Alice drove another lap slowly around the circuit for a cooldown lap. She felt a wave of relief and excitement. Alice saw Richard's car passing her, then turned to her side and saw Sugimoto giving her the thumbs up as he drove past her.

"Great job kid, see you at the pits." Sugimoto told Alice on the radio.

She drove back to the pits where the drivers parked their cars into their current positions and Alice parked in the middle between the two. She got out of her car and was immediately swarmed by her pit crew who began tossing her in the air. Ghazali stood by Sugimoto and gave him a firm pat on the shoulder.

"Great work Sugi, I can't believe we got first and second, I can't wait to see the manager's reaction right now!" Ghazali told Sugimoto.

"Actually, there's no need to wait, Gaz." Sugimoto told Ghazali.

Sugimoto points to the TV on the wall and there was a live broadcast showing the manager crying while a group of girls comforting him.

"Looks like a fan in the crowd is crying tears of joy, he must be a huge fan of the team." The commentators said.

The pit crew put her down and began congratulating her. Alice finally got through them and moved towards Sugimoto and Ghazali.

"Congratulations Senpai on second place, thanks Ghazali for the assistance!" Alice told them.

"No problem Alice, I'm happy to help you guys." Ghazali told her.

Suddenly Sugimoto gave her the hardest head pat of her life.

"Ouch, senpai what's wrong with you!" She told while being head patted.

"You really surprised me this time kid. I can't believe you actually overtook me there you little rascal." Sugimoto teased her.

Alice pushed his hands away and gave him a soft punch.

"That hurts you know!" Alice said to him and pouted.

"Haha sorry sorry." Sugimoto said apologetically.

"Accepted, I still can't believe I managed to win!" Alice told them still in disbelief.

As all the other drivers finished the race, the stewards began working together and checking if there were any penalties that the drivers had received throughout the race. Then, they began announcing the results

"After a thorough review, we would like to announce the ROA Cup Round 1 Champion is... Number 430, Alice Shah of Akinabalu Motorsports!" The announcer told them via the speaker.

Alice jumped with joy as she heard the news, many racers went towards Alice and began congratulating her for her achievement. As the others finished congratulating them, Kara went over to them.

"Congratulations Alice on your first win in the ROA Cup." Kara told Alice.

"Thanks, Kara! I'm sad that you had to settle for 4th place. You were so closed!" Alice told her.

"Yeah, I kinda got too into the moment and ended up on the grass. At least 4th position is still good enough for me." Kara told her.

Sugimoto stands there seeing them interact with each other. Sugimoto waited for her to congratulate him but was ignored. He began coughing a bit to get her attention.

"What is it Asashi?" Kara asked him.

If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

"Aren't you forgetting someone else?" Sugimoto asked her.

"Forgetting what?" Kara asked in a confused tone.

"Never mind." Sugimoto told her while looking away.

"Come on Asashi you know I'm kidding, you did great. But you've definitely passed your peak." Kara said teasingly.

"Hey, what do you mean I've peaked?" Sugimoto asked while giving her a stern look.

"Nothing, so anyway congratulations to both of you. See you guys in round 2!" Kara told them.

They waved goodbye to Kara as she walked away. After a while, the stewards came to Alice and Sugimoto to prepare for the podium ceremony. After a quick brief with the stewards, they began walking to the podium. Alice felt a bit nervous and Sugimoto noticed her and petted her back.

"Hey, why are you nervous kid? You've been through this multiple times already right?" Sugimoto asked her.

"W-well it's just that I've never had this big of a crowd before, I'm not really good with talking with people haha." She said and nervously chuckles.

"Don't worry about that, just wave and hold up the trophy, that's all." Sugimoto reassures her.

"A-alright then." Alice muttered.

The announcers began calling each driver's name one at a time. Then, Alice's name was called onto the podium and she walked towards it and put on a brave face. Alice got on the first place podium and the camera flashed in her face. The ceremony began as the drivers were decorated in flowers and were given champagne bottles filled with sparkled water. The CEO of ROA came and handed them their trophies. They shook hands with Richard and Sugimoto until he finally got to her. He shook hands with Alice and had a small conversation with her.

"You seem quite young Miss Shah, I hope to see more from you. May I ask, are you the daughter of The Great Shah?" He asked Alice.

"Y-yeah, he's my dad." Alice replied calmly.

"Why he and I were great friends back in the day, please follow in his footsteps will you?" He said and chuckled.

Alice smiled awkwardly as he handed Alice the trophy and went off stage. Alice soon lifted the trophy and showed it to the crowd and they began taking pictures of her. The announcer told everyone to stand for the national anthem of Akinabalu. Alice felt pride placing her hand to her heart and sang along with the chorus.

"Akinabalu..." Aliced sang slowly.

After the national anthem ended, Sugimoto began spraying Alice with the sparkled water, Alice popped open her bottle and sprayed him as well. While they're having fun, she notices that Richard has already walked off the podium and went off stage but Alice doesn't mind it and continues having fun. They finally got off the podium and were swarmed by news reporters who wanted to interview her, Alice was flooded with questions from the reporters bombarding her with absurd questions.

"How does it feel like to win your first ROA Cup at the age of 16?"

"How does it feel like being the shortest driver to win the ROA Cup?"

"Will you continue racing in the next round of the RAOA Cup?"

Alice tried to answer them but one of the questions caught her attention.

"As you achieve your first win in your professional career, will we expect more wins from you in the future?" One of the reporters asked.

Alice thought for a while and decided to answer boldly.

"Yeah, expect more wins from me. This is because I want to win the entire championship, not only round 1, but I want to win the next 5 rounds of the ROA cup!" She told them.

While Alice was still being interviewed. Sugimoto was also busy with some interviewers who wanted to ask him.

"Since returning to racing a year back, how has it impacted your life after your initial retirement?" The interviewer asked.

"It actually felt great, tho my first years at this Akinabalu Motorsport had been a bit of a pickle. But since she's here, we will definitely have a blast, especially after this win." Sugimoto told the interviewer.

After a few interviews later, Alice got out exhausted but soon she was tackled by her friends who were waiting for her.

"G-guys?" Alice squeals.

"We're proud of you Alice!" Aini told her.

"T-thanks guys, I appreciate it. I'm glad you guys came to my race." She said while still being locked in a hug by Raani.

"Hey Alice, I've told the school about your win, the teachers are stoked to hear it! They even want you on stage!" Airi told her.

"W-what? Why did you tell the entire school!?" Alice said in a shocked tone.

She got out of the hug and scolded them for spreading that information to her entire school.

"Why did you tell the whole school about this? Not even my teachers know I race actual cars! Next time tell me if you're about to tell someone about me!" She scolded them and pouted.

"S-sorry about that." they said and chuckled slightly.

Sugimoto walked behind her and head pats her in front of her friends. The trio was shocked to see her being petted by a man.

"Good job kid, you nailed them interviews! They seem familiar, are they your friends from the mall that other day?" Sugimoto complimented her and asked.

They began having nose bleeds as they saw the sight. Alice notices it began flustering and pushes his hand away.

"A-are you Alice's boyfriend?" They asked Sugimoto.

"No, I'm just her Senpai." Sugimoto replied casually.

"P-please take care of her!" They all said at the same time at Sugimoto.

"ITS NOT LIKE THAT YOU GUYS!" Alice screamed at them flustered.