Tales From The Kronos

The race continued without a break. Their opponent managed to catch up after a while, the end was near, and the crowd could be heard from far away. Snow and Eida were in front, but they knew Kairo could still have something up his sleeve. Snow was focused on everything on the road, trying to find how Kairo would try to win the race. It was only when Eida talked to him that he stopped thinking to listen.

"Snow, I think there's a problem."

"What is it?" Asked Snow, still paying attention around.

Eida looked at the dashboard of her car and started to talk in a less-than-confident voice. "Ririka is overheating, it's not normal!"

It took Snow a moment before remembering that Ririka was the name of the car. He didn't know a lot about cars, but overheating doesn't sound like a good thing to happen.

"So the car will explode?"

"Thank God no." Eida's words were relieving Snow, at least they wouldn't die. The man was glad it wasn't like in his friend's video games "It's just the engine could die at any moment, and we're not finishing a race without an engine."

Not knowing whether they could make it was a bit frightening, but they had no choice but to continue.

Despite not being a racer herself, Eida used her car with an expert talent. She took tight turns and dealt with the terrain as she raced here every day.

"Are you sure you don't race often? I feel like you did it a lot."

Eida chuckled a bit at Snow's question "Of course not silly, I just know Ririka from roof to tires. I already knew how to drive her, but I never really raced before. I can't even remember the last time I drove for something else than testing a car."

Snow was slightly concerned about those words. They're going at an extreme speed, and the driver didn't drive for a while. Snow remembered he did win a race without even driving once, and Eida was doing good so far, so it wasn't something he needed to worry about.

The finish line was right there, only a few hundred meters before they would finish and win once and for all. But right before the end, a loud, mechanical sound emanated from the car as it slowly lost speed before stopping at a few meters from the end. Eida quickly got out of the car and started to look at the engine with concern on her face.

"The engine's coolant! Someone made a hole in the reservoir!"

"Can we fix it?" Asked Snow, but the saddened face of Eida already gave him the answer he needed.

"It would take too much time for the engine to cool anyway, our opponent wasn't too far behind, he'll get here before we can." The woman with long hair started to get tears in her eyes, but she tried her best to keep them from falling "I wanted to win this for Neige..."

Snow looked behind and couldn't see Kairo's car, meaning they still had a chance to win. He wasn't to give up just yet, not only for this world but also for Eida's sake.

Snow got behind the car and did its best to push it as hard as he could.

"Snow..." Eida saw him trying to push the car with all his strength, but the car barely moved. She was tempted to just give up, but for some reason, seeing Snow making so much effort gave her energy. An energy that she didn't understand, but that kept her going. She went next to Snow and pushed the car toward the finish line, which had difficulties trying his best.

"It's so heavy... What is your car made of?"

"Shut up and push Snow!"

They used all the strength they had, but the car moved at a snail's pace. The sounds of a car could be heard, getting closer. They knew they didn't have much time left, but it didn't stop them from trying.

Suddenly, coming from the crowd, Silva came to help them push the car as fast as she could, surprising the two friends.

"I hope I didn't arrive too late!"

"And I hope it's not against the rules." Said Snow. He wasn't sure if it was allowed, but he was ready to accept any help he could get.

The sound of the car was getting closer, but they were also getting closer to the finish line. The commentator and the crowd were all cheering, no one expected the race to end like that, but they weren't complaining.

The three of them pushed as hard as they could, and suddenly it felt lighter, not much lighter, but still lighter.

"Sepide?!" Snow was surprised to see her friend here, but it wasn't the moment to think, and all together, they pushed the vehicle as far as they could.

"Maybe it's true." Whispered Sepide "Friends are useful."

"Of course they are! I'm not pushing a car alone!"

"No." Sepide Answered to Snow "When it was hard and I was uncertain, I thought of you two. You helped me push my car, and now it's my turn to push yours."

"But I didn't-" Snow couldn't even finish his sentence when Eida interrupted him.

"You see, friendship really is like a car." Eida and Sepide both smiled, leaving Snow confused.

The other car was almost here, they could hear the sound getting closer. They put all of they had, and just before Kairo could go through to the end, they managed to get the car after the finish line.

"We have a winner!" Yelled the commentator. "Eida won the race and is crowned great champion!"

Everything was so loud, the public, the music, the cars around, but all they could feel was relief, the relief that everything was finally over. They were all satisfied, all but Snow.

He tried looking around to find Kairo, but he was nowhere to be found.

"Snow!" Yelled Eida, trying to get his attention "We have to get our trophy! You worked for it too, so come on!"

She took him by the arm, forcing him to follow her. They were surrounded by cameras and flashes. Eida took her trophy and held it in the air for everyone to see.

The commentator gave her a mike for her to give a speech. She stayed silent for a moment, stressed by everyone's gaze. But in the end, she overcame her anxiety and started talking the best she could.

"To be honest, I wasn't expecting to win. I didn't have a lot of experience, there's so much that could have gone wrong... And yet, I did it. The only reason I wanted to do it was for my friend, Neige. I didn't want to let him down... He did a lot for me, and I wanted to do it to show him how precious he is to me. But it wasn't the only reason I won, I had incredible friends who wanted my good. So I wanted to thank you from the bottom of my heart, Sepide, Silva, and especially Snow."

She turned around to look at him, but he disappeared like he was never there. She searched, but the three friends were nowhere to be found, as if they vanished from this world.

"So let's make sure everything is over. We managed to make Eida win the race."

"Mmh-mmh" Agreed Silva.

"And Sepide, you have the game?"

"Yes, I do."

"Then we can go? I'll admit, I'll miss this place. Those constant nights and rains made it relaxing, and the race was pretty exciting."

"I won't." Said Sepide, trying to not show any emotion "But... There were nice people here."

The three of them were about to go back to the ship but were suddenly stopped by a voice. It was Eida, trying her best to run after them.

"Hey, where are you going? You disappeared out of nowhere!"

The three friends looked at each other, they knew that they couldn't stay, but they didn't know how to say it. Snow was the first one to break the silence.

"Well, our duty here is done now. We need to go."

"But why?" Eida's voice wavered a bit, and tears started to come out of her eyes "Why do you have to leave? It's not like you need to go, I'll find you a better place to sleep, I promise."

Snow looked around, making sure that no one was around, and started to talk in a lower voice.

"Do you want to know our secret?" Eida nodded her head shyly as an answer to Snow's question "We're angels making sure that Justice is served. But don't tell anyone, it could cause problems."

"You think I'll believe that?"

"Well whether you believe it or not doesn't matter, it's just the truth."

Eida looked at the ground, she seemed lost in her thoughts. After a moment has passed, she got her head back up and took a kind of screw out of her pocket, handing it to Snow.

"I'll keep your secret... It's a screw from Ririka, I hope it will bring you luck. It's... My way to stay with you."

"Thanks." Said Sepide. "I'm sure it will bring us luck."

Eida nodded her head, and just like she came, she left. The three friends were sad to leave like that, but they knew it was for the best.

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"You know, this Eida. She's Ada from another dimension, and Ada is the anomaly." Snow asked, a bit worried.

"Yeah, it's true, and?" Asked Silva.

"Isn't it weird? Like, she seems all nice and innocent, but one bad thing and Ada became a life-threatening entity. Maybe the same could have happened to me if I was alone."

"Come on!" Said Silva while caressing his hair. She knew that it always annoyed him to be treated like that. "It didn't happen, right? Don't think about it, and we have to give our report anyway, let's go."