I stepped off of the tour bus and inhaled a deep breath of city air. All around me was the sound of bustling city traffic. With Ami by my side, I began to wander off. "We'll be back later, Kaz." I waved. "Yumi." He addressed me in a serious tone. "Remember what I told you." I chuckled and shook it off. "Yeah, whatever." We began walking off again, leaving Kaz by the tour bus with a worried expression on his face. He wasn't going to screw up our first time back in LA. I pointed out a little bar across the street from us. "Hey Ami, remember that place?" She looked over and giggled. "Yeah, we had drinks there after the show!" We both laughed for a moment before continuing down the street. I felt amazing. The last time me and Ami had spend any time like this together had been the mall. And that was the day that I freaked out and tried to overdose on sleeping pills. I wondered if she was worried I might try something tonight. I wouldn't blame her if she was. I couldn't tell if it was even on her mind at all. If it was, she was hiding it well. She looked very happy and chipper. Her happy atmosphere was stronger than it usually was. I felt myself being surrounded by it, driving out my negative atmosphere. It was nice. She hadn't done that in so long, it was very refreshing. I think her new perfume was also overpowering me, but I didn't mind it because it smelled lovely.

We stopped walking. We looked at each other, then to the street signs. Those too familiar street signs. We had found our intersection. "Welp... there it is..." I smiled, my voice laced with a trace of wonder. I could feel Ami's excitement intensify. The cross light was still just a red hand. I shoved my own hands in my pocket as we waited. It felt like forever until the red hand switched to a blue person. We walked forward. Only this time, there were no squealing tires, there was no revved up engine, there was no crazy drunk. We managed to get across with no accidents. Once we were across, we both turned to look at the intersection again. I began sweating, wondering if maybe this was a good opportunity to tell Ami... "Hey, Ami, I gotta tell you something..." The words poured out of my mouth before I could think. She turned to look at me. "What is it, Yumi?" I gulped and managed to a split second to think. "It's just..." I hesitated before speaking again. "Being back at this intersection made me think... about how thankful I am that you're my friend..." God damn it. God fucking damn it. I had the perfect opportunity... "Aw shucks, Yumi, I thought the same thing!" She smiled at me. "If you hadn't saved me those years ago, I don't know what would have happened!" I felt my face warm up and I could only imagine the blush on my face right now. Then, with a swift movement, she took my hands in hers. "I am still so grateful for that." She sounded more serious, but there was still a huge smile on her face. She was looking deep into my eyes. I wonder if she could see the spark she gave them. I chuckled and looked down. "It's not a big deal, you know. I had a new friend who I didn't want to get hurt." She smiled even wider. "You're the only person who's ever cared so much for me. That's not nothing to me!" The smile left my face and I looked at her with wide eyes. Was she being serious? Did she mean that? Before I could think too hard, she pulled me into a tight hug. "You're the most important person in my life, Yumi." I felt a tear trickle down my face as I hugged her back. "Heh heh... ditto." After what felt like an hour, we finally pulled away from each other, both wiping tears from our eyes. "Hey, how about we do some more exploring?" I suggested. Ami sniffled and nodded her head with a smile.

After wandering around for another ten minutes, we found a burger place to get something quick to eat. We hadn't eaten in a while, and we needed something to get our strength back after that crying. We ate our food while sharing plenty of laughs. After eating, we continued our adventure of the city for at least another hour. I never thought it possible, but me and Ami became even closer during our city escapade. While I was happy about that, it also made me fearful. I've never been so attached to someone the way I was attached to Ami, and I couldn't shake off this feeling that if I told her about my feelings, our friendship would crumble. She was the most important thing to me, and I didn't want to ruin that with my silly infatuation. I mean, a silly infatuation was all it was, right? I had trouble even imagining me having the capacity to be actually in love with anyone. An infatuation was probably the closest I would be able to get to love. That's how I felt, anyways.

I was kind of thankful when we got back to the bus. It was colder than shit outside and I hadn't worn in the boots yet, so they felt weird on my feet. Ami looked like she was a little worn down, so it was probably a good idea to take a break before the show. We continued our laughing in the kitchen, each of us with a cold glass of orange juice. Kaz came in with a look of relief on his face. "So, did you girls enjoy yourselves?" He managed to smile. Ami giggled. "Yeah, we saw a lot of cool stuff around the city." She smiled back. I smirked up at him. "Yeah. I saw a hobo." Me and Ami both broke into a laugh, and we managed to get a chuckle out of Kaz. "Well, I'm glad you both came back okay. The show starts at seven, so you've got a few hours to recharge for the show." He then left the room, waving to us. We looked at each other for a short moment before breaking into laughter once again. I felt genuinely happy for the first time in a while. I guess we really were passed the sleeping pill incident. I was glad for that. I had made Ami so upset, and I thought I would never smile with her again. The fact that we went back to smiling and laughing so soon made me absolutely thrilled. Maybe LA was our lucky city.

. . .

The show was an absolute hit. The crowd was crazy and we played our hearts out. Not a single person in the crowd was still. Everyone was jumping and dancing and singing and cheering. I had forgotten how great the LA crowd was as well. I didn't know why we didn't come to LA more often. After helping man the merch booth and signing more shit than I cared to count, we sneaked out back to have some post-show drinks. We went to the same bar as last time. This time, however, the bartender recognized us as the rock stars we were. Last time we were there, he didn't believe us that we had just performed a show. But by now, we were pretty big everywhere, so you could hardly find a person who didn't know of us. He nervously apologized about it when we sat down at the counter. Ami and I both laughed. "It's no big deal. We were tiny shits back then." I waved my hand at him to motion for him to let it go. "Yeah, it's nothing we'd hold a grudge about." Ami added with another tiny giggle. "Hey, do you remember what we had the last time we were here?" I asked with a smile. He nodded. "Coming right up." In a matter of a few minutes, he set down two fruit cocktails in front of us. "Here you go. These ones will be on the house." He smiled at us. "Oh man, you rock!" I exclaimed before taking a large swig. "Yeah, thank you so much!" Ami added happily before taking a sip. I felt a little nostalgic drinking with Ami. We hardly drank, but we always made sure we mutually wanted a drink before we did anything. We only drank together. Except I sometimes drank alone secretly, which was why I had a bottle of sake hiding in my drawer before Kaz took it. I hoped he never told Ami about it.

After another drink, we decided to head out. He paid the bartender and made our way out, waving back at him. We stood outside for a moment, enjoying the feel of the cool air against our warm cheeks. "Hey." I looked at Ami. "Wanna go to the intersection one more time before we leave?" She thought for a short moment, then smiled. "Yeah, sure!" We linked arms and began walking towards the intersection. We were only buzzed, but we still stumbled a little bit here and there. We laughed about nothing and everything as we walked. When we finally made it to the intersection, our light was red. We waited, arms still linked, as cars sped passed us. Our light finally turned blue, so we began making our way across. I heard tires squealing, but I couldn't pin point where. Then everything happened in a flash. There was screaming and a loud car engine, the sound of a speeding car. I didn't have enough time to react, and the next thing I knew, I saw Ami flying up onto the windshield of a car. The car kept speeding away as Ami fell to the ground in a heap. "AMI!" I threw myself to my knees next to her and picked her up. "AMI! SPEAK TO ME, AMI!" Her eyes were closed, but her body was limp and she was struggling to breathe. I could tell she was unconscious. Tears started pouring from my eyes as I looked around frantically. "SOMEONE, CALL AN AMBULANCE!" I shouted at the people who were beginning to form a crowd around us. A few people pulled out phones and started dialing. I cupped my hand around Ami's face, beginning to sob. "Ami...! Ami, Stay with me!" I stammered out between sobs. "Ami, I love you, you can't leave me!" I held her closer to me and sobbed into her neck as the distant sound of ambulance sirens became louder. In no time, the ambulance had arrived and she was pulled in on a stretcher. A medical worker approached me. "Are you coming into the ambulance to ride with your friend?" Without hesitation, I nodded and he helped me in. I sat next to Ami and squeezed her hand. "Please be ok, Ami..." I whispered to her. I knew she couldn't hear me, but I couldn't help it.