Fuji arrived two whole hours later. Coffee in his right hand from the cafe down the street. His clothes? A plain blue collared shirt with stains and black pants; not even ironed and was thrown on as a lazy clothes day, his undereye has become more darker from the unbearable all-nighters. He walked up to Akira who was on his last pancake. Akira shot an attitude gaze as Fuji came closer to him.

  "What's up?" he said while taking a shot of the coffee.

  "The ceiling" Akira replied while chewing a mouthful of his breakfast.

  Fuji almost spit out his coffee, but shot up his left hand to his mouth to prevent the coffee spilling from his mouth and nose. It was an old joke, but he still laughed at it.

  "Anyways, Where the hell were you?" Akira retorted playfully.

  "I overslept," He shot back calmly, He was called "Chiller in the killer group" because he never reacts or gets scared, just laughs it off or stays silent.

  Diana arrived, climbing down the stairs like she was a princess making her way down from the throne.

  Her right shoulder was bare since she was wearing her traditional Thai dress, it had cute white jasmines on the skirt, covered her body well and it was blue on her upper body but as it came down, it formed a gradient, shifting to purple on her lower body.

  "And you!” Akira turned his head to his left, locking eye contact with Diana. His fluffy, thick hair fell on his eyes. Using his right hand to brush up his hair and his left hand to point at her "What were you doing? Getting ready for your wedding?”

  Diana's face fell into a sad puppy face, eyes glittering. "I am just joking," Akira cooed gracefully as he let out a playful smile.

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  He grabbed the keys from his pocket of his cargo trousers and spun using his index finger and the key ring. “I managed to ‘borrow’ the car keys from my family,” he boasted, showing off something that anyone can do easily “Alright, since Fuji has arrived, let’s leave right now.”

  Akira stood up, grabbed his black dusty coat from the hanger behind the dining table, put it on, brushed off the dust, walked up to the front door, barged it open and left to the front yard while laughing like a person winning the lottery.

  “Where we going?” Fuji questioned. We all stared at each other for an answer in the living room, until I crossed my arms, smiled and sarcastically told “We are going for a surprise.”

  -----------------*-----------------

  Akira was blasting a real hip-hop song with the ride-or-die gang (us), Adithi was moving left and right, matching the beats perfectly, I loved sitting next to her because of the way she expresses eagerness and hyperactivity for us to smile about.

  Fuji sat near the left window, looking outside at the view of grass, trees and birds, he is always amused and fascinated by how elegant nature can be. I sat in the middle, enjoying the atmosphere with the chaotic and chill energy.

  But I felt something… I felt my face shift from enjoyment and amusement to uncomfortable and anxious; I found Adithi annoying. Wait, I was enjoying her little dance, now I hate her? I felt the soft leather car seat sucking me in, I might not make it out alive out of that car… The music became off, the rapper missed every beat, the guitarist started playing nonsense that doesn’t match the theme of hip-hop, I clutched the seatbelt as it started to tighten my chest, my heart quivered and fluttered rapidly, my lungs was making me wheeze as I felt the oxygen was suffocating me, my hands started to form sweat as it started slipping off the belt of the seatbelt.

  All of a sudden, the car raced and sped rapidly, Akira… He was speeding up the car on the empty, long, narrow road.

  His voice sounded abnormal, he spoke something as he turned around to face us, his smile didn’t touch his eyes, I couldn’t hear a single word he said.

  “W-What?” I stuttered, I felt the feeling was going to consume me alive, just as Akira repeated what he said, I could see something in the distance, looks lopsided, unique and weird shape, I saw some leaf shapes on the object until I realized…

  It was a fallen tree… Akira was paying no attention to the road… I held on to the seat, shut my eyes tightly and looked away as we sped faster and faster to the tree.