Vol 2 Chapter 5 (1/2)

CHAPTER 5

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“…Rei. Reeeei! Hey, we’re done now—Rei?”

“Nn…?” Rei’s eyes flared open as his name was called.

“Hey—you okay?” Shougo pressed, leaning down to peer into his face, and Rei struggled for a moment to recall just where he was and what he’d been doing, glancing around stupidly.

Between the set, situated on an elevated little stage, and the instruments and equipment surrounding them, Rei quickly recalled that they were currently on the set of a talk show inside a recording studio.

Right. Today he’d tagged along to watch over Shougo during his recording—or at least, that was what he’d been supposed to be doing, as somewhere along the way, he seemed to have taken a nap.

’How could I have done that…?!’

“S—sorry; is the recording over?”

“Yup!”

“Then—shall we head back?”

“……”

Rei scrambled to make himself presentable again, standing from his seat, and while he could feel Shougo’s gaze falling heavy upon him, he forced itself to ignore it and set off for the dressing rooms. He must’ve fallen asleep in an awkward position, and he released a soft sigh as he reached for his neck, in pain, and gave himself a one-handed ma.s.sage.

’I’ve just been really busy lately…’

This was due in large part to the fact that SenaPro lacked the man-power to deal with the sudden uptick in work concerning the band since taking on Shougo and the CRUSHERZ. Rei himself had not only Shougo’s workload to see to but his duties as manager to Seiya and Nagisa as well to see to, so if he didn’t step up his game, he’d never be able to handle it all.

He’d managed to hang on thus far, doing away with frivolities like lunch and sleep, but if such actions led to embarra.s.sing situations like this, then…

Wracked with guilt, he shuttled Shougo back home and then headed for his desk to check his schedule for the next day—but the moment he hit the seat, a wave of exhaustion washed over him, and he let out an unconscious sigh.

’With the CRUSHERZ making their major debut on our roster, SenaPro has finally entered its golden age…’

The band had made a fantastic splash, and almost as if it had been a given, their debut single had taken top spot on the Oricon ranking, as had their second single and third as well. Then they’d finally released an alb.u.m just recently, and it too had shot to number one on the charts.

Their television spots were increasing as well, and the music-focused talk shows seemed thrilled with Shougo’s amusing way of speaking, earning the group invitations to variety shows which then led to a windfall of personal invitations to Shougo for guest appearances.

And to top it all off, lately he’d even started getting offers to appear in television dramas. Coupled with requests for a mother-son appearance with Nagisa, his mother’s workload was increasing as well.

Efforts to cope with this workload resulted in the expected physical exhaustion of being run ragged daily, but this was not the only source of stress for Rei…

Shougo had been blessed with good looks that clearly spoke of his blood relation to Seiya, and given that the CRUSHERZ had contracted with SenaPro, it was little surprise that, as soon as the group made their debut, Shougo’s ident.i.ty as the eldest son of the Sena family had come out.

While some who weren’t well educated on the particulars of who’d made it big first muttered gossip about riding coattails and the like, most seemed well aware that Shougo was a self-made man, so there’d been no ill effects on his work. This was helped by the fact that Shougo himself didn’t seem all that miffed by the situation—a blessing, and far better than him worrying about it and sinking into a slump.

However, whenever Shougo found himself in interviews fielding questions about his father, he would always respond with: “He’s my greatest rival!”

Naturally, everyone a.s.sumed he meant this as a singer—that he one day hoped to surpa.s.s his father in fame—but the truth was quite a different matter.

Seiya and Shougo…were rivals in love.

For Rei’s love, to be specific.

And of course, Seiya had no idea of this.

Rei was stuck pining unrequitedly for Seiya, just as Shougo longed for Rei’s love, and while it was a rather convoluted love triangle they’d found themselves involved in, there was nothing to be done for it.

Granted, Rei understood well enough that the fact that Shougo had feelings for his same-s.e.x manager wasn’t going to just slip out so lightly, but whenever Shougo took to ma.s.s media and started going on about how he and Seiya were rivals, considering Rei’s understanding of Shougo’s feelings for him…it struck Rei with headaches and stomachaches and everything-aches.

Things probably would have been easier all around if he’d never found out about any of this—but he couldn’t just wipe his memories whenever he liked, unfortunately, so it was with these mental sources of stress as well that Rei was running up against the very limits of his stamina.

However, he never would have expected for everything to culminate in the embarra.s.sment if falling asleep on location in the middle of a recording… “This isn’t good… I’ve got to find a manager to take on the CRUSHERZ full time…” he groaned to himself, reaching for the stack of resumes he’d been in the middle of leafing through earlier.

He’d singled out those with the best experience, regardless of age or gender, but he remained dubious as to whether or not he’d find in this stack someone up to the task of managing SenaPro’s cash cow, the CRUSHERZ. After all, it’d been more than a month now since they’d started accepting applications for the position, and still no one was leaping out. Still, even if anyone had presented themselves, the time they’d have to set aside to field interviews would only increase how busy they all were these days.

But it was clear that Rei didn’t have the stamina to remain the Sena family’s sole manager now. He’d have liked to have someone skilled enough to handle sales issues and schedule management, but barring that, a warm body to handle on-location management alone would do…but then they’d still need to hire someone else to handle marketing operations, which would just be a waste of personnel.

Rei knew, deep down, something was going to break soon, if they didn’t resolve this issue…

And that was when it happened.

“I want to record our next single overseas!” Shougo announced out of the blue, shortly followed by the sound of something snappinginside Rei’s head, as he’d just been peacefully reading over the upcoming schedule while lounging on the office sofa.

’We’re crazy busy already—and he wants to go OVERSEAS?!’

“What tripe are you spouting?!” he snapped, slapping a hand over the schedule book currently spread out on the table between them. Luckily, the late hour meant only the two of them were left in the office. Had Satou from accounting seen Rei react like this, she might have very well been so overcome with fright she would have quit on the spot—that’s how menacing he was being right about now. “Overseas? Where on earth do you expect to find the kind of time for that in this schedule?!”

Indeed, the schedule was jam-packed, without a moment to spare. Shougo had but to glance at the thing to understand this fact.

But strangely enough, Shougo wasn’t backing down this time. “We’ve got a whole week here set aside for recording, though! We can just go then!” Saying so, he pointed to a section in the middle of the page marked RECORDING, along with the name of a recording studio inside the city.

“And we’d waste much of that time on traveling alone! We’ve put together this schedule at the last minute, you realize?” Plus, while the place they’d reserved wasn’t the best in the country, it definitely had high marks, and it wasn’t Shougo’s first time using the studio. He’d never complained before about the facilities or the staff, so why…? “What exactly aren’t you happy about?”

“Well, I just feel like nothing’s gonna happen like this! We’ve been doing nothing but working from inside j.a.pan this whole time! I’ll never be able to come up with new songs if I don’t get out into the world and stretch my wings a bit!” His tone sounded like something one might expect from a whiny child.

Rei’s lips pursed with a twitch. ’Here we go… Now he’s pulling the “artist” card…’ He began to rub his head, sensing the oncoming ache. People like this occasionally tended to put off work, professing a reason that no hard-working mature adult would ever use: “I’m just not in the mood.”

Seiya had the same temperament, and as such, Rei had come to understand a bit about how things worked with artists in this respect. For example, Seiya liked to wander off on trips at the drop of a hat while in the middle of composing a new song, or go out drinking the day before his lyrics were due, or even go see a movie—and he’d explain his actions thus: “I can’t just churn things out without a break. I’ve gotta give my brain some nourishment, some stimulation! If not, nothing I generate will be any good.”

Rei had been rather frazzled initially, worried about the time frame, but Seiya had yet to fall through with his work. And Rei couldn’t deny that, after any such escapes, Seiya would always complete the remainder of his work with frightening speed. Rei didn’t know much about creating art or anything like that, so it probably wasn’t his place to pa.s.s judgment, but having seen what Seiya could put out, he had to hand it to the guy.

However, this wasn’t Seiya he was dealing with now—a man Rei respected above all others—but Shougo, who’d never made these sorts of demands of Rei before, so he couldn’t treat the situation as quite the same. It was hard to tell if this was merely a childish demand or if it was truly necessary. But then…

”We’ve been doing nothing but working from inside j.a.pan this whole time!”

Shougo was right; ever since his debut, the band had been running flat out, and on now being faced with the comment that they were reaching a point where they really needed a breather or something to change up the pace, Rei found he couldn’t give in to stubborn refusal.

With a deep sigh, he asked, “…So where do you want to go, then?”

The response to his reluctant question was a perky, “New York!”

“New York?” The flight alone would be over twelve hours from j.a.pan! “Just getting there and back will waste a whole day!” They only had a week to finish up the recording, which left them with just six days to get the job done. They’d also likely be exhausted from the flight, and then there was the jet-lag to worry about… When it came down to it, their actual usable time would be evenshorter—but then, Shougo was surely aware of that already. “You’re sure…you understand this?”

“I do! But I’m confident that if we go, I’ll be able to pump out something great in no time flat!” Indeed, he must have beenbr.i.m.m.i.n.g with confidence, the way he boasted.

With such a proclamation, it was starting to look like Rei didn’t have much choice but to trust he’d get the job done… “…All right. I’ll see if I can rearrange the schedule…”

“Wait, Rei!” Rei had already slipped into “give-up mode”, standing with exhaustion to head back to his desk in the office—when Shougo stopped him brightly. “It’s all right! I’ve already taken care of all the arrangements for the flight and hotel—even the studio rental!”

“You…what?” For a moment, he didn’t quite understand what Shougo was saying.

“And I’ve already talked things over with the other members! Plus—my dad’ll be composing that whole week and mom’ll have some time off, so since Satou-san’ll be able to take care of everything on her own, that means you can come too!” Shougo continued to press his case with the utterly dumbfounded Rei, pulling out a bundle of doc.u.ments detailing everything and handing them to Rei.

Rei blinked in silence, skimming the pages he’d just been handed. “This…is…” Just as Shougo had professed, he had indeed taken care of all of the arrangements. Just to be safe, he whipped out his own planner to check—and Seiya and Nagisa’s schedules were in exactly the state Shougo had explained. “You mean to tell me…you can handle managing yourself…?”

He supposed he should have expected as such, given that until just recently, they’d been performing as an indies band, but he still couldn’t help but be surprised at just how perfectly and completely Shougo had pulled everything off. He came off as something of an airhead most of the time, but it was in times such as this that Rei was reminded that, deep down, Shougo was a genius, capable of pulling off stunts like this flawlessly.

“Ugh, no way! That’s way too annoying!” Shougo shook his head at Rei’s suggestion. “It was just that this time, I really wanted to go! With you, of course!” And when he flashed a wink, Rei fought the bone-deep urge to slug him but good.

The only reason he didn’t was because Shougo’s very body was part of his selling point as an entertainer. If that hadn’t been the case, though, rest a.s.sured that Rei would’ve well and truly laid into him.

He clenched his shaking fist tight, noting that he’d gotten exceptionally good at coping, and released a sigh. “…Then, for now, I’ll speak with Seiya-san on the matter.” Seiya was the company president, after all; even though his own son Shougo had taken care of all of the arrangements, they still needed to get his permission. Truthfully, Rei still clung to a shred of hope that Seiya might put a stop to the whole thing.

“Eh? Aww, c’mon; you don’t have to do that.”

“Of course I do.” He fixed a sharp glare on Shougo after his flippant comment, then stomped out of the office and headed off to find Seiya. At this time of day, he ought to be home—and he therefore made the living room his first stop, where he found Izumi, clad in his pajamas, having apparently come down just then for a drink.

“Huh? Rei?”

“Ah, good evening, Izumi-san. I came by to see if I could speak with Seiya-san…”

“Dad? I think he’s downstairs.”

“Thank you.” After bidding Izumi his thanks, he headed to the studio in the bas.e.m.e.nt. The subterranean level of the Sena home had been converted to a recording studio, and Seiya could often be found working here. He shouldn’t have been so busy right now that he absolutely had to be working at this hour of the evening, but a great song might have just come to him.

“Oh, Rei? What brings you down here?” Seiya called out, c.o.c.king his head when Rei poked his face inside.

“I had something I wanted to discuss with you—are you busy?”

“Not at all.” Seiya motioned to a chair nearby, inviting him to take a seat, but Rei declined with the excuse that it would only take a moment, before diving into discussion of the conversation he’d just had with Shougo.

“You see, about Shougo-san’s upcoming recording session…”

“Oh—the New York thing?”

“Eh?” Rei’s eyes goggled at the response that came when all he’d said was recording—as if it was the most natural thing in the world.

“The studio he picked out has great facilities as well as top-quality staff running it, so I’m sure we can look forward to a wonderful finished product.”

“………” He even knew about the studio already…? From the looks of things, it seemed Shougo and already been down this road—which reminded Rei that Shougo had brought up Seiya and Nagisa’s schedules earlier, so there was a very high chance he’d consulted them personally on the matter.

“You’re going along with him, right?”

“No, just, that is…”

“You’ve been so busy lately; you really ought to get out for some fresh air!”

Faced with Seiya’s broad grin, Rei had little choice but to acquiesce. “…All right. I’ll go see about getting my pa.s.sport tomorrow…” With Seiya’s blessing given, he’d run out of reasons to refuse. His shoulders slumped, he exited the studio and headed back up to the living room—where he found Shougo sitting on the couch alongside Izumi, twisting around now to see Rei walk in.

“So? How’d it go?”

Rei fixed a glare on Shougo as he leered from his spot on the couch, before releasing a defeated sigh. “I can’t believe you’d already gone and discussed the matter with Seiya-san…”

“Well, much as I hate to admit it, there’s no way you’d ever say no if my dad gave his okay, right??” He was absolutely right, so Rei swallowed any protests.

“Hey, are you going to New York, Rei?” It was Izumi’s turn to question him now. He must have heard from Shougo while Rei was downstairs.

“I am. This is part of my job, after all.” He had little choice but to go, he tried to make clear—but Izumi didn’t seem to get the message.

“I wanna go too!!”

“Eh?” Rei gaped at Izumi, thrown by the protest.

“It’s no fair that Oniichan and Rei get to go all by themselves! I wanna go to New York too!”

“Much as I understand, still…”

“I wanna go I wanna go I WANNA GOOOO!!” Rei never would have expected Izumi to be so adamant on this point. After all, Izumi was quite an introvert, preferring to play indoors in his room rather than go outside. This was a rare sight, seeing him so bent on going somewhere. To top it all off—this was New York, quite a ways away, so Rei felt quite justified in being shocked. In all likelihood, he was less worried about not going someplace than feeling lonely that Shougo and Rei would be going there together.

“Didn’t you hear me, though? We’re going for work. We can’t take you along with us.” He then directed his gaze at Shougo, silently imploring You say something, too! Even Shougo, a guy with a self-professed dyed-in-the-wool brother complex, had to see that there was no way they could possibly take Izumi with them.

“Bringing Izumi along, huh… That definitely sounds like it’d be fun!”

“Hey! You—!” Rei started, a snarling shout on his lips, when he was stopped at the pa.s.s as Shougo continued.

“But this time we’re going for work.” Apparently he’d accepted that they had no choice as well. “Even if you came along, we couldn’t bring you around anywhere to enjoy the sights, so why don’t we go some other time when we’re not gonna be busy with work?”

“Nnngh…” Given that Shougo, usually putty in his little brother’s hands, was standing his ground, perhaps Izumi finally understood that it really was no use protesting, and despite glancing up at Shougo with eyes glistening with tears, he eventually gave up his demands. Rei was at once both relieved—and a bit saddened for Izumi.

“…Izumi-san?”

“…What?” Izumi turned away from Shougo when Rei called his name, staring at Rei now. He must have really been holding back those tears, given how red his nose was now.

“We’ll bring you back lots of souvenirs.”

“…Really??”

“Of course, you can count on it. What would you like?”

“Okay…then, some chocolate! I want chocolates!”

Seeing this response, Rei released another relieved sigh.

“Wait—what? You’ve never left the country before, Rei?” Shougo’s screech of shock echoed throughout the plane’s cabin as they found themselves on a flight to New York. They’d taken off some time ago, and the plane had since leveled out.

In contrast to Shougo’s relaxed posture, though, Rei’s mien was fixed into a hard, steel expression. “Correct.” He hadn’t thought it all that surprising a revaluation, but perhaps it did seem strange for someone like Shougo, who’d studied abroad for years and routinely found himself coming and going from j.a.pan. “My mother and I were never very well off when I lived with her, so we hardly had the luxury, and I’ve been working 24-7 even since starting with SenaPro, so…”

But even as he spoke, his vision blurred and wavered, and he couldn’t seem to calm himself—and he strongly suspected his pallor didn’t look so good, as Shougo looked him over worriedly, head c.o.c.ked in concern.

“Hey, are you…by any chance nervous? Rei.”

“Th—of course I am!” he grit out. “We’re traveling to a place where our j.a.panese won’t get us far, you realize? Plus, over there, you let your guard down for an instant and you’ll find your bag stolen or get yourself kidnapped or even blown to bits!”

But in response to his earnest deliverance of what must have been a rather biased understanding of American culture, Shougo only smiled wryly. “You don’t have to worry about that kind of stuff!”

“Easy for you to say!” He wanted to remind Shougo that this was all his fault to begin with. Rei had been in a sour mood ever since the moment it’d been decided that they’d travel to New York. It was his first time overseas, for one thing, and his English was absolutely dreadful, for another.

He understood that, from a management perspective, he really ought to improve his skills in the language—after all, this wouldn’t be the only time he’d likely find himself having to converse with foreign partners. But both Seiya and Shougo’s English was on par with their j.a.panese, so he’d never really had cause or opportunity to practice. On top of it, he was constantly swamped with work, and while he’d gone out and bought textbooks with the intention to practice, he’d had next to no time at all to actually open them.

If he got lost in New York, or if someone tried to speak to him in English—or worse, if he brought about some misunderstanding by not being able to adequately communicate with the local staff… All manner of horrible potentialities rushed through his mind, and he reasoned it was no surprise he was worried about this whole endeavor.

Shougo reached forward, giving Rei’s hand a squeeze as he saw his pallor worsen visibly, and Rei glanced up.

“It’s fine—it’s fine, really. I’m here, after all!” Unfortunately, these words of rea.s.surance were little help, and Rei sighed to himself. Despite Shougo’s best of intentions, Rei still couldn’t bring himself to entirely trust the man. “Anyway, it’s gonna be a long flight, so just try not to think too much about it and get some rest.”

“But, I can’t…” He’d thought to at least get in as much studying as possible on the flight and had a textbook on conversational English tucked into his pack. He really ought to start leafing through that, but…

“Nothing’s gonna stick in your skull with you all tense like this. Just get some rest so you don’t wind up jet lagged when we get there.” Shougo had a point. It was summer at the moment, which meant the time difference between Tokyo and New York, with Daylight Saving’s Time factored in, was minus-thirteen hours. It was probably best to take care and ensure that he was ready to go to work as soon as they touched down. “Here, a sleep mask.” Shougo gallantly offered him the blanket and eye mask stuffed into his seat pocket, and with that, Rei tamped down his worries and nodded off.

A half-day later…

“So…this is New York, huh…?” Rei muttered to himself the moment they arrived in John F. Kennedy International Airport, before they’d even left the terminal, and Shougo snorted softly at the sentiment.

“It’s too soon for comments like that, Rei!”

“Shut up! What’s the harm?”

They made their way out of the terminal, following the instructions of an employee as far as the taxi rotary, and managed to make it into one of the cabs with minimal trouble—until Rei found he was unable to properly p.r.o.nounce the name of the street their hotel was located on for the driver. Before he could make another attempt, though, Shougo jumped in, addressing the driver, and the cab pulled smoothly into traffic.

“…Sorry.”

“What for? I told you to leave everything to me, didn’t I?”

It was pathetic, relying on Shougo to do something that he should have been the one to do, but Shougo didn’t seem to mind at all. Later, as well, when Rei dithered with his wallet after forgetting to tip the driver, Shougo smoothed things over again. Even on arriving at the hotel, Shougo charged to the rescue when Rei grew fl.u.s.tered after being spoken to by a bellhop, smartly offering the young man a tip. Shougo had apparently been entirely serious in his vow to take responsibility here, constantly offering aid to Rei, who could hardly tell right from left.

By the time they reached their hotel room, Rei was utterly exhausted, but he realized that it was only thanks to Shougo that they’d gotten this far with hardly any problems at all. “I’m…soooo tired…”

“You really don’t have to be so uptight, y’know. New York’s just another city, after all. Just like Tokyo—just the same!”

From Rei’s perspective, the mere fact that all of the words filling his ears and the lettering on the signs around him were in English was enough to send him into a panic, but Shougo seemed no different at all from how he behaved in j.a.pan. On questioning, apparently he’d been to New York a number of times before and even had most of the map memorized. “Just having you tag along with me here really pumps me up, so feel free to rely on me as much as you like!”

“………” Rei wasn’t sure that was such a good idea, considering he was supposed to be here on business, but anyone could see from their situation thus far that it was more efficient to just leave everything to Shougo rather than to try doing too much himself. Given how tight their schedule was, too, he felt it best to rely on Shougo where he could, and offered a reluctant nod.

Truthfully, this was the first time since their meeting that he’d ever really realized just how reliable Shougo could be—so much so that, if possible, he didn’t want to be parted from Shougo’s side for even an instant. He knew full well, though, that if he said such things aloud, it would only go to Shougo’s head, and so he elected to keep mum on his feelings.

Given that they were here on business, even if he’d wanted some time away from Shougo, they still found themselves holed up in the studio day in and day out. He didn’t want to trouble Shougo for help aside from when they went out together, after all, and he wound up moving about with Shougo most of the time anyway, so he experienced little trouble. He’d fire up his laptop, checking in with the office back in j.a.pan while keeping an eye on the recording progress here in New York.

He mused that, like this, things weren’t so different from a day at the office back in j.a.pan—but it seemed he was the only one who felt this way.

“Aren’t you pus.h.i.+ng yourself a bit too hard…?” Rei chided softly, sighing to himself as he lay a blanket over Shougo as he slept back at their hotel that evening.

He and Shougo were rooming together, and while he’d initially been wary of the arrangements, Shougo had spent every day staying late at the studio before returning to the hotel, only to collapse onto the bed the moment he crossed the threshold, out like a light. There was a clear difference in his work ethic here and the slightly slovenly att.i.tude he portrayed back in j.a.pan. “I never would have thought he’d behave so differently…”

Seeing Shougo in this state prompted Rei to reconsider the merits of coming all the way to New York—and about how those known as artists could be surprisingly sensitive at times… Granted, they could hardly come to New York every time they needed to make a new recording, but…it did deserve some consideration.

In the end, thanks to Shougo’s amazing dedication to getting his work done, they managed to finish the recording a day early—which Rei thought impressive, given the time-loss factored in for travel. ’At this rate, we’ll be able to return a day early!’ Rei had mentally cheered, until…

“All right, everyone’s free to enjoy tomorrow as they see fit!”

As Rei was offering his thanks in garbled English to the studio staff, he heard Shougo’s announcement from behind him, shortly followed by Haru and Rinpei’s cheers of delight.

“Wait—hey! Shougo—” he started, a protest ready on his lips.

“Sweet! I think I’m gonna do some sight-seeing!” He whirled around to find that Rinpei was already leafing through a guidebook he’d shrewdly brought along for this very purpose.

“And I can buy some souvenirs for my family,” Haru rejoined, grinning broadly as he packed away his guitar.

Taking in this sight, though, Rei reasoned that it was because the CRUSHERZ members had worked so hard that the recording had finished a day early, and supposed that a break was indeed in order—so he swallowed his protests and released a sigh, recognizing any complaints were pointless by now.

His own work had proceeded on schedule without any particular hiccups, and he wasn’t under any real stress from pressing engagements. The three band members could have their free day, and he’d return to the hotel and finish up his work. He planned on putting in a final call to j.a.pan early the next morning—knowing it would be evening in j.a.pan—so he could always put his nose to the grindstone tonight and just sleep the next morning.

However…

The next morning…

Rei was just thinking about turning in, having completed his planned phone calls to j.a.pan around dawn, and shut down his laptop.