Phosphorescent Lights: Chapter 15 [1]
Every secret has a price…
Title: Phosphorescent Lights
Summary: A photographer with no memories whose goal in life is to seek out what he has lost; a businessman who swore revenge for the death of his lover while desperately trying to escape his fixated reality. Two entirely different men with entirely different lives bound together by the threads of destiny. But little do the two know that they are bounded together by more than just simple destiny…
Genre: Romance/Drama
Pairings: Akame (primary), Ryoda (secondary) mentions of Jinda, Pin, Ryopi, Kokame, Kamaki
Other Characters: Jin, Kame, Ueda, Yamashita, Ryo, Koki, slight appearances from Taguchi, Nakamaru, Shige, Ayase, Tegoshi
Content: Romance, drama, AU [Alternate Universe]
Author: Nerd-san
Disclaimer: I am not in any way affiliated with Johnny Entertainment
…are they willing to pay it?
Phosphorescent Lights: Chapter 15 [1]
Three Years Later
“The president’s making his way over here!”
A random voice filled with nothing but raw fear voiced loudly, and at the mention of those words a few of the employee’s faces fell. The cheerful chatter, the hearty atmosphere that had been there a second ago, left.
“President, good morning.”
“Good morning, sir.”
“President! Good morning.”
Jin ignored the uncooked tones and hurried to push his way through the eager employees. He didn’t want to put up with this useless twaddle in the early morning. He made no action to return the greetings as he and his secretary made their way past the staff and headed to his office.
Irritably, he shut the door behind him as his secretary, too, made his way inside. “Jesus,” he let out an exasperated breath, “I want those three fired, do you hear me?”
“Yes, sir.” Tegoshi nodded and made his way out of the office to begin processing the information. Once he had shut the door behind him and was certain there was no one else around, he sighed numbly.
It had been three years since A. Jewelry had been given over to Jin, and somehow, Tegoshi saw this change the man. He hadn’t known him well before, but from the random chatters around the company, he had enough information to develop this fact.
The tyrannous Kitagawa Johnny’s life had been lost to both a mixture of age and lifelong illness and ever since then, it was his step-son, Akanishi Jin, who had retuned to inevitably succeed A. Jewelry.
There were rumors floating around about the ex-CEO’s life at Okinawa but nothing was confirmed for certain. No one, of course, dared to ask the president himself - not even Tegoshi. Although, he had already had his own theories.
Without permission, Akanishi Jin fell in love with a mere commoner but in the end was forced back to Tokyo due to his inevitable connections with A. Jewelry. But Tegoshi didn’t think that Jin was forced back, instead it was something he had chosen on his own accord.
When he had first come back, workers all over the company had rejoiced. Akanishi Jin, the easygoing, playful, and determined Akanishi Jin would be able not only to solve their financial crisis but also becoming the thoughtful president A. Jewelry needed.
The villainous A. Jewelry would be no more after Kitagawa’s reign. They were wrong.
But Jin never married Horikita Maki, even though the two had gone out for half a year after Jin’s return. Still, the two companies had merged nonetheless. It was something everyone thought was for certain - that the two would be married and become the couple of envy across the world.
But they never married.
In fact, they had broken up after nearly seven months of dating. When Jin terminated the relationship, Tegoshi was shocked. Ryo and Ueda, however, were not.
“He never loved her,” Ryo told him one day. “He only went out with her for the sake of the company.” He had thrown Tegoshi the files upon files of proof as well as the agreement that was reached between the two enterprises.
After exactly seven months, the deal would be finalized. After seven months, Jin was free to do as he pleased. Tegoshi never thought that Jin could have been so cunningly cruel, but he was. The utopia the workers had assumed would come with the new president was non-existent.
The first rule the man had put back into place when he had returned was the law that had outlawed radioactive products, namely phosphorescence. Ironically, even though the president himself wore a phosphorescent earring, no one dared to say a thing about the rule.
The ‘Jin’ that had existed three years ago was gone.
When Tegoshi had first come to work at A. Jewelry it had been as a mere low-ranked staff member, but within time his ranks had increased dramatically. Some said it was because he had been dubbed the president’s unconditional ‘favorite’.
Some days - it hadn’t happened for a long time - but some days when Tegoshi passed by the president’s locked office, he could hear muffled sobs that somehow pierced his heart.
He knew what the president wore around the building had been nothing more than a frontage, he had always known this, but to actually hear the totalitarian leader cry was in another world altogether.
They were endless and came in fat gallons and when Jin’s tears had finished, he’d cry another couple of times. Tegoshi didn’t know why. No one in the company did. No one aside Nishikido Ryo and Ueda Tatsuya. But no one dared to ask.
Sometimes, Tegoshi was convinced that the president had been waiting for something; blankly staring out an opened window with his mouth slightly ajar during business meetings.
Ryo had once told Tegoshi that Jin was just stubborn enough to use up a lifetime of longing just waiting for ‘them’ to appear.
Tegoshi couldn’t make head or tails of this aspect. The president he knew was the impatient autocrat, Akanishi Jin. Not the sloppy, easy-going Akanishi Jin who would wait a lifetime for something that wasn’t coming.
“The tear-swept feelings have been buried years ago,” Tegoshi recalled what he thought at the time to be Ryo’s harsh words, “there’s no reason for him to think he can stay on the sidelines of reincarnation.”
The words themselves made very little sense to Tegoshi, but he figured that perhaps the president took them to heart. He couldn’t be sure.
In the president’s office, he recalled now, there had been a photograph hung up. Some sort of prize-winning picture taken in Okinawa - he wasn’t keen on all the details. Once again, they were only from the gossip that drifted around the company.
Some rumors said that the president himself had been the one to take it; other’s said it was by his mysterious lover in Okinawa - if there had even been one.
Nothing was for certain, but Tegoshi believed that it was president himself who had taken it. He had asked the CEO, Nishikido Ryo, but his answer remained vague. He had even been curious enough to try and ask general manager Ueda, but once again the answer wasn’t clear.
It was something that he’d have to ask Jin, they said.
Scruffily, Tegoshi walked down the halls of A. Jewelry and towards his own office to begin filing the president’s request.
He hadn’t known if A. Jewelry had been this cheerless under Kitagawa’s reign; it was something he thought about from time to time.
How could a company with such a sad purpose be so infamous to the outside world, yet so notorious to those actually working in it?
Tegoshi opened the door to his own office and scrunched his eyes to adjust to the dim lighting of the place. Had this place always been so lightless?
Listlessly, he propped his flat body against his chair and began to take out the three employee’s files. He hadn’t known them personally, now scanning through the names and the identification pictures, but that hadn’t made his job any easier.
Tegoshi wondered if these people had families, if they were husbands or brothers, sons, fathers. In the end, he couldn’t do it. He couldn’t bring himself up to fire three innocent people who had done nothing at all but warrant the president’s usually grumpy mood with their greetings.
He put the files back and took out his own piece of paper and the pen from his business suit. It had been coming for a while and no matter how much he had liked talking to both the CEO and the general manager, Tegoshi knew that he could no longer do any of it.
And so, he wrote. His fingers were aching by the time he had finished and he was unsure of how much time had passed, exactly. Albeit feeling relived, he felt a little nervous.
The abrupt knock on the door didn’t help ease Tegoshi’s nerves as he nearly jumped out of his chair, grabbing onto the edge of the desk to balance himself.
The knocker didn’t waste their time with formalities or introducing themselves as they pushed through the door with their threateningly black business suit being the only thing Tegoshi could use to identify them.
He hid the letter under his desk. “Y-Yes?”
“I’m heading out.” Jin’s tone was its usual calm, emotionless self.
Tegoshi’s fingers shook a little as he made quick work to open a drawer and silently shove the letter inside. “Is that so?”
Jin nodded brusquely from his position at the door. “Yes, so don’t try to look for me in my office. I’ll be back later.”
“Okay.”
Jin didn’t bother to close the door behind him as he left, leaving it lightly ajar and Tegoshi finally let out the shaky breath he had been holding, squeezing his fingers and forcing them motionless.
He didn’t want to fire the employees. He couldn’t tell Jin this. He also didn’t care if it would cost him his own job; Tegoshi shoved the letter back into its rightful place atop the desk and stood up.
It was coming and it was coming by a long shot. He was really going to miss the few people he had befriended in the company, too: Ryo, Ueda, Nakamaru and Taguchi.
On his way out of the dark office, Tegoshi stopped at the door and flickered on the lights. He was going to leave this place.
He smiled wistfully at the letter of resignation he had been hiding on the desk and turned to head out. A. Jewelry was too dark for him.
Jin made his way back to his large, overpriced office and let out the sigh he had been holding for too long. He heard some shuffling in his secretary’s office but he paid it no attention.
He grabbed the car keys he had instructed someone to leave on his desk and his jacket before making his way out of his office. At the door he paused for a moment to look back at the photograph hanging on the back wall.
He smiled ruefully. That happiness had been too long ago.
Jin miserably made his way out of the building and to his car, being respectfully greeted on his way out. As he had been doing for the past couple of years, he ignored the gestures. They were of no use to him if they were not from Kame.
Three years ago, he promised himself he’d wait. Despite Ryo’s apathy on the matter or Tanaka’s omnipotent presence, Jin promised himself he’d wait for Kame. He already knew the reason why Kame was being silent on the other side of the country. Because Jin had been erased from his life.
Sometimes Jin had wondered if it had accurately been three years since he had last laid eyes on the latter. It didn’t seem possible.
Jin couldn’t remember if that much time had truly passed. The happiness he held in the palm of his hand - had it really been that long ago?
Waking up next to Kame, arguing with Kame, learning more about Kame, being handcuffed to Kame, falling in love with Kame…why was it that that time seemed unreachable to Jin now?
“Jin!”
Jin stopped mid-step and reluctantly turned back. If it were another worker, he had had better things to do. But as soon as the voice registered into his head, he hauled a small sigh of relief. “Oh…Ryo…hey.” He muttered.
Jin slowed and stopped in the hall, allowing his best friend to catch up to him. “Jin, you realize you only have a month right?” blunt and as to the point as ever, Jin thought.
He frowned wearily and ran a hand through his hair. “Ryo, do you seriously have to bring this up every time we talk? God.” Issues as big as this, Ryo never seemed to let go. Jin figured he had a right to, as a friend, but then again there were days Jin simply did not want to hear about it.
Ryo sighed. “I’m only thinking about it because you aren’t. I don’t want you to throw your life away.”
Jin waved away the offer and began to walk past Ryo. “Yeah, yeah. I’ve heard it all. I’ll do something about it, so don’t worry.”
Ryo sighed hopelessly at his friend’s casualness on the subject. “If you say so,” he began off after Jin, “but don’t come crying to me in a month.”
“I haven’t cried in years, you know.” Jin stated plainly, opening the doors to the outside now.
Liar. Ryo sighed for the umpteenth time that day. “Oh really?”
Jin closed his eyes painfully as he stood at the front doors now. He ignored the couple of by-passing employees giving their greetings, but Ryo had returned them.
Jin pursed his lips in a thin line. “Ryo, I appreciate your concern but I don’t want to marry anyone any time soon.”
Ryo opened his mouth to interject, but Jin raised a hand. “No - before you say anything, I know, I know that the agreement was to either make Horikita my bride or get one of my own if I was to dump her, but seriously - I’ll do something about it.”
“The Horikita Company won’t go back on their word Jin; you have until the end of this month. There’s no point in waiting for Kamenashi.” There was no point in trying to hide the fact anymore.
Jin laughed a little, “anyways I’m going out for a ride. G’luck with Tatsuya!”
At the mention of his boyfriend, Ryo flushed a bright pink extracting a few giggles from the passing-by female staff. “H-H-Hey! Geez.” He mumbled, “Avoiding the subject as always…” he sighed again seeing no point in trying to reason with the man.
“Come back soon, Bakanishi!” Ryo called as Jin left.
“I will, Chibi!”
Ryo pouted a little as the females continued to chuckle and walk by. “S-Shut it…”
Outside now, Jin absentmindedly played with the diamond stub on his ear, aimlessly walking towards his car.
When he was at a loss, he would always go driving through the congested streets of Tokyo without much destination. He didn’t need anyone to comfort him. When he became lonely, he’d drive around by himself.
Oddly, he had thought he would develop some sort of fear driving the same red car he had repaired - but he didn’t. That day was a simple, bitter memory now. Just what Kame had been missing. Memories.
In his car now, Jin inattentively continued to fiddle with the earring he had refused to take off, caressing the etched patterns warily.
He knew the Kame now didn’t love him, so that day three years ago, Jin chose to leave without looking back. Before it became dark, he learned to be indifferent.
He promised himself many things. One was that he’d be brave in breaking up. He’d walk away alone. A. Jewelry was in dire need and no matter how much Jin had hated the revolting company, he still felt that sense of duty Ryo knew he would.
Family wasn’t something you just forgot - no matter how much you wanted to.
Sometimes he cursed his friend for being as knowledgeable as he was. Sometimes he was grateful for Ryo’s revived company. Sometimes his feelings for the man were neutral. Sometimes he wanted to simply confide everything in him.
But he didn’t want Ryo to worry about him after dark. After dark, he’d choose to be by himself.
He remembered telling Ryo about Kame’s ring about a year ago. It had been a casual thing that he had simply remembered out of the blue one day. Thinking back now, he had also left his ring with Kame.
He had thought that the information would be nothing more than a meaningless drawl, but Ryo had taken the words to heart.
“You mean Pi’s ring?!”He cried, unsure of how to take the new information.
Jin shrugged, “yeah.”
“Are you sure?! Are you serious?!”
Jin scrunched his face in confusion. What was Ryo being so upbeat about? “Yes. Positive. It was Pi’s. I know it was.”
“Fuck.”
“What?”
“Fucking hell!”
“What?!”
“Are you telling me Kamenashi saved Pi?!” He cried, desperately grabbing a hold of Jin’s collar. “You have got to be kidding me. Jin, tell me you’re kidding me.”
Jin made no attempt to undo the hold. It was comforting in its own twisted way. But he had to admit, he was rather confused. “Ryo what’re you talking about?”
To Jin, love was a tricky word. He wasn’t even sure how one syllable could hold as much meaning as it did. He believed that true love, like what he and Kame had, could not have been truly forgotten; only stored separately for a time.
So Jin had saved Kame who in turn saved Yamashita, who, finally, in turn saved Jin. Although Jin wasn’t sure he could count what he had done as truly ‘saving’ Kame, seeing as his hold on the younger boy had loosened at the last possible minute.
The hope Jin had been seeking…why was it that it always ended in disappointment?
He was sure that their meeting had not been mere coincidence. They were too different yet connected in so many ways for it to be a coincidence.
His life had been fulfilled with Kame. He had found the answers to questions he never thought he would. His life goal, which had been revenge for Yamashita’s sake, had turned out to be future. Kame was his future.
Jin continued driving and even though he should have been concerning himself with matters such as work and stock levels, all his mind could think of was Kame.
Right now, Jin could only gaze at the faraway starlight and wish that, somehow, Kame was still thinking of him.
But then again, even if a sky full of stars were to give Jin a thousand wishes, he would, without hesitation, exchange them all just to have Kame always be by his side.
Some days he tried to hate Kame for forgetting him. Some days he tried to disregard him completely. Most days he had found either option rendered useless by the thought of Kame’s smile.
The last thing he could have done for Kame was wish him an easy recovery. For that, Jin did the only thing he could do. After he had left the hospital, he had gone to Kame’s apartment for the last time, taken the man’s camera and deleted everything.
Every picture, every memory. And he deleted them all.
He figured it would be a lot easier that way. That way Kame would live his life the way he had wanted to and if he had wanted to, come looking for Jin.
In the mornings, he woke up alone wondering where Kame was at that time, who he was with, what he was doing. He wanted to ask Kame if he had remembered him; even the slightest memory of them was fine.
Jin parked his car for a moment and sighed. He was, once again, at a loss. Times like these were the ones wherein the man would sit down and wonder what sort of arguments he and Kame would be having right now.
“Probably complaining about my laziness.” Jin smiled remorsefully at the thought. A ‘thank you’ or a ‘sorry’, which one should it have been? Jin figured both would have been fine. But in the end Jin couldn’t say either. He couldn’t tell Kame either.
Even the miracle of being with Kame for two minutes lingers in his heart. What the photographer gave him then was more precious than anything else.
Tired, Jin sat down dejectedly. Why couldn’t Kame be here? Jin though that he’d definitely be yelling at him to quit being indolent and running away from everything.
They could even talk about something…anything. Even their lives’ agonizing fate?
Jin laughed hoarsely at the thought. Fate was really cruel to the both of them. That last time Jin saw Kame, Jin wanted to tell him that no matter what he’d still need him. But fate wouldn’t even allow him to do that much.
Drawn from his thought, Jin felt his cell phone vibrating against the pocket of his pants, but he paid it no attention.
They proved to be persistent however, and finally on the eleventh ring, Jin figured it to be an important call and reached into his pocket. His heart picked up speed as he saw Ueda’s number on the caller ID. Ueda wasn’t one to call without purpose.
“Hello?” Jin asked.
“Jin, it’s me.”
Jin scratched the side of his cheek as he fidgeted around in his seat, “Tatsuya?”
“Yeah. Where are you?” Ueda sounded edgy, tense: something that was very unlike him.
“Look I’m busy;” Jin lied, joshing the stub in his ear, “is this important…?”
“Tegoshi quit!”
Like a bucket of cold water washing over him, Jin straightened himself immediately. “He what-?!”
Ueda wasn’t surprised at Jin’s genuinely shocked exclamation. Tegoshi had been one of the most loyal workers at A. Jewelry. It had been a grave shock for Ueda too. “You heard me Jin. He quit.” He repeated slowly, waiting for the words to sink in.
“Damn it…”
After what felt like an eternity, Ueda sighed. “Yes, it’s ‘damn it’ Jin. You’re going to need a new secretary.”
“How did this happen?! I just saw him!” Jin clouded himself in doubt and dread at the news. Just when he thought he couldn’t possible lose anything more.
“Some workers saw him leaving the building before his shift was over - you know how timely he is - so it raised some suspicion. There was nothing left in his office. He left a letter of resignation…I think you should read it.”
Jin could hardly believe what he was hearing. Tegoshi of all people? “Damn it…”
“Should I read it out for you, or would you rather read it yourself?” Ueda crunched the letter in his hands to unfold it.
“Leave it,” Jin jammed his keys back into the ignition. “I’m heading back.”
Ueda found himself chuckling at Jin’s obvious nature. No matter how hard Jin had tried, he could never completely mask his feelings.
“Ahn, what’s this?” Ueda decided to nitpick, a habit he had picked up. “You certainly have a soft spot for Tegoshi-kun.”
Jin groaned as he stepped on the gas, backing out of the parking lot in an even manner. “You’re beginning to sound more and more like that idiot, you know?”
Jin could almost see his friend rolling his eyes from where he was. “We’re going out,” he announced in a friendly huff, “I can’t help it.”
Jin laughed and he muttered a small goodbye before he hung up his phone. He threw on the seatbelt in the same red sports car Yamashita had bought for him so long ago. Quickly stepping on the accelerator, he turned back to A. Jewelry.
He felt his heart picking up speed and easily, he continued to go faster. The light was red as his heart but he paid neither notion much attention. He needed to get back to work. He needed to get Tegoshi back.
Jin continued to step on the pedal.
Faster…faster…
Until finally…
Like a bright meteor finally crashing down, Jin had hardly any time to register the taxi speeding towards him.