Disclaimer: I do not own No. 6

"I can't believe I let you convince me to try this again," Shion muttered.

"I can't believe you let Rikiga come along again," Nezumi replied.

"Hey, I watched the movie yesterday, so I won't be causing any more problems over that," Rikiga defended himself.

Shion sighed before starting the car. After the last driving lesson, Shion had flat out refused to practice on a regular street if it was in any way connected to a freeway. This seemed understandable to Nezumi, so he'd located an empty parking lot that happened to be next to an old, long since torn down mall. No one ever went near it since it had closed down, so it was sure to be a much better place to practice driving.

If Rikiga hadn't decided to call everyone he knew and tell them to meet there.

Rikiga thought he was being helpful, as the experience would be more realistic if there were people around. Too bad no one else saw it that way, especially Shion, who was already nervous enough about his second attempt at driving. It was causing him to seriously regret allowing Rikiga to come along.

After all, it was much harder to keep track of several hundred pedestrians running around everywhere than a few cars that had to stay within clearly marked lines. Shion almost preferred the freeway. Almost.

"C-can you tell them to stop walking behind the car while I'm trying to back out of the space?" Shion asked.

"But this way, it's more realistic," came the response, exactly the same thing Rikiga had said every time one of the others pointed out a flaw with his idea.

Nezumi lowered the window and yelled, "Everyone out of the way!" The people currently passing by immediately ran away from the car, leaving a clear path.

"Thank you," Shion said greatfully.

At the same time, Rikiga whined, "How's he supposed to learn if-"

"What I'd like to know," interrupted Nezumi, "is how he's supposed to learn if you keep causing distractions like this?"

Rikiga laughed and waved off the question. "Then he'll learn to overcome difficulties."

"There's a very fine line between 'learning to overcome difficulties' and you being insane."

"What's that supposed to mean?!"

"It means that this is hard enough for him without you coming up with every possible way to make it harder."

"Come on, this is nothing!"

"I hope for your sake we never find out what 'something' is, then," Nezumi stated through gritted teeth. Seeing that his patience was being severely tested, Rikiga wisely did not respond audibly, though he did make a few comments under his breath.

While Rikiga grumbled quietly, Shion continued driving carefully around the parking lot, stopping often whenever people walked anywhere near the car.

"Shouldn't you be going faster than this? What are you at, five miles per hour?" Rikiga spoke up.

"Three," Shion replied, hitting the brake as a few people decided now was the perfect time to cross right in front of the car.

"I bet he'd be going faster if there weren't so many people here," commented Nezumi with a smirk.

"At some point he will actually be in a situation like this, and I'm sure he won't be going only three miles an hour then," Rikiga retorted.

"I wouldn't be surprised if he did, actually," Inukashi told him. "That's just how Shion is."

Rikiga rolled his eyes, "Whatever. Come on, Shion, at least go five miles per hour."

Shion slowed down to two miles per hour instead.

To Rikiga's further irritation, Nezumi laughed.

"Stop encouraging him!" Rikiga complained.

"Then stop discouraging him." was the reply.

"What? You aren't making any sense!"

"Made sense to me," Inukashi stated.

"Why are you on his side?" Rikiga's surprise was obvious.

"Because he's right... for once."

Nezumi rolled his eyes, before they widened comically in response to a large group of people entering the parking lot at that moment. "How many people did you call, Rikiga?"

"Well, I wasn't expecting this many to actually show up..." Who knew this many people would have the day off and were willing to go to a random, abandoned parking lot for a few hours?

"That just makes it all better, then, doesn't it," said Nezumi sarcastically.

"It's not my fault!"

"It's entirely your fault!"

Suddenly, Shion screamed, hit the brake, and ducked below the steering wheel.

"Um, Shion?" Nezumi turned to him in confusion.

"It's back..." muttered Shion, sounding terrified.

"What's back?" Inukashi inquired, curious as to what could have caused him to have such a reaction.

Nezumi glanced at the front window and groaned. While he'd heard of bugs flying into a car's window and leaving a squashed bug corpse on it before, he'd never actually seen it happen. Until now.

And, of course, it had to be a bee.

When Shion was younger, he had been stung by a bee and had a really bad allergic reaction. It was the reason his hair had turned white and there was a red marking that wound around his body. Now he was terrified of the creatures.

Nezumi reached for the door, planning to get rid of the bug before Shion completely lost it. "What are you doing?" Shion asked.

"I'm going to dispose of it," Nezumi replied.

"You can't go out there! What if it attacks you?"

"It's dead."

"But-"

Nezumi sighed. "Okay, okay. If you want it gone, though, I'll have to go out there eventually."

"Not to mention, you can't stay in this car forever. I know I'm certainly not." Inukashi added.

"There's got to be some way to get rid of it without leaving the car." Shion replied.

Nezumi thought for a minute. "I guess you could use the windshield wipers."

Shion started pressing random buttons. After turning on the radio, switching between three different stations, messing with the air conditioner, and pressing a button Nezumi had never used before and honestly wasn't quite sure what it did, Shion gave up. "Okay. Which one is it?"

Nezumi reached over and turned on the windshield wipers. Once the bug guts were completely out of sight, Shion calmed down a bit.

"Now hit the gas!" Rikiga suggested 'helpfully.'

Nezumi turned to glare at him. "This is not the time."

"You're so insensitive!" Inukashi agreed, looking just as annoyed.

"What did I do now?"

Inukashi began shouting angrily, and Nezumi, seeing she had taken over, decided to take care of the other problem. Lowering the window again, he yelled, "Can everyone please just leave the parking lot?" It was actually more crowded now than it had been when the mall was in buisness, which was getting on Nezumi's nerves. '"Realistic experience," huh? Yeah right. I haven't seen this many people in one place before since... ever.' Plus, with so many people around, Shion legitimately couldn't move the car even an inch without running into someone.

When only a few people actually listened, and were soon replaced by even more people than had left, Nezumi turned to Rikiga, whom Inukashi had finally finished shouting at. "I hope you're happy, Rikiga. We aren't going to be leaving anytime soon."

"Hey, it's not my fault Shion won't go faster than two miles an hour," shrugged Rikiga.

"On the contrary. It is." Nezumi indicated the people surrounding the car. "This place is so packed we can't move."

Rikiga paled. "I-I really didn't expect this to happen... I didn't even call this many people!"

"They're your friends, get them to leave!"

Inukashi pointed out where some people were setting up picnics. "Guys, I think they're having a party..."

"We're never going to get out of here..." Nezumi muttered, his face hidden in his hands.

"FIRE!" Inukashi suddenly shrieked, pointing at some smoke and a bit of flame that was barely visible over the sea of people surrounding them. During the mass panic that broke out at her outburst, ninety percent of the crowd fled the area, leaving enough space for Shion to leave the parking lot.

"There's a fire! Why aren't you going faster?" Rikiga shouted at Shion, who merely slowed down again. While Rikiga pleaded with Shion to hurry up, Nezumi and Inukashi stifled laughs. The fire had actually been from a barbecue, though initially it had looked like an actual, uncontrolled fire. Once the crowd had thinned significantly, however, three of the car's occupants had figured out the truth. Rikiga hadn't, but after the disaster he had inadvertently caused, the trio decided he deserved a slight scare.

"HURRY! WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE!" Rikiga cried, finally causing Inukashi to laugh openly. "What?"

Inukashi finally took pity on him and pointed out the source of the fire. The expression on his face caused the other three to laugh so hard the car shook.