Summary: A freak accident changes everything forever.
Rating: PG
Warning: Major character death
Words: 1463
Author’s Notes: I was driving in K-Town, about 10 minutes west of Downtown LA, and the street I was going to take was blocked. When I turned onto Wilshire, I saw a crowd on the corner because a minivan had just struck a motorcycle. I don’t know what happened to the motorcyclist, but I hope that the paramedics were able to get to him in time.
The title comes from the song “Sukiyaki,” specifically the 4PM cover version. I heard it the night before and I think the lyrics really encapsulate a lot of what’s going on in this fic. Colt doesn’t belong to me, but the story does. No Beta used.
Find me on Tumblr! SCGDoesWhat.tumblr.com
“Ha! Take that, Poli Sci!”
Pressing ‘save’ on her 25-page term paper with a triumphant smile, Renza straightened up in her chair, stretching her arms above her head. The paper marked the last final of her first semester at Langston University and pressing that save button was one of her sweetest victories of the last six months. She looked at the time, not realizing it was already five in the afternoon. Taking out her planner, she crossed out another day until her flight back to LA for the winter break.
Two more days until she went back home.
Two more days until she saw Colt.
Taking her burner phone out, she looked at the latest text exchange with Colt. He had replied to her yesterday morning in response to some stupid meme she had sent him.
“You’re a dork lol”
“I know, but you love me for it 😝”
“Lol I do love you for it.”
“Love you too 😘”
They normally FaceTimed in the evening, except for the random times Colt had business to attend to. He made the decision early on in their relationship to stop telling her about anything he was involved with, citing the fact that she had become mixed up in so much shit already because of him and his family. It wasn’t like him to not respond for more than a day and so she shot off a quick text.
“Finished my last paper! Woohoo! Can’t wait to see you when I get back home!”
Putting the extra phone away, she picked up her regular, pink cased iPhone, looking through her Pictagram account. Mindlessly, she scrolled through her feed, breaking out of her reverie once she saw her father calling.
“Hey Dad! What’s up?!” She chirped happily, ready to tell him about her being done with her semester.
“Hi, Renza,” her father cleared his throat, taking a deep breath before continuing on. “I have something to tell you.”
“What is it? Is everything okay?”
“Are you sitting down?”
“Okay, you’re starting to freak me out here,” she frowned. “What’s wrong?“
“I… I just found out about an hour ago. I was debating whether to even tell you this, but Kaneko’s son, he was involved in a crash last night on Wilshire. A minivan didn’t see him on his motorcycle and … he died on impact. I know you were friends with him and I thought you’d want to know.”
Renza dropped the phone, her grip going slack. Her body went completely numb, the words her father said to her barely registering.
“Renza? Renza, honey? Are you okay?”
After a few seconds, she bent over, picking the phone up, looking at the device as if it had deceived her somehow. “I’ve gotta go, Dad.”
“Renza, I’m so-”
With a click, she hung up the phone, frozen in shock. Everything over the last few minutes felt like an out of body experience. Her heart lurched, threatening to swallow itself in her chest as she collapsed into a fetal position on the floor of her room. Never did she realize the pain of her heart shattering would be a thousand times worse than what she could ever imagine.
Hours slipped by before she was knocked out of her trance by obnoxious, drunk laughter outside her dorm room door. Her eyes were red and her cheeks wet with silent tears, her brain still unable to process the news. Unlocking her phone, she looked at the picture in the background. It was a snap of the two of them from prom, right before everything went to hell. They never managed to take another photo together after that moment.
Wiping her face, she cast a glance at her already packed suitcase, taking a series of calming, deep breaths before she could feel herself start to hyperventilate. She counted to ten, her mind clearing with what she needed to do.
The first step? Changing her flight to get back to LA as soon as she could.
Christmas Eve.
This was not the way she had envisioned spending what used to be one of her favorite holidays.
Renza should have been cuddling with Colt by a fire, sipping on hot chocolate and roasting marshmallows … or on the back of his bike, coasting down PCH, the roads devoid of people.
Instead, here she sat, in a pew of the Forest Lawn mortuary located on the other side of the Hollywood Hills. She looked around the room and saw a beautiful Japanese woman in the front, the only one who had eyes redder than hers. The rest of the mourners were a mixture of his family and friends, all from the side of his life she knew nothing about. There were a few girls in attendance who barely hid their sneer at her, not bothering to hide their disdain at the girl who was so out of place. No doubt she stood out like a sore thumb; her simple, black pencil skirt and blazer combo plain compared to the Robertson Boulevard LBDs these USC sorority type girls were wearing.
Never in her life had she felt so alone.
Not when her mother died.
Not when she left her father.
In that moment, the stark realization that Colt was no longer alive hit her head on. No one in the room paid any attention to the girl in the back as her world crumbled all around her. No one except the beautiful, Japanese woman who sat in the front, all by herself.
Three hours had passed, the crowd thinning out as it neared closing time. Renza had nothing left to give, her insides raw with the overpowering emotion that had taken over. She couldn’t trust her body to walk the thirty feet to his coffin during the entire time she had been there with other people around, but now that it was empty, she willed herself to take those steps, to pay her last respects to the love of her life.
Taking a shaky breath, she stepped up to the open casket, looking in at his face. His handsome face. The closed lids hiding the eyes she would never be able to get lost in. The mouth that would never again give her a crooked smile. The lips she would never get to feel against hers.
Everything crashed over her once more, her tears streaming down her face as she broke down in solitude. She cried for all his pain, all his hopes and dreams, their future, and quite simply, him. Their relationship in an instance had been reduced to nothing more than untouchable memories that would stay with her the rest of her life.
“Excuse me, miss, I’m sorry, but we have to close.” A worker approached her gently, handing her tissues with his message, before leaving her with a final moment.
“Of course, sorry,” Renza mumbled. She looked down once more, steeling herself for the last time. “I’ll never forget what we had. Like you said, you’re a part of me forever.” Her lip trembled as she fought a fresh onslaught of tears. “I’m always going to love you. Goodbye, Colt.”
As she neared the building’s entrance, the beautiful woman from earlier approached her, the epitome of grace in such a trying time.
“You must be Renza,” she said quietly, her voice hoarse, not unlike her own.
Unable to find her voice, Renza nodded, biting the inside of her lip.
“My son did not tell me much about his life, especially when he went back to work for Teppei,” she paused, the hurt unmistakable in her tone. “But he did mention you. You were very special to him.”
“He was very special to me, too,” Renza managed to get out.
His mother pressed a piece of paper into her hand, lightly grasping her fingers briefly before letting go. “Please come to his funeral, if your schedule allows it. I know he would have wanted you there.”
Before she could say anything else, his mother turned around and walked away, getting into the backseat of a black Cadillac Escalade.
Renza exited the double doors, her eyes trained on the heavens. A shooting star crossed the night sky, a vision almost impossible to believe in the LA smog. A sad smile graced her face, knowing intrinsically that star was meant for her, from him.
Sighing heavily, she pulled her phone out to order a Dryve, her gaze settling back to earth. She blinked repeatedly at the sight that greeted her, not sure if her eyes were playing tricks. In the parking lot, there stood Mona, Ximena, Toby, and even Logan; the remaining members of the Mercy Park Crew.
Even in death, Colt was right. MPC was always going to be a part of her.