I'm With the Band (Chapter 2)
The shrill sound of the bell rang out, indicating that it was the end of the school day. Straight away, chairs scraped along the wooden floors and swarms of excitable students started to dissipate through the door of the classroom. The same sounds could be heard coming through the ceiling, and faintly through the floor as well.
This is it, Jin thought to himself as he rummaged through his bag, This is my chance to impress Kame and the others!
Conveniently, this was the classroom that the band used for practice after school on weekdays. Jin had spent the entire lesson forming a plan on how to get their attention, and even though he got sent outside once for ignoring the teacher, it was totally worth it. His plan wouldn’t fail.
Plus, while he was outside, he obtained some useful help from some crazy idiots walking down the corridors…
Yasuda Shota and Okura Tadayoshi must have been sent out of the other class too. Once Jin was instructed to stay against the right wall and keep completely still until told to move, his teacher strolled back into the classroom and he was left to wander around as he pleased.
Yasu was attempting to jump on the windowsill opposite the wall so that he could jump off the little ledge and onto the boiler on the other side. Okura just seemed to be watching with his arms folded, shaking his head, wishing he wasn’t associated with the oddity messing around next to him. After all, if he wasn’t. He’d still be in the classroom.
Jin stared at them for a while. He was still daydreaming about his evil plans, but those two were too hyper and crazy to miss.
“Yasu…” Okura moaned, “You’ve already gotten us into enough trouble! I’m sick of getting in trouble! Can’t we just be like normal students and actually pass our exams instead of getting sent out all the time?”
Yasu froze just as he was about to jump. He turned around to stare at Okura. The expression that he pulled and the speed that he turned his head reminded Okura a little of a demented kid in a horror film such as The Ring or something. Yasu cocked his head to one side as if he didn’t have a clue what the other boy was talking about.
“But you will pass your exams!” Yasu cried, breaking the atmosphere he had just made for himself, “We’re too smart to fail! We’re still smart, even if we are standing outside the classroom because we’ve been naughty you know!”
“Even if you’re flailing around the corridor because you want to jump on top of a boiler?” Okura mumbled.
“If I manage to do it!” Yasu wailed, trying to defend himself, but evidently failing seems so he’d been trying for the past 15 minutes. “Well what are you looking at me like that for? I will do it!”
Okura decided to give him another chance and watched him jump onto the windowsill and leap towards the boiler. This time, he managed to grab hold of the top and stay on, scrambling at the boiler with his arms and flailing his legs to pull himself up. “Tacchon! Help me!”
“What am I supposed to do?!” Okura spluttered, staring at the other boy trying to hold back his laughter, “You look like a drunken koala bear!”
“What?!” Yasu screamed, “Just help me! Push my butt up!”
“Wait, you want me to what!?” Okura cried, stepping away from Yasu and shaking his head, “I’m not touching that!”
“You girl! Just push me up! If you don’t I’ll hate you forever and ever!” Yasu screeched, scrambling even more now that he was loosing his grip.
“That’s a consequence I’m willing to take!” Okura grunted, folding his arms, “There is no way in this world I’m touching your ass! I mean it’s all… you probably… it looks like…”
“JUSTPUSHMYASS!” Yasu shrieked at the top of his lungs. Okura looked around to check that no one was looking, but of course, there was Akanishi Jin staring at him with that stupid expression he always wore when he was completely and utterly confused.
“Akanishi!” Okura shouted, “Turn around!”
There was a high chance that Jin didn’t have a clue what was going on because he was lost in his own thoughts. That chance was found to be more likely when Okura realised Jin hadn’t heard what he had just said. “JIN! TURN AROUND!”
“Oh! Oh ok…” Jin replied, slowly shuffling round to look down the other side of the corridor.
“Right…” Okura mumbled to himself, pushing his sleeves up his arm, just in case. He ran towards Yasu’s fumbling body and pushed his butt so that he could get up onto the boiler.
“Push harder!” Yasu ordered.
“It’s hard!” Okura cried, shutting his eyes so that he didn’t get an eyeful of ass, “You’re too heavy!”
“You woman!” Yasu spat, “Use your man strength!”
“Don’t call me a woman!” Okura snapped. As soon as Okura had shouted back at Yasu, he heard the classroom door open.
It was Domoto sensei, as in Domoto Tsuyoshi, coming outside to see what all the noise was about. Instead of shouting at the two for deafening the class with their stupid nattering, he froze, and a rather puzzled expression smothered his face.
“What’s going on?!” He asked with a hint of disgust in his voice.
“Domoto Sensei!” Okura cried, immediately letting go of Yasu’s behind and letting him drop to the floor. “I’m very sorry but Yasu was messing on! I tried to stop him…”
“OOWWW!” Yasu cried, curling up on the floor and pining over the pain in his back, “You’re evil Tacchon! Pure evil!”
Domoto sensei growled at them both and shook his head. He needed straightjackets for them both, but preferably, straightjackets for the whole class. Why were the transfer students from Osaka so much trouble? And why were they all dumped in his class?!
He looked around the corridor briefly, but in the corner of his eye he spotted a familiar figure standing outside the next classroom with his hands covering his eyes. What was he doing?
“Akanishi!” He growled.
“Yes?” Jin replied, trying not to move his hands from his face, “Err, who is it?”
“I’ll give you three guesses.” Tsuyoshi grunted.
“Can I have three clues?” Jin asked. It was only fair that he had clues if the only thing he had to go by was someone’s voice! Domoto grinned and walked closer to him. Yasu and Okura watched mystified.
“Ok,” He chuckled, “Someone you respect.” A grin grew on Domoto’s face like no one had ever seen before. He desperately wanted to catch Jin out and make him say things that no other teacher would ever be able to get Akanishi Jin to say. That would be an accomplishment!
“Err, can I have another clue?” He asked, “I’m not sure if I respect you, I mean, if I did I’d be able to tell who you were from your…”
“Ok!” Domoto snapped, biting his lip and thinking of something else, “Someone you are going to work for every day after school for the rest of the term!”
“Kame chan?” Jin asked with a hint of confusion in his voice. Yasu and Okura started giggling, but Domoto glared at them and quickly shut them up.
“No!” he shouted, “Someone you’re terrified of!”
“Oh my god!” Jin cried, “You’re that scary hairdresser I dreamed about last night! Stay away from me! And stay away from my hair!”
“What…”
“You tried to make me bald!” Jin cried, trying to run away while covering his eyes. “You’ll never get my hair! Never! I can run…”
Smack. He ran straight into the opposite wall. Jin fell onto his butt and laid down on the blue floor. After that palaver he groaned and stayed silent from then on.
Domoto sensei was lost for words. First of all, how could he not tell who it was in the first place? Why did he make such a fuss about a scary hairdresser? And why was he so protective of his hair?
He sighed and slapped a hand over his forehead.
“Well, It’s Domoto sensei.” He mumbled before walking over to Yasu and Okura. “You two stay here until I get back. You can’t come back in acting like a pair of monkeys.” He took another glance at Jin on the floor and pulled a face, “Oh and check if he’s ok.”
He walked back into the classroom and slammed the door shut behind him. Yasu scrambled to his feet and Okura sighed in relief. Well, that wasn’t as bad as he thought it would be. It would have been ten times worse if Jin weren’t there to distract Domoto sensei with his stupidity, so he guessed he should be grateful.
He walked towards Jin and forced his hands off his face. Surprisingly, Jin’s eyes were wide open. He looked terrified. Geez, Okura thought to himself, that dream must have been traumatising!
“Are you ok?” Okura asked. Jin suddenly snapped out of his daze and shook his head. Wow, that was so scary. An evil hairdresser with Domoto sensei’s voice! What could be worse?
“I’m ok thanks,” Jin replied, getting himself up off the floor and looking at the two younger boys, “Why have you two have been sent outside?”
Okura turned round to glare at Yasu, who simply pouted and folded his arms in a huff.
“Well, Yasu wouldn’t shut up, that’s why!” Okura mumbled.
“You didn’t have to reply to me!” Yasu whined, walking up to Okura and stamping his foot.
“What do you mean? I was telling you to shut up!” Okura snapped.
“Friends don’t tell each other to shut up!” Yasu moaned.
“Friends don’t ask other friends to touch their asses!”
“Yes they do!”
“You have a weird view of friendship!”
“No I don’t! Friends would do anything for each other!” Yasu looked towards Jin to try and change the subject, “What were you sent out for?”
“Well, I was daydreaming in class.” Jin explained, scratching the back of his head. “I have a dilemma!”
Yasu and Okura swapped confused gazes between themselves and looked back at the taller man in front of them.
“What kind of dilemma?” Okura asked.
“Well, you see, I help out with Kame’s band, right?” Jin asked in case they didn’t know. Yasu nodded frantically and grinned wildly.
“You mean KNUTT?” Yasu asked, “I love them!”
“They have the same name as a polar bear in Germany!” Jin whined, “It’s so lame! They should be KAT-TUN, it’s way cooler.”
Okura and Yasu looked at each other again. Jin wished they would stop doing that, it made him feel stupid, and he’d just shown them some of the wisdom he had by telling them some facts about other countries!
“But it’s made up of their names and there’s no A!” Okura mumbled.
“Me!” Jin cried, “I am a major part in that band, but no one cares.” He folded his arms and pouted, “I want them to be grateful for what I do for them, so I’ve been trying to think of a way I can do that.”
There was a moment’s silence where the three of them mused upon what Jin could possibly do to impress the band. Yasu and Okura knew it would be difficult, especially given that it was hard for Bakanishi to pull off anything, but suddenly, Yasu pointed his finger in the air.
An idea had hit him.
“I know!” He cried, “Do you play an instrument?”
“Well I …err, I… recorder?” Jin mumbled.
Was that all he could do? Play recorder? They heard he was a very musical person! How could you be musical when all you could play was a recorder?
They sighed, accepting the fact that maybe Jin was better at the ‘theory’ side of things (even if it was a bit hard to believe.)
“Well, what you should do, is when they come in to practice, play your recorder.” Okura nodded, grinning slyly, “If you’re so good at music, they should recognize your talent! They’re all pretty practical with their skills, so they’ll appreciate you more if you show your practical side too.”
“Yeah!” Yasu agreed, nodding. Jin stared at the little man in worry, hoping his head wouldn’t fall off, “Practical side! Good!”
“You two!” The voice of Domoto sensei shouted from the other classroom. Yasu and Okura looked over their shoulders, and the door was open, but Domoto seemed to have stayed inside the class. “Get back in here!”
Because the door was open and they were both at a different angle this time, they could see the students sat down at their desks. One face that could be seen quite clearly was that of Maruyama Ryuhei. He was pulling faces at them both. He had quite a talent for pulling crazy faces, but still, it was pretty freaky to watch.
They looked back at Jin and grinned at him again.
“Ok, well, good luck Akanishi!” They both giggled, “Bye!”
As they walked, they heard Domoto sensei shouting at Maruyama for pulling faces, and the whole class chuckling. They looked at each other and whispered, making sure Jin couldn’t hear what they were saying.
“Do you think he’ll really do it?” Yasu asked.
“Nah, he’s not that stupid!” Okura laughed, walking into the classroom, followed by Yasu.
Finally the corridor was silent again. Jin walked back to the wall he was supposed to be stood against the whole time. He pondered over what Yasu and Okura had told him, and supposed, seems so he hadn’t come up with anything better, that maybe he should impress the band with his recorder skills.
If he was musical enough to give his own ideas, he must have been pretty good on recorder, surely?
A few moments later, he was interrupted by his teacher, and let back into the classroom.
Now that it was the end of the day, Jin had his recorder case on his desk, and had started to put it together. The classroom was empty, and the desks and chairs were all over the place.
I won’t have to clean up, He thought they get pushed out of the way anyway.
Once the recorder was set up, and his music was spread out on his desk, Jin put his recorder to his lips and stared at the door for any movement. As soon as someone entered the room he planned to start playing a piece of classical music he’d picked up from the library.
He started to laugh evilly, making little hooting noises from his recorder as he did. They were going to be so jealous! And they might even offer him a place in their band! That would be so cool!
Suddenly, he saw movement outside the door. Jin sat up straight, and commenced with his music just as the door started to open.
It was great! He’d looked through the music just before the end of class, and of course, he’d played it at home as well, but he never thought it would go this well when he played it today. He never thought he’d be practicing recorder because he’d be playing for the band, so being able to play so skilfully, so magically, and so smoothly, came as a shock to him.
But, as a true professional, he kept going, watching everyone billow inside the room. He even kept playing when Maru and Koki slammed their bags onto the desks next to him, making his desk rock.
“Hey Jin.” Kame called as he walked through the door. “Could you quit practicing for now? We’ve got to get the room sorted.”
Jin made a long held ‘F’ as he made sense of what Kame had just said. Didn’t he care about how talented he was? Eventually, after being stared down by the rest of the band, he stopped.
Just as the recorder was saying… Jin thought to himself, …F for fuck!
He slowly put his recorder down and bowed his head. It didn’t work. Maybe he wasn’t that good at recorder after all? He looked solemnly at the others as they started to stack the chairs and desks.
Suppose I’d better help then…