The Finish Line

“Neat trick!” Pretti calls up.

She gives Spyder a pretty smile and returns the wave.

…

Back in the bar, she tells Kin and Emiko, “Spyder’s fine—and is actually pretty cool. I’m gonna head back to MK now. Just gotta take care of something in the karaoke room before I go.”

Pretti heads inside, closes the door and puts her bra back on. Once that’s taken care of, she lets Yuusuke know her party has left Room 3 in case any other patrons want to sing.

Emiko witnesses the interaction between Dash and Spyder and is immediately turned off of the guy. Luckily, Kin walks up and offers her a ride.

“Yes, I would love a ride home, thank you. I’m glad you came out tonight, it was fun.”

Emiko waves to Yuusuke and leaves with Kin.

Seeing Pretti, she is glad Pretti spoke to Spyder. “Thanks for a fun night! I’ll see you soon.”.

Emiko gives Pretti a big hug and thinks, “ooh, I don’t think she’s wearing a bra!”

As Kin is driving Emiko back to her apartment, he turns to her, asking her a couple of questions.

"What do think about Pretti? She seems nice enough. Also, what makes you happy? If it's karaoke, what else makes you happy?"

"Pretti? She's pretty great," Emiko says with a smile.  "She's confident and fierce and unbelievably loyal.  If I was on a run, I would want her to have my back.  What about you?  What are your thoughts?"

((Ok, this is going to be tough... trying to imagine what a 24 year old girl thinks makes her happy))

"What makes me happy?" Emiko pauses for a moment to think, not so much that she can't come up with an answer but the idea of revealing this information is very personal and allows Emiko to become vulnerable.  She looks and Kin and thinks, "I can trust him; he's nothing like that guy Dash."  "Karaoke is fun, but it's not the singing that makes it fun, it's the being with friends.  I'm happy being around people.  For a few years I was pretty much by myself, no friends, no family, and that really sucked.  I'm really happy that I now have people I can be around."  Emiko thinks about her parents and how she can no longer see them and it makes her sad, but she thinks about the fun she had tonight and blocks away the bad feelings. "Was that too weird? What makes you happy?"

As they pull up to Emiko's apartment, Kin stops the car and turns to face her.

"No, that wasn't weird at all. This might sound stupid, but I enjoy having a sense of purpose. That makes me happy. I've spent a lot of time drifting from one day to the next, never really knowing where I'm going or what I'm doing. Maybe I've finally found where I'm meant to be. I hope so. I believe everything happens for a reason. I had to go through everything in my life to be right here, right now."

Kin pauses for a moment, realizing he's rambling. He takes a deep breath, looks down and then looks Emiko in the eyes and continues.

"I enjoyed tonight, spending time with you. It's the most fun I've had for as long as I can remember. Thank you."

"I completely understand what you mean about having a purpose." Emiko pauses and then says, "I'm really glad you came out tonight," and gives Kin a light kiss on the cheek.

Emiko steps out of the car and says, "there's a few opportunities that have come up. I need to contact everyone and have us all meet at the community center to discuss them. So, I'll see you soon! Good night."

"Goodnight, Emiko. See you soon as well."

Kin waits for Emiko to enter her apartment and close the door and then drives back home, a smile on his face the entire time.