Programmed Lives – Fifth Stage
Chapter Twenty
Akito made his way to his V-86 with Ryoko following him silently. Then, just before he took the car's keys out of his pocket, the girl said:
'Baby, you'll be careful, won't you?'
Akito looked at her beautiful face and laughed softly.
'Do you promise me you'll always ask me that before every race?'
'Yes, I will,' Ryoko replied nodding once.
'Alright, I will be careful, okay?' Akito said then, placing one of his hands on her waist, he pulled her closer to him, bent down and kissed her briefly on her lips. He then unlocked the car, got into it and, after strapping himself onto his seat, he turned its engine on.
A few instants later and with his car lined up next to Junya's light blue Nismo-tuned Nissan S18, Akito climbed back out of the car.
'Fujiwara!' Junya exclaimed, pointing at him in a very menacing way, 'mark my words: tonight you're going to lose!'
Akito remained silent as the crowd started making incredulous remarks.
'I was the best downhiller of the team,' Junya continued, making Akito think that, for some reason, the guy felt the need to inform everybody about what had made him so upset, 'then you showed up and you ruined everything!'
'Okay,' Kyosuke said, 'that's enough Junya.'
'Yes,' Seisuke added, 'you know that Aniki and I formed this team with the idea of having Akito join us.'
'Junya, it was all part of the original plan and you know it,' Kizuna finished.
'Screw the original plan,' Junya said angrily, 'before this punk showed up, we were a great team, now all the opponents can see is that we've got a GP2 racer with us…'
'That's not true!' Akito complained, 'I'm still nowhere near as good as some of you guys are.'
This made all of them turn sharply to look at him showing their profound disbelief on their expressions. Kizuna actually snorted while Ryoko looked as though as she was trying to stop herself from laughing.
'I meant at street racing,' Akito explained, noticing the looks his friends were giving him.
'Yeah, sure, of course,' Kyosuke said nodding at the younger man, talking to him with the tone of voice one used to speak to someone who was mentally disturbed.
'Argh!' Akito grunted shaking his head, 'let's just do this, okay?'
Not waiting for an answer Akito climbed into his V-86 and turned its engine back on. He then stayed there, waiting for everybody to clear the road, except for Taro who, for the second time that night, would be acting as the countdown man.
'GO!' he shouted and Akito saw Junya's car speeding away from him.
Fine, the young man thought as he saw the Nissan's badge getting further and further away from him. He wasn't worried though, he knew that he would have to drive just the same way he always did: racing against himself, ignoring the opponent.
At least, that's what both his father and grandfather had always insisted by saying that the man he needed to beat was himself. The rest were mere obstacles he needed to get rid of as quickly as possible. Then, as they made it to the first corner, he saw a drop of water falling onto his windscreen indicating that it was just starting to rain.
'Fantastic,' Akito muttered sarcastically as he adjusted his pedal work to take into consideration the fact that, with the first few drops of rain, the road would be covered by a thin film of water which could make his tyres lose contact with the tarmac.
He also noticed that Junya had slowed down too, which made it possible for Akito to catch up with him almost effortlessly then, just as they were finishing the short uphill climb, Akito saw his chance in the shape of the first left hand downhill corner.
There, and because of the sudden speed increase, one was always forced to open up a bit towards the right, leaving quite a lot of space between the car and the guardrail and Akito was happy to see that Junya had just done that.
Akito pressed the accelerator a bit more, trying to use the fact that the road was getting wetter to help him slide down. He insinuated the front of his car in the gap Junya had left but then, with the guy probably realising what Akito was attempting to do, the Nissan driver closed up the space forcing Akito to slow down.
'Fine,' Akito muttered not feeling at all surprised by this, after all, and as Junya himself had said, the guy was a really good downhill driver.
Taking a deep breath so he would decrease his heartbeat rate, Akito kept tailing the S18, waiting until it was the right moment to create another chance to overtake Junya. He didn't have to wait for too long because, just as they were about half way through the base, Junya made a very small mistake causing his Nissan to veer towards the wall.
Akito tried then to pass him there but, Junya managed to regain control of his car just in time to close the door making Akito feel rather frustrated.
The eighteen year old forced himself to remain calm, despite the fact that things were beginning to get quite desperate: he'd failed twice already and Junya had already made the only mistake he would probably make for Akito was absolutely sure that he would not make another one. This meant that it was all down to Akito to create the third chance and to make sure that this time his attacked worked.
Not wanting to waste too much time, Akito glued himself to the S18's rear bumper and without going as close as to graze it, he just used a very simple but highly effective aerodynamic rule: the car behind gets pulled by the car in front making it possible for the car behind to use up a lot less energy to go at the same speed.
Then, he just waited until they got to the following high speed, right hand corner where, after just caressing the brake pedal, Akito moved his foot immediately to the clutch and in a very quick succession, he shifted up a gear and pressed the accelerator as he turned the steering wheel towards the left where, he hoped, there would be enough of a gap for his V-86 to pass.
There, the Fujiwara luck seemed to want to intervene because, just as he passed by the light blue Nissan, Akito noticed that his front tyres had stepped on a forming puddle, sending him off flying forward but without aquaplaning and, by the time his car had cleared the corner, he found himself ahead of the Nissan.
'Great,' Akito said allowing himself a smile as he readjusted his pedal work to the current situation. If he played it smartly, he should manage to keep the first position until the end of the race. Akito had just finished this thought when he felt Junya's S18 ram against the back of his Toyota making the young man wince.
This time, the puddle his car's tyres found didn't help him at all. In fact, the layer of water made his car veer to the left when Akito needed it to go to the right so he could enter a corner which went that way.
Probably just to finish off his work, Junya hit his rear bumper again, this time sending him completely off course. Thankfully, this time Akito was prepared for the hit so, he just steeled his arms on the steering wheel and, fighting against inertia, he managed to get the car to stop just a hair away from the wall.
'Crap!' Akito thought and, as he saw Junya's Nissan drive past him, he inserted the first gear and released the clutch at the same time he was pressing the accelerator.
'Akito, what's up?' he heard Kyosuke's voice ask.
'I'm pissed off,' Akito barked out then, as he got his car back on the course, he pressed the button so the radio would be turned off.
Wondering if the rear bumper had managed to remain intact and hoping that he wouldn't have to replace it yet again, Akito just pushed his car as hard as he could and, in no time, he caught up once again with Junya there, instead of following the instinct which begged him to push Junya out of the course, Akito listened to his more rational side which told him to win this race fairly, even if his opponent wasn't willing to do so.
They both reached the last two corners of the mountain pass and, once more and almost as if it were an insult to Junya's intelligence, Akito decided to use the same technique he'd used to overtake him earlier so, sticking his car to Junya's rear bumper, he waited until the last corner, a right hand turn, to attack one last time.
Then, and just as Akito was getting ready to brake, he saw Junya's car veering towards the left, precisely the same direction Akito was about to take. In a split second, Akito made it to the right, pushed the car though the space between the S18 and the wall and, hoping for the best, he floored the accelerator as he felt all the muscles from his abdomen clench in a very painful way.
They crossed the line so close to each other that neither Junya nor Akito knew who'd actually won the race and, stopping their cars, both ex team-mates climbed out of their cars as a crowd of people walked towards them. Thankfully, it seemed like the rain was slowly receding and right now, only a few drops fell here and there.
'Congrats man, you've won,' a member of the Myogi Devils said, speaking to Akito.
'WHAT?' Junya shouted, 'I CROSSED THE FINISH LINE FIRST!'
'No you didn't,' Masato, one of the Golden Arrows, said.
'He did,' Izawa, another of the Golden Arrows, added pointing at Akito.
'Kyosuke-san told us what the deal was so,' Masato said, 'so, I'm afraid, you're definitely not one of us anymore…'
'Masato-san…' Akito started.
'Akito,' Masato said, 'the terms were clear: he challenged you, he's lost, he's out for good.'
'I DIDN'T LOSE!' Junya shouted.
'This looks pretty clear to me,' the member of the Myogi Devils said showing Junya a photo he'd taken with his mobile phone. Leaning towards the phone, Junya saw Akito's car crossing the line a few centimetres before his Nissan.
Livid with fury, he turned towards Akito and, grabbing him by the front of his jumper, he shouted at Akito's face: 'THIS IS NOT THE END OF THIS, MARK MY WORDS: SOONER OR LATER I'LL MAKE YOU BITE DUST!'
He then released Akito so brusquely that young man almost fell on the ground.
'What a horrible loser,' the guy from the Myogi Devils commented as they all saw Junya speed away in his S18.
'Hey,' Masato started, 'I've never really liked him: he was way too arrogant for our team.'
Akito just nodded to that not really knowing what else to do.
Ten minutes later, the whole of the Golden Arrows gathered at the base of the Myogi course.
'I'm sorry,' Akito said to Kyosuke, 'I've lost you two members of the team.'
'What are you talking about?' Kyosuke asked.
'Akito,' Seisuke started, 'we're not going to tell you again.'
'Baby,' Ryoko said looking at the rear of the V-86, 'I think you're going to need a new bumper.'
Akito lowered his head and scratching it, he said:
'Damn, Iketani-san's going to kill me.'
This all made them laugh even Seisuke, who was finally having so much fun that he forgot that he hadn't actually raced at all.
About a week later, the whole Takahashi family, plus the three Fujiwara who weren't in Australia, were glued in front of the TV, with the sports channel on where, in a few moments, they would be showing the first GP2 race of the season. Akito and his black and white Dallara from the PIAA-Tanaka team had qualified in fourth place, meaning that the eighteen year old had a very fair chance to, at least, get a podium finish.
'How are Takumi and Akito finding Melbourne?' Kyoko asked Natsuki.
'Oh, they're not seeing much,' Natsuki replied, 'especially because Akito didn't want to go anywhere else but to the circuit so…'
'Yeah, I know what you mean,' Kyoko commented laughing softly.
'Quiet please, it's starting,' Ryoko said.
'You'd like to be there too, don't you?' Seisuke asked his baby cousin.
'Yes,' Ryoko replied and, she was so bothered by it all that she didn't even notice the teasing tone her cousin was using then, the girl's phone started ringing startling everyone in the room, 'hello?' she said answering it and, whatever she heard made her face lit up like a Christmas tree: 'alright, be careful, okay?' she said and, after a pause, she added, 'I love you, too.'
She hanged up and, noticing the way everyone was looking at her she got all flustered and said:
'It was Akito, he wanted me to tell him to be careful...'
'Why?' Kyoko asked frowning.
'It's our pre-race ritual,' Ryoko explained then, refusing to say anything else, she stared back at the huge TV screen.
Fifteen minutes after that, the commentators announced that the cars were about to start their formation lap and, all ten pairs of eyes focused on the tiny vehicle positioned on the left side of the second row of the grid.
The camera zoomed out to show the circuit's straight and, at the same time, all the cars started moving, some of them zig-zagging across the track in an attempt to get their tyres up to an optimal temperature then, a couple of minutes later, all twenty six vehicles went back to their positions on the grid and prepared themselves for the red lights to disappear.
'And its go!' one of the commentators exclaimed and Kyosuke saw as Ryoko grabbed the edge of the sofa where she was sitting looking all tense as she watched her boyfriend holding on to his position with all his might.
'Dad,' Seisuke asked, 'they used to have two races in GP2, didn't they?'
'Yes,' Ryosuke replied, 'they've readjusted their regulations to get even closer to those of the Formula One.'
'Can you two please be quiet?' Ryoko asked without removing her eyes from the screen.
'Sorry,' Ryosuke said to his niece then, looking at his youngest son, he allowed himself a tiny smile. Turning his gaze back to the screen he saw Takumi's kid as he started his first attack on a red and yellow car belonging to one of the most famous and oldest GP2 teams: Super Nova.
'Wow,' Kyosuke gasped seeing the aggressive manoeuvre which had allowed Akito to overtake the car in third position.
'He surely doesn't drive this aggressively when we're street racing,' Seisuke agreed.
'Which is lucky for us,' Kyosuke added.
'BE QUIET!' Ryoko exclaimed, now sounding positively hysterical.
Both Kyoko and Natsuki looked at the girl understanding perfectly well what she was feeling for, not many years before, they had felt the same watching their men risk their lives. For this reason, Kyoko looked at her two nephews and shaking her head, she signalled for them to quit their chatter.
After Akito had driven in perfect kamikaze-style for forty five laps, the eighteen year old managed to cross the line in first place, winning what was his second GP2 race ever.
'YES! HE'S WON!' Ryoko shouted springing up from the sofa feeling so absolutely happy that she started hugging everyone, including Akito's grandfather who tried his best not to get all flustered.
'Oh my Gosh,' Seisuke said, 'it's the second one!'
'Yeah, let's hope all these wins won't make him too arrogant,' Kyosuke agreed.
'What are you talking about?' Ryoko said frowning at her two cousins, 'Akito's much better than that and you two know it!'
'That's right!' Haruko said looking all serious as she crossed her arms on her chest, 'Oniichan is the best!'
'Boys, I suggest a swift retreat,' Ryosuke advised his two sons making everyone laugh.
The next day, before Takumi and Akito returned from Australia, Natsuki and Haruko were at the mini-market to get some ingredients for the special meal both mother and daughter were going to prepare for the two men of the house when, just as Natsuki had sent Haruko to get some eggs, she felt someone tapping her on her shoulder.
'Yes?' she said turning round and coming face to face with a woman around her same age, who looked very familiar.
'You're Natsuki Mogi, aren't you?'
'Yes, I do know you, don't I?' Natsuki said.
'I'm Mikamura Shirai,' the woman replied.
'Shirai! How are you?' Natsuki said finally recognising her old friend from school.
'Is it true that you ended up marrying Takumi-kun?' Shirai asked her without answering to Natsuki's question.
'Yes, I did, we've been married for almost twelve years,' Natsuki replied.
'Ah, that's excellent,' Shirai said then, seeing Natsuki's confused expression, she added, 'you probably don't know this since I asked Takumi-kun not to mention it to you but, I knew about you and my father and I was the one who told Takumi-kun.'
'W-what?' Natsuki stammered as she felt her stomach freeze.
'I'm very sorry I caused you to break up with him,' Shirai continued, 'did you know that after you stopped doing enjo kosai for my father, he got himself an even younger girl?'
Hearing a very loud noise made both women turn round and, what Natsuki saw made her wish the earth would open up and would swallow her in her entirety because, standing in front of her, with a shopping basket overturned at her feet, Natsuki saw Hoshino Ran: the president of Shibukawa School's Parents Association.
'Fujiwara-sensei…' the woman started.
To be continued…