Act 11
After dropping Keisuke off at the hospital, Ryosuke went back to Akagi to check out what had happened between Rick and his brother. On the way down a car came up fast behind him.
//That car has incredible speed. Should I wait?// he thought. //No. Let's see if you can catch up.//
Ryosuke increased his pace. He could always go over the accident later. The car behind followed his lead and sped up. He continued to increase his pace when he couldn't leave the car behind him. Something about those headlights were familiar, but he just couldn't place them. Going around another corner he looked behind him to see a black FC.
//An FC? I certainly don't see those around too often…..Aki must have gotten her car fixed.//
He smiled as he began to watch her technique.
//Very good. I'm impressed.//
Back in the black FC Aki was also studying Ryosuke.
//Ryosuke Takahashi. I thought you'd be here rechecking everything,// thought Aki as Ryosuke sped up. //Fine. Let's see if your as good as my father says you are.//
Ryosuke rounded the first few corners.
//His skill is incredible, even when he's not driving seriously.// She smiled. //If my memory serves me correctly, there is a sharp corner after this long straight. That's where I'll take the lead. Ok Ryosuke, let's see you stop this.//
******
As soon as Ryosuke hit the straight, he began to watch the FC behind him.
//She's going to do something, I can feel it.//
Looking back behind, Ryosuke saw Aki move to the far lane. He stayed in his own giving her ample opportunity to get ahead.
//A good chance to pass, but she isn't taking it. Why?//
The corner comes up and Ryosuke enters it in full drift. Aki does the same but on the outside. Suddenly Aki launches her car forwards and passes Ryosuke at the exit. Doing the same thing in the next few corners she quickly puts some distance between them before settling down and resuming her previous speed.
//Interesting. It's almost frightening how much power that car has.// He began to watch her even more closely. //An engine that reacts instantly to her desire for more power. She doesn't have to wait for speed to spool up like a turbo, yet the speeds she can achieve completely overshadow any car I have ever raced.//
Ryosuke grimaced.
//She's just playing with me.//
They both crossed the finish. Aki stuck out her hand and waved at Ryosuke and left before he had time to talk with her. He got out of his car and leaned on the hood. Pulling out a cigarette he thought over what he had seen.
//Rick wasn't told much, but he did tell me all he knew. It seems as though her engine acts much different than what he described, or could that be just a difference in skill?//
Ryosuke checked his watch. It was time head home, besides he had to pick up Keisuke at the hospital in the morning.
********
Ryosuke arrived at the hospital around 8 the next morning, to find Keisuke waiting for him. As he pulled up, Keisuke jumped into the car.
"You're up early," remarked Ryosuke surprised that his brother was wide awake at what for him was abnormally early.
"You have to get me out of here. They are trying to get me to eat breakfast before I go."
"What the problem with that?"
"Bro, have you ever had hospital food?" Ryosuke smiled. "Just what I thought. Would you just head over to the address Aki gave me, and if you don't mind I know there's a McDonald's on the way," Keisuke almost pleaded as he handed over the paper with the address.
Keisuke was finishing off his third Egg McMuffin when Ryosuke pulled into the Tokyo garage. They both got out as a middle aged man came out to help them.
"I'm Masahasi, what can I do for you?"
"Actually, this woman took my yellow FD-"
"Oh that's yours huh? Yeah Aki brought it in last night. It's over here if you want to take a look."
Keisuke and Ryosuke followed him to the back. The FD was in the center. Of the garage.
"You're lucky it's not damaged too badly, it shouldn't take much to iron out the dents and scrapes. I'll fix those after I put the new engine in."
"Engine?" asked Ryosuke intrigued.
"Yeah Aki said to put in one of her engines as compensation or something along those lines. Normally she would do this herself but her and her team had to leave early this morning or they would have missed their plane back to America."
"You mean she skipped the country?" asked Keisuke realizing his words from last night.
Ryosuke smiled, he couldn't resist. "At least she didn't take the car."
Masahasi shrugged. "If you guys have the time, I need some help getting the engine, it's in the next building."
At their nod, the mechanic led the way to the adjacent building. He pulled out a key that was tied to a string around his neck and unlocked the door. Ryosuke looked around when they got inside. It was a smaller version of the garage they just left yet in this one, all the items on the shelves had been covered. Masahasi took out a few sheets of paper.
"Let's see, she wrote here that a B-series is going into the FD and that it is the first on this shelf," Masahasi said to himself looking under some of the sheets. "Ah. Here it is. Ok guys I need a hand getting it onto the trolley. Once we're back in the main shop you can either stick around or go sightseeing or whatever for a few hours. I should get the repairs and the engine done by 5 or 6 tonight."
Keisuke looked at his brother. He could tell that Ryosuke wanted to stay.
"We'll stick around if you don't mind."
By the time they reached the main garage, Masahasi had taken out some more sheets of paper and Ryosuke had gotten a good look at the engine.
//It's very different from the C-series.//
He noticed two add-ons in particular.
"What are these for?" Ryosuke asked indicating the extra parts.
Masahasi shrugged. "Hell if I know what half of these extra parts are for. She just gave me instructions which she told me I shouldn't screw up." Masahasi handed Keisuke the papers. "Just read out the instructions she gave me while I hook it up."
Keisuke began to read and Ryosuke listened intently, memorizing everything Keisuke said as he watched Masahasi work on the engine. It seemed as though it was finished in no time.
"Well I've done all I can today," said the old mechanic wiping his hands on a rag. "Just come back in a few days and I'll have the dents worked out."
Keisuke smiled, he had never gotten his car back so quickly before. He thanked Masahasi and headed back towards Ryosuke's car.
Masahasi took the instructions Keisuke left behind and threw them out.
"Here's my number," he said handing Ryosuke a business card. "Just call in a few days and I'll tell you when you guys can pick up the car." With that Ryosuke followed his brother back to his car. But as he passed the trash he bent down and picked up the discarded manual.
********
A few days later found Keisuke trying out the new engine on Akagi. Ryosuke was waiting for his report at the top along with Kenta.
"So, how's the engine?" asked Ryosuke as Keisuke pulled up to a stop in front of him.
"It's a lot faster but much harder to control." Ryosuke nodded, that wasn't surprising. "Hey Kenta, want to race?"
"Sure Keisuke."
Kenta jumped into his car and they started off at Hiroshi's signal. The FD quickly shot ahead of the S14.
"Wow Ryosuke, that new engine of his is powerful," stated Hiroshi on his way back.
Ryosuke didn't answer.
//Yes, and I still can't figure out why his looks different from Rick's. Even if they are not the same type, being of the same series, they should have at least some similarities. Why can't I see them? I should be able to especially since I have the instructions from installing it in Keisuke's car. Not to mention the fact that all my leads into the Dark Horizons have turned out to be dead ends. Why did they leave Japan?//
Hiroshi turned to go, Ryosuke didn't seem to be in the mood to talk tonight. Just then Ryosuke's phone began to ring.
"Yes. Keisuke, the engine's gone? Yeah I'll be down." Ryosuke got into his car and drove down to see Keisuke in front of his car with the hood up. "What happened?"
"I'm not sure bro. I was going around the corner when it suddenly slowed down and when I tried it again on the straight, it wouldn't go any faster than 20km/h."
"Has it happened before?"
"Yeah in the tight hairpins, I thought it was just some computer glitch or something in the engine. You know the ones in the newer cars that will step in if you go beyond your limits. At least I was hoping that was all it was. What was really weird was that this time the tires locked."
Ryosuke looked down at the FD's front tires. They were stuck in the position of a drift.
"No matter how hard I try, I can't get them to straighten out."
"Well there's nothing that we can do with it here," said Ryosuke. "We'll take it home and see if we can't do something with it there. If not, we'll have to take it back to the mechanic."
******
Ryosuke and Keisuke had tried everything they could to fix the engine. Three weeks later found them nowhere close to fixing it and they resigned themselves to looking for outside help. They pulled up to Masahasi's shop and found him outside.
"What no work today?" asked Keisuke.
Masahasi laughed. "Just enjoying the changing of the seasons. It's going to be winter soon, which means lots of work for me. People seem to have more problems with their cars when the snow hits." He saw the tow truck. "But you guys seem to have problems year round. What happened?"
"Some problems with the engine and the wheels locked," answered Keisuke.
Masahasi lifted the hood. "What did you do to it?"
Keisuke blushed. "I tried to fix it and then so did my bro. I think we just screwed it up more though."
"I can't fix it. I'm going to have to call Aki. Hang on." Masahasi pulled out a cellular phone and dialed a number. "Hi Aki, it's me. The reason I called was because something happened with the FD's new engine." He quickly yanked the phone away from his ear. "I did follow the instructions. They say that the car doesn't go fast and that the tires have locked. Alright, alright I'll tell them. See you later." He hung up the phone.
"She says she'll be here in two days to fix it."
******
Two days later found the brothers back in front of Masahasi's garage. They are greeted by a young lady as soon as they get out of the FC.
"Hi, what can I do for you this…" she glances at her watch "….afternoon?"
Keisuke was surprised. The woman in front of him was Alex, dressed in gray overalls and a black hat.
"Alex right?" asked Keisuke.
She winked at pointed at him.
"Right on, Keisuke. I've heard a lot about you. It seems you were stalking me at one point."
"I wasn't stalking you," said Keisuke annoyed. "What are you smiling at?" he asked glancing at Ryosuke.
"Whatever. If you guys are coming, Aki is in the garage looking over your car."
Ryosuke and Keisuke followed Alex into the building and walked in on an argument between Aki and Masahasi. Well it was more of a one way argument, Aki was doing most of the talking.
"How could you screw up? I left such simple instructions."
"Aki it wasn't all my fault. I had someone reading them to me."
"Really?"
"We also tampered with it," interjected Ryosuke trying to break the argument.
She looked over at the two brothers. Aki pointed at Keisuke. "You. Come here."
Keisuke hesitated until he got shoved from behind.
"Go on," smiled Alex. "She doesn't bite – hard."
Keisuke headed over to where Aki was waiting.
"Would you relax," she laughed. "I just want you to show me what you two did."
Keisuke sighed with relief. He did not want to be on the receive end of one of her arguments. He began pointing out what they did while behind them, Ryosuke was trying to get Alex into a conversation.
"You and Aki seem to be pretty close," Ryosuke stated.
"Yeah, she's probably one of the best friends I've ever had. Though she can be tough at times. When training, she accepts nothing but the best, but outside of training she treats all of us like equals. I haven't heard of any other coaches acting like that."
"So how did you meet her?"
Alex glanced at him out of the corner of her eye.
"Actually I was overconfident and tried to pick-pocket her."
Ryosuke looked shocked. "What?"
Alex smiled. "I was a track brat. I dropped out of high school to try and make it into one of the racing teams. When it didn't work out I resorted to stealing to try and make it by until I got my chance. I knew tons of theory and a lot about engines yet I had no driving experience. My mom was my only living relative and she died in a car crash not long after I left. During some of the larger races, I could usually pass of as a member of the pit crew because of the theory I knew. Aki apparently noticed me getting in, but she also thought I was already part of a team so she didn't try and recruit me. I saw her later and she caught me with my hand in her purse. It was then she made me an offer I couldn't refuse."
"Why?"
"Because if I did, she was going to hand me over to the cops and get them to arrest me for stealing." She smiled at him and looked over at Aki. "And so here I am. She made me finish school and gave me job and a place to live. I'm not the only one she 'saved'. Everyone, except Rick, has been helped in one way or another by her."
Ryosuke looks at Aki admiringly. It was amazing how her team trusted and followed her. "So you would do anything for her?"
Alex looked back at Ryosuke.
"Of course I would, and I'd practically kill anyone who interferes with her dreams."
Ryosuke looked back at Alex startled. She was looking at him with hard, cold eyes that almost rivaled Aki's.
"Trust me, Ryosuke. If you do anything to hurt her I'll make your life a living hell."
She walked over to Aki who had finally finished speaking with Keisuke.
"Hey, bro you should listen to her talk about the engine. It was fascinating," said Keisuke walking up to his brother.
Ryosuke didn't answer. He was still stunned at Alex's words.
"Bro what's wrong?"
"Nothing Keisuke."
They both watched as the two girls began to fix the engine. They were done within the hour.
"It's done. You can drive it if you promise not to touch the engine. I'll teach you how to modify it later but get used to it on the current settings first," said Aki.
Keisuke agreed.
Aki looked at her watch. "We have to go. It was nice seeing you guys again."
Both Aki and Alex went to their cars and drove off.
"Bro, I bet you $50 they disappear again," said Keisuke watching as the two women drove away.