I just sat down, watching their relations repeatedly fail. Their last relation of the day didn't connect and Takeru and Riku started arguing about how Takeru didn't touch properly, well, not until Nana got there which caused Riku to blame himself and apologize.

"It's getting dark- Let's call it a day" Riku said. "I'm going to run a little more" says Takeru as he jogged away. "I don't get it... It's like, this is beyond 'love'... How can he be so... He's almost like...Tomoe..."

~*~

Riku and Takeru was practicing their relations. 'How about the relations with other teammates, they're too focused on their selves...' I thought, when I was about to sigh, I heard a crash, so I quickly made my way to where it came form... Riku and Takeru crashed onto each other, Takeru quickly stood up while Riku was still laying on the ground. Kohinata, Heath and then Takeru looked at Riku waiting for him to open his eyes.

"Huh?... Man I suck! That was super lame!" cried Riku as soon as he caught up with things. As soon as he heard his name being called by Nana, he immediately stood up

"Sorry, sorry! I messed up but I'm fine!" Nana was relieved to hear that.

"Takeru-" before I could even fully ask, he answered;

"Of course, I'm fine" he says without hesitation as he gives Riku's fallen earpiece

"I'm sorry, I was too early this time..." Nana apologized

"Nana, that was good!" I said happily to her and she looked at me cluelessly

"Riku, don't hold back, use your top speed! That's what Takeru's waiting for!" I exclaimed using my fingers as illustrations while Riku flinched a little.

"Don't hesitate. We can do it. We can pull off the Relation that Sakurai envisions." Takeru explained while I nodded behind him.

"Weird, huh?" Heath sat down

"The other day, they pulled off the most incredible Relation ever."

"Donge Ichigen."

"If the results are not repeatable, then that Relation is nothing more than a coincidence." Explained Dan-sensei

"We will stop practicing Relations between Yagami and Fujiwara for a while." He instructed. Then I got his point

"Ohh! I get what Dan-sensei is saying! When one of you is Relationing with another member, the other will watch closely" I explained

"What does that mean?" Riku still asked

"Do it and you will understand" said Dan-sensei then his gaze went to Heath. "The stride Club is back in action." Dan-sensei presented an application of some competition.

"The Kichijoji Spring Stride Festival, at the end of this month. It's an exhibition that won't effect future trials and tours... But when we play, we play to win"

"Wow! A match" Exclaimed Kohinata as he read the paper while Ayumu and Takeru behind them.

"A bona fide match!" The green haired shouji-lover happily said (Bona Fide meaning genuine; real)

"What's his...role?" asked Riku to the higher graders.

"Oh? Dan-sensei? He's the Stride Club adviser and coach" Kohinata answered

"EHHHH?!" We first-years exclaimed, except Takeru.

~*~

I watched Kohinata and Takeru practice their relation but, unfortunatley, Takeru had overtaken Kohinata as he struggeled to catch up to Takeru.

"What the?! Takeru, too fast!" Hozumi yelled as he tried to go faster.

"He over-took him..." I whispered to myself. "Too fast!" compalined Kohinata. I was going to Riku to ask him to practice with me but he was there.

"Aren't you running?" the guy asked Riku

"Oh, um, this is a kind of practice too, and..." Riku ran short on words

"I see... You're waiting for the wind. When you feel the wind, don't hesitate. Stand up and start running. If you can do that, the wind will help you." he said

"The wind?" Riku still fell clueless

"Your name?" he guy asked

"Um, me? I'm Yagami Riku..." Riku answered

"So you're..."

"Yo, Kyosuke" greeted Heath while I still watched behind the scenes

"How's everything?" he asked

"Not too bad" replied Heath

"I see..." with that Kyosuke walked away from them, while I stood there as he passed by me, he..... rubbed my hair while he was walking away I told him;

"You're still on and on about that weird wind thing!" I told him as he stopped for a short time as he gave me a small smile while I gave a smile back and stood there until he was gone from my vision.

"Shun, race." Takeru suddenly stated from behind me, so I jumped from surprise.

"Okay, challenge accepted." I said as I went to the track 'It wouldn't hurt if it's just one run...'

"This is not a challenge, I just want to see how fast you are" he told me as we positioned our selves as we heard the words 'Ready.' and 'Set.'

"Sure, whatever you call it." I said just secnds before the 'go' signal and ran normally, I was a few milliseconds behind Takeru but once I neared the finish line I started accelarating with my top speed and turned the tables, I took the lead and kept running until the finish line. I catched my breath as I placed my hands on my knees for support.

"H-how did you...?" Riku stammered. "Do what?" I asked

"Y-you beat Fujiwara!" Riku finished his sentence.

~*~

"The sponsor is still an issue..." Heath said as he sighed, while I was fixing my bag.

"Sponsor?" Me and Nana simutainuosly asked

"Official Stride matches takes place on the streets. Course setup and Travel costs and so on are too much for a school club to pay." explained Kadowaki

"I see... But can't you ask a previous sponsor?" Nana asked

"Unfortunately, they are now sponsoring a different school. One school per sponsor. It's a Fubun Ritsu." Dan-sensei answered.

"On the other hand, a school can have as many sponsors as it needs." Kadowaki added as he held up a magazine with Saisei Academy as the cover

"I be Saisei Highschool gets the big bucks!" Kohinata commented

"Saisei is famous for having celebrity students... We should start offf by gaining fame in the world of shouji!!" Ayumu suggested, all fired up by his own idea

"Is Shouji good advetisment?" Nana asked. "A little bland, maybe?" Riku commented. "I will not play Shouji." Takeru refused.

"Oh, triple shut down..." Ayumu fainted on the floor

"Don't you have any other leads?" I asked Kohinata

"If we didn't have KGB..." Ayumu complained, I fell silent.

"KGB?" Asked Nana. "What's that?" Riku also asked

"Let me explain! KGB stands for-" Kohinata had stabbed Ayumu with his kitten paw gloves.

"Kadowaki-senpai?!" the other first-years got worried while Kohinata acted as a cat by repeatedly saying meow.

"We don't have to talk about that" Heath said

"Ouch... Anyway. Hasekura-san, given the circumstances, perhaps we have no choice but to rely on D's?" said Ayumu then Heath deeply sighed

"D's?"

"D's international, a fashin company. Owns 'Hercules,' 'Aurora,' 'JSTT,' stuff like that" Heath explained surprising Nana and Riku while Takeru stated that he haven't heard about it. "I don't want to go..." complained Heath

"Will they accept if we ask?" Nana asked

"Probrably. Heath's sister runs the company." Kohinata replied

"Runs... Your sister is the president?!" Nana and Riku yell while I looked at Heath, to see him crouching

"D's stands for Diane Hasekura's." Kohinata added while Takeru grabbed Riku and dragged him to the door.

"No, more like D for Demon" Heath says.

"Heath-senpai, we have to go! This are only option left!" I exclaimed

"I really prefer to stay out of this."

"Hasekura. Your opinion is valuable. But..." Dan-sensei says as he stops Takeru from dragging Riku

"Sokudan Sokketsu"

"Ugh, I guess we have no other choice..."

~*~

"Sure. What advisor would apply to join a match without a sponsor?" Diane says while holding up a contract. "A swift desicion!"

"A sponsor contract!" exclaimed the others while I was just surprised, I have a feeling that something bad is going to happen...

"He got us..." Heath says

Anchu Hiyaku.

"But I have one condition. you have to win the Spring Festival at the end of the month. D's brand is only for winners" Diane statedas she patted Heath's head

"Done." Heath replies. "Another swift decision!"

"Oh, and obviously you have to model for us." she added

"I saw this coming." Heath said

"We have to test-shoot some new items today. Get to work poster boys!"

Hankan Kiniku.

~*~

We got to the studio and Takeru was the first one. While I sat down watching Takeru model.

"Quite a leap from the jerseys." Heath says

"Fujiwara, you look super good!" Nana compliments

"I'm no model." The said person states

"If you really don't want to..."

"I don't mind." Takeru swiftly replies

"He doesn't?!" Ayumu and Kohinata shouted while me? I just tried to escape from the studio, as if karma loves me so much, I heard my name being called by Kohinata and Ayumu, while I gulped and tried to make a run for it but before I could even run they had held me like I was a prisoner.

"Heath's Nee-san was looking for you" Kohinata says while Ayumu called Ms. Hasekura telling her that they found me.

"I'll take it from here" she told them and dragged me to the dressing room. She gave me a suit.

I came out and she fixed my clothes for a second and pushed me out of the dressing room to the photo shooting area. The photographer told me just to give a soft smile, I just followed what they told me and gave a soft smile. I really didn't know how to model and Kohinata noticed this and thought for a moment, told Ayumu and started to do random things, and did funny model poses. I could contain my laughter at first but now I couldn't and started to laugh.

When I started to go back to normal, I noticed that everyone went silent. "Is there something wrong?" I asked

"Ichinose-san's laugh..." Nana started

"It's so cute!!" Nana, Riku, Kohinata and Ayumu commented

"It's like an angel!" Ayumu added while I started blushing in embarrasment and quickly went back to the dressing room to change back. While I was changing one thought had gone in my mind 'Did they take pictures of that?!' I panicked.

It was Heath's turn, he was actually good at modeling. He looked like a professional but then Heath's sister started to show pictures of Heath when he was young so I was dragged there by Kohinata and Ayumu. "This is Heath's first model photo"

"He's so cute!"

"An angel!'

"Seriously an angel!" compliments kept coming in while Heath told his sister to stop showing photos of him

"You can't scare us with your model face!" said Kadowaki then Ms. Hasekura showed another photo she said was from two years ago. I noticed that Riku tensed up

"Aniki?" Riku said

"Huh? Are you Yagami's little brother?" Ms. Hasekura asked then I noticed that Riku wasn't comfortable talking about his brother. After Heath was finally done, he explained about Tomoe. Nana asked if Riku would ever want to run with his brother again, Riku said that he did but Takeru said that he can't.

"I'm going for a run." Takeru says before leaving, Riku chases after him. I quickly followed behind them. I ran through the hall and I avoided the stairs by jumping by the balcony, as soon as I had seen them I accelarated little by little. While accelerating, I could see a group of people on the way, I couldn't do what Takeru did because Riku was on the way. So I took the risk and used my hands to get me over the car and I flipped over two persons, landing in front of them as by back was facing them.

Once I got up, my gaze was automatically on Riku and I started laughing, I stopped as I heard a small cough, turning to them, I see a group of boys amused.

"Do you know the phrase 'Danger lurks in every corner'?" said the purple haired guy

"'Japan is so small, what's the hurry?' was another one" The pink haired guy added

"I'm sorry!" Riku apologized. "Hey, you two apologize too" he added

"But you're the one who failed your jump!" I told Riku

"Saisei Highschool. Mayuzumi Asuma, Mayuzumi Shizuma and Suwa Reiji, right?" Takeru dictated their names, surprising them all. Reiji picked up Takeru's phone, he askes Shizuma what was the keychain.

"That's Kobe-Tare, the mascot from Kobe." he answered

"I see. Shizuma, you really know everything"

"It's because you keep asking me eveything, Reiji-sama"

"Does this belong to you?" Reiji asks the three of us. I shook my head

"It's mine." Takeru says while Riku and Asuma seem surprised

"I see." He hands Takeru his phone back and then walks the opposite side of the building from where we came from. Hearing that Reiji also wanted Kobe-Tare as a key-chain, he looked back at Takeru and I;

"That wall jump that you two did- it made my heart flutter."

"What's up with their shiny stylish aura?" Riku asked.

"That doesn't matter, in the end, we will win." Takeru said lifting both of his hands. Agreeing me and Riku gave a hive-five. "I think we should go back now, I feel like we need to go there, now!" I say.

Once we reach the studio, the first thing I saw was a blonde girl in a dress walking down the stair-steps. Then my mind had processed everything

"Kohinata-senpai?!!!" I was surprised, he looked like a genuine girl, then he started to get embarrased.

~*~

We practiced one more time the day before the spring tournament. Riku and Takeru were going to try a relation. 'Their gonna make it!' I thought as I watched their relation connect.

"That looked so cool, Riku, Takeru!" I cheered

"I get it now... Fujiwara wanted Riku to bring out his top speed!" Nana said as she ran to the two and they gave each other high-fives. After the practice we were back in the clubroom

"Our opponent for tomorrow's match has been changed." Dan-sensei announces, surprising us all. "Something happened in the event committee. Our first opponent is.... Saisei Academy" he states

"One of the strongest teams in the East Japan for our first match!"

"Saisei? those guys from that other day..." Riku said Takeru stood up and told him;

"No matter who we face, we will win." he says. "I get it now! That's what you were talking about!" Riku said then I nodded energetically.

"That's right, if we lose, we'll have to go back looking for sponsors!" Me and Kohinata states

"Let's get a good wind started tomorrow!" Heath says with his fist on his chest

"Yeah!" The whole team yelled