Millennium D - Vol.0
The events of this story take place a year following the defeat of Sidewinder and the disbanding of Project D. Ryosuke Takahashi finally went to Tokyo to become a doctor, while his brother Keisuke went off to race in Super GT with Kyoko Iwase as a teammate, with whom he rekindled his romance with. Bunta Fujiwara, in a plan to expand his business, has enlisted the entirety of the Akina SpeedStars as his deliverymen, while he honed their skills. And finally, our hero Takumi Fujiwara made the decision to move to Southern California to study and find a new job. Who knows what kind of people he'll meet there? Will he continue to be a racer? Will there be new rivals for him to face? Prepare to find out, and enjoy the story!
A/N: This takes place in an alternate universe. The returning characters are still largely based off their original Initial D counterparts, but there will be some subtle differences. If anybody notices any timeline inconsistencies (for example, the story is set in the year 2000, but it features the Infiniti G35, which wasn't released until 2002), please note that these have been put in place on purpose in order to poke fun at the same inconsistencies present in the original Initial D series. Do not worry though! Nothing will be newer than 2003/2004. Any and all feedback will be appreciated; after all I'm still new to this!
6:33 AM. July 15, 2000.
Tokyo Haneda International Airport.
It was a typical day at the airport, with jumbo jets taking off and landing on the runway and airport vehicles scurrying about. People were coming and going, some making their way onto their planes, ready for a journey, while others were making their way into the arrivals area. There were all sorts of people; businessmen in suits, clueless tourists with digital cameras hanging around their necks, and of course, families.
A young man in his early 20s was sat on a waiting bench, staring outside at the runway with the sun rising in the distance. He was struggling to keep himself awake, letting out stifled yawns from time to time; after all, Takumi Fujiwara had to wake up at half past 4 to make it to the airport on time. But at the same time, he was fascinated at the airplanes taking off and landing; how could something so big and heavy move around in the air so effortlessly? He was in his usual white shirt, jeans and new balance shoes, with his large, black backpack placed on the seat next to him; he was in no mood for anybody to sit next to him in hopes of striking up a conversation. A large suitcase, covered in stickers, was just in front.
"ANA flight 8742, departing at 6:50AM to Andretti Bay, California, is now boarding. Please have your boarding pass and your passport ready to be checked by the boarding gate staff."
He was suddenly woken up by the announcement, recognising that it was his own flight. He extricated himself from his seat, took a long, dramatic stretch followed by a big yawn, and shuffled himself to the back of the line. He hadn't even left the country yet, but he was already missing everything and everybody back home. His bubbly group of friends, Iketani, Itsuki and Kenji; the winding, challenging roads of Mount Akina; his stoic, stone-faced father and his delicious tofu; but most importantly, the Toyota 86 he had been using to crush almost every mountain course-based street racer in Japan.
"Welcome aboard, Mr. Fujiwara.", said the boarding gate clerk with a warm smile on his face, stamping his boarding pass. Takumi managed a small bow and mumbled his thanks, making his way through the jet bridge. Within minutes, he was seated comfortably in his economy-class seat, with his baggage in the compartment above. "It's not so different from my 86…", he thought to himself, "It's much more comfortable than I expected."
In the following hours, Takumi faded in and out of sleep, and by the time he didn't feel so sleepy, he used the last couple of hours to watch a film on the dinky screen mounted on the seat in front of him. Curious as to what American films were like, he chose "Blade". Though he was slightly taken aback by the obscene amounts of gore and violence, he was still very impressed with the storyline.
After a long, gruelling 13-hour flight, they arrived at last. The sun was blazing, and it was so bright, when it landed, Takumi had to shield his eyes with his hands. He got off his plane, and although he went through all sorts of checkpoints, he managed to make it through without a problem, helped by a small amount of English he learned before leaving Akina.
A couple of weeks later, Takumi had at last settled down in his new dorm next to the university he'd be studying at for the coming years. It wasn't too much; the room was small, and there was hardly anything else other than a dull wooden table, a closet, a bed and an incredibly cramped bathroom. The view outside the window was nice though, at least.
He was sound asleep in his bed, floating in his dreams, before that was all interrupted by the violent ringing of his alarm clock. He instinctively flung his arm out and slammed his hand against the top of the clock, knocking it off his night desk unintentionally. Turns out, it didn't take too long for him to adjust to the huge time difference between Japan and Southern California.
There was no time for him to waste. He quickly put on his usual outfit, slung his backpack over his shoulders and set out for his faculty. On the way there, he bought a simple ham-and-cheese sandwich and a cappuccino from a nice, trendy little café he found out about during his time here. Although he still felt slightly empty, missing everything back home, he couldn't help but feel a sense of freedom. He didn't have any notorious racers to beat. He was no longer part of Project D and didn't have to deliver any more tofu, and had so much more time to focus on himself. He let out a relieved sigh with a slight smile on his face, arriving on campus.
And then it was classtime. While his classmates were dozing off or messing around in the background, Takumi was furiously taking notes, already motivated to pass his courses and make a life for himself. The mundane lectures came and went, and it was already lunch time. Takumi packed up his stationery and his notebook, and set out for the lunch hall. On his way there, he suddenly heard a sound that made his heart stop. It was a voice he recognised, and though it wasn't loud at all, he still picked it up through the chatter of other students.
"Takumi…kun…?"
I do not own any property from Initial D, nor do I make any money from the writing of this story.
All characters and situations, created by Shuichi Shigeno, Rob Cohen, Gary Scott Thompson, Erik Bergquist and David Ayer are taken from Initial D (1995-2013) © Kodansha Ltd., The Fast And The Furious (2001) and Redline (early screenplay draft; 2000) © Universal City Studios LLC
This story is released under the GPL/CC BY: verbatim copying and distribution of this entire work are permitted worldwide, without royalty, in any medium, provided attribution is preserved.
