Chapter 5: Rules of Survival

Kame stood outside the studio trying to prepare himself for the upcoming meeting. Yue was already inside speaking with AT-TUN. Kazuya was really nervous and yells coming from the room made him even more scared and unsure. He wasn’t as shy as in his childhood but meeting a famous guy with whom he exchange his bad luck wasn’t appealing; he wasn’t looking forward to it.

After a minute he got a signal from Yue to come inside. He stepped inside the room anxiously and bowed deeply. When he stood straight again he saw the whole band looking at him weirdly. He could tell that they’re confused by his slightly sudden appearing in the studio.

For a short while they all stood silently. Kazuya’s eyes was scanning the guys slowly to finally look at the man he had met at the alley a few days ago. Akanishi was looking at him intensely. Suddenly his eyes got wide and a frown on his face change into anger.

“YOU!!!”

Jin tried to jump on Kame but Koki and Nakamaru quickly caught him. Kazuya squeaked and before someone could stop him, he ran away in an unknown direction. Akanishi was trying to break from his friends but Yue slapped him painfully in the head.

“Why did you do it?! He’s the ing one who stole my luck!” Jin roared angrily but Mitsui was equally unhappy with his attitude.

“Shut up! He came here on his own will because he is feeling bad about this mess! If you let him talk at least we would be able to help you came back to normal!”

She screamed. It was quite unusual for her; she was rather collected but this time she really freaked out. Yue pulled out her mobile phone and called the security. She was sure that Kame didn’t exit the building but it was better they close all the back doors and windows - the boy was unpredictable and scared to death by Bakanishi.

“We need to split. He’s probably hiding somewhere. We have to find him and take him to the studio. Bakanishi, it’s better if I won’t hear that you tried to do something to him.” She said and Jin only looked at her with a weird expression on his face.

“Okay, so… who’s going with who?” Ueda asked looking at the others.

“I’m going with Yue-chan!”

Junno reacted first and immediately moved to the girl’s side with a wide grin. Mitsui raised an eyebrow and eyed him warily. The guy was nice and rather easy-going but there was something in him that made her suspicious. She shook off the weird feeling and agreed to go with him to check a lower floor. Jin and Koki decided to go on an upper floor and went towards the staircase. Ueda and Nakamaru started walking along the corridors thinking that maybe the guy just ran around the corner and waited for everyone to go home. A few minutes later they came back to the studio. They looked everywhere for the man, even under old boxes stored in a small dusty room at the end of the hall. Ueda and Maru quickly got bored waiting for the others and not having anything better to do, they started talking.

“Jin-kun really scared that guy. But I wonder why Yue-san got so angry.” Nakamaru started.

“Who knows? They don’t look like lovers to me so he’s probably her friend or something.” Ueda replied examining his nails.

“Hm… It’s possible, though I can hardly believe it. Yue-san is really scary when mad; way more terrifying than Jin is, yet the guy ran away seeing him. If he was Yue-san’s friend, he wouldn’t be that scared.”

“Maybe, it doesn’t matter…” Ueda said but his bored expression was exchange with a mischievous one. ”I’m more surprised that Akanishi got angry at the guy at all. He was way too cute for a man. If Akanishi didn’t tell us that it was a guy that had kissed him, I would believe I’m seeing a girl in front of me.”

“Well… He had a slightly girly face but it’s not nice to call him a girl.” Ueda just rolled his eyes.

“I’m not saying he is one. Besides, it’s not the point. The thing is that even though he is a man, he is exactly Akanishi’s type.” Ueda was deep in his thoughts before he spoke again with a smirk. “Hm… maybe I should make a movie about Akanishi? Title: ‘Akanishi Jin and his failures’; plus additional material ‘First kiss with a guy change my life’. I would make a nice cash of it!”

“And who would buy this movie?”

“Pi, of course. Maybe Midget or some other member of NEWS in particular. And if not, there are always crazy fans, aren’t they?”

“Yue-san would kill you if you sold it to the fans. And Yamaa-kun is living with Jin now. I don’t think that he would like to experience it again in the near future; his apartment is already in danger with Jin-kun as a flatmate and seeing what damages he had caused…”

Nakamaru visibly shivered at the mere thought of Jin at his own place. He wasn’t a pedantic person but it didn’t mean that he liked broken vases and having a burnt kitchen. He really pitied Yamapi, the guy really didn’t deserve it.
 

“Seriously! If I catch him, he’s a dead man!” Akanishi was still angry with the boy.

“Can you stop it? I don’t care about what Yue is going to do to you, for me she can even skin you alive. But I won’t let you kill that boy, he didn’t look like a bad guy. I think it was just an accident, you can’t blame him.”

“Of course, I can! He was the one who ran into me, he was the one who kissed me!”

“Ha! So you admit that it WAS a kiss after all?” He teased Jin knowing that the boy will deny his words.

“What? No, I don’t! Our lips just touched, that’s it!”

“But you just said that you kissed.” Koki smirked.

“No, I didn’t.” Bakanishi was really stubborn.

“Yes, you did.”

“I didn’t.”

“You did.”

“No.”

“Yes!”

“No!”

“YES, YOU DID!”

“I DIDN’T!”

“You didn’t.”

“YES, I DID!...” Koki raised an eyebrow and smiled widely. Jin only groaned realizing his mistake. “Whatever... Better look for him and stop playing stupid games!”

“Hai, hai…”

The guys were going along the corridor. On the upper floor were mostly storages for old instruments and offices. One of those belonged to AT-TUN. They didn’t need it much because almost all of their meetings were held in the second floor studio or at the members places. The office was only used when one needed a time for himself to write lyrics or melody, or as a punishment room. When some of the them was misbehaving, Yue would take him to the office and make him suffer. Her tortures included: copying lyrics by hand, segregating papers, cleaning alone the whole studio and the office, being an AD for the guys, and making push-ups. It wasn’t especially painful but pretty exhausting.

When Koki and Jin made her way towards their office, they heard a quiet noise coming from the inside. They stopped and strained their ears. Slowly, they came closer to the door and Jin gripped the door handle. They looked at each other and nodded before the boy opened the door.
 

Junno was walking with a huge smile on his face. The girl was quite wary of him, especially that the boy was pretty close to her and she couldn’t move away from him - the wall next to her prevented any movement. She was glancing at him from time to time trying to digest why Junno wanted to go with her. They rarely talked to each other outside the studio; they had nothing in common. Well, at least she thought they didn’t.

“Yue-chan, why were you angry with Jin-kun? It’s normal that he feels unhappy, maybe you should be more understanding?” Mitsui was so shocked at his statement that she forgot to scold him for using THAT honorific; he caught her of the guard but instead of being mad at him, she seriously thought about the sudden question.

“Well… I can understand that he doesn’t like the situation.”

“Then why?” Junno looked at her curiously.

“Kamenashi Kazuya, the guy that caused Bakanishi’s bad luck is my best friend. Bakanishi can complain about it but the true is that what’s happening to him is just like a single grain of rice. It’s the first time that Kazuya has a little luck and I’ve known him for fourteen years.” The girl didn’t see a small twitch of an eyebrow at the mention of Kazuya’s name.

“Kamenashi-kun is that unlucky?” He asked disbelieving.

“Yeah.” She shrugged her shoulders and peeked into one of the rooms, the boy wasn’t there. “It’s hard to believe but after his birth the nurse had slipped on the floor almost dropping him. At the age of two, he almost had fallen down from a cupboard. The older he was, the worse happened. Now it’s normal for him to be wet, dirty, sore and injured every day.”

“It sounds bad but aren’t you exaggerating?” He was still doubtful; she just groaned tiredly.

“Unfortunately, no, I’m not. The police calls me at least once a week. In one day he can get bitten by a dog, attacked by squirrels or pigeons and taken for a stalker or molester... Well, sometimes he gets molested, that’s why I’m making him wear glasses. It prevents him from being mobbed a little. Actually, you can ask Kame himself, he will tell you almost everything.” Junno’s eyes were wide and his mouth hung open.

“Why... ‘almost’?” He wasn’t sure, he wants to know.

“I call him Kame on purpose. He’s quite blind when it comes to people’s affections towards him. He doesn’t know it but during our vacation between second and third grade of high school he had became an eye-candy. He had more stalkers and molesters than you can imagine, he isn’t aware how people look at him. He’s slow like a turtle.”

“Hm… He looks quite nice but I don’t feel anything…” She snorted at Junno’s musing.

“Yeah, because you’re straight AND you haven’t seen him before. He was an awkward kid with a pair of caterpillars instead of eyebrows. If I hadn’t been there at the time I would think he had got himself a plastic surgery.”

Junno couldn’t hide his surprise. The boy seemed interesting and really unlucky. He started to understand why the girl was upset with Jin but he quickly forgot about it and concentrated on more serious questions…

Does she think that some of our friends are gays? Or she just wanted to say that Kamenashi-kun attracts men?...
 

Jin and Koki walked into the room and closed the door. they tried to be as silent as was possible to not startle the boy. Jin came closer to the old wardrobe and peeked inside. Meanwhile Koki walked around the desk to open a closet. he was quite surprised seeing a huge box. He gently lifted a lid up. Strangely, it was empty.

“Why Yue is keeping a huge box in the closet?”

“Why the hell should I know? Maybe she wants to kill us and then send our bodies away so no would know.”

Jin shrugged looking through clothes, searching for any sign of a small body. Koki shivered and paled at Jin’s words but quickly realized that it’s impossible. I shouldn’t watch ‘Saw V’ anymore. The man shook his head to clear it from scary images and closed the closet. He scratched his head and turned around to look at Jin. Akanishi sighed, there was nothing there, the room was empty. He signalized to Koki that they should kept going when the rapper caught something weird in the corner of his eyes.

“Hey, Jin. Who was in the office lastly?”

“...Yue, I guess. Why?”

Koki furrowed his eyebrows and looked at the chair that wasn’t fully slided under the desk. Koki shushed Jin who wanted to say something and made his way towards the chair. He grabbed the backrest and pushed it forward. Not only the chair was stopped half-way but also they heard a short squeak. Koki quickly moved away the piece of furniture. When he bended down he saw a pair of wide eyes looking at him in fright. Koki smiled gently and crouched down. The boy looked like a small animal that was scared of a human.

“Come out, we won’t do anything to you.” He stretched out his hand and the boy slowly shifted closer. Suddenly the boy moved away again looking past Koki. “Akanishi, can you take a few steps back, please? You’re scaring him.” Jin only groaned unsatisfied but decided to listen to Koki.

“You won’t kill me, right?” They heard a shy voice and glanced at the boy who was now a little more visible under the desk.

“...I won’t, okay? Now get out. the rest is waiting.”

Jin said and went towards the door. Kame slowly grabbed Koki’s hand and let himself be pulled up. He assured the man in front of him that he’s alright and neatened his slightly wrinkled clothes.

The boys were going back to the studio. Jin, still annoyed by the situation he had found himself in, was a few meters ahead of Koki and Kame, cursing and muttering under his breath. Kazuya was slightly scared of him; he couldn’t help being cautious around the older boy, especially knowing that it was his fault that the man had so terrible days lately. He dropped his head and crossed his arms trying to seem even smaller than he was.

He started to bit on his lower lip when a soft humming reached his ears. Kazuya was surprised seeing Koki walking next to him since he was too absorbed in blaming himself to realize that he had a company. He furrowed his eyebrows. The melody was really familiar but it was the first time for him to hear this lyrics.

“...Mada mada shiranai kirifuda wa Joker N to Y kakage…”

“I think that I heard it somewhere before…” Kame said quietly but Koki heard him anyway.

“Did you say something?”

“Um… It’s nothing… just that melody. I think I know it.” Koki was surprised.

“It’s our new song, though I added some new lines to the original lyrics. It wasn’t realized yet, I’m supposed to sing it with Nakamaru.”

“Sorry, but... I don’t know your names. I haven’t seen any of you either,” It was even a bigger shock for the young rapper, Kame felt embarrassed with his lack of knowledge about the band.

“...Have you ever heard any of our songs?”

“I might… I’m not sure… But Yue talks about AT-TUN sometimes. She mostly complaints or praises your skills. She doesn’t use your names, more like nicknames. You’re the rapper, right?”

“Yep, I am. None of them can rap like I do.” Koki straightened up and said with pride. “Nakamaru is the guy that is beatboxing in AT-TUN.”

“Oh… could you sing it again?” The rapper only nodded and started singing.

“Mada mada tarinai furuwasero hands up / Orera no flow de ride on night. One on one / Mada mada party night kuruwasero bounce of bounce / Tomaranai kooru wa one on one / Duuragu ni goorudocheen ashimoto wa suniikaa / Buttobi na rhythm de dance all night. One on one / Mada mada shiranai kirifuda wa joker N to Y kakage / Shout wohhh... Shout...”

“It's just a game yakusoku no jikan basho / Nori nigaara tsukamitoreya shinai / Keisan doori shatei kyori no naka de / Doko made ikeru? Buchiataru made wa…” Koki was really surprised.

“It’s Maru’s part, how do you…?” His eyes was big and he was staring at Kame in suspicion.

“Um… It’s mine, I mean lyrics. I know them because I had written them.”

“Wait, you are K2?!” He yelled and Kazuya jumped up slightly startled.

“Yes, it’s me…” He said warily observing the man’s reaction.

“Dude… your songs are cool! Even rapping parts aren’t bad and I’ve been doing it for a few years now. Yue didn’t want to tell me who’s the author; I wanted to ask you if you don’t mind me adding some lines to it.”

“No problem at all! It sounds much better with your new parts. Thank you, I’m happy that you like it.”

“I’m Tanaka Koki but just call me Koki, everybody does.”

“Kamenashi Kazuya, you can call me Kame.”

Kame smiled, he was more relaxed around the other boy now. Even though the rapper’s appearance at first scared him, Kazuya quickly learned that Koki is a nice man with a big heart. They were walking and talking about Kazuya’s lyrics, the band and other stuff. Kame was especially happy hearing about Koki’s animals and excited when the rapper promised to let Kazuya meet his ‘children’. The almost didn’t realize that they are already in front of the studio. They came inside when the rest was waiting for them. Apparently Akanishi called them and informed about Kame being found.

“Hey, guys. Do you know that Kame is a songwriter? He wrote ‘Butterfly’ and ‘One On One’.” Koki announced and Kazuya blushed when the band looked at him with slight admiration.

“Ueda Tatsuya, I’m going to sing ‘Butterfly’ with Akanishi. It’s an interesting song.”

“Thank you. I’m Kamenashi Kazuya.” The boy bowed while the others introduced themselves.

“Okay, we know each other now. By the way, the guy fuming in the corner is Akanishi Jin, call him Bakanishi if you want...” Yue pointed towards the man.

“Oi!”

“First, what exactly happened?”

“He ran into me, we landed on the ground and our lips met. That’s it!” Jin snapped.

“You mean you kissed, right?” The only answer she got was a groan from Jin.

“If the kiss exchanged your lucks then maybe another one can turn it back?” All eyes turned towards Junno who was passionately playing on his PSP.

“Well… I can’t believe that I’m gonna say that but… he might be right.”

Everyone’s eyes widened. Jin looked at Kame at the same time as Kazuya looked at him. It was a crazy idea but there was this small chance that it will work. Kame gulped hard, frightened by Akanishi’s expression. The older boy wasn’t happy with it, rather he was far from it. He was glaring at the smaller boy with anger and frustration. He would never thought that he will have to kiss someone just because of some stupid exchange! It was humiliating!

Not seeing any other choice, Jin quickly grabbed Kame’s head and smacked his lips with the boy’s. Kazuya was shocked with his action, totally unprepared for it. He could feel the force the other boy put in the gesture. It was rough and hard. Jin tried to release all his anger with that kiss not caring if he’s going to hurt the other boy. It wasn’t the same kiss as before. Kame could feel that his lips are swollen and started to bruise but he was too afraid to pull away.

Somehow, at first forced kiss, changed. Jin intended to just touch the other’s lips and close his eyes to not see the boy but after about two seconds, he forgot about his intentions and started moving his lips. He was still mad but couldn’t help himself from kissing Kame harder. The other’s lips were addicting - sweet and yet sour at the same time, just like a forbidden fruit. It was driving him crazy and he didn’t want to let it go but he knew he had to.

Jin pulled away from the stunned boy. He looked at his face and he wasn’t sure about his feelings. He was annoyed with Kame but he also felt himself being drawn towards him. For the first time he looked at Kazuya properly and he couldn’t deny that he liked what he saw. His eyes stayed longer on the boy’s pouty lips. He found them really inviting and wouldn’t mind kissing them again.

“So… now what?” Koki interrupted the silence.

“We have to see if everything is back to normal.” Yue answered after she got back her composure.

“And how are we gonna do it?” Jin asked, finally stopping ogling the poor boy.

“Lottery.” She shrugged her shoulders like it was the most obvious answer in the world.

“Lottery?!” AT-TUN shouted together.

“Yeah, lottery, don’t scream.” She came closer to the table and took out two dices from her bag.

“Why do you have dices with you?” Ueda asked.

“If you haven’t noticed, I’m a girl and girls usually have weird stuff in their purses and since I don’t like purses, I have strange items in my bag.” She came closer to Jin and Kame. “Now, rules are simple. You both throw dices, the one who will get six, wins. If one of you gets one… well, you know.”

She passed them dices and moved away. The boys threw their dices. The result was obvious - Jin still was the unlucky one. He slammed on the couch quickly followed by Kame and Yue who knew exactly what might happen if the bad luck decides to make its appearance.

“And what now? It didn’t work. And why are you sitting so close to me?” He asked looking at Kame.

“Trying to save you from further accidents? Trust me, it’s better not to sit down before looking where you are doing it. It’s also better if there’s a second person next to you - it’s safer.”

They all were looking at Kazuya besides Yue. The boy regained his confidence. AT-TUN were surprised seeing that the boy isn’t affected one bit by a kiss though before he couldn’t utter a single word. Mitsui expected it to happen; Kame’s mind moved on from the kiss and concentrated on current situation. It was nothing new for her since the boy was always like that, he just couldn’t care about things that ended.

“Heh, I can’t let you be alone. It would be better if someone who has experience in it was with you. I can’t because of work, there’s still a lot to do. I can eventually try to find something in my grandmother’s stuff. There might be something useful. That leaves Kame.” She looked at the boy.

“What? But I…” Kame frowned.

“I know, Kame, and I’m sorry but it’s the only solution for now. I promise to make it up to you. Please, i can’t let Bakanishi injure himself even more. Someone has to teach him rules.”

“What rules?” Jin asked but they ignored him.

“...Fine, I don’t want to see him hurt himself either.” The boy was slightly sulking but agreed knowing that only he can help in this situation.

“Thank you, Kazuya. I will try to do something with your lyrics. Maybe Nakata-san will postpone your meeting.”

She smiled gently and patted the boy’s shoulder leaving the studio. The rest of AT-TUN also exited the room following Yue, thinking that it’s the best to let the two boys talk alone.

Kame And Jin were sitting next to each other awkwardly, not knowing what to do. The older boy sat there staring in front of him on the wall, analyzing his current situation. He had to spend the whole day with a boy that was the source of his misfortune. Kame wanted to bring the boy back to earth so he poked his arm. A small touch helped and Jin turned around facing him.

“Akanishi-kun, I know that you don’t like me much but it will be good for you to know how to avoid unnecessary problems. I’m sure Yue will find a cure quickly and you won’t see me ever again.” Jin looked at him and sighed heavily after a moment.

“Okay, I get it. What should I do then?”

“First, we will go to my flat. There’s everything you need and it’s a safer place than any other.” Kame stood up followed by discouraged Jin.
 

A trip to Kazuya’s flat wasn’t the easiest. Even though Kame had Jin’s luck now, they couldn’t fully keep troubles away of them. Jin almost fell down the stairs but Kame managed to pull him back on time. When they were going through the park a dog decided that Jin might be a good hydrant and peed on his pants.

Next to Kame’s apartment was a small cafe. Some customers were sitting outside enjoying their desserts when a pigeon flew just above their heads. Not only the bird collided with Akanishi’s face but also surprised customers by accident started to flail their arms. Ice-cream’s flew out of cones and landed directly on the boy’s boots.

When both boys finally stepped into the flat, Jin immediately sat on the couch and Kame went to his kitchen to bring them some refreshing water. Kazuya handed Jin his glass and sat in the chair sipping from his cup.

“Okay, wait a minute. I’m going to clean your shoes and then we will start.”

“Thanks.”

Jin nodded and Kazuya disappeared in the bathroom. While the younger boy was taking care of his boots, Akanishi made a tour around the apartment. It was quite tidy except for pieces of paper that were scattered around in weird places like, for example, on the lamp or in the fridge. He came back to the living room and grabbed one of the sheets. He was impressed, the boy was quite good in writing lyrics. He put the paper down when Kazuya was back in the room.

“Your boots are drying in the bathroom. Let’s start then.” He sat in the chair. “There’s some rules that you need to keep strictly to. Rule number one: stairs are safer than elevators.”

“What?! But I almost fell down earlier! How can stairs be better?” Jin asked disbelieving.

“Because when you fall the stairs you have a bigger chance survive… Or rather there’re less things that can kill you.”

“And how’s that possible?” Jin snorted.

“First, elevator can fall down. Second, you can get stuck there for a few days without food and/or water. Third, you can died from the lack of air. Any more questions?” Akanishi was pale like a wall in a hospital and shook his head in fear.

“No, I don’t have any questions.”

“Good. Now, rule number two: always believe in superstitions.”

“Superstitions?”

“Yeah. If you see a ladder, never go under it. If there’s a black cat in front of you, go other way. Never be alone with a mirror.”

“What do you mean by being ‘alone’ with a mirror?” Jin asked quite surprised.

“Well, take someone with you. If you are with someone in the same room with a mirror, it’s less probable to break it.”

“But.. what with our dance moves practise? There’re mirrors everywhere!”

“I’m sorry, Akanishi-kun but I think it’s better if you won’t be in that room. It’s too dangerous.” Kame smiled apologetically knowing perfectly well how hard it is to live with such bad luck. “Rule number three: never open your umbrella in the building.”

“I heard about that one but what can it do?”

“Hm… for example, the wind will be so wild that it will tear away your umbrella. Also rain will be more dangerous. There’s also a possibility that you will be a target for a lightning. I got hit twice so far though I consider myself lucky that it only ended with a few scratches and a week in a hospital...”

“Okay, fine. Can you tell me what else had happened to you in the past?”

“From life threatening things?” Jin nodded, half scared what Kazuya will tell him. ”Hm… I had fallen down from the roof - four times, I had gotten myself in the middle of a war between Yakuza twice, I had almost sunk, three times, I had a car accident once and once I was hit by a truck, I had gotten stuck in a building that had tumbled down because of an earthquake. There also had been a flood - five times, I guess, and three fires, two tsunami, four biting by a snake, once I had ran into a beehive - bees hadn’t been really happy with having their home destroyed…”

“...How old are you, again?” Jin asked in a high voice, quite shocked with what the boy told him.

“I’m 21. Why?” Kazuya said obliviously blinking at the, in his opinion, weird question while Jin’s jaw met the floor. “Are you okay? Yoohoo~ is there someone?”

Kame waved in front of Jin’s eyes with his hand but didn’t get any response. Akanishi was just staring at him with wide eyes, he didn’t even blink. The smaller boy poked him in the arm and then shake his shoulder. The older man was still petrified trying to understand how the heck the boy was able to survive all this unusual ‘events’.

Kazuya tilted his head to the right, pouted and furrowed his eyebrows thinking. Not seeing any other choice, he sent a message to Yue. The response came immediately making him jump in surprise though the reply was even more incredible. Kame eyebrows were raised high but he just shrugged and decided to follow his best friend’s advice - he poked Jin’s collarbones. The boy finally reacted but also made a really girly shriek that made Kame smile widely while Akanishi glared at him.

“Good, you’re back! Now, rule number four: don’t bend even if you see 10.000 yen lying under your feet. You might be sure, your trouser won’t stay in one piece. Rule number five:...”

Jin spend two and a half hours listening to Kazuya and ‘The Rules’. There was quite a lot to remember and he dozed off a few times during Kame’s speech. When he was focusing more on Kazuya he found himself eyeing his lips. The words were coming through one ear and leaving through the other one. He felt like a high school student again where there was only one thing worth paying attention to was his teacher’s long legs, except that this time he’s teacher was two years younger and a boy to that.

He couldn’t help himself, it was stronger than him. Those pink lips were really magnetizing. Jin wondered how it would be like to taste them again. He was quite startled by his thoughts at first but then he decided that it’s not so bad. He hadn’t been with anyone for some time and the boy was pretty, he couldn’t deny it. He focused on the lips that were moving animatedly trying to imagine them moving against his own. He stopped his daydreaming when he heard that the speech was going to the end.

“...And the last rule, the most important one: when it’s 13th and Friday, never and I mean never be alone and outside of your flat. That day you will be like a magnet for bad happenings. Well, do you understand everything?” Jin nodded. “Perfect. Now it’s time for practise.” Kazuya smiled happily.

“Practise? What am I supposed to practise? Landing at the foot of the stairs without having to go to hospital?”

“No silly! Why are you insisting on those stairs? Anyway, you have to know how to make use of ‘The Rules’. It’s the best to go to the park and check if you are able to go somewhere on your own.”

“Ah, okay.”

“Let’s go then!”

Kazuya was quite happy. Of course he was a little sad that the older boy must experience what he himself had felt all his life, but it was nice to go with someone outside without fear that a dog will bite him. Kame was bouncing happily with Akanishi shuffling along. They entered the park and sat on the bench a few meters away from the pond. When Jin asked we he should do, Kazuya only said that they should just wait - troubles will find him themselves.

Kame stretched himself enjoying a sunny weather. It was nice to relax in the park, just sitting there and admiring the beauty of the place. Flowers were blooming and leaves of the trees had nice shade of green. It was perfect: amazing trees around, colorful butterflies drinking sweet nectar, cute animals in the pond and a handsome guy next to him...

The boy frowned. He didn’t realize it before but he kind of thought about teaching Jin as of a date. He’s never been on one but taking advantage of the situation wasn’t nice and he quickly switched off his thoughts. It was better to focus on Akanishi’s bad luck. Kazuya looked at the other boy and found him glancing at the puppy that suddenly appeared next to the nearby tree. To Kame’s surprise, Jin stood up and started making his way towards the animal.

“Akanishi-kun, what are you doing?”

“Hm? I want to feed a dog, it’s so small. I bet it’s hungry, look like it’s sniffing a garbage can.”

“But… but… Akanishi-kun! Rule number fifteen! Do you remember? Never feed any ani…”

Unfortunately, Kame wasn’t able to finish his sentence. A loud yell echoed in the whole park when the puppy bit Jin’s hand. The boy moved away from it but stumbled over a root and landed in the pond with a big splash. Kazuya quickly grabbed the man by the arm and helped him get out of water. Once outside, the younger boy examined Akanishi’s palm. He sighed, thankful that the puppy was still small and his fangs weren’t much of a danger yet. He could see only a few tiny marks, the dog barely grazed the skin.

“Does it hurt?” The boy asked pressing a finger to Jin’s hand.

“Itai! Yes, it does! Could you please don’t touch it?”

“Sorry.” Kame quickly let go and Jin started massaging his palm. “Come here. We have to disinfect it.”

“You’re carrying a kit with you?” The man asked when the boy took out a first aid kit from his old backpack.

“Of course, I have it with me. I can’t go back and fro to my flat or hospital every time something happens to me. With it, I can go wherever I want to. Also Yue-chan is less worried about me.”

“Oh… What’s your relationship with Yue?” Jin was as surprised with his question as Kame. He wasn’t sure why he wanted to know but he was too curious to care at the moment.

“She’s my best friend. We know each other for years. She’s the only person aside from my family who’s willing to talk to me. She’s never really cared about my misfortune. She helps me a lot, especially when someone has to come for me to a police station. She’s great.”

Kazuya said with a tender smile. Jin felt a small pang in his chest but dismissed it almost immediately. He also stayed quiet at the mention of police, something told him that it’s better not to know more about the issue.

When Kame packed the kit to his bag, the boys decided to go to Yamapi’s flat. Jin had enough for the day even though there were still a few hours left till midnight. The way to the flat, like always, was hard. Akanishi had a not nice pleasure to step into a dog’s poop that some irresponsible owner left on the pavement. His shoes surely won’t useful for long, he was he will have to throw them out in a few days.

A few minutes later, the man got slapped. They were in the subway. It was one of the rush hours so every single space was occupied. Unfortunately, near Jin stood an older salary man who enjoyed grabbing girls’ backsides. A typical ert. Jin was turned towards the door with Kazuya in front of him but his hand was casually dangling next to him. When the ert touched the girl’s , she quickly turned around to only see Jin’s hand. When the subway stopped and Kame and Jin wanted to get out, the girl tapped Akanishi’s shoulder. When the man turned around a hand met his cheek painfully. He couldn’t believe and froze in the spot but Kazuya quickly pulled him out before the door closed again.

Finally they arrived at the flat and Jin could change his clothes. Meanwhile Kame sat at the kitchen table and wrote down all the rules knowing that the older man doesn’t remember any of them. When the man came back in a fresh t-shirt and jeans, he sat down on the opposite end of the table. He jumped up when something sharp poked him in the . It was a small plastic rectangular box with pointing angles. He put it on the surface and sat sighing heavily.

“I have enough~…” He whined and put his chin on his crossed arms lying on the piece of furniture. “Do you get slapped too?”

“Sometimes... A week ago a woman had thought I’m a stalker so she kicked me, you know, down there, and threw me in the pond. She was a martial arts master.”

“It had to hurt.”

“I got used to it.” Kame shrugged and showed the man a piece of paper. “It’s a list with ‘The Rules’. You should try to learn at least some of them. I better go home now.” He handed it to Jin and stood up.

“Thanks and… sorry for wanting to kill you this morning.” Jin scratched his neck awkwardly.

“It’s nothing, I would be angry too if something like this happened to me.”

“Yeah… sorry anyway.” Akanishi stood there watching Kame putting his shoes on. The boy turned to him and stretched out his hands.

“Here. Take my backpack. I don’t need it right now and it can help you in bad situations.” He was smiling gently while Jin was eyeing an old bag; he took it slowly.

“Thank you.” Kame shook his head.

“Don’t thank me, it’s my fault after all. If you have any question call Yue or me. I wrote my number on the back of the list. So, bye.”

The boy smiled and quickly left the apartment before Jin could say anything. The man stood there for a few seconds looking at the boy’s back. He slowly closed the door and made his way towards his temporary room. He put the backpack next to his bed and lied down on the soft mattress with an arm under his head. He took the list and looked at it. Not matter how this day was exhausting and unpleasant, Jin found some pluses in it. One, he got Kazuya’s number and two, he was able to taste a pair of quite nice lips. The situation in the subway also gave him one more enjoyable sensation.

Kame’s vanilla scent.
 

The next went by quickly full of another bad event’s for Jin and some good one’s for Kazuya. Everyone was busy that day, preparing for a new single or just simply practising dancing or singing in the studio. Jin was quite surprised when Yue called him in the evening even though her schedule was fully packed. What she had told him made his eyes wide and he didn’t wait even a second before he rushed to the studio. Once he get there, he saw Yue sitting in her chair in the office and Kame standing next to the desk panting heavily.

“Guy, I think I know where we can find a solution to our little problem.” She said looking at her computer’s screen.

“...And?” Jin asked impatiently.

“Calm down. First, take this.” She gave him a small pendant. “It will stop the bad luck for a day or two.”

“And after two days you will make me a new one?”

“Unfortunately, this pendant only works once. I’m sorry.” She apologized.

“But you said that you found a cure. It’s not the pendant, right?” Kazuya asked.

“No. Also I don’t know a cure.” The boy’s faces fell. “But I know when we can find it. The problem is that I can’t leave my job.”

“That’s okay, we will go.”

“We?” Jin asked astonished.

“Yes, we. You’re the one who wants to go back to normal, ne?” Kazuya asked and turn his head towards Yue. “What do we have to do?”

“Well… you see… there’s this old book my grandmother had. It’s about magic spells and stuff like that. I know it’s in my house but someone needs to go and find it.”

“It’s not a problem. We will look for it, ne? Akanishi-kun?” Kame said with a smile and Jin nodded happy that soon he might be able to go back to his normal life.

“Kazuya… the problem’s that… by my house I meant not the one in Tokyo.” They both looked at her surprised but Kame’s eyes quickly widened.

“You mean…?”

“Yes, Kazuya. I’m talking about my uncle’s house in our hometown.”