Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

Snapshot
With both hands clutching on his guitar straps; head leaning to the right trying to catch a view of an unknown point; left eyebrow raised while the eyes winced to block the sun; faded jeans, plaid shirt, and a battered brown soft leather guitar case, Nino stood in the middle of a blurry sidewalk at the end of Omotesando Street.

“Excuse me!”

With the intersection just a few steps behind him, Nino veered slowly to the right, avoiding two people deftly, when the voice called again. He turned, partially trying to see who was shouting, and saw a young man waving his hand at him; a young man, carrying a long lens camera, waving his hand at him.

Nino unhurriedly stopped walking, ended up leaning on the wall, carefully to not bump his guitar on his back with the huge display glass, and waited for the man to catch up.

“Me?” Nino pointed to himself. The man moved swiftly, stopping in front of him, and nodded.

“Can I help you?” Observing the man in front of him, Nino stared at the sharp expression, unwillingly drawn to the clear brown eyes. This man must be around his age and was dressed nice enough to not look like those other Harajuku fashion enthusiasts whom Nino secretly disliked.

“Sorry to startle you,” the man smiled politely. “I have a question. I hope you don’t mind and I’m not holding you from anything. You’re going to the station?” he pointed to the Harajuku South Entrance across the street. Nino spontaneously nodded.

“This won’t take long. Let me first introduce myself,” the man slung his camera behind his back, swung his camera bag to the front, and with one hand got a small wallet out and a name card along with it.

“This is my card,” he handed one to Nino, giving him time to read it before he continued.

“I know this might sound unusual, but I took a photo of you,” this Matsumoto Jun began.

Nino looked up from the card, aiming a questioning look. “Photo? What photo?”

“You see,” this Matsumoto continued, “I have a photo diary website as you can read on the card. And as I said, I had already taken a photo of you and I would like to inform you. I don’t usually take photos without consent.”

Nino nodded, but still confused. “You took a photo of me? I didn’t even notice.”

“Yes, I did. I just want to let you know, that’s all. I’d feel bad taking one without a consent, especially one that I’m planning to use for my project.”

“Project?” Nino asked.

“Yes, one of my photo diary projects. You can check the website directly, it’s written on my card. I have a few on queue, so yours will probably be up next Friday or Saturday at the latest.”

The traffic light had already gone green twice. People hurried to get into the station and they were still standing in front of the glass display. This Matsumoto waited patiently for a while for Nino to respond. “Um, okay,” Nino wasn’t actually sure what was happening, but he nodded.

“Thank you. I should let you get going then,” This Matsumoto bowed politely, about to turn around when he went back to face Nino. “Can I ask you another question? I am kind of curious.” This time, Nino added a smile as he nodded. This Matsumoto spoke so fast, but he had a nice drawl.

“Why do you have a guitar with you?”

“I play,” Nino answered plainly.

“Do you also sing?”

“Yes, I do,” gradually getting his bearings back, Nino slightly leaned his head and found this Matsumoto quite interesting.

“Where do you usually sing?” slight pause, “I’d like to take another picture and watch you sing.”

“All that much from barely taking one picture and our less than 2 minute’s conversation? Wow.”

This Matsumoto Jun flashed a gorgeous smile, “I am as observant as they come. So, where do you usually play?”

Nino weighed his option of not answering, but decided to do anyway, since he didn’t have anything to lose after all. This Matsumoto was interesting.

“Inokashira Park. Tuesday and Thursday afternoons. Only,” he emphasized the last information.

“Got it,” this Matsumoto smiled, “okay then, I’ll let you go.”

Nino smiled one last time and turned to go down the street, when that Matsumoto called him up once again.

“Oh, aren’t you going to the station?”

Nino actually waved. “Ah, no. I changed my mind. I’m just going to walk till Yoyogi,” he answered.

“Oh,” that Matsumoto Jun shrugged and waved back. “Then, I’ll see you.”

Nino tossed a last look after he walked several meters away, but that Matsumoto Jun was no where to be seen already. And as he slowly walked down to the street, he couldn’t help but grin.

*

See, Nino lied.

He actually would be in Inokashira Park almost every afternoon, except when he was having late lunches with Sho over in their usual stand-up ramen bar, like what he was doing right now.

“So, you’re saying you got scouted or something like that?” Sho noisily slurped his ramen like it was his only enjoyment that day; Nino believed it probably was, making him less sorry for rambling about his Harajuku encounter for the last 10 minutes.

“Oh, I wish, I was. It was just…weird,” Nino stared into the closed in space of the dingy place.

“Weird?” Sho’s interest apparently peaked enough that he stopped stuffing his face for a moment to turn his gaze aside only to find Nino dreamily gesturing with his chopsticks and trying to put the whole experience into words.

“I don’t know how to make that out precisely, but it was definitely weird. You see, this guy, oh, this fabulous guy by the way, came to me and asked permission to use my photo, and I was like, what photo? You took a photo? I didn’t even notice. Why are you taking my photo in the first place and I told him just that, when he, yes, the fabulous man, whose name is Matsumoto Jun, oh don’t even bother to ask, ‘cause before you even think of asking why in the hell I know his name, he gave me his card, okay.

“It’s not like I demanded to know his name during the first minute of our meeting. If you don’t trust me, I’ll show you his card, later, because I don’t have it with me right now. I left it at home, of course, because why would I walk around carrying a card from a stranger I just met yesterday, there’s no need to be superfluous like that.

“And if you think…” Nino finally trailed off when his gaze went back to Sho’s bemused expression.

Sho put down his chopsticks slowly and then started clapping. “Wow.”

“What? I’m not even done yet.”

“How can you churn out so many answers from a single word question? He was that weird?” Sho asked.

“Huh?”

“Oh, I see. He was that weird. And fabulous, I know, since you used the adjective twice already,” Sho summarized.

“Well, he is. Fabulous that is. That’s three times,” Nino shrugged when Sho threw him a grin. “But why did you comment…” Nino trailed off again and ended up poking his warm gyoza.

Sho slurped the last of his ramen with a flourish, reached for his water, and concluded his dining ritual, as usual, all sweaty.

“You know my next question will be why you kept trailing off mid-sentence,” Sho’s focus switched to Nino’s untouched gyoza. “But I think we’ll get to that story soon enough.”

“I don’t even know why I am telling you all this,” Nino stared at his gyoza, then to Sho, then back to his gyoza, feeling rather worried.

“What day is it today?”

Nino sent Sho a dirty look; mostly for being a know-it-all and soon-to-be gyoza poacher, really.

“Don’t even bother to deny that you’ve been checking that website since yesterday.” Sho waited, for the continuation of the story, and of course, the warm gyoza.

A minute passed.

Nino finally picked one piece while Sho was still tapping his fingers to the counter. Patiently. “It is still Friday,” he softly mumbled.

“And?”

“And today’s picture is some stupid skyline from I don’t know where,” he put down his chopsticks and slid his plate to the awaiting Sho. “It’s fabulous though.”

“Four,” Sho grinned, amused at the conversation, and ready to wolf down the remaining gyoza. “You’re doing it on purpose.”

“Can’t help it,” Nino giggled, firm on the thought that Sho was definitely paying for lunch.

*

His photo was promptly posted at 1:00 AM that Saturday, not that Nino was refreshing the page every ten minutes since midnight nor was he taking a shift off and was glued to his computer screen all night just for that purpose.

The photo was painfully simple, portraying depth, soft contrast, and natural colors. Nino couldn’t remember if he ever had such a nice picture of himself.

He proceeded to stare at the computer screen for another hour, before right-clicking it and saving the picture. While he was almost tempted to make it his desktop theme, it was his home PC after all and no one would likely find out or question him, Nino ended up making a new folder named ‘@snapshot’ and moved the picture there.

*

Life did go on, but his mood only went worse by the day, especially when he came to realize that he was religiously following the website.

He had created another folder because first, he felt he needed to separate the special first from the ordinary others and second because folders were easy to make, so, ‘@snapshot other’ lined up under the special one.

Every night, it became a habit. One that was worse than smoking, Nino concluded, as he checked only to find more candid, engaging, and plain gorgeous photos. Now, his second folder so far contained 45 photos and eight Tuesdays and Thursdays later, Nino was completely irritated at himself of his unwelcomed hopefulness for that Matsumoto to come by the park.

*

Nino thought of sending an email once actually. Well, it was the ever-helpful Sho who pointed out the fact that there was an email address he could actually write to when Nino showed him the card.

But he then questioned himself of what good that would do. It was not like that Matsumoto would know it was him, the guy whose picture was taken on an intersection over the end of Omotesando street, the guy who waited for him to show up at Inokashira on either Tuesday or Thursday, or the guy who was simply curious on how this all would end up if only there was another chance of meeting.

Still, Nino composed a short email and left it on his draft inbox to stay.

*

One morning, a few days later, still delirious from lack of sleep, Nino forced himself to wake up a little bit early and headed to Inokashira earlier than his usual schedule. With his guitar on his back, along with the slung back bag of his, folded chair, and tools, Nino arrived at his spot. Half of the morning had passed nicely, with the balmy weather giving away the dampness and people were already around, taking their seats on the old wooden benches, mostly for their early lunch.

Nino sat on the end of a long bench, setting aside his guitar and propping his folded chair on his side, and began to take out his lyrics book and pen. He should have brought his recorder, he thought, but he didn’t feel like recording anything today. He just wanted to sit there and, even if it was rather hard for him to admit, wallow.

Flipping his lyric books, he stopped at the last page. The words had just been written the day before and he hadn’t found the melody to go along with it. He reached for his case, set his guitar out, put his mind into focus, and got down to aimless strumming. At this rate he would compose another ballad or two, he snapped at himself. Resting his left palm on the fretboard, Nino picked up his notes for today and stared at his own messy scrawl.

Better to set that aside first, he told himself, shoving the book back to the case. Deciding the pace for today, he propped the guitar ready, settling on the first three compositions as usual. He would leave the rest on his mood later.

Nino took his start easily with a simple three cords composition and hummed through the song. He looked up occasionally from his guitar to meet the eyes of several people who bothered to spare him a glance and smiled. He was fully aware that he was not getting the full attention of anyone in particular, but he seamlessly worked his way to the second song, and the third, and the fourth.

At the middle of his fifth, a slow one, one where his head unconsciously nodded slowly along with the rhythm, a thought sprang up on his mind. Oh, wouldn’t it be great if that Matsumoto showed up at this very second, he grinned and took the last pitch a little bit higher than it was supposed to be.

Two high school girls, a random woman with a yellow dress, and an old man with a dog who all stopped walking for a while at the end of his song, gave him a modest applause. Nino smiled, bowed as low as his guitar allowed, and thanked them.

Nino was reaching for the water bottle from his slung bag when someone sat beside him. At first he thought it’d be Aiba, the sword juggler from the south corner who usually came by to chat, when he turned and saw him, perched nicely on the other end of the bench.

“No frickin’ way,” Nino blinked in surprise.

Chuckling and apparently finding his surprised look amusing, that Matsumoto replied. “Yes frickin’ way.”

“Wait, just wait a minute,” Nino spluttered, completely off guard with one hand clutching the head of his guitar and another holding an opened water bottle.

“Okay,” Matsumoto replied. “Take your time.”

Nino decided to take some gulps of water first, settling the bottle aside and then putting down the guitar on top of the case before leaning against the bench to take in the situation at hand.

“You have new hair,” Nino commented, while half a second later regretting the mundane comment flying out of his mouth without a second thought.

“You still look the same,” Matsumoto grinned, looking as fabulous just as Nino remembered. “Especially your back posture.”

“You’re actually funny,” Nino retorted with a wide grin. “I knew it.”

They shared a laugh then fell silent after a while. Nino used the silence to gather himself after the surprise and glanced at Matsumoto out of the corner of his eyes.

Matsumoto looked like he didn’t have to be anywhere for the rest of the day and just sat there waiting for Nino to start the conversation up.

“So, did you take another picture of me and watch me sing?”

Matsumoto sighed, somehow looking calm and Nino cannot really comprehend why but he liked it, “I haven’t taken another picture but I heard the last two songs.” He turned to face Nino, “Heard, not watched. You finished singing when I was about to walk around to see you.”

“Oh, I see,” Nino replied, titling his head a bit. “So…?”

“So, I need to come again to take another picture and watch you sing,” Matsumoto answered. “Are you going to play again? I don’t want to get in your way if you are.”

Nino checked his phone for time, “Not now. I need to get lunch.”

“Ah, yes,” Matsumoto checked his watch. “You want to grab something together?”

Nino snorted. “That was smooth.”

“I know, right?” he flashed a smile. “I don’t have to be anywhere till way later anyway. You know a good place around here?”

“I do,” Nino replied. “Let me pack my stuff and then we can go.”

“Okay,” Matsumoto nodded.

*

It was somewhat hilarious to see Matsumoto’s dumbfounded expression when he suggested they should grab a quick lunch at Yoshinoya over the main street, before he pitied him and continued leading the way. As they arrived to the narrow alley behind the large buildings, Matsumoto followed without comments and as Nino turned to see the delight on his face, Matsumoto has definitely never been to this neighborhood. Nino led them to a small restaurant.

“Would want to take you somewhere fancier, but this is my lunch place,” Nino turned to him, a little bit unsure but not willing to offer more than he was able to.

“No problem,” Matsumoto grinned back, giving Nino a sense of relief he didn’t think he needed. “Shall we?”

Settling into their seats, Nino took the offered menu from a familiar waitress and gave her a nod. Matsumoto once again seemed excited about the restaurant.

“Why don’t you order now and ask for permission to take pictures later,” Nino grinned when Matsumoto slightly winced at the comment, but he shifted his focus on the menu in front of him.

“This is an interesting place,” still with eyes skimming the menu, Matsumoto commented.

“I’m beginning to think that your ‘interesting’ is one of your highest praises,” Nino replied, receiving a grin in return.

“Can I still order a lunch set?” Matsumoto asked the waitress and received a nod. “If so, I’ll have Lunch Set A and ice tea, please.”

Nino didn’t need the menu; he knew what he wanted already. “Gyoza and rice, please.” If Matsumoto had a comment over Nino’s order, he kept it to himself.

Both of them sat in silence as Nino set aside the menu, let the waitress take them, and leaned back on his chair. Matsumoto threw one last glance at the restaurant and then rested his gaze on Nino.

Matsumoto broke the silence, “You sang beautifully.”

Nino blushed. “You were only around for the last two songs.”

“If I’m not mistaken, the first I heard was a cover version, correct? It sounded familiar,” Matsumoto continued, waiting for Nino to confirm his guess, and received a nod. “And the last one in particular was beautiful. It was somehow uplifting, yet light and simple. What’s the title?”

“Aiming for Tomorrow.”

“Mhmm, sounds just right,” Matsumoto grinned at him. Silence came again, and Nino’s mind scrambled to come up with a topic.

“Tomorrow’s Thursday,” Nino blurted out.

“Yes, I know that. Which means you either lied about being here Tuesdays and Thursdays only, or you are here everyday except for the weekend and decided to not tell me that. I just have to find out for myself then.” This Matsumoto reasoned. “I’m going to stop by again tomorrow.”

“No need to promise though,” Nino replied too fast, “Just stop by if you’re able. If you can’t make it, it’ll be okay all the same.”

Something passed over this Matsumoto’s expression, something Nino yet couldn’t pin down but it was over as fast as it came. “Then, I promise to stop by again tomorrow.”

Nino nodded silently.

The waitress arrived with Matsumoto’s food tray first, before Nino’s order came along with a refill of tea. When Nino started to reach for his chopsticks, Matsumoto’s soft warning stopped him.

“Wait, let me, just let me for a moment,” not taking off his focus on the food at the table, Matsumoto reached into his jacket’s pocket and took out a small digital camera.

“I should’ve guessed,” Nino lightly scolded him, but Matsumoto threw him a grin. Nino let him fiddle with the position, ribbed him a bit, and then allow him spend a minute to take picture before reminding him that their food would get cold.

Matsumoto apologized, while taking two more snaps before he was satisfied with his photos. “Let’s eat, I’m starving,” Nino urged him, and Matsumoto complied by putting his camera aside. They started to sample their simple lunches and Matsumoto threw Nino an approving glance and a simple satisfied hum for the fish.

After the first urgent bites, they slowed down. Unwilling to touch what somehow seemed to be a topic for serious discussion, Nino tried to change the mood, ignoring the topic before the food came, “Can I ask you something else?”

Matsumoto nodded, apparently seemed to welcome the subject change.

“Why were you taking a picture of my back? Is there something I need to know?” Nino dipped his gyoza on rayuu sauce.

Jun answered, “At first glance, you don’t appear to be very challenging, yet it’s your intention to challenge.”

“My back said this?” The question was innocent enough.

Matsumoto stared at him in silence for two seconds before retorting. “If I knew you better, I can probably tell that that was you fishing for a compliment.”

“Then you might just find out if you do,” Nino did like Matsumoto.

“I might, huh,” deciding to let it pass for now, Matsumoto continued. “Anyway, back to answering your question, I wish the reason was deep and meaningful.

“It sounds pretty deep and meaningful to me.”

Matsumoto laughed, “When I saw your photo on the viewfinder, it just seemed familiar, spontaneous, immediate, and fun in a simple and straightforward manner. It will force people to try to think beyond the photo, which I was hoping someone out there actually does.

“That is definitely deep and meaningful to me,”

Matsumoto smiled thankfully before devouring his tempura pancakes. “I never pegged you as a flatterer, but I’ll let it pass.”

“To say it bluntly”, Matsumoto continued, “a face often tells too much for one’s own good and I don’t want that in a photo, especially in my photos. I don’t want something obvious.

“Everyone could take obvious photos; anyone can actually. I want to present something different, something else beside just ordinary photos, my photos,” Matsumoto paused; his gaze seemed focusing on some point far ahead.

Nino caught himself staring, possibly dreamily over the mouth that let out those many words, and shook himself out of it.

Matsumoto turned to him with a grimace, “Ah, I’m sorry. That was probably too much to take in and I can be annoyingly serious when it comes to photography. Or so I’ve been told.”

“It’s okay to be serious,” Nino offered a weak smile.

“But it’s neither the time nor the place. I should not just be going existentialist on you all of a sudden,” Matsumoto shrugged.

“Then I’ll be going existentialist on you all of a sudden on an appropriate time and place later,” Nino assured him, “And we’ll be even.”

“You’re funny too,” Matsumoto replied with a wide grin. “I knew it.”

“Such compliments, Matsumoto-san,” Nino was sure he blushed therefore he pretended to fuss with his empty rice bowl and chopsticks.

“It’s Jun,” he smiled. “No need for formalities I suppose.”

“Jun,” Nino tried and liked how the name rolled on his tongue. “Jun-kun.”

Jun smiled.

“And it’s Ninomiya,”

“Ninomiya, okay, nice to meet you,”

“Nice to meet you, too. Now, if I emailed you out of the blue, you’ll know that it’s me, right?”

“Email?” Jun frowned for a while before everything was clear, “Ah, yes, I gave you my card.”

Looking a little bit disappointed over the forgotten important moment, Nino pouted, “Just for that comment, I would not send you anything.”

Jun waved his hand playfully, setting aside his tray and reaching for his glass, “Please don’t take it the wrong way,” he added, “I give those cards to almost everyone I meet, almost everyone I took a picture of, and that email is officially my work email.”

He set the glass aside and reached into his pocket, taking out his wallet. He took out a card, passing it to Nino. “Here, use this email instead,” pointing at the bottom part of the card, he looked up, “[email protected]. This will go straight to my phone so there will be no confusion.”

“I was just kidding, you know,” Nino stared at the card and looked up to find Jun grinning at him.

“I’m not,” he said, “Write me anything. Anytime.”

Invitation was clearly sent; Nino was a bit surprised by this Matsumoto’s, no, Jun-kun’s frankness but surely it wouldn’t keep him from sending a mail. It would just be a mail after all. For a start.

“Okay then,” Nino took the card and pocketed it.

“You want dessert?” Jun asked a moment too soon, trying to locate a waitress. Nino shrugged the hint of annoyance he felt, and told Jun he’d take annin dofu.

*
Nino was sure they could have spent the whole afternoon in that restaurant if they wanted. Something that would be an indulgence for both of them, something that was too soon. So Nino asked for the bill and insisted on splitting them equally, ignoring Jun’s questioning look.

After walking back to the park entrance in companionable silence, Nino fixed his shoulder straps and turned to Jun.

“Lunch was nice,” he smiled. “I’ll see you tomorrow?”

Jun nodded, “You’re going back to your bench?”

“Nope, I have to go to work,” Nino said.

“Work?”

“Yes. Work,” Nino smiled over Jun’s surprised expression. “You don’t think that I get money from playing guitar on the park and occasional gigs, do you?”

Seeing Jun’s next expression, Nino snorted, “You do think so. Well, newsflash, aspiring singer slash guitarist needs to work to feed himself and pay his bill.

“No offense, but I thought… At least something else, or, well,” Jun threw his hands slowly, unable to explain his thought.

Nino didn’t know why but he couldn’t contain the grin, “None taken, really.”

“I’m going to take another round in the park and take some more snaps,” Jun tried to brush off the awkwardness. “You’re heading to the station?”

Nino nodded, sparing the other from having to explain more than he was willing to do at the moment. Without another word, he threw a salute and walked toward the station.

They’ll meet tomorrow and it would be enough for today.

Snapshot

A lunch set dish of crisply fried tempura pancakes of finely shredded ginger, thin julienne of sweet red pepper, golden kabocha squash, woodsy burdock root and bright green shungiku dandelion leaves*. Nino's fingers sneaked in to form a peace sign on the left side.