Ando and Shuichi

Violet eyes and amber brown eyes both shut with sleep trying to beat the jet lag. Shuichi had his chin on Ando’s shoulder as the boys slept.

“Attention passengers,” the pilot announced to the passengers on the plane. “The seat belt sign is now off. You are now free to move around the cabin. Drinks and snacks will be served in a few minutes. The in-flight movie will be on shortly. You may now use any electronics.” He then processed on with the stats of the flight. Shuichi and Ando both woke up at that moment. The vocalist looked over at his pal.

“It’s okay,” he replied. Shuichi looked down at his lap. Ando looked with him. The Buddhist had a huge budge in pants with his hentai magazine covering it. Ando looked up quickly with a red face.

“That’s not from you!” he said quickly. “It’s the vibrations!” Shuichi smirked at him.

“Sure it is!” he replied acting like he didn’t believe him. Ando flipped him off.

“F**k off, homo!” he said with a half-joking tone. Shuichi smirked at him again. He just loved messing with Ando’s head like that. Next to Hiro and Lexie, he was his close friend. It basically went like this: Hiro came first hands down. Then, it was a tie of Lexie and Ando one notch behind the guitarist. Simple as that.

“Are you going to be this horny on the entire trip?” the vocalist asked his friend. Ando smiled at him boldly.

“It’s going to be great, man! Just wait until we get there!” he replied. “Bisexual Cambodian virgins and all the drinks without the guilt! Man, those country Cambodian babes will do anything for a DVD player and some jeans.” Shuichi just smiled and shook his head. Ando was just a straight up pervert. Buddhist, but still a pervert never the less. In fact, he was more of a sinful Buddhist. Shuichi could sum his friend’s hobbies in six words: girls, drugs, booze, porno, and partying. However, Ando did try to stay on the right path. The boys and their class were going to Cambodia for a field trip in Geography class. The trip was planned to last for eight days. Arisu couldn’t come because she was in the hospital for her suicide attempt five days ago.

“Alright everyone!” Amuro-san spoke up to the students. “Listen up!” All eyes were upon the lost and confused teacher.

“Now remember,” she went on. “This is not a vacation. Right? You are to do an observation journal about Cambodia. This is your chance to nail your final grade in class.”

“/Whoopee!/” Casper mumbled sarcastically under her breath next to Fujisaki.

“/We will be working hard on this trip,/” Amuro-san went on. “/We will not muck around. There will be work to be done! I want your journals by the time we come back to Tokyo. This is total education.”

“Are we going to screw it up on this trip?” Shuichi asked aloud trying to be funny. The other students laughed. Amuro-san kept her composure.

“We are not going to ‘screw-up’,” she replied. “We’re going to understand the history of the people and see how they live today. We will understand their culture fully. We will come to terms about the hardships that they had to endure. We will see the real Cambodia. This is adventure, yeah? This is living, breathing history! You all represent the school. So, I expect you to be on your best behavior. I don’t want us to have to get departed because of the actions of one or two people. Are we clear?” The students all mumbled and groaned at that one. Fujisaki rolled his eyes at her words. The woman was telling them things that they already knew. They had no intention of behaving. Let’s just be real here. There is always that small group of students that acts up on school trips. It was just universal. This trip was no exception. Amuro-san clapped her hands together while she smiled.

“Great,” she said. “I hope we all have a great trip then. Who’s with me?” Everyone was quiet on that one. One of the older passengers on the plane raised his hand. Amuro-can looked back at him. A couple of students laughed at that reaction. Amuro-san was a little embarrassed.

“Thank you san,” she said. “I was addressing my students, not you.” She sank down in her seat next to Ken-san. She turned to her colleague.

“Good, I guess,” he replied. Amuro-san became overjoyed. You see, she too had a crush on the English teacher. She lured him on this field trip as a chaperone so that she could hit on him. Too bad Emma beat her to him already.

“Great!” she called happily. Ken-san rolled his eyes and looked out the window. Amuro-san smiled up to her ears.

“This trip is going to blow their minds!” she went on. Ken-san smiled t her in agreement.

“+What? I don’t have them. I thought you did,” the Japanese boy whispered.

“#No,#” she replied. “#I thought that you were going to put them in your priest robes.#” Ando rolled his eyes annoyed.

“+I don’t have priest robes, Emma!+” he hissed. “+I’m not even a monk!+”

“#I thought you were going to get some especially!#” she argued back. Ando sighed annoyed. Simon leaned over the seats to the trio.

“Don’t worry guys,” he said. “I have a backup plan.” The trio turned right to their friend. He motioned over behind him. The three of them looked over at Sid. He looked as if he was going to be sick. The crew put the whole plot together in their minds. Looks of disgust came onto their faces.

“Ewww!” Shuichi said aloud. “Tell me that you didn’t… Aw, not up his ass!” Simon and Emma laughed at his pain. Sid sat on in pain. Why did he let Simon talk him into this one?

All of the students walked off the plane complaining. Sid walked on uncomfortable. He hoped he that he would crap himself too early. The airport was smoldering hot today for spring. The class was waiting for their luggage. The kids were all sweating like pigs. They thought that they would pass out from the heat. The students were all dragging their feet. Shuichi was leaning on Hiro as if he would faint on him. Hiro looked over at his friend.

“Come on Shuichi,” he said. “It’s too hot for that.” Shuichi looked up at his best pal as he was too tired to move.

“Leaning on me doesn’t help either,” he replied. *Sweat drop on Hiro’s head* Guards were all around the airport. This was due to the drug smuggling in the country. Sid became really nervous. He hoped he could get though security just fine. Emma walked through the metal detector just fine. The guards body checked her all over. Sid watched in fear. This was not good at all. These guys meant business. Once Emma went through clean, it was Sid’s turn. He walked through the metal detector. Then, the English boy walked over to the guards. They began their body check right away. Sid took in deep breaths to make himself relax. He came up clean so far. Even the dog sniffing him came up with nothing. Sid breathed out in relief.

“/Thank you!/” he called out. Then, he walked over to Emma. Ando walked through the metal detector next. Sadly, he set off the metal detector. Everyone looked up right away. Ando looked around confused. The guards raced over to him and grabbed him up. They took him over to the back room. The poor soul looked around confused the whole time.

“What’s going on?!?” he asked aloud. Everyone watched him nervously. The guards were yelling in Cambodian at Ando. Their words only confused Ando even more.

“They think you’re a f*****g terrorist!!!” one of the students yelled out. Ando was dragged further down the hall.

“What are they going to do?!?” he yelled back. Then, the door to the back room slammed shut. Ken-san turned to Amuro-san.

“No,” she replied. “If anyone’s going to be anally searched, it should be me!” Ken-san looked at her nervously.

“Okay, trip leader coming through!” the female sensei called. Ken-san watched on nervously. Then, Amuro-san pushed her way through the metal detector to the back room. She knocked on the door. It opened wide for her. One of the guards stopped her in her tracks. He was putting on some rubber gloves. He said something to her in Cambodian and shut the door. Amuro-san tried to force it open again.

“No, no, no!” she called quickly. “Let’s talk about this!” The guard came back out to her. Amuro-san took in a deep breath.

“That boy is my responsibility,” she explained. “And I can give you my personal grantee…” The guard then held out his hand for money. The sensei’s face dropped right away.

“Oh,” she said. “You want money?” The guard kept quiet and stared at her coldly. Amuro-san took in another deep breath.

“Fine,” she sighed. “I see it! I see how it is!” Then, the sensei drew out her wallet, pulled out some riel[1], and paid the guard. He counted up the money. Amuro-san waited nervously. The guard looked back up at her again. The sensei waited nervously again. He held out his hand for more money as he put that sum into his pocket.. Amuro-san sighed and took out her wallet again. She paid the guard more money. He counted that up and held out his hand for more as he pocketed that sum. Amuro-can held up her hands in the defensive.

“No!” she called. “I’ve given you everything that I have!” The guard turned back to the other guards inside. He went back inside.

“No, no! Okay!” Amuro-san cried out. “Okay, okay.” Amuro-san began digging in her pockets for more money. The guard came back out to her. She pulled out a bra from her back. The students and Ken-san watched on in shook.

Shuichi looked on in disgust. “She’s stereotyping!” he whispered. The vocalist leaned over to Ken-san.

“Are you going to do something?” he whispered to the English sensei. “You going to let him get away with it?” Ken-san didn’t answer at all. In a few minutes, Ando was returned back to the class. He came back out frustrated.

“I’m trying,” Ando replied. “It’s just that they look so disappointed that I’m not a terrorist.”

“Well you *are* a boring Buddhist, Ando,” Simon pointed out. The Japanese boy glared at his British friend coldly. Simon shrugged at him.

Outside, everyone waited for the bus. Jake (who is another one of Lexie’s personalities) came over to Shuichi and Ando. The boys looked over at him. Jake looked like a slender bloke. He always dressed in a t-shirt and jeans. He looked pretty cute with his short brown tussled hair and sweet brown eyes. Like Lexie, Jake was a shy and generous boy. He didn’t talk much either. Shuichi looked at him closely.

“+What is it, Jake?+” he asked in his best English. The boy shuffled his feet a bit nervously. He swallowed hard.

“+It’s just…+” Jake spoke up. He looked away. “+Never mind,+” Shuichi smiled at him kindly. He patted his pal on the shoulder.

“+Don’t worry,+” he replied. “+Hiro, Ando, and I will take good care of you during this trip.+” Jake looked at him with a little joy.

“+Oh thank you, guys!+” he called out. Then, he hugged the pink-haired vocalist in joy. Shuichi shook his head with a little smile. Of course, no field trip was complete without “Lexie duty” as they all called it. Her DID was unpredictable and had to be monitored at all times. The group talked about this before they all left home and assigned Shuichi, Ando, and Hiro to take care of Lexie and keep her out of trouble. And trust me, that was no walk in the park!

Meanwhile, Amuro-san was looking around for the bus. She tried to flag down one of the guards for help.

“Excuse me!” she called. They just kept walking by. It seemed hopeless at for a moment. But then, her luck turned around.

“Excuse me!” she called to another guard. He stopped and walked over to her.

“Hello, uh hi,” she began. “We’re looking for our bus. Uh… we had an arrangement for our bus to the Golden Duck Hostel.” Her hands motions weren’t helping either. The man mumbled something in Cambodian.

“Uh…” the sensei began again. “We ordered a bus!” Silence passed again. Then, the man began to get what Amuro-san was saying.

“Ah!” he called in Cambodian. Then, he turned to the men. He called something to his boys. Sadly, they were still working on the broken down bus. One of the workers turned to the boss. He shouted something back to him. The guard nodded. He turned back to the sensei. He made the motion for no bus. Then, he walked off. Amuro-san’s face dropped. Now what? This trip was not going as she expected so far. Okay, time for plan B.

Ha, some plan B! Amuro-san had convinced a cargo truck to carry them to the hostel. Not what everyone to do. But, what choice did they have at the moment? This was just poor planning on Amuro-san’s part. Now, they were stuck with the consequences. That’s just how it was. But it would get better, right? Amuro-san turned to Ken-san smiling.

“Bet you thought you would never be doing this last week, huh?” she asked. Ken-san looked at her unhappily.

“No,” he replied. The man looked away in misery again. The truck kept going down the road. It finally pulled into the hostel and stopped. Everyone began climbing off.

“/This place better be good!/” Casper complained. “/My hair is destroyed. I need a shower…/” But then, she looked up. The place looked like a run-down nunnery.

“Oh great, Amuro-san!” Fujisaki called. “We’re staying in a f*****g prison!”

“Right, don’t judge a book by its cover!” Amuro-san replied. “That’s what this trip is all about, understanding our people’s culture.” She looked around for a moment. The sensei finally spotted the keeper of the hostel. She was a hefty woman to behold. She could put any sumo wrestler in fear of her just by the sight of her. She even looked like a sumo herself. Her black hair in a high knot added to her look. Amuro-san flagged her down.

“Excuse me, miss!” she called. The woman looked up at her almost immediately. She walked straight over to them. The owner and one of her worker’s unlocked the cargo truck for the class.

“Uh, Good morning!” Amuro-san greeted her Cambodian. Then, she hopped off of the truck down to the hostel owner. She stood up straight right away.

“Botum Sin!” the woman replied in Japanese. “Translator!” Amuro-san looked on happily. Botum held up the keys to the hostel.

“Come!” she called. “I lock you in!” Fujisaki and Casper looked at Ken-san in worry at those words. That didn’t sound good at all. Inside was quite nice though. For a cheap hostel that is. The class and Ken-san looked around uneasily. Jake stayed by Ando and Shuichi at all times. They all gathered around Amuro-san. She clapped her hands together firmly.

“Alright everyone,” she said. “It’s two to a room. So everyone pair up!” The students’ eyes lit up brightly at that one. Finally, something good out of this trip!

“Hell yeah!” Jack called out as he put his arms around two random girls in the class. “That’s what I’m talking about! Tonight’s going to be hot!”

“No, no!” Amuro-san said quickly. “You all will be rooming with the same sex. So rearrange yourselves, sorry.”

“Awww!” the whole class called out. And just like that, the trip began to suck again. Casper and Simon looked on disappointed in each other’s arms. Everyone moved to someone of the same gender as them. Jack let go of his girls.

“Spoil-sport!” he said to the geography sensei. Amuro-san gave him a little shrug.

“Come on!” Botum called to the students. Then, she led them away to their rooms. Jack glared at Amuro-san the whole time. The sensei turned to Ken-san.

“And we are going to be roomies, I’m afraid,” she said in a flirty way to him. Ken-san looked at her in shock.

“Yeah,” Setsuko replied. “Budget. Couldn’t stretch it to single rooms. So, we’ll make ourselves at home? Yeah? Yeah?” Then, the sensei nodded and began following the students. Ken-san looked on in deep worry. That’s what he was afraid of. He shut his eyes and followed along. The rooming went like this:

Sid walked down the hall to his room. He was still in deep pain from the “cargo.” He opened the door wide. Simon sat up quickly.

“/I tried and tried pushing,/” Sid announced. “/But nothing is coming./” His pal became annoyed fast.

“/What the f**k are we going to do here without any drugs?!?/” he asked in stress. “/I mean look at it!/”

“/Don’t blame me if I have guts of steel!/” Sid replied. He walked over to his bed. “/Don’t know why you came away,” the boy mumbled. “/You’re not even in this class!/” Sid sat down uneasily in pain. Simon gave him a little shrug.

“/Thought it would be uplifting,/” he replied. Sid just looked at him like he was crazy. He could never understand his mate at all.

Meanwhile, Shuichi and Ando were unpacking in their rooms. Shuichi was on the phone with his boyfriend, Yuki. He had promised the writer that he would call when they landed in Cambodia safely. His love just rolled his eyes at that one.

“Whatever,” Yuki mumbled to him as he was writing on his laptop as Shuichi was packing. So now, Shuichi was making good on his promise. Four hours now, the vocalist had been itching to pick up the phone and call. But yet, time zones can throw anyone off. they lost two hours coming here. Yuki would just be getting out of bed right now. Shuichi discussed this problem to Hiro many times at the Japanese airport.

“Just wait until we get our rooms in the hostel,” Hiro replied. “That should give him some time to get out of bed at least.” Shuichi tried his best to follow that piece of advice. But, waiting can be so evil! Shuichi tried his best to think about something else until they got into their rooms. But, Yuki kept coming back into his mind. The vocalist thought that he was going to snap. But now, here they were in the hostel and now Shuichi could make his call. Then, there was a problem with cell phone reception. The Golden Duck had next to no reception. Shuichi had to stand up straight in his corner to talk. But, he didn’t care by this point. He was just happy to be calling Yuki now.

“Hey Yuki,” he said. “It’s me. We all made it to Cambodia just fine. We’re in this hostel called the Golden Duck. Very crappy place, but it could be worse. I’m rooming with Ando. You remember, the pervert. Yes, him. Anyway, I’ll let you get back to work now. Love you, bye-bye.” Shuichi hung up his phone. He looked over and noticed that Ando was having trouble getting his suitcase open. The zipper wouldn’t open up at all. Shuichi decided to help out.

“Here,” he said. “Let me see it.” Then, the vocalist walked over to his friend. Ando handed him the suitcase. Shuichi took the zipper and in one tug, got it free from the shirt it was stuck on. Ando looked on impressed.

“Magic fingers!” Shuichi replied as he waved his fingers around in the air. Then, the vocalist looked into the luggage. Everything looked neat and tidy. Ando’s clothes were in separate bags with the days of the week labeled on them. *Sweat drop on Shuichi’s head*

“What the f**k?” he asked in almost silence. Ando sighed and rolled his eyes.

“What?” he asked as he looked up at his friend. Shuichi pulled out at bag of house socks in confused shock.

“Rainy day comfy socks?” the vocalist asked aloud. Ando rolled his eyes annoyed again.

“You try living with a widowed sixty-three year old woman!” he called defensive. “She packed my bags!” Something else caught Shuichi’s eye as his friend was saying that last statement. The vocalist drew out a fresh roll of condoms. *Sweat drop on Shuichi’s head*

“And I suppose she packed you *these* as well?” he asked. Ando flipped him off again.

“No,” the Buddhist replied. “But she did pack me this!” Shuichi put the roll back into the suitcase.

“Hm?” the vocalist asked as he looked up. Ando showed him the photo in the photo album that Shuichi brought along with him to combat homesickness. The vocalist looked on with him. The picture in question was of Shuichi, Ando, Hiro, and Lexie on the beach. They were in swimsuits near the water. Lexie was sitting on the sand while the boys stood behind her. Smiles were all around. Shuichi smiled as he remembered the picture again.

“Oh,” he replied. “That was our little trip to the beach last year. Remember?” Ando was about to say no at first. But then, his memory clicked.

“Oh yeah!” he called. Ando chuckled a bit. “We had a hard time convincing Lucas to let Lexie come with us that day. But you wore him down.” Shuichi nodded with a smile.

“Yeah,” Shuichi replied. “I already have a copy of this on my computer at home. So I can just print it out and replace it. I want you to have it.” Ando nodded at him with a smile.

“Okay,” he said. “Thanks.” Then, the door opened wide. Shuichi looked up and saw Emma in the doorway.

“#Dinner!#” she called as she was motioning them to follow her. Then, the Aussie headed down the hall. Shuichi got up off of the floor and followed behind. Ando stayed on the bed looking at the vocalist’s photo album. He slowly removed the beach photo and found another shook awaiting him. Shuichi had taken a picture of Yuki’s manhood and placed it in the album. Ando looked on with a red face. The writer was pretty much… *over* well-hung! Ando looked up at the door and lied back some. The Buddhist looked down his jeans. He couldn’t even *begin* to compete with Yuki! No wonder the writer had wooed so many women and Shuichi. Ando looked at the photo again and then at his own. Yuki was *really* pretty much well-hung!

Then, the boy heard a loud cracking noise outside. Ando looked out the window right away. He went over to investigate. A woman was hacking at sugar cane outside. She was a total fox. Her body was curved in a healthy way. Her thighs begged for someone to grab onto them. Boobs looked like they would spill out at any moment. Her long black hair was loose at the moment. She had the rosiest face that Ando had ever seen. She only had on short white shorts and a white halter top that showed her midriff. The sweat on her body heightened her charm. Ando smiled at her in delight. Maybe this trip won’t suck after all. Finally, a hot chick in Cambodia. He was breathing like crazy now. The girl kept hacking at her sugar cane. Suddenly, Ando was caught into a heavy dilemma.

“Jack or tell group?” he asked himself. “Jack or tell group?” The boy stared on. Such a hard decision… The girl was just so fit! Ando’s heart raced even more.

“Jack or tell group?” he asked himself again. The girl hacked at the sugar cane again.

“Jack…” Ando mumbled to himself once more. “Or tell group…” His heart raced even more. Her brown leather sweater, clothes, and body were all teasing him.

“Jack…” the Japanese boy said. “Or tell group…” The girl stood up straight to wipe the sweat off of her forehead. Her heavy set made up his mind for him.

“Aw! I’ll tell the group!” he replied. Then, he hurried down to the dining hall. The girl kept hacking away at the sugar cane in her yard.

The food wasn’t that great in the dining either. The lady was serving rice stick noodles and kroeung. She handed Sid his plate. He took it was a little disgust on his face. Amuro-san said that they had to eat the cuisine in Cambodia. They had to eat it no matter how odd it looked. The students just hoped it would taste good. Sid looked at the cook blankly. It was as if he was expecting more food. The cook stared back at him with a stoic face. Sid just took his tray and walked over to the table. But then, the cook hammered her spatula against her back pot. The English boy passed and turned around. He looked at her confused. The cook looked at him with her stoic face. Sid walked closer to the woman. He set the tray down on before her. She then served him more crayfish. Sid looked on in disgust. He hated fish so much. He couldn’t understand why his Japanese friends loved it so much. But what could he say? Sid had to eat the food with a smile in his face all for his grades. So, the boy looked on and took his plate. He took his plate and sat down with his friends.

“Guys!!!” Ando screamed out as he ran over to his friends. “Guys!!! Guys!!!” He made it over to his pals.

“I’ve seen boobs!” the Buddhist yelled out. Everyone looked up shocked. “A girl with boobs!” Ando cried out. Everyone got exactly really quickly. Everyone hurried up to leave and see this hot chick. Casper looked around confused.

“I’m serious!” Ando cried. “You’ll want to see this! She’s got a big chopper as well!”

“/Oh wow!/” Nicole yelled out. Everyone kept running to see this woman. Casper smiled at that one.

“/I’d like to see that!/” she called. Then, the hippie got up and followed the crowd. Fujisaki rolled his eyes and followed after her.

“Guys!” Amuro-san called out. “Slow down! Slow down! What about your dinner?” The students didn’t listen at all. Ken-san just smiled to himself politely. He turned his attention over to Emma. She sat there still eating her dinner.

“Don’t you want to see the girl with boobs?” he asked. Emma smiled at him and shrugged.

“Nah,” she said shaking her head. “I prefer Japanese men!” Ken-san looked down at his food flattered.

Ando ran back to his room over to the window. But when he looked out, the woman was gone. Disappointment met his face right away. “Where did she go?” he thought. Everyone came over to the window. They too saw nothing.

“She was there a second ago!” Ando cried. “She was there!” Casper and Fujisaki looked up at him like he was crazy. They rolled their eyes and walked off.

“Yeah!” Simon said not believing him. “Tell us when Kimi Koda shows up!” Then, he left as well. Ando sighed in disappointment.

“Aw, screw up,” he mumbled under his breath. Everyone else started leaving as well.

“Yeah, whatever,” the vocalist replied unconvinced. He sat down on the phone and looked at his cell phone. He had one missed call from Yuki. Shuichi became overjoyed instantly.

“Yuki called me back!!!” he cried happily. “Yuki called me back!!! Yuki called me back!!!” The vocalist began planning in his mind in bliss about some hot long-distance midnight phone sex to engage Yuki in while his friend was asleep. He had a huge grin up to his ears. His Buddhist friend stared at him nervously.

“Shuichi,” Ando spoke up. “Why are you grinning like that?” The vocalist turned to him in pride.

“Oh,” he replied. “Just planning for some phone sex with Yuki later tonight. I’ll share all the details in the morning.” Ando sat there looking uncomfortable. He had wanted to say this out loud to his friend since they boarded the plane here. Now was the good time to spit it out.

“Hm?” his pal asked still floating on cloud nine. Ando shuffled his feet a bit.

“I would like it if you didn’t tell me about… you know… your hot call,” he forced out at last. Shuichi looked at him puzzled.

“Well, we are sharing a room together,” he went on. “I don’t want to pretend to be asleep while you are talking about blowing on your writer boyfriend.”

“Oh yeah?” Shuichi asked. “Well maybe you can tempt your big-boobed country girl to come along and we can all have a party!”

“Seriously Shuichi,” Ando cut in as he held up his hand. “I don’t want to be stuck around his hearing you talk about screwing Yuki.” Shuichi looked at him offended. This was all news to him. Ando had never complained about his relationship with his boyfriend before in his life. It made him ask another question.

“Would it be alright if I talked to a girl on the phone tonight?” Shuichi challenged. Ando looked at him in silence. That just confirmed everything. That just made the vocalist start to get angry.

“I could, couldn’t I?” he asked. “Your shit, Ando!” The Buddhist boy shook his head quickly.

“Then what is it?” Shuichi asked as his anger shot up more. Ando breathed out uneasy to answer that question. Well, here goes…

“It’s just...” Ando began again. “Have you ever tried to be with a girl?” That just added insult to injury. Shuichi was really angry now.

“What the f**k is wrong with you?!?” he asked aloud. Ando was really worried now. This was now crashing and burning really fast. He had to fix this right away. But sadly, nothing he could say could fix anything would Shuichi got upset. He was pretty much a drama queen. (Yes, I said that right. Shuichi was a big girl in a boy’s body. Everyone knew that too well!)

“NO!!!” Ando cried out. “Don’t be sick!” That was just a slap in the face for Shuichi. He felt as if his heart just ripped out his chest and stepped all over it. The vocalist chuckled in pain.

“Sick?” he asked aloud. “Are you calling me sick because I’m dating Yuki?!?”

“No!!! No!!!” Ando said quickly. One would be wise enough to keep their mouth shut. But sadly, the boy just kept on. He was only making it worse for himself. “I don’t know what I think!” Ando went on. “I’m just a traditional Buddhist.” Shuichi looked at him crushed now. His friend had adopted the conservative American views on homosexuality. How could he stoop so low? This was… unforgivable! Ando just added one more kick to the pain.

“I think…” he said at last. “Gay’s just wrong…” Ando looked away ashamed. Shuichi was really hurting inside now. How could Ando say such a thing?

“So you don’t want anything to do with me?” Shuichi asked him fighting back his tears. Ando looked away in hurt as well. He didn’t mean it like that. Maybe, he should have just kept his mouth shut. It was too late now. Shuichi just got up and walked out of the room. Ando looked out the window in distress. He looked down on the floor. That was a big mistake.

Shuichi walked the halls to Hiro’s room. The boy leaned up against the wall. How could Ando even think like that? He thought Ando was better than that. The vocalist must have been dead wrong about him. The poor soul needed to talk to his first best friend. He knocked on the door.

“Coming!” his friend called. Shuichi waited in sorrow. The door opened wide. Hiro looked at his friend in concern.

“Shuichi,” Hiro replied. “Come in. What’s the matter?” The vocalist couldn’t hold it back anymore. Shuichi broke down into tears as he told the whole story about Ando and the falling out that they had while Hiro walked him into the room. As usual, the guitarist listened quietly. Usually, his friend was weepy over petty little things. But this time was really serious. Hiro was shocked to hear this about Ando. He knew that the boy always got uncomfortable when Shuichi talked endlessly about Yuki. But, this was worse! Shuichi sat down on Hiro’s bed when he was finished. He looked up at his best friend with more tears in his eyes.

“What about I going to do?” he whined out. Hiro sat down beside of him. He put his arm around his friend. Shuichi just sobbed again. The boys were interrupted when they heard a small shuffle. They looked up to see Jake sitting on the bed staring at them blankly. He quickly looked down at his/her feet.

“+Uh… I’m sorry…+” he mumbled. “+Do you guys need to be alone now?+” The boys didn’t say anything at first. Hiro sat up some.

“+If you want to,+” he replied to him. Jake froze for a moment as if to think about that.

“+Okay…+” he said at last. “+I’ll go see Ando now.+” Hiro kept his mouth shut on that one. Ando was not a nice word to say around him at the moment. How could that boy be so stupid? Hiro thought that the Buddhist was much better than that! But worrying about that would come later when he was calm enough to think. Rushing in to deal with Ando would not be wise in the mood that he was in right now. Besides, Lucas could trust Ando around his girlfriend/boyfriend. It wasn’t like the boy was going to do anything perverted to Jake.

“Fine, fine,” Hiro said at last. Jake nodded his head once and left the room. Hiro turned his attention back to Shuichi. His friend had calmed down some at the moment. However, the guitarist figured it would be wiser if Shuichi stayed with him the whole trip until he and Ando had sorted things out again. How ever long that would take…

“+But it’s me,+” Jake spoke up. Silence on the other side came. Then, there came footsteps to the door. The door opened wide to Jake. The American “boy” looked into his friend’s eyes. Jake could see that Ando was pretty upset. Maybe this had something to do with Shuichi. If only Jake could understand Japanese… He suddenly felt uncertain about staying.

“+Uh…+” the boy said at last. “+Is this a bad time?+” Ando nodded at him without thinking. Jake looked away some.

“+Okay,+” he said. “+I’ll come back later.+” Ando nodded at him slowly. Then, he closed the door lightly. Jake turned and walked away. The American boy wandered the hall for a while. The three people that were to take care of him had their own problems at the moment. Jake just couldn’t understand it all. He didn’t know a single word of Japanese at all. All of the Japanese people of their group spoke English to him. Jake was just stuck beside himself at the moment.

The boy soon found himself at Simon and Sid’s room. He just opened the door and walked inside. Sid looked up at him right away.

“/Jake,/” he called. “/What are you doing here?/” Jake shut the door behind him and came in. He sat down beside of Sid.

“+I can’t really talk to anybody here at the moment,+” he explained. “+Shuichi and Ando seemed to have had a fallings out and I can’t get a single word out of them or Hiro.+” Jake fell backwards on the bed.

“*Sigh* +If only could understand Japanese…+” he said in stress. Sid looked at him confused.

“/That sucks,/” he said. Jake and Sid looked over at him. Simon shrugged at them.

“/It’s just not fair,/” he said to Jake. “/You’re left out because you don’t speak Japanese./” Jake shrugged at him and shook his head.

“+I’m sure that they mean well…+” he suggested. Simon shrugged at him as well.

“/Maybe,/” he said. “/But isn’t it just a little bit annoying?/” Jake sat up and thought about that for a moment.

“+Yeah,+” he said. “+But, they mean well to keep me in the dark at times.+” Simon nodded at that a bit. Then, an idea came into his head. He always wanted to sleep with at least three of Lexie’s other personalities. Plus, the boy always wondered what it would be like with another guy. Since Lexie was Jake right now, it was just a two for one deal. Simon smiled at Jake a little bit.

“/I mean come on,/” he said. “/Sid will swop! You don’t mean, do you?/” His friend looked at him confused.

“/Shuichi will be rooming with Hiro since Ando had made him upset, yeah?/” he asked. “/He always turns to Hiro when something or someone kicks his pride down into the sorrow gutter. So, you’ll stay with Ando while Jake here stays with me and Casper. You got me?/” Sid thought about that for a moment. He couldn’t argue with that kind of logic.

“/There, you see?/” Simon asked. “/Problem solved./” Jake looked at him nervously.

“+I’m sure about that...+” Jake began. “+Lucas told me that I was supposed to stay with Shuichi, Hiro, or Ando at all times…+” Simon was all ready for that argument.

“/Well what a great job that they’re doing with taking care of you,/” he said. “/They can’t be doing that if they are wrapped up in their own little dramas, now can they?/” Jake thought about that for a moment. Simon did have a point there once again. How did that charming bastard do it? Sid said nothing and rose up to his feet to leave.

“/Take your bags too!/” Simon called. Sid turned and did so. His pal smirked at him as he did so. Too easy. So easy, a play could do it. The other English boy walked out the door and closed it behind him. Jake sat back on the bed.

“+Thanks,+” he said. Simon just nodded at him. Meanwhile, Shuichi was still upset about Ando. He had stopped crying now at least. The vocalist sniffled a little bit.

“I just can’t believe him!” he wailed out. “How could Ando be like that?” Hiro lightly put his arm around his friend.

“Shhh. It’s okay. I’ll talk to him later,” he said. Shuichi looked up at him with some leftover tears in his eyes.

“Yes, I do,” Hiro replied. Shuichi rushed forward and hugged the guitarist tightly. Words couldn’t describe how grateful he was to have a friend like Hiro at the moment. He cried at Hiro’s chest. His friend just watched him in silence. Ando would seriously have to pay for this later. He should have at least kept it to himself. If he was so high and mighty with his Buddhist values, then why did he drink, lust after women, and do drugs constantly. He was just a straight up hypocrite. Hiro shook his head away from those thoughts. He was starting to get angry again. It was just not worth it for both Ando and Shuichi at the moment. The last thing Hiro wanted was to do something they would all regret in the end. Well, time to think about something else to cheer Shuichi up. Suddenly, an idea came into Hiro’s mind. He picked up his cell phone and handed it to his friend.

“Here,” he said. “Will calling Yuki make you feel better?” Shuichi looked up at him quietly.

“Okay,” he said softly. Then, he took the phone and dialed Yuki’s number back in Japan. Hiro watched on silently. Meanwhile in Simon’s room, the boys were sitting together in silence.

“/So what do you think happened?/” the English boy asked the American one. Jake shrugged and shook his head.

“+Couldn’t say,+” he replied. Shuichi came in our room crying. He and Hiro began talking. I decided I wanted to leave them alone for a minute. So I said that I was going over to stay with Ando until everything was clear. Hiro gave me an icy stare when I mentioned Ando. But, he didn’t say anything at all. I just quietly got up and walked away. When I got down to Ando’s room, he opened the door and looked distressed. So, I just wandered the halls until I came here.+” Jake sighed again. “+I just wish that I could help them somehow,+” he went on. “+I just don’t know what to do.+” Simon leaned in him closely.

“/How about I give you head?/” he suggested in a cheeky way. Jake looked at him in disgusted shock.

“/Thought it would cheer you up!/” Simon said smoothly. Jake was really offended now.

“+What do you take me for?!?+” he cried out. “+I’m trying to find a way to help my friends and your proportioning me for sex! What is wrong with you?!?” Simon rushed over to the “boy” and gave him a big kiss on the lips. Poor Jake was caught off guard by this gesture. Simon pulled away from him after a good fifteen seconds. Jake stared at his friend as if he was mad!

“+I’m not a play thing, Simon!+” Jake shot back. “+You’re not playing with a life-size doll here!+”

“/I know,/” the English boy replied. “/I’ve played with life-size dolls before./”

“+Then, what about Casper?+” Jake challenged. Simon gave him a little shrug.

“/Fine,/” the English boy replied. Then, he got off of the bed and began taking off his shirt. Jake became nervous right away.

“/Want to get a leg up[2]?/” he offered. “/Come to bed!/” Then, he lied back onto his bed. Suddenly, the door opened wide. Both boys looked up. Casper walked right into the room. She looked just as hot as ever. Her dark blue short shorts drew heavy attention to her ass. Her pink halter top made her chest perkier. The hair and make-up completed her looks. Pity she wasn’t wearing any jewelry. (“/It’s too hot for that,/” she reasoned.) She smiled at the boys in her sweet 60’s cheerful way.

“/Hey Jake!/” she called to the American “boy.” The hippie shut the door behind her. “/Could you give Simon and I some alone time, please?/” she asked. She sat down next to her dog boyfriend.

“+No,+” Jake replied. “+Yeah… sure! Sorry!+” Then, they “boy” hurried away as fast as he could. Casper turned to her boyfriend smiling. She had yet to know what her man was planning.

The night was hot and muggy like yesterday. Everyone did not sleep well. It all put a new meaning to the phrase “drowning in heat.” Emma was in the hallway at the moment. The Aussie only had on panties and a white t-shirt. She was looking at Ken-san and Amuro-san’s room. That girl was planning something tonight. Emma just couldn’t stand the wait any longer. The Aussie was determined to have Ken-san all to herself. This trip was the perfect opportunity for her to do that. All she needed now was the timing. She waited outside of his door and listened closely. Meanwhile, the English sensei was getting right for bed tonight. He had just finished brushing his teeth. The boy only had on boxers tonight. It was too hot to wear pajamas. He was careful however to wear a light over-shirt just to be modest. The sensei wanted to set an example for the students. But that would all soon change quickly. A knock came on his door.

“Emma?” Ken asked in slight surprise. “I’m changing!” The Aussie waited for a moment.

“I don’t need a book,” the Aussie said as if that was a new concept to her.

“You’re a student!” Ken-san called. The lights clicked on in the girl’s head.

“Oh yeah, yeah, yeah!” she replied. “A book! Well, we don’t have to bring books for your sort of thing, do we? Being an English class and all. The story is all in your head, isn’t it?” Ken-san was smiling at that Aussie’s warm charm.

“Well, let me in and I’ll play Juliet to your Romeo!” Emma called. Ken-san kept his smile.

“Fine,” Emma replied. “I’ll go away then.” Ken-san whipped around to the door.

“Alright!” he called quickly. Emma smiled to herself wickedly. Score one for Australia! The door opened wide and the Aussie walked right in. Ken-san looked away smiling to himself. He turned back to her.

“And a,” Emma went on. “Maybe a goodnight kiss.” Ken-san smiled at her brightly. He wanted to do so badly…

But then, a knock on the door came and ruined everything. The potential couple looked up quickly.

“Hope you’re decent!” Amuro-san called cheerfully. Ken-san panicked for a minute.

“Shit!” he whispered to her. “Hide!” Emma nodded right away. Ken-san quickly shoved her under his bed and sat down on it. “Okay!” he yelled. “Come in!” Amuro-san opened the door and walked inside. She was wearing little tonight. The sensei only had on a black strapless bra with matching panties. Ken-san looked her nervously. The other sensei came in and shut the door behind her. She stood at the doorway in a sexy way and sighed. Ken stood up and closed the blinds. He turned to the other sensei unimpressed.

“Setsuko,” he spoke. “You’re staring.” Amuro-san kept looking at him lovingly.

“Was I?” she asked quickly. She sighed again happily and kept looking at him.

“Sorry!” she called. “Well, I’ll be over there if you need me!” Then she walked over to her bed in a sexy way. Emma watched from under the bed. Ken-san was uncomfortable now. He was stuck in a room with the most dorkeist sensei in all of Tokyo Cram College. Could this just get any worse?

“Yes!” Ken-san replied in a rush. “Um… I feel hot tonight.” He began getting right into bed.

“I bet you do!” Setsuko replied. She was smiling at him in utter desire. Ken-san lied back in bed some. Then, something disturbing caught his.

“Just some nightly exercises!” she replied. Ken-san lied back in stress again. Oh boy! This was going to be a long night! Emma wasn’t enjoying herself either. She kept getting a view of Amuro-san’s camel toe as she kept bending down. The Aussie looked away in disgust.

“Two, three, four, five, six,” the sensei kept counting as she was bending down. She kept counting like that over and over again. Emma just laid her head down on the floor and shut her eyes in terror. It would take years to get that image out of her head.

Meanwhile, Ando looked at the picture of him, Shuichi, Lexie, and Hiro on the beach. He really messed up big time. He didn’t mean to insult his friend in that way. Why is that talking always got him into trouble? Why couldn’t he say the right thing for once in his life? Ando looked out the window slowly. The house across the street looked dark except for one light on the second floor facing him. Curious, Ando looked out closely. He slowly walked over to the window and looked out. His dream girl was at the window looking for something to wear for tomorrow. Once that was done, she began undressing for bed. She was dressed up like a little sex kitten in her black and red corset with matching panties. Ando stared on with big eyes. He wasn’t dreaming after all! She was real!

Suddenly, the girl noticed him in her mirror on her dresser. She turned and looked out the window at the hostel across the sugar cane field. The girl stared back at Ando. He was really overjoyed now! She saw him!

“Oh my god!” he cried out. The girl watched him back with a smile on his face. She waved at him in a flirty way. Ando waited back eagerly. The girl waved back at him. Ando couldn’t take it anymore. This type of joy couldn’t be kept to himself any longer.

“Sid!!!” he called aloud. “Come quick!” The English was just returning back from the bathroom again. Ando looked at him overjoyed.

“She’s back!” the Buddhist called out in joy. “And she’s in a corset and underwear!”

“/What?/” Sid asked. “/Your pretend geisha?/” He hurried over to the window with his friend. Ando showed his friend to the window. But disappointment met their faces again. Once again, the girl was gone. The lights were even out across the street. The house was now completely pitch black. Only a dog barking in the night proved that there was life outside for the night. Ando was crushed yet again.

“/You know sometimes,/” Sid spoke up. “/People want to see something so bad that they start to imagine that they *have* seen something…/” Then, he patted him on the shoulder and walked away to get ready for bed. Ando still stood at the window. It was all still dark outside. Why did she do him like that?

Meanwhile, Ken-san was faring too well either. Amuro-san snored when she slept. Pretty loudly. So much so that the English sensei couldn’t sleep at all. The poor man could only stare up at the ceiling. Then, he heard a soft shuffle. The sensei looked down slightly. Emma was slowly crawling out from under the bed. Once out, she sat down on Ken-san’s bed. They shared a kiss together. Emma quietly left and went back to her room for the night. The English sensei lied back onto his bed and looked up at the ceiling again. At least the night would be a little more enjoyable now. Maybe this trip won’t be so bad after all.

The morning rang loudly for breakfast. It was just as muggy as it was yesterday. Everyone peeked out into the hall. Botum smiled brightly at them all.

“Wakey! Wakey!” she called out. “Time for cleansing! First girls clean! Then, boys clean!”

“/There’s no f*****g way I am taking a shower in one of those boxes!/” Casper complained to Fujisaki before they parted for the showers. Ando came in passed them only dressed in a robe. He came past Shuichi on the way to the showers. The pink-haired vocalist had on a robe as well. The Buddhist smiled at him warmly.

“Hello Shuichi!” he called. “Sid’s snoring last night was really rough!” The vocalist tried to walk away and ignore him at first. But then, he stopped and turned to his frienemy.

“Take back what you said,” Shuichi pleaded to him. Ando just looked down at the floor. Shuichi looked at him bitterly. It was silly to think that his friend would change overnight. But then, Hiro came along just in time. He put his arm around Shuichi’s shoulders.

“Come on Shuichi,” he said. “Let’s get going.” His friend nodded at him and walked off. Hiro turned to Ando. The Buddhist stared back him frozen sickly. Part of him was afraid of what the guitarist would do to him since he hurt Shuichi yesterday. Hiro was very understand, right?

“Listen me Ando,” he hissed under his breath. “Unless you are going to apologize to Shuichi, don’t even *think* about going near him! You got me?” Ando stared on pale and silent. Hiro just shook his head in disgust and walked off.

“See you,” he called unimpressed. Ando watched on in worry. He shrugged in distress and walked on to the showers. He seemed to be just making it worse for himself. The showers were just all little tall boxes. There wasn’t much room to move around in. The people inside could only stand up straight in them. The water was icy cold as well. Great! Freezing water and cramped space. Beautiful way to start a morning! Ando shook his head uneasily. “Oh hell no!” he thought. Then, the Buddhist turned to leave. But, Botum blocked the doorway.

“Okay, okay!!!” Ando cried out. He turned around and hurried over to one of the box showers. Botum grabbed his robe as Ando went into the shower and shut the door. He turned on the water in the same rush.

“Don’t worry boys!” Amuro-san yelled on the other side of the wall. “It’s all part of the culture!”

“Stop saying that Setsuko!” Nick yelled out. Shuichi was lost in his thoughts at the moment was there was a tap on the left side of his shower cubicle. He looked up right away.

“+It’s Simon,+” the American “boy” answered. “+He keeps hitting on me!+” Shuichi froze up at those words. Something told him that it wasn’t a good idea to let Jake go off on his own. Simon just couldn’t be trusted with Lexie when she was one of her other personalities. He was just that sneaky.

“+No,+” Jake said. “+I’m really nervous. I don’t know what to do.+” Shuichi paused for a moment to think about that.

“+Okay,+” he said again. “+Just stay away from him. I’ll talk to him.+” Jake breathed out in relief on his side.

“+Thanks Shuichi!+” he said. The vocalist smiled to himself warmly. He was happy to help out his friend. If only Ando could take back what he said yesterday… Shuichi shook his head from those thoughts. Hiro told him to worry about that for the rest of the trip. “It’s not worth getting worried over it,” he said to his best friend. “I’ll deal with him myself.” Shuichi suddenly felt better again. Now, he would have to watch after Lexie/Jake and keep him away from Simon. However fun that would be.

Afterwards, everyone sat in the lobby of the hostel. The showers were not that great for them all. Jake sat with Shuichi and Lucas for protection.

“Okie Dokey karaoke folks!” Amuro-san called out as she snapped her fingers walking down the aisle. “Listen up!” She made her way to the front.

“This way please!” she called. Botum and Ken-san sat down in the front. “Now,” the geography sensei went on. “There’s been a few problems. But, are we gonna let it get us down?” Silence sat in the room. Emma looked over at Ken-san. The English sensei stared at Setsuko blankly. Amuro-san kept her big smile.

“No,” she replied. “So, let the education begin!” Today was some sight-seeing first. The heat didn’t help at all. The fans on trolley didn’t really help either. Shuichi leaned on Hiro once again.

“But you’re helping me walk,” the vocalist said. “Besides, it’s too hot to move!” *Sweat drop on Hiro’s head*

“/This is crap!/” Nicole complained. “/We make-up is going to be ruined again!/”

“/Cause,/” she said. “/I just wanted to!/” Fujisaki sighed annoyed. Shawn put his arm around Nicole.

“/There, there babes!/” he said. “/You’re still look hot!/” Nicole smiled at him kindly. They shared a kiss together. Jake and Lucas sat together behind Shuichi and Hiro. Jake tried his best to look away from his boyfriend. You see, Jake was in love with Lucas. However, there was a problem. Luke was straight and dating Lexie. So, the unrequited love was overpowering. Trolley pulled up to the main street. The doors opened wide. Amuro-san turned to her students.

“Alright everybody!” she called. “Stay together and remember your manners!” The students looked at her bored. Amuro-san smiled at them brightly again. She clapped her hands together cheerfully. “Right!” she said. “Now go out and enjoy yourselves!” They all boarded off the bus and went their separate ways. The sensei watched them quietly. Amuro-san turned to Ken-san.

“Isn’t this great?” she asked aloud. The sensei just looked outside the window. Once again he was stuck with the dorkiest sensei in Tokyo Cram College. The plan went like this: do some sight-seeing and maybe some shopping first, lunch, and then a tour of a modern Cambodian factory. Simple right? That wouldn’t be fun if it did. No, something has to go wrong!

So far, everything went decent. Nick was taking loads of pictures with his camera. Cassie stayed by his side the whole time. She went on and on about, what else? Andy Warhol, of course! Nick tuned her out as usual.

“/I’ve been here before,/” Cassie went on. “/M. Night Shyamalan was shooting a film out in Cambodia./”

“/Right…/” Nick mumbled to her as he took more pictures. Cassie went quiet for a second. Nick went right back to work. She cuddled up close to the bitter English boy. Nick tried to ignore her. Cassie looked up at him sweetly.

“/I’m not going to even answer that question!/” he said. Cassie leaned in close to him again. The English boy slowly became annoyed.

“/Why?/” Cassie asked. Nick just sighed and rolled his eyes. No point of telling her off. She was just determined to follow him no matter what. This pin head seemed to have developed an infatuation with this bitter English boy. So what could he do? She refused to take no for an answer from him. So, he might as well let her stay.

Shuichi, Hiro, and Jake were looking around the music store to kill some time. Two Cambodian teenage girls recognized to two Japanese boys. They were giggling right away. Jake looked up and saw them. He leaned over to Shuichi.

“+Hey Shuichi,+” the American boy whispered to him. “+I think you have some fans over there!+” The vocalist had a little smile on his face. He nudged Hiro lightly. The guitarist looked over at him.

“What is it?” he whispered to him. Shuichi pointed forward. Hiro looked up and saw the girls giggling at him. The guitarist smiled as well. The girls were still watching him. Then they all started to walk over to them. Shuichi and Hiro’s smiles grew even more.

“+Oh!+” Jake called blushing. “+They’re coming over here!+” The girls made it over to the boys. They were pretty cute. These little girls looked about fourteen years old. One of them leaned in close to Shuichi.

“Are you from the band Bad Luck?” she asked in strong Japanese. Shuichi stepped forward proudly.

“Yeah!” he said. The girls became excited. They began acting like hyper-active fan girls. They began asking for Shuichi and Hiro’s autographs and flirting with them. The boys just looked on impressed. Jake suddenly felt very uncomfortable.

“+Uh…+” he said. “+I’ll go over here for a while.+” Then, Jake walked over to the magazine section near the display window. Apparently, Bad Luck was just as big in Cambodia as they were in Japan. Jake smiled a bit at that one. Everyone was enjoying their free time. The girls went on shopping for souvenirs. They all came out with bags of goodies. Lunch was better as well. The smells of the food on the street were highly seductive. Everyone was now willing to try everything. Casper mostly stayed away from anything with meat in it. However, Shuichi and Ando still didn’t talk to each other. They really began to miss each other so much. But the issue with Ando’s faith and beliefs still stood firm. Would they ever get through this rough path?

The trip went back to dull at a meat factory. This was Amuro-san’s pick. (Shocker, I know!) Everyone felt like they were roasting in an oven. They just couldn’t escape the Cambodian heat. It was just all around them. It was just torture. Their current location wasn’t helping either. The meat hanging everywhere made Casper want to puke.

“Setsuko!” she wailed. “I don’t eat meat!” Amuro-san just shrugged at her.

“Oh come on,” she said. “It can’t be that bad.” Then the owner of the factory came out to the class. He greeted them in Cambodian. Then, he began to explain the whole process of how they make the meat in the factory. No one had a single clue what he was saying and all. Casper tried her best to keep down her lunch. Simon tightly held her hand. The poor hippie girl looked so pale. She thought that she would die in misery. Translation didn’t help it either.

“First,” the woman in the factory said translating for them. “We sedate the animal, then we break its legs off, then chop off its head, cut it up into little pieces, then we take the meat piece by piece and clean it up, and we market for sale!” The class looked on sick and pale. Her cheerful voice didn’t help at all. Casper looked as if she would pass out at any second.

“No wonder you’re a vegetarian,” Fujisaki whispered to Casper. The hippie only nodded once. Then came the sound of hooves in the entry. Everyone looked over to the door at the sound. One of the men from the factory was bringing in a fresh cow. This was a huge and fat piece of meat. The factory man led the cow behind the group and over to the back room to be slaughtered. Everyone watched in silence.

“Sweet!” Jack yelled out. “The little heifer gettin’ whacked big time!!!” He turned to his fellow classmates. “You know what I’m sayin’?” he asked aloud. The cow let off a cry of pain as it was getting slaughtered in the back room. A loud gun shot rang out in the factory. The girls all looked startled. The factory came to live with its fresh new kill. The raw and unclean meat came out in seconds. Blood was everywhere. The guts were still fresh and intact. Everyone cried out in disgust. Casper tried her best not to cry.

“Alright, alright,” Amuro-san called out. “Like I said, this is the real world. Real things happen! Deal with it!” She just shook her head to herself. Shuichi looked at her in disgust.

“Come on,” the geography sensei called. Then, she went right out the door. The students looked at her sickly. That evening, Emma came by Ken-san’s dorm. She was about to knock on the door when she heard Ken-san shouting at Amuro-san.

“I thought on this trip we could explore,” she explained softly. “You know, explore each other…” Ken-san just shook his head.

“Setsuko,” he tried to reason. Amuro-san nodded at him sweetly waiting for his answer.

“F**k off!” Ken-san yelled out to her. Then, he pushed her away. Amuro-san looked at him hurt.

“Oh come on!” she called. “Why do you think I brought you on this trip?” Ken-san looked at her in disgust.

“You are totally, totally out of order!!!” he cried. Emma listened on quietly. A little shock was on her face.

“Oh yeah!” Amuro-san called out. “And… and maybe you… are impotent!”

“Well f**k you, Setsuko!!!” the English sensei yelled. Emma’s face grew on in more shock. Then, Ken-san leapt off of the bed and stormed off pissed off. Amuro-san sat there in silence.

“Yeah…” she mumbled to him. Ken-san came out into the hallway and nearly ran into Emma. The Aussie girl backed away quickly.

“She can’t talk to you like that!” Emma protested. “I’m going to get the f*****g whacker!” She began to march straight over to the door.

“Emma, no!” Ken-san called as he tried to block her path. “It’s fine! It’s fine!” Emma froze in her tracks. Then, the English sensei kissed her on the lips quickly. The Aussie kissed him back pleasantly surprised. The kissing didn’t stop there. Emma was finally getting work she wanted. But then, Ken-san broke off the kiss in slight worry.

“What are we doing?” he questioned. Emma looked at him quietly. Then, Ken-san kissed her again. They didn’t stop kissing again. The English sensei pushed his student up against her door. Emma pushed open the door and dragged her boyfriend into her dorm. The sensei shut the door right behind them.

“/Come on!/” Simon pleaded with his shirt off. “/Why not?/” Jake ignored him.

“/It won’t take long!/” Simon went on. “/I’ll be good! I promise!/” Jake paused and turned to him.

“/Why not?/” Simon asked. “/You’ve done everyone else! Phil, Lucas, Sid./” Jake looked at him confused.

“/I’ve seen,/” Simon answered. “/I’ve heard about the one with Jack and his nan[3]. Now, come over and fix something at my house sometime./” Jake turned back to the leaking bed over his bed.

“+Just stop it,+” Jake mumbled to himself. Simon unzipped his jeans. Jake whipped around quickly to see his English friend starting to take off his jeans.

“/Come on man,/” he said. “/It’s hot in this place. I just want to cool off some. Is that a crime?/”

“+Just stop it!!!+” Jake cried as he leapt off of the bed to his pal. Simon looked offended.

“/You’ve got a boyfriend that is only interested into women!/” Simon called out. “/You do anything for him, but not for me!/” He turned back to Jake. “/I’ll give you head,/” he went on. “/That’s love./” Jake stormed off offended. Simon looked after him confused.

Jake made it all the way to Shuichi and Hiro’s dorm. The boys noticed his stressed out face.

“+Jake,+” Shuichi spoke up. “+What’s wrong?+” He raced all the way over to his friends.

“+It’s Simon again,+” he called. “+He just won’t quit hitting on me!+” Hiro and Shuichi looked up at him seriously.

“+Has he touched you?+” the vocalist asked. Jake shook his head. Hiro held him close.

“+Shhh,+” he whispered. “+It’s okay. We’ll talk to him.+” The American “boy” looked up at him with big eyes.

“+Thanks guys!+” he called out. Shuichi felt warm for a second. Then, his smile went away in seconds. For some reason, he felt so lonely again. He reached under his bed and pulled out his photo album again. The boy began looking at the pictures quietly. All of the photos of his friends, family, Japan, and Yuki always filled the emptiness in his heart. The good old trick was working at first. But then, one picture in particular stopped him in his tracks. This one was of Ando with the girls eating outside on Casper’s porch. He had a goofy grin up to his ears. His expression seemed to say, “Yes, I am the pimp at this table!” Shuichi’s smiled faded away. Ando’s words still hurt him. But yet, the vocalist still missed his friend. A friendship can’t be ended over something that petty, now could it? Shuichi made up his mind right then and there. He rose to his feet and walked out of the room. Hiro and Jake looked up at him.

“Shuichi,” Hiro called. “Where are you going?” The vocalist didn’t answer. The boy had the album clutched tightly in his right hand. He made it all the way across the hall to Ando’s room. His friend was sitting on the bed looking at some tablets. The bathroom to Shuichi’s left was closed.

“The packet says it should flush you out within at least twenty-four hours,” he read aloud to Sid in the bathroom. “Because believe me Sid, we need those drugs!” Shuichi looked on in anger. How dare he say such a thing! Gay was wrong, but drugs were okay? Shuichi opened his photo album and pulled out the picture of Ando with the girls. He stormed over to his frienemy. The vocalist shoved the photo into Ando’s face.

“Look!” Shuichi yelled out. “No drugs, Buddhist boy!!!” Ando looked at the picture slightly startled.

“You f*****g jerk!!!” the vocalist at the top of his lungs. “I can’t believe you’re putting all of that Buddhist bullshit on me!!!” He began tearing the picture up into pieces.

“What I do is a disgrace?!?” Shuichi yelled out even louder. “You’re the f*****g worst Buddhist ever!!!”

“For what?!?” Shuichi screamed. “For more drugs?!? Aw, f**k it! Let’s get a drink! Yeah! Of course Buddha wants you doing coke from Sid’s ass!” Ando became angry at that one right away.

“How can I always have a friend who’s such a f*****g hypocrite?!?” Shuichi asked aloud. Ando sat in silence at that one.

“I’m done f*****g around with this!!!” Shuichi yelled out as he threw the torn picture down on the floor. Then, he stormed out of the dorm. The vocalist slammed the door shut behind him.

“Well, you’re such a little diva!!!” the Buddhist boy shouted at him. He sat all alone on the bed with that one. Ando kicked the torn pieces away. Shuichi stormed the halls in rage. How could Ando be such a f*****g liar?!? Shuichi must have been wrong about him! He kicking on the doors in response. The inhabitants were screaming out at him. Shuichi didn’t care by this by point! Ando made him do this. Shuichi pushed open a random door. He found Emma and Ken-san having sex in bed. The couple looked up right away. Shuichi looked on in shock. Clearly, he wasn’t expecting that one! Ken-san and Emma stared on at him. The vocalist quickly shut the door. He leaned up against the wall in distress. What was he doing? This wasn’t like him at all. Shuichi sat right down on the floor hopeless.

“What f*****g else?” he mumbled to himself. Botum was coming into the hall to check on everything. She spotted Shuichi sitting on the floor. The hostel keeper raced all the way over to him. She stood over him enraged.

“My house!” she screamed. “No break! No break!!!” The big woman picked Shuichi up by the shirt and stood him up to his feet. The vocalist looked at her with sorrow in his eyes.

“I’m so sorry!” he whimpered out. “I’m so sorry!!!” He began to break down into tears. Botum noticed the sorrow in his eyes.

“Okay,” she said softly. Then, she let him go. Botum looked down and noticed his t-shirt. “Nittle Grasper?” the woman asked in amazement.

“Nittle Grasper!” Botum said again impressed. Shuichi nodded at her again. A smile came across her face. She felt like a teenage girl again. Then, she motioned him to follow her. Shuichi did so in silence.

“/So why are you with Simon again?/” Nicole asked Casper as they were doing their make-up for this evening in Casper’s room. The girls planned to go out tonight. Earlier they got invited by some boys to a club. They had been warned to stay away from strange men. But, what’s one night in another country? I mean, it’s only one chance.

“/He’s exciting,/” Casper reasoned as she worked on her mascara. “/And he must love me because he can have anyone he wants./”

“/You think he ever wants anyone else?/” Nicole asked as she touched up her black eyeliner. Casper thought about that for a moment.

“/Maybe sometimes,/” she replied as she pinned back her long wavy brown hair into a ponytail. “/He always wants me the most though. I’m his girlfriend. That’s special, isn’t it?/” Nicole looked at her for a moment. Then, she looked away silently.

“/Yeah… I suppose,/” the dancer replied unconvinced. “/Listen, I need to talk to you about him./” Casper sighed to her new friend.

“/Look,/” she said. “/I know I annoy everyone in our group with him. I don’t mean to, Nicole./” The Goth dancer rose up to her feet.

“/Look,/” she said. “/Can we just get out of here? Do you hear me?/” Casper hugged her gently.

Meanwhile, Ando was watching his hot neighbor next door. She was getting into a fight with an older man in her house. “Shit,” he mumbled to himself as he watched on. The screaming was getting louder and louder. The man was shaking the Buddhist’s dream girl wildly. Ando couldn’t stand by and watch her get hurt like this. He had to do something.

“Sid!!!” he called turning to his friend. “SID!!!” The English took out his earphones and looked up from his hentai mag.

“Her dad’s turned up and he’s like shouting at her,” he said. “It’s like abuse, man!”

“/Oh so there’s a dad now, is there?/” Sid asked unconvinced. Silence came once again. Ando turned back to the window. The English boy rose to his feet and joined his friend. The man was shaking the dream girl still. He even slapped her right in the face! The boys watched on in shock. The man slapped the girl around a couple more times than walked off.

“/Oh f**k me!/” Sid mumbled. “/She’s real!/” The girl looked out the window and saw them.

“He’s going to come back!” Ando called. “We’ve got to help!” Then, he raced out of his room to the girl’s rescue. But first, the Buddhist grabbed his suitcase and dug for some supplies.

“/What are we going to do?/” Sid asked. “/And he’s going! Her dad’s going./” The man was walking out of his house to the sugar cane fields.

“Come on!!!” Ando yelled out. “We’ve got to save her!” Ando packed up his gear into a smaller backpack. On the way, Sid and Ando ran into Casper and Nicole. The girls were laughing when they paused and saw the boys.

“/Nowhere!/” Sid said quickly. “/Where are you going?/” Nicole looked at Casper.

“/Nowhere!/” she said. Then, the four of them left the hostel. It felt like sneaking out of the house back in Japan.

“/Yep!/” Casper called as they were all heading out of the lobby. Amuro-san came out into the lobby and saw them. Confused, she asked, “Guys!” The four of them paused and turned around.

“No!!!” the four of them called. Then, they all hurried away. Amuro-san still looked on confused. The kids all made it outside of the hostel.

“Bye,” Ando said. Then, the girls walked away. Once they were gone, the boys ran right across the street.

Meanwhile, Botum led Shuichi back into her own room. She showed him an old poster of Nittle Grasper.

“Sit down!” Botum called out. “Sit down!” Shuichi complied. Botum turned on her CD player. Usually, Shuichi would be over the moon to hear his idol/rival singing. But the Ando gap, just seemed to be a damper on everything. Even his photo album wasn’t helping much either.

“What is problem?” Botum asked bringing the boy back to earth. Shuichi looked up quickly. He shook his head.

“You wouldn’t understand,” he said. “I mean you can’t even speak Japanese.” Botum smiled at him out of sympathy.

“No trouble!” she called. Then, she reached over and pulled out some banana wine and a glass. A smile came onto his face.

“Banana wine!” she boomed. The hostel opened the bottle and poured herself a glass. Then, she poured him a glass as well.

“Now,” she said handing his glass. “You tell me problem!” Shuichi looked at her in despair. Botum kept her smile.

“With drink, problem fixed! Eh?” she said in a booming voice. Shuichi nodded a bit once.

“Okay,” he said softly. Botum smiled at him. “To Cambodia!” Then, she drank up.

“To Cambodia,” Shuichi mumbled. He looked at his glass uneasily at first. Then, he took a drink. Botum poured him another drink. Shuichi drank that as well. Such a bitter taste for such a bitter time.

Meanwhile, Emma and Ken-san were getting dressed after that hot ride. It was good, but Ken-san felt completely guilty about it. He decided to say something now.

“Emma,” he spoke up. “Uh… this was… a one-time deal! I don’t have sex with seventeen year old students!” The Aussie looked at him innocently.

“How old are they normally?” she asked in a cheeky way. Silence paused over them. Ken-san sat down next to her on the bed.

“What are we going to do about Shuichi?” he asked in a panic. Emma looked up at him grinning.

“What?” she asked. “Oh! You should hear about the things he gets up to with Yuki! It’s some kinky shite, man!”

“And you don’t know that this can never *ever* happen again!” he called out. “Don’t you?” Emma looked at him slightly confused.

“Yeah,” she said in a small voice. A long pause came between them. The couple stared at each other for a long time. Ken-san kissed her again on the lips. Emma kissed him back. He pushed her back onto the bed for another make-up session.

Outside, Sid and Ando were watching between the tree watching. They watched the house across the street. Operation rescue had begun.

“We get in,” he began. “Rescue her, get out, and Sid’s a big hero!” Sid nodded at that one.

“Ando gets his cherry popped!” the Buddhist boy went one. “Simple.” They raced all the way to the house. They came around to the backyard. The boys tried to open the gate. The damn thing wouldn’t budge. Sid yanked the side window right open. Ando looked at him slightly amazed. “Why didn’t I think of that?” he thought. Then, he hurried over to the window and climbed in. They made inside the house. The boys looked around some.

“Hello?” Ando asked aloud. “-Hello?-” The boys walked through the house looking around. They came right up the stairs. Ando slowly took off his book bag. They processed onwards.

“Hey!” someone called to them. Ando quickly looked into the room on his right. His dream girl was sitting on the bed staring at him. Ando felt as if he had just found the Promised Land. The Buddhist rushed straight to the door.

“Hello!” he breathed out in joy. The girl looked at him for a while. Ando walked over to her. Then, the door slammed shut downstairs. The girl looked up in worry.

“-Sopheap!!!-” the man yelled out. Sid looked behind him as the man began walking through the house. The woman, Sopheap, said something to Ando quickly in Cambodian as she tried to hide him from the man. Sid hid in the closet and Ando hid out of sight behind the dresser. The girl straightened herself up some and pretended to be sewing up his pants. The man came into the room. He looked around for a bit. They began to argue again. The girl spoke again to him. He grabbed her by her pretty little face. Ando watched on worried for her. The man slapped her again. Ando looked at her with pity. The man walked right out of the room. The crows squawked outside. The girl threw down his pants on the bed. The boys slowly came out of hiding.

“-Shhh!!!-” the girl whispered to them. Ando hurried over to his dream girl.

“We’re going to get you out of here!” he said to her. The girl looked on worried as he got out his gear. He pulled out the ladder rope.

“-Shhh!!!-” the girl whispered to him. She began saying something to him in Cambodian. Sid looked out the window at the hostel.

“Take this to the boy!” Ando called. “Hurry up! He’s going to come back!” Sid stared at him blankly for a minute and then hurried to get to work. The girl looked on worried.

“Come on!” Ando said to her. The girl nodded and grabbed onto his hand. Sid placed the bed on the ladder to hold it in place.

“Come on, come on!” Ando called. “Slowly!” The girl said something to him in Cambodian again. But, Ando didn’t listen. He just threw the ladder out the window. It landed perfectly outside.

“He’s going to get you!” Ando pleaded back. The girl finally gave in and began to climb out the window. Ando looked on frantically.

“Come on!” he said quickly. Sid watched on in a panic. He looked over at the door.

“Trust me!” Ando said again. The girl nodded at him quickly. She climbed out to the ladder as fast as she could. Ando climbed out the window as well.

“Sid!” he yelled. “Keep watch!” The English boy stood up from the bed confused. But when he did, the bed was pulled by the weight of both Ando and the girl on the ladder. The two dropped further to the ground. Both screamed out loud in surprise. Suddenly, shouting came from downstairs. Sid looked around nervously. He turned back to the window. He grabbed the ladder and threw it down. Ando and girl watched him before he ran away.

“-Sopheap!!!-” the man yelled out again. Sid moved the bed back into position. The man yelled out again. The English boy looked up in a rush. He panicked as he tried to figure out what to do next. He quickly got into bed and covered himself up.

“-Sopheap!!!-” the man yelled out again. He said something else in Cambodian. He came right into the room and looked over Sid in the bed. A warm smile came across his face. Then, the doorbell rang downstairs. The man gave Sid one more smile before walking downstairs to answer the door. Sid just lied there in misery. The man was talking to someone else downstairs.

“/Every time…/” Sid mumbled to himself. “/Every f*****g time! ‘Buy three ounces of weed, Sidney!’ Oh yes sir! ‘Shove a bag of pills up your ass, Sidney!’ Oh right away! ‘Come help me save some random bird!’ Oh can I? What have we learned Sidney? Your friends are shiteheads!/” He breathed out in distress. “/Oh f**k it!/” he mumbled to himself. He looked up right away. The man was back and standing over him. He screamed out loud. Sid quickly leapt out of bed and raced to the window. He jumped right out of it. The man looked over the balcony at Sid. He raced after him enraged.

Meanwhile, Ando and the girl made it back to his dorm. Ando closed the door behind him. The girl sat down on his bed. Ando packed up his stuff pretty quickly. His guest watched in silence. The Buddhist turned back to her smiling. The girl smiled at him some. He sat now right next to her right away. Awkward silence came first. He got her. Now what to say to her?

“Great!” Ando started off. The girl giggled some. It went flat from there. He really didn’t know what to say to such a beauty. Oh well. Guess it wouldn’t hurt to try. He swallowed hard.

“If only you knew the things I’d love to do to you!” he said. “Rub my fingers through your hair… kiss your lips… kiss your neck… cum in your tits…”

“Yeah!!!” Sopheap called out happily. Ando sat right down in front of her on Sid’s bed. Sopheap turned right to him.

“I learned from some of the best anime ever!!!” she called out. Ando looked at her amazed.

“I’m like horny…” Ando replied. The girl giggled at him. Ando laughed with her.

Meanwhile, Casper and Nicole were heading out to the night club that the boys had invited them out to earlier. They needed the escape badly. Any longer in that hostel and they both would’ve snapped. Clubbing tonight was there escape. The girls looked around for a bit. Casper finally spotted their friends across the street waving at them. The English hippie became overjoyed.

“/Come on, that’s them!/” she said. The girls hurried over to their new friends at the night club. Every color of the rainbow flashed in the lights. Inside, the music was pumping. Teenagers were dancing fiercely on the dance floor. The bar tenders served everyone drinks left and right. It felt like Saturday night in here. This was just like home. The boys walked the girls inside. Casper and Nicole looked around for a moment. They weren’t really impressed.

“/This sucks!/” Nicole whispered to Casper. “/Let’s go./” She turned around to leave. But the hippie stopped her in her tracks.

“/Nick,/” she said. “/I have never left a club without being chatted up in my life and I’m not about to break that record now./”

“/There’s nobody even decent-looking here anyway,/” the Goth princess tried to reason. “/They all look like kids!/”

“/Fine,/” she said. “/Go do it!/” Then, they walked right onto the dance floor and began to dance. All of the boys in the club noticed them right away. A couple of soldiers stared right at them. Casper winked and blew a kiss at them. Nicole winked at them a bit. The soldiers all gathered around quickly. Nicole leaned over to her friend.

“/Let’s mix it up some!/” Casper repeated. They began to dance a little bit nasty together. The soldiers rushed in to join them. The hippie beckoned them over to them. The men were more than happy to join. Nicole and Casper giggled at their results.

Meanwhile, Ando was still bonding with Sopheap. It really blew his mind that she knew Japanese very well. She lightly took his hand and moved it between her legs. Her heart raced at the feeling. Ando’s heart was racing as well. Sopheap slowly inched her hand over to Ando. She began touching along his package. Shock met her right away.

“Nope!” he said aloud. Sopheap giggled at him softly. *Sweat drops all over Ando’s back as he blushes* His guest giggled again.

“Yes!” Ando said quickly. “Friends!” He felt himself getting even harder again.

“Ando’s a f*****g liar!!!” Shuichi cried out to Botum in her back room as she looked at his photo album on the coffee table. “He lied to his mom all the f*****g time! No, no! F**k that! He makes me lie for him!” The vocalist was trying her best to fight back his tears. Botum looked at him confused.

“Me!!!” Shuichi cried out. “Ando hates me because I’m a f*****g homo with Yuki!” Botum stared at him for a moment.

“So, Ando is problem! No Shuichi!” she summed up. The vocalist nodded at her.

“Yeah, thank you,” the vocalist said as he bowed his head at her. Botum smiled at him warmly.

“Of course,” he said without thinking. She looked at the photo album and tossed it right to him. Shuichi caught it right into his lap. He turned his head up at her confused.

“You want me to take your picture?” Shuichi asked. “Okay.” Then, turned to some blank pages in his album. When he looked up, Botum posed for him in a sexy way. The poor soul silently freaked out. But what choice did he have? She helped him after all. So, he could be rude and turn her down. He drew out his cell phone camera from his pocket.

Back at the club, Casper and Nicole were singing along with the drunken soldiers. The girls were wearing two of soldiers’ hats. All eyes in the club were on them. Drinks were all coming to the girls and the soldiers. They all seemed to be having a great time! Back at the hostel, Ando and Sopheap were curled up in bed together. They both had a *really* great time with each other!

“Three rolls down, nineteen to good!” she called happily. The girl rolled over and found something inside the bed. She pulled it out and opened it up. She had in her hands the beach photo of Ando, Shuichi, Hiro, and Lexie.

“No,” Ando said as he pointed to Shuichi in the photo. “He did.” Sopheap looked over at him for a second.

“He must be a good friend,” she said." He'll be there when the rain starts to fall.” Ando shook his head in slight sorrow.

“Maybe not,” he replied. “He’s probably angry with me.” Sopheap looked at the photo again.

“Because I told the truth,” he said. “And that’s important.” Sopheap folded up the picture again.

“But what about you?” Ando asked. “You’ve got bigger problems.” Sopheap instantly became uncomfortable.

“You can’t go back home to him!” Ando told her. “You should come home with me. I’ll look after you.”

“Ando, don’t lie to me. It’s not possible.” Sopheap said to him seriously. They both sat up together in bed.

“It is!” the Buddhist boy cried. “Look, we can live in my house! I’ll look after to you. There may be one or two little hiccups with my mom and grandfather, but I’m sure it will be fine.” Sopheap lightly stroked his cheek. Ando smiled as he looked into her sweet brown doe eyes.

In his dorm, Simon was reading the book, Maurice. He became distracted when he heard giggling through the walls. Curious, he looked up. The charming bastard bookmarked his page and went to investigate. He came right into Ando and Sid’s dorm. He looked over at Ando’s bed at the Ando and Sopheap going at it again. He peeked under the sheets. The movement stopped and the Buddhist slowly drew back the sheet a bit. He sat up really fast. Simon backed away some. He quickly left the dorm and shut the door behind him. Ando and Sopheap looked up in confusion.

Simon ran down to the game room where Emma, Jack, Nick, Shawn, Fujisaki, and Lucas were all playing the different table games.

“/Guys, guys!/” he yelled out. “/Kumi Koda has finally arrived!!!/” They all stopped what they were during and all looked up at the English boy.

“/Ando’s in there with a bloody Cambodian girl!/” Simon yelled out. Whispers were all around. The Buddhist boy rushed down to the game room with his clothes in his hands trying to get dressed.

“/Don’t act like you don’t want anyone to see!/” Simon called to him. Ando smiled at them in pride.

“She’s fit though, isn’t she?” he asked. Then, Amuro-san and Ken-san came into the game room.

“Yo, yo, yo!” Amuro-san called out. “What’s happening?” Then, Sopheap came into the room as Ando was getting dressed. She only had on a white oversized t-shirt. All of the guys in the room whispered and sneered at her.

“Oh yeah, Ando!” Jack said. “Aw, you pimp!” The Buddhist held his dream girl close to him. Suddenly, shouting echoed from down the lobby. Everyone looked up startled. Jack smiled at her richly.

“Hey, what’s poppin’, baby love?” he asked. “Perhaps you want a taste of Black Jack?” Sopheap looked uncomfortable with that one. Ando began walking with his girl back to the dorms.

“Alright, that’s enough!” Amuro-san called. “Not to be boring old teacher here. It’s all gravy with me, you know…” Then, Sid raced straight into the game room. He looked pale with fear.

“/You will not believe what I had just been through!/” he cried out. “/I jumped out of a window, got chased into a bush, wade through a mucky river, all the while being chased by your nutter of a dad!” Sopheap and Ando looked at each other for a second and then turned back to the miserable English boy.

“/But it’s okay though,/” Sid went on. “/I reckon I lost him./” But then out of nowhere, Sopheap’s dad ambush Sid from behind and knocked him right in the head with a rifle. The Cambodian girl gasped out in fear. The man turned right to her. Ando held onto her to keep her safe. He began shouting at her in Cambodian. He pointed his gun right at her. The girls in the room screamed out in shook. Ken-san gasped aloud. Emma and Amuro-san looked on nervously.

“Oh shit!” Amuro-san cried out. Shuichi was looking at his pictures of Botum in his camera in her room when he heard the sounds from down the hall. He quickly looked up. The vocalist put down his photo album and camera and left the room. Botum was sound asleep snoring on the couch.

The man was still pointing his gun at the students. Sopheap pushed aside the gun. She began pleading with him in Cambodian. She turned the man to her. The girl began kissing him many times on the lips. The man look unfazed, but she still kept on.

“#Ewww, why is she kissing her dad?#” Emma asked as she watched on in shock.

“Your husband?!?” Ando asked with wide eyes of shock. Sopheap kept her eyes on him.

“We were on a break,” she explained. The girl then tried to stop her husband away, but he pushed her away into one of the couches. The angry man cocked his shotgun. He pointed his gun at Ando. Everyone else started backing away. The Buddhist backed away in terror as the man followed him with the gun.

“I’m sorry!” he cried out. “I didn’t know!” The man spoke to him in Cambodian once again. Ando began to say his prayers in his head. Then suddenly, Shuichi came out of nowhere and grabbed to shotgun right out of the man’s hand.

“Leave him alone!” he yelled. “Leave him alone!” The vocalist cocked the shotgun and pointed it at the man. Ah, there was something to be learned from K-san’s gun obsessed ways after all! The Cambodian man looked at him confused. Amuro-san screamed out as she hid closely behind Ken-san.

“Oh my lord!” she cried. “Can’t we talk about this?” The man chuckled to himself. He whipped out a hand gun and pointed it right into Shuichi’s face. The vocalist was now scared. He wasn’t expecting this! The man muttered something to him in Cambodian. Shuichi couldn’t understand him, but it wasn’t good.

“Stop it!” Ken-san yelled as he ran forward to the two guys. “Stop it now! That’s enough Shuichi!” He then pushed the rifle downwards and turned to the other man.

“Yes!” the man called out in a twisted irony. Then suddenly, three soldiers put guns to his head. More came in seconds. The man wisely lowered his gun. He even threw it on the floor. The soldiers arrested him and carried him out of the hostel. Ken-san breathed out in relief. The rest of the students looked on confused. Casper and Nicole came in giggling. Casper winked and looked at the main soldier’s ass as he left the hostel.

“/And look what happens!/” Nicole finished. Both girls laughed aloud. Sopheap turned around to the group after talking to two of the soldiers.

“Um…” she said aloud. “He totally like wants to know who is the leader here!” Everyone was quiet for a moment. Then, Amuro-san popped up from behind Emma as she raised her finger in the air.

“Yes, yes,” she said. “Uh… yes. *Clears her throat*” Then, the sensei made her way over to the soldiers.

“Officer,” she said aloud. “I wanted to thank you, because before you arrived I was about to step in and kick some ass, and…” Then, the soldier cut in and started talking.

“There is a charge for armed response,” Sopheap translated. Amuro-san looked at her confused.

“It’s like you so totally will have to pay them,” Sopheap explained. The soldier said something else. Amuro-san spoke up. She turned back to Sopheap and sighed. Once again, this trip was a nightmare.

And sure enough, Amuro-san found herself in town at the nearest machine making a withdrawal to pay for the fine with anime-style tears in her eyes. She gave the money over to the head soldier. He counted up the money. The soldier muttered something ugly to her in Cambodian.

“You Japanese pig hooligan problem!” Botum translated for him. “Tomorrow you leave Cambodia!” Amuro-san nodded in misery. Then, the hostel owner and the soldiers departed. Amuro-san hung her head in defeat. She looked at her receipt and sighed. The sensei was almost broke now.

Unfortunately for her, Amuro-san wasn’t the only one with problems tonight. Shuichi and Hiro were spending their last night in the city alone. Jake wasn’t with them tonight. The vocalist had convinced Fujisaki to lie to the American boy and tell him if Jake wanted to go out on the city tonight with Shuichi, that the vocalist was sleeping for an early night due to this afternoon’s events. Shuichi thought that a night in the city would help clear his head. But sadly, he felt even worse than before. It wasn’t as cool without Ando with them as well. Hiro had been such a good sport on this trip as per usual with listening to him whine about Ando. Normal people would have told him to shut up by now. But, Hiro just listened in silence. Maybe that was all Shuichi needed from time to time. Just someone to listen to him whine and moan until he felt better.

“Hey Hiro,” Shuichi said in sorrow as they were walking to the nearest noodle bar.

“You’re been so good to me with the whole Ando thing,” the vocalist replied.

“No listen,” Shuichi pressed on. “Dinner and drinks are on me tonight.” Hiro didn’t know what to see. It was must have been that bad with Ando now.

“No!” the vocalist cut in quickly. “I insist! You’ve been so good to me on this trip.” Hiro went quiet at that one.

“Thanks Hiro!” he breathed out. His friend put his arm around him and held him close. The boys came to the noodle bar after a couple more blocks. They walked over to outdoor booth and took their seats. Both of them ordered what they wanted. While they were waiting, Shuichi looked around and spotted Ando leaning against the wall of a closed book store across the street looking down at his feet. Shuichi felt pity for him. When the drinks came out, Shuichi picked up his bottle walked across the street to Ando. Hiro watched on quietly as he opened his sake. Ando looked up when he saw Shuichi coming towards him.

“Here,” the vocalist said as he handed the bottle of banana wine to his friend. “It tastes great.” Ando took the bottle in his hand and looked at it. Then, he turned back to his pal.

“You were right Shuichi,” he said. “I am a hypocrite.” He handed the wine back to Shuichi. He took it back softly. The vocalist looked up confused.

“No,” Ando replied as he shook his head. “I can’t. It’s not right.” Shuichi looked as if he would cry once again.

“It’s religion, Ando,” he pleaded. “It’s just stuff! You don’t have to believe in it!”

“Then where does that leave me, Shuichi?” the Buddhist asked looking at his feet again. “I’m a Buddhist boy, I don’t get to choose.” He too was about to cry.

“But where does that leave us?” Shuichi questioned with tears trying to fall out of his eyes. Ando looked away in sorrow. That just really crushed Shuichi yet again.

“F*****g hell!” he mumbled to himself as he began to walk away. Ando kept staring at the ground.

“Yeah?” Shuichi asked. “I took pictures of an old fat lady.” Ando looked away again. Shuichi turned back to him. He offered him the wine again.

“At least try it,” the vocalist insisted. Ando shook his head again. Shuichi lowered the unopened bottle. “Okay,” he mumbled. “I’ll see you man.” Then, he walked back across the street. Hiro looked at him in pity at as his friend came back over. Shuichi just felt worse than he did before talking to Ando. But that, was only part one of his troubles.

“Here,” Hiro said to him softly. Then, he hugged his best friend closely. Shuichi hugged him back. But then, his problems became even worse. For the vocalist looked up and who to his wandering eyes should appear? Jake coming towards the noodle bar with Nick and Cassie. Shuichi went really pale. Now, the tower called trouble was crashing down to the ground. Hiro noticed that something was wrong.

“Shuichi,” he said to him as he let go. “What’s wrong?” The vocalist didn’t answer. He just pointed forward. Hiro turned his head and saw Jake, Nick, and Cassie coming towards them. Hiro whipped back around to Shuichi.

“Didn’t you tell him that you would be asleep tonight?” he questioned his friend. No sooner was that question asked, Jake looked at saw his two Japanese friends.

“+Uh… hi Jake…” he said in nervous English. Jake looked at him with hurt and upset in his eyes. One of his dearest friends had lied to him. Nick and Cassie looked around quietly.

“+Fujisaki told me that you were sleeping,+” Jake spoke up. “+I guess you must have woken up…+” Shuichi just looked down at his food in shame. This trip just got worse for him. The American “boy” turned to the English kids.

“+I don’t think I’m really hungry any more,+” he said. “+Excuse me.+” Then, he bowed his head and walked away back to the hostel. Nick and Cassie turned to Shuichi.

“/Not cool man,/” Nick spoke up. “/Not cool./” Hiro glared at him with an icy stare. Nick just shrugged at him.

“/What?/” he asked. “/He lied to Jake, that wasn’t cool!/” Shuichi didn’t say a single word. He knew that Nick was right. This moment was the final straw that broke the camel’s back. Could this trip get any worse? Sadly, yes! But how? With yet another poor decision.

Back at the hostel, Casper was asleep on Simon’s bed. Jake came into the dorm quietly.

“+Shut up!+” Jake said bitterly as he sat down on his bed. He looked over at the English hippie.

“/Poor girl’s all totally out of it,/” Simon spoke to Jake. “/She’s completely wasted./” The American boy rose up to his feet.

“+Simon,+” he said. “+You’ve got to stop f*****g around.+” Simon lightly shushed him.

“/I do,/” he said. Then, he yanked off his shirt. He kissed Jake on the lips. Almost unconsciously, Jake kissed him back. The English boy slowly began undressing him. Jake was trembling in guilt and desire. This was wrong, but yet it felt too good to stop at the moment. He just wanted to feel anything at the moment. Simon kissed him again on the lips. He slowly moved down his neck, chest, and abdomen. Jake softly whimpered at the feeling. He felt dizzy all over. Simon continued to move downwards. He grabbed the other boy by the jeans and slowly undid them. Jake felt himself getting “harder” as the other boy’s touch. The American “boy” could barely keep still. Simon sank down to his knees and got to work. However, Casper awoke was watching the whole thing for herself. She just couldn’t believe her boyfriend the pervert would sink so low.

Afterwards, Jake stood Simon up to his feet in front of him. “+Simon,+” he said. “+I finally found something you’re not good at.+” The English boy looked at him confused.

“/What?/” he asked. Jake slowly got dressed again. Casper watched on in silent disbelief. She shut her eyes in sorrow. The hippie tried her best to fight back her tears. The American “boy” turned to leave.

“+Good night Simon,+” he said. “+I’ll find somewhere else to sleep.+” Simon watched on in confusion.

“/What?/” he asked. The next morning, everyone was on the plane back to Japan. Cambodia turned out to be a dismal failure. It was just poor planning from start to finish. Casper just looked out the window in sorrow. She couldn’t get what she saw last night out of her head. The hippie was close to crying again. Casper looked over at Simon again. He was content in his own little world again. She looked back over at the window again and tried to fight back her tears. Emma came back from the bathroom to her seat. She waved at Ken-san in a flirty way. The English sensei looked away at her nervously.

“Setsuko just shut up,” he said in misery. Amuro-san turned back to the journals. Meanwhile, Sid was looking at Shuichi’s photo album. He was surprised to see a picture of Arisu in there. She would have done CLAMP proud with her short white lacy dress and glittery white clips in her hair. This picture was taken at night six weeks ago. Arisu had her arms open wide and standing on the edge of a fountain grinning. Sid really did love the picture.

“/It’s good!/” Sid called. “/She really looks… beautiful!/” Shuichi shrugged at him.

“/No…/” Simon replied. “/Maybe… No. I like your hair./” Casper was still hurt. He just didn’t get it.

“/No,/” Simon replied confused. “/Your top’s nice. I love you. Any of those?/” Casper looked as if she would cry now. She shook her head at him.

“/No,/” she said sadly. Simon looked back down at his journal. Suddenly, Sid moaned out in pain. Simon looked up quickly. The English boy hurried to his friend.

“/Hang on!/” he called. “/I think I’m about to deliver!/” Emma became overjoyed. Simon rolled his eyes annoyed.

“/Great!/” Simon called. “/Just in time for Tokyo security!/” Sid’s face dropped at that one.

“/Yeah,/” Simon replied. “/You know that they are very strict. Better keep it up there!/” Then, he turned back to his journal. Emma snickered at him.

“/Oh god!/” Sid muttered to himself as he sat back down in his seat. “/Oh god!/” This was going to be a *long* plane ride! Shuichi just looked at the window in sorrow again. Would he and Ando ever get back to good?

“/Oh god!/” Sid muttered again. Ando looked out the window wondering the same thing as Shuichi. Meanwhile back in Cambodia, Botum, Sopheap, her husband, and the soldiers were celebrating their latest victory in their scan. It had been going on for years now. Wine and food were all around in the private dining area of the hostel. Everyone was dressed up nicely. Botum raised her glass in the air.

“-The stupid foreigners!!!-” they all called. They all clinked their glasses together merrily. They all drank up to that. Sopheap’s husband kissed her on the cheek hard. Then, she got up to get more drinks.

“-To my darling, Sopheap!-” her husband called. “-They were all idiots! But rich idiots!-” Sopheap went around the corner out of plain sight and took out the beach photo. She placed it up against the wall and kissed Ando’s face in the picture. The girl unfolded it to stare at the whole picture. Mostly of Shuichi and Ando.

“-To idiots everywhere!-” Botum called. Then, they all laughed the night away.

[1] Riel is Cambodian currency

[2] Get a leg up= Have sex

[3] Nan=Grandma to the Brits