Programmed Lives – Second Stage

Chapter Twenty Six

As he started running, he felt a hand grabbing his sleeve and that made him stop. Turning round, he saw Mina-chan shaking her head looking very serious.

'It's useless. He probably has someone waiting for him somewhere with a car and, by now, they'll be nowhere near here…' she explained.

'What are we going to do then? Nothing?' Takumi asked considering very seriously jumping into the AE86 to go after them.

'There isn't much we can do. I'll ask my manager to see if he can try and contain the damage.'

Takumi didn't know what to say. He was just very angry at the photographer and a bit afraid of what would happen if their picture got published: to say that Ryosuke-san would get upset was an understatement.

In any case, the incident had completely ruined the evening so Takumi drove Mina-chan back home and then he headed towards his so he could get some sleep before going to do the deliveries: on a Saturday morning the road would be even emptier than usual and Takumi liked that a lot.

As he crossed the living room on his way to the stairs, he heard his father say:

'Hey, are you alright?'

Takumi considered ignoring his father for it was way too embarrassing telling him about what had just happened. However, thinking that it was more likely than not that the picture would end up published, he realised that his father would find out about it anyway.

For this reason, he turned round and, making it as short as he could, he explained the whole situation to his father.

'I think you should call Ryosuke so you can warn him,' Bunta said being unusually clear giving his piece of advice.

Takumi freaked out at the very thought of explaining this to Ryosuke-san too. If it had been embarrassing telling his dad, doing so with his boss would just be downright humiliating.

'He's a smart enough guy, he'll figure out what to do,' Bunta insisted seeing his son debating the issue within himself.

'Alright,' Takumi mumbled on his way to the phone.

For the second time that evening, Takumi explained the episode to Ryosuke and as he was doing so, Takumi felt his face get so warm he thought he was running a fever.

'Don't worry, I'll take care of this,' Ryosuke said clearly not impressed by the whole thing.

'I'm very sorry, I…'

'It's not your fault Takumi. I'd like to ask you one thing though, if you don't mind,' Ryosuke said.

'Sure,' Takumi replied determined to answer anything his boss may have asked of him.

'You really like this girl, don't you?'

Okay, not everything. This was way too private…

'Because if you do, then I'll do everything in my power to help you two out,' Ryosuke added when Takumi didn't answer to his question.

'I do,' Takumi finally admitted.

'Alright then, don't worry about it. Just leave it to me, okay?' Ryosuke said in his most reassuring tone of voice.

'Sure, goodnight Ryosuke-san,' Takumi said feeling grateful that the weight was off his shoulders but mortified at the same time for he always seemed to rely on his boss to get him out of trouble.

'Goodnight, Takumi, I'll see you and your father on Monday,' Ryosuke said and then he hung up.

'You were right,' Takumi said to his father before he turned round to climb the stairs on his way to his room.

'I always am,' Bunta said to no one in particular.

Monday's training session started without a glitch. Takumi noticed how Ryosuke didn't even bring up their Friday night's conversation so he too, decided not to mention it to anyone.

'Hey Takumi, I heard what happened,' Keisuke said to him as they were taking a break while the mechanics worked on their car.

'Yeah, I…'

'Don't worry, if Akiko has her way the picture won't be published by any newspapers…'

'Akiko-san?' Takumi asked surprised to find out that Ryosuke's wife had been involved in the whole thing.

'Yeah, she and her father know some very important people in the media environment. When Aniki explained to her what happened, she said she'd make some phone calls.'

Takumi put his elbows on his knees and hid his face with his hands.

'This is so embarrassing,' he said with a barely audible voice.

'Don't worry, it's bound for these things to happen if you date someone this famous…hey, why don't you just make it public? This way…'

'No, I asked Mina-chan and she thinks it's a very bad idea to do so. After her press conference it would look bad for the team if I had changed my mind,' Takumi explained lifting his head so he could face his team mate.

'That's true,' Keisuke agreed.

The two remained quiet and then, Takumi got up from the ground where they were sitting.

'I'm going to the bathroom,' he said.

Keisuke saw him leave as he saw his girlfriend walking towards them. Kyoko and Takumi greeted as they passed each other.

'Is he okay? He's not worried about the photographer incident, is he?' Kyoko asked her boyfriend as she sat next to him, 'your brother's taken care of everything, and just in case, Fumihiro and I have prepared our own press release.'

'I don't think he's worried about that, well, not only about that,' Keisuke explained looking at Kyoko's beautiful face.

'Then, what is it?'

'I think he's freaked out.'

'What do you mean?' Kyoko asked.

'I mean that I'm not so sure anymore that we should have interfered with those two. I have the impression that we've got Takumi into a situation that may be a bit too big for him to handle.'

Kyoko looked at her boyfriend and, even if it hurt her to admit it, she had to agree with him.

'I guess it's always a bit dangerous playing matchmaker,' she commented.

'Yeah,' Keisuke said.

'In any case, Takumi's not alone with this. We'll help him, won't we?' she said.

'Of course,' Keisuke said resolutely.

'You know, compared to his problems with Mina-chan, the start of our relationship seems now so straightforward…' Kyoko said.

'You think so?' Keisuke asked doubtfully, 'chasing your FD with mine down Mt Akagi and you getting a tyre punctured, risking your life in the process, it's not what I call an easy start, you know.'

'Okay, point taken,' Kyoko said laughing.

Three days later, Takumi drove all the way to Mina-chan's house where, they had agreed, would watch a movie together.

After the whole paparazzo incident, the two of them had reached a conclusion: no more outings for them, from then on, they would only see each other in her place or in other similarly safe places.

'Hey, how are you?' Mina-chan said taking the bag full of munchies from Takumi's hands.

'Not bad,' he said bending down to kiss her. Then he followed her all the way to her living room. Her house was even more luxurious than Ryosuke's and it was decorated in an exclusively feminine fashion. Again, this house was occupied by two women, so that was to be expected.

'Where is your mum?' he asked Mina-chan as she took a seat on a plush looking, cream coloured sofa. She looked simply adorable with a tiny light blue summer dress and a ponytail gathering her long hair up.

'She's out for the weekend at a spa,' she said with nonchalance.

'Ah,' Takumi almost gasped. They were on their own? He thought immediately repressing the thought of what could happen if they were indeed alone in the house.

'Are you afraid of being on your own with me?' she asked clearly reading something on his face.

'No,' he replied and that was true for fear was very far from the feeling he was currently experiencing.

She looked startled for a short instant then she giggled and, looking almost embarrassed, busied herself with the TV's remote.

They started watching some random American action movie that she clearly had picked thinking Takumi would have liked something like that. Unfortunately, Takumi found his attention and gaze constantly wandering towards a certain point in Mina-chan's anatomy.

'You like the movie?' he heard her ask and that made him look up at her. He realised that she had seen that he was looking at something entirely different than the TV and that made her blush making her look even cuter.

'Mina-chan, I'm sorry to say this but, I really don't care about the movie,' Takumi said knowing he was gambling big time here.

He saw something not quite identifiable flash in her big, lovely brown eyes. Then, looking at her lap, she said with a tiny voice:

'To tell you the truth, neither do I.'

Takumi considered that as the signal he'd been looking forward to receive. As slowly as possible, he passed his arm around her shoulders and, bending down, he pressed his lips on hers.

Soon, both lost the notion of time and place and, by the time their brain caught up with what was happening, Takumi was half-laying on top of her kissing her neck and with all four of their hands taking over the rest of their senses.

'Wait,' she suddenly whispered sounding completely breathless.

'What's up?' Takumi said, amazed he was able to find his voice.

She then pushed him away a bit so she could get back into a seating position.

'I'm…' she started then, looking away from him, she whispered with such a low tone of voice that Takumi had to strain his ears to hear her, 'I'm a virgin.'

Takumi almost fell off the couch.

'Ah,' he gasped fighting with himself so he could regain his composure.

'I'm sorry…' she said, still refusing to look at him, 'it's just that I'd like my first time to be a bit more…you know…'

'Yeah, don't worry, I get it,' he said and he really thought so even if a part of his anatomy was clearly a bit less inclined to be so understanding.

'Let's just watch the movie, okay?' she said and Takumi, as usual, felt incredibly disorientated when it came to how fast women seemed to change their mind. Compared to that speed, his 86 moved like a snail.

They spent the rest of the evening watching the movie, talking and laughing together. All and all, Takumi enjoyed their time together and, by the time he went home, after arranging to meet up the following evening at the recording studio, he didn't even mind they hadn't had sex all that much.

The next day, at the team's training session, Ryosuke had a surprise for them: a brand new car had just been delivered.

'This is the spare car, now we no longer have to worry about any malfunctions in the main one, not that this means we can go and crash it, alright?' Ryosuke said and, for some reason, he was looking at his younger brother as he said so.

'Aniki!' Keisuke exclaimed making the whole team laugh.

As the mechanics, Ryosuke and Fumihiro included, busied themselves with the spare car, Keisuke walked towards Takumi and said:

'How are things with Mina-chan?'

Takumi looked at him and said:

'They're alright.'

'Ah, I see,' Keisuke said with a smirk, 'still not gone the whole distance, have you?'

Takumi's face turned fuchsia hearing Keisuke being as indelicate as a cactus plant.

'That's none of your business,' Takumi said crossly making Keisuke laugh out loud.

'Ah, this makes me feel so good: I thought I had lost the ability to make you feel embarrassed.'

With this, Keisuke walked away from him still sounding highly amused. Takumi shook his head and damned himself for falling so easily into the trap.

That evening, Takumi was more than eager to see Mina-chan for he found himself more and more often thinking about her. If he wasn't careful, he believed he would end up falling head over heels in love with her.

He arrived at the studio and, after the receptionist checked that he was indeed expected, she sent someone to meet him so he could be accompanied to the studio where Mina-chan recorded all her songs.

'Hi, I'm Sasaki,' a man in his mid-thirties said walking up to him. Takumi recognised in him the man who'd been with Mina-chan that day at the circuit.

'You're Mina-chan's manager, aren't you?' Takumi asked.

'Yes, I am,' he said proudly and a tad in the arrogant side. Takumi wasn't sure why but he definitely disliked something about this guy. In any case, he followed him to an elevator and got on it with him.

They walked into a small room with a couple of dark leather sofas. The whole environment looked very posh and professional, not that Takumi knew very much about the music industry but this seemed like a first class recording studio.

He also realised that one of the walls of the room was made of glass and looking through it, he saw Mina-chan singing in what looked like a sound-proof room. She was giving her back to Takumi so the girl hadn't noticed him yet. Next to where she was, Takumi saw an even smaller room with a couple of sound technicians working on a mixer table. This made him notice that the room was filled with music and over it he could hear Mina-chan's beautiful and powerful voice.

'You must have very influential friends,' he suddenly heard the manager say.

'What?' Takumi asked feeling confused.

'Well, none of my tricks to keep you away from Mina-chan have worked so far, not even the photographer I paid to get a picture of you two.'

'WHAT?' Takumi exclaimed his brain slowly registering what that bastard was saying.

'She's way too good for you and you just don't fit in her world. I'm hoping her infatuation for you won't last too long.'

Takumi felt his blood boil in his veins and he felt the familiar throbbing sensation in his head which warned him he was about to lose it.

'…you're just a pathetic loser and I definitely don't want you anywhere near…'

Sasaki never finished the sentence for Takumi, only half aware of what he was doing, lifted his fist and made it connect as hard as he could with the bastard's jaw.

To be continued…