Dreaming of Akina

Chapter Twelve

Even many days later, Yoshiki would still not know how he managed to sense that his Cosmo was getting dangerously close to the wall. In any case, he felt beyond grateful he did for it allowed him to slam the brake pedal so hard that, even though he was wearing his seatbelt, the inertia sent him crashing against the steering wheel.

Thankfully his arms acted as some sort of coil and that prevented him from smashing his head against it. Sadly, the same could not be said for his poor Mazda: despite the sudden stop, the car still scratched its right side against the brick wall and Yoshiki didn't need to get out of the car to know that he'd ruined that part of the bodywork.

'Shit,' he muttered, feeling somewhat relieved to hear that the engine was still running.

From his own car, and after having landed back onto all four of its tyres, Bunta saw the moment when Yoshiki's Mazda crashed against the wall, sending a few sparks flying all over the place.

'Holy crap,' Bunta whispered as, he too, halted his car.

He then jumped out of it and found himself running towards the yellow Cosmo, letting a sigh of relief when seeing that Yoshiki seemed to be alright. He walked to the left side of the car and, tapping onto the passenger's window, he waited till Yoshiki leant towards that side's door and rolled the window's pane down.

'Hey,' Bunta said, 'you're okay?'

'Yeah,' Yoshiki replied, 'why did you stop?' he then asked.

'Er…' Bunta hesitated, 'well, you've crashed,' he replied, feeling rather stupid for having to point out the very obvious.

'So?' Yoshiki asked, 'the engine's till running. I could now drive off and leave you here…'

'I don't think so,' Bunta said firmly, 'that would make you a bastard and you're a nice guy.'

Yoshiki stared at him for a few instants looking unsure as to what to say to that.

'You're right,' he finally said, 'I'm a nice guy…and you're nuts…'

'Yeah, they do say that about me,' a smiling Bunta replied scratching his cheek with the index finger of his right hand then, getting serious again, he added, 'what do we do now?'

'Go back to your car and drive ahead, I'd say we've finished for today,' Yoshiki replied.

'What about the race?' Bunta asked him.

'What about it?' Yoshiki asked back, 'you've won it, haven't you?'

'What? No…I…'

'Come on, don't make me say it again,' Yoshiki insisted, allowing for a bit of the anger he felt towards himself show through his voice.

'What about your reputation?' Bunta asked.

'My what?'

'You know,' Bunta replied, 'you're the team leader and…this is your home course…'

'Bunta,' Yoshiki said, 'just because I've lost one race doesn't mean I'm not able to beat anyone I want in here, besides, even the best drivers lose every now and then. Winning all the time can get pretty boring.'

'I guess you're right,' Bunta said then, staring at his opponent for a few instants, he turned round and walked back to his car, the engine of which was still on as well as its headlights.

A couple of minutes later, Takao, Yuuichi and the rest of the people there were stunned to see the two cars cruising towards the finish line at a relatively low speed. If that wasn't enough of a shock, the facts of seeing Bunta's car leading that of Yoshiki and all the scratches the Cosmo's paintwork now sported definitely freaked everyone out.

'What happened?' Takao asked his team leader, sounding almost hysterical.

'He's won, that's what's happened,' Yoshiki replied calmly.

'H-how?' Takao stuttered while looking from his leader to Bunta then back at his leader as if trying to figure out if this was some sort of weird nightmare.

'He did a beautiful ski drift,' Yoshiki replied pointing at Bunta with his thumb, 'I got distracted by it and I crashed my car. It was my fault.'

Bunta was rendered speechless witnessing the elegant way in which the older guy was accepting his defeat, making Bunta think that, whereas he'd won the race, Yoshiki had beaten him with his sportsmanship.

'I'd say we could call it a draw,' Bunta said, 'we could try to settle this some other time.'

'You want another race?' Yoshiki asked him incredulously.

'Well…I….'

'That's right!' Yuuichi finally managed to say for he'd remained very quiet throughout the entire exchange, probably unable to believe that his schoolmate had managed to beat such an obviously seasoned street racer.

'What?' Bunta asked him, almost afraid of the answer.

'You could come to Shibukawa and…'

'Yuuichi,' Bunta interrupted him, 'what in the heck are you talking about?'

'Let him finish, please,' Yoshiki said, 'I'm just curious,' he added looking at Takao who then glanced at Yuuichi.

'Well,' he said, 'there's a mountain pass where we live and…I don't know, you guys could race there.'

'Yuuichi…' Bunta started.

'That's an excellent idea,' Yoshiki said, 'I'll need some time to get my car fixed but, I agree. Gunma's not too far away from here so, I guess we could make it there fairly easily.'

'Alright,' Bunta agreed, not that he had much of an option, 'come whenever you want, I'm there most days.'

'Great,' Yoshiki said putting his hand forward for Bunta to shake it, 'that's a deal,' he said while he and Bunta shook hands.

'Yep,' Bunta replied.

'Now,' Yoshiki said, 'we'll let you go so you can enjoy the rest of the evening with your girlfriends.'

He and Takao then walked away from them without giving Bunta the time to correct him but then, noticing how pleased Seiko looked made him think that she didn't seem to mind being called his girlfriend all that much.

'What do we do now?' Fuka asked all of a sudden.

'I've got an idea,' Yuuichi replied, 'why don't we go for a walk along the port's promenade?'

Both the girls nodded their approval to the idea so, Bunta, seeing that the odds were against him, he agreed to the plan too.

'Alright,' he said, 'we'll have to drive there.'

All four of them got back into the cars and, driving away from Yoshiki and his group of friends who still seemed to be recovering from the shock of having seen his leader lose to some outsider kid who, by the way, had also beaten their other hero Takao.

Looking at the taillights of Yuuichi's Capella, Bunta felt grateful that they were walking out of this in one piece for he had feared that Yoshiki would get mad at him and would order to the members of his team to beat the crap out of both Bunta and Yuuichi.

'This is so beautiful!' Seiko's delighted exclamation took him out of his reverie and then, glancing over the steering wheel and towards the point the girl was indicating, he saw the harbour promenade which was illuminated by some streetlights and had a few kiosks selling beverages and food.

'Let's get something to eat,' Yuuichi proposed when they were all out of the cars.

'Great idea,' Bunta said, 'I'm starving.'

After getting some freshly steamed nikuman and a few cans of soda, the two couples walked side by side while munching their food away, laughing when, at some point, poor Yuuichi burnt himself with one particularly hot nikuman.

'Very funny,' the poor kid complained as he drank from his can of soda, trying to cool off his scalded tongue.

'Sit down in here,' Fuka suggested pointing at a nearby bench.

'Yeah,' Yuuichi agreed and, with that, Bunta and Seiko saw as Fuka started looking after Yuuichi, offering her own hankie to him in case he needed it.

'Oh Bunta, it's so pretty!' Seiko exclaimed all of a sudden, 'please let's go there!' she added indicating a nearby carousel that had white horses which were attached to beautifully crafted mini carriages.

'Guys, want to go too?' Bunta asked to both Yuuichi and Fuka who, for some reason, were staring at each other so intently that they didn't seem to hear his question.

'Let's go,' Seiko told him, grabbing him by his arm and dragging him away from his schoolmate. Deciding that it was better if he just did what she was telling him, Bunta followed her to the carousel and, after paying for a couple of tokens, they climbed into one of the carriages, realising a split second too late that the thing itself was pretty cramped. Yet again, it had probably been designed for kids…

'Cosy, huh?' he asked her sarcastically.

'It's so romantic,' she replied instead.

'Er…I…' Bunta stuttered finding her closeness to him a bit more than disturbing, not that he minded though, he only hoped that he wouldn't lose it.

'I think that Fuka and Yuuichi will get together after tonight,' Seiko announced.

'You think so?' Bunta asked her.

'I hope so,' she said, 'Fuka's been after Yuuichi for quite a while. Don't tell him that though!' she exclaimed.

'No, no,' he hurried to assure her then, laughing softly, he added, 'what's with Yuuichi though? He seems pretty popular with the girls…'

'He is,' Seiko replied, 'I've known him for a long time and he's always been like that.'

'Why?' Bunta asked, 'I mean, he's nothing special or…'

'Hey,' Seiko protested, 'he's your best friend, isn't he?'

'Best friend?' Bunta asked her sounding surprised then, after thinking about it for a short while, he nodded and said, 'I guess he is…'

'Well,' Seiko said, 'the thing is, he's a really sweet guy and girls like that.'

'Do they?' Bunta asked now sounding worried for he didn't think he could be considered the sweet type.

'Some of them do,' Seiko replied.

'What do you like?' Bunta managed to ask her.

She never replied for, right at that instant, the carousel started spinning and Seiko used that as an excuse not to answer to his question, instead, she seemed to be having such a good time that she seemed to be a lot younger than her nineteen years of age.

After that, Bunta and Seiko stepped out of the carriage and walked back to where they had left Fuka and Yuuichi to find that they were no longer there.

'Where in the heck are they?' Bunta asked Seiko.

'I don't know,' the girl replied, 'we could go for a walk to see if we find them.'

'Yeah, let's do that,' Bunta replied as he started walking back to where the carousel was, passing it and making his way to one of the harbour's pier.

'Slow down!' Seiko complained actually sounding so short of breath that it made Bunta realise that he'd been walking rather fast. He then stopped and, scratching his cheek, he said:

'I'm sorry, I'm just worried about Yuuichi.'

'You shouldn't be,' Seiko said, 'I'm sure they're fine.'

'Then, what are we…'

Bunta didn't have time to finish the sentence for, Seiko, after making sure that there was no one around them at the pier, she closed the gap between herself and Bunta and, putting her hand on the back of his neck, forced him down so that she could place her lips onto his.

Right at that instant, Bunta's brain stopped registering anything except the fact that he was being kissed by a gorgeous looking girl then, in what probably was the very last trace of lucidity he had left, he took her by her shoulders and, pressing her against him, he started returning the kiss.

How long it had been, he didn't know, the only thing he realised was that, at some point during the kiss, both he and Seiko had managed to find a small bench which was placed along the wooden poles which formed the pier's veranda.

'Wow,' he finally managed to say.

'I don't like sweet guys,' she commented and it took Bunta's half stunned brain a couple of instants to connect that sentence to his earlier question.

'I see,' Bunta said, 'that's good.'

They spent a couple of minutes in complete silence, listening to the sound of the seawater crashing against the pillars which sustained the pier.

'Do you remember what I said before the race?' Seiko suddenly asked.

'What about it?' Bunta asked.

'I meant it,' she said making him feel even more confused, 'Bunta I'm not a…you know…'

Bunta felt like his eyes flew open and his throat became very dry all of a sudden. So dry in fact that he started coughing rather violently.

'W-what are…what are you saying?' he managed to say between one cough and another.

'I'm saying that I wouldn't say no if you asked me to go somewhere else,' she replied with an admiringly firm tone of voice.

'Seiko,' he said feeling rather alarmed, 'isn't this a bit too soon? I mean, we barely know each other and…'

'Where do you think Yuuichi and Fuka are right now?' Seiko asked him.

'What?' Bunta asked her, 'oh…wow…' he gasped noticing the knowing look she was giving him, 'that Yuuichi,' he then said smiling while he shook his head then, seeing that Seiko was still waiting for an answer, he added, 'look, you're a really beautiful girl but, I do want to take things a bit more…you know, slowly.'

'Are you saying no?' Seiko asked him.

'I'm saying I want to get to know you a bit better before we do something like that,' Bunta replied refusing to allow her hurt influence his answer.

'Wow,' she gasped, 'you really are something special,' she added grinning at him happily.

'What's going on?' Bunta then asked her not remembering a time when he'd felt anymore confused.

'It was a test,' she explained, 'I wanted to see what you would do if I proposed you to go to a love hotel.'

'WHAT?' Bunta exclaimed, 'what the…'

'And you've passed the test,' Seiko said taking his astounded looking face in her hands and planting yet another kiss on his lips, 'the more I'm with you, the more I like you,' she then added.

Bunta just shook his head in disbelief. Girls, he thought, were really, really confusing.

It turned out that Seiko's trick had only been partly false for Yuuichi and Fuka did indeed disappear to go somewhere else and, at the end, both Bunta and Seiko had to go back to Shibukawa on their own and, by the time he dropped the girl by her house at around midnight, she and he had agreed to start seeing each other.

A few minutes later, he parked his 2000GT back home to find that Eikichi was, as usual, working on the tofu that would be delivered a few hours later.

'You look happy,' Eikichi commented.

'I am,' Bunta replied.

'Why? Did you get yourself a girlfriend?' Eikichi asked only half joking.

'Yep,' Bunta replied and, for the first time since he'd moved in with the old man, he had the satisfaction of seeing an astonished expression on his face, 'I'm off to bed.'

As he climbed the stairs on his way up to his room, he heard Eikichi letting out a soft chuckle and that made his smile widen even more.

He had a girlfriend now…

'Wow,' Bunta gasped to himself while he removed his jeans and jumper before he collapsed onto his bed then, and despite the fact that he was actually pretty tired, he just couldn't sleep, mainly because his brain was in overdrive remembering everything that had happened that night.

He was replying the race in his head when, thinking about the manoeuvre he'd managed to pull made him jump back out of the bed.

'Where are you going?' Eikichi asked him when he saw his nephew walking back into the shop's working area.

'I'm going to try something,' he replied.

'Now?' Eikichi asked him, 'Bunta, it's almost two o'clock in the morning, where do you want to go?'

'Akina,' Bunta replied making his way to the door.

'Hang on a minute,' Eikichi insisted, 'you've just been out all day, you need to get some rest or you'll end up crashing that car of yours.'

That made Bunta stop walking then, turning round, he trained his features so that he would look as serious and responsible as possible before he said:

'I won't be long; I just need to see if I can do it again.'

'Do what?' Eikichi asked him.

'A ski drift,' Bunta replied with nonchalance.

Eikichi stared at him for a few instants almost as though he was trying to figure out if the kid was lying to him then, clearly deciding that Bunta was being serious, he nodded a couple of times.

'Can I go then?' Bunta asked him.

'Yes,' Eikichi said, 'just remember this: don't try it downhill until you've mastered it on a flat surface.'

'Why not?' Bunta asked.

'Because if you get anything wrong and you're going downhill, you'll make the car roll onto itself and you could end up down one of the cliffs.'

'Alright,' Bunta said, 'I get it.'

'I hope you do,' Eikichi said, 'mastering the ski drift is not something you can do in one night so, take your time, alright?'

'I will,' Bunta replied.

'I'll see you up there then,' Eikichi said, reminding Bunta that in just two hours time his uncle would be doing his nightly delivery. This mean the only had two hours to try emulating what he'd only done in an unconscious way and driven by desperation.

Fifteen minutes later, Bunta had his car stopped on the parking space at the base of the pass. There, he started driving forward, trying to pick as much speed as he could to see if he could, once again, swift the weight of his car all the way to the left side of it.

After several attempts, he managed to lift the right tyres off the tarmac, managing to turn a couple of times but it still was a far cry from the beautifully executed manoeuvre which had allowed him to beat Yoshiki.

'Not good,' Bunta said to himself.

He then decided to drive up the mountain and towards the lake where the car park was a lot bigger. That's right, he thought, he needed a lot more space to do what he wanted.

Bunta was trying to remember what he'd done with the car back at the port area in Tokyo when he saw a couple of headlights reflected on his rear view mirror.

'Here he is,' he muttered to himself thinking that it was probably his uncle driving up in his Isuzu Bellett then, looking at the car's clock, he realised that it was an hour too early for Eikichi to be there.

'What the…' he said seeing that the unknown driver was flashing his car's lights at him.

Veering towards the side of the road, he pulled over and, climbing out of his Toyota, Bunta saw that the car behind him was a brand new Nissan Skyline 2000 GT-R painted in such a deep shade of blue that it seemed almost purple.

'Hello there,' a spectacled guy who seemed to be around his same age said, 'I'm so happy I've found you.'

'Who are you?' Bunta asked him.

'I'm from Nikko, in the Tochigi prefecture,' the guy replied, 'and my name is Kogashiwa Ken.'

To be continued…