Programmed Lives – Third Stage

Chapter Eleven

The three Takahashis had been waiting for a really long time when, at long last, they saw the door open and a completely grief-stricken Takumi stepped out of the room closely followed by his father.

As he got up, Ryosuke saw that both his brother and his sister-in-law were getting up too. The oldest of the Takahashi brothers took a couple of steps towards Takumi when he saw Bunta shake his head. This made Ryosuke stop and, before he could say anything, Takumi, with his voice still sounding as raspy as it had done earlier, he said:

'Ryosuke, I've…' he stopped, cleared his throat and, after taking a deep breath, tried again, 'I've been talking to my father and I've decided to race in the last event of the season.'

'Takumi, you don't need to…' Ryosuke started but Takumi shook his head and, interrupting his Team Manager, he said:

'I do. I made a commitment when I signed the contract with you guys. I'll race so we win the championship, after that, it's over: I'll retire so I can look after my son.'

Ryosuke was shocked to hear that, not only because he hadn't expected Takumi to be able to bring himself to think about the race, but hearing the determination in his voice in such a delicate moment of his life made Ryosuke realise, once again, how extremely special this guy was.

'Takumi…' Keisuke started.

'Thanks for coming here with him. I'll take care of things now,' Bunta said and, the judging by the way he spoke, Ryosuke understood that Fujiwara-san was issuing them an order and that they weren't allowed to argue.

'Alright, we'll go home now,' Ryosuke said and, as Keisuke was about to protest, he made a gesture with his hand that made Keisuke close his mouth and stay put.

Then, both Fujiwara walked away from them as they made their way to the neonatology ward where Takumi would, for the first time, see his son.

'Aniki!' Keisuke exclaimed, 'we can't allow him to quit!'

'Keisuke, we can and we have to. That decision is not ours to make, if Takumi no longer feels like racing, and after what's happened I perfectly understand him, it's entirely up to him. Like I said earlier, we need to support him and, unfortunately, that includes every decision he'll make from now on,' Ryosuke said.

'But…'

'Let's go home Keisuke. As much as I'd like to think of him as such, Takumi is not a member of our family, he's got his father and this is something they'll have to handle just the two of them.'

'Ryosuke, I thought you wanted to help Takumi,' Kyoko said and both brothers couldn't help but to notice the accusing tone in the woman's voice.

'Yes, I do Kyoko. I'll help him the only way I can,' Ryosuke said and then Keisuke, finally understanding his brother's point of view, he said, speaking to his wife:

'Let's go home…'

Two days later and as the whole nation was still recovering from the shock of having lost one of its most famous pop stars, Takumi, surrounded by his closest friends and the only surviving member of his family, prepared himself to say his last goodbyes to his wife and her mother.

Staying true to his word, Ryosuke used every bit of his family's influence to keep every single journalist away from the temple where the funeral was being held.

'Mariko,' Itsuki whispered seeing the model there. She was wearing a black suit and a pair of huge black sunglasses covering her beautiful eyes.

'I can't believe she's dead,' the girl said through the knot that was tying her throat.

Itsuki didn't know what to say, especially because it had been him the one in charge of informing the model about the horrible accident that had destroyed Takumi's family even before it had the chance to be fully formed.

'How's Takumi coping?' Mariko asked.

'Not well. He's been locked up in his house except for when he goes to see Akito,' Itsuki said.

'He's used the name Minami wanted,' Mariko commented and Itsuki nodded, for some reason, the model started crying again.

'Mariko,' Itsuki said as he hugged her trying to soothe her as much as he could.

'What am I going to do without her?' Mariko said, her voice broken by the tears.

'I don't know. What are we all going to do without her?' Itsuki said for, it was true that everyone had come to love Takumi's wife for the nice woman she was, not only for being a nation-wide famous singer.

'Look at Takumi,' Mariko said and Itsuki looked at his best friend as he knelt next to the picture of his wife with the characteristic black ribbon hanging from the top of the frame.

With his head bowed down and his shoulders shaking, probably trying to stop himself from crying, Takumi looked the perfect picture of sorrow and, not even the incense's fumes that went straight into his face seemed to bother him.

'We should do something,' Iketani said and Itsuki was shocked to see his friend and business partner standing next to him. Kenji, Mako and Sayuki were also there.

'What can you do when someone has lost the love of his life?' Kenji asked.

No one seemed to be able to find an answer to that and, by the end of the funeral, all they could do was to try their best to give a bit of strength to Takumi so he could carry on with his life.

'Takumi, I'm here, for whatever you need. Call me and I'll be there, ok?' Itsuki said putting a hand on his best friend's shoulder.

'Thanks Itsuki,' Takumi managed to reply.

'We too,' Iketani said and Takumi nodded then, stepping onto a small platform, Takumi, with his father next to him, said:

'I'd like to thank everyone for coming here today...Minami…she would…be so happy…'

Then, his face cringed and he covered it with his left hand. Bunta then put his arm around his son's shoulders and made him step off the small platform.

'Let's go home,' Bunta said and Takumi nodded.

That was the last time they all saw Takumi till the day when the team was packing up to go to the Fuji International Speedway for the last race of the season.

'I don't think he'll show up,' Kenta whispered to Tsuyoshi, one of the junior mechanics.

'Kenta, shut up and keep working!' Keisuke exclaimed angrily having overheard him.

'Sorry…' Kenta started saying when they saw a blue GC8 entering the car park. Keisuke then smacked Kenta on his head and said:

'That'll teach you.'

Takumi got out of his father's car and, after waiting for his father to join him, he walked up to where the team was making the last arrangements before they could leave.

'Hi,' he said and Keisuke, observing him, saw two huge bags under the young man's eyes.

'Hey,' Keisuke replied.

'Everything's ready, shall we go?' Ryosuke said, looking straight in the eye at Takumi.

'Yeah, the sooner the better,' he replied with the air of someone who just wanted to get the thing done as quickly as possible.

'Are you sure he'll be fit to drive?' Fumihiro asked as Takumi and his father walked back to their car.

'Fumihiro, I don't think he's fit for anything right now but, he's still Takumi and if he does his best, it'll still be a superior performance,' Ryosuke said.

'He's one of a kind,' Keisuke said and, once again, reminded himself that he would do the impossible to make Takumi change his mind if he stayed resolute in his decision to quit racing.

Fumihiro shook his head as he walked to the van he'd drive to Fuji trying to go through the checklist he and Kyoko had made in order to do the only thing their Team Manager had asked them to do that weekend: keep, at all costs, the journalists away from Takumi.

The team arrived to the circuit and, as they were unpacking the materials they'd need for the first of the free practice sessions, a photographer managed to get into the team's box and, predictably enough, tried to get a picture of Takumi as he prepared himself for his run.

'Hey!' Keisuke said grabbing the intruder by the collar of his shirt.

'Oi! I'm doing my job here,' the photographer complained and Keisuke, adopting his best gangster tone of voice, said:

'I'll give you two options: one, you and your fucking camera leave this box this instant in one piece, or two, I beat the crap out of you and I blow your camera to smithereens. I personally prefer option two but I'll be generous and I'll let you choose.'

'Alright, I'm gone,' the photographer, very wisely, decided.

'If I see you anywhere near here, it'll be option two, got it?' Keisuke said as the guy was leaving and that made him go a bit faster.

'Sorry, he…' Kyoko started and Keisuke turned to her and said:

'Just do your job so I don't have to do it for you.'

Then, still fuming, Keisuke left the boxes on his way to the motorhome.

Ryosuke and Fumihiro, having observed the whole scene, shook their heads.

'I should have withdrawn. There's no way a team in this psychological condition can get anything right,' Ryosuke said.

'I know,' Fumihiro said as they saw Takumi get into the car with his father standing nearby.

'It's amazing to see the way Fujiwara-san doesn't seem to leave his son's side,' Ryosuke commented and Fumihiro noticed that there was just a very faint trace of envy in his Team Manager's voice for he probably was thinking of his own father.

'Yes, ever since Minami died, Fujiwara-san seems to have taken it upon himself to make sure Takumi doesn't have to do anything more than the strictly necessary,' Fumihiro said.

'Fumihiro, you probably don't know this since you still haven't got kids but, as a father, my worst nightmare is to see my kids not having a better, happier life than I did or, suffering the same kind of miseries we had to go through ourselves,' Ryosuke explained, 'for Fujiwara-san seeing history repeating itself with his own son is probably the worst thing that could happen to his family.'

'I guess so,' Fumihiro said.

Then, as the two men observed as Takumi entered the track with their SE they had yet another surprise: Takumi, not only was driving faster than usual but his lines were a lot surer, his driving much sharper and, overall, his performance was not just superior, it was absolutely phenomenal.

'What the…' Matsumoto said seeing the times Takumi was making.

'Who in the hell is that?' Fumihiro said shaking his head in disbelief.

Ryosuke limited himself to biting his lower lip and frown for, yet again, Takumi was showing to the world that he was indeed one of a kind, a freak of nature, someone with so much raw talent that, even in the worst possible moments, he could still outclass everyone else.

The Team Manager silently agreed with his younger brother: if Takumi retired after this race, Japan, and the world, would lose one of the best drivers the motor racing industry would ever see.

Somehow and, despite the rain that fell incessantly on the track throughout the weekend, they still managed to first score their last pole position of the season and, when the race took place, Takumi offered himself to start it.

From the very first lap, Ryosuke saw that Takumi was behaving rather oddly and, after observing him going through a few corners, he realised where the problem was.

'Why is he driving like that?' he asked Fujiwara-san.

'I've just told him we could go home as soon as he finished his stint,' Bunta said.

'Ah, I see,'

Within ten laps, Takumi had already reached the car in last position and with a series of suicidal manoeuvres he started overtaking every single car he found along his way.

'He really doesn't need to do that,' Fumihiro commented.

'No, he doesn't,' Ryosuke said but, he knew very well that, at least for that race, he had absolutely no power over Takumi. In this race, Takumi was driving exclusively for himself.

'I just hope he doesn't end up crashing,' Fumihiro said.

'My kid's better than that…' Bunta said and, for the first time since tragedy had hit his family once again, the old man went back to being himself.

'He's driving the same way as when he did the deliveries, isn't he?' Ryosuke asked and Bunta nodded.

'Yep. He just wants to get this done with so he can go back home,' Bunta confirmed.

'Alright,' Ryosuke said allowing himself a small smile.

By the time Takumi came back to the boxes, the Kirin Takahashi Racing Team was leading by a massive one and a half minutes, Takumi had smashed the track's fastest lap record several times so, for Keisuke, winning the race was just a walk in the park.

This said, and as they had previously agreed with the Race Director and the Japan Automobile Federation, the Kirin Takahashi Racing Team concluded their adventure winning both of the GT500 titles but without going through the usual podium celebration.

The festivities were suspended and, even the journalists didn't seem to complain about it for, everyone knew in which low spirits the team had had to race.

As they packed up, for the last time ever, Ryosuke couldn't help but to think that this was definitely not the way he wanted to conclude his involvement in the racing world.

Yes, he had achieved everything he had aimed for and these past five years had been the happiest of his entire life, however, what had happened in the previous two weeks seemed to have rendered everything rather vain and now, Ryosuke couldn't wait till he got back home so, coming Monday, he could start his new life managing his family's hospitals.

'Ryosuke,' he heard Takumi say, making him turn round.

'Yes?'

Takumi bowed very deeply before getting back up and say:

'Thank you for everything you've done for me in all these years.'

Ryosuke felt a knot form in his throat.

'Takumi, it's you we should be thanking, even though we all have worked towards these titles, it's mainly thanks to you and Keisuke's efforts that we've got them.'

Takumi nodded and then he said:

'It's been a great experience. Thank you.'

'Takumi,' Ryosuke said before his driver could leave the garage. Takumi turned round to face him and said:

'I'll keep in touch.'

With that, Takumi, followed by his father, walked up to the GC8, climbed into it, and left the circuit. Ryosuke fervently hoped that this would not be the last time he'd see Takumi Fujiwara.

To be continued…