A few minutes pass, and cars from outside the garage can be heard making their way to the track. Ghazali and the rest moved their equipment to the pitlane to prepare for the practice session. Alice notices that Sugimoto is returning to the garage and she puts on a calm demeanor. She notices that Sugimoto has a slight blush on his face and decides to tease him for it.

"Seems like somebody had a good time." Alice jokingly said to him.

"We only had some small talk, nothing much." Sugimoto calmly said as he petted her head.

Alice felt a bit flustered and pushed his hand off her head. Then Ghazali approached them.

"Alright drivers, it's time to move out and head to the pits. The stewards will give us a quick briefing before practice so get there in time." Ghazali told them.

The drivers nodded and drove their cars to the pitlane. They parked inside the garage where the rest of the crew awaited them. As soon as they got out, the crew began doing a final inspection of their cars before practice. Then the stewards called them over for a quick briefing.

"Man briefing is such a bore! They do know we're professionals right?" Sugimoto yawned slightly as he said that.

"It's just a procedure Senpai. Besides it's just for a bit." Alice told him.

"Yeah yeah. Let's get it over with." Sugimoto huffed.

Alice and Sugimoto went inside the briefing room. There, they saw the race marshall standing at the front of the room while the drivers sat down to listen to the steward's lecture. They took a seat and listened to their briefings. As they sat, Alice caught a glimpse of Richard, who was also present. She stared at him as she remembered the day they encountered each other at the restaurant with her grandfather.

"Why was he talking about that incident with my grandfather? Does he know something that happened on that day?" Alice thought to herself.

As she stared at him, Richard looked behind and caught Alice in the act. Alice immediately noticed and looked away and acted naturally. Richard returned his attention to the stewards and Alice was sweating a bit.

"Crap, he totally caught me staring." Alice muttered to herself.

"You okay kid? You seem nervous." Sugimoto asked concernly.

"N-No. I'm good!" Alice blurted a bit loudly.

The stewards and the rest of the drivers noticed and turned their attention towards her. Alice saw that all eyes were on her and began lowering herself down.

"Please, no talking during the brief? Understood?" The head marshall told her.

"Y-yeah, I'll be quiet from now on." Alice muttered to them.

Alice felt embarrassed and covered her face from the embarrassment. After the briefing ended, they all returned to their respective garages in the pitlane. Alice went inside her car and placed her head on the steering wheel, seemingly appearing in a depressed mood.

"Why does it have to happen to me..." Alice muttered to herself.

After sulking in the car, she got out and went up to the rest of the gang who were just chatting.

"Why the long face Alice? Did something happen?" The manager asked.

"Ah, she got scolded by the stewar-" Sugimoto was about to say but was cut off by Alice elbowing him in the guts.

"It's nothing, I was just getting into the mood for the session." Alice calmly told them.

Ghazali and the manager watch as Sugimoto holds his guts in pain and they all calmly express a small smile.

"I-I see. That's good to hear." The manager muttered.

"I-I'll get an ice packet for Sugi." Ghazali said as he rushed off.

After that incident, Alice and Sugimoto wore their gloves and helmets before entering their cars. They checked on everything and adjusted their cars to their preferences. They soon got their cars out on the pits and the cars began driving one by one before exiting the pitlane.

The stewards gave them a quick thumbs up and they soon left the pitlane. They got onto the triple hairpins and got a radio call from the team.

"Alright, drive fast and be safe out there. Radio us if you need anything like a fresh set of tires." Ghazali told them.

"Got it." Alice and Sugimoto replied.

They did a couple of laps to warm up their tires. After a few laps, they began racing each other. They race with each other normally in Sector 1 and Sector 2. Alice and Sugimoto exited the hairpins together and entered the first highspeed straights of sector 3. Alice follows Sugimoto close behind to benefit the slipstream of the Porsche. As they were about to enter the chicane, Alice used the slipstream advantage and got beside the Porsche. They enter the chicane together and Alice manages to overtake him as they come out of the chicane. Alice smirked to herself after seeing Sugimoto in her rear mirror.

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"Sorry Senpai but I don't want to stay behind a slowpoke." Alice muttered.

"Getting cocky I see? Too bad you've blundered." Sugimoto muttered.

As they enter the second straight of sector 3, Sugimoto follows the BMW closely to plan his next attack. Alice stays in the middle of the track as they chase each other. Then, Sugimoto decides to exit the slipstream and slowly inches beside Alice. As they approach a corner, Alice goes to the far left of the track. Sugimoto, seeing this move, follows beside her. Alice and Sugimoto turned together and he managed to retake his lead.

"Too bad that didn't work out for you kid." Sugimoto muttered.

"This is where you fall into my trap!" Alice excitedly proclaimed.

As they enter the S turns of the final sector, Alice manages to get beside Sugimoto. Sugimoto is surprised to see her beside him, thinking she is behind him. They race beside each other through the twisty turns until they reach the C-shape sector. There Alice is on his outside, which will lead to Alice taking the inside of the chicane on the final sector. Sugimoto begins sweating, knowing she will take the lead on the straights.

"Crap. How is she still beside me? I need to get ahead of her." Sugimoto muttered.

"There's no escape, this sector is mine!" Alice confidently muttered.

Alice noticed that the 911 began squeezing her out as they got near the chicane. Alice seeing this began worrying.

"What the heck, he isn't leaving me any space!" Alice muttered.

"Come on kid, back off or we both crash!" Sugimoto smirked.

Sugimoto wasn't backing off, and so was Alice. They slowly approached the chicane, and Alice didn't have room to exit it safely. Alice knew that she could crash into Sugimoto if the situation continued, so she decided to drive onto the grass to avoid the collision. The M6 ended up in the grass, and the Porsche got through safely. As Sugimoto was about to celebrate, he suddenly heard someone on the radio.

"Sugimoto if we meet back at the pits I will kill you!" Alice exclaimed loudly.

"H-Hey it's just hard racing kid, no need to be mad!" Sugimoto tried to calm the situation down.

"You're lucky there are marshalls right now, if not I will ram you out the tracks this instance!" Alice angrily told him.

"Come on drivers stop fighting, this is only a practice session." Ghazali told them.

The practice session continued as both drivers gave it their all. Sugimoto returned to the pits for a bit while Alice stayed on the tracks for a few more laps. As she was on the first straights of sector 3, she saw the marshalls waving yellow flags, indicating danger was ahead. Alice momentarily slowed down as she began passing by the yellow flags. As she got to the scene, she saw a white Ferarri 488 GT3 smashed into the barrier on the chicane of sector 3.

"T-That's Richard's car..." Alice muttered.

Alice looked on in shock seeing his driver side of the car destroyed. As she was about to pass him, she noticed a white smoke coming out of its rear engine. Alice immediately parked her car on the grass by the end of the chicane and got out. She rushed towards his car and looked inside. She saw him unconscious in the car, Alice without hesitation tried to smash his passenger side window with her elbows but without luck.

"Frick he's going to die!" Alice muttered in a panicked tone.

Alice looked around and rushed towards her car. She grabbed a small fire extinguisher and ran back to his car, where she could use it to smash the window. After striking the window multiple times, she shattered the window and reached inside the handle to open the door. Richard was beginning to gain consciousness and there he saw Alice reaching for him.

"W-What the hell?" Richard muttered.

"Grab my hand goddammit!" Alice shouted at him.

Richard unbuckled himself and immediately reached for Alice's hand. Alice with all her strength pulled him out from the wreckage and they ran away from the car. After getting a few distances away, Richard sat down on the grass and watched his car still smoking from the initial crash. Alice stood beside him and began checking on him.

"Are you okay?" Alice asked him.

Richard looked up at her and nodded. He was still in shock but was relieved that he managed to escape. The medical team soon arrived and took Richard into an ambulance before driving off. Alice looked on as the ambulance left the grounds, leaving her with the marshalls who were attending to the car as they used a fire extinguisher to extinguish the smoke from the rear engine.

After a while, Alice returned to her car and drove back to the pits. There she saw Sugimoto and Ghazali standing inside the pits. Alice exited her car and the pit crew began attending to it by changing its wheel and refueling. Alice went up to them and they seemed slightly worried.

"Hey Alice, did something happen? I heard there was a crash at sector 3." Ghazali asked worryingly.

"Yeah, there was a crash at the chicane. White car, couldn't see who it was tho." Alice told them a white lie.

"I see. Glad you're okay Alice, it would be bad if it were you." Ghazali told with relief.

"Yeah, I was kinda getting worried. You were out for quite a bit." Sugimoto told her.

Alice perked as soon as she heard that, seemingly nervous that she might get caught lying about not knowing who the person was.

"Ah, I had to slow down a lot just to check out the crash. Y'know?" Alice said to them.

Sugimoto and Ghazali brushed it off and didn't push further. After a while, they got inside their cars and began moving back onto the track with a set of new tires. They practiced as usual until the session ended. After a while, they returned to the pits to end their sessions.

"Great job on today's session. You guys did fantastic today! We've also got some valuable information about the other teams and we'll keep an eye for upcoming opponents." Ghazali told them.

"Ah, that's good to hear. You've been working hard too huh, Gaz?" Alice praised him.

"It's just what I do best. I'm not your team principal for nothing." Ghazali proudly told her.

As Alice complimented him, the rest of the crew looked at them and felt a bit jealous that they were left out. Alice seeing this began lifting their spirits up.

"Hey, you guys all did great as well! Thank you everyone for your hard work!" Alice told the crew.

They all said their welcome before they began packing up for the day. As they were packing up the equipment, Sugimoto went up beside her and petted her slightly.

"Way to cheer them up huh?" Sugimoto teased her.

"Shut up. I was just trying to cheer them up." Alice told him as he pushed his hand away.

"Hey, there's no shame in that. But you could do better." Sugimoto told her.

"Eh? How else could I do it better?" Alice asked confusedly.

"Observe." Sugimoto said confidently.

"Hey everyone, drinks on me!" Sugimoto yelled.

The crew began cheering as they heard that. Some punched the air knowing they'll get a free treat from Sugimoto. Alice stood there mildly annoyed knowing that this was his way of cheering people up.

"See kid? That's how you cheer them up!" Sugimoto remarked confidently.

"Yeah yeah, you win. I'm going home." Alice said as she admitted defeat.

"Alright them. See ya later." Sugimoto said.

They all went to a local bar while Alice went back home early. Alice sat in her bed and began wondering about the incident that happened on the track that day. She soon tucked herself to bed letting her mind drift off to sleep.