Ranma Half Moon Season Two, Phrase White: Cold opening, part 3

"So, Towa, what do you think?" Daigoro looks at Towa's beaming face, already knowing the answer.

Towa looks at the scooter. It is a practical popular model, suitable for ordinary people. "I'm allowed to have this? At my age?"

Daigoro laughs. "You have a really good sense of being a good respectable teenager."

"Ah, thanks."

"We will have to work on ridding you of that."

Towa gives Daigoro a funny look, then goes back to examining the scooter. I haven't even had a chance to ride a bicycle since I started this new life. My old bicycle was taken by the Snatchers.

"It's kind of a risk, giving you this. After all, if you wanted to run away, you could get a lot farther on this than you could on foot."

Towa gives Daigoro a knowing smile. "Knowing you guys, the scooter has transmitters on it that would allow you to keep tabs on where I was."

Daigoro tousles Towa's hair. "You are stepping your game up. You just might become useful."

"So, how far can I ride it without setting off alarms?"

"About three miles out of town, any direction."

Towa notices the scooter has a locked storage compartment. He finds the key for it linked to the ignition key. He opens the compartment and finds a cell phone. "Wow, more privileges."

Towa looks up and sees that Daigoro had been using his cell phone to send a text message.

Towa's phone rings, but for an incoming call, as opposed to a text message.

"Moshi, moshi?"

"Towa, you bad boy. I want your body here right now."

Towa winces at the sound of Zoiki's voice. "Where is here?"

"On the cliff overlooking the bay. Don't disappoint me." Zoiki hangs up.

"Do you need instructions on how to ride it?"

"No, one of my older cousins had one."

Towa takes the helmet off the back of the scooter and puts it on.

"Still following the rules, huh?"

Towa stands erect. "While wearing this helmet, people will not know for sure who I am. That's a good thing, is it not?"

Daigoro takes a step back, not used to being the one being dressed down.

"Time to feel alive again."

Towa pushes the scooter out of the garage and mounts it. Let's see what that weirdo really wants.

...

Towa drives up to the cliff. He sees Zoiki sitting on a scouter waiting for him and sees that Zoiki is not alone.

Zoiki beams. "You made it! Fu fu fu. I'm so happy."

Towa takes off his helmet and looks at the boy next to Zoiki. He leans against a scooter similar to Towa's and Zoiki's. The boy is taller than Zoiki and has light blue hair. The boy looks fierce. "Who's your friend?"

"My name is Kunochi. I am Zoiki's senpai at school. Zoiki tells me that you are just like us."

This attitude annoys Towa. "Is that so? I wonder about that."

Zoiki gives Towa a weird look. "Stop being so boring, Towa. Why don't you try the second speed number on your phone?"

Even though Towa knows what will happen, he complies with Zoiki's request. Kunochi's phone starts ringing.

Zoiki looks smug. "Bingo."

Towa hangs up. "Okay, so he's in the same boat as me. So we now all have scooters. Is there some bigger point to this?"

Kunochi smiles. "Yes. I think we should form a biker gang."

Towa looks at Kunochi like he was an alien. "Are you kidding me? Bike gangs don't run around on this brand of scooters. They drive the loudest, most obnoxious machines they can get their hands on."

Kunochi strikes a smug expression. "That might be true for big city gangs. Country 'Yankii' can get away with less effort. Just having scooters makes us stand out."

"Yankii?"

"People who dye their hair to look like Americans."

Towa nods.

"You don't think that Zoiki and I were born with brunette and blue hair, do you? We were born with black hair, just like you."

"I hope you don't want me to die my hair."

Kunochi gives Towa a knowing look. "That's not what being in a gang is all about. It's about freedom and individualism. You don't express individualism by doing what everyone else is doing."

"Putting that aside, why should we be a gang?"

Zoiki smirks. "It's a good cover story for us hanging out. It will keep the outsiders guessing."

"Outsiders?"

Kunochi gives Towa a stern look. "You do realize that at some point all of us will disappear? No one at our school will know where we've gone. If we're in a biker gang, they'll just assume that we left to become thugs."

"I was told that our teenage years would normal."

"As normal as can be expected, in other words, not normal at all."

"But, I still want to do normal things!"

Zoiki nudges Kunochi. "See? I told you he's charmingly naive."

Kunochi looks at Towa with contempt. "I don't think you get it. Terrible things have been done to each of us. Eventually, we will be the ones doing terrible things. Suppose you just go along the way you are going, you find some cute girl, and you decide to make her your girlfriend. Will you be able to look her in the eye after we do what we're expected to do?"

Zoiki nods. "You train in martial arts four times a week. Why do you think you're doing that? So that you can approach the people who wronged you and make polite conversation with them?"

Towa looks away from Kunochi and Zoiki, not wanting to hear what they had to say. He looks out over the bay. The twilight bay was lit by the half moon and with hundreds of boats, mostly fishermen returning home with their catches.

Towa faces Kunochi and Zoiki. "I really don't think that I am like you two. I wasn't killed by them."

Kunochi and Zoiki cringe.

Finally Zoiki responds. "Being alive is a mixed blessing. By staying too close to the living you are going to be setting yourself up for a lot of pain."

Kunochi puts his hand on Zoiki's shoulder. "It's okay. He needs to find his own way through this. We shouldn't assume that we know everything."

Kunochi smiles at Towa. "We ride every Friday and Saturday nights. Join us. We can get in trouble and have adventures. We'll wind up learning teamwork that way. I want you to be around. I like the way you think. Maybe some of your humanity will rub off on us?"

Towa sighs. "It can't be helped. You're right, this would be a good all purpose excuse."

Zoiki and Kunochi beam with happiness.

"Do we have a name for our gang?"

Kunochi nods. "We were thinking of 'White', because we are the cold and emotionless ones. But, with you joining that might have to change."

Towa remembers seeing the video of his burned house. "No, White sounds like a good name to me."

To be continued