Lap 5

"HEY," THE CREW HALTED FROM EATING THEIR LUNCH when two trainees appeared in front of them. Their eyes were darted to Kairo. 

"Looks like this crew has finally found their new member, " one of them said with a smirk on his face. It was Locke. Kairo kept on munching his sandwich, not minding the two presences invading their table. 

"Yo, new guy!" Jean tapped his shoulder that made him instantly lose his appetite. He had enough of this shoulder tap today. His eyes slowly averted to the owner of the hand. 

"What?" He was trying to control his temper. 

Jean mockingly looked at him. "Your face looks young to be a racer, I think you still need your daily bottle of milk!"

Hilarious. 

"Gosh, these two fools are trying again to be bad boys or something," Olivia rolled her eyes. "Get lost, stupids. Leave Kairo alone."

Jean and Locke laughed at Olivia's banter. "We just want to test this new guy's talent—if he has!" Locke chuckled. He turned his gaze to Kairo. "Kairo, right? You know, we, trainees of this academy are the tomorrow of the motorsports industry." His voice sounded mocking, triggering Kairo to bite his bait. "Therefore, it's a must to test our new trainee, right?"

He faced everyone in the cafeteria as if asking for their response. None had spoken, but it didn't bother him. "We heard you got the fuel for an underdog? Let's try it out for a race."

Kairo, silence, never uttered a single word. He just stared back at the two freaks in front of him. Is this how they welcome newbies? 

"Dude," Paul slightly elbowed him. "Don't listen to them— we don't do such a thing here," he whispered. 

Kairo took the last bite of his sandwich. He stood up that surprised everyone. Kairo faced the challengers. "Let's do it," he dared. "I'll follow you on the circuit—"

"No, no, no!" Jean interjected. Their wide scornful grins made Kairo feel the urge to rip their faces off. "Not in the circuit, silly! Let's be more techy..." 

"Let's do it in the simulator!" Their voices thundered across the cafeteria. It called the attention of the other trainees. A battle was about to unravel.

"GOOD GRACIOUS!" SAMANTHA COULD ONLY SLAM HER PALM into her face as they gathered in the training room where the simulation machines were located. "I can't believe that new guy took up the challenge!"

"Now, that's a real fighter there!" Olivia said, actually amused by Kairo's attitude.

On the other hand, Paul and Cooper were assisting Kairo with the simulation machine. The simulation machine was used for trainees to condition themselves before using the real circuit outside. The machine augmented reality technology to let the user engage with the virtual environment by using an AR gear and other equipment ( steering wheel, gear stick, and the likes). Kairo hadn't used this kind of thing— he wasn't even sure if he could do it. 

He only had determination. He would like to use this as a chance to prove himself worthy of entering the academy. 

"All set, brother!" Paul announced. Cooper helped Kairo to wear the AR head gear. "You ready? Don't worry, Kairo, it will feel just like a real car, alright?"

Kairo smirked, he knew what to do. Paul and Cooper gave him a nod before leaving him with the simulator. 

"Good luck!" They cheered.

"Ready?" His opponent, Locke, asked. He thought it would be him against the two idiots, but Locke insisted on competing with him alone. Instantly, Kairo's environment changed into a virtual racing circuit. He felt like it was real, he was really inside this racing vehicle. 

It was a one lap race. Like his usual street race, but virtual. His left hand gripped the steering wheel, the other hand on the stick. His foot was ready to step the pedal.

Virtual interfaces appeared in his vision. It was his tracker to determine his position and his opponent's, as well as the condition of his vehicle. 

A countdown appeared.

3... 2... 1!

A green flag was waved! They immediately revved their vehicles and made it zip into the circuit! Kairo felt his body slightly pushed backward to resemble the pressure when they were in a real race. Let's get into this! His chair could be swerved left to right to allow him to feel the movement of his vehicle. Almost like playing his mobile game, but with all of his body moving.

"Hey, loser!" Locke appeared by his side, taunting him with a smirk. He pressed his gas pedal to increase his speed. "See, yah!" He shouted as he sped his car down the road.

Kairo watched as Locke took the first position, leaving him behind. He maneuvered his vehicle to tail his opponent. He made sure all of his actions were calculated. He had no idea how to control the control panel in front of him- he just maneuvered it according to how he dealt with his Aston Martin.

Locke had already managed to make a distance between him and Kairo. Kairo pressed his pedal to chase him. His car blazed. He kept looking on the map from time to time. Eyes locked in the opponent's current position, he zoomed his vehicle to its speed. He could feel the adrenaline rushing through his vein as he raced. He was craving for this feeling! He wanted this, being against the wind. 

"What the...?" Locke was ineffable when Kairo's car passed after him in an instant. How could he do that? "No way, I'm coming to get you!"

Kairo had a strong grip of his steering wheel. He was about to get through a curved path. He readied the clutch and the steering wheels. As he entered the bend, he did a rough drift— the rear wheels were slightly titled as it moved to a bend direction. It created a screeching noise, like an eagle squealing. 

He pushed the throttle again to make his car fly. Locke, on his back, was struggling to keep up with him—trying to speed up the car to steal Kairo's position. "This ks absurd! He's just a newbie!" He cried, slamming his steering wheel in frustration.

The race didn't last long, much to Kairo's disappointment. He reached the finish line with no sweat. Virtual fireworks welcomed him in the end as he was hailed the winner of the racing challenge. 

"Another lap!" Locke, the challenger, demanded. "It's just a beginner's luck!" Kairo removed his AR gear, wiping the beads of sweat all over his forehead and neck. 

"Why... to make me beat your ass again?" He flashed his mischievous grin. He couldn't do anything for Locke's skill issue. He would gladly accept another challenge, but he might get bored this time. 

Locke could only scoffed, bitter and crushed. Even Jean's words wouldn't do anything to soothe his damaged ego. 

As for everyone, they didn't believe what their eyes had witnessed! A new trainee... with a monstrous ability! 

Rosales... Paul thought. 

He had been trying to dig in his brain to find out the familiarity of the name. He must have heard it somewhere. His eyes widened when finally something rang in his mind! That must be it.

"H-He's a Rosales!" His mouth was agape in surprise. "Kairo Rosales... he's the son of Kiro Rosales!" The crew of Gearfall looked at him with the same astonished reaction. 

"Alright!" A loud clapped thundered across the room, catching everyone's attention. It was Winston who entered through the automatic door wearing his tracksuit. "Enough with the freak show. Go back to your training."

He went to Kairo. "Ah, finally!" there was a beaming smile on his face. "The suit looks good on ya, son!"

"C-Coach, how did you know him?" Paul asked, still astonished with his latest knowledge of the new member. 

Winston, whom they knew as Coach Winston, rested his arms on Kairo's shoulder. "Long story, boy. Right, Kairo?"

The boy didn't bother to respond.

"Well," Coach Winston blew a sigh, not leaving his wide grin. "Finally, the Gearfall crew is now complete with your new member, Kairo Rosales," He pointed Kairo beside him. "And I think you are all ready to be trained to become our academy's team for the upcoming Apex Racing League Series."

Kairo's heart started racing in excitement.