The buzz of my alarm reminds me that it's a Monday morning and that I need to get ready for school. Uniform…check. I fold it carefully and place it in my backpack to get changed into it at school. That's one of the downsides to wearing skirts with the uniform, it's hard to ride gracefully when a skirt is flapping about. Guys have it easy with their pants, they can just roll up a leg and get going! So with my cycling kit on and my books in my school bag, I head downstairs to have breakfast. The lights downstairs are already on and Kumiko is already sat at the table eating toast and eggs.

"Morning" I say to Kumiko. She's already dressed in her kit with her hair tied back in a low ponytail to fit under her helmet.

"Morning, I've already put the toast on and the pan's still hot if you want eggs", she replies before biting into her toast again. She must have heard me coming down and put it on.

"Thanks!" I say too cheerfully for this time in the morning. I sit and eat my breakfast before putting the plate and cutlery in the dishwasher. I then help Kumiko with making our lunch for school which consisted mostly of rice, fish and bread. A lot of rice, fish and bread. Cycling hard and often means you always have a good appetite, without eating a lot of food you would have no energy to ride. After packing my school bag into my backpack along with everything else I need for school, Kumiko and I head off to school. Although it's not late in the morning, the air is already warm from the sun which makes riding a lot more pleasant. We ride up together, not going too hard up the hill to the school.

Once up, the clubroom seems to already be open, some of the other students who also rode to school are inside hanging up their bikes for this afternoon's club activities. It's really not going to be easy to get used to the stares Kumiko and I get when we're in the clubroom. Sure, it's only been a week but is it really weird to see a girl riding a bike? We hang up ours amongst the others in the clubroom and head to the empty girls' change room.

"Now it really does feel as if we've been here forever" Kumiko says whilst getting changed. It really does, one week and it doesn't feel like we've moved schools.

"Yeah it's so weird, but hey, at least this cycling club wants us" I say with a laugh which Kumiko joins in with.

"I might just leave all my cycling gear and backpack here, I mean, we'll be back later and I don't need it during school"

"Good idea, I'll leave mine in here too" I reply, I empty out all the things I need out of my back pack and put them in my school bag. Finally we both put our shoes on and leave the change room. As I leave the room I almost bump into someone.

"Ah sorry" I say hurriedly before looking up to see who it is. Fukutomi is stood in the hallway with Shinkai behind him, "Good morning Fukutomi-san, Shinkai-san"

"Good morning" They both say

"We got here a bit early this morning" Kumiko says, "We're going to head to the classrooms, see you later" she finishes.

"See you later" Shinkai says as we head off in opposite directions.

"Hey Juichi, what do you think of Kumiko and Akiyama?" Shinkai asks as they open their lockers in the change rooms.

"They're both good cyclists, I feel that Akiyama has more determination and has trained more than Kumiko"

"She does seem a lot better. Kumiko seems to be more of a sprinter than anything else" Shinkai replies

"That seems to be the case. I'm still not sure about Akiyama's full skill"

"Well, we missed the female inter high last year, maybe we should ask the coach if he knows anything about it. Or we could just ask them later"

I sit inside the classroom with Chinatsu and Takada at lunch and we chat away like old friends. On the other side of the room, Fukutomi is sitting with some of the other third years from the cycling club. Quite often, the calm nattering of the students is disrupted by both Toudou and Arakita which brings both laughter and annoyance to those sitting in the room.

The rest of lunch seems to fly by and soon everyone is heading back to their respective classrooms. All the chairs are put back to their proper positions and everyone takes their seat in preparation for class.

Although the previous week had flown by, these last classes are seemingly going on forever. Especially maths. I'm not bad at maths but for some reason, time seems to stretch out until the bell signals the start of normal time once again.

Takada slumps down onto her desk, resting her head on her forearms.

"That took forever!" Her voice is muffled by her arms. At least I'm not the only one who thought that took forever. "Plus we have extra homework tonight" She continues as she lifts her head from her arms and reluctantly stands up.

"At least you aren't cleaning up today" replies Chinatsu

"Ah, sorry"

"Don't worry about it, you should go down and get ready for club, don't hang around here", Takada grabs her bag and heads towards the door.

"See you tomorrow Hamasaki-san" I say, heading towards the door along with Takada

"Yeah, see you, pedal hard today!", She says enthusiastically. I can't help but smile back. I send her a wave as I leave the room and walk down the corridor with Takada. We don't get to walk very far before I'm stopped in the hallway.

"Akiyama-san" Fukutomi starts, I stop walking to face him, Takada stops a few steps ahead to wait, "Don't get changed for training today" Fukutomi says.

"Okay", I say rather hesitantly. Why wouldn't I get changed for training? Maybe they aren't cycling today and we're doing some other form of… I don't even know. Fukutomi walks off down the hallway whilst Takada and I stand for a few moments longer.

"Hey Akiyama-san, what was that about?" Takada asks. We both stand looking at Fukutomi as he disappears down the hallway.

"I have no idea"

"Hey! Yuu, Takada-san!" Kumiko shouts from down the hallway. Takada and I turn to see her jogging towards us. Her broad grin is so infectious, I can't help but smile back at her, even after that weird encounter.

"Hey Murakami-san", Takada replies

"Yuu, did Shinkai come up and talk to you?"

"No he didn't, why?" I ask

"Well, he told me to come to club a little later than usual"

"That's really weird", Takada says, "Because Fukutomi just came up to us before"

"Huh? What did he say?" Kumiko asks

"He told me not to get changed for club today" I reply, Kumiko seems just as puzzled as I am.

"Maybe they're planning something? Anyway, I'd better head off, otherwise the captain's going to make me run extra laps for being late" Takada says

"Oh yeah, see you tomorrow Takada-san!" I say to her as she jogs down the hallway, waving behind her. "So, should we slowly head down towards the clubroom?" I ask Kumiko

"I dunno, I guess so"

Together we slowly walk down the hallway, talking about the day's classes and how long the afternoon felt.

"I reckon it felt so long because the weather outside is so nice today and we were stuck inside" She comments and it really does seem like the best explanation.

Once the club building is in sight, it all seems rather odd. There isn't anyone moving around outside, nor is there the distant hum of the rollers turning. Something really weird is going on.

"Hey Kumiko, do you think maybe we are a little too late? The clubroom is awfully quiet"

"We aren't all that late really so I don't think they've gone anywhere without us"

"I guess we'd better go over and see what's going on then"

We walk over towards the clubroom, once closer I can see some people inside, none of which are on bikes. There is a quite murmur of whispers but otherwise there is no sound.

"Akiyama Yuu and Murakami Kumiko entering" I say at the doors to the club room. I'm cut off by a figure moving in front of me. Fukutomi stands looming in front with everyone standing a ways behind him. I can't help but hold my breath in this confrontation. There's no more murmuring and the room is silent, maybe we did something wrong? Oh I really hope we haven't done anything wrong, I don't need that kind of weight on my conscience.

"Akiyama-san, Murakami-san, we would like to formally welcome you into the Hakone cycling team" he says, his voice echoes of the wooden surfaces which soon dissipates into silence again. As much as I thought the staring had stopped, now all eyes were defiantly on me and Kumiko. I can feel my face getting warmer as the whole team applauds us. Two students standing behind Fukutomi move forward, each with a bag in the arms which they hand over to us. Inside each of them are the unmistakable blue and white kits of the Hakone cycling team. A smile spreads across my face, I really don't know a time like this when I've been happier. All the nervousness and anxiety has disappeared and has left me beaming with happiness.

"Thank you captain Fukutomi, we won't let the team down" I try to say as seriously as possible amidst mine and Kumiko's smiling faces. Fukutomi turns around to address the rest of the team.

"Everyone, use this time now to warm up" He says in a loud voice. Everyone begins to disperse from the crowd that formed and moves to collect their bikes from the indoor and outdoor racks. Meanwhile the other third years move forward to meet us, now that we've moved out of the doorway.

"Congratulations" Shinkai says, all of the third years are already in the school cycling kit

"Thank you" Kumiko and I say in unison.

"You should go and try them on, see if they fit" he continues, I glance down at the bag which I have clutched to my chest.

"Yeah, that seems like a good idea" Kumiko says, moving off towards the changing rooms. I follow behind her. I almost feel like running there to change as quickly as possible. The excitement that is flowing through my body makes me feel lighter. I've never felt so accepted by a club before.

Kumiko and I dash into the change rooms and almost rip our clothes in the rush to get changed into our new kits. I open up the bag and hold out the jersey in front of me. The jersey itself is mostly white with blue and red accents on the shoulders and across the chest. I zip it up the front to my collar bone and turn to look at Kumiko who is also finishing zipping hers up. I can't help but laugh from all the built up excitement and neither can she. We finish putting all our cycling gear on and head back out into the clubroom.

By now, everyone is set up on their bikes warming up or are about to start. Heads turn to look at us but I don't feel as bothered about it as I did before. Wearing this jersey seems to bring about a new found confidence. I have a good and strong team always behind me and supporting me through everything. I feel proud to be able to carry his jersey and such a great and successful team.

"Hey Akiyama-san, how did you and Murakami-san go in the inter high last year?" Shinkai asks. The inter high last year, that sure brings back a heap of unpleasant memories. I look over at Kumiko and her face is grave from remembering what happened.

"We did well" I say hesitantly, it wasn't a lie but it felt as if I was. Our old school didn't really like having us on the team as much. Plus the memories of the inter high last year aren't the best, girls really can be the worst to race against sometimes. By this time the other third years were listening in on the conversation and I couldn't really just stop with that comment. Before I could speak again Kumiko interrupted.

"We're just kind of annoyed about it because we only really won by default", she says in a flat tone. The third years just stare with somewhat surprised expressions. Kumiko is right, we did only really win by default.

"I'll just set up and start warming up and I'll tell you what happened", I say. All the third years head off to collect their bikes and before we know it, we're set up on rollers and warming up. I take a deep breath in and start telling the story.

"Last year in the final few kilometres, a girl from another school and I were racing against each other. She was a third year and I was obviously a second year at the time. I had noticed fairly early on that she was quite violent and dangerous but she was much more aggressive that I had initially thought."

This is it, the final kilometre. My legs feel like they're about to fall off and my lungs are burning but I have to win. To show everyone in the cycling club that we are worthy and to show all of our hard work up to this point.

Suddenly the girl sprinting next to me drifts over and attempts to push me off the hot road. I push through into my pedals and quickly move forward, missing her and her bike by mere centimetres. Jeeze that was a close one, she's getting more and more aggressive the closer we get to the finish line.

"Boo!" I hear a group of people shout from behind. I can only assume that their annoyed at the actions of this girl, what she's doing isn't good sportsmanship at all. Yuu, you're losing focus, get back to the race, only 700m to go. I keep pushing forward whilst dodging all of her attacks at me.

It's the last 200m, she seems more determined than ever to get me to crash and leave her to finish. Her breathing has increased and her actions are more hostile and erratic. It's harder than ever to focus on the race and manoeuvre out the way.

Her head ducks down and she seems quite defeated. Okay, now's my chance! Just as I start to put power forward, I feel a presence right beside me and before I can even glance it's too late. I feel a huge pressure on my side and before I can even react, I'm already tipping over towards the road. She pushed me over when I was in the most vulnerable and unbalanced state and at a great speed, I skid along the road.

Instinctively I had put my hand out to cushion my fall and now it is just in pain. My body and bike skid to a halt, ripping both my clothes and skin on one side and the sound of scraping metal on road is unmistakeable. My body is in so much pain but I have to finish, I can at least get second.

People start trying to clamber over the barriers to help as I get up and hop back on my bike. Everything feels heavy and moving my legs just results in more pain. My body is just screaming, screaming for me to stop but I have to push through. I have to finish.

With a great roar from the crowd, I cross the line in second place and immediately fall into the arms of paramedics and they carry me to the medical tents to get fixed up. Time seemed to speed up at that point. It's soon after that Kumiko bursts through into the tent and tears up at the sight of my bruised and broken body.

The paramedics bandage up my arm and leg and wrap up my wrist in a special demobilising bandage. Luckily for me, it was only severely sprained and not broken by some amazing miracle. Once I'm all bandaged up, they give me a pair or crutches and I'm out of the tent and immediately assaulted by cameras and interviewers. Kumiko immediately forges a path for me to move through towards the stage. My movements are stiff and slow but somehow I manage to make it over.

The cameras continue to flash and reporters continually ask repetitive questions: How are you feeling after your fall? What do you think about her actions? Are you disappointed at the results? I just block them out and focus on the ceremony ahead. Kumiko stands closer to block some of the reporters who are pushing to get closer.

There seems to be some issues with the results as there is a great crowd of people off to the side of the stage, possibly to do with the final results. The ceremony finally starts and I have to head up for the Climber title, crutches and all. The crowd cheers much louder for me than the Sprint title, perhaps due to the finish line dilemma.

After all the photos I head offstage and wait for the overall result, the winning person and school. Everyone seems to hold their breath for the result, whether me, a second year, gets the title or the third year who pushed me off right before the finish line.

As my name is announced the crowd roars and cheers as Kumiko and I head up on stage. My body feels empty as if this was all a dream. We hold the trophy and flowers and stand on stage for what seems hours as people take photos of the two-man team who won the inter high. Far at the back of the crowd, I see the third year girl and her team mate storm off with the other students from her school as her obvious cheating caused her to be disqualified and lose out on any title she could have had.

The third years continue to warm up in a kind of stunned silence. There really isn't anything much else to say. One I had recovered from the fall, I was back and training again, this time with more purpose and determination.

"I heard there was a crash last year, but I didn't realise the full extent of it" Shinkai says, breaking the silence. So I guess before we came along, Hakone didn't have much of an involvement in the female inter high, aside from part of it being hosted nearby of course.

"Anyway, that's behind us now, we're more determined than ever to dominate at this year's inter high" I say triumphantly. My comments seems to lighten the mood and the other third years now look just as determined.

"Okay, back to warming up," Fukutomi starts, addressing us group of third years. He then turns to address the rest of the students warming up on their respected bikes, "Training will begin in five minutes"