Close Topic Options

just curious as to why this is in merch? Would it not be better in discussion since this is not a comercial endavaour?

To answer that Lordstar... well, it's because of my first title: My Initial D Based comics... then... after reading the fanfics in ID General... I decided to expand the story even further... but... I forgot the fact that it is still in ID Merch. But... You got a point there... ever since I started typing the rest of the series... I've thought about it... could somebody from the moderators please move my thread to the ID General section instead? Thanks...

To Moderator/s doing the thread moving,
Please Give me a PM if this is moved, okay? thanks a lot.

Oh, and this story will still continue.

This post has been edited by Gunma's 34 on Nov 5 2009, 06:38 PM

Talk about BIG TIME betrayal,Kasumi and Adriana are sticking up for Daiki.I think you should have made Tomo a bit more emotional when Kasumi tried to 'knock sense' into him,like maybe ignore her,turn his back and walk away.Well,I still like your story,very creative. So,are you gonna,like,make Tomo join a new team?Maybe make him join the 'Chef gang'?Those friends that work as chefs?Kasumi's sticking up for Daiki.MAKE MORE SOOOOOON!!!I'm 'hungry' for your stories. XD

Oh don't worry. I'll be continuing this. And to clarify things: Kasumi and Adriana are NOT sticking up for Daiki. Kasumi's obviously just beating sense into Tomo's impulsive mind. She's just telling him not to continue with Tomo's morbid talk of "I wish you just made me die in one session if that would make you happy, Akiyama"

Adriana, on the other hand, is simply put, protecting the name of her late brother. Tomo made it sound like all drivers who died on the track for the sake of the group are idiots, which includes in this context, Marcelo; Adriana's brother.

But we'll see how things would turn up. I have something in mind. I'll PM you once the new chapter's posted.

To get you riled up; here's a little poetic narration I have (like the ones in the Gundam Series and the FMA brotherhood right after the ending songs)

SPOILER

The illusions of the mind has cost a young man's relationship with the woman he loves and of the Queen's respect for him. As the guild appointed by Akiyama, the 'Prince' reconstructs their plans for the upcoming race event at Oahu Raceway... Somebody has noticed how things changed... just because of one person's absence. As the damage has been done, Tomo has lost the will of it all. But would he regain his resilience in the end? NEXT TIME! SUPIDO DENSETSU* Z - ROUND HAWAII Chapter 99: "I don't know who I am anymore..." Will a man's words bedridden his future? Or would he stand firm even against the challenges set by himself? * Supido Densetsu = Speed Legend (Jap pronunciation)

Edit:

And look no further!! Here it is!!

Chapter 99 - "I don't know Who I am Anymore..."

A weeks time flew by the Halona Blow hole residence. The presence of the residing visitors have faded and have come to a number of one. Tomogashi Kitsumoro, who has committed an endless array of taboos a week ago right infront of everybody else, locks himself in the room that he is sleeping in. Right infront of his team mates, and her hostess with her butler, he explodes in rage, giving too many opinionated morbid talk just to save his own principles of what being a racer really means.

For an entire week, without coming out of that room... he wonders if his actions are valid and respectable. One thing is for certain... even he himself gave a negative feedback on the matter and considers his own actions as morbid too.

"I am such a kid." Tomo admits aloud holding his lowered head up with his hands, as their shoulders carry the weight of his head to his knees. "I mean, what good would come out of my blasted mouth that time? NOTHING!! I just made the matter worse." Thinking back on Kasumi's reaction, he is in a flood of guilt. "And to think... I'd involve the one person I so never want to hurt."

"What am I going to do now? Even she sided with Daiki! Am I continuously gonna lose all my comrades over this fight the two of us have?" After a blink or two, an image of Daiki calls into his mind. "Back at Japan, I looked up to him. I was inspired by him to do better. Why would he suddenly change his personality at me? And to emphasize... AT me. What have I ever done to deserve such cruelty?" He thought aloud.

All his hollers of agony in his room, soon got to Ein's ears; who was carrying a load of Laundry from Adriana's room, passing by Tomo's room, towards down the hall. He soon came accross with Adriana herself. "And to think you'd still let him stay after what he has muttered out a week back." He sarcastically addressed the words to her mistress.

"I know, I know... All that he has said and done is hard to forgive. Before we could even make a move to mend this matter, he has to start moving first. He's not a child that we should spoon feed him the answers, Ein." Adriana explained in depth.

"But Still... what he said about a worthless death because of just some race... doesn't it sound like an insult to you? After what you have witnessed?" Ein reminded. Ein's words soon gave Adriana the image of the burning CLK again - an image she thought that she has ignored completely. "Well?" Ein reiterrated. He thought that Adriana is dozing off again and tries to get her full attention.

"The reason why... I let him stay with us... even if his groupmates excommunicated him... is because... he is my brother... Tomo IS Marcelo." Adriana answered firmly.

"But didn't you recall what he reminded you? That the dead are conscious of nothing at all? He has a point there, back at Argentina. I believe what he said back then. Don't you believe him?"

"It is not a matter of believing words, Ein." Adriana answered back in a humble manner. "It's also a matter of giving your wounded heart a chance."

"If he was just some person, giving me the impression that he resembles my brother, we would've done what the world could've done - ignore me for good and forget that we ever met. But he didn't. He stayed and wanted to learn about me for some reason."

In Ein's mind, he thought. "How sure are you that he's trying to study you, mistress? The only things I see in his mind are cars and food."

At the north bank of the Island, towards the Oahu Gulf, Minami waves accross the soft waves that carress her feet on the beach shore. She crunched herself up and thought about what Tomo has said also a week back.

QUOTE

"So... do you want to continue to destroy my insides? My dignity? The rest of my remaining life span with an insult such as that which I cannot take any longer!?" He starts to laugh demonically as he continues to talk. "You know... Adriana has told me once of her deceased brother, who died because he tries to let his career rule over his life... and where is he now? DEAD! GONE! IS THAT WHAT YOU WANT TO HAPPEN TO ME!? Who gave you the right to judge me in what I do... Oh, that's right... IT'S BECAUSE YOU'RE THE ONE HOLDING US ALL TOGETHER AND GIVING ALL THIS TO US, IS THAT IT!? Just because I am your tool to this tournament of yours, does it mean that you decide what we ought to become and what our future behelds? BULL-CRAP!! What do you want us to do next? One of us dies for the sake of victory letting our other team mate pass onto the winners circle as another gets eaten up with flames from their own vehicle? Sacrificing one just for the sake of something so short lived!?"

She bows her head down in a complete sense of doubt and pain. She never knew of Adriana's story because they never personally met. But Tomo's enraged words gave her a clue and she thinks that What's happened to Adriana's dead brother is wished by Daiki to happen to Tomo, as Tomo explained.

A group of guys approached Minami slowly from behind. Minami wasn't terrified nor did she give the impression that these men are strangers. And she has that strong feeling that Joseph is among the group. Minami raises a question to arouse her endless array of questions.

"Joseph..."

"Hmm?" Joseph hummed as he turns his head to face Minami.

"Tomo said something about sacrificing your life for racing. What do you think of his statement?" Minami asks him fervently.

"He did mention that, man." Joseph thought as he places his palm on his chin and thinks of a probable answer. "Racing to the point it is life-risky eh?" Joseph had a long session of silence. Minami thought that she could get the answers out of him; but she stood corrected and was about to cancel the question until... "I don't look at racing that way, ya. Racing... it is like creating wings under your tires lettin' ya fly in 'da sky you ghet wat I am sayin?" Joseph answers in a reggae like manner.

Minami just giggles over Joseph's gestures as he mimics an eagle carrying him by his shoulders, taking him to the skies.

"Be positive about things Minami." A person from Josephs back adivised her. It happens to be Anthony. "As what Joseph told me, Tomo is right about one thing. Why bother to sacrifice your life over something so short lived. Isn't enjoying the thrill and the world of racing that's why we do it? Isn't that a good enough reason why we race with our hearts and smiles? As somebody who owns a car too, I know what it means to drive and to race altogether - and both are two different things. I find no delight in driving but I find a devastating thrill in racing."

"Wow. That was deep of you, cousin Anthony." Ryan intervened as he carries his plate full of spam musubi, extending them to Minami; who hasn't eaten breakfast yet.

"Better Yet Minami... For ya to understand this matter... I turn the question back at ya. What does racing mean to you? What does racing give you that makes you attracted to it? Why do you race? But you don't need to answer 'em all man. Just pick one."

"Well..." Minami thought it over until...

"Racing... I race for passion." Another teenaged guy interrupted.
"Oh, come now Kaede. My sister was thinking over here." Ryan ironically stated as he pushes Kaede's stomach. "Hey, she was taking so long and I have a thought ready in my head." Kaede answers back at Ryan. "Anyway..." the earlier continued as he fixed his glasses. "I may sound selfish but I race with my heart. Everything I live for is expressed through my racing. Every movement of the char shows who I am. I may lack the skills but I have a heart and a desire to race to be the best. I race for myself and for no other person."

"This is no dramatic monologue, nii-san." Satsuki butted in.
"Not you too, sis!" Kaede dramatically said in an embarrassed tone.

"Well... what about you, Minami...?" Anthony soon reminded her. "Well..." She said as she stands up. "I am not a hard-core racer unlike you but the feeling is mutual and exhilirating! It's a feeling that nothing else could replace!" She answered with a smile.

"and... I enjoy that feeling..." She continued. "I love that feeling. It's like being surrounded by a bed of autumn maple leaves that freely fall on the ground right before you fall, breaking your fall. That's how I think of racing."

Everyone else just gave a warm applause to Minami's answer.

"So there you go." Joseph reminded. "How would you enjoy racing if you drive for the wrong reasons? So stop thinking on the negaive possibilities. Make that, stop thinking negatively on the matter at all." Anthony finalized. "You got that, Minami?"

"C'mon! I'm making my own version of the musubi! I can't wait any longer!!" Ryan interrupted as he frolics back to the house. "H-hey! You need an elser to help with cleaning the rice!" Anthony freaks out and chases after Ryan.

"Oh... ho-ho... so you're getting old now, are you?" Joseph kids around as he walks back to the house too. Kaede runs along to distract Ryan and the others and Satsuki runs as well to stop him.

As Minami returns back to the house too, she looks one last time at the sea and thinks... "Sure hope Tomo thinks of it the same way... as what I have discovered..."

Back at the Eizaguirre household... Adriana has brought a tray with two drinks to Tomo's room - a strawberry daquiri and a blueberry tropical smoothie. She knocks on the door, hoping to get a response. "Tomo. May I come in? It's me, Adriana."

A minute has passed and she feels that he doesn't care. As soon as she turns around, the door unlocks. Tomo asks her "What is it?" in a pale voice. "I just want to talk with you. Heart to heart."

Tomo opens the door to her in a slow manner and closed the door right after Adriana entered. He closed the door shut and locked it, hoping that Ein won't intrude. "What is it that you want to talk about?" He asks her.

"I just want to talk." Adriana replied simply put. "If this is about the week ago then don't talk to me. Nothing good will come out of me anyway." "But I know you didn't mean that... You didn't mean what you said. You were simply frustrated." Adriana described him. "You are someone who holds strong to the ideals that you have inculcated to yourself. It isn't wrong for you to defend yourself from the cruel words of your own manager. And I know you didn't mean to hurt Kasumi and the rest."

Tomo was depressed and at the same time touched with Adriana's way of words. She didn't hold on long to Tomo's mistakes and made him remember his mistakes. She assured him of the positives so that he'll be encouraged to mend his mistakes.

"Tell me. Why are you so nice to me despite what I did? I overheard Ein and I agree to the fact that what I have said does sound like an insult to your brother..."

"Oh come now. Don't be such a negaholic. And it is all because you are still my brother by heart."

"But I already told you. I am not your brother." Tomo insisted.

"True. I accept your view on the matter. I will deny that you are my brother. You are not. you said so yourself. But I am not sure if my heart would continue to agree with you." Adriana admits. She touches her heart and pretends to talk to it. "My heart said that I have lost my brother... yet I have found him again. I don't want to lose him ever again this time. That's what my heart says."

Tomo just gave her a sympathetic look and minds about his own biddings. "At the same way... you still accept me because of that... just for the sole reason that I represent you brother?"

Adriana nods in agreement on that point.

"Well... I do thank you for your hospitality, Ms. Adriana." Tomo started off. "But I don't know how would I be able to repay you for all this. I may have retained your trust in me... yet at the same time, I have lost my companions in the process. I really don't know what I would be doing as of now. My best friends, Hiei and Ryusen are gone... The person financing me inside and outside the racing career of mine is gone as well. The person who is there when I have an emotional breakdown is no longer with me... Who am I as of this point? What am I to do? I don't know who I am anymore."

"Are your friends that important to you?" Adriana follows up a question.

"My friends... They are the most important thing to me. Next to the lord of course and his will; but my point is... My friends... they make up who I am. They help me realize my true purpose in life whenver my own conscience is bothered and clottered up in clouds..." Tomo explained with depth. He then took the glass with the blueberry tropical smoothie and takes a sip at the shake.

"And is it also because you love Ms. Kasumi very much?" Adriana asks once more.

He spits his drink by accident out of embarrassment. It is a fact but he gets childish whenever he was thrown that question. He became entirely red right infront of Adriana. She just chuckled in place.

"I thought so..." She snickered. "Thought what?" Tomo asks. She stands up and looks at the window. "To tell you the truth... I never loved anyone other than my own brother. Why? It's because I was the only one who witnessed how he died. But don't take my word for it. You don't have to reach that point in time before you accept that fact, Tomo." She turned with a smile.

"Well... I think... Ein loves you."

This time, it was Adriana acting all childish as she fuzzed in her place. "Well... think about it. Why would he continue to serve you even after his father passed away? It is not just for gratitude. It is for something deeper. And that's why he stays with you for all his time, Adriana. We're but the same..."

"You think so? Well... I won't assume too much on that point... my friend." Adriana contradicted with a smile. "Feeling any better?" She asked him.

"This talk... well it did make me feel better. Thanks a lot Adriana. I don't know how I could repay you..." He wondered.

"Well..." Adriana thought as she bit her thumb. "A hug is alright. It's just us in the room and all." With that, they DID hug. "What are you gonna do now?"

"That... I don't know as of now... But eventually, it will come to me." Tomo answered with a fist of determination.

Ein, who was eavesdropping on their conversation gave a sneer. He has heard enough and walks down the stairs. "I better get the stuff ready..." he uttered. I wonder what he means...

This post has been edited by Gunma's 34 on Nov 22 2009, 03:12 AM

She bows her head down in a complete sense of doubt and pain. She never knew of Adriana's story because they never personally met. But Tomo's enraged words gave her a clue and she thinks that What's happened to Adriana's dead brother is wished by Daiki to happen to Tomo, as Tomo explained.

A group of guys approached Minami slowly from behind. Minami wasn't terrified nor did she give the impression that these men are strangers. And she has that strong feeling that Joseph is among the group. Minami raises a question to arouse her endless array of questions.

"Joseph..."

"Hmm?" Joseph hummed as he turns his head to face Minami.

"Tomo said something about sacrificing your life for racing. What do you think of his statement?" Minami asks him fervently.

"He did mention that, man." Joseph thought as he places his palm on his chin and thinks of a probable answer. "Racing to the point it is life-risky eh?" Joseph had a long session of silence. Minami thought that she could get the answers out of him; but she stood corrected and was about to cancel the question until... "I don't look at racing that way, ya. Racing... it is like creating wings under your tires lettin' ya fly in 'da sky you ghet wat I am sayin?" Joseph answers in a reggae like manner.

Minami just giggles over Joseph's gestures as he mimics an eagle carrying him by his shoulders, taking him to the skies.

"Be positive about things Minami." A person from Josephs back adivised her. It happens to be Anthony. "As what Joseph told me, Tomo is right about one thing. Why bother to sacrifice your life over something so short lived. Isn't enjoying the thrill and the world of racing that's why we do it? Isn't that a good enough reason why we race with our hearts and smiles? As somebody who owns a car too, I know what it means to drive and to race altogether - and both are two different things. I find no delight in driving but I find a devastating thrill in racing."

"Wow. That was deep of you, cousin Anthony." Ryan intervened as he carries his plate full of spam musubi, extending them to Minami; who hasn't eaten breakfast yet.

"Better Yet Minami... For ya to understand this matter... I turn the question back at ya. What does racing mean to you? What does racing give you that makes you attracted to it? Why do you race? But you don't need to answer 'em all man. Just pick one."

"Well..." Minami thought it over until...

"Racing... I race for passion." Another teenaged guy interrupted.
"Oh, come now Kaede. My sister was thinking over here." Ryan ironically stated as he pushes Kaede's stomach. "Hey, she was taking so long and I have a thought ready in my head." Kaede answers back at Ryan. "Anyway..." the earlier continued as he fixed his glasses. "I may sound selfish but I race with my heart. Everything I live for is expressed through my racing. Every movement of the char shows who I am. I may lack the skills but I have a heart and a desire to race to be the best. I race for myself and for no other person."

"This is no dramatic monologue, nii-san." Satsuki butted in.
"Not you too, sis!" Kaede dramatically said in an embarrassed tone.

"Well... what about you, Minami...?" Anthony soon reminded her. "Well..." She said as she stands up. "I am not a hard-core racer unlike you but the feeling is mutual and exhilirating! It's a feeling that nothing else could replace!" She answered with a smile.

"and... I enjoy that feeling..." She continued. "I love that feeling. It's like being surrounded by a bed of autumn maple leaves that freely fall on the ground right before you fall, breaking your fall. That's how I think of racing."

Everyone else just gave a warm applause to Minami's answer.

"So there you go." Joseph reminded. "How would you enjoy racing if you drive for the wrong reasons? So stop thinking on the negaive possibilities. Make that, stop thinking negatively on the matter at all." Anthony finalized. "You got that, Minami?"

"C'mon! I'm making my own version of the musubi! I can't wait any longer!!" Ryan interrupted as he frolics back to the house. "H-hey! You need an elser to help with cleaning the rice!" Anthony freaks out and chases after Ryan.

"Oh... ho-ho... so you're getting old now, are you?" Joseph kids around as he walks back to the house too. Kaede runs along to distract Ryan and the others and Satsuki runs as well to stop him.

As Minami returns back to the house too, she looks one last time at the sea and thinks... "Sure hope Tomo thinks of it the same way... as what I have discovered..."

Back at the Eizaguirre household... Adriana has brought a tray with two drinks to Tomo's room - a strawberry daquiri and a blueberry tropical smoothie. She knocks on the door, hoping to get a response. "Tomo. May I come in? It's me, Adriana."

A minute has passed and she feels that he doesn't care. As soon as she turns around, the door unlocks. Tomo asks her "What is it?" in a pale voice. "I just want to talk with you. Heart to heart."

Tomo opens the door to her in a slow manner and closed the door right after Adriana entered. He closed the door shut and locked it, hoping that Ein won't intrude. "What is it that you want to talk about?" He asks her.

"I just want to talk." Adriana replied simply put. "If this is about the week ago then don't talk to me. Nothing good will come out of me anyway." "But I know you didn't mean that... You didn't mean what you said. You were simply frustrated." Adriana described him. "You are someone who holds strong to the ideals that you have inculcated to yourself. It isn't wrong for you to defend yourself from the cruel words of your own manager. And I know you didn't mean to hurt Kasumi and the rest."

Tomo was depressed and at the same time touched with Adriana's way of words. She didn't hold on long to Tomo's mistakes and made him remember his mistakes. She assured him of the positives so that he'll be encouraged to mend his mistakes.

"Tell me. Why are you so nice to me despite what I did? I overheard Ein and I agree to the fact that what I have said does sound like an insult to your brother..."

"Oh come now. Don't be such a negaholic. And it is all because you are still my brother by heart."

"But I already told you. I am not your brother." Tomo insisted.

"True. I accept your view on the matter. I will deny that you are my brother. You are not. you said so yourself. But I am not sure if my heart would continue to agree with you." Adriana admits. She touches her heart and pretends to talk to it. "My heart said that I have lost my brother... yet I have found him again. I don't want to lose him ever again this time. That's what my heart says."

Tomo just gave her a sympathetic look and minds about his own biddings. "At the same way... you still accept me because of that... just for the sole reason that I represent you brother?"

Adriana nods in agreement on that point.

"Well... I do thank you for your hospitality, Ms. Adriana." Tomo started off. "But I don't know how would I be able to repay you for all this. I may have retained your trust in me... yet at the same time, I have lost my companions in the process. I really don't know what I would be doing as of now. My best friends, Hiei and Ryusen are gone... The person financing me inside and outside the racing career of mine is gone as well. The person who is there when I have an emotional breakdown is no longer with me... Who am I as of this point? What am I to do? I don't know who I am anymore."

"Are your friends that important to you?" Adriana follows up a question.

"My friends... They are the most important thing to me. Next to the lord of course and his will; but my point is... My friends... they make up who I am. They help me realize my true purpose in life whenver my own conscience is bothered and clottered up in clouds..." Tomo explained with depth. He then took the glass with the blueberry tropical smoothie and takes a sip at the shake.

"And is it also because you love Ms. Kasumi very much?" Adriana asks once more.

He spits his drink by accident out of embarrassment. It is a fact but he gets childish whenever he was thrown that question. He became entirely red right infront of Adriana. She just chuckled in place.

"I thought so..." She snickered. "Thought what?" Tomo asks. She stands up and looks at the window. "To tell you the truth... I never loved anyone other than my own brother. Why? It's because I was the only one who witnessed how he died. But don't take my word for it. You don't have to reach that point in time before you accept that fact, Tomo." She turned with a smile.

"Well... I think... Ein loves you."

This time, it was Adriana acting all childish as she fuzzed in her place. "Well... think about it. Why would he continue to serve you even after his father passed away? It is not just for gratitude. It is for something deeper. And that's why he stays with you for all his time, Adriana. We're but the same..."

"You think so? Well... I won't assume too much on that point... my friend." Adriana contradicted with a smile. "Feeling any better?" She asked him.

"This talk... well it did make me feel better. Thanks a lot Adriana. I don't know how I could repay you..." He wondered.

"Well..." Adriana thought as she bit her thumb. "A hug is alright. It's just us in the room and all." With that, they DID hug. "What are you gonna do now?"

"That... I don't know as of now... But eventually, it will come to me." Tomo answered with a fist of determination.

Ein, who was eavesdropping on their conversation gave a sneer. He has heard enough and walks down the stairs. "I better get the stuff ready..." he uttered. I wonder what he means...

This post has been edited by Gunma's 34 on Nov 22 2009, 03:12 AM

Weeeeeeee,nice stuff!!!Although I would have made Tomo a bit more depressed than that.But it depends on the author,so yeaaah,it's excellent.Tomo's personality has a little flaw in it.He becomes up-beat way too fast.That's what I think.And what's with Ein?!Is he gonna betray them?Or is he gonna race Tomo? And Tomo's friends are....either hooked onto fame and fortune or they just don't get the 'in depth' of Tomo's words.I guess they like fame and fortune more than friends,can't blame them,being famous is waaaay better,no?Instead of knocking sense into Tomo,Kasumi should have noticed his behaviour earlier,it's her lose,that's what I think.But I'd stay behind for friends.Maybe Tomo should return back to Gunma,disappear for a long period of time.And then focus the story on Team Japan for that time span.Then maybe make Tomo come back with better skills...maybe even a new car....I sound bossy.Don't mind me,whenever I make some ideas up,I sound really bossy.So,just follow your own heart,and keep up the good work!Hoping for more soon!!

Chapter 100 - Resistance of the Heart

Things have somewhat cooled down in the Kaloko Lost Heaven residence. Tomo has finally regained the energy that he has lost due to an outbreak of emotions. That same afternoon, Tomo finally stepped out of the room. A glimmering light greeted him. He was blinded by the impeding light. "Agh!" He groaned. "It's so bright." He complained.

"Is the light that painful to you, Tomogashi?" A man from the end of the hall questioned.

"Ein..." He noticed. Judging by his current outfit: showing off his well built chest and abs with wearing just a pair of crimson jogging pants and weights on the back of his hands, he looks as if he came out of his usual training session. "Are you TRYING to pick a fight with me?"

"Hmph." He sneered. "And here I was thinking that my mistress has turned you to the good boy kind of person." Ein continued. Putting both of his arms at his waists, he added. "I am not trying to pick a fight. I'm just like this with a couple of strangers who hurt my mistres..."

"I'm telling you, those were unintentional. How am I supposed to know that Adriana will be in pain when I mention 'that' when I first met her?" Tomo questioned. Ein didn't react immediately. He retains his calmness. "Well, now that my mistress has accepted you, it's better off I think that I become at least a tad bit nicer to you." He faces the stairs and makes a hand gesture telling Tomo to go with him.

"Where are we going..."

"I won't say anything until we get there." Ein reminded. "Once you see the door up close, close your eyes."

They passed by where the Television set and the sofa are. They enter an open door leading right into the kitchen. Tomo, who had his eyes closed right after passing through the TV, wonders what is it about.

"Open 'em." Ein commanded.

As soon as Tomo opened his eyes, he can't help but question Ein's motives. "W-what's this!?" He immediately asked him. There was a prepared cutting board set up next to the stove with a partly frozen fish on a stainless bowl. The fish somewhat looks like a groupe. He feels the groupe's flesh and concludes that they are quite firm. The entire fish quite resembles a red snapper but with slightly smaller eyes in comparison to the earlier. "A red snapper?" Tomo asks Ein.

"No, it's a grouper. A south east asian kind. In the Philippines, they are red, such as this one and they call it a Lapu-Lapu. The name I think is derived from the famous warrior settler there who defended the land against the Spaniards until death. Well, that's what I think, understanding the country's history. Groupers vary from color to color." Ein deciphered.

He looks to the side of the grouper and sees threesome of a medium sized capsicum; red, green, and yellow respectively. Next to it is a single chayote fruit, a large red onion, some cloves of garlic, a small block of peeled ginger, and a large sized carrot. And next to that, he sees an array of bottled sauces, mostly the red ones, with a small bottle of soy sauce and vinegar as an exception to the group. At the end of the group are, as usual, seasonings: such as salt, pepper, and what he has never seen for a long time now, monosodium glutamate... locally known to Filipinos as vetsin.

"What do you want me to do with this?" Tomo asks.

Ein didn't mutter and throws a pink apron at his face. "Oomph!" Tomo said as the apron momentarily cuts off his incoming breath for a second. "Make Escabeche." Ein said as he leaves the kitchen.

"Escabeche?" Tomo utters again. Ein gaves a huge sigh and gives him quick information about it. "It is a Spanish dish which closely resembles sweet and sour fish, with a few additions. It is a Spanish delicacy. That's all I can tell you. As a chef, things like this must come instinctive. I think you WILL get the hang of this surprise treats."

"Wait!" Tomo interrupted. "Before you go, allow me to ask a question."
"Ask away." Ein freely told him.
"Is this some sort of a test? What are you doing all this for?" Tomo asked seriously.
"You said you needed a job right? Without that Akiyama person, you're financially hopeless." Ein's statements nearly ticked Tomo off. "And since there are no openings for to-be-hired cooks or chefs at some fancy, wackjob hotels or slow-style five star restaurants, not to mention that the only openings are at low paying but well managed family diners by the Western area of the island..."

"Just get to the point, Mr. Butler." Tomo said in an irritated tone.
"How's $3400 weekly sound?" Ein offered.
"Three thousand four hundred what?" Tomo questions.
"I'm offering you a job, dang it!" Ein freaks out. "The mistress insists. We have running income at a famous casino by Honolulu and at other forms of business that keeps our money rolling so 3.4 grand isn't that much of a deal for us to give to a house employ-"

Tomo, who was shedding tears of joy runs to Ein like a little kid who just got his christmas present and attempts to hug his leg, like the little chipmunk-like character of Madagascar... until something flies by Tomo; more specifically, above his left ear, right through his side's hair line, which made Tomo freeze to that like of a statue. "Prove your worth in this kitchen before you could touch me..." Ein said in rage. "No one touches me for no helpful reason... you got that!!"

Still like a kid, Tomo sulks in one corner, using a childish tone to threaten Ein. "I don't think Adriana would like it if she finds out that her act-alike-brother gets his ear cut off by her very own lifetime, devoted brother..."

"You little he-witch!" Ein groaned. "JUST GET TO WORK! DINNER IS HALF AN HOUR AWAY!!" He flipped in rage and slams the door shut leaving Tomo with the kitchen.

He wears the pink apron; ties the string around his back, and gets to work. "Understanding how Ein described this Escabeche to me, these vegetables must be julienned. There's some cornstarch right next to the salt. I better dab the fish in that then fry it in oil, right? The sauce will be made with the veggies, I think? Let's give this a shot." He said in confidence as he grabs his 10 inch french knife and gets to work.
______________________________________________________

At a five star, Shangri-la like hotel, where team Japan is supposed to be booked at, things are not as happy as it is in the Eizaguirre household. Majority, however seem to be alright except for another threesome within the group. It is an early dinner session and the teams; consisting of Japan, Britain, Central America, Mexico, Italy, Russia, and Korea, as to name a few, are busy in the buffet hall, selecting what they will be having. A wide array of spectacular dishes encircled them all from Curry-scented Chicken Stay, a Mongolian Barbeque booth, Pohole Fern Salad, Sopa de Feijao, Pipikaula, Beef Bulgogi, to Pineapple Bimbab and Malasada bread as to name a few.

Some groups even decided to pay extra to have a bottle of 1973 chardonay and Sauvignon Blanc on their table. Team Japan sits at a 10 seater table by the south west bound of the hall, near the beverage table. Although there are 10 seats, a few of them decided to sit elsewhere; they are Hiei, Ryusen, and Kasumi, who just got out of the buffet line and had their plates ready.

"Hiei-kun. You're just eating rice?" Kasumi thought as she saw Hiei's plate.
"It's the only 'edible' thing that I can find." Hiei answers.
"Aww, come on, everything is edible."
"Even this menu card? And this flower centerpiece?"
"I wouldn't go that far if I were you."
"Give him a break Kasumi. That's how Hiei eats. He chooses." Ryusen explained.
"You don't like the food list here, do you?" Kasumi asks Hiei.
"I'd rather be in a Pizza Hut bistro and eat a heaping basket of Fried Chicken wings rather than these fancy things. By the way, is RAT-A-TOTEE edible? It has the word RAT in it."
"I think you mean ratatouille. and It's just vegetables where half of the oven baked ones are made to a sauce." Kasumi explained, making Hiei throw up on his side.
"You alright?" Ryusen asked.
"Yuck! I hate the vegeta! Here I was thinking they are color coated mojos or something smuthered in weird textured ketchup."
"You seriously need to eat elsewhere aside from Shakey's my friend..." Ryusen said ironically.

As soon as Hiei gets back with just bread and butter on his second plate, all three of them gave a sigh.
"Things are dull without him, huh?" Kasumi asked the two.
"As if we can do anything about it. Daiki has our necks." Ryusen thought aloud.
"If I only I have the freedom to choose, like a choice, I'd go where Tomo is. It is because the three of us are so close to each other why I am here with you guys right now." Hiei shared.
Ryusen and Kasumi dropped their silverware from mid air down to the table cloth out of shear amazement. "That was a bold statement, Hiei-chan."
"I knew that you have something that made me love you, Hiei!" Ryusen cheered as he attempts to hug Hiei. In the end, however, he ends up getting his face smeared in a plate of Shrimp Pesto Spaghetti that Hiei decided not to eat.

Kasumi gives a glance at the other table, where Daiki and the others are. He sees Daiki talk all business like with the rest - Shimizu, Hiroya, Sakura, Tetsuya, Kitami, and Kyosuke. They all seem to be smiling over what Daiki is talking about. "I bet it is another news about how the group's finances will be now that Daiki secured the rental of a Saleen S7 turbo. I overheard him say that it has 700 plus horsepower... He seems different. Completely different." Kasumi wondered with a serious look on her face. "Tomo is right. Daiki doesn't act like this before... not until we had that Archibal incident at Canada and the Cypress bowl endurance sprint Tomo had with the father and son..." Hiei and Ryusen wondered what is occupying Kasumi's mind and snaps her out of it.

"Kasumi-chan. You okay? Do you miss him as much as we do?" Ryusen thought.
"You could say that..."
"I'm just curious. Call me an over skeptical person but I would just like to know... what is it in Tomo that made you like him? I mean, we understand him between us guys but what about you, considering the fact that you're a woman...?" Ryusen raised.
"Like a reason why I like him so much?" Kasumi verified.
"That's right." Hiei answered.
"Well... I l...like him... because he is the one who accepted me as a whole. Somebody who was once a complete stranger to him, he'd simply accept me without any hesitation. With that, I owe him a huge debt and I feel that my love for him... would be that debt." Kasumi admitted.
"Well, we all are strangers in the beginning..." Hiei agreed. "I can't argue with that."
"If you... YOU were given a chance, Kasumi." Ryusen added. "would you reunite with Tomo even if it means going through what he has recently gone through?"
"Gone through as in like the one between him and Daiki?" Kasumi recalled.
"Yeah." Ryusen whispered. "Well... would you?"

Kasumi's heart raced and thought about it. She then remembers what Tomo has said and what she has said to him back in the past. She looks at Hiei and Ryusen with intimacy and answers firmly, "Hiei-chan. Ryusen-chan. If given the chance... I would." She said with determined eyes.

"But we're not given a chance, are we?" Ryusen reconsidered.

"Maybe we don't need a chance." Hiei thought. "You've seen Tomo, he asserted his right. It's not usual for us to see him like this."

"You may possibly be right, Hiei. we all have rights. But I don't want to cause a scene. If ever Akiyama crosses the line, I have no choice but to disband from the group as well."
"Are you going too far with this?" Hiei reacted.
"You know how much I love Tomo. I have to protect his name. The possibility for his name to be totally tarnished worldwide would be on the upcoming press conference weeks or a week before the Oahu race proper. He should at least have somebody by his side by then. I am the only one who could do this for him."
"Hmph." Ryusen gave a small grin on his face. "I admire your resilience, Kasumi. I'll gladly observe that happening, when the time comes."
"Won't you guys do the same?"
"You will be taking a huge risk. We don't want to be copycats. And I believe that he'll come back. By then, we'll be ready to help him in his next race. That's why we need to stay with the group for the moment." Ryusen explained, where hiei simply nodded in agreement to Ryusen's statement.

Soon afterwards, the early dinner was over. Every group has went their way. As for team Japan, they exited and went infront of the hotel's gate.

"What is our next agenda?" Shimizu asked the group.
"Well, we're supposed to begin in testing out the Saleen you'll be piloting." Daiki assumed.
"But we'll still race right?" Kyosuke asked in addition.
"Of course. Weren't you listening, dude?" Kitami contradicted. "We'll just be racing in a different division. Shimizu's battle will be A class; we'll race in the B-C class division."
"We already got Sakura to drive as well, she'll be using that rental car, right? What car is it again?" Hiroya doubted.
"Not really. Daiki-san told me that I'll be a substitute driver for Shimizu-san halfway through the race. At least that'll give me a chance to try out how a true mid ship car works." Sakura answered.

Hiei, Ryusen, and Kasumi who are falling back behind the group talked among themselves about the way the rest are talking. "It sounded as if Tomo is dead to them."
"Tell me about it." Ryusen told Hiei.
"They'd just treat him as if he is trash? I can't tolerate this; not one bit!" Kasumi whispered. "I mean, even Sakura?"
"Are you saying Sakura is changing? I don't see anything different..." Hiei observed.
"Well... she's been like that ever since she got a side job during our stay here. I barely get to see her around. And most of the time, if we don't have meetings or stuff like that, she comes back late... I wonder why..."
"Do you think she's seeing somebody else?"
"That's a possibility..." Kasumi agreed. "I hate to contradict her but it's like... I am losing her... she's starting also to act like Daiki..."
"I get you there..." Ryusen noticed. "Even Kyosuke, Kitami, and Tetsuya are acting the same way... pretty much like this new Akiyama I have observed."
While observing them, Kasumi got a glimpse of something involving Tomo.

As they walk to the garage to meet up at the Oahu Raceway, Daiki said something to Tetsuya. "We're one car short in this, Daiki." Tetsuya told him.
"It doesn't matter. Really, it doesn't. Everyone seems to agree to me now that the nuisance is out of the way. Out of all the cars in this group, his is the most underrated one of all. It must be hard for you to manage such a drag..." Daiki comforted.
"He doesn't even care what happens to it. What a fool. He nearly broke it back at Italy... got it wrecked at America TWICE, and thought that he can outwit a Ford GT in Canada... not to mention... wrecking it once more at Argentina. Doesn't he know that his car is not something so super...?" Tetsuya complained.
"Enough with the jibber jabber. He's gone now. Best that you forget it even happened, Tetsuya. Your mods for the Mustang and Exige are even better than that one... Sakura's though is an exception to the rule. Her R tune is even better with that new dual GT wing you proposed... I see no improvement in Tomo's R though." Daiki commented.

"what a fool he is. His maybe a V-spec II Nur, but what I heard from Kyosuke... it was a hand me down model. It was so overused... no wonder he got it at a very very low price. I think Tomo never even checked the mileage in his car." Tetsuya observed.

"And you call yourself his friend..." Kasumi groaned silently from behind.
As they got to the garage and boarded their cars, a few of them: Shimizu, Sakura, Kitami, Kyosuke, Ryusen and Hiroya departed for the track, leaving Kasumi and Hiei to board with the Z. Daiki and Tetsuya continued to chat before the earlier opened the ignition and got the car moving.

While on the car, Hiei planned to ignore the conversation and took out his Ipod nano to listen to a few of his happy songs, such as caramelldansen. Kasumi crosses her arms and eavesdrop on the conversation from afar, just like how Tomo acted back at the Kaloko lost heaven mansion before their battle.

Down the freeway, Kasumi never heard anything except discussions of Tomo's faults and mistakes. She hates it when people look down on him and bad mouth him. All the words out of their mouths are insulting. "He never even cared about the team's victory. He never wanted to win at all. All he cared about is showing off..." Daiki continued.

"Remember that time at Infineon and at Oscar Galvez? He plans to drift but it was a dumb move..." Daiki reminded. "Such a complete klutz. It cost him those two important races... although technically one was just an elimination test." Tetsuya agreed. "He may be a good driver but his management skills with his car are so low that it disgusts me. I just stay with him before because he needs me as a mechanic and for some instances that he's using one of my client's cars... like Ms. Rikona."

Like Tomo, Kasumi gave a silent "Tsk" sound in her seat.

Down the freeway near Honolulu, Kasumi continues to hear more gibberish about Tomo's faults. She's close to giving Daiki a piece of her mind for sure. For fifteen minutes straight, all she hears is nothing but trash talk. Hiei doesn't want to get involved in this so he steps aside during the trip. As for Kasumi, she needs to deal with these words of torture of her loved one.

By the time they came to a stop, just them in the Z, Kasumi could no longer take it. "Please drop me off here." Kasumi commanded Daiki. "Ha? What was that?" Daiki asked. "I said... Drop me off here, please"

"Aren't you coming?" Tetsuya said.
"What's the point anyway?" Kasumi thought aloud. "What would be the point of being here if I hear nothing but insults of him?"

"We have a perfectly good reason why. He's a failure, that's why."
A person like him never deserves to be a part of a team that I have made." Daiki added.

"Is it because he is impulsive? Is it because he is emotional? Or is it because he could never meet up to your expectations of an ideal racing representative, is that it?" Kasumi complained.

Daiki turned on the hazards of his car and stepped out of his Z. Kasumi, Tetsuya and Hiei did the same thing and stepped out of the car.

"What are you trying to imply, woman?" Tetsuya reacted.
"Speaking of which... You Tetsuya Kudou! How could you?" She answered back pointing her finger at him. "You were a good person. You were. Are you just gonna let this newly changed dictator control you!? You even came to the point of insulting the one person who trusted your skills. True he may have damaged it countless times, but couldn't you see in his face his sincere apologies? He can't help it often. His rivals are ones who acknowledge him despite the fact that he himself is out of their league. I even heard one of his rivals acknowledge Tomo's car and he even gave a huge amount of credit to you, his mechanic... And here you are backstabbing him!?"

Tetsuya couldn't say a word. Half of him acknowledges his mistake but half of him too stands to the fact that he never cared for his effort to tune his Blue GT-R.

"That's enough out of you, woman!" Daiki said with bleaming red eyes. The same eyes that he had when he declared that meeting causing Tomo to snap, shows again.

"No... that's enough out of you, Daiki-sama." Kasumi said in grief. "He looked up to you in the past. He respected you. He never undermined you... and this is how you repay him in return!? I don't know what on earth happened to you that made you... this... but I won't tolerate it. I won't let myself suffer in your hands if you continue to destroy him right before me."

"Understand this, Nadeshiko. A man who speaks with mere words and no actions to prove his point is like a poem with no words that tell of it." Daiki quoted. "You're starting to sound like him, act like him, reason like him. What do you plan to do... now that you've said it all as if this is the last straw? Are you planning to abandon the team as well is that it?"

"I am planning to do so right from the start... from the starting moment that you plan to make him suffer more." Kasumi firmly acknowledged.


"Fine. Go. Run to your so called hero - that impulsive brat of a person you call a man. You don't even have a worthy role in this group. You're just a pre-involved bystander who does nothing and watches from the sidelines, merely observing all that we do. You just stand there, acting all hot for the crowd. A slut like you has to banish from this team. We shouldn't have included you in the first place."

"Daiki! You're going too far!" Tetsuya warned. But it was too late. As soon as Tetsuya gave his warning, Kasumi throws her palm right at Daiki's face and slaps him with all her might. The sound of skin connecting at a high speed echoes at the empty intersection.

"You bastard! What kind of person have you become!!?" Kasumi screamed. "This gives me even a better reason to leave the team. You never cared for how he felt, for how I felt of this. All you yearn for is victory. I won't tolerate any more insults from hereon out! GOOD-BYE!!" She shouted as she walks away from the Z and the group.

"Daiki. Are you alright?" Tetsuya wonders.
"Damn... that was one strong slap. It made my cheeks bleed slightly for some reason." Daiki said as he touches his red cheek. "Ah forget her. She's just another load. Glad enough that she's gone. But after this... we need the rest of the team. Hiei and Ryusen cannot leave..."

"Are they that important?" Tetsuya doubted.
"Hiei possesses a great amount of physical speed. Whereas Ryusen has the strength of 3 pit crew members. They may not be that knowledgable of cars unlike Hiroya, Shimizu, and the rest... But their physical attributes are needed. They are fundamental to the group."

"So you're saying those two, Tomo and Kasumi, are not?"

"Don't make me repeat myself Kudou." Daiki warned. "Those two, are too naive to be part of a professional group such as this." Tetsuya and Daiki stared intimately as Kasumi walks away. Hiei just stood aside and takes note of this to Ryusen.

As she walks away even further to the distance, Daiki indirectly says a few words to her from afar. "What would you do now that you have decided to do this? I don't think you'll get anywhere with those life outlooks that Tomo told you. I'm telling you now, by the time you realize it, I was right all along..."

Ieeeh,so Daiki's talking bout 'God-like' humans,people who can't make mistakes,then he's waay out of his mind.People make mistakes too,don't tell me he didn't make a mistake(losing to the 'naive racer' earlier in the story)Doesn't that make him a naive racer as well.And TETSUYA!SAKURA!Man,those 2 are...urgh,forget it,lol,I'd be ranting for a long time if I keep this up.Nice story,reli makes me feel like the characters are alive.Come on Tomo,goooo!Make a new team with the others. Team up with the Hawaiian racers(The Suzukis,their cousins,and the other guy I forgot. Hehehe,no offence though,can't remember all the characters yet. Keep it up!

You have given me an idea there, J86. This is official and is a life-related-based portion in relation to the story:

Each person, who is a member of the Royal Blood's elite 6 describes a certain kind of person in general. For now, here's what I have deciphered; based on appearance:

1. Kitana Tioseco - Princess Rank - Kitana best represents the young guns; the passionate young people who are living the dream. They empathize with the thing that is most important to their career most of all. They don't undermine fellow competitors or fellow workers and live their lives as wild as possible to a certain degree. They are very optimistic of matters and only look at the possibilities benefiting them the most. (Context: Kitana and her Lamborghini Diablo VT GTR) Real life examples of such are those who are new to the field but have gained an uprising amount of popularity/respect.*

(*- This is Kitana's personality in a manga that I made; Speed Legend R Epilogue II)

2. Lucas Scott - Jack Rank - Lucas best represents the ones who are full of pride of themselves. In movies, they are like the antagonists who think that they WILL beat them all. They don't allow defeat to rule their lives and would do whatever means necessary to reach the top. Their respect with people of the same calibur are quite at the low for they tend to undermine others as they continue to appraise themselves. Evidently, consequences befall their futures. Examples of such are high sprung characters of reality TV shows who get voted off early in the series and, in Filipino context, sobrang mayabang kind of people.

3. Nathan Archibal Sr. - Knight Rank - Although his son has a portion of the Jack's character, the father best describes this rank to be those who look after those with potential in the most unorthodox manner. Most of the time, he treats those with potential as if they are being tested; to see where their wits would last. He's a good mannered kind of person who tends to lose respect of those he/she test early in the session but as soon as they have seen his/her motives for doing so, their respect for that person grows infinitely for the better. They even give timely reminders or warnings in ways you wouldn't expect. The kind of people who can be compared to Nathan Sr. are college deans you're closely communicable to, executive chefs, High ranking professors in any field, SOME fathers, and those people who have a good heart but you can't tell because of their actions.

4. Daiki Akiyama - The Prince - Daiki is a humble type of person with a serious face to back it up; but as soon as his awakening begins, he becomes a completely different person all in all; and it ain't good. Those who could be compared to the new Daiki are those who act like perfectionists. They WANT and DEMAND those around him to meet his standards and ignores/abolishes those who would just get in their way. He will not tolerate any mistakes, even to the point of bad mouthing the one at fault, attacking even their ego. They discharge their own mistakes and only look at others, even to the point of bragging about others' mistakes to others. They tend to think that they are NUMBER 1 and Number 1 is only the number in their numerical list. Because the Prince and Jack are loyal to the King in the past, both the Prince and Jack tend to act the same way, for the sake of the king - copying his ideals and considering them as their own, which in turn turns their personality around. They tend to undermine everyone around him/her, thinking that they're better than them in what they do, think, say, act, etc. People who are like the Prince in reality are dictators, Misleading corrupt officials, SOME people who act this way, Over demanding bosses & business owners, and some high-strict parents. If you know any who are like this, then you're with someone who is like Daiki. YOU'RE OWNED!

5. Adriana Eizaguirre - The Queen - They are people who are most understanding of whatever bad situation that you have or will be having. They are very supportive and they don't disrespect your motives. People like her are those who believes in what is good and is very protective of those around them - especially those who are very, very important to their lives. They oftentimes, lavish, people with gifts to show how much they care but they don't fake a face. All their words are true to their motives and actions. You can well trust people like them. How they act, is how they think, feel, and understand the situation; there will be times though that they too will be emotional of their own situations. Any unexpected faults against them MIGHT easily be forgiven. You will feel safe around these kind of persons. They will love you back if you love them and they won't do anything to hurt you. An ideal woman, for those men seeking one; same applies vice versa. People who are like the Queen in reality are like mothers, understanding friends, Trustworthy Psychologists, ideal mates ( <- THIS IS VERY VERY RARE! If you're with one, you're the luckiest person alive)

There's still the King, The Joker, and the rest of the abolished clan; but we haven't reached that part yet. And the next chapter is STILL in the works... so watch out for it!!

Chapter 101 - Life Under the Wings of an Eagle

By the time the 350Z left, Kasumi just sat at the bus station for hours. She is confused whether she regrets doing what she did to Daiki or not - slapping his face for calling her a slut. She has her head down, thinking about it. "Oh god, did I just do the right thing? Why am I even asking this, I am right, aren't I? He insulted me as a person, thinking I am the team's harlot. How could he call me such!!?" She squealed. While thinking about it, a sound echoes from her stomach. "Great... I'm confused... AND hungry. But I have no money with me. I left my bag at the hotel. And the hotel is so, so far from here..." She wondered. She stayed there, worried of herself and for his welfare. She thought that her life is over until a familiar looking car stops right in front of her - A red Audi TT Quattro Sport. Kasumi didn't notice this, though, as her head was facing the road.

"Aren't you... Kasumi-san? A-Are you alright?" The person who boarded off the Audi, and approached her, asked. Kasumi was close to shedding a tear until something was extended to her face - an orange, autumn looking handkerchief. Saying thank you in advance, hopefully, she raised her head only to be surprised to see who it was. "M-Minami-chan!?"

"So it is you" Minami joyfully cheered. "What are you doing here?" she asked her. "Long story. I don't want to talk about it" she humbly told her. "Ha~?" Minami wondered but in the end, she didn't fuss over it another time - I won't force you to, Kasumi-san if you wouldn't say it." "Do you need a ride?" She added. Kasumi, however, was too humble to accept a sudden ride from a friend she barely knows. "No, it's okay. I can manage." She laughed her grief out.

"Well... in any case, I do hope you get a ride soon; a bus maybe or a cab." Minami added. "By the way," Kasumi interrupted... "What on earth are you doing in a place like this? Why are you in the Honolulu Airport drive?"

"Joseph asked me to do a couple of errands. Nothing out of the ordinary" Minami answered with a small smile. "Whoops. I have to go." She bowed her head to Kasumi and drove off in her Audi.

As she watches the red Audi drive to the horizon, she admits a few things... "I don't want to be a desperate, grieving woman to the likes of Ms. Minami. I don't want to sound that way. Then again, I don't have the slightest idea how to get back to the hotel; I don't have any money and it would be rude of me to ask her for some money..." She gave a huge sigh afterwards. "I guess I'm on my own here..."

To her untoward realization, Minami drove back and told her to get on board. "I would sound like a bad person if I don't let someone who knows Tomo stay at a dreaded spot such as this. Get in. I'll take you to where you need to go." "Seriously, you don't have to." "No, I insist; on my part!" Kasumi doesn't want to argue with her for long and decided to accept her offer.

Down the freeway, Minami wonders where she is supposed to go to. "I am staying at a hotel where team Japan was staying." "Was?" Minami thought back. "I am no longer a team member anymore..." "Wha!~ Why!?" Minami cried her question out. "Because I quit the team... now I know why Tomo decided to race Daiki-sama." Kasumi admits.

"Oh, Kasumi-san..." Minami whined as she held the wheel of her Audi tight.

Down the freeway, a few hundred meters from their exit, Kasumi raised a curious question. "I heard from Tomo that your cousin is a pretty good driver, is that true?"
"Well yeah. You've met him right? The black guy with the dreadlocks. He's my cousin but just by looking at us, it is hard to believe, physically. Weird huh?" Minami thought. Kasumi simply giggled in place and said nothing. "But that's not what I asked you. What I want to ask you is your opinion on a hypothetical manner."
"Hypothetical manner? What do you mean?"
"Suppose... I am Tomo." Kasumi started. "And?" Minami curiously followed along. "how would you like it if he'd ask to be part of your group?" Kasumi asks. "Not all of a sudden though. Suppose you two had a talk that would eventually lead to that request. What would you do? What would your cousin do or say?" Kasumi asked.
"Well... Tomo and I are good friends... and he seems to get along well with my cousin. We'd both warmly accept him. I also know Kaede and Ryan won't mind..." Minami cheerfully answered. Kasumi smiled back and said to her. "That's good to hear. So all of Tomo's goody-goody descriptions of you ARE true..."

Moments later, they arrived at Kasumi's hotel. Minami cannot stay any longer and left her at the lobby with just a wave before she left. Kasumi went to her room, got her stuff packed, and left the hotel. The receptionist knew that she checked in with a group and wonders. "Uh, ma'am? Just you? Where is the rest of your group?"

Kasumi, who is a bit emotional of the matter uttered, "What group? Any other charges will be directed to that person I am with, the one managing us all." Kasumi told the receptionist as she stayed outside the hotel thinking where to go.

She thought at that moment, where on earth would Tomo be right now. Thinking back on the time where he disbands himself right infront of the group, she has doubts whether Tomo is at Adriana's place or not. Where could he be? She thought about it for a long time and continuous to think about it as she checks in to a restaurant to have a bite to eat.

At one instance, she decides to take out her phone, dial his number and call him; but again, she had doubts. Thinking back, again, on what she did to him - slapping his face for talking so childish that time, she wonders if he'd still talk to her or not; reject her call or humbly answer it. "I think I shouldn't... But then again... taking a cab from here, at the Western bank of Honolulu to the very south east of the island... it will be a long trip; much like a cross country trip at that...

While waiting for her order of a strawberry partfait, Kasumi gives off a huge sigh of hopelessness and wonders what she'd really do. With too much excessive thinking, it has put her to sleep. Her head, even with the aid of her hand on her chin, slowly tilts downward until it makes contact with the table. The nearby waiter wakes her up after 5 minutes wondering if she is alright.

"Are you alright ma'am?"
"Um... how long was I asleep?" Kasumi asked the waiter with respect.
"Around 5 minutes ma'am. Your partfait has melted too, I'm afraid..."
"Is that so..." she moaned.
"Please excuse me for asking ma'am but is there something on your mind?" The waiter asked her.
Kasumi looks at the waiter's face and he sort of looks like him - like Tomo.
"I-is something the matter?" The waiter thought? Any young guy looking at Kasumi directly at her eyes, especially when she has that puupy-eye expression on her eyes, can't help but blush and have a very small feeling of intimacy.
"Oh, sorry. That was sort of rude of me. You seem to remind me of someone... I apologize." Kasumi hurriedly said as she stood up and bowed to the waiter she was google-eyeing at awhile ago.

Feeling embarrassed over what she just did, she took her stuff, laid out the payment for the partfait, apologized again to the waiter, and left the restaurant, hurriedly getting a taxi.

Upon riding on one, she thinks over what she would do once she saw him again. "Would apologizing for before make things better? Would he understand that I didn't mean to hurt him that time? WOuld he even listen to me? I wouldn't know the answers to this unless I try it. Off to Ms. Adriana's place." She thought to herself. She pats the driver's shoulder and says "Down to the Halona BLow hole, directly south east of the island, please?"

At the Eizaguirre Household...

Ein just had a one on one talk with Tomo about the Escabeche he made... make that, the sweet and sour fish he made.
"Were you sure of what you were doing, Tomo?" Ein asked him.
"Well... you said that it is instinctive for me..." Tomo admits. "So I simply tried to the best of my abilities."
"Well, you got one point of it right. Frying the fish is one thing and making the sauce with sauteeing the vegetables first is another. But you left out one ingredient, didn't you?"

Tomo was getting anxious. He is wondering if Ein figured out that he didn't add MSG into the dish.
"It lacked that... tingle...did you not add vetsin into the dish..."
"Well, Adriana liked it, right?"
"You're straying away from the question, Tomo. Did you or didn't you?"
"It doesn't matter anyway, right?"
"DID YOU OR DIDN'T YOU?!" Ein shouted. He can't stand Tomo's ignorance to the matter.
"I DIDN'T ADD THE MONOSODIUM GLUTAMATE!!"
"WHY DIDN'T YOU? IT'S PART OF THE RECIPE, RIGHT?"
"DO YOU WANT ADRIANA TO DIE!!?"
Thinking of that last statement as a threat, Ein grappled Tomo by the collar and demanded him "Explain why you didn't add..."
Tomo gathers his thoughts up and became firm with Ein.
"Monosodium glutamate is already present in the sauces I used - vinegar, that tad bit of soy sauce, and the other flavorings you wanted me to add in it." Tomo started off. "And scientifically prove, MSG was considered to cause inflammation of the throat and tongue and causes some burning sensations to some people. Would you want that to happen to Adriana?" Tomo asked Ein.
Realizing that he was simply protecting her, by not causing it to happen, Ein lets go of Tomo's collar and faces his back at him. "Good job. You'll get your pay weekly... 6 more days to go before I give you your first paycheck." Ein says as he leaves Tomo.

"What's with him all of a sudden?" he thought to himself.
Seeing that there's still time before dinner preparations, he plans to loaf off around the Mansion proper.
As he walks down Adriana's garage, there are a couple of empty spaces - 3 of them, where Daiki's Z, Kyosuke's Exige, and Kitami's Mustang GTR were. The only cars in the garage are his own GT-R34, Adriana's McLaren F1, Ein's Shelby 427, a Benz CLK DTM AMG, a Ford Explorer, a late 80's Peugeot 206 model, and a blank body of a Mercedes CLK GTR. The last one caught Tomo's attention.

He walks towards the CLK GTR and stares at it with intimacy, curiosity and doubt. "Marcelo's car... the CLK GTR that Adriana has been talking about for ages." He observes the entire car from the front to the back. "Hmm... no engine?" The engine bay was blank, he could see a portion of it from the rear windshield, and the very end of the CLK looks a bit ashed. Adriana must have retained the CLK as how Marcelo last drove it... or right after he drove it for the last time.

Coincidentially, Adriana enters to check up on her own McLaren. Slowly she enters the garage until she spots Tomo, who is next to the Mercedes GTR. "Tomo?" she thought to herself. "What's he doing next to my brother's Mercedes?"

Back with Tomo, he extends his hand and 'talks' with the Mercedes. "You hold a painful memory in your last drive... I can tell from how his sister told me and by how you look right now. I feel pity for you but I admit that pity isn't a good enough word for it. But I feel for your pain. My 34 has gone through the same things, over and over. If only you could be driven again... but all I wish for you right now is to rest in peace." He told the Mercedes.

Adriana changed her mind and walked out of the garage, seeing Tomo act that way. Outside, by her poolside walkway, she leans on one of the posts, thinking aloud. "There was that one time... when my brother pushed his CLK too hard at one session before the Le Mans registrations..." she thought aloud...

"Being up there in the peak of the sky... I remember now how Marcelo must have felt... holding himself against the draft and the wind currents stabbing him endlessly... A metaphor such as that well describes how he felt with his own car... I remember now how much me had to go through to make his Benz better..." She thought aloud as she looks at her reflection down at her pool's waters.

She intimately looks at the garage, where Tomo is at the moment and continues to think about ... him.
"No matter how hard I try to accept what he says, I still picture Marcelo whenever I see him. Would it be possible that he is his reincarnation? But Tomo already told me that the dead are dead, conscious of nothing. How could that be so if they're dead all in all? What would be the truth to my brother that would make that memory of him in me be at peace?"
She later heard the raising of the garage gate. It is Tomo, he stepped out of the garage.

He and Adriana crossed eyes and Tomo simply waved at her from afar. Adriana didn't respond however and instead, walked to him. "Hmm?" Tomo thought.

"Tomo." Adriana firmly started. She slowly and softly takes hold of Tomo's hands and wrapped her hands around his.
"W-what is it, Adriana?"
"Enlighten me..."
"Ha~?"
"About where IS my brother? What is going to happen to him right now? If all I understand about what life is after life itself is true or not... I think this is the only way for me to silence my sudden unwanted memories of him." Adriana wished.

Tomo looks away thinking that her reaction might be like before, at Argentina.
"Por favor?" She pleaded.
Tomo bows his head down and tells her...


"Let's talk it over... at your room, Adriana."

Excellent story this time round,and about Kasumi?Tomo must have forgiven her,but i hope he'll act like he hasn't,makes the story better that way.But it depends on you,34.And why is the talk in Adriana's room? >_>

HEY~~~~~~~~~~~
I really like the way on how you reacted to this comic of mine.

This post has been edited by jsam on Dec 20 2009, 03:35 AM

@jsam,what do you mean?

ignore jsam. Probably a bot... or a spambot... or I dunno. If you look at his profile, it has no post count.

Chapter 102 – Happiness behind the Tears of Sadness

Entering right back into the house, Tomo and Adriana head for the latter’s room located on the second floor. Adriana still has her doubts, however. Why does Tomo want to explain it to her at her room? Is it something of grave importance that no one else, not even Ein, should know about? It continues to disturb Adriana every step she takes in her own humble abode.

“M…may I ask you something about this?” Adriana asks Tomo, while walking.
“What is it?”
“I am just curious. Why must we talk about it privately?”

Tomo stops walking and freezes in place, in order to fully explain to Adriana the reason why. “Remember your previous reaction back in Argentina?” he reminded her.

“I told you, I won’t act like that anymore. So you can relax. You’re no stranger to me, Tomogashi Kitsumoro.” Adriana assures. But Tomo is still looking back into that time, when Adriana symbolically broke…

“Trust me when I say that I will be alright. Anything you will say later that MIGHT bring me back to the state that I was once in, won’t take me back to those times.” She places her hand on her chest and guarantees Tomo, “I am a new woman. By letting you in my life and seeing how we differ in how we look at things have changed me for the better. You have my word, Tomo.”

Tomo just stood there and gave a sincere look at her. “Adriana…” he softly uttered.

“Let’s go… to my room. I am eagerly awaiting your words – the ones that would make my past peter out… and understand where my brother really is.”

Before Tomo decides to walk up the stairs, he asks Adriana one more time, “Your brother is that important to you, isn’t he?”

“As of before and now… he’s family to me. And he’s as important as my own life.” Adriana shares with Tomo.

“That’s all I need to heed from you. Now, shall we?” He offers as he extends his hand to the maiden up the stairs. Adriana warmly accepts the offer and the two begin to go up the stairs.

Upon stepping foot on the second floor hallway, they turn right. It’s strange as Adriana’s room is from at the left of the stairs. “I’ll just get something, that’ll help in our little talk.”

Adriana nods in agreement and patiently waits for him to surface from his room. A minute has past and Tomo comes out with a pocket book in hand. The book is entitled: “What does the Bible Really Teach?”

“I still wonder why Kasumi placed this in my bag. I thought she had it with her.”

They transfer to the left wing and began their discussion.

Adriana closed the door behind her as Tomo enters the room. She ensures that there are no interruptions by locking it as well. Tomo asks her if he could reel out the chair in her dresser. Adriana didn’t mind at all and chose to sit in her own queen sized bed. Her bed has linen that is lined in red felt, much like that of the royal colors with the edges lines in something that resembles white fur. Her bed has drape like extensions at its four corners with a translucent curtain that she closes together when she sleeps. Her room is as large as the Living room itself, in terms of height but is only a quarter in terms of length and half in terms of width.

Tomo opens up his yellow book and turns to the table of contents…

“Let me see here…” he said as he scans through the entries. There are 2 chapters discussing about death – Chapters 6 and 7 of the book entitled “Where are the dead” and “Real hope for your Loved ones who have died” respectively. “Which one do you want to start with?”

“Best we start with the first. It sounds more like an introduction.” Adriana suggests.

While Tomo subconsciously turns to chapter 6, he lets his eyes wander around exploring her room. Her room here is completely different in comparison to that at Argentina. This room looks grander but what’s strange is that she has the same pictures in one corner; like that at Los Hornillos, Argentina, where majority of which has pictures of her and Marcelo together, from birth until their racing careers.

As soon as Tomo hits Chapter 6, he scans through the text, finding out which would interest Adriana on their current topic matter – Marcelo. Noticing paragraph 3, he starts things off with a few opening questions. “Adriana, I’ll ask you a few things. For the meantime, answer me with just ‘yes’ or ‘no’ until I say so, got it?” Adriana nods in conformity.

“You obviously mourned when Marcelo died, am I right?”
“Yes.”
“Have you wondered what has happened to them right after their death, like are they suffering?”
“Yes.”
“Have you ever wondered if you will be able to see each other again, or he’ll just watch over you?”
“Yes.” Adriana said as she holds on tight to her necklace that bears small, silver, and cross-like sculpture.
“Answer me truthfully…” Tomo said with a sigh following that avowal. “Where do you think he is?”
Adriana looks away from Tomo and thinks of her answer. She is a Catholic and all that she knows about people who have died is that if they lived a good life, they’ll go to heaven and if they lived a bad life, they’ll burn in a place of torment; but now that she has a strong feeling that Tomo is going to teach her something different, she is starting to have doubts about what she believed.
“I don’t know. I just don’t know where he could be right now.”
“Remember when you screamed to me that I am Marcelo?” Tomo reminds her.
“That time?” She recalled. Well, an associate of mine before I became a professional racer, told me that people who die… their spirit passes on to someone else or something else… I was doubtful at first but when I had this misapprehension of you becoming him… that was the first thing out of my mouth.”

Before Tomo continues, he closes the book but he has his thumb pressed between the pages – his thumb acted as a bookmark, placed at the exact page where he left off. “Don’t be surprised when I tell you that all that you have learned about life and death is nothing more than a false truth. Let’s be rational, Adriana.” Tomo recommended. “What’s the opposite of life?”
“It’s Death.” Adriana answers humbly.
“So if in life we exist? What is death with respect to us, humans?”
“C…ceases to exist?”
“Exactly.” Tomo affirms.

He opens the book up for a second time, and tells Adriana, “You’re catching up quite fast…”
“Now I see why you want this discussion in private…” Adriana deciphered.
“Remember what I told you before I left, back at Argentina, once more?”
“The dead are conscious of nothing at all…?”
“If you are familiar with the holy writings, it’s written by King Solomon. And his father King David, earlier that time, noted in his Psalms that when a man dies, his thoughts perish.”
“So if that is the case… where are the dead now?” Adriana inquires.

“That’s where we turn to the most ‘holy’ person we know who has treaded on earth…”
“Jesus Christ?”
“This might be new to you… if you didn’t see this thoroughly… Christ said when Lazarus died that he ‘has gone to rest’.” Tomo confirms.
“What does that mean?”
“Allow me to read it to you.” Quoting from the book, he reads, “Notice that Jesus compared death to rest and sleep. Lazarus was neither in heaven nor in a burning hell. He was not meeting angels or ancestors. Lazarus was not being reborn as another human. He was at rest in death, as though in a deep sleep without dreams.”

“I have a question. If I may…” Adriana interrupts.
“Ask away…” Tomo answers.
“If that is the case… why are we, as persons, made? Are we just made to live and die?” She asks. “(If that is so, then does it mean that I am doing all this for nothing? Making a name for myself knowing that I’ll die out soon?)”
“Remember the first couple on earth, Adam and Eve? It said that they were immortal, right?”
“Yes?”
“Let’s give an emphasis on the word ‘were’. It means that we are not made to live and die just like that. We are made to live… forever…”
“Then why do we die?”
“I think you know the answer to that… I don’t have to explain it. We know where it starts from.”
“The first introduction of death…” She mumbled as she holds the necklace’s little sculpture as tight as she could.
“Now let’s advance a bit, to this subtopic: Knowing the truth about death is Beneficial…” Tomo introduces as he follows this up with the reading of the paragraphs.

While that happens, at a certain intersection by the east bank, Kasumi, who is riding a cab is frustrated with a recently transpire traffic jam, more or less caused by a slight collision of two vehicles in the yellow box. “Darn it. Talk about bad timing…” Having not taken the pressure any longer, Kasumi pays the toll and steps out of the cab. She took her bag out of the seat next to her and hopes to get another ride to the southeast bank of the island. “I’m just this close to her place and this happens…”

From a distance, as she mumbles in place, she perceives a familiar figure, coming out of the jammed intersection, taking route on the emergency lane on the outside of the road – a black Nissan Skyline GT-R V-spec I BNR34. “A black 34? Could it be…? Kaede?” Kasumi thought.

To her surprise, the black R34 stops right next to her. “Kasumi-san, what are you doing here by yourself?” “It’s a long story. I can’t explain it like this. Um…” Kasumi groans as she pinches her skirt. “Mind if I ride with you?”

“I…suppose… where are you heading?” Kaede asked.
“I am heading by the Halona Blow Hole. You know the one by the southeast part of the island?”
“Then put your stuff in the trunk.” He uttered.

As Kasumi gets in Kaede’s R34, Kaede wonders “Aren’t you staying at that place before, like you and Tomo said before?”
“I’ll explain on the way.” Kasumi assured. Having his Skyline equipped with an automatic transmission, he puts it on drive and softly engages the gas bringing the black R34 up to speed at an estimate of 60 km/h on the jam free road.

Back with Tomo and Adriana, the latter felt shame on what she believed in, realizing that most of which was a lie. “Lo ciento, Tomo. I am sorry that I acted with such cruelty to you.”
“You don’t have to be. It isn’t your fault. Most of us are merely confused with what is happening that we hallucinate with such stuff and thinking just to protect ourselves, even though we know that that knowledge is wrong or incomplete…” Tomo assured.

Tomo stands up from his seat and puts his hand on Adriana’s head, comforting her like a kid playing with a stray cat or a familiar house dog. “It’s hard to lose someone in death, huh?”
“Mm…” Adriana agreed.
“Do you wish to see him again? Do you want to see Marcelo once more?”
“After knowing all that you shared with me… is it possible?”
Tomo smiles and assures her. “It is possible.” He said as he sits next to her and goes on reading to her Chapter 7’s opening paragraphs.

While the reading and the question & answer commence, something happens outside the gates of the Kaloko Lost Heaven Mansion. The black R34 mentioned earlier parks right outside the gates with Kasumi stepping out and taking her stuff out.

“Thanks a lot Kaede.” She showed appreciation to the young driver.
“No problem. It’s after all, part of my route.”
“Where are you heading anyway?”
“Oh, somewhere that Joseph and Ryan are chattering about back at the Gulf.”
“Well, give my best regards to them.” Kasumi advised Kaede.
“Oh, and Kasumi-san…”
“Yes?”
“Have fortuity with ‘earning back’ Tomo’s trust.”
Receiving a huge spring of hope, Kasumi gives a cheerful and energetic wave at Kaede as he drives off. She faces the mansion in front of her with great resolve and heads for the door.

Knocking at the front door, she hankers for Tomo to open the door. To her consternation, it was Ein. “Oh… Kasumi…”
“E…Ein…”
“You seem to be in a rush. Need any help?”
“Is…um… Tomo there…?”
“He is…”
Kasumi, in her thoughts, leaped for intense joy. “Where is he?” She enthusiastically asked Ein. “He’s at the mistress’s room but…” His words were discontinued as Kasumi scampers up the stairs towards Adriana’s room.

At that same moment, when Kaede dropped Kasumi off at the Mansion, Adriana was contented and pleased with the message of the 7th chapter that she and Tomo had discussed. “So I’ll really get to see Marcelo once again…” she softly articulated.
“Now you know of and understand… the true meaning of the word resurrection. I hope this truth… satisfies you and helps you picture Marcelo’s future.” Tomo utters.
“At least now I know that truth… The truth does set people free…”
“Yes, Adriana… you are now free… Not even the sight of Marcelo’s beat up CLK GTR would make you have any dreaded memories of him turned vague and disturbing…”
“Hey, my brother’s CLK isn’t beat up. It’s just like that ever since the crash, but it isn’t beaten up.”
“Then what do you say in refurnishing the car again, if you have time that is…” Tomo suggested.
“I’d love that…”

As Kasumi opens the door, Adriana decides to hug Tomo as a token of thanks.

Upon opening the door, Kasumi saw the image before her that has led her to a delusion of what’s happening in front of her. Not to mention the fact that the only words that Kasumi was able to hear from Adriana’s lips are “Tomo… I’m so happy… to have met you…”

Kasumi’s heart started to race. The background around her starts to fade to white. Her heartbeat felt like she’s being stoned from head to toe. Her lips turned pale and her breathing hastened but not to the point that she’ll pant it out. Her body froze in shock and she couldn’t feel anything, as long as she could still see the sight of Tomo hugging Adriana with the misconception that Tomo has found love within Adriana, who undoubtedly was dubbed as the second Eve, by appearance.

In her thoughts… she cried out, “Tomo… why? You searched for new romance… and you have found it in front of me? How could you?”

She can’t bear the sight and slowly, without a sound, closes the door.

When the door closed, without neither Tomo nor Adriana hearing the click, Adriana continues to say… “I’m so happy… to have met you… If it weren’t for you… I wouldn’t know what my life would have become? I might be stuck in an uproar of depression for all I know. You saved me from the darkness of the words that this world speaks of and you have guided me to the true meaning of what life is now, before and tomorrow… With that… you have my thanks…”

“I am just glad that you understand what I have shared with you and you didn’t react in a downbeat manner.” Tomo said.

As they stood up, they heard the closing of the main door from the empty, quiet room that they are in.
“Hmm?” Adriana wonders.
“What’s the matter?” Tomo asks her.
“Somebody must have been at the doorstep. I better ask Ein.”

Adriana leaves the room along with Tomo and walks down the stairs with no idea who it was who just knocked or came in.

I checked my Story guide so far and up to now have I realized that this is the last chapter before the main event!! What is that main event? Well, you just have to sit in, read, and speculate before I could even post it... Enjoy this one for a while... it has important information relative to the main event battle!!
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Chapter 103 – Rendezvous
Reaching the lounge of the house, Adriana and Tomo approached Ein, who was at the door. “Ein, who was that just now?” Adriana asked. Ein lowers his head and passes by the two. Before Tomo could even come to the conclusion that he is rudely avoiding the question, Ein immediately answers “It was Kasumi.” To Tomo, it’s surprising to hear Kasumi come to the house on her own like that.

“I believe…” Ein continued. “…that she came here on her own because she looks as if she wants to ask something of Tomo.” “Like?” Adriana asked. “Some sort of reconciliation with him; probably for before.” Ein added. The two of them faced Tomo with a mixed look of concern and deceit. “I didn’t do anything. Honest.” Tomo admitted.

“Hey, Ein...What time did Kasumi arrive?” Adriana asked once more. “She came just not long ago. She was here for no less than 5 minutes then left, and that’s when you asked me where she is.” Ein answered humbly.

“If she came around that duration, we are close to done with our conversation, right?” Tomo asks Adriana who agreed without doubt. “We hugged in the end right?” he added. Adriana felt as if a stroke of lightning just hit her. “Any other girl would conclude that… Tomo… she thinks you’re having an affair with me.”

Tomo froze in shock, as well as Ein. Ein immediately grapples Tomo by the collar and yells at him. “YOU TWO KISSED, DIDN’T YOU!!?” Tomo and Adriana panicked and admitted to Ein that nothing happened between them. Evidently, Ein lets go of Tomo’s collar and calms down. “What do we do now?” Ein asks. He faces Tomo and concludes, “This person has no idea how to handle a girl. Of all the people I met, he has the worst and most complicated case of love-hate relationships.”

“Hey! I never intended for it to come to this, and I’m standing right here, Ein.” Tomo answered back with a pout. “Boys, Cool it. We need to think of some way for these two to get back together.” Adriana told them. “What do you suppose have in mind, then?” Tomo asks Adriana back, who just stood there all quiet and innocent. “You have no idea, do you?”

“I have a long duration of the General Anxiety Disorder, so don’t blame me, alright?” Adriana explained. “Although…” She thought as she places her left hand on her chin with her right hand supporting her left elbow. “I know somebody who can help… Someone who’s an expert on things like this…” Tomo and Ein are clueless as to who this person is but they have no choice but to go with Adriana’s plan. She thought of something, and Tomo hasn’t got any clue what to do about it. They both decide to follow Adriana towards the garage. Adriana pulls out the McLaren’s car keys and told the two guys to follow her… obviously they’d ride in Tomo’s GT-R.

Tomo rides his GT-R with Ein as the passenger. Both buckle up and chased after Adriana’s McLaren. Up to the East bank towards the freeway, Ein raises a topic upon exiting an intersection. “The mistress seems livelier than ever before.” “Huh?” Tomo whined. “When we first met you, she was so emotional and dull about the world around her that she couldn’t care less what to do and what to think of. The next thing you know, she’d collapse. I hate to say it but I have you to thank for this.” “Why me?” Tomo wonders while he keeps his eyes on the road and shifting to gear 4 down the freeway. “I know this topic has been settled already but in case you forgot, she looked up to you as her deceased brother; knowing in the end you’re not. Normally somebody who sees that what they think of somebody was actually a lie, they’d return to that state of being that they were in before. But not Adriana… there must be something about you that permanently gave her that kick back into life. She’s finally a normal woman again. She’s as cheerful as she was back in the day.” Ein described.

“Well, you don’t have to thank me for that only. All of us, we did our part to help Adriana back on her feet again. You have your share in this and so does Kasumi.” Tomo explained. “Speaking of Kasumi, we better get you two back pronto.” Ein said with a serious tone. Tomo was troubled by Ein’s tone and was about to ask why does he care for Kasumi so much as well. “I just don’t want to see another girl cry in front of me ever again. I don’t want to see another girl be in pain ever again.” Tomo smiled in his seat upon hearing that from Ein. “You know… that’s one thing we both have in common.” Tomo whispered.

“You think?”

Moving from their side to Kasumi’s…
When the group thought that she headed up to the Oahu gulf, she actually brisk walked to the pier a few kilometers from the Eizaguirre household. Her body was shrouded in a mix of various emotions that trouble her so much. Her heart aches as she visualizes the last thing that she saw about Tomo and Adriana… not to mention the words that uttered forth from the latter’s lips. “I know I am not supposed to be involved in this… and I know that has nothing to do with me but… but…” She feels her heart that races endlessly in a fast pace. “… Why am I troubled with this? Why do I feel a huge amount of pain hitting me from side to side…?” She bends down on her knees and watches the waves collide with the poles of the pier. Each thread of water reaches a certain height and falls down the stream. Kasumi relates her current state with that of the threads of water.

While sitting at the perch of the pier, Kasumi has nothing in her mind but the thought of Tomo for the past moments they had ever since they met. She even recalls a mysterious past involving her and Tomo at Lake Haruna back at Gunma. She was simply done fishing with a couple of her friends by the brink of 6 in the evening until she overheard the loud engine sound of an Infiniti G35 and other sedans nearby. She saw a young boy with spiky hair being pulled helplessly to the feet of one guy who looks to be their leader. The girl kicks the tied up boy with her shoes’ heel making contact first. Until the boy was thrown into the lake, giving the impression that they just threw a ‘thing’ away. Kasumi stayed behind and waited for the herd of cars to leave. She took off her top and her tight pants revealing her silken undergarments as she dives down into the lake, hoping that she’s not too late. As she grabs hold of the young, unconscious boy, she pulls him up to level ground and observes him closely. ‘Is he still okay?’ She puts her ear next to his chest and feels his heartbeat but as she checks his mouth, she found out that the boy isn’t breathing anymore. She immediately performed CPR on him until she hears another set of cars come up the pass, with one of them being a paramedic. ‘I guess I am not the only one who noticed what happened. There are other kind hearted people caring enough to even call an ambulance out.’ She grabs her clothes and runs away, hoping not to be further involved with a much bigger crowd.

Kasumi was able to picture that scene perfectly. It is just after a few weeks since that event that she got to know the person she saved… when he saved her from a soon-to-become-rape assault. “Tomo… can’t you remember those times?” She expressed. “I do. Can you?” While thinking in place, a seagull flies by where she is, to the point of grabbing Kasumi’s spaced out attention. She raises her head and sees the bird fly smoothly in the air.

“Tomo…”

Adriana and company actually visited Adriana’s hair dresser, who owns a famous hair salon in downtown Honolulu. Ein and Tomo couldn’t possibly be disappointed with where they are right now. “And why are we here again?” Tomo asks out of the blue. “Well, we’re here to see what you should be doing in order to get back with Kasumi.” Adriana answered humbly but straightforward. Moments later, the head hairdresser comes out, greets Adriana in a classic Hawaiian fashion and kissed cheek to cheek. Tomo was quite disturbed about what he is seeing, especially for the fact that Ein is seeing this as well. “Aren’t you a bit… um…” He asked Ein. The latter interrupts and continues Tomo’s statement. “Disturbed? No. Freaked? A bit.” “What do you mean?” Tomo asks him back. “He’s gay can’t you tell?” Ein asks Tomo, with his right thumb pointing at the head hairdresser. “Are you alright with saying that?”

“What on earth do you mean? It’s practically normal.” Ein answers his question. The Hairdresser joins in the conversation and proudly tells Tomo in a very feminine manner “I am proud of it, cutie!” the hairdresser answers with his left foot raised halfway, his hands curled up below his chin, coupled with a wink at Tomo. Tomo is definitely disturbed by the sight. The hairdresser is quite buffed up wearing a tight fit polo shirt and black denims and working shoes. He has black, widow’s peak like braided hair, a well grown beard and overall, a South American like skin tone… something that resembles much like Mr. T, only more effeminate.
“Now, what should I do with the hair of my most beloved and most beautiful client?” The hairdresser asks Adriana, who is ready in her seat. “I need my hair rebonded.” “Oh, no you did-‘nt girl!” The hairdresser reacted. “Didn’t you darlingly care for those bangs of yours?” He asked. “Well, I decided to have a change in style. You know? After all, I’ve been confining myself for too long now… you know, after that entire… incident?”

“I feel your pain, girl.” The hairdresser gave sincere condolence. “So, we’ll work on those young split ends too, right?”

“That’s right.” Adriana agreed with a smile on her face. Tomo, who isn’t that used to staying with homosexuals for long periods of time decided to walk out of the salon. “I’ll just get some fresh air…” he faked an excuse. “…where Ein is…”

“You stay here, Tomo.” Adriana reminded him.
“Eh?”
“You heard me. We didn’t come here only for my hair. We’re here for your problem too.”
“Who’s the cutie, your new boyfriend?”
“No. He’s a friend who’s in need of assistance with her girlfriend.” Adriana gossiped.

While the 3 discuss Tomo’s dilemma, as Adriana gets her hair done, something came up in a press conference near the Oahu Raceway. The entire pit area is flooded with sports cars, all arranged accordingly in an orderly fashion. Right outside the raceway, there stands a herd of reporters and camera men from various international news companies eagerly trying to get into the pit lane. “One by one, please!!” said the security guards who are preventing them from gaining unrestricted access to the racing teams.

Among the group of racers includes Team Japan. As of this moment, Kitami is fixing his hair and checking his breath for the press conference about to commence while other members of the team just act casual. Among them who aren’t lively enough for the press conference are Hiei and Ryusen. Without Tomo in the team, there isn’t much enthusiasm among the group. “Everybody seems to have changed.” Hiei thought. “I see what you mean, dude. I hate to name drop a couple of our group mates but Daiki, Sakura, Tetsuya, and a few of them have changed… it’s like they’re all totally different people.”

“God I miss having Tomo around. I don’t know how long I could keep this charade up.” Hiei wonders. “Not to mention the fact that Kasumi has also left the team for good. How do you think she’s working?” Ryusen asks Hiei. “Hey, I am no miracle worker so don’t ask me about what is their love life future.”

As the security members unlocked the gates, the group of reporters scurried to the drivers and their managers like a herd of cows in a stampede. “Mr. … Ms. … Mr. …” A lot of call outs from the reporters to the said people they are interviewing. Focusing on team Japan, Daiki was thrown the first question.

“Mr. Akiyama, how do you think would Team Japan handle the current situation, especially with the changes in the preference of vehicles you will be using from now on?” One reporter asks him. “That won’t be much of a problem. I am proud to say that our drivers, including myself of course, are well capable in adapting to the vehicles that we’ll be using. After all, in this competition, it is not about the car… but it is about the driver who drives the car.”

Another reporter from afar shouts out his question. “Observing your cars for the past few minutes gave me the thought of the upcoming A-class event. What would team Japan’s plan be in competing in the even with just C-class vehicles at your disposal?” Daiki gives a smirk and answers “That won’t be much of a problem. Thanks to the V-rent system of the entire Oahu Island, it gives us access to club-based vehicles suitable for the event you have in mind, with our dear Shimizu Ohyama piloting our rental car for the event: a Saleen S7 Twin Turbo.”

A reporter close to Daiki follows up another question to him. “How would the team progress with the absence of one of your primary drivers in the roster, Tomogashi Kitsumoro? Would the team do any better without him or would you be racing a strenuous neck to neck battle with the other national teams now that he is out of the picture?” Daiki staggers upon that last question. This question catches Hiei and Ryusen’s attention. Daiki nods his head, takes a deep breath and humbly answers the question…

“Even without Tomogashi Kitsumoro around, we’d still be able to successfully strike a mark in the field of Automotive Racing for the Japanese Nation. A sacrifice is often needed to attain the goal of making Japan a leading nation in the world of automotive racing. Although our vehicles were champions in the past, the people driving them weren’t Japanese at all. We’re here to show that we are not just developers but also noteworthy competitors who would give other nations a run for their money.”

“So does this mean that Mr. Kitsumoro is no longer affiliated with Team Japan?” Another reporter asks. Daiki gave a straight ‘Yes’ to that question almost triggering a spark at Hiei. Ryusen immediately stopped him in his tracks before he causes another commotion. “Don’t cause a scene, Hiei.” Ryusen warned. Hiei simply feels a mix of regret, for Tomo, and treachery at Daiki. After a few short moments, the interviews with individual drivers commenced until the end of the day.

Back with Adriana and Tomo, at the Salon at Honolulu, the head hairdresser is about to decipher the perfect way in getting the two back together again. “You know, dear, the only way for you to gain her back is obviously through apology. Have you recalled a time when she had this breakdown before?” The hairdresser asks Tomo.

“There was this one time… back at Italy. She overheard me say some things of a girl I used to like and she sort of only heard the last part of my conversation with a friend whom I was talking with. She ran off, saying ‘I hate you’ at the top of her lungs but she came back looking for me and freely forgiving me.” Tomo shared. “So, this time dear… it’s your turn to repay her for that time.” “I agree.” Adriana affirms. “We women are quite sensitive to words you know, don’t forget that. You rarely get to find a girl who would take the first step before you could do so yourself. You are quite fortunate to have met Kasumi. So it is time for you to straighten things out with her.”

“So all I have to do… is explain the entire thing and ask for her forgiveness?” Tomo verifies. “It was all a huge misunderstanding in the first place anyway. She’s just waiting for you to straighten things out for her.” answered the hairdresser.

“Then, go. Ein and I will meet you back at home. Now you go find her…”
“Where should I start?”
“Follow your heart. If you know her that well, you’d definitely know where she would be…” Adriana told him. “Or you could just phone her and tell her that you have some explaining to do, darling.” The hairdresser suggested. Without any second doubts, he rushes to his R34 and turns the engine on. He lets the revs go wild to the 8000 RPM red zone before he could even release the e-brake. Putting the car in first gear during in-place acceleration, he lowers the emergency brake and makes a 180 burnout back to the Southeast bank of the island.

“Will our suggestions work?” The hairdresser asks Adriana while snipping a few split ends away. “I am sure he would pull it off.” Adriana admits. “He’s kind of hot… don’t you want to… you know…” “I’m not that interested in searching for men, you know that. Marcelo is the only man I have. Plus, I already have someone else in mind…”

Down the freeway, Tomo deepens his press on the accelerator and blasts through traffic. At one high speed corner, he releases his foot off the gas and lets the horizontal inertial movement take place, inducing the car to a power slide. Before the ATTESA ET-S could even kick in, he pounces on the gas, creating a ball of smoke from his rear tires. Upon downshifting at the exit of the corner, his car rockets onto 160 km/h with flames bursting out of his exhaust. The Horizontal G forces kick in at every shift, pushing Tomo back at his seat. He ignored the feeling and concentrated only on one thing… one person… Kasumi.

[South East Pier… 5:15 p.m.]
Kasumi decided to stand up after a long stay with the still waters by the pier. She decides to call it a day and take a taxi, hoping Minami is kind enough to let her stay in for the night until… ring. Ring. Ring. Her phone vibrates from her small bag which caught her attention. “Who could it be?” She wonders. Upon grabbing hold of the phone, she was shocked with the name that appeared – “^Tomo-chan^”, but she wasn’t sure whether she must take the call or not.

Instinctively, she pressed the call button and answers. “H…hello?”
Kasumi! Where are you? I have something to say…
Kasumi was blunt and silent. Another group of mixed emotions start to play on her.
Kasumi, please tell me. I’ve been looking everywhere for you…
She was surprised to hear Tomo say that. She shivers happily and tells him where she is. “Why don’t we just talk it over right here on the phone?” She asked him after giving him an idea where she is. Because… I prefer that we talk it over face to face, so that you’ll know how serious I am in saying what I need to say to you.

“Alright; I’ll wait.” Kasumi answered as she hangs up.

Kasumi leans on one of the cargo boxes around her and waits for a Skyline GT-R’s RB26DETT engine blast by or its tires screech nearby. After 5 minutes of waiting, she finally heard it. She looks to see the body of a Bay Side Blue Nissan Skyline R34 stop near the pier, with its hazard lights open.
“Tomo…” She softly spoke aloud.
“Kasumi…” Tomo whined as he looks at her from afar.

“I…” Both of them voiced at the same time. “No… You see… Uhm…” They are so caught up with looking at each other that both of them wanted to say something, to start the conversation, at the same time.

“Look, about what you saw… what happened awhile ago… at Adriana’s room… allow me to explain…” Tomo pleaded. “No need to sound like that.” Kasumi answered with her eyes closed and with a smile. “I’m all ears. I am ready to listen.”

Later, the sun is close to setting, hiding behind the mountains of the Islands nearby the Southeast coast. “…And that’s what happened. It is all a misunderstanding, so you don’t have to worry about me and Adriana. Nothing’s going on between us.” Tomo finished. Kasumi just stared at him with a great, big, warm smile on her face. “Um… what’s wrong?” Tomo asked her. Kasumi simply giggled. “Hey, I just poured my heart and soul into those words so that you won’t misunderstand me anymore and you’d just laugh?”

“No… I’m not laughing at you… I’m just happy enough that you’re not the kind of person to seek someone else’s love when they know that somebody else already loves them.” Kasumi explained. “And… I am just happy for the fact that you decided to make the first move in settling this misunderstanding.”

“And I… have something to share with you too…” Kasumi, this time, started off. “What’s that?” “I quit the team as well.” Kasumi frankly answered. “Why… for me?” Tomo asked her, who nodded a yes. “Daiki-kun… I mean… Daiki kept on bad mouthing you for your mistakes and your faults as both a person and a racer in general. The rants were so much that I possibly couldn’t take it anymore and ended up doing what you did – take a stand. I stood up in behalf of your name. I don’t want to hear anyone else say bad things about you; I don’t want to hear anyone else talk only about your mistakes. I will not tolerate anything bad about you from anyone else. I did this because… I love you.” “And that’s why you decided to quit the team… in order to protect my name’s sake?” Tomo asks her who nods again. Kasumi glances away from Tomo and looks at his GT-R. “And there is something else that you’d like to know about your GT-R.” Kasumi added.

“The reason why your GT-R nearly ‘died’ a few times… is because it is a car that has a tremendous amount of mileage in it.” Kasumi discussed with Tomo. “No wonder…” Tomo thought aloud. “No wonder I felt it was weak back in the day.” He said as he looks at his R34. “No wonder Sakura’s older R34 was better down Haruna that time and why my match with Kyosuke was so hard. And no wonder he got it at a very low price for it when I was a junior in high school.” Tomo concluded. “But if you ask me, Kasumi… before I was recruited by Akiyama, I considered this disadvantage as a test. Up to now, I still consider it AS a test. So even if I only knew of this car’s mileage weakness just now, I don’t mind.”

“But isn’t the mileage reading supposed to show in your speedometer?” Kasumi asks him. “When Kyosuke handed the car to me, it was reset to zero. Not to mention… this R34… it seems different in comparison to the others… “He then faced Kasumi and discussed a bit of what his GT-R has gone through. “Remember when I raced Kitana? Both of our engines blew. But what was surprising to my GT-R… it still had that ability to ignite even at the most crucial of conditions. Tetsuya said so himself. And why do you think it was able to hold its own against international monsters like the Corvette, the Viper, and the GT? It’s nothing supernatural… It’s this feeling I have… this R34 is special… It must have gone through such a heritage before it came to my hands…”

“You think it is a probability as to why the last owner resets the mileage counter? To conceal the history it has gone through already?” Kasumi hypothesized. “Perhaps.” He answered. “We once changed the oil of my GT-R back at Gunma with Kyosuke and it still performed the same way like when we had our first battle… It’s nothing mechanics could answer but it’s not to the point that we have to resort to spiritism or supernaturalism. Whatever the answer may be… we will find it…” He said as he slowly faces Kasumi. “…together. Together, we’ll find the answer to my GT-R’s history…” Kasumi nods in agreement and holds his hand. Both watch the sun set behind the clouds until it was concealed from everyone’s eyes.


This post has been edited by Gunma's 34 on Jan 13 2010, 04:05 AM

sorry for double posting here. I'm just reminding that this story ain't dead yet. It's hard to plan out how they'd start and declare the battle. This is still continuing. Do wait for a little while longer. As soon as I get enough inspiration, I'll give the next chapter all I've got.

Well... sorry again for this isn't a story update.
I'm busy at the moment with having my story legalized so it might be on hold.
BUT DON'T DESPAIR!
I have a video in relation to this series!
So for now, here's what I have to offer first:

Sorry if there wasn't much of an update for these past few days. I was busy with a video series; it's linked with this one *which isn't done yet by the way; but I'll still be working on it* I just completed the web series along with the official playlist.

It's 10 episodes long amounting to more than 5 hours of live playtime. I want you guys to watch it and post your comments here.

Note: If you know a show that was once aired featuring still-animation-stories; it's pretty much like this with a mix of vid game replay.

Note 2: It's on a Wangan setting so don't expect much with drifts although *spoiler* act 5 has a touge scene.

SUPIDO NO DENSETSU V OFFICIAL PLAYLIST

This post has been edited by Gunma's 34 on Feb 12 2011, 06:33 AM

Being the owner of this series; I would just like to announce that I am not neglecting the absence of the last chapters of this series. In fact, with the help of my video editor, a couple of friends on the field of multimedia editing, I'll be making a movie out of the last chapters of Supido no Densetsu Round Hawaii.

This will be done with the aid of Test Drive Unlimited, PC version; Magix Movie Edit pro 14 PLUS, any adobe software under my disposal (flash maker if I'm lucky) and voice acting from various sources of mine (http://thecolorless.net as to name a few) The project will take some time before the official release on youtube as an OVA for the series stated above this post is being under construction as well. I hope you've enjoyed the series so far up to this point; but I would like to note that it isn't over.

The climax is yet to be seen. Although I'd love to hear everyone's insights on the last few typed chapters, the video playlist as linked above, etc. All feedback will be accepted and some constructive ones may even be recognized for further development of this series.

I thank idforums.net for giving me the opportunity to complete this series up to this point and give my overall thanks to the 15,000 viewers who've looked out for updates; be it a member or non-member. You have my thanks.

Also for an added heads up while SLZ Hawaii Viaggio Grande *yes, that's the title* is being developed; here's the prelude video to SPeed Legend V; if you go watch it on youtube; it's been linked to the other videos via annotations:

This post has been edited by Gunma's 34 on Oct 24 2011, 06:13 PM

This thread has been bumped for the sole reason of incoming reviews by @Meteor.

Also the vid post above has been edited.

Here are some reviews, starting from. . .

Ch.89
The first paragraph did a decent job of starting this chapter. There were a few bits that could use a little work, like. .

The "Tomo's case is totally different from that point on" kinda makes it sound like "especially for him" was referring to a different character. I got what you meant, but some people may get the wrong meaning. You could change it to:
"Weeks passed and things start to become normal yet again, especially for Tomo this time. His case is totally different from since before."
People will have an easier time understanding this sentence.

There was another problem with that same part, but it doesn't make the paragraph confusing. If you read it again, you'll see that you ended up mixing past-tenses and present-tenses together in the same sentence. Doesn't ruin the writing, but it's not good grammar, so you'll have to work on avoiding stuff like that.

Rewriting it again to fix the grammar (and little more than that):
"Weeks passed and things started to become normal again, especially for Tomo this time. His case was now totally different from since before."
Added the "now" near the end just to make it a little more clear.

But the first paragraph did what it set out to do. It told us what you wanted it to (passing of time and minor plot developments) and quickly got the chapter started.

Same for the next two paragraphs. I'm not sure about the way you use past and present-tenses in them, but looking into it in detail will severely delay the review, so I'll leave that for you to think about the next time you decide to work with a text format.

I'm not too sure about "Tomo-chan" necessarily meaning he and Minami have gotten closer, and "halffie" is a word already used in Japan so I doubt Tomo came up with it on his own. But leaving that aside, I liked most of the writing in this chapter. The dialogue wasn't boring and the character interactions were fun to read (special mention to Mr.Freedom and Anthony). In this review, I'm not gonna point out everything that could be fixed a little, but I'm still gonna point out a few of them now before I get back to the compliments.

"about myself" makes it sound like Minami was thinking about herself and not Joseph. Something like "That's what I thought myself too.", "I thought about that myself as well", etc. would work better here.

It kinda sounds like she's saying she likes the colour orange twice. Judging by Tomo going "You do?" instead of something like "You already said that.", that's not what you were going for. The fix here is to change "I like orange too." to "I like oranges too.". That makes it clear she's talking about something more citrus-y.

EDIT: You pointed out that was actually Tomo talking, so you should've added a "Said Tomo" in there to prevent confusion.

She gets distracted by those colours pretty easily. Would she have moved out of the way on her own if Tomo hadn't pulled her away from those cars?

You wrote decent descriptions for what the mansion's other residents were up to, and an okay description of what was going on in Daiki's mind as he looked at his budget. The dialogue was okay here too and the spar between Ein and the comedy duo wasn't written bad. What little you wrote of it was described clearly and wasn't unrealistic. You also wrote the characters reacting to each other's moves and the few moves and blocks you mentioned (elbow thrust, middle round kick, etc.) made picturing the scene easy.

I think Kasumi could've reacted less strongly though. Or maybe I'm just tired of seeing "person sees/hears of familiar person with another person, misunderstands, and gets angry or sad or whatever." scenes popping up in fiction.

(Phew. I'm regretting that I said I'd post this review today. Took me a more than 30 mins to think up just this much. Past 4 AM now, gotta hurry up)

And now the beach house again. Conversations weren't boring and Joseph's still entertaining. The way you brought up how he'd recently modified his M12 to an M400 was nice too.

Going to skip a few things for the sake of quickness. Will edit later on request.

Tomo sure doesn't sound close to Tom. I'd have expected Anthony to mispronounce it more like "Tome" (the English word) or "Tomu". (This is an unimportant issue.)

Race scene was pretty good. Just remember that an inertia drift is when a drifting car changes the direction of its drift (like on an S-turn) and not when a car drives towards a turn and then slides into it. Anyway, the bit about slow-in-fast-out was a nice touch.

Ch.90
Still don't understand why the auto registration place won't accept particular cars (guess I'll just have to reread earlier chapters). Anyway, the narration in the first paragraph seemed a little weird (the bit about Kaede being a character from Kyushi's first volume and such). You should've put that into the pre-chapter notes or whatever you call them because that sort of narration didn't fit in the chapter itself.

The dialogue between the two new characters was okay and it's good that instead of going the boring route of Kasumi getting angry or whatever at Tomo for talking with Minami, you went with a different, less illogical and tired route. Might've been a little more sappy than it needed to but oh well. Tomo's expression changing from fear to guilt was another nice touch by the way.

One thing I want to point out though:

Most people don't talk like that. Just changing it to "My mind is full of negative thoughts right now" would've worked better.

The driving scene was well written. And the look at Tomo and Kasumi's differing thoughts about the driving was a nice touch too.

Your descriptions set up the beach house stuff well. You saved time by cutting to the new arrivals showing up at their destination, but didn't forget to point out what had happened in the meantime. You also didn't forget to point out where Tomo was, which explained why he and Kaede didn't meet earlier in this part.

Character intros and dialogue went okay.

I don't think "gullible" is the word you were going for here though. A gullible person is someone who tends to believe most lies very easily, so the word just doesn't make sense in this part.

Ch.91
Tomo suddenly switching from arrogance to self-depreciation and the way it changes the mood was a good moment. There were also other moments like Kasumi noticing that Tomo didn't like being compared to Lucas and Kaede's anger going away on Tomo's apology.

I don't remember Minami being Christian as well. Did you bring that up in an earlier chapter? 'cause I don't have time to check now.

Other parts of the chapter were also okay, and you adequately explained Satsuki's sudden appearance.

Ch.92
The description of the road they'd chosen and when they'd chosen it was nice, but "varying in overall vertical angle for 5 kilometers" would've been better as "varying in elevation for 5 kilometers."

The speed racer comment during the rule briefing was funny. But the off-road rule could've been described better. Did you mean "All four tyres off-road = DQ in 5" or did you literally mean "Off-road with all tyres missing from the car = DQ in 5"?
I'm thinking you meant the former.

I liked how you showed Tomo decreasing the gap throughout the whole race, and then overtake after a slow-in-fast-out turn. But I have to point out the "he accelerated 0.15 km from the turning point" stuff would've been better if you'd given the distances in metres or didn't give the distances at all and used adjectives to hint at them.

Eh. . . I'll just stop here and edit in the rest later.

Ch.93
Like how you followed up Tomo having second thoughts about what he was saying last chapter by having him think about if he should've said all that. Done well, small details like that make a character seem more real.

This would make more sense if you took out "weird". Ryan is asking why Minami lasted longer against Tomo despite having less power than Kaede, but the "why is it weird" makes it look like he already knows the answer to that one and is instead asking why it's strange that 300hp car did better than a 320hp car. Also, "deceit" is the wrong word to use here. Deceit is related to lying.

I liked the description of Joseph's gutter attack, and the way the race began was nice too. You didn't really need to describe Adriana's appearance and how the harness wrapped around her and what she looked like to her fans and everything that much though (Wait. Her fans popped out of thin air to watch her drive?). It didn't really fit here and worked against the flow of the writing in this part.

I don't really have much to say here so I'll say I didn't have problems with the parts of this chapter I haven't talked about yet. There were a few typos here and in other chapter but I'm not gonna point them all out now since I'm trying to review a bunch of chapters together.

Ch.94
Had no real problems with this entire chapter. While the prose used wasn't amazing, it told the plot well. You described the sights of her dream clearly enough to provide a good mental picture of it, and the plot developments were interesting overall. Perhaps a little ridiculous, but not boring and not too ridiculous. And all this Royal Guild business has a lot of potential that you haven't really used yet, and I am looking forward to seeing that potential used in a later part of Speed Legend.

But admittedly, one part did look confusing.

Could you explain it? I have no idea what "Its disappearance" could be an answer for in this case. Or are you intentionally keeping things back so you can reveal them later?

Ch.95
I didn't have any problems with the events of this chapter either. You did a good job setting up Daiki's awakening as the Prince of the Guild. The look at everything in the story that had affected the team's finances up till now was interesting, and the way you showed the effect it had on Daiki's emotional state also wasn't bad. The dream scene had okay dialogue and the way the Prince twisted some facts around, and the way that Daiki accepted the Prince's story easily because of how worrying about the team's finances just before had affected his mental state were nice touches. The rest of the chapter smoothly leads into the next one.

Ch.96
This chapter, however, I did have problems with. While Daiki's speech did start to get annoying near the end, Tomo punching him after Daiki suggested replacing his R34 with the new GT-R did go overboard. You didn't do a good job giving a reason for Tomo's sudden anger here. Before Tomo spoke up, Daiki's talk about money sounded less like money was the reason for racing and more like he wanted funds to upgrade the cars (money for the sake of racing rather than racing for the sake of money) and his talk about showing that in motorsports, Japan is capable of more than just making cars sounded less like nationalism and more like "Japan isn't known for producing world-class racers, but let's show the world that doesn't mean we don't have any". And later on in this scene when Daiki's lines started to get even more stupid sounding, Tomo did have some reason to get angry but the TREMENDOUS CAPS LOCK UTILISING RAGE he showed still looked fake.

(Just to be sure we're on the same page: What do you define as nationalism?)

And this comparison didn't really fit. If he was talking like Hitler, his speech would probably be less about having to earn money so the team could afford upgrades and more about harnessing the might of the genetically superior Japanese race and wiping out those inferior foreign races and whatever other race-supremacist stuff Hitler would probably ramble on about. All Daiki talked about besides money was giving Japan more recognition, and like I said, that part didn't even sound all that nationalistic due to the wording used.

And, come to think of it, his awakening looked like it was only supposed to make him nationalistic. Where'd the sudden obsession with getting money come from? The King's, and by extension The Prince's interests seemed to be only nationalistic and not monetary. I know the team needs money for upgrades, but Daiki sounds less like he wants money for the sake of racing and more like he races for the sake of earning money (and that change in personality is too sudden considering you only adequately explained why he turned nationalistic, and not why he began valuing money so highly).

I think I'm having trouble describing exactly what I didn't like about this chapter's defining moments, so I'll stop. But I'll say that both Tomo and Daiki's behavior felt unrealistic (though Daiki can be excused due to his awakening and all), and it took me out of the plot (broke my immersion into the story). This chapter has started a significant change in the story and, much later down the road, the developments that result from this could end up being very good. It is a very important chapter plot-wise. But on its own, it just doesn't stand well.

Ch.97
I remember you once made a coloured comic for Kyushi. Back then, I should've explained why I felt the comics you'd drawn previously looked better despite having less time and work put into them. Now I'll explain what I didn't like about the artwork in this one.

First panel was okay, but it'd have looked much better without colour. The daytime sky ended up being an abnormally dark colour with some paintbrushed areas. It was difficult to tell that the guardrail was a guardrail because the colour used was too dark and the line-art turned near invisible during colouring. All of the colours looked too dark for the setting.
Second panel was bad. The blur-lines you'd previously drawn onto the road got in the way during colouring, and you could've used Photoshop to draw new ones over the colouring and should've erased the old ones entirely so you wouldn't get unpainted spots in the finished product
Colour choice improved after the third panel. But the sky would've looked much better as a single light colour or a light gradient of some sort. The clouds look like very simple paintbrushing and also look out of place sometimes either because of the lack of perspective in the sky (clouds looking the same regardless of altitude or how far away they are in the distance) or because they seem very close to the road in some panels and end up looking like stuff you'd only expect to see at very high altitudes. You also still have the problem of leaving areas unpainted (however, it's been one or two years since then and you got rid of this problem near the end of SL V). There were some panels where you decided to give the road a texture, and it didn't turn out well since it didn't fit with how you drew other stuff and because it's very difficult to apply perspective to such textures. And I didn't like the way you coloured the scenery (trees and grass and stuff). The colouring there ended up looking too dark considering how bright the sky was in comparision, brought more attention to the lack of detail in the original art, and also made the line-art difficult to see (and visible line-art might've made it look a little better) You never came across that particular problem in the black-and-white comics since you didn't have to worry about colour and only needed to focus on the line-art. But you just weren't ready to use colours back when you made this particular comic.

The art was the only problem with this comic though. This race scene was much better than the one in the Kyushi comic.

Ch.98
The quick recap at the start did a good job of explaining what went on during the final seconds of Tomo and Daiki's race, and also acted as a good intro for this chapter. The description of Daiki not wanting to face everyone after being proven wrong was a moment that gave his character realism, so good job on that too.

But I'm still going to point out the unnatural wording Daiki used when stating what he didn't take into account.

The "in mind" didn't work with the sentence structure here, and removing it would be an improvement. You wouldn't even have to replace it with anything since "I forgot one thing" would still work. And "unpredictable capabilities of turning the tides of battle." just doesn't sound right and (to give examples) you could've rewritten it to "I didn't take into account your unpredictability/your tendency to turn things around/how you can manage unlikely victories/what you'd try when desperate to win/your gift for making comebacks/how well you turn the tides of battle/etc."

Don't have much to say about the rest of the chapter now. But there is one thing. .

I'm pretty sure most people compete simply for the enjoyment of it. Maybe what you really meant was eliminating conflict from racing? Replacing "Eliminating the spirit of competition" with "Eliminating conflict from motorsports" doesn't make the paragraph make less sense, and I find it fits better.

Ch.99
Starting with the opening paragraph.

It started the chapter decently and was okay at describing what happened between chapters, but:
1.Taboo doesn't really seem like the right word. You could try "social faux-pas", or more simply, "mistakes".
2."locks himself" should be "had locked himself"
3.And "explodes in rage" should be " had exploded in rage" (Remember. Past events should not be described with present tense).
4.The part after that would work better as "and said many morbid and opinionated things just to protect his idea of what being a racer really meant"

That sounded unintentionally funny, to be honest. I just can't see people talk like this in modern times while staying completely serious. It really sounds like something out of a Victorian-era play (or something like that).

Your sarcasm meter appears to be malfunctioning, because that wasn't sarcasm. Sarcasm is more like seeing someone make a lot of noise and saying "Gee, that guy's certainly not being noisy at all. Nope, nada, completeeeely quiet. Definitely not noisy." or seeing some idiot nearly hit a guy on a bike then spin out into a wall while trying to drift on two-way roads in the middle of traffic , and saying "Clearly a most accomplished, safe and responsible driver." What Ein said does not count as sarcasm, so "sarcastically" does not make any sense here.

I'm not going to touch the "what does racing mean to you?" stuff. Joseph's answer was funny, but this part of the chapter didn't really look as deep as it thought it was. It wasn't awful but it was a little tiring to read through.

And while Minami's answer also wasn't awful, the "warm applause" it triggered just wasn't realistic. Her answer wasn't that amazing.

Rest of the chapter was okay. The conversation between Tomo and Adriana wasn't a bad read, and the mention of Adriana's way with words and how Tomo felt because of it was a nice touch.

Ch.100
Liked this chapter. It was pretty entertaining most of the way. I'd say more, but I want to finish this review today so that I don't have it nagging at me in the back of my mind anymore, so I'll just point out two error and also this one part I'm not sure about.

There was no irony here. Irony is more like that episode of Dexter's Lab where Dexter slows down time so he can quickly finish homework and prepare for school, but after going through all that trouble, DeeDee just tells him "Snow day. School's cancelled ". Irony is nothing like what happened here. "Jokingly" would've worked better than "ironically" here.

Now for that one part I'm not sure about.

Maybe I'm remembering stuff wrong, but shouldn't it be Hiei that's trying to hug Ryuusen? Sorry, but mind clearing this up for me?

"Underrated" means "better than most people think it is", not "slowest" or "weakest" or whatever you thought it meant.

Kasumi standing up to Daiki was written alright. The wording might've sounded slightly awkward, but this scene was okay.

Ch.101
Decent start again. Opening paragraph adequately described the situation Kasumi was now in. Also, there's something near the end of the paragraph that I want to point out.

(Again, I compliment something then point out something about. Getting repetitive, no?)

This needs a little clarification. Did you mean Kasumi was looking down at the road or did you mean to say she was facing away from the road? Since you said "facing the road" it sounds like she was looking in the direction of the road in front of her and so should've noticed the car that stopped right in front of her.

What followed was also okay. Minami stopping to see if Kasumi needed help, driving away after Kasumi said she didn't need a ride, then coming back anyway because she doesn't want someone Tomo knows to be stuck way out there - This and the parts in between and afterwards weren't boring at all. They didn't slow down the chapter and they managed to feel authentic even though stuff could've been worded better.
(Also, I am again going to point out some things. Expected it, didn't you?)

"sama" doesn't work here at all as Kasumi doesn't have that much respect for Daiki now.

"Whined" isn't the right word to use here because it makes it sound like Minami's annoyed at what Kasumi's saying, and you were probably trying to make her sound concerned rather than annoyed. This probably isn't the best replacement for it, but you could try changing "whined" to "said in concern".

You did a good job with the restaurant scene as well. And Kasumi's thoughts in the taxi about apologizing to Tomo felt authentic.

Also no real problems with the kitchen scene where Ein discusses with Tomo about him leaving out the extra MSG. The part at the beginning that goes "the Escabache he made... make that, the sweet and sour fish he made." felt like a good intro for why the convo began, and while I don't see why Ein would see Tomo's question as a threat, that didn't ruin anything. Ein "facing his back" at Tomo would sound better as "turning his back" to Tomo though.

I have a few questions about the CLK-GTR. I'm not sure what you meant by "the very end was ashed", but I'm thinking a fatal crash should atleast produce dents and scratches somewhere. Your description of the car made it seem relatively undamaged, but you also said it was kept exactly as it was when Marcelo crashed it, so I don't think Adriana would get those things repaired. Speaking of which, if the car was kept exactly as how it was after the crash, why is the engine missing? If the engine is missing, then the car wasn't kept exactly as how it was back then.

I'm not sure about Tomo talking to the Mercedes, but you don't have to change it.

In the race scene flashback, I think you could've described Marcelo's low-angle drift as being "subtle" or "slight" or "minimal" or the like, instead of describing it as "weak" since some readers could momentarily think Marcelo wasn't performing that drift well. Also, scarring a tyre down to the rim is very difficult to achieve with wheelspin alone. You could seriously scratch the contact surface provided temperatures stayed low enough to avoid the tyre's outer surface simply starting to melt, but scarring down to the rim sounds like you'd need something to scratch the sidewall. Road friction on the contact surface isn't enough - the furthest you could get would be just enough to make the tyres either burst or simply lose pressure.
All that aside, this was another enjoyable scene. And I liked most of the small details strewn throughout it.

Nothing to say about what follows, since I'll be talking about that for the next review anyway.

Ch.102
Okay start, okay writing overall except for the ending (as I mentioned earlier, I'm tired of seeing misunderstandings of this sort, but I'm thinking Kasumi can be slightly excused in this case). Don't have much to say about it, so I'll just point out two things that need correcting.

Shouldn't this be "all I need to hear from you"?

"Having not taken the pressure any longer" makes no sense here. Did you mean something along the lines of "Losing her patience"?

I'm curious as to what Tomo said for chapter 7 of the book. Planning on getting to that?

Ch.103
This chapter continues well from where the previous chapter left off. While I didn't like the whole Kasumi-misunderstands-and-runs-away bit from last chapter, I did like how the other characters notice this and actually try to think about how to quickly solve this before any more pointless drama erupts.

I won't blame you, Adriana. But I will say that "I have a long duration of the G.A.D." doesn't sound like natural speech. The easiest fix here would be to replace "I have" with "I've had".

The conversations that went on during those moments were okay reading material. You tend to have a decent grasp of making non-boring dialogue when you're working with normal and normal-ish conversations. Now, let's switch away to Kasumi.

I remember that from the comics. Except in the comics, it went like:
.Tomo is looking for work
.He comes across an unlikely damsel-in-distress scenario
.He steps in to help
.And gets rewarded with a spiked weapon to the back of the head (among other things)
.Kasumi proceeds to kick ass anyway. All the bad guys run away.
.And Tomo somehow survived getting hit in the back of the head with a sharp object.

So, while Tomo was very brave in that situation, it was ultimately Kasumi saving him from a soon-to-be-murder assault. Are you still following the comics in these parts of your story? Or are you going for a ret-con (rewriting past events) now?

Well, I didn't really have any real problem with that part. I just find it funny how a comedic-ish moment from the comics is back here all super-serious.

By the way, how much of Tomo's past did you have planned out back when you started the comic? Were you planning all the brain trauma stuff from the start? Or did all the bullying and head-trauma-ing and thrown-in-pool-ing and bully-murdering and forgotten-person-faking-his-death-ing and stuff come to mind much later?

Well, now that we know that Kasumi is being sad and nostalgic, what are Tomo and his tomodachi up to? Turns out they're visiting Adriana's hairdresser.

Disturbed and freaked can sometimes mean the same thing. Was Tomo going to ask why Ein wasn't angry about the hairdresser kissing Adriana? If it was along those lines, then you could replace "disturbed" with "enraged" or something.

So, for what reason has Tomo to tomodachi come to this stereotypical-but-otherwise-okay-person for? Relationship advice? I see.

I also see that Hiei and Ryuusen don't like how the team has changed. These parts were okay too, and Daiki's answers to the press were convincingly professional. I still don't get why Tomo is later considered a lowlife by people even though all Daiki said to the press regarding him was that he left the team but they can still win, since none of that is really saying anything about Tomo betraying Team Japan or badmouthing him or whatever. But that's for series V, not ch.103.

Hiei's pretty angry about Daiki's recent actions. Can't really blame him, listening to all that team talk about Tomo must've been annoying. Good thing Ryuusen stopped him for doing something unwise.

And now, what answers has Tomo found? What's that? Explaining the situation to someone will make misunderstandings easier to clear up? Why, that's BRILLIANT!!!!! Well, you should've talked with Kasumi earlier Tomo. Go look for her, now!
(Thank you Ms. No-longer-depressed and Mr. Homosexual-stereotype. Pointless drama has been averted through your wise actions. I am grateful to you both.)

Tomo and Kasumi had some very well written scenes this time around. For now, this is all I need to say about the end of the misunderstanding: Good job, Three-Four of Gunma. Good job. I liked reading it. I liked reading Kasumi seeing she had a call from Tomo, and then having Tomo ask her where she was, tell her he had something to say and then asking again before telling her he's been looking everywhere for her. I liked Kasumi's reaction to hearing that last part. I liked reading how and where they decided to continue the conversation. I liked reading how they tried to restart the conversation after meeting up, but had trouble finding things to say. I liked that Tomo cleared up the misunderstanding, and I liked reading how happy Kasumi felt about Tomo coming to her.

And I liked these simply because you wrote them well. Originally this compliment was going to be much shorter, but I felt I should give you a little more encouragement for your moments of great writing.

I just want to ask about this.

So, were Tomo and the mechanics thinking a simple oil change would make a car with a lot of miles on it perform like brand new? There's more to engine maintanence than oil-changes (like for example, cleaning and resharpening those old spark plugs). What were they really expecting from the oil change. Could you clear this up for me? I want to be sure I haven't misunderstood this part.

Anyway, the mystery of Tomo's R34 could turn out to be interesting later on. I'm letting you know you have a little potential here, and while that potential might not be easy to use, it is still there.

And there. All currently released text chapters have finally been reviewed.

This post has been edited by Meteor on Nov 11 2011, 01:54 PM

Read throughout and requesting more info on parts you may wish to add between 89-92 and onwards.

The one who actually brought up the "I like orange too" was Tomo, who was actually referring to orange juice as he stated "...sip to the last drop" hence the "that's orange juice" comment came from Minami.

Le bump.

Thanks to Meteor for the Professional Criticism of the Recently posted Chapters. The best bit that I like with this is Tomo's new nickname *coughHomosexualStereotypecough* IF anyone agrees, please post on or read through that chapter and post on.

Announcement:

Current Series:

Supido no Densetsu OVA I Parts 1 & 2 have been released.

Part 3 is coming soon.

Current Project working on:

The time has arrived. Speed Legend Z: Viaggio Grande is in the works. The story will follow the last text chapter of this web novel. All help, assistance, information & talent is much needed for this project. Commendations will be given to respective members who wish to participate and support this series. From car information, driving technique descriptions, voice acting & media providing, all is needed & much appreciated upon doing so.

Going 4 years with 19000 views (by newcomers & returnees) is a feat that I cannot accomplish without your help to inspire me to write on. I would also like to give my gratitude to the other talented writers of IDForums & WMExpressway who triggered ideas that I never thought possible would aid me in this story venture.

Promotional Videos will first be made while the script for Viaggio Grande is being made & proofread in the future.

This is just one of those promo videos that I'll be making. I've finalized a list of 4 more promo videos to make. I hope the rest of the web novel hasn't bored you (despite some misunderstandings that were point out and some information re-clarified) and I hoped that you also followed the last video series I accomplished. IT could've been better if it weren't for my deadline that time and limited resources.

Viaggio Grande will be featured by the video game: Test Drive Unlimited, with the aid of TDU Forums in providing extra car-mods. Some features of the video will be limited but I try to expand my materials to be used for this series.

I also want to request from all who read this to subscribe to my Youtube Channel & refer both my channel & my videos to anyone else who are interested.

And also by request, once Viaggio Grande has reached Youtube shores, I will also upload & post the Manga that follows this video series; which would end all loopholes between Viaggio Grande & the V-series.

Thank you very much for all your patronage & support & I wish that our upcoming efforts would be a success as well in the long run.