Juudai had been chattering on about how ABSOLUTELY POSITIVELY COOL it will be to drive a car to a politely listening Misawa and a stony-faced Manjyome who looked like he wanted nothing more than to hurl him into the deep end of a swimming pool with dumbbells tied around his ankles when the three of them arrived to second-hand Toyota parked by a coffee shop.

"Ah, well, we're here!" the brunette announced. "I'm so glad you guys are here to supervise my driving. I mean getting my learner's permit was so scary and all…"

"Of course it was, Juudai-kun," Misawa replied with a smile, while Manjyome simple snorted.

Everyone got into the car. Juudai took the driver's seat, of course, while Manjyome took the front passenger and Misawa took the back.

"Before we start—we should wear their seatbelts," Misawa suggested while fastening his own.

Juudai quickly complied but Manjyome just crossed his arms and scowled.

Misawa glanced over his shoulder. "That means you too."

Manjyome shot bloody daggers from his eyes, grumbling something incoherent under his breath. Misawa looked a bit disappointed, but turned his attention to Juudai instead.

"All set, Juudai?" He noticed the beads of sweat trickling down Juudai's face and gave him a reassuring smile. "Calm down, I'm sure you'll do fine—!"

Misawa was cut off as the car pulled out of the parking lot at breakneck speed, wholly unprepared by this sudden increase in gusto. He was tossed around like a ragdoll while the seatbelt-less Manjyome clutched the dashboard.

"Juudai!"

"—the HELL?"

Misawa poked his head into the front of the car. "Juudai—it's a good idea if you ease up on the accelerator—for the safety of others—"

"Shut up!"

Manjyome cuffed Misawa in the face; he fell back into his seat with an 'oomph'. In the meanwhile, the car entered a busy expressway. Juudai ignored the horns and shouts from other drivers as they wound down their windows to cuss him.

"Juudai, you loser! Take a right and get us out of here!"

"That's a bad idea!" Misawa protested. "There's no chance we'll make it in this traffic without getting into an accident. Just take a left onto the nearest intersection and we'll work our way from there!"

In which Manjyome cuffed Misawa. Again.

"SHUT UP AND SIT DOWN!"

Misawa rubbed his head. "Che! This is a bad time for an argument so forgive me for doing this—" Misawa grabbed Manjyome's arm and flung him to the back of the car before settling himself in the front passenger seat. "I'm sorry, Juudai, but…" Misawa nudged Juudai to the side in order to seize the steering wheel from him and jerked it to the left. After a second, Manjyome appeared behind Juudai's shoulder, grabbed onto wheel and wrestled it right. Juudai was caught in the middle, eerily calm.

"Guys, I'm perfectly capable of driving this car."

"Hell no, you aren't!" Manjyome roared.

At that precise moment, Juudai caught sight of an SUV passing his car. "Hey. He's going faster than me. Huh. Well, we can't have that."

"…"

"…"

"NOOO!"

Cursing and pleading exploded from both the back and front of the car. Manjyome let out a string of colorful, censored language before binding Juudai into a headlock while at the same time Misawa threw himself onto the wheel. However, their spontaneous plan of teamwork was flung out the window when Juudai suddenly stomped on the accelerator, leaving the SUV in the dust.

"JUUDAI!"

"DROP OUT BOY!"

"PLEASE SLOW DOWN—"

"STOP TRYING TO KILL US—"

"SERIOUSLY—"

"Will somebody get this lunatic away from the wheel?!"

"We have to take a left!" Misawa shouted, whilst trying to restrain Manjyome from stabbing Juudai's eyes out. "Left is the only way to get off the highway!"

"No, we have to take a right!" Manjyome retorted back, finally giving up his murder scheme. "It's the quickest way back home!"

"Left!"

"Right!"

"Left!"

"Right!"

"Guys," Juudai interrupted them calmly. "Stop worrying. Everything will be ok." The brunette turned around and smiled at the duo to reassure them, unaware that the car had just swerved into the adjacent lane and that there was a sixteen wheeler heading dab smack towards them. Misawa and Manjyome gawked, before simultaneously screaming.

"BRAKE! HIT THE BRAKE!"

"…uh-oh."

There was a pause. "What is it, Juudai?" Misawa asked him, deathly quiet.

Manjyome pawned Misawa's lukewarm reaction with his earsplitting screech. "WHAT DO YOU MEAN UH-OH?!?!?!?!"

"I don't think I can control this car."

"This is no time for jokes, you moron! Maybe you're a lunatic with suicidal plans for your life, but I sure as hell ain't! So you better, fuc—"

With a strangely placid expression, Juudai held up the steering wheel which has miraculously unfastened from the headboard. Gaping, Manjyome let go of his collar. There was a pause of silence from every inhabitant in the car upon seeing the upcoming doom in front of them. The truck's horn blared again; making Manjyome face's visibly pale.

"…ohh…Jesus Christ—"

Driven by the spur of the moment, Manjyome threw his tough guy act out the window, grabbed Misawa by the torso and buried his face into his back.

"H-Hey, what are you—?"

"Alright, Mr. Truck driver, you can kill him! Really!"

Misawa stared at the incoming truck, dumbfounded and betrayed all at once. When Manjyome began to wail, he accepted the end was here.

...then out of the blue, due to a nifty little something called a plot contrivance, angels flew out of the heavens and magically picked up the car so that it missed the sixteen wheeler by a fraction of an inch. The car begun to lose momentum and a minute passed by before it eventually lagged to a stop in front of the school parking lot. Another sheet of silence spread over everyone in the car.

"What just happened?"

"We're out of gas."

More silence. Manjyome and Misawa exchanged stares. Juudai yawned from the driver's seat. Completely unaware of the destruction he just bestowed on his friends, he turned around, acting as if he just woke up from a relaxing dream. "…ahh…I'm so tired. That was so much fun!" He grinned at them with the face of a six-year-old who was anticipating a gift at his birthday party. "Well, wow was I? I bet you all had a great time."

"You suck," Manjyome deadpanned. "Really badly."

"…intelligent choice of words, Manjyome-kun," Misawa commented.

Manjyome shot Misawa a glare who returned it with an exasperated glance. Manjyome rolled his eyes, Misawa sighed, and they both looked at Juudai expectantly.

The brunette looked crestfallen. "Mnn…I guess you guys are right. I thought I'd be great but the reality is I need a lot more practice with my driving. But, hey, at least you guys are here for me—caring about my wellbeing and giving me support and stuff. I mean, what more could a guy ask for? Wow…I was being selfish by feeling all bad for myself when I really oughta be grateful for having such great friends! Erm, sorry for being selfish!"

Juudai laughed happily. Misawa responded with a tight smile, though his cheek muscle visibly twitched. Manjyome just looked like he wanted to throttle him. Unsurprisingly, Juudai was oblivious to both of their reactions.

"Anyway, I'm sure you guys want to come with me next week—"

"NO! NEVER!"

Manjyome tackled Juudai and proceeded to beat the living daylights out of him. Misawa sweatdropped and simply got out of the car and walked away, pretending he didn't hear Juudai's yelps of pain.

"…I need an aspirin."