Programmed Lives – Fifth Stage

Chapter Thirteen

They all remained silent for an indefinite period of time until Akito felt Ryoko's hand on his arm. This made him look at her.

'We should go home,' the girl said.

'But…' Akito started, 'what about Junya?' he asked looking at Kyosuke.

'We can't do anything about him,' Kyosuke replied, 'Ryoko's right though, we should head back home.'

'Kyosuke,' Akito started again.

'Let's not talk about this now,' the Golden Arrows' leader said flicking his eyes for the shortest of moments towards Taro Nakazato.

'Alright,' Akito agreed and, with this, he made his way back to his car which it still had its engine on.

'Takahashi,' Taro said and, hearing that, both Seisuke and Kyosuke looked at him.

'Yes?' Kyosuke replied.

'I don't acknowledge this as a proper race so, as far as the Myogi Devils are concerned, the Golden Arrows are still undefeated,' the X-3's driver said and, seeing Kyosuke nod to that made him add, 'let's organise a gathering when the snow clears away, alright?'

'Sure, just give me a call and we'll be there,' Kyosuke said.

Then, copying Akito, both Takahashi brothers climbed into their RZ-1s as Nakazato got back into his Mitsubishi. They all drove back into the main road which led to the motorway where they saw the dark blue X-3 driving away from them as he made his way back to Myogi.

They made it back to Maebashi about an hour later and, after they had parked all three cars in front of the Takahashi residence, Akito got out of his V-86 and walked towards Kyosuke.

'Hey,' he said.

'Akito, not now,' Kyosuke started shaking his head in a way that made his bleached spikes move too.

'I'll quit the team,' Akito announced and that got him all the attention, not only from Kyosuke but also from Ryoko and Seisuke.

'YOU'LL WHAT?' the latter shouted rushing towards Akito.

'Akito…' Kyosuke started.

'Look, I think I'm messing up with your team,' Akito said, interrupting his team's leader.

'What are you talking about?' Kyosuke asked frowning.

'You can't quit!' Seisuke exclaimed, 'Aniki, tell him he can't quit!'

'Listen,' Akito started again, getting slightly scared of the two brothers' reaction, 'Junya's been your friend since you two were in high school.'

'That's true,' Kyosuke said, 'but Akito, you're a lot more than a friend to us, you're like family.'

'Yeah, even Uncle Keisuke said so,' Seisuke added.

'Guys,' Akito started, and despite the fact that he felt very flattered by those words, he said, 'I just don't want to ruin the team's spirit.'

'Hey,' Kyosuke started, 'if anyone has messed up with the team's spirit tonight, that's Junya.'

'Yes,' Seisuke agreed, 'he shouldn't have challenged anyone without Aniki's consent, and he knows that.'

'But…'

'You aren't quitting,' Kyosuke said resolutely, 'as your team leader, I'm not accepting your resignation.'

'There,' Seisuke said nodding to his brother then, looking at Akito, he added with his usual ironic tone of voice, 'did you really think you could leave us just like that?'

Even after hearing these highly reassuring words, sleep didn't come easy for Akito and, the fact that he had a beautiful girl sleeping next to him didn't make it any easier so, the next morning, when Ryoko woke him up with a very sweet 'Merry Christmas', Akito realised that he had the characteristic headache from when one hadn't had a proper night of sleep.

'Hi,' he said trying to smile nonetheless, 'Merry Christmas to you too.'

They got dressed and went downstairs where Akito had his very first breakfast with the whole Takahashi family, minus Akiko who still was at the hospital.

He was happy to see that Keisuke had stayed true to his word and the didn't even flinch seeing Akito there however, and not wanting to push his luck, and as Ryosuke got up so he could go back to the clinic to be with his wife, Akito decided it was due time he went back home too so, thanking Kyoko for the food, he kissed his girlfriend, greeted his two best friends and, following Ryosuke out of the house, the young man walked towards his V-86.

'Send our Season Greetings to your family,' the oldest of the Rotary Brothers said as Akito climbed into his car.

'Yes sir,' Akito replied.

Half an hour later, he parked the V-86 next to his grandfather's ancient GC8 and, seeing the Subaru badge reminded him of the race in which he'd been involved only a few hours before. He then looked at his Toyota and started re-considering the fact that maybe, just maybe, a 4WD would have been a much better choice than a car with an FR layout.

He felt his eyes widen with shock and, walking back to his car, he caressed its bonnet and said:

'Sorry, I didn't mean to think that…'

He then heard a very familiar sounding raspy chuckle and, turning round, he saw the old and wrinkly face of his grandfather who, right now, looked very amused.

Akito cleared his throat as he felt himself get rather warm on his face.

'Er…' he started.

'Don't worry, I too talk to my car all the time,' Bunta said and, for some reason, Akito didn't have the slightest doubt about that for, in fact, the old man seemed to have a much better relationship with his car than with anyone else.

'Say, Grandpa,' Akito started and, as he walked towards the house's front door with his grandfather by his side he explained to the old man about what had happened the previous night, 'what do you think I should do?' Akito said after he'd finished and as the two of them sat down on the sofa.

'I think you should listen to that Kyosuke brat, he seems to know what he's talking about.'

Akito nodded to that and was about to say something when he saw his mother walking into the room wearing an apron around her waist and a very worried expression on her face.

'There you are!'

Only then, he realised that he'd forgot to do something relatively unimportant: warn his parents that he was going to sleep at the Takahashi's.

'Er…'

Natsuki shook her head and said:

'You're lucky Kyoko sent me a message telling me you were going to stay over night at their house.'

'Yeah, sorry I…'

'You know we don't mind that you do but, next time, try to give us some warning, alright?' Natsuki said and, after getting Akito to nod to that, she walked back to the kitchen where she was probably busy preparing their Christmas dinner.

Akito then heard his grandfather chuckle again:

'Uh-oh, someone's in trouble,' the old man said laughing as Akito scowled at him.

'Oniichan!' he then heard his baby sister exclaim as she entered the living room followed by her father.

'Merry Christmas,' Akito said as his sister sat next to him and proceeded to explain to her older brother and to her grandfather about the lovely morning she'd just spent shopping with her father.

For a whole day, and since it was Christmas, Akito decided to just enjoy being with his own family for a while, deciding that, whereas these days he seemed to be living full time at the Takahashi's, there was nothing like being with one's own family.

'So,' Bunta asked as they sat down to enjoy the absolutely delicious looking meal Natsuki had prepared for them, 'when is it that the GP2 season begins?'

'The first race is in March,' Akito explained, 'but the first tests will start in two weeks time so I'll have to be there with the team.'

'I thought they started in April, have they changed the season's calendar?' Takumi asked.

'Yes, they have,' Akito replied, 'they're now following the F-1 calendar.'

'Ah, I see,' Takumi commented, 'well, you won't have much time left to play with your street racing team, you know how busy we get when the season starts.'

'I know,' Akito said and, for the umpteenth time that day, he considered once more whether he could actually do both things.

'Don't forget that you're taking your finals this year too,' Natsuki reminded him, adding to his to-do list his least favourite activity of all: going to school.

'I know,' Akito repeated even less enthusiastically.

'I'm just saying it because with all the absences you're taking due to your racing job you may have problems with your final marks,' Natsuki commented.

'Yeah, I know that too,' Akito said getting rather tired of this conversation.

'Have you decided whether you're going to carry on studying?' Takumi asked his son who, before replying, sighed audibly.

'Not yet,' Akito replied and, as usual, Natsuki looked at him in a way which made him feel slightly inadequate.

'Hey, you two, quit pestering the poor kid,' Bunta said patting Akito on his shoulder then, ignoring the glare Takumi was giving him and talking to Akito, he added, 'don't listen to your father, he didn't go to university either and he's done pretty well for himself, hasn't he?'

Akito nodded allowing himself a grin seeing his father's completely puzzled expression: if Akito knew his father as well as he thought he did, his old man now probably didn't know whether to be pleased at having just received a very rare compliment from his own father or if he had to be angry at him for his constant interfering when it came to Akito's upbringing.

In any case, his parents decided to drop the subject and they started discussing their plans for the New Years. Thankfully, no one found weird that Akito was going to spend that evening with his girlfriend and two best friends so, the young man was saved from having to tell them where they were actually going.

So, six days later, Akito climbed out of his car to go to what he considered to be his second house. There, in the hall, he found his two best friends with their cousin getting ready to go.

'You look nice,' Akito commented to his girlfriend as she put on her black coat over a dark grey woollen dress which was so short that it barely covered half of her thighs. Seeing this made Akito feel rather warm.

'Thanks,' she said smiling at him while the two Takahashi brothers looked fairly disgusted by the whole exchange.

Ignoring that, Akito walked back to his car as the three Takahashi followed him.

'Ryoko, aren't you taking your own car?' Akito said as he saw his girlfriend climbing into his V-86.

'Nope,' she replied fastening her seatbelt, 'I don't like driving when I've got high heels on, also, it's a long way and I need to talk to you.'

'Ah,' Akito said and, as he started rolling the car down the lane, with him following the two RZ-1s, he said, 'what about?'

'You,' Ryoko replied, 'how are you?'

Akito looked at her confusedly before he returned his attention back on the road.

'I'm alright,' he said.

'I don't think so,' Ryoko countered.

'Ryoko…'

'Honestly, I think something's bothering you,' Ryoko insisted and, since Akito noticed that the girl was not going to let it go all that easily, he decided to drop his act and, after checking that his car's radio was off, he said:

'You're right.'

'I knew it!' Ryoko exclaimed a bit too cheerfully then, noticing her boyfriend's serious expression, she copied him and, frowning at him, she asked, 'so, what's wrong?'

'Everything,' he replied making her deepen her frown.

'Akito…'

'Look, I don't know, you know, for such a long time I've had everything so carefully planned out before me that I never considered doing anything else, now…'

'Baby, what are you talking about?' Ryoko asked sounding genuinely concerned.

'My life,' he replied so miserably that Ryoko's instinctive reaction was to put her hand on top of the one he was using to change the gears.

'Baby…' she said again.

'I think I shouldn't have taken my future for granted,' Akito said, 'what if my dream of becoming an F1 racer remains just that, a dream?'

'Akito, you're only eighteen years old!' Ryoko protested, not really liking the very uncharacteristic way in which her boyfriend was beating himself down.

'Precisely,' he insisted, 'it's now when I'm making most of the decisions which will forge my future and, I see as everyone's doing something tangible whereas I'm just…'

'Stop it,' Ryoko said with such a firm tone of voice that, for an instant, Akito thought he'd heard the girl's aunt speaking.

'Ryoko, I…'

'I said stop it!' she exclaimed now sounding positively angry, 'I don't like you when you talk like this. You can do anything you want with your life and, if you ask me, I think it's admirable that you've got such high targets in your life.'

'Yes but…'

'If the F1 thing ends up being an unrealisable dream, so be it. You still can do loads of things with your life.'

'Like what?' Akito asked.

'I don't know,' Ryoko replied, 'you've got a great voice, so you can actually become a singer like your biological mother.'

Akito snorted at that for he really didn't believe he could do that.

'…besides,' his girlfriend continued, 'if you want to go to university, you can do that next year or in fifteen years time.'

'That's true,' Akito said, 'but...'

'Then, forget about it, now you need to focus on your racing,' Ryoko said and that made Akito laugh at her, 'what's so funny?' she asked still sounding a tad on the crossed side.

'Listen to you, Ryoko,' he replied, 'three years ago you asked me to quit racing and now you're encouraging me to focus on it.'

'Hey,' the girl complained, 'I was stupid back then, it's not kind of you to remind me of such a moment of weakness.'

'Sorry,' Akito said.

'Now, are you going to stop being so miserable? We're going to a party, aren't we?'

'Yes,' Akito replied and, as usual, talking to his girlfriend made him feel much better.

'Ah, just to finish off, don't even dream of telling my cousins that you may be quitting the Golden Arrows again,' Ryoko said, 'you almost gave Seisuke a heart attack when you suggested it.'

'Really?'

'Yeah, so, don't say it ever again, understood?'

'Okay,' Akito said nodding then they remained quiet until, seeing the two RZ-1s taking a turn into what looked to be an abandoned, multi-storey car park, he turned the radio on and said, 'guys, where are we?'

'I think this is the party,' Ryoko commented seeing quite a few cars and loads of fancy dressed people crowding several of the different floors of the car park.

'I think so too,' Seisuke said, 'and, according to the navigator this is the exact address Misa sent to me.'

They found the nearest parking space and, getting out of the cars, they saw Misa and Jiro walking towards them.

'HEY!' Misa shouted so they could hear her over the very loud music, 'YOU'VE FOUND US!'

Seisuke nodded.

'This is a very interesting place to have a party,' he commented once the two of them were close enough to hear him.

'We're not here only for the party,' Jiro commented.

'We're not?' Kyosuke asked joining in the conversation.

'Nope,' Misa replied, 'look at that…' she said and, pointing at the top of the building, they all saw a car as it started drifting all the way down the car park's spiral ramp.

'Wow,' Akito gasped.

'Do you wan to give it a try?' Jiro asked to all three young men.

Akito, Kyosuke and Seisuke looked at each other and, entirely out of the blue, the youngest of the Takahashi brothers said:

'Yeah, why not?'

Akito and Kyosuke stared at him, unable to believe their ears.

To be continued…