Prologue: How to Turn a Nerd Into a Jock

Even with her hair tied up and kept inside of her helmet, a select few stubborn strands of hair escaped and flew back as the wind repeatedly slapped her face. Kyoko panted heavily, forcing her her legs to continue pedaling despite the shooting pain running through her legs. Of course she knew that the pain would be much worse once she got off the bike, and of course she knew that the simple act of walking or squatting to sit down would annoy her to no end.

If that pain was the result of her hard work for the sport she loved the most, then so be it.

Honestly...

As she caught sight of her home, she slowed down her pace and stopped, grimacing as she slowly got off of her pink road racing bike. She took off the helmet and shook her head in vain, as the strands of hair that escaped both her hair tie and her hair clips stayed like glue on her sweaty forehead. As her heavy panting slowly steadied, she took a swig of water and looked up to see dull light of the sun, still covered by last night's clouds.

When did I ever like cycling this much?

"Kyoko Sunadori!"

Kyoko lifted her head off of her desk like it was the heaviest thing in the world. She yawned and lazily leaned back so her sore back could rest on the chair.

"Sorry. What's going on, sensei?" She asked with a slight drawl, making it obvious that her nap was a good one. And with the infliction and tone of her voice, it was also obvious that she disliked the fact that said good nap was disturbed. Yet, she obviously couldn't do anything about it since it was her teacher.

"Come get your science test." He sighed in defeat, knowing that giving a lecture to his best student would be unprofessional and annoying to his students. His face the slightest hint of red, he pulled at the collar of his button up to cool down his heated body from the anger he felt towards the disrespectful student.

Kyoko yawned once again as she nodded and stood up, swaying slightly as she walked up to get her test. Her fellow classmates snickered, enjoying the sight of the class genius making a fool out of herself. Hearing the snickers made Kyoko tense up, as she remembered who she was to her classmates and what they thought of her. The simple act of walking up to the teacher's desk made her feel small against the penetrating stares, even though she was ironically on the top pedestal as the top student.

"So, what do you think she got this time?"

"Isn't it obvious that she got an A? She always gets a good score."

"The smartass doesn't even try though. How lucky."

Ignoring the whispers around her, Kyoko took the test and walked back to her seat. Once she plopped back down on her seat, she looked at the paper to see an A, with a minus one circled right next to it. With an internal groan, and flipped the paper to the back and saw one of the written answers she wrote receiving only one out of the two points possible. It wasn't perfect, it wasn't good enough.

Even if she had gotten a perfect score, she would still find something to criticize about her paper and claim it wasn't good enough.

She knew that she had trouble answering the question once she got to that part of the test, but she only wished that it was her insecure ass giving her trouble for no reason. Nope, she legitimately had trouble with the question, and she hated admitting that she had trouble knowing how hard she studied for that test. But no, she was the lazy genius to everyone else because of her good grades and general flippant behavior. If only she had a good relationship with her teacher, then maybe she could freely joke around with him and say, "Say Sensei, I think you forgot the plus after the A! My answers were amazing, right?" They would both laugh, and she can ask him what exactly she did wrong. He would explain it to her without giving her that dirty look, a look that she was all too familiar with.

With Kyoko distracted with her own thoughts, the bell rang suddenly. The whispers ceased being about her as her classmates stood up from their seats, excitedly talking to their friends about what they can do at their clubs and on their way home.

Clubs. It left Kyoko feeling a little nostalgic as she thought back on her experience own experience with the basketball club back in elementary school. She has always been a tall kid, so she was always content with her advantage as she could shoot without having to worry too much about being blocked. Likewise, she could easily block a shot with her height and a good jump. Even with that advantage, she can confidently say that the best part was the competitive nature and the kind, yet strict attitude of her coach.

However, the kids in the club were really rude towards her. Perhaps it was their jealousy over her height and how the coaches had a clear bias towards her. Once Kyoko saw that same jealousy overtake the assistant coach, she learned that jealousy can take over someone even as they grew older. It was a nasty revelation for someone as young as her, and she figured it'd be easier to deal with those things if she simply stayed away from those overly jealous people.

As soon as Kyoko saw that the classroom was empty, besides the students assigned to cleanup for that day, she packed up her things and left. She decided to slowly enjoy her walk home this time, to think about what she can do about her budding desire of finding something to enjoy again. The desire comes back time and time again, and it seemed that her only response was to reject it and revert back to her comfortable, yet painful ways.

However, she did not even get the time to start organizing her thoughts, as she accidentally bumped into someone.

"I'm so sorry, I wasn't-" She started, looking up only to be met with a stare of familiar intensity, eyes hidden behind black rimmed glasses, but the fire behind them still as prominent as ever. Kyoko gulped and felt her hands sweating as she unconsciously tightened her grip on her schoolbag. Breaking away from his intense stare, she saw the familiar curly tufts of brown hair, the shit-eating smirk, and the glint of a silver necklace around his neck.

"Long time no see, Kyo-chan." He greeted, his cheerful tone contrasting the arrogant smirk he maintained.

"Okay, spit it out Hayato-senpai. What do you want?" Releasing her grip on her schoolbag, she let it hang from her shoulder as she crossed her arms.

"Ah, so cold, even to your best friend and favorite senpai!" Hayato dramatically wrapped his arms around himself, audibly shivering. Kyoko snorted at his overdramatic actions, rolling her eyes.

"My bad, Hayato-senpai. What's up?" She corrected herself, even letting out a small laugh. Her entire expression had softened when she saw how he acted. It was just like him, and she forgot how much she missed the guy and his antics.

"So, you know how I'm in the cycling club and how I'm basically the best?" He dropped the dramatic act and casually asked.

"Arrogant as always. Anyways, yes, I know. What about it?" Kyoko tucked a stray hair behind her ear, looking at her senpai in curiosity. They haven't talked in a while because both of them were busy with their respective activities, and now he's approaching her with some business thing?

"Well, one of our guys got badly injured, so we have one person less for the tournaments. I was hoping you'd join and come give it a try, because your favorite senpai is there and he desperately needs your help!" He offered, giving her a bright smile and a thumbs up. The combination would have made the fangirls of the boy squeal, with the suddenly sweet and casual act contrasting with his arrogant bad boy facade, but it only served to make Kyoko even more tense.

"Wait, me? You know I don't know how to ride a bike, Hayato-senpai. Nope. Can't do it." She laughed awkwardly, waving her hands in front of her in protest.

"So? I'll teach you. I'm a good teacher!"

"I'm in the student council, I won't have the time." She countered, smirking as she thought she got the last word in. There was no way he has a counter argument to that, right?

"Tetsuya is literally the student council secretary and he's in the cycling club with me, Kyo-chan."

"Fuck, I totally forgot about that dude."

"Kyo-chan, language!" Hayato scolded, lightly slapping the back of her head. "Anyways, you can't really argue now. I just need your approval. I promise, it's the most fun you'll ever have." Hayato held out his hand, staring at Kyoko once again.

She stared back, and she could've sworn that same intensity in his eyes seemed to multiply tenfold. That intensity and that passion has always drawn her to the boy, no matter how annoying he was. And she knew it was because it was something she lacked, something that disappeared at some point in her life. It left her feeling empty and cold. Hayato's strong passion for life in general made her attracted to him; not in a romantic manner, but because she felt that same heat of his passions rub off on her, giving her hope that one day, she'll find it.

"You promise?"

"I promise."

With a weak smile, she grabbed his hand and gave it a tight squeeze.

"It's a deal."

With a loud thud, Kyoko painfully grunted and glared at the object of her torture, which was the bicycle. She shook her head as a way to try and get all the twigs and small rocks out of her hair in vain. It wasn't working at all. Her black hair reached her shoulder, and it was strangely spiky because her bedhead was just plain weird. She was too lazy to deal with it, so she called it a style and left it like that. With how difficult it was to get the random objects out of her hair from her multiple falls, she figured that she should finally deal with her hair if she was to continue this cycling business.

Hayato burst out laughing at the sight.

"You look like a dog! I told you years ago that you should've fixed your hair." With a friendly pat on the back, he kneeled down and started helping her take the twigs and leaves out of her hair.

"Sounds like a plan, maybe you can help me?"

"Of course! I'm planning on becoming a model after all, so I know how to take care of and style hair."

With a giggle, she remembered how Hayato told her when they were younger of that dream of his. She was glad that dream of his didn't change within that time period. With Hayato so focused on the task of getting every little thing out of her hair, she instead brought her attention to her exposed legs.

She cringed at the sight. The bruises and cuts on her calves burned, and the more she looked at them, the more she acknowledged the pain it was bringing her. Twisting her arm so she can look at her elbow, she saw the gruesome reds and pinks of blood and raw skin. How dumb was she to wear a t-shirt and cargo shorts, with no safety gear whatsoever? She forced out an exhale, as a way to relieve the pain she felt from the injuries that she just now saw and really thought about.

Hayato, seeing how much pain and effort his old friend went through, stopped his little game of how much stuff he can find and dig out of her unruly hair and stood up. He held out a hand for Kyoko to take, and she gladly grabbed it, wincing as she felt the stinging pain from her injuries.

"You did an amazing job for your first time! Let's go get those injuries disinfected and bandaged up at my place."

The pair grabbed their respective bikes and walked along the sidewalk, a comfortable silence falling between the two of them. With Hayato staying silent for once, this gave Kyoko the opportunity to think about whether she wanted to continue cycling, despite her commitment to maintaining her good grades.

In all honesty, the times she had the balance down and managed to bike a few feet ahead felt amazing. She was able to see the scenery around her change so fast, and the feeling of the wind was satisfying. Hayato's encouragement and advice was spot on like always, and throughout the entire lesson, she somehow felt satisfied with her performance. She wasn't able to learn how to ride a bike in the end, yet she felt satisfied. She wasn't sure if it was Hayato being Hayato, or simply the act of riding a bike, but she could confidently say that she had a good time.

"Thanks Hayato-senpai. You know, I..." Kyoko's voice trailed off as she frowned. Saying that she had a good time was an understatement, but she couldn't exactly find the words to describe what it was other than a good time. It was something she hasn't felt in a very long time, something that slowly disappeared from her life. Something that disappeared in the process of quitting basketball because it was something she no longer enjoyed, to achieving good grades just because it was something that mildly made her feel good temporarily.

...Ah right, it was enjoyment all along.

"Thank you. I genuinely enjoyed this, Hayato-senpai."

"I can't believe it's nearly been two years since that fateful encounter with Hayato-senpai," Kyoko mused to herself, bringing her bike over to the bike rack in front of the school. "If Eiki-senpai wasn't injured, then I wouldn't have had the chance to learn cycling and experience it."

Kyoko blew a strand of stray hair out of her eyes. Ever since her first day of learning how to ride a bike, Hayato bombarded her with hair products to buy and how to style hair, all that jazz. Since then, she made sure to thoroughly brush her hair in the morning so it was straight instead of that spiky bedhead situation. She even let it grow out, so it reached her shoulder blades now. The feeling of the wind during her bike rides was something she enjoyed, so she usually lets her hair free from hairties on casual rides and clips her long bangs back with hairclips. She chose to pair her uniform with yellow hairclips to match her skirt.

Despite the soreness of her legs, she smiled as she walked closer to the entrance of the high school. She made sure to attend a high school that was somewhat out of her way, so that she wouldn't be able to see her classmates from junior high. After all, a new year fresh in high school meant a new Kyoko Sunadori. And a new Kyoko Sunadori meant one that is known to be smart, sure, but not a lazy genius.

"I gotta make a good impression, otherwise I'd be the loner hanging out with a loser like Hayato Yomoshiro. Again." She mumbled to herself, opening the door to get inside. After she switched her sneakers to her inside shoes, she roamed the halls, hoping to stumble upon her classroom. Even though she went to orientation, she totally forgot where everything was. Once she found her homeroom, class 1-5, she walked in and decided to choose a random seat in the middle row, not wanting to awkwardly stand in front and look at the available seats. Looking at the time on the clock, she noted that she had 9 minutes left.

"Just enough time to take a nap..." She thought to herself, comfortable nestling her head on her arms that were on her desk. Kyoko abruptly straightened up in her seat, lightly slapping her cheeks. "Wait, nope. Not doing this. Not making a bad impression on the teacher on the very first day."

Even though it was the one thing she was proud of, she regretted her work ethic sometimes because she was truly a try hard student. Throughout summer break, she did her summer assignments and even studied future material in case she had trouble with it.

As they say, old habits die hard.

Slumping against the desk, Kyoko sighed contently and closed her eyes, ready to let sleep take over her body. The exhaustion from her morning exercise plus her overall bad sleeping habits from studying made her more tired than usual, so she had to resist the urge of falling asleep in every period. The only reason she survived and managed to still retain the information she learned was due to her sneaking small snacks in her mouth. This time, she brought some apple gummies to school, so she made sure to discreetly eat one whenever the urge to fall asleep was strong.

She even forced herself to stay awake during lunch. Thank God she was smart enough to buy a coffee from the vending machine; the caffeine helped her stay awake to both eat her lunch and talk to some of her classmates. Otherwise, she could've fallen asleep right in her bento.

Her leg involuntarily twitched, and she felt the soreness from her morning exercise in that slight movement. In an instant, she shot up from her seat and scrambled to grab her schoolbag, rushing out of the classroom.

"Right, I need to find someone from the cycling club." Kyoko remembered watching the inter-high videos last year, and the camera caught a glimpse of the Sohoku cycling team. she just had to roam the halls and find one of those familiar faces. If she was lucky enough, she'd hopefully spot that guy with bright green hair and ask him.

After roaming the halls after what seemed like forever, she was about to give up until she saw the familiar face and figure of one of the second years she saw at inter-high. Now, he would be a third year. Even though he was wearing glasses instead of his shades, she was sure that was him.

"Ah, excuse me? Are you in the cycling club, by any chance?" Kyoko asked nervously, coughing in her elbow to correct her raspy voice.

"Yes, I am. Why?"

Well, it's now or never.

Kyoko made eye contact with him, using that same intense look that she has always admired from Hayato, and crossed her arms.

"I'm Sunadori Kyoko from Minoshi junior high, I'd like to join the cycling club as a sprinter."