Now and Forever...Itsumademo... - Chapter 17D
Title: Now and Forever…いつまでも…
Author: Mayonaka no Taiyou/Unare Haineko
Pairing: [Juntoshi] Matsumoto Jun x Ohno Satoshi
Rating: R-ish
Summary: This story follows Ayumu, a more or less normal child born in 2012, three years after the ending of ‘Kodoku kara Umareta Ai’ (which you can read here). His parents, Jun and Ohno, are everything but ( Read more... )
Now that that’s done, let us move on to the second half of the terms of the contract.
Pages 08-17 - Recapitulation & Numerological Significance
Pages 8 to 17 deal with the dissolution of Arashi.
8 is the number of power and sacrifice. It means for the sake of power, something must be sacrificed. That describes Iago pat, doesn’t it?
The number 17 in numerology is taken apart and added together to make 1+7. That gives you 8. Again, it reminds us of the number of power and sacrifice.
What do pp. 08-17 on the dissolution of Arashi tell us? Simply that it is a case of Iago showing off his power and might by sacrificing Arashi to safeguard his own empire and his own sorry life. Also, we are reminded that Iago used his power and might to manipulate Nino into being the scapegoat who as ‘legal representative’ of Arashi dissolved a profitable and moneymaking group. In so doing, Iago sacrified Nino to safeguard his own empire and his own sorry arse. Likewise, Iago used his power and might to manipulate Jun and Ohno to sacrifice themselves for Nino, Sho and Aiba in the 2009 Contract.
So you see - it is no coincidence that the section of the 2009 Contract pertaining to the dissolution of Arashi falls within pages 08 to 17. *[ Pun with the number 11 intended.]
Still don’t believe me? Okay, let’s take apart the number 17. Group 17 in the periodic table features halogens like chlorine, bromine, and iodine. This is the only group in the periodic table which contains elements in all three states of matter (i.e. liquid, gas and solid) at room temperature and standard room atmospheric pressure.
Chlorine = gas (hence we get chloroform)
Bromine = solid
Iodine = liquid
The fact that the Group 17 elements can exist in all three states of gas, liquid and solid shows that it is versatile and nebulous - that in other words is the quality of Arashi the band. Group 17 allows all form of any halogen to exist. Much like how a bunch of misfits like the members of Arashi could exist peacefully together for so long. Chlorine has the atomic number of 17. Chlorine is used as a cleaning agent because it is the largest part of Clorox or Bleach. 17 is the first number that can be written as the sum of a positive cube and a positive square in two different ways; that is, the smallest n such that
x-cubed + y-squared = n
has two different solutions for x and y positive integers.
Pay attention to the maths (Br. Eng abbreviation, don’t quibble) formula. I’m sorry I don’t know how to make superscript in html, so here just know that x-cubed means X-to the power 3, and y-squared means Y to the power 2.
What does this formula remind you of? The rubik’s cube. If you look at the rubik’s cube from the top you will see a 3x3 square. But because it is three dimensional, the colourful squares form a cube.
In turn, we know that the rubik’s cube is a symbolism of finding direction through misdirection. This is something I have covered in an earlier section with the Tao and the ‘is it a vase or two faces’ illustration. That brings us back to Clause 07 which ‘contact between current members and staff of the jimusho is obviously not prohibited; however, the jimusho prefers that you keep the contact to a minimum’.
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Clause Nine states ‘to protect the interests of the jimusho, any suspicious activity involving current members of the jimusho or staff may result in legal action’. 9 is the number representing the highest degree of change. The fact that the jimusho will sue if it regards something the former Arashi members do as ‘suspicious behaviour’ paints the place as an institution resistant to change. But if the former members of Arashi play their cards right, they can be like the number 9 and bring about the highest degree of change. This links up to the rhetorical question Miyazono posed as to where Iago was on the business cycle.
Bear these things in mind as well as everything else I’ve said vis-à-vis the 2009 Contract. Now, let’s move on to pages 18-25.
Pages 18-25 - Details and Importance
It is stated that “pages eighteen through twenty-five, discusses the conditions for provisional backing of the jimusho for Aiba Masaki, Ninomiya Kazunari, and Sakurai Sho.” In simple parlance and in point form, this means:
• Iago/JE will give backing to Aiba, Nino, and Sho provided Jun + Ohno drop off the face of the earth for 13years.
• For 13 years, Jun + Ohno will not have JE/Iago backing (and knowing Iago, those two can never have JE again so long as Iago remains alive)
• For 13 years, Jun + Ohno can’t be in anything to do with entertainment.
• For 13 years, Jun + Ohno can’t be in ‘direct communication’ with the public or Nino, Sho and Aiba.
• For 13 years, Jun + Ohno MUST disappear from the public eye.
• Disappearing from the public eye means Jun + Ohno can’t remind the public that they exist.
• This means Jun + Ohno can’t hold jobs. Because with jobs, you have to submit a résumé, CV and all that, and people will know who you are. That is tantamount to drawing attention to yourself, which is a big no-no under the terms of the 2009 contract.
Miyazono himself draws attention to these last two clauses when he states (my emphasis added): “As long as you are not doing anything for money or trying to further your career, it is not a violation of the terms of your contract. But it is advisable… to retain a low profile… if you do not want to jeopardize what you are trying to give to the other three members.”
From the other responses to CHs 16-17, I noticed that readers are all impressed that Jun and Ohno don’t work and yet seem wealthy. Some even have hinted that something’s wrong if they don’t want to do any kind of work. Notice what Miyazono says explicitly: SO LONG as Jun + Ohno are NOT DOING anything FOR MONEY. This means they are forbidden from working. As I mentioned previously, they can’t work because it would draw attention to themselves. We know from Kodoai that Jun dabbles in property investment [find the reference yourselves, I can’t spoonfeed you every time]. Astute property investors always have an agent to act for them. In so doing, Jun can hide behind his agent as it were and transact business. Besides, smart investments means making your money work for you and growing your money. Gentlemen in the old days (in the Middle Ages to the early Edwardian era) did two things for money: (a) they invested their money and received the dividends for their investments, (b) they rented out their land to others for farming and the estate agent would collect rent for the Lord while the farmers would pay the Lord with tithes from the land. That’s how the gentleman-class and the nobility lived. That’s why it didn’t seem like they did any work yet had money. Essentially, Jun is doing the exactly the same thing. That’s why it seems like he’s a gold mine. But in reality, he’s a shrewd investor with an eye for what makes money. Ohno of course is a NaSA-Min worshipping sponge thinking with his penis (as the coral roses attest).
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(27) Does Jun know that Nino disappeared for 2 years after the 2009 contract came into effect? Has Jun even noticed?
- Yes, the deal is Jun+Ohno will disappear for 13 years and the careers of Nino, Aiba and Sho will go on. But Nino’s went under for two years while Aiba and Sho suffered no such setback. Surely, Jun would have noticed that there was NOTHING on telly, radio, film, or printed media about Nino for two years AFTER the 2009 contract was signed. Suddenly after two years, Nino came back. Isn’t that dodgy? Didn’t Jun think that was dodgy?
- Or didn’t Jun notice?
- If Nino disappeared for 2 years after the 2009 contract was signed even though the terms were that Nino ALONG WITH Sho and Aiba could have their careers so long as Jun+Ohno went under, isn’t that a breach of the contract Jun and Ohno signed?
13 year silence
Careful readers will know that it is no coincidence 13 years silence is extracted from Jun + Ohno. Iago says it’s the length of time Jun had been associated with JE. Yes, there is that. But 13 is a number that resonates most particularly with Arashi.
In numerology, 13 has two meanings: (i) an epiphany, (ii) point of no return.
There are 13 steps to the gallows, which means there are 13 steps to death if one isn’t careful.
There were 13 at the table during the Last Supper. Judas was the last to sit at the table and he betrayed Christ at the end.
In Norse mythology, Loki gatecrashed a dinner party of the gods, making him the 13th godly participant in that party. Like Judas, Loki pulled an amazing stunt by killing another god at the dinner party, thereby bringing about a war of the gods.
Clearly, with the 13 year silence, Iago wants to condemn the Arashi members to death on the gallows because he views them like Judas and Loki. Still don’t believe me?
Recall what happened to Nino at HC Nozoki. When Nino escaped, Reiya declared it CODE 13 and sounded the alarm. That’s a reminder that Iago views the Arashi men like he would Judas and Loki. That’s why he dissolved the group and continues to screw them up.
However, for our heroes, 13 is a good number. 13 in the Christian Orthodox tradition represents an epiphany. Christ received the Magi on the 13th day of his life, which marked his transition from a son of Joseph and Mary to a son of God meant to save sinners and so on.
In numerology, 13 also signals the dissolution of something. Julius Caesar crossed the Rubicon with the 13th legion in the year 49BC, heralding the Roman Civil War and bringing about the collapse of the Roman Empire. 49BC was the year. 49 in numerology becomes 13 because 4+9. Again, we come back to 13, the number of epiphany and the number heralding the point of no return.
What the number 13 means for Arashi is telling. It means someone screwed with Arashi - and we know that’s 666/Iago. Someone (like Judas and Loki) deliberately crashed between Arashi and brought about a war between the group members to break them apart. Someone (read: Iago) in a position close to Arashi betrayed the group, screwed the members and left them for dead. Yes, Arashi was dissolved. But Arashi could be like Caesar and cross the Rubicon (the point of no return) and go against Iago/666 (the Judas-Loki character) and bring about the collapse of an empire to which they were intimately affiliated.
Let us not forget that 13 could also mean an epiphany. Epiphany in the Christian Orthodox tradition means the revelation of god in human form. But you see, it could also mean an epiphany that someone’s masquerading as God in human form, such as Iago. And because Iago condemns Jun +Ohno to 13 years silence, he indirectly leads Jun and the Arashi men to think why the group was suddenly disbanded. More thinking on the part of our heroes will result in an epiphany. This epiphany will lead them to realise that the real villain of the piece is Iago. That will lead them to cross the Rubicon. Once they cross the Rubicon, it literally is the point of no return for them and for Iago.
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With this then, the significance of the number 13 between Iago and Arashi becomes clear. Having discussed the bulk of the contract let us move on the last five pages of the contract.
LAST FIVE PAGES OF THE 2009 CONTRACT
Haineko deliberately let us know that we are the last five pages of the contract. She specifically draws our attention by having both Jun and Miyazono refer to pages 26-30 as “the last five pages”.
What’s so special about Haineko writing something like that? In real life, there will be nothing important if you say things like this. However Itsumademo is a work of fiction and as with most literary work of quality, there are themes and other symbols one must look out for. In the case of Haineko’s Itsumademo, numbers play a large importance.
Now, why did Haineko draw our attention to “the last five pages” when she had referred to the rest of the contract as “pages X to Y”? Readers are supposed to pick up on this diversion of pattern.
The ‘5’ in the remaining five pages of the contract stands for “action juxtaposed against restlessness” in numerology. Iago was restless in the aftermath of learning of the prophecy. We have established that. Due to his restlessness, he waits like a spider in the centre of his web for the right moment to strike. When an opportunity presented itself to him in the guise of the ‘disagreement and discord’ wrought by the Jun-Ohno-Nino love triangle, Iago transposed his restlessness to action and took the chance to destroy Arashi.
Right now, the tables are slowly turning in the Iago-Arashi dynamics. At the present, the Arashi men are restless because they feel something is not awry/amiss and rotten in the state of Denmark JE. Just what it is, they do not know yet. Sho suspected something as early as CH 03, but because he has the appalling chronic habit of not using his brain, he doesn’t think and doesn’t do anything about the situation. To make things worse, Sho’s restlessness has stirred him to inaction rather than action. Ah, but there’s one rub - one can only continue to back away and refuse to act up to a certain point. The moment one’s back is against the wall, one is a cornered animal and the ‘flight or fight’ instinct kicks in. There’s no animal more dangerous than a cornered animal and Sho is slowly but steadily placing himself in the corner.
Ohno doesn’t even know that he’s in ‘Denmark’, let alone something’s rotten in it. For the moment, he’s a fervent devotee of Min and we shall leave him temporarily in the Temple of Min in Nubian Egypt.
Nino knows that something is amiss in the state of ‘Denmark’, and his restlessness took him too far into the spider’s den. He came away badly, but still alive; bitten but not poisoned. Nino has learnt his lesson and has now adopted a strategy of retreat, regroup, restrategise, rethink, relearn, recuperate and wait. In the meantime, my truffle of a black mamba works on Daisuke with the cannabis laced milk of human kindness (several puns intended).
Aiba knows there is something amiss in the state of ‘Denmark’, but his restlessness leads him to action. This is because he entrusts his fate to the beings who watch over him. Aiba knows like Hamlet, “There’s a special providence in the fall of a sparrow.” However, Aiba’s mistake was that he moved too soon. With spiders like Iago, timing is everything. Move to fast and you get bitten (and you’ll die). Move too late and it will for nought.
Jun knows that and hence went to Hubby for advice. Hubby of course has the ability to see beyond the ordinary. We know from Hubby’s solution to the rubik’s cube that he is the type who can see both the vase and the faces in the Rubin’s picture under the ‘Misdirection to find Direction’ section somewhere above.
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Miyazono’s method of thinking is to look ahead after seeing all sides of any given situation (that is seeing both the faces and the vase in the Rubin’s picture). This is why, Miyazono can see far ahead and use the “What if Ayu were____” example. That in turn jolted Jun into a small epiphany. In so doing, Miyazono made Jun realise that he didn’t plan far ahead where Ayumu’s concerned. More than that, Miyazono has demonstrated that Jun is an emotional creation full of impulses which could put him at a disadvantage. While such a trait renders Jun an amiable human being, it is something that leaves him open to manipulation and exploitation by others. This is something Miyazono is keen to avoid. That’s why he drew Jun’s attention to the rubik’s cube and the red side Jun thought he solved. Miyazono showed Jun that he didn’t consider all sides to the problem nor did he factor in all the variables at play, which is why Jun’s red side of the rubik’s cube is only a haphazard and incorrect solution. It demonstrates also (to use archaic terminology) that Jun’s four humours are out of joint.
Miyazono’s methodology is dry but functional. He looks at the regression equation which is usually something like
Y = alpha + [number]beta + [number] theta + …. + e
The ‘e’ at the end of any regression equation is the unexplained factor. Miyazono considers everything from the constant (alpha) to the variables (beta, theta and so on), and even the unexplained factor. This means Miyazono not only considers any situation from all the sides, he also considers all the possibilities.
While we are on Miyazono, let me touch briefly on Miyazono’s secretary, Sawaguchi. The name Sawaguchi can be dissected thus [my knowledge is derived from the Chinese characters. I do not know Japanese]:
澤 has four meanings - (a) marsh, swamp, (b) damp and moist, (c) fertile land, (d) grace and brilliance.
口means mouth .
Ergo, Sawaguchi means ‘the brilliant and fertile land at the mouth of the marsh/swamp. All this means Sawaguchi’s past might be murky and dodgy but currently, Sawaguchi is brilliant and most useful because of the past chequered experience. No wonder Mr Miyazono hired Sawaguchi, and no wonder Sawaguchi follows Miyazono. In light of this then, I hazard a conservative guess that Sawaguchi will be most useful in the information digging against JE and Iago.
Now that we are done discussing the significance of Haineko’s deliberate play on “the last five pages”, let us move on.
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Pages 26 to 28 cover that which would befall Jun + Ohno should they fail to comply with the ten clauses outlined on pp.08-17 as well as the nitty-gritty surrounding the 13 year silence on pp. 18-25. As Miyazono put it, failure to comply with the clauses and terms would mean:
• Nino, Sho and Aiba would lose JE backing (never mind that they are no longer part of it)
• JE will never back Nino, Sho and Aiba again.
• Nino, Sho and Aiba will never work in the entertainment business again.
• Jun and Ohno will also never work in entertainment again.
• IF Jun and Ohno should break their 13 year silence, the only way for ALL former Arashi members to return to the entertainment business is if JE collapsed and Iago is dead.
This then is what awaits all the Arashi men if Jun and Ohno fail to obey the terms of the 2009 contract. Let’s take it apart and see what we have. In short pages 26-28 is another overt threat from Iago. Don’t believe me?
Look at it. It starts at page 26. In numerology, 26 becomes 8 in numerology because 2+6. Once again, we are reminded that 8 is the number of power and sacrifice, specifically Iago’s power to sacrifice Arashi.
Recall that I said 17 is the first number that can be written as the sum of a positive cube and a positive square in two different ways; that is, the smallest n such that x-cubed + y-squared = n has two different solutions for x and y positive integers.
Well, 26 exists as the ONLY number existing between a specific X-cubed and specific Y-squared. 3-cubed (3x3x3) is 27, whereas 5-squared (5x5) is 25. What falls in between? 26 is the atomic number or SI unit for iron. Iron is strong, but it rusts and oxidises too quickly, like Arashi. It was strong, yes. But due to the Jun-Ohno-Nino blow up the band oxidised too quickly and was dissolved.
26 is the gematric number for the ‘true name’ of God, which is Yahweh in the original Hebrew version of the Holy Bible. The four letters making up God’s name are usually transliterated from Hebrew as IHVH in Latin, JHWH in German, French and Dutch, and JHVH/YHWH in English. It has been translated into Yahweh or Jehovah in English. However, the number presenting God is powerful.
It tells you that at p. 26, not only is Kitagawa invoking his power by sacrificing Arashi as you might surmise from 2+6=8. Kitagawa is also trying to play God, and in so doing, he is being blasphemous. The blasphemous always fall by the way into the 8th Circle of Hell that was described in the Divine Comedy. 8th Circle of hell is for people exactly like Iago in this fic. Don’t believe me? Look up Dante’s Divine Comedy yourself and read about the 8th Circle of hell. But because Kitagawa has numerous other sins, he will likely head to Tartarus (which is even worse than Hell). That’s the significance of the number 26.
Now, we come to the number 28. 28 is a Keith number that recurs in a Fibonacci-like sequence of 2, 8, 10, 18, 28. See the pattern? No? 2+8=10, 8+10=18, 10+18=28. This is the pattern. This pattern is a Keith number.
What does this say about JE and Iago? Iago is saying through pages 26-28, “Look, you pathetic Arashi wretches, I can screw you again and again and always incrementally.” Coincidentally, a lunar month has 28 days; the Gregorian calendar is run in 28 year cycles with 4 leap years in between. 28 in Hebrew numerology corresponds to the Hebrew word ‘koakh’ which means ‘energy’ and ‘power’, both of which might be synonymous with ‘might’. To further bolster this meaning of 28, know you that 28 becomes 1 in numerology? Because 2+8= 10. From 10, you get 1+0=1. The number 1 in numerology means the power of the individual, often that individual will be the aggressor. Once more, we come to ‘the power of the individual aggressor’.
My question at this juncture:
(28) Whose power and energy is used as ‘might’ to subvert whom? What will take for the subjugated to gain or regain their own energy and power?
There are many possibilities here and it all depends on how Haineko plays things.
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We are told, Page twenty-nine contains Jun’s signature, Ohno’s signature, Iago’s signature, and a public notary seal.
Page 29 where the contract was signed with the stamps and seals. I find that amusing. In 29BC, Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus, better known as Octavius was elected Roman consul for the 5th time. In case you don’t know who this guy is. This is the same Octavius
in Antony and Cleopatra who played everyone in the senate against everyone else, got Antony killed, manipulated Cleopatra to suicide and declared became dictator of Rome. That same year (29BC), Octavius declared that all the temples of Janus were to be closed ‘ostensibly’ to mark peace.
Janus is a two faced God of gateways, doors, entrances and exits, beginnings and ends. You must look forward and backwards in order for the middle to clear. The fact that Octavius or Kitagawa in this case closed ‘the temple of Janus’ should indicate to readers that he’s trying to prevent the Arashi men from looking forward or even going forward. Not satisfied with that, like Octavius, Iago even demands that Jun+Ohno truncate all their links to the past by burning bridges so that they can’t even look back or revisit the past for succour.
This is why Jun’s reflection process has been a hell of a process, and this is also why Ohno doesn’t even seem to think on the past.
More importantly, 29 in numerology becomes 11 because 2+9. Anything that happens at the 11 is not a coincidence. It is only on p.29 that Iago appears. Everything else in the contract avoids any explicit mention of Iago. That is Iago’s MO. He hides behind misdirection, smoke and mirrors and shadows. The only time he shows himself is at the end, and even then, he makes it as though he’s just putting endorsing something or refusing to endorse something.
The only way around (and not through) Iago is in the lettuce found in CH 17A - to be colder, shrewder and more cunning than Iago.
Page 30
Page 30 is blank except for the words ‘this page is intentionally left blank’. This reminds me of the line Viola utters in Twelfth Night about her history being a blank. This is exactly the same case with the Arashi men
As I have mentioned previously, 30 is a sphenic number. A Sphenic number is a positive integer that is the product of three different prime numbers. 30 is the smallest possible Sphenic number. Sphen is the ancient Greek word for ‘wedge’. Those 30 pages are meant to drive a wedge between every person in Arashi. At the moment, those 30 pages are a wedge between Jun +Ohno and the other three members.
All Sphenic numbers have a Mobius function of -1. A Mobius function is like Mobius strip, it repeats numbers in a certain sequence. There are three types of Mobius functions defining integers, -1, 0 and 1. We need only concern ourselves with -1 here because this reminds us of the number 11. The mathematical definition of ‘one left over’ is minus one or -1.
Moreover the fact that page 30 is INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK is telling. To the members of Arashi, the reason why there is a wedge between them is a blank. The Arashi men don’t know why a wedge has been driven between them.
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(30) How will Jun get in touch with the rest of them? Newspaper advertisements? Hand delivered notes?
(31) Who is responsible for the prophecy?
(32) What will the rest of the Arashi men think of it?
(33) What will Miyazono and Sawaguchi uncover when they dig subtly into Iago’s affairs? What will Miyazono do when he sees for himself the state of Iago!Claudius!Kitagawa’s Denmark?
(34) What of Aiba? What’s his role when Sho casts him aside after the fig quarrel? Will information about Sho and Iris surface then?
(35) What is Nino’s current stance towards Jun now that he knows Jun didn’t screw him over?
(36) What is Nino’s current stance towards Satoshi now that he has some inkling that NaSA!Ohno was the bugger that sparked off the whole dissolution of Arashi problem as well as my truffle’s mental depression?
(37)What will start the balling to get Ohno off his Min-worshipping penis and Sho’s vexing infatuation for ‘lager’ and fridges? Arashi can’t move against Iago if 2 out of 5 of them haven’t brain cells to rub together.
I shall leave you with these parting questions. And thus ends Chapter 17’s commentary and analysis.
[Interestingly, I've noticed that 3 out of 5 readers think that NaSA!Ohno is sweet with his coral roses of 'passionate desire' and his trilogy ring. Clearly people who only see the faces and not the vases. 1 out of 5 readers suspect something is up with Ohno's sudden grand gesture but can't put their finger on it. This reader knows the two faces can't be it and tries to see vase but still can't. The remaining 1 out of 5 readers just practises 'keyboard smashing'. This remaining reader sees neither the vase nor the faces; he/she just sees swiggly lines and dismisses the lines as rubbish.
This demographics is interesting. I've taken myself out of course. I'm an outlier. heh.]
Thus concludes the commentary for CH 17. Other than Haineko, I hope that those of you who do read it (if any) will find things to mull over and spend more time thinking about the central themes and the symbolism inherent in the plot.
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