Chapter 4: Liminality
Standard disclaimer applies
I will be there seekin' for liminality,
No destinations to see; I wander...
In quiet places so dark as eternity,
I'm crying calling your name;
I'm searching for you...
--From the song, 'Liminality,' from .hack LIMINALITY
The bedroom phone, lost under a sea of pallid, rumpled bed sheets, rang insistently; Eiri grumbled something foul and got up from his bed. Just what I needed; a phone call at God-only-knows WHAT time of morning, on a day when I could SERIOUSLY use to sleep in. Just my luck. With another annoyed curse, the blonde kicked away the offending fabric and rescued the phone from its cottony clutches.
"Yeah, who is it?" Eiri growled into the receiver—so angrily that the person on the other end squeaked in surprise.
Wait a second, SQUEAKING? What the fuck...?
"GOMEN, YUKI-SANNN! Gomen ne, no da!!! Did Ryuichi and Kuma-san wake you up?! Gomen, gomen! Ryuichi is reaaaallly sorry for that, na no daaaaaa...! You forgive us, don't you?!"
Tiredly, Eiri placed the receiver back on his ear; during the hyperactive pop idol's bout of screeching, he had pulled it away from there. "Whatever, I forgive you. Now, can you please explain to me why you're calling so early in the morning, and what the hell do you want?"
"Ahh...well, Kuma-san and Ryuichi wanted to know if Shu-chan was there...we wanted to see him today, since it's pretty early, and the concert tonight isn't starting until nine, no da..." Despite the childish tone Ryuichi had used, even Eiri could tell that the singer was lonely; he honestly wanted the company, from the way his voice spoke.
"The brat isn't here right now—I haven't seen him since yesterday morning, and the idiot didn't even have to common decency to tell me where he was going. Probably at some friend's house, I'd guess, but even that's not for certain..." He tried not to sound too concerned, despite the fact that Shuichi was the reason he had gotten so little sleep the night before. Who would have thought the pink-haired teenager would affect Eiri so?
"Oh, you mean Hiro-san's place?!" Ryuichi sounded much more cheerful once he realized that he may have known the other singer's whereabouts. "That's a GREAT idea, no da! I'll go check right now! Thanks a lot, Yuki-san, no da!! Kuma-san and I send you a big hug!!" There was a click on the other line, and Ryuichi was gone.
For a moment, all was silent—Eiri was half in a stupor over Ryuichi's cheerfulness, for it reminded him of his lover's overly jovial personality—but the quiet didn't last very long...
"ANIKIIIIIIIII!!! SAKUMA-SAN JUST CALLED AND YOU DIDN'T TELL ME?! WHY, BROTHER; WHY MUST YOU BE SO CRUEEEEELLL?! I WANTED TO SPEAK TO HIIIIIIMMMM!!!"
Apparently, Tatsuha had just read the caller ID for the main apartment phone. And judging from that wail, the teenager was NOT happy at all.
"That idiot...he's louder than the brat sometimes. Tatsuha had BETTER be leaving soon...better yet, if he shacks up with that singer, then all will be right again in the world."
The bedroom door went flying open, revealing a heavily panting Tatsuha.
"Aniki, did you get his number?! Does this phone have an internal memory?! Please, please, PLEASE tell me you got his number!! C'mon, don't keep me in suspense, I gotta knowwwwww...!"
However, Eiri was already tuning out his younger brother's words, as a sudden, solemn thought crossed his mind with the words he had murmured before.
Well...all would be right if Shuichi would ever get his ass back home. I'm sure as hell not admitting it to anybody else, but the truth is...I miss the little brat and his annoying presence.
It was a cozy affair to be eating breakfast with Hiro's family; quite honestly, ever since Shuichi had moved in with Eiri, he hadn't gone back to his parents' house, and that fuzzy feeling you can only get when around maternal guardians had slowly faded from his memory. Mr. And Mrs. Nakano did not question or bring up Shuichi's behavior the night before—perhaps Hiro had specifically asked them not to—but in any case, Shuichi was extremely grateful. Sitting with a pair of kindly adults, his best friend, and a plate of fried eggs, toast, and sausage links had at least kept his mind off of the night's past events—things he was not very comfortable discussing, let alone remembering.
"So, Shuichi, you wanna go someplace today? Maybe the mall or downtown to catch a movie?" Hiro had questioned while the parents were cleaning up the dishes made by their meal.
"Ah...maybe the last idea; I heard there was a really neat action movie coming out, and I wanted to go see it." Shuichi tried to smile as warmly as he could, even though his jaw was throbbing a bit. "Maybe we can invite someone else to come with us, like Sakuma-san or Fujisaki?"
Unexpectedly, the red-haired guitarist frowned. "Actually, Shu, I was kinda hoping it could just be you and I for once...y'know, since there's been so much stuff going on lately, I figured that during the day, we could both relax and loosen up before the concert tonight." The teen's eyes flickered with something akin to concern, and Hiro's brow furrowed. "Shuichi, are you sure--?"
"Hiro, don't worry about it. Last night was just some weird thing that happened. Today, I swear that I'm TOTALLY pumped up for tonight's joint concert with Sakuma-san!" Shuichi quickly dismissed Hiro with his words. "And I'll be fine—nothing's gonna stop the invisible Bad Luck, right?"
He smiled wanly in return. "You can stop convincing me; I get the picture already. We'll do anything you want today, alright? This whole trip's gonna be about you."
In actuality, however, Hiro was not very convinced. And neither was Shuichi, who soon after his bout of fake cheerfulness frowned and expressed a visage of clear seriousness when he thought Hiro wasn't looking.
Ding dong! The hearty ring of the doorbell, well prompted, dissolved the aching silence that had formed between the two friends. Mrs. Nakano cheerfully rushed to the door, leaving her husband with the last of the dishes. "Coming! Just wait a moment until I get to the door, please!"
The middle-aged woman opened the door with a jovial smile, eyes closed. "Yes, who is it?"
"Anoo...is Shu-chan here? I heard that he wasn't where he usually is, so I came to look for him..."
Mrs. Nakano's eyes snapped open in shock, barely able to register who was standing in front of her. "S-Sakuma Ryuichi-san..."
Sure enough, the olive-haired man-child was there, toting his beloved pink bunny in his right hand, and a small shopping bag in the left. From the purely cheerful grin on his face, whatever shopping trial he had previously gone on must have ended successfully. "Sorry for bothering you, Mrs. Nakano, na no da! I came here to see Shu-chan, because Kumagorou and I wanted to have a fun day today...that's okay, isn't it?"
"O-Of course it is, Sakuma-san! A-Anything you'd like, we'll be more than grateful to get it for you!" Clearly, Mrs. Nakano had no idea that being in the business of a celebrity caused you to usually become close with other celebrities; Hiro smirked at the thought, unconsciously.
Ryuichi giggled cutely, his youthful cheeks stretching into an even further grin. "Please, call me Ryuichi! Or Ryu-chan, if you'd like! I don't like honorifics added to my name, no da...neither does Kuma-san!" He made the little plush shake its head in negative, his own face contours slipping into a dramatic frown.
"S-Sure...of course, Sa—I mean, R-Ryuichi." Mrs. Nakano was clearly having a familiarity issue.
Hiroshi, however, already enlightened by Ryuichi's lesson of, 'Call me by my name with no honorifics,' smiled and greeted the older man kindly. "Ryuichi! How's it going, buddy?"
Kumagorou shook with the movements of its owner; shortly thereafter, the pink bunny's master spoke. "Hiro-san! Ryuichi and Kuma are happy to see you, no da! And you, too, Shu-chan!"
Shuichi regarded his cheerful doppelganger with a vague smile—and Ryuichi wilted slightly.
"Hiro-san..." Ryuichi whispered, while clutching Kumagorou's plushy form to his shirt. "What's wrong with Shu-chan, no da?"
The guitarist shook his head; as if the motion would will his own memories and rage away. "I'll explain to you while we're out...right now, though, let's take Shuichi out on the town so he can at least get his mind off of things."
clari chan: Hey, welcome back, friendly reviewer! Thanks for the comment, I'm trying to belt out these chapters as fast as I can...though the document uploading system acting all freaky didn't exactly help my multi-part stories very much. TT Well, in any case, sankyuu for the review, and hope to see you in the next few chapters!
Deppfan1016: Wow, you like my work?! [Blush] Well, sankyuu, Depp-san! Much obliged...I hope that if you like this story, you'll stick around for the next few chapters, and I'll try to live up to your expectations of good grammar and spelling...although I'm a HORRIBLE speller without my spell checker. Sankyuu for the review!
Wizard: Thank you for the compliment on this story! I was getting a little worried that my writing had gone down the drain, because this story was a spur-of-the-moment fic idea I got, and shortly after I began it, I got a MAJOR writer's block...EBIL, EBIL WRITER'S BLOCK. Nevertheless, it's nice to hear that...please keep reading the chapters I put up, and we might eventually reach the end of this fic! Sankyuu for the review, too!
moonlight2: He-he. You bet Shuichi's angst-ing. In fact, expect him to angst pretty much throughout the whole fic...though there'll be a few choice people who can bring him out of his funk, at certain times. Stick around, my angst-loving reviewer, sit back, and enjoy the show...
sansty-san: Yes, I too agree angst is awesome. But, quite honestly, I'm just leaning into the angst thing now...it's all Yami No Matsuei's fault! That was the series that made me have a sudden love for series with tragic stories behind the characters and intricate plots that have you SWIMMING in them!!! [Oki, I'll stop whining now, sorry. Sorry. ] Sankyuu for the review!
goku-the-saru: Goodness, you've reviewed all my chapters so far...thanks a lot for that much! I'm glad there's a fellow Hiro lover out there besides myself, (although I'm sure there are more besides you), and yes, Hiro is taking a lot of liberties in this fic for his best friend. You might just see some hints at Hiroshi being more to Shu than just a friend in the next few chapters...I'm not sure if you're a Hiro x Shu shipper, but watch out for it. Hope you like, and sankyuu for the review(s)!
Lots of hugs to the readers who haven't reviewed—you guys are awesome, too! [Hugs] Continue to read this story, please, and I will keep writing and posting chapters for it. One more weekend until school starts up again for me, and the open house for me was Friday...I still have to finish reading that book, too... [Grr.]
See you in chapter 5!