Summary: Who knew that a bowl of Hitsumabushi could bring forth such troubles.

The empty bowl was placed back on to the table as Junsu finished his last spoonful of his favourite treat, hitsumabushi. The unadulterated pleasure on Junsu’s face would bring a smile even to the coldest person. Junsu was a simple man, and simple things like histumabushi and soccer makes him happy. With a loud burp, which left Junsu squeaking at the unexpected volume, the man stood up and attempted to leave the quaint little shop.

He had chanced upon this little shop at one of the rare late night exploration of Japan their manager allowed them some years back. His adventurous hyungs immediately jumped onto the golden opportunity and dived right into the much acclaimed nightclub, Womb. Changmin on the other hand announced that it was high time to stock up his manga and left, whistling merrily as he skipped away. Which leaves Junsu alone. He was not in the mood for any clubbing, wanting to leave his hair free of any gunk for a while, and he had absolutely no interest in reading about women and tentacles. Thus, he decided to venture around the neighbourhood their dorm was situated at. 

It was already close to 11pm when Junsu finally got down, thus the streets were pretty empty. Rows and rows of shops were either closed or in the midst of closing, and Junsu did not have the heart to lengthen the shift of the weary workers in the shops any further. It was the start of autumn then, so the night air was a little chilly. Junsu welcomed the cool air and comfortable silence accompanying him. Japan was a land scarce country, thus town planning in Japan highly revolved around land maximization. Walking in the streets of Japan was like entering a maze, there are many turns into alleys that lead to yet another part of the street. And Junsu felt like Dora the Explorer, as he twists and turns through the maze like neighbourhood. Upon turning into a particularly secluded part of the street, Junsu caught a shop with a brightly lit signboard and that was how he found the best hitsumabushi ever.

Pulling up the handle of his luggage, Junsu was ready to leave the small restaurant when he accidentally ran into the waitress who had just served him earlier. The girl mumbled something under her breath, which Junsu did not manage to catch. Due to their inactivity in Japan, Junsu’s Japanese had deteriorated to a whole new level. Well, it was not as if his Japanese were ever that fluent to begin with, but it was never this bad. Junsu could hardly converse in proper sentences right now, and all he could remember was a bunch of nouns and of course, hitsumabushi. He could not understand half of what the girl was mumbling and it did not help that she was speaking at the same decibel of a mosquito buzzing. Throwing an apology to her, in Korean subconsciously, Junsu made his way towards the sliding doors of the restaurant only to get deterred by three burly men. The musical actor gulped visibly when he caught sight of the symbolizing tattoos on the forearms of the men standing in front of him. Yakuza.

Junsu kept stealing glances at the three men seated in front of him as he waited for the call to get through. And every time Junsu caught the unwavering eyes directed at him, he quickly looked away. In the midst of confusion, he was made to sit back from where he got up, flanked by yet another two men. The three burly men sat themselves in front of him and it seems as though the particularly muscular man who sat right in the middle were the leader as everybody seemed to be taking cues from him. Their faces were grim, to the extent of menacing, and Junsu had no idea how did he managed to land himself in such a state. He was sure he had did nothing against them for he had proceeded straight to this homely restaurant the moment he touched down, not even bothering to check in his luggage into the hotel first.

After much effort on his part, relying heavily on hand signs and broken Japanese, the singer finally obtained permission to call for help. The first person Junsu thought of was Yoochun and he quickly called the man, number on speed dial. However, the endless dialtone that drone on was a clear message that the baritone was not going to answer his call anytime soon. Desperately, Junsu dialed the next best option.

“Hello?”

The immense relief when Jaejoong finally picked up his phone had Junsu let out a long breath.

“Hyung!” He squeaked in panic.

“What’s wrong, Junsu-yah?” Jaejoong questioned immediately when he picked up the tension behind Junsu’s tone. There was a reason why Jaejoong was always being referred as the band umma.

“Hyung, you got to help me! I’m being surrounded by yakuzas and I have no idea what to do right now!”

“Yakuzas?”

Junsu nodded his head frantically although he knew that Jaejoong could not see him.

“I have no idea what they were talking about, but they kept pushing me a piece of paper and pen! It’s as if they want me to sign on it. Oh my god sun, what if this is some illegal contract and if I sign on it, I would have to give them a million dollars?”

“Where are you right now? I’m coming over to find you,” Jaejoong instructed over the phone as he immediately went to the airline website.

“But you are in Korea while I’m in Japan!”

“Well, turn up your charm and try to hold on for another three hours. Yes, there’s still tickets available!” Jaejoong cried out as he quickly bought the air ticket destined to Japan.

Left with no other choices, Junsu relayed the address of the restaurant and hung up, looking all forlorn like a puppy.

Back at Korea, Jaejoong was in a frenzy. Gathering all the required documents needed to board the plane, Jaejoong set off to the airport. As he made his way towards the airport, all kinds of thoughts assailed the pretty man’s head.

What if the yakuza could not wait until he arrived?

What if they decided to maim Junsu for not being cooperative?

Jaejoong was thoroughly stressed. He had many Japanese friends, but as far as he was concerned, none of his friends had contacts with Yakuzas. It would be useless asking them for help. Furthermore he did not want to get his friends unnecessarily involved with the Yakuzas. That was when Yunho’s face appeared in his mind.  The lead singer’s face brightened up as he suddenly remembered that Yunho and Changmin were in Japan to prepare for their next Japanese album.

The moment the call was picked up, Jaejoong blurted out, without any preamble at all.

“Yunho, I need your help now!”

Junsu downed his cup of ocha nervously as he eyed the yakuza. The waitress appeared again as she refilled his empty cup. The singer grimaced as she filled the ceramic cup to the brim. He had the tendency to start drinking water when he was nervous and Junsu had already lost count as to how many cups he had drank already. His bladder was about to burst soon but he was afraid of going to the toilet. One wrong move and he may lose his fingers forever. A quick glance at the hands of the Yakuzas futher confirmed his hypothesis for they were all wearing black leather gloves on their left hand. Junsu fidgeted on his chair. He was so close to wetting his pants when the doors to the restaurant slid open which hit the wooden frame loudly.

Junsu had never felt that much happiness in the whole twenty seven years of his life. Not when Lee Soo Man announced that he could finally debut into the entertainment industry. Not when they won the best rookie award or even the subsequent Daesang awards they swept. At that split second, Junsu felt that Yunho could not have looked anymore charismatic than he was right then. The singer decided instantly that he was going to change his religion to that of Yunhoism.

“Hyung!” Junsu called out as he scrambled towards his saviour.

Yunho had his hands out and Junsu held onto it for life. Skillfully, Yunho maneuvered Junsu until the slighter man was standing behind him. Changmin also stood before the frightened man, straightening his tall statue, hoping to provide as much shield as possible for Junsu.

“What has my brother done to offend you?” Changmin asked, staring directly at the supposed leader.

Yunho swept his eyes across the small restaurant to assess the situation. There were only five of them in the compound and he was fairly certain that they would be able to take down the five men if the need arises. However, he hoped that the situation could be solved diplomatically, which was the reason why he left the talking to Changmin. The taller man was much more fluent in Japanese than he was after all, and he believed firmly that Changmin would be able to get them out of the place all in one piece.

“All we wanted was an autograph from him, but he didn’t want to!” The leader explained, hands rose in midair in surrender.

Twin glares were directed at Junsu and the man, without fail, squeaked, “What!”

Apparently, the waitress was the sister of the leader and being a hardcore Bigeast, had recognized Junsu the moment he stepped into the restaurant. She wanted an autograph of the bubbly man and only gathered enough courage to ask for one shyly when she realized that the singer was about to leave the compound. However, Junsu did not manage to catch what she was saying and proceeded to leave the restaurant. Cue the misunderstanding when her brother thought that Junsu was being arrogant for not wanting to sign an autograph for his sister and decided to take the matter into his own hands.

“So that was why he kept pushing the paper and pen towards me!” Junsu exclaimed as Yunho explained the entirety to him.

“What else would people do with paper and a sharpie?” Changmin snapped back. Truthfully, he was thankful that this was all a misunderstanding and was glad that Junsu was fine and safe. But he will never let Junsu know of this. Perhaps, if he acted being annoyed well, he could weasel out a meal from him.

“How would I know! I had no idea what he was talking about half the time! For all I know, he could be forcing me to sign some contract that binds me to them forever!” Junsu defended himself.

“Stop watching dramas, Junsu. They are very detrimental to you.” Changmin propped his head on his palms, exhausted.

“Cut him some slack, Min. They had a heavy Kansai accent,” Yunho pointed and was rewarded with an armful of Junsu.

Junsu uncapped the sharpie on the table and started to sign on the blank sheet of paper. He even wrote a small message to apologise for the unwanted misunderstanding, asking for Yunho’s help every other two words. Yunho then took over the marker and proceeded to leave his mark on the paper. Changmin finally signed too, after a particularly hard nudge from Junsu.

The waitress was about to faint from sheer happiness. Seeing three-fifth of DBSK in a day was rarer than winning lottery, and to even have their autographs too? She would be a very, very happy ghost if she were to die then.

Seeing the blissful state of his sister, the leader became unguarded as he shared his past yakuza experience with the trio. He did not really enjoy his time as a yakuza then, finding that the violent nature was not exactly his cup of tea. He had always wanted to leave the triad, but the stakes were too high. It was always easy to join the yakuza. It was even easier to leave. All they have to do is follow one simple rule. Leave their left pinky with them and they are free to go. It was precisely the permanent maiming that had him changing his mind. The last straw was when their grandmother, who was their sole caretaker, passed away. Knowing that being yakuza would not be beneficial to his sister, he decided to leave. When he announced his decision, he was surprised that a few of his loyal cronies wanted to follow him. And thus, after having their left pinky severed, the group travelled to Tokyo and opened up a restaurant.

“I am really sorry if I had unknowingly frightened you, Junsu-san,” the chef apologized and bowed when he realized that he had subconsciously reverted back to his yakuza ways then.

Junsu shook his hands profusely at the apology and was about to straighten the man when the sliding doors of the restaurant slid open with a loud bang the second time of the day.

“JUNSU!” Jaejoong shouted as he spotted his target.

He rushed forward and embraced the musical singer tightly; Junsu returning the hug with equal fervor. Pushing Junsu away, Jaejoong immediately picked up the younger man’s hands.

“One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten! All intact, thank goodness!” The pale man exclaimed. Throughout the entire journey, Jaejoong had no idea what he was going to do. The only thing he was for sure was that he was going to protect Junsu’s fingers at all costs.

“Junsu, did he do anything to you?” Jaejoong questioned as he glared sharply at the chef. But instead of looking threatening, the lead singer resembled more of a frenzied, worried mother hen. The chef could not help but chuckled at the protectiveness of Jaejoong and his laughter caused Jaejoong to narrow his eyes further.

“It was all a misunderstanding, Jaejoong hyung,” Junsu hastily explained as he relayed the happenings.

The four of them finally left the restaurant. Jaejoong was carrying Junsu on his back when the younger man whined for a piggyback. Yunho had offered to piggyback him but the stubborn man flat out refused him, only wanting Jaejoong. Left with no other choices, Jaejoong agreed to have him on his back. Changmin grudgingly pulled Junsu’s luggage along as Yunho looked worryingly at his other half who heaved Junsu up every few steps.

“Junsu-yah, do you want to return to your no-food-after-six diet?” Jaejoong complained as he heaved the heavy man up again.

Catching the clear meaning behind it, Junsu pouted heavily and buried his head against Jaejoong’s throat. He stayed at the comfortable position for a while when he suddenly sat straight up.

“What’s wrong?”

“It’s already past the check-in time for the hotel!” Junsu wailed as he suddenly remembered about the strict check in rules of the hotel he had booked. He was certain that he had already lost his hotel room.

Yunho was suddenly faced with two pairs of puppy eyes.

For once, Yunho wondered if there was anybody who could resist Jaejoong’s puppy eyes.

The door of the toilet opened and Jaejoong stuck his head out. The wet tendrils of his hair was already forming a small puddle on the floor.

“Yunho-yah, get me your boxers,” he yelled.

Yunho, with no other choices, had brought them back to their dorm. Changmin’s eyes almost popped out at his leader’s decision but was quickly appeased when Jaejoong offered to prepare their dinner.

“What did you bring along to Japan exactly,” Yunho whined. He still could not get off the fact that Jaejoong had paid for the taxi fare to the restaurant earlier with an autograph of his for the guy did not even bring his wallet along.

“My phone, my passport and my car keys.”

“And your shades too,” Yunho replied sarcastically.

“Just wear one of Changmin’s one.”

“I rather not want to wear a Winnie the Pooh boxers,” Jaejoong wrinkled his nose at the thought of it.

“And precisely because you said it, you can wear this all you want,” Changmin retorted, throwing a piece of garment straight at the pretty man’s face.

Jaejoong shut the door of the toilet. But the pathetic door could hardly contain the loud vocals of the lead singer.

“Minnie mouse. Changmin, really?” The echoey voice of Jaejoong floated down the hall.

“It’s a fangift,” The youngest grumbled.

“They know your size perfectly then,” Jaejoong snickered, before hollering, “Jung Yunho, get your damn boxers here right now. I’m about to get suffocated down there!”

Changmin spluttered indignantly before going after Junsu, face flushed.