"We are now boarding Flight 4201 to Tokyo, departing from Gate L8. Please have your boarding pass and identification ready..."

"Finally!" Blake exclaimed as he got up from his seat and headed toward the gate.

"Not quite yet," Tommy said, just as I pulled off my headphones, about to follow Blake. "They're only taking parents with young children and passengers who require special assistance. You'd know that if you were listening."

Blake cursed loudly, causing one of the mothers in line to quickly cover her daughter's ears. As the passengers continued to board the plane, both of us sat back down, furious that we still had to stay put. The flight had already been delayed twice. If we had to wait any longer, we would risk missing our first Tokyo show.

The tour schedule was simple. There was a venue in Tokyo that had booked us for three nights in a row. We would start there, and then spend Christmas and New Years' in Tokyo. There would be some time to explore the city, but after New Years' was over, we would travel to Nagoya, Kyoto, Osaka, Hiroshima, Fukuoka, Sapporo, and Sendai. Once we were done playing in a new city every night, we would drive back to Tokyo and then fly back to Cleveland just in time for school. It seemed as if nothing could go wrong.

I put my headphones back in, but it wasn't long before we had to board the plane. "I can't believe that we're going to Japan," Mom said to me as we walked onto the plane. "I'm so proud of you and your band, Dani."

"Thanks, Mom," I said, even as I searched for a seat that was as far away from her as possible. Although I was a little bit worried about her embarrassing me on tour, and I wasn't exactly thrilled by the idea of my mother watching all of Blake's antics, I was also glad that she was there. I wasn't sure what I would do without her. I couldn't even find the food court without my mom's help, and we hadn't even left Cleveland yet.

I ended up sitting next to Blake on the plane. "Do you want to watch a movie with me?" he asked.

"Sure," I replied. We spent a while scrolling through the plane's selection of movies. Blake was quite indecisive - he loved horror movies, but he also told me that he wanted to watch Batman. I tried to ignore the crying baby across from me and the toddler behind me kicking my seat, but it wasn't easy. I told myself that the misery of the plane ride was a small price to pay for the opportunity to tour Japan.

Blake and I finally decided to have a Batman marathon sometime during the layover in Chicago. During the fifteen hour flight, we watched five different Batman movies. I tried to get some sleep a few times, but the crying baby across from me made that impossible, so I just relaxed and watched each movie. I just hoped that I could get through our first Tokyo show without falling asleep in the middle of it.

After what felt like forever, the plane finally landed in Tokyo. "Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Narita International Airport," the flight attendant said. "The local time is 11:13, and the temperature is seven degrees Celsius."

There was still some time before we could get off the plane, during which the toddler behind me decided to give my seat one final, aggressive kick. "I need some coffee before I can play," I said to Blake, resisting the urge to turn around and glare at the small child or its mother.

"There's probably a Starbucks in the airport," Blake said. Strangely enough, he didn't seem tired at all. Blake seemed ready to jump onstage and scream his lungs out, so maybe it wouldn't matter if I seemed a little bit lethargic. Everyone would be paying attention to Blake anyways.

We finally got off the plane, and of course, our first stop was Starbucks. Every single person on the tour ordered something, either a snack to get something in their stomach after all of that awful airplane food, coffee to wake them up, or both. After that, we got our bags, and then Tommy led us into another terminal. He walked up to a man in a suit, bowed, and then started talking to him rapidly in Japanese.

"I didn't know that Tommy spoke Japanese," I said to Blake.

He shrugged and said, "Me neither."

When Tommy turned back to us, he said, "Everyone, this is Hiroshi Kobayashi. He's the tour manager, and he's going to bring us to our tour bus."

"You got us a bus?" I said, already excited.

"Of course," Tommy said. "Follow me."

I followed Tommy and Hiroshi, and sure enough, The Love Martyrs had our own bus. Blake and I immediately scrambled aboard, eager to see our new space. "Tommy's the best, isn't he?" Blake said. I nodded, impressed by everything that he had done for us so far. Already, I could tell that touring Japan would be far more thrilling than playing in Cleveland had ever been.

Before long, all of us headed for the venue. The show seemed strangely early - we were scheduled to begin playing at six o'clock. We wouldn't get to see much of Tokyo on our first day there, but at least I could go to bed right away once the show was over.

I was about to go backstage when a man working for the venue stopped me. "We don't allow any fans backstage," he said.

"I'm not a fan," I said. "I'm in the band."

"Really?" he said. "That's not the first time I've heard that excuse. You girls will do anything to hook up with the lead singer, won't you?"

"Leave her alone," Blake said. "Dani's our bassist."

We set up all of our equipment and then checked that everything was working as the venue started to fill up. The Tokyo club was easily the biggest venue that the Love Martyrs had ever played, and even though we were playing alongside a local band, a lot of the fans seemed to be here for us. Many of them raced toward the merch table to buy T-shirts or copies of the Love Martyrs EP from Tommy and Hiroshi. The show hadn't even started yet, and the Japanese fangirls were already more enthusiastic than the ones in America had ever been.

The clock struck six, and I had to pull Blake away from a Japanese girl with dyed hair. Clearly, the man's claim that fans were never allowed backstage was a lie. "Come on," I said to Blake. "We have to go onstage."

"Fine. Go turn on the fog machine," Blake said. He then turned to the girl and said, "I'll see you after the show."

I turned on the fog machine, and Blake and I both walked onstage. "How are you doing tonight, Tokyo?" Blake shouted, and the audience cheered. I couldn't see a thing between the fog and the flashing lights as Blake and I started to play, but I could hear the roar of the crowd. They went crazy over every line that Blake sang and every word that came out of his mouth. It was like he was leading his very own cult.

After the show was over, Blake asked if he could stay a little bit longer. He kept looking back toward the girl he had been talking to earlier, and Tommy said that Blake could stay, but he would have to find a way to get back to the hotel. "I'll just take a cab or something," Blake said. "It's not a big deal." Before Tommy could say anything else, Blake ran off again, and the rest of us left as Blake went back to chatting with the girl.

As we drove to the hotel, Tommy sat next to me on the bus and said, "If you and Blake have another few great concerts like that, you guys might be able to make a lot of money on this tour."

I wasn't sure what to say to that, and I was practically falling asleep, so I just looked out the window as we sped past all of the bright lights and huge buildings of Center-Gai. When we finally arrived at the hotel, I fell asleep right away. It was the deepest, most peaceful sleep that I had experienced in a long time.

As promised, Blake was back the next morning, although he looked a little bit disheveled. The next night in Tokyo went similarly. We drove to the venue, played our show, Blake ran off with some fangirl, and the rest of us returned to the hotel. Nobody asked too many questions about what Blake was up to, but he seemed to be having a good time.

Before we played our final Tokyo show, we took some time off to explore the city. Two days before Christmas, Blake and I decided to go shopping. As we wandered through the streets of Tokyo, listening to "Last Christmas" for the millionth time and searching for a new store to check out, Blake said, "Those last few shows that we did were incredible, weren't they?"

"Yeah, they were pretty cool."

"Japan is even better than I thought it would be."

"We've only been to one city so far," I reminded Blake.

"I know! I can't wait to see the rest of the country! So far, the food tastes good, there are tons of cool shops, the women are amazing..."

"How does Madeline feel about that, by the way?"

"She doesn't need to know," Blake said. "Besides, I would be a fool not to get to know some of our fans while I'm here, if you know what I mean."

All of a sudden, Blake found a shop that he liked, and he started looking around, trying on outfits and admiring every one of the store's little trinkets. As he browsed, I waited by the door, scrolling through the notifications on my phone. Most of them were unimportant, but I saw that Tanner had texted me. "Hey Dani! I hope you're having a good time in Japan. I just thought that I'd send you some pictures from the GSA sledding party. See you in January!"

I scrolled through the pictures that Tanner had sent me, and I suddenly wished that I had been there instead of in Tokyo, watching Blake flirt with whichever girl would let him. There were all kinds of photos of club members rushing down the hill in front of Sean's house, playing in the snow, and drinking hot cocoa inside. Madeline and Devon had come to the party too, despite not officially being in GSA, and there were some adorable pictures of Madeline going sledding, unaware that Blake was here, breaking her heart.

"Thanks for the pictures," I texted Tanner. "It looks like you guys are having fun." I sent him a picture from our show the night before. Tommy had taken it just as Blake had jumped into the air, making it look like he was flying.

All of a sudden, I felt homesick. I wanted nothing more than to go back to Cleveland and go back to my old routine. I wanted to see my Quiz Bowl friends again. I even missed school, something that I never thought would happen.

I wandered through the store, and I eventually found a rack filled with Japanese candy. I bought four boxes of candy - one for Devon, one for Tanner, one for Madeline, and one for myself. It was the least that I could do for them. I tucked the candy into my bag and waited for Blake to finish looking around. Eventually, he decided to buy a few keychains, a sweater, and some brightly colored pairs of socks.

After we left the store, Blake said, "One of our fans invited me to a bonenkai after the show. I'm planning to go, and I was wondering if you wanted to come too."

"What's a bonenkai?" I asked.

"The girl who invited me said that it was a 'forget the year party,'" Blake explained. "She said that the food would be good, and the drinks would be even better. I don't know about you, but that sounds like a good time to me."

"I'm not old enough to drink, and neither are you," I pointed out.

"Who cares?"

"My mom's here. She'll care."

"Whatever. I'm going to the party after the show. You can come if you want."

Blake and I walked back to the hotel, and as he told me about how delicately beautiful the girl who had invited him to the party was, I considered Blake's offer. I didn't want to let him down, but at the same time, I still remembered the last party that Blake and I had gone to. Parties just weren't my cup of tea, and I had no real desire to go to another one. It was bad enough going to a party in my hometown. Going to a bonenkai in a foreign city seemed like a recipe for disaster.

The third Tokyo show started out like all of our shows normally did. Blake had finally starting reading his Japanese phrasebook, so he shouted, "Konnichiwa Tokyo!" as he walked onstage. I turned on the fog machine, joined him onstage, and started to play. The crowd went wild as we launched into our first song.

That day, Blake was even more energetic than usual. He was dancing like crazy, and his guitar playing was frenetic in a way that I had never heard before. There was one song where I could barely keep up with him. He screamed every lyric and poured his heart into every note. He pandered to the crowd like he was the leader of a revolution instead of the lead singer of a band, and they loved it.

In the middle of our set, as Blake let out a high note, he stepped to the edge of the stage. The fog cleared slightly, and I could see the girls in the front row looking up at Blake expectantly. There was a tense moment as Blake looked out over the audience, and then he launched himself off of the stage, diving into the crowd.

They didn't catch him.

Blake stopped singing suddenly, and once I saw the pool of blood around his legs, I put down my bass and rushed over to him. The backing track was still playing, a frenzied synthetic beat keeping time as I ran offstage to make sure that Blake wasn't hurt too badly.

He was on the verge of tears when I got to him. He was lying on the floor, one of his legs bent at an unnatural angle. I could see a piece of bone sticking through his zebra-striped pants, and there was blood everywhere. A fan had already called for an ambulance, so there was nothing we could do but wait.

After they took Blake to the hospital, the crowd disbanded, and the rest of us went to the hospital to see him. We weren't allowed to visit him at first. Instead, we all had to wait around, hoping that we would be able to check on him soon.

"If this had to happen, I'm glad it happened now," Tommy said to me while we waited. "We don't have another show scheduled until after New Years', which should give Blake plenty of time to recover."

"Tommy, can you think of anything other than the tour?" I asked. "Blake's in the hospital right now!"

"I'm your manager," Tommy said. "It's my job to think of the tour."

On Christmas morning, we were finally allowed to visit Blake. He was lying in bed, bruises running up and down his right leg. His left leg was in a cast. The TV was on, playing reruns of an old anime. "Well, this is a shitty Christmas present, isn't it?" Blake joked. "The doctor said that my leg's broken in nine different places."

"You seem like you're doing okay," I said.

"Yeah, Dr. Watanabe thinks that I'll be out of here before New Years'," Blake said. "It's a shame that we missed the bonenkai. I could use a drink right now."

"Don't worry, Blake. You'll have your fun once we get to Nagoya. Just don't do anything stupid like that again."

"I seriously thought they would catch me. Isn't that how stage diving is supposed to work?"

I shrugged and said, "Just don't do it again, and you'll be fine. You're lucky that you only broke your leg."

"I'm not even sure if I could do it again. It hurts to move either of my legs." Blake sighed and then said, "Let's not talk about my injuries. It's Christmas!"

"Okay. I got you something, by the way." I gave him the box of candy that I had bought for myself. I figured that I could always buy another one later on, and it was more important to keep Blake happy.

"Thanks, Dani!" Blake exclaimed. He opened up the box and popped a piece of candy into his mouth. "Do you want some?"

"Sure," I said. Blake handed me some candy, and for a while, we just sat there, eating Japanese candy and watching the anime that was playing on the TV in the hospital room. It wasn't what I had expected to be doing on Christmas Day, but Blake and I had a good time anyways.

Blake was let out of the hospital the day before New Years' Eve. The doctors had given him a cane to walk with, but Blake still complained that it hurt to move. He wasn't up to exploring Tokyo, no matter how badly he wanted to see more of the city. Most days, he just lay in bed, staring at the ceiling.

On New Years' Eve, Mom suggested taking part in the traditional bell-ringing ceremony. "There's a nearby Buddhist temple where you can take part in the ceremony for free," she said.

I told Blake about it, and he reluctantly agreed to tag along. "It's the closest I'll come to going to a New Years' party around here," he said as he slowly got out of bed. He grabbed his cane and hobbled up to the mirror. "I look like a bitter old man."

"Come on, you two!" my mom shouted. "Let's go!"

Blake complained the whole way to the temple, but thankfully, it wasn't too far away. There was already a line when we got there, so Mom, Blake, and I got in line and waited for a while. When we reached the front of the line a few minutes before midnight, Mom rang the bell, followed by Blake and I.

We watched a few other people ring the bell, and when the clock struck midnight, Mom started heading back toward the hotel. As we followed her, Blake asked, "Do you want to be my New Years' kiss?"

"We're just friends, Blake," I said.

"You're no fun," he replied.

When we returned to the hotel, we all went to bed right away. A few days later, we finally left Tokyo and headed for Nagoya. Blake was still in a lot of pain, and it showed during the concert. He needed his cane to stand, so a local guitarist filled in for us. Blake hardly moved at all through the whole show - he didn't dance or walk around, and he definitely didn't do any stage diving. However, he still had the energy to run off with some fan after the show. It seemed that in some ways, we were back to our old routine.

The rest of the tour was a blur. Every day, we drove through Japan, and I spent most of my time looking out the window. I wished that I could see more of the country. I wished that I could wander through it, breathing in the fresh air and interacting with the local flora and fauna instead of seeing it through the window of a tour bus. We stopped in a new city every night, and we'd play to an adoring audience, although the crowds weren't quite as large as they were in Tokyo. Blake started to get a little bit adventurous - singing a little bit louder or trying out a few dance moves - but he wasn't quite back to his old self. After each show, he would stay late to "get to know his fans," while the rest of us headed back to the hotel to get ready for the next day's show.

By the end of the tour, I was exhausted. Even though Blake and Tommy both insisted it was the best career decision that the Love Martyrs had ever made, the tour didn't seem worth it to me. I could have spent winter break with my family and my Quiz Bowl friends, going sledding and watching the ball drop, but instead, I was running from city to city, hoping that I wouldn't just collapse one day.

I mentioned all of this to Blake after our last concert. "I'm tired of touring," I said. "We've been all over Japan, but we haven't really seen any of it."

"That's not true," Blake said. "We went shopping in Tokyo before I broke my leg."

"Yeah, but one shopping trip isn't enough. We haven't even seen Mount Fuji."

Blake thought about it and said, "Our flight isn't until Tuesday. I might be able to convince Tommy to let us visit Mount Fuji before we leave."

"Thanks, Blake," I said, but he wasn't listening. He was already chatting with one of the fangirls, paying no attention to anything or anyone else.

The next day, we drove to Mt. Fuji. We couldn't climb it at that time of year, and we wouldn't have been able to anyways because of Blake's leg, but it was still amazing just to look up at the mountain. It was just as majestic and beautiful as I thought it would be. Just looking at it made me glad that we had taken one last trip together before we left Japan.

Blake still couldn't walk without his cane, but he told me that it was getting better. "It hurts a lot less than it did before," he said.

"There's a ski resort near here," I said. "Are you up for that?"

Blake laughed and then said, "Are you kidding? I still have to carry around this old man cane!" He waved his cane around and then said, "Let's go up to the observation deck."

Blake and I took a ropeway up to the observation deck, where we again admired the mountain. It looked so picturesque from the observation deck. However, Blake didn't seem all that interested in Mt. Fuji. As I looked up at it, he yawned and said, "It's just a piece of rock. I don't see what the big deal is."

"It's beautiful," I said.

"I miss playing shows already. It's way more interesting than this touristy shit."

I nodded, but I didn't tell him that there was nothing left in me after that tour. I couldn't have played another show, even if I wanted to. Being an ordinary tourist for a day was far better than pressing buttons on a fog machine night after night. For me, the trip to Mt. Fuji was refreshing instead of draining, which was exactly what I needed at that point.

I took a picture of Mt. Fuji, immediately set it as the new home screen on my phone, and then I told Blake, "I'm ready to go."

"Finally," he said, and we left the observation deck.

When we got back down to the ground, Blake asked me what I wanted to do next. "There's a waterfall nearby," I said. "I kind of want to see it."

Blake rolled his eyes, but he did tag along as I headed toward the waterfall. We had to hike a little bit to get to it, but for once, Blake didn't complain, even when I stopped to take pictures of some interesting-looking birds. He stayed silent, which I thought was strange, but every time I asked him if he was okay, he nodded. Perhaps he was lost in thought - while I was dreaming of birds and mountains, he was dreaming of failed stage dives and nights shared with women he barely knew.

When we reached the waterfall, I stopped to watch the water rushing down and to take a few more pictures. Again, Blake didn't seem too interested. He glanced at the waterfall and then sat down on a bench. "Hurry up," he said after I took my fourth or fifth picture of the same plant.

"I am hurrying," I said as I brushed my bright blue hair away from my face, which had earned me a few stares throughout the day. I could hardly picture Blake without his pink hair, but I didn't think that blue suited me all that well. Blake might have killed me if I had dyed it back to my natural dark brown color though.

I looked at the waterfall one last time and then headed in the other direction, and Blake followed me. "Thanks for coming to see the waterfall with me," I said to him on the way back. "I know it's not really your thing."

"Whatever," Blake said. "I'm cool with it as long as we get to go shopping this afternoon."

We headed for a restaurant, ate some noodles for lunch, and then went shopping. Blake and I found a few last minute souvenirs, including a tiny statue of a cat. "Dani, should I get this?" Blake asked as he held up the cat. "It's kind of cute."

"I think it's pretty cute too," I said.

"How about this? I'll buy a white one for myself, and a black one for you."

"Sounds good."

Both of us got into line, and we bought the cats. I later learned that they're called "maneki neko," and that they're supposed to be good luck charms. The maneki neko is the one thing that I kept from high school - I even had it as a decoration in my dorm room for a while. The jury's still out on how well it kept evil spirits out of my life.

As I stood in line with Blake, I told him, "I'm glad that we did this together."

"What?" Blake said.

"The tour," I answered. "There's nobody else that I would rather tour with."

It was true. Although Blake had occasionally frustrated me with his antics throughout the tour, the day at Mt. Fuji had reminded me why Blake was my best friend. He could be cruel, but he could also be gentle and kind. He was definitely flawed, but he cared about me, possibly more than anyone else in my life.

We woke up early to go to the airport the next day, and our tour ended as it had begun: with a crying baby and a movie marathon. I wasn't sure how I felt about the tour finally being over. As much as I had missed my sister, my friends, and my routine, I wasn't sure that I was ready to go back to Cleveland. I definitely wasn't looking forward to having to go to school almost as soon as I got off of the plane. The drudgery of the school day would be so different from the fever dream of playing with the Love Martyrs every night. Quiz Bowl that day would be fun, but I just wasn't ready for it. I hadn't studied for any of my classes or for Quiz Bowl since I had left.

In the end, I had liked Japan. I just hated the tour.

The plane landed, and we went through customs, collected our baggage, and drove home. I said goodbye to Blake, and he promised that we would see each other again soon. We met up a few days later for band practice, but it wasn't nearly as exciting as anything we did in Japan.

In two weeks, Blake wouldn't have his "old man cane" anymore. In two months, Blake would fall in love with Madeline all over again. In five months, Blake and I wouldn't even be friends anymore, but almost five years later, I still haven't forgotten how small I felt when I looked up at Mt. Fuji, my heart filled with wonder.