I'm With the Band (Chapter 9)
“That’s what you’re bothered about?” Junno asked with a confused yet amused expression on his face like he found Kame a rather interesting puzzle. “Are you serious?!”
“Well yeah.” Kame replied, wondering what the problem was, “Aren’t you the least bit… I don’t know… shocked?”
“Well I guess.” Junno sighed, poking his chin with his finger. He mumbled to himself and sat down on a chair in the corner of Kame’s room.
Kame was sat on the end of his bed, his legs crossed and a magazine flapped over his knees. Junno loved to look around Kame’s bedroom walls. They were smothered in clippings from magazines like SHOXX and Purple SKY, and every time he came round the whole room seemed to have changed. He remembered the days when Kame was painting his room dark red and black, and because it was taking so long for him to do it all himself, Jin had come over to help him. When Junno, along with Koki, Maru and Ueda came to see if they had finished or not, the only thing they’d painted was each other. It probably took them twice as long as it would have if Kame had done it by himself.
Those where the days when you could see what colour Kame’s bedroom walls were. Those were also the days when the whole band seemed to have no problems whatsoever. There was no stress and there were no arguments. Now it seemed like Junno was the only one who had kept his humorous side, and the only one who would be left smiling after a long day of practice.
“I’ve been a little suspicious too.” Kame blurted, waking Junno from his daydream. Junno snapped back into action and cocked his head to one side. “You know, the attacks, the day someone ruined our show?”
“Yeah but, you’ve been suspicious? We’ve all been suspicious!” Junno laughed.
“No I mean about Jin.” Kame explained. This was followed by a horribly awkward silence. Junno’s smile dropped.
“Huh?”
Kame bit his lip and sighed. He really didn’t want to admit it to himself but the evidence all added up. He liked to think he was good at finding proof and uncovering the truth, and if he wasn’t so hung up on being successful with his band, he might think about being a detective.
Nah. Probably not. But still, his sneaky skills had given him an answer that he didn’t want to believe.
“I’ve been picking up that Jin is a little jealous.” Kame sighed, “He’s not in the band but he’s been trying so hard to do stuff for us. Even though he helps us out a lot he still seems a little off when we have practice and when I talk to him about the band.”
Junno sat with a blank face. This still wasn’t getting through to him. “Along with that Jin’s friends, Pi and Ryo, they’ve probably still got stuff against us. Ryo doesn’t like Ueda at all and I think Pi hasn’t really put our differences aside. You know at our gig? Jin came to talk to me, but Ryo and Pi were skulking around outside weren’t they? It seems a little suspicious.”
“You don’t mean…”
“Then Maru! Ryo was with Satoru Sensei but he doesn’t even like the guy! He wouldn’t go to see him! Plus I heard that Jin and Pi were the last ones down to the room. And that note, ‘How long does it take you to get the message?’… Jin’s wanted to be in this band for so long and he’s jealous… It makes sense to me.”
“Wait.” Junno waved his hands about and sat up straight, revealing a more serious Junno that Kame sometimes found to be rather wise in bad situations, “We were just talking about Jin liking Ueda weren’t we? We came to the conclusion it might be true!”
“And who gave us that idea?” Kame asked, glaring at Junno, “Ryo and Pi! Either it didn’t go his way that night or it’s a lie to rule out Jin from being the culprit.”
“So that’s why you were bothered by it?” Junno asked.
“Well sort of I suppose.” Kame sighed, “Plus if it is true… it’s just weird.”
“How do you mean?”
“Well you know… Jin… Ueda… don’t seem like the kind of people who’d like each other that way. Well Ueda couldn’t possibly…”
“Is Kame jealous?!” Junno cried, jumping off his chair and pointing at his friend playfully, “Kame chan’s jealous, Kame chan’s jealous!”
“Why would I be jealous?!” Kame cried, jumping off the bed and standing up to the tall boy.
“It makes sense.” Junno mumbled, “maybe because you’re jealous you’re making out Jin to be the enemy. Kame… do you like Ueda?”
“Oh for god’s…”
“I just can’t believe how you can say Jin’s done all this.” Junno sighed, sitting back down on the chair, “Jin’s your best friend.”
“Well then I know him better than anyone else.” Kame muttered, slumping down onto the bed and looking back at his magazine, “And I know he’s jealous. He’s good at being jealous.”
Junno bit his lip and shook his head so slightly that Kame didn’t notice. He didn’t believe that Jin had done all this to them, but then again, he did have a tendency to think the best of people without considering their bad points.
Realising that he hadn’t brought the conversation to a positive conclusion, he put on a smile and stood up.
“Ok Kame.” Junno sighed, sorting out his jacket and pointing his head towards the bedroom door, “I’m going to Jin’s house. I’m going to get everything sorted and I’m going to make everything better!”
Kame stared at him with a rather unimpressed look.
“How?” Kame asked quietly.
“Talking solves everything!” Junno sang, jumping a little as if he was dancing to what he’d just said. It didn’t seem to brighten Kame up at all, so he stopped and headed towards the door.
“Hey.” Kame called quickly before his friend left, “before you go, look at this.”
Kame handed him the magazine and Junno leant forward to take it from his hands. He read the page that Kame had pointed at, and his eyes lit up.
“Battle of the bands.” He read to himself.
“Yep. They ask for quite a variety of bands, the names listed there vary from heavy metal bands to singing and dancing groups. But look, there’s going to be representatives from loads of record companies, loads! If we impress the crowd…”
“Jin’s going to be pissed.” Junno interrupted, realising what the consequences of it would be, “But I suppose you’d like that right now wouldn’t you?”
Kame looked at him as if he’d said the silliest thing.
“Don’t you want a proper label? Be a proper band?” He asked.
“Well…” Junno laughed, “Of course I’d like it… but I want my friends to be happy too.”
There was an awkward silence between them until Junno decided this was the best time to leave. He smiled weakly and opened the door again. “Right well I’m going to Jin’s now. I’ll see what I can do.”
The door closed quietly, leaving Kame in silence. He looked back at his magazine and sighed, his whole body trembling as he did. He didn’t know how he felt about Jin anymore, he was utterly confused. Being told about him and Ueda was a shock, but he knew that when Jin had pulled Ueda away, it seemed so fake as if he really wanted to grab Kame’s attention.
Maybe he was using it as an excuse. An excuse to say ‘how could I have done it when I love Ueda so much…’
He shuddered. If Kame was right, Jin had lied, Jin had gone against them and Jin had used such a horrible alibi. How could he? The thought of it all made his stomach churn, and once he snapped back into reality, he realised there were droplets of tears plonking down on the pages of his magazine.
***
“Maybe we should have gone to the police in the first place.” Ryo grumbled, sat down on the street just outside the hospital they’d taken Junno to. They’d all been in complete silence until Pi mentioned going to the police, and it had taken at least 10 minutes for a proper response.
“But it means that it’s serious!” Jin whined, finally being able to express himself with words other than uncertain grunts and moans. He hung his head back so he was staring at the darkening sky, watching the lights around the city illuminate it gradually as more and more were switched on.
“It is serious idiot.” Pi grumbled, “And Ryo’s right we should have gone ages ago.”
So why were they all sat around doing nothing? Something was stopping them and both Ryo and Pi had were pretty sure that Jin had nailed it on the head.
But they weren’t going to admit that he was right.
“Anyone got in touch with the others?” Pi asked, trying to fill the silence they’d slipped back into. Ryo shook his head, he didn’t have anyone’s number and the only person he really hung out with in KNUTT was Kame from time to time. Not Pi though, Pi tried to get on with Kame but they weren’t exactly best of friends. Informing the others should have been up to Jin.
Jin looked round at his friend when he realised he was being stared at. He smiled and nodded like he’d climbed Mount Everest.
“I texted Kame.” He announced.
“Oh great.” Ryo grumbled, “A text. Well-done bakanishi. I bet you could explain exactly what happened in a text…”
“ Ok Mr sarcasm.” Pi interrupted, “I don’t think Jin wants to talk to Kame right now.”
“So what? He shouldn’t put off ringing Kame just because they’ve upset each other! So childish…”
“What the hell is wrong with you?” Pi grunted, “You’ve been sour all day.”
“Well if you haven’t noticed, it’s not been the best day of my life.” Ryo mumbled.
“Yeah well I know a lot of other people who’ve had a worse day than you so lighten up.” Pi growled.
“How’s that supposed to make me happier? It doesn’t stop me having a crappy day.”
Jin looked between his friends on either side of him, listening to the bitchy conversation get quieter and more evil as it went on. Eventually they were mumbling so low that their responses weren’t coherent and they just sounded like they were grunting to each other. In fact Jin thought they might have been grunting at each other.
“Nnngh.”
“Mmmmgh.”
“Buhhh.”
“You two don’t make sense!” Jin cried. Suddenly the staring started again, and Jin’s head began to sink next to his shoulders. Ryo tapped his feet on the tarmac, turning his gaze towards the cars zooming past in front of them.
“Ok Ryo I’m sorry, I know you had a bad day.” Pi grunted. He waited patiently for Ryo to say something back but his friend kept completely silent.“… At least I’m man enough to apologise.”
“What am I supposed to apologise for? I didn’t do anything wrong…”
“I’m killing him!” Pi growled, jumping over Jin to try and claw Ryo. Ryo didn’t even budge, because he knew Jin had grabbed the other boy’s torso and kept him about an inch over his knees. “Let me go Jin! It’s for his own good!”
Jin then pushed Pi back with ease, shoving him back to his side of the road. He then dusted his hands and sat back again, waiting for Pi to calm down. There was silence as Ryo pouted moodily at everyone who passed by in a car, Jin thought contently about food, and Pi scratched his head conjuring a great plan to get back at his grumpy little friend.
Until an angry voice interrupted them…
“JIN!” Kame shrieked down the road.
All three boys looked to their right and spotted Kame racing towards them. At first Jin was relieved that his friend had finally come to forgive him, and stood up to greet the smaller boy. His face lit up. Maybe he’d done nothing wrong? Maybe Kame would explain the whole situation and they’d be laughing about it all soon. The thought of joking around with Kame again made him excited.
“Hey!” Jin greeted happily as Kame got closer to him. But something was wrong. Now that he could see the other boys face, he looked furious. Jin’s smile dropped.
Smack.
The moment Kame had got to them he put all his weight into his fist. He punched Jin on his left cheek so that the taller boy fell to the right. Kame wasn’t the strongest man they knew so his punch would only make Jin stagger a little to the side. But the momentum in this punch because of the run up, the force he put into his fist, and the shock that Jin felt having his best friend punch him in the face sent Jin toppling over so that he hit the Hospital’s outer-wall.
“What the hell?!” Pi cried, jumping up to his feet. Ryo ran over to Jin, noticing that the boy had hit his head off the wall when he fell.
“Get the hell away from me!” Kame shouted at Pi. Pi rolled his eyes and went to grab Kame, who was getting a little too hysterical for his liking. But what he wasn’t prepared for was a kick to the crotch, which is exactly what he got from the smaller boy.
“FUCK!” Pi shrieked, crossing his legs and dropping slowly to the floor, “What the… why?” He rolled around on the pavement, groaning and crying like a baby while everyone else just watched him in shock. Even a few pedestrians from the other side of the road were trying their hardest not to stop and gawk at his performance. “You… you little… You teeny weeny… Ryo do something!”
“Erm…” Ryo stammered, looking Kame straight in the eye and noticing the fury in them, “Erm…”
“KILL HIM!” Pi hollered, rolling around but managing to glare at Ryo with fire in his eyes, “DO IT NOW!”
“Kame…” Ryo moaned, standing up and walking towards him. Maybe he could reason with the boy. Something weird had happened, Kame wouldn’t attack someone for no reason, “What’s going on?”
“Come any closer and I swear I’ll…”
“Do what? Come on you got the other two because they didn’t know you were capable of hurting anyone. Now I know that you are very skilled in the art of ‘kicking the ball,’ you can’t do anything to me.”
“You’re not going to do this to anyone else! I’m going to make sure of it!” Kame growled, clenching his fists and trying to keep confident in front of Ryo, but finding it hard to keep it up. He was obviously rather terrified of all three of them, sweating and shaking the closer Ryo to him. But this sentence made Ryo stop.
“What do you mean?” Ryo asked.
“It was you!” Kame cried, “You are doing this! All of you!”