***************************************************************Author's Note*******************************************************

Missed me? hihihi :) Sorry for the long wait. Here's an update. Have a cookie also *offers cookie*.

Well blame it on RL for me not updating earlier. 

Stay tuned for more updates.

Here you go, douzo!

-sachiyo-sama

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Mao was back to the real world. She was back to managing her shop and making designer sketches. It only took a small amount of time being in Hime’s Kiss for her to purely concentrate on work and make her momentarily forget all the crazy, unknown things she has done on one particular night.

 Mao, being completely immersed with her work, didn’t hear one of her coworkers state the arrival of her best friends. Only when the two barged into her office and gave her quite a shock that Mao acknowledged the presence of Becky and Maki.

“So… how was this escapade of yours at the club?” Maki asked with a very suggestive smile and an eager look.

“Don’t you dare leave out the juicy details!” commanded Becky as the two of them put their bags and sat in front of Mao’s desk.

“Girls, can’t you see I’m busy here? I still have a lot of sketches to do.” Mao tried her very best to reason out to her besties that it was not the right time for her to be engaging in chit-chat.  But trust her best friends to quickly persuade her with sweet talk, or should I say, guilt talk.

“Oh come on, Mao! Don’t be such a killjoy! Just to hear your story, I’ve put off two clients on hold today.” Maki used the I-made-time-for-our-friendship card on Mao.

“We used to share our love escapades to each other, Mao-chi… I even remember way back in our high school days. I can’t believe you’ve changed this much. It’s very heart-breaking.” Becky clutched her heart and acted as if she’s hurting there. She even started sobbing really hard. It was a very well played are-we-still-friends card.

“Okay. Okay. Enough with the drama. Geez Becky, you sure do know how to act. You should try auditioning and maybe you’ll get to become part of an agency or something.

And you Maki! I didn’t see that coming. Never did I thought you would play that card on me.” Mao sounded like a mother reprimanding her children.

Becky shrugged this off, still very eager on knowing what really happened that night they were partying. “Whoa whoa! Relax, Mao-chi. We only want to know if you’re successful in completing your agenda which was, if I’m not mistaken, to attract attention and then have fun.”

“Fine. If you really must know—”

“We do!” shouted Maki and Becky at the same time, cutting Mao off.

“What?! You don’t remember anything?” exclaimed Becky. She clearly cannot hide her frustration.

Just as her story was getting to the , Mao decided to cut the excitement and confess to her friends that she cannot remember exactly what happened that night. She told them everything that she remembered, from the flirting and seducing in the club that night to the shocking confrontation the day after. All of the events between her and the jaw-dropping hotties Mao reported to her friends.

Except from one little detail. That particular detail her best friends were dying to know. It was the answer she was looking for this question.

What really happened after they did the shots?

“Unfortunately, yes. I don’t remember what took place after we did those shots. I don’t even remember how I ended up in their hotel suite. Lastly, I also don’t have a single clue as to why we were all buck-.” Mao stated, as-a-matter-of-factually.

“So… Correct me if I’m wrong but what you’re really trying to point out is that you don’t remember who you’ve done it with, right?” Maki clearly knows how to infer.

“Uh huh.”

“And also how many you’ve done it with…” Becky pointed out. This earned her a smack in the head by Maki. “Ouch! Hey, I’m only repeating what Mao said earlier. I mean all of them were not wearing clothes which mean they could’ve all made their way to Mao-chi’s body.”

“Well you’re actually right, Becky. There’s a real possibility of me having an with them. Oh god… Hearing myself state that thing makes me feel filthy.” There was actual distaste in Mao’s reaction.

Becky immediately hugged Mao after seeing that her best friend was already feeling queasy. “It’s not like you’re the only one in the world who’ve done this deed. Why don’t we just think of the positive side? I think you’re really lucky to become intimate with those five gorgeous guys.”

“And I say they’re luckier to have the privilege of spending the night with you. Seriously, the way you look that night would have made even a true prince exclaim his desire for you.” Maki completed their group hug.

Arashi arrived a little bit early for the Arashi ni Shiyagare shooting. They decided to spend the free time they’re given hanging out on the lounge room of the building. Around the room, they were pretty much spread out. Matsumoto Jun occupied the sofa, with a book on his hand. Nino was on his side playing with his DS as usual. On another couch, Ohno seemed to have been taking a quick nap. Sho was sitting across Ohno, reading a newspaper. Lastly Aiba was in the corner of the room being occupied with his headphones.

Everything seemed perfectly okay however it didn’t last that long. Peace inside this lounge room was bound to get interrupted one way or another, especially with Aiba being very observant at this particular moment.

Amidst his enjoying of music, Aiba just happened to look at Jun and Nino’s direction. Something peculiar caught his eye. Knowing Aiba, he wouldn’t be able to keep this observation to himself for long.

“Psst. Psst. Sho-chan?” he whispered to his newspaper-reading friend.

“What now, Aiba?” Sho replied, anticipating that something dreadful was about to come out of his friend’s mouth.

Aiba pointed his eye towards Jun’s direction. “Look at Jun. I think there’s something wrong with him.”  Sho folded back the newspaper he’s been reading and decided to comply with whatever his friend was up to. He averted his gaze towards their youngest member.

Jun was still holding the book he has a while ago but instead of him reading it, he was doing something else. He had already shifted his sitting position, facing the nearest window. He was just staring at it as if there’s a movie being played. A couple of times he would be sighing deeply.

Now, to a normal person this would seem normal but to Aiba and Sho this wasn’t the normal Matsujun. The Jun they know never looked melancholy as this. Also, whenever they are given a break he would spend it on more productive things such as memorizing scripts or reading books. Staring at a blank window was never Jun’s forte. If it was Ohno doing this, the Sakuraiba pair would never get alarmed. However it was Jun they’re talking about. Something must have been bothering him or greatly running his mind for him to be in this state.

Being concerned, Aiba walked leisurely towards Jun, nudged Nino to move and sat in between them. “So… Is there any problem, Jun-kun?”

“Huh?” Jun was taken aback. His line of thought was suddenly interrupted by Aiba’s question. “What are you talking about? And what makes you say that I have a problem, Aiba?”

“Well for one it isn’t normal for you to be this quiet, doing nothing, right?” Aiba placed an arm around Jun’s shoulder. “Come on, spill. It wouldn’t hurt for you to share what’s on your mind.”

“Fine. Just so you could put your mind at ease.”

By this time, Sho stood up and moved closer to the sofa. Nino also turned his DS to mute so that he could also hear what Jun has to say. Ohno, on the other hand, has woken up but decided to keep his eyes closed, silently listening to the conversion of his bandmates.

Jun took a deep breath and in one go stated, “I can’t seem to get my mind off that Inoue Mao! There I said it.”

Immediately after saying this, he looked up to see all his bandmates’ reaction. He was surprised that they weren’t surprised at all.

“Oh. So you’re thinking about that girl too, huh?” Nino smugly said, still concentrating on finishing a particular level on his DS.

“Too? Don’t tell me she’s gotten into you too, Nino?” Jun was again shocked, this time by what the brat said.

“Who doesn’t? Even I admit that I’ve taken quite a liking on her. I mean where on earth can you find a girl that somehow shrugged off and laughed at the fact that she may have slept with five different men? That must take a high level of courage and maturity. I’m impressed.” After stating that, Sho sat back and folded his arms, looking as if a large burden has been taken off his shoulder.

“Eh?” couldn’t help but escape Jun’s lips after hearing what Sho admitted.

“Why are you even surprised Jun? All of us even had this little flirting game with her. You also know that our riida never flirts shamelessly like that. This must mean that she’s really special, not only to you but to us as well, right?” Aiba pointed as-a-matter-of-factually.

Awkward silence filled that room after Aiba stated his last word. Then out of the blue Ohno sighed and stated, “I wish I could see Inoue Mao-chan once more. Maybe I’ll invite her to fishing once I’ve seen her again.”

Because of riida’s bold statement, it was laughter’s turn to fill the room.

“What a way to turn the mood, Oh-chan!” Nino can’t help but laugh his heart out.

“Not everyone loves fishing, you know?” Sho said in between his uncontrolled giggles.

“But we don’t know if she really doesn’t like fishing, right? I’ll certainly ask her that once I see her again.” Ohno declared.

Then all of a sudden Aiba exclaimed “Aha!”

“What is it again, Aiba?” This time it was Nino who made the move to ask him what’s on his mind.

“I just thought of a brilliant plan.”

“And?” Jun hesitantly asked.

With a huge smile plastered on his face, Aiba suggested “Why don’t we visit Mao-chan?”

Silence. Again.

Sho decided to be the one to break the silence. “It’s a good suggestion but not exactly a plan, Aiba-kun. How exactly would be able to visit her when we don’t even know where she is?”

Silence. One more time.

All of a sudden, Nino showed a very wide grin and said “We’re Arashi, remember? Who can’t resist a Johnny’s charm? I’m sure our paths are bound to cross again. Just give it a little more time.”

“Five minutes everyone! We’ll be starting AniShi in a moment.” The assistant director called out.

“Guess we’ll just have to trust our group’s appeal to deliver her to us, neh?” Aiba declared.

With that, everyone laughed and stood up to get ready for today’s shooting.