SFFAL: Love Hina Soap Opera

by Cheshire Cat5

SI The ongoing cooperative LoveHina soap opera written by the members of the SFFAL. Chapter 20 as we draw to a close. Some threads tied up, and some departures.

16. Acting, truth, and masks: ROLEPLAY

SFFAL Soap Opera: Chapter 16 Acting, truth, and masks: ROLE-PLAY

Sunday - the morning of the Spring Festival in Hinata.

---

(Early, early morning. Hinata playground)

It was another sleepless night for Lance. It wasn't because of a stalking Sarah either, his depressed mood from last night was still hanging over him. His fingers were numb from the cold, still clutching to the chain of the swing. His feet hung lifelessly below him, barely touching the soft sand. His bottom was sore from sitting for so long. And his head was low.

If anyone walked past the park that night, they would see a young man down in the worst luck. But only Keitaro had actually paused to talk with him. If you can even call it a "talk"...

'Why does he act like he hates me for no reason?' the voice in his head kept repeating.

He thought about that, and other things, that young morning. He thought back to when he first met Keitaro, slightly annoyed that he had broken the glass door when he first arrived, but grew to him the more he stayed and helped with repairs to the Inn. They would always talk about school and the residents while they're working or sitting in the main room. Keitaro was a cool guy and good to talk to... until recently. Now it was like he was annoyed at him for some unknown reason. It didn't look as obvious, you had to sort of think about it and hear how he talked. The Keitaro that "talked" with him last night was different than the Keitaro he knew and depended on. He only hoped that he could have an answer.

And then there was Shinobu. He only knew her for just less than two weeks, and he placed more trust in her than anyone else. And on a whim, even. He didn't know why he felt so comfortable around her, like she would listen when he talks. Not that he doesn't expect her to, but still. Overall... he was confused. He didn't know about her before he moved in. He asked Keitaro one time, but he quickly changed the subject. Could it be something that bad?

'I bet her old life wasn't like mine,' he thought to himself. 'No one's was worse than mine...'

'And how would you know?' argued his conscience.

'Because she's happy here. She has friends, many friends, to look up to and depend on. She could keep a secret with anyone.'

'You told her your secret. You never told anyone before. Why're you making yourself out to be the bad guy?'

'I'm not.'

'Then don't be afraid to tell anyone else. Talk things out with Keitaro. Meet the other residents. Make peace with those you don't think you can.'

He sighed, knowing his conscience was right. He had to settle things with Keitaro, before it gets worse. He needs to find out what's bothering him, and help fix it. It's the least he can do.

'And when you and Keitaro are normal, try making friends with the other residents like Motoko, Kitsune, Mutsumi, Maho, and everyone else.'

"It's a challenge, but I'll give it a try." he said out loud. He looked up to his left shoulder and smiled. "Thanks, Tony."

A small, four inch person stood on his knee smiled and gave him a thumbs up. "No problem, man."

Tony was a fairy who worked in the Conscience Enforcement Agency as a Special Agent. He was assigned to Lance's case just after the death of his parents. If it wasn't for him, he probably wouldn't have lived through the abuse his uncle gave him. Tony helped him rebuild his life and try and keep some of the good qualities he had when he was happily living with his parents back home. Lance owed a lot to him, and Tony promised he'd stick around until he was sure Lance could go on his own.

"It's been a while, man." said Lance. "I have a lot to tell you from the past two weeks..."

"Don't sweat it, Lance. The Agency kept tabs on you while I was out with another case, so I know all about it."

"Even... Sarah?" Lance said with a slight shiver crawling down his back.

"Yep, even her." Tony leaned back, his wavy black hair swishing behind him. "She may be one bizarre case, but I still think you should try to make peace with her."

"You're seriously saying I should go out with her?"

"Are you kidding! I meant that you should tell her you don't have the same feelings for her, and just find some common ground where you two can be friends."

Lance sighed and shook his head. "It's like I'm listening to a book about Ghandi's theories. I can't promise anything, but..."

"Just give it a shot." said Tony. "And don't forget, you have a lot to do this week. Be more social, and you're one big step ahead to recovering."

"I'll do my best. I promise."

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

The sun had barely started to peek over the horizon as Ryuko left Hinata-Sou, with her bag over her shoulder and ryu-chan in her pocket. A brief note on the breakfast table briefly explained her absence to Keitaro - a 'Family emergency' - and apologised for missing the festival.

Ryuko walked slowly to the steps, reluctant to leave her newly-found home and friends, but knew that she could delay no longer.

"Are we on time, Ryu-chan?" she asked, softly.

"we have thirty-two minutes until the train leaves," came a somewhat muffled response from her pocket. "you had better hurry, or we will miss it."

With a sigh, Ryuko started to jog down the stairs, in the direction of her family.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

(Morning)

Kentaro parked next to the teahouse lifelessly. He had spent most of the night calculating how much money he needed, comparing it to how much money he actually had, then recalculating at least a hundred times to see if it wasn't some mistake. The young ex-millionaire only had more doubt and exhaustion for his trouble, nearly crashing twice on the way to work.

Now was not a good time to be a wage slave. Kentaro would probably work himself to death before he could afford the whole package.

But I have to, he thought. For Ai's sake, I must do this and more.

His thoughts were interrupted by the smell of food. In his deprived, cup ramen-saturated state, Kentaro could pick out each individual scent: eggs, miso stock, green tea, tofu, fresh rice, and—oh god, was that grilled trout? His mouth watered, and he had to wipe tears from his eyes. It had been a long time since he even thought of such fine tastes.

But he didn't remember preparing any food the night before, and the old woman usually skipped breakfast.

Kentaro could see a young lady behind the counter, working with a griddle and a pair of long chopsticks. She swayed back and forth in hypnotizing rhythm as she hummed a pleasant melody, occasionally flipping whatever was in the pan. The hints of sunlight that filtered through the windows illuminated her figure, which seemed to shimmer like a dream.

He said her name before his mind even wrapped around the sheer impossibility of the moment.

"Ai-chan?"

She turned around. Sure enough, it was her.

She grinned. "Ooohayo!"

Kentaro staggered toward the counter, his mouth agape. "What... but... how... you... Alaska... Pearl diver..."

Ai leaned on her elbows, close enough for Kentaro to feel the warmth of her face. She placed her index finger lightly on his lips, gently silencing him. "Shh."

He still questioned her with his eyes. But she just went back to cooking, adding a dash of salt to the pan. "You must be hungry, right Ken-chan? Breakfast will be ready in a second."

She turned around and gave him a wink, and Kentaro suddenly remembered:

"You're beautiful."

Ai blushed.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Al was walking down a hall in the hinata house wearing his bathrobe and carrying a bucket full of his bath supplies, and a comic book wrapped in a plastic bag so he could read it and not risk it getting wet.

As he entered the bath area he slipped on a bar of soap and his the ground with a thud, sending his bucket crashing to the ground, and the book into the hotsprings.

"Owie..." he sat up and moved his robe up his leg to inspect the scrapped knee. He sighed and stood up, dusting himself off.

He looked up as he heard a pair of splashes. Motoko and Maho were standing in the bath wrapped in towels. Motoko held his comic book, and Maho held a bag, inside it was a rare boxed set of 'Cowboy Bebop' on DVD, something that Al had always wanted but found too expensive to buy.

"Is this yours?" asked Motoko, surprisingly not mad at his intrusion.

"Or, is this yours?" Maho asked hold the boxed set up higher so he could see.

He thought for a moment and then pointed at Maho, "That's mine, thanks for catching it."

As he stepped forward to claim his prize the water began crashing and splahing in the springs, a wave lifted up out of the bath and hit him, sending him spinning head over heels into the stormy waters.

He gasped for air as he bobbed to the surface, being drawn twords a whirlpool in the center of the springs. He tried to swim, but found the current was too strong.

Maho and Motoko both reached out their hands to pull him in, but as he grabbed them both, their hands let go of him and he went spinning into darkness, one word echoing in his mind:

"Choose."

The boy sat up in his futon gasping for breath, sweat beads slid down his face as he tried to figure out where he was.

A dream, a very bad dream...but what did it mean?

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Dizzy yawned and crawled out the main door of his castle. He felt great, after a good night's sleep the little weasel was ready to have a great day, and with the festival that was a sure thing... and then he saw Al.

Al lay on the floor wrapped up in cloth - it was a very finely made cloth, but around Alex it wasn't quiet as good looking as it could be.

He looked like a slug.

Dizzy groaned and walked over to him, his eyes expressing an interest in an explanation.

"Morning buddy, didn't wanna wake you."

"Grr?"

"Funny you should ask, ya see I was online looking at pictures from last years festival on Su's Livejournal, and I saw that everyone was wearing these things, so I figured I'd find myself a good one, so first thing this morning I snuck down to the teashop where the journal said they got the outfits, and found this little treasure in a box in the back. Nice eh?"

The weasel considered himself to be on the front lines when it came to popular fashion, and while he knew the outfit could look good, the way Al had wrapped himself in it was not fashionable at all.

Between the rodent and his master, Al was extracted from the cloth and he sighed looking at himself in the mirror once free, "Ya know, I was thinking, do you suppose the reason Motoko doesn't like me is because of my facial hair?"

Dizzy looked confused, and Al related the nights events to his little friend, including the part where Motoko had told him rather bluntly he was stupid for liking her.

Dizzy nodded and attempted to explain to Al that it might have been the boose, or perhaps he simply misunderstood, but his best friend was too caught up in the idea that his goatee was the issue that he wasn't paying a lick of attention to the little rodent.

Al grumbled and went back to trying to properly put on the outfit - chin hair could wait, but Al was determined to make this the best time Motoko had ever had at the festival.

He hopped on one foot, causing the things in his room to shake. He was determined to get this outfit on, and currently he was having trouble due to it having wrapped around his leg somehow.

"I just don't see how this is so difficult, but whenever I try to pull it on, my arms and legs seem to miss the holes somehow!" Al grunted with the effort of pulling his leg out of the clothes.

The door slid open and Dizzy shot into the room, slamming it shut and panting.

"What happened? Another tour of the hallways due to fear of being smooched?" Al asked holding onto the wall so he wouldn't fall off balance.

"Grr!" Dizzy explained that not only had Tama been trying to earn some cuddle time with the gray furred weasel, but Su had once again taken up her plans on eating the both of them (Not paying any notice to the fact that an eaten Dizzy is a useless drummer.)

Al laughed - life in Hinata was never boring, that's for sure.

Dizzy growled, he didn't think that his nearly being eaten and molested by a member of a different species was funny in the least!

"Chill out little buddy, it's not like anything was hurt really."

"GRR!"

"Yeah alright, it's annoying sure, but what would be worse, death by being eaten and molested, or boredom?"

Dizzy grumbled that if he wanted to die of boredom he'd read Al's comics. Of course, he did this with a "GRR."

"Hey now, that was unkind, I think my comics are very interesting if I do say so myself, which I do." Al was busy trying to untangle his legs from the outfit which had somehow tied itself to his limbs.

"Anyway, like I was sa...aaaaaa," Al's arms windmilled as he tried to keep his balance, but he fell backwards crashing to the floor again, only this time he landed on something very strong, but not strong enough to stay in one piece when an overweight teenager falls upon it - Dizzy's castle.

With a sickening 'crunch' the castle was done, destroyed, taking most of the painstakingly found doll house furnishings that had been with it.

"Ow... I'm ok." Al whimpered as he crawled out of the mess.

Dizzy was stunned... his tiny paws were balled into fists, his little body shook... that oaf! That big, fat oaf had smashed his home! The only thing in the house that he had ever considered his to have was smashed because of that clumsy, no-good whale of a boy!

Dizzy cried some curses and began screaming at Al, calling him names and expressing his rage in a series of "Grrs"!

"Wait, Diz man, I'm sorry, it was..." but Dizzy cut him off. It always had to be about him wasn't it? The first words he had said after smashing the little weasel's home were "I'm ok" - what about the castle, it wasn't ok!

"GRR!"

"Dizzy I'm sorry, I..."

"GRR!"

"Ok, I deserved that but..."

"GRR!"

"HEY!"

"GRR!"

"You take that back!"

"GRR!"

"You little rat!"

Dizzy grabbed a book and threw it, landing it directly between Al's eyes.

"Why you little..." Al grabbed a stuffed toy and threw it at Dizzy, but the little weasel skillfully dodged out of the way.

"Get back here!" Al leapt at Dizzy, who moved fast enough that Al ended up bringing down a bookcase upon his head and table.

Dizzy growled some more, and then stomped out of the room, slamming the door behind him.

Al moaned from under the bookcase. This was not how he had intended to start the day.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Sam crawled out of bed, feeling lousy. He'd been kept up all night with weird dreams in which Hello Kitty was chasing him while carrying a bomb, and he was in a grumpy mood. However, one thing cheered him up - it was Sunday, and that meant the Spring Festival! He'd been waiting for this, and now was his chance to give the gorgeous Lu Ling Qi a phone call, and have her all to himself for the whole romantic day. And to snog her senseless all evening.

Humming a song under his breath which sounded suspiciously like "I'm too sexy for my shirt" or something similar, he prepared himself for the day, and went downstairs to grab the telephone.

After having grabbed the telephone, then put it back and returned to his room to get some 50yen coins, and returned to find it being monopolised by Kitsune talking to her turf accountant, he eventually managed to get hold of the device.

He dialled the number, but today his luck was not with him and it was Lu Bu who answered.

"Er, hey, I wanna speak with Ling Qi," Sam said quickly.

"ITS YOU! My arch nemesis!" yelled Lu Bu down the phone.

"Oh sh.." started Sam, before holding the phone away from his ear to try and avoid the angry tirade that came back down at him. He started to listen again when a heavy 'thud' came from the remote end.

"Er, hello?"

"Ah, so sorry about trouble!" came a female voice. "Husband is a bit overwrought, have treated him with frying pan, now is resting. You want talk Ling Qi, yes?"

"Ah, yes, Mrs Bu..."

"So sorry, Ling Qi go festival already, maybe you meet her there, yes?"

"Err, OK. She's on her own?"

"No, no! Is no problem. Bye bye!" -click-

Sam cursed to himself. Things were not going his way after all. Where was his intuition when he needed it!

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Kojiro Chavez yawned. He actually yawned. Heck, it'd been months since he last yawned. Not necessarily of sleepiness; oh, he yawned of sleepiness a lot. He meant a type of yawning quite different; a yawning involving boredom. Even if he HAD been bored, which he normally wasn't, he normally had the restraint to stop. However, this walk had been so dreadfully BORING that he just yawned.

Kojiro Chavez was a man. He looked Mexican... and he looked Japanese. He didn't look both at the same time; you kind of had to refocus your eyes to see one or the other. Oh, he had brown hair, but his softer features just didn't mesh with his stronger features, and you simply saw one or the other. In Japan, most people though he was Japanese. In California, most thought he was Mexican. In Florida, he was a Cuban, and in Hawaii, he was Filipino.

His short-cropped black hair, his long black pants, and his skinny and semi-tall build showed him as Japanese, but his tan and his eye shape and his nose build showed him as Mexican. His 'Gao-Gao Stegosaurus' shirt, on the other hand, showed him as either a lunatic, or short on clean clothes. Most just assumed short on clean clothes, or that he was humoring a girlfriend.

Kojiro just liked the shirt. Anyways.

Kojiro's second yawn came just as he reached a form of civilization; he saw a festival going on, as well. He checked his watch. 8:30. He chuckled as he looked back forward. He saw a festival, which was an opportunity for him to make money, one that he could not pass up. As he reached town, he looked around. Finding an empty space between two kid games stalls, he smiled. Kojiro put his backpack down there, and started to set up.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Al groaned as he attempted to get himself loose from the yukata he had tied himself up in. Usually the boy was a master of costumes, but the yukata seemed to be beyond him.

Dizzy rolled his eyes and looked at himself in the mirror - he and Al had settled on ignoring each other, so that the pair of them could prepare for the festival in the same room without fighting. The stoney silence was a reminder that neither of the pair were going to apologize anytime soon.

Dizzy smirked, he was a fine specimen if he thought so himself. The yukata he had made the night before made him look very regal, in fact Tama-chan hadn't stopped peering in their window to watch her beloved wearing his outfit since that morning.

Al gave a tragic cry and fell to the floor with a "THUD!" that made most the objects in the room shake and made Dizzy laugh as he saw the homewrecker hit the wood floor.

A drawer slid open and a bouncy tan girl shot out of it in her usual school uniform, "What happened? Sounded like an anvil dropped!" she asked hanging from the light fixture.

Lance swung open the door. "What was that? Are you alright?"

"If I could move I'd throw something at you." Al grumbled from his position on the floor, wrapped in yukata he was defenseless. Dizzy nodded to Lance and rolled his eyes at Al.

"Erm..." Lance blinked at the floored Al. Lance had managed to sneak in a yukata that he'd had since he moved to Japan, even though it was old and wrinkly. Still, it was better than nothing.

"Nice outfit. I don't expect to ever say this to you again but, take these clothes off me before I suffocate." A grumpy and slightly out of character Al requested.

"I don't see anything wrong with your yukata..." Then he blinked again, "Wait, is that even a yukata?"

"It's a yukata and men's kimono that I borrowed from the teashop, it was in a box in the back under some scrolls and funny looking weapons, but I haven't quite mastered the outfit just yet." He sighed and let his head thump to the ground as he lay like a blonde burrito.

Lance sighed, shutting the door behind him and locking it. "Then I guess you want help getting up"

"Well either that or I could learn to play the harmonica without use of my hands and my face down." Al was acting testy for some reason, Su didn't notice as she jumped from the light fixture onto his back and into his pile of stuffed toys.

Lance started to heft Al back up, but was not strong enough to get an inch up. He turned to Su and Dizzy, "Any help, please?"

Su just giggled. Dizzy threw a rope up to Lance and pointed at a pulley wheel that the young weasel had built into the ceiling for just such an occasion, adding that he wanted nothing to do with the pompous hippo.

"So glad I'm not his roommate..." Lance mumbled wondering why it felt like a war was being fought silently between the two friends. Every few moments they would glare at each other.

Within minutes he was able to finally hoist up Al to the point where he could support himself. Al shook a bit on the rope, and Su decided to finally help by throwing stuffed toys at the pinata-like boy, causing him to spin, unraveling the outfit and landing Al on the floor in swim trunks and a light tee shirt. He promptly fell to the floor succumbing to dizziness.

Lance let the rope fall down. "For the love of... fine. I'll just get to the point. Have you thought about how you're planning your day to go with the band contest?"

Al leapt to his feet shaking off the spin, "Yup, just about, ya see I figure I can get Motoko to watch the bands perform and disappear when I go to fetch some food, I can sneak on, perform, and sneak back and blame the wait on the long lines! Brilliant, eh?" He smiled as if he really expected nothing to go wrong.

"But what if you run into Maho-chan?" Lance asked, "I heard that you and her have been... knowing each other, a lot lately."

"Um... bluff?" He looked confused, as if such a simple idea had never crossed his mind. Dizzy slapped his forehead in frustration and Su was busy checking Al's closet for food.

"In any event, just meet me backstage so we can get ready. I'm taking my clothes so that we don't have to wait for each other."

"Ok, you sure you remember how to do your hair up? There's only so much girly stuff our studly bodies can accomplish in one round." Al had turned to face the mirror and struck some poses that looked rather silly to all but himself. Lance shook his head in disappointment.

"I think I can do it. If anything, we should have time to get in detail when we're backstage." Lance checked the time on Al's swinging cat clock, "Alright, I need to start heading out. You know when to be there?"

"Um... before our turn on stage, but after I ditch Motoko, what time would that be about?"

"We should meet about two bands before us, so around...5:30. And you'll need some time to get your gear on before that."

"Done." Al and Dizzy both gave Lance a thumbs up, but upon seeing they had done the same thing the pair turned their backs to each other, noses pointed defiantly in the air in a gesture of 'I'm still mad at you.'

Lance watched this confused and a bit worried, "Listen, are you guys ok? You seem... mad at each other." Lance asked stating the obvious.

"Nope, no problem, I'm just learning more and more about the troubles of spending too much time with RODENTS!" Al projected the last word as if Dizzy were in another room and he wanted to hear the insult.

The little weasel muttered some insults under his breath and looked upon the rubble that was once his castle.

"Well listen, you guys are best friends, you need to make up. Not just because of the contest, but friends like you two shouldn't be so hard on each other no matter what happened." Lance sounded truly concerned, more so for the duo's friendship then the contest.

This did not go un-noticed by the angry roomates, Al smiled and gave Lance another thumbs up, "No worries mate, on stage we are completely professional, not PETTY," Al once again yelled for the weasel's benefit "Arguments have never stopped me from doing a show."

Dizzy picked up his outfit and growled in agreement, shooting a look at Al that could have rivaled a Motoko death glare. The tiny rodent then stomped out of the room slamming the door behind him.

Lance looked at Al hoping to get some insight on why the best friends were fighting, but Al's gaze fell upon Su who was drawing chin hair on some of Al's freshly drawn comics.

"P...please take her with you, before I lose control." Al bit his thumb his eyes burning with the fires of hell itself.

"But..." Lance hesitated. He was supposed to meet with Shinobu at the entrance to the festival, but maybe Su could find something else to do by then. "Alright... let's go, Su!"

Su attached herself to Lance by wrapping her legs around his waist and riding piggyback, and he gagged as Su clenched her arms around his neck, and staggered his way out the door. Al grabbed a mallet and began marching purposely towards the door.

His foot caught on the outfit he had left on the floor and he fell with yet another "THUD" as the retreating pair exited.

Al sighed as he sat up and tugged on the clothes wrapped around his foot,"Let's try this again..."

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

With Su skipping happily behind him, Lance left the Hinata Sou and walked towards the street leading to the festival grounds. By the time they would get there it probably wouldn't be open yet, but there would at least be enough time to plan the day out. God knew it would already be long day for him...

"Sooo Mr. Sarah's Man, what else are you doing at the party?" Su jumped in front of him with a big smile and eyes that would make Kitsune green with envy.

He sighed as they kept walking, "For the last time, I'm not Sarah's boyfriend. And second, I'm spending most of the time outside the contest with Shinobu, and probably see another friend from school."

Su suddenly jumped on Lance again, squeezing him in a tight hug. "Awwww, Lance-kun has a date with Shinobu! Sooo cute!"

Lance pushed her off, even though she was still laughing. "It's not a date! We're just going as friends."

"Ooooh, ok!" Su kept laughing, obviously not believing him. "So who's your friend you want to meet?"

"Maki, Noguchi Maki. She's in almost all of my classes."

"Oooh, I know her!" said Su.

"Really?"

"Yes, I have a photographic memory of all of the students at school!"

It was only another few moments until they reached the entrance to the festival. The long roofed arch was freshly repainted and unlit lamps hung from it with exquisite patterns and paintings on them that warmly welcomed the patrons. There was a large mass of people at the entrance, making it hard to navigate through.

Lance stood on the tips of his toes, trying to find any sign of Shinobu above the crowd of heads. "I can't see her..."

He turned to Su, who was busy fiddling with some kind of net-gun, no doubt intended for Tama-chan. He heaved a sigh, already beginning to regret what he decided.

"I can't believe I'm asking this," he said, "But Su, can you--WAAAAHHHH!"

At that second Su jumped onto Lance's shoulders and was squeezing his neck with her legs.

"Thanks... a bunch..." he wheezed.

"Aha!" she cried, pointing to the other side of the gate, "Shinobu's that way!"

Lance turned to where she pointed at. Still not seeing anything, he moved toward the direction, moving past the people admiring the gate. Soon enough he saw a girl waiting near one of the pillars supporting the gate, wearing a bright yellow kimono with a blue patterned design, and a big pink bow in her hair. She looked around nervously, apparently waiting for him.

After moving past the last group of observers, Su jumped off of his shoulders and ran off on her own, no doubt in search of fresh made food. Lance rotated his shoulders to get rid of the soreness, and walked calmly up to Shinobu. She spotted him and smiled.

"Hello, Lance-kun!" she waved to him.

"Hello Shinobu-chan!" Lance looked at Shinobu and smiled, "You look very good in your kimono!"

Shinobu blushed, flustered at the comment. "Thanks, it's not much." The two fell silent for a few long seconds, not sure where to go from there.

"So," Lance asked, ending the awkward silence, "What do you want to do first?"

"I don't know," she replied, "The festival just started, so I don't know what's open yet..."

Lance thought for a moment. "Hey, I got it! Let's see what sideshows are going on!"

"Ok!"

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Most of the residents left for the festival well before noon. Cody was walking with Moe, and Kitsune was busy trying to stir up trouble between Keitaro and Naru.

Just before leaving, Naru had gone aside with Motoko and Moe to remind them that they were all expected to do the backing dancing for Haitani and Shirai at the start of the band contest, about 4pm. She'd already mentioned it to Shinobu at breakfast. Everyone was to arrive on time, she stated - thinking to herself 'If I'm going to suffer the embarassment, then none of you lot had better chicken out!' Motoko looked embarassed as well, but Moe was clapping her hands in excitement as she went off to join Cody for the walk down to the festival.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

"So, why don't we walk around the festival together?"

Keitaro blinked. He hadn't expected to hear those particular words, especially from Narusegawa. He looked at the redhead. "Er, what?" Naru gave him a playful look.

"Didn't you hear me, stupid? Let's go walk..." She made little walking motions across her hand with her fingers. "Around..." She made a circular motion with her arms. "The festival..." She made a few dancing motions. "Together." She pointed at herself and Keitaro. "Come on, it'll be fun." She said, and gave him a playful punch on the shoulder. Keitaro flinched, but chuckled.

"OK, Narusegawa, let's go!" With that, Naru and Keitaro started their walk around the festival together.

First off, they went to the lottery. Naru and Keitaro both bought a ticket, and waited for the lotto number to come up. Naru looked at her ticket; "Number 23." She muttered, looking at it.

"I got number 40!" Keitaro said suddenly, appearing right above Narusegawa; and accedentially looking down her shirt.

POW! "Who asked you!" Naru shouted, sending Keitaro into the air yet again with a punch.

"Lotto ticket 40, you're our winner! Please step up to win your prize!" Naru turned in shock. "Hurry, Keitaro, get back over here!" Keitaro hadn't even landed yet. "Arrrgh!"

By the time Keitaro DID make it back, the lottery man had already given up, and had started the next round. "You idiot, run back faster next time!" POW! And Keitaro went up into the air again.

"Sorry, Narusegawa." Keitaro said, as they walked away after that last little bout of dumb bad luck. Naru shrugged.

"Don't worry about it, just don't do it again." She said, looking around. "How about we go get a turtle!" Keitaro sweatdropped.

"Another one!" But by then, Naru had already made her way to the game.

"Catch a turtle, win a prize!" The barker said, walking around the front of his establishment. "Winner gets a turtle!" Naru walked over and knelt in front of the turtle pool. Keitaro, defeated, handed the man a bit of money for her to play. "Ah, paying for your girlfriend, eh, Sonny? Why, I remember the day..."

"Er, I mean, we're not like that!" Naru instantly said, backing away and disheartening Keitaro to boot. "We, we..." She turned around and creamed Keitaro into the sky. "Stop making misunderstandings, you pervert!" Wham, into the air Keitaro went.

Naru turned to the game, as Keitaro flew through the air and the barker instantly sweatdropped. She slowly pulled her paper net through the pool, and caught a turtle. "Woohoo!" She said, taking the little turtle and putting him into a glass bowl with water and a rock in it. "I won a turtle!" She did a little jig, and something caught her eye.

A little boy was trying to play the game, but failing. "Oh, nice try. Play again?" The barker asked, and the little boy looked through his pockets. He came out empty. Naru looked at the turtle, and wordlessly gave it to him, just as Keitaro walked by.

"Oh, how cute! Naru, you're such a nice person!" And with a single KERSMACK, Naru proved, yet again, that a person could fly into the air at 70 miles an hour, and survive the impact.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Motoko grumbled, looking at the clock on the wall - it was nearly 1:00, when was Al going to be ready to go?

She went upstairs and knocked on the door to his room.

"Rush, are we going to the festival now or not?" she asked through the door, rather annoyed - she had woken up with a hangover and she had to train all morning to get rid of the headache. Then she had bathed, done her hair up and brought out her best formal kimono, "Not for Rush, but for the festival." she kept telling herself.

"Um... yeah... actually I'm almost ready it's... just..."

"Just what?" she slid open the door to find Al was wearing a finely done men's version Kimono and Yukata, but it seemed that he was having difficulty wrapping the belt so the outfit would stay on as it kept sliding off his shoulders.

"Oh for Pete's sake." She walked across the room and pulled the outfit up over his shoulders and tied the belt securly, "There..." She met his eyes. Their faces were very close... his eyes were thin, betraying an asian ansetory somewhere in his family's past, and the color seemed to change from green to blue depending on how she looked at them... very relaxing. It was then she noticed that he was clean shaven. He looked much more respectable without the scruffy hair he had kept on his chin. In fact, he looked rather attractive...

Al was flushed considerably - not only had Motoko finished what had taken him hours to attempt, but she was so close to his face, and she was dressed up so nicely... she was postively beautiful.

The two pulled away after a moment, "T...Thanks." Al muttered sheepishly as he looked in the mirror. The outfit looked great, though he was looking more at the vision of loveliness next to him.

He took a deep breath, held it for a moment and then let it out slowly, "Alright then, shall we?" He asked, bowing to let Motoko out of the room first.

Motoko was flushing just the faintest tint of red, "Yes, I think we shall."

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

Sam was currently standing with Mutsumi out on the deck area. This was supposed to be their regular training session, but between them lay a single, large watermelon. Although seeing Mutsumi with a melon was not in any way unusual, Sam seemed to feel that there was something important about this one.

"Good morning, Sam-kun!" said Mutsumi, brightly. "Today we have some new training! I had a wonderful vision last night, and I know just what would be a good job for you... by the way, any new visions to report?"

"But I already have a job..." mumbled Sam, irritated. He certainly wasn't going to mention his Hello Kitty dream to Mutsumi!

"But this one is so much more fun!" she giggled, enthusiastically. "You're going to be a bodyguard!"

Sam facefaulted. "Prehaps you haven't noticed," he said, somewhat sarcastically, "but although I'm not bad with a sword, I'm not exactly an intimidating 6-foot muscleman..."

"Never mind! You can do your job by just avoiding trouble. No need to do any intimidating if you manage to get avoid the trouble. Which bring us to the subject of watermelons..."

Watermelons? Sam shook his head in dispair. How did Mutsumi somehow manage to link everything to her favourite fruit?

"Yes... watermelons. See, this melon," - she indicated the one on the deck between them - "is your employer, and you in order to train, you have to protect it all day until the afternoon. Then you'll be ready."

Sam picked up the melon, and looked at her quizzically.

"And what is going to threaten a melon?" he asked, raising the melon up to eye level - foruntately removing it from the path of a spear which passed through the place it had been moments before and stuck quivering in the deck planking.

Sam goggled at the spear, as Mutsumi laughed. "I asked Kaolla-san to set her mechatamas to try and smash the melon!" she laughed. "Good luck!"

Sam saw a swooping movement from the corner of his eye, and started to run. This was not going to be so easy, after all...

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Keitaro was wandering back to find Naru, yet again, when he came across Kitsune and Su. Kitsune wore a somewhat weary expression - clearly Su had been causing not a few problems.

"Hi, everyone!" he said brightly, as Su leapt over to land on his shoulders. "Have you seen any other others about? I thought Shinobu would be with you?"

"Nah.." replied Kitsune, semi-drunkenly. "Motoko and Al are over there somewhere," - she waved vaguely behind her - "and I think Shinobu is still with Lance..."

For some reason, Keitaro scowled slightly at hearing this.

"Maybe you should go and chaperone them?" he suggested, "After all, Shinobu is a bit young for dates..."

"Don't worry, that Lance is no trouble... I thought you were with Naru, anyway - eh, lover-boy?" Kitsune gave him a nudge and Keitaro flushed with embarassment.

"Err... I'd better get going and find Naru," Keitaro replied, trying to prise Su from his shoulders with little success. "Why dont you go and play the turtle-catching game over there?" he suggested to her, and she leapt off immediately.

"Excellent idea, Keitaro! Maybe I can get some ideas for my next Tama-chan hunting expecdition..." and she grabbed a protesting Kitsune and raced off, leaving Keitaro to continue his search for Naru.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Lance and Shinobu wandered around the park until they found the area set up for sideshows and games. Not many were open, but they managed to see a few things: a corny freak show with obvious setups, a coin toss booth, and a fortune teller. They didn't have any luck with the coin toss, and the old lady fortune teller only creeped them out. So they left that area and walked around the scenic part of the park to allow more time for booths to open.

They sat on a bench near a small pond, and watched the fountain spout from the middle. Nearby two children were playing with the water, trying to float random things in it.

"Cute, aren't they?" Shinobu said, smiling at them.

"Sure are," Lance answered. They watched the children play for awhile before their mother called for them and they left. Soon they were sitting alone, watching the things that the children had left floating in the pond.

"So, were you hoping to see anything today?" Lance asked to break the silence between them.

"Well," she said, "I wanted to see what magic shows were here, since Maho's performance at Naru's party got me in the mood." She smiled slightly at the memory fresh in her mind, "And maybe ride the ferris wheel if the lines aren't too long."

"Well, some time has passed, maybe the ferris wheel is open now." said Lance, checking his watch. "Maybe we can pick up something light to eat on the way there."

"That... sounds good!" Shinobu paused just a second before finishing her sentence. She started to stand up.

Lance caught the slight hesitation, and walked with her toward the other end of the park. "Is something wrong?"

"No, nothing's wrong!" she said quickly, her face slightly flushed. "I was just wondering how I can fit in all this before I have to go get ready..."

"Get ready for what?" he asked.

There was a small panicked gasp from her, and she immediately shot him a look of innocence. "Oh, nothing! Nothing at all!"

Lance looked at her for a few seconds, then shrugged it off. They continued walking towards the ferris wheel, passing by snack booths and talking happily about school things. Eventually they stopped for some cotton candy, then they got in line for the ferris wheel. It wasn't a big line, since they knew that it would only get bigger toward sunset and the fireworks later on. Soon they were on a cart, and they began their ride.

The carts for the ferris wheel seemed to be specially designed for couples, having only two seats to occupy it. So they sat next to each other, watching as the world became slightly smaller to their eyes.

"So, have you seen anyone else yet?" Lance asked, looking down to the festival below.

"Not really," she replied, after finishing a piece of cotton candy. "But I think I saw Rush-san causing some trouble with Motoko-sempai over by the games booths a while back..."

"That sounds like something Al would do." Lance said in an unsurprised tone. Honestly, he was a good friend, but he had never met anyone with Al's... unique mannerisms.

"Are you and Rush-san good friends?" Shinobu asked.

Lance smiled slightly, looking back down to the growing crowds. "I guess you can say that. It's barely been a couple weeks, and we didn't start off too hot..." Lance trailed off, remembering the painful memories of being chased by Al as a pirate, cowboy, and ninja. Oh, the bruises...

"But I guess we've gone far in a short time. Whereas I can be funny by sarcasm, he's just spontaneous. Like a team."

Shinobu chuckled, "Yes, that's usually what I think when I see you two together." Then she reverted to her innocent smile. "Speaking of which, you two have been awfully shifty the past few days. Is something up?"

Lance sweatdropped, words scrambling in his brain to piece together some kind of excuse. Realizing he was stalling, he grabbed a big chunk of his cotton candy and shoved it into his mouth. "Mmm mmm, this ith ree-y good shtuff!"

Shinobu turned back, not catching the obvious escape. The ferris wheel stopped momentarily to let people back off and on, and they were stuck towards the top of the gigantic ride. They looked down, amazed by how high they were above the earth.

"I've been meaning to ask you," said Lance, facing back to Shinobu. She suddenly had a heart-rush, afraid he would ask her something she couldn't commit to...

"Y-y-yes?" She stammered, face turning red. Surely, this couldn't be a confession?

"I was just wondering..."

"G-go on!"

"I wanted to know," he asked, "What you think about everyone at Hinata Sou?"

Shinobu mentally slammed to the floor. Just like her to jump to conclusions... "What do you mean?"

"Well, it doesn't take long for me to know that you guys share a kind of family relationship." he said. "It's just something that I admire about the inn. So I was just curious what you thought."

Shinobu was a little surprised, not expecting to hear a question like that before. But she understood why he would ask. At least she can give him a good answer.

"I can tell you that I wouldn't have any other family like them," she said, a tender smile on her face. "They're all so different, yet... I've never felt more comfortable when I'm at home. Naru is like a big sister, always helping me with cooking, cleaning and homework. Motoko is always caring for my safety and my well-being, sort of like a guardian. Kitsune... well, she may act like she doesn't care, but she always wants me to be happy and have fun. Su-chan is a good friend of mine, and encourages me to be more open with myself. And Sempai..." Her voice trailed off, her face beginning to blush again.

"You mean Keitaro-san?" he asked, "What about him?"

"He's,... well, he's caring, kind, polite, and very smart. He'll do anything, even the smallest thing, to make everyone happy and comfortable. In a way he's like... an older brother."

"An older brother, huh?" Lance said, thinking on it. "Yeah, I guess that sounds right." However, he thought otherwise. Lately Keitaro hadn't really spoken to him, at least not as much as usual. He would either leave the room or excuse himself early. At first Lance had thought he had done something wrong... but he hadn't done anything that would make Keitaro mad at him, had he?

Meanwhile, Shinobu was thinking over the lie she had told to Lance. She told him that Keitaro was like an older brother, yet... she knew she loved him. How could she even say something like that? Unless it was true... this had somehow made Shinobu feel sad.

Finally it was their turn to get off, and they decided to return back to the sideshows. The place was thriving with visitors, now, since many booths were open. It was around mid-afternoon now, so they dodged the crowds and looked for something to see. They came upon a large tent that was gathering lots of attraction. A banner above showed a picture of a man in a suit and top hat, and a long, red cape trailing behind him. This certainly meant that he was a magician, whoever he was.

They walked inside and found their seats. On the stage was lots of things, from a table full of random gadgets and items, to a tall cabinet that rested silently at the end of the stage. After a few more minutes to get everyone seated, the show began. The tall man in the picture walked out to a wave of applause.

"Hello, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to Melzar's Magical Mansion!" he shouted. The crowd applauded, failing to recognize that they were in a tent, and not a mansion.

"We have a wonderful show in store for all of you today," he continued, "And I think it's best to start the show with a big start, and end it with another! So I would like to call upon someone to assist me with my first trick."

The lights dimmed and a spotlight shone from somewhere. It swam around the tops of the audience's heads, as if possessed to choose the right person. Before long, it fell on a very shocked and surprised teenager. I'll give you a hint... his name starts with an "L" and ends in "is screwed".

Melzar came up to Lance and pulled him out of his seat, Shinobu clapping loudly with the rest of the audience. His face was bright red from all the attention, and he tried his best to keep his cool.

They reached the stage together, and Melzar turned to Lance. "It's good to meet you, young sir. What is your name?"

"Uhm... Lance, I thin-"

"Well Lance-san, you have been chosen to help with my first big trick. Are you ready?"

"I gue-"

"Then step forward and climb into this cabinet!" He guided Lance to the tall wooden cabinet at the end of the stage, and pushed him inside. He started to protest, but Melzar locked the door shut.

"Now ladies and gentleman, I am going to perform a trick that will make this young man disappear!" He paused to allow the crowd to react dramatically. "With a wave of a hand, and a few choice words, he will vanish from inside this cabinet, and end up where no man can return! But I hope that I may able to bring him back... please pray for me!"

With that, he turned to the cabinet. He raised his right hand, and pointed at it. "LANCE-O DISAPPEAR-O!"

He walked to the cabinet and unlocked it, swinging the door wide open. Lance was gone!

The crowd gasped and applauded, and Melzar bowed to them. Shinobu however grew nervous. Where is Lance now?

"And now, I will try and bring him back from the Plane of Non-Existence to our dimension once again!" Melzar shouted dramatically. Instead of turning back to the cabinet, he walked to the front of the stage and threw both hands into the air.

"LANCE-O REAPPEAR-O!"

"...aaaaaaaAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!"

Quite suddenly, the body of Lance fell screaming to the ground, and landed back on his seat next to Shinobu. It wasn't a smooth landing however, and Lance was once again bruised and battered as he lay pathetically in his broken seat. But the crowd stood on their feet cheering, Melzar bowing low to the ground.

"Lance-kun! Are you alright?" Shinobu yelled over the noise of the crowd.

"Hurt... bad..." was all she could make out.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Maho wandered around the festival aimlessly. She planned to do more productive things later, of course. But right now, she was just acclimating herself to the festival atmosphere. That was one thing about Japan that she really missed: there was probably a festival every other week. Being back in the middle of it, the myriad of sights and sounds, made her feel right at home again.

She spied a familiar head in the crowd. It wasn't difficult, since his big blond head was about a foot above everyone else's.

"Al!"

He turned around, but didn't seem to see her. With a shrug, he went back to whatever he was doing.

Maho frowned; she really hated being short. She ran up and knocked him a good one on the shoulder.

"Ow!" Al turned around. "What was that for?"

Maho glared. "Serves you right for ignoring a lady!"

"Oh. I'm sorry."

She stared at him. That wasn't his usual response. "Lupin-kun, are you feeling okay?"

Al chuckled, scratching his head. "Am I that transparent, Ma-chan?"

She smiled. "I'm afraid so."

He waved it off. "Ah, it's nothing. Just something I have to do later."

Maho raised an eyebrow. "Something?"

"Something distracting, you know?" Suddenly, he waved at someone behind Maho. Like a bolt of lightning, Motoko was upon them.

"Rush! What are you and Urashima-san doing together? I thought you had just left to purchase refreshments?"

"We just bumped into each other now, actually." Maho patted him on the back. "Baka-kun didn't see me at first."

"Al-san, is this true?"

He nodded solemnly. "It's true. I really didn't see her."

Motoko facefaulted. "Not that..."

Al snapped his fingers. "Hey, if you have some free time, how about we all hang out together for a while?"

"Sure, sounds great!" Maho smiled and grabbed hold of his arm. "Festival dates are the in thing to do, right?"

Motoko gave the other girl a sideways glance, trying to discern any darker motives. "I'd be happy to." She took hold of Al's other arm, pulling him more towards her.

Al, the poor soul, was speechless.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

"No, concentrate!" laughed Mutsumi, as Sam appeared yet again covered in watermelon juice to collect a replacement watermelon for the one just destroyed by the mechatamas.

"Concentrate? I can barely catch my breath!"

"Yes, you need to get calm... let it flow through you, then just go where your intuition leads you... Be one with the melon!"

Sam gave her a skeptical glance. As far ashe could see, Mutsumi's idea of 'being one with the melon' seemed to involve nothing more than consuming as much of it as possible.

"Try again!" shouted Mutsumi, throwing him another melon, which he neatly caught without thinking. Sam was about to reply with a sarcastic comment, but the mechatamas swooped back in, and he had to start running again.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Maho slumped on a bench. "I'm exhausted."

Motoko raised an eyebrow, still standing. "I'm feeling fine."

Al slumped down next to Maho. "Man, I'm pooped."

Motoko narrowed her eyes. That was another point for the seductress. "Rush, would you like something to drink?"

He immediately stood up. "Aw, you don't have to go through the trouble, Mo-chan. I saw a shaved ice stand up ahead. That sound good?"

Maho raised her hand. "Strawberry for me!"

Motoko nodded. "I will have grape, then."

"Great. I'll be right back." Al soldiered off on his sore feet, determined to make a good impression on both girls.

Once he left, Maho sighed. "Al is a real gentleman, isn't he? You don't see that too often anymore."

"Oh, I'm sure you've known plenty of gentlemen."

If there was an insult implied, she didn't catch it. "Oh, a few nice guys here and there. But in London, I think people only care about themselves." Maho smiled and stretched luxuriously. "That's what I like about being home again. I feel like you guys are watching my back."

"I'm watching your back, all right." Motoko looked at her.

"I know." Maho patted the other girl on the stomach playfully. "You're such a mother hen. But that's why you're so cute, Motoko-san!"

The warrior pulled away with a gasp. Accusing her of being cute, and worse, of being nothing but a chicken! Such an insult to her strength was not only brazen; it was unforgivable. But before she could lash out with her own choice words, Maho stood up and called out:

"Oi! Kentaro-kun!"

Sure enough, Kentaro emerged from the crowd, but something was definitely different about him. He was well dressed, freshly groomed, and positively glowing. Looking at him was like rediscovering the dashing playboy who crashed into the Hinata House years ago.

Holding onto his arm was also a familiar someone.

"Maho-san!" Kentaro grinned. One could practically hear the sparkling. "Why didn't you tell me Ai-chan was here?"

She stuttered, eyes going back and forth from one to the other. "I, uh, well..."

Ai flashed Maho a knowing look. "I really surprised him this morning, dear cousin."

The shorter girl nodded. Her showmanship skills were slowly reasserting themselves in her brain. "Surprises don't work if you tell everybody, Kentaro-kun." She winked for extra emphasis.

"Well it certainly was unexpected." He chuckled. "But for once, I think I like surprises."

Quickly, Maho took Ai's arm. "Um, sorry Kentaro-kun, but I need to borrow my cousin for a moment to catch up on things." Without waiting for a response, she started tugging Ai away.

"Of course, of course." He was already preoccupied with a nearby photo booth, a man with a plan. "Take your time, Maho-san."

Maho glanced at Motoko, who was now sitting on the bench with her arms folded.

"Sorry, could you hold down the fort for me, Motoko-san? Make sure Al doesn't eat my shaved ice while I'm gone!"

She simply nodded. With that, the two girls scampered away.

A few moments later, Al came back, balancing three cups of shaved ice in his hands.

"You wanted grape, right?" He looked around. "Hey, where's Ma-chan?"

Motoko was silent for exactly five seconds. If one looked directly into her eyes, one could see the internal conflict that raged in her mind, a short and brutal war of interests. But one side had to win out eventually.

"She apologized and left for some reason. But she'll catch up with us later. Let's just go around for now, Rush."

"Oh, um, all right." Al looked down at one hand. "So I guess she didn't want this."

Motoko stood up, taking both the grape and strawberry cups. "Probably not."

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Behind a squid-on-a-stick stand, Maho desperately tried to wrap her mind around the situation. "So, you think you like him, or not, but either way you can't be sure until you meet with him as Ai again, but you also want to become Ai so you can 'break up' with him in person, because you love him enough to do it in person, but not enough to tell him the truth?"

The older one leaned against the shack nonchalantly. Even with the age change in effect, she carried herself like someone much more experienced in life. "That's basically it, yeah."

Maho smacked her forehead. "Haru-nee!" she whined. "This is crazy!"

"You're telling me what I already know, chibi-ko."

"Then why are you doing this?"

"Because this isn't one of those things you can just think about." Her expression was determined. "I have to do it if I want to be sure."

"But..." Maho shook her head. "But what if he ends up hating you?"

She shrugged. "Then I guess he'll hate me."

"And you're okay with risking that?"

"It would happen eventually, wouldn't it?"

Maho looked at her askance. "You're being mysterious again."

She touched Maho's shoulder gently. Her next words were soft, but entirely serious:

"When it comes to love, you have to just go crazy and hope for the best."

Maho looked her sister in the eyes.

Then, without words or any prompting, they hugged one another.

Between sisters, such moments are allowed.

"Good luck, onee-chan."

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

Motoko and Al wandered the festival grounds side by side, not holding hands like some of the couples they passed, but they seemed to finally be getting along well. They stopped at a snack stand, and Al bought a pair of chocolate-dipped frozen bananas.

"Good thing Kaolla-chan isn't here," Motoko commented, wryly. "Ther would be no merchandise remaining at the stall for anyone else after she had passed!"

Al smiled as they walked enjoying their treats - Motoko seemed to be in her element, all the fancy outfits... Her hair shone so fine, like black silk under the afternoon sun. She was elegant - yes, that was the word, elegant.

But at the back of his mind he kept reminding himself that she had said to his face he was stupid for telling her he liked her.

He tossed an empty stick in a nearby trash bin. Well no matter, they could still be good friends. Even if he did want something more.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

As for Motoko, she was surprised. Al had once again become the person from the sushi bar - not too loud, but kind and polite, and even a little charming. How could this be the same boy who so carelessly danced in a cheerleader uniform in public for no reason whatsoever?

They stopped at a game of strength and Motoko smirked, knowing full well that she could win every prize at the festival if she tried.

"Oooo, check that out." Al pointed at a shiny jade comb, beautifully handcrafted with lotus blossoms on the handle.

"One sec." Al handed the owner of the game some yen and clenched his fist. The game was set so that if you punched the target hard enough, the ball attached to a plank would shoot up and ring a bell. Simple.

Al drew back and threw his punch, and his fist connected with the pad with a resounding "CRACK!"

Everyone was still. The pad hadn't moved an inch.

Al Yelped and tears streamed down his face as he jumped up and down holding his hand.

Motoko laughed... a polite laugh, her hand covering her mouth as she watched the fool leap around waving his hand to make the pain go away.

After he had finished, she whispered in his ear and he laughed aloud. "Alright, I'll try it your way then."

Handing he man another few yen, Al took seven paces back and charged, head butting the pad and sending the ball straight up to the bell.

The powerful blow had laid Al flat as little birds with Su's head on them flew around his head.

Motoko helped him up and he presented her with the expensive comb that wasn't supposed to be won at the rigged game.

"Thank you Rush." Motoko bowed, the comb sitting in the bun she had done her hair up into. It seemed to be the perfect addition to her outfit.

The happy duo walked on to enjoy more of the festival, closer then they had ever been since Al had first come to Japan.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Al looked at his watch when he was sure Motoko wouldn't notice. It was time for him to ditch her so he could change ready for the band contest.

Motoko was having similar thoughts. She had looked at her own watch, and knew that if she was to get on stage she needed to go now, but...

She looked at the happy smiling face of Al. She didn't want him to see her looking so foolish onstage. Nor could she think of an acceptable excuse to leave at this point.

The two of them spotted the solution at the same time and both asked each other, "Wanna go in there?"

They paused, and then laughed and entered the house of mirrors together.

It took Motoko exactly three minutes to be far enough into the house of mirrors to lose Al and retrace her steps back out, though Al thought he had ditched her.

Motoko left the way she had entered, and five minutes after her Al tunneled out with a spoon and ran for the nearest bathroom to change.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

After Keitaro and Naru met up again, Naru had seemed to have mellowed somewhat - at least she wasn't sending him skyward every five minutes. Maybe she'd decided not to waste any more time waiting for him to walk back, thought Keitaro glumly.

It was around 2 o'clock when they reached a small rides area for tiny roller coasters and bumper Cars. First up, they went on the Wildcat, a rather small, but still impressive roller coaster, which Naru got a kick out of. Next, they went to the Bumper cars.

"Come and get it, punks!" A war cry came out, and a luckless rider's car was slammed into a wall. "You feeling lucky!" Slam, another car went down. "You want some of this!" BAM, a car was sent reeling into a wall. "WHO WANTS SOME OF THE GREAT KEITARO!" Keitaro screamed, using his bumper car like some kind of bumper car ninja. Narusegawa drove her bumper car as far away as humanly possible, and watched with some kind of numbed horror.

"My parents used to take me to fairs, where I'd spend all day playing on the bumper cars." Keitaro explained, as they walked away from the Bumper Cars ride, where several ambulances were pulling up. "I used to play there all the ti- hey, let's go on that ride!" Naru looked over to where Keitaro was pointing. It was some kind of boat ride. She looked up to see the title, but Keitaro was pulling her along to there already.

"Two tickets!" Keitaro said, and paid for them, as he hopped into the swan-boat, pulling Narusegawa with him. Naru looked at the shape of the tunnel that the swan-boat was going to; it was heart shaped. It was dark inside. As they went in, all went dark for a second, then she saw... hearts. And lots and lots of pink stuff.

She turned to Keitaro. "What ride did you take us on!" She asked, looking fiercely into his eyes. He looked back at her.

"The Tunnel of Love." Keitaro replied smoothly, and when he looked into Naru's eyes, he was much smoother then before. He must have rolled a natural 20 on the charm or something, because Naru just looked back at him, blushing.

Meanwhile, two swans forward...

A man in a large, brown Dog costume wearing a shirt and tie looked to his partner, Max. "Max, get over here for a second." Sam said. The hobbit-sized guy in a white rabbit costume moved to requested location.

"Yeah, Sam?" he asked. Sam promptly grabbed Max, shoved his head into the water, and then shoved it into a nearby Circuit Box. There was a flash of electricity as the fuses shorted, although for some reason Max seemed unharmed by the whole business. However, this is for another story.

Back two swans...

Naru gasped as the entire ride lurched, and all the lights turned off. Instinctivly, Keitaro grabbed for her to keep her from falling off. Amazingly, Keitaro managed to do it without feeling her up.

"Naru, are you ok?" He asked, and Naru shivered and blushed without prior warning.

"Y-yes..." She replied, looking deep into his eyes - er, where she THOUGHT his eyes were. She involuntarialy let off a shudder. "It's cold." She said, as the air conditioning happened to be the only thing working in the whole ride. Keitaro reached around her and held her close.

(Meanwhile, God sat up in his heaven. A small angel flew up to him.

"What are you doing, God? This is totally OOC stuff!" She shouted, dancing around in front of him. "This is ridiculously out of character! Keitaro's NEVER this smooth, not even after his Seta-induced transformation!"

God looked at her coolly. "Well, then this is like a Were-Keitaro; only during certain times can he be a ladies' man" The angel gave him a look.

"Sir, you need to stop playing Unreal Tournament." She said finally.

"What, it's a good game! Stupid mortals calling me a hacker...")

About a hour later, Naru was half dozing in Keitaro's warm 'Embrace' as she relaxed in the snuggle-bunnyness of it all. Maybe it wasn't such a bad idea for them to get together; he was really warm. At the very least, she could take him to movie theaters in the summer and stay nice and warm all the time. She suddenly was moved by this entire electric wave of energy flowing through her.

This hadn't quite happened to her before; Naru was usually reserved around Keitaro, and although nerve-wracked (more so recently), was relatively calm, unless he pulled something perverted. But suddenly, she felt weird. She'd never felt this way before, not even remotely close... except when near Seta...

She suddenly moved in towards his face, his lips unseen so tempting...

Then the ride lurched, Naru was moved back to her original position on the swan, and the lights came back on. "We're sorry for the delay." A loudspeaker said out loud. "We will return the money for all riders. I repeat, we're sorry for the..." The voice rambled on, and Keitaro and Naru looked at each other nervously.

"M-Maybe..." Keitaro looked at Naru. Naru looked at him. Naru then moved back to her original position nestled in Keitaro's arms, leaning close to his chest. The swan slowly moved outside, towards the glaring sunlight. Naru didn't mind, though, as she was where she felt she could belong forever...

Suddenly, out of nowhere, she heard Kitsune's voice. "Oh, I heard the Tunnel of Love broke down! Maybe someone left their money on the swans!" She turned and opened her eyes. Kitsune was there! In shock and embarrassment, a natural reaction occurred to Naru.

POW! Into the air, undeserving Keitaro went, and Naru leapt out of the swan like a Ninja. Suddenly, she remembered something.

"Oh, no, the concert!" With that, she dashed away from the rides, allowing Keitaro to land where he may...

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

After the hour-long magic show, Shinobu helped Lance walk over to the market area to sit down for lunch. He could've done well walking on his own after that fall, but the sudden limping he had to endure made her do it. Lance didn't object, and went with her. They found a place to get hot food, and they sat at a table nearby. Lance hefted his hurt leg over the seat next to him, as Shinobu sat across suddenly contemplating something irrelevant.

"Is something on your mind?" Lance asked, noticing Shinobu's eerie silence.

"Oh, nothing!" she replied quickly. "I'm just thinking about what to do next."

"Actually," said Lance as he started to dig in, "I wanted to stop by a booth back at the sideshows and meet a friend from school real quick. I'm sure she can point us to someplace."

"That sounds good." she said, "Who's your friend?"

Lance swallowed his food before speaking again. "Noguchi Maki. She's in most of my classes, and showed me around on my first day."

"Oh, was she the girl who won the writing contest a few months ago?" Shinobu asked, recognizing the name.

"I guess so," Lance shrugged, "She's a writer like me, but I think I like her stories better."

They were silent for awhile, just eating their food and watching the people walk by and smelling the fresh air. This allowed Shinobu time to think about how she was going to get ready for the warm-up act... but more so...

"Wait, Su, stop--AAAHHH!"

Shinobu glanced up just in time to see Su jump on their table, holding a small backpack over her arm and smiling big at the two of them. Lance was laying swirly-eyed on the table.

"Su-chan, what did you do to him!" Shinobu yelled, arms flying in panic.

"What? I only drop-kicked him like I do to Keitaro!" Su answered, scratching the back of her head innocently. "Hey Shinobu-chan, where's Keitaro?"

Shinobu shook her head. "I don't know. I thought you guys would be with him..."

"Really?" Su tipped her head to the side. "That's too bad. I think I saw him trying to look for you earlier today."

Shinobu mentally gasped. 'Sempai... was looking for me?'

Meanwhile, a bump was starting to swell on Lance's head head, before he returned to consciousness.

"You know, I'm not as invincible as Keitaro is..." he muttered sorely.

"Aw, close enough!" Su laughed. "Anyways, you forgot to take this with you." She shoved the backpack into his arms. And before he could look back up, she jumped away, laughing and running into the crowd. Lance looked back down to the backpack, and zipped it open. Inside were his clothes for the contest, along with make-up, hair products, music to practice with,... but no Strawberry-egg-kun choker! Su must still have it...

"Lance-kun, what is it?" Shinobu asked, looking at the backpack.

'Uh oh..' he thought. He quickly came up with a lie. "Oh, this? These are just my clothes for when I take off my yukata later. After the festival, you know."

They finished their food, and walked back to the sideshow area. Lance could walk on his own now, so they were soon making their way past more large groups with little effort. As they were walking, Lance caught sight of Al and Motoko walking together in the other direction, towards a house of mirrors. Shinobu and Motoko didn't notice this, but Al and Lance spotted each other. Al saw Shinobu and teasingly gave him a thumbs up, and then tapped his wristwatch meaningfully. Lance nodded, and returned a 'thumbs up' of his own. Soon they disappeared in the crowd, and Lance pressed on.

They arrived back in the sideshow area, and looked around for a familiar face. There were hundreds to go to, and Maki never told Lance where to find hers. 'This might take longer than I thought...'

"Lance-kun! Over here!"

They turned and saw Maki-chan standing behind a near-empty booth to their right, dressed in a very dashing and colorful kimono. Lance couldn't help but notice, and neither could Shinobu. He waved back and walked over.

"You saw my new kimono?" Maki said, spinning slowly and letting them see every inch.

"Yeah, it looks great!" Lance complimented. Maki blushed slightly.

"Oh, Maki-chan," he said, scootching over so Shinobu could walk forward. "This is Maehara Shinobu. And this is Noguchi Maki, from my classes."

They waved hi to each other, and Maki let them go behind the booth. "My aunt and I are selling dolls that our family used to make years ago. There were so many that we come here every year to sell as much as we can. She went to get lunch though, so I'm watching the place for now."

"They look very good. It must've been hard to make them." said Shinobu. They looked down at the counter and saw hundreds of chibi-sized dolls layed out in front of them. There were many faces, clothes, people, animals, just about everything that can be made as a doll.

"Our family has been passing down how to make these dolls for three centuries." said Maki, "So soon I'll be learning how to make them, and maybe I can make some of you two!"

"Wow, that'd be real neat!" said Lance. He bent down and looked at some of them.

Shinobu was looking too, until she came across a doll with a familiar face. It was a doll that looked just like Keitaro, in fact, she was sure it WAS Keitaro. Her heart instantly swelled...

She had that feeling ever since the ferris wheel, when she thought about Keitaro. When she had thought that Lance was about to confess to her, she realised her main thought was not happiness that someone liked her, it was just a sadness that it was not Keitaro speaking those words for her. Then Su had told her that he was looking for her. After all this time that she thought she deserved to go out with Lance, and that Keitaro didn't return her feelings, he was still thinking about her. And then there was Lance... Ever since they had stopped at the booth, he was always looking at Maki and her beautiful kimono. She knew she couldn't compete with something like that...

That's when she finally decided. She had kept all her thoughts and feelings to herself all day, but she couldn't keep going like this any more. She had to be honest with herself, and follow her heart - no matter where it led her. Besides - it was almost time to be on stage!

"Lance-kun.." she said, tears beginning to swell in her eyes.

Lance turned around to her, "Huh?"

"Gomen... Lance-kun..."

She turned her heels and ran away as fast as she could. Lance and Maki stared dumbly as she ran past the crowds that were gathering more in number by the second.

"Shinobu!" Lance yelled. He dropped the doll he was holding and starting running after her. Maki yelled out to him, "Lance-kun, wait!"

"Shinobu!" he yelled again. He faced the crowd and shoved past them, causing many rude comments. But he couldn't see the pink bow on top of her hair, or anything of her. He tried to keep going, but the crowd grew more and more, and he couldn't make it any farther. They carried him all the way back in front of Maki's booth, where he fell on the ground. Maki ran to him and helped him up on his feet.

"Lance-kun! Are you ok?" she asked, a look of worry on her face.

"Why did she run away?" Lance asked out loud, but not to anyone in particular. He looked back out to where she ran away to.

Maki was suddenly very concerned. She had guessed that Lance and the girl were just friends like he said, but she could tell that she meant something more to him. And now she just ran away. Lance must be so heartbroken...

"Look, Lance-kun," she said softly, getting closer to him so he can hear. "I'm really sorry. I didn't know that she was..."

"Hey, look! Cool dolls!" A group of older girls started making their way to the booth. Maki looked back, she had to get there since she was the only one watching the counter. "Look, can you just meet me back here around 8:30? We can spend the rest of the festival together, my treat."

Lance looked back to her, then back to where Shinobu ran away. It didn't seem like he had much of a choice anymore...

"Sure thing, Maki-chan." Lance forced a smile. But it convinced Maki, who smiled back.

"I knew you could bounce back, Lance-kun. I'll see you tonight!" With that, she ran back to the booth and cared for the new customers.

Lance stood there for a few seconds mulling things over, before walking by himself to where the band contest would be held. His backpack slung over his shoulder, he figured he might as well get ready early.

Maybe he'd get this horrible mood off his back by then.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Al was making his way to a nearby bathroom, hoping to get into costume quickly so he wouldn't be late, but a familiar voice called to him, "Rush-san!"

He stopped and turned to face the voice, it was Izumo the leader of the male kendo club, and for a very short period of time, suspect in the case Al had solved on Thursday.

"Hiya Izumo, I wish I could stay and chat but I'm late." Al said hoping to shake the attractive student.

"I'll only be a second Rush, I was wondering what the nature is of the relationship between you and Motoko-san, I see you walking to school together and you do call her by that pet name."

Al blushed, "I...we're friends, but I don't think we're anything more." Not that I would mind. He added silently.

"I see...well thank you Rush, enjoy the festival." And with that the kendo boy was gone.

"I wonder what that was about." Al muttered returning to his quest to get changed.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Up on the stage in the central arena, the Battle of the Bands contest was getting underway. There was the usual long-winded speeches from the various sponsors, and a brief description of the rules of the contest, which was slightly drowned out by a growing chant of "Start the Music!" from the excited crowd in front of the stage.

Backstage, Haitani and Shirai were ready to go out for their warm-up act. Their earlier panic had died down when Motoko and Shinobu had arrived, late and breathless but fortunately in time to change into costume. Naru fumed to herself, but had had little time to castigate them for their tardiness. Now they were lined up in the wings ready to go out. Motoko was wearing her 'French Maid' outfit, borrowed from Haruka, and Shinobu was in a similar outfit that looked similar to one worn by Chii in Chobits. Naru's outfit had several trailing ribbons woven into her long hair, and an amazingly cute mini-skirted dress with a plethora of underskirts. Keitaro would doubtless have had an instant nosebleed just to see her, although her furious expression would probably have weakened the effect somewhat. Moe was as cute as ever, and apparently oblivious to the dark looks being flashed back and forth between the other girls.

"And now - before we greet the first of our contestants," began the announcer, "I would like to start the evening with music from a couple of local boys - the only males allowed on stage tonight!"

There were a few laughs through the crowd, but the crowd good-naturedly cheered as Haitani and Shirai came out and took their places on the stage. Silence fell as the lights were lowered, and Haitani was picked out by a single spotlight, centre stage.

Shirai, sitting at a grand piano behind him, started to play softly, and the crowd recognised an old Bonnie Tyler hit form the eighties that had been used in a recent animated film. The lyrics seemed to be different, though...

Haitani pulled the microphone towards himself, and began to sing as soft-focus images of the Hinata Honeys were back-projected onto the big screen behind them.

"Where have all the good girls gone,
And where are all the babes?
Where's a nice cute highschool girl"
"Who's slightly underage..." added Shirai, with a grin.

Haitani mock-scowled at him, and continued:

"Isn't there a lady,
With long and flowing hair.
Late at night, I see my bed,
And wish that she was there... "

Now the bass started to build up, until suddenly the stage lights all came up and some fireworks detonated on either side. As the music started again, suddenly Kitsune appeared from the wings, doing a wild dance around the stage. She wore a white diaphenous costume with vestigal wings on the back, and the short skirt left rather little to the imagination - even before she started with the high kicks. Most of the boys in the front rows of the audience passed out through blood loss from nosebleeds, and had to be carried off by the security crew.

Haitani and Shirai were now together mid-stage, singing at top volume into their microphones.

"I need an angel!
I'm holding out for an angel, that's the way it goes;
She's gotta be cute, and she's gotta be sweet,
With her hair all in ribbons and bows!

I need an angel!
I'm holding out for an angel to the end of the night;
She's gotta be cute, and she's gotta be sweet,
With a tiny mouth and big eyes! "

Backstage, Naru was too busy complaining to Motoko and Shinobu about their lateness to even notice that Kitsune was also part of the act.

"How could you want to spend more time with that bloated pervert?" she fumed at Motoko, clearly referring to Al. "Especially when this whole thing was your idea!"

"My idea?" replied Motoko in surprise. "I have to correct you, it was only due to your acceptance of this embarassing act that I ever agreed to take part!"

"WHAT? They told me that you had already agreed..."

"They told me the same thing!"

Motoko and Naru ground their teeth and stared out at the two singers who were as yet unaware that they could measure their future life expectancies using a small egg-timer.

"Motoko-sempai... Naru-sempai...!" interjected Shinobu, urgently, "This is our cue! Get ready!" and with that, she raced out on stage just as Shirai started in on the second verse. Motoko and Naru shrugged, and followed her just as Kitsune left the stage for a brief rest.

"Somewhere in the kitchen,
In my wildest fantasies -
In a French maid's uniform,
So willing and so eager to please..."

The crowd burst into huge cheers as the girls appeared onstage. Motoko's eyes narrowed a bit when she spotted Shirai's rather ecchi expression as he said the last line, but they all kept to the script and danced around the stage in a whirl of ribbons. The few boys still in the audience wolf-whistled themselves hoarse until they collapsed from hyperveltilating.

Naru raced along the stage and slid to the middle, as Moe appeared in the spotlight at the back and Haitani sang the last few lines.

"Running down the hallway,
And falling at my feet -
It's gonna take a living doll
To make me feel complete! "

Then, they launched into the chorus again. Kitsune reappeared, and danced around the other girls. Spotting an unused microphone stand, she swung herself around it and performed some dubious gyrations that ensured the remaining boys in the audience suffered explosive nosebleeds. Then, she returned to centre stage and continued the dance until the music came to a close with some thunderous detonations of fireworks.

The audience stood stunned for a moment, before bursting into wild applause. Since most of the security staff were carrying the nosebleed-suffering boys to the medical tent, the few that were left were insufficient to prevent a mass stage invasion. Hordes of shrieking highschool girls clambered up onto the stage and raced towards Haitani and Shirai.

"At last!" said Haitani ecstatically, "We're famous rock stars!" He hugged Shirai, crying in happiness.

"See the fans coming?" replied Shirai.

"I see it! I see it!"

"Yes! We're finally going to score!"

The fans rushed onto the stage, and went straight past them, running up to the Hinata girls. Haitani and Shirai collapsed into a pile, and the next wave of girls rolled straight over the top of them.

Behind them, a ring of admirers were gathered around the surprised Hinata girls.

"Naru-sempai! You are so talented! Please give me an autograph!"

"Wow, Motoko-sempai! Kawaii! Please, take a photograph with me? "

"Shinobu-chan! Please sign my yearbook!"

"Moe-san! My teddy wants to go on a date with you!"

Haitani and Shirai dejectedly walked off the stage as the Hinata girls made their excuses and escaped into the wings.

"Aw, man..." whined Haitani. "What does a guy have to go to get some interest from the girls around here?"

"Beats me," replied Shirai, moodily. "Its like they can't even see us..."

"But WE can see you," came the voices of Motoko and Naru from behind them. "And, we'd like to talk to you about the dishonorable tricks with which you persuaded us into this ..."

Haitani and Shirai drew back, sweating. Just when they'd thought it could get no worse...

o-o-o-o--o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

Al was walking purposefully through a gaggle of giggling girls all excited for the show. He was surpressing this same excitement as he forced himself to pay attention to a dozen details, how he was walking, how his arms hung to the sides, what expression of giddiness he was using... pretending to be a girl was hard work.

He slid up to the snack table and took a bottled water, a tad remorseful that the character he created wasn't as fond of free food as the real Al was. No no, Alexandria was a light snacker in the public eye.

He turned and almost bumped into another contestent.

"I'm sorry." He mumbled in the higher pitched alto voice the choaker had granted him.

"You better be!" The snobby girl took three bottled waters and went back to her two friends talking animatedly.

"Wait a minute..." Al did a doubletake. Those were Motoko's friends, he wondered if they knew the kendo girl they worshiped was in the crowd they were about to perform in front of.

Moving on, Al knew he had a job to do. He and Su had disscussed the plan beforehand, but now was time to act. It would be now or never.

Slipping past a door that read "stage crew only." Al made his was further backstage.

Flicking on the light in the dark room, he cautiously made his way past boxes and wires, until he found what he was looking for: a box of cables, a few heavy metal hooks, and some fireworks...

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

Al was soon backstage among the many girls milling about. He stood on his toes and began looking for a hairstyle he would reconize.

Spotting a bobbing white haircut that he knew to belong to Su, he grinned mischieviously and carefully walked toward her.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

Lance wandered around the backstage area, squeezing himself past security, staff, and performers hoping to make the winning spot. He felt pretty confident of his looks so far, he even got the hair just right on his own. But his big problem was that he left his "Strawberry-egg-kun" choker with Su, and had a very hard time trying to get himself in without being caught. Now he hoped to find them soon, so he can have a girly voice again

Dizzy yelped as he was almost trod on for the third time. His girl weasel outfit was not something he was proud to wear, which was also why he didn't want to die in it.

Lance looked down, recognizing the squeak. "Dizzy!" then he panicked, forgetting to lower his voice. "Dizzy, is that you?" he whispered, "Sorry, I couldn't see you."

The rodent climbed up onto Lance's shoulder, "Grr." he sighed expressing how badly he missed the buffness granted to him from the moonbeam episode.

"Don't worry, Diz. Won't happen again." He looked around the backstage area he was at. "Where are Al and Su?" Dizzy pointed in the direction he had last seen the jungle girl before she had skipped away, but not even his weasel keeper knew the location of Al.

Lance trudged through the direction Dizzy pointed at, careful not to trip over cords. He squeezed past more groups of people before he finally noticed the blonde disguise of Al and the dolled-up Su huddling in a corner speaking softly. Taking careful steps, he made his way toward them.

"So how many bananas do you think I could buy if we got rich and famous?" Su was asking Al who shrugged and sipped his bottled water quietly, which was odd for him.

Lance reached them and moved close. "Hey guys. Did you get here alright?"

"Like totally, I was so nervous though when I was changing cause that big guy guarding the door was like "Name?" and I was like totally scared of him." Al babbled in preppie mall-rat speak as he slipped into character without batting an eye.

"...Right." Lance looked to Su, who was laughing at Al's impersonation. "Su, do you have my Strawberry-kun voice thingy with you?"

"Oh right, I was wondering why you didn't sound like a girly girl yet." Su dug her hand around in her pocket and produced the device handing it over to Lance.

He took it and wrapped it around his neck. When it clicked, he toyed around with his voice. Finding it girlish, he gave a thumbs-up to Su. "Thanks a lot! I was starting to get worried."

"Like, what's to be worried about, we are three hot girls and one hot weaselet who are ready to show the world we are totally stars!" Al posed dramatically all the while his face expressed a giddy blondness that was very close to the real Al's face. His outfit was a nice black suit and pink tie, with ray-band sunglasses hanging from the pocket, it stood a fine contrast to Su's outfit, suspenders and a backwards red baseball cap.

"That we are... scarily enough." He picked up Dizzy from his shoulder. "I found him wondering around backstage, by the way. I almost stepped on him, it was so crowded."

Dizzy squeaked rather femininely, as he and Al refused to look at each other. "Their still mad at each other aren't they?" Su giggled at how stupid her friends were being.

"I know, it's cute isn't it?" Lance teased.

"Like I totally don't know what you mean, Didi and I have never been very close, we've always had a platonic professional relationship," Al stated, before adding another "Totally." as an afterthought.

"Squeek"

"What was that rat!" Al grabbed a nearby microphone stand and held it threateningly over his head

"Hey, gu- er, girls, chill out!" Lance held Al back with one arm and held Dizzy back with his other hand, separating the two.

"So which band member are you Lannie-koon?" asked Su, oblivious to the problem at hand.

"I haven't really thought about it.." Lance thought out loud, relaxing his grip against Al and Dizzy, but still standing defensively in between them. "What about you guys?"

"Well I am so like totally the cute innocent one." Al said as if it was obvious, which left the others to wonder how a suit portrayed cute and innocent, but no one asked.

"Squeek." Dizzy/Didi explained as he/she adjusted it's short skirt and tee shirt in the reflection of a bowl.

"Like, how could you be the tough one, you're less then a foot tall."

"Squeek."

"If I wasn't like, so totally innocent and sweet I would nail you to a tree."

"What about you, Su?"

"I thought it'd be obvious Lannie-koon, Sarah helped pick the outfit out." Su did indeed look like she was impersonating Sarah, even her hair was combed and ran down her back in twin ponytails.

Lance looked over her again. Then his eyes opened wide in terror. "Oh God..."

"Yup, Sarah told me if I dressed like this I would be the sexy one." Su giggled as she adjusted the ball cap on her head so it was set just right.

"I think you look totally hot in that Su, the guys will be like totally throwing themselves at you." Al complimented Su, although he felt that her outfit said "Mechanic" more then "sexy",

Lance shook his head shamefully. "She must've been dropped early in her childhood... I have no idea what kind of band member I can be."

"You could um... you could be the smart one!" Al supplied after looking Lance's outfit up and down. It had been fairly generic, but with the proper touches...

"Huh?" Lance looked down at himself. From the stockings, mini-skirt, buttoned up blouse, neatly cleaned and colored nails, wristwatch, and slim glasses resting on his nose, he could see the intelligence in them.

"Well I guess..." He said, "But I thought I was gonna be the sexy hardcore rocker? At least that's what I thought I was gonna be..."

"You so totally are, think, in todays world guys dig girls with enough brains to know that they are idiots and enough looks to keep them happy, you've got the looks, and I think you should know more about guys then most girls." Al winked suggestively.

"I guess so... but do you think there's a way I can look smarter?"

"I think I can do that." Al walked a circle around Lance before holding out his hand, "Su, comb!" Su slapped the item into his waiting hand like a nurse giving a tool to a doctor in the ER. A few moments of combing and Al held up a mirror, "Voila!" Lances hair was now done up into a professional no-nonsense bun that could be removed at just the right moment to let the long black hair fall about his shoulders and up the 'sexy' factor by at least three or four points.

"Ohhh..." Lance looked at the mirror of himself. He started modelling in it, but stopped short in fear of embarrassment.

"So, when are we up?" He asked quickly

"We're number six, that's third to last!" Su handed Lance a program she had found on the ground.

Lance looked at the program. "Do we know these other bands performing?"

"I like totally know the one's going to big brother Alex's school." Al pointed at the group just before them, "They are like, kendo girls who are friends of that girl with the long black hair, um...toko?" Al was in character so far the others wondered if he'd find his way out when it was all over.

"Them?" Lance looked at the group name. 'The Moto-kites'

"That's creepy." Al and Su said in unison as they watched the three pass, they had changed into costume, each dressed in their kendo uniforms.

"Good luck!" Lance cried to them, trying to be the good sportsman, er, woman.

"There is no such thing as luck, only skill, but you'll need all the luck in this show." The leader sneered at Lance before leading her minions away.

"Ya know that first part sounds like something that Toko girl would say." Al mused

Lance sweatdropped as they walked away. "So much for a friendly competition..."

"Who needs friends when we have pyrotechnics?" Su giggled as she took out a small box with a red button on it and opened the back panel, adjusting a few wires.

Lance blinked at Su. "Just what is she doing?" he asked Al.

"You better save those for out act Su, don't go trying to light those totally rude bimbos on fire." Al warned as he played with his ponytail.

"Is she messing with the stage effects!" Lance almost yelled.

"Nooooooo." Su said nodding with a wicked grin on her face.

"Su, that's cheating!" He whispered loudly at her, "If the judges or anyone else find out... we'll be disqualified for sure!"

"I don't recall seeing anything on those forms that said we couldn't supply special effects." Al stated as he slipped in character a bit by watching some attractive girls pass by in bunny suits.

A staff person, big and muscular with sunglasses and a clipboard, walked up to them. "Excuse me, are you the L.A.D.S group?"

"Yup, totally." Al answered praying that the man hadn't overheard them, if they were connected to the missing fireworks...

"You're up next. The instruments are already set up, so wait by the end of the stage when you're ready." The man nodded to them in good luck, and walked away

"Ready to roll sisters of rock?" Al asked, his alto mall-rat voice almost quaking with excitement

"I'm just relieved he didn't hear us..." Lance sighed. Then he turned back to Al and the others, a big smile on his face. "Let's show them how to rock!"

"Right on...err...what is your name again?" Al asked as they started off to their positions.

"Lizzy, short for Elizabeth." He said. "It was the best I could think of last minute."

"Totally a smart girl name." Al nodded at Lizzy and then wet his/her lips, show time...

They stood at the end of the stage, hearing the last riff of a guitar. Seconds later, the three kendo girls walked past them, leaving behind a roaring crowd.

"Wow, will you listen to that crowd." Al said softly, his face portrayed a nervous mall-rat who was second guessing herself. Dizzy and Su nodded in agreement, this looked like the perfect time for the leader of the band to attempt a pep-talk.

"Don't worry guys," he said to them. "They were good, but we're better. Just remember what we practiced, have fun, and rock hard." Lance put out his hand. "Bring them in." Two hands and a paw met his in the middle

"Give the crowd what they want!" he yelled. "LADS on three, one, two..."

"LADS!"

"And now, next up on the chopping block...err that is to say stage," The announcer joked, "LADS!"

"Let's rock!"

Lance ran out to the stage, waving to the crowd cheering them on. Dizzy, Al and Su were quick behind, each taking up an instrument and smiling, this was it, time to show them some real "Girl" power

"This number was written by our leader and resident smart girl, Lizzy!" Al cheered into the microphone before passing it off to Lance with a wink.

Lance picked up his guitar, fiddling with the strings. He turned to Dizzy, "Hey Didi, drop us a beat and show this crowd how to rock!" he yelled in the mic.

"Squeek!" Dizzy tapped his sticks together to set the beat and began playing, is drums getting the crowd moving to the rythem. Al joined in after several beats to play his harmonica on the downbeats, followed closely by Su, the three were building up in volume and tempo, leading up to a mighty crescendo.

Lance made a mighty jam down on his guitar, starting the song. The crowd bobbed their heads, recognizing the music from the American group "Yellowcard". They knew this was gonna be good.

"There's a spot in my Mom's basement room,
Where I used to sit and level you.
We were big nerds
And it felt so right.
Playing all day,
Staying up all night. Staying up all night. "

Al looked to Su from under his shades, she nodded and he began moving towards the Drums while he danced and played. From under the stool Dizzy sat on, Al withdrew a metal hook and began sneaking up on Lance. The crowd, of course, thought it was planned and were laughing and dancing.

"There's a quest we're destined to complete,
There is no big monster we can't beat.
You rolled a strength check,
And it felt so right.
Playing all day,
Staying up all night. Staying up all night. "

Attaching the hook to Lance's belt, Al quickly moved back into his place to wait for the right moment in the song. Su pressed a button on her sax and cannons rose out of the drums, firing confetti into the audience with a loud "BANG!" The crowd loved it and went nuts!

"If you find some time,
We'll slay some dragons.
We can look for gold,
And raid a dungeon.
Let your mana flow,
And send a missile my way, yeah. "

Lance looked around at the effects that rang out before he started the chorus. It happened at just the right time - he was even glad that Su had rigged the stage. He smiled and went on

"Now you're cornered by a pack of boars.
What're you gonna do? The adventure's yours!
Got your dice? I would make a dexterity check,
Lest you fall and hurt your valued head.
Your head. "

Another button lowered a rope that Al motioned to while still playing, the crowd cheered louder, encouraging him to pull on the rope, many wanting to see up "Lizzy's" skirt.

"Do you want to go,
And save a kingdom?
Spread the word of love,
And peace and freedom?
I don't know when or how,
You'll over that feat.
But I know there's nothing that you can't beat.
Oh, yeah yeah yeah. "

Al ran and jumped, grabbing the rope and yanking it down roughly, sending a shocked Lance flying into the air majestically to the crowds utter delight, and although the movement was too fast for the crowd to see anything indecent, they loved it just the same! Lance was surprised that he was now flying up above the crowd, and he looked back down to Al, who was tugging the wire. He winked down at him and began his insane guitar solo that drove the crowd even more crazy.

After rounding the audience and zipping past the judges tables (causing a stream of blood from the nose of one of them), Lance landed back on the stage. He went back to his microphone to sing the next verse.

"I remember the look in your eyes,
When I told you your character dies.
You felt as though a part of you
Just left, with it.
But after all the things you've been through,
My confidence will be beside you.
We'll be together for one more game,
Of D&D... "

Dizzy began going ballistic on the Drums, which encouraged Al and Su to play louder, working the crowd into a frenzy. Everyone screamed in their microphones for the last verse of the song

"Let's build up your stats,
And make you smarter.
Or we'll take some down,
And make you stronger.
There are no limits in some good ol' roleplay.
Let's get together and test out your melee.
Oh, yeah yeah yeah. "

BOOM! Lights and fire shot in all directions, people in the front row were being roasted, though they were thrilled never the less. A disco ball lowered shooting it's effect across the entire crowd and Al ripped off his pants and suit jacket to reveal a short flirty skirt and pink tube top, which made the remaining male members of the crowd begin to worry about nosebleeds.

The crowd stood on their feet, and even the judges, as they applauded the group off the stage. Lance bowed to everyone, smiling his biggest smile. He turned around and acknowledged the other band members, rising the noise level even more. They all bowed together and left the stage, feeling a natural high as they heard the crowd chanting "LADS, LADS, LADS!"

Backstage, Lance took off his guitar and gave hugs all around. "That our best performance yet! We were awesome!"

Al dancing around, flinging Su like a deranged square dancer as they celebrated, he even hugged Dizzy before the pair realized they were still mad at each other and pushed each other away. Lance hugged Al, high-fived Dizzy, and even accepted Su's glomp. He felt happy, happier than he ever felt...

"Nothing to do now but wait and hope we won." Al sighed happily, feeling the same buzz a happy crowd always gave him, he was on top of the world, hoping that Motoko would buy his "I was lost in the mirrors for HOURS" excuse. He had tried to spot her in the crowd, but couldn't.

The staff person from before now approached them. "Good job girls, now you'll have to wait in the performers lounge until the winners have been announced."

"Like thanks." Al smiled and whispered to Lance as they walked, "How long till I can put some pants on? my legs are freezing, and I don't know how much longer I can suck in my tummy." he patted the slim belly of a high school hottie from America, wishing his real stomach was half as slim as it was when he held it in.

"We have another half hour or so, just hold it in." he whispered back. They all followed the staff person to a separate part of the backstage area, in a room full of other performers sitting on couches or chairs, reading magazines, playing songs quietly, or talking to each other excitedly.

Grabbing a empty seat, Al sat and then found he had unfortunately sat down next to the kendo girls.

"Nice show, but it just goes to show that without skill all you have are flashy effects and lights." the leader said with a smirk.

"Uh oh.." Lance whispered to Su. Dizzy hopped up on the seat and growled, asserting himself as 'The tough one.'

"Eww, get that hairball away from me, it might have something." one of the other two girls said as Dizzy growled in a deeper more menacing tone, his fangs visible.

Al looked as if he were about to do something dangerous, but then suddenly broke into character again, tears welling up in his eyes. "W...why do you, sniffle have to be so mean, I'm sorry for whatever we did to upset you." He began crying almost exactly like he had seen Shinobu cry on a few occasions during his short time at the Hinata house.

"...Are you gonna do something?" Lance whispered to Su. She looked back to him with a mouthful of free food from the table in the middle of the room, "Liga fhat?" she asked around it.

"...Nevermind."

Some of the other girls had begun to watch the conflict, Dizzy growled out some insults while Al sniffled and played the poor, sweet Yet surprisingly tall innocent one.

Lance sighed, finally deciding to step in. "Alright girls, that's enough. There shouldn't be any bad blood going on here, we're all girls, and we all love music, so why can't we get along?"

The leader looked thrown, she settled on sticking her nose in the air, and she and her friends moved to the other side of the room, leaving Al to be comforted (Much to his own joy) By several of the other girls.

"Well, that's something." Lance turned back to Su. "Hey, stop eating all the food. We'll all get something after the contest is done."

Dizzy kept shooting looks across the room and muttered something to Lance about how they weren't acting quiet like students of Motoko should act.

Lance shrugged. "If their only friend is Motoko, then I'm not surprised. Just let them be."

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

Back on stage, Kaolla's older sister Amalla was attempting to do her version of an old Country and Western Bootscootin' song.

"My flute-tootin' baby, is driving me crazy,
She's enthusic' for music, she plays all night.
She's playing each and ev'ry tune,
Underneath the red red moon,
She won't stop, and she's got a croc, One, two, three, four..."

The white crocodile line-danced across the stage next to her, snapping its jaws in time to the music as Amalla played on her flute. The front few rows pulled back nervously.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

Half an hour later, the staff man asked everyone to line up near the stage for the awards announcment. Following his orders, everyone got into their bands and huddled together as they made their way past the backstage area and to the curtain. Once the cheering died down, the judges gave their scores.

The spokesman for the judges panel, Cheshire-san from Todai, tood up and took the microphone. After waving to a cute Chinese lady in the audience, who blushed and waved back, he coughed and started to make the announcement.

"Ladies and gentlemen... after much deliberation, I am pleased to announce that we have come to a unanimous decision as to tonight's rankings!"

He paused for a while for the cheering to die down.

"As you know, there are many record company representatives present tonight," - he indicated a clump of sleazy-looking men in a group at the side of the stage - "who are looking for someone to be the new Idol for Spring! Will it be some of our lovely ladies?"

Again, a pause for the general cheering to fade.

"So - in reverse order, we have the winners..." He took out a large golden envelope, slit it open with much ceremony, and unfolded the piece of paper inside.

"In third place... with a prize of 50,000 Yen, we have: The Moto-kites!"

There was loud cheering as the leader of Motoko's fanclub came up on stage, after flashing a disappointed scowl back at the other competitors. She accepted the oversized prize-money cheque, bowed to the audience, and returned to her group who immediately started to argue amongst themselves as to who was to blame for their insufficiently good performance.

"In second place... with a prize of 100,000 Yen, we have: Yumi-chan and the Sugar Kisses!"

An overly-cute bouncy gril dressed in a preponderance of pink bows and ribbons bounced up onto stage. Lance vaguely recognised her from one of the earlier acts, and remembered remarking that the act should contain a health warning for diabetics. Clearly there were no dentists on the voting panel, else something so sugary would never have won a prize.

"And the winner - with a prize of 500,000 yen - is... LADS!"

Lance's eyes boggled. They had actually won?

Al and Su cheered and began spinning in ring-around-the-rosy fashion cheering, "We did it, we did it!"

Dizzy was the only one who managed to keep his cool, and he gave Lance a nudge to snap him back to reality where he stepped forward and excepted the trophy and envelope with the cash prize within.

"T...thanks guys!" Lance said still seeming overwhelmed by the event, he honestly hadn't foreseen how it would feel having all the people in Hinata cheering for him and the others.

"I...I just wanted to say..." Lance attempted to start a speech, presumably thanking the academy or something equally silly, but Al elbowed him out of the way and grabbed the microphone.

"I wanna thank the judges, and my fellow bandmates, and...that guy backstage who got me the bottled water, and the person who printed off the papers we had to sign to enter this thing..." Al would have gone on but Su kicked him away where she stole the microphone and cheered into it.

"Su wants to say hiya to all the peoples at the Hinata house, guess what guys, We won!" Su was scanning the crowd calling out, "Ryuko, Motoko, Keitaro, where are you guys? We won!"

Between Lance and Al they wrestled the microphone from Su's hands and Lance took it back up, wondering what he should say.

"Um... wanna hear the song again?"

This suggestion was met with much cheering indeed.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

After their curtain call, the quartet returned backstage where many different men and women in different suits were all trying to get them to sign with their labels - proving that Japan was in desperate need of people who could provide decent spoofs of popular American songs.

"Please miss, My name is Buck, Buck Naked, how'd you four like to be in some movies? you could play the music too!" A greasy weasel of a man offered as the managers and minions of managers swarmed the group.

"Grr."

"Now that wasn't very nice miss, I'll have you know my films are very tasteful, why 'Naughty Alien Cheerleader Slumber Party of Doom' won an award for lowest production value of the year, and if I can afford to make 'em so cheap, I must be brilliant!"

"Grr."

"Alright already, I want to see a line forming along the wall of who's willing to pay us the most to who's willing to pay us the least!" Lance ordered, taking charge before one of his less then capable band members signed something he'd regret.

"Hey, the tan one already signed with me!" A fat man in a bad hairpiece yelled as the others went to line up.

Al snatched the clipboard he was holding, tore the papers off, crumpled them up and popped them in his mouth.

"I don't see her signature anywhere, so get in line, rug boy!" Lance smirked, it was fun to have people obey him for a change.

"Listen up: I want you to all place your offers on the table, with a number where we can reach you, after having our legal advisor review the contracts, we will call the person whom we wish to sign with, is that clear?" The guitar playing crossdresser played the part of the bossy smart girl well, the producers and managers all nodded and performed like trained dogs, laying their papers in a stack and marching out he door.

"That was a total ego trip!" Lance chuckled as he picked up the papers.

Al giggled and wave flirtatiously as the last man left the room, "Yeah, and now we just go through and pick the best deal, I feel like a kid in a candy store!"

The band headed for the backstage exit, "Ya know girls, I think this may be the start of something great." Lance opened the door and a wave of cheering hit him like a fire hose.

"Please sign this miss Lizzy!"

"Alexandria-san, please marry me!"

"Su, Su! I'm in your home room, can I have an picture?"

"Myuh!"

The band froze, a mob of fans, human and turtle, had congregated behind the stage and were now ready to rip the clothes off their bodies for a moment of attention from their new idols.

"Lemme try this again, ALRIGHT GUYS, SINGLE FILE LINE, EVERYONE WILL GET THEIR TURN!" Lance yelled over the crowd.

The mob of fans pressed in, they would not be quelled by their idols, they wanted signatures and keepsakes, they wanted to speak to their idols, to touch them, to find some way to be sure that these idols wouldn't dessert them like so many others had in the past.

"Hey, leggo!" Al shook one fan from his leg as the mob became braver and began closing in.

"The doors locked!" Su called trying to pull open the exit door to the stage.

Dizzy held his drumsticks threateningly as the male turtles of Hinata encircled him, cutting him off from the rest of the band.

Before Lance could attempt to yell over the clammering masses once more, he felt a tug and one of them had grabbed on to his guitar.

"Hey, that's mine!" Lance shook the guitar by it's neck and with a hard shake, sent the groupie flying into the mob.

"This is bad." Al whimpered, tears of fear welling up in his heartbreaking blue eyes, playing his role till the bitter end.

"GRR!" Dizzy cried and the band watched as the turtles lept upon him mobbing the little weasel, and fighting each other for the chance to date him.

"HEY LAY OFF THE FURBALL!" Al yelled suddenly, the tears gone as he charged into the turtles, swinging a fanboy as a weapon.

"Su, any bright ideas?" Lance asked as the crowd closed in tighter, cutting the pair off from Al who was currently scattering turtles like ten pins.

"Well, I do have one idea..." Su whispered it in Lances ear.

"No way, it'll never work." Lance said with doubt.

"HEY LOOK! THE KID HAS PICTURES OF US IN SWIMSUITS!" Su yelled pointing at a random person wandering by.

"WHAT!" The mob turned and charged the poor boy, causing him to run in a full panic all the way to the edge of town, with the mob on his heels till he ran out of steam and fell, to be swarmed, and most likely eaten.

Back at the festival the band found the lot to be empty once more, and to everyones relief no one had had the chance to pull off a shirt or skirt and reveal the truth behind LADS.

"Ya know, it suddenly occurs to me why most bands have bouncers and body guards." Lance said as they started off to find somewhere to change.

"Why is that?" Al asked sarcastically as he patted down his hair that had become messy saving Dizzy.

"Because sooner or later those fans are gonna have pictures of us in swimsuits, so then what will we tell them to make them go away?"

"Maybe you need us." came a voice from behind them.

Al and Lance quickly turned around, to see Sam and Mutsumi, who were both wearing black suits with black ties and dark glasses. Sam was trying to put on a dangerous scowl, while standing with his hand on his sword, although Mutsumi was hiding behind trying to cover a giggle. They looked like rejects from the 'Blues Brothers'.

"Hello, Al-kun, Lance-kun!" giggled Mutsumi.

"How do they recognise us?" whispered Lance to Al, who shrugged, and pointed towards Sam.

"You need protection," said Sam, "and that means us! You can hire me as your bodyguard, and at a discount rate for Hinata residents... I'll start now by getting you to a changing room where you can remove those ridiculous outfits before that pack of sex-hungry fanboys returns..."

"Yes," interjected Mutsumi innocently, "My melons are always safe when they are in Sam's hands!"

Al and Lance choked back snorts of laughter while Sam sweatdropped.

A distant howl made Al jump. Clearly the mob had discovered their trick, and were on their way back.

"OK, you're hired, just get us out of here!"

"Follow me!" shouted Sam, and started to lead them via an apparently random route through the festival. Every so often, he would lead them off between a couple of stalls, only for a pack of fan-boys (or fan-turtles) that they hadn't previously spotted to pass mere metres from spotting them. Al and Lance were sweating buckets, but for some reason Sam seemed constantly cool, and Mutsumi seemed to regard it all as one long amusing game.

Although Al doubted that Sam had any coherent plan, he couldn't really complain when he eventually led them to the Hinata tea-house after (narrowly) avoiding all the dangers on the way.

"Don't worry - Haruka isn't about," Sam mentioned, "So you should be able to change in here. I'll keep watch." He then shooed them all inside and took up guard outside the door, striking a somewhat silly pose.

"We can talk about this later," remarked Al, as he finally removed the outfit and could let his stomach balloon back to its normal size. "In the meantime, I have a date to locate, and some prizes to win..."

"Me too," said Lance. "Its a bit late, and I need to find Maki-chan"

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o (Lance)

It was hard to believe that he was in the worst mood just earlier that day, but now Lance was walking around the festival with pride and happiness. Despite the trouble with Shinobu running away from him, he'd had the best time of his life winning the contest. Now he finally had a chance to make it big and win his dream. Maybe he could have time to talk to Shinobu tomorrow, if she wasn't upset at him by then.

Remembering that he was meeting with Maki while at the backstage area, he walked to her booth just before nine that evening. He was late by half an hour, but Maki-chan stood there with an anxious smile like it wasn't on her mind. Lance waved to her, and she came running to him.

"Hi, Lance-kun!" she said. "You ready for tonight?"

"We only have an hour left in the festival," Lance shrugged, "But let's see how much we can do by then."

"That's my Lance-kun!" she said happily. "Let's get going, then!"

They first hit for a small bite to eat that barely took away ten minutes, and they made their way back to the ferris wheel. Lance felt a twinge of guilt in his chest, remembering his ride with Shinobu earlier that day. But he shrugged it off, knowing that he'd have company with him.

However, when they reached the line they found it to be quite bigger than they had thought it would be. Maki began to think about how to find a way around this problem.

"Ooh, I got it!" She cried, pounding her fist in her other hand, and a lightbulb shining above her head.

Lance raised an eyebrow and tossed the lightbulb away. "What is it?"

"The guy in charge of the ferris wheel!" She said, "He came by the booth earlier and said to drop off a doll he wanted tonight. I have it with me, so if we give it to him we can ask for a cart!"

Before Lance could agree, she ran over to the front of the line. Lance shrugged and followed, making sure not to lose her. They stopped in front of a big guy, muscular and a mean expression on his face. His bald head revealed veins that already seemed to be popping. He looked down to them.

"Excuse me," said Maki, fishing out a small doll that looked like a fairy decked in pink and yellow dresses. "But you wanted me to drop this off to you."

Instantly the man squealed like a little girl, and took the doll. His mean demeanor soon changed to that of an eight-year-old.

"Ooooh my gosh, she's SOOO cute! She's just what I asked for! Thank you thank you, thank you!" The man took the doll and put it snugly inside his pocket. "You've done so much, why don't you kids get on this next cart?"

"Oh, that would be great, thanks!" Maki winked to Lance, who scratched the back of his head in disbelief. As soon as the next cart came down, he let the two kids off and let them come on. A couple in front of the line yelled at the man in charge.

"Hey, we were next! Why did you let them on before us!"

The man changed back to a threat, and stared coldly at the guy who had yelled. "Do you have a problem?" has asked, darkly.

The guy stared back dumbly, feeling an odd tingling feeling on his legs. His girlfriend looked down, and looked disgusted.

"Ewww, Taki! That's gross!" She put her hand to her mouth and ran away. The guy could only cry in his spot.

Lance and Maki climbed in their seats, and soon they were looking out at the lights and activities below, and the water of the Pacific Ocean close by. With the half moon reflecting the water and shedding dull light upon the land, it looked very romantic. As the ferris wheel kept turning, he felt Maki move closer to him.

"Doesn't it look beautiful out here?" She said in a soft voice.

"Sure does." Lance replied, almost awkwardly. 'What's she doing?'

They went around the wheel for two turns. On the end of the third rotation they were supposed to get off, but something suddenly happened just as they reach the top of the ferris wheel. There was a mechanical sputter, a shudder, and a screeching halt. They both slammed up against the rail in front of them, and they could hear the shouts of angry riders from the carts beneath them.

"What happened?"

"I don't know.." Lance answered. He looked down to the bottom of the ferris wheel. Smoke was coming out of the engine that ran the machine, and four guys were now around it and figuring out what was wrong.

"Something in the engine busted," said Lance, leaning back into the cart. "If only I were down there.."

Before he could continue, he felt the warm body of Maki against his, as she clutched onto him tightly. Tears were streaming down her face, and her body was shivering not out of cold, but out of fear. Lance stared at her, shocked.

"Please... Lance-kun... I'm scared." she sobbed into his yukata.

Lance didn't know what to do. She was really scared for some reason. But after realizing how terrified she seemed to be, he closed his arms around her. Her shivering started to stop.

"I'm... afraid of heights... terribly." Said her muffled voice. Lance nodded.

"It's ok, Maki-chan... you'll be fine." He said softly, comforting her greatly. Her shivering stopped, and her crying started to calm down. Her grip around Lance started to loosen up, too. But she remained holding on to him, and he comforting her. They stayed there for what seemed like hours, but it was only about 30 minutes. It was silent the whole way through, save for Maki's occasional sniffling. Meanwhile Lance was just sitting there absorbing it all. He had never thought about it before, but... did she really have feelings for him? And he for her? Everything just seemed too fast for him.

Slowly, he looked down. There was no more smoke coming from the engine, and the repairmen were working hard on it. It should be able to work soon, then. When he turned back, he heard loud explosions in front of him. He and Maki leaned their heads back, as fireworks blasted away into the sky and exploded in colorful light. It was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen... Blast after blast, the colors of the fireworks reflected onto their faces, and their eyes sparkled with each flash of light. The sky was filled with it, and during this Maki turned slightly to the bewildered Lance.

"Lance-kun..."

And before he knew it, the most wildest thing he could ever dream of had come true.

She kissed him.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

At the edge of the festival, on a quiet bank overlooking the main area, a small shape was huddled, sadly watching the proceedings.

Shinobu had spent a while after the band contest seeking the others but to no avail. Motoko and Naru had seemed far to focussed on their planned revenge against Haitani and Shirai, Kitsune was heading off to find the Sake stands, and Shinobu didn't feel like being with the hyperactive Kaolla at this time.

She also didn't think she could go looking for Lance, not after the way she had just abandoned him earlier.

What she really wanted to do was to find Keitaro, but in this she seemed to be out of luck. She felt so small, so lost, and so lonely.

"Where are you, sempai?" she asked, staring down at the brightly-lit festival through her tear-blurred eyes and imagining him somewhere amongst the crowds.

"Shinobu-chan?"

Incredibly, she seemed to hear Keitaro's voice from behind her! Turning around, she saw that she really hadn't imagined it - quickly she flushed with embarassment, and turned, rubbing her eyes to hide the tears. Keitaro sat down beside her.

"Hey, Shinobu-chan - are you okay out here, on your own? It's starting to get dark, I thought you'd be with Lance-san..."

Shinobu mumbled something incomprehensible, but Keitaro picked up on a few of the words.

"Well... I guess I was a bit too perverted earlier, and Naru sent me flying again! Somehow, I'm just a bit of a disaster area when it comes to romance, I guess..."

Not to me, thought Shinobu, sadly. I would never treat you as cruelly as she does. But, somehow she was unable to bring these words to actually be spoken out loud.

"Did Lance-san just abandon you? He should take care of you properly - wasn't he supposed to be your... date... for today? You deserve so much more than that sort of shabby treatment!"

"No.. don't blame Lance-kun..." Shinobu felt she had to speak up at last. "It wasn't his fault... I... I left him!"

Keitaro's eyebrows raised in surprise. "You did?" he asked, hesitantly.

"Yes... you see, I... ano... I realised that you h-have to be true to your heart..." she paused, and took a deep breath, raising her head to look into Keitaro's deep brown eyes before saying quickly "... even when you know your love is hopeless!" She held his gaze for a fraction of a second before dissolving into tears.

Keitaro looked around, horrified at seeing gentle Shinobu seeming so heartbroken. Hesitantly, he put his arm around her to comfort her, and her sobs become more muffled as she hung onto him and he stroked her soft blue hair in an attempt to comfort.

"Shinobu-chan..." he began, after her sobs had died down, "Shinobu-chan... I never meant to upset you like this. Last Tuesday seemed like a strange and wonderful dream, and it wasn't until a couple of days ago I realised the truth."

Shinobu raised her head again. "Sempai... that day, was the happiest in my life! For once, you saw me as a woman, and I felt that we could maybe..." she tailed off, embarassed by her boldness.

Keitaro, too, could remember the whirl of emotions that night. Miraculously, the age barrier between them had been removed, and he had felt a real, strong attraction for this shy but sincere girl. But, reality had returned, and his feelings for Naru had not lessened although now he could not help but see Shinobu in a different light - and this had confused him deeply.

"Sempai... Keitaro..." Shinobu said hesitantly, "Is my age all that stands between us? Is it that important, really?" She hesitated again. Their kiss a few days ago gave her the strength to go this far, but she could not bring herself to say those three little words, to confess everything to him.

Keitaro sighed again. "Shinobu-chan... you must know that I..." he swallowed, "I... do like you," Shinobu's eyes widened at this in shock. "But..."

Shinobu held tightly to her kimono as she prepared herself for the pain that everyone knows follows a 'but'.

"But... I like Naru as well," Keitaro admitted. "Also... it's not just age, it's - experiences, expectations, plans, and a hundred other little things that make age differences difficult. You need to have things in common for it to work..."

"But Cheshire-san and Mei-sensei are the same age difference as us, I remember!"

"Cheshire-san is thirty-six, and they both have graduated from Toudai, and travelled, and at their age it isn't so significant. You have only just started in Senior High - you've many years of change ahead of you yet..."

Shinobu only looked at him, feeling too young, too flat-chested, too inexperienced.

"Not to mention... can you imagine how people would react if we became a couple? It's not just Naru and Motoko who would consider me a perverted child-molestor." Keitaro stopped before he mentioned that he would be inclined to agree with them, too.

"Will you still feel like this once I've graduated, when I'm older?"

Keitaro hesitated. It was not in him to tell a lie, though. "Well... in seven years... if we are both still free... then, maybe... things will be different?"

Shinobu smiled, weakly. At least there was still a hope! As long as Keitaro kept single...

"Sempai... I know I can't hope for more now... but could you just help me with one thing?" she turned her moist, tear-filled puppy-dog eyes onto him at full power. Keitaro was helpless under that sort of onslaught.

"Sure, Shinobu-chan! What can I do for you?"

"Ano... just... kiss me? Once more, like you did on the roof that time?"

Keitaro froze in shock. He always managed to get trapped like this! He'd promised her, and now she'd neatly caught him. Still, it was a 'goodbye' kiss, and they both knew it - no-one would see them out here - and... Shinobu was very cute in her kimono, he couldn't deny.

Shinobu was waiting tensely, unsure of how Keitaro would react, when she felt his arm around her, and she looked up into his eyes. Their faces moved closer together... closer... she could feel his breath on her face, and she closed her eyes in anticipation.

Eventually, after what seemed like an eternity, their lips touched and it was like a wave of passion moving through her as her rational thought was washed away in an instant. She clung to him, knowing this was likely her last kiss for seven years, and never wanting it to end.

Above them in the sky, the evening fireworks had started, and as the red, green and gold lights exploded across the sky, it was in tune with the explosions in the hearts of the two young people, embracing beneath the stars.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o (Hinata-sou, Rooftop)

The sunset was beautiful. The way the area was set up, there were no buildings or hills to obscure the brilliant red orb that was slowly dipping its way toward the ground. It was just dark enough to see some stars and the outline of the moon, and the sky was lit up as if in flames, a red and orange waltz that gradually succumbed to the peaceful violet of evening. It would be the perfect time to walk with a significant other, snuggled against an arm or shoulder, head touching head in innocent bliss.

"Too bad I don't have one," Maho said to herself glumly.

Sitting down at a comfortable place, she watched it set. Unfortunately, the night sky was even more beautiful and appropriate.

Briefly, she wondered how her older sister was doing. Haruka seemed in control of the situation, but there was a deep anxiety hidden in those eyes that worried Maho. What was she planning? Eventually, Maho just shrugged it off: Onee-chan would figure things out. She always did.

More importantly, what was Maho going to do with the rest of her night? She lost Al and Motoko back at the ice stand, and there were still too many people around to just go looking for them. Naru was probably busy with Keitaro, so both of those options were also out.

She sighed as she stood up. It looked like it was going to be another dull evening for her.

"Urashima-san."

Maho stopped in her tracks. Her heart raced. The world became silent enough for one to hear a pin drop. She turned around.

Motoko was standing behind her. Her face was only partially exposed by the moonlight. Her sword was sheathed, but the hilt was raised.

She was alone.

"I wish to have a word with you."

o-o-o

"How do you feel about Rush?"

The question caught Maho off-guard. "Uh, come again?"

"Urashima-san, I will make this very clear." Motoko narrowed her eyes, adjusting her feet to better accommodate the tiled roof that both girls were standing on. The Chinese restaurant below them was completely oblivious.

Maho nodded, trying not to look down. From this height, the ground didn't look very inviting. She noticed a concert going on below them, but nobody from the crowd seemed to see them yet. "Okay."

"I'm challenging you to a duel."

She almost slipped. "What?"

"A duel. As the recipient of the challenge, you choose the place and the means of combat."

"You're kidding, right?" On the contrary, Motoko was completely serious. Maho frowned. "But... why? What is this for?"

"You know exactly what this is for!" She pointed at her. The next words came out with difficulty, like a breath that refused to leave Motoko's chest. "We are dueling for my heart, Urashima."

Maho's eyes widened. "Your heart?"

"For that, I am ready to fight. I am ready to fight you to the death." Motoko gritted her teeth to try and kill the lump in her throat. Now wasn't the time for emotions.

A few tense seconds passed, the girls looking at each other, each seeming to wait for the other to say something.

Finally, Maho spoke, the tone of her voice revealing that she understood exactly what was happening. "I accept your challenge, Motoko-san."

Motoko nodded. "And your terms?"

"Right here, right now." Maho whipped her coat open, drawing out a long black wand. "Give me everything you've got."

Aoyama Motoko, latest and most skilled warrior of the Shimeiryuu school, drew her blade. "Very well."

Red and blue fireworks exploded as Motoko let out a cry and charged.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

Maho deftly jumped at the moment of Motoko's strike, pulling out a white parasol from her coat at the same time. She opened it just as a good breeze came up, keeping her aloft and just beyond the reach of Motoko's vicious swipes. She finally landed, the tips of her toes on the blunt side of the katana. She ran down the blade and was about to land a solid blow, but a stray spark from the fireworks distracted her for a crucial second.

Motoko took that opportunity to lift her blade roughly, tossing the other girl over her head. Motoko whirled around, holding her blade out to the side like a wing. This time she didn't bother with being flashy, making only a single flick with her wrist.

Maho flinched. Her hair spiral fell off like a fresh cherry blossom, completely severed.

Motoko approached triumphantly. However, just as she was raising her blade again, Maho threw her hands outward. A stream of confetti exploded from her sleeves, blinding Motoko long enough for Maho to get her bearings again. The young magician assumed a fencing stance, her wand at the ready.

The wand clashed with the warrior girl's blade, redirecting it just barely past Maho's body. For several seconds this delicate play went on, with neither side fully getting the upper hand.

The duel was getting so intense, Motoko didn't notice when the comb fell from her hair, bounced once on the roof, and then tumbled down into the night below.

Finally, Motoko lunged. Maho ducked, feeling the wind of the katana rush an inch above her head. With a dexterous sweep of her right leg, Maho broke the other girl's balance, whistling for her doves at the same time. Motoko easily swatted the birds away with her sheath, but that was just enough time for Maho to throw a few smoke bombs her direction.

Motoko sliced each bomb cleanly in half. The rooftop was enveloped in thick smoke.

Even with her vision impaired, Motoko needed only a moment's focus to expand her other senses. She could feel her opponent rushing towards her, umbrella and wand ready, so very confident in her invisibility. That overconfidence would lead to Maho's downfall.

All it took was one good hit. She didn't even use her blade for the critical blow, opting for the hilt instead. Maho went flying to the other end of the roof, and Motoko had the tip of her sword placed above her throat before the girl could even open her eyes.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

As the smoke cleared, and another set of fireworks went off, the result was clear: Motoko had won.

Maho didn't look at her. "So what does this mean, then?" Her voice was quiet.

Motoko sheathed her blade. "It means that you will cease your seduction of Rush."

She blinked. "What?"

"You will leave Al-san unmolested."

"What?" Maho repeated.

Motoko said once more, irritation creeping into her voice, "You will no longer pursue Rush as a potential boyfriend!"

Maho blinked again. Then she started laughing.

"What's funny about this?" Motoko raised an eyebrow. "Do you not accept your defeat?"

"I'm sorry, Motoko-san." Maho picked herself up, still chuckling. "I had you entirely wrong. This whole time..." She shook her head. "How silly."

"Are you insulting me?" Motoko said indignantly, though in truth she was completely confused.

"Not at all." Maho took off her jacket, making her red dress visible. She smirked. "Motoko-san, I will make this very clear."

She turned around, so that all Motoko could see was Maho's short hair moving slightly in the breeze, and her hands held behind her back. The festival was all that could be heard for what seemed like forever. The words that came next were soft, almost whispered. But she could hear them all the same:

"When it comes to love, you have to just go crazy... and hope for the best."

Finally, Maho faced her. Her cheeks were the faintest shade of pink, though from exertion or embarrassment, one couldn't tell. The smile on her face was genuine, illuminated by the light of stars and pyrotechnics.

"I was dueling for your heart, Motoko-san. For that, I am ready to fight."

Then she went up on her tiptoes and gave Motoko a kiss. It was just a peck on the cheek; nothing more.

Before she could speak, Maho hopped onto a neighboring roof and walked away.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Motoko was wandering about outside Hinata-sou, trying to deal with her confusion. First of all, she had been unable to locate Al after her act - probably, he had been angry at her for ditching him in that way, and then most likely he had seen her on the stage.

She flushed with embarassment. She knew that Al was no stranger to acting the fool, but that didn't mean he would appreciate it in her. If he had seen her dressed like that up on stage, he might have lost all respect for her. How could she expect him to... like her... when she acted like that?

The sounds of the festival drifted up from below. Motoko sighed -- she'd hoped that she could have met up with Al again, maybe played some more of the sideshows, maybe she could have won a gift for him to pay him back for the comb...

Motoko gasped in horror. The comb! It was no longer in her hair, and she had a vague recollection of it falling out during her battle with Maho earlier. If she had lost his gift, Al would certainly think her inconsiderate and unworthy of any affection. Where could it possibly be?

Beneath the side of the roof the ground fell away sharply, down to the fields below where the festival was. If the comb fell from there, it could have landed anywhere amongst the debris below... Motoko peered over the edge and saw a few stalls, some bushes, and a large group of trash bins. She could find it, there was time!

Motoko ran down to the fair, to begin her frantic search.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Al sat on the ground dejectedly. After the band contest, he had searched all over for Motoko, but had been unable to locate her. OK, so he'd used a fair amount of time for the puppet show and winning a few prizes (in the hope of being able to present her with something cute) but he'd always kept his eyes open for her.

He did, however, find the comb he had given her.

It had been lying on the ground in the dirt next to the trash bin, discarded almost casually, like a used gum wrapper or a crumpled newspaper.

To anyone else who could have found it, it would have been a lucky break to find such a nice comb just lying about - but to Al it spoke multitudes.

She must have seen the act, he figured, recognized him and decided she wanted nothing to do with him - that was the only explanation he could bring to surface in his mind: she wanted nothing more to do with him and wouldn't even accept his friendly gift.

As he held the comb in his hands, turning it over in the afternoon light, letting the sun play off it's surface, he felt a small paw on his knee.

Dizzy looked up to Al, and after a moment of staring at each other, they each apologized at the same time, much hugging was involved and the pair set off for home, a friendship mended, and one broken off entirely.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Al was laughing as he pushed a cart overflowing with prizes from the games set up for the festival.

"Did you see that guys face when you won that last prize, he was on the verge of tears!"

Upon rekindling their friendship, Al had told Dizzy about finding the comb he had given Motoko, carelessly thrown away, and to make his friend and owner feel better, Dizzy suggested they win some prizes.

But festival games were Dizzy's specialty and soon they had cleaned out several stands and shops, and they were determined to keep winning.

Dizzy stomach grumbled as they passed a fried noodle stand, so Al treated them each to a heaping helping of fried noodles, and they sat at the back of a crowd of children, watching a puppet show with some of the most frightening puppets Al had ever laid his eyes upon.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Kojiro laughed wildly. With a bit of work, he had a nice little place for a puppet show! Taking out a few choice puppets, he put them down on the ground, and with a few strings, had them standing. "Kids, all kids! Time to start the happy puppet show!" With that, Kojiro started to play with the puppets, to make them look dance around.

There was silence, as every kid there took a look.

Then they screamed.

"THE PUPPET'S SCARY, MOMMY! IT'S SCARY! IT'S UNNATURAL! UGLY!" And other shouts were heard, as people saw Kojiro's puppets (That were really not meant to be... puppets) move around. Within minutes, Kojiro's potential customers were gone. Kojiro looked down at the puppets. "OK, I guess they leave a bit to be desired... maybe I should have washed them." He looked at his puppets, and sighed. "G-gao..."

He blinked, and looked up. Two people hadn't left yet; or, a person and his pet. Some guy, with a weasel. "Amazing, I didn't scare everyone off." He said, and started to move the puppets again. "Hello, Mr... uh, I forgot what you were?" Kojiro started to say, in a horrible voice change. "How are you?"

"Fine, Mr. Seal, and how are you?" Said the unnamable thing. Mr. Seal seemed to shrug.

"I'm fine, Mr. Unnamable thing." Kojiro screwed up his face for a second, and looked up at the two still watching. They had tons of puppets. "Hey," Kojiro began. "I don't suppose I could have your help with this?" He asked. The blonde man Kojiro spoke to laughed.

"Sure, I'll help you... if you give me your puppets." Kojiro looked at the hideous puppets. He shrugged, and handed him the two stuffed animals. With that, the man nodded. "I'm Al." He introduced himself. "And this is Dizzy." He also introduced his pet.

"Kojiro." Kojiro said, and looked around. Suddenly, he was struck by inspiration. "Can I borrow your dolls for a second?" He asked. Al looked surprised, but he handed him a few dolls. Kojiro looked at them. A samurai, an angel, a princess, and a couple of big cats. He smirked...

o-o-o-o-o

Al stood in front of the new, makeshift puppet theater. He had NO idea what the plan was, aside from that he'd be talking, and that Kojiro dude would be making the puppets move. He coughed, as the parents bought the children to sit in front of the stage. Al looked at them all, and raised his hands.

"Once upon a time..." He began, and then looked behind himself quickly. "What do I say?" He whispered, looking behind a large board that served as a background. Kojiro was hunched behind it, his hands over the board, making the puppets move marionette style.

"There was a winged girl that loved to fly across the skies!" Kojiro whispered, trying to concentrate on making the Angel Doll fly.

"There was a winged girl that loved to fly across the skies!" Al repeated, and the children went "Oohh." As they saw the angel doll, with a bit of longer, black hair attached (Courtesy of one of Al's wigs) to make her look Japanese. Al looked back at Kojiro helplessly again, who rolled his eyes.

"One day, she met a samurai warrior." He whispered, and Al turned back to the audience.

"One day, she met a samurai warrior." Al Said and the Samurai Doll came along.

"However, the winged girl could only talk to him once a day, and only for a little while, because she belonged in the air." Kojiro whispered again, and continued to masterfully manipulate the puppets.

"However, the winged girl could only talk to him once a day, and only for a little while, because she belonged in the air." Al repeated, and sweat dropped, as the Angel flew up and down.

"One day, she realized that she had fallen in love with the Samurai." Kojiro whispered.

"One day, she realized that she had fallen in love with the Samurai." Al repeated, as the Angel put its hands over its heart.

"However, with her wings, she wouldn't be able to stay with him, or tell him her true feelings." Kojiro continued. "But one day, the evil witch Mimi appeared and offered the girl a deal; if she gave up her voice, then she would be a normal girl for three days."

Immediately reminded of The Little Mermaid, Al muttered something in English alike the word, "Rip-off" but continued. "However, with her wings..."

This went on, Kojiro muttering the line, and Al repeating the line, until the show was over.

"And then the winged girl gave the samurai a pair of wings, and they flew off together forever more..." Al said, repeating Kojiro... again. "The end." With that, all the kids applauded, and (Most) of the parents put money in a donations box in front of the stage. After a few minutes, Kojiro came out from behind the stage.

"Yatta, money..." Kojiro grabbed the donations box, and began counting out the spoils. "A good 20,000 yen!" He said. "Yatta, yatta..." Kojiro split the cash in half, and gave 10,000 to Al. "Thanks."

Al laughed. "It was no problem, really. Besides, it was a rip-off, and you know it." Kojiro coughed.

"It was my twist on the actual story." Kojiro replied, and put his 10,000 in his pocket. "It's really sad." Al tilted his head, as Dizzy followed along his master.

"I have time, why don't you tell me about it?" Al asked, as Kojiro dismantled the stage into its fold-away components again. Kojiro turned.

"Look me up later, and I'll tell you bout it. I gotta go." Kojiro said, and with that, he walked away, carrying his collapsed stage and gear in a huge backpack. "Go with God." With that, he lugged his gear away into the darkness.

Al looked at Dizzy and shrugged, taking his newly acquired demon puppets, along with the ones he had loaned to the strange man, and all the other stuffed toys Dizzy had won, the duo set off into the night to liberate the remaining stuffed toys from their keepers.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

Hinata-sou was dark when Motoko returned at almost midnight, which was good for her as probably noone would have recognised her. Her beautiful yukata was soiled and dirty, her hair in disarray and no few tear-tracks could be seen in the dirt on her face - but no comb was nestled in her hair.

She must have covered every inch of the ground down there - emptied out every trash can and picked through the litter, to no avail. Eventually, she had been chased off by the security guards after the festival had closed, and someone had reported a strange woman playing in the garbage at the edge of the field.

But, despite all her work, she had found nothing.

Now she was just going to have a bath, wash the grime and tears from her face, and return to bed.

"How did I ever let myself end up like this?" she asked herself, wearily. "I put myself to all this trouble, just for a man! But..." she paused. "But, of course, anyone would do this - I am only showing gratitude for his gift. It isn't as if I actualy... care... what he thinks of me..."

It was too much for the time of night. Motoko decided to wash and go to bed, and in the morning... well, maybe Al hadn't seen her on stage? Maybe she could pretend she still had the comb? Could she even hope that he would forgive her if he found out the truth?

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

(Late Evening)

"Ai-chan?"

"Hmm?" Her eyebrows perked up.

"What's wrong?" Kentaro looked worried. "You've been quiet for a while."

"Oh!" She laughed, subconsciously fiddling with her festival clothes. "I'm just tired, that's all."

"Ah, I see." He nodded. "After coming all the way back from Alaska, that makes sense."

"Uh, yeah." She looked at her feet. They walked without saying anything a few more moments.

Kentaro eventually broke the silence. "You know, I've been thinking."

"Hmm?" Ai held his arm gently.

"Why did you come back?"

She thought for a moment. "To come see you, of course." She smiled, resting her head on his shoulder. "I missed you."

He shook his head. "This has been fun, Ai-chan. Really fun."

"I had fun too, Ken—"

"Wait, I'm not done." Kentaro took a deep breath. "This was fun... But I've been thinking all day, and I think I finally made a decision about where this is going."

Ai looked up at him. "What do you mean?"

Another pause.

"Go home, Ai-chan. Go back to Alaska." They stopped walking. Kentaro looked at her. "I think that would be best."

"What?" She let go of him, taking a step back. "But why, all of a sudden?"

"Look, you made me the happiest man in the world, just by coming to visit today. You have no idea how much I'll cherish that." He looked away. "But I know that you're forcing yourself. I can see it in your expressions, in the way you act around me. And maybe this is hasty, but I can't just stand around and pretend to enjoy myself when you're so distressed." Kentaro smiled sadly, a glimmer of his familiar confidence shining through. "I thought I would be happy if you came back, but I finally realized that I can never really be happy unless you are, too. So forget about me, go back to that guy in Alaska. Just knowing that you're there, and you're happy, is enough for me.

Ai was looking down, so he couldn't see her face.

"Ai-chan?" He waited. "Ai-chan, I'm sorry."

"Baka!" She shouted.

Kentaro flinched.

She was only starting, though. "Why do you have to do that? Just when I thought I could finally move on, you have to go and say something that makes me like you again!" Ai wiped her eyes. "You're terrible. Just terrible."

Kentaro was puzzled, but he opted to speak anyway. "You have to forget me, Ai-chan. I'm sorry, but this is for the best."

"No, it isn't!" Ai stomped the ground in frustration. "I can't forget you... Not when I'm just going to see you tomorrow anyway!"

"Huh?"

She huffed. "Tomorrow, and the day after that, and every day until you finally pay off your stupid debts!"

Kentaro scratched his head. "Sorry... What?"

She glared at him, a peculiar mix of love and hate. There was little difference between the two, depending on how you looked at it. "Kentaro-kun, I never went to Alaska."

He seemed taken aback by that news. "Never went... So there was no Mexican pearl diver named Juanito?"

She sweatdropped. Was that the name she gave him? "No Juanito."

Kentaro sat down on a rock. "This is news to me."

"And while we're at it, my name's not really Ai, either."

His jaw dropped. All Kentaro could do at this point was gape like a fish, mouth opening and closing pointlessly, eyes as wide as saucers.

Ai, the girl he thought he knew, calmly looked at her watch. "Well, it looks like it's time." She sighed. "Ken-kun, I'm sorry."

She reached into her pocket, taking out a small paper box. "I want you to know that I never meant to deceive you. But things happen. Can't help that."

As the crimson sparkles began appearing around her body, she took out a single cigarette and tapped it against the box twice, placing it into her mouth. "For what it's worth, it was fun. More fun than I've had in years. I won't forget it."

Using a cheap plastic lighter, she lit the end and inhaled deeply. "But you see, there's a pretty good reason why this won't work out between us."

Somewhere in the distance, a clock tower began to chime, telling whoever would listen that midnight had finally come.

After the third chime, Haruka exhaled.

"You understand, right?"

---

Author's Notes:

A monster chapter this time, with many threads ending, merging, or starting. Unfortunately we seem to have lost a couple of authors for the time being (Ryuko, Kyosuke, and Cody) but have gained one (Kojiro). Sam is still being quiet, but like Ryuko, he may yet return.

There are approximately 100 Yen to US$1, so the prize money was about US$5,000.

Anyone recognise the strawberry-egg-kun voice changer? Probably K/S 'shippers will...

The song being sung by the LADS group is 'Ocean Avenue' by Yellowcard. Haitani and Shirai's song is 'Holding out for a hero' by Bonnie Tyler, which was also used in Shrek2.