7:51 A.M. – Beverly Hills Airport
("Road Less Taken" by Lyn Inaizumi, Yumi Kawamura, Shihoko Hirata & Lotus Juice plays)
"So, this was where you found yourself after getting kidnapped?"
"Jeez, Makoto, you're making it sound like an extremely hammy soap opera..."
Hikari glanced around as she and her film class partner Makoto exited the airplane that had dropped them off in downtown Beverly Hills, unable to stop a smile from breaking out.
Hikari was very much looking forward to this week, since she'd finally managed to schedule a week off of her film class to go visit her old middle school friend Nozomi. The two of them had experience a sort of "impromptu" reunion a while ago, when Tuesday Tate and Sunny Day had kidnapped Hikari to subject her and countless others to their Re-Modelizer device.
"Well, that's kinda what it sounds like," Makoto laughed as he slung his backpack back over his shoulders. "And holy crapbaskets, it's hot as hell here!"
"Well, California's much more tropical than Tachikawa, right?" Hikari giggled. "Your fault for only packing one set of clothes for this climate."
"Hey, it's not as if I've ever been outside of Japan," Makoto admitted.
"Well, if we ever get jobs in the film industry, you'll probably have to get used to it at some point, since lots of movies and TV shows film all over the world," Hikari responded.
"That's gonna be a learning experience in itself, but I assure you it's gonna be worth it," Makoto quipped. "That would be quite the feather in our caps, huh?"
"If we can drag Yosuke away from his girlfriend, that is," Hikari laughed.
"Those two, honestly..." Makoto sighed.
The two Japanese college students had no idea that they were being watched from the shadows.
"Hmmm... we have some film connoisseurs, it seems like," the figure laughed. "I could definitely use at least one of them in my latest scheme. The script is so perfect, it almost writes itself..."
(Don't just sit there and waste your precious time. When you want to do something, do it right away. Do it when you can. It's the only way to live a life without regrets.)
Mat49324 and The Blue Time Ranger are proud to present:
Totally Spies!: Jealousy Jaunt
Story Rated: T for Teen
Story Created: January 29th, 2021
Story Summary: The thirty-first joint project between Mat49324 and The Blue Time Ranger, collectively known as Totally Spies: The New Adventures. Nozomi's film class buddy Hikari has returned to visit, and she brought her class partner Makoto with her. Only problem? Makoto is suddenly acting really stalker-y around Nozomi, and it's creeping her out enough to suggest a rather unorthodox solution. Basically, she wants Nick to pretend to be her boyfriend again to keep Makoto off her back. However, what the spies don't know yet is that this is the work of one Marco Lumiere, once again hellbent on vengeance. Can the spies defeat Lumiere and snap Makoto out of his stalker trance, or is this a wrap for the spies' story?
Author's Notes from The Blue Time Ranger: I promised Hikari would be showing up again, and here she is! Since Hikari was borrowed from Persona Q2, and that game's all about movies, I figured why not bring Lumiere back as the villain? It just seemed like it fits. Well, let's make with the movie-making metaphors and ROLL IT!
Also, if you want a recap of the one-shots I've done, here you go. I haven't done as many as Mat, but I've got ideas.
1. Fantastic Flashbacks (A flashback to May's time in middle school as part of the Jellyfish Pirates, prelude to Jellyfish Jamboree)
2. May's Marvelous Birthday (May's birthday)
3. Track Thunder (Prequel to Beyond the Looking Glass HD Remix)
4. Lights, Camera, Action! (Nozomi in middle school in her film class – COMING SOON)
Author's Notes from Mat49324: Time for #31 and we sure hope Mime Your Manners sure threw you for major loops towards the end – specifically when Klee revealed she is the future daughter of Nick and Alex. For now, we hope you're ready for Jealousy Jaunt and the return of a couple of characters – non-spies, BTW. Will a similar thing happen between Mat and Sam down the line? Who knows. Oh, and on a serious note: Nick and I hope you stay tuned for my latest one-shot that we are currently collaborating on – Surfin' Sam-ari. If you want a recap of my one-shots posted, here you go:
1. Totally Ice Cold (the spies take the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge)
2. Hawaiian Holiday Hijinks (the spies spend Christmas in Hawaii; my Christmas present to The Blue Time Ranger)
3. Ice Spies Challenge (sequel to Totally Ice Cold)
4. Aqua Spies (mile-long swim back to the Mali-U Beach – requested by dumas)
5. Britney's Bomb-tastic Birthday (Britney's birthday – requested by jettmanas)
6. Alex's Awesome Birthday (Alex's birthday)
7. Sam's Stupendous Birthday (Sam's birthday)
8. Clover's Colossal Birthday (Clover's birthday – requested by jettmanas)
9. Alex Does a Cannonball (Alex goes on the TV show Cannonball for $10,000)
10. A Christmas to Remember (Nick, Mat, and Blaine surprise their girlfriends with a Christmas song)
11. Totally Ice Cold... Again! (the spies take the Ice Challenge again)
12. Surfin' Sam-ari (Sam tries surfing for real – COMING SOON!)
And Now, the Obligatory Disclaimer: Mat49324 and The Blue Time Ranger do not own anything related to Totally Spies or any of its affiliations. It belongs solely to Marathon Media Group, Image Entertainment Corporation, Vincent Chalvon-Demersay, and David Michel. The only things of this story we DO own are any characters created by us truly for the story (in this case, Nick, Haruka, Bridget, May, Nozomi, Dawn, and Melissa on my side, and Mathew on his side). Any characters or things we don't own, we are just borrowing with no intent of copyright infringement, only for the entertainment of our readers. Besides, if we did own Totally Spies, which we don't, why would we be writing fiction on a fan site?
EDIT 5/19/21: I changed the opening theme for this specific story (as seen at the very beginning) from "Spark Again" by Aimer (the opening theme to Fire Force season two) to the more obvious pick that I should have used, considering the inspiration: "Road Less Taken" by Lyn Inaizumi, Yumi Kawamura, Shihoko Hirata & Lotus Juice (the opening theme to Persona Q2: New Cinema Labyrinth). I mean, IT WAS RIGHT FREAKIN' THERE
Episode 1: Continuity Editing
9:15 A.M. – The Spies' Beach House
("Door Into Summer" by Junko Shiratsu plays)
Nick wasn't at all surprised to find Klee sitting at the kitchen table when he came downstairs. Much like the past few days, Klee was currently immersed in another drawing. Apparently, she had recently remembered that she loved to draw in her spare time, and it showed in the many pictures that were currently spread out across the table.
"Well, well, it looks like we've got ourselves a real artist here, huh?" Nick quipped.
"You wanna see 'em, dad?" Klee asked as she brought a couple of her favorites closer for Nick to observe.
"Dad". It may still take a while to get used to that, Nick thought as Klee began to show him different pictures she'd drawn. And Klee was a very skilled artist, having done several portraits of the spies in as much loving detail as a sixteen-year-old could muster.
Two pictures in particular seemed to catch Nick's eye, that being of him and Alex, but older and more "badass" looking.
"Can I assume that this is our future selves?" Nick asked.
"Yup!" Klee laughed. "You both look so cool in those outfits."
"I still remember the time we accidentally got sent into a future where Mandy was a raging media mogul, all because she broke a nail in our time," Nick quipped. "Thank our lucky stars that Mandy's actually been softening up around us lately..."
"But now you have Mindy to deal with, huh?" Klee giggled, to which Nick groaned.
"Don't remind me," Nick sighed. "May still hasn't gotten over the 'Return of Mystery Food X' incident. They'd better have the pool fixed when the fall semester starts..."
At that precise moment, the doorbell rang, and before Nick could even take a single step towards the front door, Nozomi was already tearing down the stairway.
"Whoa, Nozomi, what's the big occasion?" Nick wondered.
"That can only be one person," Nozomi responded, already yanking open the front door to greet her target.
Sure enough, Hikari and Makoto were standing there, carrying their luggage with both their hands.
"Can an aspiring filmmaker come in and see how her best bud ever is doing?" Hikari teased, and Nozomi immediately flung herself into Hikari's waiting arms, incredibly happy to see her old friends again.
"Like I'd ever keep you guys waiting!" Nozomi laughed as she led Hikari and Makoto in.
"So this is where you live right now, huh?" Makoto wondered once he was finally able to set his luggage down.
"Technically, we're just here for summer break, then it's back to Malibu University in September," Nozomi replied.
Nozomi looked behind her and saw most of the remaining spies descending the stairway. "Well, come on, then," Nozomi quipped. "Since we didn't really have time before, let me properly introduce you two to the rest of the squad."
Nozomi took Hikari and Makoto by the hands and brought them into the living room to do just that.
The spy friends were all enjoying some regular TV since Mat's Motocross season was on break for the weekend until 4th of July for the next race at Red Bud in Buchanan, MI. That was when they heard Nozomi calling.
"What's up?" Clover asked.
"I'm sure you remember Hikari?" Nozomi asked, then centering on Sam and Clover.
"Right, you were the one who had her hair replaced," Sam pointed out, thinking back to the "prosthetic model mission" as Clover dubbed it. "Good to see you again, Hikari."
"Sam, right?" Hikari asked. "Thank you for everything." She continued after Sam nodded.
"Yes, hi again," Clover added since she was also spy-napped as well.
"Well, these are the rest of my BFs," Nozomi told Hikari. "Guys, this is Makoto, Hikari's friend from her film studies class in Japan."
"Hello," May remarked with a wave.
Nozomi ran through everyone else, starting with Sam, and ending with May. Hikari and Makoto were considerably surprised at hearing that the main spy trio had boyfriends, and that Nick and Mat had TWO girlfriends apiece.
"TWO girlfriends?!" Makoto chastised. "How'd THAT come to be?!"
"Well," Sam replied. "Mat and I instantly liked each other after he transferred here from Hawaii; I almost lost him when his parents went home, and Mat wanted to stay here, so they let him."
"And I had a mission where a villain messed with my heart," Britney added. "And Mat was there for me in the end."
"When it comes to me, Nick had apparently been crushing on me since they joined our team, but it took a while for him to actually say anything about it," Alex stated.
"Ah, everyone's favorite anime cliché," Hikari giggled.
"I didn't join the team until a while after that, but when we had a mission that took me back to my old hometown... I lost my first love, and it hurt," May explained even as Nick hugged her, knowing it was still hard to talk about. "But Nick was there for me, and I'm sure you can figure out how the rest went."
Hikari and Makoto were just as surprised when they were told that Klee is Nick and Alex's future daughter as well.
"Your... daughter from the future?" Makoto asked.
"Man, you all have the tendency to get yourselves in really weird predicaments, huh?" Hikari giggled.
"Tell me about it!" all thirteen of the spies exclaimed.
"We were just as surprised as you were," Haruka told them.
There was a knock at the door, and Alex went to answer it. It turned out to be Blaine, and he was looking for Clover.
"Oh, and here's our newest spy, Blaine," Nozomi added. "Blaine, these are my two friends from Japan, Hikari and Makoto."
"Nice to meet ya," Blaine replied.
"Yes, nice to meet you, too," Klee added to Hikari and Makoto.
To say that Clover was excited at Blaine's appearance was an understatement.
"So, how long do we get you?" Mat asked them.
"A week," Hikari answered.
"And we can already see you have a really nice place," Makoto stated.
"Thanks," Sam replied.
"Our moms let us live here while they're in Europe," Alex explained.
"Lucky you," Hikari commented.
"The rest of us eventually moved in ourselves," Britney added. "Nick, Mat, me, and everyone else."
"Well, let's get you settled in then," Sam replied, being hospitable.
"If you like, I could offer you my room and I can sleep with Sam?" Mat offered.
"That's nice of you, Mat," Nozomi replied. "But they can crash in my room."
Deep down, Sam was a little disappointed, but it was understanding. After settling in, Sam, Clover, and Alex all gave Hikari and Makoto the tour of their beach house. Makoto seemed to like the fact at seeing their backyard pool.
After all that, a couple of beeps were heard and Nick was quick to react and put everyone in a psychic bubble as they fell down the tunnel and landed in Jerry's office.
"Good morning, agents," Jerry greeted. "Lovely day, isn't it?"
"Yes," Nick quipped as he released his psychic bubble. "Especially when you're losing your touch on WOOHPing us, Jer."
"'preciate the quick thinking, dude," Blaine pointed out.
"What've we got, Jer?" Mat asked.
"Allow me," RiCO answered, but her presence certainly startled Hikari and Makoto.
Nick and Nozomi just merely chuckled.
RiCO waved her hands to change the picture on the office viewscreen to a mugshot of one Marco Lumiere.
"Ugh, I was hoping to never hear from that turbo-nerd after dealing with his wacky computer virus," Alex groaned.
"We currently have no clue what Lumiere plans to do to take his revenge on all of you, so be extra-careful, spies," Jerry proclaimed.
"We last spotted him skulking around the Beverly Hills Airport," RiCO stated. "No clue why he's there, but who knows with our villains, right?"
"All right, everyone, let's gadget up and stop this hack of a film director!" Mat exclaimed.
"Wait, he's a film director?" Hikari wondered.
"You'd probably hate him, Hikari," Nozomi answered. "He's a nutball who was ridiculed for his really bizarre ways of making movies, so he kidnapped a bunch of stars and forced them to take part in his movies, where all the traps and possible death was actually real."
"Freakball even kidnapped me twice!" Alex exclaimed. "Yeah, that was real fun."
"Jerks like him make it harder for actual, hard-working up-and-coming directors to get a foothold in this business!" Hikari proclaimed. "Let's get to the airport and stomp him!"
"Music to these ears," Nick quipped.
10:27 A.M. – Beverly Hills Airport
"Man, back here again, huh?" Makoto quipped. "Weren't we just getting off the plane a few hours ago?"
"Focus, Makoto, you're starting to sound like Chie again," Hikari stated. "Let's keep an eye out for Lumiere."
"Knowing him, he'll probably be making some kind of bombastic entrance soon enough," Clover replied. "For some reason, he's got this insatiable need for making big, dumb entrances like he's a big shot or something."
And sure enough, Marco Lumiere himself stepped out from the shadows, flanked by a small group of gaudy-looking robots with move cameras for heads.
"It's rules for villains, number forty-one, isn't it?" Lumiere laughed. "I'm practically obligated to make a flashy entrance to deal with you wretches."
"All right, you, we're really not in any mood for your nonsense," Alex proclaimed. "How about you spill the beans on your new scheme before we have to introduce your face to the pavement?!"
"And trust me, that relationship will be intimate," May stated, summoning her anchor to her hands.
"I figured, as smart as you are, that you'd have realized my grand plan by now," Lumiere cackled. "I have an amazing movie in the works, but right now, it's really only in the pre-production stages. I figured I'd try and get rid of all of you before I went ahead. After all, your meddling has destroyed many of my possible masterpieces so far, so..."
Lumiere's speech was interrupted when Hikari walked up in the middle of his grandstanding and slapped him hard across the face, causing the mad director to stumble.
"Jerkoffs like you are the reason real film directors can't be taken seriously when they want to create something people will remember," Hikari growled. "I'm not going to let that happen to my career because of you!"
"Ah, a fellow filmmaker, huh?" Lumiere laughed. "Surely you understand my vision?"
"Making movies is fine," Hikari answered. "But I draw the line at your shenanigans!"
"Let's not give him any more speech time," Nick proclaimed, his psychic aura bursting to life around him.
"You said it!" Klee exclaimed, her own psychic aura bursting to life around her. "Let's show mister film hack what for!"
The film robots moved in to attack first, raising their hands to fire off a rope made of film strips that grabbed Hikari and Makoto around their waist to pull them closer to Lumiere.
"Yeah, I don't think so!" Nozomi shouted, blasting the film reels apart with quick Laser Lipstick shots, then sending the robots flying with her Sonic Disintegrator Boombox.
"Thanks, Nozomi!" Makoto proclaimed.
"No prob," Nozomi giggled. "All right, Nick, you and Klee are clear! Start frying the bots!"
"With pleasure," Nick quipped as he and Klee took off into the sky to start firing psychic blasts at the robots.
However, what none of the spies noticed, focused as they were on the robots, was that Lumiere was looking intently at Makoto, having noticed something after Nozomi had saved him.
Hmmmm... that will do very nicely, Lumiere thought.
One of the film robots approached Hikari, its intent obvious, but Nick and Klee both struck, forming psychic energy blades on their arms to slice the robot into three neatly-cut pieces.
While this was happening, though. Lumiere had managed to grab Makoto with one of the robots, only for Klee to fly over and grab the robot in her psychic hold, then wrench her hands apart to split the robot in half.
"Your robots are flimsy," Klee giggled.
Lumiere glanced around, seeing all of his robots in pieces on the pavement thanks to the spies, and decided it was time for a tactical retreat.
"This isn't the end, spies," Lumiere laughed. "After all, we're not even finished with the first act, are we?"
Lumiere immediately threw down a flashbang to cover his tracks, since he definitely didn't want to get a tracking device on him. As he made his escape, he couldn't help but cackle at his fiendish idea.
Let's see how the spies react, Lumiere thought. This new development will be fun.
"Aw, nuts, he got away before I could slip a tracker on him," Haruka groaned.
"I guess the streak had to end sometime, huh?" Nick quipped.
"How about we head back to the beach house for now?" Sam offered. "I'm sure he'll be rearing his ugly head again soon enough."
"Sounds like a plan, honey," Mat quipped.
"You guys can head back," Nozomi stated. "I wanna take Hikari and Makoto to The Groove."
"Ah, throwing them into the deep end already, huh?" Clover laughed.
"It's a hallmark, Clover!" Britney exclaimed, to which the entire group started laughing.
11:00 A.M. – The Groove
"Woooooooooow, this place is amazing!" Hikari exclaimed. "I don't think I've ever seen a mall like this in Japan!"
"Probably because shopping's kinda different in Japan," Nozomi laughed. "Remember that one time we all went to Akihabara to get more supplies for our middle school class project?"
"Oh, lord, don't remind me of that fiasco!" Makoto exclaimed. "We barely got out of that madhouse with our lives!"
Nick couldn't help but smile at the antics of Nozomi and her friends.
As the four of them continued to tour The Groove, though, Nozomi quickly realized something was up.
Every now and then, Makoto would start looking at her with an odd look on his face, but when she tried to catch him in the act, he was suddenly back to normal, only to give her that look again when he thought she wasn't looking.
It wasn't an evil look, per se, just a rather subtle romantic look that reminded her of an unpleasant memory.
When Nozomi was younger and still dating Nick, a student at her high school had seemingly developed an unhealthy obsession with her, practically stalking her all around town. Thankfully, Nick had been able to stop that boy and defuse the problem before it got too bad.
Is it happening again? Why Makoto? Nozomi thought, her mind going in many different directions.
Nozomi tried not to think about Makoto's actions.
"So, this place is..." Hikari started.
"It's called The Groove," Nick told them. "We all love to come here after school, maybe next to our backyard pool at our beach house lately."
"Well, your house certainly has a lot of amenities we can only dream of sometimes," Makoto replied, showing full attention.
"I'll second that," Hikari added. "How'd you get it again? Remind me..."
"Well, it actually belongs to just Sam, Clover, and Alex while their moms are away in Europe," Nick answered. "Then Britney, Mat, me, and the rest of my friends and family moved in eventually."
"That's lucky," Makoto remarked.
"So, tell me," Nozomi stated, looking at Makoto and Hikari. "What's everyone else up to?"
"Well, Yosuke finally got a girlfriend," Makoto quipped.
"REALLY?!" Nozomi gasped. "I gotta hear this!"
"Yeah, he finally managed to work up the courage to ask Chie out," Hikari giggled.
"It took him, what, five years?!" Nozomi laughed. "The poor fool's been crushing on Chie since middle school."
"And that also means that Rise finally won that bet," Makoto quipped.
"Wait, wait, why in the flying turkey were Rise and Naoto making a bet about that?!" Hikari gasped. "This is the first I'm hearing of this!"
"You must have had some really lively friends in your film class, Nozomi," Nick stated.
"Yeah, we were a bunch of nuts," Nozomi laughed. "Still are, honestly."
A while later, Nick, Nozomi, Hikari, and Makoto all finished their lunches. After discarding their scraps, Nick immediately noticed Makoto repeatedly checking Nozomi out.
Something doesn't seem right, Nick thought as Nozomi noticed this, too.
"Makoto, are you okay?" Hikari asked as she noticed this, too.
Now, Nick was REALLY suspicious. He quietly gave the distress call on his X-Powder to alert the other spies.
1:02 P.M. – The Spies' Beach House
Back at the beach house, Sam and Mat were playing in the pool together while Alex, Clover, and Britney were getting a tan.
"Nice to have this summer off with zip to worry about," Alex commented.
"Totally," Clover emphasized. "We're getting swimsuit season off the nice way!"
Alex went off to get a drink to enjoy the poolside time even more. After grabbing a soda, she was met with footsteps. It turned out to be Bridget, and she appeared to be in a real hurry.
"Alex, get the others," Bridget proclaimed.
Just as she said that, Haruka and May were right behind her.
"Hey, where's the fire?" Alex wondered.
"Nick just sent a distress signal from The Groove," Haruka answered.
"But why?" Alex wondered.
"I don't know," May replied. "But we better get to the Groove and find out!"
"Go get the others, Alex," Dawn replied as she ran downstairs with Melissa and Klee.
"Yeah, mama," Klee replied. "Papa needs our help!"
"Okay, no problem," Alex quipped as she ran to put her soda away and run back outside to get the rest of the spies.
"Alex, what got into you?" Sam wondered when she and Mat broke away from a kiss.
"We gotta go, guys," Alex answered. "Apparently Nick might be in trouble at the Groove."
"Trouble?" Britney asked.
"No time to explain!" Melissa exclaimed, coming out in her catsuit. "Come on, guys!"
"All right, we're coming," Mat quipped.
Sam was the first to get out of the pool; Mat, Clover, and Britney were close behind.
"I hope Nick's okay," Haruka stated as the spies took to the sky to get to The Groove.
Things didn't seem out of place when the rest of the spies made it to The Groove, no more than it usually did on a busy summer day.
"Any sign of malicious intent?" Bridget asked.
"Everything looks on the up-and-up," Melissa replied.
At that precise moment, Nick and Nozomi rounded a nearby corner, with Hikari and Makoto following closely behind them.
"Looks like everything's okay," Haruka stated. "Was it just a false alarm?"
May decided to get a closer look, and while things seemed to be normal, she could easily see Makoto's eyes leering towards Nozomi when she thought she couldn't see them.
"I'm not so sure," May quipped. "Let's move in and see if we can discern what Nick was trying to tell us."
With that, the spies moved closer to see what exactly May had seen.
The four of them were having a seemingly normal conversation, but now most of the other spies could see Makoto secretly giving Nozomi a rather... lecherous look.
"Okay, yeah, that doesn't seem right at all," Clover quipped.
"Come on, let's go break up this mess," Alex stated.
As Nozomi glanced towards the nearby bookstore, she could have sworn she saw Makoto giving her another look, but when she turned towards him, his face was normal, still chatting with Hikari about Yosuke's girlfriend like nothing was wrong.
All right, that's it, Nozomi thought. My danger senses have officially been tripped.
"Hey, girls!" Nick proclaimed when he saw the rest of the spies approaching them. "And guys."
"I didn't know you were all here," Nozomi quipped.
"Well, you know Clover and her super sales," Bridget teased.
"Hey, you guys go on ahead, okay?" Makoto stated. "I just saw something in that nearby store that I think Yosuke and Chie will love."
The instant Makoto was inside that particular store and out of sight, Nozomi immediately motioned for the rest of the group to get closer.
"All right, spies, conference," Nozomi proclaimed, and the spies all huddled up to secretly discuss what the heck had been happening. "I hope at least some of you saw what I've been seeing."
"When we got close enough, I saw that look, all right," Clover quipped. "It almost reminded me of how much I used to swoon over my baguette dreamboat before I met Blaine."
"Just nice that I hopefully don't have to 'oy vey' anymore," May giggled.
"That's actually why I called you guys with the distress signal," Nick answered. "Both Nozomi and I noticed those strange looks, even when he thought we weren't looking. I read his mind before he bolted into that gift shop, and he doesn't appear to be brainwashed, because he'd probably be trying to murder us right now if he was."
"Something like this happened back in middle school, though thankfully it wasn't Makoto who did that," Nozomi continued. "I don't want this case to end like that."
"I hear ya, girlfriend," Sam responded. "Does anyone have any ideas on how to deal with this?"
After about a minute of deliberation, however, the spies had drawn a complete blank on ideas.
"This is distressing, isn't it?" Dawn stated.
Suddenly, Nozomi thought of something, but immediately had concerns about this particular idea, considering...
Aw, heck it, Nozomi thought. If it's the only solution, we have to take it before this gets any worse.
"I have an idea, but it's a pretty strange one, so I'd like you guys' input on it before we proceed, okay?" Nozomi stated.
"Let's hear it," Mat replied.
"Well, you know he keeps looking at me, right?" Nozomi explained. "Apparently, Makoto seems to think I'm 'on the market' when I'm clearly not interested in him. I mean, he's a good guy, but he's never acted like this. I don't know if this is a baddie's work or if he suddenly got the compulsion to act like a stalker, but... ooh, boy. I don't know how this idea's gonna go down with some of you, but..."
Both Alex and May put their hands on Nozomi's shoulders, indicating that they at least had some idea of what Nozomi was trying to say.
Her confidence boosted by the simple gesture, Nozomi explained the rest of her plan. "Well, until we can figure things out and get Makoto back to normal... I thought that Nick could pretend to be my boyfriend again, even if just to keep Makoto off my back. That's why I wanted your input, considering how strange it was."
Nozomi looked around to see how the rest of the spies were taking that, and to her surprise, they all appeared to be on board with the idea.
"You guys... are okay with this?" Nozomi wondered.
"Hey, we've been in weirder boyfriend situations before, right?" Clover admitted. "Remember when I had to pretend to be Arnold's boyfriend for a day?"
"Clover, that was because of our mission in Lyrobia," Sam replied.
"Same thing!" Clover responded.
"Or how about the time I had to pretend to be in a relationship with that guy in my high school drama class?" Dawn quipped. "That was something else, honestly."
"Considering the circumstances here, we completely understand, Nozomi," Alex answered. "And honestly, I probably wouldn't have been able to think of something else."
"Sometimes we have to resort to strange, out-of-the-box tactics to solve the case," May stated. "That's really just a typical part of our spy careers."
Despite her initial fears, Nozomi couldn't help but smile brightly. "Thanks, everyone," Nozomi proclaimed. "You're the best friends a girl like me could have."
"Hey, Nozomi, if we're going to kick-start this pretend relationship, we'd better do it quick, because I can sense Makoto coming back," Nick stated, glancing towards the gift shop.
"And hey, if you two ever need any pointers on how to pretend, just chat me up, 'kay?" Hikari replied. "Film director in the making, after all. Gotta know how to act in order to direct, says me."
Makoto walked out of the gift shop, carrying a gift-wrapped bag in his hands.
"Man, was I lucky," Makoto sighed. "This was the last one they had in stock."
"Ooh, I HATE when that happens!" May shouted. "Just be grateful you didn't zoom there as fast as you can, only for them to run out of stock minutes before you get there, because let me tell you, Makoto, THAT REALLY FREAKIN' SUCKS!"
Makoto glanced over at Nozomi, only to see that she and Nick were holding hands and had really goofy, love-struck looks on their faces (just as Hikari had instructed them to do).
Did I miss my chance? Makoto thought. No, I'm sure there's still a way.
"What were you doing at home?" Hikari asked Sam and the others.
"Pool time with my Mat-honey," Sam grinned.
"More summertime fun basically," Clover added.
"So, did this happen before, Nozomi?" Britney asked, getting back to the task at hand.
"Actually, it has," Nozomi answered. "But it was somebody else."
"This certainly tops just casually running into some of my classmates elsewhere back home," Mat commented. "To be fair, my situation was just coincidental and I just exchanged a 'hi' with them and that was it."
"Well, no harm in just saying 'hi' if it's just that," Alex commented.
"Especially since my past spy history is a little cleaner in terms of adversity per se – just saying," Mat added, trying his best to avoid any gloating.
"Anyway, if Nick pretending to be Nozomi's boyfriend again is our only solution, we'll just have to roll with the punches then," Sam quipped, quiet enough so Makoto could not hear.
"Totally," Clover replied, being discreet as well.
"Nick, do you think you can get used to this?" Haruka asked.
"Hey, Nozomi and I were an item before, so it should be easy to remember the old patterns," Nick responded.
"I'll bet that Marco Lumiere guy has something to do with this," Blaine pointed out.
"You know what, I'll bet money that Blaine's right," Mat stated.
"I think I know how we can get Jerry involved," Sam quipped.
She had discreetly equipped the T.H.I.R.D. gadget (Tiny Hidden Investigative Ring Device) on her finger.
"Good thinking, Sammy," Clover excitedly stated.
As the mission continued on, Sam secretly turned the T.H.I.R.D. to a position where Makoto was in plain view trying some sinister action on Nozomi.
"Hopefully Jerry will be able to find something on there with whatever footage Sam captures," Nick stated.
"Here's hoping," May commented.
Makoto didn't know a thing about this; Sam occasionally glanced at Makoto to see if she'd catch him in the act.
"It's a shame we're only here for a week though," Makoto replied, trying not to raise any red flags.
"Well, we can take you to as many places as we can," Melissa replied, playing along.
"Mama, you're okay with this?" Klee asked Alex.
"I trust Nick completely," Alex responded. "It's really just for the sake of the mission."
"Klee, this is a bit of an exception, okay?" Nick reminded her. "Just keep playing along."
"I will, Dad," Klee told Nick.
"So, anyways, Nozomi," Nick quipped, seamlessly sliding back into his 'role'. "Did you wanna go see that new movie this weekend?"
"Are you pulling my pigtails?!" Nozomi gasped. "You don't mean...?!"
"I know you've been wanting to see it ever since it came out, but we've been busy with you-know-what," Nick laughed. "I figured, now that we're not as busy with all that, we could go check it out."
"Seriously, Nick, you are the best boyfriend ever!" Nozomi proclaimed, leaping over to hug Nick tightly.
Nozomi winked at Alex, just in case, and Alex winked back, indicating she understood.
However, while Nozomi was glancing at Alex, Makoto made another move, lunging forward to grab Nozomi by the arm.
"WHAT THE HECK?!" Nozomi screamed.
Nick was instantly on the move, karate chopping Makoto's arm to get him to back off.
"Grabby claws off of my girlfriend," Nick growled.
Sam smirked at that, seeing as she caught Makoto in the act with the T.H.I.R.D. gadget.
"We gotcha!" Dawn exclaimed.
Sam flashed the T.H.I.R.D. in front of Makoto, who was repeatedly denying any malicious intent.
"So, something IS wrong after all!" Bridget exclaimed.
"We better get this to Jerry to see if he can pinpoint something," Sam quipped.
3:00 P.M. – W.O.O.H.P. Headquarters
"...but nothing's wrong with me!" Makoto exclaimed under protest.
"On the contrary, I saw you getting numerous looks at Nozomi, Makoto," Nick pointed out.
"Anything you see wrong, Jer?" Sam asked as she handed the T.H.I.R.D. gadget to Jerry.
"Besides the obvious?" Jerry asked. "It seems very strange that Makoto doesn't seem to remember what he just did..."
"I seriously have no clue what you guys are talking about!" Makoto exclaimed.
"Dude, don't play dumbbell," Nick shot back. "I saw you try to grab Nozomi's arm the way you did, and remember, I'm psychic, so I probably would be..."
Nick's dressing down was interrupted when an alarm began to blare in the office.
"Jerry, we're receiving a transmission!" RiCO exclaimed, waving her hands to change the viewscreen and show the incoming transmission, from none other than Marco Lumiere himself.
"You again," Hikari growled. "When are you going to stop giving movie directors a bad name?!"
"Once this whole wretched organization is wiped off of the map, obviously," Lumiere laughed. "But that may have to wait until I've gotten rid of all of you first."
"Did you just call us to gloat, or do you wanna tell us where you are so we can make a house call and stomp you into the dirt?!" May exclaimed.
"Oh, but I have my own plans," Lumiere laughed. "Come and find me at the attached coordinates below. We'll begin our filming then."
The video cut out just as RiCO finished downloading the coordinates.
"Where's he at, RiCO?" Nick asked.
"The coordinates place him in the old abandoned movie theater in West Beverly!" RiCO proclaimed.
"Of course it'd be a movie theater," Hikari groaned.
"And of course it'd be abandoned," Mat sighed.
"Rule twenty-two always comes through," Haruka quipped.
"All right, let's go and end this project of his!" Nick exclaimed.
With that, the spies got a gadget refit from RiCO and set out for West Beverly Hills.
"Now, as for you, Makoto..." Jerry started, only to stop when he realized that he and RiCO were the only ones in the room.
"Um, where did he go?" RiCO asked.
3:40 P.M. – West Beverly Hills
"Oh, man, I had a lot of memories with this place," Clover admitted once the group had reached the old theater complex.
"Tell me about it," Nick quipped. "It's actually giving me flashbacks of the old Skyway Cinema back in Japan. Remember that one, Nozomi?"
"Ah, good times," Nozomi giggled, clearly remembering what Nick was referencing.
"All right, Lumiere, we're here!" May shouted, summoning her anchor to her hands. "We know you're waiting, so get out here and take your lumps!"
A piercing scream caused everyone to spin around.
It turned out that Makoto, who had secretly followed them, had lunged to grab Nozomi from behind.
"Makoto, what the hell?!" Nozomi shouted, fighting back against her captor.
"W-wait a minute, what is he doing here?!" Bridget gasped. "Wasn't he supposed to stay at W.O.O.H.P. until we could figure this out?!"
"I SAID GET OFF OF ME!" Nozomi snarled, driving her elbow into Makoto's chest and finally breaking his grip on her.
And that look on his face, that extremely lecherous expression, severely unnerved her. Thankfully, Nick stepped over to give her a hug while shooting a glare Makoto's way.
"Back off, you," Nick proclaimed.
Makoto took a step back, suddenly looking very confused. "W-wait, what the heck is going on here? I thought I was at W.O.O.H.P.!" Makoto exclaimed.
"Don't you dare give me that crock!" Nick shouted, aiming his free hand towards Makoto to charge up a Final Shine Attack. "I was right here when you tried to grab her! And if you need any more reason for me to blast you..."
Nick gestured at Nozomi, who was giving Makoto a very hesitant and scared glance.
"Look at Nozomi," Nick growled. "Look at her, asshole. She's scared of you right now because of what you just tried to do to her. Do you honestly think I'm going to let you off the hook?!"
Before Nick could make good on his threats and blast Makoto, another loud scream caught the spies' attention, and they turned around just in time to see one of Lumiere's movie-making robots grabbing Hikari and taking her directly into the abandoned theater.
When Nick turned around again, Makoto had vanished as well.
"What in the hell just happened?!" Sam exclaimed. "One thing leads to another, and now they're both gone?!"
"That just means we need to get inside that old theater and kick Lumiere where it hurts!" Alex proclaimed.
"Exactly what I was thinking," May stated.
That was all the spies needed to finally head into the abandoned theater to unravel Lumiere's latest scheme.
Nick would occasionally glance at Nozomi and note how unsettled she was at what Makoto had done. Feeling words weren't needed at the moment, Nick simply hugged Nozomi, knowing she probably needed some genuine affection at the moment.
After all, even though they weren't in a relationship anymore, Nick still considered Nozomi one of his best friends.
And like hell was he going to let Makoto get away with what he was trying to do.
To be continued...
On the next episode...
Alex: Yikes, this place is creepy. I mean, I expected it, being abandoned and everything, but that still doesn't decrease the creepiness of it!
May: I'm more concerned with finding Lumiere and knocking him around. That includes Makoto, if it comes down to that.
Nick: Here's hoping it doesn't. You gonna be okay, Nozomi?
Nozomi: I've got all of you. I'll be fine.
Clover: All right, Lumiere, get your sorry pale keester out here!
Alex: ...wait, why does this look like a functioning movie set?
May: And why does it look like a harbor that got flushed to Antarctica?
Nick: Well, readers, it seems like we've got a freaky film to fight through next time on Totally Spies: Jealousy Jaunt, "Background Lighting"!
Hikari: Hey, are you using movie terms for the chapter titles?
Nick: It seemed appropriate.