Chapter One

Tsuruga Ren was not having a good day. He had just come out of a meeting with the President of LME, Takarada Lory, who had more or less threatened him into accepting one of the male leads in some ridiculous romantic drama that followed the lives of four university students who lived together. Although it was the type of show that would probably appeal to his audience, it was a very light-hearted role – something he hadn't done in a while. He groaned as he remembered the President's arguments – that he was too serious, too boring, and needed to take a break from intense dramas for a while to do something 'lots of fun and filled with glorious feelings of love!'

Shaking his head, he continued on to the elevator to get to the carpark, where he would be meeting Yashiro, who had left him briefly to return something to his office. He was about to press the button for the elevator when he saw his kouhai walking purposefully towards it. And him. She was wearing a pale pink sundress that was fitted from the waist upwards, with a flared skirt, and a cream-coloured cardigan over the top. It made her look refreshingly innocent, and the dress highlighted her delicate, feminine curves. Her coppery hair was more subdued than usual under the dim lights in the LME foyer, as they were closing for the night. She walked with a mixture of the perfect, almost stiff posture that she had grown up with, and the smooth, sensual walk that she had learnt for her role as Natsu. He regretted teaching her that now. Not only had she completely undermined his masculinity, but she was also looking so effortlessly desirable at that moment.

He didn't realise he'd been staring until Kyoko marched up to him and smiled, her eyes alight with pleasure at seeing her most respected senpai. She bowed as she greeted him. "Good evening, Tsuruga-san! Have you finished work for the day?"

"Hello, Mogami-san," he said, firmly pushing his previous thoughts out of his mind as he gave her a slight smile. In truth, seeing her had improved his day by leaps and bounds already. She was rising in popularity more and more each day, and despite all of Yashiro's efforts to synchronise their schedules, it still left him with little time to see her. "Yes, I've finished with work. I was just going downstairs to meet with Yashiro-san. In fact, do you need a ride home?"

Kyoko blushed as she shook her head vehemently. "Oh no, Tsuruga-san, I've got my bike. I wouldn't dream of imposing. Besides, I need to see Sawara-san before I go." She paused as Ren gave her the dreaded gentlemanly smile.

"Mogami-san, I wouldn't have offered if I thought you would be an inconvenience."

Kyoko visibly wilted under his smile.

He upped the voltage. "In fact, I would be very...hurt if you turned down my offer, since I've gone to the trouble of making it." She looked as if she was about to melt, so he switched to a genuine smile. "Really, Mogami-san. I would like to drive you home tonight. I can come with you to Sawara-san's office, if you'd like. What do you need to see him for?"

"He said that the President called him about a new role for me, which is strange, because I never thought that Takarada-san would be the one offering roles to me that Sawara-san wouldn't already know about. Still, he says it's not a bully role!" Her face split into a wide grin despite herself. "He told me to stop by after I finished changing."

"I see," Ren said, gesturing for her to lead the way to Sawara-san's office. "I'll gladly come with you, and hear about your new role too. Yashiro-san probably will still be a while. We can meet him down there after your meeting."

Kyoko nodded, and moved towards the elevator, still a little hesitant to waste her senpai's time with driving her around and coming with her to meetings.

/

"Ah, there you are, Mogami-kun! My wife just called, so I have to head out soon. Here's the script. You'll be playing the role of Kinashita Nanami, a university student studying architecture. She moves to Tokyo with her friend, Maeda Hachiro, and together, they find housing in Tokyo. They end up living with a roommate each, and the drama basically follows their lives together. It's a romance, of course, and Nanami ends up with her friend Hachiro's roommate, Fuchida Ryou. Ah...Mogami-kun, do you think you could read the script and character description yourself? I really have to go. My daughter has a recital tonight."

Sawara smiled at her apologetically, handing her the script entitled 'House of Four' and a couple of stapled pages. All while he had been describing the drama, he'd been pulling things from drawers and shoving them into various pockets, as well as into his already bulging briefcase. Kyoko would have helped, if she'd known where everything was.

"That's fine, Sawara-san. Thank you so much! I'll read the script and give you an answer tomorrow." She bowed, as Sawara rushed out of the door, pausing only to bow to Kyoko and Ren before dashing towards the elevator.

Ren glanced nervously at his kouhai, who was busy reading through the character description with an adorable smile on her face. Her eyes were alight with pleasure as she quickly assembled the basis of her character in her mind. Already, she was giving birth to Nanami.

Nanami, for the most part, was the kind of girl that she would love to be – completely normal, loving, with lots of good friends, and a normal and happy university life. Alright, so there was one sour point – Nanami liked to go out on dates with guys, and she was a total romantic who believed in trying her luck with lots of people in order to find her soul mate. This couldn't be further from the truth for Kyoko, who had sworn off love and vehemently denied possessing any ability to do so.

She frowned. She didn't know how intense the 'love' component was, but it was, all-in-all, a light hearted, fluffy romance, so she hoped that by pretending she was a lovesick girl, it would be enough to pass by the viewers. However, in her heart, she knew that it wouldn't be enough for her. In order to become Nanami, she would have to fully embrace every aspect of her. Since her romanticism was so important, she couldn't afford to put on a show. No, she would really have to – here Kyoko gulped – learn to love.

For the last few minutes, Ren had been tapping Kyoko on the shoulder gently, trying to get her attention. He couldn't believe the President.

Well, actually, he could. It was the President, after all. This was just the kind of stunt that he'd pull.

His latest endeavours to force the two of them together had failed, of course, and Yashiro wouldn't stop babbling on about it either. Now, he'd been forced to accept this role, not because he needed to 'take a break' as the President has so tactfully put it, but rather because Kyoko was in the drama as well. He growled at the thought of playing her love interest. He didn't know if he would have the self-control to deal with that.

He had now progressed to shaking her gently, as her expression changed from joyful and apprehensive to worried and dismayed. Concerned about the change in her mood, he tried to call her name.

"Mogami-san? Yashiro-san is waiting for us, we should go. Mogami-san? Are you alright? Hello? Mogami-san! Kyoko! Can you hear me?"

At the sound of her given name, Kyoko's head snapped up, and she blushed in chagrin as she remembered where she was. She immediately dropped into a low bow, clutching her script to her chest.

"I'm so sorry, Tsuruga-san! I completely forgot...I got so absorbed in reading about my character...I really am sorry." Before Ren could tell her to stand up properly and that he completely understood, she started to vibrate. "Oh! Sorry."

Stepping away from him, she pulled her phone out of her pocket, and answered.

"Takarada-san!"

"Kyoko-chan, have you seen the script yet?"

"Yes, Sawara-san gave it to me just then. I've read the description for my character, Nanami...I think I'm really going to enjoy playing her! But, uh, Takarada-san, forgive me for asking, but you don't usually ask me if I've accepted my other roles." An indignant whine came through the phone, followed by an offended huff.

"I'm just very interested in this drama! So, you plan to take it? That's wonderful, very wonderful."

Kyoko hesitated. She didn't really want to talk about her problems expressing love with love's most ardent advocate. "Well, I'm still thinking about it. I'm not sure if I will be able to play Nanami."

"Nonsense! I am sure you will do perfectly. But just in case, I'm sure that Kanae-chan would be very eager to help you. She is, after all, playing your roommate in this drama." Lory smirked as he dropped his bargaining chip. He knew that Kyoko wouldn't be able to resist starring in a drama with her best friend.

There was a short pause as Kyoko's brain exploded with glee. If Fuwa Sho made her radiate with rage, then the sparkles and flowers that she was emitting now were caused by her best friend, Kotonami Kanae. Ren could practically see the fireworks going off in her head, and he couldn't help but wonder what the President has said to provoke such a reaction. Had Maria convinced him to purchase shares of Tokyo Disney, land of all things adored by Kyoko?

"Really? Moko-san is going to be in the drama with me? Okay! I'll do it! I'll definitely make Nanami my own and work my hardest so I don't let her down!" She bounced up and down on the spot a few times as she wrapped up the call with the President, who, on the other end of the line, was feeling very gleeful himself.

In fact, he was quite pleased with the way he'd handled the whole situation, and was now quite content to wait until after the first cast meeting to spring the next surprise on Kyoko and her unfortunate senpai on this new drama, 'House of Four.'

/

Thanks for reading! I'm pretty new to writing fanfiction, so any feedback is much appreciated, as I'm eager to improve. I'm still coming to grips with the characters, so please excuse any OOC-ness. (Of course, it'd be very beneficial to me if you didn't just excuse it, but rather pointed out where and how they're out of character.) The next chapter should be up within the week.

For anyone who's curious, this fanfic is set sometime after the Violence Mission (Cain and Setsu) arc. I'm not too happy with how things are progressing between Ren and Kyoko in the last couple of chapters, so I've decided to deviate a little from what's happening right now in Chapter 172.

- Interficere