[Cinnamon Kiss]

Zaizen Hikaru wakes up only to be greeted by his senpais who drag him to Namba, a shopping district in Osaka… but then shocking news arrives to the ears of his senpais...

[Chapter 1 – A Forced Celebration]

"So, why are you two here again?"

Shitenhoji's 1st year Zaizen Hikaru stood in his living room staring at the two people sitting on his couch. Apparently, his mother allowed for them to come in and wait in the living room until Zaizen was ready. His mother had told him that he had to put on "nice casual clothing," so there Zaizen was there in wearing black jeans a bit loose near the thighs, but tight near the calves, and black boots.

It was also important to note that his mother had waken Zaizen up from his comfortable sleep saying that there were important guests waiting in the living room. Zaizen had assumed that it was his grandparents visiting their house for this day, which happened to be somewhat special. However, by important people, his mom meant his Shitenhoji tennis teammates: Captain Shiraishi Kuranosuke and Oshitari Kenya.

Those important people turned out to be less important than Zaizen thought.

"We're here to celebrate your birthday!" Kenya yelled as he saw Zaizen coming into their sight. "Happy birthday Zaizen!" Kenya had green headphones around his neck and wore a black tee shirt with a simple pair of white shorts and sneakers.

"Happy 13th birthday Zaizen-kun," Shiraishi announced as he patted Zaizen on his back. Shiraishi, for some odd and unknown reason, was in his Shitenhoji school uniform. "Your senpais are going to bring you to somewhere fun today!"

And with that, Shiraishi and Kenya each grabbed one of Zaizen's arms, lifting the smaller kouhai out of the living room, heading towards his front door.

"What… wait!" Zaizen exclaimed, trying to break free from his senpais. It was hopeless though- both Shiraishi and Kenya refused to put their kouhai down on and changed from lifting Zaizen to pulling him by his arms, with his feet dragging across the floor. When they walked through the front door, even Zaizen's mother was waving goodbye to her son.

Shiraishi and Kenya walked towards a black car belonging to Shiraishi's older sister, Natsumi. She had agreed to drive her younger brother and his friends to Namba, a shopping district in Osaka. When she saw her brother and Kenya dragging the young Zaizen towards her car, she laughed, came outside and helped the two 2nd years put Zaizen into the back row seats of her car.

"You know this can be reported as kidnapping," Zaizen stated while being forced into Natsumi' car. He noticed his tennis bag. "What is this doing here?"

"Don't worry, we got your mom's permission beforehand! She even gave us your bag with your tennis clothes and racket- we have it in the car right now," Kenya replied with a laugh. He came inside of the car, sitting next to Zaizen in the back while Shiraishi went to sit in the front. "It's not like we're forcing you to come celebrate your birthday with us! We're going to Namba!"

Zaizen sighed. "But it is being forced..."

His senpai only grinned it off. Natsumi started the car and drove away from Zaizen's house, turning on the radio to a local pop music channel.

"But Zaizen," Kenya stated, "We've heard rumors of what you wanted the most for your birthday from Osamu," he continued as he grinned at his kouhai.

"Eh," Zaizen replied. "How did you know I've been wanting to get more piercings?"

Kenya gave Zaizen a mischievous smile, and Zaizen realized that he was tricked, one again.

"We didn't, but thanks for telling us right now Zaizen-kun!" Shiraishi replied.

"I guess picking to go to Namba was a great idea!" Kenya continued.

Up next is a song covered by Japan's beloved REMI, Utada Hikaru's newest single Flavor of Life!

"Arigatou to kimi ni iwareru to nandaka setsunai

sayounara no ato no tokenu mahou awaku horonigai

The flavor of life…"

"Hey, this one cover is not so bad," Shiraishi stated after hearing REMI's voice on the radio.

"Oh, that idol who has only released one album since her debut a few months ago, but gathered a lot of media attention for her covers on other artists' songs?" Zaizen asked sharply. "Seems pretty talentless to me if she can only use songs recently released by popular artists such as Utada Hikaru."

"Zaizen!" Kenya yelled, hitting his kouhai's head. Kenya was a diehard fan for REMI. "REMI is the most beautiful girl in Japan… maybe even the world. She makes my heart beat faster than the fastest Naniwa's Speed Star can run!"

"Kenya, I think you're exaggerating," Shiraishi said to his friend, who was off in his little own world, daydreaming about his favorite idol. "I admit she is pretty… but Zaizen-kun has got a point."

"I'll have to agree with Kuranosuke and Zaizen-kun on this too," Shiraishi's older sister said. "She has a nice voice but she's gotta start showing her own stuff rather than covering old songs."

"You guys!" Kenya replied filled with passion. "She is both talented and beautiful- she will surely come out with a new album soon. REMI's long hazelnut brown hair and large eyes captivated me the moment I saw her face on a billboard in Namba during her time of debut."

"My senpai is an idiot," Zaizen announced.

They reached a mall in Namba where Shiraishi's sister dropped off her brother and his friends, each carrying their own tennis bags. She waved goodbye to the three and yelled, "Remember Kuranosuke! I'm not picking you up… you guys will have to take a bus back or something!"

"Alright, thanks sis!" Shiraishi yelled as walked into the mall with Kenya and Zaizen. "Piercings first, or lunch?" he asked his friends.

"Don't you mean breakfast for me…" Zaizen pointed out. "You guys just kind of dragged me out of bed early morning, only to go on a long drive to here…"

Shiraishi and Kenya looked at each other and then laughed. "Yeah that's right! Sorry about that Zaizen-kun!" The two 2nd years dragged Zaizen towards the food court, where they knew a good place that served early lunch.

Meanwhile, Natsumi was driving back to her home from Namba when a sudden fan based radio broadcast was announced. We interrupt this broadcasting for a special report! REMI has been spotted in ***** mall, in Namba! How she got there from Tokyo within a day of her return without anyone noticing, we do not know! This may be your only chance to see REMI in person!

"Wow, how unprofessional to announce on a popular station about where that star is at," Natsumi said to herself. "I guess I should tell Kuranosuke since Namba will get crowded soon and Kenya-kun will probably want to meet her." She pulled out her cell phone and sent a text message to her younger brother warning him that it is highly possible that a large crowd of fans and paparazzi will show up at the mall at Namba chasing after REMI. Natsumi would have gone looking for REMI as well, but she had an important task to do, leaving her without time to chase after idols.

Unfortunately, Shiraishi did not get his older sister's text message- his phone was off. He, Kenya, and Zaizen had just finished purchasing some melon bread for their breakfast. They were eating it while walking through the mall, with Zaizen leading his senpais to his favorite piercing store in the city, which was coincidentally located inside the mall they were in.

When they reached their destination, Shiraishi and Kenya stood outside of the medium sized shop that seemed to sell all many types of goods- from clothing to skateboards, jewelry to sneakers. The shop was named "Ojii's" implying that it was probably a local business owned by an elderly man.

There were magazines of British Indies groups, cosmetics on a rack by the side, tennis rackets and golf clubs hanging on a wall, used electronics inside a glass case, and basically anything a typical middle school to high school student would need during school or for their leisure time.

"This shop is so… Zaizen's," Kenya announced as he and Shiraishi walked inside, staring at the music magazines Kenya knew Zaizen probably looked over a few times when in this shop. Zaizen was looking at what appeared to be a set of formal clothes in black that he was checking out by a mirror.

"Why are you buying that, Zaizen-kun?" Shiraishi asked. "Didn't you want to piercings?"

"I might have to attend a formal dinner soon since it's almost my grandfather's birthday as well,' Zaizen replied. "I'll get them after words… I'm going to go try this on." Shiraishi and Kenya nodded and Zaizen went to the dressing rooms in the back of the store.

"This is a really interesting place," Kenya announced to Shiraishi as he looked around even more. "Isn't it strange that it doesn't seem like there are any workers here except for that old man at the cash register?" Kenya pointed at the short middle aged man, bald with a short white beard in a green t-shirt and khaki shorts. Oddly enough, the old men seemed to be asleep, while standing up.

"That must be the ojii of this shop then," Shiraishi replied laughing a bit at how the old man was asleep. "And Kenya, you're wrong. They have a few workers here- see the two in the corner of the room wearing the same outfit as that ojii, and then the one near the back by that person in the red trench coat heading towards the changing room?"

"Oh, I missed them then," Kenya explained staring at the three workers Shiraishi pointed out along with the person near the back in the outrageous outfit- a trench coat, and one with a eye-catching color, for summertime. "That person over there has his or her hair hidden within a cap… and is wearing sunglasses indoor and a flu mask. His or her coat even seems a bit oversized for his or her figure. How suspicious," Kenya noted.

"You're probably imaging it, Kenya," Shiraishi replied. "I think a lot of people go for that mysterious detective look now days- like that person in that red coat."

"Um wait… hey Shiraishi… do you hear that loud noise from outside?

Kenya pointed towards the exit of the shop that led back into the mall. For some odd reason, it sounded like there was a stamped of bulls running towards them.

"What the heck," Shiraishi yelled as he noticed a huge crowd of people running past the store. It had seems as if the crowd was made up of at least 150 to people all rushing by trying to find someone or something. A young man with a camera around his neck stopped in front of Ojii's shop, trying to catch his breath as he lagged behind the huge group of people. Shiraishi and Kenya went up to him.

"What's going on here?" Kenya asked the man, who was still catching his breath.

"Su… super… star…" the man started, "She's here… super star… REMI!"

"WHAT?" yelled Kenya, who looked both confused and filled with joy. "REMI is here? Wait, what? Why? How? Where?"

"Somewhere in this mall… it was confirmed over radio and someone spotted her about five minutes ago near this area so she couldn't have gotten away," the young man replied as he readied himself to run to continue his search for REMI in the Namba mall. "See you."

Kenya was overjoyed. "Shiraishi! Let's go look for REMI! They said she's in this mall… it might be the last time we might see her in person, directly next to her and not from an audience or behind a table at fan signings," he yelled as he pulled his captain's arm, attempting to bring him along in the search for the idol.

"What about Zaizen?" Shiraishi asked as Naniwa's Speed Star successfully pulled his captain out of the shop.

"Don't worry about him… he can handle himself!" Kenya yelled as he started sprinting, causing Shiraishi to start as well since Kenya was still grabbing hold of Shiraishi's arm. "Let's get him an autograph from REMI too for his birthday… even though he might not like her, he will have to admit that it will be a nice gift!"

And with that, Shiraishi joined Kenya and the rest of the gigantic mob running through the mall looking for REMI, unaware of the awkward situation their junior, Zaizen Hikaru, found himself in while still inside of the dressing room.

[Chapter 1 – A Forced Celebration: END]

Sorry this took so long to be released! I had wanted to release two chapters for Valentine's Day, but I've been so caught up with school work, Linsanity (I am from New York City and everyone is going crazy for him!), and much more.

BTW I am referring to Kenya by first name because his cousin, Yuushi, will make an appearance a few chapters later.