Paradise - Komatsu City V

Ryo was in what he could only recognize as paradise. Wherever he looked, old and some newer cars were at his disposition.

"This place... this place is..."

"Paradise..." he heard Kururu say with such a happy face and a voice full of expectation. He almost couldn't believe that she was the same inexpressive girl that they had rescued from Masao. Then he remembered she had the <Mechanic> Skill in (Expert) Level.

"Kururu, could it be that you like cars?" Yuriko, who was nearby, asked the usually emotionless girl. The answer came rapidfire fast. "I love anything mechanical!"

Ryo looked at her and realized something super important. He finally had someone he could talk about mechanic stuff with.

*

"So you think this 1990 Peterbilt 362 still works?" Kururu asked Ryo as they stared at the truck. He had read in an article what kind of vehicles had the highest chance to survive and EMP, and pre 2002 anything was what you were looking for. They had a minimum if not non-existent amount of electric components that, in most cases, didn't affect the vehicle's functionality. "Yeah, I'm pretty sure about it"

Ryo and Kururu began exploring the entirety of the junkyard after making sure the truck was in perfect condition. They were quite lucky that whoever owned the place was organized and took care of placing still functional things under roof. It was only because of that that the truck was still functioning. If not, who knew what would've happened to it.

Ryo was very happy seeing that Kururu had regained a bit of herself from being around something she loved. And he was happy to know that she loved it as much if not more than he did.

"Isn't that a 2002 Dodge Ram?" Kururu said while staring in the direction of a pickup truck. Ryo looked at it and with a simple glance could tell it indeed was. Seeing him nod in confirmation, she continued "We should be able to repurpose all of the parts"

Like that, the pair continued to go through the thousands of cars in the place. They didn't even leave the place to eat, with Saya having to bring their food to them and ostracizing them for eating while dismantling a car.

In the end, after spending an entire day in the junkyard, they realized that they still had around a quarter of the cars to check, but they had filled the bus's baggage compartment already. As such, they decided to load the rest on the trailer connected to the tractor. Ryo said that later they would refurbish it for comfort, since people would betraveling in it.

"We better go now, we can come back tomorrow" Ryo said as he headed for the bus. Kururu though, stayed there and didn't move an inch. "*sigh*... do you want to stay here?"

Kururu turned around and looked at him with wide eyes. She knew that Ryo wasn't a bad person, and she knew he treated most people right. After all, she could see how angry he had been at Masao and she had also been told the story of Shido and Soichiro. But somewhere deep within herself, she stil expected him to order her around and expect her to follow, yet that wasn't the situation.

"C-Can I?" she asked in a mosquitoes voice. It wasn't like her usual, emotionless voice, but one that carried fear and insecurity.

Ryo approached her slowly and walked past her, coming back after a few minutes with two mattresess and a pair of blankets. The mattresses were old and probably unusable for the most part, but Ryo took the care of leaving the one in the best state close to her. He went a few meters away, from where she could still see him and he could see her, and layed there. Kururu wanted to ask exactly what he meant by that, but she got answered before she could move her lips.

"Like this I can protect you" he said without a care in the world about how insinuating it sounded. "I'd rather be closer, but I don't want to make you feel uncomfortable, so I'll stay over here"

Kururu looked at his warm, silly smile, and couldn't help but show a small, almost unnoticeable smile of her own.

"That's ok..." she said as she took her mattress and moved it closer to Ryo's, not too much, but at a distance they could talk to comfortably. Kururu was acting a bit more alive even in her emotionless state, so she was a bit bashful when she spoke. "T-Thank you"

That was how the night caught them, under the same roof that the cars and trucks they had been going around for the entire day. Ryo had told the girls he would be staying with Kururu, since she wanted to stay and he couldn't just leave her alone.

Kururu wanted to ask Ryo how exactly he got into mechanics, but she couldn't think of how to do it. Luckily for her, Ryo, was just as curious.

"You awake, Kururu?" he asked softly, so as to not wake her up if she was sleeping. In the moment she took to answer, Ryo thought she was asleep, so he continued talking. "Ah, I guess no..."

"I'mawakewhatisit?" she blurted out, jamming each word with the last one. Ryo chuckled a bit when he heard her answer and could swear that Kururu was feeling embarrassed right now. Still he decided against teasing her. She quickly corrected herself. "*cough* I'm awake... what is it?"

"Nothing much... I just wanted to ask how you got into mechanics" he said, before quickly adding. "Of course, if you don't want to tell me, you can just say so"

Kururu took a while before deciding. She had a hard time trusting him, but she had never seen him treating anyone wrongly. He was weak to cute and beautiful females, but that was all there was to it. He didn't force himself on them and in fact, he was quite passive about things unless they made the first move. If there was one man that was perfect to talk to and feel comfortable, it was Ryo.

"I'll tell you... but you have to tell me first" she said while still staring at the roof. Ryo just cleared his throat before he began his tale.

"Well, I had always been an enthusiast of motorized vehicles. Motorbikes in particular" he began explaining.

The story continued to the events of his first job being lost and how his parents got him a job as an assistant mechanic and how his passion for it grew from there. At some point, he had begun studying books on planes, helicopters, trucks, and any vehicle that could be made through mechanical engineering.

"They must be great parents" she said, not knowing the story behind Ryo. It caused her to get shocked when he heard his answer, which sounded nostalgic and a bit sad. "Yeah, they were the best"

"I didn't know, sorry" she said, understanding that they were dead. Ryo answered camly, as if he had had a lot of time to come to terms with the fact. "Don't be. I'm used to it. It's just a bit nostalgic to think about them"

Kururu then began explainig her own story with mechanics. Apparently her grandfather had raised her and, since he was a mechanic himself, she learned a few tricks. It was when her uncle died that she really got into mechanical engineering, even if her parents -two successful business people- were against it. She continued to study and learn about anything with even a hint of mechanical in it, eventually reaching the level she was at.

"That's some story" he said while turning to look at her for a second. She turned her head once again, to look at him, before saying "I could say the same, though yours is a bit more... tragic"

In the end, they spent most of the night talking about their pasts and experiences, checking on the remaining cars. When the sun began rising and the gang came back, they found them working on fixing a pickup.

"They didn't sleep one bit, right?" Hiratsuka rhetorically asked to the group when they saw them both happily talking about mechanics while working. Rei was the one to follow up the topic. "At least Kururu seems livelier"

A few hours later, around mid-day, they were ready to leave Komatsu City. Their haul? Akabane Karma, two vehicles -a pickup and a tractor with a trailer- and Ryo's evolution. Without looking back, the group parted towards their next destination: Tokonosu City.