. Chapter 003: The Persistent Nakatomi Tsuyoshi
The scene before her eyes left the girl speechless, and she stared at them blankly.
Chen Yao was also startled by the sudden appearance of this female Classmate. His hands were still cupping the face of the unconscious Kagaribi no Kiriue, and he too stared blankly at the girl peeking from the stairwell below.
"What are you doing..."
The female Classmate's face turned bright red as she covered her eyes with her hands, but her eyes were glued to them through the wide gaps between her fingers as she asked in shock.
"It's not like that, Classmate, it's not what you think. This student fainted, and I only came up to help..."
Chen Yao reacted immediately, pushing Kagaribi no Kiriue's face away. But when Kagaribi no Kiriue was about to fall elsewhere, he had to crouch down and use his body to catch her. As a result, Kagaribi no Kiriue's lips pressed directly against his cheek.
"I—I understand. I won't tell anyone else, please continue... I didn't expect Kagaribi no Kiriue to be so bold; it's truly an eye-opener..."
The female student hurriedly turned around and left. She seemed too agitated to hear Chen Yao's explanation at all, and she completely failed to notice that Kagaribi no Kiriue was unconscious.
Chen Yao watched helplessly as the girl left. If he had known this would happen, he wouldn't have meddled.
Thinking of this, he picked up Kagaribi no Kiriue and placed her in a more conspicuous spot on the edge of the playground. Sure enough, passing students soon discovered the unconscious Kagaribi no Kiriue and hurriedly sent her to the infirmary.
"Fortunately, I was quick-witted enough. Otherwise, if I were any later, I'd be on tomorrow's Chiba Morning News headlines. Whatever, I'm going home for today; my manga isn't finished yet."
Chen Yao breathed a sigh of relief after seeing Kagaribi no Kiriue being taken away. Just as the bell rang for the end of class, he prepared to head home.
On the other hand, in less than ten minutes, Kagaribi no Kiriue woke up from her coma.
"Did I... faint?"
She found herself lying on a soft bed, covered with a blanket, and muttered to herself.
"Classmate Kagami, are you awake? That's great!" The person responsible for taking care of her happened to be the female student who had gone looking for her earlier. She was a class officer and gathered around happily.
Kagaribi no Kiriue nodded and asked, "Was it you who brought me here?"
Hearing this, the female student remembered the scene from not long ago and said with an embarrassed smile, "Actually... Classmate Kagami, for some reason, you fainted on the playground, so passing students brought you to the infirmary."
"Is that so? Strange, I was clearly resting in the side building. How could I have fainted on the playground..." Kagaribi no Kiriue touched her forehead and asked in confusion.
"It's not that strange. After all, having such an intense experience with your boyfriend... no, *ahem*, physical exhaustion is inevitable. Honestly, if you had told me sooner, I wouldn't have disturbed you..."
The female student said, blushing with embarrassment.
Kagaribi no Kiriue's face darkened as she heard this. She asked, "Wait a minute, what did you say? I did what... with whom?"
The female student leaned into her ear and whispered the general sequence of events to explain that she had truly stumbled upon them by accident. As a result, Kagaribi no Kiriue's face suddenly turned red, then quickly turned pale, her entire face flickering like a traffic light.
She remembered a bit now. There did seem to be a boy from Class J with a somewhat cunning look in his eyes who had some kind of strange interaction with her, and it was very indecent. Her face seemed to have touched something incredible... "Ugh, I definitely... I definitely have to teach him a harsh lesson!"
Kagaribi no Kiriue's eyelids twitched, and a deep sense of resentment welled up in her heart as she thought this.
~·~·~·~·~·~·~
For some reason, Chen Yao suddenly shivered.
Wondering if he had turned the air conditioning up too high, he reached out and turned down the car's AC a bit.
He was a commuter student living temporarily with an old acquaintance of his father in Gunma Prefecture. He drove between the two cities every day, a journey that took an hour and a half. Although his income was a bit tight, his life was fulfilling and happy.
"I was delayed by a submission today. Let's see, it'll probably be another half hour before I get home. If I work overtime until twelve after I get back, I should be able to sleep."
Chen Yao thought with satisfaction.
His car was an old-model honda nsx, a classic car of the next generation. However, he hadn't bought this car himself; the tolls, fuel, and other expenses were maintained by his manuscript fees.
Just then, a sudden roar of engines came from behind his car. He glanced in the rearview mirror and saw two sports cars approaching at high speed, chasing each other. They soon reached his rear bumper.
"A street race? Strange, it's only ten o'clock. Why is there a grassroots race being held here already?"
Chen Yao wondered to himself.
Gunma Prefecture was a paradise for grassroots racing. Almost every week, local racers would hold street competitions here, featuring top-tier famous cars, though spontaneous racing like this also occurred.
It just so happened that this stretch of road was narrow, and both racing cars slowed down. Meanwhile, a black GTR in front kept flashing its headlights, signaling for the car ahead to speed up.
"I'm just a normal vehicle driving along. Don't get me involved in this too."
Chen Yao thought uneasily as he drove.
But that black GTR viewed him as a racer, continuing to flash its lights and bringing its front end close for a light touch—a gesture of invitation to race.
"..."
In his helplessness, Chen Yao eventually had no choice but to floor the accelerator. The NSX immediately erupted with powerful kinetic energy, instantly pulling away from the two cars behind him.
The driver of the following black sports car was Nakatomi Tsuyoshi, the captain of the [Night Kids] from Mount Myogi. He had long ago judged that the old NSX ahead had a very good racing line and must be a powerful racer.
"Based on my years of experience, the driver ahead is no simpleton."
Nakatomi Tsuyoshi's gaze sharpened as he analyzed the opponent's strength in a raspy voice.
"Hmph, although the NSX is a mid-engine race car with good adaptability on high-speed roads and mountain passes, its small tires and poor grip are major issues. How lucky; I didn't expect to encounter other opponents halfway through, besides the team coming for revenge... But the final winner will definitely be my GTR S13 Silvia!"
Nakatomi Tsuyoshi's brow furrowed even tighter. His car began to accelerate sharply, starting the pursuit of the NSX that had just joined the fray.
The three race cars chased each other through the mountain pass. Rapid drifting in the dark stimulated a constant secretion of adrenaline, and the winding mountain roads constantly tested the racers' superb cornering techniques.
To be honest, Chen Yao wasn't strictly a racer. At most, he usually only sped to meet drawing deadlines. However, as an ember, he possessed high intelligence and keen abilities, allowing him to handle the vehicle very well. In the darkness, Nakatomi Tsuyoshi saw the NSX ahead taking better and better lines, its skill level suddenly surging, which gave him a shock.
"Impossible! Is the driver ahead crazy? Downhilling at that speed—does he plan on throwing his life away!?"
Nakatomi Tsuyoshi's face went pale. Seeing such reckless driving ahead, he could only explain such an irrational situation with that thought.
Thunder began to rumble in the sky, and drops of rain started to wet the road. The three cars, headlights flashing, downhilled at 130 km/h on the complex mountain pass. The road ahead had already become as treacherous as hell itself.
Soon, a U-turn was approaching. The two trailing cars couldn't help but slow down, but that white NSX, in the black rain, actually used the friction of the wet road to start a flawless inner-side drift.
He made it through, overtaking all the cars in one go and drifting right past! Amidst the flashes of lightning, that car's nightmare-like inner-side drift left a lasting impression in Nakatomi Tsuyoshi's heart... Legend has it that on that day, when all the competing cars reached the bottom of the mountain, the spectators and organizers didn't even recognize the NSX as it passed the main road. However, the drivers of the other two cars saw that it had indeed left them far behind. No one knew the name of the driver who had defeated two regional aces in one go. From then on, people often said they saw that first-generation old NSX searching for its next race in the black rain. It was dubbed the legendary opponent 'Black Rain Pirate Flag' by the masses—a monster driver with a legendary inner-side drift in the rain... Chapter 004: Initial D and the Male Dancer
The vehicle pulled steadily into the parking space of a single-family home. After a day of tossing and turning, Chen Yao finally returned to his host family.
This was a weathered three-story single-family home located in a residential area. The doorplate read [Yokoyama + Chen]. This family had once gone to China to study traditional Chinese medicine and returned to open a Kampo shop, earning the trust of their neighbors.
Just as Chen Yao was about to enter, he saw the vibrant patch of sunflowers outside. They were now crystal clear from the rain, swaying slightly in the night breeze.
These sunflowers were a gift from a fan of his manga, intended to wish his manga prosperity. After being cultivated for a while, they had finally bloomed.
"They've bloomed after just a few days..."
Chen Yao felt a sense of relief as he looked at them. After all, his dream was to be a mangaka, and now his dream had come true. The rest would be like these sunflowers, growing bit by bit into a great and famous mangaka... [SCREECH—!!]
Suddenly, the patch of sunflowers in front of Chen Yao was smashed to pieces by an AE86!
"..."
Chen Yao's eyes widened as he witnessed the sunflowers that symbolized his dreams being crushed into a muddy mess. The sunflower blossoms, representing his manga dreams, lay powerlessly rotting in the mud.
"My, my sunflowers, aaaaaah!!"
Chen Yao clutched his head, his eyes bloodshot, and let out a loud cry.
Soon, a short, chubby boy got out of the car. Seeing that the front of the car had crashed into a row of flower pots, he felt terrible.
"Itsuki, did you hit something?"
A tall boy with brownish hair got out of the passenger seat. When he walked to the front of the car and saw such a tragic scene, his face also turned pale.
"No way, the carnations are finished too? The tulips my fans gave me..."
Chen Yao bent down to check and found they had all turned to mud. He estimated that few of the potted plants could be saved.
"..."
The two culprits stood in front of the car, not daring to move a muscle. They stole glances at their Classmate, Chen Yao, who clearly cherished this patch of flower pots.
Finally, this Classmate stopped his struggling, and a raging aura of resentment began to burn behind him.
"Sorry... A-Yao. I was driving fine, but the road ahead suddenly got a bit slippery, and I accidentally slid too far..."
The short, chubby boy's face turned pale as he hurriedly apologized.
"Can 'slid too far' settle this? Pay me back for my sunflowers! All my dreams were right there! You're the Indonesian Kid (Initial D), right? I'm going to grind you into the mud right now!"
Chen Yao's eyes flew open in anger. He shook the chubby boy's collar with both hands, trying to shove him toward the mud.
"Don't be angry! I really didn't do it on purpose; I'm still not used to driving!"
The boy named Itsuki hurriedly begged for mercy.
"Itsuki didn't mean it. Forgive him, A-Yao!"
The tall, thin boy also desperately tried to hold Chen Yao back, finding the other's strength unimaginably high.
Chen Yao's anger finally subsided. He looked at these two boys; to many people, they were all too familiar characters. The tall one was Fujiwara Takumi from Initial D, and the short one was Takeuchi Itsuki.
Both were his Classmates from middle school and would look for him to hang out from time to time, so they were considered old acquaintances. Last year, it was Takeuchi Itsuki who suggested going abroad to get an international driver's license first, but who would have thought this guy's driving skills would be so terrible...
"Anyway, do you guys have some business? If not, please leave. Especially you, Itsuki—nothing good ever happens when I see you."
Chen Yao began to gather the few flowers that could still be saved, irritably dismissing them.
"Don't be so cold, A-Yao. We're friends who grew up together, after all. I'll pay you back for the flowers. Today is Friday, and I was planning to invite you and Takumi out for a drive, and maybe see if we can pick up some high school girls."
Takeuchi Itsuki put an arm around Chen Yao's shoulder and crouched beside him, urging him with a somewhat wretched expression.
"I'm not interested in that. Besides, weren't you and Takumi going to work at the gas station? It's only eleven o'clock; how are you off work already?"
Chen Yao asked in confusion.
At this question, Fujiwara Takumi and Takeuchi Itsuki looked at each other, seemingly having something difficult to say.
"It's a long story. We have to start from Japan's Lost Thirty Years. Japan's economy is getting worse and worse, right? So Station Manager Tachibana's gas station isn't doing too well either. He's been very anxious about it..."
Takeuchi Itsuki rambled on, actually starting to talk to him about the overall economic situation.
"Recently, to increase the gas station's income, the manager started coming up with some bad ideas. We really couldn't take it... It's better to leave work early and earn a bit less."
Takeuchi Itsuki explained with a heavy face.
"Bad ideas? What kind of bad ideas?" Chen Yao was taken aback and asked with interest.
"Well, for example, imitating some American gas stations by having Male Dancers perform to liven things up and increase the female customer base..." Fujiwara Takumi said after a moment of silence.
American-style Male Dancer fueling? As soon as Chen Yao imagined the gas station trio from Initial D taking off their shirts and dancing while fueling—no, that would ruin this masterpiece.
The events of Initial D in this parallel world happened a full thirty years later. The current economic situation was even worse, and the environment where Takumi and the others worked was also more severe. They were so short of money that they were at the point of needing to be Male Dancers.
"By the way, the manager asked me to ask you if you're interested in working at the gas station. According to his judgment, you are an indispensable and important backbone for the Male Dancer Project."
Takeuchi Itsuki asked.
"Please go back and tell your manager that even if I, Chen Yao, starve or work myself to death, I will absolutely never be a Male Dancer, okay?!"
Chen Yao refused angrily.
After the boys finished tidying up the flower pots, Fujiwara Takumi suddenly glanced at the honda nsx parked nearby. After a moment's hesitation, he asked Chen Yao, "By the way, A-Yao, your car... how does it drive?"
This car was the first thing Chen Yao saw after awakening on the back mountain a year ago. At the time, the car was quietly dormant, wrapped in vines, its body covered with various sealing talismans as if it had been abandoned in the wild mountains. It was thanks to the help of Takumi and Itsuki that the car was towed out. Upon inspection, they found it was in good condition in all aspects; it just needed the tires inflated and some gas and oil to drive normally.
However, due to his sensitivity to vehicles, Takumi always felt an indescribable sense of malevolence from this car.
Chen Yao was startled and replied, "It drives pretty well. Why?"
"No, it's nothing..."
Fujiwara Takumi shook his head after a moment of silence.
It was Monday again, and students were returning to Sobu High School one after another. The peaceful school became lively once more.