Programmed Lives – Fifth Stage

Chapter Twenty Five

Takumi and Ryoko were in one of their quiet moments when neither of them spoke as they just stared at Akito's handsome face which, even though it looked peaceful enough, Ryoko knew that he wasn't just sleeping as Aunt Akiko had told Haruko. Instead, he'd been in a coma for ten days already, ten long days hoping that he would open his eyes and would speak to them.

Ten days of seeing that hope crushed as Akito's conditions did not change which, in a way, it was a good thing: at least he was still alive. Ryoko felt like crying for the umpteenth time but she knew that if she tried to do so, no more tears would come out from her eyes for, she believed, she had already used up a lifetime quota of them.

'You know,' Takumi said all of the sudden, 'I remember when Akito was a baby and I used to watch him sleep…'

'My dad did the same thing with me,' Ryoko commented looking at Akito's father.

'I know,' Takumi said offering the girl a tiny smile, 'he used to be sleepy all the time because of it…'

Ryoko laughed softly at that.

'Do you know that Akito would wake up if I left the room?' Takumi asked and, without waiting for her answer, he added, 'I wish it were this easy now…'

'Me too,' Ryoko whispered as she returned her gaze to her boyfriend's face.

'I'm going to wake Natsuki up,' Takumi said looking at his watch realising that his wife had already been asleep for over two hours.

'You want me to go?' Ryoko offered.

'No,' Takumi said getting up, 'I'll do it, I think he prefers holding your hand rather than mine…'

Ryoko smiled at her future father in law.

'Do you want anything to drink?' Takumi asked as he opened the door.

'No, thank you,' Ryoko said then, hearing the door shut after Akito's father, she looked back at her boyfriend and stared at him for a few moments before lifting his hand off the mattress so she could kiss it then, she whispered, 'baby, I really need you to wake up. I can't spend another day without talking to you.'

She stopped feeling the familiar constriction in her throat.

'Please, just wake up so we know you're okay,' Ryoko said putting her boyfriend's hand back down without letting go of it then, with her free hand, she started stroking Akito's face, removing a strand of fringe which had fallen onto his forehead. This made her remember that he had told her that he needed to get his hair cut and that he'd do that right after the race.

The race which had almost cost him his life, which had also ended his hopes to win the GP2 title that year for he had told her in secret that he really wanted to win the championship.

'Baby…' she whispered and, for the briefest moment, she thought she'd seen his eyes flicker. She shook her head thinking that maybe the nurses, and her own parents were right: she really needed to get eight hours of continued sleep instead of the ten minutes dozes she allowed herself every now and then.

Then, and just as Akito's parents stepped into the room, she saw it again: Akito's eyelashes definitely trembled.

'Akito?' Ryoko said, getting up from her chair so she could get closer to his face.

'What's up?' Takumi said rushing towards the bed, dropping two cans of soda he had in his hands.

'I…' Ryoko started saying but then, very slowly at first, probably needing to adjust to the light, Akito's eyelids started moving up, 'baby…' she whispered frantically praying for all that was holy that this wasn't just a hallucination provoked by her lack of sleep.

Then Takumi, Natsuki and Ryoko heard a very low grunt coming from Akito's throat.

'Son,' Takumi whispered, talking from the other side of Akito's bed. This produced yet another grunt, a slightly louder one. Then Akito's eyes finally opened and, to Ryoko's immense delight, remained that way as he was clearly trying to focus on something.

Another grunt came out from his throat as he found his girlfriend's face and clearly recognising her, he tried to curve his lips into a smile.

'Baby,' Ryoko whispered and as she felt her eyes get moist again, she realised that she'd been wrong about her tears.

'I'll go and get Ryosuke,' Natsuki said running back out of the room but Ryoko hadn't even heard her for she had every single brain cell busy coping with the fact that Akito had, at long last, woken up from the coma.

She saw as he tried to lick his dry lips with an even drier tongue and, doing as she'd been instructed by her aunt, she went to the room's small fridge where they kept a few ice chips and, taking a few of them in a plastic cup, she went back to the bed and placed a small one on Akito's lips who drank the small portion of water looking at her gratefully.

'Akito,' Ryoko said with a horribly strained voice as she tried to contain the tears provoked by the intense joy she was feeling and all the accumulated anxiety she'd been bottling up in these ten days of uncertainty.

'Good morning,' Ryosuke said talking to Akito as he entered the room.

Akito only managed to flick his eyes towards the newcomer.

'Do you remember what happened?' Ryosuke asked as he started checking the data on the monitors.

Akito shook his head no and that made everyone look at him then, Ryosuke sat down next to him and proceeded to explain to the eighteen year old the reason why he was at the hospital and everything they had done in order to keep him alive. For the kid's sake, Ryosuke decided to leave out the part where his team manager had decided to replace him since, in any case, Akito would probably figure it all out on his own anyway.

Meanwhile, in the small apartment Kizuna lived in Maebashi, Kyosuke was preparing her a cup of soup so his girlfriend would get something to eat.

'I can do that,' he heard her say and the effort made her start coughing again.

'Hey,' Kyosuke started, 'what in the heck are you doing up?'

'I feel better now,' Kizuna insisted.

'Yeah, right, off to bed, now,' Kyosuke ordered as he finished slicing the two toasts he'd prepared too.

'Geez,' Kizuna said before walking back to her bedroom with Kyosuke following her carrying a tray in his hands. The truth of the matter was that he needed to do something which would make him feel useful and, trying to help his girlfriend recover from the very violent flu which had prevented her from coming with them to Akito's race was the best thing he could do right now.

Akito. Every time he thought of his best friend Kyosuke felt his stomach fold onto itself.

'Hey, is that for me?' Kizuna asked taking him out of his reverie.

'Yeah,' Kyosuke replied as he set the tray on Kizuna's extremely well organised desk.

'You were thinking of Akito again, weren't you?' Kizuna asked.

'Yeah,' Kyosuke replied, 'I just wish you hadn't watched the accident on your own.'

'Kyosuke, I…that should be the last of your worries right now,' Kizuna said.

'Yes but…' Kyosuke started.

'Kyosuke, this really has nothing to do with the accident which killed my father,' Kizuna said, 'to start with, Akito's still alive, isn't he?'

'Yes, he is,' Kyosuke replied feeling grateful for that.

'Besides,' Kizuna continued, 'when I saw what happened to Akito, the images of my father's crash were the last thing which crossed my mind, believe me.'

'Still, I just wish I had been here with you,' Kyosuke said sitting on Kizuna's bed and placing the cup of soup onto the small bedside table.

'Yeah,' Kizuna said, 'this way it'd be the two of us recovering from the flu, how very romantic.'

Kyosuke laughed at that and was about to say something when he heard his mobile phone's ring, pulling it out of his pocket, he saw that it was his younger brother.

'Seisuke,' he said answering it and, as he listened to him, Kyosuke's face started lightening up in happiness, 'yeah, I'm on my way there too, let's meet up at the car park, okay?'

A second later, Kyosuke put his phone back into the pocket of his trousers.

'Akito's awake?' Kizuna asked hopefully.

'Yes, I'm sorry…you mind if I?'

'Of course not silly,' Kizuna replied, 'like I said, I'm really feeling much better now,' then, as she started coughing right after saying that, Kyosuke gave her a knowing look.

'Go away,' Kizuna said with feigned annoyance then, getting serious, she added, 'tell Akito I'll go to visit him as soon as I can.'

'I will,' Kyosuke and, bending down to kiss her forehead, he got up from the bed and walked towards the small apartment's door.

At the same time the two Takahashi brothers hurried to the hospital, Akito fought with himself to gather the energy and the courage he needed to ask the following question:

'Can I race again?'

Ryoko looked at him first then her gaze moved up to her uncle's face.

'It's still too soon to tell but I think you should be able to, eventually, get back into a racing car,' Ryosuke said and, seeing that they could no longer avoid the subject, he looked at Takumi and Natsuki.

'Son,' Takumi started, 'as you know, you're going to need at least a couple of months to recover and…'

'I'm out of the team,' Akito stated and the effort made him feel extraordinarily tired.

'Son, I…' Takumi started, seeing that his son was fighting with all his might to keep his composure.

'Can I have a minute?' Akito asked trying to make his voice sound a little bit stronger, failing miserably.

'Of course,' Takumi replied and as he, Ryosuke and Ryoko got up to leave the room, he didn't let go of Ryoko's hand.

'Please, stay,' he begged her.

Ryosuke exchanged yet another look with Akito's parents who, nodding, decided to walk out of the room leaving the two teenagers alone.

'I'll quit,' Akito commented dejectedly.

'What?' Ryoko asked unable to believe her ears.

'It's what you've always wanted,' Akito replied, making his longest sentence yet.

'Akito,' Ryoko said after staring at her boyfriend for a few moments, 'I felt like I was dying when I saw you crash your car and I've been dying a bit every day you didn't wake up from the coma.'

Akito just looked at her thinking to himself that only this was a good enough reason for him to quit racing.

'But,' Ryoko continued, 'now that you're awake, I know that there's nothing which will prevent you from jumping into your car the minute you can.'

'Ryoko…' he started seeing that his girlfriend was crying.

'Baby,' she said, 'this is who you are. You're a racer and I knew that when I started dating you. I don't think I'll ever get used to the fear I feel when I see you race but, I love you and I am prepared to cope with that too.'

'But…'

'I'm just so happy you're awake!' Ryoko cried.

'Come here,' Akito whispered and, with that Ryoko, being careful not to hurt him, hugged him as tightly as possible.

'This is the best medicine for him,' Ryosuke commented as all three adults observed the scene through the room's window.

'I agree,' Takumi commented and, as he looked at him, Ryosuke couldn't help but to notice that the younger man's face had suddenly brightened up.

'He's going to be okay,' Ryosuke said, 'we still have to run some tests to make sure his brain didn't suffer any damage but, from what I can see, beside the understandable loss of his memory regarding the accident, he seems to remember everyone and everything.'

'I was afraid he wouldn't remember us,' Natsuki confessed.

'Me too,' Ryosuke admitted, 'we should see a very quick improvement from now on, just make sure he gets loads of rest.'

Takumi and Natsuki nodded to that.

'Ah,' Ryosuke said, 'don't tell him about your job, I don't think he can cope with any more bad news at the moment…'

Both Natsuki and Takumi agreed to that too for, right now, the last thing Akito needed to know was that Natsuki had been suspended indefinitely from her job at the school.

'I'll go and call your father so he brings Haruko here,' Natsuki said and, as she walked away with her mobile phone in her hand. Ryosuke also made his way back to his office from where he would order all the tests they needed to do on Akito.

Takumi walked back into the room as Ryoko was trying to kiss Akito. He cleared his throat rather loudly and that made the girl pull back and sit back down on her chair.

'Sorry,' she muttered getting really red on her face.

About ten minutes later, Kyosuke and Seisuke entered the room with huge smiles on their faces.

'Hey man! You're finally back!' Seisuke exclaimed as he sat down on Akito's bed making him wince, 'oops, sorry…'

Akito just shook his head trying to seem annoyed but, in reality, he was very happy to see his two best friends there.

'Kizuna sends her love,' Kyosuke said.

'Is she better?' Akito asked still trying to make his voice sound stronger, still failing miserably.

'Yes,' Kyosuke said, 'how are you?' he added.

'Great,' Akito replied managing to sound very sarcastic.

'I see, well, this will cheer you up,' Seisuke said, 'Junya's trying to form a team to claim ownership of Mt Akina…'

'What?' Akito asked.

'Yeah, can you believe it? I mean, Akina's been your family's home turf for three generations!' Seisuke exclaimed.

Akito shook his head in profound disbelief.

'He also said he wanted to challenge you to a race down Mt Akina but…' Kyosuke started.

'He's found out about your accident and he's prepared to wait until you recover,' Seisuke finished.

'Thanks,' Akito muttered bitterly.

'Guys,' Ryoko said, 'let's not talk about racing just yet, shall we? He still needs to get back on his feet.'

The three young men looked at her and, nodding, Kyosuke said:

'She's right.'

Then they all remained quiet again realising that, if they didn't talk about cars or racing, there weren't many more topics of conversation left. Thankfully, they were all saved by the arrival of Akito's younger sister Haruko who, being finally allowed to see her big brother, jumped onto his bed making him wince again.

'Hey,' he complained at the same time than giving her a smile.

'You're such a sleepyhead,' Haruko complained too as she settled down on the edge of her brother's bed. This made Akito look at her confusedly, 'you've been sleeping for ten days!' the girl explained and that made Akito smile again.

'Sorry,' Akito said.

'What's that?' Haruko asked pointing at the cast which still covered her brother's arm and shoulder.

'Baby,' Natsuki started, 'your brother's broken the bones here and here,' she explained pointing at Haruko's right wrist and collarbone.

'Ouch, that sucks,' Haruko said, 'but he'll be able to race again, won't he?' she asked.

'Yes, of course he will,' Takumi said.

'Then everything's okay,' the girl stated and her candour made everyone in the room, including Akito, laugh.

A couple of days later Akito was transferred into another room out of the ICU where he could finally receive non-relative visitors. The nurses were surprised to see the amount of people who kept coming to see the young man: Itsuki, Iketani and Kenji with their families, the whole of the Golden Arrows, including Kizuna who had finally recovered from the flu and several ex-schoolmates. Not to mention the amount of stuff he kept getting sent from his numerous fans.

'If he keeps getting so many presents sent to him we're going to need to move him into a bigger room,' one of the nurses commented to Akiko as they saw yet another group of Akito's friends leaving the young man's room.

'He's a popular kid,' Akiko said proudly and she had never been happier to see one of her patients get better as quickly as Akito was doing. If he carried on like that, he could very well be out of the hospital by the end of the month.

'Happy birthday, Haruko,' Akito said on the morning of April 12th as he handed her a present Natsuki had bought for him to give to his sister.

'You didn't buy this one either, did you?' Haruko said as she took the bag from her brother's hands.

'He never does,' Ryoko said shaking her head but smiling as she did so.

'Hey,' Akito complained, 'I've got a good excuse this time.'

They all laughed at that then they saw Keisuke entering the room followed by Akito's parents.

'Dad,' Ryoko started, fearing that her father was there to tell her to go back home now that Akito was awake for it was true that she had been living non stop at the hospital for two whole weeks.

'Akito,' Takumi spoke instead, 'Keisuke here wants to speak to you.'

'Okay,' Akito said as he felt the old fear for his girlfriend's father coming back. Keisuke sat down on a chair next to his daughter and, looking very serious, he said:

'As you know by now, the PIAA-Tanaka team has recruited a new driver to replace you.'

'Yeah, I know that,' Akito said flatly.

'Right, well,' Keisuke said, 'your father and I have been discussing this and, I think I can offer you some sort of alternative.'

'Alternative?' Akito asked.

'Yes, well, I know this may not sound so good, after all, you were only a step away from F1 and, what I have in mind takes you a couple of steps backward.'

'What is it Keisuke-san?' Akito asked not really able to sustain so much suspense.

'What would you say if I asked you to help me setting up an F3 team?' Keisuke asked.

To be continued…