Chapter 0: Zero

The young girl awakened from her slumber as the sun shines upon a distant mountain.

The birds chirped, and the people were commuting to work.

Our main protagonist rubbed her eyes and looked towards the window. There, she saw the magnificent mountain standing proudly.

She looked back in her room and saw the clock, her eyes widened as she saw the time.

"DAMN IT! IM LATE!"

She immediately jumped out of bed and rushed to take a quick shower.

After showering, she ran back to her room and wore her tracksuit whilst simultaneously drying her hair.

Right after checking everything was perfect, she grabbed her duffle bag and ran down the stairs as fast as she could.

Downstairs, her grandpa was preparing a strawberry jam sandwich in the kitchen, humming to the tune of the radio. Hearing her footsteps, he called out to her.

"Alice dear, don't forget your packed sandwic—"

Alice went out and slammed the door behind her. Her grandpa froze for a bit as he held the sandwich in hand.

But she quickly came back in and grabbed the packed sandwich, giving a small peck on her grandfather's forehead.

"Thanks, gramps. I'll be going!"

Alice ran out of the house as fast as she could to catch the bus. As she ran to the bus stop, she noticed the bus she was supposed to be on had already left.

She panicked slightly but soon composed herself. She checked the bus schedule and noticed that the next bus would not arrive until 30 minutes later.

"Jeez, I'm going to be late on my first day! What should I do now?”

Alice thought for a while, before an idea popped into her head.

“Wait... There's another bus stop a few streets from here, maybe I could catch it if I run there!"

Alice abandoned the idea of waiting for the next bus and decided to run to another bus stop a few streets away. As she ran on the sidewalk, she noticed an alleyway and decided to take a detour.

"If I could catch this bus, I would arrive 10 minutes early. I guess that's better than being 30 minutes late!"

As she ran through the alleyway, a group of men stood in her way. One of the men notices her and decides to confront her with a mischievous grin on his face.

"Hey there little girl, care to join us?"

Alice kept running and jumped onto a wooden box, using the momentum, she swiftly ran on the sides of the walls and passed group. Their jaws dropped and were left distraught by her anime-like move.

In the distance, the bus about to depart and she began sprinting towards it whilst shouting.

"W-Wait! Hold up!"

As the bus was leaving, Alice jumped in front of the bus in an attempt to stop it.

Alice closed her eyes, awaiting for impact, but there, she noticed the bus has stopped. She breathes a sigh of relief and shakingly got on the bus. As expected, the bus driver began yelling at her.

"Oi kid! That was dangerous you know that!?"

"I-Im not a kid... And also sorry..." She said while panting slightly.

The bus driver was clearly not happy with her action but decides to let it go. "Just be careful next time alright?"

Alice nods and pays the bus fee. The bus soon went from station to station until it stopped at her desired place.

Alice walked towards the bus driver and bowed slightly at them. "Thanks, bus driver, sorry for earlier!"

The bus driver sighed. "Whatever, just be on time next time and don’t do something reckless like that again."

Alice nodded before walking off the bus and headed towards the gate. She stood in front of the main entrance of one of the most prestigious circuit in Southeast Asia, The National Circuit of Akinabalu.

Alice took a deep breath and went in. Once she was inside the building, she pulled out her phone to check the time.

"Huh, it seems like I've arrived 15 minutes earlier." She uttered.

She breathed a sigh of relief seeing the time and felt relieved that she wouldn't before scolded for being late.

The main building seemed to have recently renovated as everything looked quite new.

Alice walked around for a bit, admiring the building, then she noticed that there's a few places she could explore.

"Maybe a little detour wouldn't hurt."

She explored the main building and saw many things such as old racing cars, helmets and also racing suits. Being a racing geek, she was instantly drawn to all of them.

During her adventure, she stumbled upon the Hall of Fame where racing legends who raced at the Akinabalu circuit are honoured by having their frame hung on the wall. The hall was filled with racing legends who she admired.

She looked at each one of them until she saw a particular portrait and went up to it.

"Hey Dad… I finally made it." She uttered as she admired her dad's portrait.

While she is reading the description of her father, a tall and bulky man dressed in racing attire approaches her. The man eerily stood behind her, which made her uncomfortable. Alice turned around and confronts him.

"C-Can I help you?"

The man looked down at her and smiled lightly "Hey little girl, what are you doing here? Are you lost?"

The man suddenly began ruffling her hair, which caught her off guard. Alice became embarrassed by the sudden gesture and pushed his hand off her head.

"W-What the hell are you doing!?” She almost yelled.

"Where are your parents, kid?" The man said.

Alice began feeling irritated by him treating her like a lost child and snaps at him.

"L-Little girl!? I'm not a child!"

As she was confronting the man, a sudden announcement from the intercom interrupted their interaction.

"Ah, seems like that’s my que. Alright kid, hope you find your parents."

The man ruffled her hair one last time before leaving. Alice glared at him, still angered by this rude interaction.

"I'm going to make you pay for this, I will out-compete you with every fiber of my body!" She angrily uttered to herself.

While Alice was standing there, she felt someone tapping her shoulder and lashed out at that person.

"WHAT?" She snapped.

Alice turned around to see an older man with gray hair, a gray mustache, and wearing a pair of glasses. He seemed to be in his late 50s or early 60s.

"Uhm... Y-You must be Alice, Alice Shah?" The man asked her in a frightened tone.

Alice looked at the man with a dumbfounded look. " Yes, I'm Alice Shah. Erm... Who are you exactly?"

"Ah, good to hear that. Coughs I'm Kei Teoh. The owner and manager of the Akinabalu Motorsports team." The man told her.

Alice immediately froze and became embarrassed by the fact that she just yelled at her own manager. She started bowing whilst apologising profusely for her sudden outburst.

"I-I'm so sorry manager! I-I didn’t mean to burst at you! It won't happen again!"

The manager, while still shaken by her outburst, gestured for her to stop, "Ah don't worry about that, we're happy to have you on our team Alice." The manager said to her.

The manager seemed forgiving and accepted the apology. He extends his hand towards her for a handshake. Alice saw this and shook hands with the manager, feeling a bit relieved.

"Same here manager!"

They both smiled at each other after their brief introduction. "Alright, how about I show you around this place." The manager told Alice.

Alice nodded. "Sure!"

The manager showed her around the Akinabalu Circuit main building where the headquarters of the racing association was located. Then he showed her the facilities and the garages where they work on their cars. While she walked around the garage, she saw the team's crew members who were standing by, once they saw her, they went over and started to greet her.

"You must be Alice, glad to have such a young person driving for our team!"

"Glad to have you in for this season."

"We're looking forward to working with you, Miss Alice." They told her.

Alice bowed at them and replied. "It's an honor! I'm looking forward to working with you guys too!"

The Crew, also known as the Pit Crew on race days, are a mix of experts and rookie engineers, mechanics and analysts who worked for the Akinabalu Motorsport racing team. They usually worked on the team's racing cars, making sure it’s in the best condition. The crew becomes the pit crew on race days and assists the drivers during the session.

Alice had a lovely time chatting with them. They asked about her and made her feel at home. While chatting, the manager calls Alice over and asks a few more questions about her.

As they were talking, the man from before suddenly approached them.

"Hey chief, is this your daughter right here?" The man asked curiously.

The manager seems confused by his sudden assumption, but suddenly Alice bursts at him.

"I AM NOT A KID, I AM A RACER JUST LIKE YOU!" Alice snaps.

The man looks down at her and raised an eyebrow, skeptical.

"A racer? You?"

While crossing her arms "Well duh, what does it look like?"

Seeing an opportunity to tease her, he hits back.

"Take your child to work day?"

Alice was immediately offended and instantly yelled.

"I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!"

Alice rolled up her sleeves and was ready to give him a piece of her mind. The manager noticed the tension between them and tried to de-escalate the situation.

"Sugimoto, please be respectful towards your teammate."

The man, who is revealed to be Sugimoto, was in disbelief upon hearing that she was in fact, his teammate.

"T-Teammates? Her?"

Alice was also in disbelief hearing that he was her racing partner.

"What!? He's my teammate!?"

They both stood there in disbelief, they couldn't believe that they must work together on the same team. The atmosphere became even more intense as both drivers seemed uncooperative with each other.

"There is no way I'm going to partner up with him! He looks incompetent! Can he even fit in a car?" Alice mockingly said.

Sugimoto glared at her and scoffed.

"Says the little girl! How do you even reach the pedals, huh?"

"Say that again, punk!"

Sugimoto smirked, doubling down on his comment.

"Little... Girl..."

Alice raises her fist to his face while Sugimoto faces her straight on. It seems like a fight was about to break out, but the manager had enough with their behaviour.

"Enough! Sugimoto, starting from now on, you will be a guide for Alice since you've been here the longest. Alice, starting from now on, Sugimoto will be your guide, and he will help you throughout your racing career here. I want both of you to maintain a Senpai and Kouhai relationship from now on, got it?"

"B-But." they both uttered to the manager.

"Got it?" The manager repeated with a stern look.

They reluctantly nod, forced to agree with the manager.

The manager looked at both of them, seemingly pleased that they've come to an agreement.

"Good, now that’s over, I'm off to my office now, ciao!"

The manager walks away and leaves them be. There, Sugimoto chuckled slightly feeling a bit childish for their antics.

"Huh, well this was the first time I saw him that mad, I guess we really ruffled his feathers."

Alice wasn't having any of it and looked towards him with a stern look.

"Don't try to get all buddy up with me, Senpai. I’m not here to make friends."

"Hey now, we're partners, right? Let's forget about this entire ordeal?"

"I'm here to race, and I don't want to be hold back by some old incompetent idiot."

"Woah kid, I'm not some old incompetent idiot, but if we were to race, this old dawg would show you who's the fastest on the track." He said in a confident tone.

"We'll see about that, Senpai." She said to him.