�M-Mr. --..Hahn?� I ate the words.
He smiled sweetly.
Wow! I can�t believe it. It�s Mr. Hahn himself giving
my skateboard to me.
�So� you�re in for skateboards, huh? I also do�� He
greeted.
�Y-yeah��I shortly replied.
�Wanna join us for a while? Are ya hurryin� home?� he
asked. �By the way, I�m Joe, or Remy�but I can assure
you I�m Mr. Hahn� and you are..� he offered his hand.
�Uh�Mia, or Sarah�whatever!� I shook his hand.
�You hurryin� home?� he asked again.
�Nope� eh, my parents and siblings are not yet there
They�re outta town, and I am the only one who went
here.� I supplied an answer.
�Mind if you join us for a while?� he offered in a
soft voice.
�Why not? I�d love to!� I agreed.
�Then, follow me.� He reckoned. 
We went backstage. I tugged on his white t-shirt as we
made our way there for it was too dark at the aisle.
He smacked the light switch on, but smacked it again
for the light was already turned on when we got there.
�Is anybody here?� he called out.
�Joe�hi. And you tagged a fan over?� a voice asked,
which I perceived that�s coming from behind an open
closet at the far left. Indeed, someone�s parked at
its front, but I can�t see his or her face.
�I found her skateboard at the front row of seats so I
asked her to join us for a while.� Joe replied.
�Stealing skateboards is a great sin, you know that.�
It replied.
�I didn�t!� he exclaimed.
The man faced us and I was a bit shocked.
�Sorry if Joe�s such a fuss for ya. I�m Mike, Mike
Shinoda.� He stared at me.
� �Course I know you. Mia Perido,� I supplied. �You
did a nice job this afternoon, eh!� I gushed.
�Japanese?� He asked.
�What makes you think I�m one? Half, or one-fourth, I
think. But I do have a part.� Mike nodded upon my
reply.
�Well�hello, Mia. Chester Bennington over here.� A
rather clogged voice greeted behind me.  I turned and
saw him at the half-open door, with his outfit at the
concert: loose black tee, cargo pants, spiked collar,
and his unbleached, almost shaved away hair.
�HI, Chester. You did an amazing job this afternoon.
You set the crowd on fire. You�re so cool.� I
complimented.
�Is that you who shouted that I�m so cool?�
�OH! Ya heard it? Yeah, I am the one.� I smiled at the
thought.
�Oh, thanks. I love fans who shout compliments,� he
supplied a reason. �They keep me going.� I smiled.
�Where�re the others anyway?� He turned to Mike and
Joe.
�Rob and Phoenix said they�re goin� to fix our stuff.�
Mike halted.
�And Brad said he�ll go and check this place out.�
�That Brad!� Joe exclaimed suddenly. �He�s such a
roamaholic.�
�Hehe�Let�s see if he�ll find his way back.� Mike
fixed his blue t-shirt. 
My eyes trained around the room. Empty boxes, I don�t
know what, were scattered at the floor. Sticky
packaging tapes rolled over them. Leftover posters
were hung on the wall. Indeed, a small room for such a
great band. Their luggage, containing their clothes
and others were arranged neatly at the closet and the
only closet that you could find there, which were the
ones Mike was probably fixing a while ago.
Joe was still holding my skateboards, inspecting them
closely.
�Uh�,� my slight moan broke the still silence.
�This�ll be your last tour here?�  I asked.
�Well, not exactly. We�ll be leaving at the
fifteenth.. � Chester replied. I nodded.
�Who taught you to skateboard?� Joe asked.
�My friend became my inspiration. I was interested so
I tried to learn. I learned it at the age of nine.�
�You learned it yourself?� Joe asked as if it�s really
unbelievable.
�well�approximately yes..� I hesitated.
The door banged as Brad stormed in. He looked at us
and his gaze stopped at me.
�She�s Mia, a fan of ours. I caught her leaving her
stuff inside this coliseum. I tagged her along.� Joe
explained.
�Your story took another version, huh?� I kidded.
�Hiya.� Brad greeted. �Guess what? It�s heavy outside,
with all the traffic and smog.�
I awkwardly replied: �Don�t worry. Well�I can assure
you it�s pretty nice in here�eh��
I hate this stuff, trying to persuade foreigners that
it�s nice in our country. I don�t know what to say. I
don�t know what I can be proud of�
Rob and Phoenix followed shortly.
�Mia, a fan here.� Mike said in a telegraph-style
introduction.
�Pleasure meetin� ya.� Phoenix smiled at me.
�OH! Before I forget�� I fished inside my bag and
pulled a white tee with a weird soldier in a rear
position and also a weird lettering of their name at
the back together with their picture. I handed it to
Brad who was only a few centimeters away from me. I
also pulled a bunch of Pentel TM Pens.
�You know what I mean!� I exclaimed.
�Yeah, right. We�re waitin� for it actually.� Chester
pulled a pen.
�Who did this shirt?� Mike was intrigued.
�My cousin and I did�sorry for faking. Suddenly, Joe
laughed.
�Anythin� funny?� I asked.
�I thought you are a LPUNDERGROUND member. Our
official t-shirt is a bit like this, except for the
pic.�
�You got it, Joe. I was about to comment on that.�
Mike stated. I chuckled.
�Our designer for the shirt is not unique. Even a
teener can duplicate one.� Phoenix tried to tease
Mike.
�You mean, our designer�s not really a designer?,�
Brad followed. �FAKE one, huh?�
�WORDS!!� Mike simply stated.
Rob and Joe laughed at his expression.
AFTER A WHILE�
�There�It�s done.� Chester handed it back to me with
the pens.
�Thanks�� I took a peep at what they�ve written for
the past few minutes. I roared into a fit of laughter.
�What�s so funny?� Brad acted innocent. The others
were also starting to laugh. I still can�t speak out
of the laughter. After a minute or two, when I already
calmed down, I stated. �Your stuff�s funny. You�re not
only great musicians. You�re also great comedians!� I
fixed the tee and placed it back on my bag.
�Are you also like this when you sign autographs?� 
�We just injected a BIT of humor in there.� Phoenix
replied.
�ONLY A BIT? But it already drove me nuts!� I
exclaimed
�Really, that�s not yet the maximum.� Joe replied.
�Joe�s a great comedian, isn�t it?� Mike chuckled.
�How will he be not? He�s a clown before he came to
us.� Chester kidded.
�That was his previous day job.� Brad added.
�By the way, Mike..� I called.
�Yeah?�:
�HAPPY BIRTHDAY!! I cheered.
�How�d ya know it?!� Mike asked in a state of shock.
�Internet�s my domain�� I answered.
�Gee, a computer geek, THANKS�� He smiled.
�And besides, tomorrow�s my fourteenth birthday.�
�You�re only thirteen?� Rob asked in a soft manner.
�Nice age.
�Happy Birthday�you didn�t tell us a bit earlier�� Joe
greeted. The others followed soon.
�Guys�It�s already five. Guess we should pack up.
Whaddya say?� Phoenix offered.
�Yeah, so we could tour Mia around.� Brad followed as
he started picking the packaging tapes scattered by
his feet.
�You�ll go home already?� Chester turned to me.
�ME�NO! Of course not!� I exclaimed. �I don�t want to
be alone�again.� There�s a pain in my voice upon
saying that.
�Should we say we�ll treat you?,� Mike stated his
idea. � Since tomorrow�s a school day, make your
ADVANCE BIRTHDAY today.� 
�ME? NO! You only don�t know how money-wasting I am!�
I disapproved the idea.
�It�s okay for us.� Chester stated.
�BUT---�
�The money? It�s OUR money involved in here.� Brad
smiled. �It is okay, right?� He turned to the others
and they nodded.
�Just a please�you like us, right? I�m sure it�s your
birthday wish to be with us a little longer, right?�
Joe looked at me with his cute Korean eyes.
I sighed and smiled. �OH. Alright. You got me there!�
�OK. Let�s go!� Rob declared.
�Can I help fixing things?� I asked
�Course not. You�re our birthday celebrant.� Chester
replied.
�How �bout Mike?� I asked
�That�s a different story!� He laughed. I just smiled.