Ch3: Homework

Takeshi pressed more onto Akira, quite baffled at the ability of his friend who seemed to have forgotten they had other priorities from their endless practice grind.

“How did you forget we have homework?” cried Takeshi. “I did mine last night, I told you to do yours before!”

On the hood of his Silvia, Akira struggled to write. 

“Yeah, I know…!” Akira retorted. “Can’t you just let me copy your paper?” 

“You’re not gonna learn it if you’re just given the answers, Akira,” Takeshi sternly said. “Once you’ve finished that, we can continue our practice runs.”

Akira sighed. While he was slightly fed up, he knew his friend was right. With little time to spare, reluctantly, he continued to push onward. He continued to write down a few numbers on his paper, ready to complete his work.

“Man, you’re just like my mom,” said Akira as he divided a number. “You both don’t let up with stuff like this.”

“Yeah…” Takeshi muttered. “Look man, sorry you’re going through that.”

Akira looked up at his friend for a moment, then the S15. He thought about how his mother argued contemptuously against his will and sighed calmly. 

“It’s whatever,” he said, again staring at his paper. “She doesn’t understand what this Silvia means to me.”

Akira looked up from his paper again, wondering about its inherent nature despite his mother having shown such hostility to the presence of the unfinished car.

“I just don’t get why she had this thing sitting under a cover for so long,” said Akira. “She told me the Silvia would never run again when I was little.”

“Why’s that?”

“Because she told me it took Dad with it to Heaven.”

Takeshi said nothing. He could only stare at the car in a new light, one he would tense up at. After a brief moment, Takeshi sat himself down on the hood of the S15, this supposed curse of a car seemed like nothing special. Looking up at the afternoon sky, the wind began to pick up atop Haruna Pass. 

“For a car that Mom seemed so keen on getting rid of…” Akira said. “Why would she keep it for so long?”

Takeshi turned to his friend.

“I can’t say I know…” he said. “But it’s your dad’s car, that’s got to account for something.”

Akira slapped the pencil down on the carbon fiber hood. As he turned to Takeshi, a small grin slipped out. 

“Maybe we’ll learn a thing or two on the next practice run. Homework’s done.”

“Are we running half-distances again?” Takeshi asked. “Haruna’s stretches are pretty long.”

“Not a chance,” Akira replied. “I’m going all-out from A to B!”

Akira hopped off the hood, walking towards the right-side driver’s seat. He reached into the machine and fired the ignition, the S15 growled ferociously, the hiss of a turbocharger ringing in his ears.

Akiko had finished another bowl of udon, placing the empty bowl onto the table as she began to interrogate her co-worker.

“You know, it’s been a while since I’ve seen you in that Supra, Umebayashi.” she began. 

“Is that so?” Rina asked. “I guess it’s been a while since I’ve gotten my license.”

“No kidding,” Akiko chuckled while toying with the ice in a glass of water, swirling it around gently with momentum built through her steady pacing. “I never thought you’d wear Big Brother’s shoes so well.”

“Well, it’s my only source of transportation,” Rina sighed, sipping from a cup of cider in her hands, resting on the tabletop. “I don’t really have any other options now.”

“What?” Akiko chirped, puzzled at this information. “What happened to the Onevia?”

Rina looked away in embarrassment from Akiko, flustered to spill the beans on her friend. The Onevia, an old Nissan Silvia S13 sedan with the front of a 180SX hatchback, used to belong to Rina alone for as long as Akiko recalled. To hear it was no longer in use by Akiko’s colleague shocked her.

“You see…” Rina began, “I didn’t get to fix it after the crash seven years ago.”

“The same year Kuga…-”

Rina said nothing. She paused to breathe.

“I needed my own transportation–fast. Yuuki couldn’t possibly get to school without a car.” 

Sipping from her beverage, Rina collected her thoughts recalling the tribulations of rebuilding her beloved sibling’s vehicle.

“The Supra is naturally quicker, so it just made sense at the time to repair it.”

Rina looked up at her boss, who said nothing in response. Only met with absolute silence and astonishment at the realization.

“As for the Onevia… I’ve been hoping to get it fixed, but it’s been so long since I’ve seen my old car,” she said. “It’s in Ayako’s care as far as I know now. I haven’t talked to her since I was injured. Someday, maybe, I’ll be reunited with it.”

Rina lifted her drink once again ready to gulp down the remainder until Akiko placed her hand swiftly onto the rim. Concerned for her friend, she objected.

“Maybe don’t go so hard on the drink, Umebayashi,” she said.

“Akiko…”

Rina stared at her friend with confusion as she slid her drink out from underneath Akiko’s grip.

“You’re right though,” Rina said, flicking the glass in her hand, “I should be a good example for my little darling.”

“Oh yeah, tomorrow is Yuuki’s birthday, isn’t it? Did you ever figure out what she wanted for her seventeenth birthday?”

“I have a few guesses,” Rina smiled, “but I don’t know for sure if I have the right gift in mind, you know?”

“I get that,” Akiko replied with a grin. “Akira can be a little ungrateful, but I just want to give him what I believe is best for him.”

“It doesn’t hurt to ask, though,” Rina said, “even if I believe I know what’s best for her, maybe I can trust Yuuki to lead me where she wants to go.” 

Rina looked down at her drink, a sigh withdrew as she finished her thoughts.

“It is her life after all. But it scares me sometimes. The thought that…”

“You never feel like you prepared your kid enough, right?” Akiko replied, “As if we just weren’t good enough parents.”

They sat in silence as the two were at an impasse, unable to offer a gesture of reassurance to one another. After a brief moment, Rina planted her palms on the table, slowly ascending from her seat. 

“But even if we do come up short,” she spoke as she gripped her handbag sitting beside her, “we can always learn to do better. A mom’s job is never done, is it, Akiko?”

Akiko smiled, as she too began to rise from the table.

“It never is.”

3:20 pm. Mr. Fuji was locking up the gateway entrance to the school as Yuna and Yuuki sat under the bus stop shade right next to him, taking cover under the scorching sunset. The two girls fanned themselves while conversing, trying desperately to ignore the pressing sun against their bodies.

“God, it’s too hot out at this time…” Yuna sighed, “Hope the weather won’t be so bad tonight.”

“I’d hope it is…” Yuuki moaned, “Haruna Mountain, I think, gets cooler the higher up top you are, something part of the lapse rate.”

Once the gates locked, Mr. Fuji approached the conversing students, having overheard a smidge of their conversation with plans with the mountains.

“If that’s the case I’ll be glad to watch the races downhill tonight,” said Yuna.

“Ah, so you’re going to Haruna Pass tonight,” Fuji proposed, “there’s certainly some interesting characters up there in the street race scenery.”

Intrigued, Yuna peered up to her principal.

“You know about racing, Fuji?” she asked.

“Of course,” he replied, “I used to be interested in watching everyone throw down.”

He swiftly took out a pair of eyeglasses from his pocket, meticulously wiping the fragile lenses one by one while continuing about his old memories of the past era.

“These racers back in the golden years were nothing like I’ve seen compared to now though,” Fuji grinned, “there was truly a spectacle to behold every passing night if you were so lucky to witness the youth tussle.”

“What about you?” Yuuki asked, “Did you like to race, kouchou?”

“I didn’t bother to participate,” he laughed, “even with my car, I would never be able to keep up to the likes of the more experienced drivers.” 

“Your NA1 wouldn’t keep up?!” cried Yuna.

“Is that bad?” Yuuki questioned. 

“Yeah,” Yuna replied, “The NSX models are legendary status, NSX stands for ‘New’, ‘Sportscar’ ‘eXperimental’, and they were built with help from famous professional drivers like the five-time Super Formula champion, Satoru Nakajima.”

Yuna glanced down at the sidewalk, interest in these drivers of great strengths unmatched.

“If cars that good couldn’t beat those people,” Yuuki pondered, “what cars did they have?” 

“There were some strong and weak cars,” Fuji answered, “but it primarily came down to the person’s skills. Everyone is an equal opportunity if enough time is put into building their car.”

“That’s insane, but it makes sense,” said Yuna, “being cornered by a weaker car with a strong driver can come as a surprise, but it’s doable.”

Fuji smirked. 

“However, no one could come close to the single fastest racer I’ve ever met.”

Yuuki and Yuna abruptly turned to look at Mr. Fuji, his unwavering nature uncharacteristically starting to tremble in excitement. Having never seen their principal this shaken up, they spoke in unison.

“Who is it?”

Suddenly, the purr of Rina’s Supra echoed from a distance as just a block away Yuuki could spot her mother’s car coming to a stop next to the bus stop. She waved gleefully at them with a bright smile from inside. Rina stepped out of the car as she paced herself towards the stop. 

“Hi, honey,” she said to Yuuki, “how was school?”

“It was okay,” Yuuki replied.

A bit taken aback, Rina interjected sounding concerned. 

“Aww, I’m sorry, darling, what happened?” she doted. 

“N-nothing, Mama!” replied Yuuki, “Everything’s fine, it was an okay day. You’re such a worrywart!”

“Ai-yaa, is it such a crime to look after my little Yuuki,” Rina sighed, hugging her daughter with a grip so tight, “but alright, I trust you.”

She pats Yuuki’s head with her warm palms wearing an equally warm smile.

“Sorry for making you wait, hon.” Rina softly said.

“That’s okay, Mom,” Yuuki exhaled, “I’m ready to go home now.”

As the two began to walk to their car, Yuna began to take off, but not before calling out to Yuuki once more.

“See you at Haruna, maybe? Akira and I will be there, it’ll be fun!” she cried. “At Ten O’Clock, don’t be late!”

Near instantaneously, both Rina and Yuuki’s hearts skipped a beat. Yuuki quickly turned to her friend after pausing to catch her breath.

“Okay!” Yuuki replied.

Rina said nothing as the two kept on to their merry way. As Yuuki opened the door and sat herself down in the passenger seat, Rina opened the driver’s side of the Supra, briefly pausing to think. Rina sat down, keys igniting the engine once more as a low growl brought the white car to life. After the sudden news of Akira’s whereabouts, she finally understood what had to be done tonight. Without a second thought, she pressed down on the gas pedal as the two began to make their way to Shibuya.