Programmed Lives – Second Stage

Chapter Twenty Three

Ryosuke only reacted when he heard his phone ringing while he was still holding it in his hand.

'Fumihiro?' he said thinking his right hand man was calling him back.

'No, this is Shimazu. Am I speaking to Tahakashi Ryosuke?'

'Shimazu-san, I was about to call you,' Ryosuke said sitting back down on the chair.

'Yes, you probably wanted to talk to me about that sudden free publicity your team has just given us,' Shimazu-san said and Ryosuke was surprised to find that the Kirin Marketing manager sounded extremely happy.

'Shimazu-san…'

'Takahashi-san, don't worry about the gossip. Publicity is always publicity. First you win your maiden race with our colours, now you give us almost five minutes of a free spot on national TV with one of the most famous pop stars saying our name twice. Takahashi-san, Kirin's board of directors is considering very seriously incrementing the sponsorship by another five percent. I will call you as soon as we reach a decision.'

'I'll be looking forward to hearing from you then,' Ryosuke said.

As he pressed the button to finish the conversation, Ryosuke looked around his living room to find Keisuke and Takumi engaged in a staring competition.

'Guys…' Ryosuke said and that seemed to make both of his drivers snap out of it.

'I can't believe you rejected her twice,' Keisuke said looking at Takumi with a mix of admiration and disbelief and, seeing that Takumi didn't say anything, he added: 'she's done you a huge favour, I think that the least you can do is thank her…'

'I don't have to do anything,' Takumi finally said getting up from the sofa, 'she did everything on her own!'

'What? That's bollocks!' Keisuke said getting up from his sofa too.

'Stop it!' Ryosuke said raising his voice only a notch but enough so his brother and Takumi would stop arguing.

'But Aniki…'

'This has turned out a lot better than I hoped: Kirin's even thinking of giving us more money. Keisuke, if Takumi wants to thank this whatever-her-name-is, that's his decision, only his. Understood?'

Keisuke looked at him for a bit then, surrendering, he said:

'Alright. I just think he's making a mistake.'

'If he is, it's going to be HIS mistake, not yours,' Ryosuke said and Keisuke, who after all knew him better than anyone else, understood the hidden message in that sentence.

'Alright,' he repeated sitting back down on the sofa next to Kyoko who had chosen to stay out of this conversation.

'Can I go home?' Takumi asked Ryosuke.

'Sure, sorry for making you come all the way here for nothing,' Ryosuke said, 'I'll see you the day after tomorrow for the meeting.'

'Sure,' Takumi said and, after nodding towards Keisuke and Kyoko, he left the room and the house.

'I'm going upstairs to get changed so I can go to the hospital,' Ryosuke announced and Keisuke could tell that his brother was a bit happier than usual.

'I'm amazed,' Kyoko commented.

'What about?' Keisuke asked.

'Takumi,' she replied, 'for such a quiet guy, he's incredibly stubborn.'

'You've got no idea,' Keisuke said, 'I just hope he got Aniki's message…'

'Which message?'

'Essentially, Aniki implied that it he made this mistake he'd have to live with it the rest of his life,' Keisuke explained.

'Keisuke, you're going to let it be, aren't you?' Kyoko asked looking at her boyfriend straight in the eye.

'Maybe,' Keisuke said cryptically.

'Keisuke…' Kyoko warned.

'So what if, say that they meet up by, let's say coincidentally and, you know, they get talking…'

'Coincidentally?' Kyoko asked lifting her eyebrows and giving him a knowing look, 'you're planning something, aren't you?'

'Oh, look, the news…' Keisuke said turning his eyes towards the TV. Kyoko promptly took the remote and turned it off.

'Nice try, but not good enough. What are you going to do?'

'Me? Nothing,' Keisuke said looking all too angelic to fool Kyoko, 'alright, just a little something.'

'What?' Kyoko insisted.

'Er, well, the thing is, one of the two guys Mina-chan behind her. I think I've seen him before. I need to check with one of my old friends from my biker days.'

'What? If your brother finds out…'

'He won't if you don't tell him,' Keisuke said.

'Brilliant, now I'm your accomplice,' Kyoko complained but, deep down, Keisuke knew that she was only too happy to help.

'Alright, let me make some phone calls. I'll figure out a way for Takumi to meet with Mina-chan.'

'Keisuke, why are you doing all of this?' Kyoko asked all the sudden.

'Let's call it revenge,' Keisuke said.

'Revenge?' Kyoko asked sounding confused.

'Yeah, of the sweetest kind: before you and I got together, he had the nerve to tell me that I didn't act on my emotions and now he's doing the very thing he accused me of. Kyoko, this girl clearly has feelings for him and, I simply refuse to believe Takumi doesn't feel anything for her…'

'He told you to act on your feelings for me?' Kyoko asked, apparently ignoring the rest of what he had said.

'Yeah.'

'So it's partially because of him that we're together,' Kyoko said.

'Yeah,' Keisuke confirmed.

Kyoko looked at Keisuke and he saw her beautiful eyes filling with the fiery determination that made him love her so much.

'Alright, I'm in then. I've got to return him the favour.'

'Good girl,' Keisuke said smiling happily.

Two days later, and following Keisuke's indications, Kyoko found herself heading towards Tokyo in her FD wearing the team's jacket.

She hoped that neither Takumi nor Ryosuke would find suspicious that she was missing from the team's meeting, especially because this was her first post-race briefing and she was supposed to be there so she could redact the press release.

Instead, she was driving through the complete chaos that was the traffic of the capital city of Japan. She could definitely not live there. Even the rotary engine of her FD seemed to complain because of the continuous brake-accelerate-brake pattern she was putting it through.

Finally, and just as she was about to give up, she found the place she had been looking for. Now she only had to hope that Keisuke's friend had warned the security guys so she would be let in.

'Hello, I'm Iwase Kyoko,' she said to the one who was standing outside the photo studio's door.

'And?' the guy said and Kyoko began to get worried and even scared seeing that the guy was twice her size.

'I'm coming here on behalf of Takahashi Keisuke,' she said and she noticed, with pleasure, that the mere mention of Keisuke's name made the guy change his attitude one hundred and eighty degrees.

'How's Keisuke-san these days?' the guy asked.

'He's alright. I'm his girlfriend by the way,' Kyoko said following Keisuke's instructions. She hadn't known at first why she had to say that but, seeing the guy's reaction to this bit of information made her understand the reason.

'Iwase-sama, come this way please,' the security guy said, and seeing him become almost as polite as a butler made Kyoko repress a giggle.

She followed the guy and entered the studio where, according to Keisuke's sources, Mina-chan was doing a photo shoot for her next album.

Kyoko, having passed the first stage of her mission successfully, allowed herself to look around. The studio was very luxurious (again it was in the middle of Shibuya so it was to be expected). The thing that surprised Kyoko the most was Mina-chan herself.

She posed in front of the camera with the grace of a professional model. And she was even better looking than what Kyoko remembered from the pictures she had seen of her, Keisuke was right: if Takumi didn't feel anything for this girl, he had some serious problems.

Kyoko waited patiently till the photographer allowed Mina-chan to take a break. Only then Kyoko made her move.

'Hello, my name is Iwase Kyoko, I'm with the Kirin Takahashi Racing Team.'

'That's obvious,' Mina-chan said almost sarcastically interrupting her and pointing at Kyoko's jacket, 'how did you get in here?'

Kyoko considered lying but again, following what Keisuke had told her, she said the truth:

'My boyfriend knows one of the members of your security staff,' Kyoko said.

'What do you want?' a voice coming from behind Kyoko asked and the girl turned round to face that same guy who had come to pick Takumi up from the boxes after the qualifying session.

'I'm…' she stared but a motion from Mina-chan's hand made stop talking.

'Don't worry, we're just talking, please go and tell the photographer that I'm going to take the rest of the day off.'

'What? Mina-chan…' the manager said.

'Please,' Mina-chan said pouting in a very childish way that made her look even cuter.

'Alright,' he finally conceded and left the two girls alone.

'What are you doing here? Is Takumi-kun alright?' Mina-chan asked and Kyoko couldn't help but to notice the not so subtle change in her tone of voice: she sounded very worried.

'Yes, he is. And I'm here precisely for him. You've done something incredibly nice for Takumi and for our team. So, we thought you may want to consider having dinner with Takumi,' Kyoko said.

'Did he say he wanted to have dinner with me?' Mina-chan said with the utmost disbelief imprinted on her voice.

'Not exactly,' Kyoko admitted.

'He has no idea you're here, has he?' she said, now sounding quite bitter.

Kyoko damned her for being so smart, weren't pretty girls such as this one supposed to be dumb?

'Mina-chan, Takumi's just had his heart broken, again. His previous girlfriends haven't been very considered with him and, whereas I understand his reluctance to put his emotions on the line anytime soon, I don't think he should lock his heart up to prevent himself from feeling anything. Even if he's trying his best to deny it, I think he finds you very attractive and, correct me if I'm wrong, I believe you feel something for Takumi too.'

Mina-chan looked at Kyoko for a second before saying:

'I do. I like him a lot. You'll think I'm strange because I hardly know him but, in my profession, you need to figure people out very quickly and I could tell that, aside being very cute, he was a nice person from the moment I met him. And he's a good kisser too.'

'You guys have kissed?' Kyoko asked shocked.

'Yeah, I've kissed him a couple of times,' Mina-chan said like if it was the most normal thing on earth, 'so, what do I have to do to see him?'

'You just need to come with me,' Kyoko said not being able to believe that things had gone so well. She only hoped that Keisuke would also succeed in his part of the mission.

Back at the team's base, as everyone prepared themselves to go home, Keisuke approached Takumi who was looking gloomier than ever.

'Hey, I have the perfect thing to cheer you up,' Keisuke said.

'What is it?' Takumi said with an obviously fake enthusiasm.

'I found this new mountain pass and I'd like you to come with me to try it.'

'Look, I'm not in the mood for…'

'You're coming, even if I have to drag you there myself,' Keisuke said deciding that he would be true to his word if Takumi insisted on being stubborn.

'Where is it?' Takumi asked apparently surrendering to his team mate.

'Near Tokyo,' Keisuke said and, before Takumi could change his mind, he made him get into his 86 and follow him as Keisuke climbed into his FD.

On their way there, Keisuke called Kyoko to make sure his girlfriend was waiting at the place where he had booked a table for two. He was happy to see that Kyoko had had no problems and that she was already there with Mina-chan.

Takumi followed Keisuke's car and found it really odd when, instead of taking the exit for the mountainous area north of Tokyo, he just drove inside a restaurant's car park.

'What are we doing here?' he asked when Keisuke walked to his car.

Keisuke opened the AE86's driver-side door and said:

'Takumi, your date is waiting for you inside,'

'My…WHAT?' Takumi exclaimed.

'Mina-chan is inside the restaurant, waiting for you at a table I have booked for you two.'

'What?' Takumi repeated crossly.

'You find her attractive, don't you?' Keisuke asked, refusing to be intimidated by Takumi's anger.

'Yeah, of course, but what does this have to do with anything?' Takumi asked still upset with his team mate.

'Then give her and yourself a chance. If after tonight you really don't want to see her again, then I'll let you be,' Keisuke said.

'Why are you so insistent?' Takumi asked.

'Because you'll regret it if you don't act on your emotions and you know it,' Keisuke said cheekily.

Takumi's angry face gradually gave way to his normal one and, after a few instants, he said:

'Fine, you win.'

'Fujiwara, I thought I'd never hear you say those words,' Keisuke said smiling devilishly.

To be continued…