In K's van, an uncomfortable silence had fallen over Shuichi and his little sister.
"So, Aki, um, tell me about this Aurora you wrote to me about." Shuichi spoke up, trying to make conversation.
"I've told you just about everything I know about her." Aki mumbled.
"Oh." Shuichi said, then wracked his brains for something else to say.
"I don't really want to talk about anything right now." Aki said, as if reading Shuichi's thoughts.
"Oh, um, sorry then. I won't bug you." said Shuichi quietly, averting his eyes.
"We're here." K announced after a few more moments of silence. Aki thanked K for the ride, said goodbye to her brother, opened the door of the van and got out.
Halfway back to NG studios, K noticed that Shuichi was unusually quiet. And not the quiet that would befall him if he were afraid of being shot by his trigger-happy manager.
"Something wrong?" he asked the singer.
"It's just... Aki. She looked so sad." Shuichi told the man. "She's usually really happy. This is so unlike her." In fact, the only other time Shuichi had seen his little sister look so hurt was when he and Hiro had turned her down the day she figured that she could be the drummer for Bad Luck.
K had nothing to say. He didn't know the girl (although her friend's name had sounded awfully familiar), so what could he say about this odd behavior? Sure he had expected her to be hyper, after all she was Shuichi's sister, but he also knew that some siblings are as different as night and day.
Moments later, Shuichi walked into the recording studio, though not as happy as he was last time he had done so.
"Come on, let's get this over with. I have a date with Ayaka later." Hiro told his friend, still annoyed from Aki's visit.
"Let's get started." Shuichi said glumly. Hiro and Suguru nodded and started playing.
LATER!
"Stupid Hiro, stupid brother, stupid American manager whose name is one letter long." Aki muttered, walking along the streets by herself. She knew it wasn't smart, seeing as it was going to be dark soon and she was a fifteen-year-old girl walking around alone. But she wanted to see her old town again, or at least that's what she had told her parents. She was really just sulking, wanting to be alone. After awhile more of walking, she saw Zenny's up ahead. It used to be her favorite restaurant. Her mouth started watering at the memory of her favorite foods being cooked up by the talented chefs that work there.
Surely stopping in for a bite to eat wouldn't hurt. It might even make her feel better.
As she passed the windows to get to the door, she saw a young couple having dinner together. The girl was very pretty and the man looked very familiar.
"It can't be." Aki said to herself, stopping into her tracks and taking another look at the couple in the window. "It's Hiro! With another woman!"
At the sight, Aki ran into the restaurant and dashed over to Hiro's table.
"Hiroshi Nakano!" she said loudly, placing her fists on her hips and glaring down at him. Hiro looked up and groaned inwardly.
"Hey Aki!" He greeted cheerfully.
"Don't 'hi Aki' me! Who is this?" The teen demanded, pointing at the brown haired girl.
"Um, Hiro..." The girl started, curious for an explanation.
"This is Ayaka, my girlfriend." Hiro told Aki, a cold kind of seriousness in his voice. "Ayaka, this is Shuichi's little sister, Aki." Hiro's voice changed to kind and sweet as he talked to his girlfriend.
"Pleased to meet you." Ayaka greeted as kindly as she could. She had the feeling that Aki wasn't exactly going to be friendly toward her by her own will.
"Yeah, yeah." Aki said, not listening to what she had to say. "Hiro, why didn't you tell me about this... woman?" she spat. Hiro sighed and stood up.
"We'll be right back Ayaka." Hiro said, standing up and grabbing Aki's arm. He dragged her out of earshot from Ayaka who figured that she had better not ask questions and just eat.
"Aki, what is wrong with you?" Hiro spat at the girl.
"You were-" Aki started.
"I was taking her out to dinner because she's my girlfriend, Aki. Couples tend to do that from time to time." He cut her off.
"But what about me?" she asked, close to tears.
"Aki, you are my best friend's sister. I'm sorry, but I've never had feelings for you. I doubt I ever will." His tone softened as he put his hands on her shoulders. "Aki, you're a pretty girl and I'm sure there are guys out there who would love to have you."
"Well then-"
"But I'm not one of them. We've all changed over these past few years Aki, you have to realize that." He smiled at her, but she looked back up at him with tears stinging her eyes, threatening to spill over onto her cheeks.
"I hate you Hiroshi!" She shouted before running out of the restaurant.
"Aki!" He called after her. He considered chasing her, but realized it was no use. She was like her brother when it came to things like this. She was going to sulk for awhile, but she'd get over it soon enough. The only thing that would make her feel better sooner was requited love, but Hiro wasn't about to agree to that anytime soon.
Feeling guilty now, he sighed and headed back to his girlfriend.
"Is she going to be all right?" Ayaka asked once Hiro had sat down.
"Yeah, she'll probably sulk for a day or two, then bounce back to her normal happy self. She's Shuichi's sister, after all." He told her with a smile.
"That's good to hear." She smiled and continued eating her food.
MEANWHILE!
Aki walked along the streets sobbing. Hiro's words echoed in her mind over and over again. She knew he had been trying to sound nice, but that certainly wasn't how it felt. She had managed to hold in her tears until she was outside. She didn't like crying in public because everyone would stare at her or bug her about what was wrong.
A light above her clicked on. She looked up to see that the streetlights were turning on.
"Shit, mom and dad are going to be mad if I'm not home soon." Aki said to herself, wiping her eyes. She took off running. A few random turns and dead ends later, however, she realized that she had completely forgotten her way around her old home town. The sky was completely black now, and Aki was getting scared.
"Where am I?" she muttered quietly, a fresh wave of tears falling down her face. She thought of using her cell phone to call her house, but then she realized she hadn't brought it with her.
"What's the use of one of those things if you don't have them when you need them?" She shouted, smacking herself in the head. Realizing that she had no other option, she ran off to find a payphone. She had just rounded a corner, however when she ran into someone and fell down.
"Ow!" they both said in unison. She looked up to see that she had bumped into a man, but she couldn't see his face. Scared, she scooted backwards until she was under a streetlight.
"Hey! I know you!" said the man.
"Y-you do?" Aki asked, scared.
"Yeah, you're Shindou-san's little sister." He said, stepping into the light as well. Aki's eyes widened when she saw who it was.
"Hey! You're that keyboardist guy in my brother's band!" She exclaimed with relief.
"Suguru Fujisaki." He reminded her, helping her up.
"Thank god. I thought you were some kind of rapist or something." She sighed. Fujisaki laughed.
"No, I'm not. So why are you out here alone at night anyway?" He asked.
"Hm? Oh, um, I'm lost. I guess I don't remember these streets as well as I thought I did." She admitted with embarrassment.
"Well, I'd be happy to walk you home. Where do you live?" He asked politely. Aki told him the street she lived on and he blinked. "Um..."
"You have no clue where it is, do you?" Aki asked, sweatdropping.
"No... But I can take you to your brother's house if you want. You can probably call your parents from there." He suggested.
"Do I want to know how you know where my brother lives?" Aki asked, sweatdropping.
"Oh, we've had to drag him from his house on occasion when, for some reason or another, he refused to come to work." Suguru laughed.
"I see." Aki responded, looking at the ground. The two walked in silence for a while. Aki was fairly certain that if anything was to happen, Suguru probably wouldn't be much help, he looked pretty wimpy. But for some reason, she felt much safer now that she was walking with him. Perhaps it was because she wasn't alone anymore, or perhaps it was something else. But whatever the reason, being with him made her forget all about Hiroshi, even if it was just for the moment.
"We're here." Fujisaki announced suddenly. Aki was snapped out of her thoughts as she looked at the door in front her. She knew that Shuichi was living with a man named Yuki, and she knew that the two men were lovers. Not that it mattered much to her, many things that had happened in America made her approve of gay people. But it was meeting the man named Yuki that was making her nervous. From what Shuichi had wrote about him, he wasn't exactly the friendliest of people.
Aki gulped as she reached out to knock on the door.
EARLIER!
Sakano walked into the bar just before sunset. Tohma Seguchi had told him to meet him there after he was done working. Of course, Sakano never stopped working (hell, he practically lived at the NG building), but he made sure to find time to meet his boss. And sure enough, there at the bar was Tohma, waiting for him.
"Ah! M-mr. Seguchi. You told me to meet you here?" he stuttered. Tohma smiled at him.
"Yes Mr. Sakano. Please sit down." He said, gesturing to the stool next to him. Sakano obeyed. "Would you like a drink?" Seguchi offered. Sakano looked at him in surprise.
"Oh! Um, o-okay." he answered as he ordered a drink. A moment later it came and Sakano reached for his wallet. Tohma grabbed his hand.
"It's on me." He said smiling. Sakano blushed ever-so-slightly.
"A-are you sure? Because, I mean, I can-" he started. But Tohma shook his head.
"I'm sure." he said. And with that, he took out his wallet and paid the bartender.
"Thank you sir." Sakano said, not looking at the other man.
"You're welcome. But on to more pressing matters. Do you know why I called for you to meet me today?" Tohma said, his face becoming more serious, although his smile refused to disappear.
"Ah, n-no, I'm not sure I do." Sakano answered, now gaining the courage to sneak a side-glance at the man.
"It's about Bad Luck. I believe you've read their latest reviews?" Tohma asked. The nervousness within Sakano disappeared, and he looked the other man directly in the eyes as he nodded.
"Yes. They kept saying there was a missing element in the music." he informed the president.
"Yes, I've read them too. And after giving it some thought, I think I might know what that element is." he paused for a moment, his eyes drilling into Sakano's as if he were trying to see if he knew too. "You see, my cousin is very good at the synthesizer. Very, very good. And he is capable of producing very close to what we need. But as good as he is, it's the instrument itself that can't produce the real thing." He paused again, to see if Sakano was following. "It's like how Bad Luck wouldn't be nearly as successful if it weren't for Mr. Nanako. A guitar is a guitar. And a synth is a synth. I play one myself, as you know, and I've tried to replace the sound of a guitar with my instrument. But it isn't the same as a real one."
"So you're saying that Bad Luck needs a new instrument?" Sakano guessed. Tohma smiled happily.
"Yes, very good." he rewarded. Sakano beamed. "And someone to play it." He added. "Bad Luck needs a drummer."
Bwahaha! Hinted SakanoxTohma. Don'tcha love me:evil grin:
Oh, and about that one part where Fujisaki says Shindou-san instead of Mr. Shindou: Shindou-san just sounded better. So there.