Chapter 23

“Rollin on a pair of Jimmy Choo shoes”

A tall man with braided hair spoke as he presented the cargo being unloaded from the truck as Val watches from the side. It has been two weeks since those group of kids have visited Jack and Barry’s and although business has been thriving due to the curfew being lifted, the place never felt as lively as it did. Nonetheless at least now there is something that Val can take as a consolation as it slowly gets rolled off from the back of the truck.

Her Old 180SX looked brand new.

With “brand new” as a loose description.

Along with some “slight modifications”.

‘Carbon fenders? You shouldn’t have.’ Val expressed her surprise as the car finally gets rolled to a stop in front of her garage. The unpainted carbon fiber panels looked like they were added on as an afterthought but upon closer inspection, the widebody kit had been carefully fitted onto the old body. The old paint was untouched but polished and the interior has been refreshed with a mix of new leather and alcantara finish that matched the stock interior colors of the car. Though to both Val and J2, stock meant no rear seats and a roll cage.

‘Mister Asia sends his regards for a job well done Miss Val. For now please use this car to participate in the other “events” that you’ll plan in the future.’ Jun said as he took a bow, taking his leave from the premises. Val looks on with a confused look on her face as she ponders on what Jun had told her. And just as she was about to yell out on him to ask, her phone rings.

‘Huh… right on cue as always….’ She said as she picked up the call. On the other side of the line, the familiar sage like voice of her dreaded “former” employer.

‘Miss Fe.’

‘Mister Asia...’ She answered “calmly”

‘I am sure you might feel perplexed with Jun’s instructions but believe me this is correct.’

‘I’m sure they are but… Why me? I’m guessing Jun had been doing a great job organizing things better than I am, so why the change?’

‘Because It seems that I have underestimated your local law enforcement that things have come to this…’

‘I see, they must be on to you then…’

‘Not yet, but I am not going to wait to be seen before I act, Val, you know this.’

Val takes a deep breath before replying: ‘Understood… What do you require me to do?’

…

…

Lando had lost track of time ever since he decided to stay in the basement of “the palace”. He assumed it had been over a month now or maybe two but as far as he’s concerned, it had been radio silence from the media and authorities ever since the curfew had been lifted. Since then it looked like business as usual for most of the Metro’s residents, with most of the businesses inside block six - one - six going back as if nothing tragic had happened, except for some scars left in the broken glass and cracked pavement, both of which can be easily repaired. Both him and Bert had been searching for some clues connected regarding the incidents but as far as they were concerned, the heavy police presence in the streets during the curfew has simply halted any activity from their suspected leads. One of those leads were from Carbine Automotive themselves as it’s share prices had dropped within the past month following the raids leading them to think that its shareholders withdrew their trust from the company around the same time period the raids had happened, which lead them to think that there is a connection with Carbine in regards to the events, they just couldn’t figure out how the puzzle fit.

The other lead was with the owner of the Nissan GTR.

Contrary to what Bert hypothesized, he did not receive a burn notice after the events of the raid for poking his nose too deep in the investigations. It simply was a joke from internal affairs, knowing that he’d simply snoop around trying to get close to the rare car inside the evidence locker. Even still, Bert felt he was being handled carefully by the higher ups knowing his stature and skill set along with his connections which made him feel like he was an immovable object facing an unstoppable force. One way or another “the force” is going to find a way around him without resorting to violence, as doing so would expose the bureau from the inside out. Knowing this “hypothesis” Bert felt a fraction of the weight lifting up from his shoulders as he can somehow guarantee the safety of him and his family but it also gives him resolve to push through the investigation till completion as a way to keep his associates safe. Using the hypothesis as basis for his moves, most probably the first targets would not be him but those who are aiding him and the biggest name on that list, are the Loran’s.

Senator Dante Loran, His wife Saeko and their two daughters. Lorna and Yukino.

These are the four names that came up in his mind and are something that he’ll keep track of when it comes to making his decisions moving forward. Of course Lando is on the list as well, but he knows in full confidence that the man is more reliable than him in handling sticky situations, so he trusts that the old man won’t be dying in a stupid manner anytime soon.

During the past weeks he had been in and out of the evidence locker collecting samples for analysis regarding the raids. Another reason he feels he’s being monitored is on the fact that he never found himself alone inside the locker. For some reason someone was coincidentally there when he got his access back a day after he broke in. Going so far as to call his attention when his feet were getting him dangerously close to the hung android like figures at the back of the lot. Most of the samples he was getting for analysis were getting him nowhere in his investigation, which he had already determined beforehand as the higher ups attempt to send him chasing his own tail to somehow delay his pursuit, giving them time to react. But this was not Bert’s intention.

Everytime he went inside his eyes were focused on the confiscated car. He made it sure he kept his distance and manner of interest far from the topic of the vehicle so as to keep suspicions low. Never had he taken anything out from the vehicle since it had arrived, which went the same for his colleagues as they were afraid of dismantling a 75 million dollar relic. Word on the office was the people up top were deciding to donate it back to the Nissan headquarters in Japan, but so far there were no news in regards to that matter. But his suspicions that something is amiss with the car kept him coming back as he tried what he could by investigating through his network of connections, making sure he takes some pictures from afar to have his sources do his dirty work for him. One of his sources had pinpointed the car’s purchase of origin just by analysing the surface upgrades it has, tracing some of its parts around tokyo with some going as far as being in the middle of Mie prefecture. But none of the answers explained the blinking diode inside the one of the circular tail lights of the car, until Wendy’s little brother, Neilsen, came down the basement to serve him and Lando snacks, unknowingly getting a glance of the photo suggesting to bring a frequency scanner to check for a signal coming from the diode.

It was his eureka moment.

When he got near the car the day after, the scanner confirmed it. And so for the next couple of days he had been coming back and forth trying to find out what kind of data was being transmitted by the diode, and whether or not its transmitting anything in or gathering data out of the premises. Today was the day he and Lando were to compile those findings.

‘Come in…’ Wendy said as he entered “the palace” through the service entrance. He made sure he wasn’t tailed by going home first and sneaking his way into the adjacent lots’ backyard via a path he secured after his first visit to Lando. It took him a few weeks to slowly rearrange the furniture in his backyard, piece by piece, to serve as his cover leading to a gap in his fence and out into the bushy confines of the empty adjacent lot. He figured he’d lose any tail he has by making them think he just went home and *stayed* there. Upon exiting he’d pose as a young delinquent in street clothing, looking indifferent to his surroundings by gluing his eyes to his phone while walking. A tip he learned from observing Yukino when they investigated the warehouses the month prior. From there it was only the matter of getting a taxi and arriving as he descended into the room where Lando holed himself up in. Both of them wasted no time as they uploaded the aggregate of data that Bert had been collecting the past few days as they compiled it in a single data file revealing that it was streaming data from the police HQ and into a server somewhere in Kentucky, USA.

Lando quickly deduced that it likely was the result of a VPN making the data jump from server to server, skewing detection but upon looking at the files that were being streamed gave them a clue at what the intentions were.

‘All of this data corresponds to patrol routes and patrol schedules. As well as the specs and maintenance records of the whole fleet.’ Bert said while looking at the compiled data captured from the diode. ‘But what use do they need for this? I’d get it if the Carbine’s were the ones perpetrating the data leech but this initiative is coming from the competition isn’t it?’

Lando rubs his chin as he thinks about what Bert had said. It’s true that seeing this as a street race war between two sides is just a theory they cooked up based on the actions of the people who were at the race back in the provincial docks. ‘Was there a misstep?’ Lando asked himself as he pondered on his thoughts.

‘Even if there are no sides this data stream still makes no sense.’ Lando finally replies, his hand still on his chin while his eyes were glued at the screen before them. ‘They already have scheduled races before this car had been impounded so it wouldn’t make sense to do this now. In fact this makes it clear that there might be two sides in this case after all.’

Lando scratches his head in defeat as he tries to figure out the how’s and why’s. Meanwhile there’s another knock on the door, it was Neil delivering their dinner as per usual. They invite the boy in, knowing that he had some input in their progress, hoping he’d side glance the evidence and give them a clue somehow. They continue talking about the subject while Neil snoops around, unbeknownst to him being silently observed by the two.

‘Hey guys have you checked out this link?’ Neil said as the duo looked at each other as if they had confirmed something within the both of them.

‘What link?’ Bert asked.

Neil made an enthusiastic look on his face as he typed in the address on the browser. They ended up in the website called “The Elephant room” and as if to reveal how versed Neil was in scouring the site with info, he immediately jumped in the page section where the thread topic he wanted to show was stored. Which was way back on page 1337 out of 5000 thread pages.

The thread topic he clicked on was titled: “Ever heard news of street racers?”

And the first page that appeared was this:

A Fool’s Game

Bring any machine you want

We’ll give you the time and place

And you do the rest.

The first step is knowing where to click.

…

…

The halls were absolutely empty.

It was already past dinner time and a shadowy figure slowly crept towards the doors of Little Edgar’s. It looks around to check the surroundings, before using the key hidden inside one of the potted plants near the window sill, lightly buried under its dirt. It unlocks the door, trying their best to silence the mechanical clink a lock makes as their sly fingers replace the key back into the pot, burying it in the same manner it was found.

Making haste towards the rearward room, the figure slips itself into the doors going down the secret tunnel underneath. Remembering the layout of rooms, it made its way into the storage where a single machine stood out of the piled boxes surrounding it and with a flick of the breaker switch, the machine turned on, and when the screen booted up; the words: “Maximum Attack 8” flashed across, illuminating the figure of a boy standing in front of it. Denzo smiles, looking satisfied with the way things had turned out.

The little get together a few weeks prior at the Tally went on longer than what he anticipated. Although he had enjoyed it and made more friends because of it, it still ate up the practice time that Yukino had allotted him, as he found himself too tipsy to play properly. In terms of coherence he was still fine at the end of that night, but he felt the “Tally” had numbed his senses so he had let the opportunity slip as he thought it useless to practice given his state that night. He hoped that Yukino would give him another chance but sadly after the events that weekend, she suddenly made herself scarce around the campus. Pete nor Tisha had any clue on where she was most of the time and on classes where he knew he would attend with her, she was not present. For some reason none of her friends inside the student council were alarmed and after a few days of trying to catch a glimpse of her, Denzo finally gave up and thought of a new plan.

He remembers the machines that were in the secret tunnel below Little Edgar’s Parochial. He tried to get access to it but Tisha wasn’t allowing anyone to go down there no matter how much he bargained.

‘Besides, everybody else is banned from using the machines downstairs. What makes you think I’d give you the privilege?’

Tisha’s words rang through his mind as he sat down on the machine that he stole the access to. He felt guilty for a moment as he remembered how she looked at him that afternoon as if he was some dog desperate to get some treats. But even if he tried to deny it, it was indeed the truth. He was desperate.

Being back at his parent’s house, his movements were limited, there was no wa he could get out after he had already stepped into the front door as his mother would reprimand him for going out at a late hour which he expected, as by the time he’d reach the house after school it was already past dinner time. Also on weekends he’d be given chores to keep him busy to keep him from going out too often. On some weeks he’d find a way to get his tasks done before 3pm, which would leave his mother no choice but to grant him a leave, but those cases were seldom to the point that he considers that night out at the Tally to be extremely lucky, as he could’ve been given a harder task that day which would’ve prevented him from even considering attending that day. Although he could’ve asked his mother ahead of time that he’d be going out with friends that weekend, Denzo refrained from doing so as verbal negotiations with his mother rarely ever go in his favor. Because of these circumstances Denzo rarely has time to play the game anymore and was in danger of getting rusty. In a game where you have to be in tip top shape both physically and mentally, he’d be at a disadvantage compared to his rivals who looked to be regular players of the game, as he had confirmed from bumping into some of them at the Tally before the raids happened. Even at the get together he had spotted a large group of players gathering around the game some hours after he left with Nica and Yukino. He initially planned to hog the machines early on to keep his seat from others who wanted to play their turn, so he arrived earlier than usual, earlier than Pai and the others who planned on coming later, only to be pulled away from it by the very person who suggested he should practice in the first place.

And now he is finding a way to compensate for that loss and he’s doing so while “hopefully” pulling a fast one behind Keeno’s back by trespassing and using the Student Councils offices electricity for his own gains.

So with a contented smile he pressed the start button on the dash and because the game cabinet is a modified one, he didn’t need to swipe credits nor insert any coins to activate the game.

It is Free.

As he swipes his data card and selects his course of choice. He resumes his promised free practice.

…

…

A white flash pierced through the stoplights of the C5 intersection. Traffic was moderate that night but its sudden appearance have caused some of the startled drivers to crash into the nearest lamp post. No serious injuries, but in terms of monetary losses, a lot were incurred.

Valentina Fe was out and about trying to test the limits of what her old car can now do with Mr. Asia’s handiwork.

And suffice to say, she is impressed.

Weaving in and out of traffic with ease had put a smile on her face. Before, even though she could still drive the car at speed, she would always be mindful of her control inputs and trying to find a smoother way around dodging traffic. With the current setup that she has in her grasp, the feeling is different. She could turn the car more aggressively, switch lanes more aggressively, step on the gas more aggressively and she can do all these without worry of losing control.

To paraphrase it: It has become “user friendly”

Although with this new development another worry had popped into her mind.

It has become better than the GTR.

Simply put, in her mind, nothing can be better than the GTR. Nothing can top it, nothing “should” top it, but it seems with the arrival of this refreshed spec car, she was wrong. She of course was aware of her bias towards the Nissan GTR. After all it is her first love even though the car she currently drives is her first car. A conflict of emotions started to grow within her the longer she drove it. Simply put: She felt like she was cheating a faithful lover. Even though in hindsight she got the GTR as a replacement for this 180SX since it was better in her opinion, she couldn’t help but feel like an unfaithful partner giving in to temptation. She feels good and continues to feel good about this but because of it she feels bad. Guilty to be precise.

She had been separated from the GTR for five years since she left the land of the rising sun to come home to do things on her own using the money she had earned from working with Mr. Asia. Using the same money she had the 180 shipped with her to use as her daily driver but even still, every night she thought about the car she left behind. The GTR wasn’t hers in the first place, it was loaner car from Mr. Asia after she broke the 180’s suspension on a mountain pass race but from the moment she had turned the wheel of the GTR, it was love.

Not to mention the fact that she was untouchable during her stint in that car.

Together, they were unbeatable.

She owes much of her success to that car, but now this was starting to change.

After being reunited due to Mr. Asia’s request a lot of memories came rushing back when driving the GTR. The speed, the response, the sheer performance and all of the wins that gained her respect and notoriety back in Japan came rushing back. But something was missing.

The car felt like it should when she last drove it.

And yet, the love that she first felt didn’t fully come through. Which is why she now feels conflicted.

Because that love became reignited once again in the soul of the 180 she is driving right at this very moment.

It drove differently than when she first bought it in Japan, and it drove differently from when she had it converted to left hand drive here in Manila. It didn’t drive the same way as the GTR did when she got it back five years later but it did drive like the GTR when she first drove it.

It was eerie that it did but she later confirmed it to be different since she can do donuts and burnouts with this 180, unlike the GTR with its four wheel drive, but it was still eerily similar.

Something was off, and she couldn’t wait to get the pink car back into her arms to confirm what it was that bothered her. But in the meantime, business needed to be attended.

…

…

Yukino was waiting outside a posh looking coffee shop a couple of blocks away from St. Rita’s. She was having a girls night out with Tisha and Aida but in reality she was just killing time until the sun had set for her next scheduled appointment. Tisha and Aida had already said their farewells not long ago and she was now standing alone outside the place when a white car arrived in front of her.

‘Get in…’ Val said as she peeks through the window.

She hops inside the passenger seat and straps herself in the five point harness that the seat provided, but Val stops her halfway.

‘It’s just a short drive, there’s no need…’ She said as the harness is quite finicky to strap on. ‘Besides, it’s a bucket seat, It’s safer than a normal one.’

‘It smells like burnt rubber in here. You tested it already?’ Yukino asked.

‘Just now yeah…’

‘How was it?’

‘Splendid… too splendid…’ Val answered. As she drives away heading towards their destination that night.

Little Edgar’s Parochial.

‘How’s your sister?’ Val asks.

‘Asleep…’

‘Really? That’s a first…’ She said with a surprised look on her face.

‘She’s been asleep since yesterday. She hadn’t slept since last week.’ Yukino answered. She herself looked like she also needed some sleep.

‘Looks like the politics are starting to get through to her huh?’ Val said with a grim tone as Yukino nods in agreement.

‘How about you? Is the Loran’s duty to the country getting on your nerves now?’ She asked, sensing Yukino’s lack of vitality but Yukino shakes her head to disagree.

‘I’m doing something different but it still concerns the family issues so… kinda… I guess…’ She answers flatly.

The pair of them arrived at the outer gates of Little Edgar’s and as they had expected a small group had already started to form outside its gates. Yukino steps out of the car to open the gates for the car and the group to pass through. She also went ahead to open the office for them to use but for some reason when she went to unlock the door she found the outdoor unit of the airconditioning to be running, which made her raise an eyebrow of suspicion. Nonetheless she enters cautiously and after securing the safety of the area, proceeds to light the place up and prepare some treats for their guests. When all of those were settled she escorted Val and their guests inside the Student council offices and had them seated at the large conference table in their meeting room where Val had taken the centerstage. From this she starts her speech.

‘Five days from now we’ll be resuming races in the greater manila area. And to sound things off, I present you this:’

THE BAYSHORE RUN

The projector flashed the slide on the whiteboard containing the route for the planned race. It was something that Val was scheming for a long time now but had little resources to do so. However since street racing had apparently caught on within the past year, which she assumed was because of Mr. Asia’s doing. She now has been granted the chance to organize a race directly, also because of Mr. Asia’s doing.

The route is ambitious compared to past races since it only secured itself within a small area that can easily be handled with roads that can easily be closed. But with this route all those ideas had been blown away as the route forced them to use the full length of the freeway from the Metro down to the southern provinces and back. Ending the loop where it started, at “The Strip” of block six - one - six.

The guests that they have were all racing and car enthusiasts that had been racing under the former commander that Mr. Asia had employed but since there has already been a change in tenure, this meeting is also to symbolize the passing of the torch although the former commander-in-chief was nowhere to be found even if no one really knew who the former organizer was.

‘I’m impressed…’ Said one of the people in the meeting. ‘Even Jun wouldn’t think of something like this…’

‘So it was Jun…’ Val answered.

‘Uhh.. I’m not really sure, he’d just call us and the race would be magically organized.... He didn’t really hold meetings like this but since he’s the guy we speak to, I assumed it was him.’

‘Hmm… okay then… anyways… any questions?’ Val said as she goes on to entertain queries from the people whom she might be racing with.

If she ever decides to participate.

…

…

Three hours had gone by since Denzo had infiltrated Little Edgar’s and so far things have gone smoothly. The modified game cabinet had been a godsend to him as he could freely choose whatever type of race he wanted without paying any additional fees. Usually for longer races he’d have to pay extra credit to play them which in terms of practice, is a bit of a luxury to engage with, but since it was all for free he could go play the longer races to his heart’s content. There are also benefits to playing the longer races. For one thing it gives you access to the transition sections of the map, sections that are most likely taken off from the regular races since they are beyond the main route’s layout. But since the longer races require you to pass through these sections by linking three or four different routes at once, then it gives you access to these rarely used sections,each with their own unique and new challenges. One of those sections required him to traverse an entire city block to reach the highway switchback that sends him on the opposite lane of the highway. And since the city block section is narrow and twisty, it forces him as the player to be more accurate in his driving as crashing your car in this game is devastating to your progress.

Which leads to another reason as to why this cabinet was a godsend.

The crash physics have been turned off.

If this was a regular game cabinet of Maximum Attack 8 then Denzo would always practice in caution since the damage system would just cause him to spend unnecessary in game credits to repair his car in the event that he damages it. With this in mind, since this particular modified cabinet had the crash physics turned off, Denzo had been driving at the fullest of his abilities. With him not holding back and driving without worry he has found new techniques on how to drive through the courses faster while avoiding any collisions. Just with this feature he had shaved his course completion time by a margin of three seconds, for all of the twenty 26 courses that are available in the game. And to add to his delight he still felt like he had more speed to squeeze out of his driving, but since his eyes were already starting to sting, he decided to call it a night and packed up the room in the same manner he had entered it.

But as he was about to pull the breaker switch to close it.

The lights went out.

Avoiding panic he reached out for his phone and turned on its flashlight as he pulled the breaker back to the off position to cover his tracks.

‘Was there a blackout? Power surge?’ He asked himself as he stepped out cautiously from the storage room. He carefully finds his footing around the darkness of the tunnel area and navigates himself towards the staircase. Step by step he made his ascent towards the surface as he finally reached the door at the top and turned the knob to make his entry back into the SC offices.

Upon getting back, nothing had changed and the lights were off, but it wasn’t as dark as the tunnel area since a little bit of light from the windows seeped into the offices, probably from the streetlights outside. He looks around to check if there was anything he would've left as a trace of his existence inside but there was none. About halfway through exiting the premise he hears the outer gates screech which sent his senses into overdrive.

He ducts down and immediately rushes towards a window near where he heard the noise. It was the sound of the gate being closed. He squinted his eyes to figure out the person handling the gate but it was dark and he couldn’t recognize the silhouette. He dismisses it as someone who might be the grounds keeper doing a late night sweep of the area, which meant he was safe from encountering anyone else since the grounds keeper had already done his patrol. With a new found confidence he stands up and brushes the dust off his shoulders as he heads towards the front door of Little Edgar’s.

‘Mission accomplished’ He said to himself as he closed the door of the premises.

He reached out to the potted plant to retrieve the key so he could lock it, but for some reason it was not present.

‘Don’t even bother…’ Said a familiar voice behind him as he turns around to confirm his suspicion. ‘Oh… Keeno….’ He said calmly, though deep inside his heart was starting to sink in an infinite abyss. To make it worse, behind her stood the clerk from Jack and Barry’s.

‘W-what are you- -’

‘Well well, a freeloader AND a trespasser. You were right Keeno, someone WAS hiding inside.’

The clerk said with a cheeky looking grin that looks like a dirty cop who’s about to pin the drugs to his designated fall guy, as Denzo started to feel fear once more in his short lifetime.

‘Listen Keeno I can explain…’

‘Stop. Just follow me.’ Keeno said with a stern tone as she steps back inside the office. The clerk was just standing outside looking at him in disdain, possibly watching him if he was going to attempt an escape, guarding him, preventing him from doing so. Still he thought of ways to try and evade capture but he also thought about Yukino and falling from her good graces.

‘It's not too late to say sorry… I guess’ He thought. And as he did, he complies and follows suit, much to Val’s relief.

She waits a few seconds before going in herself, shutting the door behind her as a single light in a single room lights up and stays lit for the remainder of the night.

…

…

Hi If your reading this. We are racing, and we are many. And now we are coming to YOU.

For years we have benn jumping from our host county to others that have potential. But time and time again we have been foiled. Now we see you and how free your’e country is and now we want to do wht we love here.

We are coming.

Join us.

The site said on the initial greeting page after unlocking access to its main contents. Below the said text was a scrolling bar of images automatically scrolling through different pictures of events that had already happened. One of those pictures was familiar as Bert hovers over it to stop the autoscrolling.

‘This is the port race if my memory serves me right.’

‘Yah sure?’ Lando responds. Bert hovers the cursor away to let the autoscroll play and the pictures that follow display the exact events that happened that night and the results, also one of the photos catches a glimpse of Bert’s “Night Hunter” Jacket, which is a solid confirmation that it was from the port race.

‘Wow… cool so we found the site, but what use do we have for this kid? It’s just a place for documenting things.’ Lando complains while he takes another bite from his pizza.

‘No I’m sure there is a schedule page here.’ Neil said while he snatches the mouse from Bert who looked like he was about to uncover some info from the page they used to be on as Neil scrolls around to find the schedules tab to show the detectives it was not all in vain.

‘Okay good they got schedules in here we can probably pin this to check for any updates for upcoming races, though I highly doubt it having any anytime soon, I mean look.’ Lando points at the screen where the last schedule was dated to be held. It was on the same night they got into a chase with Yukino and confiscated the GTR.

‘These guys might be the ones organizing the races but since we arrested most of the participants, I don;t think they’ll be revving up their engines soon.’ Lando continued.

‘Another question here is who was organizing and how do they relate with Carbine?’ Bert said as he snatched back the mouse from Neil taking them back to the page with the scrolling pictures.

‘I don’t know if my eyes deceived me again but… well shit… Lando do you recognize this?’

At the bottom of the page reads:

ToroDori - - - - - - ToroNana - - - - - - AshobasoAsobase - - - - - - Circa 1997

‘Ehh? Torodori? Toronana? Ashoba--’ Lando suddenly pauses.

‘No fucking way!’ He continued as Bert looked at him with the face of assurance as they somehow found some sort of connection with the information they currently have.

‘This might be far fetched but… I’ve heard some rumors so… No fucking way…’ Lando repeats his words as Bert goes to the cupboard and pours him and himself a glass of whiskey.

‘Kamukuro Aisha, Head of Nissan Motor Corp. goes with the alias Aishobase Bancho when he raced in online lobbies back in the day.’ Lando said as he took a sip from his whiskey.

‘And when I say “back” I mean “way back” when he was still an engineer for Nissan but he kept that trend well into his Sixties which was one of the reasons why he became CEO of the company, sadly when he did there were rumours that suddenly popped, that a man with the same alias was running laps in the organized crime scene. Though he quickly dismissed those rumours saying he had no part in any illegal crime groups.’ Lando explained as he gulps down the rest of his whiskey in one go.

‘With that said interpol got into an investigation further into the subject and found Kamukuro innocent from the rumours but still to this day the name Aishobase rings throughout Japan and nobody has figured out the person behind it.’ He continued.

‘The Aishobase name had stayed like japanese folklore, some say he’s yakuza, some say he’s not even japanese but besides the speculation the name was notoriously associated with illegal street racing, gambling, smuggling and extortion in and around major Japanese cities. With rumored connections in Korea, Singapore, Hong Kong and Malaysia.’

‘Hmm, so there is some meaning to those words… Honestly I was just shooting shit.’ Bert said with a chuckle whilst sipping on his glass.

‘Well lucky for you when I left the force I continued to keep myself posted on the news regarding this and a few years ago it was confirmed that he had an estranged brother named Kawabata who succumbed to cancer, but that was it… Unless…’

He paused, folding his arms around his chest trying to connect the dots in his mind.

‘This might be a speculation but bare with me on this…’ He said as he takes a closer look at the name at bottom of the page: (AshobasoAsobase)

‘In the speech regarding his death, he did call him ‘Asha’

Assuming we’re just playing with words then he might be calling him ‘Asho’ since he is Kamukur(o) and the brother - Kawabat(a)’

‘That’s stupid…’ Bert replies but Lando shushed him while thinking.

‘Families are weird like that Bert hush…

So anyways with that in mind the codename Ashobaso might be a play of his older brother’s username: Aishobase. Which in the context of younger brother looking up to older brother kinda stuff, doesn’t sound too far off.

Adding to the fact that he said in his brother’s eulogy that it was his fault he estranged ‘Asha’ from him and regrets time he could’ve spent with his brother, then it must be the case of an annoying little brother trying to impress onii-chan.’

Lando paused again as the whole room held their breath waiting for what Lando had to say next. Meanwhile the man looked like he was deep in thought as he downs another glassful of hard alcohol before he starts talking once again.

‘The first recorded incidents were in 99’ back then he was still an engineer…

Then it blew up in 2021 when he became CEO…

99 was from selling illegal turbo’s for cheap to midnight runners in wangan and it grew from that… then engines, body kits…’ His eyes widened before he whispered the words: ‘karaoke bar’s with extra services, hostess bars, pachinko parlors with illegal gambling then finally street racing…’

He pauses.

‘What now Lando? Ya can’t keep throwing cliffhang--’

‘Shhh-- wait…’

He turns around towards the computer as starts a search. Both Neil and Bert could only look on in curiosity as Lando types and scrolls through the data he was pulling up from the internet, mostly about Nissan’s current history and Japan’s economic records from the 20’s through the 50’s.

‘Bingo!’ He said as he showed the data on the screen.

‘2017 was the year Nissan announced they were going back to racing at Le Mans and won the race four years later, as a reward for winning Kamukuro got the Big seat. Since Le Mans required the top classes to run electric, Nissan needed a testing ground.’ Lando explains while scrolling through info in between sips of alcohol.

‘Coincidently when Nissan announced their return Japan banned all forms of automotive aftermarket parts to discourage the used car market and force people to buy brand new electric vehicles.’

‘Oh the Tokyo Green act of 2018.’ Added Bert.

‘Yeah, the government’s excuse was to prepare for the 2020 olympics,”make Japan an ally of nature”, but looking at this now…’

‘Wait a minute? You don’t mean?’

‘I don’t have the info now but this sure sounds like a surefire way to piss off all of the Japanese gasmonkey’s and gearheads in the country.’

Lando opened up a previously minimized window leading into a secure website. Upon bringing it up, the letters on the screen spell an intimidating word.

INTERPOL

‘I’ve been snooping around here looking to find any traces of Carbine in their data streams but I was always coming up empty handed.’ Lando said as he typed in his password into the box below the INTERPOL logo. ‘Turns out I was looking at the wrong place.’

>SEARCH_ASHOBASOASOBASE_

-ENTITIES(5) FROM ASHOBA HOLDINGS CO.

--RECORDS

--SUSPECTS

--WARRANTS

--CONF_ITEMS

--CONF_ASSETS

>ENTER_RECORDS_

--02/10/22 - MULTIPLE VEHICLE COLLISIONS CAUSED BY RECKLESS DRIVING

--02/10/22 - MULTIPLE CASES OF SPEEDING AND DANGEROUS DRIVING

--02/10/22 - MULTIPLE CASES OF DESTRUCTION OF PUBLIC PROPERTY

--02/10/22 - MULTIPLE CASES OF VEHICULAR MANSLAUGHTER

‘God Damn the list goes on…’ Bert gasps as Lando scrolls down the list on his screen.

‘And all of this for just one date, October 2nd. I’m guessing it’s around the same time the notorious codename started to appear. But that’s the thing, this wasn’t really Kamukuro’s username.’ He said pointing to the name description in the records.

‘It was Kawabata’s’

‘AshobasoAsobase’

The two detectives said in unison.

‘But Ashoba Holdings Co. is that their cover?’ Asked Bert. And as if Lando had predicted the words Bert was about to say, he had already searched it as he asked the question.

‘It might… but it’s gone now, possibly after the arrest.’

‘Never mind at least we have a solid lead.’ Bert replies with confidence. ‘Toro Dori sounds like someone who drifts cars and Toro Nana might be his wife so with that, we have something we can work on.’ Bert continued as Lando nodded in response.

They both thank Neil for giving them access to the Dark Web site and gave him 5000 pesos (100 USD) in return for his services and sent him back to his room.

‘Hey kid, remember, that’s classified info… If you spill it you’ll die with us…’ Lando sternly reminded Neil as he approached the door nodding back at the two before leaving, looking shaken after hearing his threat.

With that, all of their efforts are now focused on uncovering clues regarding the man named:

“Kawabata Aisha”