"Fine Line"

"Whoever said that money can't buy happiness simply didnt know where to go shopping."- Bo Derek

Chapter 29: Asuka's Invitation

~***~

My hand slammed on the alarm clock, ending its annoying and deafening scream. Sitting up in my bed, I looked around blearily, trying to regain sense of the day, world and place I'm in. A few moments passed before I concluded that I had classes today again, and that last night was my outing with Marui, which I can hardly recall the end part of. I remembered he was talking about something….something, and then it went blank. Then I was awoken by him and Jackal, I think, but I must have been, because I vaguely remembered them escorting me up to my apartment room, and they deposited me in my room, so I must have given the key to them or woke up or something…

I can't really remember, although it seems I must have been really tired to not have changed out of my clothes from last night. So it was with great fervor that I jumped out of bed and cleaned up, not really liking the feeling of being dirty.

My day started off as usual, with her packing and grabbing a quick bite to eat after doing my daily morning wash. I fed Nipoi before pulling on my socks. Just as I grabbed the keys to the apartment which were located on top of a shelf where hung a calendar, happily humming as I approached the door (I felt awfully happy today for some reason), my feet stopped dead in their tracks.

Rewind.

I stepped backwards to the shelf again, and placed my keys on the surface. Eyes blinking widely at the calendar, I opened her cell phone (thank Marui for that) to check the date.

October 24.

I looked up to the calendar.

October 24.

Yep, nothing wrong. It was the same, it was right.

………"oh shit."

My face paled instantly and a bead of sweat trailed down my brow. October 24th…October 24th….24th….that meant…

"Asuka-chan's birthday is in 3 days?!!"

~***~

I usually wouldn't panic. I was a really organized person, and could get almost everything done efficiently, including getting my friends presents.

However…

Asuka-chan has a reputation for being very loud, obnoxious and straightforward. And helluva picky.

If she didn't like your present, she wouldn't hide it. That's what's terrible about her….but she's still a great person!

I groaned into my hands, covering my face, racking my brain as to what to get Asuka for her birthday. I had 3 days to think over it, sure, but when it comes to finding a present for Asuka, it was not easy.

Not to mention I was pretty much a perfectionist on getting the perfect gift…

Asuka liked alcohol…but I always giver her wine. And I don't think I could afford another Bordeaux, after cracking a hole in my bank account since the last.

What would be the perfect gift, I wonder….

A light bulb suddenly lit up over my head.

For some reason, the word perfect that I had been obsessing over the past few moments brought only one name to mind.

Shiraishi Kuranosuke.

The man was perfection itself. And really smart….maybe he can help me? Not to mention, he knew Asuka very well too, seeing that she's one of his regulars…

I bit my lip in hesitance, eyeing the card with his number which I received from him and Kajimoto the first time I visited them at Club Sacred. I had long been dismissed from my class, and now I'm sitting down at a table in one of the many cafes littered throughout the neighborhood, contemplating on whether I should call him.

Putting the card away after a moment, I sighed. "I'll just be bothering him…" I murmured to myself, sipping at my mango milkshake.

A few sips down, and my fingers went to grab the card again on their own.

….

"I'm so sorry to bother you, Shiraishi-san!!" I wailed instinctively into the phone as soon as the dial tone ended and Shiraishi's voice greeted me, which I subsequently had cut off.

"Ishimaru-san?" The voice came over as surprised rather than angry or mad.

"Am…am I bothering you?" I asked unsurely.

A light laugh rang over. "Not at all. Business is a bit slow right now. The mob comes after lights out."

"I-I see…"

"Is there anything you needed from me?" He asked, getting straight to the point.

"Ah! Y-yes…It's Asuka-chan's birthday in 3 days…."

"Oh…."

"Yea….so…."

"You need my help?"

"…yea…"

"……" He chuckled for a bit, and I thought it sounded almost nervous. "All right then….Umm…" There was a pause and then, "I'm free tomorrow afternoon, and we can meet up if you are."

"Yes, tomorrow afternoon is fine. " My classes were in the morning tomorrow, luckily.

"Alright, I'll message you the details on where to meet up later, okay? See you."

Thank whoever up there for letting me meet such a great guy as Shiraishi.

~***~

"So a birthday present for Asuka-san huh….?" Shiraishi mused, rubbing his chin with a bandaged hand.

The two of stood on the side of a crowded street, brainstorming some ideas on what to get for Asuka.

"This is really difficult…Asuka-san has very…volatile tastes, from what I know." He smirked at me, and I returned a nervous smile of my own.

"Yea…she does."

The two of us at first ambled about the busy shopping district, walking into any store that we think might have anything of interest to Asuka, but we always came out disappointed.

I'm awfully grateful to Shiraishi for helping me on this, seeing as he's so busy and all (and he must have cancelled at least one or two customer dates to come, as I fully do not believe him to not have any customers at the time). Really, I could have gone to Yura, or Rinko or even Aya, but they were probably worrying about a gift of their own.

….or should I say, they'd be just as clueless as me.

Not to undermine them or anything, but I always thought that Shiraishi was a very smart person, so I figured he could come up with something faster than all four of our heads put together. Although my belief on this has yet to be reinforced yet…seeing as we still haven't gotten anything.

With a clunk, Shiraishi dropped the object back onto the display table he picked it up from. "I don't think she'll very much appreciate a box of scented shampoos and soaps."

I resisted slapping my forehead. Figures that Shiraishi would check out a hygiene sort of shop, considering his history of being clean and healthy. "No, I don't think she will Shiraishi-san."

He gave a forlorn sigh and smile. "She'll probably take it as an insult instead, accusing us of calling her smelly."

"You're probably right." I giggled, quickly putting back the bar of soap I was considering. "At this rate however, we'll never get anything for Asuka-chan…"

Shiraishi did not answer as we exited the shop, and I recognized the look he always wore when he was pondering or thinking. He stopped and turned to me after extracting himself from his thoughts. "Maybe we should get her a gift card or something? So she can spend it on whatever she wants." I thought I heard him murmur to himself that Asuka could already get whatever she wanted anyways so it didn't matter…but it might have been my imagination.

"That's a great idea!" It really was, and I felt stupid for not thinking of that sooner. But…. "What store should we get the gift card from?"

Silence on Shiraishi's part.

I think I asked a pretty good question.

~***~

I dozed lazily on one of the host club couches, munching on a piece of mochi Jackal had made for my previous customer, but the girl said she was too full and thus did not finish it. If I wasn't the way I am (gentlemanly and all~), I would had declared blasphemy and said that it was impossible to not finish the mochi just because she was full. These things were so darn good!

But, I didn't, of course. Not that I mind either, since that meant more mochis for me.

My next customer will arrive in another half an hour, so I could do whatever I wanted for the time being…What's there that is better to do than bugging Niou and plot Akaya's demise together? Not to mention I still have yet to hear his full tale regarding his trip to Hawaii, that lucky bastard.

I sauntered up to Niou in the audio video room, some English movie of some sort playing on the giant high definition LDC screen as I entered. Plopping down next to him, I propped my leg on top of the coffee table and made myself comfortable on the plush couch. Niou glanced at me momentarily before concentrating on the movie again.

"So how was your Hawaii trip?" Pop.

"Eh, it was fine, piyo~"

"…is that it? Fine is all you have to say about it?" I raised an eyebrow at hime dubiously and he shrugged, throwing me one of his conniving grins.

"Madame Sasako is definitely beautiful and refined for her age, but she's much too….uptight perhaps, for me to fully enjoy Hawaii."

I did not understand, and it was clearly written on my face I supposed, for he elaborated.

"She was averse to water….or rather, sea-water. I was stuck on the beach most of the time but never got the chance to even step foot into the ocean, much less go scuba diving, surfing or boating." Somehow, Niou kept his face laidback and straight the whole time he said this while his voice let out trails of venom filled with regret.

He must have found it a waste of time at Hawaii then, seeing as he hardly got to do anything….Poor guy. But still! His ride and accommodations were all paid for! I wouldn't complain if I were him.

Reaching out for the controller, he paused the movie. "Enough about my so-called trip; what went on here while I was gone?"

As usual, I blew a bubble and allowed it to pop before replying. "Not much really. Just the usual- guests came and went….etc. Oh, and remember Kumiko-chan?"

Niou rolled his eyes at me. "Of course I remember her. It's hard to forget the unexpected winner of the Empedocles and Fire contest at the festival…I really did not expect your group to win, honestly. She didn't look like the sporty type either…"

"Hey, I was in there, alright? Of course we would win with my genius self in the group~!"

"Yea, sure. Whatever. So what about her?"

"She came back several times while you were gone!"

"…seriously? That's gold, piyo." Niou laughed. It seems that even he found it ludicrous that she stepped foot into this place again as well. After hat, I just filled him in on what went on during his trip; who came and who went, who got new customers and regulars etc etc…The usual.

Though I did hesitate for a bit before telling him about that incident with Ruriko. It's not that I found that event life-changing or anything, but Niou had ways of making people feel hell on earth; he probably will find some obscene way of turning that event into something sadistic and embarrassing for me entirely, even if I'm impervious to it previously. He's just that good.

Niou kept laughing, hands folding around his stomach and bending over.

…..I know I should have learnt by now that I should never reveal everything to this man; should have learnt my lesson the last time…I can never see Sanada in the same way again. My body shuddered as the nightmare of my past (courtesy of Niou) replayed in my mind and I quickly eradicated it.

"Oh crap, this is glorious." His aggravating laugh continued to fill the room and I saw Jirou poke his head in with curiosity, but he quickly left when my glaring eyes set on him. Not his fault but…

"Shut up, Niou!...Don't you dare do anything funny…" I threatened, eyes darkening. He did not give any hint that he took my threat to heart, only continued laughing.

Just as I am about to jump him (screw Atobe and his rules about physical violence), my phone's familiar ringtone cut into the room's air and mixed in with Niou's laughter which started to die out as I fished for my cell.

Flipping it open, my eyebrows rose as I skimmed across the message. I barely registered Niou's cell phone ringing as well.

Looking up, I was about to speak to him regarding my very strange message when I saw him staring at his phone screen with a "blood hell, what?" look on his face.

"Oh my god, Marui-kuuuuun!!!" Jirou's voice came screaming from the hallway outside and I could hear several of our customers shrieking, when Jirou skidded into the room.

He was going to get it from Atobe, or perhaps Sanada, later, that's for sure.

"Did you hear?! Did you hear?!!!" The bronzed haired man bounced around the couch and I saw clutched in his hand his cell phone.

"…I think I heard."

This is definitely the first time someone has ever bought that package…in all of our time working as a host club.

~***~

Sifting through the various stores, I was about to topple over from jelly feet, and while Shiraishi's patience ticked away. Both of us were pretty much at out wits end on what to get Asuka.

And both of us felt like slapping to crap out of ourselves when our cells rang, at the same time.

Reading the brief message from Asuka, my eyes widened with each word up to the size of saucers. I looked up to find a look of surprise on Shiraishi's face, clearly as shocked as I was only more contained.

"Is she…serious?"

A pause before he replied. "Asuka-san….wouldn't make a joke like this, don't you think?"

"….I guess…."

But this was just…too extreme. I know she's loaded, but is she for real?!

"Hey all~

Sorry for the informality of this and the mass messaging, but if you have any complaints, take it up with me later when you come! I'm inviting all of you guys and all of you from Club Sacred and Club Prism to attend my birthday party cruise! Awesome right? ;D

And if it isn't obvious enough, I've basically just bought Club Prism's Birthday Cruise Package and decided to have Club Sacred along (for the heck of it and cause you're all good). Shiraishi, you're probably freaking right now when you read this, but the deal's cleared and done with Kajimoto. Talk with him and not me.

And Kumiko-chan, I expect you to come or you're one dead artist. Rinko-chan, if you bring that American exchange boy with you, you're dead as well. Yura-chan, you can't bring your homework. Aya-chan…..you can bring Kikumaru-kun I guess.

Well, see you all at the port in 3 days~! The address is attached.

PS: The cruise is for 1 week, fully paid for by my sweet parents. So don't worry, I did not rob a bank."

Hehehe xp the title is reminiscent of another chapter called Aya's Invitation ;D

This chapter doesn't have much…other than progressing Kumiko and Shiraishi's relationship a little teeny weensy bit 8D; I swear I'm shooting myself in the foot by trying to juggle her relationship with both Marui AND Shiraishi….OTL And this chapter is just a way for me to transition into the next arc~ ;D Where more random fun will ensue, and hopefully, sparks of love and evil green(lul wut?) will fly!! ;D

And I'm sorry for the extremely late update. I've been extremely busy, and sick. S I quickly threw this out, so it's a bit…well, lame and half-assed. Exams are approaching, and updates will probably be very slow until they blow over. Winter break however….I'm expecting to complete at least 5 chapters during my short winter break, if all goes according to plan ;D And then I wanna quickly complete a few chapters of Love Story and Conquering Dawn, and introduce a new story, "Spice!" XD It'll probably be about Kagamine Len of Vocaloid…though I'm not too sure the vocaloid fandom is too hot here…so I might change it to Marui, Sasori or Shiraishi instead D; But Spice! is based on Len's song of the same name so….I think Len is better =/

It'll be a pretty much…dark and mature story; my first attempt at this sort of genre!! *shakes fist nervously*

I'd reply to messages but…not now OTL feeling too sick to stay on for another 30 min replying (is extremely slow).