That Thursday night, right as Towa was going to sleep, he was kicked out of the bedroom by Sumire. She was too pissed off to even talk to him that day and Towa wasn't even sure why. Maybe it's that time of the month, who knows.

With nothing else to do, and being too ashamed to sleep on the floor, Towa decided he'd go out and try to drive this Probox again, finding a way to tame it.

Mizuho told him that he did not need to use the clutch to change gear, only setting off from stand still, even then Towa couldn't do it as he had mechanical sympathy. It's too freaky in his opinion.

Yet, every gearshift Towa tried, slow or fast, the Probox would react the same way. Even in slow city driving it would make obvious grinding noise and it wouldn't go into gear smoothly. Towa wondered if it's even possible.

Then, with no options left, Towa just did as instructed. While changing from 2nd to 3rd gear, instead of pushing in the clutch, he let the engine rev to drop and just waited for it to slip in. It did not, he had to slam it anyway and it'd still grind.

It's also whining loudly as it's rolling along, the faster Towa was driving, the more whine this gearbox produces. Mizuho told Towa that this was absolutely normal behavior.'

What the hell was even this gearbox? Towa couldn't wrap his head around it at all.

Then, as Towa was so frustrated by it all, while he was driving straight, Towa just slammed the gear from 3rd to 4th, hard, and without clutch as instructed. For whatever reason, that gearchange clicked so satisfyingly even Towa knew it was meant to be this way.

Although, when Towa was slowing down to approach a traffic light, he did the same on downshift, and the car would slam hard into the lower gear, that shocked the whole car so hard, with obvious tires squealing sound. The downshift was so rough Towa thought he'd broken the car finally.

Then, Towa realized something, he didn't break the car, it was still working fine. The rev of the engine and the speed of the gearset simply wasn't matching. Towa had an epiphany as he was already taught this technique from his father. Rev matching.

Instead of leaving the synchromesh to do the job of matching the speed of the engine and the gearset spinning the wheels. Towa just had to rev the engine slightly while doing downshift so both speed would match, and the car would go into gear smoother. He had been doing this in the Roadster as well, but wasn't used to the Probox pedals just yet, this was exactly where he was going wrong.

Towa did the upshift again, smoothly this time, and then when he's reaching another traffic light, he tried the rev matching downshift, all without clutch, and it was totally possible. Towa could drive this piece of junk car smoothly now and it made him so happy he could almost cry.

Then, Towa decided he'd try to run this car on the Fruits Line. He had no idea what's about to entail.

Towa was carefully driving up the south section, judging how the Probox would behave, it felt awesome to be fair. So responsive and sharp. The feel through to this Nardi steering wheel was pretty amazing compared to even the Roadster.

The engine was amazing too, it revs to 8,000 rpm, which was way higher than standard engine. It felt so quick, somehow quicker than the standard Roadster. Towa knew the engine probably had around 150-170 horsepower, from what he read about Toyota 1NZ units. So with power to weight ratio, it probably was slightly superior to the Roadster in that regard.

Was this really still a Probox? Towa wondered. It's so obviously tweaked in every aspect that it's hardly the same as those Probox or Succeed being run by companies.

It's weird to be saying all of this about a Probox, but it did give Towa another perspective. An understanding of different types of vehicle and their different characteristics. That he was appreciative of Mizuho's offer.

That was, until he actually tried to run it on the Fruits Line north section.

Towa parked the Probox below the Flower Park sign, and was ready to run a time attack with the Geo Timer application. The interior clock struck midnight.

Launching this car was not difficult, as the tires were so grippy, even if it's front wheel drive so the weight would be transferred to the rear. The front axle hops a bit but quickly shoots off into the run.

Towa didn't know what to expect when it's being run at near maximum capability, so he's dialing down slightly, around 80% attack. The first corner was approaching and Towa was braking into it very slightly, like usual.

Immediately, the Probox whipped into an oversteer on entry that nearly turned the car around if a lesser driver was the one controlling. It scared the shit out of Towa. What the hell was that? Did he drive over a dirt patch or something? Why did the Probox suddenly lose grip on the rear?

The next corner, a narrower angle left, Towa was preparing to do the same.

Yet again, the Probox oversteered on entry, scaring the shit out of Towa. He had no confidence in this car at all compared to his Roadster, even if that's rear wheel drive and supposedly more oversteery.

The third corner was a hairpin, so it was difficult to go through oversteering. Towa braked the most in a straight line, and he was ready to catch any wayward movement. Instead, the Probox understeer once he's transitioned onto the throttle as it got to the corner apex.

Granted, the racing 2-way front differential made it so that this Probox would tug to the inside of the corner on acceleration instead of completely washing wide, which felt almost unnatural to anyone vaguely knowledgeable about vehicle layout. Even then, no differential in the world would be able to defy physics. One cannot overwhelm the rear tires by adding power to the front wheels. No matter if you can do it to the outside wheel better than usual.

Towa had the conclusion that the handling of this Probox was absolutely diabolical.

Towa tried to calm down, and remembered that he couldn't power oversteer a front wheel drive car, it's almost as if he had to relearn everything about driving.

That run was the most frustrating and most physically demanding Towa had ever had on the Fruits Line, nothing else compared. The time was almost in the 2:30s and that sucked hard. Towa couldn't be confident in this car at all.

Something was bugging Towa, was he approaching this wrong, somehow?

If a car oversteers on a corner entry, what else could he do to correct that? More throttle then, in order to lose the grip on the front tires and transfer the weight to the back. At the same time, Towa remembered he was taught how to catch oversteer already, and since he's used to rear wheel drive cars, shouldn't he be able to catch this oversteer?

Towa drove back up to the starting point, and was ready to try again.

The first corner was approaching fast, and Towa had to stop himself from trying to solve it by slowing down. There must be a reason why this car oversteers so much naturally on braking.

Towa found that he could catch that entry oversteer very easily, as it's the exact same skill as the one taught by Koichi Sasagawa, and Koshi Uchiyama, that transformed his driving from average to decent.

Not only that, as soon as he stabbed on the throttle slightly, the rear end stopped swinging around, and the car would not swap ends. Towa didn't even have to do the opposite lock which he sometimes had to do with the Roadster, the most he needed was the zero counter. The car would correct its trajectory by itself.

It was perhaps around this point that Towa 'got' the Probox.

Towa started to predict the oversteer in some situations, which if it wasn't viable, like the double corner technical section which required stability, Towa had to keep the throttle on slightly to stabilize the car, but how exactly?

Then Towa remembered, this car didn't require clutching to change down, only rev matching to ensure smoothness.

Towa slowed down massively, and was now trying to use the left foot for braking, it was difficult at first, but he was getting the hang of it with a few test hard stops. It could be done, it's the same principle, once he got the muscle memory right he could use the left foot to brake, while keeping the right foot on the throttle to stabilize the car if needed.

Towa kept running and running, improving on the time throughout the nights, and the Probox did not complain. The car was extremely reliable despite appearance, and the temperatures weren't even rising. The tires did not lose grip either because every run had a cool down, and the car was light enough to not be a burden on its tires. The Yokohama A052 was also grippier than AD09, even on a more simple platform such as the Probox.

Towa's opinion slowly changed, the more he ran the Probox, and the more he understood it.

It finally clicked.

This car was amazing.

The sharp, oversteer turn in was necessary for an extremely tight, twisty course such as the Fruits Line, because otherwise there's no way the car would be able to corner. It was the same with wider tracks, to be fair, but especially important for this sort of course.

The engine was a little weedy at low rpm, but once it got up to above 4,500 it woke up HARD, almost like a VTEC Honda engine, and it spins up to 8,000 rpm without feeling strained. It also sounded so good, especially combined with the whine of the gearbox. Somehow, that gearbox was reminding Towa of a racing car, which he finally understood, maybe because that's exactly what it was, a racing gearbox.

It was a joy once you know how to use it, the slam into gears might feel wrong, but the gearshift was lightning quick with it, and with careful rev matching, or not, it's very satisfying clicking into any gear Towa wanted without fighting back. That said, he had to be careful to not change down carelessly, as it would fight the front tires into slower speed, causing a lot of mayhem on corner entry as the tires lose grip.

The time tumbled, from almost 2:30, it was now 2:17, and then 2:16 was easy.

Somehow, with only a night session in this Probox, Towa could beat his own record once again. He eventually got a 2:15.94 once, and he knew there was more to give.

Towa knew Mizuho was sandbagging. He knew full well that if Mizuho was driving this car to his full ability, he'd get a much faster time than Towa did.

That's why Towa didn't stop, and kept going. Until the Probox ran out of petrol and was showing the warning light on the dashboard.

The first impression was shit, but once you get to know it, this Probox was unmatched. Light, agile, good traction for FF, powerful, satisfying to drive, challenging.

Towa nearly stopped to say sorry when he was calling it diabolical before, but thought it was silly he's being mean to a machine and felt he needed to apologize.

It was a weird car like that, this Probox. Somehow it felt, above all, likeable.

It's a junky, battered and bruised Toyota Probox, but it was likeable. Like an ugly servant who's really good and knows all your needs and requirements, even ones you didn't know you wanted.

Why was he thinking of it that way?! Towa wondered, as he drove the car back to his apartment.

—

That Thursday, the Geo Timer Society group was in a frenzy again, with two news dominating the feed.

'TowaWaki39' extended his advantage from 'Urasawa', with a 2:15.12 run.

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

No one knew that it was achieved in the same Probox that was the legend around their circles.

Another unexpected news, however, was that there was another runner who bested 'Urasawa' record. It was 'Inazuma', a mysterious person who not a single guy could identify. With a time of 2:16.58. No one even knew what he actually drove, despite a few guessing a silver Honda S2000.

It was a bit slower than Towa, of course, but almost overnight, the unbeatable time of Mizuho Noda was being beaten, not once, but twice. No one knew about the battle he and Towa had.

That morning, Sumire woke up, and saw Towa was on the floor again, sleeping without a futon. She realized that how she treated him last night may have been a little harsh and felt bad about it.

Sumire crouched down beside Towa, and poked him up.

"Hey," Sumire said, as Towa was waking up, "good morning."

"Uh, good morning." Towa got up slowly, still very sleepy, naturally because he drove the Probox until 3 AM last night.

"Why aren't you bringing out the futon? You'll get sore sleeping on the floor like this."

"Well... uh..." Towa didn't have an answer.

Sumire didn't say anything, and she went to the bathroom leaving Towa to fully wake up.

Once Sumire was done, she got out, and Towa was sleeping again, face down, on the dinner table. It was clear he might as well haven't had any sleep. Maybe 2 hours at most.

Sumire felt really bad then, so she went into the kitchen, and made 2 cups of coffee, one for herself, and another for Towa. She put it down on the dinner table, and poked Towa up again.

"Sorry about last night," Sumire said guiltily, "I was really frustrated with work."

Towa didn't say anything yet, he took a sip of that coffee, which made him feel better.

"I promise I can drive the Probox way better than yesterday." Towa said. It was a pretty weird thing to say and it made Sumire laugh slightly.

"It's fine," Sumire reassured Towa, "just you taking me to work every morning... I should already be grateful, even if it's in a wheelbarrow."

Towa lurked up and looked in her eyes again, he couldn't detect any malice from that, she was being genuine.

"Well, I'm sorry as well, for bringing such a piece of shit home." Towa replied.

Today Towa got Sumire to and from work, with working as a freelance developer in between. It was business as usual. They got dinner, and Sumire seemed to be not as mad about the Probox as she was. Maybe it helped that Towa could drive it properly now.

Towa was enamoured by that car so much he couldn't stop driving it, that night he had to drive the Probox again. Sumire saw him picking up the key around 9 PM.

Another reason was that apparently some members of the Geo Timer Society wanted to meet up again tonight. 'Azusa-san', 'The FR' and 'Samesama'. Towa felt like learning more about the Probox, so he decided to go as well.

"Are you going out again?" Sumire asked, acting a bit forlorn as a joke.

"Yeah, but I promise I won't be late." Towa replied with a smile.

"Meeting someone?"

"Yeah, some friends."

Sumire thought by herself, as Towa was stepping out of the apartment.

Friends, huh?

The meeting place was the Oshito Family Mart. As Towa drove into the parking lot, the three people there had already finished getting their drinks of choice and were walking out to have a chat. The cars there were Civic FN2, the BRZ ZN8, and the Delica D:5.

"What?!" Shigehiro nearly flipped when he noticed the Probox driving into the lot, and was reversing to park right next to them.

"Noda-san?" Iori had the same reaction as Shige, but then saw through the window that it wasn't Mizuho.

"No way! Is that the Probox?" Ikuo turned to Iori and Shige who looked shocked, and was pretty excited.

Towa got out of it, and Shige was very excited to meet the 'Urasawa', not knowing that it was the wrong person driving the right car. Iori knew, and so was Ikuo who met Towa before.

"Good evening." Towa greeted them, appearing slightly awkward as he was in someone else's car.

"Why are you in Noda-san's car?" Iori asked.

"Well... He offered to let me have it for a week." Towa replied, which made everyone awestruck.

"He let you borrow it?!" Ikuo was shocked by that statement.

"You know about this car as well, Imamichi-san?" Shige asked.

"Yeah, Mizuho Noda's Probox. It's a bit of a legend around here, right?" Ikuo replied, and it made everyone there more curious.

Everyone immediately turned to this old uncle, way older than they were and looked like he was lost on a fishing trip. Today he's even here in the Delica D:5, not his red Evo X.

"You know him?" Iori inquired more, as Ikuo never showed to be particularly deep into the world of Fruits Line runners.

"Of course I do! I have known his brother-in-law since he was in high school." Ikuo replied, and it made everyone there pretty surprised.

"Brother-in-law?" Shige and Iori asked the same question at the same time.

"Yeah, are you guys particularly interested in mid to late 2000's motor racing though? Would you know the name if I just say it?"

Iori and Towa were doubtful, they weren't exactly knowledgeable about that topic, but Shige was.

"Who was it?" Shige was the one asking, thinking it was his time to shine.

"Tokuro Fukumi. Team Lightning Mitsubishi. Ever heard of him? They built my Evo as well." Ikuo replied, ready to answer anything these young kids had to say.

"Wait, Tokuro Fukumi is Mizuho Noda's brother-in-law?" Shige was so surprised to learn that fact.

"Yeah, I mean, ex-brother-in-law. Since Noda divorced a long time ago."

It was an interesting tidbit, but not that relevant to any of their lives right now. So the group changed the subject pretty soon.

"Are you an archivist of the racing world or something, Imamichi-san?" Iori was the one asking this time.

"I guess I am!" Ikuo chuckled, "I have worked as a racing media correspondent since 1990. I've only stopped recently as traveling was becoming too tiring."

"So you've known all of them, right? Sasagawa, Tatsumi, Sarusawa, Aomoto?" Shige continued.

"Yes. And Uchiyama, Fukumi. Hell, even Noda. I was there watching him race professionally."

"Incredible..." Shige exclaimed.

Ikuo couldn't help contain his excitement, and walked over to the Probox which was parked there. The rest of the group followed with the same interest.

"I've never seen it in metal though... even if I've heard about it for years." Ikuo was looking at every detail with a fine tooth comb.

Towa was slightly nervous, considering it wasn't his car that the three were now surrounding.

"Can I have a look?" Ikuo asked before he opened the door.

"I guess Noda-san wouldn't mind..." Towa replied, uncertain, but guessed he wouldn't know.

"Thanks."

Ikuo opened the door to find the bonnet release, when he crouched down and looked up to notice something, he was amazed.

"Carbon roof!" Ikuo shouted, which made Iori and Shige run up to him.

"Seriously?! Are you joking?" Shige said with excitement, crouching down to observe the roof from underneath.

The outside of the roof was painted, but once you look inside, you can clearly see that the roof was indeed made of carbon-fiber, as the back was not covered.

"Who made a carbon roof for a Probox?" Iori was pretty confused about that.

"A company in Aichi. Jump Off Automobile is the name, if I recall correctly..." Ikuo found the bonnet release and pulled it, "...and if I were to bet..."

Ikuo opened the bonnet, revealing that it was carbon-fiber as well, despite being painted white. Made by the same company, Jump Off Automobile in Aichi.

To be honest, Towa thought it was weird seeing the bonnet was shiny and newly painted, and so was the roof, while the rest of the car was scratched all to hell and dented in nearly every panel, but it made sense now.

"The engine I believe was built by Techno Pro Spirit..." Ikuo continued, pointing out every detail in the engine bay, "2ZZ throttle body, custom made titanium headers. I believe it's 170 horsepower?"

170 horsepower didn't sound like a lot, but the Probox weighed slightly over 1,000 kilograms. It's lighter than even Towa's Roadster RF.

"And when you drove it in here," Ikuo turned to Towa, "I heard the straight cut gear. I think it's a dog box, right? You don't need to use the clutch to shift gears."

"That's right, Noda-san told me not to use the clutch." Towa replied, also pretty intrigued by all the details.

"That confirms it. This car is amazing!" Ikuo nodded excitedly.

"What sort of person would spend that much on a Probox?" Iori wondered.

Once Ikuo heard that, he turned to her and just smirked.

"A person like Mizuho Noda. No one else would decide to create a contraption such as this out of a Probox. It's pure madness." Ikuo answered.

"Why wouldn't he get a newer, better base car?" Iori asked the most important question here, and Ikuo could only shake his head.

"That, I do not know either."

Ikuo kept pointing out the details to the intrigued youngsters, so much that the time passed by quite a bit. There was a lot to take in as this car was more than it appears.

"You've given us so much information, thank you, Imamichi-san." Shige showed his gratitude by bowing to him, which made Ikuo waving his hand saying it's unnecessary.

"Well, that's all well and good, but I have to ask something I've been curious about for a long time," Ikuo turned to Towa again, smirking, "how does it drive?"

Towa was taken aback by that question, he wasn't ready to rattle off the words like an auto journalist, Ikuo Imamichi. He umm and ahh for a while, before he decided something.

"Would it be better if I show each of you a run on the Fruits Line?" Towa offered an unconventional answer, which lit up everyone's eyes with excitement and a lot of nods were received, which Towa unexpected.

It was decided that because Ikuo was the most knowledgeable about the car, he should be the first one who rode shotgun. The passenger seat was the standard Probox seat, not a Bride racing seat like the driver's seat.

Towa started by driving slowly on the uphill section, he didn't want to scare any strangers he had only met recently, but it was clear Ikuo wanted him to drive faster.

"Go on! I wouldn't know anything if you're just cruising!" Ikuo egged Towa on eagerly.

"If it's fine with you..." Towa replied back, ready to oblige.

Towa still didn't go exactly full tilt, just warming up on the south section; he and Ikuo knew that in order to judge this car fully, it needed to be on the north section.

The Probox crested the peak of the Fruits Line, Towa didn't stop at the Flower Park sign as he wasn't going to do timed runs, he just kept going. He was speeding up to the brisk, but not risky level.

Ikuo was mesmerized by how the Probox moved, despite only being a passenger. He was trying to ascertain any characteristics this car had.

After passing through the double corner technical section in the first half, Towa noticed headlights shining through the rear window, reflecting on the rear view mirror. They did not check if there were any cars parked on the side of the road beforehand, thinking they'd probably not notice anything anyway.

"Is a car following us, Imamichi-san?" Towa relayed the information, to which Ikuo turned his body around and tried to observe.

That mysterious car was gaining very fast, like it's on a timed run, so Ikuo picked up his phone and checked the Geo Timer application to see if there was a notice of a car on the run. Turns out there was.

"Oh you aren't going to believe this." Ikuo replied.

"What is it?" Towa was a bit confused by what Ikuo said.

"It's the lightning, 'Inazuma'."

Once Towa heard that, he was ready to pull over on the first acceleration zone and let that runner who got 2nd place on the leaderboard through, but as the guy got closer, he didn't overtake the Probox, but sat there behind even if Towa slowed right down.

"What car is it?" Towa asked as he couldn't see through the rear view mirror because it was dark.

"It's an S2000." Ikuo replied, still turning around to get a better look, "A facelift one, apparently."

Towa was wondering why that car didn't go past him, and as he was speeding up, it also followed trying to catch up. Whoever 'Inazuma' was, knew what this Probox was as well somehow. He did not have the application running, so it wouldn't be sending a notification to 'Inazuma', so it had to be someone who already knew this car.

Even if it was not his, Towa had a feeling of duty to maintain the pride of the fastest racer on the Fruits Line. He was confident enough to control it, so he was confident that he could shake that S2000.

"Imamichi-san, If you're scared, don't be afraid to tell me." Towa instructed.

Ikuo did not reply, he turned and saw that Towa's expression changed completely. This meek guy was now fully focused on the road, and it was a bit terrifying.

The Probox accelerated out of the hairpin onto the second acceleration zone, it revealed to both racers that the Probox was faster than the S2000 somehow, and it surprised both Towa and the mysterious driver.

Towa prepared to brake at the end of this straight, he was ready to catch any oversteer on the entry. The sharp front end of the Probox was a blessing for any front wheel drive car, but any hard braking was still a little bit scary, even if Towa was used to it by now.

The S2000 tried to follow the Probox's line, and it was working to a degree. It seemed that the cornering speed was similar, despite the Probox being a much lesser car.

After the second hairpin after the acceleration zone, there was the third acceleration zone that the Probox could pull away slightly again, it was then the tricky set of corners that Towa didn't like. The fast right, leading to a wide radius left, which then led to another right hairpin.

Towa had to do the left foot braking on the transition from the first to second corner, it was still tricky, but he could feel the weight throwing around, making the Probox's front end gained more traction and helping it turn in, while the rear end could be kept in check by a dab of throttle mid corner.

Ikuo tried to observe the S2000 the best he could, visually it was nearly impossible, but otherwise he could judge from the engine noise that the driver was going full chat, the tires were screaming like the Probox was, and it could maintain about the same gap to Towa from the start.

After the right hairpin, there was actually a fourth acceleration zone, but it was a corner, a swooping one where a low powered car could maintain full throttle, but it would lead to another hairpin right before the never ending final corner. It was tricky in that the full braking had to be done on a slight bend.

Towa elected to just try to straight line this corner entry, and sacrifice racing line slightly, with the help of left foot braking it was probably negligible. Both cars were now approaching the last corner.

At that moment, Towa was annoyed by the S2000, as he guessed it camped waiting for him to turn up, or more accurately, this Probox. It seemed like stalking behavior, so Towa had an idea.

Once he got past the Flower Park sign that marked the end of the run, Towa saw the road shoulder on the right where he could pull over. The S2000 was only about 1-2 seconds behind, it's hard to judge for certain, but there was enough gap between them.

Towa steered the Probox hard right, and stopped the Probox entirely. The Probox stopped so fast it frightened Ikuo a bit wondering what's going on.

The S2000 flew past the Probox, as it didn't have enough time to react, only to brake massively as it passed it, but then accelerate away anyway immediately.

That allowed Towa to see that the S2000 was a silver one, the same one that he saw a few nights back.

One thing that stuck out so much to Towa about that S2000 once he got to see it was the number plate. It was a Nasu plate with the preferred number 20-00. It reminded him of someone, but he thought maybe it was just a coincidence.

"What is wrong with that guy?" Ikuo couldn't help commenting as the S2000 escaped, "Are you going to follow them?"

"I think it's unnecessary. If the guy wanted to talk to us, he'd turn up in a more normal manner." Towa replied, still pretty calm.

"The time didn't update." Ikuo looked at his phone screen to check the Geo Timer application, "He didn't set a PB or anything."

"He had the app on, but didn't start the run properly, maybe?"

"Or that run was just not that fast, either way."

"But you did see from the app it was 'Inazuma', right?"

"Well, in that case the guy probably would see that it's 'Samesama', and not 'Urasawa' or 'TowaWaki39'."

This all was kinda meaningless though, it didn't really matter as to what username appeared on the screen, that 'Inazuma' guy definitely knew the Probox. Otherwise he wouldn't slow down to observe it.

Towa didn't know what to think anymore, except that the Nasu plate was reminding him of Takeshi. Well, that, and the plate would've been on his car as well if he'd still live in Otawara.