This chapter is dedicated to Radiance Within, whose review reminded me that I can't just keep thinking about plots for eternity without putting some of it into words! :]

The doll's smile was completely devoid of its previous regrets, laced with venom, and very comparable to a sword of ice. Jun was unsure of what to do; his options were to argue back with her or to silently take it in as he used to when he was a nobody.

Jun grimaced. Though he preferred not to, he chose to go with the first option. No part of that pathetic shrimp's shell was going to resurface because he'd gotten rejected for the first time! If even the slightest bit came back, then all the broken pieces would start falling into place... And when that happened, maybe—just maybe—his past would find him.

"I'd like to see you try, Doll. I've stepped on plenty of hearts belonging to precious babes like you; what difference would one more make?" Speaking like this was disgusting, as well as a blatant lie. He'd never even had a single girlfriend, but a few fangirls had run away with their imagination for sure. Jun hoped this girl would back off before he had to publicly humiliate her so she'd stop.

Jun slipped an arm around her shoulders, feeling her squirm uncomfortably under his grasp. "Now, as you were saying, Doll?" Narrow, darkened blue slits glared at him seconds before he registered a sharp pain from slightly lower than his stomach. A stifled groan escaped his throat as he released the hostile girl and knelt down next to the couch.

"The hell was that for?" he rasped. Doll, ignoring his agony, instead picked up a black Phantom Heights tote from the floor next to her. She pulled out a folder and flipped through some pages, apparently reaching the one she wanted.

"Phantom Heights' main building is located in Toranomon, correct? 1:30 to 3:00, you have an interview with Iseki Mina of HoneySpice! magazine in Kagurazaka, Shinjuku. You are forbidden from interacting with fans here, as the red-light district is quite close to the café Iseki-san will meet with us at. After that, 3:45 to 6:30. A photo-shoot for Discord Melodica consisting of modeling their new emo-punk line for winter and spring clothes. This is in Ginza, Chuo. Finally, starting at 8 sharp, your Overworld concert begins in Shibuya. Don't forget to take care of your voice during this time. That being said, let's go. We have to get lunch and it's already almost eleven."

Belladonna (Jun's new nickname for the girl—she was definitely a gorgeous female with a deadly underlying personality) got up, brushing off what invisible dust was on her already filthy attire. She tossed a glance in Jun's direction, muttering "wuss" in a voice meant to be still audible to him. Rolling her eyes, she stood arms akimbo towards him.

"I don't know what kind of women you disgusting boys play around with here and I don't want to know. But know these two things that may very well save your bloodline; one, I do not appreciate nor do I tolerate pet names, physical contact, or any hint of personal association with people like you. And two—" Belladonna squatted down to Jun's eye level, grabbing his raven locks without concern for his growing discomfort.

"—I am not some kind of self-wallowing pushover. You yank on my heart-guts, I rip out your genitals." She gave the shocked boy two disconcerting pats on the head and went to wait for him by the door, black tote in hand.

Apparently having returned to her calm reserve, she singsonged, "Kobayashi-san, are you coming? In the mean time, I'll call for a limousine and make a reservation for—ah, which restaurant do you wish to dine at?"

Jun slowly, steadily rose to his feet, gawking in disbelief at his manager. How could this girl's multiple personalities interchange so fleetingly? One reason he never dealt with females—too confusing. The more men tried to unravel their mental state, the more they lost themselves to madness. Remembering her inquiries, he attempted to keep up with her unstable pace.

"...Desire, that Old English-styled restaurant that opened up a few blocks away..." Belladonna gave him a heartening smile as he made his way over to her and let her ahead through the door—the only thing wrong was that he couldn't tell if it was because she was satisfied with his behavior or because she was plotting his punishment for being so cheeky.

"Thank you, Kobayashi-san," Megumi curtly replied. Her day had been amusing since she had hit the teen idol where Mother Nature had split him. In blatant desperation shadowed by pride to get into her good graces, he had taken it upon himself to be as gentlemanly as possible. She'd already forgiven him—the past should dwell in the past and people should dwell in the future—but Megumi found being served practically hand and foot wasn't such a bad thing. The Sterling Boy courteously pushed her seat in for her before taking a seat himself. Nervously, he fiddled with the napkin ring that bundled polished silverware in with a folded and pressed silvery blue cloth.

"...just 'Jun' is fine, since you're my manager and we'll be working together for some time," Sterling beamed. Che, is this guy trying to charm me? What a naïve tactic. Megumi busied herself with the centerpiece, a small glass vase with intricate carvings and a delicate bouquet of sweetpeas and Baby's Breath. Heaving a sigh, she turned to the idol boy and hit his arm lightly to get his attention. Startled, he looked up at her, cheeks tinted slightly out of embarrassment for having been so easily alarmed.

"Fine. I'll call you Jun." She ruffled her hair, unsure of what to say next. Should she apologize for kicking him in the... The Place? Should she properly introduce herself? Should she try to learn more about the idol she was managing?

"Whatever, Doll."

What...?

"Just shut up and start gushing about how wonderful it is to be my new manager."

What?

"The last thing I need is for those tabloid writers over there to think I've got the hots for this 'mystery woman', as they like to put it."

WHAT?

Jun's underhanded instructions were masked by resting his chin in the palm of his hand and pretending to analyze his surroundings. Megumi, however, did not blend in so well, what with the idol boy giving her orders and all. Her face twitched, then she delicately grasped a cup of water set down in front of her and flicked her wrist ever so slightly. This caused the liquids in the cup to relocate onto Sterling Boy's face, where it seemed to belong.

Without a moment's hesitation, she called a waiter (who was taken aback by Jun's frozen shock) over to ask for some towels and to take their orders once her 'clumsy problem' tidied himself up. A few bright flares of (presumably) a camera's flash didn't go unnoticed as two figures from a distant table hastily made their exit. Megumi leisurely scolded Jun for being so lax with his glass of water, enjoying his stupor with a deceivingly adorable pout.

"What the hell was that for?" he hissed, face contorted with fury as well as a napkin. Megumi huffed and crossed her arms, building her image as an innocent 15-year-old even higher.

"I told you not to push it, Jun-kun. You shouldn't mess with things when I tell you not to."

This woman was surely a devil, not a stupid doll or flower! Both of the latter were at least pretty, but this girl was unkempt on the outside with a demon locked within. Jun made certain to tread lightly whenever she was around or involved with anything. He recalled the fiasco at the restaurant; all through the course, his clothes didn't dry out a bit. Then, knowing full well that he wanted so much to travel by heated car to their appointment with Iseki Mina, Shiroyama insisted that they walk off the calories they had just taken in. (It was ridiculous—everyone knew idols always kept the weight off somehow. That, and he had reverted to calling her by last name in case another nickname he came up for her slipped.)

So there he was, inside a cutesy, girly café sneezing like a freakin' elephant while his demon manager was warming up with a nice mug of hot chocolate.

"Oh, hush, Jun-kun, you're going to spread germs," Shiroyama announced loudly. Some customers and a nearby waitress glanced over, whispers adding up to make a cacophony that drowned out a RIVET song playing over the speakers. Jun glared at Shiroyama, who gave him an innocent snicker into her mug; You're famous—deal with it, she seemed to say. Jun grumbled inwardly; he couldn't say anything to her on account of his being monitored. He leaned back into his seat in their booth as a waitress shyly approached them with a set of menus.

"W-would you like to see the menu, or is your party still waiting for someone?" the waitress stuttered. Chocolate doe eyes blinked innocently, questioning the dangerous aura silently as she nervously ran her hand through a strand of wavy russet hair.

Shiroyama answered, "Ah, we're still waiting for one." Jun could see the waitress bob her head in understanding.

Jun gave her a fleeting glance, her orbs widening when she recognized him. She opened her mouth to speak, but then decided against it when the idol pressed an index finger to his lips. She nodded announced that she would be back to check on them.

Half an hour had passed. Impatiently, Shiroyama kept gazing at the entrance of the café whenever the door chime rang. During the time, the russet-haired waitress brought the two of them some small desert cakes and fresh coffee "on the house", as she had said. It irritated him; Jun knew she knew who he was, and why she didn't confront him about it bothered him. Then he saw it. On a small portion of the doily his cake sat on, there where tiny black markings. Casually, he leaned forward to take a bite of chocolate mousse, peering at the phone number the waitress had scribbled for him. Memorizing it, he set his fork down on top of the ink, ensuring that his demon manager didn't see.

Shiroyama brought out her phone, which was playing 9teeN's debut song in an 8-bit form. Jun smirked at her nostalgia, she in turn sending him a nasty sneer and looking at her phone screen. Her face looked appalled as she snapped the cell shut and stored it back in her jeans pocket.

"Iseki-san's canceled on us." Jun stared at his manager in disbelief. She sighed and sank in her seat.

"She canceled?"

"Mm-hmm. She caught a cold yesterday, ran a fever this morning, and was unable to go to work today. Her company sent me a text." Shiroyama absently stabbed at the remains of her tiramisú cake, then shoveled the rest into her mouth.

"Well, at least got free cake, right?" Jun prodded. If she was in a bad mood, then she would simply compensate by making his life that much more miserable.

"Urgh. Yeah. Free cake on the account of that waitress over there slipping you her number." Shiroyama sipped her coffee calmly as Jun proceeded to nearly choke on his cake. Widened hazel eyes questioned the manager, who scoffed.

"Honestly, Jun, don't ask. Just go talk to her. But make it quick. I'm calling a limo and we should be ready to head to Ginza in five."

She softly pushed out of her chair, grabbing her tote before hastily heading out the café door. Jun questioned her speed; did it have anything to do with the fact that she caught him looking at the waitress' number? He shook the thought out of his head and was shortly joined by the waitress who'd recognized him. She was out of her uniform, so she must have been off her shift.

"So, how are you and your long-time crush, Kuno-chan?"

Megumi watched as her newest problem was joined by the pretty waitress. It was a bit awkward, sitting at a table outside to watch them through the window, but it wasn't necessarily stalking, was it? She figured she'd have to gather some intel on him if she was supposed to work with the fruitcake.

Fruitcake broke the silence, saying something that made the waitress smile. The girl brought out her phone and showed Jun a picture of her and another boy at the park, both blushing and smiling as they shared a single silver scarf. Jun grinned at her and patted her head as the girl started to converse with him.

So they're just friends? Megumi thought. How boring. And here I was hoping to find out the underlying plot of some tragic love story.

Some twenty minutes passed in the same manner; they talked, laughed, talked some more, and then looked at a picture or two. At some point, the conversation seemed to land on a heavy topic, but the girl ended up shaking her head and pressing an index finger to her lips. Things weren't so dandy for Megumi, however. In those twenty-some minutes, a group of obnoxious boys had come over to hit on her, distracting her from people-watching. One had even gone so far as to try and kiss her, to which she promptly refused with a roundhouse kick to his face. They all ran, screaming in terror, but then she had drawn the attention of other people passing by. One boy with bright orange hair—was he a delinquent or just eager to impress?—kept eying her creepily. Megumi had to give him a glare that said bite me before he finally gave up and went inside the café.

Finally, Jun got up to leave, saying goodbye to his waitress friend. The orange-haired creep bumped into Jun and apologized, but the idol swiftly turned the other way and headed towards the door. Megumi could feel her anger rising. Jun had found her outside and went to join her.

She punched him in the face.

"Just because you're an idol doesn't mean you can ignore people when they apologize to you! What the hell is wrong with you?"

Jun nursed a broken, bleeding nose, staining his light long-sleeves in crimson. "Could ask the same about you," he spat.

A black limo pulled up to the curb. The chauffeur stepped out and held the door open for Jun and Megumi. She pushed her problem into the car, thanking the chauffeur and taking a seat inside the plush vehicle. She turned back to Jun as the chauffeur, sensing the mood, put up the glass barrier.

"Yuri-san said you were high maintenance and that I had my work cut out for me. No wonder. You're a snobby, manipulative brat who has time for other dudes' girls, but won't even accept an apology from a sincerely sorry guy. It'll take a whole lot more than punches and kicks to fix this one."

Jun, attempting to lid his anger and keep his lower half safe from his demon manager's fury, was silent for some time before asking, "...fixing this one what?"

Megumi scoffed at him, fixating a glare to his darkened eyes. "Your rotten attitude, Pop Star. You're worse than that boy with fire-hair who kept looking at me; he was disturbing, but at least he had some manners!"

He switched his gaze to wander about the scenery beyond the window, quiet and irritated all the same. But Megumi couldn't place the other emotions that lingered in his dark honey eyes: sorrow? Regret? And for what reason?

"Even celebrities have secrets they won't share, Shiroyama." He turned to meet her eyes, expression full of melancholic calm and a bitterness from the past. "And it's not that I won't tell you, it's that I can't tell you. If I trust you, I'll fall back to the past... even after I worked so hard to distance it from me."

Brooding heartache shadowed his pale face in a sickly shade of pain. The pop star redirected his solemn expression to the window again as he allowed his manager to process what he'd just told her.

Some time passed between the two, soundless, motionless. A heavy air threatened to suffocate them both, but neither made any effort to keep so from happening. Jun did nothing because he couldn't say any more on the subject without risking his escape from the past.

Megumi felt that she had no place to do anything. Words to more words, building trust inevitably until the pressure was too much to bear without hearing truth. So she said nothing more. Running away was something she had experienced, and she wasn't about to ruin it for someone else, no matter how pompous and grand a façade they weaved. She understood Jun loud and clear when he revealed what little he could:

Please. Help me.

So subtle was his plea that she felt the need to shed tears and curse at the wind for his sake. Yet, at the same time, she couldn't do anything. Right now, this boy was fragile, so fragile that if she so much as breathed, he would shatter. So she held her tongue and fought the tears that loomed on her eyelashes. When the car ride was over, they would act as though nothing happened. He was unfathomably discourteous and she was needlessly violent with him. That was all they would ever appear to be, and Megumi wasn't sure if she could guide him across that decaying bridge without him plunging headfirst into despair.

Well, maybe it would have happened like that had Megumi been the perfect little soft-hearted romantic Pop Star believed she was. But she wasn't.

"Oh, suck it up, Romeo."

Incredulity cause Jun to give his manager a wide-eyed stare. "...what?"

Megumi rolled her eyes at his intelligible answer. "Listen, just because you came too close for comfort with your past doesn't mean you can try and use me as an emotional counselor. Think about your problems and try to solve them on your own first; if it's too much to handle, go find help. But get it from someone you trust more than me who knows what the hell's going on in the first place."

Jun shifted uneasily, unsure of what he should do next. Apologize? Chide her? He mentally whacked himself. Both. Duh.

"You believed me? I was just joking... mostly. So, sorry for making you think seriously about a nonexistent life-altering dilemma."

This was great. He had basically trapped himself in the inescapable corner of Perpetual Enemies with Megumi. But if she knew any better, which she did, it was that someone trying to get away from previous blunders would need someone to trust first, and she deduced that if he was telling her of all people to save him, he didn't have any reliable supports.

Megumi sighed. Somehow, she'd have to mend their relationship and help Jun see the light from his dark history.

And so ends another chapter. Though it took FOREVER to write and even more forever to update. But I hope you guys liked it! It shouldn't take too long for the next chapter to go up.

~Randomness