Ao Fukai lay in bed on one lazy sunday morning drifting softly from one unimprotant thought to another. He wondered what the day was
like outside. Was it as cold as it was yesterday? He hoped it wasn't. Where did that scarf of his go? It seemed as if he misplaced it every
other day. What was Aya doing today? Would she want to see him? Last time they had parted it was on pretty harsh words. She had hit a nerve
by telling him that she wouldnt be able to stay with him if he didnt spend more time on their relationship. He hated getting ultimatums,
and the thought or her leaving him scared him more than he liked to know. He could have told her that his current project he was working
on was something that demanded alot of attention, and he hadnt been around the past couple of weeks because of this. But thats not what
came out of his mouth. Instead he exploded angrily in her face, shouting that she didn't understand, couldn't understand, and she should
just go ahead and start looking for somebody else. Tears had been welling up in her eyes when he stormed out the door, slamming it shut behind
him. This wasn't the first fight they had gotten into, but it was definetly the worst. What was it about him that made him run his mouth like
that? He was an idiot and he knew it.
He groaned rolling over wondering how he was going to spend the day. It wasnt gonna get started sitting in bed under the paralyzingly
comfortable covers. He hopped out of bed and grabbed a clean outfit out of his clpset. He had a nice job, so he had the clothes of
somebody with money. The dark gray collard button up he threw on was custom fit designer wear, just as his overcoat, and pants were. His shoes
weren't anything special, typical dress shoes, but they still looked great. Or at least thats what people told him. He checked his hair on the
way out of his condo. Still aquamarine. Still everywhere. Good. He grabbed his keys and swept out of the door. He'd head to the local
coffee shop to pick up some caff, and then head to the park to sit and read emails and updates on the project he working on. He hopped
in his shiny red Evopula Transluca FP. A very nice FP, by standerd opinion. It was expensive that was for sure. Expensive and fast. He pushed the
start button, igniting the glow to the special FP band that he wore on his wrist along with the powerlift engines on the four corners of
the vehicle. He shot straight up into the air, swivled around, and shot out of his garage on the third floor. Trapar Beacons outside of his
garage door created a road of trapar that his Transluca caught onto and pulled into its advanced trapar engine shooting him foward with rediculous
speed.
His neighbors would always complain that he drove to fast, but the fact was that Ao had grown up flying FP's, and eventually the nirvash. His Fp skills
were simply far beyond that of the normal citizen. Definatly that of his older middle aged neighbors. It wasnt even that fast of an Fp. It just hadgreat
acceleration. A detail that his neighbors failed to appreciate.
Ao coasted through downtown Okinawa, Fp's all around, skating off of trapar roads that extended weverywhere in all directions. Ao sped along the
main trapar trail, trapar 599 passing buildings, shops and homes in a blur. The coffee shop was only a few minutes from his home. He was there in no
time at all. Hepicked up his Douple shot expresso from the barista at the pick-up window, and was off again. This time headed to the Okinawa State
park.
On his way he passed the old abandoned bakery. It was a place he called home for quite a awhile when he first arrived on the Earth's surface. After
destroying the secrets of the old earth, creating the new earth timeline, and coming out of the space time continuum with nirvash he had come to a
place with no friends, no family, a no place to go. He dropped out of the sky on his ref board as a fifteen year old homeless kid with no idea what to do
for food, water, shelter. So he headed for his old home on Okinawa. There he found a man and his wife living there with a small child. His Grandfather
was nowhere to be found. He went to a local corner store from there and looked up his grandfather's name in the phone book. It was nowhere to be
found. He also looked up his childhood friends name, Naru Arata and her partents. They also weren't there. After wandering around in downtown
Okinawa for awhile he found the old abandoned bakery. Its windows were broken in, and there was grafiti everywhere, but the back kitchen was
untouched and served as a great room for Ao for quite awhile.
He sighed recalling the nights he spent there. It was better than being stuck in nirvash for an eternity, but man, it was still bad. He eventually got a job
at a local Yaki-soba resturaunt as a server. The manager there was a slave driver, and the place was always busy as a church on sunday, but Ao
worked night and day till so that he could afford a place to stay. He eventually moved out of the bakery. Two weeks after he had. A suave looking man
in a very nice suit asked Ao where he had gotten his Fp skateboard from. Apparently he had seen Ao ride it to work that day and was amazed by it. Ao
told him that it was a gift from his father from when he was little. In this world, the reflection board hadn't been created yet, so it wasnt uncommon for
people to come up to him asking him about it. He was actually almost a figure in the town because of his board. The man in the suit explained to Ao
that he was from a trapar technology company call tusca trapar, and had come into town on a tip of Fp board. Ao in turn explained that it was actually a
ref board, and told him if he really was interested he could tell him everything there was to know about the board. From how to build it to how to ride it.
The man happily agreed and gave him his card.
"call this number"he said, "And my assistant will set you up with everything you need"
"everything i need for what?"
"Everything you need to pitch the idea to my bosses" the man said eagerly. Ao was stunned. He was sure the man was joking, but there was no sign of that on his face.
"I'm only fifteen" Ao said.
"That dosnt matter trust me. Our company has picked up younger kids under the guise of internship. You call that number kid, and i promise, ill set you up with the job of your life." And with that, the man firmly shook AO's hand, turned and walked away.
That was eleven years ago.
Now Ao fukai was lead designer at Nirvash Lifting, first and biggest Ref board company in the world, and a branch of Tusca trapar, the 3rd biggest
trapar technology company in the world.
Ao pulled up into the Okinawa state park parking lot. It was packed. After roaming around for a good five minutes or so, Ao finally found a spot near the
back end of the lot. He jumped out of car and made his way towards the main park trail.(It was chillie, but not chillie enough to intimidate people from
coming) People were everywhere. Kids running around, playing tag, hide and seek, and whatever else. Parents watched, while talking idly to each
other. A couple walked slowly in front of him, hand in hand, close together like a couple would be. Ao found himself getting jealous so he doubled his
pace, walking as fast as he could without breaking into a run. He followed the trail to hill where benches surrounded the crest of the hill. Climbing the
hill and sitting down at his favorite bench, Ao took some time to catch his breath and take in the scenery. Taking out his phone and beginning to flip
through emails. Mostly approval documents, progess updates, and project issues that he would need to take care of on return of his vacation.
What was it about the title "lead designer", Aya didn't understand? Ao was the lead project designer of the worlds biggest ref boarding company.
Nirvash Lifting put out another board every other month without fail. That meant that Ao was responsible every month with creating an entirly new ref
board. Had had to design the board, order the parts for the board, assign people to build the board, oversee the building of it dealing with any issues
along the way of it. It wasn't a simple waiting job in a yaki-soba place anymore. He had made his way into the major leauges now. The work was
anything but simple.
The current project he was working on was going to change the way people lifted everywhere. It was a reflection board trapar charger. Basically a
special electromagnetic battery cell that could be installed in ref boards that would super charge the trapar reflected by the board giving lifters a
temporary boost in speed. All one had to do was reach back on the board and push down on a button to activate the charge. One of his devlopers had
dubbed the cell a "Pulser", after the way the jolt to the board felt when hitting the charger. It was a ingenues idea. Simple. Effective. Cheap. And it was
going to make his company millions. But Ao still had alot of kinks to work out. Mostly dealing with the red tape and paperwork of merchandising. It was
endless. Just this past week alone, he had 30 different meetings on standard safety, and going over the backwork of how his team was selling a
product that wouldn't defect and seriously hurt someone. This was the real reason he hadn't seen Aya in over two weeks. He had been up to his
eyebrows in work. He hardly had time to eat or sleep, much less call her, or visit.
Ao finished his espresso, just as he finished reading his emails, and took a moment to sit back and watch the families in the park below. He inhaled,
exhaled deeply,looking hopelessly up at the sky. He loved that girl more than anything. He couldn't allow her to just throw away their relationship. He
relied on her to much. But he was certain that if he showed up on her doorstep now, she would slam it in his face. If she would even open it in the fist
place. Just then he got a message on his phone. He looked down to see a gif image of a fat man in a red suit, waving at him from the screen. "Merry
Christmas" it said in big bold red letters. And then it hit him. It was Christmas eve! Tomorrow was Christmas! It suddenly all made sense to him. He and
Aya usually spent the weeks before Christmas decorating, and making food and cards to send to friends. He had missed all of this. He had been so
caught up in corporate world that he hadn't realized that he had been missing their yearly ritual.
"dammit!" he said slapping the bench under him. No wonder she was so upset that night. Ao thought quickly on what to do, but the answer was
already there. He needed to apologize. He needed to do it well, and he needed to do it fast. Aya would be leaving for her Grandparents house, and Ao
hadn't the slightest clue as to where her grandparents lived. Ao jumped off the bench and rushed back to his still had time to make things right if
he hurried.
Ao, took off from the park parking lot and headed straight for the Aeon mall in Kitanakagusuku Village where the main store for Nirvash Lifting was
located.
It only took his Transluca 15 minutes, when it should have been at least 30 to 40 minute drive from where he was before. He parked in Nirvash listings
reserved manager parking spot. He figured the manager wouldn't be to upset if the young man responsible for the creation of the company burrowed it
just a few minutes. Ao hopped out of his Fp, and dusted his expensive overcoat off, before walking briskly into the mall.
As he walked up the glass doors of Nirvash lifting he saw that his biggest fan happened to be working that day. Ao sighed silently to himself.
Shoji Fujimura. Ao only knew his last name because he had signed countless items for the boy. He was a very persistent fan. Shoji, standing attentively
in the front of the store recognized Ao from three stores away. He could be seen running around to all the other employees at the store warning them
that "Grandfather Ao" had come to visit them again. Ao shook his head at the antics of the young teenage boy, now acting like a giddy school girl at her
favorite bands concert. He silently braced himself for a million and one questions and compliments, and probably more than a few autographs.
"WELCOME! Grandfather Ao, how are you!? Are you well? You look great! I'm so glad you came in!" Shoji exclaimed as Ao opened the door. He hadn't
even set foot in the store and there was already a mosh-pit of employees crowding around, waving hands and small items they would be having Ao
sign for the next 30 minutes.
He didn't have time for this. Aya would be leaving for her grandparents house as soon as she got back from work. That gave him until 6 to get to her
apartment in time, and it was already 4:35. Ao grabbed Shoji and pulled him in close, hissing at the boy who only looked overjoyed to handled by the
great "Grandfather Ao".
"Shoji. i don't have time for to sign autographs for all these idiots! You need to call them off, and do it NOW!" Ao's nostrils flared with emphasis, and his
eye's flashed with seriousness.
The young boy was anything but affected. "Sure thing Grandfather Ao" he replied happily."I got you" he said, putting way to much effort into a wink. Ao
released his hold on the boy, and straightened up. Shoji turned around and clapped his hand loudly to get everybody's attention.
"Guy's! The Grandfather will not be able to answer any questions today. Nor will he be able to sign any autographs. He is in a rush, and cannot be
bothered" The entire group let off a disappointed moan. Some of the employees threw there autograph material on the ground.
"Yes, yes im sorry, but possibly if we let him go for now. Next time he comes to see us, he will treat us to some of his Nirvash lifting inside information!"
Ao looked at the boy in alarm. Shoji looked back at Ao and gave him another exaggerated wink.
Ao coughed to clear his throat "That's right. Let me go this time, and next time, ill give you guys the down-low on everything nirvash has coming out
this next season"
Wild cheers went up from the entire crew, followed by an applause.
Shoji gave him the thumbs up. And Ao smiled and bowed to the crowd before making his way to the back of the store where the Ref boards were kept.
There on the back wall of the store were the children of his Mach 5. All Displayed on racks with lights underneath to show off the sparkling shiny-scale
on the bottom of the Trixter 400, The twin-tale 66, the Halo Ruke, the Tri-star infinity, the Airbrush, the Jiko drifter, and the just released
Starmaster Z3. All of these boards were developed from the Mach V, by Ao and his team. All of them were excellent boards. And all of them, were the
pride of Ao's heart.
Ao took a step back and silently wondered to himself what kind of board would be right for little Makato Kuragawa.
Aya's little brother Makato Kuragawa was all about lifting. Despite the boy not actually having lifted himself he had blankets, posters,shirts and hats all
with his favoite lifters and their brands. He had a practice Ref board, but that could only be used on special trapar practice feilds and would only go a
couple of inches off the ground. Such feilds were designed for lifting beginners that wanted to learn how to lift without being 40 to 50 feet in the air.
Practice boards were basically the training wheels for modern lifters.
But little Makato was on the pratice feild every chance he had got. Last time Ao watched him lift, Makato had seemed to have basically mastered board
control and was even turning out a few popular simple Reffing tricks. He had asked Ao if he could get him a real board, and Ao had told him that if he
was good, and did well in school, he might get him one for his eleventh birthday. The boy had been overjoyed at this and gave Ao one of the biggest
hugs he had ever received from him.
Makato was one of the nicest kids Ao had ever known and was apparently a genius in school, so him being "good" and doing well in school wasn't
coming into question.
Ao stepped up to the wall and lifted The "Halo Ruke" off the wall. It was light in his hands. It had a newly developed type of carbon nano tube for the
base frame, and was wrapped in a carbon fiber casing. This was the case for all the boards that Ao had developed. On the bottom of the board, shiny
scale glinted in the store's lights forming a V of twinkling metal.
Shiny scale. A special type of metal that takes trapar and reflects it back, is what allows ref boards, Fp's, and various other technologies to fly. The
trapar particles reflected off the shinyscale of ref boards hit against the trapar in the air, propelling the board foward through trapar. This being the
reason for them being called "ref" boards. "Ref" was short for reflection.
This particular reflection board, The "Halo Ruke". Had shiny scale that was shaped in a V formation, giving the board equal trapar reflection on both
sides of the board. This gave the rider two trapar trails instead of one, and a extremly stable ride. Boards such as these were refferred to as V-scales.
The board he was holding now had been the very first V-scale to come out, in this world as well as the world lived in befor. To him it was a sign of his
signifigance in this world. It's predassesor the Twintale 66 was slightly more advanced, but still had the same extremly stable feel to it. It was an
excellent choice as a beginners board, but Makato had already told Ao that he didn't like the look of V-scales.
Ao put the Ruke back on its rack and stared at the wall again. There were three other types of boards that had been developed from the Mach V.
Straight line's, Widebutt's, and Super's.
End