L'Arc en Ciel Fanfiction .::. Angel and Demon

Angel and Demon

Episode 1: ~Going Solo~

The chilly morning glow slowly won its way over the cold shadows of night, and the first rays of gentle brightness relentlessly gained space between the thin creases of the heavy velvety curtains. Sparkles of gold showering inside the room painted the white walls in infinite shades of morning sunlight, drawing random abstract shapes as the sun quietly paced its everyday route over the Tokyo sky.

A feeling of warmth little by little, took over the room, silently leaping over and embracing the man who curled asleep in a bed that seemed almost too large for him.

A naughty sunray tickled his nose and made him sneeze. Half asleep, he taunted the empty side of his bed, looking for the well-known warm shape that this time was absent, leaving his hand blindly caressing a cold, empty space. It was the wake-up call he had hoped to be nothing but a bad dream, the reminder of the solitude that had been tagging to his back for such an unbearably long time now.

Hyde opened his eyes, unwilling to confirm his hand was not lying to him. For a moment he could have sworn everything had only been the result of his wild imagination. For a moment he wanted to believe he had finally awakened to the sweet reality that was no longer there. He wanted to believe all the hell he had been through these last months was just a nightmare... but his eyes didn’t condone in a cozy lie, and rather made him come to accept once again the bitter truth.

Alone. Once again. Lonely and away from everything... He wanted to turn over in his bed and make nighttime come back to him, returning to sleep and forgetting everything. But the daylight was there to remind him, at every second, of the unwanted reality.

He finally got up, in a bad mood, the same bad mood he had had for the last six months. Six long months that felt like centuries. He awkwardly walked towards the window, rubbing his eyes against the offending light. A new day had settled in, uncalled, unrequested... yet persistent and unavoidable. He stretched his hands and pulled the heavy curtains apart to finally let sunlight break into the quiet room and spread fully on the walls and floor with its pure glow. Quite an irony. He knew his soul would still remain in darkness in spite of the show.

He leaned over the window frame of his twentieth floor home and stared down at all the people coming and going, minding their own problems and situations, and he wondered in silence how the world could just go on as if nothing had happened... How this very same world that had adored him, cheered him, felt fascinated by him, could neglect him now, at his darkest hour. How he could be doomed to watch it go round, isolated from it, just like an observer, without saying a word, as everyone else carried on with their lives while he was paralyzed in agony.

"This is the price of fame and glory..." he mumbled bitterly as he moved away from the window and heavily padded his way across the large dining room towards the kitchen, obeying the rising roar from his stomach almost automatically.

"When you’re up there, everyone loves you, but when you are deep down here... nobody cares".

He casually entered the dimly lit kitchen and yawning he opened the refrigerator, grabbed a hermetic box with rice leftovers, pulled from its lid with a light twitch on his lips and opened it. It didn’t smell bad yet. He yawned again and pushed the container into the microwave oven. Three minutes, he automatically pushed the white square buttons. Then he opened the white door of a cupboard, took a frying pan, and poured oil in it; lit the fire and waited for the oil to be hot enough to fry a couple eggs. Silently he lit a cigarette he got from the case in the upper drawer of the kitchen, just below the sink, and took a long drag from it while pushing the case back in its former place.

"Not even Tetsu has called... he... who always seems to take care of all of us... they don’t give a damn... I’m just a piece in the band after all... It was my mistake to think of them as family... And then..." he smirked bitterly to himself "...then they call me wagamama. Bah... screw them..."

He continued to make himself breakfast, yawning and smoking, keeping the cigarette in a loose hold between his lips. He turned on the radio to hear the weather news, the microwave beeped letting him know the rice was warm enough, and he cracked the eggs’ shelves and poured them in the frying pan yawning again.

"The weather will continue to be chilly today and tomorrow, scattered rains may occur in the region..." The lady in the radio chirped. Hyde raised an eyebrow and stared at the radio resting on top of the working table. "What do you mean scattered rains, you moron?! Can’t you see the shining sun?! It’s not winter yet!!" He pointed at the window as he spoke, and turned off the radio with an annoyed paw, then he kept focusing his attention on his breakfast. He had to take his anger on someone, and the radio was the only thing he could direct his fury to.

A sudden bump on the kitchen windowpane startled him. He rapidly raised his eyes from the meal and saw a small grayish cat strutting by and then standing to turn its head and look at him.

"Go away... I’m allergic to you." Hyde said in an angry voice, as if the cat could understand him, but the feline stayed behind the window staring at him. Hyde glared at it for a while, with a defying look on his face, eager to shift his target and take his anger on the stray animal through a battle of stares, but after a couple minutes he finally gave in.

"Oh... OK... dammit... you gotta be freezing out there". He took the frying pan away from the fire, poured the eggs on a plate and put out the cigarette by pressing it against an overstuffed ashtray on the kitchen table. Then he opened the refrigerator and poured some milk on a small dish. He grabbed a mouth cloth, put it on, and opened the window to let the little cat in and indulge in some milk. Right away, he started sneezing.

"There! See what you’ve done to me?!" He complained between sneezes. The kitten rubbed its back against his ankles purring happily.

"You don’t seem to care, you selfish thing..." Hyde continued partly mad and partly amused. His allergy was the most annoying thing, especially since he had always loved cats. Hyde reached for some antihistaminics he always had at hand, and the cat followed him.

"Don’t follow me!" He ordered. "Aw, OK, follow me if you want, you are the only company in a long time." He finally relented.

"So what the hell... I seem to stick to those who do me wrong... at least this is safer than..." He stopped in middle of the sentence and shook his head.

"Never mind. You are just a cat." He crouched and caressed the cat breaking into another fit of sneezes.

"You know, kitty? I do like cats... it’s just that you and your siblings give me this allergy..." The kitten rubbed its back against Hyde’s knees unaware of the allergic reaction it was causing the skinny man, who caressed the feline’s soft fur.

"And you’d even make a warm scarf... only that would kill me... and you..." he began to laugh wearily.

The cat walked inside the house followed by Hyde, who had forgotten about his meal, and just watched the gray creature climb onto his sofa and spread itself, playing with a cushion.

"This is gonna be bad... you homeless squatter!" He laughed. "And you’ll make me spend on more and more medicines... those are not cheap, you know?" He continued scolding the cat amused. "And besides, I’d rather spend the money on something fancier... like... uhh... anything else." He burst out in laughter. "Sakura would call me selfish..." he thought and then forced himself to cast that thought out of his mind.

"No, Sakura can’t call me anything... he just can’t... he..." his eyes became suddenly itchy, he could feel the tears forming behind them, which together with the runny nose and sneezes was making an awful sight of him. He tore the mouth cloth and threw it away, then remembered his breakfast and turned on his heels, walking towards the kitchen.

"Omae ga... stay there, now it’s my turn for breakfast." He closed the door and turned on the air purifier in order to be able to eat his meal fairly comfortably. He sat at the table and went at his food silently, tasting every bit slowly, almost absent-mindedly, and after he had finished it, he put the dishes in the sink. He was planning to wash them later. The pile of dirty dishes was growing taller day after day.

Hyde stared at the kitchen window blankly while biting on his thumbnail, the only sound being that of the kitchen clock, mechanically cutting into the silence with a snapping, rhythmic sound.

"They never called..." He thought. "They don’t give a damn."

A while later he opened the kitchen door and walked into the dining room, the cat’s presence still making him sneeze. He took the soft being and put it on his lap using a little more force than he should have.

"Go ahead. Kill me." He ordered the cat, which looked at him partly annoyed to be awaked from its comfortable slumber and partly confused at Hyde’s steady look and convulsive sneezing.

"And maybe I won’t buy any more of these medicines because obviously they don’t work!" He shouted and threw the antihistaminics bottle against a wall in a mocked fury, while caressing the cat. "Why can’t I be allergic to... say... dinosaurs!? Huh? I’m OK with not having a dinosaur! But no, I had to be allergic to cats... when I like cats!"

Hyde tilted his head back over the sofa holding a handkerchief to his nose, and started speaking in a deep nasal voice.

"You are actually nice to talk to because you don’t misinterpret what I say and you don’t interrupt. Plus you won’t correct me or go repeating what I say to others. That’s a quality I admire in people." The cat stared at the short man, who wouldn’t stop sneezing and rubbed its head against his stomach.

"And you are actually soft and cute... and warm... you don’t think I’m a pervert because I’m in love with Sakura... That’s a lot to say, compared to some other people I know."

Hyde put the cat back on the sofa, and got up, he couldn’t stop sneezing and he had already spoken more in an hour than he had had during the last three months... or maybe years for that matter.

He stared at the cat fixedly between sneezes, and after a few minutes he finally smiled. He had decided to do something that day. He had made this decision every day since he had come back to his home, but never gathered himself to go out of his house. Even if he didn’t exactly know what to do, or what for, he would start by taking a shower and changing from his pajamas to regular clothes, maybe today he would go out for a walk. Maybe today he would break his isolation and merge again among the living... and thus stop feeling he was dead inside.

The shower was warm against his skin, like a soft balm that lapped his inner wounds. He wanted to indulge in the cozy feeling of the hot water caressing his body languidly, like a rain of forgiveness on him. He closed his eyes and tilting his head back he let the warm drops run down his face... tasteless drops of shimmering silver... so different from all the tears he had been shedding in darkness. The soothing sound they made was like a lullaby to Hyde, which enticed him to abandon himself in a lazy slumber, a dreamland to where he could escape. He closed his eyes and sighed, the comfort to his senses, and the fact that he wasn’t sneezing in the bathroom made him feel better physically, even if the emotional wreckage was still nailed inside him. He spent two long hours in the bathtub, trying not to think, and failing to accomplish even that small task.

He finally stepped out and sat on a small white stool near the tub, watching the water spin in swirls as it went down the drain. He tried to focus on something harmless, like the transparent circles of water spining endlessly, and a few minutes later he chose the unexpected company as an innocent subject.

He was sad that he couldn’t keep the cat "... it would be a good pet", he thought. "Ken always has a cat, and he never feels lonely... Oh, well... he has a new girlfriend every day, so that also helps..." He got up from the small white stool and pulled from a carelessly folded white towel resting on a bronze shelf by the tub, then he absentmindedly dried himself with the large, soft material.

He brushed his teeth biting on the toothbrush and staring at his own face on the mirror. The dark circles under his eyes had been there for months. He rinsed his mouth and shaved his face carefully. Then he put on his underwear and walked barefooted to the bedroom in order to look for better suited garments and another mouth cloth.

He pushed the laundry in a growing heap of dirty garments. He hadn’t washed anything for a week. He didn’t feel like doing anything but eat and sleep lately. Carelessly he put on a pair of slacks, a T-shirt and a sweater. He took a couple socks from a drawer without even looking at them, and then grabbed a strap bag, a coat, a scarf, a pair of sunglasses, some money, and the keys to his bicycle safe.

He decidedly walked into the dining room, crudely took the cat as if it weren’t a living creature but rather a stuffed animal and shoved it into the bag.

The cat meowed upset and tried to scratch him, then popped up its head and front paws out of the bag.

"You stay there." Hyde ordered. "You are coming with me." And ended the sentence with a sneeze. He picked up the house keys, pushed a lighter and a pack of cigarettes in his pocket, took his disc-man and a case of CD’s which got squeezed inside the bag making the cat angry; and left the house.

Once outside he unlocked his bicycle and mounted it, riding softly towards the park, the cat in the bag was staring at the unbelievable ruckus it was being put to. The bicycle driver, sunglasses on, put on his headphones and played a Nirvana CD on his CD player. "The Man Who Sold the World".

In the rush, Hyde never heard the telephone ringing. The answering machine caught the message:

"Ah... moshi, moshi... Haido-kun... you there?"

A short pause followed.

"Haido-kun, if you are sleeping wake up already! It’s past noon!" a cheerful voice urged.

"Haaaaaidooo! It’s me!! Tetsu!! Come on! Answer the phone already!"

Another short pause followed.

"Oh, fine... I’ll call you back later, you lazy bag... ha ha ha!"

Hyde parked his bike near a hot dog stand at the park, and sat on a bench, watching the kids play and beg their parents for snacks. He took a deep breath and felt the chilly air filling his lungs. The sun was incredibly bright at its highest point in the sky. The air was filled with the scent of lawn... the dying leaves slowly dropping to the ground, forming a yellowish brown carpet under unnoticing feet.

The cat tried to crawl out of the bag, but Hyde pushed it back in.

"No. Stay there. You’re not gonna escape and have fun while I’m here depressed and lonely."

The cat tried to scratch the hand that was pushing it back inside the bag.

"Hey! Stop that! I am really good at martial arts and I can kick your butt, so, don’t do that again!"

The cat, of course, didn’t understand and kept trying to scratch Hyde. Hyde took the cat in his both hands and lifted it to his eye level, which caused him to sneeze again.

"Listen to me. I am the master, and you are the pet. Now behave."

Suddenly Hyde caught sight of a little girl staring at him and realized just how pathetic he looked... arguing with a kitten. He smiled at the girl, presenting her with one of those trademark sweet smiles that could make his fans melt; and the girl smiled shyly back. He took off his sunglasses and headphones and turning the cat in his hands to make it face her he extended his arms putting it closer to the little girl, who immediately retreated.

"Oh, it’s OK." He said in a rush. "She is a good cat"

"It’s a he." The girl corrected timidly.

"Really?!" Hyde answered amused. "There, kitty, we have something in common. Many times I’ve been taken for a ‘she’..." He said amused to the cat, which meowed in discomfort. Then he turned his face to the girl, held a sneeze and smiling he asked: "How can you tell?"

"I love cats." She answered playing with her foot by drawing circles on the ground.

"Oh... you can have it if you want..." Hyde said, and extended his arms again. The girl retreated more.

"Why...?" he was startled. "... You said you love cats..."

"I can’t" she replied. "What’s the name?" the girl demanded.

"Uhh..." Hyde snapped into reality in a second... "I can’t tell her who I am", he thought. "... uh... Doi, Doi Hachirou." He stammered his nickname.

"The cat has first and last name?" She asked giggling.

"Uh... no..." Hyde answered embarrassed at his mistake. He couldn’t believe that animal was drawing more attention than he was.

"Hmm... that’s MY name." He tried to laugh putting the cat on his lap and squeezed it with his right hand "You won’t escape" he mumbled to the annoyed kitty between his teeth. "I... I didn’t give her... I mean... him... a name yet, I’m afraid."

"Oh, how careless of you!" The girl laughed and took a couple steps forward. Hyde sneezed and nodded, lowering his sight and glaring at the writhing cat fiercely.

"I’m not amazed HE doesn’t want to be with you, if you don’t give him a proper name, Doi-San." The girl said.

"Uh... hmm... what’s your name?" Hyde asked suddenly.

"Oh... I can’t tell you, my mom told me not to talk to strangers... especially weird looking ones like you..." The girl announced solemnly and innocently.

"Ah, I see. But you don’t seem to be very obedient. Unless all the time you have really been talking to the cat."

The girl laughed and watched around her, then she sat beside Hyde and attempted to caress the cat on his lap. Hyde smiled at her and let her pet his new friend. The girl was tall and very pretty, she had long black hair done in a high ponytail, her skin was light and her eyes sparkled innocence.

"Sakura." The girl said and her words made Hyde startle.

"What?!" He answered in a discomposed face.

"My name is Sakura." She said casually.

"You... I mean... you... your... Sakura...???" Hyde was aghast.

"Yeah, so what? It’s Better than Hachirou."

"Ah... uh... yeah... uh..." Hyde was flashing red and his heart was pounding at extreme speed.

"Oh... well, Sakura-chan, you can keep the cat if you want." Hyde started insecurely and was interrupted by more sneezing. "... I am allergic to cats..."

"Dumb man... why do you have a cat if you are allergic to them?" The girl asked surprised. Hyde couldn’t think of an answer, his mind was cluttered with the echoes of that forbidden name. He had tried to go outside and forget, but the past seemed to haunt him everywhere.

"I... I... found it at... the... kitchen window... and... uh... dunno... you want it?"

"No." The girl answered. "My mom doesn’t want me to have pets."

"Ah." Hyde answered nodding.

"Why the sudden blushing, Doi-San?"

"Uh... hmmm.... ah... well, your name brings up memories..." He found himself saying unable to control his mind and tongue. As soon as he noticed he shut up.

"Oh, I see... a girlfriend that abandoned you... poor Doi-San" the girl laughed ignoring the stab her words were causing in Hyde’s heart.

"Y...yeah... yeah..." Hyde felt trapped, cornered by a little girl.

"Well, go get yourself another girlfriend and make her sorry for leaving you!" The girl urged him and poked his ribs with her elbow.

"Uh... yeah... yeah... I might do that... just... not for now." Hyde answered, realizing he was being pushed by a girl that looked around 10 years old .

"You can tell her ‘I’ am your girlfriend... I bet that would make her mad..." the girl said with a wicked grin.

"Yep. Ah... Not only her. It would also make your mom and the cops mad..." Hyde answered lightly amused, yet still unable to recover from the shock.

"Oh, yeah... because you are so old..."

"Wait... wait... I’m not THAT old... Ok? Just too old for you... cuz... you must be... what? 10 years old?"

"12 and a half"

"Oh... well, then I guess you are a grown up lady. Maybe I’m too young for you." He snapped sarcastically.

"No way. You are in your twenties! Now, that’s old!"

"Nooo waaayyy that’s not old!"

"Yeah, it is!"

"You’re gonna make me cry!" Hyde said mocking a sad face.

"Oh!! I’m sorry, Doi-San, don’t cry, please..." The little girl said and hugged him. She was warm. Soft and warm. He hadn’t indulged in the cozy pleasure of a friendly hug in a long time.

Hyde smiled at the girl, and she smiled at him, going back to caressing the cat on Hyde’s lap.

"Wanna help me give her... uh... him a name?"

"Yeah... let’s think of a nice name that brings up good memories in you..." she said concerned.

"Yeah, like... uh... "Blue"" Hyde suggested thinking of his beloved blue glass collection.

"Bu-ruu?"

"Yeah, like blue color."

"Uh... but the cat is gray!"

"Uh... I’m color blind..." Hyde tried to joke. Neither Grey nor blue were a problem to him.

"What’s that?"

"Uh... I can’t see some colors" Hyde relented. His joke had obviously not been understood.

"You are blind? Come on! I know you can see!"

"I’m not blind! I just... can’t see some colors!" Hyde insisted. He wondered how he could easily talk about himself and his problems... it was sure the effect of his loneliness.

The girl chuckled. "So you see life like a manga book?"

Hyde started to feel irked, and remembered how he didn’t actually enjoy being around kids.

"Yeah, just like that." He lied, unwilling to explain.

"Cool. What’s your favorite manga?"

Hyde sighed. "Dunno. Guess... I haven’t read any in a long time."

"Oh. Well..." the girl changed the subject. "Let’s call it Blue if you think you have a blue cat. I don’t think he will notice the difference".

"Yeah, I’ll make it my business to convince the cat it’s actually blue".

"Cats are smarter than you think, you know?"

"Well, maybe I’m smarter than the cat... you know?"

"Nah. You look too weird to be smart. And you can’t tell blue from gray."

Hyde began to feel overly annoyed by the kid. Especially since he could clearly tell blue from gray. (!)

"Name it Sakura" the girl suddenly suggested and Hyde was shocked again. He looked at the girl with a sorrowful face and gaped attempting to say something.

"That way, you will forget about your girlfriend, and eventually the name Sakura will only remind you of the cat." The girl went on.

"Yeah, right..." He looked away. "... Kids..."

"It’s true."

"Why don’t you go play with your friends?" Hyde snapped looking for his headphones..

"Oh... I’m sorry I have bothered you..." the girl said in a sad tone, which made Hyde feel guilty.

"Uh... no, you haven’t... I mean... yes, you have, but never mind. Hmmm... Why do you keep saying I look weird?"

"Because you look like those Visual Rock musicians my Nee-chan loves." The girl said amused, causing Hyde to shriek.

"Uh... no... no... I’m not ... uh... your sister is not here, right?"

The girl stared at him, and after a short pause she said. "What if she were here?"

"I gotta go, Sakura chan. I... will be late... for... uh... lunch...?? uhm... yeah... whatever..." Hyde rose, picked up his stuff and pushed the kitten in the bag. Then he moved towards his bike.

"Anou... gotta go now. Nice to meet you Sakura chan."

"Bye, Blue’s owner." The girl then turned to the cat. "Take care of yourself, kitty, this guy is definitely weird..."

The cat meowed as if he had actually understood.

"See?" she said. "He’s so smart, he understood me."

"Yeah, right. Bye now." Hyde answered without paying attention.

"Bye Doi chan."

"Doi... ‘chan’???" Hyde thought.

"Hope to see Blue and you around soon."

"Yeah. Could be." He smiled another of his priceless smiles, as he mounted his bike.

"And get even with that wicked girlfriend!" The girl shouted as he started to ride, causing Hyde to bump his bicycle and trip near a tree.

"..." He nodded.

"I’m not amazed she dumped such a weird dude..." the girl said to herself as she walked back towards the playing ground. "But he’s cute, though. Silly but cute... ha ha ha... color blind... as if something like that existed."

"I can tell the difference between gray and blue!" Hyde thought very annoyed. "... kids... they don’t get a joke... And why the hell did I have to bring that subject...?"

He rode back home keeping an eye on the kitten in the bag, who was not very enthusiastic about the ride, but bore with it in silence, probably tired of uselessly trying to escape the sneezing man that was taking him around like a toy. Hyde arrived home, and parked his bike. Secured the lock and having second thoughts about the cat, he let him out of the bag and into the street.

"Well, do as you will, Blue, or Gray or White or whatever you please... you multicolored thing!" He said. "Leave me like everyone else, or just stay... I don’t care." He sentenced. The cat sat on the sidewalk and looked at him, then began to lick its paw.

"Great! You take a bath in public! You perverted thing!... Come inside!" Hyde ordered and gently pushed the cat with his right foot.

"I sound like an old man... talking to a cat." He thought, and sneezed as the cat walked inside the house with him.

"Ken would laugh so hard at me..." Hyde thought watching the cat while holding the handkerchief against his nose. "...to think I was always bitching about having to nurse Elizabeth..." He watched the cat slowly walk his way into the couch and resume his bath. Hyde sat on a chair near the couch and watched. His back was turned to the flashing light in the answering machine.

"Ok, so... here’s the scoop, kitty... I mean... Blue." He started, leaning back and crossing his left leg over the right one while lighting a cigarette. "I’m not the talkative kind... but haven’t had anyone to talk to in some months. So I guess I’ll do all the talking to you from now on, and you’ll have to bear it, cuz you’re not paying a rent here, you are living out of me, and I’m feeding you and even taking you to the park!"

He inhaled the smoke, then slowly let it out and continued. "The rules here are: No chicks. No drugs, I’ve had a problem with the former person that stayed in here for that. No poop or peeing in any place of the house, cuz I’m not cleaning your crap. Since I don’t make YOU clean mine. And you are supposed to do some chores here too... like... I don’t know... do something, apart from triggering my allergy. Uh... scare burglars away, turn into some fancy thing, or something ... and No, your name is not Sakura, and you can’t say that name in my presence. You touch any of my blue glass items and you’re dead meat. You scratch the furniture and you are tonight’s meal. You talk to the press and I will embalm you! Got it?"

The cat continued its bath.

"Good. I like to be respected when I talk." Hyde said smoking again. Then he got up and turned on the music to incredibly loud levels. "And you can’t complain about my music!" He shouted, and went to the kitchen to get himself, and the kitten, lunch.

The telephone rang again. This time Hyde did not hear it because of the music.

"Doiha-chaaaan!!! Where are you?? This is the third call in the day!" The voice shouted.

"Listen, I’ll be around your place and I thought about visiting, so I’m coming to see how you are doing. Stay at home." Tetsu hung up annoyed.

"What the hell is going on with him?" He wondered rolling his eyes.

Ken was beside him watching MTV, sitting on a couch beside Tetsu, both at the rehearsing studio.

"Dunno, Tetsu, maybe he is not at home... Maybe he got himself a girlfriend and decided to forget his ‘gay’ affair..."

"Nuh..." Tetsu sighed. "Haido is not like that. He’s too sensitive, probably he’s in bed sobbing and depressed." He relented.

"Nah, man... Haido is not ‘that sensitive’ all the time. And if you think so, then why didn’t we call any sooner?" Ken replied somewhat concerned.

"Well, maybe you are right, but he said he wanted to be alone." Tetsu explained. He was beginning to believe listening to Hyde had been a wrong move.

"And you still believe him..." Ken retorted and began listing: "He said Sakura and him were only friends... then he said Sakura was over with drugs... Before that he said he had never been in bed with a guy... He said ... he said... he said... Do I go on?"

"No. I know just how much of a liar he can be." Tetsu snapped.

"Good. Thought you had forgotten." Ken answered and leant back on the sofa.

"No, I haven’t. But a break up is a break up. And if I had been him, I’d want to be alone for a while."

"Haido is the social kind... he loves being adored by people. We should’ve probably called sooner..."

"Yeah, well, that’s why I think he wouldn’t enjoy being miserable around people."

"OK! Oh, Mighty Leader!" Ken answered bored at the discussion, and his eyes went back to the beautiful, though not so good singer on the TV screen.

"I’m going to see him, so... I’ll find out." Tetsu said almost to himself.

"Cool." Ken answered absent-mindedly.

"So, let’s call it a day and meet again tomorrow..."

"I’ll go home in a while. I can’t live inside a recording studio, you know... I’ve a home and a cat..."

"I know, well, just please remember to lock the studio when you leave."

"Yeah, I will." Ken answered without taking his eyes from the screen. The girl was getting sexier.

"Fine. Uh... Are you listening to me?"

"Yeah, I will." Ken mumbled, his cigarette about to drop from his lips, and his eyes locked to the screen.

"Ken!"

"Huh?"

"Are you listening?!?"

"Of course!"

"Well... bye."

"See ya."

"He would really listen if I were a woman." Tetsu mumbled to himself very upset, as he grabbed his coat, an umbrella, and walked to the street. It had begun to drizzle. The weather forecast had been right.