Chapter 2

The phone rang annoyingly until Yuki reached over to answer it.

"Hello?" he asked gruffly.

"Good morning, Mr. Eiri! This is your wake up call." A cheerful voice answered.

"Thank you." He started to hang up.

"Mr. Eiri?" the voice called.

"Yes?""You have a package from a Shuichi Shindou. Shall I send it up?"

"Yes, thank you." Yuki hung up. What in the world would that brat be sending me? He got up and prepared for another day of endless signing. He was buttoning his shirt when there was a knock on the door. He walked over, opened it, and found a hotel worker holding a box.

"This is for you, Mr. Eiri." He said. Eiri nodded, took the box, and tipped him. He closed the door and pulled out a pocket knife. He set down the box and took the letter off that was attached. He slit the sides of the box and opened it. There, inside, were several cartons of his favorite brand of Japanese cigarettes. He opened the letter and started to read Shuichi's chicken scratch.

Hey Yuki,

I think everyone in Japan saw your reaction on TV yesterday, so I went down to the store and bought you some cigarettes. Call me if you need anything else.

Love,

Shuichi

The brat actually did something useful for once. He picked up a carton of cigarettes and found a box of lighter fluid. Yuki smirked. This was too smart for Shuichi. He walked over to the phone and dialed his apartment number.

"Hello, you've reached the Eiri and Shindou residence. Yuki's probably stuck in his office typing and I'm probably at the studio. Leave a message and I'll probably be the one getting back to you. I'm not making any promises though." Yuki hung up before the beep sounded. He had already gone to work. Yuki finished getting ready while making a mental note to call back later. The little twerp was probably wrecking his apartment. Someone had to check up on him. He sighed and walked out the door, headed for another tiring day.

Shuichi leaned against the back of the elevator and watched the numbers rise as he rode upward to the studio. Yuki hadn't called him, but he was pretty sure the package got there this morning. The doors opened and Shuichi slowly walked towards the studio. He was almost pummeled into the ground when Fujisaki and Hiro ran out fighting.

"You've had a guitar solo in every song! Give me a chance, will ya?" Fujisaki yelled as he swung at Hiro.

"No! I work hard for those solos!" he said as he swung back. Shuichi walked in between both of them and pushed them to the ground. He went inside the studio and closed the door behind him. Fujisaki and Hiro started at the closed door.

"What's with him?" Fujisaki asked. He got up off the ground and gave Hiro a hand.

"No clue." He said as Fujisaki pulled him up. They went inside and saw Shuichi playing on the keyboard. He had dragged in beside the synthesizer and was testing something. Fujisaki stormed over.

"Hey! You're supposed to focus on the singing, remember? That's why I was hired." He said and pulled the keyboard back to its original position.

"I'm sorry. I didn't know when you two babies would be done fighting. Did you ever take the time to think of the fact that you two could be the first to do a guitar-keyboard duet in our genre of music? Work together and stop whining!" Shuichi said and walked over to his notepad.

"I wrote a new song. You can work with it." He said and threw the pad at Fujisaki. He nodded and looked at Hiro.

"Shall we?" Hiro nodded and picked up the guitar. They started working. They went through a lot of different intros before Shuichi picked one that he could work with. Soon they were going through their sixth practice of the new song when Sakano and K walked in.

"Good Morning!" K said as he twirled a Magnum on his finger. Shuichi sighed.

"I'd appreciate it if you stopped doing that. I'd like it if my vocal chords weren't shot out, thank you." He said and motioned for Hiro and Fujisaki to start again. K pulled the plugs on Hiro's amp and Fujisaki's keyboard.

"I have an announcement to make!" He said. The three members of Bad Luck looked at him with the most boring look you've ever seen.

"We are going to Canada!" he said. Shuichi sighed.

"No." K cocked his gun.

"Yes."

"I said no. I am not going to Canada." Shuichi said and knocked the gun away from his head. He walked out of the room. K scratched his head.

"What's his problem?" he asked. Hiro and Fujisaki shrugged. Hiro placed his guitar down on its stand and walked out after Shuichi. He found him at the drink machine.

"What's up, Shu? You seem different. Have another fight with Yuki?" Hiro asked. Shuichi shook his head and punched a couple of buttons. His drink came out and he sat down on a bench beside the machine.

"No. Yuki isn't even in Japan. He's on tour." Shuichi said and opened his drink.

"Ah, so it's a case of missing Yuki. Where is he? China? America?" Hiro asked and sat down beside him. Shuichi shook his head.

"He's in Canada." Shuichi replied before he downed his drink. Hiro cocked an eyebrow in confusion.

"Then why don't you want to go to Canada?" he asked. Shuichi sighed.

"I promised him I would stay here. I wanted to go with him, but he wanted me to stay here, so I promised him that I would stay in Japan." He said. He got up and threw his can away.

"So? K is making up go. Isn't that different than following him?" Hiro asked. Shuichi started to walk back to the studio. Hiro followed.

"I guess so, but I still want to keep my word. I don't want to make Yuki angry." He said as they entered the studio. K was walking back and forth going on about the Canadian tour.

"It's just what we need. We have extremely high ratings in Canada and if you release a new song there, the ratings will go up!" Shuichi sat down.

"I thought I said I wasn't going to Canada." He said, glaring at K. K stopped pacing and turned to Shuichi.

"Everything is already prepared. All the stages, hotel rooms and transportation are reserved. We can't turn back now." He said.

"When was this decided?" Shuichi asked. K scratched his head.

"Two weeks ago I think." He said. Shuichi stood up, turning over his chair in anger.

"Two weeks ago! How could you decide something as important as a tour without asking me first?" He said and walked out. He headed for the elevator and steamed as he waited for the doors to open.

"Shuichi-san! Why don't you want to go on tour? I thought you always wanted to tour in a foreign country." K called after him. Shuichi walked into the elevator and stared at K as the doors closed.