Episode 1 · Capeta

Capeta

Capeta Taira is a kid who learned early how to act fine when he isn't. His mother is gone, his father drives himself into the ground at a paving company, and at school there is Nobu Andou, who makes sure the days feel long. Only Monami Suzuki, a classmate, seems to notice him at all. So Capeta cooks, cleans, smiles for his dad, and keeps the loneliness to himself. Then his father spots go-karts tearing around a track at full speed, and something clicks. He starts dragging home scrap parts. Capeta and Monami sneak into the workplace to see what he's hiding and find a kart, patched together from junk, his own name stuck right on the body. No engine. Scratched all over. But it rolls. Rain is coming down hard when Capeta climbs in anyway and takes it down a wet slope. What should be a crash turns into something else entirely, and the empty boredom in his head is gone for good. Now he wants speed, and he wants it badly. But a kart with no engine and a kid with no money: how far can that really go?