Programmed Lives – Fifth Stage

Chapter Thirty Four

It was rather late in the evening when the two RZ-1s were parked side by side by their owners: the Takahashi brothers.

'Any luck?' Kyosuke asked to his younger brother looking at him over the roof of his yellow Mazda.

'Nope,' Seisuke replied as he too got out of his car.

'Kosugi's asked the Thunders to keep their eyes open, maybe one of them will see him,' Misa said as she too climbed out of her V37.

'We should go in,' Kizuna suggested, 'maybe he's come back while we were gone.'

Unfortunately, the half-American girl was wrong because the minute they stepped into the common room of the centre's main building, they saw Keisuke and Takumi walking up to them with a very anxious expression on their faces.

'I take you didn't find him,' Takumi said.

'No, sorry,' Kyosuke replied, 'I've got every one the Arrows looking for him and they're to call me should they run into him.'

'Uncle Keisuke, have you called home? Maybe Ryoko knows where he is,' Seisuke suggested, trying his best to be useful.

'I've already done that,' Keisuke said, 'and she's on her way here.'

'Oh,' Seisuke gasped then, finally noticing that Hiroki was also there sitting with his father on one of the room's sofas, he added, 'I think you two should go home.'

'No,' Tohru said, 'he needs to face the consequences of his mistakes.'

'Dad…'

'Shut up,' Tohru barked, 'I thought I had brought you up much better than that.'

'Dad…'

'I told you to shut up,' Tohru exclaimed as he got up from the sofa, turning to face his son, 'I am disgusted to see the way you've repaid Fujiwara's son for the huge favour he's done to you.'

'Dad, please…' Hiroki said as he got up from the sofa.

Raising his hand, Tohru slapped his son on his face, sending him back onto the sofa.

'I don't think you deserve any of this!' Tohru shouted, 'just because you've got the talent I didn't have that doesn't give you the right to behave like the sort of spoilt little brat I used to hate so much when I was your age!'

'Hey,' Takumi started, finally deciding that someone needed to intervene, 'Suetsugu, this isn't helping us finding my son.'

Tohru looked at Takumi as if he'd suddenly realised that there were six other people in the room.

'I'm sorry,' Tohru said, 'for this and for everything my son's done to yours.'

'Suetsugu-san,' Kyosuke started, 'Akito's a lot tougher than that, he's probably just upset for having lost it the way he did.'

'I actually think that he's upset for what I said about his money,' Keisuke commented and was about say something else but, seeing his daughter entering the room, he said, 'baby…'

'Where is he?' Ryoko asked, looking and sounding so angry that she didn't even bother to acknowledge her father.

'We're still looking for him,' Seisuke started saying but soon it became clear that Ryoko wasn't talking about her boyfriend for she walked very resolutely towards Hiroki who was still covering his bruised cheek with his left hand.

'Here you are!' Ryoko shouted as she grabbed Hiroki by the front of his shirt, forcing him to stand up then, with her voice trembling out of rage, she said, 'listen carefully for I will only say it once: if anything happens to Akito because of you, you better run and hide because if I find you, the biggest bit they'll find of you will fit inside a matchbox, am I clear?'

Hiroki stared at the much shorter girl feeling a lot more terrified than when his own father had been telling him off earlier on. then, before he had the time to say anything, Ryoko pushed him back onto the sofa and, letting out a furious huff, she walked to her father and said:

'Where have you looked for him so far?'

'Everywhere we could think of,' Keisuke replied and, knowing better than to try to calm her down, for he would only make things worse, he asked, 'do you have any ideas?'

'Actually, I think I do,' Ryoko said then, turning to face Akito's father, she added, 'Takumi-san, does Akito have a copy of the key to the house in Tokyo?'

'What hou…,' Takumi started saying then, realising what Ryoko was talking about made him get very serious as he nodded, 'yes, I think he does.'

'Then I think that's where he is,' Ryoko said.

'What makes you think that?' Kyosuke asked.

'He was always talking about going to check it out one of these days,' Ryoko explained then, looking at Takumi, she added, 'and let's face it, he probably thinks it's the last place we would think of going.'

'You're right,' Takumi said.

'Okay, let's go then,' Ryoko said and, before anyone could even say anything, she walked back out of the room.

'I'll go with her,' Takumi said, 'you better stay in here in case he's not there either.'

'Okay,' Keisuke replied and, with that, Takumi followed his son's girlfriend out of the room.

'Phew,' they all heard Hiroki say, 'what a girl.'

'You have no idea,' Kyosuke said.

'You better pray that she finds him in one piece because if she doesn't, she'll really do what she said,' Seisuke said making Hiroki even more scared.

Meanwhile, Takumi and Ryoko climbed into the ancient AE86 with the two of them not exchanging a single word as Takumi drove his car out of the centre and into the motorway that went to Tokyo and, the closer they got to the country's capital, the more Takumi found himself dreading the moment he would see that house again.

A short hour later he saw it, looking as majestic as it had done the first time he'd seen it over twenty two years ago when, after that first date organised by Keisuke and Kyoko, he'd driven Minami back to her place.

'It's been a very long time,' he muttered almost to himself.

'You moved out of there after Akito was born, didn't you?' Ryoko asked as she waited for Takumi to stop his car.

'Yeah,' Takumi replied with such an odd tone of voice that not even himself recognised it.

'Let's see if he's in here,' Ryoko said climbing out the car the minute Takumi had parked it in front of the huge gate.

Takumi followed Keisuke's daughter suddenly feeling very reluctant to re-enter the house where he'd lived what had probably been the happiest years of his life but, fuelling his determination by telling himself that he needed to find his son, Takumi soon took the lead as he pushed the small door which was next to the gate finding it open.

'He's here,' he said.

'I knew it,' Ryoko added.

They then walked all the way up the wide lane towards the house's portal with Ryoko gasping every now and then, probably impressed with the grandeur of the whole place.

'It's a very nice house,' Ryoko finally said as they walked up the steps which led to the front door.

'It is,' Takumi agreed, 'a tad too big for my taste but Minami and her mother loved it.'

Ryoko glanced at her boyfriend's father for a short while noticing that he had a slightly strained expression on his face. This made her decide to stop making comments on the house for Akito's dad seemed to be troubled about re-visiting the house he'd shared with Akito's biological mother.

Thankfully the front door was also unlocked so they just pushed it open and, as they stepped into the house, Ryoko noticed the huge amount of dust and the strong smell of humidity which were very clear signs that no one had been in this house after Takumi and his son had moved out of it, eighteen years ago.

As they busied themselves looking for Akito in every one of the multiple rooms of the house, Ryoko realised for the first time in her life that if Akito's mother hadn't died, she would have probably known Akito for even longer than she did now. Again, if Akito's mother hadn't died, so many things would have been so extremely different that maybe she and Akito would have never got together so, all and all, Ryoko decided that things were probably better the way they were.

Takumi opened the door which he knew led to the house's huge living room and, as he did so, he saw that Akito had removed the sheet of linen which covered the sofa and was sitting there, giving his back to them as he stared at the mantelpiece.

'Akito,' Takumi whispered.

'What do you want?' Akito asked without turning round.

'We want you,' Ryoko replied and, hearing her voice made Akito spring up from the sofa.

'Ryoko,' he said, 'what are you doing here?'

'It was her idea to come and look for you here,' Takumi explained.

'Baby,' Ryoko said as she walked towards her boyfriend, 'everyone's been so worried.'

That made Akito let out a dry chuckle.

'It's true son,' Takumi said, 'we've all been looking for you everywhere.'

'Will you ever stop treating me like a kid?' Akito exclaimed as he glared at his father.

'Son, I…'

'How do you think it makes me feel when I see that you guys never take me seriously?' Akito asked with all the hurt he felt showing through both his face and his voice.

'We do take you seriously,' Takumi said.

'HA!' Akito exclaimed, 'like this morning, right? How much fun you and Keisuke-san must have had with me thinking I was fuck knows what, planning everything so carefully and giving you my dead mother's money so we could set the team up.'

'Akito…' Ryoko said feeling extremely upset as she saw her boyfriend crying for the first time in her life.

'That's all our fault,' Takumi said, 'Ryosuke, Keisuke and I decided to test all of you guys to see if you were ready to cope by yourselves, for the day we won't be around to show you the way.'

'What are you talking about?' Akito asked as he wiped the two tears which had escaped his control.

'Ryosuke thought that we needed to see if you could manage by yourselves and set up some tests to see what you'd do. To Kyosuke and Kizuna we asked them to come up with a complete set of procedures for the technical staff and the crew of mechanics. Seisuke was asked to draw up an entire health programme for our two drivers while we hoped you would help us to improve the team by providing us with some extra ideas.'

'I probably failed, didn't I?' Akito asked sounding even more depressed.

'No,' Takumi said, 'on the contrary, you were the one who performed the best out of the four. You didn't only improve the team: you presented us with a report that was almost identical to the one Ryosuke and Fumihiro had prepared for us, both suggesting that we should aim for the GP2. I don't need to tell you how very impressed we all were.'

'But if you didn't have any intentions of using my real mother's money, why did you tell me about it?' Akito asked.

'Because I saw that for the kind of plans you had you would need a lot of money and it was the only thing I could think of,' Takumi replied, 'son, what else could I do? I'm not as smart as you are.'

'That's not true,' Akito said, 'I had to take my wit after someone, didn't I?'

'Yes, you got it all from your mother, believe me,' Takumi replied then, looking at the sofa, he suddenly remembered something that had happened right there, 'Akito, do you know that I was sitting on that sofa the day your mother told me she was pregnant with you?'

'Really?' Akito asked.

'Yes…'

'Er, guys…' Ryoko said hating herself for interrupting such an intimate moment, 'we should call my father to let him know we've found you.'

'Oh shit,' Akito said getting all depressed again.

'What?'

'Do I really have to see Hiroki again?' Akito asked.

'Son,' Takumi started, 'after the way his father and your girlfriend have dressed him down, I should think he's probably considering a complete attitude makeover.'

'You told him off?' Akito asked to his girlfriend lifting his eyebrows up in shock.

'Yes, and he deserved a lot more than what I did!' Ryoko replied, feeling all the anger at her boyfriend's team mate coming back to her.

'Geez,' Akito said, 'I almost feel sorry for the guy.'

'Akito, I know that, right now, Hiroki's probably not your favourite person,' Takumi said knowing that this was the understatement of the century, 'but, why don't you think of it this way: with him in the team, you'll have to keep training yourself very hard to make sure you're always one step ahead of him…'

'Yes,' Ryoko added, 'you could use him as some sort of incentive to improve yourself.'

Akito seemed to consider the issue for a bit then, nodding once, he said:

'You two are right: if he wants to play, we'll play but we'll do it my way.'

Ryoko laughed at that and, exchanging an amused look with Akito's father, she said:

'Hiroki won't know what's hit him.'

An hour later and after having locked Minami's house up with the solemn promise to come back to it soon to clean it up, Akito parked his V-86 at the centre's car park and, as he and Ryoko climbed out of it, they saw Akito's grandfather rushing towards them.

'Here you are!' the old man said.

'Sorry Grandpa I…' Akito started.

'Who's talking to you?' Bunta asked looking truly perplexed then, before Akito could reply, Bunta said, 'I've been waiting for you to bring the AE86 back…'

'Why?' Takumi asked his father.

'Because that Keisuke brat told me about what happened with Akito's team mate and I've had an idea.'

'Dad,' Takumi started, looking positively freaked out, 'what do you want to do?'

'Oh, nothing, I'll just take that boy for a spin.'

'Grandpa,' Akito said, biting his lower lip, 'I don't think that is such a good idea.'

'Why not?' Bunta said, 'didn't you say that he doesn't seem to respond to anything?'

'Yes, but…'

'That's because he hasn't had the right kind of motivation,' Bunta said and then, snatching the AE86's key from his son's hand, he climbed into it and before anyone could do anything, he drove off towards the track.

'Oh shit,' Akito said as he, Takumi and Ryoko started running after the Toyota, hoping that they could make it in time to save Akito's team mate. Unfortunately, they were too late and by the time they made it to the track, they heard Bunta ordering Hiroki to get in the car.

'Do something,' Keisuke asked Takumi.

'Sorry, I can't,' Takumi replied, 'it's too late.'

'What's he going to do?' Tohru asked to the two other men.

'Er…' Takumi started but then they all saw as Fujiwara Bunta took the ancient AE86 around the circuit drifting in a way that no one, not even Takumi himself, would have said that the thirty four years old car was driven by a seventy one year old man.

By the time the AE86 finally came to a stop, Bunta got out of the car smoking the cigarette he'd probably lit up while drifting, Hiroki, on the other hand and after somehow managing to climb out of the car, he threw himself onto the ground, literally kissing it.

'Hey, are you alright?' Akito asked him.

'No, no…I…' Hiroki stuttered so badly that he found himself unable to form a coherent sentence.

'It's okay, it's happened to us all,' Keisuke said.

'Son, what's wrong?' Tohru asked.

'He's…argh…' Hiroki started and, before he could help himself, he started being sick right there at the edge of the track.

'Geez,' Bunta complained, 'youngsters these days can't cope with anything. And you call yourself a racer?'

'Dad,' Takumi said, 'shouldn't you go home? It's getting late.'

'Yes, I've got work to finish,' Bunta said then, tousling his grandson's hair, he asked, 'you're okay?'

'Yes, now I am,' Akito replied.

'Good, come and see me one of these days, okay?'

'I will,' Akito said and, with that, he saw his father walking his old man to the more or less equally ancient Subaru GC8 then after he had climbed into it, they all saw Bunta taking off so fast that it made Takumi stumble.

'I swear,' Kyosuke said talking to Akito, 'I don't know what your grandfather will do the day he won't be able to renew his driving license.'

Akito laughed at his friend and said:

'Do you really think that'll stop him from driving like a madman?'

Everybody shook their heads because they knew that the only way Bunta Fujiwara would ever stop driving would be if he died and, again, everyone agreed that the later that happened all the better for life would be simply too boring without that 'shitty old man'.

To be concluded…