Stage 4, Episode 3
Short summary
Project D's next opponent is the Toudou School, a special training school for driving techniques. Their home course is a winding road that is still under construction so it is not open to traffic. They rent it off to Project D and do not even check up on how they drive. This worries Hiroshi, but Takumi prefers it this way because he can concentrate more when he doesn't know anything about his opponent. Daiki and Sakai are two current students of the Toudou School and will be Takumi and Keisuke's opponents. The race will be in a leader-chaser way, and Daiki choses to chase in the first run. Since this is the case, Ryosuke gave 2 instructions for Takumi to follow in this run. The battle then begins.
Longer summary
Takumi returns home after finishing his tofu delivery. Now, he and Bunta take turns doing the deliveries every other day, but Takumi plans on doing them for the next two days to cover up for the days he will be away next week for Project D's away matches. He is beginning to realize the importance of a home course. Always driving at a course he doesn't know, he has to concentrate on finding the course's timing. At Akina, he can relax and try new things.
Later, Takumi stops by the gas station to give Iketani, Itsuki, and Yuichi a visit. They wonder how are things with his girlfriend, Mogi, and he tells them that he's too busy thinking about his job and his team to go visit her. Itsuki and Iketani thinks Takumi is starting to turn into Kenji, when Kenji himself shows up at the gas station. Their conversation turns to Takumi's next opponent, the Toudou School. They are a special training school for driving techniques, run by a car shop owner and ex-rally drivers. It's composed of racers who care more about speed than drift. Many of their alumni have also gone professional.
At night, Daiki, a racer of the Toudou School, goes to see Chief Director Toudou. Toudou offers to let Daiki use his company's demo car for the race against Project D. Daiki, however, turns down the offer, feeling like he wouldn't feel like he won with his own skills if he didn't use his own car.
At the Takahashi residence, Hiroshi wonders if their Project D website is too provocative, but Ryosuke says it's the way he wants it. He wants to provoke their opponents, make them hate Project D so that they are racing with everything they've got. He also admits that Project D has another objective other than winning battles and setting new course records. That objective is the hidden meaning behind the "D" in Project D, something which Ryosuke has not explained to anyone yet.
Project D arrives at the Toudou School's home course. The Toudou School has cleared the course of its local drivers and has totally rented it to Project D. There isn't even local traffic because the road is still under construction and is not open to the public. Although freshly paved, the road has many fallen rocks, and there are many changes in elevation. Kenta shows up at Keisuke's side, and Keisuke wonders what he's doing here. He didn't even notice that Kenta is the driver of one of the vans. Keisuke and Takumi then go off to test the new settings on their cars. While their double aces are driving the course, Hiroshi talks with Ryosuke, wondering how the Toudou School drives. Ryosuke tells him that Kyouichi is an alumnus of the school. The school is full of people at his level.
Instead of watching how Project D drives, the people from Toudou School are discussing the upcoming race. Although the graduates of the Toudou School want to race, two of the current students will be doing it. Daiki's EK9 is taking the downhill. Sakai's Integra Turbo will take the uphill.
The next day, Hiroshi and Matsumoto are worried because they didn't get any data on the Toudou School since they didn't drive last night, and because the Toudou School also did not check up on how Project D drove. Takumi, however, prefers it this way. He can concentrate more on his driving when he doesn't know anything about his opponent. He finds events like this really fun.
Before the race, Daiki stops by to talk to Sakai. He can't seem to get excited about the race but is rather disappointed instead to be racing a Hachi Roku. At the race, his feelings changed after meeting Takumi. Both of them seemed to sense each other's skill and realizes that this won't be an easy race. The race will be a chase which is Project D's away style. Daiki choses to chase in the first run. In that case, Ryosuke has 2 instructions for Takumi to follow. The battle then begins at the course's first corner.
