Act 5
After dropping off his friends at the hotel, Chris headed back to the mountain. He had given his wallet to Alex when she went to go buy drinks and since he could not find it on her, he assumed she left it in her car. He saw Aki at the base of the back road and stopped.
"Did you forget something?"
"I think Alex left my wallet in her car."
"She probably did. Here's her keys," said Aki passing them to Chris. "Do you want me to wait for you?"
"Yeah and if your not tired, do you mind going over that theory you explained last week? I thought it over and I still can't quite grasp it."
"Sure, Chris. I'll wait for you here."
Chris continued to the peak.
As he reached the top he stopped suddenly.
//What are they doing here? No one ever comes here?//
Chris watched as the two strangers jumped into their cars.
//Oh crap, they're going to follow me. But they are going to have to catch me first.//
Chris pulled a quick 180 and raced back the way he came.
//I'll have to pick up my wallet later.//
He looked in his rear view mirror.
//Oh they're good, they are managing to follow me. Maybe I should call Aki.//
Chris quickly slipped on his headset and pressed Aki's number.
"Hi Aki, I have a little bit of a problem. I went to get my wallet when I found two guys snooping around. Yes they're following me," he said doing a hard drift on the dirt road. He looked back to see the white FC do the same thing. "No I can't lose them…..Alright I'll wait for you. Try not to show them any of my techniques? Ok I'll try, just get up here quick," he said hanging up the phone.
//Try not to show them any techniques……how am I supposed to do that….maybe if I drive badly enough they'll lose interest. Well its worth a try.// Chris thought as he began to let the rear of his car slide out.
********
Aki was leaning up against her car when she got a call from Chris.
"What someone was there? And they're following you? Damn. No it's ok, I'll be there, try not to show them any of the techniques I showed you."
She hung up her phone and jumped into her car. There was a side road that crossed the back trail. If she took it she might be able to catch them. She raced up the road.
//I'm getting close, I can hear them coming down. Hmm if my calculations are correct I should appear right between Chris and the other cars.//
A bump appeared in the road ahead. Normally she avoided going over it but not tonight.
//I might as well make this dramatic.// she thought as she hit the lip.
Her car flew through the air, landing right in front of the white FC. He had to swerve to avoid slamming into her car. She preformed the same move and they managed to avoid an accident. Keisuke right behind Ryosuke, slid his car to a stop as Aki finished her spin and raced down after Chris.
******
Ryosuke was watching Chris.
//What happened? He was driving fine until a few moments ago.//
He narrowed his eyes.
//What is he trying to do?//
Suddenly a car jumps onto the street right in front of him.
Its black coloring had blended perfectly with darkness of the forest. He swerved, barely avoiding the other vehicle.
"What the hell was that?" he said coming to a stop.
//Maybe Keisuke was right,// he thought as he watched the two cars drive away. //Maybe it is a ghost. Don't be stupid Ryosuke, that was no ghost.//
He looked to where the cars disappeared.
//That was an FC.//
He got out of his car to see if Keisuke was all right.
******
Aki and Chris drove back to the hotel. Chris watched as Aki went to her room.
He looked in to see her pacing while Alex was still passed out on one of the beds.
"This is bad. How did he find out so quickly?"
Chris looked at her. "You knew who they were?"
"Yeah they are the Takahashi brothers from the Gunma area. But why they are up here I have no idea. I haven't hear of the Redsuns ever coming this far out of their district before."
"So those are the guys you were telling us about before."
"Yeah. The team isn't ready for that kind of a challenge yet. I was hoping that we wouldn't be found out until later. Much later." She flopped on her bed. "The only problem now is when we race on other passes, they will have someone watching for us."
"Don't worry Aki. You'll think of something," smiled Chris. "Maybe you should sleep on it."
"Maybe. Goodnight Chris," she said as he left the room.
******
The next morning, the Dark Horizons held a meeting at Koto pass.
"We have a problem," stated Aki.
That caught everyone's attention.
"We somehow managed to attract the attention of another racing group."
"I don't see how that's a problem," replied Vic
"We can beat them easily," says Rich confidently.
"Its not that simple. This isn't one of the local groups, this one is from the Gunman area. In case you missed the last time I said it, that province has a lot of good racers. Better than the ones seen around here."
"So the guy I met at the store was one of them?" asked Alex.
"Yes, he followed you here and late last night they were seen up here again."
"They spotted me and followed me down the back trail. If Aki wasn't here I wouldn't have lost them," Chris added.
"The good news is that because you cars are imports, they have no practical experience in their capabilities. Some they might not have even heard of," Aki said looking at Vicky.
"Well which mountain are we going to attack next then?" asked Rick impatiently.
"I think we should go after the team they just raced. It might throw the Redsuns off by attacking so soon and at a course they have already been to." Said Vicky.
"That's a good point. But I want someone to scout the area first. It has to be a car that the Takahashis don't know about yet."
"I'll go."
"Fine, Rick, you go tonight and tell us about it tomorrow."
*******
Later that day, the Project D members meet at the diner near Koto pass. Unknown to them, Aki is also here taking a break. She has her car parked behind the store so the Takahashis don't see it as they come in. Keisuke, Ryosuke and Kenta walk into the diner and see the table Nakazato has saved. Shingo is off to the side trying to talk to a beautiful Japanese girl wearing yellow tinted glasses and cargo pants.
Keisuke sits down across from Nakazato. "What is he doing?" he says looking at Shingo.
"He's trying to pick her up for a date, but it doesn't seem to be working," he replies looking into his coffee.
Shingo eventually gives up and sits down with the rest of the group.
"Any luck?"
Shingo shakes his head. "No blew me off completely."
Kenta walked back to the table after giving a waitress their orders.
She looked at Shingo, then at the girl at the opposite table.
"So what's she like?" he asked smiling.
Shingo looked at her. "Scary."
They all looked at him.
"No I'm serious. I guess I was annoying her or something cause she looked right at me and I swear I got a chill. Her eyes don't help at all, they are this amazing blue, but it made that look she gave me all the more menacing."
A waiter came up and gave the group their orders.
"That's interesting," said Ryosuke drinking his coffee. "It's not everyday someone can intimidate you with just their eyes."
They all stared at him.
"Uh oh," said Kenta looking back at the girl.