Tsubasa was walking on the sidewalk, clutching her schoolbag as the sun shone. A brightly-colored vehicle sitting in a parking lot caught her eye, and she approached it, lifting the hood and studying the shiny new tech inside. “Hmmm, so that’s how it works,” she murmured to herself, lost in her joy that she didn’t hear the footsteps that drew near. Someone cleared his throat, and she jumped out of her skin, feeling the vomit start to emerge from her stomach. The girl forced it down and turned around, coming face to face with a guy wearing a yellow jumpsuit and sporting pink hair. “Oh, um, it’s not what you think! I wasn’t trying to dismantle your car or anything. Please don’t think that I’m a bad person or anything. I just thought it looked cool.”
The stranger smiled, revealing sharp teeth. “It’s a pretty sweet ride. Built it all myself.”
“OMG!” Tsubasa squealed, her nerves instantly leaving her body as the words tumbled out of her mouth. She asked about the specifics, and obviously, the dude was willing to answer her multitude of queries, showcasing his knowledge of mechanics. “Oh, and I forgot to tell you my name. I’m Tsubasa Kawana. Nice to meet you.” She smiled, offering her hand, and he obliged, giving her a firm handshake.
“The name’s Kazuichi Soda, Ultimate Mechanic.”
“You’re the Ultimate Mechanic? That’s so cool!” Stars glimmered in her eyes, and pride swelled in Kazuichi’s chest. Another squeal erupted from her mouth. “Do you have any other projects? I’d love to take a look at them!”
“Sure.” His heart leapt in his chest as they entered the car, sitting on the seat and cruising down the road. “So how did you get into this line of work?”
“Oh, my grandpa owned this car garage, and I would hang out with him all the time, tinkering with stuff and trying to copy him. He taught me how to make machines, and I absolutely loved it.” She sighed as she reminisced about the time spent together with him. What about you?”
His hand scratched his head, a slight frown coming on. “My folks had a bicycle shop, but we didn’t have much luck running it. For whatever reason, my old man was hopeless, so I was mostly in charge of fixin’ stuff. I had a knack for it, and then I found my passion in making vehicles.” He pulled into a parking lot, and informed Tsubasa that this was the place. It was an old metal building with a neon sign jutting from the side, reading “Soda’s Sweet Spins”. They waltzed in, and Kazuichi gestured in a dramatic way as he flicked on the lights, revealing the towering rocket ship, the giant bear, and a motorcycle.
“Woah.” Tsubasa’s breath was taken away as she observed the room, too dumbstruck to say anything. After a few minutes, she regained her voice. “This is insane! You built a rocket?!”
They approached the rocket, which was topped with the head of a bear. “Hell yeah I did!” He slapped the metal shell lightly. “This bad boy took me about half a year to build.”
“Half a year?” Her mouth fell open. “Bro, most of these things take professionals five years to build.” A little laugh came out of her, and Kazuichi’s ego swelled. “I guess that’s what it takes to be an Ultimate.” His eyes wandered over her form as she took in his creations. Although she was dressed in a tight-fitting crop top and her breasts were sizable, for some reason, his gaze was drawn to her lit-up face, shining like a beacon in the night. Her passion was magnetic. “Uh, Kazuichi?” The sound shook him out of his trance, and he moved onto the giant bear. “So why a bear?”
He shrugged, picking at a pimple on his face. “Honestly, I don’t know. It just popped into my head one day, and I just had to make it.” The gargantuan beast was split down the middle, with one side being pure white, and the other being crow black. One of his eyes glowed with a ruby menace, as though it was waiting to destroy the entire world.
“The Big Bang Monokuma. It’s got a ton of cool features, like missiles and eye lasers!” His enthusiasm soared, and he hugged the giant bear as if it was a giant teddy bear instead.
A subtle wave of nausea flew through Tsubasa as her imagination took hold of her, seeing this gigantic thing decimate cities. “Can we move on? I’m not feeling well.”
“Oh, sure,” he said, letting go of his creation and arriving at the last display. “By the way, are you okay?” His forehead creased with slight worry, but she waved it off.
“Yeah, I’m fine. I just get nauseous whenever I’m nervous.” An awkward laugh wormed out of her as she scratched the back of her head. “Now, let’s check out this sweet ride!” The motorcycle was decorated with neon pinks and greens, dotted with stars. The front featured a tiger motif. “This is cool! Did you do anything special with this?”
“Hell yeah, I did. It can go up to four hundred miles per hour, thanks to the special engine I installed.” Tsubasa crouched, touching it and observing it from every angle in order to understand how it worked. Meanwhile, Kazuichi did some observation of his own, recording it in his mind for future use. They discussed every part, every little thing until Tsubasa noticed that it was dark outside.
“I’ve gotta go. My parents will be worried sick if I’m out this late. It was fun chatting. Here’s my number.” They exchanged numbers and email addresses. As Tsubasa ran out, Kazuichi sighed, already missing her.