Programmed Lives – Second Stage
Chapter Thirty One
The Kirin Takahashi Racing Team needed to win this race. Takumi kept repeating this sentence in his head as some sort of karmic mantra to help him go faster.
Because of the slim difference in the scores, if they didn't get full points in this race, they would remain in second position and the NA-1's team would end up winning the championship with only one single point of advantage.
Takumi was prepared to die in order to prevent this from happening.
Just before this last race, Ryosuke had told the whole team that if they finished in second place overall, he'd be very happy for it would mean to finish above his predicted target. He also said that, after all, this was only their first year in the GT300 championship so they could consider themselves lucky to have done so incredibly well.
However, neither Takumi nor Keisuke nor the rest of the team were convinced by Ryosuke's speech: everyone knew that their Team Manager was just saying this to make them feel better and, precisely for this reason, they were all even more determined to win the championship so Ryosuke would have a real reason to be happy and proud of his men.
So now, when the moment of truth had finally come and with a long series of really aggressive manoeuvres, some of them downright insane, Takumi managed to get the car in second position. With his job far from being over, Takumi spent the last of his allocated laps driving like a madman. It was getting so bad that, at some point, the team stopped talking to him, fearing that the smallest of distractions would make Takumi crash the car.
'You're nuts,' Fumihiro said the minute Takumi entered the team's garage after having changed places with Keisuke.
'I'll never tire myself from saying this: you're crazy but you're one hell of a driver Takumi,' Ryosuke said and, to Takumi that was the best compliment his Team Manager could have ever paid him, 'now, go to the motorhome, take a shower and get changed, otherwise you'll end up catching a cold.'
'Yes,' Takumi said and, as he walked out of the box, he looked at the small monitor where he saw his team mate negotiating one of the circuit's most difficult corner. The way Keisuke was racing meant only one thing: it was over, the Kirin Takahashi Racing Team had already won.
A few hours later, the whole team was still celebrating their amazing victory inside their box when the legendary Drift King entered the garage:
'Takahashi, I knew you'd be trouble from the first day I saw you at the Federation's building' Keiichi Tsuchiya said talking to Ryosuke, who for once, was either too stunned or too happy, or maybe both, to say anything at all.
'Yeah, we're not bad, are we?' Bunta said joining in the conversation. Keiichi shook his head and said:
'Bunta, don't even try to be modest, it just doesn't suit you at all…'
'Alright, they still have loads to learn…but I'll be patient…' he said looking so serious that everyone started laughing.
Takumi observed the scene as he was trying, and failing, to ignore Itsuki's attempt at describing, minute by minute, the way he'd seen the whole race.
It wasn't that Takumi wasn't happy that his team had won the race that he had made them win both drivers and constructor's GT300 championships, Takumi was ecstatic that he had been able to contribute to that astonishing feat, the only problem was that he was literally dying to leave the Suzuka circuit so he could join the person whom he really wanted to celebrate the victory with: his girlfriend Minami.
The singer was waiting for him at the ryokan where she had first asked him out because, even though they had been seeing each other for over six months, except the team and a few other people, no one else knew they were an item and both Minami and Takumi liked it better that way.
Seeing each other in secret was very hard, especially because ever since Minami had reassumed her singing career, with her mother acting as her temporary manager, they had trouble finding time so they could be together.
He saw as Ryosuke, very reluctantly, gave the order to the team to start packing up so they could leave the circuit.
'Ryosuke-san, are we going to be here for much longer?' Takumi asked his Team Manger after he had waited for, in his opinion, an eternity.
'No, don't worry, we're just packing up the last of the vans and then we'll be off,' Ryosuke answered perfectly aware of what his driver had in mind.
'Is there anything I can do?' Takumi asked.
'I think you've done more than enough today,' Ryosuke said patting him on the shoulder giving him the kind of smile that made Takumi feel all flustered.
'Ah,' he muttered as his Team Manager turned round to go to his wife who was calling him.
Takumi was observing the couple as Akiko said something to her husband that made him hug her in such an affectionate way that made Takumi walk away.
'Are you ready to go?' he heard his father ask him a few minutes later.
'Yeah,' Takumi answered happy to hear that they were finally moving out.
The whole team, plus Akiko, little Kyosuke and the gang from Akina arrived at the ryokan where they would celebrate their victory in private. Takumi literally jumped out of the Impreza startling his father so much that he almost opened his eyes.
'What a brat,' Bunta said shaking his head as he finished parking his car.
By the time they entered the hall, they saw Takumi hugging his girlfriend finally allowing himself to express how very happy he was. When Takumi finally separated himself from Minami, the girl took out a piece of plastic from one of the pockets of her jeans.
'Look!' she said showing a brand new driving license with a huge grin on her beautiful face.
'Wow! Well done!' Takumi said hugging her again.
'Yeah, now that I've got it, why don't you teach me how to drift?' Minami asked.
'What? No, no way. It's too dangerous,' Takumi said looking very serious.
'Is what? You do it all the time!' Minami protested.
'Yeah, but…'
'If he doesn't teach you then I will,' Kyoko said interrupting Takumi and earning herself a glare from both him and her fiancé Keisuke.
'What? Kyoko…' Takumi protested.
'Thanks!' Minami said passing her arm around Kyoko's. As she did so, she noticed something sparkling on Kyoko's left hand, 'Kyoko, is that…'
Kyoko nodded happily.
'Whoa! That's great! Congratulations!' Minami said hugging her friend then, turning to Keisuke, she said:
'About time you did it!'
Keisuke, not knowing what to say to that, turned to Takumi and looked at him pleadingly.
'Ah, no, I'm with her in this one…' Takumi said putting his hands up.
'Traitor,' Keisuke said pouting making everyone laugh.
As they all took their seats, and before the party could get out of control, Ryosuke got up and, looking around the room seeing loads of familiar faces, he said:
'I'm not going to make a long speech because I know you're gagging to uncork those bottles of champagne so, I'm just going to thank every one of you, whether you are a member of the team or not because I know that all of you have contributed, one way or another, towards this victory. From everyone in this room, there is one person I want to thank most especially because, quite literally, without her none of this would have happened: Akiko, thank you for everything you've done for me, for our family and for this team.'
It looked as though Ryouske had finished his speech when, changing his mind, he said:
'Akiko, can I tell them?'
Akiko looked stunned for an instant then, recovering, she nodded. By this point, everyone in the room was extremely curious to find out what in the heck was going on.
'My wife has just told me that, around springtime, we'll welcome a new addition to the family,' he said then, picking up one of the bottles from the icy bucket, he said:
'Now, let's celebrate!'
Several bottles of champagne were opened and people started toasting to numerous things:
'For the championship!' Kenta said.
'For Minami's driving license!' Takumi said smiling.
'For Kyoko and Keisuke's engagement!' the singer replied.
'Because I'm one lucky bastard,' Keisuke added looking at Kyoko adoringly.
'Because I'm one too,' Ryosuke said, also looking adoringly at his wife.
'So everything goes much better in my second pregnancy than in the first,' Akiko said replied lifting her juice-filled glass while Ryosuke nodded to that.
'Akiko, what are you going to do with your job?' Keisuke asked.
'Don't worry, I've asked your father about it and he said it's alright, he's getting used to managing everything and my father's finally fit enough to help for a few hours a day. So, for as long as I have a say, your brother still has a couple of years before he has to keep our end of the deal,' Akiko explained.
'I'll toast to that too, then!' Keisuke said happily.
'Me too,' Ryosuke said looking the happiest Keisuke had ever seen him.
'Hey Takumi,' Iketani said to Takumi who was listening to the chatter around him.
'Yeah?'
'Can you come with me for a minute?' he asked.
'Sure,' Takumi said looking at Minami who nodded then, getting up, Takumi followed his former workmate to a quieter corner of the room.
'I don't want to tell anybody else just yet because I haven't even told Mako,' Iketani whispered.
'What is it?' Takumi asked.
'I'm thinking of asking her to marry me. What do you think?'
Takumi was shocked to see that Iketani was asking him and not Kenji. After all, it was Kenji who was Iketani's best friend.
'I think it's a great idea,' Takumi finally replied.
'I'm glad you think so…'
'Iketani-senpai, why don't you ask Kenji's opinion too?' Takumi asked as an afterthought.
'Oh…it's just that…you know, he's still single and…' Iketani stammered.
'Alright, I get it,' Takumi said. Sometimes he had trouble remembering that Iketani was almost three years older than he was for, sometimes, both he and Kenji behaved in an extremely childish manner.
'Good, I better go before Mako starts getting suspicious: I want to surprise her you know,' Iketani said looking at his girlfriend who was happily chatting with her best friend Sayuki.
'Are you going to do it now?' Takumi asked.
'No, of course not…I'll take her out for dinner next Saturday and I'll propose to her then,' Iketani said.
'Alright, good luck,' Takumi said.
'Thanks,' Iketani said before walking away.
Takumi walked back to the table as Minami was putting her mobile phone back inside her bag.
'What's up?' he asked his girlfriend.
'Mariko's just called, she wanted to know where I had gone to when I vanished from the circuit and I've told her we're here and she's going to join us. I hope that's alright,' Minami said.
Mariko, who worked as a model, was Minami's best friend and, thankfully, Takumi didn't see her very often for, he thought, the girl seemed to simply hate him. Minami insisted that it was because Mariko, who was a couple of years older than Minami, had an older sister complex when it came to Minami. Takumi suspected that the model was just jealous because Minami had managed to get a boyfriend before she had.
She arrived a few minutes later and Minami got up so she could introduce her friend to those who didn't know her, basically everyone in the room except Takumi.
'And, this is Itsuki, Takumi's best friend,' Minami said talking to Mariko.
Itsuki remained completely mesmerised at the sight of a gorgeous, tall, and absolutely stunning girl. Takumi elbowed his friend so he would react.
'Ah…I…I…'
Mariko, looking very serious, stared at him for a bit then, her lips started curling to form a smile that led to a fit of laughter and Takumi was starting to get angry at her when she said:
'Minami, he's great! Why have you kept such a gem hidden from me? You're such a bad friend.'
Both Takumi and Itsuki couldn't believe their ears. Takumi was about to say something but Itsuki, lifting his head and inflating his chest so he would look bigger, not an easy feat when he had such a tall woman standing next to him, and said:
'Are you making fun of me?'
Mariko looked startled and, shaking her brown curls, she said:
'Absolutely not! I love the kind of guys who can make me laugh…'
Itsuki didn't know what to say to that.
'Let's leave them alone,' Minami whispered to Takumi seeing that Mariko and Itsuki had started a conversation during which Itsuki seemed to be telling Mariko all the sort of ridiculous things Itsuki had done in the past.
After the party had been on for several hours, Ryosuke decided that it was a good time for everyone to start heading to their rooms. Since he had known that people would drink quite a lot during the party, he had decided to rent out all the rooms in the ryokan for his team and their friends.
He went to join his wife in their room for she had retired a lot earlier to go and give Kyo-chan his evening meal and so she could get some rest too.
'Where is Itsuki?' Kenji asked looking for him around the slowly emptying room.
'I don't know,' Iketani replied, 'Maybe he's with Takumi somewhere…'
'No, I saw him and Mina-chan going to their room a few minutes ago,' Mako said.
'What about Mina-chan's friend? Did she leave?' Kenji asked.
'Now that you mention it: Itsuki and that girl seemed to be having a really good time together,' Iketani commented.
Everyone remained quiet for a bit then, widening his eyes in realisation, Kenji shouted:
'NOOO! NO WAY! WHAT HAPPENED TO THE I'M A LONELY DRIVER BULLSHIT!'
Iketani, his girlfriend Mako and Sayuki started laughing out loud then, just as Iketani and Mako started getting up to go to their room, Sayuki leant towards Kenji and whispered:
'It seems we're the only ones left…'
'I know, this is so pathetic…' Kenji complained.
'Is it?' Sayuki asked and the tone of voice she used made Kenji look at her. What he saw made his lips form a very small smile.
'Sayuki-chan,' Kenji started saying.
'I think it's time you were a bit less lonely, Kenji-kun…'
Kenji felt like he had suddenly won the lottery that night.
To be concluded…
