Programmed Lives – Fifth Stage
Chapter Six
Fujiwara Takumi parked the legendary Toyota Sprinter Trueno next to his father's equally notorious Subaru Impreza and, climbing out of it, he walked towards the tofu shop his aging father refused to close down.
'Dad?' he asked stepping into the old man's working area.
'Takumi?' he heard him say from the small house's kitchen.
'Hey,' Takumi said entering the small room where he found his father preparing himself something to eat.
'What are you doing here?' Bunta asked making Takumi feel slightly unwelcome.
'Well, Akito's out for his race and Natsuki's taken Haruko to the movies.'
'Ah, so, you were all alone and decided to pay a visit to your father,' Bunta said amusedly.
'Yeah, something like that,' Takumi replied beginning to have second thoughts about this visit thinking that, maybe, it would have been a better idea to go and see his friend Itsuki.
'How nice of you,' Bunta commented and now Takumi clearly noticed that his old man was, as usual, taking the mickey out of him.
'Hey, I can go if I'm bothering you,' Takumi said getting a bit annoyed at his old man.
'Geez, son,' Bunta said dropping the wooden spoon he was using to stir whatever he was cooking, 'I swear, the older you get the less sense of humour you seem to have.'
'Yeah,' Takumi countered, 'and the older you get the weirder yours is.'
Bunta, instead of taking offence, just chuckled.
'Have you eaten anything?' he asked.
'Nope,' Takumi replied.
Soon, the two men were sitting down eating the stew Bunta had cooked for himself.
'So, Akito's got a race tonight,' Bunta said.
'Yep,' Takumi replied, 'in Mt Akina.'
'He'll win,' Bunta said making Takumi look at him with a frown.
'Dad,' he started, 'I've been meaning to ask you something for quite a while.'
'Uh-huh?'
'Why is that that you never told me you were proud of me when I raced and you keep telling Akito how good he is and how proud you are of him?'
'Are you jealous?' Bunta asked.
'Nope, just wondering,' Takumi replied honestly.
Bunta looked at his son for a while before saying:
'Well, as your father, it was my job to make sure your ego was kept on check. As your kids' grandfather, it is my prerogative to spoil them silly for it'll be your job to deal with any trouble they may cause.'
'I wish I hadn't asked,' Takumi said pouting making Bunta chuckle once more.
Meanwhile, the subject of the two men's conversation was parking his V-86 up the lane in the Takahashi's residence in Maebashi.
Akito hadn't even got to the front door's step when he saw Kyosuke opening it with Seisuke and Ryoko following him.
'Let's go,' Kyosuke said.
'Is everything alright?' Akito asked.
'Yeah, it's just that…' Seisuke replied.
'Alright, I get it,' Akito said understanding that things at the Takahashi's weren't quite back to normal yet.
Akito opened the passenger's door so Ryoko could climb into his car and, as he walked around it, he saw Kyosuke and Seisuke driving their two Mazda out of the Takahashi's enormous garage.
'Where's Kaori?' Akito asked as he fastened his four-point racing seatbelt.
'Er…' Ryoko said and, checking something onto the car's console, she whispered, 'is the radio on?'
'Nope, why?' Akito asked while turning on his car's engine so he could follow the two RZ-1s.
'Er…' Ryoko started again, 'I don't know if I should tell you this…'
'What is it?' Akito asked getting concerned.
'Well, let's say I think I know the reason why Kaori's been too busy to see Seisuke,' Ryoko said and something in her tone of voice made Akito realise that she was very angry at Seisuke's girlfriend.
'Ryoko?'
'Do you remember I went with Yayoi to the shopping centre last Thursday?' Ryoko asked.
'Yeah.'
'Well, guess who I saw enjoying a cosy coffee with pastries with a guy who was definitely not Seisuke?'
'What?' Akito said getting so shocked that he almost lost control of his Toyota.
'Yeah, I've been trying to decide whether I should tell Seisuke or not,' the girl said.
'Are you sure that…you know…well, maybe he was a friend or something.'
'Akito, you do not kiss your friends the way she was kissing him.'
'She was kissing him?' Akito said sounding scandalised.
'Yeah, how disgusting is that?' Ryoko asked finally showing how very angry she was, reminding Akito that his girlfriend was, after all, Takahashi Keisuke's kid.
'Have you told Kyosuke?' Akito asked.
'Nope, I don't know what to do.'
'I think you should tell him first and see what he thinks.'
'Alright,' Ryoko said and then, she put her hand on top of the one Akito had on the shifter.
'It's really weird though,' Akito started while enjoying the touch of her soft skin against his, 'why would Kaori cheat on Seisuke? I though she loved him.'
'Yeah, so did I. Maybe she's into older guys now, because the guy I saw her with was at least in his late twenties,' Ryoko said.
'That sucks,' Akito said then, remembering that bastard from the ice skating team, he asked, 'Ryoko, you don't mind I'm younger than you are, do you?'
Ryoko looked at him across the car and laughed softly.
'Baby, you're not even five weeks younger than I am, that hardly counts. Besides, even if I weren't in love with you, I don't like oldies so I wouldn't like being with one.'
Akito felt that he had suddenly grown a couple of inches taller and his lips curved into a silly smile that lasted all the way up to Mt Akina.
He was still grinning as he climbed out of his car and walked towards Jiro's Honda which was parked next to an orange Mitsubishi Eclipse GT DK2A which looked to be at least ten years old.
Next to the car, Akito saw Hiroki talking to the Tochigi Thunders' leader and the girl who had raced against Kizuna only a week before.
'Hey,' Hiroki said seeing Akito followed by the three Takahashi and quite a few members of the Golden Arrows.
'Hi,' Akito said offering a quick wave of his hand.
'You've got a really nice car,' Hiroki said pointing at Akito's brand new V-86.
'Yeah, so do you,' Akito said politely.
'Nah, it's really old but it's all I can afford right now,' Hiroki replied, once more, shocking everyone with his boldness, 'its powerful enough so, don't do me any favours,' the guy added as an afterthought.
'I won't,' Akito said, 'don't worry.'
'Hey,' Jiro said looking over Akito's shoulder, 'I thought you'd be gone by now.'
'Yeah, change of plans,' Kyosuke replied joining in the conversation.
'Ah, I see,' Jiro commented being sensitive enough to not point out that Kizuna wasn't there.
'What do you think if we take an hour for you guys to do a few runs before the race?' Kyosuke suggested.
'Yeah, that'd be good,' Jiro said then, talking to Misa, Hiroki and the rest of his team, he said, 'guys, what do you think?'
'It's an excellent idea,' Misa replied while Hiroki and a few guys just nodded their agreement.
'Great, let's go then…'
For an hour, everyone tried to show the best of their skills, including the two RZ-1s driven by Kyosuke and Seisuke who, just as their father and uncle had done over twenty five years before, delighted the galleries with their twin drifts.
'They're really good,' Misa said talking to Ryoko while the girl waited for Akito to come back up.
'Yeah, they are,' Ryoko agreed.
'Have you known them for a long time?' Misa asked making Ryoko look startled for a bit.
'All my life,' she finally answered, 'those two are my cousins,' she explained pointing at the two Mazdas as they prepared themselves to go down the hill once more.
'Ah, really?' Misa asked sounding a tad on the keen side.
'Yes,' Ryoko replied, 'the one driving the Toyota's my boyfriend,' she felt the need to specify, putting an extra emphasis on her last two words.
Misa laughed softly before putting her hands up and say:
'Don't mind me, no offence or anything, your boyfriend is cute enough but I'm twenty years old so he's a bit too young for me.'
'Yeah, of course,' Ryoko said shaking her head thinking that she was being a bit silly getting this jealous for no apparent reason.
'Your cousin, on the other hand…' Misa added this time definitely stunning Ryoko.
'Kyosuke?' she asked frowning, 'he's got a gi…'
'Hey,' Misa said smiling again, 'I know Kyosuke-san's got a girlfriend, I raced against her, remember? Besides, I wasn't talking about him.'
'Ah,' Ryoko gasped and was about to say that Seisuke also had a girlfriend when she remembered what she had seen in the shopping centre. For this reason, she didn't say anything about Kaori: it would serve her right if someone stole Seisuke away from her!
'Does he have a girlfriend?' Misa asked Ryoko.
'I don't know, you would have to ask him,' she replied keeping a neutral expression on her face.
'I will,' the older girl said.
At five to ten, Akito parked his V-86 next to Hiroki's Eclipse so they could start the race. He wasn't too nervous about the course for he knew it like the back of his hand, however, he remembered what his father had told him about Hiroki's old man so Akito forced himself to concentrate and drive as though as he was in one of his GP2 races.
'Can I do the countdown?' he heard Ryoko ask him.
'Sure you can,' Akito said smiling at her for he would enjoy seeing his girlfriend in her miniskirt standing in front of the two cars.
At the go, Akito and Hiroki drove past her, with Akito trying his best to keep the lead of the race so he could just drive down as quickly as possible then, right at the very first corner, he saw that Hiroki had indeed inherited his father's recklessness when, just as Akito was beginning to clear the turn, he saw through his side view mirror the front of the DK2A driving so close to the V-86 door that it freaked the heck out of poor Akito.
'Crap,' he said as he had to veer violently towards the guardrail in order to avoid a more than certain collision. By doing that, he gave Hiroki the space the guy needed to overtake him.
Akito swore again as he saw the Mitsubishi's tail getting further away from him: right, it was time to start pushing it he thought as he gave full gas to his Toyota.
'Akito, he's nuts! Be careful,' he heard Seisuke's voice through the radio.
'I know,' Akito breathed noticing that, for the first time in ages, he was actually driving at his maximum. He hadn't felt this strained while driving ever since that mad race with his father's AE86 against that old burgundy EK9 in Mt Akagi three years ago.
He had a full time job trying to keep up with the Eclipse which was driven by Hiroki at such suicidal speed that Akito started fearing for the young man's life for real. What was worse was that, in order to remain glued to the Mitsubishi, Akito had to push his V-86 as much as Hiroki was pushing his car.
'Crap,' Akito said as he had to grasp his steering wheel so tightly that his knuckles were beginning to get white. He needed to do that for he was now clearing one of the high speed corners of the course going well over one hundred and fifty kilometres an hour.
He breathed easy as he exited the turn, only to feel himself get all tensed up as he saw the Mitsubishi doing yet another suicidal move: Hiroki was putting his tyres outside the tarmac so he could get even closer to the freaking guardrail!
With Akito getting seriously worried about Hiroki's bodily integrity, he decided to just drive as fast as he could, forgetting about trying any attacks until they got to the five hairpins. Akito feared that if he got anywhere near the Eclipse before that they both would end up down the cliff.
Let's do this, Akito thought as soon as they got to the first of the hairpins. He would try what his father and grandfather had taught him to do: use the gutters to hook the tyres.
He used the first hairpin's gutter to get closer to the Mitsubishi, noticing with pleasure that Hiroki hadn't even thought of doing the same. Akito then used the second hairpin to glue the front of the Toyota to the Eclipse's rear.
Then, he saw that Hiroki, who had probably seen the whole thing through his rear view mirror, hooked his tyres too into the third hairpin's gutter.
'Fine,' Akito said finally allowing himself a tiny smile. Driving into the fourth hairpin, he saw as Hiroki hooked once again his tyres into the gutter then, just as Kyosuke had done with him over a month ago, Akito feigned going towards the inside too then, switching his line, he veered towards the outside of the corner where, his car's newer engine produced a lot more power than Hiroki's allowing Akito to drift all the way past the Eclipse.
Akito entered the fifth and final hairpin leading the race and, following his racer's instinct, he didn't go for the gutter, instead, he drifted his car using almost the entire width of the road hoping that there wouldn't be enough space for the Mitsubishi to pass him.
He then drove all the way to the final turn of the course with the GT quite literally stuck onto his car's rear bumper then, at the spot where the two lanes became three and just as Akito had predicted, Hiroki tried one last desperate attack:
As they entered the turn, he detached his car from Akito's making it go towards the inside of the corner. He then drove it, apparently aiming for the side of the V-86, probably hoping that, once more, Akito would be forced to veer away from him. This time though, Akito didn't fall for the trap and, hoping against hope, he kept his V-86 firmly onto its line.
Albeit he did feel the Eclipse's grazing somewhere in the rear section of his Toyota's side, Akito managed to cross the finish line in first position.
'You know,' Akito said as both he and Hiroki climbed out of their cars, 'it's the first time someone manages to scare me the way you've done.'
Hiroki laughed at that and said:
'My dad will be proud of me when I'll tell him this, also because, even if I've lost, unlike when he raced your father, I've managed to finish the race against you.'
'You really are shameless, aren't you?' Akito was bold enough to ask.
'Does shame make you faster?' Hiroki asked and Akito shook his head feeling even more stunned, 'then I don't need it.'
'Fair enough,' Akito replied.
'Let's go back up,' Hiroki said, 'thanks for racing me, it's been fun.'
'No problem,' Akito said thinking that even though this guy was absolutely crazy, he couldn't help but to like him, 'let's race again sometime, alright?'
'Alright, but let me train myself harder, you're still too good.'
Akito just smiled at the guy before getting back into his car and, just as he started driving back towards the summit, he saw Seisuke's white RZ-1 dash past him.
'Seisuke?' he asked through the radio.
'Fuck off you too!' he heard Seisuke shout at him.
What in the heck had happened now? Akito thought as he continued driving uphill.
To be continued…