“Oh, your bodyguards told me that you’d be down in a moment – I hope I didn’t wake you. I hope you don’t mind that I let myself in.”

The cheer and smile the man shot him from across the room were not-so-well disguised fakes. Gackt could tell. He could always tell when his manager was feigning a good mood for common decency’s sake. He also had a pretty good idea of what this was about.

Taking a seat on the opposite end of the dining room table, Gackt leaned against the chair’s back, happy to have some support there. He had a feeling he was going to need it. “Don’t worry about it – I was up already.” He didn’t elaborate on why. “What’s this about?” he asked for the sake of asking – the conversation would go smoother if he did.

“Well…” the other man leaned forward and clasped his hands on the table. “I’m sure you know your contract in and out and backwards by this point, but I just wanted to raise your attention to one of the clauses--”

“I’m not going to need my lawyer for this, am I?”

“I would certainly hope not,” his manager said. “The clause I’m talking about – that discusses the minimum and maximum that you can weigh in as…”

“Oh that one.” He was right, he had known what this was about.

“Yes, that one.” The kindness was quickly seeping from the other’s face. “Over the past years you’ve been well within the range provided, and I have to thank you for that, but as of late you’ve…slipped below the minimum.”

“Ah. You’re going to tell me to eat more.”

“Well yes, if that’s what’s keeping you from staying within the limits. I just wanted to reiterate that the limits aren’t just for image, but for your health as well. So I’m coming to you as your manager and as your friend to tell you to get back into the green zone.”

Gackt sat silent for a moment. He didn’t want to tell him. Not yet. The man was a coward and would close him out of work for the sake of his ‘health.’ But he couldn’t exactly lie either. He was a poor liar. Standing he beckoned to the other man. “Come here, let me show you something.”

With quick – and almost forcibly strong steps – he strode over to the pantry and swung the double doors wide open. Stacked from top to bottom was a seemingly endless supply of food, drinks, supplements loaded with carbs, proteins…most of which were ingested and imbibed with the purpose to gain weight.

“I have been eating this stuff every day, all day, for the past two and a half months. As you can see, it’s not helping.”

His manager turned to him and said, “Have you seen a—”

“Doctor? Yes. I’m waiting for the test results to come back.” He continued, quieter. “I need you to lie for me. I need you to tell them that I’ve been busy, or stressed, or anything that you think will work. Tell them that I apologize and it’ll never happen again. Just don’t tell them what I’ve just shown you.”

“I can’t lie to them—”

He slammed the doors shut with a bang and turned again to the smaller man.

“Don’t try to intimidate me – it won’t work.”

“I know. But I’m not quite down to the level of begging yet, so I’ll ask once more, nicely. Please lie. As my friend…and my manager, please. They can’t know – not yet.” He looked away and murmured, “I’m not ready for them to know…”

They stood beside each other, mulling over what was to become of the situation. After a time, his manager piped up, “I’ll tell them that you’ve just lost track. You’ve been busy and working hard and just haven’t paid attention.”

“It’s been ‘taken care of,’ so to speak.”

“Yeah, something like that.”