Author's Note:
Skip Beat! and its characters belong to the creator Nakamura Yoshiki. Skip Beat! is serialised in 'Hana to Yume' magazine (Hakusensha) and licensed in English by 'Shojo Beat' (VIZ Media, LLC).
The work below is written in the spirit of fan appreciation.
UK English has been used throughout. The story was started after chapter 229 was released.
This story was written for the 2015 Skip Beat! Secret Santa challenge on Tumblr and was written for mimagfan
The environment at LME was subdued when Kyouko arrived. No wonder: ever since late the night before, the entire Japanese entertainment industry had been under a cloud of doubt, embarrassment and recriminations. A team of hackers had hacked into celebrities' phones and, just like the year before in America, released many private emails, photos and videos on their website. In a matter of minutes, the hacked material had burst all over social media.
Kyouko sighed. She felt so, so sorry for everyone involved, particularly the poor actresses whose nude photos were proliferating all over the internet. She stopped half-way down a hall and kicked a wall. "Why is it always women who bear the brunt of stuff like this? It's not fair!" As far as Kyouko was concerned, those women had done nothing wrong. In most cases they had taken those pictures to send to their husbands or boyfriends. Kyouko could never see herself doing such a thing, but she would never judge anyone else for doing something like that in private with someone they trusted. "Phone hackers are the scum of the Earth," she said as a dark cloud brewed around her.
As she walked, a few other people in the halls gave her odd looks. She thought perhaps her dark cloud of annoyance was manifesting too strongly and worrying people, so she did her best to return to a calm state. She'd very nearly returned to normal by the time she reached the LoveMe room.
Mouko-san and Amamiya-san were already in the room. They were huddled together at a computer, staring at the screen with wide eyes. They both looked up at her in surprise as she entered.
"Good morning, Mouko-san, Amamiya-san," she said as she opened her locker and deposited her handbag. She decided she would wait to glomp Mouko-san until she wasn't sitting at the computer anymore, just in case her enthusiasm broke said computer.
"Are you OK, Kyouko?" asked Mouko-san.
"Yes, why wouldn't I be?"
Mouko-san frowned. "Because of the hacking stuff."
"Isn't it awful?" cried Kyouko, her anger re-inflamed. "I feel so sorry for those people."
"Don't you know?" asked Amamiya-san.
"Know what?"
Amamiya-san stood and offered her seat at the computer to Kyouko. "You are one of those people, Kyouko-san."
Kyouko snorted. "That's a good joke, Amamiya-san. The comedy show is rubbing off on you. I've never taken a nude selfie in my entire life. I don't take any pictures of myself at all!" She snorted again.
"It's not a nude, Kyouko," said Mouko-san. "Just look."
Kyouko took a seat at the computer and then gasped. On the screen were two cellphone pictures, side by side. One was her secret treasure, the picture she had taken of Tsuruga-san sleeping on the sheep pillow. The other one was a picture of her own sleeping face. Tsuruga-san had clearly taken it — in the picture she was draped over the end of the bed in his spare room. She had fallen asleep for a short while the night she had asked him to teach her how to walk like a model. It seemed he'd taken the opportunity to take a picture.
Her cheeks first flushed, then blanched as she read the text below the two pictures.
— LME actors Tsuruga Ren (21) and Kyouko (only 17!) have pictures of each other sleeping on their phones. What does this mean? I think we can all agree that there's a scandalous conclusion to be made here. So what do you think? Is Japan's most eligible bachelor having an affair with an underage girl who is still in high school? I'll let you be the judge. —
"No way. No way! That's not true!"
"Is that picture really from your phone?" asked Amamiya-san.
"Yes, but it doesn't mean what they suggest it means. I took that picture here, in this room. He was asleep on the sofa over there!"
As she read and re-read the text, Kyouko dimly heard the LoveMe section phone ring and Mouko-san take the call. A moment after finishing the call, Mouko-san shook her shoulder.
"Kyouko, you have to go down to the parking lot. A driver is going to take you to the Takarada mansion for an emergency meeting about this." She gestured at the screen.
"OK," said Kyouko in a daze.
Mouko-san escorted her down to the parking lot. As they went, Kyouko again saw people staring at her as she passed. She now knew what those stares meant.
"Mogami-sama has arrived," announced President Takarada's assistant.
"Mogami-kun, have a seat."
Kyouko bowed to the people in the president's private office: the president, Tsuruga-san, Yashiro-san, and a middle-aged woman Kyouko didn't know. The woman wore a neat business suit and had a briefcase across her knees.
"Good morning," said Kyouko as she straightened from her bow. Before taking a seat in a free armchair, she bowed a second time to the unknown woman.
"Mogami-kun, this is Hibiki-san, LME's top public relations officer," said the president.
"Nice to meet you," said Kyouko.
"Likewise."
When she had taken a seat, the assistant served her a cup of tea. Kyouko immediately took a sip, procrastinating meeting Tsuruga-san's gaze.
"Well, then, let's get to business," said the president. "I'm sure you all know why you're here. Hibiki-san?"
Hibiki-san opened her briefcase and presented a print-out of the webpage Kyouko had seen earlier. Kyouko flushed as she remembered the wording of the webpage. She couldn't keep from looking at Tsuruga-san. He sat looking at the paper in Hibiki-san's hand. Maybe it was just the morning light, but it looked almost like there was a light flush on his cheeks too.
"We need to figure out how to deal with this," said Hibiki-san. "What damage control can we do? How do we spin this?" She pinned first Tsuruga-san then Kyouko with an intense gaze. "But first of all, you two need to tell me about the exact nature of your relationship, and what you've been up to. I won't judge, and I'll keep whatever you say secret, but I need to know what other potential problems we have waiting in the wings. Do you want the president and Yashiro-san to leave while we have this conversation?"
"I'll leave that decision to Mogami-san," said Tsuruga-san. "I don't mind either way because between them, they know pretty much everything anyway."
Kyouko gave her employer and Yashiro-san apologetic looks. "Actually, I would feel more comfortable with fewer people in the room. Would that be OK?"
Yashiro-san's eyes bulged and the president raised his eyebrows.
"Not because what we have to say is all that bad!" she clarified in a hurry. "It's just that I'm finding this whole thing really, really embarrassing!" By the intense heat in her face, she was sure they could all see how embarrassed she was.
"OK, Mogami-kun," said the president. "Call us back in when you want to move on to the plan of attack."
"Before you go," said Tsuruga-san, "I don't think we can have this conversation without discussing the details of that project. May we tell Hibiki-san about all of that?"
"Yes, go ahead," said the president. "She'll have to know. Come on, Yashiro-kun."
The two men left, leaving the two young actors and the PR officer to their conversation.
"Project?" asked Hibiki-san. "Wait, don't tell me yet. We'll get to that part in time." she cleared her throat. "My apologies, but my questions are going to have to be blunt. I'm not going to be able to avoid embarrassing you. But I'd like to reiterate that I'm not here to judge, and everything you say will be kept confidential. I won't even take any notes, so don't worry about anything being seen by outside eyes. Please be fully, 100% honest with me. Don't hold a single thing back, OK?"
"Understood," said Tsuruga-san.
Kyouko swallowed heavily. Please, please, please, Hibiki-san, she begged silently. Don't ask any questions that would make me admit my feelings! "Understood," she said, having no choice but to comply.
Hibiki-san placed her briefcase on a coffee table and clasped her hands together. "First things first: are you two in a sexual relationship?"
"No, of course not!" cried Kyouko. She covered her flaming cheeks with her hands.
"As Mogami-san says, no, we aren't," said Tsuruga-san. His cheeks looked a little pinker than before. He really was blushing!
"Have you ever had sex?"
"No, never," Tsuruga-san answered.
"Never," added Kyouko.
Hibiki-san breathed a sigh of relief. "That makes everything a lot easier. Interventions like this are always easier when there is no crime to cover up."
Tsuruga-san sighed too and hung his head. "I'm sorry that I worried everyone about that." He smiled at Kyouko, and she gave him a shy smile in return. "I told Mogami-san that I would never do anything to make her cry, but I never thought to assure other people of the same. I can imagine that a lot of people are worried about my conduct today."
"If they're worried, then they obviously don't know you," said Kyouko. "You're too professional to jeopardise your career that way."
"Thank you for your vote of confidence. It's a nice change from your 'conman!' accusations."
Kyouko frowned at him. "I only accuse you of being a conman when you're acting like one."
"Well, the two of you clearly have good rapport," said Hibiki-san. "Pardon me while I ask a few questions to figure out just how close you are. Do you see each other outside of work?"
"Tsuruga-sempai sometimes gives me rides to or from work if we are going in the same direction."
Tsuruga-san shifted in his seat. "Also, we should admit that Mogami-san has visited my apartment a few times."
Hibiki-san raised her eyebrows. "With a group?"
Kyouko blushed. "Um, no."
"You mean, the two of you have been alone together in Tsuruga-san's apartment? More than once?
They both nodded.
"What for? What do you do?"
"Mogami-san has cooked for me a few times. And she helped me with an acting exercise when I was having trouble finding a character."
"I've also been to his apartment when I needed help with a role. Oh, and the first time was when he had a bad cold. Actually, he never invited me in; I shamelessly invited myself in."
"What she fails to mention," Tsuruga-san elaborated, "is that I was unconscious at the time and needed her help."
"So, you'd say that you're friends? That's the best description of your relationship?"
"No, no, we're not friends!" cried Kyouko.
"Why not?" he asked.
Kyouko sat straighter in her seat. "Because you're my respected sempai. I couldn't make any assumptions."
He reached over and took her hand. "I think of you as my friend. If I didn't before, I couldn't have come through the Heel sibling act without beginning to think of you as a friend. You helped me so much." He dropped her hand and looked at Hibiki-san. "I at l least think of this as a friendship."
Kyouko blushed and looked at her knees.
"Well, OK, I'm getting the picture here. Your relationship is still in flux and you haven't yet decided exactly what you are or where you're going. That's not so unusual for people your age. But how about the physical side of things? Anything you need to tell me? Have you kissed or anything like that?"
Kyouko touched her cheek, remembering Tsuruga-san's lips there. "Does on the cheek count?"
"Well, that's rather tame," said Hibiki-san. "It's not very Japanese, but it's not that uncommon among entertainer types like yourselves. I don't think it's anything to particularly be worried about."
"And ... other body parts?" Tsuruga-san asked.
Kyouko looked at him in surprise. What did he mean? But she saw he was touching the side of his neck. "Tsuruga-san! That absolutely doesn't count! That was acting!"
"Yeah, but, when it comes out that was us, it may be a problem. You've realised that, I'm sure. Plus, that mark was there for days. A lot of people saw me wearing a scarf, which isn't normal for me."
Kyouko had realised trouble was looming on the horizon. She'd had a mini freak-out about it at the time, and had needed him to comfort her. Also, scarf? Then she remembered the scarf he had been wearing the day the president had called them in to his office. She hadn't noticed at the time because she had been so afraid that the president was about to tell Tsuruga-san about her feelings, but now that she reflected on it, of course he had been wearing a scarf that day to hide the mark, which would have still been there. How embarrassing! Imagine if the president and Yashiro-san had seen it!
"I'm not following you," said Hibiki-san. "What act are you talking about?"
"Ah, it's the project we mentioned earlier." Tsuruga-san briefly outlined the Tragic Marker shoot, his role as Cain Heel, and Kyouko's involvement with the project.
"The same hotel room?" Hibiki-san asked at the end of the story. Her neutral expression entirely slipped. The best word Kyouko could think of to describe her expression was 'aghast'. "The president organised all of that? He made you do that? That's madness!"
"Well, he isn't known for his level-headedness, is he?" said Tsuruga-san. He had crossed his arms and a frown creased his brow.
"It's my fault for falling for his machinations yet again," said Kyouko.
"It's not your fault," said both of the others at the same time.
Hibiki-san sighed. "I guess this is another PR problem that has been lurking on the horizon for a while and will inevitably have to be dealt with in time."
"Yes," said Tsuruga-san. "Hopefully after the movie comes out. And hopefully Mogami-san's name is never associated with the project. It will be easier on her that way." He grinned at her. "She made an impression on the director. If he remembers her and hires her for a project in the future, that will be recognition enough, right?
"Right!" said Kyouko. "I enjoyed playing Setsuka Heel, but it would probably be a good thing if few people ever know I was the actress who played her."
"I'm sorry to say that it's more likely that it will come out," said Hibiki-san. "Other cast and crew members will get curious about the mysterious girl. They'll wonder if she was Tsuruga-san's real sister, or his girlfriend, or what. Then someone will sell the story to the press because they need the money and because they are curious and look forward to the result of the investigative reporting. It usually happens that way. Don't worry: I'll help you with that when the time comes. But first, let's deal with today's issue." She straightened in her chair and began counting on her fingers. "No sex, but yes friendship. Mogami-san has been to Tsuruga-san's apartment before. You've shared a kiss on the cheek as yourselves, and have been a bit more intimate while acting roles — by your talk of scarves I assume you mean a love bite. Anything else I need to know?"
"We've hugged," said Tsuruga-san. "When she's been upset and crying. Oh, and twice while I had the bad cold and one other time Mogami-san has stayed in my spare room rather than go home, for practicality's sake."
"Well, considering you apparently shared a hotel room for weeks, I suppose that must not seem like such a big deal to you. I have to say, though, that it is a potential problem. No matter if she's in the spare room and not your room, if a paparazzi journalist sees her leaving your apartment building in the morning, there's basically no way we could ever convince people you weren't sleeping together. You understand, right? Please don't do that again. Not unless there's a diamond on her finger."
"A diamond?" asked Kyouko. Then, "Oh!" as she realised the woman meant an engagement ring. Kyouko yet again covered her flaming cheeks with her hands. She also hunched over to hide her face. "As if!" she said.
"What, you'd turn me down, then?" asked Tsuruga-san.
She sat bolt-upright again. "Don't joke about things like that, Tsuruga-san!"
"Please focus, you two. Is there anything else I should know?"
"Not that I can remember," said Tsuruga-san.
"No," said Kyouko. She didn't think that Hibiki-san needed to know about her feelings, and she surely wasn't going to mention them in front of Tsuruga-san himself!
"Well, then, I'll go and get the president. I'll take my time to give the two of you a few minutes to talk, in case you need to." Hibiki-san then left the office.
Kyouko stood as well. "I'll pour us both another cup of tea," she said as she tried to escape the meeting area. Her progress was halted by Tsuruga-san's hand on her wrist.
"Are you OK?" he asked.
Kyouko took a moment to meet his gaze. "Uh, pretty much dying of embarrassment, but otherwise I'm fine, so please don't worry. I'm more worried about you. What will the rumours do to your reputation?"
He let go of her wrist. "You don't need to worry about that. Hibiki-san will help us convince Japan that those photos are more innocent than the webpage suggested. Anyway, your reputation is far more at stake than mine, because even this day in age the media still punishes women more than men for the same transgressions. Anything less than sex with an under-aged partner or drug use and my reputation can withstand it easily enough. I don't think anyone would seriously have a problem with me hanging out with a cute kouhai."
"Your fans would have a problem with you hanging out with a female kouhai. That's the dream you sell: that you're keeping yourself for them."
"That's a selfish dream. All actors deserve to forge real, meaningful relationships with people they actually know." His intense gaze held her eyes captive.
"Maybe it's selfish, but it's the idol fandom way. Don't worry, though. Your fans will still love you. It's me they'll hate."
Tsuruga-san rubbed the bridge of his nose. "I don't want them to hate you. I want them to accept you."
Kyouko gave a small huff of laughter. "They don't need to. You and I will never have fandoms that overlap all that much."
"That's not what I meant," he said. He opened his mouth as if to say more, but the door opened and the others filed back into the office.
Having forgotten the tea, Kyouko sat back in her seat.
"Are you ready to continue the meeting?" asked the president.
Kyouko nodded.
"Yes, let's get this over with," said Tsuruga-san. "I'm sure you all have plenty of other things to do today."
They all returned to their seats.
"Next question," said Hibiki-san. "Where were the respective pictures taken and under what circumstances?"
They all looked at Tsuruga-san first.
He cleared his throat and described the evening that she had ambushed him at his building and asked him to teach her how to walk like a model. "By the time we were done with the lesson," he finished, "it was so late that I told her to stay over in the spare room. I got some sleep while she continued to work on the necklace she wanted to make for the role. Then Yashiro-san came by to start the work day, and when we went into the spare room to get Mogami-san, we found that she'd fallen asleep on the floor with her head on the bed. I couldn't resist taking a picture before waking her up and giving her a ride to work."
"And the other picture?"
"Ah, um," said Kyouko. "One day Yashiro-san said Tsuruga-san was taking a break in the LoveMe room. We went there and found he'd fallen asleep on the sofa. Yashiro-san went to get tea, and I, ah, took a picture." Kyouko blushed again. She looked down at her teacup, afraid of finding out from their facial expressions what the others thought of her taking a liberty like that.
Hibiki-san was quiet for a long moment. "We have a bit of a problem here. I was going to suggest that you do a press conference and assure everyone that the photos don't mean what the website suggests. But in such a press conference, it is normal for the more senior party to do the majority of the explaining. In this situation, if we do that then Tsuruga-san is either going to have to admit the picture was taken in his apartment, which will not help at all, or he is going to have to lie. If he gets caught in a lie, it will also not be helpful. We can't have Mogami-san lead such a press conference because people will wonder why."
"So what do you suggest?" asked the president.
"This is going to be a big responsibility for her, but we have to get Mogami-san to deal with this."
"Me?"
"Yes, you. The reason being that your photo was taken in perfectly understandable circumstances that are not the least bit scandalous. What we need you to do is explain to the public how and where you took the picture, and then say something like, 'I had no idea until recently that Tsuruga-san had taken a similar picture.' The implication is that he took the picture of you in a similar setting, perhaps also at LME. We then hope that no one asks specifically, 'Where did he take the picture of you?' If they do, you'll have no choice but to say, 'I'm not really sure.' Thank goodness there's not really any background showing in his picture, just a bit of fabric I'm assuming is a duvet cover. Deflecting the question will send people Tsuruga-san's way, and he'll have to lie, but fingers crossed it won't come to that."
"When do you suggest Mogami-kun do this?" asked the president.
"Whenever she is next scheduled for an interview or variety show appearance."
"You don't recommend a specific appearance, then?"
"No, I think we have both of them go the 'no comment' route until Mogami-san is specifically asked. That will give the impression of 'This is no big deal, we weren't particularly worried about it.' The problem will be controlled naturally, if all goes to plan."
"What do you think, Ren?" asked the president.
Tsuruga-san rubbed the area between his eyes with his fingers. "I feel awful about this. It's all my fault, but Mogami-san is the one who has to fix it? I want to take responsibility for my mess-ups."
"I know you do, Ren. I'd think less of you if you didn't. But this is the situation we're in."
Kyouko didn't like seeing her sempai so worried. "It's OK, Tsuruga-san. I can do this. You've helped me out with a lot of things. I can help with this. Plus, I don't think it's all your fault. I was the one who selfishly imposed upon you that night."
He met her gaze, a complicated look in his eyes: one part embarrassment, and one part she wasn't sure what. "You're conveniently forgetting that you've helped me with an awful lot of things too, Mogami-san. If anyone is in debt, I'm in yours."
"That's OK, Ren," said Yashiro-san. "You can always make it up to her one day with a grand gesture." He grinned widely at his charge.
Tsuruga-san gave his manager a sharp look. "Anyway, I'm not quite comfortable with this, but I don't see that there's a choice here."
"Well, unless there's any objection, I think this will be our plan of attack," said Hibiki-san. "Mogami-san, when are you next scheduled for a public appearance?"
"Ah, I'm appearing with the other main Box-R cast members on a variety show tomorrow night; it will be filmed tomorrow morning."
"Well, then, how about we let the others go, and I'll give you a one-on-one session where you can practice answering the questions in various interview styles and starting from various entry points into the conversation?"
"OK."
They all stood and bowed to one another.
"Remember: just say 'no comment' until Mogami-san has explained the situation," Hibiki-san said to Tsuruga-san when he was on his way out of the office.
As he left, Tsuruga-san gave Kyouko an encouraging smile.
An hour and a half later, Kyouko bade Hibiki-san farewell and left the small room in which she had been working on her question answering technique. The older woman had given her encouraging parting words and told her that she would be on hand the next day when she was at the variety show.
Kyouko walked down the hall towards the president's office. She wanted to say goodbye to her employer before leaving and apologise again for all the fuss.
"Onee-san!" Maria-chan ran down the hallway towards her.
"Maria-chan!" When the little girl stopped in front of her, Kyouko reached out and ruffled her hair. "Sorry I didn't come to say hello. I've been busy at a meeting."
"I know," said Maria-chan. "Don't worry, I understand. I told Grandfather I'd borrow you after your meeting, and that I'd say goodbye to you for him. He had to go to LME headquarters, but he said you could stay here a while. Come on, I want to show you something before you go."
Maria-chan took Kyouko by the wrist and led her up to the second floor and along a hallway. On the way, a maid bowed to Maria-chan.
"Here: make yourself at home."
Kyouko stepped into Maria-chan's room. It was filled with lovely furniture, expensive curtains, giant soft toys and a canopied bed. The decor was something between a fairy tale and Halloween — all pinks and blacks.
"Your room is so pretty and so you." If anything, Kyouko was even more impressed than the time she had seen Maria-chan's room while organising the Happy Grateful Party. "Is that stuffed giraffe new?"
"Yep. It was a prop in one of Grandfather's delusions, but I kept it after he moved onto another theme. Take a seat." She pointed to a table and chairs.
Maria-chan sat opposite her, a large red folder in her arms. A moment later, a maid entered and placed a tea tray on the table between them, bobbed a curtsy, and left so quickly that Kyouko hadn't had a chance to thank her. The tray held two porcelain teacups, a matching teapot and a plate of mini cakes.
Kyouko smiled a true happy smile as Maria-chan poured her a cup of tea.
"I saw those cellphone pictures on the internet," said Maria-chan.
Kyouko blanched. "It's not what it looks like!" she hastened to tell the little girl. "Those hackers just made up a story around those pictures, but it's all lies." She knew how much Maria-chan liked Tsuruga-san and how she chased off women who showed an interest in him. She didn't want to be one of the women she chased off.
"I know that," said Maria-chan. "Don't worry. I don't think you and Ren-sama would be able to hide it from me if you were dating. Plus, you know he's mine."
Kyouko held her face steady. She didn't want Maria-chan to know that she didn't think Tsuruga-san was waiting for Maria-chan to reach adulthood like the little girl believed. The girl Tsuruga-san likes is only 4 years younger than him, not 12.
Kyouko sighed and idly nibbled at one of the cakes. "The whole thing is so embarrassing, Maria-chan. I don't know how I'm going to look people who believe the rumour in the eye."
"The PR lady has a plan of how to deal with it, though, right? That's why you met with her."
"Yes, but even so, it's still mortifying." Wanting to distract herself, Kyouko eyed the red folder now resting on Maria-chan's side of the table. "What's that?" she asked.
"This is why I asked you here. You see, I was thinking: if I had a special picture of Ren-sama, I would want to keep that picture to myself. And him sleeping on a pillow like that is surely a special picture!"
Kyouko blushed. Oh, how she regretted giving him that pillow for his birthday!
"The folder has something to do with pillows?"
Maria-chan gave her an odd look. "Why would I have a folder about pillows? No, I was thinking that if it was me, I would be really upset that thousands of other people had seen a picture I wanted to keep to myself."
Kyouko flopped onto the table, landing a bit to the side to avoid her teacup. She hadn't even had a chance to think of it from that point of view. The photo wasn't her secret treasure anymore!
"Ugh, and I likely won't ever have a chance to take a picture of him like that again." She looked up and caught a faint shadow of pain in Maria-chan's eyes. Kyouko sat bolt upright and blushed. "I mean, you know, a silly picture of my sempai. Not, not ..."
Maria-chan patted Kyouko's hand. "It's OK. When it's Ren-sama, people can't help but be fascinated. So long as you keep your hands off and don't try to seduce him, it's fine."
"As if I would ever!" Kyouko nearly melted into the tablecloth.
"Anyway," said Maria-chan as she pushed the folder over to Kyouko's side of the table. "I hope you appreciate this, because this is Volume 1 of my very special Ren-sama photo collection."
Kyouko blinked and then opened the photo album to the first page. It held four pictures of Tsuruga-san smiling for the camera. He wore different clothes in each of the pictures, more casual clothes than Kyouko usually saw him in, but he was posed similarly in each picture and they all appeared to have been taken in the Takarada mansion.
"His face looks softer and rounder than I'm used to. How old was he in these pictures?"
"In all of the photos in that album he's 16 or 17 years old."
"My age or younger!" Kyouko gaped and then began flicking through the album. While he looked younger than he did now, he didn't look that young. Even at 16, Tsuruga-san had been very mature in appearance. Somehow the rounder chin and cheeks made him even more devastating: both handsome and cute. He'd clearly already perfected his gentlemanly smile at that age, though. She couldn't find a single true smile in the entire album.
Sometimes reflective surfaces in the pictures indicated, by a flash of gaudy fabric or a glimpse of a moustache, that the one taking the photos was the president. In a couple of the earlier pictures the light had caught his eyes oddly, making them look green. Perhaps there was a stained glass window somewhere in the house with green panels.
"All of these pictures were taken here," she observed.
Maria-chan smiled fondly down at the album. "Yes. He lived here when he first came to Tokyo, and then moved out into his own apartment on his 18th birthday."
"Really? I didn't know that." Kyouko filed that titbit away in the 'Mysterious Tsuruga Ren jigsaw puzzle' in the back of her brain.
"Oh! Don't tell him I said that," gasped Maria-chan. "I don't think he wants people knowing."
"OK, I won't." She continued to flick through the album. She smiled at a picture of him holding a tiny toddler-age Maria-chan in his arms, and giggled at a picture of him with plastic tiara on his head. The album was clearly not just a 'Ren-sama' album. It was a 'Ren and Maria' album.
"Thank you for showing me this, Maria-chan. It looks like you have some lovely memories collected here."
"I'm not just showing you, Onee-san."
"Huh?"
"Pick a photo and take it."
Kyouko looked up at Maria in shock. "Oh, I couldn't."
"Yes, you can. I hope this demonstrates to you how much I value you, Onee-san, because the hard drive that those photos were stored on died. I'm going to have them scanned into a computer again, but I haven't done it yet. Whichever photo you take will be your treasure and yours alone. One that hackers can't steal."
Tears pricked at Kyouko's eyes. "Oh, Maria-chan. You're so kind!"
Kyouko leafed through the album again, now trying to pick out the picture she wanted to take. She couldn't bring herself to take any of the ones that had anything to do with Maria-chan, as cute as those pictures were. They were Maria-chan's treasures, not hers. She also wasn't interested in any of the gentleman smile pictures. That smile had too many negative associations for her.
Kyouko paused on a photo towards the back of the album. It showed Tsuruga-san sitting cross-legged on a sofa. He looked lost in thought, and as if he hadn't noticed someone was taking his picture. There was a dark, moody look in his eyes and a frown marred his brow.
"This one," she said.
Maria-chan looked where she was pointing. "Onee-san, don't just pick the worst one, the one that would be easiest for me to part with. Pick the one you want."
"But I want this one, Maria-chan. I really do."
Maria-can raised an eyebrow. "Why? I don't like that grumpy look on his face. I only included it because of the way the light caught in his hair."
"There's just something about it." She didn't want to explain to Maria-chan the things she had learned about Tsuruga-san during the Heel sibling act. She didn't think he wanted people to know about his darker sides.
"Are you absolutely sure? You don't want a picture of him smiling?"
"Yes, I'm absolutely sure. It's that one."
Maria-chan removed the picture from the album and handed it to Kyouko, who took her diary out of her handbag and safely stored the photo between its pages.
"Thank you, Maria-chan. I'll keep it safe."
That evening, Kyouko sat in her room looking at her new picture of Tsuruga-san. She grinned. Not a single other person in Japan would have pictures of him quite like this, excepting his parents. If he had any. She frowned. She didn't want to think of him as an orphan, but it was true that he had never mentioned any family to her. She hoped he had people who loved him and who were proud of him.
But that expression on his face in the photo, and the one she had seen on his face several times during the Heel sibling act: he had suffered some trauma in the past, and Kyouko even had a few guesses about what kind of trauma. From what she had learned that day, Lory Takarada had clearly been one who helped him get over that trauma, but did he have others who had helped him?
Had she helped him?
She held the photo up and tried to read the emotions on his face: broody displeasure, annoyance, and she thought self-loathing. He looked like someone who had let himself down.
She hadn't dared let Maria-chan know the ultimate reason she had wanted that particular picture: that she thought it was the only one in the album that had showed the true feelings he had felt at that point in his life. In all the other pictures he had been wearing a mask.
Kyouko sighed and then went to her bookshelf and took down an album of her own. When the Fuwas had visited Tokyo after Hanami season, they had brought with them an album of childhood pictures for her to keep. They'd unfortunately added quite a few pictures of her and Shoutarou together — she had put post-it notes over all the places his face appeared. When his face no longer angered her she could take the post-it notes off, but for now she wanted to pretend the album was of just herself.
She looked through the pictures. Several years after leaving Kyoto she could recognise what she hadn't known about herself back then: in almost all of the pictures she was wearing a mask that hid her true feelings. She wanted to find a picture that showed the true state of her heart at the time, but the loneliness that had tormented her didn't show in any of the pictures. The most honest picture she could find was one of her practicing the katsuramuki technique.
Instead, Kyouko pulled a photo of herself standing in the ryoukan's garden out of the album. She stood straight in the photo, her hands folded in front of her waist and a polite smile on her lips. Her dark hair brushed the collar of her Jr High uniform. The picture had been taken mere days before she and Shoutarou had left for Tokyo.
She put aside the photo then sat at the kotatsu with a pad of paper and wrote a note:
To Tsuruga Ren
I hope this letter finds you well. Once again, I'm sorry for precipitating the current situation with my ill-advised visit to your apartment for acting advice that time.
Did you know that Maria-chan has a whole album of pictures of you when you were 16 and 17 years old? Anyway, she gave me a photo out of the album to replace the one that was hacked. I didn't think it was fair for you to be unaware that I had such a picture, or for you to be without a similar picture. Please find enclosed a picture of myself from before I came to Tokyo. It was taken on the day of my Jr High graduation when I was 15 years old. I tried to find a picture of myself wearing a similar honest expression as the one you have on your face in the photo Maria-chan gave me, but I could not find a decent one, so here is a photo of me wearing the mask that I used to wear before the scales fell from my eyes and I began living for myself.
If you have no wish to own a photo of me, please feel free to dispose of this photograph at your convenience.
Your kouhai,
Mogami Kyouko
She then put the note and the photo in an envelope.
Meeting the other Box-R girls before the show had been a very embarrassing experience. They'd all seen the photos and heard the gossip, and wanted to know if it was true that she was sleeping with Tsuruga-san.
"No way! It's entirely impossible," she had cried. The other girls had then nodded as if that was the answer they had expected. Sudou-san in particular looked relieved. Thankfully Hibiki-san had arrived then, and so Kyouko had hastily retreated with the excuse of needing to talk to the PR manager.
Now Kyouko sat alongside the other Box-R girls on a long sofa, baking under the studio lights and smiling politely at Yuu-chan, the variety show host. After the ad break, they would be helping out with a phone-in competition, holding up cards displaying correct answers. Now they were being interviewed and the studio audience seemed to be enjoying their answers.
"After the poor reviews of the first episode, it must be very satisfying to see Box-R gain a cult audience and increasingly, week by week, critical acclaim. Last week's episode has been described by many as "Surprisingly complex" and "Intense." What do you think of the turn-about?"
"We're all really happy," said Marumi-san. She gave the audience her sweetest smile.
"I think we all knew that the show would find success in its own time," added Kyouko. "The show had a slow start by necessity, but that slow start set the scene perfectly for the tense build-up of suspense the viewers now have a chance to see."
"That's a very mature opinion, Kyouko-san," said Yuu-chan. "Now, I'd like to move on to more personal topics. This question is for Kyouko-san: we've all seen the leaked cellphone pictures. If there's anyone out there in the audience who is not sure what I'm talking about, the recent phone hacking scandal revealed that Kyouko-san here and actor Tsuruga Ren-san have pictures of each other sleeping on their phones, and the rumour is that there is some special relationship between them. Kyouko-san, neither you nor Tsuruga-san have released any statements regarding the rumour. Is there anything you would like to tell us this evening? Is the rumour true?"
Kyouko's heart thudded in her chest as she blushed deeply. "I was so embarrassed when that rumour started spreading," she said. "It's not true, of course."
Yuu-chan looked at first relieved then disappointed. She recovered quickly, and said, "How did you end up with that photo on your phone, then? It can't have been easy to get a picture like that in an innocent way. It is from your phone, isn't it?"
"It is from my phone," she said without hesitation. "One day at LME I happened to catch Tsuruga-sempai asleep on a sofa in my section area. I couldn't help but take a picture. You would have done the same, right?" Kyouko looked out at the studio audience and saw many a nodding female head. Of course they would.
"I know the sofa you mean," added Amamiya-san. "It's really comfy, isn't it? I nearly nodded off there myself once when I was reading a script."
Kyouko nodded. "I think all of us who use that room have been in that situation."
"Just so you know, if I ever catch you sleeping on that sofa, I'll be taking a picture of you, too."
Kyouko's relief at having her friend backing her up made her laugh. "Same to you."
"Ah, suddenly it all becomes clear," said Yuu-chan. "There's an LME camera war going on, and those photos were just a part of that war!"
"Well, I wouldn't say war, exactly," said Kyouko. "It's all just a bit of fun. I was so mortified that people had a different impression! The possibility of things being interpreted that way hadn't even crossed my mind." She blushed an entirely real blush.
"You've only been in the industry a short while, haven't you? It must be hard to learn how to protect yourself from rumours."
"Yes," said Kyouko. "Being good and not doing anything that would get you in trouble is easy enough. But in the entertainment business you also need to avoid doing innocent things that could be interpreted as something else, and that is harder to predict."
"Well, I'm sure you and many other girls learnt a very important lesson this week: Don't keep personal photos of mega stars on your phone, no matter how innocently they were taken."
The interview moved on from there to other topics, such as the new commercial that Makino-san had appeared in.
When Kyouko finally stepped off the set, job over, she sagged and took a deep breath. She felt a hand on her shoulder.
"Are you all right?" asked Amamiya-san.
"Yes, I'm fine. I'm just relieved, that's all. I think that went OK. Thank you so much for backing me up. Your comments about the sofa were really helpful."
"No problem. I'll see you soon, OK?" Amamiya-san nodded her head to the side, and Kyouko followed the gesture to see Hibiki-san approaching.
As Amamiya-san stepped away, Hibiki-san took her place. "Good job, Mogami-san. It looked like the audience accepted your explanation, and it was a nice touch having another actress backing you up. I'm reasonably certain that everything will be fine now."
"Thank you, Hibiki-san," said Kyouko as she gave a deep bow. "Thank you for all your help, and your patience."
Yuu-chan stepped off the set, the show now entirely over, and walked straight towards Kyouko and Hibiki-san. "So, what's the real story?" she said without preamble.
"I was telling the truth," Kyouko said.
"Oh, come on. You may have won the audience over, but it's obvious to me there's more to the story. You never mentioned why Tsuruga-san has a picture of you."
Kyouko opened her mouth to reply, but Hibiki-san beat her to it.
"Kyouko will not be making any further statements on the issue, Satou-san, so please kindly refrain from further questions. The interview finished a while ago."
It didn't escape Kyouko's attention that Hibiki-san dropped honorifics from her name only, emphasising that Yuu-chan was an outsider to them, in that she didn't work for LME.
"Well, fine then," said Yuu-chan. She gave a friendly smile that seemed to Kyouko to serve the same sort of function as Tsuruga-san's gentlemanly smile. "But as a gesture of goodwill, I'll tell you that there were rumours about your two young stars even before the photo leak; the rumours have simply been brought to the surface this week. The full story will have to come out eventually. At that time, I hope you will consider our show as the venue to tell the public whatever needs to be said. I promise, Kyouko-san, however annoyed I might be about a newcomer like you catching the eye of Japan's no. 1 bachelor, I won't tear you apart like most other show hosts would."
"No, you'd just sensationalise any story that came your way, wouldn't you, Satou-san?" said Hibiki-san.
"I have to make a living. I can't do that without ratings. Good day." Yuu-chan swept away from them, several assistants jumping to attention as she did so to offer her water bottles and moist towels for her face.
Kyouko's stomach sank. What rumours? Who was spreading them? But she didn't have the courage to battle her way through Yuu-chan's entourage to find out.
"I think she's a dangerous woman," said Kyouko.
"Good on you for noticing," said Hibiki-san. "With her cute persona, people don't usually notice her edge. She's right, though. She doesn't hack into people the way some other interviewers do. She does make saucy implications, though, which was what she was trying to do today until you explained things so well."
Kyouko gave Hibiki-san a surprised look. "So this show was actually a dangerous one to deal with such a topic on? I could have caused more trouble for Tsuruga-san if I'd messed up?"
Hibiki-san sighed. "And yourself. Please remember that. Actually, they're all dangerous. There wasn't a single place we could have sent you for that interview that wouldn't have had a similar danger. That's just how the entertainment industry works. You'll have to get used to it if you want to continue to work in the public eye."
Kyouko balled her hands into fists. "I'll do my best."
That evening, Kyouko was loading the washing machine with her clothes when the Okami-san called to her.
"Kyouko! You have a guest."
Kyouko frowned. The restaurant was already closed. Who would be visiting at this time? It had better not be Shoutarou again, she thought. She turned the washing machine on and stepped into the hall. "Who is it?" she asked.
"I put him in the family dining room with a pot of green tea. Oh my, Kyouko-chan!" The Okami-san looked flushed and flustered.
Kyouko had a good idea of who was visiting. "Thank you," she said, and headed straight for the family room.
As she suspected, Tsuruga-san sat at the low table, blowing on a fresh cup of green tea.
"What are you doing here, Tsuruga-sempai? You'll make things worse!"
He raised an eyebrow. "Good evening to you too, Mogami-san."
"My apologies, good evening. But," she knelt beside him, "if you're caught leaving here late at night ..."
He smiled. "No one's going to believe I did anything to you with an armed and dangerous sushi chef as a chaperone. Your Taisho gave me quite a look when I came in. Sent a shiver right down my spine."
Kyouko giggled.
"Besides," continued Tsuruga-san, "you dealt with everything very well today, Mogami-san. I saw the show."
"Thank you." Kyouko hung her head. She'd seen the show too. She thought she had seemed rather awkward, actually, and she wasn't certain that she would have believed her words if she was someone else.
He put a finger under her chin and tilted her head up until she met his eyes.
"Thank you," he said. "Really, truly, thank you. You did a difficult thing today, and you did it better than many people who have been in the industry longer than you."
She smiled. "Hibiki-san's advice was amazing."
"She knows her job well. If I ever have to come clean to the public about something big, I'll be going to her for advice again."
"To what do I owe the pleasure this evening, Tsuruga-san? I'm sure you didn't come all the way here just to give me feedback. Unless I accidentally put my phone on silent mode and missed a call from you. I didn't, did I?"
He shook his head and then held up an envelope. "I found this in my mailbox when I got home this evening, and somehow I ended up here after reading your letter."
Kyouko blushed. "I'm so sorry for doing something so strange, Tsuruga-san. If you want to return the photo, I understand perfectly."
"That's not it," he said. He opened the envelope and pulled the photo out. He looked at it for a long moment then tilted it to her. "I see what you mean about the mask. It is a little bit like me, isn't it?"
"I didn't mean to imply that—"
"No, it's OK," he cut her off. "You're right: I do wear a mask as 'Tsuruga Ren'. But I want to assure you that I think you've seen me plenty of times when my mask has slipped. You and Yashiro-san both. Please believe me, Mogami-san: even though I haven't yet found the peace of mind or courage to tell you the whole story, you know a more truthful version of me than most, I think. As much as it embarrassed me at the time, you've seen me at my worst."
Kyouko bit her lip. She tried and failed to meet his gaze. Instead, she settled on looking at his pendant.
"I don't have any right to demand that you tell me your secrets," she said. "And I don't hold it against you that you haven't confided them in me. How could I? You've known other people much longer than you've known me. I would expect that you'd talk to Muse-san or Yashiro-san first."
"But I think I know a lot more about you than you know about me. It's not fair. I assure you that you're on my short list of people that I will tell first."
Kyouko managed to raise her eyes to his level. "If talking to me would help, then I would gladly listen, Tsuruga-san. But I also won't put any pressure on you by being impatient. Whatever is best for you, I will go along with."
He rubbed a hand through his hair. "Even after what you saw during the Heel sibling act?"
She nodded. "I took my time to tell you all about what that guy did, and I held back at first about my issues with my mother. You never put undue pressure on me. Fair is fair."
He smiled one of his true smiles. "You know, I think it's a little funny that you still call me sempai. This year I have felt that there have been many times when you were more emotionally mature than me."
"Please don't exaggerate, Tsuruga-san."
"I'm not! Really. You faced your mother head-on under your own power. I only faced my parents a little bit, and only under duress. I'm really lagging behind, you know."
Kyouko's interest was piqued, but she resisted. She'd decided she wouldn't ask about his background, and she wasn't going to break her resolve!
"You're not even going to ask about that?" Asked Tsuruga-san.
"Nope."
He grinned. "I see. I have to make the first move."
"Yes, you do."
She smiled at him and froze. For the briefest of moments, she thought that the Emperor of the Night was about to make an appearance, but then Tsuruga-san looked away from her and down at the photo in his hand again.
"May I see the photo that Maria-chan gave you?" he asked. "I'm interested to see what you class as an 'honest expression'."
Kyouko nodded and fetched the photo from her room.
He looked at it for a long moment, a complicated series of expressions flicking across his face. "You saw this and thought it looked honest?"
Kyouko bowed. "I'm sorry, yes."
He caught her forehead and pushed her upright again. "Don't do that. You've done nothing wrong. I just ..." He sighed. "Wow. You know me even better than I thought. You're right. This is what I was feeling at that time. It's what I still feel from time to time." He gave a small huff of laughter. "What an unpleasant kid I must have been. I really ought to apologise to the boss at some stage." He said 'boss' in English.
Kyouko smiled. "He acts aloof from you, but he really cares about your wellbeing."
"He acts aloof because I asked him to. I didn't want people to think I only made it in showbiz because I had extra help. I wanted to prove to myself that I could do it under my own power." He smiled and held the two pictures side by side. "So, the one of us who is now honest about who she is shares a picture of herself wearing a mask, and the one of us who wears a mask from day to day shares a picture of himself in a rare honest moment. It's ironic, isn't it?"
"I don't want to judge you for wearing a mask. I did it for so long. I know how it can help."
He gave her a long look. "I now understand why you're such a natural at acting. You've spent most of your life acting, haven't you?"
Kyouko blushed and looked down. "Perhaps. But I feel that now I'm being honest, my heart is becoming lighter."
He laughed. "There you go again, being far more mature and well-adjusted than me." He ruffled her hair. "Even if I keep my mask up permanently for the public, I promise you that I will soon be honest with you. Fully honest, about everything. Just give me a little time to prepare myself, OK?"
"OK."
He stood up and handed the picture of himself back to her. "I should go now, or even a knife-wielding sushi chef will not be enough to save our reputations. Will you be at the office tomorrow?"
"Yes, I will."
"I'll see you then." He stepped down from the living room step into his shoes and kicked them on.
Kyouko walked him to the alleyway door. "Good night, Tsuruga-san."
"Good night, Kyouko-chan. Sleep tight." He stepped down the alleyway, turning once to wave at her before disappearing around the corner and into the night.
Kyouko stood frozen on the step. Eventually, her thoughts caught up with reality and she flamed red from her collar to the tips of her ears. He called me Kyouko-chan!
THE END