A/N: I'll be taking a break next week, so no new chapter...sorry about that! Hope you enjoy!

22 / Stars and Revelations Part I

Kotaro didn't know whether to be impressed or just annoyed.

Sakura's kid brother had turned out to be good, much better than he had expected and Kotaro hated that. He supposed he shouldn't really be surprised. Sakura, bad luck aside, had been good at pretty much anything with enough motivation. Maybe it was a family thing. But, in his mind, Kotaro decides right then and there that Sakura is the only one with any talent and that's the end of that.

His frown deepens at the kid, who's looking all smug at the compliments the girls are throwing his way. Even Tae, legend that she is, is mystefied into silence. The thing that really gets to Kotaro, however, is the fact that the music matches a song he's been writing for a few days back. The happy beat, the little waves of sweetness, everything matches to the lyrics he's made. It's as if Genji made that song just to spite him and not because Lily had asked him to.

(and Sakura is smiling, too, and he's not so sure on what he's feeling)

"So, what's the verdict?" Genji asks, turning towards Kotaro, who's still silently fuming inside his head. Kotaro's frown is still in place as Genji and the zombies stare at him.

A 'hmph' is Kotaro's only reply.

"Well," Lily begins turning to Genji, "I think it's pretty cute!" Saki nods beside her and crosses her arms.

"It's alright...a little too girly for me, but it's a good beat."

"Aren't you in an idol group, though?" Genji asks, raising an eyebrow. "You're about as girly as it gets." Saki shrugged.

"I think it's a rather lovely tune," Junko says, eyes gazing with wonder at the program in the computer. Genji gave her a nod.

"Thanks."

Ai looked at the still opened program with mild interest before glancing at Kotaro and then giving Genji a nod. "I agree with Junko...it's a good song but…" she trailed off, Genji shrugged and sent a flat look at Kotaro.

"The man isn't," he finished dryly, making Saki laugh while Ai managed a tiny smile and Lily giggled. Sakura and Yugiri glanced at Kotaro, glancing at each other when the man let out an indignant cry.

"What's that supposed to mean, eh!?" the older man began, "You think you're better than me!? Is that it!?"

Genji shrugged. "I'm as good as I need to be."

Not really having a good retort for that last remark, Kotaro just grumbled.

"Tatsumi," Sakura said, ignoring as Kotaro began to grumble even louder. "Having Genji around can lessen your workload, right? Weren't you com-I mean, saying that we had a busy few months ahead of us?" Kotaro turned to the side, already recalling how he had explained (yelled) at the girls that they had a busy few months coming up. True, adding Genji to the team would help him with the songs and all that, and well, having someone like him around could prove useful. But Kotaro didn't trust the guy. It wasn't because he was jealous of how close he and Sakura were, no, it was just the principal of the matter. Still, he was pretty much stuck.

The other girls were more than willing to give him a chance, mostly out of their friendship with Sakura.

(they also probably figured that Sakura would become depressed again if they didn't let the kid stay)

Kotaro sighs, crosses his arms over his chest and says, "Alright! FINE! FINE YOU STUPID ZOMBIES!" Genji gives him a small glare at that last remark. "FINE! FINE! You're staying! But ..." He uncrossed his arms and pointed a finger towards the ceiling. "You are just on a trial period, you hear me!? On trial!"

"You're not even paying me…"

"TRIAL PERIOD! TRIAL PERIOD!" Kotaro cries over and over again before he recovers his composure and he turns away from the group. "I need some music done by the end of the day...so, get to it." The older man walks away and he's gone before Genji can ask him what the song is about.

Against her better judgement, Aoi decides to keep Okoba's card.

Once she gets home, the doctor goes straight to her laptop, staring at the screen for a while before she begins searching the names that Okoba mentioned. She left the calendar on the table, opened to the current month. There's Three, Two, Four and Zero wearing jackets, looking rather dangerous in a playground. Aoi's eyes softened as they fall on Three before shaking her head and typing the first name in the keyboard.

Aoi finds Hoshikawa almost instantly. She's a cute little thing, a star, gone too soon from this world. Six and Hoshikawa might as well be twins the more Aoi stares at child star's picture. It's rather troubling, this resemblance. Aoi is a doctor. She knows that the dead cannot come back to life. Perhaps Okoba was just exaggerating as all reporters tend to do to make a story work.

(but her mind wishes it were true...it could explain so much...if Ai were…)

Aoi types Konno's name next.

Four and Konno have the same problem that Aoi found with Six and Hoshikawa. But logic is setting in again. Maybe Konno had a child and this child had a child and that's howーbut Konno did not have any children. The young lady left this world too fast.

Nikaido. She's a criminal. There's records and everything. Died by jumping off of a cliff during what appeared to be a race and Two's wearing her face. Nikaido, too, seems to have no records of ever having children and Aoi cannot ask because the girl's only family passed away almost twenty years back.

For Yugiri, she can't find much. There's prints and some sketches. All depict a beautiful woman that shares Five's face.

Minamoto Sakura. Poor girl. Died four months before her Ai did. Hit-and-run. They never found her killer. The news report Aoi had found said that she was hit right in front of her home, her head split open. Aoi remembers the scar on One's face from that October photo. The doctor goes as far as to check the calendar again, flipping the pages until she arrives in the month of October. There's a scar on One's forehead, almost reaching her nose.

And then, there's Three. Three, who's bandaged from head to toe. Three, whose giving a very familiar smile as Four holds her head. Three, whoー

But everything is just a big coincidence, isn't it?

It's all very surreal.

Aoi is a doctor. She knows the difference between being dead and alive.

But how do you explain an idol group resembling the dead? How do you explain it? Distant relatives? Surgery? Disguises?

Everything had a proper explanation and yet, Aoi was already searching again.

The doctor played her daughter's famous song, "Fantastic Lovers", hearing Ai's sweet voice for a while before searching one of Franchouchou's songs. Okoba had mentioned how alike their voices sounded.

She found a video of an event in Imari. Pausing Iron Frill's song, Aoi hit play in the video and watched.

A few minutes later, Aoi begins to cry, her eyes clouded with tears as she stares at the screen as Franchouchou dances, paying attention to Three and how alike, no, how Ai sings and dances.

A day later, Okoba figures he should be lucky that Aoi didn't call the cops on him before he could explain his findings. Years ago, after Ai's untimely death, reporters had not let Ai's mother and the girls from Iron Frill in peace, printing article after article, talking about Ai, her accomplishments and her untimely demise on stage, a few sensationalizing the whole thing linking it to the gods and whatnot. Aoi had been hounded for days, as had Ai's bandmates. Iron Frill had separated not too long after Ai's demise. The agency had taken the disbandment quite well, although they might have taken it too well due to making bank out of the tragedy, as fans all over Japan and a few around the world bought all the merchandise featuring Ai and Iron Frill. The Fantastic Lovers CD had gone out of print in a year and in two, Iron Frill, from the exception of their dead leader, had been forgotten.

Okoba figured that he had rushed too soon. He had been concerned with Ms. Mizuno calling the police he had not showed restrain. And yet, when he had revealed everything, Okoba had not expected Aoi's defeated reaction. He had expected the anger, the denial but all his revelations revealed was a sad woman that had come looking for her daughter's ghost.

He decides to leave Aoi Mizuno be for the time being. If she believes him, she'll call, that is if she kept his card but chances are she had thrown it away.

Takeo Go is next on his list.

Nikaido's grandparents had passed away almost twenty years ago and there was no immediate family that cared. Konno's parents had died a while back, too. Finding next of kin had proven more trouble than what was worth. Minamoto's parents had proved to be rather elusive. It certainly didn't help that her mother had moved to a whole other continent and that her father wasn't taking any calls. Apparently, in the last five years, Minamoto's father had opened a company in Tokyo and despite making constant calls to get into contact with him, Okoba was ignored or told by the secretary that Mr. Minamoto was busy or that he didn't talk to reporters. Perhaps giving his name and letting the secretary do her own research had been a terrible idea.

And now, he was left with finding Takeo Go.

But he's not sure how to approach the man.

He knows from his research that Mr. Go is rather passive despite his large size. If he reacts with violence, Okoba knows that he's done for. Okoba needs to think carefully of what he needs to say to Takeo before dropping the bombshell. He'll probably get denial right off the bat but he won't know unless he tries.

Okoba picks up his phone and dials Takeo Go's number and then he waits.