I woke up on the couch and stretched my arms. A yawn escaped my lips. Just then, my phone started to vibrate on the table. I picked it up and saw a text message from Ryota.

Morning leader. The pictures from last night are posted everywhere. Tomoya doesn’t have a clue yet. What about Taka?

Morning Ryota. Nope. He’s still asleep. I’ll make sure he sees them though. Don’t forget rehearsals are today. How’s Tomoya?

He keeps complaining about his headache but other than that he’s fine. See you later, Toru.

See ya, Ryota.

With that I put my phone down on the counter and heard the shuffle of feet behind me.

Taka stood a few feet behind me wearing some sweatpants and a black shirt. He yawned and stretched before he walked over towards me. He sat down beside me and curled up under the blanket that we now shared. I could feel the warmth coming from his skin.

“What happened last night?” Taka said in a daze.

“Do you really want to know?” I asked him.

He nodded and scooted closer to me, resting his head on my shoulder. His curly hair tickled my nose.

“Well I’ll give you the short version. You three went out for drinks last night. Only you and Tomoya got drunk. You stripped down to your boxers and swung a light saber around in public. Tomoya thought he was a superhero. There’s one more thing that you did but I don’t think you want to know.” I said as my cheeks became hot from remembering what happened.

“No. I want to know. Please tell me,” Taka pouted.

“Okay. If you’re sure. You stripped completely in the bar and showed your uhh…private areas to me and everyone in the bar,” I said.

By this point my face felt like it was on fire. I hoped he didn’t notice.

“I really did all of that? Wow! I’m never drinking again and if I do then remind me of what happened when I drank a lot.” Taka laughed.

I started to laugh as I showed Taka the pictures. He just shook his head and chuckled a little. The notification of a text message popped up on my phone. It was from Ryota again.

Cluck. Cluck.

Got it! Let’s take the train. Meet you there in twenty.

“What was that about?” Taka asked.

“Oh. It’s nothing. Hey, I’ve got something for you in my closet.” I replied.

I watched as Taka’s eyes looked towards my room. A mischievous smile appeared across my lips.

~~~

Even though it was still morning the train station was packed full of people. Many people stared in my direction and burst into laughter as they looked at what was standing before them.

Tomoya was walking beside Ryota in a giant chicken costume that clucked each time he moved. Taka was in a giant pig costume that oinked each time he moved. Both guys had sour looks on their faces, but those were the rules. The first two that got drunk had to parade around in a giant costume for an entire day.

Taka was pouting like a little kid but no one could take him seriously in his costume. Tomoya seemed to enjoy being in his costume. We all boarded the train to head to the studio. Taka and I were pressed up against each other while Tomoya and Ryota were sitting down. People started snickering and giggling as they looked over at all of us. A smile formed across my lips.

“You’re enjoying this, aren’t you?” Taka huffed as he crossed his arms.

The laughing around us increased when people found out that the costumes made a sound. I watched Tomoya start beating on the ground like it was a drum and tears were coming out of Ryota’s eyes when he kept hearing the clucking sound.

“It IS a little funny.” I said.

Taka stared at me trying to read my expression before he sighed in defeat. He watched Tomoya play air drums and a laugh escaped his lips. The entire ride to the studio was filled with nothing but laughter.

~~~

The studio was quiet except for the oinking and clucking sounds from the costumes. We all took our places and began to practice.

During our rehearsals the animal sounds caused us to stop mid-way through our songs and burst out laughing. Every other word that came out of Taka’s mouth sounded like “oink,” and as soon as Tomoya started playing the drums we heard non-stop clucking noises. This was definitely the longest band rehearsal that we ever had.

It was almost midnight before we decided to call it a night. We all said our goodbyes and only Taka and I still remained in the building. I smiled before laughing.

“You look ridiculous.” I said as I laughed.

“Well someone made me wear it, remember.” Taka said as he waved a finger at me.

“Yeah, I know. Those are the rules though. Guess we should leave now. See you tomorrow.” I said.

Taka just stomped his foot on the ground twice and his costume made an “oink oink” sound.

We both started laughing hard as we walked outside.

I watched Taka walk off oinking all the way. I shook my head and started laughing again. Today was definitely an interesting day.

                                                                                 To Be Continued….