-April, 2000-

There was a rumor going around.

In the small cafeteria: "They're signing a new artist soon. When he turns eighteen. So young. They sign them younger and younger these days."

Passing in the hallway: "I heard he's a dancer. How strange."

Outside in front of the doors: "I saw his performance once. He's an onnagata. What would they want with someone like that?"

I only gathered a few important pieces of information from these rumors: First, he was young. Second, he wasn't the typical kind of person our company signed. And third, very urgently, I needed to find Fumihito right away and consult him. This was his territory.

I found Fumihito in the practice room on the third floor of the office space that our company owned. He was fiddling with his guitar, a guitar pick tightly between his teeth as he wrestled with something having to do with his strings. He definitely wasn't paying attention to me when I started talking.

"So, Fumi, can you come with me? When I find out who he is, I mean. I want you to meet him first, because you dress like he does on stage. Maybe he'll feel more welcome if-"

"Shit, I can't get this. Can you hold this? Please. This is so frustrating. I might have to get this fixed. This is a disaster."

"Well...okay." He wasn't listening. He always seemed to be involved with himself above others, but this time it was frustrating. I tried to think of pleasant thoughts to ward away this feeling. My eyes rolled to the ceiling, looking at the little charms that were hung there by everyone. From good luck charms to cellphone strap creatures greeted me, stuck there by colorful push pins in the thick foam blocks that formed the ceiling. It cheered me up a little. I saw mine, a little white bird.

After holding his guitar for a while, letting him work on it with me as a prop, I left him alone to figure it out at his request. I wandered around, thinking about this new recruit. It sounded really bad to me. Maybe there was something I wasn't hearing, and he might be a good fit at our company. Did he like rock music? Would we have that in common? Did he play an instrument maybe, and I'd misheard? Was he going to be a part of band? No, they'd said the company was only signing one person...

As I walked down the hallway, the grey carpet guiding my way as I stared at it, I heard loud banging coming from the staff break room. Curious, I walked inside. I could only smile.

"Get out of there!" My friend, Toshi, also known as Tatara on stage, started yelling at the vending machine. His fists beat on it again. "Give me my snack!"

Our old nemesis stood tall, not giving him what he'd paid for. Automatically, my hand dug into my pocket for change. Without a word, I slipped a five hundred yen coin inside a beast of a vending machine. It made the correct noises, and the credit appeared. I tapped in the code for his favorite snack. Vending noises started.

Satisfied, Toshi bent down and retrieved two of the same thing. He handed me the other box of Pocky, and sat down at the common table with a grunt. A bottle of Pocari Sweat was already on the table, and he opened it and took a long swig. I noticed his hair was wet. No wonder he was a bit upset. He must be tired and hungry, having just come from the gym.

"Did you go to a bath house again?" I asked, sitting with him. "I asked you to wait for me. I wanted to go to the gym with you later."

"I can go twice in one day."

I chuckled. "No, you can't. That's irresponsible. You'll get sick."

"Maybe. Hey, I've been drawing. Want to see? I drew this big monster, shadow thing last night. It's got long vines and-"

I was in for a long haul if he started talking about his art. He drew whole worlds. "Ah, later. Later. I wanted to talk to you about something."

"Okay. Go ahead."

My hands started exploring the tall, skinny box in them. It was a strawberry flavor, very sugary looking. I didn't like to eat sugar much. It would make me have to work extra hard at the gym later, and I wasn't in the mood for that. Still, I explored the box as I talked, a little distracted.

"I heard a rumor that they're signing a new artist on. From what I've heard, he doesn't sound like the typical kind of person they sign. He's very young, and I don't know if he's a musician. Everyone's saying he's a dancer-"

"Oh, you mean Hirano-san? Yeah, I saw him earlier. He's in a meeting. We passed each other in the hall before I left for my workout."

My box slammed to the table. "What?! He's here already?!"

"Yeah. What's going on?" Toshi scratched his head a little absentmindedly, some of the strands from his long ponytail coming loose in it.

"How long ago was that?!"

"Maybe three hours ago. What's going on? What are you so excited about? So, there's a new guy. I'm sure he'll be introduced to us eventually."

"Thanks!" I picked up my box and shoved it in my pants pocket. It rattled against my cellphone.

"Keitaro, what's going in? What are you so excited for?!" He called to me, getting louder as I dashed out of the room.

No one was taking this seriously. I didn't like what I was hearing, but the others treated it like it was old news. Didn't anyone care? But, Toshi had given me very good information. In no time, I was downstairs in the cramped space of our lobby. The receptionist was there, fussing with papers around her desk.

I rounded it, clinging to it with my hand to catch myself in my haste. "Ogura-san, did someone named Hirano check out with you already?"

She simply pointed out the door, not paying attention to me.

"Thanks!" I called to her, already running in the direction of her pointed finger. I collided with the door and it swung open with force. The bright sunshine blinded me for a moment, and my hand went to my brow, trying to see. It occurred to me quickly that I had no idea what this kid looked like. He could be anyone. He could be long gone. So, I chose a direction and started running.

No one seemed to care, but I knew something very important. Maybe it was overlooked, or maybe it wasn't a big deal to them, but for me it was everything. I had to stop it before it happened.

The truth was, our company wasn't very kind. I knew that better than anyone. Maybe others hadn't been through breaking the rules with them before, but I had. As I ran forward, I could only think of one thing: this kid was too young for this. This kind of company. Grow up a little more, don't come here.

Even in my short time here, I already saw it with jaded eyes. There were no more fairytales. I'd grown from being a kid myself to an adult just going with the motions too soon. This company had sapped out my strength. All those dreams I'd had, they were gone in a flash. They'd exerted their control over me, told me that if I ever tried to break their rules again, I'd lose everything I'd worked for. All of my music belonged to them, my friends were under contract so they could not follow me, and not only that, they owned my very image. Any looks I'd had to go along with those songs, they owned the copyright to those concepts. They owned me outright, like I wasn't a person anymore. If I left, I'd have nothing. They'd made that clear, and they'd made that a threat to keep me in line. That was the contract I'd signed when I was twenty years old, and I still had four years to go on it. Even then, they still owned everything I'd ever made. That was it, game over.

The truth was, I wanted to find this kid. I wanted to make sure he didn't sign a contract. He didn't even sound like the sort of artist they usually signed, and he was unusually young. It sounded like a trap. Get him young, not knowing anything. Make him give over his rights, before he knew what was happening. That's what it had felt like to me when I realized how serious they were, and now here he was even younger.

At least if they were going to do this, find someone older. Find someone who can take care of themselves, and knows what they're getting into fully. Don't do this again.

As I rounded a corner, I heard it before I saw it. Slow sounds, strange. It didn't belong. As I stopped, curious about this sound, I saw something that didn't belong either.

A person was sitting on a low wall, his face in his hands. His skin was kind of darker, his short black hair shining in the powerful sun. He was wearing a loudly colored haori jacket, and thin black pants that kind of ended at the ankle. He moved slowly as these strange sounds came from him.

It took me a minute, but I realized he was crying copiously.

"I want to go home," he said quietly to himself, getting a hitch in his breathing. "Shouldn't have came here. I want to go ho-home..."

Was he talking on a cellphone? I stood awkwardly, trying to figure it out. After a while, he stopped crying and his hands went down to his lap formally. His ankles crossed as he stared forward. I got a good look at his facial profile then, and was struck by what I saw.

His face was full of youth. Such large features, kind of awkward looking. To me, he looked almost like a foreigner, maybe southeast Asian. But, as I stared at him it became obvious to me that he was Japanese. His arrangement of features was simply different, something I wasn't used to seeing. He didn't have a typical face.

It was then I decided to reach out, literally.

"Hey. Hey, you. What are you crying for?" Elegant. I wanted to smack my face in embarrassment.

He jumped and looked up, wiping his overly large eyes with his haori sleeve. "Oh, I-" He swallowed hard, turning and pointing, his large orange sleeve draping beautifully. It struck me a bit. "I just came from there. Um- I just got to Tokyo, and- oh, I don't know you. I shouldn't talk to you. My mom said- what am I saying? 'My mom said'. Am I ten years old?! Oh, I'm embarrassed. I shouldn't have come here. This is terrible."

Something about his flurrying movement and self deprecation reminded me of the white rabbit from Alice in Wonderland. This association made me start to chuckle, my hand going over my mouth.

"What is it?" He asked, covering his own mouth with both of his hands, those beautiful sleeves going up again. I couldn't stop looking at them, the intricate detail of the painted scenes on the bottoms of them.

"Nothing. Where did you come from?" It really was like I was asking the white rabbit himself. Asking where he came from, where he was going. Was his time running out, and he had to go see the Queen of Hearts?

"I came from that building there." He pointed to the building behind him up the street. It was then I knew who he was.

I made to start to walk to him, but stopped myself, causing him to jump again. "Hirano-san!" I gasped. "I found you! I can't believe it!" I started laughing.

"Huh- you know me?!" He cried out, utter relief on his face.

"Yes! I've been looking for you all over the place!"

"What?! I don't know you, though!"

Ah, it was then that he started laughing himself. The biggest smile I'd literally ever seen in my life, those big features on his face allowing it to happen. It dazzled me for a second. He looked so friendly. No question now, I knew what I had to do.

I jumped up onto the wall to sit beside him. The white rabbit wouldn't be getting away from me today. Immediately, I looked at the Pocky box in my hand. It was perfect. I took it in both of my hands by the bottom, and thrust it out to him, my head bowed.

"Welcome," I said, smiling. "I wanted to welcome you. I wanted to find you, especially. I heard a lot about you, and I thought..."

"Ohhh," he sighed in awe, such a kind sound. His hands reached out and took the box. I looked back up at him, and he was so close to me now. So close, that I could see tears in those eyes again. He pressed the box to his chest. "Thank you so much."

"Oh, it was nothing," I said humbly. It was so strange, seeing him now. A face to go with the rumor. He did look innocent, but I had a different feeling now. With that same grin, he began opening the box quickly. He tore the bag inside, and a stick of pink Pocky went into his mouth. He started to suck on it like a kid would. A split second later, another stick came out of the box. He offered it to me, his eyes going wide, asking me silently if I wanted it. With my own smile, I took it and started eating it the same way.

As we ate together, I listened to the short trees around us shushing in the late spring wind. Cherry blossom season was just about over, and May was right around the corner. Our summer tour would be starting soon, and there would be so much going on. A quiet moment like this was going to be rare, so I'd better savor it.

"What's your name?" He asked me all of a sudden. I broke out of my trance, slightly shocked.

"Oh, I didn't tell you my name!" I gasped. "I'm Eguchi. Um- Kentaro Eguchi, but people here know me as Keitaro."

"Can I call you Keitaro-san?" He asked, a little shy, I thought.

I nodded rapidly, chewing the Pocky in my mouth quickly so I could talk better. He broke into that smile again. He went on. "By the way, my name is Tetsu Hirano. You can call me Tetsu, everyone does. But, I guess I'll be known as Aurelia. That's my stage name. I've had it ever since I could remember, so it makes sense if people call me that."

"Ohhh?" I was shocked again. Aurelia. You don't hear that kind of name every day. What kind of artist has that name?

He grinned more at my shock, laughing again. It was a loud bark of a laugh, so warm and unabashed. It was comforting to hear somehow, like there wasn't a need to be nervous at all. It made me ease up.

I stuck out my hand, western style. His mouth went small in his shock, unprepared for this. He let his hand into mine, and I shook it formally. My head went down, more formal. "Well, nice to meet you, Aurelia-san."

"Oh- oh..." He gasped a little, shaking my hand back. Had I caught him off guard? But in half a second, that unforgettable smile was back. His head went down, too. "Nice to meet you, too, Keitaro-san."

I released his hand, and reached into his Pocky box like we were friends. I knew already, we would be friends. With this, seeing him like this, I knew with certainty: rather than try to run him away, I'd stick by him. I'd be what I'd needed all those years ago. Rather than make him turn away and run for the hills, I'd guide him. That's what he needed. He didn't need a warning, he needed a friend. As soon as I'd seen him crying and recognized who he was, I'd known that with all of myself.

"What- heyy," he laughed. He held the box securely for me, and took another stick out for himself.

Laughing together, we ate the rest of the box. We observed the sky and the pink trees, the people walking by. We talked and had a good time together. And, by the end of an hour, I knew we'd be great friends. I knew that with all of my heart.