◤◢◤◢◤Sunday, 9:00AM◢◤◢◤◢
"Good morning everyone!" Diojo clocked in for her sunday job at Seiichi's shop and spotted sana there "ah you're here very early ah uhm... senna?" Sana giggled at how diojo misspelled her name. Diojo frowned slightly from embarrassment.
"It's sana but Don't worry it's close enough. In fact it's an honor to be called senna hahaha" she laughed sheepishly then went back to serious mode "ah anyways, yazawa-san told me to help you a bit especially with your amnesia and the unusual number of cars that came in. Had to sacrifice a trip to suzuka for testings but i can't let you work alone"
At the mention of suzuka Diojo's eyes brightened "whoa testing in suzuka?? Like the F1 suzuka??? With which team???" Sana was like "umm yes?? But I'm not driving. I have an internship as a mechanical engineer there before the actual race"
"Still that's AMAZING. Why are you even working in a run-of-the-mill tuner's shop if you scored an internship at F1. That's like a far away dream for me. As for driving for them that's out of my league honestly. Maybe if I'm lucky I'd make it to formula drift?" Diojo exclaimed unable to hide her excitement before her manager
"You never know, diojo. I know you have the skills to make it far. Your mother is a rally legend and i believe women can get an F1 seat if they worked hard enough for it" sana replied with a smile thinking "if only you knew what this tuning shop used to be"
Diojo said "ohh that would be like carlos sainz. He made it to F1 and his dad is-" she closed her mouth after realizing what she said "shit I wasn't supposed to say that. He joined Toro Rosso in 2015"
"Carlos sainz? In formula one?" A confused sana asked, most likely referring to carlos sainz, the rally driver and the father of carlos sainz junior that diojo mentioned*. Diojo dismissed it saying "ah no ahahaha i meant WRC. Anyways there's a lot of cars here. Even on a sunday ahahahaha i wonder why" and looked around laughing awkwardly.
Sana said sarcastically while looking at diojo suspiciously "yea i wonder why. Maybe because some nissan beat a porsche and therefore made the shop famous and doubled our work"
Diojo looked away and said "weeeeeelll double the work means double the paycheck right?" Sana sighed and said "yeah right, let's just get to work"
While sana took care of rebuilding a transmission for a 1UZ engine, diojo was instructed to do smaller jobs than what she's presumably used to: fluid changes, changing brake pads, spark plugs, batteries. She spotted a slight oil leak on a Nissan 350z so she decided to replace the gasket and seal it a little extra on the outside.
Another BMW E30 had a worn out belt and she replaced it after marking the timing and torqued the pulley to spec. "I've had worse problems on my e34 touring. I once had to rebuild the whole engine myself after the camshaft snapped on my way back from the Nürburgring. Ahh it may not be an M5 but i really miss it."
She sighed and looked at the V8 1UZ engine and said "the Japanese V8s are really simply engineered compared to euro or American V8s." Sana overheard her and said "indeed they're so simple yet so rare. I mean the inline-6 can't be dethroned in terms of balance and high rpm range but wish they made more of them. Speaking of american V8s, have you seen any unfamiliar american car going around the neighborhood? Like some unusual looking dodge challenger? Is the new SRT8 even sold here?"
Diojo shook her head in denial and said "nope, never seen any. probably a US import. But I did hear some people complain Someone is doing donuts at an intersection late at night with an obnoxiously loud engine. i thought it was some civic or a skyline G350 at first." Sana nodded and said "yeah let them be i guess. We'll know who owns it eventually. I mean most the cars in the prefecture come to us."
◤◢◤◢◤Monday 12:00 PM ◢◤◢◤◢
Johara got out of university for lunch break holding what seems to be a script for something. "Ugh how do i deal with the people here? I mean i appreciate their kind words but they'll expose me soon and the PR may not like it. Having a cool car is both a blessing and a curse somehow." She sipped on her milkshake flask and thought "maybe i should lay low on street racing."
"What PR are you talking about lil miss? Do you think they will care about a part timer who never made it out of commercials?" Someone interrupted her.
"Oh wow if it isn't the spoiled princess. What do you want this time? And please piss off if you're here to waste my time." Johara welcomed the person who spoiled her alone time, A Japanese girl with bleach blonde hair and pretty revealing clothes put her hand on her cheek.
"Aww is this how you treat your childhood friend? I wanted to comfort you for your oh so glorious porsche turbo losing to some 90's nissan shitbox" Azusa imitating a compassionate tone.
Johara ignored her and kept reading the script in silence "what? cat's got your tongue? Or are you too busy being upset nobody wants to be your manager already. I can help you get one you know i got a manager and he was able to get me a lead role. I used my paycheck to buy a new shiny muscle car. Straight from america."
Johara without looking at her said "yeah congrats on buying a new boat. You should've stayed there for the Hollywood scene and out of my sight" A vein on Azusa's forehead popped up and she snatched the script from Johara's hand. "Hmm a support role in an action movie? Not bad but don't go crying if you get rejected because of your street racing stunts"
She gave back the now crumpled script to the still unfazed braided brunette who locked her eyes at Azusa's "That will only happen if someone snitches. And you know it yourself, snitches get stitches. Ex biker gang member Yoshioka Azusa. Your pretty face really got you places" Johara said after she crackled her knuckles to slightly intimidate her which kind of worked.
Azusa to assert more dominance and avoid a fist fight with the physically stronger woman said "indeed heh. Let's avoid violence and settle it the old school way. A highway race, winner gets to choose whether to destroy the loser's acting career or keep silent. We don't want to cause trouble to the PR, do we?"
As much as Johara wanted to avoid any encounter with her childish acting rival, she had no choice but to accept no knowing what kind of "american muscle car" she bought. "Yeah fine by me. The touges here are still leagues ahead of you so I'll have to consider that as a "drag race" since you said you have a muscle car"
Azusa said "not sure if that's a compliment or an insult but I'll take it sincerely from a more experienced driver. Anyway, the race is this Saturday at 2am. Make sure you get ready by then" and left afterwards. "Tsk, how old is she to pick on people like that, Five? Whatever let's get over with whatever she asks. I can't risk my acting career I'm working my bum off for. I thought I'd hit suzuka this weekend" she put her bottle in her bag and went back to her lecture.
◤◢◤◢◤Friday 2:00AM◢◤◢◤◢
Fast forward to friday, johara went to the gas station to wait for her rival to come. anovia who was wondering what's up with her friend also came with her. "You should've ignored her, Johara. She clearly knows nothing about racing" She complained about having to stay up late. Johara just asked "Then why did you even bother coming? She's childish but she has an ego that should be deflated." She put the gas pump back after filling up and leaned on the side of her car. "Well anyway I'll come and follow you. I don't want you to end up on the news headline" she got interrupted by the sound of a loud V8 getting even louder "geez how did she even pass inspections" Johara thought.
An orange colored dodge challenger appeared bathing in the moody fluorescent lights of the gas station. "Talk about flashy" anovia silently judged the car. Azusa got out saying to the Finn "whoa easy there i feel like you stripped the car to the bare metal just by your stare, little one. Keep being jealous in your little 90's shitboxes"
Anovia said "ahahahaha no it's just the orange is really looking good on her. Congrats on getting a new car! Let's take it on a spin now" which made Azusa snicker and laugh "pffft AAHAHHAHAHHAHAHAHHA what you're so funny little one. When did you get your driver's license to meddle in the affairs of grown ups"
johara just glared daggers at the japanese woman and said "Azusa. Make fun of me all you want but don't you ever say anything to my friend. Anovia, Let's go. And you, get ready. Once we merge into the highway and pass the 1st exit, the race starts. anovia will take the lead as a referee. whoever overtakes her before the sign is disqualified".
anovia just nodded and got in her car and took off followed by the blue Porsche and the orange SRT "i just have to keep up to see what those two are up to after that." anovia thought while looking at her rear view mirror making sure to keep them both in check. the three cars merged into the highway with the pink rx-7 leading. upon seeing getting close to the sign, opened her sunroof and stuck her arm up and indicated with her fingers the countdown. the 3 cars turned on the hazard lights in case any regular traffic catches up.
five fingers up, then four, then three, then two, the tension increasing with every finger down, then only one finger remained up. "c'mon just start the damn race already, slowpoke" Azusa thought, annoyed at how long it felt after she lowered her arm and honked, announcing the start of the race and immediately both cars overtook anovia and took off.
"Sheesh so fast. They're not playing after all. I mean i could even gap her even back when my FD was bone stock" anovia thought while trying to catch up. Azusa was having the absolute power advantage "let's smoke her babyy" overtook the porsche.
Johara who was brake checked by a truck going in the far right lane almost crashed but immediately switched her position to the left lane and immediately went to the chase of the challenger attacking at 200km/h. "STUPID MOTHERFUCKER! WHAT ARE YOU SWITCHING LANES FOR?? THERE'S LITERALLY NOTHING IN FRONT OF YOU!!" Johara cursed the truck after repeatedly honking and tailgating.
Luckily there was barely any cars on the highway that late at night "ahh Johara cmon... don't let her get too far! Just don't be reckless" Anovia yelled from behind the porsche.
"WOOOOOOO LET'S GOO SHE'S DOWN AHAHAHAHA! Told you that shitbox will get you nowhere. Now get ready to kiss your acting career goodbye, Johara" Azusa celebrated her early win and floored it after shifting to the top gear reaching the top speed of 270km/h.
Back with johara, the truck made her lose some speed and once she regained her composure her earpiece rang and it was anovia who fell way behind calling "johara! Watch out! There's a car coming your way at incredible speed! Probably over 300km/h!" Johara was confused and surprised she said "don't tell me.." then she and anovia said at the same time
"The ghost of the Z is back!!"
To be continued >>>>
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* for non Formula One fans this may seem a little bit confusing. Yes there are 2 Carlos Sainz and they're father and son. Carlos Sainz Sr. is a Spanish rally driver and a 2 time world champion who has raced in various categories since 1987 (currently for Audi motorsports in extreme E and Dakar rally)
Meanwhile, his son Carlos Sainz Jr. is a Formula One driver and the one Diojo was referring to, Assuming in 2028 he drives for Audi sauber F1 team. (Update: Lewis Hamilton is in Ferrari instead of carlos starting 2025, this really aged like milk ToT)
But since the story is now in 2008, he's still 14 years old starting his karting career and didn't join F1 until 2015 with Red Bull's sister team Torro Rosso therefore Sana isn't supposed to know he's in F1 and immediately thought of his father, the rally driver instead which didn't really make sense for her.
Both father and son are amazing drivers with brilliant strategizing skills.
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