The sun began rising in the east and casting its light upon a city, in the horizon, a mountain can be seen as the sunrise's rays reflect off it. The birds were singing, and the people began commuting to work. There, a young girl rubbed her eyes and looked towards the window where she saw the magnificent mountain standing proudly. As she was still groggy from her nap, she looked back in her room and saw the clock, her eyes widened as she saw the time and let out a scream.

  "Damnit I'm late!"

  She immediately jumped out of bed and rushed to the bathroom for a quick shower. After she was done showering, she ran to her room to dry her hair and put on her tracksuit. Right after that, she grabbed her duffle bag and ran down the stairs. There, her grandpa was preparing a strawberry jam sandwich in the kitchen, and he called out to her.

  "Alice dear, don't forget your packed sandwich."

  Alice went out and slammed the door but quickly came back in. She grabbed the sandwich her grandpa had made for her and kissed his forehead while in a hurry.

  "Thanks, gramps. I'll be going!"

  Alice ran out of the house as quickly 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. Alice panicked slightly but soon calmed down. There she checked the bus schedule and knew 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? 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 was running on the sidewalk, she noticed an alleyway and decided to take a detour through the alley.

  "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 slid and swiftly ran past them. The group was astonished by her agility and didn't pursue her. As she was running, she saw the bus about to depart and began sprinting towards it while shouting.

  "W-Wait! Hold up!"

  As the bus was about to leave, Alice jumped in front of the bus to try and stop it. The bus driver notices her and stomps on the brakes and stops it completely. Alice looks up and 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 adult bus fee as she wants to be seen as an adult and not some little girl. The bus soon went from station to station until it stopped at her desired place.

  Alice began walking 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."

  Alice nodded before walking off the bus and headed towards the gate. There, she stood in front of the main entrance of the biggest track in Southeast Asia, The National Circuit of Akinabalu. Alice took a deep breath and went inside. Once she was inside the building, she pulled out her phone to check the time.

  "Huh, it seems like I've arrived 20 minutes earlier."

  She uttered 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 been 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. As she walked through the building, she stumbled upon the Hall of Fame where racing legends who raced at the Akinabalu circuit are honored 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.

  Stolen novel; please report.

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

  While she is reading the description of her father that was displayed below the portrait, a tall and bulky man dressed in racing attire approaches her. The man eerily behind her, there she decides to confront him.

  "C-Can I help you?"

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

  The man suddenly began petting her head and it caught her off guard. Alice became embarrassed by the sudden gesture and pushed his hand off her head.

  "What are you doing!" She almost yelled.

  "Where are your parents, little girl?" The man said while looking oblivious to the situation.

  Alice began feeling a bit angrier as he kept treating her like a lost child.

  "L-Little girl!? I'm not a child!" She informed him with an angry tone.

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

  "Ah, seems like my queue. Alright kid, hope you find your parents."

  The man pets her head again and walks away. Alice stares at him as he walks away, 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 said to her.

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

  "I-I'm so sorry manager! It won't happen again!"

  The manager, while still shaken by her outburt 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, is a mix of experts and rookies who worked for the Akinabalu Motorsport racing team. They usually worked on the team's racing cars but also on other things. The crew became the pit crew on race days and assisted the drivers.

  Alice had a lovely time chatting with them. 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 feels a bit confused by her comment.

  "A racer, you?"

  "Well duh, what does it look like?"

  "Take your child to work day?"

  "I'm going to kill you!" She yelled.

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

  "Sugimoto, please be respectful towards your racing partner."

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

  "R-Racing partner? Her?"

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

  "What!? He's my racing partner!?"

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

  "There is no way I'm going to partner up with him! He looks incompetent!" Alice mockingly said.

  Sugimoto looked 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 their heads, forced to agree with the manager. The manager looked at both of them, seemingly pleased that they've come to an agreement.

  "Good, I'm off to my office, ciao!"

  The manager walks away and leaves them both together in the room. 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."

  Arisu wasn't having any of his jokes and looked towards him with a stern look.

  "Don't try to get all buddy up with me, Senpai."

  "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 stopped 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.