During the summer vacation of his second year in high school, Sakamachi Yuto suddenly finds himself thrown one month back in time.
He doesn't understand why it happened or why a senpai who should be dead is still alive. But there is only one thing that matters to Yuto: saving the beloved senpai who died at last year's Inter-High.
The senpai's name is Shinkai Haruto. He was the ace of the bicycle road racing club, a person as bright as the sun, faster than anyone else. But just before the finis
Pedal Once More: The Day We Reclaim That Summer - The Resolve to Be a Wall, the Feelings That Connect Us
Lungs. Frozen.
Hands and feet. Numb.
Yuuto sat slumped on the lobby floor of Pension Kazemachi.
The fireplace had long gone cold.
His fingertips were like ice.
Haruto-senpai's back.
The voice telling him never to appear again.
It wouldn't leave his mind.
(Ah, I—couldn't change a thing.)
No fragment of hope. Only darkness spread through his chest.
—*shuffle, shuffle*.
The sound of slippers.
Drawing closer.
But Yuuto didn't even have the strength to lift his head.
"...Sakamachi-kun."
A trembling, tiny voice.
He raised his head.
Mio stood there.
Her black hair, just past her shoulders, clung to her tear-soaked cheeks.
The small beauty mark by her left eye.
Her brown eyes, always sparkling with curiosity, were now painfully red and swollen.
On shaking legs, she took one more step toward Yuuto.
"I'm sorry. I heard everything you said in the backyard."
"...Mio."
His voice was hoarse.
"I... I believe you, Sakamachi-kun."
Mio's voice was so small it nearly vanished in the wind.
But those words seeped slowly into Yuuto's frozen heart.
"You've been suffering all this time. Carrying it all alone."
She gently took his hand.
Wrapping both of her hands around Yuuto's ice-cold fingers.
Her fingers were trembling too.
But her palms were astonishingly warm.
"I'll help. I don't know what I can do to save senpai. But just remember—you're not alone."
Mio's tears fell onto Yuuto's hand.
The warm drops spread across his frozen skin.
Yuuto's vision blurred.
"...Thank you, Mio."
A voice wrung from deep within.
The despair hadn't vanished.
But in the darkness, a single candle flame had definitely been lit.
At that moment—
*Creeeak*.
The lobby door opened.
The cold night wind of the highlands rushed in.
Mio's shoulders flinched.
Yuuto looked up.
Standing in the doorway was a tall man.
Short hair, nearly silver, streaked with white.
Skin so pale it looked sickly.
Narrow eyes reflecting the moonlight with a pale blue gleam.
Koga Souma.
His gaze fixed on Yuuto.
Eyes like ice. No warmth at all.
"...Did I interrupt?"
"Koga... why are you here?"
Koga didn't answer. He walked over slowly.
Only his footsteps echoed through the quiet lobby.
"I hate things that aren't rational."
Koga stopped right in front of Yuuto.
"Shinkai Haruto dying in an accident. That's not rational. Because he's someone I'm supposed to defeat."
"...Yeah."
"So I'll cooperate."
Mio gasped.
"I don't know if you're right. But if what you're saying is true, I can't ignore it. That's all."
Koga's voice still carried not a shred of emotion.
But those words warmed Yuuto's chest.
"...You believe me?"
"I don't believe. I'm simply betting on the possibility. Because it's not rational."
Koga turned his back.
"See you at the race tomorrow. I'll have a plan by then."
With just those words, Koga vanished into the darkness of the night.
Yuuto stared at his clenched fist.
The trembling had stopped.
"...Let's go, Mio. We're going to protect senpai."
"Yes!"
Mio wiped her tears and nodded firmly.
---
Finals day.
The pit area of Shizuhara Circuit was thick with heat.
High schoolers from across the country faced their machines in silence—but with the eyes of beasts.
Yuuto searched for Haruto from the corner of the pit.
There.
Haruto was already in his uniform, doing a final check on his bike.
His profile lacked that usual sun-like smile.
Last night's rejection clung to him, cold and fixed.
Yuuto couldn't call out to him.
At that moment—
"Well now, Sakamachi-kun. Good morning."
A voice from behind.
He turned.
Kurosaki Tetsuji stood there.
Long black hair tied back. Streaks of white at the temples.
A fine silver ring gleaming only on his left ring finger.
Narrow black eyes that always seemed to be smiling.
But deep inside, not smiling at all.
Every hair on Yuuto's body stood on end.
"...Yeah."
A low, growling sound escaped him.
"Let's have a good race today. I'll be supporting as best I can, in my own small way."
With that, Kurosaki headed off toward the other schools' pits.
Yuuto glared at his retreating figure.
(It's him. He's the one who—senpai—)
His left hand unconsciously gripped his own collar.
Yuuto tracked Kurosaki's movements with his eyes.
He strolled through each school's pit as if it were his own backyard.
And then—he stopped beside an unknown rider from Toumyou Academy.
Kurosaki leaned in close to the rider's face.
Whispering.
Still smiling, he handed something over.
A small device.
A communicator.
Yuuto's heart pounded like a war drum.
(That's—no doubt about it.)
Kurosaki left.
Yuuto immediately pulled out his phone.
He sent a message to Koga.
*The guy on your team—Kurosaki just handed him a communicator. He's targeting Haruto-senpai.*
Seconds later, a reply.
*Understood. I'll have my assist mark him.*
Yuuto exhaled.
(With this, at least—)
But he couldn't relax yet.
The real threat would move during the race.
---
The starting pistol fired.
*BANG!*
The riders kicked their pedals in unison.
The sound of tires biting asphalt.
The howl of frames slicing the wind.
The final race. Ninety-six kilometers of battle had begun.
From the very start, Yuuto glued himself to Haruto's back wheel.
Haruto didn't look back. Not once.
Completely ignoring him.
(That's fine.)
Yuuto clenched his teeth.
(I'll protect senpai. That's all.)
The peloton circled the course at over forty kilometers per hour.
Breathing was agony.
His legs were already screaming.
Mid-race.
Koga's voice came through the radio.
"He moved. That rider is moving up in position."
Yuuto scanned the pack.
There.
The rider in Toumyou Academy's jersey was slipping skillfully along the outside of the peloton, trying to position himself diagonally behind Haruto.
"I'm stopping him."
Yuuto stomped on the pedals.
From behind Haruto, he deliberately swung wide.
Blocking the path.
The opposing rider changed course.
Yuuto changed too.
Koga's assist blocked the rider's path from the other side.
Blocked.
The opposing rider's face twisted with frustration.
But still, he fought stubbornly to regain his position.
(Persistent...!)
One kilometer remaining.
The Kazakiri descent loomed ahead.
His heart felt ready to explode.
His legs were screaming at their limit.
But Yuuto didn't give up.
"Sakamachi, it's no use. We can't hold him. He's planning to make his move on the descent."
Koga's voice rang through the radio.
Images flashed through Yuuto's mind.
The previous timeline.
The Kazakiri descent.
The sound of brakes.
Frames piling on top of each other.
Red.
(Blocking alone won't stop it anymore.)
Yuuto made his decision.
(I'll become the wall.)
Five hundred meters left.
They hit the descent.
The wind howled.
Gravity shoved their bodies into the steep slope.
Haruto's back ahead of him.
Yuuto tucked in directly behind.
Distance: a few dozen centimeters.
(Senpai—)
Yuuto touched his front wheel—just barely—deliberately—to Haruto's rear wheel.
*CLANG*.
Impact.
Yuuto's body lifted off the handlebars.
His vision spun wildly.
—He flew.
The ground rushed up.
Collision.
*CRASSSHHHH!!*
Bones creaked.
Skin tore.
The taste of blood spread through his mouth.
Yuuto's bike slammed into the guardrail at the side of the course and went flying spectacularly.
The rear wheel spun uselessly in the air.
"Whoa!"
"Crash!"
The riders behind screamed and hit their brakes hard.
The horrible sound of tires scraping asphalt.
The peloton slowed.
Through that gap—
Haruto alone shot through, unscathed.
(Thank... god.)
Yuuto watched him go, still smashed against the asphalt.
His consciousness faded rapidly.
The edges of his vision grew dark and blurred.
Deep in his ears, only the sound of his heartbeat echoed, slow and distant.
---
After the race.
Below the Kazakiri descent. At the bottom of the cliff.
Yuuto's body lay sprawled in the underbrush beneath the guardrail.
Blood seeped into the soil.
The first to reach him—was Koga Souma.
"...Sakamachi."
That always-calm, composed voice was trembling for the first time.
Koga gently lifted Yuuto's bleeding body.
His jersey was stained red.
He understood. Yuuto had crashed on purpose.
Koga's silver eyes opened wide.
For the first time, emotion surfaced on his face.
"...You're the real deal."
The medical team approached, sirens wailing.
"Hey! Hurry up! This guy crashed on purpose to protect someone!"
His furious shout echoed across the highland sky.
The ambulance.
Mio was riding with him.
Holding Yuuto's cold, unconscious hand. Tight. So tight.
"Sakamachi-kun, Sakamachi-kun...! You can't, you can't die...! Senpai—senpai crossed the finish line! So... so...!"
The tears wouldn't stop.
But her voice kept speaking to Yuuto, like a prayer.
---
The finish line.
Haruto, not even basking in the afterglow of victory, was shouting, his face pale.
"Sakamachi crashed?! Where?! Where is he?!"
"Taken to the hospital. ...It seems he crashed on purpose. To protect you."
Koga delivered the news from beside him—flatly, but with heavy weight.
All color drained from Haruto's face.
Yuuto's words from last night.
*I came from the future.*
*Sabotage.*
*Senpai will die.*
—It was all true.
"...What have I done..."
His voice shook.
Koga quietly explained the situation.
Kurosaki's existence.
The handoff of the communication device.
The suspicious movements during the race.
And—Yuuto's resolve.
When he'd heard it all, tears spilled from Haruto's eyes.
"Dammit... dammit!!"
He punched the ground over and over with his fist.
Not caring that blood was seeping through.
"I told him to cut the crap...!"
At that moment—
"Kurosaki Tetsuji is gone."
Koga's cold, ruthless voice transformed the atmosphere entirely.
"Race headquarters and the police are already moving. But... he's vanished."
Koga's words struck like a shockwave, piercing everyone present.
The darkness was still deep.
The organization "Nordwind" was now quietly beginning to reveal itself.
But for now—
Only the ambulance siren echoed through the highland sky. Hollow. Endless. On and on.
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