Author's Notes: I just couldn't help myself. After watching the 3 UpUpDownDown episodes with Shinsuke and Asuka, I had to write my take on it into my series. Honestly why WWE doesn't put Shinsuke and Asuka together as a team is beyond me. Anyways if you want to watch those episodes, you can find them on the UpUpDownDown YouTube channel.
Words in italics = thoughts
Words in Bold = Emphasis on words
Quotes in regular text = spoken Japanese
Quotes in italic text = spoken English
Translation notes (in case it wasn't already obvious): Wate - In Kansai-ben or Asuka's Osaka dialect this means "I". Shinsuke on the other hand says "Watashi" in his "regular Japanese". Wate and Watashi mean the same though.
Nee - "Older sister"
Asuka and Shinsuke were sitting together in catering before a house show. Usually, they sat amongst groups so that people didn't start becoming suspicious but currently there weren't too many others in the vicinity for them to really care. So they decided to try and blend into the background. So far it seemed to be working.
"I've been giving it some thought," Shinsuke started after finishing off a bite of his sandwich.
Asuka blinked in confusion as she stabbed at her salad. "Thought about what?"
"About when we go to the beach," he replied. "I didn't just want you to sit on the beach while Sin Cara and I had all the fun in the water, so we put our heads together and thought that maybe teaching you to boogie board would be a much safer alternative to surfing."
She chewed her food thoughtfully, considering his offer. Part of her wanted to enjoy the ocean, not just be someone to be coddled or to sit on the beach like a piece of eye candy. But another part of her worried about a repeat of last time, even if it was unlikely for lightning to strike twice.
"That is, of course…if you're comfortable with that," Shinsuke added rapidly, taking her silence as a negative towards that idea. "I mean you could paddle board or do whatever you like."
"You're cute when you ramble." She laughed at the contrast between the flush of his cheeks and his expression of mild irritation. "I agree to try it."
His face shifted to complete seriousness. "Are you sure?"
Asuka's eyes met his, drinking in the depths of earnest swirling within his gaze. She became more certain of her answer. "Even if I can't trust myself, I know I can trust you."
One of Shinsuke's rare smiles of unbridled fondness graced his lips and her heart began to race in response. "You honor me," he said.
Their hands seemed to move in unison, fingers inching closer and closer to each from other across the table.
"Shin! Asuka!" called a boisterous voice.
In tandem, their hands darted away from their intended goal to instead rest safely in their respective laps, just in time to keep Xavier Woods from seeing their secret moment of intimacy.
"Hi~" she greeted the other man with an enthusiastic wave.
Shinsuke gave a more subdued "Hey."
Xavier pulled up a chair to sit at the end of their table. "Good thing I found you two together!"
"Why is that?" her boyfriend asked, sounding mildly on edge.
"I know it's pretty short notice," Woods said sheepishly. "But I was just getting ready to shoot an episode of UpUpDownDown and the fans have been requesting to see you guys on an episode. So I figured, why not have you both on the same episode?"
Asuka faced Shinsuke at the exact moment he chose to turn his attention from Xavier to her, each looking to the other for a decision.
"We could wait until after your matches or we could do this another time. No rush," said Xavier.
"There is still some time before the show starts," Shinsuke shrugged. "That is if Asuka agrees."
"Sounds fun." She nodded her head.
"Excellent!" Xavier clapped his hands in excitement. "I'll allow you two to finish your meals. I'll just be over in that room over there when you guys are ready." He pointed the middle door of three near catering.
Once the bard of New Day took his leave of them, Asuka asked, "Think that was a good idea?" Not only would they have to try and hide their status from Xavier, but also the potentially millions of fans that might watch.
"We'll soon find out," Shinsuke replied, leaning back in his chair and folding his arms across his chest.
"Let's just play it cool." She mirrored his pose.
"Agreed."
...
"So since you like Michael Jackson so much, Shinsuke, I dug through my vast gaming archives and found Michael Jackson's Moonwalker," Xavier announced proudly as she and Shinsuke settled into their seats, silently deciding to have their host strategically placed between them. "Have you played it before?"
"Actually no," Shinsuke admitted, sounding a little apologetic.
"Really?" The other man looked surprised. "No matter, it's pretty easy to figure out. Anyway, I wanted to really embrace other cultures in this episode, so I wrote down my questions in Japanese. I hope they are correct translations."
Asuka felt a big weight lift off her shoulders upon hearing that. She had been worried after Xavier mentioned he would be questioning them. "Ohh nice!" she gleefully exclaimed. "We will help with your Japanese. Right Nakamura-san?"
Shinsuke gave a nod as he worked on learning the game. It was retro and the controls were quite uncomplicated so he seemed to be picking it up fast.
"Great, mutually beneficial!" Woods concurred. "Well, you guys ready to start?"
"I think so," Shinsuke said.
"I am ready."
The cameras started rolling and Xavier started the episode off with his standard kick off phrase before introducing himself and his guests. Afterward, Xavier explained that the episode would be in Japanese. Shinsuke began by immediately pointing out that his Japanese was different compared to hers.
Asuka wasn't sure if her boyfriend was merely being informational or if he were teasing her, but she let it slide. For now.
They picked nicknames, hers being quite straight forward whereas Shin's held a funny little story behind it, and it was nice to learn a new little tidbit about him.
The first few questions Xavier asked, he did well enough in his gaijin accent for both her and Shinsuke to understand without issue. First, they talked about their favorite video games growing up. Hers had been Metroid whereas his had been Fire Pro Wrestling. Sometimes Asuka deferred to Shinsuke to translate her responses when she felt she couldn't express herself properly in English.
When Shinsuke referred to her as "Wate-nee" instead of "Asuka-chan" she knew that he had to be teasing her about her Kansai dialect; as well getting back at her for labeling him her big brother in order to get Carmella off her back. Maybe it was a good move on his part, calling her a sibling, but at the same time, it could give people the wrong idea.
Carmella already insinuated that Asuka's "brotherly affection" towards Shinsuke meant that he still appeared available. And the Statin Island native had the gall to make moves on him. Asuka really didn't need him adding fuel to that fire by referring to her as his sister. Who knows who might start suddenly flirting with her? Plus the smug bastard had the nerve to call her his "older sister." That was too much.
So for the time being - until she could give him a proper scolding - she waved a dismissive hand his way and insisted on "Asuka-chan."
She then went on describing for Shinsuke how she was contacted by an editor for a video game magazine asking for her to write a review column for some Xbox games. It was going fine until the rare moment where her dialect confused even Shinsuke popped up. He teasingly accused her of switching languages.
Maybe she was more nervous than she thought she'd be. Being in the same room as Shinsuke while trying to maintain the secrecy of their relationship to not only Xavier but their fans wasn't easy. Perhaps her nervousness had affected speech, messing with her dialect.
Xavier was the one to catch on to the word "Twitter" first, thankfully saving her from further embarrassment. She finished speaking and wiped her sweaty palms on her pants.
Shinsuke appeared unflustered by comparison and went on to explain everything in English in a perfectly steady voice, and all while continuing to play the video game to boot.
Damn man…she thought, envious of his composure.
Next Xavier brought up Shinsuke's addiction to Candy Crush, to which Shinsuke described how it had taken over his life so much that when he reset the clock in order to play more, he had been unable to rent a car or make a hotel reservation on his phone while on the road.
Again Asuka was grateful Xavier's attention was more focused on Shinsuke so that he didn't see the blushy smile overtaking her face at listening to the familiar story. Hopefully, no one else who might watch later would notice either.
The next question was addressed to her and in Japanese, though this time Xavier had some problems with the pronunciation. Shinsuke stepped in and took a look at the translation.
Her boyfriend then feigned the best look of surprise, pretending to not know of her past in figure skating. She had mentioned before that she ice skated and even pursued figure skating, but she had not told him at what age or for how long. Another minor piece to the puzzle that was her life granted to Shinsuke.
Xavier looked a little disappointed that she hadn't been the great figure skating champion he believed she was when he had researched her. She decided to throw him a bone and tell that she had been in fact the best in her class for that one year she had done figure skating, as well as her story of how she tried picking it up again only to badly injure her knee. No more figure skating for her after that.
On the topic of things nobody knew about in regards to Shinsuke, he talked about doodling, which Asuka already knew of. For her part, she remained silent and listened, for fear of coming off as disingenuous if she pretended to be astonished by this information. Her noh mask was strong otherwise, but around Shinsuke, it tended to prove useless in hiding her emotions. However, she too learned a new bit of information about her man as he detailed that he sold designs he made to a clothing company as a side job.
It got Asuka thinking about how the two of them could work in a sort of collaboration considering their artistic backgrounds. But she pushed it aside for a later discussion.
Xavier wrapped up the taping of the episode by first leaving their Twitter handles – she had to once again rebuke Shinsuke for using the term "Wata-nee" – then their host read a parting speech written in Japanese, with some small help from Shinsuke in pronunciation. Though they both got lost when he said "Keep it tight" in their tongue. It was a phrase that just wasn't used in their culture.
Though she had been a little nervous of how fans would see her English and her usage of Japanese the majority of the time, as well as keeping herself under control around Shin, she truly had a great time on the show and Xavier made her feel welcome and important. She resolved herself to talk more about video games with him and appear on more episodes.
"Hey, while you guys are here already, would you two like to try out this cool VR game?" Xavier asked as they readied to leave his makeshift gaming room.
"VR?" Asuka asked.
"Like virtual reality?" Shinsuke supplied.
"Yes!" Xavier clapped. "It's called Superhot. It's this first-person-shooter slash fighting game."
Shinsuke looked down at Asuka. "What do you think?"
"Why do you always ask my permission?" She said in Japanese, trying not to blush.
"Just because," was the only response she got out of her boyfriend.
She turned to Xavier and nodded. "He can play first," she grinned, gesturing to Shinsuke as though he were a sacrificial lamb.
"Gee Thanks, Wata-nee," he grumbled without any heat behind it.
"Would you cut that out?!"
"Maybe later," he goaded. He winked at her while Xavier was busy setting up the VR system. "Much later."
Asuka crossed her arms. "Keep it up and there won't be a later for you."
"What was that? I couldn't understand, Wata-nee."
"Ohh, you're gonna get it!"
Shinsuke gave her a cheeky fox-grin but said nothing.
Once Shinsuke was strapped into the VR headset and the finger controllers, he began the game immediately. Asuka couldn't help the giggles that escaped as she watched him in the unfamiliar gear, the hilarity growing as she and Xavier had to guide him back into the frame of the camera.
Finally, they got him situated.
She thought standing next to Shinsuke would curb him from drifting off camera again. That proved a small mistake on her part.
Maybe it was the shock of hearing her boyfriend curse in English for the first time or maybe she had momentarily forgotten where she was and who was watching. Whichever was the case, she barely came back to herself in time to avoid Shinsuke's grabby hand from making contact with her ass.
She and Xavier laughed it off, taking it as a happy accident – as Shinsuke couldn't quite know where she was located and the game required him to fight virtual opponents with either his fists or by grabbing objects – Asuka believed she was safe staying where she was. Her spot also provided a clear view of the screen displaying what Shinsuke saw through the VR headset.
The second time Shin almost touched her; she had been busy being watching on as he punched his opponents in the nuts. By the third time, she realized she had to keep on her toes to evade an inadvertent grope.
Xavier, on the other hand, sounded greatly amused when he said, "I love virtual reality."
The fourth or fifth time –honestly she lost count – he reached out first towards her chest, then his hand lowered near the front of her pants. Asuka decided something had to be done before her blush gave her away.
"Excuse you, you almost touched me," she warned in their language, hoping her boyfriend got the hint.
When he said nothing and continued facing her, she began to wonder if he wasn't somehow tormenting her on purpose. He continued on apparently too caught up in the game, so she made the executive decision to stand out of his range of motion.
Only then was she able to watch him play without worrying about accidentally copping a feel. For the little time he had to prepare for the game, Shinsuke was quite good with the hand-eye coordination and avoiding oncoming bullets. He looked kind of like a ninja executing a mission, attacking from all angles and with multiple weapons. Even when he died, he made it look good.
After Shinsuke finished playing, Asuka returned to his side. "You might want to watch it, Shin," she said covertly.
"What are you talking about?" he asked.
So he hadn't been aware of his idle hands.
"Your pervy hands," she clarified, "I don't know how many time you almost touched me, and kind of inappropriately…"
His ears began to turn pink. "You're kidding?"
"No," she replied, watching the pink travel onto his cheeks. "We need to play this cool, remember?"
"Right…play it cool," he repeated.
"Giving Asuka some tips?" Xavier popped in as Shin handed the VR system over to her.
"Oh yes, of course," Shinsuke lied smoothly, then returned to Japanese to describe for her how the controls and gameplay worked.
Asuka disregarded their earlier talk of handy-ness in favor of gearing herself up with the finger controllers. She was eager to have her shot at the game after watching Shinsuke.
The first level involved punching or attacking three enemies with some objects found in the room.
"Throw it," Shinsuke encouraged, once she got a grip on handling the objects. His voice came from some distance across the room telling her she was in no danger of making a fool of herself with her own hands.
She threw the object, making a little sound effect. "Ohh okay," she said, happy that her throw hit one of the marks. She could work with that.
Then she proceeded to realize that as she moved around the little virtual reality room, it caused her opponents to move in on her. "This is different," she remarked in Japanese as she became used to the VR.
"Yes, it is," Shinsuke replied.
Suddenly feeling cornered she ducked then unleashed a roundhouse kick before she remembered that kicking would have no effect in the game.
She did get some cheers from Shin and Xavier for it though.
The next few moments she was caught up in frantic excitement as she threw all the objects at her disposal at her enemies, causing the two men in the room to burst into laughter. There was still one left though and nothing left to throw.
"Oh, you can punch," Xavier said.
"Punch!" she thrust out with her fist, but it came up short of the target. "Punch, punch!" Her fists hit the target, but she was so caught up in the moment that she kept punching and punching until the VR headset began slipping down her face.
After adjusting the headset, she continued on to the next level.
Unlike Shinsuke, she died within the first few moments and was returned to the first level. She smashed through to level two once more with the help of a hammer. Her first comfortable instinct was to keep doing what she was good at, and that was throwing things. However, with multiple opponents with guns in the distance, that strategy proved hard. She attempted a haphazard Matrix dodge but was hit anyway.
Once again back to level one. The first two targets went down easily, but the third gave her a bit of a startle, the fist flying at her nearly hitting home, but she struck first.
Back on level two.
"Are you gonna keep throwing things at them?" Shinsuke asked.
"If I keep doing it enough, it will work out eventually, so yeah."
The hammer she threw landed back on the table in front of her as though proving his point.
Asuka had little time to pout at her misfortune, shifting sideways with a to evade another bullet. She righted her self only to have to lean back once more so that she was missed again.
She picked up the gun this time and one of her rounds would have struck one of her targets had one of them not shot her first.
This game was intense!
Back on level one, she thought she had a hang of it, but learned the faster she moved, the faster the targets moved. She freaked out a little, going berserk with the hammer; striking until she was sure the last target was dead.
Again on level two, she faced a hail of bullets.
She bent down to the floor behind the virtual table to dodge them. "It is scary!" she cried. Surely she looked silly, but after picking up the gun and using the table for cover, she managed to kill the two targets on the room's lower level.
"Yay!" she shouted in triumph.
"Okay, on your right," Xavier advised.
She turned and tried to hit the last target by throwing the objects on the table while also trying to keep from being shot. This resulted in her crashing into a very real object in the room they were playing the game in.
Both Xavier and Shinsuke laughed at her misfortune, and it became clear that it was Xavier that helped her away from the piece of furniture.
Asuka let out another cry as she tried to fend off the last combatant, wildly throwing whatever virtual objects were left on the table.
In a soothing voice, Shinsuke attempted to calm her down. "Slow down, play it cool."
By contrast, Xavier was shouting out, "Just punch him!"
Between Shinsuke's words, Xavier's yelling, and her own adrenaline, it wasn't the best combination, and finally, she was done in again.
And yet she couldn't stop her laughter, even if it was born from tension and exhilaration.
"We'll go one more try," Xavier said once he calmed down.
"Okay," she agreed and booted up the first level, beating it within seconds and after letting out her pent up energy on the third and last enemy.
Her nemesis, the second level appeared and she grabbed the gun first and dropped down to the floor, taking out one target before her clip ran out. She ditched the empty gun and picked up some bottles to throw at the remaining two gun-wielding opponents. But in the end, not even the cover of the virtual table could save her and she was picked off while peeking over it.
Asuka knew she was not as good at Superhot as Ninja Nakamura and sometimes she got scared. However, her giggles were uncontrollable as she took off the VR headset. She had a blast.
Her gaze swept briefly over to Shinsuke. He looked to have taken her earlier advice to heart, staying clear of her as much as he could and keeping both arms crossed behind his back for good measure. But the subtle smile he gave her when their eyes met spoke volumes to his pleasure at watching her have the time of her life.
At the very end of the recording, Xavier approached them and talked about the game in depth and the many different ways it could be played. Asuka took silent note on the systems it could be played on. She was curious about getting it for herself so she could get better at it, but also because Shinsuke seemed to have enjoyed it too.
"That was fun don't you think!" she said happily once they left the room.
"If you mean watching you flail about the room, then yes, I had fun." he grinned.
"Oh yeah? Well, you looked like a pervert with your grabby hands."
"You're probably the only that thought that," he countered, then suddenly looked mildly doubtful of his own words. "Right? I mean I couldn't see anything…it's not like I was meaning to try and touch you. I'm sure anyone would understand that."
"Calm down, I'm sure we played it cool enough," she said reassuringly. "Besides, those clips might even be cut out of the final episode."
"Think so?"
"Yeah most likely." Asuka nodded, not sure whether she was saying it more for his benefit or her own.
Author's Notes: Again I couldn't help it, between their dynamic in the first episode and then Shin's grabby hands in the second. I had to write something.
Worthy of noting: Asuka is about a year or so younger than Shinsuke, so him calling her "older sister" had to be some sort of playful jab. Being that Asuka called him her "older brother" in the previous fic in this series, I figured I would build on that, having him being a cheeky little shit.
I tried translating some of their spoken Japanese, but only managed a few, so most of what's being said in Japanese during Asuka and Shin's VR episodes are my guesses or stuff I wanted them to say for the benefit of the fic and the series. All I know is Asuka said "So scary" at one point in her episode. According to Google translate on my phone (which as been fairly good at translating written Japanese) she said seemed to say something like "This is different" (probably referring to playing VR) and Shinsuke agrees with her. After that the Google translations became so unreliable (changing with each time I tried translating that I stopped trusting it). I had a lot of fun taking creative liberties with this anyway and I hope any who reads this enjoys it too.