Programmed Lives – Fifth Stage

Chapter Twenty Nine

About a week later and after having been informed about the gathering at Hakone by his girlfriend, a very resolute Akito entered the building where his future father in law had his office and, knocking on the door, he waited for an answer.

'Come in,' he heard Keisuke's deep voice say.

'Good morning,' Akito said as he stepped into the room.

'Oh, it's you,' Keisuke said offering him a smile and that kind of freaked Akito out because he still wasn't too used to having the much older man being so nice to him, 'come on in and take a seat,' Keisuke added pointing at one of the two chairs placed in front of his desk.

'I take you're here to give me an answer,' Keisuke said once Akito had sat down.

'Yes sir,' Akito replied, 'and my answer is a conditional yes.'

'Conditional?' Keisuke asked lifting his eyebrows in surprise.

'Yes, conditional because I don't agree with the idea of having us entering the F3 championship. I think we should aim for the GP2 instead.'

'You think so?' Keisuke said looking interested all of the sudden.

'Yes,' Akito said refusing to let Keisuke know how intimidated the man still managed to make him feel, 'I have been devising a plan which would allow us to get the budget and the infrastructure we would need in order to enter next year's championship.'

'Akito,' Keisuke said as he linked his hands, putting his elbows on top of his desk, 'what makes you think we haven't been thinking things through very carefully before we decided to start designing the car?'

'The fact that you didn't know I could contribute economically as the team's main sponsor,' Akito replied.

'Say that again?' Keisuke asked, looking, if possible, even more incredulous.

'Don't get me wrong,' Akito said, 'I know that you guys have heaps of money already, but I'm also pretty sure that running this centre isn't cheap and that your resources for this project are quite limited…'

Keisuke looked at his daughter's boyfriend getting more and more impressed by what the young man was saying.

'Okay,' he said, 'You've got my attention.'

Akito pulled a small black folder from his backpack and getting up from his chair, he walked towards Keisuke's desk opened the folder in front of him and showed him a detailed report which contained all the figures the young man had been working on.

'I've based this on what I learned while I was racing for the PIAA-Tanaka team,' Akito explained then, pointing at the bottom of a page, he said, 'this here is what we'd need to run the two cars.'

'Two cars?' Keisuke asked.

'Yeah, the one me and the other driver would drive,' Akito explained.

'Other driver?' Keisuke asked.

'Yeah, I've got someone in mind who I think will be perfect for the team,' Akito said.

'Hey, wait a minute, aren't you making a tad too many decisions? Last time I checked, I was the one managing this project,' Keisuke said getting a bit on the defensive side.

'Yes, of course,' Akito hurried to say, 'I'm just giving you a few suggestions, that's all.'

'Okay, bring him here for a test,' Keisuke said.

'Don't you want to know who he is?' Akito asked.

'No, I trust your judgement,' Keisuke replied shrugging his broad shoulders, 'now, let's hear the rest of your idea.'

'Well, for the budget I was thinking of having a small percentage of it provided by some of my old sponsors, another part by you guys and, the rest of it will be from the trust my biological mother left for me when she died.'

'W-what?' Keisuke stammered.

'Keisuke-san, you should know about this, after all, you were one of the witnesses who co-signed her will.'

'I know I was, it's just that…your father wasn't supposed to tell you until…'

'Until I would turn twenty, I know,' Akito said, 'he decided to tell me now because he knows how very important this project is for me.'

'Are you sure you want to spend some of that money in this project?' Keisuke asked.

'Yes,' Akito replied firmly, 'I wasn't too keen to use it but Dad said that if it helps me making my dreams come true, my real mother would probably be happy about it.'

'I see,' Keisuke said, 'okay, leave this with me,' he added pointing at the folder, 'I'll take a look at it and I'll let you know what I think.'

'O-okay,' Akito stuttered and since it was rather clear that he was being told to leave the room, he got up and said, 'have a nice day.'

'Same to you,' Keisuke said and, seeing the young man closing the door behind him, he picked up the phone and dialled a number, 'Hey Aniki,' he said, 'guess who's been here to discuss his ideas for the team,' there was a short pause then, he added, 'I'd say our plans are working rather nicely, don't you think so?'

That same evening Seisuke drove his white RZ-1 to Tochigi so he could pick Misa up for what it was going to be their first proper date ever and, as he pulled into the lane which led to the apartment block where the girl lived, he found her waiting for him near the entrance.

After greeting him with a peck on his cheek, she strapped herself onto the seat.

'So, where do you want to go? Seisuke asked.

'There's a really good restaurant in the city centre, we could go there…'

'Won't we need a reservation?' he asked.

'No, I know the owner,' Misa replied

'Okay,' Seisuke said, 'I'm going to need directions though,' he added with a sheepishly smile.

'That's fine,' Misa laughed, 'I'm actually very impressed that you've managed to get to my apartment.'

'Well, that's because I've been here before, you know?'

'Yeah, I know,' Misa said blushing quite a lot.

Feeling more awkward than ever, Seisuke decided to re-start his car's engine and, thanks to Misa's indications, they managed to make it to the city centre where they parked the RZ-1 then, as she climbed out of it, Misa couldn't help but to notice the admiring way quite a few people, especially the women, looked at the sports car and, even more intently, at its driver.

'What's so amusing?' Seisuke asked as he walked around his car to the pavement where a smiling Misa was waiting for him.

'Nothing,' Misa replied and, taking the arm he offered her, she felt quite good with herself seeing the jealous looks quite a few women awarded her with.

'Okay,' Seisuke said, 'by the way,' he added, 'that dress makes you look very nice.'

'Thank you,' Misa said and her smile got even wider seeing that the two hours she'd spent trying to decide what to wear had paid off.

'Is this it?' Seisuke asked as Misa stopped near what it looked like a very posh restaurant.

'Yes,' Misa replied, 'do you like it?'

'Yes, sure,' Seisuke said refraining himself from saying that he wasn't expecting for her to have such expensive tastes but, again, he didn't know all that much about her so maybe this was exactly the kind of thing she was used to.

They entered the restaurant and as soon as they stepped into the reception area, a plump middle aged man came rushing towards them.

'Misa-chan! What a surprise!' he said offering Misa a very kind looking smile.

'Hello Matsuro, how are you doing?' Misa asked as she bent down to kiss the man on his cheek making Seisuke frown for he wasn't too sure whether he liked her being quite so friendly with the guy.

'Oh, the usual, I saw your step-mother the other day, she's looking nastier than ever,' Matsuro commented winking his eye at her then, finally noticing Seisuke, he asked, 'who's this young man?'

'He's Takahashi Seisuke, he's my...' Misa started.

'I'm her date,' Seisuke finished for her.

'Oh, it's a pleasure to meet you,' Matsuro said offering his hand to Seisuke who shook it briefly as he gave the man a curt nod.

'Nice to meet you, too,' Seisuke said.

'Matsuro,' Misa started, 'do you think you could find us a table for two?'

'Of course,' Matsuro said, 'will the usual do?'

'Yes, please,' Misa replied.

'I'll get it ready for you, please sit down while you wait,' he said indicating two very comfortable looking armchairs which were nearby.

'You two seem to know each other rather well,' Seisuke commented as they took a seat while Matsuro went to get their table ready.

'Yeah, he knows me since I was born,' Misa replied sounding so vague that Seisuke was forced to say:

'He obviously knows your family too.'

'Yeah,' Misa said still seeming reluctant to speak too much about that.

'Misa…'

'Look,' Misa started, 'there isn't all that much to know: my father owns a law firm, my mother died when I was little and he re-married this horrible woman who, the minute my brother died, did her best so I would get out of her way too…'

Seisuke stared at her, taken aback by the girl's sudden display of bitterness but he couldn't say anything to that for, right at that moment, Matsuro came back asking them to follow him to the table.

Only after Matsuro had given them two copies of the menu and had offered them something to drink, Seisuke was able to ask:

'Is that the reason why you live on your own?'

'Yes,' Misa replied.

'And, I take you're studying law because you…'

'Seisuke, I'm studying law because, funnily enough, I actually like it.'

'Ah, okay,' Seisuke said then, after a few instants, he added, 'it's a bit like me then.'

'How so?' Misa asked.

'Well, someday I'll have to take over my family's hospitals but I decided to become a doctor because I love it. I've never considered doing anything else.'

'I see,' Misa said, 'it's the same for me: I used to help my father with his cases when I was a bit younger.'

'Why did you stop?' Seisuke asked.

'My brother died,' Misa replied, 'and my father buried himself in his work as he tried to get rid of his guilt for not having done anything to prevent it, forgetting that he had a daughter who was still alive.'

'You said your brother crashed his car during a race in the Hakone Pass,' Seisuke said trying to be as sensitive as possible, so she wouldn't think he was prying into her business.

'Yes,' Misa replied, 'he and our father had just had one of their usual arguments and my brother went off to a race he knew he wasn't ready for…'

Seisuke was going to say something but then a waiter came to take their orders but, since they hadn't actually looked at the menu, Seisuke really didn't know what to order. Seeing that made Misa ask him:

'Do you trust me?'

'Yes,' Seisuke replied and he was surprised to see that, for some odd reason, he actually trusted her with a lot more than just the choice of food.

'Okay,' she said then, looking at the waiter, she added, 'please bring us what I usually order.'

'Yes ma'am,' the waiter said and, with that, he left them alone once again.

'What did you get?' Seisuke asked.

'It's a surprise, you'll like it, or so I hope,' Misa replied smiling at him.

About twenty minutes later the waiter came back with a huge plate full of several kinds of meat, fried peppers and pineapple, roasted potatoes and boiled rice.

'What's this?' Seisuke asked.

'It's a typical Brazilian dish,' Misa replied, 'Matsuro's chef used to live there and he's simply fantastic.'

'It seems like you come here very often,' Seisuke commented.

'I used to, my brother and I came to eat here almost every evening,' Misa explained, 'it was a way to avoid being in the same stupidly big house with that gold-digging whore that is my step-mother.'

'I'm sorry to hear this,' shocked to hear the anger in her voice.

'It wasn't too bad because I had my brother,' Misa said with a sad expression.

'You two must have been very close,' Seisuke commented still trying to be very sensitive about it for he didn't want to make her cry. Instead, she smiled at him and said:

'We were and we got even closer when I became old enough to drive: I asked him to give me a few tips and he ended up teaching me everything he knew about driving.'

'I see,' Seisuke said feeling more and more attracted to her as the evening went by.

'You and your brother seem to be very close too,' Misa commented.

'We are, he's kind of like my best friend,' Seisuke replied.

'I thought your best friend was Akito-kun,' Misa said.

'Yeah, it's the three of us,' Seisuke explained grinning at her, 'we're like the three musketeers.'

'One for all and all for one?' Misa asked smiling back at him.

'Exactly,' Seisuke replied, 'we're always together, it's been like that since we were little.'

'Well, I guess it helps that both of your families are very close too,' Misa commented making Seisuke stare at her.

'You seem to know an awful lot about me,' Seisuke complained.

'Kizuna and Ryoko have told me a lot about you and your family,' Misa replied shrugging her shoulders.

'Ah, I see,' Seisuke said, 'I didn't know you guys had become such good friends.'

'We have,' Misa said, 'they've been really good to me, both of them. Especially Kizuna, she's taught me a lot about mechanics and about how to keep my car in the best condition.'

'Yeah,' Seisuke said, 'she's almost as good as Aniki when it comes to cars.'

'I still have loads to learn from her if I'm to become a really good street racer,' Misa commented.

'Why did you become one?' Seisuke asked, 'was it because of your brother?'

'In part, yes,' she replied, 'he got me into it but it was Kosugi who taught me everything I know. Kosugi was my brother's best friend,' she explained.

'Ah, I see,' Seisuke repeated and he had probably made a strange face for Misa looked at him and, smiling, she said:

'Kosugi's had a girlfriend for years.'

'What?' he asked looking suddenly confused, making Misa feel all flustered.

'No, it's just that…oh, forget it,' she said. Stupid, what makes you think he's jealous? She admonished herself silently.

'Your brother would be proud of you,' Seisuke commented all of a sudden, 'you're a really good driver.'

'You think so?' Misa asked.

'I know so,' Seisuke replied, 'even though I was driving like a madman, I still couldn't catch up with you that day on the motorway.'

'I was pretty upset that day,' Misa commented, speaking without thinking of what she was saying.

'So, you did see me,' Seisuke said frowning at her and seeing Misa nod to that, he added, 'you could have stopped, you know? I almost killed myself trying to get to you…'

'I'm sorry,' Misa said biting her lower lip, 'I…I just didn't want to face you…I thought that…I thought you'd tell me that it had all been a mistake and that you didn't want to see me again…'

'Actually,' Seisuke said getting atypically serious, 'if I had caught up with you that day, I was going to suggest you to do what we're doing right now.'

'Really?' Misa asked frowning at him.

'Yes,' he replied and Misa let out a very bitter sounding chuckle.

'We've wasted so much time being stupid,' Misa commented sounding very regretful about it.

'Yes, we have,' Seisuke agreed and the two of them just looked at each other for a while.

'You know what?' he asked all of a sudden as he took her hand over the table then, seeing her shake her head, he added, 'I really think we should forget all about taking things slowly.'

'I think so too,' Misa said with a very small voice.

'Yeah, it was a very bad idea,' Seisuke said giving her his best smile.

Misa put her left hand over the one Seisuke was using to hold her right one and, this way, they seemed to reach some sort of unspoken agreement.

They spent the rest of the meal talking about trivial things and laughing at the jokes Seisuke kept telling her then, after they finished their meal, he drove Misa back to her home parking his car next to her V37.

'Seisuke, do you want to...' she said as she put her hand on the door's handle.

'You want me to come up with you?' Seisuke asked, just to be sure he had got the right message for he was actually dying to get in bed with her.

'Yes,' Misa replied, 'only that, this time, try not to vanish in the morning,' she added looking away from him.

'Don't worry,' Seisuke said then, with the cheeky smile which was his trademark, he added, 'I like black coffee for breakfast…'

Misa smiled at him and, laughing softly, she climbed out of the RZ-1.

Meanwhile, back at his home in Shibukawa, Akito pulled his phone out of the pocket and dialling a number from his contacts' list, he waited for an answer.

'Hello?' a young-ish sounding voice replied.

'Hey Suetsugu, it's Fujiwara Akito, do you remember me?'

'Of course I do,' Hiroki replied.

'Great, listen, are you free this Saturday morning?' he asked.

'I think I am, why?' Hiroki said.

'How would you fancy taking a driving test?' Akito asked.

'A driving test?' Hiroki asked sounding very confused.

'Yep,' Akito said, 'I'm looking for a team mate and I think you may have what it takes to become a GP2 racer…'

To be continued…