This chapter is all over the place and literally took me over three months to write, but HERE IT IS. Let me know what you think of my OC's. I literally spent like over seven years developing these characters, so I'd like to know what opinions you have of them.
Enjoy!
When Kai and Kazuto arrived at the complex where the races were to take place, Kazuto immediately took notice that the track looked damn near abandoned. There was a small building that they parked in front of and a large stadium behind it. It looked run down and he wouldn't trust his life to the stands on the left side, as they looked like they were about to fall apart. Kai didn't look concerned in the least about the state of the stadium, as he continued to follow Rima into a small garage on the east end.
Rima had sped the entire way here and, in consequence, so did Kai. It was pretty exhilarating going over 100 mph on the interstate, and Kazuto had a feeling the trip would have taken about half an hour longer if the two had been going by the speed limit. When the two sports cars were finally parked, Kazuto spotted Asuna practically leaping out of the Jag, looking as if she were about to kiss the ground.
"C'mon. We're actually on time," Kai smirked, unbuckling his seatbelt.
Kazuto stepped out of Kai's Ferrari and went to go calm down his girlfriend. It was only when he reached her that he realized that everyone else had already arrived and were standing next to their own impressive cars. Sam and Bryan had identical Corvettes, Sam's being bright red and Bryan's being a dark shade of navy blue, as expected of the stylish twins. Mari had a nice, silver Porsche. He couldn't tell if it was a racing car but it was definitely a beauty. Kyo was driving an impressive newest model Lamborghini, and it made Kazuto drool a little bit. It was sleek black in color and extremely low to the ground. Justin hopped out of a dark gray Ferrari that wasn't quite as extravagant as Kai's, but still impressive nonetheless. Ami was the only one without a vehicle.
"Alright! Let's get this show on the road people! We gotta impress these newbies, don't we?" Bryan smirked, leaning back on the hood of his Corvette.
It wasn't long before Kazuto and Asuna were ushered onto the bleachers on the east end of the stadium. It was just the two of them for a little while, until Tommy, Ryo, and Annie showed up. Ryo was smiling cheekily as he spotted the pair.
"It's nice to see you two sober. Quite a show you put on at the band hall last night," he smirked. Kazuto and Asuna blushed deeply in mortification. Annie snickered at the pair's expense.
Tommy groaned, "You guys are sick. Let's just watch the races."
"Don't be such a prude, babe," Annie snorted, pinching her boyfriend's side. He growled and smacked her hand away in response.
The races went off without a hitch. The track was pretty straightforward, two straights, two curves. Kazuto was a little surprised when a car he didn't recognize pulled up next to Justin's Ferrari. It was a neon yellow Camaro, a very American car. What was a car like that doing in Japan?
"Who is that?" he asked aloud, not sure who to expect an answer from.
Ryo gave him one. "If memory serves me right, that is Aaron Royce's car. He's a Latin-American rapper from Los Angeles. He's also Sam's on-off boyfriend."
Kazuto couldn't see the driver from where he was sitting, but once Justin's Ferrari crossed the finish line first, both cars came to a stop at the finish line and a man of impressive stature emerged from the Camaro. It wasn't necessarily the bright red hair that caught Kazuto's attention so much as the sharky smirk the guy wore. He was intimidating.
"Seems like Sam's type, doesn't he?" Asuna murmured from beside him. He had to agree, if there was anyone he could picture the feisty brunette with, it was this guy.
Two other people that Kazuto hadn't seen before soon made themselves known in the races. One was Aiden Cross, a Japanese-American rapper who was also Aaron's best friend. The two seemed to have a thing for bright colors because Aiden's car was a lime green Mustang. If Kazuto had to be honest, he'd say the car was hideous and he would never have chosen that for himself. Then again, he probably wouldn't have chosen to have dyed bright purple hair and a tongue piercing like Aiden had. Lastly, there was a slender girl with short, wavy black hair and bright green eyes. She glued herself to Aiden's side and waved her checkered scarf to signal the start of the race. She made it a point to plant a celebratory kiss on Aiden's cheek when he won the race against Bryan. Her name was Kira Akiyama, according to Annie. She was a rapper and music producer.
Ryo explained that the groups were rivals, even though they were all signed under the same record label. They produced many songs together, just as Rima's group did. He also explained that while Rima's group of friends produced music in a variety of genres, Aaron's group produced rap music almost exclusively.
"Do you guys make music too?" Kazuto asked, looking at the trio in interest.
"Sure. We're trying to become a band, you see. I play keyboard and provide the bass line when needed. Tommy here is a guitar prodigy, he might even be better than Kai. And Annie is a badass at the drums." Ryo smirked, quite proud of his group.
"So you guys are all set then? You're all ready to make music?" asked Asuna.
"Not quite," said Annie, "we're missing one very key component of a real band. Sure right now we each sing and play instruments on our own, but as a band we each have our own niche. No one here was really meant for vocals."
"Yeah and while we have everything we need instrumental-wise, we're missing a singer. I mean, we can all sing here, but we're better with our instruments. It's kind of hard to start a band without some vocals, ya know?" Ryo explained. Tommy and Annie nodded their heads in agreement.
It made a lot of sense, so Kazuto and Asuna nodded in understanding. "Sorry to hear that. So how long will it be before you guys find a singer? I'd love to hear you all play sometimes," he said.
"You guys should stop by our flat sometime then, we do a few sessions here and there just to make sure we're not out of practice. And we've been auditioning vocalists for a while now, and even though we've come across some great ones, none of them seem to really fit in with the rest of us," Tommy said, exasperated.
After chatting some more, and not really watching the races, Kazuto acquired all three of their phone numbers and they bid their goodbyes with promises of keeping in touch. Kai and Rima came to get the pair, Kai looking quite exhausted while Rima was beaming with pride as she counted a large wad of bills. Kazuto didn't know bets were being made, or that anything was wagered.
"It's just a few grand, but dinner's on me tonight! Don't mind Kai, he's just pouty because he only got to race once and they tied," Rima giggled, pulling Asuna's hand and leading the way towards Jason the Jag.
They picked up Korean barbecue, Rima's favorite, on the way back to the estate. It was nearing late evening by the time they left the complex, and it was dark by the time they reached the Kazami estate. Dinner was had rather peacefully, and was a nice end to the eventful day that they all had.
"So," Kai started, slurping up some kimchi, "Yui is wonderful. You both did a great job raising her, even though you adopted her when you were sixteen and she was four." Kazuto choked a bit on his pork at the underhanded comment.
"Yeah, she's super sweet! Do you guys go and see her often?" Rima asked, completely ignoring Kai's comments. Asuna smiled.
"We see her almost evert day! She's our pride and joy. I don't know if I'd have made it through Sword Art Online and being kept prisoner in Alfheim without her," she said.
"Yui was actually one of the only reasons I was able to rescue Asuna in the first place. I definitely wouldn't have been able to do it without her admin capabilities," Kazuto explained, internally reminding himself to get Yui a much belated gratuity present.
Rima seemed excited to go back to the virtual world, nearly jumping out of her seat to go and grab her Amusphere. Kai looked less than thrilled at the prospect of going back into the world of Alfheim. It still bothered him a little that Kazuto had to endure two years in a virtual world under constant threat by being part of the assault team. Like what kind of teen has to go through something like that? He remembers being absolutely horrified when it was talked about all over the media two years ago. And to think his little brother was the one to save everybody…
"Hey I just got a text from Tommy," Kazuto announced just as everyone was congregating in the living room to do a virtual dive again.
"Wait, really? Since when are you guys all buddy-buddy?" Kai asked, perking an eyebrow. He hadn't expected Tommy, of all introverted teenagers, to be the one to initiate contact with his little brother. If anything, Kai was more worried that Tommy would see Kazuto as a replacement of sorts.
Kazuto waved him off, looking down at his phone to read the text. Asuna answered for him, "We all got to know each other down at the races. Ryo said it was nice to have more people their age around."
"Makes sense," Rima mused, "What'd he say, Kazuto?" Behind her, Kazuto was chuckling quietly at his cell phone screen.
"He said, 'You guys want to ditch the geezers and hang at our pad tomorrow?'" Kazuto snickered.
Rima paled. "Geezer…" she whimpered, looking far more distraught than she should have. Kai made quick work of calming down the upset blonde.
Asuna peered down at her boyfriend's phone to verify the message. Tommy had, in fact, referred to Kai and Rima as 'geezers'. She had to admit he was much friendlier than she remembered him being the first time they met at the Band Hall. She might even go as far as to call him funny.
"Should we go?" she asked, looking at Kazuto. He shrugged, not really knowing how to respond himself.
"Well I think it's a good idea. Tommy's been studying guitar under me for a while now, and I'm glad he's making an effort to make you feel welcome instead of getting jealous like I thought he would…" Kai said thoughtfully.
"That's a good point, Kai. You guys should go! Those three usually keep to themselves, since they're a really tightknit group. I suppose if they're trying to get to know you it means they like you." Rima added.
"I guess so. Okay, I'll tell him we're coming," Kazuto replied, quickly typing a message to Tommy. A reply came a few seconds later. "He said Ryo will come and pick us up at nine. Why so early?" he wondered aloud.
Kai explained that the trio's apartment was in downtown Okijama, about an hour and a half away from the estate. He also stated that Ryo was the only one who owned a car, since Tommy and Annie only drove motorcycles, which Kazuto thought was badass.
"Can we dive now? I wanna see Yui again!" Rima pouted once all the plans for tomorrow were set.
The next morning Kazuto and Asuna were up bright and early to prepare for their day with Tommy and Co. Asuna was excited to have another girl around her age. Annie also wasn't as rambunctious as Rima, and that would be a breath of fresh air. She didn't know how much longer she could keep up with the tiny blonde's seemingly never-ending energy. Just how did so much energy fit inside such a small body anyways?! Kazuto seemed excited too, also for having people around that weren't four or five years older.
Ryo arrived in a white Lexus at precisely nine o'clock. When Kai mentioned that being painfully punctual was a quirk of Ryo's, neither Kazuto nor Asuna actually believed him.
"'Sup, newbies? Ready to hang with the cool kids?" Ryo smirked through the window as he pulled into the spacious driveway. "Hope you guys haven't eaten. Annie is making breakfast and she'll bitch if no one eats it. She always says she hates being domestic."
On the way to the apartment, Asuna and Kazuto learned that Ryo was actually a full time student, a freshman in university majoring in mathematics. When asked why he would study such a horrid subject full time instead of majoring in music or something, he said music came easy to him and that math was the only subject he found challenging. "It gets boring, ya know? Like if I took nothing but music or literature or even some sciences I don't feel like I'm learning. I read a lot when I was a kid. Bryan says I went through like three hundred and seventy-four books in a year when I was thirteen. He actually kept track, that asshole. But I didn't read a whole lot about math, so I like math classes because it's all new to me," he had explained.
They also learned that Ryo liked to talk. A lot.
All in all Kazuto had to say he liked Ryo. He was a cool guy, and was very easy to talk to even with his random soliloquies. Reading three hundred and seventy four books in one year though sounds insane. He could barely keep up with literature when it was required in his classes. They also learned that the whole punctuality quirk was a result of his musical training. Ryo had studied classical piano for the better part of his nineteen years, and timing was always something he struggled with when he would practice the more difficult pieces. When he perfected his timing, he applied it not only to music but to everyday life.
Fortunately, the trio reached the apartment complex before Ryo found the time to talk about his favorite composers. That was a conversation for another day, preferably when there was caffeine in Kazuto's system.
"Well, welcome to Casa de Tohomiko, Hollis, and Himi." Ryo grinned as he pulled the car up to the valet stand.
It definitely wasn't the kind of apartment complex that Kazuto was expecting, but then again, had anything been what he'd expected since he got here?
The complex itself was a large vertical building with what had to have been at least thirty floors. Marble floors and gold-plated counters and plush couches decorated the lobby. The doorman greeted Asuna with a rose and Kazuto with a warm biscuit. Ryo offered an employee in the elevator a keycard, which the man scanned quickly before taking them to the top floor; the penthouse.
Of course.