It’s already past 8pm when the two girls arrived at their own apartment feeling a mixture of both exhaustion and relief. Rio felt her shoulders drop as soon as she stepped in their living room and deliberately collapsed her body onto the sofa. 

Amu did the same. She dropped everything on her hands and heard all of her belongings touch the wooden floor. Everything went quiet. Even on their way home, they wouldn’t even dare speak of what happened to them inside the Jimusho.

After a few minutes of getting back to their reality, both girls released a great big sigh and thanked heavens that they ended the day not labelled as “criminals”. 

“I never felt so nervous in my entire life!”, Amu spoke first and broke the silence in the apartment. She slowly looked at Rio and noticed that she was already looking at her. It was as if their eyes communicated when both of them laughed like there is no tomorrow. 

“I can’t believe we just did that! You really are something, Rio-chan!”, Amu wiped a bead of tear on her eye and couldn’t help but feel amazed on what they managed to pull off. Now, they can just look back at the experience and laugh it away. 

“You have no idea how much I trembled when I got separated from you!”, she reminisced her earlier interaction with Ryosuke and shivered cold, “I met with Ryosuke, by the way”, she continued and piqued her friend’s interest. This is a name Amu knows very well since Rio idolised the said man for years. The younger girl leaned in closer and rested her arms on the arm rest of the sofa, waiting for Rio to give full details. 

“Spill! Is it like the way you imagined it?”

Rio puffed her cheeks and felt the urge to pull herself up to get a glass of water, “The guy hates me!”. 

“Eh? How is that possible?”

“I met a grumpy version of Yamada Ryosuke”, she started. She deliberately skipped the part where she’d seen him half for another day, “I feel for him though. Apparently, he’s getting threats and hate mails... and stalkers too! These idols must get through a lot”.

“I see. It’s too bad we can’t do anything for them”, she sympathise. She read Rio’s expression and knew exactly what she was thinking. She noticed how her face dropped as if disappointed for being unable to protect Ryosuke from these unwanted messages. Amu shook the older one before she gets any more crazy ideas of going back to the Jimusho. “But at least you got to see him, right? That’s one ticked off your bucket list”, she mused before finally getting a smile from Rio. 

“How about you? Did you see any idols?”, it is now Rio’s turn to ask. She sat next to Amu with a glass of water still on her hand. She took another sip and waited for the highlights of her day. 

“Like you, most of my day is sorting out costumes and sound systems”, she recalled but found herself smiling after a familiar someone flashed on her mind. This was not gone unnoticed by her best friend who squealed right next to her. 

“Ohh! I know that smile! Who is the lucky guy?”

“Ehh? It’s not like that”, she shook her head aggressively, “He’s one of the backup dancers of Jump”.

“Backup dancer? You were assigned to help Best’s rehearsals, right?”, she said, referring to the older members of Hey! Say! Jump. Amu nodded once before turning herself sideways to face her friend. 

“I tried to stay away from the members as much as possible to avoid getting caught. Besides, dating a celebrity might be more trouble than its worth”, she sensibly explained, “His name is Arioka Daiki”. 

Rio wished she didn’t take a big sip when she heard Amu utter the name of her newly acquainted friend. Rio felt herself choke on her drink and could’ve sworn that water came out of her nose. 

“Rio-chan are you okay?”, Amu quickly ran to her friend’s rescue and patted her back to relieve a block in . 

“What did you say his name was?”, Rio cleared her airway, her curiousness grew by the second. She grabbed both of Amu’s upper arms and shook her lightly. 

“Arioka Daiki”

“No way! Wait! Wait here”, she pulled her mobile phone and showed her a photo of Daiki from Google, “Is this him?”.

The girl squinted her eyes to see and immediately recognised the photo Rio showed her. 

“Yes, do you know him?”

“HE’S A MEMBER OF JUMP!”, Rio explained almost in a shout out of her excitement. Her best friend had a close encounter with Arioka Daiki! 

“EHHHH? But why would he say he’s a backup dancer?”

“Not sure... did you by any chance tell him your “dating-a-celebrity-may-be-more trouble-than-its-worth” lecture?”, Rio asked and released the tight hold on her shoulder, “Maybe he doesn’t want you to lose interest?”. 

“Hmm, he did see me trying to hide away from the other members”

“So... did you like him?”, Rio teased, nudging the girl and almost danced with her shoulders as she did so. They’ve been friends for a few years now and this is the first time Amu had shown any interest to a guy. 

Amu smiled at this, “It’s nothing like that, Rio-chan. He saw me looking clueless so he probably just want to do something nice. Besides, it’s not like I’m going to see him again”, she replied and somehow felt disappointment. 

“Maa, at least your encounter with Dai-chan is nice. I should’ve stayed away from Ryosuke too”, Rio huffed once thinking that her first and last encounter with Ryosuke will be remembered as a disaster. 

——

The two girls finally had the energy to move on from one heck of a crazy day and decided to wash up. 

“You can go first”, Rio offered and the younger one took it. Amu went inside her room to clear the stuff in her bag when she heard her best friend mumbling as if in panic in the adjacent room. Having thin walls in their apartment, Amu already knew that something was wrong. She quickly opened Rio’s door only to see her friend’s defeated look after rummaging her backpack. 

“What’s wrong?”

“I’m dead!!”, Rio allowed her bottom half collapse on the carpet before rummaging her bag once again. She turned to her pockets, her jacket and even her bra to look for the mysterious missing item, “No no no! It can’t be!”.

“What are you looking for, Rio-chan?”

“My card holder! It has my hospital ID badge and my credit cards! I must’ve dropped it in one of the rooms in the jimusho”

“EHHHHH?!”

“If someone found it, they’ll know that I trespassed and they might investigate!”, Rio felt her hands tremble, thinking of the worst, “What if they go to the hospital and tell them? I don’t even have my license yet! I’ll lose my job! I have to go back and look for it before someone sees!”. 

Amu tried to calm the older one down but also struggling to think coherently, “No no no! If you go back, it’s like going back to the crime scene”. 

“But...”, Rio paused and felt the urge to bang her head onto the nearest wall. “I have the worst luck”, she thought, cursing her bad decision. She even drag Amu into this!

“First thing tomorrow, we’ll go to the jimusho to find it”, Amu sensibly said, “Let’s just hope no one finds it before we do”. 

——

*Next day*

At exactly 6am, Amu and Rio sneaked inside Johnny’s jimusho for the second time to retrieve Rio’s card holder. Rio begged heavens that no one had accidentally picked it up and use it against her. It was lucky that both of them kept their staff uniform from the day before to disguise as someone authorised to enter the building. 

“I’ll go with you so we can get out quicker”, Amu dreads the idea of being separated again so she suggested to stick together. The older one agreed and tracked every room she was in the day before. 

Both girls thought to start in the main dressing room where Rio spent most of her day. They were not expecting anyone to be in at this hour but was surprised upon seeing 9 people already fixing