Disclaimer: I don't own anything, I swear!! Well… besides all my undies and clothes and money and all that other stuff that I own… but I swear, beyond all that, I DON'T OWN ANYTHING!!

A/N: heya! I just want you all to know that I dedicate this chapter to a certain reader/reviewer looks at the crowd suspiciously you know who you are! Ahem… ok, I know I end up asking a lot of questions every chapter, but I'm very clueless about these things. Does Keisuke actually go to university? And what course does he take? How old is Tsugumi? If I can't get a definite answer, I'm just going to say that she's 17 okies? And on a final note, initial D was made in 1996, and during fourth stage, it will be 1997… right?! 'Cause I just noticed that the BMW I'm talking about was just recently made, and I'm WAY too bothered to research other BMW's, so let's just say that my BMW model went back through a time machine. As well as everything else that I might've put in a bit before it's time.

Drivers Release

- Chapter Three (wah?) : Damn the celery sticks

Tsugumi opened the door to the Takahashi residence after a very un-attentive school day. All through classes she had been constantly glancing at the clock, waiting for the bell to ring 'dismissal'.

As she took off her shoes and walked upstairs she thought over the morning. She knew she had been acting spoilt and irrational, but she had had good reason to be. Contrary to what Keisuke thought, she was did not have a PMS-induced overreaction to the maid's arthritis, but her friends arrival.

She dumped her bag in the corner of her room and sat on her bed. Her friend had done a lot to help her in the past, and she desperately wanted to pay back the favor, even if it was only slightly, by making her stay here as comfortable as humanly possible. Not only comfortable, but hygienic as well.

She walked out of her room, towards the right, along the corridor. The second story consisted of six bedrooms (two sharing a private bathroom, the other four sharing a large one). Four of them were along a corridor, with Ryosuke's at the end, and next to it, Keisuke's. Tsugumi's was at the other end, leaving a spare room between her and Keisuke's. The reason for this was because she swore she could smell an awful Kei-like smell even with a wall in between them.

She looked around and was a little regretful her friend had to stay in this room - but she was kind, she would understand… right? Tsugumi dusted the bedside table. At least her friend wouldn't be sleeping in the room next to, or directly across the elder Takahashi's (ie Tsugumi's) and have to put up with that god-awful snoring. She plumped the deflated pillow and left the room.

For the next hour or so, she dusted and wiped every surface (except for the toilet – urgh! She SWORE it was Keisuke's job…).

The Takahashi Brothers looked on, amused. Keisuke was glad, he hadn't done most of his chores and he had been pretty sure that his older brother was about to confiscate his keys until he had gotten around to doing so. Ryosuke was just quite simply enjoying watching Tsugumi try to do a whole week's worth of chores by herself in about an hour. She turned to them.

"Does it look clean?" she asked them, worried.

Ryosuke cut in before Keisuke could ask Tsugumi to clean his car (not that it needed it) or – god forbid – his room.

"It looks fine. Why don't you take a break?"

"I dunno… what time is it?" She glanced at her watch and flinched. "Dammit… 4:30…" running upstairs she called out "I'm washing up… let me know if someone arrives!" They heard a door slam shut.

---# #---

Forty minutes later, Tsugumi came back down the stairs, feeling fresh and clean. She walked into the kitchen (which was openly joined to the dining) and saw Keisuke with his head in the refrigerator.

"Has anyone come?" She asked him loudly, lest the celery sticks block or muffle her voice.

Keisuke made an indistinguishable noise. Tsugumi rolled her eyes and walked out of the room. Damn the celery sticks. She walked halfway up the stairs and opened her mouth, but before she could call out a message, a voice stopped her.

"I'm down here"

Tsugumi smiled and walked back downstairs to the living room where Ryosuke was seated comfortably on the couch, reading a newspaper. She opened her mouth again but -

"No, no-one has come, and no, no-one has called for you" – but Ryosuke was being a total smug know-it-all again. She briefly wondered whether the celery sticks could be blamed for this. She mentally shrugged, damn the celery sticks anyway. She flopped onto the couch opposite Ryosuke, Keisuke style, and focused on the coffee table, occasionally glancing at her cousin from the corner of her eyes. She suddenly felt very irritated by his reading-the-newspaper-and-answering-her-questions-without-her-asking-and-without-even-looking-up-ness. Just who the hell did he think he was? Ryosuke, psychic driver? More like psycho driver. But then, Tsugumi thought, if he was a psycho driver, the Keisuke was the car crash-with-an-extra-bang to hell.

Keisuke came into the room.

"Keisuke, don't eat too much, we're eating out remember?" Ryosuke said, once again not looking up.

Keisuke smiled and shook his can of Coke (but only slightly, it's not like his brain was made out of celery sticks or anything =])

His brother looked up, then back down. "That's good"

Keisuke and Tsugumi smirked at one another. Somehow, it was always refreshing, seeing the oldest of them wrong sometimes.

Keisuke fell backwards onto the couch (aka Tsugumi's style) next to his brother, sipping from his can, before asking, "What time are we going?"

"I reserved a table at six thirty, so we'll leave at six." He turned to Tsugumi. "What time is your friend arriving?"

Tsugumi was stuck. She knew it was after five, but was that a good answer? "Before six"

Ryosuke seemed satisfied with the answer and returned to his reading. Keisuke sipped his can thoughtfully. Tsugumi resumed staring at the coffee table. After a few seconds she began to notice… IT. The vase. Off centre. She got up and moved it, then took up her spot again and looked at the vase. It was even more off centre now! She got up and re-adjusted it. Then sat back. She moved it forward. Then sat back again. She put her eyes right up vase and began to rotate it, stopping when she thought it looked just right. Then once again, taking her place on the couch across Ryosuke.

Then she noticed… THEM.The flowers. They didn't look right. She lowered herself down to the coffee table and began to arrange the flowers, one-by-one. Then grabbed the whole lot, raised it halfway out of the vase and dropped it, hoping that the blasted, overly bright, yellow flowers would re-arrange themselves. Frustrated, she began to shake the vase, but stopped when she noticed Keisuke and Ryosuke staring at her.

"What did the case ever do to you?" Keisuke asked, appalled.

He got down on his knees and gently pried Tsugumi's fingers off the vase, and set it gently onto the table. He then took Tsugumi's hands into his own.

"Look, if it had done something to hurt you, then I would move it back and forth, rotate it, and shake it myself… but honestly, it's just a vase. With nice yellow flowers"

"But the flowers -"

"The flowers are fine" Ryosuke said, looking at Tsugumi very worriedly.

"Very fine" Keisuke added fervently.

Tsugumi nodded dumbly and sat back on the couch. 'What's happening to me?' She thought. 'Why am I so irritable? Why am I such a perfectionist all of a sudden?' She smiled. Looked like her friends no-bull crap personality and perfectionism was catching on. Not that her friend was weird enough to worry about flowers in a jar. Or weird enough to damn celery sticks. Asparagus maybe, but not celery sticks.

"Tsugumi?"

"Huh?"

Keisuke smirked. "Didn't know you were so interested in sex scandals"

"Huh?!" Tsugumi looked to Ryosuke who was holding up his newspaper so that the front page clearly displayed 'Presidential Sexcapade'.

"Definitely more interesting than the vase right?"

Tsugumi was saved a blushing reply by the doorbell ringing.

Two seconds passed. Tsugumi jumped up and raced to the front door. She straightened her shirt and smoothed her ponytail out. She took a few deep breaths.

Keisuke looked at her in mock-anxiety. "Are you ok? You sure? Now all you have to do is put your hand on the door knob and twist. Then you pull – but not too hard 'cause you might hit yourself -"

Tsugumi silenced him with a withering glare. Before opening the door she glanced at her wristwatch. Five forty-five. Good. She exhaled one last time before opening the door.

---# #---

Ryosuke watched Tsugumi as she breathed in and out. Who exactly was she getting hyped up about?

The door opened to reveal a smiling girl, looking slightly older than Tsugumi. Before he could get a closer look at her, his younger cousin had envelope her in a hug.

"Come in" Tsugumi invited her in.

The girl stepped inside and she instantly spotted Ryosuke.

She stuck out her hand and introduced her self.

 "Hello, my name is Sakiyama Yoshi. Please to meet your acquaintance"

---# #---

A/N#2: Originally this chapter was supposed to be tonnes longer, but I couldn't be bothered writing much more than this. Instead, dinner will be in the next chapter. Btw, don't ask me about the celery sticks, it's not I have much against them besides the fact that I don't like eating them. After all, they make EXCELLENT painting shapes (what? Don't tell me you've never painted with a celery stick before!) Also, how long does it take to get from Tokyo to Akagi? Thanks to all the reviewers, I really appreciate it. R/R more please.