I've devised a solution - since there are many differences between the pre-"reset" world and the original story spans across 25 chapters, now is the perfect time to lay everything out in a logical fashion and give the reader a bird's eye view of everything that has occurred between then and now. Details are as follows - if you haven't read the prior fics, feel free to skip the spoilered out parts and read this as-is. All you need to know are some people are now in an alternate universe and are currently getting adjusted to the new setting.
| SPOILER |
The year is 1996. The date is November 24th.
Takumi Fujiwara, the famous Legendary driver of Akina's AE86 Tofu Delivery GT-S had just left St. Jude's Takasaki East hospital, only to discover the 4A-GE engine on his Trueno had given up the ghost. Still in shock and unable to even think, Bunta showed up only minutes later to take him and his car home.
Natsuki Mogi had been stabilized only moments prior in the aftermath of a horrible car-accident. Unknown to everyone but Ryousuke Takahashi and the celestial elf who performed the revival, Natsuki had actually died in the emergency room and it was Karie Sandars who brought her back to life - almost killing Karie in the process thanks to a heavy use of time-hopping among other spells.
Karie and Ryousuke were now alone in Mogi's room with her, and Ryousuke finally removed his surgical mask. "It's amazing Takumi didn't recognize me at all..." Ryousuke said.
"I think he was too concerned with Mogi to pay half a bit of attention to anyone else in the hospital. It's a good thing we got here when we did." Karie sighed. "Still sucked me just about dry, though. Between that and all of the time hopping, I'll be recovering for weeks. Kealan is barely in better shape than me."
"Speaking of time hopping, I noticed a lot of the equipment was the same antiquated stuff I had originally worked with in med school. It's not just a budget cut, is it?"
"No," Karie asserted. "It's 1996. And, uh - I could only peek around a little, but let's just say that the world is a less contaminated place, at least as far as radiation is concerned, and Japan isn't anything like you've ever seen before."
Ryousuke stared at Karie, confused at what she was getting at. "What do you mean?"
"I mean, from what I've gathered so far, Hiroshima was never bombed and cars drive on the right side of the road - like pretty much every place that's not a British territory.
Ryousuke felt a wave of frustration washing over him. "Are you kidding me? How is this possible?"
Karie maintained a serious look on her face as she reiterated what she told him earlier; "Like I said - things are a lot different. Every version of 'reality' always turns out a bit differently. This was the first opportunity that I saw where Kealan and myself can actually stop this force. I'm sorry that it's going to have a significant impact on how you race, but this is the best I can do..."
"How did Mogi end up here anyway?"
"From what I understand - in your original world, she had a sugar daddy and Takumi caught her cheating with him. If I recall correctly, that was the night he went to Akagi and blew his engine. Natsuki never saw Takumi. In this world, she saw him and tried to explain herself, but Takumi drove off before she could. She wandered the streets, and got hit by a truck."
"How do you know this?"
"When someone's in a deep coma - which Natsuki is right now, it's a bit easier to peer into their soul.."
Image size reduced, original size: 1200 x 900. http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj62/reijidorifuta/hospital_scene___colored_by_cookiefiedbeckish-d89uc40.png~original to view the image in its original dimension.
