⛭ Chapter 23 ⛭

The answer Chelbie gave posed an interesting discussion between the group as President Daylight also became curious about the mysterious details she was hiding in what she said.

“So you say that a certain someone made you want to race… Elaborate what you mean by that,” he said while gripping his hands firmly together.

“Ever since I can remember it, losing my legs to Lucila left me feeling empty for so long. But I’m not gonna cower that easily. If I can beat her in a race, she’ll have to live with that regret forever.”

It was this statement that opened the floodgates for President Daylight to see what he was dealing with and it grappled his interest even further.

“Lucila, as in Lucila Vanderhilt? Ah yes, she is quite a legend amongst us. Winning multiple titles and trophies. To hear that she would do that to you is rather, expected. I know you have your reasons for holding a grudge against someone who is earnestly skilled. That said, I may be enlightened to accept your request on one condition…”

Hearing the way President Daylight downplayed the serious nature of her situation, made it feel as if she had just been invalidated as a person having real problems. He didn’t even really care about how anyone felt, so why was he so enthusiastic about accepting the request on one condition?

This was starting to irritate her, no matter how hard she tried to see past it.

“No, I’m not just gonna walk it back like that anymore. My friends and I deserve one shot at this. Let me ask you this. If someone nearly killed you for doing something you liked that literally didn’t even bother anyone, wouldn’t you want people in your corner to stop the injustice of their actions? I mean seriously, even when I think back to the explosions and trippin’ people into death falls, none of that should have actually been happenin’ at all.”

As she was about to make another point, President Daylight stood up almost with this calm yet unnervingly forced grin that complicated the entire issue just from the way he took in the information.

“You get what you signed up for Chelbie. There is no backing out of a contract you agreed to in small fine print. If you take issue with that, then you can always leave. But… If you are willing to listen to what I’m about to say, I’ll make a spot for you one last time. Deal?”

Exhaling out of anger, Chelbie inhaled to calm herself down because even if she wanted to stop it from happening, there was no chance that it would’ve done anything.

She could only hope for some sort of miracle in order to win this race at that point.

“Fine, fine… What do I have to do to get back in?” she questioned begrudgingly.

“It’s simple really. I want to know the truth. What was that orange glow surrounding you when you were fighting?”

The question being asked made both Hisa and Trax worried as Chelbie revealed that it came from two special gloves which she placed in front of him on the desk.

She even went as far as to explain how they worked when he requested it.

“Give me the gloves, and I’ll put you back in the race. Fail to comply? Well, you leave, first thing tomorrow morning. Which will you choose?” he asked while tapping his fingers on the desk ever so briefly.

Although most of the group preferred the latter because of how corrupt this trade was set up to be, Chelbie gave in without saying a word as she pushed the gloves toward him.

“Alright then. You race again first thing tomorrow. You may leave now,” commanded President Daylight as he grabbed the gloves and held it in his hand.

When the team arrived back down at the mechanic station and headed outside toward a traffic light that said stop, Chelbie bent down to catch her breath after walking such a far distance.

Meanwhile, rain started to fall once again from the grey skies that were already present for a majority of the evening today.

She knew what her teammates were thinking at a time like this, but deep down, she knew she had made the right choice.

And it wasn’t because she fully got back into the race either.