Toki no Kaze [Formerly known as: Stealing Time]

"EVE'S TEMPTATION" - ANTEROS BULLET

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Several nights earlier, Heath had sat in his Tokyo apartment working on his next solo song. He stared at the sheet music and nibbled on his bass pick in silent focus. After several minutes, there was a blunt break in the silence with a knock at the door. Heath flinched as he was startled by the sudden noise. The dark haired bassist got up and went over to receive his mysterious guest. “Pata?” he said as found the brown-haired slightly drunk guitarist standing in his doorway. “Why don’t you answer your phone?? I’ve tried calling you several times Heath.” “He was trying to call me over and over earlier today so I turned off my mobile,” replied the younger man with a tinge of annoyance in his voice. “Well maybe you should have fucking answered Heath,” Pata retorted in a serious tone.

The last note in Pata’s voice sent a cold stream of fear down Heath’s spine. There was a brief pause as Pata watched Heath, who stood wondering in fear of what Pata had come to so urgently tell him. He turned his back to Pata and touched a paper on the glass table in front of him. “Is he okay?” The concern at the end of his question was all too strong to mask as subtle. The older man took his time in responding. “He is in the hospital.” Heath spun around immediately “What the hell has he done??” Pata could see the panic that had set in deep in Heath’s eyes. “I don’t know.” “What the do you mean you don’t know? How the fuck could you not know?!” answered the increasingly concerned bassist. “I don’t know details Heath,” Pata replied in a firm tone, warning Heath not to take tone with him. Heath took a moment to take a deep breath and question in a calmer manner, “How serious is it?” “I told you, I don’t know details. All I know is that he might be kept overnight and there could be surgery involved. That’s all I was told.”

Without missing a beat, Heath rushed over to his room and started abruptly packing his things. “Heath are you insane? You can’t just leave like this. You have a solo gig in a few days. Yoshiki is a grown man he can take care of himself.” At the sound of Pata’s last words, Heath immediately lost his calm. “Obviously not Pata! He obviously can’t fucking take care of himself, he is DESTROYING himself. And it’s entirely my fault!” he spat the words through a stream of panicked tears. “I need to fix this, Pata. Only I can fix this.” “You can’t fix Yoshiki Heath. No one can.” The dark-haired bassist took a step closer to the brown-haired man. “You’re right. I can’t. But I can help him pick up the pieces and help him keep them together.” The guitarist furrowed his brows and examined the serious look in Heath’s eyes. After a brief silence he gave a slight nod and added: “Just don’t let yourself fall apart too in the process.” With that, he turned away and made his exit.