Prologue

Shibukawa, Gunma, 1994

"I am ooof," said a thirteen year old boy whose birthday was near and went by the name of Fujiwara Takumi. Clad in his school uniform, he was ready to go to school on a bright sunny day in the month of February.

"Okay, got it." said his father Bunta in a monotonous voice, who was as usual at his job of running the tofu shop. Your usual taciturn father and son duo. Takumi put on his shoes and went off to school, closing the door gently behind him. The school was a five minute walk away.

While walking silently to his school, he would pass by a vegetable shop which was owned by a childhood friend of his father who happened to be his classmate till high school. Till Bunta stopped learning and went on to pursue his dream of being one of the fastest professional drivers ever produced by Japan.

"Oh, Taku-chan," she said. "Are you going to school?"

"Er..yeah" said Takumi, avoiding to look into her eyes as if he had met her at that very moment. And he went on walking.

'He is a child who always talks avoiding looking into your eyes… He's cute as he's shy…..Just like his mother….' She thought and started sweeping her shop and prepping it up for that day's business.

This was roughly five years before Project D started its undefeated streak all over Saitama, Kanagawa, Ibaraki and Tochigi, Takumi's second year at middle school.

"HEY! TAKUMII!"

Takumi looked at the direction the voice was coming from. It was one of his few close friends, Takeuchi Itsuki. He had become Takumi's friend and classmate during the first year, but started talking to him outta nowhere since the second year started. He was cheerful, loud and obnoxious, something that was a far cry from Takumi's personality. Yet they used to get on well with each other.

"Oh… it's you," Takumi said in a low voice seeing his pal join him on the way.

"Today we will be quizzed in English, you know that? How depressing! It is one of my weak points, man," said Itsuki, thus starting his daily rant on what was going to happen in school that day.

"Oh, by the way, you know Iketani-san? That senpai who lives in my neighbourhood?"

"Yeah," Takumi replied.

'Ah, that car nut who's always blabbering about some car he calls a Silvia,' he thought.

"So, what about him?"

"He told me that he will attend a training institute, this summer and get a driving license," Itsuki replied. "Cool, huh? Being a high-schooler, getting a driving license and going everywhere he wants…. He is an adult now!"

"A driving license huh….. from what age can you get one?"

"Eighteen," Itsuki answered back, wondering how his friend couldn't know such small things.

'That means… I can't drive before another five years pass by… Driving without a license is so wrong; he's turning his own son into a petty criminal…'

"By the way, Takumi, when is your birthday?" Itsuki asked, snapping Takumi out his thoughts.

"It is this month…pretty soon," came the stoic reply. Itsuki wanted to ask more, but as time was running out, the duo rushed to school.

Hours passed quite fast for them, and before they knew it was break time.

"You know, Takumi…" Itsuki started, standing on the school's terrace which was their favorite hangout place there.

"I dunno," he said. "I don't have a mum at home and dad runs a tofu shop. For us, there is no bon shogatsu or Christmas. The truth is that we are quite poor."

"Duh. If things are like that and I didn't get presents on my b-day, I would rather turn into a delinquent.."

"Then, I should have been one since six by your logic," Takumi shot back.

"Since you have nothing to lose, why don't you tell him that? Children are supposed to be a bond between their parents, Takumi.." Itsuki replied

"Eh?" Takumi said with raised eyebrows. 'I don't get what he's supposed to mean by that…'

That day, Takumi went home earlier than he usually did.

"Tadaima!" he said as he closed the door. "Hmmm, dad…"

"Wait a sec," his father interrupted. "I am on the phone right now…" The person on the other side picked it up.

"Yes, Fujiwara Tofu Store speaking . I am sorry but can you collect the money for today's due bills next week? "He said.

'Oh, great. Why today of all days!?' Takumi thought sadly.

"Business has been bad lately, yeah.." Bunta continued. "I am really sorry, but I can make it somehow if you give me one more week," The man agreed, and Bunta kept down the receiver.

'I work and work and work….and I stare at my hands….' Bunta thought, remembering one of Ishikawa Tabukoku's poems. "Well, you were asking me something right?" he said, turning his attention towards his son, startling Takumi in the process.

"Um…well… Let's see what was it again, er… I forgot…" Takumi mumbled giving out an artificial chuckle. He understood that it was not the best time to ask him about gifts. He went into his room upstairs, changed clothes and had a quick snack.

He then came downstairs, put on his shoes to go for a walk around the neighborhood. As walked towards the temple he stared at his father's AE86 parked in the small space beside his home. Takumi remembered the day his dad had sold off his grandfather's Isuzu Bellett, only due to a lack of space. Though he begged his dad not to sell it as he loved fiddling with its mirrors, holding its steering wheel, and playing around it all day, Bunta had replied that he would be getting a new car and the Bellett's trunk was small to accommodate more tofu due to increased demand.

"Bah.." he said and went on to the temple.

"It's fine, as if I gave a toss 'bout it anyway…"he thought to reconcile with himself while he stared at the steps leading to the temple.

"It is not dad's fault that I am not getting any gifts," he went on, "It is all due to poverty,"

"For example, there are many 13 year olds in Africa who can't get two square meals a day. They don't have both parents, a cozy home to sleep at night. When they grow up, they don't have jobs so no work. It is a continent full of children without any dreams and hopes... and yakuniku. I can laugh out loud compared to them…. Being poor is fun!" he concluded.

The next morning, as usual since 1993, Takumi went on his tofu delivery runs to Mt. Akina's summit. He used to hate the drive uphill, as he could not go beyond 130 km/h without damaging the tofu and spilling the water. This meant going slower than he could, reducing his sleeping time and Takumi loved dozing. Once he unloaded the tofu, he sped down the main straightaway leading to a medium right.

"Couldn't this car go any faster?" he said impatiently. The warning bell came on as he was inching towards the right hander. He then downshifted to fourth gear, and flicked the car in as fast and as near as he could towards the small gutter at the inside, one of his favorite pastimes. But by now even that wasn't as fun as it was a month ago.

"This is so boooring…." he muttered as he exited the corner at 125 km/h.

The rest of the downhill run passed with Takumi wishing for more speed out of the car every time he hit the straights and exited corners. In a time of 3 and half minutes, he had reached the base and reached his home in another minute. He found his father waiting at the door step. He then parked it in its spot and came out without closing the door.

"This boy…" he muttered as he took out the paper cup and closed the door. And as was his routine ever since Takumi started delivering tofu, he bent down to check the tire wear on the front tires.

'He needs to learn a lot on distributing the weight equally on all the tires, he's still too rough on them when he enters the corners….' He thought. 'He must cut down on the corner entry speeds. Nevertheless, his progress within a year is quite amazing. His natural aptitude for racing is scary…'

"Takumi, control is more important than speed. If you drive at this rate, the tires will not last for long…" he advised his son.

'That stuff is so boring..' Takumi thought. "I do not care. The only thing I care about is returning home as early as possible," he said while he smelled something familiar.

'Oh, it is sake,' He thought.

"Hey dad, did you go drinking last night?"

"Yeah, I did. So?" Bunta answered, astonishing Takumi.

"What? That is so weird! You even postponed the bill payments; so irresponsible of you! If you got the m-money to d-drink, then how about using it to pay your bills on time!?"

"You stuttered on the important words," Bunta pointed out while chuckling softly, which made Takumi lose his cool.

"Jeez, this does it! I will not help with the deliveries from now on! This is not Africa, it is Gunma in Japan!" he shouted.

"Okay…" Bunta thought amusedly.

"I will be a delinquent from now on!" Takumi declared as he made his way to the front door. In all his fiery rage he couldn't remember that he had to turn at the corner and wham, he crashed into the wall.

At the school, he and Itsuki once again went to the terrace for a little talk on how one becomes a delinquent. He narrated everything to his pal and sighed.

"….and so, I will become a delinquent. Honestly, I don't know what I should do…maybe I could drink sake or smoke a pack of cigarettes, but they cost money and I can't even hang out at an arcade playing Tekken and all those things. Isn't being poor and a delinquent at the same time a bit too difficult? Anyway, what do you think I should do?" he asked.

"How about robbing a convenience store?" Itsuki suggested and all he got was a punch in the face as a reward. Takumi was starting to behave like a delinquent already.

"Idiot! Isn't that a crime?" he retorted. "But that is the sort of things a delinquent does!" Itsuki shot back. That flashed an idea in Takumi's mind.

"I have got a good hint. I will put it into practice as soon as I reach home!" he exclaimed. And that is how Operation: Delinquent began. That day, Takumi sprinted towards home at such a speed that even Usain Bolt would be amazed.

"Great, dad's not at home. And the car's here too!" he exclaimed excitedly. He started fantasizing about the aftermath…..

"Fujiwara Bunta, am I correct?" asked a police officer who was clad in a suit and wore dark glasses. "You can figure who I am from this," he said and showed his badge, and explained what had happened.

"Eh! He was arrested for driving without a license!?" Bunta exclaimed worriedly.

"That's right," the cop confirmed. "As a father, you have shied away from your responsibility. I want you to come to the police station as a suspect," he said, which made Bunta fall down on his knees and hold his head due to guilt. The cop made him stand up and patted him once on his shoulder.

"I have heard it all. You haven't celebrated his birthday and made him work like a donkey delivering tofu early in the morning. Being at a loss, he was likely to commit an offense. Moreover, you are a drunkard and you don't do your job properly," he commented, making Bunta frown with sadness.

And then in the lock up, he started lamenting: "Forgive me son, it looks like I was wrong….."

Takumi chuckled at the very thought of it. And off he went with the car.

He tried hard to make the cops notice that a middle school kid was driving a car. But unfortunately, he failed at it and the 86 returned home safely. Heartbroken, he rested his forehead on the steering wheel softly.

"Though I ran circles around the train station wearing my uniform like this, the cops didn't give a damn about me," he lamented. "It is because it is the sticks here, I cannot even become a delinquent here…" he muttered sadly. But then again, you can't blame the cops either. Takumi was just too good behind the wheel for a middle school student.

The next day, Takumi and Itsuki decided to talk about it again while strolling through the corridor.

"Isn't it your birthday today, Takumi?" Itsuki asked. Takumi just nodded.

"How about running away from home?" he suggested. The latter raised his eyebrows at the mention.

"I mean, you can spend the day outside your home as it your b-day without telling anybody," Itsuki continued. "It will make your pop worry about you."

"It can work," Takumi agreed. "But I don't have a place to stay for the night."

"How about mine, pal?" Itsuki asked, making his friend jump with joy.

Then, after school ended for the day, Takumi went with Itsuki to his place. His place was much bigger and more luxurious than the Fujiwaras'.

"I'm home!" Itsuki said, while he removed his shoes and kept them neatly in the rack beside. His mum came to take his school bag. Takumi, not knowing what to say then as he rarely visited others' homes, mumbled:

"Sorry for disturbing you…"

"It is fine," Sakura Takeuchi said, giving him a kind smile. "So, you could have told me earlier that Takumi-kun was coming to our home earlier, you know," she told her son.

"Since he will be staying for the night, prepare some good dinner," he said and the duo proceeded to the latter's room. Till dinner time, they read some comic books and did their homework.

"Dinner's ready, Itsuki! Come down!" his mum called. They then proceeded to the Takeuchi's kitchen -cum- dining room. Takumi was surprised at the variety of dishes, something which he rarely saw at his place.

"Amazing! What a feast! It is almost like a reception," Takumi said, making his friend look at him with disbelief.

"This is pretty much normal for us," he said. They sat down and joined Hitoshi Takeuchi for dinner, who was drinking some beer.

"There are a lot of dishes," he said. "So, eat to your heart's content, Takumi-kun."

"Oyaji, give me and Takumi some of that too!" Itsuki said, pointing at the bottle of beer.

"Eh!? No, I am fine as it is!" Takumi said, looking shocked at the very thought of drinking beer.

"I thought you wanted to be a delinquent," Itsuki whispered in his ear. Takumi nodded and took a sip. It was quite bitter in taste, but he still managed to finish the glass he had been given.

Time passed on, as they laughed and made merry. While he was dining with the Takeuchis, Takumi started telling what the daily routine at his place was.

"And then?" Itsuki asked his pal.

"It is not that terrible," Takumi said. "He makes me do the tofu deliveries since early in the morning," he continued. While he was inebriated, he still kept his brains about him and didn't tell that he drove a car and drifted with it both up and down the hill at speeds above 100 km/h.

"Ah, what a good boy you are!" Sakura praised him. "Helping at home and all. You are a lot different than our Itsuki."

"No, it is not like that at all," Takumi said, making his pal think that he was quite weird.

"There is no love or a bond between us," he continued. "My face does not resemble my dad's at all. I think I must have been adopted," he said.

Sakura chuckled. "You are very funny, Takumi-kun. Make sure you give a call to your father. He must be worried."

"Nah, he won't be," Takumi assured her. "He's probably drinking some sake somewhere right now. That's because he's an idiot!" he laughed silly. But his heart was not in agreement and it caused a sharp pain in his chest.

'I wonder what that is….I can feel it in my chest….' He thought. But he soon forgot about it and went to sleep alongside his friend in his room. Sakura finally called Bunta and he came to pick him up by five in the morning.

"Gomen'nasai. He must have caused you quite a bit of trouble…" Bunta apologized.

"No, not at all, Please come in…" she said and led him to Itsuki's room. Bunta found his son sleeping peacefully beside him. He then knelt down and gently patted his shoulder.

"Takumi…. Wake up," he said in a low voice. Takumi opened his eyes and saw his dad; he was quite surprised to see him there.

"Dad?"

"Not now," he said. "Pick up your school bag and gakuran. Let's go."

By 10 minutes, Takumi took his belongings and sat in the car and before he knew it, the AE86 was cruising up the three lane road at Akina's base. Takumi was starting to prepare for a scolding, but none of it happened.

"Listen, Takumi…" Bunta started.

"Spending the night away from home is fine, but at least give me a phone call. I was quite worried," he said. Yesterday was your birthday, and I was waiting for you to come home."

"You didn't forget, dad?" an astonished Takumi asked.

"Of course I didn't!" Bunta said with his eyes wide opened and looking at Takumi, which was a pretty rare moment. "How can I forget the birthday of my only son?" he asked, bewildered seeing his son thinking like that. "I've left you a gift and a cake on the dining table, eat it and go to school," he said and returned his vision to the road.

It brought tears to Takumi's eyes.

"Sorry dad, I got carried away and spoke ill of you a lot," he apologized as they passed by the skating center's entrance. The rest of the journey to the summit went quiet and within 3 minutes, they were coming down the straight.

'Even if I explain to him in words, he will not get it. He's the type who learns how to conduct a car by feeling it with his body. Showing it once to someone like him, he will understand the difference between the way how I drive and he drives,' Bunta thought and stepped on the throttle and drifted through the first left corner in a perfect demonstration of a braking drift.

That was the very first time Takumi experienced a full throttle downhill sprint. It would have scared anybody in Bunta's driving seat, but not him. He had faith on his father and was confident that no matter what the speed and the lateral G's were, he would never ever lose control. Never.

'Amazing…. This is the first time I am seeing him like this…like a diamond glittering in the dark…' he thought as he braced himself for the upcoming corner.

A few hours later, Takumi was going to school, happier than ever.

"Good morning, Yumi-san," he greeted his father's school mate; not looking into her eyes as he passed by the vegetable store. She just smiled back.

'Oh my, he smiled,' she thought once he couldn't be seen any longer. 'Something good must have happened to him.'

'Even though, he's still cute…' She added as an afterthought.

Ryosuke explains...

Now, not all of us are knowledgeable about drifting techniques and mechanics, right? So we have our in - house genius Ryosuke Takahashi to explain it to us right here.

A: We are so happy to have you here, Ryosuke.

R: Whatever.

A: You must be feeling great after leading Project D through a series of wins.

R: Whatever.

A: Is that your catch phrase?

R: No. It is just that I have a test tomorrow.

A: Anyhoo, let's cut to the chase then. What is a braking drift?

R: It is an highly advanced technique that takes years to master. For a braking drift you're essentially keeping the front tires on the hairy edge of their traction limit and making the rears exceed theirs, thus making the rear slide out. The braking drift can be a very fast way to slide out a car that has initial oversteer on turn-in and understeer on sustained cornering. Setting up a car this way is easily done by reducing the effect of the frontal sway bar and lowering the dampening effect of the front shocks.

A: What is this 'AE86' thingy?

R: It is the chassis code of the Toyota Sprinter Trueno and the Corolla Levin (a.k.a Toyota Corolla GT-S in the west), the fifth generation of the Toyota Corolla lineup. Other cars too have their chassis codes, like the third generation Nissan Skyline GT-R called as the R32 or a BNR32. My car a second gen. RX-7 is called a FC.