Chapter 1 - Don't ASK
Submitted June 5, 2004 Updated June 5, 2004 Status Incomplete | BAD LUCK and ASK are to share the stage once more!
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Chapter 1 - Don't ASK
Chapter 1 - Don't ASK
ASK ME THIS
“I’m too scared to look,” choked Shuichi, the paper in his hands trembling along with him.
Hiro sighed, knowing the contents already, though he had not actually looked upon it. “Come on Shuichi, hurry it up. We know we were voted in anyway.”
“How do you know that?!”
“Because we’re the most popular band in all of Japan,” replied a frustrated Suguru, “naturally Bad Luck would be voted as NG Production’s representatives. Use some common sense for a change, Shindo-san!”
Shuichi growled menacingly at Suguru Fujisaki. He then returned his focus to the slip of white paper in front of him. Closing his eyes, he slowly flipped the paper to the other side. Hiro, Suguru, K and Sakano loomed in to take a peek.
“Is it…bad?”
“We weren’t picked,” glumly announced Hiro.
Letting out a great anguished howl, the vocalist’s amethyst eyes bugged out as he scrambled to see who could beat the most awesome band in Japan. “Hang on…this says…”
“Idiot.” Hiro knocked his friend on the head. “I was kidding.”
Embarrassed by his stupidity, Shuichi laughed out loud haughtily. “Of course I knew that! Ha! Ha! Ha! Bad Luck must now prepare for Music Smile’s Appeal Special!”
Everyone ignored him, continuing on as normal. It’d been anticipated Bad Luck would be victorious in the race to see which band would represent NG Productions in Music Smile’s annual appeal special to raise donations for the most publicised tragedy of the year. This year they’d decided to go with fans choosing a singer or band from each record label to build hype around the event.
“This should be a good opportunity to showcase our new single,” mentioned Hiro, tightening the strings on his guitar. “Or…did you want to do some classic music?”
“It shouldn’t matter too much,” assured an unusually calm Sakano, “Bad Luck is only required to perform two songs. With other music acts involved the pressure is in this case. A pleasant change.”
Excited, Shuichi raised a determined fist in the air. “The pressure isn’t off – its intensified! Through the burning in our hearts we must make the best music EVER to encourage people to open their wallets for a worthy cause!!!”
K nodded his approval, delighted to see his vocalist taking it seriously. Besides, there was no way he’d let anyone upstage Bad Luck. And if they attempted to…K patted the magnum at his side. Just let them try. “Good boy, Shuichi.”
~@~
Within the building of the second most successful recording company in Japan, Genexis, another band was discovering their good fortune.
“All right!” Yelled Ken-chan, racing through the halls. He leapt into the loungeroom where his two fellow band members were reading magazines.
“What is it, Ken-chan?” asked Taki Aizawa, not bothering to lift his head from his reading.
“We did it!”
“Did what?” demanded Ma-kun.
Ken presented them with the piece of yellow paper the company president handed him earlier. The contents made the two men gasp in shock. They weren’t expecting to be chosen to represent Genexis. While Genexis was almost as prestigious as their former employer, NG Productions, ASK didn’t enjoy the lavished attention they received in their care, and were treated as just another band in the mix of talented acts.
Taki’s eyes were lit with a fire he long thought had been extinguished, “This is just what we’ve been waiting for! This may be our ticket back into the spotlight – where we belong!” He looked up at Ken-chan, a wide grin bracing his features. “Do you know who else will be there?”
With a nod, Ken whistled to himself, digging into the pockets of his jeans. “Yeah, it’s here somewhere…ok, here we go.”
He handed Taki the list of performers they’d be sharing the stage with. A lot of the names surprised him, others didn’t. “I knew they’d be there.”
Ma-kun lowered his eyes. “Bad Luck.”
Bad Luck, their distant rival band from their days in NG. How Taki loathed the vocalist, Shuichi Shindo. He stole ASK’s rightful place as NG’s – no more than that - Japan’s top act. Tohma Seguchi favoured Bad Luck over ASK, and in the end cancelled their contract after Taki had Shuichi raped, and threatened Eiri Yuki. Did he regret his sins against the men? Very much so; petty jealousy had gotten him nowhere and doomed his beloved friends. He lived with that guilt everyday. However…however that was no excuse for Bad Luck’s popularity surpassing their’s. All they needed was a chance to prove their worth; Taki was determined to make it up to Ma-kun and Ken-chan, nothing, not no one, was going to stand in his way!
~@~
“Look Kumagorou,” giggled Ryuko, presenting her stuffed bunny with a music magazine, “this says Bad Luck are gonna sing at a biiiig cool concert. All our entries worked Kumagorou!”
Yuki grumbled to himself as he fixed dinner. She’d made him buy at least twenty teen magazines a week for the past two months so she could cast her vote, and ran to the computer literally every hour so she could also vote online. It was terribly unhealthy and insane for a seven year old. He was just happy the whole stupid thing was over.
“It’s thanks to dedicated fans like you that Bad Luck were chosen,” dramatically thanked Shuichi, laying a hand on his daughter’s shoulder, “the love of our fans make us soar to new heights every day! Without our fans – we are NOTHING but sand without a beach!”
The novelist popped a vein. “Sand without a beach…?” he moaned to himself. Shuichi couldn’t even write when he wasn’t trying to write. “Shuichi, make yourself useful.”
“But you said I wasn’t allowed to cook anything ever, ever again!”
Yuki turned around, amber eyes glaring menacingly. “I meant: SHUT UP.”
Shuichi cringed in his chair. Yuki was so scary sometimes! Sexy…but scary. “Um…oh, I nearly forgot! This Saturday we have a rehearsal scheduled. Every chosen act will be this cool building. K-san says we’ll be given a room each so we won’t interfere with each other’s practice. He even says if we want we can bring you girls along for the day.”
Ryuko suckled Kumagorou’s ear with anticipation. “You mean…Hime-chan and Sara-chan will also be there?”
Shuichi nodded happily. “Well, as long as their parents let them. But it should be A-OK!”
“Just another excuse to slack off on the job, isn’t it?” accused Yuki, checking on the rice in the cooker. “Sakano-san actually agreed to let you do this?”
Huffing, Shuichi folded his arms; “I’ll have you know he agreed to baby-sit them when we’re busy practicing!”
“Sakano-san’s very loud,” noted the little girl, “and he’s always cold, he’s always shaking, huh, Kumagorou?”
Shuichi quietly patted her head, “No sweetie, he just has the jitters.”
“Oh.”
“I can only assume K held a gun to his head and forced this act of kindness on him,” surmised Yuki.
“Yeah…” sadly replied the defeated Shuichi, “Judy has to go to America for the weekend for some interview, so he’s bringing Michael along.”
“This’ll be fun!” Giggled the child.
Meanwhile, Yuki could smell something burning…“Damn it!”
“I’m too scared to look,” choked Shuichi, the paper in his hands trembling along with him.
Hiro sighed, knowing the contents already, though he had not actually looked upon it. “Come on Shuichi, hurry it up. We know we were voted in anyway.”
“How do you know that?!”
“Because we’re the most popular band in all of Japan,” replied a frustrated Suguru, “naturally Bad Luck would be voted as NG Production’s representatives. Use some common sense for a change, Shindo-san!”
Shuichi growled menacingly at Suguru Fujisaki. He then returned his focus to the slip of white paper in front of him. Closing his eyes, he slowly flipped the paper to the other side. Hiro, Suguru, K and Sakano loomed in to take a peek.
“Is it…bad?”
“We weren’t picked,” glumly announced Hiro.
Letting out a great anguished howl, the vocalist’s amethyst eyes bugged out as he scrambled to see who could beat the most awesome band in Japan. “Hang on…this says…”
“Idiot.” Hiro knocked his friend on the head. “I was kidding.”
Embarrassed by his stupidity, Shuichi laughed out loud haughtily. “Of course I knew that! Ha! Ha! Ha! Bad Luck must now prepare for Music Smile’s Appeal Special!”
Everyone ignored him, continuing on as normal. It’d been anticipated Bad Luck would be victorious in the race to see which band would represent NG Productions in Music Smile’s annual appeal special to raise donations for the most publicised tragedy of the year. This year they’d decided to go with fans choosing a singer or band from each record label to build hype around the event.
“This should be a good opportunity to showcase our new single,” mentioned Hiro, tightening the strings on his guitar. “Or…did you want to do some classic music?”
“It shouldn’t matter too much,” assured an unusually calm Sakano, “Bad Luck is only required to perform two songs. With other music acts involved the pressure is in this case. A pleasant change.”
Excited, Shuichi raised a determined fist in the air. “The pressure isn’t off – its intensified! Through the burning in our hearts we must make the best music EVER to encourage people to open their wallets for a worthy cause!!!”
K nodded his approval, delighted to see his vocalist taking it seriously. Besides, there was no way he’d let anyone upstage Bad Luck. And if they attempted to…K patted the magnum at his side. Just let them try. “Good boy, Shuichi.”
~@~
Within the building of the second most successful recording company in Japan, Genexis, another band was discovering their good fortune.
“All right!” Yelled Ken-chan, racing through the halls. He leapt into the loungeroom where his two fellow band members were reading magazines.
“What is it, Ken-chan?” asked Taki Aizawa, not bothering to lift his head from his reading.
“We did it!”
“Did what?” demanded Ma-kun.
Ken presented them with the piece of yellow paper the company president handed him earlier. The contents made the two men gasp in shock. They weren’t expecting to be chosen to represent Genexis. While Genexis was almost as prestigious as their former employer, NG Productions, ASK didn’t enjoy the lavished attention they received in their care, and were treated as just another band in the mix of talented acts.
Taki’s eyes were lit with a fire he long thought had been extinguished, “This is just what we’ve been waiting for! This may be our ticket back into the spotlight – where we belong!” He looked up at Ken-chan, a wide grin bracing his features. “Do you know who else will be there?”
With a nod, Ken whistled to himself, digging into the pockets of his jeans. “Yeah, it’s here somewhere…ok, here we go.”
He handed Taki the list of performers they’d be sharing the stage with. A lot of the names surprised him, others didn’t. “I knew they’d be there.”
Ma-kun lowered his eyes. “Bad Luck.”
Bad Luck, their distant rival band from their days in NG. How Taki loathed the vocalist, Shuichi Shindo. He stole ASK’s rightful place as NG’s – no more than that - Japan’s top act. Tohma Seguchi favoured Bad Luck over ASK, and in the end cancelled their contract after Taki had Shuichi raped, and threatened Eiri Yuki. Did he regret his sins against the men? Very much so; petty jealousy had gotten him nowhere and doomed his beloved friends. He lived with that guilt everyday. However…however that was no excuse for Bad Luck’s popularity surpassing their’s. All they needed was a chance to prove their worth; Taki was determined to make it up to Ma-kun and Ken-chan, nothing, not no one, was going to stand in his way!
~@~
“Look Kumagorou,” giggled Ryuko, presenting her stuffed bunny with a music magazine, “this says Bad Luck are gonna sing at a biiiig cool concert. All our entries worked Kumagorou!”
Yuki grumbled to himself as he fixed dinner. She’d made him buy at least twenty teen magazines a week for the past two months so she could cast her vote, and ran to the computer literally every hour so she could also vote online. It was terribly unhealthy and insane for a seven year old. He was just happy the whole stupid thing was over.
“It’s thanks to dedicated fans like you that Bad Luck were chosen,” dramatically thanked Shuichi, laying a hand on his daughter’s shoulder, “the love of our fans make us soar to new heights every day! Without our fans – we are NOTHING but sand without a beach!”
The novelist popped a vein. “Sand without a beach…?” he moaned to himself. Shuichi couldn’t even write when he wasn’t trying to write. “Shuichi, make yourself useful.”
“But you said I wasn’t allowed to cook anything ever, ever again!”
Yuki turned around, amber eyes glaring menacingly. “I meant: SHUT UP.”
Shuichi cringed in his chair. Yuki was so scary sometimes! Sexy…but scary. “Um…oh, I nearly forgot! This Saturday we have a rehearsal scheduled. Every chosen act will be this cool building. K-san says we’ll be given a room each so we won’t interfere with each other’s practice. He even says if we want we can bring you girls along for the day.”
Ryuko suckled Kumagorou’s ear with anticipation. “You mean…Hime-chan and Sara-chan will also be there?”
Shuichi nodded happily. “Well, as long as their parents let them. But it should be A-OK!”
“Just another excuse to slack off on the job, isn’t it?” accused Yuki, checking on the rice in the cooker. “Sakano-san actually agreed to let you do this?”
Huffing, Shuichi folded his arms; “I’ll have you know he agreed to baby-sit them when we’re busy practicing!”
“Sakano-san’s very loud,” noted the little girl, “and he’s always cold, he’s always shaking, huh, Kumagorou?”
Shuichi quietly patted her head, “No sweetie, he just has the jitters.”
“Oh.”
“I can only assume K held a gun to his head and forced this act of kindness on him,” surmised Yuki.
“Yeah…” sadly replied the defeated Shuichi, “Judy has to go to America for the weekend for some interview, so he’s bringing Michael along.”
“This’ll be fun!” Giggled the child.
Meanwhile, Yuki could smell something burning…“Damn it!”
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