Y.E.A.R.
Final Race Episode:"We raced like never before, and lost like always"
8 AM.
Kanna gets out of the car, and is swapped by Hou.
Kanna:“OK, Hou, drive it easy, no problem.”
Hou:“Will try to…”
Kanna:“Good luck !”
Hou:“I’ll need it !”
As expected, things got out of hand, really fast.
Hou:“I… I NEARLY MONEYSHIFTED !”
Ángel:“Keep it calm, Hou, keep it calm… You can do it…”
Ryoga:“You can do it, Sweetheart !”
…
Hou:“Did you just call me Sweetheart ?”
Ryoga:“Uhhhh… Yeah, I did…”
Ángel:“Oooooohh, Ryoga is flirty ! Hehe.”
Ryoga:“Ángel, please don’t get me embarrassed. Let’s just focus on trying to finish…”
María:“And on me not loosing my job…”
Catherine:“I’d hug you… But, you seem too nervous to do anything… And you stink…”
María:“As if your ass wouldn’t stink either. But… I’ll… be OK… ughhh…”
Not even half an hour later, Hou gets back into more trouble, after getting tapped by the Phoenix, but she somehow manages to save the situation…
Hou:“OK, guYYYYSSAAAAHH ! HO… HOLY SHIT ! HOW THE FUCK DID I SAVE THAT ???”
Ángel:“Don’t know how you did, but, good job !”
Ryoga:“Keep going !”
Kanna:“Keep Driving, Hou !”
Half an hour later, again into trouble… of which she wouldn’t come off so nicely… In fact, she’d come out so badly out of it, that it sealed their destiny…
Hou:“Where is 4th !?”
Ángel:“Why are you looking for— EYES ON THE ROAD !”
Hou:“Wha-- AAAHH !”
The heavy impact with the Flint made Hou and her team to loose contact for a minute or so. The Qua still moved, but very slowly… After they regained contact, the words that came out the radio sent chills thru everybody…
Hou:“… IT’S SPLIT ! IT’S SPLIT ! IT’S SPLIT !! AND THE STEERING IS ALL MESSED UP !!!”
Ángel immediately got off the radio. He was mad.
Ángel:“I CAN’T BELIEVE IT ! 22 HOURS ! AND IT GOES NOW ! NYET ! NYEEET ! BLYAAAAAAAAAAT !”
He started punching the wall of one of the garages with anger. He didn’t got far with that before, 1- Catherine got there to soothe him down, and 2- His hand started to hurt.
Ángel:“BLYAAAOOOoww…”
Catherine:“Calm down, Milksweet, I’m sure there’s still something we can do…!”
Ángel:“Didn’t you hear ! It’s split !”
Catherine:“…”
Catherine realized the severity of the words that came down the radio. The car was split. It still seemed like it was on one piece, but, the chassis wasn’t able to handle anything else. So they had to give up.
The large Canadian girl hugged our Russian guy to soothe him down, and hoped that María wasn’t about to descend to madness.
Speaking of María, she seemed like if she was just ran over by a truck. She was about to cry. Hopefully her bosses didn’t notice. Hopefully she could lie to them and keep herself alive.
The hopes got destroyed however, once she got a text message from… you guessed, her bosses. And the fact that she suddenly dropped her phone (the screen didn’t crack), and fell to the floor to cry, really explained it all.
Hou just then arrived to the pits. She also seemed quite sad, but for different reasons…
Hou:“I…I-I… I-I… a-a-am s-so sorry g-guys… I s-suck !”
Ryoga:“It’s OK, Hou, It’s OK, you tried to…”
Hou:“I’ll never drive again !”
Ryoga:“Hey, calm down… You are good, just that you need some more practice, but, I promise, it ain’t your fault…”
Hou:-sniffs-“I a-a-am th-the w-worst driveeeer…!”
Ryoga:“Calm down, Hou, everything will be fine…”
Kanna:“Hou, we’re so sorry, it’s not your fault…”
As Ryoga and Kanna proceeded to hug Hou, Ángel was having a different thought about whose fault it was… He had let out some steam and he was a bit more calm now, but, he couldn’t avoid to think…
Ángel:“It’s my fault.”
Catherine:“Why are you saying that ?”
Ángel:“Dragged all of you into this, with a car that most likely wasn’t gonna make it, and it didn’t…”
Catherine:“Dragging us ? But, you’re with your siblings, family, a friend, and ME !”
Ángel:“Yeah, but… I still feel guilty… I shouldn’t have dragged María into this.”
Catherine:“Hopefully she does recover… But don’t worry, Milksweet, it’s nobody’s fault.”
Speaking of María, she was on the ground, crying, and repeating the words “いや、そんなわけないよ…” (“No, it can’t be…”). Each time she tried to comfort herself, she always got reminded of how disastrous was the day. She had gotten one last glimpse of hope when she thought that maybe all of her suffering would stop as soon as the car crossed the finish when it turned to Noon… Now that the light on the end of the tunnel was nowhere to be seen, she thought…
“Penthouse, gone. Fancy car, gone. Everything I’ve built up for 5 years, demolished in just an instant.”
As the rest of her team got comforted, they tried to do the same to her as the clock ticked to Noon, in hopes to at least make her not so sad by the end of the race.
Current Status of… the car.
There’s no point. It’s DNFd. It technically still runs, but it’s no use and it can’t be fixed on site.
Current Status of… The team.
Ryoga: A bit disappointed, and not very happy anymore. He’s staying by Hou’s side to try and comfort her. While he is still in love with her, he doesn’t think this is the best moment to declare to her (little does he know, Hou never had a boyfriend, she was always too shy)…
Catherine: A bit nervous, and actually quite frustrated. She understands the feelings of her boyfriend. Hopefully she can keep him put.
María: Well… She’s destroyed and in tears. Now that she’s lost her job, and all of her other stuff will be lost too in a matter of hours, she’s fully depressed. Even when she knows that she can backup at Kitakyushu. The fact that the sequels of the lactose intolerance issues keep there, and that she had to pass thru so much on the last 22 hours really have sinked her motivation.
Ángel: Feeling Guilty, and actually very frustrated and angry mainly at himself. He continues to regret his decisions. Hopefully Catherine keeps him from snapping because otherwise, who knows what he’ll do…
Kanna: Actually quite sad and tired as hell. She didn’t want this to end this way. But she still keeps the spirits up, and she hopes to make her teammates to not leave Sweden with a sour taste.
Hou: She thinks it’s her fault. No wonder why she feels miserable. But Ryoga is staying by her side. She is slowly starting to get comforted, and her main worry now is turning to be María.
Well. For Y.E.A.R. things didn’t end so well. But, if you want to, you can still interact with them, so their story hopefully ends in a better mood.
While I had plans for maybe making a drawing for the end, I think I better leave that for the very end (aka, the post race episode).
Mentioning: @Tailgate_sniffer @oldmanbuick