A/N: As you can see, I'm taking it nice and slow! Please do let me know what you think of this chapter, okay? ^_^

Planetarium

Chapter Two

My fiancée. For some bizarre reason, those two words kept replaying in Ryosuke's head as if it were some sort of weird echo and that almost made him miss the moment when, smiling at him, the beautiful, long haired girl said:

'It's nice to see you again, Takahashi-kun.'

'Again?' Rin asked her.

'Yes,' Kaori replied and, as casually as possible, she added, 'we had a silly accident earlier this morning.'

'Accident?' Rin asked now sounding alarmed.

'I…' Ryosuke started.

'It was my fault,' Kaori interrupted him, 'Takahashi-kun was driving down the road and I crossed it in front of his car without paying attention. I was very lucky he's got quick enough reflexes, or else…'

'Kaori,' Rin admonished her, 'how many times do I have to tell you to be careful?'

'Hojo-senpai…' Ryosuke tried again.

'Seriously,' Rin insisted, 'you can't just walk across the road without checking for incoming traffic first.'

'I'm sorry,' Kaori said.

'Hojo-senpai,' Ryosuke said, 'it's not entirely her fault, I…'

'It is,' Rin interrupted him, 'she always does that, she loses herself in her own world and never pays attention to what goes on around her. Kaori, I swear, one of these days you'll end up getting yourself killed.'

This time Kaori chose to look down and say nothing.

'Hojo-senpai,' Ryosuke said, 'it really wasn't her fault: it was my first time driving the car and I wasn't paying as much attention to the road as I should have.'

'Is that so?' Rin asked him.

'Yes,' Ryosuke replied, 'I am awfully sorry about that, I'll…'

'How long have you had your license?' Rin asked him.

Ryosuke suddenly felt a little embarrassed but, keeping his composure the best way he could, he said:

'Just a couple of days.'

'Really?' Rin asked looking incredulous, 'you're a newbie yet you got yourself a brand new FC as your first car?'

'Yes,' Ryosuke replied still refusing to look ashamed.

'I see,' Rin said, he then looked pensive for a few moments before he asked, 'where were you going now?'

'Home,' Ryosuke replied.

'Why don't you have lunch with us?' Rin asked him.

Ryosuke hesitated for a brief instant while his mind raced to find a valid excuse. He really didn't fancy playing third wheel to a couple who had just had an argument and, on top of that, some gut feeling told him that he'd be better off going home as he'd originally planned. Alas, before he could come up with anything, he heard Kaori speaking:

'It's your first day here, Takahashi-kun. I think that, as your senpai, Hojo-san and I should treat you to lunch.'

'Er…'

'She's right,' Rin said, 'and we should hurry up or the best ingredients will be gone.'

Seeing himself without any options, Ryosuke forced himself to nod. Five minutes later, he was sitting at the bar of an old ramen restaurant that was right around the corner from the campus, the relatively small place was packed with other students who obviously preferred it to the university's cafeteria.

'We always come here,' Kaori explained, 'it's cheap, the service is fast and the food is very good.'

'That's right,' Rin confirmed, 'I recommend you their miso ramen, the broth is nice and thick and they usually put three or four slices of pork.'

'You're not a vegetarian, are you?' Kaori asked him.

'No, I'm not,' Ryosuke replied.

'Alright then,' Rin said and talking to the man behind the counter, he told him, 'Ueno-san, we'll have three bowls of miso ramen. Make sure you make it as good as usual, you've got a new customer to impress today.'

'I'll do my best,' the man promised before he started working on their order.

'You do come here often,' Ryosuke commented.

'We do,' Rin replied, 'I found this place during my first year and I've never gone anywhere else since.'

Ryosuke was trying to find something to say when Kaori looked at him and said:

'Can I ask you a question?'

'Of course,' Ryosuke replied.

'Say,' she started, 'if you had to reincarnate into an insect, what insect would you pick?'

'Er…' Ryosuke hesitated.

'Here you go again,' Rin said to Kaori then, to Ryosuke, he told him, 'she always does that.'

'Does what?' Ryosuke asked him.

'Scare people with her philosophical questions,' Rin explained smiling fondly, 'I think she enjoys doing that.'

'I'm just curious,' Kaori defended herself, 'you can learn a lot about someone by asking them one or two questions.'

'Is that so?' Ryosuke asked her feeling a little intrigued.

'Yes,' Kaori replied, 'which insect would you pick?'

Ryosuke thought about it for a moment then, he answered:

'I think I'd be an ant.'

'Interesting,' she said, 'why would you want to be an ant?'

'Well,' Ryosuke said, 'ants are immensely strong and disciplined creatures. I admire the way they work hard towards the benefit of their community and how they don't hesitate to protect their queen and her larvae.'

'That's deep,' Rin commented looking slightly amused.

'It is,' Kaori agreed but she seemed like she was somehow dissatisfied with Ryosuke's reply, 'looking at you and having heard your answer,' she said, 'I would have thought you would have preferred being a bee.'

'A bee?' Ryosuke asked.

'Yes,' Kaori replied firmly, 'bees are like ants in every way you've described them but, on top of that, they can also fly. I think you are the kind of person who would enjoy the sort of freedom only flying can give you.'

Hojo-san was right, a startled Ryosuke thought: Kaori was indeed a rather frightening person.

'Am I wrong?' she asked him.

'No,' Ryosuke forced himself to admit, 'you're pretty much spot on.'

'I knew it,' she said with a triumphant smile.

Thankfully, Ueno-san chose that moment to serve them their bowls of ramen and to Ryosuke's immense relief, this also allowed Rin to steer their increasingly disturbing conversation to a much safer ground: Ryosuke's driving experience or, lack of thereof.

'Takahashi-kun,' he said, 'you told us you just passed your driving test.'

'Yes, I did,' Ryosuke replied.

'But yet, you bought an FC,' Rin said, 'why?'

'I liked it,' Ryosuke replied simply.

'Fair enough,' Rin said, 'but you do know that an FC isn't the sort of car one buys to simply commute, don't you?'

'I'm aware of that,' Ryosuke replied.

'So, what do you want to do with it?' Rin asked him.

'I'm not sure yet,' Ryosuke replied honestly, 'but I do know that I need to improve my driving skills as quickly as I can.'

'Yes, you should do that,' Rin said mercilessly, 'with a car like yours, you will always need to be able to be in control.'

'I know,' Ryosuke agreed.

'And tell me,' Rin said, 'how exactly are you planning on getting better?'

'What do you mean?'

'Well,' Rin replied, 'there are several methods one can use to improve their skills at the wheel: the most obvious one would be for you to attend a driving course at one of the schools here…'

'I've already attended a driving school,' Ryosuke pointed out.

'Contrary to popular belief,' Rin said looking very serious, 'driving schools don't teach you to drive.'

'Hojo-senpai…'

'They merely teach you to pass the driving test,' the man continued, 'which is very different from what driving really is. Sure, after you get your license you should be able to take a car from A to B without crashing it but you probably won't be able to control it in certain, more extreme situations, will you?'

'I guess not,' Ryosuke admitted.

'No, of course not,' Rin said, 'which is why I think that you should consider attending an advanced driving course at one of the local racing schools. I could even recommend you a couple of them if you're interested.'

'I'd appreciate that,' Ryosuke said.

'Good,' Rin replied, 'but just so you know, I don't think you can learn certain things just by being taught by others.'

Ryosuke said nothing to that.

'I think,' Rin continued, 'that you should try and find yourself a quiet road on which to practice by yourself.'

'That's not very safe though, is it?' Ryosuke asked him.

'Not really,' Rin admitted, 'but if you're on your own and you have an accident, you'll only hurt yourself.'

Ryosuke failed to see how that was a good thing but, deciding to humour him, he said:

'You're saying that I should get my car on an empty road and practice driving there.'

'Exactly,' Rin replied, 'start with easy stuff like throttle and brake control and general handling of the car until you feel confident enough.'

'I see,' Ryosuke said.

'After you do that,' Rin continued, 'you should try finding your own limits as well as those of your car.'

'Why would I want to do that?' Ryosuke asked him.

'Because only when you know your limits, you can figure out how to overcome them,' Rin explained.

'That makes sense to me,' Ryosuke commented.

'I'm glad it does,' Rin replied then, he added, 'let me know once you think you've improved enough.'

'Why?' Ryosuke asked.

'Because, if you want, I'll introduce you to some people who also like cars and who might find you as interesting as I do,' Rin said offering him a smile which made Ryosuke feel weird all over again.

'Alright,' he forced himself to reply.

Somehow they made it to the end of the meal with Ryosuke feeling more confused than ever. He was also grateful that Kaori had not spoken another word during the rest of their time together but he still found it unnerving the way she looked at him, almost as if he were some sort of project. Rin, on the other hand, had given Ryosuke a lot of food for thought and while they walked back to the campus, he started thinking of potential places where he could go to start practicing, he decided that he'd go exploring that very evening.

'It's been great talking to you,' Rin told him as soon as they arrived to the main building.

'Same here,' Ryosuke replied, 'and thank you very much for the meal.'

'No worries,' Rin said.

'Takahashi-kun,' Kaori suddenly said, 'I hope I didn't offend you with my questions.'

'Of course not,' Ryosuke hurried to reply.

'That's good to hear,' she said offering him a smile, 'Hojo-san is right though, sometimes I'm a little scary.'

'Not at all,' Ryosuke tried to reassure her.

'You should get going,' Rin told them, 'or you two will be late for your afternoon lectures.'

'Yes,' Kaori said then, to Ryosuke, she added, 'I'll see you around. Maybe we can grab a cup of coffee later.'

Ryosuke felt his eyes darting towards Rin then, he looked at Kaori and, as firmly as he could, he said:

'Sure, please let me know whenever you and Hojo-senpai are free.'

'We will,' Rin promised.

'Perfect,' Ryosuke said.

He noticed Kaori's disappointed expression and that made him walk away from the couple as fast as he could without looking like he was in a hurry. Then, as soon as he made it into the building, he increased his pace until he found himself in front of the anatomy laboratory where the first years were about to start their very first lecture on the subject. Ryosuke was about to open the door to step inside when, coming from behind him, he heard someone calling his name.

'Yes?' he turned round to see a short bespectacled young guy.

'I'm Yamashita Tatsuro,' the guy replied, 'I'm also in the first year.'

'Nice to meet you,' Ryosuke said.

'Listen,' Tatsuro said, 'I've seen you talking to Hojo-senpai,' he stopped speaking as if he were trying to gather enough courage to say what he said next, 'I hope you won't take this the wrong way but, I think it's weird.'

'Weird?' Ryosuke asked.

'Yes,' Tatsuro replied, 'with you being who you are and he being who he is, it's weird you'd be friends.'

'What exactly are you talking about?' Ryosuke asked using a neutral tone of voice.

'You're the heir of the Takahashi Medical Group,' Tatsuro said, 'and Hojo-senpai is the heir of the Katagiri Hospital Consortium, I read on the Japanese Journal of Medicine that they're one of your main competitors.'

Ryosuke was shocked in so many levels that it took him a couple of seconds to come up with a reply:

'Hojo-senpai just took me out for lunch,' he explained, 'we're not friends.'

'Ah,' Tatsuro said, 'that's weird though.'

'What is?' Ryosuke asked doing his utmost to be patient.

'He's not one who…how should I put it?' Tatsuro asked himself, 'he doesn't usually interact with his kohai.'

'He doesn't?' Ryosuke asked.

'Nope,' the guy replied, he then frowned and said, 'you don't really know much about him, do you?'

'I've just met him,' Ryosuke admitted and, in an attempt to stop the conversation, he said, 'I'm sorry but I've got to go.'

'I know,' Tatsuro said, 'I'm also enrolled in this class.'

Ryosuke bit his tongue to refrain himself from saying something like, 'lucky me.' Instead, he just walked into the laboratory followed by Tatsuro who, to Ryosuke's annoyance, decided to take the seat right next to his. Unfortunately, the arrival of their lecturer prevented him from finding a good reason to swap places and, because of this, Ryosuke saw himself being paired with Tatsuo to be lab partners for the rest of the term.

With everything that had happened to him in the past hour, Ryosuke found it harder to concentrate on the lesson than it should have been. Thankfully, the lecturer wasn't set on explaining anything incredibly advanced and limited himself with telling them which part of the curriculum would be covered during that semester and the scoring system he liked using to determine their final marks. Since it wasn't exactly rocket science, Ryosuke decided to use the part of his brain which wasn't paying attention to the lecturer to start trying to put some order into his very confused thoughts.

He continued this process when the lesson finished and, after politely declining Tatsuro's offer to 'hang out,' Ryosuke rushed to his FC, eager to get behind its steering wheel as quickly as he could. Starting up the engine, he let himself be soothed by the 13B's purr and only when he calmed his nerves a bit, he decided he was ready to drive home. During the way, he started enumerating the too many questions which needed an answer, beginning with the most simple of them all: what did Rin Hojo want from him?

Ryosuke could flatter himself and think that the guy was genuinely attracted by the FC but something told him that Rin was used to seeing sports cars all the time and he doubted that his all-stock car would be anything special to someone like him. He also wanted to know if Rin was aware of his identity; yet again, his instinct told him that the older man knew exactly who he was talking to and didn't really mind at all. Then there was the issue of Rin's fiancée: that Kaori girl had definitely thrown him off balance.

Never before in his life he had encountered a person who could read him as accurately as the girl did and, in all honesty, he hadn't enjoyed the experience. He blamed it on the fact that, believing himself safe, he had let his guard down way too much but, the next time, if there was one, he would be much better prepared: he would not let her trick him into answering any seemingly harmless questions and would wear the same poker face mask he'd worn for the past three years and which made him virtually unreadable to everybody.

Much later that evening when his parents had finally gone to sleep, Ryosuke grabbed the FC's keys and, for the first time in his life, he went out without telling anyone where he was going. When he stepped into the garage, he saw that he wasn't the only one with that idea and would have laughed seeing Keisuke's startled expression finding his older brother there but then Ryosuke noticed something which stunned him instead.

'What…' he started, he stopped and tried again, 'what the heck have you done to your hair?'

'You like it?' Keisuke asked shaking his head which was now covered with bleached spikes.

'Why did you do that?' Ryosuke asked him fighting to keep a reasonably calm tone of voice.

Keisuke refused to answer the question.

'What about school?' Ryosuke asked him next, 'and will our parents say when they see you?'

'Those old geezers won't care,' Keisuke finally said, 'and as per school, I've already spoken to the Principal.'

'You have?'

'Yes,' Keisuke said, he smirked and added, 'I've made him an offer he couldn't refuse.'

'Keisuke…'

'Aniki, chill,' Keisuke told him, 'I simply said that if he doesn't break my balls about my hair or, basically anything else, I'll go to school every day like a good boy and I won't cause any trouble so he doesn't have to ruin his image of Mr Perfect Principal in front of the parental units. It was rather moving to see how happy he was.'

'Keisuke…'

'Mind you,' he continued, looking, if possible, even naughtier, 'I didn't tell him that this year I have an extra incentive to show up at school every day.'

'What is that?' Ryosuke was almost afraid to ask.

'There's a very cute girl in the first year,' Keisuke said, 'I'm thinking of asking her out one of these days.'

'Keisuke,' Ryosuke felt the need to say, 'I kind of wish you found yourself another reason to go to school.'

'Aniki, I thought you'd be happy,' Keisuke said, 'I'm going to do exactly what you asked me to.'

'Are you?' Ryosuke asked him sceptically.

'Yeah,' Keisuke replied, 'I'll go to school every day, I'll study as hard as I can to keep the parents off my case and I'll behave myself so that I don't cause any trouble while I'm at school. That's pretty cool of me, don't you think?'

'I guess,' Ryosuke replied not sounding too convinced.

'Anyway,' Keisuke said changing topic, 'are you going out?'

'Yes,' Ryosuke replied.

'Really?' Keisuke asked not hiding his surprise.

'Yes,' Ryosuke repeated, this time smiling a little.

'Where are you going?' Keisuke asked him.

'For a drive,' Ryosuke replied, 'I want to get some practice with the car.'

'Right,' Keisuke said, 'where are you going to go for that?'

'I don't know yet,' Ryosuke replied, 'why?'

'Well,' Keisuke said, 'wherever you go, stay away from the industrial area tonight.'

'Why?' Ryosuke asked him, his smile replaced by a worried frown, 'what's going to happen there?'

'Nothing major,' Keisuke replied.

'Keisuke…'

'It's just a bunch of losers who have stepped into our territory,' Keisuke explained, 'we just gotta tell them to get the hell out of here.'

'Keisuke,' Ryosuke said, 'I don't want you to get into a fight or…'

'Aniki, chill, alright?' Keisuke stopped him, 'there won't be any fight if they're smart enough.'

'And if they're not?'

'Well,' Keisuke said getting serious too, 'then we'll have to show them who the boss is.'

'I don't think that's a good idea,' Ryosuke insisted, 'why don't you come with me instead?'

'No way,' Keisuke replied, 'Aniki, I'm their leader, how bad would it look for my group if I didn't show up?'

'But…'

'Aniki, I'll be fine,' Keisuke reassured him grabbing his helmet, 'don't worry about me, okay?'

Without waiting for an answer, he put his helmet on, got onto his motorbike taking off with it an instant later.

'You're asking the impossible,' Ryosuke muttered while he watched the back of the Honda.

Doing his best to recover from the umpteenth shock of that day, he tightened his grip on the FC's key while he forced himself to remember what had brought him to the garage in the first place. Taking a deep breath, he unlocked the driver's side door and, climbing into the car he leant his head against the seat's headrest, closed his eyes and tried to clear his mind from all thoughts which could potentially upset his peace of mind, starting with the conversation he'd just had with his younger brother.

Takayuki was right, Ryosuke decided. He probably smothered Keisuke too much when, in all honesty, it did seem like his little brother could very well take care of himself. That thought made him feel a little lonely.

Pushing aside that feeling, he turned the engine on, he drove his car out of the garage and, pressing the button on the tiny remote, he closed the gate behind him. He then took the FC all the way down to the street and, once there, he started driving aimlessly around the residential area where he'd lived his whole life deciding to let the Mazda take him wherever it wanted to go. He was only mildly surprised when, twenty five minutes later, he found himself cruising up the Mt Akagi's pass.

Ryosuke had covered that road a few times with his father and even with the school's bus as they travelled all the way up Ono Lake for their annual science trip but, now that he thought of it, it was the first time he drove up the pass at night. Instead of finding it spooky, he felt that the environment which surrounded the pass rather suited his current mental state for, right now, he craved the tranquillity and solitude the road provided him with and the further up he drove, the more relaxed he felt.

By the time he reached the summit, Ryosuke had also reached the peak of his concentration.

Turning the car round, he started driving it downhill very slowly at first. He wanted to make sure he kept control of the car at all times and he used the first few turns to start practicing his breaking and accelerating. He experimented how much pressure he needed to apply to the pedals before he pushed it too much or too little, always keeping a low enough speed so that, if things got out of hand, he could stop before the FC would go anywhere near the wall or the guardrail.

This timid exploration lasted for quite a few runs and it wasn't until he had completed the course five times that he felt confident enough to start driving reasonably fast. He climbed uphill while travelling at around sixty percent of what he predicted the car could give him, finding it very interesting how he had to proportionally increase his reaction times in everything he did. He also noticed how, the fastest he went, the more efficient the car seemed to become, almost as if the engine itself was telling him to push it further.

Getting to the steeper part of the road, Ryosuke started trying to work out how late and how little he could brake before getting to a corner and the gear which would keep the rev count high enough for the engine to maintain a constant push as the FC climbed up the hill. He had just exited a left-hander feeling particularly proud of the way the FC had gone around it and, he was about to aim for the following right-hand turn when he heard the sound of an engine and, immediately after that, he saw the headlights of a car which was driving towards him at a very high speed.

Slowing down as much as he could without stalling the engine, Ryosuke had just about enough time to realise that there were two cars coming his way and, even more importantly, they seemed to be racing each other. This fact, together with his innate self-preservation, made him pull over to the side of the road stopping the FC just as the two cars flew by his Mazda. Feeling his arms and legs trembling with equal parts of fear as well as excitement, he glanced at the rear view mirror and said:

'What on earth was that?'

To be continued…