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Follow The Leader

by BoomChish

Chapter Six

Take Me Back To Tokyo

"Okay Miyoko, you better start talking. Where the hell did you learn how to drive like that? And who taught you?" I demanded. All four of us were sitting at the dining table the following morning, eating a hearty North American breakfast courtesy of Alex. When we'd gotten home that night, Miyoko swiftly avoided all our questions and went to her room to sleep. We decided not to bug her then, but that night, I was unable to sleep, trying to figure out how the hell she'd pulled off a drift of that caliber. It just kept plaguing me all night long. So maybe she didn't tell me yesterday. Well, she's sure as hell gonna tell me today. Whether she likes it or not.

She looked over at me innocently. "Like what?"

I narrowed my eyes at her. "Don't toy with me, woman," I answered harshly. "You know damn well what I'm talking about!" Alex exchanged a quick glance at Jin, then both of them looked at Miyoko and me before they went back to eating their food.

Miyoko cocked her head to one side, then said, "All I did was copy what you did… I guess my reflexes have improved… And I'd thought that that's an important factor in road racing… fast reflexes."

I slammed my palms down on the table, making all the dishes rattle. Jin literally jumped out of his seat and all but shouted at me, "Aniki! Calm down!" Alex had a fork halfway in his mouth and just sat there frozen to the spot, his eyes staring at me in shock.

"That drift you pulled off when you passed me was something I couldn't do… You couldn't have possibly picked up a technique like that from me." I did my best to control my anger so that I wouldn't spur her on, but I couldn't help it; I wanted answers and her reluctance was making me seethe inside.

She twirled a lock of hair around her finger and said in singsong, "I have my sources…"

I lost it. "Miyoko, you're not making this any easier for me, damnit!" I roared.

Miyoko lost her playful disposition and her green eyes hardened. "Fine," she answered curtly. I could tell that the one thing she wanted more than anything just then was to pick up the nearest utensil and stab me with it. Repeatedly. But she controlled herself rather well. "Do you really want to know?" She put down her fork and cleared her throat. Alex, Jin and I leaned forward to absorb her every word.

"I met with a… friend in Tokyo… and I asked him a few questions about road racing. He's very knowledgeable about that stuff, you know… and… He told me some things that I should probably try out on Happo… Which is what I did."

"That's it?" Alex sounded disappointed.

I eyed her suspiciously. "Who's this friend of yours?"

"Someone I met just there while visiting. My stepbrother suggested I speak with him, and that's what I did," she answered flippantly. Jin raised an eyebrow skeptically, but didn't push further, as did Alex. But the look in her eyes told me otherwise; that she wasn't telling the whole story. And I wouldn't be satisfied until I had the whole story. After all, as team leader, it's my responsibility to know exactly how all my team members progressed. And comparing Miyoko two weeks ago to now, there was definitely something that changed.

Something drastic.

I decided not to press the matter further and the four of us finished our breakfast in silence.

Once that was done with, Jin left to do the dishes, while Alex took Sparky for a walk around the neighborhood. Miyoko elected to return to her room, but I followed her, with the intent of finding out who the heck it was she'd met in Tokyo who'd caused her to improve her skills so exorbitantly.

"You're awfully persistent," she'd observed with a certain hint of annoyance as I'd perched myself on the edge of her bed as she sat down at her desk.

"So glad you've finally noticed. As for your friend in Tokyo… who is he?"

"What makes you so sure it's a he?" she retaliated defensively.

I shrugged. "Or she. Whatever."

Miyoko rolled her eyes. "It's a he, in any case. Hyousuke met him a while ago and when I came into town, he'd told me that I should go see him, because if there's one person who knew a lot about road racing, it'd be him."

I was starting to get impatient. "Who is this guy?"

She sighed and reached for one of her photo albums that was nestled on the bookshelf within her reach. When she'd extracted it from the case, she flipped to a certain photo and pulled it out before she handed it to me. "This man here." I took it from her and casually glanced at it, then I did a double take and dropped it like a hot potato.

"Wh… what the hell? Is this some kind of a joke?" I demanded. For in the photo, Miyoko was standing, smiling broadly and giving a peace sign… next to the exalted Keiichi Tsuchiya, the Drift King himself. It was even autographed, for crying out loud.

She shook her head. "Nope. My stepbrother introduced me to Tsuchiya-san and told him about my interest in road racing. I'd asked him a few questions about my Evo and whether it'd be possible for me to achieve certain skills with it. He told me about how an internal computer mostly controls the Evo VII's performance, so it would be harder to perform certain moves which are easier to achieve with earlier model cars. Then he'd told me of a couple of things he'd tried when he'd tested out the Evo VII himself a while back. He's a very understanding man."

"And what exactly was that supposed to mean?"

Miyoko brushed a lock of hair from her eyes. "It meant exactly what I'd intended it to mean. When I'd explained to him my dilemma with road racing, he'd told me that considering my experience, I was at a fairly decent level. Then he told me some things I could try with my Evo, considering its limitations. After I'd seen him, I searched out a mountain pass in Tokyo and started practicing there in my spare time. Of course, I wasn't doing much progress there, so when I tried again while chasing you on Happo, I didn't expect to do so well. Was I wrong to do that, Seiji?" she queried, half testing me, half in earnest.

And yet again, she had her way of making me feel like a complete moron. "Not at all, Miyoko. That was very good. Of course, you didn't have to practice while away, but at least you did because you wanted to. That's the most important thing."

She grinned broadly. "Thanks. I knew you'd understand." She then brought her knees up to her chin and hugged them. "Anyway… why did Kyouichi Sudou pass by last night?"

"Well, from what he'd told me, it's because he'd heard of Evo Prime's practices on Happo, and when he'd heard that I was the team leader, he decided to see for himself. I guess you gave him one heck of a startle when you shot past him the way you did."

"Not like I care. He's an ass," she declared, then she tilted her head to one side. "Tell me something, Seiji… why'd you join Emperor in the first place?"

That made me stop and think for a bit. It had been a long while since I'd thought about my beginnings in Emperor, but Miyoko is a part of my new team now, and inasmuch, she had a right to know, as did Alex and Jin. I made a mental note to tell them myself later.

I began, "Well, it happened when Kyouichi had just graduated from Todo Racing School, over at Enna Pass. Back then, I'd used to go and watch the students practice, wishing that I could one day be something like them. It was wishful thinking, especially since I couldn't afford to study at Todo Racing School. He'd gone the way of rally, but also raced on the streets occasionally. On those occasions, I'd go and watch him race. Seeing him tackle the best of the best gave me the incentive to try my best as well. Lo and behold, I'd improved so well that I'd actually caught his attention. So when he'd approached me and told me that, in addition to retiring from the rally and going back to street racing, he wanted to form an all-Evo team on Irohazaka and that he'd wanted me in the team. Naturally, the honor was so much back then that I'd jumped at the chance. When Kyouichi was done recruiting all the members in Emperor that he felt we'd needed, he started pitting us against each other in time attacks on Irohazaka's downhill to see who'd be his second-in-command."

"And let me guess… You'd outranked everyone else, right?" Miyoko guessed.

I smirked at that. "Wrong." Her eyes widened questioningly at that. "There was someone else who'd been far superior to me, but he'd gotten too full of himself after a while and thought that he was much better than Kyouichi. And so he'd gone and challenged Kyouichi to a do-or-die race on Irohazaka downhill. Stipulations were simple; if he'd lost, he'd have to quit Emperor, but if he'd won, he'd take over as leader and Kyouichi would have to quit. Well, I guess the outcome was quite simple… and when he'd gone, I was next in line… and so I became second-in-command."

She appeared to mull over my words. "So… back then, it seemed like a glamorous thing to do, right? Be a member of Emperor, I mean."

"In the Tochigi road racing scene, yes it was. Of course, then came that one day where Kyouichi lost to Ryousuke Takahashi and had his winning streak broken for the first time. Since then, he became obsessed with being the absolute best of the best, finally resulting in our going to Gunma to try and dominate them." Here, I shrugged helplessly, palms turned up. "And hence I'd encountered my first loss ever to Fujiwara. Things just sort of went downhill from there…"

She was staring mindlessly at a blank space on the floor. "Takumi Fujiwara is that good, isn't he?"

I let out a sigh. "Miyoko… that boy is something else altogether. He's got something… I can't explain it… but if there's anyone who's the best of the best out there, it's that boy. The only time he'd ever lost a race was to Kyouichi, and that was only because his engine blew. But he'd even gone back and avenged his loss on Irohazaka, no less." I took a deep breath before I continued, "Listen to me, Miyoko. No matter how good you become… do me a favor… don't ever make the assumption that you're good enough to dominate over Takumi Fujiwara in a downhill battle. Trust me; he'll find a way to destroy you instead. And you'll definitely feel that loss for years to come. It's been well over a year, almost two since I'd lost to him on Mt. Akina in Gunma… and to this day, I still feel the disappointment I felt in myself when I'd realized that I'd been completely decimated."

When I'd glanced at her, I saw that she was staring right at me, her eyes wide and questioning. "No matter how good I become… he'll always be better?" She then scoffed. "But that goes for nearly everything, Seiji! There'll always be someone better than you, no matter what! Why, I'll bet you my entire life's savings that Fujiwara even has someone who can best him in a downhill race."

I couldn't help but laugh at that. "Of course I don't doubt that for one second, my dear. After all, he had to have learned those god-like skills somewhere. I doubt he'd gotten his driver's license and sat his ass down in his car, already possessing the skills to destroy nearly every racer he came in contact with." After that, I shook my head. "That's not my point, though. What I'm trying to say is; don't set your goals too high. You'll only end up disappointing yourself in the end."

Miyoko nodded once. "So I should just take things one step at a time. Maybe I'll be good enough to rival Fujiwara, maybe I'll be stuck where I am now, but we'll just have to wait and see, no?"

"That's the spirit!" I encouraged brightly, then I changed the subject. "So… how did the business meeting with your father go?"

Wrong thing to say. Her eyes clouded over and she said, "Fine." Just like that.

"I see…" I stood up and stretched a bit, before I picked up the discarded photo and handed it to her. "Well… I'll be off now…"

"Mm…" She merely nodded and did not look in my direction as she placed the photo down on her desk and stared at it blankly. I quietly made my way out of her room and closed the door behind me, whereupon I sighed. I guess things weren't going so well with her and her father. It made me wonder whether it may possibly affect her performance during a race.

Or, if in fact, it was her performance as a racer that was causing a strain between her father and herself. That would bode ill for her future.

I sincerely hoped not

---

So… Miyoko got some tips from the one and only Drift King himself, Keiichi Tsuchiya… Isn't that something?

In the part where I mention Tsuchiya-san telling Miyoko about how the Evo VII is mostly computer-run, I based that information on what he'd said in Best Motoring Vol. 5: Impreza Vs. Lancer - The Final Round -

In that DVD, there is a race between the Impreza WRX Spec C, the Evo VII, the GT-R R34, the GC8, the Evo V, the GDB and the Evo II. In this particular race, Tsuchiya was driving the Evo VII and throughout most of the race, you can hear him complaining, saying things like "Come on computer, turn this car around!" and "I'm bad with computer-run machines!" also, "I hate hi-tech cars!" Also, in the GDB, the driver Hattori-san watches Tsuchiya from behind and says, "Old models can give new cars a hard time by making minor modifications." In the end, Tsuchiya came in second, following Nakaya-san in the Spec C. (Hattori came in 3rd with the GDB, Kurosawa was in 4th with the GT-R, Yamaji was in 5th with the GC8, Takuya was in 6th with the Evo V, and the last guy… can't remember his name, but poor guy… came in last place with his Evo II.) All of them agreed that newer cars with their computers seemed to run better, but that it relied less on human manipulation.

Of course, in two weeks' time, Miyoko hadn't really improved. It was just that by a fluke, she'd managed to pull off the drift that she'd been practicing. Whether she'll be able to repeat the process is still under question.

-BoomChish