Chapter Text
Two in the morning wasn’t usually the prime time for wandering out into the night in search of coffee. Especially not when one was the son of the Prime Minister, but Haruto didn’t care much about that fact. Not after the night he had. Arguing with his mother about reputation and the pink haired woman that was supposed to be her secretary practically lived in their home. She said they were just friends. Haruto knew otherwise.
He didn’t care for Yae Miko and her influence on his mother. Most of the time, it was Miko stepping in to stop his mother from making a rash decision that involved him. He didn’t need her help getting him out of difficult situations. He’d done so for a while now.
Haruto took a nighty walk on most nights, but this one felt different. While the streets were bare of cars, driving and parked, the city was alive. There was music and chatter from large crowds coming from somewhere, Haruto couldn’t figure out where. Instead of continuing on his mission for his 2 A.M. coffee, Haruto followed the noise to the source.
What he found wasn’t something he’d ever expect to happen in the city of Inazuma. Suddenly, as he turned a corner with the noise at its loudest, Haruto was transported into what felt like another world. There were hundreds of people walking around in skimpy outfits, holding alcoholic drinks and wearing too much makeup. The sight of it all made Haruto want to turn around in the other direction, but he was perplexed. Why was such a party like this going on? With music thumping as loud in his ears as his own heartbeat and with people mingling about like it was a high school party, where were the police? Obviously with something so loud and obnoxious, the cops would be swarming this place, but there was nothing.
Haruto found himself wandering the crowd, deeper into the chaos of the night. Thankfully, barely anyone spared him a second glance when they made eye contact. He was surrounded by conversations, but had no idea what any of them were about. He was a drowning fish in a sea of noise. It was incredibly overwhelming and Haruto took that as a sign to leave. Even if the police weren’t here yet, they would be there soon with how loud everyone was being.
But, of course, someone stopped him from leaving. A hearty woman with long brown hair and half of her face covered by a cloth wrapped an arm around his shoulders.
“My, my!” said the woman enthusiastically. “I didn’t think I’d ever lay my eye would ever lay on the Minister’s son coming to one of these .”
Haruto glared up at her and turned out of her grip. That earned him a whine.
“Aw, c’mon. Don’t leave! You just got here! The fun hasn’t even started yet!”
Whatever fun she was referring to, Haruto wasn’t interested. But, with a sigh, he conceded. “Then don’t yell that shit out,” he grumbled. Who even was this woman and why did she take it upon herself to be friendly with him?
She laughed. “Alright, alright. I’ll keep my mouth shut.” Her arm fell to her side as she turned away from him for a moment. “Hey, Itto! Go get us some beers, yeah?”
Haruto had no idea who she was yelling at, so he didn’t try to follow her line of sight. “What is this? Some kind of party?” he ventured instead.
“It’s street racing, dude! You seriously never been to one of these before?”
“Does it look like I have?” Haruto shot back.
The woman grinned. “Well, first rule of street racing, you pick your guy. We—” she gestured to herself and two other people, “—all bet on Kazuha. He’s number 10.”
The two other people that were with her were one girl much taller than him and a boy with dog ears and a fluffy tail. Haruto suppressed the urge to roll his eyes. Of course, one of the animal hybrids would be at something like this. The boy waved.
“Hey, I’m Gorou!”
“Did you really not introduce yourself to him, Beidou? You can’t go around expecting everyone will know who you are,” the taller girl mused. Her voice sounded like velvet fabric falling down a staircase. It made Haruto focus on her words until he realized who she was. Ningguang. The head of the richest family in Liyue, the city a few hours over from Inazuma. What was she doing here?
“Oh shit, you’re right. Sorry ‘bout that. I’m Beidou!” She held out her hand. “Haruto. That’s Ningguang, Gorou, and the big idiot that’s bringing you a drink is Itto.”
Oh, how did he get roped into a crowd like this, something Haruto never found out.
“Nice to meet you,” he muttered flatly. “I’m going home.”
“Wait! You gotta stay. At least finish your drink!” Beidou practically whined at him.
He groaned. “Fine.” He didn’t fight, only because it was a free drink and he had no desire to go home just yet. Plus, this whole street racing thing had him intrigued.
Within five minutes, a beer bottle was placed in Haruto’s hand. Without accounting for his age, which was under the drinking limit, Haruto took a sip. He had beer before, but it was more on the expensive side. Something his mother had access to and he snuck into to steal. What was given to him was utterly disgusting and it took him quite an effort to not spit it out. If not for the crowd, he would have.
“This is disgusting,” Haruto said after he forced himself to swallow.
“Oh yeah, the beer here is shit. But it’s like two hundred yen for a bottle. It’s cheap. Meant to get you drunk, not meant to taste good.” Beidou knocked back her own beer, pulling the bottle back with a happy gasp. “Don’t worry your pretty little head. Just drink it and it’ll taste fine.”
With a sigh, Haruto did as he was told. He sipped at his drink while others mingled around him.
“You still haven’t explained what exactly is going on here,” he told Beidou after a few minutes.
“I said it’s street racing.” She pointed up at the big screen that overlooked the crowd. “The Kamisato twins put it together. They got loads of money and the oldest likes watching races or whatever. So he puts this on for people with really nice cars to show off their skills. Whoever wins gets a fat payout.” Her hand moved to point at the number 10 slot on the screen. “We’re rooting for Kazuha. You can bet on him if you want. He usually wins. Leaves everyone in the dust with how fast he is.”
Haruto gazed up at the screen. The only image he had of Kazuha was his name and the kind of car he drove.
KAEDEHARA KAZUHA # 10: 1994 TOYOTA SUPRA TURBO RWD .
Whatever that meant.
Haruto pulled out his wallet, and with that a couple hundred thousand yen bills. “Hey, put this on your friend.” He passed the bills to Itto.
Itto grinned from ear to ear. “You got it!” And off he went.
With another sip of his beer, Haruto took a glance at the other names on the board.
TSUKIYAMA RIN # 36: DODGE CHALLENGER SRT DEMON.
FUJIMORI SHIGEO # 54: CHEVROLET NOVA SS
TAO KAI # 22: MUSTANG SHELBY GT500
HOSHINO HIKARU # 87: MITSUBISHI LANCER EVOLUTION 6
MAE HIDIO # 90: NISSAN 350Z
HOGA KOU # 43: CHEVROLET CORVETTE C6
OKI AIKA # 66: MAZDA MX-5 MIATA
He wondered how the numbers were chosen and why the model of their car was important to the race itself. If it reached top speeds, then that was the only reason to be entering, right? Haruto didn’t know much about cars to begin with, so he wasn’t in his field.
The cheap beer was settling nicely in his stomach. Even though he had first made this outing for coffee, his hopes had not been killed yet with how it was turning out. Maybe next time, he’ll come more dressed for the occasion. A simple dark blue sweatshirt and jeans wasn’t exactly something for this kind of scene.
Haruto tensed at the sound of the horn. He looked around, expecting the cars to squeal off in an effort to win, but no one moved.
“That’s the five minute warning,” Beidou said. “Usually drivers like to mingle before they take to the road. Look! You can see him now!”
As Haruto followed Beidou’s pointing finger, he saw the ashy-haired boy standing next to a deep red car. A strip of red hair swayed with his bangs, while the rest was tied up into a low ponytail. He had a soft face, barely a scratch on him, as he looked up to meet Haruto’s eyes. Then, he smiled and waved.
Haruto blinked and quickly averted his gaze back down to his beer. Something in his chest thumped and he inwardly cursed the organ for feeling such things.
“Win big, Kazuha!” Beidou shouted over the crowd. “I’m bettin’ big on ya!”
“I promise to not disappoint!” Kazuha yelled back.
Haruto took another swig of his beer, watching as Kazuha shoved the helmet onto his head. The helmet itself was white, but it looked to be painted with floating maple leaves in light orange. Then, Kazuha opened the door and got into his car. A timer on the board showed the count down. Three minutes left.
Haruto watched as all the other drivers walked from the crowd and entered their vehicles. The sound of engines coming to life in loud rumbles filled the air as the crowd around him started to feel tighter. The closer to see the start of the race, one might think. But Haruto felt claustrophobic in the increasing crowd and found himself squeezed next to Beidou. She grinned down at him.
She said something, but Haruto couldn’t hear her over the loud rumbling of cars on the race track. They were all pressing the gas in anticipation, running the engine to show off the power it had. Haruto was pushed to the gate blocking the track with Beidou behind him as a shield. Itto was holding Gorou up on his shoulders to see.
Three…
Two…
One…
GO!
The squeal of tires and the burn of gasoline filled the air in a musty smell. Kicking up as much dust as possible, the eight cars sped off in their own efforts to be first. Haruto watched in amazement. They were all so loud, how could the cops not hear this?
His gaze flicked up to the screen where he watched the live footage of the race. Where the hell were these cameras that were giving live feed? It looked as though number 36 and number 22 were battling for second place, while Kazuha shot forward into first.
The race itself was four laps, so by the time they reached the finish line for the first time, Haruto’s hair whipped with the force of the wind following them. He almost dropped his beer from the sudden speed. Behind him, Beidou laughed excitedly. Kazuha was still in first place.
The second and third laps were the same. The cars were racing around corners, some were even getting daring and trying to take out others by side swiping them. The second and third place cars were attempting to gain on Kazuha and they would have succeeded if they had more track to race.
Kazuha was the first to cross the finish line, following numbers 36 and 22. Some people cheered excitedly, Beidou and Itto included, for winning the bet. Others weren’t so happy with the results. Haruto was smiling, though. His couple hundred thousand yen doubled. Although being the son of the Prime Minister, he didn’t need the money. It was the thrill of winning that edged his heart.
All the cars slowed to a stop with Kazuha at the front. Packages of bills were deposited into the cars with winnings. First, second, and third place. The others weren’t so lucky.
Beidou wrapped an arm around Haruto’s shoulders and started to drag him onto the race track. With most of the cars moved off to go home for the night, the three winners still had a bit of partying to do.
She was dragging him right to Kazuha’s car. Kazuha got out, pulling off his helmet. His hair fell at his shoulders, out of the ponytail. His face was red and sweaty, but there was a bright smile on his face as Beidou, Itto, and Gorou came to congratulate him. Haruto all but stared at the man.
“Nice going, Kazuha!” Beidou exclaimed.
“That was amazing!” Gorou said as he slipped from Itto’s shoulders.
“I knew the baby would hold up with a new transmission!” Itto patted Kazuha on the shoulders. “You just gotta listen to me! I know cars!”
Kazuha laughed. “Yes, yes. I listened, didn’t I?” And then his attention turned on Haruto. “And who is this?”
“...Haruto.”
An interested look pooled in Kazuha’s soft hazel-red eyes. “Kaedehara Kazuha.” While one hand held his helmet, Kazuha pulled off one of his gloves with his teeth. Haruto kept his face plain as he watched, but his stomach was doing flips at the action. Kazuha then reached out a hand. Haruto took it. “Nice to meet you.”
“Yeah, you too.” Their hands pulled apart.
“Did you enjoy the race?” Kazuha asked as he pulled the other glove from his hand. Why didn’t he just do that in the first place? He didn’t need to be all hot doing it the first time.
“I’ve never seen anything like it.” Haruto responded.
Kazuha’s smile beamed. “I’m glad I was able to be part of your first one, then.”
Haruto practically glared at the growing smile. Why was he so happy? “Do the cops ever show up to these things?”
“Not that I know of, no. I do know that the Kamisato family has good relations with the law enforcement in the area, so I believe that is their influence. The chances of us getting in trouble are slim.”
“I knew the cops were being paid off…” Haruto muttered. The conversation with Kazuha was getting more and more irritating. Why did it sound like he was listening to an audiobook of a poem? With the way Kazuha spoke, Haruto guessed he was in the wrong century. But here he was, driving a sports car way over the speed limit to win a race that was most definitely illegal.
Kazuha brought his finger up to his lips with a sly smile. “Don’t tell.”
“Like it’s a secret.” Haruto rolled his eyes.
With a shrug, Kazuha said, “Just do not speak of it outside of the race itself.”
“I know that.” Defiant, Haruto crossed his arms.
“Good. Are you new in town? I haven’t seen you around before.” Kazuha leaned against the door of his car. His helmet rested against his hip.
Haruto bit his lip. “Not… exactly.”
Kazuha’s smile turned sly again. “Then how did someone as beautiful as you find their way to this part of town?”
Haruto’s face heated up. “ What? ” He held himself back from shouting, but it didn’t matter with the noise of the party around them.
“My apologies,” Kazuha smirked. “I should not have been so forward.”
“I was getting coffee …” Haruto hissed.
“At two in the morning?”
“It’s a routine!” The longer this situation dragged on, the redder Haruto’s face got.
“Mm… I see. Well, I hope you come to the next one. I’d love to see you again.”
Someone shouted for Kazuha’s attention, breaking the concentration between the two of them. Haruto took that as a chance to slip away from the conversation and into the crowd. The beer he had had since emptied into his stomach and the exhaustion of being awake for so long was finally getting to him. Haruto was able to avoid the others while slipping through the crowd and taking the usual walk back home. He tossed the empty bottle in the trash can he passed.
Walking home in the dark he was used to. The boiling pit in his stomach as he thought over the conversation with Kaedehara Kazuha was making his mind do more flips than his stomach. Haruto didn’t like being called beautiful . He wasn’t beautiful, not in the slightest. He didn’t look like his mother. He was a boy , simple as that. Though, the trouble he had caused his mother when he finally came out as transgender to the public had sent her near spiraling. Perhaps it was a form of rebellion, rejecting the biological sex he had in the beginning.
He wasn’t Aunt Mikoto, no matter how much she wanted him to be. He was his own person. She could not control him.
Haruto made it into his room as his digital clock struck three in the morning. He flopped onto his bed and closed his eyes.
Even without the helpful hand of caffeine, he was able to sleep.