As Lee gets to the last jump, he starts to go even faster, the drones being left behind for a bit. “Let’s try this one,” he says to himself. As he goes up the ramp, he takes flight; then, while mid-air, he initiates a backflip. Then he gets off, holds onto the back of the bike with one hand, as the bike completes the backflip, Lee pulls himself back onto the bike and continues.
At the starting point, Alice shoots to her feet. “No!” she screams, a trembling hand stretched in front of herself, almost like reaching to grab Lee; then, as Lee lands the stunt without a problem, her legs buckle and she lands on the ground, body trembling.
Sue, afraid of what could have happened, looks at her phone to check on what part of the track Lee is at, and notices that he is approaching the finishing line. Moments later, Lee arrives next to them.
“So, how was that?” he asks, removing his helmet, a massive smile etched on his face.
Alice controls the drones and makes them land near her; then she removes her VR headset with trembling hands, places it on the ground, and with her phone scans Lee’s bike. “The bike is a regular one,” she says looking at the hologram; then looking at Sue, she inquires, “Sorry for asking, but is your son fully human?” Her voice is shaking with both adrenaline and the shock of what she has just seen Lee do.
Sue, understanding English, replies, “Yes, he is. Why? What did he do to leave you shaking like that?” Sue then looks at Lee and inquires in Japanese, “What did you do?”
Lee shrugs. “I just did the jumps like they asked,” he says in Japanese, not letting Sue know that he too understands English.
Rexan places a hand on Alice’s shoulder. “Alice, what happened? Why are you so shaken up?” she inquires in English.
Alice looks at Ben and says in broken Japanese, now that she is more in control of her emotions, “You lost your new bike.” She then turns to Rexan. “We asked for sky, he gives us universe.”
“What do you mean?” Rexan asks and looks between Lee and Alice.
Alice doesn’t say a word; she just opens her vest and from inside takes a seven-inch tablet. “The only thing I can say is that it is a shame he wasn’t wearing the Blue Wolf team uniform,” she says as she logs into the drones and plays Lee’s recordings.
At the end, Ben takes the tablet and plays all five recordings simultaneously. “He… how?” Ben stumbles with his words. Then swallowing hard, he asks in Japanese, “How can someone do a Superman-backflip on a push-bike?”
You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.
Alice laughs. “Like that,” she says in Japanese as Lee’s jump plays in slow motion.
Rexan shakes her head back to reality; then looking at Sue, she begs, “Please, allow your son to take part in our commercial. Even if it’s only for this one.”
The other four kids start to get near Lee; Naxy approaches Lee and lightly punches him in the arm. “If you become famous and rich, don’t forget your old friends.”
Lee shakes his head. “Don’t worry, Naxy; I won’t forget you. Besides, you have been my friend since forever, and I don’t think I can get rich with one commercial.”
Sue shakes her head. “This is not something we can take lightly,” she says to Rexan, then looks at Kenji and adds, “This is something that my husband and I need to talk about.”
Kenji nods. “Not to mention having a look at the terms and conditions of the contract.”
“I completely understand,” Rexan says. “But we were going to conduct some interviews and auditions for candidates here this week, then send the recordings to our superiors. Will it be alright to send your son's recordings as a candidate?”
“As a candidate?” scoffs Alice. “For him to be a candidate, there has to be competition against him, and as soon as the top dogs see this, if they could, they would move the galaxy just to have him agree.”
Even though Lee was talking to his friends, he was listening to the adults' conversation, and as they are speaking in Japanese, Lee has an opportunity to speak without letting anyone know that he understands English.
“Can I ask something?” Lee asks looking up at the adults.
They all look at him and Sue inquires, “What do you wish to ask, Lee?”
“I don’t think it is right to say something is good without tasting it,” Lee says as he crosses his arms in defiance. “I have seen a lot of commercials, and they offer something as good, but it is only fake and not good.”
Kenji and Sue look at one another as Lee gave them a good excuse to say no; so they then look at the three staff members of Blue Wolf, waiting to see what they will say.
“I understand that,” says Rexan, and now Lee is sure that Rexan is the spokesperson, Ben the face, and Alice the camera operator; then after taking a deep breath, Rexan continues, “So if you like the product and the publicity is true, would you do it?” Lee nods. “Okay, so what can we do to have you agree?”
“That is easy,” Lee says and a devilish smirk appears on his lips. “First, my friends and I need to test the drink,” Lee says indicating the other four bike riders behind him. “Second, you will need to ask your boss if they promise to show a true commercial of the effects of the product.” At the second request, everyone looks at Lee shocked, as normally it is something no one does in their commercials.
Rexan taps her lips for a second. “The first request is easy and understandable, and we can do it now.” She then turns to Ben. “Can you stop looking at the recordings? Go to the van and bring your new bike and give it to the kid as you bet; also bring,” she says and looks around counting, “ten promo backpack bags and ten extra drinks.”
Ben is about to protest, but Alice just takes the tablet away from him and gives the van keys; at the same time, Rexan shoots him a warning look.
Reluctantly, Ben goes into their van and comes back, pushing his brand new, top-of-the-line push-bike. Unlike Lee’s circular handgrip, the one on this bike is a long bar with a square in the middle where the hologram and display shows. Looking at it, in Lee’s mind, he recognises this bike more like a bike than the one he has, that seems like it has a steering wheel from a car.
