The first thing that catches Zuikaku's eye the moment she's stepped into the little yard behind Akashi's shop was a sleek, blue Nissan sitting next to a row of scrapped cars that were little more than piles of rust by this point. A first-generation Nissan Fairlady Z, to be exact. Zuikaku had only come by to just look around (or so she told herself. Zuikaku knows deep down that as always, she'd be walking away with more parts to cram into her own car.)

There was something familiar about this car. Zuikaku has heard stories about a blue Z that was supposedly owned by a top Shuto Expressway racer. Some of said stories also went as far as claiming that at certain times of night, that blue Z would appear seemingly out of nowhere on the Wangan and once it passed any racer, it was damn near impossible to catch.

Come to think of it, Zuikaku does recall catching sight of a car matching that description on a drive up from Yohokama.

There's no way that this could be the same car, right?

This particular Z had been crashed hard. With the way the fenders and sidepanels were dented, one can tell that it had clipped something and spun out a few times before coming to a hard rest against a guardrail. From a glance, the Z looks like it's totalled, nothing but a heap of twisted metal, meant for the scrap heap yet there's something about this Fairlady Z that seems to have compelled Zuikaku to come closer to it. She doesn't think the car itself is worth much. There's no telling how badly its framework is banged up but perhaps she could always part it out.

Somehow it doesn't take that much effort to pop the hood. And Zuikaku notes that somehow the engine of all things is still in one piece, down to its triple twin-carbs and twin turbos. Even the suspension somehow shows no visible sign of damage. And the frame! Through some miracle, the car's framework is also intact despite the very banged up panels. Something definitely feels off yet somehow Zuikaku feels drawn to it. As if… it's somehow silently calling out to her. (And Zuikaku swears she's heard something whispering to her in the back of her mind)

She has to buy this. Maybe turn it into a restoration project with Taihou and Shoukaku-nee.

"I see that Z's caught your eye, nya."

Zuikaku feels like she's been snapped out of a daze of sorts by Akashi's voice. In her moment of entrancement with the blue Nissan, she failed to notice the catgirl approaching her.

"The licence plate and papers if you're curious, nya."

As quick as lightning, Zuikaku's flipped through the Z's papers. She's raised an eyebrow. She finds it a wee bit odd that two of its previous owners shared the same name. (Sure the hiragana characters were different but still odd nonetheless.) But that didn't faze her, not one bit.

"Say, Akashi, how mu-"

"You can look all you want but the Z is not for sale, nya!"

A bit out of character for Akashi to refuse a sale, Zuikaku thinks to herself. But she must have that blue Nissan. It was virtually crying out to be brought back to its former glory! And the only thing standing between her and ownership of that Z was Akashi.

"Not even for parts?" Zuikaku asks.

"No." Akashi's doubled down. "Someone brought this in a few days ago, nya. Had this weirdly shaken-up look about them and insisted I scrap it. They paid me good money for this, nya."

Oh. So that's why. Somehow Zuikaku's nonplussed at this revelation though there's always a way around that. Akashi tended to forget that the crane sisters had much deeper pockets than she gave them credit for. And Akashi has a price, just like everyone else.

"I don't know or care who they are but I will pay you double what they paid you!"

"There's no w-"

Akashi pauses mid-sentence as Zuikaku's set down not one, but three bags of coins on the Z's hood right in front of her.

"I- uhh. Well, looks like the Z will be yours after all, nya. Sign right here!"

The sound of a truck pulling up draws Taihou and a grease-drenched Shoukaku out from their garage, right as Shoukaku's in the middle of working on the engine of Taihou's own car. Shoukaku's the first to notice the tarp-covered form of a car on the truck's flatbed, Taihou following suit with a raised eyebrow.

"Zuikaku, what is this?" Shoukaku asks. At this point, it's already considered normal for Zuikaku to visit Akashi and come back with an armful of parts but this is the first time in memory that Shoukaku and Taihou had seen Zuikaku come back with a car, much less one that's clearly seen better days as Zuikaku's pulled up a corner of the tarp to expose the once-sleek form of the blue Fairlady Z beneath.

"I got us something we can turn into a restoration project!" Zuikaku's beaming. Shoukaku and Taihou shoot each other pensive looks after a glance at the car underneath the tarpaulin. There's something strangely familiar about this wrecked Nissan and unlike Zui, both of them had a feeling something was a bit off about this car.

"Zui…"

"Come on, Shoukaku-nee. It's not a pile of rust, I swear!"

"That's not the point, Zui. The point is… I have heard stories from the Shutokou veterans about a Z that looks… kind of like this one."

"What? No way! Weren't those stories about that Z embellished to scare Shutokou newbies?"

"Zuikaku. Give us the documents." Taihou's rolled her eyes as she chimed in, holding out an outstretched hand. Taihou's been racing on the Wangan longer than either of the crane sisters so she would know more about that legendary Z.

Zuikaku complies, growing more apprehensive by the minute as Taihou and Shoukaku look through the Nissan's documents, paleing very visibly for a moment before regaining their collective composure

"Three-number plate. Engine registered as an L28-kai…" And then Taihou pauses, right over the names over the previous two owners, her suspicions on to the identity of the car now confirmed. Both names had different characters but read the same; 'Akio Asahara.'

And then Taihou's glaring daggers at Zuikaku.

"Zuikaku you fool… do you not realise exactly what you have gotten your hands on?"