I soared up in the air, thrilled by the feeling of the cool wind brush past against my face. I looked up at the beautiful stunning moon, beaming at me. I was incredible happy which was rare; I guess it was just the feeling of flying up in the air with my ATs. I leapt from one platform to another with rhythm and a slight smile on my face. I suddenly felt chills and a strong force of wind emit from behind, I looked back, but found nothing. I shrugged it off and sped up, only to see the most beautiful thing I've seen in my life.
It was up twenty feet above me, the blurred creature was black, blending perfectly into the obscure background. I saw a hint of something shimmer and I watched as it moved above me with pure amazement. As the shadows slowly disappeared, I saw it take shape into a form of a boy. He was ahead of me and I saw nothing, but his dark blue hair that cascaded down to his neck and with loose straps of his orange jacket thrashing rapidly as he sped up. He was beautiful.
I felt the need to speed up to, maybe to catch a glimpse of this boy who moved so effortlessly. It was as if he was born to fly. I leaned forward, cutting the wind resistance as I went passed him. He went passed me too. After a few moments of our tug-of-war game, I only realized what it was; a race. My heart began to beat faster due to adrenaline. I was beginning to get tired very fast because I had a poor stamina. I could literally feel my energy declining. Fast. Then suddenly, the dark blue-haired boy leapt, twisting, turning, and spinning elegantly in several directions, and then finally landing on the pavement with inaudible sound. I couldn't take the fatigue anymore and I stopped, watching as he flew away.
I puffed heavily, trying to catch my breath, and finally accelerated after a while. I took my time and rode my ATS slowly, still breathing hard. A sudden realization then came to me, which was related to the boy. During his flight, the time when he was turning… only now did I realize I had made an eye contact with him; his other eye covered with an eye patch. I could have sworn I saw him smirk at me. I saw him flash a playful, taunting smirk, and his golden orb glistened perfectly under the moonlight as he vanished. I shook the thought off and hurried to the spot where I was supposed to meet my team, The Royal Clubs.
"Sorry I'm late…" I mumbled. Everyone turned to me, obvious annoyance written all over their faces.
"Again with the tardiness, Masao." Tatsuya, the leader or 'King' growled. I could tell he was mad obviously firstly because of his tone and his face, second, he hated tardiness, especially when it came to group practice/meetings, and third, he was using my full name.
"Sorry." I mumbled again. "Traffic." I blurted out unconsciously. I mentally cursed and slapped myself. Saeki, the 'Jack' burst out laughing.
"Shut up, Saeki." Kao the 'Queen' hissed.
"Whatever, let's just practice." Tatsuya said, only to glare at me the second before he turned.
"'Traffic', huh?" Yuki chuckled. He was known as the 'Joker' in our group. Ironic cause he's not really a funny dude, the funny one is Saeki, the 'Jack.'
Our team was formed a couple of years ago, but we have been active only this year. The first year was more for training and I didn't know why, but everyone just wanted to compete all of a sudden, I guess. Our group, The Royal Clubs, was inspired by a game of cards of course. Our emblem consisted of a Turkish crown in the middle, and a heart, ace, diamond, and clover on each of the four corners. We also named or nicknamed ourselves in different positions. Tatsuya, the King was of course, the leader and the most powerful one of us. During battles, he relied mostly in his strength, confidence, and intimidation, causing others to fear him. Still, he can be compassionate...sometimes. Okay, like maybe once or twice a year. Kao, the Queen was a very sly girl, she's good at tricks, and has the best balance in our team. She's simply flawless and is very flexible to different situations. Saeki, the Jack, I'd say is the most dangerous one because he can find one's weakness easily and is our mechanic. Some people would say he's the 'brain', but he's more than that. He's manipulative and is the most good-looking man (I used to have a huge crush on him before) in the team, though he conceals his cunning side through humor. Saeki is unpredictable and dangerous. Yuki, or better known as the 'Joker' in our group is the all-around type. Whatever he tries, he succeeds in it; you can pretty much say he's a quick learner, not only in ATs, but in school too. He doesn't even try and gets As and shit when I'm just here, studying hard and I get Bs, a few As, and I got a D+ for Math. I'm retarded I know, shh. And then there was one. I'm the 'Ace' and I don't know why I'm called that, exactly. I have a very bad stamina, my tactics aren't that good either, and I have trouble with focusing. In reality, the only thing I rely on is my speed, though I'm not that fast either. I feel bad now. I'm poop compared to my team. Oh the irony of my nickname.
After a few hours of practice we have finally finished and we were just strolling around the streets, earning a few stares, glares, and whispers from the other people (they think all AT riders are troublemakers and gangster-like) as we walked in one long line, practically blocking the whole way. I peeked and saw Tatsuya with a sneer, Kao with her head held high, Saeki with a goofy grin, and I looked to my right at Yuki, only to find him staring back at me. smiled slightly, quickly lightening up the mood, I nodded with a slight smile.
"Hey, don't you think those girls are hot?" I heard Saeki snigger from my left, I looked from his eyes, and trailed across the direction, I then saw two girls giggling and the other one waving shyly at Saeki.
"Saeki, I don't know. I'm not a lesbian." I said nonchalantly. He looked at me and pinched my left cheek. I groaned and slapped his hand away.
"You're so gullible, Mao." He laughed.
"I'm not—" I started to say, but he already lost his attention and looked away from the girls, only to smirk at them before he did so. I sighed.
We continued to walk and I noticed Tatsuya stop, causing Kao to stop as well, and basically we were like dominoes; a chain reaction.
"Hey, hey, hey…" he mused playfully. This cant be good.
"Look what we have here~" Queen sang.
I narrowed my eyes to see and noticed an emblem that covered ours that was previously on the spot. I saw King smirk mischievously. We approached and study the emblem.
"I see we have a challenger!" He laughed. He had always had that…deep 'scratchy', husky laugh. Like this dog that I used to have but died. NOT LIKE I WANT TATSUYA TO DIE AND I AM COMPARING HIM TO MY DOG AND-wait. What was I talking about? Tatsuya's face suddenly became serious as he slammed his fist onto the wall, causing me to jump a bit at his incredible strength. Maybe if I touch him, his strength will rub off on me.
"When's the battle? Tomorrow?" I asked, causing them to look all at me with a hint of slight shock and amazement. I had always been the quiet one in the group and King helped me a bit and told me that I should talk more.
"I don't know, probably…" Kao muttered. Crap, I have to pee.
"I hope it's tomorrow. I'm beat from practice!" Saeki added as he yawned and stretched his arms.
"What does it say? I can't read it." Queen muttered, referring to the emblem with a text that was hard to read.
"Kogaro—gara…so…maru?" Saeki mumbled with uncertainty. Oh God, is there a bathroom nearby?
"Kogarasumaru." Yuki read confidently.
"'Little Crow…'" I whispered the translation and smiled slightly.
"Hmm…obviously this 'Kogaresomaru' doesn't know who we are." Tatsuya hissed, saying the confusing name with pure disgust and toxicity. "I guess we'll have to put them in their place." He laughed. "We'll just have to wait for tomorrow." He hummed. I don't even understand why he's so competitive.
"You don't have to wait for that long, King." A voice said from the behind, we all turned, and I saw a tall, lanky boy with spiky, black hair. "You don't have to worry, Kogarasumaru is here!" He exclaimed and did a funny pose, and I then noticed his group members appeared slowly from the behind. I sniggered at his odd pose and the fact that his face was all twisted in several directions and his face expression was hilarious. Through the crowd, a pair of the most vigorous golden eyes locked into mine. Then, a boy with dark-blue hair emerged from the group leisurely. Great, now I really have to pee.