[Multi-Chap] Mud Baby (Aiba x OC) Chapter 10
Chapter 10
Saturday Morning
Taka, Aki and Suzuki were seated in the National Park Reception Office, dejected and ignored. Bakri, Kimura and Yonaga had not come back. It was raining heavier and the weather reports had come in that the rain would slow down later that night, but not stop completely.
The reception office was bustling with security personnel and policemen who had arrived the previous night after Mr Lee had filed a report and contacted a private security company. Bakri seemed to have gone missing as well, unable to be reached.
******
Yonaga was still clutching the extra umbrella and towel, which had become slightly damp in all the excitement.
Three search teams had gone in since midnight. The police had come with bright lights and loud speakers, much to the annoyance of the National Park personnel. Reaching some agreement, small flashlights were allowed to be carried into the jungle path.
Kimura sat huddled over the radio transmission machine, headphones still on. He heard nothing but static.
******
Saturday Night, Red Studio, Tokyo
“Silence in the studio! Roll camera!”
The basement studio reverberated with the loud music of Arashi’s latest single.
A large moving camera on railway tracks was slowly moving forward towards Sakurai Sho as he stood on an elevated platform mouthing the words of the song and dancing the steps he had been instructed to on the previous day.
As his solo part came to an end, he lowered his glowering eyes at the camera and delivered a twirl.
“Cut!” the Director called out.
“Sakurai san, let’s try this again. At the end, skip the twirl and just stare down the camera.”
“Hai.” Sho answered curtly and took his position again.
Leaning back in his chair, Jun yawned as he waited for his turn behind the recording team. Tonight, only Sho and Jun were scheduled to film their solo parts for the PV.
It had been a long day. Sho and Jun had been working together since 10 that morning.
They had been filming for 2 outdoor programmes where the two appeared as guests together. Each of the one hour programmes needed three hours for filming. As soon as that was over, they were immediately brought back to the Johnny’s & Associates Office to join Ohno and Nino for final briefing on the PV before recording began. Four hours later, they are here. Jun didn’t mind the hectic arrangement of activities on that day, since he would have the next three days off.
Manager Tanaka stood behind Jun and watched as Sho repeated the step according to the director’s instruction this time.
“Matsumoto san, make up is ready for you!” A staff member called out.
Manager Tanaka didn’t move from his spot behind Jun’s chair as the young man got up to go. The manager was staring at the empty place Sho had been standing at, his eyes glazed and unfocussed. His mind was not at all in the Red Studio, it was on the rushed emergency meeting he had with Johnny Kitagawa and Julie Kitagawa that morning.
“What do you mean Aiba’s missing?” Johnny san barked out as his niece stopped dead in her tracks and dropped her coffee mug.
“He’s been missing since yesterday, Johnny” The weary manager told his old friend as he wearily rubbed his tired eyes.
“Where? Who was he with?” he rounded on Julie san this time.
“He went to Malaysia for Tensai Shimura Doubutsen with Yonaga. He was scheduled to be with them for 5 days…. And then we called and cut short his schedule….” Johnny san waved his hand impatiently. He knew all of this, he wanted to know what went wrong and caused Aiba to go missing! The troubled middle aged woman then turned back to Manager Tanaka.
“But Tanaka san, missing? How? We sent Yonaga, NTV had sent some crew, and we even paid for a guide! How can this happen?” she implored as she searched his face.
Before Manager Tanaka could answer, Johnny san banged his fist on the table.
“How can this happen, you ask?” He glared at Julie san.
“It happened precisely because you can ask that question! No matter where your boys are going, you must be on them at all times!” he barked.
Turning away from the woman, he spoke to Manager Tanaka.
“Who knows about this?”
“Only the crew over in Malaysia and the three of us.”
“Good, tell them to keep this quiet, only our crew should know about this. Get more people to find him… Do we have any contacts there?” He let his question hang, as nobody answered him.
“Let…. Let his family know,” Johnny san said after a while, thinking about how to break this to Aiba’s family.
“Can you go to Chiba? Stay somewhere close to their house, keep in touch with the family, Yonaga and me.”
Manager Tanaka nodded. Johnny san paused a moment.
“He’ll be safe.” He suddenly said to Manager Tanaka and Julie san.
“Don’t worry, comfort the family, because he’ll definitely be coming home. And…. tell the boys. Tell them everything will be okay, and we’re looking for him. Ask them to keep quiet about it.”
Manager Tanaka was dismissed as Johnny san turned to ask Julie san if they had any resources for a search and rescue mission.
*******
Tell the family, and the boys? He said it so easily…. How in the world am I going to do this…. Tanaka’s normally sharp mind felt like it was stuffed with cotton, having stayed up the whole night with thoughts of a helpless Aiba escaping from a hungry tiger in a dark jungle. He admired both Johnny san and Julie san for being able to keep their head and try to solve the problem. The crew in Malaysia were doing their job, the company was doing theirs, and now he had to do his.
“Tanaka san? Are you okay?” Tanaka felt a light hand shaking his shoulder.
Tanaka slowly turned and looked into Jun’s frowning face. Involuntarily, Tanaka felt his shoulder heavily fall out of Jun’s grasp.
“Tanaka san?!” Jun’s voice rang out in the small studio as his manager crashed at his feet.
*****
Tanaka woke up and found himself in a small partitioned room. He was lying in the make up room. The PV music was still blaring outside in the studio. Sitting up, he massaged his temple and found a cup of tea on the table in front of him.
Sho walked in to find the manager hunched over the cup of tea.
“Are you okay, Tanaka san?” he asked as he placed a hand on his manager’s back.
“Yes. I’m good.” He replied gruffly before drinking up the tea.
“Where is Jun kun? I need to tell you both something.”
“He’ll be done in a short while….” Sho was curious to know what Tanaka san wanted to tell them. Sounded like bad news, by the looks of it. Instead of bludgeoning Tanaka san with questions, Sho changed out of his costume and waited for Jun to finish his turn.
*******
“Otsukare-sama deshita!” they heard Jun call out and the loud music stopped playing. Jun entered and looked relieved to see that Tanaka san was up.
“Are you feeling tired, Tanaka san? It’s a good thing we’ve got a few days off, you should think about taking some vitamins -”
“Get dressed and sit down Jun” Manager Tanaka cut him off. He looked like he was wound up in a tight ball of stress that could explode at any moment.
Frowning, Jun found Sho silently regarding the manager, confused and worried.
A few minutes later, Jun joined Sho on the sofa opposite Manager Tanaka, not knowing what to fear.
The studio and PV crew were still outside, in the midst of packing up and leaving. Jun could feel the tension in Sho’s body when he accidently bumped his shoulder.
“It’s Aiba kun” Manager Tanaka san finally said, his eyes settling on each Jun and Sho.
“He’s missing.”
Jun’s mouth hung open and his eyes widened disbelievingly.
“Aiba’s missing? In Malaysia?!” Sho asked loudly, jumping up and bumping the coffee table. Manager Tanaka grabbed his wrists and pulled him back down roughly.
“Be quiet!” He hissed, his face an inch away from Sho’s shocked face.
Sho saw madness glinting in his manager’s eyes and calmed down, settling back in the seat next to the still shocked Jun. Now both were staring quietly at Manager Tanaka. Exasperated, Manager Tanaka covered his face and let out a deep breath.
“He’s been missing since last night,” Manager Tanaka started explaining, “the local authorities are searching for him, and they’ve hired a private search team also. They said they lost contact with him and that Aiba might have had a fall….” He recounted everything that Yonaga had told him.
The studio outside had become very quiet as the filming crew had already left. The weight of Manager Tanaka’s news hung heavily in the air in the make up room where the three men were still seated. Manager Tanaka broke the silence.
“I’m leaving for Chiba tonight. Sasuke san will take care of your schedules until I’m back. Nino and Ohno don’t know yet, so I’ll drop by TBS to tell them before I leave for Chiba.” Jun and Sho nodded as they slouched helplessly in their seats. Manager Tanaka got ready to leave.
Pulling himself together, Sho got up and volunteered to tell Nino and Ohno.
“Thank you, I’ll keep in touch.” Manager Tanaka gripped Sho’s shoulder briefly and bid Jun goodbye.
Seconds after seeing Tanaka san off, Sho heard a crash behind him and turned to see that Jun had thrown the coffee table against the wall and had buried his head in his hands, breathing heavily as he tried to hold his anger in.
Sho felt for his band mate, but there was nothing he could do either. He leaned back against the door and closed his eyes, thinking his way around the matter.
Aiba was not necessarily in trouble. He was just missing, that’s all.
Sho went over to Jun and sat back down next to him, waiting for Jun to calm down. He could still feel the tension in his body.
“Can we do anything?” Jun whispered raggedly, clutching his hair.
Sho looked at Jun, desperately wanting to say something encouraging , but he could not come up with anything.
Finally, he said “C’mon, let’s go find Nino & Ohno.”
*******
“So that is it for our show today, the guests for today were Arashi’s Leader, Ohno Satoshi san and Ninomiya Kazunari san!” the host of the show announced their exit as Ohno and Nino bowed to the applause of the studio audience.
“Hai! Cut-to!” The show director called out, and the studio staff proceeded to guide the audience out of the studio. Ohno & Nino followed the other stage hosts to the changing rooms at the back of the studio. They were free until Tuesday and were each quietly thinking to themselves on how to spend this rare holiday.
Nino and Ohno opened a door marked “Ohno Sama / Ninomiya Sama” and walked in. Jun was seated at one of the makeup chairs in front of the long mirror that spanned the length of the room, his face looking ten years older than it actually was.
“Jun!” Nino shouted in surprise. Behind them, the door slammed shut and they turned to see Sho locking it.
Ohno looked from Sho to Jun, wondering what was going on. He sensed that something was wrong and didn’t push Sho & Jun further.