At the Finish Line [Haiji Kiyose] - Run With the Wind

thirty-one - "devotion"

Pulling her shoes on and opening the front door, Chiyo pulls the phone away from her ear and checks the time.

"Hisa, I've got to go," She tells her, looking to the guys as they stand by the van outside, waiting for Shindo and the twins.

"Alright, I thought I'd let you know," Hisa says on the other line, crashing coming from the background. "Oh great, I've got one child baking a cake who's spilling mixture everywhere and another child licking and throwing wooden spoons on the floor--"

Before Chiyo can reply, the line goes dead and she furrows her eyebrows, looking down at a blank screen. "Okay, then..."

"What did Hisa say?" Haiji asks her, standing next to the others with his hands on his hips.

She stuffs her phone into her jeans pocket, walking over to the group. "The article is live tonight, we can see it online."

"We'll be famous," King grins.

Haiji tilts his head to the side. "What else did she say? You don't seem right."

Chiyo sighs. "Hayato saw an article with the Governor of Tokyo and it had my dad standing with him in a photo. Something about a charity run event, Hisa couldn't remember."

"Sorry, I don't get it..." Musa looks sheepish. "Is that such a bad thing?"

She shrugs. "It's just that I didn't even know he was in Tokyo and he's at some fancy event. It's typical of him and I didn't want to have to think about it. Sorry, I'm being childish."

Tucking a strand of her hair behind her ear, Haiji shakes his head. "I get it. I'm surprised your mum didn't tell you. She phoned the other day, didn't she?"

Chiyo waves a hand. "Let's forget I mentioned it. The point is, the article is being published later and you're all going to be stars."

The door to the house opens and Shindo sends them all a look. "Haiji, the twins aren't here, I checked their room."

"They must have already gone." Haiji sighs.

"Football?" Chiyo questions, Yuki nodding.

"It's my fault."

They all turn their attention to Kakeru, a solemn look on his face.

"I couldn't answer them the other day and now they think it was all for nothing." He continues. "I thought maybe they'd gotten over it."

Chiyo crosses her arms. "Apparently not."

Yuki shrugs. "You shouldn't blame yourself, Kakeru. They should be grateful they even get to run the race at all."

"But I knew the answer to their question..." Kakeru looks down at the ground. "Yet I hesitated. We're running the Hakone Ekiden together and although we may never win, it's never been about that. Or, it shouldn't have been about that."

"Kakeru..." Musa raises a hand.

Clenching his fists, Kakeru looks up at the group. "Give me five minutes."

Before they can question him, he's off and running out of the driveway and down the street.

King raises an eyebrow. "Should we know where he ran off to?"

"Who knows..." Prince mutters, stroking Nira's head.

Rifling through her pocket, Chiyo holds the car keys in her hand. "Well, we'd better go after him then."

-

Once they drove after Kakeru, who managed to run after the twins quite easily, all 11 of them are on their way to see the Hakone Ekiden course for the first time as a group.