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

thirty-eight - day 2

Sipping her coffee, Chiyo looks out the window, the dark sky above, snow falling and laying thick on the road.

"It's nice."

From opposite her at the table, Yuki looks up from the newspaper. "What?"

She nods to the window. "The snow outside. I know it's not the best circumstances to run, but you can at least appreciate how nice it looks."

"That's not exactly what I'm thinking about right now." Yuki returns to the paper.

She looks away awkwardly. "Sorry, that was insensitive."

He sighs, folding the paper up and placing it on the table. "No, it's fine. It just makes me worry --the snow. My mind is racing."

"Well, that's to be expected..." She raises her eyebrows, looking past him. "Shindo? We didn't expect you to be awake."

Walking over to the table, Shindo smiles beneath his face mask. "Good morning."

Yuki pushes the paper to the side. "You shouldn't be up, go back to sleep."

"I wanted to make sure you're alright, Yuki," He glances out the window. "Did it snow?"

"It'll be fine, Shindo, don't worry." He assures him.

Chiyo smiles at Shindo. "How are you feeling? Do you need anything?"

"Much better, thank you, Chiyo," He nods. "Maybe a vitamin drink would help?"

"I'll go grab you one," She stands up from the booth, walking over to the vending machine with change in her hand.

Yuki stands up too. "I'm going to go for a run since it's still early."

"I'll join you outside," Shindo tells him.

-

After the staggered start to the race two hours later and Kansei starting with the second half of the schools, Yuki has been going at a record pace --although possibly too quickly in the cold conditions.

"Wow, -2°C? No wonder it's snowed so much." Chiyo comments.

Tazaki hangs up the phone. "He doesn't have anything to say to Yuki at the moment. He said that Kakeru fears Yuki's going too quickly but Haiji trusts him."

With the rules stating that coaches aren't allowed to join the runners until the end of the 6th leg, they drive down the other side of the mountain in a long queue of vans. They drive down the opposite side of the Hakone mountain that Shindo ran up yesterday --Yuki running downhill now-- but this time there's much more snow on the ground.

"How fast is he going?" She asks.

"Around 2:45 every km for the last 5km." The Official tells her.

She raises an eyebrow, clueless. "Is that fast?"

"He's keeping good time, but it's hard to slow yourself down once you go fast downhill," Tazaki explains. "It's a tricky thing, downhill racing. It takes brains and calculations--"

"--which is probably why Haiji chose Yuki to run it." Chiyo nods. "Haiji did say it takes guts to run down the hill."

The driver speaks up. "You've got to be confident."

-

How fast am I going? Is this a good pace?

Yuki glances down at his watch, his breath fogging in the cold air.

I'd never run this fast on flat ground --he thinks to himself. But I'm making good time.

The bitter wind grazes his skin and the cold ground feels as if it's penetrating through his trainers. Inhaling deeply through his nose and exhaling through his mouth, Yuki controls his breathing and clears his mind.