Roadkill - catnipz

Chapter 2 - Blood slick soles

"Haerin, hey," Sakura's voice crackles through the receiver. "How'd it go, are you alright?"

"Mmh," is Haerin's reply, mouth half full with a slice of pizza that she clings between her teeth as she shuts the door of the fridge with her foot. Taking the pizza out of her mouth, she munches on it as she walks in the direction of Sakura's bedroom. "It was... so much better than I expected," she hears the disbelief in her own tone, still not quite able to believe what had happened.

"Oh? In what way?"

"I met Minji, unnie,"

There's silence, on the other end of the line, for perhaps a moment or two, and Haerin's just about to ask her if she's still there before she hears Sakura speak up again.

"Kim Minji," Sakura doesn't sound like she quite believes it either.

Haerin plops herself down on Sakura's bed, taking another bite of her cold pizza and nodding, even if Sakura can't even see her. "Kim Minji," she confirms. "She was at the race, taking part. Did we know that she does that?"

Sakura scoffs down the other end of the line, aporetic, and Haerin can imagine the look on her face. "No, I-" she cuts herself off, taking in a breath, sounding like she's trying to calm herself down. "Just... okay, just, start from the beginning. Tell me everything,"

So Haerin does. She sits there for what must be an hour, telling Sakura just about everything Minji had to offer her; how she'd given her the cap with the intention of talking to her afterwards, how she'd invited Haerin along for drinks in the peculiarly lavish bar, how she'd acted, what she'd said.

"So I just told her straight, I didn't see any point in beating around the bush. I said, I want in ,"

"And she let you? Just like that?"

"Hm? Oh, no," Haerin shakes her head to herself. "Not that easy. She's definitely not as soft as that. She wants me to meet her tomorrow night, for some like... I don't know. Trial? Initiation? She still doesn't know me very well, and vice versa. She didn't specify what it was going to be but..." she smiles dryly to herself. "I suppose I've got to do it, don't I? I don't remember anything about the other girl having to do something like this, did she have to do anything in particular to be accepted?"

Sakura takes in a slow breath before replying, contemplative. "No..." she responds slowly, and then "No," again, more sure this time. "No, it took her a while. She got to know one of the associates, then wormed her way in through that. Through trust. I don't imagine they have any sort of formal trialing, this must just be something that Minji's come up with on the spot," she pauses, though Haerin can tell she's still thinking, so she keeps silent, waiting for Sakura's thoughts to catch up to her. "If she's willing to give you a chance to earn her trust so early on, and by the way you said she acted around you..." she lets out a short breath. "There's got to be more to her than that. You're a charmer, Haerin, I'll give you that, but..."

"No, yeah, I get you," Haerin agrees. "There's definitely more to her than what I just saw on the surface tonight, like the tip of the iceberg. I'll have to keep my guard up,"

"Hell yeah you will," Sakura says, a little deflated. She sounds tired. "This... trial, or whatever. It'll most likely be a race, Haerin. I mean what else could it be?"

Haerin presses her lips together, pushing her hair back from her forehead. "I thought about that," she admits. "I was hoping I was missing something and that you'd say something so obvious and I'd be like oh, of course! Of course it'd be that and not a race , but," she rubs at her face with her hands, letting out a soft exclamation. "It's more than likely going to be a race, isn't it? Or even if I'm not the one racing, something to do with racing,"