Gangster Cinderella

Chapter Thirty Eight: Comfortable Nostalgia

"Freak!" A boy shouts as he throws dirt at a girl with light pink hair.

I watch from atop the hill I had been practicing on; my father had brought me near a riverbed to practice dirt biking when I came across this scene.

"That little asshole..." my father curses under his breath.

Before anyone could even move, I go full speed towards the boy and grab him by the shirt. I use the speed and power of the bike to drag him along the dirt. After I release him I stop my dirt bike short of hitting him.

"Get out of here before I hit you with my bike." I say calmly. The little boy scrambles to his feet crying as he runs away. I take off my helmet and walk over to the stunned girl, "Are you ok?"

"Yeah...but you were so incredibly fast! How did you get here so quickly?!" She marvels.

"Because I'm gonna be the fastest racer in Japan!" I proudly declare to her.

"Chieko!" My dad shouts before running after me. "While I'm proud that you stood up to that bully, you shouldn't drag people on your bike! You could've seriously injured him or yourself, please don't ever do that again."

I sulk and look away from his piercing gaze, "Ok..."

My dad turns his attention to the little girl, "Hey, do you know where your mommy or daddy is?"

"Mine aren't around...but my brother is coming back with his friend."

"Well, do you mind if we wait with you?"

"I guess that's fine...my name is Senju Akashi."

I smile brightly at her, "And I'm Chieko Hori."

I didn't know it at that time but that was the beginning of our long friendship.

🏠🏠🏠🏍🏠🏠🏠

I finally get home and park my motorcycle inside the garage...perhaps my last time doing so for a long time. I walk inside to find Senju sitting on the couch.

She immediately notices my presence and calls out to me, "Chieko-chan, hurry up Inuyasha just started." She pats the seat next to her; I can't help but smile before walking over to sit next to her. I rest my head on her shoulder. "So how was seeing your mom? She didn't do anything, right?"

"Ya know Senju-chan, you're a good girl."

"Huh? What's with that all of a sudden?" She asks.

"It's just you're a very pure-hearted individual and I always liked that about you." I shut my eyes for a moment, "Which is why I'm going to miss living with you and Takeomi."

Senju pulls away from me, "What do you mean? You're going back to the step sow...no...why're you going to your mother?"

"I have no choice in the matter...I need her support for this lawsuit. So I have to live with her for a while to prove that she's a more capable guardian than Kita." I look at her and notice how troubled she looks. I grab her hand, "You know how much those bikes mean to me, and if staying with a stranger is how I get them back...then I'll do it. I just can't lose him again."

Her hand grips mine back, "Ok...I understand. But if that bitch ditches you again I'm gonna hunt her down and mess her up." I laugh a little at this, "I'm serious!" 

"I know, that's what I like best about you Senju-chan."

Her cheeks turn a bright red, "Weirdo."

🏠🏠🏠🏍🏠🏠🏠

The following morning I explain the situation to Takeomi and he seemed rather chill with it. I think he must have already known the lengths that I am willing to go through to keep those motorcycles. So all that leaves is calling my mom...and yet that somehow feels even more stressful than telling everyone that I'm moving out.

"Why're you stressing out over a phone call?" Senju asks me as we walk to school.

"I don't know...I think it's just the circumstances surrounding us. Like I'm scared she's going to back out and leave me with nothing."

"Yeah I can't exactly blame ya for feeling that way. But you have to try, you've come this far." She gives me an encouraging look.

"You're right, I need to finish this out. I'm going to call her real quick. Don't say anything."

Senju gives me a pout, "I'm not that immature."

I call my mother's phone for the first time and I find myself waiting in anticipation. Finally the phone picks up, "Hello?"

"Hi it's Chieko calling, I just wanted to say that I'm ready to move in whenever."

"That's great, I'll set up a moving truck to come and take your things over to my place this weekend."

I gulp my still present anxiety down, "Ok, sounds good. I suppose I'll see you then."

"Ok...have a good day at school."

"Yes thank you." I answer awkwardly before pressing the end call button.

"Wow that's rare." My friend comments.

"What's rare?"

"I rarely see you get that flustered or intimidated by someone. She's not being mean to you or anything, right?"

"No, it's just I get anxious about her. I want to believe she's going to help me, but given the fact that she abandoned me at birth I can't help questioning her motives."

"That's good. You shouldn't let your guard down, you might get hurt if you have too much faith in someone." Senju says with vagueness clouding her words.

I can't help but wonder if she was referring to Sanzu when she said that.

🏠🏠🏠🚬🏠🏠🏠

By the following Sunday I'm moved into my mother's house. It's a modest basic house with only the necessities of a middle class Japanese family. Halfway through moving, I find myself in need of a smoke. I open up my window and light a cigarette and blow the smoke outside. The door behind me suddenly opens to reveal my mom holding her own pack of cigarettes and a glass of whiskey on the rocks.

"Smelled the smoke and figured I'd join you." She says before pulling a chair near me.

"I suppose I don't mind...I've been meaning to ask, what exactly is it that you do?"

"I'm a translator for my company when they do business internationally."

"Heh, that's the total opposite of dad. He couldn't translate anything to save his life. I had to translate most of the languages for him when we went abroad for a race."

"Yeah that sounds like him...I had to tutor him when we were in school together. By the way...how did you meet your boyfriend?"

"Weirdly enough, tutoring. But originally I suppose we popped up on each other's radar after we raced each other. But for a while he didn't know it was me who won against him."

Well into the night my mother and I catch up on each other's lives. The smell of cigarettes and the cold autumn wind that night making us comfortable with one another.