Hashiriya (Volume 4): Final Chapter & Epilogue Posted! (31/7/11)
- Thread starter DK
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- San Francisco,
- machate-man
- dowby
Ah, true fiction! one of the few things to actually make you concerned:tup:
- 1,000
- SSyello
Yes I did
- 7,225
- beyond down under
- Skython11
I've done some digging, I think this is why
https://www.gtplanet.net/forum/showthread.php?p=5548754#post5548754
PLEASE COME BACK
https://www.gtplanet.net/forum/showthread.php?p=5548754#post5548754
PLEASE COME BACK
Except for when I'm awake... And asleep 
- 5,706
- Paint booth
- FMecha_EXE
Yeah, he is banned isn't he? I hope it's not permanent.
I know this already given, but here's the cause: the creationism-evolutionism debacle.
As Scaff says... 
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- 14,042
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- CiaranGTR94
Chapter 17: Family Reunion
Date: November 5th, 2011
Location: Nagano City, Nagano Prefecture, Japan
"Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz..."
"TAKAHASHI-CHAN!!!"
Who's he talking to? I wondered, as I momentarily forgot the name I had been using for the past 15 weeks.
"TAKAHASHI-CHAN!!! DO NOT IGNORE ME!!!"
I lifted my head off what it was resting on: a PS3, in its original packaging.
"Yes?" I asked, worryingly.
"Why were you asleep?"
"I...couldn't sleep last night." For obvious reasons.
"Out partying, were you?"
"No!"
"Sleeping on the job is extremely irresponsible! If you weren't a college dropout, trying to get back on your feet, I WOULD DISMISS YOU IMMEDIATELY!"
Yes, Mr. All Caps Rage. Sorry, Mr. All Caps Rage.
"What did you say?"
"Nothing..."
"'Nothing' doesn't sound like 'Yes, Mr. All Caps Rage. Sorry, Mr. All Caps Rage.' You know what? You're off the job for a week. Let's see how that will straighten you out."
And, just like that, I was escorted off the premises.
Well, 🤬 you very much, I thought.
In the covered car park, my crappy Daihatsu awaited. My piece of crap that I bought for 150,000 yen.
There's something in me...something that feels ashamed to drive this...
I returned to my apartment and watched the snow being sprinkled all over the city. My apartment is not much...just a small, 2.2m-by-3.5m bedroom with a window, a bed, a nightstand, and a small wardrobe. There's one bathroom with no bath, just a shower, a toilet and a sink, and there isn't even a proper kitchen, just a small corner in what is meant to be the living room. I have an archaic dial-up internet connection (so, out goes YouTube and every other website on the planet except Wikipedia) and a TV/VHS combo. Who the 🤬 watches VHS in Japan these days? To cap it all off, I only have one phone port, meaning that if I want to use the Internet, I can't use my home phone.
I collapse onto my bed, right next to my body-sized pillow. That job paid me 40,000 yen a week. My rent is 9,000. 9,000 for a studio apartment. They probably just call it a "studio" because it sounds better than "chicken coop." I pull my duvet over myself. Is this what I am meant to do for the rest of my life? Stand behind a counter? I listened to the traffic go by the apartment block until I fall asleep.
Location: Akiko's subconscious
"Akiko...I think you're ready." The vengeful Akiko clone's voice echoed through the empty, dark corridors.
"I agree."
A vision of Miki appeared.
"You know what to do..."
Akiko dived behind a wall.
BANG. BANG. BANG. BANG. BANG. BANG.
Every one of Miki's bullets failed to hit Akiko.
"Akiko...do not let him kill you..."
The look in Miki's eyes was not a "I'm going to kill you" look. It was one of weakness.
"Okay, you scrawny son of a bitch..." muttered Akiko, "TASTE THUNDER!!!" With her primal yell, Akiko tazed Miki with 250,000 volts.
Miki yelled in pain. Well, he tried to yell, but he couldn't move a muscle. He could only groan as Akiko stood over him.
"Peez...av merzy..." he groaned through an open mouth that was unable to move.
"Mercy? You have no understanding of the word."
A katana blade, in its sheath, hung from Akiko's waist. She drew it out, and momentarily stared at it, admiring its shininess.
"Remember this bad boy?"
She thrust the blade right through him.
"Maybe that would remind you!"
The vengeful Akiko clone applauded.
"Excellent. Now it's time."
With a hint of hesitation, Akiko replied, "I know. Just promise me it won't hurt?"
The vengeful Akiko clone loaded a single bullet into her gun.
"See you on the other side..."
BANG.
The bullet went straight into the middle of her forehead.
*-----*
Akiko's eyes shot open.
Date: November 6th, 2011
I woke up at around 8am. I turned off the alarm on my phone. I had breakfast: two slices of toast with butter. It has been the same ever since I moved out of the youth hostel that I had to live in for a week until I found this place. I have no money for a coffee machine.
You would think that a decent landlord would at least put in A GODDAMN COFFEE MACHINE!!! HE CAN AFFORD A TOASTER!
As I prepared to butter my toast, I noticed that my fridge was nearly empty.
You CANNOT be serious...
As a result, I had to go grocery shopping.
On the way back, I took a detour. I don't know why, but after buying groceries, I had this sudden urge to check out the nearby mountains.
It's eerily quiet...and lonely...
Faster, ordered a dissenting voice.
Wait, what?
You heard me.
...
I fought the urge to floor it.
To go full-throttle...is just madness...why would anyone want to do that on public roads?
Hypocrite, taunted the dissenting voice inside.
Something in the field of snow caught my eye...
"Is that..."
Aki-chan? Junichi?
I pulled the handbrake and jumped out of the car, running towards two figures playing in the snow. I didn't care if the engine was still running.
"AKI-CHAN! JUNICHI!"
I ran up to a female figure.
"Aki-chan!"
As soon as I touched her, she seem to fade away.
"Aki-chan...no..."
I looked around. Junichi was gone too. I fell to my knees, a snivelling, wailing mess.
"Alone...no friends..."
I started bawling my eyes out.
At that moment, a GT-R was speeding through the forest.
"Gathering the ashes/Everything thrown away/Gathering the ashes/Scatter as they blow away/Gathering the ashes/Everything thrown away/Gathering the ashes/Scatter as they blow away..."
"Hey, what's that over there?"
A lone figure emerged from the GT-R.
"Damn, it's freezing cold!"
The GT-R looked calmer as it stood still.
"Hey! Excuse me!"
Could that be...
"Your engine is still running!"
Hang on...I think there's a bit more than a simple accident here...
"Leave me alone..."
I know that voice...
"I have nothing..."
"What are you on about, sis?"
Location: Cologne, Germany
Damned wires. Why do they need to use adhesive materials?
After an hour or so of "wiggle your big toe," Akiko was on her feet, walking around so she could get her balance. In the darkness, it was easy to overlook a dark holdall under her bed.
What do we have here...
Akiko pulled out the holdall from under her bed. She opened it and rummaged through it.
- Phone: check.
- Purse: check.
- Clothes: check.
- Passport: check.
- Driver's license: check.
- Credit cards: check.
- Cash: check.
- GT Association license: check.
- Laptop: check.
- Assorted chargers for portable electronic devices: check.
After changing into a SauberF1 hooded jumper, jeans and Converse sneakers, and visiting the out-patient centre, Akiko went straight for the exit and went to the nearest Internet café.
I will find you, Miki.
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Chapter 18: Back to School
"Hiroto...is that you..."
"Sis? I thought you were in Germany?"
"I'm not...I lied...to you...to Kazumi...to Mom...to Dad..."
I started bawling again.
"It's alright, sis. What are you doing here?"
"I'm...in exile..."
"Why don't you follow me to Starbucks, so you can explain what happened?"
I returned to my car, with tears still flowing down my cheeks.
When we got to Starbucks, I saw Kazumi. Hiroto tapped me on the shoulder.
"Can I get you anything, sis?"
"A large coffee."
"How about a...vente cappuccino?"
"Sure, is that the largest?"
"I think so."
I moved Toru's pram, I sat down next to Kazumi.
"Miyu...what happened?"
"This creep...I think his name was Miki..."
Kazumi started coughing. "MIKI?!"
I noticed that her stomach was slightly bulging.
"Kazumi...are you pregnant?" The change in subject made Kazumi more relaxed.
"I became pregnant in June, but I found out during July."
"Has it started kicking yet?"
She leaned over towards me. "Don't tell Hiroto, but...it's a girl. I'm planning on surprising him."
"Have you decided on a name?"
"I'm open for suggestions. I've ruled out anything beginning with 'Mi-'. Hiroto has suggested Satoshi, seeing as he doesn't know that it's a girl."
Hiroto returned with my cappuccino and a cookie which he gave to Toru. Toru grabbed it with both hands and started wolfing it down.
"Right, sis, what happened to you?"
"This pervert scumbag called Miki Watanabe said I had to leave Tokyo, that I had to adopt a new identity."
He's back, though Hiroto. He then sighed. "Sis, do you have amnesia or something?"
"Yes, I had a car crash. My friends said I was racing, but I don't race."
"Miki Watanabe is sadistic. His modus operandi is to 🤬 with your mind. He shot me in the left foot. He kidnapped Kazumi and Toshi, the two people who are closest to me. He forced his own mentor to retire. Quite honestly, this is a man who gets a 'kick'...of sorts...from inflicting pain upon others."
"Hiroto...I think she said she isn't a racer."
"I think I have an idea. I'll be right back, I'm just heading to the toilet."
The time Hiroto spent in the bathroom was spent in stony silence. Even Toru was quiet.
Hiroto returned to the toilet.
"Sis, pack your bags. You're going to Okinawa."
"Why?"
"A few acquaintances of mine run a racing school there. Lessons begin Wednesday the 9th."
"Hiroto...Kazumi...sometimes...when I'm driving...I feel an urge. Something is telling me to go faster. I have to argue with this urge. I have to fight it to stay under the speed limit."
"I feel that urge, Kazumi feels that urge, Dad feels that urge, Tanaka-san feels that urge...that is the genesis of a racing driver."
"Kazumi's a racing driver?"
Hiroto sighed. "She's unbeaten...do you remember her R32?"
"Huh?"
"Her Skyline. Her black 1991 Nissan Skyline GTS-t."
I tried remembering it. "I think I remember...Kazumi, you had a black 2-door Nissan, right?"
"That's correct."
"Sis...go to the racing school. Take down Miki."
"Why can't you do it?"
"Because, chances are, if I were to race him, he would shoot me when we're lining up on the grid."
"And how am I getting into the racing school?"
"Me, you and one of the teachers there have a mutual enemy."
*-----*
Location: Yamamoto Racing School main building, Okinawa, Japan
Date: 7th of November, 2011
So, once again, I'm on the doorsteps of a building carrying two suitcases. I rang the buzzer.
"Yes?" asked a raspy-voiced receptionist.
"I'm here to enrol for racing lessons...?" I replied in a confused tone.
I heard her shouting to someone else. "One moment please."
The door opened.
"You must be Matsuda-chan?" asked the receptionist.
I nodded in confirmation. "Yamamoto-chan will see you when she's ready. Wait outside her office on Floor 2."
The waiting room on Floor 2 was much like an average waiting room, but instead of celebrity gossip magazines, there were old copies of "Option," "Best Motoring," and "Hot Version". I started flicking through them out of curiosity. Each tick of the clock was amplified. For every 5 minutes that seems to pass, in reality the minute hand of the clock only moves forward by between one and two minutes.
"Are you Miyu Matsuda?" I looked up from the magazine. A woman with flowing, shoulder-length brown hair stood in front of me.
"Yes, why?"
She extended her hand towards me.
"I am Keiko Yamamoto. I will be your instructor while you're here. Why don't you come into my office?"
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Keiko I hope she has changed
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Chapter 19: Lessons
Keiko's office was minimalistic. There was a plain, wooden desk with a laptop on it. There was a set of shelves in one corner. On the top shelf, there was a stereo system playing calming trance music.Editor's note
"Are you still a bit bitter about my bro?"
"I was outclassed, and I was cocky. If you don't mind me changing the subject, your brother told me that you weren't much of a fan of trance music."
"I don't mind, and I consider myself a rock chick. I do find trance music calming though."
I pulled out a chair, and sat down while Keiko turned off the stereo.
"Now, your brother told me that apparently you've forgotten how to race, and that you insisted that you were never a racing driver. Is this correct?"
"Yes."
She turned her laptop towards me.
"What are you showing me?"
"A video sent by your brother. This was filmed in June '09."
Keiko clicked "Play".
# "Okay, Miyu, you ready?" asked Kazumi in the video.
# "Ready!" I replied.
The camera was then focused on a red Honda Prelude to the right.
# "Toshi, are you ready to get your ass kicked again?" she jokingly asked Toshi Sagata.
Toshi chuckled in response. # "As if that will happen, Miyu-chan is only a rookie!"
Both engines revved.
"Keiko-chan-"
Keiko paused the video, and then corrected me. "Keiko-sempai. I am your teacher until you are at an acceptable level."
"Sorry. Keiko-sempai, what car was I driving?"
"Well, Miyu-kohai, it's an S13 K's."
"What?"
"A 1991 Nissan Silvia S13 K's. It's the turbocharged model."
She then clicked "Play" again.
# "Right...I'm just going to aim the camera at the rear. Maybe we could get a good shot of Toshi's Prelude!"
"Where was I driving..." I then remembered to add, "...Keiko-sempai?"
"Suzuka Circuit."
By the time the S13 I was driving had went under the bridge after Degner, Toshi and his Prelude had disappeared from my rear view. Keiko stopped the video.
"Whoa..." This was a lot to grasp.
"The obvious skill deficit that Toshi had against you was negated by the fact that his Prelude was a faster car. And yet you, with, at that time, just two months of driving experience. Toshi had been driving since 2002. With 7 years of driving experience, you would think that his Prelude would leave you and that S13 in the dust. And yet, you went over the line with 8 seconds to spare."
"So...OK...I was a racing driver. I feel like an idiot now!"
I noticed the sound of an engine being cut out. Keiko took this as some sort of cue.
"Miyu-kohai, can you follow me outside please?"
"Hey, sis," said Keiko's brother, Satoshi, "I'm here with the Novicemobile."
"Hop in, Miyu-kohai. You're driving."
Keiko handed me the keys after I strapped myself in.
"Hang on a sec..." Keiko got out and then put up the roof. After getting back in, she said, "OK, just follow my directions to our Novice Course.
After looking over a guide of the track, I pulled over as the NA MX-5 emerged from the pit lane of the track.
"Right, Miyu-kohai, what do you know about racing? Surely the skills of your brother, who won that rain-soaked Pacific GP at Fuji, have rubbed off on you."
I closed my eyes and tried to concentrate.
"Well, there's hugging the inside line...I think..."
"Wrong. Put the car in gear, and drive. And stick to the outside of the corner unless I tell you to do otherwise."
"Cross the centre-line now!" she ordered as I approached the first bend.
"What's this, Keiko-sempai?"
"The out-in-out line. It is a better method of conserving momentum, and therefore speed, through corners."
I hesitated pushing down my right foot as I saw the speedometer creep up to 100km/h.
"Don't hesitate after this corner, you can open it up for about 5 seconds."
"Open it up?"
"Go full throttle, I mean."
"OK, build up speed to 135!"
I had not gone that fast ever since I had my crash at the Nurburgring.
"Over the centre-line again!"
"Whoa!"
"Hooking to the inside kerb, huh? Initial D much?"
She's already learned how to take the out-in-out line. It's a good thing I have set this MX-5 up to emphasize the need for car control.
"Back off here."
"The road's fallen away!"
My heart skipped a few beats as we made a short, sharp descent after the blind corner.
"I've actually seen 3 people put it in the fence on this corner. 2 of them went on to become top racers. Of course, they were only in their teens back then."
"Back off a bit for this next blind corner, right?"
I surprised myself when I said that.
"Well done, you knew when to back off," acknowledged Keiko.
"Sorry about that..."
Keiko sighed. "Meh. If you were to try to move to the outside, in this car, you would most likely lose control."
"Whoa! That tyre is smoking like...I don't know what!"
I looked at the sharp incline.
"Get used to that sight, Miyu-kohai. This school will have plenty of steep inclines."
I tried squeezing every last horsepower out of the BZ6E engine to ascend the slope.
The car lunged to the left as I went over a short bump.
"So...your first racing lap in 4 months. How does it feel."
"I...I'm surprising myself..."
"You seem to be much more confident than you appear. You look as if you're a bit scared, but in reality you are starting to remember things."
"Perhaps...perhaps driving this car quickly is acting as some sort of trigger for your memories."
Over the next few weeks, I was up from 6am honing my driving skills, while trying to catch up on my college course at the same time.
I kept some sort of mental pace notes as I did lap after lap of the course. I always remembered to brake early first, and then adjust my braking distance later and later still, five metres at a time, until I figured that to brake any later would be suicide.
Even when night fell, which was around 5-5:30pm at this time of year, I kept driving.
"Miyu-kohai, it's now 6pm, we need to head back."
My response to these notifications was the same as a child's when they're told that it's bedtime.
"Please! Just 10 minutes!"
"It's now nighttime. I don't want to have to call an ambulance for you."
Date: January 2012
As I settled down for dinner, with the rest of the "class", I still felt an adrenaline rush from earlier in the day.
This rush...it feels amazing...I have satisfied my 'urge' to go faster...
There was a loud ringing as Keiko tapped her spoon against her glass.
"Students, I have an announcement to make. Miyu-kohai will be moving up from the Novice Course."
"Wait, what?" asked one of the students.
"Yeah, she can't handle our pace!" said another.
"Besides, final exams are two months away. We'll wipe the floor with her," said a third student.
"We'll see..." I responded.
"Yeah, we'll see you cause a first-corner pile-up!" taunted the second student.
"Students! Save the trash talk for PSN or Xbox Live! Miyu-kohai, can you please come with me to the bathroom. We need to talk." She sounded extremely serious.
"OK..."
When we entered the bathroom, I was overwhelmed by the strong smell of citrus toilet cleaner.
"Miyu..."
"Shouldn't you add '-kohai' to that?"
"We're both equals in one aspect - we have a common enemy."
