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Nishimura Riki was a stubborn kid, and stubborn kids don’t give up easily. Maybe it was something in his brain, something that he wasn’t aware of, but something made his desire to find a place to exist so strong. He obviously did exist, he lived and he breathed everyday— but Riki didn’t feel like he was really existing.
Riki was a stubborn kid. Stubborn in the fact that he couldn’t give up on finding a home in someone. Perhaps the reason Riki aimlessly searched for a family everyday was because he had never known what having a family felt like. Sometimes, he wondered if it would be worth it to find a family, because doesn’t everyone eventually leave in the end?
When he was born into a struggling home of five in Japan, he never would have expected to end up orphaned, his young brain not even comprehending the concept of abandonment. But now, as he walked through the streets of Las Vegas late at night, he couldn’t help but inwardly curse his missing parental figures.
—
Riki worked at a mall kiosk, meaning that all day he would attempt to hand out pamphlets to strangers, who would then pointedly walk past him. Leaving him, again, all alone.
Was it pathetic? The fact that he spent every morning and night all alone? Riki was certain it was.
—
Maybe that’s why he was so pulled towards the group of people that night. People in leather coats gathered around intricately painted cars. Riki found himself drawn to one car in particular, so, with stars in his eyes, he approached it.
Tentatively, he reached his hand out to touch the purple car. It was smaller than the others that were parked in the lot, however it was no less impressive, and it was decorated boldly with large, bubbly orange letters, ‘LHS’ sprawled across the side.
“Hey.” Riki didn’t notice the approaching figure. “Hey, kid?” Riki didn’t realize that he was being addressed at all, too occupied as he tried to drink in all the details of the car, he had only ever seen racing vehicles like this online. So, of course, he was startled as a hand was firmly placed on his shoulder.
“Look kid, this is my car. I don’t like having strangers touch it.” Riki began to apologize profusely, his eyes widened as he took in the man before him. Red hair with a cap pulled over it, big brown eyes that were narrowed sternly at him, a white tank top, black cargo pants, and, seemingly to match his car, a white, black, and purple leather jacket.
The man chuckled at him, “it’s not a big deal, kid. Chill out,” he gave Riki a once over, “I’ve never seen you around here?” Riki laughed nervously, “Uhm. No. I- I don’t know why I’m here.” The man raised an eyebrow at him, before sticking out his hand, “The names Heeseung, Heeseung Lee. I organized this event.” He paused before continuing, “Are you here to watch?-- betting is happening over there, or if you’re here to sign up for next weekend's race, you can go talk to Sunghoon,” Heeseung pointed to a man not too far from them, who was talking animatedly with another racer.
Riki’s eyes flitted around nervously, he was beginning to realize that he stuck out like a sore thumb among the obviously well acquainted group of people, “I– uh– well I don’t have a car, so–” he reddened, “I’ll just get going..” As Riki turned to leave, a hand gently gripped his wrist, “Kid.” Surprisingly, Heeseung still wanted to talk to him? “..Yes?” Riki turned around to look again at the man, who seemed to be caught between deciding what to actually say to him. “Look, obviously you don’t know anything about racing, but don’t go telling any authorities about this.” Riki cocked his head, and Heeseung sighed, “It’s illegal.”
Riki hummed in realization, “Oh.” He had meant to continue, but his attention was quickly drawn to a girl who had stepped onto the hood of a nearby car, it was bigger than Heeseung’s with a sleek paint job. The girl held a microphone to her lips, before beginning to announce something.
“Next Saturday’s race will be held in this same lot, a quick loop around the area. It will be all about speed, with a bit of a quick drift,” she paused, pointing at the same man, Sunghoon, who Heeseung had said was in charge of sign-ups, “Register with Sunghoon, and the time is the same as it always is… and last but not least, the winner’s prize will be one grand!” As she finished, she hopped off the hood of the car and the music started up again.
Riki faced Heeseung again, “there’s money involved–?” he asked. Heeseung nodded. It was true that Riki didn’t know anything about racing, but he sure as hell needed money. He always needed money. “How do I– how does someone start racing?” Heeseung’s raised an eyebrow at him, “You don’t seem the type, kid.” Riki shrugged, and Heeseung chuckled, “Look,” he reached into his jacket, pulling out a small pink card with a cartoony dog drawn on it, “I don’t usually hand out our info, but this is the information of the garage I run. If you’re interested in racing, we can help you figure out the basics.”
And then, without even offering him a second glance, Heeseung Lee walked away from Riki. Riki’s jaw hung open, face painted with shock. Could he become a racer? What would that even imply for him? Did that mean he, too, would be a part of this crowd of people?
—
The next day, Riki attempted to block out the idea from his brain. After sleeping on it, he had decided that the risk simply couldn’t be worth it, right? I mean, street racing was illegal in Nevada.
However, he was also extremely late on his payments for his apartment, minimum wage apparently not enough to cover for the expenses of living in the city. So, he found himself hailing a taxi, and asking to be driven to the location on the card that Heeseung had supplied him with.
The card seemed inviting, and Heeseung had seemed nice enough. However to Riki, anyone who didn’t immediately shun or ignore him always seemed nice enough. He glanced at the card in his palm, the little dog seemed to wink up at him, the words scrawled across it in an obnoxious cursive print read, “EN- Repairs and Paint”.
—
When Riki stepped out of the taxi, he found himself second guessing his decision, because well, he truly knew nothing about street racing culture, cars, or even how to drive. So truly, what the hell was he even doing there?
‘There’ being a squatty little building with four garage doors and 6 cars parked outside. Riki examined the building, it was an obnoxious shade of pink, similar to the card he had been given, the neon sign hung at the entrance read “EN-”, and, despite the flashy outward appearance, it seemed well worn and certainly not glamorous.
If you were to ask Riki to describe it, he would say that the garage appeared quite average.
After a while of steeling his nerves, Riki walked through the entrance, where he was immediately greeted by a boy who appeared to be around his age. He had soft, pink hair, and was so, so pretty. “Hi! Welcome to EN- Repairs and Paint,” the boy smiled at Riki, “What can I help you with today?”
Just like that, Riki lost all of the confidence that he had in himself, and the boy hadn’t even done anything offensive– on the contrary, he was so sweet and bubbly that Riki had been left surprised. Unfortunately though, Riki had not in any way been expecting anyone but Heeseung to welcome him, and now he found himself unsure of what to say he was there for, because it certainly wasn’t repairs. For fucks sake, he didn’t even have a car!
After an awkwardly long amount of time, Riki replied uncertainly, “Well.. my name is Riki.. and uh, yesterday I met someone named Heeseung, and he said that I could come here to learn about cars..?” Internally, Riki wanted to groan. He sounded so unbelievably stupid. And now, the pretty boy was tilting his head at him.
“Huh.” The boy said. “Well, Heeseungs in the garage, I’ll lead you to him.” Riki’s face lit up, glad that the man was actually there. The boy silently led Riki into the main garage, where 3 other boys were gathered around a table snacking on chips. As Riki looked around, he spotted Heeseung and another boy, who had fluffy blonde hair, playing games on a couch in the corner. To Riki, they looked so comfortable. Comfortable together the way a family should be, and he immediately felt as if was encroaching on them.
“Heeseung hyung!” the boy with the pink hair called, the older boy didn’t look up from his game, “What’s up Sunoo?” The boy, Sunoo, grinned, “Some kids here for you– said you were gonna teach him about cars or something?” Heeseung looked up for a moment, before turning to the blonde boy next to him, “One sec Won,” and pausing the game.
He walked over towards Riki, “I wasn’t actually expecting you to show up, kid.” Riki chuckled nervously “oh– well-,” the boy interrupted him, “it’s fine though.”
Riki stood awkwardly, unsure of what to say. “Do you know anything about cars?” Heeseung asked, “No, not really.. I mean, I’ve watched shows and stuff but I don’t really know how to race–” he was cut off by a laugh.
“You’re lucky that we’re desperate for a replacement driver. C’mon, follow me. I’ll show you some tricks, and you can get to know the guys better.”
Riki brightened at that, the opportunity to know people outside of work? Nevermind his doubts, for now he was just excited that somebody was offering him an entrance to their life, and, if he did well, it would reward him with a bit of money? What could be better than that?