Hey guys, don't y'all love 3 year updates? Next chapter will come in 2023, stay tuned!

Nah, I'm just kidding lmao. I'm hoping to be responsible and continue this fic somewhat regularly. :) Hope y'all enjoy the update! I literally spent the entire day rewriting the prologue, part of chapter 1, and writing this chapter, so I apologize for any mistakes in grammar and whatnot!

Chapter 2: Weird Encounters with Equally Weird People

When Kyoko walked in her homeroom class, 10 minutes before the bell, she did not expect to be bombarded with questions by a cute girl.

"You're Sunadori Kyoko, sprinter and ace of the underdogs Minoshi Junior High, am I right?" Kyoko saw the intense stare of the doe-eyed girl, which held a glint of both interest and excitement. Her excitement was even more obvious, as she got on her tip toes to get a closer look at Kyoko. She could only hope that she didn't look like an idiot, because she sure felt like an idiot, not knowing how to reply. The obvious answer would be to simply say yes and move on, but the pure shock of this cute girl knowing her name and her background and stating it like some news reporter's script was too much in the morning. Maybe there were some cameras hidden in the classroom and this was all some sick joke Hayato orchestrated...?

"Uhh, yeah, that's me unless there's some sort of doppelganger with my same exact name and middle school in another part of Japan, I guess. How?"

"I asked Kinjou-senpai about you and I found out more information about you and your school online! I'm Kanzaki Miki, I'm also going to be manager of the cycling club." Miki bowed and sent her another radiant smile. Kyoko just wondered when she'll become blind from the girl's smiles. She was like, the ideal girl parents pushed their sons to ask out because she was so nice and pleasing to be around. She's gotta be super lucky to be working with such a nice girl that's also a huge cycling nerd.

Kyoko felt herself blush as she thought more about this specific situation. After all, this was the first time someone showed such intense interest in her. The majority of people in her junior high class hated her, and the only people to show the same amount of interest in her was the cycling team. Could it be that Miki would be the first close friend she'd make, when she's always been stuck with Hayato since she was 6 years old?

She couldn't believe that she was getting this worked up over someone who wanted to be her friend. Before she could embarrass herself further, she cleared her throat and introduced herself with as much charm as she can muster.

"Ah, nice to meet you as well! Feel free to call me Kyoko or Kyo. It'd be nice to work with someone, I know about cycling, but nothing about managing a team." Kyoko admitted with a laugh.

"Of course, I'm looking forward to working with you! By the way, this is my friend, Tachibana Aya."

"Ah, nice to meet you, Aya-chan."

"You too."

When Miki and Aya took a seat at their desk, Kyoko was shocked to find that she sat in the seat right in front of Miki's. Fate was a really weird thing. Or maybe it was just coincidence, since she didn't even look at who to sit next to the first day. Either way, she didn't care because she still got to sit near Miki anyways.

"Kyo-chan, would you mind telling me about your time with Minoshi? Oh, and about Yomohiro Hayato! Do you happen to know why such a talented all rounder quit and became a model?" Kyoko giggled when she saw just how excited Miki was, to talk about cycling. It was honestly cute to see someone with that kind of passion for cycling.

"Minoshi was just alright. To be quite honest, the only talented cyclists on the team would be myself and Hayato-senpai. Everyone was good, but they were average. We were a great team though!" Kyoko explained, recalling the days of her time in the Minoshi cycling club. After Hayato left, the team's placings in the competitions got even lower with him missing. She surprisingly didn't mind; even though she was competitive herself, she simply could not hold a grudge against a team who was trying their best.

"And about Hayato-senpai's disappearance, well..."

"What do you mean you quit the cycling team?!" Kyoko yelled over the phone, making sure her mouth was far away from her phone so that she was at least intelligible. No matter how much she wanted to blast Hayato's ears with her screaming in anger, she needed him to hear what she said.

"My model career is taking off, Kyo-chan! A model's life is very busy, you know." Hayato paid no mind to her clear anger, answering in a carefree manner.

"We both know that modeling shit is not the real reason, dumbass. Now tell me."

"...My parents and I are coming back to Chiba to visit some family next weekend. Will you be free? I'll talk about it then."

"Sure."

"He has his personal reasons, I unfortunately can't disclose it. I was initially disappointed too, though. He was a great captain my 1st year in the team." Kyoko smiled nervously, hoping that her explanation was enough for now. Miki easily went along with her explanation and changed the topic to things unrelated to cycling, to the surprise of both Aya and Kyoko. When the bell rang, the three of them straightened up and prepared their things first period.

"Oh hey, Miki-chan," Kyoko whispered in a low tone, turning around to face Miki. "Since we're both gonna be managers, I figured we should get closer and become good friends. So, if you don't mind, I'll cling onto you guys." With that last comment, she flashed a thumbs up and winked at Aya, who was much less expressive and only sent a nod her way.

"That's perfectly fine, Kyo-chan. I'm looking forward to working with you!"

Once the bell rang, signalling the end of class, Kyoko quickly packed her schoolbag with her notebooks and textbooks. Maybe it was the entire fiasco that morning, but Kyoko didn't feel the need to fall asleep in the majority of her classes. Of course, after lunch she felt the urge to sleep again. Exhaustion and food coma from lunch was a deadly combination, as Kyoko struggled to stay awake for the rest of her classes. She took sips from her water bottle and would sneak an apple gummy in her mouth here and there.

"Sorry guys, I gotta go home early. You guys can text or call me anytime, though! My sleep schedule's still not right." Kyoko held up a peace sign and laughed, proceeding to wave a goodbye to her two friends. They both shouted their goodbyes as she rushed out of the classroom, her schoolbag hitting her thigh each time she took a step.

Because of how late she was the previous day, her mom made her punishment quite torturous. She had to cook tonkatsu with curry, which is both of their favorite meals, but only for her mom. She had to cook herself omurice. Omurice was very delicious alright, but not when you had a steaming meal of delicious tonkatsu curry right in front of you.

"Eggs are protein too, but she knows that I'd take a hunky piece of meat over the sorry excuse of eggs... As long as it was for lunch or dinner. Mornings are for eggs." Kyoko ranted to herself as she briskly walked through the hallway.

The mere thought of the meal made Kyoko's stomach grumble, and she could only wipe a fake tear from her eye as she accepted her punishment. Damn, even though she hasn't seen Hayato for a while, she still retained some of his habits. In particular, his habit to over-dramatize everything, which was something she was initially annoyed about... And now she got it. Very ironic.

As Kyoko checked her phone for her mother's missed calls, she found that there was none.

"Huh, that's weird. She always calls an hour before her work ends to check if I'm doing my chores." Kyoko muttered, slowing her rushed steps to a relaxed walk. She stood next to the wall to ensure that she wouldn't be in anyone's way and checked the date. She then realized it was Tuesday.

On everyday except Mondays, her mom got off work at 6. On Mondays, her mom got off work at 4:30, which is why she got in trouble for being so late.

"I'm a dumbass." Kyoko hissed in defeat, feeling her mood drop even further down to the depths of the earth. Meeting Miki and Aya got her in such a good mood that she wasn't in total emo mode over the punishment that her mother told her as they ate breakfast together. And now, she left early when she could've stayed and talked to them for a few more minutes!

With her shoulders slumped over, she dragged herself over to her homeroom, hoping to find Miki and Aya still in there. When she found that her two friends were no longer there, she sighed in defeat and sat down at her desk.

"Maybe a little music will boost my mood." Kyoko took out her mp3 player and earbuds, plugging them in and scrolling through her anime playlist. She was for sure in an anime mood, for some reason. Anime music was either cutesy and fun pop music, or badass and addictive j-rock music, and she equally loved both. Though, the cutesy and fun pop music was more of a guilty pleasure of hers.

She settled on a j-rock song in her j-rock playlist, not wanting anyone to hear her humming the tune of her guilty pleasure animes. With her songs chosen, she stood up from her desk and walked out of the classroom again, walking at a much more relaxed and slow pace than last time. Since she has a lot of time, she might as well savor the time away from home.

With the free time she had now, she could ride around town with her bike before buying groceries. Kyoko smiled at the thought of feeling the gusts of wind blowing her hair back,

When the song changed, she checked the mp3 player to see what song it was. Unfortunately for her, her luck was so bad that day that she managed to bump into the only person in that hallway at that moment. This knocked her mp3 player out of her hand, making her wince as she felt the earbuds rip away from her ears.

"A-Ah, I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'll pay for the repairs! I'm sorry!" As the guy apologized and bowed repeatedly, the papers that were sprawled on the ground caught her attention. Upon noticing this, he scrambled to grab all of the papers himself, all while saying incoherent things nervously.

"Don't worry about it, I'm sure it's fine." Kyoko laughed, kneeling down to help him grab his papers. When she finished getting all of them, she held the papers out to him, only to see him staring at her mp3 player.

"Are you okay?"

"W-Wait! A-are you really listening to Ikimono-gakari?! D-Do you like anime too?!" He leaned forward and excitedly asked, his eyes glinting in that same fashion Miki's did whenever she talked cycling.

"Yeah, I do. Is it because you need more people for your anime club?" She calmly asked, tilting her head to the side as she held up the papers she picked up. "I'm gonna have manager duties for the cycling club, so I can't join. I'll be able to talk to you about it as a friend, though."

Kyoko saw the poor boy's excited expression deflate as she told him the news, and she could've sworn she heard him whisper something about athletic clubs under his breath. She took her mp3 player and stood up, prompting him to hurriedly stand up as well with the papers now in his hand.

"A-Ah, that's alright! I'm just glad to have someone to finally talk to about anime..." He laughed, even though it was clear to her that he was crying internally about his loss. She opened her schoolbag and proceeded to rip out a piece of paper, writing down her name and her digits.

"I'm Sunadori Kyoko! Feel free to contact me whenever." She smiled, holding out the tiny piece of paper to him. A light pink dusted his cheeks as she shakily accepted the paper from her.

"T-Thank you! I'm Onoda Sakamichi." He bowed and sent her a pleasant smile, only for his expression to immediately change as he gasped, eyes wide open in shock.

"There you are, four eyes. Race with me."

"Wait, Onoda-kun, you're a cyclist and you know Imaizumi-kun?" Kyoko asked in shock, looking back and forth from the talented cyclist and the anime fanboy she just met literally 2 minutes ago.

It seemed all too weird for the nervous, shy boy she just met to be a cyclist who wasn't joining the cycling club. Of course, there were people like that, but if Imaizumi was challenging them, then that meant they were business, right? And more importantly, why did she seem to run into even more prominent people her second day at Sohoku High?

"This has nothing to do with you. Come with me." He said the last part to Onoda, and started walking away, leaving Onoda to look at both of them in confusion. Kyoko giggled and waved, turning around so she can walk away from them.

"Don't worry Onoda-kun, I'll let you chat with him. I'll see you around!" She turned around and paused the song currently playing in her mp3, shoving the device in her schoolbag. As she walked away from the unusual pair, she took a fleeting glance behind her, only to see that they have already moved to another room. She gave up and continued to walk down the hallway, hoping that she could finally exit the school without any distractions or weird encounters with people in the cycling club.

As Kyoko let today's events sink in, she only had one question in mind that she hopes to ask the boy one day.

"...So, is Onoda-kun a closet cyclist, who outwardly expresses his love for anime to hide the fact that he's also a total jock?"