Chapter 24

“50 seconds to green”

J2 spoke through the megaphone to alert the people attending as he cleared the sidewalk of any spectators. They’re using the stoplights countdown clock as a convenient timer since it starts at a 120 second countdown by default leaving plenty of time to set up their grid.

‘That’s everyone?’ Val asked as she stands on the sidewalk near the back of the grid.

‘Yep that’s all o’ them, should we have invited more?’ J2 said.

‘No it’s fine it’s just a test, ten cars are more than enough, any bigger and it might be hard to keep track of everyone.’ Val answered as she steps away and over the fence that divided the adjacent parking area at “The Strip”

There are two parts that make Block six - one - six. The Uptown area, the residential side of the block and the Downtown area, the business side. And the line that divides them is a single ribbon of asphalt.

The Bayshore Route.

Part of it used to be called “Dewey boulevard”. It was changed when the Rail highway was in its later stages of construction as the new road structure had already joined the Cavite Expressway (CAVITEX) and Dewey Boulevard into a single stretch of road, where the new exit feeds into the Metro via Buendia Rotunda where the rest of the “old” Dewey Boulevard connects to. The old entry exit point used to be further south at an intersection with the airport road that runs west to east from downtown six- one - six to airport town, and is now stitched together by the newly elevated road network aptly called the “Airport interchange” that was also part of the development plan of the rail highway. The goal was to rid of the chokepoint created by the intersection thus improving traffic flow at the southern entrance of the Metro. Nowadays anyone using the Bayshore Route can travel from Middle Manila to the Southern provinces in a matter of minutes, a trip which previously took at least an hour of driving.

Through the years the Bayshore route has played a crucial role in streamlining the economy of businesses coming in and out of the Metro. But if there is one area that capitalized on its existence, it would be “The Strip”. It used to be nothing prominent, back in the days of “pre rail highway” the area was nothing more than a generic commercial block with bits of explicit services lining up the service road that runs adjacent to the old boulevard. Now it has elevated itself as the premium hub for adult entertainment services.

Starting from the Airport Interchange and all the way to the Buendia Rotunda, it boasts its bright neon lights and flashy advert boards that light up the night sky in a plethora of visual stimuli and because it is situated adjacent of the Bayshore Route, anyone interested could just exit the road towards it as one would when deciding to stop at a gas station from the freeway. The ease of access had garnered protests throughout the years from conservative groups but none had succeeded as its fate was already decided during the planning stages of the rail highway.

It is a mutual understanding between the developers, who bought the land and the local government, who rule the land. The National government, using their connections in the lower houses, also reached their own understanding with the developers. Thus “The Strip” became a tax free, free - for - all playground.

As above, so below.

And Val knows this very well.

Which is why she held the starting line right in the middle of it.

She knows the place is scum to it’s very core.

She knows everything illegal is legal if it's here.

She knows that Police won’t appear even if there are reports of them gathering.

As long as she does it here, and not a block before or after. And certainly not above them as with the last time. She would be fine.

She already figured out the mistake of the last organizer. He or she lacked knowledge on the subject of local politics. She deduced that they went for shock value when promoting the event which is why they chose the rail tracks as part of the race, not knowing that it's actually a private “business” property of the Philippine Government.

A legal property. With legal functionality

Which means they can protect it without conflict of interest.

This leads her to believe that whoever organized the races beforehand was not acting in Mr. Asia’s behalf. But with this thought she felt puzzled. Mr. Asia is not telling her something for some reason. She knew of the Elephant room message so she knows Mr. Asia had decided to do business in her homeland but she also knows that the man has a grasp of the politics in the country so it felt weird that he would make such mistakes.

Also of the fact that she was sent in to create chaos in the race and not as a participant also felt off.

And the car.

The GTR. What is its purpose?

There might be strings being pulled but so far the hands that are pulling is still behind the curtain.

‘Those electric cars’ She thought as she looked at the timer: 25 seconds remain. She ponders on how she could’ve tried to identify them during the chase, but no matter how hard she tries to search her memories, nothing matches those cars' features. They have no DNA.

‘Whoever was pulling those strings has got to do something with those electrics’ She thought out loud. J2 looks at her startled after suddenly hearing her voice, but soon relaxes his breath as he slumps down on the fence to witness the race start.

20 seconds remain.

‘Would that be your goal? To find the man behind the curtain?’ J2 answered.

‘No… The goal is to get the car back…’

‘So why are you thinking about those people?’ J2 asked.

‘Cuz I want to thank them… for letting me drive it again.’ Val answers as she takes a deep breath before exhaling a sigh of relief. Her eyes filled with resolve as she did so.

5 seconds remain.

‘Then I’ll crush them and send them to the old man himself.’ She said, turning her gaze towards J2 as her lips slowly parted with a sinister smile. At that moment he knew that something was already brewing inside her mind. Something that scared him, something that might hurt him, something that might kill her. Sadly he knows this too well and that there isn’t an entity besides death that can stop her.

It is the same look she gave when he met her after years of separation.

It was the same smile he saw when she proposed Jack and Barry’s.

And with that thought, he smiled.

‘So it’s time for a new adventure huh?’ He told himself.

As they stared at each other, none noticed the lights had turned green.

Not even smoke invaded their vision.

…

…

-5 Hours earlier-

‘Miss Yukino?’ A woman knocks gracefully on the wooden door as the giggles from the other side of it fades into silence. ‘Dinner is ready…’ She said as she walked away after delivering the message.

Inside, the room is dimly lit by the single lampshade on the nightstand as a group of girls huddle around the floor beside it, snuggling on the pillows from the nearby bed. Yukino is the first one who stands up from the group urging everyone to follow as she steps out of her bedroom. Following behind her were Tisha, Aida and surprisingly, Nica, who for some pleasantly odd reason, had agreed to come without hesitation.

This was the result of an agreement that the three had a couple of days ago. It was on a certain warm afternoon when Tisha had the urge to pull both Yukino and Aida out for some posh coffee near the school. Luckily both Aida and Yukino agreed, a scenario Tisha didn’t count on since Aida always hurried home and Yukino was always busy. She was just feeling concerned about the both of them which was why Tisha had the sudden urge to invite them, but she was more prepared to be rejected than to have her request even granted that it rendered her flustered and speechless for a moment. Nonetheless the three of them went to the coffee place together and had a heart to heart chat.

The pressure of being tied to the Loran name was starting to grow and swell deep inside Yukino the older she gets. And now that she is only a year away from starting highschool, the more relevant her social standing became as most of her family and friends are starting to consider her more as an adult. Even in school she can feel the eyes of her fellow students looking up to her as if she is a deity where everything she does is correct and admirable for:

“she could do no wrong”.

A phrase that no one says, but everyone makes her feel.

Sometimes she wishes she could be someone else for a day, just to relieve the pressure on her back, the pressure of staying perfect all the time. Granted she had already employed some methods to put up this illusion, but maintaining this facade was starting to take a toll on her, both physically and spiritually. Lately her work had tripled as she recounts her involvement in working with the police in their investigations around “ground zero” which shocked both Tisha and Aida when she mentioned it. “No wonder you looked pale these past few weeks” They said.

She wasn’t really doing much, only dropping by their offices to analyze some of the evidence presented to her, answering any questions that the police have for her, prepared in advance. But because they end up debating on the causes and motives of the culprits during these meetings, they always end up working late hours. Which is tragic, considering she has class the very next morning.

‘It was supposed to be my sister’s job.’ She complained. But knowing how busy she is with taking care of her family’s businesses to the point of exhaustion, she couldn’t really complain. She apologized to Tisha that night. Knowing that her “other commitments” have pulled her off her usual student council duties, Tisha just smiled and said she understands.

‘It’s just measly paperwork’ She said even if those paperworks ate up most of her afterschool free time. The student council’s job is unlike other student councils in other schools. In St. Rita’s the student council acts as another branch of government that oversees and protects the student part of the student body, which means that they operate separately from the faculty serving as the mediators between the student and administrative sides of the campus. It is modeled after the republican system of governance with its check and balance system and different government branches, an experimental method developed by the former principality of the school to see if they could educate the young students on how the government works to better prepare them for the future. When a wide eyed Patricia Martinez learned of this back when she started her middle school days, she was quick to campaign for it. She had the ambition to rule the county one day and dreamt of being a leader since she was a child. So when the opportunity arrived at her doorstep, she devoted all of her energy into it, eventually landing the first ever Presidential position of the new council format.

Beating out Yukino in the process. Something that Yukino still admires till this day.

She was thirteen years old when she accomplished this.

Aida complains about the highschool students being left out of the equation, but the truth was that during those transitional times the elections for the new format were opened for the lower grades alone. This was to allow the existing older student council members to carry out their duties in their remaining years before surrendering their full positions to the members of the new format. And sure enough, the year after the elections, Tisha became the official President of the whole student body. She thought of all the things she wanted to implement and how happy she would be to see those things up and running,seeing the smiles of the people she helped because of those things that she implemented. But as the days and the months go by, the work slowly piles up on her desk on top it of she still has school work she has to accomplish;

Soon enough she found herself exhausted from all of it.

And adding to the fact that most of those that she implemented went unnoticed and unpraised made her lose what remained of her morale and she was starting to get sick of it. Even though she received respect from all the students in the campus, she could only put on a facade and smile to hide how dull she felt inside. This dullness she can already feel radiating from Yukino those past few weeks, which made her always jump to her side whenever she can to help her.

She had always considered Yukino as a rival during those days. When she lost the seat a year later, she was eager to see how she could fare in the top seat. And immediately she was surprised, because her first action as the new President was to appoint Tisha as her secretary. A wise move in hindsight as it was Tisha who had the seat directly before her so putting her in a position to assist was a wise move. Immediately Tisha realized that Yukino might be better suited for this position, and she was not wrong. In all the time that she had worked with her as secretary, never once did she see or feel that Yukino was faltering from her duties, she did her work diligently and efficiently, that Yukino never had work piled up on her desk. In fact it is only now where she was starting to see some cracks in her armor, and after listening to her story, she fully understands why. She couldn't possibly imagine the pressure she is now under for if she herself couldn’t get a proper handle on council work, what more about the other stuff Yukino has to handle?

The three of them had talked and talked during that night about their past and how they got to where they are but when the moment came to focus on Aida’s turn, the night was getting late.

As pointed out by Aida herself.

The two dismissed it on the surface but they knew an alarm had rung from deep within. They had to talk about it, and they had to do it soon. A thought which prompts Yukino to invite them in their home to spend time together, and maybe include Nica as well, since like Aida, she is new to the group and they would like to get to know her more.

But the purpose of the night remained the same.

It was to get Aida to talk.

And now as they made their way down from her room, Yukino is silently plotting all of the potential paths their conversation could take to corner Aida into the topic. She looks behind her and sees Tisha walking behind adjusting her familiar white bow that holds her ponytail. Seeing that Nica and Aida were a few paces behind admiring the architecture, she took this as an opportunity to align her plans with her.

‘Tish…’ She whispered. ‘You’re gonna be my wingman tonight…’ She said as Tisha looked towards her nodding that she understood.

‘What’s the plan?’ Tisha asks, catching up beside her to close the gap.

‘Come with me, quickly!’ Yukino whispered but her tone had a sense of urgency as she quickens her pace down the stairs and straight into the kitchen. As they arrive Tisha’s eyes open wide seeing that they have three chest freezers laying around inside what Yukino calls “the dirty kitchen”. Though not actually dirty, it was different from the “Kitchen” which was the area next to it. This was more of a functional kitchen where most of the bulk of the cooking was done and also where the raw food stuffs were stored so everything inside the Main kitchen looked spotless.

She sees Yukino struggling to get something in one of the freezers so she approaches to help.

‘Whatcha gettin there Keeno? Need a hand?’ She said as watched her friend trying to pull something from the bottom of the chest freezer.

‘Yeah gimme a hand on this.’

Yukino scoots over to let Tisha help, revealing her grand scheme.

‘That’s a fucking keg!’ Tisha gasped in surprise. ‘And you got four of them!’ She continues as she looks at the sight of four frosty looking quarter barrels at the bottom of the freezer.

‘Yeah gimme a hand getting the first two out, those are our dinner drinks the last two we get after dessert, primer before the good stuff.’ Yukino stated as Tisha looked at the barrels with shock and awe.

‘Primer before the good stuff? Shit Keeno… my liver…’ Tisha said while rubbing her tummy feeling intimidated by what’s to come.

‘Don’t worry your liver’s gonna be fine, it’s craft beer, it’s from the same company that makes the Tally from Jack and Barry’s’ She said as both her and Tisha pulled the kegs up and out from the freezer.

‘Oh… how nice then.’ Tisha replies.

‘I also asked our cooks to pair the meal with the beer, don’t worry, nothing too spicy…’ Yukino said as they carried their kegs out of the dirty kitchen. She follows Yukino out and into the dinning area but notices that the lights were closed.

‘Where are we eating?’ She asked Yukino.

‘Garden terrace, cause I hate the dining room, It’s for dad’s stinky friends.’ Yukino said with an annoyed tone as she bumps open the glass door leading to the garden at the back of their villa. As they exit into the lush greenery Tisha can already spot Aida and Nica sitting at the terrace. It seems that the maids have already escorted them out on the garden and is waiting for them to join.

‘So how is it? Breezy night isn’t it?’ Yukino says after arriving, putting down the Keg on a ledge as she stands chest forward trying to catch her breath. Tisha follows suit, both looking like they had done a ten minute run around the park.

‘Damn I’m not used to seeing you two do manual labor, why didn’t you just call your maids to help with the kegs?’ Aida asked as she looked at the two girls in front of her, all red from the effort.

‘Cuz it’s illegal, these things…’ Yukino said as she pointed at the barrels they brought. ‘I made a deal with our staff that if they could smuggle it in the house for me I'll do their work for the night.’

‘Excluding the cooking I’m guessing?’ Aida smirks as Yukino gives her a deathly glare, thinking that she’s going to enjoy pushing her buttons tonight.

‘Yes… I can only do what I can, including serving the food… Tish do you mind helping?’

‘Umm… Yeah sure…’ Tisha hesitated, she thought she was gonna relax and just drink for tonight, but it seems her work as Yukino’s secretary extends outside of the school campus.

‘It’s a lie Tisha don’t fret, it’s my plan…’ Yukino whispered as they walked back towards the house.

‘What? How? Why?’

‘From what I’ve learned so far from Aida, she's really good at dodging topics she doesn't like to talk about. So I set up this scenario to give us a little meeting time everytime she rebuilds her guard back up again.’ She explains as they both enter the house.

‘Really? Wow geez prez, all this planning for some gossip…’

‘It’s not just any gossip… I've seen people like this before, bottling up thinking this would be fine…’ She said as they walked their way towards the main kitchen where the food was being set to be picked up. ‘But after a month or a year down the line, they start developing complexes, deeper insecurities or worse, explode in a mental breakdown…’

‘I’m doing this for her own good, besides you tried talking to her, and she still refuses to vent out… Something’s wrong…’ Yukino continues as they retrieve their dinner from the counter.

For appetizers it was a tray of pulled pork and chicken lollipop, wrapped around in bacon. Served with a side of creamy mash potatoes and a sauce boat filled with gravy.

For the main course: Two six ounce pieces of American wagyu steak, dry aged and seared to medium. Served with the choice of three sauces, homestyle dijon mustard, mushroom cream sauce and a classic red wine sauce. And to top it off, a side of mango salsa.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

Tisha can feel her mouth watering as the scent from the steak she carries were starting to take over her senses. She tells herself to endure as it would only be a short while now before they get back on the terrace but every second she spends with the food alone feels overwhelmingly tempting. Yukino was just about to reach for the door when she heard a rumbling of keys behind them.

‘Sis?’ She asked as she stopped to check behind them.

‘Yeah?’

A voice echoed from the upper floor making Yukino give a surprised look. She never thought her sister could move that quickly.

‘You wanna join us? We’re having drinks tonight…’ Yukino asks.

‘Sorry I got work to do…’ The voice replied, sounding apologetic as Tisha spots Yukino looking disheartened by the reply.

‘I thought you’re done with the work? Why are you working again?’

‘Oh I am done Yuki, but there are some things that need to be attended to.’ The voice replies, echoing with determination.

‘Alright, good luck then…’ Yukino flatly replies as she pushes past the door and back into the yard feeling a bit down that her sister found herself busy again.

‘Food!’ Aida shouts in delight as the both of them returned with full trays of grub for the group. Nica on the other hand stands up and helps the pair in setting the table, spacing out the dishes and the cutlery to accommodate the food. After all that was set and done on the table, Yukino leads a prayer of thanks before they eat. Though she notices both Tisha and Aida get impatient at her request prompting her to lengthen the prayer a bit more than usual just to spite them.

‘Alright! Let’s eat then!’ Yukino said as they all dug into their feast while the cool night breeze carried away their laughter towards the heavens.

…

…

As the smoke clears the scene around the strip finally came alive in an explosion of music and lights as the crowd that had formed started dancing and partying to the tune of four thousand unrestricted horsepower zipping around the streets around them as the race had already gone on their way, zooming around the Buendia rotunda and whizzing past the opposite lane.

This was one of the big changes Val had planned for these events. In the past she always thought that the street races in Japan were quite dull as most of the races were held up in the mountains or in the Wangan parking area. To her it felt all business like and all too serious and everybody was all too focused on their smartphones watching a feed from the other spectators down the road. There was little interaction with the people inside the parking areas and after the cars left the start line it was always followed by the familiar sound of a chirping cricket.

Back then she thought that these street races also doubles as a little get together between different street teams thinking that everything is centered around the idea of friendly competition, but once she got in their ranks, she realized it was all business and the people there came solely to compete, to earn their shop the right of calling themselves the best tuner in the land even though tuner shops have been thoroughly outlawed long ago by the time she appeared in their ranks.

‘That was refreshing…’ She said as they both walk away from the start line after seeing the cars go off on their 50 kilometer journey to the deep south.

‘Why? Isn’t this the same as the other ones?’ J2 asked

‘There was just no camaraderie back then… It was war…’ She said to J2 as they walked back to their tent of operations, winding their way amongst the crowd of party goers and gearheads that came to their little set up. ‘It’s the main reason why I came back. The people here love to just hang out.’

‘No I mean the other races from before.’ He answered, directing his question towards the former commander of the races.

‘Still different.’ She answered without any hesitation. ‘As I said in the meeting, The last group was doing it from the shadows, finding ways to mask their scent by doing it in far away places no one would notice.’

‘I doubt that…’ J2 replies prompting Val to give him a stare down after hearing what he said.

‘Doubt how?’

J2 looks around to check if there was anyone near enough to listen in, noticing that there aren’t he moves himself near Val with his laptop in hand.

‘See during all your meetings with Mr. Asia I did a little digging, and when I mean little, I really do mean little since I found this data easily with my Batman senses.’ He said as he scrolls through the date on his screen.

‘Fuck off…’ She scoffs.

‘Anyways look… see all these dates on their page?’

‘Yeah and?’

‘Look at these tidbits…’

J2 hands over his laptop to Val as she lets him inspect his findings through his web browser. The first tab he had was the elephant room page, it was the schedule and location of the past races that were held. Looking at this reminded her about her new responsibility of updating the data on this webpage but she then remembers that this was only a test run, which made her breathe a sigh of relief.

The second tab relates to an internet article about public concerns of break ins in their home before the raids were started. And the following tabs were all the same except they were at different locations within the metro.

‘Well yeah, I know all of this, why do you think I don't follow the news J2?!. What’s your point??’

J2 held his hand to stop her talking and calm her down.

‘Check the dates Val..’

Val looks back and reads all the dates on the articles as well as the schedules of the races. And they seem to match each other perfectly with only one or two cases being a day off.

‘How long have you known this?’ Val said looking curious at the data.

‘Just this afternoon… I spent two weeks trying to piece all the reports together as well as filtering out the bogus news outlets.’ He replied as he opened two beers for him and Val to share.

‘Wait… Have you noticed this?’ She said as J2 hands her her bottle.

‘The dates match but the locations are all one bar off… The racing happens first then the harassment… or is it just coincidence? Fuck… it’s confusing!’ She grumbled as J2 takes a closer look.

‘Oh yeah… good find.’ He said, looking stumped himself. ‘Tho look at this, this last race in Batangas port.’ J2 clicks on the tab to play a short video of channel 7 news covering the police bust on the race near the Port authority of Batangas, just South of the Metro. She also sees the Green Lamborghini in the background making its escape chuckling at the sight.

‘That’s the guy who kept the fort standing for the petrolheads.’ She said as she pointed at the green supercar zooming past the screen.

‘Oh… I take it that you’re best friends now since you keep talking about that guy when we were planning this.’

‘Oh shut up, you wouldn't understand cuz you don’t race!’ She snarkily said, giving his arm a hard slap as retaliation.

‘Come to think of it that car was always there till the end… Even after the other petrol drivers stopped attending.’ Val thought ‘I’m starting to think that maybe that Lambo guy was the last commander.’

‘Agreed.’ J2 flatly replies as he thought the same. ‘Planning and driving your own races? Geez Lambo man has stamina, dunno how someone coude race and manage things at the same time.’

‘Which confirms that it’s not Jun… that idiot can’t drive… He can plan, but not drive…’ Val said while flipping through the tabs on J2’s laptop.

‘The pack has reached the expressway’ One of her spotters on the comms radioed in, letting her know the position of the cars in the race. ‘Any heat on their tail?’

‘So far none’

‘Alright keep me posted…’

She takes a gander again on the webpage where the schedules were posted reading everything to squeeze out any more info from it when she comes across something that they missed.

‘J2… why is the Batangas Race listed as Tondo?’ She asks looking at the error on the list.

‘Hmm… typo maybe?’ He replied.

Just as they were scratching their heads on the screen she hears a loud popping sound defeating the blasting music from the parking area as the crowds cheer start to permeate the airwaves. She peeks out of the tent to see a Green Lamborghini revving its engine, spitting flames from its exhaust. At first she felt nothing of it as she thought that the previous commander wanted to take a visit but then she also felt a tinge of doubt within her that this appearance was not friendly. She doesn’t know why she could feel such a thing but the way the engine sounded and the way the fire spat from its back was telling her something differently. For some reason she thought about the last time she had raced against this machine, the way it moved and the way it escaped on the same route as her through the University instead of around it made her think.

‘J2… the raids… it’s all in six-one-six right?’

‘Most yeah…’

She looks out towards the Green Lambo as it rolls forwards until it stops adjacent to their tent, revving its engine up.

‘And the Race at the rail highway? Unlisted?’

‘Yes…’

‘The Port race is listed in Tondo?’

‘Yes but it’s just a typo.’

‘No.’

She held her breath as she tried to peek inside the tinted windows of the car, for some reason she could feel the driver gazing at her trying to tell her something. Trying to pull her in. Trying to get her to move and do something but she doesn’t know why. And as her mind gets trapped in the confusion of all the noise, the music and the crowd cheering, her ears isolate the roaring of its engine singing at full song.

In the blink of an eye it launches forward.

‘J2 hold the fort!’

‘What?!’

‘I said hold the FUCKING FORT!’

She shouts in fury as she sprints towards her car. She knew something was up but she didn’t have any reason to think about it deeply until tonight when the pieces fell into her lap. The race at rail highway was never part of Mr. Asia’s schedule yet it was there. The Port race was listed as something else and yet it was there. And he could’ve picked any route around the whole of the Metro and yet he drove into the most confusing set of roads in tondo. She knows from the news that the key areas targeted by the raids were along the south of the Metro leaving the whole of the Manila port to be empty from police attention.

‘Something must’ve happened, and whatever it is--’ She stops as she peels out from the parking area in aggression forcing bystanders to leap out of the way. J2 could only stand and watch as the white 180 sprints past him by the tent, seeing Val’s eyes from the driver’s seat, driving like a woman possessed.

…

…

‘My name is Aida Elizabeth Murai, Born in Shinjuku, currently in Manila getting shitfaced cuz that’s how you fulfill your parents expectations!’

‘Keeno I think it’s working…’ Tisha whispers as Aida continues to laugh and flirt with them, though it seems that she favors getting flirty more with Nica than the rest of the group.

They had already moved on from the craft beer and their table was now flooded with hard liquor bottles from her sister’s stash, which she promised to replenish after their little get together. So far they have emptied two bottles of tequila and are about to open a bottle of rum, planning to mix it with soda to mellow things out, because they don’t want to get plastered too quickly before anything fun happens.

Nica takes a shot of the rum coke to give herself an excuse to leave Aida’s embrace as she had been clinging on to her for the past half hour ever since the alcohol started hitting her.

‘You know I’m impressed you haven't slapped her yet.’ Yukino chuckles seeing Nica’s struggle.

‘Oh… I mean it’s not that she’d done anything wrong…’ (hick) ‘Oh shit…’ (hick)

The three of them laugh after hearing Nica get the hiccups. A fact that makes things worse for Nica as Aida found it cute and started squeezing her again to the point of suffocation.

‘Hey stop, I might throw up if you continue!’

‘Aida stop being such a slut for a moment!’ Tisha shouts as she crowbars her arm in between them to free Nica.

‘Nooo Wobbie’s so cute….’

(hick)

‘Goddammit stop (hick) laughing guys! (hick)’

Yukino sits back looking at the commotion happening in front of her. She exhales in comfort seeing the people around her having fun. However, she still has a mission to accomplish, and while the activity is enjoyable she still has a task floating in her mind. Still, this doesn’t mean she’s not going to allow herself to loosen up.

She grabs her glass filled with rum coke and raises it, as the three gather their gaze towards her glass.

‘I propose a toast!’ She declares to them.

‘To getting shitfaced!’

Everyone stops everything and quickly grabs their glasses. While Aida gave herself a refill as she had finished hers before anyone else did.

‘To getting shitfaced!!!’ (hick)

Everyone said as they all laugh because of their own silly antics. As everyone drinks and laughs Yukino smiles, happy to see them in a lighter mood. And as the laughter calms, everybody empties their respective glasses, prompting her to mix a new batch for the group. As Yukino pours the mixture into the pitcher, something within her internal sensors started flashing, prompting her to ask:

‘So, let’s talk about boys…’

Tisha quickly looks over to her, seeing her blank, but smiling, expression as she thinks to herself:

‘She’s starting...’

‘Pete’s a dumbass, He’s thick headed and thick skinned and he can’t read the room even if his left nut was in the chopping block.’ Tisha rapidly fires her answer to get the ball rolling. Since she’s the only one taken in the group she figured Yukino had asked the question to get her to lead the topic and get it moving.

‘Woah, he can’t be that insensitive?’ Nica answered as she took a sip from her glass. ‘I mean guys can be assholes but they’re not that incompetent..’

‘Well once you get to know him… ugh....’ Tisha replied but suddenly a lightbulb appeared in her thoughts. ‘Woah woah woah… You’ve been with guys before?’

The could see sweat appearing from her forehead as she tries to think of an answer.

‘Y-yeah… but not that far…’

‘What?! How far???’ All three of the girls shout simultaneously at Nica. They never thought she would have any experience with guys at all.

‘H-hey not that… I mean I’ve been on a couple dates before, but it’s mostly getting to know kinda stuff…’

‘What?!’ Aida said. ‘That still happens?’

‘Yeah… I mean first I got confessed to but I learned to reject most since my family moved all the time so I figured nothing serious can happen… but if there’s one thing I might add is… most are really persistent.’ She said as Nica notices the whole table has gone silent, intently listening to her story. She suddenly feels her nerves acting up as she downs her glass in one gulp, which Yukino welcomly refills as she continues her story.

‘I’m not good at being pressured. So that’s how they got me… But even so… from my experiences, they’re quite accommodating.’

‘Hmm… that’s cause you’re still at the strangers stage.’ Tisha said while adjusting her bow. ‘Believe me once you get to three years and the magic fades, it’s like taking care of a large stupid baby.’

‘Wow Tish, you’re really selling the relationship part… Makes me wanna start searching for my Prince Charming…’ Yukino sarcastically answered.

‘Well the sex is nice… you got that to look forward to…’ Tisha follows on Yukino’s answer as she quickly gets a glance at Aida, who looked distraught after her statement.

‘No thank you…’ Yukino answered, giving Tisha a sly look, hinting that she noticed.

‘Whaddya mean no thank you? Aren’t you even curious? Or intrigued? Come on Keeno you can’t be prim and proper all the time.’

‘Nope… I’ll chase the money first, thank you very much!’

‘Wait… was he the… first?’

Once again the table fell silent as Nica asked the question. Everybody’s eyes once again were fixated on her as she feels the cold stares from all of the girls around them.

‘Oh… Yeah…’ Tisha answered, slightly blushing as she remembered the first time.

‘Did it hurt?’ Nica asked with a concerned look, fearing the answer.

‘It was… memorable… looking back to it… If there was any pain, I don’t remember it… All I knew was that it was special…’ Tisha’s answer gave Nica goosebumps. It was far from what she had anticipated, most of the girls in class found it off-putting or were dismissive when they talked about the deed but somehow that answer blew all of those opinions away. Most importantly it gave her peace of mind to let herself fall when the time comes and she meets that person.

‘Well good for you then…’ Aida remarked.

Tish and Keeno quickly pick up on this and see the armor breaking. Yukino then goes to mix another pitcher of rum coke but slightly adjusts the ratio towards the rum side of the mixture.

‘Why? What’s up with you?’ Yukino said flatly, feigning interest as she served them another round of drinks. She laid the pitcher down and sat back on her seat, to her surprise, Aida was already on the verge of tears when she turned to look.

‘Aida, what’s wrong?’ Nica scoots close, putting her hand on her back to comfort her as tears continue to roll down her cheeks. Both Tisha and Yukino were starting to feel a slight guilt crawling up their veins as the both of them took a deep breath, overwriting their feelings to push through their objective.

‘Aida here… take it…’ Yukino said as she hands Aida a more potent glass of rum coke which she accepts, that is before Tisha stopped her.

‘Keeno, what the fuck? You might make it worse!’

‘What? I’m trying to help her calm down.’

‘I saw you dump half a bottle in there! That shits potent and she’s already dru--’

Aida lays her hand on Tisha’s grasp and steals the glass that Yukino offered, downing the whole glass down in a single gulp as all three of them take glances at each other in disbelief. Nica looks at the three feeling indecisive on stopping Aida while the two raised their eyebrows at each other to signal a confirmation.

Aida slams the glass down, clean and empty. Wiping her lips and her tears away as she takes a deep breath trying to stop the tears from falling.

‘I’m stupid…’

She utters under her breath as the whole table begins comforting her after hearing her words. Aida was trying her best to keep the tears back but it was too much as she let’s go of her emotions.

‘Aida I know you were holding on to something. Part of why we are here is for you to bare it out on us. Besides getting drunk and passing out, this is also your night and we’re here for you no matter what okay?’ Tisha said as she leans in to hug Aida tightly as more tears flow from her weary eyes.

In the midst of her own drama she reaches out her hand to tap Yukino’s shoulder, asking for another refill. Yukino, being teary eyed herself, couldn’t help but chuckle at Aida’s usual shenanigans that she gave the whole bottle to her. Given that what remains was only quarter of the liquor, but still Aida looked happy with the gesture. After another emotional minute, the whole table seemed to calm down as Aida went back to making Nica her personal teddy bear, hugging her for comfort.

‘Here it goes…’ Aida said, taking a deep breath before she speaks. The whole table fell silent once more.

…

…

-South Luzon Expressway- -Calamba Interchange-

Two men stand on the overpass as they look towards the distance through their binoculars. It has been an hour since the race had started and they’ve grown impatient, waiting for any activity beyond the horizon. Suddenly a bright light zipping from side to side appeared from afar as he shook his partner awake, telling him to report.

‘Main control this is Zeta station, pack sighted 200 meters ahead, over.’

‘Copy Zeta be advised, the pack has additional baggage. We have a player-coach on the field. I repeat, player-coach on the field’

‘Player what?’ His partner on the watch asked.

‘I thought you played basketball? It’s when your coach also--’

‘I get it, I get it… I just don’t get why.’ The man said.

‘Well that means the boss lady might be racing.’

‘Couldn’t get her gloves off can she?’

‘Yeah… maybe.’

The two of them were about to go full banter on what they heard when they were cut short by the cars arriving. A pack of ten street tuned vehicles curl up the interchange and onto their position as they zoom past them and down the off ramp on the other side of the expressway. The noise of the engines that drove past them engulfed the airwaves as the sleepy city of Calamba awakened to the sound of a thousand petrol horses lighting up the airwaves in this silent midnight. As fast as they had arrived, the pack took no time in leaving as all ten cars had left in a flash, the two men looking stunned at what they had just witnessed.

‘Zeta, come in Zeta. What’s the status?’

The man handling the radio was startled back to his senses as he tries to reply back to his superior.

‘Yeah uhh… Zeta here, All cars accounted and heading back to Metro. Over.’

‘There should be twelve cars Zeta, Player - coach in field.’

The man looks at his partner after hearing the call. The man on watch looks back, shaking his head as he looks back through his binoculars.

‘Negative, dispatch. Counted ten cars only.’

J2 realizes his greatest fear has come true after hearing the news from Zeta station. He had been keeping track of Val’s whereabouts ever since she drove out in anger to chase the Lamborghini. He has been receiving mixed reports from the stations Val placed around the route to monitor the race, but for the last few stations they have been missing in action. Leading him to fear that she might be led into a trap.

‘Dispatch Zeta here.’

‘Come in Zeta’

‘Two cars have driven right under us. We’re assuming they’re the ones you’re talking about.’

‘Car description?’

‘Uhh, we didn’t get any… they were too fast.’

‘Anything? Anything unique Zeta?’ J2 said in an irate tone.

‘Uhh… one of them sounded exotic… like a spaceship or something... ‘

‘Good enough, station dismissed.’

He leaned back on his headrest feeling slightly relieved. Though the description might be vague, he knows for a fact that the Lamborghini V10 is the only unique sounding car out there. But it still bothers him that the two cars went straight on the interchange and not around it like the planned route. He looked out of the tent to see the crowd looking pumped and excited amongst the alcohol and the music and amidst all of it he still felt unusually tense.

‘Something’s off…’ He muttered to himself as he looked at Val’s phone on their table. Unintentionally leaving it as she sprinted out in a hurry. ‘You’re such a hothead…’

…

…

‘Where are you taking me?’ Val whispers to herself as she continues to chase the Green car in front of her. It has been a few miles since they had passed the interchange and they are going far deeper south than what was planned. Ever since they had passed the City of Calamba, the car she was chasing had slowed its pace. Granted they were still running at the excess of 160 km/h but they are not running at full throttle like they used to. They swerve simultaneously around the massive semi - trucks that littered the road as they play a small game of high speed dodgeball around night traffic. Val was ready to get back up to speed once more as she saw the traffic clear out ahead when she noticed the Lambo switching on their hazards. She looked puzzled as the car slowed down to let her pass but then sped up again to line up on her passenger side door. She watches carefully its next move, readying her reflexes to dodge, should the Lambo driver become hostile towards her, thankfully none of those happen as the driver side window rolls down to reveal the driver.

A woman.

Young, long hair with a mild set of eyes and a gentle expression on her face.

It took her a minute before Val got her memories untangled as she saw someone gravely familiar driving beside her.

‘Lorna?’

As she uttered her name, the woman smiled and rolled up the window as the Lambo picked up the speed to get in front of her. Lorna signals to the shoulder telling Val to follow as Val notices a gas station not far from where they are.

…

…

‘Surprised?’ Lorna said with a chuckle as she lays down their coffees on the table while Val stares at her looking like she had seen a ghost.

‘I didn’t think about filling up before arriving at your spot. I kinda forgot how thirsty V10’s are.’ Lorna said as she looked at Val’s stunned expression in front of her.

‘Why? And what the fuck is happening here?’ Val responds as she grabs her coffee. ‘Thanks by the way.’

‘It’s my treat.’ Lorna replies.

‘I thought something was up with this… thing…’ Val said pertaining to everything that has happened so far. ‘Are you working again?’

‘Yes and no…’

‘What does that mean?’

Lorna leans back as she thinks of the words that she has to say. She wants to break it to her directly without getting on her nerves.

‘The talks of these street races and Mr. Asia coming here. That is my idea.’ She answered as she saw Val getting visibly confused.

‘My Dad has shares in the big three oil companies here and he wanted to up their value so he asked me for help, knowing of my contacts...’

‘Okay… go on…’ Val said as Lorna pauses to think.

‘So I asked Mr. Asia if he could sponsor a few “legal” races here so that we can sponsor the cars with the oil companies, and gain a little “relevance” but he said there are problems.’

She takes a sip from her coffee as Val lights up a cigarette.

‘Problems?’

‘Yes, problems. Mr. Asia said there is a lack of interest in racing here and setting up a race series, no matter how small, is unprofitable. No one would care to watch.’

‘Oh goodness I think I know where this is going.’

Lorna nods as she continues. ‘So… he got some of his I.T guys to set up a website that anyone who follows the “Asia” lore would understand and… the rest is history.’

Val sat back and pondered on what was said, taking a few puffs from her smokes before answering. ‘So the last race commander… That was you?’

‘Yes but--’

‘But except for the last two.’

Val responds with a nail in the coffin, putting Lorna in a struggle to reply.

‘Someone else switched the schedules under your nose and took over the races.’

‘Someone did…’

‘And because you lost control, that’s where I was pulled in…’

‘Incorrect…’ She replies, stumping Val’s train of thought.

‘You were always part of the plan… but you were too stubborn to accept…’ Lorna answered as she kept her gaze at Val, looking like she was accusing her of the crime.

‘You think I fucked things up?’

‘No.

The plan was to have us tandem on the planning, since there’s no way anyone can do the job solo. But since you declined he had to go get me a “different” partner.’

‘Jun?’

‘Correct.’

‘So he double crossed you?’

‘That’s one of the questions.’

Val blows the top of her coffee cup while thinking about Jun’s involvement. She knows that the man is still in Mr. Asia’s payroll. And from what she remembers from her own experiences, Mr. Asia doesn’t take kindly to traitors. So it is a huge question on whether or not Jun is guilty.

‘Lemme guess… the old man doesn’t have proof?’ Val said as she took a sip from her drink.

‘He does… a lot… Jun is quite obvious actually. It doesn’t take much research to find out he’s also working for that big shot Batangas Mayor.’

‘And? So what if he’s working for them?’

‘That’s why we’re going there today.’

Val quickly realized what was going on and why she was pulled so far down south. They were on a direct route going to Batangas city.

‘Batangas port…’

‘Yes… I have intel from the detectives that investigated there. I wanna go check things out myself.’ Lorna said in a determined tone.

‘I have two hunches, Batangas port and Manila Port area. The schedules have been switched for a reason so there must be something there.

Val suddenly remembers the chase they had with the police and the route that Lorna took that night. Basing her actions towards her statements, everything was starting to make sense to her.

‘So that night when we got chased by the cops. You were actually trying to lead them there. At the Port area.’ Val said, sounding off on her revelation.

‘Correct… sadly no one took the bait. But that was another one of my mistakes. I had a mole in their ranks and forgot to utilize her because of the sudden chaos that you made.’ Lorna replied. Pointing out Val’s actions during that time.

‘What? Ask the old man. He’s the one who set that up.’

‘I know but the plan went too well that I had my hands full. I didn’t have time to contact Yuki.’

Val’s eyes went wide upon hearing that name.

‘You got your little sister involved in this shit?’

‘She’s old enough…’

‘She’s fifteen!!’

‘How old were we when we started?’ She retaliates, which makes Val think of their humble beginnings, which in turn silences her accusations.

‘Anyways, The Tondo area is in heat right now and I can’t get my ass inside without triggering my family name. So the next best thing is to back track here, see if there’s any clues they left behind.’ Lorna said as she took a long sip from her coffee, slowly losing its temperature due to the cold early morning breeze. Val directs her eyes to gaze into the darkness outside as she takes in all the information that she had just learned. It made full sense on why Lorna preferred to work in the shadows and why she needed her to assist. She can’t risk her surname getting involved with a criminal act. Which also made sense with why she didn’t just call her to accept or use Yukino as a messenger. This is her pet project, which usually meant that it is outside of Mr. Asia’s protection. All the two parties could do was pray and hope she gets persuaded in, otherwise, they’d have to think of a plan B. The more she thinks of it the more it reminds her why she set up Jack and Barry’s in the first place. To be independent of Mr.Asia. Thankfully Lorna’s father willingly gave her a hand as payment for his debt to her, for Japan and Lorna. Though she thought that would be the end of it, she still can’t believe to be pulled into this mess once again, with the man she worked hard to get away from.

‘Anyways, it’s getting early… we need to leave… Are you ready?’

Lorna stands up and turns to Val, waiting for her reply.

‘Like the old times?’

‘Like the old times…’

Lorna responds with a smile, the kind and mischievous smile that Val knows and loves. The kind of smile that tells you:

“I solemnly swear, I am up to no good”

Act 01

END