Golden Arrows
Chapter Three
'Didn't you hear me?' the girl said.
'Wha…'
'She's a foreigner,' one of the other two sneered, 'maybe she doesn't even speak our language.'
'I am not a foreigner,' Kizuna finally said, 'I was born in Japan.'
'Really?' the first girl clearly not believing her.
'And you still haven't answered to our question,' the third of the girls noted.
Kizuna stared at them for a moment trying to decide the best possible way to tell all three of them to go to hell when, realising that she would have to spend four years in that college, it probably wasn't the wisest thing to get herself three enemies on her very first day there. For this reason, she tried to be reasonable:
'My name is Kizuna Ethridge. I was talking to…Takahashi-senpai because…well…'
'Yes?' the three of them asked her at the same time.
'Because we're acquainted,' Kizuna replied, 'we've met through…mutual friends.'
'Is that all?' the girl who'd spoken first asked.
'Yes,' Kizuna replied then some suicidal instinct made her ask, 'why are you asking me this?'
'Why?' the girl repeated.
'Yes, why?' Kizuna asked her.
'Look,' she started, 'despite what you said, you're obviously not from here so, for today, we'll be good and explain how things work here: Takahashi-senpai is our ideal man. Quite a few of us would give anything for a date with him but we know he's not interested in this because…well…'
'Because he's concentrated on his studies,' one of her two friends supplied, 'he's very dedicated to his career and we know for a fact that he won't date anyone until he finishes college. For this reason you better forget any romantic notions you might have had with him.'
'Romantic notions?' Kizuna repeated unable to believe what she was hearing.
'Yes.'
'Well,' Kizuna said trying to sound patient and not patronising, 'you can all rest easy: I too want to concentrate on my studies so I'm most definitely not interested in dating Takahashi-senpai. Okay?'
The three girls started laughing in a very nasty way and then, one of them smirked at her and said:
'You're like a thousand years too early to talk like that.'
'That's right,' her friend said, 'there's no way he'd date someone like you, not in this lifetime anyway.'
'Let's go,' the one who seemed the leader said, 'she's hopeless,' then, glaring at Kizuna, she said, 'make sure you learn what your place is in here, if you don't want to have problems.'
'What's that supposed to mean?' Kizuna asked narrowing her eyes.
'Just don't let us catch you talking to Takahashi-senpai again or you'll know what we mean.'
With that, the three girls walked away from her leaving the half-American girl positively fuming. She had had her fair share of hysterical chicks back home but this level of fangirlism went over anything she'd experienced before. She was so shocked she nearly missed the start of the welcome speech.
A couple of hours later, the huge room was beginning to empty when the girl saw Kyosuke walking towards her. She then remembered her not-so-friendly conversation with the three girls and that made her panic so much that, before she knew it, she turned around and started running towards the exit.
'Kiz…'
She didn't stop running until she got to the library's building and, once there, she felt her eyes widen with surprise. Kizuna was unable to believe what she had just done, running away like that was not what she would normally do. Was she really so scared of what those three nutters had told her?
Yes.
The answer to that was yes and the reason was obvious too: she was thousands of miles away from home, on her own and in an entirely new place with people she didn't know. It was only natural she was afraid. She still shouldn't have escaped like that, she thought miserably.
The worst thing was that she would still have to face him the following Saturday, not to mention that he attended the same college she did. A depressed Kizuna decided to spend most of the day at the library, locked up in one of the private study rooms she had found during one her explorations.
That night it took Kizuna quite a while to fall asleep.
The rest of the week went by without her bumping on neither of the three girls since none of them seemed to be enrolled in the same courses that she was. She didn't see Kyosuke either and that made her feel something weird she wasn't prepared to explain to herself yet.
On Saturday, Kizuna got up earlier than usual and, after the morning lessons and since April had brought with it slightly milder weather, she decided to go for a walk around the city and, for some reason, she found herself standing outside the window of a very popular fashion shop.
There, she saw a dark red skirt which was light-years too short for her standards.
Biting her lower lip, she looked at the faded jeans she was wearing and, mentally, she tried to think of what she had that she could wear that evening. She had that black skirt and possibly a smart pair of trousers she had got for some job interview but, other than that, she only owned jeans and other equally comfy clothes.
Following a whim, she walked into the shop and asked the assistant there if they had the skirt in her size and, less than fifteen minutes later, she left the shop with a bag containing what was her first impulsive purchase ever and, for once in her life, she understood the reason why some girls liked shopping so much.
It was kind of fun.
Getting carried away, she also got herself a new denim jacket, since she needed a new one anyway, and a long sleeved tight-fit t-shirt the colour of which went perfectly with her new skirt and by the time she got back into her room, she realised that she only had an hour to eat something, take a shower, get dressed and drive all the way to Mt Akagi's base.
'Oh crap,' she muttered to herself.
Deciding she'd get something to eat along the way, Kizuna grabbed her bathroom stuff and went to the dorm's shower rooms. She took one as fast as she could and, ten minutes later, she was back in her room drying her hair with her travel-sized hairdryer and as soon as she finished with that, she got dressed. At exactly twenty minutes to nine, Kizuna was on her way out again.
'Going out?' she heard a horribly familiar voice say.
It was one of the members of the Evil Trio, as she had started to think of the three weirdos who seemed set on making Kizuna's life in college a pretty miserable experience. She considered briefly ignoring her but, seeing that it would only make things worse, she smiled in a very fake way and said:
'Yes, I hope that's allowed in here.'
'It depends,' the girl replied with an even faker smile, 'who are you going out with?'
'Not that it's any of your business,' Kizuna said still forcing herself to smile, 'but you don't know them.'
'Is that so?' the girl replied this time with a real smile, 'have fun then.'
'I will,' she promised.
Running away from her, she made it to her Nissan with only fifteen minutes to get to Mt Akagi. She was pretty hungry but there simply was no way she could stop and eat somewhere and still make it on time to her appointment with the Golden Arrows so, instead, she climbed into her car and a few moments later, she left the college grounds behind.
Crossing the city of Maebashi wasn't an easy feat at any time of the day but, for some reason, on Saturday evening things were even worse, for this reason, she only made it to the outskirts of the city with just four minutes to go but, the instant she entered the Route 62, she floored the accelerator hoping that no one would see the speeding car.
At exactly one minute to nine, she arrived at destination and, right there, parked right in front of the vending machines from where she'd first seen the two Mazda, Kizuna saw the yellow one. Its driver was outside leaning against it, drinking from a can he'd probably just bought. The girl stopped her Nissan behind the RZ-1, climbing out of the car only after she was sure she was calm enough.
'Hi,' she said as cheerfully as possible.
'Hello,' Kyosuke replied. His tone was very serious.
'Are we early or are they late?' she asked him looking around herself.
'They'll be here shortly,' Kyosuke said, 'I told them to come at quarter past nine.'
'You did?' she asked him.
'Yes,' he replied, 'I needed to talk to you first.'
'What about?' she asked as casually as she could.
Kyosuke took another sip from his can and, looking at it for a second, as if he was trying to gather his thoughts, he pulled himself away from his car and, taking a few steps towards her, he stopped when he was standing right in front of her.
'That day,' he started, 'after the opening ceremony, you ran away from me, why?'
'Wha…'
'It made me feel rather confused, you know?'
'I'm sorry,' she said.
'What happened?' he asked, his tone sounded concerned.
'Nothing,' she replied a little too quickly, 'I just…I remembered I had to do something.'
'Really?' he asked her.
'Yes,' she replied, 'that's it.'
Kyosuke looked at her briefly and she saw him sigh, he then looked away for a bit frowning in worry as though as he was trying to figure out what to say next. When he glanced back at her, his face was once again as expressionless as when she'd first arrived.
'Can I ask you something?' he finally said.
'Of course,' she replied.
'Why do you want to join our team?'
'Why?' she repeated.
'Yes,' Kyosuke said, 'don't worry, it's not a test question, I'm just curious.'
'Alright,' Kizuna replied, 'I'm…I just want to improve my driving skills. I know you only want the best drivers on your team and…'
'Who told you that?' he asked her.
'Er…someone I met at Mt Myogi,' she replied.
'Well,' Kyosuke said with a small smile, 'that's just rubbish. I don't think that by having the best drivers one can just go and win all the races. A good team needs a whole lot more than skills. There are other factors like teamwork, reciprocal trust and many other things which help making a team great.'
'I agree,' she said.
'That's good to hear,' he commented.
The two remained in silence for a short while until Kyosuke, pulling his phone out of the front pocket of his shirt, started pressing a few buttons and then, showing its display to her, he said:
'This is my email address. It's what I wanted to tell you the other day.'
Kizuna pulled her own phone out of the tiny pocket of her miniskirt and, adding a new entry on her phone, she registered Kyosuke's name and email address. She then sent him an email so he could have hers too.
'Thanks,' he said after he finished adding her name to his address book.
'You're welcome,' she replied still feeling a little awkward.
The two of them heard the sound of a few cars coming their way and, soon, she saw Seisuke's white Mazda as well as the light blue S18 and the dark red Civic Type-R. The three cars stopped nearby and, out of all of them, Kizuna saw the same three guys she'd seen at Mt Myogi.
'Hello there!' Seisuke exclaimed cheerfully.
'Hi,' Kizuna replied shyly.
'See?' Seisuke said to one of the two other guys, 'she's here so, hand me the money.'
'Cheater,' the guy said, 'I'm sure you got your brother to text you the minute she showed up.'
'No way,' Seisuke said, 'you didn't do that, did you Aniki?'
'Of course not,' Kyosuke replied seriously.
Kizuna observed while the guy handed Seisuke a few banknotes with a scowl on his face. Seisuke quickly pocketed the money and, only then Kyosuke deemed it was safe for him to start the introductions but, before that, he asked her:
'Do you mind if we call you Kizuna?'
'Of course not,' she replied.
'Perfect,' Kyosuke said then, pointing at the guy who had just paid up, he said, 'Kizuna, this is Shimano Junya, he's twenty comes from Maebashi and he's our downhill specialist. That S18 over there is his ride.'
'Hi,' Kizuna said.
'Kyosuke,' the guy said ignoring her for a bit, 'is she really going to join our team?'
'Yes,' Kyosuke replied, 'why are you asking?'
'No reason,' Junya said, 'I just would like to see how she drives before we accept her in.'
'That…'
'That's fine by me,' Kizuna interrupted.
'Good,' Junya said finally smiling a little, 'how would you…'
'Hey,' the other guy interrupted him, 'wait up, don't I get an introduction too?'
'Of course you do,' Kyosuke replied smiling.
'Hi,' the guy said introducing himself, 'I'm Kameyama Kazuya, I'm nineteen and I too live here in Maebashi.'
'He's also our social guru,' Kyosuke explained, 'and he's Junya's baby cousin.'
'Baby cousin?' Junya said with a smirk, 'I like that.'
'Shut up,' Kazuya protested then, elbowing Kyosuke he said, 'what's that "social guru" bullshit?'
'It's true,' Seisuke intervened, 'I swear, if there is anyone you don't know, I'd die of shock.'
'I don't know her,' Kazuya replied pointing at Kizuna.
'That's because I just moved here from the US,' she explained trying to repress a chuckle.
'See?' Seisuke countered, 'she doesn't really count.'
'Anyway,' Kyosuke said trying to get the conversation back on topic, 'this rascal here is my younger brother Seisuke, he's eighteen and a first year medical student and the official mood maker of the team.'
'Impressive,' Kizuna commented then, she said, 'what about you?'
'Me?' Kyosuke asked looking a little flustered.
'Let me do the honours,' Seisuke said, 'he's our fearsome leader, he's nineteen and a bit, our uphill specialist and very soon he'll be the mother of all automotive engineers.'
'What's that supposed to be?' Kyosuke asked his brother.
'Your introduction, I believe,' Kazuya replied unnecessarily.
'So,' Junya said, 'this is us, what do you think? Feeling like running away already?'
'Not at all, I think you guys are great,' she replied honestly.
Right then, they heard another car coming in and that made all five of them look up. There coming down the pass, they saw a metallic grey Toyota Vera with official TRD modifications including a rather large wing attached at the back of the car, fairly low fenders and a carbon fibre hood with two rows of in-take grids.
'Who is that?' Seisuke voiced the question they all had in their heads.
They didn't have to wait long for the answer and, just a few instants later, the car stopped and, climbing out of it Kizuna saw the guy she'd met during the race in Mt Myogi, his name was Daichi Izawa, if her memory served her right. Unsurprisingly, she heard Kazuya say:
'I know him.'
'Hey!' Izawa said ignoring everyone else but her, 'you really are here!'
'What…'
'You know,' he continued while he closed the distance between himself and the group of five, 'when I heard you asking to become a member of the Golden Arrows, you gave me an idea: I too want to be part of it.'
'What?' Kazuya asked.
'No way,' Junya added.
'Why not?' Izawa asked back.
'Yes, why not?' Seisuke asked.
'Seisuke,' Junya started, 'we're still discussing if we want to accept her into the team. Don't you think we need to be a little more selective?' he asked looking at Kyosuke.
'Yes,' the leader agreed, 'we do. But you know I have nothing against increasing our numbers as long they all join for the right reasons,' then, looking at Izawa, he asked him, 'why do you want to join us?'
'Because of her,' he boldly replied, 'if she's in this team, I want to be in it too.'
'He's out,' Junya decided quickly while Kizuna wanted to simply disappear.
'Please tell me that's not the only reason,' Kyosuke practically begged him.
'Well, of course not,' Izawa replied, 'you guys are really cool, if I were part of this team…'
'I vote out,' Junya insisted.
'Me too,' Kazuya supported him.
'Really?' Izawa asked actually sounding surprised.
'I'm sorry,' Kyosuke said, 'but those are not a good enough reason to be part of this team. I can't allow any future members to be so frivolous about their motivations to join us. I…'
'Alright,' Izawa said and, this time, he sounded serious, 'so if I beat one of you in a race, would that be a good enough reason for me to become part of this team?'
'Can you do that?' Seisuke asked him sounding very interested.
'Why not?' Izawa countered.
'Alright,' Kyosuke said, 'you'll race me.'
'What?' Junya asked him, 'come on Kyosuke…'
'He wants a race,' Kyosuke interrupted him, 'I'll give him one.'
'Brilliant,' Izawa said looking absurdly happy.
Kizuna observed the whole scene and she saw that Junya looked slightly shocked, Kazuya and Seisuke were already discussing bets and Kyosuke just had his usual serious expression on his face. She found it hard to believe that the situation had degenerated so quickly.
'Excuse me,' she said, 'but…'
'Kizuna,' Kyosuke interrupted her gently, 'it won't be long, do you think you can wait for a bit?'
'Sure,' she said.
'Thanks,' he replied then, glancing back at Izawa, he said, 'let's go.'
'Uphill?' Izawa asked him on his way to his Toyota.
'What else?' Kyosuke replied also walking towards his Mazda.
Soon enough, the two cars were lined up right at the bottom of the pass with Kazuya standing in front of them. Kizuna, Junya and Seisuke just remained where they were, waiting for the sudden race to start. They saw Kazuya lifting his arm and, counting down from five, he shouted:
'GO!'
The two cars took off with Kyosuke's Mazda taking the lead so quickly that Kizuna felt her jaw fall open. So, this is what the Golden Arrows leader drove like during a real race, she thought feeling slightly light headed.
'He's not being serious,' Seisuke commented.
'What?' she asked him.
'He's right,' Kazuya agreed joining the group of three.
'How do you know?' she asked.
'When he is,' Junya explained, 'he always lets you overtake him.'
Kizuna observed the three members of the Golden Arrows and, once more, she had the distinct sensation that while not many people had seen Kyosuke Takahashi driving seriously, those three men had and, judging by the high level of respect they seemed to have for their leader, it was something worth seeing.
Meanwhile, Izawa was having a hard time just keeping up with the RZ-1.
Despite the fact that his Vera's engine made up to three hundred and fifty hp and that the TRD parts had given him the upper hand in quite a few races, he realised that his driving was full of flaws just by trying to follow the yellow Mazda.
Izawa observed in awe the way in which the guy made his RZ-1 enter one of the most challenging corners of the course: he noticed how the weight distribution, the braking point, the racing line he had chosen were so close to perfection that it almost made him want to give up.
Instead, as they exited the corner, he stared at the speedometer and, to his utmost shock he saw that they were travelling at over one hundred and twenty kilometres per hour while going uphill. Just by thinking of the speed these guys reached while going down the pass made him shiver.
For the following corners, he tried to copy what the RZ-1 did but to no avail and soon he saw that the gap between his Toyota and the Mazda kept on increasing and by the time they made it to the steeper section of the road, the distance was so absurd that he could only see the Mazda's taillights from afar.
The race was over.
The worse thing was that Izawa had the distinct impression that the Golden Arrows leader had not even pushed it, on the contrary, it looked like the guy had just driven up the way he usually did. That thought was so depressing that the Toyota driver failed to see that the Mazda was slowing down.
'What the…'
Slamming the brakes, his Vera came to a stop at the same time as Kyosuke parked his car by the side of the road. Feeling very confused, Izawa waited until he saw him climbing out of the car, forcing him to do the same.
'What's up?' Izawa asked.
'Congratulations,' Kyosuke replied, 'you managed to keep up with me until now.'
'Yeah but…'
'Listen,' Kyosuke interrupted him, 'did you really mean it when you said that Kizuna and looking cool were the two reasons why you wanted to join our team?'
'No,' Izawa confessed.
'Then why did you say that?' Kyosuke asked him.
'Because…' Izawa started then, looking away from him while he scratched the back of his head, he said, 'I admire you guys a lot. A while ago I too wanted to found a team but I never found the guts to do it. You've been active for such a short time but you already have such a strong reputation.'
'With that reputation,' Kyosuke observed, 'comes a lot of expectations, you know that, don't you?'
'Yes,' Izawa replied.
'So,' Kyosuke repeated, 'what is your real reason to join the Golden Arrows?'
'I want to be in the best possible team,' he said sounding very serious.
'Alright,' Kyosuke accepted.
'What?' Izawa asked now looking confused.
'You're in,' Kyosuke replied, 'we'll tell the guys that your driving was rather impressive, which is not too far from the truth. I take you've trained yourself around here for quite a while.'
'Yes, I have,' Izawa replied.
'With us you'll get heaps more practice,' Kyosuke promised.
'I'm looking forward to it,' Izawa smiled gratefully.
'Now,' Kyosuke said, 'let's go back down, my friend Junya is dying to see what Kizuna can do.'
'He's not the only one,' Izawa confessed candidly.
'No,' Kyosuke admitted, 'I guess he's not.'
Ten minutes later, the two cars joined the four down at the base and, the instant they were back, Seisuke walked towards his brother and, smiling at him, he asked:
'How many seconds did you wait?'
'A few,' Kyosuke replied cryptically.
'So,' Junya said sounding impatient, 'he's out, right?'
'No,' Kyosuke replied, 'he's very much in.'
'What?' Junya exclaimed, 'didn't you beat him?'
'Yes,' Kyosuke replied, 'but it doesn't matter. He kept up with me rather nicely, I think he's got potential.'
Izawa looked even more incredulous than Junya and the rest of the Arrows did.
'Aniki,' Seisuke said, 'you're really letting him into the team?'
'Yes,' Kyosuke replied, 'I also approve of his ride and you know Akito will too.'
'True,' Seisuke said, 'if it's a Toyota, it's got his seal of approval regardless.'
Kizuna was about to ask who this Akito was when Junya looked at her and said:
'I guess it's you and me now.'
'I guess so too,' Kizuna agreed.
'What do you prefer?' Junya asked her, 'I'm the downhill ace here so, if you want…'
'Downhill it is,' Kizuna interrupted him.
'Are you sure?' Kyosuke asked her frowning in worry.
'Hey Junya,' Kazuya said, 'you should be fair and race her uphill, she's…she's new here.'
Kizuna had the impression that he wanted to say that she was a girl but had stopped before he could say it. For this reason alone, she grew even more determined to race Junya in his best possible condition and, sounding as firm as she could, she looked from Kazuya to Kyosuke and said:
'Don't worry about me, I'll be happy to see if I can keep up with him.'
After a few moments of looking at each other, the Golden Arrows leader nodded once then, glancing at Junya, he gave him a look which spoke volumes: be careful not to push it too much. The S18 driver acknowledged the request with a simple nod then, he smiled at Kizuna and said:
'Ladies first.'
The girl smiled back and then she started walking towards her 350Z. She then climbed into it and waited until Junya had the engine of his S18 running to start the one of her Nissan. A couple of seconds later, she found herself leading the way up the mountain, using the few minutes at her disposal to start concentrating.
She could do this.
A few corners later, she saw the summit of the pass and using the space provided by the side of the road and there, she turned the car around, seeing that Junya was doing the same right behind her. The two Nissan were soon lined up next to each other and, since they had no one to do the countdown, they did it themselves.
Kizuna said out loud:
'Five, four, three, two, one.'
At the GO, she pressed the accelerator begging her Nissan to give her all it had in the first three corners of the course so that she would have enough accumulated speed to let inertia do the rest once they reached the steepest part of the pass.
To her surprise, Junya had chosen to remain behind her.
It's just a trick, she thought while negotiating the first of the real corners of the infamous pass, balancing her pedal work and the shifter in the way she'd found was the best to attack this particular sector of the road. Hearing the tyres screech while she drove by grip around the next corner made her smile a little.
The two cars followed each other along over half of the course, with Kizuna very aware that Junya was just keeping his distances when, all of a sudden, she saw that the S18 was getting ready to attack. Steeling her nerves, she prepared herself to block him the best way she could.
At the following corner, Junya pushed his car along a line that to Kizuna seemed impossible. She remembered that Kyosuke had introduced him as their downhill specialist and, therefore, it was likely the guy could do things which weren't what most people would consider normal.
For this reason, she decided to tackle that corner using a full drift instead so that, by crossing the car along the entire width of the road, she would make it impossible for Junya to overtake her.
It worked.
As it did in the following corners too but, unfortunately, Kizuna knew that the manoeuvre would not be equally successful when they reached the part of the course where the road was a lot wider. There, no matter how hard she tried, there would be no way to cover all the spaces.
In fact, just as they entered one of those first, wider corners, she saw Junya veering outwards, overtaking her with such ease that it almost made her want to cry. Swallowing, she concentrated harder than ever so that, at the very least, she could stay behind him until she could figure out what to do next.
The two cars were quickly reaching the bottom of the pass when Kizuna had an idea: she stuck her car right behind the S18. The Silvia, being higher than her 350Z effectively cut all the wind resistance and Kizuna felt the difference almost immediately, her car trailed after the other Nissan using significantly less power.
She then waited until the last possible corner and, just there, she veered towards the outside of it hoping that the speed she had saved up would allow her to overtake Junya's car. She had just about managed to level with him when, for some reason, the S18 started going faster.
Kizuna could only watch as the guy drove across the finish line moments before she did: she had lost.
To be continued…
