Programmed Lives – Fifth Stage

Chapter Thirty Three

Ignoring the anxious look Ichiro was giving him and pushing aside the few people who were beginning to gather there, some of them just out of curiosity, Seisuke made his way to the guy who was lying on the ground, a teenager much younger than Akito who was apparently unconscious.

Setting aside his bag, he put his right hand underneath the boy's head and as he checked that there were no obvious injures there, he went to search for the teenager's pulse placing the index and middle fingers of his left hand under the boy's jaw, finding it almost immediately and therefore confirming that the teenager was very much alive.

'Hey,' Seisuke said, 'can you hear me?'

The boy let out a whimper as he slowly opened his eyes.

'What's your name?' Seisuke asked.

'Daiya,' he muttered and with that Seisuke ruled out any memory loss due to the impact.

'Can you tell me where it hurts?' Seisuke asked and the boy pointed at one of his legs. Seisuke removed his own jumper and put it under Daiya's head as he went to his bag to get a pair of scissors which he used to cut up the leg of the trousers.

There he saw the tale-telling signs of a fracture.

'He's got a broken leg,' Seisuke said, 'they'll need to x-ray him to know how bad it is but, overall, I'd say he's okay.'

'Y-you seem to know what you're doing,' Ichiro said, still speaking with a very shaky voice.

Seisuke looked at him briefly before going back to his first aid kit to get what he needed to immobilise the limb, only then, he said:

'I'm a third year medical student.'

'Ah,' Ichiro said, 'I see.'

'What happened?' Seisuke asked as he busied himself with Daiya's leg.

'It's my fault,' some other boy from the crowd said, 'we were messing around and I pushed him into the road as you two were driving up.'

'He just jumped in front of my car, I tried to dodge him but…' Ichiro explained, 'I can't keep doing this,' he muttered as he passed a hand over his face.

'Hey,' Seisuke said, 'it's not your fault, these people here should know how to behave during a battle,' he added letting everyone know how very disappointed he was in them.

'I…'

'Ichiro, is your car okay?' Seisuke asked.

'I think so,' Ichiro replied.

'Okay, help me get him in it,' Seisuke ordered then, he asked, 'where's the nearest hospital?

'Downhill, you've probably passed it as you came here,' Ichiro replied as he and Seisuke got Daiya into the dark red Honda which, Seisuke noticed, had a huge dent on its bonnet, probably where the kid had hit it with his own body.

'I'll go and get my car,' Seisuke said to Ichiro then, talking to the boy from the crowd, he asked, 'you're his friend, aren't you?' seeing the boy nod to that, he added, 'right, come with me.'

With that the two of them walked to the white RZ-1 while Seisuke hoped that his older brother had remained in his car so he could tell him what had happened.

'I'm really sorry,' the boy said as he tried to strap himself onto the passenger's seat.

'Be quiet,' Seisuke ordered, 'I'm trying to speak to my team leader,' he added then, he said, 'Aniki, are you still there?'

'Yes Seisuke, what's happened?'

'Some stupid boy jumped in front of Ichiro's car and has a broken leg, we're taking him and his friend to the hospital,' Seisuke explained, 'please, make sure Misa knows that this was truly an accident and that Ichiro could really do nothing to prevent it.'

'I'll tell her everything myself,' Kyosuke said, 'should we cancel the rest of the races?'

'No,' Seisuke replied, 'I know Akito's dying to see if he's back in shape.'

'Alright,' Kyosuke said, 'call me if you have problems, okay?'

'Sure,' Seisuke said then, he started his car's engine and, turning round, he started driving behind Ichiro's NSX bypassing the parking area where he saw his brother talking to Misa and Jiro, probably explaining to them what had just happened.

He then followed the Honda along the lakeside road for about ten minutes until Ichiro turned left driving up a narrow lane which led to a small white building with an H sign on top of it. They parked their cars just outside what looked like the E.R. entrance and, climbing out of the RZ-1, both Seisuke and Daiya's friend made their way to Ichiro's car.

'Hey,' Seisuke said as he helped the older guy get the boy out of the Honda, 'is this the hospital where…'

'Yes,' Ichiro replied, 'this is where we took him.'

'Ah,' Seisuke said then, deciding to remain in silence, they helped Daiya into the building where, finally, they got some medical attention.

Twenty minutes later, Daiya's friend thanked them several times and assured them that he had everything under control and that if they could please leave before Daiya's parents would get there. Seisuke smiled suspecting that Daiya had probably gone to watch the races without his parents' permission and, of course, if said parents saw two racing cars parked outside the hospital they would get a little more than suspicious.

'Hey,' Seisuke said as he was about to climb back into his Mazda, 'it really wasn't your fault.'

'It doesn't help,' Ichiro said, 'it never does.'

'Ichiro,' Seisuke insisted, 'it has to help. There are things which are beyond our control and blaming ourselves for them it's useless. Misa's brother died because of his own stupidity: every racer knows that driving while you're upset it's idiotic.'

'I know that…'

'It's the same with those two boys,' Seisuke added, 'they really should have known better than to play around while we were racing. This will probably teach them a very important lesson.'

'Yeah, I guess so,' Ichiro said.

'Besides,' Seisuke continued, 'we haven't finished our race so, don't even think about quitting because you owe me a race.'

'Oh god, not you too,' Ichiro complained but, seeing Seisuke's boyish grin on his face made him smile too.

'Come on,' Seisuke said, 'let's go back, I'd hate to miss Akito's face when we tell him Ryoko's a racer now.'

Ten minutes after that, Seisuke and Ichiro arrived just in time to see Akito crossing the finish line in first position, no news there for the younger of the Takahashi brothers knew that with Akito being back in shape, it would take someone like Keiichi Tsuchiya or one of the two older Fujiwaras to beat him.

'Well done mate!' Seisuke said patting Akito's shoulder.

'Thanks,' Akito said and his smile grew wider when he saw Ryoko walking towards him, thankfully, looking very much alright.

'You've won too!' Ryoko said giving him a well deserved victory kiss.

'Too?' he asked her confusedly.

'Yep,' Ryoko replied, 'didn't you hear? I won my first race.'

Seisuke had never laughed harder than that evening when Akito's completely flabbergasted expression made everyone burst out laughing. Even Ichiro seemed to forget about the boy with the broken leg as he and Atsuko joined in the general mirth.

'Baby,' Akito asked eyeing his girlfriend worriedly, 'are you going to become a street racer too?'

Ryoko looked at him as though as she was considering her answer while enjoying herself enormously as she watched Akito get increasingly worried.

'Nah,' she finally replied, 'I'll leave that to you guys.'

'Thank you,' Akito said looking obviously relieved.

'But,' Ryoko added, 'this doesn't mean that I won't take my car for a spin from time to time…'

Seisuke and Kyosuke re-started laughing seeing Akito almost on the verge of crying then, cruelly enough, Ryoko just kissed him and, smiling at him sweetly, she said:

'Now you know how I feel.'

With that, she left to go and join Misa so she could chat with the older girl.

'She's too mean,' Akito complained as he looked at his two friends seeking their support and understanding.

'Sorry mate,' Seisuke said putting his hand on Akito's shoulder, 'you've been together for almost four years and I always say that the warranty expires after two.'

'Yes,' Kyosuke confirmed, 'tough luck, my friend.'

'Thanks, you two,' Akito said miserably.

They witnessed as Kyosuke and Kizuna claimed the victory in their respective races too and, after a few hours, the Golden Arrows drove back home with their undefeated record still intact. Even the Tochigi Thunders, who were following them back into Gunma on their way to their prefecture, had won their races.

'We're still the best,' Junya said over the radio as they crossed the border which separated Saitama from Gunma then, noticing that Shinji had opened the private frequency the two best friends used to talk, he said, 'what's up Shinji?'

'Listen,' the younger guy said, 'is Seisuke-san going out with Misa-chan?'

Junya let out a chuckle and said:

'Shinji, I swear, if you were any slower your brain would stall.'

With that poor Shinji decided to remain quiet until they all went separate ways to drive to their respective homes then, as usual, the three Mazda, the Nissan and the Toyota drove along the road which led to the Takahashi residence. This time though, they had another car following them: Misa's red V37.

'Are you sure it's okay for me to…' Misa asked Seisuke as all six of them climbed out of their cars.

'Yeah, don't worry, my parents' are used to it,' Seisuke replied, realising only a split second too late what he'd just implied, 'I mean that they're very open minded,' he added, not really fixing his mistake either.

'What he's trying to say,' Kyosuke said, 'it's that our parents are used to us bringing guests without telling them first.'

'Ah,' Misa said, 'okay then…'

Soon after that, the three Takahashi, with Kizuna, Misa and Akito found themselves in the huge living room and despite the fact that it was past three o'clock in the morning, they were still way too awake to go to bed so, instead, they decided to watch TV and chat for a while.

'You know,' Ryoko said to Akito as they snuggled together in her bed, 'back there it reminded me of when we used to get together with Kaori and it was the six of us watching TV.'

'Only that instead of Kaori we now have Misa,' Akito pointed out.

'Yes,' Ryoko said, 'I actually like her better than Kaori. She's a lot more fun and she really cares about Seisuke.'

'Ryoko,' Akito started, 'is it true that you now like racing?'

'Oh,' Ryoko said as she yawned, 'I'm so sleepy.'

Akito shook his head on the pillow and, seeing that he wasn't going to get a straight answer from her, he decided to drop the subject and enjoyed sleeping with the girl who had owned his heart since forever.

A week later, Akito parked his car at the motorsports centre where he found that everyone from the still nameless team was already there looking very happy about something.

'Akito!' Kyosuke said seeing his friend walking towards them, 'we've finally got them!'

'What?' Akito asked.

'The cars, you silly,' Kyosuke replied, 'they arrived this morning!'

'Really? I want to see them!' Akito exclaimed getting suddenly very excited.

'Hiroki's already testing one of them,' Kyosuke explained.

'Really?' Akito asked and his enthusiasm was quickly turning into that weird sensation he always felt when it came to Hiroki.

'Yeah, so hurry up and get changed,' Kyosuke said.

'Hey, I can't drive yet, can I?'

'Of course you can,' they then heard Ryosuke say making Akito turn sharply to look at the aging face of his best friends' father.

'Really?' Akito repeated.

'Sure,' Ryosuke repeated, 'I got the results from the last tests and your shoulder should now be fully healed. Just be careful with it.'

'I will, sir,' Akito said as he started running towards the garage, stopping half way through to turn round and say, 'thank you, sir.'

Both father and son exchanged an amused look as Kyosuke said:

'He'll never change.'

'Let's hope he doesn't,' Ryosuke said for he really liked the way Takumi's kid had grown up into a very caring young man who seemed to enjoy just the fact of being alive.

Not even ten minutes later, Akito walked out of the garage wearing his racing suit and, as he put on his helmet, he started getting the adrenaline rush he had missed so badly then, sitting back into the Dallara's cockpit, he let Fumihiro strap him onto the seat as Kenta clipped the steering wheel on.

'Do you copy?' Akito heard Keisuke's voice through the built-in radio the helmet came equipped with.

'Loud and clear,' Akito replied as he felt rather than heard the engine being started then, taking a deep breath, he pressed the clutch and using the selector under the steering wheel, he entered the first gear. He then released the clutch as he slowly pressed the gas and soon enough, he was rolling the car out of the boxes and into the track where, watching carefully to see that Hiroki's car was nowhere near there, he started shifting the gears up as his car picked up speed.

'How does it feel?' he heard Keisuke's voice over the radio.

'Great, so far,' Akito replied as he turned into the first corner.

'Good, try to see if you can catch up with Hiroki,' Keisuke challenged him.

'Consider it done,' Akito said and, with that, he started getting seriously concentrated on his driving as he delighted himself with the fact of being back into his element, three long months after he'd thought his racing days were over.

Since Akito knew the Takahashi's circuit like the back of his hand, having himself helped in its re-design which had taken place a few years before, he could focus entirely on the way the car reacted to everything he did and, as he went lap after lap, he started compiling a list of things that needed to be changed and things that were fine the way they were.

This car was great though and Akito knew that, with a bit of luck, he and Hiroki could do really well in the races. If only Hiroki became a bit more cooperative though for the guy still refused to behave like if he was part of a team, making everyone feel very worried about it.

Finally, and as he entered the tenth lap, Akito saw Hiroki's car in the distance.

'You're mine,' he muttered to himself and, with the throttle wide open, he started doing what he had done in numerous races: catching up with the enemy by stealing centimetre after centimetre.

By the thirteenth lap, Akito's front wing was kissing Hiroki's twin exhaust and, half a lap after that, Akito tried his first attack and, maybe because Hiroki wasn't expecting it or maybe because Akito was just this good, he managed to overtake him fairly easily, confirming Ryoko's theory that he could really beat his new team mate anytime he wanted.

Akito drove away putting as much distance as he could then, he saw that something was wrong with the car as it slowed down quite dramatically and, realising what it was made him smile: he was running out of fuel.

He was about to park his car on the grass so he could inform Keisuke about that when he saw Hiroki's car aiming straight for Akito's who, seeing that, forced the last drops of petrol into the engine so he would move it forward and out of Hiroki's way who, predictably enough, just drove himself out of the track and into the gravel.

It took Akito quite a lot of nerve to make sure he could unfasten the racing seatbelt which tied him to his car and, as he climbed out of it, he ran towards watching as Hiroki climbed out of his car and was removed his helmet with the same tranquillity as if he'd just finished driving for the day.

'Are you freaking retarded?' Akito shouted as he snatched his helmet off his head, 'you could have crashed your car against mine!'

'So?' Hiroki asked.

'It's a really expensive machine, you stupid moron!' Akito exclaimed grabbing the front of Hiroki's racing suit, 'not a toy for you to play with!' he added.

'It's not like you're paying for it,' Hiroki had the guts to say.

'Actually,' Akito said, 'I am paying for it and I'm paying for your salary too so you better start respecting me a bit more, okay?'

'Whatever,' Hiroki said looking at him so detachedly that something got loose in Akito's mind and, before he could help himself, he released Hiroki's suit then, curling that same hand into a fist, he hit Hiroki's jaw using every ounce of the anger and frustration the guy had made him feel in the past month or so. The punch sent Hiroki to the gravel and Akito was preparing himself for the fight of his life when he heard Keisuke shout his name.

Turning round he saw with horror that his future father in law was running towards him followed by the rest of the team who, obviously enough, had witnessed the whole exchange, including the not-so-glorious moment when Akito had punched his team mate on his face.

'What do you think you're doing?' Akito heard his own father ask.

'You saw him!' Akito shouted, 'he wanted to crash against me!'

'It's not my fault you've lost your nerve after the accident,' Hiroki said getting back up.

'Shut the hell up,' Akito shouted feeling completely out of himself.

'Hey,' Hiroki started, 'just because you're paying my salary doesn't mean you can order me around.'

'Akito's not paying your salary,' Keisuke said, 'but…'

'What?' Akito asked in shock.

'Akito,' Keisuke started, 'you don't seriously think we're using the money you've given us, do you?'

'What?' Akito repeated as his anger turned into astonishment then, hearing Hiroki's chuckle, he began to feel more and more ashamed of himself and, without saying anything else, he dropped his helmet on the ground as he started running towards his car.

He climbed into the V-86 feeling a couple of tears burning his eyes and wiping them furiously, he started the Toyota's engine and drove to the only place he knew no one would ever find him.

To be continued…