Leaving the apartment building, Mizuno followed the directions on his phone, piloting his custom wheelchair up the mountain road behind the building.
After exploring the whole route, Mizuno realized this really was a great place to race—close to his rental, rugged enough for excitement but not actually dangerous. Perfect for a rookie like him to practice racing skills.
So, while waiting for Fujiwara-san to arrive, Mizuno looped around the road several times, getting even more familiar with the controls on his modified wheelchair and trying out the essential racing technique of drifting.
Unfortunately, drifting wasn't as simple as he'd hoped. Sure, the "drift" part was easy: just hit the brakes hard while cornering at speed and the chair would swing out from centrifugal force. But keeping the wheelchair stable during the drift—and maintaining speed through the curve—was a whole other story. Mizuno tried hundreds of times but never managed a clean drift.
Plus, every failed drift was risky. It'd be all too easy to go flying, chair and all. If the road hadn't been lined with guardrails, Mizuno probably would've rolled right down the mountain by now—reliving the pain of tumbling down a hillside during "body training" all over again.
Still, even with every drift attempt ending in failure, Mizuno refused to give up.
I could drift with a keyboard in QQ Speed, why not here? he fumed. Don't underestimate us QQ Speed veterans!
With a shout, Mizuno hurled himself toward the corner at full throttle, Don Quixote charging a windmill—his wheelchair slamming repeatedly into the iron rails with loud metallic clatters.
After half an hour of solo practice, the distinctive sound of tires on asphalt echoed up the mountain—a car approaching. Right on time, Fujiwara-san arrived in his classic AE86.
Beep beep—! Fujiwara-san honked twice, pulled up next to Mizuno, and stuck his head out the window.
He'd been curious what kind of car Mizuno would bring for the upcoming race.
"A Ford Fiesta? Maybe a Toyota Yaris? Citroën C4 wouldn't be bad either!"
If Mizuno picked a car with much better specs than the AE86, he might be able to make up for his lack of experience and actually beat Fujiwara-san's currently top-ranked grandson.
As for Mizuno's claim yesterday about racing in a wheelchair, Fujiwara-san hadn't believed a word of it—figured he was just joking. Who would be crazy enough to race in something that slow?
But the moment Fujiwara-san actually saw Mizuno's "race car" was a real wheelchair, he froze halfway out of the car, thunderstruck. He even forgot to pull the handbrake, letting the car start rolling down the slope—nearly crashing straight into the guardrail.
Luckily, Mizuno shouted a warning in time. Fujiwara-san snapped out of it, stomped the brakes, yanked the handbrake, and managed to avert disaster.
Fujiwara-san walked over and spent a full ten minutes inspecting Mizuno's custom wheelchair, his expression shifting between shock, suspicion, and outright terror. At last, he asked:
"Kid, you're seriously planning to race in a wheelchair?!"
"Of course. Would I lie?" Mizuno patted his wheelchair—now scarred from all his failed drifts—and stuck out his chest with confidence. "I've modded it! It's small, hard to flip over in corners, and with enough power that its top speed is way faster than a lot of pro racers. It's perfect for the race."
"I even gave it a name—Feiyan One."
"Isn't that a rocket's name?!" Fujiwara-san blurted, unable to resist.
He didn't have concrete proof, but Fujiwara-san couldn't shake the feeling that vehicles named like that were just asking for disaster.
"Hmm..." Even though he was still skeptical about entering a wheelchair in a race, the more Mizuno explained, the more Fujiwara-san found himself warming up to the idea.
This Mizuno kid might be a rookie with some strange ideas, but he'd actually nailed the logic of car modification!
In racing, the winner is usually whoever can take the corners best—speed in the curves is real speed. Anyone can go fast in a straight line.
So, the smaller the vehicle, the better it handles corners! Less chance of flipping, lower risk when making sharp turns.
But the smaller the car, the smaller the engine it can carry, so the lower the power—meaning you fall behind on straightaways.
Whoever balances the two best has the real advantage.
Mizuno's racing wheelchair was tiny, yet somehow also fast! In terms of performance, it might even beat out his own classic AE86! The only downside was the lack of protection—a single seatbelt to keep the driver from getting thrown out under hard braking. If Mizuno tangled with another racer, he'd be at a huge disadvantage.
But that wasn't a big deal. As long as his technique was good enough, if he could get ahead early, who'd be able to catch up and hit him anyway?
The more Fujiwara-san thought about Mizuno winning first place in a wheelchair, the more he struggled to keep a straight face.
It was wild, but it would definitely put his cocky grandson in his place.
After all, nothing says there's always someone better quite like getting overtaken by a wheelchair!
Still, before passing on his racing knowledge, Fujiwara-san had to settle one crucial issue...
After some hesitation, he finally asked:
"You're driving this thing with a keyboard... so how am I supposed to teach you?" Fujiwara-san pointed to the keyboard on the chair.
All his experience was based on having brakes, accelerator, clutch, steering wheel, and a gearshift. If Mizuno had brought a go-kart, Fujiwara-san could've managed. But this... how was he supposed to teach someone to drive with a keyboard? Was he supposed to tell Mizuno, "When you take a 180-degree corner, crank the wheel all the way one direction, then all the way back, and finally straighten it when you're parallel with the road?"
"No worries! Just explain the steps in detail—I'll get it." Mizuno promised with confidence.
It was just a different input method, after all. For someone who'd raced with both keyboard and steering wheel, translating the instructions was no big deal.
"Is that so? Well, all right then..." Fujiwara-san still sounded skeptical.
And while Mizuno and Fujiwara-san were deep in discussion, an Uma Musume—camouflaged in a delivery box—had quietly snuck up to the practice site, peering out through two spyholes to observe the scene...
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T/N: huehuheuhe
was gonna update earlier but got lazy, so im just doing 4 chapters for today's update, should be an update tomorrow too maybe 4 maybe not
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