She races with fire in her veins—and I can't tell if I want to outrun her, or let her catch me.
---
11:47 PM — Kaminari Pass, Sector 5 Ridge Line
Rain turned the mountainside into polished obsidian. Headlights were rare here—most were off, just silhouettes under drifting fog. No cameras. No crowd.
Just me.
And her.
Reika Tsukino leaned against her pearlescent Honda S2000, twirling her lollipop again like a fuse waiting to be lit. The gloss on her lips glimmered red under the LED strip on her bumper.
"You sure you're ready for this?" she said, pushing off the hood and walking toward me. Her racing boots splashed in a puddle. "Sector 5 doesn't forgive boys who get distracted."
I didn't respond. Just checked my tire pressure.
She leaned over my shoulder, breath brushing my ear. "You always this quiet before a race, or just around girls who make you nervous?"
"I don't get nervous," I said, eyes forward.
"No," she purred. "You get tense. That's sexier."
I turned. Just enough to meet her eyes.
"You said if I win, you stop teasing."
She smiled, slow. "I lied."
---
12:00 AM — The Race Begins
The second the signal flared, both engines roared to life.
My LFA gripped the tarmac with ruthless discipline—years of tuning, weight-balancing, and midnight testing coming alive beneath my hands.
Reika's S2000 was chaos on wheels. Her car darted and swung wide, her driving style fluid, violent, like she was dancing drunk with death itself.
She laughed through the turns.
Laughed when her tires scraped moss walls.
Laughed when her engine backfired near blind corners.
Laughed like she knew something I didn't.
The longer we raced, the more I felt it.
I wasn't just racing her.
She was pulling me in.
---
12:09 AM – The Temptation
Midway through Sector 5, we hit a long, dark straightaway where rainwater pooled in shallow dips.
I was ahead by half a second.
That's when her voice came through the comm.
> "Hey, Phantom—what are you hiding in the backseat, huh? Guilt? Or a girl you don't talk about?"
My grip slipped. Just for a split-second.
> "You drive like a guy who's trying to forget someone… but wakes up with her smell still on his hoodie."
My heart pounded.
She was too close. Not just on the road—in my head.
But I didn't reply.
I just hit the gas and left her behind in the mist.
---
12:14 AM – The Finish
I reached the checkpoint, engine humming low.
Two seconds passed.
Then the S2000 pulled up beside me, headlights flashing once before going dark.
Reika stepped out, took her time walking over, her hair wet from the mist, lips still shimmering.
"Well damn," she said, stretching her arms. "I lost. But I did get to see your grip game up close."
I opened my mouth.
She put a finger on my lips.
"But let me guess…" she whispered. "You're saving that passenger seat for someone who'd never understand why you love to disappear at night."
My throat clenched.
She smiled. But it wasn't mocking this time. It was… soft.
"I get it," she said. "She's sunlight. I'm rain."
She walked away before I could answer.
---
12:42 AM – Home
I slipped inside. Quiet.
Mari's room door was open slightly.
I peeked.
She was asleep at her desk, head resting on her arms.
Her screen was still on. A paused video file.
Footage of the LFA. A red glow. Wet roads.
My breath caught.
She was watching race clips.
One frame showed the LFA drifting under a bridge—taken from someone's stream. It wasn't clear. But Mari… Mari stared at it long enough to suspect something.
I stepped back, heart racing for the second time tonight.
She didn't wake.
But in her sleep, she mumbled:
"…don't lie to me…"
---
[End of Chapter 5]