By: Sweiled

DAY 1: SNOWBOARDING

I headed off to Ikebukuro early in the morning and met up with my friend who was also going on the trip. After arriving at the meeting point, we joined the other Dears and waited for the staff to call us. This year, they called our names one by one and checked it against the list before letting us board the bus. Dears had arranged the seats and since there were only a couple of foreigners in this trip, I got to sit with a Japanese.

We stopped once for lunch and arrived at the ryoukan at about 4 pm. Those who had rented gears and sportswear collected their stuff and then we went to our respective rooms. There were 6 people in each room, and I think Dears arranged it according to our age. The ones in mine are between 21-22 years old. My roommates were very nice. Crazy bunch of people. XD; We changed into our winter wear and chatted for a bit before going down again. We left for the caetla [ca et la?] resort at about 4:30 pm. My bus was one of the first few buses to arrive at the resort, so we didn't have to wait for long to get our boards. I persuaded the girl who was sitting beside me to try snowboarding with me and we headed outside once we were ready. There were already a lot of Dears outside, strapped onto their snowboards. We grabbed one of the staff and he helped us put on the snowboards. :D And we were ready to start~!

Then it started drizzling. -_- We decided to try it anyway and followed one of the staff who were teaching us how to snowboard/ski. Almost everyone chose snowboard, of course. XD I've never done snowboarding before and it was rather difficult. My friend and I pretty much gave up after 15 minutes or so. XD (Haha, we suck XD) We decided to head back inside to wait for dinner. Dinner was from 6 pm onwards and they called us in based on our bus number. Ours was 14, so it was close to 7 pm by the time we got in. This year's dinner was bento (all prepared before-hand) and had a lot of traditional Japanese food in it. Pretty good stuff. :3 After dinner, we went out and sat down near one of the doors while waiting for Gackt to come down and do whatever he is supposed to be doing.

Suddenly we heard a shriek and saw a group of girls rushing outside. Then, of course, everybody else made a mad dash for the door. That was quite a sight to behold, I must say. @@;;; It wasn't as if Gackt himself was already down there though, so I don't get the fuss at all. @_@ Maybe they were rushing out so that they can get a good view? Anyway, everybody was spread out in front of the mountain but my friend and I decided to stand a little further back. Then we waited in the rain and snow for about 30 minutes. During this whole time, snowmobiles kept going up and down the mountain. They also played his songs at the resort, so it was nice to be able to dance to the songs. :3

Suddenly, they turned off all the lights in the grande and it was pitch-black. *cue screaming all around* XD 5 minutes later, Gackt came down on a snow mobile, along with the other band members. They came all the way down and greeted the fans. I wish they had stopped a little further up, because then everyone would have been able to see them. As it is, they were standing very close to the line and my friend and I were jumping up and down trying to get a view of them. XD If I remember correctly, he was wearing all white. With beanie and sunglasses. Anyway, Gackt then said that it's a real pity that it started raining and we couldn't snowboard/ski much. He said that the resort staff even had snow moved up here so that we could enjoy ourselves. It was April and the snow had already melted, you see. And he hoped that tomorrow's weather would be clear for the sports event.

I'm not quite sure what happened after that because we couldn't see very clearly from where we were standing but I think 3 of them (Gackt, You and Ju-ken) went back up the mountain on their snow mobiles. They left Chacha and Junji behind, but then 5 minutes later they came back down again and started singing Happy Birthday to Junji. The rest of the Dears then joined in. :D

And after that they went back up the mountain again, this time leaving Junji alone with 1,000 crazy fans. XD Gackt made the poor fella climb up the mountain by himself. XD Then they started playing Last Song (I think it was Last Song) and the fireworks started. That was lovely. :D The fireworks went on for the entire song, and we cheered Junji on as he climbed up the mountain. He did a few poses and "collapsed" a few times as he was climbing up. At first he was climbing at a rather slow speed but he picked up his pace and even started running near the end of the song. Probably realized that he was running out of time and that he was going to be left behind. XD The lights dimmed again once the song ended and one of the staff went up the mountain on snowmobile and picked him up.

DAY 2: SPORTS EVENT

We got up early the next day and had some traditional Japanese breakfast. That was pretty good; again there were a lot of stuff I've never tried before. After that we went to the resort again, this time for the sports game. There were about 16 teams in total. We were divided into different colours (based on our bus numbers), and there were about 200 people or something in each colour. From there, we were further divided into smaller groups of about 60-70 people. Mine was Green 1. Everybody sat on the snow while waiting for the games to start.

Once all the Dears arrived, the MC came out and greeted everyone. He chatted with us for a bit before calling the members out. After the band members greeted us, the MC then asked us to shout for "Maou" (devil) and out he comes. XD Gackt said that it's okay when the fans call him Maou~ Maou~, but complained that even the staff has started calling him that too. They were saying things like, "Maou, you are next," when the members were getting ready. XD But after he said that, he started taking off his jacket and everybody cheered and applauded when they saw that his shirt had "Maou" pasted on it. XD XD Admit it, Gackt, you love being the devil. XD

The MC called out the other captains, and Gackt introduced them one by one. Then it was time for the captains to choose their teams. My team got Junji, the new drummer. :D It was really funny watching the way all the captains greet their teams, especially Gackt. XD He was totally riling them up, to much booing from all the rest of us. XD The MC explained the rules of the games. The group who gets first for each game receives 20 points, and the second group gets 10 points and the third gets 5 points.

First was tug of war. My team got wiped out in the first round. -_-; So the whole team went slightly up the mountain to sit and watch the others play. Gackt's team won and went on to fight Ju-ken's team. Gackt was really mad that he lost to Ju-ken last year, so he was determined to win this year. XD The tug-of-war between Gackt and Ju-ken's team went on and on forever! I think it lasted more than 5 minutes. The other groups had already finished but Gackt and Ju-ken's team were still pulling and tugging away. The other teams came over and started cheering Ju-ken on. XD But Gackt's team won eventually~ Only to be beaten in the next round within seconds. XD; Gosh, that team was amazing. One tug and they sent Gackt's team sprawling. Well, I guess they had an advantage because Gackt's team had been fighting with Ju-ken's team for a good few minutes while they had a chance to rest.

The next game was a group relay. Basically, we have to divide ourselves into groups of 5. We have to hold on to a very long stick and run around a circle and back again and then pass the stick to the next group of 5. It wasn't as easy as it sounds because you have to run with 4 other people. On snow. But our team was very fast. @@ We ended up getting second place during that match and the first team only beat us by 1 second. X< Dammit, that was close! The winner of the relay was the same group who won the tug-of-war. (Sorry, I can't remember the name of the leader. ^^;; I remember he is one of the staff though, not a dancer or a member.) That means that team was already leading by 40 points. @_@

Next up was the game between the captains. This year was cosplay competition. The winner of the competition will be awarded 20 points. Everyone had to pick randomly a role to play. They didn't announce what they had chosen, but he was desperately trying to weasel his way out of it on the stage, so we knew that he had picked something really juicy (from a fan's point of view anyway XD). The rest of the captains had to literally drag him to the tents where they were supposed to change. The rest of the staff rolled out carpets that lead to the tent and the Dears settled ourselves along the carpet while waiting for the captains to finish dressing. They played some background music which was supposed to help us identify who they are cosplaying. When they started coming out, oh lord, they were HILARIOUS. There were some really outrageous ones, especially the ones cosplaying as ladies. XD YOU looked really good though. @@ He was cosplaying one of the shinsengumi and played the part well. And Chacha could totally pass as a real lady. @@;; Some of them got Gackt, like Black Stone Gackt, Redemption Gackt, etc.

And then it was time for Gackt. They played the music and out came Marilyn Monroe. *Diiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiies* XDDDDDDDDD That was hands down the highlight of the day. And he totally played the part! Like, he knew all the classic Marilyn Monroe poses and did them all!!! He really milked it for all its worth, and ahaha, he actually looked good in that dress. XD You got to hand it down to him though: A man, walking in HEELS on SNOW. Quite a feat. XD Of course, the MC declared Gackt the winner and their team got 20 points. x3 Well-earned, I must say!

After that the captains went back to the tent and changed back to their normal clothes. And once back on the stage, Gackt reverted to his old grumpy self. XD The complete transformation was actually pretty amazing, and you got to give him credit for going all out and performing the best he can as Marilyn Monroe. Gackt also said that You kept ooh-ing over his Marilyn Monroe and wanted to play Marilyn Monroe instead. o.O XD

We had the ball-tossing game next and then it was time for lunch. We had curry~ :3 Some of the Dears had changed back to their normal outfit but we decided to head back outside. Then the captains came back out again and we had the prize ceremony. Gackt`s team got 5th, I think. Mine was 4th, and Chacha`s was third. The top two teams were actually non-band/dancer team. XD The third team received a poster of No ni saku hana no you ni and the second team got some of the tour goods from last year's Drug Party tour. The winning team got to go up on the stage and take pictures with all the captains. @@ At first Gackt just stood there when they took the pictures, then he started getting closer and closer to the girls who stood in front of him. XD Lucky girls!!

And that`s the end of the ski trip~ An excellent weekend all in all!

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