Programmed Lives – Fifth Stage
Chapter Four
'Can you say that again?' Akito asked still feeling pretty much astounded.
'I said I wanted to race you,' Hiroki repeated while looking at Akito eagerly.
'Now?' Akito asked and Hiroki, once more, surprised everyone by bursting out laughing.
'No, of course not,' he said, 'I want to race you in your home turf…'
Kyosuke and Seisuke looked at Hiroki thinking that the guy was probably demented or something like that and, just as Seisuke was about to ask him if he had some sort of mental problem, Akito said:
'That could be a problem.'
'Why?' Hiroki asked, his smile faltering slightly.
'Because, technically speaking, the Golden Arrows' home turf is Mt Akagi, and we never race there.'
'Mt Akagi?' Hiroki asked, 'I was under the impression that your father's home turf was Mt Akina.'
'Yes, that's true,' Akito said.
'Well, that's where I want to race you,' Hiroki said.
'Are you nuts?' Seisuke now asked.
'No, why?' Hiroki asked back, not even taking offence.
'Seisuke, it's okay,' Akito said, 'if he wants to race me in Mt Akina it's fine.'
'But Akito, that'd be wrong,' Seisuke started clearly considering that his best friend was being unfair to the poor guy.
'Great, what do you say if we meet up there next Saturday at ten pm?' Hiroki asked, ignoring Seisuke's complaints.
'Kyosuke, is it alright if I race him?' Akito asked.
'Yeah, sure,' Kyosuke replied.
'Fantastic,' Hiroki said smiling happily then, turning towards Jiro, he added, 'Jiro, you don't mind me racing him, do you?'
'Not in the slightest, we could consider it a supplementary race for this challenge,' Jiro said.
'Speaking of which,' Kyosuke said, 'shall we race?'
'Absolutely,' Jiro replied.
Then, as Jiro and Hiroki walked away from them, Seisuke, speaking to Akito, said:
'That was a horrible thing to do.'
'Why?' Akito asked.
'Racing him in Mt Akina is not fair and you know it,' Seisuke replied crossly.
'Seisuke,' Akito started, 'we haven't seen him drive, maybe he's much better than I am…'
'He's right,' Kyosuke added, 'remember that underestimating your opponent is the first step towards defeat…'
'You listen to Dad way too much,' Seisuke said still sounding upset.
'And you don't listen to him enough,' Kyosuke countered then, seeing his girlfriend's Nissan drive towards them, he walked away from both Akito and Seisuke, ignoring the latter's glare.
'Well done baby,' Kyosuke said giving Kizuna a quick hug.
'I told you I'd make you proud,' she replied, 'now it's your turn.'
'Don't worry, I won't disappoint you,' he said then he made his way to his yellow SF3Z and starting the engine, he drove towards Juro's GM5, following him then down the hill. They would drive all the way to the base where they would start their uphill battle.
'I'm going to sit in my car,' Seisuke said.
'Me too,' Akito replied.
Ten minutes later, both Akito and Seisuke heard from their representative at the start line that both RZ-1 and Civic had taken off at a staggeringly high speed.
Kyosuke, knowing that he could not be defeated after Kizuna had managed to score yet another win, decided to push his Mazda even harder than usual, also because Jiro was quite a good driver too and it took Kyosuke all of his driving skills to keep the Civic firmly behind him.
Momiji Lane's uphill was specially tricky for it started with very fast, wide corners which meant a much higher risk of being overtaken there and, if that happened, Kyosuke knew that it would be very difficult to get back in front in the second sector of the course where the slower and shaper turns made it very hard to overtake.
'This guy's quick,' Kyosuke complained seeing how stubbornly close the Civic kept itself to the RZ-1's rear bumper.
The almost twenty two year old had to repress the urge to floor the Mazda's accelerator for, Kyosuke knew he would need the extra speed as the climb became steeper so, taking a deep breath, he forced himself to calm down.
As they finally reached the end of the fastest sector, entering into the series of tight, sharp corners, Kyosuke felt something weird happening to his front tyres.
'Not now!' he exclaimed as he noticed that the tyres had lost quite a lot of grip due to the fact that Jiro had imposed a very fast rhythm throughout the whole of the first sector, probably hoping that, by pushing Kyosuke, he would end up making a mistake.
Guessing that the Civic's tyres would not be much better than the RZ-1's, Kyosuke started trying to impose his own pace and, applying the valuable knowledge he'd got from both his father and his uncle, Kyosuke, made sure he distributed the weight more or less equally on all four tyres so as to take the strain off the front ones.
The effort paid itself off and, albeit Kyosuke was beginning to sweat towards the end of the race, he managed to make it all the way to the finish line while keeping Jiro's car behind him all the time.
'Your team really deserves the fame it has,' Jiro said climbing out of his Civic, 'you can put yet another victory under your belt.'
'Yeah,' Kyosuke said tiredly, 'you surely made me work hard for this one…'
Jiro laughed softly and said:
'Thanks for coming over, it's been a lot of fun.'
'Same for us,' Kyosuke assured and, after shaking hands with Jiro, he made his way towards where the rest of his team were, thinking that he would sorely miss all of this while he'd be in the U.S.
After the traditional celebrations, and with Shinji almost crying while saying his goodbyes to the Golden Arrows leader and his girlfriend, all sixteen cars drove back to Gunma, separating as each of them made their way back to their respective homes.
At the end, the only ones left were the two RZ-1's, Kizuna's Nissan and Akito's V-86. They drove all the way to the two attached houses where the Takahashi lived.
'I'll see you tomorrow,' Akito said as he kissed Ryoko.
'Drive safely,' the girl replied and Akito nodded to that.
'Hey,' Kyosuke commented, 'I'm almost sorry that I'll miss next Saturday's race, it should be interesting seeing you race that Hiroki guy down Mt Akina.'
'We'll send you a video of the start,' Seisuke said while observing the almost concerned look Kizuna was giving at Kyosuke.
'Thanks,' Kyosuke replied then, Akito climbed back into his Toyota and, starting his engine, he waved at his friends and girlfriend before diving off.
Half an hour later, he parked his V-86 at its usual spot next to his father's car and, also as usual, he placed a hand on the top of the thirty-odd years old car's bonnet. By doing this, Akito believed he could draw a bit of his father's talent and luck out of the AE86. It was a silly superstition of his but it always made Akito feel better.
'Hey Mum, Dad,' he said entering the house's living room.
'Hey, how did it go?' Takumi asked his son as the young man dropped himself onto the couch.
'The usual,' Akito said trying to repress a smug looking smile.
'Of course,' Takumi said returning his attention to the TV programme he and his wife were watching.
'Are you hungry?' Natsuki asked Akito.
'Nah, I'm alright thanks,' he replied then, looking at his father, he said, 'Dad, listen…'
'Yeah?'
'Do you remember a guy called Suetsugu from Tochigi?' Akito asked and Takumi frowned trying to recall where he'd heard that name before then, his face lightening up in realisation, he said:
'Yes I do, he was one of my first rivals back when I was part of Project D.'
'Right,' Akito said, 'his son has challenged me to a race in Mt Akina.'
'Really?' Takumi asked raising his eyebrows in shock.
'Yep, his name's Hiroki and he insisted that he wanted to race me in Akina. Seisuke thinks I'm being unfair because I know Akina like the back of my hand but…'
'You shouldn't think so,' Takumi said, 'from what I remember, Suetsugu was quite ruthless when it came to his racing, if his son's anything like him, Mt Akina or not, you'll have to watch your back very carefully.'
'That's what I thought,' Akito commented, happy to see that his father shared his same opinion.
Natsuki sighed audibly making both Akito and Takumi look at her.
'Mum? What's wrong?' Akito asked.
'Nothing,' Natsuki started, 'it's just that now that you're on holidays from the GP2 team I thought you would take it easier.'
'Mum, I've only raced twice in a whole month. Dad used to race a lot more often than that.'
'Yes, but not after he became a professional,' Natsuki pointed out.
'It's not my fault I've become a pro sooner than he did,' Akito replied cheekily.
'Hey, watch it,' Takumi said warningly but the amused sparkle he had in his eyes told Akito that his father was proud of him for having achieved that status so early on in his life.
'Anyway, I'm still nowhere near as good as Kyosuke when it comes to street racing,' Akito continued.
'Why is that?' Natsuki asked.
'Because he's simply fantastic,' Akito replied, 'take tonight's race, for instance, the guy he raced had a very powerful car and from what Kyosuke said, he was very good too yet, Kyosuke didn't even let him take the lead, not once, in the whole race.'
'Yes, Kyosuke's very smart when it comes to his driving,' Takumi agreed, 'he reminds me a lot of his father.'
'Kyosuke's great,' Akito said then, getting a dreamy look, he added, 'I can only imagine what it must have been like seeing his father's driving live.'
'Ryosuke deserved every bit of his fame,' Takumi confirmed remembering the days when the oldest of the Rotary Brothers had been actively racing.
'Mum, I can't sleep,' Haruko said entering the living room in her pyjamas, 'you guys make too much noise.'
Akito laughed softly and getting his sister to sit next to him, he tousled her shoulder length hair and said:
'You know, I used that excuse too when I was your age.'
Natsuki and Takumi laughed at Haruko's cheeky smile.
The day after Takumi drove his family to the Takahashi residence where they had been invited to the farewell dinner for Kyosuke and Kizuna.
'Hey,' Akiko said opening the door to let the Fujiwaras in.
'Hello Akiko,' Takumi said.
'Are you alright?' Natsuki asked seeing how very tired Akiko seemed to look.
'Yeah,' the older woman said, 'I've been working a lot.'
'Ah, I see,' Natsuki replied then, she added, 'Since you're the doctor I won't tell you to take care of yourself for you already know that.'
'I do, but thanks for the concern,' Akiko said offering to Natsuki one of her kind smiles.
'Hello,' Akito said seeing Seisuke sitting on the sofa next to his cousin Ryoko.
'Hi,' the girl said getting up to kiss Akito on his cheek.
'Where's Kyosuke?'
'He's finishing his packing,' Seisuke replied.
'It's taking him forever,' Ryoko commented making Akito laugh softly at that.
'You should speak,' Seisuke said, defending his older brother, 'if you went to the US for three months we'd have to ship your entire wardrobe over there.'
Ryoko didn't say anything for she knew, as well as Akito did, that Seisuke was right.
A few minutes later, both Takahashi and Fujiwara families were sitting at the huge table in the main dinning room enjoying the meal Akiko had prepared with the help of Kyoko.
'This is delicious,' Natsuki commented after tasting a bit of her chicken curry.
'It's an Indian speciality,' Akiko said, 'I learned to make it when I lived in England.'
'You've got to give me the recipe,' Natsuki said.
'Sure,' Akiko nodded.
'So, do you have everything you need?' Takumi asked Kyosuke.
'Yep, almost, I only need to get my passport,' he said, 'by the way, Mum, where is it?'
'It's in your father's studio,' Akiko replied.
'Ah, I'll go and get it later,' Kyosuke said.
'You know,' Kizuna started, 'when we'll come back to Japan, I'm thinking of buying a new car.'
'What?' Kyosuke exclaimed, 'I thought you loved your Z33.'
'I do,' Kizuna said, 'but after last night's race I realised that I will need something a bit newer. My Nissan's getting too old.'
'Rubbish,' Takumi said, 'there's no such thing as a car that's too old as long as you keep it properly…'
'That's right,' Ryosuke agreed for his famous FC was nearing the very respectful age of thirty.
'What would you buy?' Seisuke asked.
'I'm thinking of getting an R36,' Kizuna started.
'WHAT?' Keisuke exclaimed dropping his chopsticks on his plate.
'Oh no,' Kyosuke said frowning while Seisuke, Ryosuke and Takumi bit their lower lips, probably trying to stop themselves from laughing.
'You are not going to get a GT-R anywhere near this house!' Keisuke exclaimed with a very strained sounding voice.
'W-why not?' Kizuna asked looking aghast at Keisuke's sudden display of anger.
'Look,' Keisuke started, 'it's bad enough that you drive a Nissan but, since it's a Z33 I can overlook that. But getting a GT-R it's a no-no, okay?'
'I get it: no GT-R's,' Kizuna said shaking her head and looking so scared that everyone at the table started snickering.
After they had calmed down, Kyoko steered the conversation towards a more neutral topic and asked her daughter to tell them about her upcoming ice skating championship.
'Well,' Akito said to Kyosuke and Kizuna as he and his family prepared themselves to go back home, 'do have a good trip and keep in touch, okay?'
'We will,' Kyosuke said giving Akito a one armed hug, 'try not to beat too many courses' records, okay?'
'Nah, your brother and I will leave some of them for you two,' Akito replied while Seisuke nodded to that.
A few minutes later, and as Kyosuke closed the front door, Kizuna said:
'Come on, go and get your passport so we can go to sleep, we'll have a long day tomorrow.'
'Good idea,' Kyosuke agreed and he started walking towards the corridor which led to his father's private studio.
As usual, the room where Ryosuke worked at home was spotless and extremely well organised. No surprise there, Kyosuke knew that his father was even more meticulous than he was when it came to keeping things in order.
This was probably the reason why, as Kyosuke opened one of the drawers in his father's desk, he noticed a piece of paper lying on top of it, half hidden by an office folder. He wouldn't have spared it a second look had it not been because he saw his mother's name printed on it.
Ignoring the open drawer, he picked the piece of paper up and saw that it was one of those prescription forms and, on it, next to his mother's name, Kyosuke saw the name of a drug.
He frowned trying to think of any reason why his mother would need to take any sort of medicine then he remembered that, as of recent, his mother hadn't been looking all that great.
Not thinking twice, he decided to forget about his passport and, with the prescription in his hand, he walked upstairs towards his younger brother's room.
'Hey, Seisuke, are you there?' he said knocking on the door.
'Come in,' he heard Seisuke say and Kyosuke entered the room to see that his brother was getting ready to have his bath.
'Do you know what this is?' Kyosuke said showing him the piece of paper.
'It's a prescription form,' Seisuke replied.
'I know that idiot,' Kyosuke said, 'do you know that this medicine is and what would Mum need it for?'
Seisuke picked up the prescription and looking at it his eyes got wide with shock.
'Seisuke?' Kyosuke asked seeing his younger brother's expression. Seisuke then looked up from the piece of paper to his brother.
'I really hope I'm wrong,' Seisuke started sounding incredibly worried, 'but, this…this kind of drug is given to patients who have cancer.'
To be continued…