THIS IS FOR YOU HY
I wrote this to fit the comments section of your post, but it's too long, so I'm posting it here instead. Un-edited, let me know if you see something.
Inspired by the new PV. NewS Salarymen AU.
Teeeeeam Work
It was one day before the deadline for their presentation and they had made no more progress than since their first day on the project.
"Look," Kato said, gritting his teeth, "I've re-written the marketing strategy EIGHTEEN times and THIS IS THE BEST ONE. All the research shows that current popularity comes from exposure on television programs like Utaban; we HAVE to pay Nakai off and get NewS on that program, otherwise Uchi-kun and Kusano-kun have no chance of recovering from their scandal!"
"And I've TOLD you a million times that we don't have the budget to pay them off, dumbass," Nishikido said. "Why re-write each of your strategies so that they produce nothing but failure? Come up with something better."
Yamashita rubbed his eyes.
"The deadline is tomorrow!" Kato screamed.
"Well then you better think of something FAST, stupid."
"More tea?" Koyama asked Yamashita, who smiled but shook his head.
"Oh!" Masuda exclaimed loudly. The other members of the NewS Returns! Project team looked at him expectantly. "What if we had them do an appearance at a school festival?" He smiled at them brilliantly.
"Ah," Tegoshi said quickly as Kato and Nishikido exchanged looks, "That probably wouldn't work."
"Oh, okay," Masuda said happily. "Carry on."
And as Kato and Nishikido continued back with their argument, Yamashita surveyed the rest of the members of his team. They had been assigned a group that everyone in the agency thought was doomed for failure; Kusano and Uchi were both brilliant singers and dancers, but after the drinking scandal the higher-ups re-allocated the budget that was supposed to be for them to promoting other scandal-free groups with a higher probability of success, like KAT-TUN, leaving little probability of a successful comeback for NewS.
Yamashita knew how he ended up project manager of this group-- he pissed off Takizawa when he refused his advances, and because Kato had been the one originally responsible for NewS' success in their glory days, it made sense that he was on board, but Yamashita wasn't sure why the others were. Tegoshi, he supposed, must have been assigned to this project because he was new, because he was too smart and pleasant to work with to have been sent here as a punishment. Masuda was kind but a little stupid, so someone higher up must have seen this as a nice way of brushing him off. Nishikido probably said the wrong thing to the wrong person.
But Koyama was an extremely talented talker and public relations agent, Yamashita still didn't see how he ended up on the project. Koyama was great; all the departments loved him and he was the one directly responsible for stopping the on-camera fight between KAT-TUN from erupting into a PR nightmare. As far as Yamashita knew, no one was angry at Koyama, so how he got stuck on a doomed project still didn't make any sense.
"This is the quickest way to reach our target market and boost their popularity!" Kato was shouting. "It's the MOST cost-efficient! We can scrap ANY of the other promotional tactics and concentrate all of the budget on just this one appearance and then the sales of the singles afterwards will GUARANTEE us more money for different venues of promotion next time!"
Silence. Yamashita almost had hope that they had reached a decision.
"No," Nishikido decided. "Scrapping flyers and autographing sessions in favor of just one television appearance that people might not even SEE is not justified. There's no way the Board will accept that."
Kato looked liked he was going to scream. Koyama put a hand on his shoulder.
"Let's take a break!" Yamashita declared.
Kato stormed out of the room. After a second, Nishikido left as well.
"I'm hungry," Masuda said, and left to get a snack.
Tegoshi looked tired and said that he needed to make a phone call. Yamashita felt sorry for him; working 12 hours a day on a project was a lot for someone new.
"Are you all right leader?" Koyama asked him.
Yamashita smiled. "Yeah." He rubbed his face against his palms some more. "I just wished they'd make up their minds." He supposed he would have to step up and order them to make a choice, which was a pity; both of them were so stubborn that to order either of them meant losing their support, and with resources already stretched thin, poor cooperation would make likelihood of success of the project drop from an already low 25% to 5%.
Trying to get his mind off of the subject, Yamashita decided to ask Koyama the question that had been bothering him all evening. "Say Koyama," Yamashita said, "How did you end up working on this project?"
Koyama smiled. "I volunteered."
And when Koyama told him why, Yamashita almost spilled his tea.
--
Kato washed his face repeatedly. It helped to cool him off. When he finally looked up, the mirror showed Nishikido standing at the sink right next to him.
Kato glared at him.
Nishikido smirked. "You should get a hair cut."
Kato shut off the faucet and stomped out of the bathroom.
He was not happy, however, when Nishikido followed him.
"Don't follow me," Kato growled.
"God, you're so arrogant," Nishikido said, "Why the hell would I follow you? I'm just walking in the hallway. You don't own the hallway, do you Kato-kun?"
Kato glared at him and abruptly went down a different direction. Sure enough, he heard footsteps following him a minute later. He spun around.
"Why are you--"
"I'm not, okay? Get over yourself. I thought I heard Tegoshi-kun talking and just wanted to see if he was okay."
Come to think of it, a faint voice talking in the background DID sound like Tegoshi's voice. Nishikido tilted his head left, and Kato nodded. They both snuck up behind a pillar, where they saw Tegoshi talking on his cellphone.
"I understand," Tegoshi said in a worried voice, "It's just that--um, right. Okay."
Kato felt a stirring of worry in his chest. He liked Tegoshi; the youngest member of their team was a sweet kid.
"Well, what do you mean when you say--" And then Tegoshi's expression changed completely; all worry was gone and he laughed loudly. "Then that's the best decision! Move all the others to it-- yes, you heard me. Let's play fair. Yes, DO IT, NAGASE, MY FRIEND. BUY NOW!" He snapped his phone shut and then laughed joyously, pumping his fist as he spun in a circle of happiness.
He stopped abruptly when he saw Nishikido and Kato, and if it was possible, his expression brightened even more. "Hello," Tegoshi greeted them cheerfully.
Tegoshi's smile was powerful. Kato found himself smiling back, his mood being lifted and it really MUST have been infectious because Nishikido was smiling too.
"You look happy," Nishikido said.
"Ah well," Tegoshi smiled, "Today is a good day, ne. I get to work with the senpai I like on a project I believe in. Also my golfing and stock partner just made a move that will make me rich, so I'm happy."
Nishikido's smiled broadened to the point that it looked fake. "You BELIEVE in our project?"
Kato's mind turned. "Golfing partner Nagase--? You mean THE Nagase Tomoya, the singer?"
"Yup! We're good friends!"
And Kato's mind turned some more.
--
Masuda stood on top of the balcony wall with his hands stetched out. "Don't give up! Hang on!" he shouted to the sunset. "I'M ON TOP OF THE WORLD!" he shouted to himself. He felt his energy increase three hundred fold.
"Ma-masuda," croaked a voice behind him. Masuda turned to see Koyama and Yamashita, and both of them had strange expressions on their face.
"Yes?"
Koyama clutched his chest.
"Are you okay?" Masuda asked worriedly.
"I have something to tell you," Yamashita said slowly. "Get down here so we can talk more easily."
"Okay!" Masuda said, and easily jumped to the floor. Koyama collapsed, looking relieved. Yamashita pat his shoulder repeatedly.
"Yes?" Masuda asked, smiling.
"Just can't believe you're here," Yamashita said. "We, um, we're really happy that you're on our team, you know."
Masuda beamed and bowed. "Thank you, leader!"
When he lifted his head, Yamashita was helping Koyama off of the floor. Masuda grabbed Koyama's other arm and helped him up as well.
"Masuda," Koyama said, wiping the sweat from his forehead, "Please don't ever stand near that balcony wall again. It can get dangerous."
"Oh, really? Okay."
Yamashita put his arms around both of their shoulders. "Anyway, let's go find the other members of our team and get some dinner."
Masuda whooped.
--
They found Nishikido, Kato, and Tegoshi all standing in a circle with smiles on their faces. Koyama was immensely happy that Nishikido and Kato were within the same proximity and smiling together; although the giant relief that he felt might have been because he was still recovering from the shock of seeing Masuda on the verge of his death.
"We're good friends," Tegoshi was saying with a smile, and Koyama felt a rush of immense love for all of his team members, how wonderful was it that Tegoshi was declaring his friendship to Kato and Nishikido! It was indeed true male friendship!
"Hey," Yamashita said to them. "Come on. We're going on a trip."
"Trip?" Kato asked.
"We're going to get dinner," Koyama said, "With NewS. Kusano-kun and Uchi-kun are good friends of mine. Kusano-kun was my kouhai in high school."
They ended up squeezing together onto the subway. Koyama let Tegoshi stand near the pole so that he could reach something to hold onto closer to his height. Then he saw Nishikido and moved again so that Nishikido and Tegoshi were both standing near the pole. Masuda took the last empty seat that was open. Yamashita offered his seat to a young girl and went to stand by Kato and Koyama where they all gripped the higher hand hooks.
Inside the subway were ads posted all over the top of the ceiling. One of them was of KAT-TUN.
"I was friends with Akanishi-kun in elementary school," Yamashita said to Koyama. "We still talk."
"It's funny how many of us working in the entertainment industry actually knew stars before they were stars, eh?" Koyama said.
"Yeah," Yamashita said, smiling faintly. "Thanks for arranging this," he said. "I think it would be good for us to remind ourselves of why we're working so hard."
Koyama smiled back, feeling immensely happy. He was lucky to be on a project team with such a nice, positive, and encouraging leader.
--
Kusano turned out to be just as outgoing in real life as he was on television, and the stupid jokes he told, while stupid, were extremely funny.
Nishikido, however, found that he liked Uchi the most of out the two, especially when he found out that Uchi was from his home town Osaka.
"Ah, I miss Osaka," Nishikido exclaimed as he downed another mug of beer. "Tokyo's full of retards. I can't believe people don't even understand kansai-ben, I have to talk with this fake Tokyo accent and it kills me because Tokyo people sound so stupid!"
"Don't they?" Uchi agreed, and they both laughed.
Nishikido decided then and there that no matter what, their project HAD to succeed. It was one thing to try to promote a Tokyo band riddled with scandals that everyone thought was going to fail because the two members had acted stupidly. It was another to promote a band where one member left Osaka at an early age to become a star-- there weren't NEARLY enough people from the West in the entertainment business, the East controlled EVERYTHING-- and had just gotten a little out of control, no biggie, he was from Osaka, and besides someone from Tokyo probably made him do it. And Uchi WAS a good singer, it was rare for people with actual musical talent to stay in the business.
"Ah, your fake accent is so good, I couldn't even tell!" Koyama said, smiling. "That makes two people in our team that are from Osaka, ne?"
"Really?" Nishikido said. "Who else is from Osaka?" he surveyed the table. "Masuda-kun?"
Koyama gestured to his right. "Kato-kun."
"WHAT."
Kato was talking to Tegoshi in low whispers and they were both in such a deep conversation that neither of them looked up.
Nishikido looked at Koyama skeptically. "Are you sure? He doesn't have an accent either."
"Sure. He was born and spent most of his childhood in Osaka. He moved around to other prefectures as he grew up, but he claims Osaka as his homeland. Sometimes when you two argue he slips into kansai-ben, haven't you noticed?"
And then-- in the beer-induced clear haze of his mind, Nishikido realized suddenly why he liked to argue with Kato Shigeaki.
--
When dinner was over and they split from NewS, Yamashita offered his apartment as the place where they could continue their work. Their presentation was still tomorrow, and they had nothing to show the Board.
After they arrived in the tiny one room apartment, Tegoshi excused himself to make a phone call. Nagase picked up on the first ring.
"Yo kid, what's up? It's late."
"You know Nakai-san, right? From Utaban?"
"My senpai from SMAP? Yeah."
"Think you could get him to allow NewS on the show without accepting a bribing fee?"
Silence.
Tegoshi pulled out a pocket mirror, looked at himself, and made the most pitiful expression that he could. "Please?" he asked, and he was pleased when his voice reflected his face.
"All right, but only for you. Let me call him and I'll get back to you."
"Thanks!"
Tegoshi shut his phone and returned to the apartment where he saw Kato pacing anxiously.
Tegoshi smiled. "He said he'd try."
Kato clasped both of his hands around Tegoshi's. "Thank you. Seriously, thanks."
Tegoshi smiled and squeezed his hand back before letting go. "It's worth a shot, ne."
"How'd you get to know someone like Nagase anyway?" Kato asked curiously.
"Oh," Tegoshi said. "I started predicting stocks when I was in high school for fun. I made some good friends that way. Nagase heard about me and he invited me out and we've been stock buddies ever since."
Kato said, amazed, "If you're good at stocks, then why aren't you working with them?"
"The entertainment industry is more fun," Tegoshi said with a smile. He saw Nishikido watching them from across the room, so he nudged Kato and the two of them joined the others on the floor, looking over the small table in front of the couch.
"So," Yamashita said, stretching out over the couch. Tegoshi remembered that Yamashita had three beers, so maybe that was why he spoke so slowly, but he didn't sound drunk. "What are we going to do tomorrow?"
Masuda climbed to sit next to him. Yamashita obligingly moved.
"We can ask for an extension?" Koyama said.
"Oh, oh!" Masuda said, "We can bribe them with food."
Yamashita covered his eyes. "I guess we can ask for an extension. I'll talk with Takizawa-kun tomorrow." He sighed.
Nishikido nudged Yamashita, who straightened up, and sat down on the other side of him. "Doesn't he have the hots for you?"
Koyama, Kato, and Tegoshi all gasped.
"Yeah, well," Yamashita shrugged. "We can work something out."
"Don't do it, retard," Nishikido said.
"But I like NewS and I like all of you," Yamashita said. "If I were a better leader, we would've been done with this project by now, so I'll take responsibility."
Silence.
Koyama looked touched. "Leader--" he said, and his voice choked up with emotion. He squeezed in between Masuda and Yamashita and put his arm around Yamashita's shoulders. "You are so kind to us."
"I'm sorry!" Kato said, bowing. "It's because I never came up with a marketing plan that Nishikido could agree with."
"Because they were stupid," Nishikido agreed. He looked down and said, "But I may have been a little stubborn as well. I didn't even like NewS until today." He looked back over at Yamashita. "But don't do anything so hasty. We'll think of something else."
Tegoshi's phone rang. Tegoshi smiled at his team members and picked up.
"Hello?"
"He said yes, but only if he gets in on our golfing-soccer-stocks club," Nagase said.
Tegoshi fought back a smile. "I'm okay with that. Are you okay with that?"
"Anything for you, kid."
Tegoshi beamed. "Thanks. See you Saturday?"
"As usual." Nagase hung up.
Tegoshi put away his phone and grinned at Kato. "We're in."
Kato held both of his hands over his face in disbelief. "Are you serious?"
"I don't know why I didn't think of it earlier," Tegoshi began, "If I--"
Kato shouted gleefully, "THANK YOU!" and gave him a tight hug. Tegoshi smiled and pat him on the back.
"What's going on?" Yamashita asked.
Kato released him. "Tegoshi-kun saved us all. He's friends with Nagase who's friends with Nakai. NewS is going to be on Utaban, without the bribery fee so that we can still spend money on the usual promotional activities!"
There was whooping and cheering and screaming and then all of them were in a circle hugging each other. Tegoshi decided that he liked this line of work much more than doing stocks full time, here he at least got hugs while being successful in stocks meant that others lost and would hate you.
--
They spent the next few hours going over the rest of the plans for their presentation. By the time they were finished, it was four in the morning and everyone was exhausted.
Koyama fell backwards onto the couch first. Yamashita, Nishikido, and Masuda sat back down next to him. Tegoshi saw no space left so climbed on top of them. He gestured, Kato shook his head, so he pulled and then they were all piled up on the couch. It took several shifting to get the body weight evenly distributed, but then they all fell asleep together that way, feeling warm.
Inspired by the new PV. NewS Salarymen AU.
Teeeeeam Work
It was one day before the deadline for their presentation and they had made no more progress than since their first day on the project.
"Look," Kato said, gritting his teeth, "I've re-written the marketing strategy EIGHTEEN times and THIS IS THE BEST ONE. All the research shows that current popularity comes from exposure on television programs like Utaban; we HAVE to pay Nakai off and get NewS on that program, otherwise Uchi-kun and Kusano-kun have no chance of recovering from their scandal!"
"And I've TOLD you a million times that we don't have the budget to pay them off, dumbass," Nishikido said. "Why re-write each of your strategies so that they produce nothing but failure? Come up with something better."
Yamashita rubbed his eyes.
"The deadline is tomorrow!" Kato screamed.
"Well then you better think of something FAST, stupid."
"More tea?" Koyama asked Yamashita, who smiled but shook his head.
"Oh!" Masuda exclaimed loudly. The other members of the NewS Returns! Project team looked at him expectantly. "What if we had them do an appearance at a school festival?" He smiled at them brilliantly.
"Ah," Tegoshi said quickly as Kato and Nishikido exchanged looks, "That probably wouldn't work."
"Oh, okay," Masuda said happily. "Carry on."
And as Kato and Nishikido continued back with their argument, Yamashita surveyed the rest of the members of his team. They had been assigned a group that everyone in the agency thought was doomed for failure; Kusano and Uchi were both brilliant singers and dancers, but after the drinking scandal the higher-ups re-allocated the budget that was supposed to be for them to promoting other scandal-free groups with a higher probability of success, like KAT-TUN, leaving little probability of a successful comeback for NewS.
Yamashita knew how he ended up project manager of this group-- he pissed off Takizawa when he refused his advances, and because Kato had been the one originally responsible for NewS' success in their glory days, it made sense that he was on board, but Yamashita wasn't sure why the others were. Tegoshi, he supposed, must have been assigned to this project because he was new, because he was too smart and pleasant to work with to have been sent here as a punishment. Masuda was kind but a little stupid, so someone higher up must have seen this as a nice way of brushing him off. Nishikido probably said the wrong thing to the wrong person.
But Koyama was an extremely talented talker and public relations agent, Yamashita still didn't see how he ended up on the project. Koyama was great; all the departments loved him and he was the one directly responsible for stopping the on-camera fight between KAT-TUN from erupting into a PR nightmare. As far as Yamashita knew, no one was angry at Koyama, so how he got stuck on a doomed project still didn't make any sense.
"This is the quickest way to reach our target market and boost their popularity!" Kato was shouting. "It's the MOST cost-efficient! We can scrap ANY of the other promotional tactics and concentrate all of the budget on just this one appearance and then the sales of the singles afterwards will GUARANTEE us more money for different venues of promotion next time!"
Silence. Yamashita almost had hope that they had reached a decision.
"No," Nishikido decided. "Scrapping flyers and autographing sessions in favor of just one television appearance that people might not even SEE is not justified. There's no way the Board will accept that."
Kato looked liked he was going to scream. Koyama put a hand on his shoulder.
"Let's take a break!" Yamashita declared.
Kato stormed out of the room. After a second, Nishikido left as well.
"I'm hungry," Masuda said, and left to get a snack.
Tegoshi looked tired and said that he needed to make a phone call. Yamashita felt sorry for him; working 12 hours a day on a project was a lot for someone new.
"Are you all right leader?" Koyama asked him.
Yamashita smiled. "Yeah." He rubbed his face against his palms some more. "I just wished they'd make up their minds." He supposed he would have to step up and order them to make a choice, which was a pity; both of them were so stubborn that to order either of them meant losing their support, and with resources already stretched thin, poor cooperation would make likelihood of success of the project drop from an already low 25% to 5%.
Trying to get his mind off of the subject, Yamashita decided to ask Koyama the question that had been bothering him all evening. "Say Koyama," Yamashita said, "How did you end up working on this project?"
Koyama smiled. "I volunteered."
And when Koyama told him why, Yamashita almost spilled his tea.
--
Kato washed his face repeatedly. It helped to cool him off. When he finally looked up, the mirror showed Nishikido standing at the sink right next to him.
Kato glared at him.
Nishikido smirked. "You should get a hair cut."
Kato shut off the faucet and stomped out of the bathroom.
He was not happy, however, when Nishikido followed him.
"Don't follow me," Kato growled.
"God, you're so arrogant," Nishikido said, "Why the hell would I follow you? I'm just walking in the hallway. You don't own the hallway, do you Kato-kun?"
Kato glared at him and abruptly went down a different direction. Sure enough, he heard footsteps following him a minute later. He spun around.
"Why are you--"
"I'm not, okay? Get over yourself. I thought I heard Tegoshi-kun talking and just wanted to see if he was okay."
Come to think of it, a faint voice talking in the background DID sound like Tegoshi's voice. Nishikido tilted his head left, and Kato nodded. They both snuck up behind a pillar, where they saw Tegoshi talking on his cellphone.
"I understand," Tegoshi said in a worried voice, "It's just that--um, right. Okay."
Kato felt a stirring of worry in his chest. He liked Tegoshi; the youngest member of their team was a sweet kid.
"Well, what do you mean when you say--" And then Tegoshi's expression changed completely; all worry was gone and he laughed loudly. "Then that's the best decision! Move all the others to it-- yes, you heard me. Let's play fair. Yes, DO IT, NAGASE, MY FRIEND. BUY NOW!" He snapped his phone shut and then laughed joyously, pumping his fist as he spun in a circle of happiness.
He stopped abruptly when he saw Nishikido and Kato, and if it was possible, his expression brightened even more. "Hello," Tegoshi greeted them cheerfully.
Tegoshi's smile was powerful. Kato found himself smiling back, his mood being lifted and it really MUST have been infectious because Nishikido was smiling too.
"You look happy," Nishikido said.
"Ah well," Tegoshi smiled, "Today is a good day, ne. I get to work with the senpai I like on a project I believe in. Also my golfing and stock partner just made a move that will make me rich, so I'm happy."
Nishikido's smiled broadened to the point that it looked fake. "You BELIEVE in our project?"
Kato's mind turned. "Golfing partner Nagase--? You mean THE Nagase Tomoya, the singer?"
"Yup! We're good friends!"
And Kato's mind turned some more.
--
Masuda stood on top of the balcony wall with his hands stetched out. "Don't give up! Hang on!" he shouted to the sunset. "I'M ON TOP OF THE WORLD!" he shouted to himself. He felt his energy increase three hundred fold.
"Ma-masuda," croaked a voice behind him. Masuda turned to see Koyama and Yamashita, and both of them had strange expressions on their face.
"Yes?"
Koyama clutched his chest.
"Are you okay?" Masuda asked worriedly.
"I have something to tell you," Yamashita said slowly. "Get down here so we can talk more easily."
"Okay!" Masuda said, and easily jumped to the floor. Koyama collapsed, looking relieved. Yamashita pat his shoulder repeatedly.
"Yes?" Masuda asked, smiling.
"Just can't believe you're here," Yamashita said. "We, um, we're really happy that you're on our team, you know."
Masuda beamed and bowed. "Thank you, leader!"
When he lifted his head, Yamashita was helping Koyama off of the floor. Masuda grabbed Koyama's other arm and helped him up as well.
"Masuda," Koyama said, wiping the sweat from his forehead, "Please don't ever stand near that balcony wall again. It can get dangerous."
"Oh, really? Okay."
Yamashita put his arms around both of their shoulders. "Anyway, let's go find the other members of our team and get some dinner."
Masuda whooped.
--
They found Nishikido, Kato, and Tegoshi all standing in a circle with smiles on their faces. Koyama was immensely happy that Nishikido and Kato were within the same proximity and smiling together; although the giant relief that he felt might have been because he was still recovering from the shock of seeing Masuda on the verge of his death.
"We're good friends," Tegoshi was saying with a smile, and Koyama felt a rush of immense love for all of his team members, how wonderful was it that Tegoshi was declaring his friendship to Kato and Nishikido! It was indeed true male friendship!
"Hey," Yamashita said to them. "Come on. We're going on a trip."
"Trip?" Kato asked.
"We're going to get dinner," Koyama said, "With NewS. Kusano-kun and Uchi-kun are good friends of mine. Kusano-kun was my kouhai in high school."
They ended up squeezing together onto the subway. Koyama let Tegoshi stand near the pole so that he could reach something to hold onto closer to his height. Then he saw Nishikido and moved again so that Nishikido and Tegoshi were both standing near the pole. Masuda took the last empty seat that was open. Yamashita offered his seat to a young girl and went to stand by Kato and Koyama where they all gripped the higher hand hooks.
Inside the subway were ads posted all over the top of the ceiling. One of them was of KAT-TUN.
"I was friends with Akanishi-kun in elementary school," Yamashita said to Koyama. "We still talk."
"It's funny how many of us working in the entertainment industry actually knew stars before they were stars, eh?" Koyama said.
"Yeah," Yamashita said, smiling faintly. "Thanks for arranging this," he said. "I think it would be good for us to remind ourselves of why we're working so hard."
Koyama smiled back, feeling immensely happy. He was lucky to be on a project team with such a nice, positive, and encouraging leader.
--
Kusano turned out to be just as outgoing in real life as he was on television, and the stupid jokes he told, while stupid, were extremely funny.
Nishikido, however, found that he liked Uchi the most of out the two, especially when he found out that Uchi was from his home town Osaka.
"Ah, I miss Osaka," Nishikido exclaimed as he downed another mug of beer. "Tokyo's full of retards. I can't believe people don't even understand kansai-ben, I have to talk with this fake Tokyo accent and it kills me because Tokyo people sound so stupid!"
"Don't they?" Uchi agreed, and they both laughed.
Nishikido decided then and there that no matter what, their project HAD to succeed. It was one thing to try to promote a Tokyo band riddled with scandals that everyone thought was going to fail because the two members had acted stupidly. It was another to promote a band where one member left Osaka at an early age to become a star-- there weren't NEARLY enough people from the West in the entertainment business, the East controlled EVERYTHING-- and had just gotten a little out of control, no biggie, he was from Osaka, and besides someone from Tokyo probably made him do it. And Uchi WAS a good singer, it was rare for people with actual musical talent to stay in the business.
"Ah, your fake accent is so good, I couldn't even tell!" Koyama said, smiling. "That makes two people in our team that are from Osaka, ne?"
"Really?" Nishikido said. "Who else is from Osaka?" he surveyed the table. "Masuda-kun?"
Koyama gestured to his right. "Kato-kun."
"WHAT."
Kato was talking to Tegoshi in low whispers and they were both in such a deep conversation that neither of them looked up.
Nishikido looked at Koyama skeptically. "Are you sure? He doesn't have an accent either."
"Sure. He was born and spent most of his childhood in Osaka. He moved around to other prefectures as he grew up, but he claims Osaka as his homeland. Sometimes when you two argue he slips into kansai-ben, haven't you noticed?"
And then-- in the beer-induced clear haze of his mind, Nishikido realized suddenly why he liked to argue with Kato Shigeaki.
--
When dinner was over and they split from NewS, Yamashita offered his apartment as the place where they could continue their work. Their presentation was still tomorrow, and they had nothing to show the Board.
After they arrived in the tiny one room apartment, Tegoshi excused himself to make a phone call. Nagase picked up on the first ring.
"Yo kid, what's up? It's late."
"You know Nakai-san, right? From Utaban?"
"My senpai from SMAP? Yeah."
"Think you could get him to allow NewS on the show without accepting a bribing fee?"
Silence.
Tegoshi pulled out a pocket mirror, looked at himself, and made the most pitiful expression that he could. "Please?" he asked, and he was pleased when his voice reflected his face.
"All right, but only for you. Let me call him and I'll get back to you."
"Thanks!"
Tegoshi shut his phone and returned to the apartment where he saw Kato pacing anxiously.
Tegoshi smiled. "He said he'd try."
Kato clasped both of his hands around Tegoshi's. "Thank you. Seriously, thanks."
Tegoshi smiled and squeezed his hand back before letting go. "It's worth a shot, ne."
"How'd you get to know someone like Nagase anyway?" Kato asked curiously.
"Oh," Tegoshi said. "I started predicting stocks when I was in high school for fun. I made some good friends that way. Nagase heard about me and he invited me out and we've been stock buddies ever since."
Kato said, amazed, "If you're good at stocks, then why aren't you working with them?"
"The entertainment industry is more fun," Tegoshi said with a smile. He saw Nishikido watching them from across the room, so he nudged Kato and the two of them joined the others on the floor, looking over the small table in front of the couch.
"So," Yamashita said, stretching out over the couch. Tegoshi remembered that Yamashita had three beers, so maybe that was why he spoke so slowly, but he didn't sound drunk. "What are we going to do tomorrow?"
Masuda climbed to sit next to him. Yamashita obligingly moved.
"We can ask for an extension?" Koyama said.
"Oh, oh!" Masuda said, "We can bribe them with food."
Yamashita covered his eyes. "I guess we can ask for an extension. I'll talk with Takizawa-kun tomorrow." He sighed.
Nishikido nudged Yamashita, who straightened up, and sat down on the other side of him. "Doesn't he have the hots for you?"
Koyama, Kato, and Tegoshi all gasped.
"Yeah, well," Yamashita shrugged. "We can work something out."
"Don't do it, retard," Nishikido said.
"But I like NewS and I like all of you," Yamashita said. "If I were a better leader, we would've been done with this project by now, so I'll take responsibility."
Silence.
Koyama looked touched. "Leader--" he said, and his voice choked up with emotion. He squeezed in between Masuda and Yamashita and put his arm around Yamashita's shoulders. "You are so kind to us."
"I'm sorry!" Kato said, bowing. "It's because I never came up with a marketing plan that Nishikido could agree with."
"Because they were stupid," Nishikido agreed. He looked down and said, "But I may have been a little stubborn as well. I didn't even like NewS until today." He looked back over at Yamashita. "But don't do anything so hasty. We'll think of something else."
Tegoshi's phone rang. Tegoshi smiled at his team members and picked up.
"Hello?"
"He said yes, but only if he gets in on our golfing-soccer-stocks club," Nagase said.
Tegoshi fought back a smile. "I'm okay with that. Are you okay with that?"
"Anything for you, kid."
Tegoshi beamed. "Thanks. See you Saturday?"
"As usual." Nagase hung up.
Tegoshi put away his phone and grinned at Kato. "We're in."
Kato held both of his hands over his face in disbelief. "Are you serious?"
"I don't know why I didn't think of it earlier," Tegoshi began, "If I--"
Kato shouted gleefully, "THANK YOU!" and gave him a tight hug. Tegoshi smiled and pat him on the back.
"What's going on?" Yamashita asked.
Kato released him. "Tegoshi-kun saved us all. He's friends with Nagase who's friends with Nakai. NewS is going to be on Utaban, without the bribery fee so that we can still spend money on the usual promotional activities!"
There was whooping and cheering and screaming and then all of them were in a circle hugging each other. Tegoshi decided that he liked this line of work much more than doing stocks full time, here he at least got hugs while being successful in stocks meant that others lost and would hate you.
--
They spent the next few hours going over the rest of the plans for their presentation. By the time they were finished, it was four in the morning and everyone was exhausted.
Koyama fell backwards onto the couch first. Yamashita, Nishikido, and Masuda sat back down next to him. Tegoshi saw no space left so climbed on top of them. He gestured, Kato shook his head, so he pulled and then they were all piled up on the couch. It took several shifting to get the body weight evenly distributed, but then they all fell asleep together that way, feeling warm.