Chapter 29: Moon-lighted Utaite

“I’m an utaite, but I’m still a newbie. Watching and listening to other singers’ performances is my way to learn and improve, thus I came across your company label on Utube. I visited your company’s account and saw thumbnails of Tashikani, Wave and Wood, Yumi, and Luruh. I even tried listening to your singing, Tashikani. Based on that Utube account, I tried contacting the admin but I got no reply. I never knew how Luruh looked like, but I happened to stand near him in the station, and I heard him talking to you. Automatically I knew he was Luruh. That was why I followed him.” - Tsuki.

The three of them re-gathered themselves at Seven Eleven after warranting no one entailing them due to their fast feet. They sneaked into back alleys and crowd to escape from that guy’s range, with mind wildly imagining methods to get out of Takeshita Dori. Once they met up at Seven Eleven, they just noticed one of them was missing in action.

Looking around to spot in case if that one missing person would eventually come up, they noticed another crowd of people encircling something, or probably someone, in front of Calbee. It would be normal if they were just lining up to buy Calbee snacks, but it seemed peculiar because there were just a few customers inside the premise.

Tori, Mura and Ishi exchanged looks among them. Was it related to them? Did that guy have bumped into something or sort of… accident? All those unanswered questions were solved when some people of the crowd brought two unconscious guys into Calbee.

“Wait. Is that Aki?” Tori clasped on Mura’s sleeve. “Aki fainted? Why?”

Ishi spotted the other unconscious guy was the one they ran away from. Even though his masked was put off by someone, his checked shoes really significant to sight, which depicted his identity and that he might have done something terrible towards Aki. Without delay, they dashed to the scene to have closer look, and it turned out that their presumption was correct. Aki and the guy have passed out after grappling in their fight (according to available witnesses).

“Are you their friends? Can you take them to clinic or hospital for a check-up?” a woman accosted us, believably the owner of the premise. She was fanning those two for better air ventilation. “I saw them rolling over and fainted soon after that.”

“They rolled over?” The surprising news was illogical. So the guy has caught Aki, then Aki defended himself by fighting against him?

A groan by the mysterious guy remarked his consciousness, and his twitching eyes confirmed it right away. Mura and Ishi have already stood by him, head full of interrogation and provocation. They would never leave this guy out after what he has done to Aki. Why did he wake up first?

The guy has opened his eyes in halves when Tori suddenly clasped his collar to intimidate him. Mura and Ishi have blocked his arms and legs so that he would not be able to run away. Sensing such dangerous situation, the guy did not oppose them.

“What do you want from us? How dare you stalking us closely like that!” Tori enraged. When it came to Aki, he would never hide his truest emotion.

“Please listen to me first! I’m not a bad guy here-“

“Liar!” Mura cupped his face till both his cheeks were pushed to his eyes, “We saw you following us from behind! Then, we fled from you and since Aki was the nearest, you caught him!”

“That’s true! Nothing was changed in your presumption! But believe me, I’m not a bad guy!” The guys pleaded almost pitifully. “Please listen to me first!”

The guy averted from Tori’s and Mura’s flaring glares as he saw Ishi talking to someone on the phone while gripping his legs with his one hand. He faked a kick to allure Ishi’s attention. “You at my feet! You saw me, right?”

“No kicking!” Mura beat the guy’s shin, erupting a pained growl. “How dare you attempt to hurt Ishi!”

“Please listen to me first!” The guy yelled at his top lungs. These three people did not intend to give him chance to explain, thus he had to boldly shout. “I was looking for someone! They’re among you guys!”

They? Tori and Mura exchanged looks in bewilderment. So this guy wanted to stalk more than one person?

“Who else are your victim beside me?” Mura roared mercilessly. His voice basically echoed across the premise.

The owner lady clicked her tongue in dissatisfaction. They really needed to keep it low or their location would be exposed to the public at the front part. It was unpleasant enough to be a source of gossiping news from Aki and the guy’s brawl, and those three could worsen the reputation incidentally. Ishi bowed a little for an apology.

“You at my feet! Please listen to me!” the guy still grappled whether to free himself or just to allure Ishi, “You saw me, right? Why didn’t you let me get near you? Why must you run away?”

Ishi scowled at him, probably angrily but confidently at sea. “Why should I let you get near us? You’re so dangerous!”

“What danger? I’m not a killer!”

“Even if you appear in brighter colors, I will still discourage you to get near us!” Ishi had no choice but to threaten him. “I won’t recommend you to lay your hand on Aki! He has his guardian angels with him!”

The guy sighed in exhaustion. “Yeah, I know that. I‘m regretting it now.”

“Then, who do you seek for?” Tori did not seem to release his clutch of the guy’s collar. “Other than Mura-san, who else do you want to meet face-to-face?”

“Huh?” It was the guy’s turn to scrunch his face. “Who’s Mura-san?”

“Don’t play dumb here!” Again, Mura scolded him. “I’m Mura!”

“Eh?”

Judging from the guy’s countenance, they could tell that he was perplexed by the situation. Mura slowly retreated himself and covered his mouth, realizing he has spoken more than what he should. The three of them remained still, intrigued the guy to ask instead.

“Do you happen to go out with Tashikani? I want to meet them. They’re my friends.”

“Tsuki?”

The interruption by someone from the door shifted their focus from the guy to another three, recently arrived, people. Both parties gaped in disbelief though their eyes collided. Neither of them pretended to not acknowledge each other, yet neither of them made a move too.

“Here you are, Kaji-senpai, Shimo-senpai, and Taku-senpai!” Ishi fathomed his arms, welcoming them inside. “He’s the one I talked about.”

Instead of landing his gaze on either the pallid Aki, the worried Tori, the trembling Mura, and the high spirited Ishi, those second-years stared at the guy. Since Mura and Ishi have released their grips on him, he sat upright and reposition himself cozily on the sofa.

“Kaji, Shimo, Taku! I finally get to see you guys!” he rose and swept them in his hug. “I miss you!”

Kaji and Shimo stayed in Tsuki’s arms, but Taku already broke the hug. The reluctance portrayed finely on his expression, informing everyone there that he could not believe his own eyes.

“Th- They called that guy Tsuki? It feels strangely familiar though.”

It should be unknown, but not to Tashikani. The person named Tsuki was close to them, and their meeting in Takeshita Dori must be fated; written beforehand. The Tsuki guy immersed his face into their embrace as if he has been craving for it. Tori, Mura and Ishi could grasp the denial pictured on Kaji and Shimo, yet they did not reject him like how Taku did.

“Guys, this is Tsuki. The famous utaite we once told you,” Taku monotonously introduced the mysterious guy.

How hilarious! The fact was that Ishi has misunderstood ever since his first time seeing Tsuki in dark-colored clothes. Besides appearing in gothic styled fashion, Tsuki’s observing stares scared him out. As a result, Ishi mistook him as a bad reporter who wanted to catch Mura-san and would secretly abduct him somewhere without them noticing, which drove him to abscond together with Aki, Tori and Mura. When they split ways, Ishi could have guessed Tsuki would prey on Mura first, therefore he roamed around to hide Mura.

“I wouldn’t expect that you would run away from me,” Tsuki pulled a pout in sulking. “I thought you guys have promised to not let me meet Tashikani in person. I have to find them, no matter what.”

“How did you follow us, somehow?” Tori scratched his back of head though it was not that itchy. “Didn’t you see Kaji-senpai, Shimo-senpai and Taku-senpai entering Le Ponte earlier?”

The Tsuki guy silenced himself in refusal to divulge his entire plan. Tori poked his neck with his index finger to force an answer out of him.

“It’s his pride to not wear spectacles, you see,” Kaji suddenly spoke, “He’s short-sightedness, so he can’t see further than this door,” he lightly tapped on the door behind him.

Shimo and Taku groaned. No. They actually tried hard not to erupt a laugh, however Tori, Mura and Ishi have initiated it first. They followed up with a meaner guffaws, causing Tsuki to blush severely.

“Sheesh! Just shut up already!” Tsuki desperately whined in defense. “I just think spectacles don’t suit my fashion. That’s all!”

“You’re already a trend setter – appearing on Utube as an utaite who wore combination of black and white, stripes or checks or zigzag, anything!” Shimo teased him more and more. “You can always find the most suitable specs to your eyes!”

“Your short-sightedness worsens every day, Tsuki! Get a grip already!” Taku shoved him back into the sofa and sandwiched him beneath. “It has been so long since the last time we saw you wearing one.”

“And it gave you guys a point to continuously tease me like today!” Tsuki complained in dissatisfaction.

Out of the blue, the silence engulfed them again. The laughter filling in the space ceased as they have just realized their intimacy confused the juniors. They looked each other, as if they have accidentally caused a fatal noise. No knocks or yells were heard from the door, which meant their sound did not slip out of the room. From reluctance to even mention his name, Tashikani miraculously wiped away the hesitance and moved on from their past.

“I miss you guys. So much,” Tsuki ducked his head to veil his teary eyes. “I thought I couldn’t meet you again. You went missing without a hint. I’ve been looking for you guys, but it was to no avail. If only I didn’t think of going out today, I wouldn’t see these people,” Tsuki pointed his finger to Ishi, Tori, Mura and subconsciously Aki.

“Why did you follow them if you’re looking for us?” Taku crossed his arms to his chest. His friendly side has vanished like wind. “Is it because they’re our juniors? But you must have no idea who Bushida’s students are, since you’ve moved to Shibuya in last winter.”

“I don’t even know where you guys study at,” Tsuki fiddled with his fingers. He disliked the entrapping question Kaji, Shimo and Taku tried to imply on him. “It’s because I heard his voice.”

Tsuki directed his thumb towards the fainted Aki on another sofa.

“Aki’s voice?”

“Oh, so his name is Aki!” Tsuki shifted from Tashikani to Tori right beside him, “Yes, this guy. I’m an utaite, but I’m still a newbie. Watching and listening to other singers’ performances is my way to learn and improve, thus I came across your company label on Utube. I visited your company’s account and saw thumbnails of Tashikani, Wave and Wood, Yumi, and Luruh. I even tried listening to your singing, Tashikani. I still remember your voices! Based on that Utube account, I tried contacting the admin but I got no reply.

“Today’s outing is a coincident though,” Tsuki paused to examine everyone’s stoic countenance. His restlessness enhanced. “I never knew how Luruh looked like, but I happened to stand near him in the station, and I heard him talking to you,” he referred to the startled Tori, “Automatically I knew he was Luruh. That was why I followed him.”

“The station?” Ishi was relating every of the mentioned point from Tsuki’s revelation. “Didn’t you see Tashikani walking together with us? We were in large group though.”

“That notifies the severity of his short-sightedness,” Taku butted in, almost convincingly, “Besides, we were quite far apart once we arrived at Takeshita Dori. You guys were the last ones to kick off.”

Everything was logically relatable, satisfying Ishi and Tori as the brains of The Seiyuu Club. The mystery has been solved successfully, and they only needed to wait for Aki’s awaken. After that, they would meet up with Nami and Matsu at Takeshita exit. As for Tsuki, he was waiting for his companion – the one coming to Takeshita Dori with him happened to separate ways to stroll more freely.

“Actually, the reason I’m looking for you guys is that my companion acknowledges your sweet singing, so he wants to take Tashikani to his company. He’s a seiyuu too,” Tsuki typed something on his phone before showing them a picture of the mentioned seiyuu. “He’s famous among seinen anime lovers.”

“This feels familiar though,” Mura whispered at the troubled Ishi. Then, he switched to Tsuki’s phone and ogled. “This is Tetsu-san!”