Eyo, it's been more than a month since this fic aired and I didn't post the second chapter yet... how thoughtless of me smh. Needless to say, I didn't expect the positive feedback and I thank all of you for the positive reviews in the first chapter. I mean, who would expect it lol, this was a crazy idea of mine, mixing up two things that had no link to one another whatsoever. I guess I just tried to make it more plausible by throwing in Japan's history with street racing, it's a rarely addressed topic in anime nowadays. And yeah, I made an update to fix all the typos, thanks for pointing them out lol.

So yeah, this thing wasn't abandoned, I just didn't have much time to work on the update, but I guess I'll try to come up with some more frequent updates. I won't promise anything tho, except the fact that I'm probably not gonna abandon it any time soon, nor go into hiatus or anything.

Changes. People make changes every time. From wardrobe to opinions, the range of changes a person can go through in a small amount of time is fantastic. Some would change opinions like wardrobe if that meant they could adapt other people and live like zombies for the rest of their lives. People tend to adapt the environment they're placed in. It's an unwritten rule, tattooed in your brain from an early age, courtesy of the educational system shaping you into a tool for society to use. All exceptions to that rule are branded with some non-existent mental diseases. Such as this abomination called Schizoid Personality Disorder, which labels loneliness as a mental disease and the description couldn't be more wrong and full of bullshit propaganda for the sake of sidelining the people who tend to think beyond the superficial layers of society since they always got mocked by it. A loner is almost never a loner by choice, no matter how much we try to put up a front and say it's the lifestyle that suits us best. In my youth, I would have argued that it was my choice to be a loner but truth is, being a loner is the point where you give up other choices and learn to accept your status. How can resignation to bad luck when it comes to social interaction be called a mental disease?

We've established that people change the stuff around them, and even their own beliefs, constantly, to adapt. But do people change themselves? Hardly ever... is what my younger self would have said in his blissful ignorance. Yukinoshita would have argued that people are able to change, even if she herself would miserably struggle in that regard. At least she held onto the belief, though, which is admirable... kinda.

Regardless, a rather overlooked fact is that the process of changing yourself was not as simple as it was made out to be. Changes on a superficial level like building muscles or getting a new look were quite easy to make. Changes to you as a person, I can bet you struggled with that too. Cause we, as humans, are too used to being who we are to ever seek real change. For people to change their personality, there has to be a trigger event to kickstart the process. Source: Me. I couldn't change for the better, but changing for the worst was one thing I didn't account for. My lack of foresight was the very proof of how ignorance is bliss.

Did I lit up your curiosity? Great, take a seat and crack the popcorn, cause our tale goes way back...

One year ago

Location: Underground poker club, Chiba

North of the Wakaba Ward in Chiba, in some underground, forgotten slum, there was a bar. It was hidden from the eyes of the public, exactly for what kind of place it was. There's no telling what you would experience if you were unlucky enough to walk in here without knowing full well what you were walking into. I, for one, was lucky enough to have the staff hire me as a part time worker when I stumbled upon this place by accident. Sworn to secrecy, I spent my third year of high school working part time in this bar, but the desire to prove myself to society was high enough for me to quit. In hindsight, I shouldn't have. Only misfortune greeted me after walking out this door... but it felt wrong. For me to be in a place with so many people having active law infringement cases. Cause this bar...was a poker club. And poker is, by all laws, illegal in Japan.

Only thugs, gang members, yakuza, rich guys and street racers could be found in these parts. So, after deciding that he doesn't want to have anything to do with this underworld, what was a functional man of society like Higikaya Hachiman doing here? Sinking further into his depression induced by his very failure to adapt said society. In Japan, you're taught from a young age that hard work pays off. This is just a way to program you into becoming an underpaid slave working 16 hours a day on minimum wage. Mom and Dad were full well integrated into this system, being corporate slaves. And Komachi was on her way of becoming the same. There was only me to keep the blue flag flying high, to rise above such indulgent way of living.

Thinking back on it, everybody in my life wanted to fix me, as if I was broken to the point of being dysfunctional. Which as true as it may be now, it wasn't accurate in the slightest back then. Hiratsuka-sensei forced me to join the Service Club so I could come in contact with my youthful side, to help me grow into a functional member of society. Little was she aware of how toxic my new environment turned out to be. My youth was as wrong as I've expected, and my adulthood is straight up fucked.

I snapped out of my thoughts to focus on the game. I was playing poker with a couple of guys. Of course I was playing poker, what else do you think I was here for? Eleven rounds. I came with 50.000 ¥. The lowest sum. While the others threw around sums ranging from 200.000 ¥ to 800.000 ¥. My current amount was 345.000 ¥ so I could say I was good. Most I got was 700.000 ¥, but I played a rather risky gamble last round, leaving me with my current amount. If I could get out of here with at least 500.000 ¥, I wouldn't have to worry about finding a new job for at least 2 months.

From the original lineup of 9 players, only four of them are still in the game, including me. My opponents are a chick in a rather revealing attire, a thug with a punker hairstyle, a thug with shaved head and a street racer.

Let's see how far I can go...

(scene break)

I'm in a rather interesting position... I ended up winning the game and cashing 1.450.000 ¥. Which was enough to last me a while. But I also ended up winning... this.

I'm in a parking lot near the underground poker club. Standing in front of a taxi cab. White 1995 Toyota Crown Comfort. The street racer from earlier, Renji-san, who was now next to me, had put this car at stake and lost.

He threw the keys at me and I caught them last second.

"Enjoy it. It was my weakest car", he said, before walking away.

Oi, for a street racer who prides himself in having a garage full of cars, you're quick to bet one at a stupid poker game. In the first place, why does a street racer even own a taxi cab? And what was I supposed to do with this? I don't have a drivers license. Sell it, maybe?

I looked down at the keys. I suddenly felt a headache and my vision became blurry. What's happening? Is this a dream? For fuck sake, I just won money to last me for months, if I wake up and it was all a dream... I'm gonna seek mental health treatment to get my subconscious to stop messing with me. Of course, I'd be instantly labeled a looming headache for any therapist in this world and denied treatment, but hey... it's worth a try at least. Yukinoshita once told me that I've turned despair into a science so I can imagine it's a power with the potential to scare away even professionals. She also said my employment and future prospects were shaky at best. Didn't know Nostradamus became a Yuki-onna.

The headache was growing worse by the second, shutting off my thoughts as my senses were focused on the pain. Then, suddenly, a white text appeared before my eyes:

YOU HAVE BECOME A PLAYER!

In a split second, the text disappeared along with my headache and my vision was back to normal... Or so I thought.

There's like a huge screen in front of me. Top speed: low. Acceleration: low. Handling: low.

Okay, what the fuck is this dream... Or is this even a dream? What if it's a delu-... Nah, I don't wanna believe it. So let's check. Yeah... I pinched my cheek as hard as I could. And it hurts. That meant the worst case scenario...

FUCK! I know I was a chuunibiyou in middle school, but this is just ridiculous! Come on, even Zaimokuza overcame his chuuni phase! Why am I relapsing? At fucking 21 too?

Just as I thought that, the screen displayed the following message: "GET IN THE CAR!"

Get in the car. Really? Why even?... Against all odds, I had hoped, though, that the screen will disappear if I do get in.

So, I opened the door and seated myself on the driver's seat.

"START THE ENGINE!", the screen read.

Oi, what the fuck? Do you really want me to drive this thing? Why would I even comply with such an unreasonable demand in the first place? Godamnit, getting pulled over by the cops for driving without a license was not in my list of plans for the day. Not to mention that giving up 300.000 ¥ after my big win was tasteless...

Can this day get any better than this? I'm literally taking orders from a chuuni screen urging me to get my first traffic fine. I sighed.

I put the key in the ignition and started the engine.

"SWITCH TO 1ST GEAR"

And it's confirmed, it wants me to drive it. Oh well, I guess I'll go to hell with this. I think I somehow activated an imaginary driving tutorial. Which is somehow accurate. Yeah, I'm aware how crazy that sounds. Tch. Smartass.

Blue arrows appeared in front of the gear lever, showing me how to switch gears. Ok, that's the confirmation I needed. I'm going insane. Yknow what, maybe this is a dream after all and I'm gonna wake up tomorrow and everything will be the same as ever. So I might as well roll with it...

I followed their direction and switched to first gear.

"PRESS THE CLUTCH AND THE ACCELERATOR!"

Wait, which was even which? I looked down at my were red letters marking them, making it easy for me to recognize either. I laughed as if it was the funniest thing in the world.

I pressed both of them as instructed by the screen and the car started. I instinctively turned the steering wheel to the right before I could hit the margin.

GET OUT OF THE PARKING LOT!

I did as instructed and was on the road. With all the cars around me. Lol, now what?...

I could try to drive this thing home. If I listen to these instructions the screen gave me, it might be alright. I just hoped there will be no police or traffic control around.

Then I could get home and wake up the next day as if nothing happened. RIP my huge win. You'll be missed, even if you were just a fabrication of my subconscious.

To my horror, I found out that it wasn't a dream. Let's just skip the weeks where I, technically, learned how to drive at the urging of this chuuni screen, and get to the point where it instructed me to meet Renji-san to arrange competing in my first race.

"You wanna do a race? With that thing?", he laughed as if he heard the funniest thing in the world.

I know how absurd it sounds, trust me. I don't even have a driving license but I'm forced into being a street racer. Am I in some racing novel or something? I thought they lost popularity since Initial D.

"Yeah...", I nodded awkwardly.

"Hahaha, I like your spirit, kid. I could hook you up in something if you're so confident, but it'll look bad on me if you bottle it up"

"I'll try not to..."

Keyword: try. There's no telling how awful this new experience will prove to be.

(scene break)

It's 1 am and I was in the Inage ward, northwest of Chiba. To be more precise, I was in front of the Sports-Center Station. There's two other guys with me. One was driving a 2005 white Fiat Punto and the other one had a red 2008 Lexus IS 250.Of course, my car seemed ridiculous by comparison.

"How exactly are you planning to win against us with that thing?"

"This is hilarious. Oi, taxi guy, try keeping up with us, will ya?"

I sighed. These guys are annoying. It's unlikely for a rookie driver like me, but if I could win and wipe their smirks off their faces... that would be something.

"Renji! Do you really expect us to race against this loser?"

Renji-san just frowned.

"He won my car at a poker game. I wouldn't underestimate him if I were in your shoes"

At this, the retards laughed. He didn't joke around yknow. Still, that's not something that should get you to put your faith in me or something...

As the other guys got in their cars, Renji-san turned to me.

"Don't disappoint, kid"

I sighed mentally. I'll try... I guess...

"Off you go"

I got in my car. I put on my seatbelt and pressed the clutch. I switched to 5th gear. We were going to race all the way to the Masuda Hospital. 4 kms.

Renji-san was doing the countdown. 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1...Let this begin...

I instantly caught 80 kms, but was third place behind the Fiat and the Lexus. This was gonna suck... The Fiat wasn't much faster, but the Lexus was a monster in every sense of the word.

As we sped up on the straight road, the two of them made the gap between us larger. 100 meters. I'm racing two experienced racers with nothing but a taxi cab and weeks of driving tutorial. Heck, I didn't even have a license...

Come passing the prefectural baseball stadium, I was still in third place. I looked at the screen. Goal: win the race.

You've got to be kidding me. Win the race. Considering everything. The gods of racing RPGs are most likely messing with my brain. I'd be lucky enough if I didn't finish this race in last place, godamnit. If I had a car like Hiratsuka-sensei's Aston Martin, I would be able to take them on speed alone. Come to think of it, what is she doing nowadays? Is she still unmarried? If you're still feeling lonely, I'll marry you, Sen-... yeah, not happening.

Well, I'm driving a taxi cab, I'm a rookie driver and up against actual street racers. What do I gotta lose? Except my dignity. Wait, I didn't even have it in the first place. Makes sense.

I sped up to 180 km/h. It was kind of risky, the others were only up to 160.

There wasn't much traffic around, luckily for us. The fool with the Punto was on the opposite lane, trying to overtake the Lexus. I closed the gap with both.

The Lexus sped up too, leaving me and the Punto a rather safe distance behind. 300 ft (91 meters) from me. 150 (45 meters) from the Punto.

My boost in speed was enough to pass the Punto come Keiai University. The gap with the Lexus was still 150 ft and neither of us seemed to be gaining advantage. Call it an unexpected performance. What if I can actually pull it off and win this? I wonder if I sound too crazy right now. Probably.

I had half of a mind to question what was happening, but I postponed it until after the end of the race.

Straight road ahead. Same speeds, same situation. I'm in between the guy with the Lexus refusing to give up his advantage and the guy with the Punto putting pressure from behind. Curved road ahead. I'm about to try something risky..

Instead of slowing down, I sped up and turned the car left to take the curve. I prayed I wouldn't die as the tires loudly brushed against the ground. My first drift ever. And it actually closed the gap with the Lexus, mere inches drifting the two of us apart. The Punto was lagging behind.

Now it could really be said that I was putting up a fight, as I thought I had more of a chance at actually winning this race. I wondered what would happen if I didn't win this race and thus failed the mission assigned to me by this system... It would be a funny thing to imagine but I'm not even sure I'm in the real world anymore so I pondered the consequences and reached the conclusion there might be some sort of punishment waiting for me if I didn't deliver on the task assigned to me. How bothersome...

So I might actually have to win this thing to avoid punishment game, huh? I sighed, the only thought I could get out of my mind being "why me?".Still, if I had to do this, I guess there's no way around it. The thought that I could have very well gotten into one of those shitty light novels written by Zaimokuza crossed my mind a couple of times, but now it was more like who else could it be? Since when do you even like street racing, fattie? I pictured you as more of the isekai type of guy, writing some cliché scenario about your average high school guy getting transported into an alternate world with superpowers and a harem. Knowing you, the guy would be a fattie, so it might as well count as a self insert.

I brushed these thoughts off my mind as I was trying to keep up with the Lexus. We just passed by Sobu and I couldn't help but sigh. How many memories I have with this place... memories from back when I used to think I could still find something genuine in my this worthless world, only to end up getting hurt again. Funny thing is that I really thought I was getting used to it and that it wasn't so bad anymore. What a narrow minded, naive perspective being brought down on me when I ended up in the same situation thanks to people I came to care about. Serves me right, I guess...

My thoughts made me subconsciously push the acceleration to the point of almost breaking. We were all the way down to Bunkyo-dori, parallel to Sobu Line, and the Lexus gained a boost in speed to prevent me from snatching the first place from him. I could tell he was getting all nervous and sweaty. Of course, he couldn't tell the taxi guy could prove to be such a challenge on the road. He probably thought he got this race all in his pockets and highly underestimated me. I don't blame him, I underestimated myself. And now here I was... one more push and I'd end up winning this thing. The Punto was lagging behind, me and the Lexus were all fighting for the first place. I looked at my speed. 180 kms/h, now that was close to the maximum this car could handle.

There wasn't much left of the race. Soon it will come to a conclusion and for the sake of nothing funny happening to me, I had hoped I'd be able to come in first place, even though it looked like such an unrealistic plan at the beginning. I know I had to pull out something quite risky to be able to overtake the Lexus, the guy had way more experience than me and that could be seen in the way he was keeping the lead despite me putting pressure on him from behind. It's like David fighting Goliath, at this level of skill and power.

Racing through Bunkyo-dori was pretty fast, at our current speed we passed the whole straight way in a matter of minutes. Everything was moving fast, I didn't even have time to spare a glance at the buildings or the cars around. I didn't even have time to look in the back mirror to see the Punto that was 200ft behind, everything that existed on the road was me and that Lexus ahead. I bet I could make the cocky sucker that was driving it feel the pressure by constantly tagging him throughout the whole race. I could feel the adrenaline coursing all through my body. The Matsunami intersection was closing in at high speed. I had to pull out everything I had in this risky move. I don't care what happens next, I actually want to win. And without getting risky, I can't win.

The Lexus slowed down quite a little. Now it's my chance. I pushed the breaks and the acceleration at the same time, turning the steering wheel left. I succeeded in maintaining a speed of 160 kms/h while i was at it. Everything moved in slow motion at that time. Progressively closing in on the Lexus, reducing the gap to mere inches... until I finally passed it...

I didn't even have time to think about this success. Only thing I knew is that I had to speed up to prevent him from catching up to me, so I pressed the acceleration as hard as I could. I left him behind at 300 ft, but there's no guarantee he wouldn't catch up to me later on. Though at this point, if I could just maintain my lead for the last bit of this sprint, I'll be winning the race. There's not much time left until the race closes up, so I was convinced I could do it. We're going full speed now. Another intersection was closing in, and then we'll have straight road up until some point short of reaching the hospital.

I turned right when I reached the Nishiciba Station, pulling up the same stunt I did earlier so I wouldn't let the Lexus catch up to me. Then I sped up to full speed and, looking at the screen, I noticed he was 250 ft behind me. This was going better than I've expected, for some reason. Just a little more and it will end, I thought. After those seconds before I passed him, it all happened too fast and before I knew it, I've arrived first at the destination.

I checked my screen. Congratulations, you won! Reward: 200.000 ¥.

And now I was waiting for the other guys to come, in the parking lot near the hospital. I saw them parking their cars and they both came over to me virtually at the same time. The Lexus guy got so mad that he slammed himself on my door when he left his car.

"You just got lucky, punk. Nothing more, nothing less."

Sore loser, are we? I chose not to say anything. The best way to deal with these tough guys is to thoroughly ignore their existence. If you give them a reason to retort to violence, then you could say you dug your own grave. I've dug mine too many times to repeat the same mistake over and over. He begrudgingly handed me the prize for winning the race. Great, gas money.

I watched him getting his phone out of his pockets and dialing a number.

"Oh yeah, give me the police."

Now this looked like trouble...

"We got a couple of guys about the street racing, the parking lot near Masuda Hospital, better send the cops right away."

Fuck! This douchebag was calling the cops on me... I mean, I knew what I was getting into, but I didn't expect to be arrested so early in the game. I sighed inwardly. All because of a cowardly fuck who can't take a fucking loss.

The guy hung up the phone and turned to me.

"Let's see how well you can hold it down with the fucking cops on your tail. Assuming you're not gonna surrender first thing when they see ya. I would advise against that, once you get in jail, it's 3 years locked up at best. I'll be seeing ya... if you make it out."

He flashed me a mocking kiss and headed for his car, the Lexus quickly disappearing out of sight. Great. I was about to do the same, when the screen displayed the following message: "ESCAPE FROM THE COPS!". Extraordinary.. now I'm forced to do just that. I could pretend I'm just an ordinary taxi driver, but I didn't even have a fucking driving license in the first place, so the deception wouldn't work. Just as I thought that, a police car appeared out of nowhere. I panicked. I started the engine, hit the acceleration and ran.

I moved too fast as I got out of the parking lot and back on the road, the cop not even having time to stop me. His siren rang all across the empty street as he began chasing after me. I began thinking about how could I even escape as he began closing on me and ramming the back of my taxi.

I tried speeding up a little and took the corner on the left at the next intersection. I did it all of a sudden, and the cop had trouble catching up to me. That's when I thought of a little plan. If I get lost between the buildings, he won't be able to catch up to me. So that's what I did. I turned the steering wheel left at the last second, to disappear behind the alley of the first building I saw.

I stopped driving. I couldn't see the cop nowhere near me. I looked at the screen and it said I was in "Cooldown" mode, whatever that meant. It was a blue bar filling at an alarming speed. When it reached maximum, the screen changed to a single text "PURSUIT EVADED!"

Turns out I could handle the cops as well...

While I was sitting on the couch, reminiscing all that stuff, I heard the bell of my small apartment ring. My apartment consists of a small living room, a small kitchen on the side, one bathroom and the main bedroom and none of these rooms were spacious enough for someone who racked millions of yens, but living in comfort never suited me. Other racers have already made enough money to move in cottages or lodges, but not me. After all, I'm trying to pose as an ordinary person. The cops don't know my face and I'm pretty sure they have no records of me in their database apart from the car I'm driving, and I'd like to keep it that way.

Now, there's not many people who would show up to my doorstep after all, so I knew exactly who this was as I made my way towards the door of my apartment to let my unexpected guest in.

"Onii-chan, opeeen up!"

Now that I think about it, I could never keep up with this energy. Yet for some reason I always found it cute.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm coming"

I said that as I made my way to the door and opened it as the figure of my sister, Hikigaya Komachi, greeted me from behind it. She invited herself, not before taking her shoes off at the entrance. Apparently, she came holding a bag of stuff and made her way to the kitchen.

"Onii-chan, when was the last time you ate a decent meal?"

Another reference to how I'm always eating cup ramen. What do people even have against ramen nowadays?! It's a delicious, perfectly made and healthy meal! Healthy, yeah right... well, at least I don't have to cook, since driving takes away most of my energy. And I'm too lazy to cook.

"The last time you came by"

At that, my sister released a heavy sigh.

"Mou, you should take more care of yourself. You'd be so hopeless if I didn't come by to cook you a meal once in a while~... Ah, that earned me a lot of points!"

Cute... too cute... even after all these years, I'm still not immune to these kind of attacks.

"Yeah, yeah, thanks for babysitting me"

I was tempted to take the sarcasm one step further by saying goo goo gaga and sticking my thumb into my mouth but that would literally mean acting like I'm a retard. I'm 21, I at least have to act the part... oh, who am I kidding.

"You're welcome~"

She said that while hitting her forehead and stucking her tongue out with a "teehee". My little sister can't be this cute... wait, what the fuck did I just reference there? No you dimwitted fuck, I'm not a siscon, that came out without my intention. Damn it.

I took a seat at the table in my living room as she went to my kitchen to cook.

Kind of a filler chapter, I know. It's just a brief introduction to what this 8man he had to go through to get where he is now, there will be a lot more flashbacks in the next chapters but I won't make it all about that, unlike this one. I also had to wrap the chapter up with a familiar face, this fic is going to have a lot of ocs, when I'll feel like updating it.

Kinda hard to mix elements from the original Oregairu into this story but I am trying to reproduce the og story's vibes lol. As much as possible since there's a lot of characters who won't make it in the mix. The younger Yukinoshita is one of them. I've never been a fan, honestly. She's more like female Hikigaya made for no other purpose than to serve as the female lead based on "compatibility" and it's honestly frustrating how much development Yuigahama and Hikigaya get in the final stages of the novel IN CONTRAST to Hikigaya and Yukinoshita drifting apart. Not here to rant about the ending and I'm not Team Yui or whatever, but this story had so much potential I feel was wasted with cheap drama.