lateral communication

[mix_it_up]

"You're coming in late, Miss Sato."

Asami doesn't think it's particularly late, but she only replies, "I'm sorry I kept you up, Motoki."

"How was your evening?" He lifts her coat from her shoulders, and before she has the chance to answer – "Your father wants to see you."

She turns, shaking out her hair. "What about?"

"He didn't say." Motoki looks more interested in ensuring her coat stays unwrinkled, and adds without a glance up, "He's waiting for you in his workshop. Will you been needing anything else?"

"No, thank you. I think that'll be it for the night."

He offers a slight bow, then moves to lock the door behind her. Asami walks through the otherwise empty hall, the sound of her heels echoing through it. She forgoes the large, illuminated staircase to the upper floors, instead taking a door to the side, along a smaller passage that leads past the kitchen and the lower dining room, and eventually to a back door from the main house.

Asami can see the lights on in the workshop as she steps into the night, the cold prickling at her shoulders before she can make it across the yard. It's not much warmer inside, a huge and, for the moment, mostly empty space. To her right, there's a storage locker, and a shelf next to it, the wireless on top of it at full volume. Across the room, she can see what looks like one of their race cars, the ceiling lights reflected in its blue paint, its tires stripped and its body placed on risers. The wheels of the mechanics' creeper are visible beneath it – her father must have heard her heels over the music, as before she's closed the door, he calls out, "Asami, is that you?"

"Yeah." She walks to the shelf, and switches off the wireless. "You wanted to talk to me?"

"Get under here."

Asami smiles to herself. "All right, just a minute."

There are long, white coats in the lockers, and she steps out of her shoes, setting them aside. She's just pulling on one of the coats when she hears her father's voice again.

"Why are you dressed up tonight?"

"Oh, um." Asami closes the coat over the collar of her red dress, careful to keep her hair tucked in. It's far too big for her – she has to roll the cuffs back, the sleeves hang off her arms, and only the height is near right, as the hem skirts just above her ankles. But she's used to this.

"I was on a date."

He'd already slid out from under the car, but this causes her father straighten up at once.

"With whom?"

Asami shakes her head as she approaches. "You wanted to show me something"

"No, I want to hear about your date –"

"Come on, let me see –"

"Tell me about it!"

"Dad –"

"At least give me a name, was it that Tadao –"

She rolls her eyes. "No, we broke up last year. Look –"

It takes a minute to maneuver in the dress still under her coat, but she slips down to sit on the creeper next to him. "- let me see what you wanted to show me, and then I'll tell you all about it, all right?"

Her father watches her, seeming to test how long she'll hold his gaze. Asami returns it, her expression fixed, and doesn't look away. Finally, he clicks his tongue in an exasperated sort of way, then reaches over, putting his arm over her shoulder and pulling her into him. It's only for a moment, before he shifts, and rises from the seat. Asami moves into his place, and he offers her his hand, helping her lay back onto it.

"All right." She slides beneath the car, picking up the flashlight her father had left for her.

After a moment, Asami calls to him, "Is this new?"

"That's right." His shadow moves in the corner of her eye – he's pacing beside the car as he explains. "It's a light metal sheeting, enough to give it a smooth underbody to reduce drag, without adding extra weight."

Her eyes linger along the front axle, before she turns her head, and looks out onto the floor. The car's tires have been stacked a few feet away.

"What are you thinking?"

She's gone more than a minute without answering, but Asami doesn't realize it until this moment. She blinks back up to the underside of the car.

"I'm –"

It's another long moment, but Asami catches herself this time. "I – "

"You're getting quiet, I know what that means."

She flashes the light from the axle, toward the front of the car, and then the back.

"It should be closer to the ground."

Asami pushes back, moving out from under the car and sitting up, staring at the grill. "We've done everything to make it smaller and sleeker, but it's not just about the car. When we drive, air is pulled between the car and the ground. Keeping the car lower to the ground would force the air to move faster as it's pulled under, so there would be a decrease in air pressure below the car. The underside shouldn't be flat, we can model the front and rear to guide –"

She looks up, and stops speaking the moment she meets her father's eyes. "You've already thought about this."

"I wanted to see what you thought." Her father offers her a hand up, which she accepts, rising to her feet next to it. "What else would you change?"

Asami's stays quiet for a moment, but again, she doesn't blink away from him. "The tires. They won't take the pressure."

He nods, and starts to walk past her, toward the lockers. She follows, as she unfolds the cuffs of her coat, and shrugs it off her shoulders.

"Now, tell me about your date."

Behind his back, Asami smiles.