The Neighborhood

Bobby's Diner

Ryan arrived in Bobby's Diner. You could tell that this place was cherished by gang members and ignored by the common folk from the parked cars. He parked his car right next to Jaki's RX-7, and got out. The summer sun was scorching his skin. He couldn't spot Jaki outside, so he rushed inside.

The bell above the door rang as he stepped in. It didn't sound welcoming, instead, it was a warning that you might've walked into a place you don't belong to. The air was thick, smelled like lard and coffee grounds. Overhead were florescent lights, beneath Ryan's feet were linoleum floors worn down to the concrete in some spots. The red leather booths were cracking, showing the foam rubber underneath. There were only five booths, no numbering on them, but there were carvings all over the tables, like each of the booths belonged to someone. Ryan got closer to the booth at the end of the aisle, where Jaki was sitting and eating what looked like plain vanilla, straight from a cone.

"How cool is that Bobby sells ice cream?" Jaki said to Ryan. "You want anything?"

Ryan replied with a wink that acknowledged Jaki, then turned to the waiter and said, "Black coffee, please."

Ryan sat in front of Jaki, and said "Do you always start your day with an ice cream, or only after you lose a race?"

"Start my day- what? Dude, it's 12 PM. This is not breakfast, this is therapy." Jaki said. He didn't seem to mind Ryan's comments about the race.

"Well then, walk me through the trauma." said Ryan. His coffee had just arrived.

Jaki bit a piece of his cone, and started talking.

"Alright, first straight, I launched like a rocket, put a little distance between you and me. And then the first corner, you just tapped the brake and steered in, then you were right on my ass, which was a surprise, but not a problem."

Ryan nodded. His chase with Jaki made him understand how the car was tuned. The suspensions were rock hard and the chassis was rigid. He remembered how the weight of the car almost didn't shift at all, which allowed him to pull that move.

Jaki kept talking. "Lu was right next to you. She always goes for the inside. So I tried to make some room for her before every corner. Which eventually worked. But then…"

"Then she overheated." said Ryan. Then he turned his attention back to blowing on his coffee. It was still way too hot for him to drink.

"Yeah, we'll come back to that. For now, it was just me, you and that magnificent bastard Milo. Let's skip to the fun part, where we let Milo win."

"We didn't let him win, he won fair and square."

"Yeah, but neither of us used our NOS. I don't know if he used it or not, but you could've won. You have the bigger engine."

"I opened the valves, but didn't feed the engine. I was waiting for you to use it. And when you didn't, I thought it was like an honor-amongst-racers type of deal. What about you?" replied Ryan. "Why didn't you use your NOS?"

"I just forgot about it. I was thinking about Lu, and when I saw that 180SX, I was completely distracted. I was driving out of pure instinct. I shouldn't have drifted there as well. Handed you the win. Which you failed to take, but whatever."

"Speaking of which… what are we going to do about him?"

"From here, we're gonna go visit someone I trust with my engine. He's got Lu's Evo. After we take a look at the car, learn what we can about our culprit, he's gonna fix it. You're also gonna leave your FC with him, as we continue our investigation." said Jaki, and swallowed the last bit of his ice cream cone. Ryan still hadn't touched his coffee.

"What?" Ryan was surprised. He didn't understand why Jaki was being nice to him.

"You heard me. You gotta tune her properly if you're gonna keep racing in Prime. I'm assuming you are, considering you're here with me on a Thursday afternoon." Jaki said and left a crumbled dollar bill on the table as he stood up, enough to cover both of their stuff. Ryan followed him to the car.

"Yeah, I intend to. I don't have a job, don't have a plan. I rented an apartment like a week ago, up in Divnyy. It's eating my savings like a hungry hungry hippo."

"Don't worry, Stan and his crew are the best. They're gonna take real good care of her. I went easy on you last time, but next time, you're gonna face the real Jaki."

"So you're saying, there will be a next time." They've reached their cars. They didn't get in, the conversation was too advanced to just let go.

"Hold your horses, cowboy. You're still an indie. Which means no sponsors, which means no legal races."

"What's an indie?"

"I thought you were born and raised in Rory. And you clearly know what you do behind the wheel. How come you don't know anything about racing culture around here? Didn't you listen to any of the broadcasts back in the day?"

"My father didn't let me go to races, or listen to them. He was a mechanic, I think he knew a bit too much, so he kept me away from all that."

"So how did you start racing?"

"You answer my question, I answer yours."

"Fair enough. Indie means independent racer, drivers racing outside of crews. We have a number of crews here in Tek. The one I'm in, Bushido. We're the topdogs. There is X-Gen, Beasts, 9th Symphony, and do you remember that guy you raced the day we met? That was one of the guys from The Phoenix. These are pretty much the only ones you should know. The others feel like they're just around to make races look crowded. Anyways, sponsors don't like the look of indies. They see them as liability. Let's continue our chat on the road. It's boiling hot today, I don't want to spend another minute out here."

They both got in their car. Jaki called Ryan. They hit the road. It was a 40 minute drive from where they are to Stan's shop, which was in Omerly, North West of Prime.

"Hello hello." said Ryan.

"Hi hello." Replied Jaki.

"Good it's working. It's my first time using the Bluetooth unit."

"Good to hear, where were we?"

"Me not getting a sponsor."

"Oh, yes." said Jaki, adjusting the phone against his shoulder. His Bluetooth unit was acting up again, so he had to revert to the old ways. "That was about it, honestly. Go, keep challenging crew members. Show yourself and get in. Like I said, it's impossible to get a sponsor if you're an indie. Unless you are Indy Moreno."

"Who's that?"

"Fastest person in Prime."

"I thought you were the best. And I heard Lu is almost as good as you."

"Oh, no. I am the best racer, no doubt about that. Indy is the fastest. Smokes whoever challenges her in drag races. None of us know how she does it, but she just seems to know how to go faster. Very marketable."

Ryan took a note of that. Drag queen of Prime.

"What if I want to race for Bushido?"

"Don't push it, Ryan."

"Alright, alright."

"Also, you live in Divnyy. That's Lu's turf. Go talk to her after we get to the bottom of this. I doubt that she's gonna take you in, Heartbreakers are the most crowded crew in Prime. But if you help me find the culprit, she might help you."

"Might?"

"Might. You met her, you know she's not the sweetest person in the world."

"Beats Scott at that, any day of the week."

"Hey, go easy on Scott. He wasn't like this. Used to be really quiet. The crew he leads, Hotheads, they're too much on him. The old leader is… not around anymore, Scott had to handle the ropes."

Ryan knew better than to push further on the subject. But he was going to remember that old friend.

"Speaking of Scott," said Jaki. Ryan knew what came next. "What were you doing in Rory? How did you start racing if you don't know how things work around here?"

Jaki felt genuine with eveything he said. He was hiding a lot of things, holding back information, which was fair, since he had just met Ryan and had no way of knowing if he should trust him or not. Ryan however had a different reason to hide the truth. He was there to gain Jaki's trust, and learn how to reach Julio. So he started lying. Partially. He was good at it, but he hated how easy it was to tell a story that could've been true.

"Like I said, I was born and raised in Rory. Never knew my mom, dad passed away when I was fourteen. The life here scared me, so I ran away to NYC. Worked at a scrapyard there, learned all about cars. I started driving, then I started racing."

"Why come back to Prime?"

"This city… Even if you leave, it doesn't leave you. My boss there, Carl, he reminded me so much of my old man. When the time felt right, I came back to face whatever I ran from. Rory still scares me and I knew they were gonna label me as an outsider there. So I thought I would live at another district for a while, then go back when I feel actually ready. Why Divnyy, you might ask. Can't do Cy, or Poten…"

"Obviously." said Jaki, interrupting Ryan.

"Tek was too tiring, Omerly would feel too sad and Strawberry would feel too happy. Divnyy just made sense."

"I'm assuming the RX-7 belonged to your father."

"My father had a '90 RX-7 FC3S as well. Lucky for me, I found this in an impound lot, beat down, barely running. Bought it off of their hands, and brought it to the closest mechanic I could find to make it run properly."

"Yeah, Divnyy mechanics all suck ass. Don't worry, your car is in good hands with Stan."

"I hope so."

Jaki hung up the phone after a minute of silence. He spent another ten, cursing at the bluetooth unit and trying to make it work. When he did, he called Ryan again.

"Hello, hello."

"Hi, hello," Jaki said with a smile.

"Alright Jaki, another question."

"Hit me."

"What's Milo's deal?"

"What do you mean?"

"Street races, crews and all… They just don't seem like his scene. Kinda feels like he would spook off some sponsors."

"He does every now and then, but it's alright. Hotheads are still a top crew. If it was me to decide, I wouldn't take him in my crew, but I understand why they keep him around. I'm sure you do too. At the end of the day, the kid knows how to drive, and he's good at it."

"What about CC? She told me she's some kind of organizer or something."

"Oh yeah. She handles the bets for legal races. Decides odds with her little friend group. And we have this annual race, Hellrun. She organizes that."

"What's that?"

"It's this tradition CC and that same little friend group started 9 years ago. Imagine this. 60 racers, 30 teams. A checkpoint at each of the districts. You don't know the checkpoints until you're at the starting line. The starting and finishing districts chang every year, and they are the first and final checkpoints you have to hit. Only one member is required to hit a checkpoint, unless it's the final one. When the second member hits the final checkpoint, your time is saved. They go for two, sometimes three hours. Whoever finishes the fastest, wins the whole thing. The teams start with two minute intervals, otherwise it would be too chaotic."

"How do they stop later starting teams planning ahead of the earlier starting ones?"

"They don't. Better your odds of winning are, the earlier you start. Trust me, planning an hour more than the veterans is not enough for the first timers. Ask me. I'm the reigning champion, and the only four time champion."

"Who was your teammates?"

"The first two years, I won with an old friend. Then I teamed up with Rhett, the guy who nailed you down the night we met in the next six years, and we lost all of them. In the seventh Hellrun, I teamed up with Scott, it wasn't even close. And last year, it was supposed to be Rhett again, but he called in sick. Lys was kind enough to fill in for him."

"I'm starting to think Rhett is the problem."

"Rhett is a phenomenal driver. He just doesn't like being told what to do."

"Yet you kept teaming up with him."

"What can you do, he's my right hand in Bushido."

"So you command him all the time."

"That's not how things work between us, we're free in Bushido, no one answers to anyone. We respect each other, and never forget why we do what we do. But sometimes, shit hits the fan. And when it does, Rhett and I take the blame."

Jaki paused. Just for a moment. Not long enough to be suspicious. He might've said too much with that last sentence.

"So you do answer to someone?"

And Ryan might've caught him.