"You did what?"

Cool, brown eyes gazed at him, and a slight smirk graced the woman's features. She'd pulled her long, dark hair back into a loose . . . something. Sakano wasn't sure and didn't really care. He had to be sure he heard her right, which he felt absolutely certain that he had.

"I said I emailed Eiri with a proposition," she answered. "And I said I couldn't wait to meet his lover. I even invited them to stay with me and husband. That's all."

"You emailed him about this movie you're working on," Sakano accused, his anger ebbing some. He really couldn't stay mad at her. She had a slightly charming air about her and she had a strange habit of finding ways to put him at ease.

To his accusation, her smirk grew.

"Of course," she replied flippantly. "I even asked Eiri to talk to his boyfriend about possibly working on a song for the soundtrack. I'm using local bands so . . ."

"You should talk to the Shacho about Bad Luck being on the soundtrack," Sakano informed. "After all, he does have to give his blessing to the idea."

"I know," she winked. "I'm sure he won't mind, either. After all, the band's going to be here and recording with my band for the competition, right? What's one more song for us to record. Besides, it could be fun to see what we come up with. Wouldn't you agree, producer man?"

Sakano only stared at her. The last thing he wanted to do was concede a point to her. She'd been rather flippant about a lot of things lately. He had to admit, though, that she had a point. His stance relaxed a little as he nodded.

"Hai. It would," he grudgingly admitted. He may have been able to not remain angry at her but he wouldn't sound overly enthusiastic, either, even if she did have a point. Out of habit, he plucked his glasses from his face and began to clean them, and he only looked up when she started to laugh.

"Relax, Sakano-san," she murmured, bowing as she took a step towards the door. "Everything will work out just fine. You'll see."

She winked once more then left. Sakano merely shook his head.

He'd never understand the American woman, not for as long as he lived.

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"So let me get this straight," Hiro stated, cutting Shuichi off because his best friend could get too overly excited. Despite his slightly calmer approach to things, Shuichi could still get . . . bouncy over something new that enticed him. "Yuki gets an email from a friend of his in America and she wants Bad Luck to perform for the soundtrack?"

"Yes," Shuichi nodded, practically bouncing in place. "The movie's already in production and she wants us to go there to see how things are done. We might even get a guest slot!"

"Wouldn't that cut into our recording schedule?" Hiro frowned. To that, Suguru shook his head.

"Not necessarily," the youth replied. "NG does have a recording studio in New York. I'm sure it's not that far from . . . where did she say she was filming?"

"Philadelphia," Shuichi answered. "She lives there so that's where she set the movie. Or at least, that's how Eiri made it sound."

"Yeah, it isn't that far," Suguru murmured thoughtfully. "I'd have to check distances to be sure but it'd only be a few hours' drive to get to either place. Has she even heard our music?"

"I think so . . . I'm not sure, though," sighed Shuichi. He quickly sat down. Hiro thought that there was more to it than what the vocalist was saying. However, he didn't want to call Shuichi out on it just yet. Suguru had asked a legitimate question, after all.

"You think so?" Suguru echoed. Shuichi nodded again.

"Yeah . . . again, I'm not sure . . . Eiri says she's a big music fan so it's hard to say what she has heard and what she hasn't. He even said something about her having a band of some kind, something that she does for fun."

"She has a band for fun?" Hiro raised an eyebrow at that. "What does she do for a living if the band is for fun?"

"She's a writer," Shuichi said, giving him a strange look. "And a good one, too. Eiri says she's written a lot of different things over the years, including screenplays and novels. She even can write lyrics."

"Did Eiri say what her name is?" Suguru inquired.

"Yeah. It's Torie Cronkhite."

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Tohma glanced at his clock then sat down behind his desk. On his right sat the paperwork for the music competition he enrolled Bad Luck in. On his left sat a photocopied version of the manuscript that Torie O'Connell had sent to him along with her request for the trio to record a song for the soundtrack. Everything had fallen into place.

He liked it when everything fell into place. He liked it even better when they did because of something he did but this time . . . well, even he had to make an exception every now and again.

'I'll have to call Ryuichi,' he thought idly. 'Let him know Bad Luck's going to be in the U.S. for a while. I'm sure he wouldn't mind dropping in on them.'

He glanced at his clock once more. In a few more minutes, Bad Luck would be walking through his office door. Their vacation would be at an end in a few more days and he wanted them to spend that time wisely. Then he'd have a nice, long chat with his wife about the two of them accompanying the band to New York. He figured that she'd enjoy it. After that . . .

'After that, I'll probably be dealing with Eiri,' he smirked to himself. 'It's been driving him crazy, wondering what I've been up to these last few weeks. I'm sure of it.'

The sound of voices outside his door caught his attention. Tohma adjusted his hat. K led the band in, just as the two of them had discussed. Immediately, the band sat before him, their postures straight yet respectful. K simply lounged on his office couch. Tohma smiled.

It was time for his plans to be unveiled.

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Eiri brought his cigarette up to his lips and took a long drag from it. Then he let the stick rest between his lips as he started to unplug his laptop.

He'd already given Mizuki his latest manuscript so that gave him some time until his next deadline. If he was lucky, he hoped to finish up a couple of the other pieces he had floating on his computer. He wanted to have a few books out there before the next book tour . . . which would quite possibly take place once he returned to Japan.

Shuichi would be on tour as well. The band would be recording its new album in New York and it would debut there first. The album itself would be recorded with a backing band from the U.S. A few weeks later, it would be released in Japan. That's the plan that Tohma had given to the trio when the band had met with him earlier that day.

There had been more, though. Shuichi had practically been bouncing off the walls after he'd come home, and Eiri knew why.

After the band finished recording the new album and had released its first single, they'd be in a musical competition. They'd be flying to Las Vegas for the event, and they'd be up against some rather tough competition. According to Shuichi, one of the other bands entered was a female quintet from Los Angeles. The female band was one that they'd both heard of and one that Eiri cringed in thinking about. He hated their bubble-gum sound and thought their lyricist was worse than Shuichi – which was saying something, considering he knew first-hand at how his lover continued to improve. Shuichi seemed rather . . . indifferent towards their music, which was something that Eiri found odd. The vocalist very rarely remained indifferent towards any particular musician or band. He often looked for inspiration from any source he could get it but not this band. When Eiri had asked him about it, Shuichi had merely shrugged and said, "They're not really my style."

'He's growing up some,' Eiri thought fondly, a light smile touching his lips. 'I never thought I'd hear him say something like that.'

Truth of the matter, though, was Shuichi had said it. His words caused Eiri to wonder exactly how his lover would react to someone like Torie O'Connell.

'I'll find out soon enough,' he told himself as he finished packing up his laptop - the one that Shuichi had bought for him, incidentally. Then he flicked the ashes off the tip of his cigarette.

It was going to be an interesting journey to the U.S., to say the very least.

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Suguru flipped through the hardback novel that he'd picked up at the airport gift shop, his curiosity about Eiri's author-friend in need of being satisfied. After they'd had their own little band meeting/practice session and had talked with Tohma, he'd gone home and had done a search on Torie Cronkhite.

He'd heard of her before but only because of a movie that had been released in both Japan and America. Tohma had taken him and Mika to the movie premiere party, but Suguru couldn't recall if the authoress had been in attendance that night or not. Other things had happened around that time, things Suguru didn't want to even think about.

Banishing the thoughts before they could even begin to bother him, Suguru went back to the search he'd conducted. It had been more than fruitful in terms of works. There had even been some interesting tidbits about the American woman, including a piece of information regarding the movie that she was currently filming. However, Suguru had been more interested in her published pieces and to find out what had been translated and what had not.

After he'd finished his search, he'd made a list . . . a rather short list. Not all of the authoress's works had been translated into Japanese. Then he'd done a little bit of shopping. The flight to New York promised to be a long one, after all, and he'd rather have something enjoyable to do on the way.

'Might as well get started,' he thought, getting comfortable in his seat. He flipped the book back to the first page and began to read . . .

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K glanced around the first-class section of the jet to make sure that everyone was doing all right. Long flights had a tendency to do strange things to people and he didn't want to have to separate anyone. He'd had to the last time he'd gotten Bad Luck aboard a plane. It hadn't been pretty, especially after Suguru and Shuichi had thrown their food at each other.

Of their own accord, his eyes landed on the vocalist. The younger man had almost fallen asleep instantaneously after the plane had taken off. Longer flights did that to the singer for some reason.

Next to Shuichi sat Eiri Yuki. The novelist had his laptop out and had begun working on what K figured to be another manuscript. K shook his head. In his opinion, the author had a nasty habit of working himself to death. It wasn't healthy.

'But then it really isn't my business,' he mused, his gaze traveling to the rest of the band. Both Hiro and Suguru had stuck their noses into books. 'It's Eiri's and Shuichi's. They're the ones who have to deal with each other . . . except when it comes to Bad Luck's music.'

Turning back around in his seat, K found himself musing over the meeting he and the band had had with Tohma a few days ago. It had gone over surprisingly well, by his estimates. He had half-expected, though, for Shuichi to throw a fit about needing a backing band for the new album and for the competition. Instead, the singer had readily agreed and that had shocked the blond-haired man, perhaps a little more so than what it really should have. He had noticed that Bad Luck had been trying new things in their practice sessions before.

Then K quickly shrugged it off and leaned back in his seat. As long as Bad Luck made great music, he didn't really care. He'd be their manager until they decided to call it quits . . . or his death.

Whichever would come first.

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Shuichi let out a yawn then stretched himself out as best as he could. They had about another twenty minutes before their plane landed in New York and he needed to wake up. Rubbing his eyes, he glanced at his lover.

Predictably so, Eiri continued to type away at whatever it was that he'd started. It was one of those mysterious manuscripts he hadn't allowed Shuichi to see just yet. Why, Shuichi wasn't entirely sure.

Of course, Shuichi didn't entirely mind. There were song lyrics and compositions that he had never shown Eiri. Hiro hadn't even had a glimpse at them. They were personal and were about things he felt incapable of talking about.

As he watched Eiri finish with whatever section he was working on, Shuichi found himself smiling. It seemed like observing his lover had become his favourite pasttime. It didn't matter what Eiri did, Shuichi couldn't ever get enough.

Their eyes met while Eiri packed his laptop back up. Neither of them spoke. They didn't really need to. Shuichi knew how Eiri felt about him, just as Eiri knew how Shuichi felt. They didn't have very many secrets between each other anymore. It warmed the vocalist's heart just thinking about it.

"You ready for this?" Eiri inquired, interrupting Shuich's reverie. "Torie isn't anything like that Rage-chick, after all."

"Hai," Shuichi nodded. "I'm ready."

"Good," the novelist replied.

The light for them to fasten their seatbelts came on and Shuichi straightened himself out. In about another hour or so, he'd be meeting the backing band for Bad Luck's latest album. One of the band members also happened to be a novelist, like Eiri. It made Shuichi nervous. He'd met very few authors in the duration of his relationship with Eiri and most of them had been just as cynical, if not more so, as his lover. He had no idea as to what to expect from the woman and Eiri refused to say anything about her.

'I'll be finding out soon enough,' he told himself, buclking his seatbelt.

Several minutes later, the plane had landed and the passengers were filing out. They got through customs and security with relative ease, though Shuichi felt fairly certain that it had taken longer than the last time he'd been in New York.

'Maybe it's because we're coming in to the country,' he mused as he followed K towards the airport lobby. Standing there, wearing a suit like he always did, was Sakano. Five women surrounded him and each of them wore a pair of sunglasses. One of them, a brunette wearing a black t-shirt with a white skull and crossbones on it and a pair of black jeans, stepped forward. She had a warm smile on her face.

"Hello, Bad Luck," she stated in flawless Japanese, removing her sunglasses. "Welcome to America."