***

"Two bodies, one heart" 

***

Hibiya's eye twitches. Why, oh, why is he and Kagati seated with these... children? Kagari would argue they're actually months younger but doesn't matter. What matter is--"You stay away from Kagari," he threatens Kadowaki who's conversation with Kagari was interrupted.

"Hibi-chan!" Kagari berates her twin, nudging his chin that is on her shoulder. "Don't be rude to Kadowaki-kun."

'He's the rude one! Joining us out of nowhere.' Hibiya is still bitter about the fact that he has to share his lunch period with this crossdresser and kusomegane. He could be enjoying his meal without wanting to take a shit on their faces!

What frustrates him more is that Kagari seems to like their company. He pouts but doesn't show it. Kagari was fine with just the two of them before. Now...

"I'm going buy bread." Hibiya stands from their spot just outside their classroom. He and Kagari liked eating by the trees. Makes them feel they're still at the countryside.

"Okay, we'll be here!" Kagari shouts after his retreating figure. She, together with Kadowaki and Kohinata, stare at Hibiya.

"I think I'm gonna join him." Kohinata stands up, leaving Kagari and Kadowaki alone.

"I wonder if Hibi-chan hates us," Kadowaki asks out loud.

"He doesn't," Kagari answers on her twin's behalf. She firmly believes Hibiya isn't that type to hate people. "Hibi-chan just--He needs time to warm-up to people." Is her explanation.

"I see." Kadowaki nods in understanding. He offers a comforting smile. "We're willing to give him time, Kagari-san. We're in no rush to."

Kagari beams. "Thank you," she gushes out warmly. "Really, thank you. That means so much to me and my brother." She's getting teary-eyed. Kadowaki panics internally. He was never trained to deal with a crying girl so he tries his best to cheer her up. 

"I-It's no problem! Hibi-chan's our friend after all!" Kadowaki assures, handing her his handkerchief. It got Kagari bawling.

"H-Hibi-chan has city friends now!" Kagari mewls, blowing out her snot.

"K-Kagari-san please stop crying! Hibi-chan will kill me!" 

*

"Tsk." 

'Three.'  Kohinata secretly counts the times Hibiya clicks his tongue as they wait for their turn at the cafeteria stall. They awkwardly stand beside each other, neither of them know how to open up a conversation. It made Hibiya sigh deeply. "Why me..." he whines to himself. 

Kohinata's ears perk up. "What was that, Hibiya-kun?" he asks, hopeful that Hibiya initiated a talk. 

"Nothing." Hibiya brushes him off and looks away. Kohinata deflates. Here he is, hoping he and Hibiya would get the chance to talk after... that. Hibiya can't seem to look at him properly now. 'He's a guy. A guy!' 

"Hibiya-kun..." Kohinata sweats drop, watching the guy ruffle his hair in frustration. He points to the lunch lady. "We're up next." he points out. 

The two quickly buy bread and scurry back to their lunch spot, to escape the uncomfortable air between them. Once they got back, Kadowaki had successfully made Kagari stop crying. "Ah, Hozumi-san, Hibi-chan." he smiles at them. Hibiya only gives a glare... and of course, clicking his tongue. 

"Hibi-chan!" Kagari berates him. 

"Whatever." he huffs and sits next to Kagari closely. He eyes Kadowaki and Kohinata, who, intelligently enough, gave a safe distance to Kagari. 

"I don't know why you don't like them. Kohinata-kun and Kadowaki-kun are nice people." Kagari sighs dispiritedly. "I'm really sorry about him." 

"It's fine, Kagari-san. Don't worry about it," Kohinata assures. "Though, I have to ask..." he sets his eyes on Hibiya, who's busy chomping on his bread. "Hibiya-kun, are you interested in joining the Stride Club?" 

Hibiya chews on his bread as if he hasn't heard a single thing from Kohinata. The latter patiently wait for his response. He swallows his food. "No." Is his definite answer. "I'm not joining." 

"But Hibi-chan!" Kagari protests, eyebrows furrowed.

"I'm not interested." Is Hibiya's resolve before he makes his leave. 

"Hibi-chan!" Kagari reaches out a hand but her brother's already at a distance. Kagari hangs her head low. "Why..." 

The two Stride Club members stare at Kagari in concern. "It's okay, Kagari-san. Let's not force Hibi-chan," Kadowaki comforts her. Kohinata has a determined look on his face that gets his clubmate worried. Nothing good happens whenever Kohinata has that expression.

*

Classes resume like always, and Kagari wasn't able to talk to her twin about the Stride Club. They went on with their day without even exchanging words from each other. By the end of their last period, Hibiya came clinging onto Kagari like a baby koala.

"Kagari... I'm sorry..." he wails, arms wrapped around his sister's arm. 

"H-Hibi-chan..." Kagari blushes as their classmates walk pass them, stares directed at them. "C'mon, let go already. Everyone's staring." she removes Hibiya's arms off of her. 

"Kagari-san, Hibi-chan!" Kadowaki approaches the twins, with Kohinata. "We're going to our club now. So I guess we'll see you tomorrow?" 

Kagari nods. "Un! See you, Kadowaki-kun, Kohinata-ku--" 

"OI!" Hibiya is shocked when Kohinata swoops in and steals his bag away from him. He stretches his hand to retrieve his belonging but the Stride Club regular is too swift from him and dodges his limb. 

Kohinata dashes off in full speed, and without explanation as to why he went theft on Hibiya. "Kohinata-kun?!" Kagari shrieks and feels a gust of wind, causing her to close her eyes. When she opens them, her twin brother is gone, and she feels a storm brewing. "Hibi-chan..." 

"What-" Kadowaki chokes and heads for the windows where he sees Kohinata and Hibiya on a high-speed chase. "Kohinata-san?!" 

"What-" Kagari joins him there and looks for her twin. "Hibi-chan!" 

Hibiya is chasing Kohinata, and has no plans of slowing down. On the other hand, The Trickster of Honan is taking advantage of his parkour abilities to outrun Hibiya, who, apparently, is a faster runner than him. 'His track club practices must be hell.' Kohinata notes to himself, acknowledging Hibiya's skill of running. 

Kadowaki and Kagari run off to the Stride Club to report what's happening, only to be beaten by Yagami and Fujiwara, who's already telling their Captain and Coach about the "race" they just witnessed. "They strided right past me! And I completely understood what Fujiwara meant when he said racing with Hibiya-senpai is like experiencing a monsoon!" 

"I was chasing him though..." Fujiwara side-comments. 

"H-Heath-senpai!" Kagari steps in with a worried look. "W-What should we do? Kohinata-kun suddenly took Hibi-chan's bag and ran... I don't know what he's planning." she places a hand on her chest. 

Kadowaki is immediately by her side to soothe her. "I-I'm sure Kohinata-san has his reasons!" 

"Maybe he wants to experience it," Fujiwara speaks up. Everyone turns to him. "The monsoon." Yagami gapes at him while the others settle for a look of sheer fascination. 

"Man, he's got guts to test Hibiya like that. I'm pretty sure all of us got the message that Hibiya doesn't like us. So I gotta applaud Kohinata for stealing from him despite that." Heath laughs. 

"I'm curious as well," Kuga says. Kagari glances at him, meeting his intense grey eyes. "I'm going to see what's happening." 

"Me too!" Yagami volunteers. 

"Same here!" Sakurai raises her hand. 

"Guess we're all going then," Heath decides and looks at Kagari. "How about you, Ms. Congeniality?" 

"I'll come!" she proclaims. 

"We better hurry then. They might go off campus." Kuga is the first one to exit the room. 

"We don't know where they are though," Kadowaki points out. 

"I think we do," Kagari corrects him. "Kohinata-kun is the one leading the chase. And from what Kadowaki-kun and I saw, Hibi-chan is much faster than him." 

"Hibiya's faster...?" Heath gapes. "Then..." 

"Then Kohinata-san must've led him to where there are a lot of parkour spots to outrun him!" Kadowaki concludes, earning a nod of approval from Kagari. "Where though? There are a lot in school." 

"Well, they headed west from our classroom so..." Kagari trails off, and slowly, Kadowaki's face lits up. 

"THE SPORTS FACILITIES!" 

*

"YOU'RE JUMPING TOO MUCH!" Hibiya hollers after Kohinata, who did another parkour at one of the stairs near the indoor gym. The latter stops there and just eyes Hibiya from above. "Damn it..." Hibiya catches his breath and leans over his knees. 

"Here." Kohinata drops Hibiya's bag at him. 

"What?!" Hibiya gets hit at the face, causing him to fall down. "What the-" he glares at Kohinata. "What the hell was that?!" 

Kohinata smiles. "Takeru-kun was right. A wind in reverse. I don't think I could've outran you if it weren't for my skill in parkour," he says. 

"What?" Hibiya has his 'wtf' expression. "What the-" 

"Hibi-chan!" Kagari enters the scene with the rest of the Stride Club. They were able to catch a glimpse of the chase when they took the shortcut to get there. 

"Kohinata!" Heath calls from below. "You've got some explaining to do!" 

"Geh!" Kohinata shivers and hides behind the railings. "Ayumu-kun... why did he have to go to the Captain?!" 

"What the fuck is happening." Hibiya grumbles, looking so done with the Stride Club. "THE HECK ARE YOU STEALING MY BAG FOR?! YOU-YOU--YOU WOMAN IMPOSTOR!" 

"Who are you calling 'Woman Impostor'?!" Kohinata yells, offended. 

"Alright, stop it. Let's head back to the clubroom to get some practice done." Heath orders his team. "Kagari, Hibiya, let me apologize for Kohinata's behavior. I'm sorry we troubled you two." 

"You bet you are. I'm going to beat her into a pulp!" Hibiya exclaims. 

"Don't do that! And he's a guy!" Kagari karate chops his head. 

"Ow! Kagari!" 

"Look!" Kohinata comes down from his hiding spot and tries to explain himself. "Hibiya-kun, you're made for running. And I know that because I just raced you. I'm pretty good at persuading people to join the Stride Club." Kadowaki hides a chuckle at that. 

"So believe me when I say, I'm going to make you sign this application form and join the Stride Team!"

Hibiya stares at Kohinata, all bewildered. "What is up with you wanting to recruit me?!" 

"Because! A guy like you belongs to the Stride Team! I firmly believe that!" 

"What?!" 

"I do too," Kuga agrees as well. Kohinata beams at him. "We'd be lucky to have you on the team." 

Heath looks between Kohinata, Kuga and Hibiya. He, too, doesn't know what's up with his teammates wanting Hibiya on the team, but he's not against it. Kadowaki, on the other hand, has future plans for Hibiya. In the shogi team of course. 

"It'd be good for you, Hibi-chan," Kagari encourages, clasping Hibiya's arm. She gives him a cajoling smile. "You like running, don't you? You told me it makes you feel free." 

Hibiya looks at her reluctantly. What she said is true, but... "I--You--Kagari--" he sighs. "What about you?" 

Kagari tilts her head in confusion. "Me?" 

"Don't you want to join a club? It's always me joining one, and that's the reason you can't because one of us has to always be at home. I--" Hibiya pauses. "I just thought that--maybe this time, you get to join a club of your own." 

Kagari's eyes widened. "H-Hibi-chan..." The two share a look before it was rudely interrupted by Kadowaki--

"If that's the case, the shogi club is openly accepting members!" he declares. 

Hibiya's Death Glare instantly shoots him down. 

"But I want you to join the Stride Club as well..." 

"Well then." Heath places both hands on his hips. "I'd accept both applications for you two. We really need a manager here." 

Kagari lights up. "Really?" 

"Hibiya-kun!" Kohinata bugs him, pulling out a form and shoving it right at his face. 

"Oh for fu--" Hibiya snatches the paper from him. "Fine, I'll join! But that means Kagari's joining too! No back out! Everybody wins! No complaints or else I'm going to blow up over here! Damn it! Who has a fucking pen!?" 

Kadowaki meekly hands him one. Hibiya furiously fills out the form and slaps it at Kohinata's chest. "I'm out! I'm so done! Fuck it, c'mon Kagari let's go home!" he storms out of the gym, leaving all of them quiet. 

Kagari breaks the silence. "I should inform you that he snaps like that every now and then..." she warns. 

"Don't worry," Heath says. "I think we're already aware of it." And everyone else nods in agreement.