Programmed Lives – Fifth Stage

Chapter Eleven

Akito ran down the stairs and, as he bypassed his home's living room's door, he heard his father calling out his name: this made him stop right where he was and go back on his own steps, poking in his head through the open door.

'Yes?' he said hoping his father wouldn't make him waste too much time for he was already running rather late.

'Are you going out?' Takumi asked as he turned the TV's volume off, making his daughter look at him rather annoyed.

'Yeah, that's alright, isn't it?' Akito replied.

Takumi looked at him for a short instant before nodding once.

'Yes, but tomorrow I want you home, your grandfather's joining us for Christmas dinner.'

'Sure, no problem,' Akito said then, turning round, he almost crashed against his mother who, laughing softly, stepped out of his way and said:

'You're going to the Takahashi's aren't you?'

'Yes,' Akito replied stealing a glance at his watch, realising he should have left ten minutes ago.

'Akiko should be discharged from the hospital very soon, shouldn't she?' Natsuki asked.

'I think so,' the eighteen year old said sounding a tad on the impatient side.

'Please send our best wishes to her, alright?

'Sure,' Akito said as he walked past her making his way to the house's hall and, as he put his shoes on, she said:

'Don't come home too late and drive carefully.'

Akito smiled as he heard those two pieces of advice for the umpteenth time in his life. The poor woman never seemed to learn.

He finally and got out of the house, he walked towards his V-86, climbed into it and turned its engine on and, half an hour later, he parked it at the usual spot in front of the Takahashi's garage. He then made his way to the house's front door.

He rang the bell and waited for someone to let him in. Akito was lucky for the person doing that was his girlfriend Ryoko.

'Hello,' she said smiling at him as he stepped into the house's hall.

'Hey, how are things?' Akito asked her after kissing his girlfriend briefly on her lips.

'Usual,' Ryoko said then, looking at him, she whispered, 'listen, would you mind a lot if we didn't go out?'

'Why?' Akito asked looking very much like he did mind if they didn't go to the cinema as they had planned.

'It's just that, you know,' Ryoko started, 'Seisuke doesn't have a girlfriend anymore and Kyosuke's missing Kizuna a lot.'

Akito looked at her beautiful face for a while before giving in to those big soft brown eyes of hers which were staring at him pleadingly.

'Alright, let's stay in.'

'Thanks,' she said kissing him again.

Then they heard someone's throat being cleared and Akito saw the always menacing figure of his future father in law as he stood near them.

'Hi,' Akito managed to gasp.

'Dad,' Ryoko started with a warning tone of voice.

'Are you ready?' they then heard the girl's mother say as she walked towards the house's hall.

'You guys are going out?' Ryoko asked looking genuinely surprised.

'Yes honey, your father's taking me out for dinner,' Kyoko said as she put a pair of high heeled shoes on.

'You?' Keisuke asked looking at Akito.

'No, we're staying in with Kyosuke and Seisuke,' Ryoko replied instead and that, for some reason, made Keisuke smile.

'Alright,' he said still staring at Akito, 'you can stay overnight if your parents agree.'

Akito's eyes widened so much that it made Keisuke laugh as both his wife and daughter stared at him with the most profound disbelief displayed on their faces.

'Hey,' Keisuke said, 'consider it my Christmas' present to you.'

The young man, still half-stunned, only managed to nod, his brain unable to come up with the simple word it would have taken him to express his gratitude.

Keisuke laughed again and, grabbing his coat, he offered his arm to his wife and said:

'Shall we go?'

Kyoko looked at her husband and, as she took his arm, her disbelieving expression turned into an adoring one.

'Yes, my darling, let's go.'

They then walked out of the house and this seemed to make Akito regain his ability to speak:

'Alright, who was that man and what has he done to your father?'

Ryoko laughed at him as she took his hand so she could drag him inside the house. He then decided to follow her to the living room where he found the two Takahashi brothers looking extremely miserable.

'Hey,' he said and only Kyosuke seemed to have the energy to lift his hand in some sort of greeting.

'Come on guys,' Ryoko said trying her best to be cheerful enough for them too, 'it's Christmas' Eve!'

'Yay,' Seisuke said with such a sarcastically flat tone that it made Akito and Ryoko look at each other.

'What are you doing in here anyway, shouldn't you go out?' Kyosuke asked to the couple.

'Nope,' Akito said, 'we've decided to stay in.'

'Why?' Seisuke asked, 'so you two can make us feel even worse with your love-love mode.'

Akito stared at him then, he looked at his girlfriend and, taking her hand once again, he made her follow him outside the room.

'Okay, I see what you mean,' he started whispering, 'we need to do something.'

'I agree,' Ryoko nodded.

'Fine, okay,' Akito said looking at his girlfriend so expectantly that she frowned at him and said:

'Ah, I see, when you say we you mean, I have to do something, don't you?'

Akito smiled sheepishly as he still seemed to be waiting for her to come up with some brilliant idea to help both Seisuke and Kyosuke.

Ryoko looked like she was thinking about something for a while and then, without even exchanging a single word with him, she ran towards the stairs and up to her room leaving Akito unsure of whether he should have followed her or not.

After a few minutes, he saw her running back down the stairs.

'So, what do we do?' he asked her.

'Leave everything to me,' she said as she started walking back to the living room, this time Akito choosing to go after her and, as they entered the room, she took the TV's remote from Kyosuke's hands.

'Hey,' he started complaining.

'Shush,' Ryoko said as she busied herself with the TV's menu, selecting the internet mode from it. She then scrolled down to the webcam function and then, pressing the enter button on the remote, she looked at Kyosuke and said:

'I hope this cheers you up.'

Soon, through the huge TV screen, all four of them saw the beautiful face of Kyosuke's half-American girlfriend.

'Kizuna,' he whispered.

'Hang on,' Ryoko said as she turned on the TV's mike, 'now you two can talk for a while.'

Then, and in order to give them some privacy, Akito, Ryoko and Seisuke left the oldest of the Takahashi brothers alone.

'Hey,' he said stepping closer to the TV screen.

'Surprised?' Kizuna asked as she smiled at him.

'Yeah,' Kyosuke replied and, even though it was rather silly of him to do so, he put his hand onto the LCD on the spot where his girlfriend's cheek was.

'How's your mother?' Kizuna asked for she had learned about the whole thing just a few days ago.

'She's getting better,' Kyosuke replied.

'I'm happy to hear that,' Kizuna commented, 'you were right about staying after all.'

'Yeah,' Kyosuke said frowning slightly, 'how are you?'

'I'm alright, we're getting ready to celebrate Christmas over here. As usual, my uncle's getting everyone involved in the whole preparation process, whether we want it or not,' she replied laughing softly.

'I'm glad to see that you're having fun,' Kyosuke said honestly.

'What are you guys doing?' Kizuna asked and Kyosuke couldn't help but to notice that she had neither confirmed nor disagreed with his statement.

'Nothing much really, I did tell you that Seisuke's split up with Kaori, didn't I?'

'Yeah,' Kizuna replied, 'I still can't believe it! I've only been gone for three weeks and look at all that's happened.'

'It feels like an eternity longer,' Kyosuke said sounding very melancholic.

'Baby…'

Meanwhile, at the Takahashi's kitchen, Ryoko looked at her other cousin and, handing him her mobile phone, she said:

'Here, this is your Christmas present from me.'

'Oh, this is awfully generous of you,' Seisuke commented sarcastically, 'you're giving me an old phone.'

'Hey,' Ryoko complained, 'it's not that old and, besides, I'm not giving it to you, I'm only giving you the number that's on the display and the chance to make a phone call with it.'

'Whose number is this?' Seisuke asked taking the mobile in his hand.

'Misa-san,' Ryoko replied.

'What?' Seisuke exclaimed.

'Come on, call her,' Ryoko ordered.

'What am I supposed to say to her?' Seisuke asked and Akito had to transform a fit of laughter into a suspicious sounding cough.

'Sorry,' he said, 'it's just that I never thought you could be this shy.'

'Shut up,' Seisuke said sounding very irritated, 'you were a virgin until five minutes ago.'

Akito was going to protest about that but Ryoko put herself in between the two of them and, with the determination she'd inherited from her father, she said:

'We're not letting you out of the kitchen until you call her.'

With this, she took Akito's hand in her and, walking out of the room, she closed the door and, turning the key, she actually locked Seisuke inside the room. Ryoko shook her head and sighed tiredly.

'What do we do?' Akito asked her.

'We wait here,' Ryoko replied, 'if I know my cousin as well as I think I do, it won't take him too long before she says yes.'

Inside the kitchen, Seisuke was still staring at the phone until, gathering the courage he needed to do so, he pressed the button which would dial the number. He then put the phone on his ear and waited for an answer.

'Hello?' he heard Misa's voice.

'Hi,' he said, 'this is Takahashi Seisuke. I don't know if you remember me.'

'Of course I do,' Seisuke had the pleasure to hear.

'Great, listen, I…'

'Where did you get this number from?' Misa asked sounding a tad concerned.

'Er…' Seisuke started considering his options till, deciding that the least pathetic of them was to tell her the truth, he admitted, 'my cousin gave it to me. I hope you don't mind.'

'No, I don't,' she said, 'so, what can I do for you?'

Seisuke's brain came up with a long list of things he wanted her to do for him but, ultimately, he settled for one:

'What are you doing for New Year's?'

'Oh…' she said and Seisuke definitely didn't like that gasp.

'You're busy, right?' he asked.

'Well, the thing is, I've been invited to this party in Tokyo.'

'Ah, alright…' he started, interrupting her at mid-sentence.

'…but you can come with me if you want to,' she said finishing off.

'Really?' Seisuke asked.

'Sure, I don't mind if you guys join us, the more the merrier, right?' Misa said and it took Seisuke's best acting abilities to mask his disappointment hearing the way she had pluralized the whole thing.

'Okay, sure,' he said.

'Right, I'll send you all the details to this number, okay?'

'Sure,' Seisuke repeated.

'Well, Merry Christmas,' she said.

'Merry Christmas to you too,' Seisuke replied and, with that, he closed the communication thinking that, at the very least, he would see that gorgeous girl again and, after all, he wasn't looking for another long term relationship so all was good.

Walking back to the kitchen's door, he knocked on it and, said:

'I've finished.'

Ryoko opened the door and smiling at him, she asked:

'So, when are you two going out?'

'Us two aren't going anywhere,' Seisuke said watching Akito's reaction closely, getting ready to beat the crap out of the younger man if he dared to laugh at him.

'Why not?' Ryoko asked frowning.

'Because she's invited all of us to a New Year's party in Tokyo.'

'That's great!' Ryoko exclaimed happily, 'I'd love to go to Tokyo for New Year's!'

'Ryoko, your dad's never going to allow us to go,' Akito started.

'Who says we're going to tell him?' Ryoko said in what sounded more like a rhetoric question than anything else then, as she walked away from the two young men, Akito whispered:

'I hate it when she does that.'

Seisuke silently agreed with his best friend as the two of them started following the girl towards the living room where all three of them found a much happier looking Kyosuke.

'So, how's Kizuna?' Ryoko asked as she sat down with Akito doing the same next to her.

'She's great,' Kyosuke replied, 'I'm thinking of going over there for a quick visit sometime next month, if Mum's fully recovered by then.'

'She will be,' Seisuke said sitting next to his brother, 'now that they've removed the source of the cancer, she should be fine.'

Kyosuke nodded to that then, eyeing his younger brother a bit more closely, he said:

'You look happy too, why?'

Seisuke explained to him about their newborn New Year's party plans and, strangely enough, Kyosuke agreed to them with not even trying to convince them of what a bad idea the whole thing was.

'So,' Akito said, 'what do we do now?'

'Karaoke?' Ryoko proposed and both Kyosuke and Seisuke made a disgusted face.

'No way,' Seisuke said shaking his head.

'Why not?' Akito asked.

'Because at the end it becomes just a chance for you to show off,' Kyosuke replied.

'Hey, it's not my fault if I've inherited my biological mother's vocal talents,' Akito said without a trace of arrogance in his voice.

'That's right,' Ryoko agreed for she was very proud of having a boyfriend who could actually sing.

Seisuke was going to reply to that when they heard Kyosuke's phone ringing.

'Hello?' he replied and then, listening to whoever was calling him, he started frowning, 'alright, I'll be there as soon as I can.'

'What's wrong Aniki?' Seisuke asked.

'That stupid moron!' Kyosuke exclaimed as he got up from the sofa making the rest of them copy him.

'Kyosuke?' Akito asked.

'Junya's got in a fight with some guys from Usui and has challenged them to a race.'

To be continued…