I don't own Air Gear. The franchise is owned by Ito "Oh Great!" Ōgure, everything else is my own creation.
Shinjuku, Japan
Time: 3:34 P.M.
Date: April 21
Like how Dr. Makigami instructed me, for the past three days I went to the nurses office to get my shoulders and back massaged every four hours back at school, while Ume simply hopped up and down on top of my back. It wasn't what I'd call a massage, but it's better than nothing. I also managed to tell Bocchino about my condition and he laid me off for about a week to get myself recovered.
Right now, my arms were spread wide apart while Ume was walking across my shoulders. "Man...that feels good (NO PEDO!)." I muffled through the ground as Ume continued to stomp across each of my shoulders before traveling down to my back.
"Want me to stop?" She asked as I hummed. "Yeah, you can get off." She merrily hopped off as I cracked my back by twisting from left to right. I cracked my neck before rubbing the back of my neck. "I owe you one Ume." I thanked as she simply grinned.
"Come back for more later, I mean it's a rare chance to actually do something fun like that! Not even Mikan allows me to walk on her you know?" I laughed as I walked out of the living room and go upstairs...
...only to find Ikki in Mikan's room.
"Ikki, just what the hell are you doing?" I asked as I saw Ikki with a thong on top of his head. "Dude...really now?" I had to question as the said teen looked at me and scratched his head. "Hey Josh!"
"Don't hey me!" I reprimanded him as I glared at the teen, "You know that Mikan will kill you for going through her stuff!" I screamed as the teen scratched his head. "Also, don't you think it's a little immature for you to put on someone's panty on your head-"
"What's this about someone putting my panty on Ikki's head?" We both froze, as the two of us slowly turned to Mikan who looked at Ikki...before the door that she used to open the door was crushed in her clutch. I wisely stepped away from the pissed off magenta haired Storm Rider as she cracked her fingers.
"Somehow, the time to send your sorry little crow ass to heaven finally came."
I don't know why, it might have been the Ibuprofen that I took just half an hour ago, but for some reason Mikan had demented horns growing out of her head while jagged sharp teeth began to grow out.
"Are you prepared? Itsuki Minami?" She growled as she stomped into her room...
I wisely closed the door behind them.
"Ume?" The youngest Noyamano girl poked her head out of the hall as I smiled. "Want to go and get some ice cream? (NO PEDO!)" She blinked.
"Not that I don't like ice cream or anything, but what's the occasion?" I point at Mikan's room, "Five. Four. Three. Two-"
"AAAAH!" Ikki screamed as I scratched my head. "I was two seconds off..." I muttered as I looked back at Ume.
"So...Ikki is getting his butt whipped by Mikan so what?" I shook my head. "Ume...I think Ikki is going to die today."
"Why is that?" Before I could answer, Mikan's scream echoed behind the door.
"HOW DO YOU LIKE IT! YOU STILL WANT TO PUT MY PANTIES ON YOUR HEAD!" Ume and I stared at the door, when suddenly we saw blood seeping out onto the floor...
"You know what, I suddenly started to have craving for strawberry ice cream." Ume announced as I nodded my head. "So it's not just me then. Good, I'm going to go get my wallet," I point at the door.
"You just wait out there for a minute ok?" She slowly nods her head as the ten year old steps out. I went back to my room and picked up the dark leathered wallet and was about to run out when suddenly a thought hit me...
...I opened the door to Mikan's door to see her shove Ikki's head into her panty drawer.
"WHAT?" She roared as I showed her my wallet.
"Me and Ume are going to get some ice cream, want anything?"
"Vanilla in a cone." She growled as she picked up the fourteen year old boy and piledived his head onto the floor. I nodded my head before closing the door...
"...yeah I'm going to get a double scoop for this one."
"MY COCCYX!" I heard Ikki scream. Sending a silent prayer for the poor sap I ran out of the house to see Ringo looking at the home, worried. "What did Ikki do this time?" Ume and I looked at each other...
"Ume, I changed my mind. Why don't we, as in you, me and Ringo, go to Yougurtland and get some frozen Yogurt."
"Actually I still wan ice-"
"WHEN I GET MY ICE CREAM, I'LL BE SURE TO SHOVE THE CONE UP YOUR LITTLE ASS!" We heard Mikan screech as Ikki's scream of terror and pain reverberated through the house walls...
"...actually I change my mind as well. Getting frozen yogurt is a great idea." Ume agreed.
"You know, I actually wanted to try their Apple Pie special." Ringo nodded as we left Ikki to the undertaker.
"Thanks..." Mikan took a spoonful of the plain vanilla, frozen, yogurt into her mouth as I looked at the...well...mangled form of Itsuki Minami.
May god rest his soul...
"Don't worry, he's not dead." I blinked in surprise. "Wait, you didn't finish him off?"
"Oh I finished him off alright." I saw his leg twitch as the magenta haired storm rider turned around and picked up what appears to be a wheel. "He would have died if I haven't noticed Ikki's AT's on my desk." Looking over her shoulders, there laid a black and yellow AT with parts and screws on the table.
"May I?" Mikan got off of the chair as I sat down and studied each pieces. Starting with the screws and gears, then moving to the bigger parts like the motor piece and the wheel. Looking at each piece for a second, I turned to Ikki and back at the wheels.
"Well...they're messed up that's for sure." I picked up the shoe part and point at the stem of the ATs. "The main stem has sand and rust, so it quickly broke down because of it." I gently placed the AT's back down on the table as I looked over towards Ikki and back at Mikan. "Still, I don't get why pillaging through your panties will solve anything about this messed up ATs."
"Apparently it," Mikan jabs her foot into Ikki's ribs, "came in here and tried to find some spare parts, but I wasn't here." I smacked my face as I groaned.
"Ikki, are you a retard? Haven't you thought about the fact that you had Ringo or Ume? Hell I was here today and you didn't even bother coming to me?" Ikki slowly got his head out of Mikan's bed before he sat down and picked his nose.
"Well...I haven't seen you skate yet-"
"Your point?" I asked as he flicked the booger off to the side.
"You messed up your back too."
"Once again, your damn point?" I demanded my arms just twitching to wring this guy's neck.
"Well," Ikki began as he scratched his messy hair, "Doesn't that mean that you kind of suck?"
Silence reign the room as the three of us remained silent.
"Mikan?"
"Go ahead, it's not like he'll lose any more brain cells." Wrapping my arms around his waist, I bent backward, bringing crow over my body and slamming him onto the ground. Rolling over his back, I flipped him over before clutching both of my hands around his chin. With a roar I pulled him up half way, "You saying I suck? Is that it you punk! I at least can skate without falling on my ass you little bird crap!"
Ikki constantly slammed his hand onto the ground, calling for submission, but I didn't let go.
"Wow," Mikan whistled as she took in another spoonful of frozen yogurt in her mouth. "A german suplex to a camel clutch...very nice."
"You mean to tell me you haven't screwed around with your AT's?" I asked Ikki with disbelief. The frizzled-hair teen was in a pretzel like position as I tug his leg, instantly releasing him from that dreadful hold.
"It's no wonder your AT's broke apart then." Mikan announced as I got off of the near broken teen, "I'll be back." I called back as I walked out of the room, whew. Putting Ikki through those submission holds take a lot out of you. I walked a room down and opened the room to my door, picking out my AT's I walked back to Mikan's room and threw one of my AT to Ikki.
"Look at my Air Trek and see what's different about it." Ikki, not really knowing where I was getting with this, stared at the object with much confusion, "It looks like an ordinary Air Treks to me." Oh for the love of...
"Are you even looking at it?" I demanded as his vein popped out of his head, "Of course I'm looking at your AT's! I don't see what the deal is!" I groaned as I lifted the one I had in my hand. "Look, what makes an AT is not the looks on the top, but on he bottom!" I told him as he turned my AT's upside down, "Look at the wheels on mine and then on your own AT's." I pointed out as Ikki turned the AT's upside down.
"Listen, AT's aren't originally used as they are." I explained, "It's something you have to tune yourself in accordance to your style and purpose." I point at the rear wheel, "You have to upgrade one part at a time and make 'your' original ATs."
Ikki stared at the back wheels of the AT's, "Look, even if you don't fiddle around with the big parts, you'll find a huge difference even if it's just changing a small gear in a system you know?" I directed over towards mine.
"Now normally the bolt would have a hexagon like shape right? Mine however is changed with the set being an octagon like bolt. Meaning the brakes on my AT are a lot stronger, thats linked to the fact that my inner coil of the AT's have a better torque system, hence the reason why my main bolt is an octagon shape instead of a hexagon like." I pointed out.
"Woah..." Ikki picked up his own and compared the two, before nodding his head. "Wow, thats intense."
"You think that's intense? You should look at other people's AT's. Especially those that have been riding for more than a year or two." Mikan comments as I took back my AT from the injured birdie. "So have you been to the shop yet?" I asked as crow looked at me with a blank look on his face.
"You still haven't went to an AT shop..." I shook my head, "Ikki, sometimes I wonder if you have any common sense."
"Hey!"
"Regardless," Mikan interrupted as she put her jacket on, "From now on, you'll be looking for parts on your own so you don't have to annoy us with this again. For now," she smirked as she pocketed her hands, "We're going to look for the Jack Pot." She opened up the door as I pointed at it. "That's your cue to get out of here." Ikki hastily got out of the room as I picked up my AT's. Staring at them, I realized...
...these were the reason for my maturity over the months.
"On my own...that's what I've been doing for the past four months..."
"Finally better?" Arisu asked as I cracked my neck. "Not in the best physical form, but it'll do." I told her as Bocchino handed me my working cap.
"You got Pepperoni to deliver." he snapped as I slipped on my ATs.
"Gotcha boss."
"Hey Josh?" Just before I was going to skate out of here, Jouichi stopped me. "Um...can I ask you a favor?"
"Later, I need to deliver pizza, we'll talk after my shift is done." The teen merely nodded as I skated on out of the pizza house. Seeing from the corner of my eyes, the newbie was already getting his second batch...
He saw me, and gave me a smirked.
"Oh no, he did not just..." My back may still be hurting, but I am not going to be losing to a newcomer anytime soon!
Typing up the money in my account, I started to calculate how much money I have left in my banking account. So far, I have about five hundred thousand yen left in my banking account (about 6500 dollars). It's a lot but I need to save it for my rent, clothes, books and my three course meal. The pay here is good, but I'm going to need to find a way to make more money...
"Josh?" I looked up to see Jouichi with his arms crossed, what is he...oh right, the favor.
"What's up?"
He sat down and sighed. "Is there a place to crash at your place?"
Self-centered, blunt, and a punk. I could see myself in him a bit. A bit.
"Why?" Jouichi sighed. "Just answer the damn question-"
"No, I'm not going to answer your question unless you tell me."
"It's none of your business-"
"It is my business if your going to be living in the place where I'm at, because my landlady really hates self-entwined brats like you." He glared, before rubbing his forehead with his hands. "Drama in school."
"Doesn't mean your moving in."
"No, that's not it. There's something big going on in my school and I don't want my parents to get involved." he clenched his fist as he looked away, "I want them to be safe..."
That brought me back two steps. I take back what I said, I don't see myself in him. He's...not selfish at all. He's nothing like me. I disregarded my parents words and got myself in trouble because of it. I rarely listened and got myself in trouble, and look where it got me...
He's not being a douche to his family, this guys legitimately care for his family. I almost feel guilty for what I said.
Almost.
"Why didn't you ask Arisu."
"I barely even know her." He snapped, "Besides, how can I dorm with a girl...I mean we live in two different worlds."
"So you haven't slept with her."
"You have?" He sarcastically asked as I shrugged, "Cuddled would be a better term." He snapped his head up as I scratched my head. "I'm not a playboy, I'm just a guy who sometimes to life to have company around him." I shook my head.
"In any case," I snapped my computer shut. "I don't know if we have rooms left, but your welcome to follow me and ask the landlady herself." Packing up my computer I handed my bag to Bocchino who, in exchange, handed me another box of pizza.
"By the way." Jouichi glanced over as I slipped on my AT's. "Challenge accepted."
"Bring it on." He smirked as he picked up his pizza, before we both skated on out of here.
"I so beat you on that last delivery!"
"Did not."
"Did too!" That was pretty much our conversation with me and Jouichi as I led him through the neighborhood. We were almost at the dorm house, and not wanting to bring the guy without knowing him more I talked with him. The "talk" soon became a debate of "I'm better than you in this aspect of area." From education to preferences, from fight styles to life styles, from Air Treks to...well, delivering pizza with Air Treks.
"Why didn't you grind on that pipeline? It'll totally cut through most of Shinjuku and get to your place earlier?"
"I haven't been delivering that long," Jouichi reminded me as we entered the dorm. So far, he looks impressed.
"Hey guys, I'm home-" I stopped. Why did I stop? Well, Ringo was peeking in a room, while hiding behind the door, like a stalker. This sort of habit means only one thing...
...Ikki's back and he's doing something retarded.
Wait, Mikan isn't beating him up, but eating her ramen; maybe he's not being a complete moron. Thank god for that. I walked over and tapped Ringo on the shoulder. She jumped, quickly turning around to see who had scared her in her "Ikki-time".
"J-Josh? When did you get back?"
"Right now," I looked into the room, and blinked. Ikki was actually doing his own maintenance on his AT's? Wow, didn't think he'd hope onto to the whole "Build Your AT's" thing. From the looks of things, it looks like he's working with the wheels and the break system.
"So, how long has he been screwing with his AT's?" I asked, curious to know if he made any improvements. Ringo scoffed, "If you call screwing and unscrewing the bolt off of the breaks, more than half an hour."
Wait, Ikki's been screwing and unscrewing? That idiot...
"See if I help him any time soon..." Muttering incoherent things after that, Mikan walked over to my side. "So, what the hell did you do to make him so happy?" Mikan, in response, simply shrugged.
"Like I have any damn clue. He's been like that the whole time." She nudged me and points at the boy's wallet with her chopsticks. "Rika gave him his allowance, and he spent it all on wheels."
I smacked myself. Who, in the world, would spend all their allowance on the wheels? I mean, I would have if I didn't became more responsible and mature over those four months, but still.
"So, whose the guy behind you?" The magenta haired Storm Rider asked as I looked over at Jouichi, who came out of the kitchen with a nod. "That's my friend, apparently he's looking for a place to stay."
"Well, Rika ain't here right now, he'll have to stay in your room for the time being then." She, nonchalantly, waved at the teen who, in return, gave her a curated nod. The dark haired Pizza boy no. 2 (that's going to be his ridiculously long nickname from now on in the story) peered into the room, where he saw Ikki being...Ikki.
For some reason, that was the time Ikki decided to actually pay attention to his freaking surroundings. He looked up to see Jouichi in front of him... suddenly we found ourselves watching Ikki trying to punch the hell out of my co-worker.
"I'm going to kill you!" He roared.
...only to get kicked in the balls by Jouichi, and clotheslined by yours truly.
Ikki staggered, before landing his elbow onto Mikan's ramen. The soup splattered almost everywhere on Mikan, some of it was dripping onto Ikki who was trying to stop his fall. He did stop it, by grabbing onto Ringo's skirt...
...huh, didn't expect her to be wearing those kind of panties...
...oh wait...pissed off Noyamano sisters...
Me and Jouichi slowly stepped away from the fuming girls.
"In our defense, Ikki is a complete dumbass."
"So your friend, Jouichi wants to stay here for the time being?" Rika asked as I nodded my head. Right now, him and me, were in the living room with Rika explaining the situation with him.
"So...what do you think Rika? Mind letting my junior crash here for a while?" I was a bit abashed to do this, it's not that I don't like Jouichi or something, but with Rika, it can get really awkward soon...
"Your junior? You two in a gang or something?"
Just like that, I found myself in an awkward situation.
"Um...no?"
"I just have some drama going on in my life ma'am," Jouichi cut in, "I didn't want my family to get involved with my own problems, thought it'd be smart if I left and not drag them into my mess."
Rika simply stared at us...which made me a bit unnerved at the sudden silence. Thankfully, she took a breath before she shook her head. "Why couldn't Ikki be like you guys?"
If I got a nickel every time someone said that, I wouldn't be working as a pizza boy.
"Speaking of Ikki, whatever happened to him?"
The two of us pointed at a burial that was just right outside of the backyard, with incense that smoked out from the stick and roses.
"He tried to sneak attack Jouichi. We countered, but he ruined Mikan's lunch and made Ringo flash at everyone involuntarily."
"...I see..." Jouichi scratched his head sheepishly, and bowed.
"I'm sorry, about beating up one of your tenants."
"Bah! Don't worry about it, everyone here has to beat up Ikki or else they'll go crazy." Rika assured him, as she pushed forward the contract, "Well, now that we got the issue of why you want to dorm here, let's get on with the contract-"
We paused at the sound of a tired moan. Turning to the source, the dirt that was on the manmade grave began to tremble. A dirty hand shot out as it grasped into a fist.
"...Rika, want me to get rid of the zombie-"
"No, it's ok." The eldest Noyamano got up and cracked her knuckles as she stepped outside. "Why don't you show your friend what to sign and the terms and polices of our dorm."
I nodded as Jouichi stared off...what the heck is he...
Turning to the direction he was staring off to, I blinked and looked back at him.
"I won't lie, Rika does have a nice ass."
He froze as the Junior year student looked at me with shock. "Don't worry. Your not the first, and definitively not the last, to stare at that woman's hot ass." Picking up his contract I placed it in front of him and point at a specific spot.
"Now there's a clause here called 'Whippin' Ikki's ass if you think he's a piece of shit'. This is here whenever Ikki is being a piece of shit..."
Great Scott! I feel fan-freaking-tastic!
Soaring in the air, I twisted my hip in a corkscrew as my whole body followed suit. Going through the small gaps between the support beams, I spread my arms like a pair of wings on a bird, and let the wind slow me down on my fall; and right before I land, I flipped midway before the back wheel caught onto the ground.
In a split second, I burst into speed as my AT skated through the traffic before I made a sharp right turn.
"Looks like your feeling better." Jouichi commented as we both skated through the streets of late night Shibuya.
"With doc's massages, and Ume stomping over my knots, how the hell could I not be?" Pushing down onto my AT's, I felt the Air Cushion exhaust all the air as I leaped high into the air. Kick both my legs up, I used the momentum of that very kick to flip over on top of a car. Not wasting any time, I leaped again onto another car, and then another car, and another.
"You should still be careful," Jouichi commented, as he followed right behind me, "Your still recovering man, and I really don't want to drag your ass back to the dorms."
"Drag my ass back to the dorm? Like that'll ever happen- What the hell?"
Power-slidding myself to a halt, Jouichi slowed down as he jabbed me with his finger, "What's up?"
"What the hell is Ikki doing?"
The two of us turned to the Mamurasaki Sports, where we, and a few dozen other people, looked at Ikki...staring into the store like some sort of stalker...
"...let's just slowly turn around and ignore the spectacle..."
"...right, we don't know that guy." There are times where I really wouldn't go along with someone trying to ignore others, I'm usually the type of guy to tell them to stop whatever the hell they're doing regardless if they're joking or not, but for this instance I have to agree with my co-worker. We didn't know this guy. After all, we don't want to be related to some stalker.
"We sure as hell don't know him."
"Right. We're two guys just enjoying Air Trek, and we're about to go home."
"He's not our room mate."
"Definitively not."
"Josh? Joichi? What the hell are you guys doing?" We both turned around to see Mikan who was not mad, but curious on why we were just talking about...well...pretty much nothing I guess.
"To answer your question -" I point back at Ikki, Mikan followed where I was pointing at...and slowly looked back towards me.
"We definitively don't know him." Joichi summarized.
"Agreed." The three of us immediately skated back home, not looking back to see Ikki getting his ass whipped by some guy in a dog helmet.