"Onii-chan...are you sure this was a good idea?" Komachi voiced her doubts as I pulled into the driveway of our home.
"Trust me, all this thing needs is a bit of elbow grease." I tried my best to sound confident, but even I was beginning to have doubts.
I removed the key from the ignition, shutting off the two liter engine and opening the door with a creak.
Okay, maybe I was a bit too impulsive with this decision.
I walked a bit away from the car and turned around to get a better view of how much work would need to be done, and I'm not sure if I expected worse.
The car was clearly light blue before the paint faded and peeled, now leaving it more of a faded Slate Blue. The owner clearly hadn't taken care of it very well, as the driver side window wouldn't raise, the battery was practically dead, the brakes squealed at every use, the spark plugs need to be replaced, the tires were practically bald so I had to be very careful on the way home, and the rocker panels were more than a bit rusty. So yeah, the Silvia was going to need a lot of work before it'd be able to drive safely, let alone take anyone on.
How did I get myself in this situation? Well, let's go back a few weeks.
School was the same as always, aside from one thing. You see, a year before my first year at Soubu, a bill was passed allowing those above the age of 16 to purchase and drive vehicles. Naturally, the average age of driver's began to plummet as students fresh into high school began to buy their first cars. This new wave of young drivers were surely responsible, right?
Wrong, very wrong.
What resulted was a re-emergence of Japan's street racing scene. Teen's and young adults from all over Japan raced to become the fastest in their respective prefecture. Some formed racing teams, other's raced alone. By the time my second year rolled around, Soubu was already well into the underground racing scene.
I was never interested in street racing. It wasn't that I didn't know how to drive, or that I knew nothing about cars because both of those things were untrue. I just didn't have much motivation to race. I didn't have a reason.
I also didn't have a car yet, but that was neither here nor there.
So, I continued my routine of going to school, helping out in the service club, and going home. That was when I began to notice something. The little sister I loved dearly was beginning to seem distant, closed off, even. While our parents would chalk it up to Komachi going through adolescence, I'd known her long enough to know she was never the type to willingly close herself off.
I never asked her about her troubles, only observing. I am who I am now because I didn't have anyone to rely on when I began to close myself off from the world, and I wouldn't let Komachi go down the same path. I wouldn't let her become like me. I'm content with who I am now, but that doesn't mean I love myself. Quite the opposite, actually.
From what Komachi told me months earlier, her clique was among the most popular in her school, so I'm sure there was no shortage of pressure for her to relate to her peers. It wasn't until I sneakily checked her phone one day that my suspicions were confirmed.
She had left her phone unlocked one morning while she took a shower, and I took the opportunity to sneak into her room and look through her phone. I would've had the decency to be ashamed if the situation wasn't so dire.
I scrolled through various chat logs before I found what I was looking for. A group chat with around six people in it. My eyes scanned each message intensely.
Ishizaki: Were you guys there for the race between the Free Riders and the Black Angels last night?
Nishimiya: Yeah! My older sister is friends with Orimoto and I got to see her WRX up close!
That name reminded me of a girl I used to know in middle school. I continued to read the most recent texts.
Minya: No fair! I've only seen it in the Night Scene magazine!
Tohru: You guys are so lucky! I was working last night, so I couldn't make it. I'm saving up for a Civic before we graduate!
Natsuko: We should start our own team when we get our cars next year!
Nishimiya: For sure!
Tohru: I'm gonna be the fastest!
Ishizaki: Yeah, right!
Minya: What kind of car do you want, Komachi?
Komachi: Ehhh? I'm not sure, I don't pay attention to that kind of thing...
Natsuko: Get with the program, Komachi! Racing is the coolest thing now!
Ishizaki: We'll just have to exclude Komachi when we make our team then.
Tohru: Lay off guys, she doesn't even drive yet.
Komachi: Drive?! I'm still pretty young for that...
Nishimiya: Sheesh, Komachi
Minya: She's a lost cause :(
Natsuko: What are you even doing if you're not watching races or looking at cars?
Komachi: Um...studying? Shopping?
Ishizaki: Jeez
Natsuko: How lame...
There was no other messages after that. It wasn't especially harsh, nothing like what I went through, but from the way the conversation went, this was probably going on for awhile. I could tell the mocking and exclusion had been building up inside of Komachi and tearing down her self esteem.
"What are you doing in my room?" I almost jumped out of my skin. The usually cute voice of my younger sister was almost monotone, and it nearly broke my heart. I didn't let it show, instead standing up and pointing the screen toward her as she stood in the doorway, dressed in her school uniform.
"Is this why you've been so reclusive recently?" Komachi faltered, and I could hear the shame and embarrassment in her response.
"I- that's personal! I knew you were creepy, but going through my phone is crossing the line!" I ignored her attempts to deflect the conversation.
"You don't have to care about what other people think, Komachi." She went silent for a moment, before I heard her muttering.
"Of course I do, they're my friends..."
"You don't need friends like them." I could hear her sigh in frustration.
"That's easy for you to say." I knew what she was implying, but I pressed on anyway.
"What is that supposed to mea-"
"Just because you're okay with having no friends doesn't mean I can be!" She exclaimed, her eyes widening immediately after.
I took no offense to her outburst, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a bit disappointed. Komachi looked down at her feet, seemingly ashamed.
"I'm sorry."
"Don't be, you have no reason to apologize." She wasn't wrong, after all.
"But I said-"
"I heard what you said, and you're not wrong. But you should have more self-respect for yourself." I knew she knew this, Komachi was a smart girl.
"But, I've always been friends with them. I don't wanna lose them..." I could hear her begin to tear up, and this was what broke my heart.
I'd do anything to cheer her up, anything to make her happy. She could tell me to burn down her school and I'd seriously consider it. So, in true Hachiman fashion, I aimed to fix her problems.
"Let's get them back then." Komachi looked up as I walked toward her, a few tears escaping down her face in the process.
"But I don't know anything about cars, or how to drive." I wiped her tears away and gave a confident but albeit creepy smile.
"That's why your Onii-chan is here." I better get infinite Komachi points after this. She gave a short giggle, briefly sending me to heaven.
"I have no idea what you're talking about, but I'll trust you."
And that was all I needed.
Combining me and Komachi's savings from the allowance our parents gave us each month, we only had around ¥287,000 (or around $2,000). This wasn't nearly enough for a car, so after a tearful goodbye to my beloved computer and gaming systems, as well as a bit of convincing from me and Komachi to get our parents to give us a few months allowance in advance, we now had combined amount of ¥575,000 (around $4,000)
Now there wasn't much we could get for ¥575,000, but as long as it ran, we'd take it.
And that was how we ended up with a 'lightly used' Nissan Silvia S15. Some housewife sold it to us, saying she used it to get around until she married her husband. Since then it'd been sitting in her driveway, unused and forgotten. She'd also gotten a new SUV so maybe that's why she sold it to us for such a cheap price. Either way, I wasn't complaining.
"Still think this was a good idea?" Komachi asked, smoothing out her shorts as she walked around the car, inspecting it as if she knew anything about them.
"Definitely. Hey, I thought you said you'd trust me?" Komachi looked like she wanted to give up and go sulk in her room, but my question caused her to remember her words, which lifted her spirits.
"When do I get to drive?" Komachi asked, eyeing the keys in my hand. Not yet, you'd drive right into a pole at your level.
"When we can get it running consistently. I'm not sure it'll start again if I try." It already had some issues starting when we bought it, I didn't want it shutting off in the middle of a driving session with Komachi.
"Lame...so, what's next?" She sat atop the hood of the car, staring at me boredly.
"Speaking of that..." I whipped out my phone, scrolling through the few contacts before calling a troublesome friend of mine. The phone rung multiple times before a familiar voice picked up.
"It is I! Ashikaga Yoshiter-"
"Zaimokuza. I need you to give me the rundown on Chiba's street scene, how soon can you get something together?" I wasn't in the mood for the eight-grade syndrome at the moment, and Zaimokuza could influence Chiba's street scene with one update of his blog, so he was the perfect person to go for this.
I could practically see the smile form on his face through the phone.
"I thought you'd never ask! Meet me at the clubroom in two hours!"
"Done." I wasn't sure what he had in mind, but he was weirdly thorough about these kinds of things. I looked over to Komachi who only looked at me with a confused expression. "We're going to Soubu."
She looked like she wanted to question me, but refrained from doing so. "Are we taking the car?"
"No."
"Lame."
Today was Sunday, so there was no one at school other than a few staff members and the clubs that operated on Sundays.
Zaimokuza was now the President of his own club, dedicated to publishing the latest news concerning Chiba and the surrounding Prefecture's racing scene. It was the most popular online Magazine in Chiba, with interviews of the hottest racers and racing teams, photos of new builds, and breakdowns of races that went on during the night.
I opened the door to the clubroom, Komachi behind me. We were met with Zaimokuza, sat atop a desk with a hand covering one of his eyes.
"Welcome, my discipl-"
"Komachi, let's go. This is clearly the wrong room." Komachi nodded, looking both confused and creeped out.
"Wait!" Zaimokuza hopped down from the desk before clearing his throat. "You wish to know about Chiba's street scene, yes? You came to the right place. I'm assuming this beautiful woman is your sister?" He looked toward Komachi who shuffled behind me and narrowed her eyes.
"Onii-chan...who is this?"
"Watch it, Zaimokuza." I turned to my sister. "Komachi, this is Yoshiteru Zaimokuza, president and writer for Night Scene Magazine." That seemed to ring a bell in her head.
"Oh! I've heard them talk about that before!" Komachi's eyes lit up.
"He's here to explain everything there is to know about Chiba's racing scene. Zaimokuza, give us the rundown." My white-haired friend nodded and cleared his throat dramatically, walking over to a nearby whiteboard. The board had various polaroids stuck to it with red string connecting each of them. Leave it to Zaimokuza not to skip on the presentation.
There were some faces I'd seen before, and more than a few that surprised me. Zaimokuza cleared his throat dramatically for the third time before he began to speak.
"There are over twelve racing teams in the Chiba Prefecture. Most are just teams made for fun but there are four that you need to worry about if you want to call yourself the fastest in Chiba."
Me and Komachi listened intently as he went on, both of us absentmindedly grabbing a seat. Zaimokuza pointed to a name in the bottom left corner of the board.
"The first team you'll need to beat in order to put yourself on the map is Isshiki Iroha's team, Dynamite. She's joined by two of her friends, and her car of choice is a 1998 Honda Civic Type R. It's got a K20A engine and recently her team has been bragging about adding a supercharger to it.
I was a bit surprised to find out the foxy Kouhai that's been bothering me so much had her own team, let alone her own car, but thinking about it now, it fits her personality.
"Eh?! Iroha-chan is involved?" Komachi seemed even more shocked than I was.
"Tch Tch Tch. Whatever thoughts you have of the racing scene, disregard them now! Everyone is involved somehow, you'll see that soon." His finger started at the red string on a polaroid of Iroha and moved along it to the top left corner of the board, which landed on a photo of Sagami Minami.
"Next up is Sagami Minami's Pink Lemonade. She has three members on her team but she's the only competent racer among them. She's beaten Isshiki numerous times in her 2001 Honda S2000. It's fitted with an F20C engine and a supercharger, producing about 340 horsepower.
She was most certainly a better driver than me. Somehow though, I managed to bring her to tears. I looked over to Komachi, who looked like she was struggling to keep up.
"Do they all do the work on their cars themselves?" I asked, genuinely curious. I doubted this was the case. Zaimokuza turned to me before nodding to himself.
"Some do, others don't. There are quite a few mechanics around here. Some racing teams have their own mechanic, and some racers do all the work on their cars themselves." I nodded at the information, starting to wonder how we'd get our car up to speed, because my knowledge wouldn't get us far.
"Good to know. Who's next?"
"I'm glad you asked, my disciple! This is the first racing team to belong to a different school. Orimoto Kaori's team, Black Angels, is the next hurdle you'll have to face. Her 2004 Subaru WRX is turbocharged with a 2J07 engine, and has an aftermarket intake. She also has a Nitrous Oxide System for her car, which is probably why she beat Sagami during their last race."
Orimoto Kaori. I knew the name sounded familiar when I saw Komachi's 'friends' talking about her. Just how deep did this scene stretch? Hopefully I wouldn't run into anyone else from my past. Even though we were on amicable terms after the collaboration with Kaihin Sougou, I didn't care much about seeing her again.
"Onii-chan, what do all these big words mean?" Komachi looked overwhelmed as she tried to make sense of everything. Don't worry, my dear imouto, your Onii-chan is also very confused!
"I'll explain later, just try and remember the names and the cars." Komachi nodded, and we both looked back to Zaimokuza. His finger traced from the line on Kaori's polaroid to the middle of the board, with photos of Hayama's clique connecting to one another.
"The last racing team is the biggest in Chiba, it has seven members, but only three are competent. Hayama Hayato is the leader of the Free Riders. Their members consist of: Ebina Hina in her Mazda Mx-5, Ooka in his Nissan Skyline R32, Yuigahama Yui in her Honda Civic, Yamato in his Mitsubishi Evo III, Kakeru Tobe in his Mitsubishi Evo IV, Miura Yumiko in her Toyota Supra Mk 4, and Hayama Hayato in his Mazda RX-7 FD."
"The only drivers you'll have to worry about in that team is Tobe, Miura, and Hayato. They're the only serious drivers and are directly above Orimoto. Long story short, Tobe loses to Miura, and Miura loses to Hayato. The others rank somewhere below Isshiki, with the exception of Ooka who's faster than her. I won't bother telling you the specs of their cars since you need to make it through the first three teams before you get to the Free Riders.
The two of us sat in silence for a few moments as we processed the information. How long had we been living under a rock? I knew some of Hayama's clique were in the racing scene but Yuigahama? Ebina? Who else? Yukinoshita?
"So ultimately, we just need to beat Hayama to be the fastest in Chiba?" I concluded. It made since, the guy was a prodigy in practically everything.
Surprisingly, I was only met with laughter, which made me want to throw a book at this chunni-idiot.
"No, not yet. There are still two more people faster than Hayato." His face then grew serious before he pointed toward the top of the board, in the middle, which held the photos of two people I knew well. Yukinoshita Yukino and Yukinoshita Haruno.
The universe has to be messing with me.
"Yukinoshita Yukino is faster than Hayato. Not much is known about her car, other than the fact that it's a 2002 Nissan 350Z. She's refused my attempts at an interview multiple times, and no one's ever gotten a look under the hood of her car before. She also doesn't have a racing team, and has been racing alone since she emerged on the scene a year and a half ago."
"Uwahhh, who knew Yukino was so talented?!" Everyone who's met her before, keep up, Komachi!
"I see. And Haruno?"
"Yukinoshita Haruno is the fastest driver in the Chiba Prefecture. She drives a Nissan GTR R34, and has been undefeated throughout Chiba. She belongs to the infamous racing team Amaterasu. The team consists of each of the fastest drivers in Japan's 47 prefectures, and it's said that they race the fastest drivers outside of Japan. Namely the United States and Europe. Some are even professional racers."
Now my head was beginning to hurt. What happened to a normal high school life with normal students? When did this turn into Initial D?
"Onii-chan, I'm not sure I wanna do this anymore..." Komachi sighed, laying her head on the desk.
"We might as well try. I mean we already bought the car." Even I was beginning to have doubts, but I sold my beloved computer and games for this car! I wasn't about to give up now!
"Oh? So you two plan on becoming a racing duo?" Zaimokuza asked, an eyebrow raised as he leaned back onto the board.
"Yeah, more or less. Right now, I think we should start by watching a race. Do you know any upcoming ones?" I saw him scratch his head in thought for a few moments before responding.
"Oh! Tobe's trying out a new tune this Friday, and he wanted to use Yuigahama's Civic as a reference."
Komachi's head shot up. "Yui's gonna be racing?!" Did you not hear anything he just said?
I'd be lying if I said I wasn't curious, though. "We'll be there, send me the time and location. Thanks, Zaimokuza" I got up and looked at Komachi, who nodded and stood up, beginning to follow me out of the clubroom.
"Wait! If you two really are gonna be a duo, what's your name gonna be? I need to put it on the registry for the magazine!" Zaimokuza said, grabbing a notepad and pen from who know's where.
I looked to Komachi who just shrugged. If this was really happening, we'd need a solid name. Something cool, but not edgy. I thought for a few moments, closing my eyes as I imagined each name that appeared in my head. After a minute or so, I looked back at Zaimokuza before speaking.
"Carbon."
A/N: Just getting out an idea before I lose motivation. Let me know if you guy's like it. If you do, you might get a second chapter. If you don't, I'll delete it. Please review, the feedback really helps!