Kantai Celica Chapter 8

"Wait a minute," Daniel asked, "So you're telling me to go back to racing?"

"Exactly," Shoukaku elaborated on her answer, "You did have quite a reputation when you were on the circuit, so I am quite curious about your abilities."

"Well, I've been trying to practice with my car out there, but I'm not made of money for gas…." Daniel sighed, "Can't do that all the time."

"I can provide the gasoline and various supplies for you," Shoukaku took a sip of her water and then asked, "but are you not currently in a job?"

"A job where I have to turn my back every five seconds." Daniel clarified.

Suddenly, Daniel felt a chill on his spine, and he looked back at the booth behind him. There, he just sees two people holding their menu up behind him. The one person that was right behind Daniel was wearing a cap and had a pink ponytail facing straight at the menu. The Vietnamese mechanic looked back at the table across from them. He could have sworn that the two people were sitting across from him, but Daniel realized that they might prefer the booth better. So Daniel turned back towards Shoukaku.

"O….kayy….." Daniel turned back towards Shoukaku., "Right, so when does the team start?"

Shoukaku stopped Daniel and explained, "Now now. Before you get excited, there is one condition you must do before I can let you in."

Daniel paused for a second and then asked, "...What's the catch?"

"First you have to prove to me that you are up to par with your current skills," Shoukaku explained, "By doing that, you will race against my sister at her home course, Mount Akina. You are aware of that course, correct?"

"Yeah, a lot of people talk about that road." Daniel leaned back and continued one with his answer, "There's legends about it. I know the one about an AE86 that was really fucking fast years ago."

Then suddenly the waitress came back with a paper pad in her hand. "Are you ready to order?"

Daniel quickly scanned the menu and replied, "Oh, uhh, just an omurice plate for me, and she will…."

Shoukaku finished Daniel's sentence without even taking a single look at the menu, "The steak plate please. Medium-rare."

"Understood, then I'll take your menus." The waitress took the menus and went off to fill the order.

When the waitress was gone, Daniel asked Shoukaku, "So steak, huh? I'm guessing you're pretty loaded, right?"

"Not really," Shoukaku took a sip of her water, "but I will say that my car and my sister's are much more capable than your Celica."

"Let me guess." Daniel pointed at the white S2000 outside the restaurant, "She has an AP2 S2000 like yours over there."

Shoukaku shook her head, "No, her car is an FD3S."

"Oh….one of those…. A third gen RX-7, huh? So it really is a test for me?"

"Of course," Shoukaku explained, "You were a professional racing driver. I need the best in order to achieve future goals. So, do you agree to the terms?"

"You know, the faster I get out of my current job, the better it is for me, so yeah, I'm down for it."

"You really do want to get out of that place, huh?" Shoukaku took another sip of her water, and looked at Daniel with a reluctant expression, "Even if it means completely forgetting about what happened in your time over there?"

"Honestly, it's better that way. Look, those girls keep treating me like shit. They look at me like I'm scum from the start, and I don't know what they'll do to me later. Maybe they'll vandalize my room or lock me in a boat. I don't know. They obviously want me gone. Fucking hell, I shouldn't have asked Kenta for help!"

The waitress came back with two plates of food, "Here are your orders."

"Thank you," As the waitress handed the two their food, Shoukaku asked the waitress, "May I have some to-go boxes just in case?"

"Understood." The waiter went to get a to-go box for Shoukaku and immediately handed it to her.

"I see that you are having issues with them, but if you are set on the team and you have beaten my sister in the battle," Shoukaku handed Daniel a folded piece of paper which confused Daniel. Shoukaku ordered, "Put this in your glovebox."

"Oh okay…" Daniel slowly grabbed the paper from Shoukaku and put it into his pocket.

"Well then let us eat. Do not worry, I will cover the bill."

Daniel was puzzled for a second, but he decided to take the offer without any trouble, "Oh…. umm, thanks."

Suddenly, the pink ponytailed girl ran out of the restaurant while the other strange girl who was with her chased after her. The pink ponytailed girl was crying next to a familiar R32 while the other girl was trying to comfort her.

Shoukaku had a feeling who those two were, so she decided to put whatever was left of her steak dinner in the takeout box. She placed down a few bills that summed up to 3,000 yen and said, "It seems as if my time is up. I will contact you later, and keep the change."

"Uhhhh okay."

"Then, I will see you again." Shoukaku formally bowed to Daniel and walked away.

Daniel replied, "Y-yeah sure."

A few minutes later, the Vietnamese mechanic's phone rang loudly as Daniel was still eating, "*BEEEP*!"

"Augh! Who could be calling at this ti-...oookay…." Daniel looked at the caller ID on his phone. The phone had a random number calling him, so Daniel decided to take the call to see who it is, "Uhhh….. Hello?" Daniel asked.

"Hey Nguyen-kun, it's me Tone!" The heavy cruiser on the other line asked Daniel, "Can you do me a favor?"

"Wait what? T-Tone? How did you even get my number?"

"The admiral gave it to me." Tone asked Daniel again, "Anyway, I need help with something, can you get outside for a sec?"

"Wait you're here?" Daniel got out of his seat and headed for the front door.

Right when Daniel stepped out of the restaurant door, the pink pony-tailed girl from earlier stood right in front of him. Daniel couldn't tell who it was as the baseball cap was blocking her face. "What the fu-?! Umm...can I help you?"

Daniel can hear a familiar straight-six engine that was revving in the parking lot. He turned his head seeing Tone in her Skyline getting out of the parking lot. Daniel yelled, "Tone! What are you doing?!"

"Sorry, I gotta go! My part time job called me in!" Tone launched out of the parking and onto the road. With the straight six engine echoing into the distance, Daniel turns back to the ponytailed girl.

"Uhhh… can I help you?" The pink ponytailed girl puts up her cap revealing her face. It was Akashi, and she was definitely not happy at Daniel. "Uhhhh…. Oh… shit."

Then, Akashi punched Daniel with no warning and sent him into the ground. "BOOF!"


Some time later, Daniel was driving Akashi back to the naval base. Silence had fallen in the Celica's cabin. Both of the occupants didn't want to talk with each other. Akashi faced towards the passenger window with an angry face. On the other hand, Daniel was gripping tightly on his steering wheel with deep breaths.

Akashi could hear Daniel's heavy breathing, and she felt annoyed by it. So, the repair shop decided to break the silence. "Why…. do you want to leave like that?"

After Daniel shifted up a gear, he replied, "I got reasons..."

Then Akashi turns her face towards Daniel, "What reasons do you have?"

Daniel sighed and put his head down, "Everyone hates me over there. I don't even know why. I didn't do anything wrong. Besides, it doesn't look like they need me."

Akashi argued against Daniel's claims, "What do you mean? Of course they need you!"

"Really, huh?" Daniel shifted up into fourth gear and stayed at the same speed, "Last time I checked….. Shit, what's her face? Uh… Kaho-san."

"Kaga-san."

"There, Kaga-san told me to leave that place forever." Daniel pointed out, "That doesn't sound like she needs my help at all."

"Well that's because she doesn't…." Akashi reluctantly continued her explanation while turning away from Daniel, "Trust….humans…"

"Oh my fucking god…." Daniel shifts down into third gear and speeds up. He yelled, "It all makes sense now!"

Akashi snaps back to Daniel, "Huh? What makes sense?"

With a slightly annoyed tone, Daniel explained as he was getting up an expressway ramp, "There's no point for me to keep staying over there. I might as well write up a resignation letter when we get back."

"W-what are you saying?" Akashi questioned again, "Y-you're not helping us? W-why?"

When the Celica went past a hundred kilometers per hour, the speed warning bell chimed as Daniel explained, "Honestly, I never cared in the first place."

Akashi's eyes widened at the statement. "Y-you are joking, r-right?"

Daniel replied with a stern tone, "No, I'm not."

"Th-then why are you here?"

Daniel sighed as he let the Celica slow back down in order for the warning bell to stop, "For a job. I'm here to just do my job and be done with it. I really don't care about those shipgirls anymore. They can go ahead and deal with their bullshit for all I care. I just... want to go back to racing, that's all."

Daniel's statement echoed into Akashi's mind. Akashi's eyes had turned lifeless as the echo had changed into the former admiral's voice.

"I never cared about those shipgirls anymore. They can go ahead and deal with their bullshit…."

"I never cared…."

"Never cared….."

"I never cared about those shipgirls in the first place."

Daniel glanced at Akashi a few times seeing that something was wrong with her. Daniel asked, "O-oi….. are you… okay?"

Daniel waved his left hand in front of Akashi and saw that Akashi wasn't responding. A few minutes later, Daniel got off of the expressway and was beginning to panic. As he went into a lower gear and kept the engine revs up high, Daniel was thinking out loud to himself, "Oh no oh fuck…. What did I say?"

Daniel glances at Akashi again, he sees tears coming out of Akashi's eyes, "Oh crap…. Oh no…. Uhh er…."

Akashi was making crying sounds, and Daniel wasn't sure what to do as he got onto the side streets. He was looking around as Akashi's crying escalated. Akashi's eyes were getting red from the tears dropping out onto the floor mats.

Then Daniel finds a familiar sign, 'OH! HEY, CONVENIENCE STORE!'


Daniel drives the Celica to the nearby convenience store. He parks the sports car in front of the store and shuts off the engine. Daniel takes a deep breath before looking at Akashi. He asked his superior, "Hey…. You want anything…?"

Akashi didn't say anything at all. She only looked at Daniel with puffy eyes. Daniel felt uncomfortable, so he decided to go out of the Celica.

"Right, okay…. Just gonna go…" Daniel quickly gets out of the Celica and goes inside the convenience store while muttering, "Fucking hell."

The Vietnamese mechanic was looking through the drinks section at the convenience store and grabbed a couple of sodas.

"Okay, melon soda that's a good one…. Hmmm... Maybe she might like Calpis…?" When he was about to reach for a second soda, Daniel received an email from Shoukaku on his phone. The message said, "The rematch will happen at the top of Mount Tsukuba Next Saturday at 22:00. Please arrive by then."

"That was fast." Daniel put his phone back in his pocket and took the sodas to the cashier. Daniel was puzzled at the cashier's appearance. A relatively young woman with silver hair tied up in twintails and blue eyes was manning the cash register. The cashier looked awfully familiar to Daniel, but he couldn't put his finger on it.

"Umm… Excuse me dear customer. Would you like anything else?"

"Huh?" Daniel snaps back out of his thoughts and asked, "Sorry, what did you say?"

"It costs four-hundred yen…. Would you like anything else…. sir?"

Daniel looks back at the Celica carrying his teary-eyed senpai. Then he looked back at the counter eyeing the fried chicken in the food warmer. "Yeah…. Uhhh can I get one of the...spicy L-Chiki?"

"Understood."


Once Daniel had paid for the items, he went back to his old sports car.

"Hey…." Daniel climbs back into the driver's seat with the plastic bag in his hand. "I got some food for you."

Akashi said nothing again and looked at Daniel with her eyes that looked deprived of life. Daniel slowly gave Akashi the can of milk soda and the spicy L-Chiki. "Okay…. Uhh here you go."

Akashi didn't grab the items, so Daniel awkwardly put the items on her lap. "Okay...'" Daniel said as he fired up the Celica's 4A-GE again, "We'll be back at the base in an hour….. hopefully."

Akashi still didn't give a single peep, so Daniel made a small awkward laugh and shifted into first gear and slowly drove out of the convenience store parking lot.


At the service station near the naval base, Tone was standing in her work uniform waiting for customers to come by. She saw Daniel's Celica come up to the station.

"Welcome!" Tone welcomed the sports car and remarks, "Oh you're back!"

The Celica pulled up to the gas pump Tone was at, and Daniel stopped the engine again. He ordered Tone, "Hey, uhhh just ten liters of regular…. Actually just fill it up with regular."

"Understood, one full tank of regular." Tone grabbed the gas nozzle and opened up the Celica's gas cap. Once she had placed the nozzle into the tube, Tone let the pump do its job. Seeing as there's no one else at the station waiting for service, Tone went up to Daniel's window again.

Tone asked Daniel, "Hey, what happened to you two?"

Daniel looked back at Akashi who still had puffy eyes from crying and looked back at Tone, "Not good. Still can't believe you ditched me by the way."

"Sorry about that." Tone explained, "Guy who is supposed to be here got sick today, so I got called in. The boss said he'll pay me overtime for it."

"Right, so about that…." Daniel pointed at the small garage that was part of the service station and asked, "Let's talk inside, please?"

Tone looked over the garage and saw that no one was there. "Fine."

So both Tone and Daniel walked to the garage with Akashi staying in the Celica again. Tone first asked Daniel in a teasing tone, "So what happened? Did you kiss her?"

"What kind of…?" Daniel was puzzled at Tone's question, so he clarified, "Okay, first off. No. We had a fight….. Kind of."

Tone raised an eyebrow at Daniel's words, "Kind of?"

"Look, here's what I'm going to say." Daniel questioned Tone, "You know how everyone over at that base hates me, right?"

Tone crossed her arms, "Yeah…?"

Daniel finished his explanation, "Well no one really wants me over there, so I got an offer for a way to get back into racing."

"Racing?" Tone made the connection with Daniel's helmet and Daniel had just said. So Tone asked, "Wait, you're a professional driver?"

"I was." Daniel sighed and broke Tone the news, "Anyway the point is, I'm going to resign as a mechanic."

"What?!" Tone's eyes widened from the sudden news and was about to protest Daniel's decision, "Oi, I know that you're being given a hard time, wait who offered you a way back?"

Daniel answered Tone's question, "A shipgirl with a white AP2. Think her name as Shou….Shouko? No, that's not it…"

"A shipgirl with an AP2?" Tone thought of who the owner of the Honda was, but she wanted to confirm her suspicions, "Wait, does that S2000 have a Spoon hardtop and a red windshield banner? Gunma plate? SW388s?"

"Yeah that's the one," Daniel confirmed.

"Oh no her…." Tone facepalmed at the news and then asked, "What was the catch?"

"I have to beat her sister in an FD later."

"Zuikaku-chan? Shit…." Tone puts her head down and then tells Daniel what she thinks about the situation, "I don't think your Celica can beat an FD. Haven't you planned out what will happen if you lose?"

"No, I'm not going to lose." Daniel explained, "I've been in Formula 4 and became champion once. I was going for a second time, but….that was not a good time…."

"Uh huh…" Tone crossed her arms again, "You really want to go, huh?"

"Yeah, I really don't want to go with it anymore. Obviously they don't want me there. I'd rather just forget about everything about that place."

"Even Akashi-san?" Tone asked. "I thought you had a thing going on with her."

Daniel shook his head, "No I don't. She's just my senpai."

"But she needs help."

Daniel shook his head again, "No she doesn't. Not with work. She always takes all my tasks away and does it herself."

Tone sighed, "But don't you know that Zuikaku-chan's FD can out-corner and out-run your Celica in its stock form?"

"Yeah, that's common sense." Daniel protested, "But I know how to drive, plus I think I beat her before some time ago. I do remember passing an FD at Mount Tsukuba, but it was really sketchy at the corners."

"But you're not ready! I'm sure that Shoukaku-san has already gotten that FD tuned up again just for your battle! Zuikaku-chan has a higher chance of winning than you with a car like that."

Daniel protested against Tone's warning, "But I'm prepared. I know the course by now and the A60 runs fine. I got this. Besides, if I win, I can finally get back on the track."

Tone formed a fist and was about to sock Daniel on his visor. She stopped herself as she knew that she was still on the clock, so she declared, "Fine, go ahead and resign. When you do, you'll forget everything about us. Go drive as much as you can, but if you don't win… good luck with your life….. asshole."

Both Daniel and Tone could hear the gas nozzle stopping, so they went back to the Celica. Tone took the nozzle off the Celica. Daniel handed her a few thousand yen bills. "Here's the money."

Tone grabs the money and takes it to the register inside. The heavy cruiser gives Daniel the change and the receipt with a disappointed face. "Here's your receipt."

"Look, I know that you don't treat me like shit, but I just can't keep going when almost everyone wants me out. I'm sorry. I'll still remember you, senpai, and Mamiya-san when I get on the track."

Tone said with a very stern tone, "You won't."

"Okay… Good bye then." Daniel starts the 4A-GE up again and drives off back to the naval base. Tone bows down at the disappearing sports car and yells..

"Thank you for your business... "

When the Celica was gone, Tone threw her cap onto the concrete floor and yelled, "Damnit…. That idiot!"


It was the day of Zuikaku's challenge, and Akashi was reorganizing her inventory for the night. It was getting close to the time Daniel was supposed to go, but Akashi didn't care. Akashi kept working until a shipgirl's voice called out to her.

"Ummm, Akashi-san? Are you there?"

"Yes! I'm coming!" Akashi put a cardboard box full of scrap metal into an empty rack and walked up to the front of the repair hangar. There, a shipgirl who was carrying a satchel was waiting for Akashi. "Ah, Aoba-san, what happened? You here for your rigging?"

Aoba waved, "Ah no not this time. The truth is, I wanted to show you something."

Akashi asked with a surprised face, "Oh? What do you mean?"

Aoba explained while grabbing something from her satchel, "Well, I found out about your little helper's past."

"Little helper?" Akashi knew who Aoba was talking about and flicked her head away from Aoba while pouting, "Hmph, why should I care? Right now, he doesn't matter to me."

"Oh…" Aoba asked with a calm tone, "You mean how he's planning on going back to racing and leaving here?"

"Eh?" Akashi turned her head back to Aoba with a puzzled face. "How did you know?"

"Come on, don't you remember?" Aoba explained while taking out a black laptop, "I have my way with getting information. Like how I dug up some stuff about your guy. It's all in here."

Akashi sighed, "What's the point? Why should I care about that."

Aoba powered up the laptop while explaining her thought process, "Well, he is your kouhai. I thought you'd want to know what he was like before he came here. Besides, I can tell how tense it is between you two, and it's getting on my nerves."

Then Akashi argued, "Look, he doesn't care about us at all! He just does this as a job!"

Aoba sighed, "That's true… I don't blame him. Especially when he had his dreams stripped away from him."

"His dreams were taken away?"

Aoba pulled up a video on her laptop and showed it to Akashi, "Here, I thought you'd want to see this."

The video starts with three single-seater race cars racing on a track. They were fairly away from a whole pack of cars just like them that was trying to catch up. To Akashi, the cars looked like airplanes, but with four wheels, no canopy, and wings that go upside down.

A Japanese commentator in the video was commenting on the racing as the strange cars zoomed down the track, "... NYOOOOOMMM NYOOOOOOM… Here we go! We only have two more laps to go at the Twin Ring Motegi and there's the leading three cars coming up to the first turn! Who will win the F4 Japanese Championship?!"

Akashi asked as she watched the video, "What is this?"

Aoba explained, "It's car racing. I looked it up recently after I dug up some stuff about your guy. It's pretty interesting to say the least."

The commentator continued to yell out about what the three strange cars were doing. "The number 1 car from TOM'S Spirits is leading the pack with car number 8 from the Honda Dream Project coming up from behind! Oh! Car number 63 from Nishi MotorSports is on the attack! He's going for the inside!"

As the engines of the F4 cars were screaming away through the track, Akashi recognized the driver of the car with the number 63. It was Daniel as he was the only one wearing a pure white helmet compared to the other drivers who had different colors and various logos on their own helmets. However, Akashi raised an eyebrow at the paint scheme of Daniel's single-seater car. It had the same colors of the Fusou class' miko outfit, but Akashi thought it was just a coincidence. So she threw away that thought. As the Daniel in the video was fighting for the lead, the commentator was shouting again.

"I can't believe it! Nishi MotorSports is a privateer team, but its car is holding up well against the other cars from the factory-supported ones! They really do have a good driver up their sleeve! Oh! Number 8 is holding up on the outside!"

The video switches the camera view to one onboard Daniel's car. Akashi could tell that the past Daniel in the video was more energized and determined. He was clenching on the twitchy steering wheel as the car dived into the corner with the other car in front attempting to close up the gap on the inside. Akashi saw that not only Daniel was dealing with the other driver, but he was also fighting his car in order to control it.

As soon as the two cars launched out of the corner, Daniel was still in the same position. However, Akashi could tell that Daniel was using the full potential of the engine based on its sound; the Daniel in the video didn't want to give up. The past Daniel was still behind the number 8 car with only a few inches between the nose and the taillight. The two cars were heading down to a tight left-hand turn, and Daniel was driving close to the edge of the outside. Daniel braked before the other car did and dived into the inside of the corner.

"But that car number 63 is still on the offense! He's on the outside and- Oh!" The video showed the car in front of the old Daniel veering off to the outside of the corner. "Car number 8 is understeering into the next corner! Car number 63 takes it!"

The other car couldn't take Daniel's pressure. The driver had braked later than he should have, and Daniel had overtaken him. The Vietnamese mechanic moved on to the lead car that was a few seconds in front of him. The commentator could tell that Daniel was determined to win.

"Now car number 63 is targeting the number 1 car! Let's hope the driver doesn't break from the pressure! However! Car number 63 is still going for first place! If he wins this race, he wins the whole championship by a single point! Will he go for the attack again?!"

As the single-seater cars screamed through the track's corners, Akashi turned to Aoba. Aoba first asked the repair ship, "Well, what do you think?"

Akashi muttered to herself, "That's why he said he wanted to go back… He looked so alive back then in that world…."

"Huh?" Aoba said, " I didn't catch that."

Akashi asked Aoba for answers, "I never knew of this world… Racing... It looks so exciting…. Now I know why he wants to leave…, but why did he come here?"

"Well last year," Aoba took out a notepad from her satchel and looked up a page, "Err.. he got into a really bad crash. His err what is that called….? Racing license was suspended for 2 years after that."

"So that means…."

"He's only got a year left until he can do stuff like that." Once Aoba finished Akashi's thoughts, the repair ship ran out of the repair hangar and towards the parking lot without saying a word. "Hey, Akashi-san! Where are you going?!"

Akashi stopped running as soon as she heard an engine noise. "BRUUUUUuuuuuum Bruuuuuuummm…"

It was the Celica's engine that was purring away from the naval base. Compared to the engine in the single-seater car, the Celica's small engine sounded sad and beaten to Akashi.

Akashi realized, "He's gone…."

Aoba had caught up with Akashi and remarked at the engine sounds, "Geez, where is he going at this time of the night? Everyone's going to bed soon!"

"Aoba-san…" Akashi turned back to the journalistic heavy cruiser and asked, "Do you have a…...car?"


Meanwhile at the top of the Mount Tsukuba road, Zuikaku and Shoukaku were waiting for Daniel to arrive. Zuikaku was getting impatient as the time Daniel was supposed to get here had already passed. Zuikaku was pacing around her FD RX-7 until she had enough.

The aircraft carrier yelled, "Argh! How long is this guy going to take?"

Shoukaku warned her sister in a calm manner, "Patience Zuikaku. Remember that your opponent is an experienced one."

"Yeah I know Shoukaku-nee, but he should be here by now…."

Shoukaku expanded her warning about Daniel, "He's a professional racer."

"A profes-?!" Zuikaku nearly went off balance and then asked her sister, "You're kidding right?"

Shoukaku crossed her arms, "When was the last time I ever joked around like this?"

Zuikaku couldn't think of a time when Shoukaku joked around. She knew that Shoukaku was being serious, so Zuikaku was getting nervous. "Oh uhh er… shit… uhhhh. Wow a pro…., uhh shit…. Whoa…"

Suddenly, both sisters could hear an engine of a car hurrying up towards the top. "Bruuuuuuu…. BRuuuuuuu….!"

Zuikaku turns to her sister for confirmation, "S-Shoukaku-nee, i-is that?"

Shoukaku widened at the sound of the screeching tires.

"SCREEEEE!"

"He's here."

The old Celica slowed down once it had reached the top with its hazard lights blinking. It stopped at the road next to the runoff section where the aircraft carriers' cars were parked. Daniel spotted Shoukaku's S2000 at the parking lot. "There's that S two-... Ohh… Hi…?"

Zuikaku walked up to Daniel's window, so Daniel rolled down the window. Zuikaku stopped Daniel from saying anything else.

"So you finally came here… Celica-san.." Zuikaku declared, "It's been awhile, right?"


A/N: I hope you enjoyed reading this chapter. It took me awhile with college and my PC breaking down on me, but I did it.