fic for alissa
Title: Four Debut Singles That Could Have Been
Threesome: Yasu/Maru/Ohkura (gen), Maru/Yoko/Hina (gen)
Rating: PG
Word Count: 4,197
Notes: For alissa.
After J3Kansai, they expected to debut. It seemed like the direction they were headed in.
Then the first shoe dropped.
“Affected”
V.West debuts in November. At their first press conference as a unit, they stand shoulder-to-shoulder and share one microphone between the four of them. Yasu speaks first, as leader. He promotes their first single, “Affected,” and asks the world at large to support V.West in the future. When he passes the microphone down the line, each of his group mates echoes Yasu’s request for support in his own carefully-chosen words. They pose for photographs, elaborate on their gratitude and optimism for their success, and then they’re done.
In the dressing room, they’re less professional.
Uchi is through the door first and hurls his shoes at the wall one after the other. Behind him, Ohkura flops onto the couch and slings his arm over his eyes. Maru just slips into the bathroom without a word to anyone and locks the door. Yasu drifts in last, rereading an email on his phone.
“If Ryo quits, I really will kill him,” Uchi swears.
Ohkura says, “Hmm.”
“It’s not fair to Kimi-kun and Murakami-kun and Subaru-kun if he quits, right?”
“Hmm.”
“The four of them could be a unit! Weirder shit happens all the time. Look at fucking - fucking - I don’t know. They’d probably be the weirdest unit yet, but. He can’t quit. It’s selfish.”
Ohkura lets his arm hang off the side of the couch. Swings it back and forth. Says, “Murakami-kun quit this morning.”
Uchi spins around, his face outraged and anguished. But before he can launch into a rant, Yasu quietly closes the door behind him. He smiles tenuously at his group mates, and just like that, Uchi’s ferocity simmers. He slumps into a chair, puts his elbows on the vanity table and glowers miserably at his reflection.
“Where’s Maru?” Yasu asks them.
“In here,” answers a muffled voice. “Peeing.”
Yasu nods, even though the bathroom is silent. Ohkura sits up and pats the couch cushion next to him insistently until Yasu crosses the room and drops down beside him.
“Kimi-kun just quit,” Yasu says with a sigh. He opens his cell phone to show Ohkura the email. Looks over his shoulder at the bathroom door.
Uchi breaks the silence by kicking the wall. No one tells him off for it.
“Let’s be happy for them,” Yasu says finally. “And support them. Let’s help them be successful in whatever they decide to do.”
“Right,” Uchi says.
Ohkura nods.
Maru unlocks the bathroom door. They watch him walk to his bag and search around inside for his clothes, but he won’t quite meet anyone’s eye. As he turns his shirt inside out, he says, “Maybe Subaru-kun and Ryo-chan can form a duo.”
Yasu offers him a partial smile, but Uchi only snaps, “Fuck, I can’t find my other shoe,” and scrapes a chair across the floor, punctuating the premature end of the conversation.
Ohkura takes Maru’s shirt and turns it right side out for him.
The silence continues until their manager arrives. She’s thirty-two, married and wears her hair in a bun. She stands in the doorway as she summarizes the upcoming week and reminds them when to be at the dance studio in the morning. Once again, she congratulates them on their debut and thanks them for their hard work.
She’s gone in six minutes. She never even had to take a step inside the dressing room.
“What’s her name again?” Yasu wonders.
Uchi’s cell phone chimes. Everyone watches him flip the lid open and skim the message. Then he pockets his phone and shoulders his bag, expressionless.
“Ryo quit,” he says quietly, and leaves.
“Keep”
The day Subaru debuts, V.West is recording their second PV.
The director’s vision puts them in a warehouse at sunset where the coppery light shines through windows curtained with shredded plastic. He wants to shoot each member in a room apart from the others, then have them together for the chorus. It’s more computer-assisted than their first PV, but they’re still doing the basics. They play their instruments and smolder on cue.
Yasu finishes filming his part exactly eight minutes before Subaru’s live press conference starts. With a quick bow to the staff and a bouncy V for the behind-the-scenes camera, Yasu switches places with Maru and runs straight to the green room where Ohkura is waiting for him by the door.
Ohkura tells him, “The set’s broken.”
“We’ll have to find another one, then,” Yasu says. “Come on, Uchi!”
From somewhere unseen, Uchi says, “No, thanks.” They hear rustling from the couch that faces the back wall, then a dry, “Come get me if he moons the reporters.”
It’s more than he’s said to them all day, so they let it slide.
They find a working set in the dressing room down the hall and switch it on just in time to hear the news correspondent announce, “The next Johnny’s unit to debut - ” She spends a decent number of seconds hinting that the new unit is not of a traditional size, then the picture cuts to a horde of reporters crushed into a small room. The name of Subaru’s “unit” appears on the bottom of the screen: his first name in katakana.
Yasu says, “It looks wrong, doesn’t it?”
“What does?”
“His name. Written like that.”
Ohkura nods. “Yeah. It’s weird that they changed it. Writing his name in hiragana is unusual enough. Using katakana seems like they’re trying too hard. It looks too…foreign.”
Yasu pulls his legs up to his chest and sits his chin on his right knee. “Mm.”
When the correspondent’s voiceover ends, the camera zooms out to get more of the room in the shot. What they see is almost comic - a mob of reporters and invited guests assembled before a skinny guy in designer clothes that don’t fit him. It would be funny, but -
“He looks sick,” Ohkura says. “And pissed off.”
Subaru recites word-for-word what Yasu said at V.West’s first press conference, only replacing “V.West” with “me” and “Affected” with his debut single, “Keep.” If anyone notices, no one comments on it. He thanks everyone for their support that helped him get to this day, and then he bows deeply. Almost bent in half.
“That guy,” Ohkura says, grinning, “I think he’s being sarcastic.”
When the segment ends, Yasu opens his cell phone and starts typing.
Maru finds them and reports, “They need Tacchon now.” He sits on the couch behind Yasu and notches his chin on his shoulder. “’Cha doin?”
Ohkura leans his elbow on Yasu’s other shoulder. “He’s writing a message to Subaru,” he says.
“Oh,” Maru says. “Tell him good luck.” Over Yasu’s bowed head, Maru asks Ohkura, “Have you heard from Ryo-chan?”
Ohkura says, “No. And Uchi isn’t speaking to him.”
“Ah. So that’s how it is between them.”
Yasu says, “Oi, don’t talk about them when they’re not in the room,” and signs his email with a row of hearts.
It reads:
[Subaru-kun~
Congratulations on your debut
Maru-chan says good luck.
Tacchon is here, too.
We're working hard. You will too, right
Take care of your body
Remember to eat, okay?
Don't forget about us when you're famous~
]
Yasu closes his phone and for a moment they sit in silence. Just the three of them.
Then Ohkura says, “Hearts?”
And Maru says, “Oh, honey,” in English.
And they snicker until Yasu flails his hands and shouts, “It’s not like that!”
Later, while they wait for the staff to set up for the chorus, Yasu gets Subaru’s response:
[Yasuda,
I can’t do this alone.]
Yasu sends a reply:
[You aren’t.
P.S. Don’t call me Yasuda.]
“Hanganbiiki”
V.West pose for the cover of their second album on the roof of a high school just outside Osaka. They stand for hours underneath the afternoon sun wearing thick black uniforms that soak up the July heat. Luckily, the photographer wants them to look annoyed.
Well. His word was “insolent.”
When the photographer finishes explaining to them what he wants, Uchi whispers to Ohkura, “I wasn’t listening - what’d he say?”
“He said, ‘Uchi-kun, make the face you made when your mom first told you you’re a guy.’”
Uchi subtly punches him in the back. “Girl that, dickface,” he murmurs.
Ohkura snickers through his nose, his lips firmly together and just barely not a smirk.
Yasu says to Maru, “Uchi’s happier lately.”
Ohkura kicks Uchi behind the knees. Uchi squawks. (The photographer starts taking candid shots.)
“Maybe he’s talking to Ryo-chan again,” Maru says.
Yasu nods. “I hope so. Maybe it’s Ohkura, too.”
Uchi licks the arm Ohkura has around his neck. Ohkura just snickers.
Maru bumps his shoulder against Yasu’s. “Seen Subaru-kun lately?”
Yasu scratches his neck. Straightens his collar. Then he cocks his head slightly, like he only just heard the question. “Sorry,” he says to the boom light, “what was that?”
Maru grins. “I said, ‘I like your shoes.’”
At six, they’re free to go. They exchange their wool uniforms for threadbare cotton and ask their manager where to be tomorrow at what time. Yasu leaves first, presumably for home. Then Uchi and Ohkura go together, presumably for food.
Maru stays behind.
He talks to one of the staff guys for thirty minutes and forgets to ask his name. He watches the photographer fine-tune their shots on his laptop. He helps someone pack up the floor lights. Their manager asks him if he wants a ride, but Maru says no, he’d like to walk. Then he watches everyone clear out.
When the roof is his, Maru climbs onto the ledge and curls his fingers through the diamonds of the chain link fence. As the moon rises, the cityscape begins to change from lifeless gray blocks into a jungle of fireflies.
An hour later, he’s barely moved when his cell phone goes off. He flips the lid and says, “Moshi moshi.”
“Maru-chan?”
“Eeh, Kimi-kun!”
“Hey. Um. I saw Yasu. Just now. …Actually.”
“Ahh, right. We just finished…um. Stuff. For the album. And.”
“Yeah. He said you took pictures for the album cover.”
“Yeah.”
“That’s awesome.”
Maru chips some paint off the wire with his thumbnail.
“Maru-chan?”
“Un.”
“Oh. I thought you hung up.”
“No.”
“Oh. Maru-chan?”
“Un.”
A pause. The line suddenly goes rough with static.
“Kimi-kun?”
The static fades.
“Sorry. I had to take the phone outside.”
“Where are you?”
“A bar near work.”
“Oh. Where…where are you working now?”
“Ah, still construction. Sometimes. When I get it. I might try bartending. If I can get work in it.”
“Un.”
A crystal clear pause.
“Kimi-kun?”
“Yeah?”
“Can I meet up with you now?”
“Eh? Really? Do you really want to?”
“Un.”
“But it’s not that much fun.”
“I don’t mind.”
“And I stink from work.”
“Un.”
“Like. Really badly. I smell like Vegeta’s feet.” A low chuckle.
Maru grins. “I’ve been wearing wool all day. I totally smell worse.”
“Well, probably.”
Maru laughs. “Totally!”
They meet outside the bar, but they don’t go inside. Instead, they find a park nearby and Yoko smokes while Maru recounts the many adventures of intoxicated V.West members. After the story of Ohkura the Pantsless Freeballing Wonder, Yoko laughs so hard he coughs.
Then, somehow, it’s three in the morning. They don’t talk about going home.
The cicadas chirrup in the long grass behind the playground, singing low and sweet. Maru leans back on the seat of a swing, pulling the supporting chains taut, and hums “STANCE.” Seated at the bottom of the slide, Yoko chuckles through a curl of smoke.
“I hated that dance,” Yoko admits.
“Me too.”
“I hated most of the dances they made us do.”
“Me too.”
“They were right not to take me. I suck at dancing. I can’t sing. I’m just loud.”
Yoko ashes his cigarette on the bottom of his shoe, drops the butt into the empty carton and returns it to his pocket. His hands are shaking.
Maru says, “Let’s go to your place.”
And Yoko looks up, exhausted and bloodshot and young, and whispers, “Okay.”
They sprawl out on Yoko’s ice-cold floor in two of Yoko’s oversized sweaters and play video games until morning on a set whose screen flickers and changes color. Whenever Yoko loses, he yells, “It’s the screen!” Maru keeps score on a napkin nearby: KIMI - 3, ME-ME - 100.
(“That’s a lie! You fell asleep and dreamed half of those!”)
At ten, Yoko’s cell phone jitters across the table. He answers, and Maru goes in search of the bathroom. It doesn’t take long; Yoko’s apartment is just a small living room and a smaller bathroom. Everything else is creativity through necessity. A rice cooker sitting on a towel on the floor - the kitchen. A futon lying crumpled in the corner - the bedroom.
When Maru comes back, the game console is switched off and Yoko is going rapidly through the channels. Maru sits next to him.
“What are you looking for?” he asks.
- Ryo -
“Whoa, wait!” Maru slaps Yoko’s shoulder. “Go back, go back!”
“No! I’m looking for Ryo-chan!”
“I just saw him!”
“Where!”
It’s almost déjà vu. The reporters, the voiceover - “The new Johnny’s unit” - only the name is new.
ANY.
The camera pans across the room to where three guys wearing brand name everything sit at a long table on a makeshift stage. On the left, Yamapi. In the middle, Jin. On the right -
“THAT TINY RAT.”
Hina’s laughter seems to come from nowhere, hysterical but small-sounding.
Yoko picks his phone up and shouts into it, “How did he do that? He fucking quit!”
Maru blinks and says, “That’s Ryo-chan, isn’t it?”
Yoko keeps yelling over Hina, but he’s grinning wide enough to pull the long-dormant muscles in his face. “How’d that brat get back in?”
As Ryo begins to talk, the camera angle focuses on his side with Jin and Yamapi behind him. Maru hears the same generic gratitude and polite requests for support that have been ingrained into all of them, but he’s focused on Yamapi, who’s smiling even bigger than Yoko.
When Jin takes his turn, Ryo flashes a grin at Yamapi over his head.
Maru says, “Maybe someone helped him.”
The news report includes music from ANY’s debut single “Hanganbiiki.”
Maru repeats the title thoughtfully, “‘Rooting for the underdog.’ I like that.”
Yoko hands his phone to Maru. “It’s Hina,” he says.
“Moshi moshi - Maru-chan?”
“Hey.”
“Is it just you and Yoko?”
“Un.”
“Can he hear me?”
Yoko says, “Yes.”
“Dumbass. Maru, can you make sure he’s not listening to this?”
Maru glances at Yoko’s suspicious, somber face. “Okay, go ahead.”
“He and Subaru still aren’t taking this well.”
Yoko closes his eyes, rubbing his temple with his last knuckle.
“Un.”
“Kimi’s not being serious about the jobs he takes. I think he’s hoping Mary will let him have a second chance.”
Yoko looks up at the ceiling, his jaw tense.
“Un.”
“Subaru quit.”
Yoko snatches the phone. “That’s not true!”
“No, it’s not, you nosy fucker. I’m trying to talk to Maru, not you.”
Yoko shoves the phone at Maru, grabs a full carton of cigarettes and his keys off the floor and slams the front door behind him.
“He’s gone,” Maru says.
“Yeah, I heard. Anyway, listen.” Hina takes a deep, tired breath. “We all wanted to be a unit. The eight of us. It even looked like we were going to be. And it would have been awesome. But it didn’t happen. Subaru - he’ll find his feet. He’s tougher than he thinks. He’ll get up. But Kimi’s different. He knows there’s more to do in the world than be an idol. But it got to be more than that for him.” Pause. “For me, too.”
Maru tastes metallic salt. Abruptly stops biting the skin off his lip.
“Murakami-kun,” he says. “This sucks.”
Hina laughs. A full laugh. Nothing strained. Nothing broken. “It will for a while, but it’ll be fine. There really is more to the world than the buildings Johnny owns. We can be an unofficial unit.”
Maru grins. “We can be a drinking unit.”
Hina cracks up again, and Maru feels the phantom sting of a swift tsukkomi. He smiles and leans back on his elbows, jumping when his forearm crushes a beer can.
“Eeh - Murakami-kun?”
“Un?”
“Kimi-kun lives in a pit.”
“Ah. I know. It’s the size of my bathroom.”
“Eeeeh? How big is your place? Wait! I don’t even know where you work!”
Hina’s laughter again, louder. “I’ve got a job at KTV and I ran one of the soundboards for OBC radio. I have my own show starting next month.”
“Oh. Whoa!”
“See? There’s more out there. I’m working on something to help Kimi, too.”
“What is it?”
“I’d rather not say until it’s official. I haven’t even told him yet. So please keep his energy up for a while, whenever you can spare some time.”
Maru says, “I’ll do that.”
Yoko is in the park across the street, easily visible from the lobby of his apartment building. He’s on a swing, smoking and rocking slowly like the pendulum of a metronome. His back is curved so deeply, Maru can’t see his head from behind. He sits on the swing next to Yoko, holding both chains and staring at his feet.
“What’d he say?”
Maru shrugs.
“Won’t tell me?”
Maru casts a grin sideways. Shakes his head.
Yoko smiles slightly. Sucks smoke from the shaking stick. “What the hell are you still doing here? Don’t you have work?”
Maru says, “We’ve got an interview at four.”
A pause.
“I’m not taking it well, am I?”
Maru toes off the ground and puts his swing in motion. Admits, “None of us is. It’s not as bad when you’re not alone, though.”
Yoko drops his cigarette. Crushes his heel into the red ash. He leans his head on the supporting chains. “No one stayed behind with me,” he says. His voice is small. Bleak. “I’m still stuck.”
Another pause.
Suddenly, Maru jumps off his swing. Circles behind Yoko and shoves him.
Yoko squawks, grabbing the chains tight as he arcs up. He yells, “What the fuck, you idiot?” and his thick Kansai accent almost mangles the words into nonsense.
Maru grins. “Not stuck now, right?” Another shove.
Yoko tries to kick backwards on the third swing, bellowing, “You fucking sadist!”
Maru laughs until Yoko nicks his arm on the fifth swing. Then he tries catching Yoko’s feet on the downswing.
“Stop it! Do you want me to fall? Shit!”
Yoko lands on his hands and knees in the dirt and drops onto his stomach immediately. Maru comes over and pokes him in the back with his toe. A bit awkwardly, Yoko turns over and grabs Maru’s leg, yanking him off balance.
“Ooof.” Maru lies still for a moment. He and Yoko pant, almost synchronized. Then, with all seriousness, he announces, “I think I farted.”
Yoko snorts and dissolves into a shrill fit.
Then Maru wonders, “Why are we always in playgrounds?”
And Yoko curls up on his side, clutching his stomach and laughing so hard it’s noiseless.
“It’s a little sketchy, right? We should meet in a bar like respectable adults. Right?”
Maru’s fifteen minutes late to the interview.
Before he left Yoko’s place, he said, “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“ANOTHER”
Transcript from the September 22nd show of Reorder
[1:03:49]
MURAKAMI: What are you doing?
YOKOYAMA: Nothing. Ignore me.
MURAKAMI: No! What are you doing?
YOKOYAMA: I’m just emailing someone.
MURAKAMI: We’re on the air!
YOKOYAMA: So is he! Kind of.
MURAKAMI: Who?
YOKOYAMA: Ryo.
MURAKAMI: Eh? Isn’t he doing a concert right now?!
YOKOYAMA: He’s backstage between songs.
MURAKAMI: Why couldn’t you both wait until you’re not at work?!
YOKOYAMA: Why should we wait if we can fit it in during breaks?
MURAKAMI: You’re not on a break!
YOKOYAMA: Well, he is. I’m being nice. I’m moving around his schedule.
MURAKAMI: That’s totally unprofessional of you, though!
YOKOYAMA: [chuckling] He just wrote me the same thing.
MURAKAMI: Ah, look!
YOKOYAMA: Oi!
SHIBUTANI: OI!
MARUYAMA: Oiii!
YASUDA: WHOO!
YOKOYAMA: You’re late! All of you! It’s so unprofessional!
MURAKAMI: [laughing] You! You were just emailing Ryo-chan at a concert!
SHIBUTANI: Don’t blame us to get the attention off you!
MURAKAMI: Guys! Introduce yourselves!
YASUDA: Konbanonetwo, this is Yasuda Shota!
SHIBUTANI: KONBANONETWO, THIS IS SHIBUTANI SUBARU!
MARUYAMA: Konbanonetwo, this is Maruyama Ryuhei.
UCHI: Konbanonetwo, this is Uchi Hiroki.
OHKURA: This is Ohkura Tadayoshi.
SHIBUTANI: Oi.
OHKURA: Eh?
SHIBUTANI: Say “konbanonetwo.”
OHKURA: No.
SHIBUTANI: OI! DO IT RIGHT!
[Laughter.]
OHKURA: [snickering] Konbanonetwo.
ALL: YAAAAY!
MURAKAMI: So, V.West is doing something kind of unorthodox.
YASUDA: That’s right.
MURAKAMI: You and Subaru have collaborated a few times already, right?
YASUDA: Right. For V.West’s last two singles, Shibuyan and I collaborated.
SHIBUTANI: We’re writing a ballad right now.
MURAKAMI: Whose idea was it to have this upcoming tour together?
YASUDA: I think it was everyone’s.
MURAKAMI: [laughing] Everyone can’t have the same idea at once!
SHIBUTANI: It was mine.
YOKOYAMA: Yours?
SHIBUTANI: I hate touring alone.
MURAKAMI: Ahh.
SHIBUTANI: It fucking sucks.
MURAKAMI: [laughing] Don’t be that extreme!
YOKOYAMA: Yeah, it’s totally unprofessional.
SHIBUTANI: SHUT UP ABOUT THAT!
MURAKAMI: Can we talk about the big news?
MARUYAMA: Well, we kind of have to now, right?
YOKOYAMA: Yeah! You said it live! The fans will be pissed if you just ignore it now.
YASUDA: It’s okay. We can talk about it.
SHIBUTANI: We’re re-debuting.
MURAKAMI: Ehhh. Wow.
YOKOYAMA: What the hell - you can do that?
SHIBUTANI: I don’t sell well enough when it’s just me.
YASUDA: That’s not true!
MARUYAMA: He’s totally lying.
SHIBUTANI: I am not! I make no money for the company! Only three copies of my last CD were sold! And they were all bought by me!
MURAKAMI: Ah, but your voice is too good, right? They can’t just throw you out.
SHIBUTANI: Right. And the lead singer of V.West needs support.
UCHI: OI!
[Laughter.]
UCHI: Shut up! People will think all of this is true!
YOKOYAMA: They’re really letting you join V.West?
SHIBUTANI: Actually, the group name is changing.
MURAKAMI: Ehhh. Isn’t that confusing?
MARUYAMA: Not really. It’s a different group now. We’re not renaming V.West. We’re becoming something new.
MURAKAMI: What’s the new name?
SHIBUTANI: Actually…we don’t know.
MURAKAMI: [laughs] How do you not know?
OHKURA: No one’s told us yet.
SHIBUTANI: I like SubaruBAND.
UCHI: That’s dumb.
SHIBUTANI: I like it.
YOKOYAMA: Let’s call Ryo!
MURAKAMI: But he’s doing a concert!
YOKOYAMA: But it feels like there’s a person missing.
YASUDA: Yeah, I feel that too.
UCHI: Yeah!
MURAKAMI: Okay, but I don’t think he’ll answer.
[Ringing.]
YOKOYAMA: Ha, it’s ringing!
MURAKAMI: That doesn’t mean he’ll answer!
NISHIKIDO: Moshi moshi.
[Shouting.]
NISHIKIDO: Eh?
MURAKAMI: Ryo-chan!
[Silence.]
MURAKAMI: Ryo-chan!
NISHIKIDO: I’m here.
SHIBUTANI: RYO-CHAN!
NISHIKIDO: What’s - eh?
MURAKAMI: His voice is so small!
YOKOYAMA: Eh? he says! Like a little boy!
MURAKAMI: Are you in concert, Ryo?
NISHIKIDO: E-eh? Sorry, the noise. We just finished the last encore.
YOKOYAMA: Are you there with Yamapi?
NISHIKIDO: Yep. Jin’s here, too.
AKANISHI: Yo.
[Nishikido yelling faintly.]
NISHIKIDO: Ah, sorry about that. Sorry. He took the phone.
MURAKAMI: Where are you right now?
YOKOYAMA: You’re at Tokyo Dome, aren’t you?
NISHIKIDO: We’re at Tokyo Dome.
ALL: Eeehhh!
AKANISHI: PEACE!
NISHIKIDO: STOP IT.
YAMASHITA: Hellooo.
NISHIKIDO: Both of you! Just. Go stand - away from me!
[Laughter.]
MURAKAMI: It sounds like they’re getting on your nerves, Ryo-chan.
NISHIKIDO: They’re idiots. I’m sorry. I’m sorry about them.
MURAKAMI: Oi, we’re running out of time. We’ll call you back later, all right?
NISHIKIDO: All right!
SHIBUTANI: RYO!
NISHIKIDO: Eh?
SHIBUTANI: [quiet] S-sukiyanen.
[Laughter.]
MURAKAMI: All his energy just went out of him! He got shy.
SHIBUTANI: It’s hard for me to say what I feel.
YOKOYAMA: Now you have to say it back, Ryo-chan!
NISHIKIDO: Me? Why?
YOKOYAMA: Do you hate Subaru?
NISHIKIDO: No!
YOKOYAMA: Then you love him!
NISHIKIDO: No, I just like him! He’s a friend!
SHIBUTANI: I’d like to be more.
NISHIKIDO: D-don't say embarrassing things on the radio!
[Laughter.]
YAMASHITA: Ryo-chan is blushing.
NISHIKIDO: Go away!
YOKOYAMA: Aww!
MURAKAMI: Now we really have to hang up.
YOKOYAMA: Bye bye, Ryo-chan!
NISHIKIDO: Bye bye!
SHIBUTANI: SUKIYANEN!
[Burst of laughter from Nishikido. Line disconnects.]
SHIBUTANI: I got it in before the call ended.
MURAKAMI: Your confession.
SHIBUTANI: Un. My love confession.
MURAKAMI: And we have enough time to introduce the song!
YASUDA: The song?
MURAKAMI: [laughter] The song! Your song!
YASUDA: Oh! Ours! Are we playing it?
YOKOYAMA: We’re about to! Pay attention! Where are you looking?
MURAKAMI: He’s staring at Subaru.
YASUDA: I’m just thinking!
YOKOYAMA: What kind of thoughts match a face like that?
MARUYAMA: [in English] Oh, honey.
[Laughter.]
SHIBUTANI: Yasu.
YASUDA: Eh?
SHIBUTANI: Sukiyanen.
MURAKAMI: Stop that!
[Shibutani chuckles.]
YOKOYAMA: Introduce the song!
MURAKAMI: Okay! It’s weird to introduce this when the unit doesn’t have a name yet.
SHIBUTANI: Oi.
MURAKAMI: Mm?
[Silence.]
SHIBUTANI: Do it anyway.
MURAKAMI: [laughs] Okay. Introducing the new song from the temporarily-named SubaruBAND -
UCHI: OI!
MARUYAMA: Just say it!
YASUDA: Together we’ll say it!
ALL: ANOTHER!
[“Another” begins.]
Threesome: Yasu/Maru/Ohkura (gen), Maru/Yoko/Hina (gen)
Rating: PG
Word Count: 4,197
Notes: For alissa.
After J3Kansai, they expected to debut. It seemed like the direction they were headed in.
Then the first shoe dropped.
“Affected”
V.West debuts in November. At their first press conference as a unit, they stand shoulder-to-shoulder and share one microphone between the four of them. Yasu speaks first, as leader. He promotes their first single, “Affected,” and asks the world at large to support V.West in the future. When he passes the microphone down the line, each of his group mates echoes Yasu’s request for support in his own carefully-chosen words. They pose for photographs, elaborate on their gratitude and optimism for their success, and then they’re done.
In the dressing room, they’re less professional.
Uchi is through the door first and hurls his shoes at the wall one after the other. Behind him, Ohkura flops onto the couch and slings his arm over his eyes. Maru just slips into the bathroom without a word to anyone and locks the door. Yasu drifts in last, rereading an email on his phone.
“If Ryo quits, I really will kill him,” Uchi swears.
Ohkura says, “Hmm.”
“It’s not fair to Kimi-kun and Murakami-kun and Subaru-kun if he quits, right?”
“Hmm.”
“The four of them could be a unit! Weirder shit happens all the time. Look at fucking - fucking - I don’t know. They’d probably be the weirdest unit yet, but. He can’t quit. It’s selfish.”
Ohkura lets his arm hang off the side of the couch. Swings it back and forth. Says, “Murakami-kun quit this morning.”
Uchi spins around, his face outraged and anguished. But before he can launch into a rant, Yasu quietly closes the door behind him. He smiles tenuously at his group mates, and just like that, Uchi’s ferocity simmers. He slumps into a chair, puts his elbows on the vanity table and glowers miserably at his reflection.
“Where’s Maru?” Yasu asks them.
“In here,” answers a muffled voice. “Peeing.”
Yasu nods, even though the bathroom is silent. Ohkura sits up and pats the couch cushion next to him insistently until Yasu crosses the room and drops down beside him.
“Kimi-kun just quit,” Yasu says with a sigh. He opens his cell phone to show Ohkura the email. Looks over his shoulder at the bathroom door.
Uchi breaks the silence by kicking the wall. No one tells him off for it.
“Let’s be happy for them,” Yasu says finally. “And support them. Let’s help them be successful in whatever they decide to do.”
“Right,” Uchi says.
Ohkura nods.
Maru unlocks the bathroom door. They watch him walk to his bag and search around inside for his clothes, but he won’t quite meet anyone’s eye. As he turns his shirt inside out, he says, “Maybe Subaru-kun and Ryo-chan can form a duo.”
Yasu offers him a partial smile, but Uchi only snaps, “Fuck, I can’t find my other shoe,” and scrapes a chair across the floor, punctuating the premature end of the conversation.
Ohkura takes Maru’s shirt and turns it right side out for him.
The silence continues until their manager arrives. She’s thirty-two, married and wears her hair in a bun. She stands in the doorway as she summarizes the upcoming week and reminds them when to be at the dance studio in the morning. Once again, she congratulates them on their debut and thanks them for their hard work.
She’s gone in six minutes. She never even had to take a step inside the dressing room.
“What’s her name again?” Yasu wonders.
Uchi’s cell phone chimes. Everyone watches him flip the lid open and skim the message. Then he pockets his phone and shoulders his bag, expressionless.
“Ryo quit,” he says quietly, and leaves.
“Keep”
The day Subaru debuts, V.West is recording their second PV.
The director’s vision puts them in a warehouse at sunset where the coppery light shines through windows curtained with shredded plastic. He wants to shoot each member in a room apart from the others, then have them together for the chorus. It’s more computer-assisted than their first PV, but they’re still doing the basics. They play their instruments and smolder on cue.
Yasu finishes filming his part exactly eight minutes before Subaru’s live press conference starts. With a quick bow to the staff and a bouncy V for the behind-the-scenes camera, Yasu switches places with Maru and runs straight to the green room where Ohkura is waiting for him by the door.
Ohkura tells him, “The set’s broken.”
“We’ll have to find another one, then,” Yasu says. “Come on, Uchi!”
From somewhere unseen, Uchi says, “No, thanks.” They hear rustling from the couch that faces the back wall, then a dry, “Come get me if he moons the reporters.”
It’s more than he’s said to them all day, so they let it slide.
They find a working set in the dressing room down the hall and switch it on just in time to hear the news correspondent announce, “The next Johnny’s unit to debut - ” She spends a decent number of seconds hinting that the new unit is not of a traditional size, then the picture cuts to a horde of reporters crushed into a small room. The name of Subaru’s “unit” appears on the bottom of the screen: his first name in katakana.
Yasu says, “It looks wrong, doesn’t it?”
“What does?”
“His name. Written like that.”
Ohkura nods. “Yeah. It’s weird that they changed it. Writing his name in hiragana is unusual enough. Using katakana seems like they’re trying too hard. It looks too…foreign.”
Yasu pulls his legs up to his chest and sits his chin on his right knee. “Mm.”
When the correspondent’s voiceover ends, the camera zooms out to get more of the room in the shot. What they see is almost comic - a mob of reporters and invited guests assembled before a skinny guy in designer clothes that don’t fit him. It would be funny, but -
“He looks sick,” Ohkura says. “And pissed off.”
Subaru recites word-for-word what Yasu said at V.West’s first press conference, only replacing “V.West” with “me” and “Affected” with his debut single, “Keep.” If anyone notices, no one comments on it. He thanks everyone for their support that helped him get to this day, and then he bows deeply. Almost bent in half.
“That guy,” Ohkura says, grinning, “I think he’s being sarcastic.”
When the segment ends, Yasu opens his cell phone and starts typing.
Maru finds them and reports, “They need Tacchon now.” He sits on the couch behind Yasu and notches his chin on his shoulder. “’Cha doin?”
Ohkura leans his elbow on Yasu’s other shoulder. “He’s writing a message to Subaru,” he says.
“Oh,” Maru says. “Tell him good luck.” Over Yasu’s bowed head, Maru asks Ohkura, “Have you heard from Ryo-chan?”
Ohkura says, “No. And Uchi isn’t speaking to him.”
“Ah. So that’s how it is between them.”
Yasu says, “Oi, don’t talk about them when they’re not in the room,” and signs his email with a row of hearts.
It reads:
[Subaru-kun~
Congratulations on your debut
Maru-chan says good luck.
Tacchon is here, too.
We're working hard. You will too, right
Take care of your body
Remember to eat, okay?
Don't forget about us when you're famous~
]
Yasu closes his phone and for a moment they sit in silence. Just the three of them.
Then Ohkura says, “Hearts?”
And Maru says, “Oh, honey,” in English.
And they snicker until Yasu flails his hands and shouts, “It’s not like that!”
Later, while they wait for the staff to set up for the chorus, Yasu gets Subaru’s response:
[Yasuda,
I can’t do this alone.]
Yasu sends a reply:
[You aren’t.
P.S. Don’t call me Yasuda.]
“Hanganbiiki”
V.West pose for the cover of their second album on the roof of a high school just outside Osaka. They stand for hours underneath the afternoon sun wearing thick black uniforms that soak up the July heat. Luckily, the photographer wants them to look annoyed.
Well. His word was “insolent.”
When the photographer finishes explaining to them what he wants, Uchi whispers to Ohkura, “I wasn’t listening - what’d he say?”
“He said, ‘Uchi-kun, make the face you made when your mom first told you you’re a guy.’”
Uchi subtly punches him in the back. “Girl that, dickface,” he murmurs.
Ohkura snickers through his nose, his lips firmly together and just barely not a smirk.
Yasu says to Maru, “Uchi’s happier lately.”
Ohkura kicks Uchi behind the knees. Uchi squawks. (The photographer starts taking candid shots.)
“Maybe he’s talking to Ryo-chan again,” Maru says.
Yasu nods. “I hope so. Maybe it’s Ohkura, too.”
Uchi licks the arm Ohkura has around his neck. Ohkura just snickers.
Maru bumps his shoulder against Yasu’s. “Seen Subaru-kun lately?”
Yasu scratches his neck. Straightens his collar. Then he cocks his head slightly, like he only just heard the question. “Sorry,” he says to the boom light, “what was that?”
Maru grins. “I said, ‘I like your shoes.’”
At six, they’re free to go. They exchange their wool uniforms for threadbare cotton and ask their manager where to be tomorrow at what time. Yasu leaves first, presumably for home. Then Uchi and Ohkura go together, presumably for food.
Maru stays behind.
He talks to one of the staff guys for thirty minutes and forgets to ask his name. He watches the photographer fine-tune their shots on his laptop. He helps someone pack up the floor lights. Their manager asks him if he wants a ride, but Maru says no, he’d like to walk. Then he watches everyone clear out.
When the roof is his, Maru climbs onto the ledge and curls his fingers through the diamonds of the chain link fence. As the moon rises, the cityscape begins to change from lifeless gray blocks into a jungle of fireflies.
An hour later, he’s barely moved when his cell phone goes off. He flips the lid and says, “Moshi moshi.”
“Maru-chan?”
“Eeh, Kimi-kun!”
“Hey. Um. I saw Yasu. Just now. …Actually.”
“Ahh, right. We just finished…um. Stuff. For the album. And.”
“Yeah. He said you took pictures for the album cover.”
“Yeah.”
“That’s awesome.”
Maru chips some paint off the wire with his thumbnail.
“Maru-chan?”
“Un.”
“Oh. I thought you hung up.”
“No.”
“Oh. Maru-chan?”
“Un.”
A pause. The line suddenly goes rough with static.
“Kimi-kun?”
The static fades.
“Sorry. I had to take the phone outside.”
“Where are you?”
“A bar near work.”
“Oh. Where…where are you working now?”
“Ah, still construction. Sometimes. When I get it. I might try bartending. If I can get work in it.”
“Un.”
A crystal clear pause.
“Kimi-kun?”
“Yeah?”
“Can I meet up with you now?”
“Eh? Really? Do you really want to?”
“Un.”
“But it’s not that much fun.”
“I don’t mind.”
“And I stink from work.”
“Un.”
“Like. Really badly. I smell like Vegeta’s feet.” A low chuckle.
Maru grins. “I’ve been wearing wool all day. I totally smell worse.”
“Well, probably.”
Maru laughs. “Totally!”
They meet outside the bar, but they don’t go inside. Instead, they find a park nearby and Yoko smokes while Maru recounts the many adventures of intoxicated V.West members. After the story of Ohkura the Pantsless Freeballing Wonder, Yoko laughs so hard he coughs.
Then, somehow, it’s three in the morning. They don’t talk about going home.
The cicadas chirrup in the long grass behind the playground, singing low and sweet. Maru leans back on the seat of a swing, pulling the supporting chains taut, and hums “STANCE.” Seated at the bottom of the slide, Yoko chuckles through a curl of smoke.
“I hated that dance,” Yoko admits.
“Me too.”
“I hated most of the dances they made us do.”
“Me too.”
“They were right not to take me. I suck at dancing. I can’t sing. I’m just loud.”
Yoko ashes his cigarette on the bottom of his shoe, drops the butt into the empty carton and returns it to his pocket. His hands are shaking.
Maru says, “Let’s go to your place.”
And Yoko looks up, exhausted and bloodshot and young, and whispers, “Okay.”
They sprawl out on Yoko’s ice-cold floor in two of Yoko’s oversized sweaters and play video games until morning on a set whose screen flickers and changes color. Whenever Yoko loses, he yells, “It’s the screen!” Maru keeps score on a napkin nearby: KIMI - 3, ME-ME - 100.
(“That’s a lie! You fell asleep and dreamed half of those!”)
At ten, Yoko’s cell phone jitters across the table. He answers, and Maru goes in search of the bathroom. It doesn’t take long; Yoko’s apartment is just a small living room and a smaller bathroom. Everything else is creativity through necessity. A rice cooker sitting on a towel on the floor - the kitchen. A futon lying crumpled in the corner - the bedroom.
When Maru comes back, the game console is switched off and Yoko is going rapidly through the channels. Maru sits next to him.
“What are you looking for?” he asks.
- Ryo -
“Whoa, wait!” Maru slaps Yoko’s shoulder. “Go back, go back!”
“No! I’m looking for Ryo-chan!”
“I just saw him!”
“Where!”
It’s almost déjà vu. The reporters, the voiceover - “The new Johnny’s unit” - only the name is new.
ANY.
The camera pans across the room to where three guys wearing brand name everything sit at a long table on a makeshift stage. On the left, Yamapi. In the middle, Jin. On the right -
“THAT TINY RAT.”
Hina’s laughter seems to come from nowhere, hysterical but small-sounding.
Yoko picks his phone up and shouts into it, “How did he do that? He fucking quit!”
Maru blinks and says, “That’s Ryo-chan, isn’t it?”
Yoko keeps yelling over Hina, but he’s grinning wide enough to pull the long-dormant muscles in his face. “How’d that brat get back in?”
As Ryo begins to talk, the camera angle focuses on his side with Jin and Yamapi behind him. Maru hears the same generic gratitude and polite requests for support that have been ingrained into all of them, but he’s focused on Yamapi, who’s smiling even bigger than Yoko.
When Jin takes his turn, Ryo flashes a grin at Yamapi over his head.
Maru says, “Maybe someone helped him.”
The news report includes music from ANY’s debut single “Hanganbiiki.”
Maru repeats the title thoughtfully, “‘Rooting for the underdog.’ I like that.”
Yoko hands his phone to Maru. “It’s Hina,” he says.
“Moshi moshi - Maru-chan?”
“Hey.”
“Is it just you and Yoko?”
“Un.”
“Can he hear me?”
Yoko says, “Yes.”
“Dumbass. Maru, can you make sure he’s not listening to this?”
Maru glances at Yoko’s suspicious, somber face. “Okay, go ahead.”
“He and Subaru still aren’t taking this well.”
Yoko closes his eyes, rubbing his temple with his last knuckle.
“Un.”
“Kimi’s not being serious about the jobs he takes. I think he’s hoping Mary will let him have a second chance.”
Yoko looks up at the ceiling, his jaw tense.
“Un.”
“Subaru quit.”
Yoko snatches the phone. “That’s not true!”
“No, it’s not, you nosy fucker. I’m trying to talk to Maru, not you.”
Yoko shoves the phone at Maru, grabs a full carton of cigarettes and his keys off the floor and slams the front door behind him.
“He’s gone,” Maru says.
“Yeah, I heard. Anyway, listen.” Hina takes a deep, tired breath. “We all wanted to be a unit. The eight of us. It even looked like we were going to be. And it would have been awesome. But it didn’t happen. Subaru - he’ll find his feet. He’s tougher than he thinks. He’ll get up. But Kimi’s different. He knows there’s more to do in the world than be an idol. But it got to be more than that for him.” Pause. “For me, too.”
Maru tastes metallic salt. Abruptly stops biting the skin off his lip.
“Murakami-kun,” he says. “This sucks.”
Hina laughs. A full laugh. Nothing strained. Nothing broken. “It will for a while, but it’ll be fine. There really is more to the world than the buildings Johnny owns. We can be an unofficial unit.”
Maru grins. “We can be a drinking unit.”
Hina cracks up again, and Maru feels the phantom sting of a swift tsukkomi. He smiles and leans back on his elbows, jumping when his forearm crushes a beer can.
“Eeh - Murakami-kun?”
“Un?”
“Kimi-kun lives in a pit.”
“Ah. I know. It’s the size of my bathroom.”
“Eeeeh? How big is your place? Wait! I don’t even know where you work!”
Hina’s laughter again, louder. “I’ve got a job at KTV and I ran one of the soundboards for OBC radio. I have my own show starting next month.”
“Oh. Whoa!”
“See? There’s more out there. I’m working on something to help Kimi, too.”
“What is it?”
“I’d rather not say until it’s official. I haven’t even told him yet. So please keep his energy up for a while, whenever you can spare some time.”
Maru says, “I’ll do that.”
Yoko is in the park across the street, easily visible from the lobby of his apartment building. He’s on a swing, smoking and rocking slowly like the pendulum of a metronome. His back is curved so deeply, Maru can’t see his head from behind. He sits on the swing next to Yoko, holding both chains and staring at his feet.
“What’d he say?”
Maru shrugs.
“Won’t tell me?”
Maru casts a grin sideways. Shakes his head.
Yoko smiles slightly. Sucks smoke from the shaking stick. “What the hell are you still doing here? Don’t you have work?”
Maru says, “We’ve got an interview at four.”
A pause.
“I’m not taking it well, am I?”
Maru toes off the ground and puts his swing in motion. Admits, “None of us is. It’s not as bad when you’re not alone, though.”
Yoko drops his cigarette. Crushes his heel into the red ash. He leans his head on the supporting chains. “No one stayed behind with me,” he says. His voice is small. Bleak. “I’m still stuck.”
Another pause.
Suddenly, Maru jumps off his swing. Circles behind Yoko and shoves him.
Yoko squawks, grabbing the chains tight as he arcs up. He yells, “What the fuck, you idiot?” and his thick Kansai accent almost mangles the words into nonsense.
Maru grins. “Not stuck now, right?” Another shove.
Yoko tries to kick backwards on the third swing, bellowing, “You fucking sadist!”
Maru laughs until Yoko nicks his arm on the fifth swing. Then he tries catching Yoko’s feet on the downswing.
“Stop it! Do you want me to fall? Shit!”
Yoko lands on his hands and knees in the dirt and drops onto his stomach immediately. Maru comes over and pokes him in the back with his toe. A bit awkwardly, Yoko turns over and grabs Maru’s leg, yanking him off balance.
“Ooof.” Maru lies still for a moment. He and Yoko pant, almost synchronized. Then, with all seriousness, he announces, “I think I farted.”
Yoko snorts and dissolves into a shrill fit.
Then Maru wonders, “Why are we always in playgrounds?”
And Yoko curls up on his side, clutching his stomach and laughing so hard it’s noiseless.
“It’s a little sketchy, right? We should meet in a bar like respectable adults. Right?”
Maru’s fifteen minutes late to the interview.
Before he left Yoko’s place, he said, “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“ANOTHER”
Transcript from the September 22nd show of Reorder
[1:03:49]
MURAKAMI: What are you doing?
YOKOYAMA: Nothing. Ignore me.
MURAKAMI: No! What are you doing?
YOKOYAMA: I’m just emailing someone.
MURAKAMI: We’re on the air!
YOKOYAMA: So is he! Kind of.
MURAKAMI: Who?
YOKOYAMA: Ryo.
MURAKAMI: Eh? Isn’t he doing a concert right now?!
YOKOYAMA: He’s backstage between songs.
MURAKAMI: Why couldn’t you both wait until you’re not at work?!
YOKOYAMA: Why should we wait if we can fit it in during breaks?
MURAKAMI: You’re not on a break!
YOKOYAMA: Well, he is. I’m being nice. I’m moving around his schedule.
MURAKAMI: That’s totally unprofessional of you, though!
YOKOYAMA: [chuckling] He just wrote me the same thing.
MURAKAMI: Ah, look!
YOKOYAMA: Oi!
SHIBUTANI: OI!
MARUYAMA: Oiii!
YASUDA: WHOO!
YOKOYAMA: You’re late! All of you! It’s so unprofessional!
MURAKAMI: [laughing] You! You were just emailing Ryo-chan at a concert!
SHIBUTANI: Don’t blame us to get the attention off you!
MURAKAMI: Guys! Introduce yourselves!
YASUDA: Konbanonetwo, this is Yasuda Shota!
SHIBUTANI: KONBANONETWO, THIS IS SHIBUTANI SUBARU!
MARUYAMA: Konbanonetwo, this is Maruyama Ryuhei.
UCHI: Konbanonetwo, this is Uchi Hiroki.
OHKURA: This is Ohkura Tadayoshi.
SHIBUTANI: Oi.
OHKURA: Eh?
SHIBUTANI: Say “konbanonetwo.”
OHKURA: No.
SHIBUTANI: OI! DO IT RIGHT!
[Laughter.]
OHKURA: [snickering] Konbanonetwo.
ALL: YAAAAY!
MURAKAMI: So, V.West is doing something kind of unorthodox.
YASUDA: That’s right.
MURAKAMI: You and Subaru have collaborated a few times already, right?
YASUDA: Right. For V.West’s last two singles, Shibuyan and I collaborated.
SHIBUTANI: We’re writing a ballad right now.
MURAKAMI: Whose idea was it to have this upcoming tour together?
YASUDA: I think it was everyone’s.
MURAKAMI: [laughing] Everyone can’t have the same idea at once!
SHIBUTANI: It was mine.
YOKOYAMA: Yours?
SHIBUTANI: I hate touring alone.
MURAKAMI: Ahh.
SHIBUTANI: It fucking sucks.
MURAKAMI: [laughing] Don’t be that extreme!
YOKOYAMA: Yeah, it’s totally unprofessional.
SHIBUTANI: SHUT UP ABOUT THAT!
MURAKAMI: Can we talk about the big news?
MARUYAMA: Well, we kind of have to now, right?
YOKOYAMA: Yeah! You said it live! The fans will be pissed if you just ignore it now.
YASUDA: It’s okay. We can talk about it.
SHIBUTANI: We’re re-debuting.
MURAKAMI: Ehhh. Wow.
YOKOYAMA: What the hell - you can do that?
SHIBUTANI: I don’t sell well enough when it’s just me.
YASUDA: That’s not true!
MARUYAMA: He’s totally lying.
SHIBUTANI: I am not! I make no money for the company! Only three copies of my last CD were sold! And they were all bought by me!
MURAKAMI: Ah, but your voice is too good, right? They can’t just throw you out.
SHIBUTANI: Right. And the lead singer of V.West needs support.
UCHI: OI!
[Laughter.]
UCHI: Shut up! People will think all of this is true!
YOKOYAMA: They’re really letting you join V.West?
SHIBUTANI: Actually, the group name is changing.
MURAKAMI: Ehhh. Isn’t that confusing?
MARUYAMA: Not really. It’s a different group now. We’re not renaming V.West. We’re becoming something new.
MURAKAMI: What’s the new name?
SHIBUTANI: Actually…we don’t know.
MURAKAMI: [laughs] How do you not know?
OHKURA: No one’s told us yet.
SHIBUTANI: I like SubaruBAND.
UCHI: That’s dumb.
SHIBUTANI: I like it.
YOKOYAMA: Let’s call Ryo!
MURAKAMI: But he’s doing a concert!
YOKOYAMA: But it feels like there’s a person missing.
YASUDA: Yeah, I feel that too.
UCHI: Yeah!
MURAKAMI: Okay, but I don’t think he’ll answer.
[Ringing.]
YOKOYAMA: Ha, it’s ringing!
MURAKAMI: That doesn’t mean he’ll answer!
NISHIKIDO: Moshi moshi.
[Shouting.]
NISHIKIDO: Eh?
MURAKAMI: Ryo-chan!
[Silence.]
MURAKAMI: Ryo-chan!
NISHIKIDO: I’m here.
SHIBUTANI: RYO-CHAN!
NISHIKIDO: What’s - eh?
MURAKAMI: His voice is so small!
YOKOYAMA: Eh? he says! Like a little boy!
MURAKAMI: Are you in concert, Ryo?
NISHIKIDO: E-eh? Sorry, the noise. We just finished the last encore.
YOKOYAMA: Are you there with Yamapi?
NISHIKIDO: Yep. Jin’s here, too.
AKANISHI: Yo.
[Nishikido yelling faintly.]
NISHIKIDO: Ah, sorry about that. Sorry. He took the phone.
MURAKAMI: Where are you right now?
YOKOYAMA: You’re at Tokyo Dome, aren’t you?
NISHIKIDO: We’re at Tokyo Dome.
ALL: Eeehhh!
AKANISHI: PEACE!
NISHIKIDO: STOP IT.
YAMASHITA: Hellooo.
NISHIKIDO: Both of you! Just. Go stand - away from me!
[Laughter.]
MURAKAMI: It sounds like they’re getting on your nerves, Ryo-chan.
NISHIKIDO: They’re idiots. I’m sorry. I’m sorry about them.
MURAKAMI: Oi, we’re running out of time. We’ll call you back later, all right?
NISHIKIDO: All right!
SHIBUTANI: RYO!
NISHIKIDO: Eh?
SHIBUTANI: [quiet] S-sukiyanen.
[Laughter.]
MURAKAMI: All his energy just went out of him! He got shy.
SHIBUTANI: It’s hard for me to say what I feel.
YOKOYAMA: Now you have to say it back, Ryo-chan!
NISHIKIDO: Me? Why?
YOKOYAMA: Do you hate Subaru?
NISHIKIDO: No!
YOKOYAMA: Then you love him!
NISHIKIDO: No, I just like him! He’s a friend!
SHIBUTANI: I’d like to be more.
NISHIKIDO: D-don't say embarrassing things on the radio!
[Laughter.]
YAMASHITA: Ryo-chan is blushing.
NISHIKIDO: Go away!
YOKOYAMA: Aww!
MURAKAMI: Now we really have to hang up.
YOKOYAMA: Bye bye, Ryo-chan!
NISHIKIDO: Bye bye!
SHIBUTANI: SUKIYANEN!
[Burst of laughter from Nishikido. Line disconnects.]
SHIBUTANI: I got it in before the call ended.
MURAKAMI: Your confession.
SHIBUTANI: Un. My love confession.
MURAKAMI: And we have enough time to introduce the song!
YASUDA: The song?
MURAKAMI: [laughter] The song! Your song!
YASUDA: Oh! Ours! Are we playing it?
YOKOYAMA: We’re about to! Pay attention! Where are you looking?
MURAKAMI: He’s staring at Subaru.
YASUDA: I’m just thinking!
YOKOYAMA: What kind of thoughts match a face like that?
MARUYAMA: [in English] Oh, honey.
[Laughter.]
SHIBUTANI: Yasu.
YASUDA: Eh?
SHIBUTANI: Sukiyanen.
MURAKAMI: Stop that!
[Shibutani chuckles.]
YOKOYAMA: Introduce the song!
MURAKAMI: Okay! It’s weird to introduce this when the unit doesn’t have a name yet.
SHIBUTANI: Oi.
MURAKAMI: Mm?
[Silence.]
SHIBUTANI: Do it anyway.
MURAKAMI: [laughs] Okay. Introducing the new song from the temporarily-named SubaruBAND -
UCHI: OI!
MARUYAMA: Just say it!
YASUDA: Together we’ll say it!
ALL: ANOTHER!
[“Another” begins.]