I learned that the band had requested a rental house instead of a hotel in Hachioji, to be able to spend the day off a little more naturally as if they weren't living out of suitcases at least for a day. The house was nestled in the middle of the remaining extremely traditional street in the prefecture, Nishi Hoshasen You, and it reflected the roots of Japan just as well as its surroundings did. We exited the tour bus in front of the station, a short walk down the street from the house we would stay in. Myself and Guardian, sore thumbs dressed as punks in a band against a scenery of tradition.

I stepped off the bus ahead of Aki, my fingers laced with his still, resting atop my shoulder, keeping him right behind me. I stopped in my tracks as I began to take in the scenery and caught a glimpse of a geisha walking quickly up the street away from us. I had never seen a geisha in person before, having never left Kamakura until I had met Aki, and I was easily mesmerized by the beauty of her silk kimono, the elaborate way her obi was tied, and the shine of her hair. Looking down the distance of the street, it felt like an onsen village in Kyoto, lined with houses made of dark wood and clay roof tiles, shoots of bamboo leaves springing out between the short fences.

I felt Aki's chest against my back as he leaned over me to see what I had stopped so abruptly to look at. The geisha was walking quickly and turned suddenly to duck into a building. "It's beautiful here." I said to him.

"We get a whole day here tomorrow to do whatever we want. On tours before, I always went out by myself on our days off, because these guys were misbehaving."

"Isn't that how we met?" I asked, looking over my shoulder to see him. "Are you going to bring your camera out with us tomorrow?"

We were interrupted by a call from the door of the house. Kota was leaning out the door. "Guys! They left us all matching pajamas to wear!" He shouted. "You know what that means!"

I looked at Aki. "What does that mean?"

The expression on his face began to look annoyed. "It means we have to do it on the tour bus."

"What?" I was sure I understood what he was saying, but I didn't want to believe that he was serious about it.

"In old houses like this, sometimes there's just one big room to sleep in. So they leave out pajamas just in case."

And suddenly I understood. "You mean we all have to sleep in the same room together?" He nodded to confirm my suspicion. "That's fine, don't worry about me."

"If you'd rather not, tell me and I can arrange something."

I shook my head. I wanted to be a good sport about the band's tour traditions, but I truly didn't feel uncomfortable with the idea either. "I'm fine with it. I know these guys will take care of me like a little sister, and they won't be able to try anything with the way you hold me when you sleep anyway."

"It is really fun." He said. "Even though we're always together, it's like a sleepover. We'll probably go to the grocery store this afternoon and make a meal together in here. Day off tour tradition."

"So let's go see the house."

I took Aki's hand and pulled him along with me inside the house, leaving him to carry both of our bags slung over one of his shoulders. As Aki had suspected, the house opened into one long hallway with a kitchen on one side, and a large room on the other. As I walked down the hallway to the back of the house I found a separate bathroom and shower room, complete with a large tub.

"Oh, we can do it in there." Aki commented on the tub as we stood in the doorway to the shower room, peering inside. The room was decorated with heavily lacquered wood paneling on the walls, and the tub, sink, and accessories were clean white.

"Aki!" I put my palm flat on his chest to push him out of the doorway. I could feel my cheeks turning hot with embarrassment.

I continued on to the back of the house, passing a small sink area meant to prepare tea, and a washing machine. Sliding glass doors finished the hallway at the back of the house with a view of a garden, with stone statues of lanterns and rocks covered in green moss. I thought it was a shame to spend only one night in such a place, if we couldn't have enough time to take advantage of all it had to offer.

"Aki, Natsuko, Kota and I are going to the grocery store. We're going to cook in an hour." Fuji called down the hallway and waved as I looked back to see him.

Aki nodded to him from behind me, and I let my gaze linger on him trying to figure out why he was so intently watching Fuji walk back down the hallway towards the front door of the house. As soon as the door closed, he stripped off his jacket, letting it fall to the floor, and approached me swiftly backing me into the glass door. He placed his palms against the glass on either side of me and stood close to press his body against me. "I mean, we have to shower anyway." He said, and took my hand.

"Hiro is still here." I laughed, but he was determined.

"Hiro isn't invited."

Fuji and Kota returned as Aki and I exited the shower room, dressed in sweat pants and tank tops, our hair wet but neat. We gathered in the kitchen to unpack the bags of groceries, and decided what we were going to cook. Fuji took the lead like a father directing his family, and I had never felt more a part of something, chopping vegetables beside the stove while he added them to various pots. I could easily understand in moments like those, why Guardian had been so successful for so long. They were truly a family, they had no secrets from each other, they knew each other inside and out and they lived together in such unison.

We sat together at the table in the kitchen to eat the meal that we had prepared, settling in and passing dishes around. "Every show so far, guys, has been perfect as far as I'm concerned." Fuji said. "I'm proud of us." He lifted the can of beer he had been drinking from with the intention to start a toast. "And Aki, I'm going to say it. I'm proud of you most of all."

Aki lifted his glass of water and reached over the table to touch it to Fuji's can. "Stop, you are not." He said through an embarrassed laugh.

"It's true." Fuji continued. "Look at what you've brought Guardian to. We signed a major label in Tokyo, and now we're on tour under it. Our success has been multiplying every day."

Aki shook his head, leaning back in his chair to wave his hand dismissively. "You can't put that on me." He said. "Guardian is successful because we all work hard together."

"Also." Fuji pressed on. "You worked hard to recover from your injuries specifically because you felt the need to be a strong member of the band."

"If it was any other one of you, you would have done the same thing."

"And. You found Natsuko." Fuji paused for a beat as Aki fell silent, unable to retort anymore. "Aki, you work harder than any of us for the success we have, face it. We're all very grateful to you."

Aki stood up from his chair and lifted his water glass over the table, reaching it out for anyone who wanted to tap it in a cheers. He bowed as he held his arm out. "Thank you for saying so. I will definitely continue to do my best for Guardian's success."

I stole away into the shower room as the cleanup from dinner was winding down, and stood at the mirror over the sink with my hair brush in hand. I had left the door open, intending only to finish applying my skin care products. I had changed into the pajamas provided by the rental house, matching the guys, and smiled to myself in the mirror as I admired how I looked in them. It was a simple dusty dark blue colour traditional kind of style, with a cross over top that had ties to hold it closed and pants with a drawstring. It felt soft and cozy, made of a plush linen that was light but felt comforting.

I met Aki's gaze in the mirror as he appeared in the doorway, wearing the same pajamas. "Aside from your tattoos, you look very old school Japanese in those pajamas with your black hair." I said to him. He had tied the top loosely, and the fold was low on his chest, revealing parts of the chrysanthemum tattoos on his chest and neck.

He smiled, looking down at himself, seeming embarrassed that I would point out a particular way he looked. "We're doing a quiet jam session in the main room, if you want to join in. Or you can just sit with us and listen. Or I can take you out somewhere to relax for a while."

I crossed the room to him, grabbing the front of his shirt and giving it a tug to encourage him to enter the room with me. "You're acting like you're really nervous about this sleeping situation." I stole a kiss from him quickly. "I actually think it's going to be really fun."

"We've never had a girl on tour with us." He sounded exasperated, like he had become frustrated with himself for how nervous he was. "I just want to make sure nothing happens to offend you. I know these guys, and they're animals. We're usually just a bunch of inconsiderate men on tour."

"I think they'll surprise you."

The night had become quiet, after Kota had stopped playing his guitar and leaned back onto a pile of pillows. Aki had done the same beside him, opening a book, and I laid with him, my head on his chest, his arm around my back securely like always. I had fall asleep listening to Hiro pluck away at his bass quietly. The only conversation that lingered was of music, composition, timing, and the animals that Aki had anticipated were nowhere to be found. We had naturally found places on the floor to roll out the futons, and though the room was large, we gathered together in the center close to each other, no one out of arm's reach.

"Aki." I woke only slightly to the sound of Kota's voice requesting Aki's attention. I didn't open my eyes or make any movement, hoping to drift back to sleep easily. I felt Aki move slightly under me, and I thought he must have shifted to give Kota his attention. I heard Kota's voice again. "She's so precious."

Aki's chest rose and fell quickly but softly as he let out a laugh with just his breath. "I think I'll keep her." I realized they were talking about me. Some part of me wanted to hear how Aki talked about me when I wasn't with him like everyone said he did, and though I slept half atop him, wrapped in his arms, it was as close to not being present as I would experience.

"She's been amazing this whole tour so far. I saw you teaching her a few times, sitting together with one earbud each. You guys make me sick." Kota's tone was light hearted, obviously joking at how sweet the moments between Aki and I were that he had witnessed.

"She worked really hard for this tour. I'm proud of how much she's accomplished."

"She did it all on her own, didn't she?"

I felt Aki's body move slightly with his nod. "Everything plus stealing my heart right out from under my nose. I put a few ideas in her head, sure, but I never handed her anything. She put in the work."

"I see why you fell for her so quickly. I was surprised when you told me about her, I have to say, after hearing you talk about how you weren't ready to get back in the game any time soon. Now look, you even asked her to marry you already."

Aki made a sound as if he was taking a moment to think deeply about how he would respond. I felt him tip his head back against the pillows propping us up. "I definitely wasn't expecting anything like this to happen, it was an accident. Honestly, I wasn't ready to let anyone in. When I met her, I was innocently spending some time with a cool girl who treated me like a person. Then I took her to dinner and it was over for me. I was hooked. I couldn't imagine just letting it go without making a move."

Kota laughed lightly, trying to be quiet. "It looks good on you, Aki. You really deserve a woman who loves you properly."

"I've been so much happier with her in my life. I didn't realize how much I was just faking it. I have to reel myself in once in a while though, I forget how young she is."

"Seven years, eh?"

Aki hummed a sound to confirm. "I just don't want to do anything that makes her feel like she has to grow up quickly. I want her to enjoy life with me without thinking about it."

Kota laughed under his breath. "You already cleared the main obstacle. I don't think you have to reel yourself in though. She's ready for whatever you have to offer her."

"She's tough, I know. I think she got hurt in the past a lot more than she lets on, but I'm just letting her tell me in time. She takes leaps of faith often, and even if she's scared, she charges forward without hesitation. That's one of the things I love about her. But sometimes I feel like I've given her experiences that she didn't really have any desire for, and she went along with them just to stay by my side. I would never leave her behind though, you know, so she doesn't have to be so hasty all the time. I can't really say that to her, she wouldn't get it, so I'm just taking it easy with my life for now."

"Sure, kind of like how you jumped into bed with her after knowing her for two days?"

Aki laughed one syllable, as if he was caught off guard by Kota's remark. "That was all her. I had no part in that."

"Oh I think you did."

"She knew what she wanted, and I already liked her. Life's too short."

"What if it turned out that she didn't want a relationship with you? Would you still have done it?"

Aki's body had become still and even more relaxed, and I knew he was speaking from what he truly felt, and didn't need to sound a certain way to impress his friend. "I knew she wasn't doing it just because I'm the frontman of a band, because she never treated me like that. I was confident she wanted a little more from me, or at least that she also wanted to give it a try and see where it went. If I knew it was her first time, there's no way I would have taken that from her and then left her life."

"You're saying you didn't know it was her first time?" I felt Aki's body move like he was shaking his head in response to Kota's question. "You didn't realize during?" Aki shook his head again. "Aki, you're a magician."

Aki breathed a laugh. He must have been looking down at me, and his breath moved my hair slightly. "I don't think that speaks to my skill so much as to my ignorance."

"Is it your ignorance then that makes women throw their virginity at you?" I could hear in Kota's voice that he was seriously asking the question, not asking it at Aki's expense. If there were secrets that Aki had, he wanted to know so he could use them himself.

"I guess my type is just inexperienced women?" Aki laughed outright in spite of himself. I could feel him trying not to move too much in fear of waking me, and I continued to pretend to be asleep. "Not like I have anything to teach them. I'm just comfortable with who I am and how I express that."

I didn't hear if the conversation continued, satisfied enough by Aki's words to be lulled back to sleep by the banter. Aki spoke of himself humbly, which I had already experienced, but he also praised me in a way that was different from the things he said to me face to face. I understood, when he told Kota that he couldn't express to me how important I actually was to him, that he would never leave me behind. Part of me would never believe him, because I was headstrong and determined to prove myself to him, prove that I deserved my place beside him.

I woke to my phone silently vibrating against my thigh in the pocket of my pajama pants. I had set the alarm intending to wake up before the guys and get started on preparing breakfast and coffee for them. I carefully rolled away from Aki to get up without disturbing him, but I quickly felt his hand grasp my wrist. Even knowing it was him, I was startled at the unexpected contact, and turned to see him wide awake looking at me. "I'll come with you." He whispered.

I lead the way down the short hallway to the kitchen with my fingers laced with Aki's. He immediately began work at the coffee maker, and I opened the fridge to examine what was left of the previous day's grocery haul to decide what I could make. "Did I wake you up?" I asked Aki over my shoulder as I began grabbing an armful of items.

"No, I was awake. I didn't want to go back to sleep because I wanted coffee." He snickered under his breath. "Did you end up sleeping well after all?"

I placed the ingredients I had taken from the fridge onto the counter and started looking in each of the drawers for utensils. "I wasn't worried." I paused to cast a glance to him, which he returned with a smile, understanding that I meant to address the concern he had about the night before. "And I slept great."