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Itsuka loved motorcycles. It was the way that the wind would feel as it pushed against her, almost like she was riding a horse, except it was a man-made beast. It was the feeling of freedom that made going out for a ride always so refreshing for her.
“Hey, Battle Fist!” someone called out beside her, shouting her nickname. She eyed to the side, as the bike of Tokage pulled up to the side of her, although a bit behind Itsuka in order to not overtake the leader.
They had been travelling for some time now, getting away from the cops in Hamada and having to drive down the roads to Masuda in order to avoid being caught. They’d been going for what, two hours, three hours? Itsuka had lost count. Not that it mattered much - they’d gotten away, which was more important than the time.
“What’s up, Skink?” Itsuka asked, trying to keep her eyes on the road to make sure she didn’t swerve off of it or something, but daring to look over to the girl on her left.
“Earphone Jack needs to refuel, and Pinky said there is a stop nearby that wouldn’t rat us out if we went there,” Tokage shouted through her surgical mask, through the loud sounds whipping past their ears. Itsuka considered it for a moment, before looking back and signalling to the three girls behind them that she gave the all-clear. They all twisted the handlebars and sped away, in order to get to the gas station before Jirou’s fuel ran out.
The five of them - her, Tokage, Jirou, Ashido, and Kirishima, were all bōsōzoku, a subculture that had been on the verge of disappearing before the rise of quirks. The chaos that had followed afterwards led people to take up their bikes and the subculture’s popularity swelled during that period. Although it had been cooling down ever since some semblance of order had managed to arrive in Japan, their numbers continued to not decline, instead of keeping a steady pace.
Quirks, truly, had been a blessing to many of the more illegal subcultures in Japan, allowing them to skillfully evade and fight back to cops in groups, on even ground. Some individuals did a step more than just rough riding, partaking in drug smuggling, gang violence, stuff like that, but they weren’t bōsōzoku in Itsuka’s mind, and many of the sects she met on the road agreed. It was a subculture of freedom and rebellion, but not much more than that.
That wasn’t to say what they were doing wasn’t illegal. They were definitely breaking the law with the rough riding they did, going past traffic lights and speed limits for the sake of freedom. They fought with cops, and there was some gang violence between different gangs, as there would inevitably be. However, Itsuka and her gang managed to avoid that by not sticking in one place - they travelled the whole country, which was pretty much what she, Ashido, and Kirishima had wanted to do when they set out of Chiba last year.
The five of them drove down National Route 9, driving along the coast. The view, Itsuka had to admit, was pretty nice - the sun was setting to the west of them, showing off a vibrant ray different colours that simply were stunning. Bōsōzoku might use the rising sun symbol a lot in their dress - but Itsuka found that when the sun was setting, it was truly more beautiful.
They pulled right at Ashido’s suggestion, making a car stop in order not to hit them. Itsuka could hear the loud blaring of the car’s horn, and she couldn’t help but snort at that. As if it would stop them from doing that again. They’d done it before, and they certainly would again.
As they pulled left again, this time in order to get to the pumps at the clearly local gas station, Itsuka scanned the surroundings to make sure no one would do much to stop them from just simply being there. There weren’t any cops, so that was good, but what did catch her eye was a girl who was looking right at them.
She was pretty, Itsuka could admit that much, but what caught her eye more was the amount of spirit she showed with her look. Most folks who watched them fill up their rides tended to avoid eye contact and pull their heads down, but this girl was looking straight at them. That was new and interesting, and appealing.
Itsuka gave a friendly wave over to the girl, and that seemed to shake her up a bit. She noticed that the girl’s shoulders tensed up, and now she looked down. It was almost as if she was embarrassed that she’d been caught staring, like a girl looking at a boy they had a crush on and then looking away when the boy looked back.
“Hey, you there,” Itsuka shouted over at the girl, making her practically squeal, widening her eyes as if she couldn’t believe she was being addressed.
It was…
Kind of adorable, actually.
Itsuka motioned for the girl to come over, and she did so, hesitantly. She made sure to look both sides before crossing the road, before rushing across it with a hurried pace of somebody who wasn’t used to jaywalking.
“What’s your name?” Itsuka asked, pushing the kickstand out with her foot, before pushing herself off of her customized bike casually. She heard the other four members of her crew whisper something behind her, but she didn’t pay attention.
“Kodai,” she replied, barely a whisper. Her voice was quiet, yet there was something about it that was unafraid. “Kodai Yui.”
“Nice to meet you, Kodai,” Itsuka flashed a smile, and the girl didn’t seem to react for a moment, as if unfazed by talking with a criminal. “What’re you doing out here, so late, and by yourself?”
“Going home,” she mumbled, practically gritting through her teeth. Itsuka couldn’t make sense of that. The girl seemed to act uncaring one second and then restrained the next. It wasn’t like anything Itsuka was used to. She’d seen her fair share of brave faces and timid girls, but never someone who seemed to wax in between so easily.
It was something that interested Itsuka a great deal.
“Going home, huh? Where do you live?” Itsuka asked smoothly, not so much as hinting the millions of thoughts about the girl she was having.
Now that Kodai was up close, Itsuka could see that she was pretty cute, too. Her face was pretty soft, but not too soft - a perfect blend between chubby and angular. The two looked at each other for quite some time, and their eyes connected. They were a dark blue, Itsuka noticed.
Kodai seemed to catch herself, as she looked away, blushing heavily. Itsuka stopped herself from snorting. If she had only thought that the girl was cute before, now she knew that she definitely was.
“You didn’t answer my question,” Itsuka commented. Kodai looked back at her for a second, before widening her eyes as if she hadn’t realized.
“Oh- I’m, uhm,“ she paused, looking side to side as if to see if anybody was around. Itsuka herself looked around as well but saw nobody in the vicinity. The only person who she thought might be around was the person who owned this gas station, although that was a big if, as she hadn’t seen them. “I need to go to Masuda, but-“
“You’re in luck,” Itsuka took Kodai by the shoulder, and then pushed her gently forwards. The girl seemed slightly started but didn’t stop anything from happening. “We’re heading that way ourselves. You can hitch on my bike-“
“You sure about that, Battle Fist?” Tokage interrupted, her arms crossed. She had been sitting back with the others, and Itsuka could see Jirou paying a middle-aged gentleman for the gas. “It can get a little bit dangerous to get strangers involved.”
“We can behave ourselves long enough to help a girl get home, can’t we?” Itsuka pointed out, in a tongue-in-cheek manner. She heard Ashido snort in the background.
“Well, you’re the boss, I suppose,” Tokage shrugged, although by the tone of her voice, she didn’t seem too upset about it. As Jirou got out of the shop, they all proceeded to get on their bikes.
“Here, you can get behind me,” Itsuka offered Kodai after she had mounted her bike. She seemed hesitant but eventually took a step forward. With some instructions, Kodai managed to use the foot peg in order to get herself seated. She hesitantly gripped Itsuka’s shoulders in order to be able to have something to grasp onto.
“Don’t we need helmets?” Kodai murmured. She was probably having second thoughts about getting on the bike of a bōsōzoku, but Itsuka didn’t let it get her down. She was used to anxious and dismissive glances these days, as it was all anyone who was not part of their subculture gave her.
“We ride without helmets,” Itsuka spun her head around to look at Kodai, and she saw how her eyes widened at that as if some sort of spark lit within her. Itsuka wasn’t sure if it was one of nervousness or excitement. She honestly couldn’t tell with Kodai.
She idled for only a few seconds, and then they were off. The wind that rushed past her was refreshing, and as they raced by cars and houses that littered the National Route 9 between Hamada and Masuda. There wasn’t much civilization here - mostly just the occasional half-abandoned building project or small group of close-together homes, in between thick groups of green trees.
She felt Kodai’s hands tense slightly, but then unwind, and slowly they made their way down towards her waist, holding it gently. The girl’s face seemed to be getting more comfortable as time went on and soon was relaxed enough to lay the side of her head on Itsuka’s back, giving her a view of the ocean as they passed by it when the road led them near the coast.
it was nice.
As they got nearer and nearer to the city, Itsuka started to slow down. She didn’t want to get Kodai any more involved than she had to with her gang, and so, they took a quick stop right before they would reach the city limits. She and the rest of her crew got off their bikes for just a moment in order to take off their jackets and pushed them into a bag that Kirishima wore on his back.
“Why are you doing that?” Kodai asked, seeming genuinely curious.
“We can’t wear our jackets inside cities unless we want to get in trouble with cops or vigilantes,” Itsuka explained casually, and none of the others protested at her saying this. It was true, and they all knew it, so it wasn’t like there was something to hide about it. Kodai seemed to nod understandingly, and before they knew it, they were off again.
They managed to get where Kodai indicated without anyone troubling them. It was a quaint little suburban place, and there stood a short, rotund man with a red face waiting outside. He looked at them as they stopped by his house, but seemed to recognize Kodai.
“Yui!” he shouted, though not in a hostile way - it sounded more as if he was worried for his daughter. Kodai managed to get off Itsuka’s bike without much trouble, and rushed towards what Itsuka presumed was her father. They did look alike, so it must’ve been the case.
“I was so worried for you,” he practically hiccuped, holding her tightly as if he’d missed her for days. Itsuka wondered what was going on, as there seemed to be some sort of intense relief in his words as if Kodai had been doing something or been somewhere where she wasn’t supposed to be.
Eventually, they stopped their embrace, and Kodai’s father glanced over at Itsuka and her crew. He clearly recognized that they were bōsōzoku. It wasn’t like they’d done much to hide it. After all, Tokage still wore her surgical mask, and Kirishima his hachimaki headband. Their bikes, too, were a dead giveaway to who they actually were.
“I-“ her father began to say something but seemed to reconsider it. He cleared his throat, awkwardly looking at Itsuka, probably because she was the one with his daughter on her bike and not because he thought her the leader. “Thank you for helping my daughter get home, miss. I’ve been so worried about her for days, and I cannot do enough to thank you for-“
“Don’t worry about it,” Itsuka cut him off, not expecting much from this conversation besides aimless asking for some kind of favour. They weren’t local, so it wasn’t as if she could provide anything he might ask for.
“Still, it would not be okay if I don’t treat those who helped my daughter come home. How about I treat you all to dinner and sleeping in my home for the night?”
“I-“ Itsuka stopped for a second, unsure. Dinner did sound good, and they hadn’t actually had anywhere warm to sleep for the last few days. She looked back to the other to gauge their reactions, and she saw that Tokage, Kirishima, and Ashido were all enthusiastically nodding their heads, while Jirou gave an apathetic shrug. Her head turned to face Mr Kodai again. “Sure, why not?”
Kodai’s father smiled, letting them park their bikes in his garage for the night. This, this was not how Itsuka had expected her evening to go, but she wasn’t going to exactly reject it. She looked over at Kodai, who seemed rather flustered about the whole thing. Kodai caught Itsuka staring, and for once, she looked away instead of the girl, giving a rather nervous smile.
Maybe being good once in a while was helpful after all. Maybe she could settle down in Masuda, or at least, the area, and maybe she could meet Kodai again? She’d have to discuss it with the others, but the thought was seriously appealing at this point.
Was she crushing on a girl she’d just met? No, that wasn’t quite it. No, it was more like she was attracted to Kodai, but not actively in love. She wasn’t exactly sure what the distinction was between the two - she’d never actually felt like this before. She was pretty sure that it was just a physical attraction, but, well-
“Seems like you chatting up a girl landed us a pretty neat place to sleep, Battle Fist. Good going,” Kirishima slapped her on the back, knocking her out of her train of thought.
“Y-yeah,” she mumbled, although Kirishima and the others didn’t seem to notice as Mr Kodai led them into his home. Now, it was only her in the garage and Kodai.
“What’s your name?” Kodai asked her, making Itsuka hesitate. Hadn’t she told her? She wondered for a moment and then realised he hadn’t actually done that. She felt her face becoming red, embarrassed that she’d forgotten something like that. Not that she had to say it, as she was a criminal, and she shouldn’t say her name to random strangers, but-
“Kendou Itsuka,” the words came out of her harder than she might have liked, her throat choking up a bit.
“Thank you for helping me, Itsuka,” Kodai gave a light smile, her voice quiet but her words sending volumes of different messages. From the use of her given name to her smile, to the way she sounded so genuine to a criminal of all people, Itsuka felt herself blushing and blushing hard.
She liked it, though. It was new, to find herself this nervous about a girl she’d just met, and it felt right, in a way.
“No problem,” Itsuka managed to say, with a wide smile. The two of them got out of the garage and into the room proper.
The freedom that riding her bike offered was one of the best feelings in the world, and she would never get trade it for anything, but maybe she’d allow herself to be tied down to somewhere for once if it meant being able to get to know Kodai more.
She hoped that was the case.