By: Sweiled

ARRIVING

I was in the second group, so I left Narita on the 9th. I got American Airlines and there were 3 other airlines flying to LA. The staff checked our names in Narita and pass us our "souvenirs", lanyards, and information regarding the trip. As soon as we arrived in LAX, we took our luggages and gathered outside. One of the tour guides was waiting outside and making sure that everybody was there. I wasn't sure of what to do at first, so I simply followed the other Dears. Some of them had already put on the lanyard and you could spot them pretty easily because of their clothes and accessories. XD There were about 30 Dears in my flight and I made friends with a few girls while waiting for the rest to come out.

After the last few people came out, we headed off to a restaurant nearby for lunch. Buffet-style, pretty good stuff. Day 1 is supposed to be for sightseeing and they took us to Santa Monica after lunch. There was nothing there. -_- Luckily, we only stayed for about 30 minutes and then we are off to Hollywood Boulevard. The tour guide explained and showed us a few of the famous tourist spots and then he gave us another 45 minutes or so to look around by ourselves. I checked out the duty-free shops and bought some souvenirs, and also made some more friends~ All in all, a fruitful trip!

Then we headed to the Hotel. They passed us our keys and explained certain rules. Then they announced the secret event -- UNIVERSAL STUDIOS. Oh. My. God. He actually booked the whole freaking Universal Studios for us. *O* It's unbelievable!! And on the message they played on the bus the day before, they said that the photoshoot is going to be individual shots this year. Usually, you take it with another fan, so there will be three of you. But this year, it's just you and Gackt. *O* The trip was definitely starting to look promising~

PHOTOSHOOT

The second day was the photoshoot. My group was the first to go, which also meant that we had to wake up the earliest. -___- The photoshoot was at the other hotel, so we had to meet at the lobby by 6:40 am. We couldn't even eat our breakfast first. >.>; Aha, at least I only took half an hour to get ready. Some of the other girls woke up at 5 to do their hair and make-up. I was surprised that some of them wore plain clothes. Nothing fancy at all. But there were some who went way over the top. I mean, we are talking about something close to a wedding dress here. @_@;;; Some of them were gorgeous though, especially this lady who looked just like a fairy-tale princess. Gackt was probably swooning all over her during the photoshoot. *rolls eyes* XD

The bus took us to the other hotel, which was 5 minutes away, and we were ushered to a big room near the ballroom. The actual photoshoot was in a suite on the top floor, but they lined us up according to our numbers first. Then we sat down and waited. I've heard about the crazy amount of waiting that people are subjected to during these events, but I didn't think that it would be this bad. I'm afraid that it's 100% true. The photoshoot was supposed to start at 8 (Why make us get ready at 6:40!?), but we were still waiting in the room at 9. The man sure takes a long time to get ready. XD But we were finally called out, and the first 20 (including me) formed a line in front of the elevator and waited while standing. And waited.

And at last, we were called up, and from then on it was lightning fast. We queued outside the door of the suite and we went inside one at a time. They have prepared a smaller waiting area for us to put our stuff in the room before we go in and meet him. They had put up black curtains all over the room and they had little candles on the floor. It was dark and exciting. The waiting area was small but they had sofas. It was pretty quiet and the only sound you hear is the cameraman's "Ready?" *snap* in the next room. There were two other staff in the waiting area, probably there to make sure that nobody does anything funny. XD

And suddenly it was my turn. *takes a deep breath* The first thing I saw was... blinding light. XD He was on the other side of the room, sitting with his right arm resting on the back of the sofa. They had plenty of cushions by the side, so there wasn't really much space to sit down. Which also means that you get to sit very, very close to him. You know, hip to hip kind of thing? Yeap.

*faints*

And then he pulls you reaaaally close to him. He does this to everyone. There really isn't much space left so I don't know why he was pulling people closer to him, but hey, the man can do anything he wants, no complaints there. XD XD So he grabbed me at the waist once I have settled down and pulled me closer. Then his hand moved up to my shoulder and it stayed there. And boy do those arms have strength. *fans* And that one brief second when I felt him pulling me was the only thing that felt real to me. I can't really remember anything else. ^^;;

My first impression when I saw him was blinding brightness, and this time it had nothing to do with the lights. It felt like he had this white glow/aura surrounding him and that's the only thing I could remember. I don't know why he appears so, because I've never quite experienced it before, but that was definitely how he looked to me when I first saw him on the sofa. I couldn't even remember what he was wearing. XD The whole white glow was probably the reason why I was so sure he was wearing white. So imagine my surprise when I got back the photo and saw that he was wearing ALL-BLACK. Not a single piece of white clothing on him. XD XD

I remember thinking that his face was very white, and his eyes just pierce straight through you. The two things that left the deepest impression were his eyes and his hands. I don't know why, but they were very striking for some reason.

But of course, not everything goes smoothly. We were supposed to shake hands with him after the photoshoot, so after they took our pictures, I sat there and waited. Like, coz, shouldn't the guy offer his hands first?? And I sat there for about 3 seconds, staring at his hands. XD; Then I panicked and kept thinking that they are going to chase me out, so I stood up and left the room. Just like that. Didn't even say anything, didn't even thank him, just walked right out the door. *slaps self* The thing is, I didn't even realize I hadn't thanked him until I was out the door. -__- I heard that people get hysterical or start crying during/after the photoshoot, go a little bonkers, but I might just be one of those few who seemingly had no reaction. As I turned and walked out the room, he said, "tanoshindene." (Have fun (in LA))

SECRET EVENT --- UNIVERSAL STUDIOS

The secret event was on the same day as the photoshoot. As soon as we arrived in Universal Studios (USH), we boarded the tram specially prepared for us. The park closes early during off-season but there were still a lot of people around when we arrived. Once the tram was full, we headed off to the park.

I think there were three batches all together (3 trams), and my group was on the second one. First we had the studio tour. I can't remember the name of the ride, but it's the one where you see king kong, jaws, and other filming studios. It was... okay, because I've been on the ride before. Never at night though. They had lights turned on, of course, but it was still a little dark and I couldn't see very well. That was a real pity. But otherwise, they had a few other things up which I had never seen before, so it was pretty cool. :D The something-lane from Desperate Housewives was really beautiful too~

They dropped us off near the backdraft attraction and we went into the park. The most awesome thing? His songs were playing in the park. That was just so cool, to be able to hear his songs playing in Universal Studios Hollywood.

We had a bit of free time while we were waiting for the third tram, so my friend and I took the Mummy ride. :D I've never taken that before, because it used to be the ET ride. Mummy was definitely better. XD That was about all that we could ride before they called us in though. ^^;; We stood there in our groups (according to the airlines we took), and after that we had to divide ourselves further into smaller groups. Dears had already arranged it for us and the groups were announced on the bus when we were on our way to USH. They actually had a list up earlier on in the Hotel, along with the names of the leaders, but apparently, a lot of people complained and didn't want to be leader, so they re-arranged the groups. And guess who was the lucky girl who got chosen as the leader in her group?? 8DD Me. -.-

I don't know why I was chosen. The only reason I could think of was that I speak English. And yes, I agree that being able to speak English is an advantage, but what's the point if everybody else who is participating speaks Japanese!?? And when even the staff speak Japanese?? *smacks head* T_T Anyways, they distributed cards and pens and apparently there were a few different cards. I think there were 5 in total. Ours was a cute chibi-Gackt on a bicycle with ET on his head. It was adorable~ The ET looked scary though. XD The questions weren't very difficult, but the hints that you need to figure out was difficult. (See end of report for more details of the game)

But to cut a very long story short, it turns out that each of the 5 cards represent a member. The clues in each card will lead you to the different members. And guess which one is Gackt's? The ET one. *sobs* My group didn't manage to solve the clue, so we didn't get to see him. But we were so close! I mean, what were the chances of getting the card that will take you to him right away? I think some people didn't even get to see the yellow card, and that was our first card!!

ACCOUSTIC CONCERT

The acoustic concert was on the third day of the trip. There were more photoshoots scheduled in the morning and afternoon, but since we already took our photos the day before, we had the day to ourselves. The concert was at night and we gathered in the lobby at 6 pm. There was a huge delay though, and we didn't leave the hotel till close to two hours later. -__-;; Apparently, Gackt was still rehearsing in the concert hall and we had to wait for them to finish. We were still better off than the other Dears who had already reached the hall and were stuck inside their buses. At least we were allowed to return to our rooms.

The concert itself was pretty long. The band only performed a few songs, but Gackt spoke and interacted with us a lot during this concert which is why the concert lasted about three hours. We were also allowed to vote on the songs (kind of like DIABOLOS and Drug Party tours) before hand, when they were still getting ready for the trip. First, he performed three songs, "Sakurasou", "Kimi ni Aitakute" and another one which I cannot remember (-_-;;). Then he went into his first MC. He told us about the voting results and said that someone had requested Vanilla! He complained about the choice, saying that it's not really the best song to choose for an acoustic concert. XD

After that he performed "Kono dare mo inai heya de" and "Tsuki no Uta", with brief talk portions in between. He talked about the game yesterday and apologized for not making the rules clearer. He also admitted that it was difficult, though he said that he managed to solve all the hints. When he asked You about the difficulty level of the game, You said that he couldn't solve a single question. XD Gackt joked that he will set next year's game to You's standard. He also asked the rest of the members how many groups managed to meet them. Gackt had three; Chacha 8; both You and Jun-ji had 6; and only 1 group managed to find Ju-ken! (Keep in mind that there were close to 40 groups participating!!)

He then talked about the photoshoot and how the fans are getting more and more beautiful. He also urges us to prepare "speeches" (We aren't allowed to talk to him, it was part of the rules, so we can maybe say a line or two but he won't respond) for the next fanclub trip. He wants us to think of good lines to say to him. He said that he has always expressed his feelings honestly to his fans, saying "I love you" and so on in public on many occasions. It is really embarrassing to him but he does it anyway for us, so he wants us to do the same and convey our feelings to him honestly. He tells us that he is expecting some touching lines from us next year. Pressure, pressure. XD

Like previous years, they asked us to participate in the performance of Mirror as well for this year. We were supposed to create the background melody for the song by clapping our hands. (The beat seems to be getting harder and harder every year!) He called out a few staff members and introduced them one by one. He then divided them into four different groups and asked us to follow their claps. He also divided the Dears into A, B, C and D and the band members joined A and D, while Gackt was in-charge of B and C. He demonstrated the different beats one by one and we practiced for a while before we started. I was lucky, because I was in C and I could focus on him the whole time instead of looking at the other band members. XD; You kept getting B and D confused and lost his rhythm a couple of times. XD After a few minutes of practice, Gackt started singing, but he forgot the lines a few times and kept laughing. The claps were difficult (I don't really have a good sense of rhythm XD), but really fun to do!

After the song ended, the rest of the staff left the stage and the band members returned to their seats. Gackt talked more about the rehearsals and about him becoming more mature these days. The other band members kept making faces as Gackt insisted that he is a mature adult and can control his emotions better. Chacha immediately reminded him that he just lost his temper during the rehearsal that evening. Gackt then complained that the staff who had taken part in Mirror were already celebrating backstage and have started drinking. He said that he could see them from where he was standing. XD

He told us that he might visit another high school next year for their graduation and started performing "No ni saku hana no you ni. It was a very touching performance and it sounded way more beautiful than it does on CDs. It was definitely the best song of the night for me. As soon as he finished the song though, he started chuckling and apologized to the fans (and staff and band members). He forgot that he is supposed to announce the winners of yesterday's game right after Mirror. XD The winning team scored over 200 points, which means that they must have met a few members! (You get 50 points if you beat the members in the game) They received a Darts necklace as a present. There was also a "booby present" for the second last team, which were calligraphies written personally by Gackt. "Nagao Kagetora", "Fuurin Kazan", and the kanji for "beautiful shoulder", "beautiful back", "beautiful breast" with a tiny "Aha~" at the end (XD), "Pleasant smell", "beautiful eyes (lit. light)". He explained that these are things that women should go for and he wants us to aim for it. XD There is also the first kanji for his name "Raku (happiness)", because he wants us to live a happy life.

The staff brought in huge dolls and Gackt explained that they are the mascots of Universal Studios. One of them has the members' signatures on it too! In order to win these dolls, we need to beat him on scissors, paper, stone game. Everybody had to stand up and only those who beat Gackt can continue while the rest had to sit down. We did them over and over again because no one could beat Gackt! In the end, he asked You and Chacha to join him and one of the girls beat them. ^^

Then they continued with the concert. He performed three last songs, "Memories", "Love Letter", and "Dears" before ending the concert. It was close to 11 by the time the concert ended, and we went back to our hotel.

SECRET EVENT explanation

This might seem rather confusing, but this is how it works. You need to figure out the answers to the questions on the card, and after that you need to solve the hint hidden within the answers of the questions.

These are the questions in my card.

- If the floor above is Upper Lot, what's this floor called? (3 Gackt heads beside it)

- Which attraction takes your picture in the middle of the ride? (6 Gackt heads beside it)

- Which attraction is based on the movie "Hamunaptra"? (1 Gackt head beside it)

- What car did Evelyn ride in the movie? (5 Gackt heads beside it)

- Revenge in Japanese? (6 Gackt heads beside it)

- This thing attacked you during the tour (Gackt head on the first box)

Under the questions you have boxes, and that's where you write the answers. And some of them have dashes on it too. Like for example, for the first one, it's

box, box, box, dash, box, box, box.

The answer is of course Lower Lot. (Upper vs Lower) So in katakana, it goes ロウアーロット. (ro--u--a dash ro--t--to) I figured that one out by the way, and also the answer for the second one, which is Jurassic Park. *smug* Okay, fine, so it was real easy and anyone who knows English can figure it out in seconds. XD

But you have to do more than answer the question. At the bottom of the page, you see a few dotted boxes. (_ _ _ no _ _ _) So you have to figure out where/what the hidden clue is and then solve the clue. *rolls eyes at Gackt* Someone else in the group figured this out, and this is how it works. See, the first answer is ロウアーロット(ro-u-wa- lot), and there are 3 Gackt heads beside it, which actually means the third letter. In this case, ア(a). The second answer, which is Jurassic Park, will give you ク (ku), and so on and so forth. The third answer is Mummy The Ride (ma), the fourth is volkswagen (su), the fifth is gyakushuu (u), and the last is Jaws (ji).

So once you've solved every question and found the letters, you fit it into the dotted boxes below and you'll see that _ _ _ no _ _ _ is actually, a--ku--ma no su--u--ji. It means "the number for devil". That's our clue for the next step. There were many staff walking around in the park wearing caps, and some of those caps had numbers on it, or words like "darkness", "moon", "911 NY", etc. It turns out that we were supposed to be looking for the cap with the "number for devil" on it. We found someone wearing a cap with the number "13" on it and and he gave each of us a sticker for getting the answer correct. It's the same ET picture, except that the background is yellow. And he gave us another hint, which is "Mono kuro" (something dark).

That was a really hard one and we didn't manage to solve the clue. We thought that we were supposed to find another person so we went round and round the park, trying to find the next person who can give us a clue. As it turns out, the "Mono kuro" is simply a hint to the password which will allow you to meet the members. We were supposed to be looking for a PLACE, not a person. All the band members were actually inside the different attractions (there was like a back door or something) and once you've figured out the place, you need to give the staff the password that will allow you to get in. It doesn't matter if you guessed the place correctly, they won't let you in until you figure out the password. The name for this fanclub trip is "Gackt presents for Dears, Tsuki to Yami in LA". So the answer is tsuki and yami IN ENGLISH, which is moon and dark. "Something black". Thanks for the helpful hint, Gackt. >.>;;

By the way, no one explained any of the steps to us. They only handed us our cards and we had to figure out what to do next ourselves. So kudos to the 3 groups who managed to meet him!

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