Mei and Al sat on the opposite side of the Orange NSX. Al just kept staring. He couldn't believe it was them. Mei just stared with a dark stare. He was wondering were the fuck Nik was.
Mei heard the engine of the NSX start up and rev. The car then took off up the hill. He sighed and leaned back against the R32. He then looked over at Al who was sitting against his new Mark II.
Al looked over at him, "So what are we gonna do if Nik doesn't show?"
"Then I guess Nik gets to keep his car."
"It'd suck."
"What time is it now?"
"20 after."
"He's got to come all the way from Tokyo; he won't be here for another half hour."
"I know, it sucks."
"So, how's..."
They looked at the corner at the bottom of the mountain as they saw a black RX7 round the bend. Al and Mei's eyes widened with excitement. He was finally here. They waved him over.
Nik parked next to them, where they felt the rumble of the 26B engine. Nik shut it down as he stepped out of the car. He smiled, "Sup?"
Mei and Al walked over to him, "This engine sounds like a beast."
Nik nodded, "It is. The guy who gave it to me took it out of a Mazda race car."
"Wow!"
Nik looked over at the driver of the Alcyone. His eyes widened at the site of her. His fist clenched at the thought of her. His heart pounded at the thought of who was with her.
He then asked, "Where's the NSX?"
"It went to the top."
Nik smiled, "I'm going up."
The Alcyone driver screamed over, "Were going to the top first, she wants to run the downhill."
Nik got into his FC and Mei and Al got into their respective cars. The GTR and the Mark II took off up the mountain first. Not far behind them, they heard the roar of the 26B.
Soon, the FC was on the tail end of the Mark II. Al was pushing hard but the FC had too much power now. He powered past him 10th uphill corner. Mei wasn't far ahead.
Mei was flooring his GTR. The front heavy car was gripping on the uphill. They swerved through the first hairpin set quickly, Nik actually over steering. Mei was surprised at how well Nik was coping with the power upgrade.
Mei was passed on the first long straight. Nik disappeared soon after. His car was performing amazingly. How was he driving with such speed, such skill? It was almost like it wasn't Nik.
-----------------------
Nik powered up past the orange Alcyone. It was getting easier as things went along, even though the suspension still felt tight. He powered up to the top of the mountain where he parked the RX7 and looked over.
The NSX sat across from him. It was orange. It was an NSX Type R. She was an experienced driver of touring cars. Figures she'd go to an NSX. It probably was either bored out to the maximum 3.3 liters and tuned to perfection or turbocharged to the highest extent.
She walked over towards him. He walked towards her. The gap was closed quickly. There they stood, facing each other. There faces were stoned cold. The sound of the RB26DETT, the 1GZ-GTE, and the EG33 was the only thing to break the silence.
She spoke first, "Nice car."
He spoke second, "Not to bad yourself."
She smiled, "Bored and stroked to 3.3 liters, putting out 500 hp."
He nodded, "Very impressive."
"Thank you, how about you?"
"2.6 N/A quad-rotary, 700."
"700? A little excessive?"
He shrugged, "I don't think so."
She smiled, "With that power the uphill will be too much. We'll run the downhill, winner take all."
"You still wanna race for pinks?"
She shook her head, "I think I might be staying in Japan a little longer then I thought, I'll need a car that can keep up."
"Scared you might lose?"
She smirked, "Horrified."
Nik smiled and then his eyes shed upon her in a caring way, "You look good Kim…"
She smiled, "You too Nik…"
Nik turned and walked back towards his FC3S. He looked at Mei and Al with a smile. It was a true smile, one they hadn't seen on Nik's face in a long time. They smiled back.
Nik drove his FC to the starting line. The NSX sat next to him. The GT car vs. the GT engine. They revved. They're power was differed, but the cars gave off a similar aura.
Jess (the Alcyone driver) walked to the starting line. She began the countdown from ten. Nik smiled and shook his head. He remembered that this could have been settled so long ago…
---------------------------
She had agreed to drive him to the airport. She wanted to. She sighed because she was going to miss him. She hadn't spent much time with him, but she had fallen in love with him.
"Turn left here."
She twitched, "I know where I'm going."
"Then you don't know how to get their fast."
"It's not all about going fast."
"It is when you're running."
"Running from what?"
"I'm just running."
She shut up. She should have just agreed. He was kinda deep sometimes. Sometimes he was scary. Like now. Why was he like this? Why wasn't he normal like normal people?
She pulled up to the airport and parked in the parking garage. She popped the hood for him so he could take out his bag. She sighed and walked with him into the airport. Mei and Al were already waiting. They had been. They got dropped off an hour or so before.
The flight calls came. She closed her fist and felt tears welling up in her eyes. She then felt a massaging hand on top of hers. She looked over at him with a smile.
She stood up with him when his row was called. She watched as Mei and Al walked onto the plane. She looked at him and smiled through her pain. He returned her smile.
"I guess this is it."
"Yeah, I guess so."
"Do you have to go?"
"Yeah, I do."
"Why?"
"My life is in Japan."
"Why can't your life be with me?"
"Because it just won't work out like that, I'll always hurt you."
Tears began to fall, "But I love you."
"I love you too."
"So why can we be together!"
"Shh, shh." He wrapped his arms around her and held her tight. She grasped his shirt tightly. She didn't want him to go. She wanted him to be with her. She wanted him to love her.
She almost fell when he let go of her. She watched him walk away towards the plane. She just wanted to go after him and stop him but she knew she couldn't. She walked over to the window and watched as the plane took off.
She sighed and walked back to her GT3. She got into the driver's seat and but her head on the steering wheel as her tears slowly soaked into her jeans. She whispered, "I love you Nik…I'll always love you…"
She sighed and looked at Jess. She was at 3. She put the car into gear and waited another second before letting off of her clutch and taking off towards the first downhill corner.
She pulled ahead quickly as she had in all her other mountain races to date. She feint drifted around the uphill corner and then headed toward the next left. Another feint drift.
Unfortunately, using power overs wasn't something she could do in this car. The balance just let her grip the corner. When she drifted, she usually needed to swing the weight around to get the car to over steer.
Nik looked like he was fighting behind her. She fell to the inside and blocked him hard. Her car was a little long and it helped to fight him back when she drifted perpendicular with the road.
Kim powered hard through different turn and curves. She only gripped the lighter corners. She refused to slow down on hairpins. The Japanese mountains were and interesting thing.
Back home, the mountains were a lot easier. They were mostly wider. They also were a lot less crowded for curves. The straights were nearly non-exsistent. She had passed more then 10 curves and hit only one long straight.
Nik apparently had to fight with the corners on this mountain too. His car was acting very oddly indeed. The rear end was nearly jumping off the corners. They attacked a set of hairpins and Nik held tight to her rear end.
She powered through an aggressive left/right/left combo and watched as he held tight on the back of her. She was more then half way down the mountain. She was going to win as long as he didn't…
She heard the engine jump up to a higher RPM quickly. She glanced in her rear view mirror and watched the car fall into a high angle drift right behind her. What was he up to?
They were right at the last long set of S-curves. She accelerated around the lefts and rights. She looked behind him. He wasn't there. Then she saw him on her right. He was powering along the outside of the current turn.
He then took the inside of the next turn. Then the outside of the next. Then the inside of the next. Then the car accelerated hard and powered past her on the long end straight. It was floored it past the downhill finish line. She stared after it in awe.
Kim accelerated on the straight and followed Nik as he powered onto the freeway. She couldn't keep up on the highway. She barley could keep sight of the rear lights as they swerved through the highway traffic.
-------------------------------------------
Nik pulled off the highway at the next exit. He let off the throttle and coasted in neutral all the way to the Family diner in Akina. He parked the car and sighed. He stepped out, taking the keys with him and walking into the restaurant. He took a seat by the window.
The nice looking waitress brought him over a cup of coffee. He thanked her and drank it as cars came around back and forth from Akina. He counted them off. A Nissan 180SX…a Mitsubishi LanEvo VII… A Honda S2000… A Toyota Levin AE85…A RX7 FD…
"Holy crap, that thing is fast!"
He looked over at her, "On the straights yeah, but you saw me on the mountain. I was barley holding it together."
She shrugged as she sat down with her, "You seemed to doing decent until you downshifted to get the revs up."
He sighed, "I was really holding back…"
"How much?"
"I was shifting at 7000 RPM."
"Where's redline?"
"9500, 10,000?"
"Wow, really early, isn't it?"
"Yeah, but the power scares me."
"You're scared?"
"Like you wouldn't believe…"
"You've got bigger balls then I thought…"
He smirked, "You have no idea…"
She smiled, "That big, huh?"
"Can we stop talking about my testicles please?"
"Why? I find it an interesting topic."
"I'm just not interested in talking about my nuts right now, ok?"
"Why not?"
"Because I feel very uncomfortable with your huge ass tits."
"Oh, am I giving you a two inch woody?"
"Alright, you stop right there."
"It's not my fault I have 'something'."
"Yeah, a set of tits that will be sagging down to your feet in like twenty years."
"Better to have something now then nothing forever."
"How'd we move from horsepower to jugs in the last minute?"
She laughed lightly, "I don't know."
"You're playing me like a fiddle."
She smiled, "I play the piano."
Nik sighed and sipped down his black coffee, "You're amazing."
She shook her head, "No I'm not."
He sighed, "You wanna go up to Akina?"
"I've been there already."
"So?"
She smiled, "Sure."
Nik finished his coffee and walked out to his FC. He followed the orange NSX up to the top of the mountain where he parked in the parking lot and stepped out. He leaned against the hood as the headlights shone off the edge of the mountain. She sat on her own hood.
Nik sighed, "I love it out here."
She shrugged, "It's just a mountain."
He smiled, "You are such a street racer."
"Why?"
"You can't feel it."
"Feel what?"
"The Touge."
"What about the Touge?"
"The mountains aura flowing through your veins. The feel you get when you here the tires screech coming around a hairpin. The looks of the mountain as you're flying down it doing 150."
She smiled, "The spirit of the mountain and all that shit?"
He nodded, "All that shit."
She looked off the edge of the mountain again, shaking her head, "So how are you going to go about your car? Down tune the engine?"
He shook his head, "No, I'm going to go back to the basics and retrain myself to handle this car."
She smiled, "Want some help?"
He looked over with a smile, "Always."
