[Fanfiction] Hadashi no Cinderella Boy [5/6]
CHAPTER 5: Cinderella Boy
The following months were busy for NEWS. Aside from the obligatory promotional performances and guest slots on various TV shows and specials, they had started their fourty-seven prefecture concert tour which took them all around Japan to perform for their fans. Every concert was sold out and the boys were all excited about it. They all worked very hard to make each concert and performance special. After all, this was their chance to re-establish themselves in the Japanese music scene after a year-long hiatus. The boys were surprised, and grateful, that their fans waited for them so long. They were nervous about how they were going to be received after their break, because sometimes, all it took was a few months break to kill a fandom.
No one in the group thought about this more than Kato Shigeaki. He knew that this was his one chance to re-introduce himself to the fans and he was going to grab it. He knew more than anyone in the group the pain of being forgotten and he was going to make sure that it wouldn’t happen to him ever again. He wanted to establish himself as an important member of NEWS and not only that guy with the dark hair.
Today, they were at the set of Utaban, hosted by their sempai from SMAP: Nakai Masahiro and Ishibashi Taka-san. He was both excited and nervous about being on Utaban because it was a very fun show to be on. He always remembered that the hosts liked to not embarrass their guests, but make them do the most insane things. He also remembered the first times they were on there as NEWS and how much they had fun with the show. Uchi Hiroki and Kusano Hironori were still with them too. He sighed and thought about them. He knew that Notti was alright and that the boy was now attending Hosei University’s Art Department, but he didn’t know much about Uchi.
It was fifteen minutes until they were going on the air and he was already ready. His hair was now perfectly styled and he had some skillfully put make-up on. He had been very careful about his looks lately. He wanted to look good for each performance so people would remember him. As he stared into the mirror, he thought about how he could improve himself. He was deciding whether to cut his hair or not, and what style he wanted it to be when he heard the door slam. He turned around do find Tegoshi running after Masuda in an attempt to retrieve what appears to be a hairbrush.
“What are you guys doing?” Shige asked as Massu hid behind him. “Why aren’t you guys ready? Fifteen minutes until showtime!”
“I would be ready, but Massu took my brush!” Tegoshi Yuya complained as he reached around him to grab at Massu who dodged each grab with ease.
“Why do you want this brush anyway? There are like a million brushes on the counter!” Massu smiled and settled down on a chair to start getting ready for the show.
“Then give me that and use one of the others!” Tegoshi said as he finally got the coveted brush. He looked at Shige who was staring at him quizzically. “I want this brush because Nishikido-kun used it. I thought if I used it too, some of the cool would rub off on me.”
Shige and Massu looked at each other and rolled their eyes at the boy but didn’t say anything. Massu simply started to brush his hair and Shige stood up and left the room. If there was one thing he didn’t want rubbing off him, it’s Tegoshi’s idiocy.
He opened the door to the greenroom where he found Nishikido Ryo and Yamashita Tomohisa watching the show on the big screen plasma TV that was set up for the guests. Ryo was only half watching as he was scribbling something down on his palm pilot. He watched him with admiration. Nishikido-kun was always busy and Shige thought that it was so cool. He sat down at the end of the couch and looked around. One member was missing. Where was Koyama anyway?
“Nee, Yamashita-kun, do you know where Koyama is?” Shige asked the NEWS leader who was spaced out as usual as he subconsciously did arm curls as he watched.
“Huh?” Yamashita Tomohisa broke out of his reverie. He always appeared spaced out backstage, maybe because he was thinking about a lot of things. “Oh, Keii-chan? I thought I saw him talking to the director or something about the stage thing. He’s out there.” He pointed out the door casually and then returned to his previous spaced-out state.
“Ah, thanks,” Shige said and then returned to watching the show. What he wanted to talk about with Koyama wasn’t a matter of consequence so it could wait. Besides, it was a rare moment in his life that he could watch television. Utaban was hilarious as usual. Shige was convinced Nakai-sempai and Taka-san were the best comedic hosts in the world. He was totally engrossed in the show when his best friend appeared at the door.
“Are you guys ready? Five minutes, let’s get backstage,” Koyama said to them as he went to the other room to fetch Tegoshi and Masuda.
Ryo turned his gadget off and slid it into his bag and smiled at Shige. “Ready, Shige? Let’s go do this.”
Shige nodded and smiled at his self-claimed aniki. “Hai, coming.”
Soon after, NEWS was on the air. Ryo was now defending himself against Nakai-sempai who kept on calling him “Sole of Foot,” since the other way of writing Nishikido meant something like that. Shige laughed as he listened to them banter and waited for his turn patiently to speak. Finally when his turn came, Nakai-sempai made a play of forgetting Shige’s name and calling him Sato-kun instead of Kato. Shige sighed but didn’t say anything and instead reasoned out to Nakai.
After the talk and performance (which went off without a hitch, the boys were back in a bus that took them back to their rehearsal area for the next concert. Shige was now quiet as Koyama Keiichiro and the boys talked loudly about the appearance. He was thinking about what Nakai-sempai did. Was he really that forgettable? Maybe it was time to change things around. He looked at his reflection on the window and mentally vowed to start his reformation. He felt like Cinderella trying to get to the ball - now all he needed was a magic spell.
☆彡 ★彡 ☆彡
Shige tried not to think about the Utaban incident too hard and tried to work hard. He had undergone several minor and major changes to his look and image as he experimented with looks that would flatter him and would be his own special look. He wanted to have a look that would be remembered, like Ryo and Yamapi’s. He wanted something trademarked that people would look at it once and know immediately that it was him instead of figuring it out after a long time. He wanted to stand out from the group, have his own identity and make his name known to all fans.
These were his thoughts as he stood on stand-by in one of their concerts where he was to perform Kakao, his solo. He breathed in as the lights dimmed, allowing him to run onstage to sing the sexy song that he had written for the concert. As he performed, he made sure he mimicked the sexy moves that he saw while watching some western artists perform and this produced a squeal from the fans. This amused and excited him - he loved that sound. Maybe, he should do that more often.
As the performance ended and he ran offstage to prepare for the next segment of the concert, Shige grinned like a madman. He was in a performance high and he wanted to keep the feeling forever.
☆彡 ★彡 ☆彡
The next day, Shige was seated once again in front of a mirror putting on his hair and make up for another performance of Hoshi wo Mezashite. The rest of the boys were in the room but none were getting ready yet. They had about an hour until call time and for those boys, that was eternity. He knew that Ryo-aniki didn’t need a lot of time to get ready, he already looked cool anyway (like he did all the time) and Yamapi only did his hair and put some make up on quickly. Keii-chan was also quick in preparing so he didn’t need to worry about him and the same with Massu. But Tegoshi, like him, had been more concerned with his image and needed a little more time to prepare. But the boy was not budging from the corner where he sat, and he rolled his eyes.
“Tegoshi, I’m not doing your hair and make-up today,” Shige told the boy who looked up at him with a little boy pout on his face.
“Why not, Shigeko?” Tegoshi whined.
“Do it yourself,” Shige said as he started waxing his hair.
“But you’re so good at it.” Tegoshi was getting more pouty now.
“That’s why you have to learn.”
“Shige’s right Tego-nyan.” Ryo’s voice piped up from the couch where he sat with his laptop, typing something furiously. “You need to learn how to do it yourself. You can’t depend on Shige all the time. He’s not your stylist.”
Tegoshi pouted more at this. “But, I always look like an idiot when I do my hair. I really don’t know what looks good on me. Please Shige?”
Shige turned toward Tegoshi and stared at him with a blank stare. “No.”
Tegoshi stared back at him. “Why not?! I won’t bother you if you tell me why not.”
“Because you have to find your own style. It’s not something I can give you,” Shige said as he finished his hair. He smiled at Tegoshi before standing up and leaving the room to find some food. He was hungry and a quick snack would tide him over until after the performance.
The boys eyes followed Shige with as he left the room. When he was gone, there was a few moments of silence before Yamapi’s voice broke it.
“Was it just me or did Shige seem extremely cool just now?” he asked echoing the thoughts everyone had in their heads.
☆彡 ★彡 ☆彡
Shige’s change became more apparent as the days passed. It seemed that every performance, Shige had done something new to his hair, his clothes style or his manner of speaking. He had become more noticeable and people had started to talk. There were more pictures of him in magazines now and people talked about his amazing transformation in concert reviews. The members had noticed it one day as they travelled from Hiroshima to Miyajima. The fourty-seven prefecture tour was well on its way and they were on the Chugoku leg.
Shige reclined on his seat, reading his notes as the others were talking about the last concert. They were talking about something that Ryo received from a fan. It seemed that one of Ryo’s fans from Hiroshima had stitched a resemblance of Ryo’s face onto cloth and they were all very impressed. Shige put his notes down for a minute and looked back at the stitched picture with a tinge of jealousy. He wished that he had fans as dedicated as Ryo-aniki’s. The most he had gotten from fans lately were stuffed animals, pillows or that scarf (that was way too short) and while those were received with much appreciation, he wished that someone would work as hard for him as the girl who did Ryo’s picture did.
Ryo smiled at it appreciatively; Shige wanted to feel what Ryo was feeling at that moment - that feeling of total accomplishment because someone appreciated you fully. Shige sighed and the older boy didn’t miss this.
“What’s on your mind, Shige? Isn’t it great?” Ryo asked smiling at the prize.
“Yeah, it is. Imagine someone working so diligently on stitching that.” Shige smiled. “You have dedicated fan’s Ryo-aniki.”
“That or they were extremely bored.” Yamapi’s voice was heard from behind them. “There’s nothing to do in Hiroshima, anyway! I mean, if they had something to do, they wouldn’t waste time on stitching Ryo’s face, wouldn’t they?”
At this, Ryo put down the picture carefully beside him and turned around to glare and then kick his friend. Trust Yamashita to ruin the moment for him. “At least I get hardworking fans, what has your fans ever given you but food?”
Everyone laughed as Yamapi frowned. “I get hand made gifts. I got a knitted scarf once.”
“I remember that, it’s was pink!” Ryo laughed as the others joined him while Yamapi slunk back into his seat defeated.
Shige shook his head and went back to his notes. Maybe soon he’d be the same as them. Maybe soon there would be a fan-gift that he will treasure.
☆彡 ★彡 ☆彡
A few days later, Kato Shigeaki smiled as he entered the fan mail room at Johnny’s Entertainment offices. He had a few hours to kill until his next engagement and he intended to use it wisely. The girls at the desk waved to him and brought his latest pile of mail to the table. He was pleasantly surprised that instead of handing him just a few letters or a folder, they brought in a fairly large basket of mail that was half-filled with presents and letters that his fans sent him. He stared at it and felt a sense of accomplishment. His hard work was paying off. He reached down to the basket and began to open some of the presents given to him. It was the usual, some guitar picks, some cute girly made things, chocolate and some notebooks filled with poems dedicated to him. His fans were so dedicated and he appreciated each sentiment that they did. He noticed a fairly large package buried in the package and fished it out. He opened it slowly, thinking that someone might have knitted him a scarf like last Christmas. He liked fan made things because he felt that they spent a lot of time and love on them.
Upon opening the package, Shige gasped. The present was a plush doll made in his image, of him in his Happy Music costume. This made him almost cry as he studied the clumsy stitches that the girl had made and imagined that she worked hard on it. Each stitch was made with the wish that he would like it and maybe she pricked her fingers as she worked on it. He closed his eyes as he held the plush to his heart. He knew that the fan who made this had spent a lot of time and effort to make this for him - as all his other fans who gave him home-made presents and he wanted to reciprocate their feelings by working hard for them as well.
He took the letter that came with the package and read it carefully. He was grinning from ear to ear and felt extremely happy. The love of his fans was overwhelming as he made a silent promise not to ever disappoint them and instead give them someone that they could be proud of.
☆彡 ★彡 ☆彡