Chapter 5 – The Sentimental Street

"Why?" Shuichi covered his face as tears slipped through the crack of his fingers.

Another shadow came out through the same door from behind rushing over to the sobbing boy on the floor. "Shuichi! What's wrong? What happened?" Hiro asked as he wrapped his arms around his younger friend.

"I… saw… him…" Shuichi managed between his crying.

"Who? Eiri Yuki?"

"Yeeess." Shuichi's voice was shaking. "He was here… in front of me… He was… he…" The boy felt a sudden wave ran into his head, pulling his head back as he collapsed in Hiro's arms.

"Shuichi!" Hiro cried holding onto his friend's body.

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Flashback – Two Weeks Ago
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"Eiri Yuki." Shuichi had been repeating his name over and over again. Every time he said that name, his lips creased into the littlest smile which made him all warm inside, but the more he repeated it, the name seemed to be more distance and unreachable, which also made him felt scared and lonely. He had asked Hiro and Suguru to help him find this Eiri Yuki. Apparently, Eiri Yuki was a writer, a novelist who was popular among young women for his romance novels. He was twenty-four year old and a bachelor. He had many lovers, but none of his involvement lasted over a month. Many had asked why a romance novelist couldn't keep a relationship, but he had never given them a straight answer. A quote from one of his interview, he said, "Being a writer that I am, I spent more time writing romance that I don't feel natural about the subject." What did he mean by that? Shuichi couldn't understand; he was too simple minded. Eiri Yuki had occupied his pink head for a full month. He couldn't sing, he couldn't sleep and he couldn't even dream. He hadn't had a dream about the blonde young lady for the entire month. All he could think of was Eiri Yuki, day and night, he thought about him and he got exhausted just thinking about him. Why was he getting all excited about a guy he didn't even know? Maybe, it was possible that he liked this guy? If he was to meet this guy again, what could be accomplished by it? Were they to become lover or to be friend? Will this Eiri Yuki person be interest in him? Millions of questions were scrambling in his little head and before he knew it, Eiri Yuki was the only subject that was able to find its way out of his lips. "Eiri Yuki." He said again.

"There he goes again." Suguru sighed. "I cannot keep up with him. How long is he going to be like this?" He whispered to Hiro.

"Until he meets the guy…" Hiro replied.

"I know, but where can we find him? All the public information that we gathered didn't indicate an address or where to find the guy. I guess I could go a step further and hire a detective, but do you think that it would be necessary?" Suguru asked.

"I don't know. Even if we do manage to find him, I don't think that Shuichi would just walk up and confront the guy. That would be too awkward."

"Well, Shuichi isn't a typical guy; he might just storm right over if he knows where to find the guy."

"That may be true." Hiro agreed.

The Bad Luck band hadn't made any progress since their opening act at Zap Tokyo. Their vocalist had been in la la land and without Shuichi stirring things up practice was not the same.

"Shuichi. Shuichi!" Hiro called to his daydreaming friend.

"SHUICHI!" Suguru smacked him in the head with video cassette. "Wake up, you zombie!"

"Wa… Hell with you! What did you do that for?" He squealed.

"You're daydreaming have to stop! We're not going anywhere with you like this!" Suguru responded franticly with a heavy sigh. "It's been a month since our opening act at Zap Tokyo and since then, you've been wandering off into space and had no concentration at all when we practiced. Is this Eiri Yuki more important than our band success?" He asked, half disappointed and half concerned. Hiro sat between them on his chair with his bad boy style and observed the conversation.

"No… I'm sorry. I don't know…I'm just… um…" Shuichi paused. He didn't know what to say to his band members. He wasn't sure if he could answer that question, at this moment it seemed that Eiri Yuki was the only thing that mattered to him, but the band success was also very important to him.

"Couldn't you just forget about that guy and get serious about our music business?" Suguru asked.

"I just couldn't help it. Every time I try to forget about him, I ended up thinking and asking myself more question about him." Shuichi replied feeling guilty for neglecting his two best friends.

"You really like this Eiri Yuki, don't you?" Hiro finally pitched into the conversation.

"No, I don't!" Shuichi quickly snapped back at him.

"Don't deny it. It's obvious, everyone could see that you're in another dimension, but only Suguru and I know about your dreams and Eiri Yuki."

"I guess…" Shuichi agreed, but he looked away to avoid Hiro's eye contact. All his worries and reservations arose when he had that dream and on that particular night when he first met Eiri Yuki. He had been asking himself: Why was he dreaming about her? Why did it turned out to be Eiri Yuki instead of the girl that he saw in his dream? If his dream was a flute, then why did he have consistence dreams about the same person? If his dreams were leading him to the person that he was destined to meet, that fate had arranged for them to be together, then why should he be concerned about what gender the person turned out to be? This brought him back to the incident with Ryuichi, the night that he learned Eiri Yuki's name. It was also the night that he learned that he had interest in other men. He found that Ryuichi was sexy, not that he was into Ryuichi, but seeing Ryuichi as manly and attractive as he was, made Shuichi realized that he could build up intimate feeling toward other men as well as women. But why did he boil up when he saw Ryuichi that night? Was he interested in Ryuichi? Could it be possible? He had been admiring Ryuichi for the past three years of high school, so maybe that could had triggered something. Yet, the fact still remained, that since that night, despite of what happened with Ryuichi, he had only been thinking about Eiri Yuki. His dream had subsided and hadn't reoccurred since then; this could only mean that he had found the answer to his dream; Eiri Yuki was the person portrayed in his dream.

After a long silence, Hiro asked, "Tell me something, Shuichi. How do you feel about Eiri Yuki?" He narrowed his eyes to observe his friend. "We could help you understand your feeling and maybe do something about it so that you don't have to kill yourself."

"I don't know how to explain it. I think that do like him, like him like him, but then I don't know much about him. I don't know if he would be interest in me or even if he likes the idea that I like him." Shuichi looked down and spoke to his shoes. "I am so fluttered with all the dreams that I had and meeting him and learning his name and knowing that he's a famous writer. I don't know if I'm worthy of him. I don't know if he likes me or maybe would think that I'm crazy for thinking about him so much. All this thinking makes me worry and fear of him." He whimpered.

"Fear is a sign of love." Suguru stated.

"Yes, it is." Hiro agreed.

"Is it? How can fear be a sign of love? If I love him, shouldn't I be happy? I know that I like him, so why am I not happy? How can I be in love with him if I'm not happy? I don't know what to think anymore!" Shuichi stopped his babbling and rubbed both side of his temples with his hand.

"That's what made love so tricky. It's because that you fell so deep that you cannot make any sense of yourself. Sure, love can bring happiness, but it comes with many other emotions as well. It's a package and you cannot get one without the other. Love comes with different packages and it all varies from one person to another." Hiro tried to explain as he smiled to his pink head friend. His smile was a bit different. It was not as enthusiastic as it normally would; there was something about his smile that did not make sense to Shuichi. It looked somewhat painful, yet he continued his explanation while Shuichi tried to make sense of what he was saying. "In your case, your package includes fear. Your dreams somehow led you to him and you somehow developed feelings for him. These feelings then turn into affection and affection turned into love and love turned into fear. You love him so much, that you're afraid of him. You fear that he will not accept your love and walk away."

"So, I love him." Shuichi said finding yet, another smile on his face.

"SO YOU LOVE HIM!" K yelled from behind. "I'd overheard everything! If all you need is a boyfriend, why didn't you just say so?" He continued with a naughty smile, "I'll be yours if you want and I can be quite exotic." He said as he approached Shuichi.

"Shut up! Whose say that you can have him!" Suguru exclaimed.

"What do you mean by that?" He blue eyes narrowed as he pointed a gun at Suguru. "So are you interest in him too?" He asked.

"Heck, no! It wouldn't be me!" Suguru shifted his head away and looked at Hiro who was still focusing on Shuichi.

"What if he doesn't like me? What if he rejects me?" Shuichi asked his long haired friend.

"Would that make you feel any different about him?" Hiro questioned his misty eyed friend.

"I guess not; whether or not he likes me wouldn't change how I feel about him, but I'll be very miserable if he doesn't like me." He replied.

"But we don't know that, yet. There is always a possibility that he would like you, too."

"Yes, I agree with Hiro. You'll never know until you try to confess your feeling for him. Plus, if he is the person in your dream, then he should also have some feelings for you. " Suguru added.

"I'll tell you what Shuichi. I love you too, and if you love this Eiri Yuki, then I'll scarify my love for your love." K said while holding a gun on Shuichi's head and grinning.

"What kind of love is this?" Shuichi asked nervously rolling his eyes up to meet K's blue ones.

"I've made arrangement with Mr. Sakano to get ready for a new gig. As you know, our opening act was a success, so now going forward; Bad Luck is performing solo at Ruido in two weeks."

"Really?" Suguru asked lightly.

"Yes, really." K replied. "And if this sleepy head would wake up and practice proactively and make it well at the concert, then I promise to find this Eiri Yuki for him."

"Seriously?" Hiro asked and K nodded. "Okay, thumbs up for K. Shuichi, will this okay with you? Will you be able to confront the guy if you know where to find him?" Hiro asked his friend seeping concern.

"Yes, I will. I don't want to mope forever." He was brightened up yet still worried and will remained worry until he meets the guy again. "Okay. I'm good. Let practice for Ruido and for Bad Luck's day view!"

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Flashback – Ended
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Yuki was pounding on his apartment's door; thudded, thudded, and thudded. He had never kept any spare house or car keys with him because he always had them with him. The thought of keeping a spare never crossed his mind. Apparently, Tatsuha had driven the Mercedes home and parked it in the garage. Yuki was furious at his younger brother.

Tatsuha came to open the door, "Hey!"

"What's wrong with you? I had to catch the taxi home!" Yuki exclaimed. "Why did you set me up?"

"What are you saying?" Tatsuha asked as though he didn't know what was going on.

"It was Shuichi Shindo's concert not Ryuichi Sakuma!"

"I never said that it was Ryuichi's concert." Tatsuha answered. "And what did you mean by set up? Did something happen?" Tatsuha asked with a curious grin on his face.

"Nothing."

"Nothing?" He smirked and said with a teasingly tone, "I don't believe you."

"Mind your own business." Yuki said coldly and walked to the bathroom. He needed a shower. He needed to cool off whatever happened behind that concert. He knew that Tatsuha had something to do with his meeting with Shuichi Shindo, but whatever he was skimming should not effect his action. 'What came over me? Why did I kiss that brat?' He let the shower ran, the vaporization of the water steamed the room. He started scrubbing his head, his firmed body and his feet. He rinsed off all the soap that lathered his skins. He relaxed his body and tilted his head slightly backward lifting his chin up allowing the warm water to massage his sender neck and down along his chest and firmed abs. He reached his fingers up and pressed them against his lips; he could still feel the pressured from Shuichi's passionate kiss. 'Why did I kiss him?' He stayed in the shower until the water ran cold realizing the change in temperature; he shook his head and patted himself on the face and he left the shower. 'This is nonsense, I shouldn't worry about it,' he thought and headed straight to his bedroom. Before he entered, he hollered to his brother, "Make sure that you leave first thing tomorrow."

"Yeah, good night." Tatsuha replied.

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Shuichi was squirming in his sleep, "No, please… No…" He continued to turn his head from side to side as Hiro sat next to him holding onto his hand. "No…please, I love you…"

Hiro had carried Shuichi home with him. He was too concerned about his friend and wanted to be by his side. He wanted to be the first person Shuichi would wake up and see. He wanted to be here with Shuichi and give him all the support he needed to make him feels safe and back on his feet again. "Shuichi…" Hiro said as he looked at his friend still twisting and turning in his bed. He always knew that Shuichi was more fragile than what he had let up; behind all the recklessness, he was a warm and gentle person. He had never held a grudge against anyone and always treated everyone the same. The way that he showed his appreciation was different; he would always caused some kind of riots or being his little self and acted like cried baby, but that was his way, his signature of showing how much he appreciated someone. Yet since that night two months ago, he had changed; if he wasn't practicing or occupied with some kind of events, then he would turned quiet and wandered off into space.

"Hiro?" Shuichi opened his swollen purple eyes and spoke; his voice was dried and rough.

"Don't say anything. Go back to sleep. Let's talk in the morning." Hiro insisted.

Shuichi managed a smile and closed his eyes hugging onto the blanket tightly. He cushioned himself in the bed as he exhaled and fell back asleep. He was exhausted from all the practiced that he had to do in the past two weeks to get ready for the concert. The concert itself had a lot of pressure on him too. He tried so hard to keep up with everything meanwhile his mind was preoccupied with Eiri Yuki. And after all that, he was a baffled to see Eiri Yuki tonight. The thought of Eiri Yuki standing before him gave him hope; he thought that there was a slightest chance Eiri Yuki was interest in him, that he had came to see him, but all his hope was shattered the moment Eiri Yuki disappeared.

It was the middle of the night and Hiro's cell phone was ringing. He quickly grabbed the phone to stop the ringing sound.

"Hiro?" Suguru asked from the other end of the telephone. "How is Shuichi doing?"

"He's sleeping right now." Hiro whispered to his phone.

"Are you going to… um…?" Suguru paused; he didn't know if he should continue his question. He was worried about Shuichi, but he was worried about Hiro, too. He knew that his red haired friend had feelings for Shuichi, but never had a chance to express them or maybe he didn't want to express it, but now seeing Shuichi being so hopeless, maybe he would. Now would be a good time to let his feelings be acknowledge and it would please Hiro very much if Shuichi would return his feelings. Suguru felt a sudden rush of fluid in his veins; the thought that his two best friends getting together stopped his breathing and he felt pressured in his chest.

"What? Is something wrong?" Hiro whispered again in his friend's brief silence.

"Nothing, it's nothing to be concern of." He managed while holding onto his breath and exhaled heavily as he covered the phone's transmitter.

"Okay." Hiro forced a smile and suggested, "Tomorrow is Sunday right? We should do something with Shuichi to get that guy off his mind."

"Yeah, that's a good idea." Suguru agreed. "You should get some rest too, don't overexert yourself."

"I'll call and update you tomorrow." With that he turned off his phone and rested his head against the wall next to his headboard. He turned his head to admire his sleeping friend; he looked so peaceful in his sleep. His pinkish hair deepened in the night and his smooth porcelain skin reflected from the moonlight; he was just too beautiful. How could anyone turn away a beautiful being like him? Hiro couldn't understand what was going on in that Eiri Yuki's head. At this moment, there were so many things that he wanted to tell the beauty before him. All the emotion that he had kept compressed inside of him, he wanted so much, but he knew too well that it wasn't what Shuichi wanted, so he kept silent and he will remain silent to watch over his beloved friend. Soon, he drifted away soundlessly resting his head next to Shuichi.