Ch4: Overnight

The sounds of lightbulbs buzzed quietly as Ayako clicked and typed nonstop on the computer, continuing her research on the Z33 Nissan. As she shortly paused to stretch, the distant sound of a car approaching the building could be heard. Surely a late customer. Perhaps they didn’t make an appointment ahead of time. Reluctantly, she got up from her chair, a huge yawn escaping her breath as she walked to the front door of her tuning shop, Hirata Motors. 

“We’re closed, sorry,” she said, through another heavy yawn. But before she could usher away the late arrival, Ayako suddenly recognized her friend inside.

Oh, it’s Umebayashi, she thought. 

Wiping a tear from her exhausted body, she called out to Rina.

“Oi, you know I don’t open today, don’t you?” 

“Sorry, sorry,” Rina replied, “I just need someone to watch over Yuuki while I go on an overnight business trip.”

“Am I your babysitter?” Ayako retorted.

She sighed and pulled a silver key from her hoodie pocket a second later, walking towards Umebayashi.

“Don’t lose it,” she said with a coy grin, “I don’t want to sleep on the floor.”

“Thanks,” Rina replied. 

The Supra shifted reverse as Ayako’s friend took off to find the household. On the way to Shibuya, Yuuki had been silent for a while, conflicted with her mother’s contingency plan. Bothered by the turn of events, she finally spoke up.

She asked Rina, “Am I not going to Haruna Mountain?”

Rina stole a glance at Yuuki with her eyes as the two continued to a secluded neighborhood deeper inside the city streets. Concerned for her daughter but settled on her goals, she replied with sorrowful denial.

“I’m sorry. I know you have plans,” said Rina, “I didn’t know we would have something come up so sudden.”

“Yuna really wanted me to come,” Yuuki mumbled, “I hope she won’t be mad at me…”

“You don’t have to go if you don’t want to,” Rina replied, trying her best to console her daughter. 

“It’s okay,” said Yuuki.

Coming to a stop, the Supra arrived at their destination, a modest white garage house. Rina grabs the key Ayako handed to her from her pocket. The two walked towards the door just to the side of the building, a click from the doorknob signaling they may come inside. Rina opens the door and holds it open to let Yuuki proceed first. Rina flipped a light switch on the left of the doorway to a slightly messy and unorganized stack of books and papers, office supplies spread about on the tabletop. A Playstation 2 DualShock controller was left lying in the middle of the various documents.

“Goodness,” sighed Rina. A Disappointed look overcomes her as she pats Yuuki’s head. 

“Don’t stay up late, okay? You still have school tomorrow,” said Rina. 

“I know,” Yuuki replied. She slipped out of her shoes and set her bag down on a sofa to the left before moving to lie down on the other just perpendicular to her direction. Yuuki flopped onto the soft cushions almost instantly, a sign Rina immediately recognized as an action of defeat. 

“Behave yourself, okay?” 

“Mhm…”

 Rina stepped outside as Yuuki sat up from the sofa, and grabbed the controller from the table as she turned on the television from across the room. The screen displayed an unfinished race on the Japanese circuit, Suzuka. As she continued the game, Yuuki let out a saddened sigh. The Supra then took off back to the workshop without a moment to waste. Rina thought about the look on her daughter’s face, a fair conflict came over her hoping Yuuki would forgive her once she finished her business. Was it right to explain the news to her; or would it be better to remain quiet for Akiko’s sake?

As Rina returned to Hirata Motors, her friend called out to her once the supra came to a stop, just outside of the workshop. Rina had just connected to Haruyama over her phone after stepping out. Meanwhile, Akiko was writing on some documents to close out her office building for the night. Her smartphone sitting to the right of her vibrated, sending a low rumble through the table. She picked up the phone anxiously, hoping to hear progress from her co-worker.

“Akiko,” she began “I know where Akira is going to be.”

Akiko was startled by the sudden news, but thrilled nonetheless. Taking a moment to consider how she would respond, she put the phone back down on the desk before putting it on speaker mode and sighed a breath of relief. 

“Good. Where is he?”

“I’m headed to Haruna Pass,” said Rina.

“Are you sure he’s there?”

“I heard Tsukamoto say he will in passing.”

Akiko sighed. She loosened her grip on the pen to gather the mess of papers spread on her desk. Taking the papers, she taps them on the bottom to realign the handful into a nice stack. 

“Is he racing tonight?” she asked, placing the phone back in her hands.

“I don’t know. I made a stop to Ayako’s just in case.”

Akiko paused for a moment before ultimately deciding on their next move.

“Understood. When will you be heading over?”

“I don’t know yet. The changes could take a while.”

”That’s fine… Thank you, Rina.”

“No problem, Akiko. I’ll call you later.”

Click. Ayako waved to Rina, signaling her to pull the JZA80 into the workshop. 

“How fast do you say we can work on this?” Rina asked.

“Not long,” Ayako said. She took a quick look at a Dark Rose-Pink coupe loaded up on one of the mechanical lifts in her tuning garage. An S Chassis being held up there for a fine-tune. “It might get in the way of Haruyama’s checkup.”

“I’m going up to Haruna on her behalf.”

“Can’t help yourself, can you?” Ayako retorted.

“This isn’t about that,” Rina scoffed, “One race–that’s it.”

“Then I won’t waste any more of your time,” Ayako said, “Grab the wing from the box.”

Ayako and Rina would work on adjusting the settings and building the Supra within the hour, scurrying to the best of their abilities so they could beat the clock. Akiko packed and stored away work-related documents, making sure she was ready to go the moment Umebayashi would arrive at the office. Cleaning up shop, she grabbed her handbag from the side of her desk. As she stood just next to the exit, she gazed at the empty room before shutting off the lights to the room and closing the door behind her. Meanwhile, atop the mountain pass, Takeshi had returned from a downhill run, parking his Silvia S14 behind the guardrails, right next to the incoming lane of Haruna Pass. 

He got out of the car and was met with praise from Akira admiring his finesse with the battle. His opponent passed on by in defeat, fading away into the darkness of the mountains not illuminated under the street lamps. The crowd that came to watch all of tonight’s spectacles dwindled with time, but in any case, still had a great handful cheering mindlessly for either car to reach the bottom of the runs first. Just across the duo was team Counter Steer and Yuna, studying their rivals with great caution. 

“I knew Takeshi was fast, but not that bloody quick,” Sakura inquired. 

The boy in black hair brought up an offhand comment about the Silvia, fascinated by its technical prowess.

“My Eight-Six could probably match its speeds if we had longer straight roads,” he said, “But Sean saw its capability way down near the hairpins, and it’s a monstrous corner-king.”

“But it’s not the K’s I’m racing,” Yuna said, “Akira is my real opponent tonight.”

She carefully observed the S15 from where she stood, taking note of its general aero type. She squinted at Akira, then looked at her BNR34 Skyline, the yellow tints of the lamp almost making its Dandelion Yellow finish glow in the night, and sighed. 

“Everyone’s here…” Yuna exhaled, “... everyone but Yuuki.” 

“You were really counting on her coming, aye?” Sakura asked.

“Yeah,” Yuna replied, “We don’t share many interests anymore.”

Tsukamoto looked up at the sky, recalling her early years growing up with her best friend.

“She never came home for a year,” she began, “but she acted so much more closeted when she returned. It made talking with her in school so much harder.”

“Sorry to hear that mate.”

Yuna leaned onto her Skyline as she started drawing circles with her index finger from the dust that accumulated on the paint. 

“It was a miracle that Miss Kimura paired us up in class, we almost picked up like nothing changed.”

Turning back to her crew, Yuna muttered, “Honestly I’m scared that she doesn’t want anything to do with me. I haven’t been the best influence, but I’ve been holding out in hopes we have something mutual to talk about for once.”

Sakura walked up to Yuna and put her hand on her shoulder.

“She’s probably just busy,” Sakura said, “Just take ‘er easy this time, yeah? There’s no stake this time ‘round.”

“You’re right, Shoji.”

Yuna stood straight and called out to the two oppositions. 

“Are we ready to start?”

“Not yet,” Takeshi objected, “We’ve got a car coming up the hill. White car, I’ve heard.”

“Probably some delivery car,” Akira jeered, arms crossed before separating to shrug at the gesture. “But whatever, I got all night for this run.”

He leered at Yuna.

“Won’t be a problem for you, will it?”

“Hell no,” Yuna smirked.

Further down the mountain, the Supra made its way atop the pass. Sitting with Rina was Akiko, looking down at her feet. 

“How are you holding up?” Rina asked. 

“I’m doing fine…” Akiko mumbled.

“Thinking about Jei?”

“...”

Rina looked to the right, a small group of students and a few young adults stared right back at the car passing by. Akiko stared out her window to see they were passing the lefthand pathway leading to Karuizawa Skate Center. 

“Yeah,” Akiko replied, “I just wonder what he’d think about this situation… he really liked the drives on Harunakomachi.”

As soon as the two passed the onlookers, Rina flipped the switch to the Supra’s brights. 

“We’ll bring Akira home as soon as we find him,” Rina consoled, “Everything will be okay.”

“I’m sure it will,” Akiko said, “I’m sure it will.”

Atop the mountain, everyone exchanged small conversations with one another, waiting for the car to pass on by. On Takeshi’s phone, observers finally responded after a few minutes of radio silence on communications. 

“Hey, the car’s coming up. You should be good to go in a minute or two.”

“Copy,” he replied, but before he could put it back in his pants pocket, the communicator pitched a warning.

“It might be a wanderer, keep an eye on him.”

Confused, Takeshi and Akira stared at each other for a second. They both looked back down at the phone.

“Come again?”

“A stray challenger? It looks heavily modified. One of the older Toyotas,” the watchman insisted, “Kind of has the face of a Koi.”

“Hey, could you make out the model of it?” Akira asked.

“A Supra, I think.”

Overhearing this, Yuna snapped toward the direction of Akira and Takeshi. 

“Another heavyweight?”

Suddenly, the purr of a 2JZ echoed through the air, and a flash of yellow headlights in the distance appeared from the left-hand corner before emerging from the soft right-hand turn that disrupted the long straightaway on this passage.

“They’re coming in,” Akira said, “He must’ve been right.”

“So it is a wanderer,” Takeshi gasped.

Yuna could only stare and watch as the JZA80 passed on through the left parking area before turning around to halt on the left lane. The Supra was styled in a JUN front bumper and wing, with Blitz and Bomex parts, rear bumper, and side skirt respectively. The left door clicked and slowly opened. One leg after the other exited the automobile, as a shock overcame Akira, seeing his mother emerge from the mysterious car. 

“Mom?!” he exclaimed.

“Miss Haruyama…?!” Yuna questioned.

“Hi, honey,” said Akiko, “I am so glad to see you.”