Title: Between the Lines (Chapter Five)
Character: Mia, Sho, Kousuke, Satoshi, Kazunari, Masaki, Jun, Jiro, Ms. Iitaka, Sayu, Taro
Rating: PG
Warning(s): Nooone
Note:.
*SIIIIIIGH* GOMEN! I am so late in this. And it’s a short chapter XD I promise the next one will come faster! I swear by it! (I had so many names to write out.) Anyway, I hope it turned out good. I hope you enjoy!! I hope I pulled it off well xD;
Chapter Six! CLICK!

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For the next two weeks, Mia worked diligently, without complaint. She would wake up in the morning; eat breakfast with her host family. Sayu still pestered her about Arashi, which Mia had gotten interested in. She tried to keep it low, only knowing their music, but Sayu talked about them constantly, making that hard. She now knew information that should have been private to the people in Arashi. People outside should not know about it and Mia blocked it as much as she could whenever Sayu started her rants about the group. She told herself they were lies, and that she would not make assumptions about people she didn’t know… or did know.

            Taro, the son, still ignored her. Whenever she showed up, he left. Ms. Iitaka apologized for him over and over, complaining that her son was a rebel. How he used to be so good at school and how he now wanted to drop out. Mia listened to her, since her husband was rarely home, and got into the mindset that she wouldn’t want kids…at least not anytime too soon.

            Sometimes, after her breakfast, she would travel down to Keio University and study. Other times, she would stay at the house and talk with Ms. Iitaka, or surf the net. It really depended on her work days. She worked the shift from 5pm to 10pm, Monday through Saturday. Usually, on Sunday, she would stay home with the family.

            When she would go to work, she had taken to meeting up with Kousuke, who worked the same shift as she did. They talked frequently and had learned much about him. He was interesting and peppy. She learned that he was in the same year that she was entering, though he was almost a year older than her. And that he was popular and had many friends. Whenever he asked her to hang out with them on Sundays, though, she would refuse, shying away from the thought of not fitting in.

            Sho never called, but they texted frequently. Mia had learned from Sayu that he and Arashi would be going on a five dome tour around Japan and that he was probably in Osaka right now, practicing. She also learned that he would be away at Beijing for times, because he was news casting the Olympics. She stayed away from the TV after that, not wanting to see him on it. Not wanting to ruin her friendship with him. She liked him for who he was, not what he did. So Mia never bugged him, but readily replied to his texts when one showed up.

            She missed Sho, but her thoughts of him were overlaid with ones of work and study. She didn’t know when he was coming back and hoped it would be soon, often imagining him walking into the library and greeting her.

           

            One Tuesday night at work, the restaurant emptied out unusually quick. As the last guest left at 6:15, Mia questioned Kousuke, worry plastered on her face. “Apparently, someone booked this place from 6:30 to 8:30. They booked the whole place. Must be freaking powerful to do that.” He shrugged and turned to greet Jiro as he walked up. Mia bit her lip.

            “Mia-chan, I would like you to waitress our guests, since you have been getting better and working diligently,” Mia bit her lip harder and blushed, bowing low. “Please treat them kindly.”

            Mia raised her head and uttered a soft and grateful ‘thanks’. Though, now she was worried. She had been working hard, but she still thought herself incapable of being an employee in such a great restaurant.

            Kousuke smiled and patted her shoulder, going into the back. She followed shortly after, wondering who the guests could be. Even with her great pay, she didn’t think she would even be able to eat at the place more than once every other week. And these people had booked the whole restaurant. For two whole hours. Mia shook her head at the insanity, finally getting the gist of just how wanted the restaurant was.

            She could feel her heart speed as she watched the clock. He foot started to tap against the floor and she watched the other waitresses leave as heir shift ended. She bit her lip again and chewed. She didn’t notice Kousuke come over and jumped when she felt a warm comforting hand on her shoulder.

            “Don’t worry,” he said, smiling warmly down at her. “I’ll stay until my shift is over as well. So I’ll be here. Don’t worry, you won’t mess up.” He had known exactly what she was thinking. She took a breath and smiled gratefully at him. She took a breath and smiled gratefully at him. She stopped her foot from tapping just as she heard the guests enter. For a while, she stayed hidden. Kousuke went to pester the cooks, leaving her alone.

            After the guests had been seated, Mia pushed herself up off the wall she had been leaning on and walked over to the table under the moon, where the guests sat. Her heart pounded and she stopped to compose herself before presenting herself to the guests,

            “Konbanwa. Welcome to ‘Kirei na Yozora’,” She bowed, as custom to all the guests, and raised her head, keeping her eyes off the guests, a little intimidated. “We hope you enjoy your meal and we will be doing our best to serve you. I’m Mia and I will be yo-”

            Before she could finish, someone pounded the table causing Mia to jump, frightened. Had she done something wrong? She bit her lip as her eyes burned. “Mia-chan! What are you doing here?!”

            Mia’s head popped up and once again she was face to face with Sho. Though, this time there was surprise in both of their eyes and not just hers.

            “E-eh? Yabu-san? What-” Once again, she was cut off but this time with a bunch of “Eh”s and “Yabu-san?”s. Mia tore her eyes from Sho to look around the table. It was the whole group of Arashi sitting there looking from her to Sho and back again, confusion apparent on their beautiful faces.

            “Sho-chan! You know this girl?” Mia looked to the speaker and recognized him as Masaki Aiba. He had a nice voice, too. She looked around the table once again while Sho nodded his head. They all looked good in person.

            “Aren’t you going to answer his question?” The one called Kazunari Ninomiya asked, acidly. Mia tried, feeling her eyebrows clip together at the bitchiness of this person, but was interrupted again. This time, it was Jun Matsumoto. “I’d like to know why she called Sho-kun ‘Yabu-san’.” Mia sighed, not even attempting to answer this time. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, counting to ten. When she opened them again, the eyes looking back at her were Satoshi Ohno’s, the leader or ‘riida’ of Arashi. Mia gasped in surprise and stumbled backwards.

            Something caught her. With blurry eyes, she looked up to see Sho glaring at his band-mates. “Can’t you guys give her some space? She doesn’t even know who you are!” Four eyebrows darted up at once. Mia remembered that Sho thought she didn’t know he was famous.

            While it was quiet, Mia took the opportunity to do her job. “Ano, may I take your order? If you are ready?”

            They all stared at her and then Satoshi nodded, “I’ll have ramen.” There was a “Pfff,” from some side of the table as Maskai burst into laughter. The others joined in, Satoshi looking at them confused and Mia looking at Satoshi with the same expression he wore.

            “I think I got my question answered. So you’re working here now, Mia-chan? I’m glad you found a job.” Mia nodded and blushed, angling her gaze back to the floor.

            Masaki was the first to order, gasping the whole way from laughing so hard. He passed it around to Kazunari who had a smirk on his own face. Then Jun and Sho. Mia wrote them all down quickly and bowed hurriedly. She returned to the kitchens to give the cooks the orders. She bit her lip again, catching the coppery taste of blood, thinking it was going to be a long night.