The ringing bell of a payout was hitting my aching head in waves, making me close my eyes. Not five minutes earlier, I'd told Masaki that I was calling it a night, leaving him at the blackjack table. He'd understood, telling me he'd only be playing a few more hands himself. He was on a roll, though, so I doubted it. Maybe there was a little store in here where I could buy some headache medicine, but I didn't know where it was and the language barrier would make it even more of a headache. At least a language barrier wasn't an issue at the tables. That's why we liked blackjack: you don't need to know English to figure out that you've got a 21. 

I wandered around for a while anyway, kind of looking for the way we came into Caesar's Palace and kind of not. Eventually, I came up to a statue of the guy himself. Caesar was tall and white, wearing battle gear. I stared at him for a while, wobbly and light headed. I don't know how many beers I'd had, but it had been flowing at the blackjack table and I hadn't said no. The problem is, I'm not as young as I used to be so it became a problem. This nausea with it was unfamiliar, too, but that was probably all the food I'd had earlier mixing with it, including that terrible sushi. 

At the blackjack table, Masaki had been as quiet and focused as ever, despite how much he'd had to drink. He was always the one who could take his alcohol the best. Did maturity and smarts extend to how well you could keep your liquor down? Either way, his poker face was next to none even though we weren't playing poker. I'd felt myself drifting, kind of wanting my bed. I'd been losing anyway. He did express to me that he'd been disappointed there weren't more "scantily clad" women around. He'd seen in movies and TV shows that there were women walking around Caesar's Palace with practically nothing on offering drinks and whatnot. Maybe it was a sign of the times, but we didn't see any. 

Or maybe, we weren't high roller enough. 

Disappointed by this again, I wandered away from Caesar himself. Going through the casino, back the way I came. My head protested, but it's just the direction my legs were going. Not wanting to leave yet, despite what my body was saying. While walking past an open space with a lot of large TV screens, briefly my head turned up toward the ceiling and it was kind of like seeing Caesar's Palace naked. I almost knocked into people, but oh well.

There were a lot of people to knock into. They were carrying shopping bags, dragging suitcases along, not looking where they were going themselves. Suddenly, I wanted to carry something around in my hand, and the familiar longing started up. My hand smacked my pants pocket, feeling my vape in there. However, if there's one thing I'd learned about Vegas first thing was that gone were the days where you could smoke openly in a hotel. They didn't even allow vapes. On the casino floor, maybe. Otherwise, it was strictly forbidden everywhere. 

By now, I was too far away from the entrances to go back. My legs were as if automatic, just moving forward. I was in it for the long haul whether I liked it other not. Masaki was kind of lucky. His girl had made him quit smoking long ago. In that way, I guess he wasn't lucky. She'd always been a nag, wanting her way no matter what, her way or the highway. I felt bad for Masaki, because he was newly single and there weren't any girls to flirt with. Not really. No waitresses, and we hadn't been to many bars or clubs. He seemed more serious than usual, keeping to himself unless I urged him outside. It made me wonder if he missed his ex-girlfriend. In that case, he was better off without her and maybe I needed to make an effort to get him out there. I had promised to be his wingman on this tour after all. In that regard, I was failing hard.

While in my thoughts, I'd made it to the shopping area. Up above was a painted cloudy sky, or what I thought was paint. It could be anything. The floors were shiny, there were more white Roman statues. My eyes were half lidded, but my legs drove me forward. They stopped to admire a large fountain in the middle of the floor, my mouth open for a while. People were taking pictures in front of it, so I thought I may as well, too. After a selfie, I was off again. 

As I went, I noticed someone pointing at me and whispering to the person they were with. My hand brushed into my hair, wondering about it. My stylist had wanted to go for a brighter orange, but I wondered sometimes if it resembled a clown rather than something cool. She claimed it made my skin's undertones "pop out", but I didn't know how true that was. Wouldn't I be wearing makeup in front of the camera most of the time anyway? At least with Masaki's hair it didn't look red unless it was under lights. 

My finger clawed at my tie to loosen it as I kept going. Not caring where I went. Seeing the same kinds of designer shops as the Bellagio. They didn't interest me at all. I've always been more a hoodie and jeans kind of person, and they don't need a designer label. Besides, I often found that finding jeans which were long enough could be a problem. I often reported my height at six foot, but in reality I was several inches taller than that. Girls like tall guys, but sometimes I crouched a little in photographs with them. 

The only person I never had to crouch next to was Shion. She actually was six foot, so I could stand straight up comfortably. She liked to wear platform boots back in the day, too, so sometimes she was taller than me if I wasn't wearing similar shoes. That made me relax. I could tell that being around me made her comfortable, too. It must be hard being a girl and being that tall. 

My hand covered my mouth as I yawned. As I looked around, I thought about Shion more. Starting to wish I was staying at this hotel and wondering how I was going to get back to mine. There'd been so many twists and turns that I'd taken that I wasn't reliable to find any exit anymore, much less one which led to my hotel. I wanted to sit down and call a golf cart or something to come pick me up. It could take me back to my room, even. 

A long time passed, and I thought about Masaki. Was he still playing blackjack? I didn't dare look at the time. By the time "O" had finished and Masaki and I had made our way to Caesar's Palace, it had been pretty late. We'd parked ourselves at the blackjack table for even longer. Now, I'd been walking for what felt like ages, but in reality might not have been a long time. Or maybe, it had been a very long time. 

Somewhere in the back of my mind, it crept up that we had a matinee live at 2PM tomorrow...or today. Which meant I'd have to be up very early. There was no telling what we'd have to be prepared for, and I wanted to be prepared. Also, lately, Sana had been having emergencies in the morning. Tetsu had even called me and I'd had to tend to Sana. 

How was I going to do any of that if I was hungover and had no sleep? 

Instead of lighting a fire under me, it made me stop in my tracks. Behind me, some people made some noises in English and I saw them go around me. My hands went over my face and dragged down it. My palms clapped on my cheeks a couple of times to try to get myself to wake up. 

I hadn't had a lot of sleep for the past couple of days. We'd been going out late, even hanging out with Yami for some of it. He could be an okay guy if he wasn't having one of his...I didn't have a word for them. He was just an asshole most of the time. But, during our last night in L.A we'd bumped into him on the street. He'd been with the stylists and they were all blasted already. We'd tried to go to a nightclub with them, but they weren't let in because obviously they were already drunk out of their minds. Yami had tried to fight the bouncer and Masaki and I were laughing to the point where Masaki had to hold me up, because Yami is about five foot two and that bouncer was this big black guy with a bunch of big jewelry. He must have been about four hundred pounds, I have no idea, and taller than me. Tetsu's stylist, Ren, got in between them and started screaming, which was my and Masaki's cue to leave. They're both lucky they didn't get arrested.

I wanted to tell Yami that if he got arrested he'd probably be deported, but whatever. Obviously he can take care of himself, if he's starting fights with four hundred pound bouncers.

That was, until this morning when he told us that he lost almost all of his money playing craps. "Guys, you have to help me out, holy shit, holy shit." My questions was, "why?" Apparently he went out with the stylists again, got blasted, and the last thing he remembered was playing craps with them. He'd found us on Fremont street, because all of us had heard how fun that was from Shizue and Hikaru. So, Masaki pointed at the ceiling and at that moment, somebody came ziplining across it. It looked very fun, and I wanted to try it, but Masaki had other plans.

"If you do that, I'll give you twenty thousand yen."

I swung my fist through the air. Masaki was always a genius. I echoed him. "Yes, I'll give you the same if you do it."

"Come on, I'm not going to do that."

We'd stared him down and he'd actually gotten so mad that he'd stomped his foot just like a toddler in the middle of the street in front of everybody. I even took out my wallet showed him my debit card to prove I was serious. 

That's how I witnessed one of my favorite things that I've ever seen. Both Masaki and I know how scared Yami is of heights. Of course we do. So, when he launched into the air, screaming his head off, I think I laughed the hardest I've ever laughed. Serves him right. I haven't forgotten how he acted at our initial meeting with Fleeting World, or everything that came before it. I haven't forgotten his fist making contact with my face back in November. 

After Yami went, I got to zipline, too. I'll never forget it. Flying like a bird over Fremont street, seeing all those famous hotels go by and all the people below. The wind through my hair. I only had time to do it once, or else I'd have done it again and again. I never would have gotten to do it without Masaki's brilliant idea, so I owe him one, too.

I was lost in my thoughts when I realized I was in an entirely different area. No idea how I got here. It made me wish I had a room here even worse. It was a golden lit area, a grand staircase to my right. There were numbers for various guest floors on the walls, golden elevators leading up there. 

With no way of knowing how I got here, how was I supposed to get out? Distantly, I tried to think about asking somebody. But, in the next moment I realized we didn't speak the same language. At the same time, I realized my bladder was also full, compliments of the beer and the time gone.

My legs were still going. Taking me somewhere like a wandering horse. My hand itched at my pocket, clawing at my vape. If I got outside and took a piss on a wall and then vaped against that wall, would people care? Even more distantly, the memory of Yami trying to fight that bouncer and the promise of cops was a warning. I definitely didn't want to get arrested for pissing on a building. 

"What? What are you saying?"

I stopped in my tracks upon hearing some very familiar words, almost as if a switch went off in my ears and suddenly I could understand the speech around me. 

"Huh? What are you talking about? What do you mean she's mad at me? Well, tell her to fuck off, I don't give a fuck. She's the cause of this. Whatever. No, I'm not at you. I'm mad at the situation."

I stood in the hallway, trying to make sense of this. Not only did I understand the words, but I recognized the voice, and that part of it made the least sense. 

"Well, I'd like to say I'm done with Prima, but what am I supposed to do, right? I'm stuck. Fuck me, right?"

Prima. 

Slowly, I turned around and just as I did, the elevator dinged open and I was staring at the back of a six foot tall, leather jacket even in the summer wearing amazon. Splashed across that signature leather jacket was a pretty doom-bringing looking moth. Undoubtedly the same one I knew like the back of my hand. I couldn't believe it. My jaw dropped open and I didn't care who saw.

She walked into the elevator with a big sigh, one I heard all the time in my memories, showing her true self in this foreign country where nobody would know her or judge her. ...Or so she thought.

I followed right behind her and as she turned around her phone fell out of her hand. As I leaned over to grab it, she pressed against the wall and when I got back up her face looked like she'd seen a ghost. She took her phone out my too casual hand. 

"Hello," I said, starting to laugh even though she'd just been so angry on the phone. 

"Nobu!" Shion  gasped, her arms immediately going around me like we hadn't seen each other for years. In reality, we'd seen each other the night before I left to go to L.A. More than seen each other. 

I squeezed her tight, not letting go. "Why are you here? Are you staying here? You have a habit of not telling me things." Joking with her.

This reference to our situation caused her to make a noise in my ear. Pleasantly, she was wearing heels and therefore she was as tall as me. The perfect height to hear that noise and hear more. We parted, but still holding each other. "I took a job with Black Nail. Their drummer couldn't come at the last minute, so I was backup just in case. Sorry, I should have told you. We're staying here." 

"Huh? Black Nail?"

She nodded. Her hair was different than the last time I'd seen it. It wasn't red anymore, but instead it was black and her bangs went to her cheeks with the hair behind cut to mid neck. It was super straight and smelled like hairspray. She began to play with her red leather, studded collar which caught my attention, staring at the loop at her neck. 

"Yeah, we're playing some dates with you guys. Also doing our own thing. We're here with a few other bands. Sorry, I really didn't think I'd get to be here or I'd have told you about it."

"Ohh." This was a lot of information right now. I still had to pee, and that was taking up too much of my brain power. 

"Yeah... Prima's mad that I took this job, but what am I supposed to do, you know? I was the back up, and Prima's paused activities again anyway because it's the end of August. She's mad that I won't be there in September for when we resume again, but I had to tell her to fuck off- what- what are you doing?" 

My hips had started to wiggle. All of my brain power had now gone to one, urgent thing. She went to push me away. 

"Ew, stop that. I'm trying to talk to you about something serious. You always do this. Am I so sexy that you can't even pay attention-"

"No. I have to pee."

"Excuse me?"

The doors dinged open and I assumed it was her floor. I let her go and got off the elevator. "Please let me use your bathroom," I gasped, urging her with my arm to hurry up. 

"That's really sexy, Nobu." She rolled her eyes. "I was actually trying to flirt with you, because I thought you were flirting."

"Flirt later, pee now."

She sighed and charged past me. I followed like a loyal dog. As I followed, she sighed again, this time saying familiar words. "Men are all the same. I swear they're all children and women were put on this earth to take care of them."

"Hey, by the way, do you have a cigarette?" My lips smacked, thinking about this, knowing she must.

"Yes, I have cigarettes. Did you somehow find me to scam me or what?" 

All I could do was smile, watching her back as she led me. She stopped at what must have been her door, fiddling around in her little black leather purse. She brought out a key, but before she could unlock the door, I embraced her from behind. I knew she wasn't really mad at me. This was just her way, and I loved every second of it. The way she treats me. Taking care of me.

"Hi," I breathed into her ear. She relaxed like butter in my arms. All that tenseness gone away immediately. 

"Hi, Nobu," she said, a little more shy now at my intimacy. Showing how much she loves me, even after all this time. With all of our history, relieved to see me after not seeing me since Tokyo. It made me relax, too, but that was a mistake. 

"Oh shit, open the door." 

She made a sharp tsking noise at me, wiggling away from my grasp. As soon as she flung the door open I shoved past her. 

As she scolded me for being too rough, I slammed the bathroom door in what was probably her face, because all I got while I let out the best pee of my life was her being the angriest chick I've ever heard beyond the door. It was okay, though, because I'd make it all better as soon as I was done.