Riding back to Japan on the helicopter was even more time than taking a plain, the helicopter having to stop to refuel once or twice on the way. By the end of the trip, despite having the boys to talk to, Jackie was fully worn out. She had only just adjusted to American time, so going back to the time zone in Japan would be hard. It was the middle of the day but around midnight in America. She was practically passed out on Masato's shoulder when the helicopter landed, jerking out of her peacefully sleep. She looked around confused, mumbling incoherent words.
"Good morning, Jackie-san." Masato smiled, shaking her slightly so she wouldn't fall back asleep. Jackie smiled, lazily resting her head on his shoulder again.
"Good mourned, Maso." She mumbled through her sleep.
"Oh, no, don't fall back asleep." Tokiya chuckled, pulling her up. "It's time to walk."
"But that takes effort." She groaned, going limp. Tokiya quickly caught her with some help from Natsuki. The group laughed quietly at the sleepy composer. Tokiya ruffled her hair and stood her up, much to her detest. Sighing, she got off the helicopter, letting Ren hold her hand as she jumped to the ground. The boys shot forward when she nearly fell on her face, but Ren caught her back and helped her stand. She mumbled a thank you, rubbing her eyes in the harsh sunlight. Once everyone was off of the helicopter, they walked into the building they landed on. It wasn't the school she knew so well.
Masato had explained on the way over that they had a successful debut, and that they had been moved to the Master Course Dorms, a course for new idols, while Tomochika was moved into the Concert Course Dorms. They also had new sempies. Natsuki was going on about them while she was falling asleep on the ride. She had stayed awake for that long at least, so she already knew they were sharing rooms.
It was about 11:34 am at the time. The sun had risen far into the sky and the cherry blossom trees were showering their petals all over the ground outside. Jackie smiled at them. She had almost missed the falling of the blossoms when she left, and seeing them for the first time was a wonderful experience. She almost wanted to ask the boys to let her look at the flowers, but she didn't want to distract them too much.
They walked down the hallway together, talking about the new music she had given them. She told them that it was okay not to use some of them, since she put together whatever she had in a rush, but they told her that they loved the songs anyways. Suddenly, a voice called out to the boys.
"Eh!? You're finally back!" Frightened, Jackie hid behind Masato. Since the boys and Quartet Night were the only ones in the dorm, Jackie guessed that the new voices were from STARISH's new sempies. Reiji, the fun brunet. Ranmaru, the multi eye colored jerk. And Ai, the emotionless one. "Where did you go?!" Reiji cried, running over to them.
"America, why?" Ren responded, shrugging like it was nothing.
"Don't be a smart ass, you went to freakin America!" Ranmaru said, glaring. Jackie jumped at this, burying her face into Masato's shirt. Reiji noticed the sudden movement, spotting the small hand grasping the sides of Masato's shirt. He walked around Masato, peering to the girl, surprised to see her.
"Eh? Who's that?" Reiji asked, bending down to her. Nervous, Jackie pulled Masato back, hiding from him. The boys stayed silent, secretly amused as she tried to hid from Reiji.
Reiji tried again, Jackie once again pulling Masato back in front of her. Reiji crossed his arms, thinking. Smiling, he got behind Masato, smiling.
"OhayĆ." He said, causing Jackie to look up at him, face mostly buried in Masato's shirt. Seeing him, Jackie jumped, turning Masato around with her.
"Why do you have a girl?" Ranmaru asked, looking at her, now having a clear view of the girl. Whining, Jackie rushed to Tokiya, using him as cover.
"Tokiyaaaa!" She whined, hugging him.
"There, there." He chuckled, patting her head lovingly.
"Wait a minute!" Ranmaru shouted. "Did you go all the way to America to get a GIRL!?"
"So what if we did?" Ren glared, walking in between Ranmaru and Jackie.
"Then you'd all be idiots." Ranmaru hissed, taking a step towards Ren.
"What's all of this about?" The group stopped their bickering to turn down the hallway where Ringo was slowly approaching them. "Why are you all yelling in the hallway?" Ringo stopped in front of them, placing his hand on his hip. Jackie smiled widely and released Tokiya bounding over to the her past, cross dressing teacher. Ringo's eye widened when he say her rushing over and a smiled bloomed on his face, holding out his arms. "Jackie-chan!" He cried. Jackie wrapped her arms around Ringo, who hugged her back full heartedly. "Oh honey! I'm so happy to see you again!"
"Ringo-sensei! Ringo- sensei!" Jackie sung, happily snuggling into Ringo's sweatshirt.
"Eh? Ringo-san, you know her?" Reiji asked, poking out from behind Masato.
"Oh yes! Jackie-chan was a student of mine. She's from America~" Ringo giggled, pulling away from the young composer. "She suddenly showed up some day with Oto-Kun and Masa-chan, soaking wet and confused. The pore thing was only here in Japan by accident, so we gave her a place to stay until her parents came for her." Ringo said, explaining the entire story. He walked over the STARISH boys, gesturing to them. "And she soon joined the program and became friends with these boys. Then she decided, for the debut concert, she wanted to have a group audition, so they banded together and became STARISH~ At least, that's the shorter version. If you want all of the juicy details, I'll tell you later." Ringo winked, giggling.
"So she is their composer." Ai said, blank faced as always.
"Right~" Ringo hummed. "And on top of that, she's as cute as a button!" Jackie giggled, rushing over to Natsuki and hugging him. He moved to hug her back, but she pulled away and reached into her red shoulder bag, pulling out a familiar, beige hat and putting it on her head. She then pulled out BunBuns and held her close. She moved to hide partially behind Natsuki before looking at the three senpais, speaking quietly.
"Kon'nichiwa. I'm Jackie, it's nice to meet you." She whispered, looking up at them through her big, dark blue eyes.
"Awe! She is cute!" Reiji cried, placing his hands on his knees to bend down to her, since he was much taller than him. "Kon'nichiwa, Jack-chan! I'm Reiji Kotobuki, but you can call me Rei-chan~" Reiji said, pointing at himself.
"Oi, she's not a little kid." Ranmaru huffed, crossing his arms. Reiji turned and pouted at Ranmaru, before he felt a little tug at his shirt. He turned to Jackie, who whispered:
"Your friend is scary..." Jackie commented to Reiji.
"Eh? Ran-Ran isn't scary- he's just grumpy." Reiji said, walking over to Ranmaru and placing a hand on his shoulder, quickly being brushed off by the rock idol.
"Ran-Ran?" Jackie asked before giggling. "Rany-Ran-Chan is grumpy, ne, Natsuki-Kun?" Jackie smiled, looking up at Natsuki.
"Hei!" The tall blond giggled back, smiling widely.
"Don't call me that." Ranmaru glared. Jackie shook her head defiantly, sticking her tongue out at him. He rolled his eyes and groaned, massaging his temples. "Whatever. I'm going to work, don't break anything while I'm gone." Ranmaru huffed, walking past the boys.
"Jackie-chan, let's get you to a room." Otoya smiled, placing a hand on her shoulder.
"Oh, Shiny said that there was a bunch of free rooms in the girl's dorm." Ringo pointed out. "It's just down the hall to the right." Ringo said, pointing to the end of the hallway. The boys thanked him and walked her to the girls' rooms. They turned into the hallway and stopped, looking up at the room chart. Only one name was on the chart: Jacqueline. The boys stared for a moment before smiling at each other.
"Of course he did." Syo sighed, shaking his head, but unable to hide the smile on his face. They brought her down to the room she was assigned to, pulling open the door and looking around. It has a bed, a few tables with comfy chairs scattered around the room, covered in sheets to keep the dust off of them. A few drawers were along the walls and a desk with a lamp was set up next to the bed, already set up with all the pencils and blank sheets of music paper she could ever need.
"Wow, it's got almost everything!" Otoya gasped looking around.
"I think it does have everything." Syo said, pulling the cloth from the bed, finding it stocked with new pillows and freshly washed sheets.
"Yep, it has everything." Ren said, opening a cabinet. "A mini fridge..."
"Can we trade rooms?" Syo asked, sighing.
"But this room could use a little dusting." Masato observed. It seemed to of been cleaned not to long ago, but there was already some dust forming again.
"It looks like it's been set up for a few days." Tokiya commented, setting up the bed for Jackie.
"This room is really big!" Jackie yelled, running to the middle of the room and spinning around with her arms open. The boys chuckled as she ran around, looking through everything. Natsuki placed her bag on the floor, right next to the drawers. "Do I really get this all to myself?"
"Yep, it's all yours." Tokiya smiled, patting her head. Jackie giggled, grabbing his hand and keeping it on her head. He ruffled her head, since she had taken off the hat on the way, until she let go and promptly plopped down on the bed, looking around at all of the boys.
"So, are you guys busy today with work?" Jackie asked, looking around at the boys.
"No, not really. The president said that we should start handing in some music." Otoya said, sitting on one of her chairs.
"I have a few love songs I'm working on, if you would like to help, Little Lamb?" Ren asked winking at her. Masato glared at the flirtatious blond, who shrugged in response, chuckling.
"Jack-chan, if you like, I could give you a tour!" Natsuki offered, smiling down at the brunette.
"Really? But don't you have to work?" Jackie asked, tilting her head to the side.
"It's fine, I already have some written." Natsuki chirped, pulling her off the bed. "Come on~"
"W-wait!" Otoya called, rushing after them. "I wanna come too!" Natsuki stopped and waited for the other boys to follow them, walking down the hallway together. Jackie stared out the windows, smiling.
"It's like at the academy, but less high up!" Jackie squeaked, turning to the boys.
"Well we are on the first floor. There are three floors in the building." Masato explained as they passed a thing of large stairs. Jackie looked around the entire building, sticking her head into any door she could. The boys laughed as she explored like a curious puppy, quickly pulling her out of the principle's office, Tokiya taking hold of her hand. Jackie hopped along the hallways, doing cute little jumps over the ends of each tiles. They brought her to the practice room, instructing her on how to get there from her room. She ran around the inside, playing a bit on the piano before swinging open one of the window and reaching out, grabbing a white flower and tucking it behind her ear, rushing over to the boys to show them. They smiled and complimented it. Jackie smiled and took Ren's hand, asking if they could go look around more. The boys agreed and headed out, leading her around to other rooms.
After a bit of wantering, they reached another big location. They arrived at the dining room, where she would be able to eat every day. About twenty seats were set up along the large table, not meant to all be filled, having room for guests. The table was a nice, clean wood table, a nice mellow brown in color. A doorway stood on one of the longer walls, leading to the kitchen. The entirety of the wall to it's right taken out to pass food into the dining room.
Jackie smiled and rushed into the kitchen, quickly followed by a few boys, worried about her getting hurt. She opened the fridge and looked around inside.
"Can I have some milk?" She asked, turning to the boys.
"Of course! You live here now, you can have just about anything in that fridge." Tokiya smiled. She grabbed the milk and put it on one of the counters, heading to the cabinets. She opened every cabinet, looking for the cups. Masato called to her, opening a cabinet filled with cups. She smiled and took one, filling it with milk before putting the milk back and heading over to the open window space between the kitchen and the dining room. She put her elbows on the counter and smiled.
"I like it here- it's got all the space you need! And then some..." Jackie giggled, causing the boys to smile.
"And as long as you don't cause trouble, you can do just about anything you want." Ren winked from across the counter.
"Too bad you guys can't be around all the time like at school." Jackie said, causing the boys to frown. "It's alright! We can hang when you guys have days off and I'll go watch you guys perform and practice!"
"If the Little Lamb is there, I'll work even harder." Ren winked.
"Ren-kun, we've talked about this- you should work hard weather I'm there or not!" Jackie huffed, causing Ren to chuckle.
"True." Jackie giggled. When she finished, she put her cup away into the dishwasher. The boys continued to show her around the Master Course. The only place left to show her inside was the lounge area. Jackie smiled, plopping herself down on one of the couches. The boys sat down around her.
"So what do you think? Do you like it here?" Otoya asked, leaning forward to get a better view of the brunette. She smiled widely, nodding.
"It's great! It's so awesome!" The boys smiled.
"Will you need anything else? We have the rest of the day off, so it you need us to get you anything..." Tokiya offered.
"Thank you, but I'm good." Jackie smiled, a small blush on her cheeks. Something about the way the boys were acting, so willing to give her something, was a little embarrassing if not flattering. "But... I might still need a map of this place." Jackie admitted.
"I'm sure Shining-san put one in your room." Masato smiled.
"Okay~" Jackie smiled. "Is there anywhere else we should go?"
"Well we have a lot of land outside; a lake, a few paths through the forest, a nice little field out back..." Otoya said, looking off into space while thinking.
"Ren-chan had a garden of roses put in." Natsuki pointed out. A few of the boys rolled their eyes while Ren winked at Jackie. Jackie tilted her head to the side like a confused puppy.
"Hey, does anyone know what time is it?" Otoya asked, looking around for a clock. Jackie looked down at the watch she always wore, giggling a bit before looking at Otoya.
"It's 6:24 am... in America." Jackie sighed, giggling as she changed the time. "We're like, what, 14 hours ahead of that? So, it's almost 8:30." Jackie said, finishing with her watch.
"No wonder I'm starved! Ne, Masa, Ren, can you guys make dinner?" Otoya asked.
"Well if the Little Lamb would be having some." Ren whined, standing up. He offered her his hand and she smiled, taking it. They hurried off to the kitchen and the boys got to work cooking.
"Jack-chan, you can go outside and play while we're working." Natsuki suggested. Jackie smiled and nodded, turning swiftly around and skipping out of the room, hearing a few 'be careful' s behind her. She headed to one of the hallways that connected to the outside word. She left the building and looked around. It was surprisingly dark outside for spring time, but she didn't mind, wandering around happily. Jackie looked around for the lake that Otoya had mentioned before, hoping to find herself a common spot of peace to come to when she was concentrating on music. Before her search could take off, she heard a small, whiny voice call out. She looked around before recognizing a silhouette.
"Cecil!" Jackie smiled, spotting the little, black cat. The cat stood up when she saw him and dashed off into the woods. "Wait up!" Jackie rushed after the small cat, disrupting the fireflies who were peacefully flying around until she barreled by them. She followed him through the woods until she reached an opening. She smiled, looking around. A large, shiny lake spread out in front of her, shimmering in the dim moon light.
Jackie looked around for Cecil, only finding fireflies buzzing around. She remembered that Miss Muse had always said something about fireflies. She frowned. She could never remember what Miss Muse said about fireflies- something about them bringing miracles or music or something. The fireflies began to move to the right side of Jackie and she turned to follow them, finding herself by a strange structure- a small, open building like structure. She smiled when she saw the small, black cat sitting on the ledge. She rushed over to him and picked him up, putting him in her arms.
"Hi there, cutie~" Jackie giggled, nuzzling the small cat. He meowed happily, licking her cheek. She sat down and put the small cat on her lap. "Isn't it a beautiful night? I should get back in a few minutes, but I'm glad you're here. Even though I have no idea why you are." He meowed in response, purring against her chin.
She looked around the world, looking at the music around her. She looked around the lake, hoping to find any music. She was partially surprised to not see much music from the STARISH boys around, but then again, their odd music detachment probably had to do something with her presents.
She felt Cecil paw at her stomach and she smiled down at him. He turned away from her, leaving one of the ends of his music pointing towards her. She reached down and brushed her fingers around the notes before running across something rather strange. She took the music in her hand and tugged at it a little, trying to pull it off. Cecil bristled but stayed still. Jackie's eyebrows scrunched together, finding the music stuck to him.
"What's this?" Jackie said, turning the music around on it's other side. Underneath the sheet of forest green music was a much brighter sheet of green music. Jackie tensed, grasping the top of the music with one hand and the edge of the music with the other. "Is this double sided? Or is it..." Jackie concentrated her powers and began to pull it apart. She smiled triumphantly when the strip of music began to separate into two, odd, black string like material beginning to come undone on them. She could tell Cecil was in a bit of pain, but something about this just stuck her as wrong to leave alone. She kept pulling and pulling. She released one of the strips a little, to move farther down, but quickly relapsed back on, finding the strings trying to come back together.
She ripped again at it, slowly sliding down to pull the music. She finally reached the end and gave it a final pull, finally getting it off. The strip that had been on top of the other turned a murky black. She panicked and pulled out her black box, putting it in an empty folder, which she labeled 'Don't touch'. She turning to Cecil. Jackie jumped, seeing him in a tensed state. She put her hand on him, pulling him on the ground, not sure what to do. She pulled out the last black strings and Cecil suddenly began to glow.
She watched as his shape changed and he grew larger, wrapped in a green light. She stared in awe as the light dimmed, leaving a familiar faced man kneeling in front of her. He groaned and opened his jade, green eyes. He took a moment before looking around franticly. He looked down at his hands, opening and closing them. A smile slowly bloomed on his face, eye sparkling in pure joy.
"I'm... free." He whispered.
