MEMORIES[b]

 

“Akanishi…” The voice called out calmly.

“This is Yamashita.” Jin bowed a little. As much as he hated to admit it, he still respected the older man, plus he was the source of his money right now. One wrongdoing may end him in the street instead of the lovely 2-storey house he was living in now. Not to mention loosing the family that he had turned to love just like his own.

Small smile tugged at the lips of 24 years old Nishikido Ryo. “Yes… I still remember. I’m not like you, egghead. You’re still together?”

Yamapi rolled his eyes as the black-haired man lead the way into the brightly lit room. “As friends, yes.”

“Time flew fast, didn’t it?” Gesturing his two guests to sit down, Ryo smirked from the corner of his mouth as he handed them beers. He had seen Jin on monthly basis, but he had hardly seen Yamapi before this.

Yamapi groaned. Apparently, time had not changed the venomous tongue Ryo had. In fact, it might have been even more poisonous than before. “I can see you still love sarcasm… and Uchi Hiroki,” he added as he saw a picture of Ryo hugging Uchi, smiles wide on their faces, on the tabletop.

“And I can see you’re still sharp like in old times,” Ryo grinned as he glanced slightly at the picture Yamapi was referring to. A picture with his arms around Hiroki’s shoulders, grinning into the sun.

“Old habits die hard, Ryo-chan.” Yamapi smiled sweetly at Ryo as Ryo’s face turned red and his brows furrowed. A sign of discomfort on Ryo’s side, which also meant I’M-GOING-TO-DIE on the offender's side. However, this was Yamapi, who seemed to be oblivious to the effect of his words on Ryo. Instead, the said young man was grinningly gulping down the beer in his hand.

Yamapi still remembered the first time he had met Ryo. It was a day when his father brought home a Kansai native family, announcing it was his old friend from college. And the next day he had run into Ryo at school, the latter with the black silky hair and tanned skin announcing haughtily that he should address him as ‘senpai’ because he was after all Yamapi’s senior. It seemed that they had bonded pretty well. As well as one would have expected coming from the snarky small sized boy who claimed to be the Sexy Osaka Man. For someone that small-sized, Ryo sure had a big mouth, and his verbal assaults were very hazardous to one’s health. Especially if the ones on the receiving end were girls who had just confessed their love to him. But all this seemed to falter when he set his eyes on a certain boy named Uchi Hiroki.

“Indeed. Stop smiling. It’s so sweet it gives me headache. Respect me as your senpai,” Ryo’s tone was clipped as he eyed the man sitting in his lounge.

21 years old Yamashita Tomohisa. Currently a law student. Average looking, ok, maybe not average as he originally thought, since Yamapi had proven that he had his own set of followers. Especially after he stopped dying his hair blonde; black seemed to do him more justice. At least, it helped to camouflage his baby-face look. As far as he knew, Yamapi had always been dubbed Ice King, for his coldness towards the different gender. Also, it seemed like the younger man had been exercising well for his arms were well-toned.

Cocking his head to one side, Yamapi opened up his mouth. “You’re only 4 years older than me. And if not for your dad being the head of this fund managing company-” Yamapi stopped talking as lanky yet beautiful figure walked in, clad just in towel around the waist. One could have mistaken him for a girl because of his feminine features, yet one would not be fooled by the strong broad shoulders that the person in question possessed. With one hand he was toweling the light brown hair still dripping with water, as the full lips had turned slightly blue from the cold. The light brown eyes widened at the sight of the guests sitting at the coffee table as he pushed a lock of hair from his eyes.

“Oh! I didn’t know you had visitors.”

“It’s ok, Hiroki. You know them already.” Ryo smiled warmly; in fact the hardened features of his face seemed to soften noticeably. Yamapi smiled as he realized that deep down Ryo had always been a nice person. And only Hiroki was fortunate to see this side that was often locked inside the façade of the Sexy Osaka Man.

“Ahh… Yamapi… Jin! Long time no see.” 21 years old Uchi Hiroki smiled as he greeted the two people he had known when he was 15. Both seemed to be very close to the person that he had always wanted to know, the one and only Nishikido Ryo. To say he was shy to actually stand up and talk to the Sexy Osaka man would be underestimation; he was petrified. He had seen how Ryo had calmly shooed off some of his admirers with his harsh words and he decided he just should admire Ryo from afar. Plus, there was no way Ryo would be interested in a guy, right?

Along with their friendship, his love with Ryo had blossomed without much hassle, but also with much involvement of Jin and Yamapi. It was actually Jin who started talking to him. The jolly one, dubbed as Bakanishi by half of the school, Jin had always been a little clumsy, yet very heartwarming. While Yamapi had always been the polite and intelligent one. And Ryo was just… well… very straightforward about his feelings.

“I’ve decided to make you mine,” Ryo had announced right in front of Jin and Yamapi who whooped in joy.

“What?” He blinked as Ryo smirked sexily at him.

“You’re mine now so let have sex,” was Ryo's response to his ‘what’.

“Excuse me?” He gasped as Ryo’s warm fingers curled around his wrist.

“I know I’m too hot for you to handle. So, let me ‘handle’ you. Plus, you look like a girl so I’ll top you, okay?” If only he wasn’t mesmerized by Ryo, he would have boxed Ryo in the head and maybe threw a punch or two, but at that moment Ryo decided to kiss him and all his thoughts gone up in smoke.

“Enough chit-chat. Better go and get dressed first,” Ryo said softly, breaking his thoughts as he was dismissed with a simple flick of the wrist. Hiroki merely blew Ryo a kiss before exiting the room.

“So, what can I do to help?” Ryo quickly asked, fully ignoring the coughs-to-hide-the-giggle coming from both Yamapi and Jin.

“Job. I need job.” Finally, after being mute throughout the conversation, Jin opened up his mouth remembering the reason why they were here in the first place. Maybe the ultimate reason was actually to bring Yamapi out from his room, but when Yamapi mentioned the word ‘job’ he decided that it was worth trying.

“What is it, Pi?”

“It’s about… you getting a job,” Yamapi sounded uncertain, but Jin decided to ignore that fact. As long as his laptop was safe inside his room, without Yamapi’s prying eyes on it, it was okay. Even if it meant standing outside in the cold harsh wind.

“What about me getting a job?” he asked, pulling his jacket tighter around him.

“I think Ryo can help you with it,” Yamapi answered, eyes looking straight down the road outside the Kamenashi’s residence.

“Ryo as in Nishikido Ryo?”

“Seriously?” Ryo asked, a hint of mockery in the deep voice, bringing him back to reality.

Akanishi Jin. A boy with no brains at all. He had met Jin through Yamapi, and sometimes he found himself wondering if Jin actually had any brains in that head of his. His sentences often rendered him speechless, not even knowing whether it was worthy to retort back, to save Jin from humiliating himself more. Or merely to save himself from having headache trying to figure out the logic behind Jin’s words. Jin was a hottie with admirers coming from all levels including teachers. And his stupidity was often seen as an endearing factor, bringing up the childish and cute side in him. Paired with a habit of thumbing his lips and good pick-up lines, he was indeed a favorite among girls. Yamapi had proceeded to call him Bakanishi, a combination of ‘baka’ and ‘akanishi’ while Ryo had often insisted on calling him straightly ‘baka’ because he had been, well… stupid person to begin with.

And apparently Jin was still being Bakanishi. Because the word ‘job’ really didn’t suite Jin. And he himself had a very good reason on why he would say that. One thing that he noticed aside from Jin's stupidity was that Jin often called him ‘Nishikido-san’ instead of Ryo. And even though they were considered as close friends, Jin had often been very ‘near yet far’ from him. Why? He had no idea.

“Very serious-ly.”

And from the look of intense determination on Jin’s face it looked like he was indeed, like he said, looking for job. The DON’T-SAY-ANYTHING look Yamapi was giving him did not help either.

“I was thinking on hiring someone to help with my office work but-”

“Can I NOT work under you?” Jin cut into his sentence; desperation can be heard laced carefully in those words. Working under Ryo also meant working under the caretaker of Hell. It somehow brought forth the meaning of ‘doomsday’ in Jin’s personal dictionary of life.

Ryo sighed. He would do this only because Jin was Yamapi’s friend. And also because he was once friends with Jin. In fact, they were still friends until now. And also because Hiroki would sulk if he treated Jin badly, because as Hiroki had said it, ‘Jin is the reason why we met. If he didn’t push me to meet you, I wouldn’t have the courage to do so’.

Continuing where Jin had cut his sentence almost unceremoniously, he emphasized his phrase with rolled eyes just in case Jin won’t get through the meaning of his words. “But I know hiring you won’t do me any good with that brainless head of yours. Thus, maybe you want to work with my friend?”

“Friend?” Jin echoed back. His eyes were ‘stuck’ to the person standing behind Ryo.

Ryo closed his eyes. It had been impossible back then to talk to Jin. Especially since Jin’s level of intelligence was the same of a 5 years old. Which apparently haven’t changed much. Glancing to the shadow moving behind him, he gave an exasperated sigh. “No… not Hiroki. Stop staring at him, you pervert.”

“I’m not a pervert! Who asked him to bare his skin?” came the response, which made Yamapi make a strangled noise in the back of his throat. Jin often had lousy responses to questions, but his answer just now might have provoke Ryo into killing him right on the spot. Which Yamapi was confident Ryo was capable of pulling off as he saw the murderous look Ryo was giving Jin.

“I know his creamy complexion is asking to be touched, bur if you do, then I’ll make sure you’ll die slowly and painfully.”

“Enough you guys. Stop talking as if I’m not here.” Hiroki pouted as he proceeded to sit down on Ryo’s lap. Both Jin and Yamapi knew about their not-so-secret relationship thus it was normal to see Ryo and Hiroki exchange kisses before their eyes. Besides, the couple liked to show off. Or maybe it was a way for Ryo ‘to mark’ that Hiroki was his.

“Apparently, he also has Lolita-shota complex,” Ryo commented lightly.

“Ryo-chan!” another pout from Hiroki and a playful slap on Ryo’s chest.

“Can we focus back on the matter discussed earlier?” Yamapi groaned. Knowing them, these Ryo-Hiroki displays of affection could render both him and Jin barfing the content of their stomachs onto the floor in no time.

“Ahh yes, you can work with my friend Shota. Yasuda Shota.”

~&&~

Taking one look around the room, Kazuya frowned. The jacket was hanging on the coat hanger, and there was no shirts or pants lying on the floor or strewn messily over the bed or draped on the chair. CDs were arranged in the CD holder right beside the laptop on the study table, and the books and magazines were also neatly stacked in one corner beside the bed. Everything was in place, not like the first time he stepped into Jin’s room a couple of months back. It felt almost as if he had stepped into his own room. The only thing that was different was the lone white rose in the clear vase beside the bed. He had never put any roses in his room before, and somehow, there was something akin to sadness as he stared at the soft petals of the flower.

Shaking his head to clear his thoughts he said softly to himself, “Weird… I don’t think I heard him going out.” Scratching his head, he almost headed outside of Jin’s room when he noticed that Jin's laptop was turned on. Walking closer to the electrical device, he noticed that it was displaying a page full of small writings all over the screen.

“Hmm… what do we have here? His assignment?” His first thought was it was Jin’s class notes. Or maybe he was doing some research through the Internet. Or it could be that he was reading porn on the web. Indeed, he knew that curiosity killed the cat, and that he shouldn’t have even trespassed Jin’s room in the first place.

He gripped the chair-back as he leaned over and read the first line of the page.

Is this… an online journal?

~&&~
to be continued...