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 - Connected Hands, Lingering Wind
White ceiling.
Smell of disinfectant.
The rhythmic electronic beep of a machine.
Yuuto slowly opened his eyes.
His eyelids were heavy.
Like they were filled with lead.
(Where…)
His vision was blurry.
He blinked several times.
A hospital room.
White walls. White curtains.
Outside the window, a piercingly blue sky stretched endlessly.
As his consciousness sharpened—
A searing pain.
"…Ngh."
A voiceless sound leaked from his throat.
Around his left collarbone, a burning heat.
His arms, his legs—unresponsive, as if they'd been torn apart.
He remembered.
The Kazakiri descent.
His front wheel clipping Haruto-senpai's rear wheel.
Getting launched.
Slammed into the asphalt.
Dull waves of pain crashed over his entire body, again and again.
Just breathing made his ribs creak.
But.
Yuuto, enduring the pain, twisted the corner of his mouth slightly.
He couldn't tell himself if he was gritting his teeth or smiling.
(Senpai…)
That was when it happened.
Bam.
The hospital room door burst open.
"Sakamachi!!"
It was Haruto.
Still wearing his racing jersey.
His short, brownish hair was plastered messily to his forehead with sweat.
Tears streamed down his sun-bronzed skin, one after another, countless.
Yuuto just stared at him, dazed.
(He's alive.)
A sudden heat rose behind his eyes.
Haruto collapsed to his knees beside the bed.
With trembling hands, he gripped Yuuto's hand.
A surprisingly warm hand.
"You… why… why would you do something like that…"
His voice shook.
A voice like a small child sobbing.
"You were carrying it all alone… trying to protect me… Mio told me."
Haruto pressed Yuuto's hand against his own forehead.
Hot.
Tears wet the spaces between Yuuto's fingers.
"I… told you to cut the crap… said such horrible things to you…"
"…Senpai."
Yuuto finally squeezed out a hoarse voice.
"You're… safe. I'm glad."
The moment he said that, pain shot through his body again.
Haruto, crying, squeezed Yuuto's hand back as he grimaced—over and over, again and again.
"I'm sorry… thank you… I'm sorry…"
Haruto cried, apologized, gave thanks.
Wordless sounds echoed in the hospital room.
The senpai who was always bright as the sun was now a complete mess, like he was caught in a storm.
Yuuto slowly raised his left hand.
The arm on the opposite side from his collarbone, the one that could still move.
He gently touched Haruto's shoulder.
"I'm… glad I could protect you, senpai…"
His voice trembled.
The hot thing behind his eyes became impossible to hold back.
"You're alive, senpai. That's enough for me."
Tears spilled over.
They ran down his temple and soaked slowly into the pillow.
"Yuuto…"
Haruto called him by his name for the first time.
The invisible wall between them crumbled with an audible crash.
Yuuto, with a face somewhere between crying and smiling, extended his hand to Haruto.
His left hand, seeking a handshake.
Haruto lifted his tear-streaked face and gripped that hand firmly.
Shoulder, arm, hand—so tight his bones creaked.
As if to say he would never let go again.
—At that moment.
From beyond the hospital room door, the faint sound of sobbing could be heard.
Both of them looked at the door simultaneously.
A gap, open just a crack.
There stood Mio, crying uncontrollably.
Her hair, slightly longer than her shoulders, clung to her tear-messed face.
Tears overflowed endlessly from her large, dark brown eyes.
"…Sakamachi-kun."
Mio stood frozen at the entrance, her shoulders trembling.
"Come in, Mio."
Yuuto, weak as he was, managed a smile.
Mio nodded repeatedly, jerkily, and entered the room.
Her legs were shaking.
Haruto quietly made space.
Mio reached Yuuto's bedside and crouched down on the spot.
Tears fell onto Yuuto's sheets—drip, drip.
"Sakamachi-kun… you carried it all… couldn't tell anyone…"
Her voice failed.
Her words dissolved into tears.
"How much… how much pain you must have been in… I wish I'd noticed sooner… wanted to help you…"
She spun her words with a trembling voice.
"…Mio."
Yuuto gazed gently at her shaking hand.
"You believed in me. That night, you held my hand. That alone… saved me."
"Sakamachi-kun…"
Mio lifted her face.
Her eyes, with their beauty mark, were swollen bright red.
"Thank you, Mio."
Yuuto said it from the heart.
Relying on someone.
He truly understood, for the first time, what it meant to be supported.
Mio nodded over and over at Yuuto's words, wiping her tears with a tissue.
"From now on… you're not alone. I'm here… and Haruto-senpai is here too."
With her tear-soaked face, she still managed a genuine smile.
As the sun began to set.
Police investigators visited Yuuto's hospital room.
Questioning.
Yuuto, from his bed, told them everything he could remember.
Kurosaki Tetsuji.
The suspicious equipment failures.
And—
The shadow of an organization called Nordwind.
After the officers left the room, a tall man entered as if taking their place.
Short hair, nearly silver, streaked with white.
Skin so pale it seemed sickly.
Narrow, silver eyes.
Koga Souma.
He looked down at Yuuto in the bed with his usual emotionless gaze.
"…Does it hurt?"
That was his first word.
"…Yeah. But this is all it was."
Koga fell silent for a moment.
Then, he quietly opened his mouth.
"I testified to the police about the moment Kurosaki handed a small communication device to a Toumyou Academy rider. I also submitted several past race videos. It's highly likely the equipment failures were deliberately caused in specific races."
"…You investigated that far?"
"Because it wasn't logical."
Koga said it curtly.
But his silver eyes seemed to waver, just for an instant.
"You… are the real thing."
That was the highest form of respect he could offer.
The investigation took a sudden turn.
Kurosaki Tetsuji was taken into custody at the bus terminal just before leaving Shizuhara Plateau.
Charges of negligent injury and race interference.
However—
The interrogation room.
Kurosaki Tetsuji wore a gentle smile the whole time.
His long hair tied back.
A fine silver ring on the ring finger of his left hand.
"It was my oversight. All of it. There were no organizational instructions."
He continued to evade the officers' pursuit, slippery and elusive.
Eventually, the officer left the room, and he was left alone in the interrogation room.
Silence.
Kurosaki slowly stroked the ring on his left hand.
His narrow eyes always seemed to be smiling.
But deep within, there was no smile at all.
"…The north wind still hasn't stopped."
His mouth definitely moved to form those words.
The scene was clearly recorded by the surveillance camera.
A few days later.
The day before his discharge was decided.
Haruto visited the hospital room.
In his hands, a small wooden box.
"Yuuto. There's something I want to give you."
Haruto's voice was calm.
His usual sun-like smile hadn't returned yet.
But there was firm resolve in it.
The box was placed gently on Yuuto's bed.
Yuuto slowly opened it.
Inside was—
A glinting metal ring.
A small gear, worn down from heavy use.
A chainring.
"A Minase South tradition. Something retiring third-years pass on to their kouhai."
Haruto looked straight at Yuuto.
"But I… I'm not quitting racing yet."
"Senpai…"
"So I'm leaving this with you. I want you to hold onto it for me. And… you have to come return it to me. No matter what."
Haruto declared it with force.
"I will absolutely never quit racing. And… I will definitely find out who's behind this incident. I will never forgive the people who hurt you."
His burning brown eyes made Yuuto's chest swell with emotion.
"…Yeah."
Yuuto gripped the box with the chainring tightly.
The cold of the metal seeped into his palm.
But that coldness felt like it hardened his own resolve even further.
"Once rehab is done, I'll definitely ride with you again, senpai. And… this time, I'll be the one pulling you forward."
They exchanged a firm handshake once more.
At that moment—
Knock, knock.
"Coming in."
Koga entered, expressionless as always.
In his hand, a single document.
"I obtained information from the police. Internal documents."
He spoke flatly.
"The organization's name is Nordwind. German for 'north wind.' It's highly likely they're involved not just in high school road racing, but in other amateur sports as well. Kurosaki is… merely the tip of the iceberg."
A heavy silence fell over the room.
Haruto clenched his fist.
"…North wind, huh. But no wind blows forever."
Yuuto nodded too.
"Yeah. We'll stop it."
The three of them exchanged glances.
Their positions were different.
Different schools, different years, different roles.
But the enemy they had to fight now was the same.
Koga put away the document and looked out the window.
"I will pursue the organization in my own way. You two fight in yours. I'll share information."
Saying just that, he turned his back.
"Heal quickly. Sakamachi Yuuto. Without you, I can't settle things with Shinkai Haruto."
That was his way of giving the greatest encouragement.
After Koga left, Haruto laughed quietly.
"…In his own way, he's worried about you."
"…Yeah."
The sunset dyed the hospital room window orange.
The blue sky of Shizuhara Plateau had now turned into a burning red and purple.
But.
Beyond that sky lay the dark shadow of an unseen enemy.
The north wind still hadn't stopped.
Yuuto stared at the small box in his hands.
The worn-down chainring.
Proof of the time and passion Haruto-senpai had accumulated.
"…I'll definitely come return it."
Yuuto swore it firmly.
Their quiet battle was now beginning.
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