Programmed Lives – Third Stage
Chapter Two
It felt extraordinarily weird to see so many cars in front of him. For the first time since he had begun his professional racing career, Keisuke was forced to start the race at the back of the grid and, despite all of Ryosuke's assurances, he couldn't help but to think that getting the car anywhere near the first positions would be nothing short of impossible.
'Remember what I said Keisuke, take it easy,' Ryosuke's voice came through the radio as the grid started clearing from all the support staff.
'Yeah, well, these guys here aren't going to let me do otherwise,' Keisuke said referring to the thirty odd cars he had ahead of him.
'Don't worry,' Ryosuke insisted, 'just drive as you usually do.'
'Got it,' Keisuke said then, proceeded to prepare himself for the imminent start of the race. He usually loved those moments when he heard all the engines roaring around him and he felt his senses sharpen and his body tense up. Right now though, Keisuke had to fight the urge to floor the accelerator and overtake as many cars as possible for the sake of sticking to his brother's strategy.
He still didn't understand how taking it easy during the first few laps would later on help him overtake any of the cars ahead of him but his brother had asked him to trust him and that was something Keisuke could do with his eyes shut.
Even so, as the semaphore turned green, seeing all the cars pulling away from his was a very hard blow for Keisuke's ego.
'Easy,' Ryosuke said, almost whispering.
Goddamit Aniki, get out of my head! Keisuke thought frustrated that his brother almost always knew what Keisuke was thinking.
The first few laps were absolutely excruciating, especially since he had his car's front permanently attached to a GT300 one.
'Fantastic,' Keisuke muttered as he realised that the car in question belonged to one of the rookie teams. He would have to pay extra attention so, in case the driver made a mistake, he would have plenty of time to avoid crashing against it.
After what seemed like an eternity, Keisuke heard the words he'd been dying to hear.
'Keisuke, for the next ten laps you can push it as much as you want.'
'About bloody time,' he said making sure his brother understood how very frustrated he was. He heard Ryosuke's soft laughter. The bastard seemed to be having fun…
Keisuke would have shaken his head had it not been because now, more than ever, he needed his gaze to be fixed firmly ahead of him.
One after one, Keisuke overtook something like fifteen cars developing some sort of dance routine: getting closer up, pushing them a little, feinting and then, as they thought themselves safe, overtake them to show them how wrong they were.
This made Keisuke understand Ryosuke's strategy: by preserving himself and the car during the first few laps he could now do what the other drivers were too tired to try and, on top of that, Keisuke had his mounted frustration fuelling him up his will to go as fast as he could.
'Right, Keisuke, take it easy again. Next stint is in five laps time,' Ryosuke said.
Keisuke just grunted. He adored his brother but sometimes Ryosuke really knew how to ruin one's fun.
Finally, and with his car in eighth position, Keisuke was called back into the boxes.
'You did very well, thank you,' Matsumoto said handing him a towel so he could dry himself a bit as he observed Takumi get into the car.
'You were superb,' Kenta agreed as usual looking at his former mentor with his dark eyes full of admiration.
Keisuke just nodded as he sat down to watch his team mate's progression.
'Hey, how come he gets to push it in his first lap out?' Keisuke asked Matsumoto.
'I'm not sure but, apparently, you did so well during your run that Ryosuke has decided to adopt his second strategy…'
'Brilliant, I do all the work and Takumi has the fun,' Keisuke complained pouting like a five year old kid. This made his team's mechanics laugh out loud.
While Kirin Takahashi Racing Team didn't score a victory, Takumi still managed to give them a podium finish and Ryosuke, for once, didn't spare himself when it came to complimenting his drivers and the rest of the team.
'Hey Bunta,' Keiichi said coming into the box as the team was packing up to go home, 'can I have a word?'
'Of course,' Bunta said following him.
Fumihiro looked at Ryosuke who just shrugged. By now, the team was more than used to Bunta's rather unorthodox behaviour.
'Look, I've heard what happened to you guys,' Keiichi started as the two men had reached a quiet spot of the pit lane.
'Yeah, don't worry about that,' Bunta said shaking his head.
'Why not? Clearly someone is playing dirty,' Keiichi said.
'We know. The boss is taking care of it,' Bunta said and Keiichi had to repress a chuckle hearing Bunta referring to anyone as 'his boss'. Of course, Keiichi knew better than to think that anyone could make the older man obey any orders.
'Alright then, I hope Ryosuke knows what he's doing,' Keiichi said and Bunta's facial expression went back to his blank, unreadable one.
'See you later,' Bunta said and, considering the conversation finished, he turned round and left. Keiichi shook his head and smiled to himself.
Bunta got back to the box as Takumi entered it already changed and with his bag packed up.
'Guys, if you don't need me, I'll head back home now,' he said.
'It's fine, drive carefully,' Ryosuke said for he knew that the young man had a long drive back to Tokyo and, after the extenuating race he didn't want Takumi to get home too late.
'Say hi to Minami from me,' Kyoko said as she and Keisuke prepared themselves to leave the circuit too.
'Sure,' Takumi said before walking out of the team's garage to head back to the legendary 86 he still drove.
He knew that it was getting rather old but he didn't care, he would drive his beloved car till the day it could no longer run and, having as it had such good mechanics taking care of it, that day was very, very far away.
Driving as carefully as Ryosuke had advised, Takumi made it home only after a few hours of following a boring motorway route.
'Minami, I'm home!' he shouted as he left his shoes and his bag at the house's entrance. Not getting any reply, he decided that Minami was probably in the music room playing the piano so he climbed the stairs and walked to that room.
Even after all these years, he still wasn't used to a house where one couldn't be heard from the entrance even when shouting.
'That's a really sad melody,' Takumi commented going into the room where Minami kept her musical instruments.
'Really?' Minami asked frowning.
'Yeah, it was beautifully played but it was really sad.'
'I still don't know why you don't want me to teach you play the piano,' Minami commented and Takumi couldn't help but to think that she was avoiding the issue.
'Nah, it's too complicated,' Takumi said sitting next to her in front of the instrument.
'But it's got pedals too,' Minami pointed out.
'What's wrong?' Takumi asked and Minami switched her gaze from him to the piano's keys.
'Nothing,' she said unconvincingly.
Takumi considered pressing the issue but then, remembering what she had told him the previous day about her disastrous album recording session, he decided that she probably felt a bit down and, Takumi knew his girlfriend well enough to know that she'd speak to him whenever she was ready to do so.
'We didn't win,' he said and this made Minami look back at him.
'I know. Why did you get punished? On TV they didn't mention the reason.'
Takumi and Minami spent the next few minutes talking about it until, since they both were getting hungry, went to the kitchen to get a late supper.
'Where's your Mum?' Takumi asked as they ate their home-made soba sitting at the kitchen's table.
'She's visiting a friend. She'll be away the whole of next week,' Minami explained and Takumi had to fight to keep a straight face: a whole week without his girlfriend's mother was a nice thing to look forward to. Not that the poor woman was too much of a bother, in fact Takumi hardly saw her and she always tried her best to guarantee the couple a lot of privacy but, knowing they had the house to themselves was simply great.
'Hey, I know what you're thinking,' Minami said pointing at him with the chopsticks pretending to be offended. Takumi, caught red-handed, felt his cheeks get a notch warmer.
'Do you blame me?' he said brazenly hoping Minami would, as usual, just laugh with him.
'Forget it, I'm busy with the album,' she said instead and Takumi making a rather sour looking face, said:
'I get it.'
Seeing that she didn't even smile at that, Takumi got, once more, the distinct impression that something was wrong with his girlfriend that night but he stayed firm in his resolution to let her be the one coming to him.
'Ah, Kyoko and Keisuke are coming on Wednesday for dinner, you remember, don't you?' Takumi said.
'Yes, I do. Don't worry, I'll be here,' Minami said and then, without finishing her food, she said, 'I'm going to bed now, are you coming with me?'
'Definitely, I'm knackered,' Takumi replied.
The next day, as Takumi opened his eyes, he realised he was on his own on their bed. Getting up, he saw a handwritten note on his bedside table, picking it up, he read it:
'I'll be at the studio till late but I should be home for dinner. Love, Minami.'
Great, he had the whole day to himself, Takumi thought bitterly. He had been looking forward to spending sometime with Minami and then he found himself with absolutely nothing to do.
He decided to drive to Shibukawa to see what Itsuki was up to. He, Iketani and Kenji had opened their own garage, with Itsuki and Iketani taking care of the repairs while Kenji managed the bookkeeping.
Iketani saw him as he parked the AE86 just outside the garage and Takumi greeted him as he got out of the car.
'Hey, who are you?' Iketani said jokingly.
'It hasn't been that long,' Takumi complained but Iketani had a fair point: the last time they had seen each other had been when Iketani and Mako had become man and wife about three months before. He still couldn't believe that Mako had been happy to wait until Iketani had set up his own business for them to get married.
'Yes it has,' Iketani said just as Itsuki, after finishing with a customer, joined the group.
'Takumi!' his friend, as usual, shouted while hugging him. Takumi was so used to this that he didn't even flinch.
'Hello Itsuki,' Takumi said once he was free from his friend's grasp.
'He's got a new girlfriend,' Iketani announced.
'Another one?' Takumi asked looking amused. Ever since Itsuki had dated a supermodel like Mariko, his self-confidence had reached dangerously high levels and now, Itsuki was quite the Casanova.
'Yeah, she was cute and I thought, why not? I'll give her a chance,' Itsuki said with the face of someone who had just done a huge favour to mankind.
'Itsuki, how about if you just stick to one girl?' Takumi asked.
'What? No way, man, that'd be bad…there are too many chicks in this world and, unfortunately for them, only one of me.'
Yeah, Itsuki had definitely become quite insufferable when it came to women. Thankfully, his driving still left loads to be desired so Iketani and Takumi still could make fun of him in that particular field.
Takumi was very happy to be able to spend some time with his oldest friends and, after having lunch with them, he went to pay a quick visit to his father before heading back home, looking forward to spending some time with Minami.
'Hey, how are you?' he asked her when he heard her coming into their living room where Takumi was watching some random movie.
'I'm alright,' she said but Takumi saw that she looked quite pale.
'Hey, come here,' Takumi said patting the bit of the sofa next to him. She obeyed and sat down and Takumi asked, 'What's up? You look very tired…'
'Yeah…I…' Minami started then, looking away from him, she said, 'it's just work…'
Takumi looked at her as she kept staring at the carpeted floor.
'Minami…'
'Look, I'm alright, okay,' she said and she got up from the sofa with every intention of leaving the room only that, as she did so, she swayed so badly that it made her come back down on the couch.
Takumi managed to grab her so she could sit up.
'What in the heck is wrong with you?' he asked but applied his gentlest tone of voice as he spoke.
'Nothing,' she repeated but, this time, Takumi didn't believe her.
'Look, I know something is wrong. Please, tell me.'
She shook her head no and then started crying making Takumi feel extremely freaked out.
'Hey, baby,' Takumi whispered while putting her head on his shoulder, hugging her as tenderly as he could.
She just kept sobbing as quietly as she could.
'Minami, what's happened? Has anyone done anything to you?' he asked starting to feel some irrational rage just at the very thought someone had dared to hurt her in anyway.
She nodded.
'Who?' he asked as his fury was starting to become obvious in his voice.
'You,' she whispered startling Takumi.
'Me? What have I done?' Takumi asked feeling completely at a loss while raking his brain trying to find something he could have done to make her cry like this.
She then separated herself from him and with her eyes all red and full of tears, she looked up at him and said:
'I'm pregnant.'
To be continued…