Chapter 1: Unexpected Meeting At The Club...
It was a hot summer afternoon in Shibuya. At a grocery store, there is a young man with chestnut brown hair, looking around in the sweets aisle. He was bent over looking at the bags of Hersheys and Reeses, when his cellphone rang in his pocket. He reached down into the depths of his jeans and answered the phone after checking the caller ID. It said 'Taki' on it with a picture of the person who was calling.
"Hello?" the young man spoke into the bottom half of his flip phone.
"Hey, J.P.! You're gonna join us at the club tonight, right!?" the voice on the other end rang through the top half of the flip phone.
"Yeah, when were we meeting up again?" the young man called J.P. answered the question with another.
"We were thinking around 10." the voice replied with glee.
"Alright, I'll see you guys there! Bye!" J.P. waited for a response.
"Great, see ya then!" the voice on the other end turned into a buzzing sound and J.P. flipped his phone shut and returned to shopping. He picked up a bag of Hersheys Kisses and headed for the cash register. He got in line and waited to be checked out so he could get home.
J.P. is now quite tall and isn't as chubby as he was almost 11 years ago. He is wearing jeans and a t-shirt with lips on the front. He kept his hair short and still wore tennis shoes. He finally checked out and headed home. As soon as he got home he put the bag of chocolates away and headed straight for the dance club he had arranged to meet with the caller earlier in the store. It was almost 10. He got down to the club last, which was expected. He saw three other guys waiting at the door and held his hand up in the air.
"Hey guys! Sorry I'm a little late!" J.P. stated simply. One of the guys waved his hand.
"Nah, it's okay! We just got here a few minutes ago anyways! It's good to see you again!" explained a young man with short, unruly burnt sienna colored hair and reddish-brown eyes, in a plain red polo shirt with a pair of tan cargo shorts on. He was also wearing tennis shoes.
"Well, I guess I made it just on time then, huh?" J.P. chuckled at his uncanny knack of timing.
"Yeah but, you're still the last one here." noted a young man with long raven hair and deep, sapphire blue eyes, wearing a midnight blue, button down polo shirt with the first two buttons unbuttoned, showing his upper chest. He was also wearing long cargo jeans with tennis shoes. He had his long hair pulled back into a delicate ponytail at the base of his neck.
"You know what Kouji's getting at, right J.P.?" asked the last young man who also had raven hair and deep, sapphire blue eyes. He was wearing a black jacket and a white button down shirt, fully buttoned up with a red tie around his neck. He was also wearing black dress pants and tennis shoes.
"Yeah, yeah... I have to pay! It's always like that..." J.P. huffed at his misfortune.
"Well, what're we waiting for!? Let's get in there!" the young man in the red shirt exclaimed, throwing his hands in the air.
"Yeah!" J.P. and the second raven haired boy cheered while the one called Kouji just huffed out a short 'Whatever...'.
The group of young men entered the dance club they were in front of, found a table inside and sat down near the bar. J.P. looked around the dance floor to find any girls that were picked up on his radar, though that was about all of them. He spotted a blond girl with three other girls near the stage, enjoying themselves. He turned to the other guys.
"Hey guys, check out those babes up by the stage!" J.P. excitedly called to the others who were having their own conversations. They all heard J.P. and peered over in the direction he was hinting. The one in the red shirt let out a whistle. Kouji didn't bother to look and the other looked with slight interest. "Hey Takuya, I dare you to go and talk to one of them." J.P. challenged the young man he called Takuya. Takuya got up out of his seat and fixed his collar.
"Sit back and watch the master." he accepted the challenge with pleasure written on his face and victory in his mind.
Takuya waltzed up to the four girls dancing together by the stage. Two of them were blond, one had light brown hair and the other a slightly darker brown. They all were wearing striped shirts and miniskirts of some kind. He blushed, thinking they were actually a bit out of his league up close but he regained his composure and headed into the sleeping bears' den. One of the girls stopped, waved her hand and left the group. Takuya ignored this sudden action and kept moving forward. He came upon the three girls.
"Hello ladies, would any of you like to dance with me?" Takuya asked casually, trying to keep his cool, knowing the others were watching his back.
"Sure, I'd love too!" one of the girls exclaimed as she moved out of the middle of the line. She had blond hair that faded to a vibrant red at the bottom, with some of her hair in miniature buns on top of her head. She also had two striped clips holding her tiny bangs out of her face on the right side of her face. Unlike all the other blonds Takuya had ever seen, she had dark brown eyes, making her pale skin seem like snow with two love birds sitting in the middle. She was wearing a shirt that came up to her neck without sleeves, striped diagonally. Fingerless gloves up to the end of her upper arm connecting to her shoulder, also striped diagonally. She had a shiny black miniskirt on with boots that came up to her mid thigh, leaving little space between the skirt and the boots. Takuya, still amazed that the young foreign woman would actually agree to dancing with him, snapped back to reality and noticed her advancing toward him. They started dancing together.
Back at the table, Kouji couldn't believe what he was seeing. Of course, he wasn't the only one witnessing this scene, for J.P. was still there and so was his brother, Kouichi. 'Well, there's a first for everything isn't there?' he thought to himself.
"Look at him! One of them actually agreed to dance with him!" J.P. exclaimed, jealousy could be detected in his voice. The girl who had left the group earlier returned and joined the other two again. As soon as they could see her face well enough, J.P. let out a little squeal that could barely be heard. Kouji and Kouichi just looked at him with curiosity.
"That couldn't be...!" he muttered just when a song came on and he looked up in surprise again, like he'd seen a ghost.
'What's up with him?' Kouji thought. He looked over at the girl and saw her face. It was beautiful. The song that was on was a song called 'Anything' by an American singer called Z. Suddenly, J.P. got up and followed the actions of Takuya. His little act didn't go over too well apparently because none of them danced with him. He slumped back down in his seat and pouted in defeat. Kouichi went up next.
"Good luck bro." Kouji gave his brother a thumbs up and encouraged him to go and try it out. Kouichi walked up shyly to the three dancing girls. J.P. lifted his head to watch as Kouichi asked the girls to dance. He immediately shot up out of his seat in agape. Kouji's mouth hung open a little at the site as well. Another one of the girls agreed to dance with him.
She had beautiful sky blue eyes, it was like looking into the sky for hours upon hours nonstop, and her hair was short and a dark, mud brown color. She was wearing a belted, dark orange, tube top with a 2-layered miniskirt, each layer a different shade of orange, and black boots that stopped right below her kneecaps. She smiled sheepishly as she advanced towards Kouichi and began to dance with him. The other two girls were happy for their friends it looked like. The one who left earlier began to speak to the girl who was dancing with Kouichi.
"Hey, Jazlynn! You found yourself a really nice guy there! You lucky child!" she teased, winking at the one she called Jazlynn.
Jazlynn simply replied, "And I see you still haven't tried to find yourself a new boyfriend yet! For shame, you should at least look at all the guys in this place once!".
"Yeah!" yelled the girl dancing with Takuya. He looked over at the girl she was talking to. "You really need to have some fun! I'm talking to you too, Chassidy!" she then stuck her tongue out at her friends and the one she called Chassidy retorted with a playful grin.
"Well, maybe we have looked but didn't find much huh Z?".
The one called Z simply nodded her head in agreement and then also stuck her tongue out at the girl. The girl twirled in front of Takuya and then faced him, still swaying to the beat of the extended song.
"So what's your name?" she asked him, trying to make it clear enough with the loud music playing.
"It's Takuya, and you?" he smiled waiting for a reply.
She twirled again put it simply. "Lynn-z".
Takuya smiled and thought, 'She's a foreigner huh? What my luck! She's really hot too...' his mind wandered off into space and he just let out a little mumble that caused Lynn-z to blush a radiant pink. "That's a nice name..." was what escaped his tongue. A few moments later, he looked down at her and she was still blushing, trying to hide it by looking at the floor.
Kouichi struck up a small conversation between himself and the girl he danced with named Jazlynn. "So, your name's Jazlynn? That's a cute name..." he said looking a little shy.
She looked down at the floor with a flushed face and mumbled a soft "Thank you..." to him before she could look at him again, gaining the ability to speak like normal. "So what's yours?" she asked him, staring at the floor, her face red hot she could feel it.
"I'm Kouichi." he stated simply, peering down at her while still dancing.
Meanwhile, Kouji and J.P. sat at the table in complete and utter silence. J.P., who was still staring at the blond beauty he had gaped at before, asked a random, totally out of the blue question. "Do you still remember Zoe...?" his eyes still not leaving the girl, a hint of sadness in his voice.
"Yeah... why? You miss her or something?" Kouji asked with an unnoticeable ounce of worry in his voice.
"Yeah, that girl up there reminds me of her so much, but I just now it isn't her because, well... look at that girl!" J.P. exclaimed, still in a semi-depressed mood.
"Yeah, she's really pretty for a foreigner, so what?" Kouji asked with slight tension reaching him because of the subject.
"She also has an uncanny resemblance to the American singer they call Z. She came here on tour a few years ago. I have it on DVD cause I couldn't go, but even though it wasn't a live performance right in front of my eyes, she still looks like her no matter how many times I think it over in my mind..." J.P. trailed off, knowing Kouji wasn't interested but he had to say something.
The rest of the night passed and it was nearly 3 am and the girls were getting ready to leave. They had stopped dancing with Takuya and Kouichi a while ago and had gone off to the bar. The girls stopped by the boys' table just before leaving. The whole group approached. "Here, this is my cell number..." Jazlynn sheepishly handed Kouichi a small slip of paper, folded neatly into tiny squares. Kouichi accepted the slip of paper like a gentleman, causing Jazlynn to blush madly and turn around to hide behind her friends hair. The tall, golden blond haired girl just looked back at her friend with a small smile.
"Here!" Lynn-z stuck her hand in front of Takuya's face. Her fingers were placed on the top of a tiny piece of a napkin from the bar. "It's my cell number, you can call anytime okay?". Takuya, shocked from her up-front behavior, thanked her for her number and blew her a kiss, making her hold her cheeks and blush like a geisha.
J.P., summoning all of his courage, stood up and abruptly spouted, "Are you the American pop singer Z!?". Takuya and Kouichi looked at him in surprise and confusion, Kouji slapped his hand to his forehead, while the girls looked at him with a horrifically surprised look on their faces. The tall golden blond haired girl, whom he was referring to, regained her composure and smiled sweetly.
"How did you know?" she just simply replied to the question. Kouji, shocked by her honesty, was completely shocked. Takuya and Kouichi froze. The other girls had surprise etched on their faces.
"You're the first one to figure it out since I arrived here in Japan yesterday." she stated, smiling brightly at J.P. while his smile simply got bigger the more she complimented him.
Lynn-z spoke up then, "You must be a die hard fan or somethin' huh?" she asked out of curiosity. J.P. nodded his head and looked over to Kouji who was still bewildered by this sudden turn of events happening right before his eyes. J.P. had been right. Kouji looked up to see the popstars' face better. As she opened her eyes, he found they were a deep emerald color that held all kinds of emotions. The ones that showed the most from her past was sorrow, pain and the unexpected sight of joy.
The other girl that had brown hair added, "Yeah! Come on tell us!".
They were obviously talking to J.P. who just looked over to Kouji and blurted, "See Kouji, I told you it was really her!" referring to their conversation earlier. Kouji glanced at J.P. for two seconds then back at the blond and her face had gone rigid. She stared at him in disbelief. She then held her head low and turned away from the guys. Jazlynn, who was behind Z, saw her face and had recalled this look from a year ago when her boyfriend had broken up with her for this other girl. That time it was a little bit of hatred and sorrow that covered her face, but this time, she was truly going to cry some serious waterfalls.
She stood in front of the girls and hushed them immediately. She turned to the guys with a huge fake smile on her face as she explained, "We really should get going now! We have to confirm a little plan for tomorrow, and need our sleep. So, call us, and we'll see you around hopefully, okay? Bye" She ushered the other girls out with her and Z in front. Kouji kept watching the popstar as she and her friends left the club.
Takuya sighed and looked at the piece of napkin in his hand. "Well... I guess we should get going too, huh?" he asked slowly getting up from the table. Kouji and Kouichi following him, and J.P. after, dreading leaving, knowing he had to pay for their bar tab.
The guys parted ways after leaving the club. Kouji and Kouichi were in their apartment. Kouichi was sitting on his bed, reading, while still debating to call Jazlynn or not. Kouji on the other hand, was watching the dark midnight blue sky filled with shining metallic silver dots everywhere. He was thinking about the girls he'd met with the others earlier that night. 'Her eyes... they seemed so familiar. Why? She looked like Zoe, yeah J.P. had a point, yes she was who he thought she was, and yes she indeed was absolutely gorgeous. But why does she scream, "I know you!" to me in my mind!?' Kouji was frustrated. He and the others hadn't seen Zoe in almost 11 years, so it probably wasn't really her, and she lived in Italy anyways. 'No use crying over spilled milk... I'll just go to bed, it's late...' Kouji then drifted off into sleep with the images of the popstars' deep emerald green eyes filled with sorrow, pain and yet a hint of joy, floating around in them like dead ants in a cup of water on a hot summers day.
That's chapter 1: Unexpected Meeting At The Club...
Hope to get a few reviews, not asking for much, me not likey comments... they can be evil... but I hope to continue this story with everyone's full interest. Mata ashita! (Not really tomorrow though...)