DISCLAIMER: All trademarked items in this fanfiction is owned by their respected copyright holders (Narcissu by Tomo Kataoka, Wangan Midnight by Michiharu Kusunoki). The ones which are owned by me are merely the plot and the author's thoughts. This fanfic is made solely for entertainment purposes and not intended for any material gain.
Narcissu II: Das Rote Gespenst
Chapter 1: No Rest for the Wicked
Akio sighed for the umpteenth time today. School has just ended for the semester, and the summer vacation is at hand. Due to the private tutoring he received from Ms. Shimada, he managed to squeeze through with barely-average scores in his weakest subjects, Math and Physics. He chuckled softly on that thought; a racer who cannot predict the movement and trajectory of his own car? Well, to Akio, racing has always been something akin to waking up in the summer morning: It's instinctive. Ms. Shimada has always scolded him for that, and further into the tutoring, he finally started to grasp the essential physics behind his own racing. It was enlightening, to say the least.
That's not what the biggest worry he had in mind, though. He can't run, probably for two or three weeks ahead. Devil Z is undergoing repairs for its latest crash, and Ko-chan said that he will reinforce the chassis to better cope with the strain of its monster engine. It will surely not be cheap, either.
With nothing more to do in school, he got up and made his way home.
…
"Oh, Akio," A somewhat unfamiliar voice greeted him.
"Hello, dad," he grunted. "Such a rarity to see you here."
With a non-committal grunt, his father acknowledged the young man. Though they are officially divorced, both of Akio's parents still show up in his apartment sometimes. It has became a sort of neutral ground for the two parents, although the encounter had turned sour a few times too many for Akio's liking.
"I heard you bought a new car," the patriarch replied his son's succinct reply, diverting from the issue. "What's the make?"
"It's a second-hand Nissan S30Z," the son replied. "I got it from a junkyard near here. It's very good, though it's a coupe."
"Can I borrow it sometimes?" the father playfully asked as Akio took a bottled mineral water from the fridge. "I'm going to take your mom on a ride South one of these days…"
"I won't recommend it," Akio answered. "It has no air-con or tape… or any convenience, for that matter. The shockbreaker's also hard, and the boot's small. It was built to race."
"Oh, I don't know you're a hashiriya[1]," the father replied, obviously taken aback. "How much power does it have?"
"Er… you're not mad, Dad?" Now it's Akio's turn to be taken aback.
"Ah, you're a big guy already," the father parried his son's wariness gently. "You're inheriting my company someday, and before that boring day comes, you had to have as much fun as you sure to play it safe, though."
"It has around 650 hp at present," Akio professed.
"Quite a powerful car… must be a beast to drive," the father remarked. "So, where is it now?"
"At an associate… I crashed it a few days ago running at the Wangan," Akio confessed, after sitting on a dining room chair.
"Tadaimaa~" a women's voice called from the door.
"Mom?" Akio replied to the holler.
"Ooh, Father is here I see," the mother coolly regarded. "So, how's the precious stocks?"
"Very good. Fischer Energy's disbandment opened a lot of doors," the father replied. Akio sighed as the seemingly-innocuous banter can escalateinto the two throwing acid remarks to each other.
"Oh yeah, do you remember your Aunt Shinohara, Akio dear?" the mother said as she rummaged the freezer, settling her choice on a popsicle.
"You mean that Catholic sister of yours?" the father added.
"Yeah, sure," Akio interceded, not keen on witnessing another war of the words. "If I'm not mistaken, you said that one of their daughters just entered that school for nurses…"
"Can you visit them this summer vacation?" the handsome boy's mother said gingerly. "We haven't been visiting for quite a few years now…"
"I have summer vacation work to do, mom," Akio quickly shot that idea down. "I need quite a lot of money for my car, so I may be pulling a lot of overtimes. Besides, Mito is not exactly next door, you know."
"That's a good idea, actually," the father pitched in. "Tell you what, if you agree to stay with them this vacation, I'll foot your car bill and give you a raise in this month's allowance."
"We can't help if he doesn't want to, Dear," the mother objected.
"Surely you don't want our James Dean to turn into a desk zombie and die of karoushi[2] too soon, Mama. The stock's been good anyway… enough to foot bills several times over and then some," the father parried the mother's objection. "So, what's your call, Akio?"
"Oh, all right," Akio grunted for a bit. "You always know how to win a deal…"
"Deal then. Go book a shinkansen to Ibaraki for within the week," the father said, smiling thinly.
Akio sighed softly. He would also have to call Izakaya Club to ask for two or three weeks leave, and then Ko-chan to say that he'll probably be away by the time Devil Z finished its repairs. It's going to be a long month.
…
The balmy, not-exactly-warm weather greeted the handsome teenager upon setting his foot on Mito's soil. Akio reminisced of his childhood years, where their family would visit the Christian family in summer holidays. The Shinohara family would take them around town to see the sights and festivals on Kairaku-en, and then go to the nearby beach…
"Ano... Akio… Asakura-san?" a familiar voice called to him, breaking his reverie.
"Chihiro-san… was it?" Akio awkwardly returned the greeting. "Err… Long time no see, I guess."
"Ehehe, long time no see to you too, Akio-kun," Chihiro said happily. "The last time you were here was… six years ago I guess?"
"Around that time, yes," Akio returned the pleasantries. "Time sure flies!"
"Ahahaha, you're right Akio-kun," Chihiro replied in a kind voice. "Uhh, shall we go to the house now? I'm sure Mother will be delighted to see you."
"Yeah, let's," Akio replied, hauling his rather small traveling bag.
From the station, they took a commuter bus to a bus stop near the complex where the Shinohara family lives. As they walked from the bus stop to the Shinohara's house, Akio can't help but marvel. The neighborhood has been anything but the same to his memories. There were more trees growing now, as well as greener lawns. An unfamiliar church was standing on a plot of land the young man recalled was empty.
"What's the matter, Akio-kun?" Chihiro asked.
"Oh, it's nothing really, Chihiro-san…" Akio answered lightly. "It's just that the neighborhood had changed quite a bit…"
"Did you mean the church?" Chihiro replied with another question. "It has been around for quite some time…"
"My memory of this complex is a bit rusty it seems," Akio replied sheepishly.
They walked on not fifty yards from the church, into the family house. Being familiar with cars lately, one of the first things to struck Akio's mind is the red roof-less coupe parked in the sun, just outside the double garage.
"Whose car is that, Chihiro-chan?" the young man asked with a tone of mild curiosity.
"Oh? That's Onee-chan's car," Chihiro replied rather off-handedly as she stepped on the doormat and opened the door. "Tadaima okaa-san~!"
"Okaerinasai, Chihiro-chan… oh my, look at who we have here!" the middle-aged woman Akio recognized as his aunt greeted them. "I just turned my face from you for a short time, and you've grown this tall and handsome, Akio-kun!"
"Ah… hello, Aunt Ayako," the young man returned the greetings. "I hope I'm not too much a bother…"
"Oh, nonsense!" the aunt beamed. "Let's get you settled first, shall we?"
"I'll park onee-chan's car, then," Chihiro said.
Half an hour later, Akio had settled his bags in the guestroom at the second floor, and is now enjoying afternoon tea with his aunt and Chihiro.
"That's a nice car she had," Akio remarked as he took a cookie from the plate in the middle of the table. "An overseas model, I guess? I haven't seen many like it even in Tokyo..."
"Himeko-neesan bought… it a few years ago," Chihiro filled Akio in the details, if a little uneasily. "It's a miracle that she even managed to make the car run at all..."
"That silly girl..." Ayako remarked, sighing.
"Aah, so that's Onee-chan's name... man I forgot a lot of things. Where's Himeko-nee then?" Akio asked, clueless of what he said. "I bet she's working hard right now… maintaining a retro car like that isn't exactly the cheapest hobby around…"
A waft of uneasy silence greeted Akio for the first time he's been in this town. It's as if the mother and child were caught completely off-guard.
"Haven't you heard, Akio…?" the aunt reacts to break the stifling silence. "Himeko… has been hospitalized for two and a half years now…"
Now it's Akio's turn to freeze in shock. The memories of the kindly, active sister figure which just came back to Akio moments ago is now cruelly quashed.
"I-… I didn't mean to pry, sorry," the young man apologized for the faux pas.
"Excuse me ma'am~" a manly voice called from the front door, a salvation for the three people. "I'm Fukabori from Togaya Liquor…"
…
Akio woke from his shallow sleep in the darkened room. Last night was a fairly hectic one, especially from the emotional viewpoint. His aunt and uncle filled him in with information regarding Himeko's hospitalization. From what he could gather, Himeko's sudden illness takes everyone by surprise. The cancer on Himeko's breast had been left unchecked for so long, and when the pain started, it was already too late. Doctors were even convinced that the sister figure won't last a year and a half. Yet, she soldiers on even to this day, a fact that Akio can't help but to admire.
Lazily, Akio glanced to his wristwatch, of which he kept under his pillow by habit. It was a bit before six, the time he normally got back from his Wangan runs. He tried to grab some more sleep, but it seems that The King of All Dreaming won't let Akio re-enter his realm, so he got up and unpacked his bathroom kit.
"Ohayou…" Akio greeted his aunt, who is cooking some fried rice for breakfast.
"Ohayou, Akio-kun!" Ayako replied cheerfully. If last night was an emotional night, Akio couldn't discern it from her face now. "Quite a morning person, I see? Give me a moment and I'll fix the tea, dear."
"Yeah… I slept rather early last night," the young street-racer professed as he sat on a chair. "Say, Ayako-basan[3]…"
"What is it, dear?" the Shinohara matriarch replied as she chucked two teabags into a pot and filled it with hot water.
"May I… have a look at Himeko-san's car?" Akio gingerly asked, afraid of stirring an emotional hornet's nest. "I used to help a friend of mine restoring vintage cars… I grew fond of it, eheheheh."
"Why of course, dear. Now where did Chihiro usually put the keys…" the middle-aged woman obliged. "Ah, here it is."
"Thanks, oba-san," the teenager said as he received the keys and went for the front door.
"Sure you don't want to eat first, Akio-kun?" Ayako called, but the call went unanswered as the teenager disappeared before the door.
…
Cars had become his passion, and finding one to tinker in his vacation is a small victory for Akio. He turned the starter, only to be greeted with a tired grunt of the engine. After he successfully started the engine, he proceeded to engage the reverse gear, finding little resistance as the gearbox complied.
Slowly Akio backed the car out of the garage, then re-engaged the parking brake and put the gear back to neutral. Satisfied with the acceptable condition of the machine, he revved the engine a few times, cranking it up to a little bit before three thousand RPMs. The noise of the engine made Akio frown a bit, since it doesn't really match the smooth, regular hum of a well-kept engine he knew by heart. After doing work on Devil Z for a few months and many months in Ko-chan's tuning garage prior to that, Akio had caught on how to recognize a good engine from the bad.
"Good morning, Akio-kun," a middle-aged man remarked as he emerged from the front door. "Trying out the car, I see?"
"Morning too, Toushirou-jisan," Akio replied respectfully as he finally found a small lever to unlock the bonnet. "Just my standard morning ritual… sort of."
"Do you have a car, Akio-kun?" the uncle asked lightly, watching from the side as Akio opened the bonnet with a practiced ease.
"Yeah. I found a cheap S30Z in a junkyard half a year ago, been restoring and tuning it since," Akio off-handedly remarked as he inspected the engine, noting the mishmash of old and new parts indicating a rather amateurish attempt of restoring the first model Miata. "It's in the workshop now though. Blew a gasket or something while cruising one night…"
"You know, Himeko worked so hard to restore this car from the state she bought it in," the middle-aged man reminisced. "It was barely functioning when it first limped into this driveway."
"Himeko-san did a good job," the teenager said as he inspected the oil dipstick, "If a little misguided. She had most things right, but some of these restoration should probably be done a little more thoroughly…"
"She bought it for a little under a hundred thousand yen," the uncle remarked. "Pretty bad bargain, I'd say, but it's her money anyway. Turned the other side of the garage into a mini-workshop where she would work on the machine whenever she had free time…"
"Aah, I see this now…" Akio muttered softly as he jogged to the garage, grabbing a toolbox he spotted earlier. Without much effort, he tuned out his uncle and began tinkering around the machine. Minutes tick by as the uncle fell into silence, watching his nephew work on kinks and miscellany in the engine of the Roadster.
"You seem to be good at repairing cars, Akio-kun," Toushiro remarked, breaking Akio's daydreamy tinkering.
"Eh? Oh, this… eheheh, I worked at a friend's garage shop for close to two years," Akio sheepishly replied. "It's becoming a habit…"
"Why don't you repair it for us? It'll be cheaper than taking it to a garage for a total overhaul…" the uncle suggested.
"I don't know ojisan…" Akio said tentatively. "Even though I knew some things about repairing and tuning cars, we should probably take this car for rust treatment and such… it's a rather old model, after all."
"Just do what you're good at," the uncle reassured, patting the young man's shoulder.
"Oh, there you two are," Ayako said as she emerged from the front door. "Breakfast is ready, and Chihiro will be joining us in a bit."
"Uh… I'll just wrap this up, then…" Akio sheepishly replied as he put the tools back into the box.
Breakfast was rather uneventful, and the talk revolves around the Miata's rather unkempt condition. Akio noted that nobody seem to care much of the car; Toushirou takes it out for short drives occasionally, but seemed to care little for its maintenance. Chihiro only knew how to wash it, and a family friend takes it out occasionally for check-ups and routine maintenance. Akio smiled a little when her aunt told him a story when the car once leapt a good two meters as Chihiro tried to start it, leaving the poor girl scared for a few days.
"Oh dear, how fast time goes when you're merry," Ayako remarked as she glanced to the hanging clock. "You better hurry if you want to visit your sister before your morning class, Chihiro."
"Ah, yes!" Chihiro replied, her lull of breakfast time now broken.
"Can I tag along, Chihiro-san?" Akio interrupted. "I want to say hi to Himeko-san too…"
"Of course, Akio-kun," Chihiro replied, smiling to Akio. "Onee-chan will be delighted to see you again after so long…"
"Let me drop you two at the hospital, then," Toushirou offered. "I can afford to be a bit late for work today."
"Well then, what are you waiting for, corporals?" Ayako commanded in a quipping tone. "Time's a-ticking! Let's go, let's go, let's go!"
The ride in the family station wagon lasted less than five minutes. They pulled over in the hospital's outpatient drop-off area, with Toushirou quickly bidding farewell. Akio found it rather odd, but thought that perhaps he had visited his daughter enough already to be excused of such display of callous behaviour.
"Right this way, Akio-kun," Chihiro guided the teenager. "Onee-chan's room is at the seventh, top floor."
"Eeh, that's new," the teenage boy replied. "This hospital has it pretty tall…"
"Yes," the cousin replied, pressing the elevator button for the seventh floor. "The seventh is a hospice ward for the terminally ill."
Akio sank into an uneasy silence as the elevator door slid shut. For the price of concentrating with the Miata, he chose to tune out the painful fact that Himeko Shinohara, the little princess who owned the car, is dying. A dull 'ting!' was what snapped him out of his short reverie.
"Hello, Chihiro-chan," a young nurse greeted the duo as they emerged from the elevator door. "Taking the morning session today?"
"Oh, not today, Nami-san," Chihiro replied with a smile. "I'm just dropping by before morning classes… oh yes, this is my cousin from Tokyo. He will be staying with us for this summer."
"Nice to meet you, miss," Akio said, slightly bowing to the mature-looking nurse.
"Make yourself at home, dear," the nurse said warmly. "You are welcome to visit anytime you want, but between seven in the morning to nine in the evening is preferable. It's okay if you want to spend the night here, too."
"I'll… keep it in mind," the young man said courteously. From what little cues he can pick up, it's obvious that Nami-san has fallen to him, if only a bit. It's such a curse sometimes, Akio thought.
From the elevator, it was a short walk to room number 717, through the nurse station. Chihiro exchanged greetings with the nurses, a fact that Akio noted. At the door after a few more minutes of talking, Chihiro knocked three times, and then opened the door. Himeko was there, sitting on a chair beside the bed.
"Good morning, Onee-chan," Chihiro greeted. For the first time after around six years, Akio again saw Himeko, a sister figure he has mostly forgot. "How are you today? Have you eaten your breakfast and morning medications?"
"Chihirooo! Dearie me, you've grown so mature… even bringing your boyfriend to visit your beloved big sister? Oh, I'm so moved…" Himeko quickly launched into a teasing non-sequitur, complete with wiping her nonexistent tears with a tip of her cotton handkerchief.
"O-onee-chan!" Chihiro quickly came reeling back, her face slightly pink from the unexpected tease. "He is not my boyfriend! He's Akio Asakura, our cousin from Tokyo…"
"Eeh?" now is the turn for the older girl to be taken genuinely aback. "Eeeeh? I-is this… is this really that cute little Akio-chan?"
"Ehehe, yes, Himeko-neesan," Akio replied, smiling after swiftly overcoming the cringe on hearing a –chan attached to his name[4]. "Long time no see…"
"My god, you've grown so handsome!" Himeko cooed, pinching lightly at Akio's cheeks. "Say Chihiro, can I have him? Please? I promise I won't break him and you can get him back once I die…"
"O-onee-chan! Please don't talk like that!" Chihiro reprimanded, if a little weakly.
"Kidding, kidding," the older girl replied playfully. "So, I take it that you'll be staying for the summer vacation, eh Akio-chan?"
"Yeah," Akio replied simply. "Life's been a bit hectic for me in Tokyo, so I'm taking a breather…"
"I'd say! Even life here can be hectic when you're a teenager," Himeko responded.
"Well then, I'll excuse myself, Onee-san, Akio-kun," Chihiro said, seeing that there's not much to be worried with her energetic older sister. "I'll be doing some volunteer work here later in the afternoon, so we can go home together after that, Akio-kun. If you want to go home earlier than that, Onee-chan can give you some directions."
"I'll keep that in mind, Chihiro-san," Akio remarked.
"So! How's college life for you?" Himeko quickly threw a question to Akio. "Must be a lot of cute girls out there in Tokyo, eh?"
"Er… I was set back a year, Himeko-nee… so I haven't graduated high school," Akio sheepishly answered. "I… eh, kinda fooled around a bit too much…"
"Eeeh? Your joking~" Himeko said in surprise. "How many was your harem? Three? Four?"
"It's not like thaat," Akio objected lightly. "I just… get caught in too many jobs. Restoring cars is quite expensive, you know."
"You love cars too?" A sparkle suddenly lit up somewhere in Himeko's eyes. "Tell me, tell me! What model do you have?"
"Uh… a Nissan. S30Z, to be exact…" Akio replied.
"A fellow vintage lover~" Himeko suddenly threw her hands up. "This calls for a great celebration! Let's go downstairs and eat some ice cream, shall we?"
"O-ok," Akio mumbled as the older girl took his hands and proceeded to drag him downstairs. He was not even sure if this hospital sells ice cream.
…
"So! Let's order some ice cream, then! Pick what you like, Akio-chan?" Himeko said enthusiastically as they settled sown on a table in the hospital cafetaria. With a practiced air, Himeko handed Akio a menu. "Chocolate? Mint? Or maybe something more exotic… like Blueberry, perhaps?"
Akio was a bit dumbfounded by the older girl's energy. Was this somebody who was supposed to be dead a year ago? He thought as he scanned the menu. "Uhh… I guess I'll have…"
"Wait, wait, waaaait! Let The Great Tenkohime-ko exactly guess the flavor of your choosing!" Himeko interrupted. "Hmm… judging from the alignment of the sun and the moon today… and the time we stepped into the elevator…"
Akio was awestruck for a second, his mind reeling. Can she really? He thought gingerly as he scanned the menu. Finding a header titled "Ice Cream" at the corner, he was sorely disappointed.
"You must be a vanilla type of guy!" Himeko finished. "How was it? I nailed the bullseye, no?"
"But… there's only one flavor here, Himeko-nee… vanilla," Akio replied sheepishly.
"Ahahaha~ you're good, Akio-chan!" Himeko guffawed, obviously happy with him catching on with the Manzai routine[5]. "But the delivery of that last line is a little lacking on the deadpan tone. We must practice this skit, I want to impress Mom in Christmas."
"W-well…" Akio mumbled, dumbfounded. "I'll go get the ice creams, then…"
"Get four cups," Himeko added. "You won't be satisfied with just one, trust me."
"O… okay," Akio replied, unsure of what to do.
Not five minutes later, Akio got back with four cups of ice cream, with two plastic spoons to eat them.
"Saa, itadakimasu~" Himeko started. "Uaaah, so good~ this is the thing for summers!
"Itadakimasu…" Akio chimed along.
The first few spoonfuls were rather quiet; Himeko was devouring the sherbet ice cream with absolute relish while Akio looks on and eating at a more relaxed pace. Akio noted that the vanilla low-fat ice cream was indeed pretty good, even more remarkable in the fact that this is hospital fare, which people would not expect to be good most of the time.
"So let me catch up on you, Akio-chan," Himeko finally said as she paused eating, her cup halfway empty. "Got new hobbies? Great abilities? Like maybe, singing Natsu no Machinegun's infamous solo in one breath?"
"Umm… not to speak of… and no, that solo part is just impossible," Akio deadpanned. "As for abilities… well, I suppose high-speed driving would count."
"Really? Do you take motorsport license exams?" Himeko's eyes lit up as she replied. "I have a Rank A JFA License, you know~"
"Not like that, Himeko-nee…" Akio cautiously intoned as his tone dropping into a hush-hush. "I'm a hashiriya."
"Really…" Himeko pondered for a second, finishing her first cup of ice cream. "Aren't those kind of racing dangerous?"
"Well, yeah… I crashed a few times myself," Akio sheepishly replied. "But the rush is unparalleled. I don't think I can stop soon."
"Really… kids these days," Himeko muttered while fiddling with the last of the ice cream in her first cup. "Well, I suppose I'll be like you too, had I don't know the RoadSpec Racing exist."
"RoadSpec?" Akio uncomfortably asked.
"Yeah. They race Roadsters[6] in circuits around the country, sometimes in road courses. I had always wanted to race in Suzuka~" the older girl explained. "Although to be honest, I wanted to be in it because it's rather cheap to enter and does not require flashy tuning. Plus it pays a bit, too."
"That so…" Akio contemplated. "Oh yes, about your Roadster then…"
"Oh, do ask about it! It's my pride and joy," Himeko replied quickly. "I've even kept the original 1,6 liter engine intact!"
"Er, yes… Toushirou-jisan wants me to fix it," Akio cautiously mentioned as Himeko opened her second cup. "I figure I'd ask you first."
"Ah… just like that Otou-san…" the older girl pondered in a low, almost growling tone as she ate her sherbet. "Can you do it, I wonder? I'm probably as good as it gets when you ask a random passerby to fix a car, and frankly you look much the same. Well, outside your hashiriya claim it is."
"I worked at a friend's auto garage for around two… almost three years now, tuning and whatnots," Akio said with a hint of pride. "I can even improve your Roadster's performance by a bit… probably."
"Okay, you're hired for my racing team. Your salary won't be good, though," Himeko replied with a wide grin. "God, I always want to do that."
"Er… I take it as a yes, then," Akio surmised. "I'll probably start with cleaning up with the machine, replacing consumables and old parts, and after that proceed with tuning and stuff. There would be a lot to change and improve, I guess. I'll need some power tools for more serious works…"
"That's it, Sabu! Let's rebuild the Mach 5 to win this race!" Himeko cheered. "My toolbox has some power tools, but you could ask to borrow bigger tools at the church. They have a community center that does odd jobs once in a while, if I'm not mistaken."
"The church?" Akio asked gingerly. "Is that okay to do that, I wonder?"
"If you have doubts, bring Otou-san or Chihiro with you," Himeko suggested. "They're good members of the parish, a surefire way to get your request accepted."
"That's a bit…" Akio sheepishly replied.
"Ah, don't worry about that," Himeko waved Akio's concern aside. "Besides, Otou-san wanted the Roadster fixed. It's the least he can do… well, besides footing the bill, I guess."
"I hope I won't be forced to do that, though…" Akio said.
…
Akio sighed as a can of barley tea clattered into the recess in the back of the flap covering in the front side of the vending machine. His conversation with Himeko after the café talk was rather short, and he then elected to go home alone. He had asked Himeko for directions, and he was pleasantly surprised to know that the family house is located within easy walking distance from the hospital.
As he gulped the tea, Akio can't help but to wonder. It's slight, but Akio can just detect a change of tones when she mentioned her family. He can't wrap his finger around that notion. Is there something around them? Does she hate them, or vice versa? All those questions were flying left and right, prompting Akio to pay them less heed in fear of the questions overwhelming him. For now, I guess it'll be better for me to concentrate on the Roadster…
"Tadaima~" Akio called as he opened the front door of the house.
"Oh, you're home, Akio-kun," came Ayako's reply. "Have you eaten lunch yet?"
"Come to think of it, I haven't," Akio replied, glancing to a wall clock that says that it's five minutes past one in the afternoon.
"Oh, poor you," the middle-aged woman said. "I'll heat some croquettes for you, then. Just wait for a bit. How's Himeko, by the way?"
"She's… well enough, as far as the term go," Akio mustered a reply. "She also said that I can repair and tune her car. I'll start working on it tomorrow, I guess."
"That's wonderful!" the aunt remarked as the microwave sounded a crisp ping, indicating the timer had reached its intended length of time it had been set to. "She used to let no one else handle the car… it's as if that Roadster is her baby or something. Yuka-chan was kind enough to handle the maintenances, even footing the bill."
"Thanks, Ayako-san," Akio said as he accepted the dish and bowl of rice. "I figure I'd ask some of my friends of a good auto supplier around here, probably look at the phonebook for addresses, and ask if they do delivery…"
"Do your best, Akio-kun," The aunt cheered discretely.
Glossary, Notes, and Miscellany:
[1]: A Japanese slang for street racers. The word 'hashiriya' means 'runner', from the root word 'hashiru' ('to run').
[2]: A Japanese general term for death by overworking. This is especially prevalent in Japan since their work load is one of the heaviest in the world.
[3]: A shorthand of oba-san, Japanese for 'auntie'. Please note that this verb is very easy to slur into obaa-san, which mean 'grandma'. A similar case would be ojisan (uncle) and ojiisan (grandpa).
[4]: Attaching a –chan to someone's name is generally only used by children or between people who knew each other for a long time (mother to daughter, between siblings/cousins, between very intimate lovers). As you can see though, Himeko used to call Akio with this in the past.
[5]: Manzai is a Japanese form of two-man stand-up comedy routine, with one playing the dumb guy (boke) and another playing the straight man (tsukkomi).
[6]: The Mazda MX-5 is initially marketed in Japan under the name of Eunos Roadster, and the 'Roadster' part sticks even after Mazda decides to market later models under its own brand (Eunos is an alternate brand for Mazda, much like what a Lexus to Toyota is).
A/N: Thanks for reading this story (and please don't flog me for neglecting Team 9). Please note, that while I'm trying to stick to the basic tenets of both series, you will see a lot of differences due to me taking liberties with them. I hope this do not detract from your enjoyment. Cheers~!