Making the Band
Pales Megami (Lady_Ako@hotmail.com)
Diclaimer: Usual disclaimers apply. R/R, please ^_^
Chapter Three
~The name of the company is NG Studios.~
Daisuke felt... lost. Betrayed. He didn't want to believe it, but his brain was screaming that he had to. Manx must be mistaken-- right? Kritiker must have the wrong company-- right? NG Studios... He shook his head. Dark had been unusually quiet, of which Daisuke was glad. The two hadn't talked much since arriving home, the ride courtesy of Kritiker's stretch limo. Daisuke had listlessly dodged his mother's curious inquiries with curt, monosyllabic answers. Thinking her son caught the flu going around, or quite possibly going through some male version of PMS, Emi had left her son alone, shut up in his bedroom.
He picked up a CD case, scratched and dirty with frequent use.
"What the hell is this?" he suddenly blurted out. "It's just... I mean..." Daisuke waved the CD case in the air. "She made a mistake. Kritiker's got the wrong company. Or somebody's playing a really, *really* bad joke on us--"
//Daisuke, shut up and use your head.// Dark's voice held a bite of impatience. //This is *real*, Daisuke, Kritiker have not got the wrong people, and you know it.//
And he did. He really did. He knew it all along. He just didn't want to.
//But you know,// Dark went on, in a much gentler tone, //given the slim chance that this just may be all a fluke, it's our job to sort it out, hey?//
"..."
//Besides. It would be the perfect opportunity to meet a certain pink-haired pop star whose face is plastered all over your wall.//
"..."
//So... you'll do it, right? You're goinna do the mission?//
"..."
//Good.//
*~*~
He wished very much that Aya would put the sword away. Daisuke eyed said sword nervously; who did Aya-san think would attack them in his own *basement*? Oops, not basement-- *secret headquarters*. Daisuke and his fellow soon-to-be band members were assembled there, at Birman's request. She had Manx were going to give them detailed instructions and elaborate more on their bizarre mission. Daisuke had seriously considered skipping out. He would have, too, had not Satoshi showed up at his door to make sure he didn't.
As for the Weiss members, Manx insisted that they attend the meeting as well, to help out. Ken and Omi happily agreed, but Aya simply scowled and savagely jabbed the roses he was arranging into a vase. His bad mood was still present when Daisuke and the others showed up at the door and seemed to have increased since then. Yohji remained indifferent, though he was obviously dismayed at the lack of females in the group. He kept throwing them scandalized looks from his seat in the armchair. Dark swore over and over again to Daisuke, however, that the playboy was "so giving Creepy Bastard pervy looks."
//Well, he *is*. What a pedo.//
/... Shut up./
"Oh, good. You're all here. Sorry we're so late."
They looked up. Birman and Manx had finally arrived, and now took their places at the front of the room. Birman was cradling a large stack of papers, which she placed on the coffee table.
"As you know," she said as she sorted through her papers, "You will be posing as a boyband to infiltrate NG Studios and collect as much information as you can pertaining to the conspiracy. Luckily for you--" She looked pointedly at the Weiss replacements. "--the opening act for Bad Luck's concert unexpectedly canceled. Kritiker has arranged for you boys to fill in," she finished smugly. "It'll be the perfect opportunity to catch Seguchi's attention."
"Excuse me." All heads turned to look at Satoshi. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but according to very reliable sources--" Daisuke felt his face turn red and avoided Satoshi's gaze. "--this concert is scheduled for the twentieth. Next week."
"NEXT WEEK?" spluttered Dark. "You can't expect us to be ready by *next week*! We don't know our songs, our dances, we haven't practiced, we don't know what the fuck we're doing--"
"Oh, it won't be a problem, don't worry," Manx hurriedly interrupted. "It's all here; we've got everything planned out. Your songs are written, your dances choreographed... it'll be fine," she said to eight doubtful faces. "Here, it's all in these packets."
Manx passed out a stapled packet, one for each member. Flipping through it, Daisuke found everything Manx had mentioned, and more: Emergency codes and numbers, tips and guidelines, maps, profiles of both Kritiker and Weiss members, target profiles, band details, and very explicit, detailed mission instructions.
"And here," added Birman, passing out another stack of packets, "Is your song repotoir and choreography. Any questions?"
Krad raised his hand. "I have a question."
"Krad?"
"Why the *fuck* is our band called 'Pathos Missing Starfish'?"
The entire room sweatdropped.
"Eh heh... um..." Manx scratched her head, completely at a loss for words. Yohji, you bastard... You told me you had a brilliant name! "You see..."
"Hey, Dark." Daisuke was peering closely at his packet. "If you abbreviated our band name, it would be--"
"What?! What'd I do?" Yohji yelled as five pairs of eyes glared at him.
"This is never going to work," spat a rather phlemily irate Aya. "It is unfathomable to me as to why Manx and Birman would trust such unruly, ridiculously inept hooligans to a mission as important as this. We should all just accept the mission regardless of personal health factors."
"Oh, Aya-san." Omi smiled and patted the Weiss leader's arm reassuringly. "It'll be *fine*; don't be so silly. Daisuke and the others will do wonderfully, I'm *sure* of it."
"Really." Krad chose this moment to chuck both his packets at Yohji's head.
"Yup; I'm *sure* of it."
*~*~
K showed no sign of annoyanced as he meticulously polished his rifle. In fact, his face gave away no trace of emotion at all. This was extremely worrying for the unfortunate Sakano.
"Tell that to me again," he finally said.
Sakano laughed nervously. "Well, you see--" He was all too aware of the very, *very* big gun in K's hands. "Aucifer... the opening act... they canceled."
"Yes?"
"Um. They canceled."
"Yes?"
"And, um, but-- but we found another band to open for us."
K gave his gun one last loving polish. "You did. And who is this replacement band you found?"
"They're called..." Sakano quickly consulted a sheet of paper. "...Pathos Missing Starfish."
There was a pregnant pause. K mulled over the name, stroking the barrel of his rifle in, for Sakano, the most disturbing way. The manager prayed to every god he could think of that K wouldn't soon be stroking the trigger.
"Excellent!" The American beamed, tossing his mass of blonde ponytail. "Tell them I'm looking forward to hearing them next week."
"You... you approve?"
"Of course. Now, if you'll excuse me." K placed the now gleaming rifle on his desk; he then took out what looked like a magnum-- the kind that looked like it was used to shoot things no smaller than a killer whale. Sakano backed out of the office, slowly, and quietly shut the door behind him.
To be continued...
A/N: Took a while, I know; sorry XP I actually had it all written in my notebook, but never quite got around to typing it up. The ending kind of sucked. I didn't know how to end it without going on and on forever without actually going anywhere, so... yeah. I'd appreciate any feedback at all, so don't hesitate to click that review button ^_- Any song requests you'd like our PMS boys to sing? Provided I can find the lyrics, of course? ^^; Oh-- and before I forget, I apologize profusely to all you Gravi fans out there for my blatant OOC-ness for Sakano and K. As I'm only familiar with the series through internet and manga translations and have never actually seen the series (yet), I do realize they are horribly characterized. _
Pales Megami (Lady_Ako@hotmail.com)
Diclaimer: Usual disclaimers apply. R/R, please ^_^
Chapter Three
~The name of the company is NG Studios.~
Daisuke felt... lost. Betrayed. He didn't want to believe it, but his brain was screaming that he had to. Manx must be mistaken-- right? Kritiker must have the wrong company-- right? NG Studios... He shook his head. Dark had been unusually quiet, of which Daisuke was glad. The two hadn't talked much since arriving home, the ride courtesy of Kritiker's stretch limo. Daisuke had listlessly dodged his mother's curious inquiries with curt, monosyllabic answers. Thinking her son caught the flu going around, or quite possibly going through some male version of PMS, Emi had left her son alone, shut up in his bedroom.
He picked up a CD case, scratched and dirty with frequent use.
"What the hell is this?" he suddenly blurted out. "It's just... I mean..." Daisuke waved the CD case in the air. "She made a mistake. Kritiker's got the wrong company. Or somebody's playing a really, *really* bad joke on us--"
//Daisuke, shut up and use your head.// Dark's voice held a bite of impatience. //This is *real*, Daisuke, Kritiker have not got the wrong people, and you know it.//
And he did. He really did. He knew it all along. He just didn't want to.
//But you know,// Dark went on, in a much gentler tone, //given the slim chance that this just may be all a fluke, it's our job to sort it out, hey?//
"..."
//Besides. It would be the perfect opportunity to meet a certain pink-haired pop star whose face is plastered all over your wall.//
"..."
//So... you'll do it, right? You're goinna do the mission?//
"..."
//Good.//
*~*~
He wished very much that Aya would put the sword away. Daisuke eyed said sword nervously; who did Aya-san think would attack them in his own *basement*? Oops, not basement-- *secret headquarters*. Daisuke and his fellow soon-to-be band members were assembled there, at Birman's request. She had Manx were going to give them detailed instructions and elaborate more on their bizarre mission. Daisuke had seriously considered skipping out. He would have, too, had not Satoshi showed up at his door to make sure he didn't.
As for the Weiss members, Manx insisted that they attend the meeting as well, to help out. Ken and Omi happily agreed, but Aya simply scowled and savagely jabbed the roses he was arranging into a vase. His bad mood was still present when Daisuke and the others showed up at the door and seemed to have increased since then. Yohji remained indifferent, though he was obviously dismayed at the lack of females in the group. He kept throwing them scandalized looks from his seat in the armchair. Dark swore over and over again to Daisuke, however, that the playboy was "so giving Creepy Bastard pervy looks."
//Well, he *is*. What a pedo.//
/... Shut up./
"Oh, good. You're all here. Sorry we're so late."
They looked up. Birman and Manx had finally arrived, and now took their places at the front of the room. Birman was cradling a large stack of papers, which she placed on the coffee table.
"As you know," she said as she sorted through her papers, "You will be posing as a boyband to infiltrate NG Studios and collect as much information as you can pertaining to the conspiracy. Luckily for you--" She looked pointedly at the Weiss replacements. "--the opening act for Bad Luck's concert unexpectedly canceled. Kritiker has arranged for you boys to fill in," she finished smugly. "It'll be the perfect opportunity to catch Seguchi's attention."
"Excuse me." All heads turned to look at Satoshi. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but according to very reliable sources--" Daisuke felt his face turn red and avoided Satoshi's gaze. "--this concert is scheduled for the twentieth. Next week."
"NEXT WEEK?" spluttered Dark. "You can't expect us to be ready by *next week*! We don't know our songs, our dances, we haven't practiced, we don't know what the fuck we're doing--"
"Oh, it won't be a problem, don't worry," Manx hurriedly interrupted. "It's all here; we've got everything planned out. Your songs are written, your dances choreographed... it'll be fine," she said to eight doubtful faces. "Here, it's all in these packets."
Manx passed out a stapled packet, one for each member. Flipping through it, Daisuke found everything Manx had mentioned, and more: Emergency codes and numbers, tips and guidelines, maps, profiles of both Kritiker and Weiss members, target profiles, band details, and very explicit, detailed mission instructions.
"And here," added Birman, passing out another stack of packets, "Is your song repotoir and choreography. Any questions?"
Krad raised his hand. "I have a question."
"Krad?"
"Why the *fuck* is our band called 'Pathos Missing Starfish'?"
The entire room sweatdropped.
"Eh heh... um..." Manx scratched her head, completely at a loss for words. Yohji, you bastard... You told me you had a brilliant name! "You see..."
"Hey, Dark." Daisuke was peering closely at his packet. "If you abbreviated our band name, it would be--"
"What?! What'd I do?" Yohji yelled as five pairs of eyes glared at him.
"This is never going to work," spat a rather phlemily irate Aya. "It is unfathomable to me as to why Manx and Birman would trust such unruly, ridiculously inept hooligans to a mission as important as this. We should all just accept the mission regardless of personal health factors."
"Oh, Aya-san." Omi smiled and patted the Weiss leader's arm reassuringly. "It'll be *fine*; don't be so silly. Daisuke and the others will do wonderfully, I'm *sure* of it."
"Really." Krad chose this moment to chuck both his packets at Yohji's head.
"Yup; I'm *sure* of it."
*~*~
K showed no sign of annoyanced as he meticulously polished his rifle. In fact, his face gave away no trace of emotion at all. This was extremely worrying for the unfortunate Sakano.
"Tell that to me again," he finally said.
Sakano laughed nervously. "Well, you see--" He was all too aware of the very, *very* big gun in K's hands. "Aucifer... the opening act... they canceled."
"Yes?"
"Um. They canceled."
"Yes?"
"And, um, but-- but we found another band to open for us."
K gave his gun one last loving polish. "You did. And who is this replacement band you found?"
"They're called..." Sakano quickly consulted a sheet of paper. "...Pathos Missing Starfish."
There was a pregnant pause. K mulled over the name, stroking the barrel of his rifle in, for Sakano, the most disturbing way. The manager prayed to every god he could think of that K wouldn't soon be stroking the trigger.
"Excellent!" The American beamed, tossing his mass of blonde ponytail. "Tell them I'm looking forward to hearing them next week."
"You... you approve?"
"Of course. Now, if you'll excuse me." K placed the now gleaming rifle on his desk; he then took out what looked like a magnum-- the kind that looked like it was used to shoot things no smaller than a killer whale. Sakano backed out of the office, slowly, and quietly shut the door behind him.
To be continued...
A/N: Took a while, I know; sorry XP I actually had it all written in my notebook, but never quite got around to typing it up. The ending kind of sucked. I didn't know how to end it without going on and on forever without actually going anywhere, so... yeah. I'd appreciate any feedback at all, so don't hesitate to click that review button ^_- Any song requests you'd like our PMS boys to sing? Provided I can find the lyrics, of course? ^^; Oh-- and before I forget, I apologize profusely to all you Gravi fans out there for my blatant OOC-ness for Sakano and K. As I'm only familiar with the series through internet and manga translations and have never actually seen the series (yet), I do realize they are horribly characterized. _