A few days later, the funeral of Kenji Kumamoto was being held at a funeral home near his house, as it was arranged for a long while ago by himself. It was quite a large venue that made Toshihiro, one of his 3 sons, a bit skeptical.
They were preparing for the wake in the room, it was almost time for the guests to arrive, their mothers were being consoled by their aunts elsewhere so they finally had a bit of time to talk.
The 3 brothers weren't exactly close to their father in his twilight years, but the hospital did subtly suggest a few nights before to give Kenji a visit, even if there was no sign of him dying, they somehow all did without telling each other.
"Hey, Tomoya, don't you think the venue is a little big?" Toshihiro asked his older brother, and the middle child.
"I thought so too..." Tomoya replied, "it seemed excessive considering he didn't have many friends."
"Hey," Toru, the oldest son, interjected, "Dad chose this place, he probably had a reason."
Tomoya shrugged, while Toshihiro was not convinced.
"Tomoya was right, he didn't have many friends." Toshihiro repeated.
"With only our relatives it will already be more than half capacity anyway." Toru explained, looking around the room.
None of them had any idea what was going to happen.
Not only the amount of mourners far exceeded the expectation by quite a lot, another problem was almost none of them came together. The car park had the capacity for about 50 cars, yet was filled very quickly with highly exotic metals.
Some of the people who came to the wake were pretty amazing as well, if one were to be knowledgeable about motorsport.
Koichi Sasagawa, the fat guy, turned up in a white Civic Type R FL5. Considering the other cars, this was normal. Still, a lot of racers respected Sasagawa a lot despite the humdrum appearance.
Koshi Uchiyama, the bald guy, arrived in his yellow Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS, an awesome driver's car befitting his relatively successful racing driver status.
"Oi, you're still driving that thing everywhere, huh? Don't they say driving a car like that devalued it?" Koichi asked with a joking smile, which made Koshi respond back with a sneer.
"I bought it to drive, not to sell." Koshi replied, and Koichi chuckled.
"Sasuke is arriving, see."
Koichi pointed to another car turning up to the venue, a black Lexus LC 500, being driven by Sasuke Sarusawa. It parked right next to the two racing drivers who were already there, then an incredibly handsome looking man for his age stepped out. Sasuke always had this moviestar look to him that made him incredibly popular with the girl, which even at 44 years old it was still clear.
"Long time no see." The monkey greeted the fat guy and the bald guy.
"Nice to see you, Sarusawa." Koshi greeted back.
"You're driving a GT car? Getting old?" Koichi said jokingly, and in response Sasuke mocked kicking Koichi's fat ass.
"Speaking of a guy with a beer belly..." Sasuke looked at Koichi's tummy, and even Koichi had to concede Sasuke looked a whole lot better than he was.
"Ah, Aomoto is here too."
A blue, new shape, Nissan Fairlady Z turned up and parked right next to them as well. A really short man with a thuggish face stepped out. Takazaki Aomoto, he was the younger one of the bunch. Also known as 'AOT', backronym to Always on Top, an egotistical nickname all things considered and all thought was a little silly.
"Oh, the new Z looks really good." Sasuke commented, as soon as Takazaki stepped out, which made him look confused.
"You only got to see it? It's been out for a year." Takazaki replied, befuddled.
"I'm a busy man, and I work for Toyota." Sasuke replied.
"I work for Honda and I have driven it, are you really that busy?" Koichi asked as he was genuinely curious, they hadn't talked to each other in a long time so it made sense.
"Yeah, testing, you see. Otherwise Akio Toyoda would fire my ass." Sasuke said with a laugh.
"Isn't he already promoted to do nothing, last I heard?" Takazaki wondered.
"Well, yeah, kinda. He's spending his time driving modified race cars more than actual running of the company."
At that moment, another car turned up which took their attention, as the exhaust sound was incredibly loud, like a modified car.
"Speak of the devil." Sasuke noted.
It was a pretty old car by now, but was contemporary to the time they were racing, the sight of it almost made everyone there a bit nostalgic. A gray Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution 9 and pretty highly modified. The person driving was a tall, thin man, pale looking and quite young also, around the same age as Aomoto.
"Tokurooo!" Koshi immediately shouted as soon as Tokuro stepped out of the Lancer.
"Koshiiiii!" Tokuro replied in the same over the top voice.
The two ran to each other and were about to hug, but then both Koshi and Tokuro dodged the actual contact, which made everyone there bemused.
Tokuro Fukumi, the man might look unassuming and was actually a pretty nice guy off the track, there's a reason why he was given the moniker of 'The Devil', even just his presence made Takazaki quite triggered by their encounter nearly 20 years ago. The man knew no fear, which made him crash incredibly often and stymied any career progress. It's also why he became hugely successful in rally racing where he didn't need to go wheel to wheel.
"Don't you have a newer car to drive? Mitsubishi has really gone way down, huh." Koshi asked, which made Tokuro laugh.
"Well, until they make a new Evo, I sure as hell won't be buying another Mitsubishi, so yeah." Tokuro replied.
At that moment, a younger racing driver turned up to the group, Ken Kasugano, the alumni of Koichi Sasagawa and Koshi Uchiyama, and also technically the junior of Takazaki as they both worked for Nismo.
"Good evening, everyone." Ken greeted the old guards with a bit of reservation, he was nervous as the group was incredibly senior.
"Ooooh! Kasugano! You're here as well." Takazaki was the first to greet him, but the whole group already circled around him.
"Hey, good job at Suzuka, the other guy was fucking useless." Sasuke added, and the comment shocked Ken quite a lot.
"I think I could've done better..."
"No way with that other wet sponge behind the wheel, I'm glad you'll be moving up to GT500 next year."
Ken looked slightly awkward with that compliment which put down his co-driver in the team within GT300 right now.
"No way, he actually could come?!"
Koichi shouted immediately once he saw another car turning up, an orange Mclaren 765LT, which was creating quite a stir in the whole car park, as nearly everyone knew who the guy was.
An old man stepped out, way older than Koichi, who was the next oldest. Despite having a regular appearance, immediately it was clear how revered this person was, as the crowd was now gathering around the Mclaren.
"Tatsumi-san!" An eager, young racing driver shouted from the back of the crowd, it was wild.
"Hello, everyone!"
Tsuichi 'True Champ' Tatsumi, possibly the most famous racing driver in all of Japan, and well known all around the world for his exploits on the track. Even in such a respected group of racers who gathered before, this guy was the top dog.
What none of the group expected, was that there was a passenger in that Mclaren, a very young boy, and looking quite shy by all the attention his father brought. Kumataro, the boy was named after Kumamoto himself, so everyone who knew him felt that it was more than appropriate.
"Is that Kuma-chan?! Wow, you've grown so much!" Sasuke immediately approached the teenage boy.
"Sasuke-san! Aomoto-san! Koichi-sensei! Koshi-sensei! Fukumi-san! You're all here!" Kumataro looked around and greeted all of them with a smile.
The group expanded into a big crowd of racing drivers and team staff, there must've been nearly 100 people alone in this group, all knew each other's name, even if not all of them knew each of every one there.
It was nearly time for the ceremony, so the crowd started walking towards the reception, the appearance already was overwhelming to the Kumamoto family, especially the 3 sons who were there.
While most people were registering and showing condolences, those 6 racers and their followers heard a loud and distinctive sound coming in. There was another car that turned up pretty late, and the appearance was unexpected.
"No way, is that who I think it is?" Tsuichi was the one who asked first, and it surprised quite a few people who were talking to him that he was drawn to that gold colored vintage car.
"Yes, I'm pretty sure..." Sasuke added, he was equally shocked.
"I didn't know he'd turn up, he still got that car, huh..." Takazaki commented.
"Yeah, and he's bringing my brother along..."
What Koichi said made everyone squint to look at that gold vintage car again, a Mazda Savanna, and everyone saw that he was right.
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That actually made Koshi turn to look at Tokuro, and he was pretty nervous. Tokuro didn't say anything, he just kept his composure, which was expected of him on such an occasion, despite the big old animosity the driver and Tokuro had...
Mizuho Noda stepped out of the Savanna, and Motohiro was there with him. They looked around and saw the group of people gathered at the entrance, so they both walked towards it.
Mizuho couldn't help but notice a car which was parked close by, the gray Evo, and it gave him both nostalgia and a sense of dread.
"Tokuro is here as well? Is it okay?" Motohiro asked, as soon as he saw Mizuho observing it.
"It's to be expected..." Mizuho replied, he didn't show much emotion.
Mizuho and Motohiro turning up was a surprise to the few old racers, but the appearance of the gold Savanna was a surprise for almost the whole Kumamoto family and other attendees, at least the older members who remembered that infamous car when Kenji was still young.
The youngest racer of the 7 in that group, Mizuho Noda, the man with crazy wavy hair and a nerdy look. The racer who disappeared for a decade who none remembered apart from those few, but nearly all who knew, remembered him fondly. The tall, bulldog face man accompanying him was also an old face that reminded them of the olden days.
"Hi, how are you guys?" Mizuho said quietly, feeling slightly awkward not only by the presence of Tokuro, his ex-brother in law, but also by the fact he hadn't met any of the old guards in years.
"Good evening!" Motohiro, in contrast, was more cordial and enthusiastic, "Long time no see, Ko-chan."
"Mo-chan... it's been too long indeed." Koichi was very glad to see his brother again, even if it was under sad circumstances.
Tsuichi walked through the crowd and faced Mizuho with a mocked shocked face.
"You're still alive? My god." Tsuichi said, incredulous, although he was mostly joking.
"Why would you think that? Haha!" Mizuho laughed awkwardly at the joke.
"You know, it's a joke, but I agree." Sasuke added, "You disappeared."
"Well, can you really blame him?" Takazaki interjected, "With family and all..."
The group fell into a bit of an awkward silence as soon as he said that, Tokuro still didn't say anything, and Koshi was ready to keep him in check in case anything happened, but it didn't.
It was the scheduled time for the ceremony now, so everyone went inside so it could start.
—
After the wake was finished, the 7 old racers, Motohiro, Kumataro, Ken and a few other people they knew gathered for dinner at a fancy restaurant in the area. And somehow they subconsciously put Mizuho and Tokuro at the completely opposite end of the table, to prevent any issues.
"It's so weird seeing many faces we don't know, huh." Tsuichi commented, which everyone at the table nodded.
"A lot of them are my students, actually, they know well who Kumamoto was." Koichi replied.
"Yeah, but there's no denying that even Noda is 40 now, right? Even the young punk of the group is old." Sasuke added, and it made most people chuckle slightly.
"I'm 39, Sarusawa-san." Mizuho corrected.
"39, 40, no difference. You're an uncle now even if you still look 27."
"Remember when people talked about how he was too young to race in Formula Nippon, huh." Takazaki added, "you'd have thought he was 14 or something, he's only 2 years younger than me."
"Yeah, but you look your age, he didn't." Sasuke immediately threw shade at Takazaki, and it made him gestured madly.
"Hey you!" Takazaki was over the top, and it made everyone laugh.
Tsuichi glanced in the direction of Tokuro, who he thought had been quiet all day long, and decided to stir some shit up because he thought it was boring seeing him like that.
"Hey, Noda, how's your son? He's 3-4 years older than Kuma-chan, right?" Tsuichi asked, and it made Mizuho scratch his head with shyness.
"I believe so, yeah. He's gonna be 18 this Sunday, I still have to buy him a present." Mizuho answered.
"Oooh! Is he a good kid?" Koichi was the one who asked this time.
"He's great. Very bright. He's doing great academically, he got into Tsuchiichi and all, yeah?" Mizuho answered, trying to not sound like he's bragging, and he was wary about Tokuro being there to listen.
If Tokuro was being honest, he was happy for Ippei as well, it was not his nephew who he had issues with, but he kept quiet about it, continuing to talk with Koshi who he was always the closest with anyway.
"He's going to be 18, so you have taught him to drive already, right? No way a guy like you wouldn't do it." Sasuke asked, and Mizuho nodded.
"Yeah, he learnt well, I think he'd fly through the test with no issue, especially as he already has a motorbike permit." Mizuho answered.
"Motorbike permit? Man, the guy must be a rebel!" Tsuichi said excitedly, imagining what Ippei was like way beyond what he actually was, it made Kumataro smile awkwardly as customary.
"Not really, Tatsumi-senpai, he's not like Kuma-chan. He's not like any one of us. He's a safe and sensible driver." Mizuho explained.
"What a shame, huh."
Tokuro said pretty loud and clear, and it made the whole table silent as it was not clear if he was in the same conversation as they were.
"Oh, it's nothing." Tokuro denied, to which Koshi was frowning from confusion and annoyance, as he knew it was a response to Mizuho.
"Hey, Tokuro! I heard you were transitioning to working on WRX, GR Yaris and Corolla now, is that true?" Tsuichi asked, quickly changing the subject.
"Yeah, Tatsumi-senpai, but there's still plenty of Evos around." Tokuro replied with a smile, there's almost no obvious animosity to be seen.
"You inherited that shop from your dad when they stopped making the Evo, huh... That must sucked considering how it's your bread and butter."
"Yeah, but it's not like they've become unfashionable overnight, arguably they've become more interesting and valuable." Tokuro chuckled.
"That Evo 9 of yours though, is it the same one that you had back then?" Sasuke asked, curious about the gray Evo.
"Nope, a new one." Tokuro shook his head, "That old one I wrecked, remember?"
"Oh, yeah! I forgot about that." Sasuke nodded.
This conversation then reminded Takazaki of something.
"Hey, Noda, I gotta ask you this." Takazaki started saying, looking pretty serious.
"What is it, Aomoto?" Mizuho asked back.
"Is that gold Savanna you drove here today the same one Kumamoto-san gave you?"
"It is, yeah."
"No way! Seriously!? It's the same car?!"
Takazaki was the only one who was surprised, but who can blame him, he was not kept much in the loop with Mizuho.
"Yeah, I kept it all these years..." Mizuho confirmed.
"It's in great condition, I'm glad that it ended up with you." Koichi commented, and it made Mizuho quite happy to hear.
"I hope you don't drive it too often, considering how priceless it is now." Motohiro added, and most at the table agreed.
"Yeah, it must be an important cultural artifact now at this point." Tsuichi also added, "But it's not like you can drive it everyday, right?"
"Yeah, only occasionally, like most of my other cars."
"Hey, you're still running a PC shop, right?" Sasuke asked.
"Yeah."
Mizuho didn't actually want to answer, because he knew none of them other than Koichi, Koshi and Motohiro knew how he gained his wealth, and how much he actually had, he only pretended to be just an average small business owner.
"Must be nice not having to fear for your life for a living..." Tokuro suddenly mused, he was not looking at that side of the table.
"Oh, it's the best." Mizuho finally turned and answered, facing him directly, even if Tokuro didn't care to listen.
There was no other interaction afterward, they turned back and focused on their side of the table.
"Hey, Tatsumi, is the 'Simcademy' program still running?" Koichi suddenly turned and asked Tsuichi, who was surprised.
"It does, why? I thought you'd know." Tsuichi asked back.
Simcademy Japan was a racing program created by Tsuichi a few years back, after a similar global program involving a videogame creator ended in 2016. It brought in promising sim racers in Japan to test a real, mid-level racing car to find a talent worth developing into a fully fledged real racer. A transition so many dreamt of, and quite a few have succeeded in the past.
"A LOT of my students always ask about it, I don't think there's anyone good enough for this year though..." Koichi explained.
"You can just contact my guy if you do, yeah? Even if they aren't a sim racer. Weirdly enough maybe the proliferation of amateur level events made it so many people have actual experience before coming in." Tsuichi answered back.
Mizuho was listening to all of this conversation, and thought about something.
"Hey, Ko-chan," Mizuho decided he'd bring it up, as there was nothing to lose. "Do you think that guy is good enough?"
"That guy?..." Koichi thought about it for a second before realizing who Mizuho meant, "Oh! The young guy you sent to me. Yeah! Definitely!"
"Who?" Tsuichi asked, interested to hear who these guys were talking about.
"Well there's this incredible amateur driver who's been coming to my classes, only twice for now, but he's got the instinct not only in driving technique but also race craft. He's not one of those online idiots." Koichi answered.
"And he'd done simulation driving before, he's pretty good there too actually, even if no one knows who he is." Mizuho added.
Tsuichi opened his eyes wide.
"Well, you know, this Winter season there's still plenty of space left, if the guy is interested we'd totally welcome them if you and Ko-chan vouch for them." Tsuichi said, eager to accommodate.
"I'll have to ask him first if he's interested though..."
Mizuho couldn't help but think about the interaction he had with Towa a few days ago, when he bought the Roadster from him. There was a lack of enthusiasm for mountain driving. Mizuho guessed that maybe he was just burnt out and possibly there was another factor to it, but he didn't know what exactly.
If that's the case, a program by the 'True Champ' Tsuichi Tatsumi would definitely reignite that passion for driving of Towa Wakisaka.
The group finished eating, and Tsuichi paid for the whole meal, even if the group insisted they pay their share. Tsuichi said he was happy to do so because it's not likely he'll be back in Japan for months afterward, and the others have paid for the meal much more often.
Everyone started walking back to their cars, and happenstance meant that Tokuro, Mizuho and Motohiro were heading in the same row of car park. The tension was immediately obvious to Motohiro, and he was pretty nervous about it.
"You alright?" Mizuho had to say something, at least to gauge what Tokuro really thought.
"Yeah," Surprisingly, Tokuro answered in a pretty normal manner, "what about you?"
"I'm fine."
"How's Ippei?"
Mizuho was surprised again that Tokuro would ask him about Ippei, who was Tokuro's nephew. He knew that Tokuro never seemed to be that interested in interacting with Ippei, but deep down he cared about him.
This conversation made Motohiro quite relieved though, and he walked away to the Savanna, which was close enough for him to observe, but not too close to actually hear the conversation. Mizuho and Tokuro got why he did so as well.
"He's great, actually. He worked at Ueno Music World this summer break." Mizuho replied, and Tokuro seemed glad to hear that.
"Did you introduce him to the place?" Tokuro asked.
"He found it by himself, actually."
"The world works in mysterious ways..."
"He recently said he'd try to enroll into Tokyo University of the Arts, Music Faculty."
"Ambitious boy..." Tokuro said, sneering, "unlike the father."
The atmosphere immediately turned worse with that one sentence, it was clear Mizuho was just as annoyed as Tokuro was about the whole encounter.
"Look, I know, if it was 10 years ago I'd probably have punched you by now, but holding that grudge for a decade? It's not healthy." Tokuro said, begrudgingly, "Doesn't mean I have to forgive you though."
"Fair enough." Mizuho agreed, "How's Kanoko though?"
Tokuro scoffed at that question.
"Why would you care?" Tokuro sneered, "You didn't care then, still wouldn't care now..."
"It's customary..." Mizuho tried to hide his feelings by acting nonchalant, but it wasn't really working.
"She's fine." Tokuro sighed, thinking about what he just said a second ago, "She remarried a few years ago, to her colleague at Yamaha."
That information sent a sharp pain throughout Mizuho's body. Despite all these years, learning this about his ex-wife was not something he wanted to.
"Really?" Mizuho stuttered, "I'm happy for her."
"Ippei wanted to get into Geidai, huh? He had no idea it's his mother's alma mater too, right?" Tokuro continued speaking nonchalantly.
"Yeah..."
"There's going to be a concert Kanoko worked on next week, you think he'd want a ticket?"
Mizuho's head was spinning, but that offer did make his mind come back slightly.
"Would 2 tickets be too much to ask?" Mizuho replied, and it surprised Tokuro.
"Hehhh? I didn't know you'd actually take that offer... Are you going to attend too?" Tokuro continued.
"Nope, but Ippei definitely would want to bring his girlfriend, I think."
"Charming guy, huh..." Tokuro smirked, "I can't see why not."
The two went into awkward silence again, even if there was no immediate threat on each other, it made both of them uncomfortable.
"I met a student of yours recently." Mizuho decided he wanted to talk about another thing, and it raised Tokuro's eyebrows.
"Who?" Tokuro asked, very curious.
"Sunao Morita, a younger guy than us, drives a GR Yaris."
"Ahh! Morita! I remember him." Tokuro perked up, Mizuho noted, "He's actually an awesome driver, but started taking it seriously way too late, sadly."
"Really? I thought he studied with you for 10 years now?"
"Well, you see, when he only comes once or twice a year, it doesn't really help him become an actual professional, you get what I mean? The guy had no sponsor either."
At this point, both were reminded of the conversation the group had, about Simcademy Japan.
"We used to think a guy like you was special, a person who started racing from so young, but that's now the norm, huh." Tokuro said, nostalgic and forlorn.
"Has the field improved by that much?" Mizuho wondered, as he didn't follow lower level racing so closely.
"Not really, only at the top level. It's definitely way closer though, more and more people wanted to compete and they could as long as they had money. There's always been diamonds in the rough, but it seemed the world discovered more of them."
"I guess that makes sense..."
Tokuro looked down at the watch, realizing that it was pretty late now.
"I'll message you those tickets, say hello to Ippei for me. I have to go now" Tokuro said, and Mizuho agreed.
"I will." Mizuho nodded, "See you later, Tokuro."