Golden Arrows

Chapter Thirty Four

Everyone sitting at the grandstands watched the red, white and yellow Team TOM's car driving past Andrea Guelfi's single-seater just as the end of the track's main straight and entering the first corner, a nearly ninety degrees right-hand turn. Akito Fujiwara had just cleared it and he was on his way to the first of the circuit's three chicanes when he spotted Marko's car reflected on the tiny rear view mirrors.

With a small smile curving his lips up, Akito felt his foot wanting to increase its pressure on the accelerator pedal and for the briefest of instants, he considered ignoring his mechanic's instructions so that he could show Marko Schulz that while he might be young and technically speaking, a newbie, he certainly wasn't afraid of anyone.

'No,' Akito muttered to himself.

He had to resist that temptation. Tanaka-san trusted him enough to let him drive one of his cars and the mechanics had worked very hard to make the car more reliable and ruining it all because of some stupid bully simply wasn't worth it. With that decided, Akito just concentrated on keeping a steady enough rhythm and it was that which made it possible for Marko to reach him just before the entrance of the chicane.

Once there, Akito drove in wide so that Marko would have all the room he needed to pass him but, to everyone's surprise, the Austrian decided to copy Akito's line and remain unnervingly close behind him, staying put for two whole laps, pressuring Akito almost as if he were trying to get him to drive much faster.

'Dad,' Kyosuke asked, 'what is that guy doing?'

'I have a theory,' was the doctor's predictable reply, 'but I hope I'm wrong.'

'Care to share…'

Keisuke's sentence was interrupted half-way through when they saw the two cars driving along the main straight to enter their fourth practice lap. Three quarters of the way, the Austrian veered to the left as though as he had finally decided to use the outside line to overtake Akito who, very wisely, decided to move to the inside of the track making sure Marko could easily pass him and enter the right-hand corner ahead of him.

They all thought that this is what would happen when, at the very last possible moment, Marko changed his mind and, slowing down, he moved in an attempt to get his car back behind Akito's. The two cars then entered the ninety-degree right-hand corner sticking the cars to its apex so much so that at the turn's exit Akito felt his car moving outwards due to the inertia.

Right then, when he least expected it, Marko decided that he wanted to overtake Akito after all and, just as the two cars were about to clear the corner, the Austrian turned his car in an impossibly narrow inside line which would have put him in a collision course with Akito's car if it wasn't because the younger racer, driven by some sort of subconscious self-preservation instinct, pushed his car towards the outside of the track.

Alas, he wasn't fast enough and just as the two cars finally cleared the corner, Akito felt the right-hand rear tyre of his car driving over Marko's left-hand front one. This made Akito's car temporarily lift up, impacting back onto the tarmac so suddenly that it made Akito lose control of the traction for a split second. Long enough for him to see his car darting out of the track, sliding onto the grass all the way to the safety barrier. There, Akito saw the car stop just a hair away from the too-solid looking wall of tyres.

'Shit…that was close,' he somehow managed to mutter to himself.

'Akito,' he heard his father's voice over the radio, 'are you okay?'

'Yeah,' Akito replied sounding a little shaken up, 'I'm not sure about the car…I…'

'Don't worry about it,' he then heard Tanaka-san say, 'try and get back in here as soon as you can.'

'Yes, sir,' Akito replied.

Soon enough, he saw quite a few of the circuit's marshals surrounding his car and a few moments later he was standing out of it, trying to assess the amount of damage done to the poor thing while one of the marshals guided him to the other side of the safety barrier clearly ignoring Akito's wish to stay with his car.

'Hey kid, are you okay?' the marshal asked him refusing to let go of his arm, 'can you walk on your own?'

'Yes,' Akito replied feeling a little overwhelmed by it all.

'Don't you need a doctor?' the middle aged man insisted.

'No, no,' Akito hurried to reply, 'I'm one hundred percent fine, seriously.'

'Okay,' the guy said, 'stay right here, a scooter should be here shortly. It'll take you back to the paddock.'

'Thanks,' Akito replied and, to his immense relief, the marshal finally let go of his arm.

'No problem,' the guy said giving him a small, fatherly-looking smile which made Akito realise that everyone of the guys there were as old, if not older, than his own father. No wonder they all treated him like a baby…

His thoughts were interrupted by some news coming from another of the marshal posts, the one placed right after the second chicane. The marshals there reported that Marko's Team TOM's had also stopped with a punctured tyre, the one Akito had driven over before being sent off the track. Remembering about the incident made Akito frown with worry.

'Don't worry about it,' one of the oldest looking marshals said, he clearly was in charge of the post and Akito saw that all his subordinates nodded their agreement, including the middle-aged marshal who had helped him.

'But…'

'We saw the whole incident,' the chief said, 'and what that guy did was an illegal manoeuvre which was both stupid and dangerous. If it wasn't because you did your best to move out of the way, he would have probably crashed onto your car so don't feel sorry about him.'

'I don't,' Akito reassured him, 'I'm just worried about my car, my mechanics worked on it for a very long time and I don't want to waste all their efforts.'

'Don't worry about that either,' the chief said, 'I saw the car as it was loaded onto the truck and it looked okay to me.'

'I hope so,' Akito said.

'You know,' another of the marshals said, 'we're all supposed to be impartial when it comes to you guys but you should know that quite a few of us has started to support you.'

'That's right,' the chief said, 'we have high hopes set on you and we're sure you won't let us down.'

'Er…'

'But no pressure, huh?' the middle-aged marshal said winking his left eye at him.

'Yeah,' Akito said trying to smile at him.

Thankfully, the arrival of the promised scooter saved him from having to continue the increasingly embarrassing conversation and a few moments later, he put his helmet back on and climbed on the back of the two-wheeled vehicle and when a handful of minutes later Akito arrived to his team's pitbox, mainly thanks to the weird conversation he'd had with the marshals, he no longer felt so upset about the fact that his practice session had been cut all too short but, seeing the group of people gathered outside the pitbox put his frown back on his face.

'He's here!' Seisuke shouted seeing Akito being driven towards them.

'There's no need to be so loud, Seisuke,' his father said.

'Sorry…'

A couple of moments later, Akito climbed off the scooter and after thanking the circuit's officer, he turned round to face all four Takahashi men. He also saw Tanaka-san and his own father walking towards him.

'Are you alright?' the team manager asked him.

'Yes, I'm fine,' Akito said then, glancing at his father, he asked him, 'is the car back yet?'

'Yes,' Takumi replied, 'we just got it back, the mechanics are repairing it as we speak.'

'Was it damaged?' Akito asked now sounding very anxious.

'Nothing major,' Tanaka-san replied, 'we're changing the front wing which was damaged in the impact as well as the suspensions of the right-side tyres, just to be sure.'

'I'm sorry,' Akito said looking miserable, 'if I had driven faster I would have got away from that guy…'

'…and you would have disobeyed the orders you were given,' Takumi reminded him.

'That's right,' Tanaka-san said, 'you did what we told you to do. It's that Schulz boy who should be worried.'

'I know,' Akito said, 'the marshals told me that he's in big trouble.'

'That's an understatement,' Tanaka-san confirmed, 'for the record, if you ever pull a stunt like that…'

'He won't,' Takumi interrupted him before glancing at his son, 'will you?'

'Never,' Akito promised solemnly.

Tanaka-san nodded his approval and after offering him a smile, he walked back into the pitbox to check on his team's work. Only then, Akito decided that postponing the inevitable was pointless and turned his attention on to his two best friends who, contrary what he expected, didn't seem ready to make fun of him but, rather, they were both looking at him with eyes full of regret as well as something close to admiration.

'Akito…' Kyosuke started.

'Boys,' Keisuke interrupted him, 'I know you two need to talk to him but before that, I think Aniki should give Akito a quick check-up, just to make sure nothing's wrong with him.

'But I'm okay, I…'

'Akito,' Takumi stopped him, 'I think we should let Ryosuke decide that.'

'Let's go to the clinic,' Ryosuke said.

'Clinic?' Akito asked sounding alarmed, 'I'm not…'

'Don't worry,' Ryosuke assured him, 'I'm sure everything is okay.'

'With all due respect,' Akito said, 'what makes you think they'll let you use their facilities?'

'I'm acquainted with their chief medical officer,' was the doctor's nonchalant reply.

'Of course,' Akito said shaking his head unable to believe he hadn't even consider that possibility. Once again, the young racer was in awe at the legendary racer and, judging by the way the other four men were looking at him, he wasn't the only one. Akito believed that Ryosuke Takahashi inspired that sort of reaction in everyone…excepting perhaps his grandfather Bunta but, again, that crazy old man was just too awesome.

While Akito, Ryosuke and Takumi walked to the circuit's clinic, they had the pleasure of seeing the Team TOM's manager dressing Marko Schulz down in front of everyone, including his team mate Hideki Taguchi. Akito made a huge effort not to smirk or even glare at them as he passed by but he knew that showing any animosity would definitely not help his case.

Twenty long minutes later, Akito was finally allowed to get down from the examination table, lying down on a nearby bed instead while Ryosuke and Doctor Nakayama exchanged opinions as well as old medical school memories. It turned out that the two of them had been classmates and Doctor Nakayama seemed to be so happy to see him again after so long that he nearly forgot about Akito and the reason why he'd been brought there. Luckily, Ryosuke wasn't quite so carefree.

'Your body hasn't sustained any damage,' he concluded, 'you have a bit of a temperature though…'

'I'm okay,' Akito insisted.

'I know,' Ryosuke smiled.

'You've said that,' a grinning Doctor Nakayama added, 'quite a few times already.'

'Please,' Akito said to them, 'don't tell my father. In fact, please don't tell anyone, I'm begging you.'

'Akito,' Ryosuke said, 'I'd like you to be honest with us. How are you feeling?'

'I'm fine, I…' he stopped speaking and, letting out a sigh, he started again, 'I've had this headache for a couple of days and I'm feeling a bit run down…I think it's just the start of the flu or something but I'm okay. I swear, I can drive, I'm fit enough and…'

'Okay,' Nakayama interrupted him, 'we know how you feel, trust me we do. But even though we should respect your wishes and not tell anyone, you're still underage and we have to inform your father about the fact that you're sick.'

'I'm not…'

'However,' Ryosuke continued, 'both Doctor Nakayama here and I know well that at this point of your career it's not a good idea to skip a race because you're feeling poorly and besides, there are plenty of racers who race in the same conditions you are now so, what we'll do is give you some paracetamol to get the fever under control but we still want you to promise us that you'll seriously rest whenever you can, okay?'

'Yes, sir,' Akito said sounding slightly downcast.

'Akito,' Ryosuke said, 'your father is understandably worried about your wellbeing, even more so after you collapsed with exhaustion just a few months ago. This is the reason why we need your word that you're not pushing yourself beyond your own limits. If you promise us that, we'll be happy to sign the release papers.'

'I promise,' Akito said looking very serious.

'Okay,' Nakayama said and, leaning down onto his own desk, he applied his stamp and signature to the certificate they'd have to give to the race director, 'I'll go and fetch your father so we can talk to him.'

In the end, Akito felt very happy that both Ryosuke and his own father had been racers for it made it easier for them to understand his need to keep on racing as well as knowing that the start of a flu wasn't enough to stop a racer from carrying on with his job, especially not when said racer was called Akito Fujiwara.

'We have a couple of hours before the next practice session,' Takumi informed him, 'can he rest here?'

'Of course he can,' Nakayama replied.

'Thank you very much,' Takumi said to him then, to his son, he said, 'I'll go and tell Tanaka-san, okay?'

'Dad…'

'Don't worry,' his old man said, 'I won't tell him about the fever, okay?'

'Thanks,' Akito said.

He saw his father and Ryosuke walking out of the room while he lied on the bed. Nakayama followed them too and soon Akito found himself staring at the white ceiling thinking about what had happened back on the track. Analysing the whole incident, he knew that Marko's manoeuvre had been driven by the Austrian's own stupidity and even though it had been very dangerous, he also hoped that other than the public dress down, Marko would not be punished any further. The Austrian guy and his team mate already couldn't stand him, if one of them got any official penalty because of him…

The sound of the door sliding open interrupted his thoughts and glancing at it, he saw Kyosuke and Seisuke.

'Hello there,' Kyosuke said.

'Hey,' Akito replied.

'Can we come in?' Seisuke asked.

'Of course,' Akito said getting up and sitting on the bed. He suddenly realised that he was only wearing his fireproof underpants and that made him wish he had thought of putting his racing suit back on before lying on bed.

'We're not supposed to be here for more than a few moments,' Kyosuke said.

'But we needed to speak to you,' Seisuke finished for him.

'What about?' Akito asked.

'Well…' Seisuke started.

'What are you guys doing here?' it suddenly occurred to Akito.

'Your father got us some visitor passes,' Kyosuke explained, 'Uncle Keisuke gave them to Ryoko as her birthday present and…'

'She's here?' Akito asked, his face lighting up like a Christmas tree.

'No,' Kyosuke replied repressing a smile, 'she wanted us to come instead so that we would see what…well…'

'We're idiots,' Seisuke declared then, seeing his older brother's startled look, he corrected, 'well, I AM an idiot. A big one. I'm very sorry for not understanding what you've been through and…'

'Hey, wait,' Akito stopped him, 'what in the heck are you talking about?'

'Er…'

'We saw you…' Kyosuke explained, 'talking to those two guys from the Team TOM's and…'

'I see,' Akito said finally understanding, 'I don't need your pity or…'

'No!' Seisuke exclaimed, 'we're not…look, I felt upset that you didn't seem to care about our team but after seeing what the professional world is like and how harsh it can be, well, I think I can understand how you're not so keen on talking about racing all the time.'

'That's not it,' Akito said shaking his head.

'What's not what?' Seisuke asked sounding and looking confused.

'Granted,' Akito said, 'the professional world is every bit as harsh as I thought it'd be but that's not the reason why I don't want to talk about the Golden Arrows with you guys.'

'It's not?' both Kyosuke and Seisuke asked at the same time.

'No,' Akito replied and, for some reason, he started smiling.

'Then what is it?' Kyosuke asked him.

'Well,' Akito replied, 'in hindsight it's something a bit stupid really…'

'We're all ears,' Seisuke assured him.

'It's just that…it frustrates me,' Akito finally said then, he elaborated, 'you know, I'm still over two years away of my eighteenth birthday and even though you guys keep telling me it's not such a long time, you also know that in racing two years is an eternity. I'm frustrated that by the time I'll be old enough to join your team, you guys will have a huge advantage over me in terms of experience.'

'What?' Seisuke said, 'Akito,' he glanced around himself, 'you're here, in this world. You're the professional racer here, remember?'

'Yes but…' Akito started

'I think I'm beginning to understand,' Kyosuke interrupted him, 'you said you're frustrated and I think that you don't want to talk with us about our team because it would make you even more frustrated and right now you can't afford to waste any energy on something as useless as that. Am I close?'

'You are spot on, as always,' Akito confirmed.

'You know,' Seisuke said, 'you're right, it is a stupid thing…'

'Hey!'

'…however,' Seisuke continued, 'I think I can understand you. I remember how bad it was when Aniki got his driving license knowing that I would have to wait for nearly fifteen months to get mine and I wasn't trying to become a professional racer on top of that.'

'Well, you were trying to get into medical school,' Kyosuke pointed out.

'Yeah,' Seisuke agreed, 'but let's face it: becoming a doctor is a little bit easier than becoming an F1 racer.'

'Allow me to disagree,' Akito said looking very serious, 'at this rate it'll be a miracle if I finish high school…'

All three of them looked at each other and, soon, they all burst out laughing, even Kyosuke, and it was right then when Keisuke stepped in to the room to remind his nephews that Akito was supposed to be resting and that they needed to get out of the room before the doctors would kick them out. Needless to say, the brothers complied immediately after exchanging an encouraging look with their best friend.

After that, the weekend continued the best possible way:

Marko got away with a warning from the Federation who told the Team TOM's manager that they'd be keeping an eye on his drivers for the final four rounds of the season. With that kind of dark mood, it became impossible for the two drivers to qualify anywhere near the first two rows and to Akito that was very good news.

Also, his car was performing so well that he managed to qualify in third place for Saturday's race, ending it in a very commendable second position after stealing it from one of the Swedish drivers. Then, to his profound disbelief, he had also managed to score his first pole ever for Sunday's round and even Andrea Guelfi was gracious enough during the press conference to say that while Akito was indeed young and relatively inexperienced, he was now seeing him as a rival worth of his attention.

If one added to that the fact that thanks to the paracetamol he was feeling heaps better and that his friendship with Kyosuke and Seisuke was now stronger than ever, Akito woke up on Sunday in such high spirits that he knew he would do well in what was going to be his fourth F3 race and, not even the light rain which started falling onto the track half way through the morning seemed to spoil his good mood.

'It's getting heavier,' Seisuke said pointing at the sky.

'It'll be okay,' Kyosuke countered, 'for some reason, I have the feeling Akito doesn't really mind the rain.'

'He's used to it,' Keisuke confirmed, 'after all, he's been training with all sorts of weather, hasn't he?'

'Just like someone else we know,' Ryosuke said.

'Yeah,' Keisuke said, 'his old man was just crazy…'

'I wasn't talking about Takumi,' Ryosuke said giving him a soft smile, 'I was talking about you.'

Keisuke's charged-as-guilty look made his nephews laugh out loud and the poor ex-racer was saved only by the circuit's speakers announcing that the F3 race was about to start and a few moments later, they saw all twenty eight cars driving down the pitlane. Akito was one of the first to get onto the tarmac and a minute and a half later, he stopped his car on the pole position where he waited for the rest of the drivers to arrive.

Exactly fifteen minutes after that, the technical staff cleared the grid and the recognition lap started. The single-seaters travelled around the track with the drivers either warming the tyres up or practicing the starts. Less than a couple of minutes later, they were all back in their positions and then the semaphore lit up.

From their seats at the grandstand, all four Takahashi men watched the green light come on and, at that instant, Akito's black and white car darted out closely followed by Andrea Guelfi's red Toda Racing's Dallara. It became clear from the get-go that the race would be all about this confrontation but when the two cars crossed the line to start the fourth of the twenty one laps, they had left everyone so far behind that it almost looked like they were doing a separate race and that the other twenty six cars had nothing to do with it.

The two cars continued their battle with Andrea increasing the amount of pressure on Akito in a subtle but very constant manner and by the time they reached the middle of the race, everyone could tell that Akito was being pushed just to keep his car on the racing line and the rain wasn't giving up either.

'Akito…'

'Not now, Dad,' Akito said sounding tired.

'Okay,' Takumi said.

Thankfully for Akito, his father knew well that he needed to respect his wishes and would keep the radio silence for the rest of the race if needed. Meanwhile, Akito forced himself to think that while he knew he was getting tired, Andrea's body would also be close to its limits and with that thought, he knew that if he held onto his first position for the next few laps, he would probably win the race. He had just finished forming this thought when, crossing the line for the start of their fourteenth lap, he noticed that Andrea was falling back a little. Akito thought it was just a temporary thing when he saw that his lead on the Italian kept on increasing and three laps later, the two cars were nearly four seconds apart.

'That's odd,' Akito mumbled to himself then, speaking up, he broke the radio silence, 'Dad, is Guelfi having problems?'

'Not that I know of,' Takumi replied.

'Okay,' Akito said.

'Watch out, he likes playing games,' Tanaka-san warned him.

'I know, sort of,' Akito said.

Doing some fast mental calculations, Akito knew that there were four laps left till the end of the race and he also knew that Andrea was good enough to, not only close the four second lead within those four laps but also to overtake him. Akito knew that he had to be extra-careful with the following laps and most especially with the final two or three corners of the track. Akito would bet his helmet that Andrea was going to use the last possible chances to overtake him and thus not give him a chance to pass him again. After all, if they were in a reverse situation, Akito would probably use the same strategy.

With that in mind, Akito steeled his nerves seeing that the rain was now beginning to get lighter. He continued his race and corner after corner he kept checking his rear view mirrors to see if, as he expected, Andrea was getting closer. To his stupor, it didn't seem to be the case and when they finally entered the last lap of the race, not only Andrea wasn't closer but, even worse, the gap between the two cars was wider still.

'Dad…'

'Stay focused,' Takumi ordered him.

Akito did as he was told and for an interminably long one and a half minutes, he had every single one of his braincells focused on the task at hand. He felt his hands numb with cold because of the rain and his feet were beginning to feel very heavy but, in spite of that, he managed to clear ever corner, drive along every straight and navigate around all three chicanes and it was only as they got to the third one of them that Andrea seemed to wake up and started closing the gap. Akito knew that there were only three more corners left, he was also informed by radio that the gap between the two cars was now down to two and a half seconds and, since it was Andrea Guelfi, that simply wasn't a good enough insurance for the race.

For this reason, Akito gathered what little was left of his energy and taking a couple of deep, calming breaths, he increased the pressure on the accelerator pedal praying for all that was holy that the engine, nor anything else for that matter, would give up on him. He then cleared the first of the three corners and went to enter the second. Akito checked the rear view mirror and saw that Andrea's red car was just behind him. He cleared that corner too and knowing that what he was about to do was suicidal, he increased the speed of his F3 yet again noticing that Andrea was doing the exact same thing at the same time.

Both cars, the black and white PIAA-Tanaka and the all red Toda Team cars got to the last corner literally stuck to each other. Akito knew that if he didn't defend himself properly Andrea would overtake him right as they exited the left-hander. Because of this, he moved his car to the middle of the track trying to close the gaps as well as he could. Andrea then moved outwards and, just then, he pushed his car levelling it with Akito's. The younger racer tried his best not to panic seeing that his lead was going to be taken from under his nose when he saw Andrea's car driving away from him.

The shock prevented Akito from noticing two things: one, while the Toda Racing car was indeed driving away from him, it wasn't travelling on a straight enough line. In fact, Andrea Guelfi had slightly miscalculated the trajectory and was going wider than he expected. The second thing Akito failed to notice was that while Andrea was fighting to get his car back onto the ideal racing line, he had just crossed the finish line to claim what was his second F3 win, his first on Japanese soil.

To be continued…