Our Little Ritual (YamaShi)
Horikoshi Batch 2012 Drabbles
NOTE:
The time difference between Tokyo-California is (-16 hours). So I need to note some key hours in this fic:
TOKYO TIME—CALIFORNIA TIME
9 May 2015 00.00 – 8 May 2015 06.00, Ryosuke’s Birthday
10 May 2015 00.00-9 May 2015 06.00, Tomorrowland Premiere, Mirai’s Birthday
California, May 8th 2015, 06.30, Local Time
Mirai was greeted by the pleasant weather of California the moment she stepped out of her plane. She looked around with rounded gleaming eyes, amused by the new atmosphere surrounding her, and the excitement she felt throughout her entire plane journey. The day she had eagerly waited for all these years. To walk above the city of Mickey Mouse, her childhood hero.
A few weeks ago, it was announced that she will dub Casey Newton, a character from the newest disney blockbuster movie, Tomorrowland, for the Japanese version of the movie. She was extremely ecstatic hearing the news. Disney has been a huge part of her childhood, and being able to get the opportunity to actually work with them was like a dream come true to her. Just as she thought things couldn’t get any better, they appointed her to be a representative for Japan on the world premiere of the movie in California! It’s like as if the universe couldn’t pamper her any more than that, the premiere will also happen during her birthday. That day, she is literally the happiest person in the world.
She walked past the boarding hall, following her manager and the entire troop that will be taking care of her for the rest of her stay, while dragging her trunk. She glanced outside the glass wall of the airport corridor, in which she could see clearly the beautiful view of the city. The sky around her was still dark.
It took her a few minutes to remember what date it was. It was 8th May. She had promised herself to memorize a particular moment in that date before she arrived there, but she carelessly forgotten about it due to her overexcitement. She glanced at her watch. She cursed at herself as she looked at the time was already 06.30. Which would be half past midnight of May 9th in Tokyo.
She immediately took out her phone. It was still off, of course, she had to turn it off during the entire flight. She turned it on in a rush, then frantically searched her contacts for a name. She dialed the number. But the number was busy. She tried calling it a few more times. But no answer. A voice-call replied her.
“Oh come on. Please pick up, please pick up...” she mumbled to herself. But there never was an answer.
She was busy with her attempt on calling the number, she didn’t realize that she was already inside her private vehicle, being driven to the hotel she was going to stay in that city. Moments later, she was already inside the hotel lobby she was going to stay in for a few days. The moment she saw her manager talking to some random foreign people in her hotel lobby, she knew she’d never be able to make that one call for the rest of the day. She sighed.
******
California, May 9th 2015, 06.00, Local Time
That day Mirai woke up incredibly early. Yesterday she had a really busy day preparing for her wardrobe and briefing for the ceremonial and greetings stuff that she had to do for that day. She barely had any rest after her long flight from Tokyo. She should be tired, but she was too excited for that day, she couldn’t sleep any longer the moment dawn welcomed California.
She was spacing out on the balcony of her hotel room, gazing at the beautiful lights of California City below her, when her phone suddenly ring. It was precisely 06.00 in the morning that second. She quickly grab her phone and checked the phone screen. She smiled upon seeing the caller’s ID. She picked up the phone. Before she could say anything, the caller had made her lost for words.
“Happy birthday to you...
Happy birthday to you....
Happy birthday dear Mirai-chan....
Happy birthday to you....”
She recognized that voice. His singing voice; the low, stable, soft and soothingly beautiful voice. Hearing it raw without any musical instruments makes it even better. Her heart thumped wildly due to the sudden emotional outburst. She didn’t realize when her eyes starts to fog with tears, touched by the simple captivating moment. There was a long silence after he ended the song.
“Mirai-chan?”
The person across the line called her name questioningly. Clearly, he was clueless how deep his minor action had affected Mirai’s heart.
“Baka. Yamada Ryosuke no baka,” Mirai whispered softly, her heart trembled. For a fleeting moment, she can feel the butterflies in her stomach, and her heart fluttering in a pleasant kind of feeling. Her face marooning.
“Eh?” the boy perplexed.
“I haven’t even said happy birthday to you, baka. But yet you suddenly made an international call and called me just to sing that,” Mirai complained with cracked voice. “Happy birthday to you too, baka.”
“I don’t normally get called baka after accepting a late happy birthday greeting but... thanks,” Ryosuke laughed. But then he noticed the wavering tone in Mirai’s voice. Ryosuke was now even more confused. “Eh? Are you crying?”
“No,” Mirai said. But she sniffled, then cursed at herself for being so obvious afterwards. “It’s just a little cold in here, that’s why my voice is hoarse.”
“Ah... right. It must be early dawn in there. It’s pitch black in here,” Ryosuke laughed again.
“Besides, my birthday is still one day later, silly,” Mirai said, after she managed to regain her composure, giggling. “It’s still 9th May in the morning here.”
“It doesn’t matter. You were born here in Japan right this second. If Angelina Jolie was born on 9th May in there, then she has the same birth date as you right? Then if I was born in LA, we would’ve been like a long lost twin.”
Mirai burst out laughing until her stomach ache. It took a few minutes for her to recover from that.
“You were just too lazy to count the time difference, weren’t you?” Mirai said teary-eyed.
“Maybe...,” Ryosuke said, leaving a hanging tone in the end. Mirai could imagine Ryosuke grinning sheepishly on the other side of the line.
“I told him about the time difference but he was too stupid to understand!”
Mirai heard some faint shout from Ryosuke’s background.
“Oi! What the hell are you doing here? Get out of my room!”
Soon she heard a boy laughing and some arguments being thrown against eachother, she could not make out the words due to the extreme audio commotion. She even had to distant herself from the phone.
“By the way, Mirai-chan! Happy birthday!” that was all the words she could identify before the boy’s voice finally dissapeared.
“Sorry about that,” Ryosuke returned to the line, sighing.
“Was that Chinen?” Mirai guessed. It must be him, no doubt.
“Yeah...” Ryosuke said. “I’m sure you’ve heard his last words? He said happy birthday.”
“I did,” Mirai smiled wildly to herself imagining the boys having their usual silly fights. “Tell him I said thank you. What are you guys doing there?”
“He stayed overnight with Keito after they gave me a birthday surprise last night.”
“What did he do this time?”
“He came knocking at my door in the middle of the night with such a lousy annoying scream, until I finally surrendered and let them in,” Ryosuke laughed.
“He better come up with a good surprise. So, what did he get you this time?”
“Chinen made me run a marathon outside my house while holding his hand, saying that its my birthday present. Him and I, cherishing the moment together and not to let go off our hands,” Ryosuke grumbled. “He is such a pain in the .”
Mirai laughed even harder. She wouldn’t be able to see Ryosuke smiling face on the other side of the line hearing this. Mirai’s wild laugh was probably one of his favorite traits about the girl.
“That’s for spoiling him too much,” Mirai commented. “It’s your fault. I seriously can’t picture you having a girlfriend now that you told me all that.”
Mirai’s laughter gradually stopped. She didn’t know why she felt a tingling feeling in her chest when she said those words out, mentioning the word girlfriend at her bestfriend. They were silent for a while.
“Seriously? That was all he gave you?” Mirai shifted to another subject.
“Actually, he, Keito, and a friend bought me a cleaning robot!” Ryosuke said excitedly.
“EH? You mean cleaning robot like, an ACTUAL ROBOT?” Mirai startled.
“Yeah,” Ryosuke cackled more. “I didn’t expect that.”
"That is so nice of them!" Mirai commented.
“Oh, Tomo came too.” He added.
“Tomo?” Mirai raised a brow.
“Yamaa Tomohisa-kun.”
“Oh, right! I totally forgot you two were that close to call eachother first names,” Mirai smiled. “Let me guess, you guys spend the entire night video gaming?”
“Bingo!” Ryosuke responded excitedly. “You know me too well Mirai-chan.”
“You guys are too easy to read,” Mirai rolled her eyes.
“Hey, if I was the one in LA, we would’ve been celebrating our birthday together then?”
Mirai giggled. “Yeah... that would’ve been so cool.”
“Wait, if I moved out to USA, does that make me younger by a day? Gosh this is so confusing. I think my head’s gonna explode.”
“Don’t push your brain too hard,” Mirai sneered. “They barely function well, don’t damage it even further.”
“Hey! That’s cruel! Is that how you thank your friend for singing you happy birthday?”
“Baka!” Mirai’s face turned serious.
“Eh?! Why am I getting a negative response from you so far? You didn’t like the singing?”
“I hate it,” she responded coldly.
“Whaaat?? Whyyy? Not everyday people can be serenaded by Ryosuke Yamada of Hey! Say! JUMP you know.”
“You’re voice,” Mirai continued, with a pout. “It’s annoyingly beautiful and soothing. I hate it!”
“Well, I’m sorry. I was born with it.” Ryosuke laughed. “Hey, you haven’t told me. How was your trip so far?”
“I haven’t been doing nothing but hopping from one room to another, trying on different outfits and meeting people to discuss some matters,” Mirai said. “It turns out to be boring as hell.”
“Hey, of course you’d have to go through all that. The premiere hasn’t started yet anyway, it’s today right? You’re gonna have so much fun today.”
“And I’m going to meet George Clooney!” Mirai shrieked. But then she immediately shut , looking around, afraid that she might’ve disturbed someone.
“Dude, he has a wife you know?”
“I know that!” Mirai’s tone slightly got higher. “So? I still think he’s georgeous.”
“Whatever.”
“Hey, you were the one who asked me about my feelings,” Mirai laughed, sensing Ryosuke’s sudden uninterested tone. She could hear him laughing along too.
They continued their conversation playfully. She hadn’t noticed that the sun was gradually rising from the horizon where she could see from her balcony.
“Ah, yabai,” Mirai suddenly said. “We’ve been talking for a long time. This call must be really expensive.”
“Don’t worry about such things,” Ryosuke responded. “It’s only once in a while anyway.”
“I need to prepare myself for today’s event too,” Mirai said reluctantly.
She could see Ryosuke sighed from the other side of the line. “Okay then. Have fun for today.”
“Ne Yama-chan?” Mirai inquired with a soft voice.
“Yeah?”
“Will we still be able to celebrate eachother’s birthday like this a few years from now?” she said hesitantly.
“Of course we will. We’ve been doing it for the past eight years we’ve known eachother, right?”
“Well, yeah, but...“ Mirai bit her lip. “Yesterday morning, when I got off that plane and I wasn’t able to contact you in time for your birthday, I was feeling sad and depressed.”
“What the hell is that?” Ryosuke laughed. “Aren’t you being a little overdramatic?”
“But I mean it!” Mirai responded protestily. “I was extremely scared.”
“We’re getting busier and busier every year. We don’t even see eachother often anymore. I’m not sure for how much longer we can keep up with this ritual.”
She could hear Ryosuke let out a short breath.
“Mirai-chan, I don’t care if it’s just a second. I don’t even care if you won’t be able to make a call or not. What I care about is that in 9th May I get to receive a prayer from someone out there called Shida Mirai. And 10th May I’ll be able to return her the favor by giving her my prayer too. That’s enough for me even for just one second. That is enough for me to call it a celebration.”
“Yama-chan...” that was all she could let out from . She was taken aback.
“And it’ll always be our little ritual.”
It took sometime for Mirai to finally gave her only response before they ended their conversation that day. “Uhn.”
“So, happy birthday Mirai-chan,” Ryosuke finalized, with a slight cackle.
“Happy birthday to you too Mr.Ryosuke,” Mirai answered with a smile.
Ryosuke had no idea his last words had made Mirai’s cheeks redden and her heart skipping beats for the next few hours. Even when she attended the premiere and had all the fun with the fans and the cast greetings, she could still feel the lingering feeling she felt that moment. And her anticipation to go back to Tokyo and having a chance to greet that boy in person.
(end)
Author's Note:
I attempted to write this one-shot on Ryosuke-Mirai's birthday, but due to some time constraint and some other circumstances, I only managed to post it today. But anyway, HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY MY TWO FAVORITE PERSON: RYOSUKE & MIRAI :D
So, as you all know, Mirai attended the world premiere of Tomorrowland on her birthday! Actually, the date of the premiere in California was 9th May, which was Ryosuke's birthday, but during that time, it was 10th May in Tokyo, so practically it was during her birthday. Right? lol.
Ryosuke told us in JUMPAPER that Chinen, Keito, and a friend bought him a cleaning robot, lol. I just had to put that in xD
And the part where Yama-P coming over to his house, it happened quiet often a while ago, but having it happened during Ryosuke's birthday was just purely my imagination. Because I love both Yama-chan and Yama-P and I really love the fact that they are really close with eachother in real life.
Anyway, that was the first one-shot. ENJOY xD
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