In Deep Kimchi - By Imari Jade Page 0,37

two American authors and two Japanese authors while the other four were promoting at a local bookstore. Aomori wouldn't be accompanying them because they had to rehearse at the Tokyo Dome.

Shaundra smiled, thinking that she wouldn't have to face Yori for a while, and by then, he'd probably have forgotten about what happened between them earlier.
Chapter Eleven
"Move that pretty ass of yours," Takumijo said to Satoshi as he tried to teach them some new dance steps. He knew it was early in the morning, but he had lots to show them. It also wasn't his fault that Satoshi wasn't a morning person. He could sleep it away if no one woke him. Yori also looked like he'd seen better days.

Both Satoshi and Yori had been acting out of sorts since last night, but he couldn't put his finger on it. Maybe the two of them had gotten into an argument in the lounge because everything had seemed okay between them at the recording studio.

"I need you guys to get these steps right. You're making our background dancers look bad."

A few of the dancers snickered at his comment, but knew not to mess with him when it came to choreography. This was his specialty and contribution to Aomori, and not even Satoshi or Yori was going to mess this up. "It's step, step, turn, step, and pause."

Satoshi got it on the second attempt, but Yori still struggled with the combination. Usually, Yori got it on the first attempt, but now even the perfectionist, Ichiro, was getting upset with him.

"Yori has two left feet," Ichiro said from behind a fan he had taken out of his back pocket. It was one of those old-time ones made of thin wood and decorated with a scenic Japanese design. Yes, Ichiro had some strange habits, but he meant well.

Yori rolled his eyes at him. "I do not, you little geisha."

Ichiro did not seem offended by Yori's remark about his manhood.

"I'm just a little distracted. Maybe it's from the champagne."

"What champagne?" Takumijo asked. "We're in training. Why are you drinking that shit?"

Yori sat down on the floor and began doing stretching exercises. "I didn't want the usual stuff. I wanted something different."

"Champagne is for celebrating, and even the cheap stuff is expensive.

What were you celebrating?"

The rest of the dancers joined Yori on the floor and began stretching out their muscles.

"Our upcoming concerts."

"So you were just sitting in the lounge last night drinking champagne all by yourself?"

"Yeah, what's wrong with that?"

Satoshi cleared his throat and played with his shoestring.

"Nothing's wrong with it. It just seems odd. Are you sure you weren't with some young lady?"

Yori shook his head. "I got out of the limousine with you last night.

When did I have time to meet someone?"

"You had ample time to strike up a conversation with someone in the lounge."

Yori pulled down the cuffs of his blue exercise pants until they covered his ankles. "No one I'd buy champagne for."

Takumijo grunted. "You wouldn't tell us if you had. What's the matter? Afraid one of us might steal her? You know us better than that.

We don't cross that line."

Satoshi's head popped up quickly and quite noticeably.

Takumijo walked over to him and bent over. "What do you know?"

"Nothing," Satoshi answered quickly.

"You answered too fast. You're hiding something. What did you see when you went down to the lounge to get Yori last night?"

Yori looked over at both of them and then went back to his stretching.

The backup dancers and Ichiro stopped stretching and listened for Satoshi's answer.

"Nothing, just Yori sitting in our usual booth drinking."

"Was he alone?"

"As far as I know."

"Okay," Takumijo said. He walked over and kicked the bottom of Yori's tennis shoes. "Enough of that stretching, you slackers. Let's get back to work."

Yori moved slowly up to his feet and got back in line on the left side of Satoshi.

"Take it from the top - step, step, turn, step, and pause." Somewhere before Takumijo's blood pressure rose, Yori got the hang of the exchange.

By noon, he had practiced them into exhaustion and figured it was time to stop and let them have lunch. This worked out good for him because he had a lunch date with his best friend, Osamu Nakaumura, the actor.

He hadn't seen Osamu since the last time he and Aomori had come to Tokyo. The two of them had met on the set of a drama where Takumijo had his first acting debut at the age of eighteen. Osamu had been twenty- five at the time,