“Alright... I think that’s just about it.”

Yuzu has beaten the sun out of bed on this lazy Saturday, waiting outside the train station for the 3-hour trip to Sapporo. Finally, after weeks and weeks of waiting, Aikawa Auto is ready to begin work on her car—and they’ve invited her into the shop for the shadow she wanted. Throughout the weekend, she’ll be getting a close-up tour to beat any high school field trip...and in the process, she’ll come one step closer to realizing her dream.

It’s funny how quickly things change... Even in the dark, she can see how much snow has melted overnight. In just one season, Yuzu’s found herself in a whole new situation, far beyond anything she could have imagined. It may very well change her fortunes outright by the time the next season ends...

Work begins at 9. Be there or be square.

“Let’s go.”

***

It’s time. All the pieces are gathered at the shop, ready to come together. The heiress apparent did her prep work well—she left no stone unturned, just like Clara would. Now, she’s rewarded for her efforts: the first Aikawa engine build in years can finally begin.

Reina can feel the anticipation in the crisp morning air—the kindling of a long-forgotten flame. If just for one project, she has bridged the gap between past and present, and given the company’s core one more chance to shine. With this, she takes another step on the long, long road out of the depths...and another step toward a warmer, brighter future.

She’s close to the answer she’s been looking for. She’s almost certain of what makes Aikawa engines truly special now. Once she’s finished building one of her own, she thinks she’ll finally be there...

And then, if the stars line up just right, she can take that magic and forge the path she’s dreamed of.

“Morning, everybody!” Reina greets the rest of the crew, just now gathering outside the front door. It’s been a great while since the shop had all hands on deck—and what better day for it than this?

“Well, good morning! Somebody’s up and ready to get crackin’, huh?” Uncle Naoto’s wrinkly face can’t stop his smile.

“She could barely even sleep, the poor girl. Maybe I should’ve read her a bedtime story like old times!”

“Aw, cut her some slack. I think we’re all pretty excited, eh? Especially you.” Old Man Takashi is blooming with enthusiasm himself. It’s been a long, long while since they got to do what they do best.

“Well, of course. These are exciting times.”

Not to count their special guest out, of course. Right on time, she comes walking up to the lot off the local bus, giving a confident wave to Reina and the gang. Her stoic face belies a certain excitement, a certain whimsy pounding through her heart. This is the first time she’s been genuinely excited for anything that isn’t racing in a long, long time.

“Yuzu! Glad you could make it.”

“Thanks for having me. I really, really appreciate it.”

“Not a problem. As promised, you can shadow the build however you want, and if you want to request working on something simple, just let one of us know. If a customer comes in for maintenance work, we just ask you stay out of their way. Common sense, yeah?”

“Of course.” The company did have her sign an agreement the prior week—they may be on the wild side, but they’re not reckless.

“So the build’s all ready to go?”

“Yup! I’ve confirmed all our parts, so we shouldn’t have to re-order anything. As far as I can tell, we’ve got everything we need to knock this out this weekend!”

“Alright. Show me how it’s done!”

“You got it!”

On come the lights, wind rushing through the door as the chime announces the start of the day. The speakers hum to life with the sound of Dio echoing off the walls. Clara greets the group, as she always does...and Reina meets her grandmother’s toothy grin with an equally confident smile.

(Gonna make you proud, Grandma... Just you watch!)

Slowly, the garage floor comes alive, and the treasure trove within is unveiled to the cast. Reina had a lot of prep work to do the night before—all the parts and boxes are arranged in a nice, neat pile next to the Silvia, and she rolled out their workbench in front of the open engine bay. It was back-breaking work, but it’ll all be worth it once the day is done.

“Man, that’s a lotta stuff...” It’s somehow even more complicated than Yuzu expected.

“Yup, that looks like everything!”

“Pretty sure it is, fingers crossed! If I called everybody here just to find out I have a wrong part, I’m going to cry.”

“Meh, happens to the best of us. It’s like a rite of passage!” Old Man Takashi knows that all too well from his street hooligan days.

“Well?” Sami looks to her daughter, the excitement palpable. She nods.

“Yeah.” Reina responds in kind. She’s ready to take that next big step.

“Let’s get to work!”

Reina and company know the score: in order to give the heiress as much hands-on experience as possible, she’ll be the one manning the workbench for most of the day. The others, meanwhile, will juggle a multitude of tasks: stripping down the car’s interior, checking for electrical defects, undoing machine crimes from the previous owner, keeping tabs on the computer at the front desk—not to mention handling any customers coming in for routine maintenance throughout the day. If all goes well, they’ll be humming along like a well-oiled machine in and of themselves.

Speaking of...

“Ahhh...! Here we are!”

It’s Christmas in March as Reina brings the brand new engine block out of its box. Funny that this was the last part to arrive—though only by a few days. That extra “motivation” to Ichimura wouldn’t have done much.

The wait was more than worth it—it’s beautiful.

“Hel-lo there! Aren’t you a cutie?” A brand-new engine block is a wonderful thing.

“So those are the cylinders?”

“Yup. This is the engine block.”

“It’s...huh. It’s smaller than I thought it’d be.”

Reina chuckles; she gets where Yuzu’s coming from. Reina will never not be amused at how small engines actually are at their core. This one, their smallest model, displaces less volume inside the cylinders than a gallon jug of milk—but it produces enough power to propel a one-ton car like the Silvia over 240 kilometers an hour.

She’s got a lot of work to do to get it there, though. After generously oiling up the housings, the engine is ready for its first new roommate: the camshaft.

“Oookay. First, the cam... So, Yuzu, I’ve got a job for you: you mind holding that flashlight for me?”

“Oh, uh, sure.” Yuzu picks it up off the table and flicks it on.

“Shine it right there... Perfect!” The camshaft has to go through a series of slots in the block, like threading a giant steel needle. With effort, she slowly eases the part through the housing and gets it settled in place.

“So this moves all the valves, right?” Yuzu tried doing some research on her own before the build, but she didn’t get very far. She’s still rife with questions.

“...Sorry, I’m gonna be asking stuff a lot.”

“No worries! I did too when I was learning.” Reina steps back to take a breather.

“You’re right though, yeah. The cam opens and closes the valves. Air and fuel go in, they get ignited by the pistons and the spark plugs, and then the exhaust goes out the pipes.”

“Mhm.”

“Here, you can rotate it for yourself, if you want.”

“Oh. Sure.” It’s good practice to test parts for proper rotation once they’re installed. With a flick of her wrist, Yuzu gets to test that for herself—and sure enough, the cam and all its lobes spin along without a care in the world.

“Sooo, I’m a little confused, actually.”

“What’s up?”

“I thought the camshaft went on top of the engine?”

Reina takes a sharp breath and pauses to think. Yuzu’s opened up a can of worms.

“They do most of the time. Modern engines usually put the camshaft in the cylinder head on top of the engine—that’s called overhead cam. If you’ve ever seen ‘DOHC’ on an engine cover, that’s what that is.”

Reina places her hand on the work-in-progress engine. “This kind of design here is called a pushrod, and it puts the camshaft down in the engine block instead.”

“Actually, we have the Silvia’s engine torn down right now. That’d help me explain...”

Reina walks Yuzu over to the back wall, where the blown-out SR20 and all of its components are splayed out on the table like some kind of forlorn platter. Yuzu does notice pretty quickly that the engine has two camshafts instead of just one.

“Overhead cams are a lot more popular in modern cars because they’re generally more efficient. You get more power for the same engine displacement, and you can rev it a lot higher too.”

“So...why pushrod at all?”

“A few reasons. You can see the SR20 here has two camshafts—that’s the ‘double’ in double overhead cam. That gives you more power and fuel efficiency, but it’s bigger, heavier and a lot more complicated.”

“With a V-shaped engine like ours, you’d need two camshafts per row, so we’d actually need four camshafts if we wanted to use this kind of design.”

“With a pushrod, though? We only need the one. That makes it smaller, lighter and cheaper than if we wanted to use double overhead cams.”

“Ohhh...” Yuzu wasn’t expecting that answer. As far as she was aware, Aikawa was the way it was because they had nothing else to be. She figured their engines were just...outdated. And as Reina explains, they are in some ways—but in others, they have their advantages.

(So it’s not just tradition...)

“Couldn’t you just do a straight-four like the engine it came with, though?”

“We could, but the Pocket was made to fit a lot of displacement in a small form factor. A V6 has the same amount of cylinders as a straight-six, like some higher-tier Japanese engines, but it’s two rows of three instead of one row of six, so it’s easier to fit this one in.”

“Huh... Fair enough.” It’ll be the largest engine she’s ever driven, both by cylinder count and by displacement. The cars she drove for her single-seater campaign last year were restricted to 2 liters. For being that much bigger, the Pocket really isn’t as gargantuan as she was expecting it to be.

Guess there’s something to be said for keeping it old-school after all.

“What’s next, then?”

“Now it’s time for the crank.” The crankshaft is what controls the pistons, routing the power the engine produces through to the gearbox—and then to the wheels. Together with the camshaft, they act as the engine’s metronome.

Unlike the cam, the crank is just stacked directly onto the engine block, placed on top of some well-oiled bearings. All the heavy lifting works up quite a sweat, but Reina’s more than equipped to handle it.

“Phew! There we are.”

“Man, you’re strong.”

“The perks of being a mechanic, heh heh.”

*DING!*

The chime announces a customer coming in for maintenance.

“Oh, somebody just came in.”

“I got it!” Old man Takashi skitters off to the lobby to greet the customer; Uncle Naoto offers to take whatever job the client has for them. Soon enough, the garage door opens to a flood of morning sunlight, and yet another unassuming sedan comes trundling in. Customer states it’s running a little hot... They should be able to get to the bottom of that.

Reina can’t help but smile. It’s been an age since the shop was this busy, all four of their employees buzzing around like bees to get their work done. Every tacky business likes to call themselves a family...but in Reina’s case, it really does feel that way.

Still full of energy, she presses on.

“Okay, now we gotta torque these down...” Reina stands up and motions for Yuzu to give her some space. It’s time for the trusty old torque wrench.

Yuzu watches as Reina puts her back into it, the workbench threatening to move on its wheels as she tightens the pieces into place. Her tall stature isn’t just for show—she’s got strength to spare.

“Phew! That’s that one.”

“How hard do you have to tighten them?”

“You gotta stick to the numbers; I have it pulled up in the book here. You see those numbers on the bottom of the page there?” She points to a busy page with a whole slew of measurements for the crankshaft.

“Yup, those?”

“Mhm. That has to match exactly. The closer you can get it, the better. That’s what this torque wrench is for: it tells you exactly how much force you’re applying.”

Reina lets Yuzu hold the torque wrench and see for herself: there’s a gauge with a needle that gives the torque measurement right in front of her hand. It’s an old-school tool, but as they say: if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

“Ohhh, yeah, I see it.”

“Wanna try tightening this one yourself?”

Yuzu’s brows lift just a bit.

“...Sure, why not?”

Yuzu fits the wrench onto the part and gets to pulling...and pulling...and pulling. Her momentum stalls out well before she’s reached the magic number; she really has to heave to get it the rest of the way there. How Reina made this look so easy, she has no idea.

“There you go!”

*huff* “Is that good?”

Reina gives it a quick yank to confirm. “Yup, on the money.”

“Okay, good. You mind doing the other ones?”

“Heehee... Not at all.”

Bit by bit, the pieces are falling into place. While Reina continues her work, Uncle Naoto is continuing his work on the customer’s sedan. Yuzu’s attention span briefly wanders over to him, and...

(...What the?)

There seems to be something quite wrong with that car, because Uncle Naoto is really getting in there. Several parts and pieces have already been disconnected or removed; it looks like he’s getting ready to take the engine out of it entirely. Yuzu can’t deny she’s curious, but for now, she figures it’s better to leave him be and let him work.

Sami, meanwhile, has taken her lunch break early. It’s nice being so close to the local bakery, among other food options. She can just waltz on over and take her pick.

“Good! Now that that’s done, we can put the pistons in.”

Reina lays out the pistons on the workbench—six in all, each with their own assortment of rings and connecting pieces. Yuzu’s back on flashlight duty for this part of the job, and she can quickly see why this part is a lot easier with two people.

“Okay, it’s gonna pop out the other side once I’m done hammering it in. Lemme know when, okay?”

“Gotcha...” Sure enough, the connecting end of the piston emerges from the socket to meet her. It almost looks like some kind of tuning fork.

“There.”

“Okay, good. Now we just put the cap on it and connect it on the other side.” Yuzu quickly moves out of the way so Reina can put the cap on and secure the piston in place. One down; five to go.

“Man, this just gets more and more complicated.”

“Aww, it’s not that bad! Hell, we’ve only got six of these to do; normally, our engines have eight. If you’re a European or a Lexus, you might have even more than that!”

“Yeah, pass for now, heh.”

Slowly, Reina and Yuzu work their way through the five remaining pistons, testing and double-checking the engine all the while. Yuzu can’t help but marvel at how knowledgeable Reina is with the entire process—as if she’s built dozens of engines already. Her actual inexperience belies her steady hand and sharp eyes... She can tell that, even if this is her first solo engine build, she’s more than up to the task.

She’s not inexhaustible, though—building an engine is hard work. They’ve been at this for quite a while already, and their rumbling stomachs are requesting they take a break. By the time Reina and Yuzu have lunch on the mind, however...

“Hey there, you two!”

“Oh, hey, Mom!”

“Miss Aikawa!”

“Sami’s fine.” She’s back from lunch, and she’s brought a bag of extra goodies to go. “I thought you two might be getting hungry, so I got you something!”

“Ooh...!” Reina knows that smell: it’s from her favorite gyoza place up the road.

“Thanks, Mom!”

“Yes, thank you!”

“No problem! Hard to work on an empty tank, after all! Mechanics need fuel too.” Sami knows Reina’s quirks all too well. That girl can eat.

“Looks like it’s coming along pretty well, so why don’t you go ahead and take a pit stop?”

“Well, sure! There’s always time for gyoza. You good with that, Yuzu?”

“Sure, sounds good to me.”

“Perfect!”

The break couldn’t have come at a better time: the refreshing warmth of spring gives them the perfect backdrop for lunch outside. Tiny rivers flow along the asphalt as the sun chips away at the mountain of snow in the corner of the lot. The rays feel wonderful on Reina’s face... She’s been begging for spring’s reprieve ever since the snow first came marching in.

Everything’s just so much brighter now. She loves it.

Reina opens up the bag and digs in. She practically melts with glee at the first bite—you really can’t go wrong with gyoza.

“Ahhh, that’s the good stuff!”

“Crazy how much time’s gone by already... I mean, I get it, engine builds take a long time, but it felt like the morning just flew by. I blinked and it was noon already.”

“Yeah, time flies when you’re having fun.”

Yuzu sees the satisfaction on Reina’s face. This is her element, plain and simple—getting down in the weeds with an engine build, tinkering with all the myriad parts and pieces... This is what she’s always wanted to do. Between indulgent bites of gyoza, she’s staring back at the work-in-progress engine sitting on the workbench inside... She really can’t wait to get back in there and finish the job. She knows how important it is to take breaks—especially with a job this physically demanding—but the world of Aikawa Auto just keeps pulling her back in. It’s her home. It’s the world she knows.

That drive, that passion, that purpose... Yuzu finds it a deeply admirable thing.

“Thank you again for letting me shadow you on this.”

“Oh, no problem! Thank you for giving us this opportunity to begin with.”

“Between you and me, we’ve really needed something like this. It does more than just buoy our finances—it puts the wind back in our sails. We’ve all been itching for a project like this for years and years now...and I can tell how excited Mom and everyone else is for it.”

“So rest assured...” Reina finishes off her last dumpling. “We’re gonna put everything we have into this engine—and we’re sure you’re gonna love it.”

That confidence draws a friendly chuckle from Yuzu. “Looking forward to it.”

***

Soon enough, Reina gets her wish, and work on the Pocket picks up right where it left off. They’ve still got plenty of time over the weekend, but the sooner they can finish this engine, the sooner they can lower it into the Silvia...and the sooner Yuzu can get her first real taste of Aikawa power. Without missing a beat, Reina gathers the next set of parts for assembly—and almost immediately, Yuzu’s lost in the sea of steel teeth and bolts.

“Oh... That’s a lot.”

“Yup. This is how the cam and the crank sync up.” Reina cups a well-greased chain in her hand. “It’s this chain here and a whooole lotta gears.”

The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

For the engine to function optimally, the cam, the crank and the spark plugs all have to be in perfect sync with each other, firing exactly on the beat thousands of times per minute. If that sounds impossibly precise, it’s because it is. The mechanical dance between the different parts of a car motor is a marvel of engineering design—and it’s all controlled by an elaborate network of gears and chains that form the timing system.

“Most modern cars will use a belt instead of a chain—it just makes more sense for overhead cams, and it comes out cheaper to produce.”

“This is where some of the money saved from the pushrod design goes, then?”

“Kinda, yeah. Pushrods generally use chains anyway, because with only one cam right inside the block, you don’t need much chain at all to connect it to the crank. We like to buy extra-strength ones for good measure.”

“They do make chains for overhead cams, but they’re, uh...complicated. And expensive.”

“Fair point.”

Reina gingerly gets to work, adding cogs to the machine bit by bit. This part doesn’t test her physical strength so much as her precision—everything needs to be as exact as possible. The tiniest inaccuracy in the timing can cause misfires, power drops and all other kinds of badness.

“Line it up here... Turn it a little bit and line it up there...” This is the part of the build she’s the least confident with, so she’d rather take things nice and slow than rush the timing assembly and make a mistake somewhere. Yuzu doesn’t mind, at least—it gives her an extended look at how it all comes together.

“Phew! Okay, I think that should be good.” A quick test confirms she’s installed the first couple components properly, to the best of her knowledge. There are still plenty of pieces left to assemble in the timing system, though... Reina steps back to take a quick breather, running through her checklist to make sure she didn’t miss anything.

She can see the engine’s already looking pretty nice. For her first proper build, things have been going slow but steady—and she couldn’t ask for anything more than that.

Sami comes in to check up on the crew, having just handled a slew of emails at the front desk. She cracks a proud smile when she sees how far Reina’s come already.

“Well, this is looking pretty good so far!”

“Yup, I’m just about done with the timing kit. Would you mind double-checking my work real quick, though? I don’t usually do these, so I’m not sure I did it right...”

“Sure, no worries. Better safe than sorry.”

Sami takes a moment to inspect the timing assembly...and she can’t find a single error in Reina’s installation. The whole system is a multi-layered beast, but Reina’s managed to tame it—just as her grandmother did so many times before.

Seeing her at work invokes a veritable flood of those rose-tinted memories. She really does look like Clara—not just on the surface level, but in the way she tinkers, the way she double-checks, the way she scrutinizes every little detail... Contrary to the shop’s unhinged reputation, her actual work is super clean.

And she does it all with a whimsical grin and a glint in her eye.

(Yeah... She’s got this.)

“Well, Reina, I think you nailed it.”

“Good! That’s the part I was worried about the most. Thank you!”

“Sure thing, sweetie!” Sami gives her a pat on the back.

“You keep up the good work, and you won’t have anything else to worry about.”

“Thank you...” Reina lets out a relieved chuckle. “There’s still a lot left to do. I’m not sure if I’ll be able to get it all done by the end of the day, but I’m gonna give it my best shot.”

“Just pace yourself, y’know? You’ve been working nearly all day so far—you don’t want to run yourself out before you get to the finish line.”

“I know, I know! I just can’t help it... I mean, you know me. When I find something I really wanna do, I can’t stop myself. This is more than just my job—it’s my passion. It’s fun.”

“Yeah... Trust me, I getcha. I remember how we couldn’t keep you out of the garage as a kid. You’ve been wanting a big project like this for a long, long time, haven’t you?”

“Absolutely.”

“Heh heh... Good. Don’t ever lose that spirit, sweetie.”

In response, Reina smiles. Like she was ever going to let that happen.

With that, Sami excuses herself, and lets Reina put the finishing touches on the timing assembly before moving on. It’s pretty easy to test the finished system at this stage, because the engine nearly functions as an engine now!

“Oookay, just gonna...” Reina tests out the system with a wrench in the pulley.

“What’s that for?”

“Now that the chain is hooked up, you can actually turn the engine now. Check this out!”

Reina turns the wrench, and like a slow-mo demonstration, the pistons rhythmically turn inside the open cylinders. As it turns out, Reina’s arm is good for maybe ten revolutions per minute—a valiant effort.

“...You mind if I give that a try?”

“Knock yourself out.”

Something about watching that just struck a chord inside her head, because Yuzu finds herself eager to try it out herself. She gets to twisting, and watches with a curious gaze as the whole engine slowly stirs under her command. Being the conductor of this mechanical performance is...addicting, she has to say.

“...Okay, yeah, that’s pretty cool. I would do this way too much if I were a mechanic.”

“Right? Wait until you turn the key and it goes real fast~”

There’s still lots of work to do before they can get to that point, but Yuzu can see how far they come. It’s already starting to look like a proper engine—and after this next slew of pieces, it’ll be even closer yet.

The oil pan comes next, sitting pretty at the bottom of the engine. Reina’s never seen a completely spotless one of these before—and this new one is a far cry from the one in the Silvia’s old motor, which makes her sad just remembering it.

“Oh, this is what catches the oil?”

“Yeah. This was where you had that crime scene in the Silvia’s engine.”

“Charming.”

Reina deftly handles the pan and gets it mounted onto the engine, with Yuzu offering a clutch helping hand. There are plenty of other bits and pieces to go with it, but without skipping a beat, Reina gets them all fixed on in short order. The puzzle’s looking more and more complete by the hour.

By this point, she’s been at this for quite some time now—and there’s still a lot of work left to do. Reina can’t deny she was a little bit daunted by the build at first, a nagging thread in the back of her mind suggesting she might have bitten off more than she could chew...but so far, she’s proved her doubts wrong. It helps that she knows the what, the where and the why behind all the components in here—it’s so much easier to wrap your head around something when you know the purpose behind the parts.

Speaking of parts: the gearbox!

“So sorry, ours only come in manual. I hope that’s not a deal-breaker.”

Yuzu’s slightly taken aback by Reina’s friendly jab; she’s comfortable enough to hit back.

“...Nah. Sorry. Throw it all out.”

“Fair enough.”

At least it’s not a CVT.

Yuzu certainly wasn’t expecting the clutch to look like that, but now that she sees it going in, it makes a fair bit of sense. What doesn’t make sense to her is how quickly Reina’s getting this part of the job done. As it turns out, Reina did some extra research on the clutch specifically—the info in the big book was slightly behind the times. As a result, she’s more familiar with this part of the engine than others.

“Good, that all lines up... I made a bit of an executive decision and changed a couple of the parts for this. We may be old-school, but I’m definitely glad to leave old clutches behind.”

“Why?”

“Well, they used to be made of asbestos, for one.”

Yuzu’s eyes bug out. She takes that to mean this more modern clutch doesn’t have asbestos in it, but just to be safe (or perhaps a bit sarcastic,) Yuzu takes a dramatic step back from the workbench.

“Hey, wait, come back!”

Undaunted, Reina continues her work. The engine is steadily growing in size as more and more pieces surround the bare block...but for as much displacement as it’s packing, it’s really rather small. Tidy, too. Reina’s work has been super clean so far.

“Oh, can you help me lift this here?”

“Sure.” Yuzu swoops in to offer a helping hand or two.

“Right...there! Perfect.”

“Phew... This does work up a sweat.”

Before Yuzu realizes it, they’ve spent hours and hours more on the build—either Yuzu is starting to have fun herself, or time is flying without her. The sun is threatening to set; by now, Yuzu would be having dinner at her parents’ place, but she won’t be coming back at all tonight. She’s rented a hotel nearby, and come tomorrow morning, she’ll be back at the shop bright and early. Hopefully then, she’ll be able to drive back to Sapporo—in her own car, with her own brand-new engine.

She can’t help looking forward to it now. It’s so close, she can smell it.

“Right! She’s ready for the heads now.”

The cylinder heads are next, of which there are two. Reina almost overestimates how heavy they are as she yanks them up onto the table—she’s used to working with much bigger, heavier heads on Aikawa engines. By comparison, these are puny.

“Wow... I’m just now realizing how close we are.”

“Yeah, it’s really coming along, eh? Once the heads go on, that’ll be another big part done.”

They’ve already done so much, though, that Yuzu can barely fathom how there’s still more to go. Reina, for her part, doesn’t look all that exhausted at all... That girl’s got some serious stamina—and even better focus.

“Up you go...!” The head requires a balance of strength and precision. Thankfully, Reina’s still got enough juice left in her tank to handle both the heads for both the banks. With Yuzu spotting her for backup, she gets the heads installed at last. After another round of parts, the cylinder head is ready to be covered up, forming the roof of the engine.

“Phew!”

“Good job!”

“Thank you! I’m pleased to report your engine is nearly an engine now!”

It’s incredible how easy Reina made it all look. They started with the raw ingredients and a recipe Yuzu couldn’t even begin to comprehend—but with time, patience and a heaping helping of elbow grease, Reina has transformed it into a big, punchy V6.

She gazes proudly at all her handiwork...as well she should. For her first engine build, it’s been a glowing endorsement of her abilities, and a boon beyond measure for the shop’s morale. There’s no denying her place in this world now—and she didn’t just inherit it. She didn’t just get handed the keys. She worked for every single step she’s taken on this road.

She can’t do this just because she’s an Aikawa. She’s an Aikawa because she can do this.

“Man... It really is a lot smaller than I thought it would be. I was wondering how the engine would fit at all to begin with—from what you were saying, I thought it would be way too big for the car.”

“Yeah, that’s the trade-off with this kind of design. A smaller engine is more efficient with modern tech, but the parts surrounding it need to be bigger. It comes down to choosing between raw displacement or using more space to optimize a smaller engine.”

“I see...and you’re choosing displacement?”

“Exactly.”

“Hmm...” Yuzu’s still curious. There has to be some kind of reason why Aikawa would stick with this bluntly outdated design...

“...If you don’t mind me asking: why?”

Reina takes a moment to formulate her answer. She’s never really been questioned like this before—never has she met an outsider so curious about her world. But honestly? She enjoys it. Being asked to defend her viewpoint, defend her world, makes her look at it all from a different perspective...

And the more she thinks about it, the more she realizes: that’s exactly what she needs to find the big answer she’s looking for.

“...Well, a few reasons.”

“Sometimes people will say ‘There’s no replacement for displacement.’ I don’t think that’s entirely true, but you do lose something when you lose displacement, and it’s hard to get that back.”

“You can see that for yourself with the SR20 there.”

Yuzu takes another look at the Silvia’s former powerplant, with Reina walking over to inspect it. She had just figured the previous owner had it coming—after all, he pushed it well beyond its factory tolerances. So what is Reina getting at?

“That’s a small engine, but the turbo, the DOHC, the variable timing, they all make up for the lack of raw power.”

“That engine can go 200 kilometers an hour, just like ours can...but it has to rev higher to do so. That’s what all the tech does: it lets it work harder.”

“So it’s more of a reliability thing?”

“Exactly. If you take both of these engines and run them at 200 kilometers an hour, our engine will hold up better than the SR20 because it’s revving lower and putting less strain on itself. That’s something technology struggles to replicate.”

“Our design is simpler and cheaper too. That was what made our engines so successful back in the day: they were cheap, they ran well, and you could run boost and thrash them all you want without them ever breaking down.”

“Huh... I never really thought about it that way.”

So it’s not that the technology is outdated, nor even unsophisticated... If anything, it was a clever answer to the need for speed back in the day. But that was then, and this is now. Japanese manufacturers have known for a long time that simple, cheap and reliable is a winning formula—she can look all around the streets for evidence of that. In the racing world, where lightness is king, engines are only getting smaller, bolstered by technological innovations that keep them going faster and faster.

So what makes Aikawa’s old brand of power and precision worth it?

“It’s just... I never really saw the problem with all that new tech, in street cars or race cars. I race small engines with turbos all the time, and I never felt like they were all that unreliable. It just felt like that was the way things were supposed to be.”

“It seemed to me like cars and engines were only ever getting better, you know?”

A valid point. Yuzu does ask very good questions, and in the moment, Reina has to take a step back and think hard about her answer. This is the future, staring her in the face. She has to step up and bat for the past—or at least, her rose-tinted interpretation of it.

She knows that would be a losing battle. Nothing and no one can beat the forward march of time. If Reina wants to be stuck in the past, the world will be happy to leave her behind, as she’s come to know so well...

...But no. Reina’s not content to just linger in the past any longer. She’s got something now. Something that lets her bridge the gap between past, present and even future. This isn’t like before, where Yuzu left her at a loss for words—she feels like she can back up her viewpoint now. She’s got an answer...

The answer!

“Well, I can’t deny that. All those innovations do make engines more efficient, more economical and more effective for the everyday driver...in a vacuum.”

“But if you ask me, I think that’s led to some serious problems in how modern cars are made—problems not immediately apparent, but still there nonetheless.”

“What do you mean?”

“As an engineer, I really respect how far cars have come. Some of the new systems they’ve come up with in the last few years? Genius. They’re always pushing the envelope in making cars as efficient and optimized as possible.”

“...But as a mechanic? I can’t STAND working on newer cars. It drives me up the wall!”

“It...does? Really?”

Yuzu raises an eyebrow. She wasn’t expecting Reina to answer so...emphatically. She might have struck a nerve—or perhaps opened a discussion that Reina’s thought long and hard about already.

Out of respect for the mechanic who just built her a new engine, she lets Reina speak. It might give her a new perspective she never thought to consider.

“All this added efficiency, all this added complexity is great on paper! When you first buy the car and all the parts are working as intended, it’s all really nice.”

“But the downside of that is, engine bays are packed as tight as they can possibly be with new parts, pieces, wires, sensors... All stuff that usually works well, but when you have to get in and fix something, it’s like you’re sifting through a jungle! Every car needs to be serviced throughout its life, but with a lot of these new cars, I feel like maintenance is just an afterthought in their design.”

“I mean, look at Uncle Naoto over there! I dunno what ended up being the issue with that car, but he had to pull the whole motor for it!”

Reina gestures toward the sedan, still sitting at the far end of the garage floor. It looks like Uncle Naoto is just now getting the engine slotted back in—the job took him hours and hours to finish. Reina yells across the garage to him:

“Uncle Naoto! What did that car even need?”

“Water pump!”

“A water pump! He’s been working on that stupid car all day just to fix one part!”

“In that same amount of time, we built an engine!” Reina gestures to the newly-assembled Pocket for emphasis.

(...That’s a fair point.)

“Plus, car companies are making their parts more and more specialized. Now on top of the usual tools we have, we need stuff specific to each make. We have unique sets of tools just for Nissans, just for Hondas, just for Subarus...and that extends to mechanics in general. You’re not just a car mechanic anymore—you’re a Nissan mechanic, or a Honda mechanic, or a Subaru mechanic. They’re all sorta drifting away from each other, and at the end of the day, that hurts the customer.”

“Why?”

“Because if you need to jump through a bunch of extra hoops just to work on your car yourself, then you’re not gonna bother. You’re gonna take it to the dealership instead, and that makes them more money because they can charge you out the ass for it!”

“Huh. I...never really had to think about it that way.”

She’s describing a monopoly. The fewer shops have the wherewithal to work on modern cars, the bigger the market segment for the dealerships—and the more they can charge for their services by virtue of being the only garages in town.

Perhaps that’s why Yuzu felt so discouraged, so daunted by the difficulty of learning car mechanics—maybe it really has gotten more complicated over time.

“Still... What’s the problem with leaving it to the experts? Why work on your own car?”

“Well...maybe I’m biased, but because cars really aren’t as daunting as people think.”

“Cars are very complicated, yes—but they don’t have to be impossible! Far from it. Why send your car to a dealership for basic maintenance when you can learn to do it yourself for so much cheaper? It’s your car, you should be able to do what you want with it!”

“Hell, if you want to, you should be able to learn how to build parts, just like we did today. That’s how people learn best!”

Yuzu can’t deny that. She really was expecting the engine build to be so much more complicated... Now, despite her inexperience, she feels like she might actually be able to follow the recipe with enough practice and shadowing. She had always thought of engines as these impossibly complicated things—that if she wanted to learn how to work with them, she would need university education at minimum. But as Reina has shown her, learning by doing is so much more effective.

And that train of thought leads into Reina’s next point.

“...But nowadays, it’s harder for people to get their feet in the door. Car companies want you to do everything through the dealership, and now there are so many more hoops to jump through if you want to do it yourself.”

“So we’re spending more on tools, more on parts, more on licensing, more on labor—and all that extra cost eventually makes its way to you.”

(To me...)

She’s gonna have to start thinking about that soon, now that she owns a car herself. She’s never had to bother with dealerships or maintenance...but the more she listens to Reina, the more she sees the value in learning these things herself. If she doesn’t have to turn to a dealer for every little thing—if she can learn the ropes and practice herself, then she’ll be getting closer to her own goal, just like that.

“...So that’s why your cars are the way they are?”

“Yeah.”

Reina’s gaze drifts to the Road Runner—an ancient, outdated, unsophisticated monster that has no place in the real world. To most, it’s nothing but a relic that sooner belongs in a museum than on the streets.

But in the world Reina knows, it means so much more than that. It lacks the hostile engineering of modern cars, the high barrier to entry they boast. Where many modern cars take all the fun out of mechanical work in their bid to monopolize service and maintenance, the Road Runner and Aikawa Auto’s stock represent something different: the idea that a car is yours.

“That’s something I’ve always loved about our engines: they’re made by mechanics, for mechanics. We make them as easy as possible to work on, and we don’t try to force you to take it back to us for every little thing. We make them that way because once it leaves our shop, it’s not our engine anymore—it’s yours.”

“You should be allowed to do whatever you want to it once you drive it off the lot. If you wanna take it to us for service? Sure, that’s fine. But if you wanna work on it yourself, that should be your right as the car’s owner.”

“You can even mod it too, if you want. Add a turbo, tune it up yourself, put in some aftermarket parts. Our motors are designed to take whatever you want to throw at them.”

“That’s what an engine should be, in my eyes—it should let you do what you really want.”

She turns back to the engine she built.

“And for the cherry on top, ours’ll last you a long, long time.”

This is it. This is the answer. Having seen both the past and the future of engineering, Reina feels like she truly understands what made Aikawa engines so timeless. It’s not something immediately apparent on the showroom floor, nor on the streets, nor even on the track... No, the magic of an Aikawa car shines the brightest in the garage, where they do more than just save the customer a buck—they turn them into gearheads of their own.

That’s what she needs to translate into the future—and in a fortuitous twist, now may be the best time to revive that trend. It may very well be something adrenaline junkies the nation over have been waiting for.

(Man... Talk about a speech.)

Yuzu lets slip a deep, wide-eyed breath. She came to the shop today expecting a crash course on the basics of automotive engineering; instead, she got an impassioned manifesto from the heiress of a shop stuck in time. It’s prompted her to rethink her perspective on Reina and Aikawa Auto as a whole—this might have been the answer she said she was searching for. They may not be on the cutting edge of technology, and they may not truly be able to coexist in the world of modern cars...

But maybe, just maybe, Reina’s more forward-thinking than she gave her credit for.

“Well... Sounds like you’ve been thinking about that a lot, eh?”

“Maybe I have.” Now that the nerves are catching up to her, she’s a bit embarrassed to have ranted on and on like that.

“Thanks for bearing with me.”

“No problem.”

“I just... I dunno, I like it more when cars and engines are more user-friendly like this. It’s so much more fun as a mechanic, y’know?” Reina prepares to walk the walk and put the finishing touches on the engine.

“Yeah, I getcha. I can see how there would be a disconnect between what an engineer designs and what a mechanic does.”

“Yeah... That, and Grandma was always big on the KISS principle.”

“What’s that mean?”

Reina turns back to Yuzu with a capricious smile. “Means ‘Keep It Simple, Stupid.’”

***

Slowly, the scenery changes around the garage. The ailing sedan is finally sent back on its way, the shop begrudgingly charging full price for their work. It’s an easier pill to swallow, at least, knowing they’re cooking up their specialty on the other end of the garage floor. That might not be as good for the wallet, but it’s sure as hell better for the soul.

Yuzu’s early start to the day is beginning to catch up to her. As the sun takes its leave behind Mount Moiwa, she’s finding it tougher and tougher to stifle the yawns. Reina, for her part, is still going—though she’s not sure herself how much energy she has left.

Finishing up another big round of pieces, though? That’ll put some pep back in her step.

“Getting closer now...” With the engine itself mostly assembled, she next needs to focus on the pieces that connect to it—pumps, intakes, wires, all the interlocking parts that fuel and regulate the motor. Reina’s starting to feel like they probably won’t be able to get the engine into the car tonight... There’s still so much work to do, and so little time left in the day. Yuzu silently concurs.

*yaaawn* “I’d love to stay for more, but I’m getting tired. You mind if I go ahead and tap out for the night?”

“Oh, not at all! Go ahead and get some rest. If I’m being honest, we probably won’t get the engine in the car until tomorrow—there’s still a lot of prep work to do before it can go in.”

Reina takes the moment to read the room. Sami, Uncle Naoto and Old Man Takashi are plenty tired themselves. It’s time they get some well-earned rest—to say nothing of herself.

“Alright. I think this is a good enough spot to wrap up.” Reina calls everyone over to bring an end to the workday. It’ll be the most satisfying closing shift she’s ever done.

“Okay, everybody! I think that’s a wrap for today. I’ll go ahead and close up, so you guys get some rest!”

Her declaration is met with an enthusiastic celebration from the crew. She’s run this whole operation smooth as butter so far—and tired though they may be, they’re equally proud of all the work they’ve done.

“Outstanding job, Reina!” Sami’s right there to give her a pat on the back.

“Aww, heehee... Thanks, Mom.”

“Thank you for letting me shadow!”

“Not a problem! Thank you for taking the chance on us.” Reina takes off her dirty glove and shakes Yuzu’s hand.

“You gonna stop by again tomorrow?”

“You bet. Bright and early.”

“It’s a date, then!”

One by one, the crew leave the shop, the humming of engines dispersing into the night. That leaves Reina by herself to close up shop... She’s gotten used to being alone in the garage on these long, dark nights, but it feels a lot different this time. A lot better. She can rest easy and rest fulfilled tonight.

...Now if only she feels like she could actually go to sleep right now.

“...Well, now I’ve hit second wind, so...now what?”

The kick she got from her big back-and-forth with Yuzu still hasn’t worn off. She feels like if she went to bed right now, she’d just be sitting there for hours with her mind still racing until the exhaustion finally takes hold of her. There’s still an itch for work that she hasn’t satisfied yet... She just wants to do more. Surely there’s no harm in a little overtime, right?

“...I don’t think it’ll hurt anybody if I do a little extra prep work. Heehee.”

While her eyelids are still light and her arms aren’t giving out yet, she puts herself to work just a little while longer. There’s not much left to do with the engine while it’s still on the crane, so she directs her attention to the car itself. While she was hard at work, the rest of the crew did a remarkable job cleaning up and stripping down the engine bay—it’s nearly ready for the engine already.

She smiles. They’ve really got her back.

“Well, the engine bay looks pretty far along, actually. I’ll just finish the job...”

Reina continues her work, sorting out wires and connections all over the engine bay. Many of the parts that feed the engine sit patiently inside—some still stock, others needing replacement on account of the previous owner’s misuse. In particular, the radiator looks like it took a proper beating from how hot the old engine was running... Best to get that out of the way now before the engine’s lowered in.

“Oookay... There we go.” Thankfully, the rest of the crew made the job easy for her by draining the fluids from the car beforehand. The dry radiator eventually comes free from the Silvia, and a brand-new replacement is ready to take its place.

By this point, the sun has long since set. The lights in the shop are dim, the dark of the night threatening to overpower them. Reina had to shut the radio off so as not to violate any noise ordinances. Compared to the hustle and bustle earlier in the day, this feels a lot more...tranquil. She has no idea what time it is, but she doesn’t really mind.

She yawns. This might end up helping her sleep faster after all.

“Good. That’s that done. Once the motor’s in, we’ll get it hooked up and fill the coolant.”

There’s not too much left in the engine bay that isn’t too big a job. She’s almost ready for bed, but she feels like she needs just a little more time...

With that in mind, she sets her sights on the interior. They’ll need to pull some stuff out so they can make sure all the electrical wiring is correct.

*yaaawn* “Sure, why not?”

For the first time this entire build, Reina opens the door to the Silvia and settles down inside. It’s a quaint, understated interior, perfectly suited to the market of the day—though perhaps not perfectly suited to her.

“Ngh. Just gotta... Ahh. There.” She finds the seat adjuster and slides it all the way back so her legs finally have room to stretch. It’s nice that it’s an old mechanical bar, so she doesn’t need the key in the ignition for it—it would be rather difficult to get power to the seat given there’s no battery. And no engine.

“Just a quick piece or two...” Bit by bit, her eyelids are getting heavier. As she works through the Silvia’s interior, she wonders how much she’ll end up doing before calling it a night. She can feel herself sinking into the seat a little bit—getting nice and comfy, leaning back on the headrest...

“Alright...” She lazily puts a part on the passenger seat. “Just gonna get that done, and then I’ll... I’ll...”

“...Zzz...”

Lights out for the overtime worker. The instant she put her head against the seat, it was game over—she’s on the fast track to Dreamland in no time flat. After countless hours of work on the engine, Reina finally gives in and retires for the night; too tired to trundle back home, she settles for the Silvia’s driver seat instead of her bed. With how tired she is, she doesn’t even notice the difference.

“Heehee... Tomorrow’s gonna be...so much fun... Zzz...”

She’s so tired, in fact, that she doesn’t even notice Sami groggily walking into the shop some hours later. She had been wondering what Reina was doing—though she had a sneaking suspicion that she was staying up late working herself to sleep. They never could keep her out of the garage, for better and for worse.

(That girl... She’s just like her grandmother.)

Sami lets her sleep—she’s earned it. She can handle closing up shop tonight in her stead. After taking a look back at her slumbering daughter, Sami shuts off the lights behind her.

(Good night, Reina... You rest up now. You’ve got a big day tomorrow.)

Finally, the Aikawa family signs off for the night—a moment’s respite before another action-packed day tomorrow. Reina, Sami and everyone on the crew look forward to the day... They await the sweet, sweet music of a new Aikawa engine bursting into life.

One more day, the building will wait in limbo between past and future—but only one. Tomorrow, the drought lifts at last, and a new chapter in their storied history begins.

Tomorrow, the young master spreads her wings.