Ch10: Closing Act

In the comfort of her home, Rina had just finished preparing her food. She carefully angled the wok pan in her left hand slightly off-center as it rested on the stove, creating a subtle incline. With a spoon spatula in her other hand, she scoops delicately sliced pieces of Lap Cheong from the hot oil pooled in the lower half of the pan. The meat glistens as she pushes it up toward the drier, upper section, away from the bubbling oil. As she continues, the oil settles into the wok’s downward slope, while the meat remains safely above. 

Setting down her spoon, Rina took a fresh steamy ball of rice from her cooker just sitting to the right on the countertop. She set the rice on a plate nearby, grabbing a portion of the meat as she made her way to the table. As Rina sat down, she picked at the fluffy sphere for a short bit before taking a large bite out of it.

The rest of the night was uneventful much like her dinner time–she watched a slight bit of TV while eating a bag of chips, then at some point, she had switched to a racing game on her Playstation 2 without much reaction to it. She played monotonously and effortlessly, defeating rivals on the videogame like clockwork. She filled out some papers before calling it a night to go bathe and get rest for the night. 

As she flopped onto the bed, her phone bounced out of her hand and landed beside her. Just before she could doze off, the phone buzzed. Rina tilted her body to the side to check her notifications. It was Mr. Fuji, he had sent a voicemail to her. She had no idea why he would call her so late but chose to answer anyway. Perhaps it involved Yuuki’s grades. She grabbed her phone and pressed the button as the audio message began to relay, while starting to doze off. 

“Good evening, Umebayashi. I wanted to ask if you would be available to fill in as a substitute for tomorrow.”

Rina’s eyes slowly started to close as she drifted off into sleep, listening as carefully as she could while her body fought to shut itself down.

“It is important that my students have someone to fill in for the culinary teacher so they can operate in a safe and supervised environment.” the message continued, as it was the last clear statement Rina could make out before she started to snore softly.

After a successful downhill run, the racing team Counter Steer made their way back up to the top of the mountain as they huddled together at the parking area, drinks from a vending machine in their hands as they discussed the next game plans with one another. 

“That run was great,” Yuna exclaimed, “You did great Yuuki! Aren’t you proud of that?”

Yuuki smiled, looking down at her clasped bottle of water as she happily replied.

“Yeah, I am,” she said. Yuuki looked up at everyone circled around, directing her gaze at Sakura most.

“Thank you for trusting me,” Yuuki chirped, “You drive fast but I knew I could get used to it.”

“Aww ya little charmer,” Sakura blushed, “That was all you, kid. I went pretty hard, ya know.”

Yuuki shied away looking down while still largely maintaining her overjoyed smile. Everyone shared a hearty laugh as they celebrated their newest ally’s commendable feat.

“I didn’t know you guys were so nice to people,” Yuuki began, “I was afraid you wouldn’t like having someone so new to your activity.”

Kato chuckled and shook his head.

“Why would we? Racing’s something for everyone, that’s what I’ve always said.”

“Yeah, what he said, really,” Sean added, nodding in approval.

“Well, almost everyone. If you get sick,” Yuna spoke, poking a slight bit of fun at Yuuki’s expense, “then it might not be so much for you.”

Yuuki puffed up her cheeks in retaliation, leering at her friend, before fading into a smile as she began to giggle at herself too.

The cold wind of the Haruna pass cooled the night sky. Yuuki, who wasn’t accustomed to the conditions of the mountains, began to shiver.

“It’s a little cold, though…” she said.

“Oh, right, you might not be used to that either,” Yuna replied.

“It’s so cold, how do you not get sick out at this time?” Yuuki cried.

Sakura inserted herself into the exchange. “Don’t stress it, lass,” she said, “you can warm up in the car. We’re just about ready to wrap things up here, we can take it easy next round.”

Yuuki nodded and hopped off the hood of Yuna’s GT-R and sat herself in the driver seat, playing with the settings on the center console trying to adjust the temperature of the heater.

As the air became silent again, they continued speaking as Yuuki warmed up inside the car.

Sakura then began, “You ready to call it a night?”

Yuna exhaled, “Not this night, I can’t. I have to be ready for tomorrow’s encounter.”

“Right… I almost forgot about that,” Sakura groaned.

“You mean the Supra?” Sean asked, “That’s bad timing, Yuna.”

“I know, it’s gotten archaic ever since last night,” she replied, “I have to keep training if we’re gonna hold our defense against anything like that.”

“Not to mention the Skyline is heavier than a Supra, added to the lighter engine she has…” Kato grunted.

“You guys can head on back home,” Yuna announced, “I’ve got to get back to it.”

She hopped off of her hood and opened the driver's seat door before she was stopped by Sean.

“You don’t have to push yourself so much, dude. It’s one night, Tsukamoto, just enjoy it.”

“We’re not gonna leave you anyways, it’s a great night to race.” Sakura insisted.

Yuna thought for a moment and agreed reluctantly.

“Right… I can spare to hold off for now.”

She turned to look at Yuuki who was still struggling to adjust the air conditioning before peering up to Yuna.

“You don’t have to get out,” said Yuna, “You’re driving anyways.”

“Me?” a confused Yuuki replied.

“Don’t worry, Yuu. You can take it easy this run,” she gleefully gestured, “I’m taking a break anyway.”

“O-okay…”

Tsukamoto made her way to the passenger seat, closing the door behind her.

“Alright, they’re ready when you are.”

“I-I’m being followed?!” Yuuki stuttered

“Well, I guess you might need a frame of reference…” Yuna contemplated. “Have you heard of Keiichi Tsuchiya?”

“I don’t think so?”

“Manabu Orido?”

“No.”

“Ken Nomura.”

“No.”

“Alright this is getting us nowhere…” she sighed, “You’re a driving novice…”

“I don’t even have my license yet, but Mama has been preparing me to drive.”

“Oh! That’s it!” Yuna exclaimed, “Just drive like your mom does!”

“Like Mama does? I can do that,” Yuuki replied happily.

“Awesome! Go for it, Yuu-chan!”

Yuuki put the skyline in gear before making a slow crawl out of the parking spot, the rest of Counter Steer following in the same Duos formation as before. 

As the Skyline led the line down the straightaway, approximately rolling at 30-34 kilometers per hour, the incline began to accelerate the GT-R down at a gradual pace, Yuna noticing that Yuuki was surprisingly calm, all odds against her previous outlook about driving down the mountain as they entered a moderate left-hand corner.

“You feeling alright?” Tsukamoto asked.

“Yeah, I think I got it,” Yuuki chirped.

“Alright, speed up when you’re ready,” she replied.

Suddenly, the Skyline gradually accelerated as a straight-faced Yuuki nonchalantly shifted into third gear as she took the upcoming right-hand curve. Behind them, the SilEighty, Eight-Six, and Eclipse gradually fell behind in the rearview mirror, headlights becoming more dim as the Skyline held the lead. 

She’s surprisingly quick… Yuna thought that line was clean through the hook, too.

“What the heck?” Sakura pressed down on the gas pedal, rapidly making her way up to the GT-R which left the group behind effortlessly. 

As the SilEightly made its comeuppance in the rearview mirror once again, Yuuki stole a quick glimpse in the mirror before pushing harder while coming up to a right hairpin, braking hard as she held the outside lane going into the curve, no inherent intentions to approach the apex. 

Upon the exit, Yuna was left with confusion. She had never seen her friend engage in driving so focused up until now. But she couldn’t keep that thought in her mind for long as Sakura started to overtake the Skyline through the right lane of the road. She looked to the right of her, first witnessing the SilEighty coast by the two at a cruising speed. Tsukamoto also noticed her friend was not wearing her focused look, but rather she looked more spacey than before. Except, Yuuki was seemingly more comfortable pushing the pace closer to the usual high speeds of the typical street racer. 

Yuuki’s back to her usual attitude… what was that just now?

Yuna looked away to focus her gaze back on the road, another corner cleared as the skyline turned to the right following a sudden left u-turn curve, the SilEighty pulling a fair distance ahead because of its lighter framework enabling Sakura to slide the car sideways.

Atop the Haruna mountain, there remained silence apart from the many critters occupying the atmosphere with chirps and buzzing. Crickets called out in the night as some squirrels rummaged through the tall grass. In the distance, the silence began to be disturbed by the echoes of a distant motorcar. A flash of blue-tinted headlights illuminated the nearby trees, and the distinct rumble of a ferocious engine muffled the wildlife as the car dashed quickly past the water tower sitting on top of the pass.

The Eight-Six and Eclipse dueled out of two consecutive hairpins, a right followed by the left, before taking on the straightaway downhill relative to the turnabout point next to the pathway leading to a skating rink. As both cars barrelled down the path, the same engine that dominated the surrounding environment could be heard rapidly approaching them, as though the machine was out for blood.

Kato desperately looked into the rearview mirror, watching for the blue lights to reveal themselves from the darkness.

“Shit, It’s coming up! Fast!!”

Without another thought, he slammed the accelerator, Sean following suit as the Eclipse led the straightaway into a soft left turn that hooked into a sharper curve, both cars fighting to fend off the newcomer. Taking a medium right followed by a hard left and a succession of consecutive soft lefts and rights, the car from behind took them by surprise as it rocketed past the Eight-Six and Eclipse.

“Damn, she cleared us like nothing!” Sean cried.

“That familiar sound,” Kato inferred, “there’s no mistaking it–”

Kato shifted down to a lower gear, determined to keep pace with the car that overtook with relative ease, his 4AGE exerting excessive power as the turbo whirred and he doubled down against his opponent, the Eclipse rearing its teeth as well as it too began to climb in speeds at an intense rate of change. 

Ahead of them was none other than Kaiya Shiraki, in her highly modified Supra A80.

“Nice joke,” she scoffed, “You’ll have to fight back with something faster than me.”

As she took a right u-turn with immense power, she crept up behind the SilEighty, full-throttling down a long straight as Sakura ran the line toe to toe with the monstrous A80. To no avail was it enough as the A80 simply outpaced Sakura.

“Not again…!” Sakura grunted through gritted teeth, forced to lift off the throttle as they came up to a soft right before an eventual left u-turn interrupted most maintained speeds at that section. The A80 ahead took the curve with absolute velocity, revealing the Skyline just entering a right turn. 

Yuuki took notice of the rapidly approaching car, as Yuna also gasped at the sight of what was to come.

“Crap, we’re not ready yet!” Yuna exclaimed. But her expression didn’t reach Yuuki, who was entranced in the rearview mirror’s sights.

A pink car…? 

Without another second passing, the Supra overtook the GT-R, as it sped off into the night. To Yuna’s shock, it didn’t feel like she was just defeated in a race. No, something else was going on she wasn’t aware of. As she was about to consider the situation, she would be interrupted by something she would never expect.

“You prick!!” Yuuki shouted.

She angrily downshifted, and the Skyline roared into the night sky bellowing out a war cry unlike Yuna had heard.