Taka and Yasuha met up at a gas station at 7 PM on a Saturday afternoon. The place was lit up by the warm orange light of the sun, though it was a bit breezy, so Yasuha wore his grey hoodie. Taka filled his car with gas as Yasuha ate a bag of spicy hot chips. "Yasuha, do you really have to lick your fingers before sticking your hand back into the bag? That's disgusting." said Taka. Yasuha said, "You didn't tell me you wanted any, so what's the big deal?"
Taka responded, "It's still gross nonetheless!" When Taka was done putting gas in the car, the two got in. The car was red, and the seats were made of cloth. It certainly didn't seem to be the most high quality car in the world, and it looked as if it needed a good cleaning. "Don't dirty my seats with your chip dust covered fingers!" exclaimed Taka.
They began to drive off to Starman's place, and the longer they went on, the more familiar the path seemed to Taka. He didn't think much of it however, he believed it was just his mind acting odd. Yasuha watched the buildings and shops pass by, enjoying the scenery as the streets became darker as the night began to set in.
Suddenly, the two were stuck in traffic for a good while. "Man, Inkopolis traffic sure somethin' else." muttered Taka. Yasuha began to scroll through social media on his phone, and Taka began to switch through every radio station- seemingly none of them had a song that was good enough to play. He kept switching, until suddenly, he heard a familiar voice. His own. This station was playing the song "Sucker Punch" by Hightide Era.
Taka's face lit up when he heard the song play, which was about 23 seconds into its runtime. "Hey, Yasuha!" he exclaimed, "Listen to this! This is my old band's first and most popular song- Hooked! Didn't know radios were still playin' it! Ah, those were the days. Now, my life's basically over. Use your time wisely before it all goes away! You won't be young forever!"
Yasuha said, "Hey, you're 30. That's not too old!" Taka responded, "I know, but the peak of my life- my Salad Days, well they're basically over. Anyways, ya like the song?" "Yeah, this is actually really good!" The two listened to the song, and by the time it was over, the traffic had cleared up. The path they began to go to was incredibly secluded and basically empty. "We should be about... 5 minutes away from Starman's location." said Taka, looking at the GPS in his car.
Suddenly, a motorcycle made it's way into the road. The driver stopped right in the middle of the road and placed their motorcycle sideways, making it so it blocked the path. Taka peered his head out the window and yelled, "Hey, get off the road!" The motorcyclist didn't move. "I've got places to be, ya know!?" The motorcyclist continued their act of not moving. "Hey asshole, get off the damn road!" yelled Taka, this time with genuine anger. "Y'know what, fuck it." muttered Taka.
Yasuha asked, "Wait, what're you gonna do?" Taka said, "Teach 'em a lesson." Yasuha got out the car as well, and he walked up to Taka, who was approaching the motorcyclist. "Heyy- maybe don't use violence..." suggested Yasuha. Taka rolled up his sleeves and yelled, "Hey, jackass!" The motorcyclist was wearing a helmet depicting the cosmos, along with blue leather pants and a blue leather jacket. They took their helmet off, and revealed their true face. He had short orange hair and eyes, and a tiny mouth and freckled face.
"Hey there. You're Taka, right?" he said. Taka stopped dead in his tracks, Yasuha stopping as well. "Hey, who is this?" asked Yasuha. "The name's Val Carretero!" He revved his motorcycle and yelled, "Let's drive to 1980, love!" He drove his motorcycle right past Taka and Yasuha, and a huge gust of wind came right after. It blew Yasuha and Taka right off their feet, sending them flying. As they hit the ground, they both fell unconscious. For two hours they slept, until they eventually woke up.
However, they didn't wake up to feel the cold hard ground of the street, or the darkness of the early night sky. Taka felt that the ground was rather comfortable and soft, and as he felt more lucid, he realized he was in the house of his friend Kuze's grandma, with Yasuha nowhere in sight.
TO BE CONTINUED
