"I hate to tell you this, but your car is a piece of shit." Ikuto said into his phone, while trying to figure out what was wrong with the car, this time. He'd been in Japan a total of five hours, half of that time devoted to getting the car to work. He was really starting to wish he had rented one, instead of trusting the car sent to him by a man who spent his traveling by train, airplane, and every other transportation device known to man...except a car.
"Don't insult Rosette like that! She's got character to her," the voice on the other line reasoned. Ikuto just rolled his eyes, staring cynically at the car. It still just looked like junk to him, "And you better not wreck her either," the voice added, knowing that Ikuto did not appreciate the beauty of Rosette.
"Yeah, yeah," Ikuto assured him unconvincingly, still inspecting the engine, "Did you just call to lecture me?"
"Well, it seems I have to make up for lost time, the way you acted as a kid, I'm surprised you didn't screw yourself up." Ikuto stared blankly into space after hearing that comment.
"Do you want me to respond to that? Considering I have a few things to say to you anyway." Aruto chuckled at his son's flat tone, as usual he was less than enthusiastic about discussing the past with his father. His usual attitude consisted of not really having one. Which made Aruto constantly wonder, 'Where did this child come from?' since neither he nor his wife were anything like that.
"What? You haven't verbally abused me enough yet?"
"You could use a little bruising to your ego. God knows it won't hurt you any."
"Every word rips into my heart and tears away a piece of my soul. Are you happy to be killing your father?"
"That depends. Is it working?"
"What a cruel person you are." Ikuto smirked at that. Aruto considered that to be the worst possible insult. Worse than when he chose to use a wide array of curse words to describe his distress. His father was just a very simple person. "I hope you don't reveal your true nature in front of the audience. They can always sense evil in the music."
"You mean the ten people that will be listening or the three people that actually care?" Though he had been traveling with his father for around five years now, he had yet to see an audience worth all the effort he put into arriving and performing. Thus is the life of the wandering, nameless musician.
"It is not about quantity. It is about quality." Aruto explained, again. Why his son could not grasp this concept was beyond him. "It is much more meaningful to play something for those that treasure the sound than the obnoxious many that see our act only as a means of entertainment. They overlook our very hearts. Our souls! Those people-"
"Pay enough to make a career instead of a whim of artistic movement?"
"...Don't play cute with me boy." Aruto warned him, making Ikuto shake his head at how personal his father took Ikuto interrupting his soliloquy. "One day you will understand what I am talking about. Until then..., just shut up and do what I tell you to."
"Amazing. That was both parentally enlightening and threatening. How do you do it?"
"Easier to joke when you are hundreds of miles away. Let us see how vocal you are when you get to Kurashiki. You have the directions I gave you right?"
"You call those directions?" Ikuto pulled the paper from his back pocket to see how Aruto's "directions" were suppose to be helpful. "All you offer are landmarks. No street names? Highways? Local districts?"
"I am a musician, not a navigator. Just go where ever the wind takes you."
"That may be your strategy, but if you want to be picked up, you better give me a way to reach my specific destination."
"Being in Japan always makes you irritable." Aruto pointed out, making his son hit his head on the roof of the front and curse into the phone. Aruto had to make an effort not to laugh at Ikuto's pain. "Maybe this time we should go take a visit to see your mother and sister. They would be thrilled to see you. My presence may be questionable though."
Ikuto cursed again, this time moving the phone away first. "Did you hit your head again?" Ikuto was nearly convinced that Aruto was not quite human. Most qualities made him worse than a human being, but there were a few abilities that worked for his advantage. Unfortunately, his advantage usually put Ikuto at a disadvantage. "Procrastinating?"
"A little." Ikuto admitted. He wanted nothing more than to go back. Living on the road was only so fun for so long. The only thing stopping him was that little girl he fell in love with. It's one thing to say what's on your mind when you know you're leaving the country; it's another thing when you know you're there to stay. He was anxious to see her again, but he didn't know what he would do when he did. There were too many things said and left unsaid.
"How does the car look?" Aruto asked breaking Ikuto's train of thought.
"Good enough. You should really consider getting another one. Or just getting rid of it. It doesn't make sense for someone who doesn't drive to have a car."
"Never. Rosette is a vital asset to our band of caravans." Ikuto just rolled his eyes going to hang up. "Wait! Don't hang up!" There's the advantage. Now he gets to talk more.
"Don't forget that the show is in two days and you need to be here by then." Aruto reminded him once more. He wasn't taking any chances. A young person with a car was dangerous for distractions and he didn't want to stay in Kurashiki any longer than he had to.
Ikuto just hung up the phone without offering a response. He was done with Aruto's foolishness. Honestly, what was he going to do? Travel cross-country around Japan? The only reason he would be late was if the car broke down.
He got into the car and prayed that it would start. He turned the key in the ignition and the engine began to sound. After a moment, the engine started and sounded as smooth as it ever had, to Ikuto's relief. He pulled back on the road, making his way straight to Kurashiki, more or less.
~Flip the Paige~
When Amu was satisfied with her appearance, for the most part, she decided to venture out of her disgusting sanctuary. When she came out, she realized how quiet the place was. Everyone must already be in the cars.
Once outside, she didn't see either vehicle. She must have forgotten where they parked. She began looking around calmly then decided to look around the building. It wasn't until she ended up back at the front door that she faced reality. "Oh, no."
Amu began frantically searching around the parking lot, in the process of having a mental breakdown. They must have been playing a joke on her. Yeah. Stupid, naive Amu would freak out over something like this, right? They couldn't have just left her. Could they?
Going back into the gas station was the smartest thing to do. Surely they would notice, or end their little joke, soon and come back for her. Once inside though, there was this uncomfortable air to the atmosphere. Gas stations consisted of travelers and vacationers like herself, but there were also truckers, gypsies, and those murderers on the lamb that were out searching for their next victim. Amu had seen enough movies to know these things. It was just too scary for her to stick around any longer.
She ran out of the gas station and stopped to take in the sight of the vacant highway. Never in her life had she felt more alone than she did at that moment. She slumped against the wall of the gas station at a loss of what to do. Everyone was miles away by now and she couldn't exactly wave her arms around like an idiot and shout at them to come back.
Amu mentally slapped herself. She completely forgot about her cellphone. She dug into her pocket to get it, but found it was empty. She checked her other pockets. The space in the side of her shoe. Shuffled through all the crap in her backpack. Nothing. She suddenly stopped her efforts, remembering how Kukai wanted to call his brother before they left. She had never gotten it back.
With a sigh, she approached the highway. Only one thing left to do. She debated which direction to start walking. She could head home and hope that good old Mother's intuition would strike her mother and send her flying to her rescue. But considering how oblivious her mom was most of the time, that didn't seem likely. The only other option was to head towards the beach. Surely they would notice eventually and come back. This way she would at least be closer to her rescue than farther away.
~Flip the Paige~
Hours! Amu had been walking for hours. A few cars had pasted, but today just wasn't busy for some reason. And none of those cars had been Yukari or Nikadiou-sensei's. Thus, Amu was still walking, wishing Ran was there to at least give her amazing athletic abilities to endure the distance. Her legs were so numb at this point, walking didn't matter to her any more. She was more bothered by the fact that the sun was inches away from disappearing and walking on the side of the highway at night was not the most appealing idea in the world.
She dug in her bag and found a flashlight that had miraculously been tossed in there through her morning struggle. Amu thought vaguely that she brought plenty of things that were useless for the beach, but had come in handy. Take her chucks for example. If she had to walk as far as she did in sandals, she probably would have thrown herself in front of one of the passing cars to end her misery. It took a little shaking and cursing, but the flashlight shone enough to make her feel a little better. The highway was abandoned at this hour and Amu wasn't sure how to feel about that. Worried? Relieved? Frightened?
It didn't take long to get completely dark. This setting made Amu extremely uncomfortable. Every sound was vibrating. Every smell was toxic. And every sight was...that's when it occurred to her. She shouldn't be able to see beyond her flashlight. She turned and was faced with headlights coming towards her. For a moment, she felt like a deer in the headlights and immediately began to sympathize with the creatures. But she managed to turn around to look straight ahead and not draw anymore attention to herself.
Amu held her breath until the car passed and then she sighed in relief, beginning to laugh off the fear. Until she looked ahead and saw the car turn around and head back towards her. Amu almost swore she was about to pass out.
Amu felt her legs shaking beneath her as the car began to approach her, slowly. The car finally stopped in front of her, the headlights shining bright in her eyes. She held her fists over her face out of a reflex. But she was too frozen in fear to react at all.
"What are you doing out here?" She heard a voice ask, and tried to blink against the headlights to make out a figure coming towards her. She couldn't run, couldn't answer. Her whole body felt numb. "It's dangerous to walk on the road this late at night."
The figure began to approach and something just snapped inside her. Amu took her flashlight and hit the man once he was within reach and ran. For some reason he felt compelled to go after her, took hold of her shirt, and yanked her backwards as she struggled yelling insults at him.
"It's stupid to walk out here this late." He yelled back at her, failing to calm her down. She continued to try to struggle out of his hold. "You could get kidnapped or something."
"Look who's talking you creep!" She countered trying to twist away.
He groaned in frustration, "Stop being stupid!"
"Let go of me you pervert!"
He stopped suddenly, but didn't release her as she would have liked. Then he grabbed the flashlight from her hand and shined it on her face, temporarily blinding her. She began to swing her arms wildly trying to make contact. "Amu?"
She stopped. She wasn't sure how he would know her name. She rubbed her eyes, trying to make the spots go away. She began to just barely make out features of the person in front of her.
"Ikuto...?" After all these years, and all those times she wondered what she would do when she saw him again, if she saw him again, she ended up doing nothing she had planned. She kicked him as hard as she could in the shin.