Yes, I know Chapter One is already a week late. Real life keeps getting in the way of my writing, honestly.
Incidentally, someone recently asked me if what happened in the prologue was based on a real event. Actually, it was. If you actively monitor the world of Japanese rock music, you're probably aware of this particular incident:
Anyway, our plot thickens. Here's Chapter I. Enjoy!
Chapter One: Ballistics in the Emergency Room
“Your hands are cold.”
“I know.”She threw him a gentle smile.“Don’t worry about me, lamb-chop.I’m just tired.”
“Of me?”
“Of course not!”She smoothed back his hair.“But it has been a long tour for all of us – you, most especially.”She regarded him gravely.“My lamb, promise me you won’t be too obstinate and disobey the doctors again.”
He sighed and regarded her most affectionately.Honestly, she deserved a better man than he would ever be.Still, he was grateful for her devotion and he’d always adored her.
“I promise,” he replied somewhat reluctantly.He regarded her plaintively.“Dearest, do we really have to put on the goddamned show for the goddamned public again?”
“My lamb, it’s expected of us.”
“I know, but it’s all so damned stupid, dear!”
“Tell me about it!”
He enfolded her in a tight hug.Truth be told, he didn’t want to let her go.
“Just another year,” he whispered soothingly.
“We don’t have another year.”She pulled away from him, but this time she grinned impishly.She whispered something into his ear and it brought a bright smile to his thin face.
Things were, obviously, about to look up.
**********************
The silvery building surrounded by a fabulous garden was a most pleasant sight to see.Those who worked there and the things that occurred within it, however, were certainly more interesting, though.
This was El Torre de Plata – the Silver Tower – headquarters to Team Svengali, Asia’s leading talent and events management agency.Those who worked in the buildings around it were forever running to their windows whenever cars pulled up into the Tower’s driveway – and with good reason.
On any given day, it wasn’t surprising to see Nadia Zafra, the undisputed young Queen of Philippine Soaps, driving her hot little red Kia Picante into the parking lot with her darling shih-tsu Yumyum in tow.Shelby, the reigning local jazz diva, seemed to drop by every afternoon with her arms weighted down by what appeared to be bakery boxes.Sometimes, Asian bossa nova princess Honey Li Pao-Yii would fly in from Taiwan just to give her manager a tearful account of her latest breakup.Quite often, Japanese rock groups Lavande and Die Schwartzreich would visit and leave a wide trail of fun in their wake.
This particular morning in early March, the celeb-watchers were treated to a major surprise by the arrival of one somewhat unexpected visitor.Everyone in the surrounding buildings flew to their windows almost as soon as he got out of the limousine that drove into the Tower grounds.
“Oh, shit!” began the hue and cry.“It’s Subaru Nishiyama!He’s here!He’s back!”
People pressed their faces to the windowpanes, some with zoom-capable cameras in hand.Every lovestruck female (and gay male) and every envious straight male was desperate for even the slightest glimpse of that über-heartthrob’s gingery-haired head.It was all over the news both online and in the tri-media that Subaru Nishiyama ended his last concert most spectacularly by falling off the stage, obviously overcome by fatigue and illness.Indeed, a surgical mask and Nishiyama’s signature sunglasses obscured the face of the slender figure that came out of the car.
Nevertheless, it was obviously Nishiyama.And, ever the showman, he managed to look up to the windows of the skyscrapers around the Tower and wiggled his fingers in greeting.
The crowd went wild.
**********************
Hideto Nishiyama, lead singer of the legendary Japanese rock group Lavande and a legend in his own right, looked worried as he stepped into the Tower’s penthouse pantry.
As he carefully measured out coffee and spices into the coffeemaker, he wondered what his father was going to say this time.Yukihiro had always been a protective father and his wife’s death three years before seemed to have galvanized his concern for his three sons – all of whom were grown up and well established in their professions.Hideto shook his head; he was married and had a little boy of his own and his father still worried about him as if he were but sixteen!That Subaru collapsed was definitely going to worry the dear old fellow in a major way.
If Maman were alive, poor Subaru would probably be okay, Hideto thought as he watched the coffee drip into the carafe, its aroma slowly and inexorably filling the room.Ruefully, he also had to admit that Subaru probably would have balked at their mother’s worrying over him.Still, their mother would probably keep him from keeling over at the end of every tour.
“Coffee ready, Manong Deto?”
Hideto turned and saw Artie Maravilla-Salviejo coming in. As always, the pretty physical therapist stopped by the Tower on her way to the hospital.And, as was her usual custom, she brought a plastic boxful of homemade buns to go with morning coffee.
“Oh, hi, Artie,” he greeted her with a wan smile.He poured coffee for them both and motioned for her to sit with him at the breakfast nook.“My, my!” he exclaimed as he bit into a still-warm bun.“Where do you find the time to bake these, Artie?”
“Same way Heck does,” she grinned.“Make the dough soon as I get home and bake at the crack of dawn.”She stirred some cream and sugar into her coffee.“I just wish Heck would share those Italian bread recipes of hers,” she grumbled.“Her holiday loaves are to die for!Remember those chocolate rolls last Christmas?”
“Yeah,” Hideto nodded sympathetically.“Megu tried to bribe her with that no-fail matcha-kasutera recipe of hers, only to have Heck serve up a better version.”He grinned.“Still: it’s always a treat when she shares everything with all the rest of us.”
Artie smiled.“Nobody can beat Heck at baking,” she admitted.“Not even our own Ma – and she was the one who taught me and Heck!”
“Ah, yes…”Hideto’s voice suddenly trailed off and he sighed wearily.
“You’re worried about Subaru,” Artie said.It was a statement, not a question.
“We’re all worried about Subaru, Artie.”Glumly, he pushed away his coffee cup.“And, at this point in time, I’m just amazed he’s still alive!”
Artie stared at him in horror.“Surely, you don’t think it’s that bad, Manong!” she exclaimed.
“I wasn’t talking about Subaru’s health, Artie,” Hideto was quick to correct her.He smiled somewhat wryly.“I’m just surprised your twin hasn’t killed him yet.”
Artie raised an eyebrow as she sipped her coffee.Then, she laughed.
“I keep telling her she’ll end up an old maid thanks to your brother,” she chortled.
Hideto said nothing, but he gazed rather speculatively at Artie.She doesn’t know! he thought, and the very idea amused him.Now, why would Heck keep something like that from Artie? he wondered to himself. Phoeb knows.Hebe knows, along with their parents and their better halves.Come to think of it, even Cast knows!But why not Artie?
“She’s spent the better part of our lives looking after Subaru,” Artie now snickered.
“And God only knows how I resent that,” a petulant voice remarked from the door.
When they looked up, Subaru had entered the pantry and was miserably pushing his sunglasses to the crown of his head.He took off the surgical mask that covered the lower half of his face and solemnly embraced his older brother Hideto.
Hideto know what a ludicrous sight they made.He was barely over five feet tall and Subaru towered over him at five-feet-and-ten – and Hideto was a good six years older than Subaru!Still, the Nishiyama boys stayed close and supported each other.It pained Hideto that he could feel how thin Subaru was beneath the beautifully tailored suit he wore.
“Hi, Artie.”Affectionately, Subaru kissed Artie’s cheek.The Maravillas had lived next door to them for so long they were practically family.
“Welcome home,” Artie beamed at him.Yet, Hideto caught the note of concern in her voice when she saw how haggard Subaru was.“Have you had breakfast?”
“Don’t mother me, Artie,” Subaru said gruffly.He sat at the table, looking terribly sad.
“I can’t help it.”Artie managed a slight grin.She was already putting two buns on a plate for the newcomer.“I am a mother, you know.”
“Eat, Subaru,” Hideto coaxed his brother.
Reluctantly, Subaru took a bite out of one of the buns on his plate.However, he obviously had no appetite.
******
As her little Volkswagen Beetle wove its way through the streets of Makati, Heck frowned and cussed underbreath.
God only knew how tired she was, how worried she’d been, and how upset she got at what happened after Subaru’s last concert…
******
“Doc, how is he?”
Shinji Kawasaki, physician to Japan’s stars and formerly one of them himself, regarded Heck soberly.Heck knew that Subaru was in good hands, given how Shinji was one of the country’s best doctors.But she also knew that Shinji was getting more than a little tired of seeing friends hauled into the ER on gurneys.Things like that, he once told Heck, never boded well.
More than that, the stars themselves were bad enough, but their managers were infinitely worse.Especially if said manager just so happened to be one Hecate-Hestia Maravilla!
Shinji first looked at pallid, exhausted Subaru, then to pale and anxious Heck.Gently, he led her out of the room by her elbow.As soon as they were out in the corridor, Shinji gazed at Heck frankly.
“I’ve known you too long to keep any secrets from you, Heck,” he said.“So, I can speak freely here.Subaru’s in a very bad way, my girl.”
“You don’t need to tell me that, Shinji,” Heck snapped back at him.Then, her shoulders fell.“I’m sorry, Shinji.But it’s getting to be such a long evening.”
“I can’t blame you.”Shinji rubbed her shoulders sympathetically.“I can tell – and assure – you, though, that Subaru’s not about to knock at death’s door.”Soberly, he added, “Provided he does no more work for the rest of this calendar year.”
Heck stared at him in consternation.“Shinji!” she choked.“You don’t know what you’re asking of him!”Aghast, she half-rose from her seat.“You know how Subaru is: he’s such a workaholic!Rest is no more but an inconvenience to him.”
“I’m not asking him to give up for good, Heck,” Shinji protested.“All I want is for him to just slow down.The reason for tonight’s collapse is so gods-damned obvious: he drove himself too hard!”
Shinji stopped when he saw the tears beginning to run down Heck’s cheeks.Poor girl, he thought.She’s suffered so much on his account.
“Lord only knows how hard I tried to slow him down this past year,” he now heard her say.He wasn’t sure if she was talking to him or just musing to herself.“But he wouldn’t listen.”Anguish was written all over her face.“He threatened to replace me with another manager if I kept him from finishing the tour.”
Shinji’s face grew set at that.“Will you wait a moment, Heck?” he asked her.
“Yes, of course.”
Angered, Shinji slammed the door to Subaru’s room open and was greeted by what sounded like a squawk from the floor.When he looked down, Shinji saw that Subaru had been crouching at the door, obviously eavesdropping on his conversation with Heck.
“Nishiyama!” Shinji roared, slamming the door shut behind them.“What are you doing out of bed?I thought I told you to stay in there!”Suddenly, peaceable Shinji found himself kicking Subaru in the side, lunging at him, and throttling his neck with both hands.
“Bastard!” the young doctor howled as Subaru struggled to free himself from his grip.“Jerk!Wretch!”
Heck, presumably alerted by the ruckus inside the room, burst in and was horrified by what she saw.
“Guys!” she exclaimed, indecorously yanking Subaru out of the irate doctor’s clutches.“Stop! Enough already!”
“Th-thanks, Heck,” Subaru gasped, soon as Heck had pulled him away from Shinji.
Alas for Subaru!Heck retaliated with a violent swipe of her hand at the back of his head.Shinji was pretty shocked by the things she said at that point.Where the young lady learned such language, he really didn’t want to know.
Subaru, on the other hand, was reduced to a blubbering lump on the floor.It was pretty hard to believe that this was the same man who amazed a fifty-thousand-strong crowd just hours earlier.
Shinji had known both of them long enough to know that Heck’s current tirade would be followed by a tide of snappy barbs from Subaru.This would then be followed by threats and counter-threats.When that happened, Shinji knew that the concerted shouting would probably disturb the whole emergency ward.Worse, knowing how bad their fights got, he was pretty sure they’d rouse up the whole hospital.The young doctor decided to head that off right then and there.
“Heck, how’s Phoebus?” he asked, breaking into the fight.“Is your brother busy back home?”
“The usual lot of patients, I guess,” Heck replied with a shrug.“Plus, he and Lupita are expecting.”
“Seriously?”Shinji stared at her and smiled.“Lucky Phoeb!”
“Man, do I feel sorry for any kid of theirs,” Subaru muttered.
“In that case…”Shinji went over to his desk and began scribbling a note.He handed it to Heck.“Tell Phoeb I need an extra pair of hands on this case.I’ll be coordinating with him from here.”
“What?”Both Subaru and Heck stared at him, obviously bewildered.
“That’s my side of it.”Shinji grinned at them.“Take Subaru home to Manila, Heck.Keep him there till he’s better.”
******
“Manong Phoeb is not going to be happy about this!” Artie exclaimed, shaking her head at what Subaru told them.
“I’m just amazed you’re still alive!” Hideto gasped, staring at his younger brother in undisguised horror.
“I know.”Subaru winked slyly at them.He passed his plate over to Artie.“Think I can have another of those buns, Artie?” he asked her.“The food on the plane sucked big time.”
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Author's Notes: Manong is a Filipino honorific for older brothers. Its use is the same as kuya which is derived from Fookien Chinese. Hideto Nishiyama is, essentially, based on Japanese rock icon Hideto "HYDE" Takarai, soloist and lead vocalist for L'Arc en Ciel.
