Shin OK Number 42 - As Good As It Gets

The lights of Tokyo usually shone with a glaring neon brilliance that burned into the retinas of everyone that ventured within 16,000 miles of the LED cityscape. However, tonight, the light that guided Kallen long walk up to a quiet shrine up Mt. Odake, just an hour's train ride to the North-East, was warm and soft, lit by wax candles placed by fellow travellers in celebration of the New Year.

Shogatsu, traditionally the day spirits were allowed to visit peoples homes, was always preceded by a flurry of cleaning and ordering to make them presentable to their spectral guests, even by those who nominally didn't believe in such things. While Naoto and Kallen had worked to make the place passable every year, the substitution of the former maid in Kasumi meant that Kallen's apartment had never been so clean in as long as she had lived there. The place was hoovered, both work desks were cleared, and the beds were not only made but deep washed. Kasumi had been very insistent on getting the small bits squared away, which more than made up for her two brief disappearances in the middle of the day.

For the pilgrimage itself, Kasumi had insisted that they join the broader Kozuki family to their designated shrine, and while Kallen, remembering the awkwardness of their breakfast together, tried to argue that they would be better with a more intimate, private, ceremony, she could not escape the eventuality of trekking up dry, compacted foothills with Hisao, Kaori, Yoshio, Takeshi, Taro and Keiko all in tow, all making their own oblique boasts and indirect snipes, all as humble as they were busily self-congratulatory. Even as they hiked, they breathlessly asked questions they knew the answers to, and probed at others where they knew they were deficient.

Every word seemed to dig into Kallen like a tebori planting charcoal under her skin, each one insisting upon itself in not but the most scraping, dragging ways. One thing could not be more clear; these people were not like her. If these people were what constituted a Kōzuki, she did not have that essence of being. Nor, it seemed, did her mother, who was just as often brushed aside she was treated as an instrument for bringing Kallen, and her achievements, into the fold as achievements which were credited to the family.

Glum, she continued off the mountain, ahead of their idle prattle, until it was but a small buzz like that of the flies or the cicadas, and she reached a clearing from where she could see the lights of the Tokyo city area more clearly, blinkering like a 1980's disco ball and contrasting heavily with the soft lights hung around the path. It made no noise from this distance; she could barely believe it, growing up in the centre of the city it had felt like the intense din was the floor for the worlds natural volume, with the passive noise levels only ever going up in relation to that baseline. It felt almost wrong to be within visual distance of the place without the accompanied racket, like she was seeing a snapshot of the place at the crossroads of the universe.

It was a nice moment, though; quiet, away from the incessant showmanship that predominated the climb, and from the stress and worry that had predominated the year that had preceded it. Certainly, a worse year than the one before it. In this quiet moment, she was able to put some thought into what she hoped from the year ahead. More peace, certainly, less pain, and more harmony.

She chuckled. Her dreams were both paltry and unrealistic, which is like your dinner being both too small and too expensive, but she had to have something to aspire to.

"Well look who the cat dragged in."

Ears perking, Kallen turned at the new voice, only to find it was Naoto, stood at the opposite end of the clearing and looking more than a little amused. He paused to take a deep breath, before commenting "Fancy catching you up here, this isn't our usual spot."

"No it isn't." she remarked. "Indeed that was the point."

"We both thought of the same place for an alternative shrine?" Naoto laughed, not so much in disbelief as in appreciation for the degree to which they couldn't get away from one another. Nodding, accepting that it couldn't be any other way, he limited his comments to "Funny that."

"Not really, this is the shrine used by the old family."

Naoto raised an eyebrow, and visibly made a lot of mental connections in a very short window of time. His cognitive clockwork was almost visible, as his expression turned from surprise to contemplation to exasperation. He pursed his lips, and shrugged, impassively resigned to the fact that they were likely not long behind Kallen.

"Is it?" he eventually asked. "I see. Having fun? Aren't they just splendid?"

Kallen summoned air up to her throat in anticipation of some retort, but none came even after several moments of thought, leaving her in an awkward moment of indignation that wilted like a flower robbed of soil. Naoto barked out in laughter, and cruelly remarked "Now I won't say that I told you so, but I reserve the right to think it smugly."

"You didn't." Kallen hissed back, finding some cleavage in Naoto's smugness to lodge a proverbial pick into. "You were all wrong about Kasumi. She was dealing with all sorts of stuff you didn't see."

Raising an eyebrow, Naoto, knowing the answer perfectly well, nonetheless asked "So I take it you've met the extended family?"

"They're just…" Kallen began, before pausing to try to find the words to describe it properly, and thankfully finding them in asserting that they were "The most insufferable…" and that "I honestly can't deal with it, and it's just so clear, Kasumi was locked out of their whole clique, and is only in because she's connected to me, it's all so transactional and artificial. I don't even know if any of them love each other in any sincere way."

"Well I can answer that one for you, they don't. Absolutely bloodless, just always in it to validate their own ladder climbing, could never stand them." Naoto agreed, conceding that neither of them were fond of their peripheral relations. "But that doesn't mean I'm obliged to take Kasumi's side, and certainly not after all that's happened, why would I do that?

"Loyalty? Kindness? Some kind of reciprocal obligation?" Kallen suggested, trying to justify herself. "Whatever else has happened, does not mean something that she took care of us and she now needs help? Is sticking by someone even when things get rough not worth it in and of itself? She's in need of some help to connect outside of that bloody family."

"Sure, of course, not against loyalty." Naoto shrugged. "But it's out of whack, she vanished for two decades, showed absolute disloyalty, threw us out, and waltzes back like that connection hasn't been vitiated?"

"That doesn't matter, especially given the context she was in." Kallen insisted, trying to get Naoto to appreciate the situation and get out from his perspective. "She's no less of a victim than you were, or we were. The least we can do is be understanding."

"No I think I understand well enough, I have my eyes and ears." Naoto pressed, his tone growing more harsh, and his syllables becoming more distinctly pronounced. "From everything I've heard, she's big on your success, wants to lap off your success, whether it's with the family or her own friends, wants to ride your coattails. Hell, she only came back when you won a championship, it's not like she forgot we existed, she just wants to cash in."

"Whatever the reason, she did come back, that's better than if she didn't, isn't it?" Kallen asked.

"See that's not loyalty, at least not from her." Naoto pressed, his index finger raised to emphasise the point. "If the loyalty provided to you and the loyalty expected of you is contingent on your success, or you continuing to be the same version of you forever, then it isn't loyalty. It's superficial and conditional."

Kallen shrugged "Loyalty means you stick with it even when things are rough, it is what it is. It doesn't matter what else, you don't pick your relatives."

Naoto shook his head in contempt, and said, with a frustrated tone, "Loyalty is fine, but blind loyalty will see you waste your life in servitude. I'm not going to congratulate a battered wife stuck in an abusive marriage for being loyal. I might be sympathetic but I won't praise her. If there's nothing Kasumi can do that will be too much for this loyalty of yours, then… I'd have overestimated your common sense, I suppose."

"What do you want me to do?" Kallen asked, frustrated at what she perceived as Naoto's roundabout manner of speech.

"I would love to see you do what you want to do, because you want to do it."

Kallen was taken aback by his directness and the simple terms in which he had laid things out; she had almost anticipated some motivated longwinded reasoning that would take paragraphs to justify itself, however he had set his view out clearly and succinctly to a degree that prevented Kallen from dismissing it out of hand. She could only be silent for a moment, which provided Naoto the chance to pontificate.

"Loyalty should go both ways. Now if you've taken stock and decided that Kasumi is someone you would like to spend time with because you enjoy her company… fuck, I've given up pretending I can control who you hang around with, but don't do it because you feel you have an obligation to her."

Kallen leaned her head back, taking a moment to think before shaking her head.

"That's a bit harsh, you mean to say we have no obligations to each other?" she queried. "Whatever the individual case, I can't… I can't say that we owe one another nothing, that's too much, we're not just atomised husks, walled off from one another, what we do, our actions, they impact the people around us, and we knowing that we can't be reckless to one another, there is a responsibility, can't you see that? She behaved the ways she did because she couldn't find any other way to have her family respect her!"

"There is a responsibility to not act recklessly towards one another, certainly." Naoto conceded. "But is that the same as a duty to go out of your way on their behalf to your own detriment? You're a person too, and you have needs which are as important, if not moreso. If they don't want to do the heavy lifting of becoming better, then why on earth should you be expected to do the work for them?"

"I'm well taken care of." Kallen waved off. "I'm just trying to make sure Kasumi is too, as I say, she's a victim, I feel. She just needs to be helped out, this environment isn't good for her."

Naoto paused, before his eyes narrowed in thought, and then after a moment further a wry smile reached his face, and spoke with a slight humour.

"You know, you're actually more alike than you realise." he admitted, chuckling softly as he did so. "I find it funny, you're feeling let down by your mom for being so loyal and fixated on seeing the best in her parents, all while you're being so uncritically devoted to seeing the best in yours."

Kallen was stupefied for just a moment, trying to parse through Naoto's point. Kasumi's attitude to her parents, trying to get their affections… no, not it wasn't…

"It's different." she stubbornly replied.

Pursing his lips in an exaggerated contemplativeness, Naoto laid his hand to his chin to give it a comedic scratch before insisting "No I don't think it is."

The only solution was to tactics, which Kallen promptly did with a sly little ask of "How's dad?"

The jab had the desired effect, with Naoto barely able to conceal a wince, however he was able to collect himself enough to coolly reply "He's doing well, consummating a newfound passion in farming."

He was able to wave it off, but Kallen could tell there was more there, that it was an itch that was begging to be scratched no matter what he said to not lose the argument. His lips grew tense, and he looked ready to continue, however it was at that point their discussion was interrupted, with the senior Kozuki's reaching the clearing, only stopping their self-absorbed back and forth when seeing Kallen, at which point they pivoted to asking where she had been, and only then seeing Naoto on the other side of the dirt.

A few sniggers and heckles could be heard, before the call finally went out of "Oh, he's here too", a voice Kallen believed came from Kaori.

"Good evening to you too, been a while." Naoto responded, not bothering with the pretences of collegiality. "I trust the crockery are as finely polished as they were when last I saw them? Or do ye have servants to take care of that?"

"Oi, pot, get the fuck out of here before we call the cops." Hisao taunted, delighting in the chance to get a rise out of Naoto. They each had a great laugh at that, as while it was on its face preposterous that the pilot would be arrested by any policeman given that he was not committing any crime, it was a clean, fun opportunity to exercise supposedly justifiable cruelty, reminding Naoto of his place, and indirectly reminding Kallen of the precarity of hers. She was in their good books, but she was never safely so, never more than one mistake from being treated like Naoto. He was being made an example of, if not deliberately for Kallen's benefit then implicitly so.

However Naoto's eyes looked past them, drilled like a laser at Kasumi, who was standing near the back uncomfortably, however she did not defend her son. He smugly snorted, and, as he turned to leave, cackled "Yeah, a real victim I'm sure."

New Years, while it did provide some an opportunity for rest and relief, was no break for one Lelouch Lamperouge, who was for the third year in a row busy handling calls send emails all through the night and the day as 2020 ended and crossed into 2021. As many in the factory in and around the British Midlands woke up, they would come into work to find the louche still at his desk where they had left him the previous night, trying to coordinate deals, hustles, swindles, and everything in between, and they would quickly learn how busy he had been, only leaving his desk to ink up on more Refrain when the numbness wore off.

Reuben Ashford's team, Ashford RT, had agreed, in a moment of financial peril, to lease the rights to sell and profit from sponsorship on the teams behalf for a guaranteed financial injection, and he had made sure to make the most of the space he had been afforded; the deal was inked ahead of the Chinese Grand Prix, and the team Lelouch had once driven for had turned, by the time the circus had reached Abu Dhabi four races later, from a blank canvas that couldn't find paying sponsors to save its own life to one that was teeming with people looking to get their name and branding on the bodywork. Lelouch had recouped his investment and made a tidy profit with his discipline and persuasion creating a sellers' market for the rights to promote with last privateer team, for the plucky underdog, for the grumpy man in a shed going up against the big corporations.

This story sold well, to where now Lelouch almost wasn't millions in debt for his various endeavours and shenanigans, however if this was a sign to quit while he was ahead, he was missing it.

Already, 2021 had claimed a casualty. Ashford RT, while Lelouch had ensured it would survive in substance, would not survive in ownership. Lelouch's payment to Reuben for the sponsorship rights had settled the teams debts, but he had been through enough stress, and had come to understand that if there was a financial model for his team that could allow it to thrive, he was not capable of implementing it. He sold the team to Lelouch, wished him luck, and retired to his home in Barbados. In the end, the last legacy of Ashford RT that remained in the new team created by the transfer was the name on the door and the premiership of Milly Ashford, who was named Team Principal of the new team by its new owner.

"You know, just because everything I knew has been turned upside down and now somehow you're my boss doesn't mean I can't appreciate the irony of the situation." she had commented upon being told, recognising the way in which their dynamic had swapped. "Just be sure to let me know if this is secretly some kind of Freudian revenge for the various stuff I had you do, I want to check if I have to worry about being asked to expose myself or prostate myself for the sake of comeuppance."

"Oh don't you worry yourself." Lelouch had assured. "I am a man of prudence and understanding, who exercises restraint, sound judgement, and sensible discretion in how I run my business, it simply wouldn't be professional. I would only humiliate you like that if it would be funny."

That had at least earned a chuckle from Milly, who had been in his orbit over the last few days joining CC in the chorus of voices trying to make sure he didn't get too big for his boots, a welcome check, however he was too absorbed in his petty disciplines to even notice the bigger picture they hopes to illuminate.

Ashford RT would be reborn, with Chinese sponsors Lelouch had carefully shuffled across during negotiations on partnering with the main team, and while it would retain the name, it was now, effectively, a third and fourth Schwarzenritter seat. It was a quirk of the rules; while all teams had to be independent, this in effect was limited to a ban on information sharing. There was no ban on owning multiple teams or coordinating contracts therebetween, something Lelouch hoped to exploit.

But there were more calls to be made, and contracts to be restructured, in between meetings with the needle. After more arrangements, there was finally a meeting that could bring Lelouch up for air to a genuine camaraderie, as the question of Rivalz came up.

"Hey, what's up buddy!" he had begun, gesturing towards a pound hug before remembering Lelouch's disability. Transitioning to a slap on the shoulder, Rivalz chuckled "Long time no see, god you're looking pretty bright! Still no luck putting on lean weight?"

"'Only have time for so much Rivalz." Lelouch chuckled, brushing off the fact that any exercise beyond the most basic hand stretches and leg extensions put him in unimaginable pain. Rivalz meant well, and it was nice to talk to him again, even if it did mean having to push through both the headache and the drug-induced haze. Nodding in spite of things, he asked "How's things?"

"Not bad, about to get a whole lot better." Rivalz grinned, every single tooth clearly visible. "We're gonna have money, we're gonna have speed, and we're gonna be back together again! Nothing can keep a good team apart, 'eh Lelouch?"

"Yeah." Lelouch agreed, trying to shoulder off the reminders of Xingke, trucking forward with mutters of "Nothing at all." Before asking "You still riding around in that little sidecar or what?"

"If it ain't broke!" Rivalz chuckled. "Awh man, this is unreal, I can't wait to get started. Though speaking of which…"

Lelouch blinked, not knowing where Rivalz was going and for a moment panicking that he was too addled to make the cognitive connections, before going "Eh?"

Rivalz laughed, and answered "Don't tell me you haven't gotten started on the ladies, even after all this time?"

Feeling a wave of relief come over him, Lelouch chuckled, shook his head and replied "I've been busy Rivalz, give me a break!"

"Alright, I'll give you this concession, but man, this whole business deal isn't everything!" Rivalz insisted. "You gotta live sometimes!"

"Sure, cheers." Lelouch nodded, before going on the counterattack. "Though before you start getting at me for making no progress, any luck learning to play chess?"

"Ah man, you got me." Rivalz conceded. "Never can remember how the horsies move about the place, and I end up having more panic than fun. It's more fun to watch you beat guys."

They had shared more small talk, before Rivalz had to get settled into the new building for the new team. Lelouch got back to resolving more things which had been unwound by the rebirth of Ashford, which was again only interrupted by dates with the needle for several hours until he was accosted by Felix, who in January of 2019 had been a middle manager in PR, and was now a senior assistant with sponsorship, who didn't have to be told not to knock.

Greeting him with a smile Lelouch nodded and asked "Felix, what do you have for me."

"The details are wrapped up on that arrangement, those English guys from the computer firm were interested in a four year deal for title sponsorship." "There's just one…"

Lelouch's eyebrows weren't as mobile as they once were, but the Frenchman could still wiggle his left one as well as anybody, and he was able to make his thoughts clear, specifically "One what?"

Felix took a breath, before explaining "Well, we're a new team, so I wasn't sure this was gonna be a huge issue. This is a new title sponsor, so we'd normally have their brand as a prefix, but they want something else. They're English, and they want to promote with a brand whose name is in English."

"Translate it then, I just remember seeing the name on some German historical site on the way in to Bayern. In English it's just the Black Knights." Lelouch shrugged, before thinking over the name more. "The Black Knights…"

It had a ring to it. Nodding, Felix moved away to commence the soft rebrand, as Lelouch went to return to work, before being interrupted again by an irate Lloyd Asplund, who slammed a stack of paper onto his desk before, red in the face, crossed his arms and huffed. Taken aback, having never seen Lloyd this mad, or expressive generally, Lelouch could only ask "What is this?"

"Mandatory holiday." Lloyd explained, his voice several octaves now beyond his usual whimsiness and breaking into the range of shrill outrage. "Employment Rights Act 1996, dastardly piece of legislation."

Bemused, Lelouch asked innocently "What's wrong with it?"

"I can't work anymore unless I take four week's of leave, otherwise the government will investigate us for not granting it." he explained in as moderate a voice as he could manage, each syllable a struggle to not explode. "Leave? I don't know what to do with leave, sit in my house all day?"

Lelouch tapped his index finger on the desk contemplatively, before taking the sheets and, without an answer yet, simply replied "Leave it with me."

Lloyd moped off, leaving Lelouch to think of what project might suit him during his time off that was outside of the company. Lelouch knew this could mutate into a big problem, but it wasn't a time sensitive one, as he had until February to resolve Lloyd's conundrum.

Ashford and the Black Knights had to sort out their roster first.

Rivalz would move up to Schwarzenritter- no, the Black Knights, now -to take Xingke's old seat, while Xu Lifeng, who was good but needed more experience, would move down to the B team of Ashford alongside Anya Alstreim, who had been on loan from Camelot to give her some seat time at the highest level. That their protégé was now under the control of Lelouch could hardly be of comfort to Camelot, especially given that since Lelouch held her contract, he was able to ransom it at the first sign of shenanigans. There was nothing they could do, of course, but try to avoid giving him reason to. Regardless, he would always to prefer to have it than to not have it.

Still, he liked his roster, even if Xingke was gone. Rivalz and Rolo, driving together under Lelouch. Now that was a happy twist of fortune, he admitted. It had taken a lot of pain to get here, but this could work.

If only it weren't for…

Lelouch tilted his head back and breathed in through his nose, trying to clear the smoke in his head. Goddamn, if he were a functional human being he'd be lethal.

There was only one thing left to deal with. Among the contracts Lelouch had purchased was one associate deal with Rivalz's families stock car team, two seats for a part time schedule as part of an early attempt at integration between the teams, or, as it could easily become with the appropriately delicate touch, the first of many expansions of the Black Knights into different breeds of racing which would build its footprint into something which could be genuinely formidable politically.

Besides, Cardemonde-Lamperouge Racing had a nice ring to it. In fact…

"Hey, Lloyd, you said you needed something to do over your holiday, I just thought of a project you could really sink your teeth into over January!"

It all fit together perfectly. Lloyd was required to take tine away from the Black Knights, but that didn't preclude him from messing around with some southerners in stock cars. With any luck, he may even learn something, if he could get past his sense of superiority.

That left one thing to resolve, as much as he didn't like it. A phone call, a request for a favour no less, to the one person he really didn't need to be owing favours to. He would be calling, once again, upon the arbitrariness of Charles Vi Britannia.

The phone dialled once, then it dialled a second time. By the third ring, Lelouch felt the first emanations of a drop of sweat, however he picked up on the fourth dial, and spoke plainly in his mesmerising, almost hypnotically deep baritone.

"What do you want?" was all he said. It was not out of character for him to skip formalities, even if it was disruptive and distracting every time he did. Indeed, that was likely why he did it; an opponent thrown off their opening move was easier to play, however Lelouch was ready.

"As the reigning championship driver, Xingke would have had the prerogative to use the number one, however there is another prerogative where the championship driver retires or passes away before the next season, that has fallen aside since drivers have been able to choose their own numbers. I would like to invoke it."

Charles paused, before saying "I understand. This would be acceptable, subject to a favour."

Lelouch winced, especially given how seemingly trivial the request was, but he had to see this element through, for the possibilities it opened. With a nod, Lelouch confirmed "So it's agreed, yes. The Black Knights will have the right to field the number zero car next year."

Charles agreed and the call ended quickly. Lelouch knew this was a compromising move for potentially no reward, an entirely aesthetic victory, but as ever he was gambling that this could become a major element of the branding of the Black Knights, a rallying cry, a number which carried with it history and which could become symbolic, in much the same way Kallen had monopolised the number eleven.

With luck, and good planning, the sight of the number Zero would have an immediate association with the flagship Black Knight machine, monopolising the entire motorsports landscape, beginning with the associate team in the 2021 Daytona 500.

Hope everyone is still enjoying this, please be sure to leave a review to let me know what you think. Internship was longer and harder than expected, so this isn't as fast as i had hoped to be able to crank chapters out after the end of exams, it's discouraging. However, all I can do is just continue to plug away.

~G1ll3s