Chapter 10
-knock knock-
Keisuke blinked his eyes open to an unfamiliar ceiling. Seeing the girl sleeping next to him jogged his memory.
-knock knock-
"Who the heck is that?" he mumbled.
He got up slowly not to wake Kyoko up and opened the door.
"Okiro?"
"You! What the hell are you doing here? Where's Kyoko?"
"What I do is none of your business."
"Keisuke who's here?" asked a sleepy Kyoko.
"Kyoko what the hell is all this about?" Okiro asked her.
"Okiro? I think I should be asking you these questions. Whatever I do doesn't concern you at all."
"Come on Kyoko, let's go have a talk about this."
Okiro tried pulling Kyoko outside with him when Keisuke grabbed his wrist.
"Leave her alone." he told Okiro.
"Who the hell do you think you are?" Okiro asked him.
Keisuke let go of Okiro's wrist.
"I'm Keisuke Takahashi" he said.
Then he slammed the door right in his face.
"Oh...my gosh. What, he, why?"
Kyoko was practically speaking jiberous.
Keisuke peeked through the curtain and could see Okiro had left.
"Don't worry he's gone"
Kyoko sighed.
"Well thank you" she told him.
"It's no problem"
"I think you deserve some breakfast"
"Mmm I believe I do" he said cheekly.
"Hey Mom are you in the back?"
"Yeah I'll be out there in a minute sweetie"
Kyoko smiled as she observed the adorable sweets shop her mother owned. She had spent a lot of happy days here; a lot of unhappy days as well.
'I guess I appreciate this place a lot more now' she thought.
"Sorry about that Kyoko"
"It's no problem Mom. I just thought I'd come see you since I'm not working yet."
"That's great. How about lunch?"
"Yeah sounds good" she told her mom.
Kyoko waited only twenty minutes and her mother came out with two rolls of sushi and noodles with plum sauce.
"Here we go sweetie. How are you feeling? I can see you got those stitches removed."
"Yeah I did, a friend of mine took me."
"Friend mhm...is this the friend that your father told me about?"
"He told you about that huh?"
"Of course he did sweetie. It was quite funny how he freaked out."
"He was freaking out? But he didn't even call me."
Kyoko's mom let out a small laugh.
"He said he didn't want to appear 'uncool'. I told him that you are an adult and that you are smart enough to make good decisions"
"Thanks mom"
Her mom then cleared her throat.
"Tell me about this boy then. I know he must be important for you to invite him for dinner."
Kyoko was in disbelieve. Her mom knew her so well.
She sighed.
"I met him about two months ago. We went out once but he said he wanted to focus on other things; I had to respect that. I didn't see him until the day of the accident. Then when he heard I was in he hospital he came right over. We are just friends right now but, I see this going in a different direction."
"He sounds like he cares about you. Is he from around here maybe I know the family?"
"He is actually from the Gunma area. His parents own the private hospital in Takashi."
"Oh wow, he's a Takahashi then. I'm surprised I thought you'd be more interested in someone with cars; not a future doctor."
"He is into cars. He is trying to become a professional driver."
"See, that sounds more like you."
Her mom taped Kyoko on the nose. Now she knew where she got that from.
"Give it time; real love can with stand anything" her mom told her.
Kyoko felt happy. Her mom was right.
'Darling' she thought.
The next morning...
-beep beep-
Kyoko's phone rang; it was Keisuke.
The text read, "Hope you'll be okay at work today. Text me what time you are off. We can go eat after."
She replied, "Thanks. I'll be off at five. See you then."
As Kyoko left her apartment to go to work, she noticed a white R32 and it's owner.
"Hey Kyoko. I thought you might need a ride to work." he offered.
"No thanks. I'll wait for the bus."
"Kyoko come on, we work at the same shop. Can't we be civil?"
This sparked up Kyoko's temper.
"Civil...are you insane? After the flowers and that display yesterday morning!"
"I'm sorry about that. Can we please talk about that?"
He grabbed Kyoko's wrist.
Kyoko ripped her hand away and gave him a menacing look.
"Don't touch me like that. I'm loosing my temper. Now if you'll excuse me I have a bus to catch."
She stalked away from him and got onto the bus.
When Kyoko arrived at work Okiro was already there. Her anger left her quickly when she saw her beautiful FD parked in the lot.
"Hey boss, do you mind if I go look at my car?"
"No of course not Kyoko"
She practically ran to her car and immediately began inspecting where the damage had been. Everything was just as perfect as before.
"Do you approve?" Okiro asked.
Kyoko turned around to him standing with his arms folded.
"Yes, thank you."
"Your welcome. I did it for you."
This seemed to catch her off guard.
"Well...I am glad that a co-worker can do that for another co-worker."
Kyoko could cut the awkwardness with a knife. She left Okiro and went inside to the front desk.
'Man it's nearly 4 o'clock' Keisuke thought.
Keisuke had done everything he sought out to do. It was better to be early than late so he decided to head out to Saitama a little early.
As he was driving the motorway he noticed a very familiar 86. He sped up to get a better look and sure enough he saw the 'Fujuwara Tofu' sticker.
Keisuke was behind him for nearly four miles and Takumi still hadn't noticed.
'Typical Takumi' he thought.
He flashed his lights and Takumi finally recognized him. They both excited the motorway and parked at a gas station.
"Hey Keisuke what are you doing in Saitama?"
"I could ask you the same question"
"I'm here too see my girlfriend" explained Takumi.
"You have a girlfriend? Since when?"
Keisuke was so surprised he had no idea how to react.
"I met her because of those two guys impersonating us. It's a long story."
"How do you do it?" he asked.
Takumi gave him a blank stare.
"Huh?"
Keisuke rolled his eyes.
"What I mean is how do you handle all this. You have a full time job, deliver tofu, have a girlfriend, and are a member of Project D."
"Oh, I guess I see what you mean now. Honestly, work can be a drag, but tofu deliveries are a no brainer now and being part of Project D is a lot of pressure. I think I've found the right person to help relieve all that stress. It's easy when they understand you."
"I guess I need to give you more credit. There really is a lot more going on with you than just driving."
They said their goodbyes and drove off to see the important girls in their lives.
"Well boss I'm off"
"Sure see you tomorrow Kyoko."
"Hey Kyoko wait up!"
Kyoko stopped and sighed.
"What Okiro?"
"Please give me five minutes" he begged.
"Okay you've got five minutes." she told him.
"I'm sorry about what happened all those years ago. I'm sorry about the flowers and the morning after. Since the accident... I couldn't imagine not being able to see you everyday. It's been hard to fight how I feel about you; I see your smile and beautiful face around here. I want to try this again."
"Okiro...look, you and I are co-workers and friends I guess. But I haven't had those kinds of feelings for you since we stopped dating. I'm sorry, but I think we should just go back to being co-workers."
From down the road Kyoko heard the sound of a rotary engine. Keisuke then parked next to her car.
"Hey you ready to go?" he asked her.
"Yeah, where too?"
"A place near my house"
Keisuke and Kyoko ignored Okiro and got into their cars.
While Kyoko drove away she could see Okiro shrinking in the distance.
"What the..." she whispered.
Only after a minute of driving Kyoko noticed a pair of headlights approaching her fast. It was Okiro.
Kyoko started driving faster as she and Keisuke jumped on the motorway.
She pulled out her phone and called Keisuke.
"Keisuke! He's following us!"
"Kyoko what's going on? Who's following us?"
"Okiro! He's tailing me"
"We can loose him; just keep up with me"
Kyoko watched Keisuke take off and she followed him as close as possible. They were flying through traffic trying to leave Okiro behind.
As they got off the motorway Kyoko couldn't see the R32 headlights.
Keisuke parked in his drive way and Kyoko stopped abruptly in front of the large house.
She got out of her car but she could here a roaring engine coming down the quiet road.
Okiro stopped in the middle of the street not bothering to park.
"Kyoko you just got into an accident! Why the hell were you driving like that!"
Keisuke placed Kyoko protectively behind him.
"What's your problem? Why the hell are you following us!" Keisuke yelled.
"My problem is you!"
Okiro shoved Keisuke back. Then Kyoko watched Keisuke's eyes flare as he threw a punch to Okiro's jaw.
"That's enough!" yelled a stern voice from the dark.
Ryosuke then emerged out from the dark garage.
"The White Comet" Okiro spat.