A/N: In the first part of this, Utau and Kukai are calling each other by their nicknames. We've already established that they're on a first-name basis, however, and this is just for the effect of the scene. You'll notice that at the end of the scene, he's no longer teasing, and uses her real name. Just some clarification, in case you wonder.

I want to give a huge thanks to Shadow Host for giving me all sorts of wonderful ideas for this story!

The Million Dollar Bet

Day Seven, Part Two

Kukai walked into the downstairs living room to find a most shocking sight. It was Utau, sitting on the sofa, reading a thick book with a dark binding that looked a lot like a dictionary.

Now, Kukai didn't know Utau to be one for reading, let alone the kind of big, boring-looking book that was in her hands, and immediately felt his curiosity spark. What could be so interesting about that book that it had the idol entranced and reading like a nerd? Well, a very pretty nerd, but a nerd all the same. Kukai wanted to know what it was, and something told him Utau wouldn't say that easily. But at least he could try.

"Hey, what're you reading, Idol-san?" he asked, walking to her. She glanced at him briefly, and went back to reading.

"Nothing important," she stated.

"Sure, you're reading a book the size of a dictionary, and say it's not important. If I'm not mistaken, you're not much of a reader in the first place..."

"Why do you want to know?"

"I'm just curious. What could that book be that important enough for Idol-san to read it?" he asked. She ignored him. A few moments passed in silence. "And on top of it, she's ignoring me for the book." Utau closed the large volume, keeping a finger in her place.

"So you think you're that important? That's pretty arrogant, Ramen Boy," she pointed out.

"What's the book?"

"You don't want to know," stated Utau. Kukai grinned.

"Yes, I do," he countered, "And why are you making such a big deal out of it? It's just a boo--" she held the book up to his face, the title screaming out at him like a giant warning sign.

"Are you happy now?"

"A book on hypnotism? Utau, are you sure that's a good idea?" Kukai looked slightly frightened.

"And why not?"

"It's dangerous..."

"And fighting X-eggs isn't?"

"That's different. What if you hypnotize someone and do it wrong? They could be scarred for life. Someone could get hurt."

"Are you doubting my capability? This book is very specific."

"Well..."

~In the girls room~

"Do we have to?" Amu asked. Yaya nodded enthusiastically. Amu put on her 'Cools&Spicy' act. "Fine, but I'm not wearing the pink one."

"But Amu-chii!" Yaya exlcaimed, "That one looks best on you! And these one are two small," she pointed towards a pile of ballgowns. There were at least 15 total, and they had been separated into groups. The girls had found them in the attic, and the Joker and Ace had dragged them down into the bedroom. Rima was still sick, and had not been able to assist. It wasn't likely that she would have, even if she hadn't had a cold. But there was no way she was going to be able to get out of wearing one of the fancy things.

"Yaya wants to wear this one!" exclaimed the youngest girl, picking up a light blue dress with a very large skirt.

"What are you planning to do when you have those dresses on?" Rima asked, presenting a flaw in Yaya's plan. She thought about it for a moment, before coming up with a response.

"Yaya wants to have a masquerade ball!"

"No way!" Amu waved her hands in front of her, looking very nervous.

"But we can still play dress-up!" Yaya squeaked happily. "OOH! Yaya and Rima-tan and Amu-chii should all go to dinner in the dresses!" She picked up a pink gown and shoved it at Amu.

"I thought I said I wasn't going to--"

"You would look best in that one," Rima interrupted, sneezing. Amu sighed and picked up the dress, heading into the bathroom to change. Yaya scanned the rest of the gowns, contemplating which one to force Rima into.

"Which one does Rima-tan want to wear?"

"Umm..." she slid off her seat on her bed and walked over to where the fancy garments were laid out. Yaya looked over them and picked up a purple dress the color Nagi's hair. Rima fought the blush she could feel creeping up her cheeks. Thankfully, Yaya was pretty clueless.

"This looks like it would fit Rima-tan!"

"Well... o-okay," she took it from Yaya and looked at it closely. It was full-length: all of them were. It did look like something someone would wear to a masquerade.

The door to the bathroom opened, and Amu came out dressed in the pink gown that matched her hair. It was equally as fancy as the one Yaya had chosen for Rima.

"It comes way too low!" exclaimed the pinkette, trying to pull the dress higher over her chest. It was really low.

"It doesn't matter, Amu-chan. Ikuto's not in here, so we're fine," Rima stated. Amu stopped her useless efforts.

"Amu-chii is so pretty!" Yaya squealed, jumping up and down. "I think we should go to dinner in the dresses!" They ignored her, as Rima walked into the bathroom with her gown.

It was only a little bit hard to get on, and thankfully, didn't come down too low on her chest. In fact, it seemed to fit her rather well, which was surprising, considering her size.

Rima went back out of the bathroom and stood in front of her friends, who were awing over her cuteness. She was thankful that the charas weren't there to make the situation even worse by insisting that they take pictures or something.

Yaya changed into the light blue dress that she had picked out, but it turned out to be too big. She went through several dresses before finding one that fit her right. By this time, it was already nearly six o'clock, and they were all hungry.

The door opened, and in walked everyone's favorite cat-boy. Predictably, Amu screeched and blushed like there was no tomorrow. Because, if that was the case, and the world was to end before tomorrow, Amu would really need to have one last good blush.

"I just came to tell you that dinner's ready," Ikuto said, wondering what the fuss was about. It took a moment for him to realize what the situation was, and he chuckled. "Don't worry, Amu, you're almost completely flat-chested, anyway." And with that, he walked out of the room. Amu looked like she was going to explode.

"Do we have time to change?" Rima asked, then answered her own question, "Probably not. Amu, just put a sweater on over that and you won't have to worry about anything."

"Thank you, Rima-chan!" she ran to get a sweater.

"Hurray! Yaya gets to go to dinner wearing a fancy dress!" Yaya yelled.

Rima felt ridiculous walking into the kitchen wearing a ballgown. Apparently, the three of them looked ridiculous, too, because Utau took out her cellphone, and there was a snap noise that signaled a picture had been taken.

"We didn't have time to change," Amu said, assuming her 'Cool&Spicy' act once again, which seemed somewhat unreasonable in her frilly attire.

At that moment, all the charas floated into the room, looking tired and dirty. Well, all except Kiseki. He looked perfectly fine. "After dinner we'll have a meeting about our plans for the finishing of our project!" he proclaimed.

"But it's only three feet deep ~nya," Yoru pointed out.

"What are you guys up to, anyway?" Kukai asked. The charas refused to reveal anything, except that it was Kiseki's new plan for world domination.

Tadase had made dinner, with the 'help' of Ikuto, who had sat there the whole time doing practically nothing. It hadn't taken too much effort, anyway, since they were only eating macaroni and cheese. The blobs of orange noodles on everyone's plates had a sort of pitiful appearance about them.

Dinner, however, was not as awkward as it had been the past few days. Probably because the dark aura around Rima was gone, and the tension had lessened considerably. Eventually, Utau brought up the subject of something that needed to be done.

"Someone has to do the laundry, sooner or later. We need someone to do it tomorrow," she said. There was silence. "So do I have any volunteers?" More silence.

"I'll do it," Nagihiko said, kindly. Utau grinned.

"Is anyone going to help him?"

No answer.

"Alright, I volunteer Rima," said Utau, evilly.

~After dinner (the girls have changed out of their dresses)~

Squeeeeeeee, creaked the porch swing on the front porch as Rima pushed herself back and forth, a grin adorning her face. It was that time of day when the shadows are just getting long, and the evening sunlight pouring through the trees made their edges light up, and individual leaves glowing an almost-golden color.

She was happy: happier that she had been in a long time. Even happier than she'd been when she'd had her epiphany. She had been pretty sure that Nagihiko at least had a crush on her. But it was more than that: so much more.

Rima was so intent on her thoughts that she had forgotten about the brand new gag-Manga on her lap. So when the swing went backward, and the book fell to the ground, she was startled, and hopped up to get it. When she seated herself again, the Queen's Chair let herself become lost in the heavenly pages of comedy.

Nagihiko walked outside, and upon stepping onto the front porch, saw a goddess. That of comedy, sitting on the porch swing, slowly rocking back in forth, completely lost in her own world of gags and other such funny things. Her beautiful face was lit up like someone had turned a switch, and that typical stern look changed instantly into the smiling, giggling wonder before him.

Nagi couldn't help but smile himself, watching Rima in her shining state. In complete absence of thought, he just stood there, enraptured with the sight of the beautiful girl, not wanting to disturb her in her happy moment. Just looking at her like that made him happy.

Rima looked up from her manga, and her eyes met Nagihiko's. Her smile didn't fade. Nagihiko sat on the swing next to her.

"Hey, Rima," he greeted.

"N-Nagi..." she felt a blush creeping up her cheeks. "The window is right there. Someone's going to see you sitting out here next to me and start to wonder."

"Okay. I'll meet you in the back, then," he said, walking off the porch and around the house. Rima set her gag-Manga on the swing and waited a few minutes before following him.

"So what did you want?" she asked when she found Nagihiko sitting on the grass, leaning on the back wall of the house. He shrugged.

"I just wanted to see you,"was his reply. Rima positioned herself next to him.

"It wasn't like I was invisible inside," she said.

"That's not what I meant," he frowned. Rima sneezed. "You're still sick. You shouldn't have been outside last night with wet ha--"

"No, you're glad I was," she contradicted, grabbing his arm and hugging it to her. Smiling, Nagihiko pressed his forehead against hers, looking straight into her eyes.

"Is it okay with you if I..." he trailed off. Rima's smile grew and she and wrapped her arms around his neck, placing her mouth lightly against his.

"Any time," she said when she pulled away. Nagihiko looked slightly stunned at first, and then he kissed her in return. After a few moments, Rima drew back. "You're going to catch my cold," she told him sternly.

~Later, in the girls room~

All four girls were sitting in a circle on the floor, playing a very dull game of Cheat. No one was calling "cheat" on anyone, so it was pretty much just taking turns putting cards in the middle of a circle. How much more fun could things get? Sarcasm intended, in case you didn't notice.

In the midst of this exciting, action-packed game (once again, sarcasm, please), a conversation came up. It started when Utau brought up the topic of what had happened earlier that day when Yaya had tried coffee. The effect of the caffeine still hadn't completely worn off on the hyper little girl.

"So, Yaya had her first kiss today," Utau said. Everyone's gaze turned toward said candy-lover.

"No, Yaya didn't!"

"Then what do you call what you did to Kukai?" spat Utau vehemently.

"Jealous, now, are we?" Rima asked quietly.

"That's not what Yaya means."

"What are you talking about? I think that coffee is having some side-effects," said Amu. Yaya shook her head solemnly.

"No, Yaya means Yaya didn't have her first kiss today."

"I think we're all confused," stated Rima.

"You did kiss Kukai, even if you don't remember it," Utau pointed out.

"Do you think Yaya would give away her first kiss just like that?! That wasn't Yaya's first kiss!"

"Umm... are you saying that you possibly have..." Amu flushed red.

"Who was it?" Utau asked. She crossed her arms.

"Yaya's not telling! It's Yaya's secret!"

"Could it be possible... Yaya was kissed before any of us?" Amu asked.

"Are you kidding me?" Utau scoffed, "I kissed Ikuto so long ago I don't even remember."

"What about Amu-chii and Rima-tan?" Yaya asked excitedly. They each turned their respective shades of red, Amu's much darker than Rima's.

"I n-n-never had m-m-my first ki-kiss," stuttered the beat-red Amu. Only the youngest of the other three girls believed her. Getting an idea, Utau decided to have a little bit of fun making Rima squirm.

"Rima-chan, you heard Yaya, when was your first kiss?" she asked, smirking uncannily like her brother. Said blond chibi turned her head and thought over her answer for a moment. She could flat-out lie, and they might believe her. But Utau would probably only make things even more uncomfortable. Another option was to tell the truth. How would that go over? She didn't want to know. So Rima was led to the third choice that came to her mind: tell a half-truth. If she did it right, and maybe with a bit of luck, even Utau would believe it.

"A while ago," she replied. Yaya and Amu looked shocked, dropping their cards. It was true: a few days ago was a while ago.

"Who was it?" Utau asked. Rima glared.

"That's none of your business!"

"Okay," Utau replied, shocking her. Setting down her cards, the idol picked a thick book off the floor and climbed into her bed.

Shocking things never ceased to happen around here.

A/N: heh... heh... sorry this took so long to get out. I've been busy... being lazy. Well, I have this huge project I was working on for school, so I'll just blame it on that! Yeah... I'll blame it on that. Heheheh. And this is really not a very good chapter, either. The next chapter will be funnier, hopefully. And I really haven't been in a mood for writing fluff... although a lot of you requested more of it. So, I tried my best, but it didn't turn out as well as I hoped.

Please review! It makes me so happy and makes me want to write more.