(01/01) The SPARKOL METER by Kato Shigeaki

Jan 08, 2013 17:09

TITLE: The SPARKOL METER by Kato Shigeaki
AUTHOR: jaricchi@lj
PAIRING: None; Kato Shigeaki + Arashi (necame a slight Shige x Sho)
RATING: PG
WORD COUNT: ???
GENRE: Crack/Humor
TYPE: One-Shot
SUMMARY: Shige knew that to survive in this industry (especially one in Johnny's), one had to learn who sparkled more and hold them in awe, never be blinded by them but be moved by them.


AUTHOR'S NOTE: Prompted by aishizuki after a Facebook conversation about converting a friend we had in Japan. We were talking about what to send him to make him an Arashi fan so that he'd get to buy stuff for us. XD And this chaos ensued. Enjoy~♥

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The SPARKOL METER by Kato Shigeaki

Shige smiled assuringly at the newest batch of Juniors (7 this time). They were no names for now, but we'll never know what happens in the next 3 - 5 years. He could already see the "Sparkle" potential in some of them.

"So, I understand that you'd be worried about your first day as a Junior." He had multiple nods. "Well, today, we don't really get to do anything productive." Multiple groans, he smiled. This was definitely going to be a good batch. "But--" he raised his had, "What I'll be teaching you today will be more useful to you as you grow in this industry."

One kid raised his hand. "What do you mean? You're gonna teach us a skill that all you Senpai's have?"

Shige smiled at him and nodded. "Well, not all of us have mastered this skill, but as far as I know, we all have it."

One of them practically vibrated in his seat. "What skill would that be?!" he asked, his face was fixated in an excited grin. Shige smiled at him. He was reminded of Massu for some reason. He pressed a button on the remote and the lights went off. One of the kids squeaked. (For some reason, he thought of Tego.)

"To answer your question, please turn your attentions to the screen." He spoke to them and almost immediately their attention was on the screen infront. He pressed yet another button and slowly pictures of boy bands that belonged to Johnny's began to fill the screen in an organized mess. Boy bands, such as KAT-TUN, Kanjani8, SMAP, Hey! Say! Jump, NEWS and Arashi with a few appearances of a single shots like Yamapi and Gackt, appeared on the screen. The juniors stared in awe as the multiple bands filled the screen.

"Can anyone tell me what all of them have in common?" He asked, smiling at them in encouragement. They fidgeted in their seats, trying to give a perfect answer like this was going to be graded. (He was amused at that thought, he was a lawyer--not a teacher.) "Come on, any thoughts?" he tried again, "This isn't graded you know." He told them kindly, amused when a few of them (4 out of 7) gave a relieved sigh.

"Anyone?" he asked, a little worried now. Just as he was going to push them a little more, a shaky hand was raised.

"Yes?" he said, beaming at the kid. The kid blushed a little at that. (He winced inwardly, NOTE: Never use SPARKOLS excessively at Juniors. One Chinen Yuri is good enough.) "They-they're famous?" he answered, the answer ending up in a question.

Shige smiled at him and nodded. "Correct. What else do you notice about them?" He looked at each one of them. "They've got millions of fans?" Another answered, seeing as their "sensei" wasn't evil. Shige made a thinking face and smiled. "True. Anything else?"

The hyper kid (the one that reminded him of Massu) raised his hands in shaking excitment. "Me! Me! Me! I know!!!" he bounced. Shige smiled at him, amused. "Yes, you? What do you think?"

"They've GOT FANGIRLS in THE Firipines that want to MARRY THEM!" he beamed, happy to put in his input.

The other kids laughed at him. He looked at them, a little hurt, his lower lip sticking out. "WHAT?!" he whined, "WHAT?!" Shige a slight chuckle, amused by that fact. (His image of Massu was removed and was seeing Aiba-senpai instead...creepy thought...)

"That can be true..." he pointed out to the kids, attempting to keep his smiles to himself. "Well, what about you? What do you think?" He asked the kid in front of him. He looked at Shige with wide eyes and looking wildly around the room. (Why? He wasn't so certain...)

"Uh-uhm...uhhh...." he stuttered. "They...they're very bright to look at?"

Shige blinked. He couldn't believed this kid was so close to the right answer!

The kid mistook his silence as confusion. "I mean, it's like when you look at them you imagine the sun or glitter or stars behind them you know? It's like they've got...I don't know, SPARKLES are some thing like that around them? It makes them seem...more amazing, I guess?"

Shige beamed at him and nodded his acceptance. "Exactly!"

Everyone in the room blinked. "Eh?" The collective answer was.

"Sparkles. Sparkols." He repeated with a smile and pressed another button on his remote and the next slide was a white screen with sparkles on it appeared and the lesson for the day appeared in a dramatic fade in style.

THE SPARKOL METER
by Shigeaki Kato

The Juniors stared at it with different reactions.

One of them opened his mouth and croaked. "The what meter?!"

"The SPARKOL meter. " Shige repeated. All of them turned to him with this weird look. "Uhm...sempai..." Shige smiled at him. "Yes?" He hesitated and fidgeted. "What exactly is that?"

"I'm glad you asked." Shige replied. He pressed a button and the next slide appeared beside a very good picture of Yamapi being all sexy. "This meter didn't exactly have a name, well, until a few senpai's decided to name it." He began.

"This meter is basically just something that detects how much potential or well...sparkle...ness? a person has." he stated, not very certain if the explanation got through. 'Definitely not then...' he thought as he saw their confused faces. "It's like..you know who's on top and who HAS the potential to be in TOP? Get what I'm trying to say?" No answer.

This was more difficult than he thought. He frowned and straightened up when he recalled something. "AH! Maybe an example will help."

He pulled up a most recent picture of one of his senpais. He turned to them with a smile. "Do you know who this is?" He asked. One of them scoffed. "We'd be crazy not to. That's Arashi."

The Massu+Aiba hybrid kid bounced with a smile. "Johnny's Golden Boys!"

"Japan's Treasure Box!" Another piped in.

"The gayest Johnny's band!" Another piped. Everyone turned to him. "What?! That's what my brother said..."

Shige coughed (and winced, hope Ninomiya-senpai doesn't hear that...). "Okay, so you know them." They all nod. "Good."

He pulled a picture on screen. He smiled at them."Find them." He instructed.

On screen is a picture of a cramped people on stage smiling at the camera, over 100 people on it.

"WHAT?" one of the Juniors squeaked, "Impossible!"

"I found Sakurai-san!" The hybrid Junior squeaked. Shige smiled at him. "Good. Find the other 4." He told them gently.

"Found Matsumoto-senpai!" The Tego-Junior spoke. He nodded in acceptance.

"Ah! Ohno-san looks like he's asleep!"

"Aiba-senpai's hanging on Toma-san!"

"Nino-senpai's really far..."

Shige looked at them in pride! How quick they found them! He nodded at them and pressed another button while a small smiled and turned to the screen. The five members of Arashi were left in the picture. He frowned, he really wasn't able to get Toma-san out of the picture without cutting Aiba-senpai's arm... oh well.

He turned to them. "How many of you were able to find them all, raise your hand." All 7 raised their hands. "It wasn't really that hard..." Tego-Junior told him. "I got distracted when I saw other senpai's..." Massu-Aiba hybrid started, "But my eyes always went back to them really."

Shige nodded in understanding. "Understandable." He smiled at each of them, he could see the multiple questions running through their mind. "Do you understand how the SPARKOL meter works now? No?"

"I don't get how being able to find Arashi in the massive crowd is connected to sparkles?" The kid that slightly reminded him of Yamapi asked.

Shige nodded his head in understanding. "A valid point, but it is." Now they look down right confused. "HOW?" The Massu-Aiba hybrid asked. "The Sparkol Meter is something you develop over the years." He told them. "It's not instantaneous, but most of us have this already, being used to seeing idols like Arashi."

"Senpai, I'm not getting it..." The Massu+Aiba hybrid asked, looking really uncertain. Shige gave him a kind smile. "I know it's hard to understand, but let me demonstrate the SPARKOL METER through another excercise."

He pressed another button and then another large picture appeared. It was still a large number of people but mostly of kids. He turned to them and smirked. "This was a picture taken way back in 1997, when Arashi didn't exist yet." The others gaped. "Wow..." one spoke, "They're so young!"

Shige gave a small chuckle. He pressed a button and individual Arashi pictures came to screen. "Find these 5 faces."

All croaked. "Again!"

Shige gave them a smile. "Yes."

The boy who reminded him of Yamapi raised his hand. "I found, Matsumoto-san..." he said. All of his companions looked at him in alarm. "EH!?" The boy shrugged and said, "He...stood out."

Shige smiled at him and nodded.

The Aiba+Massu hybrid bounced (quite literally). "Oh!Oh!Oh! Sakurai-senpai's beside him!"

The One-day-going-to-be-like-Tego smiled. "Ah!Aiba-senpai is attached to Toma-san and Yoko-senpai!"

"Ohno-san still looks sleepy..." Another replied.

Shige smiled at all of them. "Good."

The Yamapi-ish kid stared at the picture before his eyes widened in realization. (Shige never knew how fullfilling it would be when your "students" actually understood your lesson, maybe this is why people wanted to be a teacher.) "I get it!"

They all turned to him. "Hai?"

He smiled at them (sparkles threatening to explode). "It's like picking out people with potential in a crowd!"

The small shy boy gave a gasp. "Oh! It's like putting a diamond in a bucket of coal!"

Shige grinned at his "students". "Exactly! The SPRAKOL meter is the ability to pick out people in a crowd."

One boy frowned. "What does it have to do with us being in Johnny's?"

Shige nodded. "Good point." He turned to the monitor and clicked another button. The picture faded and again was replaced with faces of famous Japanese Stars. "The point of mastering or at least, developing the SPRAKOL METER is to identify these people in the crowd. To identify potentials and/or polished people, and learn from them."

The Aiba+Massu Hybrid blinked. "Wait, what?"

Shige gave them a kind smile. "In order for you to survive in this industry , one had to learn who sparkled more and hold them in awe, never be blinded by them but be moved by them. " he spoke. "And it turn, learn how to sparkle yourselves."

The boys were silent. "So basically, this is to identify them and learn from them?"

Shige nodded. "Basically, yes."

The boys said nothing. The Aiba-Massu hybrid looked at him. "How come you don't sparkle so much, senpai?"

The Yamapi-kid slapped him on the head and hissed. "Don't be RUDE!"

Shige waved it off with a chuckle. "Just because I don't sparkle doesn't mean it's not there." He told them with a wink. The kids gaped at him and he moved forward and pressed a button.

"So, to identify a high sparkled person in a crowd and avoid being rude/disrespectful. Here are some tips."

The screen flashed and these appeared.

STEP 1. Look for a good looking guy/girl. (AKA "ARASHI")
STEP 2. Look at them for a few seconds. (AKA STARE AT THEM W/O CARING IF PEOPLE THINK YOU'RE A STALKER...OR insane)
STEP 3. If it hurts to look at them for more than 5 seconds, you conclude they are the TOP of your SPARKOL Meter. (AKA or they could just be VAMPIRES OUT IN DAYLIGHT).

Shige smiled at them. "So that ends your first day as a Junior." he told them. As they stood up, silently arguing who was the sparkliest senpai in JE, he stopped them.

"Make sure you don't let the other senpai's hear your little argument, else we'll have a huge Johnny's war again." he told them sheepishly. The kids chorused that they won't and they left.

The next day, he blinked to see Ninomiya-senpai glaring at him inside the NEWS dressing with a very sheepish Sakurai-senpai.

"I hear what you did, Kato." Ninomiya-senpai started. "And I am not pleased."

Sakurai-senpai sigh and gave a pained smile at his direction. It took all of Shige's self-control not to blush/react. Sho-san forever radiated Sparkles...and pheromones.

"Kato, are you listening to me?!" Nino growled. Shige blinked and smiled. Nino glared harder. "I will get you back for this." Then he stomped out the room. Sho-san followed with a sigh. He turned to him before he left the room.

"I'll bring you out for dinner for whatever Nino has planned." Sho told him with a small shy smile. Shige grinned. "Certainly, Sho-san." Sho grinned back and strode to the door where Nino glared at them.

As they were leaving, he could hear Nino scolding Sho.

"STOP IT WITH YOUR SPARKLES, DAMN IT SHO!"

Shige gave a small chuckle as he moved to change. Sparkles weren't just a part of this industry.

Pheromones were a huge factor too.

. . .but that's a lesson for another time. ;)

It's not so PG-13 after all.

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Author's Notes: THERE DONE. (OTL The ending changed again) I unintentionally made it a Shige x Sho pair. 8P Oops. But Meh. Comments are love by the way. Won't complain to get one~ :D

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r: pg, c: kato shigeaki, p: sakurai x other, g: general, g: humor, t: oneshot

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