Disclaimers and warnings as same as in the first chapter. There's some more Grasper interactions complete with some plottage going on.

track eleven

It hit me around the time we snuck down into an empty studio that we really didn't have an approach to market our return. I was chewing on Kumagoro's ear, listening to Noriko going over the harmonies with Tohma when the idea hit me. We needed some kind of venue to make an official announcement.

Tohma was moving the sliders, and adjusting the volume before telling Noriko to go over that part again, please. I leaned my head on his shoulder, and listened as he played our parts over what she was playing. There it was - our stuff, our voice and not some kid's attempt to touch us. I must have said something because Tohma turned slightly and rubbed his cheek against my hair. Then he leaned forward, adjusting more sliders and nodding his head. I spun around in my chair, humming along with the beat.

"I bet we can get several mixes for this one," I said, sticking Kumagoro on top of my head.

"Let's get this one down before planning anything more."

Noriko was bouncing along with the beat, her hair a soft lavender color today and framing her face like a fluffy cloud of cotton candy. I wondered if it would taste the same but that was derailed by her finishing with a flourish and flashing us the victory sign. Tohma rewound the music and then he was up and pulling me with him as he entered the sound booth. The finished tracks were playing over the speakers and we went into a huddle on the floor, Noriko's head in my lap and her legs over Tohma's lap.

"It sounds good," she said, reaching up and tapping my chest. "Your voice only improves with age."

"Oh ouch. I didn't know I was ithat/i old," I mock-pouted and smacked her lightly with Kumagoro.

"The guitar works," Tohma said, leaning against me. "I didn't think it would but it adds punch to it."

"Told you," Noriko said, sticking out her tongue.

"So, how are we going to go public? Just release an album and call it 'We're Back' or have a concert?"

"That's a stupid name for an album."

"But it is to the point. No, I have an idea in mind, Ryuichi."

"Which one? A venue or a set of live concerts?"

"I was thinking concerts, but a venue would have a better punch. We do need some more songs before we can go with the concert idea. It's not that we don't have enough material to play, it is just that they are old hits from three years ago."

"How about Hit Stage? They're pretty big now, right?" I held Kumagoro over my head and dangled him there despite his protests.

"A good idea, but I'm afraid Bad Luck is going to perform on that show next week."

I lowered Kumagoro and made a face. Them again. I thought Tohma was going to produce our band, not let another band take the center stage like they were better. But I wasn't really sure what he had in mind. Maybe he was planning on having a live concert while Hit Stage was on but no, that didn't make sense. Then there was everything with Shuichi. I haven't yet done any of the crazy ideas I've had concerning the little copy-cat.

"Tohma, can you muscle our way on to Hit Stage?"

Noriko sat up and wrapped her arms around her knees. "Ryu? What's going on in your crazy skull?"

"They can be the appetizers, right?"

Tohma glanced at me and raised his remote control. The endless loop of the new single changed to one of our first singles. "You're planning something, aren't you?"

"Me?" I tried looking cute and innocent and he just snorted.

"Fine, I'll do it for you, Ryuichi. Now, let's figure out what we should add to the collection. I was thinking a few hits with a couple remixes. Noriko?"

"That sounds good, but don't forget that we have some non-hits that were well received critically wise."

"Not all of those were that good," I said, making a face. I eyed her hair some more and leaned over to take a bite out of it. She shrieked and gave me a push. I fell and laughed, holding Kumagoro up for her to hit instead. Tohma watched us like he couldn't understand what was going on and clicked his button. Another song pounded through the speakers and Noriko and I stopped in mid-wrestle to listen.

"That's one weird song," she said after a minute. "Who is it?"

"You don't recognize Ryuichi's voice?"

Seeing at how I was screaming the words instead of actually singing, I wasn't surprised she didn't recognize me. I tossed Kumagoro at Tohma and pulled my legs up to my chest. The song was short, so it faded into some Grasper ballad, much to the relief of my eardrums.

"I tried everything in the States, even death metal," I replied and shrugged. "Not my best moment."

"It sounds like you're gargling a monkey's sack."

"Mental image, Noriko!"

"So, hits and remixes of some of our older side B tracks?"

"I like the B sides from Purple Nurple and Sister's Secret Code," I said, curling on my side.

"Purple Nurple was one of our better albums despite the name."

"I like that name."

"It was one of your ideas, so of course you like it, Ryu."

"Hm, I like that combination," Tohma said and clicked his button a couple times. The speakers whined for a second and then the opening tracks of Silent Black came on. "Let's work on a couple remixes first and go from there."

More work and more work. We spent nearly a day and a half in the studio putting the collection album together. Just because it was a greatest collection did not mean we were just going to rip songs from old albums and leave it at that. We were Grasper and we never did things by half. By the time we dragged ourselves from the studio, there was already a buzz about us getting back together in the gossip shows. We haven't announced it officially, but still people noticed that I was hanging out with Tohma more than normal and Noriko was with us. It didn't take a genius to speculate on a reunion at all.

The single hit the presses the next day and Tohma was busy scheduling a couple interviews for us so Noriko and I went wandering around the building. We were supposed to show up for a board meeting, but I wasn't feeling up to it, and she had forgotten where it was being held. Not that it was that important for us to be there since Tohma had made up his mind, but the other people wanted to yell at someone. We ended upstairs in the conference rooms and Noriko led us right to where Bad Luck was meeting.

And it sounded like they didn't know the change in plans for Hit Stage. Of course, Noriko didn't have to be so mean about them being the appetizers. I mean, it was bad enough we were taking over the main show, but being all bad about it wasn't the way to do it. Then again, maybe she knew something about them that I didn't. She did work with them after all.

I had to step in to correct their assumptions, not that it seemed to help much. After a brief scolding from K, I started trying to explain but then Shuichi went nuts and on and on about how I hated him then went running out of the room like I tried to kill him. I stood there hugging Kumagoro and tried not to cry. I didn't know he still thought about that whole thing on Music Fan. I didn't mean anything by it. Not like what he was thinking obviously.

K and Noriko immediately tried comforting me so I didn't notice the other people of Shuichi's band leave. It was a bit odd they didn't stick around to ask me why, but I didn't really think about it. I had other things on my mind, like why K still felt protective of me even though he pretty much deserted me. Okay, he had quit and went over to the Bad Luck project, but still, it felt like he had abandoned me. Maybe I was just being too sensitive to it right now. I couldn't remember actually sleeping the past couple of days.

"Bad Ryu, you really had me going there," Noriko said, hugging me. "Here I thought you really hated them."

"I really don't." I said with a sniff and rubbed my nose on my arm. Noriko tsked and took out a tissue, handing it over. I blew my nose, and tossed it into the garbage can.

"You big silly, I was going out of mind worrying about it!" She smacked me on the arm and sighed, taking out a compact and looking at her nose. "Aren't you going to tell them, K?"

I turned to K, giving him one of my better puppy sad eyes looks. He folded his arms over his chest and slowly shook his head, a crazy smile spreading across his face. "Now why would I do that?"

We both stared at him. He held up his hands and laughed, and headed out the door not even stopping to explain his actions. I looked over at Noriko and she sighed, shaking her head.

"Do you think he has finally gone mad?"

"Knowing K, he probably was already there."

"Nah, he's plotting," I replied after a moment's reflection filled with chewing on Kumagoro's ear. "He's gonna do something weird for Hit Stage."

"Maybe we should warn Tohma," Noriko said, taking my elbow and dragging me out of the room.

I went along even though I really thought a nap would be better on the comfy couches in the corner. "Betcha he already knows."

"Don't be silly, Ryu!"

"Serious! Betcha he knows!" I poked her side and tried to wiggle free of her grip. I didn't want to disturb Tohma while he was busy and that was what Noriko was going to do if she kept on dragging me down the hall.

She made a face and continued to drag me, so I resorted to more drastic measures, which included crying and smacking her with Kumagoro. Unfortunately for me, Noriko had mad mothering skills and ignored all the noise I was making. Office workers paused in their daily routines as we went by, Noriko sprouting flames and I wailing and flailing like I was getting dragged to my death.

All the commotion did drag Tohma out of his office by the time we got there - I still being pulled along, but with the added poundage of a couple people I had grabbed and a light fixture. He stood in his doorway, office phone to his ear and a look on his face that could only be described as a 'stepped in something sticky in the middle of the night' look.

He then turned his back and went into his office, closing the door with a click. Noriko kicked the door in, dragging me and my extra weight behind her, still fuming about something or another. By this time, I had already forgotten what I trying to do, not that it really mattered because Noriko had forgotten as well. Instead she was yelling something about trying to work with a child - probably meaning me - and waving her hands around about all the noise I make and when are we going to really get going with real work.

I just sat on the floor, let go of the people I had grabbed, sat the light fixture down and took out my sketchpad. It sounded like Noriko was getting a huge head of yelling and I wasn't going to attract her attention when she was in that kind of mood. I've learnt early on that one does not attract a PMSing woman unless one had chocolate ready.

Tohma tried to hide behind his desk, cupping his hand around the receiver while trying to talk to the person on the other end. Noriko meanwhile tried to climb over the desk to grab the phone away from him. I bent down and started drawing Noriko as a Rambo-type blowing up keyboards, so I missed the part when the phone was jerked away and she was sobbing on his chest and he was patting her shoulder awkwardly.

"Do you know what happened, Ryuichi?"

I looked up and chewed on a crayon. "Noriko's tired and being all cranky and husband missing?" I ventured.

He sighed and patted her shoulder a bit more. She calmed down and tried rubbing her face against his shirt. Tohma made a face and reached for a drawer without moving her away from him.

"I do have some good news," he said, grabbing a tissue box and holding it out to her. "They already need to make another press of the new single, and we should have a press conference ready in an hour."

"That soon?" Noriko said, coming up from Tohma's chest, her eyes huge. She shrieked and dived for her bag, spilling tissues all over the place.

"Are they going to take pictures?"

Tohma shrugged and sat down, watching Noriko take out her compact and looked at herself. She made a face and turned towards Tohma, who nodded at his private bathroom and she ran in there, locking the door behind her. I made a face and went back to work on my drawing. Maybe if she had just warned a guy I wouldn't have acted so nuts in coming here and thus save her some grief.

She popped out of the bathroom a few minutes later looking like she had a couple days worth of sleep. I yawned and closed my sketchpad, set it aside and prepared to take a little nap. Tohma said it would take an hour for the interview people to show up so I was going to get some sleep. Not that I really was going to sit around and play nice all day long with the press. There were a lot of things we should be doing instead of waiting for them.

Noriko had to jab me awake just in time for the press to show up and ask questions. She had pulled her hair back from her face while Tohma lost his feathered coat. I clung onto Kumagoro and spent most of the interview letting the others talk while I hid behind him. It was pretty funny watching the press' reaction to being talked to by a stuffed animal but I think both Tohma and Noriko were a bit upset with me. Oh well. Even geniuses needed some bad days, right?

A couple pictures came after the interview and the press left. Tohma and Noriko talked quietly about something over by his desk while I stretched out on couch and played with Kumagoro. I probably could hear what they were talking about if I tried, but I didn't care. I figured that it was me anyways. A lot of their quiet talks centered on me and my bad behavior. I wasn't sure why they would consider this bad behavior when they had seen me in my rare destructive moods, but I guess they had another name for that. Temper tantrum?

We went back to the studio and spent a couple more hours going over a new mix but when there was a flare up over piano verses harp, we all realized that it was time to stop and get some rest. This, whatever was between us, was just too fragile to break apart just when we were starting to get use to each other again. So Tohma drove us home, dropping Noriko off after apologizing and then it was my turn to get dropped off. He almost said something to me but instead changed it to a fake smile, briefly brushing my cheek with his lips.

As he drove, I almost felt like he was saying goodbye.