Disclaimer: I do not own Hana Yori Dango.
Chapter 21: A Collaboration
Tsukushi arrived the following Monday afternoon at Akira's house at 3 o'clock on the dot. As she stood out on the doorstep, fumbling in her purse for her duplicate key, the door swung open and Akira and Soujiro burst forth.
"Hey," she greeted them. "Going somewhere?" she asked when she saw that Jiro had his car keys in hand.
"Yep. We're going out to the mall for ice cream."
She looked at her watch to make sure she had the correct time. "But what about rehearsal?"
"Rehearsal has been delayed by about an hour or so. Rui called earlier to say he'll be late."
"Oh. Where's Tsukasa then?"
"Downstairs, having one of his moods. That's why Jiro and I decided to leave him alone for the meantime, to give him some time to cool off. C'mon, you better come with us," Akira said as he slung an arm around her shoulder and turned her away from the door.
Tsukushi wriggled away from him and made to go back to the door. "I just came from the mall. I don't wanna go back there again then have to come back here after an hour. Maybe I'll just take a nap on the couch while you guys are away."
Soujiro shrugged. "Suit yourself. Don't say we didn't warn you though."
"Oh c'mon. It can't be that bad. Can't be worse than the time you locked us up in the basement before."
The two men looked at each other. She did have a point.
Not wanting to stand outside any longer in the smothering heat, she gently shooed them. "Go on. I'll see you guys later." She went inside the house as soon as she saw them get in the car Jiro had parked at the curb.
The cool blast of air from the centralized AC in the house was a welcome relief from the humid weather outside. As she made her way down the short flight of stairs leading to the basement, she could hear some chords being strummed out on a guitar. She opened the door slowly and saw Tsukasa, his face in a scowl with Rui's guitar slung by its strap on his shoulder. He took out the pencil tucked behind his ear and scribbled something on the pad of paper that was placed on the table before him. After a few muttered curses, he tore the paper off and crumpled it up into a tight ball. He aimed carefully at the trash can situated at the end of the room and threw the crumpled sheet at it. Tsukushi's eyes followed the graceful arc it made as it flew across the room. His aim was perfect and the paper ball would have dropped neatly into the small receptacle if it hadn't already been full of similarly crumpled bits of paper. As it was, it bounced off gingerly from the overflowing trash can and joined the other creased sheets on the floor near it.
Tsukasa looked up as Tsukushi entered the room. "Hey," she greeted brightly.
"Oh, it's you," he replied in a flat voice.
"Gee, it's nice to see you too," she spoke, her voice dripping with sarcasm.
His features softened momentarily as he ran a hand through his unruly curls. "Sorry," he mumbled. "Bad day, as you can see," he said as he gestured at the mess around him.
Tsukushi nodded thoughtfully. "Well, don't mind me. I'll be as quiet as a mouse. Wouldn't want to disturb you or anything. Just carry on whatever you were doing before I arrived."
He nodded and turned his attention back to alternately strumming a few bars of music on the guitar and scribbling on the paper before him. Tsukushi stretched her small frame across the couch and tried to get some shut-eye, but she found herself opening her eyes again and again at the small sounds Tsukasa kept making in his frustration. Finally she gave up on napping altogether although she remained lying on the couch with her hands clasped behind her head to pillow it against the couch's arm. She studied Tsukasa curiously as he went about his task. It was obvious that he was trying to write a new song, but he seemed to be struggling with his muses today.
Tsukasa snapped his third pencil of the day and watched as its broken remains fell from his hand onto the floor. He hadn't had much sleep from the night before, when they arrived back at Tokyo from the beach. The kiss he had shared with Tsukushi kept on playing over and over his head, preventing him from resting his weary body. Questions plagued his mind as he tossed and turned in his bed. What would've happened if Jiro and Akira hadn't come when they had? Would he have deepened the kiss? How would she have responded if he had? Would she have kissed him back or would she have slapped him in the face?
As sleep continued to elude him 'til the wee hours of dawn, he rose from his bed and decided to make use of all the pent-up energy inside him to write a new song. A melody was already playing in his head and he went to his closet to take out his old guitar to see if he could play the tune out. The sun had almost come out when he went back to lay on his bed. He had already worked out the whole melody and had written the notes down on paper. He decided to work on the lyrics after he had gotten some much needed sleep.
Unfortunately, his muses seemed to have abandoned him today. No matter how hard he tried, he just couldn't write the words that would fit the tune he had composed. Which explained the lousy mood he was in right now.
He didn't know how long he remained staring at the floor like that, but he looked up when he sensed he was being observed. As his gaze met Tsukushi's, her face reddened and she instantly looked away, embarassed at being caught staring so openly. Suddenly she realized that this was the first time they were alone together since the other night at the beach. Her face, which had already taken a crimson hue, turned several shades deeper, if that was even possible. She cleared her throat self-consciously as she stood up from the couch. "Um, I'm going upstairs to make some coffee. Would you like a cup?"
"That would be nice," Tsukasa said diffidently as he nodded.
She went upstairs and returned several minutes later with two steaming cups of coffee. She set them down on the table, taking care to keep them away from the pad of paper he had been working on. A glance showed her he had taken a fresh sheet and started writing again. "What do you have there?" she asked casually as she pulled a chair for herself.
"New song," he replied as he looked at her over the rim of his cup. "Can't seem to get it right though." He grew quiet as he continued to sip from his cup, letting the dark, bittersweet liquid warm his throat. When he had finished its contents, he set the cup down on the table and proceeded to tear off the sheet from the pad. "Ah," he sighed ruefully. "I don't know why I even bother anyway. No one seems to like what I write."
"That's not true!" Tsukushi protested. "You write great songs. Really."
"Yeah, right," he replied cynically. "That must be why whenever we sing one of our original songs, all we get is a smattering of polite applause, as compared to the enthusiastic response we receive when we're doing covers of popular songs."
"Oh stop. Quit feeling so sorry for yourself. I'm sure you know even better than I do how hard it is to get a break in the music scene. You just have to keep on trying until you come up with that one song that people will notice. And once they do, they'll start noticing all your other songs too."
"I don't know..." As he let his voice trail off, he started to crumple the sheet in his hand again.
"Wait! Let me see what you've got," Tsukushi said as she snatched the paper from his hand before he could crease it further. "Don't worry, if it's really bad, I'll tell you," she winked.
Tsukasa shrugged and got back the guitar he had set down on the couch. As she read the few words he had written, he strummed out the melody he had composed earlier. "This is good," she remarked. Tsukasa shrugged his shoulders again. What he had so far may be good, but not good enough. He went back to plucking the strings of the guitar absently. He didn't notice until minutes later that Tsukushi was scribbling some words on the wrinkled sheet. "Here," she held the paper out to him once she was done. "What do you think?"
He saw that she had crossed out some lines and replaced them with new ones. He read the paper silently, singing the new words mentally in his head. When he said nothing after several minutes, Tsukushi snatched the sheet from him abruptly. "Oh, forget it. I should've known it's no good."
"No! Gimme that!" he protested as he grabbed the paper back from her. "This is not bad," he said as he held the paper up and flashed his first real smile of the day. "In fact, it's quite good."
"Thanks," she blushed. "Um, I dabbled a little in poetry when I was still in school," she offered shyly.
"This is great. Will you please help me to write this song?" he asked her earnestly.
"It would be my pleasure," she beamed.
===================
Akira and Soujiro came back to find Tsukushi and Tsukasa quietly working at the table, their heads close together.
"Hey, we're back! Anyone want some ice cream?" Soujiro asked as he held up a tub of Haagen-Dazs.
Tsukushi's eyes lit up when she saw it was her favorite Dulce de Leche. "Yum! I'm going upstairs to get some spoons!" she enthused as she hurriedly went up the stairs.
Tsukasa meanwhile, stood up, stretched his arms, and cracked his knuckles to ease out the stiffness in him. Akira and Soujiro were surprised to see that the nasty scowl he had on his forehead before they left had already smoothened out, and a satisfied smile was now playing on his lips.
"Wow," Akira remarked. "I've got to hand it to Tsukushi. She sure knows how to turn your mood around."
"Huh?" Tsukasa's brows knitted in confusion.
"Dude, when we left, your face was like this," Akira scrunched his face exaggeratedly as he tried to show Tsukasa what he looked like whenever he was in a foul mood. "Now you're like this," he said as he immediately changed his demeanor with an angelic smile.
"Oh, shut up," Tsukasa muttered as he pretended to busy himself by picking up the bits of crumpled paper around the trash can. He pushed these in, compressing them into the receptacle with his foot, so they wouldn't spill out again.
His two band mates looked at each other with wide eyes as realization dawned on them. "You like her, don't you?" Soujiro asked in a teasing voice.
"No, I don't!" Tsukasa shook his head defensively.
"Liar!" Akira laughed as he wagged an accusing finger at Tsukasa's face, which by now was warm and red, like a ripe, plump tomato. "The last time I saw you like this was when you were still with Sakurako!"
At the mention of his gold digger ex-girlfriend's name, the scowl returned to mar Tsukasa's face. But even if Akira noticed, he chose to ignore it and continued teasing Tsukasa. "Dude, admit it. You like her! It's so freakin' obvious, so don't bother denying it!"
"Denying what?" Tsukushi emerged from the staircase door, followed by a sluggish Rui.
"Nothing," Tsukasa replied as he shot a warning look at Akira and Soujiro.
Tsukushi shrugged, then proceeded to hand each of them a spoon and took off the lid from the ice cream tub. Akira and Soujiro declined, saying that they've had their fill of ice cream for that day. Rui didn't want a spoon either but Tsukushi forced him to take one. "C'mon sleepyhead, let's get some sugar into you to wake you up." The five of them crowded around the small square table. Tsukushi, Tsukasa and Rui shared the ice cream among themselves while Jiro and Akira read with interest the sheet of paper Tsukasa and Tsukushi had been working on earlier.
"Hey, this is pretty good. New song, Tsukasa?" Soujiro asked.
"Yup," Tsukasa nodded enthusiastically. "Tsukushi's co-writing it with me. Hopefully we'll have it done by tomorrow."
"Oh, so you're co-writing a song now huh?" Akira remarked in an innocent tone, although he shot a knowing glance at Tsukasa. Thankfully, Tsukushi was too excited over her collaboration with Tsukasa to notice Akira's sudden yelp of pain when Tsukasa kicked him hard on the shin under the table.
"Yeah! Tsukasa's got the tune all worked out, and we've already written a few stanzas. I think we'll have it done by tomorrow," Tsukushi grinned excitedly.
"Okay guys," Tsukasa said as he stood up. "We're already running late as it is. We better start rehearsals now," he declared while flashing a final glare of warning towards Akira's direction so he'd shut up. "Tsukushi, let's continue working on the song tomorrow, okay? Um, is it okay if you come an hour earlier than the usual?" he asked, after which he hurriedly added, "I'll call Haru, of course, to let you off early."
"Hey, you're the boss," Tsukushi replied with a casual shrug of her shoulders. With that, they all took their places to start rehearsals for that day.
********************
A/N: The summer heat is frying my brain to a crisp. It's becoming increasingly hard to sit in front of the PC typing out anything that makes sense, in this sweltering heat. This chapter wasn't supposed to end here, but I just couldn't come up with anything beyond that last sentence. Maybe I'll just post the rest of what's supposed to happen in a short chapter next update. I might be going out of town for the Holy Week, so the earliest I can update will be after Easter. Have a blessed Holy Week, everyone!
ToinKs: There, I made them kiss, lol! Too bad Jiro and Akira had to interrupt them. Oh, and don't worry, this is definitely a TxT fic. The pairing's been pretty much etched in stone since the first few chapters. Thanks for reading!
InvisibleRain: Hey there! Thanks for thinking I didn't go overboard with the fluff. I'm glad you like the pace at which their romance is developing, even though it is quite slow.
jinx19: Hi and welcome, new reader! I'm glad you're enjoying my story. I hope you weren't disappointed with the kiss.
XxSwtDreamerxX1: Hey! It's nice to know you liked the recent updates. Thanks for your continued support!
Sailor Angie: Angie, Angie, Angie! You're my #1 fan?! Aww, shucks, I don't know what to say! *blushes* LOL, thanks for pointing out that paragraph wherein I used the word 'already' four times. Careless writing on my part, hehehe! And being the lazy bum that I am, I haven't gone and edited it yet. Promise me you'll point out my other stupid errors in the future, 'kay? Keep me on my toes. Hope your roommate doesn't think you're crazy because of reading this fic, hahaha!
cristine mae: Hi! Nice to hear from you again. Yeah, I'm rarin' to go to the beach too, and I'm gonna get my chance this week, hehehe.
kami: Heya! Nope, can't give you any hints as to where the story's going, hehe. As for the playful banter between T&T, *sigh* yeah I miss those moments too. But I really suck at writing witty repartees, so, sorry if I can't come up with those scenes. Hope you'll still read this though.
cherub girl: Aww gee, you really flatter me with your kind words. I'm glad you can identify with the story in a way. It's nice to hear you liked the last two chapters. Yeah, Jiro and Akira were quite funny when they were drunk, ne? I just love writing about those two 'cause they provide a welcome relief from all this fluff I've been writing lately. I'm starting to get a toothache, lol!
pnai_luvn_inuyasha: Yay, another new reader! Welcome aboard, and I'm glad you like my story. Yup, I'm Filipino. I'm guessing you are too, because of your pseudonym?
thidathai: Another new name on the reviews page, wheeee! Here's the update. Thanks for reading!
otakuchique: Hi again! Yeah, FF.net has been really hard to access the past few days for me too. Glad you liked the updates. Hope you like this one too.
flipgrl: Hey, good to hear from you again! Hope you like this chapter as much as the last two. Thanks for reading!
Chapter 21: A Collaboration
Tsukushi arrived the following Monday afternoon at Akira's house at 3 o'clock on the dot. As she stood out on the doorstep, fumbling in her purse for her duplicate key, the door swung open and Akira and Soujiro burst forth.
"Hey," she greeted them. "Going somewhere?" she asked when she saw that Jiro had his car keys in hand.
"Yep. We're going out to the mall for ice cream."
She looked at her watch to make sure she had the correct time. "But what about rehearsal?"
"Rehearsal has been delayed by about an hour or so. Rui called earlier to say he'll be late."
"Oh. Where's Tsukasa then?"
"Downstairs, having one of his moods. That's why Jiro and I decided to leave him alone for the meantime, to give him some time to cool off. C'mon, you better come with us," Akira said as he slung an arm around her shoulder and turned her away from the door.
Tsukushi wriggled away from him and made to go back to the door. "I just came from the mall. I don't wanna go back there again then have to come back here after an hour. Maybe I'll just take a nap on the couch while you guys are away."
Soujiro shrugged. "Suit yourself. Don't say we didn't warn you though."
"Oh c'mon. It can't be that bad. Can't be worse than the time you locked us up in the basement before."
The two men looked at each other. She did have a point.
Not wanting to stand outside any longer in the smothering heat, she gently shooed them. "Go on. I'll see you guys later." She went inside the house as soon as she saw them get in the car Jiro had parked at the curb.
The cool blast of air from the centralized AC in the house was a welcome relief from the humid weather outside. As she made her way down the short flight of stairs leading to the basement, she could hear some chords being strummed out on a guitar. She opened the door slowly and saw Tsukasa, his face in a scowl with Rui's guitar slung by its strap on his shoulder. He took out the pencil tucked behind his ear and scribbled something on the pad of paper that was placed on the table before him. After a few muttered curses, he tore the paper off and crumpled it up into a tight ball. He aimed carefully at the trash can situated at the end of the room and threw the crumpled sheet at it. Tsukushi's eyes followed the graceful arc it made as it flew across the room. His aim was perfect and the paper ball would have dropped neatly into the small receptacle if it hadn't already been full of similarly crumpled bits of paper. As it was, it bounced off gingerly from the overflowing trash can and joined the other creased sheets on the floor near it.
Tsukasa looked up as Tsukushi entered the room. "Hey," she greeted brightly.
"Oh, it's you," he replied in a flat voice.
"Gee, it's nice to see you too," she spoke, her voice dripping with sarcasm.
His features softened momentarily as he ran a hand through his unruly curls. "Sorry," he mumbled. "Bad day, as you can see," he said as he gestured at the mess around him.
Tsukushi nodded thoughtfully. "Well, don't mind me. I'll be as quiet as a mouse. Wouldn't want to disturb you or anything. Just carry on whatever you were doing before I arrived."
He nodded and turned his attention back to alternately strumming a few bars of music on the guitar and scribbling on the paper before him. Tsukushi stretched her small frame across the couch and tried to get some shut-eye, but she found herself opening her eyes again and again at the small sounds Tsukasa kept making in his frustration. Finally she gave up on napping altogether although she remained lying on the couch with her hands clasped behind her head to pillow it against the couch's arm. She studied Tsukasa curiously as he went about his task. It was obvious that he was trying to write a new song, but he seemed to be struggling with his muses today.
Tsukasa snapped his third pencil of the day and watched as its broken remains fell from his hand onto the floor. He hadn't had much sleep from the night before, when they arrived back at Tokyo from the beach. The kiss he had shared with Tsukushi kept on playing over and over his head, preventing him from resting his weary body. Questions plagued his mind as he tossed and turned in his bed. What would've happened if Jiro and Akira hadn't come when they had? Would he have deepened the kiss? How would she have responded if he had? Would she have kissed him back or would she have slapped him in the face?
As sleep continued to elude him 'til the wee hours of dawn, he rose from his bed and decided to make use of all the pent-up energy inside him to write a new song. A melody was already playing in his head and he went to his closet to take out his old guitar to see if he could play the tune out. The sun had almost come out when he went back to lay on his bed. He had already worked out the whole melody and had written the notes down on paper. He decided to work on the lyrics after he had gotten some much needed sleep.
Unfortunately, his muses seemed to have abandoned him today. No matter how hard he tried, he just couldn't write the words that would fit the tune he had composed. Which explained the lousy mood he was in right now.
He didn't know how long he remained staring at the floor like that, but he looked up when he sensed he was being observed. As his gaze met Tsukushi's, her face reddened and she instantly looked away, embarassed at being caught staring so openly. Suddenly she realized that this was the first time they were alone together since the other night at the beach. Her face, which had already taken a crimson hue, turned several shades deeper, if that was even possible. She cleared her throat self-consciously as she stood up from the couch. "Um, I'm going upstairs to make some coffee. Would you like a cup?"
"That would be nice," Tsukasa said diffidently as he nodded.
She went upstairs and returned several minutes later with two steaming cups of coffee. She set them down on the table, taking care to keep them away from the pad of paper he had been working on. A glance showed her he had taken a fresh sheet and started writing again. "What do you have there?" she asked casually as she pulled a chair for herself.
"New song," he replied as he looked at her over the rim of his cup. "Can't seem to get it right though." He grew quiet as he continued to sip from his cup, letting the dark, bittersweet liquid warm his throat. When he had finished its contents, he set the cup down on the table and proceeded to tear off the sheet from the pad. "Ah," he sighed ruefully. "I don't know why I even bother anyway. No one seems to like what I write."
"That's not true!" Tsukushi protested. "You write great songs. Really."
"Yeah, right," he replied cynically. "That must be why whenever we sing one of our original songs, all we get is a smattering of polite applause, as compared to the enthusiastic response we receive when we're doing covers of popular songs."
"Oh stop. Quit feeling so sorry for yourself. I'm sure you know even better than I do how hard it is to get a break in the music scene. You just have to keep on trying until you come up with that one song that people will notice. And once they do, they'll start noticing all your other songs too."
"I don't know..." As he let his voice trail off, he started to crumple the sheet in his hand again.
"Wait! Let me see what you've got," Tsukushi said as she snatched the paper from his hand before he could crease it further. "Don't worry, if it's really bad, I'll tell you," she winked.
Tsukasa shrugged and got back the guitar he had set down on the couch. As she read the few words he had written, he strummed out the melody he had composed earlier. "This is good," she remarked. Tsukasa shrugged his shoulders again. What he had so far may be good, but not good enough. He went back to plucking the strings of the guitar absently. He didn't notice until minutes later that Tsukushi was scribbling some words on the wrinkled sheet. "Here," she held the paper out to him once she was done. "What do you think?"
He saw that she had crossed out some lines and replaced them with new ones. He read the paper silently, singing the new words mentally in his head. When he said nothing after several minutes, Tsukushi snatched the sheet from him abruptly. "Oh, forget it. I should've known it's no good."
"No! Gimme that!" he protested as he grabbed the paper back from her. "This is not bad," he said as he held the paper up and flashed his first real smile of the day. "In fact, it's quite good."
"Thanks," she blushed. "Um, I dabbled a little in poetry when I was still in school," she offered shyly.
"This is great. Will you please help me to write this song?" he asked her earnestly.
"It would be my pleasure," she beamed.
===================
Akira and Soujiro came back to find Tsukushi and Tsukasa quietly working at the table, their heads close together.
"Hey, we're back! Anyone want some ice cream?" Soujiro asked as he held up a tub of Haagen-Dazs.
Tsukushi's eyes lit up when she saw it was her favorite Dulce de Leche. "Yum! I'm going upstairs to get some spoons!" she enthused as she hurriedly went up the stairs.
Tsukasa meanwhile, stood up, stretched his arms, and cracked his knuckles to ease out the stiffness in him. Akira and Soujiro were surprised to see that the nasty scowl he had on his forehead before they left had already smoothened out, and a satisfied smile was now playing on his lips.
"Wow," Akira remarked. "I've got to hand it to Tsukushi. She sure knows how to turn your mood around."
"Huh?" Tsukasa's brows knitted in confusion.
"Dude, when we left, your face was like this," Akira scrunched his face exaggeratedly as he tried to show Tsukasa what he looked like whenever he was in a foul mood. "Now you're like this," he said as he immediately changed his demeanor with an angelic smile.
"Oh, shut up," Tsukasa muttered as he pretended to busy himself by picking up the bits of crumpled paper around the trash can. He pushed these in, compressing them into the receptacle with his foot, so they wouldn't spill out again.
His two band mates looked at each other with wide eyes as realization dawned on them. "You like her, don't you?" Soujiro asked in a teasing voice.
"No, I don't!" Tsukasa shook his head defensively.
"Liar!" Akira laughed as he wagged an accusing finger at Tsukasa's face, which by now was warm and red, like a ripe, plump tomato. "The last time I saw you like this was when you were still with Sakurako!"
At the mention of his gold digger ex-girlfriend's name, the scowl returned to mar Tsukasa's face. But even if Akira noticed, he chose to ignore it and continued teasing Tsukasa. "Dude, admit it. You like her! It's so freakin' obvious, so don't bother denying it!"
"Denying what?" Tsukushi emerged from the staircase door, followed by a sluggish Rui.
"Nothing," Tsukasa replied as he shot a warning look at Akira and Soujiro.
Tsukushi shrugged, then proceeded to hand each of them a spoon and took off the lid from the ice cream tub. Akira and Soujiro declined, saying that they've had their fill of ice cream for that day. Rui didn't want a spoon either but Tsukushi forced him to take one. "C'mon sleepyhead, let's get some sugar into you to wake you up." The five of them crowded around the small square table. Tsukushi, Tsukasa and Rui shared the ice cream among themselves while Jiro and Akira read with interest the sheet of paper Tsukasa and Tsukushi had been working on earlier.
"Hey, this is pretty good. New song, Tsukasa?" Soujiro asked.
"Yup," Tsukasa nodded enthusiastically. "Tsukushi's co-writing it with me. Hopefully we'll have it done by tomorrow."
"Oh, so you're co-writing a song now huh?" Akira remarked in an innocent tone, although he shot a knowing glance at Tsukasa. Thankfully, Tsukushi was too excited over her collaboration with Tsukasa to notice Akira's sudden yelp of pain when Tsukasa kicked him hard on the shin under the table.
"Yeah! Tsukasa's got the tune all worked out, and we've already written a few stanzas. I think we'll have it done by tomorrow," Tsukushi grinned excitedly.
"Okay guys," Tsukasa said as he stood up. "We're already running late as it is. We better start rehearsals now," he declared while flashing a final glare of warning towards Akira's direction so he'd shut up. "Tsukushi, let's continue working on the song tomorrow, okay? Um, is it okay if you come an hour earlier than the usual?" he asked, after which he hurriedly added, "I'll call Haru, of course, to let you off early."
"Hey, you're the boss," Tsukushi replied with a casual shrug of her shoulders. With that, they all took their places to start rehearsals for that day.
********************
A/N: The summer heat is frying my brain to a crisp. It's becoming increasingly hard to sit in front of the PC typing out anything that makes sense, in this sweltering heat. This chapter wasn't supposed to end here, but I just couldn't come up with anything beyond that last sentence. Maybe I'll just post the rest of what's supposed to happen in a short chapter next update. I might be going out of town for the Holy Week, so the earliest I can update will be after Easter. Have a blessed Holy Week, everyone!
ToinKs: There, I made them kiss, lol! Too bad Jiro and Akira had to interrupt them. Oh, and don't worry, this is definitely a TxT fic. The pairing's been pretty much etched in stone since the first few chapters. Thanks for reading!
InvisibleRain: Hey there! Thanks for thinking I didn't go overboard with the fluff. I'm glad you like the pace at which their romance is developing, even though it is quite slow.
jinx19: Hi and welcome, new reader! I'm glad you're enjoying my story. I hope you weren't disappointed with the kiss.
XxSwtDreamerxX1: Hey! It's nice to know you liked the recent updates. Thanks for your continued support!
Sailor Angie: Angie, Angie, Angie! You're my #1 fan?! Aww, shucks, I don't know what to say! *blushes* LOL, thanks for pointing out that paragraph wherein I used the word 'already' four times. Careless writing on my part, hehehe! And being the lazy bum that I am, I haven't gone and edited it yet. Promise me you'll point out my other stupid errors in the future, 'kay? Keep me on my toes. Hope your roommate doesn't think you're crazy because of reading this fic, hahaha!
cristine mae: Hi! Nice to hear from you again. Yeah, I'm rarin' to go to the beach too, and I'm gonna get my chance this week, hehehe.
kami: Heya! Nope, can't give you any hints as to where the story's going, hehe. As for the playful banter between T&T, *sigh* yeah I miss those moments too. But I really suck at writing witty repartees, so, sorry if I can't come up with those scenes. Hope you'll still read this though.
cherub girl: Aww gee, you really flatter me with your kind words. I'm glad you can identify with the story in a way. It's nice to hear you liked the last two chapters. Yeah, Jiro and Akira were quite funny when they were drunk, ne? I just love writing about those two 'cause they provide a welcome relief from all this fluff I've been writing lately. I'm starting to get a toothache, lol!
pnai_luvn_inuyasha: Yay, another new reader! Welcome aboard, and I'm glad you like my story. Yup, I'm Filipino. I'm guessing you are too, because of your pseudonym?
thidathai: Another new name on the reviews page, wheeee! Here's the update. Thanks for reading!
otakuchique: Hi again! Yeah, FF.net has been really hard to access the past few days for me too. Glad you liked the updates. Hope you like this one too.
flipgrl: Hey, good to hear from you again! Hope you like this chapter as much as the last two. Thanks for reading!