Wait, if Sachiko is living with Yun now...what happened to the guy with the blonde hair?...

The words covering the paper piled on the table blurred and swam as the man's focus drifted further away from it. He could feel the pressure in his eyebrows from the light frown he was wearing, but it more or less fit the situation. As the definite shapes in the room melted into a swirling blob of inward concentration, he scrunched his eyes shut and sighed. What was the point, if he couldn't even figure out something like that?...

Gakupo had only been watching the drama for a couple of months. But he had caught the premiere and everything, tuning in right from the beginning! He'd always wanted to be able to properly follow a weekly show, but somehow it was really difficult to remember it was on every week. And somehow while he was napping, or watching game shows, or perhaps eating supper, a house had burned down and there were three new characters. It was also possible that the realtor woman had lost her job, but she only appeared for about 5 minutes in the middle, so it was rather hard to tell.

...He had been blonde, right?...

Gakupo clicked his tongue in mild exasperation, and jolted in his seat as he heard someone in front of him snort in reply.

"Oh, Miku?! Did you need something?"

The teenager raised her eyebrows and shifted her weight impatiently.

"For starters you could pay attention when people are trying to talk to you. I swear I've been here for like, ten minutes."

"Miku, you've been there for maybe thirty seconds."

The sardonic voice travelled flatly from the other side of the room, where a pink haired woman was pouring coffee. Miku uncrossed her arms and whined loudly.

"Who caaaaares, Luka? It's still practically forever."

Awkwardly shuffling his papers, Gakupo wondered if he should still be expecting to take part in the conversation at all. The lunch room became crowded with the sound of bickering between the two females, and he wasn't sure exactly where he was supposed to fit into it. Those two rarely went a full work day without getting into an argument of some sort, but that didn't mean it wasn't still as alien as ever. It was hard to tell what Miku was trying to get at when she chattered normally, let alone times like this. Absently he wondered if he should try to diffuse the situation, when he was suddenly dragged back into social reality.

"Weren't you talking to Gakupo? Don't waste time when you were the one being impatient!"

The turquoise haired diva paused for a moment in contemplation before twirling back around to face him.

"Right. Pay attention. What are you bringing to the Welcome Party this afternoon? Don't say cake because we already have that."

Gakupo blinked.

"Welcome party?..."

Pursing her lips, she replied shortly.

"Yes! The Welcome Party. I'm throwing one for the new guy, and you had better show up."

New guy, that was beginning to ring a bell... Albeit an outdated one.

"Wasn't he supposed to start yesterday?"

"Yeah," Luka replied between sips of coffee, "he couldn't make it for some reason though."

"I think there was some problem with his moving truck," Miku mused. "But anyways! It's better that way because now I've got time to set up an awesome party. If you don't choose what you're bringing soon, I'm putting you in charge of cups."

Ahh, that would definitely hold a person up. Even if it wouldn't, Gakupo probably still wouldn't doubt Miku's gossip. Somehow she always seemed to know everything. The magic of social skills? Or maybe just girls are that way. She could probably even follow a drama…

"Um, cups...I can probably do that."

There was a dollar store not too far away. He could walk down there and grab some later with a side of fresh air.

"Brilliant! You should do it fast 'cause he's coming in like an hour."

Motive fulfilled, Miku sped off out down the hallway before he had finished processing her statement. Slowly Gakupo's mind caught up and drew a conclusion.

"...Ah, we're going to set this up in less than an hour?!"


Whoever thought it was a good idea to put patterns on mattresses?

Faint red lines divided Yuuma's forehead into a mesh of plump, pillowy-shaped diamonds. It was a pretty stupid shape to begin with, like a square had eaten a few too many pies. Apparently the solution to that problem was to turn it sideways and multiply it infinitely. Gazing away from the bathroom mirror and into the next room, he tried to decide if the lazily placed mattress on the floor was any better looking than if it were just a unpatterned white rectangle. Not really…

Not that he could blame the mattress. It had only been around dinner when the moving truck had finally shown up. If he had summoned enough drive to find the box labelled "pillows" before passing out, his face wouldn't look like it was designed by Sleep Country.

Crossing the blue-tiled bathroom floor, Yuuma nudged a half-emptied box labelled "toiletries" with his foot. A full bottle of shampoo toppled over into his line of sight. Really, it probably would have been easier just to buy new shampoo once he'd arrived. Save the trouble of packing it up and shipping it in the back of a truck. But it wasn't really necessity that had put it on his shopping list in the first place. More correctly, it had been an excuse to go on one last errand run before he left. Closing his eyes as the initial spray of the shower hit him, Yuuma mentally mapped out the streets and buildings he had left behind. Every detail was fresh and accessible, through the city had been busy and sprawling. You would have figured he'd grown up there.

In reality, this was the second city he had catalogued in his life-time. Memorizing the layout was habit, not desire. Soon he'd remember every alley and corner around him here too. At least partially because he'd lived such a self-sufficient childhood in a downtown metropolis, 'lost' was something he couldn't remember ever experiencing. Physically or hypothetically.

Attempting to start a career would typically freak your average 22-year-old out. There's a lot of lingering pressures, and the necessity of making the right choice, right away. But whatever made the ambitious students of the world clench their fists in anxiety and anticipation had not found it's way into the pink-haired young man. Life seemed more like a continually moving test of adaptation. So when Yuuma's record deal had gone through, it had hardly torn him apart to uproot and change cities for a second time. One last walk through was all he had needed to leave it behind.

Although apparently it was going to take a bit more effort to leave his mistake with the mattress behind. Squinting into the reflective metal of the shower head, it was painfully obvious that the hot water had helped very little. Just how long had he spent face down?! Did he really not toss and turn at all?... Turning off the water with reluctant acceptance, Yuuma made a mental note to find the pillows as soon as he'd dried off.


Gakupo shifted nervously as he tore open packages of plastic cups and arranged them on the table. It was a little bit concerning how the contrast between Kaito's blue hair and pink face seemed to be slowly fading away… The poor man had been charged with blowing up the ungodly amount of balloons someone had bought in a value pack. It was becoming a bit difficult not to trip over the egg shaped pieces of plastic as they bounced around the room. Not to mention he was only about half way through the package. As much as Gakupo liked purple, he wasn't sure he really wanted to see Kaito's face become that color.

"Kaito, you can stop now. There are enough balloons. Seriously."

Luka threw him this lifeline as she emptied a bag of chips into it's designated bowl.

"Haa….haa….Oh but... Miku-San...she said she wanted me to blow them all up…" Kaito huffed.

"Miku has no sense of reality. Just hide the rest somewhere, she won't know the difference."

The anxious 22 year old shifted to look worriedly at his balloons, clearly torn between guilt and common sense.

The room shook slightly, and a butterfly-adorned cup tumbled off of the table. Gakupo picked it up quickly, but the walls shuddered again and a second one fell down behind him. This one had a unicorn on it. Perhaps these weren't really the best cups he could have chosen for the party. If anything they were probably meant for a little girl's birthday. But compared to the other red ones the store had, this color was just so much nicer…

As he was thinking, a third cup hit the floor, and he wondered if he could manage to pick it up while he was still holding the first two.

"What the heck are they doing up there?..." Luka muttered, half to herself. Whatever it was that was causing the quakes, it soon ended with the ding of the elevator in the next room.

"OW! That fell on my foot this time, stupid!"

"Sorry! This side is slippery, what do you want me to do about it?!"

"Both of you shut up and keep going! We're running out of time."

The three young voices grew in volume as they approached the foyer. Somewhat triumphantly, Miku marched into the room, leading a pair of blonde-haired twins and a very large speaker behind her.

"Got it!" Miku announced. "God, why do we not have any speakers on the lower level?"

Len looked cautiously over his shoulder at the balloon-covered floor as he shuffled backwards.

"Don't ask me. I didn't design this place. There's no way I'm carrying this back up though, so there's going to be one now."

Rin rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, it's probably better that way. It's not like this thing could survive another trip when someone keeps dropping it."

"Not my faaaaault! I told you, this thing is slippery!"

"Would you like any help?" Gakupo offered. He felt relatively useless standing in the corner with his cups. Len raised his right hand to wave off the offer, but unsurprisingly this caused him to lose grip with his left and the speaker took a nosedive.

"LEEEEEEEEN! Oh my God, stop trying to be cool and just HOLD THIS THING!"

"Sorry! Sorry! At least it didn't hit your foot this time, right?"

Rin looked as if she was about ready to kick her brother in the gut. Thank goodness that speaker had a thick outer layer, whoever manufactured it must have thought ahead.

"Just finish moving it you two...There's all of four feet left until you get to the table," Luka groaned under a thick layer of exasperation. Suddenly, her expression changed and she opened her mouth once more.

"Are we the only ones here today? I really thought more people were coming in."

"SeeU is supposed to be here," Miku whined, perched atop a table. "I dunno where she ended up, she has the soda. I don't think any of the others are coming today though."

"It will be less overwhelming with fewer of us anyhow," Gakupo suggested. "Yuuma-San can meet the others at a later date."

The room let loose a murmur of agreement, and he relaxed in content. Kaito was being awfully quiet throughout all of this though, Gakupo wondered why he- Ah! Had he really started blowing up balloons again?!

"Kaito, please don't suffocate yourself! It wouldn't be very enjoyable for anyone if you passed out from lack of oxygen…"

Luka whipped around incredulously as the words passed his lips.

"Ahhg! I told you to stop!"

A rather pale Kaito looked up with a smile that was difficult to keep in focus as he swayed back and forth.

"It's alright," he replied, "I've gotten them all done now so..."

"Yeah, Kaito! I've never seen this many balloons in a room before. My party is going to be awesome." Miku pumped her fist in the air and Kaito beamed. Luka shook her head in whatever disbelief she could still manage these days. All heads then turned to the door as a loud thump came from outside.

"Ahhh! Miku-Chan and friends, please you can come help me with this soda. So heavy, it was dropped nyaong…. Oh dear…"

SeeU's rather distressed voice flitted through the partially opened glass door, and at least two bottles of pop were visible rolling across the pavement. The twins were the first to dart outside.

"Orange soda! Jackpot!"

Rin marvelled at the two liter bottle as she picked it up, along with two others.

"Too bad it's not banana soda," Len countered, two sodas in hand.

"Len, no one even makes banana soda."

"No way! Someone does, we just haven't found it yet."

Seeu trailed the bickering siblings with the now-much-lighter bags cradled in her arms.

"You aren't going to want to open those for a while, just put them in the corner here until they aren't so explosive…" Luka gestured to an empty part of the table, playing the voice of reason.

SeeU murmured something under her breath as she scanned over her supply of pop.

"Um, there was bottle of root beer meant to be here too… No one has seen it? It was with me before, I know for sure."

"This one?"

The voice came from outside, where the missing bottle sat in the gloved hand of a rather handsome young man. It seemed that SeeU had made it just in time for the party to begin.