Programmed Lives – Third Stage

Chapter Twenty One

Keisuke only remembered a moment when he'd ever had such mixed feelings as he had now. It had happened when the Kirin Takahashi Racing team had won the GT500 not even two weeks after Minami's death. He had then felt an excruciating sorrow that he knew could not even begin to be compared to the one Takumi had been feeling but, somewhere, deep down, in the part of his heart that wasn't numb because of the pain, he'd been extremely happy for the team's victory.

Now while he watched every one of Takumi's friends either congratulating him or, in the case of the kids, staring at him in complete and absolute awe, Keisuke felt that he really wanted to be happy that Takumi seemed to be almost back to his old self. However, that third defeat in a row stung a lot more than he'd believed possible.

'Wow, your father is amazing!' Seisuke said to a still speechless Akito.

'Yeah, he's beaten Uncle Keisuke! I can't believe it!' Kyosuke added as the eight year old kept looking at Takumi as if he'd just seen him for the first time ever.

'We're going to have to get him to teach us,' Seisuke said.

'Yes, that's, more or less, the idea,' Ryosuke said talking to both his sons.

'What? Is that what you want me to do here?' Takumi asked.

'Eventually, we'd like you to join the school as an instructor,' Keisuke said still looking a bit upset.

'Eventually?' Takumi asked.

'Yeah, er…Aniki, you want to do the honours?' Keisuke asked his brother.

'Okay, Takumi, follow me,' Ryosuke said.

Takumi complied and he, with the rest of the people there, followed Ryosuke as he walked to a garage located near the circuit.

He opened the door and walked in so he could turn the light on.

'What the…' Takumi said.

'You like it?' Ryosuke said with a smile.

'Yeah…wow…' Takumi said, feeling himself short of breath.

'Why don't you take it for a spin?' Keisuke suggested making Takumi turn sharply to face him.

'Can I?'

'Yeah, you're going to be driving it a lot so,' Keisuke said.

'What? Why?' Takumi asked.

'Takumi, I'd hate to remind you that, while you might have won the race, you've lost our bet, therefore, you've given us your word that we could get you to help with our project,' Keisuke said frowning.

'Does this…car,' he said pointing at the vehicle he had in front of him, 'have anything to do with your project?'

'Takumi, this car has everything to do with our project,' Ryosuke said looking amused.

'Alright, I'm all ears,' Takumi said, finally giving in.

'We're planning on entering a very special race with this car,' Ryosuke explained.

'Which race is that?' Takumi asked.

'Well, if everything goes as we'd like, everyone who was part of the Kirin Takahashi Racing Team will, with this car, compete in next year's 24 hours of Le Mans,' Ryosuke announced.

'What?' Takumi asked not sure he'd heard right.

'We're trying to get the whole team back together to enter this beauty into the 24 hour race in Le Mans, France,' Keisuke explained.

'Yes, and since your father has already agreed to come back to the team, the only member we're still short of is you,' Ryosuke added.

'So, are you in?' Keisuke asked.

Takumi looked lost for a bit, he then stared at the astonishingly beautiful machine he had in front of him, still unable to guess which make it was then, looking at the Rotary Brothers, he said:

'Since I lost the bet, I don't really think I have an option, do I?'

Keisuke, with a smile, shook his head and said:

'Nope, I don't think you have.'

'Takumi, welcome back to the team,' Ryosuke said, his smile even wider than his brother's.

Everyone else, who up to then had witnessed the exchange in complete silence, started cheering.

'Dad, you're going to race again?' Akito asked his father.

'Yes, it looks like I am,' Takumi said tousling his kid's hair.

'YEEPIE!' Akito screamed happily.

'By the way, which make is this car?' Takumi asked and the two Takahashi brothers looked at each other and, smiling, Ryosuke said:

'It's a Mazda, what else?'

'Yeah, of course,' Takumi said shaking his head but, deep down, he felt that he had not been any happier in a really long time.

'They've only won the race once in 1991 and they're eager to win another one soon,' Ryosuke said.

'That's why we're getting sponsorship directly from them,' Keisuke added.

'Let's do it then,' Takumi said walking towards the car.

'Where are you going?' Keisuke asked.

'You told me I could take it for a spin, and that's what I'm going to do,' Takumi said climbing into the car.

'Fair enough. Everyone, move out,' Keisuke said warning everyone to get clear of the garage's entrance.

They all observed as Takumi got the car out and, after rolling it onto the track, he started accelerating, slowly at first, going a lot faster as he got more confident with the car.

'I think he likes it,' Bunta commented as he saw his son climbing back out of the car staring at it the way a kid looked at his brand new toy.

'Yes, he does,' Ryosuke said sounding pretty happy.

'It feels great!' Takumi said confirming what the two men had just said.

'I'm happy it does because, from now on, we're going to be holding practice sessions at least twice a week. We only have one year to prepare ourselves to cope with a 24 hour non-stop race,' Ryosuke said.

'Fine by me,' Takumi said.

'Yep, I'll be here too,' Keisuke said.

'Alright boys, let's all go and celebrate,' Akiko said intervening in the conversation for the first time.

'Celebrate?' Takumi asked.

'Yes, Kyoko and I have prepared some snacks in the meeting room, just in case,' Akiko explained with a smile.

'Mum, did you make some of those little fried sausages?' Seisuke asked his mother.

'Yes, and I also made some of the rice cakes you like so much,' Akiko said.

'Yummy!' Seisuke said enthusiastically then he started running towards the Centre's main building.

The other three kids and all the adults followed him.

Takumi looked at his son as he slept on the AE86's back seat while he drove it from Maebashi back home. He checked the rear view mirror to make sure his father was still behind him. He was, and he looked extremely bored as they drove way too slowly on the motorway.

So he'd done it. He was back at being a member of a racing team and, once again, he'd found himself in that position without having done anything else but driving as fast as he could.

Racing Keisuke had made Takumi feel like if he was ten years younger and, for the first time, he realised that he'd probably made a mistake quitting racing just like that. He should have just taken a break when Minami died instead of letting himself be drowned by the sorrow her loss had caused him.

Easier said than done, Takumi thought reasonably. However, he thought that, at long last, he had managed to get some of his determination and strength to start sorting out the mess he'd let his life become.

By having joined the team once again, he'd fixed one of his biggest problems. Now, he needed to take care of the next one on the list: his absolutely non-existent love life.

He had a date, and that was a very good start. Like he'd said, maybe with Natsuki it would end up not working but he figured that, by going out with her, he would at least start getting some much needed practice in the whole dating game.

'What a horrible way of thinking,' he admonished himself.

'What?' he heard Akito ask from the back of the car.

'Nothing son, go back to sleep,' Takumi said feeling slightly idiotic at being caught speaking aloud to himself.

The next day, and as they had previously agreed, Takumi drove his Toyota towards the flight of stairs that led to the ancient temple the city of Shibukawa had on top of a mountain.

As usual, and even if it was five minutes to noon, she was already there. He left the car parked out of the way so he could climb out of it to go and open the door for her.

'You look nice,' he said for it was true. Since it was almost the end of May and the days were getting warmer, she was wearing a short light yellow dress tied onto her small shoulders by two thin straps. Swallowing, Takumi realised that Natsuki wasn't wearing a bra under that dress. Which meant that…

'Thanks,' she said interrupting a very uncomfortable line of thought.

As she took her seat at the passenger's side, Takumi saw that she was also wearing a pair of high heeled white sandals. This was also new for, the Natsuki he knew never wore anything but trainers. Again, the Natsuki he knew had been only eighteen and, more than likely, she had started wearing heels shortly after that.

In any case, Takumi found the change to be a very welcome one for she looked even better than she had when they had dated and that was saying something…

'So, where are you taking me?' Natsuki asked.

'Er…I was thinking of going up to the Lake, they've opened a new restaurant there that you've probably never been to,' Takumi said.

'Alright,' she said happily.

They made it to the restaurant just as it had opened for lunch so, as they sat at their table, the place was virtually empty.

'This is great,' Natsuki said smiling, 'we have the whole place to ourselves.'

'Yeah, we do,' Takumi said suddenly finding himself without anything to talk about.

'Do you remember the last time we drove up here?' Natsuki asked as she read the restaurant's menu.

'Yeah,' Takumi said recalling the way they had hugged on the small dock by the lake.

'And, do you remember when you told me about your dreams?' Natsuki asked still not looking at him.

'Yeah,' Takumi repeated.

'Well, that day, I made myself a promise,' she said then, seeing as Takumi didn't say anything, she carried on, 'I promised myself that I would wait for you, in case we found each other again.'

'Mogi,' Takumi said.

'No, wait…' she said, this time looking at him, 'I know that you…well…that you may not be ready yet.'

'Mogi, I don't know if…'

'Look, this is my decision Takumi. I…' she said then, looking back at the menu, she whispered, 'I've been in love with you for over twelve years, I don't mind waiting a bit longer.'

Takumi was so taken aback by this sudden confession that he remained completely speechless.

'So, did you win the race last night?' she said now looking back at him startling with the abrupt way she'd changed the topic.

'Yeah,' he managed to say.

'Tell me all about it,' Natsuki said and, once more, Takumi felt like they had gone back in time as he proceeded to explain to her everything that had happened and what his new projects were.

As they finished their meal, they went for a walk and Natsuki explained to Takumi about her years in Tokyo, her group of friends from university and all the holidays they had organised together.

She was explaining to him about her trip to Barcelona as they drove back to Shibukawa.

'So, this is your new apartment?' Takumi asked as he parked near a brand new block of apartments.

'Yes, I bought it when the construction hadn't even started so I got a really good price for it,' Natsuki explained.

'Ah, I see,' he said suddenly feeling sad that he had to drop her for, if he had to be honest, he was having a really good time with Natsuki.

'You want to come up and take a look at it?' Natsuki offered making Takumi look at her.

'Mogi, I…'

'Will you ever call me by my name? she asked laughing softly.

'Er…'

'Please,' she added still smiling at him.

'Alright,' Takumi agreed, 'Natsuki,' he tried, 'if I come up, I…'

She then got serious and, blushing delicately, she interrupted him:

'I'd be okay, you know, if…if that happened.'

'Are you sure?' Takumi asked even though he felt like he really wanted to do it.

'Yes,' she said with a small voice.

Takumi took a deep breath before saying:

'Alright.'

Somehow, they managed to make it all the way to the apartment and, the minute they stepped inside it, Takumi took Natsuki's face in his hands and, with a passion he thought he'd long lost, he kissed her.

'Takumi…' she whispered breathlessly.

'Yeah?'

'The room…let's go to the room…'

'Yeah,' he said following her to her western style bedroom which, thankfully, came equipped with a double bed.

'Takumi, I haven't done this in…ages…' she confessed as they started removing their clothes.

'Neither have I,' Takumi said back, 'don't worry, it'll be fine…'

It was more than fine, Natsuki thought happily as the two collapsed onto each other, with Takumi falling quickly asleep in her arms.

Not being able to sleep, she stared at Takumi's gorgeous face and, as she tried to remove a strand of hair that had become stuck onto his forehead, she heard him make some incomprehensible sounds.

'What's that?' she whispered lovingly.

She heard him grunt sleepily and then, he mumbled:

'Minami…'

To be continued…