Ok...so here's the update! I guess by reading this... you'll realize something...ahahaha.... I expect some long comments or something regarding the next chapter... I hope your 'psychic minds' are still working... Enjoy reading this!



………….
Rika was amazed with the forum address that was inside the CD Miki gave her. Her initial reaction was to look inside the fanfic section. And there, she saw a familiar title wrote by a certain online user called Kabutomushi.

“Ehhh?!? Sleep Over?” Rika clicked the thread and read the contents… “Ehhh?!? This story is the same as…Oh, I get it! So Kuwagata uses Kabutomushi here… still a beetle. Gahh! I missed this fic. This is the first fic that got me hooked on the Tanakamei pairing. Why did she only post one of her fics here? She has lots over her blog. Ooh! Here’s ERI_SLAVE too! How come I don’t know this site… I have a feeling this Tenma_Mosaku person is a guy..Just by looking at his name.. Heaven demon groping… yeah… and a really obsessed wota of Three-Tums that is. Maybe this tenma guy is a friend of Miki’s friend. And maybe this CD came from him? And decided to give this CD to Miki’s friend.. And Miki’s friend wants to share the Three-Tums madness that’s why when Miki said that I bought a Three-Tums CD, she went really happy and decided to give this CD to me… Maybe that’s it… OR... Miki's friend is actually this tenma guy? But I don’t care!!!” Rika grabbed her CD and jumped on her bed happily.

“KYAHH!!! OMG!!!! I better tell this to Ayumi!!!!” Rika got her phone from her pocket and dialed her best friend’s number.

“Hello?”

“AYUMIII!!!!!” Rika squealed gleefully.

“Geez Rika! I told you not to do that anymore right? Do you really want to make me a deaf person? Geez, what is it this time? I bet another Tanakamei fic… or an Ohyass fic?”

“No… It’s way better than that.. But still has a relation with three-tums.” Rika declared while studying the contents of the CD that Miki gave her.

“Ahhh… your officemate finally decided to introduce Kuwagata to you?” Ayumi queried.

“Hmm, no… although that would make me scream like this too… there’s another reason.”

“Okay, I give up. What’s the real deal?” Rika muttered a silent sorry to her friend for the next thing that she will do.

“MY ANOTHER OFFICEMATE GAVE ME A THREE-TUMS CD WITH THEIR SIGNS!!!!” Rika screamed over her phone.

“RIKA!!!My ears!!!” Rika laughed as she heard her friend’s ‘scream’ reply. “I will stop writing your favorite TanaKamei pairings and make into a TanaShige or KameShige pairings if you will continue doing that.” Ayumi threatened.

“Ok, I will stop doing that. Anyway, my office mate from Hokkaido. You know her right?”

“Hmm, Miki Fujimoto?” Ayumi asked. She remembered how her friend always talk about her when she was still in Hokkaido; the way they make fun on their president and how Rika ‘somewhat’ changed her attitude.

“Yeah! So you do remember her.”

“How can I forget your endless ranting about her before… So she gave you that signed Three-Tums CD? And I thought she’s a normal person too.”

“No, I just learned that this day. Her friend is the one who’s addicted to Three-Tums. And then Miki mentioned me and her friend immediately gave me that CD… and worse…” Rika paused, she grinned for she knew Ayumi will be shocked to hear this one. “She’s a Maki Goto addict!”

“No way! Maki Goto?!? No way!!!” Rika laughed. Finally, Ayumi knew she wasn’t the only fan-girl of Maki Goto. “GAAAAHHH!!! I want to meet her!!! Finally! I’m not all alone! There’s another girl who likes Maki Goto songs!”

“There are girls too, but maybe just 2%... and the rest are the wota guys. I already told you about the other 1%.” Rika heard Ayumi laugh on the phone. She got her hidden meaning.

“You’re saying that it’s just the two of us, and me being the other 1%?”

“Well, you’re the one who said it.”

……………….

“Sorry I’m late!” A girl with short hair greeted Miki. She was wearing a plain black long sleeved blouse matching her dark blue fitted jeans. Miki helped her friend who was holding a large paper bag.

“It seems that we will have a party this night. You bought lots of food. We might not be able to consume all of that.” Miki said as she scanned the items inside the paper bag.

“Don’t worry. Did you forget that she’s a good cook? We’ll be able to eat all of this without even noticing it.” The girl replied. They rode a bus going to the train station. From there, they will ride a train going to Tokyo. When they arrived in there, Miki pulled her friend towards a certain store to buy some drinks. After that, they hailed a cab and gave their friend’s address. They immediately knocked on the door as soon as they arrived on their destination. A girl with a long, brownish hair opened the door.

“Ayaya! Mikitan! It’s been so long since I last seen you!” The girl hugged her two friends at the same time. She led them inside her apartment and signaled them to sit on her couch.

“Yeah, it’s hard to have a friend who’s famous nee, Gocchin?” Miki started, “With all the concert tours and promotions on the TV, you don’t have enough time to spend with us.”

“Hey, look who’s talking. If you didn’t move to Hokkaido, then you’ll have some time to spend with us.” Aya replied. She and Maki were good friends even before they met Miki. She still has a constant communication with her and always makes sure to visit her at least once a week but this past month, Maki was on her concert tour and was always out of her apartment.

“As if I have a choice right?” Miki answered.

“But you have a choice! If you just…”

“Can we please not talk about that topic? Let’s enjoy each other while I’m still here.” Miki cut off Aya’s words. Maki, seeing the tension between the two was rising, decided to do something. Those two were like Fire and Ice even before and it’s always her ‘duty’ to pacify the two.

“If the two of you will be like that, I’ll not let you eat the chocolate marble cake that I baked.”

“We’re not fighting, are we?” Miki wrapped her arms around Aya’s shoulders.

“Yeah, we’re very good friends right?”

“The two of you were as childish as ever. Fine, I’ll get the cake.” Maki stood up and left her two friends who were somewhat drooling at the thought of the yummy cake that she baked.

“So, what did you do while you’re waiting for me? You’re pretty early.” Aya queried her friend.

“Hmmm, what did I do? I met up with my boss and gave her something.”

“Your boss? Abe-san?”

“Ishikawa-san.” Aya thought for a while before remembering where she had heard that name before; it was when she visited Miki on Hokkaido three days ago. She wanted to surprise her about the CD of Three- Tums. She was waiting for a cab on the airport when she saw Miki came out of the exit. She went towards her and Miki was really surprised out of her sudden visit. She asked Miki if she had some kind of premonition that she will visit her. Miki answered no; she just said goodbye to her boss, Rika Ishikawa.

“What did you give her? Hey, I know you have a position in your company but I feel like you wanted to be the vice-president or something.” Aya half joked. She knew Miki will do everything to achieve her goals.

“Hey, I’m not like that. I just gave her something to confirm my theory ever since I met her.”

“And what was that?” Aya asked curiously. She moved closer so that she will hear clearly Miki’s answer.

“Well, I gave her my CD of Three-Tums and then her other side showed up. It turns out that my theory that she’s one of those ‘Napthalene Balls fangirl’ was correct.”

“Ehh? The moth balls? I don’t get it…”

“Come on… Where do you usually put the moth balls?” Miki gave a wink to her friend.. She’s known to be a straight forward type of girl but when it comes to her two friends, she would like to ‘torture’ them just a little more.

“Of course I would put it in my closet so the insects will… not… eat… OHHH!!! Now I get it!
Hahaha, that’s something new. The heir to a large company is a closet fangirl… But… Why did you give that CD? Maki had a hard time getting them to sign that up. And I went to Hokkaido just to give that to you, and you just gave it away?”

“I’m starting to live a normal life… I had a funeral for my old self four days ago.” At this, Aya laughed out loud. Her friend, who was known to be an ‘OTAKU’ way back when they were still in high school, was suddenly giving up on her passion. Maki emerged from the kitchen, holding a tray with three slices of cake and three cups of tea.

“Hey, what’s funny?” Maki greeted as she put the tray on the table.

“Miki said, she wanted to live a normal life. As if she can!” Aya continued laughing. Miki glared at her.

“Hey! I’m serious! Why can’t you believe me?” Maki was the one who answered her because Aya was busy laughing so hard.

“Because, it’s like saying that you won’t eat Yakiniku ever again. Just because something happened, you will change everything in your life. That’s not the Miki we knew. Our ‘Miki’ is a person who never listens on what others will say. You have your own decisions and no one can interfere with that, right?”

“Yeah… and besides… what… I think you’re the first ever diehard fan of Three-Tums even the time when they were just starting and were on an independent label. You’re the founder of an on-line forum about them. You wrote fics. You’re constantly updating their discography. You have gone to their various concerts… And now you’re telling us that you’ll give up everything that you have established?” Aya enumerated after her laughing fit. Miki glared at the two. “Oh yeah… and I can’t forget the many sleepless nights of you thinking of a nice username for your forum… That’s really funny.”

“Yeah, she ended up as just ‘Tenma_Mosaku’… the Heaven demon groper… pretty lame if you asked me.” Maki followed.

Miki sighed in defeat. She smiled inwardly. Even though she can’t do a lot of bonding moments with them for many months now, they still know her down to the last bone in her body. “I know what I did. You don’t have to enumerate it to me. My, my… I can never fool the two of you. You knew me very well. Let’s just eat the cake. I’m hungry.”

…………………..
“Is it really alright to stay here for the night? I think you need to rest. That concert tour’s really tiring if you ask me.” Aya asked before putting a small amount of the delicious cake on her mouth.

“Yes, it’s really ok. You’re my friends. And we have so much to talk about.” Maki replied. Miki suddenly looked up from her plate and moved her head as if she was searching for something… or someone.

“Where’s Yuki? Is it alright for him if we stayed here?”

“Yuki’s on his apartment. It’s much closer to the Johnny’s office.” Maki replied. Her brother Yuki was an idol too. He was a solo artist in Johnny’s entertainment. He became close with Koki Tanaka of KAT-TUN; the older brother of Reina Tanaka of Three-Tums. And she took that chance to get her friend an autograph CD from Three-Tums. The three finished their so called ‘tea party’. They talked about their lives and stuffs for about an hour before Maki remembered something. “So, you guys want to play some basketball? There’s a court nearby.”

………………….
Chapter 10
”Ya… yakiniku?” Reina asked happily. It was her favorite food. And she will be the happiest girl if Ai will treat her for a week.

“Yah… So I need you to focus and beat them up.”

“SURE!!! Leave everything to me!”

Sayumi walked towards her best friend who’s in trance. “Hey, Eri are you alright? I’m sorry about what happened earlier. It was just somewhat jealous because I feel that she’s slowly taking you away from me.”

Eri looked at her quizzically. “Ehh? Why do you feel that way?”

“Well.. because… I don’t know.. I just feel it. Do I need to come up with a radical explanation for that?”

“Ahhh… no?” Eri said in an interrogative tone. Sayumi remained silent and petted her hair. Eri snuggled closer to her. “Sayu… The sun’s going to rise in a few minutes. Let’s go now.”

“Ahh… so that’s why you’re looking into space now.”

“Hey, Sayu! The sun! My cousin must go home now! And we need to prepare for school too!” Kusumi shouted from behind and pushed them towards the court’s exit. Reina and Ai noticed the three getting out.

“Chotto matte! Where are you guys going? The game’s not finished yet!!!” Rika screamed.

“Sorry! Let’s continue it some other time!” Sayumi yelled back. “Our vampire must go home and hide in her coffin before the sun rises! And we still have school to attend to!” Sayumi ran off and followed Eri and Kusumi.

“Ehh?!? I thought that they were just joking about the vampire thing?!? What’s going on here Ai? I thought…” Risa’s mouth was stopped by Ai’s hand.

“You’re so loud! The neighborhood will wake up from your voice… Geez, I forgot that today’s Friday.. We have a test on Math…” Ai raised her eyebrow on Risa. “How will I suppose to know the truth? We just met them today. Hey, Reina, you have an idea?” Ai turned around and faced her somewhat stunned friend. “Reina?”

“My yakiniku….”
……………………
“Will the two of you run faster?” Eri shouted at the two who were running far behind from her.

“It’s not our fault if we’re not a fast runner! Even though you’re my cousin, I don’t have your genes. ” Kusumi whined. She’s on their school’s futsal team but it seemed that her training’s still not enough to match the speed of her cousin.

“Go on! Just leave us... It’s important for you to be inside the house before the sun rises.” Sayumi urged on. She knew that the sun’s rays would come out anytime soon. She was thankful that there are lots of tall houses in their community. She tried to catch up with Kusumi. “I can’t believe we didn’t notice the time.”

“I guess we enjoyed the game too much.” Kusumi replied. “She’s still fast.”

“But she’s always 30 minutes late on our designated time when we’re going to play basketball.” Sayumi answered. They were near Eri’s house but the sun’s rays appeared from behind the tall house, hitting Eri even before she entered their house.

“This is not good.”



…………….
Reina’s head throbbed in pain. She didn’t understand what her teacher was yapping about if front of the class. All she knew was that she really needed sleep. And if not for Risa who was always kicking her leg, she’ll already be in dreamland right now.

“Hey, you’re not the only one who didn’t get enough sleep so stay awake with us.”

“Stay awake with us?” Reina whispered and looked back at her friend. “Who’s ‘us’?”

“Me and Ai… who else?” Risa replied and pointed to Ai who was sitting beside her. Reina rolled her eyes as she saw Ai looking at the board and scribbling something on her notebook with her pen.

“So you think Ai was a diligent student who’s copying our lesson from the board?” Risa nodded but she has this quizzical look on to Reina. Reina shook her head in disbelief. Ai was Risa’s best friend but Risa still didn’t know her best friend’s ‘special ability’. “Risa, watch this…” Reina threw a piece of paper towards Ai’s notebook. Risa was shocked because Ai didn’t even move a bit. She looked slowly at Reina, with big, surprised eyes. Reina grinned wider and this time, threw another piece of paper towards Ai’s head. Ai jerked from her seat, looking left and right for the suspect. She saw the two looking at her.

“What?” Ai whispered, careful not to let their teacher hear her.

“Your best friend didn’t know that you can sleep with your eyes open while your hands are moving.”

“GAAH! Why didn’t you say it earlier!?!” Risa whined.

“Niigaki- san, is there something wrong?” Their stern-looking teacher asked. The whole class was looking at Risa while the two tried to prevent themselves from laughing out loud. “If you don’t have anything relevant to say, please stay quiet and listen to my lesson.”

“Hai, gomen.”

……………..
“Hey… You’re listening to those Chinese Twins again?” Risa removed Reina’s earphones. They were at their favorite spot under a tree, eating their lunch. The yankii gave her a glare but Risa still continued teasing her friend. “Come on. Do you even understand their language?”

“No, but they are still famous… and cute!” Reina defended. She was hooked on this certain anime made in China and she really loved the theme songs so she researched the artists and ended up liking Junjun and Linlin’s songs.

“Are you studying Mandarin?”

“No.”

“Do you understand what it means without searching for a translation in the internet?”

“No.”

“So how come are you still listening to that?!?”

“Risa stop bugging Reina!” Ai commanded. Reina muttered a silent thank you for her friend for somewhat saving her. But her smile disappeared quickly as soon as Ai continued her sentence. “Just leave her alone. She’s still a teenager so she still has the license to be irrational.”

“WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT SUPPOSED TO MEAN?! You’re a teenager too so don’t act like you know it all!”

“Is my big sister bothering you again?” Reina almost jumped from surprise as someone spoke behind her. She turned around and saw Ai’s brother, Takahashi Yuuto. Reina blushed from embarrassment.

“Ahhh…no…err.. no..I mean.. yes… they are bugging me.” Yuuto was a year younger than them. She didn’t tell her friends that she has this certain little crush on him. That would automatically earn a ticket for a lifelong teasing courtesy of Ai and Risa. She didn’t notice it before, but he has this certain goofy smile that makes her giddy inside. Same as what she always feels whenever Eri’s with her.

”Ehh? Why do I suddenly think of her? Ok… this is weird. I know I have a crush on Yuuto but I have this same feeling towards Eri… ok… weirder.. Stronger feelings than Yuuto?!? I think I’m having one of those ‘adolescent phases’ that they were talking about. The identity crisis stage.”

“Why are you here in the first place Yuuto? How come the guards let you in our campus?” Ai asked her little brother. She really loved his brother very much and she’s proud whenever she hears someone having a crush on her brother.

“Well, I told him that I’m going to give you this.” Yuuto searched for something inside his bag. After finding it, he shoved the rectangular thing on her sister’s face. “You forgot your lunch. Mom said, you were in a trance earlier because you’re still sleepy.”

“Ohh, am I? But I’m eating my lunch now.” Ai pointed towards the half finished bento box near Risa’s side.

“You should be saying MY bento.. Geez Ai, are you still sleeping? I’m just sharing my food with you!”

“Ehh? But I thought that it’s my food.” Ai whined in her unusually low voice which made the others laugh.

“She’s still sleeping.” Yuuto remarked. He patted Reina’s shoulder and moved his lips near Reina’s ears.
“Please be careful with her, she always hits someone when she’s sleeping.” Reina knew that she blushed for she felt the heat from her cheeks.

“Hey, are you alright?” Risa asked. She noticed her normally frank and out spoken friend turned silent suddenly. Reina mentally slapped herself for blushing in front of her friends. She scanned her brain for a plausible excuse. She looked up at the sky and saw the sun. Her wonky eyes grew bigger when she realized something.

“I have a bad feeling about this…” As Reina said those words, her phone rang.

“Hello? Reina? This is Sayumi.”


TBC

………………..
“You know what...” Miki started as Aya passed her the ball, “I read lots of fanfics about you guys.” Miki looked at Maki before throwing the ball onto the hoop.

“Huh? What fanfic?” Maki queried. Aya got the ball and passed it to Maki. Maki ran towards the hoop and made an easy lay-up.

“You know the forum I made about Three-Tums right? Many of their fans we making a love triangle between you, Reina and Eri.”

“And you’re one of them?” Aya asked after throwing the ball from the three-point line. Miki nodded vigorously.

“Yeah! And a perverted one!”Maki bounced the ball on Miki’s head. “Ouch! It hurts! Geez…”

“Is it because I made that surprise appearance at their concert? I did that just to get that autograph that you requested me.” Maki did that as a thank you gift for her request. Yuki told her that he didn’t have a hard time getting their autographs because Reina idolizes her. She quickly called up Eri and Sayu to sign the CD.

“Hahahaha… Of course. If you didn’t do that, I would give you an idea on the dance routines for your ‘Some Boys Touch’ PV. You should be grateful to me.” Maki smiled and passed the ball to Miki with all her strength. Miki caught the ball just in time before it hit her face. She stuck her tongue out at Maki. “You can never do the same thing to me twice!”

“Hey, will the two of you stop that? Come on. We’re already old.” Aya said as she picked up the ball. The two looked at each other. Even though they haven’t seen each other for a long time, nothing had changed in their behaviors. They grinned at Aya.

“You’re the only one who’s old.” The two said simultaneously.

“I’m NOT!!! I’m the youngest dammit...”

“Hahaha, let’s not pick on little ol granny and let’s just enjoy playing basketball.” Miki teased and Maki followed her lead.

“Yeah you’re right. Come on granny, take it easy… or your old bones might crack.”

“I’M NOT OLD!!!!!”