Chapter Text
“Is it just me, or is anyone else still craving Taco Loco?”
“Shut up, Seiya.”
“We were so close, too… it would have been the perfect thing for—”
“Can you please shut up for three minutes? I’ll literally give you a million dollars.”
“…”
“…”
“Next time we go, let’s get the new Mexi-mash—”
“What are my chances of expulsion if I just kill him right now, Yaten?” Taiki asked, resting his five-finger forehead in his five fingers, feeling an aneurysm coming on.
“None. You’ll be doing a public service.” Yaten cocked his eyebrow in the middle of the seated trio.
“I don’t see why you’re so angry with me,” Seiya narrowed his blue eyes at his tall bandmate from the other end of the row. “As you can see, we’re all here.”
Taiki had to catch himself from going off the deep end. He became so angry, he couldn’t speak for a good three seconds. “Yes, because of you!”
“HEY!”
The teenagers winced and silenced as the exclamation echoed throughout the hallway. A fellow third-year female student stood with her hands on her hips while glaring at the bickering boys.
“I will have nothing but silence from you unless you want detention!”
“Calm down, Aya,” Yaten glared. “You can’t give us detention anyway.”
“Wanna bet?”
Seiya folded his arms. “Whatever, we all know you’re too busy after school chasing the baseball team—”
He was cut off as he had to immediately curl in the fetal position on top of Yaten to protect himself from Aya’s incoming physical aggression, forcing the shorty to roll on top of Taiki to avoid being smushed from all of Seiya’s weight.
As soon as she got a couple of good hits on his arm with the side of her fist, the door to the front office opened in one abrupt motion, revealing an appalled male school principal. Silence replaced the commotion as all teenagers froze on instinct, Aya’s arm still elevated with intentions for a third hit.
“Aya, what are you still doing here?” The principal questioned.
“Uh well," she began to answer with nervousness, "you asked me to bring them to you and I didn’t want to just leave them here alone until you came to get them just in case they ran away, and—”
“Go to class.” Having heard enough, he pointed toward the end of the hallway.
“Yes, of course, sir.” Aya bowed in respect, but couldn’t help herself as she got in one more swift hit on Seiya’s arm before she started on her quick pace back to class.
The principal shook his head, but he figured the black-haired punk deserved it. He then motioned toward his office with his thumb.
“In.”
Each of the boys stood up and lumbered into the tiny office. Taiki couldn’t shake the cold sweat on his forehead, Yaten wiped his clammy hands off on his pants, and Seiya was busy rubbing the tender spot on his arm; Aya had gotten stronger over the years.
There were only two visitor chairs set up next to the doorway, though none of them fought or negotiated for one since they were hoping this meeting wouldn’t require a seated conversation. The principal sat down behind his desk and blew out a dispirited breath from puffed cheeks as he shuffled through a pile of papers. Once the desired one was discovered, he slipped it out of the stack and rested it on top.
“So, do any of you have anything you want to say right now?”
All three looked at each other as if the other had an answer. However, a few seconds went by before Seiya found the courage to address him.
“Well, we would like to say that we’re very sorry and… promise to never do it again.” He shrugged with a nervous grin.
“Is that all?” Unimpressed principal was unimpressed.
Seiya looked over at his companions for more answers. All he got was an eye roll from Yaten and a shaking head from Taiki. Guess he was on his own.
“Uhh… well we learned our lesson and hope we can put this all behind us.” Again, the statement further enhanced his teenage awkwardness in the face of authority.
The principal still did not seem pleased or amused. He dropped a heavy fingertip on the sheet.
“This is the police report sent to me over the weekend. Let’s go over all the infractions.” He reached in his jacket pocket to retrieve his reading glasses and placed them snuggly upon his nose. With one swift movement, he grabbed the paper and popped it stiff before reciting out loud:
“Three counts of theft of private property; three counts of destruction of private property; three counts of disorderly conduct; three counts of public intoxication; two counts of minors in possession; three counts of minors under the influence; one count of operating heavy machinery under the influence; and…”
The principal had to squint his eyes and adjust the paper’s distance to read off the last one, the blurriness of the font giving away that his copy was a scan of a scan of a picture of a scan.
“…One count of urinating in a public place.”
Yaten and Seiya couldn’t contain their snorts, covering their mouths in half-assed attempts to muffle them. Taiki didn’t find any humor in the situation at all as the blush from his cheeks extended to his ears.
Reminded of his own days of underage antics, even the principal had to disguise his chuckle within a cough. He pulled his glasses from his face with a sigh and tossed them on the desk with the paper.
“You have until the end of the final term to get in one-hundred hours of community service.”
The boys blinked in efforts to process the punishment, requiring clarification.
“One-hundred hours altogether, or…?” Taiki allowed his voice to trail off.
“Each.”
All young eyes widened in sheer horror; he might as well have said one hundred years.
“Boys, that’s four months,” the principal explained as he noticed their dramatic expressions. “At approximately twenty-five hours per month. That’s not a lot.”
“Well, with all due respect, we’re pretty busy people.” Yaten cleared his throat with a grimace. “I don’t know if you heard of us, but we’re the Three Lights—”
“There are lots of school club options which provide opportunities for community and charity work.” He had no time for any lecture in pop culture. “I don’t care. Walk an old lady’s dog, pick up trash…”
Offended at such boldness of the latter suggestion, Yaten placed a hand on his chest and thought to offer his own.
“Perhaps we could make a generous donation to a charity of your choice?”
The principal held an emotionless stare, already ready for his daily after-school beverage. ‘Head a private school full of millionaires’ kids,’ they said. ‘It would be easy,’ they said. If he could count the amount of times parents paid their children out of trouble at this place, he’d need about twenty hands. But this time he had a chance to teach some of them a lesson and he wasn’t about to let it go to waste.
“One-hundred hours by Spring. Now get out.”
***Last Friday night***
“AAAAAAAAnd it’s the fourth down, ladies and gentlemen!! Twenty yards from the end zone and only five seconds left in the fourth quarter! Is this Friday Night Lights material or what?!”
“You can say that again! The Sun Devils are down by three points so they can either tie the game with a field goal and go into overtime or make a touchdown for the win. However, if they're unsuccessful with either, they will face their first loss of the season.”
“Ay, the stress! This is the stuff football games are made of, people! I can’t handle it! And with this oncoming rain, the boys are suffering dearly.”
“The Juban coach has called for a thirty-second timeout and it’s the Devils’ last one of the game.”
Twenty-five seconds later.
“They’re going onto the field without the kicker. They’re going for it! They’re going for it! The star Wide Receiver, number eighteen, is on the field ready to score!”
“Yes, third-year student Seiya Kou has blown us all away not only with his angelic voice but with his swift athleticism that has helped bring the Devils’ record to eight and O this year. Is he going to make it nine and O tonight??! We’re about to find out!”
Half the stadium quieted down, including the extroverted emcees on their microphones, as the team formed into position and hiked the ball. Everyone’s eyes were on the Quarterback as they watched him rocket the pigskin high in the sprinkling air only a split second before he was tackled. It whirled and flew five, ten, fifteen yards toward the end zone while everyone held one collective breath or covered their eyes, as they could not bear to see the play fail if it did…
But it didn’t.
The rain and wet field didn’t faze the targeted star player. As if he had done it a million times before, blindfolded with both arms tied behind his back, Seiya Kou caught the ball swiftly in the end zone, all while being wide open.
“TOUCHDOWWWWWWWWWN DEVILS!”
The cheer in half the crowd was deafening, as was their glee in victory when they stormed the field to congratulate and celebrate the players. While on the other side of the stadium, the opposing team’s fans quickly began to exit in defeat and disappointment like the wet dogs they were.
The successful Wide Receiver tore off his chinstrap and wedged his sweaty head of disarrayed raven hair out of his helmet to hold it up in triumph, revealing his deep blue eyes twinkling with accomplishment, and his glistening handsome face enough to make schoolgirls think dirty thoughts. His hollers of “yeah” and “woo-hoo” were matched twofold by the legion of victory-crazed teenagers crowded around him chanting: “De-vils, de-vils, de-vils” as they held up the schools’ hand sign.
***
It was always a safe assumption that someone's parents would be out of town and trust their home to their prep-schooled teenager in his or her care alone. That’s what they get for going on vacation during the week of a big game.
Excited voices blared throughout the house and celebratory libations initiated immediately after the arrival of the whole football team and their associates. While Yaten and Taiki only mingled and talked like the boring people they were, Seiya stationed himself at the end of the dining room table with a cold six-pack and humored the middle linebacker of the team with a few games of Jan Ken Pon. A couple of times he tried to get in on the karaoke gathering in the living room, but everyone considered his participation as cheating.
The full effects of the beer were not felt until Seiya stood up in a dizzy wobble and released his thousandth burp of the night. But another intense feeling soon washed over him that called him to take action… although first, he had to find them…
He lumbered over to Taiki and Yaten, who were conversing among a small group of people, sipping on seventeen-year-old scotch. Typical.
“Hey, guys!” Seiya fell in between them with both arms around their necks, making them act fast to save their drinks from spilling over from the force of his weight.
“Hey, watch it! This is good stuff.” Yaten growled.
Seiya rolled his eyes with a ‘pfft.’ “Whatever, I’m starving.”
Taiki flicked off some of the spilled liquor from his hand. “Good for you.”
“Let’s go raid the pantry.” Seiya headed off and waved a sloppy arm for them to follow him. His balance was a little wavering and a bit slow on the reflexes as he continued in his pursuit to satisfy his beer munchies. The teenagers made their way to the kitchen and split up for efficiency—Seiya and Taiki at the pantry, Yaten at the refrigerator.
“The fuck is this shit?!” Seiya slurred—hangry and in disbelief—as he picked up a random box and squinted to read its name and contents.
Yaten furrowed his brow as he picked up a few items in the refrigerator, analyzing their labels. “Sugar-free, plant-based, low-carb…”
“I guess Kieta and her family are… keto vegans?” Taiki furrowed his brow as he struggled to process a bag of non-dairy cheese crackers made from radishes.
Seiya growled before he threw a container of dehydrated cauliflower somewhere back in the pantry. “Fuck this. Let’s go to Taco Loco.”
Yaten swirled his Scotch and pulled out his cell phone, but not before doing a good head whip to move his side-swiped bangs out of his eyes for optimal phone screen viewing. “Okay, I’ll text Roger.”
Seiya threw his head back as he groaned. "But that'll take too long!"
"Well, we can't exactly bippity-boppity-boo our way out of here." Yaten glared.
The dark-haired boy groaned again, looking through the window into the backyard. It was still lightly misting but within the dim moonlight and various other house lights, a softly illuminated well-manicured par-four hole laid beyond the rot iron fence. His demeanor went from dismayed to overjoyed in half a second as he snapped his fingers with a dopey grin.
“That’s right!”
Puzzled at first, Yaten and Taiki both swiveled their heads to see exactly what he was looking at. They soon realized…
“No, Seiya!”
But it was too late; he was already on his way running towards the garage. The others soon ran after him.
Seiya ripped the door open and stood there with a look on his face as if he was just woken up on Christmas morning to find a pile of presents. Yaten and Taiki caught up a few seconds later, noticing a pristine golf cart parked toward the far end of the garage, peeking behind the Bentley and classic Stingray.
“I am the smartest man alive!” Seiya skipped over to the cart and flung himself in the driver’s side. He put his hands on the wheel and grinned in delight at Taiki and Yaten. “Let’s go!”
Both walked over to him with worried looks.
“Seiya, we can’t do this. Kieta will be pissed!”
“Yeah, let me just text Roger! He'll pick us up!”
Seiya rolled his eyes. “He’ll take too long! And Kieta won’t even know, it’s not like we’re jacking the Bentley. We’ll be in and out!”
“What if a cop sees us?” Yaten threw out his arms.
“I’m drunk, not an idiot." He pointed behind himself with his thumb. "We’ll go through the course.”
Taiki and Yaten looked at each other, pretty much seventy-five percent convinced with Seiya’s flawed logic. It didn’t help that they both were also hungry and weren’t too terribly in the mood for kale chips.
“Is the key in there?” Yaten motioned toward the ignition with his chin.
“Oh yeah,” Seiya flipped a switch on the dash. “It’s electric.”
“Is it charged?” Taiki was half hoping the answer was 'no.'
To test it out, Seiya lightly pushed on the gas pedal—the cart thrusting forward forcefully—before instantly pushing on the brake, coming to a halt.
“Fully charged.” He clapped his hands and rubbed them together. “Go open the garage!”
“Aish, this is a terrible idea,” Yaten muttered as he started walking toward the cart.
Taiki raised an eyebrow. “So why are you getting in the cart?”
“I’m hungry! Don’t judge me…” The shorty pouted and hid his face before slipping onto the slick leather seat beside Seiya.
Defeated, the brune sighed before he walked over to press the garage door button but soon realized that he still had his drink in his hand.
“Yaten, we still need to finish our drinks!”
“Are you kidding me? I’m not shooting this!” Yaten snapped. Taiki could not argue with that refusal.
“Whatever, just bring it with you!” Seiya waved him on.
“Hell no. We’re already breaking enough laws as is!”
Seiya had finally grown impatient. “Fine. See ya’.” He switched the cart into reverse—indicated by a high-pitched continuous beep—turned his head around, and started to back out of the garage.
Taiki groaned at the predicament he was in. But he had to make his decision quickly because he knew Seiya would leave him behind. In the end, his stomach won the battle….
“Wait, Seiya!” He sighed as he jogged toward the cart. Seiya didn’t even slow down, forcing Taiki to do a run-jump-squeeze in between Yaten and the outside armrest. Luckily, no further Scotch was harmed within his movement.
All three boys were soon hit with the bitter cold air of the November night as Seiya started on their journey. The continuous mist landed in droplets on their clothes and the windshield and had accumulated enough to make puddles of water on the ground. Seiya drove down the sidewalk until he found an opening through the golf course, taking a sharp right turn on the short-cut grass of the twelfth hole of the Roppongi Country Club.
“Seiya, do you even know where you’re going?” Yaten asked, knowingly a little late in his inquiry, as they were ten minutes into their misadventure.
“Yep!” Seiya replied with confidence as he drove over a putting green. “The Taco Loco sits at the bottom of the seventeenth hole.”
“How do you even know?” Taiki questioned.
“Hey, don’t underestimate my Taco Loco-ating abilities.” The raven-haired teenager breezed through the terrible pun before he winked at them. He then narrowed his eyes forward in concentration, as he found the cart path and followed it to the fifteenth hole, continuing on it through the sixteenth up until they reached the tee box of the seventeenth. It was by then he took the liberty to take another shortcut on the grass in the middle of the fairway.
And it was also by then that Taiki and Yaten sort of knew—but did not want to be the first to point out—that the cart was losing power. The two would exchange worried looks now and then as they felt the cart reduce speed despite Seiya nearly putting all his weight on the gas. But he would not be deterred in his quest and was too stubborn to notice that issue or the obvious trail of deep tire track marks they were leaving behind in the soft, mushy earth of the fairway. It was not too long before the ground became almost liquid and the three teenagers found themselves not being able to move.
Seiya kept stomping on the accelerator furiously; the action of the spinning tires only spurting mud in all directions behind them without any forward movement.
“Go, you piece of shit!”
“Seiya, we’re just stuck in some mud.” Taiki rationalized placing a hand on his arm. “All we need to do is just get out and lift the cart out of it.”
The inebriated driver gave the pedal one last stomp before giving up and going with Taiki’s idea. “Fine!”
The trio all stepped out of the cart and together pushed it swiftly out of the mud pit and further upon the solid earth. Once again, they all jumped back in the cart and resumed their trek up the steep incline toward the putting green. It was at that moment that the cart sounded like it was not going to make it; the turning wheels’ slow, agonizing mechanical noise protested in its forced trudge up the hill toward the green. Still, Seiya was trying to create a gas-pedal-sized hole through the bottom of the cart with how much force he was applying. How fucking high was this hill anyway?
“How fucking high is this hill anyway?” Yaten quipped, sipping on his Scotch.
“C’mon, c’mon…” Seiya leaned over the steering wheel as if putting all his weight toward the front of the cart would help it along. His perseverance was apparent as beads of sweat started forming on his forehead. Must… get… tacos…
It seemed for half a second that the universe was on their side as they made it to the very top of the hill and just to the other end of the putting green…
And then the cart halted their triumph by running out of battery at that exact moment. In denial, Seiya kept pushing on the gas pedal multiple times as if that would be the key to magically starting it up.
It was not.
Seiya growled and rocked his body violently with two tight grasps on the steering wheel. “It’s right there, I can see it! It’s taunting me!” He motioned at the beacon of the brightly lit Taco Loco roadside sign in the distance, shining through several leafless branches, just a ride-down-the-hill away.
As much as Taiki and Yaten were not as hell-bent as Seiya was, they too felt irritated at the situation. Cheap tacos did seem more delicious and enticing the more obstacles that came their way.
“You know, it wouldn’t take much for us to use some force to go down the hill…” Taiki theorized.
Seiya and Yaten looked at him mystified. “Say what?”
The tall one looked off in the distance as he tried to think of simpler ways to explain physics to his simpler-minded cohorts. He even made use of his hands for better articulation.
“If we throw all our body weight toward the front of the cart, it’ll make it go forward, thus plunging us down the hill and to Taco Loco.”
Yaten nodded as the light bulb finally flicked on over his head. “Oh so like this?” Setting his glass down within the open storage compartment, he put his hands on the front of the cart and thrust his body forward, the momentum from such motion moving the vehicle slightly ahead.
“Yes, yes, but all of us are doing it.” Taiki mimicked Yaten in setting down his own glass in the compartment and placing his hands at the front of the cart. Seiya, being the last to catch on, kept his hands positioned on the steering wheel and looked at the others, ready for when they were.
“Okay, so on three…” Taiki started.
“One.”
“Two.”
“Three!”
Each boy threw themselves to the front of the cart in one clumsy motion. It was more than enough momentum to force the cart forward and down the steep hill.
Down, down, down they went.
Each of them screamed in half-amusement and half-terror as their downward journey proved to be bumpier and messier than expected due to the hill being rife with tree roots, rocks, and mud. Taiki and Seiya, sitting on each end of the seat, were good protection for Yaten as half their bodies were splattered with the wet dirt. The painful sound of metal meeting wood and stone was a definite indication there were bits of cart parts left in a trail behind them.
The vehicle started to pick up speed once the ground evened out midway down the slope. Seiya took the cue to try to press on the break, but the tire treads were not catching on slippery grass beneath them.
“I can’t stop! I can’t stop it!” He panicked.
The cart briskly bounded down on ninety degrees and onto the concrete parking lot. Before they all could truly process the situation, they were distracted by the big glass building that lay ahead. Seiya tried once again to push on the brakes but it was at that perfect moment that they ran over a puddle and proceeded to hydroplane instead, causing the front end of the cart to drift to the left. With this new sense of direction, Seiya jerked the wheel to turn the tires to the right in an effort to straighten their path. The lack of traction on the ground and the sudden move only made the cart drift the other way.
Taiki sensed something out of his left peripheral vision and soon noticed the glass window they were rapidly approaching. All color from his face faded as his life flashed before his eyes.
“Window!” That was all he could muster out before…
“AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!”
Hanging either onto each other or the cart for dear life, all three screamed and closed their eyes as the back end of the vehicle crashed through the glass window, which served as an abrupt halt to their journey. They stayed frozen in their positions for a good few seconds before deciding it was safe to open their eyes. All had to carefully wipe off shards of glass of all sizes from their bodies, even having to shake their heads a bit to get the little pieces out of their hair.
“Holy hell, get me out of this demon cart!” Yaten barked as he started pushing on Taiki to shove him out of the seat.
“Damn Yaten, I’m okay, thanks for asking…” On purpose, Taiki slowly stepped out of the cart to further annoy Yaten, who crawled over him anyway trying to get out. Taiki had to hold back some tears as he noticed the whole left half of his Berluti trousers were covered in mud.
Seiya stepped out of the cart, not even noticing the mud specs on half of his face, and looked at the building they crashed into.
“Huh… where are all the people?” He asked dumbfounded, his brow furrowed as he noticed its eerie emptiness; two AM was a usual primetime hour for Taco Loco’s greasy goodness.
Taiki and Yaten turned their heads over to look inside as well, noticing plastic tarps laid out along with a few tables and chairs thrown around haphazardly and toppled over. Various crumples of paper littered the floor along with sheetrock crumbs and empty paint cans.
“Of course they’re remodeling!” Taiki threw his head back as he groaned at the sad truth that all their hard work and destruction was for nothing.
“God damn it, Seiya!” Yaten snapped.
Seiya ignored all their grumblings as he could feel something was peculiar about the restaurant. He continued to intently stare into the building, breaking down the sight piece by piece through his drunken fog—the bright green walls which were a usual feature of Taco Loco were in the midst of being painted over with a soft red; lamps in the form of red paper lanterns replaced the standard sombrero-shaped light fixtures; and all signs referring to lunch specials and new menu items were tossed on the floor and splattered with paint. The wind picked up a bit and rippled through a banner hanging above. Its rustling sound piqued Seiya's curiosity enough to walk back several feet for a better view of it.
'Opening Soon: Luna’s Dumpling House'
Oh. No.
“It’s closed down!” He yelled out, his voice cracking in distress and disbelief as he grabbed onto his hair with both hands. Yaten rolled his eyes so far back, he could see how much he was done with this situation.
“Oh even better.” Taiki rested his hands on his knees and took a deep breath to exhale out a “Fuck, I need to pee.” The urge finally hit him after the adrenaline of their joyride wore off. He leaned on the side of the building as if he lost strength each second he held it in.
“Just go around the corner and go,” Yaten suggested with a wave of his hand as he whipped out his smartphone.
“You sure I won’t get caught?”
Yaten looked up from his cell phone, mockingly inspecting three-hundred-and-sixty degrees of empty, hushed darkness, noticeably void of any other human activity.
“I’m sure if you go around back no one will see your wee-wee.”
“Well, what about their cameras? Do you think they have some back there??”
“We just busted through a glass wall and there’s no alarm going off. I doubt there’s any security. Who the hell is going to steal paint cans?” He sounded very convincing.
“Ugh, whatever…” Taiki winced before power-walking over and around the corner of the restaurant.
“Oh my God, I’m so hungry!” Seiya whined while nearing Yaten.
“Well, that’s the last time we'll listen to you on where to eat. You have lost all restaurant-choosing privileges until further notice.” Yaten threatened. “That also extends to golf-cart-stealing privileges, too.”
It seemed that right as Seiya was about to respond, they heard the scariest sounds of their lives.
~Whoop-whoop~
Lights of blue penetrated the darkness of the night as three police patrol cars pulled up to the establishment.
“Oh. Shit.” Yaten's jaw dropped, as did his stomach, with the intrusive premonition of a major maternal ass-whooping rushing through his mind.
“Stay where you are and put your hands up now!” Came an authoritative shout from behind the blinding lights.
“No security, huh?” Seiya snorted as he complied with the command and raised his arms; he guessed silent alarms are a thing nowadays. Yaten raised his arms as well, with his cell phone still in hand, looking like a deer in the headlights.
“Drop the phone, tater-tot!”
Yaten jumped as he loosened his hand to release his device, which fell on the ground with a hard thud. He prayed to whatever spiritual protector of touch screens that his baby wasn’t cracked.
Multiple officers strode toward the two boys as they shined their flashlights directly in their faces.
“So… you boys been drinking?”
Seiya shrugged his shoulders, keeping his cocky cool. “What makes you ask that, officer?”
“You smell like a freakin’ brewery.”
He smacked his tongue on the roof of his mouth. “Well, have you heard of the new Chanel fragrance: L’Brewery?”
“Shut up, Seiya!” Yaten seethed without looking over.
The officer chuckled and spoke to the other officials standing around. “Check these boys for ID if they’re of drinking age. Something tells me that they’ll be taking a trip downtown.” He briefly looked at the teenagers as they both clearly avoided eye contact with him in their nervousness.
“And scan the area and see if there are more running around.”
Yaten choked on his own breath as he soon realized—
“Taiki!”
But it was too late.
“Put your hands up where I can see them, you pervert!”
They did not even give him enough time to zip up as the detaining officers marched Taiki from behind the corner.