Chapter Six

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Kyoko maneuvered her black FC into a parking space at Family's restaurant. Keisuke's car was nowhere to be seen.

She looked at her watch and realized that she was ten minutes early. Keisuke was always ten minutes late to anything unrelated to racing. She couldn't complain though, she had been looking forward to this date with her darling since two weeks ago.

Twenty minutes passed. Then thirty.

As an hour rolled by and the familiar yellow FD had still not shown up, Kyoko could feel the tears begin to roll onto her cheeks. "Darling has decided not to come. He doesn't want me after all."

She struck the wheel in frustration. "I was so naïve to think that someone like him could be interested in someone like me."

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Tsugumi was doing calculus on the desk in Ryousuke's hospital suite while her cousin poured over racing schematics from the bed. Ryousuke had seen no reason to end their tutoring sessions and Tsugumi was eager to spend as much time as possible with her favorite cousin.

"Ryousuke," she asked, "could you help me with these second derivatives? I don't understand how to tell whether it's concave up or down."

He motioned for her to bring the book to his bed and easily explained the process, simplifying as much as possible in order to make it more easily understood to Tsugumi. "So once you find the coefficient from the second derivative, you can tell which is up or down by the sign."

She nodded. "So if it's positive, it's concave up?"

He nodded and smiled lightly, resisting the urge to grimace when the removal of her textbook jolted the traction holding his leg in place. The surgery was scheduled for the next day and he would be home only one week after to recuperate before physical therapy sessions began. The thought of being away from the intense glare of the overhead fluorescent lights was a warm thought.

Ryousuke kept a watchful eye over Tsugumi while he pondered the schematics of the Subaru WRX driven by a team from Chiba called The Nightriders. He wanted to ensure that there would be no surprises in store for Keisuke when they raced on Saturday, especially since this would be the first race in his brother's quickly ending amateur career where he would not be present.

On a whim, he also checked his Project D email. As usual, hundreds of fans sent messages, most of which were girls asking personal questions such as, "do you have a girlfriend?" or "do you prefer girls who drive?" and so on. Others were just impolite. And then two caught his eye. He saved them before closing the window displaying their contents.

Tsugumi finished her homework and took the chair beside Ryousuke's bedside, peeking over his shoulder at the emails checked for deletion. "So do you prefer girls who drive?"

He clicked delete and calmly shut the screen in time to give his cousin a lightly disapproving look. She stared back innocently, batting her eyelashes. "I have no preference," he replied.

"Really?" she sounded surprised.

He nodded. "If I dated, it would be based on the grounds of personality and common interest. I have other interests which don't include driving."

"Uh-huh…" she didn't sound satisfied. "If you dated, that is. When was the last time you had a girlfriend?"

"The first grade," came a voice through the doorway. Keisuke walked in, closed the door, and removed three bags of McDonalds food from inside his jacket. "You guys better thank me. I almost got heat stroke from the steam!"

Tsugumi squealed at the thought of not having to bear down more cafeteria food and Ryousuke only raised an eyebrow. "That's not allowed in the hospital; it has a tendency to put people in here."

Keisuke unwrapped a chicken sandwich, raising an eyebrow at what he perceived as his brother's attempt at humor. "They don't know what's good for their patients…or their patients' guests."

Ryousuke looked at the bag that was meant for him. Admittedly, he was tempted.

"Come on," cajoled his brother. "You know you want to. There's nothing wrong with your stomach and you are supposed to build strength for the surgery."

Tsugumi squeezed ketchup onto the cardboard burger box. "What's healthy for the mind is healthy for the body."

"And it's white meat."

Ryousuke finally gave in and enjoyed a meal of chicken nuggets and an apple pie. "Is this supposed to be my last meal before going under the knife?"

Keisuke's mirth sobered down a notch. "Aniki, I'm sorry I didn't mean it that way…"

Ryousuke smiled. "I'm only teasing. Have you been practicing?"

Keisuke nodded. "Three hours yesterday at seventy percent to work on technique and corning with ten runs at eighty percent, like you said. My last time trial was good and Matsumoto is putting on new tires the day of the race so I'll have better grip. I think my older ones are wearing down."

"I've researched the WRX further and I believe this race will be more of a challenge than the team we defeated when Project D was in Chiba."

"But that team was supposedly the best."

Ryousuke nodded. "You must remember that the downhill was a victory due to a combination of the strategy Takumi adapted from the professional driver of the Todou School and the weight of his car."

Keisuke nodded.

"You do not have these advantages; your car is heavier than the Hacki-Roku, therefore we must adjust to compensate for them. Obviously, I will not be at the battle, but I've given instructions to Matsumoto and Fumihiro about tuning your FD."

Keisuke nodded again, noticing that Tsugumi was rolling her eyes and toying with the lettuce from her burger at the other end of the bed.

"There is something else," added Ryousuke. "The Subaru is not a twin-turbine like we were first led to believe."

"Is it naturally aspirated?" Keisuke asked incredulously.

Ryousuke shook his head. "It's a single turbine." He placed the food box back into his bag and handed it to his little brother. "If you remember, they are nice on straight roads and Akagi is flatter than the mountain pass we drove on in Chiba."

"I know, Aniki," answered Keisuke. "Iwase Kyoko's car was like that too, but it was very unstable when she made a mistake or hit a patch of rocks."

"You cannot count on the mistakes made by the other driver, Keisuke," Ryousuke said disapprovingly. His brother was not listening.

Even as Keisuke said her name words, he knew he was forgetting something. And then it came.

"Shit!" he leapt out of his seat and tore out the door like a hurricane at large, leaving his brother and cousin very confused.

"I wonder what he's up to," pondered Tsugumi. "Probably a girl."

Ryousuke made no comment and re-opened his laptop, frowning a bit at his brother's flippancy. There were two saved email messages for Keisuke, one from a professional team in Tokyo and another from Osaka. They both agreed that he was not yet ready to race professionally yet, but they were willing to come to the next couple of battles involving Keisuke to observe him before holding formal try-outs. It worked well with Keisuke's desire to train for another six months with his brother before leaving.

"That might not be so easily accomplished now," thought Ryousuke. The team liaisons were asking for battle dates and locations and Ryousuke quickly typed a note that said they would be notified when challengers came along. He didn't want to ruin his brother's chance by inviting them to the upcoming battle; too many factors were out of Keisuke's hands, and Ryousuke wasn't going to be there to compensate for them. No. This would be a mock try-out that Ryousuke would hold for his little brother to test his ability to work independently.

Now that Keisuke was receiving interest, Ryousuke knew that Fujiwara would not be far behind. The monetary sponsors were endless, beginning even before formal notification that Keisuke and Fujiwara would be going professional at all. Project D had been successful in that area as well.

Ryousuke remembered the hype; the months after he had graduated from High School where he was invited to try-out for Mazda Dominion, the Tokyo-based team funded by Mazda and Bridgestone Tire Company, Ltd. The coaches were overwhelmed by his talent and wanted to draft him immediately, but he declined. Medicine was more important than racing. Until now, he never even thought about how different his life would have been if he had accepted the position. Until now. The same team was now vying for his brother.

Tsugumi's voice interrupted his thoughts. "Are you scared?"

"Of what?"

"Tomorrow, the surgery, everything?"

Ryousuke closed his computer again and gave his younger cousin a small reassuring smile. "I have no reason to be."

She looked at him incredulously. "Why not?"

"I have properly trained and highly experienced doctors operating on me and worry will not have any positive effect on the outcome of events," his voice was calm and controlled, but beneath the surface, Ryousuke felt increasingly agitated.

"I see," Tsugumi said, marveling at her cousin's ability to logically evaluate every situation. He was hiding something though, and she knew it. Ryousuke's usually healthy complexion seemed sadly pale and even though it had only been a week since the accident, she could see that her cousin had lost weight; the chiseled features of his handsome seemed even sharper than before and there were circles under his eyes. Her father came in through the doorway at that moment, however, and announced that she needed to return home.

"How are you Ryousuke?"

"I'm doing well Ojichan," Ryousuke attempted to straighten up in the bed, but a jolt of intense pain from his leg quickly stopped him. This time, he could not suppress a small wince.

Toshiko immediately noticed the strain in his features and waved his nephew down. "Please, don't hurt yourself further," he smiled, trying to lighten the situation despite his inherent worry. He could see his daughter trying to hold back tears at seeing her usually strong cousin in such pain. In the corner of the bed rested a small collection of McDonalds wrappers; the deed screamed of Keisuke. "I'll hide the evidence before Ryouichi comes down and kills us all."

Tsugumi blinked back her tears and leaned over to give her cousin a small kiss on the cheek. "You know," she whispered lightly enough to avoid the ears of her father, "this isn't racing. You can't always determine what will happen by overanalyzing it."

They bid their farewells and when his relatives had closed the door behind them, Ryousuke pondered Tsugumi's words. Perhaps Keisuke was right, she was getting more mature.

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Even before he arrived at the restaurant, he knew she would be long gone. After all, he was more than four hours late. "Shit!"

Keisuke kicked the handicapped parking sign in frustration, finding it an easy target. Granted, a relationship was not in his plans at the moment, but Kyoko was a good friend and a very talented individual. Should he ever find the time…

"Shit!" The sign took another beating.

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Takahashi Kiyori looked at the kitchen clock. The cook had finished preparing dinner an hour ago and she was the only one home to enjoy it while it was warm.

When the boys were young, the family always made it a rule to eat together. When Ryouichi was made director of Takasaki Hospital, he began coming home late and it was just her and the boys. As soon as Ryousuke graduated from high school, he was rarely home and Keisuke would begrudgingly eat for twenty minutes before finding a way to excuse himself in search of his brother or one of the many girls who flittered through their doorway during that time.

Kiyori was thinking of dismissing the cook now, since all of the food would be packed and placed in the refrigerator for later heating anyway. The phone rang.

"Moshi moshi?"

"Good evening, may I please speak with Takahashi-Sensei? This is Noriyazaka Nozomi from the hospital."

Kiyori was confused. "I'm sorry Nozomi-Sensei, he's not home. May I take a message?"

"It's fine," the man replied. "I will call back in a couple of hours."

"I'll let him know to expect your call," she replied, still confused. Where was he?

"Arigato."

As she placed the handset back in the receiver, Kiyori went over the many places were Ryouichi could have been and none of them seemed logical to her. Wandering back to the dining room, she straightened the tablecloth before walking towards the library in search of a calming book to accompany her bath.

As Kiyori walked through the hallways, she couldn't help but notice some of the pictures which were accompanying her on the journey. One in particular caught her eye. Ryousuke couldn't have been older than three or four at the time, which meant that Keisuke was around one year old.

After much convincing from her older sister, she and Ryouichi had taken the boys to a professional photographer. The session went surprisingly well, but at one point Keisuke had gotten a bit out of hand and started vying for Ryousuke's attention, who was more interested in his toy car than his drooling little brother.

The picture was candid and not originally meant to be developed, but when Kiyori saw the negative, she requested a large reproduction. In the picture, young Ryousuke, in his small western suit and clip-on tie, was holding the small white car with one hand and had the other on his Keisuke's shoulder. The younger brother reached for the car with one hand, using the other to support himself as he could not yet walk. The charm of the photo was, however, the facial expressions of the two toddlers. Even at the age of three, Ryousuke looked at his brother with a sense of protectiveness and his expression seemed almost passively didactic. Keisuke had a look of awe on his face, eyes shining, mouth wide open, with a hint of drool coming out of its corners.

Before she knew it, Kiyori was wiping a tear from her cheek. Despite the happy memory, it only brought back the comparatively terrible ones of recent times. Returning to the kitchen, Kiyori decided she needed a large glass of wine to accompany her bathing excursion.

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"How long?"

The man looked at it and back at the older gentleman. "Three months at the earliest for the internal work. Another for the rest."

The older gentleman nodded. "How much?"

The other man punched some numbers into a calculator and whistled. "It will cost you…"

"I don't care; money is not an issue." He looked the other man in the eye. "Just get it done and call me on my office phone only."

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When Nozomi walked into work the next day, he knew that it would be a long time before he could return home. Ten hours later, standing over Takahashi Ryousuke, he was running on complete adrenaline. The young man had fared extremely well due to his good health, despite years of smoking, an unfortunate habit catered by the Japanese society.

In the waiting room, Ryouichi sat with his wife, both holding a cup of coffee in an effort to stay awake and fight the cold caused by the air conditioning and inactivity.

Keisuke was outside the doors smoking a cigarette, trying to calm his nerves. The stress of the entire situation was really getting to him. He had a battle in two days, but driving was the last thing on his mind.

"I have to concentrate, though," he thought. "Aniki demands perfection and I will deliver it to show him Project D taught me something."

He tossed the half-smoked cigarette into the disposal and headed back inside to join his parents.

He was just in time to see the doctor coming into the room, removing his mask and eye goggles. "The operation was a success. We've successfully pinned the femur and placed the prosthesis into the knee."

The family sighed in relief. "And?"

"There's nothing else we can do until the bones are healed," Nozomi said. "Ryousuke seemed to be a very healthy young man before the accident. This increases his chances of a complete recovery."

Ryouichi shook the other man's hand. "Arigato, Nozomi-san."

Nozomi smiled sadly. "I only wish I could give you better odds. He's being transported to a suite in the orthopedics wing on level four. The anesthetics will probably keep him asleep until tomorrow around noon." He looked at the tired family. "I suggest you all go home and get some rest so when he wakes up tomorrow, you'll be alert to greet him."

Ryousuke, despite having had moments of consciousness, was not properly alert for an entire day.

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Keisuke stood at the peak of Akagi with Fumihiro, Matsumoto, and Kenta awaiting the appearance of the Nightriders. There was an unspoken feeling of unfamiliarity due to Ryousuke's absence.

"Keisuke," said Matsumoto, interrupting his thoughts, "your car's been tuned according to the settings Ryousuke and I agreed on for the course and opponent."

Keisuke nodded. "Aniki said he gave you instructions for me."

"I wouldn't go as far as to call them specific instructions," he said, "but Ryousuke wanted to make it very clear that at one point, you will be chasing, and to not push yourself to the limit until you reach the last group of hairpin turns. Give the driver some time to relax and get confident; play a mind game."

Keisuke nodded.

"Ryousuke researched the group and decided that it would be best to conceal your potential even after you've passed the other driver and pull away at full speed only on the final straightaway."

He nodded in understanding. "Not giving your opponent a chance to recover." He threw his cigarette onto the ground. "Aniki always said that a badly timed techniques always worked against you."

Fumihiro nodded.

Keisuke recalled the words his brother had said to him before entering the surgical ward. "This race is about you because you can no longer rely on anyone else for direct last minute advice," Ryousuke had looked at him so intently. "In the professional racing world, you cannot depend on a personalized coach to guide you through racing. This will be a test for you, Keisuke, to see if you are indeed ready for the professional circle."

"I can do it, Aniki," Keisuke whispered to himself as he saw a group of headlights appear in his line of site.

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Takumi walked up to one of the old Project D vans, which was now temporarily used for his and Keisuke's individual battles, as the FD and WRX lined up at the start. "This is different."

Matsumoto turned to the sound of the familiar voice. "Hai. This is the first time Ryousuke-san's not been at a battle, especially when Keisuke's racing."

Takumi nodded. He had come to rely heavily on the last minute advice given by Ryousuke, even though it made no sense until an event in the middle of the battle jarred his analytical skills into place.

Even though Project D was disbanded, its five main members and its leader had always come to either Akagi or Akina to support its two former aces in their individual challenges. In addition, Kenta would tag along if Keisuke ever raced.

The yellow FC and green WRX took off, the traction of the 4WD giving the second car an advantage, placing him in front of Keisuke.

The former members of Project D looked on at the retreating taillights. Takumi noticed then that a familiar black FD had just pulled into the lot. "Where do I recognize that car from?"

Kenta's voice interrupted his thoughts. "It's Kyoko-chan!"

Four heads turned to the direction of a young woman exiting the car. Takumi recognized her instantly. Her once short brown hair was longer, extending past her shoulders down the middle of her back and she carried herself in a more feminine manner. "I wonder if she's still racing."

Fumihiro shook his head. "She stopped about two months ago. I overheard Keisuke tell Ryousuke that she'll be attending Gunma University this fall to get a teaching degree."

Takumi nodded. Apparently a change in lifestyle didn't necessarily mean a change in car. He suddenly thought of Mogi; she was in school to for a teaching degree as well. Seeing her only weeks ago made him miss her more. Three more days until he went to pick her up to spend the summer back in Gunma.

Kyoko hesitated at first, but realizing that she had been recognized, she walked slowly towards the former Project D group.

"Takumi-kun, Fumihiro-san, Matsumoto-san," she bowed at each name, nervousness obvious in her voice.

Kenta felt his stomach sink. She hadn't even remembered his name.

There was uncomfortable silence until static came over Fumihiro's radio. "They're at the eleventh corner! The Subaru is ahead but Keisuke-san's right on his tail!"

Kyoko felt her heart leap into her chest at the sound of his name. She looked around, where was Darling's brother?

The rest of the group observed her confused search and looked hesitantly at each other. The Takahashi family had not released any information about their son's accident to the media and had to pay a high monetary price for the silence, despite tabloid speculation. It was a private matter, but people were bound to wonder, especially after this battle.

"Kyoko-chan," Fumihiro started, "there's something you should know."

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Keisuke's heart began pounding as they neared the last set of hairpins. There had been numerous places where he could have overtaken the Subaru in front of him but he chose not to. Remembering the increased concentration he had achieved after being passed, he did not want to give the driver in front of him the same advantage by passing him prematurely.

And then, just as Kyoko had, the driver wavered ever so slightly over a puddle of rocks along the right side of the bend. Keisuke capitalized on this advantage and pulled to the outside, accelerating to match the other car's placement going into the next curve.

He began to drift to the right, holding his line and simultaneously pinning the other driver in his place. They were even coming out of the corner but as they turned left for the next, Keisuke let loose more of his car's previously reserved power and pulled out in front. Bystanders cheered the reversal and the gap between the two drivers increased slightly on the remaining hairpins.

As the last straightaway to the goal approached, Keisuke revved his engine to the max and left the other car in a cloud of dust.

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"This is the goal," the radio cracked, "I can see headlights approaching!"

The group of five at Akagi's peak held their breath.

"It's the FD!"

Kyoko released the breath she hadn't realized she was holding. Ever since being informed of Ryousuke's condition, she had been berating herself for being so selfish. That day at the restaurant probably wasn't a direct result of her actions or Keisuke's dislike of her, but an oversight due to worry for his brother. Besides, she recalled that Family's was not one of his favorite places to eat.

The radio continued to announce the finishing. "The other car is just now approaching. It's too far behind! Keisuke's won!"

Takumi smiled and Fumihiro nodded in satisfaction, recalling one of his past conversations with Ryousuke. "He's ready," he whispered inaudibly.

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Thanks again for reading this! I'm so happy that you have been enjoying the story and I love writing it. It's really great that so many of you are also going into medical fields; you feel my pain! Good luck from me (and Legendary Neo-Jin) to Takahashi "Kyona" Ryopun, CelickaChick, and everyone else for your pursuits and accomplishments. It's so nice to have such a mix of people with the same passion for Initial D (and Ryousuke, lol). Your reviews have been priceless to me and they are such an encouragement. Thank you ALL!

I promise, also, that the little ambiguities I threw into this chapter will be cleared eventually, most of them in a good way :).Also, I'm looking for a beta-reader for the racing scenes that I plan to write as I know very little if not nothing about the sport (except of course, what I learned through watching the anime). Ifyou're interested, pleaseeither leave your email in a review or email me directly ) and I will get back to you soon!Thanks again! Enjoy.