I've decided to take my laptop with me… and I've also decided that I'll type out what I can… Thank god the resort offers wireless network here…
Anyway… I do have the ideas for this fic and I just have to put them into words… I guess I'm kinda afraid that I won't have the mood to write anything if my results turned out bad on Monday… Heh…
One more thing…Keele Cray... please continue reading this fic and review okay? I hope I won't disappoint you or any other reader :)
Exactly one week had passed since his last encounter with Yuki Eiri… and Aizawa Tachi. Things had been progressing rather great for Shindou Shuichi. Everybody realized the change in the boy in his late teens- Shuichi was acting like his usual self again. He wakes up late, he rushes to work, he is always aware if K's gun is pointing in his direction, and most importantly, he sings like the superstar he is. Despite all that, Shuichi wondered every single day when he would meet the psychologist again. Yet once in a while, the magenta haired boy would think about the lead singer of ASK wistfully.
"Okay, that's a wrap! Good job everybody!" the manager of Bad Luck announced gaily. "Let's celebrate!"
Sakano had tears in his eyes (he thought they would never make it due to what has been going on with the lead singer of the band lately). Hiro and Shuichi were dancing around joyfully while at the same time dragging in a half-protesting Suguru. Regardless of how silly they looked, the normally adult-like (but who was really only 16 years old) Fujisaki Suguru was too relieved that he almost instantly gave up any objections. The three members linked their hands to make a circle and boogied around the studio, cheering.
Somebody knocked on the door, but only K and Sakano heard; Bad Luck was too occupied to notice. But once the person opened the door and entered, Shuichi (like a radar) immediately stopped in his actions and squealed, "Sakuma-san!"
A nearly exact replica of the purple-red haired singer stood in the doorway.
Shindou Shuichi and the legendary vocalist, Sakuma Ryuichi, bounced toward each other and started talking. The rest just stood at their places while they watched the two big names in the singing industry exchanged some words at nearly impossible high-speed.
For our (us readers) benefit, this is the slowed version of their conversation:
Shu : Sakuma-san! What are you doing here? I thought you'd only be back next week! When did you arrive? Who fetched you from Narita?
Ryu : ShUiChi! Waaaa, long time no see! -glomped Shuichi- Didn't really have much to do in America anyway, so I decided to surprise everyone! I'm here with Tatsuha-kun! Tohma's too busy to fetch me -sad face-. But it's okay! I'm so happy to see you! Kumagoro's happy too! -took out his stuffed bunny and shoved it to Shuichi- Kumagoro, say hello!
Shu : -received Kumagoro from Ryuichi- Hullo there Kumagoro! Waiii! Ooh, you came here with Tatsuha-san? Where is he? I'd love to meet him!
Ryu : He should be here shortly! We ran into Yuki-san… oh, Yuki-san is Tat-chan's brother by the way!
And the super fast conversation ended. Shuichi's heart missed out a beat. "Yuki-san's here?" he asked faintly.
"Yuppie! Eh? You know him? Goodie! We can all go out together then! Yay!" the greenish brown haired vocalist replied merrily. Then Ryuichi looked around and cried, "Heyya! I forgot to greet everyone else! Hello!" And he skipped away, leaving Shindou Shuichi with a weird expression on the youth's face.
Okay… okay… calm down… this is what I've been waiting for… wait… what if he's here NOT to see me? The only person who realized the small transformation from high-spirited Shuichi to thinking-really-hard Shuichi was Hiro. The long haired guitarist had his own thoughts and ideas on the quick mood changes of his buddy lately, but he decided to keep those thoughts to himself.
"Yay! He's here!" Sakuma Ryuichi suddenly announced. "Tat-chan, meet Shuichi! I sing with him lotsa times before!"
Looking around, Shindou Shuichi's heart did not skip a beat- it practically stopped. "Yu, Yuki-san? You, what happened to your HAIR?"
The whole room became silent. The person at the door stood there with a dumbfounded look. After a while, 'Yuki' replied with a grin, "Heh, that's funny. Nice to meet you, Shindou-san. I'm Uesugi Tatsuha."
"I'm telling you, I'M TIRED OF BEING THE BAD GUY, TOHMA!" Aizawa Tachi slammed his fists on the large and classy office table made of wood.
The president of N-G Records faked a slightly perplexed face. "But you agreed to this, Aizawa-san; and as far as I'm concern, everything's been going smoothly as we… let me rephrase that, as I had planned. Why the sudden withdrawal?"
The lead singer of ASK glared at Seguchi Tohma. "Look, I've realized that I'm not going to get what I want if I continue this. And I was stupid to not have realized it earlier. So I'm going to stop, now.
"Tsk tsk… You're already in the drama, Aizawa-san. I'm not going to let you quit just like that. No, definitely not now…" Tohma spoke indifferently. And when Tachi wanted to retort, the fair haired man had placed his forefinger over his lips, "Shhh… I'm not such a bad guy… I guess I could compromise a little."
Tachi looked at Tohma expectantly.
"Would you like me to… remove you from the play, Aizawa-san?"
Tachi's whole body stiffened. The younger man had noted the weight his boss had put on the word 'remove'. And he was not sure whether he wanted to take the chance in finding out the real meaning behind that word. Avoiding from answering Tohma's question, Tachi instead asked, "I still don't understand why you're doing this… What's the reason for you to go all out to help Shuichi?"
At this the blonde smiled. "You offend me, Aizawa-san. Why wouldn't I help Shindou-san?"
"And why would you?" Tachi shot back with a question.
This time, Tohma was not as quick at responding as before. Looking straight into the vocalist's eyes, Tohma took nearly half a minute before saying, "Everything…… everything I do… is for the one I love most…"
In the hallway outside of the closed door, a blond man walked away from the president of N-G Records's 5-star rated office.
Back in the studio, Shuichi and Hiro stared hard at the still grinning man. Both of them were inspecting every single detail of the black haired guy without even blinking.
"Geez, the similarities are just too… too..." Nakano Hiroshi tried to find the right word to fit into his sentence. "… too similar," he finished lamely.
Suguru and Sakano were not too sure about what was happening so they had remained quiet. K merely smirked.
"Yeah…" Shuichi agreed with his best friend. "But then… I guess the hair and the eyes make the differences… and the grin on your face. Yuki-san would never have an expression like that…"
Tatsuha looked intently at the vocalist of Japan's currently hot band. "Hohoho… so you know my brother that well?"
Shuichi fell silent. The question posted to him had sounded a little sarcastic; he wondered whether it was just his imagination or Tatsuha had really meant for it to sound that way. Whichever it was, what the man said had stung him a little. But he's right…Covering the hurt feeling, the singer then said, "Well, you definitely shocked me back there… hehehe…… are you sure Yuki-san and you are not twins?
"No… we're not…" was the answer, except the reply had not come out from the mouth of Uesugi Tatsuha. "I thought you told me before that you knew my brother…"
"I don't understand you at all, but things better not get worst than this..."
Tohma tilted his head and smiled. "Of course not, Aizawa-san. But only if you follow what I say."
The former keyboardist of Nittle Grasper was a terrifying man. Tachi briefly wondered about the sanity of the currently smiling person sitting behind the table. He wondered about his own sanity too, for agreeing to cooperate with this man. "Fine... as long as everything will turn out the way I want." And with that, Tachi turned to leave.
"Oh, Aizawa-san?" Tohma called.
Tachi stopped and turned his head. "Yes?"
"You yelled at me a moment ago..."
The dark haired singer thought for a while. He knew he did raise his voice, okay, yelled, but... "Uh... Sorry, I..."
"No, no. It's fine, really," Tohma cut in. "Do you remember what you said?"
"Err..."
Again with a smile, the blonde said, "You called me by my first name."
Silent.
"Don't ever call me that again, Aizawa-san."