Appare Sorano

Appare Sorano, the second son of a Japanese merchant family during the Meiji era, never had any interest in trade—his heart belonged entirely to gears, engines, and invention. Brilliant yet blissfully unaware of social conventions, Appare finds himself stranded in Los Angeles after an accidental voyage across the Pacific alongside samurai Isshiki Kosame. With no money and no way home, he does what comes naturally: he engineers a fully functional steam-powered automobile from scratch and enters the grueling Trans-America Wild Race. His story is one of audacious ingenuity and relentless determination that defies the limits of his era.