[oneshot] Believing
Title: Believing (Alternate title: Bringing Uekusa Home)
Author: Luna (dreamweavernyx )
Pairing: TaigaYuta [Taiga-centric]
Genre: Friendship
Summary: Uekusa's left, but Kyomoto will do whatever it takes to get him back.
Notes: Happy birthday to Alicia ( aliciaswr )!
~
The day Uekusa doesn’t appear for the rehearsals of the May episodes of Shounen Club, Kyomoto knows that it’s no longer due to grades.
They have both passed the entrance exams, and are in the same class for the first time for a long while. Uekusa’s grades have improved, and Kyomoto begins to wonder the exact reason as to why his friend has disappeared.
Dressing-room gossip abounds with his noticeable absence. Noeru blames it on stress, patting Kyomoto’s shoulder and walking off before Kyomoto can dispute this. Kawai says that Uekusa just needs a break and will probably be back soon.
Kurita and Ootsuka somehow convince the rest of Snow Prince Gasshoudan that Uekusa’s been abducted to become the next Power Ranger. They dance around for the next few hours pretending to be Power Rangers and subsequently mess up everyone’s costumes.
“I bet he got mobbed by thugs!” contributes Sanada one day after rehearsals. Nozawa facepalms, apologizes profusely to Kyomoto for his friend’s strange imagination, and bonks Sanada hard on the head before dragging him away.
~
Kyomoto wants to know for himself, and so he drags a protesting Uekusa to the school rooftop during break two days later.
Uekusa scowls at him and grumbles about the utter rudeness of dragging someone up flights of stairs by the back of their shirts.
“Why?” asks Kyomoto.
The meaning behind the single word is grasped immediately, and Uekusa’s face darkens.
“You don’t need to know,” he says shortly. “You’re way too optimistic to understand.”
“Try me,” Kyomoto replies, slightly exasperated.
There is a pause, and when Uekusa turns to look at him again, his eyes are deep pools of frustration and misery and conflict.
“It’s hopeless,” he says at last. “I can’t find any joy, any drive to do well on stage anymore.”
It is an answer Kyomoto would never expect from Uekusa, who loves singing as much as he himself does.
“Why?” he eventually asks again.
Uekusa raises an eyebrow. “Why do you wish to do well on stage? Obviously you love to sing, that much is obvious, but it’s to get noticed as well, isn’t it? The world of the Juniors is a constant battle for attention, a constant race to be noticed enough to get a debut. Some make it. Some remain in the shadows all throughout their time at Johnny’s. Only the most popular will debut.”
Performing isn’t all about getting a debut, Kyomoto wants to say, but the words are stuck in his throat.
“It’s obvious that I’m one of those who’ll never get a debut,” Uekusa continues bitterly. “Performing there on stage knowing I’ll probably never get a chance to do anything bigger that that…I think that really can drain a person’s motivation.”
The wind blows around them as Uekusa’s words hang in the air.
“Believe!” Kyomoto bursts out, breaking the wire-tense silence. “You need to believe! Don’t just give up so easily.”
“What is there to believe in?” snarls Uekusa. “You tell me!”
“In yourself!” Kyomoto cries. “In us! In Johnny-san! There is much to believe in, if only you are willing. You don’t have a chance to debut? Don’t say things like that. There are other juniors, who are forever backdancing in the shadows, who have never had their names flashed on the screen like we do, and yet they don’t complain!”
“That’s different! They enjoy performing!”
“And you don’t?” shoots back Kyomoto, folding his arms.
Uekusa groans and buries his face in his palms.
“No,” he grunts, voice muffled.
“Liar.”
Uekusa raises his head to meet Kyomoto’s accusing gaze, and groans.
“I don’t even know why I’m arguing about this with you…” he grumbles. “Fine. Since you are obviously so convinced that I shouldn’t have left, then let’s make a bet.”
Kyomoto, startled by Uekusa’s giving in, wonders if there is a loophole to all this, but accepts the challenge anyway.
“I’ll return to the agency. If we don’t get a debut by the time you turn 20, I’ll leave.”
Kyomoto sputters, and earns a look.
“And if we do get a debut, you’ll have to perm your hair and keep it that way for a year. not the minor kind like the temporary ones the stylists do, but the proper ones. Like Tegoshi-kun from Dream Boys or something,” Kyomoto says, knowing full well how much Uekusa loves his straight hair.
Uekusa scowls, but reluctantly nods.
“Deal.”
~
On the first day of rehearsals for the August episodes, the dressing room door is quietly opened and Uekusa pokes his head inside.
Anderson is the first to notice him.
“Welcome back,” he says, grinning.
Noeru grins, and Kawai lets out a loud “HA!” because his prediction about Uekusa’s return has come true. This catches the attention of Nakamura, who points at Uekusa with a trembling finger.
“Aaaaaah! Escaped Power Ranger!” he yells, and in five seconds the whole of Snow Prince Gasshoudan is running around the dressing room trying to find places to hide. Shintaro just sighs and shakes his head.
Kyomoto takes advantage of the ensuing chaos to ask a bewildered Yara to make a slight change in the choreography.
~
A month has passed since Uekusa’s return, and the lack of a single smile on the teen’s face worries Kyomoto. He’s gone back to being the angsty Uekusa again, the little kid who everybody tried so hard to teach how to smile.
He wonders if he can do anything to rectify this problem.
The idea of texting Fujigaya for help briefly crosses his mind, but he squishes the thought. He has enough pictures of Senga’s funny faces to fill a photo album by now, and he doesn’t need another.
He ends up scribbling a random poem for Uekusa during break in an attempt to cheer him up. It never reaches Uekusa, because Noeru, mistaking it for song lyrics, steals the sheet of paper when Kyomoto’s not looking and passes it around secretly. Ishigaki randomly creates a simple melody for it just for the fun of it, and Fujiie fills in guitar chords.
Kyomoto is not aware of any of this, because he is wandering around the corridors trying to think of how to make Uekusa start enjoying the Junior life again.
Mysteriously, the sheet of paper with a makeshift score winds up being slid through the slit under Johnny’s office door. A post-it is attached, saying that Kyomoto is the lyricist, and that he definitely did not put it there.
(Witnesses say Shintaro was seen running off from the direction of the office, cackling.)
A week and a half later, Kyomoto arrives at the dressing room early to do some practice on his own, only to be called to Johnny’s office. Johnny has some sheets of paper in front of him on his desk, and with a feeling of sinking dread Kyomoto sees his own handwriting on the top sheet.
“A-ano…” he tries to explain, but Johnny smiles.
“I like it,” he says, and Kyomoto blinks.
“Eh?” is the only intelligent word he can utter.
“The song,” elaborates Johnny. “You wrote the lyrics, right? It was on my office floor.”
“Well..” Kyomoto attempts to explain, “I did write that poem, but it wasn’t supposed to be a song…and I certainly did not put it under your door.”
Johnny laughs. The post-it was true, then. He fans out the small pile for Kyomoto to see the messy pencil notes on slightly crooked staves and the messier guitar chords above scrawled in black pen.
“Nevertheless, it’s been turned into a song now, though the composer refuses to sign his name.”
Kyomoto takes the papers and leafs through them gently, taking in the melody. It’s very simple, and almost like a reflex he begins to mentally work out some harmony to go with it.
When Johnny finally says what he’s actually been wanting to say, Kyomoto is not prepared.
“I’d like you to perform it on the next Shounen Club.”
For a while, all Kyomoto can do is pull off a perfect goldfish impersonation that even Kawai, his master in impersonations, would be impressed by.
He wants to protest, but when he opens his mouth, what comes out instead is, “I think it would sound better as a duet.”
“Do as you wish,” says Johnny. “It’s your song.”
Kyomoto clutches the sheets to his chest. This is the chance he’s been looking for, not just a chance to gain attention like Uekusa says, but a chance to do what he loves more.
And he knows he will make full use of the opportunity.
~
He texts Fujigaya for help, knowing that his senior has produced several of Kisumai’s songs before and would probably be a great help. His phone vibrates a few minutes later, and Kyomoto sighs in relief when it’s not another funny face.
Come back to the dressing room and let’s discuss it.
When Kyomoto manages to explain the situation to Fujigaya, he earns a heavy pat on the back and a grin.
He lets Fujigaya look through the scores.
“It’s a slow song,” he declares. “Get Kawashima-kun and Anderson-kun to dance like your Sunadokei performance, I think it’ll look good. After all, it sounds to me very much like a Tegomasu song.”
Kyomoto’s lips twitch in a small smile. “It’s a duet.”
“Figures,” laughs Fujigaya. “Well, have fun!”
He ambles off to where Kitayama’s yelling at him to come over for a meeting about their medley, and Kyomoto decides to bother Noeru and Casey to dance for the song.
Noeru smirks when he sees the papers, and happily agrees. Casey does too, and Yasui offers to pitch in.
“I suppose you’re singing it with Uekusa-kun, but I don’t mind dancing for it,” he says, smiling.
As a matter of fact, Kyomoto realizes that although he says that it’s a duet, he has absolutely no idea who he wants to sing it with. But as he thinks, Uekusa seems a perfect choice. After all, it had originally been meant for him.
Uekusa is promptly dragged away from where he’s sitting on one of the costume boxes, staring into space. Kyomoto shows him the song, and stares at him pointedly until he agrees.
Kyomoto smiles, satisfied, and walks off to pick out costumes.
~
During lunch break, Kyomoto’s digging into his bento when he feels someone suddenly thwack him on the shoulder, making him drop the piece of tamagoyaki he had been about to eat back into the box.
He looks up to see half of Question? grinning down at him.
“Yo,” says Ishigaki. “Heard a rumour about some new song you’ve got. Got anyone to play the music for you yet?”
Kyomoto freezes. Darn. I forgot.
Ishigaki manages to read his expression correctly, and laughs. Fujiie attempts to poke his head over Ishigaki’s shoulder.
“We can play!” he offers, flapping the arm not being used to prop his face above Ishigaki’s shoulder to indicate ‘us’ to mean Ishigaki, himself, and Goto.
There is a pause as Kyomoto does his second goldfish impersonation of the day. Sanada speaks up, voice muffled by a mouthful of takoyaki.
“Eh? But with no guitar?”
“I’m stealing Akun’s,” laughs Fujiie, and Sanada laughs along, before a piece of takoyaki flies out from his overstuffed mouth and lands on the cheek of a nearby Hasshi.
Hasshi shrieks in mock rage and hits Sanada’s head with his fist. Sanada flails in retaliation, swings his hand right into Juri’s face, and pandemonium erupts.
Ignoring the din, Kyomoto smiles gratefully.
“Thanks.”
Goto smiles, and Ishigaki ruffles his hair playfully.
“No problem, kid.”
~
It is JUMP that performs before them, and thus Chinen announces the song. The five of them walk out amidst cheers, and as they fans quieten down, Ishigaki begins to play.
Kyomoto sings, and the hall in front of him melts away from his vision. it’s not Shounen Club any longer, just him and Uekusa at karaoke, singing Tegomasu together.
He sings from his heart, as though he’s back on that rooftop with Uekusa again, trying to persuade him with a voice filled with emotion. Uekusa joins in at the chorus, and Kyomoto smiles slightly. He’s missed this feeling, not singing with everyone else at medleys, but just a duet, just two people singing in harmony.
When the song ends and the last piano notes twinkle away into silence, Kyomoto opens his eyes and glances at Uekusa amidst the approving roar of the fans.
Uekusa’s gazing somewhere in space, a soft smile, the first smile in forever, playing about his lips.
~
Two weeks later, rehearsals for the December episodes have begun. Kawai runs in, grabs Kyomoto and tells him to sing a Tegomasu song with Uekusa for the performance.
Kyomoto is surprised, but happy anyway at the chance to sing a duet again.
“Anything in particular?”
Kawai shrugs.
“Nope. It’s up to you.”
Kyomoto spends lunch break arguing with Uekusa over which song to sing. Uekusa, whose mood has improved just a tiny bit after the previous month’s duet, wants to do a newer Tegomasu song. Finally, Kyomoto gives in, and they choose a song from the mini-album to sing.
On the day of the recording, Kyomoto is on standby as he watches B.I.Shadow walk of the stage and the letter-reading segment begin. He is startled when Fujigaya, on his way to the stage, tells him to come along, but he faithfully follows anyway.
Kawai begins the segment, and Kyomoto stands awkwardly at the side, wondering what exactly he’s doing there.
“…And finally, we have a letter from overseas!” proclaims Kawai, brandishing the last postcard. He begins to read it out loud.
Dear everybody at The Shounen Club, konnichiwa!
I am Emi from Singapore. Here in Singapore, we get to watch Shounen Club as well!
I am a big fan of Kyomoto Taiga-kun and Uekusa Yuta-kun as well. When I watched the August episode, I suddenly saw Uekusa-kun, and I was very happy!
Last month, when I heard Kyomoto-kun and Uekusa-kun sing the duet together, I was so touched that I cried. I was even more touched because Kyomoto-kun wrote the lyrics!
If it’s possible, I would like to hear Kyomoto-kun and Uekusa-kun sing a Tegomasu song at this month’s Shounen Club.
I have not been learning Japanese for very long, so please forgive me if I make any mistakes! Shounen Club is the best!
Kyomoto throws a secret glance to backstage where he knows Uekusa is looking out at him. He smirks, and sends him an I-told-you-so look. Uekusa rolls his eyes.
“Well then,” says Kawai, “In response to Emi-san’s request, here it is! Kyomoto-kun and Uekusa-kun with ‘Yoru wa Hoshi wo Nagamete Okure’!”
Kyomoto walks to where Uekusa is, and the song begins.
To Kyomoto, this song is one of the most beautiful Tegomasu ones, along with Kiss and Hanamuke and Sunadokei. When it finishes, Kyomoto is slightly surprised to find himself almost on the verge of tears.
The cheers that follow are as loud as the kind Kyomoto has only heard at concerts when the group comes out to perform.
~
A new year begins, and suddenly Kyomoto and his unofficial group find themselves getting a lot more screentime in Shounen Club. Kisumai’s official debut has been announced, and they now get more major bits in medleys and other songs.
Kyomoto and Casey are called up for the Shounen Gong Show in February. Casey earns one garland, and Kyomoto amazingly wins over Kawai for impersonation to get two. Akun, however, wins the game with three. Kyomoto feels slightly disappointed, but already he’s doing better than his first Colosseum, so he is happy anyway.
Uekusa gets called up for the Dance Quiz in March with Yasui on the same team. Predictably, they end up epically owning the other teams. Noeru, being the main assistant, gets a kick out of watching Uekusa attempting to do ‘Koi no ABO’, but stops snickering abruptly when Uekusa death-glares at him.
Kyomoto notices that Uekusa has stopped frowning - not completely, but it’s a great improvement - and begun to enjoy himself more.
While singing at the opening medley for the April episodes, Kyomoto glances out at the crowd. He sees the names of the five of them on at least three uchiwas (per name), and suddenly feels so touched that he forgets to sing the first line.
Despite the evidence of their growing popularity and screentime, it still comes as a major shock to all five of them when Johnny calls them into his office and tells them that they will be doing a junior concert with B.I.Shadow, rather much like the EbiKisu ones of old.
This time, all five of them imitate goldfish.
~
One and a half years after A.B.C - Z debuts, on the eve of Kyomoto’s 20th birthday, Johnny calls them into his office once more.
Two minutes later, massive yells of surprise and joy can be heard coming from the office.
Shintaro, standing at the other end of the corridor, swears he heard the word ‘debut’ being screamed.
Sanada says someone’s being murdered. Nozawa kicks his shins hard and then thwacks him on the head.
Juri facepalms and walks away.
~
On the day they crash Noeru’s place to practice their debut single, Uekusa storms in late, fuming.
In place of his previously straight hair is an almost-exact rendition of Matsujun’s famous poodle-perm, but a fluffier version.
Casey chokes on the take-out fries and ends up spilling his Coke all over the floor. Yasui coughs in an attempt to disguise his laughter. Noeru stares, horrified. Kyomoto smirks and flashes a victory sign.
Uekusa scowls at them all.
Kyomoto laughs.
All is well.