Disclaimer: No, I have not gained ownership of Azumanga Daioh. At least, not yet I haven't...
A few opening words:
Sorry about the many spelling errors in the first chapter, those are fixed now. It was 3 am, and I didn't have a spell checking program (two computers, this one only had WordPad ). Anyway, now I do, so let's get rolling. Also, I'd like to say sorry for the cliffhanger, but I like doing that, so I won't.
Sakaki was pushed back in her seat by the car's impressive acceleration. She could hear, and feel, the rumble of the engine, and her tires spinning. She watched the crowds' faces fly by. All of a sudden, she felt the car starting to spin. She let off the gas a bit, and the tires caught themselves, and began to grip. A small grin found its way onto her face.
Sakaki looked to her right to see her competitors, shifting into second, and then third, not even missing a beat. As Ezaki had said, the 350Z had jumped ahead, though not by much. Reiko wasn't more than a foot ahead. They were all in line still. Sakaki glanced at the speedometer. It read 160km/h, and was climbing fast. She looked up, and saw a pair of reflectors in the shapes of arrow, above some orange tape, marking a left turn. She was traveling at more than 200km/h now.
Sakaki neared the corner, and let off the gas. The other racers hit the brakes to take the corner slowly. Sakaki however, wasn't expecting the corner to come up so fast. She slammed on the brakes and swerved to the right, and then back to the left. She was going around the corner, nowhere near the wall, but she noticed that the car was no longer traveling straight, rather, the rear end was sliding out. Sakaki remembered what to do in a spin, and let off the gas a bit, steering into the spin, while downshifting to 4th, and then 3rd. When she had finally straightened out the car, she was facing the direction she was meant to, and realized she was never actually spinning, just drifting, as she had heard others describe it.
Sakaki hit the gas again, and the car leapt forward, eager for more speed. She looked in the mirror, and saw the 350Z approaching fast to her right, followed by the other two not far behind. Reiko caught up, but since Sakaki was still accelerating, she ended up driving along side her. Reiko looked over at Sakaki, and laughed at the pale, surprised expression on her face. Sakaki was still shocked at how well she made it around the corner. She forced a smile, and looked back to the street. She saw a right turn, but it wasn't a right angle turn, and she could see another left right after it.
She approached the turn going full speed again, and let off the gas, applying the brakes more slowly this time. By now, Reiko had backed off to give her room to maneuver. I'll have to thank her after. She seems nice. Sakaki remembered what she did on the first turn, and swerved left, and back to the right, causing the tail end to begin to slide again. But then she noticed the left turn that quickly followed the right. She pulled hard on the wheel, and the car swerved to the left again, tail end whipping around. Sakaki shifted down to 2nd, and turned the wheel against the slide. As soon as she saw the exit of the turn, she hit the gas again, and sped out of the turn, Reiko right behind her. The other two cars weren't far off either.
Ahead of her was a long straightaway. She couldn't even see the next turn. The 350Z had caught up to her now, and was edging ahead to her right. Sakaki was in the middle of the road, and to her left the S15 was approaching too. She looked ahead, and noticed that it seemed to drop away. Just then, to her left, the S15 suddenly rocketed forward, accelerating at an impressive rate. She could tell something was up. Her car was nearing the redline in 6th gear. The S15 quickly passed, and she saw small blue flames coming from the tailpipes. Was that what he meant by Nitrous? She looked at the wheel, and noticed the red buttons. Her thumbs hovered over them, when she saw the S15, now a few car lengths ahead, drop out of view. All Sakaki had time for was a frightened yelp, as she felt her car go airborne.
The front of the S2000tipped down, and she saw the steep hill they were heading down. The S15 sudden slammed down, and began to swerve a little side to side. Sakaki braced herself, and her S2000 hit the road as well. She heard two more crashes as the Skyline and 350Z hit the ground behind her. She saw where the road leveled out ahead, and watched as the S15 hit it and began to swerve violently, quickly losing control. It drifted off to the side and clipped the curb, causing it to careen out of control, and spin directly in front of her. Sakaki turned hard, missing the other car by mere inches. She turned back, and corrected the small spin the swerve had induced. In her mirror, she saw the 350Z sail past unharmed, followed by a loud bang accompanied by the sound of glass shattering, as the Skyline slammed head on into the S15. She winced at the fate of the two cars.
Up ahead she saw the road turn left, but it wasn't a sharp turn. She slowed a bit, and went into the turn in 5th. It turned out to be a 180-degree turn, and they were headed back in the general direction of the finish. She saw a small group of people with cameras to her right, and as she passed them, their cameras flashed, and they pumped their fists in the air. Up ahead, she saw what was probably the last section of the course. It was what looked like four consecutive hairpins up a steep slope. Drawing near it, she let off the gas, and downshifted while braking. Once in 2nd gear, she swerved right, then slid into the first turn expertly. It went by fast, and she spun the wheel the other direction, and slid into the second turn. Sakaki realized that she could just chain her drifts through all hairpins. She made it through the 3rd one, and into the 4th. She slid around the 4th turn easily, and was faced with a long straight. Off in the distance, she saw the crowd of people break into two groups, revealing the finish. She shifted into 4th, and then 5th, and noticed the 350Z beside her begin to gain speed faster than her. No, it's not that. Reiko's car is just faster.
Thinking quickly, she remembered what happened when Kenyo had used the nitrous. She depressed both red buttons, and was slammed back into her seat. Now in 6th gear, the car shot forward with startling speed. The finish was approaching fast, and she quickly rid the 350Z of its growing lead. The car's RPM meter was in the redlines, and the engine strained to go faster. She was now level with the 350Z as the entered the crowd. Just as the nitrous ran out, her car nosed ahead of Reiko's, and passed the finish a fraction of a second before. Now realizing she was traveling at nearly 300km/h, she slammed on the brakes, and was pressed against the seatbelt. She downshifted to first and pulled the emergency brake. She wasn't sure why, really. The car suddenly spun around, and was facing the direction it came.
Sakaki realized she was holding her breath, and let it out in a large sigh of relief. Her ordeal was over, but throughout the race, she hadn't been scared. More along the lines of exhilarated, the kind of feeling you get when you go down the first hill of a roller coaster, but throughout the whole race. She let go of the steering wheel, and noticed her hands were shaking.
Sakaki looked up and saw the 350Z stopped ahead of her, its driver climbing out to join the crowd that was surging forth towards her. She was instantly surrounded by the cheering crowd. She saw Ezaki break through and pull open her door. He was beaming. He offered her his hand, which she accepted, and pulled her out of the car, and into the crowd. They gave her some room. Ezaki must've noticed the frightened look on her face, and laughed.
"What're you scared of? You won!" Sakaki looked surprised, and her heart skipped a beat. "I...won...?"
"Yeah! It was spectacular! Are you sure you've never raced before?"
Before Sakaki could answer, Reiko came into the small clearing of people, and was about to throw her hand over her shoulder, when she realized she was at least a foot shorter then Sakaki. She thrust out her hand instead, which Sakaki shook.
"Great racing! I've never seen someone drive so well! What's your name, kid?"
"Uh...Sakaki..." she stuttered.
"Sakaki huh? Well, congratulations!" Reiko smiled, and the crowd began to chant her name. "Sa-ka-ki! Sa-ka-ki!"
Reiko laughed and patted Sakaki on the shoulder. She saw Ezaki approach. He held out a roll of bills to her. "Wh...What's that?" she stammered.
"You kidding? It's your winnings of course!" He grabbed her hand, and put the money in it, closing her fingers around it. There must've been over 200,000 yen's worth of cash there! "You've earned it."
As the crowd dispersed, Reiko approached her again. "You look tired. Want a ride home?" Sakaki nodded. They walked over to Reiko's pink 350Z. It had an intricate grey design on the sides, which reminded her of the ancient Japanese art she had seen in her art courses. She climbed in toe passenger's door, and put on her seatbelt. Reiko followed suit and started the engine. She honked the horn a few times, and the crowd parted, giving them room to leave.
Some time later, Reiko slowed the car to a stop outside Sakaki's house. She climbed out, and closed the door. She leaned over to look inside. "Thanks."
"Hey, no problem. You know, you were pretty good out there. You should consider doing it again. Here-" Reiko reached into the glove compartment, and pulled out a card. She handed it to Sakaki. "That's my garage. Stop by sometime if you're interested in more racing." Sakaki smiled, and waved farewell as Reiko sped off down the street.
Sakaki unlocked the front door to her house, and climbed the stars to her room. Once inside, she glanced at the clock, which read 1:37AM. She was out later than she thought, but was too tired to bother thinking about it. With a long sigh, she flopped onto her bed, and fell asleep instantly, not bothering to change. Soon, she was met with dreams. But these were not the normal dreams she had been having, that of kittens, and the like. These dreams were filled with her memories of the sports cars, the music, and most of all, her first street race.
Author's note: Well there you go, chapter 2! I guess we've found out that Sakaki really is a natural at everything! Next time, on Behind the Wheel: Will Sakaki take up Reiko's offer? Will her dreams of kittens and cute things ever return? Will anyone ever realize that only two racers crossed the finish line? Find out next time!