"There has to be some mistake..." Hiro breathed, eyes widened to everyone
that stood before him.
"There's no mistake!!" cried the woman. "You killed my nephew and now you kidnapped my son for ransom, so you could bribe your innocence!"
"I would do no such thing!" Hiro yelled back.
"Then you wouldn't object to us taking a look around."
Hiro's body grew weak with fear. Surely they would find Suguru now and just add an extra life threatening sentence onto Hiro. He sighed and moved reluctantly to the side and allowed the rushing couple inside, yelling out for their son at two in the morning, inside the small apartment.
They dipped into his room, causing a silent yelp from Hiro, but when they came out empty-handed, he let off a frown. Ayame's screams were now developing into sobs. The young, beautiful woman, was now on the verge of faint.
"He's here, I just know it! The kid with the pink hair said so!" she squealed in hysterics, throwing her face into her husband's shoulder. The man that looked a lot like Eiri, hugged her with a single arm, while speaking to the officers words that Hiro couldn't hear. Where was Suguru? Hiro knew that Suguru had heard his parents at the door, and by the way he spoke about them earlier, he wouldn't go back with them if his life depended on it.
Before Hiro could try and think about where Suguru might have hidden, an officer on night duty that watched the apartment, pulled the resisting young boy by the arm, through the front door. Hiro's eyes bugged. Suguru had tried to use the only way out he could think of, and that was to crawl through the window above the bed to get out and not get Hiro into trouble.
"Suguru!" Ayame cried out, even before the cop could even announce that he had been found. As Ayame ran over to collect her son, as if he were a five year old getting out of his first day of kindergarten, Suguru slipped out of the now tender grip of the cop and bounded over to Hiro, hugging him tightly, laying his head on his shoulder and whispering how sorry he was.
"Suguru!" Ayame cried out again, only this time, it was in dumbfounded, pure shock.
"Son, you're going to have to come with us."
Suguru never budged. He loved Hiro's warm embrace more than anything else. He didn't want to go back to where Hiro wasn't going to be.
"Go Suguru," Hiro said in a low voice, causing the teary filled eyes to look up at him. "I don't want you to get into trouble. I'll be okay. I promise."
Just then, and caring less what everyone else had thought, Suguru swung his arms around the back of Hiro's neck, pulling him into a kiss. A kiss that made his father's eyes shoot out, his mom scream, and Hiro wish he hadn't done that.
"Oh my god!!" Ayame cried, shielding her face. "My son's a—"
"A what, mom?" Suguru asked, venom in his voice, looking back at him. "A fag? A fruit? A disgrace?"
Ayame was too shocked to move. She just stood there like she had seen a ghost.
"I don't care what you think of me. Like I've said before to Hiro, if anyone should be upset about this whole incident, it's me. I was closer to Tohma than you ever were, mom! All you ever did was yell at him for being a musician! I believe Hiro when he tells me he didn't do anything wrong! Why to know why, mom?!" he asked loudly, narrowing his eyes at her. Ayame prayed he wasn't about to say what she thought he was.
"Because I love him with all my heart!"
Ayame fainted, falling straight to the floor in a swoon-like sound. The cops attended to her, while Kaori no doubt, came over to collect Suguru.
"Come on, son," he said, putting his arm around Suguru and using his free hand to brush his beautiful blond locks of hair out of his face. Hiro was slightly stunned that he looked so much like Eiri. He turned his head back to Hiro and glared his eyes.
"I'll see you in court tomorrow, Nakano."
With one last desperate facial plea thrown back at Hiro, Suguru mouthed the words 'I love you', just before his father ushered him out.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Shuichi rose the next morning before Eiri, like usual. Even on the day of the trial, Eiri refused to get up early.
Shuichi ruffled his hair tiredly and yawned, walking to the front door to get the mail and paper. Normally he hadn't been too fond of reading the morning paper, it was usually Eiri's job, but lately the headlines about the trial have been catching his eye.
Unrolling the paper, his eyes set on the headline title and rounded wider than they ever had before. He quickly scanned through the article, lips moving silently with random words he skimmed by. His hands trembled. Unknowingly at first, but then he caught himself and breathed heavier instead.
"What you whining about now, brat?" Eiri grumbled, obviously not too excited about today.
"YUUUUUKI! That's not funny!" he cried. "Hiro's being charged with kidnapping on the side, AND stachatory rape!"
Eiri's head wrenched around to meet Shuichi, eye to eye, but kept his mouth shut.
"As if things aren't bad enough for him, he's got to mess up one day before his trial!" Shuichi cried, trying to read it more thoroughly.
"I didn't know he was like that," Eiri said after a pause, lighting his morning cigarette. "Who's the chick?"
"It's not a chick," he informed. "It's my band member, Fujisaki."
Just then, Eiri seemed to have taken a greater interest in just that one sentence than he has the entire time this had been going on. He nearly choked on nothing and spat his cigarette from his mouth. "What?! Let me see that!" he growled, ripping it free from Shuichi's hand and mumbling it aloud.
"'Nakano Hiroshi will have one more charge against him at the Tokyo courthouse this morning. Nakano Hiroshi-san was taken last night from his home approximately two a.m., after finding the missing person, Fujisaki Suguru, hiding just outside his bedroom window. Fujisaki is assumed to be scared to tell the truth and remains convinced that Nakano is innocent. We believe that he has been raped, then brainwashed with a clear threat that if he said one word about this, Nakano would hurt, or possibly kill him.'"
Eiri threw the paper to the ground, too sickened to continue reading it.
"Taking a little sixteen year old boy and threatening him. Sickening. Complete disgrace."
Shuichi followed him with a frown. "You don't actually believe Hiro would do that, do you?"
"What do you think?" Eiri murmured, reaching inside the fridge for something to drink. "I'm not making a fuss out of this for my health. Of course he did it. His last romp in the sack for the rest of his life, so he's taking it out on an innocent band mate."
Shuichi punched him in the shoulder. "Hiro would never do that to Suguru! The last I knew, they actually started getting close."
Eiri grunted and left the kitchen to go back to his study.
"Do you really think that he could be behind this?" Shuichi asked again, following Eiri. "Hey! We have to leave soon! Don't get comfortable!"
Eiri shot him a glare, freezing Shuichi on the spot. "I don't care if your friend raped your band member, and I don't CARE about the court order in general! I'm not going."
Shuichi's mouth dropped as Eiri sat in his leather chair and turned on his computer.
"BUT YUUUUK—"
"I said I'm not going!" Eiri shouted, donning his glasses and narrowing his beautiful cat like eyes. "I don't care whether your friend lives or dies today. One less thing I have to hear about."
Shuichi's eyes flew wide in shock. "How could you say that?!"
Eiri started typing swiftly, not looking back at Shuichi. "Easy. I just did. Get out."
Shuichi should be used to this by now. Every moment of his life, Eiri has done nothing but forced him out of his. As used to it as he should be, he still felt the urge to barge out of the room and cry his heart out, even now he felt it, but he wasn't. He planted his feet firmly to the ground and stood up to him. Eiri continued to ignore him and type, but found out that he was easily distracted. He ripped his glasses off his face with a sigh and tossed them on the table in front of him, then throwing both hands over his face. "Shuichi, get the hell out of here. Go to the trial. I don't know Hiroshi and I never will. I'm not feeling good, I just want to be left alone."
Shuichi didn't know if he was hearing things or not, but it sure sounded like he heard Eiri gasp into his hands. His back rose and fell as a more and more rapid speed.
It didn't take a genius to realize that strong Yuki Eiri was reduced to tears. As shocked as Shuichi was, a frown displayed over his face as well. He slowly crept over to his lover and placed his hand over his head timidly and gently.
"Please don't make me go," Eiri sobbed into his hands, making Shuichi tempted to jump backwards with shock. "It's too hard. Too many memories."
Shuichi had wondered what he was talking about. Too many memories of what? What could possibly be so bad as to bring Eiri down to tears like this?
"This isn't about Hiro or Fujisaki...is it?" he asked coyly.
"Baka!" Eiri shot, eyeing him through teary filled eyes. "I could care less about your idiotic friend!"
Watching Eiri break down into tears made Shuichi start up as well. Everything was such a mess.
"Is it Seguchi-san?"
The way Eiri hid his face showed Shuichi that that's what was bothering him. Shuichi was puzzled. Every time Tohma showed his face around Eiri, he'd throw a fit and kick him out, but not before calling him a number of hurtful names. He never admitted it, but Tohma was always hurt after leaving his apartment, especially the last visit.
"He came to me...the night he died, asking for you," Eiri sobbed, tears streaming clearly and easily down his face. "I told him to leave, as I always did. I wanted him to see that I didn't need him anymore! Why couldn't he just leave me alone?!?!" he wailed. "Then maybe I wouldn't be feeling this way!"
He gathered up all the negative energy inside him and shoved his desk over onto its side without hesitation, ending in a huge crash. "Damn him to hell!"
He threw himself out of the room, leaving Shuichi frozen and startled. He heard the front door slam, signaling that Eiri had left. Shuichi's eyes weren't taken off the mess that now lay on the floor. His heart skipped beats in fear. He had seen Eiri angry, but never this angry.
"Oh Yuki..." Shuichi whispered under his breath, breathing a little heavier than normal. "You loved him..."
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
"We have to leave in a half hour, Ryu-chan," Noriko said, flattening her dress with her hand, taking out what little creases they gathered by walking. She wore her hair back in a single ponytail, and wearing almost no makeup. She didn't feel in the mood to try and impress people today. With all the crying that would follow, mascara wasn't the best idea either.
Ryuichi got ready slower than anyone Noriko had ever seen. He was just now buttoning up his white dress shirt, and grabbing the tie. He was a totally different person now. Noriko didn't pretend to not know why. He was still stuck on what had happened to Suguru. It was only natural he'd still feel this way. The world lost their two-year-old parody. Kumagoro was receiving less and less attention as well. Noriko had just about almost gotten help for Ryuichi. Her hand was on the phone, but changed her mind at the last second. She had hoped he would get out of his heavy withdrawal by the time the trial had come, but he was still the same way he had been for the past month and a half.
"Need help with that?" Noriko asked, watching his fingers shake just slightly as he tried to tie the bowtie. Normally he was very good at this sort of thing. At Grasper reunions, he used to go around, retying all the men's bowties, saying they did them wrong, then spend the rest of the time, going after liquor drinks that contained cherries. Of course, he shared them with Kumagoro too. Now the poor neglected bunny just sits in the same place it has for the past month. Ryuichi said it was his punishment. He didn't deserve his Kumagoro anymore. His most precious possession, down for the count.
"No," Ryuichi said, nearly mouthed.
Noriko approached her friend, laying a hand on his shoulder. "Look, it's going to be okay, Ryu-kun. Hiroshi will not live to see tomorrow. Aizawa's already taken care of. How, I don't know, but he has. They have all the evidence they need to prove that Hiro's going down too. Tohma's death will be avenged."
"Will killing Hiroshi prove that?" the ex child parody questioned quietly, gazing downwards.
Noriko hesitated not. She nodded. "It will."
"Tohma wouldn't want anyone to die. If anyone, he'd want me to die. I hurt him, and I hurt his cousin."
Noriko hugged him from behind, ignoring her wrinkling dress. "Don't worry, I'm sure Tohma's not holding any grudges."
She was alert when Ryuichi started sniffling.
"I don't think I should go. I know I was called in, but I couldn't do it."
The lead singer of Nittle Grasper was falling apart at the seams. Noriko brushed his single tear away with the tip of her finger.
"You loved Tohma-san, didn't you, Ryu-chan?" she asked, in a voice in nothing above a whisper.
All Ryuichi could do was give off a single nod, rubbing his face.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
"Start explaining!" Ayame cried into her son's face. They wanted to confront him yesterday, but Kaori insisted it was too late in the evening to start bombarding him with questions. Suguru, decked out in a black suit and tie, trying to look his best to save the man he loved, was forced to sit in a chair and suffer a mother's annoying cry of desperation. "You're sixteen years old! You can't be in a relationship! Especially a relationship with a MAN! A man that killed your cousin nonetheless! What's wrong with you?!" she squealed loudly.
Suguru just folded his arms and looked away, tuning her out as best as he possibly could.
"He kidnapped and brainwashed you, didn't he?! Just like that headline said!"
Suguru sighed impatiently. This whole thing was starting to get very sickening and absurd.
"You still believe the headlines, mother?" he muttered. "You know all they're good for is shooting off things people want to hear. Nakano is not guilty, and I'm going to say just that."
Ayame stood straight up, putting her hands to her hips. "Is that so?! Do you really think your one positive out of a thousand negatives is really going to change things?"
Suguru had remembered what he had said before. As long as Hiro had just one out of a million, that's all he was satisfied with. Even if it wasn't enough to save his life, at least Suguru believed him.
"If your father and I can put that Aizawa to his death and go against the rules, we can have this 'Hiro' lover of yours be brought to death too!"
Suguru struggled not to cry. He kept his eyes open and head off to the side the whole time, but couldn't help but gather a trembling lip and welled up tears in his eyes. He bit his lip, sucking back his emotions.
"I still don't know why you care," Suguru said, unable to stop a single tear from falling. "You never accepted Tohma because of what he was and what he did. You never loved him like I did. You just enjoy watching pain in other people!" he shot, glaring at his mother.
Ayame shot her head back and widened her hazel eyes.
"You don't care about me, you don't care about Tohma, you just want Hiroshi to die because it makes you pleased knowing people that make me happy are out of my life!!"
Suguru's head snapped to the side as Ayame's stinging slap struck her son's face.
"You will not speak to me that way! I am your mother! So what if I hate all musicians?! The less there are, the better this world is! Aizawa's death pleased me, and so will Nakano's! Then maybe it'll teach you not to defy me and give up the horrid piece of noise you call a talent!"
As Ayame stormed off, a horrible sensation coursed through Suguru's veins. His eyes went wide as he rushed to the nearest phone to call Shuichi.
Shuichi had picked up after three rings. It was no surprise to Suguru that it sounded like he had been crying all night.
"Shindou-san, it's me!" Suguru said in a whisper-yell, keeping a lookout for his parents. "Listen, I have something you should know about Hiro."
"Yes, we already know he's got a kidnapping charge against him," Shuichi said, sniffling back tears.
"No! He didn't kidnap me, I went of my own free will, but that's not the point! I know who killed Tohma, and it wasn't Hiro."
Shuichi sighed. "Fujisaki..."
"Listen to me Shindou!" he said, just a little bit too loud. "An innocent man is going on trial today, and without your help, he's dead! Everyone's voicing against him! You're supposed to be his best friend! I'm warning you now Shindou, if you don't protect him, just as he protected you all these years, I will personally kill you with my own two hands. I love Hiro and I will not have him dead this afternoon, do you hear me?!"
It was silent on Shuichi's end for the longest time.
"Shindou-san?"
Suguru's heart jumped up in his throat when a hand touched his shoulder. He spun around, dropping the cordless on the floor.
"Father...?" he breathed, throwing his hand to his chest. "Don't scare me like that."
The handsome blonde threw his arm around his son's shoulders and pulled him into a hug, no questions asked. The two were always close.
"You don't believe Hiro kidnapped me, do you? He would never. Why are you hugging me? I'm a disgrace."
"No you're not, son. Your mother is just...going through a difficult time. She had no intentions of speaking to you like that. And I know what your phone call was about."
Suguru met his eyes with his father's.
"Do you really think your mother could have killed her own nephew?" he asked, straight-faced.
Suguru's eyes went wide. Kaori tapped his shoulder.
"Well..."
"Regardless of her rather obscene hatred for music, I assure you, with my own words, she had nothing to do with this."
"There's no mistake!!" cried the woman. "You killed my nephew and now you kidnapped my son for ransom, so you could bribe your innocence!"
"I would do no such thing!" Hiro yelled back.
"Then you wouldn't object to us taking a look around."
Hiro's body grew weak with fear. Surely they would find Suguru now and just add an extra life threatening sentence onto Hiro. He sighed and moved reluctantly to the side and allowed the rushing couple inside, yelling out for their son at two in the morning, inside the small apartment.
They dipped into his room, causing a silent yelp from Hiro, but when they came out empty-handed, he let off a frown. Ayame's screams were now developing into sobs. The young, beautiful woman, was now on the verge of faint.
"He's here, I just know it! The kid with the pink hair said so!" she squealed in hysterics, throwing her face into her husband's shoulder. The man that looked a lot like Eiri, hugged her with a single arm, while speaking to the officers words that Hiro couldn't hear. Where was Suguru? Hiro knew that Suguru had heard his parents at the door, and by the way he spoke about them earlier, he wouldn't go back with them if his life depended on it.
Before Hiro could try and think about where Suguru might have hidden, an officer on night duty that watched the apartment, pulled the resisting young boy by the arm, through the front door. Hiro's eyes bugged. Suguru had tried to use the only way out he could think of, and that was to crawl through the window above the bed to get out and not get Hiro into trouble.
"Suguru!" Ayame cried out, even before the cop could even announce that he had been found. As Ayame ran over to collect her son, as if he were a five year old getting out of his first day of kindergarten, Suguru slipped out of the now tender grip of the cop and bounded over to Hiro, hugging him tightly, laying his head on his shoulder and whispering how sorry he was.
"Suguru!" Ayame cried out again, only this time, it was in dumbfounded, pure shock.
"Son, you're going to have to come with us."
Suguru never budged. He loved Hiro's warm embrace more than anything else. He didn't want to go back to where Hiro wasn't going to be.
"Go Suguru," Hiro said in a low voice, causing the teary filled eyes to look up at him. "I don't want you to get into trouble. I'll be okay. I promise."
Just then, and caring less what everyone else had thought, Suguru swung his arms around the back of Hiro's neck, pulling him into a kiss. A kiss that made his father's eyes shoot out, his mom scream, and Hiro wish he hadn't done that.
"Oh my god!!" Ayame cried, shielding her face. "My son's a—"
"A what, mom?" Suguru asked, venom in his voice, looking back at him. "A fag? A fruit? A disgrace?"
Ayame was too shocked to move. She just stood there like she had seen a ghost.
"I don't care what you think of me. Like I've said before to Hiro, if anyone should be upset about this whole incident, it's me. I was closer to Tohma than you ever were, mom! All you ever did was yell at him for being a musician! I believe Hiro when he tells me he didn't do anything wrong! Why to know why, mom?!" he asked loudly, narrowing his eyes at her. Ayame prayed he wasn't about to say what she thought he was.
"Because I love him with all my heart!"
Ayame fainted, falling straight to the floor in a swoon-like sound. The cops attended to her, while Kaori no doubt, came over to collect Suguru.
"Come on, son," he said, putting his arm around Suguru and using his free hand to brush his beautiful blond locks of hair out of his face. Hiro was slightly stunned that he looked so much like Eiri. He turned his head back to Hiro and glared his eyes.
"I'll see you in court tomorrow, Nakano."
With one last desperate facial plea thrown back at Hiro, Suguru mouthed the words 'I love you', just before his father ushered him out.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Shuichi rose the next morning before Eiri, like usual. Even on the day of the trial, Eiri refused to get up early.
Shuichi ruffled his hair tiredly and yawned, walking to the front door to get the mail and paper. Normally he hadn't been too fond of reading the morning paper, it was usually Eiri's job, but lately the headlines about the trial have been catching his eye.
Unrolling the paper, his eyes set on the headline title and rounded wider than they ever had before. He quickly scanned through the article, lips moving silently with random words he skimmed by. His hands trembled. Unknowingly at first, but then he caught himself and breathed heavier instead.
"What you whining about now, brat?" Eiri grumbled, obviously not too excited about today.
"YUUUUUKI! That's not funny!" he cried. "Hiro's being charged with kidnapping on the side, AND stachatory rape!"
Eiri's head wrenched around to meet Shuichi, eye to eye, but kept his mouth shut.
"As if things aren't bad enough for him, he's got to mess up one day before his trial!" Shuichi cried, trying to read it more thoroughly.
"I didn't know he was like that," Eiri said after a pause, lighting his morning cigarette. "Who's the chick?"
"It's not a chick," he informed. "It's my band member, Fujisaki."
Just then, Eiri seemed to have taken a greater interest in just that one sentence than he has the entire time this had been going on. He nearly choked on nothing and spat his cigarette from his mouth. "What?! Let me see that!" he growled, ripping it free from Shuichi's hand and mumbling it aloud.
"'Nakano Hiroshi will have one more charge against him at the Tokyo courthouse this morning. Nakano Hiroshi-san was taken last night from his home approximately two a.m., after finding the missing person, Fujisaki Suguru, hiding just outside his bedroom window. Fujisaki is assumed to be scared to tell the truth and remains convinced that Nakano is innocent. We believe that he has been raped, then brainwashed with a clear threat that if he said one word about this, Nakano would hurt, or possibly kill him.'"
Eiri threw the paper to the ground, too sickened to continue reading it.
"Taking a little sixteen year old boy and threatening him. Sickening. Complete disgrace."
Shuichi followed him with a frown. "You don't actually believe Hiro would do that, do you?"
"What do you think?" Eiri murmured, reaching inside the fridge for something to drink. "I'm not making a fuss out of this for my health. Of course he did it. His last romp in the sack for the rest of his life, so he's taking it out on an innocent band mate."
Shuichi punched him in the shoulder. "Hiro would never do that to Suguru! The last I knew, they actually started getting close."
Eiri grunted and left the kitchen to go back to his study.
"Do you really think that he could be behind this?" Shuichi asked again, following Eiri. "Hey! We have to leave soon! Don't get comfortable!"
Eiri shot him a glare, freezing Shuichi on the spot. "I don't care if your friend raped your band member, and I don't CARE about the court order in general! I'm not going."
Shuichi's mouth dropped as Eiri sat in his leather chair and turned on his computer.
"BUT YUUUUK—"
"I said I'm not going!" Eiri shouted, donning his glasses and narrowing his beautiful cat like eyes. "I don't care whether your friend lives or dies today. One less thing I have to hear about."
Shuichi's eyes flew wide in shock. "How could you say that?!"
Eiri started typing swiftly, not looking back at Shuichi. "Easy. I just did. Get out."
Shuichi should be used to this by now. Every moment of his life, Eiri has done nothing but forced him out of his. As used to it as he should be, he still felt the urge to barge out of the room and cry his heart out, even now he felt it, but he wasn't. He planted his feet firmly to the ground and stood up to him. Eiri continued to ignore him and type, but found out that he was easily distracted. He ripped his glasses off his face with a sigh and tossed them on the table in front of him, then throwing both hands over his face. "Shuichi, get the hell out of here. Go to the trial. I don't know Hiroshi and I never will. I'm not feeling good, I just want to be left alone."
Shuichi didn't know if he was hearing things or not, but it sure sounded like he heard Eiri gasp into his hands. His back rose and fell as a more and more rapid speed.
It didn't take a genius to realize that strong Yuki Eiri was reduced to tears. As shocked as Shuichi was, a frown displayed over his face as well. He slowly crept over to his lover and placed his hand over his head timidly and gently.
"Please don't make me go," Eiri sobbed into his hands, making Shuichi tempted to jump backwards with shock. "It's too hard. Too many memories."
Shuichi had wondered what he was talking about. Too many memories of what? What could possibly be so bad as to bring Eiri down to tears like this?
"This isn't about Hiro or Fujisaki...is it?" he asked coyly.
"Baka!" Eiri shot, eyeing him through teary filled eyes. "I could care less about your idiotic friend!"
Watching Eiri break down into tears made Shuichi start up as well. Everything was such a mess.
"Is it Seguchi-san?"
The way Eiri hid his face showed Shuichi that that's what was bothering him. Shuichi was puzzled. Every time Tohma showed his face around Eiri, he'd throw a fit and kick him out, but not before calling him a number of hurtful names. He never admitted it, but Tohma was always hurt after leaving his apartment, especially the last visit.
"He came to me...the night he died, asking for you," Eiri sobbed, tears streaming clearly and easily down his face. "I told him to leave, as I always did. I wanted him to see that I didn't need him anymore! Why couldn't he just leave me alone?!?!" he wailed. "Then maybe I wouldn't be feeling this way!"
He gathered up all the negative energy inside him and shoved his desk over onto its side without hesitation, ending in a huge crash. "Damn him to hell!"
He threw himself out of the room, leaving Shuichi frozen and startled. He heard the front door slam, signaling that Eiri had left. Shuichi's eyes weren't taken off the mess that now lay on the floor. His heart skipped beats in fear. He had seen Eiri angry, but never this angry.
"Oh Yuki..." Shuichi whispered under his breath, breathing a little heavier than normal. "You loved him..."
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
"We have to leave in a half hour, Ryu-chan," Noriko said, flattening her dress with her hand, taking out what little creases they gathered by walking. She wore her hair back in a single ponytail, and wearing almost no makeup. She didn't feel in the mood to try and impress people today. With all the crying that would follow, mascara wasn't the best idea either.
Ryuichi got ready slower than anyone Noriko had ever seen. He was just now buttoning up his white dress shirt, and grabbing the tie. He was a totally different person now. Noriko didn't pretend to not know why. He was still stuck on what had happened to Suguru. It was only natural he'd still feel this way. The world lost their two-year-old parody. Kumagoro was receiving less and less attention as well. Noriko had just about almost gotten help for Ryuichi. Her hand was on the phone, but changed her mind at the last second. She had hoped he would get out of his heavy withdrawal by the time the trial had come, but he was still the same way he had been for the past month and a half.
"Need help with that?" Noriko asked, watching his fingers shake just slightly as he tried to tie the bowtie. Normally he was very good at this sort of thing. At Grasper reunions, he used to go around, retying all the men's bowties, saying they did them wrong, then spend the rest of the time, going after liquor drinks that contained cherries. Of course, he shared them with Kumagoro too. Now the poor neglected bunny just sits in the same place it has for the past month. Ryuichi said it was his punishment. He didn't deserve his Kumagoro anymore. His most precious possession, down for the count.
"No," Ryuichi said, nearly mouthed.
Noriko approached her friend, laying a hand on his shoulder. "Look, it's going to be okay, Ryu-kun. Hiroshi will not live to see tomorrow. Aizawa's already taken care of. How, I don't know, but he has. They have all the evidence they need to prove that Hiro's going down too. Tohma's death will be avenged."
"Will killing Hiroshi prove that?" the ex child parody questioned quietly, gazing downwards.
Noriko hesitated not. She nodded. "It will."
"Tohma wouldn't want anyone to die. If anyone, he'd want me to die. I hurt him, and I hurt his cousin."
Noriko hugged him from behind, ignoring her wrinkling dress. "Don't worry, I'm sure Tohma's not holding any grudges."
She was alert when Ryuichi started sniffling.
"I don't think I should go. I know I was called in, but I couldn't do it."
The lead singer of Nittle Grasper was falling apart at the seams. Noriko brushed his single tear away with the tip of her finger.
"You loved Tohma-san, didn't you, Ryu-chan?" she asked, in a voice in nothing above a whisper.
All Ryuichi could do was give off a single nod, rubbing his face.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
"Start explaining!" Ayame cried into her son's face. They wanted to confront him yesterday, but Kaori insisted it was too late in the evening to start bombarding him with questions. Suguru, decked out in a black suit and tie, trying to look his best to save the man he loved, was forced to sit in a chair and suffer a mother's annoying cry of desperation. "You're sixteen years old! You can't be in a relationship! Especially a relationship with a MAN! A man that killed your cousin nonetheless! What's wrong with you?!" she squealed loudly.
Suguru just folded his arms and looked away, tuning her out as best as he possibly could.
"He kidnapped and brainwashed you, didn't he?! Just like that headline said!"
Suguru sighed impatiently. This whole thing was starting to get very sickening and absurd.
"You still believe the headlines, mother?" he muttered. "You know all they're good for is shooting off things people want to hear. Nakano is not guilty, and I'm going to say just that."
Ayame stood straight up, putting her hands to her hips. "Is that so?! Do you really think your one positive out of a thousand negatives is really going to change things?"
Suguru had remembered what he had said before. As long as Hiro had just one out of a million, that's all he was satisfied with. Even if it wasn't enough to save his life, at least Suguru believed him.
"If your father and I can put that Aizawa to his death and go against the rules, we can have this 'Hiro' lover of yours be brought to death too!"
Suguru struggled not to cry. He kept his eyes open and head off to the side the whole time, but couldn't help but gather a trembling lip and welled up tears in his eyes. He bit his lip, sucking back his emotions.
"I still don't know why you care," Suguru said, unable to stop a single tear from falling. "You never accepted Tohma because of what he was and what he did. You never loved him like I did. You just enjoy watching pain in other people!" he shot, glaring at his mother.
Ayame shot her head back and widened her hazel eyes.
"You don't care about me, you don't care about Tohma, you just want Hiroshi to die because it makes you pleased knowing people that make me happy are out of my life!!"
Suguru's head snapped to the side as Ayame's stinging slap struck her son's face.
"You will not speak to me that way! I am your mother! So what if I hate all musicians?! The less there are, the better this world is! Aizawa's death pleased me, and so will Nakano's! Then maybe it'll teach you not to defy me and give up the horrid piece of noise you call a talent!"
As Ayame stormed off, a horrible sensation coursed through Suguru's veins. His eyes went wide as he rushed to the nearest phone to call Shuichi.
Shuichi had picked up after three rings. It was no surprise to Suguru that it sounded like he had been crying all night.
"Shindou-san, it's me!" Suguru said in a whisper-yell, keeping a lookout for his parents. "Listen, I have something you should know about Hiro."
"Yes, we already know he's got a kidnapping charge against him," Shuichi said, sniffling back tears.
"No! He didn't kidnap me, I went of my own free will, but that's not the point! I know who killed Tohma, and it wasn't Hiro."
Shuichi sighed. "Fujisaki..."
"Listen to me Shindou!" he said, just a little bit too loud. "An innocent man is going on trial today, and without your help, he's dead! Everyone's voicing against him! You're supposed to be his best friend! I'm warning you now Shindou, if you don't protect him, just as he protected you all these years, I will personally kill you with my own two hands. I love Hiro and I will not have him dead this afternoon, do you hear me?!"
It was silent on Shuichi's end for the longest time.
"Shindou-san?"
Suguru's heart jumped up in his throat when a hand touched his shoulder. He spun around, dropping the cordless on the floor.
"Father...?" he breathed, throwing his hand to his chest. "Don't scare me like that."
The handsome blonde threw his arm around his son's shoulders and pulled him into a hug, no questions asked. The two were always close.
"You don't believe Hiro kidnapped me, do you? He would never. Why are you hugging me? I'm a disgrace."
"No you're not, son. Your mother is just...going through a difficult time. She had no intentions of speaking to you like that. And I know what your phone call was about."
Suguru met his eyes with his father's.
"Do you really think your mother could have killed her own nephew?" he asked, straight-faced.
Suguru's eyes went wide. Kaori tapped his shoulder.
"Well..."
"Regardless of her rather obscene hatred for music, I assure you, with my own words, she had nothing to do with this."