AN/ Disclaimer: I am not Japanese. What I know about Japan comes from my otaku habits. Please excuse me if my ignorance has made me make any embarrassing mistakes.
Also, I wrote Nishida... the tiniest bit ridiculous. He's really not this over the top in the manga, but... I couldn't resist.
Title from "Mine" by Emmy Curl. You could listen to that song while listening, but my other recommendation is "All For Myself" by Sufjan Stevens. It fits Satou and Yoshida to a T! Though it's a bit dark for this little fiesta of a fic.
Sometimes Yoshida worries he's selfish. He tries to be a good person, on a whole: he respects his elders, does his best in school and works at being a good friend. He wouldn't say he always succeeds, and since he's a teenage boy, pondering what kind of person he is rarely on the forefront of his mind.
He's been told he's oblivious to his surroundings, but whenever he notices behavior in himself that is harmful to someone else, he puts a stop to it as quickly as possible. What's got Yoshida worrying about whether or not he's being selfish is something he realized about in his relationship with Satou, his boyfriend of more than two years. He realized that all sorts of complications were being raised because they weren't being open about their relationship. Satou doesn't actually enjoy having girls flocking him at all times, for one. And while many of the girls don't have real feelings for his boyfriend, some of them do, and it's not fair that they're being fooled.
He really should have thought of this before now, but... it just hadn't occurred to him. More often than not, he's in his own little world, and maybe that's a sign that he really is selfish.
Still, he hadn't had good reason to think of their relationship in that way at first. He'd never planned to date Satou, and had spent the first days of being with him sure a prank was being played on him and the next few weeks feeling like he was in a dream. It had been gradual, coming to care for the jerk. Yoshida can admit he was often... dazzled, for lack of a better word, by Satou's grand gestures and love declarations, but truly coming to reciprocate had been a matter of uncovering the real Satou. He was a sadist and a manipulative bastard under his shell of a polite young man, but the more time Yoshida spent with him, the more he realized there was another level. Underneath everything, Satou was an insecure kid who wanted control because of how often he'd been robbed of agency. And, underneath his layers of attitude towards Yoshida, he truly did love him. And so Yoshida couldn't help but return those feelings.
Still, all of that had happened gradually, while they pretended to be nothing more than friends. He hadn't questioned the status quo of their relationship until recently, when he realized that Satou was being... selfless. He'd always wanted to be open about their relationship - maybe it was because he wanted to stake a claim, or whatever. (Satou is weird, and Yoshida doesn't pretend to understand him half the time.) Instead of telling people, he'd respected Yoshida's wishes at cost to himself. It's the little gestures Satou makes, not his occasional melodrama, that makes Yoshida fall even deeper in love with him.
Yoshida can't shake the feeling that something needs to change. He'll talk to Satou about it... at some point. God, if he's working on himself as a person, he needs to deal with his avoidance issues.
Nakamura raises his eyebrows. There's a difference between students helping each other with homework and Yoshida Yoshio getting an A on an English assignment.
Not to be overly harsh on the poor kid, but there's no way he could have written this paper on his own. He is a nice boy, and certainly not stupid, but among the English teachers, he has a reputation. Nakamura remembers Miss Suzuki, the eleventh grade English professor, running into the teacher's lounge last year, tears of mirth threatening to pour from her eyes, clutching one of Yoshida's tests. She'd read them the 100 word essay he had written through her laughter. It had started with "A man toilet buries you to external right side stairs" and ended with "Only a few of the dead were stuffed carelessly in a empty storage pit."
So it's slightly suspicious that Yoshida's copy of the paper he had assigned is approaching flawless. He had always gotten help from his "friend," Satou Takahiko, and usually manages to scrape by with half decent grades. But this? Well, he is going to have to pull at least one of them aside for a talking to.
(Nakamura places the word friend in quotes firmly, even in his head, because at the moment he's got a bet out with that asshole math teacher that they're dating. He has eyes, damn it, and if they think their little charade is subtle, they have another thing coming. Hiyara just doesn't pay any attention to his students. "Friends" his ass - they're all over each other like the hormonal teenagers they are. He's just waiting for the moment they get outed, whether by choice or fate. Many fickle teenage hearts will break that day.)
At the end of his sixth period, he tries to call Yoshida over to his desk, but the kid's already left the room. Luckily, Satou is still present, bogged down by his hoard of admirers. When Nakamura walks over to extract him, the girls glare at him for stealing away their idol, and he gulps. He's made himself a group of hostile enemy teenage girls. He sees vindictive revenge in his future.
Still, to return to the matter at hand... "Satou, I need to talk to you about the paper."
Satou smiles that dazzling smile of his, the one that reminds him of sharks. "Oh? And what seems to be the problem?"
Why does talking to a high school student make him feel like a mouse who's being toyed with by a particularly sadistic cat? Nakamura is the one in charge here! He's not going to revert to back his pathetic, bullied high school self, because he has matured and grown a backbone. Right? Right. "Actually, it's not a problem with your writing. It's to do with your... friend's paper - " again, if they're "just friends," he'll eat all his hats " - Yoshida Yoshio."
The sides of Satou's mouth quirk up a little into something beyond his trademark smirk, seemingly involuntarily. It's alarmingly becoming on him. "Was it terrible?"
Nakamura raises his eyebrows, ready to channel his authority. "No. In fact, it was quite good."
Satou smiles wider. "Really? I'm happy for him."
Trying to play innocent, eh? "Would you have anything to do with that, Mr. Satou?"
"I have no idea what you're referring to, Mr. Nakamura." Oh, that mocking tone is just not on.
Time for a more direct approach. "You wrote that paper for him!" There, let's see Satou obfuscate his way around that one!
Satou dips his head downward and laughs a little. "No, I didn't."
"Well, explain how the worst English student I've ever had wrote a perfect paper then!"
The kid gets a smarmy, pleased with himself look on his face, and says, "You really have no proof of any of this, sir. I'll have you know I gave him some pointers, but aside from what I usually do, I didn't help at all."
Nakamura sighs, knowing that he's been beat - he doesn't have any evidence. He's probably just too suspicious for his own good, but still... "Look, I already ran it through our plagiarism system, so I know that's not it, but I'm just stumped as to how he did so well. You two are... close. Do you have any idea why this improvement took place?"
Now Satou's smile looks more akin to a crocodile, or worse - a politician. "I may have found a way of motivating him, sir. He can be incredibly diligent with the right incentives waiting for him."
Oh. Oh my. "I - I see," Nakamura says through his shock. "In that case, you can go."
"Thank you, sir." With that, Satou slinks out of his classroom.
Yes, Nakamura sees 1000 yen in his future.
Nishida loves Yoshida. Since the first year of high school, that truth has been a cornerstone in his life. He'd fallen for him from afar, on seeing his gentle manner and bright smile, and when he got the chance to get closer, he'd loved all the other things he'd discovered about him, from his honorable nature to his subtle sense of humor. Getting to look at him had been the way he got through long days; knowing he existed had been a motivation to do good things.
He'd been waiting for a good opportunity to approach him. He'd known there was a likelihood he wasn't gay, but Nishida is an optimist, and often, he'd imagined Yoshida accepting his love confession with one of his own.
And maybe he could have had his storybook ending, if he'd been braver. But by the time he'd managed to confess, Satou Takahiko had already...
It's still too horrible to contemplate. Ordinarily, Nishida would have accepted long ago that he was not destined to be the prince of Yoshida's heart, but to know his beloved was with... that monster. Well.
But no matter how he strove to impress Yoshida or make him understand who Satou really was, it was futile, because Yoshida was in love, and still is, by the looks of it.
He's resigned to it now. Sitting in math class, he stares at the back of Yoshida's head and sighs. Nishida doesn't understand why Yoshida bothers with Satou, and probably never will. Sometimes, love between two people is only understood by the ones involved. He may hate seeing Yoshida be made to feel uncomfortable by Satou's newest scheme, but he always ends up admitting to himself that Yoshida looks very happy. In the dead of night, Nishida will often wonder if it's time that he began to move on.
Luckily, Satou is not in the same math class as them, so Nishida can stare to his heart's content. At the moment, Yoshida is chewing on the end of a pencil, and it's incredibly endearing. Nishida feels a familiar stirring in his heart, which becomes stronger when Yoshida leans over to help a desk mate with a math problem. Oh, and it's one of the girls who is usually mean to him as well.
No, Nishida can't see himself getting over Yoshida any time soon.
Mayumi's grandmother wouldn't approve of the couple she's waiting on tonight, but she doesn't care. So what if it's two guys - they're adorable! She wishes Kentaro would feed her like the taller one is doing to the little guy. Romance is dying out, so it's nice to appreciate it when she sees it.
They're an interesting couple. High school, by the looks of them, but ordered the most expensive stuff on the menu; Mayumi can't eat that well working two full time jobs. Pretty open about their relationship, going off all the flirting. Very open - the tall guy is literally sucking some sauce off his boyfriend's finger, causing him to blush, red as grandpa's tomatoes. It's lucky they're too absorbed in each other to notice her staring.
Despite how entertaining they are, she is on the clock, so eventually she has to move on. She's also got a table with a disgruntled married couple and their bratty kids to get orders from. She should have stayed in college, even if it had left her millions of yen in debt.
After taking care of that, she goes back to check on the gay couple, who are now arguing and still making it look cute. Because she's curious, she asks, "How long have you two been together?" with a huge smile on her face.
The smile dies a bit when the smaller guy stumbles out, "To - to - together? We're not - we are not - !" because awkward.
"Oh, I'm sorry I assumed," Mayumi says, flushing. Still, she can't say her assumption was unfounded, 'cause now the bigger one is frowning, and looks a bit upset.
"No - ah, please, don't concern yourself," the guy stutters, scratching the back of his head. "You weren't wrong, I guess... I mean..." He glances at the taller guy, who's got a somewhat shocked impression on his handsome face. "Well, we are - kinda together." He says it like the admission hurts him, but the taller guy looks extremely pleased, even if he's trying to hide it.
"Well then," Mayumi says, thinking about a way to lighten the mood, "how about I bring you to some dessert, on the house?" She can afford to pay for them, really, and from observation, she can tell something big just happened in their relationship. Maybe up until now they've not admitted they're together in public - though how they've been able to do that and still act like they were earlier is beyond her.
"No thank you," says the handsome guy with a smile, "I prefer to treat Yoshida myself."
"But thanks for the offer," says, the other guy, apparently named Yoshida.
"Do you have anything spicy on your menu?" the tall guys says, only for his boyfriend to plead that he doesn't want anything spicy, please and thank you.
Yep. Adorable.
Makimura is determined to find out who his friend is in love with. Yoshida has been sighing, staring off into the distance with a smile on his face and blushing at every mention of love for what seems like years now. When he'd first raised it up, he'd been ignored, and had eventually forgotten about it. But lately it's become more apparent, especially since he'll disappear after school, saying things like "I already have other plans." Makimura feels like a bad friend - it should be a sacred duty to know the goings on in a friend's life and to support them.
So today, he is absolutely going to find out the answer, even if he should die in the process. Which doesn't seem that likely, but it sounds really cool.
He's sitting across from Yoshida at lunch, wondering if just asking him is going to get the truth. Probably not - he's a stubborn guy. But still, he can't lie to save his life.
Here goes nothing... "Yoshida, I've seen the flame of love in your eyes lately!" He's greeted by a deadpan look, but undaunted, Makimura continues, in the name of friendship. "I want to know, as your friend, who you have given your heart to."
There's a long pause, and he notices Yoshida glance over at Satou, who's talking to one of the Nozawa twins. Huh. Maybe Satou knows his secret - they do spend a lot of time together. Makimura will ask him later.
"Not telling," Yoshida says in a long suffering tone, though he's definitely blushing.
"Is is Izumi, from class three? She's really pretty, and she might even notice you - she doesn't seem entranced by Satou."
"No, Makimura - "
"Is it Inoue? I know you guys are pretty good friends, and she's really nice too - "
"I'm telling you - "
Suddenly an idea comes to Makimura. "Is it one of your teachers? Is that why you won't talk about it? Is it forbidden love?"
The concept is so exciting that Makimura stands up from the table, prompting some attention his way. At Yoshida's cry of "No, you idiot!" he sits down, a little embarrassed.
Yoshida hisses at him lowly, "There isn't a girl, okay!"
"Oh." Makimura deflates a little, before another idea hits him. If Yoshida is in love... but there isn't a girl... Oh my god is Yoshida gay!?
Makimura's world slowly turns upside down as the realization hits him.
But he's still on a mission, and he still believes in the solemn duties of a friend. He reaches his hand across the table, feeling a little sad to have to crush his friend in such a way. "It's me, isn't it? I'm sorry but I am not able to return your feelings - "
"Who's in love with you! Idiot!" And then Yoshida storms off, face red. That was rude, but Makimura understands. He was only inflamed by love. Poor Yoshida! Makimura isn't gay, but he will endeavor to continue to be the same good friend he's always been.
Yoshida Akio is worried about her son, but probably not for the same reasons a normal mom would be. He's not partying. He's got good - or at least passable - grades in school. He is respectful.
Actually, it's those things that, added up, are causing her stress. He's not having normal teenage experiences. It's not that she wants him out going wild, but when she was his age, she was rebellious. Living life a little dangerously is just what kids that age do - they believe they're immortal. Akio is probably just being a worrywart of a mother, but she doesn't want her beloved son missing out on all the fun.
On top of that, he doesn't seem to have too many friends. He's not anti-social, and he does have boys over from time to time, but she knows from his complaining that he's not too popular at school - such a contrast to what it was like when he was little. And not even a hint of girlfriend.
As far as she knows. Huh. Maybe the reason her son's life seems so bland is that he's hiding his scandalous activities - and that's certainly normal for a teenager. (She'd kept her now husband a secret for months, and she had been nineteen.) It would make sense of some of the questions he's been evading as of late. Akio should not be relieved at this possibility and yet...
So the next time he has his friend Satou over, she corners him, because she has duties as a mother.
"So," she begins, "while we're both in the kitchen here..."
"Yes, ma'am?" Satou prompts. He's such a polite, handsome young man.
"Would it be that my son has a secret girlfriend?" she asks, frankly.
"Ah, well..." Satou trails off, looking surprised and amused. "I think you'll have to ask him that for yourself." Then he laughs a little, which Akio takes a confirmation. Looks like she needs to have a mother-son talk.
"Yoshio," she calls after his friend has gone home. "Don't go to your room just yet; I want to have a talk with you."
Yoshio has the look of any teenager who's been called by their mother on his face when he enters the living room - annoyance mixed with the fear he's about to be told off. "Sit down," Akio says regally, stretching her hand out toward the couch. He flops down ungracefully, and she chuckles internally.
"So," Akio says, leaning forward, "do we need to have the Talk?"
"Oh my god mom - " Yoshio starts, blushing, and Akio cackles to herself. Embarrassing her kid is one of her favorite parts of being a mother. "No! We already had 'a talk,'" he says with a shiver, "and we do discuss stuff in school, you know. I'm fine!"
"You know you can tell me anything, right?" she asks, growing serious for just a moment. She may be sadistic, but she's still a concerned parent.
"Yeah," Yoshio says, looking at the floor. He seems distressed.
"Hey," Akio says gently. "If you need to say something, go ahead. I'm listening." If he's gotten a girl pregnant or something, she may as well know now. "Are you with someone?"
"I - Mom." He takes a deep breath, biting his lip. "Yeah."
"You wanna tell me who?" She won't force him to, but she's actually pretty curious.
"Uh, well, you've - you've met them," he stutters, obviously putting it off.
"You don't have to tell me."
"No! No, I want to. I've been with them for a while now... Um, it's..." His voice becomes impossibly small. "It's Satou, Mom."
Oh. Well, there aren't going to be any pregnancies in the future then. "You're gay?" she says in shock.
He looks like he's been slapped, and she immediately regrets her harsh-sounding reaction. "Not really - it's just - Satou."
So he's probably bi, or something unique to him. What does it matter, though? "That's great, Yoshio!" she says, because she is a supportive mom, damn it!
"It - it is?" he replies doubtfully. God, she probably should have clarified a long time ago with him that everything was fine with her. It's not good that he's been this anxious. Akio feels a bit guilty.
"Oh, yes!" she reassures, patting him on the knee. "I'm very glad you've found someone. We ought to tell your father - and he won't have a problem with it, either, if you were worried. You should reintroduce us to Satou as your young man."
If she's not mistaken, her son's eyes are a little watery. She looks away surreptitiously. "Thanks, Mom."
Akio smiles wide. "Yes, everything's just fine. So long as you two are being safe. You are, right?"
"Mom!"
Sayuri knows she doesn't have a chance with Satou. He's so popular and handsome, and she's... well, an insecure, normal teenage girl. She's aware she doesn't have much with which to recommend herself. She's painfully self-aware, skinny in an awkward way, with good but not amazing grades. A few boys in her grade think she's cute, but aside from Tadashi, who she dated first year for three whole days, most people haven't found her a pursuable. In fact, the most male attention she's gotten was after the "lesbian scandal" of last year, when people found out she likes girls, too. Guys find that kinda stuff hot, though eventually their questions had gotten annoying. It had been a tiny little kiss - she hadn't gone all the way or anything.
But Satou is perfect fantasy material, on the male side of people she likes. He's charming, burning hot, aloof but not in a way that makes him seem arrogant, kind... Or at least he comes off as kind. Sayuri has met enough two-timers to know that people aren't always what they seem.
Still, she really really likes him, and it's not that she's following the lead of all the girls in their grade. Her heart speeds up every time she sees him and he looks great in a volleyball uniform.
Today, she has decided to confess her feelings. She's steeling herself for rejection already, but she just needs to get it off her chest. The sooner she knows 100% it's never going to happen, the sooner she can move on. (There's a tiny part of her that's imagining Satou returning her feelings and then running off into the sunset with her, but it's so pathetic that she squishes it.)
She leaves him a brief note on his desk asking him to meet her after school, which he does. At least he was willing to hear her out.
"So," she says, nervously, babbling, because this is her life, "um, I like you, Satou. I know a lot of girls confess to you, but, just so you know, I really have - um, feelings for you."
"That's good to hear," Satou says cooly, and his eyes are closed off. "Sorry, but I don't feel the same way." And then he walks out of the classroom.
Sayuri hadn't known he was like that. Maybe she dodged a bullet.
Ha. Tell that to her bleeding heart.
"Hey." She hears a voice from the door. She doesn't turn around because she doesn't want anyone to see her face. "Are you okay?" It sounds like...
Yes, it's Yoshida, Satou's friend, the one the other girls are always vilifying. She doesn't know very much about him. "I wasn't trying to listen in, or anything, but I think Satou was just pretty rude to you, right?"
"Nah," Sayuri replies shakily. "It's fine."
"So you're okay?" He's a nice guy, apparently.
"Sure. At least he was honest, you know?" Maybe Sayuri can finally pull herself together and look at other options.
"Ye - yeah." In the corner of her eye, she sees Yoshida scratch his head a little. "He was that, wasn't he?"
"Is there something you're not being honest about, Yoshida?" she asks, for lack of something else to say.
"Well. Yes. But..." Yoshida's voice becomes more firm," I think I'm going to be changing that soon."
"Good for you." Sayuri manages a smile. She quite likes Yoshida. She leaves the classroom wondering whether or not she should make an online dating profile - broaden her horizons or something.
Sometimes Satou thinks life is barely even worth living.
He used to believe people were worthless as well, but he's been forced to see that many are interesting and worth talking to in their own right, although sometimes he misses the days when he could abstractly right off everyone around him.
He's been through all the messy phases a teenager usually experiences, except that he was more aware of them, and went through them faster. On the days he would bury his face in his pillow and just wish the world would end, he wouldn't even have the comfort of screaming, because he understood the hormones and evolution involved in why he was feeling the way he was. It was simply that he was experiencing the universal drive to distance himself from his familial unit and forge his own way, as humans his age used to.
Every layer of his views of the world he second guessed, and he constantly felt uneasy, because he never could find a good, concrete answer. That was why he liked math more than philosophy - math gave truth, but philosophy asked questions. Satou wanted to understand his purpose on this planet, and how the world could seem so cruel and terrible while still containing so much hope. But every time he came to a conclusion, he would think of a conter-argument, and on the struggle would go. He got sick of it, after a while, but he never could stop.
It's on things such as this that Satou dwells on while he pretends to speak to his admirers. Occasionally, he thinks about not wasting time on being civil, but the girls could be useful - besides, it can nice to sic them on his beloved Yoshida at times.
(Oh Yoshida. How he loves to see his crying, flustered face.)
It was Yoshida, really, that began Satou down the path of connecting with other human beings. For the longest time, it was Satou against the world. He felt utterly alone, and convinced himself he was happier that way. It was so easy to look at the world in a nihilistic way when he never felt anything other than dejection or disgust. He'd received indifference from his parents, mockery from his sister, and ridicule from his fellow students. Looking back on himself now, he'd been the poster child for neglect and self-destructive habits - even those who had reached out to him, he had pushed away. No wonder he had turned out twisted, so obsessed with control. Satou understands most of how he works and why, even subconsciously, due to hours of self-reflection, but he doesn't know how to stop all his routines. Actually, he's rather happy to be broken, most of the time.
Yoshida is an exception to a lot of his regular behavior. Sure, he'd had people who he saw as more than tools before - friends. Yoshida was the first though. He'd shown Satou that there was more than his preconceived notion of cruelty to humans. There was also gallantry, and Satou is not even going to pretend he's not into it. What's the saying? Opposites attract?
There are other reasons they're compatible. Satou finds most of what Yoshida does adorable in its own way, but he loves that Yoshida is pretty much clueless to what he wants, even though it's always written all over his face. It allows Satou to step in and give him direction, which they both enjoy, whether or not Yoshida is willing to admit it. He provides Satou with an outlet for his need to control, while not being a doormat.
In all his rambling thoughts, Satou can usually only come out with the absolute conclusion that Yoshida is perfect, at least in the sense that he's perfectly suited for him. It's a certainty that brings him solace.
Only in the darkest recesses of his mind is Satou willing to admit that he's worried about their relationship. Not in a normal way - for one, he'd know in about two seconds flat if Yoshida was cheating, and for another, he just wouldn't. Satou knows him well enough to know that. It's not a rational worry in anyway, which is what makes him so unwilling to address it, even in his mind. He just feels uncertain. He hates feeling uncertain. It comes out in different ways, heckling Nishida being his favorite, stupid, illogical dreams about Yoshida leaving him being his most hated.
"Oh, Satou, I've had the most marvelous idea!" one of the girls whose name he hasn't bothered to remember says. "They're showing Kiss of Desire at the movies this weekend - how about we go together?"
Satou sighs internally, and opens his mouth to give the familiar excuse. "Actually, I already promised to go to Yoshida's house this weekend." And like clockwork all the girls turn to glare at Yoshida. How have they not just given up yet?
He's expecting this to continue to play out like it usually does, with Yoshida looking delightfully bothered in a way that makes Satou want to tease him further. Instead, he sees Yoshida screwing up his face, like he would before a fight. One of the girls says, "What makes you think you have the right to hog Satou all to yourself, huh midget?" In response, Yoshida does not offer any of his usually protestations - he just looks straight into Satou's eyes, like he's trying to say something.
What does he mean? He's been more and more willing to admit their relationship lately - he'd told his parents. (It had somehow actually been... fun to go over to his house as his boyfriend and talk to his parents. They'd been accepting. He'd never really felt that kind of familial glow before.) Is Yoshida finally willing to be honest about them being together? Satou's heart skips a beat. He nods slightly at Yoshida, who nods back.
Ignoring the throng of angry girls, Yoshida walks right over to him, pulls him down, and plants a kiss on his lips, then glares at the crowd defiantly. And Satou almost can't breathe, for some reason.
"Do you have a problem with that?" Yoshida says. No one says anything. "Good." Then he links his hand into Satou's and walks toward their next class.
"That's that over with," Yoshida says to him with a smile.
"Yeah," Satou returns.
"So go on," his boyfriend says. "Do your thing."
"What thing?"
"You know, your weird possessive thing." Yoshida rolls his eyes. "Whatever that is. You can do it in the open now - I don't mind."
"No," Satou says, even surprising himself. "I don't think I need to, anymore." He squeezes Yoshida's hand and then lets go so he can loop his arm around him. "Just this is good."
Yoshida leans his head against him a little, which is more than he'll normally do in private without being coaxed. "Okay."
They walk to class together, Satou contemplating that somethings in life are steady and permanent. Though he still wants to leave bite marks all up and down Yoshida's body.
AN/ I really loved writing all of these, and I hope I did a good job of capturing the voice of each character. The hardest one for me was probably Satou. His worldview was easy because I essentially just borrowed from my own (I'm lazy) and then added world-weariness, but I am decidedly not a sadist (more of the M if you catch my drift). So that may have not been too genuine. Sorry about that.
I may write a sequel because there are a few more POVs I'd like to explore (this author is very good at quickly creating interesting characters). I'd love to try out one or both of the Nozawa twins, or Torachin and Yamanaka, or Inoue, or... You get the point.