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To be sure, Touya knew little about cars--unlike Shindou, he was not interested in learning to drive--but he had the feeling that the car before them was unusual. Compared to the rounded, softened lines of the cars that he often saw in Tokyo, it looked shockingly old. He frowned.

"This is a delivery car!" Shindou exclaimed, pointing. Sure enough, the words "Fujiwara Tofu Shop" were stenciled clearly on the side.

Touya kicked him in the ankle before he could say something shockingly rude, but as he started to administer a chiding, something else happened.

The stranger who had followed them took one look at Fujiwara's car, and began laughing. "You call this a car? A Toyota Eight-Six?" He slapped his thigh, his guffaws growing louder and louder while Fujiwara ignored him as he went about stowing their overnight bags in the back.

"It's a delivery car, Touya," Shindou grumbled to Touya, his voice softer now.

Touya stared at him. "And that bothers you?" he asked.

Before Shindou could answer, the stranger began jeering again. "That's the car you're driving these days, Fujiwara? Are you sure it even passed inspection?"

Fujiwara acted as though he hadn't heard him. "Shindou-san, Touya-san," he said. "We should be going now."

"All right," Touya answered, and ushered a suddenly reluctant Shindou into the backseat, before getting in as well. "What's the matter with you?" he asked when they were seated.

Shindou leant towards Touya. "Touya, did I ever tell you the time Kawai-san and I took a ride on this guy's delivery van, on Innoshima?" he whispered.

"Yes."

"And did I tell you that Shuhei-san drove like a maniac?" Shindou said. He shook his head without waiting for Touya's reply. "We're done for. I shouldn't have trusted that geezer at the gas station. Delivery guys are crazy." He looked mournfully at his bag of purchases. "I'm going to die without eating the wasabi-flavoured roast chicken ramen."

Privately, Touya thought that eating the instant ramen in Shindou's bag was worse than death. At that moment, Fujiwara slid into the driver's seat. Without preamble, he began moving out of the parking space and into the main road, his movement quick and smooth.

Shindou stiffened, and placed a hand on the door handle, clutching it tightly.

Touya curled his fingers over Shindou's free hand--the one resting over the bag of ramen--in reassurance. "Relax," he said. "I'm sure Fujiwara is a good driver."

"But..." Shindou looked as though he was bracing himself.

After a few seconds along the mostly empty road, Touya allowed himself to relax. Though the car looked old, it ran smoothly and seemed to be reliable enough, if Fujiwara's unruffled expression was any gauge. His knowledge about the operation of a car was only from the viewpoint of a passenger--and from Shindou's overeager, garbled explanations--but he watched Fujiwara's motions, and recognized the competency in them.

Shindou, though, seemed to be bracing himself for something, judging by the way he held on tightly to the car door, as though he was about to jump out at any moment. He seemed to be watching the speedometer intently.

"Will you stop that?" Touya whispered to him, aware of Fujiwara's curious looks at them in the rearview mirror.

"But... but..."

"It's all right, see?" He tried, without being too obvious, to draw Shindou's attention to the way Fujiwara was calmly driving.

Shindou continued to look nervous.

"Calm down," Touya said, exasperated. Racking his brains, he finally ordered, "Think of the game you played yesterday with Niwayama-san."

"Huh?" Shindou said, still clinging on for dear life.

"That nobi you played at the bottom right," Touya said. "What if you had played it earlier?"

"Er... I would have lost territory to Niwayama-san... three moku... No, wait, if I had played it earlier, and extended on the next hand, I could have killed his group within five hands!"

"But what if he had captured your extension instead?"

"Hah, not likely!" Shindou crowed. "I'd have cut him off at the star-point, and attacked the territory there!" he sketched the play briefly on the seat between them, unaware that he had taken his hand away from the car door. The wild look about his eyes had disappeared.

Within minutes, they had moved out of the small town and Fujiwara was easing the car into the long stretch of highway that led to their destination. Traffic was sparse at this time of the afternoon, and the car rolled on the road, seemingly without a care.

Touya could feel himself relax, even as he bantered with Shindou about the Go game. It was not often that he found himself enjoying car rides, but the air of competency around their driver was reassuring. Well, if his occupation was making deliveries, it was no wonder that Fujiwara seemed to think nothing of driving them so far in one afternoon. Shindou, too, seemed to be fine with it by now. He had given the whizzing scenery outside a few nervous looks, but he had finally got used to Fujiwara's driving, and relaxed enough to stop holding the grocery bag with his death-grip.

A loud honking sound made them jump.

"What?" Shindou exclaimed, sitting up and looking around, clutching the grocery bag (and Touya's hand) with renewed urgency. "What was that?"

More honking, and Touya belatedly realized it came from the blue car pulling up beside them.

"Isn't there only one lane?" Shindou muttered nervously, squinting ahead as though he expected a vehicle to appear on the other lane by magic. "That's erm, dangerous, right?"

"I thought he was trying to overtake us, since we're on a straight stretch," Fujiwara said from the front. "I saw him come up from behind. But he isn't passing..."

"It's him," Touya recognized the hostile, jeering stranger from the gas station.

"Who?" Shindou looked. "The jerk?" he recognized, and glanced at their driver. "Why is he honking at you?" he asked.

Fujiwara frowned. "I think he wants to race me."

"Race!" Shindou's voice came up in a squeak.

"Please don't worry. I'm not going to do anything dangerous. I don't want to get a ticket, after all," Fujiwara said.

The earnestness in his voice made Touya feel better. Judging by Shindou's reaction, it had the same effect. "Uh... that's good," Shindou said.

"It's dangerous of him to do this," Fujiwara went on seriously. "There are a lot of curves coming up in front, and there are a lot of blind spots. If he wants to overtake..." his voice trailed when he glanced again at the blue car, and his eyes narrowed for a second.

"He just gave you the finger," Shindou said, frowning. "And he keeps honking..." he shook his head as the sound started up again. He opened his mouth to speak, when there was a sudden bump from somewhere and he fell heavily against the back of the front seat.

"Shindou!" Touya exclaimed, managing to grab hold of Shindou, even as the air suddenly seemed to spin, making him lose his balance. The screeching of something heavy on the roughened road was very loud. He watched in alarm as Fujiwara's eyes focused on a point in the air in front of him, even as his limbs seemed like a swirl of movement in front. The guardrail suddenly seemed to be too near.

Shindou leaned against him with a groan.

There was a crunch of something breaking into pieces.

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