Hanako Akiyama vs Hei Utsonomiya

Hanako Akiyama's and Hei Utsonomiya's battle is the Thirty-First and chronologicaly speaking the final battle in the Series.

## Prior to the Battle

Soon after Satoru defeated Haru, it was announced that the Hybrid battle would be happening immediately after, not giving Hanako an opportunity to congratulate the most recent victor. Hei, who had been sitting inside of his NC1 for the entire lenght of the events was disruspted by his teammates, whom all give explanations as for their losses and apologize to Ju, who accepts the fact that so far he hadn't won a single race, but still had a lot of faith in that Hei could easily defeat Hanako. All of Hanako's previous rivals appear, including some that were cut from both the Manga and the Anime. Takumi does give her one piece of advice, and that is to focus on outrunning. To never let guard down and just to focus on the track, and not the opponent.

## During the Battle

The race started with both drivers side-by-side in preparation for the upcoming event. As the race begins, Takagi, Echo and Satoru discuss the various advantages and disadvantages that she's under, the primary one being how similar their cars were. According to Takagi, they essentially have the same vehicle despite them being decades apart. Multiple spectators note how different Hanako's driving style was to when they last attended one of her races, and how it seemed like she constantly shifter her style even during the race. Hei's crew comments on how he has an absolute majority chance of winning, due to his much more powerful vehicle, and how SRPM's NSX's perfect balance wont be of use during the many straightaways. Both drivers entered the highway at a similar time, and almost immediately Hei overtook her by dashing the instant he entered the highway. Hei managed to keep a great distance away from her, but he knew that he would lose most of that advantage during the uphill. Hei slowed down far too much before the first sharp turn, giving Hanako the opportunity to slide past him through the outside. Many of Hanako's previous rivals begin to discuss how eerie it was to watch her race someone else, as her technique seems completely different from when they had raced her. The fact that her driving style was constantly shifting was both her greatest advantage and her greatest disadvantage, as not only could it be easily broken but some styles were plainly slower than others. Hei took advantage of this, by attempting to stay right on her rear bumper even if it cost him to have to lightly hit some guardrails. Pressure was something that Hanako simply wasn't able to handle that well, and she was effortlessly overtaken during the start of the downhill. Keisuke Takahashi, who had shown up to witness the race a few minutes prior comments on Hei's driving, mentioning how the SRPM NSX should have the absolute advantage during the downhill, as not only was it lighter, but it was more balanced. This makes him talk about how Hei is one of the few drivers' who's determination has outpaced the theoretical maximum performance of his vehicle. Takumi Fujiwara and Bunta Fujiwara show up at the top of the mountain in their Subaru Impreza to witness the last few moments of the battle. Hanako, desperate to pass Hei, begins to engage in multiple failed attempts at fujiwara zone due to her lack of relaxation. She begins to ease on the throttle, giving Hei an advantage of 4 seconds. Her line becomes much more refined and her movements are a lot more steady, allowing her to quickly regain her control and calm herself down. As she begins to notice how much she's falling behind, she starts to dash at full speed. Not only does engaging Fujiwara Zone allow her to speed up towards him, but to catch up to him, terrifying Hei. She had catched up to him right before the start of the Final Uphill. She slows down just enough to avoid hitting him, as she swiftly moves up to pass him. Bunta comments on them as he sees them driving next to each other, claiming that they're the same driver, and even further elaborating on this as he notes their peculiar pattern. They seemed to be switching positions constantly, but it was done with such precision and consistency that it was as if they were dancing, which causes a scene of Hei and Hanako dancing in marital clothing dancing in a skybox. As the scene withers away, both drivers begin to approach the finishing course, passing right in front of Keisuke Takahashi and his son. Keisuke comments on how Hei uses the same technique he once used to dash at her rival, but does point out how neither of them were achieving their limits, which he says is because they're intentionally dragging the race out, since they're enjoying. The race ends as Hanako's rear wing falls off from hitting a tall post, which results in her starting to lose traction. Hei, in one last attempt to win, dashes inbetween her and the guardrail, which ends up i him hitting his fender. The very short downhill starts as Hanako is barely able to keep her composure, but ends up achieving victory as Hei goes in too fast for the corner and ends up sliding out, losing his traction and stopping dead on his track.

## After the battle

New Horizon:

Hanako learns to finally leave the world of racing behind to focus on her own career, while the rest of the cast remain attached to the sport in some-way or another. The first half of the episode mainly does its job of tying all the remaining storylines together, while the second half is set 5 years later, showing Hei and Hanako as a couple of newlyweds, Satoru becoming a professional driver, Takagi finishing his time at Medical School and starting to date the now-teacher Echo.

The series ends with a final shot of the now-abandoned Black NSX being powered on and driving off to the distance as "Rage your Dream" officially announces the end of the series, with the credits rolling soon after.

## Songs

* Somebody to Love - David Dima
* 1 Fire - Dave Rodgers
* Stay Away from Me - Jager
* New Horizon - Ken Blast
* Fighting! - Cody