Hello readers I'm back, sorry for the delay on this chapter but I've been busy with school and RL is crazy right now. What matters is I'm back and Momentum is here to stay, and hopefully you'll remain to enjoy it.

Winter

"The switch in uniforms always sucks" pouted Akemi as she practically dragged Keisuke through the school gates. She wore the winter uniform for the girls, a yellow sweater and the usual black skirt, for the boys the uniform remained the same all year round for which Keisuke was thankful, he wouldn't be able to remember the change even if he wanted to.

He frowned all the way to the classroom, last night he hadn't slept and was still tired, but if he didn't want to repeat the tenth grade he had to stay and try and catch up with the work given in class. Upon entering the classroom he waked towards his seat when he heard someone cough behind him. The girl had long black hair in a ponytail and dark eyes to match, it was Setsuko Fuji, their class president or the residential pain in the ass as Keisuke thought of her.

"Trying not to fail Takahashi?" she asked haughtily, he took his seat trying is best to simply keep quiet. "Well, you'll probably end up here next year again, with all the class you've missed no way in hell-"

"Are you done yet?" he snapped, she stared shocked at his reaction. She frowned turning her back on him; from across the classroom he could see Akemi chuckling into her fist. It was common knowledge that Setsuko Fuji and Akemi Kaneda hated each other's guts, and is Keisuke was forced to choose a side he'd definitely chose Kaneda's. While she too could be annoying she wasn't such a pain to listen too.

At eight o'clock sharp their first class began, but before it did in front of the class stood a tall boy with light brown hair, he shifted his weight using the ball of his feet. Keisuke rolled his eyes "new kid" he said under his breath. In front of him Hiroshi Tamura was whispering to the boy next to him and they both chuckled taking in the new student's shy demeanor. Already Keisuke felt bad for the kid, his time here would be a living hell if Tamura and his boys made it difficult for him. Their teacher stood up, and the classroom went silent.

"Before we begin today I'd like to introduce your new classmate, he comes from Tokyo-" Before the whispers could start up again the teacher frowned and again the students kept quiet.

"His name is Yuta Sato, now he'll be sitting behind Takahashi, please raise your hand."

Keisuke reluctantly raised his hand, just enough for the boy to see who he was. The boy walked towards him without saying anything to the class. Keisuke watched and the boy raised his eyebrow at him before taking a seat.

"Cool hair" he whispered once in his seat Keisuke smirked.

"Thanks" whispered the blonde back, pulling out his notebook as he teacher turned his back and began to write on the board. As the morning went by Keisuke couldn't but daydream as he mindlessly wrote down whatever the teacher said or wrote on the board. Soon it would be time for lunch, in which he could take a nap before being forced to continue the day.

As it was tradition Akemi too Tamura's seat during lunch, she brought her bento box with her. He pulled his bento box out of his bag. "New kid looks lonely" she said as Keisuke put his bento box on his desk.

"Yeah what do you want me to do about it?" he answered back breaking apart his chopsticks. Akemi rolled her eyes as she stood up.

He noticed as she walked over to the new kid, Yuta Sato, he turned around and noticed the boy was reading a car magazine.

"Hey Sato, wanna have lunch with us?" she asked in a polite tone, He looked up from his magazine and nodded.

"Sure, why not" he said with a small smile.

"Great! I'm Akemi Kaneda, and this is Keisuke Takahashi" she said smacking Keisuke on the shoulder. He frowned but nodded politely all the same.

"Alright then, so is Maebashi any fun?" asked Yuta, before Akemi could speak Keisuke was the one to answer.

"Depends, if you like arcades and that sort of thing it can be fun…"

Akemi looked at Keisuke surprised; usually he hated talking to new people. "Someone's in the friendly mood" he heard Akemi whisper, before he could react though Yuta spoke.

"I do, so does this school have a swimming club?"

"Yes we do, in fact now in Gym we get to go to the swimming pool-"

"The school has a pool" said Keisuke surprised, Akemi nodded but didn't comment on the fact that he would know this information if he wasn't absent all the time.

Yuta smiled putting his car magazine away "great, back in Tokyo I was in the swimming club, are you two in any clubs."

"Track."

Keisuke sighed; here they were in school discussing school. He shook his head and got started on his lunch; he watched the two interact while keeping to his self. Yuta seemed kind enough, unlike most of the boys in his class, who were only interested in girls or sports.

"So, Takahashi what do you do in your free time?" asked Yuta in and attempt to include Keisuke in their conversation. He looked up from his bento box and finished chewing on his squid before answering.

"Nothing much" he said taking a quick glance at Akemi, it was bad enough to have to answer her questions all the time, now he had someone prying into his life without even knowing him.

Sensing the tense atmosphere Akemi spoke "usually he's with me; we hang out at the park near his house."

Yuta nodded putting his empty bento box away and draining a bottle of water he had. "So what are you guys dong after school?"

"I have track" said Akemi nudging Keisuke who glared at her. "But Keisuke here has nothing to do."

"Cool wanna go check out some bikes with me?" he asked pulling out another magazine, this time it was a motorcycle magazine. "I'm dying to get one, a Suzuki GSX- R600" he went on to show Keisuke a sports motorcycle, it was red and black.

Keisuke looked down at curiously. "Don't you need a license to drive one?" asked Keisuke, Yuta smirked.

"Who said? I've been driving motorcycles and cars since I could walk; it's all cool as long as you don't get caught."

Akemi blinked, while Keisuke couldn't help but smile. "So you'll come?"

"Yeah."

Akemi stared at Keisuke surprised, but didn't say anything. At that moment the bell rang indicating that it was time for the next class. They each returned to their seats, Keisuke found himself daydreaming suddenly, a motorcycle, what would driving one be like? He knew his parents wouldn't approve of it, especially if was a bright color like a yellow…

A yellow motorcycle, that would spite his father, it'd also be a way of getting around the city without having to depend on the bus.

Perhaps he could look at a couple and decide if he wanted on for himself.

Soon the bell rang for last period, Gym, it was an okay class, but Keisuke despised wearing the school swimsuit, it was tight in all the wrong places and they had to wear the ridiculous looking swimming hat.

Inside the lockers rooms he could hear Tamura and his boys talking. "So how are things going with Kaneda?" asked one, Tamura sighed.

"Badly, but I have faith, by the end of this year she'll be mine" he said slipping on his hat. "Besides it'll only be for a couple of weeks, you know the real target's Fuji, Kaneda's just practice."

Keisuke scowled trying to accommodate the stupid swimming hat. Before he could speak he was surprised to see Yuta Sato walk towards Tamura. "You might wanna stop talking like that" he said, Tamura smirked.

"Who the hell are you to talk?" He said looking down at Yuta who was a head shorter.

"He's right, shut up."

Everyone turned towards Keisuke, some shocked, others simply surprised. He usually kept to himself most of the times either that or he simply wasn't present. "Or what Takahashi?" challenged Hiroshi Tamura.

Keisuke took a step towards him "I'll make sure you never run again."

Yuta now stood beside Keisuke cracking his knuckles, before they could go on they heard their teachers whistle, and the group of boys went outside lead by Tamura. Yuta looked at Keisuke with a smile, "thanks for the back up."

Keisuke shrugged as they walked outside into the swimming pool, everyone stood around it, girls on one side and boys on the other. He looked around and noticed Akemi still trying to stuff her hair into the hat.

Once they were given instructions the group of students got into the pool, the hour went by quickly and Keisuke was thankful to see that in the locker rooms Tamura avoided him.

Once outside the locker room her found himself talk to Yuta as they walked out of the school gates together.

Yuta reminded Keisuke of Akemi as he began to go on about the specs of the motorcycle he wanted, Keisuke listened taking in some of the information Yuta spoke of.

They walked towards the bus stop, to which they would take to the other side of the city. "You know if it's cheap enough, you should get one too" said Yuta to Keisuke who shrugged.

"Why would I want one?"

"They're fun, easy to drive, c'mon what's here not to love" said Yuta as they entered a Junker, it was then Keisuke saw something that caught his eye.

It was a yellow sports bike with red details, it was missing a wheel and couple of other parts by the looks of it, but Keisuke couldn't help but walk towards it to get a better look whilst Yuta spoke with the owner of the place. He laid his hand on the seat and began to rub some of the dirt off of it, if it weren't for the terrible looking conditions of the bike, he buy it right away.

"Nice pick" said Yuta as he walked over to Keisuke.

"What kind of bike is it?"

"A Honda Fireblade, never seen one in yellow though" said Yuta thoughtfully as he kneeled next to the bike. "I could fix it up though; probably sell for a good price…"

"You could fix it?" asked Keisuke surprised, Yuta looked up at him and nodded.

"It's my hobby, bikes, my brother on the other hand is more of a car person" he said smiling up at Keisuke. "You want this bike don't you?"

"Yeah, I'll even help you fix it-" began Keisuke as Yuta stood up cleaning his hands.

"Sure, buy it and I'll get to my place and we can work on it together" said Yuta shaking Keisuke hand.

It was at that moment that the wind began to pick up, the boys looked up, it had begun to snow. "Weird isn't too early for snow?" asked Yuta, Keisuke shrugged putting his hands in his pocket. "Well let's go tell the order we're taking the Fireblade."

Keisuke nodded and followed feeling elated.

It was soon December the twenty fourth, traditionally Keisuke would spend the day in his room and would only come down stairs after their party guests left, but this year there'd be no party. Instead there was a silent and tense family dinner.

His father spoke to Ryosuke, reminding his elder son of his future goals and how he would accomplish them as long as he kept himself buried in the books. Keisuke keep his eyes on his food hoping that his father would ignore him as usual, his mind was back on his new motorcycle, something on his older brother knew of. It was too exciting to keep it to himself, and while his brother wasn't too fond of the idea he supported Keisuke all the same, even going as far as to tell Keisuke that maybe a hobby would be good for him.

For the last few weeks it was more than a hobby, every day after school he'd spend his afternoons with Yuta in his garage fixing up the Fireblade as Yuta liked to call it. "It'll be ready by New Year's."

New Year's he had his parents gathering, but he had already decided not to assist unless Ryosuke asked him too. It was only about a week away before he could finally get on his motorcycle and ride to his heart's content, for a moment he even forgot that he had never ridden a motorcycle in his life, but it couldn't be that difficult, it'd be like riding a bike.

"Keisuke how's school been?" asked his mother, Keisuke looked up chewing on his food he nodded.

"Good" he said after he managed to swallow, he took a gulp of water and noticed his father's eyes on him.

"You've been assisting?" asked his father, Keisuke frowned but before he could retort Ryosuke spoke.

"Yes father and his grades have improved" said Ryosuke politely shooting Keisuke a warning glance, instead of answering he just nodded.

"Yeah, like aniki said" said Keisuke running his hand through his hair, trying to keep himself calm. Just one comment out of the old man would be enough to set him off.

"Good, it good to see improvement" said Hajime barely moving his lips as he took a sip of his sake.

Keisuke's eyes widened, was he congratulating him?

Ryosuke gave Keisuke a small smile which the younger brother returned.

On the other side he could hear the phone ringing, he looked down at his watch, she must be home at this hour, where else could she be.

"Hello, the Kaneda residence…"

"Hey Akemi" said Keisuke, on the other side he could hear the girl sigh.

"Listen if it about your homework, I'm not letting you -"

"No, it's not about homework, I was wondering what are you doing today, Yuta said he was working on the bike and I wanted to go check it out" he said flushing, he knew his brother wouldn't accompany him, after all he was stuck doing homework on his computer as usual. Akemi would be his only opition if he didn't want to go alone.

"Sure, let me get dressed, I'll meet you at your place."

"Yeah, okay I'll be out on the corner." With that he hung up and put the house phone back where it belonged, for Christmas he and Ryosuke both had gotten cell phones, but he decided to leave at home, it'd just be a way of his parents finding him when he didn't want to be found. He slipped on a pair of pants a sweater and his coat before heading outside.

Once outside he found Akemi standing at the corner already, wearing blue pants and a soft pink coat, her hair was loose around.

"What's with the curly hair?" asked Keisuke picking up a strand of her hair. Akemi frowned slapping his and away.

"I had a family dinner last night, so I had to look like a doll" she said grumpily as they began to walk through the snow onto the bus stop. "Merry Christmas by the way" she whispered blushing a light pink as she pulled something out of her pocket.

Keisuke looked down at her as she thrust the box into his hands; he too now was a light shade of pink as he opened the small box. "Thanks" he whispered now feeling upset about not getting Akemi anything for Christmas.

Inside was a black watch, he pulled it out of the box. "Do you like it?" she asked hopefully, he nodded putting on the watch.

"Yeah, thanks…"

"Good" she said relieved as they arrived at the bust stop, surrounding them walking down the streets were a few couples, hand in hand. Keisuke took a seat next to Akemi on the bus stop. "Well people seem to be all lovey dovey."

"It's Christmas, what do you expect" he said pulling his coat tighter around him. Akemi nodded as she watched a nearby couple.

"You know, Sakamoto asked me out a couple of days ago…"

Keisuke turned towards her surprised, but quickly he scowled, Sakamoto was a guy in the eleventh grade, a track runner like Akemi. Akemi went on "I said okay, so we're going out after New Year's day" she turned to Keisuke and noticed the look on his face. "What's with the weird look?"

"Nothing, you go out with whoever you want" he said standing as the bus arrived; she stood up stepping into the bus first.

He stepped in afterward his hand on the watch. Their trip was silent until they arrived at the stop near Yuta's house.

"You know I'm happy for you" said Akemi all of a sudden, Keisuke looked at her blinking. "Lately you've been… I don't know happy I guess, that bike's been good for you."

He nodded as they walked up to the residence of Yuta Sato, she was right getting this bike was the best thing he had done in a long time.