Disclaimer: I do not own Skip beat. I own Luke Fitzgerald.
This has been the 3rd month I have been shooting here in Korea. Let me tell you one thing… IT IS VERY BORING! The shoots may be fun but because I only know how to speak Japanese and English makes this place like the saying James is a dull boy.
I stretched in annoyance, as boredom levels were increasing, and that is because we are in the small mountain forests shooting scenes. Ren must be as bored as I am, or am I reading it wrongly? He looks pretty sad to me, and his vibes are a bit off.
I remembered April fool's day 4 months ago, now that was best fun I had in this ENTIRE 4 months. I remembered the look on Ren's face. Now that was a face I have never seen before and I can tell you I have known him for years, back before he was Tsuruga Ren.
I shrugged my shoulders as I turned away from the set, my eyes lit up instantly at the sight of the man who was leaning against the tree seeming a little pale from the climb up. He is my new found friend, Yashiro. It seems this man knows no fear after going through the whole ordeal (tortured by Ren), dragged his way to me and asked for the video.
We spent hours laughing at the tape, but we weren't going to let Ren know about that. I quickly made my way towards the resting man and gave him an American embrace.
"YASHIRO-SAN! Boy am I glad to see you!"
Yashiro smiled politely as he wiped more sweat off his brow and answered
"Hello Luke-san."
In my regards, Yashiro doesn't look all too well, but I was already bored out of my wits! I need humour and more videos of Ren acting silly.
"The shoot has been really boring lately Yashiro-san… do you have any ideas on how to spice things up?"
At this Yashiro's pale face was slowly regaining its health as his eyes glimmered in a way one could call mischief. He smirks as he took out his mobile phone and said to me in a more energetic way
"Chaos is only a phone call away Luke-san… ONLY a phone call away."
I almost squealed in delight, FINALLY! Something we can do to keep ourselves occupied. Yashiro and I watched like eagles waiting on our prey. Ren seemed to have not noticed, he was pretty focused on his discussion with the director.
Once Yashiro and I got things all planned out, we walked separate ways as he walked further away from the set, I pretended to be interested at what the director was saying. Yashiro after getting a taste of videotaping Ren's expressions bought a small camera that can be hidden easily. I used it as a pin on my shirt collar as I pranced up to them joyously.
Ren suddenly noticed that I was right beside him watching and listening to the director eagerly he only smiled in a welcoming way before turning to the director once more. The moment the director started addressing the female lead, Ren immediately turned to me with a smile and asked.
"Not playing with Yashiro today?"
I shook my head and frowned as if a boy was being deprived of his candy as I replied in a sour manner
"Yashiro is on the phone. I don't know who it was… it was a girl's voice though."
Ren looked up towards the direction Yashiro was walking. Yashiro seemed to be pretty happily engaged in deep conversation with the 'lady' at hand. His eyes were shining as he was animatedly talking. Yashiro must be a really good actor, wasn't he faking the call? I mean… I took out my own phone and looked at it. There is no signal here at all!
Ren had an expression between curiosity and longing. Someone deprived this man of his candy too… But I know Ren couldn't really leave because the director hasn't finished talking just yet. You could see his constant flicker of the eyes. He was half tempted to run toward Yashiro I bet.
Just to let everyone know, according to Yashiro, Ren hasn't called Kyoko AT ALL (when I mean all, I mean these 3 months)! I bet he is waiting for her call, rather than him calling. I bet he is dying to talk to her, but you couldn't exactly see it written on his face. So we decided to jog that longing out onto the open.
Once the briefing was done, Yashiro just had to shut the phone. His face was still shining with glee and triumph. I don't think that man is faking it at all, perhaps he did CALL Kyoko… Ren saw the phone and what Yashiro had done to it. I swear if there were puppy ears on his head, they would have flopped down in disappointment. Lucky I had the camera with me! I don't ever want to forget this.
Ren walked up Yashiro and I happily tagged along. Yashiro looked up with his eyes brimming with gossip to tell!
"Kyoko just called me earlier! She told me to tell you she has got a new role 2 weeks ago, this time she plays an angel, like the one on Sho's promote. She sent me a trailer! But I need to access the internet…"
Ren smiled, from the bottom of his heart. You can tell when he does, because his eyes have an actual sparkle in them. And he shines like the Buddha sitting on a lotus leaf, and yes that was what Yashiro describes Ren's smile to look like.
"How did you manage to get a signal?"
Yashiro glanced at the place where he was during the whole conversation as he replied in casual manner.
"At first I could barely hear her, and then when I got there, there was a really good signal…. Why?"
I could see Ren cringe at Yashiro's suspicious glare. Ren managed to recover as he said in a light hearted tone.
"Oh, I just wanted to call the president."
I looked at him with a suspicious eye too. No one in the right mind calls the president for no reason what so ever! I mean, it takes up one's sanity just to talk to Lory.
"Ooohh?"
Ren didn't feel intimidated at all, as his gentlemanly smile appeared on his face as he replied in a rather scary tone.
"You know Yashiro, these cliffs are pretty steep. You better be careful. You don't want to ACCIDENTALLY fall off the cliff, now that would be inconvenient."
My jaw hung several inches away from the ground but Ren can be pretty scary. Yashiro on the other hand wasn't so worried now? He seemed somewhat calm and replied to Ren.
"Inconvenient indeed… Now I believe you have a call to make Ren, please go ahead. "
Ren began to walk rather quickly towards the small place Yashiro described as we pretended to be talking, except our eyes casually glance at the man we used to believe had no weaknesses at all.
"You weren't scared earlier?"
I asked Yashiro while we watched the man trying in vain to make a certain call as he walked around that certain spot. Yashiro simply smiled and replied.
"I dug a hole."
"OOMPH!"
Yashiro and I actually watched the great Tsuruga Ren fall into a small ditch. Now that was… simply… HILARIOUS! Yashiro quickly walked towards Ren and asked in a very worried tone.
"Oh my, Ren. Seems you got yourself stuck in a ditch."
Ren seems slightly ruffled on the edges but he managed to get himself up and apologise to the staff for this accident. Soon after that, Yashiro walked around certain areas and made calls, and we would later go hide nearby. Surely enough Ren went right there in hopes to catch a signal.
I had to bite on my fist to stop the urge of giggles that were going to come through my mouth. This was priceless. The more Yashiro did it, the more perplexed Ren became. It was like he couldn't understand how his mobile couldn't get a signal at all! I am sure I couldn't either, but Yashiro was definitely streaming with signals.
Finally Ren looked like a lost puppy walking around searching for a signal. And I swear, every moment Yashiro seems to get a signal Ren's puppy ears would shoot up and he would dash towards the place in a rather discreet manner. The more times it happened, the faster Ren gets.
By now, the moment Yashiro gets a signal, Ren was instantly by his side eyes shining and dialling his own phone, only to stare at Yashiro in a confused and befuddled way. How in the world did this man manage to get his signal? Even I want to know.
"Looking pretty down in the dumps there Ren."
Ren looked up and had a very scary look on his face, I could understand why he looks so scary. But the face suddenly dissolved as he placed on his gentleman mask.
"Sorry, I think Cain Heel slipped out there…"
Who is Cain heel? Was it his alter ego? I am sure his old name wasn't Cain Heel. But the whole day, Ren was quite agitated and reverted to Cain heel at certain moments in time. He reverted almost instantly when someone caught him sulking in some small corner.
At the end of the day, when we all got back to our lodgings, Ren instantly pulled out the phone and rang the person he has been DYING to call. I bet you it wasn't the president either. No one is that desperate. Yashiro and I decided to go somewhere private to talk.
"Wow, Ren was really out of it today! He seemed like he was going mad! I think I had enough fun to last me the rest of the 3 more months we are going to be here for."
Yashiro smiled as he nodded in agreement. But our rejoicing had to come to an end very shortly because of a fuming Ren right behind us. His smile looked more intimidating than that of a gentleman smile.
"AH, my two FAVORITE people… You know there is another way of curing boredom?"
Ren… was scary, I wanted to run away. I remember seeing this in him when he was younger but… whoa… Yashiro had the same look I had. Fear of death.
"And that is sightseeing…"
Half an hour later,
"I never knew Ren's idea of sightseeing was so horrifying Yashiro-san."
"Me neither Luke-san. I mean who ties his favourite friends to the hanging poles on the top floor of the lodgings and leave them there?"
" It sure is a beautiful sight..." (-_-)
"It sure is..."
Yashiro agreed, but what a horrifying experience and they were sure experiencing it right now. Ren seemed to plan to leave them there until dinner. Which was another 1 and a half hours away.
"Yashiro-san. Two last questions."
"Yes Luke-san?"
"Did you really call Kyoko and all the other calls?"
Yashiro smirked as he replied in a very confident tone.
"I sure did."
I looked very puzzled as I asked him my final question
"There was no signal how…"
"Luke-san…"
Yashiro showed me a look of a professional manager as he said in a calm tone.
"Managers ALWAYS need signals. They also need the right phone companies to provide them that much."
I think I had enough of teasing Ren, perhaps next time I wouldn't join in anymore. But if Yashiro were to ever get more videos, I would love to get a copy. Because I am prepared to have a shelf of videos labelled 'Ren's Funny videos'.
End.
Notes: This may be the last you may ever see of Luke, but depends if people like him, I want him to be Yashiro's accomplice!
