Chapter Twelve: The Quarrel of Money-Making
Ed decided to take Megumi to New York in the United States in return for everything she had done for him. Tio would go, too, not only so Ed wouldn't be alone and nervous with Megumi, but also in case a demon appeared. He had checked out a book from the library that showed basic English phrases so they could get around. He also went to Al's house and looked up how much it would cost using the internet, which was about 590,000 yen. Ed still needed a way to make all that money, but he would get it done. He would do anything to return Megumi for all the situations she had saved him from.
It was past noon, and Ed had just gotten back from learning more about martial arts and cooking from Megumi. He had gotten the knack of some new martial arts moves and recipes. However, he still needed to work on them since Megumi said there were still a couple flaws in them.
He, Al, and Winry now sat in Megumi's basement, talking about what they were going to do when they grew up.
"I'm going to go off and learn more about alchemy," Ed said. "I know there are others besides me and Al that do it. And there have to be fewer restrictions than the alchemy book. I want to know what else I can combine. And…I just want to explore."
"I looked a couple things up on alchemy on the internet," Al said. "There's something called the Philosopher's Stone—something that you can use to alchemize anything you want. There's no such thing as 'equivalent trade' as the alchemy book puts it. I'll go with you, Ed, just because I wanna know if this Philosopher's Stone really can do this."
"That could come in handy one day." Ed turned to Winry. "What're you gonna do, Winry?"
"Automail," Winry said. "I saw it on T.V. You build and replace things with it, and it looks really fun. I can make a profit out of it here, but I need to learn how to use it, first."
"Not a stripper?" Ed immediately cupped his hands over his mouth. He didn't mean to say it. Al scooted away a few feet.
"A…A…" Winry turned red with anger.
"L-Look Winry," Ed began his apology, "I'm really sorry. I-It… It…" His voice trailed off as he examined Winry carefully. Her clothes were suddenly gone, and Ed blushed. "Your body is nice…"
Winry turned even redder.
"Uh-oh… Winry, I didn't… I…I was saying that it slipped out, and I…erm...yeah."
Ed and Al waited for a reaction. Winry stared at Ed and then did something unexpected.
"I'm telling," she said, the red on her face lightening to bright pink.
"Telling?" Ed said. "Who?"
Winry started running upstairs. "Megumi-san."
Al squeaked.
"M-Megumi?!" Ed's voice cracked as he said this. "I-I'm sorry! I didn't mean it, I swear!"
"Megumi-san!" Winry yelled, running out the basement door.
Ed turned to Al. "What are you waiting for?! I'm sure you don't want to get caught in the middle!"
Al stared at Ed for a moment and then ran upstairs, Ed close behind him. Ed stopped in front of the basement door and watched Al run.
"Stop right there!"
Al came to an abrupt stop and looked at Megumi standing with her hands on her hips at the top of the stairs. Winry stood beside her.
"Winry told me that Ed-kun said that she should be a…stripper when she got older and that she had a nice body. Is this true, Al-kun?"
Al stared at her. Tio came out of her bedroom, went in the kitchen, pulled out a chair, and sat down.
"Where's Ed-kun?"
Al glanced at Ed. Ed did nothing.
"Oh, that's where he is, huh…?" Megumi began walking down the stairs. Winry followed her.
Ed was frozen; he couldn't move. Megumi and Winry stopped in front of him.
Megumi crossed her arms. "Ed-kun..."
"It slipped out, really!" Ed said desperately, moving slowly around the two girls.
Ed could tell by the look on Megumi's face that he was still in serious trouble. He backed up even more while thinking of a way to get out of it.
"What're you gonna do, Megumi-san?" Winry asked.
"I'm thinking…" Megumi replied.
"Have you seen Tio's snake?" Ed said.
Everyone except Ed looked at Tio.
"Snake?" Megumi said. "What snake?"
"I don't have a snake," Tio said.
They all heard a door slam. They looked towards it. Ed was gone.
"That was clever…" Winry said.
Tio saw Al trembling out of the corner of her eye.
"Al's not in trouble, is he, Megumi?" Tio said to make him feel better.
Megumi giggled. "No, not at all. As far as I know, he didn't do anything, right, Winry?"
"Yup," Winry said.
Despite this, Al still shook.
He's thinking about what'll happen to Ed, Tio thought.
"Well, we'd better go after Ed-kun," Megumi said, walking towards the door. "I have a pretty good idea of where he's going…"
Ed ran as fast as he could to Gash's house. On his way there, he glimpsed a young man walking in his yard with large shears in his hand.
"Run, Forrest, run!" the man yelled.
Ed ignored him.
He finally arrived at Gash's house. Not looking at Umagon's doghouse, he slid onto the porch and knocked on the door.
"Meru?" Umagon merued, wanting to know what was wrong.
"I'll explain later, Umagon," Ed said. "Just…come in, and I'll explain."
"Meru..." Umagon stretched and then lazily got up. He trotted over to Ed as Hana opened the door.
"Is Kiyomaro or Gash here?" Ed asked.
"Yes, both of them are," Hana answered. "Kanchome and Folgore are here, too."
"Oh, thank God."
"What happened?"
"Nothing important…"
Hana stared at Ed for a moment and then moved aside to let Ed and Umagon in. Ed ran upstairs, Umagon running after him. Ed practically threw himself into Kiyomaro's bedroom door. The door banged on the wall. Umagon stopped at Ed's side while Kiyomaro almost fell out of his chair. Kiyomaro caught himself using his desk and pulled him and the chair back up. Gash, once again, was oblivious, staring at Ed and Umagon in the doorway, sitting on his knees on the floor, holding Vulcan. Folgore, who was backing up from the window and pointing at a CD, tripped over his feet and fell on the bed. The CD flew into the air. Kanchome remained next to Kiyomaro and screeched, both hands raised in the air. Folgore's CD landed in one of his hands.
"Ed!" Kiyomaro yelled.
"No time to get angry, Kiyomaro," Ed said. "Something happened again…"
Ed summarized what had happened at Megumi's house.
"And just what do you want us to do about it?" Kiyomaro shouted, still agitated.
"I don't know!" Ed screamed back.
"Then wha—"
The argument was interrupted by the doorbell's somewhat annoying ring. After a moment, they all heard the door open and Hana saying, "Hello, Megumi-chan."
Ed gulped.
"Hello, Hana-san," Megumi greeted Hana. "Is Ed-kun here?"
"Good luck, Ed," Kiyomaro said, pulling out a large book from the small bookcase on his desk, opening it, and studying it.
Ed sat next to Gash. Kanchome gave the CD to Folgore, who was still lying on the bed. Umagon lay down next to Ed. Almost as soon as he did so, there was knocking, and Megumi appeared in the doorway.
"Am I in big trouble?" Ed asked.
"No, not really," Megumi replied. She looked at Winry, Tio, and Al behind her. "You all can go in."
Winry, Tio, and Al went into the room.
"Hey, Kiyomaro-kun…"
Kiyomaro lifted his head from the book and looked at Megumi. "Y-Yes?"
"Can I talk to you for a second?"
"Uh…sure." Kiyomaro got up and left the room with Megumi. They closed the door.
"Must be real private," Ed said, putting his hands behind his head and lying down.
"Of course it is!" Folgore said, sitting up. "Whenever a woman pulls a man aside like that…it has to be private! Something…romantic!"
Kiyomaro opened the door and walked in, saying, "Girls with Megumi-san. Boys stay in here."
"Why?" Winry asked.
"We have to…talk about certain things," Kiyomaro said. "Now, you and Tio, out."
Winry and Tio left without objection. Kiyomaro closed the door behind them.
"Why can't girls be in here, Kiyomaro?" Gash asked.
"Well…" Kiyomaro sat down in his desk chair. "I'm going to talk about things girls can't know about. Things that you may not understand, Gash."
So guys get to keep secrets, too, huh…? Ed thought. I thought there were only girl secrets.
"What can't I understand?" Gash said.
Kiyomaro recalled the times when he tried to explain things to Gash unsuccessfully. "A lot of things…"
"Like what?"
Kiyomaro ignored Gash's question. "I have to give you all the talk. It's something every growing boy needs to hear."
"I'll help you, Kiyomaro," Folgore said.
"…No, thanks. Anyway, the girls are getting a similar talk from Megumi-san. We're both talking about changes."
"What kind of changes?" Gash asked.
"I'm going to explain, Gash. Now, when boys go through puberty, they start to feel...sexually attracted towards girls."
"Puberty? Sexually attracted?" Gash tried to understand, but couldn't. "What's 'puberty' and 'sexually attracted?'"
"It's what Folgore feels all the time," Kanchome said. "He wants to be around women and grope their breasts, so that's what 'sexually attracted' means."
Folgore nodded while Kanchome said this. Al's eyes grew big, and Umagon shuddered. It wasn't too surprising to Ed, considering that it went hand-in-hand with Folgore's flamboyant personality.
"I still don't understand…" Gash said.
"Ed was feeling like this around Winry," Kiyomaro continued, "and felt… How did you feel, Ed?"
"While I was apologizing and looking at her," Ed explained, "I saw her nude. It was really weird."
"Every boy gets that feeling. It's awkward, but at the same time, it's normal. There's a much more scientific way for explaining this, but I'll keep it simple for now."
"This isn't simple," Gash interrupted.
"Gash, please. Now, I'm sure this feeling…the temptation can be a little overwhelming, so all you can do is use your willpower to stay in control. It can be hard, but, you know…"
"I don't know, Kiyomaro," Gash said, shaking his head. "I just don't understand!"
"It's not that important at your age, Gash." Kiyomaro was getting frustrated.
"But, Kiyomaro—"
"Gash…" Kiyomaro was trembling with irritation.
"What?"
"Don't worry about it now, Gash," Ed said. "You'll understand when you're older."
Gash wanted to understand it right then and there, but he accepted it and said, "Okay…"
"Let's not forget about the girl changes!" Folgore said.
Kiyomaro put his hand on his forehead.
"When girls get older, around Winry's age, they go through this unknown phase. Then, they get boing…"
"What's boing?" Gash asked.
Folgore hugged his chest. Umagon shivered. Al frowned, disgusted.
"What's boing?" Gash repeated.
"Breasts, boy, breasts!" Folgore said. "The things on girls' chests! Like on here!" He pointed to the CD titled "Groping Breasts." On it, Folgore was reaching for a woman's freakishly large breasts.
"They're the things Folgore gropes when he's around women," Kanchome said. "I've seen it a lot."
"That's disturbing…" Al said.
"Meru-meru-me…" Umagon nodded in agreement.
Ed got an idea.
"Boys get very awkward feelings towards girls when they're adolescent," Megumi explained to Tio and Winry. "And those feelings…they make boys feel like Ed-kun did today. It's hard to explain. Girls go through changes as well, both physical and emotional. You'll understand more later when you start to go through these changes, and if I tried to explain now, it'd take too long."
"So you're saying that Ed felt a kind of attraction towards me?" Winry asked.
"Sort of. After all, he said you had a nice body."
"What can I do?"
"There really isn't anything you can do to prevent it. Just tell another female if a boy tries to touch you on the chest or anywhere else inappropriate."
They all heard footsteps outside.
"When will you be able to do it?" Ed asked.
"As soon as you want me," Folgore replied.
"Is tomorrow good?"
"Perfect."
"Alright. Thanks, Folgore-san."
"No problem, boy!"
There were more footsteps. A door closed, and another one slammed.
I wonder what all that was about… Tio thought.
"Hey, Kiyomaro, wanna help me manage the money?" Ed asked once he had gotten back in Kiyomaro's bedroom.
"Well, tomorrow's Sunday…" Kiyomaro said. "And you are doing this for Megumi-san…right?"
Ed nodded.
"You sure?"
"Positive. But, I'll need to make more than 590,000 yen. You know, for food and cabs and presents for everyone."
"Presents?" Gash's eyes glowed. "I want presents!"
"I've never been to the United States before…" Al said. "I'm not trying to sound greedy, but it'd be nice…"
"Sure, why not?" Kanchome said. "I mean, someone else is paying for it."
"Meru-meru-me!" Umagon also wanted a souvenir.
"I'll do it," Kiyomaro said.
"Thanks a bunch, Kiyomaro," Ed said.
There was knocking on the door.
"That was a fine demonstration of what you should do when coming into my room, Ed," Kiyomaro said. "Come in!"
Tio opened the door and walked in.
"Oh, Tio, you're all done with your talk?" Kiyomaro said.
"Yep," Tio confirmed. "…Where's Folgore?"
"He left for some 'business' he had to take care of," Kanchome said, "and he said that I could sleep over since he's helping Ed make money for that trip tomorrow…"
Tio turned to Ed. "What trip?"
"You, Megumi, and me are going to New York in the U.S.," Ed explained. "Folgore-san's gonna help me make the money. This is a surprise for Megumi, so don't tell her anything."
"Promise I won't. If she asks, I'll tell her you're making money for alchemy supplies."
"You're the best, Tio. Thanks a lot."
"Meru?" Umagon merued.
"What's wrong, Umagon?" Gash asked.
"Meru-meru-me."
"Oh, he wants to know where Megumi-dono and Winry are."
"Winry's behind me," Tio said, "and Megumi went to work. She said she was running real late, and the next thing I knew, she was gone."
"Wait, Winry's where?" Ed said.
"Hello," Winry said, coming out from behind Tio and standing beside her.
"W-Winry…!" Ed stammered, surprised by her sudden appearance. "I thought you... Did you…?"
"Yup, I heard everything. Don't worry, I won't tell, either. I'll help with counting the money, too."
"So will I," Al volunteered.
Ed grinned.
"Can I help in any way, Ed?" Gash asked.
"Um…" Ed didn't want Gash to help Tio distract Megumi; he wasn't a good liar. "Are you good at math?"
"Math?" Gash thought for a moment. "I…don't really know what that is."
"There's nothing you can help with, then."
Gash looked so sad that Ed decided to let him help distract Megumi, anyway.
"You can't tell her about the trip, Gash," Ed explained. "If you do, it won't be as exciting. And, at the end, I'll tell Megumi that we're going somewhere, but not exactly where. You guys…please don't tell her. Promise me, Gash, that you won't say anything about this."
"I promise," Gash said.
He'll slip, Kiyomaro thought.
"I'll help with Folgore's performance," Kanchome offered. "We'll sing 'Invincible Folgore' together."
"Alright," Ed said.
"Meru-meru-me!" Umagon also wanted to help.
"Umm…" Ed paused. "What're you good at, Umagon?"
"Meru-meru-me…" Umagon sang.
"You've got to be kidding…" Kiyomaro mumbled. Umagon leapt over and bit his hand.
"Yeah, you can help with the performance, too, Umagon!" Gash suggested while Kiyomaro struggled to get Umagon off himself.
Umagon released himself from Kiyomaro and then shook his head. "Meru, meru-meru-meru-me…!" Umagon didn't want to sing "Groping Breasts."
"Then you can help us sing 'Invincible Folgore', Umagon," Kanchome said.
Umagon nodded. "Meru!"
"So, we all know what we're doing, right?" Ed asked for confirmation.
Everyone affirmed that they understood.
Ed stood up. "Okay, tomorrow. Tio and I will be here around sunrise. Don't forget."
"Okay, we won't!" Gash said enthusiastically.
Ed woke up the next morning and looked out the window. He could see the sun slowly rising.
He looked at Megumi's room on his way to Tio's room. Her bedroom door was closed, so she was, hopefully, still asleep. He tiptoed down the stairs and woke Tio up. She rolled out the bed and stumbled, rubbing her eyes.
"Where's Megumi…?" she asked drowsily.
"Still asleep," Ed said. "Hurry up and get ready. And do it quietly. We can't have Megumi waking up.
"Mmm…" Tio yawned as she staggered up the stairs.
Ed leaned against the wall, his hands in his pockets, staring at the ground. He thought about how everything could go wrong: Gash telling Megumi what was happening and almost dying because of Tio's strangling afterwards, Folgore, Umagon, and Kanchome's performance going wrong, miscounting the money and not being able to go on the trip because there wasn't enough… There were seemingly endless possibilities for failure.
"You okay, Ed?"
Ed looked up. Tio stood in front of him in her usual pink and red dress.
"Yeah," Ed said. "You all ready?"
"Yep." Tio opened the door and went out, Ed close behind her. On the way there, Ed saw the same man that called him Forrest while he was running sitting on his porch.
"Hey, Forrest!" the man teased.
Ed ignored him again.
"Who's that?" Tio asked.
"No one," Ed replied, annoyed.
When Ed and Tio arrived at Gash's house, Gash, Umagon, and Kanchome were standing near the porch.
"Hi, Ed, Tio!" Gash welcomed, waving.
"Hi," Tio said, smiling.
"Hey," Ed said. "Where's everyone else?"
"They went to the park to get ready," Kanchome answered.
"Awesome." Ed was glad that they had begun getting ready early. "There's no time to lose. Let's go."
Ed and Tio turned around and began walking towards the park. Umagon trotted next to Kanchome.
"W-Wait…"
Everyone turned around. Gash stood in the same position he was in when Ed and Tio had arrived.
"Naomi-chan…"
Ed opened his mouth, about to tell Gash that Naomi wasn't there, but Tio interrupted him with a threat.
"Gash," she growled, balling her hand into a fist and slowly holding it up, "if you don't come…"
Gash gulped. "O-Okay…" He ran after the others who had started walking again.
Just as Kanchome had said, Kiyomaro, Folgore, Winry, and Al were at the park. However, they were finished setting everything up. They were spaced out, as if they had been waiting for a long time. Ed wondered how long they had been there.
"Hey, everyone," Ed said.
Kiyomaro, Folgore, Winry, and Al looked at Ed, jerked out of their daydreams.
"Is everyone ready?" Ed said.
Everyone answered with a spirited "yes."
"Alright, we're open." Ed went over to where Kiyomaro, Winry, and Al sat. Folgore leaned against the table they sat at. Umagon lay next to him, and Kanchome sat on the table.
"Where do we go?" Gash asked.
"Look for Megumi," Ed replied.
"Got it," Tio said. "Come on, Gash." She grabbed his wrist and pulled him away.
I wonder where everyone is, Megumi thought, walking down the street. Tio and Ed-kun didn't say they were going anywhere, and Al-kun and Winry aren't home. Maybe they all went somewhere together. I'd better check with Kiyomaro-kun.
She arrived at Kiyomaro's house. Umagon wasn't in his doghouse, so she assumed that he was with everyone else. She still wanted to check with Hana to make sure, so she knocked on the door.
"Hello, Megumi-chan," Hana said. She hadn't been told about everything that was happening. "If you're looking for everyone, they're at the park."
"Thank you," Megumi said. She turned and went towards the park. Hana closed the door.
On her way there, Megumi saw Gash and Tio walking on the other side in the opposite direction. She ran across the street towards them.
"Gash-kun, Tio!" she called.
They stopped and looked at her.
"Hi, Megumi-dono!" Gash said, grinning.
"Megumi…" Tio mumbled. She flashed Gash a threatening look that Megumi didn't notice. Gash gulped.
"Have you seen Ed-kun?" Megumi asked.
"Everyone's at the park," Tio said.
Something's going on, Megumi immediately suspected. It's pretty strange that Gash-kun and Tio aren't with everyone else and that no one told me about this. "Where are you two going?"
Tio couldn't think of anything to make up, so Gash answered for her.
"We were looking for you, actually," he said. "Ed told us to. I don't know why, though."
Megumi's suspicions grew. "Well, I'm going over there to see what they're doing. After all, I don't have work until this evening. Are you two coming, or…?"
"Sure, we'll come," Tio said.
They walked alongside each other to the park. They couldn't get close, however; there was a large crowd made up mostly of young women surrounding the entrance. The few boyfriends that were there looked unhappy. They couldn't see anything beyond the crowd and could faintly hear Folgore singing "Groping Breasts."
"What's going on?" Megumi said.
"Folgore's putting on a performance," Tio said. "Wanna watch?"
Megumi briefly thought of Folgore groping breasts. Since he would probably come through the crowd anyway, she decided to go watch. Tio didn't expect this to happen and reluctantly went around the park to the other entrance to get closer with Megumi and Gash. However, there was a crowd surrounding that area as well, so they decided to listen from there.
Megumi suddenly realized that this was what Folgore was discussing with Ed the day before. She wondered why Ed needed Folgore to perform for him. Her thoughts were interrupted by a familiar voice.
"Hi, everyone." Sunbeam suddenly appeared next to Megumi.
"Oh, Sunbeam-san!" Megumi said, surprised. "What're you doing here?"
"I heard Folgore was performing here, so I stopped by since I've never heard him before. But I never expected him to be singing about this. It's pretty perturbing."
Megumi nodded in agreement.
They all heard the barely audible voice of Folgore announcing that Umagon, Kanchome, and he were going to perform "Invincible Folgore."
"Umagon's helping with the performance?" Sunbeam said for confirmation.
"Yup," Tio said. "See, Ed needed a way to make money for alchemy supplies.
Gash opened his mouth to say that he was making money for the trip, but Tio's devilish look made him close it. Megumi saw this and became even more suspicious. Even Sunbeam got a little skeptical.
"You forgot again, Gash."
They all turned around at the same time. Naomi was in her small pink car, grinning mischievously. Gash started shaking as soon as he saw her.
"We had a duel today, remember?" Naomi said, advancing a few feet.
"B-But, Naomi-chan," Gash stammered, "there's a performance going on, and we shouldn't interrupt…"
"Prepare yourself!" Naomi started pedaling as fast as she could. She shot towards Gash. Gash pushed his way through Sunbeam, Megumi, and Tio, apologizing quickly. Naomi flashed by them, running over Tio's foot.
"Hey, Tio, don't…" Megumi said, reaching out to stop her. But it was too late; Tio was sprinting towards Naomi, her hands in strangling position.
They pushed through the crowd, Gash saying "Sorry!" and "Excuse me!", Naomi laughing manically, and Tio screaming, enraged.
Ed, hearing the ruckus, looked back. He saw Gash's terrified face, Naomi's villainous face, and Tio's devilish face coming towards them.
"Crap…" he whispered.
"What's wrong?" Al asked.
"Gash is getting chased by Naomi, and they're coming straight towards us. Tio's running after them, too, and she looks PO'ed."
Kiyomaro put his head down.
"Who's Naomi?" Winry said.
"The worst devil since Tio," Ed replied. "Seriously, she's worse than her."
"Watch out!" Gash yelled. "Duck!"
Ed, Al, and Winry did so without hesitation. Gash went around the stand, and so did Naomi. Tio, however, jumped on the stand and leapt off. The stand cracked in the middle, and the ground vibrated as she landed.
Kanchome barely dodged Tio coming through and tripped over Umagon. As he flew backwards, he kicked Umagon's chin. Umagon's head went back, and he backflipped, falling on his stomach a few seconds after Kanchome, who had fallen some inches behind him. The music went on, but Folgore stopped singing and stared at the fallen duo, not knowing what to do.
Kiyomaro, Ed, Al, and Winry stared at the disaster.
"It's ruined…" Ed muttered, devastated.
"How cute."
They all looked at where the voice came from. Beside Ed was a young, blonde woman.
"W-What…?" Ed didn't understand. The performance was interrupted by Gash, Naomi, and Tio.
"Two girls chasing a boy… That's really cute." The woman reached into her purse, took out a handful of yen, and placed it on the table. Ed grinned.
"Thank you so much," he said, even though he didn't understand.
Another woman showed up beside the blonde. "Yeah, that's pretty cute." She took some yen from her purse and dropped it on the table.
People gradually gathered around the stand, dropping yen on the table. Others who couldn't get as close tossed money. Kiyomaro didn't understand why they were giving them money for the interruption, but he started counting the money anyway.
People are giving us money for the chase even though it isn't part of the performance, Ed thought. Either they think it's part of it, or they're just pitying us for having it interrupted. He started counting the money.
Megumi and Sunbeam stared into the crowd, trying to locate Gash, Tio, and Naomi.
"Let's stop them on the other side," Sunbeam said, running towards the entrance.
"Good idea," Megumi agreed, following him.
By the time they got to the other side, Naomi was nowhere in sight, and Tio was strangling Gash. Gash's tunic was covered in tire marks, and his eyes were rolling back and closing.
"Tio," Megumi began, "if you don't stop strangling Gash-kun, I'll make you come with me to work everyday, including today."
Tio put a final twist and squeeze on Gash's neck and then released her hands. Gash's neck, however, remained crushed and stretched out. Sunbeam went over to him and began massaging his neck.
Megumi's suspicions had grown a lot during the chase. She had had time to think things over. It was strange that Ed had Folgore, Umagon, and Kanchome perform to make money instead of making it himself just for alchemy supplies. It had to be something more than that.
"We're done," Ed said. Kanchome and Umagon were beside him, recovered from the accident earlier. Folgore had gone off to grope women's breasts. Women were gathering around Folgore, waiting to have their breasts groped, so they weren't giving them any money. Males weren't happy about that, so they didn't give them money. "We don't have enough money, there's no one left to perform, and people, at least the guys, are still expecting something."
"Aren't you forgetting someone?"
They looked at Megumi, Sunbeam, Gash, and Tio standing in front of the stand.
"You forgot that I'm an idol, didn't you?" Megumi said, taking off her pink-tinted sunglasses and winking.
"N-No, Megumi…" Ed said, looking down and blushing. "You don't have to…"
"No, Ed-kun. I want to," Megumi said, taking a CD out of her purse and holding it out to Tio. Tio took the CD and ran into the clearing that served as a stage with Megumi. She exchanged Folgore's CD with Megumi's CD and turned it on. Megumi began singing "Happy Tomorrow." People began looking at the stage and screaming and cheering, especially the males. They threw yen towards the stand. Others came up to the stand and placed yen on it.
"She helps even when I don't want her to…" Ed said.
"You'll make your last bit of needed money out of it," Kiyomaro said, watching yen fall in front of him.
"Yeah," Tio said, who had appeared next to Kanchome. Kanchome, startled, stumbled back. Umagon jumped back so he wasn't hit again. "You'd better thank her later."
"I will," Ed said. "And thank you all, really."
Gash, Tio, Kanchome, and Umagon sat down and watched Megumi. Ed leaned back and enjoyed the performance.
Everyone sat in Kiyomaro's bedroom after the show. Gash lay on his stomach. Vulcan played a game of kick the can with Tio's Volunlun and a small ball. Kanchome and Umagon waited patiently to play the winner. Folgore and Sunbeam sat on the bed, talking to each other. Kiyomaro sat in his chair talking to Megumi, who stood next to him. Ed, Al, and Winry were sitting in a circle, talking about what they thought New York was like. There was a pile of money bags filled with yen in the corner.
"Okay, it's time," Ed said once he, Al, and Winry had nothing more to say about New York. He stood up and went over to Megumi, who was giggling along with Kiyomaro.
"H-Hey, Megumi…" Ed stammered, unusually nervous. "I have to tell you something…"
"What is it, Ed-kun?" Megumi said.
Everyone started stopping their activities and staring at Megumi and Ed, awaiting the reaction from Megumi. It gradually became quiet.
"Well, first, I have to… Thanks for helping me earlier, Megumi. Without your help, it couldn't have been possible."
"You're welcome, Ed-kun."
"Anyway, I'm sure you figured out that I didn't do that for alchemy supplies."
Megumi nodded. Everyone was staring at Megumi and Ed now, and nobody said a word.
"Yeah. Um, you're a very charitable person. You've gotten me out of some tough situations, and…well…me, you, and Tio are going somewhere."
Megumi didn't bother asking where. Instead, she thanked everyone multiple times.
"I'm really happy about that!" she exclaimed. "I mean, for all of you to go through that… Thank you so much!"
Whoa, she didn't have to get that happy… Ed thought.
"It was no problem, Megumi-san," Kiyomaro said.
"Yeah, I had nothing to do," Winry said.
"Thank you all!" Megumi acknowledged again. "When are we leaving, Ed-kun?"
"In about three months," Ed replied. "We'll be gone for a week."
"Okay, I'll clear up my schedule." She looked at her watch. "I'm so sorry, everyone, but I have to go to work. Thank you!"
Everyone said their goodbyes, and Megumi left.
"She was so happy…" Ed said. "She didn't even ask where…"
"That's Megumi," Tio said, looking over her shoulder. "Even though she's busy, she's always happy."
"…I can see that."
"By the way, Ed, do you know why Megumi sings?"
Ed shook his head.
"It's to make people happy."
"Oh…"
"Hey, Tio, we still didn't finish," Gash said, pointing at the small ball.
"Meru-meru-me!" Umagon merued, holding up his dinosaur toy.
"Oh, right." Tio turned back around and began playing again. Sunbeam and Folgore picked up on where their conversation left off.
Kiyomaro went over to the small demons. "I'm surprised you didn't slip, Gash."
"Uh-huh…" Gash heard Kiyomaro's voice, but didn't interpret what he was saying. He was too concentrated on getting the ball past Tio, who was the goal.
Ed went over to them, too. "Yeah, Gash, thanks a lot."
"Uh-huh…"
"Hey, Ed," Tio said, "thanks for making Megumi happy."
Ed grinned, feeling a sense of accomplishment. Most of his guilt had disappeared since he had successfully made everything up to Megumi. Also, he was going to explore a new place.
But what he liked the most was seeing Megumi at her happiest.