"You can race. Don't sell yourself short. As far as I'm concerned, you're an outstanding mecha girl."
Derek Su met XC-99's gaze with unwavering resolve. He needed to give this mecha girl—who had already fallen into despair—something to believe in.
"I can't!" XC-99's emotions snapped. Tears streamed down her face as she buried it in her hands and cried hysterically:
"You don't understand the flaws built into me! I'm a killer racer!"
"I know you can't turn." Derek Su sat down beside her, both of them staring at the two mecha girls already dismantled nearby. "But cornering doesn't rely solely on the mecha—it depends on the driver too. If the driver can control the braking point, even a mecha with terrible steering can still get through a turn purely through technique."
"R-Really?" XC-99 blinked, stunned.
No one had ever said anything like that to her before.
Derek Su held up his hand for her to see and smiled. "If the mecha is the back of the hand, then the driver is the palm. Only together do they make a complete hand—and that's how you accomplish precise, delicate tasks. So why should the mecha bear all the blame for poor cornering?"
XC-99 felt his words made a strange sort of sense… but it clashed with everything she'd been taught since birth.
Racers were supposed to choose high-performance mecha. That was how you worked together to win races.
Who would ever choose a defective mecha—one that might even kill them?
But Derek Su didn't give her time to dwell on it.
He took her soft little hand, smiling slyly like a seasoned trickster.
"The Knox Rally is in five days. You know about it, don't you?"
Of course XC-99 knew. The Knox Rally was the most basic event—and every mecha girl's first chance at fame. Any mecha girl who placed in the top ten could advance to higher-level competitions. If she kept winning, she might one day reach the world-class championships. And the mecha girls who won those became world-class mecha girls—the pinnacle, the ultimate dream for all of them.
"What I mean is, if we don't hurry up and train, we're out of time."
"But…"
XC-99 still couldn't shake her shame about her flaw.
"No buts. We're going out for a lap. Right now."
Derek Su didn't give her a chance to refuse, pulling her straight out of the warehouse.
By the time she snapped out of her daze, they were already standing on the street outside the recycling yard.
"I really will get you killed…" XC-99 looked at him, conflicted.
"You won't. Your only issue is turning, right? If you don't believe me, we can test it immediately." Derek Su pointed down the road. "There's an intersection about eight hundred meters that way. Hardly any cars around here at night. We'll use that ninety-degree turn as our test. If we can make that turn together, you'll contract with me and become my mecha girl."
He wouldn't touch modifying any mecha girl before contracting again.
Once bitten, twice shy. Jade-786 had strung him along, promising they'd contract before the race—stalling until he got kicked out of the Ascend Racing Club. Kyle Zhang ended up reaping all the rewards he'd worked so hard to build. From now on, he would only invest in a mecha girl who truly belonged to him.
XC-99 looked at the intersection glowing under the streetlights. She knew perfectly well she couldn't make a ninety-degree turn. At best she'd drift off her straight path; she could never turn cleanly like other mecha girls. Fortunately, at a crossroads, there were no rails to crash into—if she failed to turn, she could simply decelerate and stop safely on the roadside without endangering the driver.
"Maybe… maybe I should try?" XC-99 whispered, struggling.
Only she knew how desperately she longed for the track. The words of disappointment, the scornful looks—they still stabbed her heart like blades. She always wondered why she carried the XC designation, that blazing meteor of the mecha world. At birth, she had been proud to bear the name of the stars. But after her debut, staring at her battered reflection while others looked at her with thinly veiled disdain, she felt nothing but humiliation and pain.
"Give it a try," Derek Su said with a smile.
"Fine! Let's try it!" XC-99 gritted her silver teeth.
...
Even though Derek Su had learned a lot about mecha girls recently, when XC-99 unfolded in front of him, he was still overwhelmed by shock and disbelief. Imagine it: a cute silver-haired girl, like someone straight out of an anime—warm, alive, real—transforming before your eyes into a luxurious racing machine like a mechanical phoenix spreading its wings.
He looked over XC-99's chassis. She resembled a Bugatti Divo from his past life, but softer, less aggressive. The nose wasn't as fierce, and her gleaming silver paint matched her hair perfectly. A whale-tail spoiler swept across her rear.
He had seen Jade-786 unfold before, but compared to XC-99, Jade-786 felt like a mass-produced model. XC-99 was the real deal—limited edition.
He couldn't resist running his hand along her body.
A flustered voice echoed from inside.
"Get in already! Don't touch me like that—it tickles!"
"Oh—right…" Derek Su snatched his hand back. Her chassis really was connected to her senses.
He opened the door. XC-99 was crouched in the center of the control chamber, posed like she was riding a motorcycle. Her skintight suit emphasized the elegant arc of her waist and hips. Her hands and feet were already integrated with the machine. From her spine extended a sleek mechanical arm aimed toward the rear cockpit—this spine-like structure acted as the control stick he would use to pilot her. (Reference pose: Darling in the Franxx)
"So beautiful…" Derek Su whispered, unable to look away.
It was said that highly capable mecha girls could almost pilot themselves, while the driver mainly assisted with judgment because their field of view was wider. And the more exceptional the mecha girl, the better every aspect of her performance. XC-99's luxurious cockpit interior put Jade-786's plastic-heavy design to shame.
"You… you should get in. The wind's blowing in—it's freezing…"
XC-99's face was flushed red. This was her first time unfolding in front of a human, exposing her entire interior. Even if he would become her driver someday, she couldn't stop herself from feeling embarrassed.
Derek Su took a deep breath and sat in the pilot seat, pretending he knew exactly what he was doing.
How to describe it? Not even first-class airplane seats in his past life were this comfortable. It was almost like the seat itself had a skin-like warmth—not a chair at all, but the sensation of being gently held in someone's arms. He genuinely considered sleeping in the car tonight.
"So… how is it? Does it feel comfortable?"
XC-99's voice carried a nervous tremor.
"It's… incredibly comfortable," Derek Su sighed.
If race cars in his past life had been this pleasant to sit in, he never would've developed occupational injuries.
"Hehe…" XC-99 let out a silly little laugh from the front.
Derek Su reached for the control stick. The moment he touched it, his mind blurred—then he felt himself connect directly with another consciousness. XC-99's AI Core. With just a thought, he could control her movements. Compared to traditional cars, this level of precision was unmatched—no matter how fast hands or voice commands were, nothing beat the speed of neural response.
"So this is where the braking and clutch controls are…"
Understanding flashed across Derek Su's eyes.
"You… you really don't know how to pilot a mecha girl?" XC-99's voice echoed in his head. "I thought you were an experienced racer…"
"This is my first time piloting one," Derek Su admitted.
XC-99's heart sank. How could someone driving a mecha girl for the first time possibly handle her on a curve?
Even though she had long lost hope, she still wanted to go for this one run. Not for the race, not for glory—just because Derek Su was willing, before she was recycled, to let her take to the road properly once in her life. To feel acknowledged. To be driven by someone who believed in her. That alone was enough.
"Let's go."
A confident smile curved Derek Su's lips.
He released the handbrake, shifted gears, stepped on the accelerator. It felt different from any race car he had driven before, but the moment the rear tires shrieked and smoked against the pavement, his blood roared to life. The tires spun—caught—then XC-99's engine module unleashed a savage, ear-splitting roar.
"Ah!! W-What did you do?! Why does my chest feel so hot?!"
XC-99 panicked.
Derek Su grinned even wider, fire blazing in his eyes.
"Let me show you what a launch control is!"
The words left his mouth—and XC-99 shot forward like an arrow loosed from its bow.
Her engine's roar thundered down the entire street.
...
(40 Chapters Ahead)
p@treon com / GhostParser