Remember Me?

Nobutachi Dysuke and Ohna Takuya waited nervously by their respective cars as the Emperor team set themselves along the Irohazaka pass in observation positions. Satake was sitting arrogantly upon his muscular Evo IV bonnet, while Sodou Kyouichi starred at Takuya's EP82 with a intensity that definitely bordered on recognition.. Even with the added GT Wing, the car was common enough on the roads, but Takuya was certain that Sodou had figured out just who he was...

Which was defiantly a bad thing.

As Sodou turned to his offsider and motioned him to move to the starting position, a call came in over the radios.

"Hold the countdown, a blue SW20 is on it's way to the top, it could interfere."

Kyouichi turned to Satake, preparing to take position on the road and motioned him back. It was probably Kogashiwa's car, and if the kid had finally decided to challenge Emperor again then he wanted as many people around to witness his acceptance and victory as possible. Surely enough, within a few minutes the familiar Toyota pulled up with a hard squeal of tires and out of the tight cabin emerged two people. One was Kogashiwa, the other was a young, and very attractive, girl. Satake ogled her quite obviously, Sodou, though much more subtle in his reaction, had to, this time, and probably never again, approve of his team mates appraisal. The girl was very easy on the eyes, that much was certain.

But then again so was Miyoko of Evo Prime.

Not something Kyouichi wanted to think about.

In the opposition camp both Toyota drivers to had their attention on the new comers, but it was Dysuke who was startled into action.

"Satou Rina!" he exclaimed, cutting through the tension with his outburst. "What are you doing here!? Your aniki never lets you go anywhere near street racing!" Turning to the sound of the new, and slightly irritated voice, Rina and Kai saw the young drifter as he was stomping toward them, by the look of it, meaning to take the truant girl by the wrist and spirit her off home. Kai quickly stood between them, but Rina stomped her foot on the ground and pouted.

"You can't stop me Dysuke-kun, I don't care if aniki gets angry with me. All my life, all I've ever heard about is racing, especially on the touge, and if I want to see some racing with my boyfriend then I will!" With that said she immaturely stuck out her tongue and turned her back on the Altezza driver.

"Are you going to continue this conversation all night or are you here to actually comp..." Just as Sodou, in his role as the only present team leader had begun to interject, only to have the radio cut him off as it sprung into life again.

"Another car coming, this one's coming up much faster, I think it's a 180 but I didn't get a close look at it. Whatever it was flew past the corner to quick to get a complete description." In frustration Sodou turned to Dysuke and shoved a thumb in the direction of Satake.

"Are you going to do this? Their position is at the base of the mountain, so we have time to get this battle over and done with before a traffic jam occurs." With a nod Dysuke made for his Altezza and Satake's Evo IV grumbled to life, inching forward beside him. The rules had been explained before, the first person to cross the end of the third bridge would be the winner. Sodou began the countdown from five...

"Four, three, two, one... GO!"

With power and 4WD traction the Lancer Evolution IV easily took the lead from the launch. But the Toyota Altezza wasn't to far behind, it's six-speed gearbox and transplanted turbo engine giving it the power and acceleration to compete with Satake in a straight line. They would have to settle it at the corners. The first corner approached and the methods used by the two drivers were completely contrasting, with devastating effect. Used to time attack on the touge, Satake made good use of his braking, in conjunction with properly timed heel and toe, and allowed his LanEvo to penetrate deep into the initial hairpin, powering out with the unequalled exit of a 4WD. Dysuke was a drifter, his normal goal was not strictly speed, but clean drifting and a good line. Although many drifters did practice on the touge, the majority of the practiced on the far more open environment of the track or gymkhana field. Dysuke was one of those. Not used to, and not confident in, the very tight hairpin, he was unable to enter at his normal speed, and though his drift around the corner was almost perfect, at the exit of the corner the Evo IV had pulled several car lengths. As the corners kept coming, all of them at an incredible downhill angle, the distance only increased between the cars, even though Dysuke had settled down a little and begun entering corners already under oversteer conditions. By the end of the third bridge there was almost twenty seconds dividing the Emperor LanEvo and Dysuke's Altezza. He had not only been beaten, he had been massacred.

Soon enough the talk over the radios filtered back through the stationed Emperor members. It was definitely welcome news, they hadn't had many decent wins lately, what with Iwaki's losing streak. Notably absent from the celebratory discussion was Sodou Kyouichi, who should have at least congratulated Satake for his win. None of the Emperor team knew that the real matter of importance was happening at the peak.

Kogashiwa Kai turned to the young girl on his arm as they watched the retreating taillights of the two battling cars. With a look of contemplation upon her flawless face Rina turned to her boyfriend.

"Kai, watching a battle isn't a fun as I thought it would be." With the disappointed sigh of a male anticipating an irritated or emotional comment from his significant other, Kai began to apologise. How surprised he was then, when Rina continued. "I think it's time for me to get a car, and try it for myself! I've been saving for ages, and I've got my heart set on a really cute one that would be really fun to drive. Then maybe you could teach me how to drive the mountains as fast as you do!" Kai was stunned, caught between laughing at how easy she made it sound, and jumping her bones right then and there...

both valid male responses in Kai's view.

"Well on the weekend why don't we go to a few dealerships and from there we can see about modifying the standard set-up and learning some of the basics..."

The sound of Kai's voice was drowned out by the blaring exhaust note of a charging familiar yellow car. Not the FD of the Akagi RedSuns, rather it was the GT4 he had seen Thursday at University and Rina had invited to the battle. It passed the carpark in which most of the spectators had gathered, a flash of yellow and the high-pitched sucking of a spooling turbo the only clear evidence of it's existence, so fast was it moving. Then Kai heard the strangest thing, when the exhaust sound died, as though the driver were changing gears, or he could have been approaching the first Irohazaka hairpin, it made the same loud, angry, 'bang bang' that Sodou's Evo III did. Kai wasn't the only one to notice either. Emperor heads turned from all over the carpark and Kai swore he could see Sodou narrow his eyes thoughtfully. The Emperor driver passed a few terse words about at his subordinates then made for his Evo, turning it on, and allowing it's engine to warm. Thinking Sodou's actions strange, Kai mimicked them, gently tugging on Rina's wrist and directing her to the SW20. Once inside the cockpit he turned to her with a serious face.

"Rina, I don't want to scare you, but I think there is something interesting going on tonight. I know you want to see what street racing is like, but I don't want you to feel in danger. That black Lancer is, I think, going to wait for the yellow Celica we saw the other day to make another pass and follow him. When he does that, I would like to as well. These two drivers are very good and we will be going fast, do you want me to show you what street racing is, at it's best?" With an excited but cautious smile she nodded the affirmative and Kai turned his car over.

Just as, in both cabins, the temperature reached safe operating heat the clamour of the GT4 could be heard approaching. Quickly the headlights, reflecting on the trees either side of the road became visible and then so did the flash of yellow metal. With a piercing shriek Kai and Kyouichi drag-launched their cars simultaneously, pulling out quickly one in front of the other and chewing into the lead the GT4 had until they were coming into the first corner back to back. From their position at the very rear, Kai and Rina would be able to see the skill level and cornering technique of both drivers. Though they would find that they would not be able to keep up. After but a few corners, the incessant sound of backfiring slowly softened until Kai could barely hear it over the sound of his own engine. He could try to catch up with his 'Special Line Factor', but not with Rina in the car, and not having spent months barely practicing on Irohazaka at all. With a resigned shrug he let his foot off the accelerator and slowed his attack on the downhill to a more demure tempo.

"Well, that could have gone better." Takuya had to laugh, even so soon after having his rear bar absolutely handed to him Dysuke was capable of viewing the situation with humour. Maybe now he'd believe Takuya when he said that...

"Touge isn't like other motorsports, it does requires specialised tuning and skills" Dysuke took the words right out of Takuya's mouth. With a grin Dysuke absently rubbed the front quarter panel of his white Altezza, though he surely had to be smarting at the lose there was something in Dysuke's eyes that was almost imperceptible, but it looked like the young drifter had just learned a great deal of appreciation for touge.

"Well Kyouichi-sempai, remember me?"

For the first time in his life Sodou Kyouichi, closest rival to Takahashi Ryousuke, and the only person in Japan to openly hold a win over Fujiwara Takumi, The Ghost of Akina, was absolutely speechless. Never in his entire life had he thought to see this pain in his backside again. He didn't know whether to let out a frustrated scream that life could throw this complication into an already conflicted time or pull the speaker, only a couple of years younger than Kyouichi himself, into a fierce hug.

You had to know Sodou Kyouichi and Nicolas Sainz to understand their relationship.

"So that's what I will have to be able to do?" came Rina's soft voice almost a minute after Kai had reduced his speed. Knowing it would be better to temper any enthusiasm with common sense, especially with an excitable Rina, Kai forged a half truth.

"Eventually, it will take a long time, I've been driving since I was a kid for my dad, and those other two drivers have probably been practicing longer. That's the price you pay when you want to learn how to drive fast." Also, Kai didn't want to admit that, now, with his skills obviously decreased, he stood no chance against either Sodou or the foreign GT4 driver. That stung his pride more than a little. Especially since it was not too long ago that he had been rivalling Fujiwara Takumi. If it wasn't for the dead leaves on the course...

Well, maybe there was a lesson to be learnt in that. If Sodou and that gaijin were fast, then he would get faster. If Rina wanted to learn, then he would teach her. If Emperor...

"Kai, are you feeling alright? I've been asking the same question for the past minute." Kai shook his head comically to clear the cobwebs before turning to Rina with an apologetic smile.

"Sorry, I was just thinking... about... how cute you look in the moonlight on the touge!"

Rina giggled and gently punched Kai in the arm as a thank you before reiterating.

"So can we go up and see Dysuke-kun? He's a friend of my brother's and I just know that you'll like him!" With a sigh Kai performed an E-brake turn at the base of Mt Irohazaka and headed up the one-way uphill road to the peak as Rina detailed the traits of her brother's friend.

Well it's all coming together at the moment, it seems like Dysuke and Rina have a little bit of history between them, what will become of it I wonder...

Rina wants a car of her own, and wants her poor unsuspecting boyfriend to teach her to race... what kind of car will she buy and how will Kai adapt to teaching his own girlfriend racing techniques? And what about Dysuke and Takuya? Will the loss to Satake of Emperor jog Dysuke into a new motorsports path?

So what's the history between Sodou and Sainz you ask? Keep paying attention to this spot and you'll slowly find out.