Chapter Text
“Remember guys! Keep communications on, we’re going to get out in six minutes! Kagehira-senpai, stay safe out there. Hands on 3!”
Mika placed his hand in. exhaling a deep breath. The helmet cushioned his face nicely, and Mika could hear his heart beating.
“1,2,3- ArSweep!”
Encouraging cheers filled the pit area as the team of ArSweep hurried to get ready for the next race. Mika makes his way to the car, getting in and preparing himself for the race.
Monaco was a beautiful city, and while Mika was wholeheartedly going to indulge himself in all the fantastic things that the city could offer, he was only going to do so after this race, the last race before closing the season, and it might be Mika’s last chance at winning the championship.
Maybe that was an overstatement, Mika was currently standing at 9th overall on the leaderboard, and winning the championship is still a far cry. ArSweep, the team he’s in, hasn’t won a F1 championship in almost two decades, and while Mika loves the team, a bitter part of him wishes that he could maximise his potential.
“Yoohoo, Miya-san here, Kagehira are we in? Loud and clear? We’re gearing up for a clean finish, so don’t worry too much about this match and go for it!” - Miya, Mika’s race engineer for two years, signals him on.
“Mm I hear ya loud and clear Miya-san!” Mika answers back. They’re already completing their starting lap, and soon Mika tore into the track, every tree, every turn he made, Mika’s heart leapt. This was home, this was what he was born to do, racing.
“Steady on there-” Miya’s voice crackled on the radio. “Energon is right behind you, cut him off at the next turn and you’ll be fine.”
Mika nodded, although he might have forgotten that Miya technically couldn’t see him at the moment. WIth careful hands, he steered his way, cutting the next corner closely and stopping Energon from overtaking. It was like second nature, whizzing past the track, as he had done it so many times. Mika grinned, pushing on the pedal as he rushed to complete the last lap.
“That’s it now! Kagehira Mika of ArSweep finishes nicely in 7th placing- and there comes Energon, and also Hisashi of White Castle coming in close behind!” The commentator’s voice booms out on the speakers surrounding the event track.
Mika was met with a celebrating team, all ready with their own bottles of wine to celebrate their nice placing. Miya locked Mika in, rubbing his hair as the team all wished congratulations on another good race. But some part deep down in Mika yearned to do better.
Mika kicked his shoes into the apartment, throwing his keys onto the table as he flopped on the couch. He grabbed a bunch of sweets, bought from a cheap store online, and popped a few into his mouth as he switched on the television. Not even 5 minutes later, his phone rings.
“Ohayo! Miya-san here-”
“Nagh Miya-san it’s 11 o’clock-”
“Haha who cares! Every time is a good morning! I’m here to check in on you- you’re still attending the gala scheduled for tomorrow right?”
Mika glanced at the clock on the wall, tomorrow was in an hour, and truth be told, Mika didn’t want to engage in social discussions about his racing career nor did he have the energy for it.
“Don’ know, m’ feelin’ pretty tired, might not show up.”
He was feeling pretty glad that the season was over- it was hell for him at the beginning,starting out in 15th place before painstakingly clawing his way up to the top 10.
“Don’t do me like that-” Miya’s voice speaks through the call. “I’ve told the organisers that you were going to be there, and I heard that Red Engine is going to announce a special project at the gala, you know - with the celebration of Fine winning the season…again…”
Mika scoffed, shoving another sweet into his mouth. He couldn’t care less about that fancy pants team Fine, with their highly annoying star racer Eichi Tenshouin, not that he personally did anything to Mika no, it was just that the racer rubbed Mika off the wrong way.
“Fine.” Mika grumbled, resigning to his fate. His schedule is pretty clear for the next week or so, and he’d rather spend it in some high class gala than rot in his apartment all day. “Nothin’ big alright? I don’t want any press attention.”
Miya hummed from the other side of the phone, seemingly in agreement.
“Who’s gon be there?”, Mika asked out of curiosity. He couldn’t help but want to know who would be at this year’s RC gala, most likely big names, but sometimes the big teams would be scouting and there would be a ton of influential people that Mika would love to meet.
“Most of the team is going to be there - I heard that the motoGP racers are going to be there too.”
Mika’s heart leapt at the sound of that. It’s been quite some time since he’d caught up with Arashi, but she’s just been so busy at Knights over in motor racing that he’d been so caught up in their own careers.
Mika stood up, walking to his closet as he started digging for the best tuxedo he could find. “I’ll see ya tomorrow then.”
“I’m counting on it.”
Mika pulled up to the event fifteen minutes before it started, not before spotting an incredibly, beautiful car that was bound to be a couple millions worth of money. That was the thing with the high class, especially in the racing scene, as what cars you drive determines what you are as a person.
It was an Aston Martin Valkyrie, and to Mika’s knowledge, there were probably about only 150 units in the entire world, so whoever owned this car was probably of high status. Mika could never, he’d be comfortable in his own Rolls Royce.
As the car door swung open, Mika stepped out, exuding an aura of confidence and elegance. Dressed in a perfectly tailored tuxedo, every detail was impeccable—from the crisp white shirt to the black bow tie that complemented the ensemble. The tuxedo jacket fit snugly, highlighting his athletic frame, while the polished black shoes glinted under the lights.
Mika adjusted his cufflinks, and took a moment to survey the scene. The gala was a blend of high society and racing enthusiasts, all gathered to celebrate the year's achievements on the track. Paparazzi flashes erupted as Mika walked towards the entrance, the cameras eager to capture his sophisticated look.
Mika rushed inside, trying to get away from the cameras as he took a deep breath in. An attendant asked for his name, and then proceeded to escort him through a maze of tables, all filled with different people, he’d spot a few familiar faces, waving to them. He also saw an interesting individual, all cladded up in an outfit that just screamed eccentricity and luxury, but the attendant tore his attention away when he was presented with his seat, equipped with a name tag even.
“We thank you all for being here today-”, Ibara Saegusa, spokesperson and also vice-deputy of Red Engine spoke into the microphone. All eyes bore into him as he smiled, a smile that Mika deemed to be pretty forced if you asked him.
“I hope you had a good dinner so far, as a night of interaction will follow up soon. I personally would love to salute all of you racers for another astounding season today!.” A huge round of applause reverberated through the hall, and Mika found himself clapping too.
“However-”
It took precisely a minute for the clapping to die down, as Ibara’s cheerful face had turned into something more dark. He gripped the podium table, leaning over it hazardously. Mika gulped.
“It has come to my attention, as it is not a secret that the racing scene has be pretty dominated by the same names on the leaderboard for many seasons now, and with famous old team Night Castle already filing for bankruptcy, we think its time to reignite the stagnant desire of racing in all of our racers.”
Mika heard an official, probably from F1 company Starmaker, scoff, asking to get to the point. He looked at Ibara again. Not going to lie, Mika wanted to agree.
“With that said-” Ibara warmed himself up. “Red Engine is proud to present that we are opening a project - yes a full racing team, handpicked by us to compete in the Enigmata Season of next year.”
And that’s it, the crowd goes wild. Even Mika himself is pretty excited by the news. It is not a secret that Red Engine was a famous company known to produce many good racing teams that has produced good results. Back a decade ago, three out of five teams handled by Red Engine had finished off the seasons, clinching many wins.
“We are still hashing out the details!” Ibara spoke on, seemingly ignoring the reporters’s questions and the flashing of camera lights that seemed to swarm in at the news. “Red Engine is taking this seriously, we’re planning of a mass audition open to only the best racers in the industry right now, top 20 is guaranteed a spot and-”
Mika tunes out Ibara’s words. It was true that top 20 was a big thing, but knowing the racing industry, and how many individuals would have already been reserved spots in the new team, there is technically zero to none spots left.
“We’re changing the scene! Here at Red Engine, we are going to take old and new flames and polish them into the biggest drivers we will ever see. I’m talking about the underdogs, that’s right!”
Ibara answers a few hot questions, mainly about the nature of the team and event or some more controversial questions. FIve minutes later, Ibara backs away from the stage, and the buzzing of the hall is soon overpowered by the loud blasting of the music.
Mika stuck around, mainly to chat with his old friends from SP motors when he saw Arashi, all cladded in the most beautiful outfit that she could wear.
“Naru-chan!” Mika waved over, and the blondie’s face immediately hit up.
“Ah, it's Naruchan~!♪ How's business~?”
Arashi gripped Mika by the shoulders, pulling him in for a quick hug before letting go. “Oh my, Mika-chan, I'm so glad you called for me!♪” Mika chuckled.
“How was the motor season for you guys?”
Arashi huffed, folding her arms. “Knights have been doing well, we’ve finished 2nd overall in the whole season.”
Mika clapped and let out a small whoop. Knights, a part of the whole motorcycle racing thing, is a pretty big name, consistently clinched championships as is a reliant team. Arashi grasped Mika by the arm, and started pulling him to the main floor.
“Now then Mika-chan, you’ve ought to accompany a pretty woman like me to meet some people, I know a few people you'd like to meet!”
Shu Itsuki huffed, rubbing his forehead as he hurried to the exit doors of the gala. He strutted out, inclined to find the valet that had, apparently, mishandled his precious Valkyrie car. Shu dusted off his immaculate tuxedo, where he donned a traditional tuxedo, full on satin on lapels, buttons, pocket trim and on a side stripe down the leg of the trousers, coloured in blue of course.
Merde ça, of course when Shu appears in a social event, something is bound to go wrong. He just knew something was off when the valet had apparently parked his car in the open, next to those philistines. He really should have left sooner, he’d actually came just for an associate of his, working at Red Engine, and he’d been mildly interested in hearing about the huge hush project they were cooking about, but after hearing about the cheap talk about the racing team of the century, Shu knew it was time to get out.
“Itsuki!”
Shu grumbled under his breath and turned around. Izumi, his strangely good friend from Knights all dressed up like a model (Shu would huff, he;s doing so much for an event, but Shu must agree that the styling was immaculate,) had caught up to him.
“Yah Itsuki, you seriously got me running all over the place for you!” Izumi placed his hands on his hips, tutting, “I hear you come back and you didn’t even tell me.”
“I’m not coming back - I quit racing.”
Izumi squinted his eyes at Shu, but didn’t comment. “Whatever, I know you will be coming back anyway, a crash wouldn’t stop a person like you.”
Shu flinched slightly, he couldn’t have helped it. It was still a very sensitive topic from him, and Izumi must have noticed it too, as his face grew softer. He opened his mouth, but Shu stopped him anyway.
“Don’t say anything else.” Shu said coldly. “I’ve got no intention to converse with you here.”
“Not when I got your keys?” Izumi dangled Shu’s keys from his pocket.
“You-”
Izumi huffed, tossing back to Shu, who caught it smoothly before checking it for any damage. “I’m sorry, I’d recognise your car from anywhere, of course I’d checked for the identity of the user.”
“Itsuki-shi!”
Izumi and Shu groaned simultaneously as the red haired deputy made his way over. Shu was immediately put on guard, having no interaction with the man for the past two years.
Ibara saluted, before offering a handshake. “I am so glad that both of you made it, especially Itsuki-shi.”
“Saegusa.” Shu spat out, but shook it firmly for just a split second.
“I’d assume that the two of you have heard all about Red Engine’s new project?”
Shu ran a hand through his hair, he normally wouldn’t, but seeing how much of a mess he already was, it wouldn’t affect him. “Say what you wanna say, but keep it simple.”
Izumi huffed. “Of course we did, in fact I suppose Knights are going to be more involved in it than I am.”
Talking about involvement, Shu immediately tensed up. He;d been off charts for the past two years, having little to no news about his racing career.
“I apologise if this news had been sprung onto you guys all of a sudden.” Ibara pushed his glasses up. “Red Engine has been pushing for the project to happen, and we’re planning to be ready by next season.”
“That’s not a lot of time.” Shu remarked, earning a raise of eyebrows from Izumi. “Three months no?”
“Six, if you count the first race.”
“And you’re talking to me because? I see no reason why I should be involved in this-”
“Red Engine would like to extend their invitation for you to join the project Itsuki. I’d see fit that you should be inside. A racer of your talents is hard to come by.”
Shu tensed up, clenching his fists. Izumi came to stand next to him.
“Saegusa-”
“You don't need to defend him Sena-shi.” Ibara said. “I know full well what happened to Itsuki-shi, and I’d suggest that he participate in the project as soon as he can so that he can revitalise his career.”
“I don’t race anymore.” Shu spat.
“Well then.” Ibara’s face remains cool as ever. “Even so, I’d suggest you come over to Red Engine’s new training grounds, perhaps you could mentor the new racers.”
“Huh?” Izumi spoke out Shu’s thoughts.
“Just because we are rushed, we’re hoping a few racers, or maybe in your case, ex-racers, can come and ignite the talent in our mediocre racers.
“Just ask someone from White Castle, they have experienced mentors.” Shu said as he began walking away, ignoring Izumi’s grumbling.
“There’s a racer that likes to cut corners, if trained well, he might make the fastest lap record ever.”
Shu almost halted at Ibara’s words. It was his dream to hit the world’s fastest lap record, back in his prime. He’d pushed -, no, now was not the type to be thinking of him.
“I’ll think about it, but you shouldn’t keep your hopes up.” Shu said, leaving through the front doors. “Passe une bonne nuit.”