16 Conifer Village / The Coniferian Job, Pt 1

Previously, on Usagi Days: The Professor tells the Usagis they are free to go … as long as they do something for her. Ruby accepts. Shortly after the Professor leaves, the arsonist dies in her cell.

- 16.1 - Ruby is Where She Belongs -

Ruby Hanasaki was finally back behind the wheel of her 2002 Kisuzu Usagi.

She gripped the steering wheel, ran her palms over the leather. She could feel the vibrations of the engine humming through her fingertips, her entire body.

"Yeah, I missed you too, girl," she whispered. "Hope they didn't hurt you too bad."

The passenger side door opened, and Anemone slid in. She closed the door again.

For the first time in weeks, the two friends sat together in that familiar, private sanctuary, cut off from the rest of the outside world. The muted silence inside somehow warmer than the one out there.

They had so much to talk about. No time, no privacy to clear the air. Until now.

Who was going to speak first?

- 16.2 - Ruby and Anemone Are Really Doing This -

Anemone: "So we're really doing this."

Ruby: "Yeah."

Anemone: "You're really not taking the Professor up on those practice runs."

Ruby: "Nope."

Anemone: "I think that's completely irresponsible, and reckless."

Ruby smiled. "Nah. You wouldn't be sitting here if you thought we couldn't pull this off.

"Besides, you've known me how long? You know how I feel about The Bathtub Curve."

Anemone, sighing: "Yeah … unfortunately, I do."

Ruby: "Your first attempts will always be halfway decent. Because of—"

Anemone: "Intuition. Yes, Ruby, I know."

Ruby: "—intuition. Then your results in the next few attempts will taper off. And for a long time, it'll bottom out, before it slowly picks back up again after enough attempts. Making the shape of a bathtub. Hence …"

Anemone: "And that's bad how? Why not push through until we get to the other side of the Bathtub?"

Ruby, turning to face Anemone, eyes sparkling: "I mean, isn't it super-mega-badass to one-shot things?"

Anemone: "You know … I never had grey hairs before I met you."

- 16.3 - Ruby and Anemone Discuss the Backwoods -

The two stared ahead, through the windshield.

The entrance to the Backwoods. A wooden archway gate denoting the start of what was once probably some kind of trail. It consisted of two thick, sturdy posts, and across the top a horizontal beam about 3 meters high that likely once identified the trail. Whatever words had been written on it were long faded now.

The "DANGER - DO NOT ENTER" signs that had been nailed across the posts, sealing off the trail, had been torn off by the village guards earlier, and they lay on the ground now, placed together in a neat pile beside the entrance.

All they could see was the beginning of a dirt road that wound immediately out of sight into the shadows of the trees within.

Anemone: "You know the Professor is telling us to do this because she doesn't want to risk her own life. Or the lives of the village guards.

"They didn't even attempt going into the Backwoods. They did all their practice on a separate dirt road."

Ruby, chuckling: "Yeah, after setting those lousy lap times, I would've given up too.

"But they're not us, are they?

"It's not just the experience, Annie."

Anemone nodded, hesitantly. She had a feeling she knew what Ruby would say next.

She never liked it when Ruby started talking about the Usagi like this.

- 16.4 - Ruby and Anemone Discuss the Usagi -

Ruby: "It's my—it's our connection to the Usagi itself, Annie.

"The village guards, the Professor—it's not that they're bad drivers, per se—I mean, they are, but you know what I mean …

"The Usagi won't let them perform the way they need to, for this road. The handling will be off, the engine will underperform, the gears won't shift when they should …

"Don't you see? The car will reject them. Sure, they can sit in it, they can steer, they can push the pedals. But the car will resist them every step of the way.

"Back during the Sandra fiasco … I really, truly believe that, if Violet had simply left the car as soon as Sandra took off … The car would have found some way to crash itself, or break down, or whatever.

"I mean, look how fast it did happen, once Violet left. Sandra drove it straight into a tree. She had an entire empty road to drive on! And she off-roads directly into a tree! That's more than a skill issue."

It wasn't the first time Ruby had voiced such ideas.

Ruby: "I see that look on your face. Is it really that much of a leap? We're talking about a car that can fix itself. The only car that works in a world where this sort of thing can't exist."

Anemone knew Ruby had a point. Perhaps she just wasn't comfortable with the idea that the car had … what, feelings? Thoughts? Emotions? … A will of its own?

Anemone: "Yeah, yeah. Not saying I don't believe you, Rubes. Just …"

Ruby: "What?"

Anemone: "Nothing."

- 16.5 - Ruby and Anemone Discuss the Professor -

Anemone: "Do you really trust the Professor?"

Ruby: "Not in the slightest."

Anemone: "The Professor killed her. The Order member."

Ruby: "Even if she did—"

Anemone: "She did."

Ruby: "—the arsonist did a crime."

Anemone: "The Professor is not judge, jury and executioner of this village! She cannot just take people's lives into her own hands! This kind of warped justice, we might as well be living in a bandit town."

Ruby: "I'm not saying it's right. Just that it's … understandable."

Anemone: "'Understandable'. What happened to the person who told me that 'Humanity is what we make of it'? You took in Sandra because you wanted to believe in the best of mankind."

Ruby: "Yeah, and I left her tied up on the side of the road when she made her choice to betray us. You're confusing my faith in mankind's goodness for a permissiveness to let evil slide. It's not the same.

"Just as Sandra made her choice, the arsonist made hers when she burned down the warehouse, and endangered the lives of the villagers. She accepted whatever retaliations might come her way."

Anemone: "I can't believe I'm hearing this. You're talking about a human being killed in cold blood."

Ruby: "But the Order member understood that. She knew what she signed up for. She understood what it might cost her. Excommunication. Punishment. And yes, even death.

"Just like when the Orcs attacked my village. That was a choice, too. They know that I deserve my revenge.

"In every choice there is the undertaking of a potential retaliation. No one is exempt."

Anemone stared blankly at Ruby.

Not for the first time, she thought to herself, There is a Darkness inside you, Ruby Hanasaki.

- 16.6 - Ruby and Anemone Get This Show on the Road -

Ruby: "Well, then. We ready to go?"

Anemone breathed in, out. "Ready as we'll ever be."

Ruby: "Let's get this show on the road."

Ruby disengaged the emergency brake, and shifted into Drive.

The Usagi slowly began creeping into the Backwoods, through the wooden archway.

Ruby, looking up through the windshield at the top beam of the wooden gate: "How long do you think that's been there?"

Anemone shrugged. "Long time."