On Wednesday at 5 PM, the students who were the closest friends of Ryoji were riding the Kantetsu Green Bus on Route 125 heading towards Kasumigaura Medical Center, after receiving news that Ryoji was now safe and would be staying the night at the hospital.

"It must've been the stress, huh." One of the students commented while talking with his friend.

"A student such as Ryoji with the pressure to do well, I can imagine that..."

Ippei was overhearing that conversation from a few seats away, obviously he's sat there with Sachiko by his side, and Akira not far away. In his mind, nothing was clear, there was no sign Ryoji would be in any sort of health trouble. Even with Akira's observation that he was likely depressed, it didn't make much sense.

The bus stopped not far from the hospital entrance, less than a kilometer away, so the group of nearly 10 students just walked to it. After finding the right building, some more extroverted students inquired with the reception and got the information they needed.

The group then followed that information to the room Ryoji was staying in, and realized they were at the right place when they noticed Yamada-sensei and Tanigawa-sensei standing right outside.

For some reason, once Ippei saw both the teachers, he got quite anxious. Something was indeed very wrong. He could feel that from the expression and the general unease of both, which other students seemed to not notice.

"Ah, this many, huh." Isao said as soon as he saw the group of students.

"Good evening, Tanigawa-sensei, Yamada-sensei." The students greeted them simultaneously.

Ippei was observing, and the teachers were obviously trying to hide their concern, but it wasn't something he could call them out for.

The group then gradually walked into the patient's room where Ryoji was staying. It did seem that he was in much better condition than he was.

"You make all of us worried, Ryoji!" Akira, who's probably Ryoji's closest friend, quickly rushed to tell him.

"Sorry, all of you." Ryoji said, with a slight smile of gratitude.

The general feeling was that whatever it was that caused this, it subsided. So the students were happy that their friend was healing. Except for Ippei, who was standing with Sachiko and didn't say anything much because he was just... thinking. Wondering what exactly happened.

"Haaaah, you have to bring your girlfriend here huh. It's making me hurt just by looking." Ryoji suddenly mocked Ippei and Sachiko.

This made Sachiko blush, of course, but Ippei wasn't really listening so it didn't get to him at all. He was still frowning with worry and didn't respond, which was odd in his friend's opinion.

Iori and Isao then stepped out of the room to let the students be with their friend alone, and they walked pretty far from the door with something on their mind.

"Tanigawa-san," Iori spoke quietly, nearly whispering, "I know I'm your senior and all, but I'm at a loss."

"Well I'm glad I'm not the only one who has to bear this alone." Isao replied.

"Do you reckon Yumi-san would keep it to herself, or would she report it to the principal?"

"I... don't know. I would expect you to be the one who knows."

Iori just shrugged.

The drug test from the hair sample would be done tomorrow, and there was indeed a chance the detection from the blood sample was inaccurate. Until then there's nothing they can do.

At that point, Ippei stepped out of the patient's room, and saw both teachers were conversing with a worried look on their face, completely different from when the students were with them, which to him kind of confirms there was something more to it.

"Ah, Noda-kun." Isao was the first to notice.

"Hi, Tanigawa-sensei, Yamada-sensei." Ippei greeted them again, looking like he's suspicious of something in Iori's mind.

"What is it, Noda-kun?" Iori asked, somehow a bit anxious as she expected Ippei would want answer of things she didn't want to say.

"What happened?" Ippei asked, wishing for the teachers to not bullshit him.

Both Iori and Isao were hesitant, as expected. They didn't want any of the students to be alarmed. Isao decided in his mind to lie, but Iori didn't.

"Can you promise to not tell anyone else after this?" Iori asked, which made Ippei raise his eyebrows.

"Yes, Yamada-sensei." Ippei quickly replied, still fearing the answer.

Iori paused for a moment, which made Isao wanted to stop her, but couldn't, as he's her junior.

"Sasaki-kun ingested more than 20 Tramacet tablets." Iori replied with the truth, which shocked Ippei quite a lot.

"Tramacet?" In truth, Ippei had never heard of the drug, but knew that 20 tablets of anything in one setting was excessive.

"It's an opioid," Iori continued, "and I don't want any of your friends to be alarmed about this like you clearly are. So can I confirm your full confidentiality?"

Ippei couldn't answer as he was still in a state of shock. He understood what this meant. Ryoji attempted but failed.

When Iori saw that, she knew that she would not need to, or would want to, diverge to a more pressing issue that had arisen from today's event.

—

10 PM, it was raining in the late afternoon, but it stopped for a while now. The road was finally dry after a few hours.

Tadamori sat in the room in his house for hours, doing nothing, after he got off work in the evening.

It was both a combination of the fact that the Fruits Line as a road for street racers was in danger from being closed once again, and also the dispirited, uncaring reaction of that news from Mizuho Noda, the man who he respected the most in this town.

Did the past decade mean nothing to Mizuho at all?

It nearly turned into anger for Tadamori, but he couldn't. He understood why Mizuho would not give a shit about the closure of the road. He's been driving there for ages, and it's rare for him to even get up there as far as Tadamori knew. He probably lost interest like most people who used to run with them in the past. People that now have completely disappeared from Tadamori's life. Whatever the circumstances.

It's sad, but what can Tadamori do, really?

Apart from having another run. Until the day the Fruits Line actually becomes closed, there's nothing stopping Tadamori from having another go.

Although, there was a bit of a doubt in his mind.

Tadamori did not know if the area patrol would still be there, as he hadn't heard anything from Tsuchiura Station. And Goro? Goro didn't care. He let Tadamori be the one who's taking responsibility for the investigation.

That's it! Tadamori thought, if he's caught, just say he's there for off duty investigation, right? Would that not work? It was actually wishful thinking for a man who's having his mind muddled by both lack of sleep and a bit of traumatic image from what happened only less than a day before.

Still, Tadamori picked up the key to his Mark II, and set off.

Unlike many nights before, the Fruits Line entry after the Asahi South intersection didn't have a checkpoint. It was completely quiet this Wednesday night.

On the run up the mountain, Tadamori, who was used to the course, was judging how the surface would be. Considering the constant rain during this period, the road probably would not be too slippery from the dirt and oil that got washed up. To confirm that, Tadamori tried to turn the car quickly to judge the grip level.

The Mark II was a big body sedan, a heavyweight fighter with a lot of horsepower. 450 horsepower to be exact from the '1.5JZ', the 3.0-litre 2JZ engine block combined with 1JZ cylinder head. This was created when the original engine of Tadamori's car blew up and he replaced the block with the naturally aspirated 2JZ base with upgraded components such as piston and connecting rods.

It was not a car suitable for tight and twisty courses, such as the Fruits Line, but the decade Tadamori had been driving meant he could master it.

Tadamori would never want to drive anything else. The Mark II JZX110 had always been the car of his childhood, as his father, a retired policeman, had one as a patrol car. To Tadamori, it was always the coolest car ever without doubt. Tadamori didn't mind the drawbacks of the platform. The weight, the outdated suspension, the big unruly engine. It never was a logical decision with this car. For such a machine running with extreme precision engineering, the reasoning had always been illogical.

Tadamori slowed down the Mark II to observe the dirt path on the border of Tsuchiura and Ishioka. He knew where he would be parking to observe any street racer who tried to run the Fruits Line north section. Tadamori saw nothing. He was assured that in spite of, or perhaps because of, the recent events, both stations were not going to continue the stakeout.

Tadamori then opened the Geo Timer application, as soon as he reached the flower park sign.

In life, you never know when the last chance of anything would come.

As the countdown started, Tadamori revved the engine up to the range that he knew would launch the car quickly, despite this Mark II always struggling for traction. And once it reached zero, he released the clutch pedal and launched the car in a huge cloud of tire smoke.

It's always tricky, launching from a slight corner, but Tadamori knew he only had to correct the steering a little bit as it's very subtle.

The first corner, Tadamori had to slow down quite a lot by braking, as the car was powerful and heavy, there's no way he could corner as quickly as a lighter, more nimble machine, and the speed when he reached the corner was much higher.

Tadamori could feel the weight of the car, and was very much used to it from familiarity. The front tires were scrubbing the road surface as it struggled to maintain lateral grip. The rear end of the car also tried to step out from the way the suspension alignment was set.

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

This big sedan was certainly always a surprise to anyone who managed to witness it from behind. It was much more agile than appearance would suggest, a result of tires choice, suspension alignment, and Tadamori's ability to control such a beast. Tadamori had to do the opposite steering to correct the trajectory a little bit, because on the corner exit when he pressed on the throttle, the overwhelming power of the engine would light both rear tires up, losing its adhesion.

The tight radius corner probably was the most frustrating part of driving the Mark II on this course. Despite all the modifications and preparation to help with the turn in. The mass of the car would always try to pull it towards the outer end of the corner, this meant that Tadamori had to carefully use the weight transfer to not let the front end wash wide.

Had Tadamori set the car up to be more grippy at the front, it'd be too difficult to control, as currently the handling balance was right on the edge of the grip limitation anyway.

The acceleration zone, and high speed corner was where this car shines. The first one not so much, as the left turn was tighter than most would expect, but the Mark II was maintaining speed over 100 km/h on the corner apex, which was more than respectable for any machine on this corner.

The second acceleration zone after the tight right hairpin was where the Mark II could gain the most time. Tadamori straightened out the car as much as possible and launched out of the corner with great speed.

Yet, Tadamori's feeling right now was only full of doubt and fear.

The next corner would be the acute left turn, the one where a red Porsche went off and killed its driver, and crippled its passenger.

That thought creeped into Tadamori's mind, and it made him hesitate to push to the full braking zone. He lifted way earlier, and brake way before he needed to.

Passing through that corner, Tadamori could feel a shiver sent down his spine.

The mountain roads take no prisoners.

Wasn't that the mantra the old street racers always repeated, and yet no one truly believed in and continued their risky behavior?

What's the point in doing all of this, exactly?

Tadamori didn't know either.

He continued on running the course at full speed as per usual without much thoughts in his head, and reached the finishing line where the flower park sign was.

There, he saw something that made him slam on the brake fully.

There was a car on the right hand side of the road shoulder, and even if it was dark, the headlamp that shone brightly on it, made clear what exactly it was.

A patrol car. Black and white traffic enforcement Toyota Crown.

It was too late, Tadamori lifted his foot from the brake pedal, and punched back on the accelerator, and the Mark II shot away at great speed. There was no way in hell he could explain this encounter away, the only thing he could do was to run, and as quickly as he could.

The momentum from the previous corner made sure that the Mark II would reach the next corner before the Crown even got the chance to go into gear.

As soon as the Mark II reached the end of the corner, Tadamori realized he fucked up. It was the wrong decision.

Full road checkpoint ahead, Ishioka station. Goro did not get the chance to tell him about this as it was off Tadamori's duty, and Tadamori was away the entire day as well.

The patrol car that was parked on the road shoulder blocked the Mark II in immediately as it caught up, it was too late for Tadamori to escape. The officers were now surrounding the Mark II, with one saying on the loudspeaker to not resist arrest.

Tadamori knew that there was no way to escape this, it's not like in the movie. So he just unlocked the door and opened it carefully, then one of the officers pulled the door more vigorously.

As soon as they noticed who was driving, every police officer who was there was all in shock, because they all recognized who the driver was.

—

It was 1 AM, the new day was upon us.

Tadamori was now sitting alone in the holding cell, dejected. He was crying for a bit until he couldn't anymore. His life was over.

He thought back to the first day he got into the police force, then thought even further back to when his father was still young, and he was a child. He worked Ishioka Traffic Enforcement, same as him.

It's not like Tadamori never got into trouble when he was young and with a powerful Mark II, he always did, but his father always bailed him out. Not this time though. One lapse of judgment, and the consequences caught up to him. Maybe it's karma from all those years back coming to bite him in the ass.

Tadamori laid on the cell bed for hours, he didn't know how long it was specifically, when a familiar face turned up.

"Wow, that's not something I've seen in ages. The young Tachi-kun being held in a cell."

Tadamori didn't reply to Goro who seemed weirdly chipper about it still.

Goro then unlocked the cell door, which made Tadamori jolted up from surprise.

"What are you doing?" Tadamori asked, which made Goro look at him confused.

"You're being released?" Goro replied simply.

"Why?"

"Why? You were there on investigation, right?" Goro scoffed, then continued, "A thank you would be nice. To your father as well."

Tadamori's father? Tadamori wondered if he already knew about this? No point in trying to keep it from him then.

Tadamori then stood up, and walked out of the cell, now looking at Goro directly. Goro could see that he was crying and was deeply terrified, even if he tried to act unaffected.

"Your car's outside, your belongings are on my desk." Goro said, as he walked away leading Tadamori to their office.

"What's going to happen next?"

That question from Tadamori made Goro stop and turn to him, looking at him with a furious expression on his face.

"Well. It's over." Goro replied cryptically.

"It's over?" Tadamori didn't understand.

"You'll be suspended for a month. After which you won't be working at this station anymore."

"Where will they be sending me? Aomori? Saga? Nara?" Tadamori asked, if a bit in a snarking tone and didn't expect a serious answer.

"That, you'll have to ask the station chief in the morning," Goro replied, then he started walking again, "for I don't know either"

It was supposed to be a relieving answer, yet it wasn't.

Tadamori couldn't really sleep even after he got home and on his bed. He was really scared of what's exactly going to happen next. Goro did not tell him shit. He only knew that whatever outcome from his reckless action would be, it would not be a nice one. It's likely that he'll be terminated, even if there's no prosecution.

That was one thing he wondered about a lot though, why exactly did Goro let him go this easily? Even if his father asked for help. Tadamori didn't have the courage to call his father to ask for explanation.

The only thing he could do was report to the station chief in the morning.

The next morning, Tadamori walked into the chief's room in civilian clothing, as he might as well be fired at this point. He brought his identification card ready to give it to the chief.

It was clear that the chief was furious, even as Tadamori took the deepest bow.

The chief did not say anything for what felt to Tadamori like an eternity. Tadamori could only look at his feet and not at the chief directly.

"You..." The chief uttered.

Tadamori expected the worst verbal beatdown in history, but that didn't come.

"You know what made me angry the most about all of this?" The chief continued, "I was going to promote you to head of traffic enforcement after Kawakita retired."

Ah, that's right.

Goro was going to retire the next year, and he was going to get promoted huh.

"I guess Shimura will have to do... The bumbling shithead... That really grinds my gear. You are a great officer. Never once in 12 years you've been with this station did you fucked anything up once, and the one you finally did was so monumental that there's no point trying to keep you here." The chief continued rambling, Tadamori was surprised how composed he was.

Tadamori could only say sorry in his head...

"This afternoon, 1 PM, report to Mito." That order from the chief confused Tadamori quite a bit.

"Mito? The HQ?" Tadamori inadvertently responded, which made the chief slam his fist on the desk, and Tadamori shuddered.

"Like I said, you fucked up hard, Tachi." The chief shouted, "We can't keep you in the traffic enforcement department. Hell, we can't keep you at this station. You were going to be transferred to administration in the meantime if not for..."

For what? Tadamori was even more confused.

"A lifeline. Someone really, REALLY, wanted you. It wasn't me, it wasn't Goro, and it wasn't your dad."

A lifeline?

The chief waved Tadamori away as soon as he finished saying that, which didn't answer any question Tadamori had beforehand.

Tadamori's head was empty the entire drive to the Ibaraki Prefecture Office complex in Mito city, as he was ordered to.

A big 25 floor building was the landmark of the complex. The police HQ building was off to the west side. It's been the center of Ibaraki prefecture administrative work since 1999. It was also a place Tadamori knew and was familiar with, somewhat.

Tadamori parked the Mark II in the underground car park, which was as tight as ever, then walked quite a long way towards the police HQ. He vaguely remembered where the department he needed to be was.

The administration staff right outside the building saw Tadamori coming in, and was ready to receive.

"Good day, may I help you?" The staff greeted Tadamori with a customary smile.

"Er, I have an appointment with the HR." Tadamori replied.

"Ah! You're Tadamori Tachi, correct? We've been expecting you."

Tadamori thought it was weird that the receptionist would know he was coming, but then again looking at the emptiness of the corridor, it's unlikely that anyone else would be visiting the HR department at this time of the day, in this time of the year.

"Just walk to the 2nd floor, they'll be waiting for you now." The staff said once she talked with the department on the phone.

Tadamori did exactly that. He walked upstairs towards the HR office. The building was spotlessly clean and modern, unlike his previous station of Ishioka. Tadamori still didn't know what to expect.

After a few minutes, the verdict finally came, and it finally made sense.

"JSDC?"

"Correct, Tachi-san." The male HR staff confirmed what Tadamori heard, "You will be transferred to JSDC, Central Safety Training Center."

"In Hitachi?" Tadamori asked, still kinda confused about everything.

"Yessir. You'll be transferred to a training instructor position for JSDC."

"Huh?"

"So, you won't actually be a police anymore, that means you'll have to return some equipment. But the pay actually increases for some reason..." The staff continued to explain, not exactly useful stuff, "You'll start there next week."

"That quickly?"

"Yes, even I'm a bit confused by all of this, but apparently someone very high up sent the order this morning. Extremely urgent stuff, Tachi-san."

That was very weird, and surprisingly reassuring, although Tadamori still wasn't sure if this preferential treatment was what he deserved.

"Well, thanks anyway." Tadamori said, once the staff handed him every document he needed.

"Have a good week, Tachi-san!"

Tadamori walked out of the police HQ building, both confused and relieved. Something very unusual did happen, and somehow he was not to be a police officer anymore, not in the sense that people would imagine.

Tadamori sighed, and looked up at the clear blue sky. The weather was getting warmer everyday.

Tadamori then walked to the complex center, right in front of the police headquarters and next to the government building itself.

It was at that moment, Tadamori saw a group of people, old and young. There were a lot of people and clearly all from different backgrounds as there was no exact 'unity' in anything, not demographics, not status, not profession. It must've been 50-60 people? All murmuring about something and all clearly very irate.

Tadamori got a glimpse of someone he knew. Not a person he knew personally. A famous person.

He was an old man in the group, yet probably not the oldest, and he was in a wheelchair being pushed by someone who looked not much older than Tadamori was.

Kenji Kumamoto? The old racing driver?

Even in the very frail condition, Kenji Kumamoto still gave an aura of a truly fast driver, in Tadamori's opinion. He looked like a person whose reaction would still be very sharp, despite advancing age and clear ailments.

Kenji Kumamoto was the teacher of Mizuho Noda, who Tadamori considered as his teacher, it was amazing to see him by chance like that.

Tadamori was having goosebumps from seeing someone he's always admired, as a car enthusiast, as a long time watcher of the renown program 'Speed Running', but Tadamori didn't approach him, or the group of people. He just observed them walking away, saying goodbye to each other, and scattered to whatever they were doing.

Before Tadamori could walk away, another old man from the group approached him, which startled him a little bit, wondering what this old man wanted.

"Hey, young man," The old man said.

"What is it, sir?" Tadamori replied, his respectful nature still radiated.

"What time is it right now? My watch just died." The old man asked, which made Tadamori wonder if he didn't have a phone.

"Oh, it's..." Tadamori pulled out his phone to check, "2:11."

"Thank you, you're a good young man." The old man said with a bright smile, and he was ready to walk away when Tadamori continued the conversation.

"May I ask what you guys gathered for?"

"Ahh" The old man exclaimed, suddenly looking very irate, "those assholes!"

"What?"

"The Sawatari clan! From Tochigi!" The old man shouted, which gave Tadamori a bit of second hand embarrassment, "They've been lobbying for the closure of the Tsukuba Fruits Line!"

Huh?

"We've learnt about it on the internet, you see. Some kind fellow who's an insider for the government told us. We're the people of Shibauchi, Yukiiri, Ono, Oshito, Tojoji, the entire region of south Tsukuba mountain! These... rich assholes with nothing better to do in their lives. We know there must be some ulterior motive that they have for the closure of the road!"

Tadamori thought that this old man rambled like a conspiracist, but he knew that it was a legit concern.

A coincidence? An official complaint being lodged, with Kenji Kumamoto being one of the participants? There's no way in hell this was a coincidence.

"Oh, that's why." Tadamori just responded neutrally.

"If you have a bit of time, young man. Do you live in Tsuchiura or Ishioka?" The old man continued.

"I'm in Ishioka, yes."

"You should also lodge a complaint! Some of us also have already started with the mayor of our local municipality as we're speaking. We've also already contacted Oigawa."

Oigawa the governor? Tadamori was thinking. Hey, now, wasn't this a bit excessive?

"I have to go now, thanks again, young man!"

The old guy immediately disappeared after waving to Tadamori once. It helped that Tadamori was now in so much shock he couldn't move from there for a while.

He had to talk to Mizuho about this.