ACT 5 – 5000RPM 'The Mysterious Team'

Later that day, on the way back to Koda's, Kumiko slowly drove into the parking lot. It was around four thirty in the afternoon, the sun hadn't set yet, but the day was almost past. Her 3000GT rolled into the parking, and shut itself off. The people watching outside stood in awe of her much heralded ride, as well as reputation.
Slowly, the door opened, as her tanned legs slowly exposed themselves on their own, her heelers clocked on the ground. Nobody took their eyes off her, not just the guys, but also the girls.
Her soft, fine hair stroked across the gentle wind, as she shut her car doors and locked them.

Kumiko slowly made her way into Koda's. Not much to any surprise, she got immediate attention from people she didn't even know.

Where is Maya?

She walked over to the bar stools, sat down and order for some tea.
"Hey, Kumi, sup, babe?" Maya passed her a cup.
"Nothing much. I just need to talk to your sister, is she around?"
"Yeah, she's here. Why? What is it?"
"I wanna borrow something from her."

After a short while, Minako walked by the bar stools.
"Hello… um… you wanted to see me? I'm Minako," she introduced herself.
"My name is Kumiko,"
"Hi, what can I do for you?"

Minako felt a bit intimidated by Kumiko's presence, yet she gets a weird feeling in her gut being around her. She's never met someone like her. Just her presence makes her quite nervous, and her face started to turn a little red.
Kumiko gave her a warm smile.

"Minako, darling," she paused. "May I please have the keys?"
"Um… what keys?" Minako was confused.
"The Lancer," interrupted Maya. "Its okay Mina. She's a good friend."
"I see," said Minako. "But why does she want with Fu's Lancer? He told me to take care of it for him."
"That's fine. You've done a good job, Minako," said Kumiko, charmingly.

Minako hesitated, but ended up giving her the keys to Fu's Evo anyway.
"Its okay. If you don't trust me, I'll leave my car at your house. As well as my keys," suggested Kumiko.

Meanwhile, the race between Dreadnaught's Eunos Cosmo against Zui Hou's Honda Integra R took place a little bit early, just before the sun started to set, the two cars sped off along D1's downhill.
The two cars were almost side by side.

"What a very skillful front wheel driver," thought Raide.
The DC5 took the lead, as the Cosmo remained right behind it. Raide decided to examine his opponent from behind and copy its lines.
"Amazing cornering," thought Raide.

The Integra's lines decreased as less speed as possible during each corner, as if it didn't even have to slow down. It was taking tight corners at speeds of about 145kmh. The screech of the VTEC engine was half of the symphony that collided with the sound of the Cosmo's 3-Rotor sequential twin turbo.
Raide had the power, but the guy known, as Shireishou N didn't show any sign of slowing down.

He turned on some fast paced, Euro beat music, as Raide flung his car sideways, closing the gap between his Cosmo and the DC5. 'Fall in the weeeeb…..'

The Cosmo was right behind the DC5 at this point. "You're a good driver, no doubt about it. I have to focus drift just to keep up with you in the corners. D1 was an appropriate battlefield for this match."

Raide pulled an E-Brake drift perfectly through the next hairpin, as he ended up side by side on exit with the DC5.
The Cosmo sped up ahead of the DC5. Raide was getting confident. The next turn, Raide sent his Cosmo at such a speed that was too high for his vehicle to handle.

Raide now began to experience some understeer. He turned his wheels into the turn, but stayed on the throttle. As this happened, Raide clutched in. His engine stared to rev at high rpms.
Raide dumped the clutch as his rear wheels began to break traction.
He now felt his car's rear end begin to kick out, and he began to counter-steer the wheels to face the road. The vehicle pulled into the direction of the wheels, as Raide put the throttle back on, and completed his drift.

The GTO backed out of Koda's parking at made its way all the way up to Minako's place. As Kumiko drove on at medium speeds along D1, she didn't let the fact that there was a race going on there past her mind. As she was nearing the top section of D1, the two cars flew past her, avoiding her car, as she drifted passed them at the same time. The Cosmo was in front, and the DC5 very close behind. Valves hissed along the line, as the cars met, and left each other in an instant. A split second encounter. But Kumiko was set. She continued along the rest of the D1 uphill (with the two other cars going the opposite direction) and sped her way along to find Maya and Minako's home. There, she found what she was looking for, Fu Huo's Lancer Evolution V.

Meanwhile…
Much to Raide's surprise, the DC5 was still keeping up behind him.
"No way! How can it be that fast?" thought Raide.

Man, this ain't Arcade Stage Ver.2!

Little did Raide notice through the front bar of the DC5, sat an intercooler. It was a turbocharged DC5.
Raide did not let this scare him off. He concentrated his lines for all out drift, in the attempt to shake off his opponent. It was also his way of blocking the road, not giving a chance for the DC5 to overtake during the corners.

After Raide's quick struggle, he gained a little bit of distance from his opponent. He continued on, next hairpin, flew sideways at such a speed, while the DC5 gripped the line, the driver's turning was so immaculate but slowed down a lot as the turn was so sharp.

They've now covered D1's technical section and down to the wider, higher speed section. The Cosmo's 20B Rotary Engine shrieked along the street, every mild and heavy turn, Raide continued his swaying style drifting; his car glided through the road like it was floating on water.

Watching his car from behind, N pressed on, smiling to himself. He sped up his DC5, saw the incoming turn, and took it beautifully along the inside line at a high speed.
He saw his opponent drifting like a mad man across the lanes, entertained by Raide's little power slides. Again, he smiled to himself…

Fu stood near the window, staring at the near sunset, curtains of the dorm spread out, his bed sheets already made and fixed. He wasn't resting, nor preparing to escape. After a short moment, he closed his eyes. He looked fast asleep even though he was wide-awake. He tucked his right hand in his pocket, left arm resting on the sling.
Moments later, the door opened behind him.
It was his nurse, apparently with some news for him.

"There's a visitor here for you," said the nurse, as she left the door open and made her way out.

Another woman, walked slowly to the door. She was wearing a gown-like dress and some high heel sandals. He recognized her tanned skin, and her dyed hair as he gazed at her, his eyes slowly making their way from the bottom up. Fu Huo was speechless.

"How've you been?" smiled the woman.
"M-Master Ku…" muttered Fu.
"Miss me?" asked Kumiko.

She slowly walked over to Fu, and gave him a little kiss on the cheek.
"Looking fine as always, Master Ku," commented Fu.
"When we're alone like this… you could just call me Ku," she whispered as she drew closer to Fu Huo.

She leaned her cheek onto his and slowly motioned her hand, touching his. But neither of them went any further. Kumiko slowly revealed something to Fu, and placed it on his hand.

My keys…

Back at Route D1, the two cars were nearing the final section of the course. The DC5 was still trailing behind. Raide was on his way to confirm his victory. Before he knew it, his car was almost face to face with the apex, as he exited the corner at intense speed. Following behind, N started to notice a change in the Cosmo's behaviour…
This made him quite overconfident now. He started laughing and giggling to himself like a spoilt child.
He sped up his DC5 onwards, lessening the gap between him and his opponent.

In an instant, the next hairpin was in sight. Both cars slowed down, and began to enter the turn.
N pulled the handbrake this time, which he hasn't used yet previously in this race, and set his Front Wheel Drive into a drift motion.

"See ya," bragged N.
His opponent was left behind, as the car spun out violently, the chassis twisted off the line as the DC5 sped ahead to claim the victory.

Little did Raide know, that his tyre's have already lost much grip from drifting almost the entire course. His car jerked violently onto the rail and the front bumper was damaged, and the vehicle spun around some more and then finally came to a stop…