An average summer day is interrupted by Kyoko the biker, who Yumi is immediately taken with. While no one else seems to think twice about it, Sakuya disapproves and is determined to stop her from so much as saying hello. Is she right or simply motivated by jealousy?
It was your average, intensely hot summer day in Chiba. Birds were singing, flowers were blooming, Kazuhiko was making a speech – all was right with the world. "And," he continued to the group, "that's precisely why we need more pet-accessible housing in Japan. There's plenty of scientific study on the subject as far as it's related to reducing stress and helping people deal with their lives, but the majority of apartments won't allow them." All three of his listeners stared blankly, unsure of why he chose this topic, in particular, to rant about today.
"Fine, thin of it this way. Hideo, wouldn't you like a cat or something to help you manage your anxiety disorder outside like this?" They simply shrugged, letting a few dozen ants crawl around on their hands as they went about their tiny ant lives, evidently being the only pet that really interested Hideo.
"I want all pets," Yumi said in complete seriousness to try and support Kazuhiko.
"I mean, what you're trying to say isn't entirely wrong, but there's not all that much any of us could do about it, so I don't know why you're making a big deal out of it." Honestly, Sakuya would really enjoy having a cat. She couldn't let on to that, though, or else he'd win somehow.
Taking a seat on the grass next to Yumi, he sighed in contempt. "Whatever," he concluded.
"What do we do now?" Yumi asked, the void left by their lack of animal companions weighing heavy on their hearts.
"We could go to the arcade," Kazuhiko suggested, met by a few shrugs from the group. Before anyone else could speak, the otherwise fairly peaceful afternoon was pierced by the sound of a loud engine roaring in from down the street. Much to the irritation of everyone in the park area, it only became louder over time. The source of the noise, a pink motorcycle with some serious modifications to the engine, quickly revealed itself as it tore across the pavement.
With a loud skid, it stopped by the sidewalk the driver removing her sticker-coated helmet. She was a tough looking high school girl, half her hair dyed a turquoise and falling to her right shoulder, while the other was a deep purple and nearly shaved against her head. Several gold piercings dangled from each ear, a few studded with diamonds to match the rhinestones on her bubblegum-colored jacket. "Hey!" she called down to the four nearest to her, other parkgoers looking on with concern despite having no intention of intervening. "Any of you kids know where the library is? Got something to take care of there."
"Who the hell are you calling a kid, you flashy joke?" Kazuhiko yelled back, shaking his fist in the air.
"What do you think you're doing," Sakuya whispered in a panic. Even Hideo was afraid at the idea of a potential confrontation.
"I'm not going to let her ride in here and take that tone with my friends!" he replied.
"Shut the hell up!" she yelled from up the hill. "Just tell me where the goddamn library is before I kick your teeth in!"
"Why don't you get off that rusty hunk of scrap and try it, asshole!" To everyone's shock, she did just that, tossing her helmet onto the grass and marching towards Kazuhiko as he advanced. They leaned into each other, their faces separated by barely a millimeter as they stared each other down.
Both their right hands cocked back, poised to strike. They flew forward as everyone looked on in horror, suddenly smacking together in an open palmed handshake, resulting in a gripping battle to try and outdo each other as they both laughed.
"You're a real asshole!" she said to him.
"You, too!" he shot back. "I think I've heard of you before. You run with that girl gang on the north side of the city, right?"
"You damn well better have heard of me! Better question is why I haven't heard of you before. Most guys shrivel up and piss themselves as soon as I take a step near them. Who are you with?"
Kazuhiko scoffed, puffing out his chest. "No one. The way I do things, a gang only gets in the way. They're the closest thing I have at the moment. Hideo, Sakuya ('Please don't give her my name.'), and..." the group turned to look at Yumi. Unlike the others, she'd remained perfectly silent since the moment this woman appeared, standing transfixed in the same spot with her mouth hanging open. "Miss Yumi? You okay?"
He waved his hand in front of her face and snapped a few times before she responded. "Y-yes! I'm fine! I-I'm T-T-Takami Yuta- Tako-" She forced out an uncomfortably loud laugh to try and steady herself. "T-Takano Yumi, m-miss!"
The biker grinned, patting her on the shoulder. "That's probably the best introduction I've ever heard, Yumi. My name's Kyoko." She addressed the group for the last part, Yumi still reeling over being touched by someone she found so immensely attractive.
"T-thank you for the compliment!" Yumi said, bowing despite how out of character that was for her.
"And the library is down the street and to the left," Sakuya declared, interrupting the conversation. "And if that's all you need, maybe you should go."
Kyoko chuckled at her boldness. "Thanks for your help." She turned to Kazuhiko and punched him in the arm. "See you around, kid. Come find me sometime and we'll raise some hell." Glancing back with a wink, she added, "Take care, Yumi."
Yumi watched her leave until she was completely out of sight, burning the image of the intricate pink rose etched onto the back of her jacket into her brain. "Wow," was all she could say.
"Are you okay, Yumi?" Sakuya asked her.
"Yeah, I'm fine," she said with a laugh. "That was just a little...wow."
Sakuya turned up her nose. "I'm glad we managed to settle that as quickly as possible. People like that are just so..."
"What do you mean by 'people'?" Kazuhiko questioned with a frown.
"People like you, yes. Delinquents. I can't stand them."
Forehead vein near busting, Kazuhiko clenched his teeth in rage. "You don't know anything, Ishikawa. She's pretty cool, and I'm just plain awesome. You're too uptight about everything."
"Hideo agrees with me," she said defiantly. "Right?" They merely shrugged in response. It wasn't so much the fact she was part of a biker gang that they found offensive, but more the threat of violence. After it turned out she was just messing with Kazuhiko, they had no real opinion one way or the other. With a huff, she crossed her arms. "Whatever. It's over now. Come on, Yumi. Let's get back to training. We've had enough of a break for today."
"Actually, I was thinking about going to the library," she said innocently with another laught. "I've got all that homework, you know. And we've already been training for a couple hours today." Sakuya glared, not believing her excuses. "It's true! I even brought my homework with me today!"
Yumi reached into her backpack and pulled out the brown envelope full of summer assignments, untouched save for having written her name at the top of the first page. "Told you I had it."
Rolling her eyes with a sigh, Sakuya was forced to relent. "Okay, sorry for not believing you. And homework is important." As much as she hated the idea of Yumi sneaking off to see that girl given how impressionable and naive her friend was about the dangers of associating with gang members, she also had to trust her to take care of herself. "I still don't think you should be talking to that girl while you're there."
"It's fine," Yumi assured her, already zipping up her backpack. "I'm just going to do some homework. I'll be back later if you guys are still here."
"Wait, do you want me to come with you?" Sakuya asked quickly. "I could help you stay focused. You always get distracted when there's lots of reading to do."
"I'll be okay," she responded, hopping onto her bike. "Besides, you could use a break from teaching me today. You can, like, reign over the park like you used to, or something." She was already peddling away. "See you later!" she said with a wave to the group.
After Yumi faded into the distance, Kazuhiko scratched his head, saying, "It's none of my business, but jealousy doesn't look good on anyone. Just saying."
"I'm not jealous!" Sakuya said in jealous frustration. "She just shouldn't be talking to someone like that."
"What's the worst that could happen?" Kazuhiko asked, taking an unusually even and levelheaded tone.
"She could hurt her or steal from her, or maybe force her to join that gang, and then all sorts of bad stuff could happen."
"See, you probably don't know this since you're not a 'delinquent' like me," he said, running a comb through his pompadour, "but the girls around here aren't really in the business of beating up little kids. The whole thing is a big act of rebellion against the conformity and sexism ingrained in Japanese society, so hurting a little girl wouldn't really make a statement they're proud of."
With a chuckle, he added, "And, yeah, the girl who almost cried when she sat on a butterfly is definitely going to grow up to be a hardened criminal. About as likely as you turning into a tree because you've always got that stick up your ass." He sneered at the resulting glare, putting his comb away and turning his back to her.
"Anyway, Hideo. Want to go to the arcade like I said? They got a new dance machine in last week and it's got a bunch of funk and disco on it like you like." With a shrug, the two departed, Kazuhiko looking back over his shoulder. "You coming?"
With a heavy sigh, Sakuya took a seat on the grass. "No, I think I'll stay here. I don't really like all the flashing lights in arcades."
"Suit yourself," he replied as they continued down the sidewalk. Now everyone was gone, leaving her there all by herself. After so long with Yumi by her side, it felt wrong. The other two had slowly made their way into being fixtures of her daily life, as well, so the solitude was only made more pronounced. The worst part was that she was sure it was entirely her fault.
She didn't seem to have much of a choice in what to do now, as she could either sit on the grass moping or reluctantly take back command of the park as she had before. No one would be happy about that, not even her, but retreating into her shell was the best defense against the loneliness.
Things were going much better for Yumi at the library. She parked her bike out front, spying Kyoko's motorcycle on the street. From behind the building, she could barely hear a strange thumping noise interspersed with a metal clanging. Before she had time to investigate, her target emerged from behind the corner, dusting off her jacket and putting her earrings back in.
The two locked eyes, causing Yumi's face to go red as she gave a weak laugh. Kyoko grinned, walking up and patting the younger girl on the head. "What are you doing here?" she asked. "You didn't follow me, did you?"
"I-I-I might have, yes. That's not weird, right? I-I mean, I just do that sometimes. Uh, follow someone. If I like them. N-not in the really like kind of way, but the normal liking way, you know? Not that I couldn't really like you! You're so pretty and cool, and your hair is neat and you ride a motorcycle." She paused in horror as her spoken words started to process in her brain. "I have a lot of homework to do!" she screamed, running into the library.
The whole scene amused her more than anything. Taking a glance over to the bike rack, Kyoko leaned against the hand rail to wait for Yumi to return. To her surprise, she had to wait an entire eight minutes before something as obvious as a huge lock sitting inside her backpack came to the girl's attention.
Yumi's blush returned as she walked back outside. "I-I forgot to chain up my bike," she said timidly, locking it for security. As she went towards the library doors to try and begin her work, she froze in place. "You know..." she began, turning nervously to face Kyoko who'd stayed silent the whole time with only an amused smirk as evidence of any engagement with what was going on around her.
"I don't really have that much homework," Yumi lied, her statement being especially false considering she hadn't so much as touched the packet since the last day of school prior to this morning. "So if you wanted to h-hang out, or something, we could...do something? I know I'm a kid, but I'm pretty cool." Feeling a bit of apprehension after that last line, she laughed nervously. "My friends think so, at least."
Kyoko began to laugh deeply and loudly. The confidence Yumi had worked up on the way outside shattered to pieces, assuming the near-cackle meant she'd made a total fool of herself in front of the older girl. "You're amazing," Kyoko said, trying to catch her breath. Yumi immediately went starry eyed at the compliment. "You know what, I like you. You want to hang out? Let's do it."
"R-really?" Yumi asked, trying to keep her cool and not hop or flap like she normally did when she was happy.
She nodded. "Sure. What are we going do?" Yumi's dreams came to a screeching halt at that moment. Truthfully, she hadn't actually planned this far ahead. Didn't really expect to get to the hanging out portion of the conversation.
Sensing that the tiny lesbian in front of her had frozen (not so much "sensing" as it was listening to a loud, "Uh..." noise), Kyoko took it upon herself to try and find a solution. This crush was positively adorable even if she couldn't return those feelings, so being a friend to this girl was the next best thing. After all, who'd be a better role model than her?
"How about this," Kyoko began, patting Yumi on the head. "I'm pretty hungry now, so why don't we go get something to eat and figure things out from there." Yumi could only nod, overcome with feelings she could barely understand. "Cool. Got an idea of where we could go. Hop on my bike."
Yumi followed her like a baby duck, containing her excitement as best as possible as Kyoko helped her up to the rear of her motorcycle. "Put this on and hold my waist," she said, handing Yumi the helmet she'd previously worn, far outclassing her worn out bike helmet. It was a tad bigger than a good fit, but it would keep her protected in case anything went wrong.
"I-I've never...I mean...motorcycles, I haven't..." Yumi was far too flustered to form coherent thoughts at the moment as she used her position on the bike as an excuse to hug Kyoko as tight as possible.
Regardless, the message came through. "I'll drive safe," she said with a small chuckle. "You've got all your homework to do, so I'll take you back here in an hour. How's that sound?" She received an affirmative yelp in response, taking it as a sign to head out. Making sure the road was clear, Kyoko loudly peeled out from the side of the street to turn around and circle around the park, heading north.
Business as usual had finally returned to the park, Sakuya overseeing the other children as the pseudo-dictator she played at being, Miyuki and Michiko more than happy to have Yumi out of the picture, solidly placing them back at a step below the top of the totem pole. Kazuhiko and Hideo, as they said, were gone and off at the arcade. It was shaping up to be an extremely boring day.
The sound of an engine buzzing along the street drew everyone's attention towards the road for a brief moment, though it was more out of reflex than any actual care. All except for Sakuya, at least, who felt a wave of terror crash into her as her mind registered that the smaller body on the back of the motorcycle she'd just seen was Yumi. "I have business to take care of," she said, standing abruptly and preparing to walk out of the park. "As you were."
After a good deal of walking and getting lost in an unfamiliar area of the city, Sakuya dramatically pushed through the doors into the arcade. Several people instinctively moved out of the way as she marched towards a flashing dance machine, sensing a murderous intent completely disproportionate to her short stature and festive headwear.
Just as they'd said, Kazuhiko and Hideo were at the machine performing a perfectly coordinated routine in time with Prince's Soft and Wet. After four tries, they'd gotten the the pattern down and had constructed an entire dance to go along with it. "What do you want?" he said, feeling her eyes bore into him from behind.
"I want you to pull your pompadour out of your ass and avert this disaster," she said coldly.
"Kind of busy," he answered, the two dancers slamming their feet onto the left and right pads, then raising to the tips of their toes and pointing towards the screen with one hand in perfect synchronization.
"I don't care! Yumi's in danger!" Half the arcade went silent, turning their attention to the screaming.
Kazuhiko scoffed, doubting the validity of her statement. "Of what? Not spending enough time with you? Everyone needs a break from that sometimes."
"I saw her drive off with Yumi. She's going to hurt her, I know it." Sakuya was beginning tp get even more angry at the total lack of care these two were paying her. Fortunately, the song ended, complete with victorious poses from each of them as "PERFECT" and "S Rank" flashed on the screen.
Kazuhiko wiped some sweat from his forehead, turning around and leaning against the game console. "And is there any actual reason for you to believe that, or are you just making assumptions and being jealous again?"
"I'm not jealous!" she argued, somehow managing to make it even less convincing than before. "Just what do you think someone that old would be doing with a girl her age? Nothing good could come out of it and Yumi's going to be hurt. We need to stop her."
"She's, like, a year older than we are," he said, gesturing to himself and Hideo who'd begun to bob back and forth to an Earth, Wind & Fire song playing quietly on the idle menu. "It's not a hell of a lot more shady than who she's normally with. And you might not know this since you're not even in the damn country for most of the year with your fancy boarding school, or whatever, but the gang she's part of goes out of their way to protect other girls, especially the young ones. So it's not all that likely she's going to do anything to hurt Miss Yumi." He scowled then, becoming legitimately irritated with her attitude.
"But," he continued, taking a breath, "even if we put aside all that and the fact you're just exploding with jealousy, because maybe she's allowed to like someone who doesn't act ashamed to be seen in public with her, what are you suggesting we do? Just magically figure out what they're up to, go kick in some doors and bust heads like a bunch of thugs, then kidnap our friend away from a good time that doesn't include you?"
It would be incorrect to say his takedown had knocked the wind from her sails; at this point, the sails were nothing but shredded bits of cloth hanging from a broken mast. Hideo, as stoic as they always were, was surprised at just how passionately incensed Kazuhiko had gotten near the end, typically remaining unfazed by any level of outburst from him.
"You know, Ishikawa," he added, narrowing his eyes. "I used to say we were rivals. I'd play up the whole thing, let you get in some jabs about me as a duelist or even my hair, and it'd be a good time. And I'd always think you were just a kid being tough, and the way you've been treating everyone lately made me think there might be more to you than you let people see. But then you pull stuff like this, and it makes me realize: You really are an asshole."
He tapped Hideo's sleeve lightly. "Yo, let's bounce. We can go weave some baskets like you were talking about earlier. That sounds kind of interesting." With an uneasy look back to Sakuya, they nodded, the two leaving as the rest of the arcade resumed its activities. Sakuya herself was left at the dance machine, biting her bottom lip as she tried to shake the churning, uneasy, guilty feeling in her stomach and figure out what to do.
Across town, Yumi slurped down the last of her ramen, sighing loudly as both Kyoko and the brown haired woman working the kitchen looked on in amazement. "You ate for, like, three of you," Kyoko said in genuine awe.
"I was really hungry," Yumi said contentedly, almost wanting to take a nap at the counter. "Thank you for buying me lunch," she added quickly, having mostly overcome her shyness now that she was suitably full and a bit more comfortable with her new friend.
"No problem," she said, slowly turning to the chef with a mischievous smile. "Hey, Haru, you're going to cover for me this time, right? We're friends, right? So you can take this one for me?" With a very articulated refusal, Kyoko was smacked on the head with a ladle. "Asshole!"
"I can't keep covering for you!" she said, wiping some soup from her hand onto a smudged white apron. "I only make so much, too, and my dad's going to fire me if I keep giving you free meals. What are you even using that money on?"
Kyoko spun on her stool slightly, pursing her lips and looking off in the distance. "You know...things."
Haru rolled her eyes, placing a bill onto the counter. "Just pay up. I know you've got a credit card." Kyoko cursed inwardly, unable to pull the "short on cash" trick with her friend. It wasn't a problem, though. This was just how they were, digging at each other over things like money and clothes and rides. Even so, Yumi's four bowls was more than she expected to have to cough up when she invited a middle schooler out to lunch. Reluctantly, she handed over her credit card. "By the way, I forgot to ask who your new friend is."
"Yumi!" she introduced herself, spinning in place several times with her arms raised.
With a laugh, Haru turned to Kyoko with eyebrow raised. "New girlfriend, or something? So desperate you're even going after little kids now, I guess. No dignity."
"You're just jealous you can't get someone as cute as Yumi here," she joked, patting Yumi's head as she was overcome with joy by the compliment. "We just met earlier at the library and she was brave enough to ask if I wanted to hang out. Figured she deserved something out of that boldness."
"You be careful around this one," Haru said in a hushed tone to Yumi. "She's a no good delinquent. I've heard she doesn't even brush her teeth at night."
"That was one time because you wouldn't let me use your toothbrush!" Kyoko yelled, shaking her fist.
Yumi laughed, returning to spinning her stool. "It's okay. My friend Kazuhiko's a no good delinquent and I don't think he ever changes out of his school uniform."
"You ever been bowling, Yumi? There's a place down the street if you've still got time." Kyoko took back her card, putting a black and red wallet back into her inside jacket pocket.
"I'd like to try!" she answered excitedly. She had absolutely no time to be distracted, though. In fact, this entire afternoon was terrible for her schedule. Training for the tournament was one commitment that she was more than seeing through, but the homework was still there hovering above her head. She was choosing not to think of it once again.
"Let's get going, then." Kyoko stood up, Yumi hopping to the ground with her. "I'm leaving my bike here since they don't have parking. If you touch it, I'll shove that ladle up your ass."
Haru smirked. "We can talk about that later when there's not a kid around." Yumi laughed along with the other girls despite not really understanding the implications of what had been said. Probably just grown up humor, she thought.
This chapter came out a few minutes late since I didn't have time to finish editing the day before. Not that big of a deal, but I'm still sorry for it. Chapter 9 should be out on time 100% after this.
You can probably tell, but this is another victim of the "originally-planned-to-be-one-chapter-but-got-too-long-and-had-to-split-things-up" virus like the last two, mostly because I refer to Kyoko as the "biker duelist" in the title but have not gotten to the part where she actually duels yet. Good job, me. I plan everything from the very beginning.
If anyone's concerned, Kyoko and Yumi are never going to be A Thing™. She's way too old for her and she is well aware of that. Her hope is that when Yumi does start to get crushes on girls her own age that she'll feel comfortable enough to turn to someone like her who can relate for advice so she doesn't end up in a situation specifically like this one where someone older and/or in a position of power over her can take advantage of her.
Not much else to say at the end of this one except for a promise to be on schedule next time. With how many additional chapters I'm writing that I didn't initially plan on, we're going to get over 100 of these before the ending easy. Tell your friends, like, 40 in so you can be all hipstery and talk about how you knew about it before it was cool. Thanks for reading, and always remember to practice safe driving protocols.