Six days left until Christmas Day! Man I'm feeling Christmassy :)

But…you have to wonder…what is going to happen next?! :P

Advent '08

December 19th - 6 days to go~o! Less than a week!

Lory was grinning widely as he sat behind his desk.

Yesterday he had scheduled a meeting with Ren and Yashiro and it had revealed far more than he had thought possible.

It also meant that he was currently planning ways to spend the money that he was going to win from his good friend Harumi-chan.

He cackled to himself.

Ah well, she should have known that he would win the bet when she made it with him. It wasn't his fault if he knew Ren better than she and he certainly wasn't going to feel guilty about it.

At all.

He thought back on the meeting with a smile on his face.

---/---

The knock sounded on his door. Lory braced himself for what he might hear and told them to come in.

Everything was riding on this meeting. He would find out if Ren was actually going with Kyoko to the awards and if he would be winning back most of his money.

He was nervous but he didn't show it. He wouldn't want to frighten anyone into doing anything rash now, would he?

"Ah, Ren-kun…Yashiro-san. How wonderful that you could join me. Please…take a seat."

They settled themselves in the chairs opposite his desk and stared at him expectantly. Lory cringed inwardly at their gazes.

"The reason that I have called you here is because I wanted to confirm the reservations."

Ren nodded, as if this was usual behaviour for the President of L.M.E.

Mentally, Lory made a note of the reaction. Ren was up to something, he just knew it. Either that or he was dazed…or happy…

Sometimes it was just a little too hard to tell. Especially when he was preoccupied himself and didn't have the time to spare to work out all the minute nuances.

He waited for one of them to speak. After a minute or so of silence his patience, or whatever left he had of it, wore thin.

"So…?"

Ren crossed his legs, elegantly.

"I will be going to the awards."

"That's wonderful Ren-kun. Now…are you going to be taking anyone…?"

He was trying to be open, he really was. Ren still looked at him with suspicion though.

"Yes. Ky…Mogami-chan will be accompanying me."

Lory noted the slip and caught himself from asking why Ren intended to take Kyoko out of everyone.

It wouldn't do to put doubts in the boy's head now, would it?

Instead, Lory turned to Yashiro and smiled at him.

"And you? Will you be going too?"

"Yes. Yes, I'll be going."

"Accompaniment?"

Yashiro blushed a dark red and both Ren and Lory raised their eyebrows at his reaction.

"A-actually…I will be accompanied."

They both waited for him to embellish. Eventually, Lory had to ask again.

"…By?"

"Kanae-chan."

Ren smirked and Lory leant back in his chair.

Well…this was an interesting development. Lory smiled.

"All right then. I'll arrange for a limo to come and pick you up. Yashiro-san, I'll send the information to you later?"

"Yes, sir."

"Wonderful. That's a load off my mind."

Ren and Yashiro stood and left. As soon as the door closed behind them Lory broke out into amused chuckles.

He was so going to win.

---/---

Lory smirked again as he thought over what happened. He was relaxing back in his chair when his office door burst open. Startled he shot upright, his eyes wide.

"Hello there, Lory-kun. Afternoon nap now is it?"

"Hello Harumi-chan."

Harumi grinned.

"Ah Lory, Lory, Lory…" she shook her head, "just what have you been up to?"

Lory smirked smugly at her in response.

"I was just planning how to spend the winnings of our little wager."

The smile dropped from Harumi's face.

"What?"

"Oh yes. You heard that right. I know for a fact that Ren-kun and Kyoko-chan are going to the awards together."

"Oh really?"

"Yes, really. And there's nothing you can do about it."

Harumi snorted.

"I wouldn't be to sure about that now."

"Hey, wait a minute. The deal was that we weren't going to interfere."

"But…if you've already interfered Lory-kun, then no rules apply."

"I didn't interfere!"

Harumi snorted again and raised her eyebrow.

"Oh really. You seem to forget that I have spies Lory-kun. Spies that tell me everything. You would do better than to not blatantly invite the manager up to your office."

Lory gritted his teeth.

"That was a needed meeting. I just wished to see if I needed to make reservations."

Harumi's eyebrow crept up a notch.

"Oh really? Well. If that's all that was."

"It was!"

Harumi smiled sweetly at him and Lory felt cold chills crawl down his spine.

"I'll be leaving then." She turned to go but stopped when she reached the door, one hand on the handle. "Just remember though, dear friend, that I'm watching. That I always am watching. And that you can make anything happen if you have enough money and the right contacts."

With that she briskly opened the door, walked out and closed it sharply behind her. Lory sat, shocked…and slightly scared.

Had she just threatened him?!

Lory shook his head. He couldn't concentrate on that right now. He had a plan to execute.

Pressing his intercom he buzzed Mine-san.

"Could you please send up Kanae-chan from the Love Me section? Thank you."

He leant back in his chair, planning how he was going to do this, whilst he waited for Kanae to arrive.

She made a speedy entrance and Lory was silently impressed but he had other things to worry about right at that minute.

"Kanae-chan. Wonderful. I need to speak with you."

"Yes, sir?"

"It has come to my attention that both you and Kyoko-chan are going to the Winter Awards?"

"Yes, sir?"

He nodded and pulled out a credit card, handing it over to a confused Kanae.

"That," he said, motioning to the card, "is a company credit card. I want you to take yourself and Kyoko-chan shopping with it."

"Sir?"

"Buy yourselves outfits for the awards. I know that the Love Me section won't cover very much and I don't want anyone to think that our agency doesn't provide. The awards will be televised across the whole country and the most important people in the business are going to be there.

"Including directors.

"I want everyone from our agency to be the centre of attention."

Kanae nodded in agreement.

"I understand sir."

"Good good." he waved her off. "Take Kyoko shopping with you tomorrow or something. And I'll see you at the awards."

---/---

Yashiro was nervous.

He normally was never nervous. But what he was about to do was not normal and hence the nervousness.

Pacing back and forth in the corridor he wrung his hands together, building up his courage. Kyoko and Kanae should be on their way home any minute now and he wanted to catch Kanae before she left.

This was probably going to be the last chance that he would see her before the awards and he just wanted to clear things up.

He groaned to himself and pinched the bridge of his nose. Some small part of him was screaming at himself, asking what he thought he was doing.

He squished that part down as much as he could. He didn't want to have any doubts at this moment. What good would that do him?

"Yashiro-san?"

His head shot up as Kanae called out to him. She was standing next to Kyoko with a quizzical expression on her face.

"Ah, Kanae-chan." Yashiro shot a glance at Kyoko, "Do you think that I could talk to you? Alone?"

Kanae shrugged.

"Sure, why not."

She followed him as they walked a little way away and out of Kyoko's earshot. Kanae turned to face him.

"What was it that you wanted to say?"

Yashiro swallowed and took a large, calming breath.

"I…would like to formally ask if you would accompany me to the Winter Awards."

Kanae looked a little taken aback.

"S-sure! I'd love to go with you."

Yashiro grinned sheepishly.

"Um…that's all I had to say."

Kanae smiled in return and patted his arm.

"Thank you for the invitation." She glanced over to where Kyoko was still waiting. "Um…I'm just going to…you know…"

"Oh, yeah. Yeah, of course. Okay. Well…I'll see you on the night? We're sharing a limo with Ren-san and Kyoko-chan."

"Oh, ok. I'll see you then."

She flashed him one last smile before walking back to where Kyoko was waiting for her with a smirk and a questioning look on her face.

Yashiro watched them walk off together and breathed a sigh of relief.

Thank God that was over, now everything would turn out okay.

He couldn't think of anything that could go wrong.

Short but sweet.

Heh heh heh…I cant wait until tomorrows chapter!

Just a warning though…it might be a little late because I'm moving back home for the holidays tomorrow.

Merry Christmas!

DS