Haunted

Chapter 14: True Friends


“Yuki, I’m off to work now!” Shuichi shouted across the hallway inside Yuki Eiri’s condominium.

Shuichi hopped around, trying to find his other shoe while trying to wear the other one.

When Yuki didn’t reply, Shuichi assumed he was in the bathroom.

Shuichi walked slowly towards the bathroom door to peak in,

“Yukiii…” Shuichi called out and was suddenly appalled when two strong arms enveloped him towards a hard wet chest.

“Yuki! You’re making me all wet!” Shuichi mumbled in protest,

“Exactly what I’m trying to do.” Yuki spoke seductively, his eyes glimmering with devilment and on purposefully misinterpreting Shuichi’s comment.

Shuichi giggled and jumped at Yuki, who caught his legs around his waist,

“You’re such a whiny brat…” Yuki complained while he watched Shuichi play with his wet blonde hair,

“And you are a mean, mean lover!” Shuichi fired back and grinned widely at Yuki.

Shuici was clearly unaffected by the fact that his koibito was totally naked. Yuki on the other hand was the one who was enormously affected by the fact that Shuichi was not naked.

“Are you,” Yuki started, nibbling Shuichi’s earlobe, “referring to my personality or the way I make love with you in bed?” he asked teasingly.

“Both.”

Shuichi replied and chuckled. Yuki slowly placed Shuichi down on the marbled sink and started kissing him.

“Yuki… I’m seriously getting wet…” still referring to his shirt and pants and not ‘there’.

“…”

“Yuki… I gotta go…”

“…”
Shuichi was flushing profusely when Yuki obviously didn’t want to cooperate with him. Yuki was already sliding his hands under Shuichi’s shirt when Shuichi protested,

“Yuki, are you even listening to me?!” Shuichi wailed while he tried to push Yuki’s hands away.

“If you don’t stop babbling, I’m going to stick your head inside that toilet.” Yuki warned, continuously harassing his sweet little Shuichi.

“But Yuki…”

“No buts.”

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It was already 3 pm when Shuichi finally got himself inside the studio. (Take note: he woke up at 8) His hair was in disarray and his shirt was torn on one sleeve. The button of his pants seemed to have gone missing and his face was completely flushed.

Oh yeah, and his lips were swelling like hell.

“What in God’s name happened to you?” K asked, holding a newspaper on his left hand and a mug of coffee on the other.

Sakano entered the studio reviewing a few papers and was stunt when he lifted his head up to see a mobbed Shuichi,

“Shuichi-san… are you…are you alright?” he asked worriedly,

“K-san, where did you put the—Shuichi-san! Thank goodness your ba—” Fujisaki stopped while fixing his hair. He finally noticed Shuichi’s appearance.

Hiro entered the room to see what the fuss was all about, and the moment he saw Shuichi, he just scanned the boy from head to toe and teased,
“Had too much fun this morning, eh?”

Shuichi slowly shook his head, not saying anything since he got there inside the studio.

“…you people…have no idea… what I’ve just…been through…” Shuichi brokenly started.

“I guess that Seige handled you quite toughly than I thought.” K praised while scratching his head.

“…I had to…endure… a… wild… morning…” Shuichi added, limply walking towards a chair.
When Shuichi’s bottom touched the surface of the chair, he automatically yelped in pain.

“Wow…he spanked you too?” Hiro said, looking all surprised.

“I guess that means somebody just beaten Yuki Eiri’s record, am I right?” Fujisaki teased, elbowing Shuichi on the side.

Shuichi held his head up and screamed,

“THAT WAS THE BEST SEX I HAD WITH YUKI IN MY ENTIRE LIFE!”

Everybody fell silent after that outburst. Shuichi wasn’t obviously listening to any of their comments or reactions a while ago,

“Were you guys saying something?” Shuichi asked innocently, his eyes turning to dots and a huge water droplet hanging on his head.

K dropped his coffee.

Fujisaki’s eyes narrowed.

Sakano fainted.

And Hiro’s jaw just dropped.

“Did I miss something?”

Everybody looked at Shuichi as if he had lost his mind.

“D-did I say something wrong?” Shuichi asked, pointing at his face.

Suddenly, the door of the studio was smashed open when a man in blue suit came striding in,

“Where is he? Has he called already? Fujisaki-san, you told me just this morning that Shuichi was coming and I’ve been waiting here for seven hours and he hasn’t arrived yet—”

Seige Mushimoto stopped dead in his tracks when he saw Shindou Shuichi all messed up.

“Shuichi!” Seige exclaimed and ran across everybody and pulled him roughly against his hard chest.

“Oh my God… we all thought something happened to you…” he whispered hoarsely against Shuichi’s soft red mane, “where were you, young man? We’ve been worried sick! I’ve been trying to call you for the past three nights. Three nights. What happened? I thought you were gonna be with the Tokigawa sisters the other night at your friend’s concert?”

Shuichi stared at Seige and couldn’t say anything for a few minutes. Seige just stared back, expecting an answer anytime soon.

“Uh…” K broke the silence, feeling the tension building up, “Shuichi-san…just told us when he got here…that he went to Switzerland …to visit his sick cousin.”

Everybody’s head snapped towards K’s direction.

“That’s right,” Sakano said with a spontaneous nod to reassure K’s lie, “Shuichi-san went to Europe three nights ago to visit his almost dying cousin, isn’t that sad?” he added in such a dialogued tone.

Seige looked at them with a platonic expression.

He wasn’t obviously buying it.

“Gee, Shuichi…” Hiro started, “I really feel bad for Mizuki-kun,” he added, trying to make the lie look more agreeable, “she was such a nice girl. I remembered her last visit in Japan when we were still in school… such a lovely lady… too bad it’s her time.” Hiro concluded with an agonized look.

“I know what you mean Hiro-san.” Fujisaki said, obviously trying to help and putting a strong hand over Hiro’s shoulder, “I, too, have a close cousin—not Tohma Seguchi—just a cousin from—from—Los Angeles…yes, LA….we had so much fun when we were kids…and she died just this season…I miss her so much!” Fujisaki exclaimed, faking a hurt look, “I think Shuichi-san and Mizuki-kun were very close as well.” he stated confidently, a tear slowly falling from his cheek, “I know how it feels to have a dying relative, Shuichi-san…and it’s okay…NG’s still here for you…and of course, us, your band mates, and Kei-san, and Sakano-san and Ei—”

Hiro stepped on Fujisaki’s foot when he accidentally almost spoke Yuki Eiri’s name.

“Uh, hehe, well…” You guys, Shuichi thought, I’ve never been happier and more honored to be your friends in my entire life!

“That’s true.” Shuichi said, confirming the lie, “I love M-Mizuka—”

“Mizuki.” K corrected,

“—Mizuki very much… it hurts…even just to think of her condition…” Shuichi said, his eyes all misty with unshed tears.

“My God…” Seige began, looking at his beloved Shuichi with pity, “I never thought…how foolish of me….I’m so sorry to hear about your cousin, Shuichi.” Seige said and embraced Shuichi tighter, “you must’ve been through such pain… flying all over to Switzerland just to hold your cousin Mizuki’s hand before she dies…that must be so painful…and to be mobbed by reporters—is that the reason why your clothes are all ripped apart?” Seige asked, looking at Shuichi and at his friends.

Everybody nodded in unison with their eyes as big as saucers.

“You must have been crying as well…that explains your swollen lips…” Seige pointed out.

Shuichi remembered Yuki’s harassing, wild and inescapable kisses.

Shuichi simply nodded absentmindedly.

“Don’t worry,” Seige whispered hoarsely, “I’ll make it all go away.” He said and began to lean towards Shuichi’s face. Shuichi abruptly hugged Seige instead to avoid his kiss.

“Oh Seige,” Shuichi started, “I’m so happy you’re here to comfort me…”

Since Seige’s back was facing everybody, Shuichi winked at his friends and slowly gestured a thumb’s up sign.


It was already 5 in the afternoon when Seige Mushimoto decided to leave Shuichi in peace. Shuichi literally had to push him towards the door.

“Phew…glad that’s over…” Shuichi fanned, resting his head against the door with his arms behind him.

“And you have a lot of explaining to do.” K started, his arms across his chest.

“First off,” Sakano started, fixing his glasses, “what do you mean by ‘having the best sex in your entire life with Eiri-san’? And did you know that Seige was just right about outside that door when you burst out that proclamation?” he asked.

Shuichi uneasily walked towards his friends and scratched his head,

“I didn’t know…I wouldn’t have shouted that if I’d known…but pertaining to Yuki…well isn’t it obvious? We just got back…together…” Shuichi admitted.

“Yes, and from Switzerland.” Hiro began annoyingly, looking at K who started the lie, “What the hell came over you to say something so far-fetched a while ago?” he demanded from him.

K raised his eyebrows and defended himself,

“I was just trying to help. What’s so far-fetched about Switzerland? Anyone can have a relative over-sea.”

“Yeah sure,” Fujisaki entered the argument, “but that doesn’t mean you’ll travel overnight ‘just to be by their side’—and return three days after.” he quoted.

“Oh hoho, look who’s talking.” K began irritatingly, “Fujisaki-san, I never thought you had a cousin over LA who just died this season.” He fired back, “remind me to ask you your relative’s address so I can stop by to have a cup of tea.” He added,

“Why you!—”

“You guys,” Shuichi started, filling up the small heating gap between Fujisaki and K,
“you don’t have to fight over this…it’s entirely my fault.”

“You’re damn right it is.” Everybody exclaimed in unison.

“Okay…” Shuichi mumbled uncomfortably, “I’ll explain… you see when I was supposed to meet up with Serena and her sisters, I…I accidentally bumped into…Yuki…”

“Which explains your absence for three nights,” Hiro bit out, “I can’t believe Yuki-san doesn’t have a mobile phone’s charger back at his place. A rich dude like him, who I think would’ve owned a few phones, would most probably have a few batteries for anyone who might need them,” he said, looking at Shuichi like a mad father, “or maybe, you didn’t really have your phone uncharged, maybe you just left it unopened, isn’t that right, Shuichi?” Hiro added, making Shuichi guilty as much as possible.

“Alright, alright, I’m sorry…I didn’t mean to cause you guys such worry…I just wanted to take a break—”

“You could’ve informed us.” Sakano lectured,

“Yeah, that way, we might’ve saved ourselves a lot of trouble.” Fujisaki added.

“I’m really sorry, guys… I promise I won’t do it again.” Shuichi said, with his right hand resting over his chest, declaring a solemn promise.

“You bet you won’t” K started, loading his gun and pointing it at Shuichi’s head, “because I’ll make sure you won’t.”

Shuichi had at least a thousand sweat drops hanging on his head while trying to get away from the gun raised towards him.

“Okay, everybody. Sit yourselves down because we’ve got a lot to discuss about.”
Sakano announced, fixing his collar and pointing to the others the available chairs behind them.

Once everybody was seated, Sakano started,

“Two weeks from now is going to be your big solo concert at Tokyo Bay—”

“Oh shoot!” Shuichi exclaimed, his hand over his forehead, “I almost forgot about that.”

“Now let me continue,” Sakano said, eyeing Shuichi, “as I was saying, Bad Luck is about to perform. Now starting from today except Sundays, I want every one of you to be here at the studio early in the morning to practice and rehearse our show. I want this to become sleek and smooth.” He pointed out, “and I don’t want any excuses from any of you, is that clear?” Sakano ordered.

“Hmm, I never thought you could take charge, Sakano-san” K teased, elbowing Sakano at the side. Sakano blushed fiercely and almost forgot what he was supposed to say next,

“Oh, and, let me remind you again that we still need to finish three tracks for the next album to be released. At the concert, you will be promoting this album as well, so whatever new songs you’re going to put into that album, make sure you introduce it to the concert.” Sakano added,

“Leave those kinds of details to us, Sakano-san.” K said, nudging Sakano, “that’s our line of the job.”

“And it’s my line of the job to make sure Bad Luck’s image is perfect!” Sakano boomed nervously, “the boss will kill me if the concert goes out all wrong!”

“Geez, Sakano-san.” Fujisaki wailed, standing up from his chair, “we get your point, don’t get all excited.” He fanned and moved towards inside the recording room.

“Okay!” Shuichi shouted, feeling all high and motivated, “let’s start moving, ladies! I want to get this all finished before midnight—”

“Right,” Hiro began, “to get yourself endlessly laid again…” he teased, moving away from his chair.

“I won’t lie to you—yes, that’s true.” Shuichi said, blushing copiously and nodding his head with avowal.

“Shuichi-san,” Fujisaki began ordering, “get your but over here! We still need to discuss the song you just wrote.”

“Yes, ma’am!”

“Who you calling ma’am?!”

“Just kidding!”

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