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Author Topic: [Mendol X AKB48] Ikemen Idol-[various parings]--Chapter 10[updated 30/9]  (Read 16663 times)

Offline Hirasawaizumi

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Chapter 7


language!:

language notes:

urusai - shut up

baka - idiot, stupid

u-so - no way

Out of their 'work' clothes, the girls brushed their long hair, reveling in the feeling of being in comfortable non-boy clothes. Saeko had given the girls an evening off and they had decided to celebrate the release date of their single, '3 Seconds'. When they had gone to buy it, it had been disappointing to see that there wasn't many of their CDs on sale but it was heart-warming to see that they did have a fan out there who wanted to buy their CD.

"Ray sure is popular though..." Hinata said thoughtfully, running a comb through her hair. "Did you see that wall of CDs they had for her? Peole say that her new album 'H', is pretty good..."

"Don't buy it. I'm warning you." Nami gave Hinata a dirty look. "We see enough of her already. We don't need more of her during our off-time."

"Ooooo..." Hinata gave Nami a cheeky grin. "Someone wants Ray alllll to themselves!"

Urusai! Baka." If looks could kill, Hinata would've been dead before she hit the ground.

"Do you looooove her?" Asahi decided to join in the good-natured ribbing, enjoying how Nami's face and ears were quickly turning red.

"S-S-Shut up!" Nami took up a pillow, starting an impromptu pillow fight.

"Ah!" Giggling, Hinata ducked a thrown pillow, rolling out of the way like James Bond. While rolling, she managed to pick up a pillow and return fire. Unfortunately, she missed her mark and hit Asahi.

"Mou!" Asahi grabbed the pillow and threw it at Hinata, who launched herself out of the way, giggling insanely.

"Get her!" Nami grinned, brandishing a pillow of her own. Asahi and Nami both ran after Hinata, laughing out loud. Marilyn and Saeko had gone home to do... unmentionable things all night long, so the three had a free night. It felt so good to be out of boy clothes and to drop the boy persona, even though they had gotten used to it over time. It felt good to have a seperate identity from Persona to take a break from the hectic work schedule. Their girl clothes marked the times they were off while boy clothes meant they were on the clock.

"I give up!" Hinata was rolled up into a ball, hiccuping with laughter as her two groupmates brought the pillow down on her body. "I give!"

"I can't get enough of this feeling of freedom!" Nami flopped down onto the futons, still breathless from laughing.

"This is the only place we can really be ourselves." Hinata agreed, unrolling from her ball and sitting up. For her troubles, she got a face full of pillow from Asahi and was down again.

"And the 'L's aren't here tonight!" Asahi added cheerfully.

"Hey," Hinata sat back up again. "Do you guys wanna throw a CD release party with just the three of us?"

"We shouldn't!" Asahi frowned a bit. "What if shachou suddenly comes back? We'd be in trouble!"

"It's fine!" Nami grinned and rolled over from her spot on the futon, looking up at her two friends. "If she said she won't let Marilyn sleep and they'll play all night, that means-"

"they won't come back!" Nami and Hinata said in unison.

The wheels in Asahi's head turned slowly and finally a smile crept up on her face. "That's true... then... shall we?"

"Lets do it to it!" The three cheered. In no time at all, they had round up some orange juice, cookies, sweets and put their CD promotional posters all over the walls of their shared room. It was cozier up here and they had a mini kitchen, which meant they didn't have to go downstairs for much. Besides... it was better not to be downstairs just because they might bump into Saeko and Marilyn doing unspeakable things! So it was just much safer upstairs.

"Cheers!" The three toasted to their success, feeling positive about their future and all of them happy that it had ended up with the three of them together. Kai was the joker of the group; funny, brash and loud, with the ability to lighten up a tense situation but he was also serious and hard-working when it came down to it and pushed her group to be all that they could be. Kuu, well, Asahi seriously thought that without Kuu, musically they would've been mediocre at best. Also, the soft-spoken member of the group was gentle and kind and entirely too cute for words and he charmed the staff left and right. Riku kept everyone in line, without really knowing it. Kai and Kuu were prone to be distracted but Riku kept his eyes on the target like a heat-seeking missile and the decisions he made were sound and extremely helpful to the group.

About to drink to their success, the three were interrupted by the sound of the doorbell.

"Who could that be at this hour?" Asahi shared puzzled looks with her group.

"I'll go check." Nami volunteered. Meanwhile, the doorbell kept ringing. Whoever it was was eager to get in! As Nami came down the stairs, she spotted shachou's whip sitting on one of the mismatched chairs in the living room.

"Shachou musta forgotten something and came back to get it." Nami grinned. Even the thought of the L's couldn't kill her good mood! Jogging to the door, she unlocked it and pushed it open, grinning, imagining Saeko's flustered face. "Hey-"

"I'm here!"

Nami's eyes almost popped out of her skull as the LAST person she wanted to see EVER stood in front of her in all her Diva glory. RAY. Apparently, Nami was the last person Ray wanted to see too as the brilliant smile dropped from her face as she realized this person in front of her, though oddly familiar, was not her beloved Kai. Whipping off the sunglasses that covered half her face, Ray stared at Nami in a mixture of stunned surprise and anger. She KNEW this was the right house. Who was this girl? Nami wasn't going to be giving any answers though as she slammed the door in Ray's face and locked it.

"U-SO!" Nami screeched, running back into the house and up the stairs two at a time.

"Who are you?" Ray pounded on the door, pissed that the girl had DARED slam the door in her face. "Open up! Could it be-are you a burglar? I'm calling the police!"

"Ray's here!" Nami burst through the door to their room. Asahi and Hinata stood up in alarm, sharing the panic Nami felt.

"Why?"

"How should I know?" Nami threw up her hands.

Hinata looked from Nami to Asahi, getting more and more panicked as the drumming on the front door got louder. "What should we do?"

"If she sees me like this..." Nami grabbed at the front of her shirt, panicking. What if Ray had guessed? What if Ray recognized her?

"What do we do? Shachou's for sure gonna find out about this!" Hinata was not making this better. In fact, she was just making everybody stress out even more.

"What if she calls the cops? Persona'll be exposed!" Nami was also not helping and was making everyone even MORE panicked.

"Well," Asahi was trying to calm down and think but it was hard with two girls babbling beside her and one crazy Diva pounding at her front door! "Nami, change into your disguise and calm her down!"

They all scurried to help Nami change with Asahi quickly and expertly pinning up Nami's hair and securing the tiny girl's blonde wig and Hinata throwing a baggy black zip-up sweater at Nami and a pair of baggy khaki shorts.

"Go go go!" Asahi pushed Nami out the door to their room, watching the other girl hopping about trying to zip up her shorts while rushing down the stairs.

"Open this door NOW!" Ray demanded, now more than a little angry as something occurred to her. A girl? In the same house as KAI? What was a girl doing here? What was Kai doing with a girl? As the door opened, revealing Ray's love interest, Ray could only feel helpless anger raging inside her.

"Kai, who was that woman earlier?" Ray demanded to know. Bringing her hands up, she wrapped them around Kai's neck and started shaking the blonde. "Being with her while you've got me~!"

"That was just a neighbour," Kai lied through his teeth, pushing off Ray's strangling hands. "She needed to borrow some soy sauce! But it's alright now, she went home. Well then, bye-"

The sound of Ray's booted foot stopping the door from closing shook the house as Ray glared down at the small blonde idol.

"Hmmm... Is that so?" The layout of the house prevented Ray from seeing the rest of the house from her vantage point at the door. But that would NOT stop Ray! "I want to see for myself."

Pulling the door open and brushing past Kai, she stormed into the house.

"She's coming!" Asahi had been looking over the banister from the second floor and now ducked down. "Quick, we gotta change!"

"Whaaaat?" Hinata pouted, resting her chin on the banister. Asahi JUST manged to pull Hinata out of sight as Ray looked up. Ray searched the kitchen, looked into Saeko's office, looking around to see if there were any signs of that girl being here. But there were none. Why had that girl looked so familiar...

"She's not here." Ray said quietly, feeling foolish.

"Right?" Kai smiled, relieved that Ray had stopped her rampage. If she had decided to storm up the stairs... well... Kai didn't know how he would explain Hinata AND Asahi. Putting his hands on Ray's shoulders and turning the Diva towards the front door, he started GENTLY leading her towards the exit. "Nevermind that. What did you come for?"

"Ah, that's right!" Ray beamed at Kai. "Congratulations on your CD debut!"

Kai finally noticed that Ray had brought a cake box in a plain white paper bag and was now offering it to Kai The Diva sounded incredibly cute and girlish as she beamed at the blonde. "To celebrate, I made a cake for you!"

The shortest member of Persona couldn't help feeling touched by Ray's thoughfulness but was distracted from the gift as Riku flew down the stairs in a pair of slacks and a casual white button-up shirt.

"That's so nice of you! Thank you!" Riku rambled, holding out his hands to take the cake, but the bag was quickly pulled away from Riku.

"It's not for you!" Ray held the box to her chest like it was some priceless treasure. "It's for Kai!" Turning back to Kai, Ray pressed the cake into Kai's hands with another brilliant smile. "Here!"

"Thank you." Kai smiled back weakly and accepted the bag. Riku, pouted. How come he didn't get any cake?

"For some reason, your hair looks weird today." Ray commented, looking at Riku strangely.

Kai winced. DAMNIT! Riku had screwed up!

"You've got the wrong wig." Kuu came down the stairs in Riku's wig, a t-shirt and blue basketball shorts, having realized the error himself when he was putting the final touches on his hair.

"Wig?"

All three members of Persona exchanged another flurry of panicked looks, wondering how they were going to cover this up...

"Uh... haven't you heard about that new hairstyle 'wig'? It's all the rage in New York." Riku babbled quickly. "Yeah, we're researching new hairstyles right now."

Ray gave Riku and Kuu a weird look and let the topic drop. She didn't think too much on it as she really didn't care about Kuu or Riku. Her only concern was Kai. Turning back to her beloved, Ray moved closer to Kai, her eyes gleaming excitedly. This was the first time she had made a cake and she had to say, it was pretty much a success!
"Lets eat the cake together." Ray smiled at Kai.

"Sure!" Kai pushed Ray towards the couch. "You take a seat, I'll go get us some plates. Do you want tea?"

Talking quickly to distract Ray, Kai motioned for his bandmates to go into the kitchen and Riku and Kuu quickly exchanged wigs in the kitchen before Kai joined them.

"I can't believe this," Kai spoke in a low voice. "She chased me all the way here."

"This is the only place we can be ourselves after a hard day's work," Riku pouted at Kai, still a little bothered that he wasn't allowed to have a bit of cake. "You're her lover right? Get her to go away."

"I told you, we're not lovers or anything!" Kai protested.

"Oooo..." Kuu stared at Kai accusingly. "Even though she gave you your first kiss, eh?"

"Shaddup." Kai's eyes narrowed.

"Anyways," Riku nodded towards the living room. "If you eat that cake with her, it'll probably please her. If you make her angry again..."

All three remembered very well the whipping Nami had been subjected to when she had pissed off the Diva. None of them wanted to experience the pain of the whip again.

"Okay, I'll eat the cake and make her leave." Kai nodded.

"Hinata LOVES cake!" Kuu cheered, clasping his hands together and was met with the fierce disapproving glares from Kai and Riku. The smile dropped from Kuu's face and he pouted at his friends. What?

Plates, forks and tea was prepared, soon they were all sitting around the table in the living room with Ray and Kai occupying the chaise and the other two members of Person pulling up single chairs.

"Okay, I'm going to open it!" Ray leaned forward and pulled off the lip of the box. "Taadah!"

"GEH!" Riku and Kai made a face as they stared at the abortion of a cake. It was aqua-green icing and was topped with raspberries, chocolate kisses, nuts, raisins, chocolate sprinkles, pieces of peach and a slice of pineapple in the centre.

"What?" Kuu looked around the table. "It looks delicious!"

"Yeah," Kai smiled weakly at Ray. "I was just... so surprised that it looked so good!"

Kuu, meanwhile, had swiped a bit of icing from the cake with a finger and tried it out. "It's pretty good!"

Riku tried a bit too but immediately regretted it, a sour taste exploding in his mouth that was mixed with a cloying sweetness, too sweet to be good. The cake's icing also seemed to numb his tongue. While Riku tried to discreetly get rid of the taste in his mouth, his face told Kai everything that the blonde needed to know. This cake would be horrible.

"Who said you two could eat it?" Ray scowled at them. "This is all for Kai!"

"Dozo, dozo." Riku grinned, now not at all upset that he would have to skip out on the cake. Kai grimaced, mouthing out the word 'Traitor!' to Riku. Looking at the cake with a large smile that looked more like a grimace to Riku and Kuu, Kai picked up a fork and quickly took several bites.

"Is it good?" Ray prodded, looking at Kai eagerly.

Kai, trying not to gag on the taste of the cake, gave Ray his best smile. "It's delicious. Thank you."

"I'm so happy that you're eating it so joyfully!" Ray threw her arms around Kai and the blonde immediately stood up as Ray's arms came too close to her unbound chest.

"I'm not strapped down!" Kai hissed to himself, uncomfortably aware of that fact as Ray settled for wrapping her arms around Kai's tiny waist and hugging him tightly.

"Strapped down?" Ray looked up at Kai curiously who quickly sat down, scrambling to cover for his slip.

"I was just thinking, that uh, your hair feels so nice..." Kai leaned forward and touched Ray's hair, running his fingers quickly through the silken strands then leaned forward to take a quick smell, smiling at the Diva. "It smells so good, too."

"You can touch it any time!" Ray gushed, feeling her cheeks heat up at the compliment. If baking a cake for Kai was all it took to get results like this, she'd bake him cakes all the time! Kai, meanwhile, was taking big gulps of tea from his teacup, trying to wash away the taste. It was SORT OF helping...

Kai managed to wolf down a couple more bites of cake before Ray excused herself to the washroom.

"Get rid of the cake while you've got the chance!" Riku said as soon as Ray was gone. Kai jumped to action, hiding the horrible cake underneath the sofa to be dumped later. Honestly, how could anything taste so horrible?

"How did she find out where we lived?" Kai grabbed at his hair in frustration.

"Well, Monkey Pro is our parent company..." Kuu started to say with a shrug.

Kai, who wasn't really listening to Kuu, continued pacing. "Why is she here?"

"To give you a cake to celebrate your CD debut." Kuu answered Kai's question again. The sound of the washroom door opening stopped Kai's pacing and the blonde pasted a smile on his face.

"That cake sure was good!" Kai rubbed his stomach to emphasize the point. "Well, you'd better be leaving now, you've probably got work tomorrow, right?"

Holding out his hand to Ray, the Diva took it eagerly as Kai pulled her towards the door, determined to finally get rid of the singer.

"Are you concerned about me?" Ray smiled at the diminutive blonde's back. He was small and slim, almost like a girl... but the way he walked, the way he seemed to radiate confidence made him seem like a giant to her. "Kai, why are you so nice?"

"Eh heh... yeah..." Kai ducked a hug and settled for a companionable pat on the back while pushing the beautiful woman out the front door. "Bye bye!" And underneath his breath as he shut and locked the door, he muttered, "Don't come back."

"She's gone!" They all let out a sigh of relief and flopped down on to the upholstery. Their rest was short-lived however, as the doorbell rang again.

"Now THAT might be shachou." Kai had an arm flung over his eyes. "She left her whip."

"I'll bring it to her and the we can continue with our party!" Riku picked up the instrument of torture and trotted to the door, knowing that Saeko didn't like to be kept waiting, but instead of the president's familiar face, another familiar and uninvited face appeared.

"Shachou, did you forget something-"

"Yo, Riku!" Katsuyuki grinned, delighted to see Riku. "I was in the neighbourhood so I thought I'd drop by and congratulate you on your CD debut!"

"O-oh." Riku nodded, pasting a smile on his face. "Uh, thanks!"

"Well," Katsuyuki stood at the threshold to the house, feeling a bit nervous as Riku stood at the doorway. "Um... well, if you're busy-"

"No!" Years of good Japanese upbringing made Riku automatically step aside and wave Katsuyuki-san in. "Please come in! We were just having some tea..."

Kai and Kuu were, to say the least, displeased with this new guest when they had just gotten rid of the last one.

"Oh, you already have refreshments set out. Are you expecting someone?"

"No, nobody really." Riku blurted out. "We just wanted tea. Now we want juice. Do you like juice? We'll get you some juice. GUYS, LETS GO TO THE KITCHEN!"

The three-man boyband escaped to the kitchen again.

"Why'd you let him in?" Kai asked in a soft voice.

Riku peeked out at Katsuyuki who was messing around with a weird stuffed calf Saeko kept in the living room. "What choice did I have? He came all this way to congratulate us."
"You're really covering for him, eh?" Kai crossed his arms, finding an opportunity to get Riku back for teasing him about Ray. "Do you like him?"

"Not a chance." Riku's cheeks puffed up in indignation.

"There totally is a chance." Kai sing-songed.

"Stop pissing me off." Riku growled. Being in man-mode got Riku's testosterone pumping.

"What are we gonna do?" Kuu's voice interrupted their argument.

Kai, thoroughly enjoying Riku's discomfort, crossed his arms. "You do something this time."

Riku bared her teeth at Kai, who did it right back. Grabbing four glasses of orange juice, they went back to the living room to join Katsuyuki-san.

"Thanks." He took the juice gratefully and was about to drink when he caught sight of Riku's face. The smooth-skinned Riku was sucking his juice through a straw... it was almost sinful, the way he was doing it-

"Could it be..." Kuu's voice barely pierced the haze around Katsuyuki brain. "that Katsuyuki-san likes Riku?"

"There's no way!" Katsuyuki laughed a bit too loudly, getting way too ahead of himself. "Two men kissing? There's no way I'd so something stupid like that!"

The three young men looked up at Katsuyuki in horrified fascination. It was like watching a train-wreck. The young director of Sunny Music wasn't convincing ANYONE of his not-liking Riku.

"Oh yeah, Riku, lets arm wrestle! Men need to be manly!" Katsuyuki was on his feet, eager, some might even say desperate to change the topic.

'Do guys arm-wrestle for fun?' Riku's puzzled look directed at Kuu earned her a shrug.

"Yeah, men do need to be manly..." Riku stalled, casting a look at Kai. The blonde leaned forward to confer with Riku discreetly.

"This is bad, he'll totally figure you out cuz you're weak." Kai said bluntly.

"I'm not weak," Riku pouted. "And you told me to do something!"

"Arm-wrestling?"

"What's up?" Katsuyuki looked at the two whispering boys nervously. Were they talking about him?

"Nothing!" Riku stood up, false enthusiasm on his face. "Lets do this!"

The table was cleared for the two combatants. Katsuyuki thought he had found the perfect out, some friendly competition between two good-looking men-not that he thought Riku was particularly good-looking. Or that Katsuyuki-san noticed things like that or thought that the way Riku looked when he was concentrating was completely and utterly hot... no. Katsuyuki, the young director of Sunny Music was 100% hetero-OH MY GOD, RIKU'S HAND WAS SO SOFT!

'Why is my heart racing?' Katsuyuki was had to restrain himself from panting as he tried to focus on the task at hand.

"Okay," Kai was self-appointed ref and Kuu enjoyed his role as spectator. "Ready-"

"Wait a sec!" Katsuyuki nearly threw himself away from Riku and turned away from the three young men, muttering to himself. Unknowingly, loud enough for them to hear. "Calm down... I should like women. I *do* like women! I like women... I like women..."

As Katsuyuki-san repeated this mantra to himself, Kai was chuckling gleefully at Katsuyuki's problem.

"This is HILARIOUS." Kai whispered to Riku. "Is he gay?"

"No way." Riku grinned at the hilarity of it all. Katsuyuki-san looked so straight!

"Okay, I'm ready!" Katsuyuki took off his jacket and flung it on the chaise. "This is a fight between two men!"

They clasped hands again and Kai was there to set them up.

"Ready... Go!" Katsuyuki immediately started putting the pressure on, but it didn't seem like Riku was letting up either with Kai and Kuu cheering their bandmate on. However, the singer seemed to be struggling as he leaned forward little by little, trying to get some leverage by shifting his body forward a bit. It was too much for the director of Sunny Music though as he panicked from Riku's near proximity.

"I... I can't do it!" Katsuyuki, once again, flung himself away from Riku, lying on the floor with his hand covering his eye. "I can't do this, I can't-"

Opening his eyes again, he was greeted by the sight of Ray, looking down at him.

"What are you doing here?" Forgetting his Riku problem for the moment, he blinked up at the Diva in confusion.

"I forgot my bag." Ray answered, picking up her bag from the floor beside the chaise, turning to Kai after she retrieved her belonging. "And your door was unlocked! It would be bad if Kai ran into some crazy stalker, so I made sure to shut and lock it!"

'Lock it? Then we'll just have to unlock it again when she leaves now.' Kuu thought in confusion.

'She could've just taken her bag and left. Locking the door behind her is just one extra step.' Riku was trying to puzzle out why the Diva would lock their door behind her. Only the blonde member of the group was sure of the reason Ray had locked the door behind her.

'SHE WANTS TO STAY LONGER!' The gleam in Ray's eyes as she looked at Kai hungrily told the shortest member of Persona that he had hit the nail on the head.

The sudden pounding on the door caught all their attention.

"See! Just like I said, a stalker!"

Saeko's voice demanding to be let in sent the Persona-boys into panic-attacks.

"Oh no, the president's back!" Riku looked at their two guests.

"RULE NUMBER 15: NO GUESTS! RULE NUMBER 15! NO GUESTS!" Soul-numbing fear was making Kuu repeat rule number fifteen of Kamonohatsu agency.

"Hurry, hide them!" Riku grabbed Katsuyuki and his jacket, tugging him towards the hallway closet while Kai grabbed Ray and headed to Saeko's office. Riku pushed Katsuyuki in to the hallway closet and to keep him from protesting, jumped in too to slam his hand over the director's mouth to stop any and all protests.

"What's going on?" Ray let herself be lead, enjoying the action-star quality Kai had suddenly taken.

"You have to hide! And keep quiet!" Kai hissed while pushing the Diva underneath the desk. The blonde made to leave but was tugged under the desk with Ray.

"If I'm hiding," Ray giggled quietly, feeling very much like a kid playing hide-and-seek again. "You. Are. Too!"

"What-"

"Shhh..." Ray pressed a finger against Kai's lips. Crouched in this small space together, the space just got infinitely smaller as Ray turned Kai's face towards her with gentle hands. Kai was frozen like a deer in the headlights of a speeding car as Ray oh-so-carefully leaned in and placed a timid kiss on Kai's lips, suddenly shy in this small cramped space.

"Ray-"

"Shshsh," Ray shushed Kai again and leaned forward, stopping all words between them perfectly.

"Why are you wearing your Persona outfit?" Saeko, meanwhile, had been interrogating Kuu. This was all so very suspicious, very, VERY suspicious. The few long seconds it took for Kuu to reply was even MORE suspicious.

"I'm practicing!" Kuu replied. "Practicing our dance routine!"

Leaning forward, Saeko sniffed at Kuu's clothing while the boy stood, frozen to the spot.

"You smell." Saeko scrunched her nose up, her sharp eyes pinning Kuu with a knowing look. "You smell of lies."

The president of Kamonohatsu agency wanted to investigate further... but she HAD left Marilyn... QUITE tied up. Her secretary could wait for a while but to make her wait too long would make the usually docile woman unbelievably pissy.

"Well, whatever." Saeko grabbed her whip from it's resting place. "But if you guys go out and come back smelling like cigarettes and booze in the morning again... you will get the whip."

"Osu." As Saeko breezed past towards the front door, Kuu gave a super-polite bow and saw Saeko off. As soon as the whip-wielding woman had left, Kuu let out a sigh of relief.

"She came back for it!" Kuu announced for the people in hiding. Now they could get rid of their guests and get back to the CD release party! "Hey, it's alright, she left!"

Kuu opened the hallway closet door to reveal Riku and Katsuyuki-san, locked in a very heated whispered argument... something about Katsuyuki-san worrying about what Riku meant by shoving the both of them in the closet while Riku growled back that it meant nothing, with a red face.

"Um... guys-"

"We're busy!" They both snapped before pulling the door closed behind them. The stunned silence afterwards told all three they had not expected that. Riku and Katsuyuki-san now stood in the closet, frozen like deers in headlights, staring at each other. They were alone again.

"W-why did you close the door?" Katsuyuki-san started.

"Why did YOU close the door?" Riku shot back, embroiled in their back and forth arguing again.

"Fine." Kuu pouted, hurt that they had raised their voices at him and walked over to Ray and Kai's hiding place, hoping to at least get Kai to join him. "Kaiiii, lets continue our party!"

Moving the rolling leather chair out of the way so Kuu could look under the desk, Kuu gaped at the sight before him. There was Ray, kissing Kai with a lazy leisure. Kai, meanwhile, had completely frozen and just sat there, letting Ray do whatever she wanted, unable to stop her.

Kuu's lips turned down, feeling very sad and just a tad envious. Everybody had somebody.

'Riku has Katsuyuki-san and Kai has Ray.' Kuu went back upstairs. He felt like the third wheel... and he hated that feeling. He was unwanted. Well, if they didn't want him, he was going to go out and celebrate by himself! 'Nobody wants to be with me, even though it's our CD release date.'

With that lonely thought in mind, Hinata changed into a lolita dress she had smuggled in, then went back downstairs cautiously. But she felt even lonelier when she came down and Ray's giggles floated out to her from shachou's office and Riku and Katsuyuki-san's whispered arguing hadn't stopped. Throwing open the front door-and not noticing that she had slammed it against a hiding Jiro's head-Hinata stormed off into the night.

She didn't get too far though, noting that the trains were far away from their house and the neighbourhood offered little in ways of entertainment except for the odd hostess bars and convenience stores.

"What should Hinata do to celebrate?" Hinata asked herself brightly, trying to keep a stiff upper lip. She really wanted to cry. "I know! Hinata remembers that there was a karaoke a few blocks over! Hinata can go sing!"

She had wanted for nothing in her life. The only child born to a well-off family, she was given everything she could possibly ask for. She was afforded a top-notch education and home-schooled for the beginning part of her life by the best teachers that her parents could afford, classically trained in music which she loved. Her parents loved her... but were distant and always off on one business trip or another.

Hinata had no cousins, no siblings, no friends. She had insisted on going to public school and thought that her situation would change and she would meet friends. But she was too eccentric and a bit too smart for everyone. And she came in the middle of the year, where people had already met friends. And it wasn't that they bullied her, it was just that she didn't exist to her classmates. Finally, Hinata had turned to the world of Lolitas that attracted the young misfits of society... but she disliked how superficial these friendships could be. She liked the clothes, though. Finally, Hinata, disparing that she would ever find friends, heard a song. It was a simple song but it was a song that made her feel like it was all going to be okay.

She had heard it briefly, the end of that song, but the lyrics struck her so profoundly. Something about not worrying and things would be alright and if anything should happen... this female singer singing this song said she'd be there to sing another song for her audience to help them through the hard times. Hinata felt like this unknown voice was singing directly at her.

The song had faded from memory, the artist unknown and Hinata couldn't for the life of her, find this artist again. But that song was what had started her love for these idols, these bright shining presences on stage and the airwaves. They made her feel better, they offered comfort in the times when she most needed them. That was why she was trying so hard to be an idol, to bring happiness and alleviate some of the loneliness for some shy, lonely kid who just wanted to know someone cared-

"Hey you, how does forty thousand yen sound?"

Hinata turned around, confused. Forty thousand yen? Doesn't it just sound like paper? Or if it was all in coins, it would sound like a lot of coins... facing the man who had asked the question, she noted dimly that he looked cheap and skeevy, even though he was wearing an expensive suit. And who wears sunglasses in the middle of the night? He seemed to recognize her, though, as he took off his sunglasses, did a double take and gave a short scream of surprise.

"AHH!" Hinata suddenly remembered who this skeazy man was! "Hentai producer!"

"I got fired, thanks to you! You ruined me, you know?" He tucked his sunglasses into the inside of his jacket then grabbed out at her. "Come here!"

"No, no, let go!" Hinata screeched, suddenly fearful. Suddenly, someone was by her side, grabbing the hentai producer's wrist in a painful grasp, twisting it and pushing him away with one hand.

"She clearly doesn't want to." The older, distinguished looking man faced down Hinata's attacker.

"What'd you say?" The former producer Kaga threw an erratic punch that was easily caught by Hinata's rescuer. Putting pressure on the fist, Kaga crumpled easily, gasping from the pain.

"Let go, please!"

"Promise to never do it again?" Hinata watched her prince in shining... well, prince in a dark business suit... growled at Kaga.

"PLEASE! Let go!" Hinata's rescuer shoved Kaga away, then brushed himself off as if touching the unpleasant former-producer dirtied him.

Still gasping in pain and embarassed by the stranger who had come to the frilly girl's aid, he held his hand gingerly against his body and backed away, screaming at them. "You got lucky this time! But no matter what, you're an ugly girl! Just an ordinary ugly girl!"

Hinata blew a raspberry out at the man's retreating back as he ran, suddenly furious and no longer scared. How dare he try to cut her down! "I'm not ordinary anymore! I'm chasing my dream! I won't let anyone get in the way of my dream!"

The man who had saved her smiled just a little bit at the young girl's spunk and turned, walking away from her.

"Um!" Her voice made the man pause. Bowing as politely as she could, she mustered up all the gratitude she could and tried to convey it in her voice. "Arigatou gozaimashita!"

He gave a tiny, almost imperceptible nod of his head and kept on walking.

"We'll meet again, right?" She called after him. He didn't reply and before she could call out again, her phone chirped at her.

"Moshi moshi."

"Hinata!" Riku's voice was panicked. "Nami's in trouble!"

"What?" Hinata was suddenly hit with instant worry.

"Where are you?"

"I'm coming back!" Hinata turned around, heading back to the Kamonohatsu house.

"We were worried about you! When we finally got Ray and Katsuyuki-san to leave and you were missing-"

"Where is she?" Kai groaned in the background. "Is she okay?"

Hinata felt her insides warm at the thought of her friends worrying about her, even though one of them sounded like he was dying. She had friends! "I'll be back ASAP! Just hold on!"

Picking up speed, she was back at the shared house in no time. She was at the door-not noticing Jiro crouchd in the corner waiting for a photo opportunity-and yanked it open. Trying to continue her forward momentum, she lost control and tripped over her own feet. Riku was at the door and seeing Hinata come flying forward, he reached out to catch her and the both of them when flying to the floor, jarring loose Riku's wig.

"Ita-ta-ta..." Asahi hissed, her natural hair pooling to around her shoulders as she sat up.

The flash and tell-tale sounds from a camera filled the air and Asahi found herself in the crosshairs of a papparazzo's camera. A familiar papparazzo with limp blonde hair.

"Asahi?" Jiro lowered his camera, gaping at the woman in front of him. Before he could say anything else, he was tugged into the house by Kai and the door slammed shut behind them.

I love AKB48 whole heartily.
I love writing stories and draw manga.
Fanfic:Blood Curse
One Shots
Mendol x AKB48

Like to go Japan someday and met them in person.

Offline Hirasawaizumi

  • Atsumina & Kojiyuu FTW
  • ecchi
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  • AKB48! daisuki dayo
Mendol - Ikemen Idol!

Chapter 8

author's note: And at the end of this chapter is where we're gonna start wandering off into non-canon land. :D

"Do you think he'll keep quiet?" Hinata's voice rang out in the darkness. The girls were all sleeping in their futons, too wired to go to sleep.

"He will." Asahi said with more conviction than she felt. Jiro had looked stunned and kept shaking his head when Asahi was explaining to him and begging her long-time friend to not rat them out. He had said he needed time to absorb all of this and had left the Kamonohatsu house, uncharacteristically quiet.

"He better." Nami muttered.

"Anyways, are you feeling better?" Hinata turned over to look at Nami. Nami gave the girl a small smile. "Yeah, thanks to you. Gingerale does help."

"We better stock up." Asahi giggled. "Looks like Ray might want to make more food for her boyfriend."

"Shut up." Nami growled.

"Oooo..." Hinata giggled. "Nami and Ra~ay, under the desk. K-I-S-S-I-N-G-"

"You saw that?" Nami screeched, jumping up.

"You guys were kissing?" Asahi sat up, not wanting to miss an opportunity to tease Nami.

"CHIGAUUU!" Nami protested loudly. "She frickin' attacked me! I was frozen in terror! Anyways, why'd you run off, Hinata?"

The attention turned to her, the pig-tailed girl rolled over, avoiding her bandmates' questioning eyes. "Well... I thought you guys were having fun without me, so, I didn't want to disturb you guys..."

"Why would you think that?" Sensitive to Hinata's fragile nature, Nami sat down and scooted over to the loli. "It was supposed to be our party! Then those two idiots came and totally barged in on it."

"Yeah." Asahi nodded, feeling a little bit of irritation creep in. Stupid Ray wouldn't give her any cake! Though maybe that was a good thing, seeing how Nami turned out after eating the toxic creation... but Hinata had looked so happy finishing off that ugly monstrosity. "I wanna celebrate with people I made my CD with. The only other people I want with us is the rest of the recording crew, Marilyn and MAYBE shachou."

Silence reigned in the dark room and finally, it was broken by a little sob.

"Are you crying?" Nami gaped at the lump under the blankets that was Hinata.

"N-no." Hinata obviously was.

"Hey." Asahi got out of her futon now and sat beside Nami to join her in poking at Hinata under the blanket. "Why are you crying?"

"I-I-I've never h-had any f-friends." Hinata confessed, hoping that the two girls wouldn't think she was weird. "I was h-home-schooled w-when I was y-young and I was a w-weirdo."

"You're still a weirdo!" Nami blurted out and hissed in pain as Asahi punched her on the arm. "But we still like you!"

"Thanks." Hinata sobbed, half-laughing, half-crying. Her two bandmates exchanged a look, then on an unvoiced signal, they slipped into Hinata's futon, one on each side.

"What-"

"Tell anyone and I'll kill you." Nami grumbled, snuggling closer to Hinata.

"Snuggling is fun!" Asahi chirped and she and Hinata giggled while Nami continued mumbling about 'stupid bandmates'.

"Don't think about stupid things, okay?" Nami remembered quite well, the girl standing in the middle of the Indies' stage threatening to kill herself. "We're here for you and don't you forget about it."

"Nami's so sweet, isn't she?" Asahi giggled. "That's why she gets all the girls!"

"SHUT UP."

Heart fluttering in her chest, Hinata was so happy she felt like she could fly away! Kai and Riku definitely were idols that she loved, but if Asahi and Nami were idols... well, Hinata was pretty sure she would fall for them too! With that thought in her head and the sound of Asahi and Nami's good-natured bickering in her ears, Hinata fell into a deep, peaceful sleep.

I'm listening to your CD now! (*^_^*) hearing Kai's voice makes me feel so good inside!

Kai shuddered at the message she got from Ray, loosening his tie to get a bit more air. To make the Diva leave their house that day, Kai had to exchange her phone email and number with the long-haired beauty. Then, with the help of Katsuyuki-san, they had forced the woman to leave. Jiro, meanwhile, was not a problem. Or at least Riku kept reassuring his bandmates that he wouldn't be a problem.

"You sure?" Kuu leaned over to ask nervously again.

Riku was getting annoyed. Their questions were making her nervous! "I'm sure."

"Well, if you say so." Kai shrugged. "Come on, lets concentrate on the task at hand."

Right now, they were at TV Tohto again, arriving to get ready for a variety show called 'TV Junkie'. To get more time on TV to publicize their single, they would have to jump into a small pool of ice cold water with a bunch of other young idols! The ones who stayed in the water the longest would get more commercial time to talk about their work.

Saeko had jumped through a lot of hoops to get this done and she was coming across a lot of problems. Too many of them, in fact, to be normal. She was quite sure Sarukawa was behind all of it, too. He had been lurking around every time a problem had shown up but Saeko had smoothed it out with Marilyn helping out, unbeknownst to the boys. Persona didn't know their management had had to literally STAND OVER the production line to make sure their CDs came out at the right time, or make sure that the CD booklets and posters got printed out with no mistakes. They also didn't know that someone was deliberately shutting them out during publicity events, either. It had taken Saeko a lot of groveling to get this spot on 'TV Junkie' for the three... luckily, the boys' slim physique worked in their favour. The show needed losers and they thought Persona would give up on the cold water as soon as they got in.

But Saeko believed in the boys.

Even though she thought all three of them were moronic children some times and didn't even know who the great Ruby Gates was! All of his fifty-six singles had reached the number one spot on the charts, he's sold ten million albums and he'd instantly sold out concerts at Budokan for over a month! He's the man who had created legends in several areas of the Japanese music scene! The most amazing part was that he could make a woman reach ecstasy with his singing! This great man had finally come out of retirement and was going to sing again! Did the boys not understand how IMPORTANT Ruby was and how bad the disappointment would be if Ruby refused to sing after saying he would?

The boys from Persona's only reaction to this news was: "He's before our time."

Before Saeko could come down on them for their stupidity and ignorance of great figures in Japanese popular culture, she was interrupted.

"Why do I have to apologize?" The arrogant voice of one of Sarukawa's young idols echoed in the hallway as they came down a stairway towards them.

"Oi, Keigo." Sarukawa growled. This guy was infuriating! Ever since Sarukawa had started grooming the young Keigo to start a group similar to Animal Crush, the young boy had been incorrigible. And Sarukawa had poured so much time and effort into polishing him up, it was a shame to cut him loose to be picked up by some other agency. Besides, Sarukawa was thinking of pairing him up with Ray, possibly putting out a duet. But Keigo had just managed to offend the great Ruby Gates!

"Calm down, shachou." Katsuyuki-san was walking alongside Sarukawa. He thought Keigo had been unnecessarily rude, but it wasn't worth making a scene over.

"Sarukawa-shachou!" Saeko greeted the men coming towards them and her boys and Marilyn gave a polite bow.

"Ah!" Sarukawa pasted a smile on his face. Saeko was a bit of a headache but her body made up for the trouble she caused him. Really! The young idols she was grooming was managing to steal a lot of his own people's limelight and he was working hard to keep Persona under wraps!

As Saeko mined the men for information, Kai's eyes had locked on to Keigo, noting his VERY masculine good look. In torn jeans, black boots and a low-cut shirt, he REEKED the scent of man! THIS would get Kai's mind off Ray! Charging forward to grab Keigo's hand, the blonde shook it enthusiastically, giving his best smile.

"I'm Kai from Persona! Yoroshiku onegaishimasu!" Kai pumped Keigo's hand up and down enthusiastically and grinned again. The intensity she was giving off frightened Keigo a bit.

"Uh, hey there." Keigo gave a little smile, too taken aback to be rude.

"Keigo, right?" Kai grinned. "So we'll be seeing a lot of each other!"

Keigo was confused. "We will?"

Before Keigo could question further, Kai had ran back to his friends, full of glee.

"After dealing with Ray, I need to go for this!" Kai grabbed his compatriots close and whispered. "What's wrong with the occasional guy?"

"You've never even kissed anyone before." Kuu pointed out.

Riku grinned. "Except for Ray."

"Several times!" Kuu high-fived Riku.

"SHUT UP!"

As the boys giggled amongst themselves, Sarukawa tried to put his foot down on this issue. Give them an inch and they'll take a mile!

"We're going to Ruby's dressing room." Sarukawa's tone of voice left no room for negotiations.

But Keigo wasn't afraid at all and snorted at his manager's tone of voice and gave a derisive snort. "Why don't you just go alone?"

Disregarding the irrate man, Keigo sauntered off. Riku and Kuu wrinkled their noses at that scene. Arrogance was really unattractive on a man, especially when there was, in Riku and Kuu's humble opinion, absolutely nothing to be arrogant about! Sarukawa-shachou raced after his young star, flashing the people around a quick, confident smile that looked absolutely fake. It seemed as if Keigo just wasn't going to be reigned in.

"Oi, KEIGO!" The manager was fast losing his temper as he ran after the shaggy-haired young man. Something to his left caught his attention and he noticed Persona's Kai following along.

"Along for the ride!" Kai gave a thumbs-up.

"Shouldn't you be with Saeko?"

"It's fine, it's fine." Kai waved away the question. He had plenty of time! And Keigo seemed to have stopped! "We've caught up!"

He was standing outside the door, looking into a recording studio through the small window in the door.

"Whatchu lookin' aaaaattttAAAHHH!" Kai wordlessly screamed as she spotted Ray in another room behind the glass. Quickly ducking, he tugged at Keigo. "Yo, that's Ray!"

"I know." Keigo shrugged, then cast a look at Sarukawa-shachou. "Why hasn't she been introduced to me yet?"

This was one thing Sarukawa-shachou knew not to give way on, or else there'd be hell to pay.

"Nobody sees Ray unless it's for business or she approves it."

"We're going to be working together, aren't we?" Keigo's voice was demanding.

"No." Keiji smiled wryly, a little bit condescendingly. "She didn't approve it."

"I'm the fastest rising star in this agency!" Keigo tilted his head up a bit. "Why the hell won't she work with me?"

"Cuz she's crazy?" Kai only caught the last part of Keigo and Sarukawa-shachou's argument, too caught up in the pounding of his heart.

"She must be." Keigo nodded and patted Kai on the shoulder. "I need more people like you around."

Hearing that made Kai feel pretty good. "Osu!"

"No no no no no." Sarukawa chuckled, stepping in between Keigo and the door to Ray's recording studio. "Turn around and walk away, this isn't open to negotiations."

Keigo, of course, wasn't used to having people say no to him and reached around his manager to open the door, ducking under Keiji's arms but running straight into a huge man blocking the door.

"Sarukawa-shachou." Hiro nodded at the manager who smiled at the bodyguard. "What's this skinny guy doing here?"

"I'm here to see Ray." Keigo tried his best to look intimidating but it was hard when you had to look up at the person you were trying to intimidate. "Do you know who I am?"

Hiro chuckled. Oh, Ray was going to tear him a new one if THIS guy managed to get past.

"Don't know who you are and I don't think it matters either." Hiro folded his arms across his broad chest. "No-one gets to see Ray unless they're on her list. And you," Hiro gave him a sneer. "Are definitely, NOT on her list. Now get out of here before I have to embarrass you."

As Hiro talked down to this arrogant young man, the bodyguard suddenly noticed Kai off to the side. The guy was so tiny the bodyguard had barely seen him! "Yo! How's it going?"

"Uh," Kai blinked, taken off guard. "I'm fine. How are you?"

"Manners, too!" Hiro let out a deep laugh and grabbed Kai in a one-armed hug then gave Keigo another look. "Now, see? This is who gets to be on the list."

"THAT guy? What's he got that gets him on the list? I'm so much taller!" Keigo tried to push his way inside but Hiro was a rock and used one hand to push right back, sending Keigo onto his ass.

"Yeah, whatever." Hiro tsked, then moved aside to let Kai in. "In you go, bro."

"Thanks!" Kai beamed up at Hiro and walked in, while Hiro walked out, closing the door behind him so he could make sure that the annoyance left the premises. Kai's eyes adjusted to the dim lighting of the control room of the recording studio, making out the some-what familiar forms of Ray's entourage Kai recognized.

"Hey guys-ahhhh!" Kai slapped his hands against the side of his face, suddenly realizing he had just walked into the lion's den! WHY HAD HE COME IN?

"Kai!" Ray had spotted him through the glass and was jumping up and down calling him excitedly. Before he knew it, Ray had thrown off her headphones and burst through the door connecting the control room to the room Ray was singing in.

"Kai! You came to visit me!" Aware of the people in the room, it seemed that even RAY, the clingy, sexual-harassment woman knew better than to throw herself at Kai. Though she was REALLY pushing the personal space bondary by stopping bare CENTIMETERS away from the object of her affections, face flushed and smiling brilliantly.

"Uh, haha, yeah!" Kai took a nervous step back. "I ws just passing by, and, uh, I didn't mean to-"

"You're not bothering me at all!" Ray blurted out, a little bit afraid that Kai wouldn't visit her anymore and her hand shot out to grab his hand. "Come on, take a look at my new song!"

Kai shuddered as Ray pulled him forward and a sheet of music was thrust into Kai's hand. The Diva motioned for the technician at the workstation to start playing what they've recorded so far, wanting to share everything with Kai.

"Listen." Ray grinned. "What do you think?"

Kai, on seeing the music, immediately felt a bit of interest. This was the biggest selling star right now! How did she create her music? Kai had to admit he really wanted to know.

"It's really..." Kai frowned as he followed the lyrics on paper with the music but tried to smile when he saw Ray start to pout. "It's really... mainstream?"

Ray shrugged self-consciously. "It's what sells."

"I remember your first album was really good." Kai said distractedly, his eyes running over the lyrics. "It was... fuller. I think. And the lyrics were a little bit better."

"Well, what do you think I should do?" Ray asked, genuinely curious.

Kai shrugged, not noticing several musicians that were in the room glaring at him. Ray had never cared about THEIR opinion! What was so special about this short guy? "Well, I dunno, really. I'm just a rookie, right?"

"Indulge me a bit." Ray watched the young blonde nod and look over the music again. His long lashes fluttered against his cheek, the fierce expression he sometimes wore wasn't there but the way he bit his lower lip in concentration was soooo sexy...

"Okay, just a suggestion, but," Kai's voice shook the Diva out of her lustful thoughts. "Why don't you change some of the lyrics so it's more your style and the... pacing of your singing? Like the song seems like it's just plodding along on the same beat. I dunno. Do you know what I'm talking about? I dunno if it'll work, I mean-"

Ray had gently taken the piece of music from Kai and was looking over it carefully, singing the song in her head. If she changed it a little bit here, then the music right there... it was sort of like how she had wanted the song to sound like before she had been 'encouraged' to change it under Sarukawa-shachou's directions.

"Well, I gotta get out of here," Kai waved to Ray's entourage. "I gotta get back before shachou kills me."

"See you later?"

"Sure." Kai said automatically, then grimaced. His mouth really did work faster than his brain! Thank god his mouth wasn't the only thing that was fast as he quickly ducked Ray's grasping arms and ran out the door, slamming it behind him with a quick 'bye!' He then immediately bumping into Hiro.

"Yo." Hiro grinned at the small blonde. Hiro really liked the little guy! With him around, Ray was always in a good mood and a lot easier to manage! "Where you off to in a hurry?"

"Gotta get back to work." Kai looked up at Hiro then around hopefully. "Keigo gone?"

"Yeah.I scared him off." Hiro chuckled, wondering at the crestfallen look on Kai's face. Were the two young men, friends? Kai seriously needed to rethink his friendship with that rude guy, though. "And oh, hey, you come by any time, alright? You're on Ray's good list. The list that doesn't have to be renewed every day."

"She really has a list?" Kai's mouth was hanging open in disbelief. He thought Hiro had been joking!

"Yeah. That's our princess for you." Hiro said wryly. "So take advantage of it. Not many people get on her good list."

"Well, see you later-oof!" Kai was embraced in another one-armed hug that knocked the air out of Kai's lungs.

"Later, shortie!" Hiro gave the shortest member of Persona a thumbs-up, then slipped back into the recording studio. Kai started off back to the room they would be changing in when she bumped into Keigo again.

"Hey, I thought you had left-"

"How do you know Ray?" Keigo had been hiding around the corner, listening to the conversation the dimunitive singer had been having with Hiro.

"I was introduced," Kai shrugged. "She came out to see us when we were recording our single."

"Ray doesn't see anybody and she wanted to see Persona?" Keigo paced the halls, letting out a short bark of laughter. "What the hell is that?"

"And what the hell do you mean by that?" Kai bristled, not liking Keigo's tone of voice. Seeing that he had upset Kai, Keigo raised his hands in a placating gesture.

"Nothing, man. You know Ray doesn't just see ANYBODY, so I'm surprised is all. Anyways, lets exchange info." Keigo whipped out his cellphone, an idea forming in his head. Kai must be pretty close to Ray, so if Keigo wanted an introduction... he was SURE that Kai would be able to give him one sooner than Sarukawa-shachou! Keigo was also sure that as soon as Ray met him, she'd fall head-over-heels for him then they would come out to the world as the most perfect couple in the entertainment world, maybe even bigger than Angelina and Brad!

"Sure!" Kai, not realizing Keigo's intentions, immediately whipped out his own cellphone to exchange details. "I gotta go now though, mail me later, okay?"

'He's a bit of an ass,' Kai thought as he jogged to the changing room. 'But I need real men in my life! With Ray hanging all over me, I feel like I'm getting 'L' germs!'

It didn't take him long to find the room they had been assigned. Kai knocked on the door and waited for Riku. The defacto leader was already changed into a tracksuit and he cautiously opened the door, ushering Kai in.

"I saw the snake guy!" Riku blurted out as Kai started undressing.

"What?" Kai almost fell over, his pants pooled around his ankles, remembering very well their pursuit by this guy. "Did he recognize you?"

"I wouldn't be here if he did." Riku said sourly.

Something suddenly occurred to Kai. "Where the hell is Hinata?"

"Speaking of her... but no, she'll be fine!" Riku played with the zipper on his red tracksuit. "That guy's only looking for the two of us right? He shouldn't know about her."

"But if they met somewhere and he asked her about us," Kai was slowly building a picture in Riku's head. "and that bimbo told him the truth..."

"AH!" Riku could see it clearly in his head. He wsn't sure... but Kuu could be kind of careless some times... "I'm gonna go find her!"

Riku had bolted out of the change room with Kai not far behind him as they started their search for the elusive Kuu, brought them to a room where they spotted Saeko and Marilyn, talkng to each other quietly and looking very much like they were scheming.

"Are you sure it's okay to send Kuu to greet Ruby Gates?"

"Ruby's gay. And his favourite type of guys are the young, innocent-looking ones." Saeko said lazily. "I basically served Kuu up on a silver platter for Ruby. If Ruby 'eats' Kuu, Persona gains a huge upper hand."

That was all the boys needed to hear as Kai shoved the door open, infuriated.

"Is all of that true?" Riku's voice was dangerously calm. Kai, on the other hand, was raring to go.

"You're gonna let that old guy eat Hinata?"

"You two-"

"If that's what needs to be done for business, yes." Saeko said emotionlessly. "That's the entertainment world and that's me."

"You L!" Kai snarled. Riku didn't even bother, running out the door to find Kuu. Kai gave their management one last furious look before running out the door to follow Riku.

"You guys-!" Marilyn was SURE Saeko had a different plan. She had to... right? Marilyn's beloved Saeko wouldn't serve up one of their talents to be 'eaten'! "But if he takes the bait, won't he realize that Kuu's-" Marilyn lowered her voice to a whisper looked around nervously, you never knew who was listening. "-a girl?"

"When he gets to the point when he's about to take Kuu, we'll jump in and rescue him." Marilyn brandished a video camera that she had pulled out of nowhere.

"What?"

"You still don't get it?" Marilyn resisted the urge to laugh evilly. "I'll use the video to blackmail him. I'll make him say something in front of the media that'll give Persona a big push. We'll be selling like hot cakes, then!"

"Just as I would expect from you!" Marilyn clasped her hands together, knowing that her shachou wasn't the type of person to sell out her talents like that. Saeko would do anything to make sure that Persona would succeed. "You're so dark!"

"I'll call this:" Saeko paused for dramatic effect. "Mission Gaypossible!"

Meanwhile, Kai and Riku were desperately trying to find Kuu, running through the hallways towards Ruby Gates' dressing room. So focussed on their goal, Riku didn't slow down as they were taking a corner and crashed right into someone.

"Yo, watch it!" Kai bent down to help his friend up.

"Ah, sorry! Are you alright-ah!" The blonde photographer friend of Riku gave a tiny exclamation of surprise on seeing them. Since finding out Asahi and Riku was one and the same, the 'boys' hadn't really talked to Jiro at all. Riku was actually really dreading the next time they'd meet.

"Jiro!"

"Perfect timing, I was looking for you!" Jiro got up, dusting himself off.

"If it's about Persona, I don't care what you think!"

"I'll support you!" Jiro exclaimed fervently.

"Huh?"

"I was so moved by what happened... or... shocked." Jiro said, emotions chasing each other across his face until three triumphed. Pride, love and determination. "Anyways, for you to go this far... you really do wanna be an idol! You're amazing! So amazing! You're really-"

"Shaddup already!" Kai ran forward and body-checked Jiro out of the way. "Get the hell outta our way, we're in the middle of an emergency!"

"Right!" Riku nodded, remembering their task at hand and the urgency behind it. Running to Ruby Gates' room, they burst through the door, hearts freezing when they saw that the man in the room, they suppose was probably Ruby Gates, TOUCHING KUU!

"WAHHH!" As one, Riku and Kai tackled Kuu away from Ruby, the three landing in a heap on the floor.

"Owwww..." Kai hissed.

"What's with you two?" Kuu blinked at his two companions.

"Are you okay?" Riku grabbed Kuu, searching for signs of trauma. "He didn't do anything to you, right?"

"Yo, old man! What were you planning to do to him, huh?" Kai stood up, providing a physical barrier between Ruby and his friends.

"What... we were just gonna have some casserole." Kuu pouted. He had wanted chocolate casserole! The best casserole of all! "Right?"

Ruby didn't say anything, glad that his sunglasses hid his eyes. The older man with the long mane of wild hair was aged well and still exuded a aura of greatness around him, moving like a proud lion. Watching the three young men, Ruby was torn between fury and amusement at the small blonde's aggressive stance.

"Hey, I know!" Kuu almost jumped up and down in glee. "Why don't the four of us go together? It'll be fun!"

"That would be an orgy." Kai and Riku growled, frustrated with Kuu's innocence. Ruby, finally, took off his sunglasses.

"Sorry, but I'm not in the mood right now for... casserole." Ruby's voice was smokey and heavy, a true rock star's voice. Moving to the couch in his room, he sat down heavily and threw his sunglasses on the small coffee table. His room was filled with flowers and gifts from TV Tohto and important people in the entertainment industry. But his heart wasn't lifted by the beautiful colours and thoughtful presents.

"Why? That sucks." Kuu pouted.

"I'm seriously getting annoyed with you." Kai snapped at the clueless Kuu, though the blonde was relieved that there was no danger.

"Um," Riku fidgetted nervously. Here they were, in front of this great legend. He was confused though... after not performing for so long "Why aren't you gonna perform? I mean, your fans have been waiting for so long..."

"You guys are really rude." Ruby growled. He had had one upstart stripling insult him. He didn't need THESE three to have a go at him too!

"Sorry." Riku apologized, quickly soothing Ruby's ragged feelings. The man gave the three boys a sidelong glance. They looked truly repentant... and they hadn't meant any harm. Plus... they were cute.

"But I guess I should answer your question." Ruby sighed, feeling depressed. "My voice won't come out like it used to."

"Your voice?"

"They say that my voice has the power to make women reach ecstasy."

"We heard." Kai said with a mixture of awe and disgust.

"They say that one hundred percent of women reach ecstasy!" Kuu said gleefully, giggling.

"Now it's thirty percent... on a good day."

"Thirty percent is amazing!" Riku protested.

"Yeah-"

"It's not enough." Ruby said gruffly. "You guys sing. You should know that."

"...yeah." The three nodded, immediately knowing how Ruby felt, feeling sympathetic towards the great star.

"Sarukawa got me to go along with this, but right before it was supposed to start, I knew... I'm not as good as I used to be." Ruby spoke without any emotion, straight-forward and blunt. "I'm pathetic."

"Ruby-san."

"I finally decided." It was heart-breaking, just thinking about it, not being about to do what he loved the most... but Ruby couldn't bare the thought of not living up to his fans expectations. "I'm going to quit singing."

The weight of Ruby's statement pressed down on all of them.

"Are you really gonna quit?" Riku finally had to say something, not at all at ease with the older man's decision. "I don't think anyone can give up on something they love so easily. We failed so many auditions, but we never gave up."

Ruby stared at the boys, weary and a bit resentful. They were so young. They didn't know anything yet! Just small fry in a pool of sharks...

"We won't quit. No matter what we do or what happens, we won't quit." Riku announced. "We're finally where we wanted to be."

Ruby let out a little laugh. "That's so naive."

"Sing again!" The boy with the blue-streaked hair encouraged.

"Don't give up, old man-ow!" Kai yelped as both Riku and Kuu punched Kai in the arm.

"You should sing, Ruby-san." Riku said gravely. Looking at the three of them and the expectations in their eyes, Ruby had to turn away from them. He couldn't do it anymore. He just... couldn't. The boys stood there for a few seconds, not knowing what else to say.

"Come on." Kai nodded towards the door. "We got that ice cold commercial thing to do."

"Yeah..." Riku gave one last glance at Ruby, then followed Kai's lead. Kuu was the last one in the room, unsure.

"Are you sure?" Kuu asked that one last question before hurrying after his bandmates.

"What the hell, that looks so cold!" Persona, along with three other bands and a couple of solo singers, all vying to get more publicity time, stood at the edge of a small pool full of water and at LEAST twenty-five percent ice. A huge display over the pool showed that the water was at six degrees celsius, DAMN COLD.

"Do we have to?" Some of the other idols whined.

"Yeah," Kuu was giving Riku 'sad face'. "do we have to?"

"We do." Kai eyed the icy cold water in trepidition.

"Yeah." Riku looked up at the temperature on display. "It's only six degrees! We can do this!"

"Everybody ready?" The host laughed it up, disregarding the looks on everyone's face, whistle to his lips. "Readyyyyy... GO!"

At the shrill blast of the whistle, nobody jumped in, each looking at the other. The people filming in the studios laughed.

"You guys chicken?" A visual kei group growled at Persona.

"Whatever, who you calling chicken?" Kai snapped back.

"All of you are useless!" A young female singer sneered, though she was also standing high and dry.

"I don't see you jumping in." Kuu muttered. As the young idols argued amongst themselves, their managers were getting frustrated.

"Riku, Kai, Kuu!" Saeko's voice was heard from off-stage. The three looked over at their manager who made a whipping motion with her hands, eyes glaring murderously at them.

"What's she saying?" Kuu whispered, watching Saeko mouth something at them.

"I think..." Kai squinted, "I think she's saying..."

"I... will..." Riku gulped, reading Saeko's lips. "...kill... you... idiots..."

"Ready?" The host tried again, bringing his whistle up. "GO!"

At the sharp blast from the whistle, Persona, as one, jumped in. It was one thing to be cold. But it was ANOTHER thing to nurse their red bottoms after Saeko had set her whip on them! The other young idols jumped in too just a little bit after Persona, but almost immediately, most of the contestants climbed out again leaving only Persona, the young female idol who had called them useless, and the visual kei group in the waters.

"BLARGH!" Kai thrashed around in the water. It was cold! It was DAMN COLD!

"COLD!" Kuu's teeth were chattering! "C-c-c-cold!"

Only Riku remained silent, trying to move about as much as possible, hoping desperately it would keep him warm.

"I'm losing feeling in my toes!" One of the members of the visual kei group swam to the edge, pulling himself out. Unable to stand the water, the rest of his team followed.

"Aren't you g-g-guys cold?" The young female idol treaded water near the edge. "Why d-d-don't you g-get out?"

"S-shut up!" Kai hissed. As they argued in the freezing water, none of them noticed that Ruby Gates had slipped into the studio and was watching Persona with intense interest.

"Just g-give u-up!"

"NEVER!" Riku finally said something, throwing the girl a truly intense look. "I'm not giving up!"

As everyone laughed at Riku's answer, Ruby felt truly touched by these boys. They were so young... but that fighting spirit... when had Ruby lost that? When had he become disillusioned and discouraged? And Ruby Gates kept watching as their one competition finally dragged herself out of the pool while Persona swam in that freezing cold water, cheering triumphantly. They had beat the record previously set before!

They pulled themselves out of the waters after a few more seconds of swimming around and though their lips were blue from the cold, they were grinning at each other happily.

"And we have our winner!" The host grabbed Riku's hand and raised it in the air. The runner-up was already wrapped in a warm towel, smiling at the three young men grudgingly.

"You guys did alright." She gave them a quick bow.

"You were pretty good too." Riku smiled back.

"That's right, for a thirteen year old, she sure is spunky!" The host said cheerfully.

"What the hell-you're only thirteen?" Kai gaped at the young girl. She looked AT LEAST seventeen!

"Didn't you know? She's Matsui Jurina. She's quite popular nowadays." Kuu looked at her bandmates in exasperation. "Honestly."

As they bickered good naturedly and took a break to change out of their wet clothes, Ruby Gates slipped out of the studio, knowing what he had to do.

Saeko pursed her lips in disappointment. Mission Gaypossible had failed. Ruby hadn't taken the bait and the boys had ruined the only chance Saeko had had of getting Ruby in a compromising position. The schedule book she had in front of her was entirely empty except for this cold water commercial. She doubted that it would make much of an impact in sales, though. She needed more publicity but the door was firmly closed on them! Ruby would have knocked the door down, hell, the whole HOUSE if he had talked about them to the media in his highly publicized return to singing!

"Shachou!" Marilyn ran into Saeko's office, interrupting Saeko's melancholy thoughts. "It's Ruby Gates! He-"

"I don't want to hear a word about him!" Saeko said petulantly, slamming her schedule book closed. "He didn't eat them... Mission Gaypossible was a failure!"

"No, it was a success! He's on TV right now!" Marilyn picked up the remote control on Saeko's desk and flipped on the television.
"-think the thing that made me want to sing again was being able to meet Persona. They have the power to really make a person listen." It was the interview after the Ruby Gates performance. "They still aren't developed as artists, but they have something precious that they try to tell people. I'm really looking forward to seeing them from now on."

Ruby Gates looked directly at the camera, a smirk on his face. "Of course, I won't lose to them, either."

"There you have it!" The reporter said excitedly. "Japan is looking forward to a new Ruby Gates. What can we expect from you in the future-"

Saeko's cellphone ringing prompted Marilyn to put the tv program on mute while the president of Kamonohashi Talent Agency answered the phone call.

"It's been a whole, Kamon."

Saeko smiled, almost tenderly despite what she had been willing to do to the speaker on the phone. "Ruby Gates is the only one who I will let call me that."

"Correct." Ruby's deep, smoldering voice sent a thrill down Saeko's spine. Truly, Ruby hadn't lost his touch.

"I just saw you on TV. You're one hundred percent back. Congratulations."

Saeko could HEAR Ruby's smile through the phone. "When I saw those three in that ice cold water, something deep inside me was shocked and a ruby shower enveloped my whole body. And then I just had to sing."

"So you got it back. The old you." Saeko had seen Ruby Gates languishing and feeling the heat when he had reached the top of the mountain. The pressure of being a legend had gotten to him, so much so that singing had become a burden and he lost his nerve. She was glad he was back.

"You found some good guys."

Saeko allowed herself a small smile. Hearing something like that from such a big name in the industry made her so proud of her boys. Someone like Ruby, recognizing her talents as SOMETHING.

"They'll definitely be big. I guarantee it." Ruby Gates' voice held a promise. He was grateful for what Persona had done for him and he wanted Saeko to know he would back the group. Ruby would DEFINITELY smash through the barriers that had been set up to stop Persona from succeeding.

"Later." Ruby hung up casually and Saeko closed her flip phone. A few seconds later, the house phone suddenly rang.

"Hai," Marilyn picked up the phone, eyes still locked on to the TV program. "this is Kamonohashi Talent Agency...what? You'd like Persona to make an appearance? Alright. Alright... yes, I understand!"

Their other line rang, as calls started pouring in and Saeko looked at the phone happy and the flashing lights on her phone lines. They were going to be busy this month.

"You can't make excuses, you can't even say they're not popular enough now. I want Persona to replace the actors we have slated for next week's shooting." The tall woman with the short haircut crossed her arms, glaring at her manager who was glaring right back. "I don't care if you have some drama with their management. Now there's no excuse! It makes perfect sense-" The tall woman looked over to her left at a pretty girl lounging on the couch, watching something on her cellphone. "-right?"

"Hey," The girl on the cellphone grinned nervously, her dimples making her even cuter. "Leave me out of this."

"Stop looking at naked girls and help me out!"

"They're not naked," The girl on the cell mummbled, slouching down. "They have all their clothes on and they're all beautiful people that should be respected for more than their bodies."

The last girl in the office who was sitting off to the side and reading a textbook, looked over her book at the girl sitting on the couch in amusement.

"Your majesty," The girls' manager scowled, using the title sarcastically. "You cannot do as you please."

"This is the FIRST time I've asked for something like this. And you're just being stubborn because you have petty issues with their manager!"

"They're. NOT. PETTY. ISSUES!" The manager gritted out, tossing her long hair angrily over her shoulder.

"Then here's your chance to work it out! I get what I want and so do you." The tall woman ponted out. "Do something about it."

Their manager was quiet for a while. Then she retreated to the big leather chair behind her desk, her brow furrowed in thought.

"You know, the director isn't going to be happy about this. I'll have to go to the producer with this and get it okay'd."

"Persona's really hot right now. If you can guarantee their management okays this, I bet you the producer will be okay." The tall girl leaned forward eagerly. "In fact, I KNOW he'll be okay. I heard recently that he's been trying to get a hold of them and meeting with the writers to write roles for them into the show. So make it happen, Megumi-shachou!"

Ohori Megumi looked up at the tall woman wryly. "I never pegged you for a fan of Persona, Mariko-sama."

"I'm not." Shinoda Mariko smiled. The smile was honestly, not a very nice one. In fact, it was downright scary.

"Whatever, Mariko!" The girl on the couch sing-songed. "De-nial's not just a river in Egypttttt..."

"Yuko, don't make me burn your photobook collection of pretty girls." Mariko sighed.

Oshima Yuko let out a gasp, sitting up. "You WOULDN'T."

"She would." Megumi flipped open her phone, finding the number of the person she had not called in a long time, but had never really forgotten. But before she pressed the 'dial' button, she looked over her three main talents. "You're all okay with this?"

"They're fine." Mariko narrowed her eyes and shot Yuko a look. The girl on the couch gave a dimpled smile and a wink, before concentrating on the video in her cellphone again. Megumi, taking that as affirmation from Yuko to go ahead, focused her gaze on the relatively quiet girl sitting in the corner.

"Atsuko?"

Maeda Atsuko looked over the top of her book at the eyes that were trained on her. Then she shrugged and turned her attention back to her textbook.

"Do what you like."

I love AKB48 whole heartily.
I love writing stories and draw manga.
Fanfic:Blood Curse
One Shots
Mendol x AKB48

Like to go Japan someday and met them in person.

Offline Yuseichaaan48

  • ecchi
  • Member+
  • Posts: 90
Omg, AKB girls start to make an appearance!!

Excited to see who gets paired up with who!!

What's gonna happen to Kai x ray??? :?

Looking forward to the next update :)

Offline BbSis

  • Girls love rules *.*~
  • ecchi
  • Member+
  • Posts: 582
  • Clean the nosebleed and keep reading/writing! @.@
Omg! I love this! This was the fic that made me into akb fanfiction! And is one of my favorite ones o/

I'm rereading with pleasure *.*

Thank you for wrinting this fic  :love:

<3
Sorry about my lack of activity... I'm kinda stuck in life...

My fics:
It started in a wedding (MariMii + usual couples) - ongoing
The fanfiction post thread (KojiYuu, WMatsui) - ongoing
The cry of a lonely star - ongoing
Oneshots
Oneshots at Perv area
 

Offline millca

  • ecchi
  • Member
  • Posts: 38
  • Is this the reality that you wanted?
Finally AKB members made an appearance! HAHAHAHAHA!

I'm curious how will they make Persona's life more complicated :D

Really love Kuu and Mariko's interaction. Ue Kara Mariko indeed. Hope YukoxRiku and KaixAachan next chapter, or forever. hahaha! let's ignore Jiro and Ray. jk  :w00t:

Please update soon!

♥ YuiParu ♥ KojiYuu ♥ AtsuYuu ♥ SaeYuki ♥ SaeRena ♥ JuriMayu ♥ MomooHarem ♥

Offline Hirasawaizumi

  • Atsumina & Kojiyuu FTW
  • ecchi
  • Member+
  • Posts: 83
  • AKB48! daisuki dayo
Mendol - Ikemen Idol!

Chapter 9

author's note: And... this is where this fic completely veers away from the mendol timeline. Get ready! WARP SPEED AHEAD! By the way, ffnet is a bitch and keeps killing all the formatting so if stuff looks weird... blame ffnet.

"I can't believe we're heading there alone!" Asahi sat in between Nami and Hinata, pouting. Hinata was looking out the window in wonder while Nami was fiddling with the tv console in front of her. They were all out of disguise, but dressed in comfortable clothes on the plane.

"Those damn 'L's, " Nami agreed distractedly. After the ice-cold commercial and Ruby Gates pushing their name on all his interviews, they'd been getting a lot of jobs, so much so that traveling from one place to the next was the only time they got to relax. Right now, they were heading to Okinawa where they had been asked to be in the drama 'Three Sisters' (no relations to the Korean drama at all), that was doing spectacularly well in the ratings. All three members of Persona had not been able to watch this show since they had been so busy, but Saeko had assured them that it would be great and boost their popularity.

"But at least they'll be able to catch the next flight out!" Hinata said cheerfully. Their manager and Marilyn had gotten... distracted, in one of the public restrooms. Something about 'harder to get into the mile-high club now that we're on their watch-list so we have to get some time in before boarding'... anyways, the girls had refused to check on them when the boarding call came and had finally gotten a text when their plane was rolling out to the runway from Marilyn saying they would catch the next flight and that the girls should fend for themselves for one day in Okinawa.

"This sucks!" Asahi pouted.

"Well, think about it! One day without the L's watching us." Nami pulled her headphones off and grinned at Asahi. "Freedom!"

"We can do whatever we want!"

Hinata and Nami wriggled in their seats happily, squealing quietly like little piglets in the mud. Asahi went over all the things that could possibly go wrong and finding none, joined in her bandmates' excited squealing. They would have a day off! And they were going to OKINAWA!

"Okinawa!" Hinata clapped excitedly.

"Beaches!" Nami agreed.

"Bikinis!" Asahi sighed in bliss. She so wanted to wear her bikini...

"Bikinis?" Nami thought about it for a while. Then her face fell. "I didn't bring mine!"

"What? You're going to Okinawa and you didn't bring yours?" Hinata looked down her nose at Nami and scoffed. "I'm already wearing mine under my clothes!"

"That's a bit strange." Asahi commented.

"I'm gonna go out to buy a bikini when we get off the plane." Nami announced. "Wanna go shopping?"

"I want to, I want to!" Hinata raised her hand in the air, excited.

"But first..." Asahi grabbed her purse from under the seat in front of her and produced a schedule book from it's depths. "Marilyn gave me a list of things we might need since there were some things in our wardrobe that was unaccounted for."

The list of things they needed to buy were just men's clothes in general for hot, Okinawan weather. It wasn't that they didn't have any prepared for them, it was just shachou and Marilyn thought it would be good to get some that the girls actually picked themselves from a store. Only Nami needed to go buy men's swimwear since she was too small and it had been hard for Marilyn to find fashionable swimwear in her size.

"Seriously?" Nami frowned at the list. "I'm not that small."

Hinata pouted. "Hinata doesn't want to buy men's clothes!"

"What if we didn't have to pay?" Asahi produced a bulking white envelope and smiled at her companions. "Marilyn gave this to us and told us to use it wisely. And... if we're smart with our money, we might even be able to sneak in a bikini into the purchases."

"What's in the envelope?" Hinata asked curiously.

"Doofus." Nami flicked Hinata in the ear. "Obviously, money!"

"Money?"

Asahi opened the envelope and a stack of 1000 and 5000 yen bills was brandished discreetly. "She said we could split it."

Squealing quietly, the three quickly split the money in between each other. Granted, the split only gave them around thirty thousand yen each, but they were still pretty happy with the split. It was free money! Well... hard-earned free money. And the money was just for a little while, until Marilyn and Saeko could get to Okinawa and help them out with their shopping.

"Lets buy clothes!" They all cheered soundlessly, careful not to disturb the other passengers on the plane.

"We've got everything?" They had checked in to their hotels then went to the shopping district nearest them. Shopping had been pretty fast... they had all picked out a couple of casual clothes, almost going over their budgeted amount. It was funny how now they looked at men's clothing with a different eye and it was actually quite fun to pick out their alter-egos' clothing. Riku always went with a nice, clean-cut look because that was what Asahi liked. Kuu had a fun, sporty feel to him because that was Hinata. Kai was a little more edgy, his clothing a lot more alternative and badass because Nami herself liked that kind of look.

"So now, all we have left is Kai's swimwear." Riku checked off the items on the list Marilyn had given him. "So lets go to a place that sells swimming-"

"I can go alone." Kai said gruffly, his cheeks red from embarassment. "It'll be fine. I can meet you guys on the beach after, I know you wanna get out of your clothes."

"Well, okay." Riku and Kuu agreed readily, really wanting to get out of their boy disguises that they had on to go shopping. Trying on men's clothes when you looked like girls was weird.

"Call us!"

Kai watched her friends leave the current floor of the department store, descending out of sight on an escalator. Letting out a huge sigh, the shotest member of Persona went to the escalator that headed upwards towards the men's swimwear section. It was embarassing shopping for men's clothes because of his small stature. Kai didn't know why he had such a complex about it but it was frustrating and had been a bit mortifying to keep asking the sales' for smaller sizes when he was buying some t-shirts. He really didn't want to go through the same thing in the swimwear department.

"And especially not with those two," Kai muttered to himself. Wearing flip-flops, loose shorts, just his binding tank top and a short-sleeved zip-up hoodie, Kai browsed the various stores with men's swimwear. Unfortunately, as he went from store to store, he felt disheartened at the lack of swimwear in his size.

"Irrashaimase!" The small and slim salesman with the wildly-permed hair greeted the blonde immediately. Kai nodded distractedly, fingering the pair of black and green swimming trunks that had caught his eye. It was on display on a male, headless mannequin. It was a dark, rich green with swirls of black pattern on it, looking VERY cool. Kai had never seen this design anywhere before. It was very bold.

"You have a good eye, sir." The salesman said politely. "This is a new product from one of our local designers and it's limited edition. We've managed to sell out the few we had in stock to some foreigners."

"What sizes do you have?" Kai looked at the pair of swimming trunks dubiously. "I'm rather small..."

"Well, there's only this size on display." The sales started to say and Kai felt his heart sinking. The clothes on the mannequins would not fit him. Well, he had assumed it would be tough to find swimwear...

"However," The sales grinned at Kai. "I actually have a pair that might fit you. It's one or two sizes smaller than a men's small. It was a factory defect apparently, and I have them in storage to be sent back. Do you want to-"

"YES." Kai immediately replied. The swimming trunks were brought out and when Kai tried them in the changeroom, they fit him perfectly. After looking through all the other stores, he had finally found a pair of trunks he could fit into!

"I'll take them!"

"Thank you, sir." As the slim young man rung Kai up, he leaned over the counter and spoke in a conspiratory whisper.

"I have a hard time finding clothes that fit me, too." He grinned at Kai. "Us small guys should stick together!"

"For sure!" Kai nodded happily, just completely amazed that he had finally found something in his size without having to go to the kids' department. Kai was even happier when he saw the sales had given him staff discount. Humming happily to himself, the blonde walked off and ducked into a women's washroom when no-one was looking and he was sure there was no-one inside. Quickly going to a stall, Kai transformed back into similarly small but very female Nami. With a nice top, a pair of tight shorts and a different, more feminine pair of flip-flops, she exited the stall, shouldering the duffel bag that carried all her men's clothes. After tying her hair up into her customary high ponytail, resting her aviator sunglasses on her head and doing her make-up, Nami left the washrooms and started down the escalators. She had to pass through the women's clothing area on her way down and was going to breeze through the area when a small commotion at one of the stores stopped her from continuing her descent. Nami looked over curiously at a few rather large men who were pressing in on a young woman.

"We loved you in your last movie!" One guy, wearing a large blue backpack said excitedly.

Another guy nodded in agreement, pushing his glasses up his nose but having them slip down again.

"Thank you for your support. But, um, I really have to go." The young woman had on a hat and a surgical mask people wore during allergy season or when they had a cold. Nami assumed it was probably a disguise, if she really was a celebrity...

"We're some of your biggest fans!" A guy with small eyes set close together had a hand on her arm, refusing to let go. "We're just... just, could you just come with us?"

"We can go for food." Backpack-man said desperately, weaving this way and that to prevent her from ducking around them.

"No, thank you. I'm waiting for someone."

"Who are you waiting for?" Small-eyes' eyes narrowed in suspicion. Then he got excited. "Is it another idol?"

"Um..." The girl's hesitation set the men off and their excitement became something else.

The guy with the hand on the girl's arm tightened his grip, the tone of his voice accusatory. "Are you just making excuses so you don't have to hang out with us?"

"Are you really waiting for someone?" The questions came fast and angry.

"We're your fans. Shouldn't you want to make us happy?"

"Ano..." The salesgirl was desperately trying to get the three men to stop harassing her customer but she was having little success.

"Hey, sorry to keep you waiting!" Nami called out loudly and trotted over. She was small, but the way she walked and the booming quality of her voice made the men part for Nami, who immediately moved in front of the harassed woman. "We're gonna get icecream, right?"

"Who are you?" One of the men demanded. He was the one with the small eyes.

"Her friend." Nami glared back, not liking how these three guys were hounding this one girl. "Honestly, get lost before I call security."

The two guys behind small-eyes grabbed their friend nervously.

"Come on, lets go." A security guard was actually heading their way, finally hearing the commotion. The three harassers beat a hasty retreat.

Nami turned around to face the woman she had been defending. "You alright?"

The young woman's eyes were full of relief and gratitude as she pulled down her mask, revealing the sweetest smile Nami ever had the pleasure of seeing. "Yes, I'm fine now. Thank you so much for your help."

"It's fine." Nami grinned, feeling gangly and hyper in the wake of that smile. "Some guys just don't know when to take a hint."

Accepting a few more 'thank you's, Nami watched the woman walk away, a little bit intrigued by this girl. She was really pretty, from what Nami could see of her face. Real pretty.

"Thank you so much." It was now the salesgirl's turn to thank Nami and even the security guard that had showed up smiled at her and gave her a nod of approval. Nami brushed off the thank you's awkwardly, not used to this much gratitude. Finally, she turned away and headed to the escalators, taking out her cellphone to start emailing Asahi to tell her friends she was on her way. Engrossed in her phone, Nami was startled when a pair of arms circled around one of her own.

"Hey, I decided to wait for you here instead of the icecream place! Did you get what you needed?" The pretty woman from before smiled down at the shorter Nami.

Bewildered, Nami was about to pull away. "What-"

"Onegai shimasu." The smiling face hid the panic in the other girl's wide eyes as they darted off to the side, then back to Nami, then back to the side again. Nami looked over discreetly and could see the three guys that were harassing her from before, lurking around in a shop and glancing their way from time to time.

"Onegai." It was hard to resist the pleading tone laced in the words the pretty girl whispered through her too-wide smile.

"Yeah! I got what I needed!" Nami said loudly enough for everyone within a ten foot radius to hear, smiling back at the woman. "Which icecream place do you want to go to? Oh, or would you rather have crepes?"

"Whichever you prefer." The woman leaned a bit closer and whispered the next words. "I'm so sorry. Really, I just panicked when I saw them then I saw you and grabbed you immediately. I just don't want this to become a big thing and have to get the authorities involved."

"It's fine." Nami smiled, feeling oddly at ease with this other girl she didn't know. The surgical mask came off and the woman gave another smile that was just too sweet for words.

"I'm Maeda Atsuko."

"Umm... I'm Kawachi Nami. Hajimemashite." Nami returned the smile with a bright one of her own. Atsuko, meanwhile, was slightly disappointed that this girl didn't seem to know who she was. Usually, she was hardpressed to find people who didn't know who she was. And secretly, Atsuko would've been really happy if her saviour was a fan of hers.

Girls, change of plans. I have a mission to run and I'll meet you for dinner afterwards! Nami typed out the message quickly and sent it. Her phone chirped back at her within a few seconds.

Booo. You suck. We'll check out guys without you then - from Asahi and Hinata.

"Sorry, did you have other plans...?" Atsuko felt a prickle of conscience as Nami cursed her friends under her breath.

"No, no." Nami grinned, quick to reassure her new-found friend. She could go to the beach any time. But right now, she was on a mission of mercy! "The important thing is getting rid of these guys and making sure you're okay. Come on, lets run and try to lose them!"

Grabbing hold of Atsuko's hand, Nami started running and Atsuko followed the spirited girl, laughing with pleasure, enjoying the excitement on Nami's open face.

"Yeaaaah!" Hinata was out in the water, splashing around excitedly just like a little kid. In fact, she LOOKED like a little kid with arm floaties on and a big inflatable ring she had around her waist. She was barely knee-deep in the water and would run back up the beach when waves came rushing in, squealing excitedly.

"Be careful!" Asahi was sitting down under a beach umbrella they had rented, relaxing, half-heartedly flipping through a magazine and people-watching. In a cute pink bikini with a floppy wide-brimmed straw hat, she sighed blissfully.

"Asahi! Come in, the water's warm!" Kids ran around Hinata, naturally attracted to her exuberance. "We can have a sea cucumber fight!"

"Sea cucumber?" Asahi frowned. That didn't sound fun at all and she voiced her opinion. "That's not fun!"

"It is! They're squishy!"

"Are there even any around there?" Asahi called back, still frowning. "Aren't they dangerous?"

Hinata shrugged happily. "The kids are helping me find some. Right, kids?"

The children around Hinata all raised one fist in the air in unison. "RIGHT!"

"She naturally attracts children, huh?" A voice next to Asahi startled her. Crouching next to her blanket was a young woman in a blue and yellow bikini and short jean shorts, smiling at her with the most charming dimples. "Your sister?"

"No, my friend." Asahi sighed as Hinata giggled histerically, fishing for pieces of coral in the shallow waters.

"It's easy to mistake you two for sisters," The mystery girl rubbed her chin, a smile on her face. "You're the older sister, of course, watching her younger sister carefully to make sure she doesn't drown."

"She's barely wet." Asahi pointed out.

"I bet if she disappeared, you'd be all like, 'NO! Where is she? I'm soooo worried!' It'll be so older sister of you!" The dimpled girl teased.

"I'm not her older sister-" Asahi looked back out into the ocean again, suddenly aware that Hinata's excited gigglings didn't fill the air anymore. Nor was she standing tall in the midst of the splashing children. "Where is that girl? Hinata? Hinata!"

But there was no reply. There was no way Hinata could have ran off somewhere that quickly, Asahi was sure! Getting up frantically, the tall girl tore her hat off and ran towards the ocean, feeling a bit light-headed with panic.

"Hinata! Hinata!" Asahi shouted, wading in to almost knee-deep before she was startled by Hinata suddenly emerging from the water like some deep sea creature. "Yaaaaa!"

"AHHH!" Hinata joined in Asahi's screaming, happily. A quick bop on the head stopped Hinata though and she pouted as Asahi put her hands on her waist, furious.

"You idiot! I was afraid you had drowned!"

"I was looking for sea cucumbers." Hinata muttered, rubbing her head.

"See," The girl with the cute smile was splashing towards them. "Totally big sister attitude."

"Asahi totally has a big sister feel to her, doesn't she?" Hinata agreed with the stranger. "A pretty older sister type."

"Yeah." The smile-y stranger reached up, and to Asahi's astonishment, tugged gently at one of her ears. "Her ears are so cute!"

"Right?" Hinata nodded happily, reaching up to tug on Asahi's other ear.

"Stop that! Guys, stop it!" Asahi shook her head, freeing her ears from the grasping hands.

"I love Okinawa!" Hinata exclaimed, loving the fact that she was with friends and playing in the sun and water. If only Nami was here too, it would be even better!

"Geez, the sun is so hot," The blue-and-yellow bikini'd stranger commented. "Why don't we go get some drinks at some of the beach-side stalls?"

"Lets go, lets go!" Hinata splashed around excitedly. "I want lemonade! And corn! I want roasted corn!"

It wasn't until the three girls had settled down with corn and cold beverages in the shade that Hinata looked up from her food at Asahi and asked, "Hey, who's your friend?"

"I don't know her." Asahi looked at the girl sitting next to her on the bench eating her corn happily. Seeing the two girls eyeing her, the smile-y girl quickly took a sip of lemonade to clear the food in her mouth and grinned at the two.

"Hajimemashite. Oshima Yuko desu!" Yuko introduced herself cheerfully.

"Hajimemashite." Hinata gave a polite bow. "Otawa Hinata desu."

"Wakamatsu Asahi." Asahi shifted away a bit because this strange girl was sitting almost shoulder-to-shoulder with her, but Oshima Yuko followed right along, moving so close that she was practically sitting on Asahi's lap.

"Oshima Yuko..." Hinata tapped her chin with a finger, saying the name aloud. "Oshima Yuko... would you be... THE Oshima Yuko?"

"Oshima Yuko?" Asahi couldn't move away any further from Yuko, having reached the end of the bench and was quite unhappy as Yuko wrapped one arm around Asahi's arm.

"She used to be a child actress and faded from the public eye for a while. Now she's making a comeback and she's been in the public eye a lot... you look a lot like her." Hinata rubbed her chin and studied Yuko suspiciously.

"No, that ain't me!" Yuko laughed loudly, waving her hand in front of her in a 'it ain't me!' kinda gesture. "But it's surprising, really. I know who you're talking about cuz TONS of people think I'm THAT Oshima Yuko... apparently I look a lot like her. And it's even funnier cuz I have the same name as her!"

"Hm," Hinata's eyes were still narrowed suspiciously. "Are you suuuuure?"

"Hey, if I was really that Oshima Yuko, would I be telling everyone who I was?" Yuko pointed out with a grin.

"Yeah, that's true..." Hinata conceded and finally smiled.

"Hey, lets hang out together!" Yuko suddenly suggested enthusiastically. "The friend I was with ran off to prepare for some co-workers that would be arriving soon, says she has a surprise for one of them. So I'm all alone..."

"Yeah, lets all hang out together!" Hinata agreed before Asahi could say anything. "One of our friends also ditched us!"

"Boo on them!"

"Yeah!"

Hinata and Yuko were getting along quite well, it was only Asahi who had reservations.

"Come on, nyan-nyan." Yuko hugged Asahi's arm closer to her bosom and the taller girl wondered if the other girl realized her boobs were rubbing up against Asahi. "We'll have so much fuuuun!"

"Yeah, nyan-nyan!" Hinata giggled at the nickname.

"Why are you calling me nyan-nyan?" Asahi pouted.

Yuko tugged on Asahi's ear again, a mischeivous smile on her face. "You remind me of a cat I had. Nyan-nyan."

"Stop that!" Asahi pressed her hands against her ears, blushing hotly. She was a bit sensitive about her big ears. Back in grade-school days, classmates had called her 'Dumbo'. The nickname had gotten so popular, even her teachers had casually referred to her as that!

"So lets go back to the ocean, nyannyan!" Yuko waggled her eyebrows at Asahi. "You haven't even gotten your top wet!"

"You're like a big pervert, aren't you?" Asahi dragged her heels as Hinata and their new-found friend pulled her towards the ocean. Despite Asahi's misgivings about Yuko, the three of them had lots of fun, playing with the kids that Hinata had been hanging out with before. They spent time looking for shells and corals that the ocean left on the beach, built sand castles and ran into the ocean when it got too hot. There were quite a few guys 'casually' walking by who stopped to chat the girls up but Yuko always put them off. Asahi, though she enjoyed the attention from the guys, was fine with that. Just playing with kids in the water with Hinata and Yuko was enough and she really wanted to relax after all the work they had been doing and will be doing soon.

And now, they were all out in the water playing with a beach ball.

"Catch, Hinata!" Asahi hit the multi-coloured beach ball in Hinata's direction. Hinata hit it upwards and one of the children bopped it back into the air towards the space between Asahi and Yuko.

"I got it!" Yuko ran for the ball but far from getting it, it bounced off her head and she lost her balance, arms doing crazy circles while trying to catch her balance.

"Yuko-" Asahi waded forward, to try and stop the smaller girl's faceplant into the ocean when Yuko desperately grabbed at Asahi's chest, righting herself in the process.

"Thanks!" Yuko grinned up at Asahi. Asahi frowned. Something was definitely wrong...

"Hm." Yuko had a strange look on her face, her brows furrowed as she squeezed the softness in her hands experimentally. It was... it... this was incredible! This feeling of FULLNESS in her hands, as if these boobs were MADE to mold perfectly into her hands! There was the right amount of squishiness and resistance as Yuko continued squeezing, and, lifting a bit-the exactly perfect amount of bounce and jiggle!

"Your..." Yuko actually had tears in her eyes. "Your boobs are a work of ART!"

"S-stop!" Asahi pulled away but not before letting out a truly lewd sound. "Ahnnnnn!"

"Woah." Hinata watched the scene, wide-eyed while the children giggled a bit, unsure of what was going on but like all children, they found anything to do with 'boobs' or 'penis' hilarious. Mortified, Asahi started running towards the shore. Yuko was quick on her heels, a determined look in her eyes. From the very first moment she had spotted the long-haired beauty on the beach, she KNEW Asahi was special! She had the body of a goddess and now her boobs... god, HER BOOBS.

"Chotto matte!" Yuko hit the beach running, the wet sand not slowing her down at all. She was pretty athletic while Asahi, who was flailing her arms wildly as she ran, was obviously not.

"Nyan-nyan!" Yuko ran ahead of Asahi and tried to make the girl face her. Unfortunately, Asahi couldn't stop her forward momentum and barreled straight into Yuko, bringing them down into the sand.

"Oof!" The air was completely knocked out of Yuko's lungs and she was seeing stars since her head hit the wet sand pretty hard.

"Daijoubu?" Asahi was quick to ask and was about to move off Yuko when the other girl's HANDS ON HER ASS stopped her.

"You're..." Yuko was crying. Whether from pain or from the sheer AWESOMENESS of the feel of Asahi's ass in her hands, nobody would really know except for Yuko. "PERFECT."

It had been an awesome day to say the least. They had lost the weirdos chasing Atsuko and were now at a beachside restaurant, sitting out in the patio. The two had gotten crepes after running away from the guys then decided to get out of the area in case those three fans were still around. They had gone from the shopping district to Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium, holding hands like children as they gaped at the various ocean life. There, Nami found out the girl with the cute face loved manta rays while Atsuko found out that her short companion found the whale shark unbelievably fascinating.

Even though Nami and Atsuko could've parted ways after the aquarium, Atsuko had asked Nami to hang out with her. They were having a lot of fun, for some odd reason, so Nami had agreed. And here they were now, late in the day and still with each other. There wasn't anybody else on the patio and they were laughing together which they had been doing all day. Nami would say something funny, Atsuko would give a funny reply... they just got along really well, like a house on fire!

"Your friends must be missing you right now." Atsuko pointed out when their laughter finally died down. Sipping her iced coffee with the sun lighting up her fair features, Nami couldn't help noticing that her friend was beautiful and felt a little bit self-conscious.

"N-nah." Nami distracted herself by wolfing down a spoonful of her cream and fruit parfait. A chiming sound and Nami looked up just in time to see that Atsuko had taken a photo of her with her cellphone.

"What?"

"I wanted to capture Nami's cute moment." Atsuko giggled and showed Nami the photo. "Kawaiiii!"

"That's a horrible picture!" Nami protested upon seeing herself on Atsuko's phone with a 'deer in headlights' look and cream and chocolate sauce all over her lips.

"I think it's cute." Atsuko pouted. "And I'm always right!"

Spending the day together, they had plenty of inside jokes already and Nami felt like she was talking to an old friend. As the shorter of the two girls got ready to protest the 'always right' comment, she was interrupted as Atsuko grabbed Nami's phone.

"Hey, don't just take people's phones." Nami half-heartedly protested, not really minding. Atsuko just smiled and walked over to Nami's side leaning in close, holding the phone up in the air to take a photo of the both of them together.

"Ichi, ni, san... chiii-zu!" Nami's phone chirped and Atsuko turned the phone back around so the both of them could look at the picture. Nami grinned at the photo. It was pretty cute with Atsuko giving a smile that scrunched up her nose adorably and Nami's toothy grin with a 'peace' sign thrown in.

"Yours too." Nami picked up Atsuko's phone and pressed the camera button. "Hai! Chiii-zu!"

They took a look at the picture and both of them started cackling at the faces they had pulled. Nami had one eyebrow raised with her chin tilted up a bit, looking hardcore. Atsuko was pouting her lips out, looking about to kiss Nami's cheek while giving the camera an 'oh no! caught on camera!' look.

"Send me that pic!" Atsuko shook Nami's shoulder excitedly and they both turned on their infrared function to send each other the pictures they took. Right after the send completed though, both of them got a message on their phone.

Nami! We're going back to the hotel and you should meet us there! Asahi's gone into shock! Hinata's mail was worrisome.

What happened

I'll explain when you get to the hotel!

I'll be there soon

"It looks like my friends need me." Nami closed her flip phone with a snap, just as Atsuko finished sending her own reply to the message she received.

"I have to go too..." Unhappiness was evident in Atsuko's voice.

"Hey, maybe we'll see each other again some time before we leave Okinawa." Nami said, her voice falsely bright. Both of them knew the truth, though. The one topic they had both not touched on was what they did for work. Nami didn't ask Atsuko if she really was a celebrity and Atsuko didn't ask Nami what she did either. Nami knew, with her busy schedule now, there would be no time at all to see Atsuko.

"Yeah, or maybe we'll be able to meet once we both get back to Tokyo." Again, both of them knew it would be impossible. Atsuko's schedule was packed enough as it was. On a rare day off, most people had other things to do and didn't have time for Atsuko. Atsuko was sure her new friend wouldn't make time for her if she ever got a day off...

"Hey, don't be sad." Nami had Atsuko in a gruff hug, not really one for physical affection, but showing it because she knew Atsuko needed it.

"Hey..." Pressed up against Nami and hugging back fiercely, Atsuko relished how good Nami's hug felt. "Um... well.."

"What?" Nami asked gruffly, still hugging Atsuko. For some odd reason, Nami could feel herself blushing and she didn't want to let go of Atsuko until the heat in her face subsided.

"Maybe we can exchange emails?" Her tentative question actually made Nami 'awwww' on the inside.

"What?" Atsuko saw the look on Nami's face, feeling very subconscious. "Um... you don't have to, you know-"

"No, no!" Nami picked up her phone again. "Infrared! I'll send you my info!"

While Atsuko was fiddling with her phone, Nami took a quick picture of Atsuko. With the sun in the back and a light wind sweeping Atsuko's silky hair up, the picture looked almost professional.

"Okay, ready!"

"You're very photogenic, eh?" Nami pointed her phone at Atsuko's phone as they sent their contact information to each other. Knowing that they had to part soon was putting a damper on their spirits as they paid for their drinks and made for the front. There was only one taxi there so Nami held the door open for Atsuko.

"What a gentleman." Atsuko teased.

"Yeah yeah," Nami rolled her eyes. "Don't let the door hit you on the way in."

"Mean!" Atsuko grinned at Nami as she ducked into the cab. Neither one seemed willing to go, though. Atsuko kept one hand on the door to prop it open, half-in the car. Nami had a hand on the door, unwilling to shut it.

"Well..." Nami chewed on her lower lip, really not wanting Atsuko to leave.

"I'll see you around?" Atsuko pulled out her phone and opened it. The wallpaper was the picture of her and Nami, pulling their funny face. Brandishing it, she shook the cellphone. "I'll mail you!"

"Yeah." Nami smirked, then held out her hand. "Well. See ya."

Atsuko took Nami's hand and shook it firmly, once. "I'll be seeing you, Kawachi Nami."

"Later, Maeda Atsuko." Nami watched Atsuko slide in and closed the door for the beautiful woman, watching as the taxi pulled away. Atsuko was also watching Nami's small figure getting smaller until the taxi turned a corner and Nami was gone from her sight.

"Miss, where to?"

"Oh!" Atsuko pulled out a piece of paper from her bag, scanning the information on it. "Um, Okinawa Marriott, please."

Nami had felt a pang when Atsuko had finally disappeared from sight and let out a loud sigh. Her melancholy was interrupted by the sound of her phone alerting her to a new message. Hinata again.

Remember, your room is for Kai. So Nami shouldn't show up at the front desk.

"Right," Nami breathed out and headed back into the restaurant. She'd change in the washroom then grab the next taxi to her hotel. Meanwhile, she just kept on thinking about Atsuko. It had been weird how quickly and how well they got along. Atsuko and Nami's personalities were almost completely different from each other, but it was like a meeting of souls today.

"Huh." Nami quickly changed into Kai, stepping out of the stall to check his hair in the mirror, wondering dryly what Atsuko would think of Kai.

'Hopefully nothing like how Ray thinks of Kai.' Kai shuddered, suddenly feeling a chill run down his spine. The way the charismatic diva hung all over him was frickin' weird! 'Speaking of which... I'm due for a daily update from the songstress herself right-'

Kai's phone chimed, signaling he had a message.

'-now.' Popping his phone open, he opened the message and grimaced. It was who he expected it to be.

Kai! *heart*heart*heart* How's Okinawa? I have filming for a late night show tonight, will you watch it? I hope you will! Tell me what you think! I miss you SOOOOO much. Oh, and don't look at any girls *angry face* Instead, look at me! When you get back, lets go out together, okay? You can tell me all about your trip! *heart*heart*heart* Ray

The diva had taken a picture of herself giving the camera a very sultry look. She was in a very cute dress with one strap slipping off her shoulder and the dress hanging dangerously low.

"Big pervert." Kai grumbled as he typed back a reply. He had to admit though, Ray looked incredible in that picture.

It's hot here. And I'm not looking at any girls, don't worry. Don't work too hard, okay?

Kai sent the message and stuffed his phone back into his pocket and headed out of the restaurant and into a cab. While heading to the hotel, he pondered over the way his life had changed since entering Persona, especially the Ray aspect of it and these emails from her. It was hard to just ignore the charismatic diva. Her messages were just so... infuriating! Kai just HAD to reply. Like really, what the hell was with that 'don't look at any girls' and that sexy photo?

Fuming, Kai practically threw money at the taxi driver when they arrived at Okinawa Marriott. No matter what, Ray always worked him up into a fervour!

"Kai!" Kuu waved Kai over, all of them dressed in their clothes from the late morning shopping trip. Marilyn and Saeko were at the front desk, signing in for themselves.

"What happened?" Kai's fury at Ray's message subsided when he saw Riku's dead expression.

"Riku's been like that since..." Kuu lowered his voice. "Some girl we met at the beach grabbed Asahi!"

"Riku?"

"No, ASAHI. Female ASAHI." Kuu whispered.

"What?" Kai was confused.

"We were hanging out with some girl we met at the beach. Then..." Kuu shrugged. "She started feeling up Asahi." Kuu went over briefly what had happened. "...then after Asahi had gotten up, she slapped the other girl and ran for it back to our spot on the beach and grabbed all our things then insisted that we leave. She hasn't talked since then."

Kai stared at Riku. Actually spent a good few seconds staring. Then the blonde exploded, howling with laughter. That snapped Riku out of it as he glared at Kai.

"It's not funny!" Riku snapped. Kai just continued laughing, doubled over.

"It's loud over there." Mariko noted, trying to look over and see what was going on in the lobby. However, several pillars were in the way and she gave up quickly, turning back to a depressed Yuko. Atsuko was sitting on the other side of the morose woman, patting Yuko's back sympathetically. All three were sitting at a bar with Mariko and Atsuko trying to stop Yuko from running up a huge tab.

"She was perfect!" Yuko moaned glumly, downing her gin and tonic in one gulp. "Bartender!"

The bartender wordlessly placed another drink in front of Yuko.

"I didn't even get her number!"

Far from comforting her like Atsuko was doing, Mariko was scolding the perverted actress.

"Serves you right!" Mariko crossed her arms, scowling. "You know, most girls let you feel them up because-I actually don't know why they let you, but this girl didn't! That's the normal reaction to sexual harassment-"

"SKINSHIP!" Yuko bleated.

"SEXUAL HARASSMENT." Mariko snapped back, then lowered her voice. "You're just so gay!"

"I'm not gay!" Yuko shot back. "I just appreciate women's bodies a lot!" Yuko gave Mariko a slightly pitying look. "Even those with no shape-"

"You shut the hell up!" Mariko's eyes narrowed. She was just really skinny! Her body-type was perfect for modeling! Yuko just didn't appreciate that!

"Look at this-" Yuko had both hands pressed against Mariko's bosom to emphasize her point and immediately, her mouth turned down in a frown. "WHAT is this?"

"Stop that." Mariko slapped Yuko's hands away who immediately turned to Atsuko to cup the other girl's breasts. Atsuko just stared at Yuko impassively.

"Atsukoooo..." Yuko had tears in her eyes, her lower lip trembling. "She was PERFECT."

In reply, Atsuko flicked Yuko on the forehead with her fingers and the smaller woman grabbed her forehead, hissing in pain.

"Anyways," Mariko crossed her arms. "Don't be all lovey-dovey with the guys from Persona tomorrow. That'll cause a scandal for sure."

"How could I even think about guys now?" Yuko threw up her hands helplessly, then reached for her drink. Tossing it back in one gulp, she motioned for another one. "I let perfection get away! Why didn't I ask for her number?"

"If you're not good tomorrow, Ohori-san will kill you." Mariko warned. Yuko waved away the tall girl's concern, sipping at the new drink in front of her.

"She's useless right now." Mariko sighed and shook her head at Yuko. "So gay."

"She'll be fine tomorrow." Atsuko said confidently. Yuko had a pretty high tolerance for alcohol and even if she got drunk, she never got a hangover.

"Here's to perfection!" Yuko raised her glass in the air, toasting the one that had gotten away.

"We'll be meeting with the writer again," Mariko sighed. "She's experiencing some writer's block and wants to see Persona and us together, maybe get a feel for our chemistry."

"Maybe I can save her some time. Here's what I'll be feeling: indifference." Atsuko deadpanned, now wishing she could drink too. She had heard about her co-stars and really didn't feel like meeting more young up-and-comers. Doing this drama, 'Three Sisters', had seen them go through a lot of co-stars and she HATED the young ones the most. She was pretty young herself, but she'd have to say she took her job a lot more seriously than most of the new ones. It was always drama with them and she hated that they thought that working with her automatically made them BFFs. She wished Nami was here...

"There there, it'll be alright." Mariko reached over to pat Atsuko's hand sympathetically. She understood Atsuko's prickliness and shared some of it herself, though she was better at hiding it than Atsuko. That was why Atsuko didn't have very many friends.

"Why did you insist on getting that group to come co-star with us?" Yuko, though slightly tipsy, was still together enough to join in on the conversation. "You usually don't like your men young-"

"I don't like them!" Mariko growled, her eyes narrowed to slits and the look on her face was terrifying. "This is revenge."

Kuu, just passing the restaurant on the way to the washroom gave a little shiver. It felt like someone had just walked over his grave...

"Hurry up! Saeko wants to go eat soon!" Riku walked past Kuu, catching his friend's arm and pulling him along.

"Wait up, guys!" Kai wasn't far behind as they trotted towards the restrooms. Atsuko turned around just in time to catch the back of a blonde head disappearing round the corner.

'Can't be.' Atsuko shook her head, turning back to her friends who had started arguing animatedly. 'I'm going crazy.'

I love AKB48 whole heartily.
I love writing stories and draw manga.
Fanfic:Blood Curse
One Shots
Mendol x AKB48

Like to go Japan someday and met them in person.

Offline nunku

  • Member
  • Posts: 41
  • LOVE AtsuKo :3
Re: [Mendol X AKB48] Ikemen Idol-[various parings]--Chapter 9[updated 22/8]
« Reply #26 on: August 22, 2013, 04:47:46 PM »
Atsumina and kojiyu
Next marimii right?
Atsumina is cute together at all! :inlove:
Yuko so pervert  :lol:
Atsuko will subspect about kai and nami :?
I think ray problem will coming soon :shocked
I can't wait please update :bow:  :bow:
 :cow: :cow: :cow: :cow:


I love AKB !
I love AKB fanfic !
I love the most Atsuminaaa!
U3U

Offline Yuseichaaan48

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Re: [Mendol X AKB48] Ikemen Idol-[various parings]--Chapter 9[updated 22/8]
« Reply #27 on: August 24, 2013, 06:06:33 PM »
So it's going to be atsumina, kojiyuu and marimii?? Nice!! :D

Uh oh, did atsuko find out about nami's secret????  :O

And yuko.... Perverted as always. Hehe ;)

Anyways... Looking foward to the next update!!!!

Offline tfme3638

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Re: [Mendol X AKB48] Ikemen Idol-[various parings]--Chapter 9[updated 22/8]
« Reply #28 on: August 25, 2013, 02:40:45 PM »
Thought it was a new fic on Mendol... Then realised it's one of my all time favourite that actually got me into akb fanfiction fandom!! :onioncheer: :on woohoo: :on gay: Have read this on fanfiction.net repeatedly since I saw the drama earlier this year! Hopefully there would be a sequel?  :wriggly: Love all the ray X kai/nami fluff :luvluv2:

Offline millca

  • ecchi
  • Member
  • Posts: 38
  • Is this the reality that you wanted?
Re: [Mendol X AKB48] Ikemen Idol-[various parings]--Chapter 9[updated 22/8]
« Reply #29 on: August 25, 2013, 03:46:58 PM »
I think things are getting more interesting now hohoho

Yuko and Asahi's scene is too damn funny  :lol:  :twothumbs

Can't wait for Mariko's revenge to Kuu

Please update soon! :D

♥ YuiParu ♥ KojiYuu ♥ AtsuYuu ♥ SaeYuki ♥ SaeRena ♥ JuriMayu ♥ MomooHarem ♥

Offline AoiShiori

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  • Posts: 28
Re: [Mendol X AKB48] Ikemen Idol-[various parings]--Chapter 9[updated 22/8]
« Reply #30 on: August 27, 2013, 06:54:51 PM »
I freakin' love this  :) :)

This is one of the fanfics that I've read when I was still new to the AKB fandom and I'm still reading it  :lol:
This will always be one of my favorites and I had a great time reading it.
I was smiling the whole time  :)

Thanks for creating such a wonderful story and stay awesome  :)

Offline Hirasawaizumi

  • Atsumina & Kojiyuu FTW
  • ecchi
  • Member+
  • Posts: 83
  • AKB48! daisuki dayo
Re: [Mendol X AKB48] Ikemen Idol-[various parings]--Chapter 9[updated 22/8]
« Reply #31 on: September 30, 2013, 05:31:29 PM »
Mendol - Ikemen Idol!

Chapter 10

author's note: So they meet. WHAT HAPPENS? DUNDUNDUN!

The two groups stared at each other.

And stared.

And stared some more.

Marilyn was trying not to glare at Ohori Megumi, but failing. Megumi and Saeko were looking at each other, pain apparent in both their eyes.

Riku was staring, wide-eyed and afraid at Yuko, who was looking at him with a puzzled expression.

Kai wore a deer-in-headlights expression while Atsuko just frowned at the blonde, wondering why the short young man's face looked so... familiar.

Kuu and Mariko were glaring at each other in unbridled, unchecked HATRED.

"Well." Megumi finally cleared her throat to break the silence. "Why don't we all sit down and wait for the writer to come in? She's running a bit late..."

Nobody moved at first, until Atsuko shrugged and took a seat, Kai immediately going to take a seat opposite the woman. This in turn prompted everyone to grab seats with Yuko facing Riku, Mariko facing Kuu and Saeko facing Megumi with Marilyn sitting beside her manager. But now, with everyone seated, Riku and Kai were both looking down at the table, trying not to make eye contact with the person sitting opposite them. Kuu had a white-knuckled grip on the table, shooting daggers out of his eyes at the smirking woman opposite him just KNOWING that their meeting was no coincidence.

"Well," Ohori Megumi had to clear her throat several times before she could get the words out. "I guess we should do introductions."

"We should." Saeko smiled at Megumi. Marilyn glanced between the two managers, really REALLY unhappy at the looks they were sharing.

"I am Kamonohashi Saeko, of Kamonohashi Entertainment. This is my secretary, Marilyn." Saeko nodded towards Marilyn. The perky secretary gave Megumi a tight smile.

"Ohori Megumi of Ohori Productions." Megumi took off her sexy librarian glasses. "Yoroshiku. And this is..."

Mariko smirked at Kuu, her eyes only for the angry young man. "Shinoda Mariko. Yo-ro-shi, Kuu."

Kuu's left eyebrow twitched, not missing the way Mariko played his name into her greeting. The slim, well-manicured hand she held out to the young man made him even angrier. She was still smirking at him, waiting for him take her hand in his. Well, she could just forget about it-

"Kuu!" Marilyn hissed. "Shake her hand!"

Relunctantly, he reached forward. "I'm Kuu of Persona. Yoroshi-wahhh!"

Kuu yanked his hand back, infuriated. Mariko had tickled his hand! She had tickled the palm of his hand! HE WAS GOING TO KILL HER!

"Kuu!" Saeko GLARED at him.

...Later. He would kill her later when no-one was watching and there were no witnesses.

All three members of Persona mumbled out their 'yoroshiku's and introductions moved on to the next pair.

"Maeda Atsuko." Maeda dipped her head slightly, watching the blonde with the bowed head with interest. It was funny. Most of the new ones wanted to make a good impression, or they would stare at her in slack-jawed awe. This one seemed almost... shy. It was cute.

"Kai of Persona." Kai mummbled and bowed, his head hitting the table. "Ow."

Atsuko let out a little giggle as Kai lifted his head completely, rubbing at the sore spot on his forehead.

"It's not funny." Kai had sadface on.

"It's just a little bit funny." Atsuko smiled at the slight young man. Their conversation flowed easily and she felt an almost instant connection with this person. Why was that?

"Atsuko finds everything funny, though." Kai pointed out, smiling, but immediately clammed up after that and bowed his head again. Atsuko, meanwhile, had both eyebrows raised and was studying Kai. REALLY looking at him. She was SURE she knew him from somewhere, now. The familiarity with how he referred to her and the thing he had said... and his face. She KNEW that face.

"Yoroshiku." Kai mummbled, sweating. Right now, it seemed like Atsuko couldn't really recognize him... but if she did, he would be in for a world of TROUBLE!

Again, a round of yoroshikus passed the table and it was down to the final pair.

"Hai, Oshima Yuko DESU!" The girl with the dimples grinned. "Yoroshiku onegaishimasu!"

When nobody said anything, Megumi tried to break the tension in the room. It seemed like Saeko's boys were really shy! How precious! "Yuko used to be a child actress, she faded from the public eye for a while, but now she's back and she's become quite popular!"

"I knew it!" Kuu said under his breath.

Riku mummbled his greeting and gave a quick bow, keeping his eyes on the top of the table as if it was the most interesting thing in the world.

"Aw, don't be shy!" Yuko said cheerfully. "I don't bite!"

Riku slowly looked up to find Yuko smiling encouragingly at him. She gave the defacto leader of Persona a casual wave.

"Hi!"

"H-hey." There was not a glimmer of recognition in Yuko's eyes. So that meant... she didn't recognize him? Feeling relieved, Riku straightened up a bit and offered a quick smile. "Um. I'm Riku of Persona. It's nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you too, Riku." Yuko dipped her head in a polite bow.

"So, while we're waiting for the writer, do you boys know anything about 'Three Sisters'?" The blank faces the boys pulled at Megumi's question made the woman sigh. "Of course. Boys seldom watch shows like that. Well basically, the story is about three sisters that are very different from one another. It's about their daily lives and the conflicts they have to face together. That's the very basic story."

Megumi motioned to Mariko. "Mariko-sama plays the eldest sister-"

"Cuz she looks the oldest, right?" Kuu shot in, innocently. Yuko covered her mouth to hide a laugh while a corner of Mariko's mouth was pulled back into an ugly snarl.

"Oh, I'm sorry." Kuu fluttered his eyelashes at Mariko innocently. "I mean DISTINGUISHED. The most DISTINGUISHED. Especially with those crow's feet."

There was stunned silence in the room as Kuu smiled pleasantly and Yuko had both her hands covering her mouth to stifle her own laughter.

"Kuu!" Everybody sitting on Kuu's side was looking at him in horror. Kuu usually had more social grace than this! They could be black-listed by these three stars who, from what Marilyn had told them, pretty big names right now!

"No, it's okay." Mariko gave a gracious smile. "I totally understand. It's so nice of you, Kamonohashi-san, to hire someone who was mentally handicapped. I mean, people like him need all the support they can get."

"I'm not mentally handicapped." Kuu glowered at Mariko.

"Oh!" Mariko placed a hand on the side of her face in a show of mock-surprise. "I'm sorry, I just thought, you know... your inability to communicate appropriately with people and you know, you sort of-" Mariko motioned to his face, pursing her lips in contemplation. "-LOOK like you have down syndrome."

Kuu almost lunged over the table at the tall EVIL woman if not for Kai's hand on his arm.

"Kuu!" Kai gave Kuu a frantic look. What the hell was he doing, fighting with the stars of the show they were guest-appearing in?

"Do you two..." Marilyn had a finger on her chin. Their argument, the hostility they were showing each other and the familiarity of which they attacked each other told Marilyn they probably knew each other. "know each other?"

"Yes." The two combatants were locked in a staring competition.

"How did you two meet?" Riku asked curiously.

"Radio. Station." Kuu could barely get the words out. He was just... so... ANGRY!

"We're VERY good friends." Mariko purred. "Right, Kuu-Kuu?"

"I don't like that nickname." Kuu snarled.

"Oh, so you're friends!" Marilyn sighed in relief and everybody at the table let out a laugh. Mariko's laugh was slightly... evil. While Kuu's laughter sounded like a robot's.

"Well, Mariko is the eldest sister and her character name is Fumiko. She's very responsible, works to support her two sisters and has a managerial position at a finance company. She pretty much has her life together. It's just her sisters who are kind of worrisome." Megumi recited the information. There had been numerous co-stars, everybody seemed to want to get in on this drama and this speel was well-rehearsed. "Fumiko also has problems holding down boyfriends because she's intimidating and not 'cute'."

"Like in real life." Kuu said under his breath, loud enough for everyone to hear. Everybody laughed at the joke. Mariko was laughing too, but was also glaring at Kuu, her eyes opened wide in an angry glare. Kuu was laughing uproariously until he suddenly stopped and doubled over in pain.

"Kuu-" Saeko frowned at the young man.

"I'm fine." Kuu gasped out, glaring at Mariko hatefully. Suddenly, Mariko was down on the table too, gritting her teeth in pain.

"Mariko?" Atsuko blinked at the tall woman.

"I'm... fine." Mariko narrowed her eyes at Kuu. Underneath the table, both Mariko and Kuu's shins were developing a nice bruise from the kick delivered by the other.

"Next, we have Atsuko, who will be playing Eri." Megumi continued. "Eri is the middle sister and she's pretty much the bad girl of the group. Her character has lots of boyfriends and she works as a hostess at night to support her spending habits. Her sister Fumiko doesn't know about her job but her younger sister has an inkling. Eri's fun-loving, lively, self-centered and doesn't really care too much about who she hurts, though she does love her sisters a lot. She's a heartbreaker and attracts most of the trouble in the series."

Atsuko smiled a little bit and dipped her head in acknowledgement. Kai looked at Atsuko discreetly, wondering how Atsuko would play the character. Feeling Kai's eyes on her, Atsuko looked up at the blonde who immediately went back to staring at the table.

"Lastly, Yuko plays the youngest sister." Megumi put her glasses back on. "Aki is a quiet girl who's going through university to study to be a doctor. She's very studious and very smart, but she's really timid. At school, she gets picked on a lot by the other students because she's basically the most talented out of all of them and jealousy is an ugly thing. She's easily hurt and she relies a lot on Eri and Fumiko to look out for her. Aki's very trusting and is absolutely devoted to her sisters."

"So the connection between the three sisters is very strong." Riku leaned forward. "It sounds like a very interesting drama."

A knock at the door caught everyone's attention and Megumi smiled at Riku. "You can tell that to our writer personally, then. Kasai-san always loves to hear that someone likes her work."

"Excuse us," A young assistant in a red hoodie and work boots opened the door. She stood aside to let in a whole line up of people as the people already in the room stood up to greet the new arrivals. When everybody was at their place at the table, introductions went around and Persona met the producers of the show, the director and the most important person, the writer.

"Without her," The director laughed. "We wouldn't have a show!"

"That's not true." Kasai Tomomi, a gentle-looking young woman smiled at the people gathered in the room. "Everybody's been very accomodating of me and I'm really grateful."

Kasai Tomomi single-handedly wrote the shows. All the puns, the drama, the little details were worked out by her. Apparently she was a genius in that department and could write an entire story arc within a few days.

"Don't be so humble." A woman with dyed and permed hair and impeccably done make-up patted Kasai's arm, a gesture that spoke of their close friendship. "This is like, the only thing you're really good at. You should be proud!"

"Tomochin-!"

The woman barely managed to sidestep a swipe from Tomomi.

"This is Tomochin-Itano Tomomi." Megumi introduced the mischievous woman. "She's the one to go to for make-up and hair on this set."

"Yoroshiku." Tomochin bowed politely and Tomomi took the opportunity to slap Tomochin on the top of her head.

"Now that we've got the pleasantries aside, should we get down to business?" Saeko was all about work and Marilyn puffed up with pride at the way her shachou commanded the room. She bristled slightly though, when she noticed Megumi looking at Saeko with fond eyes.

"A-actually." Tomomi fiddled with the hem of her blouse. "I haven't gotten to writing in Persona yet, this was so last minute. But-but I want to, um, get a feel for them. To see what characters they could play."

"Well, what can we do?" Riku asked, willing to please. His bandmates nodded, all eager to work. They didn't really understand how things worked and they've never really acted before, but they would try their best!

"Well, I just want to... see all of you in a relaxed setting." Tomomi smiled and her friend Tomochin gave a smirk. "W-why don't we all just have breakfast together? Have you all eaten yet?"

Kai's stomach gave a well-timed growl to answer Tomomi's question.

"No, we haven't." Kai muttered, blushing to the roots of his hair. Atsuko glanced at Kai, amused. That little glance hadn't gone unnoticed as Tomomi tucked that little tidbit away to explore later. It was hard to write up Atsuko's character since Tomomi sometimes sensed she had nothing to work with in Atsuko. There was a void there, sometimes. So having Atsuko play Eri, the heartbreaker, was easy. But it was hard to write in any sort of EMOTIONAL scene with Atsuko. It wasn't that Atsuko didn't try, it was just that the chemistry was always lacking with Atsuko... but it seemed that her and this Kai might be different...

The hotel had spread out a breakfast buffet for them in a meeting room and everyone was digging in. Kai was about to walk back to the table his bandmates had sat down at when he noticed the young assistant in the red hoodie from before eyeing the buffet spread longingly.

"Why don't you eat?"

The girl in the red hoodie shook her head and smiled. Kai knew that she was new here and Tomochin had off-handedly said that she was her assistant and would be following them around. "I gotta wait for everyone else to eat first."

"Who said that?" Kai scowled. He'd seen how hard assistants worked and he wasn't gonna stand by and let someone starve! "By the time you get to eat, I'm pretty sure there won't be any food left."

The line-up was pretty long and the blonde quickly shoved his own platter of food at the girl. "Hope you like what I got. Now go eat fast cuz they might run you off somewhere."

The girl smiled again, thanked Kai quickly and disappeared while the blonde went back around to get food again.

"That was nice." Atsuko commented quietly. She had noticed how the short young man had given up his plate for Tomochin's assistant.

"Eh." Kai dug into his food, not wanting to look at Atsuko straight in the face, afraid that she would see right through him. Atsuko, meanwhile, had noticed that Kai's plate didn't have any strawberries, while his last plate had a tiny heap of them. The buffet was quickly running out of fresh fruit and there had been no strawberries left when Kai went around to get food again.

'Hm.' Atsuko waited until Kai was distracted talking to Riku then quickly shovelled over a few of her own strawberries. The young actress started eating nonchalently when the blonde turned back and was confused as to how there were now a few strawberries on his plate.

"Thanks, Kuu." Kai nudged his friend sitting beside him, assuming it was Kuu who had passed him some strawberries.

Kuu was eating like an animal while keeping his eyes on Mariko who was sitting opposite him again. He had no idea what Kai was thanking him for but bleated back a quick, "you're welcome."

Kasai, also sitting at their table noticed Atsuko and Kai's exchange, though she seemed to be engrossed in a conversation with Tomochin. Interesting. Really interesting. Atsuko never treated people this nice! Could it be... love?

"Hey guys!" Yuko jogged to their table, having ran off before to the buffet to get some more food. "I got a lot of honeydew! Help yourselves!"

"Thanks!" Kuu tried to spear a honeydew with his fork but hit nothing but plate as Mariko swiped it right from under his nose.

"YOU." Kuu narrowed his eyes at the short-haired woman.

"ME." Mariko laughed, chewing on her stolen piece of fruit. This exchange wasn't lost on Tomomi either, filing away the two's interaction for later. Riku and Yuko seemed to gravitate towards each other, but were neither too friendly nor too stand-offish. They were very professional... except Riku seemed almost afraid of Yuko sometimes when she leaned too close to him-

"Stop working!" Tomochin poked Tomomi, knowing her friend well enough to know that Tomomi was working on the details of the drama in her mind. "You haven't eaten ANYTHING."

"I'm eating, I'm eating!" Tomomi grumbled, picking up fork and knife to dig into her western style breakfast. She took a look at what Tomochin was eating and almost immediately regretted it. Nattou, mayonnaise, dried bonitas, a few pieces of oily bacon, scrambled eggs, slices of oranges smashed into a pulp and ketchup all mixed together to look like... basically something someone threw up.

"Why am I your friend?" Tomomi whimpered as she watched Tomochin scarf the conconction down.

"This is delicious." Tomochin declared. "You leave my food alone!"

Tomomi wasn't the only person who had been watching Persona and the Three Sisters' main stars. The girl with the red hoodie stood discreetly nearby, completely unnoticed. And, completely unnoticed, she had a small camera hidden in her hands and was taking pictures of the people at the table. The person featured in most of those photos?

Kai.

Kasai Tomomi had apparently gotten what she wanted from the breakfast meeting. She had quickly told Tomochin the basic premise of the story and left her to work on make-up and costumes with the boys while she wrote the script.

"Where are you girls going?" Riku asked Yuko as they all waited in the lobby for a van to take them to the filming location.

"Well, we're still filming a couple of episodes from the last story arc that brought us to Okinawa." Yuko explained quickly. Riku, though she was wary of Yuko's perverted ways, was quite impressed by her work ethics. The dimply girl had shown herself to be a hard worker who stayed focused and on task when the situation called for it. Riku really did admire that quality in a person.

"...and that's it for today." Yuko finished listing off what they were doing. "We'll be in the same area as you and we'll probably finish shooting early if the weather continues to be nice like this."

"Lunch is at 1pm for you girls?" Riku glanced at his watch and grinned at Yuko, comfortable enough to make jokes with the girl. "Will you even be hungry then? You tucked in at least three plates!"

"She can eat even more." Mariko jumped into the conversation. "She's watching her figure right now so she ONLY had three plates."

"I have a high metabolism!" Yuko protested.

"Our ride is here!" Tomochin announced. All the young idols hurriedly went to the car with Kai making it there first and opened the door for everybody.

"Get in," Kai waved impatiently, looking off to the side. His plan was to sit as far away from Atsuko as possible and sitting in the front passenger seat would do! Atsuko climbed up but almost fell as her foot slipped a bit on the edge of the van's entrance. Kai was quick to put a steadying hand on the small of her back and push her up, nodding brusquely to Atsuko's 'thank you'.

"Oh, what a gentleman!" Kuu and Riku teased on the way in.

"Yeah, yeah." Kai growled. "Don't let the door hit you on the way in."

Atsuko watched as the blonde waited for Tomochin and her assistant to get in before shutting the door and climbing in the front. Even from the back, she tried to peek up at the young man sitting in front, thoughts running through her head...

"-stop it!" Mariko turned to glare at Kuu who had sat right behind her and was drumming against the back of her seat with his feet.

"Stop what?" Kuu asked innocently as he gave a slightly harder kick.

"Stop kicking my seat!"

"I'm not kicking your seat."

"Are too!"

"Are not!"

"Are too, KUU-KUU."

"Riku, tell her to stop calling me that!"

"CHILDREN!" Riku and Yuko both snapped at their friends. Slightly startled at having two people yell at them, both Mariko and Kuu settled down. It was quiet in the car, with all of them wrapped up in their own thoughts when they finally arrived on set. Kai hopped out of the front seat and waited until Atsuko was coming down and offered a hand to help her.

"Don't trip." Kai helped her down then quickly shut the door and joined his friends. Atsuko didn't even have a chance to say thank you before the boys were out of sight, following Tomochin's assistant to a building they had rented out as a temporary headquarters for the filming in Okinawa. It was also very near the beach they had rented to film beach scenes so everything worked out perfectly.

"Come on, everyone's at the beach already." Tomochin herself was in charge of the girls. "My assistant will get the boys done up and I have to work on your make up-Mariko, what's that on the back of your head?"

Patting at the back of her head, Mariko produced a piece of sticky yellow paper.

'I'm Shinoda Mariko and I'm old and love eating boogers!'

"KUU-KUU." The paper was reduced to a crumpled ball in the tall idol's hands. She would get him back for this!

Meanwhile, the boys were in the men's dressing room going through some clothes. Marilyn had sent Tomochin the boys' sizes already and a variety of clothes was laid out for them.

"Okay," The assistant brushed back her red hoodie, revealing silky black hair. "Riku-san, you'll be in smart-casual wear so you can't wear anything more casual than a polo-shirt. The image you're trying to give is rich and on a vacation. Um, no swimwear right now."

"Right." Riku nodded, going to the racks of clothes in his size to find several outfits that fit that description.

"Kuu-san is in business wear almost at all times. But pick out one golfing outfit."

Kuu was at his rack already, going through his clothes. He nodded absentmindedly at the instructions then let out a blood curdling scream as A GIANT SPIDER SRUNG OUT AT HIM FROM THE RACK!

"AHHH!" Kuu swatted the spider away. "Get it off get it off get it off!"

Kai was quick to react, stomping on the huge spider and almost slipped and fell. He grabbed hold of a nearby rack and glared down at the spider.

"It's fake." Kai brushed himself off. "It's made of rubber."

Kuu picked it up off the floor angrily. Pinned to the spider was a little note.

'To Kuu-Kuu. Love, Mariko.'

"Guys, stop playing around." Riku hadn't glanced over at the start of Kuu's screaming and ignored it after. Mariko and Kuu's prankwars was getting ridiculous.

"So..." The assistant stood beside Kai, waiting to catch his attention. "Kai-san, you'll be in casual wear. So t-shirts, shorts, flip-flops, runners. Anything you want. But think light colours... less rockstar and more jock/nature boy."

"Sweet." Kai grinned, already rifling through his clothes. He liked formal wear just fine... but casual clothes were so much more comfortable! They played around with outfits for a while until Tomochin came back and hustled them to a couple of chairs in front of well lit mirrors to do some make-up checks.

"All of you have really nice skin," Tomochin murmurred as she tried out a colour on Riku.

"Yeah. We lucked out on that department." Riku tried to stay still.

"Like really nice skin." Tomochin moved on to Kuu. "It's like none of you have stubble."

The three members of Persona felt a trickle of anxiety.

"Well, you know, trade secret," Kuu laughed nervously. "We, uh, pluck."

"Pluck?" Tomochin raised an eyebrow. "That'll take a long time."

"Y-yup." Kai nodded stiffly. "But we get it when it first comes in. And if there's a lot, we wax."

"Hm. I guess." Tomochin ran a finger along Kuu's jawline. "Your jaw is quite smooth."

They spent the whole morning checking out make-up and outfits until Tomochin had called it a day and they broke for early lunch, the boys huddling together near the table with different types of boxed lunches.

"We don't have stubble." Kuu was looking through the boxed lunches and wondering if he could grab two. He was a nervous eater and damn, he was nervous right now! "Just soft SMOOTH SKIN. What are we going to do? Ai-chan and Fuu-chan are the only ones who did our make-ups for us before and Saeko's okay'd them! But Tomochin-"

"Calm down." Riku was also loading up his plate. "It'll be fine. Trust me. She seemed to buy your plucking excuse. And Saeko's no help right now, she has to deal with administration stuff. We gotta deal with our identities ourselves!"

Kai was looking through the boxed lunches and listening intently to Riku and Kuu's whispered conversation. So when his phone rang, he didn't even look to see who had called him and picked up right away.

"Moshi-moshi." Kai grabbed a sweet-and-sour pork and rice combo then moved on to look at what kind of drinks they had for lunch.

"Kai?"

Kai grabbed a vegetable juice box. "Yup."

There was silence on the other end. Then, "...Nami?"

"Yeah." Kai turned around to find a table to sit at, his attention pulled in several different directions. But the phone call... the phone call was important. What was so important about the phonecall?

"Nami, look up." the voice on the phone commanded.

Kai obeyed and looked up, seeing Atsuko at the entrance to the lunchroom. Atsuko had an unreadable expression on her face as she looked at Kai from across the room. Her phone was pressed against her ear and she smiled a small smile that didn't seem to reach her eyes.

"Nami. Can you see me?" Atsuko asked, her voice coming crystal clear over the phone. Kai's face had paled considerably and he nodded.

'Why didn't I notice right away?' Atsuko wondered as she looked at Kai from across the hustle of the lunchroom. Nami's nose, her chin, her eyes, HER HEIGHT. The way Kai moved like Nami did. Atsuko remembered watching Kai scarf down his breakfast, so like how Nami had eaten her dessert yesterday by the beach.

It hadn't been until Riku and Kuu had made the 'gentleman' comment that Atsuko had finally placed that face. How could she have been stupid? She had the picture that Nami and her had taken as the wallpaper on her cellphone! Everytime she opened her phone, she would see Nami's face.

"I can see you." Kai pushed his lunch and drink into Riku's hand and motioned for him to help him take it to a table and Kai would be right with them. Riku and Kuu shrugged and walked off.

"Nami." Atsuko pursed her lips. "We need to talk."

"Now?" Kai felt like someone was tightening a belt around his ribs. A sense of immense pressure. The secret was out. He had ruined it for everyone. Atsuko seemed to sense his mood and her mouth pulled up into a slightly strained smile to try to reassure him.

"I just want to talk, Nami. Don't worry. I haven't told anyone."

"My name is Kai right now." Kai blurted out. "Just... I'm Kai. At this moment. Do you want to talk now?"

"Not now." Atsuko shook her head. "Tonight?"

"Wanna have dinner?"

"Sure."

"I'll probably be back at the hotel before you... wanna call me when you get back?"

"I can do that."

A beat of silence, then, "Are you on lunch?" Kai asked softly.

"I am... but I'm not hungry." Atsuko waved to Kai. "I'll see you tonight. Ja ne."

Atsuko hung up and left the lunch room, leaving Kai there, staring at his phone, at the wallpaper he had set of Nami and Atsuko together. Atsuko was angry at him. He just knew it. Stuffing his cellphone back in his pocket, Kai went back to his table and found that Yuko and Mariko had joined them. Kuu was embroiled in another bickering match with the short-haired woman and Yuko and Riku were exchanging stories about their mornings with each other.

"Kai, you alright?" Riku noticed Kai's shell-shocked expression in a second.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Kai tried a smile, wondering when he had gotten so good at faking it so well.

"I saw you and Atsuko talking to each other over the phone! I didn't know you and Atsuko had already exchanged numbers!" Yuko teased. "Kai, you dog, you! Our princess NEVER gives her number out!"

"What?" Mariko was on Kai in a moment. "Really? I didn't think she liked your type of guys!"

"And what's that supposed to mean." Kai growled back.

"Well," A mischeivous twinkle in Mariko's eyes told Kai that he was going to be the butt of someone's jokes again. "I imagined her liking someone... taller."

"I'm not short."

"I never said you were, shortie."

"You just enjoy getting into arguments with people." Kai surmised suddenly. "No wonder you and Kuu are such good friends."

Kuu pointed at Kai, "You take that back! GOOD FRIENDS? WITH THIS WOMAN? Don't make me laugh!"

"Me and Kuu?" Mariko also wanted to give Kai a piece of her mind. "I... I can't believe you would say something hurtful like that!"

Mariko and Kuu started bickering again, one step away from chucking food at each other. Yuko and Riku, who had gotten used to Mariko and Kuu's fighting, attacked Kai with their questions as one.

"So what'd you two talk about?"

"Probably a date." Riku teased, grinning like crazy. "Ray would be sooooo jealous!"

"Shut up about Ray!" Kai felt a sharp stab of guilt. Why? He wasn't doing anything wrong!

don't look at any girls

Kai still had that text message on his phone and it felt like his phone was burning a hole through his pocket. What the hell did Ray mean anyways? Don't look at any girls. Really. The stars of the series he was a guest on were all girls! How could he not look? ...and why was he feeling guilty?

"Ray?" Mariko was back in the conversation again. "THE Ray? I heard rumours..."

Riku was intrigued. "What did you hear?"

"Well," Mariko tapped her chin with one manicured finger. "If you were going on a date with Atsuko, Ray would be VERY unhappy."

"Ray isn't the boss of me," Kai snapped. He and Ray were NOT together like that! "I can go out to dinner with Atsuko if I want to!"

"Dinner?" Yuko squealed gleefully. "Hey, lets all go together!"

"No," Kai immediately rejected the idea, regretting his slip of tongue. "We're just eating dinner alone."

"It IS a date!" Kuu exclaimed, excited. Then his face turned sly. "Ray's going to KILL you!"

"It's not a date and I don't have to answer to Ray!"

Arguing with each other, Kai finally got them off their back when he agreed, grudgingly, to make the dinner a group thing. Finally, everyone dispersed. Riku and Kuu went back to Tomochin to finish up and Yuko and Mariko had to run back to their set. Kai had excused himself to the washroom but instead of going, had run back to the buffet table to grab an extra boxed lunch and a drink.

"You've got a real healthy appetite, huh?" Tomochin's assistant startled Kai and the blonde grinned sheepishly.

"Actually, uh, it's not for me."

"For Maeda?" The girl in the red hoodie was right on the money.

"Yeah." Kai confessed. "Actually, do you know where she is right now?"

"She's practising right now. But I can take you to her."

Kai nodded and followed after the assistant as she lead the way.

"You're like, food guy, right? That's your thing?"

"It's my thing when I have it and someone else doesn't." Kai answered. Something suddenly occurred to him. "Oh damn, I'm sorry! I never caught your name-"

"I never gave it." Kai suddenly noted that the girl's impish smile was just a tiny bit scary. "My name's Watanabe Mayu."

"Nice to meet you." Kai said belatedly, grinning sheepishly. "I'm Kai."

"I know who you are, of course." Mayu turned around to study Kai, that eerie smile still on her face. She was still leading the way and avoided any obstacles in her path easily, as if she had eyes at the back of her head. They finally stopped outside a door where Kai could hear Atsuko's voice inside. It seemed like she was reciting her lines... "Here you go!"

Without another word, Mayu was gone as suddenly as she appeared. Kai didn't even get the chance to thank her yet!

"Well.." Kai shuffled restlessly outside the door. Taking a deep breath, he knocked politely.

"Who is it?"

"It's Kai."

"... I don't want to see you right now. Could we talk later tonight?"

Her answer made Kai's heart sink to his stomach and there was a sudden tightness in his throat.

"Um. Well, I brought you something. I'll leave and you can get it after." Kai put his offering down and left quickly, feeling upset.

"So who is she to you?" Marilyn felt like they kept on having this argument. She couldn't help it! Saeko just drove her crazy all the time.

"She's just someone from my past." Saeko said cryptically.

Usually Marilyn let things go because Saeko didn't seem to be serious about whatever had happened or she did 'stuff' for work. This other WOMAN was from Saeko's past! And a past she was hiding from Marilyn! "That's not a good enough answer!"

"Excuse me." A knock at the door and someone slipped in the room, closing the door behind her.

"We're having a private conversation here." Marilyn snapped.

Ohori Megumi gave the irrate secretary a wry smile. "I can hear your 'private conversation' from down the hall. And since this sort of involves me, I think I should be in on this too."

Saeko had fallen silent at the sight of Megumi and only after Megumi had finished her speel did Saeko finally say something. What she said though, surprised Marilyn.

"I'm sorry." Saeko was bowing at almost a 90 degree angle.

"There's nothing to be sorry for, sempai." Megumi smiled sadly at the woman who had taught her everything she knew about the business. She had been young, unexperience and clumsy. Nobody really wanted to take this awkward thing to be their assistant because she just kept screwing up. Saeko, however, had been different. She had walked her through everything that one needed to know in this profession, walked her through things as many times as it took Megumi to learn it.

Then, Saeko had fired her unceremoniously. Megumi had been devastated.

"You had your reasons. I'm sorry I blamed you without knowing." It was Megumi's turn to bow this time and Marilyn suddenly felt horribly awkward. Things hadn't been as it had seemed!

"Um..."

"Saeko-sempai taught me everything I needed to know about the business. Then she fired me and kicked me out of Kamonohashi Entertainment." Megumi remembered it like it was yesterday. "I was so angry. She had yelled at me, saying I was too stupid, too slow. So I started Ohori productions to beat out her agency."

"You almost managed to squash me, too." Saeko raised an eyebrow. "But then all of a sudden you stopped. Why?"

Megumi took off her glasses, suddenly angry. "Why didn't you tell me Sarukawa-san was black-balling you?"

"What could you have done?" Saeko shrugged. "Stayed with a baby agency that could barely stay afloat? If I hadn't cut you off, you would've clung on and been on the streets with me if I had failed."

"That's why you fired me."

"You hadn't been paid in months." Saeko muttered. "It was embarassing."

"I would've stayed!"

"I wouldn't have wanted you to. He would have black-listed you, too."

There was a lot of water under the bridge between these two. In the horrible, heavy silence, Marilyn couldn't contain herself and burst out with an apology. "I'm sorry, I thought-"

"It's okay." Saeko smiled at her secretary. "But... could you give us some time alone?"

Marilyn, just a little bit mortified, apologized again and walked out the door. So they had a professional relationship! Hearing such good things about Saeko, however, made Marilyn even happier that she was with her shachou.

"So, I guess omitting our PERSONAL relationship with each other was a smart move on my part?" Megumi chuckled as soon as she knew Marilyn was far enough away from the room not to hear.

"A very smart move. I did teach you well." Saeko smiled but made no move forward.

Megumi grinned, trying to crack a joke. "I remembered you teaching me about the business, but I think in bed it was a bit different."

Saeko, who seemed to have no shame, surprisingly blushed scarlet and let out a weary sigh. "I can't believe some... CHILD knew more about adult relationships than I did. I thought I was pretty experienced back then."

"I wasn't a kid, even back then." Megumi smiled smugly. "And obviously, you weren't as experienced as you thought you were."

There was a long silence, their easy sexual innuendo-laced banter was gone.

"It's... awkward now, isn't it?"

"A bit." Saeko fidgetted. Sex was just sex... but Saeko had cared about Megumi and now she cared about Marilyn. It would be disrespectful to the both of them if feelings got involved.

"We can be friends. I'm not looking for anything more." Megumi had left the heartache behind, her initial anger at Saeko, of course, had helped with the healing process. Now all she wanted to do was rebuild bridges.

Saeko smiled and took Megumi's hand in hers. "I'd like that."

I love AKB48 whole heartily.
I love writing stories and draw manga.
Fanfic:Blood Curse
One Shots
Mendol x AKB48

Like to go Japan someday and met them in person.

Offline lezperv

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Re: [Mendol X AKB48] Ikemen Idol-[various parings]--Chapter 10[updated 30/9]
« Reply #32 on: October 06, 2013, 08:03:38 PM »
ah its sooo interesting, Atsuko figured out that Minami is Kai, I hope Atsuko won't be mad at her X3 and can't wait for the dinner date  :shy2:

Miichan and Mariko is always funny, hope to see them be nicer to each other hahaha

update soon onegai shimasu  :kneelbow:
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Offline millca

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Re: [Mendol X AKB48] Ikemen Idol-[various parings]--Chapter 10[updated 30/9]
« Reply #33 on: October 09, 2013, 05:46:03 AM »
i can't get over with this story seriously T^T

now that Aachan already knew Kai's secret. And Mariko and Kuu's interactions are so funny haha!

Please update soon :)))

♥ YuiParu ♥ KojiYuu ♥ AtsuYuu ♥ SaeYuki ♥ SaeRena ♥ JuriMayu ♥ MomooHarem ♥

Offline Yuseichaaan48

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Re: [Mendol X AKB48] Ikemen Idol-[various parings]--Chapter 10[updated 30/9]
« Reply #34 on: October 09, 2013, 07:25:09 AM »
Ahhh, I love this story!!  :)

The new characters that keep getting introduced!! Mayuyu??? Do I sense Yukirin coming into the story? But she was taking pictures of KAI secretly? WHAT?? LOL  :lol:

I can't wait for the next update!! Keep it up! :D  :twothumbs

Update Soon!!  :bow:  :bow:   :bow:

Offline jurimayu14

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Re: [Mendol X AKB48] Ikemen Idol-[various parings]--Chapter 10[updated 30/9]
« Reply #35 on: October 13, 2013, 12:56:39 PM »
I'm really waiting for the next chapter  :twothumbs
thanks for always read and waiting my fic :3
sorry for bad english *bow*
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Offline Feat

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Re: [Mendol X AKB48] Ikemen Idol-[various parings]--Chapter 10[updated 30/9]
« Reply #36 on: October 13, 2013, 05:36:32 PM »
Please update this if you have time Hirasawaizumi-san.  :bow: :bow:

And, thank you. Great fic. :twothumbs

Offline crosteks

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Re: [Mendol X AKB48] Ikemen Idol-[various parings]--Chapter 10[updated 30/9]
« Reply #37 on: September 16, 2014, 03:31:25 PM »
 :gyaaah: :gyaaah: :gyaaah: PLEASE UPDATE IT SOON :gyaaah: :gyaaah: :gyaaah:
 :kneelbow: :kneelbow: I 'M WAITING FOR THE NEXT CHAPTER :kneelbow: :kneelbow: :kneelbow:
SOOOOO.....PLEASE........UPDATE.....IT

Offline yuuchans

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OMFG  :mon wtf:


I've already read this fic countless time  before..  :farofflook:


All I CAN SAY IS YOU'RE AMAZING, THIS FIC IS AMAZING, and i am amazing    :mon dance:



I love it how you made it not too fluff, but interesting to read. Heck i'm an hardcore Kojiyuu's & mainstream pair shipper so of course, there's A LOT of moments when i'm laughing like a maniac over this, and yes don't forget that  i'm also crying on some parts,  XD so yeah.. pardon me my heart's really weak when it comes to my ship..  ;)
seriously this fic result me ditched my bed time the last time i read it  :V   :dizzy:

And ugh, i don't know what more to talk about, since this is my all the time fav fic we're talkin about~  :sweatdrop:




BUT YASH
I'll definitely reread it again with pleasure, and look out for your fic~  :cheers

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