The more you travel the country, the more you appreciate the familiarity of home. Yuzu can’t help but find the contrast amusing: when she was younger, she wanted nothing more than to spread her wings and escape the dull, plodding streets of Obihiro. Tokachi couldn’t keep her anchored to the Hokkaido countryside forever; she was destined for bigger and better things.
...But now, as she finds herself on the familiar country road to her old stomping ground, she feels so much more at ease than her other race dates across the country. That longing for greener pastures is gone, filled in its stead by a certain nostalgia, a comfort that keeps her calm and collected. This break from the pressure of her F3 season seems to have come at the perfect time, for it lets her rest her weary head and turn to a more personal pursuit.
One that has her excited all the same.
“Well?” Yuzu chuffs to herself and her trusty steed. “We’ve worked hard, you and I. Now it’s time to play hard.”
She’s had this date circled on the calendar ever since she got the call. She has no idea what that Star Rider even looks like, but now that she knows Aikawa Auto plenty well, she can hazard a guess as to what they’ve come up with. If it’s anything like this growling beast she calls her own—or indeed, anything like its older cousin—then she’s in for a real treat. Throwing it around the tight turns of Tokachi will put her skills to the test in a way few other racing pursuits have...and you bet she’s looking forward to it.
“And there we are.”
Reina’s already here, she has no doubt—she always makes a point of being punctual. As she makes her way through the gate and into the paddock, she starts to see traces of Reina’s handiwork: a rented trailer sitting off to the side, assorted tools and spare parts, even a couple extra sets of tires. Coupled with a staff member or two overseeing the whole thing for safety, the whole scene instills an air of anticipation in the young hotshot. Somewhere on the track grounds, this fabled prototype is on the prowl, challenging her to tame it.
And right on cue, the woman of the hour comes strolling up.
“Hey there! Glad you could make it.”
“Of course!”
Reina and Yuzu shake to the start of their new partnership. They can both see the excitement radiating from each other’s faces—and though their paths may not cross for all that long, that doesn’t stop them from enjoying this little intersection while they have it.
“So the prototype’s all ready to go?”
“Yup! It’s over in stall one. You ready to suit up and get in there?”
“Born ready.”
“Good answer.”
Over these last couple months, Reina has made Tokachi her second home—and the track is more than happy to welcome her week in and week out. Her family history is one thing, but just putting the track to use—the WHOLE track, at that—gives a much-needed morale boost for the otherwise quiet property. The old curator feels a buzz in the air like this place hasn’t had in years...and that only intensifies when the star of the show comes out to play.
“And here she is.”
Yuzu rounds the corner, and in an instant, her eyes widen. There it is perched in the garage, staring back at her like an apex predator. It invokes the same air as the Road Runner, but in a package all its own... Yuzu can just tell it’s going to be a monster behind the wheel.
Good.
“Well, I gotta say, for being built from the ground-up, this thing looks damn good.”
“Thank you~! You’ve got Akane and Tetsukura Chassis to thank for the body design. The engine is all Aikawa, though—all ten litres of it.”
“So it’s the same engine as the Road Runner?”
“An updated version, yes. This was the last motor Clara Jennings worked on...and my job was to finish it. This’ll be testing me just as much as it tests the car.”
Yuzu smiles. “I don’t think you’ve got anything to worry about there. I will push her as hard as I can, though.”
“That’s all I could ask for! And, well...” Reina trails off briefly before collecting herself. “That’s what I need you to do, really.”
Yuzu cocks her head. “Are you gonna take her racing somewhere or something?”
“Right here, actually. This car and I are going up against Sami herself—in the old Road Runner. She challenged me to a race so that we can know once and for all if this car measures up.”
Now it’s Yuzu’s turn to be stunned. Sami Aikawa, her childhood hero, returning to Tokachi after years away?
“...She really said that?”
“She did. I think she knew I was stressing about living up to her example.”
“I see...” Yuzu can’t deny she’s curious...and that might be an understatement. It’s been years since she saw Sami out on the track in person...and though she might not have all the speed she once did, Yuzu is certain she’s still a force to be reckoned with—especially behind the wheel of the family heirloom.
For a moment, she doubts whether Reina will be able to measure up on the track...but then she remembers who she’s talking to here. Reina is no stranger to that kind of adversity, to those towering mountains—and yet she climbs them each and every time. Just like back at that ski resort oh so long ago...
“So you’re training yourself up with this too.”
“Yeah. After you’re done with your stint, I wanna give it a try myself. If anybody knows how to coach me around Tokachi, it would be you!”
Yuzu is equal parts flattered and daunted. Now she’s going up against Sami, if indirectly...
...But this kind of pressure has a funny effect on her. It’s like everything she knew is coming full-circle—her hero, her role model, is now her opponent.
She wasn’t expecting this kind of closure...but slowly, steadily, she’s warming up to it.
“...Man. She really knows how to frame these things, huh?”
Yuzu lets out a deep breath, taking the new chapter in. It’s clear this is going to be a very eventful year.
“Alright, then. I’ll do everything I can to work up both you and the car—so you’d better do your part too!”
“You can count on that!”
Resolve burns in Reina’s eyes. If she wasn’t already certain Yuzu was the perfect hire before, she most assuredly is now. All that’s left for them now is to get to work.
With that, Reina hands Yuzu the key, and the hotshot takes her place on the hot seat. Right away, she has to scoot the thing as far forward as it’ll go... It’s very obvious who was last sitting in this thing. In fact, her handiwork is all over the interior, despite being constructed elsewhere, from the old album still loaded in the CD player to the taped-on arrows denoting optimal pressures and temperatures. It’s very intriguing to Yuzu, sitting in a car that’s clearly still a prototype—yet knowing that engine inside is more than capable.
(ECU, probably. I don’t think I’ll need to pump it...)
*Click!*
*RRRrrrRRRRMMMM!*
(Heh! She sounds good.)
It’s amazing how familiar these motors sound now. Some alien monster, this is not—it’s just the product of her friend’s lifelong passion. All down to a science.
“Pretty nice car you’ve—“ Yuzu tries to shout through the open window, but Reina’s chuckle clues her in to the fact they can’t hear each other. The 611’s roar echoes off the garage walls like bolts of lightning, drowning out their feeble voices.
Luckily, Reina has a solution. She points Yuzu toward a radio setup by the center console, backing herself out of the garage to give herself space to speak.
“Yuzu, copy?”
“Heh heh.” Yuzu rolls the window back up and picks up. “Copy. Yeah, this is easier.”
“She’s a bit feisty, as you can tell! Just a bit stir-crazy from being cooped up in the garage. Go and stretch her legs a bit, will you?”
“You got it.”
So, the stage is set. With no one else to share the track with, Yuzu starts her drive backward up the pit lane, making for the start of the long, wide front stretch. Reina takes her place in the bird’s nest atop the starting line, binoculars in hand so she doesn’t miss a second of the action. Anticipation blooms in the air, the warm spring sun shimmering off the stands.
“Anything I should know?”
“If something goes bad, just pull over and get out. Don’t try to bring it back to the pits. The insurance companies will eat us for dinner if some mechanical fault costs you a leg!”
“...How likely is it that something goes wrong?”
“Oh, I’m confident it’ll be fine, but you never know!”
“Right.”
Yuzu snickers to herself. She knew what she signed up for—and besides, if there’s anybody she trusts to build a brutish muscle car like this, it’s her.
“Okay, two laps to warm up the tires and then I’m going full tilt!”
With a grunt, the Star Rider begins its charge up the front straight, passing by the lines on the starting grid enroute to the green flag. Getting to hear that sweet music from above is a beautiful, beautiful thing...and to be sure, it gives Reina an immense rush of pride when she sees it firing off into turn one.
(Go get ‘em, Yuzu!)
While Yuzu might have claimed the laps were to warm up the tires, in truth, she feels a need to get settled in herself. Driving this kind of car in this kind of place is disorienting, despite her experience—part of her brain is trying to tell her that she doesn’t belong here. She’s only ever raced petite single-seaters and club cars around this place, and now here she is in a giant, V8-powered cruise missile on wheels. She has to rethink everything she knows about the track—the grip levels, the braking points, the corner lines, all of it.
...Not that she doesn’t like a challenge.
“Let’s see what this thing can do...”
With white knuckles on the wheel and a hot hand on the shifter, Yuzu puts the Star Rider’s handling to work on her out lap. In a way, Tokachi’s uninspiring layout is actually a fair test of the car’s capabilities: much of the track is comprised of tight turns broken up by flat straights, with little in the way of flowing corners. It’s almost closer to a street circuit than something like Suzuka or Fuji. Every time she needs to brake and turn, she needs to brake and turn hard, and it’s important that the car respond well under that stress to offset its awkward proportions.
She’ll need to go faster if she wants to really test that, though. Yuzu knows that—and she can’t delay the inevitable much longer. It’s time for her to unleash the beast.
“Here we go...!”
Finally, she’s ready to pin the throttle to the floor and hear those myriad horses screaming down the straight. For all her appreciation for modern machinery, for the refined hum of sleek, petite single-seaters, she has to give credit to Reina’s antiquated way of doing things: this car sounds beautiful.
*VVVRRRRRRMMMMMMM!*
Her first flying lap is a doozy. Trying to control all ten litres is a mammoth job, and it requires an iron grip on the steering wheel with not a moment to lose to distraction. Rain the previous day washed out much of the rubber on the track, leaving her grip a mystery. Everything else dissolves into background noise as Yuzu’s very being is consumed by the Star Rider, forcing her eyes open and her heart at full tilt. It’s like a roller coaster, jolting and jostling her as she brakes and cuts in deep at the turns. At these breakneck speeds, that’s all she can focus on: throttle, clutch, shift, brake, wheel, markers, markers, markers...!
“Hmph! Not bad!” Yuzu barks through gritted teeth, the car keeping her on the edge of her seat...not that she wants out. It’s been a good while since she felt so utterly challenged by the car itself—not the competitors around her, not the unfamiliarity of a new track in a new place, but the very machine she’s trying to tame. It’s like it’s resisting her, almost, but not in a bad way... She just feels like it’s testing her. Telling her she has to earn the right to push this thing as hard as it’ll go.
...And Yuzu always likes a challenge.
“Hell yeah...! This is getting REALLY fun!”
The familiar final two turns approach—a snaking S that catches many a driver off their guard. They don’t usually run this layout, so these corners are uncharted territory even for circuit regulars; Yuzu can’t say she’s too used to it either. She feels the car threatening to understeer, an inevitability with its frame and engine, but she tries to corral it as best she can by balancing the pedals going in. The result is a stylish—if smoky—power dive into the left-hander, scrubbing off just enough speed to hit the apex for the turn back to the right. Controlling this car is just as much of a puzzle as is a physical toll...and that’s quite alright by her.
“God, I just had that mess in the corner, but it just gets the speed right back on the straights! This thing is nuts!”
Yuzu thunders down the straight once more. All that effort, all that bare-knuckle sawing on the wheel for one hot lap.
...And you bet your ass she wants to do it again.
“How many laps do I get?!” She yells into the radio.
“As many as the tires will give you!”
“Good enough!”
It’s somewhat easy to optimize a lap onboard a car with lesser power, but high downforce and grip for days. That kind of setup gives you control and consistency, enabling you to go round again and again and again in search of the perfect lap. The biases, the braking points, they’re all perfectly dialed in. The only limit is your own ability.
This is the exact opposite of that. It’s a handful to drive, and it sure as hell isn’t easy. She can feel milliseconds slipping away from tiny mistakes, from imperfections forced by the sheer power of the engine. She may never put down an actual perfect lap in this thing; Hell, she may not even come close. But just like those other cars, it’s governed by the same core principle: the only limit is your own ability.
This car may be far less forgiving, far more difficult to master, but that raised ceiling only amplifies the importance of Yuzu’s own skill. And while ordinarily this might be derided as uncontrollable, ridiculous, a failure of a car, she can tell there is a way for her to master this monster of a machine.
And is it ever rewarding.
“NAILED it! Yes!”
She can see herself getting a better feel for the braking points with each lap, knowing how much grip she has and how hard she can push it. The car’s true character starts to shine through, beyond its boisterous projection of power: this thing absolutely loves being driven on the ragged edge.
(Crazy-ass car you’ve made, Reina...but I like it!)
The next time Yuzu comes round the final turns, she makes sure to nail the exit to get the best run down the straight that she possibly can. Reina can see her wicked grin from through the windshield.
“Looks like she’s having fun!” Reina hits the split button on her stopwatch. Two minutes flat.
“And she’s really getting settled in... Maybe she’ll be able to teach me once it’s my turn!”
It’s exactly what she was hoping to get out of this testing session. Not many drivers can stare this beast in the face and make it blink...but Yuzu? She’s built different. Following in the footsteps of her childhood hero, she’s taken the brutalist 611, the most monstrous engine this side of the Pacific, and made it hers.
“Whew! Okay, I think that’s enough for now.”
Several laps later, a sweaty Yuzu finally pulls off the track and into the pits, the engine settling back down to a low growl after screaming its lungs out. She chuckles at the car’s sheer aggression, for even as she’s trundling down the pit lane, the engine sounds hungry for more. She has to give the thing just the tiniest bit of throttle, feathering it delicately as she brings it slow toward the garage.
“Well! How was it out there?” Reina asks to Yuzu as she exits the silenced Star Rider. The volunteer crew comes out of the woodwork to inspect the car, changing its tires while they’re at it.
“That felt good. I figured it was gonna be totally uncontrollable out there, honestly...and it kinda was all over the place, I won’t lie. But once I figured it out, it was really satisfying to drive my times down.”
Her personal best on the board is a 1:58—not bad at all for a road car, and even a bit faster than some of the small single-seaters that come to play in the summer. It’s no formula ace, but for a car of its lineage, it takes to the track very, very well.
“Did it throw you off at all? Like any breaks in the handling or unpredictable moves?”
“Mmmm... Not, really, honestly. It was surprisingly stable once I figured out how to push it. It’s just finding that sweet spot, is the tricky part.”
“Yeah. Very little room for error... That’s a lot like how the Road Runner drives.”
“You take it here often?”
“I used to! Back when I did a couple summer leagues growing up, my family would come here and they’d let me throw the Road Runner around for a bit. It’s been a while, though... I’m kinda worried about how I’m gonna do against Mom, honestly.”
“Just because you’re out of practice?”
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“Yeah... I’m rusty.” Reina knows she should stop worrying about it so much, but she can’t help it. She’s always known her mother to be invincible on the track.
“I know how these cars drive, and I know their quirks inside and out...but putting it all together is a different beast entirely. Mom’s still crazy fast... She’s gotta be.”
She looks to her creation. “So I really need to practice hard.”
Yuzu feels a deep respect for the girl. She knows from experience that pressure is a blessing and a curse—it motivates you to push yourself, to be the best you can be, but all the same, it affords you no room to breathe. Reina hasn’t had a moment’s rest for the entire duration of this project, from the initial pitch to the construction and now to the testing phase. It’s a heavy burden to bear.
That she’s still here holding her head high in spite of it all demonstrates her real strength.
“I think I wanna give it a shot myself now... Is there anything I should know that’ll help me out on the track?”
“Well, in terms of specifics... I think you probably have a good idea of the braking marks after seeing my laps, so there’s not much I can say there. I think one thing though, is: you have to be as smooth on corner entry as you can possibly stand. Be aggressive, but don’t just slam the brakes—and wait to cut in until you’ve slowed down and you have more grip.”
“Alright. I’ll see how far that gets me.”
“Yeah. It’s kinda scary, if I’m being honest, because you feel like you’re gonna understeer off if you wait too long...but I think there’s a balance there. I feel like I left some time on the table in the corners, so that’d be the place to focus.”
“Got it.”
Now it’s Reina’s turn to suit up and take to the circuit—though not before adjusting her seat to accommodate her extra foot of height.
“Ahhh... Much better.” Right at home again.
“Okay, car... I know I’m not the best driver in the world, but be nice to me, okay?”
*RRrrrrrRRRRMMMM!*
“Good luck out there!”
By this point, Reina is plenty familiar with how the Star Rider cruises at normal speeds. Its aggressive, go-get-’em throttle response reminds her of the family heirloom, as does the feeling that it’s only begrudgingly obeying the speed limit. Soon enough, though, the car will be out on the open track, where no bounds apply and there’s nothing in its path to stop it. The only limit is Reina’s ability.
“Okay... Let’s do this!”
These new tires will take some warming up before she can put in a flying lap of her own. She spends her first lap and a half at half-speed, snaking back and forth down the straight to warm up the rubber before punching the gas later. All things considered, she’s got a slight advantage over Yuzu: she had to go out first on a full tank of gas and without any rubber on the track for grip. If Reina wants to be even remotely competitive against her mother, she’ll have to put up some comparable laps to Yuzu here...
(Don’t slow down now, Reina... Gotta make this count!)
She sets a benchmark for herself: two minutes. Get around the circuit in under two minutes, and that’ll be a good start. She knows the car is capable of it; it just comes down to whether she is.
(Aaand GO!)
When she reaches the straight for the second time, she finally opens up the throttle and lets the Star Rider scream once more, rocketing down the straight almost too fast for her to react. It’s been an age since she put down proper hot laps at Tokachi, and she’s gotta relearn her muscle memory on the fly if she wants to break the benchmark. Immediately turn one comes flying up to meet her, and in the moment, she feels a paralyzing jolt of indecision shooting through her. Does she brake early? Late? Are her tires up to temp yet? Can she afford to go full tilt on just her first lap?
(No! No second-guessing!)
Perhaps not wanting to run herself out of time, Reina takes the corner conservatively, braking ahead of Yuzu’s own marker to ease herself into the corner. She lands a good angle for corner exit, but it comes at the cost of speed. Track one, Reina zero.
“Not good enough...!”
She tries to push herself harder through the next hard-braking corners, playing out the game of chicken as Yuzu suggested. It’s all just moving so fast for her, and she’s so badly out of practice that she struggles to keep up as she once did. The muscle memory is slowly, arduously coming back to her, but will it be enough to rival Yuzu’s time?
“Rngh—! Geez, she wasn’t kidding! This thing’s a handful!” It’s challenging her in the same way that it did Yuzu—demanding her perfection if she wishes to tame it on the track. There’s no room for error here, no forgiveness in the throttle, the brake nor the steering wheel. She has to drive the wheels off of it, or else she’ll only drive herself mad.
Those same two corners that foiled Yuzu have come back for another round. Reina takes a much more careful approach, slowing early and cutting in hard to set herself up for the final right-hander onto the straight. It gives her the angle she needs, but again, she lacks the speed. The Star Rider violently reclaims the speed she lost, but she knows she hasn’t come anywhere close to the mark...
*Click!*
“2:01.6.”
(The corner entries are killing her...)
Reina scoffs as she hears the number. She’s gotta do better.
“Okay, take two...!”
The same nerves, the same paralysis tries to creep back into Reina’s hands as she grips the shifter going into turn one. She has to try and save it for later, hold it off as long as she can stand...but where’s the right point to stop? She wasn’t carrying as much speed as she should be, so how much should she adjust her braking point? Should she just hit the usual marker anyway and not overthink it?
(I have to try and find the limit...!)
Her foot burns as she hovers over the brake. It all rushes by too fast for her darting eyes, but eventually she picks a point and stops there.
Unfortunately, she was a split-second too late.
“Urgh, shoot—!” She’s carrying just a tad too much speed, causing her tires to lock up and throw her off the apex. She takes the turn wide, having to steer well outside the optimal line to scrub off speed and give herself room to recover. She can almost hear Yuzu cringing from her post up top—or at least, that’s how it seems in her head.
“You’re okay, you’re okay! Keep going!” She hears Yuzu’s words encouraging her on the radio. She will at least finish this lap to try and salvage the momentum she had.
“I’m not done yet! Come on...!”
Credit where it’s due to herself: she’s built one hell of a machine. She’s feeling Yuzu’s feedback for herself—the Star Rider is a lot more maneuverable than a car its size and weight should be. But also like Yuzu said, that power is a double-edged sword—and it takes a hot hand to tame.
Does Reina really have it in her...?
“Work with me...!” She can feel the wheel fighting back as she tries to corral it into the corner, her palms sweating bullets. The tires are starting to give way as well, thanks to her lockup earlier—she’s trying to force the issue in the corners more, to mixed success, but she’s marred by her degrading grip. This lap is shaping up to be a bit faster overall, save for her mishap in turn one, but will it be enough...?
*Click!*
“2:01 flat!”
(Still not enough...?!)
Reina goes in for one more lap, hugging the outside edge of the straight, but it’s clear almost immediately when she starts braking that the tires don’t have the grip they used to. That lockup really took the wind out of their sails, forcing Reina to abandon her aggressive lines and settle for less.
She’s getting more and more used to the track now, reawakening those dormant memories, but all the same, she’s having to rethink and micromanage every last detail about her drive. Every corner is unique, pushing her in a different way—and putting it all together into one lap is a task that just might be too great for her.
“Gah, I can’t—!” Another lockup, this time on a sharp hairpin. She wasn’t carrying as much speed into there as she should have anyway, but the embarrassment still stings. This lap isn’t going to beat her personal best, she can just tell.
*Click!*
“2:01.9!”
“Yeah, this isn’t happening right now...”
Reina decides to cool down, and eases back on the throttle to start her in lap. She won’t have to travel the full track to get back to the pits, at least—there’s a section of track that cuts the western segment out entirely, forming the Clubman loop of the course. After a leisurely trip down the back stretch, she pulls off to the right and admits defeat.
“I’m too scared... I can’t push it as hard as I should.”
It’s hard not to beat yourself up when you have such daunting standards to match...and though Reina hasn’t been broadcasting her remarks the other way on the radio, Yuzu can tell she’s dejected as she pulls the car up to the garage. Perspective is a real menace like that: it’s not enough to have designed and built your own car, and put up flying laps in it... Reina knows—feels—that she has to do better.
“Phew... Man, that was tough.” Reina takes a second to lean against the side of the car after she gets out, the crew taking a look at the tires. It’s pretty apparent they need a change.
“Hey.” Yuzu comes around to join her. “Don’t beat yourself up over those little misses. All things considered, for no practice and not even having raced a car in years, you put up some pretty damn good laps.”
“I know, I gotta look at the bigger picture. It’s just...hard, knowing what I’m comparing myself to.”
Yuzu takes a deep breath...
“...Okay. I know it’s tough to get that out of your mind, but look at it this way: you’ve already put up a time out there. All you have to do is beat that.”
“Start with that 2:01. Get a 2:00, then work your way down from there. My time, Sami’s times, none of that matters right now. When you go out there on the track, it’s about you. You get me?”
“...You’re right.” Reina can’t argue with Yuzu’s line of thinking. “I just have to find a way to get out of my own head...”
“I know...but trust me: you’re already doing a lot better than you think you are. Don’t let the car scare you. It’s your car, so you tell it what to do.”
“What was it you had for that slogan: make it yours?”
That helps put some light back on Reina’s face, forcing a wry chuckle from her gut. “Yeah... I’ll see if I can get back out there and show it who’s boss.”
This break is doing wonders for her, at any rate. She appreciates the opportunity to calm her heart down, get some water back in her, let the crew change the tires...and it’s doubly reassuring to know that Yuzu has her back like this.
Having that shoulder to lean on... It means more than she can put into words. But she’ll try:
“Thank you, honestly. You’ve helped me so much all this time...”
“No problem... Just believe in yourself out there.”
In time, the Star Rider and its would-be master are ready for another round—and without fail, the 611 reports for duty once more, prowling up pit lane with a grunt. Mechanically, the car has exceeded Reina’s every expectation, passing its stress test with flying colors. Now it’s just her turn to pass her own exam...
(...No. Don’t think about it that way. It’s just about me.)
Just improve upon your baseline, correct your mistakes... She has a better idea now of where her marks are, how much aggression the tires can withstand. She can see this lap coming together in her head; all that remains is to make her vision a reality.
And hey, as it turns out, she’s gotten pretty good at that over this past year.
“Go get ‘em.”
“Copy that!”
One more time, she warms up the car in preparation for her flying laps. She’s only got this one set of tires left—not counting the ones she’ll put on for the drive back home. Yuzu tore her way through the first set with lap after lap of breakneck speed, and Reina put a premature end to the other set with her untimely gaffes. She has to make this one count.
“One more lap to warm up, I think... Still not up to temp yet.” She sees the skid mark going into turn one, almost taunting her as she passes by. But she can’t let it get to her. She knows she’s better than that. She has the potential to be better, go faster. All she needs to do is put her best foot forward.
And with an assertive pump of throttle, she prepares to do just that.
*VVVRRRMMMMMM!*
“Let’s go!”
Reina takes the green flag, Yuzu enthusiastically nodding in approval. She’s set herself up for the corner pretty well this time, the long straight giving her just enough time to take it all in. It still daunts her, though, when that first corner comes a-calling. This one turn makes or breaks the entire lap...but just as she’s about to tell herself to stop overthinking, she hears Yuzu’s words again:
(YOU tell it what to do!)
As if trying to test her, strike her down, the car wobbles ever so slightly, the tires pushed to their limit as her speed climbs higher and higher. She can feel the corner ahead turning into a needle, with her as the proverbial thread. The car is challenging her once again... It won’t relinquish control to her that easily, nor to anyone.
But Reina challenges it back.
“Not this time!”
She knows where to go. With her hand on the shifter and her foot hovering over the clutch, Reina times her entry as best she can. Her foot stomps hard on the brake, but as she downshifts, she threads the pedals just the tiniest bit, nipping her understeer in the bud before it can spiral out of control. All this in the blink of an eye, milliseconds behind the wheel, but Reina’s sheer determination guides her through the steps, methodical in her execution. She doesn’t have the time to process her moves, but she doesn’t care—because it’s working!
“THAT’S a good corner!” A cautiously optimistic smile breaks out on Reina’s face as she kisses the apex with her right-side tires. Yuzu as well is ecstatic, noticing the improvement as she diamonds the corner and catapults down the stretch. She doesn’t dare key up the radio for fear of distracting Reina, but she wishes she could tell her how well she did that.
Thankfully, Reina already knows.
“Right, now this corner. Just a little later, more room for aggression here...!”
The boot complex is deceptive, curling around with a sweeping right-hander that suddenly breaks hard left. Her better first turn shuffles all her marks around, the difference in speed just enough to complicate her muscle memory, but Reina corrects with a measured hand and a careful foot. She’s still learning, still improving...and she can get another shot at these corners at these speeds if she really wants it. All she has to do is nail that first corner again—and she can do that!
“Better! Better!”
Measured aggression. Nothing absurd like her second-lap dives, just keep it clean and the pace will come to you...!
“Okay! S! No mistakes through here, just keep it simple and tidy!”
Those final two turns still prove a challenge, of course—perhaps the trickiest on the circuit. Reina still isn’t quite sure how to approach them, and on the pace she’s on, she can feel jitters creeping into her fingers. But she tells herself to stay calm, take a little time if she really needs to. This is just the first lap of many, she’s kept the tires perfectly well, and she’s almost at the front straight again. A conservative line through the S gets her back on the straight and narrow—and she can see Yuzu smiling as she readies the stopwatch!
*Click!*
“2:00.8!”
“I can do better than that...!”
This is what she was missing: the hunger. The fire. The determination knowing that she hasn’t yet reached her full potential...knowing that she can. It’s all in her head, playing tricks on her while the Star Rider tries to throw her off like a bucking bronco. But Reina is undeterred—she knows her car better than anyone.
“Let’s do this again!”
Turn one isn’t quite as scary anymore when you have it down to a science. With rehearsed precision, she times her entry perfectly, going through the motions just like before. That sets her up nicely for the boot—and now that she has this speed to use as a baseline, she can experiment with pushing the envelope more and more...
“Ooh, that was a nice corner there!” Yuzu, meanwhile, watches on with intrigue. The other angle to this is that Reina is the one and only daughter of her childhood hero—and as far as Yuzu can see, she’s absolutely inherited some of that driving talent Sami flexed in her prime. It really is a shame she never made it up past karting...but there’s no point dwelling in what-ifs at this point. Right now, she’s on a heater of a lap!
“Come on!” Reina wrestles with the steering wheel, pressuring it to obey her command. With the extra speed she’s carrying, understeer becomes more and more of a threat, especially in the switchback southwest corner of the circuit. She gets a slight left bend before a sweeping turn to the right—and no room for error between.
“Good, good... Yes!”
It’s so incredibly satisfying to nail a corner and feel the power carry you to the edge on corner exit. The rumble strips clatter beneath her feet as she uses every inch the track will give her, negotiating yet another 90-degree right. She can feel the speed, feel the improvement on every corner... She may pull this off after all!
“Just the S...!” This time, she comes in with even more speed than she’s used to. She contemplates taking a more aggressive line, but before she can figure out where to plant the car, she runs out of time. She defaults to the tried-and-true entry, costing her precious tenths but keeping her locked right in.
“Whoa, is she gonna...?” Yuzu sees her coming, looking back at the stopwatch. It’s too close to call on whether this will break the benchmark...!
*Click!*
...
“1:59.9!”
“YES!”
But damned if Reina’s going to rest on her laurels. She knows the car can go faster than that—knows that she can go faster than that. She can feel something else too, as she careens through the first couple corners...
(I’m feeling the grip better!)
It’s almost as if the Star Rider is...submitting. After all these laps on the ragged edge, it’s starting to recognize her as its rightful master. She’s getting a better feel for when to return to the throttle, when to power off the corner, how much grip the car has to offer her at every corner of the track. She uses this lap to experiment: can she get away with more?
“Gimme more...! Come on!” It doesn’t feel like the wheel is fighting back as much anymore. Maybe it’s just the tires hitting peak temperature, or maybe it’s just the nature of the car itself. But Reina can swear she’s got a sixth sense for this—and it’s telling her to keep going.
*Click!*
“1:59.4!”
“Faster...!”
Yuzu can only watch as Reina sails into turn one yet again, somehow looking even better than before. It’s a perfect storm: less fuel in the tank, tires at peak performance, plenty of rubber down on the track...but that still doesn’t explain Reina’s meteoric rise in pace. Yuzu checks the stopwatch again, tracking her micro-splits through each of the first corners... It doesn’t take her long to put two and two together: Reina is absolutely flying.
“What the hell is this lap?”
Reina reaches the back stretch, knuckles white, eyes twitching, heart flooded with a surge of adrenaline. This is an insane lap, and she knows it.
“I’ve got this...!”
The left kink into the wide right. Reina refuses to compromise on the throttle, pulsing it through the middle of the corner to try and find as much grip as she can. The moment she feels the tires bite, she works the throttle up to wide open. She almost bites off more than she can chew: the car briefly dips into the grass beyond the rumble strips, the Star Rider kicking up a cloud of dust in its wake. No harm done, though: this is still the fastest Reina’s ever gone through this section.
“36... 37... Holy crap, she’s way ahead!” Yuzu can see Reina leaving her previous time in the very dust she kicked up. Just a couple turns to go, and she’ll have a monster of a time on her hands...!
“Almost...!”
She can hardly talk; she barely even remembers to breathe. This lap has her on the edge of her seat, her body forced to its absolute limit. Tension builds like a geyser ready to burst. Only the final two turns stand in her way...and like her earlier date with the dirt, she almost overcooks this section as well. She can barely hold onto the wheel, flying on the very cusp of losing it all. She has to shred rubber to jerk back to the optimal line for the final right turn...and though her tires will certainly be toast after this, her reward is a lap she may never replicate again. Full throttle from here... Bring it home!
“No way...!”
*VRRRRRRMMMMMMMM!*
...
*Click!*
Release. Reina finally allows herself to rest, keying up the radio as the Star Rider slows its bestial roll. She feels like she’s just taken the biggest breath of her life.
“Okay...” *huff* “That’s it...for me... How’d I do...?”
Yuzu stares at the stopwatch, stupefied.
“...1:58.6?!”
(What the hell?! She tied my time!)
“I— What?! There’s no way that’s right!”
“I’m not lying! Unless I fat-fingered it early or something, that’s what you did!”
“Okay, I’m not topping that. I’m coming back in!”
“By all means! Get your ass back down here!”
Reina feels what she can only describe as some kind of high as she cruises through the east half of the course, almost like she’s dreaming. Through some barbaric display of driving, she has extracted every last iota of potential out of herself. Her heart is still racing at a million beats per minute, still echoing through her head as she struggles to catch her breath...but her mind, at last, has found peace.
Could Yuzu put up a faster lap than that? Absolutely.
Could Sami put up a faster lap than that? Most likely, she could.
But god damn, does she feel like she’s on top of the world right now.
“Oh, man, heh heh... Look at her.” Yuzu catches her first glimpse of Reina post-time trial as she brings the car into the garage. The brakes squeak ever so slightly when the Star Rider comes to a stop—the only fault the car’s had all day. Those will absolutely need to be replaced, along with a fresh set of tires...but Reina and Yuzu are happy to excuse that. The valuable things they’ve both learned have more than made up for it.
“Oof...! I’m beat. I’m so beat...” Reina almost stumbles as she makes her way from the car, having to lean back on the silenced Star Rider for support again.
“Reina, what on Earth was that lap?”
“Well, hell if I know!” She manages a weak laugh. “I just, I... I went for it!”
“I mean...damn, you left it all out there! Forget 1:59, you smashed that course!”
“Thank you...” *huff* “Ulf... Water?”
“Wha... Oh! Sure, lemme get that real quick.”
Reina has no idea how long it’ll take for her to actually calm down—not even another refreshing bottle helps all that much. She can barely believe it even happened at all. The sheer release of all that stress is just numbing her to everything else for the time being.
*gulp* “Ahhh... Ohh, that’s good.”
“Well, I think we both got a good taste of how the car drives... It practically begs to be pushed to the limit like that.”
“Yeah... I could feel it coming to me the more I went. Something about it just really makes you drive on the edge...but I like that. That’s exactly what this car is supposed to be.”
“Gotta agree with that.”
Yuzu, for her part, is incredibly thankful for the opportunity to come out here and drive it today. She can leave for the day satisfied, knowing the Star Rider project is on the right track—and that the girl in charge really does have what it takes.
“So, that’s it for today?”
“Yeah. I’m gonna head back home and chill out for the rest of the day... I’ll be right back here soon enough, though. Got plenty of testing left to do.”
“Well, if you ever need me for another session, you know my number.”
“Thank you... Not a driver out there I’d rather have.”
Reina and Yuzu close the day with a firm, knowing handshake, all smiles all around. The Star Rider’s inaugural track visit will go down as a resounding success, and a welcome vote of confidence for the conductor behind it all. All the nerves, all the questions festering in Reina’s mind about the challenge handed down to her... Absolved, if just for a moment. There will still be many trials ahead—and Sami will doubtless be practicing herself—but where once the shadow of her coming battle loomed large over her eyes, now she sees clearly with her newfound confidence. She’s gotten this far already, and now, she looks up to the sky and sees her future.
That final mountain to scale, that last peak beneath the stars, looks just a little shorter now.