Gravitation Fan Fiction ❯ The Long Weekend ❯ Chapter ( Chapter 3 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

Chapter 3

The next morning Tatsuha arrived groggily for breakfast. Since his workaholic brother-in-law
always left early for NG, breakfast was served at 6:30. The boy could barely unstick his eyelids
over his steaming rice porridge. He noticed some sort of coffee-type smell in front of his face,
and after a moment, he opened his eyes and saw that Mika had poured him some espresso. "Oh,
thanks." A few swallows of the brew, well-sugared, helped crank his brain above the horizon.

"How late were you up with that CD?" Mika asked with disapproval.

"Hey, I only listened to it 16 times."

"In other words, you didn't go to bed at all." Mika scowled. "I could kill you."

Tatsuha didn't want to tell her that every time Ryuichi's voice faded, Sanjiro would come back.
The teenager hadn't been able to make himself go to sleep.

"Didn't go to bed? We must still have our touch. So what did you think of it?" Tohma asked.
"Could you pour me one last cup, Mikarin? Ah, thank you."

"It's great. But the production is really glossy compared to some of your earlier stuff."

"That's the benefit of owning a recording studio. And Sakano is a good producer. What are you
doing today, Mikarin?"

"Noriko and I are having lunch, then going shopping this afternoon."

"And I'm still planning on pillaging the records stores."

"You take care not to get lost," Tohma said to Tatsuha. "Tokyo's a big city. You know," he
added to his wife, "K seemed concerned about Tatsuha for some reason. Would you have any
idea why, Tatsuha?"

There was no reply.

"Tatsuha?"

The boy jumped when he felt the rap on his forehead. "Sorry, Aneki, I'm really not awake yet."

"You're as bad as Eiri!" Mika exclaimed. "What is it with my brothers' metabolisms? They're
always zombies in the morning."

Tohma, who was in the act of shutting his briefcase, gave Tatsuha a sidelong look. "How much
sleep did you get when your father was sick?" he asked.

"I don't know," the boy mumbled.

"I think you should let him go back to bed, Mikarin. I think he needs extra rest."

"Hey! There's nothing wrong with me. It's just a little early."

"Except you didn't get any sleep," Mika retorted. "All right, try to get some more, then."

When Tatsuha rose from his barely comprehended breakfast, he reflected that at least his stomach
had recovered. But then Kumiko was a good cook.

Since none of the record stores would open until ten o'clock, he went into the living room and lay
down on the sofa. The CD had become his protective fuda by now, and he turned it on, listening
to Ryuichi-sama through the headphones.

He was not aware of it when he fell asleep, cradling the player in his arms, or when Kumiko crept
in and removed the headphones from his ears.


((((((((((((((((((())))))))))))))))))


About an hour into his working day, Tohma finished his phone call with the Sony executive, and
began to punch percentages and unit prices into his calculator. Ah, bargaining with Sony. It was
unfortunate he had to use the conglomerate as NG's distributor, since his own label didn't have
one. Sony always wanted too much for their services, though Seguchi was sure he'd bargained
them down considerably.

His office door opened, and Noriko entered, dragging Ryuichi after her by his jean jacket. This
was not unusual, so Tohma only half paid attention as he converted his numbers into yen.

"All right," Noriko commanded, "TALK."

Ryuichi was clutching Kumagoro, gazing determinedly at the bunny's ears. "I had a cherry
limeade with extra limes."

This was not unusual either, so Tohma concentrated on his calculator.

"They're really good," the singer continued, hugging Kumagoro. "I bought a big one. Quart
size."

"Only YOU would have something like that for breakfast," Noriko said.


Ryuichi was still staring at Kumagoro's ears. "I set it down on the mixing board. And Kumagoro
was a very bad bunny."

Tohma went still. He should have noticed the danger sign. Ryu was holding his stuffed rabbit in
that very particular way.

"And Kumagoro," the singer sniffled, "NUDGED IT OVER."

"Did the cup have a lid?" Tohma asked quickly.

"Hell, no," Noriko replied. "Ryu never thinks of things like that."

"Does the board still work?"

"It lights up," Ryuichi said, gulping. "But it won't obey Sakano's commands."

For a moment, all Tohma could see was a dizzying string of zeros before his eyes. Calculating
large sums in yen always did that to him.

"I'll pay for a new board," said Ryuichi in a woeful voice.

"I think we have a spare in storage," Seguchi told him. Tohma had learned long ago to buy extra
equipment in case of his bandmate. It saved him plenty of cash in production delays.

"And put down a new suit for Sakano," said the singer.

"Did you nail him, too?" asked Tohma, rubbing his temples.

"He's at home changing his clothes right now," Noriko sighed. "And go ahead. Tell him the rest
of it."

The rest of it? There was more? Oh, God, was he going to need a stiffer drink than usual after
work today?

"We lost the vocal tracks I'd laid down," Ryuichi continued. "The board won't play them."

"But we have a master of them, don't we?" Seguchi asked.

"No! They were just demos. I hadn't bothered backing them up. They were only on the board's
memory."

Tohma thought hard. "I'll call a data recovery service. I think they may be able to pull some of
the tracks out of the memory. Wait a second. I had Sakano layer your vocals over the rest of our
demo tracks yesterday and burned a CD of it. I was going to review it over the weekend.
Unfortunately, CD quality isn't studio quality, so it'll lose some data if we copy back from it."

"You'll just have to do your vocals over again, Ryu," said Noriko.

"But you do have a copy?" the singer said, looking relieved. "I don't remember all the words I
sang."

"Didn't you make up a lyric sheet?" Noriko asked.

"No. I can't read my own handwriting, so I didn't bother."

Ryuichi's dysgraphia was notorious.

"Okay," said Noriko. "So it's not too bad. I'll be able to have lunch with Mika without freaking
out."

"Where exactly is that CD?" the singer asked.

"At home, in Tatsuha's Walkman," said Tohma thoughtfully.



To Be Continued.