I'm terribly sorry about the the monstrous wait between this and the second chapter. I'm really just a dirty hypocrite, aren't I? Most of the previous chapters have just been exposition, and I'm really trying not to make this thing, like, not boring. For God's sake, I just want to get to the plot already, can I stop dragging everything out? :headdesk: But I digress. Here's the third chapter. I'm trying to make 'em longer so you don't read, like, four paragraphs and then arrive at my house in droves with a pitchfork and burning torches. So enjoy the chapter, tell me if it makes you want to die, more to come, andherewego!
P.S. Love Life and any other dramas, movies or commercial products to be mentioned in this are completely made up by yours truly. They don't actually exist. But damn, I'd be all over a Japanese drama with Kamui in it if one existed.
A definite five foot distance between Fuuma and Kamui could be detected as they finally reached room 17-B.
"Hurry up, would you? I don't like it when people walk behind me." said Fuuma, throwing an irritated backwards glance.
Kamui returned the look with as much intensity. "I was following you because I didn't know where to go." he said shortly.
"So? Walk besides me."
"I'll walk wherever I want to, thanks."
"Fine. Just bring your own damn pacifier next time."
"Wha—!"
"Monou-san, Shiro-san, so glad you could make it. Please come in!"
"Eh?"
Fuuma and Kamui spun around, greeted by a striking young woman with long blond hair and an eerily disarming smile.
"I do hope you two are getting along?" she said, tilting her head and clasping her hands in front of her chest.
"Er…" Kamui struggled to remember where he had seen her before; she looked familiar, and it wasn't as though she had a very common face. Maybe in a magazine somewhere…?
"Yes, Saya-san. We're fine. Nice to see you too." Fuuma said, pushing ahead of Kamui and entering the room.
Kamui's eyes widened with embarrassment. "S - Saya-san!" He bowed immediately. "Yes! It's nice to meet you! Please excuse my tardiness!"
Saya gave a kindly smile. "It's all right, this building is rather confusing. We only have two more to arrive; please come in." With that, she turned around and went into the room.
Kamui ran a hand through his hair. "The second first impression I've wowed the critics on…" he muttered, and, entering the room, shut the door behind him.
It was a strangely elegant room, filled with several old couches and a coffee buffet on the side. Of course, it wasn't so much as the couches Kamui noticed as who sat on them.
Several of the most famous stars of Japan milled around the room, refilling their coffee and chatting idly with each other. Kamui could hardly contain himself – he was standing next to them not as a fan, not as a reporter, but as a colleague. An equal.
Kamui caught sight of Fuuma, who had already managed to engage in sociable conversation with Sorata Arisugawa, timelessly adored part time comedian and part time actor – usually starring in comedies, he had shocked Japan with the announcement of his decision to star in a tragic drama like X.
Fuuma saw his glare over Sorata's shoulder, and let his face fall into an arrogant smirk before continuing his conversation.
Well, an equal with almost everyone, anyway.
Just looking at Fuuma's smug expression, Kamui could feel his blood boil. He might've been no social butterfly, but Kamui had always managed to get along fairly well with his previous colleagues. Never would he have imagined that his first big break would have started out with using the snootiest actor in stardom as a landing pad.
Of course, Kamui thought, I'm letting this get to me way too much. I've known the guy for less than a half an hour. But it was easier said then done, just ignoring Fuuma's obvious superiority complex towards him, because Fuuma Monou had the credentials to back it up. He was handsome, he was smooth, he was clever, stylish, and a superb actor. He shows me up in every aspect! Bemoaned Kamui, and sat down dejectedly on a nearby couch.
"First big break, huh?"
Kamui looked up as a weight shifted the couch he sat on.
"Yeah—ah!" Kamui lifted his head and found himself speechless as he recognized the young man who had sat down next to him – Subaru Sumeragi. The Subaru Sumeragi. Child star with his twin sister Hokuto, both of them had rocketed into fame with their roles in Tokyo Babylon, Subaru the tragic, reserved onmyouji and Hokuto, his devoted, free-spirited sister.
"S-Sumeragi-san! It's a pleasure to meet you!" Kamui said, cursing the squeak in his voice as he stood and bowed low to the young man on the couch.
Subaru smiled gently. "Please, no need to bow. And call me Subaru. Sumeragi-san sounds so stiff, doesn't it?"
"Ah—"
"Yeah, and it makes him sound like an old geezer, which he's been trying to keep a secret from everyone for twenty-three years now." Two elbows rested on the chair behind Kamui, and he turned around to find none other than the second famous twin, Hokuto.
"An old geezer? Hokuto, you're my twin! And you're the older one, at that!"
Hokuto giggled. "You act more like an old biddy than I do!"
"Biddy? Try teasing someone who's actually older than us, and I'll show you biddy!"
"Aw, but Seishirou isn't here yet—"
"Who isn't here?"
A smooth voice interrupted their bickering, and a tall, attractive man stepped into the room, wearing simple jeans and a button up shirt. He took a sip from a coffee cup he held in his hand.
"Always fashionably late, I see." Quipped Saya, wagging her finger playfully at him.
Seishirou sauntered over and gave her a gentlemanly kiss on the cheek. "You'll have to forgive me," he said. "I was getting some coffee."
Saya tilted her head and gave him a skeptical smile. "Oh? But you know there's always a coffee buffet here on the first meeting."
"And you know I hate studio coffee," finished Seishirou, and sat down on a chair next to Kamui and the twins, crossing his legs.
Seishirou turned to the couch next to him. "Why, if it isn't my two favorite twins!" he leaned in to them closer. "Hokuto-chan and Subaru-kun." He heavily emphasized the honorifics.
Subaru shuddered. "I thought we promised not to use the honorifics outside of Tokyo Babylon, Seishirou. You're so damned creepy when you do that."
Seishirou just grinned, and then turned and looked around the room. "Hmm, I seem to recognize most of the people in the room…" he glanced at Kamui. "But you seem new. May I ask who you might be?" he inquired courteously.
"A—ah, y-yes! I'm Kamui Shiro. I've only been in dramas or commercials before this, so I'm pretty new at it…"
Seishirou gave a pleasant chuckle. "Well, we all had to start somewhere."
Hokuto suddenly bent forward and looked Kamui right in the eyes, giving him a long searching look. Kamui leaned back automatically, trapping himself against the couch.
"You know, you do look real familiar. Was it Love Life?" Hokuto said, after staring at him for at least half as minute.
Kamui nodded dumbly, still pushed back into the couch. "Y-yes, I was in that." To his dismay, Hokuto only seemed to stare harder. Finally, she leaned back and clapped her hands.
"You were a model for a while, right? I remember your face. And it would explain why you're so gorgeous!" she said, looking very proud of herself.
"J-just for a little…I didn't like being one too much…"
"Hokuto, you're terrifying him." Subaru admonished, pulling Hokuto away. "Honestly, all she does is read magazines." he confided in Kamui. "It's like she's got nothing better to do."
Hokuto looked outraged. "When I'm not acting! At least I try and keep up on the times!"
Subaru raised an eyebrow. "I read the newspaper."
Hokuto sat down, raising her hands in defeat. "And this is why you're an old biddy." She finished crossly, and fell silent.
"Hokuto—"
Seishirou watched them with a fond look on his face. "They're my favorite twins for a reason." Turning back to Kamui, he struck up conversation again. "A model, eh? Not bad. It's a tough business."
Kamui nodded. "It was always a competition." He gave an almost nostalgic smile. "But my first agent said it was all I was good for. And I just believed her." Kamui laughed a little embarrassedly. "Those were my earliest days, of course. And it took me awhile to figure out that it just wasn't what I wanted to do, it wasn't made for me. I just really wanted to act."
Seishirou was leaning his chin on his palm, listening with interest. Kamui suddenly looked mortified, reverting to his old habit of running his hand through his hair. "I'm sorry!" he apologized. "You didn't ask to hear my life story."
Seishirou simply smiled. "Not at all," he said. "It was my pleasure. You hardly have a boring background."
Kamui gave a weak chuckle, and excused himself to get some coffee. Excluding that nightmare of an actor Fuuma, he felt he had managed to get off on the right foot with most of the others, if not for acting like a babbling idiot.
Suddenly the door burst open, revealing a ratherharried looking woman, long, dark wavy hair streaming behind her as she adjusted her sunglasses and two of the considerable sized bags she had slung over her shoulders.
Saya clapped her hands together, looking thrilled. Most everyone in the room turned to look at the door.
"Tohru! Thank goodness you're here! I was beginning to think you had forgotten all about it." She said, rushing over to help Tohru balance her bags.
Kamui stood, working to keep his mouth from gaping as he stared at the legend standing mere feet in front of him.
Tohru Magami's sunglasses glinted in the sunlight as she slid them down to the bridge of her nose. She perused the room, slowly, and then gave an approving nod.
"Well, everyone. Welcome to the filming of X."