Part V

Three seconds later, an outraged shout turned everyone's head.

"Oh my god, my car! Wh-what are you doing?" cried the orange S14 driver. "Get off!" Shingo's heart froze mid-beat. Oh no, not now, please say it's not her. He ran in the direction of the chaos, and found a raging freak yelling at his little sister while she sat on the road and cried.

"What the hell did you do to her?" he snarled, snatching her off the ground and handing her to Ryosei, who had also come running at the sound of the commotion.

"Do to her? Look what she did to my car!" One glance at the bright orange auto revealed that there was absolutely nothing wrong with it. The dam of Shingo's self-control cracked under the strain and a raging torrent of sarcasm spewed forth.

"CAR? Is that what you call that monstrosity? It looks like someone puked an orange ice-cream bar on a go-kart. Where do you buy something like that, Toys R Us? How many little kids did you have to fight off before you got it? Hey, why orange? Why not pink? Wouldn't that suit you better, something decked out in Sanrio? Or better yet, why not-"

At that point, the S14 driver slugged him. Thankfully, the guy was so small that it hardly hurt. But he would make his hurt. He hurled himself at his opponent, knocking him to the ground with the full intention of beating him to within an inch of his life. But, before he could do much damage at all, he felt rough hands haul him off the now cowering driver. Tetsuhiko and Genji were holding onto him as a precautionary measure while the younger Takahashi was similarly restraining the other driver. He shrugged them off angrily, crossed his arms, and scowled at the S14 driver. Now that he was safely in the arms of his mentor, the insolent bastard sneered arrogantly back at Shingo.

"What happened?" demanded Nakazato in a voice that made everyone shut up and listen.

"That little brat was climbing on my car!" the S14 driver shouted. Then, glaring at Shingo, "And that asshole nearly broke my nose!"

"Kenta, was there actually any damage done to your car?" asked the elder Takahashi coldly.

"Of course there was! That is, I think so…I don't know, for sure, but…" Kenta spluttered.

"Keisuke, go look," he ordered his brother. "And what did you do to her, Kenta?"

"Nothing! She slid off when she saw me coming, and just started crying."

"You're lying!" Shingo exploded.

"I am not!" cried Kenta defensively. Shingo took a threatening step towards him. Kenta frantically looked around for Keisuke, but the bleached-blond driver was nowhere in sight. He swallowed nervously and took an involuntary step backwards. "I didn't do anything, I swear! You can ask her yourself, if you want!"

"That's not necessary. I believe you," said the Night Kids team leader wearily. Shingo gave him a nasty look just before Keisuke appeared, jogging up to them breathlessly.

"I don't see anything obvious. It's kinda dark out, though," he reported.

"I think they're both fine. And you!" The FC driver glared at Shingo. "Children do not belong here."

"Neither do you," Nakazato leaped to his defense, much to Shingo's surprise. The short, dark-haired man narrowed his eyes at Takeshi, then ordered his team to return to their cars.

"We won't forget this," he hissed before climbing into his FC.

"Neither will we," replied Nakazato, and Shingo could tell the other guy had heard him. He stared at Takeshi in confusion. First he sides against me, then he defends me...

The RedSuns executed perfectly timed J-turns in succession and sped off in the direction from which they came, disappearing as suddenly as they had appeared. Nothing but empty air and a cloud of dust remained in their stead.

Nakazato turned to his flock of team members, and took in the varying degrees of shock and outrage on their faces.

"Are you really going to challenge that 86?" Tetsuhiko asked incredulously. The other team members shuffled about restlessly.

"Of course!" The GT-R driver crossed his arms defiantly.

"Do you think there's any truth to what they said?" Genji looked uneasy. The rest of them scuffed their shoes despondently.

"About that 86? Who knows? But if we don't do anything, it'll look like we're afraid of that delivery boy and his tofu mobile."

"That's not fair, though!" someone complained from the back of the group.

"Nakazato Takeshi doesn't back down from a battle. Besides, I'm not going to be beaten by some stupid hachiroku. Short of it growing wings, I doubt it can beat my GT-R. This will just be an excellent opportunity to show those arrogant Takahashis what fools they are."

"Yeah!" several team members cheered. Takeshi smiled at them confidently.

"We'll just have to practice harder from now on; we'll show them the Night Kids are nothing to be scoffed at. But tonight, I think we've all had enough. Go home, get some rest. We'll start first thing next week. Alright?"

The members of the team nodded, and the meeting broke up. Their voices echoed in the still night as they bade each other a good night, and dispersed to their automobiles. Takeshi turned around to scan the area.

"Shingo!" he called over the sounds of engines roaring to life. In a few swift strides, he was standing next to the EG-6, where Shingo was still fussing over his sister.

"Is she ok?" he asked, peering at her concernedly. She was perched on the hood of the car looking shaken, but otherwise unharmed.

"Yeah, I think so," replied Shingo, raking a hand through his hair in what Takeshi suddenly realized was a nervous gesture. Damn fine, his brain remarked, and he hastily shoved the thought away.

"Just scared, huh?" he addressed the girl instead, patting her head affectionately. She nodded tearfully.

"But there's one thing I don't get…where were you?" Takeshi asked the young boy, who suddenly looked like he wanted to disappear into the ground.

"Well…uh, I mean…everyone was so busy talking to those guys, I thought it'd be ok if I went and…uh…looked at your cars," Ryo finished, flushing red and staring abjectly at his shoes.

Nakazato cracked a grin at the squirming boy. "And what did you think of them?" he asked, unable to hide his amusement.

The boy looked up in surprise. "Uh, well, they were ok, I guess. I really liked that Skyline GT-R, though. I wonder if it's V-spec? And black is such a cool color, too!" Ryo gushed.

Takeshi grinned, stepping aside so the boy could see the only other car besides the Civic that was still in the Gallery. Ryo's eyes widened, sparkling with interest.

"Wow! Can I see the inside? Oh please, please?" he begged. Shingo frowned.

"It's getting late…" he began only to be interrupted from an unexpected source.

"All wheel drive R32," Miki burbled, beaming and looking exceedingly pleased with herself.

Takeshi's mouth hung open for the second time that night. Shingo looked similarly shocked.

"Here," Takeshi offered, unlocking the car with his keyless remote entry. The car blipped and they heard the dull chunk of the power locks sliding back. "You can take a quick look, but don't…touch anything."

Ryosei and Miki took one look at each other, and dashed off to the other side of the Gallery. The two drivers watched them climb into the car, chattering excitedly.

"You have totally rubbed off on those children," Takeshi smirked.

"Well, I…didn't mean to," Shingo mumbled, running a hand through his long hair.

"You probably shouldn't have done that…now they'll think they can do that to just anyone."

"Oh, I'm sure it's fine." Takeshi pulled a pack of smokes out of his pocket and shook one out.

Shingo leaned against the driver's side door of his car and pulled out one of his own. They lit up and toked companionably, once in awhile batting at the moths that flew around them, attracted to a nearby street lamp.

"You know Nakazato, you're not half as much of an asshole as I thought you were," he commented, exhaling a stream of smoke and smirking arrogantly.

"Hmph. And you, are every bit as irritating as I thought you were," countered Takeshi, grinning.

"Yeah, just so we've got it straight," he joked. "Seriously though, what do you think those Takahashis came here for? Why on earth would they want to warn us about that 86?"

"Those manipulative bastards were trying to make sure we challenged Fujiwara."

"Why would they want to do that?"

"At first I wasn't sure, but I think I've figured it out. They're trying to turn this hachiroku into a struggle for power between the RedSuns and the Night Kids."

"But their little scheme only works if you lose. They must think a lot of that hachiroku."

"Or they think very little of me."

"But that's ridiculous…a GT-R against an old 86? Even if they thought you were the most incompetent driver in Gunma, that's still a pretty steep advantage."

"I'm not as stupid as they think I am. No hachiroku can beat me."

Shingo frowned doubtfully, staring at the grubby concrete as if it held all the answers.

"Still…"

Takeshi felt drawn to the arrogant driver as he watched him chew on his lip, deep in thought as if he were solving the mysteries of the universe. He looked positively delectable in the ambient illumination of the street lamp several meters away. I wonder if he'd let me…

Without thinking, he reached up and tucked a stray lock of Shingo's hair behind his ear. The man stiffened, his head snapping up in shock. Nope…he's going to kill me. Takeshi immediately withdrew his hand, and backpedaled furiously. Stupid, impulsive, idiotic…

"Uh…" he began lamely, his mind racing to come up with an excuse, "you should cut your hair." Pathetic.

He vigorously flicked the ashes from his cigarette to cover his embarrassment.

Shingo blinked at him stupidly, and Takeshi could almost hear the gears turning in his head, complete with the groaning of synchros.

"I never really…thought about it," he replied, after a rather significant pause. The driver's eyes darted about nervously, and he looked about as uncomfortable as Takeshi felt. "Does it…bother you?"

"Not really." Takeshi felt as if somewhere in the universe, something had gone terribly awry. The fact that he was still intact and unhurt was testimony to that. Shingo didn't even look angry; he just looked…unsettled. His sense of foreboding was increased by the eerily strained yet nonviolent conversation that they were having. He tried to smile, but frowned instead, and then ended up going with what he was most comfortable with…a glare. Shingo, for his part, was staring fervently at a piece of paper that was fluttering around the empty lot. Thinking that perhaps this was the calm before the storm, Takeshi decided to quit while he was ahead.

"Listen, it's getting late, and I'm sure those kids should get to bed. So, I guess I'll see you next week?"

"Uh, yeah, sure."

"Good. See you, then." Takeshi turned and started walking back to his GT-R, curiously elated yet relieved to be getting away from the uncomfortable situation.

"Hey, Takeshi?" Shingo called uncertainly after him. He paused, mid-stride. "Thanks for…you know."

"No problem," he answered over his shoulder. He flicked the last of his cigarette away and continued walking. The burning ember hit the concrete several paces away; it glowed briefly, then faded to gray with a graceful wisp of smoke.

When he reached his car, he let the children out. They thanked him profusely, and he said goodnight to them. Takeshi started his car as the hollow thunk of doors closing echoed across the parking lot. 'Takeshi'…not 'Nakazato'. He smirked in the dark as the black Nissan slid out of the Gallery and into the night.