Tokyo Drift Arc (8)

Tokyo Drift Arc (8)

Zhang Heng realized he had still underestimated just how black-hearted Takeda Tetsuya, the boss, was.

He had driven the latter back to the seafood shop at 3:15. The two spent ten minutes packing up all the seafood that needed delivering, and Zhang Heng set out from the shop at 3:25 with the delivery list in hand. Yet when he kept driving until 6:30 in the morning, nearly half the goods in his trunk still had not been delivered.

By then, the streets were starting to liven up. Office workers who lived far away streamed out of their homes toward subway entrances and bus stops, and the roads were growing more crowded with cars. Zhang Heng made two more stops, but when he came out of an izakaya, he ran into two traffic cops who had just started their shift. He did not dare risk continuing the deliveries.

Driving without a license was a serious matter in Japan. Not only would the driver face up to three years in detention and a fine of 500,000 Japanese yen, but the vehicle owner and passengers would also be sentenced and fined. Besides, rush hour was about to begin. If he did not leave now, he would most likely end up stuck in traffic.

Zhang Heng drove the L300 back to the seafood shop. Takeda Tetsuya was not surprised by the result. He picked up the phone and contacted the shop's original deliveryman, then said to Zhang Heng, "You have one week left. Takahashi Koichi will be going back to his hometown in a week. What if the goods still can't all be delivered and it causes losses? Are you going to compensate me?"

"Fine," Zhang Heng said.

His unhesitating answer surprised Takeda Tetsuya somewhat. The seafood shop owner was in a rather tragic position—he could not beat Zhang Heng, and Zhang Heng had leverage over him. Even if Zhang Heng truly failed to finish the deliveries, there was nothing he could do. He had only tossed out a casual complaint, never expecting the other man to agree so readily.

Takeda Tetsuya said suspiciously, "Hey, kid, don't talk big. If you can't do it, then you can't do it. Tell me sooner so I can find a part-timer. I fought for every single one of these customers. Don't make it sound nice now, only to fail later. The one who suffers will still be my seafood shop."

"If I can't finish, I'll reimburse you in full for however much you lose." Zhang Heng jumped out of the car and stretched his shoulders and wrists. His first delivery run had not gone smoothly. He had driven all night, and both his mind and body were exhausted. But he found that under this kind of pressure, his driving skills had improved tremendously. This nonstop run had been more useful than practicing by himself for an entire day.

Of course, he could have asked Takeda Tetsuya to reduce his delivery load. But if he was unwilling to accept even this small challenge, what competition would he be entering afterward? He might as well surrender now.

Taking the bus back to school, Zhang Heng only had time to wash his face and casually eat a few slices of bread before rushing back to the classroom to immerse himself in studying Japanese Language.

It was not until the afternoon that he got a chance to catch up on some sleep. Even then, Zhang Heng did not sleep long. He set an alarm and got up four hours later. After dinner, he went to a bookstore near the school and bought a map of Tokyo.

As mentioned before, reflection and summarization had always been Zhang Heng's strengths. On the way back, he had already begun carefully considering why he could not finish the deliveries. Aside from his unfamiliarity with driving and the L300's poor performance, unfamiliar road conditions and the lack of sensible route planning were also major factors.

No matter how skilled a driver was, it was difficult to bring out their full strength when racing on a track they did not know.

At 1:20 that night, Zhang Heng arrived at the parking lot on time. He had even brought Mr. Crab a rice ball. Mr. Crab happily opened the gate for him. When Zhang Heng returned to the seafood shop at 7:34 in the morning, however, he had performed even worse than the day before, delivering only around forty percent of the seafood.

Takeda Tetsuya was standing at the entrance in his pajamas, washing out a tank. Seeing this, he sneered, "Young people should try not to be so overconfident. It's not too late to give up now. Otherwise, six days from now, you'll have no choice but to sell yourself to me and work for me for free for the rest of your life."

Zhang Heng said nothing. This time, it really had been his own fault. Route planning had taken him too long, and because he was unfamiliar with the place names, he had even taken wrong turns with the navigation several times, nearly driving all the way to Okinawa to look at bikinis.

Thus, another item was added to Zhang Heng's daily checklist.

--Familiarize himself with Tokyo's streets.

Takeda Fisheries' orders could roughly be divided into two categories. One was from regular customers with fixed delivery locations, while the other was from new customers, whose locations were much more random. Zhang Heng had no solution for the second category for the time being, but for the first, he could mark the locations on a map first, then connect them with a pen to find an optimal route.

He could then slot the second category of orders into that route, saving a considerable amount of time.

So, on the third day, Zhang Heng delivered seventy percent of the goods. When Takeda Tetsuya saw the L300 return, he unexpectedly did not mock him again.

On the fourth day, only twenty percent of the goods remained in the car. Yet on the fifth day, Zhang Heng hit a bottleneck.

Despite making use of every minute, he still had fifteen percent of the goods left undelivered. Thanks to his route planning, he had delivered all the goods along nearby routes, but some delivery points were far away, while others stood alone in isolated places. Zhang Heng had previously ignored such delivery locations altogether.

Now, delivering to them would consume a great deal of time for each stop. Zhang Heng did the math. Although there were still two days left and his driving could continue to improve, it was almost impossible to deliver all the remaining goods. He fell into deep thought.

At that moment, Takeda Tetsuya raised his head from an adult magazine.

"To a driver, his own car is more important than his wife. How can someone who doesn't even understand his own wife possibly handle a relationship properly? Tsk, tsk, young people these days are just too impatient."

"Do you have the basic schematics for this car?" Zhang Heng asked, a thought stirring in his mind as he looked at the man drowning in a sea of asses.

"A skilled driver can tell an engine's RPM and horsepower just by listening. But I suppose I can't expect too much from a rookie like you, right?" Takeda Tetsuya seemed to suffer from some kind of illness where he would die if he did not show off. After pausing, he continued, "There are modification blueprints for this car on my computer. Look at them yourself. Don't fight against it. Only by understanding its temperament can you handle it properly."

Zhang Heng turned on the computer and found Takeda Tetsuya's hidden folder. Amid a pile of porn videos, he found what he was looking for. To his surprise, it contained not only schematics for the L300, but also those for other vehicles. The models were all fairly old, and it looked like they were all cars Takeda Tetsuya had modified.

There was also, unexpectedly, an explanatory document.

Takeda Tetsuya's voice drifted up from downstairs. "Focus on studying the L300. Don't bother with the other things. You're not at that level yet. Don't think about running before you've learned to walk."