It was a few days later, a typical Thursday evening.

In the old small village of Koibuchi on the outskirts of Mito City, situated a large, solitary house among the agricultural fields. It was the home of the Hattori family. A very traditional style house with a gravel driveway on a very large plot of land for residential. Right beside it there was an even larger plot of land, although small for typical agriculture business, that was being used for planting vegetables and other farming activities.

Norio had just finished his work and got home from Tsukuba, which was an hour drive on the Joban Expressway, quite a long commute by usual standard. Norio usually got home at nearly 7PM due to the distance.

Norio was observing if the small Suzuki Carry truck that his mother usually used was there in the driveway, and saw that it was indeed there. Sometimes his mother would still be out in town, but usually she'd long be home before he would. He just parked his yellow Swift there right beside it.

"I'm home." Norio announced as he walked through the door.

His mother peeked out from the kitchen as she heard Norio. She was a typical middle aged woman who works in farming.

"How was work today!" Norio's mother said with a joyful voice, her hand was holding a spatula and she was wearing an apron as she's cooking.

"It was as usual." Norio replied while removing his shoes.

"Miyagi-san gave me a lot of radish today. I'm making soup."

"Eh, that's nice."

Norio's mother went back to whatever she's doing and let Norio relax in the living room. As always he looks exhausted and miserable. She kept asking Norio to quit his office job at the university and come back to help her run the family farm that his dad left for them a few years back after he passed away.

Norio was just lying there on the sofa, in his hand was his phone fidgeting with stuff, it was then he noticed a notification appearing on the screen which made him perk up.

'Notice : Fruits Line Course Maintenance Completed!'

It took a while for the police to finish their investigation after a car went into the guardrail at a high rate of speed, despite expecting the area to stay broken for a while, the road maintenance department quickly went and replaced the guardrail, somehow it was a high priority fix for them despite normally the government taking years to even started considering fixing something.

This meant Norio would be able to run the course again, perhaps tonight. Right before Golden Week as well, which Norio never liked leaving the house on because of traffic, so he got a few days running before that.

Despite Norio getting the 2nd place on the leaderboard, he knew 'Azusa-san' would be trying to get their 2nd place back immediately after the course reopens.

Norio really wanted to know who this 'Azusa-san' was, and knew what this person drove to be able to match his time in his Swift Sport. In Norio's imagination, the person probably was a man similar to himself, and sensing that he's probably a bit older to be able to afford nice parts for a relatively sporty car.

There was no easy way for them to meet though. Norio never met any other Geo Timer user on the Fruits Line itself. Mostly because he's avoiding doing it on the weekends and especially during what he thought would be the peak time of 10PM. It'd be a bit awkward with other cars running.

The mountain roads had always help Norio blow off a massive steam brewing with his everyday life. It was something he had been doing for a decade by this point.

"It's ready." Norio's mom walked to the dining table with a tray of foods.

"Thanks mom." Norio said, while getting up from the sofa, taking his time to do it.

The meal was quite sumptuous, which made Norio clearly gain weight from the time he was living alone in Hamamatsu and eating only shit frozen foods.

"Miyagi actually asked about you today." Norio's mom said, as she's sitting opposite the table from Norio.

"Really." Norio lurked up from the food.

The Miyagi family had been friends with the Hattori family for a really long time, they actually lived down the road, which in this quiet rural area meant they were one of the only few neighbors they had. This also meant Norio was at least familiar with the members.

One prediction suddenly cropped up in Norio's mind, which he immediately hoped his mother was not about to say.

"This holiday do you have some time?" Norio's mom asked, which made him suspicious.

"During the Golden Week? Ehhh..." Norio was quite reluctant to answer, but he had no excuses. "...Probably."

"Would you like to have dinner with Mimori-chan?"

What his mother said nearly made Norio spat out rice, and it confirmed the fear he had of what his mother's intention would be. Mimori was the youngest daughter of the Miyagi family, a woman about 5-6 years younger than Norio, and the only one who hadn't married yet in that family.

"No, mom." Norio quickly rejected that offer.

"But don't you like Mimori-chan? You hung out with her all the time when you were young. And after you came back you helped her a lot as well." His mother said with a disappointed look.

"I like her as having a younger sister around. It's not like that, mom."

"But Junno-san and Yaeko-san insisted."

The truth was, Norio knew why Mimori-chan's parents would ask his mother for him to go on a date with Mimori. She already had a boyfriend that her father didn't approve of. Norio thought it was completely stupid as he reckoned the only reason was the guy was not in the agricultural business. Norio believed the guy's an office worker and a part-time musician in Mito.

"Mom! Don't get involved in their family drama! You know Mimori-chan is dating a guy already right?" Norio shouted with anger.

"Really?" Norio's mom acted surprised.

Yeah, right. Norio thought that there was no way his mother didn't know about Mimori's boyfriend. Old people in small communities always gossip about pointless and irrelevant stuff. Important things like this there's no chance she wouldn't have heard from her friends, even if it's not from the Miyagi themselves.

"But I just want you to be happy. You always seem to be stressed." Norio's mom said, frowning with regret.

"I am fine. Don't worry about me."

The awkward quietness afterward was telling. Norio's eating his dinner while his mom could only sit there watching, and didn't know if she should say anything more. It was a delicious dinner, but Norio was angry enough that it didn't matter anymore. After a bit of time, Norio's mother walked away to attend some other stuff, leaving Norio to finish his meal alone.

Afterward, Norio walked to his bedroom to get away. He's pacing around with a lingering feeling of anger that he knew there's only one way to defuse. Tonight he had to run, the Fruits Line was available again, he didn't have to beat the time of 'Azusa-san', but gaining on 'Urasawa' was still a thing he wanted to do.

It was at this moment, a message notification on Norio's phone took his attention. He glanced at it to notice it's from someone he hadn't talked to in a really long time. It surprised him.

'Hello, Norio.' A message read. 'How are you?'

It was from Kisho, a person Norio knew from Hamamatsu. Norio couldn't even recall when was the last time he talked to him. Possibly after he decided he'd come back to Ibaraki?

'I'm alright, how are you?' Norio replied.

'I'm fine. I just want to know if you're okay.' Kisho quickly replied back.

Norio was contemplating what to say next, he typed out a few messages but deleted them and typed a new one a few times.

'Don't worry about me.' Norio finally replied.

'How's the work?' Kisho asked again, replying to the message very quickly.

'It's alright. I like it.'

'Glad to hear that. I was worried that you might not fit in.'

'What about you though?'

'Oh yeah! I message because I want to tell you I got a new job. It was not easy but I finally managed it. Assistant Researcher for Nakazato Pharmaceutical. The pay raise is great and the colleagues are incredible.'

'That's really good! I'm happy for you.'

'Hey, come back down here sometime okay? It's been long enough.'

Deeply, Norio also wanted to go back to Shizuoka again. However, Norio didn't think he had the courage to go back. Not after what happened all those years ago, and the memories he was trying to suppress.

'Maybe one day.'

It was a lie. Norio replied back to Kisho knowing that it's unlikely he'll ever visit Hamamatsu again.

—

10PM

Iori Yamada received a notification from the Geo Timer app that today the Fruits Line had reopened after the guardrail repair work was completed. She was actually surprised that it was completed this quickly.

It meant she could try to reclaim 2nd place from 'Mister Banana' once again.

The Civic sounded great today. Iori was blipping the throttle to downshift as she approached the intersection leading up the Fruits Line. The engine roared a distinct note once it reached about 4,800 rpm. The sound of VTEC. Variable Valve Timing & Lift Electronic Control. The engine breathed in more air as the cam lobe moved to the second set hydraulically. There's little else that can be compared to the naturally aspirated Honda engine.

Cornering up the mountains on the south section, the app warned that there was another car approaching the starting point, which surprised Iori. Since she's near the top as well it's likely that she'll have to wait for it to start first.

As the Civic crested up the hill right at the top, she noticed something that made her very excited. Indeed there was another car coming up tonight. Maybe it was not that much of a surprise as the notification said the course reopened tonight, there ought to be another racer wanting to try their luck.

What made Iori more excited was the fact that even in this complete darkness, as her Civic headlights shined on it's clear that the car right in front was a bright yellow machine. Iori thought, surely not, right? A bright yellow Suzuki Swift Sport was obviously what a certain 'Mister Banana' would drive, right?

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

It also appeared that the yellow Swift noticed another car following behind, and waited below the Flower Park sign to see what's going to happen.

Norio Hattori couldn't wait to run the course again. After everything that muddled his mind today, he wanted to let it all out in a dash down the mountain.

It was at this moment, both Norio and Iori remembered the new feature of Geo Timer app after an update during the winter. The challenge button. It appeared on both of their phone screens. With a new update during the course maintenance, it now also shows the name of the challenger.

Norio considered for a second after seeing that it was indeed 'Azusa-san', but Iori pushed it immediately after confirming that it's 'Mister Banana'.

A battle that they had waited for was going to begin soon.

Norio glanced back to see what car 'Azusa-san' drives, but he couldn't work out from the darkness and the bright headlights. Only Iori knew that it was the Swift Sport that she saw at the school, which did shock her quite a bit.

But who was the guy driving it?

Iori tried to think of who would be the driver of such a car, the elusive 'Mister Banana'. It's not her colleague. It might be some contractor working that day but there's no way to know for sure.

The countdown started, and they both prepared to launch.

The ZC33S Swift exhaust sound wasn't all that exciting, especially compared to the FN2 which sounded amazingly loud. This also made Norio realize that it's a Honda. It's a very distinctive sound. But which Honda? That he didn't know.

Both of their heart rates were going through the roof. Norio launched the Swift about two seconds before Iori, with a car length gap between them. It's exactly the way the application was designed to allow for the battle.

The front wheels were skipping a bit from all the torque trying to twist everything, but with the Dunlop tires being so sticky, it fought back through the transmission and shook the whole car. It's the same for the FN2.

The two cars accelerated hard into the first corner, in which Norio had to judge his braking as if he's running the time attack, while Iori had to prepare for the different rhythm this Swift would be going, compared to her usual time attack runs.

It was surprisingly different as well, which Iori didn't expect. The Swift braked a bit more than she would, and the rear end immediately tried to swing around on the corner entry. The FN2 in comparison, was more stable because Iori chose the setup that specifically would not allow the car to be twitchy.

The next corner, both cars were approaching at about 110 km/h, and the braking point was nearly impossible to notice, but there's a faint 30 km/h limit suggestion painted on the road which Norio usually used. He braked when the front wheels reached exactly at that point before releasing the brake slowly to help weight transfer.

The yellow Swift Sport was, again, rotating a lot more than the Civic on corner entry, Norio was a lot more choppy with the steering wheel than Iori as well.

The next corner immediately followed, so Norio stuck to the left, rather than letting the car run wide and stuck to the right. Iori was following closely, and watching him drive with awe, it was the first time she ever got to battle properly with another car.

Iori thought that this 'Mister Banana' guy was driving a bit exuberantly, it's like the color of their car that she felt signify the driver as an outgoing, excitable guy. The tail end kept stepping out on every corner entry.

Comparatively, Iori never let the Civic rotate too much that she would need the steering correction anymore than necessary, she only let the front end gain grip just enough with the weight transfer on braking, as it was pretty much required for driving on a tight, twisty course.

The next hairpin right was the same, Norio was braking hard, a little trail braking to let the Swift turn in more nicely which he had to keep the correct trajectory by slight opposite lock. What's surprising to Norio was that the car following was able to launch out of the corner exit more effectively than his Swift, it clearly has stickier tires and a better differential. It made sense considering how lightly tuned the Swift was, but it made trying to get away from it very difficult.

The next 2 corners were slight S bends, leading to another hairpin with a big braking zone. In the corner entry there's a rain gutter that unsettled both cars a bit with their stiff suspension, but if the driver hold their line and trust that their car will stick, it never would be a problem as the mass of the car was far too heavy to let it unsettle.

They were indeed very closely matched. The Swift corner entry was faster, the mid-corner was about the same, and the Civic was much more powerful and able to send down that power very well. Norio was a wilder and more twitchy driver, while Iori was a stable and smooth driver.

The next corner was a technical section, it started with a narrowing angle but wide radius right, leading to a sharp left that narrows at the exit before weaving right again leading to another sharp left. It was a double, consecutive corner with a lot of possibilities of things to go wrong. Norio always gets scared with this corner, the fact that it narrowed at the end on the first left meant that if any of them went in with overspeed, the car would definitely hit the outer guardrail. Also, the right turn beforehand meant that there's very little braking zone that could be done in a straight line.

However, Iori adored this corner, and considered it to be the best of the Fruits Line. Whenever she got the line right, turning in at the right point, the slingshot that made the wavy left and right turn into the straightest line possible was very satisfying.

The tires of both cars were screaming, the engine sounds echoing the quiet mountains. Both Norio and Iori were having the time of their lives.

The next corner was then a hairpin right that sloped down, leading to the first big acceleration zone.

This acceleration zone was the place where a car crashed recently, resulting in course closure for a few days. Because there was a high speed left turn not long after the hairpin. The guardrail had supposedly been fixed, but neither of them will have the time to observe the fix itself.

While there was a slight hard shoulder on the right side, neither liked using that as it was full of leaves that could be slippery.

Both the Swift and the Civic braked nearly at the start of the turn itself and it was only a tap to make sure the weight got to the front enough. Both cars went through the high speed corner at nearly 100 km/h, which felt absolutely dangerous, but again, totally possible if the driver trust the car and knew the feeling when the front tires lost grip, so they had to lift if they didn't get the entry correctly.

The next hairpin right approaches quickly, and both Norio and Iori prepare to brake at the road sign on the left. Both cars went through with ease. Iori noticed that the gap was not narrowing, but not widening either from the start. But with this second acceleration zone, surely her Civic would be able to catch up to the back of that Swift.

It did, and Norio was annoyed that whatever car was behind, probably some sort of old Civic or Integra, clearly had a lot more power than he did. While overall cornering speed was not dissimilar, the only advantage he had was the corner entry, because his braking was superior on a lighter car.

Another big braking zone approached in the complete darkness, as soon as both noticed the road sign on the right it signified that's the latest point of braking they could, otherwise all sorts of pain awaits them in the outside of the corner.

They got through it, and then reached the next hairpin right with narrowing corner exit, it meant that as the car got to the corner exit, the trajectory had to change slightly, and the fastest way to go through would be minimizing the steering angle from better cornering line, only an experience racer of the course would know this.

After this corner, was also another, shorter acceleration zone, the third of the course, with a mid-speed wide radius right turn with immediate hairpin left followed. This part of the course always caught a lot of newcomers out, but both Iori and Norio knew and prepared by turning the car in late and sticking to the right by slowing down slightly. Their driving had a bit of synergy, despite being pretty different styles overall.

This hairpin left, which then immediately led to a similar wide radius but narrowing angle right turn where you got to straight line the exit again, would then led to the fourth acceleration zone, as the downhill helped the car gain speed on another set of tricky corners.

The car would be approaching the right, mid-speed corner with wide radius, was another corner that always caught out an amateur, because immediately afterward there was a left, very wide radius turn that always felt like a never ending corner, the width of the road was also pretty wide, and yet, to get the line right, it was incredibly tricky as either you turn in too quickly and had to slow down because the car won't change it's trajectory, or you turn in too late and had to slow down because the car would wash wide.

Then, this never ending left corner would lead to a hairpin right, which meant that if you didn't get the line correctly, you would also lose out on this bit. Immediately after, it was the fifth and final acceleration zone, although it was actually a very wide left turn, it was wide enough for average level car to go through at full throttle, this bit was not tricky, the tricky bit was the following corner as it was a sharp, hairpin right where the braking zone was not on a straight line.

There were two ways you could go with this bit of the course, either you brake while still turning left, creating a slight pendulum which helped with the turn in, but made the car unstable, or you try to straight line it to help eliminated that, but lose speed as the line would be unideal. Norio went for the former, while Iori went for the latter.

Then, it was the last corner, it was not a particularly dangerous one, but it was always a make or break for any run. A wide radius, acute angle turn that always felt like another never ending corner. The reason for it was that the speed would be slow, but the apex was never really obvious unless the driver was knowledgeable about racing line, but even then, there was no reference point of where the turn in should be on the entry, where the apex needed to be hit mid corner, and which point to accelerate away and not washed wide at the exit.

The first run was over after they both crossed the Flower Park sign.

The phone screen was now displaying that the first run was a draw, Norio couldn't extend his lead, and Iori couldn't close it either. The gap remained pretty much exactly the same as it was from the start.

Norio's heart was beating hard, a battle was nothing like attacking the course all by himself. While Iori remains surprisingly composed, although her heartbeat was rising as well.

Norio was going to lead back, but was curious as to what car 'Azusa-san' actually drove, so he pulled over to the right hand side hard shoulder to let the following car through.

Once he saw that it was indeed the red Civic he parked next to at Tsuchiura First High School, he chuckled pretty hard. Sometimes, the world works in a peculiar manner in order to bring people together. Some might call it fate, some might call it coincidence.

However, instead of turning right to run the course again, Iori turned left and into the Asahi free parking lot, which was on the intersection at the end of the Fruits Line itself. Norio of course followed. Iori didn't care for another run, she just wanted to talk to this 'Mister Banana' guy.

The Civic led the Swift into the parking lot, parking besides each other in complete darkness apart from few street lights. As soon as both Iori and Norio stepped out of their car and got a clear look at each other, their minds went into complete disbelief.

"No fucking way." Iori exclaimed, with her eyes opened wide from shock.

"Wait..." Norio was as shocked as Iori. "...It's you?"

Norio and Iori stared at each other for a solid minute, neither could say anything to each other, mouth only agape from shock.

"You're 'Mister Banana'?" Iori said suddenly after the realization set in.

"Kansai accent?"

That observation from Norio sent a shockwave through Iori's body once again. Her face turned completely beet red from embarrassment.

"You!..." Iori shouted, which made Norio get a bit defensive in his mind. "...We need to talk!"

"Damn right we need to talk!" Norio retorted.

The drive back through Asahi tunnel was full of questions for both Iori and Norio. Not in a million years would they have guessed either of them being the fiercest rivals on the Geo Timer leaderboard.

Although, with the adrenaline from battling going away, they found themselves to be calmer by the drive to the nearby Oshito Family Mart as agreed. A parking lot was way better lit than the previous one by the convenience store itself.

They both decided that they'd buy something from the store as well, with Norio buying some tea, while Iori got just a water bottle.

"I really didn't know you were from Kansai." Norio mused, as they now both stood right out front, looking at their cars.

"Will you knock that off please?" Iori seemed annoyed, which Norio didn't know why.

"Is that why you drive a Civic?"

"Of course I had to be right!?" Iori was now very annoyed by that observation.

Norio saw the reaction from Iori, and felt a bit guilty.

"Sorry." Norio said.

"It's fine," Iori calmed down a little bit. "...funnily enough, yes, it's why I drive a Civic."

"Huh? I was just joking."

Iori wasn't sure if she should get pissed off again, or she should just forgive this balding ass man. But Norio appeared to be actually confused.

"My father always drives a Civic, he told me to get a Civic, so I did." Iori explained. "...Yet I have no idea why he kept mocking me about I buying the wrong one!"

This actually made Norio laugh a little bit.

"Is your father one of those, ahem... stereotypical Osaka Civic drivers?" Norio asked, sheepishly.

"Why yes, he was." Iori was clearly embarrassed to have to say this.

"Really? No way."

"I'm not joking, with constantly changing liveries and everything. Always running the Hanshin, trying to avoid the police when he was younger. Not anymore though."

"That is really cool."

"I guess it kinda is..." Iori laughed sheepishly at that thought, but still was embarrassed.

"How did you find out about Geo Timer anyway?" Norio suddenly changed the subject.

"Eh? Err... I think it was shared with one of the Discord groups I was in?"

Discord group? Norio was wondering if there's a group specifically for runners somewhere?

"Discord group?" Norio asked to clarify.

"Yeah, I'm in a few, right? Car group for people around here. Usually it's idiots right? But there are some with really good members sharing their favorite roads."

"And the Fruits Line being one of them?"

"Right..." Iori nodded, before she asked back. "...How did you find out about it?"

"Oh, one of the students at the university told me about it..."

"By complete chance?"

"Yeah, they're runners too. But they aren't very good apparently."

Both Norio and Iori turned and looked at their car in the parking lot.

"You think we should do another run?" Iori asked.

"There's no point..." Norio replied. "...You wouldn't be able to shake me off either. It'll just ask for trouble as the loser will be whoever makes a mistake first and crash."

"Huh..." Iori wondered aloud, teasing Norio. "...Not like you aren't afraid to lose?"

Norio just sighed, which surprised Iori.

"Yes, I'm afraid that I'll go over the line if I keep battling." Norio replied, this really surprised Iori.

"Really? But you don't seem to be fazed." Iori said with her eyebrows raised.

"I don't like being pressured. I usually don't even come here before midnight as I don't want to encounter another car."

"Right..."

At this point, Norio had another thing in mind he wanted to ask.

"Hey, have you ever seen an unusual car?" Norio asked.

"On the course? What unusual car?" Iori was a bit confused by that question.

"Like... a white Probox."

"No way! You have encountered that too?"

"Yeah, once, very late, at 2 AM I think? I couldn't catch it."

"I have seen it once too, but at much earlier time, around 10 or 11." Iori said.

"You think that's 'Urasawa'?"

"With absolutely no doubt," Iori nodded with confidence. "...I used to be 2nd place on the leaderboard for a while, right? No other runner I have ever met was as fast as me."

"But that Probox was much faster than you were..."

"Exactly."