Chapter 36: Sanso no Umi
Akashi stares at his reflection, the burning in his cheek hasn't subdued since. He remembers the flash of disappointment and anger in Kuroko's eyes something he thought he'd never seen in his face. When Kuroko faced the issue about his true father, he watched him crumble silently and drifted away from them. He fought him by leaving and he cannot admit but it felt like that moment broke a piece of him. He wanted him to beg and take back his words and make it all go away, he wanted him to realize he needed him to stay…but he didn't. He left and so did everyone else.
Somehow he saw that coming, Kuroko wasn't really the kind of type to beg for anything, he had been strong in that sense. He probably still held him with such respect or something akin to that to resort to leaving rather than voicing his true emotions. He hated him and he knew it but he was almost like his family, and so was Aomine, Kise, Midorima and Murasakibara. They were the only ones he had left…or so he thought.
It was too late when he realized this mistake and somehow he cannot accept it still. He wanted to justify his actions were for their own good, but were they really?
Furihata Kouki, the first time he saw the brunet he knew something inside him recognizes his smile and the glimmer in his eyes. At first he called it as a simply curiousity over his plainness in comparison to his friends, even to Kuroko he is still very average, however as time passes by he feels this curiousity seems to delve deeper. His heart feels like it may stop every single time he'd see him with a constrained expression…every time that expression is directed at him. His body craves the other's skin as if he knew him for long. And he knew it was ridiculous but yet it felt right.
It was like being thrown into a whirlpool of emotions.
He wants to be alright, he really truly wants to remain composed but he cannot. The thought of that brunet going through something so heavy, the thought of his own birth mother leaving him and returning to him just because he's someone now made a fire burn in his chest. Furihata Kouki deserved better than that.
He deserves better than him.
Kuroko is correct, Furihata Kouki is a kind hearted soul. This person would readily give his limbs for a stranger in need, he would have gouged his own eyes if it meant his friends would be safe, he would have removed his own heart if a child needed one. He would have done everything to keep people around him safe despite the world crushing him down and someone like him deserves someone who would treasure him, someone who can kiss his tears away, not shed them. Furihata Kouki deserves kindness and that is everything he isn't.
It is understandable that Kuroko behaved that way, after all he did.
He had been selfish, destructive and greedy, he was too scared to lose everything so he chained them to him…which backfired to him. He tried to remain petulant for years putting blames on others but this is the truth. He failed.
He failed terribly and had become exactly the person his father feared he would be.
Lips tremble as his stares at his reflection.
Is he even really Akashi Seijuuro?
.
.
.
After almost a week Furihata and Kuroko remained quiet about the issues of what happened in the hotel. Kagami refused to acknowledge Kuroko's actions as correct as well and Takao remained in his neutral ground. Furihata's mother continued her protest towards dubbed 'blackmailing of his son to join the Hikari no Ou' creating numbers of discussion and prying over the brunette's life. Aida decided to not touch the topic and instead focus on their first major live performance.
The days went by fast and now it is only two days before the event itself. Like a fuelled fire, Furihata's family issue rose to the surface again creating long forums in different fan websites and their faces filling the tabloids. Even the massive screen in the famous Shibuya crossing would often flash either their poster or another report about them.
"Bad publicity is still publicity." A red haired man said as he stares at the cheap tabloid set on his table. He studies the faces of the four members of Hikari no Ou plastered on the front page. It is a picture of the four members when they won the Battle of the Bands, Furihata is almost unnoticeable, petite boy with brown hair and a big smile, beside him is a jet black haired young man, then a tall red haired young man with Kuroko Tetsuya. It is strange how this photo made him felt so old now. He remembers the last time he saw Kuroko Tetsuya's picture he looked no older than fourteen or fifteen and now he looks like a stronger person.
He scoffs as he reads a line on the tabloid retelling the incident with the teal haired musician and Akashi Seijuuro where the small boy punched the other when the red head tried to walk up to the brunet. He never imagined that the small quiet Kuroko Tetsuya would stand up for the very first time to punch the daylight out of his son.
"Sir?"
Akashi Masaomi looks up towards the door as he heard the soft knock of his secretary.
"Come on in." he replies.
The door opens and reveals a young Japanese woman, she bows her head politely before holding facing the man finally.
"The reporters are ready, they're waiting for you sir."
Akashi Masaomi nods and stands up from his seat before walking towards the open door. It is high time he actually be a father to his son. As his leather shoes squeaks against the polished floor of the hotel he remembers the days he spent at home with his son after the accident that took away his wife. Sitting there everyday with him felt like he is staring and talking to someone else's child. His eyes were cold and empty, it almost seem like he is speaking to a doll.
That day he felt as if he didn't just lose his wife, but also his son. No matter what he did it seems that he cannot bridge to him, and he grew farther and farther away from him. When he offered the boy to return with him to America to be seen by specialist in his special condition, the boy refused and insisted to remain in Japan. At that moment Akashi Masaomi was at total lost, his own son shooed him away.
Thinking his presence was only aggravating the difficulties his son is having, he left for America and decided to keep his distance. But he got from bad to worse in a very short time and this. It is just hard to keep still, to remain watching from afar as Akashi Seijuuro self-destructs.
"This way sir."
Akashi Masaomi heeds the instructions to him and climbs the small stage set up for him. A lone table is set in the middle complete with microphone and the papers he needs. He ignores the flashing of the multitudes of cameras directed at him as he sits down. As soon as he looks up to the crowd of reporters everything simmers down. The energetic flashing subsides and the whispering about fades.
"Ladies and gentlemen, today we welcome you to the press conference of the President of the Rakuzan Records, we are honoured to present to you none other than Akashi Masaomi."
Akashi Masaomi nods his head and picks up the microphone, he glances at his wrist watch, it is time.
"Good evening." He starts, "Today, I stand before you not just as the President of Rakuzan Records, the Chairman of Akashi Group, but also as a father and a man. Before I begin, for those who may be unaware, I have a son and he is the current CEO of Rakuzan Records which he succeeded right his former band unfortunately broke up.
"As a business man I know these things were inevitable, in the music industry people come and go. Fame isn't something solid, you could be the best band today but tomorrow another could rise and indefinitely push you off your throne. It is a brutal reality that many in the industry knows very well. But I as a father cannot accept that this is made possible by the selfishness and ill intentions of my very own son."
As the last word is utter the room fills with collective gasps from the reporters. Cameras flashes again almost blinding Akashi Masaomi who raises his hand to calm the crowd again.
"However I am proud and happy that this mistake is admitted to me by my son himself to which I applaud him for. I do believe that it is rightful that these words come from him but I am afraid he has limited time and our arrangement is in conflict with such. His previous actions had caused distress, pain and mistrust towards his former bandmates and which unfortunately resulted to the issue of Kuroko Tetsuya-san punching him in a hotel restaurant in the presence of his friends." Akashi says in calm tone, he remains composed as he continues to explain the events as told by his own son. "It was a mistake but it is a mistake that would have been avoided if it my son didn't plant the seed of mistrust in Kuroko Tetsuya-san's heart. My son acknowledges this mistake was at his fault as he had not revealed to Kuroko-san his relation to their drummer and given the circumstances the boy is in it is only understandable that his closest friends would behave protectively."
"Our second agenda is something I must say as the President of the Rakuzan Records." He says before taking the papers in his hands. He reads them quietly for a while before facing the reporters again, his tender eyes grows suddenly cold. "Today I am announcing that Rakuzan Records is terminating the contract signed by Furihata Kouki's mother to our company."
The room grows noisy, collective whispers rises in the air making it thick with their confusion and agitation.
"It is by this way that we refuse to acknowledge the steps taken by Furihata-san to reclaim her parentage to Furihata Kouki-san whom was but a mere imaginary figure until Furihata-san herself came and told the world she actually have a third child. I as a man and a father cannot accept such action, using her bond with Furihata Kouki-san to cause distress to the boy's career and lying to everyone by omitting the existence of this boy until today is a behaviour I cannot accept." The man says with conviction. "If she still wish to pursue her career in the music industry we shall not stop her, but we simply cannot allow that in our company. She is free to find another music records to handle them but not us. We refused to be affiliated with someone exercising these actions, there is no room for liars and frauds in our company."
As soon as Akashi's speech ends, he feels his phone vibrates in his pocket. He takes it out and looks at it and he finds himself smiling.
"Thank you Father."
He may not be the same boy he reared, but he is still his son.
.
.
.
"Kuroko-kun?"
Kuroko blinks as he hears Furihata calls his name for the first time since the incident in the hotel. Kagami looks at the teal head and to Furihata and decides this is perhaps the best turn of everything. Kagami puts a reassuring hand over Kuroko quietly cheering for the teal head. He looks at his wrist watch, they have ten minutes before the live starts.
"Go on." Kagami says with a smile. "Its not good for both of you to go out there with a heavy heart."
Kuroko nods. He's all set anyways, he's dressed and ready, perhaps really this is the only thing missing. Kuroko faces Furihata, the brunet wore a ripped black jeans and white gray long sleeve shirt slightly riding down his left shoulder.
"Furihata-kun I—"
"I'm sorry."
Kuroko blinks, "B-But I—"
Furihata shakes his head, a small smile plays in his lips.
"I reacted bitterly when you did what you did back then but I never taken in account what you were feeling." Furihata says. "I never told anyone anything and that caused this mess. If only I had let you guys know."
"I've went overboard as well." Kuroko admits. "I have allowed my personal issue and judgement take over, I should have listened to you. I…I acted before taking anyone else in consideration and I just made everything more difficult for everyone…especially for Furihata-kun."
Furihata smiles and without a word, he takes a step forward and hugs Kuroko surprising the teal head.
"Thank you so Kuroko-kun, thank you for protecting me."
Kuroko purses his lips and returns the gesture something he rarely ever do. He closes his eyes, he wished they have done this often when they were Kiseki no Sedai. He doesn't have a brother but he is sure this is what it would have felt like if he had one. As soon as they broke their hug Kuroko chuckles as he finds tear threatening to fall in the other's eyes.
"We're here, always." Kuroko says. "We will face this together."
Furihata smiles through his tears and nods.
He has a family, he have them even before his mother acknowledged him as hers.
.
.
.
.
The lights in the arena slowly dim and screams of fans resounds in the concert hall. Everything remains dark for a short while and slowly the screams tone down. The crowd stands still in the darkness then suddenly a spotlight opens and shows a lone sillouhete standing in the middle of the stage and without further ado, the man moves and strums his guitar as his voice resounds in the hall.
"Sono sekai no katasumi de ima wo ikiru no bokura wa
Namida wo koete hikari no sasu hou e."
As the rest of drums joins and the guitars the screen behind the lone musician lights up various baby photos flashes. Kuroko's baby picture flashes first, he is wrapped in a blue blanket with thin layers of his teal hair, his big blue eyes stares towards the photographer and his chubby little hand reaching out towards. The next photograph flashes and it is chubby jet black haired baby sitting on a tatami floor holding a mashed banana in his hand like trophy with a massive toothless smile. The next photograph is a crying red head kid in a dark blue pyjamas holding a basketball. The next photograph is of a small boy sitting on a corner blurred face and image that seems to be zoomed to maximum it had pixelated.
As the bass guitar intensifies, the stage slowly lightens up showing Kagami standing in the middle, Kuroko slightly behind him to the left and to the right is Takao and in the back on the small higher stage is Furihata. The pictures continues to flash, another picture of a teal haired boy staring at the camera with his massive blue eyes sprawled in a floor. The next picture is a jet black haired boy blowing the candle of his birthday cake, then next is a the red head boy sporting his first basketball jersey.
Kagami smiles and waves to the crowd before he pulls the microphone stand towards himself and he begins to sing.
"Bokura no shinjiteru kono yume ya risou wa
Me wo hanshita suki ni kowarete shimaisou da
Nenzen nankou senmei na FURASSHUBAKKU
SUROO MOOSHON sora no shita
Keshisatte shimaitai hodo no RIARU."
As the beat changes the stage is lit the photgraphs flashes along with it, Kuroko is shown as a four year old boy in his school uniform, Takao at nine years old showing his first drawing and Kagami at five standing in the line of kids singing on top of his lungs.
"Yosoku funou ichibyousaki no kokoro kowarete ubawarete
Itazura ni kizutsukeraretara
Nanika ga, doko kara?
Afurete tomeranai!"
Kagami smiles as he sees the crowd is mesmerized the images in the screen, as Furihata's drums are heard loud like the screaming heartbeat the white confetti explodes and rains down to the crowd making it seems like it's snowing. The crowd gapes at the effect.
Kagami turn towards Kuroko and the teal head nods and takes his microphone as they both sing the chorus.
"Sono sekai no katasumi de ima wo ikiru no bokura wa
Namida wo koete hikari no sasu hou e
Zero ka ichi ka? Juu ka hyaku ka? Kotae wo sagashiteru.
Hibiki au kokoro no ato.
YES.
NO."
Kagami grins widely as the crowd cheers loudly for them. He turns towards the screen and finally a lone picture of Furihata is shown holding up a peace sign while standing beside a middle aged man in a convenience store. The next photo is shown as Kagami sitting in the couch of his home in America strumming on his guitar. The next photo is a photo of Kuroko taken by someone behind the curtains of a stage, the teal head is waving with a ghost smile in his lips. The next is Takao in his gakuran in his high school graduation beside him is his younger sister.
"Bokura ga ikiteru sra no shita ni wa
Ikutsu mo wakaranai koto ga korogatteiru
Sakebu you na shin'on mataku RIFUREIN
Fidobakku suru zetsubou wa
Itsuka kibou to natte kokoro narasu."
As the chorus comes in and Kuroko joins again the picture behind them flashes again showing Takao first with smiling while sitting on a dinner table with his parents, the next is Kagami and Himuro's back while walking in the streets of Los Angeles, the next is Furihata sitting in his class writing down notes and the last is Kuroko holding a bouquet of blue roses as he reaches out to the crowd. As the drum rolls to the bridge the screen fades to black then as soon as the guitar and Kagami and Kuroko's voice joins the music the screen flashes the very first picture of the four together. They were all standing at a stage with golden confetti flying around, Kagami is holding the trophy with a massive grin with arm over Kuroko's shoulder and the teal head smiling at the camera, beside Kuroko is Furihata who is looking at Takao who seems to caught between saying something and smiling.
The light changes again and the whole concert hall is filled with soft blue and white light.
As the music mellows to the last part, only Takao's strumming is left along with Kagami's voice. It is loud and clear almost like a personal message.
"Kokoro no mannaka de ima wo sekabu bokura wa
Tomaru koto no nai toki no naka de
Zero ka ichi ka juu hyaku ka? Kotae wa sagashiteru
Aosiguru sora no shita."
Slowly the drums joins Takao's guitars and Kuroko's guitar as well. The picture flashing behind them becomes a collage of their pictures as band together, Takao laughing while talking to Kuroko in a corner, Kagami sporting a matching baseball cap with Kuroko on a selfie, Furihata and Kuroko playing with an Alaskan Malamute puppy, Takao and everyone else hurdled in a corner practicing their songs. The pictures fills the screen making a perfect mosaic of their very first picture as a band.
"Chiisa negai mo ooki na itami mo asu e to
Toorisuguite yuku kaze to tomo ni
Subete ga te ni dekiru mono bakari ja nai kedo
Nando demo nando demo
Hibiki au
YES
NO."
As the last lyrics were sung, the picture fades to a picture of the sky, bright blue cloudless sky.
The crowd screams and Kagami could even see some crying holding up their smartphones. Ladies holding their lovers, and the other kissing their heads fondly. He smiles, the first song indeed is a success. He raises the microphone to the air and screams his heart out with joy.
"Thank you so much!" he exclaims with tears almost brimming in the corners of his eyes.
As the music finally finishes Kagami composes himself and looks at the crowd, he breathes in the smell of the hall. This is really it.
"Are you ready Tokyo?!"
The crowd replies with a loud yes, but Kagami's eyes quickly fell to one pair of mismatched ones there. He smirks at the man.
.
.
.
Aida smirks as he holds her phone in her hand it vibrates and rings continuously as people tweets and post snips of the ongoing concert noting the lack of baby photographs of the brunet and pictures started showing only in the brunet's teen years. Speculations rises quickly and most of them got the message quickly.
"Hikari no Ou's Refrain Boy is written by Furihata Kouki and Furihata Kouki didn't have any memories of his childhood, not even a single picture was taken for him by his parents. His life started with a picture of an old man from a convenience store then the rest were with the band. If you still thing Hikari no Ou forced him on this, you gotta do more to change my mind."
Aida smirks at the comment with attached clip of the first half of the performance and the last part of the performance. Well she can always count on the fans to be this perceptive. If Furihata's mother is a business woman, then two can play this game.
…
A/N
The song Hikari no Ou sang as an opening is titled Refrain Boy. Some of you guys may find it sounding familiar, it was used as an ending song in MOB Psycho which is originally sung by All Off. I personally like this song. It's message is really pretty and inspiring. It's translation includes the following lines;
"All the stuff that we see and hear and feel everyday
Is so complicated and makes me lost below this sky
The fast beat of heart and the flicking refrain
All the despair repeats in mind
Turns into a small hope and brings the light on...
Sometimes it is hard to see the truth but we carry on,
No matter how many times, resound again...
Breathe the air deep in,deep out
Let 'em all be the way they are
Be yourself and stand up tall..."
Just thought that it suites the story very much! If you guys haven't heard of it you can go and search it on YouTube its music video also includes English translation of the lyrics. Hope you liked today's chapter, please let me know your thoughts!