Ryusei yori Dango (Boys over shooting stars) Chapter 7
Title: Ryusei yori Dango (Boys over shooting stars)
Author: Masuhisa
Pairing: Matsumiya, Sakumiya, Yama-pair, Sakuraiba
Summary: Years after two boys made a wish under the Leonid meteor showers, the meet once again.
Disclaimer: Fans write fan fiction. This is a fan fiction. Therefore I’m a fan. Fans don’t own the characters. Or the dramas. But they definitely own the plot.
Chapter 7
Sho found himself desperately trying to catch up with Nino. It was a miracle that Nino could out-walk Sho, who obviously had longer legs.
“Nino, wait for me,” panted Sho, now jogging to keep up.
“Sakurai-san, you don’t have to come if you don’t want to,” replied Nino looking ahead and still walking so fast.
“I was the one who got you into this mess, so I’m going to get you out,” responded Sho, “So what’s the plan,”
Nino didn’t answer, but entered a battered looking condo, which Sho assumes is where Nino lives.
“Nice house,” complimented Sho once they were in. Seeing the hint of amusement in Nino’s eyes, Sho nearly smacked himself for telling such an obvious lie. Nino’s house was a total mess: beer bottles lined the floor, Shojo mangas strewn all over, used and unused clothes covered every inch of furniture, it looks as if a tornado had hit this place.
“Just so you don’t get the wrong idea, nothing in the living room belongs to me,” explained Nino, leading Sho to his room, which was completely different.
“So what’s the plan?” repeated Sho.
“First, I need to find my dad’s recipe book,” said Nino, scanning his bookshelf, “I remember retrieving it before I left,”
Nino’s room is really puny, about the size of an average storeroom, or maybe smaller. So how long can it take two men to find one book? A whole day, apparently.
“Seriously, Nino,” began Sho, somewhat panting, “are you sure you have it? We’ve searched everywhere!”
“I’m hundred percent sure it’s here,” replied Nino, who was now sieving through stacks of books.
Sho ran a hand through his now dishevelled hair, “have you tried your clothes cupboard?”
“No, why would it be there anyway?”
Nino abandoned his stack of books and went to stand beside Sho in front of his cupboard, “Is it worth a shot?”
Nino nodded.
Both men’s hands shot out to grab the only knob. Nino felt his face turn red as he realised he had grabbed Sho’s hand instead. Why? Why must this kind of embarrassing things happen to him? Why must he always make a fool of himself, especially in front of Sho?
Nino gave Sho a sheepish smile, before turning and silently screaming at a wall.
Sho opened the door, wincing slightly at the loud and random squeak of protest it made. He then sighed in relief to himself as he saw a small pile of clothes, all folded and stacked nicely. They should be done in no time.
Feeling he had ‘screamed’ long enough, Nino turned back and randomly grabbed a stack of clothes. Half in a daze from the previous incident, Nino grabbed a maroon coloured coat in the middle of the pile and yanked it out. He then heard Sho laugh.
“Nino, I know you’re kinda small sized, but I seriously doubt you can actually wear that coat,”
Nino looked at the coat in his hands. He stared at it, he gazed at it, he frowned at it. But none of that seems to help him decipher where he got such an expensive coat from. Maybe it was a gift, so he thought, but his parents were into gambling, therefore didn’t have the money to buy this for him, and his relatives were equally poor.
But either ways, he knew this was the coat he was wearing the night he returned home, the night he found a stranger exiting his house in a hurry and the corpse of his parents.
Locking up the horrifying thoughts in a box in his head, Nino felt through the pockets, his fingers brushing a hard object.
“Sakurai-kun, I found it!” yelled Nino in relief as he pulled out the familiar looking yellow notebook from the pockets, also causing a few jig saw puzzle pieces to come toppling out.
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Staring at the file in his hands, Jun smirked to himself. Dealing with the Ikuta Group would be easier than stealing candy from a baby. All he needed to do was to listen to their dumb proposal and sign some dumb papers. After that, the old hag would see what a fine business man he is and hand over the company.
Slight problem though.
Jun wanted to kick himself for suggesting having their meeting over lunch, and that associate he was meeting (Ikuta Toma, was it?) just had to be a fan of the Hayashi rice at the stupid restaurant where that hamburger waiter worked at. Jun was already sick of Hayashi Rice, even the word itself made him feel like puking.
Sighing, he allowed himself to take a short break. Slumping down on his bed, Jun absentmindedly tossed the file to a nearby table, not caring that it missed its target, but landed on the floor instead, and stared at the opposite wall. There, was a framed jig saw puzzle piece. The jig saw puzzle which he fixed years ago with his dad. The jig saw puzzle with a few missing pieces.
He had combed the entire room before, but no stray jig saw puzzle pieces showed up. Forcing his uncooperative body to sit up again, Jun gazed at the framed piece. Somehow, it reminds him of himself - incomplete.
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Nino forced a smile on his face as he opened the door to the restaurant to get rid off the trash made by the morning rush, allowing the afternoon sunlight to bask the small store. His morning was no better than the rest, but he thought he should be considerate and not spoil anyone else’s with a depressing look.
Following his normal ‘before-lunch-rush’ routine of wiping the already clean tables and arrange the already neatly placed chairs, Nino permitted his mind to drift to last night’s incident. After finding his precious notebook, Sho had offered to bring him to a Togami-Tei outlet and ask to know their recipe. However, despite being asked by the Sakurai Sho, all they got in return was, “Togami-san won’t even tell the recipe to his subordinates,”
Nino returned to his station behind the counter and began lining up clean glasses on it, when the bell rung. Nino looked up and sighed.
“Irashaimase,” greeted Nino, forcing himself to be polite to his customers, even though this particular customer was an annoying brat who insulted his Hayashi Rice and smashed his plate.
Jun didn’t reply, but seated himself at the bar stool. Right in front of Nino.
“What’s with the grin?” asked Nino, surprised that the ever-grumpy man could look as if he had struck lottery or something.
Nino swore Jun’s smirk became wider when he replied, “you should have seen the look on that old hag’s face when she ate that Togami-Tei’s Hayashi Rice,”
Nino’s stomach sank when he saw how elated Jun was as he sniggered to himself. Barely being able to stop himself from shouting, “that was MY Hayashi Rice you ate!”, Nino grabbed a glass, filled it with green tea and placed it in front of the taller male as he replaced his previous sentence with “I see you’re done finding a new chef, so what’s brings you here?”
“Having a meeting here,” replied Jun as he took a long gulp of green tea, “and my idiot associate is a fan of your food,”
“Do you have any connections with Togami-Tei?” asked Nino out of the blue.
Giving the waiter a surprised look, Jun replied, “I have connections everywhere. And how did you know I was looking for a chef?”
Nino mentally slapped himself for asking stupid questions and nearly giving away what he and Sho were up to… and for being so friendly with this brute of a man. Luckily for Nino, a man turned up at the door, which he assumes is Jun’s business partner, as Jun went over and shook his hand.
Heading towards the kitchen, Nino rolled his eyes at Jun’s sudden change in facial expression - ‘smirk-ey’ and ‘grin-ey’ to all professional and business-like. Picking up an order pad from the shelves on the wall, Nino exited and went to take their order: ‘Hayashi Rice and chicken curry’
Half placing, half throwing the order pad on a counter, Nino opened the lid of the rice cooker and scoop its contents onto two plate, “maybe the only way to find Togami-Tei’s recipe it through Matsumoto-san,”
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