"I have to admit—you got me beat fair and square!"
Kondo was genuinely impressed this time. Gustave had taken a completely stock car with zero modifications and defeated his heavily tuned 911GT3 RS. More importantly, Gustave's cornering speeds were absolutely suicidal—Kondo would never have dared attempt such aggressive lines in his lifetime.
"Hahaha, no worries! Friendship first, competition second," Gustave laughed.
Truthfully, he hadn't even used his full potential tonight. It wasn't just about the car being unmodified—with something as simple as semi-slick tires, Gustave would have been confident taking those corners without any deceleration whatsoever.
Having defeated Kondo, Gustave's main interest now was witnessing the ultimate showdown between Takuya Fujiwara and Hajime Saionji.
Speaking of which, Takuya Fujiwara had noticed their race had concluded and walked over:
"You actually beat Kondo?"
"Just a small accomplishment."
Although Gustave's attitude bordered on arrogant, Fujiwara didn't seem bothered. In fact, he appeared to relish the prospect of challenging such a skilled driver:
"You're seriously talented. After I crush that Saionji guy tonight, I hope we'll get a chance to race each other."
"I'd probably need to buy a Bugatti and modify it heavily before I could compete with your setup."
"Then I'll be waiting for your Bugatti!"
Fujiwara turned to leave, but called back over his shoulder:
"If you want to watch the match between Saionji and me, stick around Daikoku PA tonight. We've got a helicopter providing live coverage of the entire race."
This solved a major problem for Gustave. He'd been wondering whether he'd need to take to the skies himself to properly observe the battle between these two maniacs. Having helicopter coverage would make the whole experience much more comfortable.
As for why Takuya Fujiwara and Hajime Saionjicould mobilize helicopters despite clearly being underground racers—well, just look at Gin. That guy had the audacity to fly a helicopter and strafe Tokyo Tower. Could the resources available to the sons of powerful zaibatsu families really be inferior to what Gin could access?
"I can't believe how arrogant these guys are!" Conan said through gritted teeth after hearing Fujiwara's parting words.
"Arrogant? I don't think it's that bad. After all, someone else I know is equally presumptuous—jumping around crime scenes and completely ignoring police authority."
"That's to solve cases!"
"Really? From my perspective, there's no fundamental difference between the two behaviors."
Gustave spoke with casual indifference. In truth, while the suspects in Conan's cases always confessed their crimes, if they really wanted to fight the charges, they could hire a skilled attorney—someone like Komikoike Mikensuke from "Legal High." As long as such a lawyer could identify even one piece of "illegally obtained evidence," they could potentially overturn convictions even after confessions.
Fortunately, this was the world of Detective Conan. Under the young detective's powerful plot armor, once suspects admitted their guilt, they never considered appealing their verdicts and simply awaited sentencing.
Since the main event wouldn't officially begin until three o'clock, a bored Gustave infiltrated the social circles of Takuya Fujiwara and Hajime Saionjito listen to gossip and kill time.
The group had no objection to Gustave's presence. In their minds, anyone who could afford a limited-edition Aston Martin Vanquish Zagato must belong to their social class. Additionally, Gustave had used a stock car to defeat Kondo's modified Porsche, proving his driving skills were first-rate. They were happy to absorb such talent into the Mid Night club.
After joining their conversation, Gustave learned that tonight's helicopter had been requisitioned directly from a television station—one of the group members' fathers was a director at Nippon TV. When the director's son made a request, which employee would dare refuse?
Additionally, Takuya Fujiwara had brought along a dedicated assistant—the son of his family's housekeeper, named Tomokazu Yamashita. The young man was extremely attentive, not only providing logistical support but immediately running to fetch water when he saw Gustave arrive with Conan. His service attitude was impeccable.
Based on his experience watching hundreds of Detective Conan episodes, Gustave immediately suspected something was off about Tomokazu Yamashita. Perhaps Takuya Fujiwara had bullied him in the past, and now the guy harbored resentment while waiting for an opportunity to exact revenge.
So Gustave discreetly used his power to inspect Takuya Fujiwara's Dodge Viper SRT, but found nothing wrong with the vehicle. This was puzzling—normally, wouldn't sabotage involve tampering with the car?
After considering it briefly, Gustave decided to stop overthinking the situation. Maybe he was being overly paranoid.
Tonight's race between Takuya Fujiwara and Hajime Saionjiwould take place on a different section of the Bayshore Route from Gustave's earlier route. This course started from Daikoku PA, passed through Tatsumi PA, connected to Route 9, and terminated at Hakozaki PA. The route featured many more straightaways than the circuit Gustave had run—perfect for a duel between these two heavily modified monsters.
To maximize performance, at two o'clock both Takuya Fujiwara's Dodge Viper SRT and Hajime Saionji's Pagani Zonda F were fitted with specially customized slick tires. Without these racing compounds, given the performance parameters of both vehicles, they would probably achieve liftoff at launch.
With thirty minutes remaining before the official start, Takuya Fujiwara and Hajime Saionjitook their cars out separately for several warm-up laps on the route where Gustave and Kondo had competed. This served both to get themselves in proper racing mindset and to bring their tires up to optimal operating temperature. If the heat-sensitive racing compounds couldn't reach working temperature, they would perform worse than ordinary street tires.
When both drivers returned from their warm-up runs, their tires were visibly tacky to the touch—confirmation that the racing compounds had reached proper operating conditions.
Judging by the specifications and performance of these modified Viper SRT and Pagani Zonda F, they were essentially quasi-Formula 1 race cars. In fact, many actual F1 cars couldn't match the raw power of these two machines. Of course, comparing them on a professional circuit would be another matter entirely—F1 represented the pinnacle of motorsport engineering and driver skill.
Time slowly approached three o'clock. By now, family cars had virtually disappeared from the Bayshore Route, with only the occasional freight truck visible in the distance.
With the combined influence of Takuya Fujiwara, Hajime Saionji, and their assembled group, they could have easily arranged to close the highway completely. However, they deliberately chose not to—they wanted that particular thrill that came with uncertainty.
The involvement of other vehicles meant that unexpected situations could arise at any moment after the race began. This element of the unknown was exactly what Takuya Fujiwara and Hajime Saionjicraved. Only unpredictability provided genuine excitement and truly tested their driving abilities to the maximum.
To be honest, underground racing activities like this posed serious dangers not only to the participants but also to innocent bystanders. However, this group had been racing for years, and while accidents had occurred, they had managed to avoid causing casualties among civilian motorists. This could be considered something of a miracle in itself.