*Thank you all for reading and reviewing so far. I really appreciate it and I appreciate your reviews even more. ^_^ Man, I must remember to avoid using gender based pronouns when the narrator, aka "shadowy person," is speaking so you all won't guess who it is just yet. I mean, you all can guess whom this mon or person could be, but I am not going to tell you if you are right or not seeing as how their identity won't be revealed until the very end of this story. Maybe I'll just hint if you are right or not with your guesses, even if this part does have a pretty big hint in it. :-p Oh, for the record, all of the ages of the characters are rounded up. Let's just say Jou is about to turn 18 or Miyako is about to turn 15, etc. Just trying to keep the ages insync with the Japanese school year and stuff. ^^ Now enough of my blabbing, I'll just continue on with this fic before I bore you all to death.*

Part 3: The Rock & Roll Disaster!

The shadowy person shook their head at the thought of Jou dressing as a rock star.

"It is quite surprising seeing such an intelligent person stoop to such a level, but a pretty face can make one do almost anything that is 'unlike' themselves."

The person turned the page of the photo album which showed Jou in the clothes that Yamato had dressed him in. He looked like a bad *Elvis impersonator with thin framed glasses and Yamato had apparently did his hair, so that it would look kind of messy and wild looking; like a certain 17-year-old soccer player. -_-

Something else that was quite wrong was the size of the pants that went to the outfit. The pants legs were a bit short on him since he was a tad bit taller than Yamato and the arms were the same way.

"He looked like quite the fool, if you ask me," the person frowned. "He would have been better off acting as himself, but that thought hadn't even crossed his mind. Mimi-san was already quite fond of him to begin with."

The person shook their head and sighed again.

"The most obvious solution to his problem, acting as himself, yet he wouldn't follow it," the person repeated, "but let us not worry about that. Let me continue on with this story so you can see how much of a fool the boy made of himself when trying to impress, the pretty, Tachikawa Mimi-san..."
****
It was a beautiful day in the city Odaiba. There were a few friends meeting at a pizza place, trying to figure out how they all should spend their day.

"So, what are you planning on doing for the day," a young, 15-year-old girl by the name of, Inoue Miyako asked her older friend, Tachikawa Mimi.

"I am not sure yet," the pretty, young girl responded.

"Well, you two should come up with something," a redheaded boy, who was sitting in between them with his arms crossed, said grumpily. "I am not really all that fond of the idea of sitting around here all day."

"Oh, Koushirou-kun, calm down," Mimi smiled at him.

"Well, it's true," he continued. "Anyway, where are Taichi-san and Sora-san?"

"Date," Miyako said taking a sip from her soda. "We are just waiting around for Iori and Ken."

"Everyone else is busy today too?" Koushirou asked in surprise.

"I guess so," Mimi said. She then frowned and said in a disappointed tone, "Even Jou-senpai..."

The girl sighed after she said that. Koushirou and Miyako just shrugged.

"He is probably doing some extra homework," Miyako informed Mimi. "He is going into his last year of High School."

"That is true," Mimi said. "He is probably just studying."

"That does it!" Koushirou said in an impatient tone. "I am ready to eat!"

"What happened to your always being polite," Miyako laughed.

"My stomach is doing all of the talking," Koushirou smiled bashfully. "It is affecting my mood and judgement."

"We are supposed to be having a Chosen Children gathering and most of us aren't even here," Miyako complained.

"They better get here soon," Koushirou muttered.

"You notice he only acts this way around us," Miyako laughed.

"Strange," Mimi agreed. "He does act totally different around us. He is always polite and never loses his temper around the others."

"We know the true side of Izumi Koushirou!" Miyako laughed. "He isn't as polite as he seems."

Koushirou playfully stuck out his tongue and pulled down his eyelid at the two girls as he went back to sipping his drink.

A short time later, Iori and Ken showed up.

"Hey guys," Mimi greeted them.

The 12-year-old Hida Iori greeted them first.

"Hello, everyone," he bowed politely. "How are you all," he asked, taking a seat next to Mimi at the booth they were sitting in.

"We're doing okay Iori-kun, but how come you guys are so late?" Miyako asked.

Miyako's ex, 14-year-old boyfriend, Ichijouji Ken, spoke up.

"We would have gotten here sooner, but we both ran into a bit of traffic," the boy responded as he took the free seat beside Miyako hesitantly.

"How come you two didn't walk," Koushirou asked.

"I was kind of tired from all of my training with my grandfather," Iori responded, looking at the menu. "I decided to use public transportation today and man, that was a totally over rated experience! I prefer walking!"

"What about you," Koushirou asked, looking over at Ken.

"From where I live, you expect me to actually walk," Ken laughed. "I live in a whole other district!"

"Good point," Mimi laughed.

"I figured you would have stayed at Daisuke's place," Miyako pointed out.

"I did too," Koushirou said. "That's why I asked."

"Nope, not this weekend," Ken told the two. "I am always staying over at the Motomiya home and have been for the past three years. I don't want to overstay my welcome more than I probably already have."
****
"That was part of Ichijouji's reason," the shadowy person explained, "but his main reason had a lot to do with Miyako in general."

The person put down the photo album they had of Jou and went to another photo album. In the first photo was a 14-year-old Miyako and Ken, hugging one another. On the next page, the two were holding hands, on nice sunny Summer afternoon, walking together in the park during a school holiday; the perfect place for young, blossoming couples. In the last photo the person turned to, skipping over other Miyako x Ken photos, was a very festive looking one. Miyako was giving Ken a kiss on the cheek under the mistletoe when they were at Daisuke's Christmas party that he threw that past December. Both were wearing matching, Christmas outfits. She was dressed in a pretty, Mrs. Claus outfit and he was dressed as a skinny, handsome Santa.

"Since the two no longer date, Ichijouji has been hanging around Odaiba less and less now-a-days."

On the next page, was a photo of Miyako and Ichijouji, but they looked to be moreso friends or strangers, instead of a couple.

"My guess is that he may still like her and hates facing her more than he has to. I don't get that impression from Miyako, though. She seems to have moved on in pursuit of newer relationships and such. Why the two actually broke up is beyond me, though." The person then smiled. "At least the two are still pretty good friends ever since their break up earlier this year."

The person put that photo album down, and took the one back out with Jou and his coupling adventure mishaps.

"Strange how romance works," the person said, turning through the photo album to get back to where they were earlier. "It is very unpredictable. What one may see as the perfect relationship or couple, which is the way everyone, myself included, saw Ken and Miyako, really isn't. Well, I should really continue on with the story of Jou's first love. I have taken up your time long enough..."
****
"Where is everyone else," Iori asked, putting the menu down.

"Well, Yamato said not to bother him at all today because he was going to rest up, Sora and Taichi are out on a date, and it's the same with Daisuke and Hikari," Miyako explained.

"How do you get all of your information," Ken smiled at the glasses wearing girl.

"I have my ways," she said in a sly tone.

"Takaishi-san, has gone out of town for the entire weekend to do some research for her latest writing assignment. Takeru-kun, has accompanied her on this trip," Koushirou explained while sipping on his soda. "He has developed an interest in writing he tells me and decided to join his mother to see her in action."

"What about Jou-san," Iori asked.

"Studying," Mimi sighed sadly.

"Let's not worry about him," Miyako said. "Let us worry about getting our bellies filled with some pizza!"

"I wonder if there is going to be a show today," Ken wondered out aloud, looking at the big, empty stage with a microphone stand in the middle of it.

"There always is," Mimi said. "They always have amateur singers sing during the day and sometimes have contests."

"They take anyone who shows an interest," Miyako added on. "Karaoke is quite popular around here as you know."

"You would never catch me in a singing contest," Koushirou said, shuddering at the thought.

"Yeah, you're right," Miyako smirked. "We would only catch you in an eating contest."

"Ha-ha," the boy said with sarcasm while everyone else laughed.

"Let's order ourselves a pizza," Iori urged.

"Yeah, then we can sightsee or something," Ken added on. "There has to be something we haven't done yet for a gathering."

"We could hang out at the mall," Miyako suggested.

"Nah," Koushirou said, shaking his head. "I'm not much of a 'mall' person. Why not go someplace else?"

"Like where?" Mimi asked.

"I don't know," the boy shrugged. "The Planetarium?"

"Ooh! I like the Planetarium," Miyako exclaimed, clapping her hands.

"I have never been to a Planetarium before," Mimi said. "What are they like? All I know is that it has a lot to do with stars."

"They are pretty interesting," Koushirou explained. "It's like you are sitting out in space, staring at all of the different constellations in the sky."

"They also have a laser light show sometimes," Iori added on.

"Yeah, it's really pretty," Miyako said.

"I think going to the Odaiba Planetarium is a pretty good idea," Ken agreed. "It is a very interesting place. I have been there myself."

"Besides," Koushirou smirked at Mimi playfully, "it's the perfect place for a cheap guy to take a date if they like to be under a starlit sky and you seem like the type that would like that kind of thing, sitting under a starlit sky with 'the guy of your dreams.'"

The girl laughed at Koushirou and gave in. It was strange how Koushirou could joke about dating and love, yet he would still refer to it as a waste of time if ever asked about the topic himself or why he never dated or even made an attempt to ask a girl out.

"Okay, so the Planetarium it is!" Mimi smiled. "Besides, I am outvoted 4 to 1," the girl laughed.

"Okay, time to order our lunch," Miyako said. "What will we have?"

"Veggie for me," Mimi said.

"Doesn't matter to me," Koushirou stated, "but one with the works would be nice," he added on quickly.

"I'm with Izumi," Ken said. "One with everything sounds okay."

"I will take a Veggie," Iori said.

"Hmm, I could go for a pepperoni," Miyako said.

"I would much rather have a veggie," Mimi insisted.

"But I want something with meat on it," Miyako said.

"My idea works then!" Koushirou spoke up. "One with the works has all of your veggies and meats."

"But I don't like all of those extra veggies," Miyako complained.

"I don't like all of those extra meats," Mimi frowned.

"Veggie is much healthier," Iori pointed out.

"Healthy, smealthy, I want junk!" Miyako said.

"One's body is like a temple, Miyako-san," Iori said in a wise manner, "we must treat it as one and not ruin our temple and keep it nice, healthy, and strong."

"Temple, smemple, it's the weekend and I want junk food!" Miyako said.

The group kept debating on what to get until they all said at the same time, "How about Cheese!"

"The perfect type of pizza," Mimi smiled.

"Get extra cheese," Miyako insisted.

"Okay, okay!" Mimi said, calling over the waiter...
****
A good while later...

"Okay, here we are Jou," Yamato said leading Jou into a certain, pizza place.

"Why are we here at the Odaiba Pizza Palace," Jou asked, feeling a bit embarassed due to his outfit.

"We are here because this place has a great karaoke set up," Yamato explained. "Besides, lots of girls hang out around here."

"But I only want one to notice me," Jou told the young, blonde haired boy.

"Well, this is the perfect way to start," Yamato smiled at him.

"You know, we really shouldn't be here," Jou said in a nervous tone. "I don't think this is such a good idea. Besides, this is supposed to be your day off," the boy laughed nervously hoping to discourage Yamato from going through with this plan of his.

"Nonesense," the boy said with a proud smile. "I always help out a friend in need."

"What a great time to show your true trait of friendship," Jou muttered sarcastically.

"Did you say something?"

"Um, I just asked, why did we come in the back way," Jou lied.

"No reason in particular, other than my not wanting to be seen by rabid fangirls," Yamato said. "Besides, we have to get you to the stage so you can sing."

"I don't think I want to now," Jou said, who felt himself starting to have an anxiety attack.

"You have to," Yamato said. "If you want girls to notice you, you should get out there and sing!"

The boy started to hyperventilate a bit. He really wasn't the type to perform on stage.

"Calm down, champ," Yamato said, rubbing his shoulders as if he were a boxing coach, trying to urge his best fighter to get back into the ring. "You'll do fine! We already got the song rehearsed and everything and I have it all set up for you to go on."

"What!?!"

"I was making the call here before we left my place," Yamato said. "I knew this place had one of the best karaoke lounges around and I asked if they had any songs by my band since you are singing one of my songs. They said that they did, so now you have nothing to worry about."

"I think I'm going to be sick," Jou said holding his nervous stomach.

"Nonesense, just get out there," Yamato said, pushing him towards the stage. "Just keep telling yourself that you can do this!"

"I feel stupid with this look," Jou frowned. "Not only do I resemble Taichi only with glasses, I can't even comb my hair with all of this gunk in it! I prefer my clothes and hair to be plain and simple!"

"Stop making excuses," Yamato said. "This look is perfect for you!"

The boy looked at Jou through his hands.

"You look very handsome like that," Yamato exclaimed. "You are a masterpiece! I am a miracle worker! I took a hopeless case and turned him into a handsome, soccer playing star!" Yamato then turned a bit red and said, "I mean, you look great like that! You are a handsome rock playing star!"

"Yeah right," the boy muttered, disregarding Yamato's sudden mentioning of Taichi.

"I refuse to take your pessimist ways, Kido Jou! Now go out there and sing, sing sing!! Taichi would do it for the one that he loves!" The boy then muttered to himself, "Too bad it had to be Sora..."

The boy sighed and decided to go out there. Besides, what would it hurt. It's not like Mimi was going to actually see him and he could build up his confidence and courage if he did go out there and sing for when he was ready to surprise Mimi with a special White Day gift. A song would make a great White Day gift to Mimi, he felt. A nice, sappy JPop song for her is what he figured she would enjoy the most. He did enjoy singing and it was a small dream of his, to be able to sing onstage. It was just up until now, he never had the guts to actually do it.

"Oh, hold on a moment," Yamato said, before Jou went up on the stage.

"What?"

"Give me those," the blonde haired boy said, pointing towards Jou's face.

"My glasses," the boy asked. "Why?"

"Rock stars don't wear glasses!" Yamato insisted.

"Well, this one does," Jou said, giving Yamato an annoyed look.

"You can't get girls to flock to you wearing those glasses!" Yamato said. "Besides, it doesn't match with the suit."

Jou sighed at Yamato. He then decided to give him his glasses. He figured that if he didn't wear them, no one would recognize him with the bad hair and the terrible looking outfit. He then decided to take his chances and walked onto the stage...
****
"Man, am I stuffed," Miyako said, pushing her plate away.

"Me too," Ken said patting his stomach.

"I don't think I want to eat pizza for a while," Koushirou groaned.

Both Mimi and Iori shook their heads at the three.

"You guys should know to stop eating when you get full," Iori scolded them, sipping on a glass of water.

"But I was so hungry," Koushirou complained.

"Well, get up you guys," Mimi said, filled with energy. "I am all ready to go to the Planetarium!"

"Me too!" Iori said in an excited tone. "I really do enjoy the laser light shows and I am sure Mimi-san will enjoy them too."

"In a moment," Miyako groaned. "I think we should sit around here just a bit longer."

Both Mimi and Iori sat back down.

"Yeah," Koushirou agreed, lying his head down on the table of their booth.

"'I am not really all that fond of the idea of sitting around here all day,'" Mimi teased, setting her pizza plate down on Koushirou's head.

"Hey," Koushirou shouted. "Quit stacking plates on my head!"

"It's fun," the girl teased, poking his cheek with her index finger.

"You would think that," Koushirou laughed, sitting up, taking the plate from off of his head.

"Hey, look," Ken said pointing towards the stage.

They all looked to where Ken was pointing.

"Ooh, a show," Miyako exclaimed. "Someone has finally gotten interested enough to sing."

"We might as well hang around for it," Ken said.

"I guess," Mimi muttered. "But I still want to go to this Planetarium place."

"We will, we will," Miyako insisted. "Let's just watch the show first."

A person with wild, blue hair and a white, Elvissy looking suit, approached the stage nervously, tripping and falling the entire time. He heard a few chuckles from the audience. After he picked himself up, he looked over to his right to see Yamato giving him a thumbs up.

Jou felt ridiculous in the wild outfit and he felt his ears going red and burning, thinking that someone was talking about the way he looked. He started to sweat terribly from nervousness.

"How did I let him talk me into this," Jou muttered to himself.

Jou pushed the button on the karaoke player after inserting some money and pushed the button to play, *Negai Kanaeru Kagi, which was a well known song that all of the girls loved. It was one of the Teen-Age Wolves' songs.

"That boy up there looks kind of weird," Miyako noted. "He looks all wet and stuff, like he just took a bath with those bad clothes on..."

"He must be nervous," Iori said.

"Must be," Mimi agreed.

"You know," Koushirou said in an observant tone, "he looks a little familiar."

"Yeah, he does," Ken agreed.

"That outfit he is wearing is hideous," Mimi said, shaking her head in disgust. "I know most people like to get a new look for themselves, like a gimmick, but that's just plain awful!"

"No kidding!" Miyako said in agreement.

"We should be judging his singing abilities, not his wardrobe," Koushirou scolded.

"I can't help it," Mimi said. "I know I'm not into fashion as much as I used to be, but that's just a fashion nightmare on that stage and that hair looks bad too!"

"Too bad we aren't closer so we can get a better look," Miyako said.

"We could move up," Mimi said.

"No way," Miyako said. "I'm too full!"

They laughed as they continued to watch the boy that was up onstage. The song that started to blast from the speaker wasn't the song Jou was planning on singing. He was so nervous, he pushed the number for some other song. The boy had heard the song before and was incredibly nervous. He didn't know all of the words to this song. Yamato had a look of dread on his face when he heard the song.

"Oh no!! Not the song...*Love Serenade!!" the boy said in a dreaded tone.

The boy shook his head in nervousness. He knew that Jou could never sing such a dreaded song and live to tell about it. All kids hated it because it was for the "older generation."

"Improvise," Yamato mouthed to Jou who looked over to him for advice.

Right now, Jou was just swaying to the music, sweating nervously and started to sing scattered bits of the song...

"Um....lalala...."

Norikomu no yo Kido Jou kaa ni kaze wo kitte hashiridasu wa
Saikou no shoutaimu! Let's go! Rock'n roll!

"Did he say..." Miyako started.

"...Kido Jou," Koushirou finished.

"Jou-senpai," Mimi said in a questioning tone.

The whole group was surprised to see Jou as the one onstage singing and all of them were too shocked to actually say anything.
****
"Jou-san started to swivel his hips to the music as if he really were Elvis," the person said, shaking their head. "I thought that he had lost it after we all saw that!"
****
Sangurasu wa pikapika da shi gitaa wo hiku ude mo naru wa
Sekushii na boisu! Minna shibireru wa

"Um...."

Kanzen muteki no rabu serenaade kikasete ageru wa
Kanzen muteki no rabu serenaade yowasete ageru wa
Kanzen muteki no rabu serenaade nakasete ageru wa
Chikara ga minagitte kuru waa....

After Jou finished singing, to his surprise, he got an applause. Sure the song wasn't the best in the world, but he did a good job with adlibbing, but everyone was laughing at his outfit and outrageous hairdo.

"They didn't boo me," Jou said to himself, while bowing. "They didn't hate me, even though I did have to sing an awful song!"

After everyone applauded him for the singing attempt. Mimi and the others got up from their seats and ran up to the stage along with a bunch of other people who wanted to meet up with Jou face to face, mainly to see the weird looking outfit.

"Jou-senpai," Mimi yelled over the crowd, waving her arm, but Jou didn't see nor hear her.

"Wow, you actually sang Love Serenade!" one girl exclaimed.

"Cool how he messed up the words and still made it sound cool," someone else shouted out.

"That's not one of the coolest songs in the world! It's so old fashioned," shouted out another.

"So is the way he is dressed," a boy shouted out at Jou. "Where did you go shopping? At a garage sale!"

Some other kids joined in on the laughter. Jou turned red from embarassment.

"That outfit is hideous," another boy teased. "He looks like a big doofus."

Everyone started to laugh at him, minus the friends he hadn't even seen yet. He frowned as he saw everyone laughing at him. A pretty girl then caught his eye, smiling at him, which caused him to blush furiously.

"Mi-Mi-Mimi-kun!" the boy exclaimed, as he fell off of the stage.

Everyone laughed even more. Koushirou, Mimi, and the others ran over to him.

"Jou-senpai!" Mimi shouted to him, as she helped him up.

The boy took one look at Mimi, turned red and ran off behind stage to where Yamato was standing.

"I guess my sense of fashion is worse off than I thought," Yamato muttered nervously.

"This is all your fault," Jou shouted as he grabbed his glasses and ran out of the door.

"Wait, come back Jou!! Taichi wouldn't run away like that!!"

The boy didn't listen and kept going until the pizza place was no longer in sight.

"I should have known better than to listen to Yamato!" Jou cursed himself. "Now because of him, I have hair that a bullet couldn't even penetrate and look like a bad, four-eyed-Taichi-Elvis impersonator!!"

Yamato frowned as he saw his greatest masterpiece run off. He then decided to sneak off himself before any of the girls saw him. The last thing he wanted was to be stripped down by a bunch of girls, unless they all resembled Taichi of course...
****
"Jou-san," Iori said in surprise. "I can not believe that, that was him onstage in that strange outfit and singing such an odd song."

"I can't believe it either," Koushirou said. "That isn't like him."

"He was probably joking around," Miyako said.

"Yeah, probably," Ken agreed. "He wouldn't make a fool of himself unless he had a reason."

"So, are we all still on for the Planetarium?" Miyako asked.

"Sure, why not," Ken said.

"Are you sure?" Mimi asked. "Jou-senpai looked quite upset when he left."

"He'll be fine," Miyako insisted. "Now let's get going."

It took a while, but Miyako finally persuaded Mimi and Iori, who also felt that they were obligated to go check on Jou, to go along to the Planetarium. She started to believe that Jou was joking around as well, but hated the fact that he had to run off so soon...
****
Time Jou got home, he slammed the door right behind him and sighed.

"I bet Mimi-kun thinks I'm a real weirdo now," the boy sighed.

The boy stood up and got a look of pure determination on his face.

"But I can't let that intimidate me! I have to get Mimi-kun to notice me and not think of me as a doofus!"

He frowned a bit.

"But who do I ask who can give me good advice?" the boy wondered out aloud. "Yamato is out since he just caused me to almost have a nervous breakdown with that disturbing mind of his and his unusual thrill of dressing me up to look a bit like Taichi is a bit frightening."

He then laughed at himself.

"That's what I get, going to a person for advice about dating when they don't date," he chuckled. "I think Taichi would be the better choice to go to. He does date Sora afterall, but after I get out of these awful clothes!"

The boy decided to change out of his "Elvis" like clothing and to never wear them again. Burning them came to mind, but he didn't want to try that with the way his hair was.

He wasn't sure if all of that gel and hair spray and the other chemicals he didn't recognize that Yamato had used in his hair, was flammable or not. He wasn't even sure if a Chemist would be able to identify the different chemicals that Yamato had used in his hair.

He decided to shower and wash his hair before the style became permenant, if it hadn't already, so that he could hurry and get in touch with Taichi...
*******************************************************************************************************************************

Comments

Note 1: I know you all are wondering about the "Elvis" thing. Well, I got the idea to use the Elvis impersonation thing because of Jou's first season drama dealing with his wanting to sing. He did have on a nice little Elvis outfit. ^^ He just didn't have the hair thing going on. ^^

Note 2: Negai Kanaeru Kagi, is Yamato's 02 theme. His band plays back up and Yamato sings the lead vocals for it. It's an okay song. I personally never cared much for it. Too much rock for me. lol

Note 3: Love Serenade is Etemon's theme. The atmosphere of that song and the way Jou is dressed really goes imho. I just changed one thing. The "Etemon" to "Kido Jou." :-p The song is pretty cool to me. I find it kind of amusing how Etemon thinks so highly of himself. lol Now if I could only translate some of that song other than the easy stuff, like "shoutaimu" or "gitaa" or "rabu serenaade" or "sekushii na boisuu" or other "English" stuff like that ^^;