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[R_E_X]

Okay, RPM 33 is up

RPM 34: Total Defeat

“Rei… wake up, breakfast is ready” Seno yelled from downstairs

“Uaaaah” Rei yawned, “Oh yeah…”

It’s been two days since Seno moved in to his house. Their relationship is getting closer and closer each day.

Sometimes, having your girlfriend to live with you in the same house is a great idea. It can boost your spirit, since you can support each other at any time. But in some parts of the world like in eastern part, it’s considered to be a taboo for a women and men to live together when they are not married yet. They are in Japan, but the western culture is playing a big role in their daily lives. Rei came from Seattle, and Seno is an adult, who grows up in the western company environment, so the two have similarities.
“Good morning” Rei smiled

“Yes, good morning” Seno kisses his forehead, “Here, I made a chicken sandwich for you. And for your bento, I made chicken teriyaki and salad”

“Thank you” Rei smirked

“Okay, I better go to work now. See you later, dear” Seno wears her shoes, “Here let me kiss you first”

Rei stands up and escort her to the entrance. He kisses her on the cheek and tidied up her necktie.
“I better go now… see you later, dear” Seno said

“Yes, be careful on the way”

It’s embarrassing to see them like that. Their relationship is not the level of high school students like Hikaru and the rest of the guys… but that is what Rei is looking for. Seno is an experienced woman in love also… even though she never had a boyfriend before, she knows what she’s doing and she never hesitates to explore her womanly nature.
“Okay, I better eat the breakfast and take a bath”

At the school, Rei can't stop smiling. Everybody knows what he does, and no one is objecting it… well except for a few teachers and students who envy him, that is.
“Rei, can I talk to you for a second?” Tomoyo called him

“Ah, sure, senpai” Rei nodded, “What is it?”

“I want you to submit a letter of resignation to the principal tomorrow. I'm going to change you with another guy as my vice-president for student council” Tomoyo explained

“Oh… I guess that’s okay” Rei exhaled, “I’ll give it to the principal first thing in the morning tomorrow”

“I'm sorry” Tomoyo bows, “The thing is, it’s not my idea to replace you with someone else, but it’s the principal’s idea”

“Don’t worry” Rei understood, “I won't make a good vice-president for the student council anyway. Even though we work for a short time, it’s nice to work with you, senpai”

“Yes, I feel the same” Tomoyo sighed, “Thanks again, Rei”

After Tomoyo left, the others are asking about what happened.
“So? Did she kick you out?” Yamada asked

“The principal requested me to be replaced… but that’s okay, since I don’t plan to participate in the first place anyway. I just want to help her achieve her dreams” Rei shrugs

“And you did it. You can be proud of yourself” Sako added

“Hehe” Rei smiled and rubs his nose in satisfaction, “Okay… so the next team is Nissan Scramble team, is that right?”

“Yes it is” Keith replied, “Will you compete also?”

“It depends…” Rei eats his bento, “Oh, speak of the devil… the leader is calling”

Rei picks up his phone and it was Takafumi speaking. You guys remember the kind realtor guy which helps Rei to find an unused lot in RPM 29, right? That’s him…
“Minami-san, it’s been awhile” Takafumi said, “How is it going? Ready to roll?”

“Of course… on Iroha, right? My friends are ready”

“What about you? Won't you race with me?” Takafumi asks

“Nah… our team has better guys for mountain racing” he replied as he looks at Keith, Tarou, and Yamada, “Don’t worry, they are the best mountain racers I know”

“I'm looking forward to it… see you on Friday, then” Takafumi hang up

“It’s on Friday, which is the day after tomorrow” Rei nods, “Beside Tarou, Yamada, and Keith, who else is going to participate?”

“I’ll help” Souya tightens his fists, “I'm ready to roll in the mountains”

“Okay, let’s all go to Iroha to have a run at the course” Tarou said, “We’ll win this one again, and reach at the top”

“Are you sure you won't run on the mountains, Rei?” Hikaru asks

“No… I had enough with the mountains. Besides, Musashi is the samurai of Shutoku” Rei shrugs, “But if something bad came up, I guess I have to race”

“Well, let’s not hope for something bad to happen. It’s a jinx” Steve exhaled

“Trust this one to us, guys” Keith pats Steve’s shoulder

After school, Keith usually walks his Melissa-sensei to her house as they talk more… usual approaching stuff method. Melissa-sensei didn’t mind though… whether she realizes that Keith has a crush on her, or she only takes him as a normal student who lives on the same house direction, God knows.
“Where is Keith?” Rei asks, looking around for his friend

“He’s, ah… walks Melissa-sensei to her house to talk more. Usual stuff” Iwami said

Rei nods while he wonders the same thing that he could do. Wouldn’t it be great for him to pick Seno up from her office?
“I see” Rei nods, “Hikaru, when your sister is usually comes back?”

“Well, it depends… if she has a lot of work she probably won't come home for a day…” Hikaru answered, “But don’t you worry, Rei- she is a mature woman who’s able to take care of herself”

“I believe you, but won't it a sweet thing if I drop around to her office in my GT-R to pick her up?” Rei smirks

“That is a great idea… if you know exactly when she’s going to be home, that is” Yuki said, “I offered a place in my family’s workplace but she declined”

Suddenly Rei’s mobile phone rang. When he sees who’s calling, he immediately picks it up.
“Ah?” Rei said to the caller

“Can you pick me up? I'm at the train station” Seno said

“Right away!” Rei starts to run

“Speak of the devil” Hikaru smiled, “Be sure to come tonight, Rei!”

“I will!” replied Rei as he waves his hand

He immediately gets his GT-R out and drive to the train station. Seno is waiting on the chair near the vending machine as she stares at the auburn sky.
“Seno…”

“Ah… hi, dear” Seno replied with a smile, “Ready to go?”

“Go where?” Rei asks, looking puzzled

“Let’s elope” Seno said with serious face

“What?!”

His panic switch turned on. He starts to act stupidly and peculiarly. He sweats really hard and his face turns pale suddenly.
“Just kidding… I want to go to my parent’s graveyard. I want to introduce you to them” Seno sighed

“Uh… Okay” Rei nods, “Let’s go”

Both of them get into the car and drove away to the cemetery. Seno rubs the Nismo leather bucket seats that were used in the Z-Tune. It feels very comfy and had a nice clean aura on it.
“I can't believe Nismo actually make this for you” Seno wondered, “So comfy…”

“I was surprised also. I never thought that the GT-R drivers were inspired by my car” Rei lift his shoulders, “But ah, what can I say? I mean that my car is more famous than me; the owner”

Thirty minutes later, they arrived at the cemetery. The place is clean and tidy, even though it seems a bit kind of creepy.
“Ummm…. Ummm…” Rei looks around

“What’s wrong, dear?” Seno pats his head, “There isn’t any ghost around here… don’t worry”

“I, I'm not afraid of ghost” Rei frowned, “Let’s get your parents a nice flower”

“Good idea. Wait here, I’ll buy it for them” Seno steps inside the flower shop

Rei sits in his car’s bonnet as he continues to look around for ghost. After she buys the flower, she’s smiling when she saw Rei is still looking around for ghost.
“Boo!” Seno said from behind him

“Wah!”

Rei rolls himself at his bonnet and falls down, kissing the tarmac. He rubs his cheeks to clean the dirt from his face. He sighed and bites his lips, as he stands up.
“What was that for?” Rei sighed

“Sorry, sorry…” Seno cleans his cheeks, “You sure are scared to ghost, huh?”

“I'm not scared… I never seen one, so I'm curious to see it” Rei answered, “Oh, well… let’s go in”

The two walked into the cemetery. The place is misty since it is near the mountain. Seno leads the way to her parents’ grave, while he holds Rei’s hand.
“This is it” Seno puts the flower to the vase between two gravestones, “They are my parents, Rei”

The stone reads Ichijou Sakura and Ichijou Hideki. Seno lights some incense, get on her knees, and prayed. Rei does the same to give his respect to her parents.
“Mom… dad… this is Hikaru’s friend” Seno thoughts, “His name is Minami Rei… he is a kind kid, and he’s very loveable. He said that he wants to marry me soon, so mom… dad… I guess I have to tell him about my biggest secret”

After they done praying, Seno stands up and turn around, facing Rei directly. She then inhaled her breath to accumulate her courage. Rei wondered what she just did, but when Seno puts up her serious look, Rei gulps hard… it looks like he knew there is something wrong going on.
“Dear, I want to tell you something about myself” Seno said as she opens up her belt

“Yes? What are you doing?”

“I want to show you something…” Seno pulls out her shirt and unbuttons it, exposing her flat stomach to him, “See this mark, right here?”

Rei noticed that there is a brown scratch on her left lower torso. It looks deep and painful.
“Yuki said that you are wondering about why am I always single, right? This is the answer…” she said as she begins to cry, “I am infertile, because my womb is extracted when I'm a small child”

Rei’s eyes widen. He cannot believe what he just heard. He bites his lips and tries to hold a smile in his face.
“My family had an accident when we’re taking Hikaru to see a doctor. When a truck suddenly drops a dozens of sharp steel bars to our car, that is when I know my life will never be the same… the steel bars, stab me right here, completely rips my womb… I lost my parents, and I lost my most important womanly gift…”

“That’s enough…” Rei lowers his head, “I don’t want to hear it anymore”

“So… you are going to walk away from me as well? Just like the rest of the guys out there?”

“No… you don’t have to bring up your dark past to me” Rei shakes his head, “I don’t want to hear it”

He kneels before her and holds her tight. He then kisses the wound on her stomach.
“What are you doing?”

“I am grateful for this wound… since this wound is what leads me to you” Rei smiled, “Don’t worry, Seno… your condition will never change my views on you”

“Don’t you want a child with me?! Why won't you walk away from me?”

“It doesn’t matter!” Rei shouts, “What matters is, I love you and you love me! Do you love me?”

“I do” Seno lowers her head, staring at his eyes

“That’s good” Rei nodded, “Okay… let’s tidy up your clothes and go back home”

Rei buttoned her shirt and tidied her clothes.
“There you go” he said, “Don’t cry, Seno… I hate it when I saw a woman cried in front of me. You are a beautiful creature, yet you are very fragile like a glass. I don’t want you to show me your weakness- you have to be strong”

Seno bites her lip and smiled to him. She understands completely what he’s trying to say
”Thank you, Rei…” Seno smiled, “You are one different kind of guy. I'm happy that my brother befriend a guy like you… and I'm lucky that I met you”

“Let’s have a pizza before we go home, alright?”

“My treat” Seno nods

Rei walks ahead, but Seno turns her head to see her parents’ grave once again. She smiled happily and bows to them.
“Mom, dad… I'm alright now. I'm grateful to Jesus… He created a kind young man like him, who accepts me the way I am” Seno said, “I’ll come back here next month, mom, dad… see you guys again”

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The day turns to night, and the sky grows dark and darker. The stars have popped out one by one. Seno and Rei are eating at the pizza restaurant, and the two seems closer after what happened earlier.
“So that’s what happened” Seno said, “My boss sure is a kind woman”

“So your boss is also a woman… maybe she’s just like you; a hard working person” Rei eats his lasagna, “Oh well… that’s great to know”

“You think I'm going to flirt with my boss, if he’s a male, right? You’ve got to be kidding me” Seno frowns

“I didn’t say that” Rei smirked, “Chill out… I believe you won't cheat”

Suddenly, his mobile phone rang… Tarou is calling. He immediately picks it up.
“Where the hell are you?” Tarou asks, “We’re supposed to meet at Iroha, right? Hurry up and get to Kawaguchi immediately!”

“Iroha? But I'm having a dinner with Seno” Rei continues to eat his lasagna, “Besides I'm not racing on Friday, right?”

“He said he’s having a dinner with Seno-san right now” Tarou said to the others

“What? He’s on a date right now?” Hikaru replied, “Oh well, that can't be helped I guess”

“You see, Rei… there are a lot of teams here, and they demanded to have a battle with us” Keith explained, “Wouldn’t it be a good warm up exercise to know more about the place?”

“I don’t really want to go…” Rei shrugs

“Let’s go” Seno wipes her mouth, “It’s been a long time since I go to Iroha”

“Uh… but Keith’s uncle lends me his uncle’s collection of Keroro Gunso DVD and I want to watch it after this” Rei bites his lips

“Save it for tomorrow, okay? Your teammates are waiting for you” Seno smiled as she sips her lime squash, “I’ll tell the waiter to wrap the pizza, so we can enjoy it for breakfast tomorrow”

“If you say so… okay, me and Seno will be there in half an hour” Rei hangs up

Seno is holding two boxes of wrapped pizza in her hand while she pays for the food at the cashier. Rei quickly finishes his lasagna and drinks up his cold lemon tea.
“Okay, let’s go” Seno said

Rei nodded and follows her to the parking lot.
“Okay, let’s get to Kawaguchi fast, dear” Seno smiled as she straps the seatbelt

“Sure, sure… I can't imagine how mad they’ll be when I arrived” Rei shakes his head in wonder, “Let’s go”

At the highway, Seno can't stop staring at her boyfriend. She feels so proud of him and she adores him even more. Rei’s left hand reached out to the shifter, and Seno’s hand was there. Her hand feels very soft and warm.
“Shifted to fourth gear, dear?”

“Uh, yes” Rei nodded

She moves the lever to the fourth when Rei steps on the clutch. She smiled to him and she looked outside. The night is here along with the stars and moon to smile at her. She closes her eyes and smiled happily.
“The sky looks awfully beautiful tonight” Seno waves her hair, “This is a good evening we have. What do you think, dear?”

“It is…” Rei smirks, “I never dreamed about driving my GT-R with a woman beside me”

“Really?” Seno looked at him, “Don’t you just say it out loud to hit me?”

“No, no… why would I do that?” he spins his head

When he spins his head, he saw a jet black NA-2 Honda NSX-R cruising at high speeds on his rearview mirror. The driver flashes the high beam few times to challenge him for a race.
“…”

“That is…” Seno mumbled, “No! It can't be… Tomo?!”

“Eh? Is it an acquaintance of yours?”

“What is he doing running at C2?” Seno shouts, “Rei, beat that Honda to a pulp”

“It’s impossible” he spins his head, “That NSX looks fast and agile. One glance on it and I sense a great aura of speed in that car… that NA-2 feels just like the White Ghost”

“So I guess what Yue said is true after all…” Seno grins, “He came by to Kaoru’s place to have his NSX-R modified…”

“Okay… I’ll speed up now” Rei said as he plunges his car at Kohoku junction’s U-turn, “Don’t talk to me for awhile”

Seeing Rei speeds up, the NA-2 follows him. Rei overtakes the traffic cars like nothing. The NA-2 keeps up very well.
“Okay… so you want to play, huh? I’ll show you that GT-R is nothing compared to NSX-R!” said the NA-2 driver

“Hmph… Even though you have a tiny bit of Ayrton Senna input, you can't defeat this car” Rei muttered, “This car is a heritage of Nissan’s experience in racing, and this car even greater than the most perfect Z-Tune in the world. This is the perfect GT-R!”

The two is having side by side battle and Seno opened the GT-R’s window and stares at the driver.
“She’s… Black Phantom’s driver” said the man who drives the NSX, “What is she doing with Musashi?”

“Hey, the battle isn’t over yet” Rei smiled, “Let’s see how you do!”

Rei increases his pace and outruns the NA-2. The NA-2 driver shifted down and increases his pace to catch up.
“Wow, he’s great” Rei said in wonder, “I want to meet this guy some other time”

Kawaguchi junction is up ahead, so Rei decreases his pace and enters the rest area. The NA-2 follows and Seno gets ready for the worst to happen.

Hikaru and the others are sitting near the vending machine when they saw the black NA-2 and Rei’s GT-R came to the scene.
“That NA-2… we’ve seen it on Kaoru’s place few days ago, right Hikaru?” Gonsuke thought, “Don’t tell me that guy is… damn! That guy in NA-2 is a police officer!”

“Plays it cool” Steve holds him down, “It looks like he has something to do with your brother-in-law, Hikaru…”

“I hope he didn’t get himself involved into a trouble” Hikaru exhaled

The driver of the NA-2 gets off from his car and Seno follows. She looks furious and pissed.
“What are you doing here? Officer Tomo?” she said in anger

“Ichijou-san, no… Black Phantom… it’s been a long time” Tomo nods to her

“Yes… how long has it been? Seven years… I still can't forgive you for what you’ve done to Mai” Seno yelled

Rei gets off from the car and approaches his girlfriend to find out what’s going on.
“So you are the driver of Musashi?” he asks, “How do you do, my name is Tomo. You are famous, since you are the next candidate for Sky King”

“Hi… My name is Minami Rei” Rei bows to him, “Nah, you said too much… I'm just a boy who drives a GT-R”

“I want to ask you, Minami-san… have you seen a black N1 that often cruises at C1?” Tomo asks again, “It has wolf kanji on it…”

When he heard the Okami’s name he gets excited and knows it immediately- he’s not an average police officer. He then turns on his R-mode to keep his excitement holed up as a proud street racer.
“You mean Okami, officer? I haven’t seen him for awhile” Rei smiled, “I must say that black color attracts local police immediately, since it’s a catchy color”

“So you do know about Okami… so I assume that you already met the driver” Tomo continue his talk

“No… I only met with its tuner- Fushida Kyo. I’ve heard that the driver is a westerner, but I guess that’s not important right now, huh?” Rei shrugs, “What business do you have with him anyway?”

“I want to defeat him” he answered flatly, “I have to get my revenge”

“Revenge, huh? Do you still blame what happened to Mai on others? You never learn do you, Tomo?” Seno explained, “What happened to Mai is no one’s fault but you!”

“Seno…” Rei cuts her words, “Sorry for her rash behavior”

“Rei, this is not your business!”

Rei looks at her. He didn’t show anything on his face- he only wants her to calm down. Seno bites her lips and grinned bitterly. She knows that she embarrasses herself in front of him.
“Huff… sorry, dear” Seno wheezed, “But remember what I said, Tomo… if you can't accept reality, don’t expect yourself to win against Okami. Face it- it was you who killed her in the accident. I always told you not to involved your loved ones in the battle”

“I know… and I should’ve remember what you said to me” he replied flatly

“Oh and one thing… I'm not Black Phantom anymore. I drive a midnight purple GT-R, and I'm the Purple Shadow” Seno smiled wickedly, “If I see you and your NA-2 on the streets, be sure you asked God to help you”

“I’ll remember it” Tomo nodded, “See you again, Musashi… let’s have a battle some other time”

“No problem” Rei smirks, “But I must tell you that your NA-2 can't defeat N1 engines. Why don’t you just focus yourself to Okami and if you managed to defeat him, start to look for me- I’ll be ready”

“Agreed” Tomo gets back inside his car and drove off

After Tomo and his jet black NA-2 drove away, Rei then stares at his girlfriend to look for some answer- fast.
“Who is that?”

“It’s a long story. I’ll tell you on our way to Iroha” Seno looks away

“I see…”

“Alright, we are here… let’s go to Iroha” Tarou nodded as he starts to drive his Soarer

Rei and Seno gets back to his GT-R and follow the others. Seno sighed and she starts to opens up her old history book.
“He is an old college friend of mine, who is also a street racer” Seno exhaled, “I know him when I still drive my black R32… he was called by the name of Night Blade”

“And you seem to know him from your friend, who is his girlfriend” replied Rei, “I don’t understand what happened between you two, but you don’t need act like that”

“You just don’t understand… Mai is my first friend on Tokyo University. She was my biggest rival and my best friend” Seno shakes her head slightly, “I should’ve never allow her to get closer to that guy”

“The past is the past… I'm surprised that you are the dwelling type”

“Some things needs to be forgotten, but some things are not… and one of them is this” Seno frowns

“Okay…”

After half an hour of more cruising, they are arrived at Iroha hills. The course here is divided by two types of flow; uphill and downhill with separate roads. Rei was here before and he managed to drive well with his average drifting skills.
The roads here are steep with a lot of windings and sharp turns… not everybody can master this course easily.

When they reached the parking area at the base, a lot of people are whispering to each other, talking about how they dominate most of the race events on Tokyo.
“Welcome to Tochigi, High School Street Racers… we are one of the hosts on Tochigi- the Honda Power Team” said one of the guys, “We consider ourselves to be one of the best teams here on Iroha”

“Nice to meet you as well” Keith bows to them, “We would like to familiarize ourselves in this course if you don’t mind”

“Sure, go ahead” he said again, “But please be careful on the steep roads here… a lot of people who tried carelessly, becomes a victim of these hills”

“We will” Tarou nods, “Please excuse us, then…”

“Uh, if you won't mind, we will also participate in the race…” said another guy, “Call it a small battle if you will”

“Fine by us” Yamada grins, “We will run few times back and forth, and then when we ready, we will race your team”

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Yamada, Keith, Tarou, and Souya are running the course fiercely. They race it as if their life is depending on it. After about three ups and downs, they finally ready to race.
“Okay, Souya will handle the uphill” Keith said, “Yamada… we leave the downhill to you”

“What about you two?” Yamada asks

“We will save our energy for Friday” Tarou agreed, “We’re counting on you”

“Whew…” Seno wheezed, “I want to run here as well… I can't just stay still when there is a great scene is going on”

“What? You can't!” Hikaru lift his shoulders

“Just kidding” Seno said

So Yamada and Souya are ready to begin. They will start with Yamada, since he’s doing a downhill.

“Listen up, this is a tag team race” said a guy from Honda team, “Each runner should be ready in their designated post. If you are doing downhill, you should get up there and wait for our signal. And if you doing uphill, you wait here”

“The guys from downhill will descend to this point, and when they do, the uphill runner starts. The first downhill runner to get here will have their advantage to the next runner in uphill” said another guy, “Okay… the bet is $5,000, so without further ado, let’s race!”

Yamada revs his engine and inhale his breath deeply to accumulate his guts. He never was a great mountain racer, but he can handle his car like turning his hands.

Hikaru nodded to him and he nods back. He’s ready to go… his opponent is a Honda Civic coupe.
“How do you do? My name is Maezono Sai” said the Civic driver

“My name is Tsubasa Yamada… let’s put up a good show tonight” Yamada smiled

“Yes, yes… let’s do that” Sai replied

“Ready… set… go!!!” said the linesman dropped both of his hands

The two Hondas launches forward leaving a skid marks on the grey asphalt. MR2 has better traction, compared to Civic.

Ahead of them is a 180 degree left hander. When both of the cars enter the corner, Yamada has to brake hard to initiate a braking drift. On the other hand, the red Civic still accelerates and does a hand-brake drift perfectly- the red civic is on the lead!
“Che…” Yamada bawled, “Just miss a bit of timing back there… snap action is about to start”

“Nicely done… I wouldn’t expect less from a member of High School Street Racer” thought Sai

“I will keep on sticking at the back of that red Civic until I get a chance to pass him” Yamada smirks

After that left hander is a straight line, continued by another sharp left and right hander. The two cars are using their e-brake to initiate drift. Even though it sounds simple, but without practice, it’ll be impossible to do.
“Okay, next corner!” Sai yelled

“I have to do this…” Yamada grits his teeth

On the base of the mountain, Souya is getting ready in his car. Steve is with him, along with Keith to give him some advice.
“Your car is RWD, which is a good choice of weapon of drift” Steve said

“Yeah, but my opponent is an FWD car! I mean look at it! It’s a DC5!” Souya replied lightly

“Whether it’s a DC5 or not, you can't take this race lightly, Sou” Keith adds, “We can’t risk to lost this one, so you have to go all out from the moment you start”

“I know I know… you guys didn’t need to warn me” Souya shrugs

“Hi, how do you do?” said the man in DC5, “My name is Sasaki Takezo. It’s a pleasure to finally met you guys”

“Ah, you flatter too much” Souya replied, “My name is Hourai Souya, and these two is my friend- Steve Blackburn and Keith Valentine”

“Let’s put up a good show, alright?” Takezo adds

Back to Yamada and Sai. The two is almost at the end of the course. Red Civic still on the lead and Yamada are having a hard time to keep up. Winding roads like Iroha hills are friendly to FWD cars, with e-brake drift.
“Damn it!” Yamada bites his lips, “I have to give an advantage to Souya, or we’ll definitely lose. I won't give up now! I still have a long way to go with this team!”

He increases his pace and he intends to try another trick in his sleeve.
“Here we go!” he said as he turns hard into the corner

He’s able to pull out a fast four wheel drifting and starts to get closer and closer to the red Civic in front of him.
“Alright! I just need to keep this up!”

“How in the world did he do that?” Sai looks at his rearview mirror

“Now there is no more 180 degrees! I just need to keep my car stable after each corner and it’s done!” Yamada thought

“The real battle starts here” Sai thought, “Keep up with me if you can!”

What Sai just said is not a bluff. He knows what his car capable of and he realizes Yamada’s car weakness is.
“You have heavier ass” Sai smirks as he looks at his rearview mirror, “I will leave you to dust”

Sai increased his pace and Yamada follows. At the last few meters, the roads are wavy. You can push your car hard, but you have to be careful, since most of the corners are narrow. One mistake and you’ll hit the wall, damaging your car totally.
“Damn! The Civic is getting farther and farther! I can't keep up! Is this the limit of mid-ships?!”

“See you around” Sai gets his hand out and waves it to Yamada

“Damn it! I have to increase my pace!”

Yamada push his car harder to keep up. But what he does is very dangerous, since his car has heavier rear part, which causes the tendency of over-steering.
“Whoa! Whoa!” he yelled in panic when his car slides toward the wall

He hits the wall, letting out a big scraping metal noise. Steve, Keith, and Souya can hear what happened on the base of the mountain.
“Yamada!” Steve said

“Oh shit… what I fear the worst is happened” Keith shakes his head

Sai crosses the finish line, giving the huge advantage to his teammate.
“Go, Takezo!” Sai yelled as he crosses the finish line

Takezo launches his car and leave Souya on the starting grid. The team already realizes that it’s a loss for them.

Yamada showed up not long after, but it’s too late. The margin is too far, leaving High School Street Racer in defeat.
“Here is the money” Yamada said as he hands over the money

“Thank you” Sai and Takezo replied

“You guys have done well…” Souya sighed, “Let’s have another match some other time, huh?”

The two nodded and leave them. Hikaru and the others are arrived on the base of the mountains. They didn’t blame Yamada for what happened.
“Okay… I guess that was a great lesson for all of you” Seno smiled

“Yes” Yamada lowers his head, “I'm very sorry for what happened, everyone”

“It’s usual for a team to lose” Tarou exhaled, “But what the hell, that’s not your fault, since you already did your best”

“Now there is more reason for all of you to continue your training on the mountains” Seno added, “I never had any intention to meddle in your team affairs, but I suggest you train more and ask for more time to Nissan Scramble team”

“I will do that” Keith nods, “Thanks for your advice, Seno-san”

It was their first defeat. It tastes bitter and discouraging. Even though they didn’t show it on their faces, they felt disappointed.
“Let’s get back” Rei smiled, “It’s almost dawn, you know”


This post has been edited by R_E_X on Nov 9 2009, 01:15 AM

[crav3]

Rex,how come there some add up in the storyline? the one i have dont have tht part hehehe...just curious...

offtopic...yeah i guess but for me either one is fine but prefer young one due to some thing happens to me in my love life...

[R_E_X]

Eh? Which one?

Oh, about the RPM 33? I decided to add up some more description... sorry if I didn't tell you beforehand

RPM 35: The End of Beginning

Rei cruises at low speed at Wangan Line. After what happen last night, he thinks a lot of things in his mind.
“Man… we’ve lost” he thought, “There will be no more of winning streak…”

When he enters the Daikoku parking area, he does what he usually do when he’s about to enter the corner- heel-and-toe. But something is wrong with the car- it spun around. He immediately reacts with heavy braking and shifts down. He was so freaked. He then cuts the engine and steps out from his car to see what happened. Tire tires are completely worn out.
“Damn the tires are completely slick” he shakes his head, “It’ll be just a matter of time until it blew… guess I should change them”

Rei gets back into his car and drive slowly to Kojiro’s place. He is a careful guy when it comes to something about his car.

At Kojiro’s place, a familiar black GT-R is parked at one side of the garage… it has a black wolf kanji on it. On the bonnet, Rei saw an American guy sitting on it, while talking with Kojiro and Kyo… looks like that is the westerner Kyo said to him.
“There he is, sensei” Kojiro points Rei and his GT-R

“Speak of the devil” Kyo replied, “Let’s go, Adam”

“That guy is…” the westerner gasped, “He and his car appeared in the cover of JDM Option magazine”

“Yes he is” Kyo grins, “Danji has told me a lot of things about him and his silver GT-R… I also confirmed it with Kojiro here. He has great talents with GT-R”

“Rei, over here” Kojiro waves his hand

“…”

Rei approaches them and bows to Kyo. It’s a rare opportunity to see him again.
“Nice to see you again, old man” Rei grins

“Hmph, you’re still the same disrespectful kid who drives a GT-R” Kyo chuckled, “Rei, I want you to meet Adam Williams here… he is the driver of Okami”

Rei nodded and greets him politely. He is a strange kid indeed…
“How do you do…? I hear a lot of things about you and Okami” Rei nods, “My name is Minami Rei, and I'm the driver of Musashi”

“Nice to meet you as well” said Adam, “I also hear a lot of things about you and your Musashi”

“Well, rumors are always exaggerating and it has more details to spice things up” Rei shrugs, “I'm just a kid who happens to drive a GT-R”

Kojiro and Kyo are surprised to see how Rei behaves toward the other GT-R drivers. He replied modestly and he didn’t get cocky, being a good GT-R driver.
“This guy can handle Okami very well” Rei thought, “He also knows a lot about his car… this guy is worthy to be my archrival”

“Hopefully we can have a battle some other time” Adam said to him

“Yes, yes, of course… Kou, I'm here to change my tires. It’s already slick as marble tiles” Rei smiled

“I’ll help out” Adam said again

“Whew, thank you for your help”

After all of them change the tires, Rei hands out a can of Coca-Cola to each one of them. Probably as a thanks for their help. Changing tires is hard and tiring if you do it yourself.
“Here you go! Drink it while it’s cold” Rei hands over the cola to them

“Thank you” Kyo takes the cola, “Well, Adam. You met with the guy, let us go back now”

“Okay. See you again Rei… take care of yourself and your car” Adam nodded to him as he gets into the car

“Yes, let us meet up another time” Rei nodded back, “See you soon”

After Adam and Kyo left with Okami, Rei suddenly get a text message. A text message that could change his way of life forever. It was his brother.
“What the…” his face suddenly turns pale

“What’s wrong, Rei?” Kojiro asks him, seeing how he reacted to the text message

“I… I got to go now, Kou” he replied, “I have some business to take care of. Thank you for everything, Kojiro”

“What? It’s not like you to say that… what’s up?” Kojiro asks

“No time to explain. See you around, man” Rei smirks and gets into his car

He immediately gets into his car and drives it like he just saw a ghost. There is definitely something wrong with him. And it looks like there is a connection with earlier text message.
“I thought everything is fine back at Seattle!”

The text message told him that his brother will come to pick him up with his private jet. He has to show up at Haneda airport at one P.M. and flies back to Seattle. Their mother is worried sick and she wants to meet up with her son.
“Mom… sorry that I put you up with this mess” Rei thought, “I will tell Seno right away about who I really am”

He dialed Seno’s number and he’s starting to get nervous already. A whole lies will be open to the person he loved the most, and Rei is unsure that Seno will be happy to know the fact. The fact that he’s lying all these time to everyone he knew in Japan.
“Seno… I ah… I want to meet you right now” Rei said, “Where are you now?”

“I'm just about to get back home… what’s wrong?” Seno asks

“Can you drive to Haneda airport? I want to talk to you about something… something important” Rei replies, “Please?”

Hearing what he just said, Seno is certain that something is wrong with him. Nevertheless, Seno intends to find out what it is and she already promised herself that she’s not going to leave him no matter what.
“Do you want me to bring some of your clothes as well? We’re taking a trip together right?” Seno smiled

“Yes, please… and thank you”

“I’ll be right there in a minute, dear” Seno hang up the phone

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Few minutes later, Seno arrived and Rei is talking with a man in black suit. He is the same age as Rei, and looks like they knew each other well.
“Dear? What’s wrong?” Seno asked

“Ah, so she is your girlfriend” the man said, “Won't you introduce me to her?”

“I will… Seno, this is Mikami Ryu… my twin brother” Rei sighed

“I thought so” Seno frowns, “There is something wrong with you in the phone earlier”

“Yes… I'm sorry, but I'm lying to everyone here. I'm not Minami Rei… my real name is Mikami Rei and I’m one of the heirs of Mikami Group”

Seno gasped. She doesn’t know what to say to him after hearing all that. She feels deceived and she is angry. Angry at him and herself.
“Why didn’t you tell me sooner?” Seno eyes starts to get watery, “Why did you lie to me? Why?”

“I never had any intention to lie… but I'm here looking off for a fresh start” he explained, “And I met with Hikaru and the others… and I met you. You guys changed me forever. I wish everything can keep on going like this, but there is no way…”

“Sorry for interrupting, but the jet will leave soon” Ryu said, “Mother is dying and she’s getting weaker and weaker when you guys are yapping here. Get your cars inside the plane and let’s go back to Seattle”

“I want to take her along with me” Rei grabs his shoulder

“Of course. Mother will be thrilled to meet her” Ryu nodded happily, “Let’s go”

There goes one problem. The remaining problem is whether Seno will go with him or not.
“Seno… will you come with me?” Rei wipes the tears on her face

“Okay…” Seno wheezed, “I can't forgive you yet for lying to me, but there are more urging matters right now. Let’s go”

Rei smiled. Both of them drives the car to the back of the plane and get them inside the jet.
That was the last time they are seen together and they just disappear like wind. No one knows what happened to them, but one thing is for sure… both of them loved each other. Seno is willing to go as far as going with total stranger to another continent for the sake of his boyfriend.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

One month later…
The fall season is already here. Blowing winds outside can be heard whistling, and tearing the leaves from their branches. The air is getting colder and colder, since it’ll be winter soon enough.

Hikaru is sitting in front of his desk as he gritted his teeth in anger. Rei just mailed him this morning and both he and Seno are well at Seattle. That is exactly the thing that made him angry. Rei is a great liar and he never did tell everyone else that he’s not the guy they knew. He knew that his sister is hurt when she knew the fact, but she still sticks with him. Hikaru can't accept that.

They intended to get married at the end of year 2009. There is a lot more to be done right now since the effect of recession is also affecting the company structure of Mikami Group. Seno is a great help to have around managing the company.
“I will kill that kid when he comes around” Hikaru bawled, “I can't let him treat her that way!”

He sighed and he knew it’s a pointless thing to get angry over an e-mail, at least without the guy who sends it in front of him. It’s almost nine A.M. and it’s time to go to school.
There is a change in the Need for Speed team. They lost one of their greatest assets on their team- Seno. The team is led by Yuki right now. Same thing also happen for High School Street Racer- they lost Rei, who is one of their greatest assets as well.

But for Hikaru and his friends, it’s better off without Rei. He’s just a stranger who abandons his friends when they need him the most.
Yes. They are in trouble, since Musashi is gone without a word, and street racers are looking for him. They have no choice but to deal with it and not only have they lost once against Nissan Scramble team, they also lost against few other small teams. Even though Hikaru hate to admit it, it’s handy to have Rei around.

Putting the team issue aside, everything is good. He and Yuki are getting along well and the others are also doing great with their girlfriends. But if what the people said is true, then there is definitely a storm waiting for the whole team.
“Good morning everybody…” said Yue-sensei, “Today, there is another student came from Aomori. He’ll be joining us from this semester onwards. Let’s just say that this guy will replace Minami. Come on in, and introduce yourself”

When Yue-sensei told him to come in, there is no one outside.
“What the? Where is that kid?” Yue-sensei looks around at the hallway, “Oh well, he’ll show up sooner or later. Let’s continue first on chapter eleventh”

Meanwhile just about one block away from the school is a boy. He’s being chased by a big bulldog around the school. The one and only, big bulldog that patrols around school when the class hour is already begin.
“This is my first day in Tokyo… and this shit happens!” he said angrily

“BARK! BARK! BARK!”

“Shit!” he runs back toward the school area and jumped the fence which is already closed down

He then continued to run hastily to the class where he supposed to be at.
“Excuse me… hah, hah, hah… sensei” he said from outside the class

“Oh, there he is… come on in” Yue-sensei said

The transfer student slides the door and get inside the class.
“AAH! It’s you!” Souya yelled as he points the transfer student

The transfer student has a handsome face with medium length brown hair, brown eyes, white skin, and medium built tall body.
“It’s nice to see you again, Sou” he said, “Hello… my name is Ninomiya… Ninomiya Sora. You guys can call me Sora. Pleased to meet all of you”

“You knew him?” Steve whispered

“Are you kidding? We used to get ourselves in trouble back in the old days… how long has it been, Sora?” Souya counting his fingers

“You moved to Tokyo when we graduated from junior high school, so it’s been almost two years now” he replied

“Ninomiya, your job is going to be a tough one, since you joined at the end of semester. But if you do well, I'm sure everything will work out for you” Yue-sensei added, “Um, before we continue, where were you?”

“Ah, I was chased by that big bad dog outside the school perimeter… thank God I made it here” he answered

“I see… You can sit beside Ichijou over there” Yue-sensei points the empty seat beside Hikaru. That seat is usually occupied by Rei.

He sits beside Hikaru and exhaled lightly. He then turned his attention to the guy beside him.
“Hi… how do you do?” Sora greets him

When Hikaru looked at him. Not only he feels familiar with him, but he is also had a strange aura around him. An aura of humbleness and kindness. This new guy definitely is a different person than Rei.
“Have we met before?” Hikaru asks him

“I'm not sure” Sora answered, “Have you gone to Aomori before?”

“Nope, never…” Hikaru replied

“I see…” Sora nodded, “It’s a pleasure to meet you”

Given his handsome face and medium built body, he became popular the first minute he stepped into this class.
“Sora-san, do you have a girlfriend?” ask one of the girls in front of Tarou

“Um, no… I don’t have any interest to built a relationship with anyone for now” he answered, “Back at Aomori, I had a crush on one of my sempai… but I was dumped since she’s already going out with someone else”

“Don’t tell me she’s Kanzaki-sempai” Souya frowns

“The one and only… beautiful Kanzaki-sempai” he replied

“Oh poor you” said another girl in front of Clark

“Nah, it’s just an old story” Sora smiled

“This guy is surely honest with people around him” Tarou grins, “Oh well… this class is going to be lively once again”

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The new guy is eating at the cafeteria and he is very surprised to see the place is crowded by hungry students. They acted as if they are animals, hunting and fight over their prey. He managed to snatch one beef tomato sandwich and cold grape yoghurt. He then sits down at the nearest empty table.
When he’s about to eat what he bought earlier, he was called by a familiar voce from afar.
“Sora, over here!” Souya waved his hands to call him

Sora nodded to him and approaches the place where they sit. It’s so lively. The guys are sitting across the girls while they eat and talk to each other.
“Oh, Sora… let me introduce you to my other friends. This here is Yuichi Tarou and his girlfriend Ayamu Rika, our class rep. This here is Matsuyama Gonsuke with his girlfriend Tomoka Marie, Ichijou Hikaru and his girlfriend Amano Yuki, Steve Blackburn and his girlfriend Jessica Rosemary, Clark Landers and Sarah Johnson, Tsubasa Yamada and Niiyama Sako, Yamato Iwami and Narita Ayase” Souya said, “And she is Shimada Yuuri, my cute girlfriend”

“I heard that you’re also into cars… So have you found what are you looking for? What kind of car you are into now?” Iwami asks

“I was hoping I could get a GT-R” Sora answered, “Since I saw it on Best Motoring video on Youtube, I always yearn for one”

“How is your brother doing? How is his business going?” Souya asked

“He’s doing great, and the business is doing great until last few months” he sighed, “Thanks to recession, the orders are running low… no buying powers and stuff”

“Hopefully with new president things can go smoothly” Clark added

“Yup… hopefully it’ll be over soon” Yamada nods

Thanks to Souya, he is welcomed easily. Little do they know that this is just a beginning to whole new obstacle to reach their greatness in street racing life.
“Looking for V-spec II Nur? First it’s Hikaru, then Rei, and now you” Gonsuke said

“Cough, what do we say about Mikami Rei?” Iwami coughed

“Sorry… I forgot” Gonsuke grins, “Why do you love GT-Rs anyway?”

“GT-R is car for heroes… and I consider myself to be a hero” Sora said as he pats his chest proudly, “Can you hook me up with someone, Sou? I want to buy it as soon as I can”

“Let’s go meet with my friend Kojiro later… maybe he can find a used GT-R for you” Souya nodded

After the school is over, Sora followed Souya to the place where his friend is at. The place says Kojiro Speed Garage and there is a lot of mechanic who works under the other customer’s cars.
“Where is that dude?” Souya looks around, “I’ll try to look for him in the office… you go and have a look around”

“Okay” he nodded and starts to walk around

When he looks around the garage, he saw a beautiful Japanese girl. She turned her face to look at him. She has a long brown hair, beautiful face, and voluptuous body. She wears blue tank top long dress with backless design and on her back sprouts a pair of white, large angelic wing. After she threw a smile to him, she runs toward the back garage.
When Sora tried to follow her, he saw a guy, tinkering with a black covered engine. The engine itself looks new and the wooden crate that was used to place the engine is lying near him.
“Who are you? Friend’s of Souya?” he asks

“Oh, sorry… yes I am” Sora answered, “I’m looking for a guy named Kojiro. He supposed to be the owner of this place”

“He’s standing before you, tinkering with the engine right now” he said again, “I'm Yuuta Kojiro… the owner of this place. What can I do for you?”

“I’m Ninomiya Sora… and I'm here looking for a V-spec II Nur. Can you help me?” Sora asked

“As you can see, this is mainly a place for maintaining and modifying your cars” Kojiro said, “We don’t sell used cars here… sorry”

“I see… oh well, I guess that can't be helped” sore shrugs, “Sorry to bother you, man”

“Hold your horses, young one” Kojiro stopped working on the engine and wipes his hands, “Follow me… I might have something for you. Can someone bring out special car number two under my office?”

“Right away!” said one of the mechanics

“What is special car number two?”

“You’ll see it for yourself… follow me” Kojiro said

“This is not R32 engine, right? Looks more like Fine Spec N1 RB26DETT” Sora points the engine

“You do know your thing. I bought it so I can replace my engine with that one” Kojiro replied, “Come on”

The two goes inside and meet up with Souya, who’s still looking around for Kojiro.
“There he is… where were you, man?” Souya asks

“Been tinkering with my newest engine outside” Kojiro answered lightly, “That is my car number two”

A mechanic brings out a blue GT-R. It has strange blue color and it is different than normal bayside blue. The mechanic cut off the engine, then popped the bonnet and trunk.
It also had a strange flared fender, ducted hood, and bizarre looking front bumper, side and rear skirts, Nismo black wheels, silver Brembo brake calipers, Nismo intercooler, and Nismo flag vinyl.
“No way! Don’t tell me this car is…” Souya gasped

“Z-tune?!”

Sora run towards the blue car and takes a look under the blue car. He can't believe what he just saw in front of his eyes.
“Sachs dampers and springs with remote gas canisters… Nismo full footwork and sway bars!” he said in surprise, “It even has carbon flap, and carbon reinforced central tunnel, upper strut tower, and front fender outrigger, under spoiler, driveshaft and… the trunk! Titanium strut bar… and it really is RB26 Z2 spec engine!”

“This is crazy…” Souya spins his head

Sora then moved onto the interiors. It has Nismo Multi Function display type-2, black leather interior, spot welded door frames, Nismo 320 KM/H speedometer, Nismo carbon aluminum shift knob, and carbon reinforced roll cage bars. Under the head unit there is also HKS turbo timer, HKS EVC boost controller, and HKS A/F Knock Amp.
“I want this! I want this! This is definitely Z-tune!” Sora jumps around happily, “Weldina NE-1 titanium exhaust, tranny and rear diff cooler! This is cool- way cool!”

“How do you get this, Kou? Nismo only made 19 of these” Souya asks

“I convert my V-spec in 2006. This is car number 20 and this car is originally a gift for my wife. But my wife can't drive it very well. So here it is” Kojiro hands over the key to Sora

“Oh, wow! Thank you… how much is it?” Sora asks

“I will give it to you free…” Kojiro said

“Yes! Yes! Thank you, man!”

“If only you can beat me on C1” Kojiro continued his words

“What…?”

“This car deserve a good driver for its partner… can you handle it? I will give you two weeks time to improve your driving skills and tame the car” Kojiro smirks, “If you can't do it… I’ll take this baby back”

“…”

Sora nodded firmly and fierce determination can be seen in his eyes. This will be the mark of a new beginning for High School Street Racers, as they will finally get the final formidable member to achieve the greatness.

Meanwhile at Tokyo Metro Police Department…
A lot of police officers are gathered to view the summary of the traffic information so far. There is a lot of scene going on, and most of them are taking notes and spitting out questions from their mouth.
“The notorious Need for Speed crews is getting more active lately. Same goes for Real Japan 7, C4, Kamikaze, Wild Beast, Japan’s Exotics, and the Speedsters…” said one of the police officers during the presentation, “We also had an up-and-coming new team, the High School Street Racers. Basically they are a group of high school kids, who likes to street race in the midnight”

“We also lost one of our most formidable officers from Interpol. He also stole one of the American Interpol cars” said another officer, “Looks like he will be one of our biggest obstacles. He even gathered his own team to fight us”

“In order to anticipate this, we appoint another formidable member of Interpol to deal with this trouble. We are expecting the best results from him and we are ordered to give our fullest support to our newest Street Racer Killer Operation leader; James Cross” said the police chief as he points out a middle aged man who stands beside him

There they have it. A renegade cop and a formidable member of Interpol police officer from America. They major teams are also turning their attention to this newbie team, and they won't hesitate to crush them. This is going to be a long and harsh journey in their path to the greatness.
Stay tuned for more action from High School Street Racers with the newbie Sora as the new guy!


This post has been edited by R_E_X on Nov 9 2009, 01:15 AM

[crav3]

yeah RPM 33...its ok...by the way ur character description part need update...hehe

[R_E_X]

I already made some more detail, but I forgot to uploded it... Maybe I'll do it this noon

Here is the Last Mile RPMs

RPM 1: Newcomer of Wangan

It’s been almost one week since Sora arrived in Tokyo and gets his hands on the blue GT-R. He drives it well enough now and he started to know his way around Shutokou also.
In Kojiro’s office, a man is seen lighting up his cigar and blow smokes away. He is Fushida Kyo, the teacher of Kojiro in the art of GT-R tuning.
“So you decided to hand it over… the precious trophy of Nismo to that newbie” He said, “What was his name again? Sky? The car fits his name… what a coincidence”

Sora is pronounced as Sky in English. Even though it’s just a coincidence, Kojiro never did believe such thing as coincidence.
“I never believed such thing… everything in this world is already planned” Kojiro sips his tea, “From the moment Hikaru gets his hand to GT-R, to when Sora leaves us with a lot of question in our mind… that’s why I knew when that guy walks into the garage, I need to help this newbie and gave him my wife’s Z-tune”

“Do you also sense it? That kid has an amazing aura around him… it’s threatening and people just can't ignore him, once they see him”

“He has the eyes of eagle. They looked wild and untamable… as if the sky stretches in front of him and he’s ready to soar high… higher than any other street racer I’ve seen, visiting this garage” Kojiro continued

Kyo stares to the window across the office and Sora is seen outside, pinching out the display in the dashboard of his Z-tune. He then stands up and stares back at the old man with the cigar, showing his sharp, brown eyes.
“Going off somewhere?” Kyo strikes a conversation

“Something like that… Kou, I’m going to go out for awhile” he said, “I’m going to visit Shutokou and familiarize myself with the road around C1”

“Sure, go ahead” Kojiro replied, “Don’t dent the car now”

“Okay… see you later, then. See you around, old man” he said to Kyo

Sora straps himself with the Nismo Willans harnesses before he drive out the garage slowly. He immediately bought the harnesses the moment Kojiro gave him the car key.
“One thing remains the same… youngsters these days never respected their elders. You are willing to find out how the kid goes by operating your left leg?” Kyo exhaled, “Don’t overdid yourself now”

“I'm just tired being a crippled man like this” Kojiro said, “I will get the pin out of my leg and revert the car back to manual tranny. I also will built a RB26 Z2 spec, using my Fine spec engine”

“So that explains why there is a lot of Nismo branded box downstarirs… need some help?” Kyo put out the cigar on the ashtray, “I don’t have all day, so let’s do it right now”

Meanwhile on Shutokou highway…
A blue Nismo Z-tune cruises down at C1 with moderate speed. The sky outside grew darker and darker, plus the rain is pouring outside. He needs to make full use of ATESSA E-TS Pro to keep his pace. He knew Kojiro will do his best to test his ability and he does not want to lose either. He’s got to have this car.
“…”

He shifted down as he passed a car in front of him. It’s a black Toyota Celica and the driver seemed surprised when he got passed without any effort.
“Whoah! That’s the last one!” said the driver

“What do you mean?” his friend asks him back

“I’ve seen him cruising at Shutokou for almost one week now. I heard that blue Z-tune is the last production number of Z-tune in Japan” the driver explained, “The owner of that car is Kojiro Speed Performance and that is car number 20”

“Isn’t Z-tune last number is 19?” his friend ask again

“That’s why I told you that is the last one! Kojiro specifically requested the car to be made” the driver grits his teeth, “There is no way I can catch up to it”

Sora keeps on accelerating until he passed the first pier. He then shifts down once again and let go of the clutch. When engine brake kicks in, he steers the car to the opposite side and enters the corner beautifully.
“I guess that’s about enough for now”

Suddenly his mobile phone is ringing. The Nokia theme song is played before he reached out for his N96 in his pocket.
“Yes?”

“Sora, it’s me…” Souya said, “What do you say if we have a roll tomorrow after school at Wangan? I want to see how well you progressed”

“Sure, sure” Sora nodded, “See you tomorrow, then”

After he hangs up the phone, he exits the highway and gets back to the garage.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Morning breeze fills up a tidy room, along with the scent of flower that grows outside. It smells very nice and sweet. Dirty clothes, stained by engine oils can be seen on the small washing machine, while the bed inside the room is tidied up already. On the wall sticks a lot of car posters, but each of them had one common similarity; a silver GT and red R emblems.

Boy’s hum can be heard from the bathroom… it was Sora. He is already done taking a bath and is seen drying his medium length brown hair with a dry towel. After he puts on a white shirt and his blue trouser and suit, he goes to the kitchen to eat his breakfast- toasted breads and milk.

Knock, knock…

Somebody knocked on the door. He was also a student like him, since he is also wears the same suit as Sora does.
“Sora, are you awake yet?” the student asks

“Maybe he hasn’t awake yet?” the girl beside him smiled

“Oh, if you want to go to Yuki’s house then please go on ahead” he replies, “I’ll wait for him”

“Okay, see you later, then” she said as she left off

Sora immediately eats his toast and drink his milk. After that he opens the door to let the student comes in. He is Souya.
“Morning person, huh, Sou? Come on in and wait up a bit, I still need to brush my teeth and wear my shoes. Where’s Yuuri?”

“She go on ahead to Yuki’s house” Souya replied

Souya sat down at the couch as he waits for his friend. He reads up a JDM option magazines, with blue and green Falken GT-R in the cover. After few minutes of reading it, he put it back to the glass table and looks for another magazine. But most of the magazine is featuring Skyline GT-Rs on it, quickly dispels Souya’s intention out from his head to the air.
“Okay… let’s go” Sora pats his shoes to clean some dust on it

After he locks the door, the two walks slowly to the school, which is only ten blocks away. The two continues to talk about cars and mechanical stuffs. For Sora, it’s an important hint, remembering him as a newcomer in these kinds of things.
“Final test is approaching. Are you ready?” Souya laughs

“Don’t worry about me. I’ll catch the materials in no time” Sora wondered

“Oh yeah, Sora… do you already have any idea for what’re you going to do?” Souya asks

“Not yet… perhaps I’ll sink myself with more part time jobs”

“Great idea… My place needs a courier for picking up the cargo. Want to join?” Souya asks again

“Sure, sure… as long it pays well, I’ll do it”

Suddenly out of nowhere, water drops lightly from the sky. The two increases their pace to reach the school faster.
At the locker, he and Souya feels very relieved. Their clothes aren’t wet just yet.
“Damn it... screw that TV Tokyo weather forecast” Souya bawled, “The weather is kind of funny”

“Well, that’s weather forecast for you… forecast is not always correct, so I wouldn’t be surprised to see these kinds of thing happened”

“Yeah, global warming contributes a lot of these strange weathers” Souya continued

“What about your Seven? I read from Wiki that your car has a worse emission, worse mileage, and it’s ‘really’ environmental friendly. Your car’s little sister is dubbed one of the worst fuel economical car by Yahoo autos of 2006…”

“Hey, that’s not true! She runs on V-power Racing with 10% ethanol formula” he argued, “It should at least help the exhaust fumes”

“Yeah, by a tiny winy bitty”

After cleaning their suits from the unabsorbed water drops, they head to the class immediately and sit at their designated seats. Souya stares at the window and wondered how long this rain lasts. The weather turns cold, the window glasses are foggy, and the air in the class turns gloomy as well.
“Sup, Sou?” a boy asks him, “It’s not like you to get all depressed at the weather”

“Oh, it’s just you, Tarou…” he sighed, “This weather is killing me. Sora and I will have a cruise at Shutokou today, and this weather will likely spoil the fun”

“Don’t worry… the weather will improve sooner or later” Tarou shrugs

“Hei, guys” Sora said as he tidied up his books

Hikaru, Clark, Keith, Gonsuke, Yamada, and Iwami show up with their girlfriends. Yuuri smiled as she saw Souya is trying to catch up with his old pal.
“So let’s do it after school, okay?” Souya said

“Sure, sure” Sora nodded, “What about you two?”

“I’ll come along with you” Steve smirks, “Of course Tarou will come also”

“Yes… I got nothing to do, so I guess it should be fun” Tarou agreed, “What about you guys?”

“Nah… Gonsuke and I have to work overtime” Hikaru shrugs, “Some other time, maybe”

“What about you, Yamada, Iwami?” Souya ask

“I have to do another part time job as well” Yamada said, “I need to improve the power of my car”

“Same here” Iwami added

“Keith? Clark?”

“I already made plans with Mel…” Keith answered, “What if you join them, Clark?”

“Sorry… I have to help Sarah with the repairs of her Roadster” Clark grins

“Then it’s just the four of us” Steve nodded, “See you later at Tatsumi parking area

After the school is over, Sora quickly gets to Kojiro’s garage to take the car for a spin. He cannot wait any longer, since his feet is already itch to steps on the gas pedal and burn some tires. The rain is getting heavier and heavier, the surface of the road starts to wet and slippery. But all of that doesn’t stop his intention to have a test drive on Shutokou.
“Kou, are you here?” Sora shouts from outside of his office

No answer can be heard. Kojiro must’ve gone out somewhere, even though his V-spec II is parked beside blue Z-tune below his office. This will be his first cruise together with his friends on Wangan and hopefully everything will go smoothly.
After he gets into the car, he adjusts the seat position, rearview mirror, and steering wheel angle. After he’s done and ready, he straps the seatbelt, ignites the engine, and drive off.

Souya is waiting for his lame friend at the junction. When he reached his hand to play some hard rocking music, Sora shows up. All of them will rendezvous at Tatsumi car park and starts cruising along to Wangan Line.

Sometime later at Tatsumi P.A.

Red BMW M3 GTR and yellow Soarer are parked at some of the empty spaces. Steve and Tarou are waiting for their two other friend. They supposed to be here anytime soon.
Since when Tarou’s car is yellow? Tarou is fed up with Silver color, so he re-paints his Soarer to yellow.
“Here you go” Tarou threw off a can of warm black coffee to Steve, “They’re on the way here”

“I know. I'm sure that both of them are serious guys, especially that guy with blue Z-tune… what is his name again? Sora?” Steve sips his warm coffee, “He had wild eyes- good eye for speed”

“How do you know that? Stop playing psychic … you creeps me out, man”

Tarou shivered. Whether he’s truly scared or because of the cold air, God knows. Steve can only grin seeing his friend’s behavior. He then leans his back against the parking area’s sign.
“I feel something strange about him. It feels just the same, as if you stand in front of a mirror” Steve exhales and sips his coffee again, “But he’s inexperienced thus he has a lot to learnt”

“I agree… Souya said that he is just an average guy, with recent interest on cars” Tarou explained, “We should help him to get better, huh? What do you say?”

“Couldn’t agree more” Steve finishes his coffee and threw the empty can to the garbage bin, “There they are”

Tarou drinks up his tea and gets to his car immediately. Sora and Souya waits at the side of the area for them.
“Okay, let’s drive” Steve nods to them

Meanwhile at a busy hospital…
A female doctor can be seen diagnosing a patient’s roentgen photo on her white board. She also does a voice recording while she types at her carbon black laptop about her diagnose when sudden knocks on the door stops her.
“Atsuno-sensei, the operation of Yuuta-san has been done” said a fellow doctor to her

“And what about the patient’s condition? Has he awakened?” the female doctor asks

“Not yet, ma’am. Looks like the sedative still in effect” said the doctor again

“Well that’s it for me, then… please take care of the rest” the female doctor close her laptop

“Yes, ma’am” the male doctor close the door back

The male doctor nods and closes the door back. She stretches her stiff body and hangs her lab coat. As she takes a look at the rain, pouring heavy outside, she exhaled lightly and lifts her warm coffee mug to drink it.
“Time to go” she smiled

Wangan Line underwater tunnel, one P.M.
The yellow Soarer is overtaking the traffic cars, followed by blue RX7, red BMW and blue GT-R. Even though Sora is a newbie with GT-R, he can keep up easily to them. He remembers what he does yesterday.
“He’s good. The way he handles the heavy car is smooth” Steve thought, “I guess he has a talent after all. Sora, try to increase you pace and follow us”

“I’ll try” Sora nods

Sora shifts down and floors his car more. Steve carefully paying attention to how Sora responded to the throttle after he shift down, and he saw what he expected- engine brake effect after he shift down.
“Try to fasten your right foot to prevent the engine brake from occurring” Steve explained

“Easy for you to say” Sora replied, “I'm trying to get used to the footwork and the clutch is a bit heavy”

All of them continue to cruise down at the heavy rain towards the airport tunnel to Wangan line. Even though they are just running around at hundred to hundred and fifty KM/H, it’s so much fun when you cruise with your friends.

The rain keeps on pouring heavy on the tunnel, since most of it are exposed to the sky. When they out from the tunnel, a car flashes its light from behind them… It’s a purple Nissan GT-R.
“What the hell? The paint is so bizarre” Tarou said

The purple GT-R still flashing the headlights, but the boys keeps their cool on the place. They moved aside and let it pass without speeding up. The purple GT-R seemed to be bored and looking for something fun to play with.

“I’m going to chase it”

“Don’t do it. That car is way fast” Steve explained

“I know, but this car is Z-tune! That Nissan GT-R looks barely modified… so I'm going to give it a go. See you later” Sora speeds up his car and chases the purple GT-R

“Sora, stop it!” Souya tried to stop him

Sora and his blue GT-R easily gets behind the purple car… or so he thought. He then flashes his headlights to initiate challenge.
Up in the front, the driver of the purple GT-R smiled happily and slows the car down to let him pass. Sora gets in front of the car easily.
“How is this?”

“So cocky” said the driver, “Oh well, the car is stock, so I think it’s no fun at all… time to get back home”

The driver is a girl. She smiled as she changes the lane and shifts down. She then passed the blue car as if it’s a traffic cone on the street. Sora tried to block the lane but he couldn’t. The purple GT-R and its driver are way skilled than him. The purple car continues to cruise its way to Tokyo Port tunnel and disappear from their sights.
If something does happen, it happens to Sora. He couldn’t control his blue GT-R because he sways it too hard to the side, and he can’t regain traction.
“The road is too damn slippery”

“Hit the brakes, hit the brakes!” Souya yelled to him

Sora already did. He hits the brake like crazy, but the car won’t stop, as if the car rejects him.
“What the hell?! The car won't stop!”

He then pulls the e-brake and makes the car slide even and spins around.
“STOOOOOOP!!!”

Luckily the car stops just before it hits the sideway. Sora’s face turns pale, he can’t think straight, and he’s scared to death. The rain stopped and the black clouds began to disperse at the sky.
Souya, Steve, and Tarou parked their car at the side of the street and hit the hazard lights.

Sora still sat inside the car as he grips the steering wheel hard. His hands feel numb and his feet are trembling. Even though he almost hit the car at the side of the road, he feels excited. Souya, Steve, and Tarou approach the blue car to see if the driver inside is safe and sound.
“You alright? That was some stupid stunt you pull” Steve sighed, “Can you make it back to the garage?”

“Sure… just give me some time first. My feet are trembling and my hands feel numb”

“Geez, you made us worried like hell. When we saw you spin around like that, we could only think of the worst” Tarou adds, “Let’s just go back now”

“Kojiro will kill you if you dent this car” Souya scratches his head

“True. But when I told her to stop, she just stopped right there” Sora exhaled with relief, “This car is indeed amazing. I can't wait to take her for another spin next time”


This post has been edited by R_E_X on May 31 2010, 08:08 PM

[GTI-R34]

what's cooking doc

[crav3]

im still editing it...was occupied these few day due to family and personal life affairs sory for the delay, i'll mail it to rex once done

[R_E_X]

Just download the proofreaded RPM, and I'll uploaded it when I have the chance...

RPM 2: White Ghost and Blue Z-tune

All of them arrived at Kojiro’s garage half an hour later. After Sora parked his car under the office, the other employees are waiting patiently for something… something about the blue GT-R.
Sora steps down from the blue car with wide smile on his face. He couldn’t feel happier, knowing that he can drive a fast car like this one.
“Oh well, it’s time to go to the shoe store” Souya said, “See you around, Sora. Let’s do another test drive next time. Let’s go Steve, Tarou”

“See you around” Tarou nods

“Don’t be a stranger” Steve adds

After the trio left, Sora approaches the mechanics on the garage.
“Have Kojiro returned yet?”

“Not yet… looks like he’ll be out for awhile” said one of the mechanics

“So how is it? The car feels great?” the other mechanic asks him

“Not really… the suspension feels a little wobbly” Sora answered as he looks under the front and rear wheel arch, “Hm, nothing’s wrong… that’s weird, though. Maybe the wheel alignment is off?”

“No way… Kojiro-san is the one who always take a look after the car. He will immediately fix it if something is out of order, even when the tires are starting to run out of air” the mechanic added

“Is that so? Well then I'm glad” Sora looks at his N96, “Oh, it’s already this late… well, I'm off guys. See you tomorrow”

Sora left the garage, while the workers are talking to one another regarding the blue car. They still can't believe what he just said to them.
“Can you believe it? After no one here could tame the car, he drives it with minor wobbliness on the suspension?” said one mechanic, “Who is he? He’s just a kid driving a fast car!”

“More importantly, that kid handles the car pretty well. Maybe he’s the driver, chosen by this car” said another mechanic, “Anyways, we must tell the boss about this when he gets back”

On the next day at the hospital, Kojiro is fast asleep on a comfy looking bed with white sheets. He opens his eyes slowly and exhaled lightly as he stares at the white clean ceiling. Beyond the door to his right, a faint knock can be heard, turning his attention to the source of the sound.
“Yes, come on in” Kojiro said

“Excuse me… have you come around, Yuuta-san?” Atsuno-sensei asks him

“I’m fine, thank you” Kojiro grins

“Still feels pain on your left knee?” She asks again

“No… what did you do to it anyway?” Kojiro ask back

“Your bones are healing up pretty well. It feels pain when the pins are inside the leg, because in essence, you don’t need them anymore” Atsuno-sensei explained, “In few more days, your left leg will be as good as new”

“Thank you, sensei…” Kojiro smiled, “You are very helpful”

She smiled and tried to tap his left knee with a small plastic hammer. When he taps the knee, his left leg moved, showing it responded to the stimuli she gave.
“That’s what doctors are here to do” She sighed, “Okay, looks like your left leg is in great condition… I’ll give your medicine prescription to the nurse later, since I have some surgery appointment to do”

“Thank you once again, sensei…” Kojiro nodded

“If I suggest, you shouldn’t use your knee for about two to three days. Let it heal completely” she grins, “See you around, Yuuta-san”

The school is already over and Sora is washing his Z-tune at the garage. His part time work? Now that you mention it, he doesn’t work part time, isn’t he? Well, since his married brother sends him money every month, he doesn’t have to work part time. All he does to help is to take out an order of delivery from a customer and relays it to his brother on the office. But that doesn’t mean all he does is to play and fool around. Sometimes when there are no more workers around, he also helps out to deliver the package to their customer.
“You always come around to see this Z-tune, huh? Why don’t you bring it home? I'm sure Kojiro-san will agree” said one of the mechanics when he saw Sora is washing the blue car

“Um, no… even after Kojiro gave this to me, I’m going to put it here… I'm sure Kojiro will be happy to monitor this baby all the time” Sora shrugs, “Besides, I guess this place is where she belongs. Almost the entire visitor tends to watch this car sits gracefully under this bright white, office lights”

“Hey, kid… what do you intend to do with this blue car?” the mechanic asks once again

“Become the best in Shutokou” he answered firmly, “Why do you ask?”

“There are a lot of people like you. But hopefully you are different from them” the other mechanic added

“What do you mean hopefully I'm different from them? Who are they? The previous driver of this blue Z-tune?”

“I'm sure you’ve met Ichijou Hikaru, member of HSSR, right?” the mechanic asked

“Yes, I’ve met him before. I'm his classmate”

“He switched to white AP1 after his GT-R crashed. Then came this new kid… he was just like you. All worked up with his GT-R… but then he eloped with Hikaru’s sister and we never heard of him since. He was known as the notorious Musashi back then” the mechanic explained, “Both of them drives a silver V-spec II Nur”

“Silver? How common…” Sora continued to wipe the blue car to dry, “Why are you telling me this? Do you guys have a high hope on me or something?”

“Yes, we had high hopes for you, Sora” said a man from behind him

When Sora looked at the man who talks to him, it’s Kojiro. Looks like he’s back from somewhere.
“Where’ve you been?” Sora asked

“I came to the hospital to get a pin removal surgery from my left leg” Kojiro answered, “Now my leg is as good as new”

“Is that so? Well good for you… I don’t know Hikaru drives a GT-R once”

“Yes. After it crash, his sister ask me to repair it and it become her possession since then” Kojiro continued

“And what about that Musashi? Where is he now?”

“He is at Seattle. Because of his absence, HSSR suffer a huge loss and they have been at defeat, even by small timed crew. So back at the bottom they go” Kojiro explained, “Oh, here comes the White Ghost… looks like he’s here for something”

A white S2000 cruises slowly to the garage. It then parked in the front of the blue Z-tune, directly facing it. Hikaru then steps out from the car and locked the car with the remote.
“Hi” Hikaru said lightly, “Want to have a cruise, Sora?”

“Great idea… I was just finished with the cleaning” Sora nodded, “But before we go, can I see the engine of this car? What did you do to it?”

“Okay, hold on for a minute” Hikaru opens the car back and pops the bonnet of his white car, “There you go”

Sora opens the hood and sees the legendary F20C in front of his eyes. It was equipped with Vortech supercharger. The supercharger is chrome polished and therefore sparkles beautifully and neatly. Most of the part in the car uses Mugen and Spoon.
“…”

“How is it?” Hikaru smiled, “Good enough for you?”

“This is cool” Sora nodded

“I'm glad you say that… hm?”

Hikaru looks at an angel with blue dress beside Sora. She also stares at the engine, carefully paying attention to every great detail on it. She then smiled and looked at him directly to his eyes. She points her thumb to the back, asking him to see the engine bay of the Z-tune. Kojiro is surprised to see her as well. No one but the two of them is able to see it. Sora didn’t realized the blue angel beside him, since he’s busy looking at the F20C.
“Okay, Sora… it’s your turn. Let me have a look on what’s under the bonnet” Hikaru smirks

When Sora is about to open the bonnet from inside the car, the bonnet suddenly popped itself so everybody can see what’s inside it.
“Eh, is it already open?” Sora said, “Did I forget to press it after I clean the bay?”

Once again, only Kojiro and Hikaru saw it. Hikaru begins to shiver in fear, and so does Kojiro. Is it really alright for Sora to drive this car? Nevertheless, Hikaru intends to find out what’s beneath it. The moment he and Kojiro see the silver colored engine cover, their hearts skips a beat. It feels alive, even though the car is not ignited.
“How is it?”

“Did you do something to the engine?” Kojiro asks him

“No I didn’t… all I did was just wipe it clean after the rain yesterday”

Hikaru pays attention to every detail on it. There is nothing wrong or different compared to normal Z-tune, but this car… this car is different.
“How much horsepower, Sora?” Hikaru asked

“500 HP, with 550NM of torque… hey, you are a fan of GT-R once, don’t you know this one?”

“I'm not sure how to put it, but your car is not an ordinary Z-tune” Hikaru said, “One glance, and I can already tell… honest”

“Originally this car belongs to his wife” Sora points to Kojiro, “And if she did something to it, I don’t know. I just get my hand on this car a week ago. But when I drive it, it feels just normal”

“Is that so?” a girl asked from the front of the garage

“Yuki? I thought you’ll be back around four?” Hikaru wondered

“Nope. Most of the Kendo team members are bushed with training after the national tournament last week. So the teacher send us back home early” she explained, “So this is the blue Z-tune everyone’s been talking about. You know, you really starting to make a name for yourself out there”

“Did I? I never noticed” Sora scratches his head in confusion

“So let’s have a cruise together, Sora” Hikaru said to him, “Off to Wangan we go!”

“Sure… let me change my clothes first” he said

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

At Wangan line, the two cars are starting to speed up against each other. It’s clearly for S2000, which has the lighter weight, outmaneuvering the blue GT-R. Passing the traffic and overtaking them is done by Hikaru at ease. His car has the best Honda engineering someone could ever ask for. A 500 HP S2000 with perfect weight distribution can be considered as an ultimate highway machine. His sleek and small body is perfect for maneuvering freely, even in the heavy traffic.
“How is the view from behind there, Sora?” Hikaru asked

“Not bad, I suppose” he answered lightly, “You know, Hikaru… for a car with small engine like that, you really outdid it”

They turned on their phone and let it sit with loudspeakers to act as a walkie-talkie.
“Is that so?” Hikaru smirks, “You know, this is one of the perfect cars Honda ever created”

“Yep, but I guess it’s not going to be enough. Well, time to get serious I guess” Sora shifts down instantly and steps on the throttle harder

“Let’s see if you can keep up with the ghost” Hikaru said relaxed

Yuki who sat beside Hikaru didn’t talk much. She is busy paying attention to Sora’s every move; his line, his way of handling the car, and his way to pass the traffic around him.
“His way to handle the blue car really catches your eye, huh?” Hikaru smirks as he looks at his girlfriend

“Yes he is… I don’t know how to describe it, but you feel different from him” Yuki explained, “His eyes is wild… way wild than you. Kojiro told me he had the eyes of an eagle”

“He is… I can even feel his sharp eyes staring right at me” Hikaru said

Sora keeps on increasing his pace. He shifts up every time he hits 9,000 RPM on his tachometer. Z-tune has longer stroke than normal GT-R. For normal GT-R, the stroke measurement is 73.7 mm, but his Z-tune has 77.7 mm. Talk about lucky seven numbers on crankshaft and connecting rod fabrication.
Hikaru’s S2000 has the larger stroke which is 84 mm and he depends heavily on the V-TEC which kicks in at 9,000 RPM. Both of them has the same number for bore measurement; 87 mm.
“He knows the potential of Z-tune very well” Hikaru said, “I keep on stepping on the throttle and he managed to catch up easily”

“There you go, R” Sora smiled, “Let’s finish this before we reach Honmoku junction”

Sora shifts up to fifth gear and continues to step on the throttle as he overtakes the traffic in front of him. The Z-tune handles well on high speeds.
“Eh? How much did you run?” Yuki asked

“About 200, why?” Hikaru asked back

Yuki then continues to look at the rearview mirror and suddenly the blue car is right beside her.
“How come?! Doesn’t that big turbine have a lag or something?!” Yuki said surprised, “That car must’ve used something else!”

“Alright, Sora! That’s what I'm talking about!” Hikaru shifted to sixth gear and plunges forward

“…”

Sora drafted behind him and follows him closely to his rear bumper. He started to gain more and more distance, since GT-R is bigger than S2000. It’s not use to draft behind such small car.
“Huh… no use” Sora thought

He sways his car to the side and keeps on accelerating forward. The turbines whined in high tone and it’s almost the time to shifts up to sixth.
“Damn! It’s 320 KM/H and he still accelerates?!” Hikaru muttered, “What the…? Still fifth gear?!”

Sora hasn’t shifted up yet, and he didn’t have any time to look at his speedometer. He doesn’t realize that his car can achieve more than 320 KM/H.
“Sixth gear!”

He shifted once again and he started to get further and further.
“How fast can that blue car runs?!” Hikaru said

Hikaru clocked 323 KM/H on his speedometer. Sora on the other hand still accelerates forward and leaves him to eat the blue GT-R’s dust.
“How is that possible… it’s just doesn’t feel normal for 500 HP Z-tune to achieve more than 320 KM/H” Yuki thought, “Kojiro must’ve done something with it”

“Let’s tell the others about this” Hikaru nodded

When Sora reached Honmoku, Hikaru’s car is nowhere on the rearview mirror. He steps off from the pedal and exited the highway.
“What the… where is he going? Did he exited at Daikoku Futo?” he wondered as he stares at his rearview mirror, “Oh well, let’s get back also”


This post has been edited by R_E_X on May 31 2010, 08:09 PM

[GTI-R34]

nice job looks promising

good luck with the exams

[crav3]

gwd one...rex...mery xmas to all n happy new year

[R_E_X]

There is nothing here. Master admin, can you delete this entry? Thank you for your trouble

RPM 3: Anomalies of the Blue Z-tune

Sora isn’t back yet after his cruise with Hikaru. He is currently sits around at Haneda airport, doing nothing as he stares at the cloudy sky above him. The blue car overheats suddenly that he has to stop at Haneda and let it cool down.
“No good. Why are you overheating all of a sudden?”

Big airplane takes off and flies over his head. The black big shadow gets further and further away from him as the loud engine noise whines high above him. The blue GT-R is parked on the lot, with few other cars around the airport.
He lays himself on top of the warm carbon bonnet and tried to grab the skies.
“From here it looks near, but in the same time I can't even grasp it. So damn vast” Sora thought, “Duh, I'm thirsty… better get something from the vending machine inside”

He gets up and pats his jeans before he walks slowly to the airport’s interior. As he enters the building, he passes by a beautiful woman. She wears a sunglasses and she carries a big luggage… looks like a tourist from outside Tokyo.
Nevertheless, Sora doesn’t have anytime to greet the woman since he’s thirty.

The woman walks into the parking lot and sees the blue car that catches her eyes immediately. She rubs the warm carbon bonnet and smiled softly.
Meanwhile inside the airport, Sora opens the cold Coca-Cola bottle he takes from the vending machine. After he swallowed for about two immediate gulps, he exhaled. He then turns his attention to the blue car outside. The woman he met earlier is caressing his blue car. He immediately runs outside and asks what the woman was doing. She saw him coming by so she starts with striking a conversation.
“This is great car you got… why are you here? Picking someone up?” she asked

“No… she overheats suddenly and I have to stop to let her cool down” Sora answered

She then rubs the bonnet once again and whispered softly to the car.
“You came to pick me up? You are my one good daughter. You intentionally overheat, so he stops here” she said, “You found a nice guy for your owner”

“Excuse me? Who are you talking to, ma’am?”

“This one is unique and one of a kind since it doesn’t have usual Z-tune interiors” she said, “Inside the car is very complete… turbo timer, EVC boost controller, A/F knock amp… all of them are HKS. I see this car is equipped with Nismo Willans 4 point harnesses, not to mention carbon roll cage bars”

“Sorry, but it’s not carbon roll cage bars… it’s a carbon reinforced roll cage bars” Sora said, “I’m just borrowing it. That is not really my car”

“What do you mean not really? This car belongs to Yuuta Kojiro, right?” she asked

“Yes it is… who are you? Are you a friend of his?”

“Yes I am. Can you take me to his place? It’s been so long since the last time I saw him” she looks at the blue car, “Please?”

“Oh if you are a friend of Kojiro, then I can't say no” Sora nodded, “What’s your name, ma’am? My name is Sora… Ninomiya Sora”

“It’s Kamiya… Honjou Kamiya” she bows, “Pleased to meet you, Sora-kun”

“Let’s go, shall we?”

Sora opens the trunk and put her heavy luggage inside the trunk. After the two buckled up, he then drives the car slowly out from the airport area. He drives at Wangan line carefully and slowly, since the passenger is a lady. But the lady seemed impatient and needs to see Kojiro in a hurry. She urges him to go faster and speed up in the highway.
“I want to see how fast this Z-tune can actually run… speed up a little” she said

“Are you sure? Alright, if you say so” Sora shifts down and steps deeper on the throttle

“Let me see if he really has it” she whispered, “Do you still have it, dear?”

“Um, ma’am… who’re you talking to?”

“Ah, I'm just talking to myself” she replied, “Ah, there is two fast BMW in front of you. Why don’t you try and run them out”

It was a red E46 BMW M3 GTR and white E92 BMW M3… or Steve and Keith in details. Sora is not a stupid guy. He knows the fact that those BMWs are not for show only.
“But ma’am… they are my classmates and my fellow teammates. Besides their car is not for show only- they are damn fast”

“Don’t worry, this blue car will manage” she replied lightly, “Come on”

Sora flashes his high beam three times and passes them. Keith and Steve immediately knew who it is, and both of them are with their girlfriend… Keith has a girlfriend? Yes, she is Melissa-sensei who is teaching English class.
“Oh, looks like our little friend here wants to play, Keith” Steve laughs

“Well, I don’t know whether he realizes it or not, but both of us have V8 engine under the hood” Keith replied with a smile, “Whatever, let’s play with him for awhile… Is it alright, Mel?”

“Sure, go on ahead” Melissa-sensei said

“Let’s go then” Jessie added

The two BMWs speeds up and pass him easily. Sora smiled as he shifted up. He’s currently on the third gear. Despite of the big gap in the cylinder capacity (with 4 liters for the two BMWs, and 2.8 for Z-tune), Sora managed to trail them and sticks up on their asses.
“That Z-tune is really something” Keith said

“Yes and I must admit… he handles it well, even though he only got his hands on it for a week” Steve added, “But playtime’s over! Let’s leave him to dust!”

“Couldn’t agree more” Keith agreed

The two BMWs start to pull away from the blue car. Sora smiled lightly and he shifted to fourth gear and increases his pace.
“The turbo kicks in at 3,800 RPM and lasts until 7,800 RPM. Also, don’t forget that you can take it up to 9,000” said Kamiya, “Try to use it for your advantages”

“I get it” Sora nods, “I have to catch them up now… here goes!”

As Sora steps harder on the throttle, the car plunges forward and starts to gain some distance, getting closer and closer to the two BMWs.
“What the? How’s that possible?!” Keith sounded surprised

“Don’t let your guard down! He can take it up to 9,000!” Steve reminds him, “We’ll see how you can survive top speed battle against me… what the hell?!”

Steve already clocked 320 KM/H on sixth gear, but Sora and his blue car keeps on accelerates forward. Sora shifted once again to sixth gear and fully floors the throttle, just like when he cruises with Hikaru before.
“He doesn’t realize it. He speeds up beyond 320 and yet he doesn’t feel anything… you do still have it, dear” she whispered, “You still able to run to 340”

Sora is busy looking forward at the streets in front of him. The road stretches long before him, as if making a way for him. At 340 KM/H, something can be seen coming out from his fender flares; white mists, keeping his car balanced and sticks it on the road. ATTESA E-TS Pro keeps his car steady on the asphalt, four-wheel steering helps him to pass the traffic easily and there is no vibration of the suspension from the uneven road condition. Everything around him is perfectly putting him into a great advantage against whoever he met on the highway.
“I can’t keep up! That car has better acceleration than I thought!” Keith hissed, “If I let my guard down for even a sec, I’ll lose him”

“I can't believe it… my hardcore racecar is beaten by a stock GT500 inspired car?!” Steve sounds pissed, “What the hell is up with that monster car?!”

“Kojiro must’ve done something to it” Jessie said, “Let’s asks him later on”

The blue GT-R still accelerates forward as it starts to disappear from their sights.
“That car is a perfect highway machine” Melissa wondered, “The one who made such thing is marvelous indeed. No wonder people start to call him Blue Phantom of Wangan Midnight”

“It continues to accelerates forward… looks like he can go beyond 330 KM/H” Keith added

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Back at the garage, Kojiro is whistling happily as he spins the piston rings into the pistons. He then inserts it carefully to the engine and takes a balancing pressure meter. He is blueprinting and balancing the engine, so it will stand greater onslaught at top speeds.

Suddenly, there are a lot of cars parked outside his garage. It’s Hikaru and his friends. Looks like they intend to gather more info on the blue car after all.
“Kou, are you here?” Hikaru said

“Over here… what’s wrong, Ghost?” he said back

“We want to know more about your blue car” Hikaru smirks, “Can you tell us about it? What did you do to it?”

“How much horsepower does it have right now?” Yuki continued

“How can it go beyond 320KM/H with 500 HP?” Gonsuke added

“Well if you want to know more about my Z-tune… you probably should ask my wife back at Osaka” Kojiro shrugs, “I'm in a middle of building 2.8 engine here, so don’t bother me. There isn’t much time left until Friday, and I have to prepare myself to have a battle with Sora”

Suddenly, the blue car they talked about shows up. Sora parked it right beside Kojiro’s white V-spec II, glaring into Hikaru and the others with its menacing looks and furious roar. Sora likes to revs the engine before he turns it off. And when Sora does that, everyone inside the garage can't help it but to flinch in intimidation; Hikaru and the others, their girlfriends, the mechanics, even Kojiro as well.
“Okay… that’ll do it” Sora smiled happily, “Here we are, ma’am”

“Yes… oh, the timer is set to automated” she said as she pinch out the buttons on HKS turbo timer, “There you go, three minutes should be enough”

Sora steps out from the car and pops the bonnet to let fresh air circulates to the engine bay. Souya, Gonsuke, Yamada, Iwami, Tarou, and Clark immediately approaches the engine to takes a good look into it. Few seconds later, Steve and Keith also arrived into the garage. Looks like they demanding some explanation from Kojiro about the blue car.
“Here we are” Steve said as he walks inside

“Kojiro, what’s with this blue car? How can this stock GT500 inspired engine possibly defeat us?” Keith adds

“It only has 500 HP for Christ sake” Hikaru said again

“I told you; if you have questions about my wife’s Z-tune you should ask…” Kojiro said in frustration

“Me…” said Kamiya that steps out from the blue car, “Hi, dear”

“Ka…. Kamiya?! When did you get back?” Kojiro asks in confusion

She opens the trunk of the blue car and takes out her heavy luggage. She then drags it and walks toward Kojiro.
“Guys, this is my wife… Honjou Kamiya” Kojiro smirks

“Now it’s Yuuta Kamiya, since I’m back over here” she replied, “How are you, dear?”

She kissed Kojiro in the cheek and smiled softly. She then pats Kojiro’s messy and sweaty hair.
“Tired after working on the engine?” she asked

“More or less” he answered

“So you do find an interesting fellow for our daughter” she smiled, “He is a fine driver alright. Do you still intend to test him?”

“How do you do, Kamiya-san?” Yuki bows to her, “Do you remember me?”

“Sure thing, Black Phantom” she said, “Seno-san gave you the position as the leader, huh? I guess that’s to be expected, since you’re talented”

“About your Z-tune…” Yuki continued

“You mean her? I can't tell you everything about it, but she runs about 800 HP” Kamiya answered, “I knew some of the guys back at Nismo and when Kojiro wants to convert the car to a Z-tune, I contacted my friend and requested so this Z-tune will be different than the others”

“800 HP? That’s just about the same as… his silver GT-R” Iwami said

“Forget about him” Hikaru said, “What did you do to the GT-R? How can it achieve more than 320 KM/H easily?”

“I'm not quite sure… even though all I ask is just increase the horsepower to 800; I can't understand the specs” Kamiya shrugs, “I tried to temper it once, but there is something else beside custom prototype parts”

“Custom prototype parts?” Yuki sounds puzzled

“Okay, for starters… she runs on eight piston Brembo brakes on the front and six in the rear. Secondly, she is running with VTG Nismo-IHI Garret turbo, 1.5 bar of boost. Thirdly, the custom parts… Nismo fabricated special pistons, carbon roll cage bars, head gaskets, intercooler, piping, radiator, clutch, driveshaft, Z-tune special programmable E.C.U, gearbox ratios- everything” explains Kamiya, “One more thing, though… would you believe me if I told you the car is alive? She has more than meets the eye. Right, Sora?”

Sora nodded. So does Kojiro, and Hikaru. They have seen what she really look like, and she choose Sora as her owner.
“VTG- you mean Variable Turbine Geometry?!” Melissa-sensei gasped, “How can you manage to get such a thing?”

“You know anything about it?” Keith asked

“With VTG turbo, you will get less turbo lag” Clark explained, “It’s a great thing to have, when you equipped a turbo on your car, but I have to say… it’s not easy to get your hands on it”

“And the reason I told you she is alive is… you can’t get as far as 340 KM/H with just proto parts” Kamiya shrugs, “I disassembled her once, and all she got for me is more puzzle to be solved”

“Bah, bullshit! Who would believe such thing?” Souya said in disbelief

“It’s just absurd” Steve added

“Remember yesterday when we brought her for a test drive, Sou? I told you that she stopped when I told her to stop, right?” Sora smiled as he pats the fender softly, “She is alive… I can feel it. Too bad that you guys don’t know anything about her…”

“I don’t buy that” Steve cuts in

“You just making things up” Jessie adds

“Believe what you got to believe, but ask yourself, why do I need to make this up?” Sora shrugs, “Or do you need more proof, Steve, Keith?”

Steve and Keith feels threatened by his words. They clearly lose on the top speed battle, or so they thought.
“Let me remind you guys about a hidden fact on that Z-tune… the settings are not done yet” Kamiya grabs a torque wrench and tighten the bolts on Kojiro’s engine, “She is adjusted to follow my way of driving. So after I help my dear husband finish the engine, I will re-program the E.C.U to fit Sora’s way of driving”

“Guys, I hate to say this to you, but my wife is right” Kojiro grins, “There is no way you can stand a chance against Sora’s Z-tune, once it’s been fully tuned. She had a strange quality of speed around her”

“Let me make it short… you guys are looking at the next Sky King himself” Kamiya smirks, “Sora, please take care of our daughter… she is yours, and I have given you my permission to drive her however you like… just don’t wreck her, okay?”

“Thank you, ma’am… but who is Sky King? What is it?”

“Sora… we had an unfinished business, right? Let's have a battle you once again some other time” Steve said, “I will give it all to defeat you and your blue car”


This post has been edited by R_E_X on May 31 2010, 08:12 PM

[crav3]

nice...wht happen to the ori hssr? u going to stop doing them or plan to take a break...

[kirashin]

wow..seem like life is realli bzy for u huh..dun worri..i can wait until the nxt RPM come up..hehe...

[iKeeto]

Sick sick! sounds like the initial d books i read!

[R_E_X]

Whew... it's been a long time since I was here...

What do you mean, iKeeto? Can you tell me which part is exactly sounds like Initial D?

RPM 4: Blue Phantom

Sora is washing the blue car outside the garage. The weather is nice without any sunlight at all, and no water dripping from the sky. He always washes the blue car whenever he has the chance, whether it’s dirty or not- he’ll wash it anyway.
“Sora, here is the product decals you requested. Want me to put it on for you?” Kojiro asked

“Yes, please do…” Sora replied as he wipes the shining blue body with yellow chamois, “It is tomorrow, right? Have you prepared everything for the battle?”

“Kamiya is buying a laptop at the electronic city this morning, and she’s currently installs the modulating and setting program” Kojiro replied, “Where would you like this HKS to be putted on?”

“What about at the bonnet? Since there is Nismo flag on the right side, let’s put it on the left side… right here” Sora said, “Make it a little bit leaning diagonally to the upper left side”

“Okay, what’s next?” Kojiro asked, “Sachs, Brembo?”

Sora handed over the Sachs and Brembo decals to be putted on by Kojiro. After that Sora moves on to the back and put on Bridgestone decal on the left side of the rear bumper, near the license plate. He then added Veruspeed decal under it.
“What about these Rays decals?” Kojiro asked

“Please put it on at the left and right side skirts, under the body lining… just before the rear wheel arch” Sora explained

“Okay… this all there is” Kojiro stretches his sore body, “Just blow it for a minute with hair dryer”

“Sure, sure… leave it to me” Sora pats his chest proudly, “I can handle it”

“If you’re done, Kamiya and I will be waiting at the office upstairs” Kojiro said, “Let’s have a lunch together, okay?”

“Yeah… be there in a flash”

Meanwhile on Shibaura parking area, two people are seen arguing with each other. Looks like something is up with them.
“I told you, it’s a stupid thing we come here right now! Shutokou battle will happen at night, not when the sky is still clear like this”

It’s a guy and his girlfriend. Looks like the girl is dying to see the race, but she didn’t believe the race will be held midnight.
“I’m sorry! Let’s just go home already” the girl pleads

“We can’t! My gas is dried up, thanks to your stubbornness. I knew that I shouldn’t take you for a cruise” he replied, “We have no choice but to call a taxi and get back here later”

The girl nodded agrees, and both of them leave the parking area with a yellow taxi. When they are about to leave the parking area, a black and white Saleen Mustang is cutting through their ways in hurry. It has strobe blue, white, and red lights, and it has ramming bars across the front bumper.
“What the hell?!” said the taxi driver frightened

The car continues to run in high speeds. An American is seen driving it arrogantly as he points up his middle finger to them.
“No one can stop Barricade” said the American, “We the C4 team will take over Shutokou in no time at all”

“Stop being cocky, J” said his friend in another car behind him

His friend is inside a yellow Chevrolet Camaro. It has black stripes across its body and looks like both of them are a Transformers fan.
“You got it wrong, bro” said the guy called J, “Let’s just take out the RJ7, and NFS then move on. Wouldn’t you agree, N?”

“Hmph!” the guy called N replied bitterly, “We will take them down, sooner or later. Just be patient”

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Okay, now that we’re done eating, let’s go to Wangan to set our cars up” Kojiro said, “Dear, would you please?”

“Sure” Kamiya said as she put all the dirty dishes on the dishwasher, “Let’s go”

“Do I really need to come along?”

“You should” Kojiro replied, “She hasn’t tuned your blue car to your way of driving”

“Alright… let’s go, then”

Ten minutes later, the two cars are cruising down at Wangan line. Sora is in the back of the white V-spec II, watching its every move. Kamiya is busy typing at the small Acer laptop as she hums, following every tunes at the Corrs music Kojiro played.
“He didn’t even floors the car” Kojiro said

“It’s better that way. We’re here to set the cars up, not to race” Kamiya continues to hum, “How’s the boost kicking up?”

“It feels lighter” Kojiro replied

“Dear, I want to tell you something about the blue Z-tune” she sighed, “I don’t think you can win with this car”

“I know- but it comes down what Sora can do with the car” Kojiro nods, “Even though I know that I can't win, I won't make it easy for him”

“It’s so you” Kamiya smirks, “Well, she is ready. Now it’s the time for the blue car in the back”

Kojiro signaled to the left, indicating that he’s going to exit at Daikoku Futo. Sora followed him and parks his car beside the white GT-R.
“Okay, Sora… your turn” Kamiya said

“Alright…” Sora nodded, “Let’s go”

Sora drives slowly out of the parking area and drives leisurely on the highway. That is until Kamiya tells him to push the car hard.
“Okay, Sora… go!” Kamiya starts to type on the laptop

Sora nodded and increases his pace. Kamiya smiled happily as she stares at the increasing RPM on the digital gauge she had on her laptop. But something is missing here, and she immediately found out what it was. She started to search for a music CD on the glove box.
“Don’t you have any music on this car?” Kamiya asked, “Ah, here is one… Need for Speed Undercover! Stompbox it is!”

She inserts the CD and fast forwards it to Stompbox. She then shakes her head around, as she continues to type the setting numbers on the laptop.
“What the hell?” Sora wondered, “What is with this woman?”

Confused, he tried to turn down the volume. Kamiya realizes what he’ll do, so she quickly slaps his hands to keep it away from the head unit.
“Ouch” Sora pulls his aching hand

“Keep away from the head unit while I'm working” she smirks, “Just concentrate on the driving”

“Okay, okay… geez” Sora frowns

Sora runs at Wangan line back and forth for at least one hour of driving. Kamiya is indeed a great mechanic- she knows what she’s doing with that puny laptop. Sora can feel the effects of the tuning already. He feels that the car will keep on accelerates at any kind of situation. Overtaking the traffic is done with less effort on the throttle. The settings are done.
“Okay… that’s it. Back to Dakoku” Kamiya said

Back they go to Daikoku Futo. Kojiro parked his white car beside the blue Z-tune and gets off to greet his wife and the driver of the Z-tune.
“How is she? Is she done?” Kojiro asked

“She’s all set and ready to go. What do you feel, Sora?” Kamiya smiled to him

“I never thought that E.C.U tuning will have such an impact on the performance” Sora scratches his head, “It feels just great”

“Now that we’re done, I'm tired and very sleepy” Kamiya yawned, “See you around, Sora. Good luck for tomorrow race”

“See you around, kid” Kojiro smirks

“Thank you very much” Sora smiled as he bows to the two of them

Not long after Kojiro and Kamiya left, somebody called. Sora quickly grabs his N96 from his pocket and see the identity of the person who called him… it’s Steve. Looks like something is up with him.
“Yeah?”

“Sora, got anything to do tonight? I’m at 40/40 club where Jessie worked. Maybe you can do a sightseeing here, checking out the pretty club girls” Steve said

“Eh?” Sora blushed

“Just a sightseeing, I won't ask you to drink anything alcoholic” Steve laughs

“Oh okay… I’ve got nothing better to do anyways. I’ll be there shortly” Sora replied

Sora gets into his blue car and drive off to the place his friend pointed. Ten minutes later, he arrived at the glamorous club where Jessie worked. As he approaches the entrance of the club, everybody turns their head towards the blue car. Sora cruises slowly to the underground parking lot and park at one of the empty space.

Steve already waits beside the elevator on the basement, ensuring his friend doesn’t have any unnecessary problem on his way up. He saw the blue car emitting a powerful and threatening aura, and he feels uneasy already.
“Looks like you just get her worked up. Has Kamiya set the E.C.U up?” Steve asked

“Yes she had. We just finished the settings, and I can’t feel anything but impressed” Sora nodded, “Where is Jessie?”

“She’s upstairs… Sora, please keep this secret from everyone else” Steve wheezed. Looks like he had some sort of trouble

“VIPs only” said one of the guards beside the elevator

“He’s with me” Steve said, “Let’s go”

The two began to get onboard the elevator and continues the chat. Whatever he’s experiencing, he looks very stressed and depressed.
“So you’re saying…?”

“I had a problem with Jessie yesterday. Me and her… looks like we cannot continue this any longer” Steve sighed

“And you wanted to dump her?” Sora smirks

“She dumps me first” Steve chuckled, “We’re officially breaking up”

“Sorry to hear that, man” Sora blows his bangs to the air

“You didn’t seem to care” Steve smirks

“It’s not like I didn’t care, I just lack the expression to sympathize” Sora replied

“I see” Steve frowns

The elevator bell tings and the stainless steel door slowly open, carrying the hip-hop song to both of their ears. Sora immediately reacts with shutting his ears with his two hands, while Steve can only wondered what his friend is doing.
“Over here” Steve said

Sora shrugs and follows him to the table bar, with Jessie stands serving the drinks to the men and women sitting near the table.
“Let me guess, one red volcano and one… milk?” Jessie narrowed her eyes

“Red volcano it is, and what do you want?” Steve asked Sora on what he wants as a drink

“Me? Corona is fine…” Sora answered as he folds his sleeve

Steve and Jessie looked surprised, but nevertheless, Jessie gave him the drink anyway.
“You told him?” Jessie asked

“Yup… I will tell the rest also” Steve sits near the table, “Sorry I can't be a better boyfriend”

“Please… don’t start here” Jessie wheezed, “We already discussed it today. No more talk about the past”

Sora looked around and saw two women, dancing on the dance floor energetically. They are accompanied by loud, house music version of Together in Electric Dreams. Looks like they are VVIP guests of this club, since the two of them are wearing white shirts, black medium skirts, and high boots.
“Jess, who are those women?” Sora points the two women

“Oh, the dark haired one is my boss, the owner of this place. While the other one with light brown hair is her friend” Jessie smirks, “Both of them are rich from the tip of their hair, to the tip of their toe”

“I see…”

The brown haired woman saw him and makes an eye contact with him. She then approaches him and yanks his hand. Sora is surprised but she pulled him hard, making him starts to lose balance and fell to the dance floor.
“Come on, handsome guy. I and my partner here just save a life of an old man, so we’re partying!” said the brown haired woman, “Put your hand here and follow my feet… if you can”

“Whooo-hooooo!” said the other woman with black hair

She starts to dance around, and Sora needs to follow her so he wouldn’t embarrass himself. Steve can't do anything to help his friend, so he just stands by and watch. Sora can smell alcohol from her breath, but nevertheless she smells really nice.
“Change the song!” she said, “Cher’s Believe!”

The DJ changes the music and house music version of Cher’s Believe is played loudly. She smiled naughtily to Sora and pulled off her shirts.
“Come on, lover boy… let’s dance!” she said

Sora sighed and follows what she said. He starts to dance around as well, following the tune of the music. On the other hand, she dances around him erotically, showing off the curves of her body as she dances around.
“…”

Sora blushed. She is getting more and more interested in him as his face begins to turn red.
“So cute” she grabs his chin and kisses his cheek

“Wha?”

The music is almost over and Sora didn’t have anymore intention to continue dancing. He walks away from the dance floor. But before that, the woman grabs his hand one more time and smiled softly to him.
“You are one good guy in this uncivilized place” she said, “You didn’t take an advantage of me, being drunk”

The woman didn’t drunk! That of course, startled Sora. Who is this woman anyway?
“Oh well, it’s been a real fun dancing with you, but I need to go home now” she said, “I have a presentation tomorrow… let’s go home”

“Okay… see you guys around. It’s been fun to dance with all of you” her friend said to the dancers around them, “Enjoy the place and thank you”

“I’ll see you soon” the brown haired woman said, “There you go”

She tidied his hair and smiled to him. She bows to him and smiled once again
“Take care, handsome”

Sora is speechless. He didn’t know what to say or what to do. He frowns and walks back to the bar table. Steve and Jessie are very surprised to see what he just did with those two women.
“You’re great with women” Steve sips his red volcano

“It’s not like I wanted to dance you know… she just yank me in the first place and there I go” Sora drinks his corona

“Want another?” Jessie asked

“No thanks… I came here with Z-tune” Sora wheezed, “So? I'm sure you call me here for another reason as well”

“You saw through it? As expected from the candidate of Sky King” Steve finishes his red volcano, “Let’s have a run once again and settle this thing once and for all”

“Sure… let’s go”

Steve nodded and walks out from the club. Sora follows him and the two gets aboard the elevator once again. On the elevator, neither of them is talking to each other. They keep their mouth shut and both of them shows stranger looks to each other.
After the elevator bell tings, and the door opened, Sora and Steve runs to their respective cars and gets into it.

Steve parks nearer to the elevator, so he drives out from the parking lot first hand. Sora follows the red car, entering the highway to New Belt Line area.
“New Belt Line to Wangan… let see if you can keep up with Blood GTR” Steve said via phone calls

“Whatever you say, Steve” Sora replied flatly, “Let’s go”

The pays the toll ticket and waits for each other to finish. Steve holds the brake as he builds up the revs. Sora holds out the clutch pedal and builds up revs as well. The traffic behind them starts to build up as well, and loud sounds of horns can be heard behind them.
Steve and Sora looks to each other and nodded.

Steve lets go the brake and launches his car perfectly and Sora does the same. He lets go the clutch pedal and launches his car madly. Screeching tires can be heard and both of them left a thread marks on the highway asphalts. One from Pirelli and one from Bridgestone.
“Slow!” Steve yells to his rearview mirror where Sora was

“…”

Sora shifted up and steps on the throttle more. He starts to close the gaps between them.
Steve saw it coming and tried to block his path.
“Your car is RWD, Steve… mine has ATTESA E-TS” Sora smirks, “Don’t sway your cars from side to side too much; you’ll wear the tires faster and you won't regain traction if you do so”

Steve heard what Sora said and stops swaying his car too much. Steve feels lucky to be warned, but he feels annoyed as well.
“Bah, we’ll see about that” Steve increases his pace and lunges his car forward.

Both of them are around Kiba exits, and there is a corner up ahead. Steve takes the outside lane and turns in smoothly. Sora on the other hand takes the inside lane and speeds up more.
There is a car on the inside lane and Sora didn’t realize it since it’s a blind corner.
“Don’t!” Steve said

Sora keeps on accelerating and turns in. He saw what Steve meant and blows his bangs as he sways his car to the outside lane, blocking Steve’s way to progress. Steve didn’t anticipate it coming and brakes hard. Eight pistons red Brembo calipers up front and six red Brembo calipers do the job perfectly; Steve slows out in no time.
“Shit!” Steve cursed his slow reflex and shifted down twice to compensate for his loss of speed

“…” Sora blinks at the rearview mirror

“Nice one, Sora” Steve wheezed

“Your reaction is slow… what the hell is wrong with you? Want to postponed it another day?”

“Don’t mind me. Just keep on driving” Steve grins

Both Sora and Steve is at Fukugawa line. There are middle-speed corners between the straight lines. Steve is overtaking the traffic with ease, and Sora followed. On the first corner, Sora didn’t slow down at all. Instead, he increases his pace and takes the outer lane, side by side with Steve’s GTR.
“What the hell?! You want to die or something?!” Steve yelled

Sora didn’t mind what he says- he does that anyway. When the two was about to enter the corner, Sora steers to the left and accelerates more. Steve on the inside lane should had an advantage of some sort, but he didn’t. Sora is plunging his car and makes his way ahead of Steve. Steve saw his taillights flashing red when he accelerates to enter the corner.
“I see what you doing…” Steve sighed, “You’ve done your homework, Sora”

What Sora did is left-foot braking. He accelerates more to enter the corner faster, but with his left-foot braking, he won't have to suffer an under-steer because his car’s weight and over-speed.
Both of them are almost at the Wangan line and ahead of them Tokyo Port Tunnel and after that is Ohi tollbooth.
“Once again!” Steve shifted up and gets ahead of Sora

“Right behind you, big guy” Sora replied

The two cruises at about 200 KM/H when they entered the tunnel and after exiting the tunnel, approaching the tollbooth, they can say nothing but great- there are no other cars around the tollbooth.
“Here we go!” Steve enters one of the tollbooth

Sora enters the tollbooth beside him and paid the ticket. After the two are done, they do what they did earlier on the previous tollbooth; launch action.
“Here we go again!” Steve holds out the brake

“…” Sora can only smiled as he looks at the multi function display on his dashboard

“Go!” Steve lets go the brakes and launches forward

Sora followed and seeing that, Steve is began to pissed. He purposely let him go first.
“What the hell are you doing? You’ve been holding back all these time?!”

“Not now, I'm not” Sora shifted up and gets ahead of him

The long stretch is ahead of them and there aren’t many cars around. Only few family sedans and wagons.
“Wangan line!”

Steve is surprised by his friend sudden shout. He began to feel the chill down to his spine, threatening him and his red GTR.
“Let’s see what’s what, Sora!” Steve yells

Steve looks beside him and tried to looks through to Sora’s inside cabin. Instead of his friend, he finds a monstrous person with shining yellow glare behind the tinted light blue window.
“What the?!” Steve said

His hand starts to feel numb, and so did his feet. He also starts to sweat hard and his vision starts to blurry. The air around him is heavy and he started to have difficulties in breathing.
“320… 330… what?!” Steve said

“Bye” Sora said flatly, “Wangan is her playground, Steve…”

Sora continued to accelerates forward, leaving Steve behind with his red GTR. A white veil can be seen around his fenders… as if it’s helping him cut through the strong wind of bayside highway.
“My GTR lost…” Steve mumbled, “That blue phantom sure is awesome”

Lights of the highway roads are reflected by the solid blue body of the Z-tune, making it shines brilliantly.
“Captivating… I will need another weapon to exorcist the Phantom” Steve adds

This post has been edited by R_E_X on Aug 5 2010, 06:30 PM

[Snoxxy]

I read all of it this weekend.. and I thought some stuff seemed to have traces from initial D, Wangan Midnight, possibly even "over Rev"...
The Character progression was very well done so far on a vehicle based story.

Keep up the good work..

Phil

[R_E_X]

Thank you... critics are welcome for me. I love it when the reader says what's on their mind to help me improve.

RPM 5: Reform

The night has come along with chilly and breezy winds. The dark sky has started to pops the stars out one by one, lighting it up.
On a big house at the center of the neighborhood, Yuki is staring at her jet black GT-R parked under the maple tree in her garden. She exhaled lightly and pats the roof softly. Looks like she is worried about something.
“I wonder… how she is doing right now” she thought

A rumble noise can be heard from outside her huge house. It’s a sound of V6, VR engine from Nissan GT-R. Who is the driver?
She immediately runs out front to greet the driver.
“It’s you… welcome back, grandfather would be thrilled” she smiled

Meanwhile back at the garage, Sora is parking his blue car under Kojiro’s office. He then pops the bonnet and takes a good look to his RB26 Z2 spec engine carefully.
“Hm…”

Kamiya and Kojiro heard the grumbling sound of the engine and decided to take a look downstairs. When they saw him, he only stands in the front of the car, doing nothing- just stares at the silver colored engine cover.
“What is it, Sora?” Kojiro asks

“Anything wrong with the engine?” Kamiya asks again

“Oh, it’s nothing…” Sora smirks as he cuts the engine and locks the car, “Here is the car key, and I'm done for today, see you guys tomorrow”

Sora left the garage, waltzing happily. Kojiro and Kamiya don’t know what happened until they found out later.
“I wonder what’s wrong with that kid” Kojiro looks around the car to find anything out of ordinary

“Hm… looks like he’s went to race just now” Kamiya smirks, “Look at this uneven wear on RE01R… the front tires are worn out faster than the rear tires”

“Yes it is, since the ATESSA concentrates more on the front part of the car” Kojiro answered

“But you can't forget that ATESSA is a computer. It won't have much effect on the wear, if it’s driven correctly… I'm guessing that he did something with this car, and that’s racing someone on Shutokou”

“Hm… the brakes are still warm” Kojiro touches the calipers

When he does that, he understands what Kamiya just told him. Looks like Sora is indeed using the car to race.
“Left foot braking” Kojiro said, “He used that technique, and since this car has eight piston calipers up front, and six piston calipers on the back, it will make the tires wear unevenly”

“Exactly… but who is he racing with?” Kamiya wondered

“Not sure… let’s just gave him new set of tires” Kojiro smirked, “You know… the 55”

“Ah… the RE55S? Now that’s naughty” she grins

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On the next day, the news has spreads out like a virus. Red blood GTR is defeated by the blue Z-tune and people starts to call the car the Blue Phantom. That news of course reached Yuki’s ear. Jessie is at her house and she told her the news.
“So Steve had lost last night” Yuki said as she sips her morning black coffee, “That blue car sure is something”

“Indeed… so what’re you going to do?” Jessie asked her

“Nothing… recent losses of High School Street Racers put them back to the bottom line of the reputation” Yuki shrugs, “They can't face us directly just like that”

“Oh yeah, have you done the take home math quizzes Yue-sensei gave us last week?” Jessie asks again

“Already done… come on, let’s go to school” Yuki smiled

The same thing happened on the school. Most of the people talks about this newly blue Z-tune without knowing who the driver was. The class is almost starts, but it’s still noisy.
“Man, you really outdid it this time, Sora” Souya said to him as he hands over the math notes

“Oh, thank you” Sora said, “Steve is the one who challenges me, so I have no choice but to outrun him”

“So what’re you going to do, Steve? Switch cars?” Iwami asked

“Not sure… the blue car has something, and I need stronger car to defeat it” he frowns

“Today is your d-day; the battle with Kojiro is tonight” Hikaru adds, “Do you think you can beat him? Even though your car is fast, but he’s a formidable runner on C1 area”

Sora opens the note and starts to write what he saw on it. He realized that C1 is far different than Wangan line, and maybe for awhile, Sora feels pressured.
“I know… he’s fast with his V-spec II” Sora replied, “But I won't lose myself. I will put up a great fight”

“That’s a nice thing to hear” Yuki said to him suddenly, “Too bad it’s just a trial for the Z-tune”

“I know that I'm just a newbie, but I know about the streets and reputation you need to battle the bigger teams” Sora nods, “Recent HSSR losses is kicking them back to the bottom of the newcomer team”

He turns silent for a minute and starts to talk once again.
“I heard what happened between all of you and this Musashi guy… Rei isn’t it?” Sora asked, “It sounded selfish to leave his friend and elopes with your sister, but I guess he has his own reason”

“…” Hikaru didn’t gave any replies

“I guess he’ll return here one day… and when that day comes, you can get your answer” Sora added, “For the time being, just grit your teeth and wait patiently”

“But that doesn’t justify him to leave us when we’re in need!” Tarou said, “We won't forgive that guy”

“Do what you want… I guess that Rei guy didn’t need to be forgiven anyway” Sora continued to write the notes, “Both of you have your own perspectives, and both of you think you’re right”

“That’s right” Keith sighed, “You and Rei are like a different side of a coin. You’re the opposite of him in one way, but you are like him in another way”

“You are way different than him. You’re a mature student, and he’s a guy with ten year old attitude” Tarou added

“Yeah, Tarou over here has an unfinished grudge against him” Yamada said

“Wow… what do you think, Hikaru? Will you let your sister marry that kind of guy?”

“She can do whatever she wants… same goes for me” Hikaru shrugs

Suddenly Hideo-sensei stepped into the class, without bringing books or board markers at all. Looks like he had some sort of announcement to make.
“Okay, we need all of you to go to the auditorium. There will be a presentation from the doctors of Tokyo University hospital, and we should listen to what they have to say” Hideo-sensei, “Come, let’s not make them wait”

As they go to the auditorium and sit at the designated seats, Sora and Steve saw the women they met yesterday at the club. Both of them wore a lab coat and short brown skirt, combined with brown boots, which stands them out from the rest of their co-worker. Even though the other doctors are handsome and beautiful, they are the ones that stand out from the rest of them. Satoshi’s wife is also seen among all of them. So those women are doctors.

The opening speech are brought by the principal of the school, and then continued by the doctors from Tokyo University Hospital.
“Alright, thank you Mr. Principal, and good morning to all of you. My name is Atsuno Sakura, and I’m here with my colleagues Kagari Hibana, Makimura Tamada, Matsuda Yayoi, and Meiwa Kijima to bring you a presentation of how we live our life these days” she said, “Let’s begin with our eating habit…”

So her name is Atsuno Sakura. Maybe some of you already realized what Atsuno means… her name suits her looks; she’s hot. The male students are pays attention carefully to everything she says, including Sora.

After one and half hour of explaining, the doctors are opening the Q&A session for the students to ask few questions to achieve a good and healthy life. And after the Q&A session is over, the doctors will ask some students about the presentation earlier. The answering student will get a full accommodation service and full health insurance for one year in Tokyo University Hospital as the prize.
“Okay, we will give a question to the student. If the student can provide me with detailed and correct answer, I'm going to give them a full accommodation service and full health insurance for one year in Tokyo University Hospital as the prize… ready?” Sakura-sensei said, “I'm going to ask… oh, that handsome student over there. Please stand up… What’s your name? Tell us, how old are you?”

She pointed to Sora as she smiled, so he stands up and introduces himself to the doctors.
“I'm Ninomiya Sora, and my age is 18 years old” Sora said

“Sora… nice name. Okay, I'm going to ask you about the heart murmur… what caused it? How can we tell if someone is having the murmur?” she asked, “You heard about that earlier, right?”

“Yes… heart murmur is mainly the fault of one’s heart structure, and we can tell if someone has the murmur is when the heart is making a strange sound of bubbling water” Sora explained, “The sound is like… if you drink Coca-Cola with your straw, and you blew the Cola in the glass with your mouth; that’s the sound of bubbling water, and that’s the sound of heart murmur”

“Exactly. Heart murmur can be deadly if it’s not treated” Hibana-sensei added, “I know someone had a female Chihuahua dog with that kind of disease… I hope she’s alright”

“As I promised, I will give you the full accommodation service and full health insurance for one year in Tokyo University Hospital as the prize” Sakura-sensei nods, “Please fills the form I give you later”

“Alright, next up…” Yayoi-sensei said

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After the presentation is over, the doctors are talking with the principal. After few chats and ha-ha-hi-hi, all of them are done. Sakura-sensei approaches Sora to give him the service form she promised.
“Here you go… fill this out and give it to Yuki” she said to him

“Eh? Yuki?” Sora looks confused, “Did she know you?”

“You’ll see” she smiled naughtily, “Catch you later, Sky King”

Sora is startled! She knew about him being Sky King candidate… who is she?
Before Sora can ask another question, a lot of girls swarm her already for diet tips.
“Well, well, well… looks like my cousin has an eye out for you, Sora” Yuki smiled to him, “What do you think of my cousin?”

Everyone is very surprised to hear that. Sakura-sensei is Yuki’s cousin? What a turn of event.
“Eh? She is your cousin?!” Sora is the one who looked very surprised

“Why didn’t you tell me that you had a hot cousin like that?” Hikaru smirks

“Pardon me? Want to dump me for her?” Yuki pouted

“Just kidding” he pats Yuki’s head, “I'm sure she is way scarier than you”

“Yes, she is one scary woman… not only she is a genius, she is real popular among her co-worker” she said, “She already graduated the Tokyo University at the age of 18, and gets her medical and surgical license at 19”

“How old is she?” Sora asked

“19… even though she just got her medical and surgical license, she already became one of the best doctors in Tokyo” Yuki explained, “By that talent as well, she get to know many important people, not only in this country, but foreign country as well”

“Yeah, I can see that” Steve nodded, “She hangs around with Jessie’s boss over there”

“She’s way different than you, Yuki” Hikaru said proudly, “You are more normal than she is”

“Hehe, thanks, dear” Yuki smirks

“But how come she didn’t inherit Amano’s name?” Gonsuke asked

“My uncle- who is her father, leave the main household because of a quarrel with my grandfather” she explained, “He then uses the surname of his wife- Atsuno… that is before both of them died in a car crash two years ago. Since then, she does everything on herself”

After giving the girl students with advice, Hibana-sensei approached her. It’s time for them to go back to the hospital.
“Sakura, let’s go…” said Hibana-sensei, “Catch you all later, guys”

All of them gets into the hospital van and left the school. There is no class for today, and the students are ready to go home… after they done a dirty job: cleaning the gym out.
“Man, do we really need to do this?” Gonsuke groaned, “Man, if I knew something like this will happen, I won't attend the class today”

“Nah, stop groaning and do the job” Iwami replied, “After this, we can go home and it’s a free day off”

“You’re right” Yamada added, “Let’s do this quick and get back home, so we can prepare ourselves for tonight scene”

“Are you ready, Sora?” Rika looked at him, “Tonight is your big night”

“Haah?” Sora catches his breath, “After this, I'm going to go for a lap at C1. You know, familiarizing myself with the road around?”

“What? You never have been to C1 before?” Steve asked

“I did, but I didn’t memorize the course” Sora answered

“Want us to come along?” Hikaru asked

“Nah… I’ll be fine” he nodded, “See you guys around”

With that word, Sora leaves all of them… with his work.
“What the hell- he left us with his work!” Clark slaps his forehead

“Oh, man…” Steve wheezed

“Bah, more work for us” Keith sighed, “I'm going to smack that guy”

“Hm… he still is tricky” Souya grins, “I guess he still had his edge”

Outside the school perimeter, Sora is laughing. He feels satisfied that he successfully tricks his friends. He walks away fast from the building to avoid any pursuer to get him back to his work.

At Kojiro’s garage, Kyo is waiting for him. He smokes as he leans himself at Z-tune’s left door. Sora saw him and went to Kojiro’s office to grab the Z-tune’s key.
“Skipping class to have a run at C1?” Kyo asked

Sora opens the trunk of the Z-tune and puts his bag inside the trunk.
“No… there is no class today, so we got home early” Sora answered, “Why are you here, Fushida-san?”

“Ah, so finally you paid some respect to me” Kyo blows the smoke, “I’m going to give you a hint about Kojiro”

“What’s up with him? Does he have some kind of weakness or something?”

“No… haven’t you noticed? Even though his leg was healed, he had some sort of flaw on the shifting” Kyo smirks, “His shifts probably isn’t as fast as yours”

“Okay… thanks for the heads-up” Sora bows, “See you later, Fushida-san”

Sora ignited the engine and drives out from the garage slowly and few minutes later, he arrives at C1 area.
“Alright… it’s now or never” Sora said to himself

The traffic on the daylight is way crowded compared when he runs at night. But that’s what makes it challenging; he’s going to learn how to keep the steady pace as he avoids the traffic cars around him. With car as heavy as Z-tune, he surely will have a hard time maneuvering at the road.
“This place is evil! Wangan is nothing compared to this!”

He drives at least five to ten laps back and forth at C1 before he heads back to Kojiro’s garage to get some rest for tonight’s battle.

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It’s almost ten P.M. and most of the people are ready to gather at Shibaura parking area. At the Tokyo University Hospital, a purple Nissan GT-R and silver Lexus IS-F are parked at the basement. Looks like the owners are patients of this hospital.
“Alright, let’s go Sakura” Hibana said, “It’s the Z-tune kid versus GT-R’s mechanic”

“Yes… and I reckon that tonight’s show will be very crowded” Sakura takes off her eye glasses

Hibana then continued to get an update about something
“So, did you talk to your cousin about ‘that’ yet?”

“I did last night. She will allow us be in her team to replace her other teammates” Sakura replied, “I heard that there is a reformation, thanks to major street racers arrestment two weeks ago”

“Hm… did some of the members of NFS team get arrested?” Hibana asked

“No luckily…” Sakura answered, “Maybe after tonight’s battle, we need to stay away from Wangan for awhile”

“Eh? Not fun” Hibana pouted, “Let’s go, it’s getting late”

The two gets out from the office and went to their locker to get their things. After they change their clothes with something more casual, they went to the basement to get their car- the purple Nissan GT-R and silver IS-F.
“Most doctors drive Porsche 911, Sakura” Hibana giggled, “Do you remember that question?”

“Yes, the question that irritates me the most” she replied, "Even though he is half American, it doesn’t mean that he can dictate what car I should drive. He thinks that only Americans and European can make good cars. Asian especially Japan, can also make good, fast cars”

“What was his name again? Mikami Ryu of the first heir of Mikami group?” Hibana wondered, “You really scored a hot hunk you know”

“Ha? A guy who’s younger than me? I hate them” Sakura smirks, “Especially him. Lucky that he decided to marry someone else”

“What about that GT-R kid? What was his name? Ninomiya Sora? What is the part that attracts you to him?” Hibana grins happily. She likes it when she teases her colleague.

Sakura blushed. Looks like what Hibana just said hits the spot deeply.
“A, anyways, let’s go” she gets into her car hurriedly

“See how she always avoids the subject?” Hibana laughs, “It’s really fun to tease people around”

Even on the way, Hibana won’t stop pestering Sakura. She asks, and asks, and asks again until Sakura spits out what she had in mind about Sora.
“Uuugh! I’ve had it with you!” Sakura yelled, “Ready for the answer? I’m going to eat him alive!”

“Eating him means… that, right?” Hibana said

“That’s right!” Sakura nods as her face turns red, “You know that his body is medium built right? I think he can offer me a lot of pleasure on the bed”

“Wow… and they say women from Amano family are soft and kindhearted… look at you! You are way different on what they say!” Hibana wheezed, “You are hardheaded and wild… did your cousin is the same as you?”

“I think so” Sakura sighed, “She and that white Ghost kid seems very close…”

“And because of that you’re jealous, right?” Hibana smirks

“No… you know that we had one thing in common right? Our ideas?” Sakura clicks the right paddle, “Work hard, play hard?”

“Yes, what’s up with that?” Hibana ask again

“Actually… I had one more thing on it” Sakura blushed again, “Work hard, play hard, and f**k hard”

Hibana’s face suddenly turns pale. She starts to think all of those things that she and Sora might do when they got together.
“Sakura, ewwww” she said

“But I’m not going to do that just now” Sakura said, “I’m going to give it my all so this relationship will work… Hibana, it may be odd for me to say this, but looks like he had a thing for me as well. Call it a women’s premonition or something”

“Yeah right” Hibana laughs

Back to the main character Sora. He’s ready with Nismo black tee and long blue jeans. Add it up with blue and red Spalding shoes, makes him look very sporty for his debut.
“Sora, you really reminded me of Hikaru and Rei back when they drive GT-Rs” Kojiro said, “Man, how I miss those days”

“Oh, okay. That’s the past, but now you’re stuck with me” Sora nods, “Let’s go, Kojiro”

“Alright, let’s go, dear” Kamiya gets into the car

“Man, I surely hope I’m ready” Sora thought, “How was the C1 again?”

Well, don’t worry about him. He’ll manage.
At Shibaura parking area, the others already wait for the race.
“Man… where is that dude?” Souya looks around

“Steve, look over there?” Hikaru points four guys with their muscle cars, “That’s C4 team”

There are at least 4 muscle cars in front of them. A Saleen Mustang, Chevrolet Camaro, Pontiac GTO, and Dodge Challenger.
“Well, they look more a couple of muscle heads to me” Steve replied

“Don’t mean to disrespect their car, but… is that Barricade from Transformers? And isn’t that Bumblebee also?” Gonsuke smirks

“Don’t take them lightly” Keith whispered, “They are one of the teams that has notorious reputations around here”

“A lot has changed” Iwami added, “Even though a couple of months just passed since that damn fool leave us”

“Oh look… a silver IS-F and a midnight purple… Nissan GT-R?!” Tarou looked surprised, “Isn’t that the same GT-R from couple days back, Steve?”

“By the looks of the plate numbers, I can say it’s the same” Steve nods, “Why did both of those cars are hanging with your wife, Hikaru?”

“Can't say…” Hikaru replied

When the driver steps down from their respective cars, they immediately see what’s going to happen.
“Let me guess… the doctors are going to join their team, isn’t that right?” Gonsuke smirks

“If they did, then it’s a danger for us, Tarou” Yamada added

“Yeah, not to mention their cars are one of the biggest monsters of 2008” Clark slaps his forehead

“What should we do leader?” Iwami asked

“Nothing” Tarou said, “We should avoid long stretchy road if we want to race against them” Tarou replied flatly

“Oh, here he is! The hero of the night!” Souya said as he looks at the entrance of the parking area

Sora enters the parking area alongside of Kojiro. After Kamiya steps down, Kojiro and Sora followed. Kojiro and Kamiya approach the NFS team, while Sora approaches HSSR team.
“Okay Sora… you ready?” Souya asked

Sora is silent. He nods slowly but firm. Fierce determination can be seen in his brown-yellowish eyes. Meanwhile on the NFS team place, what Kojiro said will change everything forever… everything.
“This is the last, leader” Kojiro said, “After this I’m done racing”

Sora heard what he just said.
“What do you mean, Kojiro? You quit after racing with me?” Sora asked

“I’m done racing…” Kojiro smiled, “Kamiya is pregnant, and I don’t want her to worry every time I got out to race in the team’s name. But of course, I will continue to help you as the mechanics for GT-Rs”

“I predict this would happen” Yuki exhaled lightly, “Ben?”

“The three kings also form their own team… me, Eliah, Jonathan will form the Kings” Bernard explained

“Satoshi, Kenjou?” Yuki continued

“Yes. Me, Satoshi, and Kaoru will join Wild Beast team. Japanese exotics will be run by one of Kaoru’s most trusted lieutenant” Kenjou added

“And NFS will officially renamed itself to Racing Queens” Yuki said, “Meet our newest member of the team; Atsuno Sakura, and Kagari Hibana”

“Well, well, well…” Yuuya interrupted, “The more the merrier”

“Uh, Hikaru… who is he?” Sora whispered

“That’s the leader of Real Japan Seven or RJ7 in short” Hikaru replied, “He’s the second most well known team in Japan”

“The recent losses of HSSR kick them back to the bottom rank” Souji continued, “Then our losses against them will be counted as nothing”

“That asshole looking intellect is the vice-leader of the team” Steve added

“Wow… So many of them to be kicked” Sora thought, “Well, first things first- Kojiro!”

“Let’s go Sora… I will go all out tonight” Kojiro smirks, “If you lose, I’ll take back the blue car”

Sora smiled and his eyes changed. The glare became brighter and wilder.
“I won’t go easy on you” Sora said

The two of them walked to their car and gets ready to race. Sora wears his leather gloves and his four point racing harness. Kojiro does the same and he pays attention to the boost controller and multi function display.
“Okay… it’s on 3,500” Sora said as he clicks the EVC, “Done”

He revs up the engine to get the feel the change on his car. Hikaru remembers something and went to talk with Sora.
“Hey, you ready?” Hikaru asked

“Yup… what’s up?” Sora asked back

“Listen… please wear this. This is for you” Hikaru said

Hikaru hands over a motorcycle goggles to him. It’s the motorcycle goggles he used to wear when he still drives his GT-R.
“What’s this for?” Sora ask

“Just put it on as a necklace… it’s a good luck charm of mine when I was known as the Sky Captain” Hikaru smirks, “Good luck, friend!”

Sora puts it on and everything is ready to begin. Kamiya stands between the two cars and lifts her hands up in the air.
“Ready?” Kamiya said as he looks at Kojiro and Sora, “The first one to get back here is the winner!”

Sora revs up the engine seven times as he exhaled slowly. Kojiro shifts up to first gear and ready to launch the car.
“Set?” Kamiya is ready to drop her hands

Sora shifted to first gear and floors up the throttle.
“GO!” Kamiya drops her hands and the two cars launches at the same time

Kojiro is the first one to leave the parking area, followed by Sora. As they got out from the parking area, the traffics are startled and sound their horns loudly.
Sora checked the rearview mirror and nothing happened. He starts to chase Kojiro and his white GT-R.
“Come on, Sora!” Kojiro said

Sora shifts to the third gear and floors the throttle. The boost on 3,500 quickly caught Kojiro’s attention.
“I see… you move the boost on the lower RPM to compensate the power and the wavy roads around here, huh? Good, you learn something” Kojiro smiled, “But it takes more than just something to run at C1 here!”

Both of them are at Hamazakibashi branch. There is a low speed corner up ahead and Kojiro is ready to make some distances. He knew what Sora will do, so he will anticipate it. Sora keeps on accelerating to the corner, but Kojiro had something else in his mind.
“I know that you’re going to do a left foot braking, so here it is!”

Kojiro passes him from the inside and sways his car to the outside while he kicks the clutch, upsetting the balance of the car and initiates a clean four-wheel drift.
“Shit!” Sora brakes hard and almost stalls the car

“Haha, I bet you didn’t see that coming, Sora” Kojiro laughs

“Tch”

Sora immediately shifts down to first gear and floors the throttle. Kojiro is really something, and this is what his skill is all about. Sora is the first one who races with ex-member of NFS team, and he began to think what kind of level did the racers in that team has.
“Calm down, calm down” Sora said to himself, “Let’s try it one more time”

He shifted to third and gives it another go. He trails Kojiro’s car from behind and tried to draft his way through. Kojiro smirks; he had a lot of evil plan in his mind.
“Alright, Sora… want me to give you another trick, huh? Here goes!” Kojiro thought

Kojiro brakes hard, but Sora smiled; looks like he already anticipated it. He sways his car to the side and passed him. Kojiro is very surprised that Sora didn’t take the bait.
“Smiling Sakai? Don’t think it’ll work for me, Kou” Sora smiled

“Haha, you read Initial D also, huh?” Kojiro spins his head

Kasumigaseki tunnel is up ahead, and the slope after the tunnel is very dangerous if you’re going too fast. Kojiro and Sora knows it- but they still accelerate no matter what. Both of them are too stubborn to give up to one another.
“Let’s see how big is your guts” Kojiro said

Sora looks to the side and there it is- a white V-spec II keeps on accelerating as fast as his blue Z-tune. Sora shifted up to the sixth gear and pulls away immediately. Kojiro follows with shifting down to keeps up with the acceleration from his turbine boost.
“Brake! Brake! Brake!” Kojiro yells

Sora didn’t brake at all. If anything is, he floors the throttle flat.
“Damn!” Kojiro brakes hard to avoid any collision with Sora in front of him

After he saw Kojiro slows his pace, he smirks and does the same. Kojiro lost on the battle of wills.
“Hahaha! Let’s go!” Sora shifts down and increases his pace

Back at the parking area, everyone seems very worried, and Hikaru is no exception.
“Man… will he win this, Sou?” Tarou asked with doubt

“Kojiro is one of NFS team member, and he is not an opponent to be taken lightly” Hikaru said

“That’s right” Kamiya nods, “He feels obliged to me and after this race, he will quit the racing world… no matter the results of this battle are”

“But then again, you forgot who race with him” Steve grins wide, “He defeats me, Hikaru, Keith, and Tarou here… all of us had a good highway battle machine, but he defeats us. Even though we lost at Wangan line, but slaloming the traffic while maintaining speed of 290 to 300… is quite a feat”

Back to Sora and Kojiro, both of them are still playing cat and mouse. Overtaking, overtaken, overtaking, and overtaken… seems this battle is fairly equal- no, this battle is won by Kojiro since Sora has better car.
“Hih, Ginza and Shiodome Tunnel. I’d better finish this as fast as I can” Kojiro said

“The movement of this car is a bit odd” Sora thought, “Damn, the tires wore out fast”

Sora shifts down and floors the throttle. Kojiro follows him and once again, both of them are side by side after the first split tunnel.
“Haha, reverse S” Kojiro laughs, “How will you deal with this, Sora?”

Sora smiled and keeps on accelerating. He didn’t care about Z-tune and this battle anymore. All he wanted was to run with his blue car. Even though he didn’t care about the battle anymore, he needs to think something up and fast! Otherwise, there is no more cruising with this blue car.
“Oh… Out-In-Out!” Sora said

On the first S-shaped curve, Sora gets in the front of Kojiro’s car. Of course, Kojiro is confused with him giving away the inside lane. Kojiro takes it anyway, since he doesn’t know what Sora had in mind.
“Alright! Here we go!” Kojiro accelerates forward

“Wha?! What are you doing?! You’ll under-steer to outside lane!” Sora yells

What Sora just said happens. Both of the cars had worn their tires fast (Potenza RE55S is developed for closed track, and therefore had a sorter lifespan, compared to RE01). Kojiro’s white GT-R under-steers and slides to the outside lane.
“Shit!” Kojiro brakes hard

Then Sora faces another trouble. Kojiro stopped in front of him at the outside lane, so he immediately sways his car and moves to inside lane. But inside lane is occupied by a traffic car, so he immediately sways his car back to outside lane.
“Huff” Sora wheezed

Meanwhile, Kojiro is still in the back. His sudden braking stalls the engine and Sora is way up ahead of him.
“Haah… typical of me to do mistakes at the critical time” Kojiro sighed, “Well, time to get back to the parking area”

Sora slowly cruises to the parking area, without any signs of Kojiro in his back. Everyone cheered for him, but not all of them, since most of them are also worried about Kojiro.
“Hey, what happened to Kojiro? Where is he?” Kamiya asked worriedly

“He stalls his car in the second S-shaped curve. I want to prevent my car from under-steers to outside lane, so I took the outside lane instead” Sora scratches his head, “You know out-in-out?”

“Who wouldn’t? That’s very common on grip racing” Steve said

“Our tires had worn out very bad, so I think it’s appropriate for me to compensate it” Sora continued

Kojiro cruise down to the parking area not long after. Kamiya is very relieved when she saw her husband is alright. Kojiro cuts off the engine and steps out from his car.
“Are you alright, dear?” Kamiya asked, looking very worried, “What is it?”

“Ah? Oh, it’s nothing. I just bum out because I seem to always do a mistake at the most crucial time” Kojiro shrugs, “Well, here is the pink slips, Sora. Take good care of her”

Sora takes the pinks slips and nods to him. He grins wide and shouts suddenly.
“AWWW YEAAAAH!!!” he said as he jumps around happily


This post has been edited by R_E_X on May 31 2010, 08:18 PM

[Snoxxy]

I like it..
however ..
is this a spin off of RPM ... or a continuation with a different approach ?

[R_E_X]

RPM 6: Ninomiya, Ichijou, and Mikami

After the battle people starts calling Sora and his blue Z-tune with the English term of his name; Sky. No one knows who started to call him that, but one thing is for sure- he attracts a lot of other street racers around Tokyo.

Right now, Sora is eating at a ramen shop near Ueno Park. He is enjoying his nice and warm, thick fragrant stock of the ramen with green onion slices on top of it.
“One more bowl, please” Sora said as he finished the first bowl

“Make it two” said a girl beside him

“Oh, sensei… welcome” the chef said to her

It’s Sakura. Looks like she’s one of regular customers here.
“Hi, can I sit here?” she asked

“Oh, sure, sensei” Sora nods, “Please”

“No, no, no” she spins her head, “Just call me Sakura outside of the hospital. Besides, I’m just a year older than you, right? Relax, relax”

“Oh okay…” Sora nods once again

“Here you go… 2 special beef shitake ramen” the chef said as he hands over the bowls to Sakura and Sora, “Can I take your orders for drinks?”

“Uh… I take orange juice, thank you” Sora said, “Sensei… I mean, Sakura, what do you want for the drink? It’s on me”

“Really? Then I take a healthy fruit punch, thank you” she nods

Sora continued to eat his ramen and Sakura starts to eat hers. Sora remembers something from earlier racing scene. He was very interested to upgrade his audio system, because he saw what’s on Hikaru’s trunk.
“I’m going to upgrade the audio system on my GT-R, even though it’s not going to be as great as Hikaru’s”

“What’re you going to do with the audio? You need fancy boom from big bass speakers?” Sakura asked

“Just a simple head unit and speakers replacement with Clarion” Sora answered, “I’m going to go with Hikaru and Yuki tomorrow… want to come and join?”

“Sure… I will ask Yuki to bring her car as well” Sakura nods, “I know a good place for audio bargain, might help you avoid paying off a lot amount of money. What time are you guys going?”

“Ten o’clock” Sora replied

“Here is your drinks… enjoy” the chef said to them

“Thank you” Sora said to him, “Here is yours…”

Sora finishes his ramen and drink his orange juice. After he’s done he pays up their food.
“Leaving so soon?” Sakura asked

“Yeah, I still need to go somewhere else first” Sora nods, “Enjoy your food, and see you later”

“Thank you… see you soon” she replied

Inside the restaurant, Sakura is eating her ramen when her mobile phone rang. It’s Hibana who called.
“Where were you?” she asked

“I’m at the usual ramen shop… it turns out Sky is eating here as well earlier” Sakura sips her fruit punch, “Want to come here and eat as well?”

“Oh… and I suppose there is a progress on what you’re doing?” Hibana smirks

“There is… he asked me to accompany him upgrade his audio… along with Yuki and Ghost though” she added

“Oh well… at least he’s making a move first. Keep at it and remember; the one who makes a move first, lose… see you tomorrow” Hibana hang up the phone

Sora went back to Kojiro’s place to replace his tires with fresh and new RE01. Kojiro and one of his mechanics are detuning the V-spec II, so they knew Sora change the tires.
“I’m going to charge you for that” Kojiro smirks

“Sure… this blue Z-tune is my car now, so I won't expect free new tires from now on” Sora nods, “I’m going to run to Wangan line…”

“And Sora, since the car is yours, why don’t you just store it on your house?” Kojiro asked

“Is it alright? If it is, then I’ll do that. See you guys later”

After he spent 1 hour to change the tires and inflate it with nitrogen, he left the garage and went to Shutokou, heading to Wangan line for a cruise. There is less traffic than usual, and it’s a good thing for him. After he pays the ticket and passes Ohi tollgate, silver R34 GT-R chases him.
“Hm… silver GT-R with R-tune body kit” Sora thought, “What is the driver doing, flashing its high beam?”

The silver GT-R flashing its high beam towards Sora’s Z-tune. Looks like the driver of that silver GT-R wants a race with him. Sora grits his teeth. He opens his window and takes out his right hand, pointing his middle finger to the driver of that silver GT-R.
“Looks like he doesn’t want to race” said the male driver, “Well, then I just have to make him to”

“Careful, dear…” said the female beside him

The driver of that silver car lined up his car with Sora’s Z-tune. He opens the window and tries to talk with Sora.
“Nice car, baby” he said

“f**k off. I’m here for a normal cruise” Sora yelled

“Geez, chill out kiddo” said the woman beside him

Sora brakes hard to let the irritating driver went first. But the damned couple brakes also and waits for him. Looks like no matter what Sora do, he is forced to race.
“Shit…”

Sora parks his car to the side and the silver GT-R follows. Sora is way upset that he grabs a big torque wrench under his seat and gets out from his car.
“Damn, he takes out a torque wrench!” said the guy, “Time to get out of here”

“Just move up and wait for him” said the woman, “He’ll race you”

The silver car moves away from Sora and that upsets Sora more. Sora grits his teeth and yells to the damn silver car.
“f**k!!!”

Sora gets back to his car and revs his engine loudly, but the driver of that silver car is not intimidated. Sora then lined up his car with that silver GT-R and revs the engine.
“Sorry, just not in the mood for another race. Besides, I don’t think you can win with this puny GT-R anyways” Sora shrugs, “See ya”

Sora left the silver car alone, but the silver car wouldn’t leave him alone.
“Did he just say that my GT-R is puny?!” the guy asks his girlfriend

“Calm down, dear. Just bump his car from behind, and I’m sure he’s going to race you” the woman tried to calm him down

“Alright, let’s see if you can say no after this”

The guy accelerates and bumps Sora’s car. Sora can feel the bump from behind him and he brakes hard, stopping his car. Now he is really pissed. He gets out from it to see the condition of the rear bumper. Luckily, nothing happens to it, not even a scratch.
“Hey!!!”

“Come on, race me! Let’s see what’s that Z-tune made of anyways” said the guy

“Oh alright… you asked for it!” Sora said, “If you win, it’s $1,000, and if you lose, give me 2,000. What do you say?”

“You’re on!” the guy smiled wickedly, “Like you’re going to win at Wangan line against this machine”

“Let’s do it, then. Meet me at Daikoku Futo parking area after the battle” Sora nods

Sora reverts the setting back to Kamiya’s setting for Wangan line and revs the engine. He then turns on Wangan Midnight Maximum Tune 3 OST and fast forwards it to the 4th track: In Your Dream.
“Alright, puny car… let’s go!” Sora shouts

“In Your Dream? Who does he think he is?” the guy asks

Sora shifts to first gear and launch his car, passing the silver GT-R. The driver of that Silver GT-R and his girlfriend are very surprised on that Z-tune’s performance. The silver car follows him but as he suspected, it’s no match for Z-tune’s high torque.
“It’s amazing! How did it go so fast?!” the guy shifts up

“Surprised? Thought so” Sora smiled

The silver GT-R actually can catch up only for a short time. Even though it’s clearly underpowered compared to Z-tune, the driver of the damn silver car got some skills. He can block Sora’s line perfectly and he drives roughly.
“Haha, got you right there” he said as he blocks Sora’s car, almost hitting it

“b*tch!” Sora said as he shifts down

On the halfway to Daikoku-Futo, there are no more traffic cars ahead. It’s just them and their machine to do the run. Sora is at the fifth gear and he looks at the driver of that silver GT-R and the driver of that silver GT-R does the same.
“Hmph…” Sora looked back to the front and shifts up to sixth gear, completely leaving them eating his dust

The silver car drafted behind him to get less drag, but it’s useless also. The silver GT-R is already at sixth gear way before Sora shifts up. Sora once again opens his window and takes out his right hand, pointing his middle finger to the driver of that silver GT-R.
“What is that monster?!” the woman said, “There is no way Z-tune can do that”

Few minutes later, he’s arrived at Daikoku Futo parking area. He gets out from his car and buys a bottle of cold Coca-Cola Zero. After he opens it and drinks it, the silver car enters the parking area, and parks beside his blue car.
“This is a nice Z-tune you have” the woman said to him

“It is… where is my money? Hand it over” Sora opens his palms to ask for the money

“Hey, can I see what’s under the bonnet?” the guy asked him

“No… since the two of you acted like an asshole, I won't let you see it” Sora drinks his Cola, “Give me my money”

“I won’t give it unless you let me see what’s under it” he said

Sora shrugs and finishes his cola then tosses the bottle to the trash can.
“Still won’t give me unless I let you see it? Well…”

Suddenly he hits the annoying guy with his right fist. The guy falls down and his mouth is bleeding. Sora shakes his right hand, takes the money and kicks the guy’s leg once again.
“You acted like a ten year old kid, and you are annoying… I hate it when I have to do this but you gave me no choice” Sora said to him, “Damn street racer punk”

Sora knew that the woman behind him will hit him anytime soon, so he turns his head and give out a killer eye.
“Don’t even think about it” Sora said to her, “You guys are looking for trouble with, and I give you one. If you want more trouble with me, go look for me another day”

Sora gets back to his car and drives off from the parking area. Even though he is mad as hell, he is happy that he got the money he need for audio upgrade.
“Oh well, let’s get back to your new home and get some rest”

After tonight’s battle Sora is tired. Add it up with meeting a jerk like that silver GT-R’s driver, today is very busy day.
He arrived few minutes later at his house. His house is a small house that belongs to his brother before he moved out of Tokyo. Even though it’s a small house it has a small indoor carport. Sora keeps the carport clean for this reason, but he never had any bravery to ask Kojiro so he can bring the Z-tune to his house. But today, Kojiro just said that he can- it was now his after all.
“Alright… this is your new house, Aoi” Sora pats his blue car, “I'm going to get some rest, see you later”

Aoi is Japanese for blue. He also named it because he likes to treat cars like a girl. That’s why he washes his car and cleans the interior often.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It’s almost ten o’clock but Sora is still fast asleep. He needs to pick up Hikaru and the girls at Yuki’s house to get an audio upgrade.
“Umm… what time is it?” Sora grabs his mobile phone on the desk, “Shit! It’s almost ten o’clock! I’m so damn late!”

He grabs his towel immediately and went to the bathroom. After roughly five minutes inside, he dressed up and ready to go. But being late, he can be very sloppy and forgetful.
“Alright… wallet, car key, and that’s it!” Sora said, “Time to go”

And he forgets about his breakfast. Suddenly his mobile phone rang, and the ringtone is the revving sound of his blue car that he recorded. It’s Hikaru who’s calling.
“Hey, you’re late” Hikaru said, “Still sleepy?”

“Kind of” Sora ties his shoelace, “What’s up? I’ll be there shortly”

“Being late means you will forget something, and we already anticipated it. Let’s go to Yuki’s house right away, they making breakfast” Hikaru smirks

“Be there in a minute” Sora replied

Sora opens his garage and ignites the blue car’s engine. He drives it slowly out of the garage, and after he locks his house and the garage, he’s off to Hikaru’s house.
Hikaru is sitting inside his garage as he waits for his new friend. There is only one car inside it, and that is the White Ghost. His sister mailed him few weeks ago, told him that he should sell her Honda Fit and uses the money for his monthly needs. Looks like he had a rough time dealing with every problem he has. It’s not easy for him to deal with those entire problem at once, and the only one who’s keeping him in one piece is his girlfriend; Yuki.
“Huff…” he sighed, “He’s way late… sitting here brings back memories”

Yes, he still thinking about that silver GT-R Moriyama crashed. His sister repaired it, but most of the parts are destroyed and it needs donor parts, making it more like a Frankenstein car, rather than his beloved GT-R.

BEEEEEEEP!!

Sora is outside the house, so he stands up and pats his jeans before he greets his friend.
“You’re late” Hikaru smirks, “Last night battle really got you all worked up, huh?”

“More or less” Sora replied, “Get in”

“Sora, can I drive your car? I want to try and drive her out” Hikaru said, “Can I?”

“Umm… well, that’s up to her” Sora scratches his head, “Try and sit here”

Sora gets out from the car and sits on the passenger seat. Hikaru sits on the driver seat and he inhaled, holding his breath as he turns on the ignition key.
“Here goes…” Hikaru starts the engine

When Hikaru turns on the ignition key, the engine won't start. Hikaru starts to freak out already, afraid if he breaks something.
“Wh, why won't it start?” Hikaru looks puzzled

“Hm…” Sora nods, “Looks like she didn’t like you… please forgive her”

“…Ah, well” Hikaru steps out from the car and Sora moves back to the driver seat

“Okay… It‘s me, Aoi” Sora says as he ignites the car

When he turns on the ignition key, the engine come to life and roared through the neighborhood. Hikaru grins as he straps on the Nismo harnesses. This blue Z-tune rejects him, even though he drives a GT-R once before.
“What a mysterious quality this car has…” Hikaru grins

“She is” Sora nods, “Let’s go to Yuki’s place”

Few minutes later, they arrived at Yuki’s big mansion. A midnight purple Nissan GT-R is parked under red maple tree, alongside Yuki’s black Skyline GT-R.
“Ah, Hikaru-san… young mistress is waiting inside the house” said one of the bodyguards

“Who is this young man with you? A friend of yours?” the other bodyguard asks him

“Ah, yes… I believe Sakura-san is expecting him also” Hikaru nods, “Can he park under the maple tree also?”

“Yes, of course” the bodyguard nodded, “Please go inside”

Sora drives his car inside slowly and after he parks under the tree, the two gets off the car and walks toward the big pavilion near the waterfall.
“What a big ol’ mansion she has” Sora says as he looks around the place

“It is” Hikaru replied, “Makes me scared sometimes that I’m a boyfriend of a rich girl like that”

“Hm…” Sora thought, “It’s too late now to be scared, Hikaru… she will kill you if you leave her with no apparent reason”

“You got that right… I wonder why the writer put me up with such girl”

“Don’t ask me” Sora shrugs, “I'm not interested to find out anyways”

“Steve is right about you… you had a difficulty to blend with other people” Hikaru added

“Not really… I get along with the others just fine” Sora replied

“Then why won't you show some sympathy to my worries?”

“I just don’t want to mix myself up with other people’s problem and business” Sora explained, “I had a problem when I tried to poke my nose where it doesn’t belong, and I screwed up… big time”

“I see…” Hikaru hissed, “Well, I can't blame you then”

Hearing the voice of two persons outside her pavilion, Yuki immediately greets her precious boyfriend and his friend.
“Welcome, dear…” Yuki said

“Hi… busy cooking? Can I help?” Hikaru smiled

“He… you can cook?”

“Sure I do… what about you?” Hikaru asked back

“No…” Sora shrugs, “Of course I can… how else can I survive on my own?”

“Well, come on in… let’s have a breakfast together” Yuki pulled Hikaru’s right hand

The three gets into the pavilion and went to the kitchen. Sora didn’t see the doctor, so he went ahead and ask on her whereabouts.
“Um… where is the good doctor?” Sora scratches his head

“She’s at the dojo, and she is training with my other cousins” Yuki answered, “Here, why don’t you give her a towel and tell her to take a bath before we eat our breakfast”

“Sure… where is the dojo?”

“Just go straight and you’ll see her at the dojo” Yuki nods, “Can you peel off those potatoes, dear?”

Sora leaves the lovey-dovey alone in the kitchen and went to the dojo she’s talking about. Halfway on the hall, Sora can hear girls and boys voice yelling against each other. He can also hear a sound of heavy object hitting the tatami floor. Looks like they practicing Aikido.
“Haaaaa!!!”

BRUK! BUAM!

“Ouch, give me a break, Sakura” said a female to her

“Hey, if you can't stand the pressure, don’t bother practicing here” she replied, “Hm?”

She saw Sora carrying a towel; looks like Yuki send him to get her.
“Sora-kun” she said, “Why are you here?”

“Yuki told me to get you… here’s a towel” Sora threw the towel he carried

“Thank you. And since you’re here, why don’t we have a little something… like this!”

She grabs Sora in the collar and belt. As she starts to lift him off the ground, Sora reacted to the pressure she gives him. He quickly lands his feet to the side, and grabs her at the collar and belt, tossing the girl away to the floor.

BLAM!!!

Everyone is silent. They couldn’t believe that Sakura gets thrown away easily by the lean bodied kid who just walked into the dojo. Everyone clap their hands off and cheered for him.
“…”

“Ow…” Sakura stands up while she holds her hips, “How did you do that?”

“I… ah… I don’t know. I just reacted to your earlier action, and imitated it”

She grabs the fallen towel on the tatami and wipes her face and neck from sweat.
“I have to say, you have absolute control over your body” Sakura wipes her sweat, “You can actually calm down under the pressure and reacted quickly before you fell on the tatami”

“I still don’t know what I just did… how in the earth did I do that?”

“Well, I better take a bath now… Yuki’s cooking can be smelled from one quarter mile away” she smiled, “Let’s go”

“I’m going to go for a walk around this mansion” Sora walks away, “It’s a rare chance to walk around this big traditional house”

“Be my guest… see you later” Sakura shrugs, “I’m going to drink a milk first at the kitchen”

Hikaru and Yuki had already finished their cooking, and they are doing something else right now.
“Now, let’s wait for the cabbage to soften” Yuki said

“Uh-huh” Hikaru nodded

“What are you two doing? Where is the food, Yuki?” Sakura asked

“In few minutes… why don’t you go and take a bath?” Yuki said

“Will do, but I need to drink my chocolate milk first” Sakura replied, “Here we go… ah, so refreshing”

“Um… where is Sora?” Hikaru looks around but he couldn’t find Sora with her

“He said that he’s going to walk around and take a look around the house” Sakura puts back her chocolate milk, “Well, I’m going to take a bath…”

Sora is outside the house and he’s looking at the midnight purple Nissan GT-R Sakura has. Surprisingly, the door is open, so Sora went ahead and letting himself take a look on the interior also. She already puts up a HKS EVC module and HKS turbo timer. The standard seat has been replaced by Nismo Recaro carbon fiber shelled bucket seats with leather, and it carries Nismo 4 point harnesses.

Sora moves ahead on the exterior. She replaces all of the rims with Nismo Rays 6 spoke (Sora is not a big fan of Nissan GT-R, so he never bothers to memorize the type of the rims), and so did the brakes; she upgraded it to six pistons on the rear, and eight pistons on the front with Brembo. The suspension is replaced also; she equipped it with Nismo Bilstein dampers. She also added the rear under diffuser made out of carbon.
“Amazing, huh?” said a girl from behind him

Sakura has done taking a bath, and now she’s wearing black Nismo long sleeve filigree and tool design tee, medium length black vinyl skirt with black boots. Even though her clothing is thick enough, Sora still can see her bosoms behind the black tee.
“It is” Sora blushed

“Hm? Why are you blushing?” Sakura looked at all of her get-ups

She then blushed also. Her bosoms are faintly seen behind her clothing.
“I… I’ll change to something else immediately” Sakura said with burning red face

“Ye, yeah… you should” Sora nodded

Sakura heads back to her room and gets other clothes to be worn. After few minutes of waiting, she’s back outside to talk with Sora about her car. This time she changes her clothes with Nissan GT-R T-shirt.
“How is this?” she asked

“It’s better…” Sora nods

“Okay… want to take a look at the engine?” she asked

“Yes, please…” Sora nods again

Sakura pops the hood, revealing the ultimate engine Nissan created; VR38DETT. Sora is very amazed when he looked at it.
“What do you think?” she asked

“Not bad… so this is VR38DETT” Sora said

Sakura flew her attention the blue Z-tune. When she does, the bonnet suddenly open by itself, as if inviting her to take a look at the engine. Of course she is confused but she remains calm and thinks logically.
“Hm… let me see your engine” she walks toward the blue car

Sora knew that the bonnet is already open by itself so he followed the good doctor to his blue car. Sakura lifts the light carbon bonnet and she is very surprised, just like everyone that had already seen it.
“It feels alive… how could it be?” she thought

“You sure like to show off” Sora said to his car

“Guys, breakfast is ready” Yuki said from the pavilion

“Captivating… I would like to try and have a battle against you one day” she smirks

“I’ll hold you to that, sensei” Sora grins, “Well, let’s go eat something”

The two of them head back to Yuki’s pavilion to enjoy their breakfast.
Half an hour later, they are finished with their breakfast. Now they are ready to go and went to audio shop. The four of them walks toward the main yard and gets ready to go.
“Okay, let’s go…” Sakura nods

Yuki will drive with Sakura, while Hikaru will tag along in Sora’s car. The two GT-Rs went to the audio shop, located at Shibuya. After they arrived at the audio shop, Sakura gets off from the car and greet the owner of the shop.
“Good day, Minako-san” Sakura said to the woman at the shop, “I believe that Tamada-san is at the hospital right now”

“Yes he is… what brings you here today, Sakura-san?” she asked

After Sora and Yuki parked their car, they approached Sakura who is talking to the owner of the audio shop.
“Guys, this is Makimura Minako… she is the wife of my colleagues, Makimura Tamada” Sakura said

“Ah, nice to meet you” Sora bows to her

“And you must be the Sky King junior… nice to meet you as well. My name is Makimura Minako, and I’m the owner of this audio shop” she smiled, “Since Sakura brought you here, and the two of you brought your cars, then I assume you want to upgrade your audio”

“Ah, I’m only looking to replace all of the speakers in that Z-tune with Clarion” Sora nodded, “I’m not here to customize my audio”

“I see… then please let me take a look on your car” she replied

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

One and half an hour later, his car is done. All of the speakers inside the blue car have been replaced with Clarion. Even though the head unit remains the same, the sounds produced by the speakers are very clear and nice.
“Whew… it’s nice” Sora nods as he listens to the music he plays, “How much is it for all of these speakers?”

“Let’s put it to $1,000” Minako said, “Consider it a discount from me”

“Really? Thanks a lot, ma’am” Sora hands over the money and bows

“Well, now that you’re done, let’s go to Wangan” Sakura said, “I’m very curious about how this car performs

“Alright… let’s go” Sora ignites the engine

“I want to try it out as well… I’m going to drive Yuki’s car” Hikaru said

“Okay…” Sora smiled, “Get in, Sakura”

The two cars drive out from the audio shop and headed to the highway entrance. They enter from Shiodome and going around to Tatsumi before they go all the way to Wangan line.
“Alright, Sora!” Hikaru said as he speeds up ahead of him

“Wow, you are great with GT-R” Sora smirks, “Let’s chase him, Aoi”

When they reached Tatsumi, a familiar car is flashing its headlights; wanting a race… it’s the silver V-spec II Nur from last night. Sora is not surprised; he outruns it totally last night, and looks like the driver wants a revenge match.
“What the hell?” Hikaru thought

“It’s him” Sora said

Hikaru looks at the rearview mirror carefully and when he gets a glimpse of its driver, he gasped and very surprised.
“Rei!!!” Hikaru yelled

“Rei? Mikami Rei?!” Sakura said, “The Musashi?”

“Hm… so the annoying guy with ten year old kid attitude is actually somebody” Sora smirks, “Well, this makes it worthwhile”

Sora decreases his pace, and opens his window. He then gets his right hand out, asking the driver of the silver car. The silver car lined up beside him and opens the window.
“So you are Mikami Rei” Sora smirks

“I am” he smiled, “Let’s have another run”

“In this broad daylight? Fine by me” Sora nods

Hikaru lined up Yuki’s GT-R beside that silver V-spec II Nur and opens the window as well.
“YOU!!! Why do you bother coming back?!” he yelled

“I have some unfinished business here, and I thought why not take a look at all of you?” Rei ask back

“Because of you… because of you… we…” Hikaru grits his teeth in anger

“It’s been awhile, Hikaru, Yuki” said a woman beside him

“Sis…” Hikaru mumbles

“What are you two up to now, Seno-san?” Yuki asked

“Let’s start now… meet me at Daikoku-Futo, just like last night” Rei nods, “Last one is a rotten egg!”

“…”

Hikaru intended to battle him as well, but Sora already reads his mind and stops him.
“Don’t even think about it” Sora said, “That silver GT-R only challenging me for the run… just sit tight and watch, no need for you to get involved. Just put aside your grudge and be a good boy”

“What do you know about it?” Hikaru said back in anger, “I will smoke that bastard”

“Use your head and think calmly!” Sora shifts up, leaving him in the back. “You want to kill yourself and your girlfriend? Just follow me, and don’t try anything stupid! If I see you increase your pace, I’ll block your line”

“…”

Hikaru is loss at words. Seeing Rei indeed makes him lost his composure. He inhaled deeply and gathered back his focus.
“I'm sorry” Hikaru said

“Hmph!” Sora ignored him and chases the silver GT-R

Hikaru then calls Steve to inform him on the latest updates.
“Hey, guess who is back in town?” Hikaru asked

“I don’t know… Kimura Takuya?” Steve smirks

“It’s the damn idiot Mikami… Sora and him are having a battle right now and they will finish at Daikoku-Futo… can you tell the others and get there ASAP?” Hikaru explained

“I’ll tell the others” Steve hung up

Rei and his GT-R is way faster than yesterday, looks like he changes something on that silver car. The way he handles it, the way it accelerates- all of them are different than yesterday.
“Looks like he changes the settings on that car” Sora said

“You talk as if you already battled him” Sakura replied

“I did… last night to be exact” Sora smiled, “Let’s see if the changes are enough to defeat me”

Sora shifts down and fire spats from the muffler. Loud bang can be heard clearly outside and it attracts Rei and other traffic cars.
“Hey, it’s the genius newcomer with Z-tune! Sky is having a battle with another R34!” said one of the drivers to his friends

“This is way cool! Go Sky, go!” said the other guy

Sora starts to close the gap- he manages to overtake Rei’s Nur and starts to gain some distances. Rei is sweating hard but in the same time he feels happy.
“Now that’s what I expected” Rei smiled, “Let’s go! Last night is just a fluke, and I’ll prove that you’re nothing in this heavy traffic condition”

“…”

What Rei just said is true; Sora needs to maintain more distance from the traffic cars since his car’s acceleration behavior is wild.
“Cih!” Sora brakes hard when the traffic car in front of him brakes

“Hahahaha” Rei laughs happily


Sora shifts down and sways his car to the side. He then floors his throttle more and lined his car even with the silver R34. Rei is surprised, and so did Sakura who sat beside Sora. What acceleration!
“Yah… I thought he’s improving his way of driving with the new settings” Sora said, “If he doesn’t increase his pace, I’ll outrun him now”

Rei shifts down and floors his throttle more. Sora intentionally let him go first, and now is where the real battle starts. They just passes Ariake junction and the traffic starts to build up.
“Slaloming in that heavy car won't be easy” Rei said as he looks at his rearview mirror


Sora slaloms through the traffic as if they are nothing. Even though Z-tune is way heavier than Rei’s Nur, he manages just fine. All they do is just slaloming through the traffic cars, and Sora starts to get bored… real bored.
“Watch where you drive, Sora-kun” Sakura said as she takes a look at the driver

And there it is. The driver continues to stare at the silver car in front of him, not paying attention to what the passenger beside him just said. Yellow eyes glare right through the window, penetrating the metal body of the silver GT-R in front of him, giving the chills to both of the passenger inside it.
“Do you feel that, dear?” Seno asked

“Yeah, his glare is penetrating to the cabin and I can feel the chills down to my spine” Rei answered

“When the traffic gets a little lighter around Haneda, shows over” Sora exhaled lightly, “He’s boring… and I don’t mean to be cocky, but I just don’t know what Kojiro and the others see in him. His car is fast, that’s all- he didn’t even take it to its maximum potential”

“What about you?” Sakura asked

“I don’t know” Sora shrugs, “Well I’ll be…”

Sora shifts up to fifth gear and lined his car beside the silver R34 once again. He looks at Rei and Seno before he floors the throttle fully.
“This is the last time I battle with you” Sora said, “Bye”

He shifted to sixth gear and accelerates forward. Rei, however, had one more trick to be played.
“Here we go!” he said as he turns on the nitrous switch

In an instant, his car plunges like a jet. Sora saw him from the rearview mirror and he moves aside to make a way for the silver car.
“Hahahahaha! Winning is winning!” Rei said

“Rei!” Seno yelled to him

A traffic car suddenly changes the lane in front of him. Rei panicked and hits the brake immediately as he steers to the side. The excessive braking force, speed, and turning spins the silver R34 crazily like a tornado.

Sora saw what happened in front of him and he is going too fast as well. Sakura started to freaked- she closes her eyes as she turns away her face. Sora exhaled lightly and smirks. He brakes with his left foot lightly and changes the lane perfectly as the silver car spins beside him.
“It’s fine” Sora said, “Don’t worry”

Sakura is relieved that the worse had just passed. She smiled softly, and kisses Sora in his cheek.
“Wha?! What are you doing?!”

“It’s a good luck kiss” Sakura replied, “If I'm the one who drive the car, I don’t think I can keep calm like that”

The blue Z-tune continues to accelerates, leaving the silver car which just spun like crazy.
Hikaru saw what happened and stopped to check on his sister. Thank God nothing is happened.
“Drive to the Daikoku-Futo” Hikaru said

“Are you alright, dear?” Seno smiled, “Let’s go to Daikoku-Futo, dear”

“Yeah… sorry I scared you back there” Rei said to her

Sora arrived at Daikoku-Futo not long after. He sits beside the vending machine as Sakura gets him a cold Coca-Cola. She gave it to him then sits beside him.
“How was it?” she asked

“The drink? It’s nice and calming” he answered, “Here…”

Sora hands over the cold bottle to her and she drinks it also. She blushed after she drank it, remembering the fact that Sora drinks it beforehand- an indirect kiss from his mouth.
“How is it?” Sora asked back

“Emm… it’s real nice. This thing will kill you though if you drink it too much” Sakura gives the bottle back to him

“Well, I don’t drink it often, sensei. I won't die just yet- there are a lot of things I need to do” Sora continued

“Hm? Looks like your other friends are also here” Sakura saw the cars parked near the exit

“Well everyone surely had a grudge against that Mikami guy” Sora scratches his head, “It’s not my business, though”

Rei and Hikaru arrived at Daikoku-Futo and parked around their other friends. Sora looks at them and stands up. He didn’t have any intention to butt in their quarrel, so he pats his blue jeans and asks for Sakura’s hand.
“What?” she looks confused

“I’m out of here” Sora said, “It’s their business, and I don’t intend to know anything about it”

“Didn’t they your teammates? Don’t you want to know what happened to all of them?” Sakura takes his hand and stands up as well

“Nah, why would I do that?” he shrugs and walk towards his car, “Let’s go…”

Sakura smiled and gets into the car as well. After the two straps themselves with the harnesses, they are ready to go.
“Alright, I'm going to drop you at Yuki’s house once again” Sora said

“Let’s drive by towards them first. After you say goodbye properly, let’s go to the beach for a scene” Sakura said

“Is this an invitation for a date?”

“Not really… let’s go anyways” Sakura nods

Sora shrugs and drives slowly towards all of them. He opens his windows and waits for his friends to finished talking.
“Well, you got something you want to say, Mikami-sama?” Steve asked

“I do… how are you guys doing?” he smirks

“Stop being a jerk and answer us! Why did you leave us?!” Hikaru grabs his collar

“Being angry to him will do you no good” Seno said, “His mother is dying few months ago, so he needs to go back, and ask me to come with him. It’s not like he abandons all of you when you guys needs him the most- he had his own problem as well!”

“Why didn’t you tell us?! We wouldn’t be back to the bottom if you just tell us your reason!!!” Hikaru yells, “We would have focused on the battle if we didn’t wait for your return!”

“I'm sorry… I don’t have anything to say about it” Rei explained

“Hikaru…” Yuki thought

“Maybe it’s not my place to say this, but I think Seno-san is right” Sora said, “You guys can't blame him- you guys are the one to blame. If you guys depend on him too much, then that is the result”

Everyone turns silent. They know it’s useless to point at each other, throwing the blames to each other.
“Why don’t you guys just let it go? Time to move forward and don’t look back to what happened in the past” Sora asked, “The only person thy can rely on is thyself”

“He’s right” Keith exhaled lightly, “Sorry about what happened, Rei…”

Sora smiled. At least it’s a good start to make one of them forgive the poor guy.
“Well, I leave the rest up to you guys… it’s easier now that one of you had finally cools his head” Sora smirks

“Hey, what’s your name?” Rei asked

“It’s… Ninomiya… Ninomiya Sora” Sora replied, “After my battle with Kojiro, I was called Sky because my name. See ya…”

“Well, we’ll be off now” Sakura smiled, “See you later, Yuki”

“Are you guys going off somewhere else?” Yuki asked, “Make sure you come back before dinner”

“Sora… thanks for your battle” Hikaru said to him

“Just think of it as a return favor for the goggles you gave me the other day” Sora smiled, “See you on Monday”


This post has been edited by R_E_X on May 31 2010, 08:19 PM

[Snoxxy]

thats unfortunate..
i enjoyed reading rpm quite a bit... you should reconsider... especially because RPM and GTR legend utilize the same set of characters

[kirashin]

yea..tat a sad news..actually i think i like rpm much more...well actually...u can take ur time lol...i realli wanna noe wat happen nxt..so at least an ending??or juz the way u like it..mysterious..xD...well it depend on u....

[GTI-R34]

Wel I like the old hssr , you should reconsider.

i enjoy reading it , do not stop please

[Snoxxy]

see... im the new guy here... and other people agree with me...
if you need help, ideas, donations... i'll help you out

Phil

[R_E_X]

RPM 7: Invitation

Sora and Sakura arrived at the beach at Chiba prefecture. The two of them parked the car under a breezy tree at the parking lot and walks the rest of the way by foot. None of them brought their swimsuits, since the two of them only came for the scenery.
“It’s beautiful”

Sora looks at the girl standing in front of him as he walks at the white sand, carrying his Spalding shoes. The sea is calm and there aren’t a lot of people coming here. The sun burns orange red as it began to set at the west. Sakura sits at the white sand and puts her boot beside her.
“It is… the sea is calm and tranquil” Sora stares at the sun also, “The water is sparkling, reflecting the light to the sky”

“It’s so romantic… wish I had a boyfriend to share these views with” Sakura hugs her knee

With a girl like her said that, who wouldn’t be attracted to the subject? Sora turns his attention to her. Her words seem desperate and she seems very lonely. Didn’t she have a boyfriend? Sora gathered his bravery and guts, and opens his mouth to ask about it.
“Don’t you have a boyfriend? It’s a rare thing to see a beautiful girl like you ignored by the guys out there”

“How flattering… I'm not that beautiful, you know” Sakura smirks, “What about you, Sora?”

“Me? I’m a geek since my high school…” he explained, “There is no girl in my school that likes me”

“Well now look at you… I bet the girls in your school can't ignore you” she smiled

“Not really. Most of them are just girls in their puberty age… annoying and noisy” Sora sits beside her, “Phew…”

As Sakura continued to stare at the distant setting sun, Sora stares at her- from her toe to her hair. She is very humble. Sakura is just as pretty as Yuki, but both of them are very different person, even though both of them had two things in common; calm behavior and sexiness.
“What? Is there something in my face?” she asked

“No, nothing…” Sora shrugs

“I see” Sakura nodded

Sora blushed. He likes her very much, but he’s just shy around the girls.
“Sora-kun… do you have a girl that you like?” she asked

Like a sword stabbing his heart, time stopped for Sora. His eyes widen and his heart skipped a beat. How can he answer the question? Play it cool or say the fact?
“I have” Sora nods, “What about you?”

Sakura smiled. She then shrugs and answered flatly.
“I can't find someone interesting for awhile… but I think I can keep on looking” she said

“I see” Sora said a bit disappointed

Sakura stands up and walks toward the small harbor where the fishermen usually dock their boats.
“I hate myself” Sakura said, “Now he’s all disappointed, thanks to my foul mouth and lies”

A faint cry can be heard around her. When she takes a look, she found an injured bird.
“Oh…” Sakura said, “Hi there birdie… what’re you doing here?”

“What is it?” Sora stands up and walks towards her

“I found an injured bird… what bird is this?” Sakura asked, “Hm… maybe this is a seagull? Wish I had a veterinarian friend, so I can asks about this bird”

“What will you do? You can't just abandon it there” Sora asked

“I’m going to take care of him” she smiled, “Let’s get back for now, it’s late”

The two walks back to the car and drives back to Tokyo. Since it’s late, the two stops by at the local restaurant to eat something. The bird looks hungry as well.
“Hm… let’s eat over there” Sora points a sushi restaurant

“Why not?” Sakura asks

KIIIII! KIIIII!

“Wha? You’re hungry as well? Well then let’s eat” Sakura nods

The two gets off the car and brought something to eat. At the restaurant, the bird won't stop eating fish. As if it hadn’t eaten anything for years.
“Whew… I'm full” Sora said

Kiiii…

The bird is full also. It yawns and went to sleep at Sakura’s lap.
“Well, let’s get back to Tokyo” Sakura smiled, “Yuki will surely kill me later”

At the car, the two hardly talks about what happened earlier on the beach. Sora is driving at medium pace and concentrates on the road ahead of him. Sakura stares at the towering building, filled with lights on them. The bird is asleep and therefore is silent. The only sound around them is slow hum of RB engine, accompanied with horns and other cars’ engine sound.
“Na, Sakura… is it fun to work as a doctor?” Sora asked

“More or less… I get to help people with my talent with surgical knives, curing people with my prescription… it’s all good” she answered, “Not to mention big salary and payment… hehehe”

“Hm…” Sora wondered

“What do you want to be in the future?” she asked back, “Do you ever thought about that?”

“Not really… I’m still looking for the purpose in my life. It’s hard to decide what I want to do with my life”

“You’ll find it someday… be alert and I'm sure you’ll find them” she smiles

They arrived back at Tokyo at 1 A.M.
In front of Yuki’s house, Sora stops his car. He then looks beside him and found that Sakura is already asleep.
“Sakura…” he said

“…”

She is fast asleep and looks like nothing can wake her up. He shakes her shoulder slowly but she didn’t wake up.
“Man… what will I do?”

He steps out from the car to get some kind of clue from her cousin Yuki.
Yuki is waiting for her at her pavilion’s balcony. She’s not worried, but she’s just curious where they gone off to. When she saw Sora, she wondered where her cousin is.
“You guys had fun?” she asks, “Where is Sakura?”

“She is fast asleep in my car… what should I do?” he asks back

“Get your car inside and park it near this pavilion. After that, carry her to her bedroom” Yuki said, “Do it now, I’m very tired and sleepy”

Sora runs back to his car and get it inside the yard of the big house. After he parked in front of the pavilion, he steps out once again and opens the left door.
He takes the injured bird and gives it to Yuki, before he carries Sakura.
“What’s with this cute bird? Is this yours?”

“Nope… she found it at the beach, and she said that she’ll take care of it” Sora explained, “Which way is her room?”

“Let me show you” Yuki nods

After Sora puts her at the big, comfy looking bed, he coves her with warm blanket.
“That’s it… thank you for taking care of my cousin” Yuki smirks, “You are good guy, Sora”

“Hey, what’s that supposed to mean?” Sora frowned, “Do you really think I will abduct her and ask for ransom money? You gotta be kidding me”

“I'm just joking, relax. Even though that were to happen, I'm sure she’ll kick your ass” Yuki exhaled

“Wow, I love a girl that can kick my ass” Sora shrugs, “See you around, Yuki”

After Sora drives off and left, Yuki is still at Sakura’s room. She then realized something; Sakura never was a sleepyhead, especially in a car. She smiled and turns around to her cousin.
“Ha… it’s not nice to fool him like that” Yuki said

“You realize, huh? Way to go, big sis… I know you can't be fooled” she yawned

“Why do you fool him like that? Is he a boring guy?” Yuki asked

“Not at all… I'm just afraid if I said something that would make him disappointed” Sakura explained, “I like the guy… very, very much. But Hibana also said that the one that makes a move first, they’ll lose”

“Hm… trying to lure an eagle with baits… I see” she nods, “Doctors like you do have a nasty personality”

“Hey, it’s not nice to judge people directly like that” Sakura smirks

“Remember something that granny said to us long time ago, Sakura. If women are too carefree, they will always be lonely. My advice is show some cue to him that you’re taking interest in him also” Yuki explains

“Yeah, you’re the one to talk” Sakura takes off her clothes along with her underwear and changes to night kimono, “You can't compare me with you- you are way too aggressive to men”

“I can't say anything on that because I am what I am” she shrugs, “Just remember what I said, Sakura… otherwise he’ll leave you alone forever. Get some sleep; we’re going to train Aikido the first thing in the morning”

“Sure… I’m going to throw your sexy ass” Sakura smiled wickedly

“It’s 100 years too soon for you to try and throw me” Yuki said, “What are you going to do about this little bird?”

“I will take good care of it… tomorrow after we done with training, I'm going to browse the net to find out what species it is”

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sora is cruising at C1 right now. When he enters the New Belt Line area via Edobashi, a white BMW is catching up with him- fast.
“Looks like Valentine’s day came up early… I got a white chocolate with Grip Runner vinyl, running in my back” Sora grins

It’s Keith and his white M3. What does he want this time?
Sora’s mobile phone rang. Looks like Keith is the one who called.
“Don’t you have anything else better to do, Keith? It’s late and I’m sleepy” Sora said

“If you are sleepy, why are you here on Shutokou?” Keith smirks

“You got me. I don’t know why I'm here myself” he replies, “I got a lot of things in my mind right now”

“Then let’s have a battle to forget it!” Keith yelled, “Let’s go- Belt Line to Wangan”

“Stop yelling, dude” Sora wheezed

One past thirty A.M in Shutokou, there is no one else but them. The two cars accelerate to Kiba exit. With fresh tires, Sora is very confident about this battle against Keith’s RWD monster.
“I got the inside!” Keith laughs

“I’ll take the outside then” Sora nods

Right hander is up ahead and Sora is at the outside lane. Keith accelerates faster than the blue Z-tune. NA tuning has no lag indeed.
“Here we go!” Keith plunges his car inside to corner

Sora in the outside lane continues to cruise behind the white M3. Since his first battle with everyone at Wangan line, looks like Keith has made more improvement in his car’s power. The car feels more responsive and the handling looks more firm and sturdy, no body roll is detected since the car can accelerate through the corner easily.
“Hmm… you got a trick on your sleeve” Sora said

“I won't make the same mistake twice, let’s go!” Keith shifts up and starts to gain more distance

“Well this car surely gives you more of a challenge than the previous E46, right Aoi?”

Sora shifts down and increases his pace. The loud bang sound accompanied by the roar of RB engine echoed through the sleepless night in Shutokou.
The battle between these two teammates is intense. No one is watching, but the two drivers can't afford to lose to one another. It’s not a matter of what brand their car has, but how they and their car perform against one another.
“…Looks like he overdid it” Sora thought, “The gasket has been changed to increase the overall compression, huh?”

“You can tell? How come?” Keith sounded surprised

“The sound. It’s drier and crispier than before” Sora replied, “What about the internals?”

“I haven’t upgrade it just yet” Keith nods

“Well… the problem starts to arise, Keith. Look at your engine temperature!” Sora said

The engine bay of the white car produces an enormous smoke. Keith brakes hard and stops his car immediately. He cuts off the engine and opens the carbon fiber bonnet.
Sora stopped his car also. He fans out the smoke with his hands to reduce it. Keith didn’t say anything and just turn silent as he stares at his engine bay.
“Well… looks like it almost blew, but I guess it’s alright now” Sora said, “After the engine cooled a bit, I'm sure you can ride it back to your house… just don’t push it hard”

“How naïve of me… to think I can beat your car by pushing my car to its limits” Keith grins, “All to fly beyond the blue sky… you”

“Huff…” Sora exhaled, “Let’s have a battle another day… technical failure is not counted”

“No… I already lost the moment I decided to tinkering with my car without Dr. Theisen input and battled you tonight” Keith bites his lips, “I lost”

Sora is silent. He then opens his mouth again to say goodbye to his friend
“I’d better get going now… see you around”

Sora gets back to his car and drives off, leaving Keith alone with his overheating car. He then exited the highway to get back to his house.

News travels faster than light. From mouth to mouth, the story of Grip Runner’s defeat against Sky already reached every street racer’s ears, and that include Yuki and Sakura.
Yuki and Sakura are training at the dojo right now. Yuki seemed to be thinking about something and her mind seemed to wonder off someplace else. Sakura saw it and attempts to throw her off balance.
“Thinking about something while sparring, it just doesn’t suits you, sis!” Sakura said as she lifts Yuki’s body

Yuki however reverse her body to the side as she grabs Sakura’s collar, throwing her off instead. Her sexy, slender body hits tatami floor hard before the floor itself producing a loud bam.

BRUK! BUAM!

“Just as I told you last night; it’s 100 years too soon for you to try and throw me” Yuki said

“Ow, ow, ow… what are you thinking about, anyway?” Sakura asked

“That Sora guy actually succeeds Hikaru and Rei…” Yuki said, “He will be targeted by all of the street racers in town”

“And?” Sakura still doesn’t understand

“Silly girl… a nail that sticks up gets hammered- that will apply also to him” Yuki explained

“Let him be” Sakura stands up and wipes her sweat, “He’s a big boy and he’ll manage against the street racers”

“Then what about police?” Yuki asked

“Same for them. I'm not going to worry about him- it’s no use” Sakura shrugs, “The higher an eagle flies, the fiercer the wind”

“I see… if you want to think like that, then it’s okay” Yuki nods

Morning breeze enters Sora’s room. Blue and red bed sheet is tidy and he was nowhere to be seen. Where is he? Didn’t he come back home after he race with Keith at New Belt Line? On the garage, Aoi is nowhere to be seen also. Where in the world are they?
Let’s take a look at the night before…

After he battled with Keith, he goes back right away to his house. A silver Nissan GT-R is parked in front of his house with the driver leaning his back on it. He didn’t know who he was, or what he’s doing there. But something is for certain, though; he wants to meet with Sky. After he cuts off the engine, Sora steps out from the car to talk with the guy.
“Good evening… may I help you?”

“You must be Sky… my name is Bernard Lester, and I'm the leader of the Three Kings team” he introduces himself

When he heard the Three Kings, he remembers the bunch of Westerners with their exotic cars in his battle with Kojiro. But he didn’t know who they was- all he knows is they renamed their team to the Three Kings.
“And what business do you have with me?” Sora asked

“I'm here to invite you to one of racing events for junior racers in Japan. We want you to participate on it… it’s a one day racing event, and it’ll be held at Sendai circuit next week” he explained, “What do you say? It’s like a weekend racing event”

“Me?” Sora asked again

“Yes, but I have other proposal for you as well. Most of the factory car will be there and they will compete with the each other” Bernard said, “Now you are the Nissan driver, so Nissan invited you to represent their team”

“Wait… is this a legal racing event?” Sora raised one of his eyebrows, “And you say that Nissan asked me to represent their team?”

“Yes. Don’t act so surprised; you and your Z-tune already making a big name on Shutokou” Bernard grins, “No wonder Nissan asked me to invite you and represent them”

“Touring cars? Or with Aoi here?”

“Free for all junior class… Nissan already prepared a car for you” Bernard said, “Nissan Skyline GT-R will be your car”

“GT-R?” Sora sounded surprised

“Yes… sponsors such as Nismo, Motul, Brembo, and Bridgestone already picked you as their representation” Bernard nodded, “Will you participate? They offer you a lot of money if you win this one”

“Like hell I wouldn’t… so stupid of me if I declined the offer” Sora pats his chest, “When will we going?”

“Now… so pack your clothes, bring your car with you, and follow me” he said, “You will

So technically Sora is not in Tokyo. He is at Sendai right now, testing his red, black, and silver colored GT-R for the settings. Just as Sora expected, racecars had a lot of differences than normal cars. Most of the interiors are made out of dry carbon fiber or plastic. And the view inside is not very pretty either. The eight point roll cage are welded to the chassis, there are no carpets, the dashboard had no MFD, no air conditioner, no head unit to listen to music, the tachometer is all digital and no fancy analog display, the gauges aren’t lined-up neatly, the engine sound is very noisy and he can completely heard it roaring from the cabin… yes, racecars do look like that.
He also needs to wear racing suits, anti-flaming insides, and helmet for protection. It’s hot and annoying. Sora starts to feel uncomfortable already.

The GT-R he drives is way faster and lighter than Aoi, and he has a lot of trouble adapting to how it handles. After he drives one lap, he gets back to the pit area.
“How is it, kid?” one of the mechanics asked

“It’s hard to control… how much this car weighs anyway?”

“About 1,100, why?” the other mechanics asked

“It has a lot of tendency to over-steers! The rear suspension needs to be loosen a bit more and looks like the brakes need a lot of work” Sora said as he un-straps himself, “Let’s move this car inside and jack it up”

Sora reared the car and the mechanics jacks the car up. They stiffen the rear suspension and increase the braking force to suits his preference.
Major teams like Toyota, Mazda, Honda, Nissan, Subaru, BMW, Ford, Mercedes-Benz, Audi, and many else are here also to test and set up their cars.

Each team had a main team and satellite team. Sora is at the Nissan main team with Bernard as the team principal. The mechanics and even Bernard are very anxious with today’s race. Looks like they work under constant stress, as if something big is coming up.
“What’s wrong? Looks like everyone is very anxious” Sora said, “Something big going on?”

“Mr. Ghosn needs the lap record data” said one of the mechanics, “He will evaluate how our team performs”

“Ghosn? Hm… looks like that’s hell of an important person to come here”

“If we can’t improve, we won't make it to the next level. And I'm sure that we will be fired” said another mechanic to him

“Yeah, well… it’s not your concern. Mechanics can only done their part of work, and the driver will also their part of work” Sora shrugs, “If you can make this car go as my preference, I’ll make sure he’ll satisfied with the performance of the team”

“Alright, it’s done” said Bernard, “She’s ready to go”

Sora nodded and gets back inside the car. He needs to drive one more lap so the mechanic knows what to do next. He begins to drive out from the pit area and runs the course. He attacks every corner like he was possessed by a devil, passing through other teams in the run also. The GT-R he’s driving is already set for this course’s optimal run, and he intends to make full use of it. When he’s about to enter the last corner, Bernard opens the radio channel to talk to him.
“Alright kid, we’ll going to monitor how you’re performing with the settings” he said

“Count my lap time. Ready?” Sora asked, “Here we go”

When he passes the starting line, Bernard starts the timer. He needs to give it his all and record the best time to outperform his competitors.
“Out-in-out it is” Sora said as he steers away from the first right hander

For the first three laps, his time doesn’t improve… worsen to be exact. All of the people in the Nismo pit area are nervous already.
“Okay… that does it” Sora nods

After he finished the third lap, he increases his pace. Now that he already memorized some of the course, he knows what to do. When he’s about to enter the right hander, he quickly cuts through the first right hander and the left hander using the curbs. After that he relies on the G-forces that make him under-steers to the side.

He brakes, shifts down as he blips the throttle with his heel to minimizing the power loss on the shifting. He steers once again to the left side and cuts through the corner using the curbs.
“Not bad” Sora thought, “Time to get serious”

On the pit area, everyone is amazed seeing what Sora just did. A street racer with young age as him easily manages to do what professional racers do on the circuit.
“What do you guys think?” Bernard asks to his entire mechanics, “His ability to adapt to the course is amazing”

“Well, our team certainly get the best street racer as the recruit. No wonder people call him the Junior Sky King” said one of the mechanics, “Go, kid!”

There are a lot of straights and high speed corners here, thus gaining GT-R the advantage. But the circuit also had a lot of twist and turns, and Sora needs to compensate it with his skill to handle the car.
Sora manages to record 2 minutes flat on his lap time. The pit crew couldn’t be happier with the result. They can surely show this data to Ghosn.
“Alright Sora, that’s enough” Bernard said, “Get back here”

Sora drives back to the pit and gets off from the car. The mechanics and even Bernard is satisfied with his lap time results. Sora takes off the helmet and unzips his racing suit.
“So?”

“You do it better than most of other team’s representation” Bernard nods, “One lap is all we need and we’re done here… how is the car, by the way? Are you fit with the setups?”

“It’s better than before, but I think we can improve the lap time. I need the mechanics to change the setups one more time… this time with the LSD settings” Sora said, “I need the car to be more responsive to shave another lap time”

Half an hour later, the sun is supposedly high up in the sky by now, but it hasn’t shown up its radiating light. The sky gets cloudy not long ago and the rain will be here in few more minutes. The other teams already stopped doing their test, same with Sora and the others. They are already waiting inside the pit lane, ready to leave.
“Alright, Sora… we’ll pick you up next Saturday. Get yourself ready for the heat” Bernard nods

“Okay, see you next week, then” Sora nods

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sora is at Sendai city right now. Sendai is the capital city of Miyagi Prefecture, Japan, and the largest city in the Tohoku (northeast) region. The city was founded in 1600 by the daimyo Date Masamune, and is well known by its nickname, the "City of Trees". There are about 60 Zelkova trees on Jouzenji Dori and Aoba Dori. And by the nickname and the trees, supposedly this city is the greenest city in whole Japan and that’s the main reason Sora stays longer there.

He’s taking pictures of his blue GT-R at Aobayama hills, Otamaya-bashi Bridge, Hirose-gawa River, Atago shrine, and even in the front of Sendai city hall. After fed up with taking pictures of his GT-R, he went to Dainenji, Miyagi museum of art, and the last of them is Saikachi Gawa. In Sendai, they offer the best scenery blend of nature and urban city. He is sitting under one of the tree at Saikachi Gawa as he leans his back at the big tree.
“Huff… nature scenery is the best for relaxation”

KRRRRR! KRRRRR!

His phone vibrates in his pocket. When he picks it up, it’s Sakura who’s calling him.
“Yeah?”

“Hey, I’ve been trying to reach you these whole times” she said, “Where were you?”

“Sorry, I’ve been taking pictures here and there at Sendai and I put my mobile phone in the bag” he explained, “What’s up?”

“I’ve been doing some research about the bird I found yesterday… it turns out to be a golden eagle breed” Sakura said, “Want to know the Latin name?”

“No thanks, I’ll pass” Sora smirks, “Anything else you want to tell me?”

“Well, the reason I called you is because I can't figure out a good name for her” Sakura pats the bird in the basket, “I’m going to administer her later”

“Huff… a good name?”

“Yeah, can you think of something?” Sakura asked

“Hm… what about wind? Kaze?” Sora nods, “What do you think?”

“Kaze… alright, that sounded like a good name” Sakura nods also, “Come and visit me and her sometime”

“Sure… see you around then, sensei” Sora nods


This post has been edited by R_E_X on May 31 2010, 08:20 PM

[kirashin]

well...u dun expect it to be fully race story...as it might bored for the reader...so a tiny bitsy of romance sum of the time is good...as u could keep it fresh...and not juz concentrating on racing on tha highway...all day long juz racing..now wouldnt tat be boring...xD..especially wen...big boobies are everywhere...