The Tiger And A Thousand Winters in That Place

The North-East Wind is Seeping Through the Cracks

'Hey, shortstack! Nice bike!' Someone sneered. Snickers filled the air like a laugh track.

Mitsuya stopped his motorcycle with a sigh, turning to look at me in the passenger's seat with an exasperated look. I offered back the same weary grimace as the sound of tires screeching to a halt filled my ears.

Mikey stopped his Moped right next to us, hopping off so fast that I barely had time to catch it before it crashed into Mitsuya's motorcycle. I pushed it away and let it crash on the ground instead.

'Here we go again.' Mitsuya muttered under his breath, looking up to sky as if it would tell him where he'd gone wrong in life.

Spoiler alert, it didn't.

Mikey turned around to saunter over to the delinquent. I didn't have to see his face to know he was wearing a bright, friendly smile.

Draken barely tilted his head to watch the fight. I was too busy with my phone to really look, but I didn't want to anyways. The sound of pained grunts and tumbling told me all I needed to know about what had happened to those guys.

'Let's go.' Baji drawled out with a yawn, slumping on his motorcycle.

'Mikey, can you just get a new bike already?' Pah chin complained loudly, 'subtly' jerking a hand towards the glossy finish on his Kawasaki ZX-14. Or at least that's what I assumed he was doing. Pah chin was wearing an Aloha shirt today, which was typical dumb Pah chin. The neon pink burned into my eyes every time I looked at him, so I just decided not to.

'No. This is my baby.' Mikey said stubbornly. Even Draken winced at that.

I drummed my foot impatiently against Mitsuya's bike, punching the keys of my flip phone aggressively. Mitsuya took one look at me and decided he wasn't going to ask.

Smart move, really. Couple fights were always the worst.

'Can Kazutora get his ass here any faster?' Baji interrupted with a scowl. 'Waiting for Mikey to catch up every time we ride sucks ass. Let's go spar at Mikey's dojo.'

'Sure.' Mikey grinned, hopping back on his Moped. 'Dinner's almost ready.'

A chorus of grumbles and grunts of agreement resounded from the group.

Right on cue, a familiar, deafening screech announced Kazutora's presence.

'You're late.' I snapped instantly, phone slamming shut as I looked up.

I paused and did a double take before I cracked a smile.

Whatever remained of my anger was promptly drowned out by Baji, laughing his ass off.

'Holy hell..!' One look sent Draken and Mikey careening into a fit. Mitsuya slammed a fist into his bike, laughter devolving into hiccups. Even I snickered a bit, even though I hid it behind Mitsuya's back.

'What?' Pah chin spoke up, sounding a bit defensive.

'That's..!' Mikey slapped Draken's back through a guffaw.

'..the stupidest shirt I've ever seen!!' Draken smacked Mikey right back as the two of them laughed so hard they looked like they were going to cough up blood.

I mentioned before that Pah chin was wearing a bright, neon pink shirt, right? To be more specific, it was a neon pink Aloha shirt with all sorts of flamingoes on it. And it's neon yellow twin was sitting right under Kazutora's usual baggy jacket.

'Cool shirt..!' Baji choked out, clutching his stomach. 'From now on, you're the delinquent duo..! Hey, delinquent du-!'

Kazutora threw a fist at Baji's head, which was countered easily by Baji's rock hard forehead. Pah chin kept whimpering '..but.. it was so cool in the magazine..' in the background.