There really wasn’t anything smart about me. I’m a completely average person from every angle. I can become competent at most things, but I can never become a master at a high level. I don’t have the perseverance, drive, or ambition to do so.
A life of mediocrity is the life I live. When swimming in a shallow pool, I may appear as if I’m above the rest, but that’s all an illusion set by the bar being set so low. The second I step out of that shallow pool into the deep ocean outside of it, my incompetence becomes all but too obvious.
Try as I may to hide it, my incompetent side always rears its head at some point.
“If you’re an idiot and passed the knowledge test on your first try, what does that make me?”
“Someone in a coma?”
“Do I look like a vegetable to you?”
I looked her up and down seriously before I responded, “No you don’t, I like vegetables.”
“Hey! What’s that supposed to mean!”
“I don’t like you, duh.”
“You… you’re so irritating.”
“I get that a lot.”
“Haaaaah.” She shook her head and let out an exhausted sigh before she sped up and put some distance between us.
When the next exercise came around, at long last, we were finally permitted to ride the motorcycle normally.
We rode it from one end of the track to the next with our feet up in first gear at about ten to twenty kilometers per hour. When the wind lightly blew against my chest for the first time while riding it normally, I felt exhilarated.
After going back and forth we transitioned into moving from cone to cone in a square around the outside of the track. It was baby steps.
Next was shifting into second gear and stopping.
When we got the hang of that we practiced maneuvering on the motorcycle by weaving in and out between cones.
Getting accustomed to driving in second gear came after that. We maintained second gear the entire time while rounding the track.
The exercise after that was what they called pressing to lean. Rather than turning the handlebars, you could make turns by leaning your weight to one side while applying a counterforce to the handlebars to keep the wheels straight.
Honestly, it was a bit scary but once you got the hang of it, it was unexpectedly fun.
Braking as fast as possible after picking up speed was the last exercise before we took a lunch break.
During lunch, I headed to the parking lot in front of the building and took a seat on the bench. My body was pretty sore already. I hadn’t expected this little training course to be so physically demanding.
I hadn’t brought anything with me to eat either.
“Haaaaaah.” Alone on the bench, I let out an exhausted sigh. I was seriously hungry now. The fast-food restaurants around here were too far on foot.
“Hey, what are you doin? Aren’t you goin to eat lunch?”
I looked over to my side and discovered the wannabe gang leader girl on her way out.
“I didn’t bring any with me.”
“Oh. Me neither. Haaaah… if only I’d brought some money with me today.”
“Don’t you at least have a card?”
“I was excited about getting my license today after finally passing the knowledge test and forgot to bring it.”
“I’ve got money with me, but all the fast-food restaurants are too far away.”
“Huh? You don’t have a ride?”
“I’m 16, and literally got my license today right before this training course, when would I have had the time to get one?”
“Oh yeah. I forgot. Hey, how about we cut a deal?”
“What sort of deal?”
“Spot me the money and I can get some food for both of us.”
“Oh! Right, you may be a bit dumb, but you’ve at least had your learner’s permit for a while already.” She could already drive a car alone, just not a motorcycle.
“Don’t call me dumb when I’m offering to get you food.”
“I’d be the one paying for the idiot who forgot both her money and cards at home.”
“Ugh. I can’t even argue that.”
“But… it’s a shame as I rarely ever carry around cash with me. I only have my card with me and I don’t exactly trust you enough to just give you my card.”
“I see. Then how about we go together? I’ll give you a ride, and in exchange, you buy me something to eat in return.”
“Hmm… well... sure. I guess we can do that.”
“Great, let’s go then. Follow me.”
We walked through the parking lot filled with cars. However, we didn’t stop by any of the cars. When we passed by them all without any sign of her stopping, I couldn’t help but ask, “How far away did you park exactly?”
“Not too far.”
“Not too far? But we already passed all the cars.”
“We’re almost there.”
I looked in front of us but couldn’t help but feel perplexed. There weren’t any cars in front of us. Except for one of the stalls with a tarp over it, the other stalls were all vacant.
“Hey…”
“What is it?”
“That wouldn’t happen to be a super small compact car under that tarp, would it?”
“Hehe, you could say that.”
When we stopped beside the tarp she removed the tarp and revealed my worst fear hidden beneath it.
“Hey.”
“What?”
“It’s… a motorcycle,” I said with a deadpan expression on my face.
“Yeah.”
“I’m heading back.” I turned to leave, not willing to associate myself with someone about to break the law.
“Hold on man, we’re already here. Don’t be such a wimp.”
“This isn’t about being a wimp. You don’t have your license yet.”
“I’ll have it soon enough.”
“Hell no. Absolutely not. Just looking at this thing makes me feel like I’ll die if I ride on it with you.”
“Heheheh, yeah, exactly. You made fun of me a lot before, making you cry will be my payback. If you try to run now, I’ll run you over with my baby and drag you around face down on the ground by your leg all the way to the restaurant if I have to.” She said such a scary thing smiling without batting an eye.
She hopped on her bike, put the key in the ignition, and turned it on. She looked back at me with a grin, patted behind her then said, “Come on. Get on or else you’ll end up suffering more when I drag you by the leg to our destination.”
“You wouldn’t really do that, would you?”
“Would you like to gamble?”
“... no.”
I put on my helmet, reluctantly climbed on her bike behind her, and gripped the sides of the motorcycle with my hands to support my body.
“What are you doing?”
“What do you mean?”
“You’re going to fall off and die if you don’t hold on properly.”
She grabbed my hands and pulled them around her waist.
“Isn’t this a bit weird?”
“Weird? How?”
“Uh… never mind. Forget it.” She didn’t seem bothered so I kept my mouth shut.
“Is this thing even… street legal?” I had the urge to check.
“I’m glad you asked. This one is.”
“This one?”
“Yes.”
“You make it sound like there’s another one.”
“Well, the other one I have isn’t. This one kicks out about 220 horsepower with its max speed reaching 336 kilometers per hour.”
“And the one that isn’t street legal?”
“Though they both have a 998cc, liquid-cooled, 4-stroke dual overhead cam 16-valve in-line four engine, the horsepower tops out at around 310 horsepower with a max speed of 400 kilometers per hour on the other one.”
“Despite how it sounds like you’re speaking a foreign language to me… it still sounds... terrifying.”
“Hehe, you know what else? This tuned-down bike costs a pretty penny, about $33,000. The other one is about double the price. Hmph! Call me broke again after seeing this baby, I dare you.”
“Hah? But you said you were a street kid. How’d you afford this?”
“How? You sure you want to know?” A fiendish smile crept onto her face as she tilted her head up to the left and peeked back over her shoulder at me from the corner of her eye.
I had a bad feeling when the term gang leader surfaced in my mind.
“You know, I’ve killed before.”
If I wasn’t acquainted with assassins, I might have been more surprised, but I was desensitized to it.
“What, so you got them by killing someone?”
“No, if I got it through killing someone, their death would be tracked back to me. I actually got them as gifts from my gang who got them by extorting some rich dude. He offered these bikes in exchange for leaving him alone.”
“Then what’d you go and blab to me about killing before?”
Seeming annoyed by my reaction, she complained, “What’s with you? You’re supposed to look afraid when you’re told you’re riding on a motorcycle with a killer.”
I rolled my eyes and retorted, “If you’re a killer, then my girlfriend’s an assassin.”
There really wasn’t anything smart about me. I’m a completely average person from every angle. I can become competent at most things, but I can never become a master at a high level. I don’t have the perseverance, drive, or ambition to do so.
A life of mediocrity is the life I live. When swimming in a shallow pool, I may appear as if I’m above the rest, but that’s all an illusion set by the bar being set so low. The second I step out of that shallow pool into the deep ocean outside of it, my incompetence becomes all but too obvious.
Try as I may to hide it, my incompetent side always rears its head at some point.
“If you’re an idiot and passed the knowledge test on your first try, what does that make me?”
“Someone in a coma?”
“Do I look like a vegetable to you?”
I looked her up and down seriously before I responded, “No you don’t, I like vegetables.”
“Hey! What’s that supposed to mean!”
“I don’t like you, duh.”
“You… you’re so irritating.”
“I get that a lot.”
“Haaaaah.” She shook her head and let out an exhausted sigh before she sped up and put some distance between us.
When the next exercise came around, at long last, we were finally permitted to ride the motorcycle normally.
We rode it from one end of the track to the next with our feet up in first gear at about ten to twenty kilometers per hour. When the wind lightly blew against my chest for the first time while riding it normally, I felt exhilarated.
After going back and forth we transitioned into moving from cone to cone in a square around the outside of the track. It was baby steps.
Next was shifting into second gear and stopping.
When we got the hang of that we practiced maneuvering on the motorcycle by weaving in and out between cones.
Getting accustomed to driving in second gear came after that. We maintained second gear the entire time while rounding the track.
The exercise after that was what they called pressing to lean. Rather than turning the handlebars, you could make turns by leaning your weight to one side while applying a counterforce to the handlebars to keep the wheels straight.
Honestly, it was a bit scary but once you got the hang of it, it was unexpectedly fun.
Braking as fast as possible after picking up speed was the last exercise before we took a lunch break.
During lunch, I headed to the parking lot in front of the building and took a seat on the bench. My body was pretty sore already. I hadn’t expected this little training course to be so physically demanding.
I hadn’t brought anything with me to eat either.
“Haaaaaah.” Alone on the bench, I let out an exhausted sigh. I was seriously hungry now. The fast-food restaurants around here were too far on foot.
“Hey, what are you doin? Aren’t you goin to eat lunch?”
I looked over to my side and discovered the wannabe gang leader girl on her way out.
“I didn’t bring any with me.”
“Oh. Me neither. Haaaah… if only I’d brought some money with me today.”
“Don’t you at least have a card?”
“I was excited about getting my license today after finally passing the knowledge test and forgot to bring it.”
“I’ve got money with me, but all the fast-food restaurants are too far away.”
“Huh? You don’t have a ride?”
“I’m 16, and literally got my license today right before this training course, when would I have had the time to get one?”
“Oh yeah. I forgot. Hey, how about we cut a deal?”
“What sort of deal?”
“Spot me the money and I can get some food for both of us.”
“Oh! Right, you may be a bit dumb, but you’ve at least had your learner’s permit for a while already.” She could already drive a car alone, just not a motorcycle.
“Don’t call me dumb when I’m offering to get you food.”
“I’d be the one paying for the idiot who forgot both her money and cards at home.”
“Ugh. I can’t even argue that.”
“But… it’s a shame as I rarely ever carry around cash with me. I only have my card with me and I don’t exactly trust you enough to just give you my card.”
“I see. Then how about we go together? I’ll give you a ride, and in exchange, you buy me something to eat in return.”
“Hmm… well... sure. I guess we can do that.”
“Great, let’s go then. Follow me.”
We walked through the parking lot filled with cars. However, we didn’t stop by any of the cars. When we passed by them all without any sign of her stopping, I couldn’t help but ask, “How far away did you park exactly?”
“Not too far.”
“Not too far? But we already passed all the cars.”
“We’re almost there.”
I looked in front of us but couldn’t help but feel perplexed. There weren’t any cars in front of us. Except for one of the stalls with a tarp over it, the other stalls were all vacant.
“Hey…”
“What is it?”
“That wouldn’t happen to be a super small compact car under that tarp, would it?”
“Hehe, you could say that.”
When we stopped beside the tarp she removed the tarp and revealed my worst fear hidden beneath it.
“Hey.”
“What?”
“It’s… a motorcycle,” I said with a deadpan expression on my face.
“Yeah.”
“I’m heading back.” I turned to leave, not willing to associate myself with someone about to break the law.
“Hold on man, we’re already here. Don’t be such a wimp.”
“This isn’t about being a wimp. You don’t have your license yet.”
“I’ll have it soon enough.”
“Hell no. Absolutely not. Just looking at this thing makes me feel like I’ll die if I ride on it with you.”
“Heheheh, yeah, exactly. You made fun of me a lot before, making you cry will be my payback. If you try to run now, I’ll run you over with my baby and drag you around face down on the ground by your leg all the way to the restaurant if I have to.” She said such a scary thing smiling without batting an eye.
She hopped on her bike, put the key in the ignition, and turned it on. She looked back at me with a grin, patted behind her then said, “Come on. Get on or else you’ll end up suffering more when I drag you by the leg to our destination.”
“You wouldn’t really do that, would you?”
“Would you like to gamble?”
“... no.”
I put on my helmet, reluctantly climbed on her bike behind her, and gripped the sides of the motorcycle with my hands to support my body.
“What are you doing?”
“What do you mean?”
“You’re going to fall off and die if you don’t hold on properly.”
She grabbed my hands and pulled them around her waist.
“Isn’t this a bit weird?”
“Weird? How?”
“Uh… never mind. Forget it.” She didn’t seem bothered so I kept my mouth shut.
“Is this thing even… street legal?” I had the urge to check.
“I’m glad you asked. This one is.”
“This one?”
“Yes.”
“You make it sound like there’s another one.”
“Well, the other one I have isn’t. This one kicks out about 220 horsepower with its max speed reaching 336 kilometers per hour.”
“And the one that isn’t street legal?”
“Though they both have a 998cc, liquid-cooled, 4-stroke dual overhead cam 16-valve in-line four engine, the horsepower tops out at around 310 horsepower with a max speed of 400 kilometers per hour on the other one.”
“Despite how it sounds like you’re speaking a foreign language to me… it still sounds... terrifying.”
“Hehe, you know what else? This tuned-down bike costs a pretty penny, about $33,000. The other one is about double the price. Hmph! Call me broke again after seeing this baby, I dare you.”
“Hah? But you said you were a street kid. How’d you afford this?”
“How? You sure you want to know?” A fiendish smile crept onto her face as she tilted her head up to the left and peeked back over her shoulder at me from the corner of her eye.
I had a bad feeling when the term gang leader surfaced in my mind.
“You know, I’ve killed before.”
If I wasn’t acquainted with assassins, I might have been more surprised, but I was desensitized to it.
“What, so you got them by killing someone?”
“No, if I got it through killing someone, their death would be tracked back to me. I actually got them as gifts from my gang who got them by extorting some rich dude. He offered these bikes in exchange for leaving him alone.”
“Then what’d you go and blab to me about killing before?”
Seeming annoyed by my reaction, she complained, “What’s with you? You’re supposed to look afraid when you’re told you’re riding on a motorcycle with a killer.”
I rolled my eyes and retorted, “If you’re a killer, then my girlfriend’s an assassin.”
