"Next stop, Perth."

"Welcome to Perth."

"We heard what she said," Mitsui told Noor dryly, mentioning the woman's voice from the train speaker with a wave of his hand.

The girl protested, "But I was just being-"

"Overdramatic," Miyagi cut in as he watched through the window the crowd of passengers outside waiting for the train to stop to let them in.

Noor pouted, "Well, 'can't blame me. I mean, it is your first time here and I want to make this special."

"We're glad to be here, Noor. Thank you for being a good host," Ayako consoled as she patted the girl by the shoulder.

"Where are we gonna go first?" Hanamichi asked, already restless, jiggling from one foot to the next.

"Hmmm..." Noor pondered out loud, "I don't know. Why don't we just walk around and stop where we want to."

"That sounds fine," Kogure smiled, "What do you guys think. Rukawa?"

Rukawa rubbed his eyes, a bit sleepy from the 10 minute train ride from Noor's suburb to the city, and shrugged indicating that he didn't care.

"Yosh, let's go then," Akagi told them.



~~~~

"Let's go there!"

"The Foot Locker?"

"Hey! How about here?"

"Ahtlete's Foot?"

"That place looks cool..."

"Uh... Rowan Jarmen?"

Trust the boys to have honing skills for sport's stores.
Noor wondered if it was the scent of the new rubber soles or the synthetic rubber of the balls on display that did it.

"Where have you two been?" Akagi asked the two girls who just appeared a few minutes after the boys have just came out of yet another sports store.

"We went to flirt with a few college kids," answered Noor carelessly, "They look cute in their uniform."

"Ayako!" Miyagi cried, heart broken.

"She was just kidding," Ayako rolled her eyes, "We went to the makeup store, Red Earth, for a while. It's right over there."

Looking at the red packet with the store's name on the sides Ayako was holding in her hand put Miyagi a bit at ease.

"Though Noor was right - the college boys do look cute in their uniform..."

"Ayako!"

Akagi sighed. Noor snickered.

"Where to next?" asked Kogure.

"Let's go to London's Court," suggested Noor.

"Eh? Do we have enough money to go to London?" blinked Hanamichi.

"No, baka," Noor said giving a one-sided smile, "it's just a place that looks like a strip of London. They've got some interesting knick-knacks selling there."

Interesting they were - especially the brassiere and lingerie shop at the beginning of the court. At least, the boys thought so for Ayako had to shoo them to move along before they embarass themselves gawking at the seductive lace and silk women's night and underwear on display.

"Damn, these things are kinda expensive," said Mitsui, picking up an overprized t-shirt from the racks of a shop.

"Yeah," nodded Noor. "They are. But they look so cute," she gushed, pointing to group of beautifully dressed dolls sitting on the window of a doll shop.

"Hey, what's that?" asked Hanamichi, "A pet store?"

The dark-haired girl looked at where the redhead was pointing at and shook her head, "Nah, it's the cat and dog lover's shop. They sell stuffs with anything having cats or dogs on them. Maybe Rukawa would like to go there. Doesn't he like cats?"

"Uh, I think so," Hanamichi said absently, glancing at the fox-eyed boy who was looking at a cloth picture of a cat hanging inside the store with interest.

"I'm hungry," whined a red-headed Japanese to his friends.

Kogure looked at his watch and agreed, "It's time for lunch. Where should we go?"

"Let's see," Noor said, "I'm particular with the food so.... umm... there's a nice place, Cafe 113, at Murray Street that I like to go to for asian food or would you guys like to go to Hungry Jacks for some fast food? Oh yeah, or would you guys like to eat some sushi at Jaws?"

"Anything that has a big helping," said Miyagi, wryly looking at Hanamichi who was already drooling.

After a hearty lunch they continued their tour around Perth, taking most of their time at the big department store, Myers, before Noor brought them to Northbridge.

"Where are we going?" asked Ayako.

"To this pastry shop called Corica. It's just at the end of Aberdeen street."

---

"Are we there yet?" asked Hanamichi.

"No," Noor answered

---

"Are we there yet?" asked Mitsui.

"No," Noor answered.

---

"Are we there yet?" asked Miyagi

"No," Noor sighed

---

"....." asked Rukawa.

"N- wait... what am I saying..." Noor shook her head.

Rukawa arched an eyebrow at her.

"Are we there yet?" Hanamichi asked again.
Needless to say, this went on for more than 15 minutes.

By the time they reached their destination, the group was grumbling for walking that far out for a small pastry shop but when they entered, the wafting sweet smell of custard, bread and sugar made them forget about their complaints. Even Rukawa was looking a mite awake by the mouth-watering odour.

"One apple struddle, please," Noor told the woman who was standing behind the counter taking orders.

"What's apple struddle?" asked Kogure as Hanamichi, Mitsui and Miyagi had their noses nearly pressed against the glass to peer at the pastries on display in front of the counter, looking like kids in a candy store - or in this case a pastry shop.

Noor pointed to the picture of a long-sized pastry with layers of custard, cream and apple pieces hanging on the wall and answered, "That's an apple strudle."

Akagi whistled in appreciation.

After they left the pastry shop, they began their long walk back to the city, taking the sights of Northbridge as they went.

"Hey Noor, what's that? Club X? It sounds cool," Hanamichi said pointing to a black-painted shop with the shop's logo in neon lights.

"Yeah," nodded Miyagi, "I saw the same logo in the city just now over a building. Is it some kind of popular techno club or something?"

"Well, why don't we go and find out," grinned Noor slyly.

"A SEX STORE?!!"

Noor was giggling, having an amusing time looking at the surprised expression her Japanese guests were having.
"Hai."

"Why did you bring us here?" demanded Akagi, trying to ignore the pictures of naked busty women on the wall.

"Oh, come on," Noor scoffed, "A person needs to go at least once to a place like this to see what its all about. Right Ayako?"

"Right," Ayako nodded, picking up an odd-looking contraption lying on a table, "Hey this thing vibrates!"

Akagi blushed and turned away to look at his team-mates scattered around the store.

Mitsui was looking at the various crops on wall, and taking one down made a light slap on his thigh. Smiling, he turned towards Kogure who had his back at him and swapped the surprised brown-haired boy on the butt.

"Mitsui!" Kogure protested.

"You know, I really would like to try this with you some time," Mitsui said, giving another light swat, this time on Kogure thigh.

"W-Well... I don't think I like that kind of... thing..." Kogure scowled, pushing the scarred-face boy away, "I-I don't like being... treated... that way."

"Maybe it's not for you," grinned Mitsui, pushing the crop in Kogure's hand before curling the boy's finger over it, "Maybe it's for me."

Kogure's eyes widened when Mitsui leaned forward and whispered huskily in his ear, "I need to be punished."

"Welcome to Club X where we can make your fantasy come true" said a woman's voice activated by the sensors at the side of the stair-way.

Akagi sighed in relief when they got out, rolling his eyes at the pleased expression on Mitsui and Ayako's face, the people who have bought something from the sex-store they have just vacated. He was at least grateful that the only thing Ayako bought was a t-shirt that had explicit sex themes printed on it. Mitsui, however....
The captain did not want to know why his team-mate bought that particular merchandise.

And Rukawa - well, it was surprising for him that the blue-eyed boy would be buying anything from a store like that. He wasn't able to take a good look at what Rukawa purchased before it was wrapped up but remembering the term 'curiosity killed the cat' he decided to not yield to the tempatation of asking, for whatever activities having anything to do with what was sold in that store would not be pretty.

When they reached Perth again, the first thing that caught Hanamichi's eyes were the words 'All You Can Eat' at the Jaws Kaiten Sushi restaurant.

"Let's go there!" the redhead said enthusiastically.

"Well, I am feeling a bit hungry," Ayako agreed, looking at her watch which told her that it was indeed time for dinner.

"It's $23 for an hour for the all you can eat menu. I don't think I can eat that much..." Noor told them doubtfully.

"You can't eat that much for an hour?! What are you - a sissy?!" teased the redhead.

Noor scowled before she said lowly, "Alright, I'm in."

An hour later, the team was dragging a over-stuffed authoress and a protesting redhead out of the Jaws Kaiten Sushi restaurant.

"Why can't I eat just one more plate?!" cried the redhead.

"'Cause we've been there for more than an hour, baka," Ayako said, whapping him with her fan.

"You ate so much, Sakuragi," Kogure commented to the pouting redhead.

"Yeah! I ate $11 more than Noor did!" Hanamichi exclaimed boastfully.

The petite girl groaned, "I must've been crazy to take up on that challenge... I need some Alka Seltzer... or some Coke. I feel sick..."

After the train trip to Stirling, the group then took the Circleroute bus to Churchlands. When Noor and the team took the seats in the middle of the bus, Hanamichi dragged Rukawa to the far end where they can have some privacy and handed Rukawa a small white plastic bag, "Here, for you."

Rukawa blinked his sleepy eyes and took his gift out, eyebrows arched in surprise at the keyholder with a picture of a kitten on the sides.

"I know you like cats so, uh, hope you like it," mumbled the redhead shyly.

"Doumo," Rukawa said quietly, reaching to caress Hanamichi knee gently. Then, he took out a package out of his own plastic plastic bag and handed it to the redhead, "This is for you."

"Huh? Oh, doumo. Umm - can I open it now?"

"Better later."

"Oh, ok. But...uh...why is it vibrating?"

Rukawa caress went higher.

~owari