Shuryu: More than Rivals?

“Ughn…” Shuichi shifted in an attempt to roll over so that he had his back to the window while trying not to fall off the couch. He had fallen asleep in Yuki’s lap after telling the blonde of the going ons of the previous day but now it was morning which meant that soon, Shuichi would have to get up and go to work. That was something that he really didn’t want to do. He cracked open one violet eye to greet the back cushions of his couch and debated calling in sick. Instead, he merely covered his face with his pillow and hoped that by some act of god he’d somehow smother himself and avoid ever setting foot in the NG building again.

After ten minuets so attempted self affixation with a feather pillow, Shuichi turned his body away from the back of the couch and nearby wall when he heard his cellular phone ringing. It was probably K, no wait, scratch that out. K would probably be climbing the adjacent building getting into his usual sniper position and setting up to fire off a few shots right now. It was probably either Hiro or Sakano wondering where he was. After trying to remember where he left the phone, Shuichi decided to let it ring.

“Answer the damn phone, you damn brat!” So much for letting it ring. Shuichi slowly sat up on the couch and brought his hand to his head. Not only did he have a headache, but as he moved, a stiff and somewhat pained feeling shot through his lower back.

With each ring of the phone, his headache worsened and with each subtle movement, the young singer’s mind fought to push recent memories to the back of his mind as the dull ache in his back became a pain.

“Answer the damn phone! I’m not going to say it again!” Yuki hollered from the bedroom, undoubtably covering his head with his pillow. Shuichi walked through the apartment in search of his phone until the other party decided to hang up and the phone ring tone ended. He stood next to the genkan, still no closer to finding his phone. Looking down, he spotted the corner tip of a small white envelope next to his sneakers. He looked at it for a moment, curious as to what it was. Something from Yuki? He reached down and picked it up, studying his the writing. It was in his name but it wasn’t from Yuki. His name was sloppily written in hiragana. Yuki would never do that. He ripped it open and froze…

“So, where do you think he is?” Fujisaki asked his fellow band member and managers. Hiro leaned back in his chair, causing it to sway dangerously on its two back legs.

“My money’s on the either bathroom or getting a 'good morning blow-job' from Yuki-san. I’ll head there now and fire a few shots to motivate his lazy sprit. ‘I’ll be back…’” said K, the last part said in English. He headed towards the door, cocking his gun and carrying it like an American cowboy.

“There’s no need for that.” Hiro interrupted. K turned to him, eyebrow raised.

“Oh, and why is that?” His American accent apparent. Hiro just rocked back and forth on his chair and looked up at the ceiling. After a moment, he answered.

“Because he isn’t there. He probably won’t be coming in today. After what happened yesterday…” He trailed off, still watching the ceiling. There was a moment of silence.
It was a good day, considering that Shuichi had brought finished lyrics that morning, rehearsal was going as smoothly as ever, and the company as a whole seemed to be in high sprits.

PREVIOUS DAY, HIRO POV:
“Yo, Shuichi! Mind going to the storage closet and getting a blank tape?” I had asked, still concentrating on the new set of cords for the song the group had been practicing. I wanted to bring a copy home with him to listen to so I’d keep the arrangement fresh in I mind.

“No problem!” Shuichi had replied with a wave, before heading out of the room towards the storage closet. It wasn’t so much of a closet as it was a room filled with anything and everything an artist at NG would ever need. “Be back in a second!”

Everything seemed fine. Fujisaki and I continued to rehearse for a good twenty minuets before we realized that Shuichi hadn’t comeback yet. It wasn’t unusual for him to take a while just to go down the hall to get a drink, he was easily distracted, but something seemed off. I was hoping that he had just bumped into Ryuichi Sakuma or something, lord knows that once together, you needed a crowbar to pry them apart, but something told me that it was something else.

“I wonder what’s taking Shindo so long…” Fujisaki had said when suddenly the metal string on my guitar snapped, cutting my hand in the process. A bad sign. We looked at each other, me forgetting my bleeding hand for the moment. We head off in the direction on the storage closet…

TO BE CONTINUED…

Translation Notes:

genkan – the entry way of a Japanese house. It’s the place where you take off your shoes before entering.

hiragana – one of three styles of written Japanese. It’s used for purely Japanese words. Here, it is used to express the unsophisticated style of writing on Shuichi’s letter. His name is written in kanji (the advanced characters taken from Chinese) but the autor of the letter decided to use hiagana either because he can’t write kanji or is being lazy / informal. It’s considered childish to write in hiagana alone. Think of the letter has being written in print and with misspellings.