Chapter 1

Junichiro walked forward into the gentle moonlight, each step belonging to someone else. He took his destined place before the white-haired girl in front of him: the girl he was supposed to love. She turned to look at him, her ice blue eyes brimming with intense, unknowable emotion that nearly made him think twice about saying what he knew he was meant to say. Nevertheless, they took each other by the hand as they had done dozens of times prior and spoke the words that they would continue to speak from now until the end of time.

“I swear, even if we never find each other again, I’ll always love you!” Junichiro cried out, tears pooling in his dark eyes.

The girl in front of him simply smiled, even as her own tears flowed down her reddened cheeks. Her voice trembled as she spoke with unwavering conviction. “I won’t let that happen. Whatever happens, I’ll never stop searching for you. No matter how far apart we end up, I’ll find you.”

CLACK

The sound of the director’s clapperboard shattered the silence that followed the final line’s delivery, snapping Junichiro and the girl in front of him, Kana Shirahama, back to reality.

“That’s a wrap!” shouted the director, absolutely beaming. “Great work everyone! Especially Kurotaki-kun and Shirahama-kun!”

Junichiro relaxed and let his shoulders slump. He was glad that they finally managed a take that the director was happy with, especially since they had been shooting for about six hours. He couldn’t help but agree with the director’s appraisal, though. It couldn’t really get much better than what they just did. The only thing that could have possibly been better was- Junichiro’s thought completed itself as Kana snatched her hands away from his like she was allergic to them.

“Ugh, don’t grip my hands so tight Kurotaki, yours are too clammy.” she snorted, wiping her palms on the sides of her costume’s dress.

Junichiro rolled his eyes at her ever-so-polite remark. “Yeah, well maybe if somebody wasn’t trying to stay as far away from me as she could, I wouldn’t have had to hold on so tight to keep her from getting out of the shot.”

A collective sigh rose throughout the room. Everyone seemed to be thinking the same thing: Here they go again.

Junichiro had long since lost track of how many times he and Kana had fought and bickered just throughout the time they had been working on this movie, let alone every other project their managers had paired them up on. To be honest, he didn’t really even remember why they hated each other so much. Nevertheless, every time they were in a room together they fought like children.

They argued and fussed at each other for an embarrassingly long time before their managers came to separate them. Long enough for them to put all of their usual insults through their paces, working their way from cleverly-crafted remarks at each other’s expense down to playground level name-calling. Junichiro was acutely aware that calling one’s co-star a ‘pea brain’ probably wasn’t the most professional thing to do, but he couldn’t really help himself after being called a ‘shallow cretin’. Luckily, their managers were finally able to pull them apart before they were able to find out what kinds of insults came after schoolyard jabs.

Kana’s manager, a tired looking woman by the name of Aoi Yamaguchi, quickly came up behind Kana and dragged her away, leading her by the hand like a grumpy toddler. The fact that she was still yelling words like ‘dunce’ and ‘mush-for-brains’ over her shoulder at Junichiro didn’t really help assuage the image in his mind. He did feel terrible for the woman, having to deal with someone like that all the time, completely unaware of his own contributions to the problem. He didn’t have too long to dwell on it though before he felt a hand clap on his shoulder and spin him around.

Before him stood Renji Amano, manager, best friend since middle school, and resident pain in the ass. Renji sported his usual attire: a pair of khaki cargo shorts, one of his signature Hawaiian button-up shirts, and a pair of sunglasses to top it all off (indoors, no less). If not for the fact that he had been dressing like this since high school, Junichiro would have thought Renji may have been enjoying the role of ‘movie star manager’ a little too much.

“Jun, my man!” Renji beamed, gripping Junichiro by his shoulders. “Great work out there today, dude. You really killed it.”

Junichiro simply let out a long sigh and shrugged Renji’s hands off of his shoulders. “Yeah, it was a great scene, I just wish I didn’t have to deal with that to make it happen. Why can’t the industry just be satisfied with me? Why do I always have to get stuck with her?”

The way Junichiro said ‘her’ did little to disguise the distaste he held for his co-star, but he was long past caring. It was no secret that they hated each other, at least to those involved in the films they worked on together. Nevertheless, for whatever reason, they worked well together.

Renji scoffed. “The industry, be satisfied? Ha! Good one, man. Besides, despite how much you two seem to hate each other’s guts, your chemistry is undeniable. After all, the last three flicks you’ve put out together have broken box office records.”

Junichiro raised an eyebrow. “You mean our chemistry on screen, right?”

“Sure, yeah.” Renji replied absentmindedly. “Anyways, I’ve got just the thing to both get your mind off of work and celebrate another successful wrap. I just so happen to know of a nice hole-in-the-wall bar nearby that has quite a few cute regulars.”

“Yeah, right. You just want me to go so I can be your wingman and help you pick up girls.” Junichiro said, rolling his eyes.

“Not true. I want to go celebrate at a nice bar with my best friend, is that so wrong? …And I want you to be my wingman and help me pick up girls.”

Junichiro thought it over for a few seconds before relaxing his shoulders. “Fine, I’ll go. But if you get too drunk, I’m not gonna carry you home piggyback like last time. I got a lot of weird looks from that.”

After a few more moments of rumination, he leaned towards Renji and whispered in his ear. “I’ll meet you there in an hour. I need to run back to my place and get changed. Can’t go out looking like this, it’d cause way too many problems.” He finished, gesturing at himself, hoping his friend would pick up what he was putting down.

A flash of recognition crossed Renji’s face and he nudged Junichiro with his elbow. “Ah, right. Can’t go out looking like that. Gotta look like the other guy, yeah? I’ll see you in an hour man.” He joshed, louder than Junichiro would’ve liked as he turned to walk out of the building.

Junichiro wanted to smack him for being so careless with such sensitive information, but Renji the Magnum P.I. lookalike was already walking out the door, waving a hand behind him as he left. After looking around to make sure no one had heard Renji’s breach of confidentiality, Junichiro rubbed his temples and walked towards the exit. He was beginning to regret his decision already. This was going to be a long night.