Programmed Lives – Second Stage

Chapter Twenty Four

Takumi followed Keisuke inside one of the restaurant's private dinning rooms to find Kyoko there waiting with a very nervous looking Mina-chan.

'Alright, so, here he is, now we're going to go,' Kyoko said.

'Yes, have fun and don't worry about the paparazzi. This restaurant is a friend of mine's and you will be ensured enough privacy,' Keisuke said, talking to Mina-chan.

Then the couple left the singer alone with Takumi.

'Hi,' Takumi said suddenly feeling very self-conscious.

The singer wasn't even able to speak. She just stood there biting her lower lip.

'Shall we sit down?' Takumi said pointing at the table.

'O-okay,' she stammered.

As they were taking their seats, a middle-aged lady came in with the menus and a couple of glasses of iced water. That made Takumi realise two important things: he didn't even know the kind of restaurant this was and, even worse, he didn't think he'd brought enough money to pay for the meal.

'Good evening, you may order whatever you wish, it'll be on the house,' the lady said.

'Pardon?' Takumi said.

'Takahashi-san never pays in our restaurant and I've been told you're his very good friends so you are to be afforded the same treatment,' the lady explained.

'Ah, thanks,' Takumi said and the lady bowed briefly before leaving them alone.

'You have very good friends,' Mina-chan commented with a very tiny voice and that made Takumi look at her. She was every bit as beautiful as he remembered. She wasn't wearing any make up and her pretty white dress made her look even more adorable.

'Before I forget, thanks for coming,' she added seeing that he wasn't going to say anything to her previous statement.

'Ah, no problem,' he said feeling, if possible, even more uncomfortable.

'To be honest, I didn't think you'd show up,' she said.

'Why not?' Takumi asked frowning. Was this girl for real? Takumi thought while Mina-chan went back to torturing her lower lip.

'Can I ask you something?' Takumi said and Mina-chan just nodded, 'why are you interested in me?'

Mina-chan looked at him for a while before replying:

'I'm not entirely sure. I…' she said and, as she did, she tried to move the menu out of the way, hitting her glass of water in the process which tripped over the table spilling its contents all over the place, including Takumi's t-shirt.

'Oh! I'm sorry!' Mina-chan said getting up, walking around the table and starting to dry up Takumi's t-shirt with her napkin, 'I'm so clumsy,' she said.

Takumi, feeling embarrassed enough as it was, took Mina-chan's hands in his and, noticing how much they were trembling, he said using what he hoped was a soothing tone of voice:

'Hey, Mina-chan, don't worry. It's just water, it'll dry out.'

Then she did something even stranger. She dropped on her knees and put her hands on her face. Takumi begged to every god that might have been listening so she wouldn't start crying.

'Hey, I said it's alright,' he said getting scared.

'It's not. This is so not alright! You didn't even want to be here,' she complained, her voice muffled because of her hands.

Takumi got up from his chair and crouching next to her, he said:

'Mina-chan, there is no one who can force me to do something I don't want to do. If I'm here it's because I want to be here.'

Mina-chan, slowly, removed her hands from her face and Takumi saw that she was indeed on the verge of crying.

'Really?' she asked a bit too sceptically.

'One hundred percent sure,' Takumi said.

'I knew that you'd be like this,' she then said finally getting up from the floor, allowing Takumi to stand up too.

'Like what?' he asked.

'So strong,' she said and Takumi wanted to laugh out loud. Him? Strong? Whatever next…

'I'm the weakest person alive, Mina-chan,' he said with a half a smile. Mina-chan shook her pretty head and said:

'I think you're a lot stronger than even yourself know.'

Her words shocked him. They were so similar to what Ryosuke had told him, ages ago, that was almost scary.

'I don't get it. You don't even know me,' Takumi complained.

'I know. But I think I'm good at figuring out people rather quickly and I could tell I liked you from the first time we spoke,' she said.

The lady's entrance saved Takumi from having to comment on that. Seeing the mess on the table, she took a cloth from a pocket and started wiping the table with it.

'Are you ready to order?' the lady said while she finished drying the water out.

'Er…why don't you bring us whatever the chef recommends?' Takumi said.

'Alright,' the lady said with a smile, 'I'll get you another glass of water,' she said to Mina-chan.

'Thank you,' Mina-chan said looking positively mortified.

After the lady had left, the two sat back on their chairs.

'Can I ask you something else?' Takumi said.

'Sure,' Mina-chan replied.

'How is it that a beautiful, popular and successful girl such as yourself is so insecure?'

Mina-chan looked from him to her lap and, after a while, she looked back up at him and said:

'I'm only this insecure with the guys I like. Give me a mike and a stage and, I don't know, something happens that makes me feel like the most confident person in the world.'

Takumi could very well relate to that for it was exactly what happened to him whenever he got onboard a racing car.

'But with your looks, I'm sure you must not have any problems getting the guy you like to date you.'

'Like with you, you mean?' Mina-chan said raising her eyebrows a bit.

'Alright, I get it,' Takumi said.

'I don't think so,' she said startling him with her frankness, 'you're right: there are loads of guys who fancy me and I'm not talking about my fans here, I'm talking about guys from the showbiz who meet me and ask me out. Unfortunately for me, they all want to date me for my looks or even worse, since I'm already famous, dating me will make them famous too.'

'What?' Takumi said finding it very difficult to understand.

'You know what the problem is?' Mina-chan said and Takumi shook his head, 'for normal people it's hard enough to find someone they like for real and to have those feelings reciprocated. Imagine how difficult it is for me when, in addition to this, I also need to find someone who'll be able to accept the pressure of the gossip.'

Takumi didn't know what to say but, once more, the lady's entrance saved him.

She brought two plates full of pasta. One with a green sauce and another one with a meaty one making Takumi realise, for the first time, that they were in an Italian restaurant.

'This is spaghetti al pesto and this is penne with Bolognese sauce,' the lady explained leaving the two plates so they could choose which one to eat.

'I'll try this one,' Mina-chan said pointing at the green sauced one.

'Alright,' Takumi said taking the other one.

The lady left them alone again and Takumi was left looking at his dish not really knowing what to do with it.

'Never had Italian food?' Mina-chan asked with a small smile.

'Not really, my father doesn't like it,' Takumi explained.

'Ah, I see. You eat it like this,' she said taking his fork, piercing one of the pasta shapes, mixing it well with the sauce and putting it close to Takumi's mouth.

Before he could realise what he was doing, he took the food from the fork and started chewing it.

'Nice,' he commented once he had swallowed, 'I think I've got the hang of it now,' he said taking his fork from her hand grazing her soft skin briefly. This small contact provoked some sort of electric shock that made them drop the piece of cutlery on the table.

'I'm sorry,' she said.

'Don't worry,' Takumi said feeling himself get warm on his cheeks. He picked up his fork and started eating while she did the same.

They ate in silence for a few minutes before she said:

'How did you get involved in racing?'

That simple question managed to get them engaged in a conversation that, as it went on, became more and more fluid and soon, Takumi found himself able to relax and enjoy Mina-chan's company who, in turn, seemed to be having a really good time.

They finished their desserts, two delicious portions of tiramisu, when Takumi offered himself to drive her back home.

'Oh no, don't worry about it,' she said.

'How are you going to get home?' Takumi asked.

'I'll call my manager so he sends me a car,' she said.

'Don't be silly, we're not that far from Tokyo and I fancy a long drive anyway,' Takumi said.

'Are you sure?'

'Definitely,' he said and, as to prove his point, he took his 86's key out of his pocket.

Thanking the lady for the service and for the lovely meal, Takumi and Mina-chan walked towards the young man's car.

'That's your car?' she said looking at the 86.

'Yes, any problems?' he said a bit too defensively.

'No, I like it…' she said and Takumi feared she too was going to say that his car looked cute when, instead, she said, 'it looks very fast.'

That took Takumi completely by surprise.

'It is,' he simply said opening the passenger's door so she could climb in the car.

He started the car and she gasped quite audibly hearing the roar of the AE86's racing engine: that made him feel even prouder of his car.

He drove them out of the car park and was heading towards the motorway that led to Tokyo's urban area when he said:

'So, what should we do in our next date?'

'Next date?' she asked looking slightly taken aback.

'Yeah, I've liked being with you as much as I thought I would,' he said deciding to be honest to both himself and her.

'But, Takumi, didn't you hear what I said earlier?' she asked.

'About what?' he replied.

'About how difficult it is for me to date anyone,' she reminded him miserably.

'We don't have to go to anywhere public. We could just go for a drive somewhere or, I don't know...'

'Look, I appreciate that you want to go out with me again but, I can't do this to you,' she said.

'Why not?' he asked.

'Because you're a really nice guy and I can't put you through what it means to be with me,' she explained.

'Shouldn't I be the one making that decision?' he said stubbornly.

'Takumi…'

'Look, the reason why I didn't want to go out with you is because I knew that if I went out with you once I would end up liking you. Now, I like you and I want to go out with you,' Takumi said firmly.

'Are you sure?' she asked.

'Absolutely,' he said.

Mina-chan remained silent for a while before sighing loudly enough for him to hear it over the engine's sound.

'Alright,' she finally said, 'you mentioned something like going for a drive, didn't you?'

'Yeah, I did,' Takumi said.

'The think is, I don't have a driver's license yet so, what do you think if you teach me to drive…'

'What?' Takumi said, removing his gaze from the road to look at her. He saw that she was completely serious about it and, thinking rapidly, he came up with an idea:

'Since you said we can't go anywhere public, what would you say if I ask permission to Ryosuke-san to use the track where we train?'

'I'd love that,' she said smiling enthusiastically.

'Okay, I'm not sure if I'm going to be any good though,' he said.

'What? Takumi, you're a professional racer!' she laughed.

'Yeah, I mean, I know I'm good at driving but I'm not sure if I'll be good at teaching,' he explained.

'Well, since I have absolutely no idea how to drive, I don't think I'm going to be able to tell the difference, am I?' she said still smiling.

'Good point,' Takumi admitted.

She started laughing again and, just as it had happened with Ryouske-san, Takumi had the impression that if he stuck with this girl everything would be alright.

To be continued…