𝙎𝙋𝙀𝙀𝘿 - 𝙃𝘼𝙉 𝙇𝙐𝙀

04.

ariana sighed walking into the backroom where takashi was. he looked through his eyelashes at her, a smirk forming on his face. he gestured at the people sitting around the table, them quickly getting up and leaving. marimoto handing ariana a beer, before sitting back down.

the door opened wide revealing a frustrated neela. marimoto repeated his actions, offering neela a beer, her denying it. ariana sat next to morimoto, in front of takashi. neela reluctantly walked over to takashi, taking a seat on his lap.

-"are you here to play, ari? i bet you'll do good." takashi said. ariana visited takashi every two weeks. every two week he said the same thing. he lived to tease her, and she normally didn't have enough energy to tease back. today wasn't any different.

-"takashi, no games." ariana pleaded. takashi looked at morimoto before giving neela his attention. he kissed her, pulling on her bottom lip. she kissed back, cutting the kiss short. he patted her hips before standing up.

-"come on." ariana walked towards takashi, he waited until she reached him, wrapping his arm around her shoulder. she could smell his cologne; it weirdly reminded her of her father's. it was too strong.

ariana and takashi walked into the basement of the storage room. ariana looked at the spider webs decorating the ceiling. the room was humid, and dirty, it was sketchy.

-"can you hire someone to clean, this room is disgusting. it looks like someone got murder here." ariana whispered, analyzing the room. she watched her step, worried about what she might step on.

-"you're the only person who uses it for your super-secret phone calls. i'd be grateful if i was you." takashi said, handing ariana a cordless old phone. the number already typed, she just had to call. ariana looked back at takashi, then stared at the door. takashi understood, leaving the room. she knew he was standing outside the door; he always did.

ariana contemplated between calling or not. it wouldn't be the first time she didn't call, but surely her father would be waiting for it. ariana's father got imprisoned doing jobs for yakuza. she couldn't really blame her friend's family because he always volunteered to do them. obsessed with leaving a legacy, money, for his daughter. or so he said. 

two months after he got sent to prison his uncle, kamata, got one of his workers to sneak a phone in for her father. every two weeks, for two minutes, ariana could talk to her father. at the beginning she would count the days excitedly. after a while, she stopped caring. she blamed her father for not being part of her life. for not making the right decisions and leaving her alone with her mother. no money, no job, no father. no legacy.

ariana pressed the call button, hopping he'd pick up quickly so she wouldn't have time to regret calling, and hang up on him. she pressed the phone to her ear, playing with her hair. her heart stopped as the other line opened, her heart sunk to the floor.

a few seconds of silence.

-"ari, ari?" her father called, it sounded staticky and loud. she distanced the phone from her ear. sighing before bringing it to her ear again.

-"hey, dad." ariana whispered.

-"how are you, baby? i waited for your call the last time but it never rang. it was probably some mistake, i don't have the best signal and shit, down here. i heard the racing scene is good, are you racing? you getting money? how's your mother?" ariana got overwhelmed by the questions, taking her time before answering.

-"i'm good, mom's good." ariana said.

-"and how about money, sweatheart? are you racing?" his dad repeated.

-"i'm not racing right now, the car is in the workshop. i haven't raced in a while." ariana said waiting for her father's disappointment.

-"well, well, you should. we need the money. you know? for when i get out? you have to race-" the line got disconnected. ariana looked at the phone, she hated that fact that she wasted her time talking to someone who didn't ever care about her. just about the money she was making, it was always like that.  she put the phone down on a moldy barrel.

regardless, she felt as if she couldn't disappoint. she had the weight of her father and her mother on her shoulders. she couldn't bear the thought of being a failure. no matter how ridiculous her father's intentions were.

she opened the door, takashi waiting on the other side. she looked disappointed; her eyes never even met his. he didn't bother saying anything, not wanting to make the situation worse. she walked back to the storage room, picking up her beer and walking out of the room.

neela looked back at takashi. he simply opened the door for her, watching her run to her best friend.

ariana stood outside the arcade, where han's car was parked before.

-"are you alright?" neela asked, holding her arm. 

-"am i alright?" ariana repeating while laughing, tears threating to spill. she took a deep breath, before turning to look at neela chuckling.

-"yeah, i'm fine. i just hate how he can be ocean's away, behind prison bars yet have enough power to control me. to control what i do." ariana said looking at the floor, she felt pathetic.

-"you're stronger than him, you're better than him. don't let him get to you, ari." neela said, holding her friend's hand.

-"let's go, yeah? we can make something to eat at my place." neela said trying to convince ariana, ariana giving in. they walked past the public phone sean was at a few hours ago, getting into neela's car. spending off into her house.

...

ariana spent the next few days to herself, it wasn't uncommon of her after speaking with her father. she didn't have the energy to speak to people, the thoughts in her head often got too loud. she wasn't okay. so, she did was she knew best. she immersed herself into her car. she opted for taking it home, working at her garage. but her mother wouldn't allow it. plus, she'd have more accessibility to the tools in han's garage.

she spent a few nights there, working until midnight on her car. typically, han would be there to help her past the time. he'd hand her the tools while giving his unsolicited input on her car. him being one of the only people who knew about her father. but he wasn't there, she didn't see him once. the only explanation for that was, sean. han was too busy with sean. and she understood.

it was noon, ariana laid on her skateboard underneath her car. trying her best not to get the dripping oil on her mouth. she focused on the leak. not noticing the two people standing beside the door. one of them banging on her car to get her attention.

-"get your dirty ass hands of my car, i just washed it yesterday." ariana said rolling out of the car, an annoyed look at her face. it softened once she realized it was han, but just for a moment.

-"what?" ariana asked, she tried no to sound mad.

-"i haven't seen you lately. where you've been?" han asked. partially because he did want to know. but because he wanted to know if ariana had talked with her father. without having to directly ask her, and possibly get her upset.

-"well, you've been busy with the cowboy. it's not really my fault." ariana said attempting to roll back under the car, han's foot stopping the skateboard. hearing her sigh.

-"i was hoping you were hungry; we can get that mac and cheese you like?" han tried his best to be nice to the girl. all though that taking care of people wasn't really his forte.

-"i'm not." ariana said sternly.

-"okay. i'm going to take sean drifting, you want to come with. we can judge him together." han said, smiling at the girl.

-"and watch him total another car, no thanks. besides, i'm busy." ariana said rolling back under her car. sean looked at han, waiting for what he was going to say next.

-"okay. suit yourself." han said, taking his car keys out of his pocket. following sean into the car.