Ch18 Lancer
Late at night, Celica brought them all to a parking lot. It is filled with people and cool JDM cars all around. They all stood in different sections of the supposed ‘track’. Waiting for DQ to show up.
“So… who is this DQ that you are talking about?” Nekomi then asked.
“See for yourself.” Celica said.
Not long after, the sound of an engine roaring starts to get louder, the sound of a turbo within can clearly be heard, and sounds of a misfiring system can be heard every few seconds. Then a red sedan with a huge spoiler drifts in front of them, the person driving it notices Celica and nods at her. She nodded back, and it went as quickly as she came.
“Well here you go. That’s her.” Celica said as Nekomi and Mason dropped their jaws, unable to say a word.
Few minutes later, they all went to a different floor of the parking lot, seeing the same red sedan parked in the middle with people taking pictures of it and cheering around. Then a girl wearing a white and black beanie with short red hair got out of the car, immediately lit up a cigarette and smoked it.
“You ain’t my true competitor. Get lost kid, go somewhere else and come back only after three years.” She said.
Then someone went out filled with embarrassment and slowly drove his car away as the crowd booed.
“Man I need some competition, I haven’t seen people as good as me in years! You all suck! Does anybody want to try and beat me!”
Later she noticed Celica and said, “Hey you, welcome back! What made you come to this part of the city?”
“We actually wanted to find you. DQ.” Celica answered.
DQ looked at others that are behind Celica and said, “Oh I see what’s going on now! But do you all even know what DQ means?” Then she turned to the crowd and asked, “Does anybody tell those new guys what DQ means?”
“Drift Queen!” The crowd cheered.
“See? I am the best here. If you want to talk. Make me!” She said as she let out a smug face.
Seb and Nekomi just looked at each other and shrugged. But then Tommi raised up his hand and said, “I want to challenge you to a duel!”
The crowd went silent as this boy that they have never seen before went up to DQ. “Oh you? What car do you have?” she asked.
He just simply pointed towards his Ford Fiesta. The crowd laughs. “Really? With this? What is that? A pile of shit?” DQ then laughed “Well if you insist, I still have time for another race. But since you are new here, as a host, I allow you to go around the track 3 times to familiarize yourself, then we begin.”
“We'll see about that!” Celica then said, right after that she turned to Tommi and whispered, “What the hell were you thinking?”
“I like Lan Evo, me race, me win, we get Evo.”
“You better win Tommi! Or else!”
“Nekomi did it once, so why not. I’m faster anyways.”
A while later, both Tommi and DQ lined up at the start. A person stood in the middle holding a glowstick, preparing the countdown. They revved up their engines preparing to go.
“San, ni, ichi. GO!” the person counted as they quickly went. The DQ went ahead but Tommi managed to keep it close.
“Oh my god! What do we do!” Mason panicked as he had no idea what they just got themselves into.
Kimi pats him on the shoulder and said, “He will do it! Trust me!”
Nekomi also pats him on the other shoulder and said, “They have no idea that we are professionals. Let them know how the pros do things.”
Corner after corner, drift after drift, Tommi manages to keep close to DQ, the track is tight and all he can do is to wait behind and be in her slip stream. Until one corner where the track finally widens, he is finally able to make his move. DQ knew this all along and defended the inside line, forcing Tommi to go from the outside. Everyone thought it was impossible to overtake from the outside, not even DQ could do it. But miraculously Tommi thought he could make a move, braking late, pulled the handbrake, swept the outside corner and thus overtook DQ, also maintaining a sharp angle just to prevent her from retaking the position.
Nekomi was watching from the crowds, and knew that this would happen, knowing that he used to participate in rallycross and used the same technique back then.
Finally, Tommi won and the crowd went wild. Tommi got out of the car and DQ went up toward Tommi and asked, “Who the hell are you, what is that thing, and where are you from?”
“I am Tommi, this is my Ford Fiesta Rally 2, and I am from Finland.”
“Wait, hold up. Mäkinen?” DQ then asked.
“No, he is my idol and I am Fubuki.”
DQ thought for a while then she stood on top of her car and said, “Attention everybody! After many nights and many days, I remained undefeated at this place. But until now, I have finally found my true competitor.” She then pulled Tommi up and said, “I am announcing that under my watch, no one will dare lay a finger on this man! And we shall celebrate for being the first to truly defeat me! Everyone, cheer for Tommi!”
The crowd now cheers for him while the people who came with him become impressed.
“Told you!” Nekomi then said, “He’s built different.”
Later they all went to the top of the car park, found a place where it is less crowded where DQ can finally talk with Tommi with little interruption.
She then lights up another cigarette and smokes it. “Hey, want one?”, she said. Tommi shook his head.
“Well alright then. I’ll then save it for myself.”
She smiled and said, “So, your name is Tommi right? What a coincidence that I knew someone named Tommi. You probably knew him as well since you're Finnish. So what makes you come here?”
Tommi remained silent.
“Oh so you’re the silent kind huh? I see. I guess it's just you listening to me then. Well over the years I have seen many drivers before, different types of them. But you’re different, I saw it. You’re that once in a decade driver aren’t you.”
Tommi still kept being silent.
“Alright then, keep your secrets. But please tell me what made you want to drive in the first place?”
Tommi simply just looked at her car and nodded at it.
DQ blushed a bit and said, “Well, that’s unexpected but OK. But you do know what your whole operation is about right? You’re basically talking to that thing right here. Is there anything to say?”
Tommi suddenly blurted out saying, “I love you.”
DQ blushed a bit more and said, “Well this gets a bit embarrassing, umm… I mean, you can’t just say…”
“I love you.” Tommi then repeated himself as he started to get closer to DQ as well.
“Wait, so you mean it? Umm… please can we do it somewhere else or something? This is getting out of hand right now.”
Tommi keeps getting closer until he grabs her face and kisses her on the lips.
DQ’s face is all red and her body starts to heat up and starts to stutter, “You- Uh… did you just… uh… Sigh…” She then looked away from him and softly said, “Call me Lancer-chan next time you stupid baka~”
At the same time, Nekomi and Mason stood there next to them in awe, originally not noticed by the both of them while making out in front of them the whole time.
“Yup, he’s definitely built different.” Nekomi then said.
“Hey why the fuck are you two here! Get out or I will kick your ass!” Lancer then said
“Hey guys, I think her name is actually Lancer!” Nekomi shouted to others as he was running away.
“Yeah, I knew this since I first met her in 1993!” Celica then replied
“Ugh… Alright you guys can call me Lancer if you want! I don’t care anymore.”
It took a while for her to calm herself down and join the main group.
“Alright I kept my promise, what do you want from me this time Celica?” Lancer then said.
Celica then said, “Well it’s simple, we want to go and find Mountain Shogun.”
“OH HELL NO! NOT THAT BLUE WHORE AGAIN! WHY DOES SHE HAVE TO BE IN THIS? YOU KNEW THAT SHE IS MY ARCH NEMESIS AND NOW YOU WANT HER? THAT IS THE LAST THING I EXPECT FROM YOU AND YOU LITERALLY SAID IT!” She just went berserk after that and started to scream.
Celica then said, “Now, now calm down, as you can see we are all here. We just need one more in order to finish this. Besides you both were like ice and fire, took the world by storm! We can’t have one over the other. Also you should start managing your anger as Nekomi just had a seizure over here!”
For some reason Nekomi started to have headaches again, and Mason needed to move him aside to calm him down.
“Now, will you do it or not? I beg you please! You are the only one I know who can!” Celica said as she begs for her help.
Lancer thought for a while and said, “Alright, alright, fine! We will go and find that son of a bitch. But let me tell you, you all require some extra special training.”
Meanwhile at Mason’s side, he asked Nekomi, “Hey, any clues, any hints? Just anything, tell me what you see.”
“I see… happiness… something fun, like playing video games together, eating together, playing remote controlled cars together. It’s the same girl again. I can feel it, it is getting closer. And she is calling out for me!” as Nekomi then softly said to Mason.
“Glad to know that some memories are coming back together again. After that mental breakdown a few years ago, most of your horrible memories are gone but unfortunately some happy ones are gone as well. Including our’s, it did take you some time to recognize me back, with some headaches, can’t you remember?”
“Yes… I sure did, thanks for always being there for me.”
“So, best bros?”
“Yes, best bros.”