I put the last pin in my hair and dust my face for the final time. It seems like every time I see Kouta I spend even more time in front of the mirror than I do usually – the boy was making me vapid. Maybe that's what happened to Rika – she was an independent young girl around my age (in fact… she was just a year older than me) then she fell for the blue-haired boy and became the woman she is today.

I, as a tayu, was ready to be the hostess with the most-ess. Akihisa was dressed as a baseball player, and it kind of suited his frame, but it wasn't really suited to what he was doing – i.e. cooking in the kitchen. Minami was the cheerleader, and the red outfit (with miniskirt) made her supermodel legs look even longer. She was helping him out by adding spices, tasting sauces and chopping things when needed. They looked cute – I was a proud winggirl now. Hideyoshi was grinning on the sofa, playing with the fixings on the table in his convict outfit. It was a jumpsuit, but it was kind of tight, and way too revealing for a man's outfit to be honest, but I didn't care, because Akihisa wasn't actually looking at him for once.

Even though we had had to actually pay for the night's festivities, it wasn't such a bad thing or a punishment that we had had to host a party at my place this Saturday night. In fact it was an excuse to get happy, get dressed up in ridiculous costumes and have a good time – especially after all of the pressure that the supplementary exams had put on all of us (well, maybe not Akihisa). The exams had just been one dark cloud since the start of term, but now that cloud had been lifted, it was time to party.

"What time is it?" I ask.
"It's eight o'clock. Hey, did Yuji say anything about his plan to you?" Hideyoshi said, picking on one of the snacks on the table.
"What plan?"
"I don't know," he shrugs, "he just said something about having some kind of plan and he didn't want to tell anyone about it until he got here."
"Then why would he tell me?" I frown.

"So what is Mizuki coming as?"
"She's coming as a cop, obviously. What else would she come as?"
"Prison warden?"
"Same thing. What is Kouta coming as?"
"A ninja, obviously. What else would Kouta come as?" I laugh, picking a piece of sushi from the plate that Akihisa was laying out.

"Who knew he'd be one of the culinary ones?" Minami raises an eyebrow.
"Well, when you spend all your money on computer games and porn, you've definitely got to know how to cook. And Minami," I usher her closer; "you're doing well! Keep it up!"

"What do you mean?"
"Akihisa has been talking to you for the last hour, almost constantly."

"He'll leave once Himeji comes," she sniffs.
"You don't know that!" I comfort her.
"The party has arrived!" yells a deep male voice from outside the door with a few hard knocks on the door.

"Yuji!" Akihisa rushes to the door and opens it. Yuji (in a very smart pilot outfit) and Shouko (in a very revealing air hostess outfit) arrive at my doorstep with Kouta (in the ninja suit) and Himeji (in a cop suit that pushed up her boobs and her hair tied back). They also brought with them four large bags full of alcohol.

"And Yuji manages to pass for 20," Minami grins, taking two of the bags. Of course Yuji could have passed for 20 in his sleep, with the muscles and the chiselled face and everything, but it was still pretty amazing that he had managed to dupe some poor convenience store owner into selling him a load of drink. And at least I guess that the losing team weren't the only ones paying for the party. Screw the whole punishment thing. They just wanted an excuse.
"What did you buy?" I ask.
"We got sake, vodka and lots and lots of beer," he grins. "We had a little each before we came. Let's get merry."
"Fancy dress and a shit ton of alcohol. Let's get wasted, more like."


When I wake up in the morning, I can feel my heart thumping in my head and my mouth is drying than a Sahara desert. My throat is itching and I'm feeling clammy and gross and even worse – I have no recollection what happened the night before. What even… I just have no idea. Whenever I try and remember, my head goes blank and fuzzy and suddenly decides not to co-operate.

Hangovers have possibly got to be one of the worst feelings in the entire world. If anyone ever needed an incentive to never drink again in their entire lives, it would have to be the comedown the morning after. But still, people drink and drink and drink. I guess that says a lot about our society doesn't it? We never learn our lesson. I had no idea how my mom managed to put up with these pounding headaches pretty much every day, but I would have to find a way to get her to teach me without letting it slip that I got totally wasted when she wasn't around.
"Come on," I groan.

I look at myself in the mirror. My hair isn't in the hairdo I put it in yesterday, and it has no pins, and I am almost without make-up apart from some kind of smudgy eyeliner. Instead of wearing my outfit, I'm just wearing a long T-shirt that skims my knees and I'm barefoot. Whatever went down last night, it left me looking seriously less bad-ass than I did before it all started.

Right, Karin. Think! Start thinking about it, now, and start from the beginning. Yuji arrived at my doorstep with a lot of alcohol, shouting 'the party has arrived' and gazing at Shouko somewhat slightly-drunkenly-but-still-adoringly. We then sat down, played bad karaoke games on the console and drank until we dropped. And boy, did I drop. When you drop really hard, it's pretty hard to get back on your feet again.

Everyone else is just starting to stir, and apparently they must remember more than I do. Shouko is glaring at me from across the room for no apparent reason and Kouta has already left by the looks of it. Minami is just grinning over a cup of coffee she's already made herself and now Akihisa is giving a confused stare too. Hideyoshi is watching this all from the sidelines and looking fairly amused, and Himeji is sat with Shouko joining in with the death glares.

"Minami," I say, walking into the kitchen and putting the kettle on, "what the hell happened last night and why is everyone staring at me, either like they're confused on what I'm doing or like they want to kill me?"
"You don't remember."
"Not a thing."
"Oh my God."
"Should I remember?"
"Hell yeah you should. I have a feeling before they all leave this house today somebody is going to kill you."
"Are you going to kill me?"
"No."

"Right, so that means that I haven't done anything to offend you. Can you please give me the play-by-play?"
"Are you actually kidding me? That would be way too easy. I'm your best friend and everything, but you really need to feel the downside of what you did last night."
"I would if I could remember any of it! Who can I ask?"

"Hmmm…"

"Can I ask Himeji?"
"Would kill you."
"Can I ask Shouko?"
"Would kill you."
"Can I ask Yuji?"
"Doesn't remember, as far as I know."
"Can I ask Akihisa?"
"Doesn't understand."
"Can I ask Hideyoshi?"
"Wasn't present. No-one will tell him either."

I sighed. This was my last option, and I wasn't too keen on it.
"Can I ask Kouta?" I ask as a last resort. Minami smiles.
"That might be a good idea. You could go round to his, I guess. He'll probably remember better than anybody else. Doubt he could forget. You should take that T-shirt around to his too – he'll want it back."

"Oh my good God."
"You better prepare yourself for a shock. Do you want Kouta's address?"
"Um, yeah," I mutter, downing the rest of her coffee. It was with a weird feeling in my stomach that I realised I didn't even know where he lived – not even the part of town. Minami scrawls it down on a napkin and hands it to me proudly. "Hey, your kanji are getting so much better, Minami," I remark and she beams.

"Thank you," she nods in return. "Now go. Actually… go shower, get changed and then go. I'll shepherd these people out of your apartment."
I patter into the bathroom, shed the T-shirt and then climb into the shower. The hot water does nothing to bring my memory back but it does eliminate the pounding from my head and the clamminess from my skin. When I dress in jeans and a long-sleeved navy top, I grab the napkin and glance at it quickly. Kouta lives in a very, very nice part of town – it makes Minami's beautiful place look like a dump.

I grab my keys, purse, phone and the napkin, and true to her word, when I go back into the living room, Minami has taken everyone and herself out of the equation. There's a note from her on the table.

Got everyone out, albeit with a little bit of protest. (Shouko and Minami wanted to wait behind for you)

Good luck at Kouta's, and call me later, okay?

Love, Minami.

It's hard to read a note that Minami's written without looking at it twice, but this is one of her best ones. I resolve to not forget to call her, and head out to Kouta's without giving it a second thought. With a moderately-long subway ride and a little walk, I arrive in one of the nicest neighbourhoods I've seen in my entire life. When I end up in front of what the note says is Kouta's house, I see that it's huge – two storeys, with a big landscaped front garden and the prettiest door and windows I've probably ever noticed.

I open the gate, take my steps up to the front door in what seems like a lifetime and then knock awkwardly on the smooth glass panels.

"Who is it?"
"K-Karin. Karin Sato."
"How many of them do I know," I can hear him mutter. "Come in."

He opens it up. The inside of the house is slightly air-conditioned and opulently furnished with only the best fabrics and modern designs.
"Wow, nice place."
"Thanks."
"Can you help me out?" I suddenly blurt out. "I really, really need your help."
"With what?" he asks sourly.

"I can't remember anything from last night. I just woke up, feeling like crap, and the girls are going to kill me and Akihisa's confused and Minami told me that you would know and…"
"That's typical," he rolls his eyes. "What do you want to know?"
"Why everyone hates me, would be a great place to start?"
"It's a long story."

"Please tell me that you don't hate me too."
"Why would that matter? Is that my T-shirt you're holding?"
"Yeah… I was wearing it when I woke up for some reason. Here you are. It's not clean, but it doesn't smell," I say, and then realise what I'm saying, and then shut up. Kouta just laughs at me, but it's a bitter laugh. He's pissed off with me too.

"We were on the subject of you hating me," I say guiltily. I don't even know why I'm guilty – I just know that I should feel guilty, because obviously I have pissed everyone off.

"I don't hate you," he says simply.

"Well, that's good," I reply softly, when suddenly there's a knock on the door and I jump off of the sofa in alarm.

"Upstairs, the second door on the right, stay in there until I come to get you," he says, and I do exactly what he tells me. Up the stairs, second door on the right until… am I in Kouta's bedroom? The walls are light grey and the carpet is dark grey, and there's a double bed in the corner and a desk in the other one with a fairly expensive-looking computer and a stack of hentai games. It's rather neat and tidy for a guy's room, but I still manage to notice one of the porn magazines falling out from behind the desk. I go over to look at it with soft footsteps, hoping he doesn't walk in, and look at the picture on the cover.

Blonde with big boobs, just like Rika. Will I ever measure up? I push it out of my mind and sit delicately on the bed, noticing the cameras on the shelf and a little bottle of aftershave. Everything here looked like it had a place and that it was in that said place. It looked functional, modern and it reeked of filthy rich money. I stopped snooping to try and listen in on the conversation downstairs.

"Mom, what are you doing here? You're supposed to be at the charity event today," Kouta said. He was talking more naturally than I had ever heard him talk in front of any of the Class F people, but he still seemed strained and stressed.

"The party has arrived," she quoted the same words as Yuji had done the day before, and I winced. I knew that Kouta probably did too.

"You're drunk."
"I'm not drunk. I'm tipsy. You're drunk," I could hear the accusing tone in the woman's voice as she slurred out words that blended into each other.

"I'm not drunk, Mom."
"Yes you are, I can smell it on your breath."
"That's you."
"Okay, maybe I'm a little bit drunk."
"Why now?"
"Why not?"
"Because it's the middle of the daytime and there's no reason for you to drink."
"There's always a reason. Where's your uncle?"
"At work. Isn't he always?"
"Bet you he's banging his secretary," Kouta's mom growls. This was so unbelievably inappropriate.

"He's not having sex with his secretary."
"Banging," she corrects him.
"I don't like that word," he sighs. "Go back to the charity gala."

"Fine, Kou-chan, fine."
"Don't call me that. I'm not five anymore and neither are you."
"Do five-year-olds get this drunk?"
"Get out," warns Kouta sternly. "Get out now. I don't have time for this. Go to Sachiko's, then, and sober up. Okay?"
"Fine."

I sit back down on the bed and try to act like I wasn't listening the whole time. Maybe Kouta knew just a little bit more about my life than I thought. There's so much more to this boy than meets the eye. His footsteps come up from downstairs and he bursts into the room looking exasperated.
"Hello. I had a little situation."

"You were going to tell me the story."
"A picture's worth a thousand words," he hands me his camera and sits at the foot of his bed twiddling his thumbs and looking solemnly at the floor. I turn it on and click to the gallery mode and then flick through. Most of the pictures are just mundane party pictures that you could see on any social networking site if you logged in on a Sunday morning.

It's only when I click on one that I realise what happened. I realise, and everything clicks. Why Shouko wants to kill me. Why Himeji's sticking up for her. Why Akihisa's so totally confused. And possibly why Kouta is staring at the floor and not talking.

It's definitely a bizarre party when the geisha makes out with the pilot.