Chapter 4

Keisuke came home the next morning after spending the night with Kyoko and went straight to the kitchen for some coffee.

His brother was already up and whistling about in the kitchen. Seemingly normal behavior for most, but Ryosuke wasn't exactly normal. Those who knew him well, knew that his expression of happiness is always vague and only truly known to himself.

"You're up early for Sunday bro" he noted.

"I guess I can say the same about you Keisuke."

"Touché, Kyoko had to go to work today. Put more water in the kettle yeah?"

Keisuke was sitting at the kitchen island as his brother busied himself with breakfast, then his phone started ringing; it was Kenta.

"Hey Kenta, what's up?" he answered.

Keisuke listened to the loud buzz of Kenta's hasty explanation followed by a bombardment of questions.

"Relax" he finally told Kenta.

Kenta remained quiet.

"I'll talk to you later" he told his friend and hung up.

Ryosuke handed Keisuke a large mug of coffee and joined him at the island.

"Thanks. Hey bro, did you go driving yesterday?"

"Yes" Ryosuke answered coolly.

"Do you usually do this with pretty girls in the passenger seat?"

Keisuke could feel a smirk creep on his lips as his older brother grew as silent as the night.

"What exactly do you mean?" he asked Keisuke with a serious expression.

"Kenta said he saw you doing an impressive downhill yesterday afternoon, he also mentioned a pretty girl riding along with you."

"It was only lunch with a friend from school"

Seeing as his brother would give no further information on the subject, Keisuke decided to leave it alone.

"Well, I'm sure she is nice" Keisuke commented as he took his coffee upstairs.

The next few days Keisuke felt as if he was suddenly the responsible older cousin. He had picked up Tsugumi from school every day since Monday; it was now Thursday.

"What could he possibly be doing? I waited almost thirty minutes for him!" yelled Tsugumi.

"Hey at least you still have me" he said to her pointedly.

"Yes, thank you for picking me up Keisuke. I just want to know what he is doing. You know being late is not like him at all."

"I'll call him so he remembers about your tutoring. You can interrogate him later." He suggested.

Of course Keisuke already had a hunch where is older brother had been all week; he was with his so proclaimed female friend.

A half an hour later, who else should be creeping up the stairs but his own brother.

"Ryosuke!" Tsugumi yelled.

They both saw him cringe at the sound of her voice.

"Tsugumi I'm sorry I was-"

Tsugumi put her hand up to stop him, she had had enough excuses.

Keisuke had to applaud his younger cousin; she made Ryosuke cringe and no one could ever do that.

"Ryosuke I won't be mad if you just tell me why I have to have Keisuke come to my rescue every day this week."

Ryosuke sighed.

"Alright I'll tell you"

His older brother joined them at the kitchen island to finally reveal this mystery girl.

He explained how he met Mizuki Ishikata. She was indeed the girl Kenta had seen and that is who he has been with all week.

"Okay so are you going to do anything about it?" Tsugumi asked.

Ryosuke looked at her like he had no idea what she meant.

"I swear bro it's like you're some kind of asexual being" he joked.

"Reference to biology Keisuke?" his cousin said with an incredulous tone.

"I remember some things from school" he said defensively.

"Besides that Ryosuke, if you like this girl why don't you ask her out?"

"I don't know. I'll think about it, I don't know if I'll have any time."

"Well good luck bro. I'm off to see Kyoko." He said walking to the garage.

"Wait…who is Kyoko?" Tsugumi asked.

"Bye!" he yelled as he shut the door.

Keisuke knew that his cousin would be mad at him later, but he would eventually introduce her to Kyoko.

He was about half way to Saitama when he realized who might be at the apartment. He quickly grabbed his phone to call Kyoko.

"Hello" she answered.

"Hey I'm almost to your place, is your cousin still there?"

"No I don't think so. She was getting ready when I left this afternoon. She has her parent's car so if you don't see a black Altezza in the lot, you should be safe."

"Okay good. Will you be back soon?" he asked hopeful.

"Yeah I just need to wait for my exam grade"

"Don't worry I'm sure you did great. See you soon."

After he hung up with Kyoko, he took his foot off the gas just a little too slow down. He didn't want to take any chances running into Ayame.

When he finally got to the apartment, he scanned the parking lot for a black Altezza. The only one nearby was parked a block away on the street.

Just in case, he knocked loudly on the front door before coming in. The apartment was quiet with no Ayame in sight.

Keisuke sighed with relief. He went straight to Kyoko's room and leaped onto her comfortable bed. He was about to doze off when he heard the bathroom door open.

"Oh my gosh!" Ayame screamed.

"Ayame? What the hell, I thought you were gone. Put some clothes on!" he yelled.

Ayame had come out of the bathroom with nothing but a very short towel wrapped around her body.

"Oh Keisuke stop it, don't be shy" she cooed.

"I'm serious! Put some damn clothes on! Cover up! Something!"

Before he could get up and run away she started walking toward him with a lustful look in her eyes.

"A good looking street racer like you can have more than one girl right?"

Keisuke was about to make a run for the door when Ayame's towel dropped to her feet. He was suddenly frozen and before he could even think of moving, someone came in the room.

"What the hell is going on here!" Kyoko screamed.

Ayame quickly re-wrapped her towel around herself. Keisuke was about to explain, but before he could Kyoko literally erupted.

"GET OUT!" she yelled at both of them.

Ayame wasted no time in grabbing her purse and bolting out the door.

"Kyoko wait!" Keisuke yelled.

With an amazing amount of strength she punched him right across the cheek, then grabbed him by the collar of his shirt, threw him at the front door, and kicked him square in the ribs; the kick was so powerful Keisuke smacked right into the gate separating the first and second floor. He was so out of breath that he couldn't speak. He was able to look Kyoko in the eyes and all he saw was so much pain and rage, it hurt his heart. She ripped her apartment key from his key ring and threw them at him before slamming the door.

Keisuke managed to drag himself to the door and bang on it and somehow he found his voice.

"Kyoko! Kyoko please! Let me explain! Kyoko!"

Nothing. The apartment was silent.

He looked behind him to search for Ayame so he could possibly kill her. She was nowhere to be seen. He had no idea where he got the strength, but he managed to use the staircase rails as a crutch and make it to the inside of his FD.

Keisuke pulled out his phone and immediately dialed his brother's number.

"Ryosuke here"

"Bro, get some ice and bandages, I'm coming home" he breathed.

"I thought you were with Kyoko?"

Keisuke hung up the phone. He started driving at a suicidal speed but he could no longer hold anything in; he threw the car in neutral, pulled over, and slammed on the brakes. He leaned against his steering wheel and let the horn echo as the sleeve of his shirt soak.