Leaving the girls alone with Rory to lead them, Yuki led his team to their new home. It was fantastic, with an almost 300-degree view of the sea through vast glass walls living room.
Beyond the living room, which was curved into the cliff wall, they found a door with a fingerprint lock. As soon as Yuki entered, the guys started acting like kids on a sugar rush as the room looked like a futuristic version of Iron Man's garage!
It was also connected to the garage upstairs with a door large enough for big vehicles to pass through. This meant he could build and work on vehicles with ease.
Finally, the residential part could hold all of them, with a few rooms left for guests. Every room was VIP class suite tier, which left them awestruck for a moment before they looked at Yuki with wary smiles.
After their tour, they returned to the main living room, finding the twins and Rory deep in conversation, as if they had been friends for life.
Rory noticed Yuki entering and flew over before asking him to follow—she wanted to show him something. With Rory as a guide, he and Wanda followed her to, oddly enough, a closet. But to Yuki's surprise, it was actually a smokey glass elevator.
Getting in, as soon as it started to move, Yuki raised an eyebrow at the strange motion, causing Wanda to smirk.
"Why is this elevator moving vertically?" Yuki asked, and unsurprisingly, he only got a smirk in response. Seconds later, the elevator stopped, opening to reveal a sight that left Yuki's jaw dropping.
"Holy…." Yuki murmured, looking around.
With a cavern-like opening, one side had multiple monitoring screens and a huge PC setup; the other side, a closed iron shuttle. What excited Yuki most was that all his mission gear and setups were displayed here. Additionally, there was a short track for trials with his airjet on it, and many more things that made him think of a secret superhero lair.
"Well, welcome to the Black Feather Nest," Wanda said, leaning on Yuki's mask collection display. "This was made with your mother's personal investment. I chipped in too—you can count it as a mission advancement present."
"Looks like version 0.2 of the Batcave," Yuki said, smirking. "But I like it."
"Good, and this will be your group's base for now." Wanda handed him a file. "This contains all the information about your group and, additionally, some property you've gained as Yuki Akai."
"Akai?" Yuki raised his eyebrow. "Am I changing my name?"
"Yup, and Akai is the same ID your mother is currently using, as Anna Akai—a certain jewelry and clothing company CEO and boss."
Pointing at the file, she said, "You'll find the reason you're out here, far away from your home, if anybody bothers to look up your info."
Reading the file, Yuki sighed in resignation. "Self-exile?" Yuki said, not liking the setup.
Based on the background the guild provided, it linked to the accident he went through. After fully healing, the Yuki in the file chose to exile himself and cut himself off from his mother, accusing her as the cause of the accident.
"Well, Anna has a knack for dramatic backgrounds," Wanda said, raising her hand in defeat. "You should read mine and the others'."
Yuki did so and couldn't help but laugh. "Are you sure this isn't a movie draft?"
According to the file, they were a rare group of misfits who met in the hospital while Yuki was in rehabilitation, came to know each other by chance, and became friends over the last ten years. After Yuki decided to break ties with his mother, they chose to follow him here to start something new.
"Well, as I said, she has a knack for drama," Wanda repeated. "And look at what she did to the twins."
"Hell no!" Reading that part, his eyes widened in refusal. "What do you mean they're the children of my late girlfriend?"
That's right, Anna chose to make Sophia and Hana the daughters of Yuki's imaginary late girlfriend.
"To be honest, considering your real age, your emotional style, and how you act around kids," Wanda said, giving Yuki a nod, "from anyone's perspective—especially adding your maturity—you look more like a widower than anything."
"Okay! That's too much," Yuki protested. "Can we change this? They're just a couple of years younger than me."
"Well, you do look like the mature-lady-favoring type," Wanda said with a smirk. "And take it up with the boss lady—not like she'll listen."
"All the others have their paperwork already, but the twins are in that file." Skipping to the elevator, she waited for him to head upstairs.
Yuki gave up, comforting himself with the fact that no one would know unless they did a deep search. He followed Wanda and returned to the house.
"Well, I'll be heading home now. I'll see you later," Wanda said, about to step into the garage.
"Okay, wait—I'll go for a ride. I'll go with you on the road," Yuki said, turning to change.
Returning prepped, he found Mark at his own car, along with Ji Long.
"You're going too?" Yuki asked, getting to his bike.
"More like they're keeping an eye on you," Wanda's voice came from her car. "So get used to it."
"Wait, you mean I can't go out alone?" Yuki asked, realizing her meaning. "I'm just going for a drive!"
"Well, bad for you—you're under surveillance for three months," Mark smirked, rubbing it in. "So yeah, you're stuck with at least one of us every time."
Yuki knew the reason, but that didn't stop him from disliking it.
"Well, nothing can be done," he sighed, slipping on his headgear and starting his bike, making the whole garage vibrate. As the others started their rides too, the garage visibly shook.
A moment later, the engine noise died down—except Yuki's. This was a special feature they'd all added to their noisy engines: an engine silencer, just to keep things low-key.
But Yuki didn't—and wouldn't—silence any engine. He found it rude to the craft. (Crazy mindset?)
Leaving the garage, he called up Rory, asking if she was tagging along.
Surprisingly, she asked to stay with the twins, finding their company interesting. Still, she kept her monitor on and the line open for Yuki if he needed anything.
Soon, the team hit the road, finding themselves on the highway.
Minutes passed and Wanda's voice came from Yuki's headset speaker:
[Okay, boys, this is my exit. Keep it controlled and don't stay out late.] With that, she took the next exit.
Yuki smirked and called Mark and Ji Long. "Guys, how about a small race?"
[Oh, that's interesting,] Mark answered, lining his car up with Yuki's bike and slowing a little.
[Let's add a bet to it,] Ji Long said, taking Yuki's other side. [Just to make it interesting.]
Yuki nodded and looked back at Mark, flashing a thumbs up.
[Okay, first to enter the next rest station wins,] Yuki said. [What's the bet?]
[How about the winner owns a favor from the losers?] Mark asked, smirking, knowing just the favor he needed.
[Sure,] Ji Long accepted, not really minding—he was just in it for the fun.
[Okay, Rory, are you there?] Yuki asked, and in his hub, a small Rory appeared, giving an okay sign.
"On Rory's mark?" Yuki said, getting comfortable on his bike, while Mark and Ji Long closed their windows.
The next second, red and green neon lights flashed to life under thier cars, and with that, Rory appeared on their displays, counting down from three. The moment the count hit zero, their rides literally took off down the road.
With acceleration from 0 to 100 km/h in almost no time, the three of them left only light trails behind. By the time they were halfway to their destination, they were weaving through cars at speeds topping 200 km/h, leaving vehicles behind with a shockwave and light lines before anyone even noticed what happened.
........
On the road, while Yuki and the others were almost at the station, they came across easily spotted, customized cars racing.
But they weren't at the same level—despite the high speed they were going, Yuki's group passed them as if they were standing still, freaking them out to the point of stopping their own race.
"Holy shit! What was that? Dom, did you see anything?" A bald man looked back at his team members, shouting excitedly.
Sighing, "I have no idea, but we can figure it out," the bald man—Dom—answered, pointing at the station not far ahead. "They just stopped in there."
Getting a nod from his team, they got back into their cars and headed to the station.
_______________________
Below is my Kofi page. There, you'll find the first part of Danmachi fanfic. A friend of mine is working on editing, and it's free to read as a series of posts. Tips are appreciated if you wish to support!
ko*******/brain_n_clouds