To Hold a Lily.
Author's Note: This story follows an American and takes place in Japan, so there's two languages to compete with. For the purposes of this, dialogue in Japanese will be italicised.
Big Al was sat down in the first class compartment on flight from Los Angeles to Tokyo. He hated flying. He ran his fingers through his brown hair, flecked with gray at the temples and he thought about what lay ahead of him. After the success of his recent cover version of Kamui Gakupo's number one hit single, "Dancing Samurai", his popularity in Japan had flourished and he had agreed to do a tour of Japan, starting in Tokyo.
His bright yellow eyes gazed out of the window; he was lost in a daydream. The flight attendant came over to see if he needed anything, but he waved her away. He hated flying so much. He was wearing a bright red shirt and baggy grey trousers and felt a little out of place with all the businessmen around him in their smart suits and polished shoes, one of which being his manager, Paul.
"So, where we headed again?" Al said to Paul, without taking his eyes away from the window.
"Japan" Paul replied without lifting his gaze from the papers in front of him. Paul looked every part the manager, sharp gray suit, slicked back jet-black hair and a face that never seemed to be without a pair of sunglasses, even on a plane.
"I KNOW THAT" Al snapped, leaning over towards Paul and baring his unusually large canines at him. Paul knew Al was going to do that, but still ended up flinching anyways. Al knew he wasn't going to get much more out of Paul, so slumped back into his chair.
Al was usually a pretty cheerful guy and his low mood today was out of character for the giant singer; in fact he was actually pretty glad to be getting out of the country. He thought back of his childhood sweetheart, sweet Ann that he was leaving behind.
"I'm leaving you" her words rang around his head. He thought back to her big blue eyes on that pretty face and her short curly blonde hair, her constant smile and the songs they used to sing together up on that hill back in their home town in Tennessee. He never thought she'd leave him, let alone believe that it would hurt him this much. Normally girls love dating rock stars, but she was a shy girl and couldn't bear the limelight that Al's sudden rise to fame had brought them.
"You really miss her, huh big guy?" Paul looked at Al over his sunglasses, his voice a tone of consolation this time.
"Yeah, we were together for a while, never saw it coming" Al's husky voice fell to almost a whisper and he began to gaze out of the window again. He studied the clouds and imagined himself and Ann frolicking happily through them like they used to run through piles of leaves in autumn when they were kids. Damn it he thought to himself. I just can't stop thinking about her. Paul seemed to read his thoughts and decided to change the subject.
"Have you been to Japan before?
"Yeah, two or three times, not many happy memories though"
"You speak any Japanese?"
"Yeah, not much mind, but enough to sing a song and get a beer; I do sound kind of rough when I speak Japanese though." Al lied. He was almost fluent in Japanese, but didn't like to make a big deal of it. But the change in topic seemed to ease him up a little, so Paul carried on.
"It seems like you've been assigned a supporting artist by the event organisers"
"Oh?" Al sneered with mock intrigue,
"A young Japanese artist by the name of Lily"
"Never heard of her." Great, thought Al, a gig in a new country and a nobody supporting me. Al fell silent again.
"No, I'll admit, I can't say I know anything about her either" Paul went on "She's pretty new on the scene", but Al wasn't listening. His eyes were closed and he was thinking about her again, sweet Ann, that slim waist, those blue eyes; Paul took a look at the daydreamer, sighed and pushed his sunglasses back up the bridge of his nose, then walloped Al on the head, Al recoiled and snarled at him, bearing his fangs at him again
"Snap out of it Al, I need your focus" Paul chastised him and pulled out some papers that had been given to him by the tour organisers and began talking to Al about his upcoming gigs. Al hated business talk so ended up zoning out and eventually he stopped paying attention to Paul and began running his thumb and forefinger over his right fang, as he was prone to do when he was bored.
The flight touched down at Tokyo airport and as the plane taxied Al began practising his fake smile for the cameras that would be invariably waiting for him in the airport; I at least shouldn't look depressed he thought to himself. He checked himself for a pen and realising he didn't have one, reached over and took one out of Paul's top pocket. Paul looked at him and rolled his eyes, he knew he wanted to make sure he could sign autographs, so Paul didn't make a scene. When the plane came to a halt, Al stood up, reached into the overhead locker and grabbed his trademark white and red leather racing jacket with the red "Power-FX" armband, (the signature of his record label), as well as his black flight bag which he put on the floor while he threw his jacket on.
It was a warm spring day in Tokyo and cloud cover blocking out the sun, but that still didn't convince Paul to take his sunglasses off. The two marched down the stairs at the entrance to the plane, bags in tow, and then climbed onto the bus that would take them to the terminal.
"You ready for this Al?" Paul checked in with him.
"Will a 'No' be accepted?" Al tried
"Not a chance" and with that Paul hurried him through the duty free section and out into the terminal.