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 ‘normal’ in their often unconventional attempts to deal with some of the challenges of parenthood as they try to ‘blend in’ with ‘normal people’.
0-0-0-0-0
“Am I really that dangerous?”
“Well, with all that knowledge about the inner workings of the jimusho, a short-temper, youth, passion when the mood strikes you, and a lawyer like me, you are somewhat of a ‘dormant’ threat, but he knows that unless extremely provoked, you wouldn’t go out of your way to try and tumble the tower. This was evidenced by when you brought me in for your case against Ninomiya-san. You could have sued the whole damn jimusho if you wanted and it would have been a very expensive legal battle, but you didn’t. You’d take your carrion or goat sacrifices from the natives over wasting your energy to attack something. He knew that as long as the hand that feeds you doesn’t hit you, that you would go along making him more money and wouldn’t dare bite him. Am I wrong?”
“No, you’re right. Go on.”
“You are a threat, but not a big enough threat for him to mobilize all his resources in an attempt to get rid of you, which brings me to my second hypothesis that everything behind the 2009 contract is beyond you. The reason I say that as opposed to something that simply involved silencing you because you knew too much is because of the nature of the rest of the contract. I am actually leaning more towards this theory. But simply looking at the contract is not enough for me to be able to draw a probably enough conclusion. I need more information, which is where you come in. I need you to give me all the information, even if you think it doesn’t matter. It might be nothing, but with context, you can give anything meaning. If you’ve been screwed, you want to get back at him right?”
“Yes…”
“If you want to see what your options are, you have to give me all the information so that I can advise you properly.”
“Okay…” Jun said, taking a few deep breaths. “What more do you need to know?”
“Are there any illegal activities going on at the jimusho that I should be aware of?”
“What kinds of activities?”
“Fraud? Forgery? Embezzlement? Tax violation? Racketeering? Prostitution? Drugs?”
“Forgery, no, well not to my knowledge at least. But fraud, embezzlement, and tax violation-probably. I’ve never seen the books, but-wait…”
Jun rubbed his right temple.
“Yes, there was something…He used some sort of foreign auditing service…I don’t remember the name, but there was a time when he decided he was no longer going to go with a domestic auditing service.”
“And why was that?”
“I dunno. It was when I was in high school…I bumped into him.”
“Who?”
“The person in charge of the jimusho’s account.”
“And what happened?”
“The old man promised to show me something really cool after class. He told me to come to his office and I guess he had just finished talking to that guy.”
“Did you ever meet him?”
“No. But I always saw him during tax season.”
“And then?”
“I don’t know. He must have lost the contract with the jimusho.”
“Do you know why?”
“No. I never asked, but before I left for school the next day, I saw the news featuring a suicide. They said that some guy jumped off the top floor of an undisclosed Otemachi skyscraper. When I saw the picture, it was the guy from the auditing company that I bumped into. The next year, we had a different person coming to the jimusho to do the taxes.”
“Did he always let you see these internal people?”
“You mean people who did the taxes, bankers, lawyers and stuff?”
“Yes.”
“He did until he figured out that I had a good memory for faces and names. When I asked him if he always changed accountants, bankers, and lawyers, he laughed it off and told me that it was just my imagination. But after that, he stopped calling me as often. When he did, it was always in the evening when everyone had gone home.”
“Hmmm…What about racketeering?”
“If you’re asking if he threatened to do things in order to gain money from individuals, then the answer would be-well, no.”
“But racketeering doesn’t necessarily have to involve a monetary transaction. It could be something like ‘do as I say or you won’t get ____.’ There are ‘protection rackets’ where you have businesses selling the solution that it created. Does that bring anything to mind?”
“A business selling the solution to a problem that it created?”
“Or that it purposely does not resolve?”
“Selling the solution to a problem that it created…that sounds like something that the jimusho would do but I can’t think of any examples of it right now…”
“Prostitution?”
“Not in the legal sense of the word. We are his whores and he is our pimp, but in the figurative sense.”
“The pimp isn’t tempted to test out his whores?”
“Only the ones that catch his eye…but as a general practice, he tries to refrain from touching a majority of the young talent. But he does to a certain extent turn a blind eye to the sex, drugs, and alcohol that goes on within the confines of the jimusho.”
“He does?”
“Something about him ‘not being responsible’.”
“What is that supposed to mean?”
“He sees what goes on from the footage that is fed into his office, but most of the time he ignores it.”
“Does he keep the footage?”
“On portable hard drives in the safe behind his desk.”
“Do you know the combination?”
“No…”
Jun’s eyes shifted as he trailed off.
“Something wrong, Matsumoto-san?”
“I just thought of something…there are these parties that the jimusho sponsors from time to time. I know there’s someone there bringing drugs. You have to be invited to this special room where they lock you in for the whole night…”
“And then what?”
“I don’t know. I’ve never been invited to one. I just know that people get addicted to some of the stuff they have at those parties. Wait…something isn’t right…I just noticed that if the idols manage to get the drugs and alcohol on their own, he doesn’t really make a fuss. He ignores it. But when they fall into his trap…”
“What happens, Matsumoto-san?”
“He exploits their weakness…”
“In what way?”
“First he tempts them. Then when they take the bait and the addiction starts to screw them over, say they get involved in a scandal, in comes the jimusho on its white horse to save the day…”
“Don’t worry…I’ll take care of this little scandal. We’ll make it disappear…”
“Thank you, shachou! I am forever in your debt!”
“Just make sure it doesn’t happen again…”
“And then the idol is lured into a false sense of security. But little does he know that now the jimusho has the power to exploit him…”
“You wouldn’t want this secret of yours to become public, would you? It would ruin your career…”
“No…”
“That’s right…so, when I ask you to go find out if any of the other members are dating any models or actresses…”
“Is a name sufficient or would you like a photo as well?”
“Selling the solution to a problem that he created?” offered Miyazono.
“Huh?”
“Nothing, go on…”
“I’ve only seen him punishing and threatening…”
“Has he ever done that to any member of Arashi?”
“Not to my knowledge. He’s never really had a problem with any one of us…”
“What about money laundering?”
“Money laundering? Hmm…”
“Does he have another side business that generates him revenue that he funnels into his legitimate one involving the scouting of young male talent?”
“Side business…yes…I think he might…but I don’t know if it’s doing anything illegal…”
“What is it?”
“I don’t know.”
“What do you mean, ‘you don’t know’?”
“There was a lady that he hired maybe in 2005 or 2006 to be the manager of something. She had a weird name…I think her name was Kakia.”
“Kakia?”
Jun tapped his left ring finger against the side of his forehead.
“I can’t remember anything else. I’m sorry,” Jun said, bowing his head. “I want to say that she was hired to manage a club, but I can’t be certain…”
“Like the fan club?”
“No…Wait-I don’t know…Let me get back to you. I think I’m concentrating too hard. It’ll come to me…in the meantime, tell me about the rest of the contract.”
“Certainly,” Miyazono said, turning the pages. “Pages five through seven in a very roundabout way state that the president of the jimusho-meaning Kitagawa-san-recognizes Ninomiya Kazunari to the legal leader of the group.”
“Legal leader?”
“I’m guessing that this is to differentiate him from Ohno-san, who is the unofficial leader of the group. Ohno-san is recognized by the group and fans as the leader, however, from a legal standpoint; he has no power or authority. According to this contract, the legal representative of the group is Ninomiya Kazunari.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means that he has the authority to make decisions concerning things like dissolutions. These three pages cover a bunch of different situations, but the only parts that concern you are the parts regarding the ‘dissolution’ of the group, which can be found on page six.”
“What does it say?”
“There isn’t much to it, since most of it discusses other issues like changing the name of the group, disagreement among members, divided interests-“
“Hold on, does it discuss motives and manner of dissolution?”
“Basically, since Ninomiya-san is the legal representative, one would assume that he is acting in the best interest of the group since the person who is the legal representative is the ‘person whom the president of the jimusho feels is most fit for the position’. While this is strictly a manner of opinion on the part of Kitagawa-san, there’s not really much you can dispute.”
“Why not?”
“Because page six states that the legal representative of the group can dissolve the group at any time provided he has spoken with the president. If the president accepts his recommendation to dissolve the group, then there is nothing you can do.”
“Doesn’t he have to consult the other members?”
“No.”
“Don’t we get a say?”
“No. As I mentioned earlier, he is your legal representative. He is supposed to be acting in the best interest of the group. If he supposedly feels that dissolution would be the best, he can dissolve the group as the legal leader. The legal leader’s decision regarding dissolution apparently overrides whatever it says in your personal contract about not being able to leave the jimusho without facing legal repercussions.”
“I see…”
“But the fact that there is all that extraneous information is indicative that this part of the contract was again, not meant for Arashi in particular. Any other questions?”
“No.”
“Pages eight through seventeen concern the actual dissolution of the group. Pages five through seven are about the legal leader of the group and his authority, but the next nine or so pages are about what is actually lost when a group is dissolved by the legal leader, in this case Ninomiya-san, of the group. However, about half of it is irrelevant since it concerns the New Contract and we’re purely concerned about the Old Contract since that is what Arashi falls under. Allow me to summarize what you have legally lost by signing this contract, which might I add for your reference is part of the ‘group fault’ clause somewhere on page three. ‘Group fault’ is basically the term he uses to determine what actually applies to you. Since you dissolved the group, it is your ‘fault’ and the jimusho is the ‘victim’.”
“What is that supposed to mean?”
“That since you betrayed the jimusho and bit the hand that fed you, the jimusho no longer has any obligation to assist you in any way. Now, for the actual losses that you incur…Number one, Arashi loses the right to the backing and protection of the jimusho. You don’t need for me to tell you what that means, so I will move on. Number two, because Arashi sought dissolution of its own volition and the jimusho had nothing to do with the decision, Arashi has no right to seek any compensation whatsoever.”
“You mean if the jimusho ‘got rid of us’ for no apparent reason, we could seek some sort of compensation?”
“That’s correct. Number three, you have no right to seek royalties. However, the jimusho agrees not to manufacture any more goods with the name of the group on it. All inventories will be liquidated. Any questions?”
“No.”
“Number four, a group that has been dissolved cannot be revived even if all the members are in accord. Number five, those who have terminated their contracts under the jimusho cannot receive future contracts under the jimusho.”
“Meaning that once we leave, we can never be employed under or represented by the jimusho?”
“That is correct. Number six, once your contracts are terminated, you are the same as a ‘normal person (一般人)’ and you are not allowed on the jimusho premises unless you have specific business and an appointment. Use of jimusho facilities is prohibited. Number seven, 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. Number eight, you should refrain from participating in jimusho sponsored events unless you have an invitation. Number nine, to protect the interests of the jimusho, any suspicious activity involving current members of the jimusho or staff may result in legal action. Number ten, processing of the dissolution takes three days and you have twenty four hours after your legal leader signs the request to dissolve the group to change your mind. Otherwise, the contract is legal and binding. Any questions?”
“What about the agreement to restore the backing of the others?”
“I’m getting to that. But everything up to this point concerns the actual dissolution. Do you have any questions?”
“No.”
“Alright. The next section, pages eighteen through twenty-five, discusses the conditions for provisional backing of the jimusho for Aiba Masaki, Ninomiya Kazunari, and Sakurai Sho.”
“Wait, what do you mean ‘provisional’? As in, the jimusho can withdraw its backing at any time?”
“No. The jimusho agrees to provide the necessary backing to Aiba Masaki, Ninomiya Kazunari, and Sakurai Sho so that they may continue their careers without interruption in exchange for a thirteen year ‘period of silence’ from Matsumoto Jun and Ohno Satoshi. The two of you will not have the backing of the jimusho nor are you allowed to participate in any entertainment related endeavors. This includes but is not limited to commercials, filming of dramas, variety shows, photo shoots, podcasts, publishing any printed material, public appearances for publicity et cetera. You are prohibited from pursuing anything that would further your career or remind the public of your existence for the next thirteen years, which includes contacting the other members by directly talking to them, speaking to them over the phone, fax, email, text, post, or any form of ‘direct communication’.”
“So we are supposed to disappear for thirteen years right?”
“That is correct.”
“But we can still live the lives of normal people right? It doesn’t say that we can’t get married, have children, send them to school, does it?”
“It does not say anything about that. 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 from a legal capacity for you in particular, Matsumoto-san, to retain a low profile since you stand out so much more than Ohno-san if you do not want to jeopardize what you are trying to give to the other three members.”
“Which I have been doing. When I go out in public, I cover myself up. I try to wear plain clothes. I don’t take Ayumu to school or pick him up even though I really want to. I just let Leader do it-“
“That’s not what I’m talking about, Matsumoto-san. What if you found out that Ayumu was being bullied?”
“I would go down there and-“
Miyazono shook his head.
>>>
Chapter 17C Navigation |
KodoAi |
01 |...|
14A |
14B |
15A |
15B |
16A |
16B |
16C |
17A |
17B |
17C |
17D |