Programmed Lives – Fifth Stage

Chapter Nine

As he parked his V-86 next to Ryoko's little Mazda convertible, Akito was still unable to believe what would be happening in just a few hours time. He climbed out of his car to make his way to the ice rink where, he hoped, he would catch a glimpse of the last few minutes of his girlfriend's practice.

Soon enough, he walked down the rink's grandstands to go to the usual spot from which he, and quite a large group of people, watched the training sessions of Gunma prefecture's ice skating team. Unfortunately, Akito saw that the public was leaving and the girls were already packing up, this all meant that practice time was over.

'Hey,' one of them, a close friend of Ryoko's, said seeing him there.

'Hi,' Akito said, 'where's Ryoko?' he asked for he didn't see her anywhere.

'She went to speak to Higuchi-san,' the girl informed him.

'Alone?' Akito asked getting a very bad feeling all of a sudden.

'Yeah,' Ryoko's team mate said frowning, 'what's wrong?'

'Nothing,' Akito replied, 'I hope,' he muttered as he started running towards the corridor where the staff's offices were and, not really knowing which one of the numerous red doors was the choreographer's office's, he forced himself to slow down so he could start looking around.

He didn't really need to look for too long because, as he walked past the third door on his left hand side, he heard Ryoko's voice, sounding very much strained, as the girl shouted:

'Get away from me you pervert!'

Akito's brain froze in panic as he took the two steps which separated him from the door then, using every ounce of his strength, he tried to get it open.

'Ryoko!' he shouted urgently as, seeing that the door wasn't giving in, he started searching for something he could use to knock the door down. Finally, he spotted a fire extinguisher and, running towards it, he snatched it off its support and ran back to the door.

There, as he lifted the extinguisher to hit the door's knob with it, he saw, to his utter astonishment, as the thing started turning itself.

Then the door opened to reveal an enraged looking but perfectly alright Ryoko. She only looked a tiny bit dishevelled.

'What are you doing?' she asked and Akito saw her furious expression quickly going from surprised to amused making Akito feel rather foolish holding a heavy fire extinguisher up in the air.

'Er…I was…' the young man said as he slowly put the thing down on the floor.

'Trying to open the door?' Ryoko supplied no longer bothering to hide how very amused she was about it all.

'Yes,' Akito replied scratching the back of his head.

'Akito,' Ryoko said, 'this is a metallic door, what would you have done with that?' she asked pointing at the extinguisher.

Akito was about to reply to that when he heard someone moaning and, looking inside the office, the young man saw Higuchi, kneeling on the floor, holding his crotch with both hands.

'What have you done to him?' Akito asked feeling an unexpected rush of sympathy for the poor guy.

Ryoko looked at her boyfriend, then at Higuchi and back at Akito before replying:

'He tried to…you know…and I just gave him what he deserved.'

'How did you do that?' Akito managed to ask, unable to form any other, more coherent sentence. He was so shocked that he didn't even get angry at that bastard of a choreographer.

'Oh,' Ryoko said with nonchalance, 'after what happened at that party up in Mt Akagi, I asked Dad to teach me a few moves so I could defend myself.'

'Wow,' Akito gasped and, after swallowing, he looked at his girlfriend with a frown and said, 'Ryoko, remind me to never piss you off.'

She just grinned at him before turning round towards Higuchi and, smile gone, she said:

'You better pack up and go because, after I tell my father what you've tried to do, he's going to want to kill you.'

With that, she just walked away not even bothering to check whether Akito was following her or not. Before he did follow her, Akito turned to face Higuchi and, using his nastiest sounding tone of voice, Akito said:

'Good bye, scumbag.'

He then ran towards Ryoko and, taking her hand, they both picked their coats up and made their way to their cars.

'Catch me if you can,' she said smiling as she climbed into her red convertible.

Akito did a double take losing a few precious instants during which Ryoko strapped herself onto her seat, turned her car's engine on and, with a swift manoeuvre, she started driving away from him. This made Akito rush into his car starting the V-86's engine and with the speed only a professional racer could manage, he proceeded to follow his girlfriend's little Mazda in what, he believed, would be his easiest race yet.

He was wrong.

'Geez,' he said as he saw the nearly suicidal speed in which Ryoko was negotiating the corners of the road that led to the area of Maebashi where the Takahashi had their home, thankfully, not too far from the ice rink.

He couldn't help but to admire the rather aggressive way in which the little red Mazda cleared the turns and, as he observed Ryoko's driving, he realised that she had improved a lot and now the girl was probably fast enough to become a pretty good street racer, if she ever wanted to be one.

At the end, and probably because he'd been too distracted watching his girlfriend's driving style, Akito only managed to catch up with her once they were about to enter the quiet street where the Takahashi family lived. There, and using a basic but efficient technique, Akito overtook Ryoko's car getting into the Takahashi's driveway just a few metres ahead of her.

They both parked their cars in front of the huge garage's door and, as he climbed out of his V-86, Akito asked:

'Since when are you this freaking fast?'

'Self-defence isn't the only thing Dad has taught me,' Ryoko said grinning as she pressed the button on her key which activated the car's central locking system.

'Baby,' Akito said walking towards her and passing an arm around her shoulders, 'you're full of surprises.'

'You haven't seen anything yet,' Ryoko said so sexily that Akito was suddenly reminded of what laid ahead of him. Akito just smiled, choosing not to say anything that might have ruined the moment.

When they entered the house, Akito understood what she had meant by saying he hadn't seen anything yet for, as she led him into the dinning room, he found there the table set for two.

'Sit there and wait for a bit,' she said pointing to one of the chairs.

'Er…' Akito started but he was too late for Ryoko had already walked out of the room leaving him with no option but to obey and take a seat where his girlfriend had told him to sit.

A few minutes later, he saw her walking back into the room carrying a covered tray and, as she set it on the table, she removed its lid to reveal a delicious looking, traditional Japanese dinner.

'Wow,' Akito gasped feeling almost like a king.

'I've prepared some of your favourite dishes,' Ryoko said making Akito wonder when she'd had the time to cook all of that, 'I hope they're alright,' she added suddenly looking unsure of herself.

'Ryoko,' he started, 'they are better than alright, in fact, I feel very useless right now.'

'Why?' she asked him worriedly.

'Because you're doing everything, I mean, I'm…'

'Akito,' she said getting very serious, 'you've been waiting for this for almost three years, I'm just trying to make up for all the time you've been patient with me.'

Akito raised his eyebrows in shock before he said:

'You really didn't need to do all of this. In any case, I'm really grateful you have so, thank you…'

'You're welcome,' she said and then she proceeded to serve the meal and, as they started eating, she asked, 'how is it?'

'It's really good, honestly,' he replied as he helped himself to some more rice.

'Aunt Akiko's been teaching me to cook,' she said and as Akito started laughing, she asked, 'what's so funny?'

'Nothing,' Akito hurried to say, afraid she may have got upset, 'it's just that, recently, you've become a very different person…'

'What do you mean?' Ryoko asked.

'Well, you seem a lot more…I don't know…grown up,' he said.

'Grown up?' she asked with a surprised tone of voice, 'I'd hate to remind you that I am older than you.'

'Only five weeks and, like you said, it doesn't really count.'

'Fair enough,' she said.

'No, really,' he started again, 'you seem to be a lot more mature, like the way you reacted with the whole Kaori incident and, the way you've defended yourself with that bastard, not to mention the fact that your driving is amazing.'

'Is it?' Ryoko asked, her face brightening up with happiness.

'Yeah, you know, I think you could actually race with us.'

'What? You mean with the Golden Arrows?' Ryoko asked.

'Yeah,' Akito replied.

'Nah,' Ryoko said, 'you guys get too serious up there at the mountain pass. I'm not that good.'

'Yet,' Akito countered, 'but if you practiced hard you could become as good as Kizuna is.'

Ryoko shook her head and said:

'I'm not interested in that, I just wanted Dad to show me a few techniques so I could keep up with you guys when you go to your races.'

'But I always drive you to them,' Akito pointed out.

'Yeah, but I'd like to be a bit more independent,' Ryoko said then, seeing the concerned look on Akito's face, she added, 'you know, like Kizuna, she always drives her own car to the races and I want to be able to do the same, even if I don't race like she does.'

Akito considered this for a bit and then, he said:

'Alright then, I'll install one of the team's radios in your car so we can all talk, okay?'

'Sure,' she said nodding then, they spent a few minutes in silence, enjoying the meal and each other's company.

'Akito, can I tell you something?' Ryoko said after a while.

'Of course,' he replied.

'Don't tell anyone because I don't want them to laugh at me,' Ryoko started.

'Alright,' Akito said getting a bit worried.

'I'm thinking of quitting ice skating.'

'What?' Akito asked interrupting her, 'why?'

'It's just that…' she started and she licked her lips nervously.

'I thought you loved it,' Akito commented.

'Yes, I do, but…I want to go to university,' she finally said.

'So? You can still skate, can't you?' he asked and she shook her head.

'No, because I will need all my energies to study if I ever want to get the degree I want.'

'What do you want to study?' he asked thinking that if it was such a hard degree, she probably wanted to follow her uncle, aunt and cousin and become a doctor too.

'Don't laugh,' she warned.

'I won't,' Akito assured her.

'I'm going to try to get a degree in Business Administration,' she said very quickly as she stared at him, probably looking for a sign which would tell her that he was about to burst out laughing. Instead, and looking extremely impressed, he said:

'Wow, that's…that's heavy…'

'I know, I've been thinking about what I wanted to do for a while and I've decided to study that so, one day, I'll be able to help Mum and Dad with the management of the Centre.'

'That's very good of you, I'm very, very impressed.'

'You are? You don't think I'm being ridiculous for wanting something so big?' Ryoko asked still looking unsure of herself.

'Hey,' Akito started finally allowing himself to smile at her, 'you're talking to a guy whose dream is to become an F1 driver.'

'Yeah, that's true,' Ryoko agreed smiling back at him, 'but you're already half way there.'

'Nowhere near it baby,' Akito said shaking his head, 'there are loads of highly talented racers out there who want the very same thing I'm after.'

'Yeah, but you'll beat them all to it, I'm sure,' she said getting back into full fangirl mode.

'With this kind of support I haven't got any doubts,' Akito said laughing softly as he took her hand.

They finished their meal and, leaving everything on the table, they walked up to Ryoko's room still holding hands.

'Are you sure your cousins aren't going to come home?' he asked as they entered the girl's bedroom where the girl refused to turn on the light.

'Nope,' she replied, 'they'll be out all night.'

'Alright,' Akito said as he felt his heartbeat increasing at an alarmingly high rate.

'Where are you going?' he asked as, in the semi-darkness of the room, he saw her bypassing her bed and walking towards the en-suit bathroom.

'Wait here just a sec,' she replied and, after a few moments, she came back out of the room and, with a voice which betrayed that she, too, was very nervous, she said, 'we should have a shower first, don't you think?'

'Alright,' he repeated as he followed her to the bathroom and, as they stepped into it he saw that, yet again, she'd prepared something special there: a few lit candles here and there gave the whole place a really romantic look.

'This should make it easier for us to…you know…' she whispered.

Akito nodded to that and then he felt Ryoko's hands on his shoulders as she propped herself up on her tiptoes to go and kiss him.

Without not even realising how it had happened, he found himself inside the shower with its nozzle spraying warm water onto both of their bodies and soon, their first shy kisses became a whole lot more passionate until, after a while, they both stepped out of the shower dried each other with a couple of soft towels and, without stopping their kissing, they collapsed onto the bed.

They only paid attention to their rational side for a very short instant when Akito produced the condom he'd brought with him.

Ryoko giggled nervously then, realising what was about to happen, she became as serious as he was, concentrating so much that she could almost hear both of their furiously fast heartbeats.

Things were over not too long after they had started and, as Akito came back from the bathroom, walking towards the bed, he then laid onto it next to his girlfriend and he whispered sounding a little miserable:

'I'm sorry, I…'

'Hey, don't worry,' Ryoko whispered back, then, laughing softly, she added, 'I've always known you were a very fast guy.'

Akito frowned at that and was about to complain when she cupped his cheek in her hand and said:

'Hey, we've got all of our lives to get better at this, alright?'

'Yeah but…'

'I liked it,' she continued reassuring him, 'you were just as gentle as I hoped you'd be.'

'Did I hurt you a lot?' Akito asked not really feeling any less horrible.

'No,' she replied, 'it was a lot better than I thought it'd be, besides, we can try again later, can't we?'

'I don't know: I've only brought one.'

'Hey,' she said interrupting him, 'I've got a whole box in there,' she added pointing at her bedside table.

Akito laughed softly and, hugging her even more tightly, he said:

'I love you.'

'I know,' she replied smiling at him then, getting a bit more serious, she said, 'let's get some rest first, alright?'

Akito nodded and, letting Ryoko move so she could put her head on his shoulder, he hugged her again and they closed their eyes, allowing themselves to relax by listening to each other's breathing until they both fell asleep.

Suddenly, they heard a knock on the door which woke them up instantly.

'What the…' Akito muttered jumping out of the bed while his half-asleep brain started trying to find his underwear.

'Ryoko?' they heard Kyoko's voice through the door shocking Akito so much that he stopped looking for his clothes altogether.

'What is she doing in here?' Akito whispered and Ryoko just shrugged her shoulders looking every bit as stunned as he felt.

'Mum?' she asked as she put her nightie on and, after Akito had run to hide in the bathroom, the girl went to open the door.

'I'm sorry to bother you honey,' Kyoko started and, looking very worried, she said, 'your aunt has been taken to the hospital: I think they're operating her as we speak.'

To be continued…