A/N: Konichiwa, minna-san! This story is nearly finished. I'm not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing. I have lots of ideas for other stories when I finish this one. So I need you to vote on my pole about what you want me to write next. I'll have descriptions of the stories on my profile.

Also, I'm going to Oregon for a while. So it will be at least a week before I post again. Hopefully, I'll get a lot written while I'm gone. I've got a writer's block right now.

Don't forget to vote on my poll.

Arigato!

The Million Dollar Bet

Day Ten, Part One

Nagihiko woke to see a vision of pure beauty. It was one of the loveliest things he'd ever seen: the angelic features of his Rima-chan so relaxed and peaceful as she slept. His chest swelled with love and pride. This sleeping beauty was his girlfriend.

The morning light slanting through his window shown on Rima's face and glinted off her golden curls. Her eyes were closed calmly, and her delicate nose and pink lips were still.

Nagi had a sudden impulse: something he wanted to do very badly. His first instinct was to tell himself no, but when he thought about it, what harm would it do? It wasn't like Rima would be mad at him: she herself had given him permission to do so whenever he liked. It went without saying that that rule didn't apply when others were around, however.

So Nagihiko leaned forward and kissed Rima, who went right on sleeping, unaware of her boyfriend next to her. He wrapped his arm around her waist and fell asleep again, forgetting that it was morning and the others would be awake soon.

~Later~

"Nagihiko! What have you done to my best friend?" screeched Amu, her face turning red in anger.

"I thought I was your best friend," Utau said, crossing her arms.

"I-I meant uh…" Amu spluttered, trying to find something to say.

Nagihiko and Rima, having both been woken by the pinkette's yelling, sat up to find everyone gathered around them. Utau watched in slight boredom as Amu try to explain what she meant by the 'best friend' thing, and how she could have more than one best friend. Ikuto looked amused. Yaya's jaw was hanging open for flies to come in, while Tadase and Kukai simply looked surprised.

Eventually, Amu gave up trying to explain herself and turned back to the matter at hand.

"Wow, Fujisaki, I didn't think you would—" Kukai began, but was cut off.

"This is not what it looks like," Nagi said very seriously.

Suddenly, everyone burst out in speech and argument, while Rima and Nagihiko sat there watching the whole scene. Their voices were getting louder and louder until one voice rose above the others.

"Quiet!" Tadase roared. The room fell silent. "We all have made assumptions, but I, for one, know that Fujisaki-san is not a pervert. He wouldn't do something like that. We need to give them a chance to explain."

"Okay, we'll listen to Kiddy-king. Fujisaki, explain." Ikuto said, smirking. This was an interesting situation, and he didn't think they'd be able to sort it out.

"Rima?" Nagi asked. She nodded.

"I… had a nightmare," she explained. It would have been laughable had they not been so confused. Yaya voiced the question that everyone but Utau was wondering.

"Why'd you run to Nagi?"

"Well… that's a long story," Rima said, becoming fascinated with her toes.

"We've got time," Utau said, wanting to hear it straight from Rima from start to finish.

"Uhh… well, my mind had been all weirded-out when Nagi kissed me in the attic, and after a while…"

"Wait, what?" Amu yelled. Nagihiko turned red.

"Nothing happened in the attic, huh?" Ikuto raised an eyebrow.

"Let her finish," Nagihiko said, somewhat snappily.

"Well, I wasn't mad that he took my first kiss. And that led to a bunch of other thoughts, so in the end, I realized that I'm in love with him."

"So explain why you're in here," said Kukai.

"Well, we've been…" Rima searched for the right word. They hadn't left the house, so she couldn't say they were 'going out'. Finally, she came up with something, although it sounded old-fashioned. "I guess you could say 'courting,' secretly. And last night, I had a nightmare. And usually… gosh, this is embarrassing." Rima curled into a ball and hid her face. "Usually, I crawl into bed with my mom when I have a really bad nightmare. So, I came to Nagi."

"See?" Nagihiko said, "That's it."

"We're sorry, Mashiro-san, and Fujisaki-kun, for jumping to conclusions," Tadase said. There was a short silence.

"Yaya thinks you two are so cute!" Yaya yelled. Amu had fainted. Utau placed her hands on her hips.

"Well, at least our blackmail war is over. But it's too bad I can't manipulate you anymore."

"You knew about this?" Amu asked, getting up off the floor and staring at Utau in surprise.

"I'm surprised the rest of you didn't catch on…" she replied.

"Why didn't you tell us?"

"Well… Rima had information, too. And besides, telling you all would defeat the point: it would no longer be blackmail information."

"Wait, what kind of information did Rima have?" Kukai asked. Rima smirked evilly.

"Let's see… there was the time I found you two kissing behind the house," Rima began. Utau cut in.

"It's not like I would have cared if you told anyone," she said, but she was blushing. "And I had way more evidence against you, so you'd better watch it."

"Like what?" Rima challenged. Utau fiddled with her cell phone, and a picture appeared on the screen. She showed it to Rima, who gave a short gasp. It was a picture of her kissing Nagi on the bridge, and it looked like it had been taken from above.

"Like that. And this," she procured another picture, this one of Rima and Nagihiko sleeping on each others shoulders in the back yard. Rima's face turned redder than it already was. Nagihiko, who was looking at the pictures over her shoulder, was also blushing madly.

"Yaya wants to see the pictures, too!" Yaya exclaimed. Utau flipped her phone shut.

"Should I erase them, Rima, Nagihiko?"

"Actually… can you send them to me?" Rima asked. Utau smiled: a real smile, not a smirk. The shorter girl smiled genuinely in return.

"No problem, Rima-chan," the idol replied.

~Later, in the kitchen~

Yaya switched the lever on the mixer all the way up, and covered her eyes as bits of egg and flower flew out of the stainless-steel dish. After it had stirred for a moment, she turned it off and peered inside. Walking to the island counter, Yaya picked up a bag of chocolate chips and poured the whole thing into the mixing bowl. Then she turned the machine on.

It whirred, but didn't move very much. She turned it up a notch, and then another, and another, until the chocolate chips were stirred in well. When the dough was done, Yaya dipped a hand into the bowl and grabbed a glob of the substance. Promptly, she shoved the gooey dough in her mouth and chewed on it, then decided it was perfectly fit for anyone. She would be proud to serve this to a king.

After carefully reading the instructions in the recipe one more time, Yaya decided on a plan of action. Of course, since she was unable to carry out the directions, she would have to improvise. There was no way she was letting this perfectly good cookie dough go to waste.

Yaya was not stupid. She knew one basic thing about cooking: you don't put metal in the microwave. It was something she had learned when she put a fork in her TV dinner tray and microwaved it. The results had been disastrous.

So she got some paper plates from the pantry and began distributing cookie-sized balls of dough onto each one.

Soon, Tadase came into the kitchen. He eyed her warily, then glanced at the mess around the kitchen, and a panicked look came across his face.

"Yuiki-san, I thought Fujisaki-kun banned you from the kitchen," he said. Yaya shook her head.

"No, Nagi only banned Yaya from using the stove or the oven."

"But it looks like you're making cookies. I hope you're not planning to eat the dough uncooked. Raw eggs can make you sick!"

"No! Yaya's not stupid!" Yaya exclaimed. She pointed to the microwave, which was humming while its timer counted down. "Yaya's using the microwave!"

"Are you sure that's a good idea?"

"Of course Yaya's sure!" Yaya skipped over to the microwave and peered inside. Her eyes widened and she pushed the button that opened it. Smoke was coming from a tiny black splotch on one end of the cookie, and it smelled awful. It was tinted slightly green, and had huge craters that looked liked the surface of the moon. It was flat and crusted completely onto the paper plate, so that when she bent it, the cookie cracked. Altogether, it looked like dog vomit on top of volcanic rock.

Tears welled up in Yaya's eyes as she looked at the pitiful thing. It really was a sight to behold.

Amu walked into the kitchen and spotted Yaya in tears. She went to see what was up with her friend, when she smelled the disgusting desert.

"What's wrong, Yaya?"

"Yaya's cookie is yucky!" She wailed. Amu looked at the plate with the splat that was supposed to be a cookie on it, and burst out laughing.

"What's it supposed to be?" she managed between giggles.

"It's a cookie," explained Tadase, "Yuiki-san tried to cook it in the microwave."

"Nagi-kun banned Yaya from the stove and the oven," Yaya added, as if to justify herself. "And now there's a bunch of cookie dough that will go to waste. Yaya hates wasting sweets!"

"Nagi didn't ban me from the oven," Amu said, "I'll put them in there. What's it supposed to be preheated to?"

"370," Tadase said, looking at the recipe. Amu punched in the numbers then sat at the barstools at the island counter.

"Now we just wait," she stated. There were some things Amu could do without her chara's help.

"Arigato, Amu-chii! Yaya can't wait to have cookies!"

"You know, that cookie looks a little bit like a piece of modern art, Yuiki-san," Tadase stated.

"Really?"

"Yeah," agreed Amu, "Like a splatter painting." That was one disgusting splatter painting.

"Yaya wants to talk about Rima-tan and Nagi-kun while we wait!" Yaya exclaimed in a low tone, incase said couple was in hearing range. "Yaya thinks they're so cute!" Amu smiled.

"I'm really happy for them," she said, "Although I admit I was shocked."

"They do seem unlikely, don't they?"

"Yaya thinks they're perfect!"

"I agree. They were made for each other," Amu replied. The oven beeped and she rose to put the cookies in. "I hope that was the microwave's fault and not the dough," she said as she slid the tray into the oven.

Gomennesai! Really, I'm really, truly, very sorry for how terribly, dreadfully short this is. Really, I am. But I wanted to get it out before I left on vacation, and I'll be really busy tomorrow. I'm taking my final driving test to get my permit, which is exciting but nerve-racking.

Yaya's cookie: I know what happens because I did it to see what would happen so Yaya could do it in this fic. The link to the picture of the cookie is on my profile. It's really worth it!

Please vote on my poll! This fic is drawing to a close and I really need to know what to write when I'm finished.

Review, onegai!