Programmed Lives – Second Stage

Chapter Twenty One

Takumi and his father travelled all the way to the Motegi circuit in complete silence. This wasn't so rare for both father and son since they were used to spending large amounts of time without talking to each other, not because they had had an argument, it was simply because they didn't feel like talking.

For Fujiwara Bunta, this meant that his mind was somewhere else, probably thinking of new ways to set up either his GC8 or the team's FD, or maybe thinking of new crazy manoeuvres to try while driving Mt Akina's downhill.

Takumi, however, was just very depressed and was trying hard not to think about anything. Mika had called him from the airport telling him she was leaving for the US and wishing him good luck for the race. Even though it had been over three weeks since she had broken up with him, Takumi was still very pissed off with her and not quite ready to forgive her.

'What's up with that face?' Bunta suddenly asked as he parked the van at the circuit's car park.

'Nothing,' Takumi said.

'That face is saying something,' Bunta said but, for the sake of not arguing with his son, probably because he was way too lazy to do that, he just dropped it.

Takumi trained his facial features to remove every trace of sulkiness from it. He knew that if his father had noticed, so would Ryosuke-san and he really wanted to avoid any questions from him. He also knew that it was rather silly of him to keep his and Mika's split a secret from everyone because, sooner or later, they'd end up finding out anyway.

He still wasn't ready to tell them yet and, in any case, he didn't know how to.

As Bunta went with Matsumoto to help unload the car and set up the garage, Takumi went to the motorhome to get into his racing suit.

He found the Takahashi brothers in the motorhome small living area where Ryosuke was putting on a supportive bandage on Keisuke's ankle.

'Are you alright?' Takumi asked his team mate.

'Yeah, Aniki's told me that the fissure is pretty much healed but, just in case, I'll have to race with a special support from now on,' Keisuke explained.

'I've also said that you've got to be careful with your foot…' Ryosuke added looking at his brother.

'I know, Aniki, I know…' Keisuke said.

'Guys, almost ready?' Kyoko asked poking her head through the motorhome's open door.

'Not quite, why?' Ryosuke asked.

'There are a couple of journalists here who want to speak to you,' Kyoko said.

'Okay, we'll see them after the briefing,' Ryosuke replied.

'Sure,' Kyoko said leaving the three of them alone again.

'She's taking her new job seriously,' Ryosuke commented.

'You've got no idea how serious she is whenever she sets her mind on something,' Keisuke explained.

'I can imagine,' Ryosuke said laughing softly, 'now, you two get ready, we'll be at the box waiting for you.'

'Is Mika coming to see this race?' Keisuke asked Takumi the instant Ryosuke had left the motorhome.

Making a vague sound, Takumi went inside the small room he occupied during the races to get changed. Keeping this secret was just getting harder and harder for him.

Both drivers made their way to the box where, after a short briefing during which Ryosuke informed them about the characteristics of the track, the weather's predictions and the technical data they needed to set the car up.

As Ryosuke handed them their instructions for the first free practice session, Kyoko also told them that the two journalists would interview both Keisuke and Takumi separately. They worked for one of the main newspapers in Japan and they were putting together the profiles of every one of the Super GT drivers.

Takumi's interviewer was a man not much older than himself who looked way too friendly for Takumi to feel at ease with him.

'So, Fujiwara-san, you've become quite a sensation since you crossed the line in first position for the GT300. How did you start your racing career?' the guy asked even before Takumi had sat down at the table where the journalist was.

'I…er…' Takumi said looking at the tape recorder the journalist was holding.

'Don't mind the recorder,' he said.

'Well, I guess, I started with street racing,' Takumi said trying to do his best to ignore the machine.

'Ah, yeah, not a very conventional way of racing, is it?'

'No, not really,' Takumi agreed.

'How many years have you been racing?'

'Just a bit over two,' Takumi replied.

'Really? Wow, then you must be awfully talented!' the journalist exclaimed.

'I don't know,' Takumi said beginning to feel slightly hot.

'Oh, don't be so modest,' the journalist said, 'with your looks and your talent, the girls must surely love you.'

As Takumi started to have some serious doubts about the guy's sexual tendencies, the journalist fired yet another question at him:

'Tell me, do you have a significant other at the moment?'

'Er…no…' Takumi said not being fully aware of anything anymore. This guy's questions were confusing him so much that, by the end of the interview, Takumi couldn't even remember half of the answers he had given.

That day Takumi decided he didn't like journalists and he definitely didn't like to give interviews, thank goodness his job as a professional racer meant that he spent most of the time locked up inside the car doing what he liked best: driving as fast as he could.

The free practice session went remarkably well and they managed to test all the settings Ryosuke and Fumihiro had come up with the priceless help from Bunta so, that evening, everyone went to bed relatively happy of what they had achieved during the day.

A loud noise woke Takumi up the next day.

'Hey! Takumi! Wake up!' he heard Keisuke shout.

'What's up?' Takumi said opening the small sliding door, wearing his oldest t-shirt, his boxers and with his hair all messed up.

'Is this true?' Keisuke said pushing a newspaper into Takumi's hands.

He picked it up and started reading about the public transportation's delays in Tokyo. He looked at Keisuke confusedly.

'Not this idiot! This!' Keisuke exclaimed turning the paper round to show him the last page of it, where the sports information could be found.

Then he saw it: a list of all GT300 drivers, with names, ages and a short interview. His name was there, next to Keisuke's and, in the information regarding him, he saw the following words:

'Fujiwara Takumi is single and is still looking for a girlfriend: maybe one of our readers will be the lucky one!'

Takumi's heart skipped a beat.

'What happens if Mika reads this?' Keisuke asked and, his angry face transformed Takumi's confusion and dismay into fury.

'She WON'T read this, because she's GONE!' Takumi shouted.

'Gone? Where?' Keisuke asked, now being his turn to feel confused.

Takumi looked at his team mate and considered telling him to mind his own business and to get lost but then, remembering he was talking to an ex-gangster who got as easily pissed off as himself, Takumi decided to tell him the truth:

'She left three days ago to go to the US with her family. She's going to live there and dedicate herself to her golfing career.'

Keisuke looked at Takumi obviously feeling sorry for him.

'And she broke up with you?'

Takumi nodded.

'Wow…' Keisuke said, 'I'm sorry.'

Takumi and Keisuke just remained there, not knowing what to do next.

'We should go,' Takumi finally said.

'Yeah, listen, I'm going to tell the guys not to ask you any questions, okay?' Keisuke said.

Takumi just shrugged before turning round to go and get changed. He no longer cared now that everyone in the nation knew about his being single. He only hoped Itsuki and the guys wouldn't get too pissed off when they found out. Itsuki was very sensitive when it came to not being told about what went on in Takumi's life by Takumi himself.

True to his word, Keisuke had made sure that no one in the box went anywhere near mentioning the newspaper's article and so, the entire day went without a glitch.

The car, as usual, felt quite good as Takumi got in it and drove it down the pit lane. Motegi's circuit was very different from Suzuka and even more different than the small circuit the team used for their private testing.

Even so, Takumi still appreciated that Motegi did seem easier than Suzuka. Maybe it was the fact that compared to Suzuka, Motegi's corners were a lot less sharp and the straights not quite as long. Having honed his skills in the mountain passes, Takumi preferred a circuit with plenty of corners.

'Takumi, be careful with the traffic in front of you,' he heard Ryosuke-san's voice through the radio. He liked that his Team Manager no longer used his surname to call him, even if Ryosuke probably did it to avoid any confusion when talking to Takumi and his father.

The young driver realised what Ryosuke was talking about when, after one of the left hand corners he saw three cars lined up on one of the circuit's short straights.

This made him slow down considerably, ruining his flying lap in the process.

'Don't worry, you still have a good five laps to set your best time,' Fumihiro added.

Takumi was about to reply to that when the car in front of him, probably because its driver was getting impatient, did something stupid: trying a suicidal manoeuvre, the driver tried to pass the two cars in front of him. Unfortunately, he didn't consider that all of them were approaching a relatively sharp right turn and, just as the two cars in front turned, the third one crashed into one of them.

Takumi only had the time to drive out of the track in order to avoid them but, with his lucky star apparently having taken some time off, he felt the FD's front tires skid on a wet patch of grass making him go a lot faster than he had originally intended.

His car stopped abruptly as it grazed the wall of tyres protecting the cement one.

'Takumi? You're alright?' he heard Ryosuke ask as Takumi forced himself to release the steering wheel from his grasp.

'Yeah,' he said, 'I don't think the car got hit, I may have scratched the paint though…'

'Can you re-start it?' Ryosuke asked and Takumi tried pushing the button that started the car's engine. It started without any problems.

'Yeah, it sounds fine,' Takumi said.

'Okay, take it back inside. We need to make sure everything is fine before we send you back outside,' Ryosuke ordered.

Takumi did so and, even though the car was fine, he and Keisuke only managed to get a meagre ninth place in the grid.

'Hey, don't worry. We're still in the first five rows. The race is long and we can make up for this…' Ryosuke said trying to make his drivers feel better, 'how's your foot Keisuke?'

'It's doing well Aniki.'

'Good,' Ryosuke said and, as he was going to say something to Takumi, the three of them saw a very annoyed-looking Matsumoto walking towards them.

'Takumi, there's some arrogant guy outside who wants to speak to you.'

'It's not a journalist, is it?' Takumi said freaking out.

'No, he's way too well dressed to be a journalist,' Kyoko said joining them.

'Okay, can I go?' Takumi asked Ryosuke who simply nodded.

Takumi stepped out of the box into the paddock area where he found a guy whose impeccable, designer suit made him look completely out of place.

'Fujiwara-san,' he asked and Takumi nodded, 'Please follow me.'

He followed him to a black car parked nearby.

'It's safe,' he said talking through the partially opened window of the car's passenger side.

The door opened and, as she climbed out of the car, an upset looking Mina-chan said:

'I thought you had a girlfriend. Why did you lie to me?'

Takumi looked at her and then at the guy who looked as if he was pissed off by being there. It was obvious to Takumi that the guy was there against his wishes.

'I didn't lie to you,' Takumi said not really knowing why he was explaining himself with her.

'Then how do you explain this?' she said holding a copy of the paper where the infamous article had been published, 'this is a serious newspaper and they never publish things that cannot be verified so don't try to tell me that they're lying…'

'In fact, they aren't. I no longer have a girlfriend,' Takumi finally admitted.

'You don't?' Mina-chan said her face brightening up like a Christmas tree.

'No, I don't,' Takumi confirmed.

'Ah, in that case, my offer is still valid,' she said shocking Takumi in the process.

Recovering as fast as he could, Takumi reminded himself of his resolution to focus on his racing career.

'I'm sorry but so is my answer,' he said and Mina-chan now looked as if he had slapped her.

'But you said you no longer have a girlfriend,' she said as her eyes filled with tears.

'Yes, but I'm not ready to date anyone now, I'm sorry,' Takumi said and he had the distinct impression that the guy, probably Mina-chan's manager by the looks of him, wanted to beat the crap out of him.

Mina-chan looked at Takumi with twin tears crossing her beautiful cheeks then she turned her gaze towards her manager and said:

'You were right. Let's go.'

She got back inside the car and the manager, after giving Takumi a dirty look, got behind the wheel and drove off leaving Takumi standing there.

To be continued…