Tokyo Drift Arc (7)

Tokyo Drift Arc (7)

"Your job is simple. Come here at one-thirty every morning, drive me to Tsukiji Fish Market, wait while I stock up, then haul both me and the goods back here. Once I've sorted everything, you deliver it to the designated locations, and your work for the day is done. Got it, kid?"

"Late at night?! Will I even have time to sleep after all that?" Zhang Heng frowned.

Takeda Tetsuya bared a mouthful of yellow teeth. "That depends on how fast you make your deliveries. All right, any other questions?"

"I have one last question."

"Hmm?"

"You'll help me get my driver's license first, right?"

The smile on Takeda Tetsuya's face froze completely. "What did you just say? Say that again?!"

"I don't have a driver's license yet. If I'm going to make deliveries for you, I need to get one first, don't I?" Zhang Heng said honestly.

"..."

"You came to learn drifting from me without even having a driver's license?!" Takeda Tetsuya was utterly defeated. "Bro, are you messing with me? Why is someone who's never even touched a steering wheel so interested in underground racing?"

"I'm not interested in underground racing, but for certain reasons I can't disclose, I really do need to compete."

Takeda Tetsuya stared at Zhang Heng for a full minute before squeezing out through clenched teeth, "Then all you can do is pray you're faster than the police cars."

Tokyo late at night was very different from Tokyo during the day.

By midnight, most people were already asleep. Only a scattered few windows in the residential buildings along the streets still glowed with light. Zhang Heng left school and caught the last subway train. The carriage was rather empty, occupied only by a few drowsy office workers and heavily made-up female hostesses.

He got off at the final stop, then walked a long way before finally reaching the seafood shop ahead of the agreed time.

Takeda Tetsuya was surprisingly serious this time. Rather than snoring away upstairs, he was squatting in the shop, sorting through various orders.

Hearing footsteps behind him, he didn't look up and merely said, "Give me another five minutes."

Five minutes later, he stood up, threaded straw rope through two crabs that had only recently died, and tossed a string of keys to Zhang Heng. With a snort, he said, "Follow me."

The two left the seafood shop and headed to a small open-air parking lot nearby. Takeda Tetsuya rattled the iron gate. A moment later, the light in the guard booth came on, and a hunched old man walked over while putting on his clothes and unlocked the padlock on the gate.

Takeda Tetsuya smiled at the old man and handed him the two dead crabs, then pointed at Zhang Heng and said something.

The old man was delighted to receive the crabs. Even the wrinkles on his face seemed to smooth out. He glanced at Zhang Heng beside him and gave him a kindly nod.

"Mr. Crab. Honestly, I don't know his real name either. Doesn't matter—no one cares about that sort of thing anyway. His wife died a long time ago, and his son and daughter never contacted him again after going abroad. He found work at this parking lot to support himself, and it gives him a place to stay too. We're old friends. I give him crabs that just died and can't be sold, and he lets me park here for free. I've introduced you to him already, so from now on, you can come here directly to pick up and return the car."

"Which car is it?"

Zhang Heng's gaze swept across the parking lot before finally landing on a dirt-yellow van in the corner. He raised an eyebrow.

"Beautiful, isn't she? A second-generation Mitsubishi L300, launched in 1982—the first four-wheel-drive van in all of Japan." The moment cars came up, Takeda Tetsuya seemed like a different person. The air of a washed-up middle-aged man vanished completely. He lit a cigarette and stroked the body of the vehicle. "A 2.5-liter 4D56 diesel engine, the same chassis system as the Pajero. It can handle harsh weather and terrible road conditions, giving a mere van the performance of an off-road vehicle..."

"A car from 1982? Are you sure it can still run?" Zhang Heng was skeptical.

"Relax. I found it at a vehicle scrapyard and modified the inside myself. I changed it from four-wheel drive to two-wheel drive. The former is definitely more stable, but four-wheel drive adds weight to the body. Too much stability isn't necessarily a good thing for a driver, and it burns too much fuel."

"...Most importantly, I fixed the cassette player." Takeda Tetsuya pulled open the passenger-side door, climbed in, and picked out a cassette.

Zhang Heng could only climb into the driver's seat as well. That morning, he had crammed some driving knowledge, mainly through videos and illustrated guides he found online. He had also downloaded a little driving simulator game onto his phone and played it all the way on the subway. And so now, he... still had no confidence whatsoever.

Zhang Heng inserted the car key Takeda Tetsuya had given him into the ignition and turned it three times before getting the engine started.

The latter ignored him completely. The moment the car started, he eagerly inserted the Chage and Aska cassette into the player. Yet less than five meters after the car pulled out, it suddenly slammed on the brakes, and Takeda Tetsuya's head crashed straight into the glove compartment in front of him.

Zhang Heng's expression remained unchanged. "Sorry, I pressed the wrong pedal."

As he spoke, he shifted the gearstick into fifth gear again.

"..."

"When you enter a race someday, please make sure to tell me. I'll buy you an insurance policy and name myself as the beneficiary. I really can't believe you." Takeda Tetsuya shut off the cassette player. "Start in first gear. Push the clutch all the way down with your left foot, then gently press the accelerator with your right..."

Three minutes later, Zhang Heng drove the L300 out of the parking lot in a wobbly, swaying path, then slowly crashed into a fire hydrant beside the lot under Mr. Crab's watchful gaze.

Fortunately, it was the middle of the night, and there were hardly any cars outside.

Zhang Heng drove the L300 crookedly onto the road. When he looked to the side, Takeda Tetsuya had already obediently buckled his seatbelt.

A fifteen-minute drive took Zhang Heng a full twenty-five minutes. He stalled five times along the way, ran two red lights, and even mounted a curb once, but fortunately, they made it to their destination in the end.

Tsukiji Fish Market was the largest fish market in Japan and indeed the world. Not only Tokyo's fishermen, but fishermen from all across Japan brought their catches here to sell. At its peak, 3,200 tons of seafood worth 3 billion Japanese Yen were sold here every day. More than sixty thousand wholesalers came daily to select and bid on the goods they wanted. To them, this was not merely a market—it was a battlefield.

Zhang Heng pulled up the handbrake. Takeda Tetsuya had originally wanted to say something, but after thinking for several seconds, his mind was still blank. In the end, he merely tossed out, "Wait here," then opened the door and jumped out. He greeted a fellow trader he apparently knew, and the other man pulled out a pack of cigarettes. The two smoked as they headed toward the main entrance.

Takeda Tetsuya returned an hour later, with a forklift following behind him and carrying crate after crate of seafood he had selected. What surprised him was that Zhang Heng had not used the time to catch up on sleep. Instead, he had continued practicing with the L300 nearby. Compared to his clumsy driving on the way there, he had improved noticeably.

But Takeda Tetsuya said nothing. He merely darkened his face and said, "Get down and help load the goods."

Sorry, there's only one update today. I spent too long researching materials. Now I understand why everyone likes writing fantasy. (:::з"∠) Waaah. As for the L300, people in China might be more familiar with the Soueast Delica, which uses Mitsubishi technology. Tsukiji is also quite a famous market in Tokyo, though some say the smaller markets are actually fairer. So if you travel to Tokyo, judge for yourselves.