兄弟: 追憶のhide

Author: Matsumoto Hiroshi
Translation: w_b

Please do not repost this translation. I wanted to share a bit of Hiroshi's book since it's pretty funny by parts but I am doing so without any sort of official permission. For this reason I am asking you not to repost the following text. Please just link instead.
Thank you! :)

A Stoic Night
p.133-137

Hide's second solo tour, the "hide solo tour 1996 -PSYENCE A GO GO-" tour which began in October of '96, was the ultimate rock 'n roll show.

It was fun, dangerous and wild. The fans who gathered were thoroughly entertained. It reminded me of a travelling carnival I had seen in America.

The incredible variety of the song line up was a given. But then the stage would fill with smoke and nude dancers would appear, some dancing, some suspended above the stage. With a laser beam hide would conduct the audience like a grand choir, or he'd tear through the audience at full speed...... The shows were a real treat and the greatest rush, no matter the venue.

Our family members seemed convinced that during the tour our personal lives were just as wild but I personally believe that there was no rock star as stoic as hide.

"Hiroshi, don't you dare put the moves on any of the fans. And tell the same to the staff."

I was often admonished in this manner, regardless of whether or not we were in Tokyo at the time. However I'm certain that this warning held for hide as well.

He would sometimes take girls he had met out for a meal but once the meal was finished, he'd simply take them home in his car.

The times we were in Tokyo he would have me wait with the car outside the bar, and at the end of the night he'd escort the girls home. He had fun chatting with them during the ride - but things never progressed beyond conversation.

I witnessed these so-called dates on several occasions and in the beginning I used to worry that my presence was making him feel uncomfortable or causing him to be on his guard, even though he knew that I would have waited for him to return to the car and would never have breathed a word to anyone, even if he had taken a girl out for a night on the town.

During the "PSYENCE A GO GO" tour hide spent all of the nights out drinking and partying with his band members. But there wasn't a trace of a girl at those parties.

It was during that particular tour when one late night in Hokkaido he turned to me and said.

"Hiroshi, I'm going to bed now so get lost for a bit."

Next thing I knew I was being handed two ten thousand yen bills.

"Where exactly did you have in mind?"

"Come on, just go already."

"Huh?"

"What I said......"

"Oh, well......"

I remember my face flushed with joy at hide's thoughtfulness.

"Alright...... I'll be back."

I had hide's permission to go out. At long last, some free time! A spring in my step I made my way to the hotel entrance and got in a taxi.

However it was already 2am by then. No way any bars would still be open at that hour. Come to think of it, in a small town like that even adult bars closed at midnight. The streets I saw from the taxi window were completely dark.

Still, I put my hopes in the taxi driver.

"Is there somewhere interesting you could take me?"

Off we went, when I noticed the neighbourhood had changed to what looked like an old red light district. Damn, I want to go back....... This looks kind of dangerous.

"Excuse me, could you please turn back? And pull up if you see an izakaya or somewhere that's still open, please."

The words had barely left my mouth when all of a sudden it dawned on me.

Let's suppose for a minute that my behaviour was captured on film, what would I do if some magazine wrote about the debauchery of hide's younger brother? It wasn't likely but not impossible either! Wouldn't I be betraying the fans if my conduct hurt hide's image in any way?

Seized with this sudden fear, I turned to the driver.

"Please drop me off on that corner over there!"

The driver hit the brakes. I flew out of the taxi the moment it stopped, then was gripped by a sudden panic. I had to escape my pursuers!

I made a mad dash for the next intersection and caught a taxi going in the opposite direction, then got off and took off running in the opposite direction yet again, got into another taxi then got off....... Just like a fugitive on the run.

Dawn was beginning to break when in this manner I made my way back to the hotel. Still breathing hard I muttered to myself.

What the hell am I doing.......

I looked up at the hotel lit by the glow of sunrise, in which at this very moment hide was sound asleep. I smiled bitterly while breathing a long sigh.

Apparently "adult entertainment" was forbidden when you were hide's manager.

That's when I understood. Hide hadn't become stoic of his own free will; he simply had no other choice.