Part II

Chapter 52

Kagura swore that the tires weren't even touching the ground as they moved.

Holy crap...I can't believe I'm riding in something like this. This thing is freakin' smooth as hell! Holy crap!

Her eyes darted frantically about the car's cabin, taking in every single detail of the amazing interior. The rich, black leather that lined it all was marvelous to the touch, and both the nav console and instrument panel were items straight out of some sci fi space ship. Even the passenger seat that she was in was so extraordinary, ridiculously comfortable, and Kagura wondered if it, by itself, was worth more than her own entire car.

"...it's one of our performance models from our luxury line. It's not the top of the class, but close to it." Eiko was sitting next to her, her hands on the wheel as she took her vehicle out from the apartment's parking lot, their destination a restaurant in the city. She stole a look at her young passenger then, grinning widely at her. "So, do you like it?"

Kagura gave her a slow, absent nod, not really hearing the woman speak. In all her life, she had never been inside of any car even half as incredible as Eiko's, and was blown away by the fact that she was actually riding inside of it. She had always been a fan of sports cars, and the moment she had seen the sleek, white exterior of this particular one, she had instantly fallen in love with it.

Eiko brought the car onto the highway then, and the moment she did, she floored the gas, the sudden burst of speed sending Kagura flying into the back of her seat.

"Whoa!"

The woman just calmly smiled as she kept her eyes on the road ahead. "How was that?"

"...that was awesome! Holy crap...!" She grinned with enthusiasm, the raw horsepower of the vehicle exhilarating her, and then, she glanced at the speedometer. "...holy crap, 100 kilometers already? That was like...man, that was like a few seconds!"

"4.6 seconds is what we advertise it at."

Kagura's eyes lit up with amazement. "...man. Damn...damn, I want one! Damn...umm...how much do these go for?"

Eiko spat out a number that caused her to swear quite colorfully.

Kagura rested back in her seat, growing more stunned by the minute. "...I seriously don't even think my folks' house is worth that much."

"It's a high price, but it's not meant for the average consumer. If you ever make enough money to buy one, though, you can give me a ring." The woman chuckled at her.

Kagura chuckled as well. "...I hope you gimme' a discount at least. Hey, so...did you buy this one?"

"No. I just wanted to try it out for awhile. I like to go through our inventory when I can, to see how they feel."

She stared in awe at Eiko, smiling with glee afterward. "Wow...that's freakin' awesome! You can just drive whatever the hell you want...you're so damn lucky..."

As the vehicle screamed down the highway, Kagura and her new friend conversed over some of the more intricate details of the vehicle, and cars in general. Eiko knew her stuff well, and Kagura enjoyed listening to the woman go on about the underlying mechanics of them, what she did as a manager, of how the automotive business operated.

"...man, I really haven't met a lady that's into cars and junk as much as you are."

Eiko smiled. "Well, to be honest, I'm not terribly into them. I enjoy driving them, but they aren't particularly my thing."

Kagura raised an eyebrow. "...err, but you work at a big car corporation..."

"So?"

"...uh...well, I dunno'. I just figured that people who worked there would be crazy about cars..."

"That's a little stereotypical, don't you think?"

"Uh...I guess. I dunno', just makes sense to me..."

"Hmm...I suppose I am 'crazy' about them, in a way."

"What do you mean?"

"Well..." Eiko took the car off an exit. "...it's not the vehicles themselves I'm interested in. I'm more into the numbers part of developing them...I like to crunch numbers. You know, figuring out the designs and physics and all that. And, back when I was in college, there was a big demand for engineers, so I went down that route, and now I'm here."

Kagura gawked at her. "Wow...really? I guess...well, I guess I didn't see you as the engineering type...sorry, don't mean anything by that, just..."

Eiko chuckled. "It's fine. I get that all time. Let's just say that I'm very good with math, and I actually like it, to boot. It might be easier for you to think of me as a math person, Kagura.

"...ok, but, ugh..." She put on a playfully disgusted face. "How can anyone like math...? I always hated it. Like, I always got instantly bored whenever our math teacher walked in the room..."

"Well...do you like puzzles?"

She blinked. "Oh...yeah. Err, you mean like the ones where you put the pieces together?"

"Sure."

"Yeah, those are pretty fun."

"Ok. Then, just think of all those math problems as little puzzles. That's all they are." They were in the city now, and Eiko brought the car to a halt before a stop sign, a few pedestrians crossing in front of them. She turned to her passenger. "Then, if you get good at solving those simple puzzles, you can move onto more complex ones, and so on. It really is a lot of fun."

"...so you do it for fun, then?"

"Well, yes, and because the practical applications of your puzzle-solving skills are amazing. For example, we use math to predict and solve all sorts of things. You can model the hydraulics of a car with it, or figure out how a black hole in space works, and all sorts of amazing stuff. Don't you think that's pretty cool?"

Kagura was getting a little lost in what Eiko was talking about now, but the enthusiasm in the woman's voice kept her interest in check. "...ok, well that stuff is, cool, I guess. I thought they just made it to, like, torture kids."

Eiko chuckled. "It can be difficult sometimes, but it's a great feeling to figure out something. And with math, there's always a nice, clean answer awaiting you. If your numbers and equations are right, then it all works out so nicely." She laced her fingers together. "It's all very elegant, Kagura, and I find that fascinating. I enjoy the beauty of things falling perfectly into place. And when you get very good at it, you can then use your math to figure out anything at all, Kagura. Anything."

The last sentence made her shiver for some reason, Eiko's eyes digging into her.

The woman sighed as she brought the car into motion again, the light ahead turning green. "But, in any case, I don't get involved with that part of the business anymore. I do miss all the design work, but then again, life is quite nice with a bigger paycheck, so I guess I shouldn't complain..."

Kagura gazed at her with a bit of wonder then. She had never met someone like Eiko before, an individual who seemed to have everything in both the looks and brains department, with a high profile job to boot. And now, Kagura was finding it hard to believe that she was actually in the company of such an incredible person, never having imagined that such a feat was possible for an ordinary teenager like her.

...I'm gonna' tell everyone about this, but no one's gonna' believe me. Driving around with an exec in some freakin' expensive car, yeah, right. Even I don't even buy it. Ha...oh well, might as well make the most of this then...

She got comfortable in her chair and relaxed, sharing some more conversation with Eiko as they continued to their destination. And, as she listened to the woman, Kagura felt herself grow even more enamored with her by the second, falling into a calm trance as she got high off her wonderful looks, her confident voice, her sweet perfume.

...this lady can't be for real. She's...really, really cool. Like...I seriously would have never taken her for some mathy person, if she hadn't told me she was one. Is she actually good at that stuff? She looks more like a movie star or something. Well, then again, Minamo did call her a nerd, and...oh, wait a minute!

"We're almost there. It's a nice international restaurant, and they have quite the amazing selection. You'll love it."

Kagura got herself out of her reverie, the situation they had left behind at the apartment now screaming back into her mind. "...oh man, that sounds really good. Thanks again for taking me out..."

"My pleasure. Thank you for taking care of Minamo."

"...oh, yeah, no problem. Hey, so, about her..." Kagura frowned. "...I guess I still just don't feel right about leaving her alone like that, you know, since all this crazy stuff is goin' on..."

Eiko peeked over at her, a reassuring smile on her face. "Trust me, Kagura, she's fine. She'll be asleep for a few hours at the very least. And, she'll be in a better state of mind to discuss things after she's gotten some actual rest."

"...but how do you know for sure, though? What if she wakes up and sees that we're gone? I dunno' what she'd do..."

"Relax, Kagura. I've known Minamo since she was a child, and I'm very familiar with her habits. She's dead asleep right now."

She thought about that statement for a moment. "...wait...you've known her...for how long?"

"Oh, since we were...maybe six or seven? I'm her oldest friend, and vice versa."

Kagura's eyes opened widely in astonishment. "...whoa, whoa! Seriously?"

Eiko nodded. "That's right. We grew up in the same neighborhood, so we were together quite a bit." The woman gave her a sarcastic look. "So, I'm not kidding when I said that I know her very well. I really do."

That bit of information caught Kagura off guard, as she had previously assumed that Yukari had been her oldest friend. Well, sensei said that they were all together in high school. I just figured that Minamo had met Eiko then, but, guess not. "Man, that's so cool! And it's really, really cool that you guys still know each other after all this time! So...you guys went to all the same schools and stuff, too?"

"Well...mostly." Eiko paused as she eyed some street signs. "...we went to the same elementary school together, but after that, my family moved out of the country for a few years, so I missed junior high with her."

"...but I thought you all went to high school together?"

Eiko gave her a cynical glance. "Did Minamo tell you that? Well, yes, we did. My family moved back to Japan a little into our first year of high school, so I missed a few months of it. I went to where Minamo was going to, though, and that's when I met her friend Yukari as well."

Kagura put on a crooked smile. "Ha...you musta' thought Yukari was nuts off the bat."

"...to be honest, Kagura, I got along with her better than I ever did with Minamo."

Her jaw dropped. "What? But...Yukari's freakin' crazy..."

"That's only when she gets angry, Kagura. Otherwise, she really is great company to have around. She's my favorite friend, and I still chat with her all the time."

...are we talking about the same person here...? And I thought Minamo said that Yukari was the total opposite of this lady...so, what the hell? How can she like her more than Minamo? "But...but, how?"

"'How' what?"

"...I mean, Yukari...she's insane. You really like her more than Minamo...?"

"Yes, I do. She always makes me laugh, and I really admire people who can speak their mind as freely as her. Minamo is my friend, too, of course, but..." Eiko paused again. "...I've never gelled very well with timid and shy people, Kagura, let's just say that."

Kagura crooked her head. "...Minamo's shy?"

"Yes, really shy. She used to be a very quiet child, and there are still times when it shows through."

"...I didn't know that. She doesn't seem like it at school."

"She's gotten better at handling it with age. She's just always been afraid of doing or saying something that would make her look silly in front of others. She's just very self-conscious."

"I guess I can see that a little in her...the self conscious part, I mean. Like, she hates it when someone thinks she's dumb or something, since she's good at sports."

"Ah, yes, she's always been like that. She was basically the oddball in a family full of intellectuals. That's really not her forte', so she's always had a bit of a complex about it."

Kagura threw the woman a curious look. "Whoa...her family's a bunch of smart people?"

Eiko smiled. "More or less. The whole Kurosawa clan is pretty well respected, since they usually climb pretty high on the career ladder. Minamo's mother, for example, works at a government agency that handles network security. She's a very, very intelligent individual, Kagura. In fact, she's my mentor. She knows how to handle people very well."

She held back a chuckle. Yeah, you learned pretty good from her, lady. "Wow, I never knew that about her mom."

"In any case, that's why the whole 'dumb jock' thing is such a sore spot for Minamo. She's always idolized her mother, and she's disappointed that she didn't inherit her brains, so to speak. Not that she's stupid, she's very competent, but she's never been too talented academically."

Kagura felt her heart sink a bit. "That sucks. I know how it feels, too. I'm not so good at school either..."

Eiko gave her a kind smile. "Well, you graduated, so you couldn't have been that bad. I'm sure you're an amazing athlete too, just like she was."

The kind comment immediately lifted her spirits, and Kagura wondered if everyone felt the same way when spoken kindly to by this woman. "Thanks! Ok, so...she's shy 'cause she doesn't want to sound stupid? But she's always confident at school. Like, she always knows what to say and stuff..."

"No, that's not it. She was just raised in a strict family with high expectations, so she always had to meet her mother's demands for her. In some ways it benefited her. You know, she's very well mannered, responsible, and all that. But at the same time, she's always worried about messing up, or putting on a bad impression, because that's what she always had to worry about as a child."

"Oh, I get it. She was shy 'cause she was afraid of getting called out for something."

"That's right. But, once she gets comfortable, she's fine. She's been teaching for a few years now, so that's probably why she doesn't seem as nervous about it all."

"...but, ok. What about Yukari, though? Even if Minamo was shy or whatever, I'd take her over Yukari to hang out with any day. She's way too much to handle."

"...would you like to hear a little story about her, Kagura?"

"Huh? Uh, sure. What story?"

"Just something that happened to us in high school. It was around when I first met Yukari, once I had moved back to Japan and joined her class." The woman brought the car to another stop, the crowds much thicker in this part of the city. "Do you know that little park that sits outside of Magical Land?"

Kagura thought to herself for a moment. "...oh, yeah. With the river or whatever."

"Yes, that one. Well, when we were first years, a few of us took a little trip up there. There are some parts of that river that are secluded by the trees, which makes make them nice places to do a little skinny dipping." Eiko smiled.

She couldn't help but smirk. "...whoa, really? But, why would you wanna'...?"

"You know, just something daring for us first years to do. Yukari was along with us...Minamo didn't come. It wasn't her sort of activity. Anyway, we went in the evening and had some fun, but of course, we eventually got spotted by a group of boys that were passing by."

Kagura snickered. "...oh, man. That must not have been good..."

"Well, you know, they were innocent high schoolers. They were caught off guard just as much as the girls were. In any case, my friends started screaming and all of that. What you might expect, right? I didn't particularly care about being seen nude myself, so I didn't join in the hysterics. Yukari, though..." She began to chuckle as she rested back in her seat. "...she just turned to those boys and laid it all out for them. She put her hands on her hips and just started laughing, like she was the greatest damn thing they'd ever seen. And then she ran up to them to make friends...and those boys took right off."

Kagura joined in the laughter, easily able to see Yukari pulling such a stunt. "Holy cow, that's hilarious! But...why did they run? She scared them?"

"Like I said, they seemed to be an innocent bunch. I'm sure they were startled to have a naked girl come running right up to them. They probably weren't comfortable with the situation, or maybe they were worried about being seen with her. In any case, they were gone, and we started swimming again."

"...damn, that sorta' reminds me of how she acts when she's at the school's pool. She's always tryna' show off her body even if no one cares, like she's a model or something."

Eiko smirked. "That sounds like her, alright. But, in any case...when I saw her pull that little stunt, that's when I took a real shine to her."

"...err...you started to like her 'cause she was running around butt naked?"

"I guess that's one way to put it. But, it's more that..." The woman began to fiddle with an earring. "...I like people who aren't very modest with themselves, Kagura. I've never been a fan of the concept, like our other scared friends at the time, and Yukari is anything but modest. She really has no fear about showing off to others, and, well, I just admire that quality very much..."

...is it just me, or does she seem happy talking about Yukari?

Kagura hadn't really understood what Eiko was getting at, but she did notice that the woman's demeanor had just brightened up. "...is it...uh, is it like one of those...'not-afraid-to-be-yourself' things or something?"

Eiko thought to herself for a moment. "I guess that's part of it. I suppose it's not very easy for me to explain, but, believe me, Yukari and I do get along very well." She put on a mischevious smile. "We're partners in crime."

A realization came to Kagura then, Eiko's particular form of grin summoning it.

...Minamo was wrong. This lady's not the opposite of Yukari. She's more like...she's more like a different kind of Yukari...

There were some subtle mannerisms in Eiko's expression that had just reminded Kagura of her crazy sensei, and she was beginning to see as to how the two could get along so well. "Poor Minamo...you guys must have given her a hard time in school."

Eiko laughed as she stepped on the gas again. "We did. But, Minamo always took everything in stride. She got upset with us, but, she's never let any of it get to her."

"...yeah, that happens at school and stuff too. Like the kids, and Yukari...ok, usually Yukari, but, they'll all piss her off somehow, but she never stays mad at them."

"She's a very considerate and forgiving person, Kagura. She has a genuine good heart. You know...I've been to a few places around the world, and she still remains as the kindest person that I've ever met. And, Yukari and I have definitely changed for the better, since we've been lucky enough to know her."

The compliment made Kagura smile, feeling some pride for her sensei now.

"...and that's also why I want to talk to you about her past, Kagura". Eiko took the car into a parking garage, a ritzy-looking one that appeared to house high profile guests and vehicles. "I don't want you, or anyone, to think that her recent breakdown reflects her real personality. She's just had a very demanding time growing up, and the pressure gets to her now and then."

Kagura sighed. "I wouldn't think that of her..."

"That's good. But, others won't do the same, especially in regards to her sexuality. To be honest, Kagura, this whole situation might end up affecting her career, and you'll have to help her out if things do go bad for her. The more you understand her, the more you'll be able to help. I can't always be there for her, so I'm putting some of that responsibility on you, and whoever else you may know that you can explain things to."

For some reason, Kagura felt that the word 'responsibility' was an odd one to include. She also wanted to inquire as to how Minamo's career might be at stake, but before she could, Eiko deftly parked the car into an open stall.

"Alright, let's go. I hope you're hungry, Kagura. It's just a short walk around the corner."

The mention of food always instantly took command of her thoughts, and Kagura put off her questions for the moment. After getting out of the car, they began to walk towards their destination, Kagura immediately growing aware of all the heads that turned towards her beautiful companion.

...still don't believe it. Still don't freakin' believe that I'm with this lady...

Eiko didn't seem to notice the attention, Kagura figuring that she was used to it. And while she did feel herself shrink a little from all the pedestrians looking towards them, she managed to keep her outward demeanor looking confident, her empty stomach instructing her to only care about feeding it for the time being.