Dear viewers, feast your eyes upon this ultimate super-lightweight machine.
This state-of-the-art aerofoil able to convert even a crosswind to a forward thrust...
This saddle of pure molded carbon-fiber with no synthetic leather...
This pursuit of function and form that has merged into a single work of art.
It goes without saying that to obtain such a machine required much sacrifice.
Ignoring my studies, laboring at part-time jobs,
sparing not a second for anything other than my time on the bike...
I risked it all to obtain this machine.
But this weekend is the Shimanami Cup.
My win there is almost guaranteed.
And at the end of my winning run I'll finally be greeted by that rose-colored campus life!
Sorry, can you bring it up? It's open...
I am prepared for any contingency.
This lock is unbreakable, save for using a hydraulic cutter...
W-Wait!
That's my bicycle!
Don't steal away my two years!
Give it back!
And just like that, the crystallization of my past two years goes down the drain.
They are called the Cheery Cycle Cleanup Corps.
A mysterious autonomous circle that regulates illegal bicycle parking.
At first they were a group staffed by volunteers
diligently giving their time to maintain the campus,
but in recent years they've taken on a strange look,
and forcibly remove any bicycle just a tad outside the designated area...
And those bicycles are never to be seen again.
The rumors are that they end up at bicycle rental shops around Kyoto,
or are transported across the Sea of Japan and sold to that country in the north.
Lately they've expanded their influence beyond the campus to the entire city of Kyoto,
so one cannot let down one's guard even when venturing off-campus.
"Watch out for this guy!"
"Never forgive! Cycle Cleanup Corps"
They are the hated enemy of all Kyoto college students,
and a threat to our peaceful daily lives.
Why has such a thing happened to me?
It is necessary for me to question the one responsible.
Who is responsible for this?
Then I was a brand-spanking new freshman university student
and before my eyes were innumerable open doors to that rose-colored campus life.
However, ever since I learned I'd passed the entrance exam
my heart had already been set on the allure of a single circle.
And that circle's name is...
"Cycling Club Soleil"
There lay my future of pure, sparking gold.
Together with the raven-haired maidens in love rendezvous' fierce contest.
If the situation called for it, I'd even be willing to let them ride sitting behind me!
...is what I, an idiot beyond all redemption, had thought.
Icarus's wings were made of hardened wax melted after he single-mindedly flew straight toward the sun.
And I in pursuit of that rose-colored campus life was indeed no different,
for the Cycling Club was a club in name only; it was more like a hard-core cycling team.
I was cast quickly into despair,
and before my feet was a creature with a face like a fish-man just risen from the sea.
You fiend! Sink back into the ocean!
You say some pretty mean things.
I am your compatriot!
That was my first contact with Ozu, as well as worst contact.
I wonder what they find fun about rotating their legs so fast they wear away the cartilage?
Let's do something more fun!
Hey.
Let's go on a run.
Right!
Even if you resist it, there's no escaping your fate!
Training was as harsh as you could imagine.
But it was with the belief that I could overcome the suffering
and reach my rose-colored future that I turned the pedals.
In the world of "roadies," only the fast are recognized and praised.
Speed is king! Speed is cool!
In high school I didn't belong to any sports clubs.
In fact, I did as few activities as possible
and just stayed cooped up with a bunch of other layabout guys.
So a full-blown athletic team was far too heavy a burden for me to bear.
Even attempting to train,
with my feeble constitution there was no certainty of improvement to begin with,
and of course there was no way I'd place well in any competition.
And so I shuffled along, wasting my freshman year.
As usual all you're eating is chicken like a damn fool.
Shut up, this is the best source of protein!
My, my... Must be a struggle for a poor fellow like you.
Instead of chicken, how about letting me eat some salted tongue with green onions?
How 'bout you eat some of this!
Ozu never showed his face in the circle, but he'd frequently show up in my room.
"Don't be such a picky eater!"
"Eat it!"
Why? Because someone called Ozu's "Master" lives on the second floor
of this boarding house, and it seems Ozu comes to visit him.
I surmised he was probably a master at telling lewd jokes or something.
Your eyebrows are raised.
Why so tense?
Shut up! I have no interest in wasting my time like you!
How cruel. I put a lot of effort into enjoying wasting my college years.
And you have no right to criticize me on that front.
Go home!
Don't hold me back!
God damn him...
"Bicycle Club"
What's this?
In there was a cornucopia of information about all possible kinds of aerodynamic bicycle parts.
I have no physical strength.
Therefore, how about I do battle with the specs of my bicycle?
Was it not a path of escape, even for a weak person such as myself?
Having seen the light, in my second year I embarked on a complete change of course.
Thinking back on it now, it was only the beginning of yet greater unhappiness.
To get your hands on a good bicycle takes money.
A reduction of a mere 1 or 2 grams requires an immense amount of funds.
Replacing the wheels, tires, and shoes with lighter versions...
The handlebar, the stem, a compact crank...
For me to obtain a somewhat decent bicycle,
I left my studies to the side and dove into every part-time job there was,
even dabbling in some illegal work.
I became nothing more than a saving fiend.
And finally in the winter of my second year, taking loans from my friends and acquaintances,
I got my hands on the full-spec machine I had been dreaming of.
What lightness!
This bike is, indeed, my wings!
I felt that I could fly anywhere with her!
Of course I had already heard the rumors of the Cheerful Cleanup Corps,
so I took extreme caution.
I was so enamored with my new bicycle I'd take her out with me wherever I went.
Sorry about this, Manami.
I had only let my guard down for a second.
I hadn't expected the Cleanup Corps to go to such lengths.
I would never see my beloved wheels again.
Is this who I am now?
In the two years I have left, will I stay such a weakling?
I could not shut my eyes from that reality.
But nor could I stand to look on it.
Manami!
Have you gone nuts?
No. On the contrary, I have seen the error of my ways.
I had lost sight of something important.
Bought two years ago at the university co-op,
my Manami had been with me through all my joys and sorrows.
I, once mad with visions of road bikes, would no longer be led astray.
Manami is for me, my true life-partner!
But fate soon tore Manami and I apart.
"Shimanami Cup"
Manami... Have you seen my Manami?
Nope.
I didn't even consider it,
but it seems Manami was not considered a participating bike
and was transported to the finish area by mistake.
By the time I figured that out, a great deal of time had passed,
so I started the race four hours late and it was already after lunch.
The Shimanami Cup goes from Onomichi to Shikoku, crossing the bridges from island to island.
After crossing one bridge,
you run along the coastline of the island, then climb up onto another bridge.
In other words, it's a strenuous up-down course.
Manami, why must you be so heavy?
I wonder where all the other racers are?
Or wait, is the race even still going on?
Excuse me!
What? There's still people out there?
We don't need any entertainment.
Even though my only goal now was to stay on the course,
as night fell I began to lose sight of the course indicators.
For what reason was I racing?
For what reason did I even go to college?
Manami? What the hell!
It's just a cheap-ass basket-bike!
Continuing with the news.
Today in Hiroshima prefecture, the 10th annual Shimanami Cup was held in Onomichi city.
The 240 participants put on a fierce race,
and the winner with a splendid victory was Kyoto's Higuchi-san.
That's the crystallization of my past two years!
"I worked hard for this day.
It has to be!
I'm very happy I could be victorious for my disciple who always cheered me on," he said.
Enough, enough! I'm going home!
Where had all this energy I'd expended the whole time vanished to?
This violates the conservation of energy!
Does not compute!
Is this not a blasphemy of modern physics?
While I was thinking of such things, morning dawned, then night fell,
then morning again, then night, and when I came to, I had reached Kyamachi.
Your face is a face of extreme impatience... You are unsatisfied.
I can sense your fiercely earnest talent.
Quickly I did tip my hat to the old woman's keen insight.
Anyways, I sense there is an opportunity you can't let pass by.
Opportunity?
This opportunity is always dangling in front of your eyes.
Please grab it.
That'll be 3,000 yen.
You raised the prices again? And damn that was quick!
It seemed that I had somehow fallen into the sea of worthlessness.
Or perhaps I had never even taken off to begin with.
In the end I was fated to waste away my college life just as Ozu had said.
I apologize for abducting you like this.
I'm taking you to my circle's shack.
We have a serious favor to ask you, Senpai.
Akashi-san?
Akashi-san was a student in the engineering department one year below me.
The previous year she was the sole female member registered to Soleil,
and amazingly won the overall victory at a road race held in Keage.
What are you going to use the prize money for?
There's no reason for me to answer that.
She had sturdy legs and an air that didn't let others get near her,
but she had no real interest in races and quit Soleil.
She invested all the prize money in her current circle, it seems.
Here.
I apologize for the shady look of the place.
I've brought him.
You? You're the dropout from Soleil?
R-Right...
This is our club president.
I see, you really do have a feeble body.
You're exactly the kind of man perfect to become a bird.
Become a bird?
Welcome to our Birdman Team!
Weight, 59 kilograms.
Chest, 80 centimeters.
Waist, 70 centimeters.
Indeed, you have the ideal body.
What in the world is this?
Akashi-kun is our star engineer, see.
And she seems to be interested in you.
We have the airframe almost completed, as you can see.
But no one in the team is suitable to pilot it.
You don't have to do anything in particular.
So will you pilot it, with that perfect body you have right now?
You're going to get in that plane.
But I'm a complete weakling. I even dropped out from Soleil...
Exactly!
We need our pilot to be as frail as possible!
Well, that's not all, but you are definitely our ideal pilot.
There is no special training you will need.
Simply come to the competition as you are now.
Just take care of your body so you don't get the flu, okay?
What a sudden development.
It did feel a bit like I was forced into it,
and isn't this just a nice way of saying "you're a stone falling into a lake"?
The Birdman contest is a cruel game where you pedal and pedal
until you inevitably drop into the sea.
In other words, it didn't have to be me; it could have been anyone.
And isn't it really scary to head straight into the sea from such a height?
It's unbearable! I can't take losing anymore!
It was spring of last year, during the road race on Keage.
I had taken off with a good speed at first,
but I immediately got winded, and was staring up at the canal incline.
The power plant over there is quite wonderful.
It's full of dubious machines, and stirs up my heart.
And it's especially lovely during sakura season.
Akashi-san, shouldn't you be in a hurry?
Aren't you the favorite to win the women's race?
Yes, I am.
Then, I'll be off.
The sakura are very nice.
And so Akashi-san won not only the woman's race, but the overall victory.
Back then I saw dangling from Akashi-san, the Mochiguman.
They come in sets of five, so it seemed like she had lost one.
Afterwards I came across it, and had continuously forgotten to return it till today.
This opportunity is always dangling in front of your eyes.
This body has already crashed once.
Falling is something I have firsthand knowledge of.
All I need to do is grit my teeth and launch with a shout.
And then Akashi-san will surely come to me after I've fallen, with a smile on her face.
Then afterwards, I'll sit behind Akashi-san as she rides up the sakura-lined incline!
Wait! Can I allow myself to be addled by such feelings?
Your dreams shouldn't be so flimsy, weak, and limp noodled!
Is it really okay to lower my future to such a shameless fate?
To no longer shoot for the sun, but to live lazily on the ground? How is that Icarus?
I'd just be some kid with ugly-ass wings!
Wavering in the gap between reality and fantasy,
exhausted by the tumultuous developments of the past few days
and my no-rest, no-sleep return from Shikoku,
I fell to sleep like a sack of potatoes.
Can you keep up with me?
This man is named Jougasaki, and is president of the Move Circle "Misogi".
He's a man that lives for working out and women's boobs.
And I asked him to teach me.
That's right, I'd made my decision!
I'd fly farther than anyone, higher than anyone!
And on the dawn of my victory,
Akashi-san will be sitting on the back of Minami as we ride up the sakura-lined incline!
Listen up. Victory is everything.
I will not allow you to run from a battle and live aloof like that Higuchi guy!
If you're a man, then grab victory!
Grab victory, and grab women's tits!
Jougasaki-senpai's teachings were actually pretty clear-cut,
and my motivation rose to higher and higher levels.
The Birdman contest was even televised, and the place for the circle to shine.
If I won, then I would no doubt gain the attention
of raven-haired maiden from all around Kyoto.
I bet I'd need to broaden my field of vision to other women than just Akashi-san.
But that is a trial all winners must face!
Being the hero sure is tough!
What have you done?!
I said you were fine the way you were!
But now you've got muscles!
Everything's ruined!
But...
Akashi-kun's plane is designed with extremely sensitive aviation tolerances!
Even a 10-gram difference in the pilot would mean redoing the entire blueprint!
Ruined! It's all ruined!
Enough! Akashi-kun, you be the pilot after all!
You and your muscles can get out of here!
And I already had my hands full thinking up countermeasures to the Cleanup Corps!
Get out of here, now!
Akashi-kun, you hurry back to work, too!
I apologize for getting you involved in this weird stuff.
I apologize too, for not living up to your expectations.
No, actually the problem was that you far surpassed them.
Birdman is, after all, an absurd goal that goes against the reason of man.
That's why I was thinking that the pilot should be a person
with a soul charred by idleness and wasted passion.
I heard that after you finished the Shimanami Cup on a basket-bike,
you came all the way back from Shikoku.
That's an incredible waste of energy!
Uh, that wasn't exactly my intention...
That's why I asked you,
but the idea that you'd go so far as to train didn't figure into my calculations.
I suppose I still have a long way to go.
I apologize, but I have to redo the design now.
See you later.
Before I knew it I had come to the Keage Incline.
I had prayed to come here with Akashi-san,
but now I felt like the rose-colored campus life was slipping yet even farther away,
and my heart wept within me.
Maybe I'd be better off flowing down and trying and make my name
as an Egg-Pumpkin youkai that lives in lake Biwa...
The Cleanup Corps!
The man in the trench coat!
Hey, Ozu!
What the hell are you doing!
Oops, you caught me.
It's you!
Keep it a secret, 'kay?
It's an important source of funds for the Secret Society.
This is Akashi-san's...
We're in recession, so bicycles alone aren't cutting it.
What the hell are you doing?!
A certain person up north is looking for a plane much like this to play with.
It was just going to crash into Lake Biwa anyway, so this is a far better use, right?
And what about my bike?!
You're the one that stole it!
I don't really concern myself with each one individually.
Why not, eh?
It's how I show my love, so grab it while you can.
After all, it doesn't matter which path you take,
you'll keep ending up right where you are now.
Maybe you're right...
Would it be so bad to give yourself up and go with the flow?
We're connected by the black thread of fate, after all.
Will you help me?
You've got debts, right?
Let's go around Kyoto collecting bicycles.
Only if I can aim mainly at couples riding two to a bike.
Sure thing! You do that.
What is it?
I guess the jig's up.
Looks like Akashi-san is coming.
Don't tell anyone about the Cleanup Corps, okay?
Might be bad for your health....
Hey!
What the hell?
It's the trench coat man from the Cycle Cleanup Corps!
N-No! That's not it! Akashi-san, this is a misunderstanding!
I didn't do it, The Cheery Cycle Cleanup Corps are actually...
What is the meaning of this?
Explain it to me now!
You've got it all wrong!
Senpai!
Senpai, where are the brakes?
I don't know!
Senpai...
Jump off!
At this rate I'll crash into the pond.
I have no choice but to try pedaling and fly!
Now's the time for my training to pay off!
It's flying!
Where are the pedals?
Akashi-san, where are the pedals?
There aren't any!
We're in the free-flying category!
It finally dawned on me
that this was all a truly wasted effort.
Perhaps this all started from the moment I considered the cycling club.
If I had joined some other circle, I would have surely spent quite a different two years.
Meeting Ozu was clearly the greatest catastrophe.
Could Icarus have ridden the wind had he not tried to so hard to flap his wings?