Programmed Lives – Third Stage
Chapter Twenty Four
The bed was almost entirely covered with carefully folded t-shirts, a couple of freshly ironed shirts and several pairs of trousers. Takumi stared at all the garments while frowning, as though as he was deep in thought.
'Natsuki,' he said as his girlfriend was picking some of his socks and underpants from the wardrobe, 'are you really sure I'm going to need all of these clothes? I mean, I'm only going to be away for about a week.'
'Oh yes. And this is not all, I still have to get a couple of jumpers and a raincoat, just in case,' she said appearing from behind the wardrobe's door.
'Ah, okay,' Takumi said knowing better than to argue with Natsuki.
'Why don't you go and get the suitcase?' she suggested.
'Where is it?' Takumi asked.
'It's in the garage, near the boxes we haven't unpacked yet,' she said.
'Alright, I'll go and get it then,' he said and, walking out of their bedroom, he made his way to the garage of their brand new house, the one he and Natsuki had bought after she had sold her apartment, not even six months before.
About an hour later, and after Takumi's suitcase was all packed up, Natsuki seemed to be finally happy.
'Okay, this is done,' she said, 'now, you do have all your documents with you, don't you?'
'Yep, passport and the international driving permit,' he said showing both documents to her.
'What about the FIA license?' Natsuki asked frowning.
'Crap, I almost forgot that one,' Takumi said rushing to his bedside table and taking the card from one of the drawers.
'It only took Ryosuke a couple of months for him to get it for you,' Natsuki said a tad on the sarcastic side making Takumi smirk.
'Mum?' they heard Akito shouting from the living room.
'Yes?' Natsuki replied back.
'Have you seen my Drift Bible DVD?'
'Yes honey, it's on top of the TV, where you left it last night,' she shouted back.
'Ah, yeah, I see it, thanks!'
'No problem,' she replied laughing softly.
Takumi observed the whole scene and smiled happily. Ever since Natsuki had re-entered his life a bit more than a year ago, Takumi had decided to put his past behind him by removing his wedding ring, keeping it with Minami's and the engagement ring he'd bought for her after proposing. All three rings now rested inside a small black box at the bottom of one of his drawers.
Takumi didn't mind that Akito called Natsuki 'Mum' in the slightest for she was doing a wonderful job at being like a mother to his son and, since the boy had ended up in a different class from the one Natsuki taught, all three of them finally formed the family Takumi had not had when growing up.
Takumi secretly hoped that, sometime soon, he and Natsuki could give Akito yet another thing he'd never had: a little brother or sister.
But first things first, he still had a race to win!
Natsuki woke up very early on Monday morning and, giving him a kiss, she woke Takumi up.
'Good morning,' she whispered.
'What time is it?' he asked sounding still very sleepy.
'It's five thirty,' she replied getting up so she could go and make breakfast.
He got up too, had a quick shower and got dressed and, after having one last family breakfast together, he kissed Natsuki and said goodbye to an only half awake Akito. He then climbed into his car to drive to his father's tofu shop so he could leave the AE86 there, get the GC8 and drive to the Takahashi.
'You're late,' Bunta said the minute Takumi had parked and locked his car, just outside the shop.
'Good morning to you too,' Takumi said sarcastically as he loaded his suitcase next to his father's in the trunk and climbed into the car.
He still couldn't believe that Ryosuke had managed to convince Bunta to, not only close his shop for a whole week but also, and this was the most unbelievable part, go with them to France, leaving Japan and its wonderful cuisine behind.
Even though they had left Shibukawa a bit behind schedule, with Bunta driving his Subaru, they got to the Takahashi fifteen minutes before their agreed time.
'Good morning,' Ryosuke said as he loaded his suitcase into the family's van, 'Keisuke's almost ready so we should arrive at the airport with plenty of time to spare.'
'Can't wait,' Bunta said ironically as he moved his and his son's suitcases to the van.
'Fujiwara-san, I am told that there are good Japanese restaurants in France too,' Ryosuke said trying to make the poor man feel better. Instead, Bunta looked at Ryosuke in a way that made the younger man wish he had stayed quiet.
'Hey, sorry…' they heard Keisuke arrive followed by his wife.
'Come on Keisuke, let's get moving,' Ryosuke said as Bunta finished parking his Subaru inside the Takahashi's garage, where it would remain for the entire week.
Finally, and after the two senior Takahashi brothers said their goodbyes to Akiko, they climbed into the MPV and they made their way to Narita with Kyoko behind the wheel.
Keisuke's wife dropped them all at the airport an hour later and, after kissing her husband, she said:
'Have fun for me too!'
'I will,' Keisuke said and, with this, Kyoko left to go back home.
'This way,' Ryosuke said and, as they walked into the terminal, they spotted the rest of the guys who, wearing the same black, white and yellow jacket, were quite difficult to miss.
'Hey!' Fumihiro said walking towards them.
'I'm so excited!' Kenta said after greeting Keisuke, 'this is the first time I go to France!'
'What's so exciting about that?' Bunta said so dryly that poor Kenta became as red as a pepperoni.
'Er…'
'Kenta, just ignore him,' Takumi very wisely advised as he followed the rest of the guys to the check in desk.
Exactly two and a half hours later, the whole team was embarked and soon, they took off from Tokyo International Airport to, some twelve hours later, land in the Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris, France.
From there, they would take the famous TGV, the French equivalent of their Shinkansen, which would take them straight into the Ville de Le Mans.
Hopefully, by the time they would arrive, their Mazda prototype, together with their tools and the rest of the equipment would be at the circuit waiting for them to unpack them. Their French adventure had just started!
On Sunday evening, six days after the boys departure, Kyoko heard the doorbell ring.
'I'll get it,' she said as she walked towards the door to see Natsuki and a very impatient looking Akito standing behind it.
'Hey, how are you?' Kyoko said hugging Natsuki briefly after taking the box of sweets the younger woman was carrying with her. Akito, as usual, had already run into the house to go and play with his two friends Kyosuke and Seisuke and their cousin Ryoko.
'I'm fine, a bit nervous after last night,' Natsuki replied and Kyoko, who had also seen the big accident at the start of the race, understood her very well. Both of their men were risking their lives as they spoke and this had created some sort of bond between the two women.
'Don't worry,' Kyoko said, 'both Keisuke and Takumi know what they're doing, I doubt they'll get involved in any crash as bad as the one we saw last night.'
'Yeah, I know,' Natsuki said trying to smile as bravely as she could.
Shortly after their arrival the living room was full of people: Itsuki and a six months pregnant Mariko, Iketani and his wife Mako, together with their eighteen months old son and Kenji, his wife Sayuki and their year old little girl all joined Natsuki, Akito and the Takahashi to sit in front of the huge TV screen.
'I hope you'll have enough food here because I'm not getting up to go to the kitchen for anybody,' Kyoko said as soon as she found the channel which was showing the Le Mans race.
'Yeah, if anyone wants anything else, feel free to get up and get it yourselves,' Akiko added.
'That's Dad!' Akito suddenly said, seeing Takumi as he climbed inside the car Keisuke had just vacated.
'Yeah, and that's my Daddy!' Ryoko exclaimed.
'Shush, both of you,' Kyoko said trying to figure out in which position the car was.
'This is unbelievable, ladies and gentlemen,' the TV commentator said, 'the youngest team on the grid, the one no one would have bet a yen on, it's actually leading the race. Yes, you've heard it right: the Takahashi Racing Team is currently leading the race with Fujiwara Takumi, the famous racer, behind the wheel…'
They all held their breath after hearing this.
'…you may remember Fujiwara also for his brief but intense marriage to the pop star Mina-chan who tragically…'
At this point, for some reason, the TV seemed to lose its audio.
'Oops…sorry, hold on, I'll try to put it back on,' Kyoko said while pretending to fumble with the remote.
'It's okay,' Akito said voicing the very thing Natsuki herself was about to say.
Kyoko looked at them both and, pressing the mute button again, the volume came back on. Thankfully though, the commentator had moved into describing the technical specifications of the prototype Takumi was driving, in particular, about the Judd unit that powered the Mazda.
The group of people spent the following three hours literally glued to their seats with their eyes focused on the TV as they watched the prototype with the number 86 going around the circuit, lap after lap until, with only half an hour to go, something weird happened.
For some reason, Takumi's car started going a lot slower than it had been going up to that moment.
'What the…' Iketani said getting up so suddenly that he almost made his son fall of the couch.
'What's wrong with the car?' Kyoko said sounding almost hysterical.
'Be quiet so we can hear it!' Natsuki complained.
They all held their breath once more hoping the commentator would explain what in the heck had happened to Takumi's car.
'Dear spectators, this is unreal! It seems like there's a problem with one of the tyres! What's the team going to do?'
'Oh for Christ's sake!' Akiko said taking the remote from Kyoko's hand, turning the volume back off.
'What are you doing?' Kyoko asked thinking her sister-in-law had lost it.
'I can't hear this, it's getting on my nerves!' she almost screamed.
'Oh, pull yourself together,' Kyoko said, 'you're a freaking doctor!' she added snatching the remote from Akiko so she could put the volume back on.
'…this is absolutely unbelievable, Fujiwara has just entered the pit lane and, oh yes, it seems the team's preparing a tyre! They're going to replace the tyre with only twenty minutes of race to go!'
Akiko covered her ears with her hands and closed her eyes showing to Kyoko that doctors could get very nervous too.
'And he's off, he's off again, ladies and gentlemen!' the commentator shouted happily.
Twenty minutes later, and even though Takumi had re-entered the circuit in second position, he did a series of flying laps which allowed him to get behind the new race's leader, a black and white Audi.
He chased the Audi lap after lap, towards the finish line and, as they got to the very last corner, and when everyone else started believing that the Audi would win, Takumi, in one of his classic kamikaze-like manoeuvres, managed to enter the corner just a hair before the Audi, then, drifting all the way across, Takumi cut the opponent's access forcing him to slow down and, as they faced the finish line, Takumi seemed to want to literally take off with the Mazda.
As Takumi took the chequered flag with only half of his car ahead of the Audi, the commentator first, then the whole room, and probably the entire country exploded with the joy of seeing a Japanese car crossing the line of the 24 hours of Le Mans in first position.
'HE'S DONE IT! FUJIWARA'S DONE IT!' the TV commentator kept shouting.
Everybody in the Takahashi's living room had gone completely mental. There were people crying, people laughing, people doing both things at the same time.
Needless to say it, the entire team were welcomed back into Japan like heroes and, for this reason, it took Takumi a long time before he could get rid of all the journalists and photographers so he could go back home.
'Dad, can you look after Akito for a bit tonight?' Takumi asked his father as the two drove back to Shibukawa.
'Sure, are you going out with Natsuki?'
'Yes,' Takumi just said.
After picking up the AE86, they arrived at Takumi's house and, as Natsuki and Akito opened the door to welcome him back, Takumi said:
'Natsuki, please wait for me in the car, I'll be with you in a minute.'
'Where are we going? You've just arrived…'
'I know, don't worry, just trust me, alright?' Takumi said.
'Okay,' Natsuki said walking towards the Toyota.
'Wish me luck,' Takumi said talking to his son.
'I think we should wish her luck,' Bunta said as he took his grandson's hand and walked him back into the house.
Takumi, using an art he'd perfected throughout the years, ignored his father and walked towards his car, climbed into it and off they went.
'Where are we going?' Natsuki repeated.
'It's a surprise,' Takumi replied, 'so, please close your eyes.'
She obeyed and Takumi, driving as carefully as he did when he had the tofu inside the trunk, took them all the way up Mt Akina and drove towards its lake.
Only when he had stopped as close as possible to the shore, he asked Natsuki to open her eyes.
'What, this is…'
'Yep, come with me,' Takumi said getting out of the car and, as Natsuki did the same, he started walking towards the small wooden dock they both knew only too well.
'Takumi,' she said as they stepped on it.
'Natsuki, thirteen years ago, you made yourself a promise while I told you about my dreams. Do you remember?'
'Of course I remember,' Natsuki said.
'Well, can you tell me what you promised?'
'Yes,' Natsuki said, 'I promised I would wait for you forever.'
Takumi nodded and then, going down on his knee, he said:
'Well, I'd like to make you a promise too: you don't have to wait anymore, I'm here, to stay with you for the rest of our lives, if you'll have me.'
Natsuki started seeing Takumi through a curtain of tears.
'Will you marry me Natsuki?' he said offering her a tiny box.
'Of course,' she said collapsing on her knees too so she could hug him.
Takumi kissed her and, once more, he was grateful fate had decided to give him a second chance, also because he thought that, this time, he'd done a much better job at proposing.
To be concluded…