Review Time:

James Birdsong - :)

Demdrops - Thanks! Appreciate the feedback you've given.

Chapter 44 – Crazy Taxi

Today would be Yukari's pick. Her last one. It would be the last one because she knew her students would be graduating very soon.

"Any plans today, Yukari dear?" her mother asked at the breakfast table.

"Actually…..I was gonna have another extra session with some of my students," she said. "Just….um, last minute stuff."

"Well good on you, Yukari," said her father. "From what we've heard, there's some of your students that speak nothing but good things about you. They even sent a letter."

Huh? Letter? Yukari rummaged through the mail.

"Oh. By the way, Yukari…." Her father pulled out a stack of envelopes. "Could you explain all of these tickets for my car?"

She ran out of the room after finding said letter. "GOTTA GO SEE YA!"

XXXX

And so, Yukari had to rely on a different method for getting to Chiyo's house – her personal chauffeur.

"Stop calling me that!" Nyamo snapped at her. "You're lucky your parents didn't do anything worse! Honestly, all that terrible driving was going to bite you in the ass sooner or later."

"Aw stuff it, Nyamo. You drive like my grandma." Yukari was more focused on the sealed letter from her students.

"Are you gonna open that, or what?"

"No. It's clearly Chiyo's handwriting on the envelope. If I open it and read it, I'm just gonna be really emotional, and today isn't the day for that!"

In the backseat was a game that reflected Yukari's driving style perfectly….a game that needed the absolute peak of her energy!

"Good morning Miss Yukari, Miss Kurosawa," Chiyo bowed. "I already prepared the tea."

"Good morning Chiyo."

Yukari on the other hand plopped her duffel bag on the floor and donned a sharp pair of sunglasses. "Are you ready Chiyo? I didn't hold back with this pick."

"Um…..Miss Yukari, did you get our letter?" she wondered.

"H-Huh?!" Yukari was caught off guard. So she played it cool. "Yeah, whatever. We can talk about that stuff when we're back in the classroom. Who's here today?"

"Yo!" It was Kagura, followed by Sakaki. "What are we playing, Yukari?"

Excellent! No slow Osaka or queasy Yomi to derail the high stakes of the game…. Yukari pulled out a console before the girls' time….the last console Sega ever put out…the Dreamcast.

"Whoa…..what is that, Miss Yukari?"

"Tah! Something that didn't quite capture the market nearly 20 years ago…..while Nintendo had the Nintendo 64, their rival Sega….had THIS!"

"….Actually, Yukari, Dreamcast was before the Gamecube. It's technically part of that generation," Nyamo pointed out.

"Sssh!" She turned back to her students. "Look at the controller! The shape! The buttons! This baby gave us Sonic Adventure 2, but it ALSO gave us….THIS!"

Crazy Taxi

"Crazy…..Taxi?" Sakaki wondered.

"Y'see, girls, some games were just in arcades, and this was one of them! It got ported over to the Dreamcast and other consoles. Who knows how taxis work?"

Sakaki and Kagura looked at each other. Chiyo offered to answer the simple question:

"You get in and tell the driver where to go! At the end, you pay him the fare, and the both of you have a good day!"

"Good, good…let's show you a crazy taxi."

The game all had the signs of an arcade origin – when Start wasn't pressed immediately, it flashed a ranking of the 10 best players, their earnings, and the cabbie used. Unsurprisingly Yukari (YUK) was at the top of the ranking ladder.

"Alright! We'll file up a new file! What should we name it?"

"R-Ryu!" Chiyo offered. "It's what we used for the Persona 5 file."

"Sounds good." Yukari pointed to the menu. "There's more things to do than in the original game, but we'll just pick Arcade for now. That's what it was before."

"But then, what's Original?" Kagura asked.
"We'll get to that!" Yukari chose Arcade Mode. "Now, the cabbie?"

The choices were: Axel, with green hair and a Hawaiian shirt, B.D Joe, with a toothy grin and beach hat, Gina, with brown-red hair and lipstick, and Gus, with a staggered shave.

"Um….Gina, I guess?" Yukari's students decided on the only woman cabbie.

"Great! Let's start! I'll do a round just to show it off."

XXXX

Whatever ideas they had about a regular cab experience were quickly thrown out the window; the car not only moved extremely fast but enough to make pedestrians jump out of the way.

"W-What is this, Miss Yukari?!" Chiyo shouted. Her skin was turning white already.

"Driving a cab, duh?" Yukari dropped her first customer off at the baseball stadium. "You got one minute starting off, and dropping people off gets you time and money!"

"But…..there's no traffic lights….or stop signs….or giving the right of way…." Chiyo's trauma was threatening to return.

"We're on the clock! And it's just a video game. No one really gets hurt." She said this as an old man dived out of the way.

"Um….." Kagura was watching the screen carefully. She had her own anxiety over Yukari driving any vehicle, even digital, but she noticed some things. "I guess this game is really popular in the West. We're getting dollars and the soundtrack is American music!"

"Yep! Actually, I learned all the songs by heart."

"Huh?!"

"It's true," Nyamo said. "Yukari would sing them, word for word, and nobody knew what the heck she was saying."

"It's when I decided to be an English teacher."

"Really?" The introspection snapped Chiyo back to reality. "Miss Yukari….you've never told any of us how you chose your path. What about you, Miss Kurosawa?"

"Well I-"
"She had a crush on some fat kid, Tsubohara. Right Nyamo?"

"I didn't have a crush! I wanted to help people!"

"Excuse me, Miss Noble," Yukari teased. "You don't need to invent some perfect origin story. Alright, I'm almost done…..who wants to go next?"

Sakaki sensed the apprehension Chiyo still had. So like their last summer trip….where not everyone could fit in Nyamo's car….she decided to take one for the team.

"I'll go."

"Go go, Sakaki! You got this!" Kagura was ready to cheer her on. "I'm still gonna beat your high score of course!"

"Nn." Sakaki turned to Chiyo. "It'll be alright. I won't go as fast as Miss Yukari."

"But then you'll lose~" Yukari sang. "Well, good luck then."

Now a different American rock song was playing. Sakaki took a second to get acquainted with the controls and button layout, then began. Unlike Yukari she tried to drive as legally as she could.

"There's something I noticed, Miss Sakaki," Chiyo said. "There's customers with a green icon, a yellow icon, and a red icon. I would guess they get more challenging."

She was right. Picking up a red icon customer translated to only 20 seconds to get to the destination: the docks!

"Crap! You'll have to floor it, Sakaki!"
"But….."

"It's okay," Nyamo reassured her. "They're only pockets of data."

"….if I must. I'll increase my speed."

The jump was noticeable to Chiyo but completely pathetic in Yukari's eyes. In the end, the customer jumped out of the taxi when the time was up.

"Wait! There's other cars-"

"This is why you need to hurry!" their teacher snapped. "You can't get very far if the customers jump out on you! You only have so much time left!"

Sakaki looked a bit ashamed. "It was reckless of me not to ask first before trying that option."

"Aww, don't sweat it. Kagura, you're up next."

"Me?"

Indeed, Sakaki only had five seconds. When it was up, Yukari handed Kagura the controller.

"Good luck Miss Kagura!" Chiyo encouraged.

"….I want Sakaki to do over. I can't beat her high score fairly if she made a bad mistake that cost her a lot of time!" Kagura nodded at her rival.

"Oh stop being so humble. Every video game is a learning experience. You know what not to do."

"She's right," Sakaki agreed. "Kagura, you can play however you wish."

"Seriously? Well…..let's punch it!"

The swimmer played a lot less reserved than Sakaki, and it became clear that picking up customers wasn't the only way to earn money – tricks and certain manuevers earned a bit of money too.

"Good job!" Chiyo said.

"I'm gonna try a yellow rank, but I need to build up some more time!" Kagura's next customer wanted to go to the library. "I promise not to hit anything Chiyo!"

Yukari seemed to expect Kagura to be the most natural of the bunch. She leaned back, crossed her arms, and watched the progress of both money and time.

"Hey are you ever gonna take the sunglasses off?"

"Ssh Nyamo! I'm watching."

"Awesome!" The passenger was dropped off, and she drove off to find another. "This game is pretty fun once you get the hang of it! Think you'll be okay, Chiyo?"

"I….I think I will!" She looked a little pale, but still smiled. "There's a lot of interesting design at play…..Miss Yukari, could we see the other modes after?"

"Yeah, sure."

Kagura finished with a respectable score for a first timer.

While Arcade Mode involved fixed time and one stage, Original had a bit more freedom: it wouldn't be the same run each time, and the player could chose the time threshold.

"Three minutes….five minutes….or ten minutes! When the clock runs out, you can't earn anymore."

"Um…..well, three minutes will be fair!" Chiyo said. Yukari handed her the controller. She was shaking slightly, but partially due to anticipation.

"Chiyo….just relax." Yukari patted her shoulder. "You'll be a natural, just like in class!"

"Thank you…."

Chiyo wouldn't dare go as fast as her teacher, but she knew being idle wouldn't get her anywhere. She made sure to only go after green-marked passengers.

"Kentucky Fried Chicken? Sheesh, that place is everywhere," Kagura said. "Even if we're in some fictional American city."

"The map isn't quite the same so….memorization can't be Chiyo's plan," Sakaki noted. "It's a fresh experience."

"Maybe that means she has less pressure. Less comparing it to you or me?"

Interestingly, Kagura's hunch proved correct. Chiyo had sharp focus, and as she wasn't the first choice to play like she normally was, she had learned a lot from simply watching others. The girls also realized you didn't have to drive completely in the destination zone.

"Oh, the car's barely in…."

"Chiyo's really paying attention," Nyamo said. "Was that why you didn't make her go first, Yukari? To get to her absorb certain things?"

Yukari didn't respond at first. She flipped the envelope over in her hands.

"Yukari….."

"I've been Chiyo's teacher for three years, Nyamo. I know how her mind works better than anyone else in the school."

The fact that her time was fixed meant Chiyo knew how to make better use of it. She had to get as many passangers as she could….she didn't seem to look at the time once.

"How is she….?" Kagura looked her over. "She's really in the zone. I guess she timed it."

"She's not wearing a watch. She's counting in her head," Sakaki concluded.

"Holy crap!"

The comments and outbursts didn't disrupt Chiyo's focus. She was concentrating purely on playing the game – driving, braking, getting to the customer's desired location…..the more she scored, the more satisfied Yukari looked.

"I did it!" Chiyo smiled at her final score. "That was really fun, Miss Yukari! A little chaotic, but that's the kind of game it is."

"Well why don't you try five minutes then?"
"Five….? Sure!"

Nyamo, Sakaki, and Kagura watched in fascination. Once again Chiyo got in the zone, like it was what Yukari had planned for. And indeed, her teacher was feeling proud.

"You always need to challenge Chiyo a bit more each time. She'll always try to do better than her last attempt. Man! I….I just hope all of her college professors know that."

"Yukari…..are you feeling okay?"

"I'm fine!" she snapped at Nyamo. "Just give me a second. I need some snacks."

XXXX

But instead of going to the kitchen, Yukari went outside to the backyard. There Mr. Tadakichi greeted her with a bark and ran over to her.

"Hey boy." Yukari crouched down to pet him. "Your master….she's one of a kind. Don't tell Nyamo but I'm pretty sad I'll probably never have another student like her." She turned to the house. "I'm too scared to look at the letter. I know goodbye is coming."

She continued to pet him in silence, checking the five minutes to be over on her watch.

"You'll teach her when she doesn't have me anymore…..right?"

"YEAH! I'm back!" Yukari announced.

"Where are the snacks?"

"Huh?"

"The snacks?" Nyamo pointed to her empty hands. "You were gone for the whole time, Yukari."

"Sheesh Nyamo, maybe you'd meet some guys if you weren't always thinking of food." Yukari turned to the TV and was very impressed with Chiyo's score. "All right girls, let's do another mode. It'll break up the repetition."

"Really? Shouldn't Miss Sakaki and Miss Kagura get to try five minutes too?"

"Hey there's only so much time in the world." Yukari took the controller and headed back to the menu, this time selecting the Crazy Box option. "Nyamo, why don't you try?"

"Me?"

"Yeah. These are just side missions. Go for it."

1-1 – Crazy Jump

The taxi had to go down a ramp and clear the landing – 150 meters. Nyamo braced for the worst but surprisingly she landed it the first try.

"153 meters! Nice!" Kagura said.

"Ha ha, I get it. Make me do all the easy ones, right?" Nyamo asked.

"Okay missy."

1-2 – Crazy Flag

"Hit that flag, you got 15 seconds!"

But there was no flag in sight on the sandy beach. Nyamo turned around and realized….it was further down. "What if I just back up?"

She tried again but didn't get very close.

"Noooo….Miss Kurosawa, you don't back up at the same speed as when you accelerate. You do need to turn and drive straight towards it," Chiyo instructed.

"Right, right….."

After a few tries she got a time of 14.87 seconds.

1-3 – Crazy Balloons

In a grassy field 20 balloons had to be popped within 45 seconds. Sakaki decided to give it a try. She had to keep turning and weaving but also discovered….

"Not all pop on contact…."

"Yeah, so some you have to keep ramming!" Yukari said. "Don't worry, there's no virtual people or any buildings. It's the safest activity you can have a car do."

"Besides not driving it?"

Yukari ignored Nyamo's jab. "There's groups of three clustered together! Remember to get all of them when they scatter!"

Sakaki managed to clear it with 1.45 seconds left. "Thank you, Miss Yukari….."

1-S – Crazy Bowling

Kagura picked up a rather complicated mission. She had to knock down 70 pins in 30 seconds, 7 groups of 10 together in a linear path. But the turns were very sharp and she had to hit a certain part of the formation.

"For a strike, huh? Damn! You barely get any time!"

"Slow down when it comes to turn," Yukari instructed. "If you go too fast, you'll just crash into the sides! Maybe you should restart to get the most time."

"You're right…." She got a few strikes in succession, but each new turn kept tripping her up. "At least the arrow's helping me know where to hit…."

"You can do it, Miss Kagura! Practice makes perfect!" Chiyo said.

Nyamo watched her star swimmer…..like Sakaki and like Chiyo, she would get more sharp in her play the more Yukari advised her. In a way, Nyamo felt jealous, but she knew the two of them had different roles to teach their students. If she was the body, Yukari was the mind.

"Ha!" After her fifth attempt, Kagura got it with a time of 27.56 seconds. "Wait, lemme beat my score!"

"Hold on!" Yukari took the controller. "There's one more we can see…."

S-S – Crazy Attack

This time Yukari loaded up her own profile to play the last minigame unlocked. She would show the others what a true expert of Crazy Taxi looked like.

"Here." Yukari took off her sunglasses and handed them to Chiyo. "Sakaki, hand me that thing that's left in the bag."

"A…..blindfold?"

"You can't drive while blindfolded, Yukari! What if you did that in real life?" Kagura asked as Yukari tied around her eyes. Chiyo was already turning white at the idea.

"Kagura. I played this mission for days when I was younger. It was the final test to see how good of a driver you really were. It's all about getting to the goal before time runs out. Am I not good at that?"

So her students all held their breath. Nyamo gulped. Even she never saw Yukari do this.

"Go!" The clock said 4 minutes and the passenger got on. Yukari hit the virtual gas pedal and got cruising down the road. But after playing the mission so many times…..she knew exactly when to avoid collision.

"What the hell?!" Kagura gaped.

"Hitting cars loses time….." Nyamo mumbled. Yukari timed all of her turns perfectly. The music and car sounds might've helped, but it was clearly her memory doing most of the work.

"M-Miss Yukari…" Chiyo didn't know how to react. It was as if she was in the Yukarimobile, with the same kind of driving she felt on display once again. Even if all the people in the game were data, she still felt their plight was very real.

Sakaki was grateful Kaorin wasn't there to be psychologically scarred again.

"Up! Need to drift right on the guard rail!" Yukari used this tactic to avoid a line of cars.

"Just how many times has she played this mission?" Kagura wondered. "I mean….you'd have to play this so many times to remember when to do all the manuevers!"

Then Yukari showed off just how many times she played the mission.

["We've got a ter-min-al disease! And I don't think we're com-ing home! Double the dose of our so-ul!"]

"She's singing the song that's playing!" Chiyo exclaimed.

["Was it some thing that I said? (Was it some thing that I said?)"]

It was a truly magnificent feat. Yukari continued to sing the song, perhaps the song that taught her the most amount of English….and aced the rest of the course. Finally, she dropped the passanger off in the green zone on the map. Her time was….

"Y-You beat it, Yukari!"

3'45''. Above her last attempt years ago…..3'50''.

"You beat your score!"

Yukari removed the blindfold. "Practice…..makes perfect, girls."

It was soon time to leave. Chiyo waved at her guests leaving, and while Sakaki and Kagura were offered a ride….they decided to take the calmer option (even if Nyamo was the one driving) and walk home.

"See ya, Yukari. That was pretty cool back there."
"Good bye, Miss Yukari. Thank you for the experiences today."

"Ciao!" Yukari waved them goodbye in the passenger seat. "Ah….that was pretty fun. I might be as young as I used to be, but I can still break records like the rest of them!"

"…."

"Huh? Nyamo?"

Her friend was holding the envelope from before. "Yukari….do you mind if I read it? If you don't want to? I don't think you leave this closed."

"Fine. If you must."

So Nyamo opened the letter…..and Yukari watched her reaction. It seemed normal until her lip began to quiver…..then she started to cry…..rather loudly.

"Oh come on! Lemme see!"

"No!" Nyamo hastily wiped her eyes. "You were right, okay?! They're MY students too! Chiyo, Sakaki, Kagura….Tomo, Osaka, Kaorin, Chihiro….we've gotten a lot closer to them then a regular teacher would or even should."

"And I can't read because….?"

Nyamo pulled the envelope away. "You saw all of these girls first thing in the morning nearly every day these last three years. You're the tougher one. I'll let you read it after they graduate."

"Are….are you sure?" Yukari asked. "Because you're still crying."

"It's just…..I…I didn't get a letter yet….."

Yukari patted her shoulder. "C'mon, Chiyo wouldn't forget you. It's probably sitting in your mailbox. Why don't we check, and I'll read it? Then we'll exchange letters and have a big cry. Together."

"Y-Y-Yukari…."

"Nyamo are you gonna cry the whole time? Because I'll drive then."

"Um….no…..my insurance premiums…."

So the two drove towards Nyamo's apartment in silence….aside from the sniffles the gym teacher would give off. Yukari really wanted to know what the letter said, but she knew sometimes patience was the answer. She sat back, and smiled at the fun she had today.

"Hey Nyamo."

"Yeah?"

"I'm gonna miss them."

"Oh god…!" Nyamo started to cry again. But rather than try to get into the driver's seat or tease her, Yukari hugged her.

"We taught 'em well, eh Miss Kurosawa?"

To be continued...

This was originally a different pick but a much better game was suggested to me. Something that fit Yukari a lot better. But the last ones will be the ones I decided on ages ago. Also, the song Yukari was singing is The Days The Nights by Radical Sabbatical.

Next Game - Pikmin [Sakaki, Osaka, Yomi, Kaorin, Chiyo]