(秋山 大樹) Daiki Akiyama

Nationality: Japanese

Birthday: August 14

Protagonist Debut: Speed Legend: Mugen – Akiyama Chronicles 無限 - 秋山クロニクル

Age:       21  (Mugen: Akiyama Chronicles)

                23  (Main Story / R-series)

                25  (Supido no Densetsu S series)

                26  (Viaggio Grande)

 

 

Daiki is a well-financed young pioneer of the automotive motorsports industry at Tokyo, who hosts  and owns the famed Akiyama Racing School (changed to Akiyama Racing Academy later) who earned his fame throughout the wangan by simply beating the best street racers with no remorse and with no motive. This stirred a lot of conspiracy between him and the leading 'Champion' Seiji Tsuchiya. Both his cars and his skills were well invested and he takes hold of every opportunity he gets in the professional league. He mains a Nissan Fairlady Z version S (Z33).

 

 

Story:

 

 

Early Life_____________________________________________________________

 

                Daiki is an individual who was born with a silver spoon. He grew up already exposed to the world of Car racing at a very early age. He was trained by his father* to become the perfect youth circuit racer and inherit the Akiyama Racing School; which was also his training ground. Since his early age, he had a private tutor and never experienced a normal boy’s life, always surrounded by just his parents’ supervision and those his parents have ties to. His personality soon began to deteriorate, until he was brought down to the level of a robot – only to follow commands issued by his folks so that he could become the ideal businessman, professional racer, and leader that he is being dictated to be.

 

                He started at an early age of 12 in basic driving training and got his license as early as 13. His only formal education was that of Tokyo University on Business Management  midway through his 14th year. He handled the Racing School as an associate to his father for 3 years until the rights have been passed to him on his 18th year as a form of early inheritance. His father and mother* retired and went travelling overseas [presumably, Europe] leaving Daiki to manage the racing school for 3 years, which did not pose a problem to the young entrepreneur slash racer. During those 3 years, he already reformed his skeletal crew and hired other capable crew, without hiring anyone but rather relocating some to their more appropriate positions in the academy. One notable staff member Daiki took in was Naoko Takahashi, a person who’s the same age as him but not as intellectually advanced and served as both secretary and Vice President to Daiki. Out of everyone in the academy, Naoko was the only one Daiki was comfortable to talk to outside of secular circles. He considered Naoko to be his only friend.

 

                In between those 3 years of him leading the academy alone, Daiki raced in different forms of automotive motorsports to expand the name of the Racing Academy – be it drifting, karting, Group C to Group A time attack events and even circuit showdowns, Daiki was both CEO and racing representative of the racing school and garnered a lot of awards for his performance. Daiki flawlessly took over pole position in most events during both qualifiers and main events; winning every race he joined in – this in turn, expanded the popularity of his racing school, garnering more students for the business to bloom.

 

When he started to participate in the group A races, both time attack and Circuit Showdown events, he used his prized car: a Nissan Fairlady Z33 350Z version S. Daiki loved the V platform the Z is carrying and, using his training expertise in cars, he found it to be a really great and versatile base for his experiments; every experiment came out as a success – shown during the said race events, but for Daiki, it was never enough.

 

*names are disclosed

 

Events of Akiyama Chronicles____________________________________________

 

Akiyama Racing School became the pinnacle cornerstone of racing education, being an accessible institution to those who’d wish to go professional with their racing careers from the streets to the circuits. To this, Daiki needed an outlet, seeing how serious he took his inheritance’s overflowing business return and every succeeding event he had to sponsor, take charge of, or participate. It was a busy life for Daiki, he needed somewhere to release his tension.

 

He started using his 350Z as his daily driver; but the internals were something to be in awe of: it was performance tuned to a mid-power boost setup but the performance is variable and suited most tarmac conditions and forms: from long straight ways to technical corners, his 350Z was quite the car.  He normally runs 200+ km/h down the Wangan alone until one day around April, he clashes with another hashirya, and that is when his name becomes known. Facing off against Shinn Ayamazaki , Seiji Tsuchiya, and Raymond Yamazaki in succession, he immediately got a reputation; blacklisted if I may add. He is in constant feud with Seiji as the latter felt that it was thanks to Daiki that his undefeated record was tarnished. Daiki doesn’t seem to care, nor shows any signs that he does care and goes on with his life, even if there was someone after his head over, in Daiki’s perspective, something so worthless as a street reputation.

 

His professional credibility goes over the roof that even the young ones look up to him, like some sort of prince; both male and female. One fan that got his attention was Kitana Tioseco – a girl who was well off and admires Daiki ever since his career bloomed. Kitana went as far as bringing her own car even without a license to impress Daiki – a red 1998 Lamborghini Diablo VT. Like his treatment with Seiji, Daiki treats Kitana coldly, but the latter was not fazed by his demeanor; rather, it got her even motivated further. To Daiki, he was thinking if she has what it takes to go further despite “rejection”, which in the end, Kitana proved herself worthy to be taken in by Daiki as her apprentice.

 

As stated earlier, Daiki was very aloof with social life – beyond Naoko, he has no social life. Next to Naoko, the other person who filled in Daiki’s social circle was a French girl named Claudia “Chloe” Fortescue. Their encounter was quite simple – Chloe’s car broke down, Daiki came along to fix it, and Chloe became thankful to him. From then on, they started seeing each other and eventually became lovers. Through his affiliations with Claudia, this merited him another rival that is after him: Santana Swarovski, who challenged him to a skirmish down Hakone. Santana, with his attitude of using girls as some sort of trophy wife and bragging rights to their “love”, challenged Daiki where the winner would “own” Claudia. Daiki won and Santana understood why Daiki was chosen by her. They left in good terms afterwards.

 

Suddenly, Daiki was not feeling himself in a physical sense. He is weak and sickly for the days afterwards; people branded it as work-related fatigue. But the scenario to this was the work of a supernatural – a spirit that was not put to rest that specifically haunts racers of today. While Daiki is not around, the spirit lingers, temporarily possessing specific drivers, then makes a freak accident down the freeway; scaring lots of street racers off their feet. By the time Daiki wakes up, the damage was done. He first branded it as bad luck then slowly believes it right after the other racers relayed the same information Claudia warned them of – Silverblood.

 

The hunt for the ideal Z racer comes closer as the spirit soon targets Claudia herself – the last of the Fortescues, the surname of Silverblood’s rival during that era aiming too for the same glory – the fastest in their era. Claudia took the hit and saved Daiki from termination; receiving fatal wounds in the process. Daiki rushed her to the hospital but was too late. Stricken with grief, but remembering a promise they made together, Daiki; without resting, travels to Italy where he buries Claudia, fulfilling the promise of being together at a Cliffside house where they’ll settle ‘til they grow old. Daiki returns to Japan to confront the said abomination and declared a challenge to it. He raced it down Tokyo and kanagawa’s Metro routes and defeats it, putting the ghost to rest. Daiki though did not feel accomplished as he lost something greater in the process. Only two people were able to make him realize what his present worth is now: Naoko Takahashi, his secretary slash Vice President; and Seiji Tsuchiya, his prime rival.

 

Daiki and Seiji had one last duel together, not caring who wins or loses, but to help Daiki rekindle the person he once was and is focused on his professional life as the one that instigated a new era of auto racing in Japan; to the point where he was considered nationwide as “The Prince of All Racing Divisions”

 

 

 

Meeting Tomogashi Kitsumoro___________________________________________

 

Daiki reappears with much glee than his last appearance as he is visited by an old acquaintance of his from Mie – Shimizu Ohyama, who warns him that someone was just after their semi-professsional team: “Midnight masters”. Daiki never would’ve thought that he would be back in the street racing scene once again and faces off to see the team that took his pioneer team down.

 

Daiki has made it big and is already also considered as a political figure in the automotive industry; he was well prepared to face Noyzee Tribe; little did he know that the person he is to face would be his polar opposite, but who is as passionate as he is about racing – Tomogashi Kitsumoro. He faced off against him on 3 locations around the Northern Kantou area: Akagi, Tsuchisaka, and the Tokyo Metropolitan Expressway. Daiki took out 3 of his best street machines for the job: An NA2 NSX type R concept tune, a custom tuned Honda-twincam Mugen S2000 GT, and his prime car: his Fairlady 350Z “Z-tune” respectively on those 3 locations. Overall, he scored a tie with Tomo (a tie, a win, and a loss in succession) and gained interest in the young aspiring boy. Like his treatment with Kitana, he takes Tomo under his wing as an apprentice and moulds him from a street racer to a professional. Seeing how emotional Tomo sometimes tends to be, Daiki seems to be the one correcting his way of thinking in a blunt but flat-lined manner, showing no malice or anger-inducing tone to the emotional boy.

 

 

 

The Professional League_______________________________________________   

               

Daiki formed team Japan, a group of youth racers representing the country for the International Grand Touring league, a.k.a. the IGTL. Being the General Manager and spokesman of the team, Daiki was in a whole lot of pressure to make sure things go well; he also has to make sure that everyone is well off throughout the tournament: Tomo, Kyosuke, Kitami, Shinosuke, Shimizu, Hiroya, Sakura, and Kasumi.

 

Relating to a possible threat to Tomo’s well being, Daiki slowly expresses the gestures and movements of a perfectionist; the same treatment dealt to him by his own folks, just to guarantee that their time around the IGTL World cup is worth every possible victory. To be able to get a worthy driver among their list to represent themselves in the US, Daiki instigated an elimination race among the drivers to see who’d represent them. Although they were met with opposition by the obnoxious locals who were dealt by Tomo, Daiki continues to look forward to other preparations; his mind and body is on constant action. In turn, Daiki was able to secure a sought out victory at Infineon through the efforts of Sakura Johina. After the US, daiki sets his sights to the next round: Canada for the Stock car themed event at Vancouver; where he took responsibility over the race. His only conflict was hearing Tomo deal with the Archibalds, surprisingly for even the rest; there was no connection between Daiki and Nathan but what bothered them is how he was cautious with Tomo racing Nathan Archibald.

 

Doubts by others towards Daiki start to arise when they reached Argentina and tasked Tomo to duel Adrianna Eizaguirre flat out down Autodromo Oscar Y Galvez.  With a grin on his look, it was as if they wanted Tomo to lose and be demoralized; whether it was part of Daiki’s intentions or not was unknown but it was later revealed that Daiki was possessed by his awakening, the Prince, who too sought after perfection and forming his idealistic team for the sake of his Father’s ambition. At Hawaii, he challenged Tomo to both a duel of principles and a duel down a southeast mountain pass at Oahu to settle their dispute. Surprisingly, Daiki lost to Tomo fairly and kept the decision to Tomo to do what he wants with himself. He cared less about Tomo right after and continued to focus on the Oahu circuit event, perfecting the machines involved.

 

 

Speed Legend V_______________________________________________________

 

Daiki did not appear in the events of Speed Legend V but was rather mentioned by his previous affiliates – Tomo, Raymond, Kasumi, and Naoko. They reminisced on a battle Daiki had against Santana Swarovski down Hakone and was the basis of the 2 of them remembering the Akiyama they once loved and liked. They reminded Tomo to keep heart of the person he once met positively in order for Tomo not to be burdened by the badness that Daiki has shown.

 

Personality:

 

                Daiki is more of a cold and serious individual who values success over anything else. In shorter terms, he is more or less a perfectionist and decides that he has no time for leisure. He may have some time for himself fto release tension but he does not consider them as outlets of recreation but an outlet to vent out daily stress in his life. He never experienced social activities with his own companions and he does not have his own social circle; of course in a secular setting he has loads but they are contacts and partners to his business; no one he can actually socialize about non-work stuff with.

 

                Because of his attitude with work and how he values it so much over his own, he tends to be very anti-social and most of the time controls the delegation he entrusts to his staff. If there is anyone whom he considers a friend, it would have to be Naoko, and Naoko alone. He may seem to be uncaring about non-work things but he does give importance about relationships – this was shown when he defended Claudia / Chloe from Santana’s assault. He seems to have enough respect for others, especially for women. He may act cold to most of them but deep down, he’s sincere with his words; he just got so used to the cold treatment when he was young, he absorbed that personality too during his growth.

 

                Daiki is more of a realist but Tomo sometimes considers him an asshole for being too direct without care for how the receiver of the message might respond or react to it. He tends to use metaphors to bring his point across and he may even act disrespectful if the person who confronted him was disrespectful to him too. He is quite and too analytical of situations he is in and was never shown to be scared or show, to what he calls, any signs of weak feelings or emotions in public. Daiki, also because of his awakening, is not afraid to compromise anything to achieve his goal; heck, he would even compromise himself if ever things need to go right; his way.

 

Relationships:

 

Although anti-social, Daiki has created a circle of his own, without even knowing it. He feels that his cold demeanor could easily push everyone off him so he wouldn’t need to bother or burden anyone else with what he is or has gone through; only to find out those curious enough and caring enough stood by him despite him pushing them away.

 

Claudia “Chloe” Fortescue_______________________________________________

 

Chloe is Daiki’s first love interest. They met through Daiki heling Chloe out fixing her pink Porsche Boxster (an RUF tuned 3400S). Since then, they started seeing each other more frequently and became quite close. They shared dreams and aspirations together; she was the one who reminded Daiki that he is not a robot – but a person who has feelings. She was the one who reminded Daiki what it is like to love someone; She was the one who reminded Daiki what it means to enjoy life. Their time was cut short because of Silverblood’s interference and Chloe had to sacrifice her own life just for Daiki to live and carry on with his life. The reason behind the connection between Claudia and Silverblood was that Claudia’s great great grandfather was related to Silverblood while it was alive; they were top rivals until the day that Silverblood died.

 

 

Naoko Takahashi______________________________________________________

 

Naoko was Daiki’s Secretary and Vice President to the Akiyama Racing School. What made her stand out to Daiki was her loyalty to him from when they started working together. Naoko decided to get along with Daiki despite all forms of rejection by him; she stood by his side no matter what. That is Naoko’s best trait; a reason why she stayed with Daiki’s company. She was Daiki’s only friend in the academy too; and is the only person who knows most of Daiki’s secrets and his inner personality. Little did Daiki know, that despite him loving Claudia, Naoko also loves Daiki the same way and was the one who knows of their relationship without Daiki knowing. She accepted this however and by the Fujin arc, she moved on from loving Daiki even if the person she now loves reminded her of him.

 

 

Kitana Tioseco________________________________________________________

 

Daiki considers Kitana as his apprentice and, to Daiki’s aspects – an interesting girl. Daiki tends to give him the same treatment as Naoko but is quite appreciative of her when he sees her making progress. Every cold move Daiki does to her just drives Kitana to improve even greater until she has made a name for herself at Italy. Daiki is proud of Kitana, being her mentor and she was the only one, unbeknownst to Daiki, who saw the fatal day that he lost Claudia.

 

 

Seiji Tsuchiya_________________________________________________________

 

Seiji is Daiki’s top and only rival. They first met while on a “cruise” which ended in a duel down Wangan to Daiba where Daiki outperformed Seiji who was already on his 40th win streak. Then on, Seiji was out to beat Daiki again, and again; unfortunately, Seiji failed to win against him multiple times. Despite the victories, Daiki considers Seiji as the only rival he’d ever need – the one person who stuck behind him and continues to evolve at the same pace as he is. Although apathetic he may be towards Daiki, Seiji seems to relate so much to Daiki’s predicaments and is the second “friend” Daiki had who consoled him for his loss.

 

 

Shimizu Ohyama_______________________________________________________

 

Shimizu is the team leader of team Midnight Masters and is the one bold enough to approach Daiki in asking for his aid and guidance in improving the skill and reputation of his semi-professional team. He did go overboard with his attempts at getting his attention but his ownership of a car he built surprised and piqued Daiki’s interest: his Nissan R390 GT1 Road car. Shimizu seems to siphon some of Daiki’s traits whenever he drives making him quite a formidable opponent in the circuit. Shimizu is quite supportive of Daiki’s affairs, as a form of gratitude for granting his request in making Midnight Masters the top semi-professional team in the Mie Prefecture.

 

 

Tomogashi Kitsumoro__________________________________________________

 

Tomo was Daiki’s second personal student – an empathic driver who needed some work in utilizing his emotions when he drives. Daiki sees himself in Tomo and was the basis as to why he took him in. Problem though was they have a clash in principles which created a rift between him and Tomo, which in the end caused their separation between mentor and student. It was also due to the conflict between their Awakenings that caused the division aside from their principles. Daiki does see Tomo as a formidable threat at the same time a useful asset. Seiji commented that Tomo was Daiki’s trump card.

 

Abilities

 

Because of his upbringing, Daiki is a master of all forms of driving – be it drift, circuit, time attack; all forms and against all odds; Daiki’s very versatile. His skills were albeit focused during his time in the Mugen arc; where he utilized circuit based racing with hints of drifting to be able to beat his opponent.

 

Out of all of Daiki’s techniques, these are his favorite moves to use against his rivals:

 

• Slipstreaming – This involves Daiki getting behind an opponent in high speeds as his car is protected from incoming air resistance, increasing his potential acceleration, enabling him to hit a higher top speed; he”slingshots” out of the slipstream and passes his opponent flawlessly.

• Zero Countersteer drifting – When in touge areas, Daiki tends to drift without countersteering; oftentimes mistaken for a power over but it focuses on Daiki pushing the rear end off focus to a certain degree without countersteering and controlling the duration through throttle control and maintaining the angle through taps of his e-brake. Unlike most Zero countersteer drifts, he does this at a very light angle.

• No-brake Entry – this technique of Daiki’s is most misleading – it involves Daiki not engaging the brakes and slows down long before entering the braking zone. This is often accompanied with engine braking and is Daiki’s least featured tactic, even if it is his favorite move.

 

Cars

 

Daiki, being wealthy, has a wide array of cars that he owns. A lot of them are Japanese sports cars and race cars that he invested on. Of course out of all of these cars, his Nissan Fairlady 350Z is his trademark machine. He was known in the Wangan with it, and was known worldwide because of it. He uses the unfamiliar Nismo “Z-tune” fitted on his Z and with his own unique aspiration system called the “Tri-aspiration System” utilizing a twin-charged VQ38DE with his own unique throttle calibrations to enhance the features of a turbine, an NA, and a Supercharger combined. Most of his vehicles are heavily tuned and vary from customs to inspired by leading and popular tuning companies.

Other than his 350Z, Daiki also owns the following cars with their respective modifications: