ID Chapter 13

# Chapter Thirteen - "Team Bun!"

    "Yeah, don't mention it. I needed the break anyway, and you offered to buy, so…"

    My best frenemy and I grabbed our orders to go from off of the boba cafe's counter and stepped out onto the sidewalk. It had already gotten dark and, correspondingly, colder, but that was expected this time of year. Thankfully though, Tokyo is as well lit as any metropolis at night - at least the parts we live and go to school in - and two girls like us don't really need to worry too much as long as we stay on the main streets and well-lit areas. I ordered myself a strawberry-coconut blended iced boba, while Tae-Eun was treated to a green tea and mint tea blend over ice with light cream and no added sugar. As far as our attire was concerned, once I'd been ditched by every one of my group - about which I'm holding onto the belief of it being entirely accidental - I'd changed into something more comfortable than stylish. So, I was currently wearing a pair of upscale black yoga pants and a plain grey tank top, over which I had on a long, oversized violet sweatshirt featuring a happy looking cartoon koala that hung down almost to my knees. My shoes weren't at all noteworthy, just my comfortable black walking shoes. Much more workout clothes than on-the-town clothes, the anomaly being that my makeup and hair were still fully done up, so I imagine I looked a little bit like I was coming home from a performance. Tae-Tae was, quite surprisingly, not dressed all that much differently, though her hair was a bit more styled and her makeup a bit less sharp. Other than that, we were largely dressed the same if you swapped the colors from purples to blues, and the koala for a dancing tiger.

    "So…" I took a big sip of my drink, thinking how best to bring it up. "You're awfully casual tonight."

    "Yeah. So are you. We look like a couple of slobs, huh? Rehearsals catching up to you?"

    "Um-hmm. Seven days a week at this point, when we aren't busy with appearances. It's even more than when I was solo. And it's like, sometimes…"

    "Like sometimes, you think you're the only one who knows what's supposed to be happening, and it gets so frustrating you wonder if you made the right decision?"

    "Yeah! Just like… that's kinda creepy how specifically you guessed it."

    "I told you last time I saw you that I was thinking of forming an idol group. So, I've been busy too."

    "You actually formed one?!"

    "Is it really that surprising?"

    "Kind of, yeah! I thought you were holding out until you went back home? What happened, get jealous?"

    "No, don't be ridiculous. Remember the girls from my school at the concert? One of them got it in her head that she absolutely had to become an idol, and quickly. So she bugged me like crazy and got a couple other girls onboard, and then I had a momentary lapse in judgment because she's kind of cute or whatever."

    "You're not enjoying it? I always thought you'd be great at it."

    "Well, of course I'm great at it." Tae took a long sip from her boba, chewing the pearls thoroughly before continuing. "But, it's only five of us. Everyone can sing pretty well, but getting them to sing and dance in unison, and look good doing it…"

    "It's too bad you never tried out for I MY ME!" I couldn't help but giggle at the thought of Tae-Tae and I out on the street, wearing matching seifuku and passing out flyers. The yang to my yin. "You probably could have joined Interlunium with me! Wouldn't that have been something!"

    "It would've been *something*, for sure… Think the premiere will be a success? It wasn't very hard to get tickets." Her blatant admission that she would be attending was slightly shocking. Not that she'd be there, but that she admitted it without teasing about it first. "If you bomb, you can always come join us. Goodness knows I could use the help…" She grumbled lightly, but that is *not* uncommon.

    "It's going to go perfectly. We're working too hard for it not to, and everyone's doing a great job learning their parts. Everyone's getting along so well…"

    "And you're feeling kind of like the odd one out, huh? Don't worry about that stuff. Just look out for Bibi." Normally when Tae-Tae and I talk our conversations are more like a duel, and our little jabs and scratches were our way of getting along, just like a pair of kittens. This evening, however, we were both acting less like frenemies and more like just… friends. It was a little surprising. "Don't look at me like I'm some kind of mind-reader. You asked me to hang out. You haven't done that since you debuted, so obviously you were desperate."

    Ouch.

    That hurt both because it was kind of catty, but also because it was, sadly and shockingly, completely accurate. Tae-Eun and I have never been anything like best friends… I think. When I moved in with my host family - who I'm happy to say still feel like a second family to me - obviously I had a little bit of culture shock. There were the predictable adjustments that had to be made - adapting to being immersed in a new culture and all - and also some bumps that I couldn't have predicted, like getting over a few hurdles with my new host parents until we were like a real family. Tae's experience wasn't entirely different except she had been here a bit longer and was here with her actual parents for their work, and her hurdles with them were a little more complex.

    But that's her story, not mine. What's important is that our issues both kind of happened at the same time, so we were both busy going through stuff when I decided to stay in Japan for a while longer. And then I got recruited by I MY ME, and I was so busy becoming friends with my fellow idols like Hanarin and Juney that I think I did to Tae-Tae exactly what I now felt was happening to me…

    I stopped then and there on the sidewalk to give her a gigantic hug, catching her with her arms down at her side - an apology for how self-centered I had accidentally been. Whether she wanted one or not. I'm pretty sure it was "not". She struggled a little bit, but since we were both fairly exhausted by all of our recent practicing, neither of us really had the energy to overpower the other, and the first one to build momentum - in this case me - seemed to win. Unable to shrug me off, she defended herself vocally.

    "What are you doing, Bibi?" She sighed.

    "I'm sorry I haven't been a good friend lately. I promise I'll do better."

    "Whatever, it's not like you're my only friend or anything. I barely even noticed."

    "I'm not letting go until you forgive me." She struggled futilely for a moment, then sighed again.

    "Fine, Bibi. I forgive you for being a bad friend." I squeezed her with all my might, which wasn't a lot at the moment, before letting her go. We may be best frenemies, but we can't be that if we aren't first and foremost friends. Maybe we don't even need to be *frenemies*. The people I'm closest to don't have to all be among my group mates... "So since we're friends again, want to join my group instead?"

    "Not a chance! But I'm glad we're-"

    An alert went off on my phone, cutting me off. Not just any alert, but the extra loud pattern of tones I had set for Interlunium's group chat. Instinctively I checked it - at this time of evening it could mean something important was happening - but it was even better than that.

    "Tae-Tae! Great news! We're going to go back to my dorm and play video games!" She… didn't look bought into the plan. Probably because coming with me to the I MY ME building would add another train ride to her evening and make for a longer commute home, and it was already nearly eight in the evening, so lights out was probably a concern. If that was the big obstacle for her, then… "Come on! It'll be great! You can spend the night like you used to, only now my room is bigger! And the girls we're gonna play with have a futon I can borrow. You can even have the bed!"

    "What about school tomorrow?" That was an excellent point, but arts students at pretty much every school are given a certain amount of leeway for events and activities related to their focus, so long as they catch up promptly. That being the case, the solution was easy.

    "We can say it was an audition, then you'll be excused. Or a work gig! Associate Junior Assistant Consulting Choreographer for Interlunium! As long as you tell me what you think of our moves, it'll totally count! And you'll get paid in snacks and video games! Please! I'll let you borrow anything you want from my closet!"

    "Bibi, I'm ashamed of you!" She clicked her tongue in disapproval. "That's so sneaky and flimsy a justification that it's practically a bald-faced lie."

    "It's the new Capsule Girls game though."

    "In that case I'm proud of you, and I'm willing to give it a try. I have one condition though."

    Tae-Tae laid out her condition quietly. I smiled. I couldn't help it. It wasn't exactly a *nice* thing to do, but it was humorous and good-natured, and was the most Tae-like thing I could have imagined.

    "Okay! I'm sure I can make that happen."

    A short train ride later, we arrived safely at the I MY ME building. Now that we were here, before we did anything else, there was the matter of Tae's singular condition for spending the night. The door we sought out was already closed - early for the room's occupants - but there was definitely someone inside. Both the light shining under the door and the sounds of movement gave that away. I knocked lightly three times, figuring that it should be enough to get someone's attention.

    "Hello?" The door swung open quickly, revealing my favorite of the room's occupants.

    "Hanarin! Hi! Is this a bad time?" She smiled particularly warmly - always a welcome sight - and shook her head no. "By any chance is Juney home?"

    "Yup! Junko! Dam-Bi's-" The reason for our visit heard me ask about her directly - which makes sense, as their room isn't exactly gigantic - and appeared right behind her roommate.

    "Juney! Good evening! I'm so sorry to bother you, but do you remember my friend Tae-Eun from Eimi's concert? She's sleeping over tonight, and she's a huge fan, so we were wondering if-"

    My visiting friend wasted no time. In one fluid motion she turned and tucked herself in the doorway, held up her phone, and snapped a photo of herself with an arm around Junko. No sooner had she done this than she turned herself back around and started walking down the hallway.

    "Thank you so much. My group mate is going to die when she sees this! Come on, Bibi!"

    "I… I… Sorry, Juney! Thanks! Bye, Hanarin! Love you both, see you tomorrow, gotta go!" I turned and power walked down the hallway after Tae-Eun. "You can't just do that without asking! How did it come out?!"

    "Perfect. Her eyes are open and everything. We both look super cute, see?" Upon inspecting the photograph, I was immensely relieved that both girls did, in fact, look super cute, even if it looked like they were getting ready for bed. I'm not sure that Junko is the violent type, but I know that she's absolutely not the type to be happy if an unflattering photo were to make the rounds. I was slightly jealous. Not jealous-jealous, but I'm not sure how else to explain the feeling that I wanted to take that sort of photo as well. Envious, maybe?

    So, once we stopped for the elevator, I did. Placing my arm around Tae quickly, I flashed a smile and took a matching photo.

    It… wasn't anywhere near as flattering as the first one was.

    "Hey! Delete that!"

    "Ok, but you'll have to take a real one first."

    "Sigh. Fine, but you'd better send it to me too."

    We took a much, much better photo together in the elevator. Four eyes opened, four lips pursed, the sort of photo that two fashionistas should be in. We actually look pretty great together. Kind of a yin and yang, chocolate sandwich cookie sort of look, even in our uncharacteristically shabby state. As we exited the elevator, Tae's phone started chiming for one notification after another.

    "Aren't you going to answer it?"

    "Not yet. I told her I was spending the night here and that Junko was with us. I figure I'll let her freak out about it for a bit before I tell her it was just for the selfie." It was undeniably evil of her to do that to one of her friends, but I couldn't help laughing about it just a little bit.

    "Tae-Tae, you're such a b-"

    "Dam-Bi! Over here! And… uh…"

    From down the hall, one of our two hosts was waving to us excitedly. And greeting us very, very loudly. We hurried inside their room. While it wasn't yet lights out - not for a while - it was what was generally considered "quiet hours" by most of the dorm's residents, and shouting down a hallway was a bit of a faux pas, even for Chiyo.

    "Good evening, Chiyo. Kanon. And of course Momo!" I gestured to both of our juniors in turn - plus Chiyo's hamster cage - to make it obvious to my friend which was which. They had already changed into their bed clothes - Chiyo in bright yellow pajamas and Kanon in a blue tank top and sleep shorts - and appeared to have settled in for the night. "Thanks for inviting us! This is Tae-Eun Song, a good friend of mine."

    "Annyeong. Thank you for inviting me into your home. I look forward to getting to know you both." My friend was polite and charming, but in the end, she was also Tae-Eun. "As well as completely owning Bibi in video games."

    "I want her on my team." Kanon approved of Tae's competitive spirit, which was fine, because that meant I got to pair up with my…

    "Bun buddies!" I exchanged a high five with my fellow bun-wearing junior - though she had let them down for the night, and it was genuinely surprising just how long her soft green hair was when not done up into her twin balls of fluff - and took a seat on her bed. There wasn't much in the way of seating in their room. They had a single chair at their desk, several pillows and cushions on the floor, and then their single bed. The futon, which could normally have been another option, was still boxed up and had been pushed over near the door for us to take with us when we were done playing games for the night. If they were going to be entertaining frequently, it may serve them well to revisit their decision to leave all of the furniture in Kanon's old room… As Chi-non ended up sitting side by side on the floor next to the bed, that left Tae the option of either the chair a ways off to the side or joining me on the bed.

    Knowing her competitive streak, that was an easy one to predict, so I slid over so that Team Bun was on the left of the television and the other girls were situated on the right. Now that we were settled in, the main event could begin.

    The Capsule Girls console games are, at their core, fairly simple rhythm games. You press the buttons when it tells you, and there isn't much more to it than that. Team Bun got to play first, based on a bout of Rock-Paper-Scissors between Chi-non. Of just about a dozen idols I chose the one who looked the most cheerful - Reiko, an idol with shoulder length pink hair and a white and red sundress. My  bun-buddy chose the blonde bombshell Aimee - one of the "box girls" who featured in much of the game's advertising and on the game packaging itself - who was one of the flagship faces of the franchise. She had on a cute, bright yellow little costume that no doubt had drawn Chiyo to her - if the color of her window curtains, pajamas, and bedding were an indicator of her preferences. Our first run went fairly well thanks to a double set of combos in the first half, but our coordination fell apart not long after that - so much so that I never even got to see Reiko's combo move.

    "Aww… We suck…"

    I grabbed Chiyo's pillow and gave her a bop on her unprotected-by-buns head. She giggled as it fell over her face and into her lap, then kept it there out of my reach.

    "Don't say stuff like that about your elders." I took this opportunity to give her a stern lesson in manners. "Only I get to say that we suck."

    "Only you?" The grin Tae-Tae was showing made her thoughts completely obvious. I deadpanned my response the best I could.

    "Chiyo dear, I need your pillow back for a second."

    We all got a little laugh out of that one.

    Next up were our nemeses. Tae selected the tiny idol Akari - a sweet, redheaded, child-like idol with a poofy black and white dress a bit like a cross between a French maid's uniform and a Victorian polonaise - and Kanon opted for Fuyuko - the girl with long white hair not too different from Tae-Eun's who was wearing a rough, punkish costume complete with a leather jacket and distressed jeans. While I'm certainly not an expert at the game, I do know that Fuyuko's default costume is a short, cute, blue seifuku, so it seemed that someone - probably Kanon - had already put in a little bit of time to unlock those upgrades. It came as absolutely no surprise then when they absolutely trounced us. Even when Chiyo tried to aid us by holding her pillow in front of Kanon's face, both girls had already racked up so many points that it didn't even matter.

    "Yeah!" Both winners cheered to their victory, Tae-Tae even going so far as to muss up Kanon's short hair slightly - something which I'm not sure I could have imagined before seeing it - which caused Chiyo to pile on and do it too. Which caused *me* to give it a try as well. Glancing at my friend, I must have had too big a grin to hide my thoughts.

    "Don't you even dare…"

    "Congratulations, Tae-Tae!" I dared, and tried my best to pat her head as well, though she was agile and forewarned enough to dodge me. Oh well, maybe next time. "Wanna play again?"

    "Yeah, that was fun." A chorus of chirping voices seconded that statement.

    "Good. Glad you came over?"

    "Yeah, I guess so."

    "So are we besties now?" I lurched to my left, gently shoved by my friend whose bullying couldn't quite hide the grin on her lips nor the obvious pink in her cheeks.

    "Just shut up and play, Bibi. That way I can beat you again sooner." I'm pretty sure I was just as unable to hold back my own smile at the implication of her statement.

    "Yup. We're besties now!"

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