06.ghosts from the past… pt.03

The Tokyo Police Dept waged war on the highways… and for long, many were caught off-guard and stripped of their domains.

But time passed…

Within time, less and less police cars could bee seen on the highways. It was notorious, and expected, that the Tokyo Police Dept couldn’t hold such operations for such long time, and, with them slowing down their activities, soon life started to come back to its original pace.

At the usual gathering spots, night after night, people would be able to see the return of wangan regulars, as well the appearance of new faces. Tuned cars from several degrees of performance and looks could be seen after each night. Soon, small race teams reappeared, with renovated ranks to replenish lost members.

Everything seemed going fine. People were back in the action, slowly but steady, things even seemed safer, with racers being more cautious about when and where they would set their races. The whole matter of not rising up the police awareness over them was being taken very seriously. And for some, it was paying off. Setting races on the very late hours of the day was making them able to set some nice time records on several sections of the highway.

But still, even with all this action, going on, for all that was worth, something was still missing…

Within months of the “aperture” of the highways, people started noticing the lack of certain race teams, teams that news told that they escaped from the gripes of police and went into hiding to protect themselves, but somehow decided to not come back after the dust settled down. Normally this wouldn’t be much of a problem if the involved ones were one of the several minor teams that exist around. But the ones missing were the four legendary ones.

None could explain why they didn’t show up after such long time. Rumors grew around, with stories ranging from main members turning into professional racing to leaders declaring disbandment. On Shinkanjyo, the Bayside Blue* were claimed to be retired after most of its members were stripped of their cars in a massive police raid. On Yokohama, the members of Office prestige were seemingly active, but none seemed interested in partaking racing again, as they seemed pleased with organizing car meets and tracks days, not really a surprise considering their vip sedans. Over C1, the powerful Kanjyo Ocelots were happy within racing on their own academy course back at their school HQ.

This left a whole room of space for newcomers to set their marks and gain their ground, bringing up to notoriety teams like the Shinbuya Nitro-Boys, RB Squad, Sorciere Elite Magicians, Crimson Rotary and Midnight Orochi.

But on wangan, things were different…

Wangan was Feroci, always. Around the highways, that was considered an immutable truth. When the police struck down with force, they were the only ones who did not run, did not hide. With the help of friends on several important positions and people experienced with such situations among their ranks, they managed to pass through the storm unscratched. And once everything was back to normal, they came in with force…

New cars, new members, new records. It seemed that the face off against 「Tokyo’s Fastest」 only fueled them with more power. On the first week of their return, all the lesser challengers were wiped out in a streak that felt like someone angered God itself. On the second week, they were back at the top, undefeated in every way. Still, many couldn’t help but notice, that some veteran members were amiss…

Specially that one, involved on that accident…

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