Chapter 7

F1 is practically a sport for the British.

Just being British gives you a head start.

That’s something many F1 fans say.

And, of course, it’s not entirely wrong.

With the exception of Italy, every manufacturing facility is located in Britain, so most of the mechanics and engineers are British as well.

That’s why it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that all the British teams that have survived in F1 to this day are prestigious teams with long histories.

But even among them, there was no team with a history quite as long as Landbury.

Landbury was a company founded by the Blanchard family, who had been granted noble titles by the Queen.

As for the company’s origins, its history stretched back so far that it dated all the way to the period of industrial modernization.

Apparently, the company had been named Landbury rather than Blanchard because the village where its first factory was built was called Landbury.

However, even Landbury, which could practically be called Britain’s pride for having opened the doors to the automotive industry, hadn’t always been at the top.

Since the twentieth century, Landbury had been pushed aside by Germany’s Reinhold and Italy’s Beretta, earning a reputation as the perennial third-place team that couldn’t compete for the lead.

Supercars were ultimately a battle of image.

No matter how good the performance was, once a third-place image had been established, it wasn’t easy to erase it.

That’s why F1 was so important to Landbury. There was no better stage for establishing the image that Landbury cars were the best in the world.

Although it still hadn’t completely restored its former prestige, Landbury dominated Reinhold and Beretta in F1.

Even emerging powerhouse teams that were rapidly climbing the ranks, like Bluewater, couldn’t surpass Landbury’s status.

Landbury had produced countless World Champions and boasted an overwhelming number of victories.

The Landbury Academy system played a major role in that.

Landbury’s investment in its F1 academy was practically unprecedented.

The academy operated by searching for promising children all over the world, bringing them in from a young age, and raising them.

Of course, other F1 teams had rookie development systems too.

But those systems were, quite literally, about sponsoring children who showed promise. They didn’t take children in and raise them from their karting days.

This was a system unique to Landbury among all the F1 teams.

…Or so Kitty explained.

“I told you, this is something only Landbury does! So? Doesn’t the Landbury Academy seem amazing? Don’t you feel drawn to it? Aren’t you excited!?”

After rambling on for almost as long as a history lesson, Kitty finally shut his mouth.

Then he looked down at me with sparkling eyes, unable to hide his anticipation.

The people around us, meanwhile, were looking at him as if to say, What’s wrong with that guy? Did he eat something weird?

“Ah, yes.”

But I wasn’t paying any attention to the looks of the people around us, much less Kitty himself.

All my attention was focused on the facilities around me.

“And that’s not all! Landbury has…”

Despite my lukewarm response, Kitty didn’t give up at all and launched into yet another lengthy speech about how amazing Landbury was.

Of course, I let it go in one ear and out the other.

Oh. A race simulator.

Apparently intending to show off the facilities, Kitty had brought me to a room equipped with an actual race simulator.

A racing circuit was displayed across simulation screens covering an entire wall, while engineers sat in front of the latest computers, adjusting the simulation parameters.

I whistled inwardly.

State-of-the-art equipment and the best talent in every field…

You could say it was nothing more than a sport where people drove cars around, but whether it was people, equipment, or technology, you couldn’t be here unless you were among the best.

……

Suddenly, I narrowed my eyes.

It was dazzling.

The truth was, despite being Landbury chairman’s stepson, I’d never visited this academy before.

The reason was fairness.

Before my regression, I hadn’t been talented enough to immediately catch Kitty’s eye and get invited to the academy like I had now, but I did have some talent.

Without it, I wouldn’t have been able to reach F1 in the first place.

And Arthur had acknowledged my talent too.

He’d told me that if I wanted to, I could attend the academy, and he’d even offered to write me a recommendation letter.

But even after accepting that recommendation letter, I had no choice but to tear it up.

At the time, people were constantly looking for opportunities to link me to the Blanchard family and spread rumors behind my back.

They acted as if the fact that I showed some talent among kids my age was entirely because Arthur was playing favorites.

As if my stepfather’s existence had suddenly bestowed a blessing of talent upon his Asian stepson.

But that wasn’t the only reason I’d rejected the Landbury Academy.

At the time, I had something to prove.

A stubborn determination not to go anywhere Percival was.

Looking back on it now, it’s honestly a little embarrassing…

Of course, Percival was one of the best drivers the Landbury Academy had ever produced.

I had talent too, but that bastard’s talent was on an entirely different level.

They say that an ordinary gifted person can appreciate a genius’s brilliance more keenly than anyone else, and I could see it all the more clearly because I was in that position.

That’s why I didn’t want to go where he was.

I didn’t want to be compared to him by his side.

Even though I knew this was the world’s best driver-training facility.

When I’d already set my sights on F1, there was no way I could avoid being compared to him anyway.

I was young. Too young.

As we moved on to the next location, I rubbed the corner of my eye for no particular reason.

Unlike me, Percival hadn’t turned down the best training facility even while people called him a parachute hire.

And he’d honed his skills at this very Landbury Academy and proved himself to the world.

That he was the greatest driver Landbury had ever raised, and that Landbury itself was the greatest automotive company.

“Now, here we are at the long-awaited practice track! But don’t be disappointed just because it’s an indoor track. It may look like this, but it’s equipped so that you can experience every possible situation. It’s only indoors because that makes it easier to create different conditions! We also have outdoor training facilities for all kinds of terrain!”

I know. I know exactly where those are.

Kitty seemed determined to sell me on every advantage of the Landbury Academy and get me enrolled here.

But…

“Yes, that’s great.”

I maintained my lukewarm response.

Because the thing was—

I still had no intention of coming here, just as I hadn’t before.

“…That’s great…? Thaaat’s greaaat…?”

Apparently, my lukewarm response had finally pushed him to his limit.

The veins on Kitty’s face bulged.

His face looked exhausted, but his eyes were still shining intensely, giving him an oddly manic appearance.

Was I being too half-hearted? Should I have at least given him a more sincere answer even if I had no intention of coming here?

No. What if that gives him hope?

I felt a pang of guilt inwardly, but I simply looked up at Kitty with the innocent eyes of a clueless child.

That didn’t make his expression any less deranged, though.

“Of course, other teams have junior development programs too. But if you’re thinking about karting—or rather, racing—if you’re dreaming of F1, then this is practically a dream destination that everyone wants to come to.”

“Yes, yes… I see.”

I thought I should at least vary my responses a little, so I added that much.

Of course, Kitty didn’t give up at all.

“So, naturally, there’s absolutely no way you would ever want to go somewhere else, Ian. But even if you did… you wouldn’t be able to. There’s simply no other place worth comparing. And more importantly, you’re… a member of Landbury.”

“Yes.”

Apparently, he was still unsure whether I knew that I was going to get a stepfather.

The way he’d phrased it was vague enough that a clueless child might think he was simply talking about my mother, while still implying much more.

“Of course. Naturally. You can’t go anywhere else. You have to come here. Come here, become the best at Landbury, with the best facilities, the best engineers, and the cars I build, and become the best…”

At this point, he was practically cursing me into coming here.

If I said I was going somewhere else, this man might put a voodoo doll that looked like me in his room…

Scary.

“……”

When I didn’t answer him—I had nothing to say—Kitty suddenly came to his senses after panting heavily.

For the first time, there was something resembling reason in his exhausted face as he looked down at me.

He stared at me silently for a moment before turning his gaze toward the track.

The academy students preparing for practice were heading toward their karts.

“You like karting, don’t you?”

His voice was fairly serious.

I deliberately followed Kitty’s gaze and looked at the academy students.

I didn’t want to risk my honest feelings showing on my face.

I did like it.

And I was going back to F1 eventually.

But—

Going to this academy carried far too much risk.

There was no reason to step on a landmine just because I wanted to live differently from my previous life.

Listening to the academy students chatter, I answered expressionlessly.

“I like it, and if I get the chance in the future, I’ll drive.”

“Then now is the perfect opportunity! You have to seize it!”

“I can’t come here. My mother is going to marry Arthur. And Arthur is the chairman of Landbury.”

The fact that I’d learned about Mom and Arthur’s relationship yesterday had turned out to be incredibly useful.

Now I didn’t have to come up with some long-winded excuse.

How are you going to deal with the rumors that will come out when the fake son gets in through connections? Especially when the real son already attends here.

He’ll understand without me having to spell all that out.

I’d already had a route planned out, anyway.

I wouldn’t step on the landmine called the Landbury Academy, but I also wouldn’t live exactly the same way as before.

In the past, instead of attending the academy, I’d practiced privately on one of the practice tracks Kitty had just mentioned, using it exclusively with a coach Arthur had recommended.

But this time, I wouldn’t do that.

People had cursed me out back then for supposedly throwing money around despite being only a stepson. I’d rather avoid giving them another reason to talk.

Naturally, I assumed Kitty would understand what I meant.

He’s an adult, isn’t he? Shouldn’t he protect a child’s feelings…?

“How does that matter!? We should take good care of a precious genius who came to us through connections!”

“…No, really.”

I was instantly dumbfounded.

Was this man always this crazy?

“Honestly, that was just beginner’s luck. I’m not as good as you think, Kitty.”

Just in case, I tried rejecting him again.

Kitty’s expression immediately turned serious.

“What do you think I am? I watched your race with my own eyes. Don’t make light of adults.”

Bullshit.

…But I couldn’t exactly say that, could I?

This guy can’t be much older than his late twenties right now. We’re not even that far apart in age.

I barely managed to suppress the sigh that was about to escape.

“I really like karting… but F1 is a place only people who are truly good at it can reach, right? I don’t even know whether I’ll actually be able to make it there… And besides, that’s so far in the future. I don’t know yet. I don’t want to decide what I want to do with my life already.”

That should be enough of a rejection, right?

I looked up at Kitty.

And froze.

“Yeah… But let’s at least let you drive it once.”

Kitty’s dull blue eyes were gleaming dangerously.

Perhaps he thought that if he gave me any more time to talk, I’d refuse again, because without another word, Kitty dragged me toward the track.

He then stood me at one side of the track and approached a woman who seemed to be a coach leading the children, saying something to her.

Not long afterward, my name appeared in tenth place on the electronic board.

At the same time, nine children turned their heads sharply and glared at me.

See! This is exactly what I was worried about!

“Here, that’s your spot.”

With the kind of momentum that made it feel as though something terrible would happen if I didn’t get in, I eventually dragged my feet and sat down in the seat.

Ah. I’m going to drive again…

But as expected of Landbury.

Damn, this thing has an insanely comfortable driving position…