I did it! I promised to you all that I'll update, and I did! Also, considering that today is Yata's birthday, it makes this chapter even more special for that reason. Like I said last week, this is actually the second half of chapter four, so it is shorter (only by 300 words or so, don't worry), but we're still calling it chapter five~ Enjoy!

Living Twice, Chapter 5

For the first few moments after she drifted back into consciousness, Totsuka's voice sounded to Misaki a lot like it had through the phone; distorted and hard to separate words into sentences from.

"Misaki-chan?" eventually she understood, only really responding when she felt him shake her arm gently (after her had first seen her stir, of course).

She groaned softly, clenching and unclenching her hands and absently rolling over onto her side, only to see her living room.

Blinking, she forced her brain to re-make its connections and sat up. She scratched at her shoulder and looked over at Totsuka and Kamamoto in confusion. Her eyes were still half-lidded and her limbs were faintly throbbing, but she managed to focus enough to listen to their questions and answer them.

"We came over because Kamamoto left his phone here..." his face was showing obvious signs of worry for her and his tone was a higher pitch, "the front door was unlocked, and we called out your name quite a lot of times. When you didn't answer, we searched for you... Kamamoto said that he found you slumped over the bath... what happened?"

The events of before she fell unconscious we still very faint to her, so much so that it was impossible to gather any memories regarding them. All that she could recall was pain (and a lot of it), so she spoke her conclusion to her thoughts out loud: "it must have been a rough change. That's all. I'm feeling better already, I think."

"That's good," both of the males managed a smile and Misaki mirrored it for them. Kamamoto helped her up and she looked down at her clothes, realising with a start that she hadn't yet got dressed for the evening.

"Totsuka-san, what's the time?" she turned to face him directly, biting her lip.

"Ah..." he glanced his phone, "twenty minutes to seven, but why- oh! Oh my God, you're meeting him at seven, aren't you?"

She nodded urgently and picked up speed as she headed to her room; "I just need to get changed!" she called, pausing for a second to lean against the wall (her legs ached).

"I laid your stuff on out your bed," Kamamoto called after her, "Totsuka-san told me what you need."

"Thank you so much!"

"She sounds a lot better..." Rikio remarked, looking over at the other blonde.

"...But I don't think she is," Totsuka, sharing the same opinion, finished his sentence for him. His frown was back and, during the silence that followed, he spent it glancing anxiously at random points in the room.

He took a deep breath and caught Kamamoto gaze again, letting a sigh escape. "She might be a little out of it on her date, especially at a place like she's going to. Not to mention she had those earlier injuries... we can't let her go alone."

"You're right," he agreed with a nod, "but she won't like it."

"We won't tell her, then. It'll be better that way, anyway. She won't be constantly distracted by us being there and she'll be able to focus her attention on Fushimi. Agreed?"

"Agreed. But we need disguises, then - we hardly look clubbing material right now, Totsuka-san."

"I'll take care of that, don't worry. Hey, Misaki-chan?" he shouted, walking up to her bedroom door and tapping on it, "do you need help with covering the cut on your face? I brought extra make-up!"

She was a little worried about how she had so willingly given Saruhiko her mobile phone number when they had left the restaurant. From what Misaki had seen of him, he didn't really seem pushy or scary or anything - like how she typically viewed a person that was up to no good - but, then again, she'd never actually met a person that was up to no good. The fact that he had gone to all that trouble to fix her up and get her fed and then accepting that she'd wanted to walk home by herself was questionable, yet the red head found it only slightly was. After all, he did put himself across as a really nice (albeit a little odd and a tad obsessive) guy in their conversations.

They had stayed at the restaurant for about two hours, engaged in small talk for the first part before their sentences seemed to transform into genuine discussions. He had listened to her with interest when she had something to say, and she back to him. They ate pizza and, after having so many refills of cloudy lemonade, began getting them for free to the point when it had run out. The chef occasionally joined in too when he wasn't working, and for a while she forgot about the fact that she was interacting with someone while she was a girl. At first, that whole idea had seemed alien to her. When she began living at the orphan house a few years ago, Misaki always remembered to keep her hair the same length at all times of the day and was constantly in male clothes. When she had turned sixteen almost two years ago, her female side had become a lot more obvious, but she was allowed to move into her own apartment before she could no longer get away with her disguises easily.

With Saruhiko, the red head felt that she was able to relax, and she found herself feeling a pang of sadness when he had stood up to pay the bill after her last bite of chocolate fudge cake. It meant that she'd had to leave now, but she wasn't the only one that wanted to stay in touch. At first, he had offered for her to not give him her number and for her to just take his (that meant that if she never felt the need to text him, he'd never have to know any personal details), but she'd told him no and insisted that they exchange both, which they did.

Misaki had saved his name as 'Clumps-kun' because of the way he did his hair, and because he had laughed so hard through a slice of pizza when she had mentioned it earlier.

"I think," she remembered him speaking hesitantly as she saw her house come into view around the corner, "that I'd like to see you again, Misaki-chan."

"Yes... that would be nice."

"Just text me if you want to. You don't have to."

"I know, I will. Well... bye then, I guess."

"...Bye."

Suddenly, the screen of her phone flashed - only 10% charge remaining. It was probably because she had been staring at it with a stupid smile on her face for the whole journey.

Misaki selected Saruhiko off her contacts list and opened up an empty message box.

Are you busy on Sunday? she typed.

It was 10:45pm, the reply was almost instant.

What time? :)

Evening sometime :)

I'll check

Ok, I'm free

Great :)

No reply for a while, then

Where would you like to go? x

"Am I late?" Misaki rested her hands on her knees as soon as she stopped running, panting heavily.

"Not at all," Saruhiko assured her, a concerned look passing over his expression when he saw how worn out she was, but he smiled afterwards "I only just got here myself. The doors open in about twenty minutes."

"Really?" she raised her eyebrows and straightened herself with a small stretch. Blood was pounding in her ears and she could feel her cheeks redden behind the unevenly caked-on make-up she was wearing. Kamamoto and Tostuka had done a surprisingly good job with covering up the wound, and, even though they had practically used up a whole pot of powder foundation, her face still looked surprisingly natural. Well, that was only if you were looking from afar... and she doubted it would stay that way with Saruhiko... but Misaki hoped that the confusing flashes of strobe lights and filters would throw his observations off when he made them.

"Yep. Oh… your dress is really nice, Misaki-chan," he said as he took her hand, "when did you get it?"

"Last week," they walked together, footsteps slightly out of time on the city street pavement, "I'm glad you like it."

She sighed softly and looked up at him. He had turned his head away to regard their surroundings, but he must have felt her gaze, because he was now, once again, locking eyes with her. The thought only gently passed by her mind that they had had pretty much the same conversation about her choice in eveningwear the time they went to the aquarium, and also at all the times in between then and now.

His hand was warm in hers, and she felt him squeeze it a little tighter when they looked at each other. The evening was warm but with a cooling breeze that passed by every now and then, and the sun was poised to set over the skyline. Various adverts lit up the black silhouette of the buildings and the sound of vehicles bustling past only added to the energetic but relaxing urban feeling. Organised chaos that she loved to enjoy when her body would give her a break. More, especially, with Saruhiko.

"How far away is the club?" she asked, breaking the silence that had followed them.

"Oh, not very," he assured her as they continued, "just a few streets away, that's all. Oh-" he suddenly jerked, glancing down at the bag he was carrying in his other hand and replying hastily when Misaki gave him a questioning look, "I brought a few drinks for us. I think I mentioned it before, but we're technically not allowed in this club until we're twenty, and we're definitely not allowed to buy any alcohol, but it's run by the... company I work for."

"So that means we can just go in?"

"I told my boss I needed some place to take my girlfriend, or, rather, he asked me why I was texting and to whom in the office..." Saruhiko flushed red and gave a sheepish grin, "and he instantly suggested here, on the grounds that I keep up a few of my... duties as an employee. And we get free entry, so I suppose it's ok? Sorry if it's not, I-"

"It's fine, Clumps-kun," she told him and pulled herself closer to his body, pressing the side of her head lightly on his right arm, "I don't really mind where you take me. It's just nice to be with you."

"But is this even the sort of thing you like?" he asked worriedly, and it was obvious he had already forced his second thoughts out of his mind before meeting her (and that they were starting to come back).

"I don't know," she shrugged, although her tone of voice was positive, "I've never been, and neither have you, so, personally, I think it will be a great experience for the both of us."

He smiled, feeling encouraged by her attitude, "yeah."

The regular evening city sounds were soon added to - a clear sound of a large group of people chattering wildly - and its source was found as the couple turned a corner to directly face the queue to get in to the night club.

"We can get in a different way," it was only when Saruhiko nudged her forward that the red head realised that she'd stopped, "come on."

She couldn't help but look at the other girls in the line as they went past. Most of them were in groups, some had guys locking arms with them. They held tiny little purses in their hands or had them on a thin strap hanging over their shoulders. Misaki vaguely remembered how she often had the urge to wear something seemingly as pointless as one of them, but her male side had thankfully remained dominant in a small number of places, although it had taken a while of avoiding accessory shops and the like before it went away. Their dresses appeared all in a similar style, although she did notice almost instantly how some of the girls' were a lot more revealing than hers.

Was she glad that Saruhiko wasn't looking at them, too? Was she worried that he would think someone else that was waiting in that line was prettier? She scoffed to herself - of course not! There was no way he would...

...but that one did have a really nice shade of blonde hair.

"Misaki-chan?" her lover's voice once again brought her back down into reality and quickly put on a smile, the truthfulness in it growing as he copied.

They eventually came to a door that was twenty or so meters from where the queue was, and it was guarded by a man than looked only slightly older than them. He had not yet seen them approach; he stood with his arms crossed and facing the road opposite him. His dark green hair was caught by some imaginary wind. Or gel. Probably just gel.

"Akiyama-san," Saruhiko greeted him, catching his attention quickly.

"Oh, good evening, Fushimi-san," the other male replied. He was only hesitant for a second until he realised who he was speaking to, "the captain told me that you were coming with a plus one," he glanced at Misaki, "is this her?"

He nodded as an answer and the red head smiled awkwardly.

Picking up a clipboard off of the floor, Akiyama took out a pen and scribbled something down. "Ok," he said afterwards, still holding their attention, "you can go in now, but just let me know when you're leaving." He unlocked the door and held it open.

"Oh, we won't be staying too late," Saruhiko told him, patting him on the shoulder as he grabbed Misaki's hand again and led her inside.

Kamamoto sighed to himself in disbelief, wiping a large hand down his face.

He was seated on the edge of the sofa in Totsuka's living room, looking up at said owner with such scepticism he wondered how it was not being noticed. The younger blonde hovered over him with his regular cheeky grin and bright eyes.

"Well, Rikio-san? What do you think?"

"You have got to be shitting me. Sombreros? sombreros?"

Totsuka jerked with both confused and surprised disappointment, "what's wrong with them? I must have said; we need to make ourselves as unrecognisable as possible, so dressing up like people from a foreign country is a great idea, don't you think?"

"But just... look at them. We'd be so fucking conspicuous it'd be unreal."

"At least then we'd be conspicuous for a different reason! Our Mexican style will completely throw Misaki-chan off if she sees us!"

Kamamoto grunted, receiving the hat half-heartedly and wincing further when Totsuka carried on, "I've got the rest of the stuff upstairs - you know, ponchos, fake moustaches."

"...I can't believe you sometimes, Totsuka-san."

As soon as she stepped foot inside the main room, Misaki instantly was hit by a large wave of light, sound and all the other ways that one's senses could be overloaded from a nightclub. She instinctively recoiled and Saruhiko shot her another worried glance, frowning.

"You've already decided that you don't like it?"

"Oh, no, that's not it," she replied quickly, "it was just a... surprise. I mean, I've read about clubs and seen videos about clubs, but I can already tell that actually going to one is going to be quite a different experience!"

Saruhiko beamed, straining to hear her reply above the heavy dance track that was booming through the speakers. He could feel the beat in his chest and she could tell that the both of them would take a second or two to adjust.

"Now that we're here, then," he began, "what would you like to do first?"

"Dance, I suppose!" she had to shout to be heard, even this close, "isn't that what we're here for?"

He nodded enthusiastically and led her across the room, past the bar and the tables that surrounded it. People were already sitting at most of them, and Misaki had the feeling that it was going to get busier still. The smoking area was in the corner opposite, through another door, and she could see a lot of silhouettes moving about inside, with stacks of people coming and going. There was still a large number frequently coming through the entrance; most made their way straight to the dance floor and soon became mingled with the crowd there, moving up and down all together in time with the music. Others, a few already worn out, stood against the surrounding walls with drinks in their hands and were chatting casually to others. A couple was kissing behind one of the speakers, as well as a few more in various spots that clearly demonstrated how important the age limit at this establishment was.

"Exactly how I imagined a place like this," she said quietly to herself with a half-grin, feeling the carpet beneath her feet change into something harder as they mingled into the crowd. Saruhiko pulled her away from the edge of the floor, further into the middle where the bright lights weren't hitting their faces as much, and they fell into the rhythm of the song. She'd never heard it before and probably never will again, she didn't even particularly like it. But something about it automatically urged her to jump up and down. Misaki also noticed how high some of the other women's heels were, and it made her grimace. Dancing like this... they were going to twist their ankle or something! Or, maybe they wouldn't. She couldn't exactly relate to other females directly.

She was genuinely surprised that she was enjoying herself. At first, she was only going so she would be with Saruhiko and didn't really have any hopes or worries about the club - being with him was fine, that was it. Now, though, Misaki really felt like going out of her way to enjoy herself. One hand was in his as they moved, and she saw him catch sight of the bow in her hair at one point. Totsuka had done an amazing job with dressing her up, too; she felt cool in her dress, the shoes she was wearing didn't make her feet ache and everything was easy to move around in.

"Oh, sorry!" she heard the person's voice after they bumped into her, "I didn't see you th... oh."

Misaki glanced at him in confusion, wondering why he had trailed off. It was hard to see who he was amongst the constantly interchanging shadows and flashing spotlights, but she could take in the outrageously large hat he was wearing - a sombrero, to be precise. He stood frozen on the spot and therefore looked even more out of place from the movement of bodies around them.

It was only when a particularly green light flashed across the male's face that she was able to recognise him, and her eyes widened.

Totsuka? Why was he following? Her time with Clumps-kun was completely out of bounds and he knew that well enough.

"Misaki-chan?" Saruhiko spoke (shouted) next when he noticed that she had stopped moving, and the red head quickly looked away from Totsuka, pretending not to notice him. Her lover would be able to recognise him, but Misaki should have no idea who he was.

He had disappeared into the crowd after few seconds, so she turned back to Saruhiko and told him that she was just out of breath. Which was, in fact, a half-truth.

"Oh my... Misaki-chan, what's that on your face?"

Her hand flew to her cheek and it came away red, highlighted even more by the lights flashing at random angles around them. Pain soon followed as she just aggravated the wound again, and now it was re-opened, little bits of foundation that had not yet come away making it sting further.

"Ah..." she said all she could think of to say, "I don't know..."

"You guys are always talking about this place, though," Yata said, shoving his hands in his pockets, "what's so great about it? All you ever say is how there are some dudes there and you all hang out and act tough in front of other people."

"But it's so fun!" Totsuka insisted; he was taking it upon himself to lead the way, "we do a lot of cool stuff together. It's like a little community. And there is one girl."

"Really? How old is she?"

"Nine."

"What?"

"Don't get the wrong idea, Yata-san," Kamamoto said, "the boss is her legal guardian, although, now that you two have mentioned it, I don't really know about her beyond that. She's quiet unless she talks, as the saying goes."

"I've never heard of that saying," Totsuka groaned, "and it doesn't even make sense!"

"Anyway," Rikio continued, ignoring him and turning to face Yata as they went along, "her name's Anna. And I really think you'll like HOMRA. It's a great place to let off some steam once in a while. We've got a bar too."

"I'm not old enough to drink, Rikio-san."

"Then we'll get Izumo-san to make you something special!" the youngest of the three interjected yet again, "he mixes amazing non-alcoholic cocktails."

"...You two aren't doing such a great job of convincing me, are you?"

"Oh come on, Yata-san," Totsuka said, "we're already here, so deal with it. See?"

He was pointing to a building on the corner of the street, just a few shops down from the shopping centre entrance. The word 'HOMRA' was engraved on a sign above the door and the whole place seemed to give off the impression of something casual, yet sophisticated. Or something like that, anyway.

Rikio pushed the door and it swung inwards with the chiming of a bell, alerting everyone inside of their arrival. Heads looked up, and Yata caught sight of a blonde man in his early twenties behind the bar first, running a cloth over some wine glasses. There were a few guys with various hats, hoods and sunglasses positioned in front of the jukebox on the other side of the room, all with their arms and legs splayed out on the sofas. Well, it was a warm day. Finally, he spotted who he could assume was the girl Anna. She sat next to another fuchsia-haired man who was sleeping, and was practically dwarfed by the dress she was wearing. An old Victorian-English style complete with little shoes and a hat. Her hair was a pure white and she looked straight at him, much to his anxiety. Anna was clearly very young, but he couldn't help but feel like he was being judged, or that she knew things about him that she shouldn't.

"Hey, everyone!" Totsuka called and got the rest of their attention, "I brought someone along today who wants to join up!"

"Is that him?" Izumo nodded towards Yata, who only looked at the floor in response.

"Yeah, this is Yata, everybody!" he said.

Before he knew it, all of the people in the room were beginning to gather around him with varying expressions on their faces... all apart from one, who was sitting at the bar where Yata hadn't noticed him before, facing away with a hand resting against his chin.

"Oh, Fushimi, get over here!" Totsuka called cheerfully and the red head jerked.

It took the guy a while, but, eventually he turned around and walked over, his black hair obscuring his face for the most part until he was much closer. There was a scowl on his expression as he looked down at Yata, his eyes blurred over and uncaring.

Yata felt his own widen and his mouth opened a little, letting out a whisper only he could hear.

"Sa-Saruhiko-san?"

That's the fifth chapter done, then c:

I'll do review replies at the end from now on, oh, which leads me to do something I've never really done on this account before: actually physically ask for reviews in a direct way. It doesn't matter; I'll carry on regardless, but there are over thirty of you following this fic and I haven't heard from most of you! Not to mention that it's my most viewed story in terms of chapter:views ratio. Ah, it doesn't matter anyway. You can remain silent if you so wish it. For the people who didn't, however:

Call Me Tom: That's 10000000095 points for me! Thank you very much! (can you actually believe how long it took me to sit down and add that I am so disappointed in myself you have no idea).

JudySaysHi: It is a bit much, isn't it? Well, I'm writing ahead from now on (which I don't usually do for a number of reasons) to stop that happening again. I am very glad you enjoyed it c:

Redthorn13: This is soon, right? GREAT! And don't slap yourself D: Don't worry about it; the next update is a week from today~~~