Excitement was running through her body. She felt her heart beating like crazy and tried to remind herself to keep breathing. Fay couldn’t believe it was finally happening. Her hands gripped the ticket in her hands even tighter. She was finally going to a Super Junior concert!

She had been saving up for over a year now, patiently waiting for concert dates. Honestly, she could’ve waited until they did a concert a little closer to home, but she’d always wanted to go to Japan, so it was a win-win really. She’d taken enough time off work so she could tour around after the concert, but she sort of wished she’d taken some time to arrive sooner as well. The jetlag was starting to get to her. Not that she was going to let that ruin anything. She was determined to make this a memory of a lifetime.

Fay was snapping pictures of the huge Tokyo Dome and the fans that were arriving. She’d already seen some amazing handmade signs and the craziest of outfits. Anything to attract SuJu’s attention during the concert. She was just checking some of the pictures when she felt several eyes on her. She looked up. A group of girls were staring at her. She smiled a little and focused her attention on her camera again. Even though she tried hard to ignore it, she could still feel them stare. It slightly worried her, but she was pretty sure she hadn’t done anything wrong or broken any unspoken rules among the ELF’s. At least, none she was aware of. It was the first time she met so many of them. She kept walking around, taking a few more pictures of the interesting SuJu-fanworld. Wondering if she should have taken two extra memory cards along instead of just the one.

“Hey, you.”

It were those girls again. Four of them, stopping right in front of her. The one who’d called out to her eyed her from head to toe. The entire situation was so awkward it made Fay cringe. “Didn’t I see you here yesterday?”

Fay nodded slowly.

“I was trying to find this place, so I wouldn’t get lost today.”

“You looked like a tourist, walking around with your nose buried in that map.”

An odd comment, but Fay didn’t detect any snarky intentions. The girl came across as the type who spoke out whatever went through her mind. Fay could handle that. Some of her friends were like that too.

“Well, I guess I am.”

The girls laughed. The awkward tension eased away immediately.

“You here alone, girl? Want to hang out with us?”

The girl pointed her thumb to the others.

“Sure, why not?”

“Great, I’m Chiyoko. And you may want to hang on to that map, because I wouldn’t know the first thing about finding my way in Japan.”

Fay looked at her curiously. She looked Japanese, her name certainly sounded like it, but she did speak English with an accent that sounded familiar. Chiyoko snickered at her intrigued expression.

“I’m a New Yorker. I’m staying with some relatives here.”

Fay nodded.

“This is Tina.”

A girl with short brown hair lifted her hand in greeting.

“She’s from Michigan, but lives in Seoul since her mother remarried. Lucky thing, she’s right at the source.”

A small grin formed on Tina’s face.

“Be glad, I get to update you with firsthand information.”

“True,” Chiyoko smiled. “This is Mai from Thailand. And Zoe from China. They’re inseparable. You’d think they’re sisters, but they’re not.”

“We’re working on that. If my dad marries her mom or my mom marries her dad, we could be sisters.”

Zoe grinned. Chiyoko rolled her eyes.

“Oh and when you hear them rattling to each other without using English, they’re gossiping about us.”

“Just about you,” Zoe answered seriously.

“And not always gossiping. Sometimes we cuss at you too,” Mai smiled evilly.

Fay chuckled at the warm teasing. She could tell this group was really close.

“So what’s your story, tourist?”

“I’m Fay. I’m from Belgium.”

“Belgium? Where the hell is that?” asked Mai.

Fay smiled.

“It’s a really, really small country in Europe.”

“Cool, Europe. You can help with all the arrangements the next time SuJu holds a concert there,” said Tina.

“Already decided that, did you?” Fay smiled.

“Off course,” Chiyoko chimed. “You’re part of the gang now.”

“I don’t have to get a tattoo, do I?”

They laughed.

“Don’t even go there! We’re still trying to convince Zoe not to.”

“Just a little one,” Zoe whined.

“No way could you stop at a little one,” answered Mai. “You’d try to fit the whole group on your body somehow.”

Zoe stared at her dreamily.

“Yeah, I would.”