A/N: Well hello! How is everyone enjoying school? :( It's a pain in the , huh? I know how you feel, AP and Honors classes have me frantically studying till the late hours of the night. As for this chapter, it's like I'm building up to drama (spolier!). I bet you've all noticed that in the last ones.... But here is chapter 20!:

Your Pov

                “Hello, and welcome aboard Korean Air,” A pretty stewardess greeted the six of us with a low bow.

                “Thank you,” Leeteuk, who lead the pack, bowed in return. We all did the same, but very awkwardly in the small passage of the plane with what we had on our backs and in our hands.

                Sungmin was right. There was like no one on the plane. There were two business men conversing in the way front, but other than that, there would only be us left. It made the small plane look only bigger without the large amount of people. 

                “Since the seven of you will be our last flyers, feel free to sight anywhere you like,” The stewardess generously offered.

                “Yes! Business class!” Kangin pushed past Leeteuk to jump onto a spacious seat right behind the small first class quarters. Leeteuk followed him, and immediately began nagging at Appa.

                “Yah! Don’t take up two seats you stupid raccoon! There’s only so many to go around!”

                “Come on hyung, I want a window seat!” Sungmin tugged at Yesung’s jacket hood. Yesung grabbed and coughed at the tightened frabric around his neck as he was yanked forward into the plane. Henry followed silently behind them. I cringed at the realization that Henry would be more than likely sitting by himself. With Hae here, he knew I would want to sit with him. I was mainly Henry’s sitting buddy wherever we went, whether it was school sponsored field trips or drives to places in Seoul.

                When Donghae and I walked into the business class area that merged with Coach, there was luckily one row of two left. Henry, who was dealing with it really well, was stretched out on two seats still reading that same magazine from earlier at the gate. After we had placed our carry-ons overhead, Donghae let me slip in to sit near the window and he took the aisle seat. It was another minute or two until the same stewardess came  on the intercom.

                “I hope everyone is seated and ready because we will be taking off a little earlier than planned. After I demonstrate the proper procedures, we will wait for the tower to grant us permission to roll up to the runway.”

                The stewardess went through the life jacket and exit procedures in case of emergency landing. Flying over to Japan meant crossing an ocean, so more than likely we would have to land in the water. I wasn’t afraid of the water, but Yesung was. He had this feeling, even in a pool, that a shark would eat him. Well, maybe he wouldn’t be so afraid if we landed near migrating sea turtles. Yesung would more than likely follow his brethren gladly and punch the shark that would try to stop him.  

                The intercom crackled and the pilot monotonously said:

                “We’ve been granted permission from the tower, please buckle up and prepare for lift off!” The overhead seat belt sign flickered on and we could all feel the plane roll backwards. Leeteuk, who was the most enthusiastic person on the flight, cheered and hooted loudly for everyone to hear.

                “Do we have some chill pills for Leeteuk?” Donghae chuckled.

                “He’s always like this when we go out of Seoul. He loves traveling, just like his mom,” I observed as Leeteuk opened up a huge map which was invading Kangin’s personal space, “Do you think we’ll be able to visit the other cities, like Kyoto and Kobe?”

                “Probably not,” Donghae assessed, “We’ll only be there for a little time.”

                “Oh,” My face dropped. I was really looking forward to seeing the Golden Pavilion in Kyoto.

                “But,” Donghae put an arm around my shoulders, “We can always go there next time.”

                “Just the two of us?”

                The first thing I heard when I woke up was nervous yelling. I had fallen asleep as soon as the plane was steady in the air. My head was resting on Hae’s shoulder and his head was on top of mine. My left eye cracked open to see Yesung frantically running around the cabin. Sungmin was helping him.

                “What’s going on?” I sat up and stretched out the stiffness in my muscles.

                “I can’t find Ddangkoma!” Yesung practically screamed. When he saw Donghae waking, and grabbed him by the shoulders to shake him awake violently.

                “GET UP AND HELP ME FIND MY TURTLE!” Yesung demanded like a madman and dove underneath a row of empty chairs calling its name.

                “Yesung, it’s been ages since we’ve took off. We have around forty minutes till we start descending!” Leeteuk reprimanded, “Why didn’t you check to see if you had Ddangkoma with you before the flight”

                “I know! I’m sorry!” Yesung pulled at his hair, “Just help me!”

                Henry, I still couldn’t fathom how, was still sleeping through all of this with a magazine covering his face. I unbuckled myself and eased myself around Donghae (still disoriented) into the aisle. Kangin had also joined in the hunt for the lost turtle. Our lone stewardess had already been informed, and was helping us look for the reptilian as well.

                The first logical idea I had was to search under the seats. Ddangkoma couldn’t scale walls to get to high places, so being dropped and left on the ground seemed likely. I got on my hands and knees and scanned the dark shadows for a tiny lump. But my efforts were wasted, even after traveling to the very back of the plane, there was no sight of Ddangkoma. I even checked the bathrooms. Not there. When I exited the bathrooms, I saw Leeteuk and Kangin opening up the overhead compartments to see if the turtle was there.

                “I can’t find him, Yesung,” I patted Yesung on the head, who was sulking in his chair.

                “I can’t believe I was so careless.” Yesung said lifelessly, “He was my best friend. I’ve had him since I was ten, and he’s been there for me at my loneliest times. I should have paid more attention and been a better owner.”

                “Oh Yesung,” I hugged him, “It’s going to be ok. Ddangkoma will turn up somewhere. And even if he is back at the airport, I doubt anyone will selfishly take him. He’ll probably be in the care of airport security if we call as soon as we land.”

                “Let’s hope so,” Yesung sighed. I frowned and let him go. Had anyone checked first class? It was a small section, but that’s the only place Ddangkoma could be, besides the control room where the pilots were. I pushed back the curtain to first class, and dropped to my knees. Ddangkoma wasn’t on the floor, but I didn’t give up trying. As I was trying to pass the business men unnoticed, a glance up had me doing a double take.

                I had found Ddangkoma, but not in a place you would want a turtle to be. He was stumbling  on a plate, on top of a tomato. The business men didn’t notice the turtle (or me, which was strange) because they were captivated in their conversation over stocks and bonds in Japan. Ddangkoma somehow managed to squeeze underneath the bread of the man’s sandwich that was closest to me. The business man didn’t even realize the bulge underneath his sandwich, picked it up and-

                “NO!” I screamed in terror. The two men jumped and stared at me pointedly. I let out a nervous laugh.

                “Can I please see your…..sandwich?” I pointed to it which was nearing the man’s mouth. He held it out to me without another word. I plopped in on the plate and removed the top piece of bread to find Ddangkoma covered in mayo, resting on a slice of cheese and lettuce. I picked Ddangkoma up in a napkin to avoid touching the mayo, and bowed in thanks as I left the business men to get back to whatever they were previously doing.

                “I have him!” I ran back to business class. Yesung shot up and cradled the turtle covered in the napkin.

                “My baby!” Yesung cried out in relief. Everyone (even the stewardess) sighed and went back to relaxing in what remainder of the flight we had left.

                “Thanks Younggie!” Yesung grinned and sat down to catch up on lost time with his pet. Maybe this would teach the guy a lesson not to be too nonchalant with his things. Especially his living and breathing pet turtle.

                “Now that that’s over!” I said aloud and sat down back in my seat. I was closing my eyes to rest them when Donghae broke me from my travel to dream land.

                “I wouldn’t advise going to sleep now. We’re going to be landing very soon.”

                I cracked my left eye open and scowled at the wide awake boy. Even though he had been in a deeper sleep than I, I was still exhausted for some reason. Planes must do this to me….

                “But I’m bored~!” I whined and thwacked my head on his shoulder.

                “Me too~!” He mimicked, “But you know Leeteuk is going to want to race out and see the sights the moment we’ve landed. It won’t help if we’re tired,” Donghae explained why he was keeping me from selfishly doing what I wanted.

                “True,” I sighed, “But I’m hungry too.”

                “Aish, complaining are we?”

                “Yes,” I sniffed. My head moved with the motion of Hae’s shoulder as he bent down to reach underneath the seat in front of him and pull out his backpack. From the sack on his lap, he pulled out happiness in a thin box which made me sit up fully in excitement.

                “Pocky!” I admired the dark brown box in Hae’s hand. I personally loved all kinds of pocky, but the one he was holding, the regular chocolate, was my favorite. Well, at this point, I would eat any kind of pocky if it came down to it.

                “Can I have one?” I begged. It’s been so long since I’ve tasted its chocolaty goodness.

                “Yes you can,” Donghae pulled out a pack for me.

                “Yeay!” I eagerly grabbed it and tore open the flashy paper. I wasted no time in devouring them, but Hae ate slowly and observed how quickly I was eating them. When I dipped my hand in again, expecting another pocky stick, there were no more. I stared down into the empty foil package blankly. Had I really gone through all of that so fast? My stomach was satisfied, but not full. I would surely be hungry in another hour or two.

                With a sneaky side glance at Hae, I could see that the pocky box still had more packages to go around. The way the box’s open top leaned toward me was so inviting that I couldn’t help myself and…..

                “Yah! Anyio!” Donghae slapped my hand away from the pocky box.

                “Waeyo?!” I pouted.

                “Because there won’t be enough to go around for the next flight back, and to last the days in Tokyo!”

                “Hae,” I said seriously, “Do you know how many places there are where you can buy pocky? I bet there’s even a pocky museum!”

                “Still can’t have more!” Donghae refused and put it back in his bag. With a tight zip, the backpack closed and he stored it under the seat again for safe keeping. He stuck another pocky stick to the side of his mouth and crumpled up the empty wrapper. Was that his last one?

                I tapped Hae on the shoulder. He faced me, and I got him unexpectedly. My face was suddenly close to his in a pocky kiss. He pushed back, breaking the thin bread linking us. I just calmly chewed my portion and shrugged.

                “A girl’s gotta do what a girl’s gotta do.” With that, I nestled into my business class seat and waited for the plane to land in Japan, with Hae next to me.

“Asa! Annyeong Japan!” Leeteuk bounded off the plane to greet the crowded terminal.

“Teukie! Don’t run off!” I grabbed him by the back of his shirt collar as he tried to speed off like a little kid.

“Woah, how are we supposed to read this?” Kangin stared intently at the signs written in kana. There was some English, which could be of some help because Henry knew English. There were more people in the airport than there were two hours ago. A lot more people, actually. I would have to stick close to our group so I wouldn’t get lost.

“Henry, you are our navigator,” I stepped back to stand next to him, “Where do we go?”

“According to my amazingness at English,” He mocked a snotty tone, “We go that way!” He threw his arm out to the right dramatically, “The exit is probably on the same floor as the baggage claim, so we follow the signs with the mini taxi and suitcase sign.”

“Will Omoni be there to meet us?” Sungmin asked Leeteuk.

“Ani. I forgot to tell you guys on the plane, but she ran into some other work and had to leave this morning.”

“So we’ll be in Japan, all by ourselves, without a parental guardian?” Yesung grinned mischievously. The caravan moved swiftly down the terminal with Henry and Leeteuk at the lead. Undoubtedly, we would move wherever those two did without complaint.

“That’s right,” Kangin winked back.

“Watch out girls, Oppa is here~!” Yesung rubbed his hands together deviously. I hope he doesn’t leave an impression on Japanese people that all Koreans are turtle obsessed erts.

“Please don’t do that…..ever again,” Sungmin dead panned and pulled his beanie down closer to his forehead. It was certainly going to be chilly outside, and wet possibly. It’s sad that we wouldn’t be able to see the Yuki Matsuri in Sapporo. All the ice sculptures would be so cool! In fact, I don’t think we were in time to see any festivals.

It was quite unnerving. I was smack dab in the middle of an enormously populated city where I didn’t speak the language, knew where to go, or how to get around. You could almost say that we were like babies coming into the new world again.  Without someone to guide us, it would be very difficult to stay above water even for a few days. I probably should have brought a Japanese translation book.

After exiting the terminal and passing down a flight of stairs, we reached the baggage claim. Like Henry had mentioned before, there was the street for transportation drop off and pick up. When we stepped outside and met the frigid air, I wanted to scurry back in and hide near a heater to never come out. Luckily, there was a line of taxis ready. Since there were so many of us, we had to take the largest van available.

“Konnichiwa!” The driver greeted us with a bow. Ok, I understood that meant Hello, but the words he said after that were plain gibberish. We all immediately turned to Leeteuk for guidance, and he balked, unsure of how to respond. To our surprise, one of us was able to respond to the driver in broken Japanese.

Henry said some words and managed to string together a sentence which was enough to get the driver by. He could tell we were foreigners, so the driver nodded patiently and repeated more Japanese slowly to us while pointing to the trunk.

“You know Japanese?” Leeteuk shoved his suitcase in the spacious trunk.

“I studied some key phrases before we left,” Henry explained, “I also have a pocket dictionary on my phone in case we do need it.”

“You sure came prepared!” I commented, “Good job Henmuk!”

“Did you expect anything less?” He sighed and flipped his hair like a diva. I laughed and rolled my eyes.

The ride was cramped. Henry received the privilege of sitting in the passenger’s seat because the five of us didn’t know any Japanese beyond Konnichiwa and Sayonara. So the rest of the motley crew had to share a three seater and two cup seats. It doesn’t sound that bad at first, but this van had practically no width. It was like the walls were closing down on us. If one of us was claustrophobic, an attack would surely happen.

The sights were so interesting. Well, there wasn’t much to see besides buildings, but you know what I mean. There were flashing neon lights everywhere, anime signs and other advertisement boards galore. The kana dripping from every building’s nook and cranny was so eye catching that I didn’t know where to look first. Leeteuk, like a typical tourist, had his camera out, rapidly taking pictures of everything.

It wasn’t long before we reached the hotel. From the way back, I couldn’t see the exterior of the hotel,  but my mouth dropped open once I stepped out from the car. Above us were three ginormous buildings created from tallest to shortest. These large, grey hunks of metal were quite intimidating. Leeteuk paid the driver and then we took our first steps into the Park Hyatt Tokyo Hotel.

The interior was just as astonishing. It was dark and contemporary with a calming aura. It was like a taste of luxury without having to worry about the hassle with what we had gone through. I couldn’t stay back and admire the décor because Kangin was eager to check in.

Henry, was yet again, our translator. I could tell he was internally panicking when he approached the desk because of his lack of knowledge of the Japanese language. Even though the concierge was Japanese, his name was printed in English, I think. That made Henry completely relax and start off into a conversation with yet again, a language I did not know. Wow, knowing only one language does make a person at a disadvantage.

“It annoys me I can’t understand,” I complained to Donghae as I listened to Henry and the concierge speak in rapid English.

“I know. Maybe we should create our own language!” Hae suggested goofily.

“YES!” I threw my hands up in the air in excitement, “But…..that’s a lot harder than it sounds.” My hands drooped back down along with my arms.

“We’d fail,” Donghae agreed.

“And then we’d get laughed at,” I sighed.

“Let’s never be language teachers,” Donghae chuckled.

“Agreed.”

“Ok! So after explaining the circumstances with the concierge, he’s set us up with three rooms.” Henry held up three cards in his hands when he was done speaking to the concierge.

“They didn’t give us another room?” I questioned.

“No. Why?”

“Because there are seven of us. If the couch doesn’t pull out, then there will be three to a room, sharing two beds,” I assumed Teuk’s Umma already had arranged rooms with twin beds in them.

There was a beat of silence, and the boys were all boring stares at one another. Kangin was the first to voice his opinion.

“Ae-Young is not rooming with you two,” He pointed at Henry and Donghae.

“She can room with me! And someone else can form a trio,” Sungmin compromised.

“No,” Leeteuk shot him down immediately.

“What? Why?!”

“I don’t trust you alone with her.” Kangin made a motion with his middle and pointer finger, moving the two appendages from his eyes to Sungmin’s. Leeteuk made the same I’m-watching-you sign.

“I won’t do anything!”

“Sure you won’t, you flirt.” Leeteuk rolled his eyes.

“It’s ok Min, I believe you,” I patted Sungmin’s shoulder.

“Thanks,” He smiled sadly, “But to be honest, I really wouldn’t do anything. You’re not my type,” Sungmin plunged that blow to me with a super innocent voice and aegyo tone. My hand retracted back of him.

“Ooh, burn!” Yesung made a sizzle noise between his teeth.

“Ae-Young will room with Kangin and I,” Leeteuk swiped a key from Henry.

“Then I want…..my best friend,” Yesung slithered closer to Hae, “…..friend~!” Yesung murmured creepily in a low voice and Hae’s arm up and down. Hae laughed nervously, but did not move away. He was strong, that was for sure.

“I wanted Henry to be my roomy anyways,” Sungmin sniffed, clearly hurt that his own blood did not pick to room with him, “He can teach me Japanese so I can pick up girls! Let’s go, Translator!” Sungmin threw Yesung his card and skipped off to the elevator, pulling Henry by the handle of his backpack.

“Wait! Hold the elevator!” Leeteuk ran off with the other two, which left the four of us to catch up to them at a normal pace.

“What’re we going to do tonight?” I asked no one in particular. There wasn’t much we could do, since there were four hours remaining before midnight. At the most, we could go out to eat.

“Well,” Donghae pulled out a marked travel book with multicolored stickies hanging out in every direction. He took hold of one fo the yellow stickies and flipped the book open to a certain page. His finger trailed down it till he stopped near the middle.

“In Shinjuku, the district we’re in, there are lots of regular ramen shops and other restaurants to choose from. But in this book I bought, the authors recommend a place called Nakajima.”

“Nakajima,” Yesung repeated, “Did it say how much a dinner usually costs?”

“It ranges from ¥800-¥12500.”

“That’s a huge price difference!” Kangin exclaimed, “I don’t know about you guys, but I am not going to pay that much for a dinner. On the first night at least.”

“Maybe we could leave it for the last night,” Yesung suggested.

“So ramen it is?” Donghae closed his handy dandy travel book.

“Ramen!” Kangin rejoiced and waddled the rest of the short distance to the elevator, being held by Leeteuk Umma, who was impatient we had made him wait so long.

                “I heard something about ramen,” Henry commented as we ascended to the fourth floor in our spacey elevator.

                “Let’s go to an authentic ramen shop tonight!” Kangin gushed.

                “That would be nice with the cold weather,” Leeteuk agreed. For some reason, Leeteuk seemed to back Kangin up on his ideas, and vice versa. It was like they had become the mother and father figures because the rest of the housemates made them that way.

                “So let’s leave our bags in the rooms and come straight out to go eat?” Sungmin said.

                “Yeah. The sooner the better. I’m starving,” I rubbed my growling stomach. Like I had predicted earlier, the one pocky sleeve wasn’t enough to last me at all.

                “Me too,” Kangin mimicked my hand motions on his own stomach.

                “You’re always hungry,” Henry pointed out.

                “Am not!”

                “Are too!”

                “Uh, you kinda are, hyung,” Yesung put his two cents in.

                “That’s because judo burns a lot of calories!”

                “Says the man who hasn’t practiced judo in three days,” Sungmin jumped in on the attack.

                “What is this?! Is it Pick On Kangin day?!” Kangin roared with his arms flying in random directions.

                “Shut up and let’s just eat!” Leeteuk ended the bullying.

                “Don’t tell me what to do!” Kangin sulked and grumbled with his arms crossed on his chest and a pout displaying.

                After exiting the hotel, it wasn’t hard to find a ramen shop at all. Apparently, from what Hae’s book explained, there were many resturants and good shopping in the area. This was the most densely populated part of Tokyo, so come morning there would be even more people than there were at the moment! I couldn’t even imagine it with all the crowds out even at this time.

                As Hae read aloud, he came across a phrase that said, “….buttoned-up government offices, swarming crowds, streetside video screens, hostess clubs-”

                That was Yesung’s  cue to steak the book. At the mention of hostess clubs Yesung ripped it from Donghae’s hands and kept reading it to himself from then on forward. If I were Hae, I wouldn’t bet ono getting it back till Yesung found the hostess clubs. That, and he also came across a name with the word turtle in it. It took us a while to explain that the hotel with turtle in its name did not associate anything with the animal, so going to find it would be pointless. Yesung was very upset after that.

                The ramen was great. The tiny shop was very cozy and warm, which made me feel fuzzy and relaxed, compared to the frigid winds outside. At dinner we also planned out our schedule for the following day. One of the best highlights of Tokyo was the Tsukiji Fish Market. It opened really early in the morning, but I had a feeling no one would be up to go see it at 5. So we planned on going at 7, and walk around for a bit to see the chaos and excitement. The ride would be a long one too, since we’re in the Shibuya district and Tsukiji was in the Ginza district. Luckily we were right near the Keio Underground.

                Following the market we would yet again take another hike to Akihabara. Yesung really wanted to check out the cool electronics. Henry wanted to see the huge anime and manga stores. Well, Leeteuk only agreed because he heard there was a lot of Maid Cafes in that area. I have no idea what’s going through his dyed head, but there’s no way he’s going to be able to speak to the girls! Isn’t there a phrase called let dreamers dream, or something like that?

                Out of it all, there was one thought that stuck with me till I went to bed that night. How were Zhou Mi and Siwon doing?

A/N: So, whaddya think? Like the poster? I submitted a request at a graphics shop here on AFF and this is what I got! It's definitely a TON better than what my technologically stupid could! And to answer everyone's wondering, yes, there will be exerpts from Zhou Mi and Siwon's stuff going on in Korea. Would you guys be interested in that? I mean, Zhou Mi was asked to stay BECAUSE of something having to do with Siwon! And the book Hae has actually exists. I have it at home with me, and use all of the sights and hotels they recommend after I look them up and deem them suitable for my story or not. So if you are thinking I'm making stuff up just to confuse those who don't know much about Japan, do not fret! I would never do that to you all! *kisses!* Chu! See you next Monday!