Chapter 2
Yuzuru knocked on the edge of one of the office doors with his acoustic guitar across his back.
"Morning Tracy."
"Morning Yuzu," She walked with him to the little kitchen at the recording studio and put the kettle on before she looked him up and down with a smile. "How are you doing? Green tea?"
"Please," Yuzuru reached a Pooh bear mug out of one of the cupboards, setting it beside Tracy's mug decorated with tulips.
"How was the end of Javi's tour?" Tracy's tone was light and gentle, with just the right amount of maternal concern as she put her loose leaf pu'er tea leaves into her strainer.
"It was good. It's always fun performing in Madrid." Yuzuru's smile dimmed and he busied himself with pouring the boiling water into their mugs to hide his expression. "Which studios are free today?"
"Jun's in studio one, so two, three, four, and five. I think Jason is coming in later for a shoot for the promotional stuff for his album, and then I think he's recording a couple more." She raised an eyebrow over the top of her mug as she looked at him. "You've just got back from joining Javi on his world tour and you're going to start working on your next album straight away?"
Yuzuru chewed on his lip, painted fingernails tapping against the ceramic of his mug as he thought.
"I have to start straight away," Yuzuru finally spoke up, mumbling into his cup of tea. "The emotions are here," he tapped his heart and then his head, "and I want to write the songs before they go and fade. I want to capture the emotion in my music now."
Understanding blossomed across Tracy's face and she patted his shoulder gently.
"Want to take studio two for the day? Don't work yourself too hard though. I'll come in and check on you if you'd like."
"Thanks Tracy," Yuzuru gave her a smile as they set off towards the studios together.
The club had five recording rooms, two dance studios, and a room for photo shoots. The dance studios had windows so they could see into the hallways, and studio one had a window out into the hallways when the others didn't. All the studios had links to individual sound control rooms and they were separated by walls with windows. Jun was sitting in studio one with the noise cancelling headphones on, and he gave Yuzuru a wave before he went back to singing something into the microphone. A highly grumpy looking bodyguard, manager, Yuzuru wasn't quite sure, standing outside studio one gave Yuzuru a glare as he headed into the adjacent studio, shutting the door behind him and breathing a sigh of relief. The silence was almost comforting to him, broken only by the soft sound of ceramic against wood before Yuzuru took to the seat and unpacked his guitar. His acoustic would always be his favourite. There was something comforting and so genuine about the untouched and unchanged soft brown wood, and the unedited sound it produced felt close to Yuzuru's heart. He tuned the strings, humming the tune of one of his old songs before he reached into his bag for his notebook and a pencil. Picking at the strings, he played a little and hummed a new tune along to it for a while, filling the room with the sound of only him and his guitar. Getting into it, he started to tap his foot and bob his head along to it before he stopped and jotted the ideas down in his notebook. When he went for it again, he started singing some soft words in Japanese under his breath, following the melody he'd come up with not long before. So invested in his music, Yuzuru didn't even notice as the lights turned on in the control room for studio 2. He was only broken out of his planning and composing zone when a voice crackled through the microphone and speakers linking the studio and control room.
"You doing alright Yuzu?"
He sat bolt upright and looked over at the control room, relaxing when he spotted the smiling older man sitting in the next room.
"Ghislain, give me warning next time!" He went back to strumming his guitar before he glanced up at the other. "Will you listen?"
"Of course I will," Ghislain slipped into the seat in the control room and flicked a couple of switches. "I won't record this. Are you going to sing a load of Japanese words to me that I won't understand again?"
Yuzuru smiled, rubbing the back of his neck and he nodded. Ghislain chuckled and nodded, adjusting the headphones as he settled in the chair.
"I want you to tell me what it makes you feel," Yuzuru said as he adjusted the tuning of a couple of his guitar strings. "It's better that you don't understand the Japanese because then you focus more on the emotion of the music."
Ghislain nodded, flicking a couple more switches before he nodded to Yuzuru. "Whenever you're ready."
Yuzuru strummed through the chords a couple of times before he started playing the song. Nothing existed outside of that little studio. The only thing that existed in that moment was the music, the gentle guitar music and Yuzuru's emotional voice. He was an enigma, and that's how Yuzuru liked it. The public saw him in all black, in ripped jeans, in black leather gloves with no fingers, with dark eyeliner and painted black nails. They saw him playing with a black or Kaneki electric guitar. Even when he played his softer songs, he had a sharp edge to him in his appearance and presence. But, when he was in the safety of his apartment or the club, he wasn't like that at all. His black hair was fluffy and soft instead of gelled out of his eyes. He took his acoustic with him instead of one of his electrics, unless he was recording. Most of the time he wore either Under Armour sport leggings or sweatpants with an oversized hoodie. The nail varnish he kept on, but he never bothered wearing eyeliner or makeup to the club. If Keiji didn't live with him to check him over before he left his apartment, he would probably end up going everywhere in his pyjamas. Songs like the one he was performing for Ghislain were a little window to his softer side, and provided some clues as to what was really going on inside Yuzuru's head.
"What do you think?" Yuzuru asked him, looking up from his notebook as he pushed his glasses up his nose. Ghislain gave him a smile and applauded him.
"Beautiful," Ghislain said through to the other room. "Just beautiful Yuzuru. Is it for your newest album?"
Yuzuru nodded, jotting something else down in his notebook before he looked back up to Ghislain. "You think I should change the chords near the end from this," he strummed a little bit of it for the other, "or this?" He played it again, changing up the chord progression at the end before he frowned. "Or maybe it would be better if I didn't do chords but reduced it down to just picking?"
"What are you trying to convey at that point?" Ghislain asked him before he laughed. "Is it alright if I come in there to help you? It's easier without this glass wall in between us."
Yuzuru burst out laughing and nodded. Ghislain came and joined him in the studio and, as they sat there together going through some of the songs that Yuzuru had jotted ideas down for. Yuzuru played several ideas and Ghislain gave him little suggestions for tweaking the chords. All the way through, Yuzuru was constantly asking Ghislain if he could still feel the emotions of the song. After they'd finished working on the five songs that Yuzuru had jotted down ideas for, they took a break for lunch and headed towards the dining area of the club. It was under heavy security and for very good reason. Yuzuru settled next to Jason in the cafe and the American gave him a bright smile.
"Hi Yuzu! Saw your amazing performance in Madrid. You're so talented."
Yuzuru gave him a smile, opening up his Winnie the Pooh Tupperware boxes before he tucked into his rice, chicken, and vegetables that he'd packed the night before. "Thanks Jason. How's the album going?"
"All done!" Jason pretended to flop back into his chair before he sat up straighter, beaming. "All the art is done, and Shoma finished designing my look for the posters so we did the shoot today finally. I'm excited since it's my first album with you guys, and it's also from the heart, you know?"
"As the best music is," Yuzuru agreed. "What's your favourite song on the album? Sorry I haven't had the chance to listen to it yet."
"You were busy with your world tour and then Javier's world tour. You don't need to apologise," Jason waved him off. "My favourite song from the album is Dancing on my Own. It's kind of a nice ballad style song, a little sad but emotional too. I'll have to play it for you sometime, and-- hey Jun."
The teen settled in the seat opposite to Jason, giving him a wave as he sipped from a bottle of water. Yuzuru and Jason exchanged a look, filled with unspoken concern, before they looked back at Jun.
"How's your album going?" Jason's tone held that same gentle kindness as Tracy's words always did, and he made everyone feel like he was their brother.
"Good," Jun gave them both a sunshine smile that did nothing to hide the bone-deep exhaustion. "Really good. We've got two of the songs recorded, and--"
"Two recorded? Didn't you get back from Madrid like... A week ago?"
Jun nodded and his smile dimmed. "Yeah, I know, I'm so behind! I'm meant to have dropped some of the art by now at the very least, so that's work for this afternoon. And then choreographing dances to them, and-- how are both of your new albums going?"
"Good," Jason, to direct the conversation away from Jun's terrible situation, started on a long funny story about how Shoma had nearly fallen asleep doing his makeup that morning since they'd both had to get up so early for Jason's photo shoot ready for the cover art. "-- and then he messed up my eye makeup and drew a line of eye shadow right down my cheek so he had to redo the entire thing! Thank God the rest of the crew were running late too otherwise we would have been in so much trouble."
Jun and Yuzuru both burst out laughing when Brian came over to their table, leading a blonde young man with sharp cheekbones over too. The three turned to face the owner of the club with questioning gazes.
"Yuzuru, Jun, Jason, this is Conrad Orzel. He's just signed with us, so you'll be seeing him around here more in the future. I'll be working with him in studio three after his lunch break. Jason, are you using studio four?"
"If that's alright with you?"
Brian nodded, looking over at Yuzuru. "Studio two?"
"Studio two please."
"Jun, are you using a studio this afternoon?" Brian threw a not so subtle glare across the room to where a very flustered looking Korean man stood, checking his watch every ten seconds. "Or do they have something else planned?"
"I don't think I'll be using the studio, but thank you!"
With Jun's sunshine smile, Brian left their table and Conrad slipped into the seat beside Jun.
"Hi Conrad!" As always, Jason was the most social and open of them all. Yuzuru studied Conrad over the top of his rice as Jun looked at him with curiosity as he sipped at his water. "Lovely to meet you! So, you're recording, huh? What's your style?"
"I don't really know if I have a style as such," Conrad laughed and his nerves came through very clearly, "but I like listening to pretty much everything. I play guitar and have a couple of ideas down for songs for my first album that Brian and Tracy have been so supportive of, so I can't wait to get started."
"What's your favourite thing to listen to?" Yuzuru asked and Conrad turned bright red; his blush was made much worse by his pale complexion.
"This is going to sound so bad, but I'm actually a huge Jun Hwan Cha stan," Jun choked on his water beside him as Jason burst out laughing. "I mean, I have the light stick, I have your album, I have a poster, I'm honestly such a fanboy for you. I'm so sorry but, um, if it's not weird," he reached around into his bag and Jun giggled when he was presented with a copy of his first album and a sharpie, "would you please sign my album?"
"Of course," Jun signed the back of it and drew a little smiley face before he handed it back to Conrad and stood up. "Sorry! I've got to dash. See you guys around!"
Floating out of the room behind the Korean man, who started all but yelling at Jun as they left the room, the young star looked like a cloud of pastel pink and blue. The three others at the table watched him go and Jason shook his head in despair.
"His music is so beautiful, and he's so talented, and they treat him like that?"
"It's awful," Yuzuru agreed. "Believe me, if I had my way Jun would be out of that deal as fast as I could manage it."
Jason nodded and Yuzuru tapped at his chin, thinking.
"I wonder if his management would let me do a collaboration with him. I want a piano track on my newest album."
Yuzuru, after his break, headed back to the studio to take down more notes on his songs and to just play on his own. As studio two had no windows and only a clock on the wall that was easy to ignore, Yuzuru didn’t realise how much time had passed until Brian knocked on the door.
“We’re closing up the club for the night. Keiji’s here to take you home.”
Yuuru nodded, chewing on his bottom lip as he packed up his guitar and notebook. Giving Brian a smile, he pulled his hood up and sprinted from the club to Keiji’s car, avoiding the camera flashes and microphones shoved in his face. He settled down in the passenger seat and Keiji raised an eyebrow at him as they drove away from the studio and reporters.
“You want to get ice cream on the way home?”
“Please.”