The Rise And Fall

There were times when Tohma Seguchi wished he had never signed Bad Luck. The band had nearly wrecked his company's reputation and many times almost killed the ones he loved. After all those years of trying to protect Eiri, he could now see that Eiri had never been so happy. Shuichi's departure was not a popular move, and even Touma himself questioned how Bad Luck could even work without Shuichi.

On the other hand, Shuichi's departure was also a convenience. After Jun Diamond released his album, Tohma began to feel that he would be best suited in a band instead of a solo artist. Tohma considered himself lucky to be a head judge in the talent show contest, Sinnoh Idol and he felt the public had chosen the right winner, as Jun was clearly the most talented.

Jun had made it clear that he was a massive fan of Bad Luck. Ever since the moment that Tohma laid eyes on him, he could tell that Shuichi Shindou had influenced his style, voice and personality. It was safe to say that he saw a bit of Shuichi in Jun. Despite all the fame thrown at him, Jun remained the same. Tohma even took the time to make Jun work with the best producers, the best song writers and he, Tohma Seguchi was his manager. As predicted, Jun's first album was a huge success but overtime he becan to notice that something was missing.

To Tohma's surprise, Ryuichi never understood the hype for Jun. Even though Jun and Ryuichi both shared excitement for Bad Luck's new album, Tohma had a feeling that Serious Buisness was going to be Bad Luck's last album. Eiri had filed for a divorce and Shuichi had come to the studio livid and hungry for revenge. To make matters worse, Yamato and Klavier grassed Eiri up over Taki's dead body. Mr. Sakano's nervous breakdowns had led him to hospital, so it was one man down in NG Records.

The whole of NG Records was close to collapsing. Everything was focused around Bad Luck and there was no time to promote any other act. Tohma wanted to drop Bad Luck because it was no longer the band he used to know. Tohma wasn't angry, he was just disappointed even though Tohma saw it coming a long time ago. But he had to go with his head just once. Dropping Bad Luck would have been a foolish decision financially.

Eiri's trial brought Tohma to tears. He didn't know weather to hate or respect Shuichi for his outrageous and desperate ways to protect Yuki. Klavier had been spying on N-G Records the whole time. Eiri was sentenced to life in jail. Tohma was determined to get him out. He didn't care how much it took, but Eiri was one of the best friends Tohma ever had.

Bad Luck's new single, Vanity came out. S E X X X Y remained on top, but Tohma thought the song was overrated. NG Records and Bad Luck had much better material than that sexual electronic trash. Shuichi had tried to kick Klavier out of the band, but Tohma thought that the punishment wasn't sufficient. Tohma wanted to punish Klavier, Matt and Shuichi slowly and hope for Serious Business to flop so he could have a valid reason to drop them. So with Bad Luck still in tact, Tohma demanded that Bad Luck remained as busy as possible. Made them outwork themselves. Bad Luck's manager, K was only happy to oblige.

Shuichi was the one that was hurt from Tohma's revenge plan. Shuichi chose to skip work to visit Eiri and beg for him to appeal. One day Yamato came into work and Klavier and Shuichi were nowhere to be found. Klavier was called into a meeting in court, they discovered he planted fake evidence that would ensure that Eiri would be locked up. Klavier was never allowed to work in law again.

Klavier and Shuichi came into work at the same time, but the two of them didn't speak. When the pair of them saw Yamato the atmosphere tightened. Which was when that fateful argument occurred. Not only did Bad Luck lose their most important member, but Klavier was also stripped from his true passion, law. Shuichi's attempted suicide happened on the same day Eiri was released from prison.

Tohma could hear every word said in that argument between the band. It was absurd what Yamato and Klavier were saying about Eiri. Perhaps Shuichi provoked Eiri to be aggressive, but abusive was ridiculous.

"Eiri deserves to rot in prison!"

Tohma's stomach churned in disgust. No wonder Shuichi didn't want to come into work with Yamato and Klavier sprouting rubbish about him. Tohma knew that Eiri had killed Taki and his tutor, but he knew that Eiri would never have harmed Shuichi on purpose. Eiri was perhaps drunk when he attacked Shuichi. It might have been just an argument which made Shuichi feel so bad that he had the urge to harm himself. Tohma had no idea what was going on, but he wish he could so he could make Eiri feel better.

K marched into Tohma's office. "So all this time you've been trying to get Shuichi out so you can replace him with him with Jun."

"That's a scandalous accusation Mr. K," Tohma told K. "... I love it."

"Don't you play innocent with me," K barked. "You've always going on and on about how amazing Jun is and now all of a sudden you want him in a band. That band is Bad Luck!"

"Well if you're so sure I planned this, why don't you bring Jun, Yamato and Klavier into a studio together."

"Everything is going to be fine in the end," K promised. "Bad Luck will still be the best band in the world."

Honestly, Tohma never thought about Jun being the new singer in Bad Luck. He was hoping to form a new group with Jun, not another Bad Luck line up. Tohma was still angry with Yamato and Klavier for what they said about Eiri, but perhaps they might learn to think before they say something outrageous again.

Overtime, Tohma began to like the new line-up of Bad Luck. They were the breathe of fresh air that they needed. He thought Serious Business sounded much better with Jun, then it did with Shuichi. The next two albums, Leather Ink and Heartcore were very interesting albums. The symphonic rock in Leather Ink was clearly inspired by the fantasy and vocal harmonies on Homeless Fairies. Heartcore returned to Bad Luck's old routes and an odd jazz ballad.

Tohma thought that Shuichi's new album being based on Eiri's new novel was a clever idea. He heard people say that it was too late for Shuichi to even bother making a solo album, but Tohma thought it was the perfect time to make a solo album. Hiro and Beyond Indulgence were working on a new album. Suguru was busy touring as a solo artist. Bad Luck were about to take a hiatus. Shuichi had never been in a better mental shape since his nervous breakdown.

Eiri was happy with Shuichi again. And Eiri's happiness was Tohma's number one priority.