Programmed Lives – Fifth Stage

Chapter Seventeen

Even before anyone else had had the time to react, Seisuke found himself running towards his RZ-1 as he tried to get the car's keys out of one of the front pockets of his jeans and, after managing to get the door open, he climbed into it and started its engine.

He was gone in less than a handful of seconds.

'WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?' Ryoko screamed as she rushed to where Kaori was standing, still looking so stunned that she wasn't even blinking. Then, and to everyone's astonishment they all saw as Ryoko raised her hand slapping Kaori so hard that it made them flinch too.

'Ry…' Kaori started as she held her hurt cheek with her hand.

'DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW MUCH CONVINCING IT'S TAKEN ME TO GET HER HERE?' Ryoko shouted, raising her voice more and more as her face became redder and redder with fury.

'Ryok…' Kaori tried again.

'GET THE HELL OUT OF HERE, NOW!' Ryoko cried again and, just in case Kaori even considered the possibility of not obeying at once, the younger girl grabbed Kaori by the arm in a very rough manner.

'Sweethea…' Keisuke started, feeling positively freaked out seeing his usually peaceful little girl losing her cool so badly.

'OUT!' Ryoko shouted again, completely ignoring her own father.

'Alright, alright,' Kaori said realising that, given the current state Ryoko was in, it was probably rather dangerous to go against the younger girl's commands so, after a few hesitant steps, Kaori rushed back to her car walking as fast as she could.

'AND DON'T YOU DARE SHOWING UP EVER AGAIN!' Ryoko screamed after her, refusing to move a single centimetre from where she was until she saw Kaori's car driving out of the Centre with her own eyes.

'Er…' Akito started, keeping what he believed it was a relatively safe distance between him and his enraged girlfriend.

'WHAT?' Ryoko shouted at him but, seeing him take a further step backwards made her realise how scary she must have looked to everyone there. For this reason, she took a couple of deep, calming breaths before starting again, 'I'm sorry…'

Akito swallowed and, exchanging a brief look with the girl's father, he took a couple of steps towards Ryoko.

'Are you…okay?' he asked.

'No,' she replied looking now as miserable as she had been furious only a few instants before, 'I spent two hours talking to Misa on the phone in order to convince her to come with me here.'

'I see…'

'And now that bitch has ruined it all,' Ryoko said.

'Baby,' Keisuke started as he made his way to where his daughter was, 'you know I don't like it when you swear,' he added a tad on the reproving side.

'I know, I'm sorry…'

'You know,' Keisuke continued, 'just now, you reminded me a lot of when your Aunt loses her temper.'

'I'm sorry…' Ryoko repeated biting her lower lip.

'I wonder if Seisuke will manage to catch up with her,' Akito commented.

'I hope he does,' Ryoko said, 'and I hope he apologises to her in every way he knows.'

'Why?' Akito asked, 'what has he done to her?'

'You don't know?' Ryoko asked looking incredulous and, seeing Akito shaking his head, she said, 'come with me and I'll tell you.'

Meanwhile, the white RZ-1 was being pushed to its limits as Seisuke tried to make it to Tochigi as fast as he could. So far, he'd been very unlucky with the traffic lights but, now that he was on the motorway, there was nothing that could make him stop.

He didn't even care if he got a fine and, since he was going at over two hundred kilometres an hour, he didn't have to worry about any police patrols for they would never even try to go after him.

Seisuke then saw it: the red Nissan was just a bit ahead of his Mazda.

Knowing he was probably pushing it a bit too much, he pressed the accelerator even more and soon, he managed to catch up with Misa's car. Only then he noticed that she was driving just as fast, if not faster, than he was.

'Shit,' Seisuke muttered as he stole a quick glance at his speedometer: two hundred and twenty kilometres an hour. This made him let out a shaky breath for, at this rate, they would end up killing themselves before he could even speak to her.

He then saw her cross the four lanes of the motorway in one single manoeuvre, indicating that she was about to get out of it and, since it was way too early for them to have entered the Tochigi prefecture, Seisuke realised that Misa probably had spotted his car tailing hers.

Feeling even more determined to keep up with her, Seisuke braked as he turned the steering wheel towards the left so he could go after her and, just as he was about to get into the outermost lane, he saw that there was a huge truck incoming his way forcing him to brake so hard that he almost sent his car into a wild spin.

'Shit' he muttered again when he was forced to wait in order to let the truck drive past him so he could then switch lanes.

After the truck had passed him Seisuke noticed that the V37 was nowhere to be seen and, what was even worse, he had missed the exit which Misa had used to get out of the motorway.

Blowing a considerable amount of air out, he almost released the accelerator's pedal and he punched the steering wheel in frustration.

'Fuck it,' he said.

Seisuke decided then that this was all a sign of fate and accelerating again, he drove to the next exit where, going around a roundabout, he got back into the motorway in the opposite sense and, this time driving a lot slower, he started making his way back home.

An hour later, he parked his car in his family's Motorsports Centre spending a few minutes inside the RZ-1 as he tried to gather enough courage so he could bring himself to face everyone.

'Hi,' Akito said seeing him walking towards them.

Seisuke just offered a curt nod.

'Did you manage to…' Ryoko started.

'Ryoko,' Seisuke said as he frowned at her, 'I tried, I really did. It was useless, she was too fast.'

Then, shocking everyone there, Ryoko didn't even argue with her youngest cousin, instead, she said:

'I'm sorry…'

'Me too,' Seisuke agreed, 'I guess it wasn't meant to be.'

'What do you mean?' Keisuke asked, joining in the conversation and looking every bit as concerned as the rest of them.

'Uncle Keisuke,' Seisuke said, 'I think I've had it with girls…'

'What?' Akito exclaimed then, sounding worried, he asked, 'are you going to become gay or something like that?'

Seisuke gave him a weak smile and, shaking his head, he said:

'No, don't worry, you're safe.'

'But Misa…' Ryoko started.

'Look,' Seisuke said, 'I'm not saying that I don't ever want to have another girlfriend, it's just that, right now, I think I'm going to focus on my studies and on the team.'

Keisuke looked at his nephew knowing that, from all the people present there, he was the one who probably understood the young man the best so he nodded his agreement and said:

'Yeah, I think that, until the right girl shows up, you're better off this way.'

'Dad!' Ryoko exclaimed as she glared at her father.

'Thanks Uncle Keisuke,' Seisuke said, 'let's get back to work, shall we?'

'Okay,' Keisuke said and, with this, both uncle and nephew started walking back into the building which housed the centre's new facility.

'Akito…' Ryoko started.

'Ryoko,' Akito interrupted her, 'I think that, for once, we should stay out of this.'

'What?'

'Please,' Akito said, 'Seisuke's had a really hard time with Kaori, I too think he needs a break.'

'You can't possibly…'

'Ryoko, please.'

'But…'

'Promise me that you'll drop this, okay?' Akito asked looking at her pleadingly.

'Alright,' Ryoko said but, unnoticed to Akito, she kept one of her hands behind her back with her index and middle finger crossed.

'Good,' Akito said, 'now, let's go.'

A few days later, and as Kyosuke came back from the US, bringing loads of presents for all of them, Akito took him aside and explained to him everything that had been going on during the short week he'd been gone.

'Wow,' Kyosuke said, 'it's true what Kizuna says.'

'What is that?' Akito asked.

'She's afraid that with all the time she'll be gone, there will be way too many changes,' Kyosuke explained, 'and, if after being away for only a week all of this has happened, I don't dare thinking of what's going to be like by the time she gets back.'

Akito smiled at that as he nodded then, he asked:

'How did it go?'

'Really well,' Kyosuke replied, 'her family's nuts but they're a lot of fun to be with. It also helps that I can speak English, otherwise it would have been a nightmare.'

'Yeah, Mum always says that I should improve my English.'

'She's right,' Kyosuke said, 'especially now that you're going to be abroad so many times a year.'

'I guess so, is just that I can't seem to get the words into my head.'

'Seisuke and I have been lucky because our mother spoke English to us when we were kids,' Kyosuke said and Akito was going to agree with that too when Ryoko came to get them both.

'Come on guys,' she said, 'Mum's going to play the videos you've brought from the US!'

'We'll be on our way shortly,' Kyosuke said and, as soon as Ryoko was gone, he added, 'I'll talk to Seisuke, okay?'

'Nah,' Akito said, 'I honestly think your uncle's right.'

'You're agreeing with Uncle Keisuke?' the twenty two year old asked looking utterly shocked by this.

'Yeah,' Akito said, 'believe me, I hate it but, I do think that Seisuke needs a break from girls, he's been going out with one girl after another since, I don't know, junior high?'

'No,' Kyosuke corrected him, 'he had his first girlfriend in his last year of elementary school.'

'Holy crap,' Akito said, 'I rest my case.'

'Yeah, I see what you mean,' Kyosuke said.

'I've even managed to convince Ryoko to drop it so, let's just let him be, okay?' Akito added.

'Yeah, okay,' Kyosuke said and, with this, both young men walked back to the Takahashi's living room where all the lights were off as they prepared themselves to watch the videos Kyosuke had recorded during his stay in the US

He laughed softly as he saw the now familiar faces of his girlfriend's family.

'Is that Kizuna's Mum?' Akiko asked seeing a very obviously Japanese woman on the screen.

'Yes, her name's Salina,' Kyosuke replied.

'Wow, she's so pretty,' Ryoko commented.

'Yeah,' Kyoko agreed, 'I see that Kizuna takes after her mother.'

'Not really,' Kyosuke said, 'I've seen a few pictures of Kizuna's late father and she looks a lot like him.'

'How old was she when he died?' Akito asked and everyone turned sharply to look at him, probably finding odd that, of all people there, he could ask such a question.

'I'm not entirely sure,' Kyosuke lied for he didn't want to tell him that Kizuna had also lost one of her parents shortly after being born.

'Ah,' Akito said and if he had found the answer weird, he didn't seem to want to take the issue any further.

'Who's that?' Seisuke asked.

Kyosuke looked back at the screen and, laughing softly, he said:

'That's Uncle Josh, he's crazy but he's as good with cars as Dad is.'

'Maybe you and him could become friends,' Kyoko commented looking at her brother in law.

'Yes, I think they'd like each other,' Kyosuke agreed smiling at his father who just nodded.

Another video started and they heard Akito gasp.

'This is the place where Kizuna's working right now,' Kyosuke explained as he saw the images he'd recorded himself.

'It looks like a NASA laboratory,' Seisuke said looking amazed by what he was seeing.

'It's very impressive,' Keisuke agreed exchanging a brief look with his older brother who, without using words, told him to register in his mind every single one of the images they were watching.

'Kizuna's so lucky,' Kyosuke continued, 'she's made friends with the Chief Engineer and he's teaching her all sorts of stuff.'

Akiko looked at her oldest son with such a troubled expression that he was forced to, very hastily, add:

'But she also has to work very hard, I barely saw her while I was there!'

They spent the rest of the evening watching the videos as Kyosuke described to them what they were seeing. He ended up doing so much talking that at the end of the night the poor guy had almost lost his voice.

At long last, and just over a week after Kyosuke had come back from the US, the whole family plus the Fujiwaras and with Kenta and Fumihiro coming as special guests, all travelled to Nagano where the inter-high ice skating championship was being held.

Ryoko had left a few hours earlier with her team so they could get ready and, for this reason, Akito had decided to drive his family himself and since he felt a tad uneasy about having his father riding next to him, he was very careful to drive as smoothly as possible.

'You release the clutch a bit too brusquely,' Takumi pointed out as Akito had just finished changing a gear.

He felt his eyebrows as they cringed slightly then, he said:

'Sorry.'

'If you practice a bit more you'll get better,' Takumi commented and Akito had to use all of his willpower not to roll his eyes.

'Yes Dad,' he said instead feeling grateful when, after an hour's drive, he parked the car outside the ice rink then, as he and his sister walked towards the Takahashi, Natsuki said:

'Honey, aren't you taking your father's advice a bit too literally? I think you were quite harsh with Akito back there.'

'Nah,' Takumi replied, 'compared to the things my father used to say about my driving, I think I'm being extremely nice to him.'

Not being able to argue against that, Natsuki passed her arm around Takumi's and the couple started making their way into the sports facility where, a few minutes later, they sat down with the Takahashi as they all got ready to cheer for Ryoko and her team and after they had seen the exhibition of the first contestant, a girl belonging to the Nagasaki prefecture team, Natsuki whispered to her husband:

'You know, I kind of regret not having done ice skating as a club activity while I was at school.'

'I don't regret you didn't,' Takumi said, 'if you hadn't joined the soccer's club I wouldn't have met you.'

Natsuki's heart skipped a beat hearing him say something as nice as that, especially because it was very rare of him to do so and, as she leant towards him to kiss his cheek, she noticed that their daughter Haruko was staring at them with an indecent amount of curiosity. This made her sit back on her chair.

'You grown ups are so weird,' Haruko commented before turning her attention back to the ice making Takumi feel worried seeing how, as she got older, the girl behaved more and more like her grandfather.

Several other skaters performed their beautifully executed choreographies then, the whole Takahashi family Akito included, held their breath as they saw Ryoko step onto the ice.

As usual, Ryoko had chosen a piece of classic music and, with the first notes of Vivaldi's Four Seasons, the girl started gliding on the ice entrancing everyone with the fluidity of her movements.

Half way through the exercise and, as she had already performed several single and double loops, twists and figures, she prepared herself for what Akito knew it was what scared Ryoko the most: her famous triple axle.

Akito braced himself as he noticed that Keisuke, who was sitting next to him, was doing the same thing. Both of them gasped as they saw Ryoko taking the impulse she needed to fly off the ice and turn once, twice, thrice then, as smoothly as she had started she landed back on the ice, with both Akito and Keisuke letting a sigh of relief at the exact same time.

Ryoko finished her virtually flawless exercise and, maybe it was because he was biased but Akito had the impression that everyone from the public was clapping for her a lot more loudly than they'd done for the rest. Then, a short hour later, the inter-high championship came to an end and, not even the excellent exhibition from the Hokkaido team managed to budge Ryoko or her team from the number one spot in both individual and collective rankings.

'Baby,' Kyoko said to her daughter after hugging her, 'do you still want to quit ice skating?'

Ryoko looked at her parents and at Akito then, playing with one of the two the gold medals which still hung off her neck, she shrugged and said:

'You know what…I'm not quite so sure anymore.'

To be continued…