Chapter 1-THE DRAMA UNFOLDS
Through darkness and light
Lingering melodies in my thoughts
Echoes of your mind call out to me
Intertwining my fate with yours.
Shindo Shuichi set down his pen on the wooden bench and breathed a sigh of relief. Since the release of Bad Luck's newest album, Tohma-san had become even more determined to make Bad Luck a success. As Tohma said, even a band that sold a million copies could become obsolete if they only had one killer album. So, Shuichi had had come to the overlook to Tokyo where he wrote most of his songs, hoping to find some source of inspiration.
Shuichi picked up his pen and etched a title on his lyrics
Echoes of the Mind.
Hopefully the lyrics would satisfy Tohma-san and Sakano-san, but the approval Shuichi was looking for came from another source entirely.
Pulling on his safety orange sweater that had become necessary with the settling of evening, Shuichi started running for home.
"YUUUUUUUKI!" The shout was audible even from the back of the apartment where Eiri Yuki sat quietly, fingers tapping out a rhythm on a small typewriter. As the sound reached Yuki in his study, the rhythm began to break. There were a few half-hearted taps, then Yuki sank his head into his hands, crushing his glasses against his forehead.
"YUUUUUUKI, YUUUUUUKI, YUUUUUKI!" Shuichi burst into the study, his face alight with joy. "I'M HOOOOOME!"
"I would never have known," Yuki muttered under his breath.
Shuichi ran to sit beside Yuki.
"YUUUUKIYUUUKIIFINISHEDMYSONGANDITHINKITSGOINGTOGETUSANOTHERSINGLEHIROSGOINGTOBESOHAPPYTHAT-"
A wad of papers flew into Shuichi's head at that moment, breaking he constant stream of chatter. "You are without doubt the most annoying person I have ever met," Yuki drawled, flexing his fingers, trying to return to the rhythm that had been going so well before the interruption.
Shuichi peeked over Yuki's shoulder at the typewriter. "What's this one about?"
Yuki sighed with relief at the semi-return to normalcy in Shuichi's voice, however short it may be. Though, Yuki mused, this was probably a break from normalcy rather than a return to it. "YUUUUKI!"
Yuki sighed. "It's about a man and his lover who are separated during a war in their country. Later, they meet up, but the woman has turned to her childhood friend for comfort while her lover was away. So, there's the love triangle and then…" Yuki stopped at the blank look in Shuichi's eyes. "Let's see this new song of yours then."
"RIGHT!" Shuichi pulled off his orange backpack and pretended to dig for the lyrics while clutching them in his hand. Yuki rolled his eyes and turned back to his typewriter. "FOUND IT!" Shuichi handed the lyrics to Yuki with a blazing smile stretched across his face.
Yuki scanned over the lyrics and then paused to reread them. Internally, he smiled. Shuichi was improving-but then, Yuki was probably the cause of that. Yuki pulled a red pen from his shirt pocket and saw Shuichi cringe. Yuki hummed as his circled various verses and words, crossing out some and then wrote at the bottom:
It still sucks. You have moved up to the level of fourth-grader but don't expect your fans to be as generous as your lover.
Yuki smiled again. Shuichi could sing the user's manual to his typewriter and his fans would still adore him. But best not to inflate Shuichi's ego any more than it already was.
Tohma-san may thank me, but you're another story, Yuki thought, reading Shuichi's work again.
Shuichi crept closer to the typewriter, knowing Yuki probably wouldn't approve of Shuichi's observance of his work. Everything had to be so secretive with Yuki.
P. 721
Shuichi felt his jaw drop and scanned his mind for memory of a book that long that he had ever read. He vaguely remembered being assigned Evening Falls by Ichigo Sasaki in high school. That had been a monster of a book! But then, Shuichi paused as he remembered that he had never actually cracked the cover of the thing. His English teacher had praised him on the perfect condition of his book when he returned it, but his final exam-that had been another story.
Ryuu sat musing upon the deplorable direction his life had guided him. His face was the picturesque representation of inevitable truth yet disconsolate mourning. Kitara, with the desensitizing effect she had on his nature, still managed to tarnish his heart with her misdemeanor.
Yuki looked up from Shuichi's lyrics with a start as he heard a crash resonating behind him. Turning around, he saw Shuichi clutching his eyes.
"YUKI! WHAT LANGUAGE IS THAT?"
Yuki glanced at his work. "Ah! You saw the scene where Ryuu debates about his love for Kitara-I'm particularly proud of it. It's the turning point for the whole book."
"It's…UNNATURAL!" Shuichi gasped, still covering his eyes.
"I could say the same thing about your lyrics," Yuki remarked. "Tell me…have they decided to have you as a guest on Sesame Street next month to promote this new song? That's certainly the only audience it'll ever be suited for."
Yuki watched as Shuichi's face contorted in sorrow. Teasing Shuichi could be so much fun…
"But, but-this, this is the BEST!" Shuichi stammered as tears streamed down his face. "The BEST!"
It wasn't a full 10 seconds before Shuichi had fallen to the floor bawling, clutching Yuki's leg for support, while Yuki tried to suppress his laughter. Trying to maintain his guise, Yuki flipped open his lighter and lit the end of a cigarette that had been stuck in his pocket.
"At least mine is readable!" Shuichi whined, cutting off the circulation in Yuki's leg with his death grip.
Yuki took a long draw from his cigarette and responded. "Believe it or not, Shuichi, some of us actually enjoy intellect-the stimulant of the brain. Unlike your work which kills it."
"Mine is more fun!" Shuichi pouted.
Yuki sighed and sat back in his maroon swivel chair, preparing to write more of Ryuu's monologue.
Gradually the sobs stilled beneath Yuki's desk and Shuichi crawled out, still sulking and muttering and hanging onto Yuki's leg.
Ryuu despaired for the endearment that had drawn him to Kitara's side, yet the aftermath still wrapped its whisper about his soul. O, God, if only…
"-could write better books and sell better too…" Shuichi was muttering.
Yuki paused and rolled his eyes. "Shuichi, you couldn't write a novel if your life depended on it. Stick to the poems and leave me to my work." Yuki shook his leg, trying to dispatch Shuichi's seizure upon his leg. The leg was now faintly numb and only the pressure of Shuichi's grip reminded him that it was still attached.
"Could too." Shuichi pouted.
"Forgive me," Yuki laughed. "I wasn't referring to that crap in the young adult section-even YOU could do that. I meant a dream, a vision for others to grasp onto in their waking hours and an image that drifts with them even through unconsciousness."
"Yeah, well if you tried to write a song, the only station that would play it would be 99.7," Shuichi retorted.
Yuki winced at the mention of Kytai-the local NPR for Tokyo. Every local artist went on it at least once. Shuichi had been invited 8 times and after the first (and only!) time he had written a collection of morbid, angry lyrics that contained many images of dismembered body parts. Apparently, Nanami, the host, had played Mr. Happy-the children's lullaby writer right after Shuichi. Then, they had been forced to debate songwriting techniques.
"Shuichi, I must end this or else my editor will be banging on the door demanding my head on a pike," Yuki said, glancing longingly toward his typewriter. "Here's a bet for you-you'll write a novel. I'll record a CD. In the span of 24 hours. Whoever sells the least copies has to wear THIS for a month!"
Yuki dragged Shuichi into the bedroom and thrust open the closet drawers. Taking a deep breath, he pulled aside rows upon rows of black suits to reveal a grocery sack. Yuki covered his eyes and then reached into the bag, drawing out a swirl of color in his hand. There was a scream and Yuki opened his eye, careful not to focus too closely upon the cloth.
"Behold…a gift from my great aunt Risa!"
In Yuki's hand was a shirt-a button down shirt of a pale greenish yellow with pink polka dots. Across the back was a design that when looked closer at revealed a huge yellow and black happy face. The red diagonal stripes coinciding with the polka dots just made it worse.
Yuki shuddered and packed the shirt safely back in the bag and shoved it back in the closet. "Are you game?" Yuki questioned with a smirk.
"I dunno Yuki," Shuichi replied with an evil grin. "How do you think the girls will favor you wearing that on your newest book tour? Lucky you've got me."
Yuki smacked Shuichi on the head with a pillow. "Say goodbye to your next music video-you're going down, Shindo!"