Chapter 3- "Still there"

Vroom!

An 86 and a Civic raced up the rugged mountain trail. One thing though…

Their left hand is taped on the wheel!

"Damn, is this what they meant by 'home regulations'? Sakamoto and Nobuhiko are better off. Argh!" Wataru seemed pissed off.

"Me on front. Tape on wheel. Small fry on chase. What an utter waste of my time. Hehehe." Shingo arrogantly thought.

What a handicap. Slower corner speeds, twisted turns and a home advantage.

Neither racer could move an inch.

"So… Kyoko… I haven't thanked you fully for the time you helped me."

"No, Keisuke. It's really ok. I'm so happy that you won!"

"Oh really?"

"Yeah!"

"So… Let me make you happier!"

"Umm… What're you saying?"

"Why don't you guess?"

"Maybe letting me win a race?"

"No way!"

"Fine. What is it?"

"A date."

"Really? Where!"

"Anywhere you like."

"How you could you when you don't have a car?"

"Hey! I do have a car. It's a hell better than yours."

"At least mine's not broken."

"You'll see! I'll give you the ride of your life."

"On a bucket of bolts? Heehee."

"Keisuke… Come here for a while and drop the phone." Ryosuke called.

"Why?" Keisuke seemed curious.

"Just do it."

"Later, Kyoko. I'll call you back."

"Sure, Keisuke-san! Hugs and kisses."

"Bye."

Drop.

Keisuke entered the room without a clue in the world.

"What is it? Hey, where are you? Darn, it's dark."

Flick.

"Whoa…"

The white 86 took over the EG6 in a heartbeat. How?

Akiyama took advantage of the car. He made it oversteer so that he won't loose too much speed. But as usual, Shingo tried to steer off Wataru and tried to ram him into hitting the wall but Akiyama drove too fast to leave equal spaces.Karma, he hit the wall and now has a dent on his bumper.

Akiyama exited the car, sweating and with a bleak expression.

"First victory." He suddenly said with a smile.

"Nice work. Saitama now owns Myogi. Now let's go to a café and eat. My treat." Nobuhiko said as if he were the father figure of the group.

"Smartest thing you said all day, chief." Sakamoto joked.

One down. It's very comforting after the most exhilarating race in their lives ended in a loss, a bittersweet flashback.

Keisuke was speechless.

The body was gorgeous. RE Amemiya hood, spoiler and wheels. Mazdaspeed sideskirts, front and rear bumper and wheels. Custom mirror and muffler and brand new internals and better weight differential. It could make any rotary lover drool and hug the car.

After a very long and blissful silence, he finally thought, "I've gotta drive my FD." It's the most beautiful and well-tuned rotary I could see on Akagi, it'll probably literally burn the pavement. It'll be the most fun experience of a racer, a driver and his car.

Sakamoto's POV:

Damn. Everything I'm thinking is a flashback. They hit me so bad. It was like… I don't know! Good because of the thrill, bad because of the loss. I wanted to become number one so badly… Even using the blind attack was bittersweet since I remembered that cold, blinding night.

Akiyama's POV:

I finally won again after a really long time. Just proves that my overhauled Levin still works goodly. I think it needs to be tuned though, but, darn, I want to race downhill again so badly.

Nobuhiko's POV:

Excellent. We're taking Japan one step at a time. But, the two still have a long way to go and so do I. Time to go to the next level, time to make a call.

"Umm… Hey, why are we so quiet?" Sakamoto said.

"Yeah. Isn't this supposed to be a celebration?" Wataru said.

"You guys are too uptight, loosen up! Because the day after tomorrow, you'll be going out again." Nobuhiko declared.

"I didn't time my run. It felt so faster this time. I'll be beating Takumi this time. After another difficult race, I'll beat him. I will."

"Crap! I forgot my date with Kyoko!"

"What's a mountain that we haven't raced yet?" Ryosuke thought while looking at a map.

Fuhimiro entered the garage and said, "I'm guessing Keisuke is going insanely fast on uphill after he did downhill?"

"Duh." Ryosuke sarcastically said.

"Hehehe. As usual. By the way, I found a place we haven't hit yet."

"Hit me."

Fuhimiro pointed a spot on the map and said the name of the next destination, "Hakone."

End of Chapter 3