Kame scratched the back of his head, stretching a bit to loosen himself. It had been a tiring day. He just wanted to have a peaceful alone time, and so decided to pick his camera and went to the rooftop. If he’s lucky enough the sky would have decorated with some spongy clouds and gave some beautiful scene for him to shoot some photos. Tokyo was such a metropolitan area that it was quite rare for Kame to shoot some nice pictures.

When he reached the rooftop, he was a bit surprised to see Shige sitting on one of the bench with his camera at his side. The lens of his camera was in his hands, wiping it with a soft cloth. Shige looked back when he noticed someone else’s presence.

“I just wanted to take some pictures of the clouds,” Kame said when Shige kept staring at him.

“Unfortunately the clouds aren’t available today,” Shige answered.

Kame craned his neck, looking up at the wide blue sky. It was true. There wasn’t even a faintest wisp of white adorning the blue sky. Kame sighed to himself. There goes his dream of taking some photos. Maybe he should just go home and take the pictures of his balcony again. At least there was some green.

“And I thought of taking some pictures of the sky,” Kame complained before looking up to Shige. “What are you doing here anyway?”

Shige paused. He glanced at Kame one more time before angling for his camera, attaching his lens back. Once the clicking sound heard, Shige held his camera facing upwards, placing the viewfinder in front of his eyes, up to the sky. Kame blinked a few times when Shige actually shot a picture.

“Wait,” Kame breathed. “You actually took a picture of a sky? What would you see from it?”

“Why not?” Shige shrugged. “I don’t have better things to do. My shooting ended, and my band is kind of in a ty position right now.”

Kame fell in silence at Shige’s words. Somehow, Shige sounded sad and disappointed. “I’m sorry,” Kame whispered. “I understand how you feel,” he was trying to be diplomatic. Though he hoped he wouldn’t be pull too deep in this.

“No, you don’t,” Shige almost mumbled as he took off his lens again. Swiftly his hands disentangled some other parts of his camera, cleaning them once again before putting them back in his bag.

Kame’s head jerked up, looking at Shige incredulously. “Hey, I do!” Kame defended himself. “We lost a member ourselves, remember?”

Shige shook his head, zipping his bag and shouldered it. “No, you don’t. Because you’re not a loser. You would never understand how I feel,” Shige continued as he walked away, leaving Kame alone on the rooftop.

Kame frowned before registering what Shige had said. But Kame decided not to judge anyway. Not again. Not anymore. Kame had matured more than that to even judge people any longer. And so he let out a sigh, slouching on the bench where Shige previously sat. Just when he was propping himself back on his hands, he felt a small chip poking under his palm. Kame looked down, noticing a memory stick of a camera forgotten on the bench. Slowly Kame picked it up. Shige must’ve accidentally left it there in a hurry.

*****

Kame held a printed photo in his hand. It was one of the photos that attracted Kame from the memory stick he picked at the rooftop. Okay, Kame knew it was wrong to open other people’s files without permission, but Kame had to make sure if it was actually belonged to Shige. What if it was actually there before Shige even got there, so this should be forgivable? Kame pursed his lips. What a lame excuse he came up for himself. Truth was, he just could not restrain his curiosity. Shige had always carried his camera everywhere. Kame always wondered what type of pictures he could take in Jimusho, where there was probably nothing to shoot for. But when Kame opened the chip, he had to admit the photos are very well captured. There were the pictures of NEWS fooling around in their dressing room, their pictures eating out together, Koyama’s pictures in News Every, and there were even photos of Shige’s fans during NEWS concerts. And Kame had to admit it looked beautiful and sad at the same time, even without mere touch of nature. It voiced out admiration, bond and trust. Shige adored his bandmates, he appreciated his fans more than anyone thought he did.

“Aren’t that Yamapi and Ryo?”

Kame almost threw the printed picture in shock at the sudden interruption of his thoughts. Cursing under his breath, he glared back at Ueda who was peeking from his back.

“Don’t blame me. You’re the one who spaced out at work,” Ueda promptly raised his hands in surrender.

“You should have said hi first,” Kame said half-snarling.

Ueda’s brows rose as he shrugged at Kame’s demand. “Hi.”

“Forget it,” Kame rolled his eyes, before fixing his eyes back at the printed photo in his hand. It was a picture of two guys walking on a road of Tokyo, they both slightly facing the opposite direction, but they were looking at each other with a wide smile. Probably the two were laughing when the picture was taken. “How do you know they were Yamapi and Nishikido anyway?”

Ueda frowned, looking down at Kame in confusion. “You’re kidding me right? It’s not that hard to distinguish Yamapi and Ryo from behind,” he chuckled a bit. “Would you mind giving me a copy of that photo?”

Kame blinked once, looking at Ueda with dramatically wide eyes. “Ueda, I knew you’re a Yamapi fanboy, but I didn’t know you’re that desperate.”

Ueda smacked Kame’s head softly. “Idiot, it’s not because of Yamapi. It’s because of the photo.”

Kame rubbed his head with a pout, but he looked at the photo again regardless. He had almost forgotten how much Ueda loved arts. There was probably something the boxer saw in the picture that attracted him.

“What did you see, Ueda?” Kame asked, holding the photo up, as if trying to inspect more.

Ueda raised his eyebrows. “Well, I assume it isn’t yours then.” Ueda smiled, pulling a chair to perch on. “It looks like two friends parting different paths but in a very warm way, considering how they smiled so widely. What do you think? Arts are about opinions anyway.”

Kame hummed, as if he was thinking so hard. “What a coincidence. It looks like they’re heading forward towards a promising future.” For a slight moment, Kame thought the picture suited NEWS current issue.

Ueda folded his arms, pursing his lips as he crossed his legs. “I don’t think it was coincidence. Whoever took this picture is a genius,” Ueda disagreed. “The composition was perfect. He positioned Yamapi and Ryo at the bottom one third of the picture, revealing the road ahead of them. And they were slightly facing the opposite way as if they’re parting. It gives the effect that they’re going separately yet they still walking on the same path, and they still have a long way to go. If he positioned Yamapi and Ryo at the upper one third of the picture, it would give a different feeling then.”

"It would give the effect of leaving and disappointment with that composition. And they would look like they actually reached their destination," Kame nodded in agreement, eyes still fixed on the photo. “I don’t know you’re quite good in photography.”

“I’m not,” Ueda shrugged and looked at Kame knowingly. “I just happen to have a friend who is so interested in photography that it made me think quite a lot,” he paused for a while. “But please stop taking pictures of your own balcony.”

Kame grinned at that. He sighed contently at the picture in his hand. “I saw love and support.”

*****

Shige was getting ready to go home, clearing some stuff on his vanity. Just when he was about to leave, he noted Kame standing at the door of his group's dressing room.

“You do realize Yamapi and Nishikido won’t be here any longer right?” Shige said dismissively.

“I didn’t come to meet them. Besides, I get along well with Tegoshi and Massu too. I have tons of reasons for me to be here,” Kame stepped in, taking out the printed picture of Yamapi and Ryo that he discussed with Ueda, placing it on the table together with Shige’s memory stick. Shige looked down in shock.

“Where did you get that?” Shige asked amused.

“You left it on the bench at the rooftop,” Kame answered. “Sorry I didn’t return it sooner,” he tucked on the photo a bit to take one last look. “You’re probably worse than Nishikido when it comes to words. You support them, so stop acting like you don’t.”

Shige looked at Kame blankly. He wasn’t sure how to answer that actually. He felt so with such remark, as if he couldn’t gather the strength to keep the walls he’d built in place of his insecurities. Kame smiled, picking the memory stick, taking Shige’s hand and placed the chip in his palm.

“Just in case you had yet to realize, you’re not a loser,” Kame continued. “You’re like a black hole. Making everyone all curious to approach you, and when they’re near enough, you them into your world and never let go. I might be one of the victims.”

Shige wasn’t sure when he stiffened and by the time he could finally read the moment, Kame’s face was inches away.

“Isn’t that the most important thing an idol should have?” Kame whispered so softly, so encouragingly that Shige almost lost himself. And before he even knew it, he felt Kame’s soft lips planted carefully into his. It was a soft chaste kiss that lasted a few seconds, and it ended before Shige could even respond. For a few seconds, Shige thought the time stopped, enveloping them both into their own world.

“Let’s go photo hunting together next time. You’re pretty much creative yourself,” Kame broke the silence before fishing out another photo. “I’m keeping this one, though,” he swung the photo in front of Shige’s eyes.

Shige's eyes widened. It was the photo of the blue sky Shige took in front of Kame on the rooftop. Shige remembered how he took the photo. It was mostly the picture of the sky, but he made sure there was a glimpse of the sky scrapers at the left bottom of the picture framing it. And the color temperature from his camera registered some bright light that made the photo appeared natural.

“I seriously thought you’re just taking the picture of the blue sky. But your framing techniques made it look different, not as boring as I thought,” Kame took a look at the picture once again. “It has the feeling of wider and higher.”

Shige swore Kame had done the talking out of his mouth that evening, as if Kame had known him for years, as if Kame had been his voice. Kame chuckled when he realized how Shige looked so astounded, when what Kame had been saying all along was actually all about Shige’s awesomeness. The photos said it all, storing almost all of Shige’s voices and hopes and dreams.

“Let’s move higher, Shige,” Kame smiled encouragingly. “Let’s move forward and support each other. We are all still on the same path after all.”


~The End~