"1…GO!"
Nik pressed the accelerator to the floor hard and followed Kanryu off the line. Nik pulled in behind him and drifted tight through the uphill turn. He noticed how Kanryu kicked out his back end excessively as he easily kept front tire control. His style was likes Nik with one exception. Nik's involved more force in kicking out his rear end then Kanryu.
Nik was able to stay tight as he pushed through the next two on Kanryu's tail. Then the first hairpin cam towards them. Kanryu entered the corner nearly the same way and speed that Nik did. He powered through it which let him gain ground but it also wore down on his brakes quite a bit. Nik remained calm through the corner and kept very close to him at the end. Nik had gained ground in that corner but lost it soon after.
Nik followed him through the next group of light turns. His shifting was right on key. Kanryu still seemed calm. He should be it is early in the race. Nik turned the wheel into the medium left turn and prepared for the hard right that came after it. Kanryu wasn't slowing down. Was he crazy?
Nik watched as Kanryu began a drift on the next side and actually kept a basic level of control. Nik could also see him struggling. He must have been going to fast. He saw the rear end of his car scrape the rail. Nik pulled up along side of him on that turn. The more Kanryu tried to pull away, the easier it became to catch up to him. Nik wasn't sure if he was purposely doing this or whether he was actually just trying to pull ahead.
Nik slid through the next hairpin fast and exited quickly afterwards. Kanryu was an excellent driver but the corners were coming at him too quickly. It was like he wasn't ready for them. How did this guy get to be the number two driving team on Myogi?
-
Mei squealed his tires as he started his way up the mountain. His eyes were looked on hers until he had passed her. Then it was him, Bryan, and the mountain. Mei swerved through the first turn and then through the second. His 32 was on the tail of the Evo.
Bryan slid around the turns continuously and couldn't drive any closer to the outside. He put so much pressure on the front tires that he should have had problems with under steering by now. He was driving to aggressively. He was overly used to the lighter weight body of his Jetta.
Mei knew that Bryan couldn't be used to this car yet. It looked too new. He could clearly remember the race between Nik and him back in the U.S. Bryan drove with an amazing level of stupidity in that race. It was surprising that he and his car weren't left at the bottom off the lake. The only thing that kept him on land was the fact that his car was heavy. The weight kept him alive on the corners he pushed too hard through but Nik still took advantage of him in the harder corners.
The LanEvo had close to the same weight as the Jetta, but it was easier to control through the AWD set-up. Another advantage that Bryan received from the LanEvo was its power. The stock turbocharger gave him near 280 HP. The Jetta had around 180 HP. The added power gave him a very large advantage.
Mei's GT-R was heavier than the LanEvo because it had a larger engine. Besides that, they pretty much equaled out. The weight would hold him back, but besides that, they were even. If Mei put a little more acceleration into it…
-
Nik was beginning to realize just how much of a pain in the ass this 3000GT could be. He took up the entire width of the road when drifting on the hard corners. He was also controlling his speed better now. He was still leaving a lot of space on the lesser corners but it didn't help him at all because his car wouldn't accelerate.
Nik's car had been upgraded with in installed turbo but it was a serious pain. Mei had helped him with installing a new muffler too. His car had been pushed up to somewhere around 220 HP just by that and then he went to the dealership to have a new chip installed. That pushed his car up to 250 HP.
Kanryu's car still had 320 stock HP. If he was still driving on just the extremely high stock power, Nik was still left at a disadvantage power wise. On a straight or oval course, he would have either lost or been left in the dust by now.
Nik was lucky that this course was downhill and had curvy turns like the one he had just taken. After clearing the turn, he headed through the next one right behind him. Nik just couldn't seem to pass him at this point in the race. Nik watched as his car passed by the halfway point and he took a long slide drift through the next corner.
Kanryu's 3000GT was too poised to win. Kanryu refused to show any sign of weakness. Nik was right with him in the corners but it didn't seem to faze him. Nik's mind tactics weren't working. Nik would have to push harder. Nik shifted up into fifth gear and slowly began to catch up to Kanryu.
They entered the next corner simultaneously. Nik was forced to the outside of the corner and had to pull back so he didn't get hit by Kanryu. Nik's eyes followed the rear end of his car as he pulled to the outside on the turn. Nik accelerated and shifted up again to pull along side of him. They jointly went towards the next hairpin turn neck and neck.
Nik held back on the gas and let Kanryu take the turn first. He watched as Kanryu drove from the outside to the inside and then outside again. Nik swung his cars back end around and took up the entire width of the road at the exit of the corner. He accelerated and got behind him again. Nik was watching…
-
Mei pulled around the hairpin corner and shifted back up to fourth gear. He quickly approached the next turn and turned into it behind Bryan. Bryan kept taking more ground on the small straights and he didn't let up much on the corners.
He couldn't lose. This was the only opportunity he'd ever have to be with the girl he loved. His memories of her flood back to him. The day they met, the day he asked her to that stupid movie, the day he first kissed her, the feeling of her lips, her hair tickling his cheek, her hands massaging the back of his neck, the way she screamed the first time she drove with him, the way he screamed the first time he drove with her, her beautiful green eyes…
"I'm not losing!"
Mei accelerated harder and shifted up to fifth gear. His foot pushed down harder on the accelerator pedal and accelerated up to a comfortable 220 km/h. He was just grazing the red line. He saw the tail lights of Bryan's Evo get closer and closer. He saw them disappear around the corner and then as he exited that hairpin they were even closer. Mei's eyes were completely and totally focused on his tail lights and he followed them more and more until he was right next to them. Mei took the next corner and then looked at the number marked on it. He remembered that number. He was ¾'s of the way up the mountain…
-
Nik followed him a little farther and studied his hairpin technique on two more turns before he made his move. Nik downshifted into third gear as he approached the apex of the turn. He kept his acceleration up so he would keep right next to him. He watched as he went to the inside of the corner and then he started his drift. He kept tight to the outside lane and didn't allow him to pull out.
Nik watched as he slowed down and drifted out of the hairpin. Nik accelerated and took the lead on Kanryu. Nik looked in his rear view mirror and noticed Kanryu's eyes. He looked as though he had just saw a man die. Nik noticed how his car had let up on the gas. Nik floored his and drifted around the next turn. It took a small while before he could see Kanryu's headlights trying to catch up to him.
Nik's eyes remained as focused as they had started out. His commitment to the race had started at the starting line and refused to leave him until the finish line was reached. His eyes periodically returned to his rear view mirror to look at the 3000GT that loomed behind him.
He drifted and accelerated and drifted and powered through and turned through the next corners and soon he could see the street lights that hung over the parking lot. Nik pulled around the last corner and went full throttle down to the finish line…
-
Al stepped out of his Hachiroku when he heard Nik had passed Kanryu on the 12th hairpin. He looked up the mountain and noticed the headlights come around the 5th to last corner. He smiled as he heard the rotary engine roaring loudly.
Nik watched him quickly come around the last corner. Al pulled out his stop watch and looked at it carefully. He pressed the stop button as Nik passed along the line. He smiled at the black RX7. It was finally over…
-
Mei knew that it wasn't over yet. The course kept swerving and Mei kept accelerating with a look like he was gonna kill someone on his face. He pushed around the next medium corner and made his way up towards the second to last corner. He pushed through right next to Bryan wand made his way up towards the last turn neck and neck.
Mei looked over quickly, glancing at him. Bryan had pushed his car hard into his high gears. Mei was right next to him. Mei had the inside advantage on the turn. He knew exactly how to execute the turn perfectly. He heel-toe downshifted and handled the corner in his AWD car as if it was a FR car. He didn't have to slow down as much and Bryan was forced to slow down and back off.
Mei accelerated and felt as though he started a race with all four tires warming up. He skidded out in front and saw the finish line approaching him. He shifted up and kept up his speed until he reached the top. A smile slowly came to his face as he realized he had won. He had won her back…
-
Al walked up to his brother and watched him step out of his FC, "You won't believe this!"
Nik looked over to him with a smile, "Yeah, I won, yip."
"No, not that."
"Hmm?"
"I asked one of the guys from White Lightning and he said the previous course record was 2:45:16."
"So?"
"Look at your time." Al handed his brother the stopwatch and Nik looked at it. His look of no care soon turned to astonishment. He read the number out loud to himself, "2…2:4…2:45…2:45:1…"
Al smiled, "That's right, 2:45:17. You beat the old second fastest time by three seconds."
"The one that used to belong to me."
Nik and Al looked up at Kanryu standing there with a few of his teammates. His face still seemed drained of any emotion at all. He really did take winning seriously. Nik watched him carefully.
Kanryu sighed, "Congratulations on your win."
Nik smiled, "Thanks, you put up a real good fight."
"Yeah, you actually reminded me of something tonight."
"Really? What?"
A smiled crept on to the emotionless face of Kanryu, "I enjoyed losing tonight."
Nik put his hand out towards him, "I enjoyed racing tonight."
Kanryu shook his hand, "Welcome to the number two spot Nik."
Nik smiled, "Yeah, I feel accomplished."
He turned and began to walk away but first he looked back with a stone cold look on his face, "You've made it up the chain Nik. Now that you're at number two, don't remain satisfied. My one mistake was being satisfied with being number two. You keep going and be the best."
Nik continued to smile, "Don't worry. My teams been on a winning streak lately and we're not giving up now. I'll keep racing, don't worry about that."
Kanryu smiled and continued walking back to his car. Nik stood with Al for a moment before he looked at him with a smile, "Let's get home."
Al nodded and walked over to his 86 and Nik went to the FC. They both started their engines and pulled into the line of cars leaving. They got out and Nik followed Al back home.
-
Mei drove into the parking lot and pulled a 180 degree turn before heading past Bryan and back down the mountain. He pushed hard all the way down until he could see her standing in a black coat waiting for them. Mei hit the brakes and pulled up on his E-brake. He came to a near dead stop and looked out his window at her.
"Mike?"
Mei stepped out of his car and looked into her green eyes, "Hi…"
Mei watched her for one second but then he felt her arms slide around his shoulders. He felt her head rest on his shoulder as his arms quickly made their way around her waist. He pulled her closer and held her tightly.
He heard her soft voice speak subtly, "I've missed you so much…"
"I've missed you too…"
He held her close to him with warmth in his heart that he hadn't felt since he had left her. He held her close to him until he saw Bryan come down. Bryan stared at him with an evil glare but he soon denied it and said that she wanted her home by midnight. Mei agreed just so he could leave. Mei and Sara got into the 32 and drove up to a point of the mountain where they got out of the car and sat against the hood.
Sara looked out on the starry night and smiled, "Kinda familiar, huh?"
Mei's eyes were locked on hers, "Yeah, and I hope you're not leaving this time."
Sara moved her body closer to his and put her hands behind his neck and massaged it lightly, "I promise that I'll never leave you again."
"Good, because I wouldn't let you anyway." He wrapped his hands around her body and pulled her closer to him and pressed his lips against hers. She was tense at first but Mei felt her come and allow him to kiss her. Mei felt like he'd fallen in love all over again…