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“Come on the bed, Jun! Stop doing that. Just stay here with me. I feel guilty letting one of our nation’s top idols sleep on the floor.” Mao told Jun as she fluffed the pillows on the king-sized bed.

“No. I’m fine sleeping here. I don’t want to let you feel uncomfortable with me being there.”

“Oh don’t be ridiculous Jun-kun! Stop with the excuses. I know you’re tired from filming earlier. The best thing you can do to relax right now, given our circumstances, is to sleep on the bed.”

“You sure about this Mao-chan?”

“Yeah. Unless you’re trying to me or anything?” Mao chuckled as she .

“Nah… I’m not in the mood.” Jun replied, laughing as well. Dragging the blanket back to the bed, he obliged to her wishes and climbed on top.

Mao started playing with her phone. Jun, on the other hand, grabbed one of his books and his reading glasses, and then started to read. Silence befell upon them.

If an outsider were to look at them at this moment, he/she would be amazed at how cool and calm they seemed to be despite the circumstance. Beneath their façades, the two were actually fidgeting inside. They cannot concentrate with what they’re doing. In fact, being on the same bed in a hotel room makes Jun and Mao very conscious of each other. But being actors, of course they won’t let these emotions show.

“I can’t believe our friends!” Mao decided to break the silence. “I never thought they’d play this trick on us.”

“I agree.” Jun laid the book on the side table. “They clearly took advantage of us being drunk.”

Earlier that evening.

“Yosh! Now that they’re complete, let’s play a game!” Aiba declared with his usual ‘high tension’ act.

Surprisingly almost everyone agreed to Aiba’s suggestion. Haruna Ai screamed in delight. The Oguri couple raised their glasses in agreement. Ikuta Toma and Kasehara Hideyuki, being already drunk, shouted “Hai!” in unison.  Sho, Nino and Ohno even showed interest in what’s going to happen. The only ones being clueless were Jun and Mao. But since the others were already hyped up, the two decided to just go with the flow.

“Ah! The King’s Game! The King’s Game! Let’s play that one!” Haruna Ai, also kind of drunk, proposed.

“Those in favor of playing the King’s Game say ‘ay!’” Aiba bellowed.

“Ay!” The majority answered.

“Then it’s settled. Ja… Let’s sit in circle. Mao! Jun! Come sit beside Ai-chan.” Aiba started arranging the things needed for the game. Since they were in the resort’s private bar, one would think that sticks would be impossible to find, especially sticks meant for playing the King’s Game. However, Haruna Ai just happened to pack these things in her luggage.

“Hai! Here are the sticks.” She handed them to Aiba and went back to her seat between the Jun and Mao.

“I assume everyone already knows the rules but just for formality I’ll state them. The King’s Game is played with these sticks. Each of them has a number at the bottom, except for one stick.” He shows them the specially marked stick. “This stick which you can see is painted red at the bottom and has a drawing of a crown denotes ‘The King’. Whoever picks this one will have the privilege to command a person or two people in this room to do anything he/she wants. The king will have to shout a number or two numbers and the person or the two people who happens to pick those will have to obey the king’s command at all cost. At the start of the game, only the one who picks the king’s stick must reveal that he/she picked it. The others will have to hide their numbers until the king declares the number/s and the dare/s he chooses. Is that clear?”

“Araa~ such a long speech Aiba-chan. Why don’t we just play already?” Nino stated as he sipped his drink.

“Fine. Here. Everyone pick one.” Aiba compiled the sticks in the special cup. He hands the cup to each of them. When everyone already has a stick on their hand, Aiba asked. “Who is the King?”

Nino raised his hand and the stick. “Hai. I’m the King!”

“Long live the king!” The others declared in unison.

“Jaa~ I command number three and number five to kiss each other full on the lips!” Nino smirked.

“As expected from Nino, he really makes every game interesting.” Sho remarked.

“Number three and number five, show yourselves to the king!” With all the kingly actions, Nino declared.

“Hai. Number three here!” Yamada Yu, now Oguri Yu lifted the stick to the air.

“Yosh! Number five!” Oguri Shun smiled and showed his stick as well. He grabbed Yu on the waist and forcefully kissed her.

“Boring… I was expecting others to do that dare.” Nino slumped back to his seat.

Before the place turned into a honeymooner’s nest, Aiba stopped the newlyweds. “Hai. Hai. That’s enough. You can continue that later. Let’s go on with the game.” He collected the sticks and put them back to the container. After mixing them up, he handed them over again to each one.

“So who is the king?”

“Hai! I’m the king!” This time it was Ikuta Toma who chose the special stick. “Hmm... What to do? What to pick? What to command?” He crossed his arms and legs, as if he’s in deep thought. Then, Ikuta Toma let out his dangerous smile. “I’m just continuing what Nino started… So I command number four to give number ten a ! Show yourselves to me, number four and number ten!”

“Kyaah~! I’m number ten!” Haruna Ai squealed in delight. “Please let number four be Arashi. Please let it be Arashi. Please let it be Arashi.” She clasped her hands together and chanted that spell.

“Anou…” Kasehara Hideyuki slowly raised his hand. “I’m number four…” He whispered which then let the others roar in laughter.

“Eh?!” Shock and disbelief filled Haruna Ai’s face.

“Oy! Number four go on with the !” Toma ordered, barely doing so because he was laughing so hard.

With a defeated and shy face, Kasehara Hideyuki attempted to walk ily towards Haruna Ai, earning cheers and bursts of laughter from the rest of the group. After he gave an awkward to the transvestite, he ran back to his seat, turning red as tomato.

“What a wonderful , Hideyuki-san. Let’s give him a round of applause, shall we?” Aiba teased. Clapping hands cheered the actor. “Yosh! Onto the next round.” He again collected the sticks and let each one of his friends pick.

“For the third round, who is the king?” Aiba shouted, now a bit tipsy.

“Yatta! I’m the king!” Haruna Ai stood up from his seat. “Now… for my revenge… What to do?” She paced back and forth the room. “Aha! Now for the ultimate command, I order number two and number seven to stay in a locked hotel room for three days!”

“Eh?! Is this even possible?” Mao protested.

“Change it. It’s against the rules.” Jun complained.

“Araa~ I don’t think I’ve broken any rules Jun-kun.” Haruna Ai declared in a cutesy manner. “Besides, I haven’t even called for the numbers I picked. But seeing your reactions,” She pointed at the two. “I assume one of you is number two and the other is number six.”

“But that command is absurd! We perfectly know that the both of us have appointments for tomorrow, right Jun-kun?”

“Mao-chan, the jimusho gave us a week leave from work.” Ohno sleepily told her.

“This was Kitagawa-san’s gift for us after giving them half a year of good work.” Sho added.

“Since we were only told of this earlier this day and we went directly to this place afterwards, we didn’t get to make any plans.” Nino pointed out.

“As far as I know, Mao-chan, you also do not have any work this week.” Yu smiled as she stated that fact.

“Well then, it’s settled! The command of our king is final.” Aiba declared.

At the snap of Aiba’s fingers, Shun and Sho grabbed each of Jun’s arms and dragged him out of the room.

“Oy! Oy! Let me go!” The youngest Arashi member struggled to move out his friends’ grasps. Seeing that Jun is resisting, Toma, Nino and Ohno even aided in seizing him.

“We don’t want to hurt you, Mao-chan. Remember this is just a game.” Haruna Ai grinned as she put a blindfold on Mao’s eyes. Hideyuki and Yu carefully escorted Mao out of the premises.

Upon reaching a special room that’s originally meant for the Oguri couple’s use, Jun and Mao were pushed inside. Of course that room happened to be locked from the outside, with the key conveniently hidden within Haruna Ai’s pocket.

“Oy! Let us go!” Jun banged the door, repeatedly.

The others just laughed in response. “It’s all part of the game. Just think of it as a reenactment of a scene in HanaDan. Remember the one where Makino and Domyouji were trapped in an elevator?” Shun, their fellow HanaDan cast, teased them even more.

“Yu-chan, let me out of here!” Mao pleaded.

Yu stood nearer at the other side of the door. “Gomen ne, Mao-chan. You will just have to endure the next 72 hours with Jun-kun.”

“Oy baka! What about food? You don’t expect us to starve for three days, don’t you?” Jun roared towards the other side.

“There’s plenty of food inside the refrigerator. Meals will even be brought to you through room service. That room is well equipped and is enough to make a couple last a week without stepping outside.” Shun stated.

“Ja~ Let’s proceed to the next round, shall we?” Aiba hinted. “Good luck to the both of you, Mao-chan and Jun-kun! Enjoy the dare!”

“Ureshii~ It’s like my favorite HanaDan scene is coming to life! Ganbatte Domyouji! Ganbatte Makino!” Sho couldn’t contain the fanboy inside of him.

“Oh boy! If only there were hidden cameras in that room, we could all see what’s going to happen to the two of you. But as far as I know there aren’t any, so be yourselves and have fun!” Ikuta Toma advised with that goofy grin he’s swooned girls with.

“Make sure to have a good rest, Mao-chan. Jun, don’t exhaust Mao-chan too much.” Ohno told them in the most natural way.

“Mao-chan, don’t worry. I won’t tweet anything that will happen in the next few days so be sure to enjoy it with Jun-kun.” Hideyuki informed them.

“Gomen ne. I just really wanted to go all out with this game. Don’t let my efforts go to waste! Make use of this time!” Haruna Ai chided.

“There are condoms inside the side table nearest the bed. Have fun, you two!” Shun shouted.

“Make sure to use them! I don’t want Mao-chan to get pregnant before I do. Ganbatte!” Yu added to her husband’s advice.

“Since almost everyone is already implying that the two of you will be doing something naughty, I propose a challenge. If by the end of three days nothing has happened between the two of you, I, Ninomiya Kazunari, pledge 20000 yen to each of you.” Nino truly loved games, especially bets.

“Is he serious?” Mao whispered to Jun.

“I guess so. Whenever money is concerned, Nino becomes serious.” Jun replied a fact.

“However in the event that the two of you give in to temptation and decided to engage in ual , then I shall take 20000 yen from the both of you. Sounds like a deal?” Nino waited for their answer.

“What shall we do? Should we even make a bet with him?” Mao didn’t know what to do with Nino’s proposition.

“Knowing Nino, he’d be a brat and pester us until we oblige to his suggestion. The best thing to do I guess is to go with the flow.” Jun stated. “Oy Nino! Fine! We take the challenge.”

“It’s a man’s word. When something really happens, you have to tell us. I take your word for it, Jun. Nevertheless, enjoy your less than 72 hours stay within each other’s company. Have fun!” And with that Nino’s last statement, Jun and Mao were left completely alone.