Who Are You? - Part 1 (Rewrite)
Everyone in Japan knew Ninomiya Kazunari. He was the owner of the largest video game company in Japan. His family and friends knew that he was a game-addict since he was small. But, who would expect that Nino would make money from his hobby?
The idea came from the brilliant mind of his best friend, Sakurai Sho. Tired of listening to Nino’s complaint about the game he played, Sho had suggested that Nino made his own game to be satisfied. To be honest, Sho didn’t expect Nino to take his suggestion seriously. He wasn’t even aware of what he was saying at that time. That’s why he was surprised when Nino resigned from his job and started to make his own game.
It wasn’t easy in the beginning. But, with his experience as a gamer and knowledge in programming and coding as well as his determination to make people happy with his game, Nino overcame the hurdles and successfully make his company, NeenGames on the top for the gaming industry.
“Nino, you have a meeting with Matsujun at 10 AM. He would like to discuss the concept for the next project with you. That is the only appointment you have today,” informed Sho. Nino nodded his head, noticing that it was only 9 am and he would have an hour to do his routine.
Nino recruited Sho to be his PA/secretary when his business was well received by the public. He loved being a boss and ordered people around but he wasn’t good in management. That’s why he needed Sho’s help. Fortunately, Sho was willing to work with him and one of the reasons his company was on the top now was because of Sho’s management skill.
“Okay,” answered Nino shortly and he stood up, ready to do his routine.
“Where are you going?” Asked Sho. “Game testing?”
Nino nodded his head. Sho didn’t say anything even though he looked at Nino disapprovingly. Nino ignored him and walked to the elevator to go to the Game Testing Department on the third floor. It is his favourite department. He had the chance to play and criticize the games before launching. Well, there weren’t much to complain because his workers knew how meticulous he was. Furthermore, he was involved in the development of each game from the beginning. Each element of the game would need his approval first before moving to the next phase. So, the game would be nearly perfect by the time it reached the testing department.
“I’m busy right now,”
Nino was waiting for the elevator when he heard a soft voice talking. He didn’t recognize the voice, so he wondered if it was one of his employees. But, he prohibited all of the employees from going upstairs. He only allowed Sho and Matsumoto Jun upstairs.
“Later, okay,”
Said the voice once again. It came from the corridor near the washroom so Nino approached the corridor, wondering which employees were daring enough to defy his order. There must be at least two of them.
“I’m working right now. I will go there after work,”
Weird. Nino never heard anyone respond to the voice. It was the same voice talking. Nino was now peeking from the wall and he only saw a short guy talking to himself. He wasn’t talking on the phone because he used both of his hands to push someone away. Based on the stranger’s side profile, Nino was sure he had never seen the other guy before and wondered if he was a new employee or an intruder.
“JUST GO,”
The short guy shouted. Not long after that, as if the person he was talking to had disappeared, he sighed and then turned only to be surprised to see Nino. Nino used the chance to look at the guy properly but he was sure he never saw him before. He was around the same height as Nino. His hair was short and black. He was chubby and a bit tanned. His eyes were almond-shaped. Nino couldn’t help but think how cute the stranger was. Even though Nino didn’t know who the guy was, he seemed familiar.
“Kazu!” Said the man excitedly as he ran towards Nino and hugged him tightly. Nino didn’t respond to the hug. Instead, he was thinking why the guy acted friendly with him even though it was the first time they met. He even has the guts to call Nino Kazu. He only allowed his family to call him Kazu so who gave the permission for the guy to call him that?
“Kazu?”
The guy finally let him go and stared at him with a frown.
“Who are you?”
Asked Nino. The guy was surprised but he immediately recovered as he looked at Nino with a pair of sad eyes.
“I’m sorry. I thought you are a friend of mine. You looked just like him,”
Nino could sense the sadness from the guy as he said that. It was weird. He didn’t know the guy but looking at the sad and disappointed face of the guy, all he wanted to do was to comfort him.
“Ano…” Nino couldn’t continue as suddenly he had a severe headache as if his head was going to explode. He never felt so much pain before.
Everything turned dark after that.
I love you, Kazu.
Nino opened his eyes slowly as he heard the confession. He looked around, wondering what had happened and why was he sleeping on the couch in his office. It took a while but he finally remembered that he was about to go downstairs to do his routine. He remembered waiting for the elevator but he wasn’t sure if he got inside or not. Then there was also a cute stranger who was talking to himself. He wasn’t sure if he really saw the weirdo. Perhaps it was just a dream, Nino concluded.
“I guess Sho was right. You’re not ready to get back to work,” he heard a voice from the table. It was Matsumoto Jun, the creative director of his company. Sitting opposite of him was Sho, who nodded in agreement.
“J, did you just confess to me?”
There were a lot of things Nino wanted to ask Jun but he didn’t know why he asked a totally unrelated question. Perhaps because he heard a confession right before he woke up. He had a crush on Jun and he was hoping that Jun finally responded to his feeling, if it was indeed his voice he heard before. However, he didn’t know why his heart started to crave for someone else now.
Hearing his question, both of his friends frowned as they stared at him.
“Did you… I don’t know…. You hit your head on the floor… Maybe it damaged your nervous system and it sent a different signal to your brain. I’m pretty sure I didn’t say anything that sounds like a confession,”
“Yeah, Jun was right. He didn’t confess to you. Are you okay, Nino?”
“So, I hit my head? How?”
He decided to change the topic before those two thought he was imagining things. Now that he thought carefully, the voice sounded nothing like Jun or Sho. The voice was softer than either of them. It sounded familiar but he didn’t know who the owner was. Trying to think of the owner causing him a headache so he tried to stop thinking about the confession.
“Well, Ohno san came running to my office telling me you collapsed. So, I brought you to the office and let you rest. You’ve been sleeping for three hours. Jun came here for the meeting and seeing that you’re not ready yet, we decided not to disturb you,”
“Ohno san?”
“He’s the new design artist. Been working here for almost a year. He started working here about a month after your accident,”
The accident, Nino thought to himself. About a year ago, he got into an accident and was in a coma until he suddenly woke up two months ago. Today was the first day he got back to work after the accident. Sho had been persuading him to rest longer but two months of staying at home doing nothing was too much for him. Furthermore, each time he closed his eyes to sleep, he would dream of chasing a guy. Nino didn’t know how the guy looked like because he could only see his figure from the back. He needed to distract himself from thinking about the guy. That’s why he decided to get back to work today, ignoring the disapproval look from Sho.
“I thought no one was allowed upstairs except both of you. So, how…”
Nino didn’t finish his question as he watched both Jun and Sho exchanged a look. They were forcing each other to explain the situation regarding the mysterious Ohno to him. But, wait a minute. Was Ohno the stranger he thought he was dreaming about? Sho said Ohno found him collapsed. So, perhaps his meeting with the cute but weird stranger wasn’t a dream at all?
“Was he chubby? He was short and tanned?” Asked Nino to confirm the identity. Both men nodded their head.
“So… What is he doing upstairs? Sho, please explain to me,”
He didn’t miss the look of relief on Jun’s face when he asked Sho to explain to him about Ohno. Sho glared at Jun in return before he started talking.
“Well, as I said before he is the new design artist. He is talented but he is a bit weird. He often spaced out and the other staff often saw him talking to himself,”
Nino recalled his meeting with Ohno earlier. So, Ohno always talked to himself and he wasn’t the only one who had seen that. He didn’t want to hastily jump into conclusion but he was convinced that the guy must be crazy.
“He must be a lunatic. I saw him just now. If he talked to himself the way J did, I don’t mind. But…” Nino risked a glance at Jun who was giving him a murderous look. All of them knew how Jun acted when he was alone at home. He will speak to objects in his room like they are human and Nino loved to make fun of Jun because of that. “He was totally delusional. He acted like there was someone else with him,”
And suddenly acted as if he knew me. Nino kept that thought to himself.
“Trust me, Nino. He is not a lunatic. We’ve checked his background before hiring him and he wasn’t in mental institutions,” explained Sho. Nino looked at him sceptically.
“Then why is he talking to himself?” Asked Nino in return. Both of his friends looked reluctant to answer. “I don’t know, Sho. I’m afraid he will cause trouble for us. So, it’s better to get rid of him now,”
“No. Don’t do that,” Jun protested.
“Then give me one good reason why I shouldn’t fire him. If it’s because of his talent, I’m pretty sure we can find others who are better than him,”
“Believe me, Nino. He is the best and you will regret to let him go,” answered Jun. “It wasn’t just his talent. He is a good worker, finished his job on time perfectly. Never cause any problem for us. He was quiet and focused in doing his work, not interested to join the gossip in the company. So, we hired him because of his talent and attitude,”
“Are you sure he is not a lunatic?” Asked Nino once again.
“I understand why you are worried. Actually, we know why he talked to himself. But, maybe it will be better for you to hear it from him. It’s a bit personal,” explained Sho.
Nino remained silent, thinking of what he should do. He didn’t like the idea of talking with Ohno but he was curious to know the reason he talked to himself. He also found it interesting that both Jun and Sho are very protective of Ohno. Is Ohno someone special to both of them? Is he perhaps Jun’s boyfriend? He had a vague memory of Jun telling him that he already had someone prior to his accident so maybe Ohno was the one he meant. That’s why he talked highly about the guy and tried to stop Nino from firing him.
“Are you sure he will not cause any trouble for us?”
Both Jun and Sho immediately nodded.
“Okay, I will let him stay,”
“You’re not going to ask him why he talked to himself?”
Nino shook his head. He had a feeling Ohno wouldn’t tell him the truth even if he asked. Furthermore, he felt uncomfortable talking with Ohno. So, he would just trust his friends’ judgement.
Ohno sighed as he lied down on his bed, thinking of what happened earlier. He acted stupidly just now. There’s no way Nino would remember him.
He missed Nino. He wanted to see Nino so much. So, he went to the top floor, to see Nino even from afar. He knew Nino wouldn’t allow anyone else except Jun and Sho there but he didn’t care.
However… Someone disturb his mission. Why would he show up while he was waiting for Nino silently on the corridor? Because of him, Nino thought he was crazy for speaking alone. It doesn’t help that he couldn’t control himself once he saw Nino. He hugged Nino and called him Kazu. Of course, Nino would think of him as crazy.
“Riida, are you home?”
Ohno immediately stood up when he heard the familiar voice. The door was opened from the outside and Ohno threw his pillow at the guy. Ohno knew it wasn’t his fault but he desperately wanted to blame the guy who entered his room. He was the one who gave him the idea to see Nino from afar if he missed Nino so much.
“What happened?” Asked the guy. The pillow didn’t hit him. Instead, it went straight to the door.
Ohno didn’t answer him. He simply lied back on his bed and pouted. The guy approached him. With his cold hand, he touched Ohno’s face, wiping the tear from his eyes. Ohno didn’t realize he was crying.
“I’m sorry, Aiba chan,” Ohno apologized to the guy. “It wasn’t your fault. You gave the idea but I’m the one who loses control. I couldn’t stop myself from hugging him when I saw him again. And he looked at me like I’m a crazy guy. It must be because he saw me talking to myself before,”
“Riida,” Aiba smiled encouragingly. “I know Nino. I believe that he will remember you. Whether you believe me or not, he loves you, Riida. He will find his way back to you,”
Ohno only smiled at Aiba. He wasn’t the only who believes that. Even Jun and Sho wanted to make Nino remember him. According to them, Nino had been calling him in his sleep, giving him hope that he was indeed someone special to Nino. He wasn’t sure if that was a good idea. After all, he was the one who pushed Nino away from his life. It serves him right to have Nino forget all about him.
“Aiba,” he felt the need to change the topic. If they continue talking about Nino, he won’t stop thinking about him. “Don’t you want to go home?”
Aiba shook his head.
“I will stay here until Nino come back for you. I don’t want to leave you alone,”
“You don’t have to worry about me. You should know that I would never be alone,”
A/N: Sorry, this isn't a new story. I went through this story again and realized how bad my English was. That's why I'm editing the story. I don't think I will change the storyline because it's my fav story but who knows. If you're reading this again, thank u!