Tuesday morning came quietly, the streets still damp from last night's drizzle. Birds were chirping in the narrow alleys of Suginami, the soft hum of life returning to a regular weekday. But Haruka's house wasn't part of that routine today.
"Hey," Haruka said as he handed a steaming mug of tea to Izamuri, still dressed in a loose T-shirt and sweatpants.
"Isn't the shop open today?" Izamuri asked, voice groggy.
Haruka shook his head. "Nah. We're closed on Tuesdays, remember? Gotta rest sometime."
Izamuri blinked. "We were open last Tuesday."
Haruka shrugged. "Exception. Besides, we're doing some inventory cleanup and I've got errands to run. Can you stay here and keep an eye on the place? I'll be back by late afternoon."
Izamuri blinked, halfway through slicing a tomato for breakfast. "Sure, I guess. Want me to tidy up too?"
Haruka nodded with a small smile. "Yeah. Lock up the back door. Water the bonsai, if you remember. Also Feed the cat."
"I didn't know you had a cat." Izamuri said confused
"I don't. That was a test."
Izamuri scratched the back of his head. "Uh… sure, alrigth."
"Got it. Take care!" Haruka said as he walks to the garage
It was a well-practiced lie. Not one Haruka liked telling, but necessary. He left shortly after, Corolla E101 humming softly as he pulled out of the garage. Not to a grocery store. He wasn't even heading in that direction.
Back at the workshop, the atmosphere couldn't have been more different. The massive shutter rolled up, flooding the shop in golden light. Inside, everyone had already gathered. Ayaka and Hana leaned against the tool chests by the EK9, while Rin sat cross-legged on the bench, arms folded, half asleep. The twins. Tojo and Hojo, were fighting over who got the last can of vending machine coffee, again. Takamori stood silently near the lift, eyes fixed on the Civic.
The car gleamed. Freshly detailed. Fully assembled. Fully armed. Haruka arrived last, shutting the gate behind him.
Daichi was already inside, waiting. "So," Daichi said, brushing dust off a box of notes, "everyone here?"
Haruka gave a single nod.
"Everyone except Izamuri," Hana confirmed.
Ayaka crossed her arms. "He still thinks it's a normal day off?"
Haruka replied, "Told him the garage was closed. Said I was doing a solo clean and grocery run."
Takamori smirked. "You really are a terrible liar."
"It worked," Haruka shrugged. "That's all that matters."
They gathered around the EK9, its white paint catching reflections from the skylight. It didn't look like a street car anymore. It looked ready for war. Daichi stepped forward and dropped a folder onto the bench. He flipped it open. Inside was filled with track maps, tire compound sheets, fuel loads, driver rotations.
"The first round's at Fuji Speedway. Two weeks."
Rin raised an eyebrow. "That soon?"
"Registration is already submitted," Daichi said. "Under a temporary team name: 'Zero Hour Engineering.' We can change that later. Right now, we need to organize."
Ayaka rubbed her hands. "Alright. Where do we start?"
"Right about now" Daichi replied
Not long after Daichi said that, a low rumble echoed from outside. Two cars pulled up. One, a black E-Class estate with a German plate tucked behind tinted windows. The other, a beat-up Lada Niva that looked like it had been through at least two civil wars and a rallycross season.
From the Benz emerged a tall man, square-jawed with streaks of silver in his hair and a confident gait. He wore a crisp charcoal coat and a glinting wristwatch. From the Lada came a shorter, burly man with streaks of gray hair, multiple scars on his face, a permanent five-o'clock shadow, and a cigarette dangling from his lip despite the "NO SMOKING" sign by the door.
The taller man stepped forward and hugged Daichi firmly. "Thirteen years, and you still look like hell."
"Good to see you too, Walter," Daichi replied with a grin.
The other man snorted. "You owe me fuel money, Daichi. This rust bucket drank half a tank just getting out of the damn port."
"Glad you made it, Nikolai."
Haruka stepped forward. "Introductions."
Daichi nodded and gestured between them. "This is William Walter Schmidt, former DTM strategist. Best damn race planner I ever worked with. He's our team strategist now, and Izamuri's mentor."
Walter gave a slight bow, then surveyed the garage. "Tight space. Clean setup. I like it."
"And this," Daichi continued, "is Nikolai Alexander Dmitri. Former engineer for Russia's top Formula 4 team. Fresh out of prison after being falsely accused by a former sponsor. Long story, but not his fault."
Nikolai grunted. "They said I tampered with the ECU. They lied. Sponsor wanted their golden boy on the podium. I refused to cheat. They framed me."
"I was too smart for their lies. That made me dangerous." Nikolai added.
Takamori blinked. "This is turning into a Fast & Furious movie."
"Except we actually know what camber angle is," Nikolai said dryly.
Rin whispered to Ayaka, "He looks like he could crush a camshaft with his bare hands."
Ayaka grinned. "He probably has."
Daichi stepped forward. "With Fuji coming up in two weeks, we need to organize now. This isn't just about having a fast car. We need a proper team. Roles. Structure." Daichi walked to the whiteboard mounted on the side wall and began scribbling roles.
Team Structure:
Driver: Izamuri
Car: Honda Civic Type R (EK9), No. 98
Team Principal: Haruka
Strategist & Driver Coach: William
Chief Engineer: Nikolai
Support Engineers: Haruka, Takamori, Hana
Comms & Data Relay: Ayaka
Workshop Management (Tokyo): Twins
Supervisor (To Prevent Fire and/or Unnatural Disasters): Rin
Tojo blinked. "Wait wait wait… we're not going to Fuji?"
Haruka didn't even look up from his clipboard. "Absolutely not."
Hojo gasped. "You left us behind?! Like spare tires!"
Daichi didn't even glance back. "Correct. You two are staying here and keeping the workshop running."
"But—!" Hojo tried to argue back
"You're lucky we're trusting you with that much." Daichi said a little irritated
Haruka chimed in. "Last time we left you alone for 48 hours, you converted the tire balancer into a Doner Kebab spinner."
Takamori smirked. "And remember that one time they try to mount a turbo on the shop vacuum?"
"It worked for six seconds," Hojo grinned.
"And then we lost half the ceiling tiles," Haruka muttered.
Ayaka pointed at the shop corner. "There's still a melted extension cord on the wall!"
"You put aluminum foil in the microwave," Hana added.
"It was a science experiment!" Tojo defended.
"You made an EMP by accident!" Rin snapped. "Half the street lost Wi-Fi!"
Hana held up her phone. "I still have the video. You launched a lawn chair into the ceiling."
"It was for science," Tojo muttered.
"And lunch," Hojo added. "You were aiming for the bento."
Ayaka crossed her arms. "You two once tried to reheat pizza using a brake disc rotor fresh off a time attack car."
"It worked," said Tojo proudly.
"And caught fire," Rin deadpanned. "Which wouldn't have been so bad if you hadn't tried to smother it with a jacket soaked in brake fluid."
"And I still remember you two tried to clean a brake disc with dish soap and a blowtorch," Haruka reminded them flatly.
"That was Tojo's idea!" Hojo snapped.
"You lit it!" Tojo shot back.
"And then you painted a smiley face on the fire extinguisher and named it Boom-Chan," Ayaka said, trying not to laugh.
"That's emotional support," Hojo argued.
Haruka sighed. "Which is why you're staying here. The workshop is our bread and butter, and someone has to keep the lights on."
Rin sighed as his name was written beside theirs. "Why me?"
"Damage control" Haruka said
"And making sure they don't commit a war crime in the name of curiosity," Daichi replied.
Takamori chuckled. "Have fun."
Rin slowly turned to him. "Say that again, and I swear, I will bring up the R32 incident."
Takamori's smile collapsed instantly. "You wouldn't dare."
"Oh, I would," Rin replied, crossing his arms. "Three years ago. You forgot the handbrake. The handbrake, Takamori. On a slo-"
"OKAY," Takamori snapped, face turning red. "The past is the past. Let's focus on the race team, shall we?"
"Okay… Now thats out of the way… I'll continue" Daichi cleared his throat and continued, "Fuji is a high-speed circuit with long straights. Our goal for the first round is not to win—it's to finish and gather data. If we make the podium? Bonus."
William nodded. "I've already started pulling sector data from last year's one-make championship. Izamuri has potential, but no endurance racing experience. He's never driven a full-distance race in traffic."
"And he won't find out about this until the car is loaded and ready," Daichi added.
Ayaka raised an eyebrow. "Still keeping it from him?"
Haruka nodded. "We'll tell him when he's ready. Right now, if we tell him he's racing, he'll choke on his instant noodles."
Takamori chuckled. "Or crash trying to impress us."
The workshop buzzed with coordinated motion, the once-chaotic energy of the morning now sharpened into focused purpose. Everyone had their assignments. Now it was time to make the dream real. At the heart of it all sat the white EK9 Civic Type R. Its fresh vinyls gleamed under the fluorescent lights, the bold No. 98 now stamped proudly on both doors.
Haruka had picked the number. When Ayaka asked why, he simply said, "It's Izamuri's lucky number."
It felt right. This car was meant for him.
"Alright," Haruka announced, tightening a bolt near the intake manifold. "Let's run a full systems check. We roll out for track testing tomorrow."
Nikolai was already elbows-deep in the engine bay, his gloved hands carefully adjusting the throttle linkage. "Throttle's snappy. No lag. Response is clean. This B18C has more bite than I expected."
"It's tuned for punch out of corners," Haruka said. "Mid-range matters more than top-end here."
William chimed in from the other side of the garage. "We'll need to fine-tune gear selection based on Fuji's layout. That back straight will stress the final drive."
Ayaka leaned over the laptop next to him. "All sensor channels are synced. I've programmed split logging for the ECU, GPS, and accelerometers. We'll know if this thing so much as sneezes."
Hana crouched near the rear wheels, carefully rechecking the torque on each lug nut. "Brakes are bedded. Pads are at 90%. I re-bled the lines—pedal feel's good."
Rin followed with a quick wipe of the windshield. "Tire pressure?"
"2.1 bar all around for now," Nikolai answered. "We'll adjust depending on surface heat."
Tojo and Hojo, surprisingly helpful for once, were tagging tires with color-coded chalk and logging notes into a clipboard.
"White is current set," Tojo mumbled.
"Green's backup," Hojo added. "And red means... oh crap."
"That's your label," Rin muttered.
By the time the sun dipped low in the sky, the EK9 looked different—not in shape, but in presence. It no longer felt like a workshop build. It felt like a race car. Daichi walked a slow circle around it. "This thing's clean," he said. "Like it's been waiting for this."
Haruka nodded, wiping his hands on a rag. "It has."
Daichi smirked. "So. You're really taking it to C1 tonight?"
Everyone looked up. Haruka didn't even blink. "Yeah. Nothing fancy. Just a shakedown."
William tilted his head. "That route's not exactly quiet."
"It's a Tuesday. Late. Low traffic," Haruka replied. "Just need to stretch its legs. Hear what it says at speed."
Rin folded his arms. "You're going alone?"
"I'm not drag racing it," Haruka said. "This is just a controlled cruise. Listen to the gearbox. Feel the balance in real conditions. Nothing stupid."
"I'll prep the support van," Rin said immediately.
Takamori clapped his hands. "Alright then. Let's load gear and make sure we're ready in case something explodes."
"Please don't manifest that," Ayaka grumbled.
The crew split up quickly. Rin and Takamori rolled the old Toyota HiAce into the front lot. It had the scars of years of abuse, dings on the side, a stubborn sliding door, and a cracked dashboard held together with zip ties, but it was still reliable.
"Oil levels topped," Takamori said, checking the dipstick.
"Battery charger, jacks, coolant, tire pump," Rin muttered, checking them off his clipboard. "Oh, and the duct tape."
Takamori glanced up. "You think it'll fall apart?"
"No," Rin said seriously. "But I do think the twins might sneak along and sabotage it out of boredom."
"Fair."
Inside, Nikolai and William took final notes while Ayaka backed up the ECU map to a flash drive. "Fuel trim looks tight," Nikolai said, eyes on his notepad. "But check that idle surge if it happens again."
"I'll watch for it tonight," Haruka replied, now dressed in his black jacket, helmet bag slung over his shoulder. He paused next to Daichi. "You sure about this?" he asked.
Daichi gave a slow nod. "You're the only one who knows how she feels right now. If anything's wrong, you'll know before anyone else."
Haruka looked over at the Civic. The #98 gleamed under the garage lights. "Yeah. She'll talk to me."
The garage was quiet now, filled only with the hum of cooling tools and the occasional crackle from the electric space heater in the corner. Haruka exhaled and tossed the Civic's keys up once before catching them.
"Let's see what you've got old friend."