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CHAPTER 5:
Amy arrived to an empty house, as usual.
"Luca, I'm going to take a quick shower," she said while putting him down.
As she was passing by a small table in the hallway, she spotted a beautiful bouquet of flowers and a note addressed to her:
'Hi, Honey,
Hope your little celebration went well. Your mother and I were invited to a dinner party with some very important people and we will be home late, so don't wait up.
Love, Dad
Amy folded the note and left it on the table. She sighed as she headed to her bedroom, carrying the flowers. Twenty minutes later, she came out of her bathroom and saw Luca waiting for her on her bed. She happily picked him up and twirled him around the room. She walked over to her window and looked out, still holding Luca in her arms.
"I wonder how Takeshi and Liz are doing?"
Amy giggled as Luca meowed back in response.
"I should call Jesse and ask how the meeting went. It would be really great, not just for our team, but for the race itself, if we get another sponsor," she said cheerfully.
Amy placed Luca back on the bed and called Jesse. The phone rang a few times before Jesse finally picked up.
"Hello?" she heard Jesse asking.
"Hi, Jesse, it's Amy. Any word yet from Miss Satomi?"
"No, not yet. I've been in there a few times to bring them coffee, but they stopped talking every time I walked in."
"You think everything is alright?" Amy asked her, sounding a bit concerned.
"I'm sure everything's OK," Jesse said, trying to sound reassuring, "but we still have our old sponsors, and you and the others did great this year! People are finally noticing Team Satomi!"
Amy felt a little better, but thought to herself, "Still, it would be nice to have another company supporting us."
"OH….! I sent in one of my best spies to check up on Liz and Takeshi. I should be hearing from her soon!" Jesse said excitedly over the phone.
"Spy?" Amy asked her.
"Yup! I wanted to stay here at headquarters, but I wanted to know how their date was coming along, so….. I sent her out in the field to follow them."
A look of curiosity appeared on Amy's face……then she formed a smile.
"Who?" she asked Jesse, anxiously awaiting details.
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"YURI! WHAT THE HECK ARE YOU DOING HERE!" Takeshi yelled at his little sister as she got up from off the ground, wiping dirt and some twigs off her clothes.
"Nothing, bro…just a little investigative reporting," she said, trying to sound cool about it.
"Investigative reporting, huh?" he asked, eyeing her suspiciously, "You mean SPYING!"
Yuri looked at him, pretending to be shocked by his comment.
"Takeshi, we weren't spying, we were just……"
"WE?" he and Liz both asked.
Yuri looked a little flushed.
"I didn't mean 'We'…..I meant 'Me'. I'm just a little insulted that you would think that I, Yuri, your loyal sister, would ever do such a horrible thing as 'Spying' on you," she said, trying to sound innocent.
As Yuri kept defending herself, Liz thought she heard rustling coming from behind one of the nearby bushes.
"How long have you been following us?" Liz heard Takeshi asking his sister.
"Since the par.…"
"The park? Yuri, did you have anything to do with what happened to us back there?"
"What happened?" she asked.
"Yuri, don't play games with me. Did you have anything to do with those reporters finding us?" Takeshi asked, sounding frustrated.
Liz heard rustling coming from the bushes again.
"I don't know what you're talking about. Johnny and I….."
"Johnny?" Takeshi asked, interrupting her again.
Liz started chuckling, "So, is that who I'm hearing back there?"
Yuri was silent; looking a little embarrassed. Takeshi continued eyeing her suspiciously as a short, blonde-haired boy emerged from out of the bushes.
"Johnny? Don't tell me you're a part of this, investigative reporting, too?"
Johnny was wiping some twigs off of his clothes, not looking too happy about the situation.
"I didn't, I swear. Jesse thought that it wasn't a good idea for me to walk home alone. I told them that I could defend myself, but Yuri offered to walk me there, when she saw the two of you running out of the park. I thought you were in trouble."
"Jesse wanted me to keep her posted on you guys. I agreed to it because I wanted to know, too. Johnny didn't have a clue about this; I really was going to walk him home and then come looking for you.", Yuri added.
Takeshi was still feeling exposed, but he wasn't that mad anymore; it humored him in a way. She and Jesse didn't act this way when he and Fantine dated.
Yuri continued, "We don't know what happened at the park, or why those people were chasing you. I thought they were just fans or something."
Wanting to change subjects, Liz turned to face Johnny.
"So, um….you ready for tomorrow?"
"You bet I am! I wanna know everything about the IGPX if I want to become a great pilot like you and the others," Johnny said, beaming with excitement.
The compliment made Takeshi and Liz grin.
"THEY'RE OVER HERE!"
The four of them turned around and spotted two men heading their way. Takeshi and Liz recognized them instantly.
"It's those damn reporters again. They're really starting to piss me off," Liz said, sounding irritated.
"Now what?" Takeshi asked.
"I still say we take them down," Liz answered.
"Leave them to us!" Johnny said with a sly grin.
Yuri looked at Johnny, not knowing what his plan was.
"Huh? You sure you got this?" Liz asked him.
"It doesn't matter. They're almost here, just go!" Yuri chimed in.
Takeshi and Liz stared at one another; debating whether or not they should leave, but when they saw the flash from the one of the reporter's camera, they decided not to stay any longer. They quickly wished Johnny and Yuri good luck and took off running.
"Maybe if they didn't want to be spotted, they should've worn a disguise or something," Yuri thought to herself.
"Ok Yuri, I need you to distract them for awhile," Johnny told Yuri.
"Distract them? How?"
"I don't know, think of something. I'll be hiding in back of those bushes."
Yuri didn't know what he was up to, but she had to think of something quick; the reporters were heading her way.
"Excuse, miss, but was that Takeshi Jin you were just talking to?"
"And Liz Ricarro?" the second reporter added.
"Err….uh-huh," Yuri responded.
Both of the men started talking amongst themselves, while Yuri looked over to where Johnny was hiding. A few seconds later, both of the reporters were leaving. Getting nervous, Yuri jumped in front of them.
"Um….so, what kind of story were you writing about?"
"About Team Satomi and their latest win," one of the men answered.
"Oh, that would be a great story! Everyone loves them; I've been to almost all of their races!"
Yuri was trying her hardest to distract both of the men as she saw Johnny creeping towards the reporters.
"That's very nice, but I need to talk to them myself. My colleague, Davis, would be more than happy to ask you..…."
"Oh and that last race was so cool! The anticipation of it all; especially when Team White Snow joined their me…."
"Miss, I'm sure that you're a big fan of Team Satomi, especially of their star pilot, Takeshi Jin, and I'm sure that you would love to read anything and everything about him, but we can't start a story about him……if you are in the way."
"I'm not some Satomi Groupie! I'm his sister! Maybe reporters don't investigate their leads thoroughly enough," she thought to herself, becoming bothered by his little comment.
Meanwhile, Johnny was getting close to the men.
"Ok Johnny," he thought, " just rush in and..…GRAB em' by the legs!" The latter he said out loud.
Johnny came in from behind, grabbed one of the reporter's legs and took him down, while both Yuri and the other reporter, Davis, stood in shock.
"YOU LITTLE BRAT!" the fallen man yelled.
"RUN!" Johnny yelled at Yuri.
Yuri was frozen, but Johnny quickly took her hand and they both ran off, while the fallen reporter was wiping some dirt off of his suit jacket, mumbling to himself.
"I think they knew them, Mr. Kanji," Davis said.
"This day keeps getting better and better," replied Mr. Kanji, still wiping dirt off of him, "Where the hell did those two go?"
Davis shrugged his shoulders while Mr. Kanji continued talking.
"Who cares about those brats? We need to catch up to Takeshi and Liz again, anyway. Can you imagine just how many people would buy the paper, just for the fact that we saw them together, holding hands?"
The two reporters continued on with their search, feeling more compelled to getting their story. Yuri and Johnny were across the street, hiding behind a parked vehicle.
"You think we gave Takeshi and Liz enough time to get out of this area?" Johnny asked Yuri.
"I hope so. Where did you learn a move like that?" Yuri asked Johnny.
"I'm taking martial arts classes. A friend of mines told me how to bring someone down; Takeshi told me the exact same thing."
"It was pretty cool. I'm sure Takeshi will be happy that someone took his advice."
"Thanks, Yuri, but I should go home now; I'm sure my parents are getting worried."
"No problem. I can see why you told Jesse that you're fine walking home alone, but I did promise her that I would walk you there anyway."
"It's fine, but Yuri, were you still going to follow them?"
"Well, I did promise that to Jesse as well," Yuri said, smiling, then thought to herself, "I still think that they should've worn a disguise or something."
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That's it for Chapter 5. Chapter 6 coming soon. : )