I Quit

Chapter 1

Standing alone in the hallway of LME that contained the LoveME Section, Kuon was wondering whose brilliant idea it was to make Kyoko jealous. To make her think that he was even remotely interested in anyone but her. Now he was regretting every single scheming moment to the point of wanting to crawl in a dark space and die.

It wasn't that she hated him, she didn't. It seemed as though the little plan had broken something in her. Her eyes and expression went blank just after what could only be described as a look of extreme pain, then she just turned around and walked away. It kind of reminded him of when they were playing the Heel Siblings, except this time he felt like someone had shot a cannon at his chest and left a big gaping hole.

After he had watched her walk away from him and the stupid little female that had clung to him flirtatiously, he quickly shrugged said leech off and rapidly tried to follow. Initially he was only being friendly; however, when said female started flirting with him, he stupidly went along to get a reaction from Kyoko. Now that he thought of it, it was a phenomenally bad idea. Bad on his part for doing it, bad on Yashiro's part for going along with it and bad on Lory's part for even suggesting such a thing.

After searching the locker room and every room and hall of LME for her, he came up empty. She didn't have any dramas to film, her most recent had finished the prior week and Yashiro had told him that her modeling contracts were fulfilled until next month. He tried reaching her by phone and it was immediately sent to voice mail, as if she had seen his number and rejected it on the spot. This was the worst. How was he supposed to explain? How was he supposed to tell her it wasn't as it had appeared to be. Unlike when she was Setsuka, he had let her get away and he had a feeling it would be a very long time before he saw her in passing again.

Well, it was a direct vow she had made. Not that she was actually fulfilling it. She wasn't leaving for Shotaro, she was leaving to prevent herself from making the same mistake twice. Yayoi Fuwa had offered to take her back in to finish up high school in Kyoto and then stay as long as she needed until she made a decision on whether she wanted to go back to acting or, continue her education in another field. Kyoko was hoping that showing up on her doorstep wouldn't be too much of an inconvenience.

She spent most of her time on the train thinking over what had happened and the events that led up to this decision. She had finally decided on showing him, at least a little, that she did indeed love him; however, it all seemed to blow up in her face when she saw that little tart hang all over him and he allowed it, happily. She left. She went home, thought about where her heart was and how it made her feel to be tossed to the curb again, then decided to make this decision. She pulled out a piece of paper and drafted up her resignation/goodbye letter, thanking Takarada-san for trying to help her.

Early the next morning, she quietly entered his office, left her letter and removed all of her belongings from the LoveME Section. Finally, she neatly folded her LoveME uniforms and left them on the table along with an apology and her phone for her friends and Sawara-san. She decided that she would contact Moko-san and Chiori later with her new contact information and hope that they could forgive her for being such a weak person.

Taking that train alone had given her entirely too much time to think and thoughts took a lot out of her. She had spent a good portion of it sitting as close as possible to the window, looking out, hiding the pain and the tears streaming down her face. She sincerely hoped that once she reached her destination, she would be all cried out and Sho's parents wouldn't have to put up with her childishness, as she called it.

At 9am, several hours after Kyoko had gathered her things, left her letters and left the hallowed halls of LME, Lory Takarada, Takenori Sawara, Kanae Kotonami and Chiori Amamiya opened the little envelopes meant only for them. Lory was filled with anger and regret over what he had instigated in his attempt to get Kyoko to confess to Ren. Sawara-san was shocked that the girl that was filled with so much determination, decided to leave and toss a promising career aside. Kanae and Chiori were livid at the revelations that the letters contained. That man had basically thrown her together with Tsuruga during the Dangerous Mission, then not saying a single word when the same womanizing ass flaunted his meaningless relationships in front of Kyoko in the halls of LME.

According to Kyoko, Lory knew that she was in love with Ren the entire time. Kanae even believed at some point that Ren felt the same for Kyoko, at least until he started letting other women hang all over him in public. It was disgusting. From what Kyoko had told her about Fuwa, Kanae thought that the behavior of the two was quite similar. Were all men like that? Were all men dogs? She knew her own brothers weren't but that may have only been because they were her brothers that she didn't see that type of behavior. She and Chiori were disillusioned, angry and hurt for Kyoko's broken heart.

Over the weeks of her absence, LoveME requests would filter into the office for Kyoko and her friends would refuse and promptly send them back to Yashiro. With each request, the anger and resentment grew over losing their friend because of these two men that were obviously playing with and using Kyoko's heart. It all came to a head four weeks after her departure.

"Ah, Kotonami-san... I've been trying to reach Kyoko-chan for awhile. I have a few things I need to request of her and I haven't been able to find her." Yashiro commented as he caught the now #1 LoveME girl.

Kanae looked at him as if he had grown another head and snorted. Of course she knew where Kyoko was. The girl had called her the day after she arrived in Kyoto and got settled in. "That's because she isn't here genius. She left."

Yashiro's brow furrowed. "Left?"

"Yes... left. I doubt she'll be returning." She was starting to feel her anger bubble to the surface, so she picked up her bag and left the LoveME Office, slamming the door behind her, leaving a stunned manager behind.

"What the hell?" Yashiro whipped out his gloves and phone and quickly dialed Lory. He needed to get to the bottom of this and find out when she left, why and why he hadn't been informed. During his call he was only told to meet Lory in his office as soon as possible and that they had something very serious to discuss.

He was pacing back and forth in his office. He couldn't believe he had kept something like this under wraps for the past month. It was primarily from the fact that he had been using this time of her absence, to try and lure her back. The girl was very firm on her decision and the only one he had been able to talk to regarding her career situation was the woman that she was staying with.

He shook his head. That woman was fiercely protecting the girl. He wanted to kick himself for being the instigator of all of this. Although, he couldn't be blamed for it 100%. Yashiro and Ren had agreed to go with the plan to make her jealous in the first place. Granted that Ren didn't know how she felt about him and Yashiro had his suspicions, they didn't have to blindly follow him. They could have refused at any moment. How was he supposed to know that type of behavior was what brought her there in the first place? How was he supposed to know that she had been used by a womanizer that didn't value her from the start? She never told him, but she did tell Ren and Yukihito. They could have warned him. They didn't. How was he going to bring her back after this horrible slight against her?

He thought more on what he had discovered and regretting even forcing her to portray Setsuka Heel. He thought that perhaps he did even more damage with that than initially thought. From Fuwa-san's statement of not allowing another man to ever use and damage sweet Kyoko-chan like her son did ever again, obviously Kyoko had felt used and betrayed and it was their fault. He shook his head at the thought. There was no way he was ever going to be able to get her to come back on his own. Anything short of Ren telling her exactly what she meant to him and begging her forgiveness, was not going to work.

As he read over the letter the man had handed to him, he truly wanted to cry for the first time in a very long time. How had he allowed something like this to happen? Why didn't he see it clearly before? Now that he looked back on all of it, all of the signs were there. Why did he ever agree to the stupidity that had caused this recent tragedy in his life?

He was a failure. A failure as a human and a failure as a manager. He was there to protect his charges and he participated in causing more damage than he could have possibly imagined to both.

He looked up at Lory in horror at the revelation. "How are we supposed to tell Ren this?"

Lory shook his head. "I really don't know Yukihito-kun. I really never expected anything like this to happen. I truly thought she would reveal her feelings to him or, he would at least see them."

Yashiro's look hardened. "You actually knew that she loved him? And you suggested... No, demanded that he do this to her? Do you know the damage you have done? She sees him as nothing better than the last man she was mistreated by. How could you think of doing this? Why did I even agree with you on this!?" He ranted.

She was a little shocked. The exams she had taken in Kyoto for high school had seemed significantly easier than those in Tokyo. When the Superintendent called her in to speak to her, he had revealed that the courses she had been taking were far above the grade level that she had been placed in, she was stunned beyond words. He had pointed out her scores and corresponding scores of others graduating that semester. He informed her that she had the option of testing out. If she chose to do so, she would have her diploma in hand before her birthday at the end of the year. She agreed and happily took the study materials he had waiting for her, before she left. At least one thing was looking up.