Chapter Text
You sat under the open sky on the roof of your high school, tucked behind the entrance. It wouldn’t do if a teacher found you up here when you were supposed to be in class. Fishing a crumpled packet out of the blazer pocket of your uniform, you pulled a cigarette from it with your lips and patted the other pocket in search of your booklet of matches. So engrossed with your current activity, you failed to notice the roof top door opening and closing, followed by the sound of footsteps rounding the corner to your hiding spot.
“Those will shorten your life you know,” a smooth voice said, startling you.
The cigarette dropped from between your lips and landed on your lap before rolling off your legs to the side. You looked towards the owner of the voice; your face paled at the sight of Kaoru Sakurayashiki, a third year student who was quite popular with the female students.
All of them hoped to have a matching soul mark with him. His pink hair was pulled back into a high ponytail which was draped over his shoulder, exposing his upper helix and two lower lobe hoop piercings.
“I’m only on this rock for a good time, not a long time,” you muttered, picking up the cigarette that had rolled a few inches away from you. “Aren’t you supposed to be in class?”
Kaoru crossed his arms, leaning against the wall. “I could ask you the same thing,” he commented, raising a perfectly arched eyebrow at you.
“I’m trying to smoke this cigarette,” you said, lifting the tobacco-filled cylinder as if showing him your point. “So, if you don’t mind, I’d like to smoke it in peace.”
Kaoru stepped closer to you to lean forward. Abruptly, he plucked the cigarette from your fingers. You could only watch as he crushed it in his palm. This close, you could see the edge of his soul mark peeking out from under the material of his rolled up sleeve. “Hey!”
“Get to class,” was all he said as he straightened up. “Or I’ll be reporting you to the principal.”
He disappeared around the corner, the sound of the door opening and closing echoing out as he left you alone once more on the rooftop. There was a sudden warm sensation on your left arm, but you ignored it.
That was my last cigarette… that jerk. You shoved the now empty crumpled cigarette pack back into your pocket.
An unlit cigarette hung loosely from between your lips as you stared at the shipment that had been dropped off in the stockroom overnight. The delivery stood at a whopping three large boxes in height and four boxes in length. There had to be at least twelve of them crammed into the already small space.
Shakily, you snatched the cigarette from your mouth and crushed it between your fingers as you turned sharply on your heel and strode back out to the front where two of your employees were milling about.
“Someone care enough to explain what the hell that is in the stockroom?” you asked, looking between the two teens as you pointed in the direction you’d come from.
“A delivery of a new product?” one employee replied. She was a freshly graduated high school student who had no desire to make something of her life and had decided to stay with her part time job at the store your parents left you when they’d decided to retire.
The vein in your temple throbbed with irritation. “Very good, Ami,” you ground out. “Now that that’s cleared up, care to explain why it’s there?”
Ami looked as though she was debating whether or not to throw whoever was in charge of the mess in the stockroom under the bus
“It was Junpei-san!” exclaimed the other teen, a second year high schooler who went by the name Hajime.
You groaned. The throbbing in your temples settled behind your eyes. You wanted nothing more than to knock the nearest shelf over in a fit of anger. “So, neither of you were aware of what Junpei-san was up to before you left last night?” you asked, breathing deeply through your nose as you attempted to lessen the pressure behind your eyes.
Both Hajime and Ami shook their heads.
“He told us to head home,” Ami said, leaning on top of the front counter next to the register. “Said he was closing up early since it was slow last night.”
Of course he did .
Junpei was your cousin from your dad’s side of the family who had a hard time holding down a job. Your aunt had reached out to your parents, practically begging them to higher her lazy son so he could be a productive member of society. That had been five years ago. And, although he had changed his ways and became a diligent worker, he had a habit of buying products without consulting you.
“Hajime, go sweep out front,” you said, grabbing the broom handle from the corner closet closest to the register and handing it to him. “Ami, you’re on register. I’m going to go deal with that mess Junpei graciously left us.”
You turned on your heel and dragged yourself back down the short hallway to the stockroom. As you reached it and pulled a box from the top of the stack, your mobile phone began vibrating against your leg in your pocket. “What now ,” you groused, setting the box on the floor and fishing your phone out.
JUNPEI flashed across the screen. You pressed the green accept button and brought the device up to your ear. “Thank you ,” you said by way of greeting your cousin. “Thank you so much for the surprise delivery. What have I told you about doing this?”
“You’ll thank me for it later, baby cousin,” came Junpei’s cheery voice. “They’re all the rage in Tokyo convenience stores.”
The urge to hang up your phone and throw it at the wall was strong. “Fun factoid, Junpei,” you hissed. “We’re not in Tokyo . We’re a small family owned store in Okinawa! So, whatever it was you were swindled into buying, will be coming out of your pay to offset the cost of what you spent.”
You hung up before he could reply and shoved the phone into your pocket. Glaring at the stack of boxes in front of you, you looked back down at the one you pulled from the stack and tore open the flaps. Inside were individually wrapped phone charms. Picking one up, you unwrapped it.
It's ugly you thought, turning the phone charm over in your hand. It was a poorly designed and painted Ghibli character. “No one’s gonna buy this,” you muttered, dropping the charm back into the box.
Unsure of how to deal with these, you stacked the unopened boxes at the back of the narrow room (taking what felt like forever to do) and left them there for Junpei to deal with when he came in for his shift. You were just leaving the room when Hajime came down the hall, calling your name.
“I have a favor to ask you,” he said, clutching the handle of the broom he’d been using to his chest.
“Hm? What is it?” you asked, tilting your head in a inquisitive manner.
“Do you think you could take me to Crazy Rock?” he asked nervously.
“Tonight?”
He silently nodded in anticipation of your answer. You hadn’t been to Crazy Rock in some time, not since taking over the store. It would be good to see what had changed around there.
“Sure. Eleven-fifteen behind the shop. Don’t be late, okay?” you said, reaching into the pocket of your apron for the pack of cigarettes you were nearly finished with. “Once Junpei gets here you can head home. It looks like it's gonna be another slow day.”
The look of pure delight on Hajime’s face reminded you of your days at his age. Excitable and without a real care in the world. “Thank you!” he exclaimed, throwing his arms around you in an awkward hug before quickly releasing you. A flush pained his cheeks at the realization that he’d just hugged his boss. “Sorry.”
You watched as he scurried away in embarrassment back to the front where Ami was. Oh to be young and naive… Turning on the spot, you made your way down the hall to the back entrance that led to the side alley where you normally took your smoke breaks.
With the door propped open, you took a seat on a plastic crate and pulled one of the two remaining cigarettes left in the pack and put it to your lips. From the crumpled pack, you pulled the lighter you’d stowed inside and lit the igniter, producing a flame to light the correct end of the cigarette.
The burn of tobacco as you took a drag filled your lungs. Lost in thought as you savored the earthy taste of the cigarette, you were pulled from your daydreaming when your phone vibrated against your leg once more. Fishing it out of your pocket, you answered the call without looking at the screen.
“Hello?” you said blandly, removing the half burned cigarette from your lips and tapping the ashes to the floor.
“I need a favor,” came your aunt’s voice.
“You called your favor when you asked my parents to higher your son,” you said, pulling another drag from the cigarette and releasing the smoke from your nose. “And that was several years ago.”
“Nothing like that, you silly girl,” your aunt chuckled. “And I’m grateful you’ve not fired him yet.”
“After today, I’m thinking about it,” you mumbled. “What can I do for you, dear aunt Saori?”
You dragged the burning end of your half consumed cigarette against the ground next to you. It wouldn’t do if you were to finish off the cigarette completely when the pack currently in your pocket was down to one. “Your father’s birthday is coming up,” your aunt said. The implication in her tone said it all.
“I’ll try and get them to leave town and come up your way, but you know your brother is a homebody.”
“I leave it up to you, dear niece,” she said, abruptly ending the call before you could say anything.
“So many things to do this week,” you whined to no one in particular. You let your head thump against the wall behind you.
Getting your mom to go to Ikei was no problem, she loved visiting Saori. It was your dad you’d have to really butter up to get his stubborn butt to leave the house. You would need something to bribe him with to agree to go to see his sister. “Her country bumpkin of a husband clearly has no desire to better his life,” your father had said, years ago, to to your mother when the two of them had thought you’d been asleep in your room when in truth you were sneaking out to the backyard to watch for shooting stars the media had been going on about.
It was a wonder Junpei had turned out the way he had as a kid until he’d traveled to Tokyo. Your mind thought back to the junk he’d had delivered that was taking up precious space in the backroom.
You leaned against the hood of your car, a beat up four door Toyota sedan that had seen better days when your dad had bought it off a used car dealer. You rolled your sleeves up, catching sight of your soul mark. A bouquet of pale pink sakura petals. The mark had come in on your fifteenth birthday, as all marks do. But it had filled with color some time during your later years of high school.
You traced the mark with your eyes, looking up when the sound of wheels on the pavement caught your attention.
Hajime came rounding the corner to the back of the store, nearly tripping off his skateboard. “Sorry! I’m not late am I?” he asked, jogging to a stop in front of you after jumping off his board. “I had to wait for my mom to finally fall asleep before I could get out of the house.”
“No need for the excuse, kid,” you said, pushing off the hood. You rolled your sleeves down, moving to the driver's seat. “Once upon a time I was in your shoes. Now get in, or we’ll be late.”
Hajime scrambled to the passenger side of the car and clambered in, resting his skateboard in between his legs. “You know about Crazy Rock,” he said slowly, buckling his seat belt. “But I’ve never seen you there.”
“Because I’m an old lady, Hajime,” you said, mimicking an old woman. You turned the key in the ignition, starting the car. “I had to stop going once my parents retired. ”You threw the gear into reverse, backing up out of the small parking space.
“Don’t you have siblings?” Hajime asked, turning his attention from the front of the vehicle to you. “You know, who could take over the store?”
Shifting the gear into drive with a little elbow grease, you pulled the car forward onto the empty street and drove the familiar route to Crazy Rock. “I have two other siblings, but they want nothing to do with this town or the store,” you said, rolling the window down on your side of the car. The smell of the cool spring air was a pleasant change to the stale air of the store’s interior. “My older brother has forsaken his soul mark and moved further north, to Hokkaido, to become a priest and live a celibate life. And my older sister is in South Korea following her dreams to become an idol, though she covers her soul mark with layers of concealer--or so my mother says.”
“Oh,” Hajime quietly said, turning his attention away from you to rest his head on the window of the door.
“It is what it is,” you said with a shrug, pulling one hand off the steering wheel to reach for the empty space under the radio. Your fingers brushed against the object you were looking for. “Aha!”
“You know those will kill you, right?” Hajime asked, turning his attention from the passing scenery outside his window and motioning to the stray cigarette you’d found.
The memory of pink hair, piercings and gold irises briefly danced across your mind before fading away as fast as it had appeared. “Someone once told me that exact same thing,” you said, trying to recall the face. “But like I told them, I’m here for a good time, not a long time.”
Hajime could only shake his head as he watched you put the cigarette to your lips. “It isn’t too late for you to quit, though,” he commented. “It’d be a shame to lose a cool manager like you to something as harmful as a cigarette.”
“I’ll take your words into consideration,” you said around the cylinder as you patted the breast pocket of your canvas jacket for a lighter. “But in the meantime, I’m going to enjoy this smoke, so roll down your window if you don’t like it.”
A silence fell over the both of you as you pulled the vehicle off the freeway and onto a stretch of road in the middle of what felt like nowhere. You drove for another ten minutes until you reached the familiar turn off to a dirt road, the unlit cigarette resting between your lips..
Ahead of you, you could make out brake lights as you got closer to the gate. It was a minute before midnight, and there was a crowd of people waiting to get in.
“Seems rowdy tonight,” you commented, watching as people psyched themselves up. You pulled the cigarette from your lips and pocketed it.
“This kid, Reki, challenged Shadow to a beef,” Hajime said, sitting up in his seat to take in all the people who were here to watch the match. “It’s his second time going against Shadow, from what I hear.”
You hummed, watching as the gates slid open and everyone poured in. Taking your foot off the brake, you inched along with the other vehicles in line to the makeshift parking area. “This kid any good?” you asked, pulling into an empty space and putting the car in park. “If this is his second challenge against Shadow, he’s gotta be good, right?”
The look on Hajime’s face told you otherwise. “Shadow,” Hajime started, clutching his board to his chest like it was a lifeline. “Is a vulgar skater. Or, that’s what Cherry calls him.”
Cherry? Your mind tried to put a face to the nickname, but you drew a blank. You motioned for Hajime to carry on. Shutting the engine off, you opened the door on your side and slid out of your seat, Hajime following suit on his side, slamming the heavy door shut. “ Easy ,” you scolded, gently shutting your own door, giving the roof a loving pat. “She may have seen better days, but you gotta show her some respect!”
“He uses gimmicks like a laser pointer and small firecrackers to throw off his opponents,” Hajime continued, as if he hadn’t heard you. “I went up against him once and the term of our beef was that I had to shave my head bald.”
You choked on a breath of air you’d been inhaling. “ That’s why you wouldn’t take your hat off all month!” you said, loud enough for a small group of girls to overhear you. They giggled in Hajime’s direction.
A blush bloomed across his face, disappearing under the collar of his shirt. “ Yes !” he hissed, nervously waving at the group of girls before dragging you off to the side of the stage. “And I’d rather not remember that. It took nearly a month for it to grow back.”
You doubled over in a fit of laughter, eyes watering. “Well that explains that,” you said, wiping your eyes. “Don’t make bets you can’t handle, Hajime.”
You stood among the crowd, watching from the viewing area, staring up at the screen and cringing as the redhead, Reki, was tossed from his skateboard while attempting to dodge the small explosives Shadow had thrown at his wheels.
“That’s how Shadow skates,” Hajime had whispered to you.He’d shuffled behind you as if trying to hide from the laughing menace on the screen, his hands clutching his skateboard like it was a flotation device as Shadow set Reki’s skateboard on fire in front of him.
From where all the cars were parked, you made your way to the Toyota. You watched as the redhead was loaded up into the passenger seat of a delivery van with the company name DOPE SKETCH scrawled on the side; he was cradling left arm to his chest once he’d gotten situated.
You turned your attention to your own passenger, Hajime, who looked ready to fall over at the mere whisper of a breeze. He looks like he saw a ghost you thought, fishing your car keys out of your jacket pocket. Over his shoulder you could see the tall clown makeup-wearing skater loading his skateboard into the back of a pink delivery van. “Go sit in the car,” you said, shoving your keys into Hajime’s unsuspecting hands. “I’ll be right back.”
Hajime snapped out of his daze and looked at the keys suddenly in his hands. He twisted around to watch your retreating form as you made your way over to Shadow. “W-what? Hey!” he exclaimed, jogging after you with his board tucked under his arm. He shoved the keys into his pocket and reached out to grab your arm by the elbow. “You shouldn’t mess with him.”
“Go wait in the car, Haji-kun,” you said quietly, pausing briefly in his hold and not looking at him.
His back went straight at the use of the nickname. You’d only ever used it when you were about to get serious. Hajime nodded silently, letting go of your arm. He turned to scurry away to the car.
“Shadow!” you all but yelled once Hajime was enough of a distance away from you.
The tall orange-haired skater, in full makeup and leather costume, turned to look at you. His eyes narrowed on your smallish frame. “Who the hell are you ?” Shadow spat, arms crossing over his muscular chest. He looked familiar, like you’d seen his big bulky body somewhere before.
A sly smile played at your lips as you tilted your head slightly to the side. “I challenge you to a beef,” you said, mimicking his posture. “If I win, you gotta leave the kids alone.”
A loud, obnoxious laugh ripped itself from his painted face. “You’re on. And if I win, I get to thrash your board,” he sneered. “Two nights from now.”
“You’re on.” You held your hand out for Shadow to shake.
He scoffed but took your hand, giving it a firm, short shake before releasing it. You turned on your heel away from him and headed back to your own car.