Last night, there was quite a euphoria when the news hit that 'TowaWaki39' did a 2:16.83 on one of his runs.

Finally, after however long the Geo Timer app had been running, the top time of 'Urasawa' was beaten.

Although, if anything, for many people witnessing the moment, the time itself was meaningless. It was the thought that what was considered an impossible feat, was indeed, possible to beat that mattered.

Towa felt great as well, obviously, even if he's being reserved about it. It was the last run he was prepared to do before he went home.

What was on Towa's mind the most last night, was the mysterious silver Honda S2000 that he occasionally saw running as well. Somehow, none of the people there other than him seem to notice the guy.

It was only after Towa got home and checked the leaderboard again that he noticed a mysterious time on the board from the person that he couldn't find in the Discord group.

There were actually 2 names that stuck out as not being in the group, one of them was 'TaTa', which Towa knew had been on the board since he started using the application. The other though, was a newly created account that he had not seen before.

'Inazuma', with the time of 2:18.16. He was in third place.

Yes, the euphoria around Towa's time meant not many people actually cared much for the 3rd place runner, but a few people did ask who this 'Inazuma' person was, and already asked in the group to see if they were in the group, but they were not. A few people discussed about the S2000, but none of them actually said anything other than it could be the 'Inazuma', or not, nobody knew.

One thing was for sure though, this guy was aiming for 'Urasawa''s time as well.

Although, with Towa now being first, he couldn't help but feel that 'Inazuma' was really now aiming for him more than 'Urasawa'.

—

Tuesday, Mizuho got up at around 5 AM, as it was pretty usual for him. When he woke up he saw the notification on his own application.

'1 person beat your record. You are now 2nd on the leaderboard.'

That really woke him up.

Someone had finally beaten his time.

Mizuho quickly checked the name of the leaderboard to see if his first guess was right, and indeed it was, Towa Wakisaka was the first person ever to beat his time that he set as a benchmark years ago.

It made Mizuho really happy. He was almost skipping around with excitement from seeing that.

Mizuho got downstairs, did his morning routine, and sat at the small table behind the television to watch a morning program. NHK News Ohayo Nippon as it's his preferred option. At the same time, Mizuho had his laptop on the desk and was doing shop accounting at the same time. The income had not been great, but expenses were low as well.

At around 6.30AM, Ippei walked downstairs and saw Mizuho was still sitting there, laptop in front of him, but he's watching the TV.

"Good morning." Ippei said, his voice hoarse and there's a lack of energy.

"Good morning." Mizuho replied.

Ippei then disappeared into the bathroom and was in there for just about normal amount of time, before he stepped out and went into the kitchen again for a pretty normal amount. Mizuho kept watching TV all the while not paying attention to him.

Ippei came back with a ham sandwich, a feeble looking one that Mizuho thought looked a bit sad.

"Aren't you cooking today?" Mizuho asked, which made Ippei look up with the sandwich still in his mouth. He chewed before he answered.

"I woke up a bit late, so I don't have time to." Ippei replied, he's still looking a bit too sleepy in Mizuho's eyes.

"Huh." Mizuho noted the time was not that late, but didn't want to contradict his own son.

The two sat there quietly for a long time, Mizuho watching the TV, while Ippei ate his sandwich which took no time at all. Ippei then went back upstairs after he's done.

It took way longer than usual before Ippei came back down, it was around 7.45 AM, but he was ready to go then.

"I'm going now." Ippei announced.

"Don't lock the front door, I'm opening up shop now." Mizuho instructed, the same as always.

Ippei walked out of the living room, and disappeared. He didn't even look at Mizuho as he went by.

Mizuho thought that it was weird. Ippei had been pretty down lately, but Mizuho didn't know why. The only thing he thought was that unless Ippei wanted to tell him, he's probably not going to know. Was he in a row with his girlfriend or something? Mizuho wasn't sure at all.

Mizuho got up from the table, turned off the TV, and went to the front shop to open it. It was 8 AM, so slightly early today, but he was feeling good so let's be productive, eh?

Mizuho recently bought some broken Famicom from a local second hand store, well, it was 5 of them. He planned to combine them into one or two working units and also modified them to later sell on. It's a fun little hobby he has always had.

He was dismantling one of the Famicom, which he did quite methodically on the workstation, when a familiar face appeared in front of the shop. Mizuho only noticed when the door was open and he saw Towa Wakisaka there. It was around 9.30 AM.

"Oh, good morning!" Mizuho said very cheerfully, which made Towa a bit confused.

"Famicom?" Towa asked as he noticed the scattered electronics on the workstation.

"Yeah, you want one? I've got 5 of them."

Towa waved his hand to clearly show he's not interested in an old Famicom.

"Ah well, it's probably before your time anyway. How's it going with the PS2?" Mizuho asked, which made Towa remembered.

"Oh yeah! Sumire loves the thing, but she didn't have much time to play, really." Towa answered, also pretty upbeat about it.

"If your girlfriend's happy, I'm happy."

Towa sat down on the chair opposite the workstation.

"I'm sorry, but I don't have any business with the PC shop today..." Towa admitted that, but it seems Mizuho was fine with it.

"It's alright, don't worry about it. I'm usually being an ass just to weed out the silly people. You're alright."

That was weird coming from Mizuho Noda. Towa never thought he'd be like this, ever. It made sense, but he played the part so well.

"I've beaten your time, Noda-san," Towa said, and clearly was hesitant about it, "but it doesn't feel... right?"

"What's bothering you? You've beaten my time, fair and square?" Mizuho seemed to be curious about Towa's statement.

"I don't know..." Towa was very unsure indeed.

"Ah you kids think too hard... The records are always created to be beaten anyway."

"Yeah, but," Towa was still doubting, "I just don't think I'm actually to your level."

At that moment, Mizuho's eyes changed so clearly even Towa could notice. From the kindly PC shop owner having a pleasant conversation, he turned into something else in a blink of an eye.

"You want to prove it, Wakisaka-san?" Mizuho said there's a definite competitiveness to his voice, which made Towa nervous and exactly what he expected.

"I kind of want to, but I'm not sure if I should..." Towa scrambled to reply.

"What's the worry, huh?" Mizuho said, with a change to a beaming smile on his face, "Do you want to know how fast you really are?"

"I do..."

"I'll have another race with you then, tonight."

That offer from Mizuho lightened the fire in Towa's mind. He obviously was having reservations about it just because it was Mizuho, but the desire to run was too strong for him to decline.

"Tonight?" Towa asked to clarify.

"Yep, around midnight would be good I think. Last night there were a lot of cars on the mountain right? I kind of expected that." Mizuho replied, and made Towa surprised again.

"But you weren't there on the course last night?"

Mizuho laughed pretty loudly as soon as he heard that observation of Towa.

"I literally have a real time feed of what people were doing on the leaderboard, Wakisaka-san. I might not check them often, but I know what's happening." Mizuho replied, and it made sense to Towa then.

"Midnight?" Towa asked to confirm.

"Midnight, you park under the sign at the starting point, and I'll be there."

At this point, Mizuho held his arm out for Towa to shook as an agreement. It felt like Towa was making a deal with the devil. He did so with slight reluctance, but couldn't resist.

"I'll see you there."

—

Most of the students at Tsuchiura First High School were preparing for the midterm exam, which was approaching very quickly. Everywhere, the image of students reading study material was normal, and the teachers were busy prepping for the exams as well.

Ippei was still sitting there, alone, on the bench looking towards the old school building across the courtyard. He didn't ask for anyone to be there with him, and he was doing nothing.

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Ryoji turned up to school today, and Akira didn't know about his future plan either, only Ippei knew what would be happening very soon. In a few weeks time, Ryoji would move elsewhere, and that thought made Ippei... sad. Sad that there's nothing he could do to help Ryoji.

This thought kept Ippei restless, and yet, inattentive.

"I know you look pretty cute brooding, but doing it for 10 minutes straight might be a bit tiring, surely?"

Sachiko suddenly appeared, which startled Ippei who was indeed not paying attention.

"Eh?" Ippei was a bit confused, as Sachiko sat beside him.

"Why are you still looking surprised?" Sachiko said, bemused.

"Ah, I'm sorry, Sachiko." Ippei apologized, a bit pointlessly in Sachiko's opinion.

Sachiko sat there, staring in Ippei's eyes for a pretty long time. He was averting this glance for some reason, despite him being clearly very fond of her.

"Is it about Ryoji?" Sachiko asked, sounding concerned.

"Hmm..." Ippei didn't quite want to answer, but he couldn't keep it in "...yeah."

At this point, Ippei noticed that Sachiko was still looking like she's having doubts about something.

"He's not staying, is he?" Sachiko asked what Ippei already knew the definite answer to.

"Yeah, he isn't." Ippei replied, not explaining fully, but enough for Sachiko to understand.

"I'm sorry..."

Ippei nodded with acceptance, which was a calmer response than Sachiko was expecting, but she was glad Ippei seemed to be taking it better than before.

"After the mid term, do you have any plans?" Ippei asked Sachiko after a short while.

"Eh? Not really?" Sachiko thought it was weird that he changed subject this quickly.

"Do you want to go anywhere? This weekend?"

"Well Sunday is Tanabata, isn't it?" Sachiko pointed out, which seemed to make Ippei a bit surprised.

"Eh, is it?"

"Yeah."

"Do you want to go anywhere then?" Ippei asked again.

"Well, I would rather just wait for the Kirara Festival, to be honest..."

"When is that?"

"3rd and 4th of August I believe? I'll have to check."

Tsuchiura was unique from the rest of the nation, as the Tanabata was combined with Kasumigaura Lake Festival to form the Kirara Festival. This meant that while July would always have decorations, the big event would be held on the first weekend of August. This year it was indeed 3rd and 4th.

Still, Ippei didn't want to be alone this weekend.

"I just want to be with you this weekend, to be honest." Ippei said, which made Sachiko blushed slightly.

"Well, want to go to a petting zoo on Saturday? I've been planning for months..." Sachiko said, which Ippei was interested but curious.

"The cat cafe?"

"No, this one's for exotic animals. Anima Petting Zoo. They have rabbits, birds, turtles, and such. Very cool place."

"Is it far away?"

"Maybe 8 kilometers from my house? From yours it's less than 15 then. We can ride there together."

Ippei considered for a moment, but he knew he was okay with it regardless.

"Sure, let's go there." Ippei replied.

"Bringing a Gorilla to an exotic petting zoo would be pretty funny..." Sachiko murmured, but Ippei did catch a bit of what she said.

"Are you talking about my bike again?"

"Sorry." Sachiko couldn't help but chuckle.

—

That evening, Norio was just helping his mother in the kitchen preparing dinner, when his phone rang. He quickly washed his hand and noticed it was Iori, so he quickly picked it up.

"Hello?" Norio answered.

"Hello! Are you busy, Hattori-san?" Iori asked, and he noticed that she tried to sound chipper.

"I can talk, what's going on, Yamada-san?"

"Well, I don't want to bother you..."

Norio's mother was wondering who it was, as it was unusual for anyone to call Norio at this time of the day. Although she didn't eavesdrop more than Norio was allowing her by being in the proximity.

"I'm cooking dinner right now." Norio replied.

"Ah, sorry, don't worry about it then." Iori quickly tries to dismiss Norio, because she thought she was bothering him.

"I'm just helping my mother with trivial stuff, to be honest. I'm not busy."

"Well... I was going to ask if you want to go for dinner at a restaurant with me..."

"Huh?..." Norio was pretty confused at this point, "...Dinner?"

Norio then turned back to his mother, who was mouthing to tell Norio that it was totally fine if he's going to eat out, she can eat the dinner alone, but Norio wasn't sure.

"It's unusual, what's the occasion?" Norio asked for clarification.

"Well, Masayoshi is away on business in Tochigi, and I don't like eating alone." Iori replied.

Norio could only raise his eyebrows wondering what's going on with this woman, he could feel there's more to it than that.

"Where are you going?" Norio continued to ask.

"If you're already preparing dinner it's fine! Don't worry!" Iori tried to reassure him.

"Well my mother doesn't seem to mind, and if it's going to help you I have no problem with that."

Iori went quiet for a moment after Norio said that, she's considering it for a bit again and again if it's a burden to her friend asking for him to eat out with her like this on short notice, but she too troubled to not ask for Norio's help.

"Would you mind Sushi? I'll pay." Iori conceded.

"Hey, just go half, I can't have you paying for it entirely." Norio declined the offer, thinking Iori's probably bothered by it.

"It's not right, is it? I'm calling you on a whim like this... Let me treat you to the meal."

"You know that I'm not going to decline if you keep insisting, right?"

"I'll send you the location then."

The meeting place was in Higashifuchu in Ishioka. A mere 20 minutes drive from Norio's house, so he got there pretty quickly. Norio had not been around this place much before so he didn't know the restaurant.

Norio guessed from the name without checking the review that it was probably a cheap, conveyor belt sushi place, so when Norio got to the actual location he was shocked to learn that it was a proper one, a posh looking one at that. He just parked the yellow Swift and waited for Iori. After a few minutes, the red Civic turned up.

"Oi. Seriously? Is it really alright that you'll be treating me to this?" Norio greeted Iori with that, which made her sheepishly laugh.

"Yeah... don't worry about it." Iori replied, Norio noticed that she was in her work uniform, so she possibly drove directly here from the school.

"I guess you aren't going to tell me what's the occasion for this." Norio said in a chiding tone, also teasing her to reveal what the matter was.

"I'll tell you once we are seated."

Both walked into the restaurant, it was a genuine local and pretty high end sushi restaurant run by a chef and his wife, who was welcoming the patrons to their seats by themselves. Today was not busy, so Iori chose a pretty big table.

Once Norio saw the price on the menu, he was pleasantly surprised by it, yet, he was still questioning if it was alright for Iori to be paying for it all. Still, if Iori insisted...

Norio ordered first, but then had a phone call so he walked outside to pick it up. It was his mother asking if he'll return home late. By the time he was done, Iori already finished ordering her dinner.

"So, how was the Fruits Line last night?" Iori asked after Norio returned, very curious as she knew a lot of people joined the Discord group.

"It was awesome if I'll be honest." Norio was clearly very chuffed, "You know about the record being beaten right?"

"Yeah, he's in the group now as well?"

"He is, TowaWaki39. That's his name, actually. Wakisaka." Norio explained, and Iori nodded.

"So what he's driving? I don't think anyone mentioned it in detail."

"A white Roadster. Really distinctive one actually. Roadster Hardtop, special edition with white interior. It's got modified suspension and AD09 tires and that's it. Not even a tuned exhaust or intake. It's eerily quiet when it's going by." Norio rattled off the details he remembered.

"A car like that is able to do a 2:16, huh?"

"Well we all know the Fruits Line favored lightweight cars, right? It makes sense to me."

"Still, a near standard one? No offense, but it seems to me his car is even less modified than yours."

Norio shrugged, it's his way to tell Iori that he didn't know what else to comment on, considering the fastest record for a very long time was achieved with a Toyota Probox of all things.

The food started to arrive, and Norio immediately was surprised by how much was ordered. His order was so very little and it made him question it to himself if it was a mistake, but Iori didn't turn it away so....

Then they started eating, and the food was absolutely, stonkingly, delicious. The fishes were so fresh, and prepared so well. Somehow Norio couldn't really enjoy it because in his head he kept thinking all of this was way too much for the both of them.

Once the food was depleted by about half, Norio couldn't eat anymore as he was so full, and he forced himself in so much, while seeing that Iori kept eating and eating. She ate in quite an impressive way in that it never seemed gluttonous, but she kept going, and going, and going...

"Seriously. You aren't stopping?" Norio said something finally, while both were eating they didn't say anything but focused on the food.

"I kind of want fried scallops," Iori said, turning around to find the wife of the owner, "sorry! Can I order something?"

"Ehhhhh?!"

Iori ordered the fried scallops she wanted, and Norio could only look in disbelief. She kept eating at a steady pace, but with no sign of stopping.

"Have you eaten here before?" Norio asked, his back resting on the chair because he was so full.

"Once or twice, maybe. It's not that close to my house, but Masayoshi likes it. Do you like it?" Iori replied, and wasted no time going back to eating the sashimi.

"It's great, actually." Norio replied.

"Well I'm glad."

It was then that Norio realized why Iori insisted on treating him to this meal. If she allowed him to pay half it'd be nowhere near fair. It'd need to be a quarter pay.

"Do you normally eat this much?" Norio eventually couldn't help but point it out.

Norio was guesstimating, Iori weighed maybe 50-ish kg, and she was around 165-167 cm tall, nearly as tall as himself actually. Yet she ate like a sumo wrestler, not literally of course, but she ate way too much food for her appearance. Even Norio had to admit Iori's figure was great, apart from being flat as a board.

"Well, funny you should say that," Iori stopped and chuckled, "...I never told anyone this story, actually, even Masayoshi."

"What is it?" Norio was now curious.

"You know since middle school, I'd get asked out all the time, right? Not a brag or anything. But none of them passed the test and I never dated anyone seriously until I met Masayoshi."

"What was the test?"

"Well, I'm this skinny minnie, right? And these time wasters would always offer to pay, right?..." Iori couldn't help but chuckle mid story, but she continued, "I always love their shocked faces when they let me order the food!"

Norio got it now, and thought that was devious as hell, he couldn't help but be bemused too.

"Every single one of them asked me the same question that you did, haha!" Iori continued, laughing, she had never thought about it for a while and it really did tickle her again.

"Did Masayoshi-san ask the same question?" Norio asked, which made Iori think back and remember.

"Yeah... he didn't... that's why I started dating him seriously. It's quite stupid when it's being said out loud..."

Norio didn't feel that way, he thought it was indeed pretty funny.

Iori finally finished everything after a while, it took a long time but the plates were clean. When the bill came, Norio asked once again if he should pay for at least some of it, and Iori still said no. Finding out the fair split was too bothersome and she didn't mind as it's a tiny portion of the whole bill.

"Thanks for coming to eat dinner with me today, okay?" Iori said, sounding very grateful for Norio.

"Well, you did pay for it..." Norio pointed it out, which made Iori laugh.

"I'm happy to, don't worry."

When the bill was like a week of usual groceries for Norio, it was pretty hefty and hard to ignore.

"It's great to have someone who you can confide with." Iori said, a bit abashedly.

"I'm glad I could be of help..." Norio replied.

"You know, at the school, something's not going well." Iori finally admitted to her woes, which made Norio curious.

"Is it the management, or the students?" Norio nearly hit the bullseye with this one, even when Iori hadn't said anything yet.

"A student." Iori replied with a tired expression and a sigh.

"A student, huh..."

Iori stood there for a moment, thinking how she should word the story so far. They were still standing there, both looking at their two little hatchbacks in the carpark.

"The parents divorced, deadbeat dad and an overworked mom. Yet the guy's always been a joy to teach, top class academically with spotless behavior..." Iori told the story with clear sadness in her voice, which made Norio quite melancholic by proxy, "Until it all went wrong."

"How badly?" Norio wondered.

"Circumstances meant the guy didn't have to pay for it with his life, at least... but he's getting transferred to be with his paternal grandparents. Leaving friends behind. It's tough."

Norio somehow could relate to this story, as a person who's had to move before leaving many people who he was fond of behind.

"It hurts, Hattori-san," Iori said, stuttering from the attempt to hold her emotion in, "it hurts because I couldn't do anything. I know trying to solve every issue that comes into your life is futile and there's always going to be something that slips through, but it doesn't hurt any less seeing him go."

Norio didn't know what to say to help alleviate Iori's concern right now, so he could only stand there listening to her, but keep thinking of what he should say.

"The wasted potential is one thing, but the effect on the people involved hurts as well." Iori continued, "His friends don't know yet, but they eventually will. His guidance teacher, you've met him, Tanigawa-san. He's pretty devastated as the student is pretty close to him, being in his club and all."

Norio remembered Tanigawa. He met him a while ago, the same occasion as he met Iori. The young and pretty good looking guy who's clearly the fresh-faced junior still innocent to all the plights that belies the job.

"I'm sorry I couldn't offer any help or even helpful advice about it..." Norio said earnestly, but Iori shook her head.

"Just listening is enough, Hattori-san. It helps." Iori replied, with a melancholic smile on her face.

Iori went quiet looking at her feet, while Norio was thinking of a way, any way, to be able to cheer her up. One thought kept coming up to him.

"Do you want to go up the mountains tonight?" Norio asked, which made Iori's face brightened.

"Yeah, actually, yeah. Masayoshi's staying overnight in Utsunomiya. Yeah. I'll do runs tonight. Gotta teach these newbies who's the boss huh?..." Iori replied, eagerly and excited.

Seeing Iori not being gloomy once again, made Norio relieved.

"I'll meet you again at 10.30 PM, is that okay?" Iori asked.

"Some business to attend?" Norio asked back.

"Yeah... mid term exams are coming, you see, and I want to get changed."