Golden Arrows
Chapter Forty Nine
Being the second Saturday of August and in the middle of the afternoon the weather should have been a lot warmer than it was on this grey and miserable looking day and, when Seisuke got out of his RZ-1 after parking it at his usual spot next to the Centre's entrance, he felt that the light blue short sleeved t-shirt he was wearing was nowhere near enough clothing to keep him warm. In fact, when he pressed the button on the key to lock his car, he saw that his arms were covered by goose bumps.
'Geez, it's cold,' he muttered.
Hurrying towards the steps, he nearly crashed onto Takumi who had just exited the main building with his daughter Haruko. Seisuke noticed that the girl was wearing one of the Centre's kid-sized racing suits and was holding her gloves and helmet with the air of someone who was used to carrying them around. She somehow reminded him of Akito.
'Hello there,' Takumi said looking a little amused, 'running late?'
'Just a bit,' Seisuke replied and looking at the girl, he asked, 'are you here for some training?'
'Yep,' Haruko replied smiling a little.
'She'll be entering her first Junior Cup next month,' explained Takumi.
'Oh,' Seisuke gasped looking suitably impressed, 'you'll do your best to win, won't you?'
'What else?' the girl said with such a Bunta-like expression that it made Seisuke laugh softly.
'That's the spirit!' he said, he then checked his wristwatch and said, 'I've got to go or Aniki will kill me.'
'See you later,' Takumi said while Haruko gave him a little wave.
'Yes,' Seisuke replied and then, two at a time, he finished climbing the steps, crossed the reception area and rushed towards their usual meeting room where, as he feared, he found the entire team already sitting there, 'I'm sorry I'm late, I...'
'It's okay,' Kyosuke interrupted him, 'most of us just got here ourselves.'
'Good,' Seisuke said feeling a little relieved.
He then took the seat at Kyosuke's right and saw that, to his left, Eiji was busy sending an email with his phone while Yuta was playing with his console which was connected with Shige's via Bluetooth, Masato was reading some magazine while the rest were just sitting there waiting for Kyosuke to start the meeting.
'Okay,' he said, 'now we're all here, let's discuss the issue at hand.'
'Yeah,' Eiji replied putting down his phone, 'we're bored.'
'I wouldn't put it that way,' Izawa said trying to be reasonable.
'Eiji's right though,' Kei said startling everyone, 'it's been a pretty disappointing summer.'
'Summer's not over yet,' Seisuke pointed out.
'That's true,' Masato said, 'but I have to agree with Kei, either we're getting too good or the teams we've battled with weren't all that great. The one from two weeks ago was a complete waste of both time and fuel.'
'Guys…'
'Kyosuke-san,' Masato said, 'I know you don't want us to talk like that about any team but they were bad.'
'Very bad,' Kei added.
'Even Shinji managed to win his race,' Eiji said, 'no offence.'
'None taken,' Shinji replied looking pleased that they've reminded him of his maiden victory.
'Okay, okay,' Kyosuke stopped them, 'this is the reason why I've called this meeting. We're very obviously running out of teams that are at our level or higher so what we need to do is to try and keep our eyes open to see if we can find new teams or even single racers who can provide us with the challenge we need.'
'Er…' Tatsuya hesitated.
'What is it?' the leader asked.
'Well,' Tatsuya said, 'the thing is, Shige and I were servicing our cars the other day and we heard someone talking about this group of people who, every now and then, gather at the F-Line. The guy said that they aren't like an organised team or anything but it looks like they're just a bunch of guys who race for fun.'
'The F-Line…' Junya muttered.
'That's in Ibaraki, isn't it?' Izawa asked.
'Yes,' a pensive looking Kyosuke replied.
'Aniki,' Seisuke said, 'I think we should go and check it out.'
'We definitely should,' Eiji agreed.
'Tatsuya,' Kyosuke said, 'did you happen to hear when they gather?'
'Unfortunately not,' Tatsuya replied, 'but if they're like us, they should be there during the weekends, right?'
'Probably,' Kyosuke agreed.
'We could try going there next weekend,' Masato suggested.
'Next weekend?' Yuta asked and both he and Shige looked a little worried.
'You can't make it?' Kyosuke asked them.
'Well,' Yuta explained, 'this week's the peak of the Perseids meteor shower and it's when the UFO activity is at its highest so we're having nightly meetings all week long and we'll both be camping the entire weekend.'
'Okay,' Kyosuke forced himself to say for lack of anything better, 'well, in that case…'
'You should just go without us,' Shige said, 'besides, it's not like you're sure you'll find them.'
Seisuke had to bite his tongue hard to stop himself from saying that it was more likely that they would find the F-Line racers than those two weirdoes would see any real UFOs. He then he remembered the incident in Fukuoka of last summer and somehow he felt the goose bumps returning to his arms.
'Alright,' Kyosuke said, 'that's decided then, this coming Saturday, let's meet up at seven to travel there.'
'Usual place?' Kei asked.
'Yes,' Kyosuke replied, 'but let's not forget about what I asked: keep your eyes open, okay?'
'I wanted to ask something,' Shuji said all of a sudden.
'What is it?' Kyosuke asked.
'Are we looking for other members for our team?' Shuji asked.
'No,' Kyosuke replied, 'I think we're enough people right now. Why? Did you have anyone in mind?'
'Not really,' Shuji replied, 'I was just wondering if we were, in case we see someone interesting.'
'Well,' Kyosuke said, 'if it's someone exceptionally interesting, then why not? But I think I'd prefer to keep the admissions closed for a while so that we can concentrate on improving our skills and finding better rivals.'
Shuji nodded his understanding to that.
'Any other questions?' Kyosuke said.
'I have one,' Junya replied.
'What is it?' Kyosuke asked almost fearing the answer.
'Are we going to organise another series of challenges like the ones we did last year?' Junya asked.
'I don't know,' Kyosuke replied, 'why?'
'I think we should organise another one sometime next week,' Junya replied then, with studied nonchalance, he added, 'we could even invite Fujiwara, isn't he supposed to be on holidays from his racing team?'
'Yes,' Kyosuke confirmed, 'he is on holidays but the whole point of that is for him to take a break from racing. Even if he were interested, he needs these days to catch up on his school work not to mention the fact that he'll be travelling to Shanghai next week. I don't think it's a good idea for him to waste his energy.'
'That's too bad,' Junya said.
'We could still organise something even if it is without him,' Masato suggested.
'We'll see,' Kyosuke said, 'for now, we should concentrate on those guys from the F-Line, okay?'
'Sure,' Masato said while a few others nodded.
'Alright then,' Kyosuke said, 'if there's nothing else, I've booked us the short circuit for the rest of the afternoon, feel free to join in if you want to get some extra practice.'
Twenty minutes later and having declined Kyosuke's offer, Junya and Shinji had just parked their cars outside the apartment the two shared when Shinji, gathering all the courage he had, voiced the question he'd been dying to ask ever since he'd witnessed the exchange between Junya and Kyosuke at the meeting.
'Junya-san,' he said, 'are you interested in racing Fujiwara-kun?'
'What makes you say that?' was Junya's all-too-fast response.
'Nothing,' Shinji hurried to ask, 'it's just that…I think that it would work better if you ask him directly.'
'Shinji,' Junya said, 'I think…that you should mind your own business.'
'Yes,' Shinji hurried to say, 'sorry, I just…'
'Let's just go home,' Junya said, 'I hope those F-Line guys will be good, I can't stand being this idle.'
'Yeah,' Shinji agreed happy for the change of topic, 'Junya-san?' he then asked.
'What is it?' Junya said while unlocking the door.
'I was just wondering if you're going to be busy on September 3rd.'
'I don't know,' Junya replied opening the door, 'why?'
'No reason,' Shinji muttered feeling very disappointed.
'Alright,' Junya said.
With that, they entered their apartment with Junya going straight into the living room while Shinji opted with going to his own bedroom while he pretended to be tidying it up so that he could look as miserable as he felt knowing that, once again, no one would remember his birthday.
Meanwhile at the Fujiwara residence in Shibukawa, Ryoko was having a lot of trouble making sure her boyfriend remained concentrated on his studies for longer than a few minutes. The two were currently up in his room sitting down on a couple of cushions by the low table Akito used to do his homework while Natsuki was downstairs taking care of the laundry.
'Alright,' Ryoko tried once again, 'tell me again, from which year to which year did the Sengoku Period last?'
'The what?' Akito asked.
'Sengoku Period,' Ryoko replied as patiently as she could.
'Er…' Akito hesitated, '1333 to 1336?
'Nope,' Ryoko said, 'that's the Kenmu Restoration, the Sengoku Period went from 1467 to 1573,'
'Hey, I was close,' Akito said.
'Akito,' Ryoko said sternly, 'you were over one hundred years too early.'
'Oh come on,' he complained, 'give me a break.'
'I can't,' Ryoko said, 'you've got to have these dates memorised by the end of today.'
'Why?' Akito asked, 'what's the point? I mean, who will ever use that sort of information in their lives?'
'Look,' Ryoko said trying hard to be patient, 'studying your own history is important. If you don't know where you came from, how are you supposed to know where you're going?'
'What are you on about?' Akito asked looking confused.
'I don't know,' she replied, 'that's something our history teacher always tells us but I think it makes sense.'
'If you say so,' Akito said not sounding entirely convinced.
'Please Akito,' Ryoko insisted passing him his Japanese History textbook, 'read them out loud again.'
Akito let out a sigh of resignation and, taking the book from his girlfriend, he started reading about all the different periods and restorations from the Palaeolithic all the way to their current era. While he did that, his hand somehow found its way to the one Ryoko had on top of the table and then he started caressing it.
'Stop that,' she said taking her hand off the table.
'Stop what?' Akito asked trying to sound innocent.
'Akito, please,' Ryoko begged him, 'be serious about this. Dad's been awfully good to let me come here to your house to study. He thinks we're just using the whole thing as an excuse to do goodness knows what.'
'Well…'
'Akito!' Ryoko exclaimed, 'we need to be serious about this or we won't be able to see each other at all, not even now that you're on holidays so, for the last time, please do try to get those dates in your head.'
'Alright,' Akito accepted, 'I'll be good.'
'Thank you,' Ryoko said looking relieved.
He started reading again and half way through the list, he saw that her hand was now back onto the table and, once again, he felt the instinct to place his hand on top of hers while he started caressing it slowly.
'Akito!' Ryoko exclaimed once again pulling her hand away.
'Sorry,' he muttered giving her a sheepish smile.
'Please,' she repeated, 'you need to concentrate.'
'Okay,' he said.
'Thanks,' she repeated.
'With one condition though,' Akito added pointing his index finger up and smiling a little more.
'What do you want?' Ryoko asked him.
'A kiss,' Akito said, 'if you give me a kiss, I'm sure I'll be able to concentrate much better.'
'Do you seriously expect me to believe that?' Ryoko asked looking incredulous.
'Of course not,' Akito replied, 'but I'm hoping you'll want to humour me regardless.'
Ryoko sighed once again and visibly giving in, she got up on her knees and, getting closer to him, she placed her lips on top of his. It was meant to be just a quick kiss but Akito put his hand behind her head and before she could protest, he started deepening the intensity and the length of the kiss.
This made her head spin dangerously fast and she only realised that he had lowered her to the floor when her head touched the cushion she had been sitting on and when Akito's mouth had moved from her lips to her neck. She then felt that one of his hands had somehow found its way under the t-shirt she was wearing and was now trying to get under her bra.
'Aki...' she started.
She never finished her protest because Akito covered her mouth with his and by the time he freed her to go back to her neck, things had definitely gone out of control. Too freaked out and scared to remember any of the self-defence techniques she'd learned from her father, it wasn't until Akito moved over her again that she somehow managed to scramble from under him to get back on her feet. She did it so quickly that Akito fell painfully onto his side.
'Ouch,' he complained rubbing his elbow.
Just then, Akito noticed the horrified expression on his girlfriend's face.
'I'm sorry,' he said, 'I…'
'I think I want to go home,' Ryoko said sounding very upset.
'Ryoko…' he tried.
'Where's my phone?' she asked while she grabbed her bag.
Akito sprang up to his feet and in a couple of strides, he went and placed his hand onto her shoulder.
'I'm really sorry,' he said, 'I…I don't know what happened to me.'
Ryoko remained both immobile and silent.
'Please, baby,' he repeated, 'I'm sorry, I really am.'
'Let's just study, okay?' Ryoko said with the smallest voice.
'Okay,' Akito said sounding very relieved, 'I am really sorry.'
'Please,' Ryoko insisted, 'I don't want to talk about it.'
Akito gave her a look full of worry but, very wisely, decided not to push the issue any further and, sitting back down, he proceeded to study the dates he was supposed to memorise while he felt like the biggest ass in the whole planet. He stole a quick glance at Ryoko and with a guilty pang, he noticed that she was sitting a lot further away than she'd been earlier and that she looked as tense as the cord of a violin.
'Ryoko,' he tried one last time, 'I said I was sorry.'
'I know,' she said.
'Please don't be mad at me,' he said, 'you know I can't stand it.'
'I know,' she repeated.
Akito huffed a bit and, putting his hand in front of her, he smiled at her playfully and said:
'Hit it, it's its fault if you're angry at me.'
Ryoko stared first at the hand then at her boyfriend and, seeing just how ridiculously funny he was being, she started smiling again. She then decided to humour him and rising her hand she slapped his trying not to hit him too hard.
'Bad hand,' Akito admonished, 'that'll teach you.'
Unable to help herself, she started laughing and thankfully, that cleared the atmosphere enough for them to resume their study session and, by the end of it, Akito even managed to correctly remember all the dates.
'Ryoko-chan,' they heard Natsuki's voice coming from downstairs, 'Kizuna-chan's here to pick you up.'
'Kizuna's here?' Akito asked looking a little confused, 'why?'
'No idea,' Ryoko replied.
The young couple went downstairs where they found that indeed Kizuna was there waiting for Ryoko.
'What happened to Kyosuke?' Ryoko asked her after exchanging a quick greeting.
'He had a last minute thing to take care of,' Kizuna explained, 'he asked me to pick you up instead.'
'What about Seisuke?' Akito asked.
'He's with Kaori,' Kizuna replied.
'So you're being my taxi for the day,' Ryoko said with a smile.
'Yep,' Kizuna said with a small Eiji-like reverence, 'at your service.'
'Can I ask you to take me anywhere I want?' Ryoko tried using her killer-smile.
'Absolutely…not,' Kizuna replied with an equally sweet smile, 'I have precise instructions from Kyosuke.'
'Bugger,' Ryoko said looking disappointed.
'And those instructions involve you getting home before dinnertime,' Kizuna added.
'Alright, alright,' Ryoko said then, she turned round towards Akito and, just then, what happened between them in his room returned to her mind. Feeling very awkward, she just waved at him and said, 'I'll see you.'
Akito looked surprised but to his credit, he recovered pretty fast and said:
'Of course.'
With that, Ryoko thanked Natsuki for the hospitality and soon she and Kizuna were onboard the 350Z on their way back to Maebashi. She must have been unusually quiet because, less ten minutes into the half an hour trip, Kizuna glanced at her and asked:
'Is everything okay?'
Ryoko considered lying to her for a moment then, she shook her head.
'Do you want to talk about it?'
This time Ryoko nodded.
'Alright,' Kizuna said, 'what's wrong?'
Taking a big gulp of air, Ryoko proceeded to explain to Kizuna what had happened in Akito's room.
'I overreacted, didn't I?' she asked sounding very worried.
'Not really,' Kizuna replied.
She paused for a bit in order to find the right words and then, she continued.
'Ryoko,' she said, 'with these things, you know, kissing, touching and the lot, you need to go at your own pace. If Akito does something you don't feel comfortable with, you need to tell him so that he doesn't do it.'
'But what if he gets mad?' Ryoko asked sounding a little anguished.
'He won't get mad if you explain things to him,' Kizuna said, 'Ryoko, most guys are naturally thick for certain things so the only way you'll get Akito to understand how you feel about certain situations is if you tell him.'
'I don't know…'
'It's your call,' Kizuna said, 'but just remember that it's important that you talk about this kind of stuff with him. Remember that you can't expect him to understand you if you don't explain to him what's making you upset.'
Ryoko remained silent for the rest of the trip while she pondered Kizuna's words.
Later on that evening and after she'd enjoyed a sit down meal with her family, Ryoko and her parents were sitting on the couch at the main living room while they watched a TV movie together. In all honesty, she was only pretending to watch it for her brain was preoccupied thinking about her conversation with Kizuna.
She knew that what the older girl said was probably right, after all, Kizuna did have a lot more experience than she did. However, she simply could not imagine having that kind of conversation with Akito, no matter how hard she tried. Just thinking about having to say certain things made her red with embarrassment.
'Sweetie,' she heard her mother's voice, 'are you okay?'
'What?' Ryoko asked looking startled.
'You are a little red,' Keisuke noticed.
'You aren't running a temperature, are you?' her mother asked placing her hand onto Ryoko's forehead.
'No,' the girl said shaking her head, 'I'm okay.'
'Thank God,' Kyoko said, 'it would be a disaster if you got sick just before you go to Shanghai.'
'That's right,' Keisuke agreed, 'you won't be allowed on the plane if you look ill.'
'I'm not sick,' Ryoko said a little too dryly, she corrected the tone and added, 'I'm fine, I swear.'
'Alright,' Keisuke said and he and his wife reassumed watching the movie.
Unfortunately, this conversation had just brought to Ryoko's attention something she had forgotten about: her imminent trip overseas with Akito. Granted, they were going to be chaperoned by Takumi and they had booked a twin room for father and son and a single for her so there would be no way for Akito to try anything or would it?
With this doubt suddenly assailing her, she opened her eyes wide and, jumping up from the sofa, she mumbled something incomprehensible to her parents before she bolted outside the room. She rushed to her bedroom and, once there, she grabbed her mobile phone and called the person she trusted the most in the world: her best friend Yayoi.
'Hey girl,' she replied.
'Yayoi,' Ryoko said, 'can you talk?'
'Of course,' her best friend replied, 'what's up?'
Ryoko quickly explained her dilemma and then waited for Yayoi to process the information.
'What should I do?'
'Well,' Yayoi said, 'I understand what Kizuna-san is saying but, to be honest…it's risky.'
'What do you mean?'
'Well,' Yayoi said, 'I know Akito-kun and he's not the sort that would do certain things if you don't want him to but, you know, you'd both be abroad, in a hotel, and maybe he'll do well in the race or something and you know, in the heat of the moment, you never know what can happen, do you?'
'I guess not,' Ryoko admitted.
'But the question here is, do you want it to happen?' Yayoi asked her.
'No,' Ryoko replied so quickly that she knew it was the truth, 'I'm not ready yet.'
'If that's how you feel,' Yayoi said, 'you should avoid situations where you might have to say no.'
'What should I do then?' Ryoko asked her again.
'If I were you,' Yayoi said, 'I would find a way to stay home.'
'How?' Ryoko asked, 'I think everything's booked by now.'
'Well,' Yayoi said, 'in that case you've got to go, maybe you should confirm that before you say anything.'
'I will,' Ryoko replied, 'thanks and sorry for calling you so late.'
'No worries,' Yayoi said, 'let me know how it goes, okay?'
'Sure,' Ryoko replied.
Closing the call, she pressed the fast dial button to call Akito and waited for him to pick up the phone.
'Hey baby,' he said, 'what's wrong?'
'Nothing,' she lied, 'listen, about the trip to Shanghai…'
'What about it?' he asked her.
'Has the team booked everything yet?' Ryoko asked.
'As far as I know,' he said and that made her heart sink, 'but I think the tickets are refundable.'
'Are they?' Ryoko asked.
'Yes,' Akito replied, 'I think it's a habit from Tanaka-san, he likes making sure he won't lose the money.'
'That's sensible,' Ryoko said not knowing what else to say.
'Ryoko,' Akito said, 'you haven't called me to discuss our travel arrangements, have you?'
'Er…'
'If it's about what happened today,' he said sounding a little irritated, 'I've already said I'm sorry.'
'It's not that,' Ryoko replied.
'Then what is it?' Akito asked.
'I…' she hesitated, 'I think I don't feel like going to Shanghai,' she finally spat it out.
'What?' Akito asked sounding dismayed, 'Ryoko, why are…'
'I just don't feel like going, okay?'
'But…'
'I'm sorry,' she interrupted him, 'can you please tell Tanaka-san?'
'Ryoko…'
'Please,' she insisted, 'I hate having to cause this much trouble but I really don't want to go, okay?'
Akito remained in silence for a few seconds then, speaking with a carefully controlled tone of voice, he said:
'Okay, you win. I'll talk to Tanaka-san.'
'Thanks,' Ryoko said.
Then and for the first time in like, forever, she hanged up on him and clutching her phone to her chest, she started crying for a number of reasons. Fear was on top of the list followed by some unidentified emotion which resembled guilt but wasn't quite that. At any rate, she was certain that Akito was now mad at her and that made her feel even worse.
To be continued…
