Chapter 12

"I hope everything was to your liking Takahashi"

"Yes thank you"

Keisuke took Kyoko's hand and led her back outside.

"Should we take that walk on the beach now" he suggested.

"Yeah sure, the weather is perfect right now."

"It's just down these stairs. Be careful in those shoes though."

She laughed

"Relax Keisuke; I could probably pull off a full uphill in these shoes."

Keisuke tried picturing that. He couldn't imagine how women walk in heels let alone try and drift.

"I'll believe that when I see it!" he scoffed.

As they reached the bottom of the stairs Kyoko slipped off her heels.

"How about I make you a bet?"

"I'm listening"

"If I can do an uphill in these, then I get to drive your car."

She gave him her hand to shake on it. He gave her a skeptical look, but shook it anyway.

"Fine, you have a deal."

Keisuke continued to hold her hand as they walked along the moonlit beach. The way the light hit Kyoko made her look even more radiant. She was beautiful, but it was as if an inner aura glowed around her.

'I have to be in love with her' he thought.

Why else would he be doing all this for her? He punched Okiro in the face, who to him was no one. He told her things that he wouldn't tell anyone.

"Can you tell me what you're thinking? You were spacing out."

Kyoko interrupted his thoughts.

"Oh… just, just something about you that's all."

"And… what about me?" she asked.

"How I can be myself around you"

She smiled at him and squeezed his hand.

A half an hour later they were back in Keisuke's car on their way back to Kyoko's.

"Tell me how exactly you learned to drift in those shoes?" he asked curiously.

"I didn't do it on purpose. You see at my high school we had this sort of end of the year formal. I didn't really want to go because no one had asked me. Unfortunately my mother made me attend anyway."

"Why didn't anyway ask you? I saw your high school photo and you were just as pretty."

Keisuke felt a little angry. If there was any girl at his high school like her, he wouldn't have hesitated to ask her out.

Kyoko giggled.

"Thank you Keisuke. I guess I was a wall flower my last year at high school. There was someone I was hoping would ask me; we had an automotive class together and we talked just about every day. Yet there I was sitting with Yumi, dateless."

"Still think someone should have asked you" he whispered.

"My cousin then came up to my table to say hi to me. Well, low and behold her date was the guy from my class. I was so furious that I stormed off and left. Now about drifting, the only thing I wanted to do at that moment was drive. I headed toward the mountains and I just went for it."

"Wow, well I guess I'll see tonight how good of a driver you really are."

There was a moment of silence. Usually Kyoko would have retorted in a playful way.

Keisuke took his eyes off the road to look down at her. She had fallen fast asleep.

He smiled and drove a little slower not to wake her.

When he finally stopped in from of her apartment, he gently nudged her awake.

"Hey Kyoko you're home" he whispered.

"Mmm…what?"

"You fell asleep in the car. Come on I'll walk you upstairs."

Keisuke helped Kyoko out of the car and upstairs to her apartment.

"Wait what about our bet?" she asked sleepily.

"We can take care of that when you get off work tomorrow. I can meet you here."

"I'll be off at four. I better see you here."

Keisuke laughed. There was the cheeky response he'd been waiting for.

"I promise. Now go get some rest."

He kissed the top of her head and went back to his car. As he drove away he saw the beautiful girl getting farther away. His only wish was that tomorrow would come sooner.

Keisuke was sweating bullets trying to drive as fast as he could. No matter what he did he couldn't catch up with Okiro.

Kyoko was shrinking farther into the distance until he could only see shinning tears overflowing from her eyes.

Suddenly everything around him was shaking violently.

"Keisuke wake up!"

Keisuke woke up in shock. He looked to his left where Ryosuke was standing still in his pajamas.

He brushed his hair away from his face and could see he was drenched in sweat.

"I…I…"

"You were having a nightmare" Ryosuke finished for him.

"Yeah, thanks for waking me up bro."

Keisuke saw the very concerned look his brother was giving him.

"Is there anything bothering you Keisuke?"

"I guess I'm just a little nervous about the race. If I lose the race, then I lose Kyoko."

"Okiro may be persistent but his skills are nothing you can't handle. As for Kyoko, you seem to be so in love with her that I don't think anything could keep you from seeing her."

His expression seemed to make Ryosuke laugh.

"Come on Keisuke. I'll make some coffee."

"Hey boss I'm here"

"Good morning Kyoko. We have a few customers coming in for full tune up; if you're feeling up to it then can you handle the register as well."

"No problem boss"

Kyoko went to the front desk to gather the paper work for the first customer.

"Good morning Kyoko."

Kyoko sighed.

"Hi Okiro"

"Don't be so enthusiastic to see me."

"Well I'm not" she said straight forward.

Okiro frowned.

"Hello? Hi I have an appointment at nine." said the women who entered the office.

"Good morning, just fill out these forms and we will take care of everything else."

Kyoko glared at Okiro and shooed him out to the garage.

Other customers started showing up so Kyoko was working double time; she was maintaining both the register and two other cars. She couldn't remember being this busy.

"Thank you for your business"

Kyoko wiped her forehead.

'How is it I've done four cars and this is only his second?'

She was feeling positively irritated. Okiro and her have been working together for years not and she couldn't remember him being a slow worker.

Okiro waved off his customer and smiled at her.

She rolled her eyes at him.

"You look tired. Maybe you and I should take a break; we can go get some lunch."

"No thanks." Kyoko said as she threw and oily rag at him.

'I swear that guy' she thought angrily.

"What's your problem Kyoko?"

She felt Okiro grab her wrist and she immediately tore it away from him.

"How many times do I have to tell you not to grab me like that?"

Kyoko was practically growling. She tried to keep her cool since they were still on the clock.

"Tell me what your problem with me is? What makes Takahashi so much better?"

"He is better in every possible way. He isn't arrogant or conceited and he respects me. You have never shown me any of these qualities."

Okiro's expression just looked even angrier. Kyoko couldn't show him any kindness; not anymore.

"Is that clear now? I don't want to talk to you until the race tomorrow. I'm taking my break, alone."

Kyoko clocked herself out and went straight to her car. She drove a few miles to the family's restaurant she always ate at.

She sat in the booth she always did and waited for someone to take her order.

"Hi there, what can I get for you?"

"An iced milk coffee please."

"Coming right up, I'll be back to take your order."

Kyoko gazed outside at the sunny day and hoped that Keisuke was having a better day than she was.

"Kenta pass me the sugar"

"Sure"

Keisuke, Kenta, and Fumihiro were having lunch together at their usual spot.

"Hey Keisuke, what are you doing later? Some of the guys are going up to Akagi later."

"Sorry Kenta I've got plans with Kyoko"

Keisuke saw Fumihiro's smug expression; however, Kenta's look was much more disappointed.

"We can hang out another day Kenta, don't worry. Fumihiro if you're going to look at me like that then you might as well just say it."

Fumihiro took a sip of his coffee.

"I'm just really happy you came to your senses. I honestly haven't seen you this happy in a long time. Well, at least with something besides cars."

Keisuke smiled cheekly and rolled his eyes.

"Let's hope I win tomorrow so I can keep seeing Kyoko." he said as he stared down at his tea.

"Of course you're going to win Keisuke" Kenta said confidently.

Kenta always had so much confidence in Keisuke.

"Thanks Kenta. I know I always tell you there's never a for sure race but, I'm not going to lose. I won't."

After they finished their lunch, Keisuke said goodbye to his good friends, and left to Saitama.

While he drove the motorway, his thoughts started to drift. He thought about Fumihiro and what he told him back then.

"She's a racer, it's different because she understands."

Sometimes Keisuke wished he had listened to Fumihiro in the first place. When he told Kyoko they couldn't see each other anymore, he thought he'd save both their hearts the trouble. He was afraid about how close he was to falling in love with her. Then he was unsure of himself; he didn't want to hurt her.

'I guess that's like me. Mess up and then go for a second chance."

It was only fifteen before four o'clock so Keisuke stepped out of his car too have a quick cigarette. He had Kyoko on the brain.

He remembered every thought he had about her since the very first time he met her, their race, their lunch together, his race against the Levin, and his race against the Evo. She was the only girl who he could really talk too, she understood his sense of humor, and she trusted him completely no matter what.

The sound of a rotary engine came to his attention. Seeing Kyoko's beautiful smile made him smile and he couldn't stop.

"Hey you! Are you hungry for dinner first?"

"We can eat later; what about that bet?"

She laughed a little.

"If you think you're ready for it. Let me go change then."

As he followed her inside Keisuke was still trying to picture how Kyoko was going to drift in heels. It sounded impossible.

"Okay I'm ready!"

He was about to take the passenger side in Kyoko's car, when she stopped him.

"I think you should follow me up there; after all, I'll be driving your car right after." she said confidently.

He followed Kyoko to the very road they had raced on.

Keisuke parked his car off to the side and went to join her in the car.

"Ready?" she asked.

"Whenever you are"

She had a very determined look that he recognized. This was the same look she gave him before their race.

Kyoko revved up the car and took off.

They were approaching the first corner and Keisuke was feeling a mix of emotions.

Once he saw her footwork, he was dumbfounded.

'How did she do that?'

Her feet moved so naturally it was as if the shoes weren't even a factor.

The way she took each corner was in perfect rhythm. She knew this road probably better than anyone. She had great technique that anyone could recognize.

They had reached the end of the hill climb and Keisuke still had a hard time believing what he saw.

Kyoko had the smuggest smile on her face.

"Well, well looks like I've won. That means…"

"Yes, you can drive my car. As amazing as you are driving in those shoes, can you wear normal shoes?"

She dug behind her seat and held out a pair of lace ups.

"I figured you'd ask"

She drove more casually downhill to Keisuke's car.

He handed her the keys and went to sit in the passenger side, which he never did.

"I trust you" he told her.

She took off slightly slower than her own car, but as she grew more comfortable then her speed increased.

"I can feel the difference in power on the straightaways, but it's different when exiting the corners." she observed.

"Yeah I started noticing that in the middle of our race. Then I remembered that you had a slight turbo lag due to your single turbo."

Keisuke watched Kyoko take each corner aggressively. He remained quiet not to break her concentration.

"I really love the power output on your car" she complimented.

"The car is nothing without a skilled drover behind the wheel"

She smiled at him and taped his nose in her cheeky way.

"Let's go and get dinner started"

Kyoko drove back down to her car and handed him her keys.

"Wait what?"

"You can drive my car back to my place"

"You're going to drive my car on public streets?" he asked as if it were a joke.

She rolled her eyes.

"Keisuke you just let me drift your car on a mountain road, but I can't drive it back to my apartment which is only five miles away."

"Touché" was all he could say to that.

He followed her back to the apartment and was relieved to see his baby parked safely.

They quickly went upstairs and started preparing dinner.

"On Saturday I'd like to take you out; if you're not working that is."

"I'm usually off on the weekend. What did you have in mind?"

"It's a surprise" he said with nonchalance.

"Ah…okay. I know you're going to win tomorrow Keisuke."

With this kind of motivation, how could he lose?