A/N: Hello, and welcome to what I call my new story! It's the first time I'm writing for FullMoon though. I'm nervous as always.

Some background: I came up with the idea for this story last May (wow it's been long). I was going to the university to take entrance exams. I had been listening to a song called This One (Crying like a child) by Hikaru Utada and somehow I just started thinking of it like this. Chapters one and two were written way back then, but then something made me put the project on hold. I started working on it at the beginning of November (making it sort-of-but-not-really a NaNoWriMo project for myself...but much less difficult. I cut down the daily word count from the start and didn't worry about it too much.)

I can't say this baby is perfect in any way whatsoever but it got me writing again, which I'm grateful for.

As a side note, remember those entrance exams? I'll be happy to tell you I passed and am now studying English in said university!

Alright, now enjoy!

Chapter 1 : It's just another Friday night

- . - . - . - . - . -

Miss Meroko Yui.

That's what the envelope said, no mistaking it. But…could it really be?

'Maybe this is some kind of a mistake? A prank? But why would anyone do something like that…?'

The addressee of the letter stood paralyzed in front of her post box, holding the small white envelope with both hands. She blinked hard three times before looking again. Yes, it still was a letter for her…with the logo of SEED Records imprinted on the upper left corner. Meroko took a deep breath before turning on her heels and dashing up the stairs to her apartment in the third floor (the lift was under maintenance – as usual). With shaking hands she somehow fumbled the door open and ran to the tiny kitchen. She ripped the envelope open while praying to any possible deity that the contents would remain unharmed.

There were two pieces of paper in the envelope. One was a white sheet that was neatly folded in the middle and the other a smaller piece, the colour of deep purple. The larger paper said:

Miss Meroko Yui,

Congratulations! You have won the draw competition organized in collaboration of SEED Records and T.A. Cosmetics. The enclosed special ticket will grant you entry to the backstage party with all the hottest stars on June 15th. Please arrive to the Black Orchid club (see the map) at 10 P.M. and present your special ticket at the door. Information: the ticket is strictly personal, and cannot be resold or exchanged in any way...

Meroko skimmed through the rest and then looked at the smaller piece of paper. It also had the logos of both companies, together with the letters "162 Meroko Yui".

It had been just an advertisement she had seen in a magazine. The lucky winner would get to the party and meet their favourite idols from SEED – Takuto Kira from Route L among the most prestigious. There had to have been hundreds, no, thousands of entries…and Meroko was the one who had been chosen?

"I'm dreaming, right?" Meroko asked the ticket, but it decided against commenting on the issue.

Meroko had been a hardcore fan of Route L ever since their debut. Trying to get every single album, photo book, magazine interview and fan product, Meroko had been scolded by her conservative mother who wasn't very fond of the thought of her daughter spending her allowance on such "unrespectable" things. Meroko hadn't given up, though: as she grew older, she was permitted – with utmost reluctance on her parents' part – to go to concerts and see her idols live.

Four years ago, however, the bomb had been dropped. Aoi Koga, the guitarist of the band, had died in a car accident and Route L had disbanded. Meroko still found her chest clenching when she thought of those times. She had been especially worried about Takuto, who was her favourite among the band members. He was about the same age as her and she had more or less lived the first half of her teen years together with him, though worlds apart. The young vocalist had simply disappeared for almost two whole years after the end of Route L, but re-emerged just as suddenly to begin a solo career. Earlier the same day that the news was revealed, Meroko had been dumped by her boyfriend, Izumi Lio.

Long story short, that was how Meroko had embraced the life of an overzealous fangirl once again.

"I can't believe it...finally, finally...I will actually meet him."

Inside the Black Orchid club, there was a real party going. You could spot celebrities left and right, drinking and chatting and dancing to music, all of which hadn't probably even been officially released – that was just another way to show how exclusive the event was. But Meroko didn't care about all the familiar faces at the moment, as she only had eyes for the one she was looking for.

She finally saw him leaning into a wall apart from all the many groups of people, looking a little bored. When his eyes met hers, however, he lifted his eyebrows curiously. She blushed and approached him carefully.

"Um...I'm Meroko Yui...nice to meet you...Takuto."

His face melted into a pleasant smile as he spoke, eyes glimmering. The music seemed to fade into the background...

"So you're Meroko. I've wanted to meet you."

...

'...No way it's gonna play out like that!' Meroko snickered at the unlikely scene in her mind. Sure, she had sent Takuto letters and gifts for every single birthday, Valentine's day, Christmas, New Year and all anniversaries imaginable, but a reaction like that was probably a bit too much to expect. A good chunk of Route L fans had carried over to become Takuto Kira fans, after all...there was just too much competition.

But a girl could always dream, couldn't she?

"Now's not the time for dreaming, though!" Meroko fiercely reminded herself as she gripped tightly on the map with directions to the club. "It's somewhere in this area, I'm positive!"

It was fifteen to ten in the evening. Meroko would have wanted to have more time to look for the club, but her boss had made her take the evening shift in the convenience store she worked because they were short on staff: one woman was on maternity leave and another had suddenly come down with a cold. Having to get home to change and then transport herself to the right part of the town, she couldn't afford getting lost – an experience she was all too familiar with.

Meroko walked around the corner and was met by a huge building that was lit up a bit more lavishly than the other ones on the street. There even was a large sign next to the door that said the club was exclusively reserved for SEED invitees.

Glancing at the doorman, who was just the classic image of the profession – a large man wearing a dark suit and sunglasses – Meroko felt like running away. But she had to be brave ("Remember Takuto!"), so she took a deep breath and walked up to the man with as much confidence as she could muster. He looked at her sceptically.

"Your ticket, please," he said, extending his hand which was somewhat reminiscent of a bear's paw. Meroko fumbled for her purse and for a moment a completely irrelevant fear overtook her: what if she had somehow lost the ticket? ...No, it was there, safely right where she had put it, undamaged. She handed the precious item to the doorman with a nervous smile. The moment of truth.

After briefly inspecting the ticket and checking Meroko's purse for any forbidden items, the man almost smiled and said:

"Welcome, Miss Yui. The first and the second floor of the club are in use tonight. There's a buffet and bar in both floors."

Stepping inside the solid steeldoors into the club was like entering a different world. It was much like Meroko had imagined, only bigger and flashier. The club itself was nearly futuristic, with black-and-red furnishing that seemed so expensive that Meroko wondered if she even dared to use a chair, should she find a vacant one. The dance floor was large but full and the lights were clearly no less than state-of-the-art...although with Meroko's quite limited experience on nightclubs, it was hard to be sure. Wherever she looked, there were only cool and confident people about – every third of them seeming to have stepped straight from television or a magazine – and everyone was apparently having the time of their lives.

Meroko decided to head for the bar counter, firstly for the sake of blending in and secondly, if you are a college dropout living on your own, you have to use every opportunity to get food or drinks free.

"What will you be getting?" the woman at the counter asked, while preparing the previous customers' order.

'Whatever there is, as long as it's free,' Meroko thought, painfully aware of the few coins in her wallet that were her best bet to get back home. Times were tough right before payday. But she was supposed to act like these laid-back famous people and people who were friends with them. She was Meroko-who-was-invited-to-a-celebrity-party, not Meroko-the-penniless-failure-of-a-human-being.

"I don't really mind, as long as it's something special. Something to remember tonight by," she said, trying to remember how people in movies did this. The woman barely looked at her and made something red with a tint of orange in it. Meroko never caught the drink's name, it sounded like French. As Meroko took the glass with both hands, afraid of dropping it, the barmaid gave her a knowing look and said,

"It's low on alcohol, so it'll save you the trip to the pharmacy tomorrow."

Right. So the "blending in" plan was already failing.

Next Meroko set out to look for Takuto. Unless the concert had started late, he should already have arrived at the Black Orchid. But wherever she looked, there was no sign of him. Finally Meroko gathered up the courage to ask a group of women probably in their early twenties who were gossiping intently. They all wore short evening dresses and matching high heels, all probably several times worth Meroko's "15% off" outfit.

"Um, excuse me…have you happened to see Takuto Kira here?"

The trio silenced simultaneously and looked at Meroko, slowly.

"No sight of him," one finally replied, "as if he ever actually shows up here, when he's so busy with her around…" With that, she turned her back on Meroko to continue discussion on whatever shockingly attention-grabbing triviality she had been explaining before the intrusion.

Meroko was baffled by the answer she had been given. Why wouldn't Takuto come to the party? Why did the woman's comment make him sound like a total jerk? Was it just to spite a newcomer or was that how she really felt? Most importantly, who was Takuto supposed to "be so busy around"? That question made Meroko feel uneasy.

Of course she had heard plenty of rumours about Takuto's relationships. The magazines would pair him up with a different girl almost every week, each claiming to have solid proof that he was dating with Miss A or that he had just had a storming breakup with Miss K. Meroko had never really bought those stories, they all seemed way too exaggerated and quite simply made-up. But wasn't it a little childish to think that Takuto, who was a handsome young man on his own right, and a popular musician as well, didn't have anyone special in his life?

'Now I feel like an idiot, getting my hopes up like that,' Meroko thought to herself, swallowing a lump that had suddenly formed in her throat. She left her half-empty glass on a nearby table, not in the mood for drinks anymore.

'I wonder where the restroom is...'

Meroko made her way through the crowd to a less densely occupied area. She had just turned around the corner and walked into a corridor which seemed to be leading to the toilets when someone bumped into her. They had walked quickly, almost angrily, and Meroko was thrown off-balance. She stumbled with a yelp but a hand gripped her arm tightly before she fell. That was when Meroko looked up.

"Takuto!"

Meroko snapped her mouth shut and blushed fiercely. Of all the people to run into, it had had to be him. And she even had yelled his name out loud like that, she didn't even know him – well, not personally. That was just how surprised she had been.

He seemed surprised, too. Standing nearly a head taller than her, Takuto's beautiful gray eyes watched Meroko from above, strands of dark hair drooping around his face in a relaxed manner – a look very few people could pull off without looking just untidy. His face was somewhat flushed, but it was different from Meroko's: it was like he had been very agitated just a moment ago.

"Sorry. Are you alright?"

Meroko mumbled that she was fine, trying her best to keep calm despite the fact that Takuto's hand was still wrapped around her bare arm. He didn't seem fazed in the least, naturally removing said hand and putting it loosely on his hip.

"Say, are you alone? Care to keep me company?"

Meroko couldn't believe her luck. She pushed all her previous thoughts about Takuto's possible girlfriends. Who cared? She was asked to spend some time with the person she had dreamed about for the better part of her adolescence! Finding the restroom was suddenly much lower a priority.

Takuto led Meroko to the second floor, where there was a door in a corner that was off-limits from guests, according to the sign attached next to it. Takuto opened the door without hesitation and motioned for Meroko to go in. Having adjusted her eyes to the dim space, Meroko realised it was a staircase that seemed to lead to the third floor which was supposed to be closed for the evening.

"It's one of the pros of the profession," Takuto told her, grinning as he opened the door at the end of the stairs, "You get to know all the good getaways."

The third floor was like a big indoor terrace, about half the size of the second floor, furnished with sofas and chairs gathered around black tables. One wall consisted of large windows and you could see the dance floor on the lower level through them. The noise from the second floor was muffled by the thick windows, so it was possible to talk without raising one's voice there. None of the people in the room turned to look at Takuto or his companion.

"Wow...I didn't notice there was a place like this up here," Meroko admitted as the two took a seat next to the window.

"It's hard to see from below," Takuto explained, looking a little smug over the impression his getaway had made on the girl. "I won't introduce myself since you seem to know me already... So, what's your name?"

Meroko quickly turned her face away from the window in realisation. "Oh, that's right, I didn't tell you. It's Meroko. Meroko Yui." Secretly she scanned his face for signs of recognition...which were nowhere to be found.

"Meroko from where?"

"Sorry?" What kind of a question was that?

"Ah, I mean...What do you do?"

"I, uh...I'm...a cashier at a general store." It was a little embarrassing to say that, knowing perfectly well how much his life differed from hers.

"A general store? So you're not from SEED?" Takuto seemed sincerely surprised. It was an expression Meroko had never seen on his face and she couldn't help smiling inwardly when she realised that she was the only one who saw that face at that specific moment. At that instant, she was special in a way that no other fan of Takuto's was.

Returning to the present, Meroko took the ticket from her purse and handed it to him, who was sitting opposite to her: "I'm here because I won this ticket. It was the prize of some competition." She couldn't remember which it could have been because she always took part on any competition that had to do with him...but saying that out loud would have made her seem like a fanatic.

Takuto returned her ticket with an apologetic face. "Sorry, didn't mean to pry into your business. I didn't know you, so I thought you might be one of those new recruits... I heard the winner of last week's singing audition is supposed to be here. A girl of sixteen or thereabout."

"Sorry, but you didn't get even close. I'm exactly seven months and three weeks older than you and me singing is something you don't really want to hear."

"Right, my bad then," Takuto chuckled. "I'm just glad you don't do modelling."

"What's wrong with modelling?"

"Nothing in particular... Is this your first time here?"

Seeing he clearly didn't want to talk about his odd remark, Meroko didn't push the issue. Instead, she indulged herself in what was a surprisingly relaxed conversation considering who she was talking with. Takuto wasn't showing off, at least not too much, and he wasn't treating Meroko like a piece of dirt stuck under his shoe just because she was a "nobody". But after a while, she found she couldn't shake the feeling that he was staring at her a bit oddly.

"Um...do I have something on my face?" she asked nervously. Takuto seemed to fully return back to the room, shaking his head.

"Face? No, I was actually just looking at your...hair. I don't remember seeing anything like it. It was part of the reason why I thought you were in show business – you see a lot of original hairstyles here," he said, chuckling. "I'm not what you'd call a professional, but yours is definitely on the better side."

"Th-thanks," Meroko stammered at the sudden compliment, unconsciously starting to fiddle with a few strands of her waist-long pink mane, "Back when I dyed it...it was sort of a rebel thing, I guess," she smiled at the memory of her mother's mortified face when Meroko first presented herself wearing her new pink hair, "but then it just became a habit. Plus, my boyfriend seemed to like it..."

"Boyfriend, huh," Takuto commented without a trace of emotion. But then again, what had she been hoping for? Jealousy, disappointment? On what planet would that make sense?

Anyway, that topic was a definite taboo. No going there. Nuh-uh.

"But- but that's ancient history already! Irrevocably, undeniably, completely over," she blurted, annoyed at herself for making that stupid mistake. It would be a wonder if they could keep on talking like they had a moment ago. But Takuto just smiled and brushed it off.

"I guess everybody has things like that, sometimes."

How more perfect could a guy get?

Meroko left the party sometime after midnight to catch the last bus to take her home. She said goodbye to Takuto who could not leave quite yet – technically, he was at work, though his manager would not very glad about the way he was hiding in the third floor. She wished him luck with his new album and he said he would be hoping to see her in the front row in his next concert. Everything was just perfect.

Next morning could have been perfect as well. Thanks to doing the evening shift, she was able to sleep in and have nothing but pleasant dreams. When she eventually did get up, she went to empty her purse in order to repack her things into her work bag. She turned the red purse upside down, letting the contents fall unceremoniously on her unmade bed. There were her keys, her nearly empty wallet, her favourite lip gloss, a small hairbrush, the map to take her to the club...but one object was missing. Meroko frowned. She could swear she hadn't taken her cell phone out of the purse the previous night. But then again, she could always be wrong.

An hour later Meroko was starting to lose her cheerful mood. She was getting hungry, her apartment was a complete mess and her beloved cell was nowhere to be found. It had been a gift from Izumi – but that wasn't why it was important! It was her only phone and she was quite fond of it. It was pink and shaped so that it looked a bit like a rabbit's head. People often told Meroko she herself resembled a rabbit. A boy in her class in high school had even mentioned she would make a good bunny girl. Well, a warm greeting from her platform boots had been the end of that sort of talk...

"Where can it be?" she huffed aloud, extremely frustrated. She plopped down on the floor of her bedroom, exhausted from all the searching. What if someone had stolen her cell phone? She could always disable her number from making any calls, but that meant she still had to buy a new phone. And it was disgusting to think someone could be out there, browsing her personal messages and call history. In any case, before doing anything else she would have to be absolutely sure the phone was not in her apartment. Meroko changed her pyjamas into something more respectable, brushed her hair and headed to the corridor. She rang the doorbell of her closest neighbour, an elderly lady called Mrs. Asakura. She was sure to be at home during daytime and indeed, a small, crouching figure emerged from behind the door.

"Miss Yui, is it?"

"Good afternoon, Mrs. Asakura," Meroko bowed quickly, "I'm sorry to bother you, but I can't seem to find my mobile phone. Can I please make a call from your phone? If my cell is inside my apartment, I should hear it ringing." Mrs. Asakura laughed and told Meroko to come inside.

"You young folks have trouble keeping track of all your gadgets, eh? I never have to look for my phone, that's for sure! And it doesn't run out of battery, either," she said, patting the black and white landline phone on a table. It looked like it had had more time to earn its place in the household than Meroko had even lived. Mrs. Asakura sat down next to the phone and lifted the receiver.

"Let's hear your number, then," she said and Meroko recited her phone number digit by digit, watching the older woman press her forefinger on each of the worn buttons according to Meroko's words. Finally she nodded to Meroko to signal that the call was connecting. Meroko went back to her apartment, stood in the middle of her small living room and listened. She heard nothing.

Incorrect. She heard someone flushing the toilet one floor below. But there was not a sound that would help her locate her cell phone. Meroko sighed.

"I guess it's really been stolen..."

Feeling crestfallen, she returned to the corridor to tell Mrs. Asakura that she could put the receiver down. She had left the door slightly open so she didn't need to ring the bell anymore. Just as Meroko's hand was reaching for the handle of the door, she heard Mrs. Asakura's voice, speaking to someone but not to her. She was puzzled. Had someone entered the apartment and started a conversation with the old lady in the short while Meroko had been away? It was unlikely. But Mrs. Asakura was clearly talking with somebody whose voice could not be heard –

The phone.

Meroko entered the apartment and saw Mrs. Asakura holding the receiver to her ear, turning her head to look at Meroko as she spoke.

"Me? No, I'm her neighbour...oh, there she is now. One moment, if you will," the woman pressed her hand against the receiver and grinned at Meroko with her wrinkled smile reaching to her twinkling eyes, "Someone picked up the phone. Sounds like a dashing young man to me," she said in a hushed voice. For reasons Meroko didn't want to investigate, Izumi's face flashed in her mind. She shivered and shook the image away.

"It couldn't be him. Why would he have my phone in the first place..."

Meroko took the receiver with some suspicion and spoke timidly to the phone.

"Hello?"

"Hi, it's me. I'm glad you called," the voice on the other side said. Meroko gasped.

"Takuto?"

A/N: In a way, this story is very unlike me...

Well, that was the first bit. I'm planning to update weekly. I have most of the stuff written all the way until chapter 8, which is starting to be the beginning of the end already... But there's always some revision to be done.

Just one more thing. Though I was inspired by Utada's song, I didn't write the story to match it. It's actually a bit different. But I did decide to give some credit to it, so all the names of the chapters are bits of the lyrics.

I think it's more or less obvious that I'd love to hear from you...praise and sensible criticism make me happy, flaming will hurt you more than it will me.

Until next week! (I ramble to much.)