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Secret Identity
by Black Rainbow

Disclaimer: SD belongs to Takehiko Inoue. The story idea, magazine article, and band name belongs to Jahnna N. Malcolm. I make no money out of this (or anything, for that matter... i'm so broke.... T____T)

Chapter 8

Hana stared out the window as the train doors closed. As the train moved, he thought about the night before. He felt weird; it was as if he had stepped into the twilight zone or something. It was so hard to remember he's a girl… and there were moments when it was so hard to remember that he was a boy. Suddenly he felt like he didn't know who he was, anymore.

That night when he played pool with Sendoh just made him even more depressed. He felt like he didn't want to lie to Sendoh, but…

He sighed. He knew that he owed it to his friends not to tell anyone of who he really was. But when Sendoh smiled at him, he would feel his heart racing and it was like the truth wanted to come out. He couldn't stand the lie, when Sendoh seemed to like him so much. After thinking about what Kiminobu had told him, he thought that he might even like Sendoh. (author: *sarcastically* oh, is that right?) But he knew he should forget about Sendoh, because once Sendoh knows the truth about him, he probably wouldn't want to talk to him ever again.

Oh, god, what if he's homophobic?

Hana closed his eyes and shook his head. What was he thinking? I don't even care about him, he told himself. I'm a guy. I'm a guy.

He opened his eyes again, to catch a pair of clear honey-brown eyes looking his way. He frowned. Those eyes were familiar. He searched his mind for a moment, and realized with dread that he saw those same eyes while performing at Lost Souls?, and when he left the diner (and Sendoh), he saw those eyes staring at him.

"Hi! I'm Kiyota Nobunaga, but you can call me Nobu.." Hana looked at the boy talking to him warily. He strongly reminded Hana of a monkey, especially the way he was grinning goofily at him. The boy continued, looking into Hana's eyes, "Androgynous Zone is really good! You were so fabulous, I had to sneak in backstage to see you."

Hana forced a weak smile as he tried to think of a way to get rid of the boy, but when he saw the glare Mitsui directed his way, he said, "I'm Hana." He prayed to whatever god who enjoyed torturing him so much that something equally bad happened to Mitsui right then and there.

Mitsui just laughed to himself, clearly enjoying Hana's discomfort as he entertained the fan.

As Hana looked at the boy coming his way, he was pretty sure that it was the same one he met backstage. And at the diner. And now in the train at 5 in the morning. Oh, man, is he following me or something? Panicked, Hana turned and walked quickly towards the other end of the train.

"Hana - matte!"

Hana walked even faster, not looking at anyone and ran smack into a brick wall. He looked up and gulped. It was Akagi, Haruko's brother. Akagi never liked him, and if he found out what he's been doing… "sumimasen," he muttered politely and walked past, hoping that he wouldn't be recognized. As he walked on, he heard another voice call out.

"Hanamichi?"

He turned to see Haruko, his high school friend. He sighed with relief. Haruko knew about his disguise, as she was the one who helped him with it. "Haruko-san, you have to help me. Fast." He told her about the boy who was following him, as she listened, wide-eyed. When he finished, she smiled at him.

"It's okay," she said. "It looks like you lost him." Hana looked over her shoulder with relief, noting that what she said was true. He also noticed Akagi looking at him strangely, and turned back to Haruko.

"Does your brother know?"

"About you?" she smiled. "No…" she giggled. "It would be funny to see his reaction, though…" She laughed at Hana's look of terror. "Don't worry, I won't tell oniichan."

Hana grinned at her in relief. He used to have such a huge crush on Haruko, and because of that, her brother never trusted him completely.

"Oh, I wanted to show you this…" she smiled. "I just bought this magazine, and you're in it!"

"What?" Hana asked, amazed.

She waved a copy of MOSH!, one of the more popular music journals around, in front of Hana. "There's a review of your performance in *crush." She flipped over the pages and read out loud, "It says here that 'Androgynous Zone is the hottest new arrival on the music scene. Supported by a taut rhythm section, and fuelled by raw passion, the Zone pounds out song after song with a furious energy that is infectious and irresistible. But the key to the band's meteoric rise is Miyamoto Hana, who soars to new heights as lead singer and guitarist. Her songs, replete with clever hooks and teasing, elliptical lyrics, are already on a par with the best. Coupled with a guitar style that can only be described as masterful-'"

"It said that?" Hana took the magazine from Haruko. "'A howling sensation, combined with a deceptively creamy presentation. Something totally different, definitely THE band to watch.*" He whistled. "Wow." At the moment he was so blown away, but he recovered when Haruko said something else.

"I can't believe my best friend is a rock star."

He laughed. "Of course! I am the tensai," he said loudly, drawing strange looks from nearby people, including Akagi. He quickly silenced himself, not wanting to blow his cover. Talking quietly, he chatted with Haruko about his experiences at *crush and Lost Souls?, as well as the people he met.

"…and now everything is so weird, I don't know it's so hard to pretend. I mean, I don't mind being a girl on stage, because that was just acting, you know? But when I'm a girl offstage it's like sometimes I'm not sure who I am anymore…"

Haruko offered him a small smile, which cheered him up a little. "Don't worry. You're doing so well right now! Isn't the success worth it?" She paused, and continued, "today you're supposed to do your photo shoot, right? When?"

"About at one or two, maybe. After that Sendoh and I might go shoot some pool. Or play basketball; he said he used to play, too."

"A date?"

Hana shook his head. "Haruko, I'm a guy. So is he."

"But he thinks you're a girl!"

"I know." He looked over and saw that Akagi wasn't looking at him anymore. "But the important thing is that I'm a guy. Not only that, but by going on with my disguise, aren't I actually lying to him?"

Haruko frowned. "I didn't think of that." She looked at him thoughtfully. "You like him, don't you?"

Hana went red. "NO!" Then, "I don't know. Maybe." He sighed. "Let me tell you, it's not fun to pretend to be someone else."

"What about Mitsui, Rukawa-kun, and Fujima? Are they having a good time?"

He scowled. "They're having the time of their life dating everyone in Kanagawa."

"You're exaggerating."

"Only slightly." He shook his head and was going to say something else, when he realized that the train had come to a stop. "This is my stop," he told Haruko. Waving goodbye, he stepped off the train into the Ryonan station, and caught sight of Kiyota from afar. "K'so," he muttered. "Doesn't he ever give up?"

He turned and ran out of the station as fast as he could. He continued walking really fast until he reached the turning to go to Lost Souls?, where he was supposed to meet the rest of the band for practice.

"Hana!"

He almost jumped out of his skin when he heard the voice calling him. Calming himself down, he turned to see Sendoh smiling at him.

"Why were you walking so fast? Running from the cops or something?"

Hana walked towards Sendoh and smiled, relieved that it wasn't Kiyota. "Or something." He continued, "It's this guy that we met at the club-"

"And he's been following you around?" Sendoh frowned.

Hana nodded. "Most bands get a lot of fans, I just get this one 'super sticky' one."

"What are you talking about? The crowd LOVES Androgynous Zone! They've been asking about you guys at the club, and some guys even wrote letters and stuff."

Hana choked. "Letters?"

"Yeah, from the guy fans, asking if you're still single, you know, and other things like that." After a beat, Sendoh asked, "are you?"

"Na-nani?"

"Are you? Single, I mean." Sendoh smiled at him curiously.

Hana turned red, and sputtered, "h-hai. Music always comes first with me, you know." He hoped that would be the end of the conversation, when Sendoh spoke.

"Good. Not that I'd mind the competition, of course." He took Hana's hands in his and pulled the boy into the entrance of Lost Souls?. He grinned. "Come on, you don't want to miss practice, do you?"

-TBC-

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