JE/NEWS- "One Thousand and One NEWS Nippon Nights" (4/8)
*****
Because of a hold up on the freeway on their way to the station, Ryo and Yamapi barely make the same train, sliding into their private car just in time to throw their bags in the overhead compartment and sit down before the shinkansen speeds off towards the west.
Waiting anxiously around in crawling early morning traffic has made them both a little cranky, though Yamapi is quick to forget about it once they’re smoothly on their way and no greater trouble than a little annoyance had to be dealt with. Ryo doesn’t appear to be nearly as charitable about the whole situation and promptly bullies Massu into switching seats with him so that he can sit in between Shige and Tegoshi. “Entertain me,” he declares baldly, and settles back in his chair like a sultan.
Luckily Shige is well-prepared this time, and doesn’t bat an eye as he launches into the most epic tale he’s rewritten yet.
*****
The Story of Aladdin and the Lamp (or How Tegoshi Went From a Total Street Urchin to a TV Prince)
Before Tegoshi’s arrival at Johnny and Associates there is a situation in which he encounters the dark side of the entertainment industry.
He’s young at the time, even younger than he’d been when he’d first gotten into Johnny’s, and as such all he has are wide-eyed, hopeful dreams about what the future holds for his ambitions of stardom. At first his parents had warned him off from such a dangerous and uncertain career path, wanting him to use his brain for more productive, stable jobs, like being a doctor or a teacher. However, Tegoshi has always been willful, and so decides to go into the entertainment industry on his own power, without the knowledge of his family.
He is walking around town one day, in an area known for agents and managers walking along the streets, handing out their business cards to every pretty face that passes them by. Tegoshi figures that this is as good as any a place to begin, given that he’s heard so many celebrity stories about being scouted or recruited on the way home from school.
He’s dressed smartly in his middle-school uniform and tries to smooth down hair that had become unruly during the lunch hour, when he’d spent it playing soccer with his classmates at a very intense level. He gets passed by a lot of agents on the street at first, because they seem to be chasing after cute girls more than anything else, and when he goes to ask for a few cards himself, gets some laughter, and some outright refusals; he even gets chased off by an angry-looking man in a black-and-white pinstripe suit that is more white than black.
As the afternoon wears on he starts to get more and more disheartened by everyone’s responses to his questions, and settles down on a bench when the weight of his bookbag starts to strain his shoulder; he sets it in his lap and stares out at the busy streets, contemplating how he’s going to explain to his mother what he’s been doing.
It is while he is looking thoughtful and innocent like this that he is finally approached by someone else, a tall, thin man with a deep tan and facial hair steps up to him with the air of a professional people-hunter, crouching a little so that he can peer closely at Tegoshi’s face.
Tegoshi blinks at him and wonders if he’s a pervert.
Then, the man smiles-apparently he sees something in Tegoshi that suits him- and pulls a card out of his jacket pocket. “Young man,” he begins, voice smooth and pleased, “have you ever considered becoming a star?”
Tegoshi smiles at that, relieved. “Every day,” he says, honestly.
The man’s smile broadens as Tegoshi takes his card. “Well then, I think today is both of our lucky days,” the man explains, and asks Tegoshi if he’d like to have some tea at a nearby coffee shop, his treat.
Tegoshi nods eagerly and the man takes him to this high-class looking café down the street, telling Tegoshi to order whatever he wants. Not wanting to be too presumptuous, Tegoshi orders a cake and milk tea and sits politely while the man goes over his spiel, which is all about himself and how he’s discovered lots of models that have made it big overseas and how he’s thinking of branching out into the Japanese market since the idol market is so profitable. Tegoshi listens and nods and eats his cake; he isn’t actually prompted to speak again until about ten minutes later, when the man, who calls himself Jasper-san, asks if Tegoshi would mind doing him a small favor before they get down to the actual business of turning him into a star.
Tegoshi, feeling obligated after the cake and the tea, nods. “What kind of favor?” he asks, while Jasper-san pays for their food.
“Just a little pickup,” Jasper-san says simply, “I have another quick meeting I have to run to, but my partner will want to see you before we sign you and while you’re there, you can get to know him and pick up something he needs to get to me before I meet you back here afterwards. Do you think you can do that?”
Tegoshi supposes he still has a few hours before he’s expected home. He nods. “Sure, that’s not a problem.”
Jasper-san smiles and strokes his immaculately-kept goatee while he writes down a nearby address on a napkin for Tegoshi. “There you go. Shall we meet again here at around five to make all your dreams come true?”
Tegoshi sees the address and figures it’s about a ten minute walk from here. “Okay.”
“Great!” Jasper-san reaches out to shake his hand heartily before ushering Tegoshi out the door. At the door he reaches into his pocket and gives Tegoshi a ring. “Here you go,” he says, and slides it onto Tegoshi’s right index finger. “Wear that so my partner knows that you’re the person I sent to him and not some random rascal off the street trying to get a meeting. It’s mine, so he’ll know it the moment you show it to him.”
Tegoshi nods and supposes that makes sense; he wouldn’t want to be chased away again, after all. Then he thanks Jasper-san and goes on his way, in the direction of the address on the paper.
It actually takes him twenty minutes to find the place because it’s hidden amongst a bunch of cluttered-looking back alleyways, and when he does, he starts to have reservations because the building is run-down and almost abandoned-looking, with very little light and even fewer people. But he promised he’d get Jasper-san’s package from his partner, and still feeling a bit obligated for the tea and cake despite currently having reservations about whether or not Jasper-san is able to make his dreams come true, Tegoshi knocks on the door of the office whose number matches the one written on the napkin.
A minute later, the door opens, and a fat-looking man with thinning hair glances beadily out of the dark-looking room. “Yes?” he asks, shortly.
Tegoshi manages a charming smile. “Um, Jasper-san sent me,” he says, and shows the fat man the ring. “He said that you’d have something for me?”
The fat man eases up on the grumpy glaring and opens the door at the sight of the ring. “Oh, so you’re Tegoshi-kun.”
“Yup!” Tegoshi answers, and strides into the office. He squints. “It really is dark in here,” he begins, and hears it when Jasper’s partner closes and locks the door behind him.
“Well,” the fat man grunts, before taking a folded-up handkerchief out of his pocket and what Tegoshi assumes is a bottle of water. “There’s a reason for that, actually.” He pours a liberal amount of the water on the handkerchief.
“Are you sensitive to light?” Tegoshi asks.
“Nope,” the fat man answers, before capping the water bottle again. Then he takes two big strides forward, until he is right in Tegoshi’s personal space. “It’s for other reasons.”
He promptly presses the folded-up handkerchief over Tegoshi’s mouth.
It is at that moment, right before he passes out, that Tegoshi realizes that it hadn’t been water in that bottle after all.
*****
When Tegoshi wakes up sometime later, he finds himself the sole inhabitant of a grimy, bad-smelling holding cell in a windowless room, with only a single bulb suspended from the ceiling providing any light to see by. He still has his bookbag but his cell phone is no longer in his pocket, which is a bother, because he’s sure his mother must be calling by now.
Absently, Tegoshi thinks that this is another one of those would-be celebrity stories people hear a lot about on the news; his mother had been warning him about precisely this sort of thing earlier.
“Hello?” Tegoshi calls out, hoping to get some answers. None come. He tries again, only louder this time. He can get quite loud when he wants to. “HELLO?!”
His voice echoes through the darkness around him, but still no answers come. It’s like he’s in an underground cave or something, trapped under the dirt by a shady-looking wannabe agent and his pudgy sidekick. Sulking, he sits down and looks at the heavy ring on his finger; it must be some sort of signal for “Shanghai this idiot and sell him into slavery” or something.
“HELLO?!?!” he persists, because hey, maybe someone will hear him and call the police.
It is on the tenth or eleventh scream that he finally hears something; it is the shriek and bang and clatter of a large, rusty door opening and closing behind someone. Footsteps echo down a corridor towards him, and when Tegoshi squints, he can see a faint light coming closer with each step.
“Keep it down, will you?” a new voice hisses in a frightened whisper. “Or they’ll hear you and then I’ll get punished for not keeping you quiet.”
When the stranger steps into the circle of light from the single bulb above Tegoshi’s head, Tegoshi can finally put a face to the voice. The man who greets him is tall and imposing but carries himself like he’s a slave or something, shoulders hunched and fingers white-knuckled around the handle of a small kerosene lantern like he’s afraid the darkness will eat him without it.
“What’s going on?” Tegoshi asks him. “Why am I in a cage like this?”
The man looks vaguely apologetic as he steps closer to the bars, so he can whisper an answer. “You’re going to be shipped overseas to be sold as some rich pervert’s sex slave, man,” the newcomer informs Tegoshi quietly. “Jasper-san is a human trafficker from the Middle East or something.”
Tegoshi frowns at that; it certainly is a far cry from what he’d originally set out to do.
“I wouldn’t make a very good slave,” Tegoshi explains quite clearly. “I don’t know Arabic at all, and my parents say I never listen to anyone.”
The man’s eyes slide across the room like he expects monsters to come screaming out of the dark to rip him apart at any second. “Look, I don’t know, okay? I’m just here to watch the door. So please, please be quiet so I can get out of here. It feels like the walls are closing in on me.”
Tegoshi frowns. “What, are you afraid of the dark or something?”
“And small spaces,” the guard admits, still standing close to the bars, in the circle of light from the overhead bulb. He holds his small lantern close.
Tegoshi hears that and his first instinct is to reach a thin arm through the bars, his movements quick as lightning from practice being goalie at school. He snatches the tiny lantern out of the unsuspecting guard’s hands, retreating to the back of the cage with it when the man yelps and tries to swipe it back.
“Not cool!” the guard whines. “Give it back, or I can’t get out of here. It’s dark in that corridor, and it’s like, a million feet long.”
Tegoshi tucks the lantern behind his back, against the cell wall. “I’ll give it back to you if you let me go.”
“As much as I wish I could help, Jasper-san would kill me.”
Tegoshi regards him carefully. “You don’t seem like the type of guy who would go into this kind of employment without a reason. Why are you doing this?”
The man looks uncomfortable at Tegoshi’s observation. “I’m not into it or anything,” he admits after a beat, “I just…I really needed the money, and since I had to drop out of high school, there really isn’t a lot out there for a guy like me given the bills I’ve got to pay.” He averts his eyes for a moment. “I’ve got a brother who I’m trying to put through school all by myself,” he explains. “I mean, he’s probably your age? Real smart. Think he’s got a future.”
Tegoshi is a little bit touched. “That’s nice of you. But was a job working for a human trafficker really the only thing you could find? Did you even try the 7-11?”
The man sighs. “Look, I don’t expect you to understand, just give me back my lantern so I can get out of here. If you don’t, we’ll both be in deep trouble.”
“Not until you promise to help me get out,” Tegoshi repeats, and reaches for his bookbag, which has a particularly menacing algebra book inside of it.
The guard runs a hand through his hair. “Just give that back, okay? It’s really creepy in here. There’s nothing I can do to help you.”
Tegoshi comes up with the algebra book while nodding at the guard’s ring of keys. “You obviously can help me.”
He looks up at the lone lightbulb, dangling precariously overhead. Then he tosses his book at it.
The guard yelps. “What are you doing?!” he screeches, apparently forgetting about being quiet now.
Tegoshi’s math book misses its target, but sends the lightbulb swinging back and forth with a creepy, rusted-iron squeal. The book hits the cell bars and rebounds back to the center for of the room. Tegoshi goes to pick it up and try again.
“Stop that!” the guard begs. “It’ll be really dark in here!”
Tegoshi wordlessly throws the book again. This time the lightbulb gives a threatening flicker and starts to swing harder. “I think I’ll definitely get it on the next one, ne,” he reports to the guard cheerfully, like this is all a game.
“Okay, okay, okay! I’ll help you, I’ll help you, just stop it!” the guard capitulates as Tegoshi begins a truly impressive wind up for his next attempt. “Please!”
Tegoshi stops, looking relieved. “Thanks,” he says, just as the guard’s shaking fingers reach for the key ring at his belt.
A few minutes later the two of them are making their way down the corridor together, Tegoshi holding the lantern close to him, with his hand threateningly on the off switch just in case the guard-whose name he learns is Satoshi-kun-guides him down the long, smelly corridor.
“I’m so dead after this,” Satoshi-kun mutters to himself as they walk. “Jasper-san is going to chop me up and feed me to his fish.”
Tegoshi takes pity on the poor guy, who is obviously actually kind of nice, all things considered. “Maybe you can try the 7-11,” he says again, in an unintentionally superior manner. Satoshi-kun gives him a skeptical look, but it’s still kind of dark so Tegoshi doesn’t notice. “Since Satoshi-kun seems to be a nice person, you might do better at customer service.”
“You don’t seem to understand that Jasper-san is going to kill me when he finds out that I helped you,” Satoshi-kun quavers, sidling as close to Tegoshi’s side as he dares.
Tegoshi frowns, thinking about that. “You could tell him that I picked the lock and knocked you out and escaped on my own,” he offers after a beat, magnanimously. “I’ll even give you a black eye before I leave as proof.”
Satoshi-kun considers this. “That…might work,” he admits after a moment, sounding cautiously optimistic.
Tegoshi is confident that it will. “Great, then it’s settled.”
“Thanks, Tegoshi-kun,” Satoshi-kun murmurs.
Tegoshi feels like a hero. “No problem.”
And so, once they are outside the building, back into the dim light of the office area, where Satoshi-kun isn’t a quavering mess, Tegoshi hands the lantern back to the guard and prepares to punch him in the face, as promised.
But before he does, Satoshi-kun quickly goes to his desk and pulls out a small LED flashlight, pushing it into Tegoshi’s hands. “You’re going to need this to get back to the main street without hurting yourself,” he explains shyly, like this whole helping people out thing is starting to grow on him. “Plus it’s…kind of like a good luck charm,” he adds. “I mean, that’ s what my brother told me when he gave it to me. So uh, take it, and I hope you get home safely.” Pause. “And that all your dreams about becoming a star come true.”
Tegoshi is touched. “Thanks, Satoshi-kun,” he says, and pockets the flashlight. “I’ll make sure to punch you extra convincingly.”
Satoshi-kun nods and crouches so that Tegoshi can hit him.
Tegoshi does, and then is off.
The flashlight does prove very useful as he makes his way through some strange and random wilderness back to the main road, where he has the dumb luck of hailing a taxi when the driver is on his way home for the night. Tegoshi states that he’s lost and that it would be the driver’s civic duty to help this underaged kid get home before his parents worry, and the driver, having a daughter about Tegoshi’s age, is easy enough to convince.
Tegoshi gets home well past dinnertime that night and gets soundly scolded by his parents for losing track of time and for losing his phone; Tegoshi bears the punishment with aplomb and considers himself pretty lucky considering he could otherwise be some rich Arabic King’s harem butt-monkey otherwise.
On the plus side, his regaling his parents of the day’s events leads to a change of heart on his mother’s part; she declares that after he is done being grounded for a week, she’ll help him apply to Johnny’s Entertainment, because if her son is going to insist on becoming famous, he’s going to do it in the most legitimate way Japan knows. Then she calls the police, Tegoshi explains his ordeal, and when the cops arrive to the place where he said the warehouse was, they find nothing but an empty room with a single, slightly crooked lightbulb hanging from the ceiling, and a bunch of dirt.
Tegoshi is pretty worried about Satoshi-kun on the one hand, but on the other he’s pretty ecstatic about being given permission to apply to Johnny’s and Associates. That night before bed, he puts Satoshi-kun’s good-luck flashlight on his nightstand and wishes for a quick takeoff to an excellent career.
*****
A few weeks later, after he and his mother finish and send off his application to Johnny’s, Tegoshi gets a letter in the mail calling him back for an audition. Ecstatic, he kisses the little flashlight Satoshi-kun gave him as he prepares to go in to try out for the one thing in his life he’s always known he is meant to do.
And just like magic, he nails the audition, gets called to the front of the room, and has a one-on-one meeting with Johnny-san himself, when the old man sits him down and asks him to sing a couple of TOKIO songs.
The flashlight is hooked to the strap on his new cell phone, sitting in his pocket like a good luck charm the entire time.
*****
Tegoshi is new when it comes to being idols but he is an old hat at being an athlete and what that entails, from conventional things like training and studying film and practicing to less conventional things like being a little bit superstitious and believing in good luck charms. Some athletes don’t wash their socks between games, some don’t shave or wash their hair. Some have lucky boxers, lucky shirts, lucky sweatbands, lucky shoelaces.
So when Tegoshi is called in for a meeting with Johnny-san one afternoon, he goes through the trouble of recreating everything that he had worn or had with him on the day he’d gotten into the jimusho; the same ugly shirt and pants, the same sweatband on his wrist, the same little LED flashlight clipped to the strap on his cell phone.
When he gets to the meeting he pauses for a moment outside of Johnny-san’s door and reaches into his pocket; he rubs the flashlight, taps his sweatband, and murmurs, “I hope this is news about debuting,” and then knocks on the door.
As it turns out, the meeting is so that he can sing with a bright-eyed, round-cheeked boy named Masuda-kun; Johnny-san says that their voices sound interesting together and looks thoughtful as they finish singing a few Kinki Kids songs together. He doesn’t say anything else though, and Tegoshi wonders what it all means later that night, as he prepares for bed.
About six months later he learns what it all means; there’s this group called NEWS, and he and Masuda-kun are both going to be a part of it.
Johnny-san thinks they sing well, and Tegoshi, simultaneously nervous and excited, is happy that his second wish in life has apparently been granted.
*****
Years later, after becoming a successful part of a successful group, after TV shows and movies and number one singles and albums, Tegoshi will look at his life on the way home from a friend’s bachelor party and think about how happy that friend had looked tonight, flushed with alcohol and burbling endlessly about his fiancée, about how he loves the way she hates cheese and how she does her hair and the face she makes when she’s trying not to laugh at him on the outside but is totally doing it on the inside. “She’s a princess,” his friend declares, and starts to get a little cheesy and definitely a little sniffly. “She’s way too good for me.”
As the bars start to close around them Tegoshi will walk out to his car supporting that friend on one arm. He will have to juggle the groom-to-be against his shoulder and hip when he reaches into his pocket for his keys and his phone, using the small LED flashlight hooked to his cell to light the way as he tries to find the right button to unlock the doors. His friend will smile blearily up at him and say, “Oi, Tego, you should find yourself a good woman too, just like me,” and Tegoshi will smile back and click the flashlight on before telling his friend, “It is currently my fondest wish, ne.”
He’ll drive his friend home and think about how he’d like to find a princess one day too, and as with most things Tegoshi wants, the next few days will make it happen for him.
*****
It is on an afternoon when he is out shopping for a new jacket before he’s scheduled to meet up with Shige for lunch that he first sees her; she’s pretty and foreign and sitting by herself on a bench sipping iced green tea. Her hair is blond, her lip gloss is pink, and Tegoshi instantly thinks that she looks like American royalty.
He finds himself stopping for just a moment to admire the picture she makes there on that sunny mid-spring day, singled out amongst the familiar Tokyo backdrop like an exotic orchid blooming amidst the many fluttering sakura girls walking up and down the streets around her.
He almost just moves on after that because from what Yamapi and Ryo-kun say, foreign princesses like that don’t really tend to go for guys like them, even idols like them, because for some reason they all seem to prefer guys with shoulders like TOKIO.
But he stops at the sight of a very familiar face.
He sees it when Jasper-san sidles up to the girl with that charming smile of his, as he reaches into his jacket and withdraws his card. He must be speaking in English because the girl’s face sort of lights up with this sense of familiarity, the kind that Tegoshi’s seen a hundred times before in the middle of Tokyo during the heat of tourist season; the sound of your native tongue is like a balm when you’re in a place where everyone else speaks something else.
Soon the princess is laughing and talking animatedly with Jasper-san, and when he invites her to go and after a moment of chatting amicably together, they get up and go somewhere else entirely.
Tegoshi frowns and knows that isn’t a good sign; he hastily pulls out his phone and texts an apologetic message to Shige cancelling last minute. Shige’s response is swift and full of righteous indignation (apparently he had just gotten off the train), but at that point Tegoshi is too busy to answer because the princess and Jasper-san are almost a full block ahead of him now (foreigners have long legs), and he has to fight through the heavy weekend foot traffic just to keep them in sight.
As he follows after them he wonders if he should call the police, but eventually decides against it because he and Shige had both been watching an American crime drama one afternoon on Shige’s phone and when Tegoshi had said the characters should call the police on the bad guys, Shige had snorted at him and looked at him like he was a deficient puppy. “You can’t arrest a person on suspicion of committing a crime,” Shige had said derisively. “That’s like saying hey, go arrest that guy over there because he looks like maybe he might hurt someone. Obviously they have to wait until they’re catching him in the act, or when they get a witness who can testify against them. It’s even worse in this case, because that one guy is obviously leading the main character into a trap, but since he has someone else doing the dirty work for him then no one can link them directly.”
“Law is complicated, ne,” Tegoshi had murmured, while Shige had given him an indulgent look and said, “It’s that way to keep people from being falsely accused too, you know.”
Which had made sense, and that is why Tegoshi is determined to follow, because if he can at least be a witness, maybe someone can finally arrest these people.
Pretty soon Jasper hands the princess a bracelet, gives a bunch of obsequious bows, and the two split up, just like what had happened with Tegoshi when he had fallen for the same tricks many years ago. Tegoshi follows the princess of course, and pretty soon they’re in the Chinatown district, amidst alleyways of shops filled with bootlegged goods and stalls selling everything from decorative katana to tiny sand crabs and brightly colored goldfish.
The princess keeps walking though, past the busy market area towards the quieter warehouses, where supplies are shipped and received. She looks a little lost at this point and Tegoshi feels like maybe he should intercept her now, before something happens, even if it means that Jasper-san will get away again, that maybe he’ll get someone else just like this in the future.
But before he can make the decision it’s made for him, and she stops in front of a door to knock.
When the door opens Tegoshi can clearly see that fat man again, the one who glares and looks nervous and irritated all at once. The princess looks a little bit doubtful now, because the fat man obviously doesn’t have Jasper-san’s easy-going charm or friendly manners. She takes a step backwards, out of reach of the fat man, and it is when he pursues her out the door that Tegoshi jumps out from behind the shipping crates he is hiding behind, brandishing a fake katana he’d hastily purchased at one of the stalls on the way here.
The fat man sees him and immediately starts to retreat while the princess screams; Tegoshi manages to bring the katana down on the fat man’s shoulder as hard as he can, but the weapon ends up snapping and Tegoshi ends up cursing about bad Chinatown rip-offs at 1000 yen a pop.
In the meantime the fat man starts shouting and calling for help as he and Tegoshi circle each other, Tegoshi holding a flimsy scabbard and half a sword, the fat man, reaching in his pocket for a knife. “Satoshi!!” the fat man shouts, over and over again, eyeing Tegoshi’s jagged edge of fake-metal blade warily. “Help me!”
Tegoshi gives a bit of a start when he hears that familiar name and the fat man takes the opportunity to lunge forward, using his greater weight to his advantage and falling on top of Tegoshi in a rather painful way.
Tegoshi winces, dropping the sword in the dirt, the princess screams some more, and in the background, the sound of pounding footsteps approaching makes Tegoshi wonder if maybe Satoshi-kun hadn’t been as nice a person as Tegoshi had first thought.
He manages to open his eyes when the fat man pins his wrists over his head and there he sees Satoshi-kun, a little bit older, a little bit more tired looking. Satoshi-kun’s eyes light with recognition when he sees Tegoshi as well, and Tegoshi manages a little smile, because he’s an idol now, and even when they’re being pinned to the floor by extraordinarily sweaty and large people, they can manage a smile.
Satoshi-kun hesitates.
“Get the girl!” the fat man yells, and gestures to the princess, who is staring in horror at the sight in front of her. “Shut her up!”
Satoshi-kun doesn’t.
What he does do is grab the sword that Tegoshi had dropped just now and slam the hilt right into the back of the fat-man’s neck.
He drops like a rock, which is really not very pleasant for Tegoshi.
The princess finally stops screaming, and as Satoshi-kun is helping Tegoshi roll the fat man off him, he finally manages to look over his shoulder at the princess, smile sheepishly, and ask, in awful, broken English, “Are you okay?”
She sinks to her knees onto the dirt, as charming as ever, and says, in passable Japanese, “Japan is so weird.”
Tegoshi manages a small laugh before shrugging out of his jacket and going to the princess. He drapes it over her shoulders and smiles reassuringly. She looks up at him gratefully, and wraps it tighter around her shoulders.
Meanwhile, Satoshi-kun stands off to the side a little bit, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly. “I didn’t expect to see you again,” he admits, looking guilty.
Tegoshi just goes to him and pats him squarely on the shoulder. “I think it’s definitely time to get you a different job, Satoshi-kun,” he says, and is struck with some sudden inspiration. “Say, how do you feel about concert security?”
Satoshi-kun stares at him. “Really? You can do that?”
Tegoshi grins and reaches into his pocket, pulling out the small flashlight on his cell phone that Satoshi-kun had given him all those years ago. “I think if we wish hard enough it will probably come true, ne,” the idol answers, and detaches the flashlight before handing it back to its original owner.
From there, the three of them call the police, get the fat man arrested, and have him turn and testify against Jasper-san during the trial.
The beautiful princess, of course, falls madly in love with Tegoshi, even though sometimes she still thinks Japan is really, really weird.
Satoshi-kun gets a job working for Johnny’s groups during concerts, even though a lot of the backstage area is kind of dark and dangerous to navigate.
As for Tegoshi, even though he doesn’t have his lucky flashlight anymore, he ends up getting pretty good at making his own wishes come true anyway.
END
*****
Shige trails off just as the bullet train comes to a stop at the station in Osaka, and from beside him, Ryo scoffs. “I want pictures or the pretty blonde girlfriend didn’t happen.”
Shige rolls his eyes. “Obviously you already know I’m making things up.”
“Well obviously some of this is steeped in reality or it wouldn’t be nearly as interesting.”
Shige supposes he has a point, but won’t concede. “Why the hell does it matter if the girlfriend is fact or fiction?”
Ryo shrugs, grinning. “It doesn’t.”
“Well,” Shige sniffs, “it’s really none of our business either way.”
“But that’s why it’s so damn interesting,” Ryo answers. “Everyone wants to know about the things aren’t their business.”
Shige can’t believe this. “Seriously? After that entire story, that’s what you take away from it all? That wasn’t even the point!”
“I decided it was the most interesting point. Just because you put the story out there doesn’t mean I have to agree with you about what’s interesting in it.”
Shige glares. “You might be the worst listener ever,” he says, flat out.
“Pretty sure I’m not,” Ryo counters, and gestures with a tilt of his head to Tegoshi, who sitting on his other side. Tegoshi who is fast asleep with his head pillowed on Koyama’s shoulder, snoring gently away.
Shige sputters. “That was his story! How did he fall asleep?” he hisses, in something that’s a cross between a scream and a whisper.
Ryo grins. “Maybe he already knows all of that story.”
“Or maybe he’s a dick,” Shige mutters darkly.
From the aisle seat, Koyama looks sheepish, even as he runs his hand through Tegoshi’s hair and scratches at the youngest members scalp a bit to wake him up now that they’re in Osaka. “It was a long train ride, ne,” the eldest member murmurs, just as Tegoshi gives a little start and opens his eyes blearily.
“Are we there yet? Did I get the girl?” are the first words out of a sleepy Tegoshi’s mouth. They are followed by a kittenish yawn and Koyama indulgently answering “Yes” to both questions.
Shige throws his hands up in the air and goes to get his bag.
Ryo, in the meantime, seems dissatisfied. “I want to be in tomorrow’s story, okay?” is all he says as they make their way out to the station.
Shige grumbles and shoulders his luggage, thinking that everyone is a freaking critic. Seriously, how do all those fangirls online deal with all this judgment on their work? The internet has to be at least as demanding as his groupmates are, and all those comments are from strangers.
Though maybe strangers would be more polite than NEWS is concerned with being to him, who knows?
It isn’t until they are making their way through the turnstiles that Shige realizes something.
“What the hell do you mean in tomorrow’s story?!”
No one feels the need to answer him.
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