There was a week left before the qualifiers for the ROA Cup Round 2 would be announced. Teams from all over the country and the world had arrived to begin conducting tests. Inside Akinabalu Motorsport's garage, Alice and Sugimoto stood in front of their cars. The light dimly lit their vehicles parked side by side. They stared at their race cars, feeling confident in them.
"Man, I look so cool right now." Sugimoto told her.
"What a way to ruin the moment Senpai." Alice chuckled and punched his arm slightly.
As they were joking around, Ghazali went up to them.
"Alright team, I've talked to the stewards and they told me that the current testing session is full. So we'll be starting testing in the afternoon. You're free until then." Ghazali told them.
"Ah, that's a bummer." Alice muttered.
"I see, thanks for the info Gaz." Sugimoto told her.
"Glad to help, I'll call you guys if we need anything from you. Peace!" Ghazali said before leaving them alone.
Alice and Sugimoto now stood there, not knowing what to do. Then suddenly Sugimoto has an idea.
"Hey kid, let's check out our potential opponents." Sugimoto said.
"Sure. I guess It's better than rotting in the break room anyway." Alice told him.
They walked out of their garage and looked around. The paddock area was lively as drivers, mechanics, crews and stewards were all hanging out outside their garages. They all shared the same passion for motorsports, the scenery made Alice's eyes light up.
"Man look at all these people! It feels like it's a carnival!" Alice told him.
"It sure does. It looks like they're all enjoying themselves." Sugimoto replied.
As they were admiring the scenery, a familiar person walked towards them.
"Morning you two!" Kara told them.
"Morning Kara!" Alice cheerfully said.
"Morning Fujiwara." Sugimoto casually said.
Kara looks up at Sugimoto and notices that Sugimoto has dyed his hair. A small smirk formed on Kara's face.
"Oh wow Asashi, that looks great on you." Kara teased.
"It feels like your compliment isn't genuine." Sugimoto told her with a visible vein.
As Kara was teasing Sugimoto, Alice decided to ask Kara something.
"Hey Kara, are you practicing in the afternoon?" Alice asked.
"Nah we're practicing this morning. The team is currently preparing final touches before we roll out to the track." Kara told them.
"Ah, I see. We're practicing this afternoon. Good luck with practice." Alice told her.
"Thanks! I also heard that the Riversons will practice with you guys." Kara warned them.
"Richard?" Alice muttered.
She began having flashbacks to the restaurant incident. Sugimoto and Kara looked at her, a bit confused. Alice soon snaps out of it.
"What about Richard?" Sugimoto asked.
"N-Nothing, I was just thinking of ways to beat him again." Alice chuckled.
"I Love that confidence, Alice! You'll get'em, although I'm still confused about what went down between you." Kara said.
As they talked, Alice's teammate called her over. Kara gestured to them before turning back to Alice.
"I guess that's my queue, see ya later!" Kara told them.
"Ah, I see, see you later Kara!" Alice told her.
They waved Kara goodbye and Kara ran back to her garage. After a while, they saw two Nismo GTR GT3s coming out of their garage and made their way to the track.
"Man look at those beauties, I'd love to drive them one day." Sugimoto told her.
"You say as if you don't drive a monster of a car already Senpai." Alice said to her.
"That's true but sometimes you just want to get a feel for them, y'know?" Sugimoto replied.
"Yeah, I'd understand that. Who wouldn't want to drive a Godzilla." Alice casually replied.
As they stood there, Alice had an idea.
"Hey Senpai, let's go watch them race." Alice said to him.
"Sure, let's go." Sugimoto gladly accepts.
They made their way to the stands to watch the race. The stands were a bit empty since it was only a practice session. They sat somewhere that had a good view of the track. As they sat together, a car passed through the straights at full speed, its engine echoing through the stands.
"Look at that car Senpai!" Alice pointed out.
"Woah look at that car! It's so fast!" Alice said excitedly.
"If you think that's fast, you should see round 4." Sugimoto told her.
"What do you mean? What's the difference?" Alice asked Sugimoto.
Sugimoto thought for a while before telling her.
"Well to put it simply, rounds 1, 2, and 3 are considered the fillers of the ROA Cup. Teams participating in these rounds usually compete for the teams' championship." Sugimoto explained.
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"I see, so what about rounds 4, 5 and 6?" Alice asked curiously.
"Round 4, 5, and 6 are considered the main events of the ROA Cup. Major teams all over the world will compete in this event instead." Sugimoto told.
Alice understood most of it but still had something on her mind.
"Why do they only join the later rounds? Aren't the others important as well?" Alice asked Sugimoto.
"It's usually because of the prize pool and constructors' points." Sugimoto told her.
Alice grew curious upon hearing about the prize pool for the later rounds.
"So, what's the prize pool for each race?" Alice asked.
"Unlike the first three rounds, the winnings are massive! The champions of each of those rounds go as follows. Round 4, 250k. Round 5, 500k, Round 6, 1 Million!" Sugimoto told her.
Alice's eyes lit up when she heard those large figures. Her previous winnings paled in comparison to the figures that Sugimoto mentions.
"Holy Heck! That's a lot of money. How do they even get that money?" Alice asked.
"Beats me, all I know is I want to win all that cash." Sugimoto said.
"I see." Alice muttered slightly.
Alice began questioning herself and her ability. She began doubting her recent victory at the first round of the ROA Cup.
"So my win wasn't as significant as I thought." Alice muttered.
Sugimoto noticed that she was a bit down and decided to cheer her up.
"Hey, being a rookie and achieving your first win is already a milestone. Us finishing a 1-2 finish already benefits the team hugely for the constructor's championship." Sugimoto told her.
Alice felt a bit better knowing her victory wasn't in vain. However, she still had questions on her mind.
"I see, I guess we still have a lot to go. But what's the difference in terms of the constructors championship?" Alice asked.
"It's a bit complicated, We should ask the manager about it." Sugimoto replied.
As they talked, another pair of cars came on track. The GTRs were seen exiting the chicane and onto the straights.
"Hey look, it's the Nissan team!" Alice told Sugimoto.
The GTRs began racing on the straights until suddenly a purple Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo appeared out of the chicane right as the GTRs got on the straights. The Lamborghini began catching up to them and they watched on.
"Woah look at that car!" Alice said.
The Lamborghini quickly caught up to the GTRs and entered their slipstream. As they were about to enter the hairpins, the Lamborghini went out and lunged onto the side of the two Nissans, overtaking them. After that, they disappeared into the hairpins, leaving Alice and Sugimoto in shock.
"D-Did you see that Senpai?" Alice muttered in shock.
"Y-Yeah..." Sugimoto muttered.
"Who is that?" Alice asked Sugimoto.
"Remember that person I've told you about when we were in the car?" Sugimoto asked her.
Alice thought about it for a while before realizing what he meant.
"H-Her? That's the girl you were talking about!" Alice said in a shocked tone.
"Nadya Popova." Sugimoto muttered.
"How come we've never seen her before?" Alice asked him a quick question.
"They were supposed to attend the first round but they ran into some issues. This is the kind of drivers we will be dealing with." Sugimoto told her.
They listened on as the sound of the engines slowly disappeared as the cars went further away from them.
After they watched for almost half an hour, Sugimoto heard a buzzing from his pockets. He pulled out his phone and answered the phone call.
"Hey Sugi, we'd need to prepare in another hour. Get back by then alright?" Ghazali told them.
"Ah okay, we'll get back soon." Sugimoto told him.
"Good, see ya there. Peace!" Ghazali said before ending the call.
"Seems like we gotta cut this short, Gaz wants us back at the garage." Sugimoto told her.
"So soon? Alright then let's go." Alice said.
They exited the stands and returned to the Akinabalu Motorsport garage, where they found the manager standing while holding his clipboard and pen. As they approached him, the manager smiled and greeted them.
"Welcome back drivers. As Ghazali has informed you two, session two of practice is about to begin. I want you two to be in great form." The manager told them.
The drivers nodded as the manager went back to check on the cars. While he inspected the vehicles, Alice approached him to ask him a few questions.
"Hey manager, can I ask some questions?" Alice said to the manager.
"Huh, sure Alice, what's up?" The manager said casually as he walked around the car.
"So about this constructors championship, how does the point system actually work?" Alice asked.
The manager seemed genuinely surprised by her comment.
"What do you mean? I thought you already knew this?" The manager said in a shocked tone.
"W-Well, I'm still confused by the whole round system thing," Alice said to him, slightly embarrassed.
The manager let out a small sigh before telling her.
"Basically round 1 to 3 have a maximum point of 10 points for 1st place and a minimum of 1 point for 10th place. Rounds 4 to 6 have a maximum point of 30 points for 1st place and a minimum of 1 point for 30th place. " The manager told her.
Alice nods slightly seemingly understanding what the manager has revealed to her. But she still has a few questions on her mind.
"So basically, if I were to theoretically win the first three rounds of the ROA Cup, it would be instantly shattered if someone wins at least one round of the other 3 rounds of the ROA Cup?" Alice questions him.
"Yup, that's why rounds 4 to 6 are considered the main race of the ROA Cup. You do know the last two races are endurance racing right?" The manager questions her.
"Of course I do, but the rest of this round system was confusing. Why couldn't it be simpler?" Alice said.
"That's just how the ROA Cup works. I kinda understand why you're confused since this system was just implanted a few years back. Rounds 1 to 3 used to be fillers for Formula A but they've stopped racing them since 2019." The manager revealed.
"I see... Thanks for clearing it up manager." Alice said to him.
"No problem. Let me go get something real quick." The manager told her.
The manager exited the pits and went somewhere. Alice waited for 30 minutes before he came back.
"So much for real quick huh manager?" Alice teased him.
"Sorry, I kinda forgot where I put it but here." The manager said.
He handed her a dusty book. She wiped off the dust and saw the title: Rules and Regulations of The Racing Organization of Akinabalu.
"Make sure you're up to date Alice, being a great race is not just about how you could drive your car y'know?" The manager told her.
"Ah, thanks. I'll be sure to read it thoroughly." Alice told him.
The manager nodded and quickly noticed he was behind schedule to inspect the cars. He quickly grabs his pen and clipboard.
"That's enough chit-chatting Alice, I need to inspect your cars before the practice session starts. Ciao!" He said to her.
The manager went back to their cars and quickly inspected them. She noticed that they had a few more minutes before they started. There she heard the cars from the previous session begin returning back to their garages. As Alice peaked outside, she noticed Kara had finished and went up to her.
"Hey Kara! You were so cool on the track today!" Alice said.
"Thanks, Alice, it was a fun practice session." She told her.
As they talked, Kara noticed the same Huracan from before and pointed it out to Alice.
"Hey Alice, do you know who that is?" Kara asked her.
"I think her name was Nad-ya something." Alice told her as she struggled to pronounce her name.
"Nadya Popova, a multiple-time rally champion and one of the winners of a 24-hour endurance race. She's beautiful right?" Kara asked her.
Alice looked at her and noticed her beauty was on another level. The levels of a supermodel with long blond hair and blue eyes. Alice looked at her in awe before quickly snapping out.
"Ah, she is beautiful, but I think you're as beautiful as her, Kara." Alice told her.
"Aww, thanks Alice." Kara said to her and began hugging her like a doll.
"C-Can't breathe!" She said before being released from Kara's grip.
As Kara lets her down, Kara notices that Sugimoto is missing and asks Alice. She sighs and assumes it's nothing.
"Hey, where's Asashi?" Kara asked.
"Hmm, seems like that bozo is sleeping again, I'll wake him up later." Alice muttered.
Kara looked around and noticed someone in particular and pointed it out to Alice.
"Hey Alice, I don't think you have to." Kara said and pointed out.
Alice turned around and saw Sugimoto talking to the Russian women, Alice was surprised to see him all happy as they both talked. Kara seeing the situation decides to tease her.
"Hey Alice, what are you going to do about it?" Kara said teasingly.
Alice sighs at her comments and lets it go.
"Nothing, I need to prepare Kara. See ya later." Alice told her.
Alice began walking back to her garage and Kara wondered to herself.
"Did something happen between them? I hope she doesn't hate me after I said that." Kara muttered to herself.