oh yes, she remembered him well. During the last year's Inter High, she'd run into him in a convenience store while shopping in the evening of the second day. They started to chat and he even walked her back to the hotel even though he had a bike with him and it was raining heavily. Well, he talked mostly about hills and bikes, but Onoda still found the conversation agreeable. He treated her so nicely that she got a slight crush on him. This crush of hers turned out to be pointless though, because he seemed to have a girlfriend, a really cute girl with pigtails and glasses.
... And there he was, hugging Sakamichi like that?!
"L-Long time no see, Manami-kun," Onoda stuttered. She noticed Midousuji standing by his bike a few meters away. He was giving them a really weird look before turning away and disappearing on his bike behind the inn.
"Long time no see! What a surprise to find you here! Toudou-san, why didn't you say Sakamichi-chan was coming too?" Manami looked at his ex-upperclassman.
"I didn't know you two were on such good terms with each other," Toudou grinned, emphasizing the good terms part.
"W-We have met on the Inter High, but we haven't spoken since," the girl explained quickly. She was both grateful and annoyed about the hug. After all, Midousuji saw that – she couldn't afford any more complications before making up her mind about her feelings to him.
"I'm looking forward to spending more time with you, Sakamichi-chan," Manami smiled, got on his bike and rode away, leaving the speechless girl behind.
After that, Toudou showed everyone their rooms. Everyone except Midousuji. He seemed to have disappeared. Naruko and Imaizumi headed straight to the hot springs, mentioning that they might ride some more later that afternoon. Makishima spent time discussing things with Toudou. It seemed they were in disagreement about something.
Sakamichi had been left all alone, wondering if she should go for a walk or read her comics.
"Little Glasses, what's with the gloomy face?" Toudou asked when he found her roaming aimlessly through the corridors of his family's inn.
"I-I don't know what I should do now," she replied sincerely.
"Why don't you go to the hot springs?" he offered.
"Y-Yeah, I guess I could," she admitted but didn't seem particularly happy about it.
"Are you feeling lonely?"
"Maybe? Everyone will be gone on the road later and..."
"And you won't have anything to do, right?" Toudou finished the sentence for her.
Not really, she had plenty to do, she brought a lot of comics she didn't read yet, but it would be nice if she could spend time with others too. If only she'd brought her granny bike with her...
"Little Glasses, come with me! I'll show you something," Toudou winked at her, grabbed her slim wrist and led her somewhere.
Soon, Sakamichi found herself in a garage-like building, except there was no car, only bikes. She clearly recognized Naruko's and Imaizumi's road racers. Makishima's bike was also there – along with Makishima himself. He was sitting on a little stool, messing around with the bike's chain.
"Toudou! I said NO!" he hissed as soon as he saw his boyfriend with Onoda.
"Quiet, Maki-chan! Let her decide!"
"D-Decide? What is it about?" the girl blinked. Toudou took her to a less sparkly but a very well-preserved road racer.
"This is my old bike, Little Glasses!" he announced solemnly. "I'm still using it from time to time when I can't ride my usual bike or when I get a bit sentimental, so it's properly serviced and everything..."
"Oh god..," Makishima facepalmed behind him.
"Shush, Maki-chan, let me speak. How do you like it, Little Glasses?" Toudou asked.
"Well, it's a nice bike," she shrugged.
"You think so?! Of course you think so! It is mine after all! Anyway, what I'm trying to say is... you could try riding it. The frame is one size smaller than the one I'm using now. You should be fine if we adjust the height of the seat and maybe the handlebars. I think I could even find some old jerseys I used to wear when I was smaller."
Sakamichi stared at him as if he was the real Sleeping Beauty, the fairy tale one.
"C-Can I really use this bike?" she asked in disbelief.
"Mhm!" he nodded his chin.
"Toudou! I told you not to give it to her! She's a girl! The bike is too big for her!" Makishima protested.
"So what if she's a girl? And the bike isn't that big anyway! Let her have fun too!" Toudou argued. It really sounded like a quarrel of parents about their child's well-being.
"It will be your fault if something bad happens to her!" Makishima sighed, resigning on saying any more.
The girl was so thrilled to try riding the elegant, slim bike! She'd never sat on anything else than her comfy granny bike, and the small, extra light saddle of the road racer was completely unfamiliar to her girly buttocks. The position her body found itself in when she sat on the saddle was absolutely atrocious.
Her butt was so sky-high it would surely feel like a queen of butts if butts had any self-consciousness, and for this one occasion Sakamichi was kind of glad she didn't have much of cleavage because it would probably fall out of the boat-cut neckline of her shirt. Oh, and her intimate girly regions quite hurt. Quite a lot, actually.
Still, despite of all the discomfort she felt, the girl couldn't help but smile.
"How is it? You can reach pedals just fine! Is the seat height ok?" Toudou asked her, grinning at the sight of her happy expression.
"I-It feels weird, but it's kinda interesting! I wanna try riding it!" she replied.
"Are you sure, Onoda?" Makishima sighed again while holding the handlebars, keeping the bike from swaying from side to side as she was trying to sit on it again.
"Yeah, Makishima-san! If it's possible, I'd like to be able to ride with everyone else!" she said confidently. Well, she knew very well she wouldn't be able to ride with the same pace as them. After all, they were all bicycle racers. Makishima and Toudou looked at each other, thinking the very same thing.
"So it's decided! Get off and let's take the bike out!" Toudou said.
Staying true to his word, he let Onoda ride the bike in front of the inn. She had troubles with balance at first and trajectory of her movement was really fickle and generally all over the place, but after a few minutes of wavering back and forth she finally got it right and left both older boys surprised.
Toudou looked like he was about to burst in tears of happiness.
"Look at the kiddo, Maki-chan, we raised her so well," he whined jokingly. Or at least Makishima hoped it was just a joke, or else he'd have to slap him.
"Don't even start, Toudou!" he gritted his teeth.
The two "parents" then gave their "daughter" a little lecture about changing gears and showed her maps of the area, telling her about the route they would take themselves in case she would end up alone. It was an easy course, suited for inexperienced bikers. Toudou probably wanted to give Makishima a break after the journey from Chiba.
It truly felt like a dream when she rode behind Makishima and Toudou on the borrowed road racer, in a borrowed jersey with also-borrowed helmet on her head a half an hour later. Being a manager of a bicycle racing club, she was so close to these quick yet elegant bikes, but at the same time she was miles away from being able to ride one. Well, she never really wished for it and she had a manager role to play, but now the situation was totally different!
She was free to do what she wanted and Toudou gave her the means to do it. Sakamichi's gratitude to the handsome young man was beyond infinite. Maybe that's why she was grinning like an idiot when she followed the two men.
"See Maki-chan? She can ride just fine!" Toudou laughed.
"Yeah, well... Sakamichi, take your time!" Makishima called behind his back.
They were about to reach a rather steep slope of the mountain.
"Eh? What do you mean?" the girl wondered.
"It's a mountain and we are both climbers! We'll have a little race if it's ok with you, Little Glasses," Toudou explained.
Climbers, oh yeah. The riders who are especially good in conquering up-hill courses.
"S-Sure, it's fine," she stuttered, scared a little she'd be left alone.
"Don't overwork yourself, alright? Ride on your own pace. It's ok if you get down and push the bike up the hill," Makishima shared a few fatherly advices and both he and Toudou sped up so quickly it startled the girl so much she nearly fell of her bike.
"We will wait for you on the top, Little Glasses!" she heard Toudou yelling before they disappeared from her sight.
Two young men reached the top. Toudou was the first one to reach the highest point of the road, granting him victory in their little race. It wasn't that surprising though. These hills were his realm. He grew up in this picturesque area and he climbed this mountain many times before.
The riders left the main road and stopped at the scenic overlook with a parking lot. They rested their bikes against metallic railing, took their bottles with energy drinks and chatted about good old times.
Speaking of good old times...
"We are all alone, Maki-chan," Toudou smirked, returned his bottle to the bottle holder and came closer to the other man.
"No, Jinpachi! I'm against whatever you're trying to hint with your lame advances!" Makishima bitched and turned away.
"You just called me by my first name. I know what that means! You can't fool me! Wahaha!" Toudou laughed and started to play with a strand of Makishima's long hair.
"Stop it, Onoda is on her way. I don't want her to see my dick again," Makishima protested.
"Come on... She's a beginner and the slope is really steep. It will take her a while before she appears. We have plenty of time," Toudou reassured him and gently pulled him closer.
"God dammit Jinpachi," Makishima cursed as Toudou's hand started to roam over his crotch, but Toudou silenced him with a kiss before he could say anything else.
"Don't be shy, Maki-chan. It's not like it's our first time, is it. Play with me a little," Toudou encouraged him and it somehow worked. The palm of Makishima's hand grazed the front of the other man's racing pants.
"Geez, Jinpachi, you're hard already?" he asked.
"I couldn't help it, I was looking forward to your visit so much," the dark haired man purred, enjoying Makishima's touch while repaying him the same way.
It took only a few moments till their pants were halfway down their thighs and their crotches were completely uncovered and pressed tightly against each other. It was starting to get a bit messy. The air around them was filled with scent of sweat and sex.
Luckily, since the road wasn't that frequented, there weren't any passing cars that could disturb their intimate moment.
Yes, absolutely no cars whatsoever.
"Makishima-san! Toudou-san!" The familiar girly voice cut through the heavy air. It sounded so enthusiastic!
They didn't notice her coming on the road, but now, the crazy girl was riding right towards them across the parking lot.
"I climbed the hill and it wasn't even...," she continued as she approached them. Then she noticed what exactly they were doing. "I'M SORRY! I'M SORRY!" she shrieked, twisted the handlebars to the right so suddenly she fell off the bike, got up again and still apologising, she quickly returned to the road and disappeared behind the trees.
Makishima and Toudou stood there completely speechless and flabbergasted.
"She just saw your dick again, Maki-chan," Toudou informed his boyfriend because he didn't know what else to say.
"Yeah. I've noticed," Makishima whined. "What the hell was she doing here? Did she really climb the hill so fast?!"
"Who cares," Toudou shrugged. "Now, touch me, Maki-chan! She saw us, now we have nothing to fear anymore," he moaned and caressed Makishima's erection. Nothing to fear indeed. Unless Naruko and Imaizumi pass them as well or something.
"Damn, you're hopeless," Makishima complained, but he sounded quite content.
Meanwhile, Onoda was pedalling downhill, blushing uncontrollably. She saw them do it again... It almost fell like she pedalled so quickly to get away from the awkward situation.
Much later, in the evening she returned to the inn and after collapsing on tatami in her own room, she decided to give it a shot and drag her exhausted being to the hot springs part of the inn.
She'd been riding the bike for the whole afternoon and it really showed. Her legs were so wobbly Sakamichi suspected the bones in them got somehow assimilated by her body. She had no control over them any longer. It was a miracle they still took her where she intended to go.
However, once she washed her sweaty, hurting body thoroughly and submerged herself into the scalding water of the totally empty outdoor pool, it felt as if she entered a higher level of existence. She left her washing towel folded at the edge of the pool. Sakamichi was a shy girl and normally she'd feel troubled about being completely exposed, thus using the towel to cover as much as she could, but she was one of a very few female visitors staying in the inn right now, so it was unlikely she'd have to share the ladies' part of the hot spring with anyone.
Humming the Love Hime opening theme as always when she felt good, she started reminiscing about the day. Biking was really fun, even though she was mostly alone. She met a few of the Hakogaku guys on the road though. All of them seemed pretty surprised to see her on Toudou's bike, but other than that their reactions were fairly nice and supportive.
She also met Kinjou and Tadokoro, her ex-upperclassmen, whom she remembered a little, but never had a chance to talk to them because they'd graduated before she joined the bicycle racing club. She concluded they were both really nice after a little conversation with them, and their meeting gave her a nice fuzzy feeling.
Despite all of that, she was a bit disappointed she couldn't meet her closest friends on the road, Naruko and Imaizumi. About Midousuji... who knows where he went. Sakamichi felt quite bitter about it. Her friends were the ones she'd wanted to ride with the most.
"Lovely chance, Pettanko-chan," she murmured and smiled optimistically. Surely she can show them she's able to ride a road racer tomorrow. Resting her head against the rock behind her, she wondered whether she'd drowned if she accidentally fell asleep. She was so exhausted it was totally plausible to take a little nap in spite of the location. It didn't matter she'd heard splashing coming from the inside of the inn. Someone was washing themselves in the inner bathroom before entering the hot springs, most likely in the male part.
"Makishima-san is really bold, doing that kind of thing on the road like that," she suddenly heard Naruko's voice. It woke her up completely and left her curious about the topic. Had Naruko meant the thing she thought he'd meant? The same inappropriate situation she'd witnessed herself earlier? On the top of the hill?
"He did what?" someone else asked. She'd heard the voice before and if she remembered correctly, it belonged to Arakita.
"He and Toudou-san were fucking on one of the overlooks," Naruko replied. "We saw them when we were passing by, right, Hotshot?"
"Ah," Imaizumi admitted reluctantly.
"Fuck, don't they have any manners?!" Arakita complained.
"That's what people do when they're in love, Yasutomo," Shinkai said in condoning tone.
"Shut up, if you start talking about you and Fuku-chan... Why are you even munching on the bar again? We're in the fucking hot springs! Toudou would be so pissed if he knew."
"Where is he anyway?" Fukutomi, who was there as well, asked in a deep voice.
"Somewhere with Makishima," Kinjou replied.
"What Kin-chan really means is, they're somewhere making babies," Arakita grinned. Imaizumi blushed at the idea.
"What is wrong, Hotshot? Blushing like thaaaat," Naruko poked him.
"Shut it, Naruko," Imaizumi blushed some more.
"HAHA! Are you shy, Imaizumi?!" Tadokoro asked and smacked his back.
"Damn right he is! See? He's even wearing the towel around his ass!" Arakita joined the verbal bullying. "You're a good little boy after all!"
"Please leave me alone!" Imaizumi turned away.
"Hotshot! Real men should walk around naked proudly while they are enjoying the soothing atmosphere of hot springs, kah kah kah!" Naruko laughed in his typical theatrical way.
"Right! We don't have anything to hide anyway! We're all men, Imaizumi!" Tadokoro laughed too and he sounded like a grandpa bear.
"Please don't lump me together with you two, Tadokoro-san," Imaizumi gulped.
"Just give up and uncover yourself, Imaizumi. There's no place for the towel among us," Kinjou patted his shoulder fatherly.
"Even you, Kinjou-san...," Imaizumi gasped.
"Hey, hey, Kin-chan, if you want to see another dick so badly, just wait till Izumida appears with his Long Sharp Lance," Arakita pouted.
Fukutomi, in spite of his stone face, burst out laughing.
"Wait, does he really call it that way?" Naruko blinked.
"He didn't back in high school. But he totally should," Shinkai smirked and opened another energy bar.
"ANOTHER! Which is it?! Third one?" Arakita yelled.
"Fourth," Shinkai corrected him.
"FOURTH?! Where are you pulling them from, your ass?!"
"That's a secret, Yasutomo," Shinkai winked and did his signature kapow pose.
Sakamichi was sitting in the water, enjoying the rather funny, yet little perverted chatting of the boys. She was blushing and holding back her giggles and wondered if Midousuji was there with them.
Everything was funny and nice, until the chatting group of mostly naked young men left the inner parts of the baths and entered the outdoor area with the pools... on the very same side as Sakamichi.
Her brain was going to explode. It somehow seemed like her eyesight sort of improved during her biking, because she never thought she could see the inappropriate bodily parts of the unsuspecting boys so clearly even without her glasses.
Maybe she just had a really vivid imagination. Yeah, she knew now: male genitalia came in various shapes, sizes and designs. And balls and foreskins and pubic hair and OH MY GOD.
Being taken by the conversation about the Long Sharp Lance, they still didn't notice her.
"I'M SORRY!" Sakamichi yelled in her loudest voice, at the maximum capacity of her lungs, before they saw her sitting in the water. At the same time, she covered her eyes with her hands, even though it was already too late. She'd seen everything...
"What the fuck?!" Arakita jumped up once he noticed the girl, or to be more exact, her absolute lack of clothes, which was inevitable since they were in the hot springs.
"Onoda-chan! What the hell are you doing here?!" Naruko screamed. Too bad Onoda had her face hidden. Otherwise she could see the panic in boys' faces as they started covering themselves with their towels. Now they all envied Imaizumi's decision to wear the towel around his hips.
"This is male part of the hot springs," Kinjou added and didn't sound like his usual collected self at all.
"I... I guess I must have gone into the wrong door and... ah... I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to see anything... but I kinda did see everything and... aaaah...," she stuttered, fidgeted in the water and the little they could see from her face was red like a basket of cherries.
"W-Where is your towel, Onoda?!" Imaizumi asked. His voice was trembling a little.
"O-Over th-there, I will get it and leave and...," she mumbled, turned and started crawling out of the pool.
"Are you retarded?!" Arakita yelled when he saw the nether regions of her body.
"D-Don't crawl out of the water like that, dammit!" Naruko joined. Shinkai smirked and kapowed her booty.
"Stop it, Shinkai," Fukutomi said with his stone poker face. Kinjou facepalmed.
"FUCK, I CAN'T TAKE IT, DAMMIT!" Arakita roared, his face red just like Onoda's scalded butt cheeks, and he ran away, disappearing in the building.
"He had a boner," Shinkai whispered to Tadokoro, who gave him a shocked look as if he was a father that just learned his daughter is seeing some nasty thug.
"Wait, Onoda! I will get the towel for you!" said Imaizumi and quickly walked to her towel and handed it to her, turning away modestly.
"T-Thank you, Imaizumi-kun," she smiled gratefully, but she had obviously had a hard times even talking.
"Well, it didn't really help, did it," Naruko gasped and looked desperately at Tadokoro. The towel was completely wet and since it was no more than a white piece of cloth, it was extremely transparent and stuck to Sakamichi's body, not really hiding much.
"Oh god," Imaizumi sighed.
"I... I'm getting a bit dizzy. I guess I stayed in the water too long...," Onoda moaned. Yeah, that. Or it was the amount of dicks she'd just witnessed that was making her dizzy.
As if it wasn't enough, Izumida appeared, striding majestically to the pool, showing his Andy and Frank and...
"...L-Long Sharp... Lance," Sakamichi gasped.
"Shinkai-san, what happened? I met Arakita-san running away, holding his crotch for some reason...," Izumida asked.
That was the last drop. That was the end of the girl. Sakamichi's head started spinning and she lost stability, falling right to the ground. Luckily Imaizumi noticed and swiftly caught her into his arms, stopping her fall.
"Naruko! Don't just stand there like that! Give me a hand!" Imaizumi hissed at the redhead boy who was completely speechless.
"I'll help, Imaizumi. Let's get her out of here," Kinjou offered and joined Imaizumi in an attempt to salvage the girl from her damnation.
"You're not gonna help, Juichi?" Shinkai asked and opened yet another energy bar. He'd accidentally dropped the fourth one on the floor when Onoda yelled she was sorry.
"No," Juichi shook his head.
"Why?" Tadokoro looked at him.
"I'm not strong enough..."