In first five years of his life, Jin got the title of the most adorable child in Japan. His parents were buying him everything he wanted. Even though he was a slightly spoiled kid, he easily made friends and no one could say that he’s rude. Jin was really stubborn and kind of clingy. When the boy for the first time came to the kindergarten, it wasn’t a secret for his nursery teacher that he will find himself a clingy and energetic best friend . She wasn’t wrong. In a few minutes a new hyper-active duo was born.

Jin stood near the door and looked around. There were a lot of kids but only one caught his attention. It was a small boy, year younger than him, playing with plastic cars. Jin smiled widely and quickly came closer to the boy.

“Hey, can I play with you?” The boy looked at him and smiled.

“Sure! Which one do you want?”

“The red one.”

“Why red?” The boy looked at him surprised. The red toy-car was old and kids weren’t eager to play with it.

“Because red is cool! And my name is Akanishi Jin. “ Jin’s smile widened. The smaller boy still looked puzzled.

“Okay, Akanishi-kun. I’m Yamaa Tomohisa.” The boy extended his hand and the older shook it.

“Call me Jin. Your name is too long. Hm… I know! I will call you Yamapi! Or Pi in short.” Jin sat down when the boy pondered about his new nickname.

“I like it.” He smiled almost as wide as Jin. “We will be best friends forever!” He announced and Jin nodded energetically.

“Yeah, the bestest!”

The duo quickly became popular among other kids and a nightmare for teachers. They liked to make troubles. They were trying to climb on the roof, make a full turn on swings and once they tried to creep into kitchen when they wanted to find chocolate. Of course, with Jin’s luck they’ve never been punished for their actions. Adults thought it was cute. Well, Jin's and Yamapi’s puppy eyes were hard to resist.

When Jin was ten and Yamapi was nine, they experienced the best day of their so far short lives. One day, coming back from school, they found a small dog. The poor thing got tangled in a string and couldn’t free his paw. It was whimpering helplessly in the narrow, dark alley. If Jin didn’t stoop to grip a note, he wouldn’t see the dog.

“Look, Pi. There’s a dog.”

“What? A dog? Wait! Where are you going? It might be dangerous.” The boy was scared and tried to hold Jin back from going towards the dog.

“It’s a puppy, Pi. It won't do anything to me. Besides look at his paw. We need to help him or he will stay there and die. Do you want this dog to die, Yamapi?” The boys eyes went wide and he shook his head horrified. “Good. Now wait here. I’m going to release him.”

Jin came closer to the dog that started to step back with a tucked tail. The boy knelt near the dog and stretched out his hand. He was encouraging him by speaking gently. After a while the dog slowly approached the boy, sniffing his hand. Jin slowly grabbed the dog, trying to not scare him and untied the string. The dog was surely happy and started the boy’s face.

“Haha. You’re cute. I wonder to whom you belong to…”

“Look, Jin. He has a collar. Maybe there’s an address.”

“Right. Can you check? He’s harmless, you will be fine.”

Yamapi made a wry face but checked anyway. Not thinking much, two boys decided to return the dog to its owner. When they finally found the right place, they stopped dead. The building was huge and luxurious. They didn’t doubt that celebrities lived there. They came closer to the door and came into the main hall. Everywhere were expensive carpets, elegant chairs and gold and silver decorations. The hall was huge like a house and the boys were sure apartments must be even bigger, much bigger. When they were standing there speechlessly, they heard a sudden cry that startled them. When they looked at the owner of a voice, they opened their mouths in amazement. A few meters away stood Miura Kazuyoshi, the MVP of 1992 AFC Asian Cup.

“Akiko-chan!” The man started running towards the boy when the dog, apparently a girl, jump out of the boy’s hands and rushed to her owner. Miura caught her and hugged happily. “Where did you find her boys?”

“She got tangled in a string. We found her in the nearby alley.” Jin snapped out of his trance first and answered the question.

“Thank you boys. I was looking for her all day. How can I repay you?“

“You don’t have to do anything. It’s a pleasure to meet you sir. We’re big fans of football so meeting famous Miura Kazuyoshi-san is already a great prize.” Jin was good with words. “Well, we will go now. Mom is waiting for us. Come on. Pi.” He whispered to his friend to wake him from his shock and tugged at his sleeve. They bowed and turned around. When they were almost exiting the building, the man called them.

“Hey! Boys, wait!” He quickly came to them. ”I can’t let you go without a reward.”

“Really, sir, it’s not needed.” Jin answered and Yamapi only nodded.

“Non-sense. If not for you, I would never see my sweet Akiko-chan ever again! What would you say if I gave you two VIP tickets for our next match in Nagoya?”

“We’re really grateful, sir, but we can’t go by ourselves. Also train tickets aren’t cheap. Besides it’s a school day.”

“Of course, you’re still students… Then how about it. You call your parents and ask them if you and your families can come, if they say ‘yes’ I will give you VIP tickets and train tickets for all of you.”

The boys did like he said. Of course at first their parents didn’t believe them and didn’t agree to a quite long trip but Jin was very convincing. The next day was his tenth birthday. He said that trip to Nagoya would be his present and Pi, as his best friend, must go with him. The footballer was a really nice man. On Friday, boys and their families had a great fun. They could not only watch a match Japan vs. Ghana, also they met the winners. Jin was happy. It was the best present. His love for football became even bigger.

The fact of being born under the lucky star became even more obvious when one afternoon he was hanging out with his friends. At the game center, they decided to try their luck by drawing Mysterious Boxes. In every box there was supposed to be a prize. It was mostly toy cars, small mascots, whistles or colorful stickers but there were rumors that someone had found a free ticket to amusement park. Boys, being young, stupid and without someone responsible who would tell them such things are not only rare but almost impossible, believed it. The boys found in turn: a hairpin, a small ring, a glue and a key ring. Yamapi had a little more luck, he found a coupon for a two free ice-creams in his box. Pi didn’t care though. He had known Jin long enough to know that his box will be the best. He wasn’t wrong and his eyes widened in excitement. It was even better than a ticket to amusement park. It was the newest version of Game Boy.

“Wow! It’s Game Boy Color! Dude, you’re so lucky! Nobody has more luck than you.” Yamapi was excited, when Jin just shrugged his shoulders.

“Why are you so delighted? It’s nothing special.”

“Nothing special?! Dude! It’s the best portable game device I have seen in my whole life.”

“And?” The boy asked innocently.

“And?! Jeez, Jin. Nobody has it in our class yet. It was released like three days ago, Bakanishi. I heard they improved the system. And the games that you will be able to play…” from Yamapi’s face, you could easily tell that he was already far away, enchanted by a vision of himself playing all day long in Jin’s room.

When the guys realized that the boy won’t come back from his sweet dreams any time soon, they left Yamapi and Jin, who willingly promised to take care of Pi, and went home. It wasn’t late but knowing Yamapi’s weirdness it would be quite hard to keep up with the boy. Only Jin could understand him enough to actually not run away. Waiting for Pi to wake up, Jin started playing with his prize. About an hour later, Yamapi finally snapped out of his daze and started paying attention to what was going on around him. Jin quickly hid his Game Boy. He didn’t want the boy to start daydreaming again, especially now, when he was hungry and decided that Yamapi’s prize might be really useful. After a quick argument during which Jin promised that he will let Pi play with his new toy if the boy will give one of his coupons to him, they started walking towards a small restaurant.

The street was full of people. It was even easier to believe in Yamapi’s crazy theory - Jin was indeed the luckiest person on Earth. In the huge crowd, he was spotted by a man in an expensive suit. You could see a bright glint in the man’s eyes. He quickly made his way towards two boys and without any hesitation introduced himself and gave Jin his business card. The man was a famous fashion designer. He was looking for models for his newest collection. Jin wasn’t that much interested in fashion but Yamapi took the card before he could refuse the man. After some time, at Yamapi’s instigation, Jin talked with his parents and decided to try. It would earn him some money and experience. I think it’s not a surprise that he quickly became one of the most known models in demand in Tokyo.

Next three years passed by. Jin was pretty happy having Yamapi back. Since Yamapi was in his last year and Jin in his first in high school, they couldn’t see each other as often as they would like. Now, Pi was in his school and they started hanging out again. Of course, Jin was a really popular guy. It took him less than a day to charm everyone. His popularity raised even more after his first football training in a new school year. He was already a team’s star but it looked like fate was planning to make him an idol.

It was a really sunny day. No clouds, no wind - perfect weather for training. Guys were divided into two teams to play. At first they did some exercises but soon they started playing. From the beginning Jin was the one on the lead. His teammates were often giving him a ball. It was a normal sight. Just like Jin scoring goal after goal. Today was a little different though. The school had decided to form a group of cheerleaders after last year’s win. Girls were training as well not so far away from a football pitch. They were doing one of the most complicated formations – lifting a girl. Jin was running with the ball near them. Suddenly, he left the ball and ran towards cheerleaders. Before anyone could see what was going on, the girl on top wobbled and fell down. Jin quickly stretched out his hands. In the last moment he jumped forward and caught the girl in his arms.

“Are you okay?” he asked but stilled after she looked up at him. The girl was beautiful. He couldn’t believe it. He just saved the most popular, kindhearted and innocent girl in school. She was known by everyone. Princess of their high school.

“Yes. Thank you. You saved me.” Her smile was really pretty, mesmerizing. Jin was staring at her intensively. It made her blush. “Could you put me down, please?” He then snapped out of his daze and blushed.

“Ah… Sorry.” He put her down quickly but when her feet touched the ground she stumbled again and fell onto him again. His arms were against her middle when she grabbed him around his neck. Their faces were even redder than before.

“S…sorry” She stuttered while looking in Jin’s eyes. He was looking right back at her.

“It’s nothing. I don’t mind catching a Star every time she falls. Her light is too beautiful to even touch this dirty ground and not shine brightly above everyone giving them happiness.” The girl was stunned. No one before compared her to a star. The boy sure had way with words. Jin finally registered what he said and looked away embarrassed. “I’m sorry. It’s just that you’re really beautiful and I couldn’t help myself. You’re always so nice to everyone. They should follow your example. It’s hard to not look at you. You have so much positive energy. When I look at you, I feel I can do everything and…” He couldn’t end his sentence when he felt a light peck on his cheek.

“It was beautiful, Akanishi-kun. No one ever told me such nice words.” She smiled at him shyly and he smiled back.

“Shimizu Aya-chan, would you like to be my girlfriend?” The boy asked with a small smile.

“Yes, I would love to.”

They kissed when a loud cheer erupted from behind them. All cheerleaders and the whole team were chanting the new couple’s names. It didn’t take long and there wasn’t a single person who wouldn’t know that Akanishi Jin and Shimizu Aya were dating.

They were quite happy together and lasted for about two years. The break up came with Aya’s dream coming true. She always wanted to study fashion in Paris. She was a bright student so she easily got a scholarship at one of the best universities in France. It was a simple and quiet break up. They had strong feelings towards each other but both knew it wasn’t exactly love. More like attachment. It was just nice to talk and hang out. Family-like feeling. At the end, they became good friends.

Jin, having his job as a popular model, resigned from studying but being someone who changes his mind quite a lot and gets bored easily, after a year Jin got a new idea. He should really thank Pi for it.

“Jin! Jin! You know what? You know what?” Yamapi was bouncing happily around Jin’s bed.

“W…what do you want, Pi?” He mumbled half asleep and lifted his head a little to almost immediately put it back down.

“Come on, Jin~! I have something important to tell you~!” Pi whined and started smacking his friend with a pillow that fell down from bed when the sleeping boy turned his body on the other side.

“Fine, fine! I’m getting up! Now, what do you want?” The boy sat up and looked slightly annoyed at his friend.

“Do you remember the time when I hadn’t come to school few weeks ago?”

“…Yeah. What’s with it?”

“Well, I went to take an exam in a university and today I went to see my results. I got in!”

“You? A university student? It’s hard to believe… Actually, what did you choose?” Jin asked surprised.

“You know I always liked singing. I don’t have any aim or a hobby so I thought why not to try and get into music department. I’ve already found myself a room and a roommate.”

“Huh? Already? Weren't you afraid that you won’t get in? And who’s your roommate?”

“Well, yeah, I was slightly scared but life is too short to think so much about such things. My roommate? Do you remember Nishikido Ryo?”

“We were classmates. Cool guy with a sharp tongue. Is he…?”

“Yes. I met him after my exam. We talked and he offered me a place.”

“He offered you? Okay, what he wanted from you? I know the guy enough, he wouldn’t let you stay there for free.”

“Well, that’s true.” Yamapi shrugged his shoulders. “He said that he needs someone who will pay half a rent and something about an idiot with an ugly face who’s pissing him off. I don’t know what he meant but I guess his last housemate was a pain.”

“Hehe, I wonder who’s the guy that could keep up with Ryo’s temper.” Jin started laughing but after a minute he suddenly went quiet . “Pi, you said you want to sing, right?”

“…Yeah…?” The boy looked at his friend with a raised eyebrow not exactly knowing what to expect from him.

“You know, I think I want to try it too.”

“You want to sing, Jin?” Yamapi couldn’t hide his surprise.

“Yes, why not? Girls always said I have a good voice. I think it would be interesting. What do you think, Pi?”

“Well, it would but you didn’t write any exams. Do you expect them to just let you join the university?”

“Of course not, Pi. Are you an idiot?” Jin quickly got up from his bed and rushed towards his wardrobe. “I will go and ask them for an interview. They have to agree and then we will study together. See ya!” Jin smiled widely and without any warning ran out of his house.

“And who’s the Bakanishi here? Heh… At least he didn’t drag me with him.” Yamapi exited Jin’s room and wanted to leave the house but stopped abruptly in the middle of the hallway and smirked rubbing his hands together. “I guess it’s a good time to raid Jin’s fridge, ne? Wait for me pasta with chicken , I’m coming!” and he stormed to the kitchen.

At the time when Yamapi was clearing Jin’s cupboards, the owner of the flat was gaining a lot of attention trying to find someone who would accept him into the university. It’s not a secret that what Jin wanted, would come true. This time wasn’t any different. The school’s board saw an opportunity to advertise their school. It was a good deal. Jin became a student and the board got their pictures with a famous model with the university in the background.

Jin resigned from modeling. It stopped being interesting to him. He focused on his studies. It was quite hard to believe but somehow he really got a thing for music. In two years he made a simple music studio in his flat and wrote a few nice songs. He rarely sang them but he was waiting for the right time to show them to the world. After all he and Pi were just a third year students. It was time for a huge school project. Professors were choosing groups of four people every year. Every group had one second year student, two from third year and one person from the last year. Of course, all third graders had to do the project when second and last graders could decline. Fortunately, the more projects they did, the better grade they had at the end so nobody really wanted to resign from it.