"Wait!" Ikki was about to lose her patience with the world. Why were the good-looking ones always the ones that couldn't count either? Onew hadn't paid at all, and this pair had overpaid her in ten thousands of yen.

What had happened was this: In Taemin's haste to get back to the practice building, he had set down the entire roll of money that Onew had given him. Ikki had been forced to chase after eat-and-runs, thieves, forgetful couples, idiots, and sneaks that had not paid. This, however, was the first time she was running after someone because they had overpaid.

Am I an idiot? She wondered to herself. I'm in so much debt, I can barely cover my own costs as well as my grandparents' farm. Most shopkeepers in my position would just gratefully accept this money, right? Why do I have to run after these two imbeciles and return their money?

In her heart, filled with dissapointment in regret, Ikki already knew the answer.

They were fast, of course. The two of them dissapeared around a corner, and just as Ikki was about to match their pace, she saw someone completely unexpected.

"O-Onew?"

That was him, there was no mistake about it. He looked unusually worried, and he was dressed differently than he was this morning. Ikki almost slowed down, but then Onew dissapeared around the same corner as the idiot pair. She wondered if they had some sort of connection. Surely they couldnt all be running in the same direction, right? There were only a fixed number of coincidences that could occur in the real world. This wasn't some fiction made up by a senile old grandfather by the fireside.

She followed them almost two streets, shouting for them to stop. They didn't seem to hear her at all, and always kept ahead just enough so that they nearly dissapeared before she turned the corner and saw the back of Onew's head somewhere in the crowd. Ikki was glad that she had remembered to lock up the shop and scoop up the extra ten thousand yen. This was turning out to be a troublesome day.

.

"Onew, by the way, you never told us, if you, liked, her or not." Taemin gasped as they ran. The two of them were running alongside each other now, and Onew groaned mentally.

"Does it matter? We're late!"

"Don't you want to know our impressions of her?" Jonghyun threw back over his shoulder, having heard their exchange.

"No!" Onew shouted back. They were reaching the front of the building now, and only had three flights of steps to go. As they raced up the steps, Onew thought to himself that it was actually the other way around. He wanted to know what Ikki thought of his band members. But how could he ask? They had no connection to him. Maybe the next morning, when they were working together before rush hour, he would ask if she met anyone interesting yesterday.

Having decided that, Onew smiled a little to himself and then raced forward. They all raced inside, breathless, only to face their cold-faced manager with his arms folded and his foot tapping.

.

Ikki jogged to a stop before the building, looking up in confusion. The SM Talent Agency? What was that? She had never been to such a nice part of Tokyo before, even though it was only two streets away. Most of her business came from the opposite direction. Even with the thousand yen in her pocket, she suddenly felt very out of place. All the people here wore business suits and had briefcases.

She caught sight of glimting sunglasses, and her blood froze. Just like him. The reason why she was here in this crowded, frightening city.

Her hands shook, and suddenly Ikki felt very cold. She sank down on the side of the street, shivering despite the hot sun. Although it was rare now to think of him, Kagamine, she still lost it completely whenever she remembered.

It must've been two years ago, no, more than that, since he had appeared. Standing there in front of the farmhouse with his suitcase and impeccabe suit and sunglasses, looking just like one of those yazuka from the pictures, the bank broker had introduced himself using his last name - Kagamine.

Her grandparents had still been alive then. If not for the banker, then they still would be alive today.

So yes, she had told Onew a lie. About the idyllic Japanese farm up in the mountains with several acres of terraced land. It was true that chickens were raised there, but now the farmhouse was burned to ashes. Nothing was left of the precious library that her grandparents had always tended to. They were all dust motes and charcoal now. Nothing was left of the sutra scrolls that had been saved from a priest's temple several miles away. The temple had long ago fallen to ruin, but Ikki's grandfather still remembered some of the rituals that had been performed back in the day. He liked reading the sutras, often reciting them and making Ikki recite them just to learn the life lesson in it.

Gone. Gone. Gone.

All because of the loan they had taken, because they had wanted to send her off to a good college in Tokyo.

.

His ears still scalding from the tongue lashing that they had received, Onew looked out of the window, and then jumped with surprise. There was Ikki! She was crouching down on the steps, her head in her hands, seemingly oblivious to the strange looks she was receiving from the passerbys. Onew had no idea what she was doing there, unless she had followed Taemin and Jonghyun all the way from the shop. But no, then why was she still here?

Studying her for a longer time, Onew's other thoughts all flew away. She looked...frightened somehow. All this time, and she had still not looked up. There was something vulnerable in the way her shoulders hunched inward, like she was lost.

"Onew! What are you doing?!?"

Onew knew it was a bad idea, especially since it was right after a huge punishment too. But he looked at his dance instructor anyway, straight into his eyes, and said: "Pardon me, but I really need to go to the restroom."

.

"This was the deal," Kagamine had said, pushing a yellow envelope across the table. "You turn over all this land to me, for commercial development. In return, I free your family from all the loans and debt that you have accumulated in the past year. I may even let you live here, in this poor excuse of a farmhouse. All you need to do is sign."

Ikki had looked at him, so confident in herself, so unaware at that time. She had no idea what the world was like back then, no idea what the banker was capable of. "You get out of my sight," she said in slow, deliberate tones. "Right. Now."

Her grandparents were sick and tired of the banker's visits. And so was she. The loans had come with an unexpected interest rate, although Ikki was absolutely sure that the original document had said nothing of the sort. She had read it carefully, read it aloud to her grandparents, before signing it herself. Apparently, Kagamine had insisted on her signing it because her grandparents were from an ethnic group not recognized by the Japanese government. While she, on the other hand, had a father that was from the cities and was pure Japanese.

"This is your last chance, little girl. You don't understand how much trouble you're going to be in."

"GET OUT!" Ikki stood up, only 17 at the time, fists curling at her sides. She seized a broom from one of the corners of the room, so angry that she could have snapped the handle in two if she had wanted to. The banker looked at her through the sunglasses that he never took off, not even inside the room.

"Stubborn little -" he started.

"OUT, you RAT!" Ikki brought down the broom, chased out the banker as if he was a pest. She had been so sure of herself back then. So confident in the security of the farm that had always been her home. She had no idea.

The next morning, everything was in flames.

.

There were few employees around, but Onew still had to be careful. He made a straight shot for the front door before realizing that everyone would be able to see him that way. In a few seconds, he decided to take the side route instead - a rather complicated detour that was nothenless much less traveled.

He sprinted down the three flights of stairs, wondering what was wrong. A sense of urgency nearly made him trip. If not for the railing then Onew surely would have fallen flat on his face. Thankfully, he caught himself and went straight on without mishap.

He was almost to the door. All he had to do was rush past an open hallway...open the door....

And he was out! Frantically, Onew looked around. He knew he was running out of time. Cautiously, he made his way to the steps where Ikki was sitting, knelt down, and reached out.

Then he saw her tears.

.

Ikki didn't realize what was happening until she felt a finger wipe away her tears. She looked up, startled, only to see Onew's face swim into view. He looked at her silently, but didn't ask her any questions. Neither did she.

All of her worries and insecurities throughout the day, all of the pain from being called a "" straight to her face, all the unkindness she had received from the city, rose up inside of her and came out in the form of tears. She hadn't cried since a year ago, when she had first come to Tokyo. She had no idea back then.

Without a word, Onew sat down beside her, and then pulled her into a hug.

She normally wouldn't have cried. Not to anyone in this city. They were all too busy with their lives and their goals. They had school, they had jobs. No one had the time to pay attention to a strange shopkeeper working in a chicken teriyaki shop. But Onew was different. He didn't mind it when she apologized to her grandparents, her god, and even Kagamine over and over. He didn't ask her any questions, just held her in a long hug that was both comforting and supportive at the same time.

When Ikki tried to tell him that she should have died that day, he just shook his head and rocked her gently. The truth is this, she tried to say. That day, Ikki had been too proud to tell her grandparents what was in the yellow envelope.

"Is that nasty Akuma gone?" Her grandmother had asked. "I'm so proud of you, Ikki, getting rid of him like that. We raised you well."

"Good girl," Grandfather agreed. They were both in bed, both feeling more exhausted than usual lately. Ikki blamed it on the stress that Kagamine had been causing them. She beamed at them, told them that they were okay now.

Then, she had slipped off with the yellow envelope, to a grassy knoll away from the house, to read it.

The figures were shocking. They looked so official, emblazoned in print and with seals of officials all over it. Ikki turned from page to page, feeling her heart grow sicker with each turn. The banker must be an idiot to think that they would be able to pay all this! He had made it up, surely. No one could filch an entire family's wealth in a year just like that!

And so she had returned to find her home in flames.

The banker stood before her in his impecabble suit as always, not even the slightest bit purturbed. "I have your grandparents in the hospital right now." He said, sneeringly. "Turns out that smoke inhalation is quite damaging to the lungs. Hospital fees are quite expensive, you know. Do you think you can afford them right now as indebted as you are?"

That was when she had caved in. Too panicked to think, too panicked to even read properly, she had sat down in the back of a dirty white van with paper spread all across the seats. And she had signed. And signed, and signed and signed.

.

It only took her a few minutes to calm down. Onew knew that he was going to get into huge trouble, but that hardly seemed to bother him right now. He slowly let go of Ikki, regretting the fact that he had nothing to say. Not any words of comfort, or reassurance. Although she had told him, a long time ago, that she was doing fine, he had always known that it was a lie. Whatever had happened to her must have been a tragedy. And he, no matter how good he was at singing or dancing or performing, could do nothing substantial.

She looked up for the first time, drying her eyes and taking deep breaths. "Thanks."

"Everyone needs a shoulder to cry on, sometimes." Onew smiled, but inwardly he was unsettled. Why was she thanking him? He felt so helpless when she cried, completely unable to help or even relate. Why did the world have to be so cruel to this sweet, spirited girl? A surge of protectiveness rose up inside of him, made things dangerous.

She smiled back. "It's just been a hard day."

"Are you feeling better now?"

"Of course I am!" With a sprightly movement, she jumped up, and quickly wiped away any remaining tears on her face. Onew stood up too, a little slower. He reached out hesitantly and fixed her hair for her. Ikki pretended to straighten her clothes and let him do it.

"Um," Ikki coughed delicately and then met his eyes shyly again. "Are you still coming back to work tomorrow?"

Onew looked at her but didn't smile like he normally would. Instead, he murmured "Of course," in a absentminded way. She nodded, thanked him one more time, and then started back toward her shop.

"Wait."

She stopped, and he reached her in a few big strides. Onew pulled her back, stared into her eyes for a long moment before they kissed.

"Woaaaah~" Ikki stumbled backward, blushing massively.

"Take care," Onew said seriously.

She turned, almost as if she were trying to flee. "I - I will." And since she wasn't looking, Ikki ran straight into a lamp post. There was a dull vibrating sound, because Ikki had hit it so hard that the lamp post shook. Onew laughed aloud, waving goodbye. When she was gone, he slowly raised his fingers and touched his lips.

What was I thinking?!? He covered his mouth and still felt the sweet warmth in his blood from the kiss. If anyone saw us, anyone at all, I'd be in huge trouble! He stood there in a daze for several more moments, and then thought: I'd best be going back now. Turning back to the stairs, he made it up three steps, and then tripped.