Now and Forever...Itsumademo... - Chapter 06A
Title: Now and Forever…いつまでも…
Author: Mayonaka no Taiyou/Unare Haineko
Pairing: [Juntoshi] Matsumoto Jun x Ohno Satoshi
Rating: PG-13-ish overall
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 ‘normal’ in their often unconventional attempts to deal with some of the challenges of parenthood as they try to ‘blend in’ with ‘normal people’.
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Now and Forever…Itsumademo - Chapter 06
Daisuke was making pancakes when he saw his phone light up. The screen flashed with the animation indicating a new email and then went to a picture of a yellow triangular shaped sign with an exclamation point in the middle. There was no name associated with this picture only three exclamation points in a row denoted this contact. Daisuke put down the spatula and picked up his phone.
‘One new email from !!!.’
He opened the message and though the maximum capacity for emails was 10,000 characters, he found only two characters in the body of the message.
‘Report (報告).’
“Damn it,” Daisuke muttered under his breath as he placed the leftover batter in the refrigerator and turned off the stove.
He walked into the living room and found Nino passed out on his stomach in front of the television with the screen still on ‘pause’ as he snored with his mouth open.
Daisuke stepped over his body and opened the sliding door to the veranda. He made sure to close the door tightly behind him before hitting speed dial ‘666’.
“It’s me,” he said when he heard the line being picked up.
“Where have you been? You were supposed to call every month. I haven’t heard from you in two months. What is going on?”
“My apologies. There have been a few…situations…”
“Situations? What kind of situations?”
“Nothing to concern yourself with. They have already been resolved.”
“Where is he?”
“He’s sleeping in the living room. He was up all night playing video games as usual so now he’s should be out for another few hours or so…”
“Does he suspect anything?”
“I don’t think so. If he does, he certainly hides it well.”
“Don’t let your guard down. He’s a master prankster and loves to excitement of a game. You must always be several steps ahead of him. I don’t want any screw ups, do you hear me?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“I’m turning you over to the boss. Hold on.”
“Okay.”
“…Hello?”
“Yes.”
“You need to report as agreed. No monkey business. I don’t care if you’re busy and have ‘situations’. Deal with them and report in a timely manner. Is that clear?”
“Yes.”
“You have 10 million yen riding on this. You wouldn’t want to lose it all over a few technicalities now would you?”
“No.”
“Did you find out what I asked you?”
“I tried asking him, but he’s tightlipped about it. All I know is that he’s still hung up about an old flame.”
“The one I asked you about?”
“Yes.”
“Does that bother you?”
“This is a purely business transaction between you and me. He and I have a separate contract. Personal feelings are irrelevant.”
“You’re not falling for him, are you?”
“Not a chance.”
“Does he trust you?”
“Somewhat. I’m closer than I was when I first started.”
“A small consolation.”
“He’s a tough nut to crack when he wants to be.”
“Are you sleeping with him?”
“No.”
“Did he ask?”
“No.”
“Did you solicit your services?”
“I tried, but he’s not interested-or if he is, he sure doesn’t act like he is. Are you sure they had something sexual?”
“Come on, every man loves to have sex. It’s in his DNA. You must not be acting sexy enough. Don’t you know how to work it?”
“There is nothing sexy about the face you gave me. How am I supposed to ‘work it’ when I look like I barely graduated from junior high?!”
“Don’t give me excuses! You were the one who wanted to ‘disappear’ so that no one would ever find you or recognize you. ‘I’d do anything for a new face-any face, just not my own. I’m tired of being me. Take me away from here.’ Weren’t those your exact words?”
“…”
“Am I wrong?”
“No, but was it really necessary to literally change my face-”
“He hired you because of the face I gave you and the strings I had to pull. Now this isn’t a hard task. Just do what I tell you and you’ll get your 10 million, plus your bonus. But if you take more than two years to do what I told you, I’m only paying you the 10 million, which is still a lot of money, when you think about it. There’s no way you’d be able to make, much less save that kind of money if you were doing it all on your own. You remember, this is 10 million in cash.”
“I got it. Just give me more time. I’m still working on him.”
“Well, time is money, boy. You can’t go back to the host club because you’ve been blacklisted. Are you ready to quit and go back to mommy and daddy…?”
Click.
The pungent odor of burning tobacco filled Daisuke’s nostrils as Nino stumbled out onto the balcony.
“Kazu-san?” Daisuke said as Nino flopped himself onto the reclining patio chair and puffed on his cigarette from the corner of his mouth. “I thought you went to sleep late last night…What are you doing up already?”
“Tobacco monkey on my back was screaming,” Nino yawned lazily as he scratched the stubble on his chin. “Why are you out on the balcony, Oh-chan?”
“Bad reception,” Daisuke said, holding up his phone. “I only get good reception in the living room, but I didn’t want to wake you up by talking while you were sleeping.”
“Oh, I see…"
Daisuke leaned back against the railing for several moments before Nino gestured for him.
“Oh-chan, come sit next to me,” he said, extinguishing his half finished cigarette in the cheap plastic ashtray he had stolen from the Jonathan’s restaurant down the road.
Daisuke nodded.
Work it!
“Kazu-san, I have this problem…” Daisuke said sadly.
“What’s wrong, Oh-chan?” Nino said perking up immediately, determined to keep the Ohno lookalike happy.
Daisuke wriggled out of his shirt and tossed it aside. He leaned down and pressed his lower abdomen up against Nino’s before taking Nino’s left hand gently in his own.
“My body it aches…it wants to be touched...” Daisuke implored with a trembling lip, while he brought Nino’s hand to touch his smooth chest.
Daisuke hovered over Nino.
“Can you help me…?” Daisuke lowered his chest and placed his lips on Nino’s collarbone.
“Oh-chan…”
“Close your eyes…”
Nino did as he was asked.
“Ka…zu…” Daisuke breathed in his ear.
“Sa…to…shi…” Nino moaned as he held Daisuke by the shoulders.
Daisuke was ready to pull down Nino’s sweatpants when the doorbell rang and Nino suddenly sat up, instantly forgetting where he was.
“It’s here!” he said excitedly, untangling himself from Daisuke and running back into the living room. “Dragons, Zombies, and Monsters from the Deep Sea and Outer Space PART SIX AND SEVEN EIGHTHS!”
What the fuck?!
Daisuke rolled his eyes and followed Nino back in, who was signing for the package.
“My darling!” Nino gushed as he ran over to switch game consoles.
“Kazu-san, not another game!”
“Oh-chan, sit! This is the latest in slaying mindless minions of evil lords! They really do deliver overnight!”
Daisuke sighed. Ninomiya Kazunari was going to be a lot more difficult than he originally anticipated.
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Today, he was going on day 27 of his life as a Japanese housewife. Jun tried to keep himself busy, he really did. But today was just a day when there was nothing to do. Fortunately, Ohno’s mother called him to rescue him from his boredom.
“Hello?” Jun said, picking up the house phone as he leaned on the countertop.
“Jun?”
“Kaasan, how have you been?”
“Oh, you know me, running around here and there with my hubby. That man, I swear he drives me crazy sometimes. I ask him, ‘What do you want to eat for lunch today?’ and he tells me, ‘I dunno. What do you wanna have for lunch?’ So I figure that I can choose. So I tell him, ‘Well, I want Italian.’ He says, ‘I don’t wanna eat Italian; we always eat Italian.’ I’m thinking, ‘Then tell me what you want when I ask you!’ Geez! He just drives me up the walls, I tell you. Anyway, so how are you doing?”
“I’m okay…”
“You don’t sound okay. Have you caught a cold or something, Jun?”
“No, nothing like that…”
“Is it Satoshi? Is that boy being a pain or making trouble? Because I’ll come over there and-“
“No, no, kaasan. It’s fine. Leader, he’s fine.”
“What’s bothering you then?”
“I…”
“You can tell me, Jun. I can’t promise I’ll have a solution for you, but it’ll probably make you feel better if you talk to someone and at least get it off your chest.”
“…”
“Jun?”
“When Tomomi and Leader started going to day care or school…did you ever feel…what’s the word…lost? Or maybe lonely?”
“You know, I did, Jun. Not so much when I first started sending Tomomi because I still had Satoshi. But when Satoshi did, I was lonely. I missed them during the day even though I knew I would see them at dinner. Jun, I know you don’t really like being out in public ever since you and Satoshi left the entertainment industry, but you need to get yourself some hobbies. Start doing things that you like to do…”
“I don’t have any hobbies. I’ve read all the books I’ve been meaning to read and watched all the movies I’ve been meaning to watch already…Before Leader and I started going out, work was my life, so…”
“What about a new hobby?”
“Like what?”
“I don’t know, have you ever wanted to pick something up-maybe a musical instrument or art? Maybe you can do something with Satoshi? Are arts and crafts too girly for you?”
“I don’t do things that require a lot of patience too well…”
“What about Thai fruit and vegetable carving?”
“Huh?”
“I think you’d be good at something like that.”
“What? Why?”
“You like to cook right?”
“Yeah, well-“
“What if you could carve the fruits and vegetables prettily as part of your presentation?”
“And you can eat them?”
“I think they’re supposed to be decoration most of the time, but I don’t see why you couldn’t eat them as well. I saw this really nice pumpkin that someone carved. They hollowed out the pumpkin, using the insides for some sort of soup and then carved the outside so that it was textured. Oh, it was so pretty. You should try it. Google it and see if it’s something you might be interested in. I’ll send you the address to my friend’s blog. He’s been all over the world and is currently living in Russia, but he’s a serious blogger and tries to introduce something of interest every week. You know, stuff like bartending, Samoan fire dancing, needlepoint, snake charming, rugby, and his post maybe five weeks ago was on Thai fruit carving. Some of the things he talks about he’s only interviewed masters, but most of it, he’s actually done. If anything, you might find something unusual that would spark your interest.”
“Okay, I’ll check it out. Thanks.”
“Jun, don’t be so down…”
“I’m trying not to be…but I…”
Jun heard his mobile phone ring.
“Is that your mobile?”
“It’s just Erina…”
“You should take it. She hardly ever calls. It must be something important. You can call me back if you need to talk later. Otherwise, good luck finding yourself a hobby. I’ll talk to you later. Goodbye.”
Jun placed the house phone back in its cradle and opened the shiny black flip phone.
>>> Chapter 06B
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