Ch8: Purpose

Akira closed the door of the Silvia and made his way to the back entrance of the school building. He walked down the hallways only to notice no one was around, the air being silent while he was deep in thought. Time began to slow down while he contemplated the events of the night before. Turning his head left… and right… he had noticed nothing had changed, but everything felt so different. As he made his way to a set of closed doors ahead of him, out came Yuuki charging in at maximum velocity.

“There you are!” Yuuki exclaimed, the top of her dome planted into his rib, “Where were you?”

Akira stumbled back immensely confused at the suddenness of the situation.

“What the Hell was that for??” he cried, crumbling into a fetal position, kneeling on all fours in response. 

“It’s your girlfriend, dummy,” Yuuki scowled, “You’re lucky I found you before she could.”

Akira winced as he looked up from the floor to Yuuki who wore a mean stare, arms crossed.

“You didn’t call her to say you’re okay once, you moron,” Yuuki said, “What were you doing in the mountains that was so important?”

Gritting his teeth, Akira stood back up slowly as he tried to explain. But before he could get a word out, he hesitated. To his disbelief, he had tried coming to terms with the fact his opponent was the sweet motherly figure of his childhood friend. It simply could not register in his head what he was working with, as though everything he had thought he came to know was a hoax.

He looked away and replied, “You’re right… I got so carried away about the whole thing.”

“It’s not me you should apologize to,” said Yuuki. “You better make up with Eimi.”

“I will, yeah,” Akira stuttered. Concerned, Yuuki had taken notice of Akira’s odd behavior. She was unsure if her insults got to him, but she backed down from her harsh tones anyway.

“I didn’t hurt you badly, did I?” Yuuki asked.

“N-no, it’s fine,” Akira stammered. Taking a quick breath, he reassessed the situation. The looming question of whether Yuuki was aware of what her mother does or not kept on building up, questions upon questions piling up as he kept thinking about it.

“Actually, something bothers me a little bit,” he said, “It’s about your mom, Yuuki.”

Nothing Akira was saying felt like him in the whole exchange. Curious, Yuuki decided to press on. 

“Is something wrong?”

“I don’t know how else to say this, but…”

A few seconds pass in absolute silence. As he was just about to bring up his thoughts, he recalled how Rina asked him to keep her secret from everyone, maybe even her daughter upon his realization. Was it true? The questions ate at him tirelessly, overwhelming his willpower.

“Your mom–is fast,” he blurted, barely catching himself from saying too much.

For a moment, Yuuki was confused to hear that statement, having already known this information. Then she thought more about the meaning, why Akira of all people would be mentioning this, and it finally clicked.

“Like… a racer?” she asked.

Akira jumped realizing his mistake, and yet Yuuki’s reaction felt underwhelming. She just stood still, asking with her soft tone of voice, though somehow at that moment Yuuki spoke as if she were a different person.

“You raced Mama?”

“I’m sorry… I wasn’t supposed to say anything.”

Yuuki looked down briefly, then back up to Akira. 

“That’s okay. Your secret is safe with me,” she said.

“You’re alright with this?”

Yuuki nodded her head.

“Did you win, Akira?”

“No, she was incredibly fast. It’s almost inhuman what I saw.”

The two turned away from the door they stood next to, making their way back out the door as they continued to talk about the race.

“My mom showed up with her to Haruna last night. I thought she was there to stop me from racing, but she just let it happen,” Akira began,  “I don’t know what got into her, but it felt… relieving.”

“Why?”

He shrugged.

“It felt like I was finally understood after years of not. I’ve always wanted to build my dad’s car after he died, that’s been my dream for so long.”

As Yuuki and Akira kept walking into the parking lot, they finally stopped at the sight of the S15. 

“I want to make the fastest mountain racer Silvia my dad would be happy to build,” he continued, “but racing your mom made me realize I’m not ready for the risk it takes.”

He pet the wing on the trunk as he chuckled to himself. 

“If I kept driving with blind spite, I might have never come to that realization. She humbled me enough to get a grip on reality,” he laughed. 

Yuuki nodded again, almost dismissing Akira as she thought to herself.

Everyone has a reason to race… she thought, cars really do mean something special.

“Er, like I said, I wasn’t supposed to say anything about all of this,” Akira interrupted, “but thanks for listening to me.”

He wore a small smile, taking one last look at the Silvia before turning back around to head inside the school building.

“I’ll go ahead and talk to Eimi, thanks for the heads up.”

Yuuki remained standing next to the S15, examining the rear of it as she fell back into her thoughts. 

A minute passed before she decided to walk into the school once again, pushing the door open as the click of door mechanics echoed through the empty hallway. She took off in the left direction through the door she came through, making her way to her class before the bell rang.

Akiko and Rina sat at a table inside a local cafe a few blocks down from their workplace, drinks in hand as cars passed by the store. Relieved that the night had come to an end, and thankfully, with no accidents. A service worker checked on the two briefly before continuing with their work, and then the two began to discuss last night’s events. 

“So how was it? Did Akira give you any trouble?”

“Not at all,” Rina replied, “he has a lot of potential for his age, you know.” 

Akiko smiled. “He doesn’t get it from me,” she said, “That’s all Jei at work.”

She leaned back in her seat, a sigh emerging from her breath.

“When I was driving home with him, he had so much to say about you.”

“He told you?”

“Mhm, I’ve never seen his eyes light up like that in years.” Akiko said, leaning forward a second later, her voice filled with conviction, “Though, answer me this, Umebayashi…”

Rina tilted her head to the side, confused.

“Why did you tell him? You didn’t have to turn around,” Akiko insisted, “but you decided to. What led you to do that?”

The two briefly paused, the table had gone quiet. Rina closed her eyes as she looked down at her hands and smiled. She sighed and finally responded.

“I wanted to comfort him as a guardian like you did for me,” Rina replied, “I’m his auntie after all.” 

“I know there’s a risk to revealing a secret as big as that,” she continued, “but if it means I can help him, I’m ready to take it.”

“Maybe it might motivate him more seeing someone he knows being that good,” Akiko giggled, “I admit I don’t want to see him lose passion for something he’s so happy with.” 

Akiko stood up to imitate her child’s amazement and excited demeanor, recalling the aftermath of the race.

“Akira had stars in his eyes when he talked about you. He was almost bouncing off the walls just mentioning how crazy your technique is,” she remarked, “I think he’s seeing you in a different light, Umebayashi.”

“Aiyaa, but I’m still the same!” Rina blushed, “I hope it doesn’t mean I’ll be teaching any driving skills…!”

Akiko sighed, seating herself back down.

“It’s okay,” Akiko laughed, sitting back down in her seat and waving her hand in a dismissive motion up and down, “I’ll be the one who teaches him that stuff, you’re fine.”

“Enough of that, though,” Akiko said, “How’d Yuuki enjoy her birthday surprise?”

“I think it went well,” said Rina, “she hasn’t been too open to driving it yet–no thanks to the age limit, she doesn’t want to take the car anywhere.”

“Well, age hasn’t stopped you from doing it before, no?” Akiko teased.

“She’s not supposed to get that from me,” Rina muttered, “but sometimes I kind of wish she would be a bit more excited.”

Rina stared down at her beverage while Akiko paused at the strange response.

“What’s that? Honestly, you have it lucky,” said Akiko.

“I know. It’s just…” Rina exhaled.

“I don’t want her to feel bound by me or anything, but I feel like I set herself up in that position.” 

“You’re too hard on yourself, you know that?” Akiko sighed. “But I get it, it must be kinda dull without a little action now and then.”

“It’s totally okay if that’s what she wants, you know,” Akiko smirked, “It doesn’t have to stop you from having your own fun.”

“Pardon?”

“The races, I would guess,” Akiko chirped, “Wasn’t it kind of fun to run down the hills again?”

“I only did it to help you, though,” Rina replied, “that’s all I ever did it for.”

“Aww come on,” Akiko playfully whined, arms resting on the table with a wide smile painted across her face, “Not even the slightest bit of enjoyment from our little Haruna Angel?”

She giggled before sitting up straight again.

“I’m only kidding darling, you tell yourself whatever you want.”

Rina blushed, looking away with contempt as Akiko adjusted herself and took another sip from her drink.

The bell rang as Yuuki and Yuna emerged from the classroom, walking down the hallways in the direction of staircases leading to the rooftops, where their friends had agreed to meet. As they took to the stairs, Akira followed from behind, catching up with the two girls. 

“Oh hey,” Yuna called to Akira.

“So what’s next for Counter Steer?” he asked.

Yuna replied, “We’ve got an upcoming race with the Supra next time.” She grinned.

“But in the meantime, I might head up to Haruna to get some practice in,” she said, “You should come with, dude.”

Yuna, Akira, and Yuuki walked down the roof floor, Akira smiling before he shook his head.

“Thanks but I can’t,” Akira replied, “I’m going shopping with Mom to put the Silvia’s missing parts together.”

Yuna turned her head to face Akira in shock.

“She’s cool with that?” she questioned. “That’s honestly great to hear, Akira.”

“I’m just glad mom finally understood me,” Akira sighed, “bringing the S15 to its peak condition has been a long-time goal, but it feels great to have support for it.”

“I wouldn’t know,” Yuna shrugged, “My parents didn’t care for that stuff. Asked for the Skyline when I was young and they just gave it to me.”

“Long as my studies are fine, they don’t really ask about stuff down here. Typical Tokyo suburbs crap.” she smiled.

Yuna turned to Yuuki.

“What about you? What’d Miss Umebayashi say about racing?”

Yuuki said nothing, having been lost in the conversation unsure of how to respond. 

“I… don’t know,” Yuuki replied. “I have the car now, but I don’t think I’d be allowed to race it.”

“You got a car?” Akira peeped.

“Yeah, a Nissan like ours,” Yuna cheered.

“They’re pretty beginner-friendly cars for mountain racing,” Akira nodded “It could be good for her to get into it then.”

“I never said I was going to join a team,” Yuuki pouted, “I don’t even know the first thing about racing…”

“Sorry!” Akira and Yuna profusely apologized.

Later that same evening, Rina waited between traffic cars at a stoplight. The town was occupied from head to toe with moderately heavy traffic, buses coming to full-stop as students scurried on home. Meanwhile, Mr. Fuji closed the school gates once again, walking past Yuna and Yuuki who were waiting under the same station as he waved goodbye to them. 

“The guys should be at Haruna by now,” said Yuna, “You ready to head up with them?”

“I hope… I haven’t been to a racer meeting before,” Yuuki mumbled.

“It’s all good, Yuu,” Yuna assured her, “Make sure your mom knows you’ll be hanging out with me late.”

“Right…”

Yuuki took her phone out of her bag and she began to text Rina’s phone.

As the Supra was making its way downtown, traffic had stopped again, slowing the A80 to a halt. Rina sighed as she started to grow more impatient with every stop. A buzz from her phone rocked the passenger seat it sat on and Rina reached to grab it. As the screen illuminated, a message from Yuuki appeared. 

“I am going to be staying with Yuna for the night, we are going for a drive and I will be helping her with homework later.” 

“Okay, don’t be late to school tomorrow,” Rina replied.

Just then, the cars ahead of Rina started to move, and she turned on her signal as she made a left-hand turn off the intersection. Soon enough, Rina had made it home to her residence. She turned the key to the house door and stepped into the empty entrance. 

I have the house to myself, Rina thought as she stood at the doorway taking in the cold silence of her home. 

I guess I’ll make dinner for one.