Chapter 7: Lips

AT-TUN and Yue were waiting for Jin and Kame. It’s been a few hours since Kazuya called her and she was sure that they were already in Tokyo. They all were kind of nervous. Yue explained to AT-TUN that her grandma’s books have been written in a very weird way. She would be pacing around the room and biting her nails but her cool side didn’t let her lose control, it wasn’t the best time for it.

They all were taking care of their own work; Ueda was strumming his guitar, Junno tried to break his own record in his favorite video game, Koki was coming up with new rhymes and Nakamaru practiced his beatboxing skills. Their manager, on the other hand, tried to accept or decline all the offers the guys had gotten after their last performance. It wasn’t an easy job to turn down great deals because some idiot was making a mess in every place he went to.

A sudden knock on the door made everyone freeze. A few seconds later Jin and Kame came inside the room. The older boy was carrying a large book in a weird dark purple cover with title written in white letters: “Two-thousands and one spells to complicate your life”. Even though it was Akanishi that had a hold on the strangest item they have ever seen, it was Kame who caught Yue’s attention. The boy was smiling weirdly at her; it was the same smile he had every time something went wrong and his happy, too familiar, tone of voice didn’t help much.

“Yue-chan! Look, I’ve got you your favorite cakes from Kawasaki-san’s shop! Here!”

“…Thanks.” She said eyeing cookies and Kame warily, waiting for bad news.

“Ryota-kun helped us find the spell book, he was so kind. I think he misses you, just like Taka-chan, uncle, aunt and Kaoru-kun. They are all worried about you and asked me to make sure you will rest after the new single. Oh, and we cleaned your room! I didn’t know that you have a blue carpet, I was so sure it was black. Also why do you have so many old magazines? It’s not like I mind but you’re not living there anyway, isn’t it better to take it to Tokyo? Also there was this weird bright yellow pillow…”

“Kazuya. Shut up.” Her voice was icy-cold and everyone looked at the serious girl. Kame swallowed harshly. “Now… Tell me already.”

“What should I tell you? There’s nothing, right Jin? Yeah, there’s no bad news. Why should there be?...” The girl narrowed her eyes at the sweat-dropping boy.

“Stop blabbering and tell me the truth, Kamenashi Kazuya!” The boy bit on his lower lip and sighed heavily trying to calm himself down.

“Okay, okay… There’s something you should know about.” Kame said and looked uneasily at the floor, avoiding his best friend’s eyes. “Well… um… you see… when we were waiting at the station someone came to us and said that is going with us...”

The door opened with a loud bang and a person stepped inside the room. Yue’s eyes widened in shock and she visibly paled. The other boys were looking back and forth between their manager and an unknown girl that stood a few meters away from them with a big smile. She was pretty; long wavy black hair, small proportional face and big dark eyes. She was kind of cute in her green knee-length dress. Ueda could see a little resemblance to Yue though their manager was taller than the girl and her straight hair were dyed really dark shade of brown. Nobody knew why she had done that because indoors her high ponytail always looked black anyway.

The boys tried to understand what made Yue freeze and Kame look so scared and uncomfortable in her presence for the first since they’ve got to know him. It was really unexpected and they didn’t know how to react; should they speak or remain silent? Before they could decide, Yue grabbed Kame’s elbow and dragged him outside the room through the backdoor.

“What the is Karen doing here?!” She hissed angrily.

“I’m sorry, I’m really am. She suddenly appeared from nowhere. Before I could talk her out of coming with us, we were already on our way. I don’t know how that happened.” Yue sighed, put a hand on her shoulder and the other on her hips starting to pace around. Her cool side kind of abandoned her.

“And what am I supposed to do with her? I can’t take care of her now, when we have the book.” She closed her eyes and leaned on the wall tiredly. Kame was watching her; she was really stressed and having her younger sister close wasn’t helping at all.

“Maybe… Maybe I and Jin can take care of her for now?” Yue furrowed her eyebrows at the boy worriedly.

“Are you sure you want to do it, Kame? I know that you don’t like her much. Heck! Even I don’t like her and she’s my family!” Kame took a shaky breath.

“I will do it. It’s better that way. You need to focus on stuff here and Jin and I won’t help you.” He could see an uncertainty in her eyes, how worried she was. “Everything will be alright. I promise.” He smiled reassuringly.

“…Fine… Fine but if something happens you will tell me about it, understand?” He nodded with serious expression and she relaxed slightly. “Good.”

“Don’t worry, we will take Karen back to your flat safe and sound.”

Yue wanted to say that it was not Karen she was worried about but she knew it would be meaningless, Kame already knew what was making her uneasy about his plan. They came back to the room and all eyes focused on them. The girl already figured out that the boys introduced themselves to her younger sister by the way AT-TUN was standing closer to her. Yue made her way through the room and stopped directly in front of Karen intensely staring at the younger girl.

“You can stay but one bad move, word or action that would embarrass me, our family or my friends, hurt someone physically or mentally and I will send you straight home. Are we clear?” She said through clenched teeth.

“Yes, I understand.”

“Okay.” Yue said and went back to the table. “Akanishi and Kame will take care of you. Listen to them and don’t go anywhere without at least one of them.” Karen nodded and smiled a little.

“…We’re going then.”

Kame said and led their guest and Jin outside. Having Yue and Karen in the same room for too long was dangerous; he was aware of that. He had witnessed many fights between them and he certainly didn’t want another one now.

When the three exited the room Yue was watching the door for a few more seconds before turning towards the rest of AT-TUN that lately seemed more like T-TUN. She couldn’t help but remember that weird name Akanishi had come up with when they started working together as a group. She shook her head lightly and her professional side took over.

“Ueda-kun, practice your duet with Akanishi, please. I’m not sure he will be able to play guitar. Koki, help Ueda-kun with rehearsals, he needs to improve his English a little. Nakamaru-kun, go with them, you know how to make use of the machines in the studio. Later practice your own duo, if Akanishi stays the way he is now for the next week, your song’s going to be released first. Junno…”

“I’m going to help you with the book!” Junno offered eagerly making Yue wince a little at his enthusiasm. Something was really wrong with the guy but she had way too many things on her mind now to care about it.

“Fine. Bring your laptop, we will need it. The ing thing doesn’t have a table of contents.”

She said and put the huge old object on the table opening it to read the first page. Every sentence she read was a bundle of rubbish, completely unrelated words that unfortunately had inner meanings. While reading slowly and trying to decipher a hidden message, she put an elbow on the table top and propped her head on the hand. It was going to be a long day…

When Karen, Jin and Kame left the building, the younger boy exhaled in relief. Yue took the news better than he thought she would; she hadn’t killed any of them. He wasn’t happy that he has to spend the rest of the day, and probably the next one, with Karen. He just hoped that the wicked girl will behave properly in front of Jin. After all, it looked like she liked him… or at least saw an opportunity to find herself a rich husband.

“Karen-chan, is there any place you would like to go to?” Kazuya asked trying to be as polite as possible.

“Hmm… I don’t know… What do you say, Jin-kun? Where should we go?” Kame winced at the girl’s sweet tone but it was a normal reaction for the boy. What surprised Kame more was this small pang in his chest when Karen called Jin’s name.

“Well, I think it’s a good time for coffee. How about a café then? I know one that serves delicious Caramel Latte… or at least my friend says so.” Akanishi said a little taken aback by the sudden question.

“Perfect! I would love to eat something sweet. Do you think they have a chocolate cake?”

Karen took Jin’s arm and pulled the boy lightly. The older boy didn’t protest, in some way he enjoyed the girl’s attention. It’s been a while since a woman was interested in him. On their way towards the shop the girl was asking him a lot of questions and he liked it. He couldn’t understand why Yue was so angry or why Kame looked so uncomfortable around the younger girl, she was a real sweetheart.

Jin was so deep in the conversation that he didn’t realize Kame was walking a few meters behind them. The boy was sad and he didn’t even know why. Something was wrong in the picture in front of him but he couldn’t put a finger on it. Kazuya was a rather positive person but right now he felt slightly depressed but he had to pretend to enjoy their afternoon, even if he had to spend all day listening to Karen.

He looked at the sky. It was grey and heavy, it will be raining soon. Even the weather was against him today. He sighed and hastened his steps trying not to lose the pair from his sight.
 

Junno came back with his computer and sat next to Yue, looking over her shoulder to see the book. The girl was concentrating on the page in front of her. Junno couldn’t understand how the girl can read something like this without getting a headache. Well… she already had it even before their leader and the songwriter came back from their little journey. There was no difference for her now. Junno leaned back in his chair when Yue looked at him.

“Okay, Taguchi-kun. We need to know which ‘spell’ it is. Thankfully their names are written on top of every page so we don’t have to read all of this.”

“But how are we supposed to understand it?”

“I know some of the words but you’re right. It’s a ed up book.“ She said looking with a scowl at the book. “Anyway, there are some keywords in every name. I kind of know which one is it so the only problem is to find its real meaning. That’s where you’re needed. I will tell you what you need to find. Just tap it in and look for a link with total bull in it. If the site is purple, then it’s probably it.” Junno looked at her, half confused and half with admiration.

“Um… I thought that this book is really old, how can we find answers on the Internet?”

“I might not be my grandmother but I still belong to Fortune Tellers Guild. She had signed me in when I was a kid. Don’t ask me about it though, I haven’t been on any meeting for a really long time but I still remember the one when we decided to put the spell books’ codes in the Internet.”

“’Spell books’ codes’? What’s that?”

“Yeah, it’s a code that helps with reading the book. The elders know the codes by heart but youngsters like me rarely remember 1/10 of it so to make our lives easier they put codes in the net. The thing is that it’s quite hard to find it sometimes.” She sighed tiredly. ”And my grandma’s book is one of the most complicated ones.”

“Oh…” Junno was quiet for a moment. Of course, being who he was, he changed the subject. “Who’s Karen?” Yue stopped reading and looked at the boy quite stunned; Taguchi really was the KY of AT-TUN.

“…She’s my younger sister.” She said going back to her task. “I hope she will go home soon.” Junno saw how the girl’s expression changed from focused to worried.

“What’s wrong?” Yue glanced at him. “I can see that something is bothering you. What is it?” She sighed.

“Karen. When we were younger she was kind of bullying Kame. I’m afraid that she will try to upset him again. I think she’s having a grudge against him.”

“Did Kame-chan do something to her?” Taguchi couldn’t believe that someone like Kazuya would hurt someone intentionally.

“Not on purpose. It was an accident. He spilled his orange juice on her new dress once. And once he tripped and pulled her with him in a huge puddle of mud.”

“And you think it’s a reason why she treats him like this?”

“Maybe… I don’t know. Wherever we tried to talk we ended up fighting and calling ourselves names.” She shrugged her shoulders.

“You should probably try again.”

“Yeah, probably…”

They went back to work, this time in silence focusing on the task. From time to time Yue gave Junno a word that he had to find and later read the results of his search. Word after word they were getting closer to encoding the weird language used to write the book but there was a lot of work to do before the right spell would be found…
 

Just like Kame thought, it started raining soon after he, Jin and Karen stepped inside the café. It was quite crowded but since Kame had Jin’s good luck, they were able to find an empty table next to the window in a more private part of the room. Karen sat down first pulling Jin with her. Kazuya sat on the opposite side of the table knowing perfectly well that it’s better not to be in the way of her constant flirting with the older boy.

“We’re lucky that it didn’t start raining earlier.” Jin said looking outside the window but he quickly turned his eyes to the girl and later to Kame. “What do you want from the menu? I will go and make the order.”

“I will take these Caramel Latte you mentioned before. Do you think it will rain for long? I would like to buy ice-creams, I saw that they sell them at this park we passed a few minutes ago.”

“Hm, I think in an hour we will have a perfect weather again.” He smiled nicely to the girl. “What do you want Kame?” He asked the boy.

“I will take a hot chocolate, thank you.”

Kame smiled lightly not feeling good at the thought of being left alone with the girl even for three minutes. Jin nodded, quite surprised by the request since today it was rather warm despite the rain. He stood up and made his way towards the shop’s counter. Meanwhile Karen turned to face Kazuya. She still wore a sweet smile but in her eyes there was this evil glint that made the boy shiver.

“Well, Kamenashi-kun, I never thought that you will be able to make friends with such a good-looking guy. I’m impressed.” Her voice might sound normally but Kazuya could tell that she’s just playing with him. “You know… I was wondering about something from the time I saw you at uncle’s house. Tell me… what did you do to look like this?” She asked pointing at his face.

“W-what…?” He wasn’t sure what she meant but he knew it’s nothing good.

“Did you got yourself a plastic surgery? Oh, of course you did! You made a small mistake though, you know? Girls prefer when the guy isn’t prettier than them. But don’t worry, Kamenashi-kun, I’m sure you will find yourself a nice guy. Actually, one of my close friends is looking for a boyfriend to check how it is to be with a guy. Are you interested? I will give you his number later.”

The girl said not even changing her expression. A stranger would probably think that the girl was just trying to help Kame with his love life but anyone who knew real Karen was aware that the girl was ironic and vicious, trying to upset and hurt the boy. She only stopped when Jin came back to their table with their drinks. Kazuya felt like crying, just like every time Karen said something bad to him in their childhood. He couldn’t, not in front of Jin.

Kazuya took his chocolate faking a smile. Jin noticed that Kame’s eyes were shining unnaturally but when he asked if everything’s okay, the songwriter just made an excuse saying that he yawned a few times in row a while ago and his eyes got watery from it. Akanishi shrugged it off, only half-believing the boy, and started the conversation with Karen, completely oblivious to anything else.

Kame watched them for a while. Karen was talking animatedly while Jin listened with interest. They looked like a real couple. That picture made his heart throb. It was a strange feeling. The café was warm and comfortable but deep inside his heart he felt like leaving this place.

Kazuya looked out the window. Droplets of water were falling quietly on the pavement. The boy smiled sadly. He didn’t know why but he imagined Jin and himself, just staying outside. Nothing else. No talking, no holding hands, no staring at each other, no kissing. Just standing side by side, getting soaked by the gentle rain…
 

Junno was sending glances at the working girl. She was tired but still tried hard to keep her focus on the task. The boy really wanted to help her more but he could do nothing else but to search for words she needed. Observing Yue, Taguchi saw that she’s rubbing her fingers from time to time. The weather was warm but an air conditioner was in the studio so without moving around much, you could easily get cold.

The boy watched the manager for a few more minutes before he suddenly got up and exited the room. Yue hadn’t seen anything trying to translate another spell’s name. Taguchi came back after a while with two cups of steaming liquid. Normally Junno’s ideas were rather random but this time it was a bull’s eye.

He came quietly towards the girl and put a cup in front of her, being careful not to scare her by accident. She was surprised by the hand that appeared before her eyes and looked up from her notes. She was eyeing warily the boy and the cup in turns. Yue couldn’t understand what was going in Junno’s head this time. She was always quite cautious in Taguchi’s presence. He was the first person that could caught her off her guard with his behaviour – a living randomness and a total opposite to her own rather stable life.
“What is it?” She asked the boy taking a cup in one hand.

“A hot chocolate.” He shrugged but at her questioning gaze, he explained further. “It’s cool in here and Yue-chan looks like she needs something to warm up.” She eyed a cup before finally taking a sip.

“Thank you.”

Junno smiled widely beaming. It was a long time since he had a chance to make the girl slightly happier. He was proud that his small gift made Yue smile, even if just a little. With a new power he sat at the table and tapped in phrases dictated by the manager. Since they both were in a better mood and Yue stopped furrowing her eyebrows, Junno decided to became a KY again.

“Do you want to play video games with me later?” He asked not tearing his eyes from the screen.

“…Maybe some other time.”

She said after a while. Yeah, Junno will never stop surprising her.
 

When the rain stopped, Karen, Jin and Kame went to the park. Just like Jin promised, he bought Karen a chocolate ice-cream. They were walking side by side completely ignoring Kazuya. While the girl was doing it on purpose, Akanishi was just too excited in his story about forming AT-TUN that he unconsciously forgot about the younger boy.

Kame sighed wanting to go home but still, he couldn’t just leave them alone. It wasn’t just about the fact that Jin is now a living misfortune but also about a painful image of the couple kissing on a ferris wheel. The thought made his heart tear apart and he didn’t know why exactly. His eyes lingered longer on Jin’s lips, red lips that got stained by a sweet strawberry treat. They were hypnotizing the younger boy, hard to resist but he just shook his head to clear his mind from weird ideas that started to preoccupy it.

He was observing the pair carefully. They were passing next to a huge puddle that stayed on the road. Kazuya’s eyes widened when he saw a car getting closer to them. He had no doubt that the car will splash the water directly on Jin. Without thinking he grabbed both, Karen and Jin by their arms and pulled them aside just in time.

“Whoa… that was close. Thank you, Kame.”

Akanishi grinned at the boy who smiled back, a small blush appeared on his face. The girl was watching them. She couldn’t believe that this girly looking guy took away Jin’s attention from her. Jealousy was making her mad. She narrowed her eyes in anger but relaxed soon, a wicked smirk playing on her lips.

She came closer to the two guys. She started playing a role of a caring girlfriend. There were only centimeters between her and both boys. Then she made an unexpected sharp movement with her hand. She was pretending; pretending that Kame accidently hit her arm making her ice-cream fall down. She made a step back with a surprised face and started apologizing.

“I’m so sorry, Akanishi-kun! You bought it especially for me and… I’m sorry!” She said bowing slightly.

“Oh, don’t worry about it. It can happen to anyone. At least it landed on the ground and not on someone’s shirt.” Jin said politely, not realizing that Karen’s intention was to drop the sweet treat on Kame.

“Still, I’m so clumsy sometimes...” She made a cute expression that almost always made guys go weak.

“How about I buy you another one?” Jin smiled, trying to cheer up Karen.

“Really? Will you do it for me?”

“Of course! Wait for me here, I will be right ba-“

Jin didn’t have a chance to end his sentence. He stepped forward completely forgetting about a fallen ice-cream. He slipped on a wet pavement. From there everything went quick and unexpected. Trying to balance himself he stretched out his hands but the fall was unavoidable. The next thing Jin was aware of was that he’s lying on something soft but his lips touch something even softer.

It was like a déjà vu but the other way around. This time it wasn’t Kame that was lying on Jin but Akanishi lying on a frozen Kazuya. Their lips were touching lightly but both of them were too shocked to react. It took them a few good seconds to realize their position and another few to get up. Jin apologized slightly embarrassed but Kame just let it go, though it didn’t stop him from blushing. It was a really awkward situation. Before they were just a pair of strangers, now they were kind of friends and friends just don’t kiss each other, even accidentally.

“Um… maybe we should, um, take Karen home?” Akanishi was scratching his neck.

“Y-yeah… yeah, we should.”

Kame answered not looking at the older boy. They both were oblivious to Karen’s intense stare. She was watching the whole scene, first with shock and disbelief, later with jealousy and anger. The girl played a sweet princess but she wasn’t stupid. Actually, she was quite perceptive when it came to people’s feelings and she didn’t like what she just saw. The two boys might not see it themselves but she knew that there’s something between them, and it’s not a simple friendship.
 

The next morning when Kazuya stepped inside Yue’s office, the manager was sure something was not right. The boy was visibly exhausted and even though she wished it was all Karen’s fault, a small annoying voice in her head was telling her that her younger sister wasn’t the main reason of Kame’s bad state. Yue made a quick coffee and put the cup in front of the boy that was sitting silently at the empty table. He just gave her a grateful smile. She sat next to him, now seriously worried.

“Kame, what’s wrong?” She asked in concern but the boy shook his head. His eyes talked otherwise. “Kazuya, I know you long enough to see that you’re not in your best shape. I’m your best friend, you can tell me everything.” She squeezed his hand lightly trying to encourage him.

“I’m alright just…”

“Just?” She tried to urge him to say what was on his mind. The boy sighed tiredly.

“I couldn’t sleep at night. I was having nightmares. And this morning I tripped on the carpet in the living room. Then when I opened a window, a bird flew inside my flat. I tried to scare it away for half an hour.” Yue furrowed her eyebrows.

“That means that your bad luck came back to you. Shouldn’t you be happy about it? You wanted to help Bakanishi, right?”

“Oh, I am happy about that.”

“Then what’s wrong?” She eyed him but he averted his gaze away from her.

“Actually, it’s…” He took a deep breath. “It’s about Karen.”

Kame told Yue about Karen’s mean behaviour and how she was making fun of him. The older girl was angry at her sister but Kazuya quickly calmed her down. He didn’t want to face another war between the sisters, it was better to just let it be. Reluctantly, Yue agreed knowing that she might make it worse. Still, he was mad at the younger girl and only wished for her to just go back home.

While Kame was sipping on his coffee trying to regain his composure, Ueda, Koki and Maru came to the office. They all were surprised seeing the youngest boy so miserable. They knew him only a few days but he was always cheerful, full of energy and positive. Now the boy was gloomy. When they asked him if he’s okay, he only nodded. They let him be when Yue just shook her head signalizing for them to drop the subject.

The door opened and a pleased Jin came inside saying that Karen will join them in the moment. A huge grin that adored his face, told Yue that the boy got his luck back as well as Kame had back his misfortune. The girl made use of her sister’s absence and decided to find out how the boys were able to cure themselves.

“I’m not sure actually. Yesterday we were going near the park, Kame saved me from becoming a drowned rat, Karen’s ice-cream fell down.” Kame came closer to them, standing with his back facing the door. ”I slipped and then I landed on Kame.” Yue furrowed her eyebrows.

“So you kissed again?” She assumed.

“Yes, but we already checked that it doesn’t work. Maybe it’s because we’re falling down on each other?” Kame asked but Yue shook her head.

“That’s impossible, every fortune teller will tell you that. No matter how strong the spell is it can’t be executed by any violence or hurting someone. When you fall down you can hurt yourself. It must be something else.” She put a hand on her chin thinking hard about any other possibilities.

“Why do we even care about it? The most important is that everything went to normal.” Jin said with the smile.

“Yue-chan, when can I put the-“

It was when Junno came inside carrying a huge box with a big smile on his face. Unfortunately, he pushed Kame with the door. The boy’s eyes widened and he desperately tried to stay on both feet but it was too late. For the third time Jin and Kazuya landed on the floor, with the latter on top of the other, lips touching. This time their reaction was almost immediate and they got up instantly but they still were shocked enough to fell silent.

Everybody in the were staring at them with huge eyes. Only Yue got over the view quite quickly and took out her dices giving them to the boys. The result was obvious for her and shocking for the rest – Kame was lucky, again. Jin groaned while Kazuya was just staring at his dice.

“Not again! But why? We tried kissing already and it didn’t work right? Maybe it’s really about the falling?”

“I told you, Bakanishi, that’s impossible.”

“Then what?! Some little fairies are sprinkling us with some magic sand every time we’re landing on each other?” Yue looked at him with a raised eyebrow.

“I think I have to agree with Jin. It can’t be kissing, right?” She looked at Kame and walked towards the book, turning some pages.

“Actually, I think it IS kissing that changes you.”

“What? But how?” Kazuya asked surprised.

“I’m not sure yet but I’m close to figuring it out.” The boys looked at her. She turned back to them. “Just stay with each other for now. I and Junno will take care of the book, there’s not much left.”

The two boys nodded and before anyone could say something more, the door opened again and smiling Karen stepped into the office. She gave everyone a good morning greeting and without hesitation took Jin’s arm. Kame stepped aside trying to not bother the couple. The younger girl started pulling Akanishi outside. She smiled sweetly at Kame and invited him to tag along. She was trying to pretend that they were in a good relations. Yue was just eyeing her sister angrily while clenching her teeth together to not say something unnecessary.

TaNaka duet came back to practicing their song, Ueda was playing guitar in one of the rarely used rooms and Junno and Yue were translating the book, concentrating on every spell that had something in common with kissing and exchanging luck. Taguchi was smiling like always but he felt a little tensed. The girl next to him was in a really bad mood. It wasn’t maybe the wisest move but the boy decided to ask her about it.

“Ne, Yue-chan?” She looked at him annoyed. “Why are you angry? I thought that you would be happy that we have some new clues.”

“I am but Karen pissed me off and I can’t even do anything. Kame wants to deal with her by himself.” She explained turning the page and reading it.

“Um… she doesn’t look evil for me?” He asked carefully but the girl snorted.

“I will tell you something but if someone else gets to know about it, you’re dead, capisce?” The boy just nodded eagerly and the girl sighed more at peace now before looking down at the page. “Karen has a sharp tongue, just like me. The difference between us is that she is using it to hurt people’s feelings, to humiliate them. Kame was her scapegoat from the beginning. Sometimes you can even tell that she’s trying to hurt someone, for you it might sound like a normal conversation. Yesterday she said something to Kazuya. It wasn’t nice.”

“Really? Maybe he was wrong and she really just tried to be nice.” Yue shrugged her shoulders.

“Maybe…but only if saying that your guy friend is a perfect boyfriend material, even though he just wants to try having with another guy and suggesting that you had a plastic surgery to be prettier than a girl is considered being nice.”

She looked at him but Junno just opened his mouth in shock. His reaction was quite amusing in her mind. She was a mean girl, not as mean as her younger sister of course, but enough to smirk at Taguchi’s expression. They both came back to work more relaxed than before. Yue had to admit that the usually annoying and too cheerful for her liking boy was a good company and a hard worker. She started to enjoy spending time with him.

Suddenly her smirk disappeared. She was intensely reading the page for a few minutes. Finally her eyes slightly widened. Junno, who was observing the girl from the corner of his eye, stopped his work and turned his head fully towards Yue.

“Taguchi-kun, I think we found it.”

She said and pointed at the page in front of her where a weird inscription written in bold letters was visible: “How to make an elephant fly and a bird swim in mud.”
 

Jin, Karen and Kame went to a mall. At first the three of them were just walking around and looking for new clothes collections. It was the girl’s idea but this time Kazuya didn’t mind much. He liked shopping from time to time and being a man let him at least for a while disappear from Karen’s sight. After all she couldn’t walk into the men's dressing room.

It was a nice afternoon. Kazuya wouldn’t tell a lie saying that it was the best time spent with Karen he have ever had. But everything good is coming to an end at some point. They were walking slowly along a line of shops when Karen’s eyes stopped on the poster displayed in front of the cinema. The girl squealed happily and dragged the boys closer to read the details. It was a new romantic comedy.

“Akanishi-kun, can we watch it? Please! I’ve been waiting for this movie for a long time!” She made a puppy eyes.

“Yeah, sure. Do you mind Kame-chan?” Jin asked the boy politely but he agreed, hoping that he won’t be sitting next to the girl. Karen on the other hand wasn’t happy with the way the older boy addressed Kazuya. “Okay, I will go buy the tickets. Wait for me here.” When Jin went away the girl turned to face Kame.

“You know, I really thought that you will get a hint.” She squinted her eyes and made a step forward. “Akanishi Jin is mine, do you get it? I won’t let some girly boy take him away from me. Besides what is it? Some strange joke? Two sizes too big sweater, nerdy glasses and this old ugly backpack.” She grimaced.

“It’s… It’s not your business…” Kame whispered a little scared of her. The girl snorted.

“Of course it’s not my business. But I can’t understand how someone can actually like you. A walking bad luck.” Kame’s eyes widened at the sight of the girl’s cruel smirk, the same one she always wore when trying to make him cry. “You may look better now but you’re still the same little guy that can’t take care of himself. A jinx. Tell me, how many people’s lives you invaded with your existence? Is it nice to use everyone around you, to made them responsible for you? Do you think that my sister likes to always patch up your mistakes, to follow your every step just so she can catch you when you fall? Now you want to destroy another person’s life?” She laughed seeing that Kame’s eyes were getting wet, a soft sobs escaping his lips. “Stop crying! You’re just a useless, valueless, troublemaking piece of trash! You should just disappear and even better if you were never born! You little…”

“ENOUGH!”

A sudden voice interrupted her. The girl turned around to see angry Jin staying just a meter away from her. Karen’s eyes widened just like Kame’s slightly red ones. He hadn’t seen Jin approaching them at all. Akanishi was furious. When he had met Karen, he thought that she’s just a typical teenage girl. He didn’t mind her and he was willing to take care of her since the girl was their manager’s younger sister but he would never thought that she was such a ! Yue wasn’t the nicest girl in the world, everyone knew that, but her sister was just a cruel witch that would sell her own soul just to have what she wants.

“I thought that you’re a nice, sweet girl but now I see that you’re just selfish princess that likes to humiliate others.”

“N-no, Akanishi-kun! It’s not that! Let me explain!” She tried to beg.

“Shut up! I don’t care about your explanation! You hurt Kame and I won’t forgive you for that! We’re going back to the studio! Yue will know what to do with you.” Jin tried to grabbed the girl’s arm but she pulled it away and ran away in the crowd. “Karen! Come back here!” He tried to call the girl but a small voice behind him, stopped him.

“Don’t. She will come back. She lives at Yue’s place but there are her friends somewhere around here.” Kame said not looking at the other boy and trying hard not to cry.

“Are you okay, Kame-chan? If I knew that she treats you like this…” Jin ran a hand through his hair while the smaller boy just shook his head.

“There was nothing that you could do. It was always like this.” Kame sniffed and wiped off his eyes with his too long sleeve. “She’s right. I’m just a nuisance for everyone. It would be better to just lock me somewhere so that I wouldn’t be a problem anymore.” Before the boy could say something else he felt a pair of arms closing around him in a hug.

“You’re not a problem. If you were, Yue wouldn’t care about you so much, but she’s your best friend and she loves you. Your family loves you too. Heck! Even the whole AT-TUN likes you!”

“Really?” Kame looked up at Jin with big puppy eyes, way cuter than Karen’s.

“Yes.”

“Even you? Even though I gave you my bad luck?” Jin smiled at the younger.

“Even though you gave it to me, I still like you. You’re way too cute for anyone to not like you.” He answered truthfully and wiped off the remaining tears that stayed on Kame’s cheeks. “Now stop crying, put a smile on your face and we’re going to see the movie. It would be waste not to go since I’ve already bought tickets for it, ne?”

Akanishi gave Kazuya a lopsided smile that cheered the boy up. None of the two really understood what happened between them but none of them cared anyway. They felt comfortable in each other’s presence, nothing else mattered. On their way to the cinema Jin got a call from Yue who asked them to come to the office at 9 PM. She didn’t say exactly why she needed them so the boys just shrugged it off and decided to enjoy the movie.
 

When Kame and Jin finally got to the studio, the rest of AT-TUN and Yue were already waiting for them. Junno looked confused, like he just couldn’t believe what triggered exchanges between his friends. Yue on the other hand looked pleased and worried at the same time. It was a weird mix, and Kame knew it. His best friend rarely was torn between being happy and biting her nails from nervousness.

“So… why did you call us?” Jin asked when nobody else intended to say something.

“Well, we found out what this is all about. Your lucks, I mean.” She answered staring at them intently.

“…And~?” Akanishi tried to urge the girl to go on.

“And~ it really is kissing.” She said and the two boys looked at each other as confused as Junno at the moment. “If I’m not wrong, the kiss changes your lucks back and forth.”

“But we tried kissing before and it didn’t work.” Kazuya couldn’t really understand, just like the rest of the guys.

“Because not every kiss works.”

“What do you mean?” Ueda asked furrowing his eyebrows.

“Apparently the kiss can’t be negative.” They looked at her weirdly. “I will try to explain. When two people are kissing normally, they are happy – a positive feeling. When Bakanishi kissed Kame in the studio a few days ago, he was angry. Being angry means that he had negative feelings so the kiss didn’t work.”

“…Okay, I think I get it but what with the other kisses? I don’t remember being happy.” Jin asked and Yue rolled her eyes.

“Have you listened? I said that only negative feelings don’t work. When you and Kazuya kissed, both of you were confused. I would say that you were neutral in this, and neutral isn’t negative.”

“So we can turn back to normal just by kissing?” Kazuya asked.

“Yes but there can’t be any bad feelings towards the other person. Otherwise you will stay like this until someone will make you kiss by accident.”

The boys looked at each other again. The atmosphere became tense and awkward in an instant. They both knew what they had to do but it wasn’t especially easy. There was no problem in staying positive or at least neutral, Jin liked kissing Kame even if he wouldn’t say it out loud, and Kazuya was thinking about the older boy’s lips for the past two days. Then where was the problem? Well, Jin felt just uncomfortable kissing a guy in front of his friends and the manager. The younger boy had a more serious issue. He was confused; confused about his own feelings. Of course he was happy that they would be back to normal but at the same time he knew that it might be their last meeting.

Finally they calmed down their quite wildly beating hearts and closed the gap between them. This kiss was different from the rest. It still was quite short but for the first time both of them responded equally. When the kiss ended, they stood there for a moment looking at each other but Kame shied away quickly, avoiding Jin’s eyes. Without a word, Yue gave them the dices. When they threw them nobody had doubts that the spell reversed itself – Kazuya had his bad luck back.

“Okay, everything’s like it was before.” Yue announced. “Bakanishi, I see you tomorrow at 8 o’clock in the studio. You haven’t practiced for far too long and we have only a few days left. Ueda-kun, you can come at 11 – rest properly. Koki, Maru, Junno, you too. Great work.” She praised them and went away to clean her desk.

“So… that’s it. It’s over.” Jin said.

“Yeah…” The room became silent but Koki couldn’t stand it.

“Kame-chan?” The boy looked up at the rapper. “We will see each other again, right?” Kazuya smiled brightly at him, he was happy that someone wants him around, even after the mess he caused.

“Of course, Koki-kun! Yue loves my songs, I will visit you when she buys another one.”

“Well, we will surely miss having you around. You’re as cheerful as Taguchi but your smile isn’t as creepy as his.” Ueda pointed at the tallest member of AT-TUN. The said boy just pouted but almost immediately his smile returned even wider than before. Everyone laughed.

“I should probably go now. It’s late and knowing me, I will get lost on my way home.” The youngest boy said with a small smile.

“Then… see you later, Kame-chan.” Maru said and patted the boy’s shoulder in a friendly way, Ueda nodded while Junno and Koki hugged Kazuya tightly. When the boy turned around towards the door, Jin quickly grabbed his arm, to stop him.

“I just wanted to say sorry for wasting your chance for a job.” Kame shook his head.

“It’s okay, there will be another occasion. I’m really stubborn, just wait and observe. One day I will be the main songwriter for the biggest artist that ever walked in this world.”

Kame smiled widely infecting with it the whole AT-TUN. When Akanishi released the youngest boy’s hand, Kazuya said goodbye to all of them and exited the room. AT-TUN were happy at the perspective of seeing the boy again, they were also relieved that he didn’t lost his high spirit, being as bold and simple-minded as always. None of them saw how Kame’s smile faltered slightly showing a sadness in the boy’s heart.

Everyone went home. Only Yue stayed in her office trying to clean the mess they left. She wasn’t aware that Junno stayed behind waiting for the girl. Taguchi came closer to the door and wanted to step inside with a big smile to volunteer in taking Yue home. He was about to knock, when she turned around. Thankfully, she hadn’t seen him. The manager leaned on her desk, crossed her arms and looked outside the window with bittersweet smile. It was an unexpected action and Junno decided to observe her without being found out. He couldn’t be more surprised when the girl started talking to herself.

“Damn those two.” She sighed heavily. ”They are so blind. It’s pissing me off. Well, let’s just hope that they will realize what they feel before it’s too late.” The silence that followed next got disturbed by a call. “Hello?... Yes, it’s me… What?... I understand, I will be there in a few minutes. Thank you.”

She ended the call quickly and put on her jacket. Grabbing her keys she made her way towards the door. Junno jumped aside in the last moment. He followed the girl that was angrily muttering something under her breath. Before she exited the building, Junno heard only one strange line coming out from that made him stop in his tracks with a wide eyes.

“Why the police has to work 24/7?!”
 

Karen stood with a lowered head on the pavement. Next to her Yue was tapping her foot in annoyance, waiting for a bus that would take her sister home. The call from before surprisingly hadn’t had any connection to Kame but to Karen. When the girl had run away from Jin and Kame, she went to one of her friends in Tokyo. Unfortunately, this friend of her wasn’t the best influence. They both went to the mall and ended up being accused of stealing in the shop. Karen was released only because she apologized for her mistake and the owner decided to drop the charges.

Finally Karen looked up at her sister. She couldn’t help but flinch, Yue was never as angry as she was now; her eyes were sharp, eyebrows furrowed and her hands were clenched into fists. The girl hadn’t said anything to the younger sister since she had picked her up from the police station.

“…I’m sorry. It was bad…” Karen whispered but fell silent at the sight of her sister’s face.

“You should have thought about it before you decided to steal.” Yue turned her whole body towards the other girl. “What were you thinking? I thought that you’re wiser but I see I was wrong. Do you expect me to just wave it off and forget? Then you’re wrong. Do you know how many people you put in troubles with your irresponsible behaviour? Me, uncle, aunt, our parents and our siblings. I wouldn’t be happy seeing you behind the bars, they wouldn’t be either. You should understand that we care about you and it would worry us if you suddenly disappeared.” The girl scolded her younger sister, but the younger girl stopped listening at the word ‘worried’.

“What about you?” Yue looked at her surprised. ”Would you be worried about me?” Karen was bravely staring in her sister’s eyes.

“Baka! Of course I would be worried. And I was just a few hours ago! You’re my younger sister. No matter how annoying you are or how much I hate you for hurting my friends I still love you so much.” Yue crossed her arms.

“But… But you’re always looking only at Kamenashi! When we were younger you were always with him…” Karen responded but avoided her sister’s gaze.

“Huh… Listen.” Yue motioned Karen to sit next to her on the bench. “I was spending all my time with Kame because he’s my best friend. You know how I am, before him I didn’t have anyone beside our family. Kazuya is clumsy, dangerous to some point and simple-minded. Do you remember how he looked like in a second grade of high school?”

“Yes, but he changed, right?” She answered not sure what her sister wanted to tell her.

“Right, and it makes things even worse. I was taking care of him because he needed it. People were bullying him everywhere. When his appearance changed, he became more cheerful then. Normally you would think that since it’s better you can let go for a while but that idiot is blind. Someone would kidnap him or come inside his flat and he wouldn’t even think about this person as suspicious.”

“Is that even possible?” Karen’s eyes widened.

“Like you can see, it is. But I wasn’t hanging out with Kame all the time just because I wanted to protect him.” She met Karen’s eyes, her own now softer. ”Kazuya, even though he can easily destroy everything, has something inside him that makes people happier just by looking at him. I admire him for his energy to go forward. He’s always standing up after he falls, he doesn’t care if something is possible or not, if he wants something he will try his hardest to achieve it. Don’t you think that he’s cool, never giving up?” Karen looked at her knees thinking about all the times she saw her sister’s best friend; finally she started to understand.

“…He is… Why is he doing it? Isn’t it a waste of time?” Yue shrugged her shoulders.

“For me or for you it might be but not for him. Being with him really makes you think about stuff. When I see his smiling face I can’t help but wonder what makes him so happy. His answers don’t make sense most of the time but the damn brat makes you happy about the life you have. If I hadn’t met him back then, I think I would be in a deep depression right now.”

Yue laughed heartily and Karen smiled lightly. She remembered the old times before Kame appeared in their lives. Yue was a gloomy girl, she hasn’t spoken to anyone and ignored her siblings but that changed when she befriended Kamenashi. When Karen came back from Los Angeles, Yue was having fun with their brothers, she was smiling more and talked to everyone. Karen wondered why she despised Kame? It took her a while but she could finally understand it. The boy made her older sister open up and Karen could just watch from afar. She was jealous of their friendship.

The bus arrived and Karen went inside. She chose a sit next to the open window to talk to her sister.

“I want to come back to Tokyo.” Yue looked at her surprised. “I still need to apologize to Kazuya-nii-san and I want to spend more time with you.”

“You know I’m busy with stuff, right?”

“Yes, I know. But don’t you think that Kazuya-nii-san will have a new protector soon?” She gave Yue a lopsided smile.

“…You’re right. But only if those two idiots will get it finally.” Yue smirked lightly.

“Then help them. Bye, bye. I will come soon.”

Karen said her goodbye and closed the window when the bus departed. Yue stood at the bus stop waving after her sister. She was happy that Karen changed her attitude but there was still a long way ahead of them. Though she was right about one thing, Yue needed to help Jin and Kame if she wanted to sleep peacefully again.