OK Number 55 - Propaganda Of The Deed

The first batch of engineers were discharged on the Monday after that, those being the people brought in purely for smoke inhalation. It was another six days, and two weeks to the day of the fire, that the second wave of patients were released, this being the wave of non-facial burns which included Kallen. Naoto would have to wait another week, and Tohdoh might wait months for any signs of progress, but Kallen was at least in the clear, medically.

The teams had a whip round to try and assist Tohdoh's recovery in any way that they could, organising big fundraising events and social media efforts, with even a marathon being arranged for the week before the first race after the Belgian Grand Prix.

Kallen shared a joke with Gino, before reaching for a bottle of water and sliding on her shirt, complete with her chosen number eleven emblazoned in red across her chest, with even the same font and style placed in the centre of the white square as was on her car, as it was with Naoto's number ten, Suzaku's number seven, Gino's number two, and Rivalz' number nineteen, with the organisers giving the drivers accommodations, given that the event was in support of one of their own, run over the twenty-three kilometre Stavelot-Extratrail, via Place Saint-Remacle and Reanne. Xingke was a curious absence, reporting that he was not able to make the run for health reasons.

Whether they were on speaking terms or not, Kallen was especially proud of Naoto, who made it out just four weeks after suffering not insignificant burns to the face, leaving most of the left side of his face looking like raw bacon. He had already said he would not be on the pace during the marathon due to his still-fresh lungs, but his presence would still be welcome, both as a show that he had not let the burns which had disfigured him defeat him, and to attract more entrants, if even only for a chance to meet more of the fastest drivers on the planet, which would net more funds for Tohdoh.

With his presence, though perhaps not due to his presence, there were nine thousand runners who would filter through the Ardennes by foot, as soon as the clock struck midday. Kallen lined up alongside the other drivers, who would lead the group in the first stages before the rest of the runners naturally filtered past them, or at least, most of them.

Kallen eyed Suzaku as they waited for the off. Time to see if the work at fitness training had been wasted.

The airhorn sounded, and the crowd got underway, with everyone wanting to conserve their energy and not blow it all at the start, simply pacing themselves through the initial kilometres. However, as the half-marathon progressed, the crowd did slightly filter, with Naoto falling back, unable to ramp up the pace alongside the front runners. It was quite heartwarming, to look back and see, as Naoto kept strictly to his limit, most people passing him by pat him on the back as they did, saluting his resolve to fight back after being stuck in a burning building not weeks earlier.

Meanwhile, at the front, while professional distance runners had taken the lead by the fifth kilometre, Suzaku was keeping a respectable pace, the first of the racing drivers, with neither Gino or Rivalz pushing their physical limits, and Naoto's ceiling having been significantly lowered. The race within the race was not completely one sided however, as every time Suzaku looked back, he could never lose sight of a determined little toe-rag.

Kallen, though it was still requiring more effort than Suzaku, seemed to be keeping pace, so Suzaku, who quickly felt shadowed, tried to up the ante, and shake her off so he could run at his own pace. He would ramp up the speed, and Kallen would match it. No matter how firmly he pushed, Kallen, with a furrowed brow, would simply adjusted her pace to match Suzaku's, sticking to his tail fervently. He never wanted to break into a sprint, but Kallen simply couldn't be shaken, which, as they approached the halfway point, grew concerning. At eighteen kilometres, Suzaku, now at a heavy jog and Kallen only falling back by perhaps a few meters every kilometre, and seeing the rest of the route taking a downhill slant, decided to build a gap to try and demotivate her, as well as to give her less of a target to aim at.

However, to build up enough of a gap, he had to break into a sprint, and after two kilometres, he had spent his energy, having to cut, out of necessity, back to almost a walking pace, unable to go faster, and sure enough, at the twenty first kilometre, the inevitable happened; Kallen, who had maintained Suzaku's jog pace from when he had kicked it up into a sprint, had been closing in, and now, as he trundled along helpless, she streaked ahead, playing the uncharacteristic tortoise.

With Suzaku having burned his battery, he could only watch as they approached the finish, Kallen now having pulled a fifty-meter lead at the finish line, finishing the first of the racing drivers and the hundred and twelfth of all participants, with a pair of runners between the two. Kallen rushed over to drench herself in a bottle of iced water, just to cool herself off, before sipping at the lid to get some much needed hydration, as Suzaku strolled over to her.

"Congratulations" he nodded, grabbing a drink himself. "Tell you what, that was a dastardly trick that was. Why did you not just streak ahead? You could have blitzed it up to the finish, why didn't you?"

Kallen chuckled, before replying "My stint with Lelouch… didn't end well, but I did learn something. Well, don't bash someone face half to hell, but I was definitely behind the curve on that. But there was something else I picked up. It was really unintuitive for me, particularly with how you know I like to race, but I thought it would be useful here."

Shaking her head, she returned to her point. "It's not important who leads out of the first corner. No points are given for leading at the halfway interval. All anyone cares about is who crosses the line first. There was a lad… I think, it was 2010, where the then champion only led the points table once; after the last race. He'd been in second, third, or wherever, never leading it, until he pipped them at the finale."

"Time was you'd laugh at someone for saying that."

"Times change." Kallen laughed, amused by Suzaku's jab. "I don't... like it, but I'm less… reticent to it. I'm less prideful, I guess you could say. Here, in this context? I'd have blasted ahead, run out of energy, and you'd have just flew past at the end. I need to be smarter than that."

Suzaku pursed his lips, before gravely nodding and acknowledging "Well, you're putting in enough work. If you're not in serious contention, there'll be something seriously wrong in this sport. You're working so hard, and putting in so much dedication, it'd be a tragedy for you not to be up there."

Here it was, Suzaku's primary thesis, Kallen nodded. A trademark of his background, perhaps, the son of a wealthy ambassador in France, but she could hardly say she had not at least follow in his example on the effort front. He couldn't quite reckon with the degree to which his background had influenced his success, and so he had to find something else to pin it on. She was certainly in no position to judge, given how many anger issues she had sat on top of unknowingly, only uncovered when looking at her tendency to lose her temper in dedicated anger management.

However, as Kallen sat, sipping at her water canister, Suzaku dipped his head and whispered "I just can't…"

Kallen immediately snapped her head round, asking "What?", before Suzaku explained.

"I wasn't ever as talented. As anyone… from carting to Formula Ford to F3, F2, as talented as you, or, well it seems, as much as Rolo. There's not the raw talent. I would never be the most talented, but I would never be outworked. I'd take a tent to the track and just do laps all night until the sun rose, I'd… and that may well be an advantage I had, that I was in a financial position to be able to do that, but it's how I got here. But it's stopped working. I'm being beaten by Rolo, and you… you were a twig when we first met. I'd have run circles around you even a year ago, but… you've caught me from a standing start. You've managed to pull ahead of me, in spite of me just wearing myself ragged. I just…"

Kallen frowned, before rolling her eyes and turning across to face her countryman.

"Suzaku. From the middle of last year up until maybe February, you were up to your eyes in work, trying to save your team. Even from then, you've had to do more work than anyone just to keep your team afloat. Small wonder you have such little time to be focused on improving if you're burning the candle at both ends to build a brand new team. You can't reasonably be expected to keep up the other workloads you were sustaining."

"No, but I should." Suzaku insisted. "I need to be better. I can't be called a deserving champion if I can't sustain the what would ordinarily described as unreasonable. I'm not ordinary, I shouldn't be held to ordinary standards, and if I'm falling short, I shouldn't be excused just because most people would fall short too."

"Are you kidding me?"

Suzaku blinked, caught off guard by Kallen's aggression, before she then, exasperatedly, went on to offer her own explanation.

"Who do you think I latched on to? Who do you think I held up as being the one person who could beat me in an equal car, who I'm after modelling my new approach after? You of all people don't get to complain you're not working hard enough, the only reason I'm working as hard as I am is because of you! You've such drive, motivation and focus others could only wish to have, so shut up about not working hard enough."

Suzaku seemed defused by this, almost retreating into himself than making a great stand to rebut what she had said, which was definitely a positive, however, nonplussed, he asked "So, what can I do?", demonstrating at once a willingness to see Kallen's point, and a lack of any alternate framework through which it could be understood, other than the one he'd used his entire life.

Kallen sighed, and shrugged "I don't know. Sometimes it's something quite… obvious, and you'll be kicking yourself wondering how you didn't notice it. Like me, with the oscillating throttle. Maybe it's not even in your driving style, maybe it's your engineer or something. Don't immediately leap to the conclusion that it's your fault."

Lelouch sat at the head of the desk as the various sponsors and investors filed in greyly, with Lloyd, Cecile, Suzaku and Rolo already sat and waiting. Parties such as V.V. and Kaguya Sumeragi, with a far greater involvement in the financial stakes of the team, sat up close to the front, while the smaller scale sponsors sitting towards the end of the table.

He quietly reached towards his morning Kepra and Acetylcysteine tablets, dissolved into a glass of water with a numbing agent for his headache, swallowing the cold, impure water as the remainder of the attendants found their seats for the meeting. V.V. was typically aloof, while Kaguya gave a brief, motherly hug to Suzaku in spite of being much shorter and skinnier than the muscular athlete, who looked incredibly uncomfortable with how intimate his cousin seemed willing to get.

Better Suzaku than Lelouch himself, as far as the Frenchman was concerned. However, he remained on edge until she was firmly in her seat and his neck was firmly out of danger, at which point he neatened his stack of papers. V.V, looking fidgety and impatient, cleared his throat as Lelouch tried to stand, propping himself by his left arm up against the table.

"Alright. It's… just past eleven in the morning, twelfth of August of 2019. We are holding this meeting in room 12.74, to discuss the progress we have made over this year and to answer questions or concerns from our shareholders regarding performance and to review how this team has performed through the season so far. Unless anyone has any preliminary notes…?"

None arose, and so Lelouch, satisfied, continued with his summary of the season so far.

"Very good. Let's begin with our position in the points table. Rolo is on ninety-two points, and Suzaku on seventy-four points, placing them fifth and sixth in the drivers table respectively, combining to place us fourth in the constructors championship. I will leave it to Lloyd to deliver a full technical report, however we appear to be coming on stronger as the season progresses. A second in Austria was possibly a fluke, but since the tyre change, our car has proven far more competitive, with two thirds from Suzaku, and a fifth and a second from Rolo since the change has been put into effect. This is likely because, with the 2019 cars being substantially faster than the 2018 alternative, we have advanced in relative pace, even if we need more pit stops. With Lloyd hard at work, I have no doubt our standing will increase rapidly towards the end of the season."

"Oh thank you, ahem." Lloyd chuckled, halfway to blushing.

"Of course. But as I say, to have our drivers in fifth and sixth in the first year of competition exceeds anyone's expectations."

Lelouch, of course, was lying. It certainly exceeded his own expectations, not to mention the expectations of the technical team or outside speculators, the likes of whom had written think piece after think piece about how the team was on the trip to the bankruptcy courts, and would never turn a wheel in anger. These expectations had been met, as well as the expectations of Rolo, who had had his assumptions absolutely surpassed, having a wildly successful debut season against the reigning world champion.

But to say that it had exceeded anyone's expectations was still a lie, as there was one person whose expectations had not been met; Suzaku's.

Suzaku, who had probably been at his worst after Monaco, had entered the season perhaps not expecting to be running away with the title, as he had the year before, but to be comfortably in the mix, with his usual belief that effort was perfectly correlated with results.

Lelouch, having had to couch surf for a not insignificant portion of his life, had harboured a deep resentment of this view, and though he had a deep friendship with Suzaku, he despised that the Asian man believed this.

He had not been homeless from a lack of hard work. He had not struggled to meet Nunnally's medical bills from a lack of a sturdy, upright, stoic character. There were instances where people could work as hard as they could, until they fainted, keeled over even, and not be successful. Naoto, unfortunately, had discovered this all too recently, with Lelouch hearing from Rivalz, who heard from Gino who heard from Kallen, that he was absolutely broken up over being physically incapable of doing more to help in the fire.

Sometimes, the hand was junk, and no amount of sweating would make it a better hand.

Perhaps it would be good for him, Lelouch reflected. Perhaps a bit of a reality check now would mean that he would be more resilient later on. It had certainly done the trick for Lelouch, who was incredibly sceptical about sources of continued success, and cynically taking every slight advantage he could off the track.

However, satisfied with his own performances or not, Suzaku did not run this team; Lelouch did, ad Lelouch, after a brief pause, resumed "But I think I'll go to Lloyd now, for a more technical analysis of what this groups money has gone to, and what exposure it could yet acheive. Your various firms do need to see return on investment, and we intend to deliver it. Lloyd."

Lloyd looked almost surprised at being called on, and let out a surprised "Bwoah" in his typical voice tone more befitting a tenor than someone who lay around fiddling with engines and getting oil all over himself for a living. Fixing his tie, which Lelouch suspected was brand new, purpose bought for this strange, hitherto unknown concept colloquially referred to as a 'board meeting', Lloyd began in earnest.

"Um… yes. As Lelouch says, being forced to stick with the 2019 car was a blessing in disguise, as it has the pace over the teams who went back to their 2018 spec chassis. This development has had another benefit for us as well, however. The other teams had been working on the 2019 models since about this time last year, mid August, whereas our factory did not have the funds to begin the design work until January. With extremely limited time, the design and package we have been fielding since Australia has been extremely primitive, serving as a stop-gap until we had drafted a complete car vis a vis aerofoils, the barge board area, and so on, with the benefit of more time, as these elements are extremely intricate and complex. With the help of the new facilities that have come from investment, we will be able to introduce the B spec chassis in Belgium for bedding in, with many of the intricacies in aerodynamic design arriving in time for Italy."

Lloyd paused to catch his breath, letting out an airy sigh as Lelouch watched the eyes of the shareholders. V.V. was at least more positive, visibly glad to see the team was on the road to regaining its 2018 form. Lelouch had seen V.V. down at the races, and he knew that the mans dour appearance was, as well as being borne of a general pessimistic worldview, came from a genuine desire to see the team do well. It was thanks to Lelouch and thanks to Schwarzenritter that he had been allowed back into the paddock in an involved way. Lelouch had picked up on his cues, and knew that V.V. was immensely passionate about the sport at large, and having found a team to anchor his flag to, extended that hidden, introverted enthusiasm to the new team which had facilitated his return into the fold.

Meanwhile, Kaguya was being typically troublesome, however she was still shrewd and attentive, mulling over it. Unlike V.V, who was in it for the love of it, she had genuine business interests which would be well served by visibility, particularly in consumer banking. However, that exposure, which had been reported to be middling considering the size of investment and the prominence of the sponsor logo on the livery, was about to shoot up.

Because Lloyd was right. Their situation was only going to get better, and since everyone else was now having to reinvent their cars alongside Schwarzenritter, they had a chance to suddenly shoot to the front of the grid, for reasons Lloyd was now explaining.

"The reason this tyre fiasco is to our advantage is that everyone is doing this now. Everyone is starting from zero, having to revamp their cars. Since this is something we have needed to do anyway, the competition will be brought down to our level, and our growth curve has historically been far more aggressive and so, with the competition now levelled, we can pull ahead from a standing start, starting from Belgium."

Lloyd sounded uncharacteristically bullish in describing the underlying potential of the frame as a platform to leap off of, however V.V, by contrast characteristically cautious, rose a finger and spoke up.

"Is the competition too far away to catch though in terms of points?"

Lloyd was not in a position to comment, however Lelouch, who was the manager of trackside operations as the team principal as well as president and CFO, was more than qualified to give an analysis of the state of play in the title race.

"Xingke is fading. Gino has only gotten as high as he has through consistent thirds and fourths while everyone else trips over themselves, and the woman is barely ahead of Rolo. We have it all to do, but the unique circumstances mean it is not unfeasible. Naoto is an unknown quantity, however he is still within twenty-four points of Rolo, less than a race win. We haven't won yet, but with the raft of upgrades over the summer break, it can only be a matter of time."

No one asked Lelouch to elaborate on who he meant by the woman, least of all Suzaku, who Lelouch knew had been running with her in the Stavelot marathon for Tohdoh. Lelouch knew better than to undermine his best driver, the rock his team was built on, particularly in the field of identifying the weak areas of the car by driving it, with a unique understanding of car design which would facilitate their rise.

"So it's possible."

This came from V.V, and Lelouch smiled, seeing this as the V.V. he was more familiar with. The cheeky garagista, for whom it was never over until it was over, wearing sharklike grins with his overalls and flat cap. Charles had warned against working with V.V, however they had proven to be birds of a feather.

Amused, Lelouch raised a finger, to highlight the point, before making it, noting "It remains to be seen how Naoto and the Rebellion team will deal with this also. From what I've heard, Tohdoh was acting as the internal glue that was keeping the drive in the team and in Naoto, so his absence may well be felt."

"Of course." Lloyd nodded. "Though, naturally, we do wish him a speedy recovery."

Lelouch nodded, before replying "Oh and one more thing..."

After a pause, he continued "This facility has operated off of a modest factory and part assembly line for many years. While we are making our best efforts to try and upgrade our infrastructure, we only have the facilities to produce one set of parts at a time. So we have to pick which chassis these new parts will go on."

Turning to Suzaku, Lelouch tented his fingers and gently spoke "Suzaku, you're the reigning World Drivers Champion. I know this year has proven a bit frustrating for you, but if there's anyone who can drive around that, it's you. Rolo is a rookie, who is having to learn how to operate these machines for the first time. In light of this, I think you'd agree that his car needs the new parts more than yours. Your car will get the upgrades at Italy, but I trust you'll be able to work around this at Spa. After all, you're easily the most dedicated and skilled driver on the grid. Heh, what am I talking about, of course you'll be able to. Is that alright with you?"

Suzaku made a brief face, however he was, as ever, predictable. He never blamed the tools, he would just get down to the work. Combine that with a bit of flattery, he would easily accept it and knuckle down. While Lelouch didn't enjoy doing this to his friend, he had to think of the team, and who was in a better position to win the drivers championship given the twenty points deficit between the two drivers.

Suzaku, after grimacing, nodded and affirmed "Of course."

~G1ll3s