Gangster Cinderella

Chapter Sixteen: Racing for a Dream

Mikey parks in front of the storage unit that holds my dad's motorcycles. I step off and run quickly towards the unit, Mikey follows behind me.

I take out my keys, "Are you ready to see something cool?"

He smiles boyishly at me, "Sure!"

I open the unit and show off my father's collection, "So...what do you think?"

"Oh my god...these are all yours?!" He says in astonishment at the prestigious bike collection.

"Yeah...but I wish dad could've been here to give them to me himself..."

He wraps his arm around my shoulders, "I kind of wish my brother was here. He would've loved just looking at these motorcycles. He always talked about wanting to ride the Bimoto YB8 Furano."

"How old was he?"

"Twenty three. What about your dad?"

"Twenty nine, he said that racing was a calling that had to be heeded by the few who could hear it. For a long time I wanted to ignore that calling. It felt so painful being at the racetracks without him...it almost felt empty without him there. But then this weird boy took me on a ride to a temple and talked about carrying on his brother's spirit. It made me want to face the track again...so thank you." I look at him straight in the eyes; his eyes warm as he smiles and places a kiss on my forehead.

"I'm pretty sure you would've found your way back to the tracks...but I'm glad if I pushed you in that direction faster."

"Wanna take the Bimoto out for a spin?" I deviously grin at him.

"We can?!" He asks me excitedly; practically bouncing about.

"Yeah, bring your bike in here so no one messes with it." I tell him as I take the Bimoto out of the storage unit.

As he's parking his motorcycle inside of the unit, his eyes fall upon my silver Yamaha, "Ah, I remember this one...this was the bike you rode when I fell in love with you."

I blush at his words, "Y-you're so weird."

"It's true. It was love at first sight."

"Except when you had to come to me with your homework." I tease him.

"Well...that was before I saw your true self." 

"My true self?" I ask as I lock up the unit.

"Yeah...your true self shone through that night we raced. You are most yourself when you're racing."

I smile warmly at his kind words before I toss him a helmet, "It's fine if you don't wear a helmet on your own bike, but at least wear one when I'm driving."

His eyebrows quirk up before resigning to a look of contentment, "Yes, m'am." 

🌆🌆🌆🏍🌆🌆🌆

We ride all around Tokyo, only stopping whenever Mikey saw a Taiyaki stand on the streets. When we got tired, we stop at park and sit down to eat some of the Taiyaki that Mikey bought.

"I think we bought one from each Taiyaki stand in Tokyo..." I remark taking one of the fish shaped deserts.

"We should rank them, that way we know which stand is the best." Mikey suggests.

"I know which one sucked...this one is burnt on the bottom." I pout while still eating it.

"...then why're you still eating it?" Mikey deadpans.

"Because I am very against the idea of wasting food. I will finish it...but I will not enjoy it." I say as I force the partially burnt desert down.

"And you say I'm weird..."

"Oh hush. You're the one who bought a disgusting amount of Taiyaki."

"There is no such thing as a disgusting amount of Taiyaki. If anything, this is a godly amount." He says gesturing to his backpack filled to the brim with Taiyaki. He taps his chin before asking, "If you could fill up a backpack with all of your favorite food, what would it be?"

"Spicy curry bread." I quickly answer.

"Masochist." He teases me.

"Excuse you!" I playfully whack him on the head, "I'm sorry I don't have the taste of a child."

"I can't do spicy foods." He pouts, "I don't get why anyone would enjoy burning their mouth."

"I like sweets too, but spicy hits a certain spot for me."

"Yeah it's called hell Chieko." He replies flatly.

I pinch his cheek lightly, "You're lucky I love you or else I would've ditched you here without a ride."

He smiles warmly at me, "That I am."

I rest my head on his shoulder, "So when should we head back to get your bike?"

He checks his phone for the time, "Probably right now."

We put away the snacks and get our helmets on; and within minutes we are riding freely down the road.

🌃🌃🌃⛩🌃🌃🌃

I arrive at the Musashi Shrine just in time; Mikey is back on his own bike and I beat him there by a couple minutes so I decide to go hang out with Draken and Takemitchy.

"Where's Mikey?" Draken asks.

"We raced over here but I lost him at a red light." I tell him.

"Damn you're ruthless." He says with laughter in his voice.

"I ain't losing to anyone yet." I tell him.

He looks over at my bike, "Is that...really the Bimoto YB8 Furano?"

"Yeah, I decided to take another one of my old man's bikes for a spin."

"They were only in production for such a short amount of time...how did he get his hands on it?"

"Oh my dad did this weird thing where he liked to buy the fastest recorded bikes in manufacturing. He had the money and connections to do it."

"Lucky bastard..." Draken groans.

"How fast is it?" Takemitchy asks me.

"Two-hundred seventy-seven kilometers per hour. It's not as fast as the Suzuki first gen since that baby can go up to three-hundred and twelve kilometers per hour."

"Fuck! And you're not scared of riding so fast?" Takemitchy asks me.

"Nope. If I can't ride fast then what is the point in riding at all?"

Before anyone could reply, Mikey finally showed up. He gets off his motorcycle and runs over to me to slap my ass.

He whispers in my ear, "That was for leaving me behind."

"Don't be a slowpoke next time~" I tease him.

"You're lucky I love you." He says before lightly pecking my neck.

I smirk and say, "That I am~ So when're we gonna head out?"

"Soon, we're just waiting on Baji and Matsuno."

And almost as though he summoned the devil himself, the pair shows up.