fandom: Initial D
title: Invincible.
pairing: Ryousuke + Takumi
rating: pg-13 (we hope for now)
description: Ryousuke suddenly appears at Takumi 's house to ask him a favor, but is there something underlying his request? (Note: Shounen-ai)
Disclaimer – Initial D was created by Mr. Shuichi Shigeno and so it's not mine, but I love the characters very much. So here we are.
Invincible.
By Miyamoto Yui
Chapter 10 – Bittersweet.
"Takumi?"
Itsuki's hands remained on my shoulders, but I felt paralyzed.
I know I've grown in these few months. Whenever I look into the bathroom mirror, my reflection is the person I used to think would only exist inside my mind.
The harder I watch myself with all that's going on, I'm forced to confront what I've been pushing to the secluded corners of my mind.
All around us, the air was filled with spectator's murmurs, and cars seeking free spaces to park. The increasing volume told the obvious: The battle would shortly begin.
Behind me, I heard a car park not too far from us.
"Forget it for now." Itsuki took his hands from my shoulders and turned around to face the road. "And enjoy the time you have left with us."
Kenji was already by the side of the road watching for any activity as Iketani turned away from the guardrail to go stand next to him.
From across the street, near the shrine entrance, there was a young girl in her school uniform. I instantly thought of when I first invited Natsuki to my battles.
"What? You came all the way on your bike?"
"Yeah, I did."
"It was so far. You should have-"
"I came because I made a promise." She grinned as she kept her bookbag behind her as we were walking to the school entrance. "And now, I think I like you better than before because of it."
She winked at me and waved goodbye. I stood there dumbfounded until Itsuki waved his hand in my face to get my attention.
As their footsteps came closer towards our direction, I could clearly hear her say, "They're starting soon!"
Even though I couldn't see her face at all, there was a smile in her voice. Shortly, a tall shadow came walking behind her. They walked until they were almost diagonally across from where we standing.
The tall figure's white pants could lightly be seen and I wondered where I'd seen that style before.
Iketani took out his phone and announced. "It's almost 10."
He put his phone away and I took mine out, checking if Mika had replied to my message. There were no new messages.
The tall figure put their hand over their mouth to clear their throat. "I think we should stand here."
"Okay."
That's Ryousuke's voice!
Their figures stopped walking, but as he crossed his arms, she lightly tugged on them with one hand. I squinted to see his head turn to look down at her.
"I'm so happy that you finally brought me here."
"I'm glad."
What was going on?
I stood behind Itsuki, Iketani, and Kenji, hoping that the people across us wouldn't notice us. I sighed and turned away from all of them.
I'd been agonizing all this time to find out the real situation was like this! Why did you make me go through this whole ordeal all week?
I faced the road again and a hush passed by all the people who were waiting patiently on the road's borders. Without warning, it was like a blanket of silence settled. All of a sudden, there was a loud roar, later followed by the piercing noise of screeching tires.
It's been a while since I'd been an onlooker so this moment was a luxury. I was really looking forward to coming here since I told Itsuki about the battle a month ago. Wataru sounded very proud of his new recruit. Considering how strict he was, the new female driver, Yano Sesora, had to be exceptional.
One minute and a half into the battle, the report was that they were about to clear the first section.
But out of nowhere, I heard the girl cry out, "Are you okay?"
A lot of coughing followed her question.
Kenji, Iketani, and Itsuki were totally immersed in discussing about how Sesora was trained for half a year by Iwase Kyouko. During that time, unexpectedly, someone came to their practice run and Kyouko was asked to consider turning pro. So, the three of them were clueless about what was happening near the shrine.
"I'm going to see something."
"Okay." Itsuki replied.
Iketani put his hand up as Kenji nodded his head.
I looked at the empty road and walked across it.
Suddenly, the girl shouted, "Ryou!"
So, I ran just in time to hold my arms out to the slightly swaying figure. He leaned against me.
His skin was burning.
"He has a high fever." I tried to keep my composure even though I was inwardly panicking while simultaneously thinking of what to do.
"Fujiwara?" He questioned, amazed that I was there.
He'd never be this irresponsible! How could he not know he'd reached his limit?!
"I don't know." She reached her hands out to lightly touch his face.
I took a slow breath at the tenderness shared between them, feeling like an intruder and that I could break in two right then and there.
"We'll call the ambu-" I suggested, but Ryousuke interrupted, "NO."
He coughed again. "I don't want to go to the hospital. I'm fine. I must stay until Kenta has passed through."
I helped him stand up straight, but he stumbled and leaned on me even more than before, but he was trying his best to act as normal as he could for the girl. When I put my hand against his back, his polo shirt was completely drenched from sweat.
"No, we have to! Don't be stubborn." I tried to reason with him. "Aren't you a doctor?"
"That's why I'm telling you I'll feel better once I go home." The command in his voice made it sound final.
There was no other way.
"Fine, but I can't wait until Kenta comes."
The girl and I took him towards his car. I put his arm over my shoulder and we all walked together. Itsuki ran over to see what was wrong.
"I'm going to bring Ryousuke-san home."
"Okay," Itsuki replied, glancing at both of all, perplexed by the situation.
I patted Ryousuke's pant pockets to check where his keys were and pulled them out. I gave the keys to Itsuki so he could open the passenger side door for us. After opening the door, we tried to put him into the FC's backseat. This wasn't an easy feat.
Itsuki carefully adjusted the passenger seat down and the girl went into the back. She pulled him as I took his arm from my shoulder. I pushed him into the seat as he looked on tiredly. Finally, he sat down. The weight of his body went towards his right and his head landed in the girl's lap.
His hair was sticking to his forehead. The girl's hair covered her concerned face as she patted his face. "Ryou, I told you not to push yourself even though we made a promise."
I looked away and closed the door.
Itsuki stood in front of me. "Call me if you need me to pick you up."
I nodded my head and went into the driver's side of the car, knowing that they had already passed the second section.
After I turned on the ignition, I looked at them sitting in the back. "We're going now."
"Yes."
Going as fast I could, I skidded onto the road before we'd interrupt the battle.
Looking at the rearview mirror to make sure no one was behind me, I saw the girl's face stare at Ryousuke. I'd avert my eyes and concentrate on the road, but I couldn't help but catch glimpses of their intimacy.
Were Mika and I like that?
I was nervous about him being upset since I didn't ask to drive his car, even if it was an emergency.
All around, I felt uncomfortable: Curious about her, comparing the driver that Keisuke introduced to me on Akagi and the guy lying down with a fever, and feeling all-too-familiar with a car I never imagined I'd handle in this lifetime.
As expected of his expertise, the FC handled like a lullaby. I wasn't noticing how much I was pressing on the accelerator if I hadn't read the speedometer.
The feel of the leather around the steering wheel between my fingers,
seeing through the perfectly transparent glass protecting the rev counter,
an undistorted spotless dashboard,
the crispness of the stainless carpet,
even the angle of the modified seats...
The FC had a completely different personality from any car I'd ever been in.
Complete finesse. Inside and out, this car doesn't look its age at all.
By the time we got to the bottom of the mountain, the girl looked up from watching Ryousuke. I was hoping she hadn't caught me looking at her.
I had to admit though. If this was Ryousuke's taste, she was very cute.
"Hey."
"Yes?"
"Thank you for all this, Fujiwara-san."
My eyes widened in astonishment.
Come to think about it, she wasn't surprised about me helping Ryousuke.
"How'd you know-"
"You are Fujiwara Takumi-san, right?" The tone gave away that she knew more about me than I'd thought for meeting someone for the first time.
"Ah!" Her face lit up as Ryousuke mumbled, "Fujiwara, I don't want to go to the hospital."
"I told you we're not."
I turned into the expressway and paid the toll-booth fee.
"Oh, you shouldn't." She was trying to reach for her bag, but I put my hand up. "It's okay."
She conceded and nodded her head.
"So, why do you know me?"
"You're the one in the pictures!"
"Pictures?" I'm beginning to hate repeating myself with everyone recently.
"There's a group picture of Project D in his room."
"Oh, that one? We took that in Hakone as a memorial photo."
Didn't she say pictures with an 's'?
"So where'd you take the one that's inside his wallet?"
"Excuse me?" I coughed and hit my chest. Gunma seemed far away though we were already at the border.
It was going to be a long hour and a half.
"I have no idea what you're talking about."
"Oh, never mind then."
"I'd better give you the address to the house so that you know exactly where we're going." She giggled a little. "Some people seem to think he and Kei-chan live on Akagi-san."
"It's okay. I've been there before."
She gasped. "My cousin usually keeps to himself so I'm surprised."
"You're cousins?"
You look closer than that.
Disbelief and relief clashed inside of me. Somehow, I wasn't totally convinced.
"He's my tutor too. So because I got into high school, he said he'd finally bring me to a battle." She sighed. "I was so excited, but then, I thought something was weird when he picked me up."
"What do you mean?"
"Ryou isn't the type to be absent-minded, but today, he looked like he was in a daze." I saw her in the mirror as she blinked and positioned her arms over his head protectively. "This guy plans everything to the last drop so I was worried if something was wrong. But Kei-chan left early this morning so I couldn't ask him about it."
"By the way, what's your name?"
"Takahashi Tsugumi."
"Are you a car-lover like your two cousins?" I tried to joke to lighten the mood.
It's difficult for me to hear you know so much about him.
"Not particularly. It's just interesting when they talk about it though." Again, I could feel the brightness within her voice. "They both found something they truly love. I hope that I can feel that same way too someday."
She pushed her hair behind her shoulders so that it wouldn't bother Ryousuke. "How about you? How do you feel after doing Project D?"
"I've never really thought about it, actually. It all passed by so fast." My mouth curved into a smile as I watched the lights of other drivers on the road. "But I had a lot of fun. It was very challenging, but I felt I did all that I could do. So, I have no regrets."
Or so I thought…
"I always wanted to talk to you." I could feel her eyes on me now.
"Oh?"
"Whenever Ryou mentions you, he seems to really enjoy it."
So he really did talk about me to you, but how much did he tell you?
"He talks about me? I feel like Keisuke-san and I were always exchanging notes when Ryousuke-san wasn't within earshot." I found myself laughing recalling when we were in Tsukuba-san to battle the Purple Shadow.
After our first debriefing and Ryousuke went into a van to type something for the hospital, Keisuke rose his hand and called me over to a corner of the parking lot. He gave a perturbed look and asked, "Can you translate that?"
"I could barely catch enough for what he was trying to tell me."
"Che. You looked so sure too."
"Because I got my part down."
He ran his fingers through his spiky hair. "Well, fine. Next time, we should compare what we heard."
"Okay."
He kicked the air when he put his hands inside his pant pockets. "Aniki!"
"I can imagine." She put her hands over her mouth to laugh. "But yes, he tells me about you from time to time."
"I hope it isn't all bad."
"No, nothing like that." Tsugumi gave a big sigh of relief. "After you both raced on Akina, I thought he'd be sad or disappointed after losing, but it wasn't that way at all. He was smiling so much as he explained the battle to me, and how he felt behind the wheel."
I watched her mouth and then saw her thrilled expression.
"I'll never forget that because he said, 'He's the one I'll choose.' I didn't get it because he didn't explain what he meant, but later on, he asked you to join his team."
It was then that Ryousuke breathed even more deeply in his sleep.
I don't know what to think about you anymore.
*/*/*/*/*/00000
When we got back, I helped him get into the house as Tsugumi turned on the lights. We took off his shoes and unsteadily walked up the stairs together. She pulled his sleeve and arm as I pushed his back. Tsugumi opened the door to his room and I pulled him along.
Luckily, we got him into bed safely. After Tsugumi pulled his legs onto the bed, I pulled the covers over him.
She sat down on the bed and pushed his hair away from his eyes. Then, she got up and we went downstairs.
I sat at the dining table really wondering how close they were.
"I don't want to leave him alone." Dejectedly, she sighed as she got us each a glass of water to drink. Sitting down across me in one of the steel seats, she explained, "But if I told my parents about what happened, they'll tell my aunt and uncle about it."
Puzzled, I questioned, "Don't they live together?"
"No, this is Ryou and Kei-chan's house. Their parents live somewhere else." She didn't go into depth about it. "And since Kei-chan's in Shizuoka now, Ryou's the only one here."
"How are you going to get home?"
"I can ask my friends or my dad to pick me up. Don't worry about me."
"What are we going to do?" She looked from side to side in worry.
"I'll take care of him. Just leave it to me."
"Are you sure? I'm still thinking of an excuse so I can stay here. I usually sleep in the guest room."
"It's okay. Trust me."
"I do."
Since it was a little after midnight, she decided to call her parents to pick her up.
"Fujiwara-san?" She brought her glass up to eye-level and rolled her thin wrist around, the water swishing around.
"Yes?" I drank a sip from my glass.
"I know I shouldn't ask, but…" She put the glass down onto the table. They made a clinking sound as their surfaces touched. Her eyes wouldn't look into mine. "Are you really leaving Gunma?"
Her sweet, bell-like voice echoed quietly throughout the room.
"Yes."
"They both told me this morning. Kei-chan says he's been waiting for you."
And what about Ryousuke?
"Oh."
We became very quiet. Since she was hesitating to go further, I asked, "Why are you asking?"
I started to feel my heart slowly beat faster.
"Because Ryou won't say anything more about it."
You want to say more…
I now know why, from just watching you, you can get this close to him.
"It's no big deal." I tried to push it aside. "Why do you sound so serious? You've just gotten into high school. You should be worrying more about that than about someone you've just met."
"I don't feel like this is the first time though." She shook her head and her eyes blinked as she stared straight at me.
It really was hard to ignore that Tsugumi was even more captivating than her cousins.
I drank some more of my water.
"Please don't patronize me." She drank from her glass too. "Ryou scolds me enough as it is. Let's not talk about Kei-chan in that department…"
"I'm not. I wouldn't think about you like that at all. You didn't even freak out about what happened tonight."
"Oh, that's because…I mean that's why I was becoming worried in the first place…argh." She sighed. "I'm not making sense at all. I'm sorry. It's just hard to explain everything from the very beginning."
"No problem."
Does it have to do with what Keisuke was telling me?
"He's more peaceful these days." But her own calmness was fading away too as her hands made fists over her knees. I could see it from across the table. She closed her eyes and when she opened them, she had tears in her eyes. "I'm so glad because this fever is nothing compared to-"
Her phone suddenly played the main theme of a very popular video game called "Wings of the Crystal Rivers".
Compared to what?
"I've got to go now." She wiped her eyes. "I'm happy I got to finally meet you. Bye Fujiwara-san!"
"Me too. See you Tsugumi-chan."
She closed the door behind her and I felt like a little light had left.
I truly understand why he opened up to her.
Again, like the last time I was here, the stillness took over. I stood up and reached into my pocket to take out my phone. I searched for Itsuki's number, ready to call, but my eyes looked up towards his room.
I want to be absolutely sure that you'll be fine.
Instead of calling, I sent a message to Itsuki not to wait up for me because I'd contact him in the morning. Also, I asked him if could he call my dad to tell him where I was.
I put the phone back into my pocket.
I didn't want to talk anyone at the moment. All of her words were a lot for me to take in.
Along with it, the uneasiness arose once more. My lingering doubts wanted to eat me alive and I could no longer pretend not to be aware of my feelings.
My eyes again searched around the silent house and all its unanswered questions.
I walked up the stairs and into the hallway leading to his room.
I hope he doesn't mind me being here.
Going into the bathroom, I got a towel and soaked it in the sink under cold water. Then, I squeezed it out and stepped quietly into his room.
I put the cold towel on his forehead and sat to one side, watching him as he breathed in deeply.
"Why would someone like you be chasing me?"
I regretted saying my thoughts aloud as he stirred, his eyes blinking rapidly and trying to look into my direction.
Maybe it was because he was hallucinating with his fever, but he reached out for my face between his hands. Then, he pulled my shoulders and wrapped his arms around me like a pillow.
His fever wasn't going down at all. I knew I should have brought him to the hospital but I trusted him when he said those words because he was the expert.
Apparently, he was still dreaming.
"Kei, don't get mad. Everything was my fault," he whispered softly into my ear. "I should've just let him go gracefully instead of protesting."
You were opposing to me going?
"I don't want to make the same mistake like with Kaori." His voice rumbled. "It's my selfishness…"
Hugging me firmly, he coughed. "Don't ever confuse Takumi like that."
When he speaks with Keisuke, he says my first name…
"Yeah." I answered, poorly imitating Keisuke's voice.
"Don't tell him anything more."
"I promise."
He smiled peacefully and nodded slowly, letting go of me. I sat up and stayed there without moving a muscle, watching him stupefied by the fact that he was more affected by my words than I'd thought.
Their bittersweet words swirl in my head. As I stare at you, I'm trying my hardest to see what everybody else has probably understood.
But what no one knows is that I've spent a lot of time thinking about you ever since you'd given me those roses.
You were actually there waiting for me to race you and even then, I thought it was a joke. Someone with an unbeatable record was challenging a newcomer like me.
When I beat you, it was a miracle because although I didn't want to lose, I thought maybe it still wasn't true. You had lost on Akina, but that mountain is a part of me so there was no way I wanted to give it to you.
All along, I don't think you lost that race because I'm still not on the same plane as you are.
So when you asked me to join your team, if Itsuki hadn't said all those things on the school roof, I was seriously thinking maybe I shouldn't. If I failed, it would be in your world and my pride couldn't handle it.
Race after race, I've watched you spend countless hours do all the work behind the scenes so that Keisuke and I could only focus on our driving techniques. You never complained about it.
I did all I was supposed to do. And now, I've graduated from you.
That was the deal, wasn't it?
But why…
I leaned forward and found myself lightly holding onto his upper arms. My face shadowed over his.
Why is that when anyone else says or does something, it doesn't really bother me?
I hated myself because I could feel the tears coming to my eyes.
But the very moment I knew you didn't need me anymore, why did it hurt so much?
"When I finally got over it, that's when you show up in my house."
I closed my mouth, shocked about what I'd just said. I just wanted to get out of his room and leave his house all together.
However, when I was getting up, he caught my hand. I turned my head to see that his eyes were closed, still in the realm of his dream.
Weakly, he mumbled, "Takumi, don't leave me."
Powerless, I sat back down on the bed.
Tsuzuku…/To be continued…
Author's note: I've read this manga both in Japanese and English, played all the versions of this game in the arcade and multiple consoles, and watched this anime a LOT (understatement). Yet, I repeatedly go back to find the holes I didn't understand.
Funny thing is that when I first thought about this fic, I kept on thinking, "I want an ending for Ryousuke and Takumi (with a slice of punky Kei)!" Now, I find myself seeking the holes that confused me in the first place and unwrapping them once more, one by one.
I think I'm kind of glad how long the manga and anime were because I could understand each of them from an older POV. It doesn't make it easier to write though…
I've included Tsugumi here because she is a precious character to me. Ever since her first appearance, I've been fascinated about what kind of story she had with her cousins. Sadly, we don't see her so much, but she's one person I was really interested in knowing.
If I pour my love into one fic, then I can come back to it feeling satisfied in another passing decade, remembering the feelings I had without regret.
I hope you're enjoying this!
Love,
Yui
7/3/2016 10:36 PM – Los Angeles
7/4/2016 2:36 PM - Tokyo