Programmed Lives: Fifth Stage

by Sanae

The new generation has finally taken over but they will find many obstacles on the road to become true legends.

8. Chapter Seven

Programmed Lives – Fifth Stage

Chapter Seven

'Seisuke, what's wrong?' Akito asked but then he realised that, for some reason, his best friend had turned his radio off.

Akito was trying to decide what to do when he heard yet another voice through the car's radio. This time it was Kyosuke's and it sounded rather alarmed:

'Akito, follow him!'

The young man decided to obey first and ask questions later so, pulling the V-86's handbrake, he made the car turn one hundred and eighty degrees feeling grateful that Hiroki's Eclipse was driving ahead of him for, had it been otherwise, Akito would have never had enough space to do the manoeuvre.

'Kyosuke, is Ryoko with you?' he asked once he was, once more, travelling downhill.

'Yes, she is, don't worry,' Kyosuke replied.

'Ryoko, does this have anything to do with what you've told me earlier?' Akito asked as he drove as fast as he could.

'Yes,' he heard his girlfriend reply.

'I told Seisuke what she saw and he went ballistic,' Kyosuke added, 'unfortunately, we wasted too much time climbing into the car and, by the time I started following him he was already out of sight…'

'Akito, I'm really worried,' Ryoko said, 'I don't think we should have told him, goodness knows what he's going to do now…'

'Don't worry, I'll find him,' Akito said and, after that, he decided to focus all his energies on trying to catch up with the white RZ-1.

He finally saw it turning towards the road which, Akito knew, led to the motorway that went from Shibukawa to Gunma's capital city, making him think that Seisuke was probably going to Kaori's house.

Akito followed Seisuke as the youngest of the Takahashi brothers entered the motorway and was thankful to see that, at this time of the evening, the motorway was pretty much empty of other cars. This, however, allowed Seisuke to push his car even harder than he'd done up to that moment meaning that, within a few seconds, the RZ-1 was going nearly as fast as it could go.

That was bad news for Akito for, while the V-86 a much better car than the Mazda when it came to handling the mountain passes, in the motorway his car was definitely no match for the RZ-1 which, being a true sports car, could go a lot faster than the Toyota.

For this reason, all Akito could do was to make sure he didn't lose sight of Seisuke's car so he could see the moment when Seisuke would leave the motorway which, to Akito's dismay, wasn't at the exit which led to the area of Maebashi where the Takahashis lived, confirming the young man's fears that Seisuke was indeed headed towards his girlfriend's house.

A few minutes later, and just as he saw the white RZ-1 preparing itself to leave the motorway, Akito noticed through his rear view mirror the headlights of Kyosuke's car flashing at him and, for some reason, he felt relieved to see that the Golden Arrows' leader had finally caught up with them.

Then he had an idea: realising that Seisuke's car would have to slow down as it left the motorway, Akito decided to carry on at his current speed and, just as the RZ-1 was nearing the end of the exit's curved lane, Akito stuck the V-86's front to the Mazda's rear.

Akito then used the space between Seisuke's car and the lane's guardrail to pass him, drive out of the lane into a suburban road and, after checking that there was no incoming traffic on it, he stopped his car leaving it across the road thus forcing Seisuke to brake rather violently.

'ARE YOU CRAZY?' Seisuke shouted as he climbed out of his car while Akito was doing the same.

'Seisuke!' they both heard Kyosuke shout as he and Ryoko were too getting out of the yellow RZ-1.

'Guys, it's dangerous, you know, leaving the cars here,' Ryoko pointed out.

'LEAVE ME ALONE!' Seisuke shouted, 'ALL OF YOU!'

'Seisuke, be reasonable, we just need to talk to you,' Akito said walking towards Seisuke almost as if he were approaching a wild beast.

'AKITO, MOVE YOUR FUCKING CAR!' Seisuke said, now shouting so loudly that his voice was beginning to give up on him, 'I SWEAR, IF YOU DON'T MOVE IT, I'LL CRASH MINE AGAINST IT!'

'Go on,' Akito said keeping a calm tone of voice, 'it's fully insured.'

This seemed to make Seisuke react for he did a double take as though as he was unable to believe his ears.

'Guys, please…let's move all the cars,' Ryoko tried again now sounding rather scared.

'Yes, let's park them there and talk,' Kyosuke suggested pointing at the road's shoulder.

'It's your call,' Akito added still looking at Seisuke, 'I'm not moving unless you give me your word you won't drive off.'

'Fuck you,' he said speaking now with a much lower tone of voice. Nevertheless, he got back in his car and looked as if he was waiting for Akito to do the same.

The young man, deciding he could trust Seisuke, walked back to his car and climbed into it, re-starting its engine so he could drive it to the place Kyosuke had proposed. He was happy to see that Seisuke was doing the same.

Akito parked his V-86 and the Takahashi brothers parked their Mazda immediately behind the Toyota. He then climbed out of it and walked towards the driver's door of the white RZ-1 just as it was opening to let Seisuke out of the car.

'Seisuke,' Akito said making a gesture to both Kyosuke and Ryoko so they would let him handle the situation.

'I don't want to talk about it,' Seisuke said.

'Fine, I'll talk then,' Akito replied, 'look, I…'

'Akito, stop it,' Seisuke begged shaking his head as he leant against his car tiredly, 'I know, okay?'

'You know, what?' Akito asked now feeling confused.

'I've known it all along, do you think I'm stupid?'

'No, of course not,' Akito said frowning, 'but I must be because I'm not understanding a single thing.'

Seisuke looked at him and, even if it was rather dark, Akito saw that Seisuke's eyes were a lot shinier than usual and that startled him even more than when Hiroki had tried to crash his car against the V-86.

'There are so many excuses a woman can use to avoid seeing you before you start getting suspicious.'

'What are you saying?' Akito asked even if he was beginning to get the picture.

'I've thought for quite a while that Kaori was cheating on me,' Seisuke said sounding so utterly miserable that Akito felt his heart cringe rather painfully: he was definitely not used to see his most cheerful friend like this and now Akito didn't know what to do.

'I'm sorry,' he opted to say for lack of any other, more appropriate words.

Seisuke just nodded and then, looking up towards his brother, he said:

'Aniki, I'm sorry too, I shouldn't have shouted at you.'

Kyosuke took the three steps which separated him from his younger brother and, putting a hand on Seisuke's shoulder, he said:

'Hey, it's okay.'

'No it's not,' Seisuke insisted, 'I shouldn't have accused you of being jealous just because Kizuna's gone away.'

'We all talk nonsense when we're angry,' Kyosuke said with a very soft tone of voice. This made Seisuke move forward as he leant his head against his older brother's shoulder who, reacting instinctively, put his hand on the back of Seisuke's head.

Both Ryoko and Akito looked at each other feeling slightly uncomfortable watching this rare display of brotherly affection.

'Seisuke,' Kyosuke said moving his hands to put them onto his younger brother's shoulders so he could gently push him away from himself, 'it's useless to go now to Kaori's place, why don't you call her so you two can talk?'

Seisuke looked at him for a bit and shaking his head, he said:

'I don't want to talk to her.'

'But…'

'It's over,' Seisuke said, 'look, for the sake of our relationship I was prepared to ignore this suspicion of mine but, now that Ryoko has confirmed what…'

'Hey…I…' Ryoko started looking horribly guilty.

'You said you're sure of what you saw,' Seisuke said turning to face his cousin making Kyosuke remove his hands from Seisuke's shoulders.

'Yes but…'

'Then that's all I need to know. Kaori might have been my girlfriend but you, Ryoko, are my cousin, you're family, and I know that you wouldn't have told me what you saw if you weren't one hundred percent sure of it.'

'Of course not,' Ryoko said still frowning concernedly.

'Then I think I trust you more than I will ever be able to trust Kaori and, right now, I don't really want to hear her side of the story. I don't care anymore.'

'Seisuke,' Akito started.

'Hey, let's just forget about this, alright?' Seisuke said.

'Aren't you going to speak to her at all?' Akito asked.

'Nope, if she wants to hear from me, she'll have to call me.'

'What will you do when she calls you?' Kyosuke asked.

'I'll break up with her,' Seisuke replied with a very firm tone of voice, 'she's gone way over the top and, this time, there's no way I can forgive her.'

Akito glanced at Ryoko who looked like she wanted to say something but then, probably having second thoughts, decided to remain quiet.

'What do you say if we go home, eh?' Kyosuke asked.

'Yeah, let's do that,' Seisuke replied nodding at his brother.

'Hey, Ryoko,' Akito said looking at his girlfriend, 'would you mind if I head straight back to Shibukawa?'

'No, it's alright,' Ryoko said walking towards Akito, 'I'll go home with Seisuke.'

'Okay,' Akito said bending down to kiss her cheek, 'I'll see you tomorrow.'

Ryoko nodded to that and, before anyone could say anything else, she walked towards the white RZ-1 and climbed into the passenger's seat. She then waited for all three young men to get back into their cars.

'Afraid of Kyosuke's driving?' Seisuke said as he climbed into his car.

'Nope,' Ryoko replied as she watched her boyfriend's Toyota driving away from them, doing a u-turn so he could get back into the motorway through the nearest entry.

She remained silent as Seisuke, and Kyosuke behind them, did the same thing then, once they were on their way back home, she said:

'I wanted to talk to you.'

'Ryoko, I thought I had been clear,' Seisuke said, 'I'm not angry at you.'

'I know that although I'm grateful you're not,' she said interrupting him, 'I just wanted you to know something.'

'I know, I know,' Seisuke started.

'You do?' she said sounding surprised.

'Yeah,' he replied, 'you guys are here in case I need you, but I swear, I'm alright, I'm more pissed off at her than anything else.'

'I'm happy to hear that but that wasn't what I wanted to tell you,' Ryoko said startling her cousin.

'It's not?'

'Nope,' Ryoko said and then she smiled, 'I wanted to tell you that if, in the future, you're interested in finding yourself another girlfriend, I know of someone who's rather interested.'

'You do?' Seisuke now asked looking a bit less angry.

'Yep,' Ryoko replied.

'Who?' Seisuke asked and Ryoko's smile widened seeing that her cousin seemed to be genuinely curious, then she said as casually as she could:

'Oh, is just a certain female racer who happens to find you very cute.'

'Are you talking about that Misa girl?' Seisuke asked sounding rather incredulous.

'Yes, I am,' she said.

Seisuke looked as though as he had temporarily lost the ability to speak, then he gasped:

'Wow.'

'Wow indeed,' Ryoko said laughing softly at her cousin's reaction, 'she's nice looking, isn't she?'

'Nice looking?' Seisuke exclaimed, 'she's freaking gorgeous! And she's a fine driver too.'

'There you go,' Ryoko said, 'now, I'll understand if you don't want to start going out with girls so soon after what Kaori's done to you but, give it a bit of a thought, alright?'

Seisuke nodded and replied:

'I will, don't worry.'

'Also,' Ryoko continued, 'even if she does live a bit too far away, if you dated her you wouldn't have all the problems you've had with Kaori because Misa-san is into racing too.'

Seisuke laughed softly and then he said:

'Hey, I've already said I find her attractive, you don't need to sell the idea to me.'

'Good,' Ryoko said nodding once while still grinning in a very self-satisfied manner.

'Ryoko, why are you saying all of this? I thought you liked Kaori..,' Seisuke asked all the sudden.

'I did, mainly because she wasn't racing-crazy like the rest of you, which meant we could talk about something else while you four talked about the size of your engines and the likes, that said, I cannot forgive her because she's hurt you and, like you said, you are family, she's not.'

'You know,' Seisuke started, 'when you talk like this you sound a lot like your mother.'

'Really?' she said looking at him delightedly.

'Yeah,' Seisuke said then, he frowned and asked, 'hey, now that I think of it: why are you coming home with us?'

Ryoko's smile was replaced by a confused look when she replied:

'Er…b-because, I kind of live there?'

'I know that, idiot,' Seisuke said, 'it's just that, why didn't you go with Akito…after all, it's Saturday night…'

'So?' Ryoko asked.

'Well,' Seisuke started now feeling as confused as his cousin, 'you know, I thought you two guys would go and…'

'And what?' Ryoko asked getting slightly freaked out for she was beginning to understand what her cousin was trying to say.

'Come on Ryoko, you know what I'm talking about.'

Ryoko turned her head to look through her window as she felt her face get a lot warmer than usual.

'Oh my God,' she heard her cousin say increasing his tone of voice as he spoke, 'holy crap!' he exclaimed.

'What?' Ryoko said turning sharply to look at Seisuke, only to see that her cousin was trying, very unsuccessfully, to contain his mirth.

'Please,' he started sounding short of breath due to the titanic effort he was making not to laugh out loud, 'please tell me that…'

'Seisuke,' Ryoko said warningly.

'Oh shit, this is too good!' Seisuke started, 'no wonder the guy's so freaking fast: he's just trying to vent his frustration!'

'What are you talking about?' Ryoko said beginning to take offence.

'Ryoko, you two haven't done…you know…have you?'

Ryoko, looking horribly embarrassed, shook her head no and that's all Seisuke needed to start laughing incredibly loud until he felt his cousin punching him rather hard on his arm.

'Ouch, that hurt!' Seisuke exclaimed letting one of his hands off the wheel so he could rub the spot where she'd hit him.

'Stop laughing then,' Ryoko said angrily.

'Come on Ryoko,' Seisuke started trying to adopt a more serious sounding tone of voice, 'I can't believe you two haven't done it yet: you've been going out for three years!'

'I know,' Ryoko said.

'Then, what are you waiting for? That poor guy's been waiting for a really long time!'

'I know,' she repeated.

'Then?' Seisuke insisted.

'It's just that…' Ryoko said sounding positively mortified, 'it's complicated.'

'What is?' Seisuke asked.

'You know, finding the right moment and…you know what my father is like.'

'Yeah, I know that Uncle Keisuke would kill Akito if he even suspected that you two are doing certain things but, he doesn't really need to know, does he?'

'No, not really,' Ryoko admitted, 'but, in any case, we never have the house to ourselves and I don't want it to be a rushed thing nor to go to a love hotel or worse, do it in the car...'

'Is that all you want?' Seisuke asked looking briefly at her, 'to have the house empty for a few hours?

'Yeah, it'd be a good start,' Ryoko replied.

'Alright baby cousin,' Seisuke said, 'just leave everything to me.'

'What are you going to do?' Ryoko asked this time getting definitely freaked out.

'Hey,' Seisuke said with a cheeky smile, 'trust me: I'm a doctor.'

'Not yet, you're not,' Ryoko countered and Seisuke just laughed at that, feeling grateful that his cousin had just given him quite a few reasons to, at least temporarily, go back to being his usual cheerful self.

To be continued…