JE/News/KAT-TUN- "Introducing J-NewS"
HERE ANN. I AM F-LOCKING FOR NOW BECAUSE HOLY GOD.
I have to show people now that you put all the emoji in. LOL
Title: Introducing J-NewS
Universe: JE/NewS/KAT-TUN
Theme/Topic: Jin joins NewS, member-ai is showered upon him.
Rating: PG-13
Character/Pairing/s: NewS, KAT-TUN
Warnings/Spoilers: Crack? OOC? Stupidity? THESE PEOPLE REALLY EXIST OH GOD.
Word Count: 6,571
Summary: Jin singing with NewS would make a lot of money.
Dedication: Ann made me do it! She was coercing me into doing this after we had another long discussion about how adorable NewS’ member-ai is, and how some groups need a little more of it. Right. That was subtle. THANKS ANN, I’m going to be KILLED AND RAPED BY KAT-TUN FANS BECAUSE I AM WEARING THE WRONG COLORS ON THE WRONG SIDE OF TOWN.
A/N: NewS is stupid cute, okay? But that doesn’t mean I don’t love KAT-TUN, I do. Okay, I love Maru and Jin and Junno and sometimes Koki. CLOSE ENOUGH. Anyway, began this a few weeks ago, finished today. So if parts don’t mesh well you know why. Distance.
Disclaimer: Not mine, though I wish constantly.
Distribution: Just lemme know.
Admittedly, the latest performances are slowly getting better and better, but even still, everyone agrees that how they are now somehow isn’t quite as good as how they used to sound back before Jin’s hiatus. Ueda comments that he is just relieved that they don’t suck as badly as they did when Jin had first gotten back- thank god for small miracles.
But even if they have improved since that initial live stage, it hasn’t been by much, and definitely not by enough to make their producers completely happy.
“Something went missing when Jin went to America,” one of those unsatisfied producers points out, a few days after their latest Music Station appearance. “But I just can’t seem to put my finger on what that something is.”
Maru blinks. Raises his hand. “Hai, hai…” he pipes up helpfully, “is the answer Jin? I mean, Jin definitely went missing when Jin went to America. Is that what you mean?”
He looks earnest, so no one can tell if he is being facetious or not.
He gets smacked upside the head anyway. He apologizes.
“I think he just needs to get back into the groove of things slowly,” a second producer suggests after a moment. He is clearly trying to sound very smart when he talks like that. “He’s probably feeling caught between places right now- like he doesn’t fit in here anymore, but he doesn’t belong back in America either. It’s a sense of disjointedness that naturally happens to people after long absences.”
Jin decides not to say anything because it seems like they’ve got everything taken care of here, why would they need his input on the matter? Kame just sighs out of boredom and wants to go home-this has nothing to do with him if they’re just going to talk about Jin all day- and Junno isn’t listening anymore; he’s playing games on his cell phone because no one pays attention to him anyway. Koki is napping on Maru’s shoulder.
Ueda coughs. “Are you sure it’s not just because the new single is a stupid song and a lot of the parts are out of our members’ vocal ranges?” he suggests.
But no one listens to his suggestion, or if they are, they pretend not to. After a moment he sits back with a sigh and feels as though he knows what it is like to be Taguchi Junnosuke now.
“Yes! So… our theory is officially disjointedness. That must be it,” the third producer says after a moment. He sounds very certain of himself. “It was our mistake to put Jin right to work on Yorokobi no Uta the moment he got off the plane. We need to properly reacclimatize him to the jimusho first. For the sake of the unit. And sales.”
His cohorts nod knowingly. The members of KAT-TUN who are paying attention know by now that trying to deal with production management is hopeless; they’ll do what they want when they want for whatever reasons they want and that’s that.
“Ah, so what should we do?” the first producer asks after a moment, and seems troubled. “We can’t go on like this.”
At that, no one says anything for a while; they try to think of a viable solution for the mess.
In the meantime, Jin gets bored waiting for them, so he starts humming Hoshi wo Mezashite to himself, because it is one of those songs that is impossible to get out of your head after you see the penguin movie, no matter how much you might want to get it out of your head. He thinks he’ll try and tickle Tegoshi into squawking like Mumble later, that should be pretty funny.
It is only after he chuckles out loud to himself at the prospect that he realizes all three producers are staring right at him now; he thinks he can see a light bulb suspended in the air above their heads. Jin stops humming out of fear.
“That works,” the producers murmur, smiling. “That works very well.”
“Hai?” Jin asks-he’s not sure what they mean by “works,” but he knows that he does not like where this is going. He rarely does when it comes to the administrative decisions made at Johnny’s.
But it’s fine, the producers ignore him because they’re good at that.
“We can make money off of this,” they all say instead, at exactly the same time.
The way their eyes are gleaming can only be characterized as unholy.
~~~~~
Two days later there are talks of another crossover hit in the works. Everyone wants to recreate the success Seishun Amigo had two years ago and now they have an excuse to do it without first having to pay royalties to a lowly novelist for using his/her properties.
At the big company meeting that they call to discuss these events, the three producers explain what is going to happen.
“To officially welcome Akanishi-san back to Johnny’s Entertainment, we are going to let him reacclimatize to the celebrity environment of Japan by having him release a new single with the support of his best friend!” Pause. “And his best friend’s entire group. Because there needs to be an extensive support network for this kind of thing. Yeah.”
A smattering of reluctant applause; does this mean KAT-TUN will temporarily be KT-TUN again? It must be hard for them to lose their A so often when there are so few vowels in their name as it is.
The producers cough nervously at the lackluster response from the board. “Oh, and did we mention that we are going to make a shitton of money?” they add.
After they say that the applause instantly becomes raucous and emphatic (as money is nice and makes everyone happy). Clearly it is a very good idea. Soon after, the meeting adjourns once everyone automatically votes ‘aye’ to the proposal, and as the board of directors goes home for the night, they all can say that they honestly look forward to Jin’s reacclimitaziation (as well as the shitton of money they are going to make off of him and the rest of NewS from it).
In short, it is the birth of J-NewS.
~~~~~
(From: Yamashita Tomohisa’s Nikki)
Konbanchiwa!
Today I received exciting news!
Beginning tomorrow I will see Jin every day! Every day!
I don’t know why they’re letting us do this, but I am grateful for the opportunity. We’ll work hard to make a great song, ne!
Welcome back, Jin! I’m glad you’re back! I’m really, really glad!
Let’s put our voices together and make the world smile with us, ne? The joy of getting to spend time with those who are important to us- majide, it is an emotion that can be recreated and passed on to others if we put our true feelings into it.
Yosh! Tomorrow I will sing my heart out!
Tomorrow I get to sing with my best friend!
~~~~~
On the first morning of scheduled rehearsals for J-NewS, Jin is late. The others wait for him as patiently as they are able-Yamapi half-dozes on Koyama’s shoulder while Massu eats breakfast and Ryo plays with Tegoshi’s hair. Tegoshi catches up on some reading for his behavioral psychology class and Shige sits and looks thoughtful.
“Ah, where is he… I hope everything is okay,” Koyama frets for the third time in a row. “Should we call him? What if there was an accident?”
“That idiot is always late,” Ryo says.
“Oh.” Koyama sounds relieved rather than annoyed; he saves being annoyed for Ryo.
“You know, I don’t understand why they just couldn’t have put Yamapi in KAT-TUN for support if they wanted to release a welcome home single under that guise,” Shige poses after a while, around a yawn. “Wouldn’t that have been simpler for everyone?”
“It’s because out of all of KAT-TUN Jin is the only one who can sing and they finally wanted to record a song with him in it that sounded good. Now shut up, Tego-nyan is doing his homework,” Ryo tells Shige. Then, he blinks and looks over Tegoshi’s shoulder, “what are you reading, anyway?”
It’s only okay when he’s the one bothering Tegoshi.
Tegoshi just smiles and opens the book a little wider so Ryo can see the words better. “It’s about young animals that get wounded in the wild and get taken in by humans afterwards,” he explains. “During the rehabilitation period some of them get used to living in captivity, and can’t be released on their own right away, or they’ll instantly be killed by predators.”
Ryo almost looks sorry for asking; Shige wonders if Tegoshi is trying to say something more here. He can never tell with the shorter boy, because while he is pretty smart as far as idols go, he is also too pretty to be taken very seriously.
“And?” Shige prompts, just to be sure.
“And so sometimes those animals will be put in a simulation environment with surrogate caretakers. That way they can be reacclimatized to the wild in a safe place until they are ready to return to their natural habitat all on their own.”
Ryo scoffs and knuckles Tegoshi’s temple gently. “I thought you studied people psychology.”
Tegoshi just smiles. “Ah, Ryo-tan is right, ne?”
He goes back to reading.
~~~~~
Jin ends up being an hour late because of a traffic accident on the way to work that caused lots of detours and backups.
When he walks into the NewS practice room he expects everyone to have gone on and started rehearsing without him; instead he finds them gathered in a circle singing Hoshi wo Mezashite together. That is definitely not their new song at all. Jin wonders if maybe it is stuck in their heads from the penguin movie as well-it is ridiculously catchy after all.
“You’re here!” Koyama says, and stops singing when he sees Jin standing in the doorway. “I was worried! I called!”
“Five times,” Ryo feels the need to add.
“Uh… yeah, sorry,” Jin says, and blinks when the others all turn to wave at him. He waves back. “I left in a rush so I forgot my phone.”
“Minna, iru kai!!” Massu belts suddenly, and spins around with his arms over his head. Everyone snickers-they shouldn’t have let him eat all the donuts this morning.
“Now we are!” they answer, and pull Jin into their circle.
“Yosh! Everyone, the first practice of our next big single begins right now, ne?” Yamapi announces, with his fist in the air. “Let’s all do our best!”
“Right!” the rest of NewS cheers.
Jin can’t help but be dragged along with their enthusiasm; it’s too early in the morning to resist.
~~~~~
The new single is very hard to sing and as they rehearse, Jin is frightened that they will not have the range to perform it well live. It is a complicated five part harmony and he is supposed to sing the falsetto for the first half. The key changes once, after the bridge, before the third repetition of the chorus. After the key change, he will switch to the main melody line and lead everyone else while Tegoshi will sing the sub-chorus.
The first run through goes well until after the bridge, but when Jin starts to lead it becomes a little pitchy. The vocal coach calls a break because “Akanishi’s nervousness is showing. Please make him feel more welcome to the group, ne?”
Jin is frustrated with himself and apologizes to the coach-he practiced his parts over and over and over again last night at home, why is it not working when he hears the rest of the group’s voices too?
During the break he goes to the corner by himself and looks over the sheet music again-it really is a hard song. He’s not sure what he’s doing wrong. He tries practicing alone one more time.
Everyone eyes him for a moment before they all creep towards him and look over his shoulder. The corner soon becomes very crowded.
He pouts at them. “I’m trying to practice!” he complains, when their unwavering gazes embarrass him.
“It’s hard, ne!” Yamapi says, but doesn’t sound frustrated at all. He even laughs. “Tegoshi,” he starts after a moment, dramatically, and reaches for the youngest member like he is dying, “Tegoshi!”
Tegoshi blinks. “Eh?”
“You…” Yamapi gasps and staggers, “you have go to on…”
Koyama catches on and joins in immediately: “For the rest of us, Tegoshi! Use your superior singing skills to save this song!” He sounds as if he is out of breath.
Tegoshi just laughs at them; “Isn’t it too soon to rely on just me? We haven’t even finished singing through once yet!”
“Ah, these tired bones can’t handle the stress,” Shige sighs, and he pats Tegoshi as well. “It’s definitely up to you then. Old guys like us are really hopeless, ne, Ryo?” He grins.
“Who are you calling old?” Ryo growls, and throws a wadded up Kleenex at Shige from his pocket. “I was doing great. Sing better yourself before you say anything about anyone else.”
Shige ducks behind Massu to avoid the flying tissue, “Gross!” he complains. “Yappari, like an elementary school kid after all! Young at heart, ne, Ryo?” he laughs.
“I am not a shield,” Massu tells Shige. “Especially for tall people, ne? That’s just silly.”
“Tegoshi!” Koyama and Yamapi continue, ignoring the others, “Do you see? We can’t do it! You are our last hope!”
“Last hope!” Koyama echoes, because lately he seems to like echo effects.
“Hai, hai,” Tegoshi says after a moment, acting very put upon and superior. “I’ll do my best for everyone’s sake, ne?” He uses the most serious expression he is capable of.
Which is not very serious in the end, because as soon as he does it everyone bursts out laughing. Jin can’t help but wonder if not being able to sing the song is so funny. The last time he’d made fun of Kame’s singing to his face the younger boy hadn’t spoken to him for a month.
“Ah, I’m very confused!” Jin exclaims, and runs his hands through the air. “No one makes any sense. WE ARE SINGING BADLY.” It is weird to be singing badly and not have someone yelling at him.
No one here seems overly troubled by that fact though.
“It’s only the first day,” Koyama chirrups. “Ne?”
“Ne!” everyone echoes.
“Yosh!” Koyama continues, and pumps his fist once. “Energy up!”
“Yosh!” everyone else repeats, and pumps their fists too.
Jin wonders if NewS is some sort of strange cult pumped up on happy-happy-joy-joy drugs.
Then Shige counts them off and they all start singing the song again, this time at the top of their lungs and as horribly as possible.
Jin stares at them.
“Join, join!” Yamapi prompts-they are all singing each other’s parts and they sound very, very bad. “Don’t be chicken, Bakanishi!”
Jin frowns at the challenge. “FINE!” he says, and joins right in, singing as loud as he can.
When they finish they’re all breathless and laughing- even Jin. Because to sound so horrible, it really isn’t anything but funny in the end, isn’t it?
“There!” Koyama says, “It can only get better than that from now on, ne?”
“Ah, Ryo-tan’s voice cracked!” Tegoshi giggles, and dodges a gentle swat from Ryo.
Jin snickers too, despite himself. “Ryo-chan is like that, ne?” he says, and dodges a half-hearted swipe as well.
“Okay wise guys,” Ryo sighs, and crosses his arms (though he is trying not to smile himself). “Can we please get back to work so I don’t have to spend all day with you six idiots?”
“Yes, sir!” everyone agrees, and they jog back over to the piano.
After that the practice goes really well in terms of atmosphere, even though most of the time is spent working around the members’ laughter.
“Ah, some things don’t change no matter what,” the vocal coach sighs as he watches them practice. But even as he says it, he is not angry at all.
Jin wonders what he means by that.
~~~~~
(From: The Return of Wagahai Shige de Aru)
Today Kato Shigeaki worked extra hard!
That’s right, to make this summer even hotter
Akanishi Jin-san has been working on a collaboration project with NewS members. Soon it will be time to record: everyone seems very excited.
It’s a good song! Everyone has a solo, so it is also very difficult. Don’t get too nervous, Kato Shigeaki! The others are counting on you too! You have to work extra hard to keep pace with them!
It has been four days since Kato has had dinner with other members, so perhaps a group outing to eat after recording tomorrow will be a good suggestion to make.
Wagahai agrees that it is a good idea-for this type of summer weather cold Chinese noodles is best!
Welcome, Akanishi-kun
~~~~~
It only takes about a week of rehearsals before the vocal coach pronounces them fit to do the recording for the single.
Usually there are only one or two people in the booth at a time when they are recording vocals, because otherwise it gets too crowded. Tegoshi goes first because it takes him about two-point-five seconds to finish. He is followed by Massu, and then it’s Koyama’s turn.
Jin is scheduled to go last so he doesn’t show up until the day is half done. When he gets there Tegoshi and Massu are both still there too; they’re asleep on the couch with their heads leaning against one another.
Jin wonders of that means that they’re behind schedule or something, but when he asks, it turns out they’re not. Rather, they are still there because Shige suggested they all go out and eat afterwards.
While he’s inside the booth recording later that afternoon, he can see six pairs of eyes peering intently at him through the glass. He wonders if he sounds horrible or something, and falters.
After the third time this happens the sound mixer sends everyone out of the room after chastising them like naughty children, and so the rest of the group has to sit and wait on the couch in the hallway.
When Jin finishes and finds them outside they are bickering.
“You messed him up first!”
“You were the one making funny faces!”
“Your face is naturally funny-looking, how do you know it wasn’t that?”
Jin watches them for a while, until Yamapi breaks up the argument by saying that they should all go apologize to the staff together later, for causing problems. Everyone is repentant and agrees, and soon after that the bickering breaks down into giggles because “yeah, your face is pretty funny-looking, ne?”
Jin clears his throat.
They all look up at him. “Done?” Yamapi asks. “Are you done? Done-done?”
Jin nods. “Of course I am. I would have been done earlier, except everyone was staring.”
Yamapi grins-funny how the staff gets an apology but Jin doesn’t.
“Okay!” Yamapi says next, “let’s all go apologize now!”
Yamapi and Koyama herd everyone back into the studio after that, even Jin.
“Oi, why do I have to apologize too?!” he protests.
Yamapi swats him lightly on the head, “Bakanishi,” he says, “If everyone is going to own up for their own mistakes right now shouldn’t you own up for getting distracted and messing up too? The entire group’s feelings need to be conveyed together so the air is clear afterwards, right? Otherwise it will cause problems later.”
Jin pouts, but bows his head alongside the others. “Sorry!” they shout, and the production staff just laughs at them and tells them to go home-they all ended up staying late.
They go eat cold noodles together instead.
~~~~~
Of course doing a single with NewS does not mean a break from KAT-TUN; Jin has to do both. “For proper promotion of both groups!” the producers tell him.
Jin wants to complain about the double duty, but Yamapi and Ryo don’t let him.
“Idiot, what do you think I’ve been doing for years now?” Ryo snorts. He is unimpressed with Jin’s lack of fortitude.
“You get to see that many more of your friends every day!” Yamapi tells him, optimistically. “Isn’t that great?”
“Yeah,” Jin sighs, and then heads off for his filming of Cartoon KAT-TUN that afternoon wishing that he had Koyama’s energy and Yamapi’s optimism.
During the shoot, Koki kicks Junno three times and smacks Maru once while Jin looks on. During the interview portion Kame gets so impassioned about something the guest brings up that he clasps their hands together and doesn’t let go right away. This causes everyone to sputter and recoil off of the couch, “Oi, Kame, that’s gross!” they say.
Kame is embarrassed and quickly apologizes to the guest; Jin thinks about how Tegoshi sat in his lap yesterday, during the single recording’s lunch break. He wonders why that hadn’t seemed weird to anyone.
~~~~~
(From: Masuda Tatatta)
There is an excitement in the air recently, ne?
Good friends come and leave, but no matter where they are it is a feeling of nakama, desshou?
For those who have left, please remember us, ne? We’ll remember you.
For those who are coming, let’s give each other support, ne?
Ah. I had a good bento today.
I sang loudly and danced very hard today.
These are the days that feel the best.
Tomorrow has that anticipation as well.
It seems we will have another outdoor jacket shoot!
I will bring my Frisbee again; Ryo will bring the shooting planes, ne?
Fun!
To get to tomorrow faster, one should sleep. So I will sleep.
Close my eyes and smile!
Good night!
~~~~~
During the jacket shoot for the single, Jin gets hit in the face with a Frisbee.
“WHY ARE YOU THROWING FRISBEES AT ME? I WAS JUST WATCHING YOU. I AM INNOCENT,” he sulks later, to which Massu looks vaguely apologetic for having been the one who hit Jin. Jin had just been resting by himself on the sideline, after all.
Koyama laughs nervously and pats Jin’s shoulder. “Well, if you are nearby watching us play, we all just automatically assume you are playing too,” he explains. “I don’t know why we do that.”
“Because it’s everyone together!” Yamapi agrees, and flashes a thumbs up.
Ryo just smirks. “You are pretty good at catching things with your face though, Jin.”
“Shut up,” Jin huffs.
“Jyaa, then we’ll teach you how to catch with your fingers, ne?” Tegoshi suggests, helpfully. “C’mon, it’s easy!” He takes Jin’s hands in his and pulls him to his feet.
“I refuse to bow to your petty peer pressure!” Jin protests, even as he is dragged back onto the field and forced to participate.
For the rest of the shoot, whenever anyone is about to throw the Frisbee at Jin they grin and make sure to ask, “Jin, Jin, are you playing this time?” first.
“Yes!” he shouts back, impatiently.
Soon, he is only getting hit in the face with the Frisbee every other time.
It is a marked improvement.
~~~~~
By they time they break for the day, Jin is a champion Frisbee catcher.
“Too bad your throwing sucks like a five-year-old girl’s,” Ryo feels the need to tell him, before they all climb into the van.
“I’m working on it!” Jin protests, as everyone else laughs and says, “Ganbatte, Jin!”
Jin grins, and Ryo rolls his eyes.
But it’s okay, because even Jin knows when Ryo is encouraging him to get better.
~~~~~
(From: Koyama Member-ai)
Yay, there is even more member-ai to go around now, ne?
Did you hear
Did you hear
Of course you did
Ah, Jin-chan, welcome, ne?
Yoroshiku, ne?
Today was a good day! I hope you had lots of fun as well. Please feel free to ask me about anything you need in the future! Don’t be shy!
Ah, is that too forward? Maybe! Keke. Then… let’s talk more and slowly get to know each other well, bit by bit!
Yosh, one question for every day will start our hearts on the road to close friendship!
Today I will ask you: what is your favorite drink? These are important things to know, ne?
Tonight, make sure to eat properly and go to bed early, it will help you get over any jetlag you still have, ne? Look forward to working together again tomorrow! The PV taping time will give us many hours together to connect our hearts, ne?
~~~~~
They arrive on the set at 5am sharp. Everyone is sleepy but excited: in this video they will become the J-NewS Mafia and change the world by saving one person at a time from various causes of depression. They even have guns, and the director says that after they fire them at the people in the video, the graphics designers will put in CG smiley-faces hitting the targets right in the heart. Once they are hit by the smiley-face, the people who J-NewS are firing at are supposed to instantly cheer up from whatever it is that’s depressing them.
Jin thinks it is a weird concept. NewS members are ecstatic-“Wouldn’t it be great if these really worked?” Koyama laughs, when he is handed his very bright, very red gun.
After the initial concept discussion with the director they all go to wardrobe for their costumes-it seems that everyone gets to wear stylish pinstripe suits. Yamapi and Jin both get feathers in their hats because-according to the designer- that sort of accessory is in tune with their “style” type. Yamapi’s is pink and Jin’s is purple.
Koyama is the oldest so they make him wear the fur coat of the Mafia “boss” even though it is the middle of summer and very, very warm under the glow of the set’s various 10k and 5k and 1k lights. He screams “eh?!” when he hears this announcement, but Tegoshi and Shige cheerfully promise to shoot him with their smile guns whenever the heat becomes unbearable.
“Cheer up, ne, Kei-chan!” they say.
They film the video opening first: it is like a small movie. In it, Koyama turns around dramatically in his fancy leather chair and steeples his hands as he tells the members of the J-NewS Mafia that he is putting out a hit on a new list of targets.
Their job, he says, is to make sure they get every single person on the list.
After that the members either pair up or go on separate missions for the video, so there are shooting breaks for everyone else while they wait their turn.
While they are waiting like this, Jin initially tries to take naps because five am is still early for him no matter how cheerful everyone is on set.
It doesn’t work though; before long he notices that he is being stalked. By very loud, very giggly stalkers.
He continues pretending to sleep, but he can very clearly hear Tegoshi’s whispered snickers and Koyama’s mischievous “shhhs!” (which are ultimately useless, because they are punctuated with his own laughter). The two of them are the worst hitmen ever, but Jin lets them play anyway.
He keeps his eyes closed as they continue to sneak up on him, and it is only when they are right in front of him, looking down at him and laughing, that he finally sighs and cracks an eye.
“What?” he asks.
“Bang!” Tegoshi and Koyama both say in tandem, and ‘fire’ their guns at him.
He can’t help it-they look so hopeful that he has to smile at them.
They immediately cheer when they see it. “Ne, minna!” they call out to all the others-even Yamapi, who is currently rehearsing his segment with Shige-“These guns really work!”
Once the announcement is made, the rest of the group spends the entirety of the shoot using their guns on people in an attempt to keep the atmosphere lively.
It really is kind of stupid.
But regardless of that, Jin notices that the guns all seem to work every time anyway.
~~~~~
The filming goes on all day and they don’t finish until well after midnight. Everyone is tired but satisfied with their work when they wrap, and even if he is beyond exhausted physically, Jin somehow still feels less mentally tired than he thought he’d be.
In the car on the way back, when he sees Yamapi’s head lolling against the window as the younger boy tries to stay awake for the ride, Jin takes out his purple gun and points it at Yamapi. “Bang!” he says.
Yamapi tries to look annoyed, but ends up smiling sleepily at Jin instead. “Bakanishi! Be quiet,” he scolds.
Jin laughs.
~~~~~
(From: TEGOSHI*SP)
Ah, my heart feels so full lately! Because everyone is so happy, it feels like the world is happy too, ne? Yappari, these types of emotions are so full that when one person has them inside, it ends up being passed on to everyone else without knowing!
I hope News can make a world with this kind of warmth, ne?
Tomorrow the live stage rehearsals begin! I have very diligently studied the choreography sheet today, so Jin-san, please guide me well, ne? I am excited to hear your voice and my voice together on stage again-it will be a very nostalgic feeling! I hope I have grown in the time since our last stage performances together-it will test all the strength I have gathered over the past few years, ne? I’ll try my best for everyone!
Even if it is hot outside, make sure to keep your throat warm at night!
Jyan!
~~~~~
The first performance J-NewS is scheduled to make of their new single is on Music Station. They have to wear their mafia outfits again.
Everyone is nervous and excited (but mostly nervous). During the interview portion they are asked how it feels to work together with a guest vocalist for the first time. NewS turns to Jin first. “Ne, in this case it’s more important to ask Akanishi-kun, ne? How did it feel, Akanishi-kun? Was it weird to suddenly work with all of us at once all by yourself?” Koyama prompts, when Jin doesn’t immediately realize that they’re waiting for him to say anything. Usually at times like these he waits for Kame or Namakaru to answer the questions-they’re the talkative ones.
“Ah, it was fun,” Jin says, by rote, when all eyes are on him.
Everyone laughs at how generic his answer is. “This guy sounds pretty dazed right now, doesn’t he?” Yamapi chastises. “But at least he’s right. We had lots of fun, ne?.”
“Right!” the others say.
“Except for Koyama,” Ryo points out.
“Eh?” Koyama looks embarrassed. “Oi! Don’t make things up, Ryo!”
“That fur coat is very warm,” Shige explains to the interviewers for Koyama. “He is the only one who has to wear it since he’s the oldest. It’s a bit troublesome, I think!”
Everyone laughs. “You try wearing it then!” Koyama suggests, and jokingly moves to take it off and give it to Shige.
They’re sent on standby after that, and Jin notices everyone’s nervous, excited glances as the intro cues up. He feels his heart rate start to increase instinctively.
Then they start singing-it’s the first performance and right away, they don’t sound very good because their nervousness shows.
They play it off calm though, because they are professionals. Jin hopes that this doesn’t end up being as bad as the first Yorokobi no Uta performance at Music Station in the end.
But it turns out that it won’t be-right before the chorus everyone is already looking at each other; when they succeed in making eye contact Tegoshi and Yamapi start singing louder while Shige and Koyama and Massu drop back their volume a little. Yamapi adjusts to Tegoshi’s pitch first and then Massu gets louder, and then Shige and Koyama pick up as well-Jin finds himself following instinctively.
They manage to salvage eighty percent of the performance.
Ninety, if you count the volume of cheers Jin gets from randomly shaking his hips really hard at the end to make up for his bad harmony at the start.
All in all, everyone considers it a good first experience.
Except for Koyama, who had to do the whole show in that stupid fur coat.
~~~~~
Maru happens to switch on the TV during their dinner break and catches a couple of clips on the evening news about J-NewS’s first live performance.
“Ah turn it off,” Koki complains, when he hears the noise, “I want to nap before we have to go back.”
“Woo, is that the new song?” Junno asks, and joins Maru on the couch. Kame is in the back of the dressing room eating on the makeup counter so he doesn’t make a mess, but turns around to check out the performance too.
“They filmed this yesterday?” he asks. Then, quieter, “they sound pretty good.”
“Yeah” Maru responds, and is about to turn it off so Koki can nap again, because the younger man gets cranky when he can’t catch his power snoozes between gigs.
But before he can, Junno sighs, dreamily. “Ah, Jin looks like he’s having fun, doesn’t he?” he chuckles. “I’m envious.”
Then he shoots Maru a quick smile before getting up to go and ice his knee. He whistles the few lines of the J-NewS song he’d managed to hear while it was on as he leaves.
Maru blinks at the screen for a few minutes and then remembers himself.
He turns off the TV.
~~~~~
By the time the fifth live performance of their song rolls around, they are so proficient at it that Koyama and Shige are comfortable enough to start fooling around with each other between dance moves, reaching out and pinching each other’s arms or doing impressions of Jin and Yamapi (who are at the front of the formation) while they sing. Of course they eventually drag Massu and Tegoshi into joining them, and the performances are all full of silly things like that from there on out.
Jin watches the shows after the episodes air on TV and wants to roll his eyes at their antics, but instead, he finds that it makes him wonder when the last time he’d made eye-contact with Kame during a performance was.
He can’t remember.
~~~~~
(From: Nishikido Ryo’s Nikki)
Hello.
I’m in the living room.
I’m on the couch.
The window is closed but it is noisy anyway.
It is noisy because Yamapi has messaged me four times since he can’t sleep!
Sleep! Please sleep! Or if you’re so bored, message someone else. Some of us want some peace.
Excited. There is electricity-everyone is very excited for tomorrow’s single release. If you get so excited all at once and don’t sleep, won’t you be too tired for that exciting thing tomorrow?! Then it will seem dull, won’t it?!
Please have some common sense.
Akanishi, this is your fault.
I’ll do my best tomorrow. If Yamapi is sleepy then, you will have to do your best for the both of you.
Ah! Why are you messaging my phone now? Stop! Both of you stop! Or message each other instead-doesn’t that make more sense?!
Life is full of mystery.
~~~~~
On the day of the single release they immediately sell more than a million copies and make it to number one on the Oricon Charts. The three producers whose brilliant idea this was are congratulating themselves heartily at the release party, and watching them makes Jin feel a little ill when he remembers that all of this was for the money in the end, just like it always is.
The ill-feeling only lasts until he sees Koyama running around with a copy of the CD, asking his bandmates to autograph it for him.
“You’re an idol, not a fan,” Yamapi tells him, patiently, “Idol. Not fan.”
He signs Koyama’s copy anyway though, and once that’s done everyone has to autograph everyone else’s booklet too. As a keepsake.
“We made a really good song, didn’t we?” Yamapi laughs, and finishes drawing a smiley face on Tegoshi’s insert. “I’m glad so many people out there are enjoying it with us right now, ne?”
“Right!” everyone agrees, and in light of that, Jin even manages to forget all about the producers and the management and the money for a little while.
He’s glad people are enjoying it as well.
~~~~~
Jin nearly drops his plate of finger foods all over the front of his own shirt when Ryo suddenly bumps into him from behind at the buffet table a little while later. Ryo’s elbow hits Jin right in the ribs, hard enough that Jin knows it’s completely on purpose. “Ow!” he complains, and frowns at Ryo. “What was that for?”
Ryo doesn’t apologize. Instead he gestures towards the other side of the room and says: “Oi. The moron brigade showed up too. ”
Jin turns around and sees Koki and Maru and Junno and even Ueda and Kame standing in the doorway. Maru and Koki wave at him.
He just kind of stares in response.
He hadn’t expected to see them here, to be honest. He hadn’t invited them because he’d thought it would be too much trouble for them to come all the way down here on one of their precious few days off. Usually, on days like that, sleep is the number one most important thing to any of them.
When he sees them, Jin can’t help but wonder if this is some sort of bizarre dream.
To prove that it’s not, Ryo loses patience with him after about two seconds and kicks him in the ass-hard. “Go already, dumbass!” Ryo snarls. “No one wants to hang out with a bunch of losers like that except for you, so go do it before they decide to come over here and ruin the party for everyone else.” Pause. And then, a quieter, “Don’t get killed by predators on the way.”
Jin doesn’t get what Ryo means by that exactly, but he ends up laughing for some reason.
Then he jogs over to his bandmates.
~~~~~
(From: November Myojo- Akanishi-kun’s Interview Page)
[Q: What is something you want to say to members of NewS?]
A: Everyone, thank you for helping me find my voice again. It was fun! It was really, really fun!
[Q: What is something you want to say to members of KAT-TUN?]
A: Minna….tadaima.
I have borrowed Massu’s Frisbee for tomorrow’s photo shoot. I think I have learned how to catch it properly now, so please help me work on throwing it correctly as well. We can learn together.
…Let’s build our bonds up from scratch again. This future is our new birth.
Bang!
~~~~~
“Eh? What do you suppose he means by all of that?” Massu asks, when he reads the article. “I thought he threw pretty well the last time we played together.”
“He’s probably just saying it like that because he wants an excuse to hit some of his moron bandmates in the face with your Frisbee,” Ryo suggests, and leans over Tegoshi’s shoulder because talking about KAT-TUN bores him to tears. “Ne, Tego-nyan, what are you reading about now?”
Tegoshi smiles at him. “Successful reintroduction into the wild.”
END
EDITS PLZ. THIS IS A MONSTER.
I have to show people now that you put all the emoji in. LOL
Title: Introducing J-NewS
Universe: JE/NewS/KAT-TUN
Theme/Topic: Jin joins NewS, member-ai is showered upon him.
Rating: PG-13
Character/Pairing/s: NewS, KAT-TUN
Warnings/Spoilers: Crack? OOC? Stupidity? THESE PEOPLE REALLY EXIST OH GOD.
Word Count: 6,571
Summary: Jin singing with NewS would make a lot of money.
Dedication: Ann made me do it! She was coercing me into doing this after we had another long discussion about how adorable NewS’ member-ai is, and how some groups need a little more of it. Right. That was subtle. THANKS ANN, I’m going to be KILLED AND RAPED BY KAT-TUN FANS BECAUSE I AM WEARING THE WRONG COLORS ON THE WRONG SIDE OF TOWN.
A/N: NewS is stupid cute, okay? But that doesn’t mean I don’t love KAT-TUN, I do. Okay, I love Maru and Jin and Junno and sometimes Koki. CLOSE ENOUGH. Anyway, began this a few weeks ago, finished today. So if parts don’t mesh well you know why. Distance.
Disclaimer: Not mine, though I wish constantly.
Distribution: Just lemme know.
Admittedly, the latest performances are slowly getting better and better, but even still, everyone agrees that how they are now somehow isn’t quite as good as how they used to sound back before Jin’s hiatus. Ueda comments that he is just relieved that they don’t suck as badly as they did when Jin had first gotten back- thank god for small miracles.
But even if they have improved since that initial live stage, it hasn’t been by much, and definitely not by enough to make their producers completely happy.
“Something went missing when Jin went to America,” one of those unsatisfied producers points out, a few days after their latest Music Station appearance. “But I just can’t seem to put my finger on what that something is.”
Maru blinks. Raises his hand. “Hai, hai…” he pipes up helpfully, “is the answer Jin? I mean, Jin definitely went missing when Jin went to America. Is that what you mean?”
He looks earnest, so no one can tell if he is being facetious or not.
He gets smacked upside the head anyway. He apologizes.
“I think he just needs to get back into the groove of things slowly,” a second producer suggests after a moment. He is clearly trying to sound very smart when he talks like that. “He’s probably feeling caught between places right now- like he doesn’t fit in here anymore, but he doesn’t belong back in America either. It’s a sense of disjointedness that naturally happens to people after long absences.”
Jin decides not to say anything because it seems like they’ve got everything taken care of here, why would they need his input on the matter? Kame just sighs out of boredom and wants to go home-this has nothing to do with him if they’re just going to talk about Jin all day- and Junno isn’t listening anymore; he’s playing games on his cell phone because no one pays attention to him anyway. Koki is napping on Maru’s shoulder.
Ueda coughs. “Are you sure it’s not just because the new single is a stupid song and a lot of the parts are out of our members’ vocal ranges?” he suggests.
But no one listens to his suggestion, or if they are, they pretend not to. After a moment he sits back with a sigh and feels as though he knows what it is like to be Taguchi Junnosuke now.
“Yes! So… our theory is officially disjointedness. That must be it,” the third producer says after a moment. He sounds very certain of himself. “It was our mistake to put Jin right to work on Yorokobi no Uta the moment he got off the plane. We need to properly reacclimatize him to the jimusho first. For the sake of the unit. And sales.”
His cohorts nod knowingly. The members of KAT-TUN who are paying attention know by now that trying to deal with production management is hopeless; they’ll do what they want when they want for whatever reasons they want and that’s that.
“Ah, so what should we do?” the first producer asks after a moment, and seems troubled. “We can’t go on like this.”
At that, no one says anything for a while; they try to think of a viable solution for the mess.
In the meantime, Jin gets bored waiting for them, so he starts humming Hoshi wo Mezashite to himself, because it is one of those songs that is impossible to get out of your head after you see the penguin movie, no matter how much you might want to get it out of your head. He thinks he’ll try and tickle Tegoshi into squawking like Mumble later, that should be pretty funny.
It is only after he chuckles out loud to himself at the prospect that he realizes all three producers are staring right at him now; he thinks he can see a light bulb suspended in the air above their heads. Jin stops humming out of fear.
“That works,” the producers murmur, smiling. “That works very well.”
“Hai?” Jin asks-he’s not sure what they mean by “works,” but he knows that he does not like where this is going. He rarely does when it comes to the administrative decisions made at Johnny’s.
But it’s fine, the producers ignore him because they’re good at that.
“We can make money off of this,” they all say instead, at exactly the same time.
The way their eyes are gleaming can only be characterized as unholy.
~~~~~
Two days later there are talks of another crossover hit in the works. Everyone wants to recreate the success Seishun Amigo had two years ago and now they have an excuse to do it without first having to pay royalties to a lowly novelist for using his/her properties.
At the big company meeting that they call to discuss these events, the three producers explain what is going to happen.
“To officially welcome Akanishi-san back to Johnny’s Entertainment, we are going to let him reacclimatize to the celebrity environment of Japan by having him release a new single with the support of his best friend!” Pause. “And his best friend’s entire group. Because there needs to be an extensive support network for this kind of thing. Yeah.”
A smattering of reluctant applause; does this mean KAT-TUN will temporarily be KT-TUN again? It must be hard for them to lose their A so often when there are so few vowels in their name as it is.
The producers cough nervously at the lackluster response from the board. “Oh, and did we mention that we are going to make a shitton of money?” they add.
After they say that the applause instantly becomes raucous and emphatic (as money is nice and makes everyone happy). Clearly it is a very good idea. Soon after, the meeting adjourns once everyone automatically votes ‘aye’ to the proposal, and as the board of directors goes home for the night, they all can say that they honestly look forward to Jin’s reacclimitaziation (as well as the shitton of money they are going to make off of him and the rest of NewS from it).
In short, it is the birth of J-NewS.
~~~~~
(From: Yamashita Tomohisa’s Nikki)
Konbanchiwa!
Today I received exciting news!
Beginning tomorrow I will see Jin every day! Every day!
I don’t know why they’re letting us do this, but I am grateful for the opportunity. We’ll work hard to make a great song, ne!
Welcome back, Jin! I’m glad you’re back! I’m really, really glad!
Let’s put our voices together and make the world smile with us, ne? The joy of getting to spend time with those who are important to us- majide, it is an emotion that can be recreated and passed on to others if we put our true feelings into it.
Yosh! Tomorrow I will sing my heart out!
Tomorrow I get to sing with my best friend!
~~~~~
On the first morning of scheduled rehearsals for J-NewS, Jin is late. The others wait for him as patiently as they are able-Yamapi half-dozes on Koyama’s shoulder while Massu eats breakfast and Ryo plays with Tegoshi’s hair. Tegoshi catches up on some reading for his behavioral psychology class and Shige sits and looks thoughtful.
“Ah, where is he… I hope everything is okay,” Koyama frets for the third time in a row. “Should we call him? What if there was an accident?”
“That idiot is always late,” Ryo says.
“Oh.” Koyama sounds relieved rather than annoyed; he saves being annoyed for Ryo.
“You know, I don’t understand why they just couldn’t have put Yamapi in KAT-TUN for support if they wanted to release a welcome home single under that guise,” Shige poses after a while, around a yawn. “Wouldn’t that have been simpler for everyone?”
“It’s because out of all of KAT-TUN Jin is the only one who can sing and they finally wanted to record a song with him in it that sounded good. Now shut up, Tego-nyan is doing his homework,” Ryo tells Shige. Then, he blinks and looks over Tegoshi’s shoulder, “what are you reading, anyway?”
It’s only okay when he’s the one bothering Tegoshi.
Tegoshi just smiles and opens the book a little wider so Ryo can see the words better. “It’s about young animals that get wounded in the wild and get taken in by humans afterwards,” he explains. “During the rehabilitation period some of them get used to living in captivity, and can’t be released on their own right away, or they’ll instantly be killed by predators.”
Ryo almost looks sorry for asking; Shige wonders if Tegoshi is trying to say something more here. He can never tell with the shorter boy, because while he is pretty smart as far as idols go, he is also too pretty to be taken very seriously.
“And?” Shige prompts, just to be sure.
“And so sometimes those animals will be put in a simulation environment with surrogate caretakers. That way they can be reacclimatized to the wild in a safe place until they are ready to return to their natural habitat all on their own.”
Ryo scoffs and knuckles Tegoshi’s temple gently. “I thought you studied people psychology.”
Tegoshi just smiles. “Ah, Ryo-tan is right, ne?”
He goes back to reading.
~~~~~
Jin ends up being an hour late because of a traffic accident on the way to work that caused lots of detours and backups.
When he walks into the NewS practice room he expects everyone to have gone on and started rehearsing without him; instead he finds them gathered in a circle singing Hoshi wo Mezashite together. That is definitely not their new song at all. Jin wonders if maybe it is stuck in their heads from the penguin movie as well-it is ridiculously catchy after all.
“You’re here!” Koyama says, and stops singing when he sees Jin standing in the doorway. “I was worried! I called!”
“Five times,” Ryo feels the need to add.
“Uh… yeah, sorry,” Jin says, and blinks when the others all turn to wave at him. He waves back. “I left in a rush so I forgot my phone.”
“Minna, iru kai!!” Massu belts suddenly, and spins around with his arms over his head. Everyone snickers-they shouldn’t have let him eat all the donuts this morning.
“Now we are!” they answer, and pull Jin into their circle.
“Yosh! Everyone, the first practice of our next big single begins right now, ne?” Yamapi announces, with his fist in the air. “Let’s all do our best!”
“Right!” the rest of NewS cheers.
Jin can’t help but be dragged along with their enthusiasm; it’s too early in the morning to resist.
~~~~~
The new single is very hard to sing and as they rehearse, Jin is frightened that they will not have the range to perform it well live. It is a complicated five part harmony and he is supposed to sing the falsetto for the first half. The key changes once, after the bridge, before the third repetition of the chorus. After the key change, he will switch to the main melody line and lead everyone else while Tegoshi will sing the sub-chorus.
The first run through goes well until after the bridge, but when Jin starts to lead it becomes a little pitchy. The vocal coach calls a break because “Akanishi’s nervousness is showing. Please make him feel more welcome to the group, ne?”
Jin is frustrated with himself and apologizes to the coach-he practiced his parts over and over and over again last night at home, why is it not working when he hears the rest of the group’s voices too?
During the break he goes to the corner by himself and looks over the sheet music again-it really is a hard song. He’s not sure what he’s doing wrong. He tries practicing alone one more time.
Everyone eyes him for a moment before they all creep towards him and look over his shoulder. The corner soon becomes very crowded.
He pouts at them. “I’m trying to practice!” he complains, when their unwavering gazes embarrass him.
“It’s hard, ne!” Yamapi says, but doesn’t sound frustrated at all. He even laughs. “Tegoshi,” he starts after a moment, dramatically, and reaches for the youngest member like he is dying, “Tegoshi!”
Tegoshi blinks. “Eh?”
“You…” Yamapi gasps and staggers, “you have go to on…”
Koyama catches on and joins in immediately: “For the rest of us, Tegoshi! Use your superior singing skills to save this song!” He sounds as if he is out of breath.
Tegoshi just laughs at them; “Isn’t it too soon to rely on just me? We haven’t even finished singing through once yet!”
“Ah, these tired bones can’t handle the stress,” Shige sighs, and he pats Tegoshi as well. “It’s definitely up to you then. Old guys like us are really hopeless, ne, Ryo?” He grins.
“Who are you calling old?” Ryo growls, and throws a wadded up Kleenex at Shige from his pocket. “I was doing great. Sing better yourself before you say anything about anyone else.”
Shige ducks behind Massu to avoid the flying tissue, “Gross!” he complains. “Yappari, like an elementary school kid after all! Young at heart, ne, Ryo?” he laughs.
“I am not a shield,” Massu tells Shige. “Especially for tall people, ne? That’s just silly.”
“Tegoshi!” Koyama and Yamapi continue, ignoring the others, “Do you see? We can’t do it! You are our last hope!”
“Last hope!” Koyama echoes, because lately he seems to like echo effects.
“Hai, hai,” Tegoshi says after a moment, acting very put upon and superior. “I’ll do my best for everyone’s sake, ne?” He uses the most serious expression he is capable of.
Which is not very serious in the end, because as soon as he does it everyone bursts out laughing. Jin can’t help but wonder if not being able to sing the song is so funny. The last time he’d made fun of Kame’s singing to his face the younger boy hadn’t spoken to him for a month.
“Ah, I’m very confused!” Jin exclaims, and runs his hands through the air. “No one makes any sense. WE ARE SINGING BADLY.” It is weird to be singing badly and not have someone yelling at him.
No one here seems overly troubled by that fact though.
“It’s only the first day,” Koyama chirrups. “Ne?”
“Ne!” everyone echoes.
“Yosh!” Koyama continues, and pumps his fist once. “Energy up!”
“Yosh!” everyone else repeats, and pumps their fists too.
Jin wonders if NewS is some sort of strange cult pumped up on happy-happy-joy-joy drugs.
Then Shige counts them off and they all start singing the song again, this time at the top of their lungs and as horribly as possible.
Jin stares at them.
“Join, join!” Yamapi prompts-they are all singing each other’s parts and they sound very, very bad. “Don’t be chicken, Bakanishi!”
Jin frowns at the challenge. “FINE!” he says, and joins right in, singing as loud as he can.
When they finish they’re all breathless and laughing- even Jin. Because to sound so horrible, it really isn’t anything but funny in the end, isn’t it?
“There!” Koyama says, “It can only get better than that from now on, ne?”
“Ah, Ryo-tan’s voice cracked!” Tegoshi giggles, and dodges a gentle swat from Ryo.
Jin snickers too, despite himself. “Ryo-chan is like that, ne?” he says, and dodges a half-hearted swipe as well.
“Okay wise guys,” Ryo sighs, and crosses his arms (though he is trying not to smile himself). “Can we please get back to work so I don’t have to spend all day with you six idiots?”
“Yes, sir!” everyone agrees, and they jog back over to the piano.
After that the practice goes really well in terms of atmosphere, even though most of the time is spent working around the members’ laughter.
“Ah, some things don’t change no matter what,” the vocal coach sighs as he watches them practice. But even as he says it, he is not angry at all.
Jin wonders what he means by that.
~~~~~
(From: The Return of Wagahai Shige de Aru)
Today Kato Shigeaki worked extra hard!
That’s right, to make this summer even hotter
Akanishi Jin-san has been working on a collaboration project with NewS members. Soon it will be time to record: everyone seems very excited.
It’s a good song! Everyone has a solo, so it is also very difficult. Don’t get too nervous, Kato Shigeaki! The others are counting on you too! You have to work extra hard to keep pace with them!
It has been four days since Kato has had dinner with other members, so perhaps a group outing to eat after recording tomorrow will be a good suggestion to make.
Wagahai agrees that it is a good idea-for this type of summer weather cold Chinese noodles is best!
Welcome, Akanishi-kun
~~~~~
It only takes about a week of rehearsals before the vocal coach pronounces them fit to do the recording for the single.
Usually there are only one or two people in the booth at a time when they are recording vocals, because otherwise it gets too crowded. Tegoshi goes first because it takes him about two-point-five seconds to finish. He is followed by Massu, and then it’s Koyama’s turn.
Jin is scheduled to go last so he doesn’t show up until the day is half done. When he gets there Tegoshi and Massu are both still there too; they’re asleep on the couch with their heads leaning against one another.
Jin wonders of that means that they’re behind schedule or something, but when he asks, it turns out they’re not. Rather, they are still there because Shige suggested they all go out and eat afterwards.
While he’s inside the booth recording later that afternoon, he can see six pairs of eyes peering intently at him through the glass. He wonders if he sounds horrible or something, and falters.
After the third time this happens the sound mixer sends everyone out of the room after chastising them like naughty children, and so the rest of the group has to sit and wait on the couch in the hallway.
When Jin finishes and finds them outside they are bickering.
“You messed him up first!”
“You were the one making funny faces!”
“Your face is naturally funny-looking, how do you know it wasn’t that?”
Jin watches them for a while, until Yamapi breaks up the argument by saying that they should all go apologize to the staff together later, for causing problems. Everyone is repentant and agrees, and soon after that the bickering breaks down into giggles because “yeah, your face is pretty funny-looking, ne?”
Jin clears his throat.
They all look up at him. “Done?” Yamapi asks. “Are you done? Done-done?”
Jin nods. “Of course I am. I would have been done earlier, except everyone was staring.”
Yamapi grins-funny how the staff gets an apology but Jin doesn’t.
“Okay!” Yamapi says next, “let’s all go apologize now!”
Yamapi and Koyama herd everyone back into the studio after that, even Jin.
“Oi, why do I have to apologize too?!” he protests.
Yamapi swats him lightly on the head, “Bakanishi,” he says, “If everyone is going to own up for their own mistakes right now shouldn’t you own up for getting distracted and messing up too? The entire group’s feelings need to be conveyed together so the air is clear afterwards, right? Otherwise it will cause problems later.”
Jin pouts, but bows his head alongside the others. “Sorry!” they shout, and the production staff just laughs at them and tells them to go home-they all ended up staying late.
They go eat cold noodles together instead.
~~~~~
Of course doing a single with NewS does not mean a break from KAT-TUN; Jin has to do both. “For proper promotion of both groups!” the producers tell him.
Jin wants to complain about the double duty, but Yamapi and Ryo don’t let him.
“Idiot, what do you think I’ve been doing for years now?” Ryo snorts. He is unimpressed with Jin’s lack of fortitude.
“You get to see that many more of your friends every day!” Yamapi tells him, optimistically. “Isn’t that great?”
“Yeah,” Jin sighs, and then heads off for his filming of Cartoon KAT-TUN that afternoon wishing that he had Koyama’s energy and Yamapi’s optimism.
During the shoot, Koki kicks Junno three times and smacks Maru once while Jin looks on. During the interview portion Kame gets so impassioned about something the guest brings up that he clasps their hands together and doesn’t let go right away. This causes everyone to sputter and recoil off of the couch, “Oi, Kame, that’s gross!” they say.
Kame is embarrassed and quickly apologizes to the guest; Jin thinks about how Tegoshi sat in his lap yesterday, during the single recording’s lunch break. He wonders why that hadn’t seemed weird to anyone.
~~~~~
(From: Masuda Tatatta)
There is an excitement in the air recently, ne?
Good friends come and leave, but no matter where they are it is a feeling of nakama, desshou?
For those who have left, please remember us, ne? We’ll remember you.
For those who are coming, let’s give each other support, ne?
Ah. I had a good bento today.
I sang loudly and danced very hard today.
These are the days that feel the best.
Tomorrow has that anticipation as well.
It seems we will have another outdoor jacket shoot!
I will bring my Frisbee again; Ryo will bring the shooting planes, ne?
Fun!
To get to tomorrow faster, one should sleep. So I will sleep.
Close my eyes and smile!
Good night!
~~~~~
During the jacket shoot for the single, Jin gets hit in the face with a Frisbee.
“WHY ARE YOU THROWING FRISBEES AT ME? I WAS JUST WATCHING YOU. I AM INNOCENT,” he sulks later, to which Massu looks vaguely apologetic for having been the one who hit Jin. Jin had just been resting by himself on the sideline, after all.
Koyama laughs nervously and pats Jin’s shoulder. “Well, if you are nearby watching us play, we all just automatically assume you are playing too,” he explains. “I don’t know why we do that.”
“Because it’s everyone together!” Yamapi agrees, and flashes a thumbs up.
Ryo just smirks. “You are pretty good at catching things with your face though, Jin.”
“Shut up,” Jin huffs.
“Jyaa, then we’ll teach you how to catch with your fingers, ne?” Tegoshi suggests, helpfully. “C’mon, it’s easy!” He takes Jin’s hands in his and pulls him to his feet.
“I refuse to bow to your petty peer pressure!” Jin protests, even as he is dragged back onto the field and forced to participate.
For the rest of the shoot, whenever anyone is about to throw the Frisbee at Jin they grin and make sure to ask, “Jin, Jin, are you playing this time?” first.
“Yes!” he shouts back, impatiently.
Soon, he is only getting hit in the face with the Frisbee every other time.
It is a marked improvement.
~~~~~
By they time they break for the day, Jin is a champion Frisbee catcher.
“Too bad your throwing sucks like a five-year-old girl’s,” Ryo feels the need to tell him, before they all climb into the van.
“I’m working on it!” Jin protests, as everyone else laughs and says, “Ganbatte, Jin!”
Jin grins, and Ryo rolls his eyes.
But it’s okay, because even Jin knows when Ryo is encouraging him to get better.
~~~~~
(From: Koyama Member-ai)
Yay, there is even more member-ai to go around now, ne?
Did you hear
Did you hear
Of course you did
Ah, Jin-chan, welcome, ne?
Yoroshiku, ne?
Today was a good day! I hope you had lots of fun as well. Please feel free to ask me about anything you need in the future! Don’t be shy!
Ah, is that too forward? Maybe! Keke. Then… let’s talk more and slowly get to know each other well, bit by bit!
Yosh, one question for every day will start our hearts on the road to close friendship!
Today I will ask you: what is your favorite drink? These are important things to know, ne?
Tonight, make sure to eat properly and go to bed early, it will help you get over any jetlag you still have, ne? Look forward to working together again tomorrow! The PV taping time will give us many hours together to connect our hearts, ne?
~~~~~
They arrive on the set at 5am sharp. Everyone is sleepy but excited: in this video they will become the J-NewS Mafia and change the world by saving one person at a time from various causes of depression. They even have guns, and the director says that after they fire them at the people in the video, the graphics designers will put in CG smiley-faces hitting the targets right in the heart. Once they are hit by the smiley-face, the people who J-NewS are firing at are supposed to instantly cheer up from whatever it is that’s depressing them.
Jin thinks it is a weird concept. NewS members are ecstatic-“Wouldn’t it be great if these really worked?” Koyama laughs, when he is handed his very bright, very red gun.
After the initial concept discussion with the director they all go to wardrobe for their costumes-it seems that everyone gets to wear stylish pinstripe suits. Yamapi and Jin both get feathers in their hats because-according to the designer- that sort of accessory is in tune with their “style” type. Yamapi’s is pink and Jin’s is purple.
Koyama is the oldest so they make him wear the fur coat of the Mafia “boss” even though it is the middle of summer and very, very warm under the glow of the set’s various 10k and 5k and 1k lights. He screams “eh?!” when he hears this announcement, but Tegoshi and Shige cheerfully promise to shoot him with their smile guns whenever the heat becomes unbearable.
“Cheer up, ne, Kei-chan!” they say.
They film the video opening first: it is like a small movie. In it, Koyama turns around dramatically in his fancy leather chair and steeples his hands as he tells the members of the J-NewS Mafia that he is putting out a hit on a new list of targets.
Their job, he says, is to make sure they get every single person on the list.
After that the members either pair up or go on separate missions for the video, so there are shooting breaks for everyone else while they wait their turn.
While they are waiting like this, Jin initially tries to take naps because five am is still early for him no matter how cheerful everyone is on set.
It doesn’t work though; before long he notices that he is being stalked. By very loud, very giggly stalkers.
He continues pretending to sleep, but he can very clearly hear Tegoshi’s whispered snickers and Koyama’s mischievous “shhhs!” (which are ultimately useless, because they are punctuated with his own laughter). The two of them are the worst hitmen ever, but Jin lets them play anyway.
He keeps his eyes closed as they continue to sneak up on him, and it is only when they are right in front of him, looking down at him and laughing, that he finally sighs and cracks an eye.
“What?” he asks.
“Bang!” Tegoshi and Koyama both say in tandem, and ‘fire’ their guns at him.
He can’t help it-they look so hopeful that he has to smile at them.
They immediately cheer when they see it. “Ne, minna!” they call out to all the others-even Yamapi, who is currently rehearsing his segment with Shige-“These guns really work!”
Once the announcement is made, the rest of the group spends the entirety of the shoot using their guns on people in an attempt to keep the atmosphere lively.
It really is kind of stupid.
But regardless of that, Jin notices that the guns all seem to work every time anyway.
~~~~~
The filming goes on all day and they don’t finish until well after midnight. Everyone is tired but satisfied with their work when they wrap, and even if he is beyond exhausted physically, Jin somehow still feels less mentally tired than he thought he’d be.
In the car on the way back, when he sees Yamapi’s head lolling against the window as the younger boy tries to stay awake for the ride, Jin takes out his purple gun and points it at Yamapi. “Bang!” he says.
Yamapi tries to look annoyed, but ends up smiling sleepily at Jin instead. “Bakanishi! Be quiet,” he scolds.
Jin laughs.
~~~~~
(From: TEGOSHI*SP)
Ah, my heart feels so full lately! Because everyone is so happy, it feels like the world is happy too, ne? Yappari, these types of emotions are so full that when one person has them inside, it ends up being passed on to everyone else without knowing!
I hope News can make a world with this kind of warmth, ne?
Tomorrow the live stage rehearsals begin! I have very diligently studied the choreography sheet today, so Jin-san, please guide me well, ne? I am excited to hear your voice and my voice together on stage again-it will be a very nostalgic feeling! I hope I have grown in the time since our last stage performances together-it will test all the strength I have gathered over the past few years, ne? I’ll try my best for everyone!
Even if it is hot outside, make sure to keep your throat warm at night!
Jyan!
~~~~~
The first performance J-NewS is scheduled to make of their new single is on Music Station. They have to wear their mafia outfits again.
Everyone is nervous and excited (but mostly nervous). During the interview portion they are asked how it feels to work together with a guest vocalist for the first time. NewS turns to Jin first. “Ne, in this case it’s more important to ask Akanishi-kun, ne? How did it feel, Akanishi-kun? Was it weird to suddenly work with all of us at once all by yourself?” Koyama prompts, when Jin doesn’t immediately realize that they’re waiting for him to say anything. Usually at times like these he waits for Kame or Namakaru to answer the questions-they’re the talkative ones.
“Ah, it was fun,” Jin says, by rote, when all eyes are on him.
Everyone laughs at how generic his answer is. “This guy sounds pretty dazed right now, doesn’t he?” Yamapi chastises. “But at least he’s right. We had lots of fun, ne?.”
“Right!” the others say.
“Except for Koyama,” Ryo points out.
“Eh?” Koyama looks embarrassed. “Oi! Don’t make things up, Ryo!”
“That fur coat is very warm,” Shige explains to the interviewers for Koyama. “He is the only one who has to wear it since he’s the oldest. It’s a bit troublesome, I think!”
Everyone laughs. “You try wearing it then!” Koyama suggests, and jokingly moves to take it off and give it to Shige.
They’re sent on standby after that, and Jin notices everyone’s nervous, excited glances as the intro cues up. He feels his heart rate start to increase instinctively.
Then they start singing-it’s the first performance and right away, they don’t sound very good because their nervousness shows.
They play it off calm though, because they are professionals. Jin hopes that this doesn’t end up being as bad as the first Yorokobi no Uta performance at Music Station in the end.
But it turns out that it won’t be-right before the chorus everyone is already looking at each other; when they succeed in making eye contact Tegoshi and Yamapi start singing louder while Shige and Koyama and Massu drop back their volume a little. Yamapi adjusts to Tegoshi’s pitch first and then Massu gets louder, and then Shige and Koyama pick up as well-Jin finds himself following instinctively.
They manage to salvage eighty percent of the performance.
Ninety, if you count the volume of cheers Jin gets from randomly shaking his hips really hard at the end to make up for his bad harmony at the start.
All in all, everyone considers it a good first experience.
Except for Koyama, who had to do the whole show in that stupid fur coat.
~~~~~
Maru happens to switch on the TV during their dinner break and catches a couple of clips on the evening news about J-NewS’s first live performance.
“Ah turn it off,” Koki complains, when he hears the noise, “I want to nap before we have to go back.”
“Woo, is that the new song?” Junno asks, and joins Maru on the couch. Kame is in the back of the dressing room eating on the makeup counter so he doesn’t make a mess, but turns around to check out the performance too.
“They filmed this yesterday?” he asks. Then, quieter, “they sound pretty good.”
“Yeah” Maru responds, and is about to turn it off so Koki can nap again, because the younger man gets cranky when he can’t catch his power snoozes between gigs.
But before he can, Junno sighs, dreamily. “Ah, Jin looks like he’s having fun, doesn’t he?” he chuckles. “I’m envious.”
Then he shoots Maru a quick smile before getting up to go and ice his knee. He whistles the few lines of the J-NewS song he’d managed to hear while it was on as he leaves.
Maru blinks at the screen for a few minutes and then remembers himself.
He turns off the TV.
~~~~~
By the time the fifth live performance of their song rolls around, they are so proficient at it that Koyama and Shige are comfortable enough to start fooling around with each other between dance moves, reaching out and pinching each other’s arms or doing impressions of Jin and Yamapi (who are at the front of the formation) while they sing. Of course they eventually drag Massu and Tegoshi into joining them, and the performances are all full of silly things like that from there on out.
Jin watches the shows after the episodes air on TV and wants to roll his eyes at their antics, but instead, he finds that it makes him wonder when the last time he’d made eye-contact with Kame during a performance was.
He can’t remember.
~~~~~
(From: Nishikido Ryo’s Nikki)
Hello.
I’m in the living room.
I’m on the couch.
The window is closed but it is noisy anyway.
It is noisy because Yamapi has messaged me four times since he can’t sleep!
Sleep! Please sleep! Or if you’re so bored, message someone else. Some of us want some peace.
Excited. There is electricity-everyone is very excited for tomorrow’s single release. If you get so excited all at once and don’t sleep, won’t you be too tired for that exciting thing tomorrow?! Then it will seem dull, won’t it?!
Please have some common sense.
Akanishi, this is your fault.
I’ll do my best tomorrow. If Yamapi is sleepy then, you will have to do your best for the both of you.
Ah! Why are you messaging my phone now? Stop! Both of you stop! Or message each other instead-doesn’t that make more sense?!
Life is full of mystery.
~~~~~
On the day of the single release they immediately sell more than a million copies and make it to number one on the Oricon Charts. The three producers whose brilliant idea this was are congratulating themselves heartily at the release party, and watching them makes Jin feel a little ill when he remembers that all of this was for the money in the end, just like it always is.
The ill-feeling only lasts until he sees Koyama running around with a copy of the CD, asking his bandmates to autograph it for him.
“You’re an idol, not a fan,” Yamapi tells him, patiently, “Idol. Not fan.”
He signs Koyama’s copy anyway though, and once that’s done everyone has to autograph everyone else’s booklet too. As a keepsake.
“We made a really good song, didn’t we?” Yamapi laughs, and finishes drawing a smiley face on Tegoshi’s insert. “I’m glad so many people out there are enjoying it with us right now, ne?”
“Right!” everyone agrees, and in light of that, Jin even manages to forget all about the producers and the management and the money for a little while.
He’s glad people are enjoying it as well.
~~~~~
Jin nearly drops his plate of finger foods all over the front of his own shirt when Ryo suddenly bumps into him from behind at the buffet table a little while later. Ryo’s elbow hits Jin right in the ribs, hard enough that Jin knows it’s completely on purpose. “Ow!” he complains, and frowns at Ryo. “What was that for?”
Ryo doesn’t apologize. Instead he gestures towards the other side of the room and says: “Oi. The moron brigade showed up too. ”
Jin turns around and sees Koki and Maru and Junno and even Ueda and Kame standing in the doorway. Maru and Koki wave at him.
He just kind of stares in response.
He hadn’t expected to see them here, to be honest. He hadn’t invited them because he’d thought it would be too much trouble for them to come all the way down here on one of their precious few days off. Usually, on days like that, sleep is the number one most important thing to any of them.
When he sees them, Jin can’t help but wonder if this is some sort of bizarre dream.
To prove that it’s not, Ryo loses patience with him after about two seconds and kicks him in the ass-hard. “Go already, dumbass!” Ryo snarls. “No one wants to hang out with a bunch of losers like that except for you, so go do it before they decide to come over here and ruin the party for everyone else.” Pause. And then, a quieter, “Don’t get killed by predators on the way.”
Jin doesn’t get what Ryo means by that exactly, but he ends up laughing for some reason.
Then he jogs over to his bandmates.
~~~~~
(From: November Myojo- Akanishi-kun’s Interview Page)
[Q: What is something you want to say to members of NewS?]
A: Everyone, thank you for helping me find my voice again. It was fun! It was really, really fun!
[Q: What is something you want to say to members of KAT-TUN?]
A: Minna….tadaima.
I have borrowed Massu’s Frisbee for tomorrow’s photo shoot. I think I have learned how to catch it properly now, so please help me work on throwing it correctly as well. We can learn together.
…Let’s build our bonds up from scratch again. This future is our new birth.
Bang!
~~~~~
“Eh? What do you suppose he means by all of that?” Massu asks, when he reads the article. “I thought he threw pretty well the last time we played together.”
“He’s probably just saying it like that because he wants an excuse to hit some of his moron bandmates in the face with your Frisbee,” Ryo suggests, and leans over Tegoshi’s shoulder because talking about KAT-TUN bores him to tears. “Ne, Tego-nyan, what are you reading about now?”
Tegoshi smiles at him. “Successful reintroduction into the wild.”
END
EDITS PLZ. THIS IS A MONSTER.