The next day, after talking to Nina, Emiko packed her things from the motel where she had been living so far and left around noon towards the Czech-German border. She decided to hitchhike to save some money, because since she came to Prague four months ago with Dr. Reichwein, apart from a small amount of sold drawings, she hadn't been able to earn anything more.
But she knew one thing for sure - where she should go. Over the last months, she has been searching and gaining information for a long time... Thanks to this, she managed to discover that the chief members of the organization, in which General Helmut Wolf also participated, are currently associated with Eva Heinemann, her brother's ex-fiancée, and with... Johan.
And that their headquarters is in Frankfurt.
The girl took her suitcase and set off to look for free transport towards the Czech-German border.
****
Slowly but steadily she moved forward. Bit by bit, she was able to move on thanks to the few drivers she had encountered so far; part of the way was also done on her foot. Tired, but at the same time pleased with herself, she managed to cross the border in the evening. From there, she went to the nearest car inn to lay out her things for a while, rest and wait for possible further transport. By the way, she carefully studied the map of the mountain pass in which direction she was soon to head, and which map was hung on a wooden information board, on the other part of which there were announcements about the biggest events in the country.
She cursed in her soul several drivers who had passed her request to be taken and drove off into the unknown. She also discovered with displeasure that she was very very sleepy, but she knew that she couldn't sleep on the road because: a) she was so short and tiny that it would be easy to kidnap her, lock her in the trunk and drive away; b) she had the rest of her money with her, and without it she could starve to death quickly; c) some pervert could take advantage of her condition and cause harm here... So she preferred to wait and find a safe transport, and in the event of a crisis, return to the border and wait the night in the customs house booth.
****
Around midnight, a rather peculiar car stopped at the side of the road...
The car looked like it had been taken straight out of a 1960s movie, and the light from the street lamps made its whiteness even more visible, which was visible from a distance because car was in almost perfect condition, and the car body was gleaming pure clean. A few moments later, the door to this gem opened and a man in his mid-30s stepped out wearing a white suit and an even whiter shirt. He took a pack of cigarettes from one of his pockets and lit one; at the same moment, a light smoke rose up, dissolving into the air.
Sitting nearby on a suitcase, Emiko stared wide-eyed at the phenomenon, seriously questioning what she was seeing. Was it some sort of apparition...? Or maybe God of drivers...? She rubbed her eyes to try to wake up... Or do something... anything. Make back to reality...?
She looked again. Despite pinching her arm several times and insistently rubbing her eyes, the man still stood a few meters away as if nothing had happened and calmly puffed his cigarette, keeping one of his hands in his pants pocket. The girl hit her cheeks with her hands and jumped off her suitcase, which the newcomer heard and, intrigued, turned towards her. However, when he saw a petite girl with a suitcase approaching him, his brown eyes opened wide in surprise.
"Good aftern-... or rather, good evening, sir." She said, trying with all her last remained strenght to making a smile. "Excuse me for asking, but are you going into direction of Frankfurt, or at least the further part of Germany?" The man looked her over from head to toe in a second.
"Good evening lady. I'm going back to Stuttgart..." He thought for a moment. "I can give you a ride about a half way to Frankfurt if you agree, miss." Emiko's eyes flashed in an instant with an unexpected influx of energy, and her mouth widened in a wide smile so big that the stranger had the impression that she shone in this darkness more than his immaculately maintained car. He cleared his throat.
"Of course I'll go! Thank you!"
"Please, put your suitcase in the back seats... this model doesn't have a trunk." With that, he opened the front passenger door and folded the seat down so that Emiko could easily pack her belongings in the back of the car.
"It's a Volkswagen, isn't it?" She placed her suitcase on the ground, just behind the front seats. "What year, if I may ask?"
"Are you interested in cars, miss?"
"You could say so..." The man smiled at her and stubbed out his cigarette, throwing the cigarette butt into the ashtray he carried with him.
"It's a 1972 Volkswagen Type 3 Fastback. It's rear-wheel drive, and the weight..."
"Something a little over a ton if I'm not mistaken... guesstimating?"
"You surprise me, lady! Its mass is exactly 1010 kg. Were you..." He meaningly looked in her direction. "...also at that vintage car fair in Brno?" Emiko looked at him slightly surprised and scratched her head.
"Ah... no." She laughed. "I was on a slightly different trip... It must have been quite an event, since you bothered to go all the way abroad."
"You could say that. I invite you to the front seat..." With these words, he returned the passenger seat to its previous state and motioned her inside. The young woman sat down but didn't have time to close the door behind her... because the gentleman closed it behind her with his own hand. She felt a slight blush rise to her cheeks at this subtle gesture.
However, they didn't leave. They just didn't make it in time.
Almost at the same time as they were about to leave the roadside, five cars, partly sporty, and partly modified, drove up to them and stopped them in such a way that they were trapped. A young man in his 20s got out of the black Audi, dressed in tracksuits and walked quickly to the driver's side window, then tapped on it with his fingers.
"What's this old junk doin' in my area?! Get outta it!" The man in the suit looked over at Emiko.
"Stay here miss, I'll solve it." She didn't answer him, just nodded her head.
'But if this bastard tries anything, I swear I'll teach him a lesson...' She thought as she looked out of the window. The drivers from other cars also got out of their cars and circled the white-man.
"At night, this mountain pass belongs to us. Either you'll pay us, you little dandy or you'll race against our boss. Winning means survival, losing means death. Do you get it?"
"Look!" The other said. "This piece of junk is over 20 years old!" With that, he kicked the wheel of the car. "Garbage should be scrapped!" After that, he sneered at him.
At that moment, a short young woman got out of the white Volkswagen, her hair blowing in the night wind and fire in her eyes. The man in the white suit looked at her in horror.
"Miss, you promised-"
"As long as it has four wheels and a smart driver, it's a decent car. Don't insult that car, you bastard!" She spoke to the ill-mannered man, which made him tremble with anger.
"You bitc-..." His torrent of words was immediately interrupted by a young man from a black Audi. "I'm sorry, boss."
"Franz, shut ya mouth..." He spoke in his direction, with a dangerously low tone of voice, then turned to Emiko. "I take it you want to race with me, little lady?" She looked at him as if she was seeing him for the first time in her life (which wasn't too far from the truth).
"No. I'm not a street racer, if that's what you mean."
"A street racer...?" He approached her with a dangerous smile on his lips and rested one of his hands on the white car body next to her head. "Aaand that's interesting... So ya prefer to cover ya debt in a 'natural' way?"
"She has nothing to do with this! It's my car!"
"Fuck ya, dandy!" He snapped back at the man who tried to help Emiko. "I can clearly see that this little girl knows her stuff. So...?" He looked back at her again. "You can drive a car, can't you? Answer that one simple question, and I'll consider letting you go." Emiko frowned and looked him straight in the eye.
"I can. That's enough?" The man leaned back, clearly pleased.
"Hey, dandy! How about this scheme?" He turned his head towards him. "If ya win the downhill race, I'll let ya go; If ya don't take up the challenge, we'll break this scrap to pieces. So, hmm?"
"Miss, do you..." The man in the suit swallowed. "...want to drive? Do you know something more about it?" Emiko crossed her arms and walked her way around the white car.
"A bit... Although I don't think it will go perfectly... Race I mean. I haven't done this for a long time..."
"'For a long time'? This means that you before..."
"It's true that I was a bit faster than the average drivers, but I've never raced anyone..." The man in the tracksuit put one arm around her neck playfully.
"First times in life comes for everyone, don't they, little kitty?" The girl contemptuously grabbed his wrist with her hand and freed herself from the grip, then approached the man in the suit.
"And what if I'll crash your car? It's so cute... I wouldn't want anything to happen to it or us... the passengers..." The man's face blushed at the word 'cute'.
"You like my car and agree to be the driver...? It's..." The man gently took her hands in his. "If we come out of this unscathed and win the race... I promise to take you all the way to Frankfurt, miss! Please agree... they insulted the car I inherited from my late grandfather!" Emiko looked at him in surprise and then slowly nodded her head.
"In that way... okay."
"Fuckin' great!" Exclaimed the Audi guy. "Franz, you'll be counting down the time for us to take off!" He approached young Tenma with satisfaction written on his face. "I knew you'd make the right decision, aggressive kitty."
'GET LOST MAN' She thought, clenching her fists and wanting to punch him in the face. If looks could kill, surely their challenge to the race would be a thing of the past, and the corpse lay at her feet. But nothing of the sort happened. After a short while, Emiko and the gentleman in the suit got into the car, only this time she sat in the driver's side.
"Excuse me for asking, but how much do you weigh?" The man looked at her, not understanding her intentions one bit.
"Why are you asking, miss?"
"Well, hmm... I have to add the weight of the suitcase, myself and you to the weight of the car. This way I will know how fast I can go around a corner."
"76kg..." The man fastened his seat belts. "Do you know this route at all?"
"I'm riding it for the first time..." He looked at her with horror. "...but if it makes you feel any better, I studied the map on that bulletin board earlier over there. It should be fine."
"'Should be'...?"
****
The first adventures with cars began shortly after Emiko passed her driving test in Yokohama. In the first spring, three months after receiving the document, Risa suggested that they take her on Saturday night to a racer's rally in Kanagawa, which included her cousin, Hiro. Although Emiko wasn't convinced at first, she decided to take a chance and see what was so interesting there.
When the three of them arrived at the parking lot near where the Nakatsu River meets the Hontani River, there were a lot of sports cars, in many cases modified and with stickers of various car-teams. That night, as Risa had explained to she earlier, at 10:00 p.m. the race between the two drivers was to start. Emiko couldn't remember their names or the teams they belonged to. What really impressed her was the race itself and the way the cars rounded the corners at breakneck speed.
From that night on, she took herself to the weekly racer reunions regularly, so she could admire the skills of other drivers... and learn something new herself. It fascinated her. But not so much as to run madly down a hill without the proper skills... she was sane so far. She knew that in downhill racing, the slightest mistake could mean death - there were mountainsides on the one side of the mountain passes and chasms on the other. But what she liked most about downhill-racing was that no matter if the car had a strong engine or not, you could win depending on your skills.
Hiro's close friend, Isamu, was the greatest influence in the progress of her driving skills. He was the one who told her about the ins and outs of drifting, which corners you should and shouldn't use it on, and how to control your car. Emiko had largely mastered his teachings, but she wasn't the best at it; despite this, she was offered racing several times - and each time she refused (which not everyone liked). She preferred to drive alone through the dark hills... if she really meant to go fast, and only watch the races. One of her strongest features was undoubtedly one thing. The ability to quickly memorize routes on mountain passes. Sometimes all she had to do was glance at the map a few times to know which way to steer the vehicle.
"You know," Isamu used to say. "sometimes it scares me how precisely you can memorize a map in such a short time." At these words, young Tenma laughed.
"'Maps' is too big a word. This only applies to a mountain passes. Imagine, senpai, if I have to memorize the topography of a city, I usually get lost. Once even..." Here she lowered her eyes and blushed. "...once I got lost on a straight road twice... But please don't tell anyone about it!" She exclaimed embarrassed into his direction. Isamu patted her head lightly with amusement in his eyes.
"I won't, I promise. I don't want to upset my lovely kouhai. Even though you know, Emiko-chan..." At the same time, he started to take out his cigarettes from the glove compartment of the car. "...even my younger brothers, who have only recently started elementary school, never got lost on a straight road."
"Senpai!!" The boy laughed as he took the first cigarette out of the pack.
"All right... I admit it." He took a lighter from his pocket, lit a cigarette and put a lighter back, then inhaled the cigarette. "Jirou recently cheated on Osamu when they were on their way back from school and the poor little boy had trouble getting home. I don't have enough patience with these two sometimes..."
"It must be hard to have younger siblings so much younger than you, doesn't it, Isamu?" Hiro joined the conversation. "You'll always be an adult to them, and they'll always be kids to you. Ah, that's right..." He pointed at the young woman's shoulder. "Emiko, there's a cute eight-legged thing with a big belly on your arm~" Literally the next second there was a shrill shriek and the girl desperately started running around the parking lot, throwing herself in all directions screaming for help. She hated spiders the most, and hated them to such an extent that it could best be called arachnophobia. Instead of helping the mortally scared and desperate girl, Hiro clutched his stomach, crying with laughter.
"You've got a new friend! You should be happy, Emiko!"
"TAKE HIM AWAAAAYYY!!!! ANYONE!!! HEEELP!!! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!"
She was rescued by Risa, who decisively brushed the unwanted occupant off her friend's arm. Although she wasn't afraid of spiders, she didn't like their touch very much.
"Riiisaaaa!" Emiko threw herself on her neck, weeping and sobbing. "You are my greatest hero, thank you!" Her friend lightly put her arm around her.
"Now, now, Emiko-chan. Next time, try to get rid of this type of creature by imagining it has Hiro's face, eh?" Young Tenma looked at her with a giggle.
"...It would actually make my life easier."
"Heeey!!" Hiro spoke to them from a distance. "What are you up to there, crazy women?!"
"Absolutely nothing!" She exclaimed, and then she and Risa burst out laughing at the same time.
****
Although in Japan drifting was a very popular discipline among racers, just like Keiichi Tsuchiya guy, in Germany few people have heard about him (or about drifting itself). Even if the black Audi managed to get a little further on the straight road after each corner, on next corners "that old junk" was caughting up with Audi car at almost demonic speed and, to the horror of its driver, lingered behind him longer and longer. The young man in tracksuits felt cold drops of sweat running down his face.
"Shit, is the devil chasing me instead of this bitch?!"
The opponent who now had Emiko literally behind his back, despite having the latest model of a car, felt as if death itself was chasing him. The headlights of the car behind him kept on and on, letting him know that whatever was following him it wouldn't let go until it caught up with him and consumed him. The madness that consumed him grew more and more...
The girl, looking at the road in front of her, slightly turned the steering wheel entering the next corner; at the same time, between the screech of the tires and the scream of the passenger sitting next to her, a slight yawn could be heard. The man looked with horror, first into the dark abyss spreading in front of the front hood, and then at Emiko who... looked a bit bored. He swallowed loudly. He knew that for the rest of his life he wouldn't forget this ride... if he will survive it... And how can she even act like this!?
"Oh gosh, so slow..." She sighed a bit drowsily, blinking her eyes to drive away the growing fatigue in her mind. 'This car has a terribly weak engine, at least it's not too heavy, because I don't have to brake as much as the guy in front of me...' She frowned her eyebrows '...I think it's time to end this.'
"Sir, I'm going to speed it up a little bit, okay...?" At these words, the man looked at her as if she was a death reaper who had just pronounced her final sentence. Something in her voice said the end was coming. He crossed himself with his right hand, because he felt that the end was near...
"O- ok- a... y...?!" He coughed out his last breath and closed his eyes, before which he began to see memories of his childhood, school, college, first day at work... everything. Yes. This was definitely the end.
Emiko licked her lips at that time, and some dangerous fire appeared in her eyes. She pressed the accelerator pedal more, causing the arrow from the tachometer to meet the red zone, and in this state she rushed (not)her car to the next corner.
Unlike her, the man in front of her slowed down, for the next corner, because even if it looked like a slight curve, was the first of two - the next one was extremely sharp, and if he hadn't braked sooner, he would surely have crashed. So, he watched through the window of his car almost goggling in disbelief as the old white Volkswagen passed him on the straight and, instead of braking, added its speed.
"Hahaha!!! They gonna crash at this speed!!! Idiots...!"
What happened next stunned him completely.
The white car skidded slightly around the first corner, then the engine stopped completely, which changed the trajectory of the motion and white car slipped through the second corner without any problems, at top speed, before continuing down the hill... The man in the Audi stared for a moment in disbelief, then braked sharply as he had lost his concentration throughout the whole thing, now heading inexorably straight for the trees that lined the corner.
There was a screech of tires followed by a loud crash.
****
Emiko continued driving the car, realizing that there wasn't much road left to the foot of the hill. Happy, she smiled with satisfaction and looked at the passenger next to her, from whom, amazingly, she heard no screams after the last acceleration.
The man... lost consciousness. The girl felt remorse.
'I think it was too much for him, I hope he'll recover... When we get to some parking lot along the road, I'll better check how he's doing. In case of need, I will need to help him...' She thought worriedly, heading towards the city.
At the same time, at the bend on the other side of the mountain, there was a car scratched by the trees, with a white specter... or rather, a silhouette resembling a man behind the wheel.
"The devil was chasing me. It was the devil..." He kept whispering to himself, at the same time promising himself that he would never again break the rules of the road or oppress drivers with weaker cars. Emiko taught him a lesson that he wouldn't forget for the rest of his life.
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Author note:
When you're writting a Monster fanfic, but then Initial D and Eurobeat appears... <wink wink> And yes, Emiko also was named as a "Devil". She knows Johan too long xD
Writing in English street slang was the biggest challenge for me so far, as English is my second language. If you spot any grammar mistakes, please, let me know!
PS. I was crying with laughter during writing this chapter.
~*~
TECHNICAL PARAMETERS OF THE CARS:
Audi Coupe (Type 8B/B4),
drive: front-wheel drive
years of production: 1988 - 1996,
weight: 1180 - 1470 kg
Volkswagen Type 3 Fastback,
drive: rear-wheel drive
years of production: 1961 - 1973,
weight: 1010 kg
Parodying a scene from Initial D has been on my mind for a long time. I knew from the very beginning, as soon as I started creating this fanfic, that I want to do such a scene... but originally it was supposed to look a bit different... However, I'm happy with the end result :D P.S. Scene source: Initial D first stage, episode 1.