"You were so cool Lily!" Joan squealed swinging her bag around her head.
She knocked a man in the head and the dangling key chain on the zip chipped
a woman's tooth.
Joan, of course, didn't notice, but Lily was bowing apologetically as they moved away with an extremely embarrassed look on her face. Walking to school with Joan sure kept her on her toes.
"Are you still going on about the concert?" Lily asked with a sigh. Joan might have found it the coolest thing since toe socks but Lily looked back on it as the most stressful thing since transferring schools.
"Of course! It was the best social event of the season! For years to come people will be talking about the mysterious girl who appeared out of nowhere to save the show with her electrifying piano skills while Fujisaki Suguru lay on his deathbed!" Joan raved, giving several more people a concussion with her school bag.
"Sorry, sorry, he wasn't on his deathbed, sorry, sorry sir, he just needed his stomach pumped in a real hurry, sorry," Lily corrected as she apologised to Joan's victims.
"Whatever, you still kicked arse!" Joan said with a maniacal grin and raised her bag once more.
Lily jumped up and snatched the school bag from the tall girl's clutches and she could have sworn that she'd heard someone behind her sigh with relief.
"Come on admit it," Joan said slyly and prodded Lily in the chest.
"Well I guess I didn't do too badly."
Joan sagged heavily and sighed. "You just never give yourself a break do you?"
The two rounded the corner and when their school came into view the two transfer students stopped dead.
"What the Hell is this?!" Lily was so shocked by what she saw that she couldn't stop herself from cursing in English.
The front of the Middle School was swarming with reporters, camera men and vans with television logos stamped all over them.
"I knew they'd catch you come day Joan," Lily sighed shaking her head.
"I haven't done anything.yet," Joan said honestly.
"Well lets go find out what all this is about," Lily said flicking back to Japanese and pulled her dazed friend along by her wrist.
Lily spoke Japanese 90% of the time because it was a well know fact that the less you use your second language, the faster you forget it. The other 10% of the time was for when she was talking to Joan or when she was completely stuck with a word.
Together they walked through the large steel entrance gates and walked up to the nearest reporter. She was wearing this season's most fashionable and most expensive outfit and had short blonde hair that had been straightened by a professional.
"Like yo!" Joan said loudly to get her attention.
The reporter turned around and looked at Joan with a very confused expression. Lily banged Joan in the ribs with her elbow and smiled sweetly at the woman.
"Excuse me, but can you please tell me what's going on?"
The reporter was about to tell them to both go away and stop bothering her when someone shouting cut her off.
"Hey, hey! There she is! That's Barton Lily!" a boy from class 2D yelled from across the crowd and pointed straight at Lily.
"We've been waiting for you dear!" the blond woman said with a radical personality change and pulled out a microphone.
Suddenly every microphone, reporter and camera lens in a five kilometre radius were all focused on Lily and she was fired a million questions at once.
"Please tell the readers of "Hit Magazine" about your relationship with Bad Luck!"
"How long have you been playing keyboards for?"
"How does it feel to be the envy of every teenage girl?"
"Have you replaced the band's keyboardist Fujisaki Suguru?"
"Are you going to pursue a musical career of your own?"
"Barton san! Barton san! A statement for the press! Anything at all for the press?"
Lily was waving her hands around to try stop the camera flashes in her eyes and tried to back away from the swarm of press people but they had formed a tight circle around her. She was on the verge of panic when a long arm reached through the wall of people and grabbed the back of Lily's school tie, yanking her out of the prison.
"Run!" yelled Joan, letting go of her friend's collar and pushed her back towards the school entrance.
"Close the gate!" the principal boomed from the school building, "this is our only chance to get the press to cover the lack of funding in government schools!"
The steel gates creaked and groaned as they started to close.
"No!" both the girls yelled but with a defiant clang the gates closed tight.
They both stopped running and looked at each other helplessly. The press was hot on their heels, all of them wanting a statement.
"Plan B!" Joan cried and the tall girl grabbed her shorter friend and threw her up onto the concrete wall.
Lily let out a suitable "oof" as her stomach landed on the top of the wall with her fingers clinging to the edge and her legs dangling.
"Run Lily, run!" Joan yelled and started hitting cameramen and reporters with her schoolbag viciously.
Lily swung her legs over the wall and with a yelp, fell to the ground.
"Owww," she groaned as she sat on the hard pavement and rubbed her sore back. A groan (rather similar to her's) caught her attention and she saw the school gates opening.
"Run damn it!" she heard Joan shriek form inside the gates and Lily got to her feet.
"Lily! Oi Lily! Wait a minute!" she heard the reporters yelling as she ran down the street.
"Leave me alone!"
Once again an invisible clawed hand dug it's way into her chest and squeezed.
**********************************************
"It is her father's wish that Lily does not participate in any more performances and stays out of the public eye. He and I both agree that it's for the best. Don't you think so Sakano san?" Tohma asked with a calm tone. His expression was very similar to that of a river-peaceful on the surface but deep and dark underneath.
"Of course Mr President!" Sakano cried, shaking as he stood before Tohma. "It never would have happened normally but it was just that.."
"I didn't ask for an explanation Sakano san," Tohma said raising from his seat and turning to look out the window. "I just want you to make sure that the situation does not repeat itself."
He then turned to the producer with an expressionless face. "Am I being clear?"
"Ye-yes sir!" Sakano said nervously and trembled sightly as he stood.
Tohma's face then broke into a cheery grin and said, "I'm glad you understand, her father will be most relieved."
Sakano hesitated for a moment then spoke once more.
"Has Sakuma san spoken to her yet?" he asked cautiously and then regretted it.
"I think we're straying from the original subject," Tohma said with the smile still stuck to his face. Sakano gave a nervous gulp and Tohma then said, "you can go now."
"Thankyou sir," and Sakano scurried out of the office.
The door closed with a click and Tohma turned back to the view of Tokyo. Ryuichi had not been pleased to see Lily playing with Bad Luck and when Tohma was told, he wasn't impressed either.
The members of Bad Luck and Nittle Grasper knew both the ups and downs of fame and were quite prepared for any repercussions. Lily however was a thirteen year old girl who had done nothing more than lent a helping hand to her friend Shuichi. She didn't want the fame and wouldn't know how to deal with it.
Both Ryuichi and Tohma had come to live and accept the world of fame but like all celebrities, they wanted to keep their home life private. They would protect it- whatever it took.
**********************************************
'Relax, just relax. Come on, gotta keep breathing. One two, one two. In and out, in and out.'
Lily encouraged herself in her head as she tried to stop wheezing over the bathroom sink. She was now safe in the N-G building and thanks to her access card, the mob hadn't been able to follow her in.
But there was no doubt that they were still downstairs, banging on the glass doors, yelling questions. She'd have to go and tell Tohma but there was no way she was going to face him in her current state.
Lily washed her face with some cool water and tore some paper towel out of the dispenser to dry off. In the mirror her face was still red and her eyes were still watery but this was about as good as it was going to get.
A disturbing whiny sound was echoing off the toilet walls and feeling a sense of defeat in her stomach, she pulled a small object out of her bag.
A few seconds later she left the toilets and took an elevator ride up to Tohma's office. With a quick knock she walked in and Tohma put down his teacup.
"Tohma I.." Lily broke off as she saw Tohma smiling face. "You already know don't you?" she asked with a loud exhale.
Tohma nodded and gestured for her to sit down on the couch opposite him.
"Just sit down and relax Lily chan," he said pouring another cup of tea. "All's been taken care of downstairs. I'm just sorry I couldn't nip this problem in the bud before it bloomed."
"Can't put anything past you," said sinking into the couch with relief.
"Exactly right," Tohma said with a smile, and placing the teapot back on its stand he pushed the second cup of tea towards Lily across the table.
Lily leaned over to grab the tea. "Thanks a he-oww!"
The white teacup fell from her fingers and the tea spilt, the designer carpet soaking it up. Lily's hand flew to her chest and a pained expression passed over her face for a few moments.
"What's wrong?" Tohma asked sounding worried and put his cup down.
"Nothing-nothing," Lily said with a fake smile of reassurance. "I'm just a bit sore from all that running."
"Do I need to take you to the."
"No, no I'll be fine-really."
**********************************************
"You mean it! Really K! You'll take me to the zoo for real?" Ryuichi asked pulling on K's shirt excitedly.
"Of course, I am your former manager after all," K said brightly. "And you haven't been there in ages have you Ryuichi?"
"Nope," Ryuichi said hugging Kumagoro tighter with a sparkle in his eye. "But Noriko took me to the circus last week and I saw a clown, a elephant, a tiger and people who jumped up and down and did this and that."
Ryuichi bounded around the room singing and laughing while K's thoughts wandered. They went back to the day he'd picked Bad Luck up at the airport. Shuichi had completely flipped out when he told him who's Lily's father was.
"But how could he? He's world famous! I know everything about him, and, and no one ever said anything about his wife or kids or any other family! How could this be? He's the worldly Sakuma Ryuichi!" Shuichi had wailed.
"Yea who'd marry him? Anyone would think the guy's mentally challenged," Hiro prompted from the back seat.
"Well, Christina was studying to become a psychiatrist," K said thoughtfully. "And who said you had to be married to have kids? Marriage is no more than a piece of paper to some people."
"I guess that's true," Shuichi said calming down.
"I guess we were just surprised," said Fujisaki after a minute or two. "Because of the way he acts and all."
"What makes you think he's always been like that?" K said looking at him through his sunnies as they stopped at a red light. "Did you ever think that his childlike energy is just a way of hiding something?"
"Eh? Hiding what?" Shuichi asked as his headache from the plane started to fade.
K turned his attention back to the road and drove for several minutes before he spoke again.
"Something that hurts."
"What do you mean?" Hiro asked.
"Ah, never mind," K replied shaking off his serious mood. "Did you meet up with Judy while you were in America? How's she going?"
"K! Hey K!" Ryuichi's voice brought K back to the current moment. "Are you ok? You looked a bit sleepy sleepy na no da."
"Oh, I'm fine!" K said brightly waving his hands. "I was just thinking about something."
"Like what?"
"It's not important," K assured him placing his hands on his shoulders. "It's really nothing at all".
**********************************************
"Bah! Stupid head!" Lily yelled at the copying machine as it jammed up for the fourth time in the past time ten minutes.
"Nice insult," someone complimented from behind.
"I try not to get too carried away," she said kicking the machine out of frustration and much to her surprise it started to copy without a hitch. Lily looked at it with a pained expression and with a sigh ran her fingers through her short hair. "This is so screwed."
Lily turned around to apologise to her companion for her outburst to come face to face with Tohma's cousin.
"Oh Fujisaki san," she said, surprised. "I didn't realise it was you! How are you feeling?"
"Much better thanks," he said smiling. "Tokyo hospital has a great stomach pump. Not that I'm in a real hurry to repeat the experience."
Fujisaki turned to a light shade of frog green as he recalled the incident. "Anyway, I didn't get a chance to thank you for your help on Saturday night. If you hadn't of jumped in the concert would have been cancelled for sure. However if this had been any other normal band.."
He trailed off to mutter things about his colleges under his breath that Lily could hardly make out.
"I'm just glad I could help out," she replied modestly.
"Anyway what are you doing here? Isn't today a school day?"
"Long story," Lily groaned with a slouch.
Fujisaki was tempted to ask more but thought better of it. Over Lily's shoulder he saw the photocopier printing abnormally large amounts of paper.
"Err Lily chan," he said uneasily.
"Yea?" Lily said looking up from her slouching position.
"Were you after that many?" he asked pointed to the broken machine.
"Huh? What do you..arrggg!" she yelled and started to bash the buttons on the control panel.
All Fujisaki could do was stand by with a concerned expression.
"STUPID HEAD!" Lily yelled again and pulled the plug out of the wall.
She put her head down on the dysfunctional piece of machinery and bashed it with her fists. After a few seconds she stood up and headed out the door.
"Where are you going?" asked Suguru.
"Taking a walk. My lungs could do with some fresh air."
'Good luck trying to find it in Tokyo,' he thought.
**********************************************
Yuki Eiri had writer's block, and it wasn't the kind that could be fixed by Thesaurus.com. He lent back in his chair and thought about how he could cure it.
Beer? Nah, he'd already had six cans so far today.
Do a domestic chore and come back to it later? No, the house was spotless.
Go and talk to someone to change his train of thought? No, he hated people.
Look for an insperation? Yea right, the closest thing he had to romance in his apartment was a mountain of unopened fan mail in pink envelopes.
Sex? Yuki looked at his watch and grunted. Shuichi wouldn't be home for another four hours.
Defeated, the acclaimed author took off his glasses and threw them lightly onto the desk. He rubbed his face and saved his work before turning the laptop off. There was no point just sitting in front of the flat screen when there was nothing else to write. He would just have to go out for a while and come back to it later.
He put his shoes on by the front door and slipped into his cream coloured trench coat. His cigarette supply was low and the globe in the living room had blown that morning. He'd have to replace it before it got dark or Shuichi would break more things by accident then a psychotic mongoose.
The crisp winter air blew around him as he stepped out of the apartment building and set off to the corner store. He wore his classy pair of sunglasses despite the fact the sun was well hidden by impending dark clouds. They weren't really there to protect his "irresistible" eyes or to add charisma to his physique, but simply just to fool the dimwitted fangirls (and in some rare cases, fanboys).
Sure, it was those very fans who paid his rent, but they really did get on his nerves. In the early days he hadn't really had that problem, but now he needed a special post office box for the fan mail. After book seven (entitled "Groove") he bought a paper shredder. It gave him an evil sort of thrill to watch Hello Kitty notepaper and love heart covered envelopes being sliced heartlessly into confetti before his eyes.
Yuki considered his paper shredder and his blender to be the best investments he had ever made. Shuichi told him that was scary, but what did that kid know?
After stocking up on cancer sticks and buying the right kind of globe he headed home. Not being in a hurry he thought he'd walk back through the park. There was still a few hours before the school kids finished classes and used the park as a make-out place or a drug seminar.
He walked up the all too familiar path to his favourite bench. On one cool night a year ago a piece of paper had blown down the path and landed at his feet. He had read the lyrics to an appalling love song and had told the writer he had zero talent.
Yuki looked up at the bare trees and let out a sort of a smile. It sure had been an interesting year.
His smile quickly turned to a full frown frown when his bench came into view. It was already being occupied by someone. It was a young girl who was reading a book entitled "Cool".
'Just what I need, a fangirl playing hooky with school' Yuki groaned mentally. He picked up his pace and the girl finished the last page.
She muttered something under her breath and the author haltered. That couldn't be right. No one had every said that before. His English must be getting rusty.
That theory was thwarted half a second later when the girl repeated herself.
"Crap," she said dully. "Absolute utter crap. Why it's on the Top 10 booklist I'll never now." She then lifted the hard covered book off her lap and dumped it in the bin next to the bench. She gave a satisfied smile as a clang rose from the bin.
Yuki was dumbstruck. He had heard that sort of thing before from one or two professional critics, but never from a reader. Let alone a child. As far as he knew girls were supposed to be giddy and craving romance.
Logic told him to ignore it and go home.
Curiosity told him to grab the kid by the front of her school dress and demand a detailed critical analysis.
'Come on Eiri,' logic whispered in his ear. 'What does this kid now about literature? Besides, you're never bothered by a bad review.'
'That's right,' he thought and started to walk again slowly. 'What would this brat know? I bet she's never read anything that required more thought than the Babysitters Club.'
"Now for something good," the girl's voice said behind him.
Yuki twisted his head ever so slightly. A new book was now resting in the girl's hand and she looked deeply engrossed. The complete opposite to when she was reading his book.
He squinted at the title and the English alphabet ran through his head.
"William Shakespeare's Hamlet."
Curiosity won.
Joan, of course, didn't notice, but Lily was bowing apologetically as they moved away with an extremely embarrassed look on her face. Walking to school with Joan sure kept her on her toes.
"Are you still going on about the concert?" Lily asked with a sigh. Joan might have found it the coolest thing since toe socks but Lily looked back on it as the most stressful thing since transferring schools.
"Of course! It was the best social event of the season! For years to come people will be talking about the mysterious girl who appeared out of nowhere to save the show with her electrifying piano skills while Fujisaki Suguru lay on his deathbed!" Joan raved, giving several more people a concussion with her school bag.
"Sorry, sorry, he wasn't on his deathbed, sorry, sorry sir, he just needed his stomach pumped in a real hurry, sorry," Lily corrected as she apologised to Joan's victims.
"Whatever, you still kicked arse!" Joan said with a maniacal grin and raised her bag once more.
Lily jumped up and snatched the school bag from the tall girl's clutches and she could have sworn that she'd heard someone behind her sigh with relief.
"Come on admit it," Joan said slyly and prodded Lily in the chest.
"Well I guess I didn't do too badly."
Joan sagged heavily and sighed. "You just never give yourself a break do you?"
The two rounded the corner and when their school came into view the two transfer students stopped dead.
"What the Hell is this?!" Lily was so shocked by what she saw that she couldn't stop herself from cursing in English.
The front of the Middle School was swarming with reporters, camera men and vans with television logos stamped all over them.
"I knew they'd catch you come day Joan," Lily sighed shaking her head.
"I haven't done anything.yet," Joan said honestly.
"Well lets go find out what all this is about," Lily said flicking back to Japanese and pulled her dazed friend along by her wrist.
Lily spoke Japanese 90% of the time because it was a well know fact that the less you use your second language, the faster you forget it. The other 10% of the time was for when she was talking to Joan or when she was completely stuck with a word.
Together they walked through the large steel entrance gates and walked up to the nearest reporter. She was wearing this season's most fashionable and most expensive outfit and had short blonde hair that had been straightened by a professional.
"Like yo!" Joan said loudly to get her attention.
The reporter turned around and looked at Joan with a very confused expression. Lily banged Joan in the ribs with her elbow and smiled sweetly at the woman.
"Excuse me, but can you please tell me what's going on?"
The reporter was about to tell them to both go away and stop bothering her when someone shouting cut her off.
"Hey, hey! There she is! That's Barton Lily!" a boy from class 2D yelled from across the crowd and pointed straight at Lily.
"We've been waiting for you dear!" the blond woman said with a radical personality change and pulled out a microphone.
Suddenly every microphone, reporter and camera lens in a five kilometre radius were all focused on Lily and she was fired a million questions at once.
"Please tell the readers of "Hit Magazine" about your relationship with Bad Luck!"
"How long have you been playing keyboards for?"
"How does it feel to be the envy of every teenage girl?"
"Have you replaced the band's keyboardist Fujisaki Suguru?"
"Are you going to pursue a musical career of your own?"
"Barton san! Barton san! A statement for the press! Anything at all for the press?"
Lily was waving her hands around to try stop the camera flashes in her eyes and tried to back away from the swarm of press people but they had formed a tight circle around her. She was on the verge of panic when a long arm reached through the wall of people and grabbed the back of Lily's school tie, yanking her out of the prison.
"Run!" yelled Joan, letting go of her friend's collar and pushed her back towards the school entrance.
"Close the gate!" the principal boomed from the school building, "this is our only chance to get the press to cover the lack of funding in government schools!"
The steel gates creaked and groaned as they started to close.
"No!" both the girls yelled but with a defiant clang the gates closed tight.
They both stopped running and looked at each other helplessly. The press was hot on their heels, all of them wanting a statement.
"Plan B!" Joan cried and the tall girl grabbed her shorter friend and threw her up onto the concrete wall.
Lily let out a suitable "oof" as her stomach landed on the top of the wall with her fingers clinging to the edge and her legs dangling.
"Run Lily, run!" Joan yelled and started hitting cameramen and reporters with her schoolbag viciously.
Lily swung her legs over the wall and with a yelp, fell to the ground.
"Owww," she groaned as she sat on the hard pavement and rubbed her sore back. A groan (rather similar to her's) caught her attention and she saw the school gates opening.
"Run damn it!" she heard Joan shriek form inside the gates and Lily got to her feet.
"Lily! Oi Lily! Wait a minute!" she heard the reporters yelling as she ran down the street.
"Leave me alone!"
Once again an invisible clawed hand dug it's way into her chest and squeezed.
**********************************************
"It is her father's wish that Lily does not participate in any more performances and stays out of the public eye. He and I both agree that it's for the best. Don't you think so Sakano san?" Tohma asked with a calm tone. His expression was very similar to that of a river-peaceful on the surface but deep and dark underneath.
"Of course Mr President!" Sakano cried, shaking as he stood before Tohma. "It never would have happened normally but it was just that.."
"I didn't ask for an explanation Sakano san," Tohma said raising from his seat and turning to look out the window. "I just want you to make sure that the situation does not repeat itself."
He then turned to the producer with an expressionless face. "Am I being clear?"
"Ye-yes sir!" Sakano said nervously and trembled sightly as he stood.
Tohma's face then broke into a cheery grin and said, "I'm glad you understand, her father will be most relieved."
Sakano hesitated for a moment then spoke once more.
"Has Sakuma san spoken to her yet?" he asked cautiously and then regretted it.
"I think we're straying from the original subject," Tohma said with the smile still stuck to his face. Sakano gave a nervous gulp and Tohma then said, "you can go now."
"Thankyou sir," and Sakano scurried out of the office.
The door closed with a click and Tohma turned back to the view of Tokyo. Ryuichi had not been pleased to see Lily playing with Bad Luck and when Tohma was told, he wasn't impressed either.
The members of Bad Luck and Nittle Grasper knew both the ups and downs of fame and were quite prepared for any repercussions. Lily however was a thirteen year old girl who had done nothing more than lent a helping hand to her friend Shuichi. She didn't want the fame and wouldn't know how to deal with it.
Both Ryuichi and Tohma had come to live and accept the world of fame but like all celebrities, they wanted to keep their home life private. They would protect it- whatever it took.
**********************************************
'Relax, just relax. Come on, gotta keep breathing. One two, one two. In and out, in and out.'
Lily encouraged herself in her head as she tried to stop wheezing over the bathroom sink. She was now safe in the N-G building and thanks to her access card, the mob hadn't been able to follow her in.
But there was no doubt that they were still downstairs, banging on the glass doors, yelling questions. She'd have to go and tell Tohma but there was no way she was going to face him in her current state.
Lily washed her face with some cool water and tore some paper towel out of the dispenser to dry off. In the mirror her face was still red and her eyes were still watery but this was about as good as it was going to get.
A disturbing whiny sound was echoing off the toilet walls and feeling a sense of defeat in her stomach, she pulled a small object out of her bag.
A few seconds later she left the toilets and took an elevator ride up to Tohma's office. With a quick knock she walked in and Tohma put down his teacup.
"Tohma I.." Lily broke off as she saw Tohma smiling face. "You already know don't you?" she asked with a loud exhale.
Tohma nodded and gestured for her to sit down on the couch opposite him.
"Just sit down and relax Lily chan," he said pouring another cup of tea. "All's been taken care of downstairs. I'm just sorry I couldn't nip this problem in the bud before it bloomed."
"Can't put anything past you," said sinking into the couch with relief.
"Exactly right," Tohma said with a smile, and placing the teapot back on its stand he pushed the second cup of tea towards Lily across the table.
Lily leaned over to grab the tea. "Thanks a he-oww!"
The white teacup fell from her fingers and the tea spilt, the designer carpet soaking it up. Lily's hand flew to her chest and a pained expression passed over her face for a few moments.
"What's wrong?" Tohma asked sounding worried and put his cup down.
"Nothing-nothing," Lily said with a fake smile of reassurance. "I'm just a bit sore from all that running."
"Do I need to take you to the."
"No, no I'll be fine-really."
**********************************************
"You mean it! Really K! You'll take me to the zoo for real?" Ryuichi asked pulling on K's shirt excitedly.
"Of course, I am your former manager after all," K said brightly. "And you haven't been there in ages have you Ryuichi?"
"Nope," Ryuichi said hugging Kumagoro tighter with a sparkle in his eye. "But Noriko took me to the circus last week and I saw a clown, a elephant, a tiger and people who jumped up and down and did this and that."
Ryuichi bounded around the room singing and laughing while K's thoughts wandered. They went back to the day he'd picked Bad Luck up at the airport. Shuichi had completely flipped out when he told him who's Lily's father was.
"But how could he? He's world famous! I know everything about him, and, and no one ever said anything about his wife or kids or any other family! How could this be? He's the worldly Sakuma Ryuichi!" Shuichi had wailed.
"Yea who'd marry him? Anyone would think the guy's mentally challenged," Hiro prompted from the back seat.
"Well, Christina was studying to become a psychiatrist," K said thoughtfully. "And who said you had to be married to have kids? Marriage is no more than a piece of paper to some people."
"I guess that's true," Shuichi said calming down.
"I guess we were just surprised," said Fujisaki after a minute or two. "Because of the way he acts and all."
"What makes you think he's always been like that?" K said looking at him through his sunnies as they stopped at a red light. "Did you ever think that his childlike energy is just a way of hiding something?"
"Eh? Hiding what?" Shuichi asked as his headache from the plane started to fade.
K turned his attention back to the road and drove for several minutes before he spoke again.
"Something that hurts."
"What do you mean?" Hiro asked.
"Ah, never mind," K replied shaking off his serious mood. "Did you meet up with Judy while you were in America? How's she going?"
"K! Hey K!" Ryuichi's voice brought K back to the current moment. "Are you ok? You looked a bit sleepy sleepy na no da."
"Oh, I'm fine!" K said brightly waving his hands. "I was just thinking about something."
"Like what?"
"It's not important," K assured him placing his hands on his shoulders. "It's really nothing at all".
**********************************************
"Bah! Stupid head!" Lily yelled at the copying machine as it jammed up for the fourth time in the past time ten minutes.
"Nice insult," someone complimented from behind.
"I try not to get too carried away," she said kicking the machine out of frustration and much to her surprise it started to copy without a hitch. Lily looked at it with a pained expression and with a sigh ran her fingers through her short hair. "This is so screwed."
Lily turned around to apologise to her companion for her outburst to come face to face with Tohma's cousin.
"Oh Fujisaki san," she said, surprised. "I didn't realise it was you! How are you feeling?"
"Much better thanks," he said smiling. "Tokyo hospital has a great stomach pump. Not that I'm in a real hurry to repeat the experience."
Fujisaki turned to a light shade of frog green as he recalled the incident. "Anyway, I didn't get a chance to thank you for your help on Saturday night. If you hadn't of jumped in the concert would have been cancelled for sure. However if this had been any other normal band.."
He trailed off to mutter things about his colleges under his breath that Lily could hardly make out.
"I'm just glad I could help out," she replied modestly.
"Anyway what are you doing here? Isn't today a school day?"
"Long story," Lily groaned with a slouch.
Fujisaki was tempted to ask more but thought better of it. Over Lily's shoulder he saw the photocopier printing abnormally large amounts of paper.
"Err Lily chan," he said uneasily.
"Yea?" Lily said looking up from her slouching position.
"Were you after that many?" he asked pointed to the broken machine.
"Huh? What do you..arrggg!" she yelled and started to bash the buttons on the control panel.
All Fujisaki could do was stand by with a concerned expression.
"STUPID HEAD!" Lily yelled again and pulled the plug out of the wall.
She put her head down on the dysfunctional piece of machinery and bashed it with her fists. After a few seconds she stood up and headed out the door.
"Where are you going?" asked Suguru.
"Taking a walk. My lungs could do with some fresh air."
'Good luck trying to find it in Tokyo,' he thought.
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Yuki Eiri had writer's block, and it wasn't the kind that could be fixed by Thesaurus.com. He lent back in his chair and thought about how he could cure it.
Beer? Nah, he'd already had six cans so far today.
Do a domestic chore and come back to it later? No, the house was spotless.
Go and talk to someone to change his train of thought? No, he hated people.
Look for an insperation? Yea right, the closest thing he had to romance in his apartment was a mountain of unopened fan mail in pink envelopes.
Sex? Yuki looked at his watch and grunted. Shuichi wouldn't be home for another four hours.
Defeated, the acclaimed author took off his glasses and threw them lightly onto the desk. He rubbed his face and saved his work before turning the laptop off. There was no point just sitting in front of the flat screen when there was nothing else to write. He would just have to go out for a while and come back to it later.
He put his shoes on by the front door and slipped into his cream coloured trench coat. His cigarette supply was low and the globe in the living room had blown that morning. He'd have to replace it before it got dark or Shuichi would break more things by accident then a psychotic mongoose.
The crisp winter air blew around him as he stepped out of the apartment building and set off to the corner store. He wore his classy pair of sunglasses despite the fact the sun was well hidden by impending dark clouds. They weren't really there to protect his "irresistible" eyes or to add charisma to his physique, but simply just to fool the dimwitted fangirls (and in some rare cases, fanboys).
Sure, it was those very fans who paid his rent, but they really did get on his nerves. In the early days he hadn't really had that problem, but now he needed a special post office box for the fan mail. After book seven (entitled "Groove") he bought a paper shredder. It gave him an evil sort of thrill to watch Hello Kitty notepaper and love heart covered envelopes being sliced heartlessly into confetti before his eyes.
Yuki considered his paper shredder and his blender to be the best investments he had ever made. Shuichi told him that was scary, but what did that kid know?
After stocking up on cancer sticks and buying the right kind of globe he headed home. Not being in a hurry he thought he'd walk back through the park. There was still a few hours before the school kids finished classes and used the park as a make-out place or a drug seminar.
He walked up the all too familiar path to his favourite bench. On one cool night a year ago a piece of paper had blown down the path and landed at his feet. He had read the lyrics to an appalling love song and had told the writer he had zero talent.
Yuki looked up at the bare trees and let out a sort of a smile. It sure had been an interesting year.
His smile quickly turned to a full frown frown when his bench came into view. It was already being occupied by someone. It was a young girl who was reading a book entitled "Cool".
'Just what I need, a fangirl playing hooky with school' Yuki groaned mentally. He picked up his pace and the girl finished the last page.
She muttered something under her breath and the author haltered. That couldn't be right. No one had every said that before. His English must be getting rusty.
That theory was thwarted half a second later when the girl repeated herself.
"Crap," she said dully. "Absolute utter crap. Why it's on the Top 10 booklist I'll never now." She then lifted the hard covered book off her lap and dumped it in the bin next to the bench. She gave a satisfied smile as a clang rose from the bin.
Yuki was dumbstruck. He had heard that sort of thing before from one or two professional critics, but never from a reader. Let alone a child. As far as he knew girls were supposed to be giddy and craving romance.
Logic told him to ignore it and go home.
Curiosity told him to grab the kid by the front of her school dress and demand a detailed critical analysis.
'Come on Eiri,' logic whispered in his ear. 'What does this kid now about literature? Besides, you're never bothered by a bad review.'
'That's right,' he thought and started to walk again slowly. 'What would this brat know? I bet she's never read anything that required more thought than the Babysitters Club.'
"Now for something good," the girl's voice said behind him.
Yuki twisted his head ever so slightly. A new book was now resting in the girl's hand and she looked deeply engrossed. The complete opposite to when she was reading his book.
He squinted at the title and the English alphabet ran through his head.
"William Shakespeare's Hamlet."
Curiosity won.