Nik pulled into the restaurant at his usual weekday time. He was greeted by the morning waitress. He didn't spend much time out front. He walked into the kitchen and started working. He took out the eggs and started to dice vegetables for the soup. He took care of customers when they came but all in all, it was a quiet day.

Maka came in at noon. She still worked very quietly although occasionally she would say something meaningless like "How are you". She asked me that question at least eight times before Miki came in. She told me Al got picked up by a guy wearing a neck brace in a black Toyota. She probably meant Mei in the 86. Nik was wondering how much longer Mei would have to wait until his car was ready for the road again. The brace is coming off at the end of the week. Will his car be ready?

Mei drove towards the Myogi Nissan dealership with Al. Mei felt happy to be behind a wheel again. He was also happy because he wasn't doing 120 km/h down a mountain pass. He wondered what driving down the mountain would be like now…

He pulled into the dealership and parked the car by the garages. He walked around to where the garage was. There he saw the horror. His sil-eighty was completely mauled. The rear end was dented, he had cracked the transmission block, and the car looked it had gone through a paint job from hell. He walked over to the mechanic, "Can you save it doc?"

The mechanic smiled, "Sorry to say, but the new transmission will cost you 300,000 yen alone and then the paint will probably be 50,000, then the rear end will be 30,000. If you've got a discount, you'll top out at about 350,000. Do you have something like the JAA?"

Mei was in shock when he heard the discount price. He sighed, "No, I never signed up for that and my insurance doesn't cover me if I caused the accident, which I did."

The mechanic was surprised, "Wow! Well, in that case, to be honest you'll owe about 600,000."

Mei and Al looked horrified. This was bad. Very bad… "I can't afford that!"

The Mechanic sighed, "I know car's you can buy for that much, hell! We've got a used Skyline for 500,000."

Al looked up from his feet, "What model?"

The guy looked over at the white Skyline, "Looks like a R32 to me."

Mei looked over. It was the 32 model. It was nice too. Paint was scraped and it was a little dented, but besides that it looked in good running order. He looked over at the mechanic, "Does it still have the stock turbo?"

The mechanic shook his head, "No, the previous owner took it out and put it in his new car."

Mei nodded. The car was so powerful that he barley would need the turbo. If he did want it for the uphill, he could always take the one of the Sil-eighty. He smiled, "I'll be back, hold onto that 32 for me."

Al followed Mei back to the Trueno. Mei got into the Driver's seat again and Al sat next to him. Al stared over at his cousin, "You're gonna buy that Skyline?"

Mei looked over at Al, "I don't have enough cash. The trade in for the Sil-might equal out to 200,000 yen if I sell it piece by piece. Nik and I have a racing fund in the bank that is around 250,000 yen. The rest is bits and pieces."

Al sighed, "You do realize that this is probably gonna clean you guy's out, right?"

Mei started up the car, "I'm the team's uphill driver. An all-wheel drive car like the 32 will make it easier to win those types of races. Agreed?"

Al sighed, "It's a lot of money…"

"It's worth it." Mei drove off the lot and back towards the house. He would have to

discuss this with Nik before he could do anything about it. He knew Nik would say yes.

Later that night…

"No."

"Nik, come on."

"No, it's too much."

Mei sighed and plopped down on the couch. Apparently Nik didn't now as much about the need for a car, "It's less than it would cost to repair the Sil-eighty."

Nik knew that much. He didn't really want to get it though. He shrugged, "If it's so important, I'll let you take the racing fund money, but the rest is up to you and blondie over there."

Al sighed at being called blondie. He remembered Nik had called some of his friends that before. Some of his female friends…

Mei smiled, "Cool, trust me, you won't regret this."

Nik walked towards the garage and whispered to himself, "That's what you said the last 20 or so times..." He walked over to the driver's side of his FC. Maka had let him out early tonight for some reason. Probably because it was so slow. He wondered when he should ask her to go out again…

He started up the car and pulled out of the garage. He drove down to the bottom of the mountain before he got onto the highway. He was heading towards Usui. He missed driving all the different passes every day. He needed a refresher course in his reverse drift technique on tight corners.

Nik got to the pass around 9:00. It was a little early. He started his run slowly. He wasn't going much faster than 100 km/h. He was sliding through the corners slowly, even just for a start. He accelerated and then things were feeling comfortable. His car cleared the corners quicker than before.

Nik took the corners tight, not worrying about maneuvering into the turns. His car was still clearing the corners slowly for him. His wide drift must be getting to comfortable for him. Maybe he could drift a little wider.

He went into the first set of corners on his second run at a good speed for him. He held the corners wide and kept his speed up. His maneuver was working even on these tight, continuous corners. He saw lights behind him following him. They looked like Mei's. A Sil-eighty?

He drifted into the next corner being followed in by this Sil-eighty. He wasn't too bad. He was going really fast though. Nik slowed him down because of his technique. Nik saw how he was slowing down a lot when he went into the corner after trying to catch him on the straight. The driver must be thinking that Nik was a slow driver. He couldn't allow that, now could he?

He accelerated harder on the next straight. He was hoping more speed wouldn't faze him too much. It didn't. Nik found entering the corners easier and exiting to be only a little more difficult. The car next to him was blue. He thought, "A blue Sil-eighty…where have I seen that before?"

Nik started his third run with the Sil-eighty still tailing him. He looked at his gas meter. A ¼ full. He would barley be able to make it down to the gas station again with that much. He braked hard on the next straight, causing his car to spin out in a 180 degree motion. He left more than enough space for this other driver to pass but instead the blue Sil-eighty stopped like he did. It pulled up next to him.

He saw two girls get out. Cute one's too. He stepped out of his own car and looked over at them. He saw them walk over towards him. The blonde girl spoke first, "Not bad, not bad at all. You kept us behind through the whole race."

Nik smiled, "It wasn't that hard. You slowed down a lot on the corners that came one after the other."

This blonde girl looked insulted, "That's because we were saving the tires, something good racers now how to do."

"So you think I wasn't saving my tires?"

"Yeah, you were attacking those corners too wide to be saving your tires."

Nik smirked and leaned against his black hood, "The rear tires on my car are still pretty new. I only put them on about a few weeks ago. These tires grip the road especially well. The way I was drifting was to wear them down."

The other girl looked a little surprised, "Wear them down?"

"Yeah, by wearing them down I make it easier to make my rear end slide. Once I get them comfortable, then I'll start worrying about saving the traction."

The blonde girl looked impressed, "Not bad for a noob."

"I've been racing in Gunma for a few years now. I know what I'm doing on the passes."

The blonde put a very devilish smirk on her face. She looked over at my car and nodded, "So you're on a team called the Blak Nites?"

I looked up, "Yeah, I am."

"So what do you say? The Blak Nite's against Impact Blue on Friday night?"

Nik sighed. It had been a while since he personally raced against someone, a week or so now. He had to admit he liked the challenge of driving against an opponent. He looked up at him, "I need to talk to my strategist. I'll have my team meet you guy's up here tomorrow night."

The blonde agreed and walked back over to the passenger side seat. I looked over at the other girl, "Usually the driver has more say in what the team does than the navigator."

She looked back to me, "Usually the team leader has the ability to accept a race without having to talk to the strategist."

"So how about just me and you race?"

"What are you talking about?"

The blonde girl popped her head out the window, "Makasato, he's just trying to get in your head. Don't let him get to you."

Makasato walked up to him and got right in his face. She quietly whispered, "555-8956."

"Hmm?" She walked away back to her car and drove off with the other girl. That sounded like a phone number. He wrote it down on a piece of paper in his glove box before getting back in his car. He drove down to the gas station here in Usui.

He was really lucky. They were just closing up. He was able to get one of the attendants to full up his tank for him. Not a full service job, but it was all he needed. He sat in his car and looked at the number. Did she want to race him like he had talked about? Only one way to find out…