That last one was kind of hard, like I said before, but I tried to make
Ryuichi as Ryuichi as I possibly could. I'd like to think my reviewers, you
people are really helpful. Wonderful people you alll are! MANGA AND POCKY
ALL AROUND! Yeah, that would be cool, but I wasn't able to go to Katsucon
this past weekend, but the saddest thing was that I was offered to go on
Sunday, but had to turn it down for two reasons. One, I had no money with
which to buy anime; two, I had to study for some tests for Monday. (Feb 16)
enough of my sob story, let's get to the fic!
Track 4: Nakano Hiroshi
~~~~~~~~~~
"Hey Shuichi," I heard a voice call to me waking me out of my doze. "Get up, it's 3 o'clock, and Ryu-chan's gone. There's nothing to do now."
"Neh?" I said getting up and looking around.
"Yo, I said Ryu-chan's gone, you think I have a good enough reason to lie to you?" Su-chan asked flicking my nose as I got up from where I'd curled up on the floor of Sakuma-san's bedroom.
"No, I just wanted to get a quick look of his room on the light," I lied leaving his room and walking down the hall to the kitchen.
"Cool, he left out an offering," Su-chan said pointing to the table, where there was some food for me to eat.
"Yum, I'm hungry," I said sitting down in the chair and eating. After the first few mouthfuls, I said, "Su-chan., don't you need to sleep and eat too?"
"I don't need to, but I do anyway," she said taking a sausage off my plate and eating it. "after your spirit's no longer attached to your body, earthly ties are broken, unless you make other ties, like you are right now."
"Uh-huh," I said through a mouthful of eggs. I thought about that for a moment and asked another question I had on my mind. "Yesterday you said there we a few other people like me, in making their ties to the earth..."
"Uh-huh," she said remembering.
"...if I can talk to them, then why can't I talk to the attached spirits, I mean the ones that are already here?" I continued.
"Because those spirits are busy staying with their friends, families and lovers." she said finishing the sausage. "Oh," I said finishing my meal in silence. When I was done, I got up and headed for the wall, walking through it and floating in mid air.
"Where to today?" Su-chan asked appearing behind me, though the building.
"Umm, let's go see what's going on at the NG Recording studios." I said after thinking. "Follow me, this way," I said going back through the apartment and out the other side.
~~~~~~~~~~
"Eiri," Tohma said from behind his desk, his hands crossed in front of his mouth, eyebrows furrowed in concern.
"I'm fine, you really gotta stop worrying about me," Yuki said leaning back on the couch, sighing as he wondered why he was here.
"I don't care what you say, you're not right, right now," Tohma said raising his normally calm, emotionless voice. "I know you feel terrible about Sh–"
'I'm fine about that," Yuki growled as he stood up to leave the room.
"No, you're not fine," Tohma said, also getting up and blocking the taller man from leaving the room. "You're not fine and you know it. for the past three days you've worn the same outfit, you haven't been eating well. My information has told me that you spend your time moping, drinking, chain smoking and that you've only slept for a few hours, you've done nothing since you called everybody."
"So, that's all I did before," Yuki said glaring at Tohma's unyielding face. "And haven't I told you to stop keeping tabs on me."
"Yes you have, and I pulled them" Tohma said gently pushing Yuki back to the couch and mixing him a drink, hoping it would keep him there a bit longer. "But after you told us that Shindou-san was going to be dying soon I figured it would be good to have at least one man you," he said giving Yuki the drink. "I only had them watch you during the day, and only did that because I didn't think you'd be stable minded enough to..."
"To what?" Yuki said yelling, jumping up again. "To tell you and everybody else that he's dead! I'm fine with that, I already know that everything's going to be fine."
"And how do you know this?" Tohma asked leaning against his desk, arms crossed in front of his chest.
"I know because he's already come," Yuki said sitting back on the couch weary from this much movement after three day's lack of nutrition and lounging.
"Come? What are you talking about," Tohma asked in confusion.
"You'll find out soon enough, and when you do, come to me. I'm not stepping into this stupid building again, unless it's of utmost importance," Yuki said lighting a cigarette he's just placed into his mouth, remembering what Shuichi would have said if he was there.
"Why are you so..."Tohma asked, trailing off trying to find the right words. "Why are you so secretive, so negative?"Tohma asked knowing the answer had to do with Kitazawa Yuki.
"Because," Yuki said exhaling smoke, enjoying the feeling of nicotine in his system. "I hate this stupid place and I would have left long ago, if I had the chance." he said rubbing the cigarette butt in the ash tray Tohma had I by the couch for him.
~~~~~~~~~~
"And here, Su-chan, is Seguchi Tohma's office," I said to Susan as we went through the door in the middle of Yuki's response.
"Damn," Susan said when she say who was in the room. "Ehh, Shuichi, lets go see who's in the Bad Luck studio." trying to divert him from seeing the closest person to him.
"Yukiiiiii" I said when I saw my favorite, light-brown haired man on the couch reaching into his pocket for another cigarette, his cold, amber-gold eyes glaring at Tohma. I ran across the shot distance and dove at my favorite man, falling right through him.
"Shit," Susan said under her breath from the door, slowly following me int the bedroom.
"Hn, what was that?" Yuki asked as I hit him.
"Eiri, what are you talking about?" Tohma said wondering if Yuki was being affected buy his ulcers again, or somethign worse.
"I just felt a... a... an interesting, familiar feel go wight through me," Yuki said dropping his cigarette before even lighting it up.
"What the hell are you talking about," Tohma asked looking around the room. "Nothing's come in hee, and the windows are closed, so what the hell are you talking about?"
Still a little bewildered, Yuki was confused as he looked around him. "I have no damned idea, but it kind of felt like Shuichi..."
"Okay, now you just need to sit down and relax for a moment." Tohma said, concerned for his brother in law. "I think...."::faded to background noise::
"Gomen-ne Su-chan," I said blushing as I came out of a very busy meeting in the next room. "I forgot that Yuki can't see, feel, or hear me."
"That's where you're wrong now," Su-chan said, crossing er arms in barely controlled anger.
"Uhh?" I said confused
"After the dreams and before the funeral, everybody you go to will be able to feel you, kind of," she said indicating that we should leave before another accident occurred. "So, unless their dreaming, you can't have any contact with anybody after the initial dream."
"Ahh," I said following her out the way we came, wistfully glancing back at my Yuki who looked so lonely, just like he had before...
~~~~~~~~~~
We made our way down stairs and I pointed out different things that were there in the building and told her what had happened. When we got down to the fifth floor, stepping out of the stair well we walked into a brightly painted hallway, I grimaced remember why K-san had let me paint it so brightly.
"Yo, what's up with the pocky?" Su-chan asked sitting on my shoulder.
"It was in the time after the Aizawa incident, I had tried to show I was completely fine," I starter as we went down to out recording studio, "but inside I was still upset at what had happened. But K-san and everybody else had let me decide on how our corner of the floor could be painted, I had chosen pink wallpaper with strawberry pocky sticks over it. Noriko had been kind of against it," I laughed at her surprise the first day she'd walked down a pocky hallway, the 'Pockyway' as Hiro had come to thinking of it. "Everyone eventually got used to it, but visitors and the press, the few time they're down here, get a shock to see the walls."
"Oh," Su-chan Siad as we came to the door leading to the recording studio. Stepping inside I saw Noriko-san, K-san and Sakano-san watching Ryuichi, Hiro and Suguru on the other side of the soundproof glass. The song they were working on was sad and I automatically knew it was for the funeral.
"Okay Ryuichi-kun, Hiro-kun, Suguru-kun, that was a clean take. You can go home now. All that's left is to do the last bit of editing and we're good. Have a good afternoon." Sakano said into the microphone that connected one room to the other. Hiro replied with a thumbs up and placed his instrument down on it's stand before leaving. Ryuichi happy that they'd finally done a good take rushed out of the room, tripping over some wires and falling flat on his face, before getting back up and running out. Everybody just ignored him because they'd had told him to stop dong that. Suguru turned off his keyboard and left to go home on his own.
"Su-chan, let's see where Hiro's going," I said from my hiding place next to the door, careful to had not touched Ryuichi.
"If that's what you want," Susan replied as I turned around to walk over to a window to see if Hiro's bike was still here.
Looking down I saw just as Hiro had made it to his bike and was sitting there, as if waiting for something. I hopped out the window and drifted down to the ground and climbed on to the bike, just as he was about to pull out. Su-chan was in between us, and I hung on to Hiro's spirit clothes the best I could, but this was harder then doing anything else spirit form.
We rode through the city and stopped in front of Hiro's apartment building. He locked up his bike before riding the elevator to one of the top floors. I followed him and Su-chan sat on my head, not talking.
Inside the apartment, Hiro went into his fridge and dug out some soda and sat on the couch looking at his wall of our fame.
"Stupid Shuichi," he muttered as he glared at the pictures of Bad Luck. There was when our first single had gone platinum, pictures of us touring, a picture of the three of us at our first summer tour concert. I sat next to him, remembering how much fun we'd had growing up, and starting our band. "Damn you, damn both of you," he said again, looking outside now. "I'm not gonna bitch like people always do in movies, but you know, I'm still pissed. To bad we didn't know sooner, but who know's if that would have helped?"
"Poor Hiro-kun," Su-chan said from my hair, "he's so depressed,"
"I know, I wish there was something I could do for him," I replied looking sadly at my best friend and first band member. "Will he be going to sleep anytime soon?" I asked, hoping I could calm him a bit before he did anything stupid.
"Actually, yes," Susan said. "He hasn't sleep, not really, since the night you died, but his body is giving way to fatigue. He should be asleep soon."
"Good, I don't know how much more of this I can take, and where does he get the idea that he can damn me all me wants?" I asked annoyed.
"He has no way to let out his anger, he won't cry," Susan said solemnly. "There are some people who won't cry right away, days, years, months, it'll happen, eventually." Susan said as Hiro got up and put his empty soda can in the kitchen.
I followed as he headed to his room, Hiro flopped onto his bed, completely dressed and he fell asleep. "I guess I'll go now," I said reaching into his head, I went into Hiro's dream. I was used to the odd sensation of moving in jell-o so I didn't really notice it as I went into his dream.
~~~~~ In Hiro's dream I saw all black. Black walls, black floor, black doors. I only knew what everything was because of the light bulbs hung periodically down te hallway. I turned and looked at the door right next to mine, it said Elementary School, I figured this was just how Hiro had organized his memories. I opened the door to see a school Health and Fitness Day, I looked at the many children dressed for gym, and I eventually found Hiro. He was waiting on the track, ready to run his turn in the relay race. The boy before him on his team finally made it to him and he ran as fast as he could, his team was in second place, and he was the final runner.
"GO Hiro, YOU CAN DO IT!" I called as I watched him pull in front of the other boy right at the finish line, winning the relay for his class. A group of boys and girls, jumped out of the stands and mobbed him and the rest of the relay team as they came to that side of the track.
"Hey, Shu, we gotta go to Hiro," Su-chan said from my shoulder. I was still happy for my friend and I left that memory of my friend. Walking down the hall I found some more doors. High school, Uesugi Yuki, Seguchi Tohma, Bad Luck, Fujisaki Suguru, K, Shindou Shuichi.
"Su-chan I looks like we found the one we want," I said looking back at the door with my name on it. Taking a deep breath, unsure of what I was going to find, I stepped inside and looked around.
The walls had pocky all over. There were group pictures of Bad Luck and Nittle Grasper. I saw a sofa in the middle of the room, and a tv on the other side. On the couch I saw Hiro, sitting there, like Yuki had, just watching some of the times we'd hung out. Walking over I said, "I Hiro, long time no see," he looked up and smiled. I knew here, he was okay, so I sat down.
"Hey, remember the time when I said I was quitting Bad Luck?" I asked as that memory came up on the screen.
"Yeah, when I said I was quitting, barely anybody batted an eye, but when you were, I completely spazed." I said laughing.
Talking through the laughs my best friend replied, "Yeah, I remember, but you had a better reason to quit, we knew you weren't going to leave, and we weren't going to let you leave, you know?"
"Yeah, I know," I replied as Hiro's quitting memory started.
(Hiro's POV)
"I'm proud to be the best in our school. ," I said smiling as I picked random notes on my guitar.
"... so you decided where you're going to college? ?" Shuichi asked not believing what I had said.
"Legal National Medical School. ," I repeated setting my guitar down and looking my best friend in the eyes to prove to him I wasn't lying.
Shuichi looked at me disbelieving, "MED SCHOOL!? You ... you're gonna be a doctor .. "
"Yeah" I replied looking sadly at the guitar I had to get rid of.
After I moment, Shuichi replied"... you mean a guitarist who's a doctor ... "
"I have given this a lot of thought .. I'm .. quitting playing guitar." I said seriously.
".... Wha .. ?" he asked looking at me confused. "... that's it? Forgive me .. but you must be joking.
"I have made me decision. I quit." I said trying not to sound to bitchy, more 'good luck to ya'. "It'll be okay, you'll find another partner easily enough, I mean you good enough to, I was never really that good at playing."
"Why?" he whined, trying to get me to change my mind. "Did I do somethign to annoy you?"
"No," I started, "No, that's not it ..."
"Then what?! "he yelled. "From the time we were in junior high, we said we would definitely become famous! Now you come out and say you're quitting .. why? You can still play guitar in college!! I .. no way! I won't let you quit!"
"You two! What's with all the yelling," my mother asked coming into my room. "... Hiro! Are you fighting again!?"
"It's nothing Mom," I said to her, hoping I could get her to leave soon. "We were just discussing the Prime Minister's response regarding the problem of exclusive housing. He just got over-excited." I lied, while keeping Shuichi from saying anything to differ my story.
"Is that so? I thought I heard something about your guitar ..." she asked suspiciously. "Hiro, you're not still practicing guitar are you? With so little time before the entrance exams? Don't you understand? That's why we ask so much of you, so you don't end up like your brother Youji. Your father and I have serious expectations of you." she said leaving, reminding me of my cursed future.
"It's only natural for parents to have expectations too. My brother faked being an actor because of them." I told Shuichi after my mother left us alone. Sighing I continued, "I've already given up, so there's no use pursuing it anyway. Good year for it I guess. I'm sorry I have such a life. "Running away" ... I thought telling you like this would be a good thing .. y'know, choosing the safest route. It's not a dream, it's reality. I quit. "
"Is that really okay with you?" he asked again, "You had such standards .. "music for you" .. were you just saying that?"
"Sorry," I apologized as Shuichi left, confused. "I'm truly sorry," I said again after I heard the front door close.
~~~~Later~~~~
"SHINDOU!!! You JERK!! Bastard! You ruined Nakano! What are you doing? Are you trying to ruin the graduation ceremony entertainment!? "I heard some people in our class yell as Shuichi came in the next morning.
"Entertainment? "he asked confused.
"Exactly! Have you betrayed the whole student body?" Ukina else yelled.
I wish they'd shut up, I can't concentrate. I thought.
"You guys can't perform live .. I feel so sorry for the graduation guests!!" Tsubasa whined.
"I .. was looking forward to going to graduation!! Looking forward to your last performance together! Now go make up with Nakano!" Ban told him. "That's an order! If you don't, we'll set fire to the site that day!!"
"Oh shut up already. You're all a self-study in over-excitement." I said glaring at the class, ignoring Shuichi. "It's too early in the morning for all this noise."
"Far be it for us to get in the way of Mr. Med School Hopeful's studying." Genji mocked. "Or refrain from ridiculous conversation."
"You didn't have to stoop that low!!" Shuichi growled to me. "You'll be nothing, not even a doctor!! If you were so unhappy playing from the start, why didn't you stop then? You're more than worthless!!"
"Hey .. Nakano .." Kirin asked.
"Shut the hell up!" I said, my patients wearing thin. "Where do you get off saying such ridiculously selfish things to me!! Just shut up and leave me the hell alone!
"Leave you alone my ass!" he yelled in front of my desk. "At least give me your best shot!! I'm not in a good mood as it is!"
"I'll give you what you deserve!" I said punching him.
"You're a substitute!" he insulted as he got back up and came back at me. "It happens to a lot of bad guitarists!"
"I am NOT a crappy guitarist!" I said taking the blows, and delivering some of me own. "I don't have to listen to your whining and babbling!! "
Makuta-sensei came in and said, "Oh my .. hey .. what the heck are you two doing ...?"
"What did you say?" Shuichi asked. "You stupid jerk!"
"Stop it .. stop it right now Shindou!!" the teacher ordered, pulling us apart.
"You're the one that's always running away!" he said as he tried to get back to me. "I thought we were best friends ... don't make me laugh!"
"Nakano has the entrance exams next month, his appearance is important!" Makuta-sensei said struggling to hold Shuichi off. "If there is a problem, work it out! With you, it's always bad news, now stop it."
"Oh yeah, that's right. Hiro is different from me, Mr. Elite Smart Guy." he Siad after he wrestled his way out of the teacher's grasp.
"Is that the reason?" I questioned him. "I'm sorry." I apologize as he left.
~~~~Later...again~~~~
"Hiroshi!" I heard a voice call as I left the train station.
"What are you doing here, Nii-chan?" I questioned my brother.
"To meet you, Hiro." he replied hugging me, all smiles.
"Tired? How'd the test go? You do good?" he asked as we drove home.
"No, I didn't," I sighed, to stressed to care.
"HAHAHA, everyone .. says you'll pass it eventually." Youji said in his cheerful manner. "So then, my little brother is gonna be a doctor huh? "
"I'll fail for certain," I said tiredly.
"Come on now, it'll be okay! Don't be so modest."
"It's not going to be okay!" I yelled. "There is no way you could really understand, I almost fell asleep!
"You finished the answers though, so don't worry about it." he rationalized. "Whatever happens, happens. You're different from me, you're lucky." "Umm ... Youji, your audition sucked ..?" I asked turning the conversation away from my failures to his.
"Oh yeah! Round 18 of failures" he said laughing at his failures, somethign I was never to good at doing. "New record it is .. oh yeah!"
"I feel a little depressed and self-scrutinized" I replied looking out the window at the restaurant. "I'll never find a job in this lifetime."
"I know what you mean." he agreed. "But it's okay! 'Cause I'm happy enough now."
"Mom and Dad are gonna be so disappointed." I argued, throwing his failures back. "You've been free-lancing for 5 years and still single at 23!"
"I don't give a damn about their expectations. It's my life," he said truthfully. "I'll do what I want with it. A lot of your life is corrupted by birth and schooling. Someone with a failure record is far more interesting. "
With me it's different, I thought somberly. Without anxiety or hesitation, you laugh. "Nii-chan ... are you really happy? I feel like I can't think about the future."
"I am 'cause I like the things I do, and I'm not unhappy." he replied happily.
"Looks like your stronger than I thought." I said wondering where all his confidence came from.
"Hey, it's cool. You were just a little mixed up." he said cheering me up again. "You couldn't understand it by yourself, the person who needs the strength ought to be getting it. That's self-confidence .. doing what you want. It's how you start being able to stop running away."
"That's cool, Mr Actor! It's not a habit at all." I said laughing with my brother.
~~~~Later,(the last, I think)~~~~
"Nakano's announcement about his exams. I want to congratulate him for a successful spring term, there's still time you know" the class president said to the microphone.
"Graduation ceremony representative, with the closing speech, 3rd year, Class B, Hiroshi Nakano." our class representative Shigure announced as I came our of the wings.
"Fellow students, honored guests, on this day," I started into the microphone when I got on stage. "I failed the exams." I said, telling everybody what I hadn't even told my mother. "Incidentally, I'm not worthy of being your best friend. That's why I have demoted myself to being your sole guitarist. Shuichi."
"Nakano!! What are you saying" Principal Ougata asked from his chair on the stage. "Sh .. Shindou!? Wait .. stop..."
"Sorry..." I said when Shuichi stopped et the stage.
"It was a very good speech." he congratulated as he climbed onto the stage.
"I'm ready to take advantage of a lifetime contract." I joked helping him up.
"Congratulations on failing." he said shaking my hand.
"Yeah! What an excellent closing speech." Maiko said from the wings. " Moving along with our exceptional program, our schools' finest two member group, a special live performance planned for everyone without permission."
"... Maiko..." Shuichi said as his sister brought out a keyboard and guitar.
"How thoughtful." I said unbuttoning my shirt so I could play. "With taking exams I've been prohibited from playing guitar."
"Me too .. no synthesizer until graduation." Shuichi sympathized while ripping his off."First off ... we're celebrating Nakano's disqualification with 3 cheers..."
"Thank you, thank you very much..." I said checking the tuning on the instrument as out class cheered for us.
"Now then .. to seal our new exclusive contract" Shuichi said turning on his board.
"Sure thing Shuichi." I said starting to play.
~~~~Shu's POV~~~~
"That was fun," I said as the memory faded away on the screen.
"It was," Hiro replied standing up and stretching. Looking around, I finally noticed that the walls weren't black anymore, they were pink and covered with music notes. It appeared that Hiro was in as much of a pissy mood as he'd been in when I'd first come.
"That last day was so much fun," I said getting up and looking around at the new decorations. "I wish I had something cool to say, but you know I'm dead right," I said wishing some of the pocky was real.
"Yeah, I know, BL is screwed without you, you know that," he replied bending his head back to look at me.
"Yup, but it's not like I was asking to die, I can't do anything now. Sure I can fly, but that's about it, aside from haunting peoples' dreams," I replied going back to him. "Plus, I have to visit every bodies' dreams before the funeral, I've only been to you, Yuki and Sakuma-san, I still have a few people left to visit"
"Harsh, oh well, keep up the goo work, I guess," he joked.
"Whatever" I said sighing. Hiro got up and I followed him out of that room, and into a more cheerful, less dull room.
"This is more like it," he said walking down the hall the way I'd come, smiling at past memories. We walked in silence, I was just happy that Hiro wasn't pissed off with me.
"Oi, Shu-chan, we gotta jet," Su-chan called from the room we'd just come from.
"Already?" I whined as Hiro watched me pled with Susan.
"Yes, he'll be awake soon," she said glaring and pulling my ear," and because that series was so much longer then most, I had to induce a deeper sleep on him to keep him asleep."
"Fine, I'll leave," I said sighing in defeat. "Ja ne, Hiro, I'll try to come some other time, and you better not be damning ghosts or me next time," I warned as I started floating away.
"Okay," he said smirking and waving as we floated up. As we were almost gone he called, "I see Yuki's not the only one who's got you trained."
"Shut up You bas–"I called as I was pulled out of his head. "Dam you Hiroshi, you bastard." I said glaring at him as he started stirring and getting up.
"Hmm, interesting dream," he said as he took notice of the fact that he'd been asleep fully dressed. "Ehh, I guess that's why I feel like hell right now." he speculated as he got up to look at his vanity mirror, seeing his red hair flaring out in all directions, and his cheek crisscrossed with the pattern from his jacket.
"Serves you right," I said, laughing from his bed, knowing he wouldn't notice me.
"Uggh, what time is it?" I asked him self before looking at the clock, "damn, I've been asleep ten hours?" he said sounding surprised, but really tired. "Damn," he said heading for the shower.
"Well, Su-chan, should we crash here?" I asked tired from spending so much time in his dream.
"Sure, it's already 3 am, Hiro's going to be going back to bed, but you, Shuichi need to sleep, right now, you wee in that dream for a long time." Su-chan said trying to pull me up from the bed. "Come on now, dammit, Hiro's almost done in there, so we don't have much time left." she said successfully pulling me out of the bedroom and into the living room. "I think the couch'll be fine for tonight, as long as he doesn't come and sit o you, he won't know were still here." "Okay, night-night," I said curling into a ball on the soft leather couch. falling asleep to the sounds of Su-chan typing away I wondered how Hiro'd be tomorrow.
~~~~~~~~
Hey, sorry it's been so long. I was working on a few other personal projects and school. I hope you all still enjoy this installment of "The Finale" and no, this is not the final finale, just yet. This chapter was a bit different from the other's though, it was longer, and not Shuichi oriented. Some stuff, mechanics and consistencies may be off, but I need to take some liberties with my own waiting, even if it's not an original piece of fiction.
Oh well, now to references!
1) All the memories are form the second book! The fifth and sixth tracks I think. Maybe a bit form the seventh, but I haven't worked on this in a while, so please forgive. You may notice that this memory was put together differently from the others, and there's a good reason for that! Before I had typed this memory, I found a site with some translations, so I copied those and used them instead of my usual memory work! I hope you don't mind, but I think this will be better, at least until the seventh book, where the translator stopped, but if you want me to go back to my usual memory memories, by all means, tell me that!
~~~ That's all with that, I think. I hope you all really did enjoy this chapter, and I hope to get some good feedback, especially after such a long break! The next take some time, I gotta maintain good grades, and that means less fun writing. I hope I don't make you wait to long until next time. Oh, I'd like you to also tell my who's chapter you want next time! Noriko, K, Sakano, Tohma, the next is at your command, mostly because I have no idea. Sorry Suguru fans, I only just bought the fifth book, his entrance book, so I have very little clue about his personality, aside from he's cold and calculating like Tohma, and that he also has a crush on Yuki. Oh well, I'll be back soon!
Oh yeah, a chapterly website? Www.drunkduck.com this site houses many, many webcomics. A personal fav of mine is "How to Make a Sprite Comic in Eight Easy Bits" that fasted way to find that is to order the whole lis alphabetically, then scroll down to 'h' I could never get it by using the search. Enjoy! BT
Track 4: Nakano Hiroshi
~~~~~~~~~~
"Hey Shuichi," I heard a voice call to me waking me out of my doze. "Get up, it's 3 o'clock, and Ryu-chan's gone. There's nothing to do now."
"Neh?" I said getting up and looking around.
"Yo, I said Ryu-chan's gone, you think I have a good enough reason to lie to you?" Su-chan asked flicking my nose as I got up from where I'd curled up on the floor of Sakuma-san's bedroom.
"No, I just wanted to get a quick look of his room on the light," I lied leaving his room and walking down the hall to the kitchen.
"Cool, he left out an offering," Su-chan said pointing to the table, where there was some food for me to eat.
"Yum, I'm hungry," I said sitting down in the chair and eating. After the first few mouthfuls, I said, "Su-chan., don't you need to sleep and eat too?"
"I don't need to, but I do anyway," she said taking a sausage off my plate and eating it. "after your spirit's no longer attached to your body, earthly ties are broken, unless you make other ties, like you are right now."
"Uh-huh," I said through a mouthful of eggs. I thought about that for a moment and asked another question I had on my mind. "Yesterday you said there we a few other people like me, in making their ties to the earth..."
"Uh-huh," she said remembering.
"...if I can talk to them, then why can't I talk to the attached spirits, I mean the ones that are already here?" I continued.
"Because those spirits are busy staying with their friends, families and lovers." she said finishing the sausage. "Oh," I said finishing my meal in silence. When I was done, I got up and headed for the wall, walking through it and floating in mid air.
"Where to today?" Su-chan asked appearing behind me, though the building.
"Umm, let's go see what's going on at the NG Recording studios." I said after thinking. "Follow me, this way," I said going back through the apartment and out the other side.
~~~~~~~~~~
"Eiri," Tohma said from behind his desk, his hands crossed in front of his mouth, eyebrows furrowed in concern.
"I'm fine, you really gotta stop worrying about me," Yuki said leaning back on the couch, sighing as he wondered why he was here.
"I don't care what you say, you're not right, right now," Tohma said raising his normally calm, emotionless voice. "I know you feel terrible about Sh–"
'I'm fine about that," Yuki growled as he stood up to leave the room.
"No, you're not fine," Tohma said, also getting up and blocking the taller man from leaving the room. "You're not fine and you know it. for the past three days you've worn the same outfit, you haven't been eating well. My information has told me that you spend your time moping, drinking, chain smoking and that you've only slept for a few hours, you've done nothing since you called everybody."
"So, that's all I did before," Yuki said glaring at Tohma's unyielding face. "And haven't I told you to stop keeping tabs on me."
"Yes you have, and I pulled them" Tohma said gently pushing Yuki back to the couch and mixing him a drink, hoping it would keep him there a bit longer. "But after you told us that Shindou-san was going to be dying soon I figured it would be good to have at least one man you," he said giving Yuki the drink. "I only had them watch you during the day, and only did that because I didn't think you'd be stable minded enough to..."
"To what?" Yuki said yelling, jumping up again. "To tell you and everybody else that he's dead! I'm fine with that, I already know that everything's going to be fine."
"And how do you know this?" Tohma asked leaning against his desk, arms crossed in front of his chest.
"I know because he's already come," Yuki said sitting back on the couch weary from this much movement after three day's lack of nutrition and lounging.
"Come? What are you talking about," Tohma asked in confusion.
"You'll find out soon enough, and when you do, come to me. I'm not stepping into this stupid building again, unless it's of utmost importance," Yuki said lighting a cigarette he's just placed into his mouth, remembering what Shuichi would have said if he was there.
"Why are you so..."Tohma asked, trailing off trying to find the right words. "Why are you so secretive, so negative?"Tohma asked knowing the answer had to do with Kitazawa Yuki.
"Because," Yuki said exhaling smoke, enjoying the feeling of nicotine in his system. "I hate this stupid place and I would have left long ago, if I had the chance." he said rubbing the cigarette butt in the ash tray Tohma had I by the couch for him.
~~~~~~~~~~
"And here, Su-chan, is Seguchi Tohma's office," I said to Susan as we went through the door in the middle of Yuki's response.
"Damn," Susan said when she say who was in the room. "Ehh, Shuichi, lets go see who's in the Bad Luck studio." trying to divert him from seeing the closest person to him.
"Yukiiiiii" I said when I saw my favorite, light-brown haired man on the couch reaching into his pocket for another cigarette, his cold, amber-gold eyes glaring at Tohma. I ran across the shot distance and dove at my favorite man, falling right through him.
"Shit," Susan said under her breath from the door, slowly following me int the bedroom.
"Hn, what was that?" Yuki asked as I hit him.
"Eiri, what are you talking about?" Tohma said wondering if Yuki was being affected buy his ulcers again, or somethign worse.
"I just felt a... a... an interesting, familiar feel go wight through me," Yuki said dropping his cigarette before even lighting it up.
"What the hell are you talking about," Tohma asked looking around the room. "Nothing's come in hee, and the windows are closed, so what the hell are you talking about?"
Still a little bewildered, Yuki was confused as he looked around him. "I have no damned idea, but it kind of felt like Shuichi..."
"Okay, now you just need to sit down and relax for a moment." Tohma said, concerned for his brother in law. "I think...."::faded to background noise::
"Gomen-ne Su-chan," I said blushing as I came out of a very busy meeting in the next room. "I forgot that Yuki can't see, feel, or hear me."
"That's where you're wrong now," Su-chan said, crossing er arms in barely controlled anger.
"Uhh?" I said confused
"After the dreams and before the funeral, everybody you go to will be able to feel you, kind of," she said indicating that we should leave before another accident occurred. "So, unless their dreaming, you can't have any contact with anybody after the initial dream."
"Ahh," I said following her out the way we came, wistfully glancing back at my Yuki who looked so lonely, just like he had before...
~~~~~~~~~~
We made our way down stairs and I pointed out different things that were there in the building and told her what had happened. When we got down to the fifth floor, stepping out of the stair well we walked into a brightly painted hallway, I grimaced remember why K-san had let me paint it so brightly.
"Yo, what's up with the pocky?" Su-chan asked sitting on my shoulder.
"It was in the time after the Aizawa incident, I had tried to show I was completely fine," I starter as we went down to out recording studio, "but inside I was still upset at what had happened. But K-san and everybody else had let me decide on how our corner of the floor could be painted, I had chosen pink wallpaper with strawberry pocky sticks over it. Noriko had been kind of against it," I laughed at her surprise the first day she'd walked down a pocky hallway, the 'Pockyway' as Hiro had come to thinking of it. "Everyone eventually got used to it, but visitors and the press, the few time they're down here, get a shock to see the walls."
"Oh," Su-chan Siad as we came to the door leading to the recording studio. Stepping inside I saw Noriko-san, K-san and Sakano-san watching Ryuichi, Hiro and Suguru on the other side of the soundproof glass. The song they were working on was sad and I automatically knew it was for the funeral.
"Okay Ryuichi-kun, Hiro-kun, Suguru-kun, that was a clean take. You can go home now. All that's left is to do the last bit of editing and we're good. Have a good afternoon." Sakano said into the microphone that connected one room to the other. Hiro replied with a thumbs up and placed his instrument down on it's stand before leaving. Ryuichi happy that they'd finally done a good take rushed out of the room, tripping over some wires and falling flat on his face, before getting back up and running out. Everybody just ignored him because they'd had told him to stop dong that. Suguru turned off his keyboard and left to go home on his own.
"Su-chan, let's see where Hiro's going," I said from my hiding place next to the door, careful to had not touched Ryuichi.
"If that's what you want," Susan replied as I turned around to walk over to a window to see if Hiro's bike was still here.
Looking down I saw just as Hiro had made it to his bike and was sitting there, as if waiting for something. I hopped out the window and drifted down to the ground and climbed on to the bike, just as he was about to pull out. Su-chan was in between us, and I hung on to Hiro's spirit clothes the best I could, but this was harder then doing anything else spirit form.
We rode through the city and stopped in front of Hiro's apartment building. He locked up his bike before riding the elevator to one of the top floors. I followed him and Su-chan sat on my head, not talking.
Inside the apartment, Hiro went into his fridge and dug out some soda and sat on the couch looking at his wall of our fame.
"Stupid Shuichi," he muttered as he glared at the pictures of Bad Luck. There was when our first single had gone platinum, pictures of us touring, a picture of the three of us at our first summer tour concert. I sat next to him, remembering how much fun we'd had growing up, and starting our band. "Damn you, damn both of you," he said again, looking outside now. "I'm not gonna bitch like people always do in movies, but you know, I'm still pissed. To bad we didn't know sooner, but who know's if that would have helped?"
"Poor Hiro-kun," Su-chan said from my hair, "he's so depressed,"
"I know, I wish there was something I could do for him," I replied looking sadly at my best friend and first band member. "Will he be going to sleep anytime soon?" I asked, hoping I could calm him a bit before he did anything stupid.
"Actually, yes," Susan said. "He hasn't sleep, not really, since the night you died, but his body is giving way to fatigue. He should be asleep soon."
"Good, I don't know how much more of this I can take, and where does he get the idea that he can damn me all me wants?" I asked annoyed.
"He has no way to let out his anger, he won't cry," Susan said solemnly. "There are some people who won't cry right away, days, years, months, it'll happen, eventually." Susan said as Hiro got up and put his empty soda can in the kitchen.
I followed as he headed to his room, Hiro flopped onto his bed, completely dressed and he fell asleep. "I guess I'll go now," I said reaching into his head, I went into Hiro's dream. I was used to the odd sensation of moving in jell-o so I didn't really notice it as I went into his dream.
~~~~~ In Hiro's dream I saw all black. Black walls, black floor, black doors. I only knew what everything was because of the light bulbs hung periodically down te hallway. I turned and looked at the door right next to mine, it said Elementary School, I figured this was just how Hiro had organized his memories. I opened the door to see a school Health and Fitness Day, I looked at the many children dressed for gym, and I eventually found Hiro. He was waiting on the track, ready to run his turn in the relay race. The boy before him on his team finally made it to him and he ran as fast as he could, his team was in second place, and he was the final runner.
"GO Hiro, YOU CAN DO IT!" I called as I watched him pull in front of the other boy right at the finish line, winning the relay for his class. A group of boys and girls, jumped out of the stands and mobbed him and the rest of the relay team as they came to that side of the track.
"Hey, Shu, we gotta go to Hiro," Su-chan said from my shoulder. I was still happy for my friend and I left that memory of my friend. Walking down the hall I found some more doors. High school, Uesugi Yuki, Seguchi Tohma, Bad Luck, Fujisaki Suguru, K, Shindou Shuichi.
"Su-chan I looks like we found the one we want," I said looking back at the door with my name on it. Taking a deep breath, unsure of what I was going to find, I stepped inside and looked around.
The walls had pocky all over. There were group pictures of Bad Luck and Nittle Grasper. I saw a sofa in the middle of the room, and a tv on the other side. On the couch I saw Hiro, sitting there, like Yuki had, just watching some of the times we'd hung out. Walking over I said, "I Hiro, long time no see," he looked up and smiled. I knew here, he was okay, so I sat down.
"Hey, remember the time when I said I was quitting Bad Luck?" I asked as that memory came up on the screen.
"Yeah, when I said I was quitting, barely anybody batted an eye, but when you were, I completely spazed." I said laughing.
Talking through the laughs my best friend replied, "Yeah, I remember, but you had a better reason to quit, we knew you weren't going to leave, and we weren't going to let you leave, you know?"
"Yeah, I know," I replied as Hiro's quitting memory started.
(Hiro's POV)
"I'm proud to be the best in our school. ," I said smiling as I picked random notes on my guitar.
"... so you decided where you're going to college? ?" Shuichi asked not believing what I had said.
"Legal National Medical School. ," I repeated setting my guitar down and looking my best friend in the eyes to prove to him I wasn't lying.
Shuichi looked at me disbelieving, "MED SCHOOL!? You ... you're gonna be a doctor .. "
"Yeah" I replied looking sadly at the guitar I had to get rid of.
After I moment, Shuichi replied"... you mean a guitarist who's a doctor ... "
"I have given this a lot of thought .. I'm .. quitting playing guitar." I said seriously.
".... Wha .. ?" he asked looking at me confused. "... that's it? Forgive me .. but you must be joking.
"I have made me decision. I quit." I said trying not to sound to bitchy, more 'good luck to ya'. "It'll be okay, you'll find another partner easily enough, I mean you good enough to, I was never really that good at playing."
"Why?" he whined, trying to get me to change my mind. "Did I do somethign to annoy you?"
"No," I started, "No, that's not it ..."
"Then what?! "he yelled. "From the time we were in junior high, we said we would definitely become famous! Now you come out and say you're quitting .. why? You can still play guitar in college!! I .. no way! I won't let you quit!"
"You two! What's with all the yelling," my mother asked coming into my room. "... Hiro! Are you fighting again!?"
"It's nothing Mom," I said to her, hoping I could get her to leave soon. "We were just discussing the Prime Minister's response regarding the problem of exclusive housing. He just got over-excited." I lied, while keeping Shuichi from saying anything to differ my story.
"Is that so? I thought I heard something about your guitar ..." she asked suspiciously. "Hiro, you're not still practicing guitar are you? With so little time before the entrance exams? Don't you understand? That's why we ask so much of you, so you don't end up like your brother Youji. Your father and I have serious expectations of you." she said leaving, reminding me of my cursed future.
"It's only natural for parents to have expectations too. My brother faked being an actor because of them." I told Shuichi after my mother left us alone. Sighing I continued, "I've already given up, so there's no use pursuing it anyway. Good year for it I guess. I'm sorry I have such a life. "Running away" ... I thought telling you like this would be a good thing .. y'know, choosing the safest route. It's not a dream, it's reality. I quit. "
"Is that really okay with you?" he asked again, "You had such standards .. "music for you" .. were you just saying that?"
"Sorry," I apologized as Shuichi left, confused. "I'm truly sorry," I said again after I heard the front door close.
~~~~Later~~~~
"SHINDOU!!! You JERK!! Bastard! You ruined Nakano! What are you doing? Are you trying to ruin the graduation ceremony entertainment!? "I heard some people in our class yell as Shuichi came in the next morning.
"Entertainment? "he asked confused.
"Exactly! Have you betrayed the whole student body?" Ukina else yelled.
I wish they'd shut up, I can't concentrate. I thought.
"You guys can't perform live .. I feel so sorry for the graduation guests!!" Tsubasa whined.
"I .. was looking forward to going to graduation!! Looking forward to your last performance together! Now go make up with Nakano!" Ban told him. "That's an order! If you don't, we'll set fire to the site that day!!"
"Oh shut up already. You're all a self-study in over-excitement." I said glaring at the class, ignoring Shuichi. "It's too early in the morning for all this noise."
"Far be it for us to get in the way of Mr. Med School Hopeful's studying." Genji mocked. "Or refrain from ridiculous conversation."
"You didn't have to stoop that low!!" Shuichi growled to me. "You'll be nothing, not even a doctor!! If you were so unhappy playing from the start, why didn't you stop then? You're more than worthless!!"
"Hey .. Nakano .." Kirin asked.
"Shut the hell up!" I said, my patients wearing thin. "Where do you get off saying such ridiculously selfish things to me!! Just shut up and leave me the hell alone!
"Leave you alone my ass!" he yelled in front of my desk. "At least give me your best shot!! I'm not in a good mood as it is!"
"I'll give you what you deserve!" I said punching him.
"You're a substitute!" he insulted as he got back up and came back at me. "It happens to a lot of bad guitarists!"
"I am NOT a crappy guitarist!" I said taking the blows, and delivering some of me own. "I don't have to listen to your whining and babbling!! "
Makuta-sensei came in and said, "Oh my .. hey .. what the heck are you two doing ...?"
"What did you say?" Shuichi asked. "You stupid jerk!"
"Stop it .. stop it right now Shindou!!" the teacher ordered, pulling us apart.
"You're the one that's always running away!" he said as he tried to get back to me. "I thought we were best friends ... don't make me laugh!"
"Nakano has the entrance exams next month, his appearance is important!" Makuta-sensei said struggling to hold Shuichi off. "If there is a problem, work it out! With you, it's always bad news, now stop it."
"Oh yeah, that's right. Hiro is different from me, Mr. Elite Smart Guy." he Siad after he wrestled his way out of the teacher's grasp.
"Is that the reason?" I questioned him. "I'm sorry." I apologize as he left.
~~~~Later...again~~~~
"Hiroshi!" I heard a voice call as I left the train station.
"What are you doing here, Nii-chan?" I questioned my brother.
"To meet you, Hiro." he replied hugging me, all smiles.
"Tired? How'd the test go? You do good?" he asked as we drove home.
"No, I didn't," I sighed, to stressed to care.
"HAHAHA, everyone .. says you'll pass it eventually." Youji said in his cheerful manner. "So then, my little brother is gonna be a doctor huh? "
"I'll fail for certain," I said tiredly.
"Come on now, it'll be okay! Don't be so modest."
"It's not going to be okay!" I yelled. "There is no way you could really understand, I almost fell asleep!
"You finished the answers though, so don't worry about it." he rationalized. "Whatever happens, happens. You're different from me, you're lucky." "Umm ... Youji, your audition sucked ..?" I asked turning the conversation away from my failures to his.
"Oh yeah! Round 18 of failures" he said laughing at his failures, somethign I was never to good at doing. "New record it is .. oh yeah!"
"I feel a little depressed and self-scrutinized" I replied looking out the window at the restaurant. "I'll never find a job in this lifetime."
"I know what you mean." he agreed. "But it's okay! 'Cause I'm happy enough now."
"Mom and Dad are gonna be so disappointed." I argued, throwing his failures back. "You've been free-lancing for 5 years and still single at 23!"
"I don't give a damn about their expectations. It's my life," he said truthfully. "I'll do what I want with it. A lot of your life is corrupted by birth and schooling. Someone with a failure record is far more interesting. "
With me it's different, I thought somberly. Without anxiety or hesitation, you laugh. "Nii-chan ... are you really happy? I feel like I can't think about the future."
"I am 'cause I like the things I do, and I'm not unhappy." he replied happily.
"Looks like your stronger than I thought." I said wondering where all his confidence came from.
"Hey, it's cool. You were just a little mixed up." he said cheering me up again. "You couldn't understand it by yourself, the person who needs the strength ought to be getting it. That's self-confidence .. doing what you want. It's how you start being able to stop running away."
"That's cool, Mr Actor! It's not a habit at all." I said laughing with my brother.
~~~~Later,(the last, I think)~~~~
"Nakano's announcement about his exams. I want to congratulate him for a successful spring term, there's still time you know" the class president said to the microphone.
"Graduation ceremony representative, with the closing speech, 3rd year, Class B, Hiroshi Nakano." our class representative Shigure announced as I came our of the wings.
"Fellow students, honored guests, on this day," I started into the microphone when I got on stage. "I failed the exams." I said, telling everybody what I hadn't even told my mother. "Incidentally, I'm not worthy of being your best friend. That's why I have demoted myself to being your sole guitarist. Shuichi."
"Nakano!! What are you saying" Principal Ougata asked from his chair on the stage. "Sh .. Shindou!? Wait .. stop..."
"Sorry..." I said when Shuichi stopped et the stage.
"It was a very good speech." he congratulated as he climbed onto the stage.
"I'm ready to take advantage of a lifetime contract." I joked helping him up.
"Congratulations on failing." he said shaking my hand.
"Yeah! What an excellent closing speech." Maiko said from the wings. " Moving along with our exceptional program, our schools' finest two member group, a special live performance planned for everyone without permission."
"... Maiko..." Shuichi said as his sister brought out a keyboard and guitar.
"How thoughtful." I said unbuttoning my shirt so I could play. "With taking exams I've been prohibited from playing guitar."
"Me too .. no synthesizer until graduation." Shuichi sympathized while ripping his off."First off ... we're celebrating Nakano's disqualification with 3 cheers..."
"Thank you, thank you very much..." I said checking the tuning on the instrument as out class cheered for us.
"Now then .. to seal our new exclusive contract" Shuichi said turning on his board.
"Sure thing Shuichi." I said starting to play.
~~~~Shu's POV~~~~
"That was fun," I said as the memory faded away on the screen.
"It was," Hiro replied standing up and stretching. Looking around, I finally noticed that the walls weren't black anymore, they were pink and covered with music notes. It appeared that Hiro was in as much of a pissy mood as he'd been in when I'd first come.
"That last day was so much fun," I said getting up and looking around at the new decorations. "I wish I had something cool to say, but you know I'm dead right," I said wishing some of the pocky was real.
"Yeah, I know, BL is screwed without you, you know that," he replied bending his head back to look at me.
"Yup, but it's not like I was asking to die, I can't do anything now. Sure I can fly, but that's about it, aside from haunting peoples' dreams," I replied going back to him. "Plus, I have to visit every bodies' dreams before the funeral, I've only been to you, Yuki and Sakuma-san, I still have a few people left to visit"
"Harsh, oh well, keep up the goo work, I guess," he joked.
"Whatever" I said sighing. Hiro got up and I followed him out of that room, and into a more cheerful, less dull room.
"This is more like it," he said walking down the hall the way I'd come, smiling at past memories. We walked in silence, I was just happy that Hiro wasn't pissed off with me.
"Oi, Shu-chan, we gotta jet," Su-chan called from the room we'd just come from.
"Already?" I whined as Hiro watched me pled with Susan.
"Yes, he'll be awake soon," she said glaring and pulling my ear," and because that series was so much longer then most, I had to induce a deeper sleep on him to keep him asleep."
"Fine, I'll leave," I said sighing in defeat. "Ja ne, Hiro, I'll try to come some other time, and you better not be damning ghosts or me next time," I warned as I started floating away.
"Okay," he said smirking and waving as we floated up. As we were almost gone he called, "I see Yuki's not the only one who's got you trained."
"Shut up You bas–"I called as I was pulled out of his head. "Dam you Hiroshi, you bastard." I said glaring at him as he started stirring and getting up.
"Hmm, interesting dream," he said as he took notice of the fact that he'd been asleep fully dressed. "Ehh, I guess that's why I feel like hell right now." he speculated as he got up to look at his vanity mirror, seeing his red hair flaring out in all directions, and his cheek crisscrossed with the pattern from his jacket.
"Serves you right," I said, laughing from his bed, knowing he wouldn't notice me.
"Uggh, what time is it?" I asked him self before looking at the clock, "damn, I've been asleep ten hours?" he said sounding surprised, but really tired. "Damn," he said heading for the shower.
"Well, Su-chan, should we crash here?" I asked tired from spending so much time in his dream.
"Sure, it's already 3 am, Hiro's going to be going back to bed, but you, Shuichi need to sleep, right now, you wee in that dream for a long time." Su-chan said trying to pull me up from the bed. "Come on now, dammit, Hiro's almost done in there, so we don't have much time left." she said successfully pulling me out of the bedroom and into the living room. "I think the couch'll be fine for tonight, as long as he doesn't come and sit o you, he won't know were still here." "Okay, night-night," I said curling into a ball on the soft leather couch. falling asleep to the sounds of Su-chan typing away I wondered how Hiro'd be tomorrow.
~~~~~~~~
Hey, sorry it's been so long. I was working on a few other personal projects and school. I hope you all still enjoy this installment of "The Finale" and no, this is not the final finale, just yet. This chapter was a bit different from the other's though, it was longer, and not Shuichi oriented. Some stuff, mechanics and consistencies may be off, but I need to take some liberties with my own waiting, even if it's not an original piece of fiction.
Oh well, now to references!
1) All the memories are form the second book! The fifth and sixth tracks I think. Maybe a bit form the seventh, but I haven't worked on this in a while, so please forgive. You may notice that this memory was put together differently from the others, and there's a good reason for that! Before I had typed this memory, I found a site with some translations, so I copied those and used them instead of my usual memory work! I hope you don't mind, but I think this will be better, at least until the seventh book, where the translator stopped, but if you want me to go back to my usual memory memories, by all means, tell me that!
~~~ That's all with that, I think. I hope you all really did enjoy this chapter, and I hope to get some good feedback, especially after such a long break! The next take some time, I gotta maintain good grades, and that means less fun writing. I hope I don't make you wait to long until next time. Oh, I'd like you to also tell my who's chapter you want next time! Noriko, K, Sakano, Tohma, the next is at your command, mostly because I have no idea. Sorry Suguru fans, I only just bought the fifth book, his entrance book, so I have very little clue about his personality, aside from he's cold and calculating like Tohma, and that he also has a crush on Yuki. Oh well, I'll be back soon!
Oh yeah, a chapterly website? Www.drunkduck.com this site houses many, many webcomics. A personal fav of mine is "How to Make a Sprite Comic in Eight Easy Bits" that fasted way to find that is to order the whole lis alphabetically, then scroll down to 'h' I could never get it by using the search. Enjoy! BT
