Vol 2 Chapter 1 (1/2)
Chapter 1: Stranger
It was a gorgeousin Matsumoto
The Northern Alps glistened beneath a rare clear sky during a break in the rainy season Puddles on the asphalt reflected the blue sky and the dew- and raindrop-drenched greenery sparkling bewitchingly in the early sunlight
The growling exhaust fro of the birds as it ran down one of the few straight car-ways
The rider wore a short-sleeved shi+rt with bright brown trousers, identifying hi the throttle, he peered again at his right rear-view mirror
(What the hell is with that bike?)
Ougi Takaya, on the GSX, was starting to get annoyed
Soht after he’d left the house
A strange bike had started following hiht that it was just a coincidence that they were heading in the sa him too closely So he had purposely decreased his speed, only to find that the bike was still keeping exactly the same distance between them
The ie reflected in the ed not at all
“Is hefun of me?”
The traffic light ahead turned red
Irritated, Takaya braked to a stop right at the line The suspicious bike, which had stopped at the saonally behind him, now moved up parallel to him
A quick sideways glance startled him
(A woman?)
Sauvage-style hair flowed fro, slis propped up the heavy bike The rider was female
She looked at hiave the surprised Takaya a thuesture of invitation
“Wh?!”
Takaya was confused
(What the hell does she want?)
The woht-race? A careful examination told hi froine displacement, there was no way he could beat her She esturing at hie
(She really isfun of me)
Noas completely annoyed
It was 100 ht In a dash he had some chance
(Why the hell not)
In place of a reply Takaya revved his engine two, three tiaze riveted on the stoplight
The pedestrian walk light turned red Click He switched fro theinto that intense trance before battle All lights were red
A long second
Then—green!
Two engines roared fiercely Both bikes shot out like bullets
Early shi+ft change Win or lose in a drag race would hinge on this ti
The next traffic light was green—the goal had been lengthened As he’d thought, the difference in their engine displacement allowed his opponent to pull ahead
Getting angry, just as he opened the throttle again
(Augh!)
Some sort of brown obstacle suddenly appeared in front of him
(Wha?!)
He turned the handle sharply and stepped on the break unthinkingly to avoid it The bike lost its balance Unfortunately, the tires then lost their traction in the puddle in front of him, and he was thrown off
“!”
Flying off the biketu
Takaya rolled on the asphalt The GSX spun and slid on its windshi+eld for severalto a hapless stop right in the middle of the road
“oow—”
Half-raising his body, Takaya peeled off his hel
“fuck! What the hell was that?”
The obstacle in his path caate the source of all the noise, its tail wagging It was a et shi+ba puppy
“Urg—”
The dog (who knohat’s going on in its doggy brain?), ga on the road covered in dirt There were pieces of the GSX’s windshi+eld and broken mirrors scattered on the road
(This is the worst)
He looked up at the sound of an engine; his opponent on the FZR had returned He’d thought that she had come back to inquire whether he was okay or syh, beautiful voice:
“Bit weak on the evasion there, Greenie”
“Whaat?!”
Rage max
“You asshole! You were the one who!”
Vrooom!
The fierce rev of engines interrupted hi back
“Wait, dahed
The bike disappeared into the blue horizon, leaving only white exhaust smoke behind
“aaaaaargh”
Seated on the asphalt, Takaya gazed after it in blank half-dazed surprise The puppy sat on his lap And in front of him were the cruelly abused, scratched-up, black remnants of his beloved bike
(Whawhawha)
Endurance limit exceeded
“What the hell was that—?!”
Indubitably, a sentiment anyone could identify with in such a situation
Eventually
He finally cleaned up the accident and arrived at school at the end of 2nd Period
His wounds, luckily, were only abrasions He judged that he didn’t need ht to class
But he was loudly accosted by Morino Saori just as he stepped into the classroom
“Wh-what happened?! Those cuts! What’ve you been doing?!” she cried in her usual piercing voice, and dragged him off to the infirmary on the first floor of one of the school’s southern buildings
Saori kept up a flow of coes
“Sheesh, you just had to go against school regulations and ride a motorcycle to school—and now look what happened”
“Shut up”
Takaya was sitting at the teacher’s desk, chin resting crookedly on his right ar to his other outstretched arerated care
“I’”
“Well, it was your own fault Stoplight racing? You should’ve just ignored a rude person like that”
“If I passed up on the challenge, I’d get laughed at”
“So that’s it, huh?” Saori gruhed at, you’re always like that So you’re always on guard Because you care too much about appearances”
“I don’t care about appearances”
“Yes you do” Clapping Takaya on his bandaged are that twisted personality of yours, you’ll definitely end up getting hurt in the future”
“You’ve been a big help”
“You’re just lucky you’ve got a great role ”
“Roleabout?”
“That should be obvious!” she responded flatly “Narita-kun, of course”
“”
Saori continued irrepressibly, “And besides, this thing about the accident’s going to get out in the school, isn’t it? You reported it to the police, right?”
Takaya brushed the hair out of his eyes gloo to, but unluckily for me a police was bloay out of proportion”
“So you told the police everything?”
“Oh, ’bout half and half It wasn’t like a serious accident or anything,” he replied, waving his right arm “Well, even if it’s leaked out in the school, ator maybe a suspension, but they won’t ”
“I don’t know, Ougi-kun, your record’s pretty lousy”
“What did you say?”
“I’m worried about you”
Takaya sighed deeply “well, looks like it’s going to take soet the bike fixed”
Saori said in an unexpectedly cool voice, “Huh Well, you bought it on a loan, didn’t you? Why don’t you just make your parents pay for it?”
“Silly I paid for it on my own”
“Eh? Really?”