Riding Along The Silent Winds (Yowapeda fanfic)

The overall winner

"Do you really think Yuki is the type to fall behind during races?" Imaizumi reasoned logically.

"No... of course not... but still-" Naruko was cut off abruptly.

"We need to catch up!" Imaizumi firmly spoke, unable to conceal the rising panic in his voice while he heightened his pace.

This is crazy. I've never let anyone, nor have I seen anyone, pass by any of us so quickly before. The time difference she created is probably getting worse, Imaizumi gripped his handles, We were wrong to let our guards down when Naruko won the first stage!

"Ano... Yuki-chan wouldn't have gotten that far, right?" Onoda piped up with a soft voice, trying to brighten up the situation.

"I highly doubt that. She's got some uncanny speed," Imaizumi replied.

"If she was capable of being so fast, she could have easily won the first stage though," Onoda thought, "Why do you think she lost?"

Imaizumi remembered the gear shift that Yuki took one second before the finish line. It was cleverly subtle, but as a skilled gear-shifter himself, he still managed to pick up on it.

"I don't think she lost. I think she gave the first stage to Naruko on purpose," Imaizumi figured it all out.

"B-but why?" Naruko asked loudly.

"Yeah! Why would Yuki do that?" Kaburagi questioned Imaizumi.

Kaburagi usually remained quiet at times like these, because he usually could never read the situation. But when he thought about it, Yuki was never the type to lose easily. She was nominated as the team's coach, after all.

Imaizumi began to explain, "Part of her riding is dependent upon her weak presence. If she establishes a strong presence at the very start of the race, it would be harder to slip by all of us. But because she already established a strong presence by giving each of us advice, she had to find a way to pass that presence," he gestured toward Naruko, "She gave it to you."

Naruko was slightly surprised, but after a while, he grinned, "Ka ka ka. So, coach used me as a distraction, eh?" he looked into the distance, "We need to catch her then!" he accelerated.

Back in the van, the others just realized that Yuki broke away from the pack.

"That's impossible though..." Aya was speechless.

Teshima smiled, "Well, that's her way of cycling. We can't complain about that, I guess."

"Looks like they finally figured out too," Tooji watched them accelerate.

They passed stage-after-stage, dismayed at the empty view before them. The winners of the stages following the first didn't seem to matter anymore. They were desperate to catch up to Yuki. They anticipated at least a glimpse of her. But no matter how hard they pedalled...

They never got one.

The couple at the rest stop were still there, "Oh look," the girl pointed as the pack and van passed by, "They're pretty fast too!"

"Yeah, but the first rider was way faster," the boy made a quick comparison, "Besides," he looked down at his watch, "They're already 10 minutes too late."

XXX

The others finally reached the finish line, panting uncontrollably. Drenched in sweat, they all let their road racers fall to the ground, sprawling out onto the concrete of the parking lot.

"In the end," Kaburagi panted, "We never even got to see Yuki's back," he sounded defeated.

"Coach is amazing. I can't believe she beat all of us so easily," Naruko squinted at the sky, pounding a hand into the concrete in frustration, "If only we didn't get distracted!"