...

The electronic bell rang as I walked outside and was greeted once more with the constant ringing of cicadas. Ishiro waved to us from the front of the school. "Good luck with your job applications guys!"

"Thanks, Ishiro, we'll talk to you later in case we can meet up sometime." I waved back to him.

"Meet up?" Matsuo hissed to me as we walked towards the parking lot. "You want to meet up with Ishiro Koda?"

"He's not that bad," I said. "And you know." I scratched my cheek lightly. "Street racing is kind of starting to interest me."

"Interest you? Well if that's the case, you should take cars more seriously. Especially if you're driving a car that old." Matsuo crossed his arms.

I nodded and saw my black Mazda FC3S parked a bit further away from where I was. I tested the range of my |Observe| on my car.

[Car- Mazda Savanna RX-7 (FC3S) 1990, Black

-Info]

I kept walking before I read the |Info| on the car.

Matsuo and I approached the car and we got in as I chose to read further.

I turned on the FC's engine with a sigh. 

[Congratulations! You have leveled up your skill |Observe| to LV 2! You are now able to observe cars to determine stats!]

"What?" Matsuo asked me.

"Remember when you and Ishiro were talking about turbos?"

"Yeah." 

I looked over my shoulder to put my car into reverse. "Well. I just remembered. My car is completely stock, not to mention it's the non-turbo variant. Not meant for mountain racing at all."

Matsuo laughed quietly. "Ouch. Well, how much money do you have saved up?"

"About twenty-two thousand yen."

Matsuo pulled some of his blonde hair back. "Yeah, it's gonna be a while before we go up to Sadamine Pass to practice."

"Sadamine Pass?" I looked at him before I accelerated towards downtown. "That's the nearest mountain to race on around here?"

He nodded. "Yeah. I guess you can always race on the highway, but those cars have to be pretty expensive to be fast. Plus police tend to be more active there too. Not to mention it requires more skill to deal with mountain curves in my opinion."

I went over the FC's stats in my head. Even a mediocre car seemed better than mine, and the only way I could make more money to improve it would be to work, which I was applying for currently, and to race for money by betting if I could. Ironically this was a bad idea because my car was so weak.

Either way I'd have to go up to this Sadamine Pass Matuo mentioned and try it out, otherwise, I might never learn how to race downhill on the mountain.

I kept driving towards downtown and asked Matsuo a question. "So since we don't really know where these races happen or what's going on, how do we learn about it?"

"Well, that's what Ishiro and I have been wondering for a bit," Matsuo said. "We assumed we could go with you and hope to meet people who are into it already since you have a car."

I nodded. "All right. Not a bad idea. Should we go this weekend?"

"Yeah sure, sounds like a plan."

"Can you do me a favor and let Ishiro know?"

Matsuo reached for his phone with a groan. "Fine."

I parked the car in the location the Job notice said to and got out with Matsuo as he finished texting. "No surprise, he's absolutely over the moon about it look."

Matsuo showed me his phone as I locked the FC with a chirp.

No way! I can't wait to go with you guys! Trying to find the racing scene on Sadamine with you two sounds so cool!

"I'm not surprised either," I said, smiling at how excited Ishiro was to go with us.

We walked in and the application was finished in under five minutes. I decided I'd drive back Matsuo to his house and then talk to my dad.

Even though I never spoke to this man properly in my life before asides from a brief goodbye this morning, I assumed he'd be too busy and too responsible a parent to let me street race. He was a rather wealthy doctor after all, I'd expect as much even though he was a racer.

"Hey, Matsuo." I pulled away from the downtown parking lot and towards our neighborhood. "Is the FD your favorite car?"

"I guess, but they all look awesome. Why?"

"Well, I noticed this morning you really liked them," I said. "If we all start racing, would that be the car you'd go with?"

Matsuo smiled. "Definitely. I think I'd want one in red, or blue."

"Why not yellow?" I suggested. "It'd match your hair."

He laughed. "Thanks, but I really would prefer blue."

I kept driving the FC towards my home. "No problem man."

I made a mental note to myself to ask my dad if he could pull a couple of strings for me downtown to make sure I get chosen for the job, and to learn more about his background in racing.

...

...

Author's Note:

Hey everyone! I read the polls, from both Royal Road and Scribblehub where I have this story posted, and there was one vote in each slot, except two for the romance but no harem choice. 

So even though this technically isn't a tie, I'm gonna keep focusing on the characters and plot for now, and add a poll at a later time when the story is a bit more developed.

Thank you all so much for reading, I really appreciate it as it's my first time trying to write an original anything, visual novel or not. Again, thanks and stay awesome folks!