Chapter 38
When they got back to Ryosuke's school Gavin started making the phone calls to see if he could track down his parents. Tatsuo and Nika kept his wife busy so he could also make reservations for their honeymoon. When he'd finally managed to get a hold of his parents he let them know the results of the race; they sent their condolences to the whole team before having to get on their connecting flight that would take them all the way to Florida.
Once the trucks and the main line FD were unloaded and in their proper places Ryosuke dismissed the drivers. Tatsuo and Nika simply went home to their apartment, Mikio and Izumi went to dinner while Gavin and Reiko went to the hotel he'd reserved for them. The mechanics stayed behind to figure out what happened to the engine of the FD. The pit crew also stayed behind and ran drills to make sure the mistake that happened during the driver change out didn't happen again.
"So what are we going to do with this little vacation of ours?" Nika asked as she and Tatsuo stepped into their apartment.
"Who knows? I look forward to sleeping for a couple days at this point," her black haired boyfriend replied just before his phone started ringing.
He dug the phone out of his pocket and threw it to Nika to answer while he started putting together their laundry.
"Tatsuo's phone, how may I help you?" the brown haired woman answered trying to speak like his secretary instead of his girlfriend.
"Nice try Mahara-san, this is Makato Fujimoto, I wanted to get together with you guys, at least try and explain why weren't at the circuit like we said we would be," the Night Wolves leader's voice came through the speaker, he sounded a little embarrassed as well as angered about the situation, "Think you and your teammates can meet us at Myogi tonight?"
"Gavin and Reiko are on their honeymoon, Mikio and Izumi I think went to Tochigi to pay a visit to their families, I guess Tatsuo and I can make it if it's really that important."
"I'd rather try and explain it in person, but if you're all I can get I'll live with it, eight o'clock, only the leaders are coming out."
Nika agreed to meet with them at Myogi later that night just before hanging up. She explained everything to Tatsuo who called Gavin and Mikio telling them only that they needed to be near a phone at eight since it was pretty much what he knew. The couple received a phone call from the school detailing that they needed to come back to the school before the end of their vacation to test the FD's new engine, but the call also included that it wasn't urgent.
When they arrived at Mt. Myogi, Makato and Takako were already in the lower parking area watching the sunlight fade away in beautiful blues and reds. The couple greeted them and added their reassurances that the team would do better in the next race to the long list they'd already gotten.
"So, can I ask what actually got you to calling Wolf boy over here your boyfriend?" Nika asked Takako with a slightly joking tone.
"Well you know that we were hanging out a bit after that Saitama team blazed through here, one night he came to Akina and just plain asked if I would be his girl," the black haired woman replied with a small laugh, "He seems to thank Gavin for the courage, though he refuses to explain the 'young at heart' comment Gavin made at the school a few weeks ago."
"Gavin likes Frank Sinatra's music, that's the title to one of his songs," Tatsuo said with a small smile of his own, "Not quite sure why he would have made the reference though."
"And I won't tell either," Makato said with a stupid grin on his face.
The conversation died off as the sounds of several engines filled the night air. The four people already in the parking area watched on as the silver R32 belonging to Shou Enomoto of the Akina Street Kings led the S13 of the Usui Sparks and the Akagi Blue Fire's leading car. Once the cars were parked the other team leaders gathered around Makato and Takako waiting to explain to Project GT why they weren't there.
"Alright Tatsuo, we've got dinner reservations so this better be quick," Gavin's voice rang through the speaker of the black haired man's phone.
"Well I'll start then," Makato said bringing attention back onto him, "We did make the race, Takako and I were at Suzuka for the whole weekend, as was Shou, but the guy letting pass holders by seemed to be in a bad mood and wouldn't let us go by."
"When we did get into the paddock Mikio was the only one we were able to talk to since it was nearly starting time, meaning Gavin-san and Nika-chan were already on the track," the leader of the Usui Sparks added with a disappointed tone, "We weren't allowed to go in the motor home to see Reiko and Tatsuo, something about you guys liking to meditate or something."
"Yeah, Tatsuo and I usually just lay out on the beds in the motor home and try and clear our heads between sets at the school, we did the same thing this weekend," Reiko's voice played through her brother's speaker phone.
"It wasn't your fault guys, some asshole doesn't let you through the gates it's on them, no worries, besides I don't think we would have had a ton of time to talk anyway," Gavin's voice rang out, "We've got to go or they're going to give up our table, later folks."
The distinct click of the phone closing was heard shortly before a dial tone came through the speaker and Tatsuo put away his phone.
"Hey Makato, if you were planning on coming to Okayama we could try talking to our press officer, have him let you guys in before practice," Mikio suggested through Nika's phone.
The conversation continued on for a few more minutes before Tatsuo looked at his watch and suggested making a few runs before clearing out for the night. Makato and Takako agreed but the remaining team leaders decided the less attention the Takahashi Racing drivers had the better.
A couple of days later Nika was getting bored at home and figured it was as good a time as any to go and reset the main line FD. Tatsuo made the call and the whole staff of the GT300 team met them at the school. As soon as they were ready they each took ten slow laps a piece to make sure everything worked proper before going up to a standard training pace.
The lap counts stayed at ten laps at a time until lunch time when Tatsuo let the tail slide out and drifted the blue and gold FD through the last long right handed u-turn on the throttle course. They parked the FD and stood talking with the pit crew for a few moments before an idea struck in Tatsuo's mind.
"Fujiwara-san, why haven't Nika and I been using the school's trainer FD for our training sessions since the season started?" the black haired young man asked after finding the older man.
"What is it you had in mind Tatsuo-kun?" the brown haired man asked not seeing the whole idea.
"Well to save our two main cars for race weekend, since it was an old apex seal that blew out in the old engine, wouldn't it be better for us to use a car that wouldn't even be taken to the race track?"
"I see what you're getting at, and I'll talk it over with Ryosuke-san before the week is over with. Now that we've got the regular car back to where it should be we don't want to break it."
"Thank you Fujiwara-san, we'll be doing a few more laps before we leave, I just got hungry," Tatsuo replied with a chuckle before heading into the school's main building to find something to eat.
Nika and Tatsuo ended up staying at the school until nearly five o'clock when his parents called inviting them to have dinner with them that night. As they drove out to the Sasaki household Tatsuo spotted a bunch of older model cars and a few new ones sitting in the parking lot of a small restaurant.
"We don't have to be at Mom and Dad's for another hour or so; you want to stop in and have a look around?" the black haired man asked slowing down so he wouldn't miss the entrance.
"Yeah sure, I think I left my camera in here after we came home from the race," Nika replied with a wide smile.
As they slowly made their way around the small parking area the race ready SE3P seemed to fit in with a good amount of the cars crowding the parking lot, but its bright Aztec Gold paint job allowed it to stand out as well. Tatsuo managed to find a parking space in the lot and parked the car with its back bumper facing the wall of the building.
"I'm going to go ahead and look around; catch up when you've done what you wanted with this thing," Nika said climbing out of the car and darting off into the crowd.
Tatsuo soon caught up with his girlfriend as she stopped to take pictures of any car she could. As they walked together looking at some of the old Nissan Fairlady Zs Tatsuo spotted a Toyota 2000GT tucked in between a pair of older Nissan Skyline R31s.
"Hey Nika, make sure you get that one," he said pointing to the car across Nika's camera lens to make sure he was seen since its viewer hadn't left her eye since he'd caught up to her.
The distinct click and shutter noise was the only conformation he received that she'd heard him at all causing him to chuckle quietly as they continued to walk along.
"Okay, you've taken your pictures, let's just walk around and enjoy this little show now huh?" the black haired man said with another chuckle pulling the camera away from Nika, "What are you going to do with all these pictures anyway?"
"I use some of them as a screensaver on my computer, others I don't really do anything with," the brown haired young woman replied with a shrug, "The photographs I do sell are usually mountain sunrises or sunsets."
They continued to talk about her photography until they reached the red Toyota again. This time something made Tatsuo pause and take a closer look at the aging machine. As he made his way around the car his mind automatically took note of a few small scratches in the paint as well as the license plate number that seemed awfully familiar to him for some reason.
"I know this car," he muttered to himself not realizing its owner was now standing next to Nika having a pleasant conversation about him, "Hey Nika, I think I've driven this car before," he added so Nika could hear him.
"I would hope it was you who drove it, you're the only other one who has, you needed a car after you crashed your RX-8 four years ago," a broad shouldered man with a kind and aging face said with a laugh.
"I only had it for a week Kayama-san," Tatsuo replied stepping up to the man and shaking his hand, "Nika Mahara, this is another friend of the family, Kayama-san."
"Nice to meet you Sir," Nika said with a short bow, "You said he crashed his SE3P four years ago, but he still has it, parked on the other side of the lot in fact," she said in a confused tone.
"He meant the first one, I wrapped it around the end of a guardrail passenger side first during one of my first races," Tatsuo replied, "Reiko and I weren't the rotary twins just yet because that car was crystal blue."
"He drove this thing for a week until the fabricators could finish the one he has parked on the other side," Kayama said with a chuckle as Nika's jaw dropped open.
"There was only like 300 of these made and you let him drive it for a week?" the brown haired young woman asked as if trying to wrap her head around the idea of it.
"I was around to buy this one new off the line young lady, I think I'm allowed to let someone drive it if it's needed," the older man said with a full hearted laugh, "Plus he did promise to stay out of the mountains with it," he added once he'd caught his breath.
"Couldn't get me to take it up there even if you paid me, I'd be afraid of what it might do," Tatsuo said with a chuckle of his own.
"A professional racer afraid of a car that couldn't go half as fast as the one he drives for a living, probably about the same for the one he races in the mountains, that really is a new one," Kayama replied causing a slight appearance of shock to appear on Nika's face, "Don't worry young lady, no one here will find it out from me, I'm a little surprised that some of them haven't recognized you already."
"We're lucky that way," Tatsuo replied, "And I'm not afraid of the speed of it, I'm afraid of how the thing handles, tried to throw me off the road once," he added with a light hearted tone.
"Mahara-chan, I know what your ruffian boyfriend's favorite car is," the owner of the 2000GT said with a quiet chuckle, "But what about you, is there a car here you wouldn't want to live without?"
"I recall her saying something about wanting a GT-R a few months back," Tatsuo replied thinking it was the proper answer.
"I drove one just before you moved in Tatsuo, I think I've fallen out of my fascination with them," Nika said with a slightly nervous tone, "My real dream car though is sitting two cars over behind Kayama-san though."
Both Tatsuo and the older man spotted a 1972 Nissan Fairlady Z dressed in arctic white. At a distance it didn't look too bad, a few small rust patches and a missing badge on the visible side, but up close it appeared to be no more than a pile of rusted panels the current owner was looking to sell. Tatsuo noted that only a phone number was given on the 'for sale' sign, he figured the owner was negotiable as to its price. Nika stood close to the car and looked it over with the same respect she looked upon the two Super GT FDs she was employed to drive.
"I had a dream of one of these sitting in the driveway and my Z33 in the garage instead of the other way around," the brown haired woman said with a small smile at the memory, "I'd probably drive the S30Z more for daily use than I would the 350Z if I had it."
Tatsuo memorized the number and inspected the car a little closer finding that most of the rust on it was surface rust, but it did have a few holes in the lower quarter panels and inner wheel wells where water, and probably snow were thrown against them. It also seemed to have a few holes in the floor pan and trunk floor but it was nothing a few patch panels and a lot of man hours couldn't fix. Also, to his surprise the car had a twin cam inline six with three carburetors and that it appeared to be completely drivable. The couple left the cruise-in shortly after in order to get to their dinner with Tatsuo's parents on time.
When they arrived back at their apartment after a surprisingly pleasant dinner with his parents and older brother, Nika immediately went to take a long shower. Tatsuo called the number on the S30Z and agreed to a reasonable price after a few minutes of haggling. He also managed to get the owner to agree to deliver it to the school where he and his girlfriend trained. When Nika came out of their bedroom dressed for bed Tatsuo's accomplished look told her that he was up to something.
"Okay, why do you look like you just moved a mountain?" the brown haired woman asked with a suspicious look in her eye.
"Managed to buy a project car for Gavin, Mikio and I to work on during downtime if we get bored," Tatsuo said with a chuckle, "Even managed to get it delivered to the school and Ryosuke-san himself said we could use any resource the school offered to get it done right."
"Uh huh, and just what made him agree to having a beat up old car in the garage?"
"Just asked him if we could use the school since none of us have a place to store it, I also made a point of mentioning that it would allow Mikio a little extra mechanical training and maybe some body working experience with Gavin's help," the black haired man replied with a chuckle.
"So you bought it for Mikio to learn?" Nika asked getting more confused than suspicious.
"Not really, bought it for the boredom that comes with having two weeks off after a race, but that was an added bonus," Tatsuo said with a slight chuckle, "Gavin and Mikio both of course have to agree to help, but I'll talk to them about it when they come back from their vacations tomorrow."
"Whatever, but if you're not home for dinner you best believe I'm eating without you," his girlfriend replied giving up trying to figure out the situation, "What did you get anyway?"
"I'll let you know," the black haired man said with a chuckle before going to take a shower.
The next day Tatsuo managed to get out of the apartment without giving up his intentions or any other information about the S30Z he'd purchased as what he'd hoped to be a championship gift for Nika. He made his way to the school to take delivery of the car and was smiling broadly as he talked to Gavin and Mikio about his little plan.
"You know keeping her out of that garage area is going to be impossible right?" Gavin's voice asked just over the drone of a rotary engine.
"We won't need to keep her out completely, just get it down to bare bones and take off any badges so she can't tell what it is," Mikio replied from the other side of the conference call.
"Still easier said than done, I'm at the school now to take delivery on the car before I go and register it in my name," Tatsuo said as he turned into the school, "Meet me here in about two hours and we should be safe."
"Tatsuo, I wish you luck in this little venture and all, but what use will I be?" Mikio's voice rang before Gavin and Tatsuo could hang up.
"You're an errand boy for two teams as it stands Mikio, the title won't change," Gavin replied with a chuckle before hanging up without a reply.
It was three hours later when Tatsuo finally got everything settled with both the previous owner of the arctic white S30Z and the licensing people. Gavin and Mikio met him at the school as promised, but as he pulled back into the parking area he noticed that Wataru and Kyoko were also waiting with his teammates. He led all of them to the space Ryosuke had allowed for this little project, explaining along the short walk what he had in mind for the work that would need to be done, basically hoping for Gavin, Mikio and himself to do most of the work themselves whenever they could. Kyoko and Wataru agreed that they would inspect the final product or help when time allowed them to.
Gavin worked alongside Wataru getting the entire front end off the car and separated so it couldn't be definitively identified. Mikio and Tatsuo worked at getting any badges that remained of the originals off the body while Kyoko went about cataloging every nut and bolt that came off or would need to be replaced.
It was just after lunch when Tatsuo called the now three hour long tear down to a stop for the day. The car stood with no doors, its engine still in place in open air since the entire front clip had been removed and all the glass was sitting in the corner well out of the way with the body panels. Kyoko made sure that everything that came off was labeled and stowed away in an empty tool box that used to hold parts for the 1967 Mazda Cosmo the school had used as a trainer car.
"So what is it you intend to do with this thing once you've got it finished Tatsuo?" Gavin asked as they all walked back towards the parking lot.
"I'll give it to Nika, it's her dream car, hopefully by the time we actually finish it she and I will have a house with a garage to put her Z33 in," the black haired man replied with a smile.
"It's going to take a lot of time to fix that thing Tatsuo-kun, how exactly do you plan to work on it when you're training?" Kyoko asked bringing to light a question on everyone's minds.
"I was thinking that since at least one of us is constantly out of the cars there would be someone on it constantly," the young man replied nervously.
"I can stay out of the cars since you guys need to train more than I do," Mikio said as they stood in the parking lot, "With some help from the maintenance staff I could do a bit that way."
"Mikio, no disrespect to what you've learned since you came back, but that's not enough to restore a car practically by yourself," Gavin said with a serious tone, "Plus you were the one who said you wanted to practice just as hard as we did when you came back."
"What if I take first run in the NSX and Nika in the FD? That leaves at least Gavin out of the cars for next to two hours, maybe more," Mikio suggested, "He does have the most mechanical experience of us."
"My mechanics is based on rotaries, I haven't really played around with anything other than Nika's 350Z and the NSX when it comes to piston engines," Gavin replied with a slight chuckle, "But it would give me a little time to do some of the required bodywork."
"We'll figure it out, but what's left of the tear down will take a while, the interior is still in it after all," Tatsuo said with a chuckle, "We've got all of next week to finish that up and order whatever parts we need."
"What about the engine? Are you rebuilding it or what? Because we don't have any equipment for that here," Wataru said pointing out yet another roadblock.
"I've got a shop that did most of the work on mine and Reiko's RX-8s. They should do it for free for me along with the transmission," the black haired man replied.
Wataru and Kyoko went back to their own business in tuning the new black NSX that Ryosuke had purchased for the practice sessions by Tatsuo's suggestion. Gavin and Mikio went to meet their wives for lunch while Tatsuo went back to the apartment he shared with Nika.