Title: Rising Sun
Fandom: Johnny's Entertainment
Characters: Shibutani Subaru
Rating: PG-13 for the concept
Warnings: Very Bad Thing near the end, open-ended.
Summary: Subaru's the star of a new movie called Dawn, but he doesn't know exactly why it has that title. AU.
Notes: Inspired by
this picture. TOKIO's
SEISYuN-verse, pre-PV. Information beneath the main story body. Written for the
One-Hour JE 08-09 Calendar-inspired Fic Challenge.
Participants:
alissa |
elyndys |
iverin |
jackoweskla |
jadedfrenzy |
ky_rin |
mousapelli |
pearljemz |
peroxidepest17 |
thawrecka |
tinyangl |
tokyostory In his late 20s, Shibutani Subaru discovers that he loves acting just as much as he loves music. He talks to the right people, smiles the right way, settles down and primps himself until they put him out for films. He will never walk away from his music, but acting puts him into a very different world.
His friends tell him he puts too much into his roles. He doesn't think they're entirely correct.
***
It's 50 degrees Fahrenheit on set, 6:43AM on a small island off the eastern coast of Japan. The set is truly magnificent, and Subaru notices this every single morning as he watches the sun illuminate the towering factory buildings they're filming in. For the last two weeks, they've been filming almost nonstop. It's the climax of the movie, the most important part, and it has to be filmed before the weather changes too drastically.
For two weeks, they've been living on this island without the usual comforts.
Subaru doesn't mind. He loves his work, so he copes. He knows that in a few weeks he'll get back to his seven best friends and they'll start recording again. Certainly, the world of the movie has been engrossing, but he's come to a point where it's time to break free from his role. He rubs his arms briskly, wishing he was in costume fully already.
The film is called Dawn, but he feels like it's been more of a cloudy day venture. Every piece of the set is metallic, and Subaru's costumes are whites, grays, military steely blue. His character is named Shin, and he imagines it's a reference to this theme of beginnings.
His co-star, Yuki-chan, is fully dressed in gorgeous earth tones, though. He finds her positively enchanting, even if her facial proportions are almost unnaturally perfect and her smile loses its shy quality too easily. Her eyes are captivating, and it gets him through the tougher scenes.
She can also do stunts better than he can, Subaru reflects with a laugh. But then again, nobody ever calls him a great athlete.
He hears Yuki-chan's laughter from across the open yard and snaps his gaze back to the set pieces. Today's script is strange. It's finally a great battle scene, and Subaru wonders why. He thinks it's odd that he auditioned for a love story and has done mostly running and stunt work.
But again, Yuki-chan laughs, and Subaru tries to focus on the scenes to come.
***
FX: Explosion from behind bldg 1. SHIN (Shibutani) into camera view, looking at KAORI (Yuki). Pan UP.
SHIN: Kaori! Hurry!
KAORI: No! My family is in there!
SHIN: There's nothing left! We can't go back. Don't you see? (SHIN turns to face water. Across the channel, he sees--FX)
KAORI: They're in front of us. (grabs SHIN by the arm) And behind us. What should we do?
SHIN: (hesitantly) We'll fight.
KAORI: But...
SHIN: No, Kaori. I won't leave you or anyone.
(SHIN turns away from KAORI, then pulls her to safety)
KAORI: Wait, Shin!
SHIN: (questions. Ad-lib)
KAORI: What if they're right? (back toward explosion 1)
SHIN: They're not. Kaori, don't go back! Kaori!
KAORI: (toward building) They've come. It's like we're saved.
***
Subaru frowns. He doesn't remember when this script change was put in, and he's not that happy with it, but it's work. Who is he to challenge the writers? Rolling his script back up, Subaru ambles over to the makeup trailer.
"Good morning, Shibutani-san," Yuki says, all too politely. Subaru smiles back and nods, a bit at a loss for words. Her skin is radiant in the morning light. He knows that in a matter of hours, they'll both be smudged with grease and pigment, telltale signs of a cinema battle.
"Let's do our best today," he finally mutters before sitting down in the makeup chair.
The staff praises him for forgetting to shave, but their discussion doesn't deviate from work today. None of the usual talk of the news is brought up. Subaru barely notices and chatters away about the bruised knee he acquired the day before, or which boom mic operator is the ugly one.
"And you know," he says with a grin, "my friends think I get too into my parts. To tell you the truth all this cold makes me want to get done already."
Everyone in the trailer laughs.
***
"Alright, and moving on to the last scene," the director calls through the megaphone, voice undistorted. "We'll have a few minutes to set up the effects, and then we'll go with take one. Yuki-san, Shibutani-san, please do a last run-through of the dialog. We'd like to finish this in one shot."
The staff disperses, presumably to go assist with the final checks of lines and switches. Subaru turns to his beautiful co-star. "It's going to be a pretty big fireball, then," he jokes.
Yuki smiles. "That is what they said, isn't it?"
Subaru is a bit startled by her directness. He doesn't know if he'll ever get used to it. His eyes graze over her face, stopping just beside her--
"Ah. You have something..." Subaru reaches out and brushes a strand of Yuki's hair away from her eye. She doesn't blink. She simply smiles again.
"Thank you."
***
"And... ACTION!"
Subaru flinches as the first fireball goes up behind the main building, and the structure sways. He extends his hand toward Yuki desperately.
"K--Kaori! Come on! We have to get out of here!"
Yuki looks at him frantically. "No! My family--" She's cut off by the second explosion. The front of the structure begins to lean toward her.
Without thinking, Subaru rushes over ahead of cue and grabs her wrist. He drags Yuki away just before a piece of steel falls. The director doesn't stop filming, and Subaru tries to soldier on.
"We... We can't go back," he screams, and he hopes he sounds convincing. His knees are shaking and he feels like the ground will fall out from under him. "There's nothing left."
Yuki looks over his shoulder, across the channel, but doesn't speak. Subaru waits briefly for her line, his cue. It feels like an eternity.
When she doesn't speak, he takes her hand and turns to face where she's looking. "We'll fi--"
He stops, unable to secure his footing completely. The ground is shaking, not his body. And the director is still filming.
Subaru plants his feet wide, blinking as the smoke from the first two fireballs clears. Out across the channel, there's more smoke rising up behind buildings, more fireballs, things toppling.
What the hell? Maybe I am putting too much into this, it's...
"They've come," Yuki says, gripping Subaru's hand. Subaru looks at her wildly.
"This..." He feels like a trapped animal. It's too--"real," he says, and he realizes he's shouting, almost screaming. "It's too real. What is... this? What is this? This budget..."
Yuki shushes him. "It's like we're saved," she says crisply, robotically.
Her hand is cold, unmoving, and Subaru can't break her grip.
He breathes deeply. His mind spins.
No news. Stuck on the island. Smoke, fires. Changing script. Yuki is too perfect. Beginnings...
It clicks, and Subaru knows what he's doing, and what's being done. He knows it's his last movie, and that it ought to be his best.
The wind picks up, somehow cold and hot at once, whipping his hair around. He looks back, resigned, at the main camera boom.
The director doesn't stop filming.
NOTES:
The end takes place before the beginning of the story presented in
TOKIO's SEISYuN PV. Essentially, this is the first step of a robot/machine takeover. I left it a little vague for people who don't CARE about the 'verse, but I'm attached to it.
SEISYuN-verse Timeline:
Deus ex Machina Rising Sun SEISYuN: PreludeTOKIO's SEISYuN PV