ACT 8 – 8000RPM 'Easy Knockout'
It was around quarter past ten at route C4, the wind grew calm, as the crowd finished their break, awaiting the next race.
After proudly announcing the winner of the first round, Reiko then stepped forward to announce the next two contestants – Carjack Ohjay with his GC8 and Mirishima Kanae with her RPS13.
Kanae slowly rolled her car in the starting point, next to Ohjay's car. She looked at her reflection in the mirror… I look tired… Well what's new? I guess Fu Huo's won the first round. I guess I was mistaken. He's not fake after all…
Eurobeat songs played within Kanae's car – 'Don't You (Forget About My Love)' – Initial D
Reiko stepped forward to begin the countdown… "Five! …Four! …Three! …Two! …One! …Go!"
Both cars sped off, with the Impreza quickly
taking the lead, dominating the Sil80's take off.
Ohjay glanced
at his mirror and smiled to himself, "When I beat you, I'll get
to take another crack at that Lancer punk! It'll be fun beating his
ass twice!"
'Feel the… passion… now'
The racers wasted no time, clearing the first corner. The Impreza's exit speed was clearly more dominant. Kanae watched Ohjay's manuvering, whilst saving her tires' grip until later on, laying off the drifting.
They completed the next few corners, and the gap seemed to get wider, little by little.
"Hey, Rei…" Kumiko walked over to chat with Reiko, watching the cars flew past them. "So tell me about your sister in law? Since I told you about the previous racers, I guess its your turn to do the little story telling, heheh…"
"Well…" began Reiko. "I'm
not really too familiar with Kanae's racing… In fact, this is one
of the rare occasions that I get to see her race…"
"What do
you mean? She doesn't race often?"
"She does, but that's
not the thing. She races a lot on F5, and as you know, I hardly
observe F5,"
"F5… the cursed mountains of F5… She must be
special…"
"In a way… sorta," explained Reiko briefly.
"She's also the fastest in Route F5…"
"I see…"
"Kanae
is a mysterious young woman…" commented Reiko. "So it kinda
suits her to be at home at F5. She's probably as enigmatic as the
mountains itself, haha…"
"What makes you say that?"
wondered Kumiko.
"Well… it reflects more on her driving
style…" continued Reiko. "She's very unpredictable. She's
also one to reverse a situation no matter how bad the odds are
against her. When there's no chance of winning, she always manages
to pull something outta nowhere, and often succeeds on her first
try…"
"Hmm… I see. You mean she rips out stuff like from
that Initial D shit or something?"
"That's a good way of
putting it…" agreed Reiko. "I haven't had a chance to race
her myself, however."
"She always looks so sleepy though,
haha… Its kinda cute seeing someone like her rip out some bad-ass
skills out of an FR…" commented Kumiko.
"That reminds me…"
said Reiko. "Is she the one who has that item you're looking
for?"
"Yes… but we've arranged a deal with her already.
It'll be in our hands soon, hopefully."
"Hopefully? Exactly
what kind of deal did y'all make together?"
A sharp corner was up ahead. Kanae has been following Ohjay's line patterns so far, but never able to match his traction quality, finding herself skidding out more often than he was. Copying 4WD's moves with an FR was rather unconventional.
'… love is forever, sweet sensation. You make me crazy with your passion. Don't forget my love… (don't forget my loooove)'
Kanae did not have much of a choice but to use drift out of the previous sharp corner. She counter-steered her way through, meeting up with the Impreza's rear lights. That's weird… he doesn't seem to be accelerating any better than I am…
Kanae remained patient. It was clear to her, the many chances she had to overtake her opponent, though kept her temptations aside and remained behind him. His driving is very… lame for a 4WD. I'm even cornering slightly faster than him…
Route C4's blind turning
and sharp s curve section showed no mercy to the drivers, especially
not to Ohjay. Even having driven the track once before, he still
seemed to be behaving poorly in the curves.
So poorly, that Kanae
had to keep slowing down her pace. But she kept her patience and
followed him on.
Kanae's mind seemed to be elsewhere, as if she was not even concentrating on the battle. All she could think about was Fu Huo. He's racing for a cause. How… different. Usually, people just race for fun… I've never met anybody who race for anything bigger…
Meanwhile, Ohjay clenched his teeth, as he kept on glancing through his mirrors frustratingly. "Why doesn't she get lost already?"
'Oh baby, don't you forget about my love. You make me loose, you make me crazy. Don't you forget about my love. Feel the… passion… now.'
After the next section, Kanae slightly changed her
driving style. As the gaps widened a little, Kanae dived into the
corner, speeding up with such velocity, as if about to understeer. In
a matter of moments, she hit the clutch as she kept the throttle on,
revving the car insanely. This created traction loss, causing the car
to skid.
As soon as Kanae felt the rear end of her car kicking
out, she immediately counter-steered her wheels in order to
re-position her car into the right direction.
Coincidentally, the Sil80 drifted straight past the gallery area in which Raide was watching. "Impressive… I love seeing that as much as I love doing it. The clutch kick…"
'Take… my love, my secret dreams. The passion that I feel… is burning like a fire, like a soft desire…'
"I've learned that technique a long time ago," Raide began, as Hokuto stood by him, listening and watching at the same time. "It's a technique used by sending your car into a corner at high speed, then suddenly clutching in, as you turn, without losing throttle, causing the revs to go wild, and of course, you know what happens then."
Kanae braked
hard, slowing down her pace, as she nearly collided with Ohjay's
car. She wondered if he was going too slow on purpose…? Kanae
became cautions, almost paranoid. She decided to follow Ohjay for a
bit more.
Fu Huo was overtaken by the corkscrew jump attack.
I'd better lay the dirt off my ride.
It was as if Kanae had the battle all figured out, yet she was always prepared to take risks.
"Kanae's a bit of a daredevil, in fact,"
stated Reiko. "My husband says that she'll try the craziest,
stupidest risks, and actually succeed in them…"
"I see,"
replied Kumiko. "She's a bit like Fu Huo, then…"
"Kanae
won't lose to just any 4WD… in fact, she's reversed every
situation in which everyone thought she never had a chance at…"
"…As
if she'll lose against that Ohjay guy anyway… He's rather
conceited…" stated Kumiko.
Reiko slowly looked toward Kumiko…
"Kumi… I wasn't talking about this race…"
"Huh?"
"I
was referring to her next match…" spoke Reiko, totally ignoring
the fact that Ohjay is even in the tournament, assuming Kanae's
already won.
Meanwhile, Raide and Hokuto discussed
further about the race.
"Do you think that the Sil80 has a
chance?" asked Hokuto.
"What kind of question is that?"
asked Raide. "You've raced Ohjay yourself, haven't you?"
"Yeah…
but I've got a GtiR. And Ohjay's defeated a Z33…"
"Silly…
The reason why N-Angel's Fairlady lost to him is coz the driver was
a chicken, not because of the car."
"So what do you think will
happen?"
"Ohjay's shit. Nuff said, bro."
"Hey… that
Kanae girl's pretty cute too…" commented Hokuto.
At this rate, Kanae followed a little bit too close to her opponent. So close that she could almost hardly see anything up ahead. This has gone for long enough. It's time to win.
Kanae looked for an opening. But the roads were still too narrow for a half-baked overtake. She waited on until the next section.
The black Evolution V reached into town not so long ago. It's glowing red fog lights beamed across the streets like a hungry lion. Fu Huo cruised around town, too many going his mind, skimmed through the intersections, as he made his way down the next few intersections, across the buildings.
Fu Huo made his way to the town's
central district. As usual, lights filled the streets; mild traffic
filled the road, as he drove past several nightclubs along the
several blocks.
He stared at his window, looking at the ladies on
the sidewalks in their seductive clubbing attire. Fu Huo slowed down
a pinch, and growled his engine teasingly at the girls as they all
watched the black Evolution and smiled at Fu. It's been a while
since I been to the club… I've actually stopped for many reasons.
Perhaps I should get back to it some time.
The Lancer
revved up once more, but did not have time to stay. Fu Huo followed
the rest of the route, making his way into his favorite 'meal
place' (as Fu calls it. He does not refer to it as a proper
restaurant).
The dark armored Lancer parked itself at the rear car
park, next to Koda's…
Kumiko stepped off the guardrails, slowly walking towards her car onto the other side, as the warm breeze soothed her skin and brushed through her hair, "I'm going home…" she called out to Reiko.
"Aren't you gonna stay for the result?" suggested Reiko, turning herself to meet Kumiko's eye. She knew herself that there was no longer any point to stay.
"We're not on until the next race night.
I'm not really concerned about tonight's result. Good night,
Rei," the two women hugged each other goodbye, as Kumiko later on
stepped into her car.
The VR-4's engine revved briefly, as the
purple neons scanned through the parking area, drawing more attention
from the crowd than the actual race.
Even though Kumiko did not perform that night, the crowd cheered for her endlessly, "We love you, Kumi!" over and over again, as the GTO backed out slowly. The moon glowed, reflecting its bright face on the GTO's burgundy armor-like body kit. Tonight was good. This is such a wonderful game… I have no regrets coming here.
Sliding
past the remaining galleries, the Sil80 tailed the Impreza pressuring
the opponent, as the gap closed in. The heavy body of the moderately
tuned GC8 caused the inexperienced Ohjay to understeer a little
during the sharp corners, giving Kanae an aid if she were to match
his speeds.
She was aware of what was in store next. Without
slowing down, the Sil80 pressed on, Kanae shifted her car's weight
effectively, sliding her car down the corkscrew, without touching a
pitch of sand. She used the car's momentum to skid her car sideways
while going downhill, so that she would already be in position for
the next curve.
On the other hand, Ohjay attempted to do the
same trick he used against his race with the Z33.
The GC8 flew
briefly past the dirt, but landing with half its body on the road,
and the other on the dirt. The car began to behave wildly, but it was
side by side with the opponent by this time.
With precise
control, Kanae maneuvered her ride, avoiding collision with her
opponent as she slid down the hill, and eventually regained traction.
The GC8 began to sway around, nearly losing control.
Not wasting
any time, Kanae sped ahead, with enough grip left to keep her going
through the rest of the track. Ohjay was not her real opponent. Kanae
had barely even begun. She set her thoughts aside, and focused on her
real target – Fu Huo.
Ohjay helplessly followed from a distance, as Kanae easily grabbed the win, advancing to the next round of the tournament.
Meanwhile, Fu Huo slowly
walked into Koda's and sat at the bar area, as usual. He said
nothing for a while, and then tapped on the table briefly with his
finger, calling for the bartender.
The owner herself – Koda
Maya, greeted him.
"Hey… how ya doin', hun? What can I get ya?" offered Maya. She was well acquainted with Fu Huo, who is an apparent regular in her respective café.
"Where's
Minako?" asked Fu.
"Oh, you just missed her," explained
Maya. "She just left half an hour ago… She's probably on her
way home."
"With the car?"
"Yeah…"
"I'll
take you home then, if you want."
"Thanks, bro. That's kind
of you. Anyway, what's up with Minako?"
Maya served Fu a free drink.
"Oh, nothing. It's just that I haven't
really been paying attention to her much. She said she wanted to hang
out sometime, I dunno…" explained Fu.
"That's strange,"
laughed Maya. "I thought y'all were sick of each
other…"
"Supposedly…" grinned Fu.
"Well, anyway,
next time, come earlier. You might catch her a song or two…"
"She
can't sing for shit," ranted Fu.
"Haha… you're
mean,"
Later that night, Maya finished up, then
closed Koda's for the night. It was around 1:00AM, Fu Huo started
the engine of his Lancer.
Fu opened the door for Maya, as she
stepped inside, seatbelt clicking into place.
Making himself
comfortable, Fu Huo rolled his windows up, as he backed out his car
out of the car park.
"So how's racing lately, Fu?" asked
Maya.
"It's been fun…" commented Fu. "It's been real
fun. You should get back into it, you know."
"Nah… that
shit's crazy. I've been retired ever since I set up my bar. But
my team's still running smoothly. I was gonna get Minako to take
over as team leader, but knowing her, she's a bit of an airhead,
but she's fast,"
"My ass, she's fast,"
"Hahah…
you'll see eventually. She's not half bad at all…"
"No
one is as fast as you, Maya. If you were still around, you'll
surely give Master Ku a run for her money…"
"Hahaha…"
laughed Maya. "Master Ku? Is that what she makes you call
her?"
"Well…no. I'm just used to calling her that. She
actually ain't very fond of it."
"Aaaanyways, Kumiko is
fast. And since I'm retired, she's the fastest road racer I know,
other than you, Fu,"
Fu drove on. Maya flicked through his glove box, full of photos and letters and other miscellaneous items.
"Other than me?" wondered Fu Huo.
"Hm? You
mean to tell me you haven't beaten Kumi yet?"
"…No. Am I
supposed to have?"
"With the way you drive, yes,"
complimented Maya.
"What an odd thing to say…" said
Fu.
"Well, if you ever get to race her again, hopefully, you'll
figure out her weakness…"
"Her weakness? Hmm… I don't
think I'd feel like racing her again anyway. I got badly whipped
last time…"
Maya flicked through Fu Huo's accessories a little further. There seemed to be a vast collection of photos scattered all over the glove box. She flicked on.
"Hey, what
are you doing…?" wondered Fu.
"Why do you have so many pics
of Minako?"
"They're old pics… They were taken back in
those days…"
"Oh… I see…" Maya sat silent, while
flickering through more photos.
Fu Huo drove on.
"Hm…
come to think of it… I don't see Minako with any photos of you…"
realized Maya.
"That's coz I can't give her any…"
explained Fu.
"Why not?"
"I don't keep pictures of
myself. There's no point."
