Zero To A Hundred With You

Chapter 26: The Test

Alice finally dyed Sugimoto's strand of hair after a few hours. Sugimoto brightened up as he saw his new hairstyle. Alice felt a bit proud seeing him happy with the result.

"This actually suits me a bit. It's actually good." Sugimoto told her.

"See? Didn't I tell you I was a pro?" Alice said as she smirked.

As Sugimoto was admiring his hair, Ghazali went inside the break room and told them some news.

"Alright drivers, we've finished most of the things on your cars. They're ready to drive."

Ghazali noticed Sugimoto's dyed hair and was visibly confused.

"What's up with Sugi?" Ghazali asked Alice.

"He said he wanted to dye his hair to match the livery. So I decided to help him out." Alice explained.

"Ah, so that's the surprise you were on about." Ghazali told.

"So, were you surprised Gaz?" Alice asked Ghazali.

"Well, it's surprising to see Sugimoto like this, it's kinda cute." Ghazali said to her.

Sugimoto was surprised when he heard Ghazali call him cute and began feeling a bit flustered.

"Hey, it's not cute. It's supposed to be cool." Sugimoto told him as he got defensive.

Alice noticing Sugimoto's flustered face began teasing him.

"Come on Senpai, it's pretty cute." Alice said teasingly.

"I'm beginning to regret doing this." Sugimoto told her sarcastically.

After a few laughs, they all went to the pits and met with the manager. The crew prepared the cars and drove them to the front of the pitstop garage.

"The cars should be ready, go warm them up and begin the test session." The manager told them.

"You got it Chief." Sugimoto told him.

"Will do!" Alice said with a cheerful expression.

The drivers got in their cars and drove onto the track. Alice with her BMW M6 GT3 and Sugimoto with his 911 GT3 RS began doing warm-up laps around the track. As they crossed the finish line, Alice began picking up the pace. Sugimoto noticed her speeding up in front and began chasing her.

"So she wants a fight huh? Let's see if you can lose me." Sugimoto muttered.

"Time to leave him in the dust." Alice muttered to herself and smirked.

They enter the hairpins of sector 2 and Sugimoto suddenly starts aggressively tailgating her. Alice looked into the side mirror and noticed his Porsche trying to squeeze on her inside as they fought on the hairpins. Alice defends against his attack brilliantly and exits the hairpins and unto the straights of sector 3. Sugimoto got into Alice's slipstream and they began to approach the chicane.

"Crap. he's going to overtake me here. I'll let him pass and overtake him back on the second straight." Alice muttered to herself.

Sugimoto exits Alice's slipstream and gets beside her as they approach the chicane. They both slow down and enter the chicane. As planned, Alice lets Sugimoto pass her on the chicane. As they get on the second straight, Sugimoto feels something wrong with his car. He felt his car was oversteering more than what he was accustomed to.

"Damn, the Porsche is a lot oversteery now. What did they change?" Sugimoto muttered.

The race continues as they approach the right-hand corner of sector 4. Alice wants to lunge on Sugimoto's inside but doesn't have enough speed to get alongside him. They turn into the corner and that's where things change. Sugimoto suddenly felt the rear coming out. He began correcting the car and successfully saved it from spinning out. Alice sensing the opportunity overtook Sugimoto.