59"Rima Mashiro, what are you doing in my room?"
Panic time.
Rima froze as she stared stiffly at the wall, as if hoping it would give her advice under the menacing glare. Only two steps out of the closet and she was already caught? Worst ninja ever.
Her eyes shifted back and forth between the door on her right and the wall on her left. Should she make a run for it, or should she kill herself by running into the wall? Her usually cold hands were sweaty now, and her heart was pumping blood unusually fast.
So naturally, she flopped on Koko's bed.
Think fast, Rima. Think faaastttt!
"Oh my goodness," Rima cooed. "Where am I?" She hastily rushed a hand over her fake-yawning mouth as Koko turned around, shirtless. Think faster, think faster…
Trying to sound as oblivious as possible with half-naked Koko in the same room as her, she glanced at the dancer's chiseled abs after he turned to put on lens-less glasses and continued, "Who are you? What's happening?"
"Stop—,"
"WHY AM I ON THE BED?"
"Calm down -,"
"WHY ARE YOU HALF-NAKED?"
Whoa, that was the fastest I ever thought.
"So you're just going to lay there and pretend you weren't just lurking out of my closet?" Actually, that was exactly what she was doing.
"I'm too young for this." Rima cried, "I can never get married now!"
Koko face-palmed as well as he can with his thick rimmed glasses on. "I cannot believe this."
"What. . . will my mother. . .say. . ." Rima muttered weakly before thrusting herself onto Koko's bed, slightly bouncing at the recoil. In the thirty seconds of silence in which she was fake-passed out, she would allow an eye to check on Koko on brief five second intervals. He would always be leaning against the doorframe frowning directly at Rima, as if deciphering the next movement in this chess game.
Finally, he uncrossed his arms and approached the bed. The next thing Rima saw in her peeking was nothing; where did Koko go?
But she sensed a very noticeable, suspicious dimming of lighting. She relaxed and turned on her back; maybe Koko left.
Wrong.
"W-what are you doing?" she exclaimed with wide eyes.
Rima was face-to-face with her ultimate celebrity crush in the most disheartening way possible. She did mind him hovering over her on all fours, but his gaze was close to intimidating.
"This is what you came for, right?" he chuckled, but there was no humor in his voice. His expression was serious, but Rima was too stunned to respond sternly. All she managed to do was take in the breathtaking sight: his perfect nose, his oh-so kissable lips, flawless skin, and very familiar topaz eyes.
She inhaled deeply, sounding very astonished. She had never seen his eyes before.
When her heart rate fell to comfortable pulse, Rima noted, "You're not wearing your sunglasses…"
In turn, the intensity of Koko's gaze seemed to have been shattered. He responded, "I didn't think I'd have to wear my sunglasses in my own home, but I suppose I should start. You fan girls are crazy."
Koko pushed himself off onto the edge of the bed, lying down besides Rima now. Without looking at her, he demanded, "Get out now."
And as silent as a good ninja, she did.
"It's been quite a while since we've had a F.A.M.E meeting," Tadase noted the next morning. He looked smugly to his left at a very shameful sight: a boyband member who didn't get kissed on his first date with a fan whom he's also had romantic history with, a.k.a Kairi. Even Nagi, who had finally caught on to the circumstances of the bet, sent a mocking smile towards the youngest boy.
"Stop smirking condescendingly at me, you two," Kairi said, burying his face in his arms. "I had my reasons."
The F.A.M.E members had been lounging for about 3 minutes, waiting for one other to arrive. The room was cozy and refreshing for a meeting room; it had a leather reclining couch for a seat and a coffee table for a footrest, with an exotic plant growing magnificently in the corner. Bright sunlight shone from behind a tree through windows, which were lined with translucent curtains around beige walls. Though there was no projector or men in suits, the room still contained a very serious business vibe from the awkward office chair opposite the couch.
So basically, the F.A.M.E members were needlessly waiting for the meeting conductor in the meeting conductor's home.
"I'd like to hear those reasons, Kairi," Nagi teased.
"Tell us, my pet," followed Tadase.
Kairi shrugged, "Fine. Nagi developed severe constipation at the amusement park last night so I took Yaya to the movies. I tried to do the whole yawn-and-kiss-her arm gesture, but-,"
"You got constipation?"
"I can't help it if chocolate-covered bacon gives me pooping issues."
"That's hysterical," Tadase cried, throwing a laughing fit. As he calmed down, he continued, "Yeah, do tell what happened when you tried to kiss her?"
Kairi frowned, "She fell asleep."
"You didn't kiss her while she was sleeping?" Tadase questioned as if it was a normal thing to do.
"That's absurd! I refuse to perform any action remotely similar to that glittery vampire whose name escapes my mind!"
"Speaking of sleeping…" Nagi cut into the conversation and told the other members about Rima yesterday night. "… and she's going to go out with him tonight and I'm a little worried. I felt so mean for saying what I said, but I didn't want to give off any Nagi-ish vibes. What if the harsh words of her J-pop idol had crushed her to the point of depression? She'll do bad on her date and will eventually off herself. I will never live with myself."
Before any of the two could reply, the awkward chair had spun around.
"You guys are loud," a voice said, yawning.
"You were here the whole time and didn't say anything?" Tadase exclaimed, completely freaked out of his pants.
"Well excuse me for sleeping normally," the voice was calm, very smooth. "Now, as your manager slash company CEO, slash ultimate master, the meeting shall now begin."
"This is where Tadase gets it from," Kairi whispered to Nagi on his left.
"Please refrain from loud, immature outbursts, Kairi."
Kairi grumpily sank into his seat.
"Today, I would like to address the coming of our yearly IT-Tunes vacation. F.A.M.E, you are going to the same island you went to last year."
"That's not fair, Ik-," Tadase paused, forgetting the official meeting formalities, "—Mr. T. Where are the IT-Tunes actors going this year?"
"Hawaii, minus Kirishima. The actors are making more money and working harder than you three, after all. I don't hear Kirishima making any silly bets like my Yellow Pet over there," he gestured lazily towards Tadase.
Nagi sighed, and pitched in, "Actually, Tadase tells me he made a deal with him to take Rima out as Utau to prove those photos wrong…"
"Get some, redhead, get some," the man apparently called Mr. T commented.
Kairi muttered under his breath, "Who's immature now?"
"Hush, my puppy."
And like a puppy, Kairi hushed up.
"I'm going to debrief this meeting for the both of us. There have been several up comings in our company such as Utau's slipup, which I'm glad Tadase took handle over. Our acting department also needs more participants since many of our students have already received movie roles."
"And none of us were invited to the movie premieres?" Nagi compained.
"Silence, my pet," Nagi hushed, wondering why Mr. T likes having so many pets, and what kind of pet Nagi was to him.
"Also, Purple Pet and the other ones, your grandmother has sent us an invite to come over to America to promote yourselves. We all know how powerful she is in the American entertainment industry, and what she can do for us, right? What do you guys think?"
Instinctively, Nagi spoke up, "What does she want in return?"
"I don't know. Money? Maybe she's doing this because she loves you."
"She's the reason I have to hide behind those glasses..."
All four shifted uncomfortably in their seats, after Mr. T finally realized how touchy Nagi was when talking about his grandma. While Kairi and Nagi both awkwardly circled the tips of their thumbs with the other, a voice was cleared in the silence.
"Okay," Mr. T stood up. "Meeting dismissed."
"Wait, Ikuto!" Tadase shouted as the other members were halfway out the door.
"What, what, I'm a very busy ultimate master…"
Tadase had his spine curled, head dropped. He seemed incredibly inconvenient with himself.
"Ikuto, I-," Tadase brought his head upward while showing an expression of discomfort and disparity, "have to pee."
"I have to admit, Rima, this date is going better than I thought."
"Haha, I was just going to say the exact same thing," Rima giggled, but what she really meant was, "I wish I could say the same without lying."
Having Japanese sitcom and movie actor Kirishima Fuyuki in this formal restaurant is definite paparazzi-nip, but having Kirishima Fuyuki and "Utau Hoshina" feeding each other steak while on a date? If there's no paparazzi heaven, there must be one now.
"I clarified on my Twitter earlier this morning that I was the redhead in that picture," Kirishima grinned proudly. He was obviously enjoying himself; 5 years after rejection and he finally snagged her!
On the other hand, Rima was immensely shocked that Kirishima was still crushing on her 5 years after rejection. The shock only complemented her uneasiness of last night's unfortunate occurrence with Koko… she had begun developing mixed feelings about him, about everything she thought he was.
What if, the whole fan-girl-in-my-bed ordeal emotionally scars Koko, and he eventually goes into a depressive state and kills himself? How is Rima going to live with herself?
"Just a random question, if you saw a fan girl sneaking out of your closet then pretending to have sudden amnesia, and then faint on your bed, what would you do?"
"I don't know", he pondered over the question for another moment. "I might call the cops, or a psychiatrist."
Rima sipped her tea, pretending to have not heard his offensive words.
Kirishima must've sensed her disinterest, because he continued to eat his steak while occasionally feeding her a piece for the paparazzi.
"I have tickets for a show later," Kirishima broke the silence after both his and Rima's plates were cleared.
Immediately sparking her curiosity, Rima replied, "To what?"
Kirishima seemed smug; his lips curved to a side of his face and he raised his eyebrows. "Gag festival."
This was the peak of Rima's excitement the entire night. "You mean-,"
"Yep," Kirishima's smile had now twisted into a smirk, "the annual gathering of Japan's best comedians all together in Tokyo. I brought disguises."
Rima's eyes sparkled brighter with every word Kirishima said, and she did not seem irritated at all that the "disguises" were merely hats. "Wow! Well, what are we waiting for? Let's go!"
"Hehe, she loves me."
"What?" Rima demanded.
"Nothing," he answered with a bright smile.
DANG. SO SO SO SO HARD TO WRITE. WRITING IS HARD.
I didn't focus on grammar this time. I'm focusing on dialogue and such. I guess I forgot this was supposed to be comedy LOL And no, I'm not just making excuses to write lazily and edit with only 5 minutes :'D
Not much Rimahiko until next chapter.
I will try to update soon.
Tell me if I should do detail over dialogue, or dialogue over detail!
Reviews are nice ;D