From Then Till Now (Chapter 11)
Title: From Then Till Now
Group/pairing: Arashi/ Ohmiya, ShoxOC
Word Count: 2015 words
Rating: PG
Summary: Nino had thought he had left his past behind for good until he meets an old ghost he once loved.
Disclaimer: So far I only own two photosets of Sho and a set of Arashi playing cards. I wish I'd own Arashi, but no. I don't. ._.
Author note: This and Chapter 11 were originally one update but I cut it into two for length and timing purposes. Enjoy! >D *returns to churning out next chapter*
*Early December: The Visual Arts Festival*
"It's a pity Shizuka-chan and Ohno-kun can't join us today," Jun said as walked around with Nino, Sho and Aiba. Around them, stalls selling small trinkets and food were set up, and looked a lot like a carnival except that art and photo exhibitions were held alongside a day of performances in the hall.
"Shouldn't you be there at their performance too?!" Sho asked incredulously, "it's your production!"
"Only for the last show," Jun said, " well, let's see Ohno-kun's painting first."
"I don't even know which one is Oh-chan's, you know!" Nino protested.
"Maa, the topic is 'Warmth From The Heart'," Aiba said, "it could be about you."
"He did complain in the beginning that the theme was incredibly vague," Jun said, "it could mean anything from just a good deed along the street to a heartfelt gift to a relative or something with your lover."
"I'm actually looking forward to see what everyone comes up with," Sho said as he looked at the brochure.
In the painting exhibit, a soft spotlight glowed above each of the paintings, and the four men marvelled at the paintings- a small hand of an infant held in the hand of an elderly lady, a hand-knit sweater with the words "Mom" embroidered on it...
Nino stopped in his steps as his eyes caught sight of a familiar scene.
"No way..." he thought as he neared the painting.
" 'From Then Till Now', Ohno Satoshi," read the small card under the painting, which showed a person painted in blue looking at the sunrise. He had a hand reaching out to the person painted in yellow beside him, who happened to be looking at the sunset. The two sceneries seemed to blend naturally in one painting in spite of contrasting colours in accordance to the time of the day, like they were looking at the same scenery at the same time. Nino stood in front of the painting, captivated in the beautiful colours and absorbed in their memories together.
"Wow..." Sho murmured from beside Nino, "even the title seems so befitting."
"It must be the warmth of the sunrise and sunset with Nino he's talking about here," Aiba said in quiet awe.
"I think your boyfriend might be getting too cheesy," Jun teased from behind Nino, who jabbed playfully at his ribs.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"I can't believe we're going to be looking at my photo entry too," Sho whined in embarrassment as he found himself dragged by an excited Aiba to the photo exhibition, "I really didn't think mine would be selected here.."
"But it is and we must look at it," Nino said, "I need to know what my roommate considers as 'hope'."
"But I reall-"
"No buts," Jun cut in, "we're seeing it."
"But, uh-"
Just as the four men entered the exhibition, they caught sight of a familiar face on the wall.
".. Isn't that...wait, what?!" Nino asked in complete surprise.
Sho buried his reddening face in his palms as he nodded.
While Nino's jaw dropped in surprise, Jun stepped up to the photo in awe.
"Whoa..this looks so...perfect," Jun murmured, "thanks, Sho-kun! I just KNOW our projects are going to get awesome grades!"
"... Because of the not-so-subtle publicity here?" Aiba asked with a chuckle, "but it does
bring out that element of hope, doesn't it?"
"I hope it does," Sho said, his cheeks still hot, and he felt a soft tap on his shoulder. He turned to see Nino gesture him to a quiet corner. Curious, he followed.
"... Just checking," Nino asked, "the music isn't the reason you chose this picture, right?"
"What, it is!" Sho said, "it's from the last scene of the rehearsals after all."
"...Well, if you say so, but..." Nino said quietly, "I sometimes wonder if there's more to it."
"No, there isn't," Sho said with a smile as he walked off to rejoin Jun and Aiba.
"Liar," Nino murmured with a sigh as he followed him back.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
A long day came to a close as the last performance for Jun's musical ended. Shizuka looked up at the audience and took a huge bow with the rest of her orchestra. And on cue, Jun appeared on stage with the rest of the actors, singers and dancers.
"Thank you all for coming today," Jun began, "we would like to thank.."
Shizuka quietly gestured the orchestra to leave in an orderly manner and followed after..only to be dragged away into a dark corner.
"Shh! Get here!" Nino hissed as he dragged Shizuka away.
"Nino?! What are you-"
"Just follow me!"
"Wha-okay okay I can walk, geez!" Shizuka huffed as she shook her hand free and followed Nino, only to realise she was led to the photo exhibition. She was about to ask what Nino was doing when she stopped short and met the eyes of.. her own reflection.
There, mounted on the wall, was a photo of Shizuka as she conducted the music for the last scene during one of their rehearsals. A soft smile was on her face and her hands perfectly captured in frame as she led the orchestra music to a close.
"But.. why am I..?"
"Nino? Why are we back he-Shizuka-chan?!"
Shizuka turned to see an equally shocked Sho in the doorway.
The pair looked over at Nino questioningly.
"I'll leave you two to talk," Nino said and hurriedly slipped out of the exhibition, leaving them alone.
"... Well," Shizuka began shyly as her face became redder, "wh-why am I.."
"Well, the theme was 'hope'," Sho answered, and Shizuka's face lit up as if she understood.
"... it's because of the music in that last scene, right?" Shizuka asked excitedly, "what, of course! That's why I'm up there!"
Sho nodded with a smile.
"I'm sorry though," he said, "I should have asked for your permission."
"No no not at all," she answered hurriedly, "I'm.. pleasantly surprised and really honoured. Thank you."
The pair smiled as they looked back up at the photo, the warm spotlight lighting up their hearts.
Just then, Sho's phone beeped. He unlocked it and found that it was an email from the school.
"Oh right, I need to check for my written exam timings in January," Sho said.
"Ahaha, a burden I will no longer bear," Shizuka joked as she sidled up beside him, "so when is it?"
Sho shrugged.
"Let's go. The Festival is over and we can go back. I ought to check my timings too."
Shizuka nodded and let Sho walk her back to her dorm.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"Ahh.. my exams are on the 4th of January," Nino said as he looked over at Ohno from his laptop, "when are yours?"
"The same," Ohno said, "I think..Shizuka-chan leaves on the 3rd, right? Doesn't that mean we can send her off?"
"Yeah! Well, we have to study right after that, but I guess that's okay," Nino said as they cuddled together at Ohno's dorm room. Just then, a sweaty Jun burst in through the door.
"Ah, good work today, Jun-kun! Did you receive the-"
"When is Shizuka-chan leaving?" Jun asked.
"... 3rd Jan? 10am?"
Jun looked back down at his phone.
"Ah..well I guess I can send her off," he said, "my exam is in the afternoon."
"That's not too bad," Nino said, "Aiba-kun?"
"His is in the afternoon too," Jun informed.
"You two will sneak off on a date after the paper, won't you?" Nino teased.
"As you two will after yours!" Jun said with a grin.
"Well, that settles it then. We'll all go see her off on that day," Ohno said. Nino looked down at his phone as it went off, and frowned.
"All of us except Sho-kun," Nino said. Jun and Ohno looked over at Nino's phone.
"Mine's on 3rd January, 8am to 10am."
"By the time he finishes, Shizuka would have flown off," Ohno said.
"They can leave early, but no earlier than 9am," Nino added with a troubled look, "by then, she would have entered the departure gates."
"... you don't think he would skip the written theory exams, right?" Ohno said.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"I'm sorry," Sho said into the phone, "it seems I won't be able to send you off."
"Don't be silly," Shizuka said into hers with a sad smile, her voice completely masking her complicated emotions, "I'd smack you senseless with my hand-carry luggage if you so dared to skip your written exam to send me off. It's 60% of your marks gone."
"Right, you wouldn't forgive me if I did," Sho said with a soft chuckle, "I won't, then."
"Good to hear that. I'll see you tomorrow," Shizuka said as she looked at balls of discarded papers littered around her, "..goodnight."
"Goodnight," Sho said as he hung up, his heart feeling much emptier than before.
**Christmas**
Nino looked curiously at the six bulky but beautifully wrapped boxes behind Shizuka as she packed away the gifts she received.
"... Shizuka-chan, did you rob Santa for presents this year?"
"What, no! I wouldn't do something so immoral!" Shizuka said, "if I may, shall I start?"
The rest nodded.
"As you all know, I will be gone for three years," Shizuka managed with her most formal tone, "so needless to say, I will miss Christmas for the next three years. That's why.. I brought three years' worth of Christmas presents!"
"No way!" Jun exclaimed in disbelief.
"Oh yes, I did. Pretty easy to pick out, really," Shizuka said as she reached for her boxes, "Jun-kun, Aiba-kun, these are yours."
The pair lifted the lids of their boxes and blinked.
"Scarves and T-shirts?" Jun said as he held them up," bu-whoa look! We match!"
"Is this an amigurumi dog?!" Aiba asked in amazement.
"I made that dog for your birthday this year," Shizuka said with a wink and looked over at Ohno and Nino.
"These probably aren't matching, but I decided on these after seeing Ohno-kun's painting," she said as she handed over another two boxes.
The pair lifted the box lids.
"...Oh my goodness that is so adorable," Sho said with an amused chuckle as Ohno and Nino held up blue and yellow mugs with matching mug warmers and coasters.
"Isn't this one present?" Nino asked wryly.
"Sorry," Shizuka said primly,"it's three. You can count."
"But they are all ONE se-"
"NEXT," Shizuka said loudly as the other guys laughed, "Sho-kun, here is yours. Careful, this is heavy."
"Wooow," Nino teased, "I wonder what could be in there."
Shizuka narrowed her eyes at him. "Let's see...books?"
Nino looked disappointed. "Booring."
Sho lifted the lid of his present to see there were indeed three books on photography in there, along with three different bookmarks.
".. Did you make the bookmarks?" Sho asked, and Shizuka nodded with pride.
"Yep. Have fun," she said, "well, thanks everyone for taking care of me for.. well.. the past one or few years. I'll be back in three years to chill with you guys again, ne?"
"Oh right, you will be busy this whole week to settle your paperwork and stuff, right?" Jun asked.
"Yes," Shizuka said with a wistful smile, "and since we're all celebrating New Years' back at home, this is really the last time I can meet up with everyone."
A silence fell among the group.
"Oh, come on! It's not like I'm gone FOREVER," Shizuka said hurriedly, " three years will fly by in a blink of an eye, believe me."
"Th-that's right!" Nino said as he held up his beer can, "so let's have fun for the rest of tonight, ne?"
"Cheers then!" Jun called and party resumed for the rest of the night until Shizuka left early.
That night, Sho stayed up in his room, a pen in hand on a piece of paper. He ruffled his hair as he wrote, biting the tip of his pen every now and then in thought. When Nino woke up the next morning, he caught sight of Sho lying on the table with a neatly folded letter in his hand.
A/N: NOW. THE FINALE IS NEXT! Will Sho manage to confess his feelings? What will become of our lovely group after three years?!
Finale + Epilogue in the next release! :D