"This USB flash drive is a piece of cake to work on! What did the previous guy do that complicates it?" Athena's hands stretch pushed the office chair she sat on backwards.
"I just need to write a code to repeat the same progress over and over, and eventually, all files will return in no time," she planned by opening a coding software. She forgot another task to do, but good thing, she remembered all of a sudden.
"Oh! I have to check the file to see if it's working or not," she switched to the file explorer tab containing two files, an audio file and its transcription.
"Uhh... The file's names are a mess. They're just random symbols and alphanumerics. But, let's give it a try."
Speakers rewinded an event from the past, while Athena was reading the transcript along:
Bzzzz- "...Apparently, Marlin Blue Team's medics found out that the cause of Sonoda Tamara's chronic diarrhea was from the influence of overdosing laxatives. And strangely, after her toddler cousin foolishly drank leftover water from your seat back at the hotel, he also got one from the same influence. Would you explain what's going on?" A woman's voice spoke.
"I don't know, and why would I care about other guys' problems? They could've eaten or drunk something that got outright rejected by their stomach," A man seemed to shrug it off.
The woman's voice rose, "I'm asking you because, if what I guess turned out to be true, I'm afraid that you have to resign due to breach of contract."
"Why?" The man slightly raised his tone.
"The contract stated that 'One must perform in their career with sportmanship. Any form of illegal attempts results in void contract and immediate resignation.'"
"How can you blame your own racer for cheating? This is ridiculous."
The man's manager explained, "First of all, you wore the same shirt twice. Once, when we had a dinner party, which Sonoda joined in too. Twice, when we had breakfast at the hotel, which Sonoda's cousin stayed at during this race. Second, they both got diarrhea approximately 6 hours after their meal. What do you think about this?"
"It could be a coincidence, right? I noticed that they all ate shrimp. That can be the cause of it," The man argued.
Creak! The woman stood up from her chair then stepped farther from the microphone, most likely she got closer to the racer, "May I see your shirt?"
"Which one?" Her subordinate played dumb.
"Don't be stupid. You know which one."
"I have a lot of shirts in my luggage."
"How brave of you, talking to your manager like that. Ahem. May I see your shirt, the one that you just wore this morning?"
"Heh, understand the order, boss."
Bzzzt- "What are these white specks that stick on my skin? There's quite an amount inside the sleeve," The boss sounded puzzled.
The racer excused, "It's just detergent. I'm not really keen when it comes to housekeeping."
"You don't look so sure. I just need to sprinkle these into a ziplock bag then let our medical team examine it."
"Hey, Miss Hanasato, no need to get that far. It's just a small, pointless particle,"
"Then why are you worrying about me examining this small, pointless particle?"
The man worded no sentence.
"Causing another contender to be absent from the race is sabotaging. Sabotage is one of illegal attempts to win. Doing illegal attempts is unsportsmanlike, which means breach of contract in Xiphos Racing Team. I can suspect you for this, and to keep this business healthy, I have the authority to void your contract," Ms. Hanasato got real.
"You can't do that, I've been struggling until the last blood and sweat to bring Xiphos to victory. You won't simply kick this asset out, will you? Please, Miss Hanasato," her employee begged.
"Then, I'm giving you a chance. You can pack your things and find a racing team other than Xiphos that will recruit you as a racer with an alleged cheating history. Or, you can keep racing here, but you have to defend and prove yourself innocent in court. I'll let you know, bringing this to the judge costs a lot of money and time," Looked like this Ms. Hanasato sharply glared at this supposed cheater.
Bzzz- "Ugh. If this is true, every instance will distrust Xiphos, and nobody wants to sponsor us anymore. Even today, many rival teams despise us. I'm tired of hearing hateful vibes from them," Ms. Hanasato sustained stress that hurt her head, "After this race season ends, I think I should-"
Bzzzt!
YOU ARE READING
Nights Of Fire: Overhauled
ActionMeet Hozzai Daikou, a Youtuber who's feeding his own stomach by creating drifting and tuning based videos. By the name "Savannah Infinite 7 (SI7)", Hozzai often does dangerous stunts that damage his RX-7, causing his expenses to surpass his income...
