Act 19

After leaving Aki, Alex went to stand beside Chris.

"So how did it go?" Chris asked.

"Not as bad as I thought. We're having a race to decide if we are going to become a couple or not."

"Ah I see. Keisuke doesn't like people who beat him." Alex looked at him in shock. "Don't look at me that way. You hear a lot of things if you stand close enough to the galleries. Like I heard this guy in Amsterdam who was saying some very very dirty things he wished he could do with you."

"Chris! I did NOT need to know that."

He chuckled. "Well it looks like Aki might have another admirer."

"If your talking about Ryosuke, it was kind of obvious, even Keisuke noticed." Alex looked back to see the Hachi-Roku pass inches from Aki's still figure. "By the way, we have a plan to get those two together. Wanna join?"

"Hell yes."

Keisuke walked over to Ryosuke."Hey bro, what's going on?"

"Apparently they are hugging," Ryosuke answered in a flat voice.

Keisuke glanced at his brother. "That's not what I meant. How do they know each other?"

Ryosuke just kept watching the two until they got into their cars. "Keisuke let's go, they are starting." With that he got into his white FC and drag launched his car after the receding pair. He was planning on following them like he did during the race with Nakazato. At the first corner, Takumi had the lead but was followed closely by Aki.

******

Aki allowed Takumi to take the lead. She wanted a chance to see how he improved. //Bunta was right, that engine is fast. I hope Takumi is good enough to handle it. What am I saying? He has to be. Bunta wouldn't waste that much money on an engine if he thought it might be damaged.// She spotted headlights in her rear view mirror. //Takahashi Ryosuke. Do you ever give up? Well I guess we'll have to play another game of cat and mouse. How shall I make this difficult for you?//

Aki smiled and pressed her foot harder on the pedal. A corner came and she did a perfect parallel drift. She weaved back and forth on the straightaway but made no move to pass Takumi. The next corner found her in an awkward position and she let the tail of her car fishtail at the exit. She glanced back at the white FC. It had worked. He wasn't following as closely as before. She entered the next few corners, purposely making mistakes. Aki, although losing ground in the corners, was still able to regain her position close to Takumi on the straights.

******

Ryosuke was following the two cars. He had just watched her do a perfect drift with Takumi around one of the corners.

"Whoa, she's good," Keisuke said in amazement. "I didn't think she had that much skill. She is just as good as Takumi."

Ryosuke nodded. "Looks like we have been spotted." Aki car had just under steered at the entrance to the corner.

"But you saw a weakness or something before she started driving that way?" Keisuke smiled confident in his brother's abilities.

"No, Keisuke, I didn't."

Keisuke looked at him in surprise. This was the first time he had ever seen his brother stumped.

"Something is happening," said Ryosuke drawing Keisuke's attention back to the road. Aki had flashed her lights and Takumi moved over to let her pass. //Ok so this obviously isn't a race. So what are they doing?//

Takumi watched as Aki went into the next corner precisely like he did. He followed her line exactly and he felt he car go around just a bit smoother. She was teaching him. Takumi no longer thought about the end of the race, he just wanted to show Aki his best. He and Aki continued down the mountain in this fashion swapping places back and forth. They approached the straight before the skating rink and Aki was in the lead.

"You didn't find any weaknesses? I thought you said that everyone has a weakness," said Keisuke.

"I know she has one but every time I'm about to pin one down she starts driving like that," replied Ryosuke. "Her driving become erratic, and I even though I know it is on purpose, I can't figure out what is accidental and what she is doing purposely."

Aki suddenly slammed on her breaks causing Takumi to shoot by. Ryosuke braked quickly to avoid hitting her. Takumi looked back to see the problem.

//What is Ryosuke doing here?// He wasn't too surprised at Aki's actions. She hated it when people followed her during a race to try and learn her techniques. He bit his lip, // Ryosuke isn't going to like that.//

"What the fuck was that about?" exclaimed Keisuke his heart pounding in his chest. "She could have caused a serious accident."

"It was a warning."

"What kind of a warning?"

"She doesn't want me following her anymore."

"Bro please tell me your going to back off. If that was a warning, I don't want to see what happens if we don't take it."

"Relax Keisuke, she is not going to damage her car."

"Yeah just like she didn't jump her car off a bridge."

"Ok maybe that was a bad example but trust me on this, she is not going to follow through on the warning," Ryosuke said doubtfully. "Takumi just started his ditch driving."

Keisuke looked back to the pair. "Apparently she knows that trick too bro," he said as they watched Aki drop her tires into the gutter after Takumi.

Both cars shot around the corner. A few more times of grabbing the gutter convinced Ryosuke that Aki was doing this on purpose. //And here I thought that only he knew how to do that.// Suddenly Aki changed lanes. She was approaching the corner from the outside. //What? How does she plan on passing him from that angle?//

Just as Takumi was about to drop his tires into the gutter, Aki sped up and did an outside drift. The speed was incredible. The acceleration out of the turn was so fast that she managed to get in front of Takumi. Another burst of power placed her firmly in front of him by the beginning of the next turn.