Dreaming of Akina

Chapter Fifty Two

Bunta felt as though as he'd been brutally punched onto his stomach and, just as if he had been hit for real, he took a couple of steps backwards until his lower back collided with the side of his 2000GT. Then, leaning against it, he gave himself a few moments just to see if, despite the tremendous shock just received, he was still able to breathe.

'Er…' he hesitated then, coughed once and, clearing his throat a couple of times, started again, 'are you sure?'

'Of course I am,' Midori said. The girl was smiling at him as though as she found it cute to observe her boyfriend's panicked reaction.

'Okay,' Bunta muttered. He then took another couple of gulps of air while desperately trying to get his brain into the right gear. He had never needed to think as fast as he did now, unfortunately, his mind was completely blank.

'What are we going to do?' he asked, hoping his voice didn't sound anywhere near as shaken as he felt.

'Well, we'll get married,' Midori replied with nonchalance, 'after all, that's what we were going to do anyway, weren't we?'

'Er…'

'Naturally,' Midori continued, 'we cannot tell my family about this, you know, if my father knew…well…he wouldn't be very impressed that we've…you know…'

'Y-yeah, no,' Bunta stuttered, 'definitely not a good idea.'

'Good,' Midori said, 'now, don't worry about anything, I'll tell my dad that you've just proposed to me and that we want to get married as soon as possible. If I hurry up, I can have things ready in about two or three weeks and…'

'W-wait,' Bunta interrupted her, 'three weeks?' he then asked with an unusually high pitched voice.

'Of course silly,' Midori said, still appearing to be having the time of her life, 'my tummy isn't going to be flat forever now, you know?'

'No, of course not,' Bunta agreed. Letting out a very long sigh of resignation, he decided to surrender to the inevitable. After all, is not like if he had any other realistic choice: now that he had got her pregnant, he would have to marry Midori and take responsibility for what he'd done.

'Bunta,' Midori said, this time looking at him with a serious expression, 'you're okay with this, aren't you?'

For one crazy moment, he considered shouting at her that he was everything but okay with this whole thing, that he had never felt anymore trapped in his whole life and that, right at that instant, he felt like running away to the other side of the planet but, instead of saying that, he just nodded.

'Yeah, it's okay.'

'Good,' Midori sentenced, 'now, it's a pity Takashi isn't here but we can still go and share the news with my father.'

Itachi-san's reaction wasn't as flamboyant as Bunta expected from the man. If anything, he seemed a little bit worried about something Bunta could not quite define. In any case, Midori managed to sell him the idea so well that, as usual, he ended up agreeing with everything his daughter said.

'But honey,' he said to Midori, 'you do know that because of Bunta's professional commitments, he won't be able to take you on your honeymoon just now.'

'Oh, it's okay,' Midori said brushing it off, 'it's not that important, besides, we'll get to travel as much as we want when he'll become an international racer, right?'

'Of course,' Itachi-san replied looking at his daughter approvingly, 'as usual my dear, you're so sensible.'

'I got it all from you,' Midori said cupping her father's face with her hand, making him smile even more. Witnessing this made Bunta feel rather odd, as though as he was some sort of third wheel and, for this reason, he felt grateful when Itachi-san decided to move on to business.

'Okay Bunta,' he said, 'now that we've settled this. Midori will stay here to take care of a few things while us two go to Yokosuka.'

'Yokosuka?' Bunta asked.

'Yes,' Itachi-san said, 'that's where the Publication Division 3 have their Oppama factory. Now, we better leave now or we won't make it on time.'

'S-sure,' Bunta said then, after Midori had kissed him on his cheek, wishing him good luck for his first day in his new job, he followed his future father-in-law all the way to his Mercedes. Bunta had never really liked that make and he stared at his own Toyota with a longing look.

'Don't worry,' Itachi-san said, 'you'll be doing lots of driving very soon.'

Bunta could only bring himself to nod while he climbed into the German car. In his brain, he started going through what had happened in the past hour or so and as if it had just hit him, he realised that he had forgotten something of extreme importance: Midori was pregnant and he, Bunta, was going to become a father.

A father.

He tightened his fists and closed his eyes, clenching his jaw as tightly as possible since he didn't really trust himself to open his mouth. He knew that if he did, he would probably scream in fear for he had never been any more scared in his whole life.

He wasn't ready for this. He was definitely not ready for parenthood…

'Hey Bunta,' he heard Itachi-san's voice saying from what felt a thousand kilometres away, 'don't be afraid, I'm not such a bad driver, am I?'

'Eh?'

'Although, if you like, you can drive yourself.'

'No, no,' Bunta managed to say, 'it's okay. I'll be fine,' he added, doing his best to convince himself.

Itachi-san just laughed a little before he turned on the Mercedes' powerful engine. Bunta really was grateful that the old man was driving for, right at that instant, he didn't even feel capable of driving a shopping trolley, let alone such a horribly expensive car.

An hour and a half later, they crossed the border between the Tokyo and Kanagawa prefectures and sometime later they arrived to the city of Yokosuka where Nissan had the facilities where it took care of the preparation of the cars for the privateer racing teams, otherwise known as the Publication Division 3.

Despite the mess which reigned in his head, Bunta could not help but to feel in awe seeing the modern-looking installations where the PD3 had their main building and test-track. He was beginning to think about the fact that he would soon drive on that track when he saw a midnight blue Nissan Skyline GT-R with a Tochigi number plate.

'No way…'

'What's wrong?' Itachi-san asked him.

'N-nothing,' Bunta replied. He waited for his future in-law to park the car only to jump out of it the second it was stationary. He ignored the way Itachi-san laughed at him and even left the old man behind while he ran past the Nissan towards main entrance.

Just as he had feared, he saw one of his worst enemies standing in the reception area, with some old man next to him who was busy chatting with a middle-aged guy dressed in a very smart, western style suit. Kogashiwa's reaction seeing Bunta there was almost funny.

He first did a double-take, then his eyes went as wide as they could and then, he frowned and looked at Bunta as though as he couldn't believe his own eyes.

'What in the heck are you doing in here?' Kogashiwa asked him, obviously forgetting where he was and who he was with.

'I could ask you the same, don't you think?' Bunta replied.

'Er…' Kogashiwa hesitated then, looking at the two older men present there, offered them a quick bow and, seizing Bunta's arm, he started dragging him out of the building, making it past Itachi-san who stopped there and tried asking Bunta what was happening. Kogashiwa ignored him too.

'What do you think you're doing?' Bunta protested while trying to free his arm from Kogashiwa's grasp. The guy didn't even bother to reply, instead, he just forced Bunta to walk with him all the way across the car park, right to the very edge of the test-track. Only then he let go of Bunta's arm.

'Just tell me something,' Kogashiwa started, 'in which category have you decided to race?'

'I…'

'And which car are you going to drive?'

'Kog…'

'Don't tell me that you're finally seeing reason and that…'

'Kogashiwa,' Bunta interrupted him, 'listen, I'm not going to take part in any official competition this year.'

'You're not?' Kogashiwa asked, 'what do you mean, you're not…'

'I'm not going to be racing, at least not officially,' Bunta replied.

'But…'

'Listen,' Bunta said, 'I'm not entirely sure about what they want me to do in here. All I know is that I'm going to be part of their research team, as a driver.'

'Research team?' Kogashiwa asked, his face starting to show a large dose of incredulity.

'Yes.' If only he could explain to Kogashiwa what he'd been doing for Toyota, things would have probably been a lot easier, alas, what he had done with Katayama was so secret that not even his closest friends knew about it.

'So,' Kogashiwa said, 'let me get this straight: you'll work here as a test driver?'

Putting it that way kind of hurt his racer's pride but Bunta guessed that it possibly was the only way to explain what he would be doing in PD3. For this reason, he forced himself to nod, while readying himself for what he knew was about to come his way.

'Oh crap,' Kogashiwa muttered before he burst out laughing, 'this is too good!'

'Koga…'

'After all you said,' Kogashiwa continued, 'after all the times you've rejected my offers and you end up having to work for me.'

'What?' Bunta exclaimed, 'I am NOT going to be working for you!'

'Yes you will be,' Kogashiwa contradicted him, 'who do you think you'll be preparing the car for?'

Bunta refused to reply to that question, despite the fact that he more than suspected the answer. Kogashiwa didn't waste time confirming what he feared the most and with a nasty smirk curving his lips, the Tochigi guy said:

'I was wondering the reason why my team manager's had decided to go to the PD3 for the preparation of my car, instead of letting me do the testing.'

'Kogashiwa…'

'I did tell you, didn't I?' Kogashiwa asked him, 'didn't I say that you'd regret not to follow me into rallying?'

'Kogashiwa…'

'And now, what's become of you?' Kogashiwa insisted, making Bunta think that the guy was actually enjoying himself causing as much damage to Bunta's ego as he humanly could. In a morning full of extreme emotions, Bunta was now feeling a brand new one: he was furious.

Knowing that he would end up hitting Kogashiwa if he stayed there for another second, Bunta decided to be the bigger man and, turning round, he started walking away from his long-time rival.

'Bunta, wait!' Kogashiwa exclaimed, Bunta didn't stop walking, 'listen, you still have a chance…'

This time Bunta did stop but didn't turn round. Instead, he waited for Kogashiwa to carry on talking.

'…I could still make it happen for you to start rallying. Please, do yourself a favour and listen to me.'

Bunta knew that Kogashiwa was right. He knew that he wasn't going to be happy from now on. He had never felt like doing what he was supposed to do any less than he did right at that moment but, alas, he also knew that with Midori being pregnant, he didn't have any other choice. For this reason, and despite the fact that he really wanted to let Kogashiwa have it his way, he took a deep breath and, without bothering to turn round to face his rival, he said:

'Kogashiwa, thanks for the offer, but I really can't accept it.'

With that, he re-started walking back towards the building while doing his best to ignore Kogashiwa's shouting voice asking him to reconsider, then uttering a whole string of insults. Bunta knew that he deserved them for, in fact, he felt like the worst kind of scum.

It was with this low spirits that Bunta let some guy whose name he didn't even bother to register, show him around the facilities where he would work for the next year or so. The whole place didn't look all that much different from the laboratories where Toyota prepared their own racing engines so Bunta didn't pay much attention to what the man said.

When after an eternally long day Bunta finally parked his 2000GT outside Eikichi's tofu shop, he turned off the engine, placed both of his hands onto the steering wheel and rested his head against his arms. For one long moment, he considered letting himself cry…

'Don't be stupid,' he admonished himself.

He then slapped himself and, trying to build up some sort of determination, he stepped out of the car and, after locking it, he walked into the shop, finding his uncle there, taking a break while reading some glossy but old looking magazine.

'Welcome back,' Eikichi said, glancing quickly at his nephew, only to return his gaze back at the magazine.

'What are you reading?' Bunta asked, forgetting for an instant about the mess his life had suddenly become.

'No idea,' Eikichi replied, 'it's something I found in one of the living room's drawers. I think it was left here by Fuka-chan when she and that Yuuichi brat stayed here.'

Bunta let out a soft chuckle.

'Eikichi,' he said, 'that brat is now her husband. And, please don't tell me that magazine's been there for the past three years.'

'Well,' Eikichi said, 'it's not like we do spring cleaning all that often, is it?'

'No, that's right,' Bunta replied, 'but, in any case, why are you reading it? It's three years old, just chuck it in the bin.'

'Oh,' Eikichi said, 'I was going to do that but, I started reading it and, it's amazing the stuff women read. No wonder they're all so freaking smart when it comes to certain things.'

'Yeah,' Bunta agreed, 'they're a tad too smart, I think.'

'What do you mean?' Eikichi asked then, without giving his nephew time to reply, he added, 'don't tell me, Midori-chan's done something weird again.'

Bunta looked at his uncle for a few instants, pondering whether it was too soon or too risky to let his uncle know about his nephew's upcoming parenthood, ultimately deciding that the sooner the old man he knew, the better, after all, Eikichi's heart would certainly not welcome any nasty surprises.

'Eikichi,' he stared, 'there's something I need to tell you…'

It was almost a relief for Bunta to see that his uncle didn't take the news all that much better than he himself had done in the morning, in fact, Eikichi looked quite worried, a lot more so than Bunta was actually expecting.

'You're not ready for this, are you?' he asked, with his usual sharpness.

'No,' Bunta confessed.

'And you don't seem to be over-enthusiastic about marrying her either,' Eikichi added.

This time Bunta only shook his head. His uncle stared at him for a long time then, setting aside the magazine, he got up from the chair he'd been using up to then and started pacing up and down the shop's working area.

'Eikichi…'

'Look,' his uncle interrupted him, stopping so that he could look at his nephew, 'I'm not going to say you don't have to shoulder your share of the responsibility. In fact, I would beat the crap out of you if you didn't but, I hope you're aware that the kind of marriage you're going to have is not exactly going to be a joyful one.'

'I know,' Bunta said using a very bitter tone of voice, 'but there isn't anything else I can do, is there?'

'No, there isn't,' Eikichi confirmed. Then, as an afterthought, he added, 'what about your career? Are you going to let Itachi-san manage it as he pleases?'

'Of course not!' Bunta exclaimed, 'this whole PD3 thing is temporary. I don't intend on having him leading me his way for the rest of my life!'

'You know,' Eikichi said, 'I feel guilty for having introduced you to him.'

'Why?' Bunta asked.

'Because I thought that I was doing you a favour but, it seems like it was us doing a favour to Itachi-san,' Eikichi replied, 'he was right, you know…and he even told me.'

'He did?'

'Yes,' Eikichi replied, 'right that day when we went to his track. Now I understand what he meant, I too still have loads to learn.'

Bunta was shocked to see that, for the first time in a very long while, his uncle seemed a lot less than his usual one hundred percent confident self. He would have found it hilarious and would have tried to make fun of him if the situation wasn't so freaking serious.

'Oh well,' Eikichi continued, 'what it's done, it's done. All we can do now is to deal with the consequences.'

'What are you talking about?' Bunta asked him.

'Well,' Eikichi replied, 'I'm hardly going to leave you alone in such a delicate moment in your life, am I?'

'But…'

'To begin with,' he said, 'you no longer need to take care of the shop. I'll go back to doing everything myself, just as it used to be before you showed up. You, on the other hand, need to concentrate on making sure that Itachi-san doesn't mess around with your career more than he's already done and…'

'Whoa! Stop right there,' Bunta said, putting his hands in front of him, 'what are you saying? You can't take care of the shop by yourself, you…'

'I'm not that sick anymore,' he said, 'besides, you aren't even going to be here, are you?'

'What do you…'

'You and Midori are going to be living somewhere together after you get married, right?'

Bunta felt rather idiotic for having overlooked something as important as that. What was happening to him? It wasn't normal for him to make so many mistakes.

'So,' Eikichi carried on, 'since you aren't going to be here, I'll go back to taking care of everything while you take care of your career, your wife and your kid.'

'Please don't say it out loud,' Bunta begged him.

'What?' Eikichi asked, 'your career, your wife or your kid?'

'The last one,' Bunta replied, 'I…I don't…I'm…'

'Get used to it quickly,' Eikichi advised him, 'in less than nine months, you'll be a father, the sooner you accept it, the better.'

'Yeah,' Bunta agreed, 'I just…'

'…need some time, I know,' Eikichi said, 'now go to bed and get some rest, I'm going to start frying the tofu for the shop. Maybe you can do the deliveries tonight so you can tell Ryo-san yourself that you won't be doing them ever again.'

Bunta climbed the stairs and dropped himself onto his bed. He rolled onto his back and stared at the ceiling in the darkness of his bedroom. He simply could not believe what was happening to him. His uncle was right though, he had to get used to the fact that his life as he knew it was over.

He closed his eyes in a vain attempt to fall asleep and, as he did so, he felt a single tear rolling down his cheek. Bunta didn't do anything to stop it and, for the first time ever since his parents' death, he cried himself to sleep.

The following day started with very dark skies which threatened a very heavy thunderstorm. Something quite normal given as it was the middle of February. Even so, Bunta thought that even the weather was somehow agreeing with his negative mood.

'Good morning,' Eikichi said, 'you're alright?'

'Yeah,' Bunta lied. In fact, what little he had managed to sleep, he had had all sorts of nightmares. One including a gigantic baby chasing him all the way down Akina that ended with him crashing his 2000GT at one of the hairpins.

'Where are you going?' Eikichi asked, seeing his nephew grabbing one of his home-made onigiri, with the obvious intention of eating it on his way out.

'I'm going to go and speak to Katayama-san,' Bunta replied, 'I've got to tell him that I can no longer stick to my end of our deal.'

'I see,' Eikichi said, 'well, good luck with that.'

'Yeah, I'm going to need it,' Bunta replied darkly. With that, he climbed into his car and drove all the way to the place which had kind of become some sort of playground. He found Katayama crouching next to one of their latest prototypes but noticing Bunta, the engineer got up and said:

'Hello there, I don't recall having arranged a meeting with you today.'

'That's because you haven't,' Bunta replied. Instinctively, he stuffed his hands down the front pockets of his dark trousers and started looking down at the floor between his feet. In all honesty, he didn't even know how to begin what he knew would be a very complicated conversation.

'Is it that bad?' Katayama asked him. His face starting to look rather worried.

Taking a deep breath, Bunta started explaining to him everything that had happened and about the fact that he no longer could offer his 'services' to Toyota.

'I see,' Katayama said, 'well…I understand why you're leaving us…'

'Don't worry, I'll pay for whatever…'

Katayama shook his head and placed a hand on top of Bunta's shoulder.

'Listen,' he said, 'at first, what we did here was purely for business reasons but, you know that all the training we've given you, all the feedback we've been getting from you, in short, all the time we've spent together, well, Yoshida-san and I kind of thought of you as a friend.'

'Ah…'

'As such,' Katayama continued, 'I understand that you've been put in a very nasty position and being the fair person you are, it is impossible to continue with our deal. That said, I really would like you to count on me for whatever you need. Whether it's now or in the future, okay?'

'S-sure,' Bunta said.

'And I think I speak also on Yoshida's behalf when I say that you'll always be welcome, for as long as we both have anything to do with Toyota.'

'I get it,' Bunta assured him. He then bowed as deeply as he could and, getting up slowly, he felt a knot tying his throat when he said, 'Katayama-san, thank you for everything and, if you hear from Yoshida-san, please tell him I'm sorry I couldn't thank him in person.'

'I'll let him know,' the engineer said. 'Bunta, working with you has been nothing but a pleasure. I certainly hope we'll see each other again.'

Bunta thought that he would have liked nothing more than that and, with a heavy heart, he proceeded to say goodbye to everyone from the Toyota research department. Excluding the day when his parents died, he had never felt any worse in his twenty two years of existence.

To be continued…