Phosphorescent Lights: Chapter 2
Every secret has a price…
Title: Phosphorescent Lights
Summary: A photographer with no memories whose goal in life is to seek out what he has lost; a businessman who swore revenge for the death of his lover while desperately trying to escape his fixated reality. Two entirely different men with entirely different lives bound together by the threads of destiny. But little do the two know that they are bounded together by more than just simple destiny…
Genre: Romance/Drama
Pairings: Akame (primary), Ryoda (secondary) mentions of Jinda, Pin, Ryopi, Kokame, Kamaki
Other Characters: Jin, Kame, Ueda, Yamashita, Ryo, Koki, slight appearances from Taguchi, Nakamaru, Tegoshi
Content: Romance, drama, AU [Alternate Universe]
Author: Nerd-san
Disclaimer: I am not in any way affiliated with Johnny Entertainment
…are they willing to pay it?
Phosphorescent Lights: Chapter 2
The dinner was scheduled for later in the afternoon, at Kame’s request. Albeit feeling nervous, Kame had to admit that he was rather excited. Apprehensively taping his fingers against the side of his jeans as he walked, he took a deep breath.
This was, more or less, the first step into his new life.
He anxiously traced his finger around the numb black ring festooned around his pinky and smiled. Kame hadn’t remembered how he had gotten the ring, but somehow he treasured it.
That was one of the reasons he could never wear another ring - this particular one held some sort of connection to the memories that were long forgotten. To the memories he desperately wanted back.
By the time he had gotten to the designated restaurant, Kame’s nerves were staked up. He sat alone as the waiter came and asked for his appetizers. Absentmindedly, Kame ordered almost everything on the menu. The food took a while to prepare but sooner than later, everything was on the table.
She came minutes later, clad in an evening-blue dress that cut off just below her knees and gorgeous navy heels to match. Kame stood up almost instantly and waved her over. She caught sight of her boyfriend and slowly began to make her way over.
“Kazuya!” She forced a smile as the man took out her seat and propped her on.
“Surprise,” Kame grinned, pointing to everything on the wooden table. “Eat up. Tonight is a special night, after all.”
“Kazuya, w-what is all of this?” She asked in shock, glimpsing around the expensive-looking restaurant, staring up at the waiter who had just arrived with the overpriced wine Kame had already paid for.
Kame sat on the side opposing her, a large smile fixated on his full lips. For the first time in a long time, he had brought his girlfriend, Horikita Maki, out for dinner. The two seldom went out like this. But today, today was a crucial day for Kame.
He felt his heart beating against his chest as he carefully dug a pale finger into his pocket. He inched lower and lower until finally, his hand brushed over the familiar casing.
They had arrived well over a few minutes ago, their appetizers set against the table, left unattended. Kame steadied his breathing and looked directly at his lover’s glassy eyes that shone perfectly under the restaurant’s lights.
He took a deep breath as he motioned for the small, glistening stub attached to his ear. “This is the matching pair of diamond earrings I was talking about.” Kame looked directly at Maki who could only nod hesitantly in response.
“I found out that my mother gave them to me before her death.” He held out the box now, placing it on the table and slowly moving the small case towards Maki. “I want to give them to the woman I love.”
She felt tears in her eyes, but the latter made sure to keep her emotions in check. Maki began to shake her head in disbelief as Kame’s innocent smile grew and he pointed readily to the diamond in his ear. “I’ve already put one on.”
Maki wiped away a stray tear, unsure of how to take the news. “Kazuya…”
“Maki,” Kame whispered hoarsely, standing up from his seat and moving across the table to kneel in front of the surprised woman, “marry me.”
“There’s nothing much I can do,” he took a strand of his girlfriend’s hair between his thin fingers, delicately caressing the threads between his fingers. “But I have more sincerity that anyone else.” He assured her.
Silence fell across the table. Maki shook her head regrettably and pushed the box away from her. She continued to shake her head, swaying it thickly to the left then to the right as if in some sort of trance. “I-I…can’t.”
That was it.
She stood up, and hurried to push her way past her boyfriend and out into the busy streets. “I don’t want to marry you, Kazuya,” she whimpered throatily, unable to keep the tears in any longer. It was as if the floodgates she had been keeping in for the past few months had finally come open.
Dismayed, Kame treaded after her, and hot on her heels, he shouted. “Why not?”
She didn’t turn around. “There’s someone else,” Maki coughed out, grimed and ashamed.
If time could stop, then it had. Kame couldn’t feel his insides or his outsides, and he was unsure about the numb feeling in his chest. “What are you talking about?” and “What person?” were hot on his tongue, but in the end he was unable to voice either.
They had been together long enough. Long enough for Maki to already understand what Kame had wanted to say. “You don’t understand!” She cried out, leaning against a nearby shop window for support. Kame looked down. One of her high heels was twisted. He made no motion to do anything about it.
“He can give me what I need,” she croaked, her eyes begging Kame for some sort of understanding. She received none. Kame’s eyes were as unusually hard as ever. Bare and without color.
“Being with you…being with you…I can’t do it, Kazuya.” Kame ignored the words and walked up to the girl. Had she always looked this frayed? This defenseless? “He puts me in his center.”
She hurried to stand up, “goodbye, Kazuya.”
Kame tightened his grip on his cast off jewelry case. “And I don’t?!”
“Your personality…your personality is like a river, Kazuya.” Maki acknowledged heatedly, her heart burning with an unusually raw passion. “I can’t keep up,” she admitted.
“There’s only direction in your life! How can a river like that have a center?” She took a bare arm and wiped it across her tear-stained face.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered. “My parents are happy with him. I can’t go against their will. You know that I can’t-”
“Your parents know about him?!” Kame blurted out in outmost disbelief. Kame wondered why her tears were affecting him so much; why he had been feigning ignorance throughout the entire ordeal. It was because he loved her, he realized. He loved her regardless.
“It was their suggestion!” Maki shouted back, she hadn’t wanted it to end up like this. She really didn’t. But she knew, and she knew that she knew that this was eventually how things would end up between her and Kame. Broken and in pieces that wouldn’t be able to repair themselves.
“They set me up. I…I can’t help it i-if I actually fell in love with him.” She bowed clumsily, taking off the beaded bracelet Kame had bought for her. It had signified their first meeting; the endless love the two promised each other.
She walked up to the man and shoved the bracelet in his hands. “Kazuya, I’m so sorry,” Maki sniffed, “let’s break up.”
She wiped her runny nose and looked up at her boyfriend. “We’re not suited for each other.” Soft words.
Soft words that Kame had prayed he’d never hear.
◦●○◦
Jin got out of the car and edgily closed the door behind him. Every hair on his head was standing on edge as he nervously drummed his fingers against the doorknob to his house, sticking in the keys and slowly turning it open.
The walk to his room didn’t take long, and grinning Jin began to pack his opened suitcase, throwing in all sorts of random articles of clothing. It wasn’t that he hadn’t prepared for the trip beforehand - he had - he simply wanted to re-do everything, to re-pack everything and to never return.
This is it, he thought.
He couldn’t remember how much time had passed whilst he waited anxiously in his house, tracing his footsteps across the carpet repeatedly.
When he had finally heard the car park in front of his house, excitement washed over Jin as he ran out and towards the latter’s car. “Tatsuya!” He laughed giddily, waving furiously as he grabbed his suitcase and ran out of the house, leaving one of the housekeepers to close the door behind him.
“Jin…”
Heatedly, Jin opened the passenger’s seat as he threw in his large suitcase. “Tatsuya! Geez what took so long?” He whined playfully, crawling in and strapping together his seatbelt. “And can you believe what the president’s doing now?! He’s firing anyone who-”
“Jin, I know.” Slowly, Ueda cut him off. He was already well-aware of the new company rules.
“Don’t you disagree?!” Jin yelped, “nyaaa, come on Tatsuya!” Crossly, Jin folded his arms defiantly over his chest. “The guy’s such an old fart.” He pursed his lips and rolled his eyes.
Ueda couldn’t help but to chuckle at the man’s vocabulary, the man’s childish behavior. “Jin, let’s just get the hell out of here before someone sees us.” Before Nishikido actually does what he said he would. Ueda stepped on the gas pedal.
He continued to accelerate until he was on the main road once again, but this time he was stopped by a red light. He groaned inwardly, foot anxiously dangling over the accelerator. Were streetlights always this slow?
Maybe, just maybe if he had gotten out of the place fast enough, A. Jewelry wouldn’t catch up to them.
Ueda’s cell phone rung. He let it. Jin frowned at Ueda’s ignorance and reached for the latter’s cell phone in the back seat. Jin’s frown creased. He couldn’t remember Ueda’s cell phone being a sleek and silver color.
The caller ID was unset and slowly Jin flipped open the phone.
“Jin don’t-”
“Hello?”
“Is this Ueda?”
Jin gulped and Ueda, with only one hand on the steering wheel, tried to snatch the phone from Jin’s ears. “Give it back!” Ueda hissed lowly.
“Who the hell’re you?!” Jin barked to the caller on the other end. His demand was met with only a small, forced chuckle.
“I’m hurt. Didn’t think you’d forget me so soon.”
“R…” Jin shook his head. He wasn’t Ryo anymore. He was Nishikido. “Nishikido what the hell do you want from Tatsuya?”
“Save the formalities. Let me talk to my boyfriend.” If Jin’s sense of feeling had returned to him in time, he might have been able to hear the obvious over-emphasizing of the last word, the painful strain it took Nishikido to throttle it out.
“I don’t believe you.” Jin laughed, albeit feeling self-conscious.
“Oh really?” Ryo asked, “Then why don’t you ask Tat-chan where he got his new cell phone? Anyways, enjoy your five weeks.” Jin tried to yell back, but his struggling voice was met with nothing but the neutral dial tone.
“Where did you get this phone?” Jin asked once Ueda had pulled over.
“Jin, look it’s not what you think-”
“Just answer the damn question, Tatsuya!”
He’d give him this chance, Jin thought. This one chance to emend everything.
“N-Nishikido…gave it to me.”
Am I being dumped? That was what Jin’s heart had convinced himself of. “Your heart…was just pretending?” He croaked through the tears that began blurring his vision.
Jin looked over at Ueda in distress. Ueda bit his lips anxiously and shut his eyes, putting his cell phone back in his pockets with shaking hands. His breath was unsteady, but lowly he said, “Let me explain.”
Jin grunted as he bent down to pick up his over-packed suitcase. “There’s no need.” He stated simply, heatedly walking out of his boyfriend’s car and leaving his feet to take him to wherever they wanted. Anywhere was fine with him; so long as it was away from that man.
Ueda stumbled out of the driver’s seat, turning on his hot heels to face the retreating man. “Jin, no - wait!” He cried out, but Jin paid him no attention. He refused to look back as Ueda began after him. “Jin!”
The uneven sternness of the voice finally caused Jin to stop in his tracks. Complying with the older man’s desires, he turned around. He kept his eyes fixed solely to the ground beneath him as Ueda’s eyes bore into his own.
“Leave me the hell alone Tatsuya!” He scoffed, kicking an angry pebble in the opposite direction. Unconsciously, Ueda flinched. Jin’s gaze finally let up as he locked eyes with the too-familiar chocolate ones of his boyfriend.
Jin forced out a strangled laugh. “What?! Did you think I wasn’t going to find out?!”
“Just hear me out-”
“Keep your excuses for yourself!”
Understanding the man’s confusion, Ueda did nothing. He simply stood where he was, halfheartedly leaning against the car’s trunk for support. He watched Jin’s retreating back in regret. Perhaps if he had never met this man, things could have been different.
Jin let up a few stray tears, listening to the deafening sound of his suitcase’s wheels marching over the harsh floor. He dared himself to glance back once, simply once, at his boyfriend’s - ex-boyfriend’s - figure.
When he did he wished he hadn’t. He wished he hadn’t in the same way he wished he had never met the man. Jin frowned narrowly; Ueda wasn’t looking back. Jin wiped away another tear.
We’re over, he thought.
Ueda reluctantly got into his car, opening the door hesitantly and hoping for an excuse, any excuse, that would permit him to look back a last time. At last he found one, and slowly he tilted the rearview mirror to catch a glimpse of Jin’s back.
Ueda smiled disappointingly. We’re finished, he thought as a single tear escaped his eyes. He didn’t even look back once.
◦●○◦
Flustered with his dried tears, Ueda made his way through the work building, ignoring the falsely concerned faces of the employees and he walked past them in his haste.
His feet knew his destination and soon enough he barged open the office door, new tears prickling at him from the corner of his eyes. The latter, as Ueda expected, was sitting on his chair, mindlessly recording numbers of the company’s daily profits.
“I hope you’re happy.” Ueda barked angrily, throwing his cell phone at Nishikido’s desk in a fierce alacrity. “I hope your happy damn it!”
It was only now that Ryo had noticed the latter’s presence and looked up. He slowly noted the broken, worn-out cell phone on his desk. Carefully, he picked up the phone that he had been instructed to give Ueda and put it away in one of his drawers. “What?” He asked, unenthusiastically.
Ryo tried his best to ignore Ueda’s tear-stained face by returning his attention’s focus back to his computer.
“Jin broke up with me but you already figured that much, right?!” Ueda asked mockingly, his throat bubbling with guttural venom. “You ruined my life. You ruined Jin’s life! Are you satisfied now?!”
“Why the hell do you think I would care about you and J…?” Ryo caught himself in time. He didn’t call Jin by his first name. Not anymore. “Why would I care about what you and Akanishi do together?!” He barked irately, unable to keep his eyes glued to his monitor.
“It isn’t me who cares! It wasn’t me who found out about this. It wasn’t me who wants you two apart.” Ryo felt like a broken record player - how many times had he said this; his life always repeated itself like a mantra stuck on replay.
“Maybe if you weren’t so obvious about it-” He began venomously.
“Obvious?!” Ueda shouted from his place beside the door, awkwardly aware of the listening ears of A. Jewelry. “How were Jin and I obvious?!” He slammed the door behind him and began his advancement towards Nishikido.
“The whole damn company knows about it.” Despite his foul language, Ryo spoke calmly, stacking the few papers that fluttered with the waking gust permitted from Ueda’s slam-of-the-door.
Ueda bit his astringent-tasting tongue. “D-Damn it…”
Ryo carefully took a sip of his blackened coffee, placing it gracefully back onto the table, next to the straightened papers. He was used to the emotionless, calm Ueda - not the flustered, crossly distraught man in front of him.
Ryo didn’t know him that well - he never planned on getting to know the man - but right now he had wished to know enough to lessen his furious heartache.
He didn’t bother with that. Instead, he rolled up his sleeves and sighed aloud. “Yes, it’s ‘damn it’, Ueda. A little late for you to find out, but…”
“I don’t get it. I never got it. And I now I’m even more confused. Why can’t I love Jin?! Why?!”
“You already know the answer to that.”
Ueda didn’t seem to hear his answer, further questioning the general manager. Migraine, Ryo thought, this man’s going to give me a migraine. “Tell me Nishikido, why?!”
“You already know.”
“I hate this!” No tears flooded from his eyes, to Ryo’s surprise, but wrathfully, Ueda took off his verification card and threw it across the room and at Ryo. Ryo glanced at it impassively before setting it aside.
“I hate you!” He hollered at the top of his lungs, completely ignoring the employee’s concerned knock at the door that was more-than-kindly sent by the president. “I hate you, Nishikido!”
Ryo bit back a yawn, “and why do you think that’s going to affect me in any way?”
“Why the hell do you enjoy making people’s lives miserable?!”
“I don’t.”
“Why?” Ueda chocked between his words, looking back desolately at Nishikido who sat at his desk, continuing to look through various documentations, completely oblivious to Ueda’s anger. “Why Jin?!” He asked forcefully. “Why me?!” Ueda spat the words out faster. “Why us?!”
Ryo sighed wearily, knowing the answer. He knew Ueda had known it too. And he didn’t know why, but even though Ueda had long gone from his office, Ryo still felt the need to speak it aloud.
“Why you ask?” he asked without a trace of questioning in his voice, “It’s because we work at A. Jewelry. That’s why.” Simply put - that was always why.
◦●○◦
Meanwhile in Okinawa, Kame smiled bitterly to himself through the windows of the passing stores, keeping in his tears. In Tokyo, a disheartened Jin made his way to the airport, heart empty, suitcase packed.
That day, under the blinding phosphorescent lights of the congested streets, two people were abandoned by love at the same time. And without knowing it, their broken paths were going to cross.