Share - Making of...
Title: Share - Making Of …
Author: Ki-el
Rating: G
Pairing: none? O_o
Genre: Friendship, Comedy
Summary: The famous “Share” song… and how I imagine it originated. It starts with Shige’s stolen notebook, involves a sleepy Koyama, a lot of Tegoshi’s singing, a wise leader and Ryo on the run.
Comment: I used the lyrics and translations I found in suketeru 's journal ( go here).
And if you liked the fanfiction, please take a look at eska1306 's Music Video ( go here) which made me write this story in the first place. ^^
Yamashita Tomohisa had no idea about what was going to happen. It was a quite rare situation that Tegoshi and Shige wanted something from him. Like... together... and the same thing. That was definitely uncommon. A little bit frightening, too, since the combination of reasonable argumentation and puppy eyes, of logic and “logic” would probably be quite hard to take when one didn’t want to give in.
Their tour started two days ago and right now they had a break between two shows. Massu was in the next room doing push-ups, Koyama was resting on some bench, a towel lying over his eyes, and he was totally “off” - for a change. Ryo was outside smoking and YamaP just wanted to join him when the two youngest band members stopped him to have a talk. Normally - based on his experiences - Shige would be learning, reading or keeping Koyama company taking a nap while Tegoshi would be nagging either Massu or some poor, defenceless staff member since he’s always extremely hyper after concerts.
But... instead of all these ‘usual’s and ‘normally’s, the two of them were asking to have a talk with him.
“So, what is it?”, YamaP asked and leaned against the table. He really had no idea - not the faintest. The way the both of them were standing there seemed like they - for once - were not quarrelling.
“You see... since it’s mainly your business after all, we wanted to ask if...”
Shige seemed really insecure. Okay, he often was, for instance when he hadn’t Koyama as a back-up or when he was talking about subjects he was not really sure about or generally around his senpais.
“Exactly! We are so considerate!“, Tegoshi added with an appealing smile and YamaP knew right this moment: if Tegoshi had it his way, the whole world would already know what Shige wanted to discuss with YamaP first.
“Anyway... recently you are always humming this melody to yourself, right?”
YamaP frowned. “What?”
“You know, something like lalalalaaa~”, Tegoshi began to sing at the top of his voice right away.
Now YamaP recognized it. Right, recently there was this melody in his head. It somehow sounded nice and it was sneaking its way back into his thoughts again and again.
“So?”, he asked when Tegoshi had stopped singing. He still didn’t know what Shige was getting at.
“Somehow... it is stuck in my head and-“
“Shige wrote lyrics! Isn’t that cool? Shige’s a genius, isn’t he?“
YamaP knew Shige well enough to know that he was torn between being angry and bashful, so he just ignored Tegoshi’s comment.
“So you wrote lyrics. Can I see them?”
“Here you are.” Shige handed YamaP a strictly folded piece of paper with a few lines on it, written in neat hand-writing.
“Listen, listen~ Shige thought we’ll go with this:”, and Tegoshi began to sing:
„Surechigai yuku kaze no naka de
bokura wa naze deaetan darou
onaji hoshi ga ima mieru nara
bokura wa tada sore dake de ii
Just only stars...
blinking always breathe in us
Why did we meet within the crossing winds
If the same stars are visible to us, we're happy just by that
Just only stars...
blinking always breathe in us
“Great, ne?”
Of course Tegoshi was talking about his own singing. Anyway, YamaP nodded slowly. It was perfect. The text was fitting the melody as well as the feeling he linked to this song.
“Well done, Katou-kun.”
“Thank you.” Shige appeared to be a little bit embarrassed.
„Anyway... I figured you might as well use it. I have no idea whether you want to perform it or not or whatever.”
“Why don’t we turn this into a group song?”, said a sleepy voice from behind, followed by yawning. Koyama had entered the room through the ajar door without being noticed. He still seemed to be half asleep.
YamaP could only shake his head about this guy. He was more asleep than awake but his first thought above everything else was the group, friendship, member ai.
“Did we wake you up, Kei-chan?”, Tegoshi asked.
Of course the answer was: Yes, Tegoshi, YOU woke him up with your loud singing. But Koyama just waved his hand, stumbled, leaned against the door case and said: “When I heard the lyrics right now, I thought that it fits NEWS... kind of.” He rubbed the sleep out of his eyes.
YamaP blinked. “You’re right... actually.“
Shige nodded, too. „I just thought these are lyrics you can apply to nearly anything. Romance, friendship, any person that is important to you.”
“Right! Everyone, let’s do this!” Tegoshi was hooked by the idea right the moment he heard about it. “Everyone write their own lyrics! That’s going to be so much fun! Yay! Allow it, Yamashita-kun! Please dooo~“
There was a lot of twinkling and fluttering that YamaP did not interrupt just because he knew that Tegoshi enjoyed begging way too much. YamaP never thought about getting in the way in the first place. So he mentally counted up to five and then he “gave in”.
“Yaaa~y! I’ll go and tell Massu!” Whoosh - and he was gone.
For a second there was silence to let the (glittering) dust Tegoshi had stirred up when he left, settle. After that, YamaP began to smile.
“You’ve got too much time on your hands, don’t you, Katou-kun?”
“I don’t know.” Shige shrugged and smiled back. “I couldn’t get the melody out of my head, so the lyrics fell into place all by themselves.“
With “all by themselves”, Shige actually meant Koyama, YamaP figured, because it was obvious that Shige had to keep himself from looking at his best friend while saying this.
“Next time, I’ll write the melody and you write the lyrics for me, okay?”, Koyama smiled weakly and then leaned on Shige with both of his arms thrown around the younger one’s shoulders. He definitely was still “off”, YamaP figured.
“Yeah, sure, as if you could write melodies.“
“I can do it… I can…” Koyama’s eyes were half closed again and he began to fall asleep as if hanging on Shige’s shoulders was the most comfortable place in the world. Shige on the other hand didn’t seem to mind carrying 60 kilograms either. So he unhurriedly started to drag Koyama out of the room.
“First of all, you should learn your monologues for SOORU”, he mentioned amused. Koyama appeared to be offended, but whatever he did answer, it wasn’t understandable enough for Shige to actually care.
Just when the two of them reached the door, something came to YamaP’s mind.
“Katou-kun?”
“Hm?” Shige turned around, taking extra care not to bang Koyama’s shoulder against the door case.
“Was there any deeper meaning in Tegoshi’s appearance right now?”
“Oh. No... there wasn’t. He’d just stolen my notebook - again - and so…”
He could have figured, YamaP thought.
YamaP had never even considered that Koyama would take long. Twenty-four hours tops, he’d thought. But in the end, Koyama exceeded all his expectations by far. When he turned his mobile on the next morning at ten, the first thing that came in was Koyama’s mail. «I did it! I’ll show you today before the concert, okay? ^_~
K.»
When YamaP read the text Koyama had given to him then (and was only slightly distracted by Tegoshi who was trying to sneak a peek, too, and who therefore had his chin on YamaP’s shoulder and his head against his), he couldn’t help but smile. It had been so predictable that Koyama wouldn’t have any big problems.
„kazoekirenai deai no naka de
bokura wa deatte nakama ni natte
ironna kanjou wakeatte kagayaku asu e mukaunda
tsurai toki wa isshoni nakou
tanoshii toki wa tomo ni waraou
minna no ai to egao de
bokua wa zutto yasashiku narerundayo
Among the countless encounters we met and became friends
we share different emotions and face the shining tomorrow
In tough times let's cry together, in happy times let's laugh together
With everyone's love and smiles I can always be gentle
„I’m sorry that it’s written on such a ripped sheet of paper but it was the only slip I could find.” Koyama smiles helplessly but YamaP only gave him a wave of the hand. “It’s okay.” But it was only now that he realized what Koyama’s words meant. Obviously Koyama had written all of this at one go. He hadn’t thrown dozens of balled up notes into the trash before he came up with this, but he did it... just like this.
Koyama’s huge amount of member ai could be scary at times.
“Awwww~” Tegoshi commented, let go of YamaP and hugged Koyama instead.”Kei-chan, you are so nice!”
“Hehehe...”, Koyama smiled bashfully.
“Seems like the song’s general meaning is determined then?”
“Wait!” Tegoshi jumped up, snatched the paper from YamaP and went to a quite corner to sit down. For the next fifteen minutes only Tegoshi’s gentle humming filled the room. YamaP used this quiet time to think about what to write in his nikki, he mailed with Jin, arranged a meeting for dinner later, surfed the web...
Then, Tegoshi suddenly jumped up. “Done!”
Proud as a 5-year-old who had just finished a drawing (what hadn’t been his task, fortunately), Tegoshi gave his slip of paper to YamaP.
„Kimi to deai
soshite nakiwarattari suru hyoujou mo
subete ga boku no takaramono
zutto zutto arukitsuzukete ikou
Meeting you, and seeing your laughing and crying expressions
all of it is my treasure
Always always let's continue walking on
Of course Tegoshi didn’t have any problems. There aren’t many things he’s having problems with to start with - except for drawing, of course.
“That’s really good”, YamaP commented.
“Isn’t it? Isn’t it?!“ Tegoshi sat up straight and stretched. “Gosh, that was fun.” Then he smiled at YamaP. It was a very special, rare type of smile, YamaP noticed a bit astonished, since for once it was not to force his will onto others or to make people like him. “There are not many occasions to say something like this, right?”
And so he bounced away, probably to go on Shige’s or Massu’s nerves.
The day after, he got another sheet of paper from Shige.
„Te wo tsunagi hitoride kangaeru atarimae no youni omoeru
kyouyuu shiteru oto.kaze.hikari
awasete hitotsu no michi ni kawari
sarani tsuzuku mieru hodo
dakara iu 10 nengo mo
ima mademo kore kara mo itsumademo
tonari ni itekurete arigatou!
Holding hands, I think on my own
right now it feels natural
The sound, wind, light we share
come together and change into one road
going further on as far as the eye can see,
that's why I say even after 10 years
until now, from now on, forever
thank you for being next to me
Oh Shige.
YamaP looked up from the piece of paper and gave Shige a questioning look. “Don’t you think it’s a little bit too obvious?” Why didn’t he just go to Shonen Club and wrote Koyama a <3 letter?
“I thought...”, Shige wanted to explain himself but he was interrupted by Koyama who was on the other side of the door.
“Shige! Open the door! I’ve got two cups of coffee in my hands! Shigeee! Shigeeeheee~”
That’s when YamaP could not refrain from laughing anymore. He would not understand the two of them. End of story.
“Alright, alright, Katou-kun. Sounds good.” He meant the lyrics.
“Thank you.“ Shige grinned and turned around. “Gosh, yes!“ He opened the door and let Koyama in. “You are such a pain, Koyama.”
„But... I’ve got coffee...“
On the next day, YamaP found Massu totally grounded sitting on the floor. He had a little writing pad on his lap, a pencil in his hand and an expression on his face as if he would start crying any second now.
“Something... happened?”
Then it did happen.
Massu looked at him.
Damn. Tegoshi’s begging eyes are one thing but Massu’s wet eyes, looking up at you... that’s definitely deadly! Not even the blackest heart in the world (and that’s Jin’s) could stand such a sight.
“I... cannot think of anything...“
“You mean the lyrics?”
“Yes...”
“But you don’t have to be so stressed out. I’m not ready with my lyrics either. It’s the same with Ryo-chan.”
“Nishikido-kun finished his lyrics two days ago. He just doesn’t want to show you yet. I think he doesn’t want to seem too eager…”
YamaP rolled his eyes. That’s so Ryo. But how did Massu know? He could give no account of it but that Tegoshi probably had caught Ryo red-handed or something like this. You can never feel save when Tegoshi’s around.
“Listen...” YamaP squat down next to Massu and smiled at him. ”You don’t have to do it alone. Just ask KoyaShige!“ The two of them had so much member ai that it would even be enough for KAT-TUN... and that he just said «KoyaShige» emphasised it even more.
Massu looked at him with big eyes. “I... could do that.”
“Sure you can. They will be happy to help you.”
“Okay.... so... I’ll ask them.“ This thought made his face brighten up. „Yes!“
YamaP smiled sheepishly. Massu was far from being stupid but sometimes he was a bit slow on the uptake.
“Take it!” Ryo looked left and right as if something was out to hunt him.
“Who are you running away from?”, YamaP asked with a grin while he unfolded the piece of paper Ryo had given him.
“From Koyama”, Ryo answered and YamaP began to read:
„Itsunomanika toshi wo kasane
seken de iu rippana otona da ne
shinjitekita koto wa sorezore ni
yuzurenai bubun mo sorezore ni
muri ni hitotsu ni narazuni
mazariaenai hi wa sono mama de ii
hitori hitori ga motsu iro dakara
azayakana MA-BURU wo egakeba ii
Before we realized it we've grown and become what society calls splendid adults
We each came holding our own beliefs
we each had things we couldn't convey
Not forcing ourselves to become one
days we can't mingle together, that's fine as it is
because it's the color every single one of us holds
to draw a brilliant marble
“Wow!“ YamaP was speechless for a moment. „That’s... pretty... profound.“
“I know.“ Ryo looked around again and kept his sentences short as if he could be attacked any second.
“Why are you running away from Koyama?”
“Don’t let him read this when I’m around!” YamaP blinked confused, so Ryo snored derisively. “I’m sorry but I cannot stand grown-up men crying their eyes out because of some nice blah blah.”
This moment, YamaP smiled at him. “Oh Ryo...”
“Shut up, will you?!”
When YamaP had dinner with Jin at some small restaurant, telling him about NEWS’ little project, Jin’s reaction was pretty predictable. “You sure are weird, aren’t you? Are you changing into Kanjani8 part 2?”
“I don’t think so”, YamaP answered matter-of-factly. “We can read.”
“Hehe... touché!” He raised his glass so that YamaP smiled reserved. Then his mobile went off. When he had a look at the display, it was a strange picture of Massu he could not remember having taken. How did such a picture... okay. YamaP decided this moment that he definitely would wring Tegoshi’s neck. But before that happened, he would learn to not have his mobile lying around. He answered anyway.
“It’s finished! It’s done!” It was Massu’s voice. „You are the BEST leader! Thank you!”
YamaP smiled sheepishly. “You’re... welcome... So you got them to help you?“
„Yes, I have-“
Suddenly there was noise, then a repressed “Hey!” and then Tegoshi’s voice: “Yamashita-kun! Listen, we wrote these lyrics for Massu!” He began to sing with maximum volume right away - as usual.
„Dakishimetai na tte itte
itsumo kokoro no naka made sarechatte
SUTE-JI wo minna de tsukutte
"arigatou" itsu no hi mo kanshashite
ureshii kimochi mo BAREBARE
kyou mo hashagisugichatte YAREYARE
koko ni kite isshoni utaou
anata no utagoe wo kikasete ne
Saying, "I'd like to hold you", always in the bottom of my heart
We all created the stage together, "thank you" I'll always be greatful
My happy feelings so obvious, I got carried away today too
Come here, let's sing together, let me hear your singing voice
“Isn’t it nice? It’s totally Massu! Now we only need your lyrics and a title and we’re dooone~“
“Tegoshi! You cannot just steal people’s mobile phones!”, Shige was to be heard in the background, they suddenly Tegoshi began to laugh.
“Kei-chan, stop it! Please! Stop ihihihih~it!”, many-voiced giggling, then «Now! Take it away from him!!!» from Koyama, then even more noise, then Shige’s voice: “I’m sorry we disturbed you. It’s just that Massu was so relieved.”
“It’s... okay.“ Then something came to his mind. “Just tell me, how come Tegoshi is with you?“
Shige sighed. “Because he’s a pain? Because he’s annoying us? Because he’s being useless?“
“Thought so...“
“Anyway, have a nice evening!“ There was the sound of something bursting in the background.
“You... too?” YamaP hang up the phone and just shook his head. Jin looked at him with raised eyebrows. “Really? You guys sell singles?”
YamaP reached for his beer.
“Really? You actually know the names of your bandmates?”
Jin began to laugh again.
Yes. Ryo was completely right. Everyone in NEWS was different, but oddly enough their colours mixed into something that was beautiful nevertheless. NEWS had developed. The members had grown closer to each other, argued with each other and grown because of each other. With mixed feelings YamaP noticed that somewhere in this play of colours he was supposed to be “leader” although his role was not bigger than anyone else’s. For a not insignificant part, he had been a lousy leader. Ryo and Koyama had done a lot more for NEWS, he knew. But there was one thing that he was certain about now. He definitely would not lose any more members. He had made this vow to himself when the six of them were standing together in the Tokyo Dome after their one year break and he was able to experience Ryo’s broad grin, Koyama’s flabby dancing, Shige’s unskilful attempts of being cool, Massus super hyper waving and jumping and Tegoshi’s voice once again.
So it wasn’t too difficult to think of his own lyrics for the song.
„Kanashii toki datte
waratte naite naite wasureyou
youji mo nai noni atsumatte
imi no nai kaiwa ni zutto waratte ne
tatoe hanaretatte
kokoro wa hitotsu ni tsunagatteru yo
zutto soba ni, Oh I promise you“
Even in sad moments, laughing, crying, crying let's forget
Coming together even though we have no business to do
laughing at meaningless conversations
Even if we grew apart, our hearts remain connected as one
I'll always be next to you, I promise you
Ryo really was right. It was a creepy situation when you’re confronted with a grown-up man who despairingly tries not to cry.
“So all we need now is a title”, he said, kind of overmotivated.
“Shige?”
“I don’t know... I thought about it but nothing was really good.”
“Share.” This sudden suggestion came from someone YamaP hadn’t even counted on joining the title discussion. It was Ryo. Five pairs of eyes starred at him confused.
“What?!”, he snapped at them. “It is something we all share, right? I have to smoke!”
Then he rushed out of the room, YamaP close behind him. He really didn’t want to be around a crying Koyama.
Author: Ki-el
Rating: G
Pairing: none? O_o
Genre: Friendship, Comedy
Summary: The famous “Share” song… and how I imagine it originated. It starts with Shige’s stolen notebook, involves a sleepy Koyama, a lot of Tegoshi’s singing, a wise leader and Ryo on the run.
Comment: I used the lyrics and translations I found in suketeru 's journal ( go here).
And if you liked the fanfiction, please take a look at eska1306 's Music Video ( go here) which made me write this story in the first place. ^^
Yamashita Tomohisa had no idea about what was going to happen. It was a quite rare situation that Tegoshi and Shige wanted something from him. Like... together... and the same thing. That was definitely uncommon. A little bit frightening, too, since the combination of reasonable argumentation and puppy eyes, of logic and “logic” would probably be quite hard to take when one didn’t want to give in.
Their tour started two days ago and right now they had a break between two shows. Massu was in the next room doing push-ups, Koyama was resting on some bench, a towel lying over his eyes, and he was totally “off” - for a change. Ryo was outside smoking and YamaP just wanted to join him when the two youngest band members stopped him to have a talk. Normally - based on his experiences - Shige would be learning, reading or keeping Koyama company taking a nap while Tegoshi would be nagging either Massu or some poor, defenceless staff member since he’s always extremely hyper after concerts.
But... instead of all these ‘usual’s and ‘normally’s, the two of them were asking to have a talk with him.
“So, what is it?”, YamaP asked and leaned against the table. He really had no idea - not the faintest. The way the both of them were standing there seemed like they - for once - were not quarrelling.
“You see... since it’s mainly your business after all, we wanted to ask if...”
Shige seemed really insecure. Okay, he often was, for instance when he hadn’t Koyama as a back-up or when he was talking about subjects he was not really sure about or generally around his senpais.
“Exactly! We are so considerate!“, Tegoshi added with an appealing smile and YamaP knew right this moment: if Tegoshi had it his way, the whole world would already know what Shige wanted to discuss with YamaP first.
“Anyway... recently you are always humming this melody to yourself, right?”
YamaP frowned. “What?”
“You know, something like lalalalaaa~”, Tegoshi began to sing at the top of his voice right away.
Now YamaP recognized it. Right, recently there was this melody in his head. It somehow sounded nice and it was sneaking its way back into his thoughts again and again.
“So?”, he asked when Tegoshi had stopped singing. He still didn’t know what Shige was getting at.
“Somehow... it is stuck in my head and-“
“Shige wrote lyrics! Isn’t that cool? Shige’s a genius, isn’t he?“
YamaP knew Shige well enough to know that he was torn between being angry and bashful, so he just ignored Tegoshi’s comment.
“So you wrote lyrics. Can I see them?”
“Here you are.” Shige handed YamaP a strictly folded piece of paper with a few lines on it, written in neat hand-writing.
“Listen, listen~ Shige thought we’ll go with this:”, and Tegoshi began to sing:
„Surechigai yuku kaze no naka de
bokura wa naze deaetan darou
onaji hoshi ga ima mieru nara
bokura wa tada sore dake de ii
Just only stars...
blinking always breathe in us
Why did we meet within the crossing winds
If the same stars are visible to us, we're happy just by that
Just only stars...
blinking always breathe in us
“Great, ne?”
Of course Tegoshi was talking about his own singing. Anyway, YamaP nodded slowly. It was perfect. The text was fitting the melody as well as the feeling he linked to this song.
“Well done, Katou-kun.”
“Thank you.” Shige appeared to be a little bit embarrassed.
„Anyway... I figured you might as well use it. I have no idea whether you want to perform it or not or whatever.”
“Why don’t we turn this into a group song?”, said a sleepy voice from behind, followed by yawning. Koyama had entered the room through the ajar door without being noticed. He still seemed to be half asleep.
YamaP could only shake his head about this guy. He was more asleep than awake but his first thought above everything else was the group, friendship, member ai.
“Did we wake you up, Kei-chan?”, Tegoshi asked.
Of course the answer was: Yes, Tegoshi, YOU woke him up with your loud singing. But Koyama just waved his hand, stumbled, leaned against the door case and said: “When I heard the lyrics right now, I thought that it fits NEWS... kind of.” He rubbed the sleep out of his eyes.
YamaP blinked. “You’re right... actually.“
Shige nodded, too. „I just thought these are lyrics you can apply to nearly anything. Romance, friendship, any person that is important to you.”
“Right! Everyone, let’s do this!” Tegoshi was hooked by the idea right the moment he heard about it. “Everyone write their own lyrics! That’s going to be so much fun! Yay! Allow it, Yamashita-kun! Please dooo~“
There was a lot of twinkling and fluttering that YamaP did not interrupt just because he knew that Tegoshi enjoyed begging way too much. YamaP never thought about getting in the way in the first place. So he mentally counted up to five and then he “gave in”.
“Yaaa~y! I’ll go and tell Massu!” Whoosh - and he was gone.
For a second there was silence to let the (glittering) dust Tegoshi had stirred up when he left, settle. After that, YamaP began to smile.
“You’ve got too much time on your hands, don’t you, Katou-kun?”
“I don’t know.” Shige shrugged and smiled back. “I couldn’t get the melody out of my head, so the lyrics fell into place all by themselves.“
With “all by themselves”, Shige actually meant Koyama, YamaP figured, because it was obvious that Shige had to keep himself from looking at his best friend while saying this.
“Next time, I’ll write the melody and you write the lyrics for me, okay?”, Koyama smiled weakly and then leaned on Shige with both of his arms thrown around the younger one’s shoulders. He definitely was still “off”, YamaP figured.
“Yeah, sure, as if you could write melodies.“
“I can do it… I can…” Koyama’s eyes were half closed again and he began to fall asleep as if hanging on Shige’s shoulders was the most comfortable place in the world. Shige on the other hand didn’t seem to mind carrying 60 kilograms either. So he unhurriedly started to drag Koyama out of the room.
“First of all, you should learn your monologues for SOORU”, he mentioned amused. Koyama appeared to be offended, but whatever he did answer, it wasn’t understandable enough for Shige to actually care.
Just when the two of them reached the door, something came to YamaP’s mind.
“Katou-kun?”
“Hm?” Shige turned around, taking extra care not to bang Koyama’s shoulder against the door case.
“Was there any deeper meaning in Tegoshi’s appearance right now?”
“Oh. No... there wasn’t. He’d just stolen my notebook - again - and so…”
He could have figured, YamaP thought.
YamaP had never even considered that Koyama would take long. Twenty-four hours tops, he’d thought. But in the end, Koyama exceeded all his expectations by far. When he turned his mobile on the next morning at ten, the first thing that came in was Koyama’s mail. «I did it! I’ll show you today before the concert, okay? ^_~
K.»
When YamaP read the text Koyama had given to him then (and was only slightly distracted by Tegoshi who was trying to sneak a peek, too, and who therefore had his chin on YamaP’s shoulder and his head against his), he couldn’t help but smile. It had been so predictable that Koyama wouldn’t have any big problems.
„kazoekirenai deai no naka de
bokura wa deatte nakama ni natte
ironna kanjou wakeatte kagayaku asu e mukaunda
tsurai toki wa isshoni nakou
tanoshii toki wa tomo ni waraou
minna no ai to egao de
bokua wa zutto yasashiku narerundayo
Among the countless encounters we met and became friends
we share different emotions and face the shining tomorrow
In tough times let's cry together, in happy times let's laugh together
With everyone's love and smiles I can always be gentle
„I’m sorry that it’s written on such a ripped sheet of paper but it was the only slip I could find.” Koyama smiles helplessly but YamaP only gave him a wave of the hand. “It’s okay.” But it was only now that he realized what Koyama’s words meant. Obviously Koyama had written all of this at one go. He hadn’t thrown dozens of balled up notes into the trash before he came up with this, but he did it... just like this.
Koyama’s huge amount of member ai could be scary at times.
“Awwww~” Tegoshi commented, let go of YamaP and hugged Koyama instead.”Kei-chan, you are so nice!”
“Hehehe...”, Koyama smiled bashfully.
“Seems like the song’s general meaning is determined then?”
“Wait!” Tegoshi jumped up, snatched the paper from YamaP and went to a quite corner to sit down. For the next fifteen minutes only Tegoshi’s gentle humming filled the room. YamaP used this quiet time to think about what to write in his nikki, he mailed with Jin, arranged a meeting for dinner later, surfed the web...
Then, Tegoshi suddenly jumped up. “Done!”
Proud as a 5-year-old who had just finished a drawing (what hadn’t been his task, fortunately), Tegoshi gave his slip of paper to YamaP.
„Kimi to deai
soshite nakiwarattari suru hyoujou mo
subete ga boku no takaramono
zutto zutto arukitsuzukete ikou
Meeting you, and seeing your laughing and crying expressions
all of it is my treasure
Always always let's continue walking on
Of course Tegoshi didn’t have any problems. There aren’t many things he’s having problems with to start with - except for drawing, of course.
“That’s really good”, YamaP commented.
“Isn’t it? Isn’t it?!“ Tegoshi sat up straight and stretched. “Gosh, that was fun.” Then he smiled at YamaP. It was a very special, rare type of smile, YamaP noticed a bit astonished, since for once it was not to force his will onto others or to make people like him. “There are not many occasions to say something like this, right?”
And so he bounced away, probably to go on Shige’s or Massu’s nerves.
The day after, he got another sheet of paper from Shige.
„Te wo tsunagi hitoride kangaeru atarimae no youni omoeru
kyouyuu shiteru oto.kaze.hikari
awasete hitotsu no michi ni kawari
sarani tsuzuku mieru hodo
dakara iu 10 nengo mo
ima mademo kore kara mo itsumademo
tonari ni itekurete arigatou!
Holding hands, I think on my own
right now it feels natural
The sound, wind, light we share
come together and change into one road
going further on as far as the eye can see,
that's why I say even after 10 years
until now, from now on, forever
thank you for being next to me
Oh Shige.
YamaP looked up from the piece of paper and gave Shige a questioning look. “Don’t you think it’s a little bit too obvious?” Why didn’t he just go to Shonen Club and wrote Koyama a <3 letter?
“I thought...”, Shige wanted to explain himself but he was interrupted by Koyama who was on the other side of the door.
“Shige! Open the door! I’ve got two cups of coffee in my hands! Shigeee! Shigeeeheee~”
That’s when YamaP could not refrain from laughing anymore. He would not understand the two of them. End of story.
“Alright, alright, Katou-kun. Sounds good.” He meant the lyrics.
“Thank you.“ Shige grinned and turned around. “Gosh, yes!“ He opened the door and let Koyama in. “You are such a pain, Koyama.”
„But... I’ve got coffee...“
On the next day, YamaP found Massu totally grounded sitting on the floor. He had a little writing pad on his lap, a pencil in his hand and an expression on his face as if he would start crying any second now.
“Something... happened?”
Then it did happen.
Massu looked at him.
Damn. Tegoshi’s begging eyes are one thing but Massu’s wet eyes, looking up at you... that’s definitely deadly! Not even the blackest heart in the world (and that’s Jin’s) could stand such a sight.
“I... cannot think of anything...“
“You mean the lyrics?”
“Yes...”
“But you don’t have to be so stressed out. I’m not ready with my lyrics either. It’s the same with Ryo-chan.”
“Nishikido-kun finished his lyrics two days ago. He just doesn’t want to show you yet. I think he doesn’t want to seem too eager…”
YamaP rolled his eyes. That’s so Ryo. But how did Massu know? He could give no account of it but that Tegoshi probably had caught Ryo red-handed or something like this. You can never feel save when Tegoshi’s around.
“Listen...” YamaP squat down next to Massu and smiled at him. ”You don’t have to do it alone. Just ask KoyaShige!“ The two of them had so much member ai that it would even be enough for KAT-TUN... and that he just said «KoyaShige» emphasised it even more.
Massu looked at him with big eyes. “I... could do that.”
“Sure you can. They will be happy to help you.”
“Okay.... so... I’ll ask them.“ This thought made his face brighten up. „Yes!“
YamaP smiled sheepishly. Massu was far from being stupid but sometimes he was a bit slow on the uptake.
“Take it!” Ryo looked left and right as if something was out to hunt him.
“Who are you running away from?”, YamaP asked with a grin while he unfolded the piece of paper Ryo had given him.
“From Koyama”, Ryo answered and YamaP began to read:
„Itsunomanika toshi wo kasane
seken de iu rippana otona da ne
shinjitekita koto wa sorezore ni
yuzurenai bubun mo sorezore ni
muri ni hitotsu ni narazuni
mazariaenai hi wa sono mama de ii
hitori hitori ga motsu iro dakara
azayakana MA-BURU wo egakeba ii
Before we realized it we've grown and become what society calls splendid adults
We each came holding our own beliefs
we each had things we couldn't convey
Not forcing ourselves to become one
days we can't mingle together, that's fine as it is
because it's the color every single one of us holds
to draw a brilliant marble
“Wow!“ YamaP was speechless for a moment. „That’s... pretty... profound.“
“I know.“ Ryo looked around again and kept his sentences short as if he could be attacked any second.
“Why are you running away from Koyama?”
“Don’t let him read this when I’m around!” YamaP blinked confused, so Ryo snored derisively. “I’m sorry but I cannot stand grown-up men crying their eyes out because of some nice blah blah.”
This moment, YamaP smiled at him. “Oh Ryo...”
“Shut up, will you?!”
When YamaP had dinner with Jin at some small restaurant, telling him about NEWS’ little project, Jin’s reaction was pretty predictable. “You sure are weird, aren’t you? Are you changing into Kanjani8 part 2?”
“I don’t think so”, YamaP answered matter-of-factly. “We can read.”
“Hehe... touché!” He raised his glass so that YamaP smiled reserved. Then his mobile went off. When he had a look at the display, it was a strange picture of Massu he could not remember having taken. How did such a picture... okay. YamaP decided this moment that he definitely would wring Tegoshi’s neck. But before that happened, he would learn to not have his mobile lying around. He answered anyway.
“It’s finished! It’s done!” It was Massu’s voice. „You are the BEST leader! Thank you!”
YamaP smiled sheepishly. “You’re... welcome... So you got them to help you?“
„Yes, I have-“
Suddenly there was noise, then a repressed “Hey!” and then Tegoshi’s voice: “Yamashita-kun! Listen, we wrote these lyrics for Massu!” He began to sing with maximum volume right away - as usual.
„Dakishimetai na tte itte
itsumo kokoro no naka made sarechatte
SUTE-JI wo minna de tsukutte
"arigatou" itsu no hi mo kanshashite
ureshii kimochi mo BAREBARE
kyou mo hashagisugichatte YAREYARE
koko ni kite isshoni utaou
anata no utagoe wo kikasete ne
Saying, "I'd like to hold you", always in the bottom of my heart
We all created the stage together, "thank you" I'll always be greatful
My happy feelings so obvious, I got carried away today too
Come here, let's sing together, let me hear your singing voice
“Isn’t it nice? It’s totally Massu! Now we only need your lyrics and a title and we’re dooone~“
“Tegoshi! You cannot just steal people’s mobile phones!”, Shige was to be heard in the background, they suddenly Tegoshi began to laugh.
“Kei-chan, stop it! Please! Stop ihihihih~it!”, many-voiced giggling, then «Now! Take it away from him!!!» from Koyama, then even more noise, then Shige’s voice: “I’m sorry we disturbed you. It’s just that Massu was so relieved.”
“It’s... okay.“ Then something came to his mind. “Just tell me, how come Tegoshi is with you?“
Shige sighed. “Because he’s a pain? Because he’s annoying us? Because he’s being useless?“
“Thought so...“
“Anyway, have a nice evening!“ There was the sound of something bursting in the background.
“You... too?” YamaP hang up the phone and just shook his head. Jin looked at him with raised eyebrows. “Really? You guys sell singles?”
YamaP reached for his beer.
“Really? You actually know the names of your bandmates?”
Jin began to laugh again.
Yes. Ryo was completely right. Everyone in NEWS was different, but oddly enough their colours mixed into something that was beautiful nevertheless. NEWS had developed. The members had grown closer to each other, argued with each other and grown because of each other. With mixed feelings YamaP noticed that somewhere in this play of colours he was supposed to be “leader” although his role was not bigger than anyone else’s. For a not insignificant part, he had been a lousy leader. Ryo and Koyama had done a lot more for NEWS, he knew. But there was one thing that he was certain about now. He definitely would not lose any more members. He had made this vow to himself when the six of them were standing together in the Tokyo Dome after their one year break and he was able to experience Ryo’s broad grin, Koyama’s flabby dancing, Shige’s unskilful attempts of being cool, Massus super hyper waving and jumping and Tegoshi’s voice once again.
So it wasn’t too difficult to think of his own lyrics for the song.
„Kanashii toki datte
waratte naite naite wasureyou
youji mo nai noni atsumatte
imi no nai kaiwa ni zutto waratte ne
tatoe hanaretatte
kokoro wa hitotsu ni tsunagatteru yo
zutto soba ni, Oh I promise you“
Even in sad moments, laughing, crying, crying let's forget
Coming together even though we have no business to do
laughing at meaningless conversations
Even if we grew apart, our hearts remain connected as one
I'll always be next to you, I promise you
Ryo really was right. It was a creepy situation when you’re confronted with a grown-up man who despairingly tries not to cry.
“So all we need now is a title”, he said, kind of overmotivated.
“Shige?”
“I don’t know... I thought about it but nothing was really good.”
“Share.” This sudden suggestion came from someone YamaP hadn’t even counted on joining the title discussion. It was Ryo. Five pairs of eyes starred at him confused.
“What?!”, he snapped at them. “It is something we all share, right? I have to smoke!”
Then he rushed out of the room, YamaP close behind him. He really didn’t want to be around a crying Koyama.