Translation thing//moshi-moshi: the Japanese way to say "hello" when answering a phone./ Oniichan: Japanese for "brother". Not quite sure if the "chan" part makes it "little brother" or not, but if so then Aki is the older twin./
While Taisho was out in Shibuya having the time of her life, Shuichi was doing a different photo shoot for one of he and Eiri's novelist friends, Minabi Kokubo. Shuichi was singing to some song on his MP3 player by The Stand Up that sounded reminiscent of drunk Caribbean pirates (Jack Sparrow, sorry ;)on the way to the studio. He took the convenient way of riding a bike to this particular place considering it was maybe twenty minutes away from the apartment.
Shuichi stopped and pondered the possible events of the oncoming shoot. "I wonder what they'll be specifically wanting me to do…I mean, I know the book's a tragedy, but then what'll I need to look like?" He stopped asked himself this as he took a sip of his strawberry soda that he had brought with him. "I'll bet I have to look really emo or something. God, it'd help if I could just remember the name of the book!" Shuichi cursed himself for his horrible memory again and then went on his way again.
When he arrived, he was immediately waved over happily by Minabi. Minabi Kokubo was a short young woman in her late twenties with feathered, inky black hair that went to her shoulder blades and covered her left eye. She had brilliant eyes (well, the one people could see anyway) that were a gray and absorbed color so easily that her eyes looked bluish-purple most of the time and had already won awards for her horror and tragedy novels. "Hi, Minabi-chan!" Shuichi giddily exclaimed. "So, where should I go? Usually there's a makeup department thingy at these shoots and all I see are some costumes."
"Oh, about that." Minabi said sort of guiltily. "Well, for this, no makeup is needed, just some of this." A mischievous grin grew on her face as she held up a tiny container.
"Is that an eye dropper?" Shuichi asked in bewilderment.
"Yeah, now hold still!" Minabi seized Shuichi and pinned him to the ground and he started to scream in shock. "Urusei!" she shouted over him. "Now shut your eyes, this'll sting if it gets in them." Shuichi stopped flailing his head around and shut his eyes extremely tight. He flinched when the cold liquid streamed down both sides of his head. "Okay, open your eyes and stand up quickly before the stuff leads into your hair." For fear of some strange chemical destroying his hair, he did exactly as told.
"What the hell is this stuff?" Shuichi asked. "It smells salty."
"That's because it's salt water, dude." Minabi said calmly, with a taste of irritation in her tone. "It's supposed to simulate tears because I don't feel like kicking you…today."
"Tears?" Shuichi inquired.
Minabi nodded. "Yeah. The book's called 'When All Angels Have Died' and the picture we're shooting is of you dressed as a fallen angel, so just look sad and it'll be perfect."
Shuichi tapped his fist on his palm. "I knew it was going to be emo!"
Minabi grabbed him by the shirt and yanked him down to her level, which sort of hurt Shuichi's back considering she was so petite. "It's not emo, it's symbolism, it's art, it's beautiful and it sells!" she growled at him, making Shuichi want to shed tears without the assistance of a dropper. "Clear?" she said, still growling. Our poor little pink-haired hero could only nod, he felt as if he was being stared down by Satan. She let him go and a smile quickly grew on her face. "Fabulous!" she exclaimed, clapping her hands together. "Now change into that white outfit and put on the wings, we're shooting in five minutes!"
And so Shuichi quickly changed, trying not to smear Minabi's artificial tears and asking what straps buckled where. Okay, so it wasn't all that quick because he needed help with the wings and the bandages they were to put on his forearms that were stained brownish-red on the insides, so he just had to ask about it. "Hey Minabi?" Shuichi asked while trying to wrap the bandages tight enough. "Is this stuff supposed to be on here?" Shuichi exposed the stains to her and she put down her coffee to answer.
"Of course," she answered with a smile, "one of the book's characters ends up slitting his wrists, and you actually look a lot like the character so I thought, 'Why the hell not!' and asked for them to put watercolor on the wrappings." Shuichi was a bit freaked out by that, but he proceeded with the shoot.
The process was actually quite speedy because Minabi kept saying things to make Shuichi look beautifully sad; like people in his life leaving him and stuff like that, so Shuichi got home fairly earlier than he expected, arriving near half an hour or so after Taisho. And much like the daughter, the co-father collapsed at the doorway as well with a loud THUMP.
Taisho peeked her head out of her room with a phone next to her ear, her hair was down and a little creased from the ponytails. "Well, today's your lucky day, he just fell in." She placed the phone near her chest. "Hey Pink Otosan!" Taisho called from the hallway. "You're just in time, there's someone on the phone for you."
"Really?" Shuichi said in an exasperated voice, not removing his face from the floor. "Where's Eiri?" He added.
"Scary Otosan went to the store to buy stuff for dinner," Taisho replied, "want me to hand you the cordless?" she asked in a sympathetic voice to the grown man on the floor. He lifted his arm with a beckoning motion. "Just hold on a minute, okay? All right, thanks." Taisho rushed to the study and got the cordless phone out for Shuichi. She held it by his ear until he registered it was there and then went back to her room and hung up that phone.
After hearing the click, Shuichi decided to begin talking. "Moshi-moshi?" Shuichi said groggily.
The voice chuckled, and suddenly Shuichi shot up, not believing the voice. "You sound like crap, Shuichi. Yuki-san getting rougher?" it said jokingly.
Shuichi gave a gasp of delight. "Hiro!" Shuichi could just imagine his friend nodding his head at that exact moment. "Omigod, it's been forever! How've you been? How's Ayaka? What's Kyoto look like this time of year? Oh and what about Kazuki? He's Taisho's age now, right? No wait, he's older!"
Hiro began to laugh, Shuichi had missed that laugh far too much. "Fine, fine, everything's fine." Hiro said happily. "Ayaka's been doing great, she had a cold last week but nothing some tea didn't fix. Kyoto's looking gorgeous because of Autumn but that means a bunch of tourists are coming." Shuichi laughed at the shiver sound Hiro made following that. "And Kazuki is doing better school wise…at least it's Cs instead of Ds."
"That's weird, I thought anyone that was in a house with you and Ayaka for more than two years would become a super genius." Shuichi stated bluntly.
"Shuichi, you of all people should know that children rarely ever turn out like their parents. I mean look at us for one! Not exactly a doctor, now am I?" Hiro made a good point, neither he nor Shuichi had become what their parents had intended.
"I guess not." Shuichi admitted. "But Taisho's getting almost as smart as Eiri, and sometimes she even talks like him! I cant' stay in a conversation for more than ten minutes most of the time." After a bit of reminiscence and laughing between sworn friends, Shuichi decided to stray from the subject. "So what do I owe the honor of this call?"
Shuichi knew that the expression Hiro was wearing was most likely a puzzled one. "What do you mean by that?"
"Usually, you only call when something big happens." Shuichi deducted. "From what we've been saying, everything's perfectly normal." Shuichi paused for a second and heard Hiro sigh.
"I guess the cat's out of the bag, huh? What a shame." Hiro said in a breathy voice. "And I was so intent on having you surprised when I walked to your doorstep."
"Hiro, what are you talking about?" This sounded a bit strange for Hiro. "You know you can tell me anything, so just say it, what are you babbling about?"
"Okay, but don't overexert yourself when you hear this," Hiro took a pause, he probably knew that Shuichi nodded at hearing the beginning, "we're all moving to Tokyo." There was absolute silence. "The whole family. Ayaka, Kazuki and I. We're going to be there."
Not even an atomic bomb could compare to the strength of Shuichi's supersonic squeal. "FOR REALS!" He exclaimed into the phone. Hiro could hear a few car alarms on both sides of the conversation. It was a good thing Eiri had bought potassium enhanced Plexiglas windows, otherwise they would have shattered immediately, whether it be from the scream or the maniacal giggling that followed.
"What did I say about overexerting yourself, Shu?" Hiro stated in an "I totally called that" tone of voice. Shuichi immediately stopped rocking back and forth and picked up the receiver to answer.
"Hiro, this is great! No this is better than great, this is, this is, Taisho what's a good phrase!"
"Mind-blowingly stupendous?" called Taisho from her room.
"You heard the girl!" Shuichi squeaked. "Mind-blowingly stupendous!" Hiro was now officially laughing his ass off and Shuichi could even hear a fist repeatedly colliding with a hardwood floor while the other tried to push the body back up. Shuichi got back onto topic for once. "I can't believe it! When are you coming down here? Do you have a place in mind? Has Kazuki picked out a school? What the hell will your job be here?"
Hiro paused to answer. "I'll reply from the last question up." Shuichi nodded furiously and listened intently. "I'm now a manager at NG, for the band Kara Mara Muerte; Kazuki will be going to Touhaku High School; we've got the house in our possession, we just got the keys in the mail yesterday and the place is beautiful."
"Yeah, yeah, I get that but when are you coming down? We totally have to hang out when you get here!" Shuichi badgered. His slight rage stopped when he heard a chortle.
"Let's just say that I'm closer than you think." Hiro said dryly, intending to sound like an old man or a strangled cat…either way, it kept Shuichi's ADD from totally taking over.
"Don't give that cryptic shit, you asshole!" Shuichi exclaimed. "Just tell me where you are so I can pounce on you!"
"Well, it would appear that we're at the Holiday Inn in Shinjuku…you do know where that is, right?" Hiro asked skeptically.
"Of course not! But I'll track you down to the ends of the Earth if I have to!" Shuichi exclaimed…again. "Expect me there in, like, five minutes with Eiri and Taisho!" Shuichi hung up and dialed Eiri's cell number with such speed, that Keanu Reeves in "The Matrix" couldn't top that in a million years. "Eiri!" Shuichi yelled into the phone. "Cancel dinner plans! We're going out tonight!"
Just for a change of character POV…
Taisho had heard that Hiroshi and Ayaka Nakano had a son that was adopted because Ayaka was infertile, so at least there was one thing motivating her to go. But she knew only one thing as she sat in the den of a hotel room, and that was that thirty-four year old Hiroshi Nakano was an extremely attractive man. He had long brunette hair that was tied back, with a few wisps in his face. During the discussion, he constantly pushed said wisps out of his eyes…his charming, blue-gray eyes. It almost made Taisho sad that he already had a beautiful wife. Yes, Ayaka was like the feminine equivalent of her husband, only with a more regal and old-fashioned air about her rather than a laid back and warm one.
"So how've things been going for you two?" Ayaka asked with a sweet smile. Now Taisho was a little sad. She was like a Stepford Wife! But back to Ayaka's question, by "you two" she obviously meant Shuichi and Eiri.
"Things are really good!" Shuichi said cheerfully, snapping Taisho out of her bout of mini-depression. "I just signed a contract with a new line called Skit Smile and Eiri's starting a new novel," Shuichi gave a playful look at Eiri, "though he refuses to tell me what it's about."
"Ya don't say?" Hiro almost murmured as he took a sip of tea that Ayaka had just prepared. "Maybe it's about you?" He said with a grin. Eiri would've gagged on the tea he was drinking if reason and bodily reflexes hadn't told him otherwise. He instead gave the ex-guitarist a glare that even Satan would turn to stone from.
"Nah!" Shuichi said with a laugh. "Don't get both our hopes up, Eiri's not as romantic as all that!"
"Damn straight." Eiri said in his usual aloof and monotonous voice, sending the rest of the room into chuckling and merry conversation. Taisho basically just sat there, bored out of her mind and only spoke when spoken to. She practically jumped at the chance to refill the snack bowl when Hiro pointed it out.
"I'll do it!" Taisho said eagerly. Almost a little too eager, if you were there and able to hear her.
"Please allow me to get them," Ayaka said politely, yet with a stern voice, "you are a guest after all."
"Yes, but Ayaka-san, you and Hiroshi-san haven't seen my dysfunctional fathers for quite some time. I don't find it fair that I would end up listening on matters that didn't even concern me while you weren't able to reminisce along with them!" Taisho took a breath, it was harder to say than she thought, but it did sound polite…and intelligent.
There was a bit of a silence. Eiri broke it. "You just want an excuse to move around, don't you?" Goddamn that smirk on his face.
"To be perfectly honest, yes." She said quickly and nervously. She pointed her head to the ground and the adults in the room chuckled.
Hiro laughed a bit longer and gave Taisho a very warm look. "Understandable, I wouldn't want to be in your position either." Hiro was now eight stages cooler. He stroked his chin and then snapped his fingers, making Taisho and Shuichi jump. "I've got an idea, how about you show Kazuki around and treat yourself to dinner while the old people talk?"
"Kazuki?" Taisho asked. Human-Parrot Syndrome, anyone?
"Hiro, that's a great idea!" Shuichi exclaimed. "Where is Kazuki, anyway?" Shuichi looked around the room and craned his neck into the hall.
Ayaka stood up. "I'll go get him, he's just in his room." Ayaka pushed her hair over her shoulder and left the room, entering another. Taisho stood there, looking at where Ayaka had gone and hoping that her son didn't look totally disgusting. Taisho had a reputation and couldn't be seen in public with a total loser! Shallow as that sounds, it was that truth. But of course, she had seen the parents and therefore it was impossible to have anything ugly come from this marriage, this guy was probably presentable at least. Who she saw was most definitely an understatement.
Ayaka came back with what had to be an angel behind her, though the scowl was anything but heavenly. His hair was a dark shade of brown, with dark blonde highlights all throughout it. His eyes were a shade of bright blue that could only be described as ice, making his face seem just a shade paler. He was at least three heads taller than Ayaka and stood with a loose pose and a hand in his pocket.
"Taisho," Ayaka said tenderly, pulling Taisho out of yet another daze, "this is our son, Kazuki." Kazuki looked up at her, a flicker of interest across his face. "This is the girl we've been telling you about, Shuichi and Eiri's daughter Taisho." He gave a polite bow, making Taisho remember her manners and that she had to bow as well.
"It's a pleasure to meet you, Taisho-san." Kazuki said in his knee quivering deep voice. It almost did that to Taisho, her heart skipping a beat.
"Really, the pleasure's all mine." Taisho said truthfully, politely and with a smile, yet Kazuki still frowned. Taisho was a little unnerved by that, but decided to break the silence. "Shall we go?"
"Sure, why not." he droned. It seemed like Kazuki wasn't exactly thrilled about the idea, but Taisho was never one to give up. He looked to Hiro for a few moments. "I guess we'll be back whenever, Otosan." Still the bored tone! This was getting a bit obnoxious, which made Taisho wonder how long she'd be able to put up with this.
"Alright," Hiro said with a smile, "just don't keep her out too late. You may not start school until Wednesday, but Taisho has class tomorrow."
"Actually," Shuichi piped up, "Taisho's doing home schooling again, so her tutor won't get there until maybe noon. She can stay out later, we trust her."
"Pink Otosan!" Taisho exclaimed. She was starting to regret showing Kazuki around. Taisho always hated awkward silences, and she had a feeling that there would be plenty of them on this little outing.
"It's alright Taisho," Ayaka stated, "doing home school is nothing to be ashamed of. In fact, I was home schooled my whole life and nothing bad happened." The blond girl stayed silent…this really wasn't the group of people to add something to the end of Ayaka's sentence like "Yeah, except for the fact you're alienated from all your friends" or " Sure, it's just reminiscent of home arrest". All she could do was nod.
It was almost eight o'clock by the time Kazuki and Taisho were free to go. They walked down the street for a while…in absolute and utter silence. Taisho had shoved her hands in her pockets and would have whistled but didn't want to risk agitating the stoic youth next to her. "So," said a deep voice, Taisho jumped out of her skin from the sudden sound. She looked up and saw it was Kazuki, looking right at her. "Where are you taking me first?" Our heroine was bewildered. Did Kazuki actually sound even slightly interested in something? But she needed to answer him before she could ponder this further.
"First of all, please don't treat me like a tour guide," The boy's coldness was rubbing off on her, "and second, I'm not quite sure." Taisho stopped her rant. Where was she taking Kazuki?
"Well name off some places, maybe you'll find an answer."
"Let's see, I went to Shibuya earlier today," Taisho started listing off possible places, she just wanted to get this over with, "Shinjuku and Ginza are probably starting to attract mobs of horny businessmen at this hour…all the other districts are either really expensive places or really far away, and trust me you do NOT want to ride the Tokyo Subway System on a Sunday night…know that I think about it, it's never good to use the subway."
Just staring…Kazuki was letting this sink in. He rubbed his temple, he probably didn't remember most of the names. "Where was the place you already were today?"
"Shibuya, why?" Taisho answered quickly.
"You're a little…slow, aren't you?" Kazuki said with a cynical tone, not a very nice thing to do. He noticed Taisho's fuming expression. "Sorry, but it is rather obvious. I'd like to go there, of course." Taisho perked an eyebrow, he sighed and explained further. "Because you were there earlier, lots of places are still fresh in your mind. As to if we went to…Ganzu, or whatever it's called, it'd be harder to find things."
"It's Ginza and you've given this a bit of thought, haven't you?" Taisho said with a smirk. Kazuki gave a nod, going back to the not talking thing. "Well, okay, we'll go to Shibuya, then! There are lots of places to eat there and maybe some of my friends are scattered around."
"Well alright then, I just hope your friends aren't as mildly obnoxious as you are." Kazuki murmured, setting Taisho's anger ablaze once again.
"No shit! You finally made a move on Tai-kun?" Aiko said before biting into her food. She let some brown hair fall in her face and then moved it behind her ear.
"Never knew you had it in you to have her on the floor!" Akira exclaimed. He seemed completely ecstatic, ruffling his dyed green hair.
"You truly are a man amongst men, sir! Brava, brava!" Shuyu boomed, clapping his hands. Eyes of sapphire filled with stars and shaggy black hair moving with his body.
"I'm telling you for the thousandth fucking time, it wasn't like that!" Hiroki shouted at his group of friends as they sat at a table outside eating their pizza. Aki had been relaying the events of earlier that day concerning her brother and a certain blond beauty, intent on seeing how big the vein in his head before he made it burst out of his skin.
Aki took a sip of her soda and looked at her twin with an intent smile on her face. "And I'm telling you that I'm only saying what I saw, Oniichan." She said this with a smug and prideful voice, she had Hiroki wrapped around her finger.
Hiroki plopped down on his seat and stole a slice of pizza from the plate. He was completely exasperated. "Fine, but you didn't have to twist it into a scene from some sort of shitty romance novel."
Aki looked up, with a bit of confusion on her face. "But then after she left, how come you had a--"
Hiroki's face blushed brick red and shouted "Urusei! You're dead to me, twin!" before Aki could finish her sentence. Though everyone at the table knew what Aki was aiming at. Now Hiroki would have to face the firing squad.
"Dude, are you serious!" Akira said, a little too excited.
"I can't believe you're that easily excited, Hiroki! And here I thought it took something on the scale of the Apocalypse to amuse you." Shuyu hissed through a Cheshire Cat grin.
"You beast!" Aiko said mischievously, putting her hand to her mouth like those surprised bimbos in black and white movies, just to mock the poor boy.
Hiroki let his head fall onto the table with a loud THUNK. "Goddamn you all." He mumbled helplessly. All others at the table gave a thumbs up of triumph at each other. Aki went back to her pizza and spun around to the back of the seat. Aki was a little unsure of what she saw, but her curious mind was forcing her to confirm it.
"Speak of the devil," she began, "isn't that Tai-kun?" Now she had most of the group's attention. Hiroki just kept his head on the table, not bothering to look up. He couldn't look at her after the discussion his friends were forcing on him. Aki began again. "Who's the guy she's with?" Now his attention was caught, but he just couldn't find the strength to lift his head up.
"I don't know, but he sure is gorgeous." Aiko said dreamily. Hiroki's head shot up and looked around like a prairie dog when a coyote's nearby. Shuyu, seeing his friend's pitiful search, pointed to where the targets were.
Sure enough, there was Taisho with her hair down and her favorite news boy cap on. She was smiling, her amethyst eyes glistening. When Hiroki saw the boy she was with, words couldn't even describe how he felt. The guy standing so close to her was handsome, Hiroki admitted that. Not to mention he was tall, a good dresser and probably had more sex appeal than most celebrities. Now words could describe how he felt. Depressed, jealous and confused. It was official…Hiroki had to know who this guy was even if it killed him.
Taisho and Kazuki finally ended up going into a Chinese restaurant and sitting at a table near the back. After ordering, they went back to the conversation they were having on the way. "So let me get this straight," Taisho began as she made herself comfortable, "you don't like music?"
"Nope." Kazuki responded
"Or TV?"
"Never have."
"What about the mall?"
"Too crowded."
"Arcades?"
"Only first person shooters and driving games, everything else sucks."
"Then what do you like!" Taisho half screamed exasperatedly. "You don't find interest in anything normal teens do, then what do you do in your spare time?" Kazuki looked a little confused on how to answer, and the look on Taisho's face was filled with determination to know what he liked.
They stared each other down for a little while, but Kazuki finally cracked. "I like," he started slowly, making Taisho lean forward in anticipation. He could see it in her eyes, as if Taisho was going to open up some sort of ancient Atlantean treasure.
"You like?" Taisho said eagerly, her elbow almost landing in the wonton soup that was laid out as an appetizer while they were chatting.
"I like," Kazuki gave her a look. A dead serious look, like he was going to say he liked mass murder, or S&M, or something creepy like that. He opened his mouth again, and things were in slow motion for a fraction of a second. "Girls."
At that moment, Taisho felt her heart sink, no not sink, PLUMMET into an ocean of crappy build up. She sighed and fell back into her chair, her hand on the right side of her face. "Well, at least there's something you share with all guys." Taisho regained her composure and thought about having a bit of soup. She decided to interrogate him a bit more instead. "Are you sure there's nothing else you like?" Kazuki looked up from the soup he himself was going to eat. "Poetry, sports?"
"Film, I like to make mini movies and such." He answered with a stone face. He had some of the wonton concoction with a satisfied look. Taisho was blown away, it took less than she anticipated. Kazuki saw this, brushed some hair out of his face and decided to continue. "And cooking." He went back to his soup and then looked up at Taisho. "Have you tried any of this? It's pretty good."
Taisho snapped out of her haze for a second and noticed that he had asked a question. "Huh?" she said, a little stupidly.
"The soup," Kazuki said while pointing at his soup bowl, "you should try some if you haven't."
"Oh, okay. Sorry, I kinda zoned there." Taisho said, a little apologetically. As advised, she had some of the soup. A sensation came over her in her mouth. "You're right, this is delicious!"
After the gigantic Chinese meal, the two had definitely warmed up to each other. On the walk back to the hotel room, they were even laughing and practically dancing in the streets. It was nearly midnight as they neared the door and Taisho was still giggling. But it was alright, because they could hear Shuichi, Hiro and Ayaka laughing from where they were. "I haven't had this much fun in a while," she said between breaths.
"You know," Kazuki said with a smile. Taisho thought that this was how he should look all the time. He was definitely more charming when his face wasn't stuck in a scowl. "At first, I thought you were just going to be another bimbo with dyed hair,"
"My hair isn't dyed!" Taisho playfully protested as she gave him a friendly punch in the arm.
"Right, sorry," Kazuki said apologetically and patted Taisho on the head. "Anyway, I realized that you aren't very annoying." The two reached the door but didn't open it quite yet. "You can hold a conversation, you know?"
Taisho gave him a smile. "The same goes for you. I saw you and thought, 'my god, he looks really photogenic' and when you replied to your parents with such boredom it was more like 'this is going to be awkward', but when you actually open up you're a really sweet person." Taisho put her hand on his shoulder.
"Y'know what else is sweet?" Kazuki said with a smirk. Taisho's brain automatically thought he was going to say something perverted but decided to answer.
"Uhm…chocolate-banana flavored Pocky?" Taisho answered a little bit stupidly. Perfectly vulnerable to Kazuki's plan.
"No."
She didn't know what was happening, or what had driven the boy next to her to do such a thing. But Taisho found her self in a tight embrace and a gentle, almost chaste kiss upon her lips. And still like that when Kazuki had opened the door and into the eyesight of their parents. Kazuki pulled away and looked her dead in the eyes…her wide open eyes. He pleadingly whispered, "It's you...stupid."