Tatsuya Bungo

Tatsuya Bungo is Takaharu's closest friend from middle school and a formidable rival on the track. Driven by relentless effort and raw passion, he pours everything into every race. Yet it is precisely his inability to hide his heartbreak after a defeat—the tears and frustration laid bare for all to see—that sets a fateful chain of events in motion. Witnessing Tatsuya's anguish, the more gifted Takaharu quietly begins suppressing his own abilities to protect his friend's pride, unknowingly sowing the seeds of a mysterious ailment. Tatsuya thus stands at the very heart of the psychological conflict that defines Takaharu's arc.