Yeah, it's me again with another production of fiction for a different anime/manga: Skip Beat! So, I read the manga up to its recent chapter 180: Black Breath, and I noticed that in all of Kyoko's encounters there were no female characters involved in the music industry with exception to the girl Kyoko challenged in the beginning for the elegant heiress role. Shotaro, for the bastard that he is, and Vie Ghoul, who are some of the best characters of comedy in the manga, are the only few people involved in music in the entire series. It makes sense since the artist, Yoshiki Nakamura, focuses on the acting world and fashion mainly, but I thought it would be cool to get more musicians in L.M.E. This is how the idea of a ghost artist came to be. I hope you all enjoy another of my creations. Grab a pillow and blankey, some snacks, and have fun reading.

"One…two…one, two, three, and - "

The guitar sang for her as she guided her hand wordlessly across the strings. She held her weapon with a skilled grace that ghosted along the fret board with utter fierceness. She hadn't felt this sort of power in years. The sounds of screaming and whistles echoed in her ears like a distant memory. Waves moved in her closed eyes, emanating euphoria and nostalgia simultaneously, and fist pumping became another memory in her subconscious as she created movement in her imagination. Suddenly, she relived something she had abandoned and understood the magic of the plaudits bestowed upon her. Such a beautiful experience fleeted away from her. She stopped playing for the fifteenth time that night and sat down along her window ceil. She inhaled slowly and let out that anxiety in her shattered depths. She was nervous, but she wasn't nervous about her music. It was whether or not going back to music and the mainstream was the right thing to do. She wasn't supposed to return. She was supposed to be a ghost artist - someone who came to jam and change the music realm, but someone who was also a specter of melodies. A song couldn't be done without a shadow of her form. That's what she had hoped to accomplish. That dream, those plaudits, and that feeling were tarnished years ago. Could she honestly relive that moment in time?

"Guro-chan?"

An elderly man walked into a young woman's bedroom and stopped into the door. He knew why he didn't hear the girl playing her instrument. She was afraid of something. He came closer to her relaxing form and looked out of the window she was gazing through. A sigh passed between them and they remained silent as they watched cars go by and lights flash. Someone was being pulled over for speeding.

"Is the reason you're so quiet related to your music?" the man asked.

"No," Guro answered, looking at the police officer come out of his vehicle. "If that was my problem, I wouldn't be trying to write songs. Fact, I'd quit my job at the plant."

"What is bothering you then?" the man asked.

"I don't want anyone to ask me about my past," Guro answered, silencing herself and returning to her bouts of despondency. "Even though I don't want them to ask, I know they will eventually."

"Why are you returning to the industry as a solo act then?"

"I want to shatter their dreams with my strength," she hissed, grabbing her carton of cigarettes. "Make 'em suffer. Crush that hope they had. But I know I won't be able to fully succeed them if I just do session guitar. Even though I made decent money back then and was discovered there, I want to cross some boundaries. Tell 'em to fuck off. I can't keep livin' in my own shadow. There has to be another light to outshine the darkness in me."

"My precious Guro," the elder said, placing a gentle hand on the woman's shoulder. "This aggressive behavior will take you passed one boundary, I will admit that, but there are always more than one boundary and aggressiveness can't handle them all. The rest can't be solely based on your anger. It has to come from something else. Your determination has always been a light, but it isn't the light that outshines your shadows. It has always been something else - something even more powerful than ambition. In order to be filled fully in life, you have to be fulfilled in the moments that life bring you. Anger will show people who you are today. It won't show them who you are tomorrow, and it won't tell them who you were yesterday. You weren't angry yesterday, and there's no guarantee that you will be angry tomorrow. Today you are nervous."

"Why is it that you always know what to say to me?" Guro asks, smiling gently.

"Because I'm old," the elder joked. "And I know who you were once just as I know who you are today. It's tomorrow that I don't know about."

"Ne, papa?" Guro called gently. "Come with me tomorrow."

"Only if you promise not to let anger be your sword."

"I just wish it was, grandpapa," Guro whispered, voice cracking in silent anguish. "I wish it was…"

"Precious…" the elder whispered, embracing his granddaughter.

"Nakazawa!" Takenori Sawara shouted, waking the manager from his brief nap.

As if this day couldn't get any better. First, the president sent Kyoko Mogami to work with Ren Tsuruga on a film; now, the head of the singing department is taking afternoon naps when he's really not supposed to be.

"Aren't you supposed to be a trained professional?" Sawara asked, raising an annoyed eyebrow. "What if the president caught you taking snoozes when you have auditions to supervise today?"

"Let me see you handle a stupid goth group's vengeance on the planet!" Nakazawa argued, little tears developing in his baggy eyes.

He truly was tired of kids who couldn't take a simple no. Why did they have to take their anger out on the building of Akatoki Agency, L.M.E.? It made no sense. At least get pissed at him or the people who actually made it and learn about the company. The future of Japan is just in shambles. Nakazawa knew he had no room to complain, so he didn't bother to lament his disappointment in newer talents. He sat up straight with his professional mask on and spoke to Sawara, head of the Talent Department, as if he hadn't been sleeping at his desk and slobbering on the demo tapes.

"Well, it's over now," Nakazawa sighed. "What brings you here of all places?"

"One of my employees wanted to work with you on a demo tape. She said it was for a soundtrack for an upcoming movie, so I'm letting you know she's coming to terrorize you."

"Does it have to be today? I'm supposed to be meeting some people in another fifteen minutes."

"What's your schedule for tomorrow?"

"Tomorrow at 1:35 would be great to contact me. Just remind me ahead of time."

"Alright," Sawara accepts, nodding and smiling. "So, uh, who are you meeting in fifteen minutes?"

"Well, it's another artist, but I plan on signing her when she gets here," Nakazawa answers, shocking Sawara.

"Wha - ? Already? You've never done that before! You're known to be as harsh as the critics if not more ruthless."

"I was, but there was nothing truly negative about her performance. She had a wonderful voice, great instrumental backing, decent lyrics, and an interesting poetry. If she makes an even bigger impression for me and the president today, you'll be able to meet her soon, too. President Takarada was interested in hearing from her. I have a contract ready for everyone to sign should she be accepted. I'm rooting for her."

"I've never heard you support someone so steadfastly. What brought this on?"

"I should let you listen to her demo. I've heard it several times as if it were a collection of albums. I was going to try to dig up some background history on her today, but it may have to wait 'til tomorrow evening. I'd love to see how she developed her skills."

"What's the girl's name?"

Nakazawa shuffles through demo tapes, finding the one he admired the most, and said, "Hiyashinsu Guro. Goes by the name of Shioreta. On her application, she wrote her first album during middle school and has written a new one in light of her previous recordings. She hasn't had a company to support her work. I think she has potential, though. I hope the president accepts her."

"I hope so, too," Sawara says. "I'd hate to see a favorite be put out."

Then again, I'd hate to see him have to handle another Mogami Kyoko-chan… Sawara thought, blue despair lines dressing his crown. No one deserves to suffer that sort of rage…

Long ago, God created a box…a box with many, many locks…so that it could not be opened by anyone else but themselves. Everyone has this sealed box from God, and then they are born into the world. Only the owner of the box can open the locks, and the box only opens once because once the key undoes the locks…it becomes irreplaceable. One woman is about to challenge that logic with her own crafted skeleton key. Her box was opened once and locked away the next, but she's aiming to find the key to reopen heaven's treasure. What will become of that person…

"Excuse me?"

"Eh?" the secretary responded, shivering.

An elder man and a young woman were before her, but the young woman looked ghastly. She wore a wide-brimmed red hat, a black shredded and fitting hoodie, a black leather bomber jacket, black fingerless gloves, and red open-toe booties. Her red guitar case was strapped to her back like an army man's rifle. Her long black hair cascaded down her face in wisps of raven's feathers. She looked a guardian of hell escorting one of her victims! The elder man was all smiles, fully confident in the woman with him.

"I have an appointment with Nakazawa-san for 2:30. I'm checking in."

"Eh?" the secretary chirped, looking down at her record booklet. Just as the crypt keeper said, an appointment with Nakazawa at 2:30 was registered. The woman read the name, trembling a bit, "Hi-Hiya-Hiyashinsu Goru?"

"Yeah, that's me," Goru answered, smiling eerily.

If she defies God and opens heaven's treasure with a skeleton key to tap into her gifts…?

The freaked secretary gulped, pushed the red button on the phone directory, and said, "Nakazawa-san, a Hiyashinsu Goru is here to see you for her two o'clock appointment. She's at the front desk with her parent-guardian checking in. Where would you like to send her…? All right, thank you… Nakazawa-san says he will meet you at the lounge area. He'll be downstairs in about ten minutes."

"Thank you for your kindness," Goru said, bowing quite elegantly with her grandfather.