Ch9: Trial and Tribulation

The GT-R swung its tail as it continued to scale Mount Haruna and power through corner after corner at blazing speeds. Yuna clutch-kicked the Skyline and it began to skid along the apex of a right hairpin. She sped through the chicane just a few meters ahead of the curve as she cheered wildly. Yuuki remained mostly silent.

“Isn’t this great?!” Yuna exclaimed

“Could you maybe slow down a bit…?” Yuuki muttered, “I don’t feel great…”

“Oh, damn! Sorry, Yuu!” said Yuna. She lifted her foot gently off the accelerator pedal and chuckled to herself. “Wow, I might’ve been pushing it a bit too much. Sorry, sorry.”

The Skyline moved only a tad bit slower compared to the speeds it initially led on with and Yuuki became growingly less tolerant to it.

“You’re still going too fast!” she cried.

The GT-R came to a stop as the two had finally made it up to the top of the mountain where the rest of the Counter Steer racing team was waiting for them. Yuna hopped out of the car with stars in her eyes while Yuuki barely tumbled out of the car, nauseous from the looks of her disgruntled expression worn on her face. 

“Whoo! That was refreshing.” Yuna cheered. 

“For you, maybe…” Yuuki mumbled under her breath.

Yuna turned around with concern for Yuuki, as she quickly grabbed her friend’s hand and held her by the waist as she moved her down to rest next to a nearby guardrail.

“Are you feeling okay, Yuu?” she asked, “I didn’t think I pushed it that far.”

The rest of Counter Steer circled to Yuuki’s spot as they watched in concern for the poor girl who looked like she could pass out at any given moment. Sakura pulled out a handkerchief, and Yuuki graciously handled it as she held it up to her mouth. 

“You didn’t,” Yuuki sighed, “I’m used to this feeling, I know it.”

She lowered her hand from her mouth as she continued speaking.

“I guess I’m so used to mom’s way of driving… but not yours,” she said. “If I had more time to feel for it, maybe it wouldn’t be so bad to deal with it again.”

“If you think you’ll be fine, then…” Yuna replied, the collective rest of Counter Steer walking away to huddle around the hood of Yuna’s Skyline. She reached her hand out to Yuuki, lifting her from the asphalt ground as the two met up with the team. 

“Alright, we’re still down a member for the rest of this week,” Yuna said, “We’ll run it Duos. Sakura’s SilEighty and my GT-R lead–Kato’s Eight-Six and Sean’s Eclipse follow.”

“What about Yuuki?” asked the brunette-haired boy from Yuuki’s earlier encounter with Yuna’s racing team, “We can’t go hard if she’s gonna get ill from it.”

The same black-haired boy from the same introduction nodded his head in agreement.

“I could take her in the Eight-Six,” he added, “but I suggest she doesn’t risk any sickness at all based on her response to the Skyline.”

“That’s true,” Sakura commented, “what say I hang back and keep ‘er company? Run it by three instead.”

“Alright, that works out.” Yuna replied, “I could spare some time for that kind of practice.”

She pat Yuuki on the back before making her way to the GT-R, Sean and Kato making their way to their cars. 

“Just wait for us, alright?” she smiled.

Sakura grabbed Yuuki by the shoulders as the two sat down on the hood of the SilEighty, a Sea Green Nissan S13 hatchback sporting the front structure of the sedan model. They watched as the Skyline, Eclipse, and Eight-Six left to race one another in a three-way battle down the mountains. Sakura sighed as she laid back on the hood of her car, staring high into the clouds where the sun continued its descent over the mountaintops. 

“What’d I tell ‘er…” she remarked to herself.

Yuuki said nothing as she stared at the ground stuck in a trance of her thoughts.

“Do I… hold everyone back?” she softly asked.

Surprised, Sakura tilted her head forward at the question.

“How you figure? She’s a bloke but you’re not at fault for that, lass.”

Yuuki continued to stare off in the direction the three racers had disappeared in. 

“Look, ya don’t want to race? Fine by us, love. It’s not her right to tell ya otherwise.”

Nodding her head in acknowledgment, Yuuki slid off of the hood, feet planted onto the road.

“N-no, I want to go,” Yuuki stated. Despite her outward gesture, she was clearly trembling, her hands clenched into fists quivering with rapid succession.

Sakura tilted her head down to look at Yuuki, the girl surprising her with the opposite reaction of what she had expected. Part of Sakura doubted this reaction was reflective of what Yuuki wanted… and yet something felt different about her demeanor.

“Kid, you don’t have to push yourself–”

“I told you, I just need to get used to it!” she exclaimed.

Even with so many signs telling her not to go with her persistence, Sakura felt overwhelmed by the uncharacteristic expression of courage she unveiled. For a short moment, Sakura began contemplating the ultimate decision she would have to make, but the act of bravery on display gave a moment of clarity. 

Meanwhile, down the hill, Yuna and her group exit a left hairpin curve, sharp movement from the steering wheel to the manual stick with her left hand allowed the Skyline to reach a higher RPM and increase the powerband of her exit throttle. The GT-R eased into a medium left turn followed by a sharp right corner, speeding down a moderate straight, another right-hander coming up just ahead. As she prepared to engage the brakes, a sudden side-by-side matchup against the Eclipse sparked as Sean fought his way for the outside line.

Yuna chuckled as she let the Eclipse overtake while she tailed briefly behind, not before slamming the accelerator and stealing the apex of the turn, reclaiming her position leading the pack, the Eight-Six power sliding right beside Sean as they accelerated and fought to keep pace with the Skyline. 

Ahead of the trio was a right hairpin curve and the two cars which fought for second reformed into a single file line behind Yuna as they all took the same line attacking the corner. Once more, the same pattern engaged in the left hairpin turn. Skyline, Eight-Six, and Eclipse all bulleting out of the corner at intense pacing, shortly breaking their line of drafting, the reduction of drag significantly giving the two followers a burst of speed.

Unbeknownst to them, a fourth car had caught up with the group–the SilEighty. Flashing its headlights, the SilEighty coasted past the Eclipse and soared past the Eight-Six, running side-by-side next to the GT-R on the left of Yuna’s view. She turned in shock to see Yuuki in the passenger seat next to Sakura–seemingly unbothered, but not blank by any means. A blend of intrigue, fear, and determination.

No way… she thought, You’re incredible, Yuu!

She smiled as she shifted into the next gear, thinking to herself, I’ll show you what I can do, just watch!

Acknowledging the change in formation, the Eight-Six and Eclipse braked hard to fall a fair distance from the two clashing cars ahead–leaving the group to separate into two different matchups. As all four cars bolted down the hills of the Haruna mountain pass, the sunset oranges gradually began to fade away as the dark blue of night overcame the surrounding environment. The atmosphere filled with the growls of an RB26DET, the hiss of a twin-turbo SR20, the roar of a 4AGE, and the screams of a turbocharged 4G63 as the stars in the cosmos began to shimmer among the sky, screeches of tires engulfing the sound space.