INITIAL D: FRONT RUNNERS
A/N: Wow, I'm a slacker. ^_^ Anyway, here is my triumphal (not) return to writing. Why you all put up with me I'll never know, but thanks a million for reading, nonetheless. I don't think the parallel stories will end up working out quite as well as I hoped, but hey, "Ambitious but rubbish," ne minna? Hope you enjoy! Oh, and before I forget, the next update for Drift Kings is in the works as well, as in "text on page" stage of "in the works," I promise! *nervous laugh*
A/N2: Sorry about pulling it and reposting, but a friend pointed out a horrific continuity error I can't believe I missed, so there was some last minute re-writing. Plus side - a now have a beta reader!
ACT ONE:
"They all drive Corollas?" Kenji asked. He could see in his mind's eye Gotou nodding on the other end of the phone.
"That's right; specifically, all AE86s."
Kenji thought back to his time racing in the late 80s; he remembered the little car from then. Nothing too spectacular on the spec sheet but it seemed to be imbued with the ability to do whatever its driver desired.
Except approach 200kph, Kenji thought with a bit of a smirk. Nothing wrong with a high strung little car, but they weren't exactly at home on the highways that had become Kenji's nighttime home for the past decade.
"Gotou, give me one reason I should care about another team with what is, let's be honest, not an uncommon car."
"No, but Kenji, these guys are undefeated! They just finished cleaning up almost all the teams in southern Honshu and guess where they're headed next."
"Well, Gotou, from the fact that you've called me, I assume here to Tokyo."
"Y'see, this is why you've always been the leader."
Kenji rolled his eyes and sighed in vexation.
"I'm also going to guess you want me to take on one of them."
"Yeah, no."
An eyebrow arched over Kenji's right eye, "Really?"
"Little late for that, I'm afraid. They've already accepted a challenge from a local pro who still spends a lot of time on the street."
"Plus I doubt they'll be very interested in high speed runs."
"Obviously. Anyway, Kenji, the reason I called is that the rest of us are going out to watch; see what happens. You in?"
"Yeah, why not. When?"
"Tomorrow night, we'll meet up at your place and head out, say, 11:30."
Kenji agreed then hung up the phone; at least this would be something to do.
April 05, 1999; Shinagawa Seaside, Oikei Parking Area
Kenji led the small convoy down between several rows of apartments and parking garages. He took particular notice of a white RX-7 on the top floor of one garage, as well as the well-dressed man leaning against the hood.
Looks like we're not the only people who decided to stake out the course a bit early.
He pulled the R32 off to the side of the road and parked in the small lot to a convenience store, pulling in next to a disturbingly familiar SW20 and an entertaining panda Daihatsu. Gotou, and Darren pulled up along side the Nissan. Darren exited his vehicle and walked out to the street corner, sitting on the curb to await any news of the race. As Gotou got out of his S14 Kenji noticed he was speaking to someone on a cellular phone.
Gotou pressed a button, ending the call, and turned back up to Kenji, "Alright, everything's ready to go at the start line, we should be seeing them come by in a few minutes."
Kenji nodded, "Okay, so where should we be?"
"Over there," Gotou said, pointing to the garage where Kenji had seen the RX-7.
"Let's start walking."
Akima Blaise could not believe she had agreed to this. Going even further back, she could not believe it would have been this much of a mistake to let Yoh look at her car. Her neighbor, a young man who was nearing his twentieth birthday, lived in the apartment next to her and was, apparently, quite the racing fanatic. Which was made more amusing by what he drove: a four year old Daihatsu Move. Said vehicle, it's white and black paint - apparently in the style of some racing prodigy from Gunma Prefecture - shaded by the sparse lighting inside the parking garage, sat several spaces down from the guard rail where the two now stood watching the traffic go by.
"Ah, Buraizu-kun," Yoh said and Akima winced internally both at his attempt to pronounce her last name and at the familiarity of the suffix, "it's a GT-R!" he exclaimed, pointing to the street. Akima looked down, a cheap remark forming on her lips, then reconsidered the comment as she saw the gray R32 with the NSX and patchwork S14 trailing.Maybe tonight wouldn't be so boring after all. And maybe she could find a way to ditch her "companion."
"Walking" ended up also including a climb up six flights of stairs, which quickly turned into a sprint up six flights of stairs as the four drivers heard faint echoes of engines in the distance. This left them rather out of breath, and Gotou none too happy. The white Mazda, interestingly enough, was no longer there.
Must've gone out the back, Kenji thought, He sure picked a strange time to leave, though...
While the Mazda was gone, that did not mean Kenji and his group were alone. Another pair of people were already at the concrete railing looking out over the street. Kenji recognized the one on the left as the young woman he had sparred against recently and instantly connected that memory with the MR2 in the parking lot below.
"Blaise-san, correct?" he said, approaching her and trying to ignore Gotou's whispered "Did Kenji just start talking to a girl?"
She smiled at him and gave him a bow that was both respectful and as sarcastic as the casuality of their surroundings allowed, "Tanaka-sensei. I can't say I'm all that surprised to find you here."
Kenji laughed lightly, "Nor I you. I assume you don't mind if we join you?"
Akima gestured at the small wall and Kenji, Darren, and Gotou joined the other two up against the concrete railing to both catch their breath, and get a feel for the surroundings from their new vantage point. Directly beneath them was the street they had come in on, with their cars in the parking lot a few hundred meters down it, parallel to their line of sight. Branching off from the street was a small four way stop intersection. Turning right at that intersection, directly into the group's 12 o'clock view, was the continuation of the night's race course - a sharp S-curve that led into a short straight followed by a tightening right corner then disappeared behind some industrial buildings. The majority of the stretch was located beneath a freeway overpass, but streetlamps provided reasonable visibility for onlookers, if not for the drivers.
A sharp sound and faint, acrid scent of burned tires alerted the group to the oncoming racers. A pair of almost painfully bright HID headlights emerged from a sharp turn farther up the street, beyond where Kenji's car sat parked. As the cars drew nearer, Kenji squinted to pick out who it was defending the Tokyo drivers.
He was rewarded by the sight of a deep blue 180SX; however this particular one also bore the front clip off a new S15 Silvia as well as an ironic and rather cute vinyl of an anthropomorphic strawberry on the windshield over the passenger seat. Kenji could have sworn he saw a brown-haired young woman in the driver's seat, but before he could get a second glance the driver slammed hard on the brakes and the nose of the hatchback dove for the pavement. All four wheels were pushed to the limit of grip and the car began to edge gracefully into a four-wheel drift, clearing the post for the traffic light by a handspan.
Following close enough to still be in the afterglow of the Nissan's tail lights came the blocky, red and black AE86 hatchback. Massively widened fenders concealed the tops of fat tires as the small three door flashed past the row of garages, braking and imitating the 180SX's elegant cornering. Kenji heard the Toyota's engine spike in volume, as well as the almost painful increase in whine from a supercharger, as the driver dropped the transmission down a gear.
Then both cars were past and into the S-curves, cutting through the shortest racing line, neither yielding even a centimeter. The two dove fast into the sweeping right corner and the tails of both cars began to step out ever so slightly as the drivers drifted to scrub off speed as the corner's radius tightened.
As the challengers disappeared from view, Gotou pumped a fist into the air triumphantly, "Maybe that'll show those guys what's what!"
Kenji sighed and shook his head, "The 180's not going to win, Gotou; did you see the way that Levin was all over it? It could have even tried to pass in the S-turn, but held back. Whoever's driving the Nissan is trying too hard, which is why they missed the down-shift coming out of that intersection. Eventually they'll mess something up and then that'll be the end of it."
"So that's it, huh? No chance?" Darren asked, looking out over the still-bustling city, listening to the fading roars of engines and peals of wearing tires.
"I can't say that; who knows what could happen. However, I've seen enough races to know it's not likely."
"Okay, okay, enough with the depressing," Gotou said, clapping once, "We lost, whatever; losing happens. Now then, it's just past midnight and we're five young people with nothing to do. Who's up for finding a karaoke place that's open all night?"
Darren grinned at Gotou, his rare predator's smile. Akima rolled her eyes and shrugged, but the sparkle in her eyes suggested she was hiding excitement with nonchalance. Yoh looked back and forth between the four others, confused but excited to be in the company of actual racers. Kenji sagged against the railing and rested his forehead in his palm.
Looks like this is going to turn into a very long night...
The next morning they found out that Kenji had, of course, been correct. It had been a close finish, but the Toyota had still edged out a win - it slipped through a seemingly non-existent gap between the blue Nissan and some roadworks barriers, onlookers had said.
The greatest shock from that night, though, had come with the news that both of the competing drivers were female.
"They were WHAT?" Gotou had shouted into his phone and making Kenji nearly jump out of the chair he was seated in.
"Who were what, Gotou?" he had asked.
Gotou placed a hand over the phone's speaker, "Both of those cars we saw last night were driven by women, Kenji, and attractive women at that!"
No wonder Gotou was in such a fuss, "You know, female racers really aren't all that uncommon anymore."
"No, but me missing out on them is. I suggested we go for karaoke and ended up missing the end of what was essentially the automotive equivalent of a catfight! Do you understand what that means, Kenji?"
"You're becoming old and sensible?" Kenji quipped dryly.
Gotou glared pure malevolence at Kenji but did not reply, returning instead to his other conversation.
Which is just as well, Kenji thought, turning back to the computer situated on the small desk in front of him. He typed a few strokes on the keyboard and watched the webpage slowly resolve before him. He scrolled through the listings, noting prices, locations, and other factors. Much as he adored his R32, it seemed as though the highways in Tokyo that had been his home ground for so long were slowly being taken away from him. On top of that, through Gotou and the others, he was finding himself being drawn into the world of the midnight touge, rather than the Midnight Club.
Through all of it though, it was beginning to seem unlikely that he could continue to depend on the old GT-R, either due to the ever expanding bubble of the law, or through a racing environment where it was less suited. Which led him to where he was now: combing the internet, browsing used car lots and tuning shops, and trying to ignore Gotou's insistence that he buy a matching S14.
I don't think any amount of work could make it match yours, Gotou. Kenji thought with a smirk.
Then his eye caught something and he was jolted back from his mental lampooning of his old friend.
This -this has some potential...It'll work in the mountains, but I can make it work on the wangan again if I want, as well...
Kenji saved the page and turned back to Gotou, who had just finished his fuming to whoever had been on the phone.
"Hey, Gotou, feel like a roadtrip?"
Gotou immediately brightened, then turned suspicious, "Kenji, the last time you suggested we do something that was potentially fun, I think we both had little red backpacks."
Kenji ignored that remark, "I need some help with something in Matsuyama."
"Matsuyama? Hm...eh, why not. What is it I'll be helping with, exactly?"
"You'll see, my friend. You shall see. Oh, and by the way, call Darren and tell him to meet us at this address with a truck."
Gotou took the small sheet of paper Kenji handed him and headed back toward the phone, "This just keeps getting weirder and weirder, Kenji."
Kenji smiled, looking, Gotou thought, far too much like some sort of evil mastermind, "Just you wait and see, Gotou. Wait and all will be revealed to you."
Eight days later and with Gotou in the passenger seat, Kenji strapped himself into his Skyline for what would be the last time. He would most certainly miss this car, it had seen him through quite a lot over the two years since he left the police, just as its predecessor had seem him through the years he'd been there.
But life moves on, Kenji had decided to himself. And what better way to fully move forward from his past experiences than to get a new car that would symbolize his new life. He had spent the last two days cooped up in a tiny office with little else to think about, but that had been a necessary sacrifice - a shift swap with a co-worker in order to facilitate his trip today and tomorrow.
Kenji moved smoothly through the gears, accelerating down the freeway on-ramp and into traffic, heading south.
Several hours later and a much more exhausted Kenji arrived in the town of Matsuyama, on the northern shore of Shikoku's Ehima Prefecture. He wove the GT-R through countless small streets, following only the directions he had written on the paper that was now being read to him by his "co-driver."
The directions were the final act of a series of long email conversations between himself and the owner of a small speed shop who also dealt in modified cars. In brief, they had ultimately come to the agreement that, for the price of Kenji's R32, he could take both his new car and a selection of parts for it.
Kenji and Gotou finally found the shop, an older, but well kept up garage with two maintenance bays, a small store, and a gated lot behind it. Kenji pulled the GT-R to a stop next to the Mitsubishi flatbed truck that Darren was waiting for them with. He waved to the arriving pair and stepped down from the cab.
"So, Kenji, what exa-"
Before Darren could finish his question, a small man emerged from beneath a lift in one of the repair bays.
"Ah, sorry, didn't notice you pulling in. Tanaka-san, yes?"
"Kenji stepped forward and bowed lightly, "That would be me. And you would be Imaki-san?"
Imaki-san nodded and turned to Kenji's car, "This would be it, then."
"That's right, feel free to look it over."
"That's alright, I can see from here that it's in the condition you described it as."
"Our deal stands, then?"
"It most surely does; I've had this thing sitting in my lot for nearly eight months now, I'll be thrilled to have it gone.
At the sound of that, Darren and Gotou exchanged a confused and somewhat worried glance. Did Kenji really know what he was getting himself into?
Kenji tossed the Skyline's keys to Imaki-san who pocketed them and then set about showing Darren where to back the truck up to so they could put Kenji's new car on it. Darren slowly worked the big Mitsubishi around the small area and packed it up facing a gravel driveway that led around the side of the shop to the lot out back. He and Imaki-san lowered the folding ramps, forming a makeshift path onto the bed of the truck. Then Imaki-san led everyone around to the back lot where he pointed out Kenji's new vehicle. It sat there in the corner, a shamble of bent bodywork and scratched deep blue paint.
"It's hideous," Gotou said, staring, "It's perfect for you."
Darren on the other hand looked vacantly at it, lost in a world of his own. Then he walked up to the car, lifted the hood and stood there for a moment. Then he snapped back to the present, "Remind me not to doubt you Kenji. This definitely has potential."
Kenji smiled at his two companions, "Glad to hear you agree. C'mon, let's get it on the truck and get it home."
The three Toyko men, with Imaki's help, attached the small winch on the truck to the front bumper of the car and watched as it was pulled rather helplessly onto the back of the carrier truck. They strapped down the wheels and then Kenji and Imaki went into the storefront to finalize the paperwork for the vehicles.
Gotou looked over at Darren who was perusing the stacked exhaust parts and suspension coils in the derelict car's back seat, "So, you think this means Kenji's coming around to our way of racing?"
Darren looked back up at the Japanese man, "I think it means that we'll be heading back to the mountains very soon."
END