A/N: I took a mini-break to get the ideas together for the upcoming chapters. Hopefully this update will be worth the wait! Also, I'd love to know who among my usual readers is still with me so, if you can, please give me a sign telling me that you're alive, okay? ^_^

As always, thanks for reading!

Planetarium

Chapter Seven

The morning after his first unofficial street race, Ryosuke drove his FC to the car park by Iwasaki's train station getting there over fifteen minutes before the pre-arranged time. Turning the 13B engine off, Ryosuke used that time to carry on elaborating the theory he'd come up with while he lied on his bed, his hyperactive brain making it impossible for him to fall asleep as it went through his battle versus Keita's FB for the umpteenth time.

He had figured out by now that there were at least four elements which helped any given driver win a race: his skills, his car, information about both the course and the opponents and, very often, just a dose of good luck. He was well aware that he still had a lot of work to do in terms of improving his skills and even though his knowledge about automotive mechanics was improving quickly, he knew that he still had a massive void to fill when it came to the secrets of the passes and the myriad of potential rivals he would encounter in them.

Those two issues were the ones he would need to address sooner rather than later.

Ryosuke was thinking of how he could juggle that in addition to everything else when he saw the three cars belonging to Rin, Keita and Junichi driving into the station's parking area and that, forced him to stop elaborating his newborn theory on how to be the fastest possible racer so that he could climb out of the car and greet the three older men.

'Good morning,' he said to them.

'Hey,' Rin replied, 'how are you?'

'I'm fine,' Ryosuke said.

'I told you he'd be okay,' Keita told his best friend looking like he was in a much better mood.

'I have the feeling that it takes more than a defeat to make him lose his cool,' Junichi commented.

'I've told you before,' Keita said talking to him, 'I got really lucky last night, if it hadn't been because…'

'Nishihara-san,' Ryosuke interrupted him, 'please don't make me say it again, you're just being far too kind.'

'I…'

'We should get going,' Rin announced stopping Keita at mid-sentence, 'or we'll be late for the registration.'

'Alright,' the guy agreed a little reluctantly.

A few moments later, the four cars entered the Kanetsu Sportsland circuit and shortly after they completed the administrative procedure to get their names on the entry lists and while Keita and Junichi took care of their own registration, Ryosuke noticed how the number of cars had somehow increased, he was about to ask Rin if there was any specific reason when the man told him:

'It's summer.'

'Pardon?' Ryosuke asked.

'There usually are more racers entering autocross events during summer,' Rin explained.

'Is it because of the nicer weather or because people have more time off?' Ryosuke asked.

'A bit of both,' Rin replied, 'but this shouldn't matter to you, should it?'

'Not really,' Ryosuke agreed.

'That's right,' Rin said, 'listen, about that race in Nikko…'

'I'll call their offices tomorrow,' Ryosuke told him firmly.

'So, you still want to take part in it,' Rin asked.

'Of course,' Ryosuke replied, 'I…'

'It's okay,' the older man interrupted him, 'I'm not against it: I do think you can do well in a circuit race.'

'As opposed to a street one,' Ryosuke said a little slyly.

'Definitely,' Rin replied mercilessly, 'I'm not against you entering that world, what I'm against is if you do it while you're not ready for it. I hope that last night served to make you realise how unprepared you are.'

'It did,' Ryosuke admitted.

'I'm glad to hear that,' Rin said, 'now, I wanted to inform you that unfortunately I won't be able to make it to the Nikko race, it's my younger brother's birthday and the whole family are going to gather to celebrate.'

'Of course,' Ryosuke said, 'if it's family, it can't be helped.'

'I'm glad you understand,' Rin said, 'I'll ask Keita to record the race with his camcorder so that I can see it.'

'That's not really necessary, I…'

'I want to watch it,' Rin insisted.

'Alright,' Ryosuke accepted.

Just then they were re-joined by Junichi and Keita and the four of them made it to their cars so that they could get them queued up for the start of the practice laps, and when it finally was Ryosuke's turn, he drove onto the track expecting some improvement in the way his FC handled the circuit's corners but, what he felt as he took the car around the first turn left him as speechless as the first time he'd seen a four-wheel inertia drift.

'Oh,' he only managed to gasp in surprise.

The FC's stability was superb and within just three corners, Ryosuke realised that the work they had put into the car made it possible for him to brake much later and exit the turns much faster than before. The steering also seemed to be more precise and he could now calibrate the way he went around a corner with a much higher level of accuracy. The FC had become so much more enjoyable to drive that it made Ryosuke immensely happy.

He knew that he wasn't the only one impressed by his car when, returning to the small parking area, he spotted Rin, Keita and Junichi with the same stunned expression on their faces and that widened his smile.

'Now, that's what I call driving,' Rin commented.

'Yeah,' Keita agreed then, clearly teasing Junichi, he added, 'man, I think you should give up.'

'I think so too,' the poor guy admitted.

'Never say never,' Ryosuke tried to make him feel better, 'yours was the second fastest time.'

'Yes,' Junichi agreed, 'but you were over eleven seconds faster, there's no way my EG6 can beat that.'

As it turned out, the guy's prediction was spot on and when the event's organisers called it a day, Ryosuke's FC was topping the scoreboard having beaten the track's record for non-modified cars by a full ten seconds. Needless to say, Ryosuke was looking forward to seeing Shuichi so that he could tell him about the massive improvement that a few tweaks here and there had managed to accomplish.

For this reason and as soon as the professor concluded his biology lecture the following day, Ryosuke practically darted out of the classroom on his way to the students' car park. There, standing right in front of his FC, he found Kaori obviously waiting for him.

'Hey,' he forced himself to say.

'Hello,' Kaori said.

'Where's Hojo-senpai?' Ryosuke asked her as casually as he could.

'He's gone with his father for some seminar on hospital management,' Kaori replied.

'I see,' Ryosuke said.

'Listen,' Kaori started, 'a few people from my year are having a party by the shore of Lake Ono tonight.'

'A party?' Ryosuke asked.

'Yes,' Kaori replied, 'it's more of a get-together really but I think it'll be fun, would you like to join us?'

'I'm not sure if…'

'Hojo-san will also be there,' Kaori hurried to add, 'he told me he'd come as soon as the seminar is over.'

'That's not it,' Ryosuke said, 'I'm going to work now and…'

'You're working?' Kaori asked him.

'Yes,' Ryosuke replied, 'and I'm going to be late if I don't leave soon, so…'

'I see,' Kaori said, 'well, if you can make it at all, we'll probably be there until quite late this evening.'

Ryosuke didn't say anything not wanting to make a promise he had no intention of keeping. Instead, he thought that if there were so many people partying by the lake, he would probably need to wait until the wee hours of the morning in order to have the road all to himself.

'I should get going,' he said sounding a little harsher than he intended.

'Alright,' Kaori said frowning a bit.

'I'll see you tomorrow,' Ryosuke then added making an obvious effort to be nicer.

'Of course,' the girl replied, almost humouring him.

He got onboard the FC while the girl walked away from him and as usual, Ryosuke spent a few moments shaking off the odd feeling which invaded him whenever he spent any given amount of time alone with Kaori.

'Let's go,' he muttered turning the 13B's engine on.

A short while later, he drove his car into the workshop in Isesaki where he and Shuichi worked, finding the older mechanic talking to a smart dressed, short haired man who appeared to be in his mid twenties and who was holding an expensive looking leather briefcase.

'That's him!' Shuichi exclaimed seeing Ryosuke getting out of the FC.

'Good afternoon,' he said eyeing the stranger with polite curiosity.

'Takahashi-san,' Shuichi said, 'please met Fumihiro Hiroshi; he works as a sales representative for Mazdaspeed.'

'It's nice to meet you,' Hiroshi said offering him his hand.

'Same here,' Ryosuke said shaking it briefly but firmly.

'Matsumoto here tells me that you're quite the racer as well as having a natural knack for mechanics,' Hiroshi said.

'He's exaggerating,' Ryosuke said.

'No, I'm not,' Shuichi countered, 'who beat the Kanetsu record only yesterday?'

'Did Nishihara-san tell you?' Ryosuke asked feeling a little disappointed that it no longer was breaking news.

'Of course he did,' Shuichi said, 'he called me this morning telling me you're going to enter the race at the Nikko circuit.'

Ryosuke could only nod while he made a mental note to tell Keita to try and mind his own business a bit.

'In that case,' Hiroshi said producing something resembling a magazine from his briefcase, 'you might need this.'

'What is it?' Ryosuke asked him.

'It's our catalogue,' Hiroshi replied, 'we don't usually sell parts to individuals but, since you seem to be friends with Matsumoto, I guess I can make an exception so, if you see anything you like that you might want to install in your car, feel free to give me a call, my direct number's printed on the back cover.'

'Alright,' Ryosuke said taking the rather thick catalogue.

'You'll need to hurry up and pick the parts you want soon,' Shuichi told him.

'Why is that?' Ryosuke asked.

'Because unfortunately not all of them are immediately available,' Hiroshi explained, 'we only keep a limited stock of them.'

'I see,' Ryosuke said, 'I'll take a look at it tonight and I'll let you know first thing tomorrow morning.'

'Perfect,' Hiroshi replied.

'Speaking of the race,' Shuichi said, 'we're going to need to work on your car to prepare it for Nikko and…'

'Matsumoto-san,' Ryosuke interrupted him, 'I think that, this time, I'd like to figure out which settings I'll need on my own, I will only ask if you can please check the car after I've finished working on it, just in case I've made any mistakes.'

'Alright,' Shuichi said, 'that's fine by me.'

'You're an independent guy, aren't you?' Hiroshi asked him.

'As much as I can,' Ryosuke confirmed.

'I admire that,' Hiroshi told him then, to Shuichi, he said, 'he really is everything you said and more.'

Ryosuke tried very hard not to look as embarrassed as he felt and, instead, he just bowed to the two men and then walked to the changing rooms so that he could put his overalls on to start working on his car. By the time he returned, he saw that the man called Hiroshi Fumihiro was now talking to the workshop's owner while Shuichi was busy reorganising his tools after he'd finished fixing the engine of an old Nissan Sunny pick up truck.

Taking a photocopied page of a local sports magazine which talked about the Nikko circuit, he inspected the configuration of the track seeing that while there were quite a few fast turns and even a couple of straights, the rest were very tight, almost hairpin-like corners which meant that he needed to do some work on the FC suspensions as well as installing a set of brand new high performance brake pads. It wouldn't hurt to check the gearbox and the clutch, just to make sure that all parts in both elements were in pristine order.

'Are you sure you don't need a hand?' Shuichi asked him seeing that he'd been staring at the car for a while.

'No, thank you,' Ryosuke said, 'I was just thinking.'

'About what?' Shuichi asked him.

'A number of things,' Ryosuke replied all-too-vaguely.

With that, he left Shuichi standing there looking very confused. The mechanic recovered fast for he was slowly getting used to the way the younger man seemed to always be thinking about something, Shuichi had no idea of what exactly. Shrugging his shoulders, the man smirked to himself and went back to work. Oblivious to this, Ryosuke got onboard his car and drove it to the lifting platform, parking it on top of it so that he could remove the tyres, he was working on the fourth one when he saw Hiroshi walking up to him.

'Takahashi-san,' he said, 'I'm leaving now but, please call me if you have any questions about any of the parts.'

'I will,' Ryosuke promised, 'thank you for making an exception for me.'

'No problem,' Hiroshi said with a kind looking smile.

Ryosuke observed as the man made his way to where Shuichi was. Ryosuke had to applaud the subtle but highly effective sales method Hiroshi had employed to get him to feel even more curious about the catalogue which was now resting inside the FC and while he had met quite a few cunning people in his life, the salesman probably made it to the top five. In spite of that, Ryosuke felt that there was something about the guy which made people instantly like him.

For this reason, later on that evening and while Shuichi checked Ryosuke's work, the future doctor started browsing through the catalogue while he enjoyed a glass of iced tea. Very quickly, Ryosuke was so enthralled by the sheer number of parts which were on offer that he even missed when Shuichi called his name. The mechanic had to get down from the platform and walk up to him to say:

'Hey, are you deaf?'

'What?' Ryosuke asked making an effort to take his eyes off the catalogue.

'I said that you did a very good job,' Shuichi said sounding a little annoyed.

'Thanks,' Ryosuke replied then, pointing at the page he was reading, he asked, 'what do you think?'

'Of what?' Shuichi asked.

'These wheels,' Ryosuke said, 'the description says that they're made of a special, much lighter alloy.'

'Let me see,' Shuichi told him taking the catalogue from him, 'ah, I've read about them,' he added scanning the box containing the part's specs, 'and it's handy, they say here the MS-01 MAG come in both bronze and white.'

'I was thinking of getting the white ones,' Ryosuke confirmed.

'Of course,' Shuichi said, 'and to be honest, it would help if you could get them before the race.'

'I know,' Ryosuke agreed.

'Is there anything else you'd like to order?' Shuichi asked.

'I'm not sure yet,' Ryosuke replied, 'but I know that I need to get something to improve the down force.'

'You need to get a set of skirts then,' Shuichi said making Ryosuke frown at him in worry, 'not that kind of skirts!' he exclaimed looking a bit amused while Ryosuke just stared at him with a deadpan expression on his face, 'let me see if I can find an example…'

Ryosuke waited until Shuichi found the right page and then the mechanic showed him a set of long aerodynamic elements which had to be applied to each side of the car made in either fibreglass or urethane. He looked up his FC and tried to picture it with the skirts on and, somehow, he thought it would look a bit weird.

'These are good,' Shuichi commented pointing at the ones Ryosuke was thinking of.

'Would they really help?' he asked him trying not to sound sceptic.

'Well,' Shuichi said, 'let's put it this way: the way your car is now, it's probably okay for autocross and for everyday driving but if you're going to start racing with other cars, you need to take into consideration that they're going to disrupt the air flow and then you'll need all the help you can get in order to keep your car stuck onto the ground.'

'That sounds reasonable,' Ryosuke conceded.

'I can't tell you what you should do but…'

'I'll get them,' Ryosuke said, 'and I think I should also get something for the front of the car.'

'Yes,' Shuichi said, 'I was already thinking of that.'

'Any ideas?' Ryosuke asked him.

'Actually,' Shuichi replied, 'don't tell Fumihiro about this but I already had something in mind.'

'Okay,' Ryosuke said.

'Don't you want to know what it is?' Shuichi asked him sounding a little surprised.

'No,' Ryosuke replied, 'I trust your judgement, now, I should let you go home or you'll be late for dinner.'

'That's awfully kind of you,' Shuichi said with a smirk.

Ryosuke didn't return the smirk but the pleased expression on his face made it obvious that he was fairly happy about the slow but steady way in which his FC was going from a regular road car into a proper racer. Two weeks after that, the transformation process was almost complete and what used to look like a more or less sensible sports car; now with the Mazdaspeed skirts, the MS-01 MAG white wheels, a Fujita Engineering lip and a set of RE-Amemiya aero mirrors the FC looked ready to take on any professional touring car race.

'I know it will sound self-serving,' Hiroshi commented staring at the Mazda, 'but it looks great.'

'It does,' Shuichi agreed one hundred percent, 'what do you think?'

'I'm going to take it for a spin,' Ryosuke decided, 'I'll let you know when I get back.'

The younger man climbed in the car and, turning the newly tuned 13B engine, taking a moment to enjoy every single one of its three hundred horsepower before driving away from the workshop and to the nearest road he could find leaving Shuichi shaking his head in fatherly resignation while Hiroshi looked a little bit worried.

'He's very happy,' the mechanic told him noticing his frown.

'But…'

'Fumihiro,' Shuichi insisted, 'I don't know him that well but I think this is as giddy as we're ever going to see him so don't worry, he really was pleased with the parts he's got from you.'

'And the ones he got from you,' Hiroshi added with a hint of sarcasm.

'Yeah, well…'

'Don't worry,' Hiroshi interrupted him, 'I like him so I'm not going to turn him into some sort of cash cow.'

'I'm glad to hear that,' Shuichi said, 'he's a really great guy, in fact, I was thinking of going to Nikko to watch his race.'

'It's tomorrow, isn't it?' Hiroshi asked.

'Yes,' Shuichi replied, 'do you think you could make it?'

'Sure,' Hiroshi said, 'it's Sunday so I'm off work. Besides, I'm rather curious to see how he'll do with that FC.'

'Me too,' Shuichi agreed, 'let's just not tell him we'll show up, okay?'

'Why not?' Hiroshi asked him, 'do you want to surprise him?'

'Something like that,' Shuichi replied with a sheepish smile on his face.

Later on that evening, an ecstatic Ryosuke drove his newly modified FC back home after having verified that the car was several seconds faster on Mt Akagi's uphill, feeling even more comforted by the thought that the Mazda hadn't even been set up for the mountain pass. He could only guess what it would feel like driving the car around the Nikko circuit but he was so excited thinking about it that he doubted he would get any sleep that night.

From the inside of the FC he pressed the button on his tiny remote to open up the garage's gates and, as he rolled the car in, he noticed that Keisuke's CBR 400 was parked there at its usual spot. Checking his wristwatch, he saw that it was just past ten o'clock and Ryosuke found it odd that his younger brother was still home at that time of the evening.

'All the better,' he muttered to himself.

Climbing out of the Mazda, Ryosuke pressed the button to close the gates and then, using the connection door, he went into the house, removed his new white driving shoes and put on his pair of comfy slippers. Then, not wanting to lose momentum, he walked into the house, briefly greeting his mother who was in the living room watching some TV drama before he went upstairs by-passing his bedroom, making it to Keisuke's instead. Without bothering to knock on the door, Ryosuke opened it and…

'Sorry!' he hurried to say immediately closing it again.

Swallowing hard, he tried to remember how to breathe while he removed the image of his half naked brother lying on top of some even less dressed girl. He was about to rush towards his bedroom when he heard the room's door opening again.

'Aniki…'

'Sorry,' Ryosuke repeated finding it hard to look at his younger brother's face, 'I should have knocked.'

'It's okay,' Keisuke had the cheek to say, 'Karin didn't mind.'

'Karin?' Ryosuke asked then, lowering his tone of voice, he said, 'I thought your girlfriend's name was Ami.'

'Nah,' Keisuke replied with a chuckle, 'we broke up a couple of weeks ago.'

'Ah,' Ryosuke said, 'I see.'

'Aniki,' Keisuke said, 'what is it that you wanted?'

'Er…' Ryosuke hesitated for an instant, fighting to gather his thoughts, 'do you have plans for tomorrow?'

'Yes,' Keisuke replied, 'I'm taking Karin to the cinema in the morning, then we'll do lunch and then I'm meeting the guys, why?'

'No reason,' Ryosuke said trying to hide his disappointment, 'it's okay, don't worry about it. You better go back inside…' he stopped talking realising the different meanings his words could have. Feeling very embarrassed, he just said, 'I've got stuff to do so, good night.'

'Good night, Aniki,' Keisuke said trying, and failing, to keep a straight face.

Shaking his head, Ryosuke walked away from his younger brother who hurried to step back into the mayhem he called his room. The future doctor could not believe the cheek Keisuke had: not only he hadn't even looked ashamed of the fact that he had a half-naked girl in his bed while their mother was just a floor below but, if anything, the sixteen year old seemed to be quite proud of it. It was a good thing their father was away for some business trip, Ryosuke thought locking himself in his own room.

The following morning, he got up after managing only a couple of hours of solid sleep. He took a long reinvigorating shower, got dressed with a pair of comfortable beige trousers and a white linen shirt and then went downstairs to have breakfast by himself. He spent a few moments reading the paper before he decided that he was ready to go to the garage so that he could get into his beloved FC.

An hour and a half later, he drove it into the car park of the Nikko Circuit where, as he expected, he found a few members of the Todou Juku Racing School and among them, of course, he saw that Kyoichi was there surrounded by what looked like his own fan club.

'Hey,' Keita greeted Ryosuke, 'how are you feeling?'

'I'm great,' he replied still staring at Kyoichi.

As it was inevitable, some of his mates/fans noticed Ryosuke's gaze on him and one of them was heard asking:

'Sudo-san, who is that?'

'No idea,' was Kyoichi's uncaring reply, 'I've never seen him before.'

Ryosuke felt his eyebrows rise in surprise but, training his features back to normal, he returned his attention to Keita and Junichi while he was pleased to see two other men joining his small group of friends. Seeing them there made Ryosuke forget all about Kyoichi and, instead, he smiled at Shuichi and Hiroshi and, speaking to the mechanic, he said:

'I'd like to say I'm surprised to see you here but, somehow, I kind of expected it.'

'I know you would,' Shuichi said, 'but we still wanted to try.'

'Hey,' Keita intervened, 'you guys have done a very nice job on the FC.'

'It wasn't me,' Shuichi said, 'Takahashi-san did most of the work by himself.'

'Really?' Junichi asked.

'Yep,' Shuichi confirmed looking almost like a proud mother.

'I can't wait to see what you'll do with it,' Keita said to Ryosuke.

'You won't have to wait for long,' he replied, 'if everything goes according to the schedule, there should be a short qualifying session about half an hour from now, they're giving us five laps each to set our fastest time to decide our position on the starting grid.'

'Take it easy, okay?' Shuichi tried to advise him.

Ryosuke didn't even grace that with an answer, instead, he said:

'I should get changed and get the number stuck onto the car. Since you're here, could you please take care of that and the covers?'

'Sure,' Shuichi said taking the roll of black tape and the square stickers with the number 34 that Ryosuke carried in his hand.

'Thanks,' he said.

Twenty five minutes later, Ryosuke was back onboard the FC which now sported a pair of stickers and black tape crosses protecting the light's plastic covers while he donned a helmet and a white racing suit he had just bought for the occasion; he soon found himself trailing after a brand new Toyota Supra Mark III painted in such bright orange that it would probably hurt his eyes if he stared at it for too long.

Fortunately, the A70 took off the instant the two cars reached the track and that helped Ryosuke concentrate on memorising the circuit's braking and shifting points, its ideal racing lines as well as trying to spot any potentially problematic elements around the track which could make his race a more difficult one. He invested two of his five laps doing that and, the instant he crossed the finish line to start his third lap, everyone noticed the FC's sudden increase of speed.

'What is he doing?' Hiroshi asked to no one in particular.

'I think he's going for it,' Keita replied sounding fairly amused.

'I just hope he doesn't wreck the car,' Junichi added.

'Don't say that!' both Keita and Shuichi exclaimed at the same time.

'Sorry…'

Ignoring him, both men kept their eyes glued to the all-white FC as it went around the first few corners. Shuichi got goose bumps when he saw the almost perfect way in which Ryosuke chose the correct moment to reduce speed, just before the entry of the corner, only to stick to its apex while opening the throttle to the max. Turn after turn, Shuichi noticed that Ryosuke's driving was getting sharper and, by the end of the fifth lap, it was clear that the man, car and track understood each other as well as a trio of old friends.

'Oh wow,' Keita gasped.

'What?' Junichi asked sounding a little apprehensive; his tone turned a happy one when he said, 'oh crap!'

'Yes!' Shuichi exclaimed cheerfully while Hiroshi just smiled and asked:

'Are we sure he's never been here before?'

'Positive,' Keita replied, 'he's quite scary, isn't he?'

No one bothered to answer that question but they all silently agreed with him.

Shortly after that, all four of them walked down the short pitlane to go and meet the pole holder.

'Well done mate,' Keita said slapping his shoulder playfully.

'Thanks,' Ryosuke said cracking up one of his rare smiles, 'the car felt great, I…'

He never finished the sentence because, right then, a furious Kyoichi walked up to him and said:

'Just because you've slapped some fancy aero-kit onto it, it doesn't mean it's a true racing car and don't be too happy about your pole, the race is thirty laps long and I'll overtake you before we get to the first corner.'

Ryosuke just looked at Kyoichi for a bit then, using his coolest and most unnerving tone of voice, he said:

'I'm sorry but, do I know you?'

To be continued…