Dead Simple - Chapter 2
Title: Dead Simple
Pairing: Akame
Genre: non-AU, Romance, Angst (plus Fluffy Fantasy sort of thing)
Rating: PG-15
Beta carboncastel & gaea_chan
Disclaimer: I own nothing but the plot.
Summary: What would you do if life teaches you a lesson… when you’re already dead?
A/N: Big thanks to my friend Chiyoko ( @158Z on Twitter) for being patient with my endless questions about funeral customs in Japan. :) To everyone else, thanks for waiting for this update!
Chapter 2
Jin kills the engine, and he and his wife step out of the car at the same time. Their vehicle is parked outside the Kamenashi ancestral house located in Edogawa. Kame’s family decided to hold his お通夜1 here perhaps because the place brought back memories of when Kame was just a child. Looking up at the old entrance, Jin thinks this is the way Kame would have preferred it; simple yet regal, heartbreaking but warm and welcoming.
Jin and Meisa didn’t talk much on the way, and Jin did not make an effort, mainly because he was too preoccupied with thinking about how he would have to face everyone and inevitably ‘catch up’ with them after everything that had happened. He has not met with a lot of people from the agency after the marriage got out.
The couple did rush across the city to find a black maternity dress, though. Who would have known she would need one? All throughout yesterday and today Meisa was quiet, too. Surely, Kame’s death has got the whole entertainment industry shaken and had compelled them to reflect… or something. Or maybe Meisa was just nervous about seeing practically the entire Jimusho? Jin doesn’t probe.
As they walk up to the house, Jin lets Meisa hold onto his arm, with him walking a bit ahead of her as they enter. Expansive as it is and with the partitions removed for the somber occasion, the house is still very much packed, with people littering the hallway and the low chatter audible within the entire residence.
There is a slight and somehow proscribed pause when Jin steps in followed by Meisa, and while the people carry on with their own business, Jin senses everyone stiffen a bit with their arrival. It’s not that they’re not welcome - it's just that people were not really expecting them to turn up for the occasion. With their recent decisions, it’s like everyone has come to the conclusion that they are a selfish, apathetic couple who do as they please and don’t care for tradition or custom.
“Sacchan2 - ”
Horikita Maki calls Meisa by her nickname with a whisper from behind them, and Meisa greets her friend. She then turns to Jin, wordlessly asking if it’s okay to sit with Maki and leave Jin alone. Jin nods without a second thought, and with a bow from Maki, the women walk off.
Jin immediately regrets letting Meisa go, because now he’s standing in the middle of a room full of people he did not know. The exterior wall to the left is open, though, letting the soft breeze from the garden draft in, and Jin tries to make his way to the slightly less crowded open space. Before he manages to do so, he bumps into Takaki Yuya of Hey! Say! JUMP.
“Ah, Akanishi-san,” the younger man greets, bowing. Jin bows back, unsure of how to address him. “It’s been a while,” Takaki says.
Jin knows he’s referring to how he never sees Akanishi around the Jimusho these days. There used to be a time when Jin would meet the younger groups by chance a lot and consequently share some small talk with them, usually when they were waiting for their respective rehearsal timeslots and for practice rooms to become vacant.
“Un… Hey! Say! JUMP has been very successful since then, ne?” Jin says, earning a grin and a grateful bow from Takaki.
Just then, they notice a bit of a commotion in the doorway, and soon, they see familiar faces from Amuse.
“Miura-san and Satou-san wanted to pay their last respects,” Takaki explains to Jin in an undertone upon observing the older man’s confused look.
Of course, Jin realized. Kame had worked with Miura Haruma in Gokusen, and Satou Takeru is basically married to Miura, hence his attendance tonight - never mind that the public is oblivious to their real relationship when they are not being filmed. To be honest, Miura and Satou reminded Jin of Kame and himself when they were younger, though Jin would never admit it to anyone.
With a last bow, Takaki excuses himself and moves on to usher Miura and Satou into the house, leaving Jin standing awkwardly alone once more. The soloist tears his gaze away from the people at the door and, managing to go out to the garden, Jin then crosses paths with - finally - Yamashita Tomohisa.
“YamaPi - ” Jin tries to keep himself from squeaking, because it’s been ages since he last saw one of his closest friends. He squeezes between a couple of men standing between them until he’s right in front of the idol.
Because Yamashita is no longer part of a group, his schedule has become even more flexible and crazier than before, and Jin of course had his own goings-on, so it had become difficult to meet and catch up. Seeing his friend now, Jin can’t help but notice the bags under his eyes and how he had grown a bit thinner from the last time Jin saw him.
“Jin,” YamaPi nods back curtly. Jin understands it’s a wake and people are being solemn and all, but he would have expected just a little more enthusiasm from his best friend.
“How are you, man?” Jin asks, patting the other on the back as they walked together along the stone path.
“Fine… well, not really, but I don’t have much of a choice,” YamaPi says with a small laugh that does not reach his eyes. Jin shoots him an inquiring look, so that he elaborates, “It’s driving me crazy. The schedule - there isn’t even much of a schedule. One day I’m here, next I’m in Hong Kong, then they’ll ask me to go to Texas or something - my body clock’s fucked for life - ” YamaPi then lectures, and while he’s telling an awful tale, Jin thinks that’s more like it - YamaPi ranting at him about how shitty his work is and all.
“Welcome to the club,” Jin says, sneering at his best friend, because he knows all too well what it feels like to fly across continents and be expected to sing and dance like you just took a walk in the park. The absence of projects is Jin’s punishment for getting married so suddenly, but in truth, Jin welcomes it as an enjoyable break from all the chaos that is being a solo artist.
“How did you do it?” YamaPi asks quietly, probably worrying that he might be treading on dangerous waters with his question.
“Do what?” Jin asks back to delay, because… how indeed?
“Survive,” Yamashita supplies, and then pauses, looking around uncomfortably, “After leaving KAT-TUN,” he adds quietly.
“I… don’t know,” Jin answers truthfully, looking away as well.
The two of them fall silent, and Jin is left to his own thoughts on his friend’s question. He doesn’t know how he ‘survived,’ because, if truth be told, there’s nothing to survive from. It’s not like it was a problem he had to solve. He wanted to go solo. He wanted it. If someone wants look at it degradingly, then fine, they can say that Jin brought it upon himself.
But he understands how Yamashita feels. Breaking away from a group gives him the entire responsibility to keep his head above the water, and it’s no easy feat. Some would argue to conclude that Jin was not able to succeed in doing so.
Jin doesn’t regret his decisions. Time and again he’s heard that one must not measure himself against others’ standards of success. He wanted a US career and he got it. He wanted a family and he made one. He doesn’t know what Yamashita’s long term plans are - they don’t talk about sentimental shit like that - but he hopes the other man will come out of it fine and proud.
His best friend fidgets beside him some more, and then checks his phone, and finally excuses himself. He makes his way back into the house, only to go out the front again. Jin guesses it’s an important call or something.
He looks around, desperate for company - or a distraction - but there are no familiar faces anymore. And then, just when he’s began to think that he has no choice but to look for Meisa and sit with the women, he spots Kame. The younger man is walking around, along the edge of the garden, and he looks like he is watching the people intently.
Jin almost walks up to him in desperation for someone to talk to, because this isolation is making him really uncomfortable, but then Jin remembers that having a chat with Kame doesn’t count as looking busy… just crazy.
He catches Kame’s eye, though, and the younger man nods, and Jin nods back covertly. Somehow, it’s kind of thrilling, knowing that he’s the only one who can see Kame in this entire venue packed with people. Kame looks away and disappears behind a group of serious-looking old men, probably friends of his father. Jin is back to looking around awkwardly.
A few moments more and all of NEWS pass by, talking in hushed tones. They seemed too engrossed in their conversation to notice Jin, though. After a while, Jin sees Kimura Takuya and Nakai Masahiro exit onto the garden, but he isn’t the least bit surprised that the sempais are here. This is Kamenashi, of course, everyone will be here.
Suddenly, Jin wonders if Johnny himself will be arriving. Jin isn’t scared of him, or the other executives. He just doesn’t like the drama that ensues, or the disdainful stares, or the snide remarks. All those people think they’re above Jin because they think they’ve made excellent decisions in life. He then inwardly curses Kame for dying, because now he has to see everyone from the Jimusho.
And then Jin wonders if Kame can hear his thoughts, too, because apparently, there are a lot of things that Kame can do only with Jin.
“You’re the only one who can see and hear me,” Kame wonders aloud, “but can you touch me, too?”
Jin is leaning against the wall, studying Kame, who is sitting on the bed. They’re back in the bedroom, and as far as Meisa knows, Jin has gone back to his nap. She’s still watching TV in the living room, waiting for updates on Kame’s accident.
Jin walks over to the bed and plops down on it. He raises a palm in front of Kame, and the younger man puts his hand against it, and… there. Jin can feel it. He can feel Kame’s palm, calloused from playing too much baseball but somehow still soft like a girl’s. It’s warm, too, and Jin wonders why, because Kame doesn’t even have a body anymore.
Kame cannot touch people, but he can, by will, choose to touch things or pass right through them. Jin thinks at least movies got that accurate about ghosts.
“This is… weird,” Kame says, staring at their hands like it was an otherworldly apparition.
“This is weird?” Jin repeats, laughing. He takes his hand away and faces Kame on the bed. “The fact that you’re here is bizarre enough. Being able to touch you is maybe just some - I don’t know - rule of the universe or something… something we don’t know unless we die.”
“But why just you?”
Kame asks, just speaking his thoughts once more, but to that, Jin fails to reply. Indeed, why can Kame only be seen, heard, and felt by him?
There’s a tap on his shoulder, and turning around, he sees Nishikido Ryo. Kanjani 8 had just arrived, and the rest of the group had walked on ahead past them.
“Have you seen Yamashita yet?” Ryo asks coolly, gazing out at the crowd in the same way YamaPi had done earlier.
“Yeah, he was here earlier - didn’t you catch him outside - ?”
Ryo grins mysteriously and shakes his head, and Jin took this as encouragement to talk about their friend’s strange behavior.
“What’s up with him? We talked a bit but he seemed really cagey or some shit - you’d think this whole going solo thing is getting to him real bad…” Jin lets his thoughts out, expecting Ryo to agree but maybe try to explain Yamashita’s side, but right now the man is staring at Jin like he’s a big buffoon.
“What?”
“Of course, it’s getting to him,” Ryo replies exasperatedly, like it’s the most obvious thing in the world and Jin is a retard to not understand. “We haven’t seen each other lately, mainly because Johnny has made his schedule to mimic hell as closely as possible - ”
“Are you telling me the old man’s keeping him busy on purpose?” Jin clarifies, to which Ryo shakes his head.
“He’s keeping Yamashita tired on purpose. You haven’t been around much to know the rumors - as stupid as they are, there might be some truth to them,” Ryo divulges, keeping his voice low and his eyes on the crowd. “All the others are saying Johnny’s using YamaPi as a warning sign to anyone who wants to go solo or get a girlfriend - because he obviously failed with you,” the Eito member adds matter-of-factly.
“That’s stupid - ”
“You’re stupid - ” Ryo bites back, and while Jin is used to being insulted by his friends, he can’t help but note the sincerity of that one slur. “Why do you think Johnny’s doing this?”
“What - you’re blaming me? Yamashita went solo before I got married!” Jin hissed at his friend, “And excuse me, but I don’t think it’s my fault if all those other guys are too much of pussies to stand up for what they want - ”
Jin is already leaning into Ryo’s personal space, but the other man is not about to back down, paying Jin back word for word.
“I’m one of those ‘other guys,’ Jin - ” Ryo murmurs, looking daggers at the soloist. “Johnny has told me - no more solo song releases for the time being. You know what ‘for the time being’ means to that old sucker, don’t you?”
Jin stares back, at a loss for words. This is the first time Ryo has expressed any sort of anger over the stricter control that Jin had caused Johnny to impose on all the other talents.
“This is not about self-expression or artistic freedom or that sort of shit, Jin,” Ryo says darkly. “Johnny has officially disbanded the ‘Akanishi Troop - ’” he draws quotation marks in the air and grimaces at the stupid label people have come to call their circle of friends, “ - which was never even officially a group at all. That apology YamaPi wrote, don’t you think it made him sound just a little bit too pathetic?”
Jin remembers that one. He read it off the internet, how YamaPi wrote a letter which had been shown in his concert. He had apologized to fans, and Jin honestly thought, what for?
“I mean, yeah, he can say sorry to his fans, but to mention NEWS - they never made you mention KAT-TUN when you left,” Ryo continues, and now Jin is really just listening, absorbing his friend’s anger because, well, he’s learning a thing or two here. “I don’t know but doing that made YamaPi look so miserable. Johnny’s keeping YamaPi deadbeat and fucked up as if saying to all the others, ‘This is what you’ll get, should you do an Akanishi on me.’ He’s going to great lengths to ensure absolutely no one fucking follows your footsteps - ”
“Akanishi - ”
Ryo’s tirade is cut short when Nakamaru passes them by and abruptly halts to greet Jin.
“Oi Nakamaru - ” Ryo interjects, mood suddenly less grim, “Am I not worthy of your greeting?”
“I see you all the time at the Jimusho, Nishikido - ” Nakamaru mock dismisses, his nose up in the air. The three of them grin. “Glad to see you here,” the eldest member of KAT-TUN says, addressing Jin once more.
“Not glad for the reason we’re here, though,” Koki turns up beside Nakamaru, and Jin is slightly taken aback. Koki’s eyes are bloodshot under his curly hair… He was the closest to Kame in KAT-TUN.
Koki would never admit to crying, though. He likes to keep up this masculine image - sadistic, even - when in truth he’s the most attached to KAT-TUN and is very much sentimental. Koki would deny it to death, just like Kame would never have said he needed and wanted sleep so badly when he was shooting a drama, appearing on an SP, memorizing Dream Boys lines, and rehearsing for a concert tour all in the same timeframe.
That’s just the way they’re built, idols. They keep things to themselves and hide it away from the world, because every waking moment is a second spent as an artist, a celebrity. A celebrity never shows his weakness. And Akanishi was never that kind of person.
They do catch up, though, as Ueda and Taguchi join them as well. Nakamaru politely asks about the baby on the way, and Koki inquires about the American hip-hop artists Jin has perhaps collaborated with. Ryo stays with them, too, throwing in comments and helpful remarks like he had not been berating Jin just a while ago. When it gets a little chilly, they decide to go back inside. Jin makes to go with the rest of the men, but he suddenly feels a strong grip on his arm and, turning, sees Ueda Tatsuya pulling him to fall behind away from the group.
“You know about it?”
Ueda’s face is stern. For a moment, Jin thinks he’s talking about Kame’s presence.
“About what?”
“The rumors…” the KAT-TUN member pauses. Lowering his voice even more, he says, “… of foul play.”
Jin keeps silent, staring back. He had heard it from the news, but he did not think anything of it. Kame, ever charming and such a people-pleaser, surely did not have any enemies. Then again, there were people with whom his personality clashed, because he had the tendency to be intense especially in work ethic. And then there were the crazy diehard fans. But surely, none of them would have gone so far as to do that to Kame. The vehicle inspection also suggested that it was a genuine accident. But what if…?
Suddenly, the thought of someone intentionally ending Kame’s life angered Jin. It was a stupid thing to do. And the worst was that they had succeeded.
“I know you two haven’t been the best of friends for the past couple of years…” Ueda then says, “But if you hear anything, or see anything suspicious, as a last service to an honorable colleague…”
Jin stares back at Ueda, knowing how it must be so hard for him and the rest of KAT-TUN. A member suddenly passing away… it was unimaginable. Jin nods and puts a hand on Ueda’s shoulder.
Ueda nods back, and then goes ahead to enter the house. Jin is left alone in the crowd once more, and suddenly he doesn’t want to talk to anyone else. He looks around in the hopes of spotting Kame again, but the younger man is nowhere to be seen.
Jin had thoughtfully brought something that had been in his possession for some years now. It belonged to Kame originally, and Jin thought it’s only right that he returned it to his family now. But then, it has become a long night, what with the things Ryo had revealed to him, and what Ueda had said.
Jin puts his hand in his pocket and toys with the pinky ring as he watches the people inside. Kame’s mother comes into view, bowing and greeting guests with a tired and emotionless face. When she looks in Jin’s direction, he looks away and pretends to be looking for someone. She certainly remembers him from years ago, but Jin just can’t bring himself to talk to her after all these years when he had not even considered Kame a friend.
Jin’s mind is buzzing, and he probably can’t deal with explaining what the ring is to Kame and why it’s with him. Right now, he would really just like to go home. Avoiding any eye contact, he leaves the ring in his pocket and makes his way out of the house.
oOo
Jin blows smoke up into the still, chilly air of the night. It’s okay to smoke - Meisa is still inside saying farewell to friends. Jin is standing alone by the car, checking his watch every now and then, and soon he hears familiar footsteps. Kame walks over to him, smiling.
“It’s nice to be back here~” the smaller man says, sounding appreciative. He’s looking at his surroundings as if fascinated by the beauty of it all.
Even if you’re already dead? Jin thinks, but resists the urge to blurt it out loud and instead says, “Did you find out anything earlier?”
“Hn?” Kame responds distractedly, still gazing up at his ancestral house.
“You were going around listening in on conversations, right?”
Kame shakes his head, and Jin is instantly reminded of their Junior days when Kame was worried over something, but would not share it with Jin because he did not want to trouble the older man. Jin decides this will not be another of those times.
Jin tsks, throwing his cigarette away and facing Kame.
“Oi baka, you asked me to help you, right?” Jin says, not really waiting for an answer as they look each other in the eye, “So let me,” he speaks firmly.
“Let’s go,” and Meisa is already walking toward them. Jin doesn’t know if she heard him talking to no one again. She doesn’t say anything, though.
As they board the car, Kame hovers to Jin’s side and whispers, “Take care on your way home, Jin… See you tomorrow.”
Jin’s brain lags for a moment as he settles behind the steering wheel, but he gets goose bumps when he realizes what actually is taking place tomorrow:
Kamenashi Kazuya’s funeral.
To be continued….
oOo
Some elements remain inaccurate, like, IDK if Kamenashis have an ancestral house in Edogawa and all. Don’t crucify me.
1お通夜 (Otsuya) - wake (held on the night before 告別式/funeral)
2From さつき, Meisa’s real first name.
Comments are love~
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